Publications by authors named "Ai Qi"

Objective: To investigate the impact of cigarette consumption on mucosal thickening in paranasal sinuses and the relationships of smoking-related factors and dental status with mucosal thickening at different maxillary sinus locations using MRI.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study investigated 1094 paranasal sinuses on MRIs by correlating mucosal thickening with smoking-related factors. Presence/absence of maxillary posterior teeth was correlated with mucosal thickening on the maxillary sinus floor and other sinus locations.

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Physical activity (PA) may be considered an alternative method to ameliorate the elevated mortality risks associated with cadmium exposure. In this prospective cohort study, a total of 20,253 participants (weighted mean age, 47.79 years), including 10,247 men (weighted prevalence: 50.

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  • The study investigates the cost-effectiveness of combining tislelizumab with chemotherapy for treating unresectable gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, comparing results in China and the US.
  • In China, the combination treatment is deemed cost-effective, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $37,768.48 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY), marginally below the willingness-to-pay threshold.
  • Conversely, in the US, the ICER is significantly higher at $502,786.22 per QALY, indicating that the combination treatment is not cost-effective there.
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(1) Background: In recent years, large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT have gained significant attention in various fields, including dentistry. This scoping review aims to examine the current applications and explore potential uses of LLMs in the orthodontic domain, shedding light on how they might improve dental healthcare. (2) Methods: We carried out a comprehensive search in five electronic databases, namely PubMed, Scopus, Embase, ProQuest and Web of Science.

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  • Diarylethenes (DAEs) are highly stable and fatigue-resistant photochromic materials used in various fields like molecular devices and bioimaging, primarily functioning as photo-switches.
  • Recent studies are exploring non-light-driven methods, such as heat, acid, and electrochemistry, to induce isomerization in DAEs, allowing for enhanced functionality in complex operations and data storage.
  • The review highlights advancements in DAE systems from perspectives of acidochromism, thermochromism, and electrochromism, discussing design strategies, mechanisms, applications, and future challenges in developing multi-stimuli responsive DAE switches.
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Background: Exposure to occupational metallic mixtures has a potential impact on olfactory function. However, research evidence is limited on the potential impact of exposure to metallic mixtures and olfactory dysfunction. Furthermore, the coal dust generated contains multiple various metals during coal mining, and no study yet has focus on the olfactory dysfunction of coal miners.

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  • Tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy improves overall survival for patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) compared to chemotherapy alone, but its cost-effectiveness varies between the US and China.
  • This study used a Markov state-transition model to assess the economic impact of this combination treatment from both US and Chinese healthcare perspectives, analyzing quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and costs.
  • The results showed that while tislelizumab plus chemotherapy might provide some benefit, it exceeds the willingness-to-pay thresholds in both countries, with probabilities of cost-effectiveness at 17.18% for China and 40.41% for the US.
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Automated tooth segmentation and identification on dental radiographs are crucial steps in establishing digital dental workflows. While deep learning networks have been developed for these tasks, their performance has been inferior in partially edentulous individuals. This study proposes a novel semi-supervised Transformer-based framework (SemiTNet), specifically designed to improve tooth segmentation and identification performance on panoramic radiographs, particularly in partially edentulous cases, and establish an open-source dataset to serve as a unified benchmark.

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Objectives: To investigate the potential of T1rho, a new quantitative imaging sequence for cancer, for pre and early intra-treatment prediction of treatment response in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and compare the results with those of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).

Materials And Methods: T1rho and DWI imaging of primary NPCs were performed pre- and early intra-treatment in 41 prospectively recruited patients. The mean preT1rho, preADC, intraT1rho, intraADC, and % changes in T1rho (ΔT1rho%) and ADC (ΔADC%) were compared between residual and non-residual groups based on biopsy in all patients after chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with (n = 29) or without (n = 12) induction chemotherapy (IC), and between responders and non-responders to IC in the subgroup who received IC, using Mann-Whitney U-test.

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  • * Recent research has identified histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) as a potential regulator of amyloid clearance in neurons, with dynein playing a role in transporting metabolites and signaling molecules.
  • * The study found that HDAC6 can facilitate the transport and degradation of α-synuclein, but exposure to paraquat leads to increased levels of α-synuclein due to impaired HDAC6 functions, suggesting a link between environmental toxins and LBD progression.
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The adjustment of the emission wavelengths and cell permeability of the perylene diimides (PDI) for multicolor cell imaging is a great challenge. Herein, based on a bay-region substituent engineering strategy, multicolor perylene diimides () were rationally designed and synthesized by introducing azetidine substituents on the bay region of PDIs. With the fine-tuned electron-donating ability of the azetidine substituents, these showed high brightness, orange, red, and near infrared (NIR) fluorescence along with Stokes shifts increasing from 35 to 110 nm.

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Chronic cerebral ischemia (CCI) is a common neurological disorder, characterized by progressive cognitive impairment. Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) represents a modern acupuncture form that has shown neuroprotective effects; nevertheless, its effects on CCI and the mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we aimed to explore the therapeutic action of ACE in CCI-induced cognitive impairment and its mechanisms.

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  • Tandem amplification of carbapenemase genes increases their copies, leading to stronger resistance to carbapenem antibiotics, particularly in heterogenous and temporary ways.
  • A specific case was studied involving the amplification of the oxaAb gene in the Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria, which is surrounded by ISAba1 elements, resulting in significant overproduction of the enzyme.
  • The research showed that while the number of gene repeats decreased with the withdrawal of carbapenems, re-exposure to the antibiotic caused a rapid resurgence in the repeat numbers, demonstrating a dynamic response that enhances carbapenem resistance.
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  • The study developed and validated a deep learning model aimed at automatically identifying and segmenting parotid gland tumors (PGTs) using MRI scans, addressing the issue of incidental findings that might be overlooked.
  • The model was trained on a large dataset, utilizing two types of MRI images (T1-weighted and fat-suppressed T2-weighted) from a significant number of patients, and was rigorously tested with a cross-validation method.
  • Results showed high accuracy and sensitivity in detecting PGTs, with performance metrics indicating the model could effectively assist radiologists by reducing the chances of missing incidental tumors during MRI evaluations.
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Purpose: To explore white matter network topological properties changes in middle-aged and elderly patients with functional constipation (Functional Constipation, FC) by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and to evaluate the correlation between the abnormal changes and clinical data.

Methods: 29 FC patients and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Magnetic resonance imaging and clinical data were collected.

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Skeletal Class III malocclusion is one type of dentofacial deformity that significantly affects patients' facial aesthetics and oral health. The orthodontic treatment of skeletal Class III malocclusion presents challenges due to uncertainties surrounding mandibular growth patterns and treatment outcomes. In recent years, disease-specific radiographic features have garnered interest from researchers in various fields including orthodontics, for their exceptional performance in enhancing diagnostic precision and treatment effect predictability.

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Objective: We aim to construct a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based multi-sequence multi-regional radiomics model that will improve the preoperative prediction ability of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in T3 rectal cancer.

Methods: Multi-sequence MRI data from 190 patients with T3 rectal cancer were retrospectively analyzed, with 94 patients in the LNM group and 96 patients in the non-LNM group. The clinical factors, subjective imaging features, and the radiomic features of tumor and peritumoral mesorectum region of patients were extracted from T2WI and ADC images.

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BACKGROUND: We previously conducted a prospective study to show that nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) screening with circulating Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA analysis can improve survival. However, the long-term significance of positive results in individuals without cancer was unclear. METHODS: We conducted a second-round screening at a median of 43 months after the initial screening.

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Background: Although contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detects early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) not detected by endoscopic-guided biopsy (EGB), a short contrast-free screening MRI would be desirable for NPC screening programs. This study evaluated a screening MRI in a plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-DNA NPC screening program.

Methods: EBV-DNA-screen-positive patients underwent endoscopy, and endoscopy-positive patients underwent EGB.

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Purpose: Extranodal extension (ENE) has the potential to add value to the current nodal staging system (N) for predicting outcome in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study aimed to incorporate ENE, as well as cervical nodal necrosis (CNN) to the current stage N3 and evaluated their impact on outcome prediction. The findings were validated on an external cohort.

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Background: Although nivolumab has shown clinical benefits for relapsed malignant mesothelioma, its cost-effectiveness requires further investigation.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of nivolumab compared to placebo for relapsed malignant mesotheliomas from the perspective of the Chinese healthcare system.

Method: A three-state Markov model was developed based on data from the phase 3 randomized CONFIRM clinical trial.

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Percutaneous closure has emerged as the standard treatment for secundum-type atrial septal defects (ASDs). However, there is a rare but serious complication of occluder device migration and embolization to the heart chambers or distal vasculature during or shortly after implantation. Although this occurrence is extremely rare, it can have disastrous consequences.

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Radiomics analysis can potentially characterize salivary gland tumors (SGTs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The procedures for radiomics analysis were various, and no consistent performances were reported. This review evaluated the methodologies and performances of studies using radiomics analysis to characterize SGTs on MRI.

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Background: Toxin-antitoxin systems are highly variable, even among strains of the same bacterial species. The MazEF toxin-antitoxin system is found in many bacteria and plays important roles in various biological processes such as antibiotic tolerance and phage defense. However, no interplay of MazEF systems between different species was reported.

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Objective: To investigate the effect of Bushen Chushi decoction combined with platelet-rich plasma(PRP) to treat knee osteoarthritis(KOA) in early and middle stage and its regulation on TGF-β1 and Smad-1 expression in serum.

Methods: Total of 45 patients with KOA in early and middle stage from May 2020 to April 2022 were treated and divided into control group and observation group. In control group, there were 30 patients including 12 males and 18 females, aged from 43 to 69 years old with an average of(57.

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