Objective To investigate the efficacy of early, short-term, low-dose corticosteroid administration for the prevention and treatment of early acute lung injury (EALI) in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of patients who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, from January 2019 to January 2022. Patients were divided into an early steroid therapy group and an observation group based on whether they received corticosteroids in the early postoperative period. In the early steroid therapy group, in addition to standard postoperative care, patients received a low-dose intravenous push of methylprednisolone (80-120 mg/d) for 3 consecutive days. In the observation group, patients received standard postoperative care without intravenous corticosteroids for the first 3 days. Chest plain CT scans were performed on postoperative day (POD) 1 and POD 3 or 4 to evaluate lung injury. CT scores and the incidence of postoperative EALI were recorded. Results A total of 521 patients were included (268 males, 253 females; age range: 11-80 years). There were 318 patients in the observation group and 203 in the early steroid therapy group. On POD 1, the incidence of EALI was 16.0% in the observation group and 13.8% in the early steroid therapy group, with no statistical difference (P=0.486). Correspondingly, there was no statistical difference in chest CT scores among EALI-positive patients between the two groups (P=0.927). On POD 3-4, the incidence of EALI was significantly lower in the early steroid therapy group (22.7%) compared to the observation group (33.6%) (P=0.007). Although chest CT scores among EALI-positive patients were lower in the early steroid therapy group, the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.377). The overall incidence of EALI within the first 4 postoperative days was significantly lower in the early steroid therapy group (26.1%) than in the observation group (37.4%) (P=0.007). Radiological progression (defined as new-onset EALI or progression of existing EALI) occurred in 14.8% of the early steroid therapy group, significantly lower than the 28.9% in the observation group (P<0.001). The early steroid therapy group had a shorter postoperative length of stay (P<0.001), while there was no statistical difference in the incidence of poor wound healing between the groups (P=0.762). Conclusion Early postoperative corticosteroid use effectively reduces the incidence of EALI on POD 3-4, lowers the risk of radiological progression, and decreases the overall incidence of postoperative EALI. This is achieved without prolonging the length of stay or increasing the risk of poor wound healing. Therefore, early administration of low-dose corticosteroids is beneficial in suppressing the occurrence and progression of EALI. Its early use is recommended for patients at high risk for postoperative EALI.

BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that there is a close relationship between pyroptosis,inflammatory factors and osteoporosis.OBJECTIVE:To review the effects of pyroptosis and inflammatory factors on the pathogenesis of osteoporosis from the perspectives of osteogenic differentiation and osteoclastic differentiation,based on an overview of pyroptosis in relation to the interaction of relevant inflammatory factors.METHODS:The first author used the computer to search the literature published by each database until 2024,and searched CNKI,WanFang,VIP and PubMed databases with the search terms of"pyroptosis,inflammatory factors,osteoporosis,osteoblast,osteoclast,bone metabolism,signaling pathway,review"in Chinese and English.A total of 79 papers were finally included according to the inclusion criteria.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The progression of osteoporosis is closely related to inflammation,in which pyroptosis plays a key role.Immune cells induce pyroptosis through apoptosis pathway,promote the secretion of inflammatory factors such as interleukin-18,interleukin-1β and NLRP3,build an inflammatory immune microenvironment,and regulate bone metabolism through complex signaling pathways,resulting in enhanced bone absorption and reduced bone formation,thereby leading to osteoporosis.Previous studies have shown that inhibiting pyroptosis is anti-inflammatory and slows the progression of osteoporosis,and it has been shown to improve inflammatory bone loss in vitro and in animal models.At present,research on pyroptosis and osteoporosis is limited.On the one hand,the exact mechanism of osteoporosis and the pathogenesis of pyroptosis are unknown,and the specific pathways and regulatory mechanisms remain to be understood.On the other hand,therapeutic strategies targeting pyroptosis are still theoretical,not clinically proven,and drug side effects are unknown.In the future,the research focus is to further explore the pathogenesis,especially the mechanism of pyroptosis,identify potential therapeutic targets,further study the pyroptosis signaling pathway and Gasdermin protein,and develop new drugs to improve the therapeutic effect in patients with osteoporosis.

BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that there is a close relationship between pyroptosis,inflammatory factors and osteoporosis.OBJECTIVE:To review the effects of pyroptosis and inflammatory factors on the pathogenesis of osteoporosis from the perspectives of osteogenic differentiation and osteoclastic differentiation,based on an overview of pyroptosis in relation to the interaction of relevant inflammatory factors.METHODS:The first author used the computer to search the literature published by each database until 2024,and searched CNKI,WanFang,VIP and PubMed databases with the search terms of"pyroptosis,inflammatory factors,osteoporosis,osteoblast,osteoclast,bone metabolism,signaling pathway,review"in Chinese and English.A total of 79 papers were finally included according to the inclusion criteria.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The progression of osteoporosis is closely related to inflammation,in which pyroptosis plays a key role.Immune cells induce pyroptosis through apoptosis pathway,promote the secretion of inflammatory factors such as interleukin-18,interleukin-1β and NLRP3,build an inflammatory immune microenvironment,and regulate bone metabolism through complex signaling pathways,resulting in enhanced bone absorption and reduced bone formation,thereby leading to osteoporosis.Previous studies have shown that inhibiting pyroptosis is anti-inflammatory and slows the progression of osteoporosis,and it has been shown to improve inflammatory bone loss in vitro and in animal models.At present,research on pyroptosis and osteoporosis is limited.On the one hand,the exact mechanism of osteoporosis and the pathogenesis of pyroptosis are unknown,and the specific pathways and regulatory mechanisms remain to be understood.On the other hand,therapeutic strategies targeting pyroptosis are still theoretical,not clinically proven,and drug side effects are unknown.In the future,the research focus is to further explore the pathogenesis,especially the mechanism of pyroptosis,identify potential therapeutic targets,further study the pyroptosis signaling pathway and Gasdermin protein,and develop new drugs to improve the therapeutic effect in patients with osteoporosis.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of donation-related adverse reactions, donation behavior, and contributions to the blood supply among donors aged 56-65 years following extension of the upper age limit for voluntary blood donation, and to provide real-world evidence for optimizing blood donation age policies in China. Methods: A multicenter retrospective cohort was established using blood donation databases from Hainan, Shenzhen, and Jiangxi. A total of 1 180 767 donors contributing 2 020 407 whole-blood and apheresis donations were included. Donations were classified by donor age at each donation into the 18-55-year and 56-65-year groups. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to compare the risks of overall, local, and systemic donation-related adverse reactions between the two age groups. Restricted cubic spline analysis was used to assess the continuous association between donor age and the risk of overall adverse reactions. Poisson GEE models were used to compare annual donation frequency, and donation participation and contributions to the blood supply among donors aged 56-65 years were evaluated. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Blood Transfusion, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (No.2025012) and registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2500114960). Results: A total of 1 960 711 donations were included in the 18-55-year group and 59 696 in the 56-65-year group. The overall donation-related adverse reaction rates were 3.890‰and 0.704‰, respectively. Multivariable GEE analysis showed that, compared with donors aged 18-55 years, those aged 56-65 years had lower risks of overall adverse reactions (adjusted OR=0.294, 95%CI: 0.217-0.398, P<0.001) and systemic adverse reactions (adjusted OR=0.163, 95%CI: 0.101-0.263, P<0.001), whereas no statistically significant difference was observed in the risk of local adverse reactions (adjusted OR=1.337, 95%CI: 0.487-3.670, P=0.573). Donor age was nonlinearly associated with the risk of overall adverse reactions (P overall<0.001, P nonlinear<0.001), with the risk generally decreasing with increasing age between 18 and 65 years. The mean annual donation frequency was higher among donors aged 56-65 years than among those aged 18-55 years (1.63 vs 1.24 donations per year; adjusted IRR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.30-1.39, P<0.001). During the study period, donors aged 56-65 years contributed 2.95% of all donations; their whole-blood donations and whole-blood collection volume accounted for 2.36% and 2.37% of the corresponding totals, respectively. Conclusion: Under current health screening and standardized donor management, donors aged 56-65 years did not show an increased risk of short-term donation-related adverse reactions and demonstrated a higher annual donation frequency, together with a measurable contribution to the blood supply. These findings support appropriately extending the upper age limit for voluntary blood donation under strict health screening to broaden the donor pool and supplement the blood supply.

The Chinese Pharmacopoeia is the legal technical standard which should be followed during the research, production, use, and administration of drugs. At present, the new edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia is planned to be promulgated and implemented. This article summarizes and analyzes the main characteristics and the content of updates and amendments of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2025 Edition(Volume Ⅰ), to provide a reference for the correct understanding and accurate implementation the new edition of the pharmacopoeia.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD)-associated anemia (CKD-anemia) is associated with poor survival, and hemoglobin targets are often not achieved with current therapies. Phase 3 trials have demonstrated the treatment efficacy of roxadustat for CKD-anemia. This phase 4 study aims to evaluate the long-term (52-week) safety and effectiveness of roxadustat in a broad real-world patient population with CKD-anemia with and without dialysis in China. METHODS: This Phase 4 multicenter, open-label, prospective study, conducted from 24 November 2020 to 11 November 2022, evaluated the long-term safety and effectiveness of roxadustat for CKD-anemia in China. Patients aged ≥18 years with CKD-anemia with or without dialysis were included. The initial oral dose was 70-120 mg (weight-based followed by dose adjustment) over 52 weeks. The primary endpoint was safety based on adverse events (AEs). The secondary endpoints were hemoglobin changes from baseline and the proportion of patients who achieved mean hemoglobin ≥100 g/L. Effectiveness evaluable populations 1 (EE1) and EE2 included roxadustat-naïve and previously roxadustat-treated patients, respectively. The safety analysis set (SAF) included all patients who received ≥1 occasion. RESULTS: The EE1, EE2, and SAF populations included 1804, 193, and 2021 patients, respectively. In the SAF, the mean age was 50 ± 14 years, and 1087 patients (53.8%) were male. Mean baseline hemoglobin was 96.9 ± 14.0 g/L in EE1 and 100.3 ± 12.9 g/L in EE2. In EE1, the mean (95% confidence interval) hemoglobin changes from baseline over weeks 24-36 and 36-52 were 14.2 (13.5-14.9) g/L and 14.3 (13.5-15.0) g/L, respectively. Over weeks 24-36 and 36-52, 83.3% and 86.1% of patients in EE1 and 82.7% and 84.7% in EE2 achieved mean hemoglobin ≥100 g/L, respectively. In the SAF, 1643 (81.3%) patients experienced treatment-emergent AEs (TEAEs). Overall, 219 (10.8%) patients experienced drug-related TEAEs. Thirty-eight (1.9%) patients died of TEAEs (unrelated to the study drug). Vascular access thrombosis was uncommon. CONCLUSIONS: Roxadustat (52 weeks) increased hemoglobin and maintained the treatment target in Chinese patients with CKD-anemia with acceptable safety, supporting its use in real-world settings. REGISTRATION Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( www.chictr.org.cn ) ChiCTR2100046322; CDE ( www.chinadrugtrials.org.cn ) CTR20201568.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Anemia/etiology* ; Middle Aged ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/complications* ; Glycine/adverse effects* ; Isoquinolines/adverse effects* ; Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Adult ; Hemoglobins/metabolism* ; Treatment Outcome ; China ; Registries ; East Asian People

BACKGROUND: While emotional distress, encompassing anxiety and depression, has been associated with negative clinical outcomes, its impact across various clinical departments and general hospitals has been less explored. Previous studies with limited sample sizes have examined the effectiveness of specific treatments (e.g., antidepressants) rather than a systemic management strategy for outcome improvement in non-psychiatric inpatients. To enhance the understanding of the importance of addressing mental health care needs among non-psychiatric patients in general hospitals, this study retrospectively investigated the impacts of emotional distress and the effects of early detection and management of depression and anxiety on hospital length of stay (LOS) and rate of long LOS (LLOS, i.e., LOS >30 days) in a large sample of non-psychiatric inpatients. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 487,871 inpatients from 20 non-psychiatric departments of a general hospital. They were divided, according to whether they underwent a novel strategy to manage emotional distress which deployed the Huaxi Emotional Distress Index (HEI) for brief screening with grading psychological services (BS-GPS), into BS-GPS ( n = 178,883) and non-BS-GPS ( n = 308,988) cohorts. The LOS and rate of LLOS between the BS-GPS and non-BS-GPS cohorts and between subcohorts with and without clinically significant anxiety and/or depression (CSAD, i.e., HEI score ≥11 on admission to the hospital) in the BS-GPS cohort were compared using univariable analyses, multilevel analyses, and/or propensity score-matched analyses, respectively. RESULTS: The detection rate of CSAD in the BS-GPS cohort varied from 2.64% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.49%-2.81%) to 20.50% (95% CI: 19.43%-21.62%) across the 20 departments, with a average rate of 5.36%. Significant differences were observed in both the LOS and LLOS rates between the subcohorts with CSAD (12.7 days, 535/9590) and without CSAD (9.5 days, 3800/169,293) and between the BS-GPS (9.6 days, 4335/178,883) and non-BS-GPS (10.8 days, 11,483/308,988) cohorts. These differences remained significant after controlling for confounders using propensity score-matched comparisons. A multilevel analysis indicated that BS-GPS was negatively associated with both LOS and LLOS after controlling for sociodemographics and the departments of patient discharge and remained negatively associated with LLOS after controlling additionally for the year of patient discharge. CONCLUSION Emotional distress significantly prolonged the LOS and increased the LLOS of non-psychiatric inpatients across most departments and general hospitals. These impacts were moderated by the implementation of BS-GPS. Thus, BS-GPS has the potential as an effective, resource-saving strategy for enhancing mental health care and optimizing medical resources in general hospitals.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Male ; Length of Stay/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Psychological Distress ; Inpatients/psychology* ; Aged ; Anxiety/diagnosis* ; Depression/diagnosis*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of early antimicrobial therapy on the prognosis of patients with suspected sepsis in emergency and outpatient settings. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted. Patients with suspected sepsis admitted to the emergency department of Taizhou Hospital, Zhejiang Province, from May 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023, were enrolled. Participants were divided into an early group (0-1 hour) and a delayed group (> 1 hour) according to duration from admission to antimicrobial administration. General information, initial vital signs, laboratory parameters within 24 hours after admission, disease severity scores, vasoactive drug usage, and clinical outcomes of the patient were collected. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze 28-day survival. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to identify independent risk factors for prognosis of the patients with suspected sepsis in emergency and outpatient settings. Sensitivity analyses were conducted through subgroup analyses. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients with suspected sepsis were enrolled in the analysis, with 66 patients in the early group and 77 in the delayed group. No statistically significant differences were observed in baseline characteristics (age, gender, vital signs, laboratory parameters, disease severity scores) or clinical outcomes [vasoactive drug usage rate, mechanical ventilation duration, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, total hospitalization duration] between the two groups. The 28-day mortality, multidrug resistance rate and sepsis confirmation rate did not differ significantly between the early group and delay group [28-day mortality: 18.2% (12/66) vs. 20.8% (16/77), multidrug resistance rate: 3.0% (2/66) vs. 2.6% (2/77), sepsis confirmation rate: 87.9% (58/66) vs. 88.3% (68/77), all P > 0.05]. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed no difference in 28-day cumulative survival between the two groups (Log-Rank test: χ² = 2.528, P = 0.112). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression identified vasoactive drug usage [hazard ration (HR) = 2.465, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 1.019-5.961, P = 0.045] and endotracheal intubation (HR = 5.516, 95%CI was 2.195-13.858, P < 0.001) as independent risk factors for 28-day death of the patients with suspected sepsis in emergency and outpatient settings. Further exploration of the impact of early antimicrobial therapy on 28-day death in different subgroups of the patients with suspected sepsis in emergency and outpatient settings was conducted through subgroup analysis. The results showed that in the patients with different ages (< 60 years old: HR = 1.214, 95%CI was 0.535-2.751, P = 0.643; ≥ 60 years old: HR = 2.085, 95%CI was 0.233-18.668, P = 0.511), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores (< 6: HR = 1.411, 95%CI was 0.482-4.128, P = 0.530; ≥ 6: HR = 0.869, 95%CI was 0.292-2.587, P = 0.801), shock indexes (< 1: HR = 1.095, 95%CI was 0.390-3.077, P = 0.863; ≥ 1: HR = 1.364, 95%CI was 0.458-4.059, P = 0.577) and whether diagnosed with sepsis or not (yes: HR = 0.943, 95%CI was 0.059-15.091, P = 0.967; no: HR = 1.207, 95%CI was 0.554-2.628, P = 0.636) subgroups, early usage of antibiotics had not shown any advantage in improving prognosis compared with delayed usage. CONCLUSION Early antimicrobial therapy does not improve the prognosis of patients with suspected sepsis in emergency and outpatient settings.
Humans ; Sepsis/drug therapy* ; Prospective Studies ; Prognosis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Outpatients ; Female ; Male ; Anti-Infective Agents/therapeutic use* ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Treatment Outcome

Alzheimer's disease(AD)is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with hidden onset.Recent researches have shown that apolipoprotein E4(APOE4)is a high-risk genetic factor of AD,and the clinical symptoms in APOE4 genotype AD patients are closely related to metabolic disorders.This paper reviewed the role of APOE4 in the pathogenesis of AD,and it is indicated that APOE4 contributes to the injury of the cerebral blood-brain barrier,is associated with the disorder of cerebral glucose and lipid metabolism,and leads to the damage of the scavenging ability of microglia.Moreover,this paper explored the approach of early intervention of AD with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)based on the APOE4 pathogenesis.Based on the pathogenesis of AD being deficiency in origin and excess in superficiality,and under the guidance of the principle of prevention before illness in TCM,it is proposed that early TCM intervention for APOE4 genotype AD patients with metabolic disorders can be performed through improving the phlegm-dampness constitution,by focusing on insulin resistance-related indicators,and with traditional Chinese drug therapy based on syndrome differentiation alone or together with comprehensive management of exercises,diet control and drug interventions,thus to reduce or delay the onset of APOE4 genotype AD.