Huangkui capsules for diabetic nephropathy: Comprehensive review of efficacy and molecular mechanisms.

Background: The management of kidney diseases urgently needs additional therapeutic options. Encouraging evidence suggests the efficacy of Huangkui capsules (HKCs), a plant-derived traditional medicine, in treating various subtypes of nephropathy. However, current evidence is fragmented between clinical outcomes and mechanistic insights.

Cross-Informant Comparison of Depressive Symptoms in Youth: A Network Approach.

Developmental researchers generally use a multi-informant approach to assess youth depressive symptoms to increase diagnostic accuracy and reliability, but informant discrepancies between youth and caregivers are common. Previous studies have predominantly used the sum score-level approach to examine informant discrepancies, which may obscure the heterogeneity of depression. This study adopted a symptom-level approach, network analysis, to examine informant discrepancies regarding depressive symptoms.

KYNU is a potential metabolic-related biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma by Raman spectroscopy, metabolomics, and transcriptomics analysis.

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor with high incidence in Southeast Asia and Southern China, characterized by difficulties in early diagnosis and high recurrence rates after treatment. Metabolic reprogramming plays a crucial role in the development and progression of tumors. In-depth studies on the metabolic characteristics and molecular mechanisms of NPC are essential to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets.

Lycium Barbarum Polysaccharides Protects Zebrafish Larvae From Nonylphenol-Induced Neurodevelopmental Disorders via the p38/5-HT1A/Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway.

Severe contamination with nonylphenol (NP) poses exposure risks and potential health problems for humans. However, direct evidence linking NP exposure to neurodevelopmental disorders in infants and young children remains limited, and the underlying mechanisms of such effects are unclear. Furthermore, neurodevelopmental disorders are characterized by their far-reaching impacts and lack of effective cures, emphasizing an urgent need to develop drugs targeting the treatment of these disorders.

Depression and health outcomes: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies.

Background: Currently, most studies of depression are limited to a single disease endpoint.

Aims: This study aimed to conduct an umbrella review to comprehensively assess the association between depression and health outcomes.

Method: Until December 17, 2024, we conducted a systematic search of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science.

Enhanced cosmetic outcomes with central venous catheter drainage in transoral vestibular endoscopic thyroidectomy: a prospective randomized-controlled trial.

With the rising incidence of thyroid cancer, there is an increasing focus on the cosmetic outcomes of thyroid surgery. This study introduces the use of a central venous catheter (CVC) tube as an innovative approach to enhance the aesthetic outcomes of drainage following transoral vestibular endoscopic thyroidectomy. A total of 104 patients were evenly assigned to either the conventional drainage tube group or the CVC tube group.

Faster quantum subroutine for matrix chain multiplication via Chebyshev approximation.

Matrix operations are crucial to various computational tasks in various fields, and quantum computing offers a promising avenue to accelerate these operations. We present a quantum matrix multiplication (QMM) algorithm that employs amplitude encoding and combines quantum walks with Chebyshev polynomial approximation to achieve quadratic acceleration for matrix chain multiplication where the same matrix is applied K times while maintaining logarithmic complexity in matrix dimension and precision. The algorithm can be applied to any complex matrix.

Nonvitrectomizing vitreous surgery in patients with macular holes.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling combined with gas tamponade in nonvitrectomizing vitreous surgery (NVS) for macular holes (MHs).

Methods: A total of 21 patients (21 eyes) with MHs who underwent NVS with ILM peeling and a small C3F8 gas bubble tamponade and completed at least 6 months of follow-up were included. The status of hole closure and visual acuity change were evaluated.

Sex disparities in papillary thyroid cancer survival: Divergent patterns of relative and absolute effects across the age spectrum.

Purpose: This retrospective cohort study aimed to reevaluate the prognostic impact of sex and determine whether age modifies the effect of sex on cancer-specific survival (CSS) in PTC patients.

Methods: Data for PTC patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 were retrieved from the SEER database. The primary outcome was CSS.

Complex Alkaloid-Type Polycycles via Aza-Michael/Epoxidation of Indole-7-Carbaldehydes with Vinyl Sulfonium Salts and Alkenyl Thianthrenium Salts.

An efficient synthesis of pyrroloquinolines has been developed via the aza-Michael/epoxidation cascade process in a diastereospecific manner. The domino reaction occurred properly to afford the desired tetracyclic indoles in 50->99% isolated yields. This synthetic protocol displayed especially broad substrate generality with respect to both indole-7-carbaldehydes and vinylsulfonium salts.

How Faithful Flt3-Cre Mouse is to Hematopoietic Lineage Tracing?

Flt3 gene expression is known to occur at a specific development stage of hematopoiesis in mice. Flt3-Cre reporter mice have been utilized in lineage tracing studies. This review systematically evaluates different Flt3-Cre reporter constructs, focusing on labeling efficiency and consistency with endogenous Flt3 expression patterns.

Born to Fear the Machine? Genetic and Environmental Influences on Negative Attitudes toward AI Agents.

Despite the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) agents, substantial individual differences in public acceptance persist. To explain the difference in attitudes toward AI agents, existing research has primarily focused on environmental factors. However, evolutionary psychology research suggests that the mechanism of outgroup rejection has a genetic basis, highlighting the need to explore the potential genetic underpinnings of negative attitudes toward AI agents as an outgroup in human society.

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Cancer.

Persistent and intense endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is widely acknowledged as a hallmark of tumorigenesis. To restore ER homeostasis, cells activate the unfolded protein response (UPR), which is aberrantly regulated in cancer cells. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms through which the UPR facilitates tumor progression.

Ambulatory endoscopic thyroidectomy via a unilateral-axillary approach has an acceptable safety profile for thyroid nodule.

Background: To compare the safety, efficacy, and economic outcomes of ambulatory with inpatient gasless trans-axillary endoscopic unilateral thyroidectomy (GTEUT).

Methods: Data were collected from patients who underwent GTEUT in the day surgery or inpatient wards of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, between January 1, 2021, and January 1, 2024. All surgeries were performed by the same experienced surgical team, using identical inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Ribosome Engineering for Enhanced Butenyl-Spinosyn Production in Saccharopolyspora pogona.

Ribosome engineering, a strategy that utilizes antibiotic resistance mutations to modulate ribosomal function, has emerged as a powerful approach for enhancing microbial metabolite production. In this study, ribosome engineering was applied to Saccharopolyspora pogona ASAGF2-G4 under streptomycin selection to improve butenyl-spinosyn production. Screening for streptomycin-resistant mutants at concentrations ranging from 2 to 20 µg/mL resulted in the isolation of 58 mutants, of which 27.

Transverse-mode control in VCSEL with an intra-cavity metalens.

This paper presents a comprehensive numerical analysis of an 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) integrated with intra-cavity metalens. Utilizing the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, we develop a three-dimensional model to examine the impact of an intra-cavity metalens on the modal behavior of the VCSEL. The metalens is designed to converge the fundamental mode towards the central region of the VCSEL cavity.

Circulating tumor DNA laboratory processes and clinical applications in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), a subset of cell-free DNA (cfDNA), originates from primary tumors and metastatic lesions in cancer patients, often carrying genomic variations identical to those of the primary tumor. ctDNA analysis via liquid biopsy has proven to be a valuable biomarker for early cancer detection, minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment, monitoring tumor recurrence, and evaluating treatment efficacy. However, despite advancements in ctDNA analysis technologies, standardized protocols for its extraction and detection have yet to be established.

Research on multi-algorithm and explainable AI techniques for predictive modeling of acute spinal cord injury using multimodal data.

Machine learning technology has been extensively applied in the medical field, particularly in the context of disease prediction and patient rehabilitation assessment. Acute spinal cord injury (ASCI) is a sudden trauma that frequently results in severe neurological deficits and a significant decline in quality of life. Early prediction of neurological recovery is crucial for the personalized treatment planning.

Micro-scale thermofluidics enable autonomous and scalable CRISPR diagnostics for sexually transmitted infections screening.

The development of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based nucleic acid detection has recently been a center of interest for next-generation molecular diagnostics. Despite considerable advances, simple and effective strategies to harness the isothermal amplification reaction and CRISPR-based detection for maximal performance and minimal complexity are still desirable. Here, a thermofluidic approach leverages the micro-scale chemical and physical mechanism to perform autonomous and scalable CRISPR-based diagnostics (CRISPR-Dx) in a greatly simplified format, which was called "Thermofluidic CRISPR".

Intrapleural dual blockade of IL-6 and PD-L1 reprograms CAF dynamics and the tumor microenvironment in lung cancer-associated malignant pleural effusion.

Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a severe complication in lung cancer, characterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and limited therapeutic options. This study investigates the role of IL-6 in regulating immune suppression and tumor progression in MPE and evaluates the efficacy of dual IL-6 and PD-L1 blockade.

Methods: IL-6 levels were measured in MPE and paired serum samples from lung cancer patients, and correlations with PD-L1 expression and clinical outcomes were analyzed using publicly available datasets.

CDK4/6-mediated phosphorylation of DUB3 promotes YAP1 stability and hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal malignancies, frequently characterized by high expression and activation of Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1), a key effector in the Hippo signaling pathway. Despite its crucial role in HCC progression, effective therapies directly targeting YAP1 remain challenging, underscoring the need to explore the regulatory mechanisms underlying its aberrant expression and activation. In this study, we identify cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) as uncharacterized regulators of YAP1 in HCC.

Diagnostic and prognostic potential of cell-free RNAs in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma for brain tumors.

Systematic assessment of the clinical applicability of cell-free RNAs (cfRNAs), which includes broader RNA categories beyond microRNAs, for patients with brain tumors remains largely unexplored due to the lack of sensitive profiling technologies. Our study endeavors to bridge this gap by utilizing an optimized cell-free transcriptome profiling technique that we have recently developed. We comprehensively profiled the cell-free transcriptome in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from a total of 85 patients with glioma, meningioma, or tumor-free central nervous system diseases.

The Role of the Hexosamine-Sialic Acid Metabolic Pathway Mediated by GFPT1/NANS in c-Myc-Driven Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently involves metabolic reprogramming, which promotes oncogenesis and metastasis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain insufficiently explored. In this study, we aim to investigate the metabolic abnormalities in c-Myc-driven HCC development and their potential therapeutic implications.

Enhancing antitumor immunity: the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors, anti-angiogenic therapy, and macrophage reprogramming.

Cancer treatment has long been hindered by the complexity of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the mechanisms that tumors employ to evade immune detection. Recently, the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and anti-angiogenic therapies has emerged as a promising approach to improve cancer treatment outcomes. This review delves into the role of immunostimulatory molecules and ICIs in enhancing anti-tumor immunity, while also discussing the therapeutic potential of anti-angiogenic strategies in cancer.

Sense of meaning in life, self-acceptance, and prosocial behavior: an application of network analysis methods.

Objective: To explore the characteristics and core items of the network structure between school students' sense of meaning in life, self-acceptance, and prosocial behavior, and to provide a basis for understanding the relationship between their sense of meaning in life, self-acceptance and prosocial behavior and related interventions.

Methods: A survey of 1232 school students was conducted using the Self-Acceptance Scale, the prosocial Behavior Scale, and the Sense of Meaning of Life Scale. Network analysis was used to construct the network of prosocial behavior, self-acceptance, and sense of the meaning of life among school students, and the software R was used for statistical analysis and visualization.