Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is a critical environmental factor that currently affects human health. It primarily enters the body through inhalation and can induce adverse health effects in multiple systems, including respiratory, cardiovascular, nervous, and digestive systems. The homeostasis of gut microbiota is crucial for human health, and gut microbiota may exert multiple effects through the regulation of immune function, metabolic balance, and neural signal transmission. Recently, more and more studies have indicated that exposure to PM_2.5 may alter the composition and richness of gut microbiota and play a crucial role in the development and progression of various diseases through multiple pathways. Given the close interaction between PM_2.5 exposure and gut microbiota, we comprehensively reviewed the effects of ambient PM_2.5 exposure on gut microbiota and the potential underlying mechanisms based on existing epidemiological and toxicological studies. Additionally, the role of gut microbiota in the adverse health effects induced by PM_2.5 exposure, particularly in the context of gut-lung, gut-brain and gut-liver axis were also explored here.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum infections in wild rodents in schistosomiasis-endemic areas of China, so as to provide insights into formulation of technical guidelines for monitoring of and the precise control strategy for S. japonicum infections in wild rodents during the elimination phase. Methods Two administrative villages where schistosomiasis was historically highly prevalent were selected each from Dongzhi County, Anhui Province, and Duchang County, Jiangxi Province as study villages. Wild rodents were captured from study villages with baited traps or cages at night in June and September, 2021. The number of rodents captured was recorded, and the rodent species was characterized based on morphologi-cal characteristics. Liver tissues were sampled from captured rodents for macroscopical observation of the presence of egg granu- lomas, and S. japonicum infection was detected simultaneously using liver tissue homogenate microscopy, examinations of mesenteric tissues for parasites, and modified Kato-Katz thick smear technique (Kato-Katz technique). A positive S. japonicum infection was defined as detection of S. japonicum eggs or adult worms by any of these methods. The rate of wild rodent capture and prevalence of S. japonicum infections in wild rodents were compared in different study villages and at different time periods, and the detection of S. japonicum infections in wild rodents was compared by different assays. Results The overall rate of wild ro- dent capture was 8.28% (237/2 861) in Dongzhi County, and the wild rodent capture rates were 9.24% (133/1 439) and 7.31% (104/1 422) in two study villages (χ² = 3.503, P = 0.061), and were 8.59% (121/1 409) and 7.99% (116/1 452) in June and September, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.337, P = 0.561). The overall rate of wild rodent capture was 3.72% (77/2 072) in Duchang County, and the wild rodent capture rates were 6.91% (67/970) and 0.91% (10/1 102) in two study villages (χ² = 51.901, P < 0.001), and were 4.13% (39/945) and 3.37% (38/1 127) in June and September, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.815, P = 0.365). Rattus norvegicus was the predominant rodent species captured in both counties, accounting for 70.04% (166/237) of all captured wild rodents in Dongzhi County and 88.31% (68/77) in Duchang County. No S. japonicum infection was detected in wild rodents captured in Duchang County. Nevertheless, the overall prevalence of S. japonicum infections was 51.05% (121/237) in wild rodents captured in Dongzhi County, with prevalence rates of 50.38% (67/133) and 51.92% (54/104) in two study villages (χ² = 0.098, P = 0.755), and 54.31% (63/116) and 47.93% (58/121) in September and June, 2021, respectively (χ² = 0.964, P = 0.326). Of 237 wild rodents captured in Dongzhi County, there were 140 (59.07%) rodents with visible hepatic egg granulomas, 117 (49.47%) tested positive for S. japonicum eggs by liver tissue homogenate microscopy, 34 (14.35%) tested positive for S. japonicum eggs with Kato-Katz technique; however, no adult S. japonicum worms were detected in mesenteric tissues. In addition, hepatic egg granulomas were found in all wild rodents tested positive for S. japonicum eggs with liver tissue homogenate microscopy. Conclusions The rate of wild rodent capture and prevalence of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents vary greatly in schistosomiasis-endemic areas of China, and the prevalence of S. japonicum infection is slightly higher in wild rodents captured in autumn than in summer. Liver tissue is recommended as the preferred sample for surveillance of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents, and a combination of macroscopical observation of hepatic egg granulomas and liver tissue homogenate microscopy may be a standard method for surveillance of S. japonicum infection in wild rodents.

This article reports a case diagnosed with a large placental chorioangioma during the mid-trimester of pregnancy. The condition of this case progressed rapidly, with complications of edema, severe anemia, and severe heart failure, presenting a critical condition. After multidisciplinary consultation and discussion, amniotic fluid reduction and intrauterine fetal blood transfusion were performed at 27 weeks and 1 day of gestation to alleviate maternal and fetal symptoms. An emergency cesarean section was performed due to placental abruption 25 h after the operation, delivering an extremely preterm infant. The infant was diagnosed with fetal/newborn alloimmune thrombocytopenia caused by positive anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies after ineffective multiple platelet transfusions within three days after birth. The infant's condition improved after the transfusion of platelets negative for anti-HLA antibodies. This case was complicated by multiple high-risk factors, with an extremely high risk of fetal and postnatal death. Successful rescue through multidisciplinary collaboration was achieved, and both mother and child recovered well after the operation. It suggests that in clinical practice, attention should be paid to large chorioangiomas, and regular monitoring of the chorioangioma and fetal intrauterine development is necessary. For fetuses and newborns with thrombocytopenia, especially those with ineffective platelet transfusions, the detection of platelet antibodies should be emphasized, and while considering anti-platelet specific antibodies, the role of HLA antibodies should also be considered.

Objective To compare and analyze clinical effects of three correction methods in type Ⅲnipple retraction.Methods A total of 93 patients with type Ⅲ nipple retraction were retrospectively enrolled at Clifford Hospital between May 2018 and December 2023.Based on the different surgical methods employed,they were categorized into three groups:group A(silk traction method,n=30),group B(areola double-flap method,n=31),and group C(areola single-flap method,n=32).The study compared the operation time,therapeutic efficacy,hemodynamic disorders,improvement in nipple appearance and function,complications,patient satisfac-tion,and recurrence rates among these three groups.Results The operation duration was significantly longer in group B compared to groups A and C(P<0.05).Group C exhibited a significantly higher total response rate than groups A and B(P<0.05),while no significant difference was observed between groups A and B(P>0.05).There were no significant differences in the incidence of hemodynamic disorders among the three groups(P>0.05).The improvement scores for nipple appearance and function were significantly higher in group C compared to groups A and B(P<0.05),with no significant difference between groups A and B(P>0.05).The incidence of complications was lower,satisfaction was higher,both being statistically significant,in group C compared to groups A and B(P<0.05),but there were no significant differences in the incidence of complications or satisfaction between groups A and B(P>0.05).The recurrence rate was significantly lower in group B and group C than in group A(P<0.05).Conclusion The correction effect of the areola single-flap method is superior to that of the silk trac-tion method and areola double-flap method in patients with type Ⅲ nipple retraction,thereby enhancing clinical efficacy,patient satisfaction,nipple aesthetics,and functionality while reducing complications and recurrence rates.

Objective:To explore the drugs and clinical characteristics causing drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in recent years, as well as identify drug-induced liver failure, and chronic DILI risk factors, in order to better manage them timely.Methods:A retrospective investigation and analysis was conducted on 224 cases diagnosed with DILI and followed up for at least six months between January 2018 and December 2020. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for drug-induced liver failure and chronic DILI.Results:Traditional Chinese medicine (accounting for 62.5%), herbal medicine (accounting for 84.3% of traditional Chinese medicine), and some Chinese patent medicines were the main causes of DILI found in this study. Severe and chronic DILI was associated with cholestatic type. Preexisting gallbladder disease, initial total bilirubin, initial prothrombin time, and initial antinuclear antibody titer were independent risk factors for DILI. Prolonged time interval between alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) falling from the peak to half of the peak (T 0.5ALP and T 0.5ALT) was an independent risk factor for chronic DILI [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)?=?0.787, 95%CI: 0.697~0.878, P ?

Background/Aims: Previous studies have shown that diet and physical activity can influence constipation. However, the combined effect of diet and physical activity on constipation remains unclear. Methods: Constipation was defined based on stool consistency and frequency, while overall diet quality was assessed using Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 scores. Participants were categorized into low (metabolic equivalent [MET]-min/wk < 500) and high physical activitygroups (MET-min/wk ≥ 500). The association between diet and constipation across physical activity groups was analyzed using surveylogistic regression and restricted cubic splines. Results: Higher HEI-2015 scores were associated with reduced constipation risk in the high physical activity group when constipation was defined by stool consistency (odds ratio [OR], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-0.99). However, in the low physical activity group, increased HEI-2015 scores did not significantly affect constipation risk (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.97-1.05). Similar results were found when constipation was defined based on stool frequency. In the high physical activity group, increased HEI-2015 scores were significantly associated with a reduced constipation risk (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98). Conversely, in the low physical activity group, increased HEI-2015 scores did not affect the risk of constipation (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.90-1.03). Conclusions Our findings suggest that a higher HEI-2015 score is negatively associated with constipation among individuals with high physical activity levels but not among those with low physical activity levels. This association was consistent when different definitions of constipation were used. These results highlight the importance of combining healthy diet with regular physical activity to alleviate constipation.

Objective:To compare the differences in the prevalence of mild micro-hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) among patients with cirrhosis by using the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) and the Stroop smartphone application (Encephal App) test.Methods:This prospective, multi-center, real-world study was initiated by the National Clinical Medical Research Center for Infectious Diseases and the Portal Hypertension Alliance and registered with International ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05140837). 354 cases of cirrhosis were enrolled in 19 hospitals across the country. PHES (including digital connection tests A and B, digital symbol tests, trajectory drawing tests, and serial management tests) and the Stroop test were conducted in all of them. PHES was differentiated using standard diagnostic criteria established by the two studies in China and South Korea. The Stroop test was evaluated based on the criteria of the research and development team. The impact of different diagnostic standards or methods on the incidence of MHE in patients with cirrhosis was analyzed. Data between groups were differentiated using the t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and χ2 test. A kappa test was used to compare the consistency between groups. Results:After PHES, the prevalence of MHE among 354 cases of cirrhosis was 78.53% and 15.25%, respectively, based on Chinese research standards and Korean research normal value standards. However, the prevalence of MHE was 56.78% based on the Stroop test, and the differences in pairwise comparisons among the three groups were statistically significant (kappa = -0.064, P < 0.001). Stratified analysis revealed that the MHE prevalence in three groups of patients with Child-Pugh classes A, B, and C was 74.14%, 83.33%, and 88.24%, respectively, according to the normal value standards of Chinese researchers, while the MHE prevalence rates in three groups of patients with Child-Pugh classes A, B, and C were 8.29%, 23.53%, and 38.24%, respectively, according to the normal value standards of Korean researchers. Furthermore, the prevalence rates of MHE in the three groups of patients with Child-Pugh grades A, B, and C were 52.68%, 58.82%, and 73.53%, respectively, according to the Stroop test standard. However, among the results of each diagnostic standard, the prevalence of MHE showed an increasing trend with an increasing Child-Pugh grade. Further comparison demonstrated that the scores obtained by the number connection test A and the number symbol test were consistent according to the normal value standards of the two studies in China and South Korea ( Z = -0.982, -1.702; P = 0.326, 0.089), while the other three sub-tests had significant differences ( P < 0.001). Conclusion:The prevalence rate of MHE in the cirrhotic population is high, but the prevalence of MHE obtained by using different diagnostic criteria or methods varies greatly. Therefore, in line with the current changes in demographics and disease spectrum, it is necessary to enroll a larger sample size of a healthy population as a control. Moreover, the establishment of more reliable diagnostic scoring criteria will serve as a basis for obtaining accurate MHE incidence and formulating diagnosis and treatment strategies in cirrhotic populations.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of serological indicators and evaluate the diagnostic value of a new established combined serological model on identifying the minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) in patients with compensated cirrhosis.Methods:This prospective multicenter study enrolled 263 compensated cirrhotic patients from 23 hospitals in 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of China between October 2021 and August 2022. Clinical data and laboratory test results were collected, and the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was calculated. Ammonia level was corrected to the upper limit of normal (AMM-ULN) by the baseline blood ammonia measurements/upper limit of the normal reference value. MHE was diagnosed by combined abnormal number connection test-A and abnormal digit symbol test as suggested by Guidelines on the management of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhosis. The patients were randomly divided (7∶3) into training set ( n=185) and validation set ( n=78) based on caret package of R language. Logistic regression was used to establish a combined model of MHE diagnosis. The diagnostic performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve. The internal verification was carried out by the Bootstrap method ( n=200). AUC comparisons were achieved using the Delong test. Results:In the training set, prevalence of MHE was 37.8% (70/185). There were statistically significant differences in AMM-ULN, albumin, platelet, alkaline phosphatase, international normalized ratio, MELD score and education between non-MHE group and MHE group (all P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that AMM-ULN [odds ratio ( OR)=1.78, 95% confidence interval ( CI) 1.05-3.14, P=0.038] and MELD score ( OR=1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.20, P=0.002) were independent risk factors for MHE, and the AUC for predicting MHE were 0.663, 0.625, respectively. Compared with the use of blood AMM-ULN and MELD score alone, the AUC of the combined model of AMM-ULN, MELD score and education exhibited better predictive performance in determining the presence of MHE was 0.755, the specificity and sensitivity was 85.2% and 55.7%, respectively. Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve showed that the model had good calibration ( P=0.733). The AUC for internal validation of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.752. In the validation set, the AUC of the combined model for diagnosing MHE was 0.794, and Hosmer-Lemeshow test showed good calibration ( P=0.841). Conclusion:Use of the combined model including AMM-ULN, MELD score and education could improve the predictive efficiency of MHE among patients with compensated cirrhosis.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effects of the national centralized drug procurement （NCDP） policy on drug availability and the structure of drug use in public hospitals. METHODS Using hypoglycemic， lipid-lowering， antiviral drugs， and psychiatric drugs for the treatment of mental illness and depression as objects， the interrupted time series model was used to quantitatively evaluate the changes in consumption sum of drugs， consumption amount and daily cost of the target drugs in national sample hospitals as well as the changes in per capita medication frequency， outpatient prescription amount， and medical insurance surplus of target drugs in a third grade class A hospital before and after the implementation of NCDP policy. RESULTS After the implementation of the NCDP policy， the volume for the four bid-winning drugs increased significantly （P＜0.01 for the remaining three categories except for hypoglycemic drugs）， but DDDc （P＜0.01） and the amount of related drugs （P＜0.001） decreased significantly. The volume for the non-winning drugs （except for lipid-lowering drugs） decreased significantly （P＜0.05）， and DDDc also decreased significantly （P＜0.05 for other 3 categories except for psychiatric drugs）； the volume （P＜0.01） and DDDc （P＜0.01 only for psychiatric drugs） for alternative drugs all increased except for antiviral drugs. The structure of drug use for different drugs was affected differently by the NCDP policy，and that of hypoglycemic drugs was affected obviously； the proportion of alternative drugs increased after centralized procurement. The outpatient prescription amount of each hospital significantly decreased after centralized procurement，and the decrease in the cost paid by the patients using lipid-lowering and antiviral drugs related to centralized procurement was greater than 0.60； the remaining medical insurance amount for bid-winning drugs was approximately 1.252 5 million yuan. CONCLUSIONS NCDP policy effectively alleviates the burden of medical expenditure and also drives the structure changes of drug use such as the substitution of generic drugs for original drugs， the growth of the volume of alternative drugs.

Acute cerebral infarction （ACI）， also known as ischemic stroke， is a disease with a high disability rate， which brings heavy burdens to society and families. Its pathogenesis is related to many factors， of which the inflammatory theory is one of the important mechanisms. In the early stage of ACI， microglia are activated， and the inflammatory mediators， such as interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， released by them induce vascular endothelial cells to express adhesion molecules. The circulating leukocytes （neutrophils， monocyte-macrophages， etc.） are promoted to roll and adhere to the injured vascular endothelium， migrate and cross the blood-brain barrier， penetrate and infiltrate the brain parenchyma， and further expand the local inflammatory response by releasing a variety of proinflammatory mediators， thus exacerbating the tissue injury at the injury site and ischemic penumbra. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has advantages in treating the disease. TCM believes that the occurrence of stroke is related to blood stasis caused by various reasons， which block the brain vessel. This article reviewed the research progress on the effect of activating blood therapy on inflammatory factors in patients with ACI in recent years and discussed its regulation of inflammatory factors in ACI such as interleukin-1 （IL-1）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， interleukin-8 （IL-8）， interleukin-10 （IL-10）， TNF-α， C reactive protein （CRP）， and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 （MCP-1）， hoping to elucidate the scientific connotation of TCM treatment of ACI and lay the foundation for further research.