Ulcerative colitis(UC) is a recurrent, chronic, nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease. The longer the course of the disease, the higher the risk of cancerization. In recent years, the incidence and mortality rates of colon cancer in China have been increasing year by year, seriously threatening the life and health of patients. Therefore, studying the mechanism of "inflammation cancer transformation" in UC and conducting early intervention is crucial. The "Kenang" theory is an important component of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) theory of phlegm and blood stasis. It is based on the coexistence of phlegm and blood stasis in the body and deeply explores the pathogenic syndromes and characteristics of phlegm and blood stasis. Kenang is a pathological product formed when long-term Qi stagnation leads to the internal formation of phlegm and blood stasis, which is hidden deep within the body. It is characterized by being hidden, progressive, and difficult to treat. The etiology and pathogenesis of "inflammation cancer transformation" in UC are consistent with the connotation of the "Kenang" theory. The internal condition for the development of UC "inflammation cancer transformation" is the deficiency of healthy Qi, with Qi stagnation being the key pathological mechanism. Phlegm and blood stasis are the main pathogenic factors. Phlegm and blood stasis accumulate in the body over time and can produce cancer toxins. Due to the depletion of healthy Qi and a weakened constitution, the body is unable to limit the proliferation and invasion of cancer toxins, eventually leading to cancer transformation in UC. In clinical treatment, the focus should be on removing phlegm and blood stasis, with syndrome differentiation and treatment based on three basic principles: supporting healthy Qi to strengthen the body's foundation, resolving phlegm and blood stasis to break up the Kenang, and regulating Qi and blood to smooth the flow of energy and resolve stagnation. This approach helps to dismantle the Kenang, delay, block, or even reverse the cancerization process of UC, reduce the risk of "inflammation cancer transformation", improve the patient's quality of life, and provide new perspectives and strategies for early intervention in the development of colon cancer.
Humans ; Colitis, Ulcerative/immunology* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic

Objective:To study the changes in serum small molecule metabolites after brucella infection in humans using untargeted metabolomics methods, and screening representative biomarkers. Methods:A total of 109 serum samples collected from January 2019 to December 2021 at the Brucellosis Clinic of the Baotou Center for Disease Control and Prevention were divided into acute phase group ( n = 40), chronic phase group ( n = 35) of brucellosis, and healthy group ( n = 34) based on clinical diagnosis. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology was used to test serum samples and screen for differential metabolites. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the predictive ability of differential metabolites for brucellosis. Enriched pathways were screened using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway to identify metabolic pathways significantly affected. Results:A total of 17 differential metabolites were screened between the acute phase group and the healthy group, and 12 differential metabolites were screened between the chronic phase group and the healthy group. There were a total of 5 differential metabolites (oleamide, linoleamide, stearamide, palmitoleic acid, α-linolenic acid) statistically significant among the three groups ( F = 16.84, 17.52, 14.31, 13.01, 20.76, P < 0.05). KEGG pathway analysis showed that the differential metabolites in the acute phase group were enriched in metabolic pathways such as ether lipid metabolism, glycerophosphate metabolism, sphingolipid signal and sphingolipid metabolism. The differential metabolites in the chronic phase group were enriched in metabolic pathways such as glycerophosphate metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, protein digestion and absorption metabolism. Conclusion:Untargeted metabolomics methods can screen out serum small molecule metabolites that undergo changes after brucella infection in the human body, including oleamide, linoleamide, stearamide, palmitoleic acid, α-linolenic acid can serve as potential biomarkers to distinguish brucellosis patients from healthy people.

Objective To monitor the susceptibility of clinical isolates to antimicrobial agents in tertiary hospitals in major regions of China in 2022.Methods Clinical isolates from 58 hospitals in China were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility using a unified protocol based on disc diffusion method or automated testing systems.Results were interpreted using the 2022 Clinical &Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)breakpoints.Results A total of 318 013 clinical isolates were collected from January 1,2022 to December 31,2022,of which 29.5％were gram-positive and 70.5％were gram-negative.The prevalence of methicillin-resistant strains in Staphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis and other coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species(excluding Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Staphylococcus schleiferi)was 28.3％,76.7％and 77.9％,respectively.Overall,94.0％of MRSA strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 90.8％of MRSE strains were susceptible to rifampicin.No vancomycin-resistant strains were found.Enterococcus faecalis showed significantly lower resistance rates to most antimicrobial agents tested than Enterococcus faecium.A few vancomycin-resistant strains were identified in both E.faecalis and E.faecium.The prevalence of penicillin-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae was 94.2％in the isolates from children and 95.7％in the isolates from adults.The resistance rate to carbapenems was lower than 13.1％in most Enterobacterales species except for Klebsiella,21.7％-23.1％of which were resistant to carbapenems.Most Enterobacterales isolates were highly susceptible to tigecycline,colistin and polymyxin B,with resistance rates ranging from 0.1％to 13.3％.The prevalence of meropenem-resistant strains decreased from 23.5％in 2019 to 18.0％in 2022 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa,and decreased from 79.0％in 2019 to 72.5％in 2022 in Acinetobacter baumannii.Conclusions The resistance of clinical isolates to the commonly used antimicrobial agents is still increasing in tertiary hospitals.However,the prevalence of important carbapenem-resistant organisms such as carbapenem-resistant K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa,and A.baumannii showed a downward trend in recent years.This finding suggests that the strategy of combining antimicrobial resistance surveillance with multidisciplinary concerted action works well in curbing the spread of resistant bacteria.

2019-nCoV Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, which has brought new challenges to the prevention and control of COVID-19 pandemic, has the characteristics of stronger transmissibility and more rapid transmission and more significant immune evasion. It took only two months to become a predominant strain worldwide after its identification in South Africa in November 2021. Local epidemics caused by Omicron variant have been reported in several provinces in China. However, the epidemiological characteristics of highly mutated Omicron variant remain unclear. This article summarizes the progress in the research of functional mutations, transmissibility, virulence, immune evasion and cross-reactive immune responses of Omicron variant, to provide references for the effective prevention and control of COVID-19 pandemic caused by Omicron variant.
COVID-19 ; Humans ; Mutation ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2

Humans ; COVID-19 ; Consensus ; SARS-CoV-2 ; China

OBJECTIVE: The clinical symptoms of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) can be effectively improved by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment, based on the usage of specific therapies for different TCM syndromes. However, in the stage of diagnosis, the standard criteria for the classification of TCM syndrome were still deficient. Through serum metabolic profiling, this study aimed to explore potential biomarkers in IBS-D patients with different TCM syndromes, which can assist in diagnosis of the disease. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from healthy controls (30 cases), IBS-D patients with Liver-Stagnation and Spleen-Deficiency syndrome (LSSD, 30 cases), Yang Deficiency of Spleen and Kidney syndrome (YDSK, 11 cases) and Damp Abundance due to Spleen-Deficiency syndrome (DASD, 22 cases). Serum metabolic profiling was conducted by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The potential biomarkers were screened by orthogonal partial least square-discriminate analysis, while metabolic pathways undergoing alterations were identified by pathway enrichment analysis in MetaboAnalyst 4.0. RESULTS: Overall, 34 potential biomarkers were identified in LSSD group, 36 in YDSK group and 31 in DASD group. And the 13 metabolites shared by three groups were determined as the potential biomarkers of IBS-D. Glycerophospholipid metabolism was disturbed significantly in IBS-D patients, which may play a role in IBS-D through inflammation. What's more, three TCM syndromes have the specific potential biomarkers in glycerophospholipid metabolism. CONCLUSION The serum metabolomics revealed that different TCM syndrome types in IBS-D may have different metabolic patterns during disease progression and glycerophospholipid metabolism was one of the pathways, whose metabolism was disturbed differently among three TCM syndromes in IBS-D. Therefore, the specific potential biomarkers in glycerophospholipid metabolism of three TCM syndromes in IBS-D can serve as the objective indicators, which can facilitate the TCM-syndrome objective classification of IBS-D.

Objective:To examine the distribution of syphilis antibody in pregnant women and newborns and to explore how to optimize the existing syphilis screening process by setting the diagnostic gray area.Methods:The results of syphilis testing obtained from 119 531 pregnant women and 21 275 newborns from 2015 to 2018 by automatic chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) and the re-examination results determined by Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA) and the rapid plasma reagin test (RPR) were retrospective analyzed. Data analysis was performed by Chi-square, Fisher′s exact test and Chi-square test for trend. Results:The positive rates of Syphilis specific antibody (TPAb) in clinical specimens from pregnant women and newborns were 0.69% (825/119 531) and 1.24%(264/21 275). The total re-examination positive rates were 0.32% (380/119 531) and 0.90%(191/21 275), and the suspicious syphilis prevalence rates in these specimens were 0.13% (161/119 531) and 0.31%(67/21 275), respectively. The suspicious syphilis prevalence rates in specimens of pregnant women from 2015 to 2018 and newborns increased year by year (χ 2=9.860, P=0.002; χ 2=5.311, P=0.021). With the elevation of the optical density value of samples to cut-off ratio (S/CO) value, positive coincidence rate of TPPA and TPAb in pregnant women and newborns increased significantly (χ 2=614.833, P<0.001; P<0.001). When the S/CO value in newborns exceeded 7.00 or the S/CO value in pregnant women exceeded 15.00, the effectiveness of TPAb results is equivalent to TPPA. The prevalence of suspected syphilis in pregnant women and newborns also increased with the increase of S/CO value (χ 2=323.059, P<0.001; P<0.001). When the S/CO value in newborns bellowed 3.00 or the S/CO value in pregnant women bellowed 5.00, the prevalence rate of suspected syphilis was 0%, which could preliminarily exclude syphilis infection. Conclusions:The prevalence rates of suspected syphilis in pregnant women was increasing during the recent years. It is necessary to further strengthen syphilis screening and intervention treatment in early pregnancy to improve the rate of eugenics. Being a primary screening method for syphilis in pregnant women and newborns, CLIA has high false positive rate. According to the gray area established in this study, the syphilis screening process can be optimized to prevent missed detection, which may reduce the false positive rate and avoid clinical misdiagnosis.

To establish reference intervals for thyroid functional indicators in early (T1), mid-term (T2), and late stage (T3) pregnancy in a population of women in Northwestern China. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 620 pregnant women. Subjects were recruited through a questionnaire where apparently healthy women were selected. Serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH3), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroid hormone (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroid hormone (FT4) were detected using the Beckman Unicel DXI 800 automatic chemiluminescence analyzer (the third-generation TSH detection reagent for TSH3),and the reference intervals of different gestation periods were established. The results showed that the reference intervals of TSH3 in T1, T2, and T3 were 0.05-4.59, 0.61-6.01, and 0.63-4.78 mIU/L, respectively; TT3 were 1.62-2.97 nmol/L, 1.59-2.95 nmol/L, and 1.45-2.70 nmol/L, respectively; TT4 were 95.49-185.00 nmol/L, 92.70-181.54 nmol/L, and 77.93-155.09 nmol/L, respectively; FT3 were 3.18-5.22 pmol/L, 2.78-4.67 pmol/L, and 2.51-4.18 pmol/L, respectively; and FT4 were 7.72-12.97 pmol/L, 6.90-1.09 pmol/L, and 5.63-9.85 pmol/L, respectively. All thyroid function indexes had statistically significant differences between the three stages of pregnancy (TSH: H=30.879, P<0.01;FT3: H =153.827, P<0.01;FT4: H =229.967, P<0.01;TT3: H =36.484, P<0.01;TT4: H =58.531, P<0.01). 20 independent samples were collected to verify the reference intervals of TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3 and TT4 for three trimesters of pregnancy, and all of them passed.

To establish reference intervals for thyroid functional indicators in early (T1), mid-term (T2), and late stage (T3) pregnancy in a population of women in Northwestern China. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 620 pregnant women. Subjects were recruited through a questionnaire where apparently healthy women were selected. Serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH3), total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyroid hormone (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroid hormone (FT4) were detected using the Beckman Unicel DXI 800 automatic chemiluminescence analyzer (the third-generation TSH detection reagent for TSH3),and the reference intervals of different gestation periods were established. The results showed that the reference intervals of TSH3 in T1, T2, and T3 were 0.05-4.59, 0.61-6.01, and 0.63-4.78 mIU/L, respectively; TT3 were 1.62-2.97 nmol/L, 1.59-2.95 nmol/L, and 1.45-2.70 nmol/L, respectively; TT4 were 95.49-185.00 nmol/L, 92.70-181.54 nmol/L, and 77.93-155.09 nmol/L, respectively; FT3 were 3.18-5.22 pmol/L, 2.78-4.67 pmol/L, and 2.51-4.18 pmol/L, respectively; and FT4 were 7.72-12.97 pmol/L, 6.90-1.09 pmol/L, and 5.63-9.85 pmol/L, respectively. All thyroid function indexes had statistically significant differences between the three stages of pregnancy (TSH: H=30.879, P<0.01;FT3: H =153.827, P<0.01;FT4: H =229.967, P<0.01;TT3: H =36.484, P<0.01;TT4: H =58.531, P<0.01). 20 independent samples were collected to verify the reference intervals of TSH, FT3, FT4, TT3 and TT4 for three trimesters of pregnancy, and all of them passed.

Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; Betacoronavirus ; immunology ; Coronavirus Infections ; diagnosis ; Gold Colloid ; chemistry ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral ; diagnosis ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic