Effect of Fuzheng Huayu prescription on hepatocyte extinction and regeneration in a mouse model of liver cirrhosis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of Fuzheng Huayu prescription on hepatocyte extinction and regeneration in fibrotic liver and its mechanism of action in promoting hepatocyte regeneration. MethodsMice were given intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 for 6 weeks to establish a model of liver cirrhosis， and there were 10 mice in the model group， 10 in the sorafenib group， 10 in the Fuzheng Huayu prescription group， and 9 in the normal control group. Since week 4 of modeling， the mice in the Fuzheng Huayu prescription group and the sorafenib group were given the corresponding drug by gavage at a dose of 4.8 g/kg and 4 mg/kg， respectively， for three consecutive weeks， and those in the normal group and the model group were given an equal volume of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. Serum liver function parameters were measured； the METAVIR scoring system was used to evaluate liver inflammation and fibrosis stage； Sirius Red staining and hydroxyproline （Hyp） content in liver tissue were used to evaluate collagen deposition； immunohistochemistry was used to measure the protein expression levels of type IV collagen， CD31， CD32b， Ki67， CyclinD1， glutamine synthetase， Wnt2， and HGF， and Western blot was used to measure the expression levels of Wnt2， LRP6， β-catenin， p-β-catenin， and CyclinD1 in liver tissue. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsCompared with the model group， the Fuzheng Huayu prescription group and the sorafenib group showed the following changes： significant reductions in the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase and the content of Hyp in liver tissue （all P<0.01）； a significant reduction in METAVIR score； significant reductions in the expression levels of type Ⅳ collagen and CD31 （all P<0.05） and a significant increase in the expression level of CD32b （P<0.01）； significant reductions in the number of parenchymal extinction lesions and significant increases in the expression levels of Ki67 and CyclinD1 in liver tissue （all P<0.01）； significant increases in the protein expression levels of Wnt2， LRP6， β-catenin， and CyclinD1 and a significant reduction in the protein expression level of p-β-catenin （all P<0.05）； significant increases in the number of cells stained positive for both CD32b and Wnt2. ConclusionFuzheng Huayu prescription can inhibit hepatic sinusoidal capillarization， improve the Wnt2 exocrine function of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells， activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway associated with hepatocyte regeneration， and finally reverse liver cirrhosis.

Regulatory effects of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate on oxidative stress and peripheral blood Th17/Treg balance in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the regulatory effects of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate on oxidative stress and peripheral blood Th17/Treg balance in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis.Methods:A total of 102 patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis who received treatment in the Marine Police Corps Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police, China from March 2020 to June 2021 were included in this study. They were randomly assigned to undergo treatment with either tenofovir disoproxil fumarate ( n = 51, observation group) or entecavir ( n = 51, control group) for 42 weeks. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitric oxide (NO), T helper 17 cells (Th17), regulatory T cells (Treg), Th17/Treg ratio, hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), type III procollagen (PC III), type IV collagen (IV-C), hepatitis B virus DNA negative rate, HBeAg negative rate, and alanine aminotransferase normalization rate pre- and post-treatment as well as the incidence of adverse reactions were compared between the two groups. Results:Before treatment, there were no significant differences in SOD, MDA, NO, Th17, Treg, Th17/Treg ratio, HA, LN, PC III, IV-C between the two groups (all P > 0.05). After treatment, SOD and Treg in the observation group were (121.52 ± 23.52) U/L and (3.51 ± 0.70)% in the observation group, respectively, which were significantly higher than (113.30 ± 20.05) U/L and (3.14 ± 0.49)%, respectively in the control group ( t = 1.90, -4.14, both P < 0.05). MDA, NO and Th17, Th17/Treg ratio, HA, LN, PC III, and IV-C in the observation group were (7.40 ± 1.35) mmol/L, (22.56 ± 4.25) μmol/L, (1.29 ± 0.46)%, (0.45 ± 0.11), (212.52 ± 16.62) μg/L, (135.52 ± 14.02) μg/L, (132.52 ± 15.62) μg/L,(96.52 ± 10.02) μg/L, respectively, which were significantly lower compared with the control group ( t = -6.81, 4.02, 3.10, -8.46, -13.27, -15.23, -13.67, -17.38, all P < 0.05). Hepatitis B virus DNA negative rate, HBeAg negative rate, and alanine aminotransferase normalization rate in the observation group were 76.47% (39/51), 68.63% (35/51) and 74.51% (38/51), respectively, which were higher than 56.86% (29/51), 41.18% (21/51), 54.90% (28/51) in the control group ( χ2 = 4.41, 7.76, 4.29, all P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups ( P > 0.05). Conclusion:Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is highly effective on hepatitis B cirrhosis. It can reduce oxidative stress and regulate peripheral blood Th17/Treg balance.

Effects of intravenous thrombolysis with a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator at different time windows on acute ischemic stroke in patients / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis with a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator at different time windows on acute ischemic stroke in patients.Methods:A total of 172 patients with acute ischemic stroke who received treatment in Lishui Municipal Central Hospital from January 2019 to December 2021 were included in this study. They were divided into observation (onset to admission < 3 hours, n = 86) and control (onset to admission = 3-4.5 hours, n = 86) groups according to the time from onset to admission. Clinical efficacy, coagulation indexes, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, and the modified Rankin Scale score were compared between the two groups. Results:Total response rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group [89.54% (77/86) vs. 75.58% (65/86), χ2 = 4.89, P < 0.05]. After treatment, fibrinogen, low whole blood viscosity, and plasma viscosity in the observation group were (2.55 ± 0.62) g/L, (9.68 ± 1.37) mPa·s, (1.45 ± 0.17) mPa·s, respectively, which were significantly higher than (1.53 ± 0.58) g/L, (9.19 ± 1.46) mPa·s, (1.32 ± 0.15) mPa·s in the control group ( t = -11.14, -2.27, -5.32, all P < 0.05). Antithrombin III level in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group [(91.65 ± 7.23)% vs. (97.74 ± 6.82)%, t = 5.68, P < 0.05]. At 2 hours, 1 day, and 2 weeks after thrombolysis, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores in the observation group were (2.49 ± 0.31) points, (1.98 ± 0.24) points, (1.79 ± 0.05) points, which were significantly lower than (3.32 ± 1.08) points, (2.69 ± 0.35) points, (2.18 ± 0.21) points in the control group ( t = 6.85, 15.52, 16.75, all P < 0.001). After treatment, the modified Rankin Scale score in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group [(2.01 ± 0.79) points vs. (2.88 ± 0.64) points, t = 7.94, P < 0.001]. Conclusion:Intravenous thrombolysis with a recombinant tissue plasminogen activator within 4.5 hours after onset exhibits good therapeutic efficacy in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Earlier thrombolysis leads to better therapeutic efficacy and prognosis.

Trans-ethnic Mendelian randomization study of systemic lupus erythematosus and common female hormone-dependent malignancies / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Observational research has reported that systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is related to common female hormone-dependent cancers, but the underlying causal effect remains undefined. This study aimed to explore the causal association of these conditions by Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.@*METHODS@#We selected instrumental variables for SLE from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) conducted in European and East Asian populations. The genetic variants for female malignant neoplasms were obtained from corresponding ancestry GWASs. We utilized inverse variance weighted (IVW) as the primary analysis, followed by sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, we conducted multivariable MR (MVMR) to estimate direct effects by adjusting for the body mass index and estradiol. Finally, we implemented reverse direction MR analysis and gave a negative example to test the reliability of MR results.@*RESULTS@#We found SLE was significantly negatively associated with overall endometrial cancer risk (odds ratio [OR] = 0.961, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.935-0.987, P  = 3.57E-03) and moderately inversely related to endometrioid endometrial cancer (ENEC) (OR = 0.965, 95% CI = 0.936-0.995, P  = 0.024) risk in the European population by IVW. We replicated these results using other MR models and detected a direct effect by MVMR (overall endometrial cancer, OR = 0.962, 95% CI = 0.941-0.983, P  = 5.11E-04; ENEC, OR = 0.964, 95% CI = 0.940-0.989, P  = 0.005). Moreover, we revealed that SLE was correlated with decreased breast cancer risk (OR = 0.951, 95% CI = 0.918-0.986, P  = 0.006) in the East Asian population by IVW, and the effect was still significant in MVMR (OR = 0.934, 95% CI = 0.859-0.976, P  = 0.002). The statistical powers of positive MR results were all >0.9.@*CONCLUSION@#This finding suggests a possible causal effect of SLE on the risk of overall endometrial cancer and breast cancer in European and East Asian populations, respectively, by MR analysis, which compensates for inherent limitations of observational research.

Effects of long-time needle retaining at Baihui(GV20)on post-stroke cognitive impairment / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of long-time needle retaining at Baihui(GV20)on post-stroke cognitive impairment(PSCI)and its effects on the cognitive ability and living ability of the patients.Methods:A total of 62 PSCI patients were divided into a control group and an observation group by the random number table method,with 31 cases in each group.The control group was treated with routine treatment for stroke in the recovery period plus cognitive training.The observation group received additional acupuncture at Baihui(GV20)with long-time needle retaining based on the same intervention in the control group.The Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)was used to evaluate the cognitive ability of patients.The activities of daily living(ADL)scale was used to evaluate the living ability of patients.And the mini-mental state examination(MMSE)scale was used to evaluate the mental state,concentration,language,and abstraction cognition of patients.After 4 weeks,the curative efficacy was observed,and the scores of cognitive level,living ability,mental state and concentration,language,and abstraction understanding ability were compared between the two groups.Results:During the trial,1 patient in each group dropped out due to personal reasons and was unable to continue the treatment.After 4 weeks of treatment,the total effective rate was 83.3%in the observation group and 66.7%in the control group,and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(P<0.05);the scores of MoCA,ADL,and MMSE,and scores of concentration,language ability,and abstraction understanding ability were all increased,and were statistically different from those before treatment in each group(P<0.05);the scores in the observation group were all higher than those in the control group,and the differences between the groups were statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:On the basis of routine treatment and cognitive training,the clinical efficacy of additional acupuncture at Baihui(GV20)with long-time needle retaining in the treatment of PSCI is better than that of routine treatment plus cognitive training;the treatment can better improve the cognitive function and mental state of patients,and improve their living ability.

A narrative review on the research history of renal fibrosis from 1836 to 2000 / 中华肾脏病杂志

Renal fibrosis (RF) is the key pathological feature for the progression of chronic kidney disease to end-stage renal failure. It has been an important scientific issue to understand its mechanism of RF in the field of kidney diseases in the past near two centuries. The progress of science and technology has not only provided a strong tool for RF research, but also given us many new ideas for RF prevention and treatment. The paper briefly reviews the key histories of RF research, with focuses on early studies of renal fibrosis, application of renal biopsy technology, establishment of RF animal models, advancements in cell and molecular biotechnology, and exploration into mechanisms underlying RF, to clarify future directions for chronic kidney disease prevention and treatment research.

MiR-1294 suppresses ROS-dependent inflammatory response in atopic dermatitis via restraining STAT3/NF-κB pathway.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disorder that affects children and adults. Despite the pathology of AD involves in immune dysfunction and epidermal barrier function destruction has been found, the mechanism of immune activation and barrier damage remain largely unknown. In the present study, The TNF-α/IFN-γ-stimulated HaCaTs, organotypic AD-like 3D skin equivalents and AD-like mouse model were constructed. The mRNA, histological morphology, protein levels, cytokines were detected by real-time quantitative polymerasechain reaction (RT-qPCR), hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining, Immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunoblotting, immunofluorescence (IF) staining, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Cell viability, cell cycle, and apoptosis were respectively calculated using a Methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry. A dual-luciferase reporter gene system was used to investigate the relationship between miR-1294 and STAT3. Compared with the control group, the expression of miR-1294 decreased in TNF-α/IFN-γ-stimulated HaCaTs (P < 0.001), AD-like skin model, and AD-like mouse model (P < 0.001). Moreover, STAT3 was documented as a direct target of miR-1294. Inflammation (P < 0.05) and epidermal barrier function destruction (P < 0.05) in AD was suppressed by overexpression of miR-1294 but enhanced by STAT3 upregulation and its downstream NF-κB pathway. We also found miR-1294 upregulation inhibited inflammation and epidermal barrier function destruction via targeting STAT3 to suppress NF-κB pathway activation in AD.

Electromechanical Effects of Bone Remodeling Based on Edge Smoothed Finite Element Method / 医用生物力学

Objective Aiming at solving the problem of poor accuracy for numerical solution of traditional finite element method (FEM) in numerical analysis on piezoelectric effects of bone remodelling, a model with an edge-based smoothed FEM (ES-FEM) was proposed. Methods The bone model was discretized by triangular elements, and the smoothing domain was constructed based on edges of the existing mesh element. Based on gradient smoothing technique, the smoothed strain gradient and the smoothed electric field gradient were obtained, and the discrete equations of the system were constructed under the framework of smoothed Galerkin weakform. Results The changes of bone mineral density (BMD) and the distributions of electric potential under piezoelectric effects in the process of bone remodelling were reflected by using the above model. Compared with FEM, ES-FEM could improve the accuracy of simulation result for bone remodelling to a certain extent. Conclusions The proposed ES-FEM can simulate the process of bone remodelling more accurately. The accurate prediction for piezoelectric effect of bone reconstruction by this method provides an effective theoretical basis for clinical research of bone diseases.

Comparison of safety and efficacy of laparoscopy and laparotomy for 5-10 cm intermediate-risk primary gastric stromal tumors / 中华消化内镜杂志

Objective:To compare the safety and efficacy of laparoscopy and laparotomy for 5-10 cm intermediate-risk gastric stromal tumor, and to evaluate whether there was evident benefits of postoperative adjuvant treatment with imatinib.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted on 72 patients with moderate risk gastric stromal tumors (5-10 cm in diameter) who received operation in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from January 2010 to July 2020. There were 28 cases in the laparoscopy group and 44 cases in the laparotomy group. The clinical features, pathological data, perioperative results and hospitalization costs were compared between the two groups. The survival rates of postoperative adjuvant therapy with or without imatinib were analyzed and compared.Results:There was no significant difference in clinicopathological features between the two groups ( P>0.05). The incidences of postoperative complications in the laparoscopy group and the laparotomy group were 32.1% (9/28) and 52.3% (23/44) respectively, showing no significant difference ( P=0.094). Compared with the laparotomy group, both the hospital stay (12.5±3.2 days VS 15.0±3.5 days, P=0.004) and the median postoperative hospital stay (7.5 days VS 9.0 days, P=0.006) in the laparoscopy group were significantly shorter, and the first exhaust time was significantly shorter ( P=0.003). During the median follow-up period of 58 months (13-129 months), there was no tumor-related death. Two cases died of breast cancer and heart disease in the laparotomy group, and 1 case died irrelevant to gastric stromal tumor in the laparoscopy group. Of the 72 patients, 40 received postoperative imatinib adjuvant therapy, 22 cases (50.0%) in the laparotomy group and 18 cases (64.3%) in the laparoscopy group, with no significant difference in the proportion ( χ2=1.414, P=0.234). There was significant difference in the overall survival rate between the group treated with imatinib and the group without imatinib ( P=0.015). Conclusion:Laparoscopic resection is safe and effective for intermediate-risk gastric stromal tumor of 5-10 cm. Taking imatinib adjuvant treatment does not increase overall survival rate of patients with intermediate-risk gastric stromal tumors (5-10 cm), and there is no tumor-related death, recurrence or metastasis for those who did not accept imatinib adjuvant treatment after R0 resection.

Real-world evaluation of AI driven COVID-19 triage for emergency admissions: External validation & operational assessment of lab-free and high-throughput screening solutions

BackgroundUncertainty in patients COVID-19 status contributes to treatment delays, nosocomial transmission, and operational pressures in hospitals. However, typical turnaround times for batch-processed laboratory PCR tests remain 12-24h. Although rapid antigen lateral flow testing (LFD) has been widely adopted in UK emergency care settings, sensitivity is limited. We recently demonstrated that AI-driven triage (CURIAL-1.0) allows high-throughput COVID-19 screening using clinical data routinely available within 1h of arrival to hospital. Here we aimed to determine operational and safety improvements over standard-care, performing external/prospective evaluation across four NHS trusts with updated algorithms optimised for generalisability and speed, and deploying a novel lab-free screening pathway in a UK emergency department. MethodsWe rationalised predictors in CURIAL-1.0 to optimise separately for generalisability and speed, developing CURIAL-Lab with vital signs and routine laboratory blood predictors (FBC, U&E, LFT, CRP) and CURIAL-Rapide with vital signs and FBC alone. Models were calibrated during training to 90% sensitivity and validated externally for unscheduled admissions to Portsmouth University Hospitals, University Hospitals Birmingham and Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS trusts, and prospectively during the second-wave of the UK COVID-19 epidemic at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH). Predictions were generated using first-performed blood tests and vital signs and compared against confirmatory viral nucleic acid testing. Next, we retrospectively evaluated a novel clinical pathway triaging patients to COVID-19-suspected clinical areas where either model prediction or LFD results were positive, comparing sensitivity and NPV with LFD results alone. Lastly, we deployed CURIAL-Rapide alongside an approved point-of-care FBC analyser (OLO; SightDiagnostics, Israel) to provide lab-free COVID-19 screening in the John Radcliffe Hospitals Emergency Department (Oxford, UK), as trust-approved service improvement. Our primary improvement outcome was time-to-result availability; secondary outcomes were sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV assessed against a PCR reference standard. We compared CURIAL-Rapides performance with clinician triage and LFD results within standard-care. Results72,223 patients met eligibility criteria across external and prospective validation sites. Model performance was consistent across trusts (CURIAL-Lab: AUROCs range 0.858-0.881; CURIAL-Rapide 0.836-0.854), with highest sensitivity achieved at Portsmouth University Hospitals (CURIAL-Lab:84.1% [95% Wilsons score CIs 82.5-85.7]; CURIAL-Rapide:83.5% [81.8 - 85.1]) at specificities of 71.3% (95% Wilsons score CIs: 70.9 - 71.8) and 63.6% (63.1 - 64.1). For 3,207 patients receiving LFD-triage within routine care for OUH admissions between December 23, 2021 and March 6, 2021, a combined clinical pathway increased sensitivity from 56.9% for LFDs alone (95% CI 51.7-62.0) to 88.2% with CURIAL-Rapide (84.4-91.1; AUROC 0.919) and 85.6% with CURIAL-Lab (81.6-88.9; AUROC 0.925). 520 patients were prospectively enrolled for point-of-care FBC analysis between February 18, 2021 and May 10, 2021, of whom 436 received confirmatory PCR testing within routine care and 10 (2.3%) tested positive. Median time from patient arrival to availability of CURIAL-Rapide result was 45:00 min (32-64), 16 minutes (26.3%) sooner than LFD results (61:00 min, 37-99; log-rank p<0.0001), and 6:52 h (90.2%) sooner than PCR results (7:37 h, 6:05-15:39; p<0.0001). Sensitivity and specificity of CURIAL-Rapide were 87.5% (52.9-97.8) and 85.4% (81.3-88.7), therefore achieving high NPV (99.7%, 98.2-99.9). CURIAL-Rapide correctly excluded COVID-19 for 58.5% of negative patients who were triaged by a clinician to COVID-19-suspected (amber) areas. ImpactCURIAL-Lab & CURIAL-Rapide are generalisable, high-throughput screening tests for COVID-19, rapidly excluding the illness with higher NPV than LFDs. CURIAL-Rapide can be used in combination with near-patient FBC analysis for rapid, lab-free screening, and may reduce the number of COVID-19-negative patients triaged to enhanced precautions ( amber) clinical areas.

Exploration of the production-education integration mode of higher diploma education for medical record information management professionals / 中华医院管理杂志

Medical record information is the core data source for diagnosis related groups(DRG)payment, and high-quality of medical record information is the foundation for DRG payment. The development of medical record management towards medical record information management, pushes up the demand for high-quality medical record information management professionals in hospitals. The conventional practice of professional training had resulted in such setbacks as professionals mismatch, long pre-employment training period, and large demand for continuing education. Based on the triple helix model theory, the study established a production-education integration training mode of university-government-hospital for medical record information management professionals. Capacity development was set as the goal and job demand as the guidance, for effectively integrating the educational resources, and promoting the model of " posts linked to training, employment following graduation" production-education integration training. The aim is to expand the quantity of talent team and improve the quality of talent training, thus effectively easing the shortage of medical record information management professionals.

Expression and function of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha signaling pathway in aortic calcification in rats with chronic kidney disease / 中华肾脏病杂志

Objective:To observe the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) signaling pathway in the aorta of chronic kidney disease (CKD) rats with vascular calcification and to explore the role of this pathway in aortic calcification of CKD.Methods:Forty 8-week-old male SD rats were randomly divided into control group (CON group, n=15) and CKD with aortic calcification group (CKD+AC group, n=25). The rats were sacrificed at the end of 4 th, 6 th and 8 th week respectively and urine, blood, aorta and kidney samples were collected. The level of serum HIF-1α was tested by ELISA. The pathology changes of kidney were observed by HE staining. The aortic calcification was evaluated by alizarin red staining and calcium content detection. Immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR were applied to detect the protein and mRNA expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), HIF-1α, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and Notch1 in the aorta. Results:Compared with CON group, serum urea, creatinine, cystatin C, phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus product and 24-h urine protein were significantly higher in CKD+AC group (all P<0.05). Serum HIF-1α levels were higher at 4 th and 8 th week in CKD+AC group than that in CON group (both P<0.05). There was no significant calcium deposit in the aorta of the CON group at all time points, and calcium deposits were seen in the aorta of the CKD+AC rats at each time point, which gradually increased with time. Compared with CON group, the expressions of aortic α-SMA protein and mRNA were significantly decreased in CKD+AC group at each time point, however the protein and mRNA expressions of Runx2, HIF-1α, VEGFA and Notch1 in the aorta of CKD+AC group rats were markedly increased at each time point (all P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the aortic calcium content was positively correlated with serum HIF-1α ( r=0.706, P<0.001) and the protein expressions of HIF-1α ( r=0.852, P<0.001), VEGFA ( r=0.747, P<0.001) and Notch1 ( r=0.813, P<0.001) in aorta. Conclusion:The HIF-1α-VEGFA-Notch1 signaling pathway is activated during aortic calcification in CKD rats, suggesting that this signaling pathway might be involved in the vascular calcification in CKD, and serum HIF-1α is expected to be one of serum markers for CKD vascular calcification.

Association of antinuclear antibody status with clinical features and malignancy risk in adult patients with dermatomyositis / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective:To investigate the relationship of antinuclear antibody (ANA) status with clinical features and malignancy risk in adult patients with dermatomyositis.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed to analyze clinical data from 101 inpatients with dermatomyositis in Department of Dermatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from April 2008 to April 2018. These patients were divided into ANA-positive group and ANA-negative group, and differences in myopathy and malignancy risks as well as other clinical features were analyzed between the 2 groups. A 2-year follow-up was undertaken among 92 patients. Chi-square test was used to analyze and compare clinical features between the 2 groups, and a multivariate regression model was used to analyze the relationship of ANA status with amyopathic dermatomyositis and malignancies.Results:Among the 101 patients with dermatomyositis, there were 42 males and 59 females, aged 55.13 ± 14.63 years; 14 patients had amyopathic dermatomyositis, 6 patients had hypomyopathic dermatomyositis, and 81 patients had myopathic dermatomyositis; 42 (41.58%) cases were positive for ANA, and 59 (58.41%) were negative for ANA. Compared with the ANA-negative group, the ANA-positive group showed significantly decreased incidence of cervical erythema (33.33% vs. 59.32%, P=0.010) and shawl sign (14.28% vs. 35.59%, P=0.017) . Twenty-eight (27.72%) patients with dermatomyositis were complicated by malignancies. Malignancies were found in 5 (11.9%) of ANA-positive patients, and in 23 (38.98%) of ANA-negative patients. Univariate analysis showed that ANA-negative patients with dermatomyositis had a higher risk of malignancies compared with ANA-positive patients with dermatomyositis, with an odds ratio of 7.52 (95% CI: 1.62-13.78, P=0.003) . In the multivariate regression model, the absence of ANA ( OR=4.34, 95% CI: 1.37-13.72, P=0.012) and cervical erythema ( OR=3.27, 95% CI: 1.20-8.91, P=0.020) were associated with high incidence of malignancies, while the absence of ANA was not significantly correlated with the occurrence of amyopathic dermatomyositis ( OR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.32-2.99, P=0.980) . Conclusions:ANA-negative adult dermatomyositis patients with cervical erythema had an increased risk of malignancies. Thus, close follow-up and regular tumor screening are necessary in these patients.

Development and Validation of Early Warning Score Systems for COVID-19 Patients

COVID-19 is a major, urgent, and ongoing threat to global health. Globally more than 24 million have been infected and the disease has claimed more than a million lives as of October 2020. Predicting which patients will need respiratory support is important to guiding individual patient treatment and also to ensuring sufficient resources are available. We evaluated the ability of six common Early Warning Scores (EWS) to identify respiratory deterioration defined as the need for advanced respiratory support (high-flow nasal oxygen, continuous positive airways pressure, non-invasive ventilation, intubation) within a prediction window of 24 hours. We show these scores perform sub-optimally at this specific task. Therefore, we develop an alternative Early Warning Score based on a Gradient Boosting Trees (GBT) algorithm that is able to predict deterioration within the next 24 hours with high AUROC 94% and an accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 70%, 96%, 70%, respectively. Our GBT model outperformed the best EWS (LDTEWS:NEWS), increasing the AUROC by 14%. Our GBT model makes the prediction based on the current and baseline measures of routinely available vital signs and blood tests.

Artificial intelligence driven assessment of routinely collected healthcare data is an effective screening test for COVID-19 in patients presenting to hospital

BackgroundRapid identification of COVID-19 is important for delivering care expediently and maintaining infection control. The early clinical course of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be difficult to distinguish from other undifferentiated medical presentations to hospital, however for operational reasons SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing can take up to 48 hours. Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, trained using routinely collected clinical data, may allow front-door screening for COVID-19 within the first hour of presentation. MethodsDemographic, routine and prior clinical data were extracted for 170,510 sequential presentations to emergency and acute medical departments at a large UK teaching hospital group. We applied multivariate logistic regression, random forests and extreme gradient boosted trees to distinguish emergency department (ED) presentations and admissions due to COVID-19 from pre-pandemic controls. We performed stepwise addition of clinical feature sets and assessed performance using stratified 10-fold cross validation. Models were calibrated during training to achieve sensitivities of 70, 80 and 90% for identifying patients with COVID-19. To simulate real-world performance at different stages of an epidemic, we generated test sets with varying prevalences of COVID-19 and assessed predictive values. We prospectively validated our models for all patients presenting or admitted to our hospital group between 20th April and 6th May 2020, comparing model predictions to PCR test results. ResultsPresentation laboratory blood tests, point of care blood gas, and vital signs measurements for 115,394 emergency presentations and 72,310 admissions were analysed. Presentation laboratory tests and vital signs were most predictive of COVID-19 (maximum area under ROC curve [AUROC] 0.904 and 0.823, respectively). Sequential addition of informative variables improved model performance to AUROC 0.942. We developed two early-detection models to identify COVID-19, achieving sensitivities and specificities of 77.4% and 95.7% for our ED model amongst patients attending hospital, and 77.4% and 94.8% for our Admissions model amongst patients being admitted. Both models offer high negative predictive values (>99%) across a range of prevalences (<5%). In a two-week prospective validation period, our ED and Admissions models demonstrated 92.3% and 92.5% accuracy (AUROC 0.881 and 0.871 respectively) for all patients presenting or admitted to a large UK teaching hospital group. A sensitivity analysis to account for uncertainty in negative PCR results improves apparent accuracy (95.1% and 94.1%) and NPV (99.0% and 98.5%). Three laboratory blood markers, Eosinophils, Basophils, and C-Reactive Protein, alongside Calcium measured on blood-gas, and presentation Oxygen requirement were the most informative variables in our models. ConclusionArtificial intelligence techniques perform effectively as a screening test for COVID-19 in emergency departments and hospital admission units. Our models support rapid exclusion of the illness using routinely collected and readily available clinical measurements, guiding streaming of patients during the early phase of admission. BriefThe early clinical course of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be difficult to distinguish from other undifferentiated medical presentations to hospital, however viral specific real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing has limited sensitivity and can take up to 48 hours for operational reasons. In this study, we develop two early-detection models to identify COVID-19 using routinely collected data typically available within one hour (laboratory tests, blood gas and vital signs) during 115,394 emergency presentations and 72,310 admissions to hospital. Our emergency department (ED) model achieved 77.4% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity (AUROC 0.939) for COVID-19 amongst all patients attending hospital, and Admissions model achieved 77.4% sensitivity and 94.8% specificity (AUROC 0.940) for the subset admitted to hospital. Both models achieve high negative predictive values (>99%) across a range of prevalences (<5%), facilitating rapid exclusion during triage to guide infection control. We prospectively validated our models across all patients presenting and admitted to a large UK teaching hospital group in a two-week test period, achieving 92.3% (n= 3,326, NPV: 97.6%, AUROC: 0.881) and 92.5% accuracy (n=1,715, NPV: 97.7%, AUROC: 0.871) in comparison to RT-PCR results. Sensitivity analyses to account for uncertainty in negative PCR results improves apparent accuracy (95.1% and 94.1%) and NPV (99.0% and 98.5%). Our artificial intelligence models perform effectively as a screening test for COVID-19 in emergency departments and hospital admission units, offering high impact in settings where rapid testing is unavailable.

Advances of Krüppel-like factors in hepatocellular carcinoma / 国际肿瘤学杂志

Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) play extremely important roles in genesis and development of tumors. Simultaneously, KLFs have been proven to affect the proliferation, differentiation and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Nine members in the KLFs family (KLF2, KLF4, KLF5, KLF6, KLF8, KLF9, KLF10, KLF14 and KLF17) are involved in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma in various ways as an oncogene and tumor suppressor gene. Therefore, the KLFs family will hopefully become biological therapeutic targets for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Effect of hysteroscopic adhesion separation combined with Folly urinary catheter placement in the treatment of hysterectomy / 中国综合临床

Objective:To investigate the application of Folly urethral catheter in transvastatal resection of adhesion (TCRA) and its preventive effect on prevention of re-adhesion.Methods:A total of 78 patients with intrauterine adhesions admitted to the Department of gynecology and obstetrics of the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University from March 2018 to March 2019 were selected as the study objects.The prospective study was conducted and divided into two groups according to the computer random number method.In the control group, 39 cases were treated by TCRA combined with intrauterine placement of contraceptive ring, while in the observation group, 39 cases were treated by hysteroscopic adhesion separation operation combined with Folly catheter placement.The curative effect, intrauterine adhesions, menstrual improvement score, recurrence and pregnancy were compared before and 6 months after operation.Results:The total effective rate of the observation group was 94.87% (37/39), and that of the control group was 79.49% (31/39), The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (χ 2=4.129, P<0.05). The score of intrauterine adhesions was (22.14±2.57) in the control group and (1.76±0.87) in the observation group, and (23.05±3.08), (1.81±0.60) in the observation group, there was no significant difference between the two groups( t=1.417, 0.295; all P>0.05). At 3 months after operation, the scores of intrauterine adhesions and menstrual states in the control group were (17.63±2.88) and (1.07±0.38), respectively, and those in the observation group were (14.27±3.52) and (0.53±0.21), the difference between the two groups was statistically significant( t=4.614, 7.767, all P<0.001). There were significant differences in the scores of intrauterine adhesions and menstrual state before and after operation in the observation group ( t=7.297, 4.539, all P<0.001). There were significant differences in the scores of intrauterine adhesions and menstrual states before and after operation in the observation group ( t=11.723, 12.575, all P<0.001). The recurrence rate was 23.08% (9/39) in the observation group and 46.15% (18/39) in the control group at 6 months after operation.The difference was statistically significant ( P=0.032). The pregnancy rate of the observation group was observed.12.82% (5/39), 7.69% (3/39) in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant( P=0.455). Conclusion:Hysteroscopic adhesion separation combined with Folly catheter placement for the treatment of intrauterine adhesions can significantly improve the short-term efficacy, prevent re-adhesion, and better regulate the menstrual cycle.

Survey on the quadrivalent influenza vaccine intention and related factors of health care workers in the Pearl River Delta region from 2015 to 2017 / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective@#To analyze the quadrivalent influenza vaccine intention of 718 health care workers (HCWs) in the Pearl River Delta region from 2015 to 2017.@*Method@#In May 2018, 718 HCWs from the department related to the diagnosis and treatment of influenza in 17 hospitals (6 tertiary hospitals, 5 secondary hospitals and 6 primary hospitals) from Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Zhuhai and Dongguan were selected by using stratified sampling method. Questionnaire survey and face-to-face interview were used to collect the information of influenza vaccination, the intention of the quadrivalent influenza vaccine, the acceptance of free and required vaccination policies, and recommendations for increasing influenza vaccination intentions from 2015 to 2017. The multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze factors associated with the vaccination intention.@*Results@#A total of 718 HCWs were surveyed and 147 of them were interviewed face to face. Among them, the vaccination rate of primary hospitals [17.39%(40/230)] was higher than that of other hospitals (χ2=15.80, P<0.05). If the vaccine could be free, 84.82% (609/718) of HCWs would like to be vaccinated. The multivariate logistic regression showed that the factors, HCWs who were aged ≥50 years (OR=3.44, 95%CI:1.43-8.28), worked in department of prevention and health care (OR=2.35, 95%CI:1.16-4.75), learned about the quadrivalent influenza vaccine (OR=2.94, 95%CI:2.08-4.18), knowed that HCWs are priority (OR=2.33, 95%CI:1.56-3.48), and had a history of trivalent influenza vaccination from 2015 to 2017 (OR=4.70, 95%CI:3.08-7.15), were associated with the vaccination intention.@*Conclusion@#HCWs in the Pearl River Delta region had weak inclination of getting quadrivalent influenza vaccine. HCWs who were age (≥50 years old), worked in department of prevention and health care, learned about the quadrivalent influenza vaccine, knowed that HCWs are priority, and had a history of trivalent influenza vaccination from 2015 to 2017 were factors positively associated with the vaccination intention.

Diagnostic value of diffusion kurtosis imaging in differentiating indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodules:comparison with diffusion weighted imaging / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To investigate the role of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in indeterminate solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) diagnosis and to compare with conventional diffusion weighted imaging (DWI). Methods From March 2016 to Dec 2017, forty-three consecutive patients (30 male, 13 female, age: 56 ± 11 years) with indeterminate SPNs were included. All patients underwent axial multi-b factor DWI (with b values=0, 50, 200, 400, 800, 1400, 2000 s/mm2) examination and were divided into benign group (19 cases) and malignant group (24 cases) according to pathological results of SPN. ADC Kurtosis (K) and Diffusivity (Dk) values were compared between malignant and benign group and among different subtypes of lung cancer using independent t test (normal distribution and homogeneity of variance) and Mann-Whitney U test (skewed distribution or variance). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to evaluate the diagnostic performance. Results K values were significantly higher for malignant SPNs than for benign SPNs (0.839 ± 0.197 vs. 0.718 ± 0.120;t=2.359, P=0.023). ADC values were found to be significantly higher in benignity than malignant SPNs [(1.605 ± 0.422) × 10-3mm2/s vs. (1.278 ± 0.210) × 10-3mm2/s; t=-3.089, P=0.005). No difference was observed in Dk between the two groups (P=0.922). All parameters cannot differentiate subtypes of lung cancer. The ADC value had higher AUC (area under ROC curve) than that of K value. The sensitivity (70.8％) and accuracy (72.1％) of ADC value was higher than K value, the specificity of both methods was equal. Conclusion DKI is a feasible non-invasive tool which has comparable capability of conventional DWI in SPNs differentiation, although with lower sensitivity and accuracy. DKI can provide additional information for SPNs characterization and has a potential to be a robust way in SPNs interpretation.

Bibliometrics and visualization analysis of posttraumatic growth research / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective: To evaluate the global scientific output of PTG research and explore their hotspots、frontiers and trend from 2008 to 2018, using bibliometric methods. Methods: Based on web of science core collection database, the literature with keywords"Posttraumatic Growth or Post-traumatic Growth"in topic and time limit set between 2008 and 2018 were searched, and 1668 literature were accepted, using the CiteS pace to depict the hot keywords, cited references. Results: The subject domains of posttraumatic growth could be divided into traumatic event, growth and change, and influence factors of PTG. Keywords and references analysis indicated that the quality of life and breast cancer were the research hotspots, whereas physiological indicators and research tools of PTG were the frontiers. The United States of America ranked highest in the countries with most citations, and the leading institute was the North Carolina University. Publications were mainly in Journal of Traumatic Stress. Conclusion: Future research could focus on the exploration of PTG intervention program, such as qualitative research and longitudinal study to trace its dynamic change.