Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of an intelligent handheld ultrasound (US) device for assisting non-expert general practitioners (GPs) in detecting carotid plaques (CPs) in community populations. Methods: This prospective parallel controlled trial recruited 111 consecutive community residents. All of them underwent examinations by non-expert GPs and specialist doctors using handheld US devices (setting A, setting B, and setting C). The results of setting C with specialist doctors were considered the gold standard. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and the features of CPs were measured and recorded. The diagnostic performance of GPs in distinguishing CPs was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic curve. Inter-observer agreement was compared using the intragroup correlation coefficient (ICC). Questionnaires were completed to evaluate clinical benefits. Results: Among the 111 community residents, 80, 96, and 112 CPs were detected in settings A, B, and C, respectively. Setting B exhibited better diagnostic performance than setting A for detecting CPs (area under the curve, 0.856 vs. 0.749; P<0.01). Setting B had better consistency with setting C than setting A in CIMT measurement and the assessment of CPs (ICC, 0.731 to 0.923). Moreover, measurements in setting B required less time than the other two settings (44.59 seconds vs. 108.87 seconds vs. 126.13 seconds, both P<0.01). Conclusion Using an intelligent handheld US device, GPs can perform CP screening and achieve a diagnostic capability comparable to that of specialist doctors.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of an intelligent handheld ultrasound (US) device for assisting non-expert general practitioners (GPs) in detecting carotid plaques (CPs) in community populations. Methods: This prospective parallel controlled trial recruited 111 consecutive community residents. All of them underwent examinations by non-expert GPs and specialist doctors using handheld US devices (setting A, setting B, and setting C). The results of setting C with specialist doctors were considered the gold standard. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and the features of CPs were measured and recorded. The diagnostic performance of GPs in distinguishing CPs was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic curve. Inter-observer agreement was compared using the intragroup correlation coefficient (ICC). Questionnaires were completed to evaluate clinical benefits. Results: Among the 111 community residents, 80, 96, and 112 CPs were detected in settings A, B, and C, respectively. Setting B exhibited better diagnostic performance than setting A for detecting CPs (area under the curve, 0.856 vs. 0.749; P<0.01). Setting B had better consistency with setting C than setting A in CIMT measurement and the assessment of CPs (ICC, 0.731 to 0.923). Moreover, measurements in setting B required less time than the other two settings (44.59 seconds vs. 108.87 seconds vs. 126.13 seconds, both P<0.01). Conclusion Using an intelligent handheld US device, GPs can perform CP screening and achieve a diagnostic capability comparable to that of specialist doctors.

Objective To propose a preventive maintenance strategy of the heating,ventilation and air-conditioning(HVAC)system in pharmacy intravenous admixture services(PIVAS)based on the reliability centered maintenance(RCM)method so as to provide references for PIVAS equipment maintenance.Methods Firstly,a HVAC system RCM review team was formed,and the failure modes and impacts of important functional components of the equipment were analyzed to clarify the consequences of the failure of each functional component under the premise of ensuring the safety and integrity of the equipment and with the goal of minimizing the loss of maintenance downtime and the consumption of maintenance resources.Secondly,with a standardized logical decision-making procedure the preventive maintenance strategy was determined and implemented based on the consequences of functional failure.Finally,statistical analyses were carried out on such equipment indicators as performance parameter qualification rate,failure rate and maintenance cost before and after the RCM method-based strategy was executed,in order to evaluate the efficacy of the strategy.Results The RCM method-based preventive maintenance strategy had the performance qualification rate increased from 97.47%to 99.06%(χ2=24.139,P<0.01),the failure rate decreased from 0.24%to 0.03%(χ2=13.519,P<0.01)and the maintenance cost reduced by 11.5%,from RMB 134,200 to 118,700.Conclusion The RCM method-based preventive maintenance strategy provides reliable equipment for PIVAS and lowers the maintenance cost effectively,and references are given for the development of automated and intelligent equipment maintenance strategies for PIVAS.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(10):78-83]

Objective To explore the value of analysis on the incidence of healthcare-associated infection(HAI)based on disease diagnosis-related grouping(DRG),case mix index(CMI),and relative weight(RW).Methods All discharged cases,DRG and HAI status in a tertiary first-class general hospital from January 1 to December 31,2023 were analyzed retrospectively.Incidences of HAI in different departments were adjusted and compared by CMI.Incidences of HAI in different DRG groups were adjusted by RW.Results Among the 47 695 cases included in the analysis,757 were HAI cases,including 225 DRG groups.The department of critical care medicine had the highest incidence of HAI(11.98％).After CMI adjustment,departments with higher incidence of HAI were main-ly the department of respiratory and critical care medicine(3.96％),department of critical care medicine(3.04％),and department of neurology(2.85％),et al.DRG groups with the top five high incidence of HAI were AH11(tracheotomy and with ventilator support ≥96 hours or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation[ECMO],accompa-nied by major complications and comorbidity[MCC],50.00％),BC29(ventricular shunt and revision surgery,31.43％),BB21(craniotomy other than trauma,accompanied by MCC,27.56％),BB11(craniotomy of brain trauma,accompanied by MCC,26.32％),and GB1A(major surgery of esophagus,stomach,and duodenum,accompanied by major or moderate complications and comorbidity,16.00％).After RW adjustment,the DRG groups with the top five high incidence of HAI were ES21(respiratory system infection/inflammation,accompanied by MCC,5.89％),BR21(cerebral ischemic disease,accompanied by MCC,5.17％),FR11(heart failure,shock,accompanied by MCC,4.80％),BC29(4.57％)and AH11(3.57％).Conclusion Analyzing the incidence of HAI based on CMI and RW can help to identify key departments and disease groups for infection prevention and control,and provide reference for precise prevention and control of HAI in the new era.

CRM 197(cross-reacting material 197),a naturally occurring mutant of diphtheria toxin,is a safe and effective vaccine vector and extensively used on developing conjugate or combined vaccines.The mutant loses its enzymatic activity,but fully retains its receptor-binding ability and immunogenicity.In current work,the diphtheria toxin mutant CRM 197 and its fusion proteins with the receptor-binding do-main of botulinum neurotoxin serotype E(EHc)were developed using genetic engineering technology.These recombinant proteins were confirmed by Western blotting and SDS-PAGE.BALB/c mice were im-munized with the CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197 fusion proteins,and their immunogenicity was evalua-ted.These two fusion protein molecules,CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197,as subunit vaccines,elicited a robust humoral immune response targeting both CRM197 and EHc antigens in the immunized mice.Compared to the mixture of CRM197 and EHc,the mice vaccinated with the fusion proteins(CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197)induced higher levels of anti-CRM197 antibodies,and the mice vaccinated with EHc-CRM197 also generated strongest anti-EHc antibodies.Consequently,as a carrier molecule in the fusion protein vaccine,EHc enhances the immunogenicity of CRM197 molecules.Likewise,CRM197 boosts the immunogenicity of EHc in the EHc-CRM197 fusion protein.

Abnormal expression of CMTM4 protein is closely related to tumour occurrence,development and prognosis.Although the important role of CMTM4 in tumours has been gradually manifested,its spe-cific mechanism of action in cervical cancer remains unclear.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between CMTM4 expression and clinicopathological features in cervical cancer and study its mechanism.Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to detect the expression level of CMTM4 in cancer tissues and paracancerous tissues,and it was found that CMTM4 was significantly under-ex-pressed in cervical cancer tissues(P＜0.001).The chi-square test analysed the relationship between high and low CMTM4 expression and the clinical and pathological characteristics of cervical cancer pa-tients and results found that CMTM4 expression was correlated with the number of births,HPV infection status,pathological type,FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis.Data from Western blot and RT-qPCR found that CMTM4 protein and mRNA levels in HaCaT cells were significantly higher than that of C-33A cells,HeLa cells,U14 cells,and HT-3 cells.Among them,the most significant change in CMTM4 ex-pression was observed in C-33A cells,so the C-33A cell line was selected for subsequent overexpression experiments.CCK-8 analysis found that the proliferation ability of C-33A cervical cancer cells in the pcDNA-CMTM4 group was significantly lower than that in the pcDNA-NC group(P＜0.001).Flow cy-tometry and Western blot results indicated that CMTM4 overexpression promoted apoptosis(P＜0.001),significantly increased Bax(P＜0.001)and cleaved caspase 3(P＜0.05)protein levels,and significant-ly decreased Bcl-2 protein level(P＜0.01).Western blot results further found that CMTM4 overexpres-sion significantly reduced the protein levels of p-PI3K(P＜0.001)and p-AKT(P＜0.01),but did not affect the protein levels of PI3K and AKT(P＞0.05).The above findings indicated that CMTM4 gene expression was down-regulated in cervical cancer,and CMTM4 overexpression inhibited cervical cancer cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT pathway.Therefore,CMTM4 may be used as a biological marker for screening cervical cancer.

Objective To propose a preventive maintenance strategy of the heating,ventilation and air-conditioning(HVAC)system in pharmacy intravenous admixture services(PIVAS)based on the reliability centered maintenance(RCM)method so as to provide references for PIVAS equipment maintenance.Methods Firstly,a HVAC system RCM review team was formed,and the failure modes and impacts of important functional components of the equipment were analyzed to clarify the consequences of the failure of each functional component under the premise of ensuring the safety and integrity of the equipment and with the goal of minimizing the loss of maintenance downtime and the consumption of maintenance resources.Secondly,with a standardized logical decision-making procedure the preventive maintenance strategy was determined and implemented based on the consequences of functional failure.Finally,statistical analyses were carried out on such equipment indicators as performance parameter qualification rate,failure rate and maintenance cost before and after the RCM method-based strategy was executed,in order to evaluate the efficacy of the strategy.Results The RCM method-based preventive maintenance strategy had the performance qualification rate increased from 97.47%to 99.06%(χ2=24.139,P<0.01),the failure rate decreased from 0.24%to 0.03%(χ2=13.519,P<0.01)and the maintenance cost reduced by 11.5%,from RMB 134,200 to 118,700.Conclusion The RCM method-based preventive maintenance strategy provides reliable equipment for PIVAS and lowers the maintenance cost effectively,and references are given for the development of automated and intelligent equipment maintenance strategies for PIVAS.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(10):78-83]

Objective To explore the value of analysis on the incidence of healthcare-associated infection(HAI)based on disease diagnosis-related grouping(DRG),case mix index(CMI),and relative weight(RW).Methods All discharged cases,DRG and HAI status in a tertiary first-class general hospital from January 1 to December 31,2023 were analyzed retrospectively.Incidences of HAI in different departments were adjusted and compared by CMI.Incidences of HAI in different DRG groups were adjusted by RW.Results Among the 47 695 cases included in the analysis,757 were HAI cases,including 225 DRG groups.The department of critical care medicine had the highest incidence of HAI(11.98％).After CMI adjustment,departments with higher incidence of HAI were main-ly the department of respiratory and critical care medicine(3.96％),department of critical care medicine(3.04％),and department of neurology(2.85％),et al.DRG groups with the top five high incidence of HAI were AH11(tracheotomy and with ventilator support ≥96 hours or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation[ECMO],accompa-nied by major complications and comorbidity[MCC],50.00％),BC29(ventricular shunt and revision surgery,31.43％),BB21(craniotomy other than trauma,accompanied by MCC,27.56％),BB11(craniotomy of brain trauma,accompanied by MCC,26.32％),and GB1A(major surgery of esophagus,stomach,and duodenum,accompanied by major or moderate complications and comorbidity,16.00％).After RW adjustment,the DRG groups with the top five high incidence of HAI were ES21(respiratory system infection/inflammation,accompanied by MCC,5.89％),BR21(cerebral ischemic disease,accompanied by MCC,5.17％),FR11(heart failure,shock,accompanied by MCC,4.80％),BC29(4.57％)and AH11(3.57％).Conclusion Analyzing the incidence of HAI based on CMI and RW can help to identify key departments and disease groups for infection prevention and control,and provide reference for precise prevention and control of HAI in the new era.

CRM 197(cross-reacting material 197),a naturally occurring mutant of diphtheria toxin,is a safe and effective vaccine vector and extensively used on developing conjugate or combined vaccines.The mutant loses its enzymatic activity,but fully retains its receptor-binding ability and immunogenicity.In current work,the diphtheria toxin mutant CRM 197 and its fusion proteins with the receptor-binding do-main of botulinum neurotoxin serotype E(EHc)were developed using genetic engineering technology.These recombinant proteins were confirmed by Western blotting and SDS-PAGE.BALB/c mice were im-munized with the CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197 fusion proteins,and their immunogenicity was evalua-ted.These two fusion protein molecules,CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197,as subunit vaccines,elicited a robust humoral immune response targeting both CRM197 and EHc antigens in the immunized mice.Compared to the mixture of CRM197 and EHc,the mice vaccinated with the fusion proteins(CRM197-EHc and EHc-CRM197)induced higher levels of anti-CRM197 antibodies,and the mice vaccinated with EHc-CRM197 also generated strongest anti-EHc antibodies.Consequently,as a carrier molecule in the fusion protein vaccine,EHc enhances the immunogenicity of CRM197 molecules.Likewise,CRM197 boosts the immunogenicity of EHc in the EHc-CRM197 fusion protein.

Background:Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge,commonly known as"Danshen"in China due to the distinctive red color of its roots,is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines.It is cultivated in various regions across China,and environmental differences among these regions can affect the secondary metabolites of plants,thereby influencing the quality of S.miltiorrhiza.In recent years,increasing demand for S.miltiorrhiza has exacerbated the problem of origin fraud.Therefore,ensuring the authenticity of its geo-graphical origin is crucial for the sustainable development of the industry.Objective:The red coloration of S.miltiorrhiza is closely associated with the content of its primary active compounds,particularly tanshinones.Therefore,both its internal chemical composition and external color characteristics serve as key indicators for quality assessment.This study utilized hyperspectral imaging technology to evaluate its potential in classifying the geographical origin of S.miltiorrhiza.Methods:Spectral data reflecting the internal chemical properties of S.miltiorrhiza were integrated with color information represent-ing its external features through 3 levels of data fusion.These fused datasets were then combined with deep learning algorithms to achieve accurate origin classification.Results:The results demonstrated that the Transformer model combined with soft-voting decision-level fusion achieved the highest classification accuracy of 98.72％by integrating image color and short-wave infrared spectral data.Conclusion:This study demonstrates that integrating hyperspectral imaging spectral data with color information provides a reliable and innovative approach for verifying the authenticity and traceability of S.miltiorrhiza.