Routine review of patient-reported outcome data influences radiotherapy care: IMPROVE study results.

Background: Radiation oncologists closely monitor patients during weekly on-treatment visits (OTVs). This study examines whether routine patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) during OTVs change physicians' perceptions of treatment-toxicity and inform symptom-management.

Patient And Methods: IMPROVE is a single-arm prospective multicenter trial, conducted from 2020 to 2023.

Impact of locoregional recurrence versus distant metastasis on overall survival in patients with Non-Small cell lung cancer after Surgery: A secondary analysis of PORT-C RCT.

Purpose: The therapeutic advantage of postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been shown to benefit overall survival (OS) according to two randomized controlled trials (RCTs), albeit an enhancement in locoregional-free survival was observed. We aimed to evaluate the relative influence of locoregional recurrence (LR) and distant metastasis (DM) on OS for patients with NSCLC after surgery.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of PORT-C RCT.

Surpass Streamline Flow Diverter for the Treatment of Craniocervical Unruptured Dissecting Aneurysms: A multi-institutional retrospective study.

Objective: Currently, there is no established treatment consensus for craniocervical unruptured dissecting aneurysms (UDAs). This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of the Surpass Streamline Flow Diverter (SSFD) for treating craniocervical UDAs.

Methods: A retrospective review of three centers' databases was conducted to identify patients with craniocervical UDAs treated with SSFDs from January 2021 to December 2023.

Acute MeCP2 loss in adult mice reveals transcriptional and chromatin changes that precede neurological dysfunction and inform pathogenesis.

Mutations in the X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene cause Rett syndrome, a severe childhood neurological disorder. MeCP2 is a well-established transcriptional repressor, yet upon its loss, hundreds of genes are dysregulated in both directions. To understand what drives such dysregulation, we deleted Mecp2 in adult mice, circumventing developmental contributions and secondary pathogenesis.

Microenvironment-responsive injectable hydrogel for neuro-vascularized bone regeneration.

Bone is a richly innervated and vascularized tissue, whereas nerve-vascular network reconstruction was often ignored in biomaterial design, resulting in delayed or incomplete bone healing. Inspired by the bone injury microenvironments, here we report a controllable drug delivery strategy using a pH and reactive oxygen species (ROS) dual-response injectable hydrogel. Based on the dynamic borate ester bond covalent crosslinking, nano-hydroxyapatite (HA) and curculigoside (CCG) are integrated into PVA/TSPBA (PT) to construct a responsive injectable hydrogel (PTHC), which scavenges excessive ROS from the injury microenvironment and responsively releases HA and CCG, providing favorable homeostasis and sustained release drug delivery system for bone repair.

Characterization and Analysis of the Functional Differences of the Two Eclosion Hormones in Regulating Molting in the White Shrimp .

, with an annual production of 5-6 million tons and a value of USD 50-60 billion, is a cornerstone of global aquaculture. However, molting-related losses of 5-20% significantly impact this industry, and the physiological mechanisms of molting remain unclear. This study aims to elucidate the role of eclosion hormone (EH) in molting regulation and enhances the understanding of molting physiology in .

Hypocrellin A from an ethnic medicinal fungus protects against NLRP3-driven gout in mice by suppressing inflammasome activation.

Abnormal activation of NLRP3 inflammasome causes the progression of gout, and no small-molecule inhibitor of NLRP3 has been approved yet for clinical use. In this study we established a nigericin-induced inflammasome activation cell model for screening of a natural product library by measuring IL-1β secretion in cell supernatants. Among 432 compounds tested, we found that hypocrellin A (HA), one of the major active components of a traditional ethnic medicinal fungus Hypocrella bambusea in the Northwest Yunnan of China, exhibited the highest inhibition on IL-1β production (IC = 0.

Age assessment of Chinese Tibetan twins using multiple skeletal age estimation methods: A case report.

This case presents a unique age estimation involving Chinese Tibetan twins, where one of them has been arrested for alleged rape. His parents claimed he was about 13 years old without providing any official age documentation. Since age is important in criminal proceedings in China, bone age estimation was conducted to determine the chronological age of the twins.

A sequential stimuli-responsive hydrogel promotes structural and functional recovery of severe spinal cord injury.

Utilizing drug-loaded hydrogels to restore nerve conductivity emerges as a promising strategy in the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI). However, many of these hydrogels fail to deliver drugs on demand according to the dynamic SCI pathological features, resulting in poor functional recovery. Inspired by the post-SCI microenvironments, here we report a time-sequential and controllable drug delivery strategy using an injectable hydrogel responsive to reactive oxygen species (ROS) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).

A Case of Pseudoelevation of Serum HCG Caused by Rheumatoid Factor.

Background: Serum human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a glycoprotein hormone secreted by the trophoblast cells of the placenta. HCG levels are helpful in confirming and monitoring pregnancy, as well as in the diagnosis and monitoring of trophoblastic tumors. Therefore, the accuracy of HCG detection results is of great significance for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of pregnancy and germ cell tumors.

Comparing surgical readmission, in-hospital complications, and charges between total hip arthroplasty and hemiarthroplasty for geriatric femoral neck fractures.

Aims: For displaced femoral neck fractures (FNFs) in geriatric patients, there remains uncertainty regarding the effect of total hip arthroplasty (THA) compared with hemiarthroplasty (HA) in the guidelines. We aimed to compare 90-day surgical readmission, in-hospital complications, and charges between THA and HA in these patients.

Methods: The Hospital Quality Monitoring System was queried from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2019 for displaced FNFs in geriatric patients treated with THA or HA.

CFRNet: Cross-Attention-Based Fusion and Refinement Network for Enhanced RGB-T Salient Object Detection.

Existing deep learning-based RGB-T salient object detection methods often struggle with effectively fusing RGB and thermal features. Therefore, obtaining high-quality features and fully integrating these two modalities are central research focuses. We developed an illumination prior-based coefficient predictor (MICP) to determine optimal interaction weights.

Folding and Misfolding Dynamics of Irisin Protein Revealed by Single-Molecule Magnetic Tweezers.

Irisin, a fibronectin III protein secreted by muscles during physical exercise, plays a significant role in the browning of white fat and cell adhesion, highlighting the importance of its conformational transitions. In this study, we investigated the folding and unfolding dynamics of a single irisin domain using a single-molecule manipulation technique known as magnetic tweezers. In addition to the native state, irisin can also fold transiently into a misfolded state.

Possible involvement of Toll-like receptor 8-positive monocytes/macrophages in the pathogenesis of Sjögren's disease.

Background: Sjögren's disease (SjD) is an autoimmune disease marked by lymphocytic infiltration of salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to glandular dysfunction, where CD4-positive helper T (Th) cells and their cytokines are crucial in the pathogenesis. Recent studies have demonstrated that Toll-like receptors (TLRs), particularly those recognizing immune complexes containing DNA and RNA, contribute to Th cell activation in various autoimmune diseases. This study explores the expression and function of these TLRs in SjD.

Water-Stable Magnetic Lipiodol Micro-Droplets as a Miniaturized Robotic Tool for Drug Delivery.

Magnetic microrobots, designed to navigate the complex environments of the human body, show promise for minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment. However, their clinical adoption faces hurdles such as biocompatibility, precise control, and intelligent tracking. Here a novel formulation (referred to water-stable magnetic lipiodol micro-droplets, MLMD), integrating clinically approved lipiodol, gelatin, and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) with a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships is presented.

Fecal Microbiome Composition Correlates with Pathologic Complete Response in Patients with Operable Esophageal Cancer Treated with Combined Chemoradiotherapy and Immunotherapy.

: Preclinical and clinical data indicate that chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in combination with checkpoint inhibitors may prime an anti-tumor immunological response in esophageal cancer. However, responses to neoadjuvant therapy can vary widely and the key biomarkers to determine response remain poorly understood. The fecal microbiome is a novel and potentially modifiable biomarker of immunotherapy response, and both fecal and tumor microbes have been found to associate with outcomes in esophageal cancer.

ΔNp63α promotes radioresistance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma through the PLEC-KEAP1-NRF2 feedback loop.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive cancers and is highly prevalent in China, exhibiting resistance to current treatments. ΔNP63α, the main isoform of p63, is frequently amplified in ESCC and contributes to therapeutic resistance, although the molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we report that ΔNP63α is highly expressed in ESCC and is associated with radioresistance by reducing ROS level.