Objective:To assess the efficacy and safety of Tacrolimus（TAC）in combination with glucocorticosteroid（GC）for treating IgA vasculitis nephritis（IgAVN）in children.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on pediatric patients who were diagnosed with IgAVN from January 2015 to January 2022 in Children's Hospital of Hebei Province.The patients presented with nephrotic-range proteinuria or persistent urine protein（>0.5g/24 h）despite adequate glucocorticoid and other treatments in patients who do not reach massive proteinuria levels.They were treated with TAC combined with GC. The following laboratory parameters were obtained for outcome assessment: 24-hour urinary protein excretion, serum albumin, serum creatinine levels, and fasting blood glucose measurements. The efficacy and adverse reactions of TAC were summarized.Results:A total of 97 children (55 males and 42 females) were included. The average age of diagnosis of IgA vasculitis was (8.65±2.46) years, and 95.9% of the children developed renal involvement within 30 days after diagnosis. Pathological examination of renal puncture: 5 cases of grade Ⅱa, 2 cases of grade Ⅱb, 31 cases of grade Ⅲa, 57 cases of grade Ⅲb, and 2 cases of grade Ⅳb.Remission rate at 3 months was 96.9%（94/97）.Three patients failed to achieve clinical remission who were treaed with other immunosuppressants.After 1, 3, 6 and 12 months of TAC treatment, the urine protein levels of 94 children were lower than those before treatment, and the differences were statistically significant ( P < 0.05), showing a gradual downward trend. Serum albumin levels were higher than those before treatment, and the differences were statistically significant ( P < 0.05), showing a gradual upward trend.After 3 months and 6 months of TAC treatment, the serum creatinine and fasting blood glucose of the children increased. With the remission of the disease, TAC dosage decreased, the mean values of serum creatinine and fasting blood glucose decreased after 12 months of treatment.The average treatment time of TAC was (10.8±2.6) months, the average follow-up time was (3.33±1.56) years, and the longest follow-up time was 8 years. During the follow-up period, there were no serious adverse reactions such as gastrointestinal discomfort, liver function damage and severe infection. After stopping GC and TAC treatment, 80 children got sustained remission. Conclusion:The combination of TAC and GC has been proved to be effective in treating IgAVN in children.The overall effective rate is high,and clinical remission can be achieved quickly with relatively mild adverse reactions.

Objective:To explore the level of positive psychological capital and its trends in traumatic lower limb amputation patients during the 15 months after surgery, and to identify the time period when the patients' level of positive psychological capital is weak, so as to provide a basis for interventions.Methods:This study was a prospective longitudinal study. Convenience sampling was used to select 143 patients with traumatic lower limb amputation admitted to the Department of Emergency Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2021 to November 2022 for the study. General information questionnaire, Positive Psychological-Capital Questionnaire (PPQ) were used on the third postoperative day (T1) , on the day of discharge (T2) , 1 month (T3) , 2 months (T4) , 3 months (T5) , 6 months (T6) , 9 months (T7) , 12 months (T8) , and 15 months (T9) after discharge for a total of nine time points to administer the questionnaire to the patients. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA and plotting of results were performed on the nine time-point data using Graph Pad prism 9.5 software and SPSS 21.0 software, and the data were compared two-by-two using the Bonferroni multiple comparison test.Results:There were 143, 139, 132, 129, 122, 120, 119, 118, and 116 patients who participated in the survey from T1 to T9 time points, with a loss to follow-up rate of 18.88% (27/143) . PPQ scores of 116 traumatic lower limb amputation patients at nine time points were (103.25±9.03) , (108.53±9.32) , (104.38±9.60) , (99.71±9.61) , (95.82±9.55) , (91.49±9.41) , (93.34±9.29) , (93.53±9.14) , (93.62±9.05) , and the mean PPQ scores were lower than the theoretical mean (104) at all time points except T2 and T3 time points. One-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed that the difference in the change in the level of positive psychological capital of patients after traumatic lower limb amputation from postoperative day 3 to 15 months after discharge was statistically significant ( F=990.144, P<0.01) . Bonferroni's multiple comparison test showed that there was no statistically significant difference in two-by-two comparisons between T7, T8, and T9 time points with each other ( P>0.05) , and the rest of the two-by-two comparisons were statistically significant ( P<0.05) . Changes in the total PPQ score and the curves of the self-efficacy dimension, resilience dimension, hope dimension, and optimism dimension scores all showed a trend of a brief increase, followed by a continuous decrease, and then a slow increase to a plateau. Conclusions:Traumatic lower limb amputation patients show a wide range of changes in positive psychological capital levels from postoperative day 3 to 15 months after discharge, with a trend of a brief increase at discharge, followed by a steady decline, and then a slow increase to a plateau. Healthcare professionals should pay dynamic attention to the psychological state and psychological strength of patients after traumatic lower limb amputation and provide targeted interventions at different stages after discharge.

Objective:To adapt the Mindful Breastfeeding Scale (MINDF-BFS) into Chinese and assess its reliability and validity among breastfeeding mothers in China.Methods:Following the Beaton cross-cultural adaptation guideline, the original scale was translated, back-translated, discussed by experts, pre-tested, culturally adapted, and revised to develop the Chinese version of the MINDF-BFS. A convenience sampling method was used to select 305 postpartum women from Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, who visited between March and June 2024, as the study participants. The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of MINDF-BFS were evaluated.Results:The Chinese version of MINDF-BFS consisted of nine items, with the item-level content validity index ranged from 0.900 to 1.000, and the average scale-level content validity index was 0.990. Exploratory factor analysis extracted one common factor, with a variance contribution of 73.290%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit. The Cronbach's α coefficient for the scale was 0.923, the split-half reliability coefficient was 0.915, and the test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.926.Conclusions:The Chinese version of MINDF-BFS has good psychometric properties and is suitable for assessing the mindful breastfeeding levels of Chinese postpartum women.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture combined with ear tip bloodletting for insomnia with phlegm-fire disturbing heart. METHODS: A total of 60 cases with insomnia of phlegm-fire disturbing heart were selected, and the treatment of electroacupuncture combined with ear tip bloodletting was delivered. Acupuncture was applied at Yintang (GV24⁺), Shenting (GV24), Sishencong (EX-HN1) and bilateral Shenmen (HT7), Quchi (LI11), Zhaohai (KI6), Shenmai (BL62), Fenglong (ST40), Neiting (ST4), Yintang (GV24⁺) and Shenting (GV24) were connected to electroacupuncture, continuous wave, 2 Hz in frequency. In addition, bloodletting was applied at ear tip. The treatment was given for 4 weeks. Before treatment, and after 1,4 weeks into treatment, the scores of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), Athens insomnia scale (AIS), insomnia severity index (ISI) and TCM syndrome were compared, and the clinical efficacy was evaluated in the patients. RESULTS: After 1,4 weeks into treatment, the scores of PSQI, AIS, ISI and TCM syndrome were decreased compared with those before treatment in the patients (P<0.05). Of 60 cases, 30 cases were cured, 19 cases markedly effective, 9 cases effective and 2 cases failed, and the total effective rate was 96.7% (58/60). CONCLUSION Electroacupuncture combined with ear tip bloodletting can improve the sleep quality and clinical symptoms in patients with insomnia of phlegm-fire disturbing heart.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Electroacupuncture ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/physiopathology* ; Adult ; Bloodletting ; Acupuncture Points ; Aged ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is indicated as a broad-spectrum medicine for a variety of diseases, including cancer and cardiac disease. While the role of ATO in hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (HIRI) has not been reported. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the effects of ATO on HIRI. METHODS: In the present study, we established a 70% hepatic warm I/R injury and partial hepatectomy (30% resection) animal models in vivo and hepatocytes anoxia/reoxygenation (A/R) models in vitro with ATO pretreatment and further assessed liver function by histopathologic changes, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, cell counting kit-8, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) for extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 was transfected to evaluate the role of ERK1/2 pathway during HIRI, followed by ATO pretreatment. The dynamic process of autophagic flux and numbers of autophagosomes were detected by green fluorescent protein-monomeric red fluorescent protein-LC3 (GFP-mRFP-LC3) staining and transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS: A low dose of ATO (0.75 μmol/L in vitro and 1 mg/kg in vivo ) significantly reduced tissue necrosis, inflammatory infiltration, and hepatocyte apoptosis during the process of hepatic I/R. Meanwhile, ATO obviously promoted the ability of cell proliferation and liver regeneration. Mechanistically, in vitro  studies have shown that nontoxic concentrations of ATO can activate both ERK and phosphoinositide 3-kinase-serine/threonine kinase (PI3K-AKT) pathways and further induce autophagy. The hepatoprotective mechanism of ATO, at least in part, relies on the effects of ATO on the activation of autophagy, which is ERK-dependent. CONCLUSION Low, non-toxic doses of ATO can activate ERK/PI3K-AKT pathways and induce ERK-dependent autophagy in hepatocytes, protecting liver against I/R injury and accelerating hepatocyte regeneration after partial hepatectomy.
Animals ; Arsenic Trioxide ; Autophagy/physiology* ; Reperfusion Injury/prevention & control* ; Mice ; Male ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/physiology* ; Arsenicals/therapeutic use* ; Oxides/therapeutic use* ; Liver/metabolism* ; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL

Hemodynamic monitoring can reflect cardiac function and blood perfusion and is an indispensable monitoring method in clinical practice. Invasive hemodynamic monitoring methods represented by the thermodilution method are limited in their clinical application scope because they require vascular cannulation. Non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring has attracted extensive attention from medical companies and clinicians at home and abroad in recent years due to its advantages such as safety, non-invasiveness, continuous monitoring, simple operation, and low cost. This paper designs a non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring system based on the impedance cardiography, including hardware, algorithm, software design, and performance parameter evaluation. Among them, the hardware part mainly includes a differential high-frequency constant current source stimulation circuit, impedance cardiogram signal acquisition, and ECG signal acquisition circuit. Signal processing includes wave filtering, impedance cardiogram signal calibration, and ECG signal and impedance cardiogram signal feature point recognition. According to the collected impedance cardiogram and ECG signals, hemodynamic parameters such as heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), stroke index (SI), cardiac index (CI), and cardiac contractility index (ICON) are calculated based on the Nyboer thoracic cylinder model. After testing, the key technical indicators of the system hardware are better than that of the relevant medical device standards. The system was used to collect impedance cardiogram and ECG signal data from 40 volunteers. The calculated HR, SV, and CO, three important hemodynamic indicators, were compared with the ICONCore non-invasive cardiac output monitor of OSYPKA Medical in Germany. Their Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.992 ( P<0.001), 0.948 ( P<0.001), and 0.933 ( P<0.001), respectively, verifying that the designed system has high accuracy and reliability.
Cardiography, Impedance/methods* ; Humans ; Hemodynamic Monitoring/methods* ; Equipment Design ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Hemodynamics ; Algorithms ; Monitoring, Physiologic/methods* ; Electrocardiography

End-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring is an important means of evaluating human lung function and is widely used in fields such as clinical emergency treatment and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. This paper develops a microstream end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring system. It adopts an integrated gas circuit design to further reduce the size of the equipment. The system uses the method of calculating the root mean square (RMS) of differential pressure signals to regulate the gas circuit flow, enabling the system to stably operate at a flow state of 30 mL/min. In addition, by simultaneously detecting multiple environmental parameters such as temperature and pressure, the system realizes system state monitoring and gas parameter compensation. The test results show that various indicators of the system meet the requirements of relevant standards, laying a good foundation for subsequent engineering applications.
Carbon Dioxide/analysis* ; Equipment Design ; Monitoring, Physiologic/methods* ; Humans

In order to improve the effect of transcranial electrical stimulation treatment and realize personalized treatment for patients with varying severity levels, this paper designed an integrated four-channel EEG recording multimodal transcranial electrical stimulation system. This system can conduct real-time monitoring on EEG and related characteristic analysis before stimulation, in stimulation, and after stimulation. This enables physicians and researchers to resolve real-time brain states, evaluate transcranial electrical stimulation effect, and then artificially adjust the stimulation parameters. After relevant testing and verification, the system can select four stimulation modes: TACS, TDCS, TPCS and TRNS, which can output the constant stimulation current of 0.03 mA accuracy in the range of ±2 mA and the stimulation frequency of low frequency of 0~4 kHz (precision of 0.01 Hz) and high frequency 50~100 kHz, which can obtain more accurate EEG signals under stimulation interference, demonstrating a good market application prospect.
Electroencephalography/methods* ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation/instrumentation* ; Humans ; Equipment Design

This paper introduces a 16-channel multimodal high-precision transcranial electrical stimulation system specifically for non-invasive brain stimulation. This system added TMCS mixed four traditional stimulation modes with TACS, TDCS, TPCS and TRNS. By designing a compensated high-precision constant current source, the constant stimulation current with an accuracy of 0.03 mA in the range of ±2 mA and the stimulation frequency of 50~200 kHz with low frequency of 0~4 kHz (high frequency of 0.1 Hz) are realized. In TACS stimulation mode, there are five adjustable wave forms: triangular wave, sine wave, sawtooth wave, square wave and mixed wave. The system has dual closed-loop control overcurrent detection and simultaneous real-time electrode contact impedance detection. After relevant tests and verification, the system has good stimulation accuracy, high safety and reliability. Compared with the existing products at home and abroad, it features lower cost, richer stimulation mode and waveforms, demonstrating a certain market application value.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation/instrumentation* ; Equipment Design ; Humans

Allergen-specific immunotherapy（AIT） remains the only therapeutic approach with the potential to modify the natural course of allergic rhinitis（AR）. Nevertheless, considerable inter-individual variability exists in patients'responses to AIT. To facilitate more reliable assessment of treatment efficacy, the China Rhinopathy Research Cooperation Group（CRRCG） convened young and middle-aged nasal experts in China to formulate the present consensus. The recommended subjective outcome measures for AIT comprise symptom scores, medication scores, combined symptom and medication scores, quality-of-life assessments, evaluation of disease control, and assessment of comorbidities. Objective indicators may supplement these measures. Currently available objective approaches include skin prick testing, nasal provocation testing, and allergen exposure chambers. However, these methods remain constrained by practical limitations and are not yet appropriate for routine implementation in clinical efficacy evaluation. In addition, several biomarkers, including sIgE and the sIgE/tIgE ratio, sIgG4, serum IgE-blocking activity, IgA, cytokines and chemokines, as well as immune cell surface molecules and their functional activity, have been shown to have associations with AIT outcomes. While these biomarkers may complement subjective assessments, they are subject to significant limitations. Consequently, large-scale multicenter trials and real-world evidence are required to strengthen the evidence base. The present consensus underscores the necessity of integrating patients'subjective experiences with objective testing throughout the treatment process, thereby providing a more comprehensive and accurate framework for efficacy evaluation. Looking forward, future investigations should prioritize the incorporation of multi-omics data and artificial intelligence methodologies, which hold promise for overcoming current limitations in assessment strategies and for advancing both the standardization and personalization of AIT.
Humans ; Allergens/immunology* ; China ; Consensus ; Desensitization, Immunologic ; Immunoglobulin E ; Quality of Life ; Rhinitis, Allergic/therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; East Asian People