T2 Relaxation Time in Extraocular Muscles of Patients with Mild Thyroid- Associated Ophthalmopathy: Comparing T2 Mapping With and Without Fat Suppression Using Different Measurement Methods.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the parametric value of T2 with and without fat suppression (FS) on T2 mapping for the evaluation of extraocular muscles (EOMs) in mild thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO). METHODS: We prospectively recruited 44 consecutive patients with mild TAO seen between May 2020 and October 2022 and 26 healthy controls with no history of eye- or thyroid-related or other autoimmune diseases. Patients with mild TAO were subdivided into active and inactive groups based on their clinical activity scores. The T2 of each EOM was measured over a large and small area of interest on T2-mapping images with and without FS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of T2 for detecting TAO activity. RESULTS: The T2 was significantly and heterogeneously higher in the active group than in the inactive and control groups (P < 0.05). FS-T2-mapping images had better signal display within and at the edges of the EOMs than those without FS. It was possible to observe high-signal aggregation visible in the periphery of some EOMs, and the central part showed relatively low signals. The maximum T2 measured in small or large areas with and without FS had good diagnostic efficacy for TAO activity, with that of no-FS being better (the area under the ROC curve of the maximum T2 measured in a small area and a large area without FS was 1.0 and 1.0 and P values of < 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Maximal T2 with or without FS can facilitate the early clinical detection of mild TAO activity. The maximum T2 in a small area can facilitate active staging of patients with mild TAO.

Improved beluga whale optimization algorithm based cluster routing in wireless sensor networks.

Cluster routing is a critical routing approach in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, the uneven distribution of selected cluster head nodes and impractical data transmission paths can result in uneven depletion of network energy. For this purpose, we introduce a new routing strategy for clustered wireless sensor networks that utilizes an improved beluga whale optimization algorithm, called tCBWO-DPR. In the selection process of cluster heads, we introduce a new excitation function to evaluate and select more suitable candidate cluster heads by establishing the correlation between the energy of node and the positional relationship of nodes. In addition, the beluga whale optimization (BWO) algorithm has been improved by incorporating the cosine factor and t-distribution to enhance its local and global search capabilities, as well as to improve its convergence speed and ability. For the data transmission path, we use Prim's algorithm to construct a spanning tree and introduce DPR for determining the optimal route between cluster heads based on the correlation distances of cluster heads. This effectively shortens the data transmission path and enhances network stability. Simulation results show that the improved beluga whale optimization based algorithm can effectively improve the survival cycle and reduce the average energy consumption of the network.

LRRC8A as a central mediator promotes colon cancer metastasis by regulating PIP5K1B/PIP2 pathway.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has been the third most common malignancy and the second cause of cancer-related mortality. As the core of volume-sensitive chloride currents, leucine-rich repeat-containing 8A (LRRC8A) contributes to tumor progression but is not consistent, especially for whom the roles in colon carcinoma metastasis were not fully elucidated. Herein, LRRC8A proteins were found highly expressed in hematogenous metastasis from human colorectal cancer samples. The oxaliplatin-resistant HCT116 cells highly expressed LRRC8A, which was related to impaired proliferation and enhanced migration. The over-expressed LRRC8A slowed proliferation and increased migration ex vivo and in vivo. The elevated LRRC8A upregulated the focal adhesion, MAPK, AMPK, and chemokine signaling pathways via phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Inhibition of LRRC8A impeded the TNF-α signaling cascade and TNF-α-induced migration. LRRC8A binding to PIP5K1B regulated the PIP2 formation, providing a platform for LRRC8A to mediate cell signaling transduction. Importantly, LRRC8A self-regulated its transcription via NF-κB1 and NF-κB2 pathways and the upregulation of NIK/NF-κB2/LRRC8A transcriptional axis was unfavorable for colon cancer patients. Collectively, our findings reveal that LRRC8A is a central mediator in mediating multiple signaling pathways to promote metastasis and targeting LRRC8A proteins could become a potential clinical biomarker-driven treatment strategy for colon cancer patients.

An EM-Tracked Approach for Calibrating the 3D Pose of Flexible Endoscopes.

Flexible endoscopes are ideal instruments for visualizing and diagnosing the inner surfaces of organs via a minimally invasive incision. Calibrating a flexible endoscope is a troublesome yet inevitable process in image-based tools tracking. Aiming to simplify the calibration process, we propose an electromagnetic (EM)-tracked calibration approach that does not require any predefined poses of the EM sensor. A three-stage calibration protocol was presented in an extensor. First, the orientation of the endoscope tube was derived by conducting a circular rotation of the endoscope around its axis utilizing a pair of tightly bearing stands. Second, the 3D position of the endoscope tip was acquired by having the tip come into contact with a flat plane. Third, the pose model of the bending section was derived and transformed into the local coordinate system of the EM sensor attached to the endoscope handle. To assess the accuracy of the proposed calibration approach, two experiments were designed and performed. Experimental results indicate accuracies of 0.09 ± 0.06 deg and 0.03 ± 0.19 deg in the estimation of the endoscope tube orientation and 0.52 ± 0.29, 0.33 ± 0.11, and 0.29 ± 0.17 mm in the x, y, and z estimations of the endoscope tip position, respectively. The proposed approach is accurate and easy to operate, does not require the employment of custom calibration markers, and can be used not only in surgical training systems but also in the endoscopic-based tools tracking.

Green roof development knowledge map: A review of visual analysis using CiteSpace and VOSviewer.

Green roofs are generally acknowledged as environmentally sustainable roof systems with several environmental, economic, and social benefits, as well as an effective and practical strategy for mitigating the negative consequences of urbanization. In this paper, we used CiteSpace and VOSviewer bibliometric software for visual analysis, citation analysis, co-authorship network, co-citation analysis, and keyword analysis for descriptive statistics on 3986 articles on "green roofs" published in the Web of Science core database since 2000. Descriptive statistics were used for citation analysis, co-authorship network, co-citation analysis, and keyword analysis. According to a review of green roofing-related research literature, (1) Through analysis from three dimensions of country, institution, and author, it was found that China, the United States, and Italy ranked among the top three countries in terms of green roof publication volume; All but three of the top 10 institutions in terms of publications are from China and all are from developed countries; A large-scale collaborative network has not yet formed among authors. (2) Through keyword clustering analysis, it was found that "green roof," "performance," and "UHI" were the three keywords with the highest frequency. The research direction of this theme mainly includes five primary themes: rainwater management, urban biodiversity, building energy efficiency, alleviating urban heat islands and improving air quality, sustainable development, and public health. Through keyword hot words, it is found that the frequency of occurrence is relatively high, mainly involving energy conservation, alleviating urban heat islands, biodiversity, and sustainable development. The research on sustainable development, its impact on urban microclimate, and air quality remains a hot topic through keyword highlighting. (3) Co-citation analysis was used to identify the most influential journals, highly cited publications, and authors. (4) Three potential study objectives have been identified: synergistic development with other green infrastructures from an urban planning standpoint, localized research on green roofs, and photovoltaic green roofs.

Phenylboronic Acid Functionalized Calix[4]pyrrole-Based Solid-State Supramolecular Electrolyte.

Solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) suffer from the low ionic conductivity and poor capability of suppressing lithium (Li) dendrites, which limits their utility in the preparation of all solid-state Li-metal batteries (LMBs). It is reported here a flexible solid supramolecular electrolyte that incorporates a new anion capture agent, namely a phenylboronic acid functionalized calix[4]pyrrole (C4P), into a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) matrix. The resulting solid-state supramolecular electrolyte demonstrates high ionic conductivity (1.9 × 10-3  S cm-1 at 60 °C) and a high Li+ transference number ( t Li + ${t}_{{\mathrm{Li}}^{\mathrm{ + }}}$  = 0.70). Furthermore, the assembled Li|C4P-PEO-LiTFSI|LiFePO4 cell allows for stable cycling over 1200 cycles at 1 C at 60 °C, as well as good rate performance. The favorable performance of the C4P-PEO-LiTFSI SPE leads to suggest it can prove useful in the creation of high energy density solid-state LMBs.

Experimental study on monitoring microwave ablation efficacy by real-time shear wave elastography in ex vivo porcine brain.

Objective: Glioma constitutes the most common primary malignant tumor in the central nervous system. In recent years, microwave ablation (MWA) was expected to be applied in the minimally invasive treatment of brain tumors. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of microwave ablation in ex vivo brain tissue by Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) to explore the application value of real-time SWE in monitoring the process of MWA of brain tissue.Methods: Thirty ex vivo brain tissues were treated with different microwave power and ablation duration. The morphologic and microscopic changes of MWA tissues were observed, and the diameter of the ablation areas was measured. In this experiment, SWE is used to quantitatively evaluate brain tissue's degree of thermal injury immediately after ablation.Results: This study It is found that the ablation range measured by SWE after ablation is in good consistency with the pathological range [ICCSWEL1-L1 = 0.975(95% CI:0.959 - 0.985), ICCSWEL2-L2 = 0.887(95% CI:0.779 - 0.938)]. At the same time, the SWE value after ablation is significantly higher than before (mean ± SD,9.88 ± 2.64 kPa vs.23.6 ± 13.75 kPa; p < 0.001). In this study, the SWE value of tissues in different pathological states was further analyzed by the ROC curve (AUC = 0.86), and the threshold for distinguishing normal tissue from tissue after ablation was 13.7 kPa. The accuracy of evaluating ablation tissue using SWE can reach 84.72%, providing data support for real-time quantitative observation of the ablation range.Conclusion: In conclusion the accurate visualization and real-time evaluation of the organizational change range of the MWA process can be realized by real-time SWE.

Liquid Nitrogen Cryoballoon Ablation System for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation: A Multicenter, Prospective, Single-Arm Clinical Trial.

Background: Cryoballoon ablation (CBA) has emerged as an effective treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). Objectives: This study sought to assess the performance of a novel liquid nitrogen-driven CBA system and evaluate its safety and efficacy in the treatment of drug-resistant paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). Methods: This was a prospective multicenter single-arm clinical trial with 10 participating tertiary hospitals enrolling 176 patients with PAF. All participants received liquid nitrogen-driven CBA developed by the Cryofocus Medtech Company. Scheduled follow-up was performed before discharge and 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after CBA. The primary endpoints were defined as 1) treatment success (freedom from antiarrhythmic drugs and atrial tachycardia at 12 months after CBA); and 2) immediate success rate of pulmonary vein isolation. The safety endpoint was the incidence of device- and procedure-related adverse events (AEs) and all-cause mortality. Results: A total of 172 participants were included, with an average age of 59.22 ± 9.25 years and 99 (57.56%) of them men. Immediate success rate was 97.67% (95% CI: 94.15%-99.36%) and 12-month treatment success rate was 82.56% (95% CI: 76.89%-88.23%), including a late recurrence rate of 13.61%. Incidences of device- and procedure-related AEs were 2.27% and 25.00%, respectively. Phrenic nerve palsy (PNP) occurred in 6 patients, of which 5 recovered during follow-up. Although the incidence of total severe AEs was 17.05%, including an all-cause mortality of 0.57%, only 1 case of permanent PNP was related to the CBA procedure. Conclusions: This premarketing prospective multicenter single-arm clinical trial demonstrated that the liquid nitrogen cryoablation system is safe and effective in the treatment of PAF.

Alisol B blocks the development of HFD-induced obesity by triggering the LKB1-AMPK signaling in subcutaneous adipose tissue.

As a global epidemic disease, obesity causes dysfunction of glucose and lipid metabolism leading to persistently high morbidity and mortality. Given the difficulty to achieve and maintain weight loss through controlling diet and physical exercise, pharmacotherapy is considered an effective treatment for obesity. This investigation revealed that alisol B, a triterpene monomer isolated from the classical Chinese medicine Alisma orientale (Sam.) Juzep, functioned in suppressing adipogenesis and reducing the mass of subcutaneous adipose tissue, resulting in the reduction of weight gain, and improvements of hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and insulin resistance in HFD-induced obese mice. In consistent to the results, alisol B also significantly inhibited adipocyte differentiation and maturation in vitro. Furthermore, our data revealed that the effects of alisol B on adipogenesis were mediated by LKB1-AMPK signaling pathway. In total, alisol B could be a potential lead compound which contributes to the improvement of obesity-related metabolic disorders.

The promoting effect of modified Dioscorea pills on vascular remodeling in chronic cerebral hypoperfusion via the Ang/Tie signaling pathway.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of modified Dioscorea pills (MDP) on microcirculatory remodeling in the hippocampus of rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) through the angiopoietin (Ang)/tyrosine kinase receptor tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains (Ang receptor) 2 (Tie-2) signaling pathways, which may underlie the cognitive improvement observed in CCH rats. Methods: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats raised under specific pathogen-free conditions were randomly divided into three groups: control group (10 rats), model group (15 rats), and MDP group (15 rats). The rats in the model group and MDP group underwent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion using the 2-vessel occlusion (2-VO) method to induce CCH. Rats in the control group underwent the same surgical procedures as those in the model group, except for ligation and occlusion of the carotid arteries. After 1 week of 2-VO, rats in the MDP group were administered MDP condensed decoction intragastrically at a dose of 1 ml/100 g body weight (prepared by the Preparation Room of Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) for 45 days, while rats in the other two groups received normal saline intragastrically with the same dose and duration as the MDP group. After the intervention, all rats were euthanized, and brain perfusion was performed to obtain the hippocampal tissue for analysis. Immunohistochemical staining for CD43 was performed to assess microvessel density (MVD); western blot and the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to analyze the expression of proteins and genes in angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), Tie-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) proteins and genes in the hippocampal tissue and compute the Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio. Results: MDP treatment reduced neuronal loss and promoted restoration of the damaged hippocampal structure in CCH rats. The model group showed significantly higher MVD (14.93 ± 1.92) compared to the control group (5.78 ± 1.65) (P < 0.01), whereas MDP treatment further increased MVD (21.19 ± 2.62). Western blot and RT-PCR analysis revealed that CCH significantly increased the expression of Ang-1, Ang-2, Tie-2, and VEGF proteins and genes, while MDP treatment further significantly upregulated the expression of these proteins and genes. In addition, MDP significantly elevated the gene and protein expression of the Ang-1/Ang-2 ratio compared to the control group (P = 0.041, P = 0.029). Conclusion: CCH induces microvascular neogenesis in the hippocampus, and MDP promotes angiogenesis and microcirculation remodeling in CCH rats via the Ang/Tie signaling pathway, which may be an important mechanism for its restorative effects on hippocampal perfusion and improvement of cognitive function in CCH rats.

Cardiac Fibroblast Activation Induced by Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation Depends on the HIF-1α/miR-212-5p/KLF4 Pathway.

It is widely accepted that miRNAs play an important role in the pathogenesis of myocardial fibrosis. This study aimed to identify a new pathway of miR-212-5p in the activation of human cardiac fibroblasts (HCFs) induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). First, we found that KLF4 protein was markedly decreased in OGD-induced HCFs. Then, bioinformatics analysis and verification experiments were used to identify the existence of an interaction of KLF4 with miR-212-5p. Functional experiments indicated that OGD significantly upregulated the expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) in HCFs, which positively regulated miR-212-5p transcription by binding to its promoter. MiR-212-5p inhibited the expression of Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) protein by binding to the 3' untranslated coding regions (UTRs) of KLF4 mRNA. Inhibition of miR-212-5p effectively inhibited the activation of OGD-induced HCFs by upregulating KLF4 expression and inhibited cardiac fibrosis in vivo and in vitro.

Overexpression of potato ORANGE (StOR) and StOR mutant in Arabidopsis confers increased carotenoid accumulation and tolerance to abiotic stress.

ORANGE (OR) plays essential roles in regulating carotenoid homeostasis and enhancing the ability of plants to adapt to environmental stress. However, OR proteins have been functionally characterized in only a few plant species, and little is known about the role of potato OR (StOR). In this study, we characterized the StOR gene in potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Atlantic). StOR is predominantly localized to the chloroplast, and its transcripts are tissue-specifically expressed and significantly induced in response to abiotic stress. Compared with wild type, overexpression of StOR increased ß-carotene levels up to 4.8-fold, whereas overexpression of StORHis with a conserved arginine to histidine substitution promoted ß-carotene accumulation up to 17.6-fold in Arabidopsis thaliana calli. Neither StOR nor StORHis overexpression dramatically affected the transcript levels of carotenoid biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, overexpression of either StOR or StORHis increased abiotic stress tolerance in Arabidopsis, which was associated with higher photosynthetic capacity and antioxidative activity. Taken together, these results indicate that StOR could be exploited as a potential new genetic tool for the improvement of crop nutritional quality and environmental stress tolerance.

Local environmental legislation and employment growth: evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms.

In China, there exists a huge debate for a long time on whether a double dividend, reducing pollution emissions and boosting employment, can be achieved by intensifying environmental regulations. In this paper, we use two data sets on provincial environmental legislation and Chinese manufacturing firms during 1998-2013, to estimate the impact of provincial environmental legislation on the firms' employment growth with a difference-in-difference (DID) model. Results showed that (1) after the implementation of environmental legislation, the employment growth of regulated manufacturing firms decreases significantly by 3.07%, and this result is robust to alternative tests. (2) Local environmental legislation reduces employment growth mainly via the influencing mechanism of the firm's entry and exit, export, and innovation. (3) The local environmental legislation has heterogeneous impacts on employment growth in different industries and different regions, and the estimated effect is more obvious in high-pollution industries and areas with strong enforcement. (4) Environmental legislation significantly improves job destruction and reduces job creation, resulting in a - 3.86% job net increase. Due to the long-term implementation of extensive economic growth mode, China's ecological environment has been deteriorating since the 1990s, and environmental pollution has attracted more and more social attention. Until 2013, the Communist Party of China put forward 'ecological civilization', and building a beautiful new China with harmonious coexistence between man and nature has become an important development strategy. Meanwhile, starting from the implementation of the Two-Control-Zone policy in 1998, China has implemented numerous environmental policies in just ten years. These environmental policies have greatly improved the quality of China's ecological environment, but their economic effects have been controversial. Given the special historical period, this paper helps assess the impact of Chinese environmental policies on employment and provides a more objective policy evaluation and implications for improving existing laws and regulations to achieve higher social welfare. To achieve this goal of balancing the improvement of the ecological environment and high employment level, environmental policies firstly should be flexible to ensure that the environmental standards follow the firm's characteristics and regional characteristics to avoid "one size fits all". Particularly, for regions with poor economic development or having a single industrial structure, the implementation cycle of the environmental policies should be extended to ensure that they have enough time to achieve industrial restructuring and complete the environmental protection goals. Secondly, we find that environmental legislation hurts employment growth by limiting export decisions, so the government should use multiple channels to stabilize export when implementing environmental legislation. Thirdly, technological R&D and innovation play an important role in the effect of environmental legislation on firms' employment growth. Therefore, the government should provide a more flexible environment for firms' R&D and innovation with appropriate fiscal policies and technical support.

[Contribution Analysis of External Source Pollution Load and Environmental Capacity Estimation of Reservoirs in Central Yunnan Plateau].

To explore the source of the pollution load and its contribution rate in the upper reaches of the plateau reservoir and to analyze the water environment capacity of the reservoir, we selected the Chaishitan Reservoir in the Yunnan Plateau as the research object, applied the pollutant discharge coefficient method to estimate the source of external pollution in the upstream basin of the reservoir, used the simultaneous monitoring data of hydrology and water quality to calculate pollution load into the reservoir, and used the eutrophication model to calculate the maximum capacity of TN and TP in the reservoir under different water quality target scenarios. The results showed that:① the main characteristic pollutants in Chaishitan Reservoir and the above basin were TN and TP. ② COD and TP in the upper reaches of the reservoir mainly came from rural non-point source pollution, with contribution rates of 49.40% and 50.11%, respectively; NH4+-N and TN mainly came from urban domestic pollution sources, with contribution rates of 45.76% and 33.77%, respectively. Among the contributions of rural non-point source pollution, the contribution rates of COD and TP in Luliang District were 34.82% and 36.82%, respectively. The contributions of COD, NH4+-N, TN, and TP to urban domestic pollution were the highest in Qilin District, all of which were up to 65%. ③ The inflows of COD, NH4+-N, TN, and TP were 28050.90, 2465.16, 4680.54, and 870.93 t·a-1, respectively. The inflow of TN and TP pollution load was 4637.80 t·a-1 and 125.04 t·a-1, respectively. ④ When the target of water quality was Class Ⅲ, and the requirements of the Water Function Zoning of Yunnan province were met, the environmental capacities of TN and TP were 1102.62 t·a-1 and 54.85 t·a-1, respectively. Rural non-point source pollution and urban domestic pollution sources were the main sources of pollution in the upper reaches of Chaishitan Reservoir, which were priority control sources. These research results can provide a scientific theoretical basis for pollution source treatment in the plateau reservoir basin.

Pulmonary fibrosis in primary Sjögren syndrome: computed tomography, clinical features, and associated clinical factors.

INTRODUCTION: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is common in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS). Pulmonary fibrosis significantly reduces the patient's quality of life. Therefore, better understanding of the characteristics of patients with pulmonary fibrosis is necessary. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to evaluate the computed tomography (CT) and clinical features of pSS­related ILD and to explore the factors associated with fibrotic ILD in patients with pSS. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In total, 151 patients with pSS­related ILD were retrospectively studied for their demographic and clinical characteristics. The patients were categorized into the nonfibrosing ILD and fibrosing ILD groups based on their CT findings. The clinicl, laboratory, and CT findings from both groups were compared to determine the influencing factors associated with the condition. RESULTS: The nonfibrosing ILD and fibrosing ILD groups comprised 103 and 48 patients, respectively. As compared with the nonfibrosing ILD group, the fibrosing ILD group had a shorter disease duration, higher frequency of dry cough and shortness of breath, more patients with ground­glass opacity, mediastinal lymph node disease, and pleural lesions on chest CT, and lower frequency of dry mouth and eyes. Dry cough and shortness of breath were independent predictors of pulmonary fibrosis in the patients with pSS (P = 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of dry cough and shortness of breath in the patients with pSS may indicate concomitant pulmonary fibrosis. High­resolution chest CT can be used for better insights on the occurrence and severity of pulmonary fibrosis in these patients.

Rare massive hepatic hemangioblastoma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic hemangioblastoma is an extremely rare disease; only three cases have been reported in the literature, and its magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings are unreported. CASE SUMMARY: We report a case of incidental hepatic hemangioblastoma. The patient had no history of von Hippel-Lindau disease or associated clinical signs. Computed tomography and MRI showed a large tumor occupying almost half of the right side of the liver with expansive growth, well-defined borders, heterogeneous mildly progressive enhancement, and visibly enlarged blood supply vessels. Flow voids were observed on T2-weighted imaging. Both diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map findings of the mass were predominantly inhomogeneous. Postoperative pathology indicated a diagnosis of hemangioblastoma. CONCLUSION: Enlarged peripheral blood-supplying vessels and progressive enhancement seem to be typical imaging features of hepatic hemangioblastoma. However, a solid significantly enhanced mass with a low signal on DWI and a high signal on ADC may also be helpful for the diagnosis of hepatic hemangioblastoma.

Sinonasal/basicranial myxofibrosarcoma: a report of 6 surgical cases combined with a literature review

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to report 6 cases of sinonasal/basicranial myxofibrosarcoma and review demographic data, clinical symptoms, diagnostic methods, therapeutic methods, and prognosis on this subject in the literature. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of six patients referred to our hospital during a 10-year period from 2010 to 2020. Results: In this series, there were four males and two females. The tumours originated from the maxillary sinus in all six cases. The symptoms were nonspecific, and all patients underwent endoscopic resection alone or combined with open resection. The postoperative period was uneventful. All patients were diagnosed with myxofibrosarcoma. After a median follow-up period of 36 (6-52) months, the recurrence rate of MFS was 66.7% (4/6), and the mortality rate was 50% (3/6). Conclusion: Sinonasal/basicranial MFS is a rare neoplasm, and the most common primary site is the maxillary sinus. When diagnosing MFS, osteolysis may help rule out benign lesions. So far surgery is the mainstay of treatment for sinonasal/basicranial MFS. Our surgical strategy using endoscopic resection or endoscopic resection combined with open resection to achieve a negative surgical margin and using re-excision operations to treat relapsed cases may be recommended to rhinologists who treat MFS. Prospective randomised trials are needed to study the role of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and our surgical strategy for sinonasal/basicranial MFS. Diagnosing patients at an earlier stage and better patient compliance with follow-up plans may improve the prognosis of patients.

Potential prognostic markers of retained placenta in dairy cows identified by plasma metabolomics coupled with clinical laboratory indicators.

The complex etiopathology of retained placenta (RP) and hazards associated with it has made it crucial for researchers and clinical veterinarians to study pathogenesis, early-warning diagnosis, and treatment. This study aimed to screen the potential prognostic markers of RP in dairy cows using plasma metabolomics coupled with clinical laboratory indicators. Blood samples were collected from 260 dairy cows at 21, 14, 7, and 0 days before parturition and 7, 14, and 21 days after parturition. Consequently, 10 healthy cows and 10 cows with RP with similar parity, body condition score, and age were included in the study. The changes in clinical laboratory indicators of the enrolled cows from 21 before parturition to 21 days after parturition were assessed. After initial overview of the multivariate statistical data using PCA analysis, the data were subjected to orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis. Compared with cows with RP at 7 days before parturition, the levels of endothelin and 6-keto-prostaglandin F1α were increased in healthy cows, while the level of estradiol and progesterone decreased. Adenine dinucleotide phosphate, hypoxanthine, guanine dinucleotide phosphate, inosine monophosphate, and L-arginine were revealed as potential prognostic markers of cows with RP at 7 days before parturition involved in the regulation of taste transduction, purine and glutathione metabolism, and autophagy. The best period for the early-warning diagnosis of RP in dairy cows is 7 days before parturition, and purine metabolism and autophagy may play a vital role in the occurrence and development of RP in dairy cows.