Background The quality of occupational health technical services is directly linked to the protection of workers' health rights and the efficacy of occupational disease prevention and control. However, the industry still faces critical challenges: sporadic instances of institutional non-compliance and persistent irregularities in professional practice continue to undermine overall service performance. Objective To assess the current quality status of occupational health technical services in Zhejiang Province and propose countermeasures for quality improvement, providing a scientific basis for policy optimization and service delivery quality enhancement. Methods A total of 69 occupational health technical service institutions in Zhejiang Province that obtained formal accreditation as of April 30, 2024, were sampled, including 3 public institutions and 66 private institutions (comprising 3 formerly Class-A, 28 formerly Class-B, 11 formerly Class-C, and 24 newly certified institutions). Following the Technical Protocol for Quality Monitoring of Occupational Health Technical Service in Zhejiang Province and the Technical Protocol for Proficiency Testing of Occupational Health Detection in Zhejiang Province, a quality assessment task force comprising national and provincial experts was established. Evaluation was conducted across four dimensions: qualification maintenance and compliance, standardization of technical services, authenticity of technical services, and proficiency testing, utilizing a combination of document review, on-site inspections, and technical skill assessments. Results The occupational health technical service institutions in Zhejiang Province were predominantly private entities (82.5%), with significant disparities in overall service quality. The pass rates for qualification maintenance and compliance, technical service standardization, technical service authenticity, and the excellence rate for laboratory proficiency testing were 81.5%, 80.7%, 97.3%, and 90.4%, respectively. Regarding qualification maintenance, the pass rates for "environmental conditions" (49.8%, 56.7%) and "instrumentation and equipment" (58.2%、65.6%) were significantly lower for formerly Class-C and newly certified institutions compared to other categories. In terms of technical standardization, "standardized on-site inspections" recorded the lowest pass rate (67.4%), with newly certified institutions at only 48.0%. Regarding technical service authenticity, formerly Class-C institutions exhibited issues such as missing raw chromatograms for blank samples (85.7% pass rate). In laboratory proficiency testing, public and formerly Class-A institutions achieved 100% excellence rates, but the performance of formerly Class-C and newly certified institutions was comparatively weak; specifically, the failure rate for organic analysis in formerly Class-C institutions reached 20%; the failure rate for dust testing items in newly certified institutions was 10.3%. Conclusion The overall quality of occupational health technical services in Zhejiang Province still requires significant improvement, particularly in basic institutional conditions, the standardization of on-site inspections, and laboratory proficiency in organic and dust analysis. Formerly Class-C and newly certified institutions should be the primary focus of quality management efforts. Differentiated regulatory strategies are recommended, alongside strengthening interim and ex-post supervision to gradually enhance the quality of occupational health technical services across all institutions.

ObjectiveCerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays a crucial role in maintaining the homeostasis of the central nervous system (CNS). CSF rapidly exchanges with interstitial fluid (ISF) via the glymphatic system within the brain parenchyma. CSF-ISF circulation and its associated mechanisms are often referred to as the brain lymphatic system. This system is connected directly to meningeal lymphatic vessels (mLVs), jointly performing the function of clearing metabolic waste from the CNS. Emerging evidence indicates that this system is closely associated with the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Importantly, abnormal CSF circulation is not only a downstream consequence of AD pathology, but also a risk factor. In AD, the dynamics of CSF flow within the CNS are diminished, immune dysregulation occurs, and this may increase the risk of AD by exacerbating the burden of amyloid β-protein (Aβ). In the mouse model of AD, impaired CSF flow compromises this clearance function, leading to cognitive deficits. Clinically, acupuncture at cognition-related acupoints is commonly used for the prevention and treatment of AD. However, whether its therapeutic effects are mediated through the modulation of CSF dynamics remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of acupuncture on CSF flow and investigate its acupoint specificity. MethodsMice were randomly assigned to experimental groups for the different electroacupuncture groups with the following acupoints: Baihui point (GV 20), Ear point, Neiguan point (PC 6), and Tianshu point (ST 25). Wild-type mice on a C57BL/6J background were used as controls. Fluorescent tracer was injected into the cisterna magna to label CSF flow. Fluorescence imaging was employed to assess the distribution of CSF within the brain before and after acupuncture stimulation. ResultsFollowing tracer injection into the cisterna magna, fluorescence signals rapidly reached the cerebellum and medulla—the regions closest to the injection site. Fluorescence intensity was higher in ventral brain regions compared to dorsal regions, likely due to greater vascular density in ventral areas facilitating CSF-ISF exchange. Electroacupuncture at the GV 20 produced the most pronounced enhancement of CSF across the whole brain, while stimulation at the ST 25 primarily augmented flow within subcortical regions. In contrast, electroacupuncture at the Ear point or the PC 6 had no observable effect on CSF in mice. ConclusionElectroacupuncture promotes CSF flow into the brain parenchyma in an acupoint-specific manner, with GV 20 exhibiting the most pronounced enhancement of CSF dynamics. These findings suggest that acupuncture-mediated facilitation of CSF flow may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for preventing or delaying age-related cognitive decline.

ObjectiveCerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays a crucial role in maintaining the homeostasis of the central nervous system (CNS). CSF rapidly exchanges with interstitial fluid (ISF) via the glymphatic system within the brain parenchyma. CSF-ISF circulation and its associated mechanisms are often referred to as the brain lymphatic system. This system is connected directly to meningeal lymphatic vessels (mLVs), jointly performing the function of clearing metabolic waste from the CNS. Emerging evidence indicates that this system is closely associated with the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Importantly, abnormal CSF circulation is not only a downstream consequence of AD pathology, but also a risk factor. In AD, the dynamics of CSF flow within the CNS are diminished, immune dysregulation occurs, and this may increase the risk of AD by exacerbating the burden of amyloid β-protein (Aβ). In the mouse model of AD, impaired CSF flow compromises this clearance function, leading to cognitive deficits. Clinically, acupuncture at cognition-related acupoints is commonly used for the prevention and treatment of AD. However, whether its therapeutic effects are mediated through the modulation of CSF dynamics remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of acupuncture on CSF flow and investigate its acupoint specificity. MethodsMice were randomly assigned to experimental groups for the different electroacupuncture groups with the following acupoints: Baihui point (GV 20), Ear point, Neiguan point (PC 6), and Tianshu point (ST 25). Wild-type mice on a C57BL/6J background were used as controls. Fluorescent tracer was injected into the cisterna magna to label CSF flow. Fluorescence imaging was employed to assess the distribution of CSF within the brain before and after acupuncture stimulation. ResultsFollowing tracer injection into the cisterna magna, fluorescence signals rapidly reached the cerebellum and medulla—the regions closest to the injection site. Fluorescence intensity was higher in ventral brain regions compared to dorsal regions, likely due to greater vascular density in ventral areas facilitating CSF-ISF exchange. Electroacupuncture at the GV 20 produced the most pronounced enhancement of CSF across the whole brain, while stimulation at the ST 25 primarily augmented flow within subcortical regions. In contrast, electroacupuncture at the Ear point or the PC 6 had no observable effect on CSF in mice. ConclusionElectroacupuncture promotes CSF flow into the brain parenchyma in an acupoint-specific manner, with GV 20 exhibiting the most pronounced enhancement of CSF dynamics. These findings suggest that acupuncture-mediated facilitation of CSF flow may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for preventing or delaying age-related cognitive decline.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in treating diabetic gastroparesis (DGP) by inhibiting the activation of Nod-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and pyroptosis mediated via NLRP3/cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (caspase-1)/gasdermin D (GSDMD) signaling pathway. METHODS: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups including the control, DGP model, EA, and MCC950 groups. The DGP model was established by a one-time high-dose intraperitoneal injection of 2% streptozotocin and a high-glucose and high-fat diet for 8 weeks. EA intervention was conducted at Zusanli (ST 36), Liangmen (ST 21) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) with sparse-dense wave for 15 min, and was administered for 3 courses of 5 days. After intervention, the blood glucose, urine glucose, gastric emptying, and intestinal propulsive rate were observed. Besides, HE staining was used to observe histopathological changes in gastric antrum tissues, and TUNEL staining was utilized to detect DNA damage. Protein expression levels of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC), pro-caspase-1, caspase-1 and GSDMD were measured by Western blot. Immunofluorescence staining was employed to assess the activity of GSDMD-N. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were detected by using a biochemical kit. RESULTS: DGP rats showed persistent hyperglycemia and a significant decrease in gastrointestinal motility (P<0.05 or P<0.01), accompanied by pathological damage in their gastric antrum tissues. Cellular DNA was obviously damaged, and the expressions of NLRP3, ASC, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1 and GSDMD proteins were significantly elevated, along with enhanced fluorescence signals of GSDMD-N and increased LDH release (P<0.01). EA mitigated hyperglycemia, improved gastrointestinal motility in DGP rats and alleviated their pathological injury (P<0.05). Furthermore, EA reduced cellular DNA damage, lowered the protein levels of NLRP3, ASC, pro-caspase-1, caspase-1 and GSDMD, suppressed GSDMD-N activity, and decreased LDH release (P<0.05 or P<0.01), demonstrating effects comparable to MCC950. CONCLUSION EA promotes gastrointestinal motility and repairs the pathological damage in DGP rats, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis mediated by NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pathway.
Animals ; Electroacupuncture ; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism* ; Pyroptosis ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Caspase 1/metabolism* ; Gastroparesis/physiopathology* ; Signal Transduction ; Male ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/physiopathology* ; Phosphate-Binding Proteins/metabolism* ; Gastrointestinal Motility ; Rats ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/metabolism* ; Diabetes Complications/physiopathology* ; Gasdermins

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the Wnt signaling pathway and miRNAs mechanism of extracts of Plastrum Testudinis (PT) in the treatment of osteoporosis (OP). METHODS: Thirty female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups by random number table method, including sham group, ovariectomized group (OVX), ovariectomized groups treated with high-, medium-, and low-dose PT (160, 80, 40 mg/kg per day, respectively), with 6 rats in each group. Except for the sham group, the other rats underwent bilateral ovariectomy to simulate OP and received PT by oral gavage for 10 consecutive weeks. After treatment, bone mineral density was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; bone microstructure was analyzed by micro-computed tomography and hematoxylin and eosin staining; and the expressions of osteogenic differentiation-related factors were detected by immunochemistry, Western blot, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, Dickkopf-1 (Dkk-1) was used to inhibit the Wnt signaling pathway in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and miRNA overexpression was used to evaluate the effect of miR-214 on the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Subsequently, PT extract was used to rescue the effects of Dkk-1 and miR-214, and its impacts on the osteogenic differentiation-related factors of BMSCs were evaluated. RESULTS: PT-M and PT-L significantly reduced the weight gain in OVX rats (P<0.05). PT also regulated the bone mass and bone microarchitecture of the femur in OVX rats, and increased the expressions of bone formation-related factors including alkaline phosphatase, bone morphogenetic protein type 2, collagen type I alpha 1, and runt-related transcription factor 2 when compared with the OVX group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Meanwhile, different doses of PT significantly rescued the inhibition of Wnt signaling pathway-related factors in OVX rats, and increased the mRNA or protein expressions of Wnt3a, β-catenin, glycogen synthase kinase-3β, and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). PT stimulated the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs inhibited by Dkk-1 and activated the Wnt signaling pathway. In addition, the expression of miR-214 was decreased in OVX rats (P<0.01), and it was negatively correlated with the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs (P<0.01). MiR-214 mimic inhibited Wnt signaling pathway in BMSCs (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conversely, PT effectively counteracted the effect of miR-214 mimic, thereby activating the Wnt signaling pathway and stimulating osteogenic differentiation in BMSCs (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSION PT stimulates bone formation in OVX rats through β-catenin-mediated Wnt signaling pathway, which may be related to inhibiting miR-214 in BMSCs.
Animals ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Female ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Wnt Signaling Pathway/genetics* ; Osteogenesis/genetics* ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/cytology* ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Bone Density/drug effects* ; Ovariectomy ; Osteoporosis/drug therapy* ; beta Catenin/metabolism* ; Rats ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*

Schizophrenia (SZ) stands as a severe psychiatric disorder. This study applied diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data in conjunction with graph neural networks to distinguish SZ patients from normal controls (NCs) and showcases the superior performance of a graph neural network integrating combined fractional anisotropy and fiber number brain network features, achieving an accuracy of 73.79% in distinguishing SZ patients from NCs. Beyond mere discrimination, our study delved deeper into the advantages of utilizing white matter brain network features for identifying SZ patients through interpretable model analysis and gene expression analysis. These analyses uncovered intricate interrelationships between brain imaging markers and genetic biomarkers, providing novel insights into the neuropathological basis of SZ. In summary, our findings underscore the potential of graph neural networks applied to multimodal DTI data for enhancing SZ detection through an integrated analysis of neuroimaging and genetic features.
Humans ; Schizophrenia/pathology* ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging/methods* ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Brain/metabolism* ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; White Matter/pathology* ; Gene Expression ; Nerve Net/diagnostic imaging* ; Graph Neural Networks

Humans and animals have a fundamental ability to use experiences and environmental information to organize behavior. It often happens that humans and animals make decisions and prepare actions under uncertain situations. Uncertainty would significantly affect the state of animals' minds, but may not be reflected in behavior. How to "read animals' mind state" under different situations is a challenge. Here, we report that neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats can reflect the environmental uncertainty when the task situation changes from certain to uncertain. Rats were trained to perform behavioral tasks under certain and uncertain situations. Under certain situations, rats were required to simply repeat two nose-poking actions that each triggered short auditory tone feedback (single-task situation). Whereas under the uncertain situation, the feedback could randomly be either the previous tone or a short musical rhythm. No additional action was required upon the music feedback, and the same secondary nose-poking action was required upon the tone feedback (dual-task situation); therefore, the coming task was uncertain before action initiation. We recorded single-unit activity from the mPFC when the rats were performing the tasks. We found that in the dual task, when uncertainty was introduced, many mPFC neurons were actively engaged in dealing with the uncertainty before the task initiation, suggesting that the rats could be aware of the task situation change and encode the information in the mPFC before the action of task initiation.
Animals ; Prefrontal Cortex/cytology* ; Uncertainty ; Neurons/physiology* ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Long-Evans ; Action Potentials/physiology* ; Acoustic Stimulation

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of bone acupuncture in improving pain and function in degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) and compare it with Jiaji acupuncture. METHODS: From January to December 2023, 80 DLSS patients were treated with acupuncture and divided into bone acupuncture and Jiaji acupuncture groups. Among them, 40 patients in the bone acupuncture group included 15 males and 25 females, with a mean age of (60.60±6.98) years old;anthor 40 patients in the Jiaji acupuncture group included 16 males and 24 females, with a mean age of (61.48±9.55) years old. The Roland Morris disability questionnaire(RMDQ), walking distance, visual analogue scale(VAS), and the MOS item short from health survey(SF-36) of two groups at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks post-treatment were compared. RESULTS: Eighty patients were followed up for 3 to 5 months with an average of (3.62±0.59) months. There was no significant differences in general data and the scores before treatment between two groups(P>0.05). The RMDQ scores in both groups decreased significantly at 2, 4 and 12 weeks after treatment compared with before treatment(P<0.05), at each time point after treatment, the decrease was more significant in the bone acupuncture group than in the Jiaji acupuncture group(P<0.05). The VAS of waist and leg in both groups was significantly lower at 2, 4 and 12 weeks after treatment that before treatment(P<0.05). At all time points after treatment, the waist VAS in the bone acupuncture group was reduced more significant than in the Jiaji acupuncture group(P<0.05);there was no significant difference in leg VAS at 2 and 12 weeks after treatment between two groups(P>0.05), the improvement was more significant in the bone acupuncture group in the 4 weeks after treatment than in the Jiaji acupuncture group. The SF-36 scores in both groups were significantly higher at 2, 4, and 12 weeks after treatment than before treatment(P<0.05);the SF-36 score raised more significant in the bone acupuncture group than in the Jiaji acupunture group(P<0.05). No significant difference in the walking distance between two groups at 2 weeks after treatment(P>0.05);the walking distance in the bone acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in the Jiaji acupuncture group at 4 and 12 weeks after treatment(P<0.05). CONCLUSION Bone-penetrating acupuncture moderately improves functional impairment, pain, and quality of life in patients with DLSS, showing better efficacy than Jiaji acupuncture.
Humans ; Female ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Spinal Stenosis/physiopathology* ; Aged ; Lumbar Vertebrae/physiopathology* ; Pain Management