Azvudine and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) are recommended for COVID-19 treatment in China, but their safety and efficacy in the elderly population are not fully known. In this multicenter, retrospective, cohort study, we identified 5131 elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients from 32,864 COVID-19 patients admitted to nine hospitals in Henan Province, China, from December 5, 2022, to January 31, 2023. The primary outcome was all-cause death, and the secondary outcome was composite disease progression. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to control for confounding factors, including demographics, vaccination status, comorbidities, and laboratory tests. After 2:1 PSM, 1786 elderly patients receiving azvudine and 893 elderly patients receiving Paxlovid were included. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses revealed that compared with Paxlovid group, azvudine could significantly reduce the risk of all-cause death (log-rank P = 0.002; HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.573-0.883, P = 0.002), but there was no difference in composite disease progression (log-rank P = 0.52; HR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.877-1.260, P = 0.588). Four sensitivity analyses verified the robustness of above results. Subgroup analysis suggested that a greater benefit of azvudine over Paxlovid was observed in elderly patients with primary malignant tumors (P for interaction = 0.005, HR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.18-0.57) compared to patients without primary malignant tumors. Safety analysis revealed that azvudine treatment had a lower incidence of adverse events and higher lymphocyte levels than Paxlovid treatment. In conclusion, azvudine treatment is not inferior to Paxlovid treatment in terms of all-cause death, composite disease progression and adverse events in elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Count data are very common in biomedical research, and such kind of data is often organized in the form of contingency table. For count data, the common research purpose is to test whether two factors are independent, therefore chi-square test is often used for statistical analysis, but it is easy to overlook the applicable conditions of chi-square test and the correction of results under different conditions. In addition, for count data, there are also other research purposes, such as testing whether there is a linear trend between two categorical variables, whether the results are consistent, and so on. Therefore, how to choose appropriate testing methods based on different research purposes is also a problem worth paying attention to in practical applications. In this study, the commonly used statistical methods for various count data are systematically summarized through a series of examples, and the common misuses of the chi-square test are analyzed.

Objective:To assess the safety and feasibility of selectively preserving the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery using bidirectional dissection in laparoscopic pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (LPPG).Methods:In this retrospective analysis, we studied preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative, and follow-up data of 30 patients with early gastric cancer treated in the Department of Gastric Cancer in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital (28 patients), Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery in Jiaxing Second Hospital (one patient) and Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery in Hangzhou Red Cross Hospital (one patient) who had undergone selective preservation of the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery during LPPG. The main variables studied were as follows: (1) intraoperative preservation of the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery; (2) the overall surgical situation; and (3) postoperative small bowel follow-through and endoscopy findings.Results:LPPG with selective preservation of the right gastro-omental artery vascular branch was achieved in all 30 of the study patients. The mean operation time was (244.3±29.3) minutes and the median intraoperative blood loss 50 (20–200) mL. The median tumor diameter was 1.2 (0.5–3.6) cm and an average of 32.3±11.6 lymph nodes were dissected. The overall median number of positive lymph nodes was 0 (0–6), and of No. 6 lymph nodes 5.1±1.5. Postoperative feeding resumed at an average of 5.2±0.5 days and the postoperative hospital stay averaged 8.4±3.4 days. Pathological stages were as follows: T1a (14 cases), T1b (10 cases), and T2 (6 cases). Small bowel follow-through imaging showed good results in 28 patients 5 days post-surgery, the remaining two exhibiting good results 9 days post-surgery. There were no instances of delayed gastric emptying, and only one patient (3.3%) developed intra-abdominal infection (resolved with conservative treatment).Conclusion:Selective preservation of the right gastro-omental artery during laparoscopic early gastric cancer surgery is a safe and feasible procedure for treating early mid-gastric body cancer with pyloric preservation.

Objective:To assess the safety and feasibility of selectively preserving the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery using bidirectional dissection in laparoscopic pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (LPPG).Methods:In this retrospective analysis, we studied preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative, and follow-up data of 30 patients with early gastric cancer treated in the Department of Gastric Cancer in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital (28 patients), Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery in Jiaxing Second Hospital (one patient) and Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery in Hangzhou Red Cross Hospital (one patient) who had undergone selective preservation of the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery during LPPG. The main variables studied were as follows: (1) intraoperative preservation of the first branch of the right gastro-omental artery; (2) the overall surgical situation; and (3) postoperative small bowel follow-through and endoscopy findings.Results:LPPG with selective preservation of the right gastro-omental artery vascular branch was achieved in all 30 of the study patients. The mean operation time was (244.3±29.3) minutes and the median intraoperative blood loss 50 (20–200) mL. The median tumor diameter was 1.2 (0.5–3.6) cm and an average of 32.3±11.6 lymph nodes were dissected. The overall median number of positive lymph nodes was 0 (0–6), and of No. 6 lymph nodes 5.1±1.5. Postoperative feeding resumed at an average of 5.2±0.5 days and the postoperative hospital stay averaged 8.4±3.4 days. Pathological stages were as follows: T1a (14 cases), T1b (10 cases), and T2 (6 cases). Small bowel follow-through imaging showed good results in 28 patients 5 days post-surgery, the remaining two exhibiting good results 9 days post-surgery. There were no instances of delayed gastric emptying, and only one patient (3.3%) developed intra-abdominal infection (resolved with conservative treatment).Conclusion:Selective preservation of the right gastro-omental artery during laparoscopic early gastric cancer surgery is a safe and feasible procedure for treating early mid-gastric body cancer with pyloric preservation.

OBJECTIVE To establish a method for simultan eous determination of 5 kinds of pentacyclic triterpenoids as 3-O- acetyl-pomolic acid in Chaenomeles speciosa ，and to analyze the difference in the contents of C. speciosa from different producing areas by different processing technologies . METHODS HPLC method was adopted . The determination was performed on COSMOSIL 5 C18-MS-Ⅱ column with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile -0.005 mol/L ammonium dihydrogen phosphate solution （pH value adjusted to 6.5 with phosphoric acid ）（70∶30，V/V）at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The column temperature was set at 30 ℃. The detection wavelength was set at 210 nm，and sample size was 20 μL. The contents of the other four pentacyclic triterpenoids were calculated according to quantitative analysis of multi -components by single -marker（QAMS）using oleanolic acid as internal reference . The results were compared with those determined by external standard method . The total content of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid ，the total content of 5 components in C. speciosa from different producing areas and different processing technologies were compared . RESULTS The linear range of 3-O-acetyl-pomolic acid ，betulinic acid ，oleanolic acid ，ursolic acid and 3-O-acetyl ursolic acid were 4.06-81.2，2.12-42.4，9.62-192.3，7.77-155.4，4.21-84.1 μg/mL，respectively（R2＞0.999）. RSDs of precision ，reproducibility and stability （24 h）tests were all lower than 3%. The average recoveries were 98.29%-101.38% （RSDs＜3%，n＝6）. The mass fraction of 3-O-acetyl-pomolic acid ，betulinic acid ，ursolic acid and 3-O-acetyl ursolic acid measured by QAMS w ere 0.023%-0.060%，0.044%-0.528%，0.101%-0.368%，0.067%-0.221%，respectively；the deviations from the results measured by external standard method were all within 8%. The total content of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid， the total content of 5 components in C. speciosa processed by fresh -cut technology from the same producing area were higher than those in C. speciosa processed by traditional technology ，and the total content of 5 components in C. speciosa from Chongqing Qianjiang were significantly higher than those from other producing areas （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS QAMS method is established for the simultaneous determination of 3-O-acetyl-pomolic acid ，betulinic acid ，oleanolic acid ，ursolic acid and 3-O-acetyl ursolic acid in C. speciosa. Established method is simple ，rapid and accurate . The total content of 5 components in C. speciosa produced in Chongqing Qianjiang is higher ，and the total content of C. speciosa processed by fresh -cut technology from the same origin is higher than C. speciosa processed by traditional technology .

Objective: To explore susceptibility genes for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was carried out for 60 family trios affected with sporadic ASD. Genetic variants discovered in over 10% of the patients were selected for genotype-phenotype correlation and pathway enrichment analysis using Phenolyzer software and metascape database. Combining gene-phenotypic scores, pathway-related genes associated with neural and neurite triggering were screened for the candidates. Results: A total of 170 common variants were found to be associated with the ASD phenotype. Among these, there was only one high-confidence gene [SHANK2 (0.8146)] and four medium-confidence genes [ERBB2 (0.1322), LAMC3 (0.1117), PPFIA4 (0.1059), DISC1 (0.1002)]. Twenty-pathways and four biological processes were found to be statistically significant by pathway enrichment analysis, which included neuron projection morphogenesis (GO: 0048812), regulation of neuroblast proliferation (GO: 1902692), modulation of excitatory postsynaptic potential (GO: 0098815), and dendrite morphogenesis (GO: 0048813). Twenty-one genes were found to be closely associated with neurological and neurite triggering, among which only SHANK2, ERBB2, and DISC1 had above-medium confidence correlation scores with the ASD phenotypes. Conclusion Abnormal neuron projection morphogenesis (GO: 0048812) may be closely related to the occurrence of ASD. SHANK2, ERBB2, and DISC1 are susceptibility genes for ASD.

Objective: To analyze the chemical constituents of Morchella esculenta, and to determine the main activeingredient of it, so as to better control the quality of Morchella esculenta and promote the development and utilization of Morchella. Methods: The compounds were extracted and percolated by ethanol. The samples were separated using silicagel and identified by13C-NMR data. HPLC was used to assay the contents of 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol. Results: A totalof 5 compounds were isolated and their structures were identified as 11, 15, 19-trimethyl-5, 9-eicosadienoic acid, cis-13-Docosenoic acid&Erucic acid, 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol, Ergosta-5, 7, 22-triene-3β-ol and Mannitol. Conclusion: 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol was first isolated from the Morchella esculenta fruiting body, and HPLC method for thedetermination of 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol was established. The content of 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol were no less than0.40％. The determination method can be used for quality control of Morchella esculenta.

ObjectiveTo study the associations of Val66Met functional polymorphism in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)with creativity and personality traits in a healthy college student population.MethodThe creativity performance and personality traits of the 830 healthy college students (272 males and 558females) were assessed with Williams Creativity Scale (CAP) and adult Eysenek Personality Questionnaire (EPQ),then study was performed on the association Val66Met in BDNF with creativity and personality traits.ResultsThe results indicated that Val66Met was significantly associated with the curiosity of CAP (F=0.519,P=0.036).The numbers of Val allele showed a positive correlation to the performance of curiosity.Val66Val genotype individuals had the best performance (31.924 ± 4.010 ) while the Met66Met ones showed the worst performante(30.889 ± 3.478).However,the association of Val66Met with the personality traits of EPQ was uot significant in the study (P＞ 0.05).Furthermore,there was no a significant effect of the interaction between the genetic variant and Extraversion/Introversion on the curiosity of CAP (P =0.747 ).ConclusionThe present study suggests that Val66Met in BDNF contributes to creativity,but not to personality traits in the population.

Objective To explore the associations of the sub-components of central executive function ( inhibition, shifting and updating) with monoamine oxidase A ( MAOA ) and dopamine-β-hydroxylase ( DBH ).Methods The cognitive performance of the 719 healthy individuals,who were selected randomly from an university in Xi' an,was assessed by the world wide used paradigms of central executive function. Then, a populationbased study was performed to analysis the associations of central executive function with the 30-bp variable number tandem repeat and -C1021T in the promoters of MAOA and DBH ,respectively. Results The results indicated that the 30-bp variable number tandem repeat of MAOA was associated with the performance of inhibition and updating ( x2 = 4.82,4.50; P= 0. 03,0.03 ) in males. The reaction time of inhibition test was shorter in 3r genotype group ( (671.32 ±9.77 )ms) than that in 4r genotype group ( (706.61 ± 14.58 ) ms) ,and the indivudals with 3r genotype (47.85 ±0. 69) had more updating numbers than the indivudals with 4r (45.13 ± 1. 05). However, there was no significant association of the -C1021T and DBH with the components of excutive function (P＞0.05). Conclusion The present study suggests that the 30-bp variable number tandem repeat of MAOA contributs to the inhibition in males while -C1021T of DBH has no striking effects on the components of executive function in males and females.

Objective To explore the relationship between interleukin 1 receptor accessory protein-like 2 (IL1RAPL2) gene and cognitive abilities of children in Qin-Ba mountainous region. Methods Four tagged SNPs (rs5962434,rs5916817, rs3764765 and rs5962298 ) in IL1RAPL2 were selected, and then genotyped by PCR-SSCP method in a 320 children sample aged from six to fourteen years old. Results The results showed the rs5962434, rs5916817 ,rs3764765 and rs5962298 had no deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P＞0.05),and there were no significant statistical differences in the average psychometric scores of general cognitive ability(P=0.81,0.53,0.79,0.90) ,verbal comprehension (P=0.58,0.47,0.69,0.87 ) ,memory and concentration (P=0.69,0.35,0.76,0.90) among the compared genotype groups at each of the markers. Furthermore,the results also indicated that the four SNPs were not associated with perceptual organization in males and females respectively (P = 0.70,0.85,0.76,0.90,0.65,0.22,0.98,0.90 ). Conclusion The present work suggests that the human general cognitive ability, the three cognitive factors of C-WISC scale are not influenced manifestly by the genetic variations in IL1RAPL2.