Comorbidity patterns and mortality among hospitalized patients with psychiatric disorders and COVID-19

Objectives: To examine the association between psychiatric and non-psychiatric comorbidity and 28-day mortality among patients with psychiatric disorders and COVID-19. Methods: Multicenter observational retrospective cohort study of adult patients with psychiatric disorders hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 at 36 Greater Paris university hospitals (January 2020-May 2021) (n=3,768). First, we searched for different subgroups of patients according to their psychiatric and non-psychiatric comorbidities through cluster analysis. Next, we compared 28-day all-cause mortality rates across the identified clusters, while taking into account sex, age, and the number of medical conditions. Results: We found five clusters of patients with distinct psychiatric and non-psychiatric comorbidity patterns. Twenty-eight-day mortality in the cluster of patients with mood disorders was significantly lower than in other clusters. There were no significant differences in mortality across other clusters. Conclusion: All psychiatric and non-psychiatric conditions may be associated with increased mortality in patients with psychiatric disorders and COVID-19. The lower risk of death among patients with mood disorders might be in line with the potential beneficial effect of certain antidepressants in COVID-19, but requires further research. These findings may help identify at-risk patients with psychiatric disorders who should benefit from vaccine booster prioritization and other prevention measures.

A Morphometric Study of Head in the Population of Young Chinese Adults / Estudio Morfométrico de la Cabeza en la Población de Adultos Jóvenes Chinos

SUMMARY: Due to the complexity of head shape, limited 1D or 2D head anthropometry fail to fully capture its shape characteristics. Currently, there is limited research on clustering analysis of head shape from a shape difference perspective, especially for the head shape of Chinese people. Head shape is influenced by factors such as race, sex, and age, making it imperative to create a head shape database for Chinese individuals. In this study, three-dimensional head data of 339 Chinese young adult were collected, and the head shapes were clustered into 7 clusters using an improved k-medoids algorithm. The differences between clusters and the average head shape were further analyzed. It can be foreseen that the head shape database for Chinese young adult constructed in this study has important reference value for the ergonomic design of head-related products and head morphology research, among other fields.

Debido a la complejidad de la forma de la cabeza, la antropometría limitada de ésta, en 1D o 2D, no logra capturar completamente sus características de forma. Actualmente, existen estudios limitados sobre el análisis de agrupamiento de la forma de la cabeza, desde una perspectiva de diferencia de forma, especialmente en el caso de la población china. La forma de la cabeza está influenciada por factores como la raza, el sexo y la edad, por lo que resulta imperativo crear una base de datos sobre la forma de la cabeza de los individuos chinos. En este estudio, se recopilaron datos tridimensionales de la cabeza de 339 adultos jóvenes chinos, y las formas de la cabeza se agruparon en 7 grupos utilizando un algoritmo k-medoids mejorado. Las diferencias entre los grupos y la forma promedio de la cabeza se analizaron a profundidad. Se puede prever que la base de datos sobre la forma de la cabeza de adultos jóvenes chinos construida en este estudio, tiene un valor de referencia importante para el diseño ergonómico de productos relacionados con la morfología de la cabeza, entre otros campos.

Effect of Spatial Contiguity on Learning Sequences of Positions / Efecto de la contigüidad espacial sobre el aprendizaje de secuencias de posiciones

Abstract Four conditions of spatial contiguity of positions were used to assess sequence learning. Two sequences of 16 and 25 positions presented in two matrices of 4x4 and 5x5 respectively were used. Within each matrix, 4 (in the 4x4 matrix) or 6 positions (in the 5x5 matrix) presented spatial contiguity. The place at the sequence in which contiguous positions occurred varied across groups. In this way, spatial contiguity of the 4 or 6 positions was presented at the beginning of the sequence (Group 1), in the middle part (Group 2), at the end of the sequence (Group 3) or it was presented a sequence in which all positions occurred without spatial contiguity (Group 4). 28 undergraduate students participated. Results showed no differences among groups in the number of trials required to reproduce the sequence correctly. Number of errors was lower when contiguous positions were presented at the beginning of the sequence. These findings are explained as a possible effect of accentuation of primacy given by the occurrence of contiguous positions at the beginning of the sequence.

Resumen Cuatro condiciones de contigüidad espacial de posiciones fueron empleadas para evaluar el aprendizaje de secuencias. Se emplearon dos secuencias de 16 y 25 posiciones presentadas en dos matrices de 4x4 y 5x5, respectivamente. Dentro de cada matriz, 4 (en la matriz de 4x4) o 6 posiciones (en la matriz de 5x5) presentaron contigüidad espacial. Entre grupos, se varió el punto de la secuencia en el que se presentaron las posiciones contiguas. De este modo, la contigüidad espacial de las 4 o 6 posiciones se presentó al inicio de la secuencia (Grupo 1), en la parte media (Grupo 2), al final de la secuencia (Grupo 3), o bien, se presentó una secuencia en la que todas las posiciones ocurrieron sin contigüidad espacial (Grupo 4). Participaron 28 estudiantes de licenciatura. Los resultados no mostraron diferencias entre grupos en cuanto al número de ensayos requeridos para reproducir la secuencia correctamente. El número de errores fue menor cuando las posiciones contiguas se presentaron al inicio de la secuencia. Los hallazgos se explican a partir de un posible efecto de acentuación de la primacía, dado por la ocurrencia de posiciones contiguas al inicio de la secuencia.

Clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors among first-year students at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the second leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, there is substantial evidence that modifiable risk factors for CVD are increasing in adolescents. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of information on the prevalence and clustering of these risk factors in adolescents. OBJECTIVES: This study explores the modifiable risk factors for CVD among first-year students at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. DESIGN AND SETTING: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. METHODS: A total of 546 newly admitted students at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, were recruited using stratified random sampling. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from study participants between January and February 2016. RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 19 ± 2.2 years with a male-to-female ratio of 1:1. The reported risk factors for CVD were smoking (1.6%), abdominal obesity (3.3%), alcohol consumption (3.7%), overweight/obesity (20.7%), unhealthy diet (85.3%), and physical inactivity (94.5%). Clustering of ≥ 2 risk factors was reported in 23.4% of students. Female students were twice as probably overweight/obese as male students (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.2; confidence interval [CI] = 1.41-3.43). Students whose fathers were skilled workers were 3.5 times more likely to be physically inactive (AOR = 1.7; CI = 0.97-2.96). The clustering of ≥ 2 risk factors was significantly higher among women and Muslims in bivariate analysis, whereas no significant association was found in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Public health strategies to prevent CVD risk factors should begin in schools and extend to the entire community.

Role of machine learning techniques in classification of peripheral pulse morphology

Recording of peripheral pulse serves as a very important and essential non-invasive tool used widely by doctors for the diagnosis of various diseases. The morphology of pulse is seen to vary as a function of time in a given individual and also from individual to individual. There are many variations in morphological patterns of peripheral pulse in different disease conditions, which lead to difficulty in accurate diagnosis. The peripheral pulse waveforms are extracted from radial arteries as time series data using a peripheral pulse analyzer which is designed on the principle of impedance plethysmography. It was first introduced by Nyober in the mid-nineteen hundreds and ameliorated further by Kubicek. It involves the recording of the instantaneous blood volume by the measurement of electrical impedance as a function of time. Therefore, the study of peripheral pulse morphology has gained much attention in the past few years among researchers. Physiological variability is one of the recent investigations added during the last two decades for the objective assessment of autonomic function and the assessment of prognosis in severe sicknesses namely myocardial infarction, diabetic neuropathy, etc. In addition to heart rate variability studied worldwide, few researchers have studied blood pressure variability and peripheral blood flow variability. In this computer era, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques have become more important day-by- day, and different types of algorithms were used for the identification of hidden patterns from plethysmographic observations on the radial pulse such as support vector machine as well as crisp and fuzzy clustering. Eight patterns were classified with a yield of 80%–90% and helped with the diagnosis of disorders such as myocardial infarction, pulmonary tuberculosis, coronary artery disorders, cirrhosis of the liver, and bronchial asthma. This paper briefly describes the use of machine learning techniques for the classification of peripheral pulse morphologies.

Comparison on volatile components between Artemisiae Verlotori Folium and Artemisiae Argyi Folium based on GC-MS and chemometrics / 中国中药杂志

Artemisiae Argyi Folium is commonly used in clinical practice. Artemisiae Verlotori Folium, the dried leaves of Artemisia verlotorum, is often used as a folk substitute for Artemisiae Argyi Folium in Lingnan area. In this study, gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry(GC-MS) was used to detect the volatile oil components of 27 samples of Artemisiae Verlotori Folium and 13 samples of Artemisiae Argyi Folium, and the volatile components were compared between the two species. The internal standard method was combined with multi-reaction monitoring mode(MRM) to determine the content of six major volatile components. Hierarchical clustering analysis(HCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) were carried out for the content data. The results showed that the Artemisiae Argyi Folium samples had higher content and more abundant volatile oils than the Artemisiae Verlotori Folium samples. Artemisiae Argyi Folium mainly had the components with lower boiling points, while Artemisiae Verlotori Folium mainly had the components with higher boiling points. Terpenoids were the main volatile components in Artemisiae Verlotori Folium(mainly sesquiterpenoids) and Artemisiae Argyi Folium(monoterpenoids). In addition, Artemisiae Argyi Folium had higher content of oxygen-containing derivatives than Artemisiae Verlotori Folium. Furthermore, the stoichiometric analysis showed that the two species could be distinguished by both HCA and OPLS-DA, indicating that the volatile components of the two were significantly different. This study can provide a scientific basis for the quality evaluation and data support for the local rational application of Artemisiae Verlotori Folium in Lingnan.

Phytochemical interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder: A cluster co-occurrence network analysis using CiteSpace / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#This study investigated trends in the study of phytochemical treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).@*METHODS@#The Web of Science database (2007-2022) was searched using the search terms "phytochemicals" and "PTSD," and relevant literature was compiled. Network clustering co-occurrence analysis and qualitative narrative review were conducted.@*RESULTS@#Three hundred and one articles were included in the analysis of published research, which has surged since 2015 with nearly half of all relevant articles coming from North America. The category is dominated by neuroscience and neurology, with two journals, Addictive Behaviors and Drug and Alcohol Dependence, publishing the greatest number of papers on these topics. Most studies focused on psychedelic intervention for PTSD. Three timelines show an "ebb and flow" phenomenon between "substance use/marijuana abuse" and "psychedelic medicine/medicinal cannabis." Other phytochemicals account for a small proportion of the research and focus on topics like neurosteroid turnover, serotonin levels, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression.@*CONCLUSION@#Research on phytochemicals and PTSD is unevenly distributed across countries/regions, disciplines, and journals. Since 2015, the research paradigm shifted to constitute the mainstream of psychedelic research thus far, leading to the exploration of botanical active ingredients and molecular mechanisms. Other studies focus on anti-oxidative stress and anti-inflammation. Please cite this article as: Gao B, Qu YC, Cai MY, Zhang YY, Lu HT, Li HX, Tang YX, Shen H. Phytochemical interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder: A cluster co-occurrence network analysis using CiteSpace. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(4):385-396.

Drug resistance characteristics and spatial clustering of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Qinghai Province from 2016 to 2019 / 中国热带医学

@#Abstract: Objective To analyze the resistance and spatial distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) to six commonly used anti-tuberculosis drugs in Qinghai Province from 2016 to 2019, so as to provide a reference for tuberculosis treatment and drug-resistant tuberculosis control. Methods A total of 1 182 identified strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Qinghai Province from 2016 to 2019 were collected, and 6 anti-tuberculosis drugs were subjected to drug susceptibility tests and strain confirmed by the proportional method. By means of ArcMap10.7 and SaTScan10.1 software, map visualization, spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial scanning of MTB drug resistance were performed to identify MTB drug resistance clusters in Qinghai Province. Results From 2016 to 2019, the total drug resistance (TDR) rate of 1 182 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Qinghai Province was 23.77% (281/1 182), with a mono-resistance (MR) rate of 11.08% (131/1 182), a poly-resistance (PDR) rate of 3.89% (46/1 182), a multi-drug resistance (MDR) rate of 8.80% (104/1 182), and an extensive drug resistance (XDR) rate of 0.85% (10/1 182). The rates of MDR, XDR and TDR all showed a decreasing trend year by year (P<0.01). The drug resistance spectrum displayed 21 combinations. The TDR rate and MDR rate in the retreatment patients were higher than those of the initial treated patients, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2 TDR=22.784, χ2MDR=45.082, P<0.01). In terms of demographic characteristics, the TDR rate in males was higher than that in females, and the middle-aged group was higher than other age groups, and the differences were statistically significant (χ2=7.541, 10.825, P<0.05). The results of global spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that there was no statistical significance in the autocorrelation and obvious spatial clustering of MTB drug resistance in Qinghai Province from 2016 to 2019 (P>0.05), which indicated a random distribution. The results of spatiotemporal scanning showed that there was a kind of clustering area, but the clustering effect was not significant (P>0.05), indicating a random distribution. Conclusions The TDR of MTB in Qinghai Province from 2016 to 2019 showed a downward trend year by year. In comparison with the national average, the rate of multi-drug resistance and extensive drug resistance was still high, and most of the multi-drug resistance resulted from rifampicin and isoniazid. The drugresistant population mainly consisted of retreatment, males, and young and middle-aged pop

Spatial temporal feature of tuberculosis among high school students in Gansu Province from 2018 to 2022 / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the spatial temporal distribution characteristics of tuberculosis among high school students at county levels in Gansu Province from 2018 to 2022,so as to provide a scientific basis for tuberculosis prevention and control in schools.@*Methods@#Tuberculosis data from high school students in counties (districts) reported in Gansu Province from 2018 to 2022 was collected from the Tuberculosis Information Management System and Infectious Disease Information Reporting System of the Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information Management System. Demographic data of high school students in counties (districts) came from the General Management System of the Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information Management System, and the spatial clustering of the reported incidence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis among high school students in Gansu Province in the past five years was analyzed using the methods of global spatial autocorrelation (Moran s I) and local indicators of spatial audocorrelation(LISA).@*Results@#A total of 41 885 pulmonary tuberculosis cases were reported in various counties of Gansu Province From 2018 to 2022, with an average reported incidence rate of 32.81/100 000. During the same period, 1 170 high school students cases were reported, with an average reported incidence rate of 13.72/100 000. With the exception of 2020, the reported incidence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis among high school students was non random distribution in other 4 years, showed a moderate intensity of spatial clustering. From 2018 to 2022, most counties in Gansu Province reported that the incidence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis among high school students was 10.00/100 000 or below, the counties with reported incidence rate >40.00/100 000 were mainly distributed in Luqu County, Maqu County, Diebu County, Hezuo City, Xiahe County of Gannan Prefecture, Gangu County and Wushan County of Tianshui Prefecture, Wenxian County and Kangxian County of Longnan Prefecture, Huachi County of Pingliang Prefecture, Huanxian County of Qingyang Prefecture. The number of counties where the reported incidence rate of tuberculosis among high school students more than 30.00/100 000 gradually decreased from 2018 to 2022. In the past five years, the reported incidence rate of tuberculosis among high school students in all counties of Gannan Prefecture remained above 40.00/ 100 000 . The LISA analysis results showed that the high incidence areas were mainly concentrated in Gannan Prefecture.@*Conclusions@#The epidemic situation of pulmonary tuberculosis among high school students in Gansu province from 2018 to 2022 is still a serious condition, showing the characteristics of unbalanced regional distribution. The reported incidence rate shows a strong spatial clustering, and the hot spots are concentrated in the counties (districts) of Gannan prefecture in Gansu Province.

Distribution characteristics of newly reported occupational welder′s pneumoconiosis in Guangdong Province, 2013-2022 / 中国职业医学

Objective To analyze the distribution features of newly reported cases of occupational welder′s pneumoconiosis (OWP) in Guangdong Province from 2013 to 2022. Methods Data of newly reported cases of OWP from National Occupational Disease Network Direct Reporting System of Guangdong Province from 2013 to 2022 was analyzed using conventional data analyzing Methods. Results A total of 294 cases of OWP were reported in Guangdong Province from 2013 to 2022 with an overall downward trend. The average age at diagnosis for new OWP cases was 44±6 years old, and the median of dust exposure duration was 11 years. Males accounted for 99.3% of the cases, and 94.2% of the cases were phase Ⅰ OWP. Guangzhou City had the highest regional distribution with 74.8% of the cases. The industry distribution was mainly manufacturing, accounting for 86.7% of the cases. The scale of enterprises was most common in small enterprises, followed by large and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 38.4%, 30.6% and 24.5% of the cases respectively. The economic types of enterprises were mostly private enterprises, followed by state-owned enterprises, accounting for 54.1% and 32.0% of the cases respectively. Conclusion In Guangdong Province, the newly reported OWP cases were clustered in terms of disease stage, regional distribution, industry, enterprise scale and enterprise economic type. There was a tendency of younger age at diagnosis and shorter dust exposure duration.

Identification and cluster analysis of Streptococcus suis by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry / 公共卫生与预防医学

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for identification and cluster analysis of Streptococcus suis. Methods Eighteen clinical isolates biochemically identified as Streptococcus suis were pre-treated by smearing formic acid method and formic acid-acetonitrile extraction method. The identification results and protein profiles of MALDI-TOF-MS method were analyzed and compared. A self-constructed database of profiling with better pretreatment method was established, and cluster analysis was performed on the 18 strains of Streptococcus suis. At the same time, PFGE homology analysis was performed to compare the results of the two genotyping. Results Both pretreatment methods could accurately identify Streptococcus suis with scores above 2.1. The protein fingerprint of formic acid and acetonitrile extraction method had a smoother baseline, fewer miscellaneous peaks and more identifiable ion peaks. Comparison of the results of homology typing showed that the homology results of MALDI-TOF-MS were significantly different from those of PFGE. Conclusion MALDI-TOF-MS can accurately identify Streptococcus suis for the strains pre-treated with formic acid method or formic acid-acetonitrile extraction method, and the formic acid-acetonitrile extraction method can obtain a better protein mapping. MALDI-TOF-MS can play a certain role in typing, but it still has some limitations and cannot completely replace the PFGE.

Research on multi-Atlas segmentation based on feature clustering / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective:To study the improvement of normal tissue region of interest (ROI) segmentation based on clustering-based multi-Atlas segmentation method, thereby achieving better delineation of organs at risk.Methods:CT images of 100 patients with cervical cancer who had completed treatment in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital during 2019-2020 were selected as the Atlas database. According to the volume characteristic parameters of the organs at risk (bladder, rectum and outer contour), the Atlas database was divided into several subsets by k-means clustering algorithm. The image to be segmented was matched to the corresponding Atlas library for multi-Atlas segmentation. The dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was used to evaluate the segmentation results.Results:Using 30 patients as the test set, the sub-Atlas generated by different clustering methods were compared for the improvement of image segmentation results. Compared with general multi-Atlas segmentation methods, clustering-based multi-Atlas segmentation method significantly improve the segmentation accuracy for the bladder (DSC=0.83±0.09 vs. 0.69±0.15, P<0.001) and the rectum (0.7±0.07 vs. 0.56±0.16, P<0.001), but no statistical significance was observed for left and right femoral head (0.92±0.04, 0.91±0.02) and bone marrow (0.91±0.06). The average segmentation time of clustering-based multi-Atlas segmentation method was shorter than that of the general multi-Atlas segmentation method (2.7 min vs. 6.3 min). Conclusion:The clustering-based multi-Atlas segmentation method can not only reduce the number of Atlas images registered with the image to be segmented, but also can be expected to improve the segmentation effect and obtain higher accuracy.

Simulation calculation of relative biological effectiveness based on DNA double strand break clusters / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To obtain the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of DNA double strand breaks (DSB) clusters by tracing the mechanism of radiated DNA damage, and explore the relationship among the biological effectiveness of DNA damage, chromosomal aberrations and germ cell death.Methods:Taking low-energy electrons, protons, and α particles as the research objects, this study simulated the process that cell nuclei were exposed to particle radiation using a radiation-related physicochemical model. On the ground of the DSB density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm, the DSB cluster classification method was improved to weaken the connection between the DSBs and the random distribution assumptions of energy depositions during the simulation. In this manner, the DSB clusters can be much closer to a non-random distribution. Furthermore, this study obtained the yields of DSB clusters and proposed a method to calculate the RBE values of DSB clusters.Results:The calculated RBE value (12.29) of DSB clusters of 2 MeV α particles was similar to the experimental RBE values of chromosomal fragments (15.3±5.9) and cell survival (14.7±5.1).Conclusions:After high-LET ionizing radiation, unlike the single DSB, the RBE of DSB clusters was similar to that of chromosomal aberration and cell survival.

Prevalence and spatio-temporal clustering of visceral leishmaniasis in Gansu Province from 2015 to 2021 / 中华地方病学杂志

Objective:To analyze the epidemic status and spatial and temporal cluster distribution of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Gansu Province, and to provide evidence for making precise prevention and control measures and epidemic surveillance.Methods:The data of VL cases in Gansu Province reported in the China Disease Prevention and Control Information System Infectious Disease Reporting Information Management System from 2015 to 2021 were collected, descriptive epidemiology analysis was performed (three distribution of the disease). SaTScan v9.6 and ArcMap 10.7 were used for spatio-temporal cluster analysis.Results:A total of 368 VL cases were reported from 2015 to 2021, 89.13% (328/368) were concentrated in Longnan City and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The number of VL cases increased year by year from 2015 to 2017, reaching a peak in 2017 (79 cases, accounting for 21.47%), and had decreased year by year since 2018. There were cases every month throughout the year, and the peak was in April in spring (38 cases). The ratio of male to female patients was 1.3 ∶ 1.0 (208/160). Scattered children aged less than 5 years old were more common (41.30%, 152/368). The spatio-temporal cluster analysis showed that both the spatial and temporal aggregation zones of VL in Tanchang County and Chengxian County were of statistical significance ( P < 0.05). Conclusion:The incidence of VL in Gansu Province is showing a low epidemic trend, having spatio-temporal aggregation, and precise monitoring and prevention and control should be strengthened in epidemic areas with different prevalence levels.

Study on medication law of TCM compounds with national patents for treatment of vascular dementia / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To explore the prescription and medication law of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) compounds in the treatment of vascular dementia (VD) based on patent database.Methods:TCM compounds with patents about VD were retrieved from Chinese patent announcement website of the State Intellectual Property Office and CNKI. The retrieval time was from the establishment to the databases to 31 st, March 2022. The frequency, clusteringand association analysis were carried out with the help of TCM inheritance auxiliary platform (V2.5). The medication law was analyzed. Results:154 TCM compound patents for the treatment of vascular dementia were screened, involving 227 kinds of Chinese materia medica. Among them, Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (44 times, 28.57%) was used more frequently, and the common medicinal pair was Salviea Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma- Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (17 times, 11.03%). The medicinal property was mainly warm, the taste was mainly sweet, and the meridian was mainly liver meridian. Those with high confidence based on association rules were " Corni Fructus -Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma" (0.90), " Corni Fructus -Rehmannize Radix et Praeparata" (0.90). Based on the complex network, it was concluded that the core drugs were 14 groups such as " Rehmannize Radix et Praeparata- Cistanches Herba- Corni Fructus". The new prescriptions extracted by entropy cluster analysis included 7 groups such as " Rehmannize Radix et Praeparata, Cistanches Herba, Corni Fructus and Asparagi Radix". Conclusion:The treatment of VD by TCM compounds with national patents is mainly based on tonifying deficiency, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, eliminating phlegm and dampness, expelling wind and dredging collaterals, opening orifices and resuscitation, which can provide reference for clinical practice and new drug research and development.

To explore the distribution of TCM syndrome types of refractory tic disorder in children based on cluster analysis / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To explore the clinical characteristics and distribution of Tranditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome types of refractory tic disorders in children based on clustering analysis.Methods:A cross-sectional study. 183 children aged 3-18 years with refractory tic disorders from pediatric encephalopathy outpatient department of the First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine who met the inclusion criteria from October 2015 to January 2022 were recruited. Frequency descriptive analysis, systematic clustering analysis and principal component analysis were conducted by Microsoft Office Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 to explore the clinical characteristics and syndrome distribution of the disease.Results:The TCM symptoms of 183 children with refractory tic disorders were clustered into 6 categories, and finally 5 types of syndrome were obtained, among which the syndrome of spleen deficiency and liver hyperactivity mixed with dampness accounted for the largest proportion (27.32%), followed by the syndrome of phlegm-fire disturbing spirit (21.31%), the syndrome of wind-heat invading lung (18.03%), the syndrome of phlegm-qi stagnation (17.49%), and the syndrome of dampness and yin deficiency (15.85%).Conclusion:Through the mining and analysis of the outpatient information of pediatric encephalopathy in our hospital, the common syndrome differentiation types of refractory tic disorder are obtained, which can provide a reference for the TCM syndrome differentiation types of refractory tic disorder in children.

Prediction of concentration immediately dangerous to life or health of benzene and its derivatives based on quantitative structure-activity relationship / 环境与职业医学

Background With the increasing exposure to hazardous chemicals in the workplace and frequency of occupational injuries and occupational safety accidents, the acquisition of occupational exposure limits of hazardous chemicals is imminent. Objective To obtain more unknown immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) concentrations of hazardous chemicals in the workplace by exploring the application of quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) prediction method to IDLH concentrations, and to provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the assessment and prevention of occupational injuries. Methods QSAR was used to correlate the IDLH values of 50 benzene and its derivatives with the molecular structures of target compounds. Firstly, affinity propagation algorithm was applied to cluster sample sets. Secondly, Dragon 2.1 software was used to calculate and pre-screen 537 molecular descriptors. Thirdly, the genetic algorithm was used to select six characteristic molecular descriptors as dependent variables and to construct a multiple linear regression model (MLR) and two nonlinear models using support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) respectively. Finally, model performance was evaluated by internal and external validation and Williams diagram was drawn to determine the scopes of selected models. Results The ANN model results showed that \begin{document}$ {R}_{\mathrm{t}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}}

Epidemiological investigation of a pulmonary tuberculosis outbreak involving six high schools / 预防医学

@#In September 2020, three pulmonary tuberculosis cases were identified during school physical examinations at a senior high school in a district (School B) of Hangzhou City. Immediate epidemiological surveys were performed by local district and Hangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and a pulmonary tuberculosis outbreak involving 9 cases in 6 schools were identified. All cases were once Grade 9 students in Class of 2019 at a junior high school (School A), and the source of infection might be a laboratory-confirmed cases (index case) in this class reported in April, 2019. Following exposure to index case, other cases developed disease onset or were screened after entering senior high schools. In November, 2020, tuberculin skin test and chest X-ray scan were performed to screen pulmonary tuberculosis among 43 students and teachers in a class of Grade 9 in Class of 2019 at School A, and 17 students strongly positive for tuberculin skin test were given prophylactic therapy. No pulmonary tuberculosis case were identified until June 2021. It is suggested that early epidemiological surveys facilitates the identification of the epidemiological correlation between cases. Active search for individuals with common exposure history and prophylactic therapy are required if a possible outbreak is found, which is helpful to avoid the spread of the outbreak.

Clustering of health-risk behaviors among children and adolescents in Yancheng City / 预防医学

Objective@#To investigate the clustering of health-risk behaviors and its influencing factors among children and adolescents in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, so as to provide insights into the prevention and control of health-risk behaviors among children and adolescents. @*Methods@#Students were randomly sampled from 4 primary schools, 4 junior high schools and 4 senior high schools in Yancheng City using a multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method from September to December 2021. Students' demographics and 12 health-risk factors including unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity and attempted smoking were collected using the Student's Health Status and Influencing Factors Questionnaire by Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and factors affecting the clustering of health-risk behaviors were identified using a multivariable linear regression model.@*Results@#A total of 2 925 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the respondents included 1 611 boys (55.08%) and 1 314 girls (44.92%). A total of 2 896 respondents were detected with health-risk behaviors, with a detection rate of 99.09%, and 2 772 respondents were detected with clustering of health-risk behaviors (93.06%). Insufficient sleep, insufficient physical activity and insufficient duration of outdoor activity were predominant patterns of clustering. The median number of health-risk behaviors was 4.00 (interquartile range, 2.00) per capita. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that boys (β=0.232), grade (junior high school, β=0.519; senior high school, β=0.427), urban area (β=0.241), living at school (β=0.395), family structure (single parental family, β=0.188; other families, β=0.344) and father's education level of primary school and below (β=0.369) were factors affecting clustering of health-risk behavior among primary and high school students. @*Conclusions@#The detection of health-risk behaviors is high among children and adolescents in Yancheng City, and insufficient sleep, insufficient physical activity and insufficient duration of outdoor activity are predominant health-risk behaviors. Boys, junior high school and above, urban areas, living at schools, single parents, and fathers with a low educational level lead to a high degree of clustering of health-risk behaviors.

Epidemiological investigation of a cluster of COVID-19 in badminton venues / 预防医学

Objective@#To perform an epidemiological survey of the first case with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Pinghu City of Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province on March 13, 2022, so as to provide insights into the management of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemics. @*Methods@#According to the requirements of the Protocol on Prevention and Control of COVID-19 (8th Edition), epidemiological investigations were performed among 39 cases with SARS-CoV-2 infections in Pinghu City from March 13 to 20, 2022. Cases' demographics, clinical symptoms, history of immunization and exposure were collected, and close contacts were identified. Pharyngeal swabs were sampled from infected cases for detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid and whole-genome sequencing, and the source of infection and transmission route were investigated. @*Results@#The index case for this COVID-19 epidemic was an imported case from Shanghai Municipality, who infected 6 persons via aerosol transmission when playing in the badminton venue of Pinghu National Fitness Center on March 9; subsequently, one of these infected cases infected another 18 persons when playing in the badminton venue of Jiadian Village Resident's Fitness Center in Zhapu Township on March 12. Sixteen confirmed cases were reported, and all cases were mild; another 23 asymptomatic cases were diagnosed, with no death reported. This epidemic occurred from March 11 to 20, with 3 generations of spread and a median incubation period of 3 days. The SARS-CoV-2 infected cases had a median age of 33.5 (interquartile range, 12.0) years and included 36 cases with a history of COVID-19 vaccination. There were 16 cases with fever, cough, runny nose and sore throat, and 13 cases with imaging features of pneumonia. The effective reproductive number (Rt) of the COVID-19 epidemic was 7.73 at early stage, and was less than 1 since March 21. Whole-genome sequencing identified Omicron BA.2 variant among 33 cases, which had high homology with the index cases. @*Conclusion@#This epidemic was a cluster of COVID-19 caused by imported Omicron BA.2 variant infection from Shanghai Municipality, and the COVID-19 transmission was mainly caused by indoor aerosols.