Background: Obesity and chronic pain are related in both directions, according to earlier observational research.This research aimed to analyze the causal association between obesity and chronic pain at the genetic level, as well as to assess whether common factors mediate this relationship. Methods: This study used bidirectional two sample Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to analyze the association between obesity and chronic pain. Obesity's summary genome-wide association data were obtained from European ancestry groups, as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), genome-wide association study data for chronic pain also came from the UK population, including chronic pain at three different sites (back, hip, and headache), chronic widespread pain (CWP), and multisite chronic pain (MCP). Secondly, a two-step MR and multivariate MR investigation was performed to evaluate the mediating effects of several proposed confounders. Results: The authors discovered a link between chronic pain and obesity. More specifically, a sensitivity analysis was done to confirm the associations between greater BMI, WC, and HC with an increased risk of CWP and MCP.Importantly, the intermediate MR results suggest that education levels and smoking initiation may mediate the causal relationship between BMI on CWP, with a mediation effect of 23.08% and 15.38%, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ findings demonstrate that the importance of education and smoking in understanding chronic pain’s pathogenesis, which is important for the primary prevention and prognosis of chronic pain.

Background: Obesity and chronic pain are related in both directions, according to earlier observational research.This research aimed to analyze the causal association between obesity and chronic pain at the genetic level, as well as to assess whether common factors mediate this relationship. Methods: This study used bidirectional two sample Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to analyze the association between obesity and chronic pain. Obesity's summary genome-wide association data were obtained from European ancestry groups, as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), genome-wide association study data for chronic pain also came from the UK population, including chronic pain at three different sites (back, hip, and headache), chronic widespread pain (CWP), and multisite chronic pain (MCP). Secondly, a two-step MR and multivariate MR investigation was performed to evaluate the mediating effects of several proposed confounders. Results: The authors discovered a link between chronic pain and obesity. More specifically, a sensitivity analysis was done to confirm the associations between greater BMI, WC, and HC with an increased risk of CWP and MCP.Importantly, the intermediate MR results suggest that education levels and smoking initiation may mediate the causal relationship between BMI on CWP, with a mediation effect of 23.08% and 15.38%, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ findings demonstrate that the importance of education and smoking in understanding chronic pain’s pathogenesis, which is important for the primary prevention and prognosis of chronic pain.

Background: Obesity and chronic pain are related in both directions, according to earlier observational research.This research aimed to analyze the causal association between obesity and chronic pain at the genetic level, as well as to assess whether common factors mediate this relationship. Methods: This study used bidirectional two sample Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to analyze the association between obesity and chronic pain. Obesity's summary genome-wide association data were obtained from European ancestry groups, as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), genome-wide association study data for chronic pain also came from the UK population, including chronic pain at three different sites (back, hip, and headache), chronic widespread pain (CWP), and multisite chronic pain (MCP). Secondly, a two-step MR and multivariate MR investigation was performed to evaluate the mediating effects of several proposed confounders. Results: The authors discovered a link between chronic pain and obesity. More specifically, a sensitivity analysis was done to confirm the associations between greater BMI, WC, and HC with an increased risk of CWP and MCP.Importantly, the intermediate MR results suggest that education levels and smoking initiation may mediate the causal relationship between BMI on CWP, with a mediation effect of 23.08% and 15.38%, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ findings demonstrate that the importance of education and smoking in understanding chronic pain’s pathogenesis, which is important for the primary prevention and prognosis of chronic pain.

OBJECTIVE: To construct a predictive model for the reduction in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and evaluate the effects of different interventions and other clinical factors on methadone reduction using Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). METHODS: Two clinical trials of acupuncture for methadone reduction in MMT patients were analyzed, and the baseline data, MMT related information, intervention measures, the data related to dose-reduction outcomes were collected. The predictive model was constructed by means of 6 machine learning algorithms including support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), logistic regression (LR), Naive Bayes (NB), random forest (RF) and categorical-boosting (CatBoost), and 2 integration methods, blending-ensemble method (Blending) and Stacking-ensemble method (Stacking). SHAP was employed for the interpretability analysis of the optimal model. RESULTS: A total of 251 MMT patients were included, 128 cases in the acupuncture group and 123 cases in the non-acupuncture group. CatBoost and Stacking performed optimally in the test set. CatBoost obtained an accuracy of 0.780 0±0.060 8, a precision of 0.500 0±0.120 0, a recall of 0.818 2±0.140 2, F1 score of 0.620 7±0.114 0, and receiver operating characteristic-area under curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.857 8±0.140 2 for the subjects. In MMT patients with acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy, the top 5 important features for methadone reduction, included intervention measures, body mass index (BMI), the duration of MMT, the history of opioid use and occupation; and SHAP values were 1.25, 0.36, 0.21, 0.19 and 0.12, respectively. The SHAP feature dependence plot showed that BMI, MMT duration and the history of opioid use presented a nonlinear negative correlation with the reduction effect. CONCLUSION In acupuncture as adjunctive therapy for methadone reduction, the clinical factors should be considered comprehensively; and the interpretable predictive model provides a scientific basis for it, which is conducive to the improvement of clinical strategy of acupuncture for methadone reduction and the development of personalized reduction scheme.
Humans ; Methadone/therapeutic use* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Female ; Male ; Machine Learning ; Middle Aged ; Opiate Substitution Treatment ; Young Adult

Background: Obesity and chronic pain are related in both directions, according to earlier observational research.This research aimed to analyze the causal association between obesity and chronic pain at the genetic level, as well as to assess whether common factors mediate this relationship. Methods: This study used bidirectional two sample Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to analyze the association between obesity and chronic pain. Obesity's summary genome-wide association data were obtained from European ancestry groups, as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), genome-wide association study data for chronic pain also came from the UK population, including chronic pain at three different sites (back, hip, and headache), chronic widespread pain (CWP), and multisite chronic pain (MCP). Secondly, a two-step MR and multivariate MR investigation was performed to evaluate the mediating effects of several proposed confounders. Results: The authors discovered a link between chronic pain and obesity. More specifically, a sensitivity analysis was done to confirm the associations between greater BMI, WC, and HC with an increased risk of CWP and MCP.Importantly, the intermediate MR results suggest that education levels and smoking initiation may mediate the causal relationship between BMI on CWP, with a mediation effect of 23.08% and 15.38%, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ findings demonstrate that the importance of education and smoking in understanding chronic pain’s pathogenesis, which is important for the primary prevention and prognosis of chronic pain.

Our acupuncture-moxibustion(Acu-Moxi)field has entered an era of digital and intelligent transformation,yet systematic and in-depth development remains limited.This article aims to provide an overview and reflection on the digital and intelligent progress of Acu-Moxi in China,offering systematic insights for the comprehensive development of this field.Through a retrieval from CNKI,VIP,and Wanfang databases,along with a discussion of relevant policies,case studies,achievements,and updates,the study evaluated the current advancements in the digitization and intelligence of Acu-Moxi,also discussing the current advantages and challenges.Findings revealed an overall upward trend in publications related to digital-intelligent technologies in Acu-Moxi,key forms including robotics,acupuncture point digitization,smart acupuncture devices,and clinical decision-making models,highlighting the empowering potential of digital intelligence across the discipline.Recently,publications of the Acu-Moxi digitization has decreased sharply,and the number of Acu-Moxi research about digital and intelligent transformation has increased.In conclusion,the field has undergone a transition from comprehensive digital accumulation to increasing intelligence,moving toward integrated digital-intelligent development.However,the internal development of digital and intelligent Acu-Moxi remains uneven.To achieve a harmonious intelligent Acu-Moxi ecosystem,it is crucial to leverage opportunities of discipline and times for systematic and balanced improvement.

Background: Obesity and chronic pain are related in both directions, according to earlier observational research.This research aimed to analyze the causal association between obesity and chronic pain at the genetic level, as well as to assess whether common factors mediate this relationship. Methods: This study used bidirectional two sample Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to analyze the association between obesity and chronic pain. Obesity's summary genome-wide association data were obtained from European ancestry groups, as measured by body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), genome-wide association study data for chronic pain also came from the UK population, including chronic pain at three different sites (back, hip, and headache), chronic widespread pain (CWP), and multisite chronic pain (MCP). Secondly, a two-step MR and multivariate MR investigation was performed to evaluate the mediating effects of several proposed confounders. Results: The authors discovered a link between chronic pain and obesity. More specifically, a sensitivity analysis was done to confirm the associations between greater BMI, WC, and HC with an increased risk of CWP and MCP.Importantly, the intermediate MR results suggest that education levels and smoking initiation may mediate the causal relationship between BMI on CWP, with a mediation effect of 23.08% and 15.38%, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ findings demonstrate that the importance of education and smoking in understanding chronic pain’s pathogenesis, which is important for the primary prevention and prognosis of chronic pain.

Our acupuncture-moxibustion(Acu-Moxi)field has entered an era of digital and intelligent transformation,yet systematic and in-depth development remains limited.This article aims to provide an overview and reflection on the digital and intelligent progress of Acu-Moxi in China,offering systematic insights for the comprehensive development of this field.Through a retrieval from CNKI,VIP,and Wanfang databases,along with a discussion of relevant policies,case studies,achievements,and updates,the study evaluated the current advancements in the digitization and intelligence of Acu-Moxi,also discussing the current advantages and challenges.Findings revealed an overall upward trend in publications related to digital-intelligent technologies in Acu-Moxi,key forms including robotics,acupuncture point digitization,smart acupuncture devices,and clinical decision-making models,highlighting the empowering potential of digital intelligence across the discipline.Recently,publications of the Acu-Moxi digitization has decreased sharply,and the number of Acu-Moxi research about digital and intelligent transformation has increased.In conclusion,the field has undergone a transition from comprehensive digital accumulation to increasing intelligence,moving toward integrated digital-intelligent development.However,the internal development of digital and intelligent Acu-Moxi remains uneven.To achieve a harmonious intelligent Acu-Moxi ecosystem,it is crucial to leverage opportunities of discipline and times for systematic and balanced improvement.

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the expression of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 in gastric cancer (GC) patients, explore its correlation with the clinical pathological characteristics and evaluate its diagnostic efficacy in GC.Methods:Sixty patients with GC and 30 patients with Chronic Gastritis (disease control group) admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University from October 2019 to December 2020 were selected. Meanwhile, 30 healthy subjects (healthy control group) who underwent physical examination were also enrolled. General data of GC patients were collected, including tumor size, degree of differentiation, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, etc. Blood samples were collected before treatment and the expression levels of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 were detected via quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). The serum concentrations of traditional biomarker (CEA and CA19-9) were measured via a chemiluminescent detection system. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under curve (AUC) were used to estimate the diagnostic capacity of different index in GC. Then, the expression difference of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 in GC patients before and after operation was analyzed, and its relationship with clinicopathological features of GC patients was also investigated.Results:RT-PCR results revealed that compared with Chronic gastritis patients and healthy control, the expression of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 was upregulated in the gastric cancer group(0.47±0.06, 0.43±0.05, 0.97±0.12, all P<0.001). The area under the ROC curve was 0.778, and AUC of the combination of CEA and CA19-9 for the diagnosis of gastric cancer was 0.841. which was higher than the diagnostic accuracies of CEA (AUC=0.673)and CA 19-9(AUC=0.653). The expression level of exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 was also significantly correlated with tumor size( χ2=7.545, P<0.01), TNM stage( χ2=4.571, P<0.05)and lymph node metastasis( χ2=6.907, P<0.01). The postoperative expression levels of exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 were lower compared with those of preoperative levels(1.21±0.21 vs 0.62±0.11, P<0.01). Conclusion:Our data demonstrated that exosomal hsa_circ_0064910 is highly expressed in GC patients and might be a potential noninvasive biomarker for the auxiliary diagnosis of GC.

Objective:To investigate expressions and clinical significance of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0022417 in gastric cancer (GC).Methods:Sixty gastric cancer patients, 30 chronic gastritis patients (disease control group) and 30 healthy volunteers (healthy control group) were enrolled in this study. The expression levels of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0022417 and serum CEA and CA19-9 were detected. The ROC curve and AUC were used to estimate the diagnostic capacity.Results:Compared with chronic gastritis patients and healthy control, the expression of plasma exosomal hsa_circ_0022417 was significantly upregulated in the gastric cancer group ( F=9.96, P<0.05). The expression level of hsa_circ_0022417 in GC tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissue ( t=6.08, P<0.05). The AUC of hsa_circ_0022417, serum CEA and CA 19-9 was 0.79, 0.68 and 0.66, respectively. The combined detection of three indicators had the highest AUC (0.86) ( P<0.05). The expression level of exosomal hsa_circ_0022417 was significantly correlated with tumor size ( χ2=6.42, P<0.01), differentiation degree ( χ2=5.83, P=0.05), TNM stage ( χ2=7.14, P<0.05) and lymph node metastasis ( χ2=5.17, P<0.05). Conclusion:Exosome hsa_circ_0022417 is highly expressed in the plasma of GC patients, which is of great significance for clinical auxiliary diagnosis and early screening of GC.