Publications by authors named "J-Z Xu"

Background Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is an effective method for vertebrobasilar artery occlusion (VBAO) in patients with moderate to severe deficits but has unclear benefits in patients with low National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores at hospital admission. Purpose To compare the clinical outcomes of best medical management (BMM) alone versus BMM and early EVT (door-to-puncture time [DPT] ≤ 120 minutes) versus BMM and late EVT (DPT > 120 minutes) in patients with VBAO who have NIHSS scores of 10 or less at admission. Materials and Methods This retrospective study evaluated patients with VBAO and admission NIHSS score of 10 or less who were seen at 65 stroke centers in China from December 2015 to June 2022.

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Background: Cardiac ischemia/reperfusion disrupts plasma membrane integrity and induces various types of programmed cell death. The ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) proteins, particularly AAA-ATPase Vps4a (vacuolar protein sorting 4a), play an essential role in the surveillance of membrane integrity. However, the role of ESCRT proteins in the context of cardiac injury remains unclear.

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Approximately 20% of patients with shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). We investigated the role of gut microbiota in shingle- and PHN-related pain. Patients with shingles or PHN exhibited significant alterations in their gut microbiota with microbial markers predicting PHN development among patients with shingles.

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Background: Circulating proteins in blood are involved in various physiological processes, but their contributions to blood pressure regulation remain partially understood. In traditional observational studies, identifying circulating proteins causally associated with blood pressure is challenging because of potentially unmeasured confounding and possible reverse causality.

Methods: Two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses were conducted to estimate the causal effects of 2270 circulating proteins (data sourced from 8 genome-wide association studies) on diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, and pulse pressure.

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Rationale And Objectives: This study investigated the preoperative predictive efficiency of radiomics derived from photoacoustic (PA) imaging, integrated with the clinical features of Ki-67 expression in malignant breast cancer (BC), with a focus on both intratumoral and peritumoral regions.

Methods: This study involved 359 patients, divided into a training set (n = 251) and a testing set (n = 108). Radiomic features were extracted from intratumoral and peritumoral regions using PA imaging.

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Background: The effect of embolization of the middle meningeal artery in patients with subacute or chronic subdural hematoma is uncertain.

Methods: We performed a multicenter, open-label, randomized trial in China, involving patients with symptomatic nonacute subdural hematoma with mass effect. Patients were assigned to undergo burr-hole drainage or receive nonsurgical treatment at the surgeon's discretion, and patients in each group were then randomly assigned, in a 1:1 ratio, to undergo middle meningeal artery embolization with liquid embolic material or to receive usual care.

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Sodium oligomannate (GV-971), an oligosaccharide drug approved in China for treating mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), was previously found to recondition the gut microbiota and limit altered peripheral Th1 immunity in AD transgenic mice. As a follow-up study, we here made advances by pinpointing a Lactobacillus murinus (L.m.

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Objective: To assess the viability of using ultra-low radiation and contrast medium (CM) dosage in aortic computed tomography angiography (CTA) through the application of low tube voltage (60kVp) and a novel deep learning image reconstruction algorithm (ClearInfinity, DLIR-CI).

Methods: Iodine attenuation curves obtained from a phantom study informed the administration of CM protocols. Non-obese participants undergoing aortic CTA were prospectively allocated into two groups and then obtained three reconstruction groups.

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Background: Disturbed metabolism and transport of citrate play significant roles in various pathologies. However, vascular citrate regulation and its potential role in aortic aneurysm (AA) development remain poorly understood.

Methods: Untargeted metabolomics by mass spectrometry was applied to identify upregulated metabolites of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in AA tissues of mice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on improving nanovaccines for COVID-19 by using icosahedral DNA origami particles to closely mimic the size and shape of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
  • By varying the arrangement and quantity of receptor binding domain (RBD) antigens on the DNA origami surface, researchers found that these modifications significantly enhance B cell activation.
  • The optimized nanovaccines not only induce stronger and longer-lasting immune responses in female mouse models but also provide broader protection against various virus mutations compared to traditional mRNA vaccines.
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Rationale And Objectives: Detection and diagnosis of architectural distortion (AD) on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is challenging. This study applied artificial intelligence (AI) using deep learning (DL) algorithms to detect AD, followed by radiomics for classification.

Materials And Methods: 500 cases with AD on DBT reports were identified; the earlier 292 cases for training, and the later 208 cases for testing.

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The reproducibility in microbiome studies is limited due to the lack of one gold-standard operating procedure. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of protocol variations on microbiome composition using metagenomic data sets from a single center. We assessed the variation in a data set consisted of 2,722 subjects, including 9 subcohorts harboring healthy subjects and patients with various disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

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  • Peanuts grown in saline alkali soil face challenges from both drought stress and salt, prompting a study on the HY25 peanut variety to understand their combined effects on growth and yield.
  • The study found that short-term drought and salt stress significantly reduced various growth metrics, such as plant height, branch length, leaf area, and photosynthetic efficiency, ultimately leading to lower peanut yields.
  • The sensitivity to drought stress varies at different growth stages, with the 40th day after planting being particularly critical, indicating that avoiding drought, especially early on, is essential for maximizing peanut yield in these challenging conditions.*
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  • A significant portion of ischemic strokes are classified as lacunar subtypes, often characterized by recent small subcortical infarcts (RSSIs), but the long-term effects of these conditions are not well understood.
  • In a study involving 108 participants, hemosiderin deposits (HDs) were found in over half of them within 3 months, and in about 77% within 12 months, with a notable "rim" pattern suggesting they could resemble primary hemorrhage.
  • The study highlighted that the volume of the infarct and a higher total small vessel disease (SVD) score are predictive of the presence of HDs, emphasizing the importance of not misinterpreting these deposits as signs of bleeding in chronic
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  • Time-dependent diffusion MRI is being studied for its potential to noninvasively predict tumor properties and patient outcomes in breast cancer, focusing on molecular subtypes and pathologic complete response (pCR).
  • A study involving 408 breast cancer participants analyzed microstructural parameters and ADC measurements to develop a predictive model, with results demonstrating the MRI technique's ability to identify different breast cancer subtypes effectively.
  • The predictive model showed high performance for HER2-enriched breast cancer (AUC 0.85) and better results compared to traditional ADC measurements, indicating its significance in clinical evaluations for breast cancer treatment.
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  • The study investigated the effectiveness of gallium 68 (Ga)-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET/CT in diagnosing gastric mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) and signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC), comparing it to the standard fluorine 18 (F) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT.
  • Results showed that Ga-FAPI PET/CT had significantly higher accuracy in detecting lymph node involvement and peritoneal metastases, leading to treatment strategy changes for about 30% of participants.
  • The study concluded that Ga-FAPI PET/CT not only provided better diagnostic accuracy but also served as a strong predictor for progression-free survival in patients with these types of
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  • A multicenter randomized controlled trial in China investigated the impact of adding coronary CT-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) to routine coronary CT angiography (CCTA) on the need for invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).
  • The study involved 5,297 participants, showing that the CCTA plus CT-FFR group had a lower ICA rate (10.0%) compared to the CCTA alone group (12.4%) over a 90-day follow-up.
  • While MACE rates were similar between groups, the CCTA plus CT-FFR approach resulted in fewer cardiac events after one year (0.5%
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  • The study investigated the occurrence of actionable gene fusions in a large group of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients from China, analyzing data from 5,534 patients.
  • Findings revealed that only 0.98% (54 patients) had actionable gene fusions, with one specific fusion being the most common (38.9% of fusions).
  • The prevalence of these fusions was notably higher in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) and in colon cancer compared to rectal cancer, suggesting that specific genetic markers can enhance fusion detection rates for better clinical decision-making.
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Background: Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of cardiovascular diseases. Clinical studies indicate that loss-of-function ASGR1 (asialoglycoprotein receptor 1) is significantly associated with lower plasma cholesterol levels and reduces cardiovascular disease risk. However, the effect of ASGR1 on atherosclerosis remains incompletely understood; whether inhibition of ASGR1 causes liver injury remains controversial.

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Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of severe illness in infants, with no effective treatment. Results of a phase 2 trial suggested that ziresovir may have efficacy in the treatment of infants hospitalized with RSV infection.

Methods: In a phase 3, multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial conducted in China, we enrolled participants 1 to 24 months of age who were hospitalized with RSV infection.

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Background: Quantitative flow ratio (QFR)-based virtual percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with improved post-PCI physiological results. Murray law-based QFR (μQFR) is a new method for physiological assessment that has higher feasibility and efficiency. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of μQFR-guided virtual PCI in improving post-PCI outcomes.

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  • The study aimed to create a large language model (LLM) capable of generating radiology impressions based on imaging findings, addressing the complexity and specialization of the field.
  • Radiologists from Shanghai General Hospital recorded findings in various imaging modalities and provided feedback on the LLM-generated impressions, which were then evaluated by an expert panel using a five-point scale for quality and coherence.
  • The results indicated that the LLM performed reasonably well, with median scores for recall, precision, and F1 score reflecting its effectiveness in producing comparable impressions to those of professional radiologists.
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Background: Cognitive impairment is highly prevalent among patients with chronic kidney disease, who face an increased risk of cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) and cognitive function in older individuals, both with and without chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods: In this study, we analyzed data from 2728 participants in the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

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Background Histotripsy is a nonthermal, nonionizing, noninvasive, focused US technique that relies on cavitation for mechanical tissue breakdown at the focal point. Preclinical data have shown its safety and technical success in the ablation of liver tumors. Purpose To evaluate the safety and technical success of histotripsy in destroying primary or metastatic liver tumors.

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Background: Despite widespread use of fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, data to guide test selection are limited.

Objective: To compare the performance characteristics of 5 commonly used FITs, using colonoscopy as the reference standard.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

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