OBJECTIVES: We propose a Contrastive Regional Attention and Prior Knowledge-Infused U-Transformer model (CRAKUT) to address the challenges of imbalanced text distribution, lack of contextual clinical knowledge, and cross-modal information transformation to enhance the quality of generated radiology reports. METHODS: The CRAKUT model comprises 3 key components, including an image encoder that utilizes common normal images from the dataset for extracting enhanced visual features, an external knowledge infuser that incorporates clinical prior knowledge, and a U-Transformer that facilitates cross-modal information conversion from vision to language. The contrastive regional attention in the image encoder was introduced to enhance the features of abnormal regions by emphasizing the difference between normal and abnormal semantic features. Additionally, the clinical prior knowledge infuser within the text encoder integrates clinical history and knowledge graphs generated by ChatGPT. Finally, the U-Transformer was utilized to connect the multi-modal encoder and the report decoder in a U-connection schema, and multiple types of information were used to fuse and obtain the final report. RESULTS: We evaluated the proposed CRAKUT model on two publicly available CXR datasets (IU-Xray and MIMIC-CXR). The experimental results showed that the CRAKUT model achieved a state-of-the-art performance on report generation with a BLEU-4 score of 0.159, a ROUGE-L score of 0.353, and a CIDEr score of 0.500 in MIMIC-CXR dataset; the model also had a METEOR score of 0.258 in IU-Xray dataset, outperforming all the comparison models. CONCLUSIONS The proposed method has great potential for application in clinical disease diagnoses and report generation.
Humans ; Radiology Information Systems ; Radiology

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy（DPN） is a neurodegenerative disease of diabetes mellitus involving peripheral nervous system damage， which is characterized by axonal degenerative necrosis， Schwann cell apoptosis and demyelination of nerve myelin sheath as the main pathological features， this disease is highly prevalent and is a major cause of disability in diabetic patients. Currently， the pathogenesis of DPN may be related to oxidative stress， inflammatory response， metabolic abnormality， and microcirculation disorder. The treatment of DPN in modern medicine mainly starts from controlling blood glucose， nourishing nerves and improving microcirculation， which can only alleviate the clinical symptoms of patients， and it is difficult to fundamentally improve the pathological damage of peripheral nerves. Mitochondrial quality control refers to the physiological mechanisms that can maintain the morphology and functional homeostasis of mitochondria， including mitochondrial biogenesis， mitochondrial dynamics， mitochondrial oxidative stress and mitochondrial autophagy， and abnormal changes of which may cause damage to peripheral nerves. After reviewing the literature， it was found that traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） can improve the low level of mitochondrial biogenesis in DPN， maintain the balance of mitochondrial dynamics， inhibit mitochondrial oxidative stress and mitochondrial autophagy， and delay apoptosis of Schwann cells and neural axon damage， which has obvious effects on the treatment of DPN. With the deepening of research， mitochondrial quality control may become one of the potential targets for the research of new anti-DPN drugs， therefore， this paper summarized the research progress of TCM in treating DPN based on four aspects of mitochondrial quality control， with the aim of providing a theoretical research basis for the discovery of new drugs.

Objective To investigate the dietary patterns of rural residents in the high-incidence areas of esophageal cancer (EC), and to explore the clustering and influencing factors of risk factors associated with high-incidence characteristics. Methods A special structured questionnaire was applied to conduct a face-to-face survey on the dietary patterns of rural residents in Yanting county of Sichuan Province from July to August 2021. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the influencing factors of risk factor clustering for EC. Results There were 838 valid questionnaires in this study. A total of 90.8% of rural residents used clean water such as tap water. In the past one year, the people who ate fruits and vegetables, soybean products, onions and garlic in high frequency accounted for 69.5%, 32.8% and 74.5%, respectively; the people who ate kimchi, pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, barbecue, hot food and mildew food in low frequency accounted for 59.2%, 79.6%, 68.2%, 90.3%, 80.9% and 90.3%, respectively. The clustering of risk factors for EC was found in 73.3% of residents, and the aggregation of two risk factors was the most common mode (28.2%), among which tumor history and preserved food was the main clustering pattern (4.6%). The logistic regression model revealed that the gender, age, marital status and occupation were independent influencing factors for the risk factors clustering of EC (P<0.05). Conclusion A majority of rural residents in high-incidence areas of EC in Yanting county have good eating habits, but the clustering of some risk factors is still at a high level. Gender, age, marital status, and occupation are influencing factors of the risk factors clustering of EC.

Objective:To explore the coverage of influenza and pneumonia vaccination and factors influencing the vaccination in children.Methods:A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in children's parents in Beijing and Gansu by using two-stage cluster-sampling to investigate the influenza and pneumonia vaccination rates and influencing factors in children.Results:A total of 2 377 parents were included in the study, and the results indicated that the influenza vaccination coverage was 35.93% and the pneumonia vaccination coverage was 16.58% in children in survey areas, the vaccination rate of both vaccines was 11.65%. The top three reasons for vaccination for both vaccines were being aware of severity of the diseases (influenza vaccine: 36.02%; pneumonia vaccine: 49.61%), being required by school or organization (influenza vaccine: 28.76%; pneumonia vaccine: 25.45%) and being aware of the susceptibility of the diseases (influenza vaccine: 26.41%; pneumonia vaccine: 13.88%). The top three reasons for having no vaccinations were personal unwillingness, concern about vaccine and vaccine accessibility. Families with multi children, living in rural areas and lower family income were the negative factors for both types of vaccinations.Conclusions:The influenza and pneumonia vaccination coverage in children need further improvement, and rural families and families with multi children are the key concern groups for expanding vaccination coverage. Health education about influenza and pneumonia vaccinations, coordinating vaccine supply and decreasing vaccine prices play an important role in improving influenza and pneumonia vaccination coverage.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an important factor for the occurrence and development of CKD. The protective effect of dihydroartemisinin on AKI and and reported mechanism have not been reported. In this study, we used two animal models including ischemia-reperfusion and UUO, as well as a high-glucose-stimulated HK-2 cell model, to evaluate the protective effect of dihydroartemisinin on premature senescence of renal tubular epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated that dihydroartemisinin improved renal aging and renal injury by activating autophagy. In addition, we found that co-treatment with chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, abolished the anti-renal aging effect of dihydroartemisinin in vitro. These findings suggested that activation of autophagy/elimination of senescent cell might be a useful strategy to prevent AKI/UUO induced renal tubular senescence and fibrosis.
Animals ; Kidney ; Acute Kidney Injury/chemically induced* ; Ischemia ; Reperfusion Injury/drug therapy* ; Autophagy ; Reperfusion

Objective:To investigate the association of plasma EBV-DNA copy number, serum cytokines and B symptoms in patients with extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL), unravel the mechanism and assess the prognostic value of clinical indicators.Methods:Clinical data of 173 newly-diagnosed ENKTL patients (116 male, 57 female; median age: 43, 4 to 71 years)were retrospectively analyzed. According to Ann Arbor stage, 126 cases were classified as stage I-II and 47 cases of stage Ⅲ-IV. The primary sites of tumors included nasal cavity (n=100), extranasal upper aerodigestive tract (extranasal UADT, n=34), and extra-upper aerodigestive tract (extra-UADT, n=39). Prior to treatment, 91 patients had B symptoms and 82 cases of without B symptoms. According to plasma EBV-DNA copy levels, all patients were divided into the negative group (n=36), low load group (<10 4 copies/ml, n=73) and high load group (≥10 4 copies/ml, n=64). Serum cytokines including IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α were detected. Correlation analysis was performed by Cochran-Armitage trend test and Spearman correlation analysis. Survival analysis was conducted using univariate and multivariate Cox regression hazard analysis and survival curves were derived from Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Results:The incidence of B symptoms and fever showed a significant upward trend with the increasing plasma EBV-DNA copy levels. In addition, serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-10 cytokines were higher in patients with B symptoms than those without B symptoms (all P<0.05). Serum IFN-γ, IL-6, and IL-10 levels were also positively correlated with plasma EBV-DNA copy number. The occurrence of B symptoms was associated with high-risk clinical features including advanced stage, primary tumor invasion, regional lymph node involvement, and elevated pre-treatment LDH. Survival analysis showed that stage, B symptoms, plasma EBV-DNA, and the above serum cytokines affected the prognosis of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (all P<0.05). However, multivariate analysis showed that the occurrence of B symptoms was not an independent prognostic factor of ENKTL patients. Conclusion:This exploratory study suggests that the incidence of B symptoms is associated with increasing levels of EBV-DNA copies and cytokines, and these indicators are also important factors influencing the prognosis of ENKTL patients.

Anesthesia is indispensable for surgere, but a growing number of studies have confirmed its togic effects on the developing nervous sestem, and has attract increasing attentions from the scientific communite. In this review, we briefle introduce the preclinical and clinical studies on the neurotogic effects of anesthetic drugs on the developing brain, and summare the mechanisms from the aspects of molecular mechanisms (Ca

Human challenge trial (HCT) is a test in which human volunteers are intentionally infected with pathogens in order to evaluate the efficacy of candidate preventive or therapeutic drugs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the HCT of vaccines has aroused people's attention due to its significant advantages over clinical trial. This paper introduces the concept, development and application of HCT, the advantages and limitations of HCT for vaccine evaluation, and the consideration of future HCT of COVID-19 vaccine in China.

Objective:To investigate the incidence and determinants of vaccine hesitancy towards national immunization program in China and understand the current status of parents' hesitancy to different vaccines used in national immunization program.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Beijing, Sichuan and Gansu. The methods of proportional probability sampling and convenience sampling were used to select the eligible study subjects for questionnaire surveys.Results:A total of 3 592 parents were enrolled in the study, in whom 38.22% fully accepted all the vaccines, 59.35% agreed to let their children to receive all the vaccines but showed slight concern, and 2.42% had hesitancy to the vaccines. The vaccine with the most hesitancy was polio vaccine (0.89%), followed by diphtheria pertussis tetanus vaccine (0.70%) and hepatitis A vaccine (0.64%). The dominant reason for vaccine hesitancy was the risk-benefit perception of vaccination (31.03%), followed by the low awareness of the parents (21.84%) and the inconvenience caused by distance and time (21.84%).Conclusions:The incidence of vaccine hesitancy towards national immunization program was low in parents in China, but over 50% of the parents showed concern to the vaccines. It is essential to improve the service quality of national immunization program and strengthen the health education about the vaccination to reduce the incidence of vaccine hesitancy in parents.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of central venous-to-arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure difference (Pcv-aCO2) before and after rapid rehydration test (fluid challenge) in predicting the fluid responsiveness in patients with septic shock. Methods A prospective observation was conducted. Forty septic shock patients admitted to medical intensive care unit (ICU) of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from October 2015 to June 2017 were enrolled. All of the patients received fluid challenge in the presence of invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Heart rate (HR), blood pressure, cardiac index (CI), Pcv-aCO2 and other physiological variables were recorded at 10 minutes before and immediately after fluid challenge. Fluid responsiveness was defined as an increase in CI greater than 10% after fluid challenge, whereas fluid non-responsiveness was defined as no increase or increase in CI less than 10%. The correlation between Pcv-aCO2 and CI was explored by Pearson correlation analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were established to evaluate the discriminatory abilities of baseline and the changes after fluid challenge in Pcv-aCO2 and other physiological variables to define the fluid responsiveness. The patients were separated into two groups according to the initial value of Pcv-aCO2. The cut-off value of 6 mmHg (1 mmHg = 0.133 kPa) was chosen according to previous studies. The discriminatory abilities of baseline and the change in Pcv-aCO2(ΔPcv-aCO2) were assessed in each group. Results A total of 40 patients were finally included in this study. Twenty-two patients responded to the fluid challenge (responders). Eighteen patients were fluid non-responders. There was no significant difference in baseline physiological variable between the two groups. Fluid challenge could increase CI and blood pressure significantly, decrease HR notably and had no effect on Pcv-aCO2 in fluid responders. In non-responders, blood pressure was increased significantly and CI, HR, Pcv-aCO2 showed no change after fluid challenge. Pcv-aCO2 was comparable in responders and non-responders. In 40 patients, CI and Pcv-aCO2 was inversely correlated before fluid challenge (r = -0.391, P = 0.012) and the correlation between them weakened after fluid challenge (r = -0.301, P = 0.059). There was no significant correlation between the changes in CI and Pcv-aCO2 after fluid challenge (r = -0.164, P = 0.312). The baseline Pcv-aCO2 and ΔPcv-aCO2 could not discriminate between responders and non-responders, with the area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.50 [95% confidence interval (95%CI) =0.32-0.69] and 0.51 (95%CI = 0.33-0.70), respectively. HR and blood pressure before fluid challenge and their changes after fluid challenge showed very poor discriminative performances. Before fluid challenge, 16 patients had a Pcv-aCO2 > 6 mmHg. Their mean CI was significantly lower and Pcv-aCO2 was significantly higher than that in 24 patients whose Pcv-aCO2 ≤6 mmHg [n = 24; CI (mL·s-1·m-2): 48.3±11.7 vs. 65.0±18.3, P < 0.01; Pcv-aCO2 (mmHg): 8.4±1.9 vs. 2.9±2.8, P < 0.01]. Pcv-aCO2was decreased significantly after fluid challenge in patients with an initial Pcv-aCO2 > 6 mmHg and their ΔPcv-aCO2 was notably different as compared with the patients whose baseline Pcv-aCO2≤6 mmHg (mmHg: -3.8±3.4 vs. 0.9±2.9, P < 0.01). 68.8% (11/16) patients responded to the fluid challenge in patients with an initial Pcv-aCO2 > 6 mmHg. The AUC of the baseline Pcv-aCO2 and ΔPcv-aCO2 to define fluid responsiveness was 0.85 (95%CI = 0.66-1.00) and 0.84 (95%CI = 0.63-1.00), respectively, and the positive predictive value was 1 when the cut-off value was 8.0 mmHg and -4.2 mmHg, respectively. 45.8% (11/24) patients responded to the fluid challenge in patients whose baseline Pcv-aCO2≤6 mmHg. There was no predictive value of baseline Pcv-aCO2 and ΔPcv-aCO2 on fluid responsiveness. Conclusion Pcv-aCO2 and its change cannot serve as a surrogate of the change in cardiac output to define the response to fluid challenge in septic shock patients whose baseline Pcv-aCO2≤6 mmHg, while the predictive values of baseline Pcv-aCO2and the change in Pcv-aCO2 are presented in patients with the initial value of Pcv-aCO2 > 6 mmHg. Clinical Trial Registration Clinical Trials, NCT01941472.