OBJECTIVE:To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of Feijin zhitong capsule combined with methotrexate and tripterygium glycosides in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS:70 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were randomly di-vided into control group(34 cases)and observation group(36 cases). Control group received Methotrexate for injection by intrave-nous infusion,10 mg every times,once a week;and also Tripterygium glycosides tablet,10 mg every times,bid,po. Observa-tion group additionally received Feijin zhitong capsule,3 capsules every times,bid,po. The treatment course for both groups was 6 months. The clinical efficacy,symptoms and signs,erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),rheumatoid factor (RF),C-reactive protein(CRP),interleukin(IL)-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α levels before and after treatment in 2 groups were observed,and the in-cidence of adverse reactions was recorded. RESULTS:The effective rate in observation group was 85.71%,which was significant-ly higher than control group(70.59%),the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). After treatment,duration of morning stiffness,joint pain index,joint swelling index,joint tenderness index,ESR,RF,CRP,IL-1,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α in 2 groups were significantly lower than before,and observation group was lower than control group,the differences were statistically signifi-cant (P<0.05 or P<0.01). And there was no significant difference in the adverse reactions in 2 groups (P>0.05). CONCLU-SIONS:Feijin zhitong capsule combined with methotrexate and tripterygium glycosides has good efficacy and safety in the treat-ment of rheumatoid arthritis,it can reduce the inflammatory index level,improve symptom and sign.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of dust exposure, type of work, age, length of service and duration of dust exposure on pulmonary function in coal miners by pulmonary function tests.
 METHODS: A total of 1 953 coal miners, who received occupational healthy examination and pulmonary function tests during June, 2013 and August, 2014 in Hunan Prevention and Treatment Institute, were enrolled for this study.
 RESULTS: A total of 1 302 miners (66.7%) displayed pulmonary dysfunction, including 1 139 with mild dysfunction (58.3%) and 163 with moderate or more serious dysfunction (8.3%). The risk factors for pulmonary dysfunction were age (OR=1.329, 95% CI: 1.196-1.620), dust exposure duration (OR=1.267, 95% CI: 1.136-1.413) and type of works (mining workers OR=1.156, 95% CI: 1.033-1.293; all P<0.05).
 CONCLUSION The incidence rate of pulmonary dysfunction in coal miners is relatively high in Hunan Province. Most of them are mild dysfunction. The incidence rate of pulmonary dysfunction in mining works is statistically higher than that in other work types. Older workers and long duration-exposed workers are more likely to have pulmonary dysfunction.
China ; Coal Mining ; Dust ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung ; physiopathology ; Lung Diseases ; epidemiology ; Occupational Exposure ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of underground work on cardiovascular system health in coal miners.
 METHODS: Male coal miners, who received electrocardiographic examinations between June, 2013 and August, 2014 in Hunan Prevention and Treatment Institute for Occupational Diseases to exclude pneumoconiosis, were enrolled for this study (n=3 134). Miners with 2 years or more underground work experience were selected as the exposed group (n=2 370), while miners without underground work experience were selected as the control group (n=764). The prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and the influential factors were compared between the 2 groups.
 RESULTS: The prevalences of electrocardiographic abnormalities, hypertension, heart rate abnormalities and cardiovascular system abnormalities in the exposed group vs the control group were 37.6% vs 25.4%, 20.5% vs 13.4%, 5.7% vs 6.0%, 49.8% vs 35.2%, respectively. The cardiovascular system abnormalities were correlated with the underground work (OR=3.128, 95% CI: 1.969-4.970), the underground work experience (OR=1.205, 95% CI: 1.070-1.358) and the type of works (mining worker OR=1.820, 95% CI: 1.527-2.169; auxiliary worker OR=1.937, 95% CI: 1.511-2.482; other worker OR=3.291, 95%CI: 2.120-5.109).
 CONCLUSION Underground work may increase the prevalence of cardiovascular system abnormalities for coal miners. The longer the coal miners work in underground, the higher the risk of the cardiovascular system abnormalities they are.
Cardiovascular System ; physiopathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Coal Mining ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Male ; Miners ; Occupational Diseases ; epidemiology ; Pneumoconiosis ; Prevalence

Objective: This study aimed to reveal the potential clinical and biological functions of frizzled related protein (FRZB) mRNA expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). Methods: We used the keyword “lung cancer” to search the data through Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database attached to NCBI(National Center of Biotechnology) and download the data of LUAD and LUSC from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) Database. A total of eight LUAD and six LUSC datasets were incorporated in this analysis. We defined cutoff value of FRZB using Cutoff Finder into the two groups to calculate hazard ratio (HR). Results: We found that high expression level of FRZB mRNA in tumor tissues was a positive prognostic factor for overall survival in LUAD [pooled HR（95%CI）=0.54（0.46-0.64）,P＜0.05 in univariate analysis; pooled HR（95%CI）=0.66（0.54-0.79）,P＜0.05 in multivariate analysis]. Interestingly, there was no similar results in LUSC [pooled HR（95%CI）=1.11（0.67-1.84）,P＞0.05 in univariate analysis; pooled HR（95%CI）=1.13（0.71-1.78）,P＞0.05 in multivariate analysis]. We also found that FRZB may inhibit WNT signal pathway by t-SNE and correlation analysis. By enrichment analysis, FRZB and its most correlated genes were involved in multiple immune-related pathways, such as complement and coagulation cascades, humoral immune response, etc. Conclusion High expression of FRZB mRNA in LUAD was associated with better prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma. These results suggest that FRZB may be used as a potential marker for favorable prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma.

Objective:To investigate the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) in Jiangsu province during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in China from December 7, 2022 to January 27, 2023, and to analyze the influencing factors of all-cause death.Methods:It was a multi-center cross-sectional investigation. Structured questionnaire was used to collect patient information by medical staff of each hemodialysis center (room) as investigators. Part of the demography data and laboratory examination data came from the Jiangsu Province Hemodialysis Data Information System. MHD patients from hemodialysis centers (rooms) at all levels of medical institutions and independent hemodialysis institutions in Jiangsu province during the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection were included, and the clinical characteristics and all-cause mortality of confirmed and suspected cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were analyzed.Results:Questionnaire surveys and data analysis on 57 278 patients in 407 hemodialysis centers (rooms) were completed, accounting for 90.41% of the total number of MHD patients (63 357 cases) in Jiangsu province during the same period. There were 24 038 cases (41.97%) of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 14 805 cases (25.85%) of suspected infection, which were widely distributed in all dialysis centers in Jiangsu province. After clinical classification of 38 843 confirmed and suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection cases, 3 662 cases were severe and critical cases, accounting for 9.43% of the infected and suspected cases. Among the patients who had completed the questionnaires, there were 1 812 all-cause deaths, with an all-cause mortality rate of 3.16%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that elderly (taking ≤50 years as a reference, 51-59 years: OR=1.583, 95% CI 1.279-1.933, P=0.001; 60-69 years: OR=3.972, 95% CI 3.271-4.858, P<0.001; 70-79 years: OR=7.236, 95% CI 5.917-8.698, P<0.001; ≥80 years: OR=11.738, 95% CI 9.459-14.663, P<0.001), male ( OR=1.371, 95% CI 1.229-1.529, P<0.001), and co-infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) (positive serum HBV surface antigen, OR=0.629, 95% CI 0.484-0.817, P<0.001) were independent influencing factors for all cause mortality. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve for male, age and current HBV infection prediction of all-cause death was 0.529 ( P<0.001), 0.724 ( P<0.001) and 0.514 ( P=0.042), respectively, and the cut-off value for age prediction of all-cause death was 65.5 years old. Compared with patients without HBV infection, MHD patients with HBV infection significantly reduced the proportion of severe and critically ill patients, all-cause hospitalizations and all cause deaths when infected with SARS-CoV-2 (4.99% vs. 6.41%, χ2=6.136, P=0.013; 8.90% vs. 11.44%, χ2=11.662, P<0.001; 2.01% vs. 3.37%, χ2=10.713, P=0.001, respectively). Conclusion:The MHD patients in Jiangsu province are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Elderly age and male gender are independent risk factors for death in MHD patients during the epidemic, while the HBV infection may be a protective factor for death of MHD patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

OBJECTIVE To investigate clinical efficacy and safety of Jipei dilong ointment combined with diacerein in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis （KOA） in the early and mid-term stage. METHODS Totally 100 KOA patients were randomly divided into control group and trial group， with 50 cases in each group. Control group received Diacerein capsules orally， 50 mg every time， bid. Trial group additionally received Jipei dilong ointment， once a day， on the basis of control group. Both groups had a treatment course of 4 weeks， and were followed up for 3 months after treatment. The clinical efficacy of 2 groups， visual analogue scale （VAS）， Western Ontario and McMaster University osteoarthritis index （WOMAC） score， Lysholm scores before and after treatment， at 3-month follow-up after treatment were all observed； the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interleukin 1β （IL-1β）， IL-6， superoxide dismutase （SOD）， malondialdehyde （MDA）， nitric oxide （NO）， cartilage oligomeric matrix protein （COMP）， matrix metalloproteinase-13 （MMP-13） and C-telopeptide of type Ⅱ collagen （CTX-Ⅱ） were detected in knee joint fluid. The incidence of adverse drug reactions was recorded. RESULTS After 4 weeks of treatment， total effective rate was 96.0% in trial group and 90.0% in control group， without statistical significance between 2 groups （P＞0.05）. At 3- 2019YFC1712500） month follow-up after treatment， total effective rate of trial group was 94.0%， and was higher than 62.0% of control group（P＜0.05）. After 4 weeks of treatment and at 3-month follow-up after treatment， VAS score， WOMAC score，the contents ofTNF-α， IL-1β， IL-6， MDA， NO， COMP， MMP-13 and CTX-Ⅱ in knee joint fluid of two groups were significantly lower than before； Lysholm score and SOD activity of knee joint fluid were significantly higher than before， and the trial group was significantly better than the control group during the same period （P＜0.05）. And there was no statistical significance in the incidence of adverse drug reactions between two groups（P＞0.05）. CONCLUSION For the treatment of KOA in early and mid- term stage， Jipei dilong ointment combined with diacerein relieve pain， improve knee function by inhibiting inflammatory reaction， reducing oxidative stress and inhibiting chondrocyte and matrix degradation， and have low incidence of adverse drug reactions.