Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) are both chronic progressive respiratory diseases that cannot be completely cured. COPD is characterized by irreversible airflow limitation, chronic airway inflammation, and gradual decline in lung function, whereas PH is characterized by pulmonary vasoconstriction, remodeling, and infiltration of inflammatory cells. These diseases have similar pathological features, such as vascular hyperplasia, arteriolar contraction, and inflammatory infiltration. Despite these well-documented observations, the exact mechanisms underlying the occurrence and development of COPD and PH remain unclear. Evidence that mitochondrial dynamics imbalance is one major factor in the development of COPD and PH. Mitochondrial dynamics is precisely regulated by mitochondrial fusion proteins and fission proteins. When mitochondrial dynamics equilibrium is disrupted, it causes mitochondrial and even cell morphological dysfunction. Mitochondrial dynamics participates in various pathological processes for heart and lung disease. Mitochondrial dynamics may be different in the early and late stages of COPD and PH. In the early stages of the disease, mitochondrial fusion increases, inhibiting fission, and thereby compensatorily increasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. With the development of the disease, mitochondria decompensation causes excessive fission. Mitochondrial dynamics is involved in the development of COPD and PH in a spatiotemporal manner. Based on this understanding, treatment strategies for mitochondrial dynamics abnormalities may be different at different stages of COPD and PH disease. This article will provide new ideas for the potential treatment of related diseases.
Humans ; Mitochondrial Dynamics/physiology* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/metabolism* ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/metabolism* ; Mitochondria/metabolism* ; Animals

To examine the molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) and investigate the horizontal transmission of blaKPC and blaNDM genes for the prevention and treatment of CRKP. A total of 49 clinically isolated CRKP strains were retrospectively analyzed from January to December 2022 at The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. Phenotypic screening was performed using modified carbapenem inactivation assay (mCIM) and EDTA-carbapenem inactivation assay (eCIM). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was utilized to identify carbapenem resistance genes, β-lactamase resistance genes, and virulence genes, while multi-locus sequence analysis (MLST) was employed to assess the homology of CRKP strains. Conjugation experiments were conducted to infer the horizontal transmission mechanism of blaKPC and blaNDM genes. The results showed that the study included 49 CRKP strains, with 44 carrying blaKPC and 8 carrying blaNDM, Three strains were identified as blaKPC+ blaNDM-CRKP. In this study, 28 out of 49 CRKP strains (57.2%) were found to carry virulence genes. Additionally, one CRKP strain tested positive in the string test and was found to carry both Aerobactin and rmpA virulence genes. MLST results revealed a total of 5 ST types, with ST11 being predominant (41/49, 83.7%). Successful conjugation was observed in all 3 blaKPC-CRKP strains, while only 1 out of 3 blaNDM-CRKP strains showed successful conjugation. The transconjugant exhibited significantly reduced susceptibility to imipenem and cephalosporin antibiotics. In conclusion, the resistance mechanism of CRKP in this study is primarily attributed to the production of KPC enzymes, along with the presence of multiple β-lactamase resistance genes. Additionally, there is a local prevalence of hv-CRKP and blaKPC+ blaNDM-CRKP. blaKPC and blaNDM can be horizontally transmitted through plasmids, with varying efficiency among different strains.

Objective:To establish a prediction method of diopter based on sequence of ocular biological parameters.Methods:A stratified random cluster sampling method was used to extract the dataset. The dataset consisted of data collected from January 2022 to January 2023 by the Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, from children aged 5 to 13 years in 2 key schools and 2 general schools of Yangpu District, Shanghai. Children’s ocular biological parameters, including sex, age, diopter, axial length, corneal curvature, and anterior chamber depth were collected. The slope of the optimally fitted straight line was calculated using the least squares method. The least square-back propagation (BP) neural network model was established by combining baseline data and the pre-processed rate of the change of ocular biological parameters. The dataset was divided into the training set and the validation set according to the ratio of 8:2 for five-fold cross-validation. The model performance was evaluated by using the mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), correlation coefficient R, and coefficient of determination R2. Results:The optimal performances of R2, R, RMSE, MAE, and MSE of the least square-BP neural network model were 0.96, 0.981 9, 0.214 2, 0.139 9 D, 0.045 9, respectively. The regression equation between the predicted value and the true value of the diopter was y=0.97 x+ 0.014 8, R2=0.97, with good correlation. In the internal verification, MAE values of the diopter at three, six, nine, and twelve months of follow-up were 0.110 1, 0.136 0, 0.153 7, and 0.184 8 D, respectively, which achieved clinically acceptable performance (less than 0.25 D). In the external validation, the errors were less than 0.25 D at all ages. Conclusions:A prediction method of diopter based on sequence of ocular biological parameters was successfully developed.

To examine the molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) and investigate the horizontal transmission of blaKPC and blaNDM genes for the prevention and treatment of CRKP. A total of 49 clinically isolated CRKP strains were retrospectively analyzed from January to December 2022 at The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. Phenotypic screening was performed using modified carbapenem inactivation assay (mCIM) and EDTA-carbapenem inactivation assay (eCIM). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was utilized to identify carbapenem resistance genes, β-lactamase resistance genes, and virulence genes, while multi-locus sequence analysis (MLST) was employed to assess the homology of CRKP strains. Conjugation experiments were conducted to infer the horizontal transmission mechanism of blaKPC and blaNDM genes. The results showed that the study included 49 CRKP strains, with 44 carrying blaKPC and 8 carrying blaNDM, Three strains were identified as blaKPC+ blaNDM-CRKP. In this study, 28 out of 49 CRKP strains (57.2%) were found to carry virulence genes. Additionally, one CRKP strain tested positive in the string test and was found to carry both Aerobactin and rmpA virulence genes. MLST results revealed a total of 5 ST types, with ST11 being predominant (41/49, 83.7%). Successful conjugation was observed in all 3 blaKPC-CRKP strains, while only 1 out of 3 blaNDM-CRKP strains showed successful conjugation. The transconjugant exhibited significantly reduced susceptibility to imipenem and cephalosporin antibiotics. In conclusion, the resistance mechanism of CRKP in this study is primarily attributed to the production of KPC enzymes, along with the presence of multiple β-lactamase resistance genes. Additionally, there is a local prevalence of hv-CRKP and blaKPC+ blaNDM-CRKP. blaKPC and blaNDM can be horizontally transmitted through plasmids, with varying efficiency among different strains.

Objective To investigate the effects of probiotics combined with dietary intervention on pe-ripheral blood glucose and lipid metabolism indicators,placental tissue insulin signaling pathway proteins ex-pression and pregnant outcome in the patients with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM).Methods A total of 83 patients with GDM in this hospital from December 2021 to December 2022 were selected as the study sub-jects and divided into the probiotics group(probiotics combined with diet intervention,43 cases)and control group(simple diet intervention,40 cases)by the random number table method.The levels of peripheral blood glucose,lipid and insulin resistance related indicators before the intervention and in 8 weeks after the interven-tion were compared between the two groups.The histological changes of placenta were observed by HE stai-ning.The pathological indicators were compared between the two groups.The expression levels of insulin re-ceptor substrate-1(IRS-1),glucose transporter 4(GLUT4)and synaptosome-associated protein of 23 kDa(SNAP23)in placental tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry.The pregnant adverse outcomes were compared between the two groups,and the clinical efficacy of probiotics was evaluated.Results Compared with the control group,the levels of fasting blood glucose(FBG),fasting insulin(FINS),serum triglyceride(TG)and low density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)in 8 weeks after intervention in the probiotics group were significantly decreased(P＜0.05),and the level of serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)was significantly increased(P＜0.05).There were no significant differences in the incidence rates of poor villi maturation,thickening of dry villi arterioles and capillary filling in villi interstitial between the two groups(P＞0.05).Compared with the control group,the expression levels of IRS-1,GLUT4 and SNAP23 in placen-tal tissue of the probiotics group were significantly increased(P＜0.05).The incidence rates of neonatal hy-poglycemia and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in the probiotics group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P＜0.05).Conclusion Compared with simple dietary intervention,probiotics combined with dietary intervention has more advantages in improving glucose and lipid metabolism of GDM patients,moreo-ver reduces the adverse events occurrence in newborns.

Objective:To explore the value of coronary artery plaque progression parameters based on coronary CT angiography (CCTA) in predicting the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with non-obstructive coronary artery disease.Methods:The study included clinical, imaging, and prognosis (MACE) parameters of non-obstructive coronary artery disease patients who underwent CCTA at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from September 2010 to December 2022. Patients were grouped based on the occurrence of MACE, and differences in clinical data, plaque baseline, and progression parameters between the two groups were compared. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to identify factors that could effectively predict the occurrence of MACE in patients. Models were constructed using plaque baseline parameters, plaque progression parameters, and a combination of both. The concordance index-time curve, net reclassification improvement and integrated discrimination improvement were used to evaluate the risk stratification ability of the models.Results:A total of 258 patients were included, of whom 62 cases experienced MACE during the follow-up period. In comparison to the MACE(-) group, patients in the MACE(+) group exhibited longer lesion length, greater degree of stenosis, larger plaque total volume, calcified plaque volume, non-calcified plaque volume, fibrous plaque volume, total plaque burden, lipid-rich plaque burden, higher peri-coronary adipose tissue attenuation index (FAI), and annual change of diameter stenosis(ΔDS/y). There were also more cases of coronary artery disease reporting and data system upgrades and non-obstructive progression to obstructive status ( P<0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that FAI, ΔDS/y, and non-obstructive progression to obstructive status were independent predictors of MACE occurrence. Concordance index-time curve results indicated that the combined model had a better predictive efficacy for MACE in patients with non-obstructive coronary artery disease compared to models based on plaque baseline parameters and plaque progression parameters. Conclusion:The plaque progression parameters and FAI based on CCTA have the potential to predict the high-risk population for MACE in patients with non-obstructive coronary artery disease, demonstrating good risk stratification value.

AIM: To investigate the effects of agkis-trodon halys venom anti-tumor component (AHVAC-) on the biological behavior of gastric cancer MKN-28 cells. METHODS: Gastric cancer MKN-28 cells were treated with the experimental concentrations (5, 10, 15 μg/mL) of AHAVC- for 24 h. Cell proliferation and toxicity assay (cell counting kit-8, CCK-8) was used to detect the inhibition rates of the cells in different concentrations of AHVAC-. The migration ability of the cells was evaluated by wound-healing and Transwell assay. The apoptosis were observed by laser confocal microscopy with annexin V-mCherry/DAPI double staining, and the apoptosis rates were analyzed by flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/PI double fluorescence staining. The protein level of Caspease-3 was determined by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with normal control group, the results of AHVAC- concentration groups showed that with the increase of AHVAC- concentration, the proliferative activity of MN-28 cells decreased gradually (P<0.01), the cell migration ability decreased gradually (P<0.01), and the cell apoptosis rate increased (P<0.05). The expression of apoptosis-related protein Caspease-3 was up-regulated (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: AHVAC- inhibits proliferation and migration of gastric cancer MSN-28 cells and induces apoptosis.

IKBKG is the essential modulator for nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB) signaling pathway, and mutations within this gene can lead to anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and immunodeficiency (EDA-ID). Here we report a male patient, who presented with mild frontal bossing, sparse hair, skin pigmentation, conical teeth, and recurrent infections involving bacteria, fungi, and viruses after one month of age, together with hypogammaglobulinemia. These symptoms were consistent with the phenotype of EDA-ID. Genetic analysis revealed a hemizygous mutation c.1249T > G (p.Cys417Gly) in exon 10 of the IKBKG gene in the patient. The mother of the patient was identified as heterozygous carriers of the same mutation. Immunological assessment revealed a significant reduction in memory B cells. The patient showed no skewed TCR diversity. PHA-induced T-cell proliferation was impaired. IFN-γ secretion by Th cells was significantly reduced after PHA stimulation. IκBα degradation rate retained the same in the patient. We summarized the clinical features of the patient and conducted immunological analysis, in order to increase pediatricians′awareness of this rare disease. For boys with early-onset recurrent infections together with ectodermal dysplasia, IKBKG mutation should be considered. In addition, genetic analysis is needed to exclude pseudogene interference and functional evaluations are required.

OBJECTIVE To develop a questionnaire of the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice （KAP） for patients receiving oral anticoagulant therapy. METHODS Under the guidance of the theory of KAP， literature analysis and interview method were used to design the initial KAP questionnaire for patients treated with oral anticoagulants. Delphi method was adopted to consult the initial questionnaire and modify the questionnaire based on expert suggestions to form the final questionnaire. RESULTS Two rounds of consultation were conducted with 18 experts， and 18 questionnaires were sent out and recovered in each round， so the positive coefficient of experts was 100%. The expert authority coefficient was 0.94. The average importance scores for all dimensions， factors， and items of the questionnaire in both rounds were ≥4 points. The coefficient of variation was ≤0.25. The Kendall’s concordance coefficient for the overall questionnaire and the three dimensions of knowledge， attitude， and practice ranged from 0.09 to 0.34 （all P＜0.05）. Following the first round of expert consultation， four items were modified， two items were deleted， and five items were added； after the second round of expert consultation， ten items were modified. The final version of the questionnaire included three dimensions （knowledge， attitudes， and practice）， 17 questionnaire factors， and 40 items. CONCLUSIONS The questionnaire has high reliability and scientific validity with relatively concentrated expert opinions. It is suitable for assessing the knowledge， attitudes， and practice status of patients receiving oral anticoagulant therapy.