Effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on postoperative liver function in patients undergoing partial hepatectomy: a study protocol for a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Background: Partial hepatectomy remains a primary therapeutic intervention for various hepatic diseases. However, several intraoperative factors, including surgical manipulation, substantial blood loss, the need for blood transfusions, and hypoxic stress, can significantly impair liver function. Current perioperative strategies aimed at protecting the liver exhibit certain limitations.

Dissolving microneedles enabled delivery of Oxaliplatin- sodium butyrate loaded outer membrane vesicles against rectal cancer.

Background: Oxaliplatin (OXA) is a commonly used drug for the treatment of rectal cancer (RC). However, traditional administration methods are plagued by low efficiency, high systemic side effects, and poor patient tolerance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a targeted drug delivery system to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity.

Ginsenoside Rb1 ameliorates post-doxorubicin treatment myocardial hypertrophy via CaN/NFATc4/GATA4.

Background: Myocardial hypertrophy is a crucial pathological change that occurs during post-anthracycline treatment cardiomyopathy. The effects of ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) on anthracycline-induced hypertrophy remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the antihypertrophic effect of Rb1 on post-doxorubicin (DOX) treatment myocardial hypertrophy and underlying mechanism.

Regulatory Genomic Circuitry of Brain Age by Integrative Functional Genomic Analyses.

Brain age gap (BAG) is a valuable biomarker for evaluating brain healthy status and detecting age-associated cognitive degeneration. However, the genetic architecture of BAG and the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we estimated brain age from magnetic resonance imaging with improved accuracy using our proposed adversarial convolution network (ACN), followed by applying the ACN model to an elder cohort from UK Biobank.

Probiotic-Drug Conjugates Achieve Synchronized Site-Specific Probiotic Colonization and On-Demand Drug Release against Ulcerative Colitis and Its Complication.

The oral surface-modified probiotic therapy, capable of maintaining activity and adhesion of probiotics under harsh gastrointestinal conditions, is effective in treating ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the currently reported surface-modified probiotics suffer from poor selective colonization at a lesion site and limited codelivery capability with other treatment modalities due to different physicochemical properties. Herein, we develop triggerable probiotic-drug conjugates that enable synchronous site-specific probiotic colonization and on-demand drug release for the treatment of UC and its complication.

Serum Neuron-Specific Enolase and High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Expression Levels and Their Clinical Significance in Patients With Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Identifying effective and highly specific serum biomarkers is crucial for the early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of AD. This study aimed to explore the serum levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and their clinical significance in AD patients.

Quadratus lumborum block at the lateral supra-arcuate ligament for postoperative analgesia: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The quadratus lumborum block at the lateral supra-arcuate ligament (QLB-LSAL) is a recent development in the field of regional anaesthetic techniques, offering several advantages over the traditional quadratus lumborum block. However, most current studies on this topic are single-centre and small-sample studies, which may limit the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this block method.

Methods: This protocol adopts the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Multi-modal endoscopic artificial intelligence system improving classification of colorectal subepithelial lesions: a multicenter study.

Background: Colorectal subepithelial lesions (SELs) present with similar endoscopic appearance but diverse in histology and prognosis, making precise diagnosis crucial but challenging.

Aim: This study aims to develop a multi-modal endoscopic artificial intelligence (AI) system to facilitate colorectal SELs classification.

Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed colorectal SELs were retrospectively enrolled from 7 hospitals.

Manganese in health and disease.

Manganese (Mn) is a crucial trace element that actively participates in a diverse array of physiological processes. Mn is maintained at appropriate levels in the body by absorption and excretion by the body. Dysregulation of Mn homeostasis can lead to a variety of diseases, especially the accumulation of Mn in the brain, resulting in toxic side effects.

Exploring multi-instance learning in whole slide imaging: Current and future perspectives.

Whole slide images (WSI), due to their gigabyte-scale size and ultra-high resolution, play a significant role in diagnostic pathology. However, the enormous data size makes it difficult to directly input these images into image processing units (GPU) for computation, limiting the development of automated screening and diagnostic algorithms. As an effective computational framework, multi-instance learning (MIL) has provided strong support in addressing this challenge.

Characteristics of tongue images and tongue coating bacteria in patients with colorectal cancer.

Background: Tongue diagnosis can assess the physiological functions and pathological conditions of colorectal cancer (CRC).

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of tongue images and the bacteria composition of tongue coating in patients with CRC.

Methods: A total of 59 CRC patients were enrolled and underwent tongue image analysis using a diagnostic instrument.

Disrupting Cdc42 activation-driven filopodia formation with low-intensity ultrasound and microbubbles: A novel strategy to block ovarian cancer metastasis.

Metastasis is a primary cause of mortality and treatment failure in ovarian cancer, with limited effective therapeutic strategies. Low-intensity ultrasound (LIUS) and microbubbles (MBs) has been demonstrated as an adjunctive technique capable of enhancing drug delivery and suppressing tumor metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood.

Metagenomic analysis characterizes stage-specific gut microbiota in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with a decade-long preclinical pathological period that can be divided into several stages. Emerging evidence has revealed that the microbiota-gut-brain axis plays an important role in AD pathology. However, the role of gut microbiota in different AD stages has not been well characterized.

Interaction between gut microbiota and T cell immunity in colorectal cancer.

This review delves into the complex and multi-layered mechanisms that govern the interaction between gut microbiota and T cells in the context of colorectal cancer (CRC), revealing a novel "microbiota-immune regulatory landscape" within the tumor microenvironment. As CRC progresses, the gut microbiota experiences a significant transformation in both its composition and metabolic patterns. On one hand, specific microbial entities within the gut microbiota can directly engage with T cells, functioning as "immunological triggers" that shape T-cell behavior.

Multiple primary malignancies and gut microbiome.

Background: Multiple primary malignancies (MPM) are two or more independent primary malignancies. Recently, the relationship between microbiome and various tumors has been gradually focused on.

Objective: To describe the relationship between MPM patients (MPMs) and gut microbiome.

Spatiotemporally resolved transcriptomics reveals the cellular dynamics of human retinal development.

The morphogenesis and cellular interactions in developing retina are incompletely characterized. The full understanding needs a precise mapping of the gene expression with a single-cell spatial resolution. Here, we present a spatial transcriptomic (ST) resource for the developing human retina at six developmental stages.

MCT4: a key player influencing gastric cancer metastasis and participating in the regulation of the metastatic immune microenvironment.

Background: MCT4 is a lactate transporter associated with glycolysis, which has been found to be associated with various tumorigenesis and development processes. Gastric cancer is a malignant disease with high incidence and mortality. The role of MCT4 in the occurrence and development of gastric cancer has not been clarified.

Successful treatment with oxaliplatin and programmed cell death protein 1 inhibitor in recurrent advanced endometrial carcinoma with mismatch repair defects: a case report and literature review.

The incidence of endometrial cancer (EC), a widely prevalent gynecological malignancy, is witnessing a global surge. Although early-stage cancer demonstrates promising outcomes, advanced cancer is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Nevertheless, for specific pathological types or molecular subtypes of advanced EC, an accurate treatment algorithm can lead to a favorable prognosis.

Prognostic value of chest computer tomography combined with serum platelet count, c-reactive protein levels and oxygenation index in severe community-acquired pneumonia.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of chest computed tomography (CT), platelet count (PLT), serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and oxygenation index (OI) in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data collected from 226 patients with CAP who received treatment in Huzhou Central Hospital from February 2022 to November 2023. Patients were divided into two groups based on pneumonia severity: Severe group (patients with severe CAP, n=113) and Typical group (patients with typical pneumonia, n=113).

Emerging and stirring Amoebic liver abscess in HIV seropositive men who have sex with men in South-Eastern China.

Amebic liver abscess (ALA) is rare in Chinese population due to dietary habit. Nine Chinese HIV-seropositive men who have sex with men (MSM) with occurrence of amebic liver abscess (ALA) was retrospectively studied. Six participants had concurrent HIV/Syphilis and two had HIV/HCV.

Long-Term Survival of Node-Positive Breast Cancer with Complete Nodal Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Treated with Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy Alone: A Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: There exist concerns regarding the use of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy alone in node-positive breast cancer patients who have a clinical/radiological complete response in the axilla and are negative on histopathology after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). We hereby conducted a meta-analysis examining 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of such patients.

Methods: PubMed, the Cochrane CENTRAL Library, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched up to July 30, 2024, for studies reporting survival data.

Fecal occult blood affects intestinal microbial community structure in colorectal cancer.

Background: Gut microbes have been used to predict CRC risk. Fecal occult blood test (FOBT) has been recommended for population screening of CRC.

Objective: To analyze the effects of fecal occult blood test (FOBT) on gut microbes.

Diagnostic Application of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Analysis in Cases of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in which Diagnosis Cannot Be Confirmed by High-Resolution Computed Tomography.

Purpose: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive fibrotic lung disorder characterized by dry cough, fatigue, and exacerbated dyspnea. The prognosis of IPF is notably unfavorable, becoming extremely poor when the disease advances acutely. Effective therapeutic intervention is essential to mitigate disease progression; hence, early diagnosis and treatment are paramount.

Complementary insights into gut viral genomes: a comparative benchmark of short- and long-read metagenomes using diverse assemblers and binners.

Background: Metagenome-assembled viral genomes have significantly advanced the discovery and characterization of the human gut virome. However, we lack a comparative assessment of assembly tools on the efficacy of viral genome identification, particularly across next-generation sequencing (NGS) and third-generation sequencing (TGS) data.

Results: We evaluated the efficiency of NGS, TGS, and hybrid assemblers for viral genome discovery using 95 viral-like particle (VLP)-enriched fecal samples sequenced on both Illumina and PacBio platforms.