Objective To analyze the relationship between cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) and bone mineral density (BMD) reduction and fracture risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods A total of 396 patients with T2DM admitted to Nanchong Mental Health Center of Sichuan Province were selected, and all of them underwent detection of BMD of hip, lumbar vertebra and femoral neck. Fracture risk was evaluated using the probability of major osteoporotic fracture (PMOF) and ten-year probability of hip fracture (PHF). According to the degree of fracture risk, the patients were divided into low-risk group and high-risk group. Clinical data and CAN condition of the two groups were compared. Factors influencing fracture risk in patients with T2DM were analyzed. According to CAN condition, the patients were divided into early group, diagnosed group, and severe group. The correlation between CAN score and BMD was analyzed. Results The proportion of CAN in the high-risk group was significantly higher than that in the low-risk group (P<0.05). The BMD of hip, lumbar vertebra and femoral neck was significantly lower than that in the low-risk group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that BMD of hip (OR=0.143, 95%CI: 0.102-0.201), BMD of lumbar vertebra (OR=0.047, 95%CI: 0.022-0.100), BMD of femoral neck (OR=0.208, 95%CI: 0.168-0.257), and CAN (OR=39.409, 95%CI: 14.704-105.623) were risk factors for fracture (P<0.05). The BMD of hip, BMD of lumbar vertebra and BMD of femoral neck in the severe group, the diagnosed group, and the early group increased in order (P<0.05). CAN score was negatively correlated with the BMD of hip, BMD of lumbar vertebra and BMD of femoral neck in patients with T2DM (P<0.05). Conclusion The condition of CAN in patients with T2DM is closely related to BMD reduction, and CAN is a risk factor for fracture.

This study investigated the role of the nuclear factor of activated T cells c3 (NFATc3) in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) during aortic aneurysm and dissection (AAD) progression and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Cytoplasmic and nuclear NFATc3 levels were elevated in human and mouse AAD. VSMC-NFATc3 deletion reduced thoracic AAD (TAAD) and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) progression in mice, contrary to VSMC-NFATc3 overexpression. VSMC-NFATc3 deletion reduced extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and maintained the VSMC contractile phenotype. Nuclear NFATc3 targeted and transcriptionally upregulated matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and MMP2, promoting ECM degradation and AAD development. NFATc3 promoted VSMC phenotypic switching by binding to eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) and inhibiting its phosphorylation in the VSMC cytoplasm. Restoring eEF2 reversed the beneficial effects in VSMC-specific NFATc3-knockout mice. Cabamiquine-targets eEF2 and inhibits protein synthesis-inhibited AAD development and progression in VSMC-NFATc3-overexpressing mice. VSMC-NFATc3 promoted VSMC switch and ECM degradation while exacerbating AAD development, making it a novel potential therapeutic target for preventing and treating AAD.

BACKGROUND:In the past,it was necessary to cut off the pronator quadratus muscle in the treatment of distal radius fractures.Failure to repair the pronator quadratus muscle can lead to a series of complications. OBJECTIVE:To explore the clinical efficacy of different methods of preserving the pronator quadratus muscle combined with a palmar steel plate in the treatment of distal radius fractures. METHODS:Clinical data of 66 patients with distal radius fractures were retrospectively included,divided into the traditional Henry approach group(group A),the split brachioradialis tendon approach group(group B),and the posterior pronator quadratus muscle approach group(group C),with 22 patients in each group.Postoperative internal fixation,fracture healing,and postoperative complications were observed in the three groups.The visual analog scale score of postoperative wrist pain and forearm rotation angle were compared among the three groups.The Dienst Joint Scale was used to evaluate the wrist function of patients. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)The surgical time,intraoperative blood loss,and fracture healing time of groups B and C were significantly lower than those of group A(P<0.01).There was no significant difference in intraoperative blood loss and fracture healing time between groups B and C,but the surgical time was shorter in group B.(2)The anteroposterior and lateral wrist X-ray examination 3 days and 1 and 3 months after surgery exhibited that there were no significant differences in radial height,palm angle,and ulnar deviation angle among the three groups(P>0.05).No significant difference was detected in various indicators during the same phase among the three groups(P>0.05).(3)At a follow-up of 12 months after surgery,there were no significant differences in visual analog scale scores and forearm rotation angle among the three groups.However,the evaluation results at 1 and 3 months after surgery demonstrated significant differences in visual analog scale scores and forearm rotation angle among the three groups(P<0.05).Among them,group C had a lower visual analog scale score and a larger forearm rotation angle.(4)According to the Dienst joint scoring standard,the excellent and good rate of wrist joint function evaluation was 86%(19/22),91%(20/22),and 95%(21/22)in groups A,B,and C,respectively 12 months after surgery.(5)All patients did not experience any postoperative vascular or neurological damage or surgical site infection.Group A had three cases of tendon irritation,two cases of traumatic arthritis,and two cases of carpal tunnel syndrome.In group B,tendon irritation occurred in 1 case and joint stiffness in 1 case.There was 1 case of traumatic arthritis and 1 case of carpal tunnel syndrome in group C.(6)It is suggested that different surgical methods for treating distal radius fractures have achieved good clinical results.Placing a steel plate under the pronator muscle can alleviate early postoperative pain,promote early activity,and restore normal life.The brachioradialis tendon approach has more advantages in exposing intraoperative fractures and can shorten the surgical time.

BACKGROUND:To investigate the prognostic value of the peripheral perfusion index(PPI)in patients with septic shock. METHODS:This prospective cohort study,conducted at the emergency intensive care unit of Peking University People's Hospital,recruited 200 patients with septic shock between January 2023 and August 2023.These patients were divided into survival(n=84)and death(n=116)groups based on 28-day outcomes.Clinical evaluations included laboratory tests and clinical scores,with lactate and PPI values assessed upon admission to the emergency room and at 6 h and 12 h after admission.Risk factors associated with mortality were analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses.Receiver operator characteristic(ROC)curve was used to assess predictive performance.Mortality rates were compared,and Kaplan-Meier survival plots were created. RESULTS:Compared to the survival group,patients in the death group were older and had more severe liver damage and coagulation dysfunction,necessitating higher norepinephrine doses and increased fluid replacement.Higher lactate levels and lower PPI levels at 0 h,6 h,and 12 h were observed in the death group.Multivariate Cox regression identified prolonged prothrombin time(PT),decreased 6-h PPI and 12-h PPI as independent risk factors for death.The area under the curves for 6-h PPI and 12-h PPI were 0.802(95%CI 0.742-0.863,P<0.001)and 0.945(95%CI 0.915-0.974,P<0.001),respectively,which were superior to Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS),Sequential Organ Failure Assessment(SOFA)scores(0.864 and 0.928).Cumulative mortality in the low PPI groups at 6 h and 12 h was significantly higher than in the high PPI groups(6-h PPI:77.52%vs.22.54%;12-h PPI:92.04%vs.13.79%,P<0.001). CONCLUSION:PPI may have value in predicting 28-day mortality in patients with septic shock.

Objective Clinical medical record data associated with hepatitis B-related acute-on-chronic liver failure(HBV-ACLF)generally have small sample sizes and a class imbalance.However,most machine learning models are designed based on balanced data and lack interpretability.This study aimed to propose a traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)diagnostic model for HBV-ACLF based on the TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment theory,which is clini-cally interpretable and highly accurate. Methods We collected medical records from 261 patients diagnosed with HBV-ACLF,includ-ing three syndromes:Yang jaundice(214 cases),Yang-Yin jaundice(41 cases),and Yin jaun-dice(6 cases).To avoid overfitting of the machine learning model,we excluded the cases of Yin jaundice.After data standardization and cleaning,we obtained 255 relevant medical records of Yang jaundice and Yang-Yin jaundice.To address the class imbalance issue,we employed the oversampling method and five machine learning methods,including logistic regression(LR),support vector machine(SVM),decision tree(DT),random forest(RF),and extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)to construct the syndrome diagnosis models.This study used precision,F1 score,the area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUC),and accuracy as model evaluation metrics.The model with the best classification per-formance was selected to extract the diagnostic rule,and its clinical significance was thor-oughly analyzed.Furthermore,we proposed a novel multiple-round stable rule extraction(MRSRE)method to obtain a stable rule set of features that can exhibit the model's clinical in-terpretability. Results The precision of the five machine learning models built using oversampled balanced data exceeded 0.90.Among these models,the accuracy of RF classification of syndrome types was 0.92,and the mean F1 scores of the two categories of Yang jaundice and Yang-Yin jaun-dice were 0.93 and 0.94,respectively.Additionally,the AUC was 0.98.The extraction rules of the RF syndrome differentiation model based on the MRSRE method revealed that the com-mon features of Yang jaundice and Yang-Yin jaundice were wiry pulse,yellowing of the urine,skin,and eyes,normal tongue body,healthy sublingual vessel,nausea,oil loathing,and poor appetite.The main features of Yang jaundice were a red tongue body and thickened sublin-gual vessels,whereas those of Yang-Yin jaundice were a dark tongue body,pale white tongue body,white tongue coating,lack of strength,slippery pulse,light red tongue body,slimy tongue coating,and abdominal distension.This is aligned with the classifications made by TCM experts based on TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment theory. Conclusion Our model can be utilized for differentiating HBV-ACLF syndromes,which has the potential to be applied to generate other clinically interpretable models with high accura-cy on clinical data characterized by small sample sizes and a class imbalance.

Objective:To evaluate inflammation early in the infarct zone and its dynamic changes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) using 18F-FDG PET imaging, and analyze its relationship with left ventricular remodeling progression (LVRP). Methods:Sixteen Bama miniature pigs (4-6 months old, 8 females) were selected. AMI models were established by balloon occlusion of the left anterior descending artery. 18F-FDG PET imaging was performed before AMI and at days 1, 5, 8, and 14 post-AMI to evaluate the regional inflammation response. 18F-FDG SUV ratio (SUVR) and the percentage of uptake area of left ventricle (F-extent) in the infarct zone, and the SUVRs of the spleen and bone marrow, were measured. Echocardiography and 99Tc m-methoxyisobutylisonitrile(MIBI) SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) were performed at the above time points and on day 28 post-AMI to assess left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and myocardial perfusion defect extent. The degree of LVRP at day 28 post-AMI was defined as ΔLVESV(%)=(LVESV AMI 28 d-LVESV AMI 1 d)/LVESV AMI 1 d×100%. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and Pearson correlation analysis. Results:Twelve pigs were successfully modeled and completed the study. Inflammation in the infarct zone persisted until day 14 post-AMI. The SUVR of the infarct zone pre-AMI and at days 1, 5, 8, and 14 post-AMI were 1.03±0.08, 3.49±1.06, 2.93±0.90, 2.38±0.76, and 1.63±0.62, respectively ( F=49.31, P<0.001). The F-extent values in the infarct zone pre-AMI and at days 1, 5, 8, and 14 post-AMI were 0, (40.08±12.46)%, (40.00±12.76)%, (31.08±12.82)%, and 16.50%(7.25%, 22.00%), respectively ( H=37.61, P=0.001). There were no significant differences in the SUVRs of bone marrow and spleen before and after AMI ( F values: 0.69 and 0.77, both P>0.05). At day 1 post-AMI, both SUVR and F-extent in the infarct zone were significantly correlated with LVRP ( r values: 0.82 and 0.70, P values: 0.001 and 0.035). Conclusions:18F-FDG PET imaging can be used to evaluate inflammation in the infarct area and its dynamic changes after AMI. Inflammation in the infarct area is severe at day 1, and then gradually decreases. The extent and severity of inflammation visible on 18F-FDG PET imaging 1 d after AMI are closely related to LVRP.

Objective:To assess the feasibility of wavelet index (WLI) in monitoring the depth of sedation with propofol in pediatric patients.Methods:This was a prospective observational trial. One hundred and sixty-five pediatric patients, aged >1-12 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification Ⅰ or Ⅱ, undergoing elective surgery requiring general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation or laryngeal mask airway from July to December 2016 in our hospital, were divided into 11 age groups ( n=15 each): >1-2 yr group, >2-3 yr group, >3-4 yr group, >4-5 yr group, >5-6 yr group, >6-7 yr group, >7-8 yr group, >8-9 yr group, >9-10 yr group, >10-11 yr group, and >11-12 yr group. General anesthesia was induced by injection of propofol 3 mg/kg for more than 30 s. WLI and BIS values were recorded immediately before administration and at 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180 and 240 s after the end of administration. If there were differences among age groups, age groups with no statistically significant differences were combined and re-grouped. Pearson linear correlation analysis and Bland-Altman consistency analysis were performed. Results:A total of 149 pediatric patients were actually included. There were no significant differences in BIS values between 4 groups aged > 1-5 yr and between 7 groups aged > 5-12 yr ( P>0.05). Regrouping was performed based on the aforementioned results, 4 groups of children aged > 1-5 yr were divided into > 1-5 yr group ( n=60), and 7 groups of children aged > 5-12 yr were divided into > 5-12 yr group ( n=89). WLI values and BIS values were significantly decreased at each time point after administration compared with immediately before administration in group aged > 1-5 yr and in group aged >5-12 yr ( P<0.05). The BIS values were the lowest at 60 s after the end of the administration, and the WLI values were the lowest at 120 and 180 s after the end of the administration in two groups ( P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between WLI values and BIS values at 90 s and 240 s after the end of the administration ( P>0.05), and there was statistically significant difference at the other time points in group aged > 1-5 yr ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference between WLI values and BIS values at 180 s and 240 s after the end of the administration ( P>0.05), but there were significant differences at the other time points in group aged > 5-12 yr ( P<0.05). The Pearson correlation coefficients between WLI values and BIS values were 0.61 and 0.56 in group aged > 1-5 yr and group aged > 5-12 yr, respectively ( P<0.001). Bland-Altman agreement analysis: In group aged > 1-5 yr and group aged > 5-12 yr, the 95% agreement limits were -0.484-0.621 and -0.551-1.015, respectively, and there were 4.6% (23/504) and 5.1% (40/777) of the points outside the 95% agreement limits, respectively, and both limits exceeded the clinically acceptable range. Conclusions:WLI is feasible for monitoring the depth of sedation with propofol in pediatric patients aged > 1-12 yr, but the accuracy is lower than BIS.

Objective:To explore the application effect of information sharing assisted decision-making intervention in knee replacement patients.Methods:A total of 94 inpatients undergoing knee replacement in Department of Orthopedics in Xinxiang Central Hospital from January to December 2022 were selected by the convenient sampling method, and they were divided into the control group and the observation group according to random number table method, with 47 cases in each group. The control group adopted routine clinical decision-making management, while the observation group implemented information sharing assisted decision-making intervention based on the control group. On the 5th day after surgery, Control Preference Scale (CPS), Chinese version of Preparation Decision Making Scale (PreDM) and Decision Participation Satisfaction Scale were used to evaluate the decision participation, decision readiness and decision satisfaction of patients in two groups.Results:In the control group, active, cooperative and passive decision-making participation accounted for 21.28% (10/47), 27.66% (13/47) and 51.06% (24/47), respectively. In the observation group, 42.55% (20/47), 44.68% (21/47) and 12.77% (6/47) of the participants were active, cooperative and passive, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of decision participation between the two groups ( P<0.01). The PreDM score and decision participation satisfaction score of the observation group were higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.01) . Conclusions:Information sharing assisted decision-making intervention can effectively improve the decision-making participation of knee replacement patients and improve their decision-making readiness and satisfaction.

Objective:To investigate and summarize pediatric patients with severe Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) presenting with varied clinical and chest imaging features in order to guide the individualized treatment. Methods:This was a retrospective cohort study. Medical records of clinical, imaging and laboratory data of 505 patients with MPP who were admitted to the Department Ⅱ of Respirology Center, Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2016 to October 2023 and met the enrollment criteria were included. They were divided into severe group and non-severe group according to whether lower airway obliterans was developed. The clinical and chest imaging features of the two groups were analyzed. Those severe cases with single lobe ≥2/3 consolidation (lobar consolidation) were further divided into subtype lung-necrosis and subtype non-lung-necrosis based on whether lung necrosis was developed. Comparison on the clinical manifestations, bronchoscopic findings, whole blood C-reactive protein (CRP) and other inflammatory indicators between the two subtypes was performed. Comparisons between two groups were achieved using independent-sample t-test, nonparametric test or chi-square test. Univariate receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed on the indicators such as CRP of the two subtypes. Results:Of the 505 cases, 254 were male and 251 were female. The age of the onset was (8.2±2.9) years. There were 233 severe cases, among whom 206 were with lobar consolidation and 27 with diffuse bronchiolitis. The other 272 belonged to non-severe cases, with patchy, cloudy infiltrations or single lobe <2/3 uneven consolidation or localized bronchiolitis. Of the 206 cases (88.4%) severe cases with lobar consolidation, 88 harbored subtype lung-necrosis and 118 harbored subtype non-lung-necrosis. All 206 cases (100.0%) presented with persistent high fever, among whom 203 cases (98.5%) presented with inflammatory secretion obstruction and plastic bronchitis under bronchoscopy. Of those 88 cases with subtype lung-necrosis, there were 42 cases (47.7%) with dyspnea and 39 cases (44.3%) with moderate to massive amount of pleural effusion. There were 35 cases (39.8%) diagnosed with lung embolism during the disease course, of which other 34 cases (38.6%) were highly suspected. Extensive airway mucosal necrosis was observed in 46 cases (52.3%), and the level of their whole blood CRP was significantly higher than that of subtype non-lung-necrosis (131.5 (91.0, 180.0) vs. 25.5 (12.0, 43.1) mg/L, U=334.00, P<0.001). They were regarded as subtype "lung consolidation-atelectasis-necrosis". Of those 118 cases with subtype non-lung-necrosis, 27 cases (22.9%) presented with dyspnea and none were with moderate to massive amount of pleural effusion. Sixty-five cases (55.1%) presented with plastic bronchitis and localized airway mucosal necrosis was observed in 32 cases (27.1%). They were deemed as subtype "lung consolidation-atelectasis". ROC curve analyses revealed that whole blood CRP of 67.5 mg/L on the 6-10 th day of disease course exhibited a sensitivity of 0.96, a specificity of 0.89, and an area under the curve of 0.97 for distinguishing between these two subtypes among those with lobar consolidation. Conclusions:Pediatric patients with severe MPP present with lobar consolidation or diffuse bronchiolitis on chest imaging. Those with lobar consolidation harbor 2 subtypes as "lung consolidation-atelectasis-necrosis" and "lung consolidation-atelectasis". Whole blood CRP of 67.5 mg/L can be applied as an early discriminating indicator to discriminate between these two subtypes.

Accurate and applicable reference intervals can provide important information for disease diagnosis, efficacy evaluation, and health monitoring. Age-dependent trends exist for many clinical laboratory indicators, and the interpretation of such indicators should consider the effect of age carefully. However, age-specific reference intervals have certain limitations in clinical application. Continuous reference intervals can not only help accurate interpretation of laboratory test results, but also provide a baseline value for dynamic monitoring of their changing trends. Based on the researches on pediatric reference intervals from our team, this paper introduces different algorithms for establishing continuous reference intervals, and their applicable conditions and implementation steps. The aim of this paper is to provide methodological guidance for the establishment of continuous reference intervals, so as to improve the quality of laboratory reports and the accuracy of clinical diagnosis in China.