Background: Adrenocortical hormones, particularly 11-oxygenated androgens, are pivotal in female reproductive health and fertility. Standardized detection kits and population-specific reference intervals are lacking in China, hindering related clinical applications. Methods: A HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) pipeline was developed, rigorously validated, and applied to simultaneously quantify corticosterone, cortisone, cortisol, 18-OH cortisol, androstenedione (A4), 11β-hydroxyandrostenedione (11-OH A4), dehydroepiandrosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in serum samples from 455 reproductive-aged women (18–45 yrs) in Guangxi, China. Age-dependent concentration trends were analyzed, and reference intervals stratified by age (2.5th to 97.5th percentiles) were established. Correlations with body-composition metrics, ethnicity, and the menstrual cycle were investigated. Results: The HPLC-MS/MS method demonstrated high precision (intra- and inter-assay CVs < 15%), accuracy, and sensitivity. All eight hormones exhibited significant age-related declines (P < 0.001 for seven hormones; P = 0.001 for 11-OH A4). Notably, 11-OH A4 levels were significantly lower in the 35–45-yr (3.05 nmol/L) and 25–34-yr (3.09 nmol/L) age groups than in the 18–24-yr (3.57 nmol/L) age group, whereas no significant difference was observed between the 35–45-yr and 25–34-yr age groups. Weak negative correlations were observed between the body mass index and corticosterone and cortisone levels, whereas ethnicity and the menstrual cycle showed no significant associations with hormone levels. Conclusions We developed an HPLC-MS/MS-based method for simultaneously quantifying eight adrenocortical hormones, including 11-OH A4, and defined age-specific reference intervals for reproductive-aged Chinese women. These findings advance the clinical utility of adrenocortical hormones in diagnosing and managing reproductive disorders.

Depressive disorder is a common psychiatric condition clinically characterized by impaired cognitive function， which profoundly affects patients' daily living and social functioning. Despite extensive research on the mechanism underlying the interaction between ghrelin and depressive disorder， comprehensive reviews， summary， and systematic organization of these findings remain lacking. To address this gap， this study aims to conduct a systematic evaluation of the effects and mechanisms of ghrelin on cognitive function in patients with depressive disorder， thereby providing references for targeted clinical interventions. On October 20， 2024， literature exploring the role and mechanisms of ghrelin in improving cognitive function in depressive disorder was sourced from the CNKI， PubMed and Web of Science databases， covering the period from the inception of the database till October 20， 2024. Two researchers independently conducted literature screening and data extraction. Ultimately， 9 articles were included in this review. The findings suggest that ghrelin improves cognitive function in patients with depressive disorder through multiple mechanisms， including mitigating inflammatory responses， modulating oxidative stress， and activating the cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein-brain-derived neurotrophic factor （CREB-BDNF） signaling pathway.

ObjectiveTo investigate the significance of different non-treatment thresholds or upper limits of normal （ULN） of alanine aminotransferase （ALT） in evaluating significant liver pathological injury in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection， and to provide guidance for clinical diagnosis and treatment. MethodsThis study was conducted among 733 patients with chronic HBV infection who were hospitalized in Ningbo No. 2 Hospital from January 2015 to December 2023 and underwent liver biopsy and histopathological examination， and all patients had a persistent ALT level of ≤40 U/L and positive HBV DNA （>30 IU/mL）. According to the treatment threshold or ULN of ALT， the patients were divided into group 1 with 575 patients （≤35 U/L for male patients， ≤25 U/L for female patients）， group 2 with 430 patients （≤30 U/L for male patients， ≤19 U/L for female patients）， group 3 with 443 patients （≤27 U/L for male patients， ≤24 U/L for female patients）， group 4 with 446 patients （≤25 U/L）， group 5 with 158 patients （>35 U/L for male patients， >25 U/L for female patients）， and group 6 with 145 patients （>30 — ≤35 U/L for male patients， >19 — ≤25 U/L for female patients）. Groups 2， 5， and 6 were compared to analyze the severity of liver pathological injury in patients with different ALT levels and the constituent ratio of patients with significant liver pathological injury， and groups 1， 2， 3， and 4 were compared to investigate the value of different ULN or non-treatment thresholds of ALT in determining liver inflammation grade （G）， liver fibrosis stage （S）， and the treatment indication based on liver pathology. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups； a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test or the Tambane’s test was used for further comparison between two groups； the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups， and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison between multiple groups and further comparison between two groups； the chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups； a Ridit analysis was used for comparison of ranked data. A multivariate Logistic regression analysis （forward stepwise） was performed with whether liver pathology met the treatment indication （≥G2 and/or ≥S2） as the dependent variable and related factors with a significant impact on the dependent variable （P <0.05） as the independent variable. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was plotted， and the area under the ROC curve （AUC）， as well as sensitivity， specificity， positive predictive value， negative predictive value， positive likelihood ratio， and negative likelihood ratio， was used to assess the diagnostic value of different non-treatment thresholds of ALT. ResultsAmong the 733 patients， 259 （35.33%） had ≥G2 liver inflammation， 211 （28.79%） had ≥S2 liver fibrosis， and 306 （41.75%） had treatment indication （≥G2 and/or ≥S2）. There was a significant difference in liver inflammation grade （G0 — G4） between groups 2， 5， and 6 （χ²=22.869， P <0.001）， and there were also significant differences in the constituent ratios of patients with ≥G2 or ≥G3 liver inflammation between the three groups （χ²=21.742 and 14.921， P<0.001 and P=0.001）. There was a significant difference in liver fibrosis stage （S0 — S4） between groups 2， 5， and 6 （χ²=16.565， P<0.001）， and there were also significant differences in the constituent ratios of patients with ≥S2， ≥S3 or S4 liver fibrosis between the three groups （χ²=13.264， 13.050， and 6.260， P=0.001， 0.001， and 0.044）. There were significant differences between groups 2， 5， and 6 in the constituent ratios of patients with or without treatment indication based on liver pathology （χ²=20.728， P<0.001）. There were significant differences between groups 2， 5， and 6 in the constituent ratio of male patients （χ²=24.836， P<0.05）， age （F=5.710， P<0.05）， ALT （F=473.193， P<0.05）， aspartate aminotransferase （AST） （F=107.774， P<0.05）， ALT/AST ratio （F=40.167， P<0.05）， γ-glutamyl transpeptidase （GGT） （H=15.463， P<0.05）， aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index （APRI） （H=63.024， P<0.05）， and LIF-5 （5 indicators for liver inflammation and fibrosis） （H=46.397， P<0.05）. In groups 1 — 4， compared with the patients without treatment indication， the patients with treatment indication had a significantly lower constituent ratio of patients with positive HBeAg， significantly lower levels of platelet count （PLT） and HBV DNA， and significantly higher age， ALT， AST， GGT， APRI， FIB-4， and LIF-5 （all P<0.05）. The Logistic regression analysis showed that age （odds ratio ［OR］=1.044， 95% confidence interval ［CI］： 1.025 — 1.063， P<0.001）， GGT （OR=1.022， 95%CI： 1.007 — 1.038， P=0.003）， and HBV DNA （OR=0.839， 95%CI： 0.765 — 0.919， P<0.001） were influencing factors for treatment indication based on liver pathology in group 1； HBeAg （OR=1.978， 95%CI： 1.269 — 3.082， P=0.003）， age （OR=1.048， 95%CI： 1.025 — 1.071， P<0.001）， GGT （OR=1.016， 95%CI： 1.001 — 1.031， P=0.041）， and PLT （OR=0.995， 95%CI： 0.991 — 1.000， P=0.049） were influencing factors in group 2； age （OR=1.040， 95%CI： 1.014 — 1.066， P=0.002）， ALT （OR=1.047， 95%CI： 1.005 — 1.092， P=0.029）， HBV DNA （OR=0.817， 95%CI： 0.736 — 0.907， P<0.001）， and LIF-5 （OR=7.382， 95%CI： 1.151 — 47.330， P=0.035） were influencing factors in group 3； age （OR=1.054， 95%CI： 1.031 — 1.077， P<0.001）， ALT （OR=1.061， 95%CI： 1.016 — 1.107， P=0.008）， and HBV DNA （OR=0.825， 95%CI： 0.743 — 0.917， P<0.001） were influencing factors in group 4. The diagnostic performance for identifying ≥G2 liver inflammation， ≥S2 liver fibrosis， and treatment indication in groups 1 — 4 had an AUC of >0.7； group 1 showed the lowest sensitivity （28.76%） and the highest specificity， positive predictive value， positive likelihood ratio， and negative likelihood ratio in judging treatment indication； group 2 had the highest sensitivity and negative predictive value and the lowest negative likelihood ratio； groups 3 and 4 had similar diagnostic indicators. ConclusionIn patients with chronic HBV infection and a persistently low ALT level， the severity of liver histopathological injury and the constituent ratio of significant liver histopathological injury decrease with the reduction in ALT level. A higher non-treatment threshold or ULN of ALT can help to identify the patients requiring treatment （with a higher specificity）， while a lower non-treatment threshold or ULN of ALT can help to identify the patients who do not require treatment （with a higher sensitivity）.

In recent years,significant breakthroughs have been achieved in the immunotherapy for Alzheimer's disease.In line with global advancements,two anti-amyloid-β monoclonal antibodies have been approved and successfully launched in China for clinical use.Lecanemab and Donanemab were officially used in June 2024 and April 2025 in China,respectively.In order to standardize the rational and safe application of anti-amyloid-β monoclonal antibodies for Alzheimer's disease in China,this article integrates recom-mendations from the clinical trials and real-world experience from the author's team and domestic peers to further update the recom-mendations for the clinical use of anti-amyloid-β monoclonal antibody based on the 2024 version.It includes indications for therapy,pre-treatment evaluation and preparation,administration protocols and safety measures during treatment,and post-treatment monitor-ing strategies.

Objective To develop the Children's Screen Interaction Quality Questionnaire(CSIQ)suit-able for measuring Chinese children aged 0 to 4 years,and to test its reliability and validity.Methods The purposive sampling method was used,and the guardians of 30 normal children aged 0 to 4 years undergoing physical examinations in the Department of Child Health Care of Guiyang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital from February to April 2023 were selected as the interview objects.25 initial items were constructed through literature review,semi-structured interviews,and the Delphi expert consultation method.With the convenience sampling method,2 242 guardians of children aged 0 to 4 years old in the small and middle classes of 9 kindergartens in Guiyang City,Zunyi City,and Renhuai City were surveyed for item analysis,exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis,and reliability and validity analysis.Results Exploratory factor a-nalysis extracted three factors,namely screen content interaction,reality interaction,and media interaction,with a total of 12 items.The cumulative variance explained rate of the 3-factor model was 69.829％.Confirma-tory factor analysis supported the three-factor model of CSIQ:x2/df=4.424,root mean square error of ap-proximation(RMSEA)=0.066,normed fit index(NFI)=0.955,comparative fit index(CFI)=0.965,incre-mental fit index(IFI)=0.965,Tucker-Lewis index(TLI)=0.955,goodness-of-fit index(GFI)=0.955,and the CSIQ had good convergent validity and discriminant validity.Conclusion The CSIQ has good reliability and validity.

Objective To investigate the effects of hypoxia on the transcriptional phenotype and ultrastructure of tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs)in glioma.Methods CD14+monocytes were isolated from healthy human peripheral blood samples collected from the Blood Bank of the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University,and the cells were induced to differentiate into TAMs through co-culture with glioma cell-conditioned medium.Hypoxic TAM models were established using varying concentrations of cobalt chloride hexahydrate(CoCl2,50～400 μmol/L)or hypoxic conditions(1%,5%,10%O2)for 48 h,while normoxic TAM models(21%O2)served as controls.RT-qPCR and transcriptome sequencing were employed to analyze transcriptional changes in TAMs under normoxic and hypoxic conditions.Gene set enrichment analysis(GSEA)was applied to compare the differences in angiogenesis,glycolysis and other hypoxia-responsive pathways between the 2 conditions.Transmission electron microscopy(TEM)or immunofluorescence staining was conducted to assess the ultrastructural alterations in cytoskeleton,endoplasmic reticulum(ER),and mitochondria in normoxic and hypoxic TAMs(1%O2).Results Hypoxic TAMs exhibited up-regulated transcription of hypoxia-responsive markers(oxygen transport,glycolysis,pro-angiogenesis),with the effects correlating with hypoxia severity(P<0.05).GSEA revealed significant up-regulation of hypoxia,angiogenesis regulation,glycolysis and gluconeogenesis,and starvation stress pathways,alongside down-regulation of innate immunity,macrophage activation,cytoskeleton,and protein maturation pathways in hypoxic TAMs(P<0.05).TEM and immunofluorescence staining demonstrated obvious ultrastructure changes,including disrupted cytoskeletal organization,shortened rough ER with reduced ribosomes,mitochondrial swelling with cristae damage,and diminished ER-mitochondria contacts in hypoxic TAMs.Conclusion CoCl2 and hypoxia induce a hypoxic transcriptional phenotype in TAMs,which may potentially associated with ultrastructural remodeling of the cytoskeleton,ER,and mitochondria.

A method for simultaneous determination of 21 kinds of Aconitum alkaloids(ATS)in biological specimens and infused liquor using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS)was developed.The biological samples were pretreated with methanol-acetonitrile(1∶2,V/V)for protein precipitation,while infused liquors were diluted 100-fold with acetonitrile,followed by centrifugation,and filtration by a 0.22-μm membrane.Chromatographic separation was carried out on an EC-C18 column using gradient elution with the mixture of 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate and 0.2%formic acid as mobile phase A and acetonitrile as mobile phase B.With this method,all the analytes were separated within 9.5 min.The samples were detected in positive ESI mode with dynamic multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)and quantified via external standard calibration.The results showed that the concentrations of the analytes in the range of 2-1000 ng/mL had excellent linearity(R2>0.9992)with the peak area.The developed method was successfully used for detection of 21 kinds of aconitum alkaloids,with limits of detection of 0.5-2 ng/mL,quantification limits of 2-6 ng/mL,intra/inter-day precision≤6.0%,spiked recoveries of 89.4%-100.9%,extraction recoveries of 74.2%-104.4%,and matrix effects ranging from-11.1%to 9.2%in blood/urine.The method was applied to detection of 12 samples from 4 fatal aconite poisoning cases,and all 21 kinds of ATS with total alkaloid concentrations of 0.04-4.18 μg/mL in blood and 154.96-422.83 μg/mL in medicinal liquors were detected.Tissue distribution revealed that the order of concentrations from highest to lowest is as follows:urine(157.22 μg/mL)>gastric contents(51.37 μg/mL)>kidney(21.6 μg/g)>whole blood(4.18 μg/mL)>liver(0.03 μg/g).This method showed many advantages such as simple pretreatment,low detection limits,accurate quantification,broad analyte coverage,and superior anti-interference capability in complex matrices,proving ideal for forensic and toxicological analysis of aconitum alkaloids.

The inference of tissue origin of body fluid stains is crucial for case investigation and court proceedings.However,traditional methods for identification of body fluid stains,such as morpho-logical,chemical,and immunoassay identifications have certain limitations,and there is an urgent need for more efficient methods for confirmatory experiments.In recent years,the rapid development of tran-scriptomics technology has provided new means for the identification of tissue origin of body fluid stains.Different types of RNA in the transcriptome have their own advantages.This paper elaborates in detail on the application of different types of RNA,such as mRNA,miRNA,circRNA,lncRNA,piRNA and microbial transcriptomics in body fluid identification,and summarizes their respective ad-vantages and limitations,in order to provide a reference for related research.

Objective To explore the mechanism of action of mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA)of alveolar epithelial type Ⅱ cells(AECⅡ)in silicotic fibrosis.Methods This study was divided into the animal experiment and cell experiment.Animal experiment:twenty-eight C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into the saline group(n=14)and the silicosis model group(n=14),which were given 50 μL of sterile saline and 50 μL of 50 mg/mL of SiO2 suspension by tracheal perfusion respectively.HE staining and Masson staining were performed to observe the histopathological changes of mouse lung tissues after sampling with the exposure of 28 days and 56 days,and Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of functional proteins of pulmonary surfactant protein-D(SP-D),and Krebs von den Lungen-6(KL-6),and fibrotic protein of transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)in mouse lung tissues.Cell experiment:AECⅡ cell line of A549 was exposed to different concentrations of SiO2 suspension.CCK-8 was used to detect cell viability,DAPI staining was used to observe cell apoptosis,Western blot was used to detect related protein expression,JC-1 was used to detect the changes of mitochondrial membrane potential,and RT-qPCR was used to detect mtDNA levels in whole cells,mitochondria,cytoplasm and supernatant.The expression levels of related proteins in AECⅡ were detected by Western blot after cleared mtDNA by DnaseⅠ.Results Histopathological examination of lung tissues showed that SiO2 exposure led to damage in mice lung tissues,with infiltration of inflammatory cell,silica nodules,and a significant increase of collagen fibers.After SiO2 exposure,the protein expressions of SP-D,KL-6 and TGF-β1 in lung tissues were up-regulated(P<0.05).DAPI staining and CCK-8 results showed a reduced activity and impaired apoptosis of AECⅡ after treated with 400 and 800 μg/mL SiO2.JC-1 assay results demonstrated that exposure to 800 μg/mL SiO2 caused a decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential in AECⅡ(P<0.05).RT-qPCR results showed that 800 μg/mL SiO2 exposure led to increased mtDNA levels in the cytoplasm and supernatant of AECⅡ(P<0.05).Western blot results showed that 800 μg/mL SiO2 exposure caused an increase in the levels of SP-D,KL-6,and TGF-β1 proteins,while which were ameliorated by Dnase Ⅰ treatment.Conclusion SiO2 exposure results in the escape and release of AECⅡ mtDNA and dysfunction of AECⅡ,thereby leading to the development of pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective To propose a multiple regression-variational auto-encoders(MR-VAE)model to realize precise and non-invasive prediction of intra-abdominal pressure(IAP)in critically ill patients.Methods At first,a dataset was constructed by retrospectively analysing baseline characteristics and clinical indicators of 100 critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Daping Hospital of Army Medical University between 30 August 2019 and 30 March 2021.Then,a MR-VAE prediction model was developed by integrating a feedforward neural network for supervised regression onto a variational autoencoder(VAE)framework and incorporating multiple regression strategies to mitigate feature interference.Finally,the MR-VAE model had its performance evaluated by its comparison with five classical models including support vector machines(SVM),convolutional neural networks(CNN),Scikit-learn integrated model(SIM),multi-layer perceptron(MLP)and K-nearest neighbors(KNN),and its prediction accuracy verified by testing the data of 10 randomly selected patients.Results The MR-VAE model behaved the best when compared with the five classical models,with a mean squared error(MSE)of 0.207,a root mean square error(RMSE)of 0.454,a mean absolute error(MAE)of 0.361,a median absolute deviation(MAD)of 0.243,an explained variance score(EVS)of 0.814 and a R2of 0.823,which also outperformed the five models in fitting performance,convergence and final loss.In random sample testing,the MR-VAE model exhibited high consistency between predicted and actual values.Conclusion The MR-VAE model proposed can accurately predict IAP,which has great potential in reducing the repeated measurements of IAP in critically ill patients and providing new ideas for the early diagnosis and treatment of IAH.