Qingdao Municipal Hospital

Tai Chi flap began as a novel design for a radial forearm flap. There have been no reports of submental island Tai Chi flap. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of the Tai Chi modification of the submental flap in the repair of tongue cancer-related defects.

This project was designed as a retrospective cohort study. Clinical data of patients who underwent contralateral Tai Chi modification of the submental flap repair after tongue cancer resection at our institution from April 2024 to April 2025 were retrospectively analyzed.

The cohort consisted of 4 patients (3 males and 1 female). No significant postoperative flap necrosis was seen, with only 1 case of tip bruising. In terms of tension in the donor area, the patients self-reported no significant tension in the neck, and no incision cracking was seen after suture removal on the 7th postoperative day. The patient's tongue function recovered well after surgery.

The submental island Tai Chi modification of the submental flap reconstructs tongue cancer defects with good postoperative functional recovery. And with low neck tension, the neck suture can be removed earlier.

Oral probiotic efficacy is often limited by poor bioavailability and restricted intestinal colonization due to harsh and variable gastrointestinal conditions, as well as complex gut microbiota. To address this, a core-shell delivery system was developed based on carboxyl-activated silk fibroin nano-fiber microcarriers (SFMs) coated with sodium alginate. Bacillus subtilis (Bs) was loaded onto SFMs, followed by carboxyl group activation via EDC/NHS chemistry and coating with a sodium alginate out-layer (Bs-SFMs@SA). As expected, the SFMs successfully supported the loading and proliferation of the probiotics and carboxyl activation enhanced the intestinal adhesion of SFMs. The sodium alginate coating provided protection against gastric fluid degradation in vitro/vivo, thereby significantly enhancing probiotic viability. Compared to individual probiotics, these probiotic-loaded microcarriers formed colonies, which enhanced colonization efficiency and functionality within the gastrointestinal tract through synergistic interactions and the creation of a protective, cooperative niche. Bs-SFMs@SA system increased Firmicutes D (Bacilli) abundance, enhanced metabolic synergy and microbial connectivity, and promoted host commensal bacterial growth, thereby alleviating pathological progression in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli & Dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis. The Bs-SFMs@SA system harnessed silk fibroin microcarriers to form robust probiotic colonies, resulting in significantly higher gut colonization efficiency compared to the dispersed probiotics typically found in other delivery systems or commercialized capsules.

To search for key drug resistance biomarkers and potential chemotherapeutic agents for combination therapy in melanoma patients. The common up-regulated differentially expressed genes were acquired from two cohort studies, GSE91061 and PRJEB23709. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression survival analyses were performed to screen for important prognostic biomarkers. A multi-gene panel including APP, ARHGAP42, GSTA4 and UCHL1, not only plays an important role in prognostic indicators, but also in predicting the probability of resistance to anti-PD-1 in patients with melanoma. Chemotherapy drug response models found five potential drugs, including all-trans retinoic acid, doxorubicin, etoposide, methotrexate and MG-132, were significantly associated with target genes in gene-panel. Molecular docking confirmed that potential drugs have good binding ability to target genes APP, GSTA4 and UCHL1, suggesting that the multi-gene panel is expected to provide assistance for drug resistance prediction and prognosis assessment and combination therapy in patients with anti-PD-1 resistant melanoma.