Ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) for high transsphincteric fistulas: a double-center retrospective study with long-term follow-up.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of the ligation of the intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) procedure in treating high transsphincteric fistulas.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the success rate of LIFT treatment in 82 patients with high transsphincteric fistulas involving at least 1/3 of the external sphincter. This study was carried out across 2 centers from November 2009 to February 2023.

Lateralization of the Aberrant Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation within the Default Mode Network in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Rationale And Objectives: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common pathogenesis of dementia, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered as the intermediate stage from normal elderly to AD. Early detection of MCI is an essential step for the timely intervention of AD to slow the progression of this disease. Different form previous studies in the whole-brain spontaneous activities, this research aimed to explore the low-frequency amplitude spectrum activities of patients with MCI within the default mode network (DMN), which has been involved in the process of maintaining normal cognitive function.

Protein prenylation in mechanotransduction: implications for disease and therapy.

The process by which cells translate external mechanical cues into intracellular biochemical signals involves intricate mechanisms that remain unclear. In recent years, research into post-translational modifications (PTMs) has offered valuable insights into this field, spotlighting protein prenylation as a crucial mechanism in cellular mechanotransduction and various human diseases. Protein prenylation, which involves the covalent attachment of isoprenoid groups to specific substrate proteins, profoundly affects the functions of key mechanotransduction proteins such as Rho, Ras, and lamins.

Dynamic event-triggered tolerant containment control protocol for discrete multiagent systems based on finite index policy iteration algorithm.

For tolerant containment control of multi-agent systems, considering the challenges in modeling and the impact of actuator faults on system security and reliability, a finite index dynamic event-triggered policy iteration algorithm is proposed. This algorithm only requires input and output data, without relying on system models, and simultaneously considers the faults and energy consumption issues to improve the system reliability and save energy consumption. The conditions are provided to demonstrate the convergence and optimality of the algorithm, including a convergence speed, that is, the number of iterations required for convergence is finite.

An overview of sound source localization based condition monitoring robots.

As artificial intelligence advances and demand for cost-effective equipment maintenance in various fields increases, it is worth insightful research on utilizing robots embedded with sound source localization (SSL) technology for condition monitoring. Combining the two techniques has significant advantages, which are conducive to further classifying and tracking abnormal sources, thereby enhancing system performance at a lower cost. The paper provides an overview of current acoustic-based robotic techniques for condition monitoring, highlights the common SSL methods, and finds that localization performance heavily depends on signal quality.

A comparative study on in vitro models of necrotizing enterocolitis induced by single and combined stimulation.

Background And Study Aims: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe gastrointestinal disease in neonates. In vitro model is an indispensable tool to study the pathogenesis of NEC. This study explored the effects of different stress factors on intestinal injury in vitro.

Enhancing precision in lacrimal sac tumor management through integration of multimodal imaging and intensity modulated proton therapy.

This study presents a patient with a PET-CT detected residual lacrimal sac tumor who was treated with intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) and concurrent chemotherapy. The patient a 49-year-old male diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the left lacrimal sac had under-went endoscopic surgery. Postoperative PET-CT implied tumor residual in the left lacrimal sac.

Using synthetic biology to express nitrogenase biosynthesis pathway in rice and to overcome barriers of nitrogenase instability in plant cytosol.

Engineering nitrogen fixation in cereals could reduce usage of chemical nitrogen fertilizers. Here, a nitrogenase biosynthesis pathway comprising 13 genes (nifB nifH nifD nifK nifE nifN nifX hesA nifV nifS nifU groES groEL) was introduced into rice by transforming multigene vectors and subsequently by sexual crossing between transgenic rice plants. Genome sequencing analysis revealed that 13 nif genes in F hybrid rice lines L12-13 and L8-17 were inserted at two loci on rice chromosome 1.

Mechanisms for resistance to BCMA-targeted immunotherapies in multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains incurable and patients eventually face the relapse/refractory dilemma. B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-targeted immunotherapeutic approaches have shown great effectiveness in patients with relapsed/refractory MM, mainly including chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T), bispecific T cell engagers (TCEs), and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). However, their impact on long-term survival remains to be determined.

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Treatment Patterns in Patients With Chronic-Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Single Center Data From China.

Aim: To describe tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment patterns and analyze co-variates of TKI switch for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in a center from China.

Methods: A retrospectively study was designed to analyze TKI switching patterns, reasons and associated covariates in patients with CP-CML.

Results: 1766 patients receiving initial imatinib (n = 1374), nilotinib (n = 254), dasatinib (n = 63) and flumatinib (n = 75) therapy were retrospectively interrogated.

Visceral fat distribution: Interracial studies.

Visceral adipose tissue, a type of abdominal adipose tissue, is highly involved in lipolysis. Because increased visceral adiposity is strongly associated with the metabolic complications related with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, there is a need for precise, targeted, personalized and site-specific measures clinically. Existing studies showed that ectopic fat accumulation may be characterized differently among different populations due to complex genetic architecture and non-genetic or epigenetic components, ie, Asians have more and Africans have less visceral fat vs Europeans.

Efficacy and safety of chemotherapy combined with iodine-125 seed brachytherapy for intermediate and advanced oncogenic driver gene-negative non-small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness and safety of CT-guided iodine-125 seed brachytherapy in conjunction with chemotherapy against chemotherapy alone for the management of intermediate and advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lacking oncogenic driving genes.

Methods And Materials: Retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data from 128 patients diagnosed with intermediate and advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received iodine-125 combined with chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone due to the absence of oncogenic driver gene mutations. The patients in two groups were compared at 6-month follow-up for objective remission rate (ORR), Disease control rate (DCR), local progression-free survival (LPFS), overall survival (OS), clinical symptom improvement, and adverse events.

Environmental and Clinical Factors Concerning Gastrointestinal Bleeding: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.

Objectives: Gastrointestinal bleeding, an emergency and critical disease, is affected by multiple factors. This study aims to systematically summarize and appraise various factors associated with gastrointestinal bleeding.

Design: Umbrella review.

Surface steel ball calibration - A novel method for facilitating fluoroscopic measurement during implantation of WATCHMAN.

Background: Although the method of autocalibration or calibration based on catheter diameters was proposed for fluoroscopic measurement during percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO), it may be imprecise and lead to mismeasurement. We sought to investigate whether the utilization of the surface steel ball calibration (SSBC) method under fluoroscopy could facilitate the fluoroscopic measurement of the post-implanted WATCHMAN device (Boston Scientific Corporation, Natick, MA, USA) in LAAO.

Methods: This retrospective study included 97 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous LAAO with the WATCHMAN device.

Unveiling the role of MDH1 in breast cancer drug resistance through single-cell sequencing and schottenol intervention.

This study utilizes single-cell RNA sequencing data to reveal the transcriptomic characteristics of breast cancer and normal epithelial cells. Nine significant cell populations were identified through stringent quality control and batch effect correction. Further classification of breast cancer epithelial cells based on the PAM50 method and clinical subtypes highlighted significant heterogeneity between triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-triple-negative breast cancer (NTNBC).

Engineered Au@MOFs silk fibroin-based hydrogel phototherapy platform for enhanced wound healing performance.

Wound bacterial infections not only impede the healing process but can also give rise to a range of serious complications, thereby posing a substantial risk to human health. Developing effective wound dressings incorporating phototherapy functionalities, specifically photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), remains a critical area of research in modern wound care. Existing PTT-PDT systems often suffer from challenges such as nanoparticle aggregation and inefficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, which are essential for therapeutic efficacy.