Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and immunization history of pertussis cases in Yichang City, Hubei Province from 2018 to 2023. Methods Data on the incidence and immunization history of pertussis cases were collected in Yichang City from 2018 to 2023, and the epidemiological characteristics was analyzed and described. Results A total of 109 cases of pertussis were reported in Yichang from 2018 to 2023, and the annual average reported incidence rate was 0.45/100,000. The incidence rate reported in each year was between 0～1.58/100,000. The area with the highest annual reported incidence rate was Xiling District (1.19/100,000). There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence rate between different years (χ²=208.26, P < 0.001). The annual reported incidence rate showed a significant increasing trend (χ² trend =125.71, P < 0.001). The ratio of male to female cases was 1.22. There was no significant difference in the annual reported incidence rates between males and females (χ²=0.85, P=0.36). Children aged 3-9 years accounted for 60.55%. Students and scattered children accounted for 45.87% and 36.70%, respectively. Before the onset of the disease, 72.48% had a history of immunization with pertussis-containing vaccine, and 27.52% had no history of immunization. The shortest interval between the last dose of pertussis-containing vaccine and the onset of the disease was 8 days, the longest was 4057 days, and the median was 1882 days. Conclusion From 2018 to 2023, the reported incidence of pertussis in Yichang City has been on the rise, with the majority of cases occurring in children and students under the age of 9. It is recommended to strengthen pertussis disease monitoring.

Objective:To investigate changes in psychological status before and after sequential therapy in patients with skin circulatory disorders following hyaluronic acid injection.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted on 17 female patients, with a mean age of 28-54 (39.5±1.2) years, admitted to the Fourth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from December 2021 to July 2022. Patients received ultrasound-guided percutaneous arterial puncture or digital subtraction angiography (DSA) guided catheter intervention for hyaluronidase injection, alongside corticosteroid pulse therapy, diuretic administration, neurotrophic support, wound protection, and laser therapy. Psychological assessments, including the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) and symptom check list-90 (SCL-90), were performed at admission and 30-45 days post-discharge. Changes in assessment scores and patient satisfaction were analyzed.Results:Two patients failed to complete all assessments, leaving 15 cases for final analysis. Affected anatomical regions included the nose/perinasal area (13 cases), temporal region (3 cases), lips (3 cases), and forehead (7 cases). MMPI scores for hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviation, paranoia, psychasthenia, and hypomania showed statistically significant reductions compared to baseline (all P<0.05). SCL-90 scores for somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and sleep/appetite disturbances also demonstrated significant decreases (all P<0.05). Among the 15 patients, 7 patients reported being very satisfied, 6 patients were satisfied, and 2 patients were moderately satisfied, with no dissatisfaction reported. Conclusion:Sequential therapy is associated with improved psychological outcomes in patients with skin circulatory disorders secondary to hyaluronic acid injection.

Objective:To identify potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities, providing novel insights and approaches for managing related conditions.Methods:Using the pQTL data from large-scale proteomics studies, a two-sample Mendelian randomization (TwoSampleMR) was conducted to preliminarily identify potential drug therapeutic targets. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate potential confounding factors such as heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy, and a leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was conducted by eliminating each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) one by one. Finally, co-localization analysis was carried out to explore whether there are shared genetic variants between the identified plasma proteins and traits.Results:The proteomic data used in this study included 4, 907 pQTLs, while the genetic data related to hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities comprised 124 cases and 432, 686 controls. After Mendelian randomization screening, six candidate protein genes were identified: HLA-DQA2, CTSB, KIR2DS2, SVEP1, HOMER2, and HOMER1. Sensitivity analyses revealed no evidence of heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy among these proteins. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis indicated that no single SNP significantly influenced the overall result. Notably, HOMER2 was supported by colocalization analysis with strong evidence, suggesting its potential role in regulating genetic mechanisms underlying hair pigmentation and shaft health.Conclusions:This study identified six potential therapeutic targets for hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities, with HOMER2 showing stronger evidence. These findings provide novel directions for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities.

Several types of arthritis share the common feature that the generation of inflammatory mediators leads to joint cartilage degradation. However, the shared mechanism is largely unknown. H2BK120ub1 was reportedly involved in various inflammatory diseases but its role in the shared mechanism in inflammatory joint conditions remains elusive. The present study demonstrated that levels of cartilage degradation, H2BK120ub1, and its regulator WW domain-containing adapter protein with coiled-coil (WAC) were increased in cartilage in human rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients as well as in experimental RA and OA mice. By regulating H2BK120ub1 and H3K27me3, WAC regulated the secretion of inflammatory and cartilage-degrading factors. WAC influenced the level of H3K27me3 by regulating nuclear entry of the H3K27 demethylase KDM6B, and acted as a key factor of the crosstalk between H2BK120ub1 and H3K27me3. The cartilage-specific knockout of WAC demonstrated the ability to alleviate cartilage degradation in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (CIOA) mice. Through molecular docking and dynamic simulation, doxercalciferol was found to inhibit WAC and the development of cartilage degradation in the CIA and CIOA models. Our study demonstrated that WAC is a key factor of cartilage degradation in arthritis, and targeting WAC by doxercalciferol could be a viable therapeutic strategy for treating cartilage destruction in several types of arthritis.

Objective:To identify potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities, thereby offering innovative insights and strategies for the management of the associated conditions.Methods:Using the protein quantitative trait locus(pQTL) data derived from extensive proteomics studies, a two-sample Mendelian randomization was conducted to preliminarily identify potential drug therapeutic targets. Following this, sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate potential confounding factors, including heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was also conducted, systematically excluding each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) to evaluate their individual impact. Additionally, co-localization analysis was carried out to determine the presence of shared genetic variants between the identified plasma proteins and the relevant traits.Results:The proteomic data analyzed in this investigation encompassed 4 907 pQTLs, while the genetic data pertaining to hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities included 124 cases and 432 686 controls. Through the Mendelian randomization screening, six candidate protein genes were identified: HLA-DQA2, CTSB, KIR2DS2, SVEP1, HOMER2, and HOMER1. Sensitivity analyses revealed no evidence of heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy among these proteins. The leave-one-out sensitivity analysis demonstrated that no single SNP significantly affected the overall findings. Notably, HOMER2 was substantiated by co-localization analysis, which provided robust evidence of its potential role in regulating the genetic mechanisms associated with hair pigmentation and shaft integrity.Conclusion:This study successfully identified six potential therapeutic targets for hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities, with HOMER2 exhibiting the most compelling evidence. These findings pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches in the treatment of hair color and hair shaft disorders.

Objective:To identify potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities, thereby offering innovative insights and strategies for the management of the associated conditions.Methods:Using the protein quantitative trait locus(pQTL) data derived from extensive proteomics studies, a two-sample Mendelian randomization was conducted to preliminarily identify potential drug therapeutic targets. Following this, sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate potential confounding factors, including heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was also conducted, systematically excluding each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) to evaluate their individual impact. Additionally, co-localization analysis was carried out to determine the presence of shared genetic variants between the identified plasma proteins and the relevant traits.Results:The proteomic data analyzed in this investigation encompassed 4 907 pQTLs, while the genetic data pertaining to hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities included 124 cases and 432 686 controls. Through the Mendelian randomization screening, six candidate protein genes were identified: HLA-DQA2, CTSB, KIR2DS2, SVEP1, HOMER2, and HOMER1. Sensitivity analyses revealed no evidence of heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy among these proteins. The leave-one-out sensitivity analysis demonstrated that no single SNP significantly affected the overall findings. Notably, HOMER2 was substantiated by co-localization analysis, which provided robust evidence of its potential role in regulating the genetic mechanisms associated with hair pigmentation and shaft integrity.Conclusion:This study successfully identified six potential therapeutic targets for hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities, with HOMER2 exhibiting the most compelling evidence. These findings pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches in the treatment of hair color and hair shaft disorders.

Objective:To identify potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities, providing novel insights and approaches for managing related conditions.Methods:Using the pQTL data from large-scale proteomics studies, a two-sample Mendelian randomization (TwoSampleMR) was conducted to preliminarily identify potential drug therapeutic targets. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate potential confounding factors such as heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy, and a leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was conducted by eliminating each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) one by one. Finally, co-localization analysis was carried out to explore whether there are shared genetic variants between the identified plasma proteins and traits.Results:The proteomic data used in this study included 4, 907 pQTLs, while the genetic data related to hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities comprised 124 cases and 432, 686 controls. After Mendelian randomization screening, six candidate protein genes were identified: HLA-DQA2, CTSB, KIR2DS2, SVEP1, HOMER2, and HOMER1. Sensitivity analyses revealed no evidence of heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy among these proteins. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis indicated that no single SNP significantly influenced the overall result. Notably, HOMER2 was supported by colocalization analysis with strong evidence, suggesting its potential role in regulating genetic mechanisms underlying hair pigmentation and shaft health.Conclusions:This study identified six potential therapeutic targets for hair pigmentation and shaft abnormalities, with HOMER2 showing stronger evidence. These findings provide novel directions for the treatment of hair color and hair shaft abnormalities.

Objective:To investigate changes in psychological status before and after sequential therapy in patients with skin circulatory disorders following hyaluronic acid injection.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted on 17 female patients, with a mean age of 28-54 (39.5±1.2) years, admitted to the Fourth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from December 2021 to July 2022. Patients received ultrasound-guided percutaneous arterial puncture or digital subtraction angiography (DSA) guided catheter intervention for hyaluronidase injection, alongside corticosteroid pulse therapy, diuretic administration, neurotrophic support, wound protection, and laser therapy. Psychological assessments, including the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) and symptom check list-90 (SCL-90), were performed at admission and 30-45 days post-discharge. Changes in assessment scores and patient satisfaction were analyzed.Results:Two patients failed to complete all assessments, leaving 15 cases for final analysis. Affected anatomical regions included the nose/perinasal area (13 cases), temporal region (3 cases), lips (3 cases), and forehead (7 cases). MMPI scores for hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviation, paranoia, psychasthenia, and hypomania showed statistically significant reductions compared to baseline (all P<0.05). SCL-90 scores for somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, and sleep/appetite disturbances also demonstrated significant decreases (all P<0.05). Among the 15 patients, 7 patients reported being very satisfied, 6 patients were satisfied, and 2 patients were moderately satisfied, with no dissatisfaction reported. Conclusion:Sequential therapy is associated with improved psychological outcomes in patients with skin circulatory disorders secondary to hyaluronic acid injection.

Background::Growth retardation is a common complication of chronic kidney disease in children, which can be partially relieved after renal transplantation. This study aimed to develop and validate a predictive model for growth patterns of children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) after kidney transplantation using machine learning algorithms based on genomic and clinical variables.Methods::A retrospective cohort of 110 children who received kidney transplants between May 2013 and September 2021 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were recruited for whole-exome sequencing (WES), and another 39 children who underwent transplant from October 2021 to March 2022 were enrolled for external validation. Based on previous studies, we comprehensively collected 729 height-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in exon regions. Seven machine learning algorithms and 10-fold cross-validation analysis were employed for model construction.Results::The 110 children were divided into two groups according to change in height-for-age Z-score. After univariate analysis, age and 19 SNPs were incorporated into the model and validated. The random forest model showed the best prediction efficacy with an accuracy of 0.8125 and an area under curve (AUC) of 0.924, and also performed well in the external validation cohort (accuracy, 0.7949; AUC, 0.796). Conclusions::A model with good performance for predicting post-transplant growth patterns in children based on SNPs and clinical variables was constructed and validated using machine learning algorithms. The model is expected to guide clinicians in the management of children after renal transplantation, including the use of growth hormone, glucocorticoid withdrawal, and nutritional supplementation, to alleviate growth retardation in children with ESRD.

Objective:Currently,patients with pre-exsiting donor-specific antibody(DSA)are prone to antibody-mediated rejection(AMR)after surgery and are at a relatively high risk of postoperative complications and graft failure.The risk of postoperative complications and graft failure is relatively high.This study aims to discuss the clinical outcome of DSA-positive kidney transplantation and analyze the role and safety of preoperative pretreatment in DSA-positive kidney transplantation,providing single-center treatment experience for DSA-positive kidney transplantation. Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 15 DSA-positive kidney transplants in the Department of Renal Transplantation of First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from August 2017 to July 2022.Eight cases were organ donation after citizen's death(DCD)kidney transplant recipients,of which 3 cases in the early stage were not treated with preoperative desensitisation therapy(DCD untreated group,n=3),and 5 recipients were treated with preoperative rituximab desensitisation(DCD preprocessing group,n=5).The remaining 7 cases were living related donors recipients(LRD)who received preoperative desensitisation treatment with rituximab and plasma exchange(LRD preprocessing group,n=7).We observed and recorded the incidence of complications with changes in renal function and DSA levels in the recipients and the survival of the recipients and transplanted kidneys at 1,3 and 5 years,and to compare the differences in recovery and postoperative complications between 3 groups. Results:All 15 recipients were positive for preoperative panel reactive antibody(PRA)and DSA and were treated with methylprednisolone+rabbit anti-human thymocyte immunoglobulin induction before kidney transplantation.DCD untreated group all suffered from DSA level rebound,delayed renal graft function(DGF)and rejection reaction after surgery.After the combined treatment,DSA level was reduced and the graft renal function returned to normal.The DCD preprocessing group were all without antibody rebound,1 recipient developed DGF and the renal function returned to normal after plasmapheresis,and the remaining 4 recipients recovered their renal function to normal within 2 weeks after the operation.In the LRD preprocessing group,2 cases had antibody rebound and 1 case had rejection,but all of them recovered to normal after treatment,and DSA was maintained at a low level or even disappeared.The incidence of DGF and rejection in the DCD untreated group were significantly higher than that in the DCD preprocessing group and the LRD preprocessing group;and there were no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative haematuria,proteinuria,bacterial and fungal infections,and BK virus infection between the 3 groups(all P>0.05).A total of 11 of the 15 recipients were followed up for more than 1 year,6 for more than 3 years,and 1 for more than 5 years,and the survival rates of both the recipients and the transplanted kidneys were 100%. Conclusion:Effective preoperative pretreatment with desensitization therapy can effectively prevent antibody rebound in DSA-positive kidney transplantation and reduce perioperative complications.