Publications by authors named "Hong Mei Zhao"

Purpose: This study aimed to design and evaluate a prior-knowledge-guided U-Net (PK-UNet) for automatic clinical target volume (CTV) segmentation in postmastectomy radiotherapy for breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: A total of 102 computed tomography (CT) scans from breast cancer patients who underwent postmastectomy were retrospectively collected. Of these, 80 scans were used for training with 5-fold cross-validation, and 22 scans for independent testing.

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  • Scrub typhus is an infectious disease spread by chigger bites, and omadacycline is a new antibiotic that shows promise against various pathogens but has limited use for this infection.
  • A case study examined patients with scrub typhus who presented symptoms like fever, ulcers, and lymph node swelling, confirming the infection through next-generation sequencing before treating with omadacycline.
  • Following treatment with omadacycline, patients experienced symptom relief within two days without any negative side effects, indicating its potential as an alternative treatment for scrub typhus.
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Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease that caused mortality in people aged >65. Senescence plays a critical role in AAA pathogenesis. Advances in AAA repair techniques have occurred, but a remaining priority is therapies to limit AAA growth and rupture.

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Vitamin D can not only regulate calcium and phosphorus metabolism, but also exert an immunoregulatory effect. Vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Studies have shown that vitamin D is associated with CD and other autoimmune diseases and can improve the condition of patients with CD and promote their recovery by regulating intestinal immunity, repairing the intestinal mucosal barrier, inhibiting intestinal fibrosis, enhancing the response to infliximab, and regulating intestinal microbiota.

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Changes in nitrogen (N) deposition and litter mixtures have been shown to influence ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition. However, the interactive effects of litter mixing and N-deposition on decomposition process in desert regions remain poorly identified. We assessed the simultaneous effects of both N addition and litter mixture on mass loss in a litterbag decomposition experiment using six native plants in single-species samples with diverse quality and 14-species combinations in the Gurbantunggut Desert under two N addition treatments (control and N addition).

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Objectives: To investigate the nutritional status and its influencing factors in children with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of children who were diagnosed with IBD for the first time in Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2015 to December 2021. Diagnostic delay was defined as the time from the symptom onset to IBD diagnosis being in the upper quartile (-) of all IBD children in the study.

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Vehicles tend to produce more pollutants especially particles at an urban intersection than other segments. Meanwhile, pedestrians at an intersection are inevitably exposed to high particle level and suffered from the health problem. Especially, some particles can deposit in different thoracic areas of the respiratory system and cause serious health problems.

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Vehicles generally move smoothly and with high speeds on elevated roads, thereby producing specific traffic-related carbon emissions in contrast to ground roads. Hence, a portable emission measurement system was adopted to determine traffic-related carbon emissions. The on-road measurement results revealed that the instantaneous emissions of CO and CO from elevated vehicles were 17.

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted excision (US-guided VAE) in treating high-risk breast lesions and their association with cancer recurrence.
  • Out of 73 patients treated, only benign phyllodes tumors showed recurrence, while other high-risk lesions like atypical ductal hyperplasia did not.
  • The recurrence rate of benign phyllodes tumors was 20.8%, notably higher for tumors closer to the nipple, suggesting that careful monitoring may be sufficient for certain low-risk cases instead of immediate surgery.
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  • Candida albicans is the leading cause of invasive candidiasis, and a study examined the genetic structure of 551 strains globally, testing antifungal susceptibilities of 370 of them.
  • Among the resistant strains, 66.6% were part of Clade 1, and further analysis identified two nested subclades, Clade 1-R and Clade 1-R-α, with high rates of azole resistance (75.0% and 100% respectively).
  • The findings highlight an alarming trend of antifungal resistance linked to specific genetic lineages, emphasizing the need for ongoing monitoring of these resistant strains' spread in clinical settings.
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Background: Lung invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma (LIMA), formerly referred to as mucinous bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, is a rare disease that usually presents as bilateral lung infiltration, is unsuitable for surgery and radiotherapy, and shows poor response to conventional chemotherapy.

Case Summary: We report a 56-year-old Chinese man with a history of smoking and epidermal growth factor receptor mutation-positivity who was initially misdiagnosed as severe pneumonia, but was ultimately diagnosed as a case of invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma of the lung by computed tomography -guided percutaneous lung biopsy. Bronchorrhea and dyspnea were improved within 24 h after initiation of gefitinib therapy and the radiographic signs of bilateral lung consolidation showed visible improvement within 30 d.

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Background: To evaluate the value of ultrasound-guided vacuum-assisted excision (US-guided VAE) in the treatment of intraductal papillomas, including intraductal papillomas with atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), and to evaluate the lesion characteristic features affecting the local recurrence rate.

Materials And Methods: Between August 2011 and December 2020, 91 lesions of 91 patients underwent US-guided VAE and were diagnosed with intraductal papilloma with or without ADH. The recurrence rate of intraductal papilloma was evaluated on follow-up US.

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  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent respiratory condition influenced by both environmental and genetic factors.
  • Recent advancements, particularly genome-wide association studies, have identified numerous gene mutations linked to lung function and COPD.
  • The article discusses significant research findings and the evolving role of genomics in understanding and treating COPD.
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Objectives: To study the clinical features of intestinal polyps and the risk factors for secondary intussusception in children.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed for the medical data of 2 669 children with intestinal polyps. According to the presence or absence of secondary intussusception, they were divided into two groups: intussusception (=346) and non-intussusception (=2 323).

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Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, various lockdown strategies restrained global economic growth bringing a significant decline in maritime transportation. However, the previous studies have not adequately recognized the specific impacts of COVID-19 on maritime transportation. In this study, a series of analyses of the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), the China Coastal Bulk Freight Index (CCBFI) and of container throughputs with and without the impact of COVID-19 were carried out to assess changing trends in dry bulk and container transportation.

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Cardiovascular disease is a common comorbidity in patients with cancer, and the main leading cause of noncancer-related deaths in cancer survivors. Considering that current antitumor drugs usually induce cardiovascular injury, the quest for developing new antitumor drugs, especially those with cardiovascular protection, is crucial for improving cancer prognosis. MK2206 is a phase II clinical anticancer drug and the role of this drug in cardiovascular disease is still unclear.

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Objective: To investigate the incidence rates of colonization and infection (CDI) in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the susceptibility factors for CDI in children with IBD.

Methods: A total of 62 children diagnosed with IBD were enrolled as the IBD group. Forty-two children who attended the hospital due to persistent or chronic diarrhea and were excluded from IBD were enrolled as the non-IBD group.

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  • A decomposition experiment was conducted in the southern Gurbantunggut Desert to investigate how adding nitrogen affects the breakdown of various litter types over 345 days.
  • Different nitrogen treatments (0, 5, 10, and 20 g N·m·a) showed varying decomposition rates, with no significant improvement in rates due to nitrogen addition.
  • The study found that while litter decomposition occurred and nutrients were released, nitrogen addition inhibited the release of nitrogen and phosphorus from certain litter types, suggesting it could slow nutrient recycling in desert ecosystems.
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  • * Different statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics and various distribution tests, were applied to measure and understand the particle number concentrations (PNC) on hazy versus non-hazy days.
  • * The findings suggest that particle levels depend on weather conditions, with significant correlations between larger particles and truck traffic, highlighting the need for pollution control measures in port cities.
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To explore the characteristics and prognostic significance of genetic mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), we screened the gene mutation profile of 171 previously untreated AML patients using a next-generation sequencing technique targeting 127 genes with potential prognostic significance. A total of 390 genetic alterations were identified in 149 patients with a frequency of 87.1%.

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Under the hydrothermal reaction condition, we prepared a new 3D Eu(III)-based coordination polymer (CP) [Eu(H-DHBDC)(DHBDC) (HO)] ·HO (, H-DHBDC = 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-terephthalic acid). Furthermore, we assessed the inhibitory influence on cervical cancer cells of this compound. First, for testing the anti-viability of the compound against cervical cancer cells, the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was carried out.

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Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) promotes the development of Alzheimer's pathology. However, whether and how CCH impairs the synaptic vesicle trafficking is still unclear. In the present study, we found that the hippocampal glutamatergic vesicle trafficking was impaired as indicated by a significant shortened delayed response enhancement (DRE) phase in CA3-CA1 circuit and decreased synapsin I in CCH rats suffering from bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (2VO).

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Background: Chronic brain hypoperfusion (CBH) is closely related to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). Meanwhile, synaptic pathology plays a prominent role in the initial stage of AD and VaD. However, whether and how CBH impairs presynaptic plasticity is currently unclear.

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