Objective: To analyze the status and trends of the disease burden of periodontal disease among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in China from 1990 to 2021, and to provide a reference for the development of periodontal disease prevention and control strategies for women of reproductive age. Methods: Using the global burden of disease (GBD) data from 1990 to 2021, this study investigated the periodontal disease burden among women of reproductive age, including prevalence, incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), DALY rates, and their corresponding standardized indicators. Joinpoint 5.2.0.0 software was used for time trend analysis of DALYs, age-specific DALY rates, and annual average percentage change (AAPC) values. A log-linear regression model was used to test trends for DALYs and DALY rates. Results: Compared with 1990, the prevalence and incidence of periodontal disease among Chinese women in 2021 increased by 45.67% (per 100,000 people) and 29.29% (per 100,000 people), respectively. The distribution of periodontal disease among women (15-49 years) showed a continuous and rapid upward trend, with the growth rate increasing rapidly with age. The number of cases increased the fastest in the 45-49 age group, and the prevalence increased the fastest in the 35-44 age group. The incidence of periodontal disease continued to rise with age, with the fastest increase in the 35-44 age group among women of reproductive age. The Joinpoint regression model results showed that periodontal disease led to an expanding trend in the disease burden among women of reproductive age in China, with an AAPC of DALYs = 1.20% and an AAPC of DALY rate = 1.25% (P<0.001). Conclusion The periodontal disease burden among Chinese women aged 15-49 years showed a gradually increasing trend from 1990 to 2021.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of the Japanese nutritional risk index(NRI)for one-year all-cause mortality risk among elderly maintenance hemodialysis (MHD)patients.Additionally, it seeks to compare the predictive abilities of NRI with those of the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI)and the mini nutritional assessment short-form(MNA-SF).Methods:This research was conducted as a prospective cohort study.Elderly patients(aged ≥60 years)who underwent hemodialysis treatment at Beijing Friendship Hospital of Capital Medical University for more than three months between July and October 2019 were selected for inclusion.The NRI score was utilized to evaluate the nutritional status of the participants, with the maximum point of the Jordan index designated as the cut-off value, thereby categorizing patients into high-risk and low-risk groups.The follow-up period concluded in August 2020, with all-cause mortality serving as the primary outcome measure.Kaplan-Meier methods were employed to construct survival curves, and the Cox proportional hazards model was applied to analyze the association between NRI and all-cause mortality.Furthermore, area under the curve(AUC) of receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were utilized to compare the predictive values of the three nutritional assessment methods(NRI, GNRI, and MNA-SF)regarding mortality risk.Results:A total of 150 patients were included in the study, with a median age of 69(64.75) years.The cohort comprised 73 males(48.7%)and 77 females(51.3%). Based on the NRI, patients were categorized into a low-risk group(NRI<5; n=81, 54.0%)and a high-risk group(NRI ≥ 5; n=69, 46.0%). Of the 150 patients, 147 completed the follow-up.During the follow-up period, 15 patients died, with 13 from the high-risk group and 2 from the low-risk group.The Kaplan-Meier survival curve indicated that the 1-year cumulative survival rate for patients in the high-risk group was significantly lower than the low-risk group (log-rank χ2=11.71, P<0.001). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed a significant association between NRI and 1-year all-cause mortality in elderly patients undergoing MHD ( HR=3.779, 95% CI: 1.036-13.783, P=0.044). Additionally, NRI demonstrated a high predictive value for 1-year all-cause mortality risk in elderly MHD patients, with an AUC of 0.755(95% CI: 0.654-0.855), a sensitivity of 86.7%, and a specificity of 59.1%.Its predictive capability was slightly superior to that of the GNRI(AUC=0.691, 95% CI: 0.548-0.835)and the MNA-SF(AUC=0.634, 95% CI: 0.475-0.793), although no statistically significant differences were observed( Z=0.880, 1.177, P=0.379, 0.239). Conclusions:The NRI score demonstrates effective predictive capability for one-year all-cause mortality risk in elderly MHD patients and may serve as a more suitable nutritional assessment method for this population.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis in humans and animals. Mtb invades the host′s lungs via airborne transmission, infects macrophages and causes tuberculosis. In some cases, the infection can spread to other tissues and organs. Despite the availability of several drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, the emergence of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis has led to high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need for researchers to develop new anti-tuberculosis drugs that can treat tuberculosis more efficiently. Recent studies have shown that the virulence factors of Mtb play a crucial role in its pathogenicity. These factors primarily include secreted proteins, transcription factors, proteases, stress response proteins, metabolism-associated proteins, and cell-surface components. By evading the host′s immune surveillance through mechanisms such as anti-oxidative stress, regulating nutrient synthesis and metabolism, and modulating host cells apoptosis, Mtb is able to achieve long-term survival and spread with in the host. Understanding the mechanisms of Mtb virulence factors can provide new directions for targeted tuberculosis therapy. Therefore, knowledge of these virulence factors is essential for the development of new vaccines and anti-tuberculosis drugs. In this review, we summarize the latest research progress in the virulence factors of Mtb to provide a reference for targeted treatment of tuberculosis.

With the advancement of the "New Medical Science" reform, the "Medicine+X" model has emerged as a key direction for the future development of medical education. Multidisciplinary integration places higher demands on both educators and students. Emerging technologies, such as intelligent tutoring systems, adaptive learning platforms, intelligent campus management systems, and ChatGPT, have made personalized learning possible. Such approaches offer notable advantages, including improving learning efficiency, enhancing motivation, eliminating the spatiotemporal constraints of clinical education, and alleviating teachers′ workloads. Nevertheless, the application of artificial intelligence in personalized medical education still faces multiple challenges, such as issues of data quality and reliability, the need for faculty development, shifts in educational paradigms, and ethical considerations. This study explored the current status of artificial intelligence in personalized medical education and offered recommendations to promote its development, including strengthening the integration of technology and education, enhancing the digital literacy of educators, establishing ethical guidelines, and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration.

In traditional teaching, medical students have limited opportunities to interact with patients, which constrains the development of their clinical skills. Virtual standardized patients offer a potential solution to this limitation. This article analyzes the advantages of virtual standardized patients and their application in clinical teaching.

Medical students often struggle to understand and master the relevant knowledge and skills in teaching, especially in surgical teaching. Emerging 3D printing technology can help students to understand and master surgical techniques. The problem-based learning (PBL) teaching method helps students to develop their independent thinking and teamwork skills. The combination of these methods has already achieved significant success. Therefore, this article discusses the application and combining 3D printing technology with the PBL teaching method in medical teaching, particularly in urological surgery education, and provides new ideas and references for future, more diverse, and high-tech medical education.

Objective:To preliminarily explore therapeutic effects and possible molecular mechanisms of sinomenine on atopic dermatitis (AD) -like mouse models.Methods:Thirty female BALB/c mice (6 - 8 weeks old) were randomly divided into 5 groups: blank control group, model group, positive control group, topical sinomenine group, and oral sinomenine group. Except for the blank control group, all groups were subjected to repeated topical stimulation with 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) on the dorsal skin to establish an AD-like mouse model. After modeling, no special treatment was given to the blank control group, the positive control group was topically treated with 100 μg of 0.1% mometasone furoate cream twice daily on the lesions, the topical sinomenine group was topically treated with 100 μl of 10 mg/ml sinomenine solution twice daily on the lesions, and the oral sinomenine group was gavaged with sinomenine solution at a dose of 100 mg·kg -1·d -1 (100 μl per dose, twice daily) . Treatments lasted for 14 days. Twelve hours after the final treatment, the severity of skin lesions in each group was assessed. Blood samples were collected via enucleation, and serum levels of interleukin (IL) -1β, IL-6, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) . Histopathological changes in dorsal skin lesions were observed, and immunohistochemical study was performed to detect the expression levels of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor (NF) -κB p65 in skin tissues, expressed as the percentage of the immunopositive area. One-way analysis of variance was used for multiple group comparisons, while Tukey′s test or the Games-Howell test was applied for post-hoc comparisons between groups. Results:Compared with the blank control group, the model group exhibited epidermal hyperkeratosis with parakeratosis, thickening of the spinous layer, spongiosis, significant inflammatory cell infiltration, and prominent angiogenesis. In contrast, the positive control group, topical sinomenine group, and oral sinomenine group showed reduced spinous layer thicknesses, decreased inflammatory cell infiltration, and less pronounced angiogenesis compared to the model group. In the blank control group, model group, positive control group, topical sinomenine group, and oral sinomenine group, the severity scores of skin lesions were 0, 8.83 ± 0.75, 4.33 ± 1.08, 2.58 ± 0.49, 2.83 ± 0.93 respectively, the serum levels of IL-1β were 52.58 ± 1.72, 168.40 ± 7.23, 57.07 ± 6.39, 85.74 ± 4.15, 100.30 ± 11.55 pg/ml respectively, IL-6 levels were 86.88 ± 4.60, 215.00 ± 5.02, 79.34 ± 4.91, 127.20 ± 1.06, 149.00 ± 6.21 pg/ml respectively, IgE levels were 2 159.00 ± 176.00, 3 493.00 ± 89.61, 2 294.00 ± 158.10, 2 550.00 ± 214.70, 2 814.00 ± 119.70 μg/ml respectively, the expression levels of p38 MAPK in skin tissues were 3.03% ± 3.38%, 12.95% ± 6.89%, 2.14% ± 1.28%, 5.28% ± 3.71%, 3.85% ± 2.26% respectively, and NF-κB p65 expression levels were 0.61% ± 0.49%, 18.92% ± 6.96%, 3.77% ± 1.90%, 5.66% ± 2.28%, 6.25% ± 3.14% respectively; the differences in all the above parameters were statistically significant among groups (all P < 0.05) . Compared with the blank control group, the model group had significantly increased skin lesion severity scores, serum IL-1β, IL-6, and IgE levels, as well as elevated expression of p38 MAPK and NF-κB p65 in skin tissues (all P < 0.01) . Compared with the model group, the positive control group, topical sinomenine group, and oral sinomenine group showed significantly reduced skin lesion severity scores, decreased serum IL-1β, IL-6, and IgE levels, and lower expression of p38 MAPK and NF-κB p65 in skin tissues (all P < 0.05) . Compared with the positive control group, the topical and oral sinomenine groups exhibited further reductions in skin lesion severity scores (both P < 0.05) . Additionally, the topical sinomenine group showed significantly lower serum levels of IL-1β and IL-6 compared with the oral sinomenine group (both P < 0.05) . Conclusion:Sinomenine solution could obviously alleviate the severity of skin lesions in AD-like mouse models, likely by down-regulating the expression of IL-1β, IL-6 and IgE, inhibiting the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, and thus reducing the degree of inflammation.

AIM:To investigate the regulatory effects of proanthocyanidins on autophagy and apoptosis in the retinas of guinea pigs with form-deprivation myopia via the AMPK/Wnt/β-catenin pathway.METHODS:Fifty guinea pigs were randomly divided into a normal control group, a myopia model group, and low-dose, medium-dose, and high-dose proanthocyanidins groups(25, 50 and 100 mg/kg). Refractive power and axial length of right eye were measured using a retinoscope and A-scan ultrasound. Retinal pathological changes were observed via HE staining. Immunohistochemistry assessed p-AMPK and p-mTOR expression in the retina. Immunofluorescence detected p62 and LC3 expression. TUNEL staining evaluated retinal cell apoptosis. Western blot examined expression of proteins related to the AMPK/Wnt/β-catenin pathway and autophagy(p62, Beclin1, LC3-II/LC3-I), and apoptosis-related proteins(Bax, Bcl-2, Cleaved-Caspase3, Caspase3)in the retina.RESULTS:Compared with the control group, the myopia model group showed significantly reduced refractive power and significantly increased axial length(both P<0.05); retinal cell arrangement became sparse and retinal thickness thinned. The p-AMPK levels in the retina were significantly reduced, while p-mTOR levels were significantly increased(both P<0.05), indicating suppression of the AMPK-Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The p62 levels were significantly elevated and LC3 levels were significantly reduced(both P<0.05), suggesting inhibition of autophagy. Bax and Cleaved-Caspase3 were significantly increased, while Bcl-2 was significantly decreased, indicating significantly increased apoptosis(both P<0.05). Compared with the myopia model group, all proanthocyanidins dose groups significantly inhibited refractive error reduction and axial length growth(both P<0.05), restored retinal cell alignment and thickness, activated the AMPK/Wnt/β-catenin pathway, significantly increased p-AMPK expression, and suppressed p-mTOR expression(all P<0.05); significantly suppressed p62 expression, increased Beclin1 and LC3-II/LC3-I expression(both P<0.05), and activated retinal autophagy; significantly suppressed Bax and Cleaved-Caspase3 expression, increased Bcl-2 expression(both P<0.05), and inhibited retinal cell apoptosis.CONCLUSION:Proanthocyanidins enhance retinal autophagy by activating the AMPK/Wnt/β-catenin pathway, thereby inhibiting retinal apoptosis and preventing or alleviating the onset of myopia.

Cognitive decline is an early sign of dementia, mainly manifested as the ability to learn new knowledge and memory decline in the near future, so early detection, early diagnosis, early treatment are an important research direction to alleviate dementia population. Previous studies have shown that blood pressure variability (BPV) is an important risk factor for cognitive decline. At present, there is a lack of systematic understanding of the specific effects of BPV on different subdomains of cognitive function and the treatment standard of BPV. This paper reviews the existing clinical studies, emphasizes that abnormal BPV causes adverse cognitive outcomes in all age groups, and proposes future research directions.

Rare diseases pose significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges,carrying a high disease burden,their management critically reflects a nation's public health resilience.Currently,China faces key challenges such as scarce treatments,fragmented services,and low drug accessibility in rare disease care,which urgently require systemic solutions.Digital-intelligent technology as a key breakthrough are expected to resolve the challenges in this field.Although its application in the field of rare diseases is gradually expanding,there is a lack of systematic compilation of studies to elucidate how to precisely enhance the precision,synergy and sustainability of diagnosis and treatment.The key challenges in rare disease care concentrate in four areas:inefficiency in prenatal screening,uneven distribution of medical resources,low efficiency in social organization collaboration,and ineffective information dissemination.The"4C"strategy,based on digital-intelligent technology,can address these issues:①coordination,boost prenatal screening awareness and capacity via digital-intelligent platforms to strengthen prevention;②cooperation,deepen collaboration within specialist networks,empowering institutions to enhance diagnostic capacity;③co-creation,empower support organizations to optimize resources,efficiency;④cognition,minimize information dissipation through efficient platforms,improving patient and family quality of life.This establishes an integrated digital-intelligent rare disease model encompassing"screening-diagnosis-treatment-care".