Objective To investigate the clinical value of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration(EUS-FNA)for esophageal stricture lesions that cannot be diagnosed by endoscopic general biopsy.Methods The clinical data of 6 patients with esophageal stricture lesions with EUS-FNA that cannot be clearly diagnosed by endoscopic general biopsy from January 2021 to Jun 2023 were retrospectively analyzed,and the accuracy of EUS-FNA was analyzed for esophageal stricture lesions that cannot be diagnosed by endoscopic general biopsy,while the results of surgery pathology or final follow-up results was taken as the diagnostic criteria.Results All the patients underwent EUS-FNA.The puncture clearly diagnosed 5 cases of malignancy and 1 case of chronic inflammation.Among them,5 patients underwent surgical operations,and the postoperative pathological findings were consistent with the puncture pathology.One patient was followed up for a long time and had repeated gastroscopy.There was no evidence of malignant tumor in the clinical manifestations and routine gastroscopic findings,so it was still considered to be an inflammatory change,which was consistent with the puncture pathological result.All patients had no complications,including abdominal pain,bleeding,perforation,and infection.Conclusion EUS-FNA is an effective and safe method for esophageal stricture lesions that cannot be diagnosed by endoscopic general biopsy and has high clinical application value.

Objective To analyze the characteristics of oral and maxillofacial injuries from military training and provide references for related prevention and treatment.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted of the medical records of 111 patients with oral and maxillofacial military training injuries treated between 2014 and 2023.Results From 2014 to 2023,the number of hospitalized patients with maxillofacial military training injuries in the hospital trended upward.The top 3 training injuries in the spectrum of diseases were maxillofacial fractures(45.08％),maxillofacial space infections(28.83％),and temporomandibular joint injuries(18.92％).The average number of hospitalizations for all maxillofacial military training injuries was 1.33(1-4),and the median length of hospital stay was 8(5,12)days.The median hospitalization cost was 14 793.23(5236.18,24 255.25)yuan,and the improvement rate was 95.50％.Conclusion The number of patients hospitalized due to oral and maxillofacial military training injuries in this hospital is increasing year by year,and the injuries are mostly jaw fractures.Precautions should be taken to prevent maxillofacial training injuries.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of Shenge powder (SGP) on myocardial fibrosis in rats with heart failure after myocardial infarction and its relation with lysyl oxidase like protein 2 (LOXL2)/transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)/IL-11 signaling pathway. METHODS: Seventy-two SPF male SD rats were divided into blank control group, model control group, SGP small dose group, SGP large dose group, positive control group, SGP large dose+LOXL2 activator group, with 12 rats in each group. Except for the blank control group, post-myocardial infarction heart failure was induced by coronary constriction. Corresponding treatments were given immediately after successful modeling, once a day for 4 weeks. Left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in rats were detected by color Doppler ultrasound imaging. Levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in serum were analyzed by ELISA method. Myocardial collagen volume fraction (CVF) was evaluated by Masson staining. Expressions of collagen Ⅰ and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in myocardial tissue were detected by immunohistochemical staining. The mRNA expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) in myocardial tissue were detected by qRT-PCR. Expression of LOXL2, TGF-β1, and IL-11 proteins in myocardial tissue were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with the blank control group, the LVFS and LVEF of the model control group decreased, the levels of serum IL-6 and IL-1β elevated, and the CVF value, the expressions of collagen Ⅰ and α-SMA in myocardial tissue, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 mRNA, and LOXL2, TGF-β1, IL-11 proteins increased (all P<0.05). Compared with the model control group, the LVFS and LVEF of SGP small dose group, SGP large dose group and positive control group increased, the levels of serum IL-6 and IL-1β decreased, and the CVF value, the expressions of collagen Ⅰ and α-SMA in myocardial tissue, MMP-9 and TIMP-1 mRNA, and LOXL2, TGF-β1, IL-11 proteins decreased (all P<0.05); while LOXL2 activator reversed the improvement effect of high-dose SGP on myocardial fibrosis in heart failure rats after myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS Shenge powder may inhibit myocardial fibrosis in heart failure rats after myocardial infarction by inhibiting the LOXL2/TGF-β1/IL-11 pathway.
Animals ; Male ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Myocardial Infarction/complications* ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Rats ; Heart Failure/pathology* ; Myocardium/metabolism* ; Fibrosis ; Amino Acid Oxidoreductases/metabolism* ; Interleukin-11/metabolism* ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1/metabolism* ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9/metabolism*

Disruption of the intestinal mucosal barrier caused by gut dysbiosis and metabolic imbalance is the underlying pathology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Traditional Chinese medicine Wuji Wan (WJW) is commonly used to treat digestive system disorders and showed therapeutic potential for IBD. In this interdisciplinary study, we aim to investigate the pharmacological effects of WJW against experimental colitis by combining functional metabolomics and gut-microbiota sequencing techniques. Treatment with WJW altered the profile of the intestinal microbiota and notably increased the abundance of Lactobacillus, thereby facilitating the conversion of tryptophan into indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and indoleacrylic acid (IA). These indole derivatives activated the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) pathway, which reduced colonic inflammation and restored the expression of intestinal barrier proteins. Interestingly, the beneficial effects of WJW on gut barrier function improvement and tryptophan metabolism were disappeared in the absence of gut microbiota. Finally, pre-treatment with the AhR antagonist CH-223191 confirmed the essential role of IAA-mediated AhR activation in the therapeutic effects of WJW. Overall, WJW enhanced intestinal barrier function and reduced colonic inflammation in a murine colitis model by modulating Lactobacillus-IAA-AhR signaling pathway. This study provides novel insights into colitis pathogenesis and presents an effective therapeutic and preventive approach against IBD.

OBJECTIVE To explore the clinical characteristics of bronchial asthma with secondary pulmonary infec-tions in children and compare the expressions of transcriptomes in peripheral blood between the bronchial asthma with secondary pulmonary infections and the bronchial asthma without the secondary pulmonary infections.METHODS The clinical data were collected from 425 children with bronchial asthma who were treated in respirato-ry medicine department of Children's Hospital of Anhui Province from Apr.2022 to Feb.2025 and were retrospec-tively analyzed.The enrolled children were divided into the infection group with 60 cases and the non-infection group with 365 cases according to the status of complication with pulmonary infections.The clinical characteristics were compared between the infection group and the non-infection group.The gene expression profile sequencing was carried out for peripheral blood mononuclear cells by transcriptome high throughput technology,and the bio-logical information was analyzed.RESULTS There were significant differences in course of asthma,frequencies times of acute attack,complication with nasosinusitis or allergic rhinitis,standardized use of antibiotics and intra-venous use of glucocorticoids between the two groups of children(P＜0.05).Totally 60 children had secondary pulmonary infections,with the infection rate 14.12％.Totally 73 strains of pathogens were isolated,43.84％of which were gram-positive bacteria,and 56.16％were gram-negative bacteria.As compared with the non-infection group,there were 1578 genes with the changed expression in the infection group,and the expressions of the genes such as nuclear factor κB were upregulated.The differentially expressed genes were primarily enriched in immuno-regulation-related pathways,including proinflammatory factor signal transduction,interacted networks of cyto-kines and its receptors,T lymphocyte activation signal transduction and other biological processes.CONCLUSION The specific clinical characteristics and abnormal immune pathways may jointly result in the pulmonary infec-tions in children with the asthma and provide theoretical bases for early identification of the children at high risk of pneumonia and targeted intervention.

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of a baby smoothing and special caring cream in reducing the recurrence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in infancy.Methods:A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Children with moderate AD (with overall investigator's global assessment [IGA] scores of 3 - < 4) were enrolled from Shunyi Maternal and Children′s Hospital of Beijing Children′s Hospital from April 2021 to June 2024. During the induction period, all children were topically treated with 0.1% hydrocortisone butyrate cream twice daily on the lesional skin, as well as with a baby smoothing and special caring cream at least twice daily throughout the body; at the 2-week visit, patients with an IGA score of ≤ 1 point entered the maintenance phase, while those with an IGA score of > 1 point continued the treatment for another 2 weeks; at the 4-week visit, patients with an IGA score of ≤ 1 point entered the maintenance phase, while those still with an IGA score of > 1 point were withdrawn from the study, and received conventional treatment. Patients who entered the maintenance period were randomly divided into the test group and the control group in a 1∶1 ratio using a random number table. In the test group, the hydrocortisone butyrate cream was discontinued, while the baby smoothing and special caring cream was continued twice daily for 8 consecutive weeks; in the control group, both the hydrocortisone butyrate cream and the baby smoothing and special caring cream were discontinued. IGA and Scoring AD (SCORAD) scores were assessed by clinicians at weeks 4 and 8 in the maintenance phase, while the patient-oriented eczema measure (POEM) score was evaluated weekly by patients' parents. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Breslow test were used to compare recurrence rates in the two groups (the primary efficacy outcome), and a generalized estimating equation model was used to evaluate the changes in IGA, SCORAD, and POEM scores in the two groups (the secondary efficacy outcomes). Adverse reactions were monitored throughout the study to evaluate safety.Results:A total of 68 children with moderate AD aged from 3 months to 2 years were included. There were 38 females and 30 males, aged 11.72 ± 6.03 months. Fifty-two patients entered the maintenance phase; 2 were lost to follow-up, and 50 were included in the per-protocol set, with 28 in the test group and 22 in the control group. The recurrence rate during the maintenance phase was 7.14% (2/28) in the test group and 31.82% (7/22) in the control group, showing a significant difference between the two groups ( χ 2 = 5.08, P = 0.032). At weeks 4 and 8 in the maintenance phase, the IGA scores were significantly lower in the test group than in the control group (Wald χ 2 = 5.06, P = 0.024), whereas the SCORAD scores showed no significant differences between the two groups (Wald χ 2 = 2.92, P = 0.087). During weeks 1 - 8 in the maintenance phase, the POEM scores showed no significant differences between the two groups or over time (both P > 0.05), while the two groups showed different change trends in POEM scores over time (Wald χ 2interaction = 55.37, Pinteraction < 0.001). Throughout the entire study period, no adverse reactions were observed among all 68 subjects. Conclusion:With a high safety profile, the baby smoothing and special caring cream could reduce the recurrence rate during the maintenance phase, showing promise as an adjuvant therapy for the maintenance treatment of AD in infancy, and is worthy of clinical application.

Objective:To compare the diagnostic efficacy and consistency of fecal calprotectin (FC) detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fluorescence immunochromatography assay (FICA) in assessing the disease activity of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) .Methods:The paired-design diagnostic test comparison study was conducted. A total of 61 IBD patients from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University who underwent simultaneous ELISA and FICA testing from May to June 2025 were prospectively enrolled. Using Best Crohn's disease activity index and modified Mayo score as gold standards, optimal FC cut-offs for assessing the disease activity were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Numerical consistency was evaluated via Spearman correlation, Passing-Bablok regression, and Bland-Altman analysis. Classification consistency was assessed by Cohen's Kappa coefficient based on both manufacturer-recommended cut-offs (ELISA: 200 μg/g, FICA: 100 μg/g) and ROC-optimized cut-offs.Results:Of the 61 patients, 28 were male and 33 were female, with a median age of 48 (34, 61) years and a disease duration of 48 (12, 109) months; 43 had ulcerative colitis (UC) and 18 had Crohn's disease (CD) ; 35 were in remission and 26 were in the active stage. Median FC concentrations were 178.0 (30.0, 1 342.0) μg/g by ELISA and 67.2 (15.0, 275.6) μg/g by FICA. The area under the curve (AUC) for ELISA in diagnosing activity of IBD was 0.930, with a sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 96.2% at the optimal cut-off of 154.0 μg/g. The AUC for FICA was 0.784, with a sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 80.8% at the optimal cut-off of 81.2 μg/g. DeLong test showed that the overall diagnostic efficacy of ELISA was significantly superior to that of FICA ( Z = 2.550, P = 0.011). Spearman correlation analysis showed a correlation coefficient of 0.62 (95% CI: 0.41-0.73, P < 0.001) between ELISA and FICA results. The Cusum linearity test indicated a linear relationship between the two methods ( P = 0.291). Passing-Bablok regression yielded the equation y = -53.38 + 5.56x, indicating both significant constant and proportional systematic errors between ELISA and FICA, and the errors increased with the concentrations. Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated ELISA assay values were systematically higher than those of FICA (overall mean bias: 74.5%, 95% limits of agreement: -101.0% to 250.0%), with larger differences in active disease than remission (the mean bias: 100.4% vs. 48.0%). Classification consistency improved markedly when using ROC-optimized cut-offs compared with manufacturer-recommended cut-offs (Kappa: 0.608 vs. 0.474) . Conclusions:Both ELISA and FICA can effectively identify active IBD but exhibit concentration-dependent systematic bias (ELISA > FICA). The consistent use of a single assay is recommended for disease monitoring and ROC-optimized cut-offs are adopted to improve the accuracy of disease activity stratification.

One-day-old AA broilers were divided into five groups(15 chickens each,5 replicates per group):control(basic diet),three groups with low,medium,and high doses of crude extract of Flos sophorae and Fructus sophorae(100,150,200 mg/kg),and one group with Macleaya cordata extract(300 mg/kg).The 42-day trial measured intestinal enzyme activity,morphology,antioxidant and immune capacity,barrier function,and microbiota structure and diversity.Compared to the control and Macleaya cordata groups,the high-dose crude extract of Flos sophorae and Fructus sophorae group significantly increased trypsin activity in the duodenum,jejunum,and ileum(P＜0.05).It also reduced reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde levels,increased glu-tathione peroxidase activity,reduced tumor necrosis factor-α,increased interleukin-10,and elevated mRNA expression of tight junction protein-1 and mucin-2 in the jejunum(P＜0.05).Microbial di-versity analysis showed higher Shannon index,increased Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes,decreased Proteobacteria,and more beneficial bacteria in the high-dose group(P＜0.05).Supplementing 200 mg/kg of crude extract of Flos sophorae and Fructus sophorae enhances intestinal morpholo-gy and function,and promotes intestinal health,thereby increasing farming efficiency.

One hundred 1-day-old HY-LINE VARIETY BROWN were randomly divided into 5 groups:the blank group,the model group,the Baihuang Zhili decoction low-dose treatment group(1 g/kg),the Baihuang Zhili decoction medium-dose treatment group(2 g/kg)and the Baihuang Zhili decoction high-dose treatment group(4 g/kg).The results showed that:(1)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could restore the integrity of intestinal mucosal barrier structure and reduce inflammation.It significantly increased the expression of tight junction pro-teins ZO-1,Claudin-1 and Occludin in small intestine(P＜0.05),and significantly decreased the levels of DAO(diamine axidase)and D(-)-lactic acid(P＜0.05).(2)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly increase the number of goblet cells(P＜0.05).Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly increase the MUC2 levels of duodenum,and the MUC2 level of ileum in 1 g/kg group and 4 g/kg group was significantly increased(P＜0.05),the MUC2 levels of jejunum in 2 g/kg group were significantly increased(P＜0.05).(3)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction significantly decreased the sIgA level in duodenum and jeju-num(P＜0.05),and the sIgA level in ileum in 1 g/kg group was significantly decreased(P＜0.05).The IgG level in serum was significantly decreased(P＜0.05).Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly reduce the expression levels of intestinal immune-related genes(IL-1β,IL-2,IL-6,IL-8,TNF-α)(P＜0.05).It could significantly decrease the expression levels of immune-related factors(TNF-α,IFN-γ,IL-1β,IL-2)in tonsil of cecum(P＜0.05).(4)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could increase Ace,Chao and Shannon index of intestinal flora,reduce Simpson index of intestinal flora,and increase alpha diversity of intestinal microbes.It significantly decreased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria(P＜0.05),and significantly increased the rela-tive abundance of Campylobacterota(P＜0.05).It also significantly decreased the relative abun-dance of Lactobacillus(P＜0.05).In summary,Baihuang Zhili decoction can improve the damage of intestinal mechanical barrier,chemical barrier,immune barrier and microbial barrier caused by pul-lorum disease,and enhance the intestinal immunity.

One hundred 1-day-old HY-LINE VARIETY BROWN were randomly divided into 5 groups:the blank group,the model group,the Baihuang Zhili decoction low-dose treatment group(1 g/kg),the Baihuang Zhili decoction medium-dose treatment group(2 g/kg)and the Baihuang Zhili decoction high-dose treatment group(4 g/kg).The results showed that:(1)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could restore the integrity of intestinal mucosal barrier structure and reduce inflammation.It significantly increased the expression of tight junction pro-teins ZO-1,Claudin-1 and Occludin in small intestine(P＜0.05),and significantly decreased the levels of DAO(diamine axidase)and D(-)-lactic acid(P＜0.05).(2)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly increase the number of goblet cells(P＜0.05).Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly increase the MUC2 levels of duodenum,and the MUC2 level of ileum in 1 g/kg group and 4 g/kg group was significantly increased(P＜0.05),the MUC2 levels of jejunum in 2 g/kg group were significantly increased(P＜0.05).(3)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction significantly decreased the sIgA level in duodenum and jeju-num(P＜0.05),and the sIgA level in ileum in 1 g/kg group was significantly decreased(P＜0.05).The IgG level in serum was significantly decreased(P＜0.05).Baihuang Zhili decoction could significantly reduce the expression levels of intestinal immune-related genes(IL-1β,IL-2,IL-6,IL-8,TNF-α)(P＜0.05).It could significantly decrease the expression levels of immune-related factors(TNF-α,IFN-γ,IL-1β,IL-2)in tonsil of cecum(P＜0.05).(4)Compared with the model group,Baihuang Zhili decoction could increase Ace,Chao and Shannon index of intestinal flora,reduce Simpson index of intestinal flora,and increase alpha diversity of intestinal microbes.It significantly decreased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria(P＜0.05),and significantly increased the rela-tive abundance of Campylobacterota(P＜0.05).It also significantly decreased the relative abun-dance of Lactobacillus(P＜0.05).In summary,Baihuang Zhili decoction can improve the damage of intestinal mechanical barrier,chemical barrier,immune barrier and microbial barrier caused by pul-lorum disease,and enhance the intestinal immunity.