[Management strategy of femoral artery pseudoaneurysm combined with infectious wounds].

Objective: To investigate the surgical treatment methods of femoral artery pseudoaneurysm combined with infectious wounds and to evaluate the clinical effects. Methods: The retrospective observational research method was used. Twelve patients with femoral artery pseudoaneurysm combined with infectious wounds who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Wuxi Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University) from October 2014 to September 2022, including 6 males and 6 females, aged from 46 to 78 years. In the primary operation, debridement, tumor resection, and artery suture/venous grafting to repair the artery/artery ligation were performed, and the wound area after tumor resection ranged from 4.0 cm×1.5 cm to 12.0 cm×6.5 cm. Wounds that could be sutured were treated with tension reduction suture and extracutaneous continuous vacuum sealing drainage (VSD), while large wounds that could not be sutured were treated with VSD to control infection. In the secondary operation, tension reduction suture was performed to repair the wounds that could be sutured; large wounds were repaired with adjacent translocated flaps with area of 9.0 cm×5.0 cm to 15.0 cm×7.0 cm. Additionally, when the length of the exposed femoral artery was equal to or over 3.0 cm, the wounds were repaired with additional rectus femoris muscle flap with length of 15.0 to 18.0 cm. The donor areas of the flaps were directly sutured. The wound with artery ligation was treated with stamp skin grafting and continuous VSD. The bacterial culture results of the wound exudate samples on admission were recorded. The intraoperative blood loss, the location of femoral artery rupture, the artery treatment method, and the wound repair method in the primary operation were recorded, and the durations of catheter lavage, catheter drainage, and VSD treatment, and the drainage volume after the operation were recorded. The repair method of wounds in the secondary operation, the durations of catheter drainage and VSD treatment, and the total drainage volume after the operation were recorded. The survivals of flap/muscle flap/stamp skin grafts were observed, and the wound healing time was recorded. Follow-up after discharge was performed to evaluate the quality of wound healing and the walking function and to check whether the pulsatile mass disappeared. B-ultrasound or computed tomography angiography (CTA) was performed again to observe potential pseudoaneurysm recurrence and evaluate the patency of blood flow of the femoral artery. Results: The bacterial culture results of wound exudate samples of all the patients were positive on admission. The blood loss was 150 to 750 mL in the primary operation. The arterial ruptures were located in the femoral artery in 8 cases, in the external iliac artery in 2 cases, and in the femoral arteriovenous fistula in 2 cases. Six cases received direct artery suture, 4 cases received autologous great saphenous vein grafting to repair the artery, 1 case received autologous great saphenous vein bypass surgery, and 1 case received artery ligation. The primary wound suture was performed in 4 cases, along with catheter lavage for 3 to 5 days, catheter drainage for 4 to 6 days, VSD treatment for 5 to 7 days, and a total drainage volume of 80 to 450 mL after the surgery. In the secondary operation, the wounds were sutured directly in 3 cases along with catheter drainage for 2 to 3 days, the wound was repaired with scalp stamp skin graft and VSD treatment for 5 days in 1 case, the wounds were repaired with adjacent translocated flaps in 2 cases with catheter drainage for 2 to 3 days, and the wounds were repaired with rectus femoris muscle flaps+adjacent translocated flaps in 2 cases with catheter drainage for 3 to 5 days . The total drainage volume after the secondary operation ranged from 150 to 400 mL. All the skin flaps/muscle flaps/skin grafts survived after operation. The wound healing time ranged from 15 to 36 days after the primary operation. Follow-up of 2 to 8 months after discharge showed that the wounds of all patients healed well. One patient who underwent femoral artery ligation had calf amputation due to foot ischemic necrosis, and the rest of the patients regained normal walking ability. The pulsatile mass disappeared in inguinal region of all patients. B-ultrasound or CTA re-examination in 6 patients showed that the blood flow of femoral artery had good patency, and there was no pseudoaneurysm recurrence. Conclusions: Early debridement, tumor resection, and individualized artery treatment should be performed in patients with femoral artery pseudoaneurysm combined with infected wounds. Besides, proper drainage and personalized repair strategy should be conducted according to the wound condition to achieve a good outcome.

Bioinformatic analysis identified common pathogenetic processes between epilepsy and COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: With the ongoing progression of SARS-CoV-2-induced COVID-19, the post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (long COVID) has garnered increasing attention as a novel multisystem disorder. Long COVID-19 has been shown to impact the nervous system, leading to various neurological manifestations, including epilepsy and seizures. Current studies have reported a significant increase in the prevalence and mortality rate of epilepsy in COVID-19 patients. Additionally, COVID-19 exacerbates seizures in patients with epilepsy. However, the mechanisms underlying the impact of COVID-19 on epilepsy remain elusive. This research focused on further identifying and elucidating the molecular mechanisms and biological processes underlying the induction of epilepsy by COVID-19 through bioinformatic methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrieved four gene expression datasets related to COVID-19 and epilepsy patients from the GEO and ArrayExpress databases. By crossing the major modules of weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), the commonly expressed genes of epilepsy and COVID-19 were identified. By establishing the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the common genes, 20 hub genes were recognized through CytoHubba. Furthermore, functional enrichment and immune cell infiltration analyses were conducted to explore the potential mechanisms of COVID-19-related epilepsy. RESULTS: We identified a total of 373 common genes between the two diseases. The functional enrichment analysis revealed that the common genes were mainly involved in biological processes related to the immune response. Further analysis of the Hub genes revealed the important role of abnormal lipid metabolism in the crosstalk between COVID-19 and epilepsy. LASSO regression identified CD38 and PRKCA as the potential shared diagnostic candidates, which also exhibited excellent diagnostic value in the validation dataset. The immune infiltration analysis showed that activated dendritic cells (DCs) were positively correlated with the phenotypes of both diseases. CONCLUSIONS: This research revealed the potential mechanisms of COVID-19-related epilepsy, providing novel insights for the prevention, diagnosis, and clinical management strategies of COVID-19-related epilepsy.

[Effects of arsenic and its main metabolites on A549 cell apoptosis and the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bad and Bik].

Objective: To investigate the effect of arsenic and its main metabolites on the apoptosis of human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 and the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bad and Bik. Methods: In October 2020, A549 cells were recovered and cultured, and the cell viability was detected by the cell counting reagent CCK-8 to determine the concentration and time of sodium arsenite exposure to A549. The study was divided into NaAsO(2) exposure groups and metobol: le expoure groups: the metabolite comparison groups were subdivided into the control group, the monomethylarsinic acid exposure group (60 µmol/L) , and the dimethylarsinic acid exposure group (60 µmol/L) ; sodium arsenite dose groups were subdivided into 4 groups: control group (0) , 20, 40, 60 µmol/L sodium arsenite NaAsO(2). Hoechst 33342/propidium iodide double staining (Ho/PI) was used to observe cell apoptosis and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of Bad and Bik mRNA in cells after exposure. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expressions of Bad, P-Bad-S112, Bik, cleaved Bik and downstream proteins poly ADP-ribose polymerase PARP1 and cytochrome C (Cyt-C) , using spectrophotometry to detect the activity changes of caspase 3, 6, 8, 9. Results: Compared with the control group, the proportion of apoptotic cells in the 20, 40, and 60 µmol/L NaAsO(2) dose groups increased significantly (P<0.01) , and the expression levels of Bad, Bik mRNA, the protein expression levels of Bad, P-Bad-S112, Bik, cleaved Bik, PARP1, Cyt-C were increased (all P<0.05) , and the activities of Caspase 3, 6, 8, and 9 were significantly increased with significantly differences (P<0.05) . Compared with the control group, the expression level of Bad mRNA in the DMA exposure group (1.439±0.173) was increased with a significant difference (P=0.024) , but there was no significant difference in the expression level of Bik mRNA (P=0.788) . There was no significant differences in the expression levels of Bad and Bik mRNA in the poison groups (P=0.085, 0.063) . Compared with the control group, the gray values of proteins Bad, Bik, PARP1 and Cyt-C exposed to MMA were 0.696±0.023, 0.707±0.014, 0.907±0.031, 1.032±0.016, and there was no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.469, 0.669, 0.859, 0.771) ; the gray values of proteins Bad, Bik, PARP1 and Cyt-C exposed to DMA were 0.698±0.030, 0.705±0.022, 0.908±0.015, 1.029±0.010, and there was no difference between the two groups (P=0.479, 0.636, 0.803, 0.984) . Conclusion: Sodium arsenite induces the overexpression of Bad and Bik proteins, initiates the negative feedback regulation of phosphorylated Bad and the degradation of Bik, activates the downstream proteins PARP1, Cyt-C and Caspase pathways, and mediates the apoptosis of A549 cells.

Key

Detection of nuclear-decay γ rays provides a sensitive thermometer of nova nucleosynthesis. The most intense γ-ray flux is thought to be annihilation radiation from the ß^{+} decay of ^{18}F, which is destroyed prior to decay by the ^{18}F(p,α)^{15}O reaction. Estimates of ^{18}F production had been uncertain, however, because key near-threshold levels in the compound nucleus, ^{19}Ne, had yet to be identified. We report the first measurement of the ^{19}F(^{3}He,tγ)^{19}Ne reaction, in which the placement of two long-sought 3/2^{+} levels is suggested via triton-γ-γ coincidences. The precise determination of their resonance energies reduces the upper limit of the rate by a factor of 1.5-17 at nova temperatures and reduces the average uncertainty on the nova detection probability by a factor of 2.1.

Probing the Single-Particle Character of Rotational States in

A beam containing a substantial component of both the J^{π}=5^{+}, T_{1/2}=162 ns isomeric state of ^{18}F and its 1^{+}, 109.77-min ground state is utilized to study members of the ground-state rotational band in ^{19}F through the neutron transfer reaction (d,p) in inverse kinematics. The resulting spectroscopic strengths confirm the single-particle nature of the 13/2^{+} band-terminating state. The agreement between shell-model calculations using an interaction constructed within the sd shell, and our experimental results reinforces the idea of a single-particle-collective duality in the descriptions of the structure of atomic nuclei.

Study of the

The existence of ^{26}Al (t_{1/2}=7.17×10^{5} yr) in the interstellar medium provides a direct confirmation of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy. The presence of a low-lying 0^{+} isomer (^{26}Al^{m}), however, severely complicates the astrophysical calculations. We present for the first time a study of the ^{26}Al^{m}(d,p)^{27}Al reaction using an isomeric ^{26}Al beam. The selectivity of this reaction allowed the study of ℓ=0 transfers to T=1/2, and T=3/2 states in ^{27}Al. Mirror symmetry arguments were then used to constrain the ^{26}Al^{m}(p,γ)^{27}Si reaction rate and provide an experimentally determined upper limit of the rate for the destruction of isomeric ^{26}Al via radiative proton capture reactions, which is expected to dominate the destruction path of ^{26}Al^{m} in asymptotic giant branch stars, classical novae, and core collapse supernovae.

Fusion hindrance for a positive-q-value system (24)Mg+(30)Si.

Measurements of the excitation function for the fusion of (24)Mg+(30)Si (Q=17.89 MeV)have been extended toward lower energies with respect to previous experimental data. The S-factor maximum observed in this large, positive-Q-value system is the most pronounced among such systems studied thus far. The significance and the systematics of an S-factor maximum in systems with positive fusion Q values are discussed. This result would strongly impact the extrapolated cross sections and reaction rates in the carbon and oxygen burnings and, thus, the study of the history of stellar evolution.

Protective effect of ginsenoside against acute renal failure via reduction of renal oxidative stress and enhanced expression of ChAT in the proximal convoluted tubule and ERK1/2 in the paraventricular nuclei.

Generation of reactive oxygen species significantly contributes to the pathogenesis of acute renal failure (ARF) induced by myoglobin release. Ginsenosides (GS), the principal active ingredients of ginseng, is considered as an extremely good antioxidative composition of Chinese traditional and herbal drugs. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of ginsenoside in rats with ARF on the changes of cholinergic nervous system in the kidney as well as on the involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) in the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei (PVN). In our assay, glycerol-induced acute renal failure in rats was employed to study the protective effects of ginsenoside. Our results indicated that the treatment of ARF rats with ginsenosides for 48 h significantly reduced lipid peroxidation, restored the superoxide dismutase (SOD) level. Meanwhile, the obvious increase of choline acetyltransferase-immunoreactivity (ChAT-IR) in the proximal convoluted tubular cells (PCT) was observed by immunohistochemistry in ARF+GS group. The same effect was also observed in the changes of p-ERK1/2-IR in the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei. Our results suggest that ginsenoside administered orally may have a strong renal protective effect against glycerol-induced ARF, reduce the renal oxidative stress, and ginsenoside can also activate the cholinergic system in PCT, simultaneously MAPK signal pathway in the PVN was also activated.

Measurements of fusion reactions of low-intensity radioactive carbon beams on 12C and their implications for the understanding of X-ray bursts.

The interaction between neutron-rich nuclei plays an important role for understanding the reaction mechanism of the fusion process as well as for the energy production through pycnonuclear reactions in the crust of neutron stars. We have performed the first measurements of the total fusion cross sections in the systems (10,14,15)C+(12)C using a new active target-detector system. In the energy region accessible with existing radioactive beams, a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical cross sections is observed. This gives confidence in our ability to calculate fusion cross sections for systems which are outside the range of today's radioactive beam facilities.

Direct measurement of the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction cross section at energies relevant for the production of galactic (26)Al.

The 1809-keV γ ray from the decay of (26)Al(g) is an important target for γ-ray astronomy. In the convective C/Ne burning shell of massive presupernova stars, the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction directly influences the production of (26)Al. We have performed a direct measurement of the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction cross section at the appropriate astrophysically important energies. The stellar rate calculated in the present work is larger than the recommended rate by nearly a factor of 40 and could strongly affect the production of (26)Al in massive stars.

Prognostic significance of monitoring leukemia-associated immunophenotypes by eight-color flow cytometry in adult B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Minimal residual disease (MRD) is of the most important factor for predicting prognosis and guiding treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In this study, we investigated the prognostic significance of leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (LAIPs) as assessment of index of MRD in 125 adult B-lineage ALL (B-ALL) patients by eight-color flow cytometry. The LAIPs could be identified in 96% and 81.6% of patients with the sensitivity of 10(-4) and 10(-5), respectively. MRD-negative status could clearly predict a favorable 2-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) at the end of induction of complete remission and one cycle of consolidation treatment. Moreover, we identified a group of cases with MRD of 0.001% to <0.01%, which showed significantly higher 2-year relapse rate than those with undetectable one. In multivariate analysis, MRD status was associated with RFS or OS independently. Furthermore, MRD assessed by LAIPs and RQ-PCR assay for patients with BCR-ABL fusion gene yielded concordant results in 89.7% of cases. In conclusion, MRD evaluated by eight-color flow cytometry could provide an important tool to assess treatment response and prognosis precisely in adult B-ALL.

Origin and consequences of 12C+12C fusion resonances at deep sub-barrier energies.

Previous explanations for the resonance behavior of (12)C+(12)C fusion at low energies were based on a nonresonant compound-nucleus background and an additional contribution from a series of resonances. This separation into "resonance" and "background" contributions of the cross section is artificial. We propose to explain this phenomenon through the impact on the cross section of the relatively large spacings and the narrow widths of (24)Mg compound levels in the corresponding excitation-energy region.

Newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia in China (I): abnormal genetic patterns in 1346 childhood and adult cases and their comparison with the reports from Western countries.

It has been generally acknowledged that the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis evaluation of leukemia largely rely on an adequate identification of genetic abnormalities. A systemic analysis of genetic aberrations was performed in a cohort of 1346 patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in China. The pediatric patients had higher incidence of hyperdiploidy and t(12;21) (p13;q22)/ETV6-RUNX1 than adults (P<0.0001); in contrast, the occurrence of Ph and Ik6 variant of IKZF1 gene was much more frequent in adult patients (all P<0.0001). In B-ALL, the existence of Ik6 and that of BCR-ABL were statistically correlated (P<0.0001). In comparison with Western cohorts, the incidence of t(9;22) (q34;q11)/BCR-ABL (14.60%) in B-ALL and HOX11 expression in T-ALL (25.24%) seemed to be much higher in our group, while the incidence of t(12;21) (p13;q22)/ETV6-RUNX1 (15.34%) seemed to be lower in Chinese pediatric patients. The occurrence of hyperdiploidy was much lower either in pediatric (10.61% vs 20-38%) or adult patients (2.36% vs 6.77-12%) in our study than in Western reports. In addition, the frequencies of HOX11L2 in adult patients were much higher in our cohort than in Western countries (20.69% vs 4-11%). In general, it seems that Chinese ALL patients bear more adverse prognostic factors than their Western counterparts do.

RETRACTED: A shorter 146Sm half-life measured and implications for 146Sm-142Nd chronology in the solar system.

The extinct p-process nuclide (146)Sm serves as an astrophysical and geochemical chronometer through measurements of isotopic anomalies of its α-decay daughter (142)Nd. Based on analyses of (146)Sm/(147)Sm α-activity and atom ratios, we determined the half-life of (146)Sm to be 68 ± 7 (1σ) million years, which is shorter than the currently used value of 103 ± 5 million years. This half-life value implies a higher initial (146)Sm abundance in the early solar system, ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) = 0.0094 ± 0.0005 (2σ), than previously estimated. Terrestrial, lunar, and martian planetary silicate mantle differentiation events dated with (146)Sm-(142)Nd converge to a shorter time span and in general to earlier times, due to the combined effect of the new (146)Sm half-life and ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) values.

Overexpression of α-2,6 sialyltransferase stimulates propagation of human influenza viruses in Vero cells.

Human influenza viruses are major concern as the leading cause of global pandemics. In infecting cells, they preferentially bind to sialyloligosaccharides containing terminal N-acetyl sialic acid linked to galactose by an α-2,6-linkage (NeuAcα2,6Gal). The amount of NeuAcα2,6Gal in Vero cells, which are predominantly used for production of influenza vaccines over the past 30 years, may not be as high as that in epithelial cells of human respiratory tract, what leads to the suboptimal virus growth in Vero cells. In this study, we stably transfected Vero cells with cDNA of human α-2,6-sialyltransferase (SIAT1), an enzyme catalyzing α-2,6-sialylation of galactose on glycoproteins. Overexpression of SIAT1 in the transfected Vero cells (Vero-SIAT1 cells) was confirmed by Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence microscopy. Vero-SIAT1 cells expressed 7 times higher amounts of NeuAcα2,6Gal, but 3 times lower amounts of NeuAcα2,3Gal as compared to parental Vero cells. Furthermore, the influenza viruses A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B grew in Vero-SIAT1 cells to the higher titers than in Vero cells. Taken together, these results imply that Vero-SIAT1 cells are useful not only for the propagation of human influenza viruses, but also for the preparation of influenza vaccines.

Fusion reactions with the one-neutron halo nucleus (15)C.

The structure of (15)C, with an s(1/2) neutron weakly bound to a closed-neutron shell nucleus (14)C, makes it a prime candidate for a one-neutron halo nucleus. We have for the first time studied the cross section for the fusion-fission reaction (15)C+(232)Th at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier and compared it to the yield of the neighboring (14)C+(232)Th system measured in the same experiment. At sub-barrier energies, an enhancement of the fusion yield by factors of 2-5 was observed for (15)C, while the cross sections for (14)C match the trends measured for (12,13)C.

Protective effect of ginsenoside against acute renal failure and expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in the locus coeruleus.

Acute renal failure (ARF) is mainly characterized by acute tubular necrosis. No significant change was found for mortality rates over the past few decades despite significant advances in supportive care. In recent years, great effort has been focused on traditional and herbal medicine, which is much less toxic than those agents conventionally used and which is nowadays considered as a novel therapeutic agent for ARF. However, the effect of ginsenosides (GS) administered orally on ARF has not been reported yet and little is known about its cellular and molecular mechanism. The purpose of the study is to investigate the protective effect of ginsenoside in rats with ARF on the changes of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity (TH-IR) as well as on the involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) in the locus coeruleus. In our assay, glycerol-induced acute renal failure in rats was employed to study the protective effects of ginsenoside. Our results indicated that the treatment of ARF rats with ginsenosides for 48 h significantly reduced the serum blood urea nitrogen, creatinine level, and lipid peroxidation, restored the GSH level and the normal renal morphology. Immunohistochemistry showed that an obvious increase of TH-IR was further enhanced in ARF+GS group. The same effect was also observed in the changes of p-ERK1/2-IR in the locus coeruleus. Our results suggest that ginsenoside administered orally may have a strong renal protective effect against glycerol-induced ARF, and ginsenoside can also activate the brain catecholaminergic neurons in the locus coeruleus. Our future attention will be focused to the question whether there is a correlation between the renal protective effect of ginsenosides against acute renal failure and the activation of tyrosine hydroxylase in the locus coeruleus.