2023:A year of accomplishments for the 13 Science Citation Index Expanded-and Emerging Sources Citation Index-indexed Baishideng journals

In 2023,Baishideng Publishing Group(Baishideng)routinely published 47 openaccess journals,including 46 English-language journals and 1 Chinese-language journal.Our successes were accomplished through the collective dedicated efforts of Baishideng staffs,Editorial Board Members,and Peer Reviewers.Among these 47 Baishideng journals,7 are included in the Science Citation Index Expanded(SCIE)and 6 in the Emerging Sources Citation Index(ESCI).With the support of Baishideng authors,company staffs,Editorial Board Members,and Peer Reviewers,the publication work of 2023 is about to be successfully completed.This editorial summarizes the 2023 activities and accomplishments of the 13 SCIEand ESCI-indexed Baishideng journals,outlines the Baishideng publishing policy changes and additions made this year,and highlights the unique advantages of Baishideng journals.

Misdiagnosis of hemangioma of left triangular ligament of the liver as gastric submucosal stromal tumor:Two case reports

BACKGROUND Extragastric lesions are typically not misdiagnosed as gastric submucosal tumor(SMT).However,we encountered two rare cases where extrinsic lesions were misdiagnosed as gastric SMTs.CASE SUMMARY We describe two cases of gastric SMT-like protrusions initially misdiagnosed as gastric SMTs by the abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography(CT)and endoscopic ultrasound(EUS).Based on the CT and EUS findings,the patients underwent gastroscopy;however,no tumor was identified after incising the gastric wall.Subsequent surgical exploration revealed no gastric lesions in both patients,but a mass was found in the left triangular ligament of the liver.The patients underwent laparoscopic tumor resection,and the postoperative diagnosis was hepatic hemangiomas.CONCLUSION During EUS procedures,scanning across different layers and at varying degrees of gastric cavity distension,coupled with meticulous image analysis,has the potential to mitigate the likelihood of such misdiagnoses.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided lauromacrogol injection for treatment of colorectal cavernous hemangioma:Two case reports

BACKGROUND Colorectal cavernous hemangioma is a rare vascular malformation resulting in recurrent lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage,and can be misinterpreted as colitis.Surgical resection is currently the mainstay of treatment,with an emphasis on sphincter preservation.CASE SUMMARY We present details of two young patients with a history of persistent hematochezia diagnosed with colorectal cavernous hemangioma by endoscopic ultrasound(EUS).Cavernous hemangioma was relieved by several EUS-guided lauromacrogol injections and the patients achieved favorable clinical prognosis.CONCLUSION Multiple sequential EUS-guided injections of lauromacrogol is a safe,effective,cost-efficient,and minimally invasive alternative for colorectal cavernous hemangioma.

miR-222 targets ACOX1, promotes triglyceride accumulation in hepatocytes

Background:Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)is one of the most prevalent chronic liver diseases.However,the exact pathogenesis of NAFLD remains to be elucidated.Despite the association with tumors and cardiovascular diseases,the role of miR-222 in NAFLD remains unclear.The present study was to investigate the role of miR-222 in NAFLD.Methods:Wild-type C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks to induce NAFLD.Normal human liver cell line(L02)was cultured with free fatty acid(FFA)-containing medium to stimulate cell steatosis.The mRNA levels of miR-222 and acyl Coenzyme A xidase 1(ACOX1)were detected by quantitative-PCR(Q-PCR).The prediction of ACOX1 as the target gene for miR-222 was conducted via TargetScan.The overexpression or inhibition of miR-222 was mediated by miR-222 mimics or antagomir,and intracellular triglyceride levels were measured using a triglyceride kit.Luciferase reporter assays verified ACOX1 as the target gene for miR-222.Results:miR-222 was significantly elevated in both the in vivo and in vitro NAFLD models.Overexpression of miR-222 significantly increased triglyceride content in the L02 cells,while inhibition of miR-222 expression restricted the accumulation of triglyceride.Overexpression of miR-222 significantly inhibited ACOX1 expression.Transient transfection assays verified that ACOX1 3-UTR luciferase reporter activity could be inhibited by miR-222 overexpression.Conclusions:The present study suggested that miR-222 promotes the accumulation of triglycerides by inhibiting ACOX1.

Predictive value of alarm symptoms in Rome IV irritable bowel syndrome:A multicenter cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Irritable bowel syndrome(IBS)is a common functional bowel disease that shares features with many organic diseases and cannot be accurately diagnosed by symptom-based criteria.Alarm symptoms have long been applied in the clinical diagnosis of IBS.However,no study has explored the predictive value of alarm symptoms in suspected IBS patients based on the latest Rome IV criteria.AIM To investigate the predictive value of alarm symptoms in suspected IBS patients based on the Rome IV criteria.METHODS In this multicenter cross-sectional study,we collected data from 730 suspected IBS patients evaluated at 3 tertiary care centers from August 2018 to August 2019.Patients with IBS-like symptoms who completed colonoscopy during the study period were initially identified by investigators through medical records.Eligible patients completed questionnaires,underwent laboratory tests,and were assigned to the IBS or organic disease group according to colonoscopy findings and pathology results(if a biopsy was taken).Independent risk factors for organic disease were explored by logistic regression analysis,and the positive predictive value(PPV)and missed diagnosis rate were calculated.RESULTS The incidence of alarm symptoms in suspected IBS patients was 75.34%.Anemia[odds ratio(OR)=2.825,95%confidence interval(CI):1.273-6.267,P=0.011],fecal occult blood[OR=1.940(95%CI:1.041-3.613),P=0.037],unintended weight loss(P=0.009),female sex[OR=0.560(95%CI:0.330-0.949),P=0.031]and marital status(P=0.030)were independently correlated with organic disease.The prevalence of organic disease was 10.41%in suspected IBS patients.The PPV of alarm symptoms for organic disease was highest for anemia(22.92%),fecal occult blood(19.35%)and unintended weight loss(16.48%),and it was 100%when these three factors were combined.The PPV and missed diagnosis rate for diagnosing IBS were 91.67%and 74.77%when all alarm symptoms were combined with Rome IV and 92.09%and 34.10%when only fecal occult blood,unintended weight loss and anemia were combined with Rome IV,respectively.CONCLUSION Anemia,fecal occult blood and unintended weight loss have high predictive value for organic disease in suspected IBS patients and can help identify patients requiring further examination but are not recommended as exclusion criteria for IBS.

An Alternative Low-Cost Strategy for Simultaneous Sensitive Detection of Adjacent ESR1 Mutations in Single Circulating Tumor Cell

ESR1 mutation is of great clinical significance and being promoted as a marker of resistance to endocrine therapy in breast cancers.However,it is a challenging task to detect ESR1 mutations from traditional biopsies and cell-free DNA(cfDNA),especially for polyclonal mutations.This is mainly attributed to massive wild-type background and the low-abundance of the mutations.Here,using one-step single-cell amplification coupling with pyrosequencing,we developed and validated an original strategy for simultaneous sensitive detection of adjacent ESR1 mutations in single circulating tumor cell(CTC)from breast cancers.Unlike expensive single-cell sequencing used in previous studies,the strategy does not require complicated two-step amplification or high-cost single-cell amplification kits.Three pivotal parts involved in the strategy are collection of CTCs from whole blood of breast cancer patients,one-step single-cell amplification and pyrosequencing of single-cell amplicons.To achieve better e fficiency of one-step single-cell amplification for pyrosequencing,a set of experimental conditions were thoroughly trialed.The developed strategy enabled a highly specific detection of the ESR1 hotspot mutations from large wild-type background with the specificity as low as 1%and a high sensitivity of two copies of artificial samples or single-cell level and pretty good quantitative accuracy(R^(2)≥0.9888).Using this strategy,141 single CTCs from 11 cases of breast cancer patients were identified and collected,126 of which were successfully analyzed with a high rate of 89.4%.These results indicate that the cost-effective and reliable strategy could be used for clinical management,showing promising application in the treatment decision-making of breast cancer patients.

Impact of antibiotics on smell dysfunction

Objective: Viral or bacterial respiratory infections can cause long-lasting olfactory dysfunction. Antibiotic therapy is indicated in severe cases; however, it is unclear whether antibiotic use produces a positive, negative, or null effect on olfactory function. This retro-spective study sought to determine whether antibiotic use has an influence on odor identifica-tion and detection threshold test scores of patients with smell dysfunction secondary to upper respiratory infections (URIs), lower respiratory infections (LRIs), or rhinosinusitis. Methods: Data from a total of 288 patients presenting to the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center were evaluated. Results: Patients with a URI etiology who had taken bactericidal antibiotics had lower detec-tion thresholds than did patients who had not taken antibiotics (P < 0.023; analysis of covari-ance with age and time since infection onset as covariates). Moreover, thresholds were lower for bactericidal antibiotic users than for bacteriostatic antibiotic users with either URI (P = 0.023) or rhinosinusitis (P = 0.028) etiologies. No meaningful influences of antibiotics on the odor identification test scores were evident. Conclusions: These findings, which need to be confirmed in prospective double-blind studies, suggest that bactericidal antibiotic therapy may be beneficial in mitigating, at least to some degree, chronic decrements in smell sensitivity due to URIs and rhinosinusitis.