1.Explainable Machine Learning Model for Predicting Prognosis in Patients with Malignant Tumors Complicated by Acute Respiratory Failure: Based on the eICU Collaborative Research Database in the United States
Zihan NAN ; Linan HAN ; Suwei LI ; Ziyi ZHU ; Qinqin ZHU ; Yan DUAN ; Xiaoting WANG ; Lixia LIU
Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical College Hospital 2026;17(1):98-108
To develop and validate a model for predicting intensive care unit (ICU) mortality risk in patients with malignant tumors complicated by acute respiratory failure (ARF) based on an explainable machine learning framework. Clinical data of patients with malignant tumors and ARF were extracted from the eICU Collaborative Research Database in the United States, including demographic characteristics, comorbidities, vital signs, laboratory test indicators, and major interventions within the first 24 hours after ICU admission.The study outcome was ICU death.Enrolled patients were randomly divided into a training set and a validation set at a ratio of 7:3.Predictor variables were selected using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression.Five machine learning algorithms-extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support vector machine (SVM), Logistic regression, multilayer perceptron (MLP), and C5.0 Decision Tree-were employed to construct predictive models.Model performance was evaluated based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and other metrics.The optimal model was further interpreted using the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) algorithm. A total of 3196 patients with malignant tumors complicated by ARF were included.The training set comprised 2, 261 patients and the validation set 935 patients; 683 patients died during ICU stay, while 2513 survived.LASSO regression ultimately selected 12 variables closely associated with patient ICU outcomes, including sepsis comorbidity, use of vasoactive drugs, and within the first 24 hours after ICU admission: minimum mean arterial pressure, maximum heart rate, maximum respiratory rate, minimum oxygen saturation, minimum serum bicarbonate, minimum blood urea nitrogen, maximum white blood cell count, maximum mean corpuscular volume, maximum serum potassium, and maximum blood glucose.After model evaluation, the XGBoost model demonstrated the best performance.The AUCs for predicting ICU mortality risk in the training and validation sets were 0.940 and 0.763, respectively; accuracy was 88.3% and 81.2%;sensitivity was 98.5% and 95.9%.Its predictive performance also remained optimal in sensitivity analyses.SHAP analysis indicated that the top five variables contributing to the model's predictions were minimum oxygen saturation, minimum serum bicarbonate, minimum mean arterial pressure, use of vasoactive drugs, and maximum white blood cell count. This study successfully developed a mortality risk prediction model for ICU patients with malignant tumors complicated by ARF based on a large-scale dataset and performed explainability analysis.The model aids clinicians in early identification of high-risk patients and implementing individualized interventions.
2.Analysis of unexamined items in physical examinations of radiation workers at an occupational health examination institution in Henan Province, China, 2023
Lihong MA ; Fengling ZHAO ; Yuzheng LI ; Han LIU ; Yumin LV
Chinese Journal of Radiological Health 2026;35(1):12-17
Objective To analyze the unexamined items and situations in occupational health examinations of radiation workers, and provide a reference for the revision of occupational health examination standards for radiation workers. Methods A total of 29 630 radiation workers who underwent occupational health examinations at The Third People’s Hospital of Henan Province in 2023 were selected, and the non-examination rates were statistically analyzed according to occupation, gender, and age. Results The overall non-examination rate of non-medical radiation workers was significantly lower than that of the medical radiation workers (P<0.05). The non-examination rate of chest X-rays among medical radiation workers was significantly higher than that of non-medical radiation workers (P<0.05), while no significant differences were found in other items (P>0.05). Gender-stratified analysis showed that the non-examination rate of routine urine tests was higher in females than in males in both medical and non-medical radiation workers (P<0.05). Age-stratified analysis revealed no significant differences in non-examination rates among different age groups in non-medical radiation workers (P>0.05), whereas the chest X-ray non-examination rate was relatively high in medical radiation workers under 30 years old (P<0.05). Conclusion Significant differences were observed in the non-examination rates of occupational health examinations among radiation workers based on occupation, gender, and age. The overall non-examination rate was relatively low in non-medical radiation workers.
3.Relationship between ischemia-reperfusion injury and rejection
Aizheng XI ; Han XU ; Jun LUO ; Zhongzhong LIU
Organ Transplantation 2026;17(2):304-310
Ischemia-reperfusion injury of solid organs is a common complication during transplantation, but its mechanism remains unclear and there are no effective prevention and treatment methods. Rejection is a common immune response of the graft, which is classified into hyperacute rejection, acute rejection and chronic rejection. Rejection and ischemia-reperfusion injury of solid organs may share some common mechanisms, and further research on their correlation may provide strategies for the prevention and treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury of solid organs. This article mainly reviews the association between rejection and ischemia-reperfusion injury of solid organs.
4.Flavonoids Intervene in Diabetic Nephropathy by Regulating TGF-β/Smad Signaling Pathway: A Review
Qihui QIU ; Chang LIU ; Xiaotong YAN ; Jinwei HAN ; Hui SUN ; Fengting YIN ; Yuhang WANG ; Mengmeng WANG ; Xijun WANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(7):300-309
Diabetic nephropathy (DKD), as a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), is a major cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Its clinical manifestations include increased urinary protein excretion, thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, and renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis. The pathogenesis of DKD is complex and involves multiple factors, including disordered glucose metabolism, hemodynamic alterations, and oxidative stress. Although modern medical approaches can alleviate certain symptoms, they still have limitations such as insufficient therapeutic targeting and prominent adverse effects. The transforming growth factor-β/Smad (TGF-β/Smad) signaling pathway is not only a tissue fibrosis pathway that has attracted considerable attention in recent years, but also regulates multiple protein molecules, including the glomerular podocyte slit diaphragm protein Podocin, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), thereby participating in various pathological processes and ultimately mediating renal injury. Flavonoid compounds, owing to their sustained pharmacological effects, broad spectrum of action, and high safety profile, have become ideal candidates for targeted therapy research in DKD. Existing studies have shown that these compounds can exert inhibitory effects on renal fibrosis, alleviate inflammatory responses, protect podocytes, and reduce oxidative stress by regulating the interactions between the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway and the aforementioned protein molecules, thereby maintaining renal structure and function, reducing proteinuria, and significantly improving DKD lesions. This review briefly outlines the composition and functions of the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, elucidates the mechanisms by which this pathway regulates DKD, and focuses on summarizing major studies from the past decade on flavonoid-based interventions in DKD through targeted inhibition of the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway. Furthermore, it discusses the considerable therapeutic potential of flavonoids in the treatment of this disease, aiming to provide a scientific basis for future clinical prevention and treatment of DKD and to promote the development of targeted drugs.
5.QingNangTCM: a parameter-efficient fine-tuning large language model for traditional Chinese medicine
Xuming TONG ; Liyan LIU ; Yanhong YUAN ; Xiaozheng DING ; Huiru JIA ; Xu YANG ; Sio Kei IM ; Mini Han WANG ; Zhang XIONH ; Yapeng WANG
Digital Chinese Medicine 2026;9(1):1-12
Objective:
To develop QingNangTCM, a specialized large language model (LLM) tailored for expert-level traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) question-answering and clinical reasoning, addressing the scarcity of domain-specific corpora and specialized alignment.
Methods:
We constructed QnTCM_Dataset, a corpus of 100 000 entries, by integrating data from ShenNong_TCM_Dataset and SymMap v2.0, and synthesizing additional samples via retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and persona-driven generation. The dataset comprehensively covers diagnostic inquiries, prescriptions, and herbal knowledge. Utilizing P-Tuning v2, we fine-tuned the GLM-4-9B-Chat backbone to develop QingNangTCM. A multi-dimensional evaluation framework, assessing accuracy, coverage, consistency, safety, professionalism, and fluency, was established using metrics such as bilingual evaluation understudy (BLEU), recall-oriented understudy for gisting evaluation (ROUGE), metric for evaluation of translation with explicit ordering (METEOR), and LLM-as-a-Judge with expert review. Qualitative analysis was conducted across four simulated clinical scenarios: symptom analysis, disease treatment, herb inquiry, and failure cases. Baseline models included GLM-4-9B-Chat, DeepSeek-V2, HuatuoGPT-II (7B), and GLM-4-9B-Chat (freeze-tuning).
Results:
QingNangTCM achieved the highest scores in BLEU-1/2/3/4 (0.425/0.298/0.137/0.064), ROUGE-1/2 (0.368/0.157), and METEOR (0.218), demonstrating a balanced and superior normalized performance profile of 0.900 across the dimensions of accuracy, coverage, and consistency. Although its ROUGE-L score (0.299) was lower than that of HuatuoGPT-II (7B) (0.351), it significantly outperformed domain-specific models in expert-validated win rates for professionalism (86%) and safety (73%). Qualitative analysis confirmed that the model strictly adheres to the “symptom-syndrome-pathogenesis-treatment” reasoning chain, though occasional misclassifications and hallucinations persisted when dealing with rare medicinal materials and uncommon syndromes.
Conclusion
Combining domain-specific corpus construction with parameter-efficient prompt tuning enhances the reasoning behavior and domain adaptation of LLMs for TCM-related tasks. This work provides a technical framework for the digital organization and intelligent utilization of TCM knowledge, with potential value for supporting diagnostic reasoning and medical education.
6.The feasibility of using high-definition thoracoscopy to identify sympathetic ganglia during thoracic sympathicotomy for primary palmar hyperhidrosis
Gang XU ; Chaoyue HU ; Cong CHEN ; Yuancai LIN ; Daolong ZHU ; Han LIU ; Dong WANG
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2026;33(04):578-583
Objective To explore the feasibility of using high-definition thoracoscopy to identify sympathetic ganglia during thoracic sympathicotomy for primary palmar hyperhidrosis. Methods The clinical data of patients with primary palmar hyperhidrosis who underwent high-definition thoracoscopic sympathicotomy in Taikang Xianlin Drum Tower Hospital from June to July 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Intraoperative visualization rates and anatomical variations of sympathetic ganglia were recorded, and the consistency between white-light thoracoscopy and near-infrared fluorescence imaging was compared. Additionally, surgical videos from previous fluorescence-guided procedures were reviewed. Results Finally 100 patients were collected, including 54 females and 46 males, with an average age of (21.92±6.56) years. All patients underwent endoscopic thoracic sympathicotomy at R3 level. The overall intraoperative ganglion visualization rate was 92.5% (740/800), with G2-G5 rates of 95.5% (191/200), 94.0% (188/200), 94.0% (188/200), and 86.5% (173/200), respectively. Ganglion variations occurred in 32.0% (237/740), predominantly at G3 (29.8%) and G4 (42.6%). In 5 indocyanine green-enhanced patients, the concordance rate between white-light and near-infrared fluorescence imaging was 100.0% (38/38). Video analysis of 14 near-infrared fluorescence-guided surgeries demonstrated a 99.1% (107/108) consistency rate. Postoperative palmar hyperhidrosis improvement reached 100.0% (100/100) with no Horner’s syndrome. Conclusion With the wide clinical application of high-definition thoracoscopy, accurate thoracic sympathicotomy has the feasibility of clinical application.
7.Expert consensus on clinical application of parenteral direct thrombin inhibitors in perioperative period
Mingyu JIANG ; Yuan BIAN ; Lizhu HAN ; Qinan YIN ; Fengjiao KANG ; Anhua WEI ; Danjie ZHAO ; Lin WANG ; Ying SHAO ; Li TANG ; Yi WANG ; Shuhong LIANG ; Huijuan LIU ; Guirong XIAO ; Yue LI
China Pharmacy 2026;37(6):689-699
OBJECTIVE To form an expert consensus on the clinical application of parenteral direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) in patients during the perioperative period. METHODS Led by Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital (the Affiliated Hospital of UESTC), a multidisciplinary working group was established. Through literature review and the Delphi method, clinical questions related to the rational perioperative use of parenteral DTIs were identified. A structured design was adopted using the “Population-Intervention-Comparison-Outcome” framework; systematic searches were conducted in CNKI, Medline, Embase and other databases. Relevant evidence from randomized controlled trials and cohort studies was included and synthesized. Evidence quality was assessed using the Grades of Recommendations Assessment,Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach, and recommendations were formulated through multiple rounds of Delphi surveys and expert consensus meetings. RESULTS &CONCLUSIONS Seven recommendations (each with an expert consensus rate exceeding 90%) on the use of parenteral DTIs in perioperative patients were developed. These recommendations specify drug selection, dosing ranges, key monitoring points, and safety management strategies for parenteral DTIs in various scenarios, including the perioperative period of ventricular assist device implantation, the perioperative period of cardiac surgery, perioperative patients with lower-extremity atherosclerotic disease, the perioperative period of percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute coronary syndrome, the perioperative period of carotid artery stenting in patients with carotid stenosis, the perioperative period of patients with right heart thrombosis, and patients who develop related thrombosis and dysfunction after a central venous catheter insertion. In addition, warning and management pathways for perioperative bleeding and thrombotic events were proposed. This expert consensus, which is formulated based on the best available evidence, provides evidence-based guidance for standardized and individualized use of parenteral DTIs in perioperative period.
8.Joint Relation Extraction of Famous Medical Cases with CasRel Model Combining Entity Mapping and Data Augmentation
Yuxin LI ; Xinghua XIANG ; Hang YANG ; Dasheng LIU ; Jiaheng WANG ; Zhiwei ZHAO ; Jiaxu HAN ; Mengjie WU ; Qianzi CHE ; Wei YANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(2):218-225
ObjectiveTo address the challenges of unstructured classical Chinese expressions, nested entity relationships, and limited annotated data in famous traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) case records, this study proposes a joint relation extraction framework that integrates data augmentation and entity mapping, aiming to support the construction of TCM diagnostic knowledge graphs and clinical pattern mining. MethodsWe developed an annotation structure for entities and their relationships in TCM case texts and applied a data augmentation strategy by incorporating multiple ancient texts to expand the relation extraction dataset. A cascade binary tagging framework for relation triple extraction(CasRel) model for TCM semantics was designed, integrating a pre-trained bidirectional encoder representations from transformers(BERT) layer for classical TCM texts to enhance semantic representation, and using a head entity-relation-tail entity mapping mechanism to address entity nesting and relation overlapping issues. ResultsExperimental results showed that the CasRel model, combining data augmentation and entity mapping, outperformed the pipeline-based Bert-Radical-Lexicon(BRL)-bidirectional long short-term memory(BiLSTM)-Attention model. The overall precision, recall, and F1-score across 12 relation types reached 65.73%, 64.03%, and 64.87%, which represent improvements of 14.26%, 7.98%, and 11.21% compared to the BRL-BiLSTM-Attention model, respectively. Notably, the F1-score for tongue syndrome relations increased by 22.68%(69.32%), and the prescription-syndrome relations performed the best with the F1-score of 70.10%. ConclusionThe proposed framework significantly improves the semantic representation and complex dependencies in TCM texts, offering a reusable technical framework for structured mining of TCM case records. The constructed knowledge graph can support clinical syndrome differentiation, prescription optimization, and drug compatibility, providing a methodological reference for TCM artificial intelligence research.
9.Exploration in Mechanism of Sini San for Inhibiting Ferroptosis and Ameliorating Isoprenaline-induced Myocardial Infarction in Mice Based on Bioinformatics and Experimental Validation
Shupeng LIU ; Zhiguang HAN ; Jiaying LI ; Jiayao XU ; Weihao GAO ; Yanping WU ; Guangguo BAN ; Yongmin LI ; Hongxia YANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(3):67-77
ObjectiveTo explore the mechanism by which Sini San (SNS) inhibits ferroptosis, alleviates inflammation and myocardial injury, and improves myocardial infarction (MI). MethodsThe active ingredients of SNS were obtained by searching the Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Platform (TCMSP) database, its target sites were predicted using the SwissTargetPrediction Database, and the core components were screened out using the CytoNCA plug-in. The targets of MI and ferroptosis were obtained by using GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database, DrugBank, Therapeutic Target Database (TTD), FerrDb database and literature review, respectively. The intersection of these targets of SNS-MI-ferroptosis was plotted as a Venn diagram. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using the STRING database, and the visualization graph was prepared using Cytoscape. The core targets were screened out using the CytoNCA plug-in, and the biological functions were clustered by the MCODE plug-in. Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed using the David database. Molecular docking was performed using AutoDock and visualized with PyMOL2.5.2. The Kunming mice were randomly divided into the control group, the model group, the SNS group, and the trimetazidine (TMZ) group. The mice were subcutaneously injected with isoprenaline (ISO, 5 mg·kg-1·d-1) to establish an MI model. The drug was continuously intervened for 7 days. The ST-segment changes were recorded by electrocardiogram (ECG), and the tissue morphology changes were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Cardiomyocyte ferroptosis was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Serum creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), reduced glutathione (GSH), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were detected by biochemical assay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). Immunohistochemical staining was employed to detect IL-6 and phosphorylated signal transducer and transcription activator 3 (p-STAT3) in cardiac tissues. Western blot was used to detect STAT3 and p-STAT3 in cardiac tissues. Real-time PCR was used to detect the levels of IL-6, IL-18, solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11), arachidonic acid 15-lipoxygenase (ALOX15), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) in cardiac tissues. ResultsA total of 121 active ingredients of SNS were obtained, and 58 potential targets of SNS in the treatment of MI by regulating ferroptosis were screened. The three protein modules with a score5 were mainly related to the inflammatory response. The GO function was mainly related to inflammation, and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that SNS mainly regulated ferroptosis- and inflammation- related signaling pathways. Molecular docking indicated that the core component had a higher binding force to the target site. Animal experiments confirmed that SNS reduced the level of p-STAT3 (P0.01), down-regulated the expression of ALOX15 mRNA (P0.01), up-regulated the level of serum GSH, and the expressions of SLC7A11 and GPx4 mRNA, reduced MDA and 4-HNE levels (P0.05, P0.01). Additionally, SNS improved the mitochondrial injury induced by cardiomyocyte ferroptosis, reduced the area of MI, alleviated inflammation and myocardial injury, lowered the levels of serum CK, CK-MB, LDH, IL-6, and the mRNA expression levels of IL-16 and IL-18 (P0.05), and improved ST segment elevation. ConclusionSNS can reduce ISO-induced STAT3 phosphorylation levels, inhibit ferroptosis in cardiomyocytes, alleviate inflammation and myocardial injury, thereby improving MI.
10.Herbal Textual Research on Inulae Flos in Famous Classical Formulas
Caixia LIU ; Yue HAN ; Yanzhu MA ; Lei GAO ; Sheng WANG ; Yan YANG ; Wenchuan LUO ; Ling JIN ; Jing SHAO ; Zhijia CUI ; Zhilai ZHAN
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(3):210-221
In this paper, by referring to ancient and modern literature, the textual research of Inulae Flos has been conducted to clarify the name, origin, production area, quality evaluation, harvesting, processing and others, so as to provide reference and basis for the development and utilization of famous classical formulas containing this herb. After textual research, it could be verified that the medicinal use of Inulae Flos was first recorded in Shennong Bencaojing of the Han dynasty. In successive dynasties, Xuanfuhua has been taken as the official name, and it also has other alternative names such as Jinfeicao, Daogeng and Jinqianhua. The period before the Song and Yuan dynasties, the main origin of Inulae Flos was the Asteraceae plant Inula japonica, and from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the present, I. japonica and I. britannica are the primary source. In addition to the dominant basal species, there are also regional species such as I. linariifolia, I. helianthus-aquatili, and I. hupehensis. The earliest recorded production areas in ancient times were Henan, Hubei and other places, and the literature records that it has been distributed throughout the country since modern times. The medicinal part is its flower, the harvesting and processing method recorded in the past dynasties is mainly harvested in the fifth and ninth lunar months, and dried in the sun, and the modern harvesting is mostly harvested in summer and autumn when the flowers bloom, in order to remove impurities, dry in the shade or dry in the sun. In addition, the roots, whole herbs and aerial parts are used as medicinal materials. In ancient times, there were no records about the quality of Inulae Flos, and in modern times, it is generally believed that the quality of complete flower structure, small receptacles, large blooms, yellow petals, long filaments, many fluffs, no fragments, and no branches is better. Ancient processing methods primarily involved cleaning, steaming, and sun-drying, supplemented by techniques such as boiling, roasting, burning, simmering, stir-frying, and honey-processing. Modern processing focuses mainly on cleaning the stems and leaves before use. Regarding the medicinal properties, ancient texts describe it as salty and sweet in taste, slightly warm in nature, and mildly toxic. Modern studies characterize it as bitter, pungent, and salty in taste, with a slightly warm nature. Its therapeutic effects remain consistent across eras, including descending Qi, resolving phlegm, promoting diuresis, and stopping vomiting. Based on the research results, it is recommended that when developing famous classical formulas containing Inulae Flos, either I. japonica or I. britannica should be used as the medicinal source. Processing methods should follow formula requirements, where no processing instructions are specified, the raw products may be used after cleaning.

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