1.Regulation of Relevant Signaling Pathways by Traditional Chinese Medicine in Intervention of Pancreatic Cancer: A Review
Quanyou ZHAO ; Conghui ZHAO ; Yu ZHANG ; Yiping FU ; Yuting LIU ; Xiaoran WANG ; Zhanzhan LI ; Mingsan MIAO ; Li BAI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(5):280-289
Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant solid tumor of the digestive system with extremely poor treatment prognosis. Although its incidence rate is low, its mortality rate is extremely high. In recent years, the number of diagnosed cases worldwide has continued to rise, making pancreatic cancer the sixth leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally. Currently, clinical treatment primarily relies on operation and chemotherapy to suppress tumors. However, these approaches face challenges such as suboptimal efficacy, high postoperative recurrence rates, and severe adverse reactions. Therefore, identifying safe and effective treatment modalities remains a pressing challenge for the medical community. In recent years, research on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) interventions for pancreatic cancer has increased significantly. Multiple studies have shown that single-herb TCM, TCM formulas, and their derived single compounds can regulate the levels of tumor cell signaling pathways through multiple action targets. They inhibit the development and progression of pancreatic cancer by inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, promoting cell apoptosis, inhibiting tumor angiogenesis, reducing cancer cell invasion and migration capabilities, regulating the cell cycle, and modulating the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, TCM has the advantages of significantly enhancing the anticancer efficacy of chemotherapy drugs and causing fewer adverse reactions. However, the specific action mechanisms by which TCM intervenes in pancreatic cancer remain unclear. Further extensive research is still needed to validate the role of regulating classical signaling pathways such as phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Wnt/β-catenin, nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB), notch, and hedgehog in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Therefore, this paper reviewed Chinese and international studies on TCM intervention in pancreatic cancer through relevant signaling pathways in recent years, summarized the potential action mechanisms of TCM in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, and provided references for related research in the future.
2.Analysis of Inpatient Mortality Cases in a Tertiary General Hospital in Beijing Based on Diagnosis-related Groups
Yufei ZHANG ; Jiong ZHOU ; Xiaojun MA ; Xiaoran WANG
Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical College Hospital 2025;16(3):697-702
To analyze inpatient mortality cases in a tertiary general hospital in Beijing based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG), with the aim of providing references for healthcare quality management. We retrospectively collected DRG data of hospitalized patients admitted to a tertiary general hospital in Beijing from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2023. Mortality cases were analyzed according to mortality risk stratification, with a focus on the temporal trends, departmental distribution, and DRG composition of low/medium-low mortality risk cases. Among 927 304 DRG-classified hospitalizations, 2346 cases resulted in death (stratified into 130 low-risk, 209 medium-low-risk, 411 medium-high-risk, and 1596 high-risk cases), yielding an overall mortality rate of 0.25%. The mortality rates were 0.02% (130/680 939) in the low-risk group and 0.16% (209/130 449) in the medium-low-risk group. From 2015 to 2023, the mortality rate showed a significant downward trend ( Critical care units accounted for the highest proportion of mortality cases, with surgical patients having complications/comorbidities representing the major DRG-related factors for low/medium-low-risk deaths. Hospitals should prioritize these findings by identifying areas for improvement, implementing multidisciplinary case reviews, and strengthening patient safety measures.
3.Data Mining of Professor Zhang Farong's Core Prescription for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Its Clinical Efficacy
Wei FANG ; Jie XU ; Huanping WANG ; Xiaoran ZHANG ; Hongxia ZHU ; Qiu CHEN
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2025;31(22):174-182
ObjectiveTo explore the medication patterns of Professor Zhang Farong in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the clinical efficacy of his core prescription. MethodsClinical case records of T2DM treated by Professor Zhang Farong were collected to establish a prescription database. Frequency statistics, visual analysis, and factor analysis were employed to investigate the characteristics and principle of the prescriptions, and a core prescription was derived. A randomized controlled trial was conducted, enrolling 60 T2DM patients with the dampness-heat syndrome. The patients were allocated into an observation group (core prescription + metformin) and a control group (metformin alone), with both groups undergoing a 12-week treatment course. Changes in TCM symptom scores, glucose metabolism indicators [fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (2 hPG), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)], pancreatic function indicators [fasting C-peptide (FCP), 2-hour postprandial C-peptide (2 hCP), and area under the C-peptide curve (AUCcp)], and lipid profiles were measured before and after treatment. The adverse reactions were observed and recorded. ResultsA core prescription named modified Gegen Qinlian Decoction was formulated, comprising Puerariae Lobatae Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix, Astragali Radix, Lycii Cortex, Mori Cortex, Jineijin Endothelium Corneum Gigeriae Galli, Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata, Atractylodis Rhizoma, Polygonati Rhizoma, and Pogostemonis Herba. The clinical trial results showed that both groups had significantly decreased FPG, 2 hPG, and HbA1c (P0.05), and the observation group outperformed the control group in recovering the level of HbA1c (P0.05). After treatment, both groups had declined TCM symptoms scores (P0.05), and the declines in the observation group were larger than those in the control group (P0.05). After treatment, the TC and LDL-C levels declined in the observation group (P 0.05), while the lipid levels showed a decreasing trend with no statistically significant difference in the control group. After treatment, both groups showed increases in FCP and AUCcp (P0.05), and the 2 hCP in both groups presented a recovering trend with no statistically significant difference. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups. ConclusionModified Gegen Qinlian Decoction embodies Professor Zhang Farong's academic philosophy of treating consumptive thirst by tonifying the spleen and kidney, replenishing Qi and Yin, clearing deficiency and heat, unblocking stasis in collaterals, and addressing both deficiency and stasis. The combination of the core prescription with metformin alleviates clinical symptoms in T2DM patients with the dampness-heat syndrome, demonstrating potential effects in restoring pancreatic islet function, regulating blood glucose, and improving lipid profiles. It serves as a therapeutic option for T2DM in the patients with the dampness-heat syndrome under syndrome differentiation, meriting broader clinical application.
4.Impact of parental myopia on myopia in schoolchildren and adolescents in China: A national cross-sectional survey.
Xiaoran YU ; Huan WANG ; Sheng MA ; Yanhui DONG ; Yinghua MA ; Yi SONG ; Jun MA ; Zhiyong ZOU
Chinese Medical Journal 2025;138(23):3168-3175
BACKGROUND:
Parental myopia is an important risk factor for myopia in Chinese children and adolescents. This study aimed to assess the influence of parental myopia and the severity of myopia on offspring and to evaluate whether adopting healthy lifestyles can mitigate the effects of parental myopia on offspring.
METHODS:
This cross-sectional study analyzed data from children and adolescents aged 6-17 years with complete vision assessments and parental history of myopia from six provinces in China during 2013-2014. Parental demographic information, children's outdoor activity time, sleep time, and sedentary time were collected via questionnaire. Parental myopia was classified as no myopia, paternal myopia, maternal myopia, and both. The offspring were categorized into 10 groups based on parental myopia prescription. Associations of the above factors with myopia in children and adolescents were evaluated by logistic regression analysis.
RESULTS:
Among 40,864 children and adolescents (50.3% boys and 49.7% girls), 22,537 (55.2%) were diagnosed with myopia. In comparison to offspring devoid of parental myopia, children with one parent affected by myopia exhibited odds ratio (OR) of 1.75 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.62-1.88) for myopia, while those with both parents affected showed OR of 2.27 (95% CI: 2.02-2.55) after adjusted for lifestyle factors. The likelihood of myopia in offspring increased with increasing severity of parental myopia, with a 3.08-fold increase in risk observed when both parents presented high myopia. Nonetheless, children adhering to two or more healthy lifestyle factors demonstrated a diminished risk of myopia compared with those with fewer than two lifestyle factors, especially among offspring of non-myopic or mildly myopic parents.
CONCLUSIONS
Parental myopia has a dose-dependent association with their offspring. Healthy lifestyles may reduce the impact of parental factors on myopia in offspring. The observed associations suggest that although the genetic burden of parental myopia cannot be ignored, healthy lifestyles and nurturing are also very important.
Humans
;
Myopia/epidemiology*
;
Child
;
Male
;
Female
;
Adolescent
;
Cross-Sectional Studies
;
China/epidemiology*
;
Parents
;
Surveys and Questionnaires
;
Risk Factors
5.Research on multi-scale convolutional neural network hand muscle strength prediction model improved based on convolutional attention module.
Yihao DU ; Mengyu SUN ; Jingjin LI ; Xiaoran WANG ; Tianfu CAO
Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2025;42(1):90-95
In order to realize the quantitative assessment of muscle strength in hand function rehabilitation and then formulate scientific and effective rehabilitation training strategies, this paper constructs a multi-scale convolutional neural network (MSCNN) - convolutional block attention module (CBAM) - bidirectional long short-term memory network (BiLSTM) muscle strength prediction model to fully explore the spatial and temporal features of the data and simultaneously suppress useless features, and finally achieve the improvement of the accuracy of the muscle strength prediction model. To verify the effectiveness of the model proposed in this paper, the model in this paper is compared with traditional models such as support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), convolutional neural network (CNN), CNN - squeeze excitation network (SENet), MSCNN-CBAM and MSCNN-BiLSTM, and the effect of muscle strength prediction by each model is investigated when the hand force application changes from 40% of the maximum voluntary contraction force (MVC) to 60% of the MVC. The research results show that as the hand force application increases, the effect of the muscle strength prediction model becomes worse. Then the ablation experiment is used to analyze the influence degree of each module on the muscle strength prediction result, and it is found that the CBAM module plays a key role in the model. Therefore, by using the model in this article, the accuracy of muscle strength prediction can be effectively improved, and the characteristics and laws of hand muscle activities can be deeply understood, providing assistance for further exploring the mechanism of hand functions .
Neural Networks, Computer
;
Humans
;
Hand Strength/physiology*
;
Support Vector Machine
;
Muscle Strength/physiology*
;
Hand/physiology*
;
Convolutional Neural Networks
6.Characteristics of occlusal force and contact in 20 individual normal occlusion children with mixed dentition.
Xiaoran WU ; Yifan JIN ; Ruisi XIAO ; Peiwen LIAO ; Yuanyuan WANG
Journal of Peking University(Health Sciences) 2025;57(1):154-160
OBJECTIVE:
To measure and analyze the occlusal force and contact in children with mixed dentition, and to preliminarily provide baseline data on the occlusion of individual normal occlusion children with mixed dentition.
METHODS:
A cross-sectional study was conducted, including 20 children with mixed dentition and individual normal occlusion, consisting of 12 boys and 8 girls, aged 6.5-9.8 years. The Dental Prescale Ⅱ occlusal analysis system was used to measure the occlusal force and contact at the intercuspal position, including the maximum occlusal force (N) and the occlusal contact area (mm2) of the entire dentition, and the left and right sides, average occlusal pressure (MPa), maximum occlusal pressure (MPa), and to determine the position of the center of occlusal force. The gender differences in maximum occlusal force, average occlusal pressure, and occlusal contact area were analyzed, the bilateral symmetry of occlusion in children with mixed dentition and individual normal occlusion was compared, and the correlation between occlusal data and age, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) was analyzed.
RESULTS:
(1) The average maximum occlusal force of the entire dentition in the 20 children with mixed dentition at the intercuspal position was (869.18±106.64) N, the average occlusal contact area was (25.19±2.89) mm2, the average occlusal pressure was (34.37±5.98) MPa, and the maximum occlusal pressure M(P25, P75) was 120 (120, 120) MPa; (2) There was no statistically significant difference in the maximum occlusal force, average occlusal pressure, maximum occlusal pressure, and occlusal contact area between the left and right sides (P>0.05); (3) At the intercuspal position, the average occlusal contact area for 12 boys and 8 girls was (26.71±3.91) mm2 and (21.62±3.08) mm2 respectively, and the average maximum occlusal force was (911.92±145.05) N and (769.47±116.45) N respectively, with statistically significant differences (P < 0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in the average occlusal pressure between boys and girls (P>0.05); (4) The maximum occlusal force at the intercuspal position was weakly correlated with age (r=0.219, P=0.046), and strongly positively correlated with the occlusal contact area (r=0.949, P < 0.001), while the average occlusal pressure, maximum occlusal pressure, and occlusal contact area were not correlated with age, height, weight, or BMI; (5) The center of occlusal force in the 20 children with mixed dentition and individual normal occlusion was located in the molar region, with 7 children having the maximum occlusal pressure point only in the first permanent molar region, 10 children having it in both the deciduous molar region and the first permanent molar region, and 3 children having it only in the deciduous molar region.
CONCLUSION
In children with mixed dentition and individual normal occlusion, the maximum occlusal force, occlusal contact area, average occlusal pressure, and maximum occlusal pressure at the intercuspal position show good bilateral symmetry; there are gender differences in the maximum occlusal force and occlusal contact area, with boys having greater values than girls; the maximum occlusal force is positively correlated with the occlusal contact area.
Humans
;
Child
;
Male
;
Bite Force
;
Female
;
Dentition, Mixed
;
Cross-Sectional Studies
;
Dental Occlusion
7.Nanomedicine-driven tumor glucose metabolic reprogramming for enhanced cancer immunotherapy.
Chenwei JIANG ; Minglu TANG ; Yun SU ; Junjie XIE ; Qi SHANG ; Mingmei GUO ; Xiaoran AN ; Longfei LIN ; Ruibin WANG ; Qian HUANG ; Guangji ZHANG ; Hui LI ; Feihu WANG
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2025;15(6):2845-2866
Tumors exhibit abnormal glucose metabolism, consuming excessive glucose and excreting lactate, which constructs a tumor microenvironment that facilitates cancer progression and disrupts immunotherapeutic efficacy. Currently, tumor glucose metabolic dysregulation to reshape the immunosuppressive microenvironment and enhance immunotherapy efficacy is emerging as an innovative therapeutic strategy. However, glucose metabolism modulators lack specificity and still face significant challenges in overcoming tumor delivery barriers, microenvironmental complexity, and metabolic heterogeneity, resulting in poor clinical benefit. Nanomedicines, with their ability to selectively target tumors or immune cells, respond to the tumor microenvironment, co-deliver multiple drugs, and facilitate combinatorial therapies, hold significant promise for enhancing immunotherapy through tumor glucose metabolic reprogramming. This review explores the complex interactions between tumor glucose metabolism-specifically metabolite transport, glycolysis processes, and lactate-and the immune microenvironment. We summarize how nanomedicine-mediated reprogramming of tumor glucose metabolism can enhance immunotherapy efficacy and outline the prospects and challenges in this field.
8.Association of alcohol consumption with aortic aneurysm and dissection risk:results from the UK Biobank cohort study
Liang YAOWEN ; Zou GUOXIANG ; Wang DINGCHEN ; Zeng WEIYUE ; Zhang JIARUI ; Huang XIAORAN ; Lin MIAO ; Mai CONG ; Song FEI'ER ; Zhang YUELIN ; Meng JINXIU ; Feng HONGLIANG ; Huang YU ; Li XIN
World Journal of Emergency Medicine 2024;15(6):465-474
BACKGROUND:Previous studies have reported inconsistent results with positive,negative,and J-shaped associations between alcohol consumption and the hazard of aortic aneurysm and dissection(AAD).This study aimed to examine the connections between weekly alcohol consumption and the subsequent risk of AAD. METHODS:The UK Biobank study is a population-based cohort study.Weekly alcohol consumption was assessed using self-reported questionnaires and the congenital risk of alcohol consumption was also evaluated using genetic risk score(GRS).Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios(HRs)with 95%confidence intervals(CIs)for the associations between alcohol consumption and AAD.Several sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the robustness of the results. RESULTS:Among the 388,955 participants(mean age:57.1 years,47.4%male),2,895 incident AAD cases were documented during a median follow-up of 12.5 years.Compared with never-drinkers,moderate drinkers(adjusted HR:0.797,95%CI:0.646-0.984,P<0.05)and moderate-heavy drinkers(adjusted HR:0.794,95%CI:0.635-0.992,P<0.05)were significantly associated with a decreased risk of incident AAD.Interaction-based subgroup analysis revealed that the protective effect of moderate drinking was reflected mainly in participants younger than 65 years and women. CONCLUSION:Our findings support a protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on AAD,but are limited to participants younger than 65 years and women.
9.Prevalence of Lying Flat behaviors and its association with depressive symptoms among college students from three provinces and cities in China
Chinese Journal of School Health 2024;45(6):844-848
Objective:
To understand the prevalence of Lying Flat behaviors and its association with depressive symptoms among Chinese college students, so as to provide a scientific basis for promoting the physical and mental health development of adolescents.
Methods:
From July to October 2023, three universities were selected through convenient sampling from Jiangxi Province, Liaoning Province and Beijing City, respectively. Selfdesigned questionnaire links were distributed on campus to collect basic information and Lying Flat behaviors among college students, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was utilized to screen for students with depressive symptoms. Finally, a total of 4 225 valid questionnaires were obtained. Chisquare was used to compare of report rates of Lying Flat behaviors across different demographic characteristics. Ordered Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between Lying Flat behaviors and depressive symptoms, with Z test used to assess variations in the strength of associations.
Results:
The reporting rates of academic, life, and social Lying Flat were 32.7%, 17.8% and 17.5%, respectively. And 6.7% of the participants were found of all three Lying Flat behaviors simultaneously.Among college students with three Lying Flat behaviors, the constituent ratios of no, mild, moderate and above depressive symptoms were 9.9%, 30.5% and 59.6%, respectively. Additionally, college students who had three Lying Flat behaviors were more likely to show mild, moderate and above depressive symptoms [OR(95%CI)=2.49(1.60-3.87), 7.69(5.01-11.79), P<0.01].
Conclusions
Academic Lying Flat behavior is most prevalent among college students. Academic, life and social Lying Flat behaviors are all significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms. Attention should be paid to the Lying Flat behaviors and college students psychological health conditions to promote their physical and mental health development.
10.Correlation between high cholinergic pathway signal and cognitive function in patients with Parkinson disease accompanied with sleep disorder
Xinrong XU ; Hao WANG ; Yuqing FANG ; Fei MAO ; Zhangning ZHAO ; Yanhong REN ; Xiaoran ZHU ; Tianhao LIU ; Yanqing ZHANG ; Xiuhua LI
Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science 2024;33(3):206-211
Objective:To explore the correlation between high cholinergic pathway signaling and cognitive function in patients with Parkinson disease(PD) accompanied with sleep disorder.Methods:PD patients admitted from 2017 to 2022 were divided into PD with sleep disorder group (PD-SD group) ( n=56) and PD without sleep disorder group (PD-NSD group) ( n=41) according to the Parkinson's disease sleep scale (PDSS) score. All participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging examination.All patients were evaluated by the PDSS, Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y), Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA), and cholinergic pathways hyper intensities scale (CHIPS). The difference of cognitive function between the two groups and the correlation between CHIPS and cognitive function were analyzed.Independent sample t-test, Spearman correlation analysis, and binary Logistic regression analysis were performed on the data by SPSS 26.0 statistical software. Results:(1)The MoCA score of the PD-SD group (22.00 (5.00)) was lower than that of the PD-NSD group (26.00 (5.00)) ( Z=-3.830, P<0.05). The total and all aspects scores of CHIPS in PD-SD group were higher than those in PD-NSD group(the total score of the low external capsule: 12.00(8.00), 0(8.00), the total score of the high external capsule: 12.00(2.00), 6.00(9.00), the total score of the radial crown: 8.00(0), 4.00(4.00), the total score of the centrum semiovale: 3.00(4.00), 0(2.00), the total score of the right side: 16.00(9.00), 5.00(10.00), the total score of the left side: 17.00(6.00), 7.00(9.00), the total score of CHIPS: 32.00(14.00), 14.00(20.00))( Z=-5.081, -5.873, -4.933, -3.211, -5.562, -6.232, -5.995, all P<0.05). (2)The correlation analysis between the score of CHIPS and cognitive function in the PD-SD group showed that, the total score of the low external capsule ( r=-0.286), the total score of the centrum semiovale ( r=-0.307), the total score of the right side ( r=-0.376), the total score of the left side ( r=-0.284) and the total score of CHIPS ( r=-0.349) were negatively correlated with MoCA(all P<0.05). (3)Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that white matter lesions in centrum semiovale, low inner capsule, right and left leukodystrophy were not influence factors for cognitive impairment (all P>0.05). Conclusion:PD patients with sleep disorders have lower cognitive function scores, higher CHIPS scores, and significant changes in white matter lesions compared to those without sleep disorders. In PD patients with sleep disorders, the higher the CHIPS score, the lower the cognitive function score, and the more significant the rate of cognitive impairment occurrence and development.


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