ObjectiveBased on the theory of "spleen governing transportation and transformation"， this study investigates the efficacy of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma processed with Aurantii Fructus Immaturus juice（AMR-AFI） in improving slow-transit constipation（STC）， as well as the synergistic regulatory mechanism involving the microbiota-metabolism axis， thereby elucidating the scientific basis of its processing theory. MethodsAnimals were randomly divided into the control group， model group， positive drug（mosapride） group（3 mg·kg^-1）， and low-， medium-， and high-dose groups of AMR-AFI（3.9， 7.8， 15.6 g·kg^-1）. Except for the control group， the remaining five groups were induced with STC using loperamide hydrochloride. Following modeling， interventions were administered. All groups received continuous administration for 15 d， during which fecal samples， colon tissue， and serum were collected. Constipation improvement was assessed by measuring fecal moisture content and small intestinal propulsion rate， histological morphology of colonic tissue was observed via hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining， and the levels of interleukin（IL）-6， tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α， and IL-2 in serum were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. Furthermore， the microbial community structure in mouse feces was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing， while transcriptomic sequencing was employed to screen differentially expressed genes in colonic tissue， followed by gene ontology（GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG） enrichment analyses. Finally， Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to explore the association between differential microbiota and differential genes. ResultsCompared with the control group， the intestinal propulsion rate and fecal moisture content in the model group were significantly decreased（P<0.01）， while serum levels of IL-6， TNF-α， and IL-2 were significantly elevated（P<0.01）. HE staining showed damage and shedding of colonic mucosal epithelial cells， along with a reduction in goblet cells in the model group. In comparison with the model group， all treatment groups improved the pathological state of the colonic mucosa to varying degrees and reduced serum levels of IL-6， TNF-α， and IL-2（P<0.01）. Among these， the high-dose group of AMR-AFI significantly increased the intestinal propulsion rate and fecal moisture content of rats（P<0.05， P<0.01）. Further transcriptomic analysis revealed that a total of 104 differentially expressed genes were identified from comparisons between the model group and the control group， as well as between the model group and the high-dose group of AMR-AFI. These genes were mainly enriched in pathways closely related to STC pathogenesis， such as arachidonic acid metabolism and aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption. 16S rRNA sequencing results indicated that AMR-AFI reversed the structural imbalance of the gut microbiota in model mice， increased species richness， downregulated the relative abundance of pro-inflammatory bacteria such as Parasutterella， and enriched beneficial and butyrate-producing bacteria， including Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group， Ruminococcaceae， and Lachnospiraceae. Spearman correlation analysis further showed that the beneficial bacteria enriched in the AMR-AFI group were negatively correlated with genes involved in the arachidonic acid metabolic pathway and positively correlated with genes in the aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption pathway. In contrast， pro-inflammatory bacteria in the model group exhibited the opposite correlation trends. ConclusionAMR-AFI can effectively exert synergistic therapeutic effects on STC by regulating intestinal microbiota， arachidonic acid-mediated inflammatory metabolism， and aldosterone-regulated water-salt balance pathways.

ObjectiveBased on the theory of "spleen governing transportation and transformation"， this study investigates the efficacy of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma processed with Aurantii Fructus Immaturus juice（AMR-AFI） in improving slow-transit constipation（STC）， as well as the synergistic regulatory mechanism involving the microbiota-metabolism axis， thereby elucidating the scientific basis of its processing theory. MethodsAnimals were randomly divided into the control group， model group， positive drug（mosapride） group（3 mg·kg^-1）， and low-， medium-， and high-dose groups of AMR-AFI（3.9， 7.8， 15.6 g·kg^-1）. Except for the control group， the remaining five groups were induced with STC using loperamide hydrochloride. Following modeling， interventions were administered. All groups received continuous administration for 15 d， during which fecal samples， colon tissue， and serum were collected. Constipation improvement was assessed by measuring fecal moisture content and small intestinal propulsion rate， histological morphology of colonic tissue was observed via hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining， and the levels of interleukin（IL）-6， tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α， and IL-2 in serum were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. Furthermore， the microbial community structure in mouse feces was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing， while transcriptomic sequencing was employed to screen differentially expressed genes in colonic tissue， followed by gene ontology（GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG） enrichment analyses. Finally， Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to explore the association between differential microbiota and differential genes. ResultsCompared with the control group， the intestinal propulsion rate and fecal moisture content in the model group were significantly decreased（P<0.01）， while serum levels of IL-6， TNF-α， and IL-2 were significantly elevated（P<0.01）. HE staining showed damage and shedding of colonic mucosal epithelial cells， along with a reduction in goblet cells in the model group. In comparison with the model group， all treatment groups improved the pathological state of the colonic mucosa to varying degrees and reduced serum levels of IL-6， TNF-α， and IL-2（P<0.01）. Among these， the high-dose group of AMR-AFI significantly increased the intestinal propulsion rate and fecal moisture content of rats（P<0.05， P<0.01）. Further transcriptomic analysis revealed that a total of 104 differentially expressed genes were identified from comparisons between the model group and the control group， as well as between the model group and the high-dose group of AMR-AFI. These genes were mainly enriched in pathways closely related to STC pathogenesis， such as arachidonic acid metabolism and aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption. 16S rRNA sequencing results indicated that AMR-AFI reversed the structural imbalance of the gut microbiota in model mice， increased species richness， downregulated the relative abundance of pro-inflammatory bacteria such as Parasutterella， and enriched beneficial and butyrate-producing bacteria， including Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group， Ruminococcaceae， and Lachnospiraceae. Spearman correlation analysis further showed that the beneficial bacteria enriched in the AMR-AFI group were negatively correlated with genes involved in the arachidonic acid metabolic pathway and positively correlated with genes in the aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption pathway. In contrast， pro-inflammatory bacteria in the model group exhibited the opposite correlation trends. ConclusionAMR-AFI can effectively exert synergistic therapeutic effects on STC by regulating intestinal microbiota， arachidonic acid-mediated inflammatory metabolism， and aldosterone-regulated water-salt balance pathways.

Indobufen is a new generation of antiplatelet agents and has been shown to have antithrombotic effects in animal models. However, its therapeutic potential and mechanisms against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the in vivo neuroprotective effects of indobufen through both pretreatment and posttreatment regimens in a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R). In vitro, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) were employed to investigate the relationship between indobufen and the pyroptosis-associated NF-κB/Caspase-1/GSDMD pathway. The pharmacodynamic tests revealed that indobufen ameliorated I/R injury by decreasing the level of thromboxane B2 (TXB2), infarct size, brain edema and neurological impairment in rats and rescuing cell pyroptosis in HUVECs. The underlying mechanisms were probably related to pyroptosis suppression by regulating the NF-κB/Caspase-1/GSDMD pathway. Overall, these studies indicate that indobufen exerts protective and therapeutic effects against I/R injury by pyroptosis suppression via downregulating NF-κB/Caspase-1/GSDMD pathway.

Optical microscopy is essential for exploring biological and material structures, with resolution determining the level of observable detail. The advent of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has broken the diffraction limit, achieving nanoscale resolution. However, traditional assessment methods, such as the Rayleigh criterion and point spread function (PSF) width measurement, rely on empirical judgments and diffraction-limited models, rendering them inadequate for modern super-resolution imaging. This review systematically traces the evolution of resolution assessment methodologies, from classical criteria to advanced strategies tailored for various super-resolution modalities. We first discuss Fourier-based quantitative methods. Fourier ring correlation (FRC) and its 3D counterpart, Fourier shell correlation (FSC), objectively determine resolution by evaluating the statistical correlation of two independent image reconstructions in frequency space. These methods offer robustness against noise and provide a global resolution metric, but they require data independence and are computationally intensive. They have become the prevailing standards in electron and super-resolution microscopy. Subsequently, we examine adaptations for specific super-resolution techniques. For single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) techniques such as PALM and STORM, the Fourier image resolution (FIRE) method extends FRC by incorporating a physical model that accounts for localization precision and labeling density. For stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy and other nonlinear techniques, assessment strategies differ. While PSF shrinkage measurements using fluorescent beads are useful for system calibration, evaluating the effective resolution directly on biological samples is more practical. This is typically performed via linewidth analysis of known structures (e.g., microtubules) or edge-spread function measurements, capturing the effects of photobleaching and sample-induced aberrations. A major paradigm shift is parameter-free resolution estimation based on decorrelation analysis. This method analyzes the autocorrelation decay of a single image’s Fourier spectrum to identify the cutoff spatial frequency without requiring dual datasets or user-defined thresholds. Its high efficiency and broad applicability have been validated across widefield, confocal, STED, SIM, and SMLM modalities. Optimized rendering strategies for SMLM data further enhance its accuracy, and it is emerging as a tool for real-time optimization of experimental parameters. The review also addresses the “gold standard” of resolution validation using well-defined nanostructures, such as DNA origami and nuclear pore complexes, which provide ground truth for verifying resolution claims and detecting artifacts. In the era of artificial intelligence, deep learning plays a dual role: it powerfully enhances image resolution but also introduces challenges, as models may generate “hallucinations” or false details. This underscores the need for new validation metrics to verify the physical fidelity of AI-generated content. Finally, we outline future directions: developing unified cross-modality standards, enabling real-time dynamic resolution monitoring for live-cell imaging, creating techniques for generating local resolution maps to capture sample heterogeneity, and integrating intelligent error correction to ensure data veracity. By providing a comprehensive overview of resolution assessment progress and challenges, this review aims to equip researchers with the knowledge to select appropriate tools, thereby fostering rigorous quantitative imaging in the life and material sciences.

Objective To understand the current situation and influencing factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in medical staff in Beijing City. Methods A total of 2 687 medical staff were selected as the research subjects using the multi-stage sampling method. The current situation of WMSDs and occupational stress, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and insomnia symptoms were investigated using the Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire, the Core Occupational Stress Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale, and the Self-Sleep Management Questionnaire. The Max-Min Hill-Climbing algorithm was used to construct a Bayesian network model to analyze the influencing factors and internal relationships of WMSDs and to conduct reasoning and prediction of the model. Results The prevalence of WMSDs among the research subjects was 88.9%. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify age, educational level, personal monthly income, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, insomnia symptoms, prolonged forward-head desk work, and prolonged static posture work to construct the Bayesian network model. The model consisted of nine nodes and eleven directed edges. Prolonged static posture work, prolonged forward-head desk work, and anxiety symptoms were directly related to WMSDs. Age and educational level were indirectly related to WMSDs through their influence on prolonged forward-head desk work. Depression symptoms were indirectly associated with WMSDs through their influence on anxiety symptoms. The model's prediction accuracy was 90.5%. Conclusion The prevalence of WMSDs among medical staff in Beijing City is relatively high. Prolonged static posture work, prolonged forward-head desk work, and anxiety symptoms may directly increase the risk of developing WMSDs.

Objective To explore the effects of physical activity(PA)on carotid intima-media thickness(CIMT)thickening in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)with poor HbA1c control.Methods A total of 2505 T2DM inpatients with poor HbA1c control who visited the Endocrinology Department of the Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital Affiliated with Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Changzhou Second People's Hospital Affiliated with Nanjing Medical University from January 2019 to February 2022 were enrolled in this study.The patients were categorized into the mild-intensity PA(1～599 MET-min/w,n=795),moderate-intensity PA(600～1499 MET-min/w,n=1107)and high-intensity PA(≥1500 MET-min/w,n=603)based on the metabolic equivalence level(MET).Logistic regression was performed to analyze the relationship between PA and CIMT thickening.Statified analysis was used to investigate the effects of blood pressure(BP)and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)target status on CIMT thickness in different PA groups.Results Restricted cubic spline plots showed a nonlinear relationship between PA levels and the risk of CIMT thickening(P<0.05).Logistic regression showed that with moderate-intensity PA as the control,while high-intensity PA was the influence factor of CIMT thickening(OR 1.581,95%CI 1.244～2.010,P<0.05).Statified analyses showed that under mild-intensity PA,using neither BP nor LDL-C on target as reference,achievement of either index and both were the influence factor of CIMT thickening.Using BP on target as reference,achievements of both indexes,achievements of neither of both indexes,and achievement of LDL-C only were the influence factor of CIMT thickening.Using LDL-C on target as reference,achievement of neither of them and achievement of BP only were the influence factor of CIMT thickening.Under high-intensity PA,achievement of both indexes was negatively associated with CIMT thickening.Conclusions Moderate-intensity PA is the recommended scheme to prevent CIMT thickening in T2DM patients whose HbA1c is not up to standard.Mild-intensity PA is not related to the risk of CIMT thickening,while high-intensity PA is positively related to the risk of CIMT thickening,and focusing on LDL-C compliance is particularly important to avoid CIMT thickening.

Objective:To establish and evaluate a second-tier screening method for neonatal congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and develop appropriate screening interpretation criteria.Methods:We employed liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to simultaneously detect five steroid hormones in dried blood spots: 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17α-OHP), androstenedione (A4), 11-deoxycortisol (11-DOC), 21-deoxycortisol (21-DOC), and cortisol (F), calculating (17α-OHP+A4)/F and (17α-OHP+21-DOC)/F ratios for second-tier CAH screening. The study utilized 429 residual dried blood spot samples from neonates (0-7 days) who completed first-tier screening between January 2020 and March 2024 in Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, including first-tier negatives ( n=369), confirmed false positives ( n=50), and CYP21A2-confirmed 21-hydroxylase deficiency patients ( n=10). Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests analyzed steroid concentration variations across gestational ages and birth weights in all negative samples, with reference intervals established via P2.5- P97.5 percentiles and screening cutoffs set at population P97.5. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis identified optimal interpretation indicators among steroid hormone profiles, with second-tier screening performance evaluated by comparing sensitivity and specificity across different steroid hormone indicators to establish the optimal diagnostic criteria. Results:The five steroid hormones demonstrated intra-assay precision with coefficient of variation (CV) of 9.8%-14.2% and inter-assay precision with CV of 4.7%-14.4% across three different concentration levels of quality control materials. Accuracy ranged from 98.5% to 110.0% and the lower limits of quantification were 0.25 ng/ml for 17α-OHP, 0.05 ng/ml for A4/11-DOC, 0.31 ng/ml for 21-DOC, and 0.1 ng/ml for F. Stratification by gestational age categorized 17α-OHP into ≤31, 32-34, and ≥35 weeks; A4 into ≤31, 32-36, and ≥37 weeks; and 11-DOC into ≤31 and ≥32 weeks, while the remaining indicators were not stratified. When grouped by birth weight (low/normal), all measured parameters except 21-DOC showed statistically significant differences between groups (all P<0.05). Established reference intervals included 17α-OHP: 0.53-7.82 ng/ml (≤31 weeks), <0.25-3.60 ng/ml (32-34 weeks), <0.25-1.64 ng/ml (≥35 weeks); A4: 0.12-2.36 ng/ml (≤31 weeks), <0.05-1.45 ng/ml (32-36 weeks), 0.17-0.95 ng/ml (≥37 weeks); 11-DOC: 0.43-4.04 ng/ml (≤31 weeks), 0.08-1.46 ng/ml (≥32 weeks); F: 1.70-83.70 ng/ml; 21-DOC: <0.31-0.69 ng/ml; (17α-OHP+A4)/F: 0.01-0.74; and (17α-OHP+21-DOC)/F: 0.01-0.69. Comprehensive comparison of CAH second-tier screening performance demonstrated that interpretation based on elevated 17α-OHP accompanied by either elevated 21-DOC or elevated ratios [(17α-OHP+A4)/F or (17α-OHP+21-DOC)/F] achieved 100% sensitivity, 96% specificity, and a 96% reduction in false-positive rate. Conclusion:The application of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for multi-steroid hormone profiling in second-tier neonatal CAH screening, utilizing gestational age-specific 17α-OHP cutoffs combined with elevated 21-DOC or ratio criteria, demonstrated 100% screening sensitivity while substantially reducing false-positive rates from primary screening, though further validation with expanded sample sizes remains necessary.

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)tongue diagnosis has obvious advantages,but its strong subjectivity,susceptibility to environmental influences,and lack of a unified standard greatly affect the objectivity and accuracy of diagnostic results,and it is difficult to integrate into the modern scientific system.Therefore,developing tongue diagnosis equipment to objectively and normatively extract tongue image information,and simulating human brain thinking to construct an objective diagnostic model of TCM tongue image-disease syndrome,and promoting the quantitative and intelligent research of TCM tongue diagnosis have become the trend of future development.This article reviews the research status and application prospects of TCM tongue diagnosis equipment,in order to provide methodological references and research ideas for the research and application of this field.

Objective To explore the mediating effect of empowerment ability between type D personality and self-management behavior of patients with diabetes mellitus(DM).Methods A total of 738 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)hospitalized in the Department of Endocrinology of three tertiary hospitals in Hainan Province from December 2022 to May 2023 were selected and divided into Type D personality(Type D,n=104)group and T2DM group(n=634).The general data,biochemical indexes,scores of negative emotion(NA),social inhibition(SI),empowerment ability,and scale of DM self-management activities(SDSCA)were compared between the two groups,and the correlation between type D personality,empowerment ability and self-management ability was analyzed.The mediating effect model was used to analyze the mediating effect of empowerment ability on the four self-management behaviors of patients with type D personality,and the chain mediating effect model was used to analyze the relationship between type D personality,empowerment ability,self-management behaviors and HbA1c.Results Compared with the T2DM group,HbA1c,proportion of rural residence,proportion of complications≥3,proportion of education level of junior high school or above,proportion of monthly income<3000 yuan,and NA and SI scores were significantly higher in the Type D group(P<0.05).The empowerment ability and scores of healthy diet,regular exercise,blood glucose monitoring and medication compliance were lower in the Type D group than in the T2DM group(P<0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that the empowerment ability score was positively correlated with the scores of healthy diet,regular exercise,blood glucose monitoring and medication compliance(P<0.05).NA and SI scores were negatively correlated with empowerment ability score,healthy diet,regular exercise,blood glucose monitoring and medication compliance(P<0.05).The results of model analysis with empowerment ability as the mediating variable showed that type D personality had direct,indirect and total effects on regular exercise,blood glucose monitoring,medication compliance and SDSCA total score(P<0.05),and indirect and total effects on regular diet score(P<0.05).The mediating effect of empowerment ability was significant(Bootstrap CI did not include 0).The chain mediating effect analysis showed that type D personality could indirectly affect HbA1c through empowerment ability,healthy diet(γ=0.389,95%CI 0.206～0.591),and medication compliance(γ=0.149,95%CI 0.040～0.265),and the effect proportion was 39.4%and 14.1%,respectively.Conclusions Type D personality can indirectly influence self-management behavior through the mediating effect of empowerment,and simultaneously affecting HbA1c through the chain effect of empowerment,diet,and medication behavior.

Hypokalemia,a common clinical electrolyte disorder,can affect multiple systems and can be life-threatening in severe cases.Identifying the cause of hypokalemia is crucial for its prevention and treatment.However,the etiology of hypokalemia is complex and often requires detailed differential diagnosis.This article reports a rare clinical case of hypokalemia caused by long-term excessive consumption of strong tea and discusses its pathogenesis.The aim is to raise clinical awareness and understanding of the etiology of such cases of hypokalemia and reduce misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.