Background Job burnout and depressive symptoms are prevalent among occupational populations, with a close relationship between them. Sleep quality, as a potential mediating factor, significantly affects the mental health of workers. Objective To explore the relationship between job burnout, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms, and determine whether sleep quality mediates the relationship between job burnout and depressive symptoms. Methods From April 25 to May 1, 2024, this study employed cluster sampling to conduct a questionnaire survey among individuals engaged in various occupations across five cities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The questionnaires included socio-demographic information, as well as the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for assessing burnout, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms, respectively. Out of the 4106 questionnaires distributed, a total of 3837 questionnaires were valid, and the valid recovery rate was 93.45%. The distribution among demographic variables in burnout, sleep quality and depressive symptoms were statistically analyzed. A binary logistic regression model was used for multifactor correlation analysis; Pearson correlation was used to test the correlation between burnout, sleep quality, and depressed mood. Modelling and mediated effect path mapping were performed using Amos 24.0 software. Results The postive rate of occupational burnout in the workers was 97.49% (3741/3837), the positive rate of poor sleep quality was 66.77% (2526/3837), and the positive rate of depressive symptoms was 75.68% (2904/3837). There were statistically significant differences in depressive symptoms by ages, shift types, working years, marital status, smoking habits, drinking habits, and exercising frequency (P < 0.05). The logistic model indicated that working years, drinking habits, job burnout, and overall sleep quality were significant factors influencing the occurrence of depressive symptoms (P < 0.05). The correlation analysis revealed positive correlations between depressive symptom scores and job burnout scores (r=0.045, P < 0.01), between depressive symptom scores and sleep quality scores (r=0.480, P < 0.01), and between job burnout scores and sleep quality scores (r=0.054, P < 0.01). Furthermore, the indirect effect of job burnout on depressive symptoms through sleep quality was 0.100 (95%CI: 0.204, 0.252; P < 0.01). Conclusion Job burnout and sleep quality are significant factors associated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms among occupational populations, and sleep quality plays a partial mediating role in depressive symptoms associated with job burnout. This finding may provide a scientific basis for developing intervention strategies to control depressive symptoms among workers.

Background During pregnancy, negative emotions such as anxiety and depression may induce cortisol disruption. Cortisol can be transmitted to the fetus through the placental barrier, thereby affecting the neurodevelopment of the offspring. Objective To investigate the relationship between placental cortisol, maternal depression during pregnancy, and neurodevelopment of 3-month-old infants. Methods From September 2022 to September 2023, 171 pregnant women ordered routine prenatal checks at the obstetrics outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in Ningxia were selected using a prospective cohort design. After providing informed consent, these women participated in a questionnaire survey that covered general individual characteristics, prenatal depression, and sleep quality. At birth, placental samples were collected to measure cortisol levels using ELISA kits. Follow-up assessments on the neurodevelopmental of 3-month-old infants were conducted using the Warning Sign for Children Mental and Behavioral Development. LASSO regression analysis was conducted to screen the influencing factors of depression during pregnancy. Huber regression analysis was then applied to assess potential linear relationship between depression during pregnancy and placental cortisol levels. Log-binomial regression was used to analyze the linear relationships between cortisol levels and neurodevelopmental delay in 3-month-old infants. Additionally, a mediation effect model was fitted using R 4.3.3 to assess possible mediating role of cortisol in the association between prenatal depression and neurodevelopmental delay in 3-month-old infants. Results The positive rate of prenatal depression was 33.33%. Nine factors affecting prenatal depression were identified by LASSO regression, including rural residence, high school education or above, extroverted personality characteristics, moderate early pregnancy reactions, baby sex expectation, prenatal anxiety, family dysfunction, exposure to stressful life events during pregnancy, and moderate prenatal sleep quality. The Huber regression model showed a positive linear correlation between prenatal depression and placental cortisol (P<0.05). With or without controlling confounding factors, the results of log-binomial regression modeling showed that cortisol levels were associated with a reduced risk of neurodevelopmental delay in 3-month-old infants (crude model: RR=0.988, 95%CI: 0.9768, 0.9996, P＜0.05; adjusted model: RR=0.988, 95%CI: 0.9764, 0.9993, P＜0.05). A mediating effect of placental cortisol between prenatal depression and the risk of neurodevelopmental delay in 3-month-old offspring was found statistically significant (P=0.045), accounting for 67.0% of the total effect. Conclusion Prenatal depression is associated with elevated placental cortisol levels, and higher cortisol levels are found to be related to a lower risk of neurodevelopmental delay in infants. Placental cortisol mediates the relationship between prenatal depression and infant neurodevelopment.

Background Prenatal chronic psychological stress may increase the risk of allergic diseases in children, and eczema is the most common allergic disease in children, the pathogenesis of which is not yet fully understood. Objective To preliminarily clarify the changes in offspring intestinal flora after chronic stress exposure during pregnancy in rats that increases offspring immune imbalance and eczema susceptibility. Methods Thirty SPF-grade adult female SD rats were selected and randomly divided into a model group and a control group (n=15). Sixteen male rats were randomly divided into a model mating group and a control mating group (n=8). A 28-day chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model during pregnancy was established. On the 7th day of stress, male and female rats were caged in a ratio of 3:1. Blood samples were collected from female rats in each group via angular vein on the 1st day before stress, and on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days after stress. The content of plasma corticosterone during pregnancy was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For the offspring rats, an eczema model was constructed using 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB). The number of scratching times of the offspring rats within 5 min was recorded. The offspring rats were divided into 4 groups: DNCB-CUMS group (MM), DNCB-control group (MC), solvent control-CUMS group (CM), and blank control group (CC), with 8 rats in each group. The eczema was induced once every 3 days, and the induction period was 12 d. The expression level of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the serum of offspring rats after the eczema induction experiment were determined by ELISA. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and interleukin-13 (IL-13) in the serum were quantified by multi-parameter flow cytometry. The composition and abundance of intestinal microbiota in the feces of offspring rats were detected by 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology. Results The plasma corticosterone concentrations in the model group were higher than those in the control group on the 7th and 21st days of stress (P<0.05). On the 14th and 21st days of stress, the 1% sucrose preference percentages of female rats in the model group were lower than that in the control group. On the 7th, 14th, and 21st days of stress, the horizontal movement scores of female rats in the model group and the vertical movement scores on the 7th and 14th days were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). After 6, 9, and 12 d of model building, the scratching frequencies in the MC group and MM group were significantly higher than those in the CC group and CM group (P<0.05). Moreover, there were differences in the contents of cytokines including IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-13, and IgE among the offspring rat groups (P<0.05). The CM group and MM group led to an increase in the contents of TNF-α, IL-4, IL-13, and IgE cytokines (P<0.05), while the MM group caused a decrease in the contents of IFN-γ and IL-2 (P<0.05). After the eczema induction experiment, the α-diversity analysis showed that the Simpson index and Shannon index in the CM were higher than those in the CC (P<0.05), indicating that CUMS during the pregnancy of female rats could increase the species abundance of their offspring. The abundances of Prevotella and Lactobacillus in the CM group decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion Intestinal dysbiosis in offspring due to chronic prenatal psychological stress, which may be one of the mechanisms linking maternal stress to immune imbalance and increased susceptibility to eczema in offspring.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are significant drug targets, but their potential in cancer therapy remains underexplored. Conventional GPCR agonists or antagonists have shown limited effectiveness in cancer treatment, necessitating new GPCR-targeting strategies for more effective therapies. This study discovers that Yersinia pestis LcrV, a crucial linker protein for plague infection, acts as a biased agonist of a GPCR, the formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1). The LcrV protein induces unique conformational changes in FPR1, resulting in G proteins being activated in a distinctive state without subunit dissociation. This leads to a biased signaling profile characterized by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) responses and β-arrestin2 recruitment, but not calcium mobilization. In FPR1-expressing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, LcrV bi-directionally modulates intracellular signaling pathways, downregulating extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) and Akt pathways while upregulating Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 pathways. This dual modulation results in cell cycle arrest and the inhibition of TNBC cell proliferation. In TNBC xenograft mouse models, long-term LcrV treatment inhibits tumor growth more effectively than a conventional FPR1 antagonist. Additionally, LcrV treatment reprograms tumor cells by reducing stemness-associated proteins OCT4 and c-MYC. Our findings highlight the potential of biased GPCR agonists as a novel GPCR-targeting strategy for cancer treatment.

Several types of arthritis share the common feature that the generation of inflammatory mediators leads to joint cartilage degradation. However, the shared mechanism is largely unknown. H2BK120ub1 was reportedly involved in various inflammatory diseases but its role in the shared mechanism in inflammatory joint conditions remains elusive. The present study demonstrated that levels of cartilage degradation, H2BK120ub1, and its regulator WW domain-containing adapter protein with coiled-coil (WAC) were increased in cartilage in human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients as well as in experimental RA and OA mice. By regulating H2BK120ub1 and H3K27me3, WAC regulated the secretion of inflammatory and cartilage-degrading factors. WAC influenced the level of H3K27me3 by regulating nuclear entry of the H3K27 demethylase KDM6B, and acted as a key factor of the crosstalk between H2BK120ub1 and H3K27me3. The cartilage-specific knockout of WAC demonstrated the ability to alleviate cartilage degradation in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (CIOA) mice. Through molecular docking and dynamic simulation, doxercalciferol was found to inhibit WAC and the development of cartilage degradation in the CIA and CIOA models. Our study demonstrated that WAC is a key factor of cartilage degradation in arthritis, and targeting WAC by doxercalciferol could be a viable therapeutic strategy for treating cartilage destruction in several types of arthritis.

Gastric contrast-enhanced ultrasound includes oral contrast-enhanced ultrasound (OCUS) and double contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCEUS),which can provide valuable clinical information about tumor morphology,vascular characteristics,and treatment responses.OCUS can clearly identify the gastric wall structure and the extent and depth of lesions by applying oral contrast agents.DCEUS,based on OCUS combined with venography,can display the anatomical and perfusion characteristics of lesions.In recent years,gastric contrast agents and imaging techniques have developed rapidly.However,the clinical application of gastric contrast-enhanced ultrasound is still in the developmental stage.This article reviews the clinical status of OCUS and DCEUS in the screening,diagnosis,staging,pathological typing,and treatment evaluation of gastric cancer.Studies have shown that gastric contrast-enhanced ultrasound has high sensitivity and specificity in the assessment of diagnosis and T-staging of gastric cancer.Furthermore,gastric contrast-enhanced ultrasound has the advantages of being cost-effective,convenient,non-invasive,free from radiation exposure,real-time,and easy to repeat.In the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer,it is expected to become one of the important imaging assessment tools.
Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Contrast Media ; Ultrasonography/methods*

Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome is an inflammation-related acute encephalopathy that occurs in previously healthy children and adolescents.It is clinically characterized by super-refractory status epilepticus that occurs after a febrile infection and is often associated with poor prognosis.In recent years,with a deeper understanding of this disease,the treatment approaches have shifted to early and timely immunotherapy and comprehensive support on the basis of standardized anti-epileptic seizure treatment.This review comprehensively elaborates the definition,clinical characteristics,auxiliary examinations,pathogenesis,diagnosis and evaluation,treatment,prognosis,and future research directions of febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome,aiming to enhance under-standing and improve prognosis.

Objective:To investigate the important clinical features and prognosis of febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome(FIRES).Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed for the data of 15 children with FIRES who were hospitalized and treated in Peking University First Hospital from March 2022 to June 2024,including clinical features,treatment regimens,and prognosis,and follow-up was performed by telephone.Results:The median duration of status epilepticus was 15 days for all children.Of all 15 children,14(93.3%)were comorbid with disturbance of consciousness,8(53.3%)were comorbid with respiratory failure and underwent endotra-cheal incubation,and 13(86.7%)had been admitted to the intensive care unit.In the acute stage,7 children underwent the examination of various inflammatory factors in blood and cerebrospinal fluid,including interleukin(IL)-1β,IL-2,IL-4,IL-5,IL-6,IL-8,IL-10,and tumor necrosis factor-α,and all 7 children had significant increases in the levels of inflammatory factors in cerebrospinal fluid,which were significantly higher than the levels of inflammatory factors in serum.Of all 15 children,12(80%)had diffuse slow wave changes on electroencephalography,and migrating focal seizures were detected in 7 children(46.7%).Cranial magnetic resonance im-aging(MRI)manifestations in the acute stage included temporal and insular cortical edema(60%),abnormal white matter signal(33.3%),and claustrum sign(13.3%),and MRI features in the chronic stage included the deepening of cerebral sulci(75%)and ventricular dilatation(33.3%).The treatment in the acute stage in-cluded intravenous drip of gamma-globulin and high-dose methyl-prednisolone in 15 children(effective in 2 children),ketogenic diet in 4 children(effective in 1 child),tocilizumab in 5 children(effective in 3 children),and anakinra in 2 children(effective in 1 child).As of the last follow-up,the median duration of disease was 14.0 months(4-65 months)for all patients,and only 2 children achieved complete seizure control,while the remaining 13 children had refractory epilepsy.Cognitive impairment was observed in 93.3%of the children.Conclusion:FIRES often has acute and severe conditions,and first-line immunotherapies often have a poor therapeutic ef-fect.Tocilizumab and anakinra may be effective in some patients with seizures in the acute stage.

Objective To explore the perioperative therapeutic effects and follow-up manage-ment in 16 patients with left ventricular assist device(LVAD)implantation.Methods A retrospec-tive analysis was conducted in data of 16 patients who underwent LVAD implantation in the depart-ment of cardiovascular surgery.Data of 6-minute walk test(6MWT),European Quality of Life-5 Di-mension-5 Levels(EQ-5D-5L),New York Heart Association(NYHA)classification,echocardio-graphy,chest radiography,cardiothoracic ratio,and occurrence of complications(infection,bleed-ing,thrombosis,right heart failure,neurological issues)were collected via the electronic medical re-cord system before surgery and at 30,60,and 90 days postoperatively.Results All patients sur-vived with the pump at 90 days postoperatively.One patient with preoperative renal insufficiency un-derwent dialysis and received a heart transplant after 8 months.One patient developed a sterile granu-loma at the percutaneous lead site on the abdominal wall,which improved after treatment,no complica-tions occurred in other patients.At 90 days postoperatively,there was no statistically significant differ-ence in the right ventricular area change fraction and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion com-pared with preoperative values(P＞0.05).The left ventricular ejection fraction,left ventricular end-diastolic diameter,and cardiothoracic ratio showed significant improvement compared with preoperative levels(P＜0.05).At 30 days postoperatively,30％of patients recovered to NYHA class Ⅰ and 70％to class Ⅱ;at 60 days,80％of patients to class Ⅰ and 20％to class Ⅱ;at 90 days,90％to classⅠ and 10％to class Ⅱ.The 6MWT and EQ-5D-5L scores of patients significantly increased within 90 days postoperatively(P＜0.01).Conclusion Through rigorous preoperative assessment by a multidisciplinary LVAD team,refinement of surgical techniques,and comprehensive management during hospitalization,self-management before discharge,daily follow-up after discharge,and fol-low-up management upon returning to the hospital for patients with LVAD implantation,the cardiac function and quality of life of patients are significantly improved at 90 days postoperatively.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between oxygen consumption (VO 2), carbon dioxide production (VCO 2), and Oxygen Consumption/lactate (VO 2/Lac) with risk of death in patients with severe ARDS. Methods:A retrospective cohort study method was used, and the study subjects were hospitalized for >5 days adult patients with severe ARDS in the central intensive care unit of Henan Provincial People's Hospital from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2023. The following patients were excluded: IC test was not completed on the 4th day of ICU admission, IC test results were unreliable, mechanical ventilation duration had exceeded 48 h at the time of ICU transfer or admission, palliative care patients and pregnant and parturient women. Using indirect calorimetry to determine VO 2 and VCO 2 values on the 4th day of admission, reviewing medical records to obtain general condition, disease information, blood gas analysis (including lactate value), diagnostic and therapeutic measures, and following up deaths by telephone and time of death. The primary outcome measure was death at 90 days, and the secondary outcome measure was death at 28 days, length of stay in ICU, total length of stay, and total hospitalization cost. Cox regression analysis and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between VO 2, VCO 2, VO 2/Lac and primary and secondary outcome indexes. Results:A total of 216 patients were enrolled, 78 patients (36.1%) died and 138 patients (63.9%) survived at 90 days. After correction for confounders, the results of multifactorial Cox regression analysis suggested that compared with the Q4 group, HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VO 2 Q1 and Q2 groups was 3.21 (1.38, 7.49) and 3.24 (1.42, 7.38), and HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VCO 2 Q1, Q2 and Q3 groups was 5.88 (2.33, 14.84), 4.26 (1. 60, 11.34) and 3.54 (1.34, 9.35), respectively, and the HR (95% CI) for 90-day risk of death in the VO 2/Lac Q1, Q2 and Q3 groups were 8.72 (3.01, 25.25), 8.43 (2.91, 24.47) and 4.04 (1.34, 12.17) respectively. P-trends were all <0.05, indicating that VO 2, VCO 2 and VO 2/Lac were linearly and negatively associated with the risk of 90-day mortality. In addition, VO 2, VCO 2, and VO 2/Lac were negatively associated with 28-day risk of death and higher VO 2/Lac was negatively associated with length of ICU stay. Conclusions:VO 2, VCO 2 and VO 2/Lac were negatively associated with 90-day mortality risk and 28-day mortality risk in patients with severe ARDS and may be independent risk factors predicting mortality risk of such patients.