A novel intelligent model for visualized inference of medical diagnosis: A case of TCM.

How to present an intelligent model based on known diagnostic knowledge to assist medical diagnosis and display the reasoning process is an interesting issue worth exploring. This study developed a novel intelligent model for visualized inference of medical diagnosis with a case of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Four classes of TCM's diagnosis composed of Yin deficiency, Liver Yin deficiency, Kidney Yin deficiency, and Liver-Kidney Yin deficiency were selected as research examples. According to the knowledge of diagnostic points in "Diagnostics of TCM", a total of 2000 samples for training and testing were randomly generated for the four classes of TCM's diagnosis. In addition, a total of 60 clinical samples were collected from hospital clinical cases. Training samples were sent to the pre-training language model of Chinese Bert for training to generate intelligent diagnostic module. Simultaneously, a mathematical algorithm was developed to generate inferential digraphs. In order to evaluate the performance of the model, the values of accuracy, F1 score, Mse, Loss and other indicators were calculated for model training and testing. And the confusion matrices and ROC curves were plotted to estimate the predictive ability of the model. The novel model was also compared with RF and XGBOOST. And some instances of inferential digraphs with the model were displayed and analyzed. It may be a new attempt to solve the problem of interpretable and inferential intelligent models in the field of artificial intelligence on medical diagnosis of TCM.

Association of sleep duration and risk of frailty among the elderly over 80 years old in China: a prospective cohort study / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective: To explore the association between sleep duration and the risk of frailty among the elderly over 80 years old in China. Methods: Using the data from five surveys of the China Elderly Health Influencing Factors Follow-up Survey (CLHLS) (2005, 2008-2009, 2011-2012, 2014, and 2017-2018), 7 024 elderly people aged 80 years and above were selected as the study subjects. Questionnaires and physical examinations were used to collect information on sleep time, general demographic characteristics, functional status, physical signs, and illness. The frailty state was evaluated based on a frailty index that included 39 variables. The Cox proportional risk regression model was used to analyze the correlation between sleep time and the risk of frailty occurrence. A restricted cubic spline function was used to analyze the dose-response relationship between sleep time and the risk of frailty occurrence. The likelihood ratio test was used to analyze the interaction between age, gender, sleep quality, cognitive impairment, and sleep duration. Results: The age M (Q1, Q3) of 7 024 subjects was 87 (82, 92) years old, with a total of 3 435 (48.9%) patients experiencing frailty. The results of restricted cubic spline function analysis showed that there was an approximate U-shaped relationship between sleep time and the risk of frailty. When sleep time was 6.5-8.5 hours, the elderly had the lowest risk of frailty; Multivariate Cox proportional risk regression model analysis showed that compared to 6.5-8.5 hours of sleep, long sleep duration (>8.5 hours) increased the risk of frailty by 13% (HR: 1.13; 95%CI: 1.04-1.22). Conclusion: There is a nonlinear association between sleep time and the risk of frailty in the elderly.

Alterations in the expression level of visfatin in the lungs of piglets infected with PRRSV and its effect on PRRSV replication.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a highly contagious disease caused by PRRS virus (PRRSV), characterized by sow reproductive failure and respiratory symptoms in pigs of all ages. PRRSV mainly causes severe lung damage by invading alveolar macrophages. Visfatin is closely related to acute lung injury, immune response and inflammation along with virus invasion to the host. Therefore, the current study was performed to clarify the relationship between visfatin and PRRSV infection. We used ternary piglets to construct a piglet model to explore the expression of visfatin and tight junction protein in lung injury induced by PRRSV infection, and then further studied the inhibition effect of visfatin on PRRSV replication by PRRSV infection of Marc-145 cells. Our results indicated that both PRRSV attenuated and virulent infections could damage the lung tissues, which could not only lead to severe inflammatory reaction (such as increased expression of TNF-α, TGF-ß, IL-8 and IL-10) in lung tissues of piglets, but also brought about the sharp decrease of ZO-1 and Tricellulin expressions resulting in impaired alveolar epithelial barrier. Meanwhile, we found significantly up-regulated expression of visfatin in lungs and serum of pigs after PRRSV infection that were related to both the degree of lung injury and the virulence of PRRSV strain. Moreover, visfatin might inhibit the PRRSV infection to Marc-145 cells in time dependent fashion. Hence, the current investigation provides the novel information about the effect of visfatin and PRRSV co-culture on Marc-145 cells and the effect of visfatin on PRRSV proliferation at different time points.

The Value of Serum HMGB1 and sRAGE in the Diagnosis, Efficacy Monitoring and Prognosis of Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the value of high mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1) and soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) in the diagnosis, efficacy monitoring and prognosis of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients.@*METHODS@#Fifty newly diagnosed MM patients before and after chemotherapy and 50 hematological outpatients from October 2018 to May 2020 were selected. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the serum HMGB1 and sRAGE levels of the patients. ROC was used to further analyze the efficacy of serum HMGB1 and sRAGE levels on the diagnosis of MM. At the same time, the serum levels of HMGB1 and sRAGE before and after chemotherapy were compared, and their values in the evaluation of curative effect of MM patients were analyzed. According to the mean values of serum HMGB1 and sRAGE, all the patients were divided into different groups, the clinical characteristics and survival status of the patients were compared.@*RESULTS@#Before treatment the serum HMGB1 level of the patients in MM group was higher than that in control group, while sRAGE level was lower (t=11.363,6.127, P<0.001). The AUC of serum HMGB1 and sRAGE in the MM patients was 0.955 and 0.811, respectively. After 3 courses of chemotherapy, HMGB1 level of the patients in CR group was lower than before chemotherapy, while in PD group was higher, as well as sRAGE level of the patients in PR group (P<0.05). There were significant differences in R-ISS stage, HGB, CRP, ESR, CD56, CD117, D13S319 deletion between HMGB1 high expression group and HMGB1 low expression group (χ2=3.920, 6.522, 6.65, 4.16, 3.945, 6.65, 4.16, P<0.05), while there were significant differences in ISS stage, CRP and CD56 between sRAGE low expression group (28 cases) and sRAGE high expression group (22 cases) (χ2=4.565, 4.711, 5.547, P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the patients in HMGB1 low expression group had better survival condition, for PFS Tlow>Thigh (χ2=9.470, P<0.05), and for OS Tlow>Thigh (χ2=7.808, P<0.05); there was no difference in the survival of sRAGE high expression group and low expression group, for PFS Tlow<Thigh (χ2=1.661, P>0.05), and for OS Tlow<Thigh (χ2=2.048, P>0.05). Cox analysis showed that LDH and HMGB1 were the factors affecting the prognosis of the patients, and both of them affected PFS (HR=2.771, 95% CI: 1.002-7.662, P=0.049; HR=6.022, 95% CI: 1.689-21.470, P=0.006), while HMGB1 also affected OS (HR=4.275, 95% CI: 1.183-15.451, P=0.027).@*CONCLUSION@#The serum HMGB1 and sRAGE have certain auxiliary value for the diagnosis and curative effect monitoring of newly diagnosed MM patients, and serum HMGB1 is expected to be an auxiliary detection index for the prognosis of MM.

Visfatin Regulates Inflammatory Mediators in Mouse Intestinal Mucosa Through Toll-Like Receptors Signaling Under Lipopolysaccharide Stress.

Visfatin is a multifunctional protein involved in inflammatory immune stress. The aim of current study was to explore the role of visfatin in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intestinal mucosal inflammation and to confirm its cellular effect in inflammatory immune response through silencing of Toll-like receptors (TLRs). We divided Kunming mice into three groups: Saline group, LPS group, and LPS + visfatin group and performed hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and RNA-seq analysis. Pretreatment of visfatin improves LPS-stimulated reduction of tight junction protein 1 (ZO-1) and secretory immunoglobulin A, inhibits overexpression of Claudin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor, and reduces intestinal mucosal damage and inflammation. RNA-seq analysis of cellular transcriptomes indicated that visfatin is involved in down-regulation of mRNA level of TLR4 as well as attenuation of protein levels of TLR8 and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2, revealing that visfatin could reduce intestinal mucosal inflammation through TLR signaling pathway in mice ileum. In RAW264.7 cells, the genes silencing of Toll/IL-1R family, such as TLR4, TLR2, and IL-1R1, was accompanied by decreased expressions of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6 and MCP-1) along with lower cellular visfatin levels. Hence, visfatin maintains the intestinal mucosal barrier structure and attenuates the intestinal mucosal inflammation through the TLR signaling pathway. Likewise, the Toll/IL-1R family regulates the release of visfatin, which can participate in the inflammatory reaction through the regulation of inflammatory factors.

Optimization and bioactivity verification of porcine recombinant visfatin with high expression and low endotoxin content using pig liver as template.

In order to obtain the porcine recombinant visfatin protein with high expression and low endotoxin content, the current study aims to express and verify the biological activity of the purified porcine recombinant visfatin protein. Firstly, four different expression strains were successfully constructed. Then they were simultaneously induced at 37 °C for 4 h and 16 °C for 16 h. The results showed that Visfatin-pET28a-Transetta was the best strain with high protein expression and purity at 16 °C induction for 16 h. After that, endotoxin was reduced from the recombinant visfatin until the residual endotoxin was less than one endotoxin units per milliliter (EU/mL). Finally, the purified porcine recombinant visfatin protein was incubated with RAW264.7 cells. The results of cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) showed the survival rate of the cells first increased and then decreased with the increase in visfatin concentration. When the concentration of visfatin was 700 ng/mL, the survival rate of the cells was the highest. Thereafter, control (PBS), Visfatin and Visfatin + PolymyxinB (Ploy.B) groups were incubated with the RAW264.7 cells for 6 h. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA) results showed that, as compared to the control group, the expressions of interleukin (IL)-1ß, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 in Visfatin group were significantly increased (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the Visfatin and Visfatin + Poly.B groups, indicating that porcine recombinant visfatin protein promoted the inflammatory activity of RAW264.7 cells while the residual endotoxin did not play a role, suggesting biological activity of porcine recombinant visfatin protein.

Identification of miR390-TAS3-ARF pathway in response to salt stress in Helianthus tuberosus L.

MicroRNA390 (miR390), an ancient and highly conserved miRNA family in land plants, plays multiple roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. In this study, we isolated and identified MIR390, miR390, TAS3a/b/c, tasiARF-1/2/3 (trans-acting small interfering RNAs influencing Auxin Response Factors) and ARF2/3/4 in Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.). Treatment with 100 mM NaCl induced expression of miR390, increased cleavage of TAS3, produced high levels of tasiARFs, and subsequently enhanced cleavage of ARF3/4, which was most likely associated with salt tolerance of the plants. In contrast, treatment with 300 mM NaCl inhibited expression of miR390, attenuated cleavage of TAS3, produced a small amount of tasiARFs, and reduced cleavage of ARF3/4. We proposed that ARF2, one of the targets of tasiARFs, induced under salinity was likely to play an active role in salt tolerance of Jerusalem artichoke. The study of the miR390-TAS3-ARF model in Jerusalem artichoke may broaden our understanding of salt tolerance mechanisms, and provides a theoretical support for further genetic identification and breeding crops with increased tolerance to salt stress.

[Effects of different long-term fertilization on the activities of enzymes related to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles in a red soil].

Using a microplate fluorimetric assay method, five fertilization treatments, i.e. no-fertilizer control (CK) , sole application of nitrogen (N), balanced application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer (NPK), application of pig manure (M), and combination of pig manure with balanced chemical fertilizer (MNPK) were selected to investigate the effects of different long-term fertilization regimes on the activity of five enzymes (ß-1, 4-glucosidase, ßG; cellobiohydrolase, CBH; ß-1, 4-xylosidase, ßX; ß-1, 4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, NAG; acid phosphatase, AP) in a red soil sampled from Qiyang, Hunnan Province. The results showed that compared with CK treatment, N treatment had no impact on ßG, ßX, CBH, and NAG activities but reduced AP activity, while NPK, M and MNPK treatments increased the activities of all the five enzymes. Correlation analysis indicated that all the five enzyme activities were positively correlated with the content of nitrate (r=0.465-0.733) , the content of available phosphorus (r=0.612-0.947) , soil respiration (r=0.781-0.949) and crop yield (r=0.735-0.960), while ßG, CBH and AP were positively correlated with pH (r= 0.707-0.809), only AP was significantly correlated with dissolvable organic carbon (r = -0.480). These results suggested that the activities of the measured enzymes could be used as indicators of red soil fertility under different fertilization regimes, but the five enzymes tested provided limited information on the degree of acidification induced by application of mineral nitrogen.

The value of plasma C-peptide levels in early prediction of type 2 diabetes mellitus with peripheral sensory neuropathy / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective To explore the value of plasma C-peptide levels in early prediction of type 2 diabetes mellitus with peripheral sensory neuropathy.Methods The vibration perception threshold,pain,temperature sensation,touch-pressure sensation,ankle reflex was detected in 500 eases of type 2 diabetes mellitus,and the patients were divided into 4 groups according to peripheral sensory nerve test results:normal group (159 cases),mildly abnormal group (120 cases),moderately abnormal group (121 cases) and severely abnormal group (100 cases).Fasting and 2-hour postprandial C-peptide levels were determined and analysed with peripheral sensory nerve changes.The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to find the best critical point for diagnosis of diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy.Results The fasting C-peptide among 4 groups had no significant difference (F =1.632,P ＞0.05).Two-hour postprandial C-peptide from normal group to mildly abnormal group and then moderately abnormal group gradually increased [(1.110 ± 0.526),(1.324 ± 0.490),(1.573 ± 0.716) μ g/L],while 2-hour postprandial C-peptide in severely abnormal group was significantly decreased and lower than that in normal group,and there were significant differences (P＜ 0.05).The max Youden Index was 0.366 when 2-hour postprandial C-peptide was 1.173 μ g/L.Conclusions The fasting C-peptide might be not related to early diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy,but 2-hour postprandial C-peptide might be closely related to early diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy.It is helpful to detect the early diabetic peripheral sensory neuropathy if we can take a dynamical observation of 2-hour postprandial C-peptide.

Effects of dexmedetomidine on cerebral blood flow in critically ill patients with or without traumatic brain injury: a prospective controlled trial.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of dexmedetomidine on CBF in critical ill patients with or without TBI. RESEARCH DESIGN: Prospective controlled trial (ISRCTN57998533). METHODS: Fifteen patients without TBI and 20 patients with TBI with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 4-14 were assigned to CON or TBI groups, respectively. All patients received 1 µg kg(-1) dexmedetomidine infused over 10 minutes, followed by a 0.4 µg kg(-1)h(-1) continuous infusion for 60 minutes. Blood pressure was maintained at the pre-sedation level with dopamine for all patients. The CBF and cerebral metabolic rate equivalent (CMRe) were measured before sedation and 70 minutes after dexmedetomidine administration. RESULTS: Dexmedetomidine administration significantly decreased CBF in patients of the CON group (difference = 3.3 ml s(-1), 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92-5.7 ml s(-1), p = 0.008), without altering the CMRe and CMRe/CBF ratio. The dexmedetomidine-induced change of CBF, CMRe and CMRe/CBF was not significant in the TBI group. The percentage of CBF reduction was greater in the CON group than in the TBI group (difference = 13.9%, 95% CI = 5.5-22.2%, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine may be used in patients with TBI without risk of affecting brain oxygenation.

Effect of Sanqi Oral Liquid on the expressions of CD4⁺, CD8⁺ and CD68⁺ cells in 5/6 nephrectomized rats with chronic renal failure / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the mechanisms of Chinese herbal medicine Sanqi Oral Liquid, composed of Astragalus membranaceus and Panpax notoginseng, in alleviating renal injury by observing its effect on the expressions of CD4(+), CD8(+) and CD68(+) cells in 5/6 nephrectomized rats with chronic renal failure.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 102 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups: three treatment groups were administrated with high, medium and low dosage of Sanqi Oral Liquid respectively by gavage; a normal group, a 5/6 nephrectomized model group, and a group treated with coated aldehyde oxygenstarch were used as controls. Following oral administration of Sanqi Oral Liquid for 12 weeks, the general condition and renal pathological changes were observed, and the renal function, platelet count (PLT) and the expressions of CD4(+), CD8(+) and CD68(+) cells were determined for each group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were proliferation of mesangial matrix, renaltubularnecrosis and obvious tubulointerstitial fibrosis in the model group, and they were much milder in the treatment groups. Compared with the model group, the amounts of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr) and PLT in the treatment groups decreased (P<0.05 for all); and in the group administrated of medium dosage of Sanqi Oral Liquid, the expression of CD4(+) cells was up-regulated and those of CD8(+) and CD68(+) cells were down-regulated (P<0.05 for all), leading to an increased ratio of CD4(+)/CD8(+)(P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Sanqi Oral Liquid has a significant effect on regulating lymphocyte subsets, reducing the infiltration of macrophages in renal tissues and alleviating tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and this may be one of mechanisms of Sanqi Oral Liquid in delaying the progression of chronic kidney diseases.</p>

[Altered microbial communities change soil respiration rates and their temperature sensitivity].

Inoculating common sterilized soil with different non-sterilized soils was used to investigate the potentials of altered microbial communities to change rate and temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration. Results showed that accumulative CO2 emission of sterilized Hailun black soils inoculated with non-sterilized Harbin black soil, Fengqiu fluvo-aquic soil and Qiyang red soil were 684.25, 753.97 and 644.91 microg, respectively, at 15 degrees C; were 963.06, 1 015.44 and 852.31 microg, respectively, at 25 degrees C; and were 1 252.55, 380.36 and 1 177.88 microg, respectively, at 35 degrees C. The soil accumulative CO2 emissions increased with pH of inoculant soils, but did not relate to organic content of and geographical distance from inoculant soils. Difference of microbial respiration rates among the three inoculant soils kept for 104, 277 and 1 177 h at 15 degrees C, 25 degrees C and 35 degrees C, respectively. Temperature sensitivity quotients (Q10) of microbial respiration of sterilized Hailun black soils inoculated with non-sterilized Harbin black soil, Fengqiu fluvo-aquic soil and Qiyang red soil were 1.63, 1.49 and 1.80, respectively, during 0-104 h; were 1.43, 1.39 and 1.46, respectively, during 0-277 h and were 1.35, 1.35 and 1.35, respectively, during 0-1 609 h. The Q10 decreased with pH of inoculant soils and incubation time. The results suggest that altered microbial community would change rate and temperature sensitivity of soil microbial respiration.

[Influences of long-term application of organic and inorganic fertilizers on the composition and abundance of nirS-type denitrifiers in black soil].

The objectives of this study were to explore the effects of long-term organic and inorganic fertilizations on the composition and abundance of nirS-type denitrifiers in black soil. Soil samples were collected from 4 treatments (i. e. no fertilizer treatment, CK; organic manure treatment, OM; chemical fertilizer treatment (NPK) and combination of organic and chemical fertilizers treatment (MNPK)) in Gongzhuling Long-term Fertilization Experiment Station. Composition and abundance of nirS-type denitrifiers were analyzed with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and real-time quantitative PCR (Q-PCR), respectively. Denitrification enzyme activity (DEA) and soil properties were also measured. Application of organic fertilizers (OM and MNPK) significantly increased the DEAs of black soil, with the DEAs in OM and MNPK being 5.92 and 6.03 times higher than that in CK treatment, respectively, whereas there was no significant difference between NPK and CK. OM and MNPK treatments increased the abundances of nirS-type denitrifiers by 2.73 and 3.83 times relative to that of CK treatment, respectively. The abundance of nirS-type denitrifiers in NPK treatment was not significantly different from that of CK. The T-RFLP analysis of nirS genes showed significant differences in community composition between organic and inorganic treatments, with the emergence of a 79 bp T-RF, a significant decrease in relative abundance of the 84 bp T-RF and a loss of the 99 bp T-RF in all organic treatments. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the airS-type denitrifiers in the black soil were mainly composed of alpha, beta and gamma-Proteobacteria. The 79 bp-type denitrifiers inhabiting exclusively in organic treatments (OM and MNPK) were affiliated to Pseudomonadaceae in gamma-Proteobacteria and Burkholderiales in beta-Proteobacteria. The 84 bp-types were related to Burkholderiales and Rhodocyclales. Correlation analysis indicated that pH, concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total organic carbon (TOC), nitrate (NO3(-) -N) and ammonia (NH4(+) -N) were significantly related to abundances of nirS-denitrifers (r = 0.724-0.922, P < 0.05) and the DEA (r = 0.453-0.938, P < 0.01). In addition, the DEAs were linearly and positively correlated with the abundances of nirS-type denitrifers (r = 0.85, P < 0.01). Redundancy analysis showed that except moisture, pH and concentrations of TP, TP, TOC, NH4(+) -N and NO3(-) -N were significantly correlated with the community structure of nirS-type denirifiers (r = 0.440-0.862, P < 0.01). Furthermore, the DEAs were significantly correlated with the compositions of nirS-denirifiers (r = 0.863, P < 0.01). In conclusion, the airS-type denitrifiers in the black soil are more responsive to the organic treatments than to the inorganic treatments in terms of community composition and abundance, both of which are correlated with the changes of DEAs.

[Effects of different long-term fertilizations on community properties and functions of methanotrophs in dark brown soil].

The microbial mechanisms of how different long-term fertilizations change methane oxidation of Chinese upland arable soil is unclear so far. In the present study, we attempted to investigate the "soil properties-community properties of methanotrophs-methane oxidation" relation of dark brown soil in Northeastern China under different long-term fertilization regimes. Community structure and abundance were monitored with PCR-DGGE and real time PCR, respectively. Methane oxidizing rate and soil properties were measured as well. The results show that combined use of mineral fertilizer and compost (MNP) reduce soil methane oxidation by 61.2%, whereas either mineral fertilizer (NP) or compost (M) shows no effect. Comparing with no fertilizer (CK), M and MNP increase the Shannon index of methanotrophs by 91.9% and 102.5%, respectively, whereas NP has no effect. Similarly, M ( M or MNP) significantly increases pmoA gene abundance by up to 12.7 folds compared with no M addition (CK or NP). Methane oxidizing rates are significantly correlated with community structure and specific activity of methanotrophs, with correlation coefficients of 0.363 and 0.684, respectively. However, methane oxidizing rates do not correlate with abundance and diversity of methanotrophs. In addition, community structures and specific activity of methanotrophs are significantly correlated with soil pH and content of total nitrogen and organic matter. Our results suggest that long-term different fertilizations may change soil properties (such as pH and content of total nitrogen and organic matter) and thereafter the community structure and specific activity of soil methanotrophs, by which long-term different fertilizations influence soil methane oxidizing rate. The opposite change of methane oxidation to methanotrophs diversity and abundance in MNP suggests that only parts of the methanotrophs are active, which needs further research.

Analysis of epidemiological features of endemic arsenism in Huhhot of Inner Mongolia in 2004-2006 / 中国地方病学杂志

Objective To study the epidemiological features of the endemic arsenism in Hohhot of Inner Mongolia in 2004-2006 in order to get scientific evidence for the control and prevention. Methods The historical data in Huhhot revealed that 51 arsenic villages in 3 counties(Tumotezuo,Tuoketuo and Helingeer) were investigated. When arsenic content in drinking water was 0.05-0.15 mg/L,the situation of endemic arsenism was investigated in the households having high arsenic contents of water. When arsenic content in drinking water was greater than 0.15 mg/L,the survey was conducted to investigate arsenic patients with census. Census rate was not lower than 90%. Patients of endemic amenism were diagnosed by The Standard of Diagnosis for Endemic Arsenism (WS/T 211-2001). Results A total 28 083 people were examined,3978 were determined to be patients with arsenism,including 1722 being suspicious, 1897 mild,329 secondary and 30 severe. The total incidence of arsenism was 14.17% (3978/28 083),while the incidence of suspicious,mild,secondary and severe disease was 6.13% (1722/28 083) ,6.75% (1897/28 083),1.17% (329/28 083) and 0.11% (30/28 083),respectively. Suspicious and mild patients were most frequently seen. The incidence of dyspigmentation,pigmentation,ketatoses,both dyspigmentation and pigmentation and all of skin disorders was 8.65% (2428/28 083),3.19% (895/28 083),6.48% (1821/28 083),2.13%(598/28 083) and 0.94%(265/28 083),respectively. The most seen skin disorders were dyspigmentation and ketatoses. The disease mostly occurred in those aged over 40 years,the incidence was 89.52% (3561/3978). The incidence of male [15.08%(2209/14 644)]was more than that of female[13.16%(1769/13 439)].Conclusions Current condition of arsenism in Hohhot is mild,arsenic disease surveillance should keep going. Prevention and control needs to be reinforced in the future.