Objective To investigate the global burden of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) from 1990 to 2021 and predict the trends in the burden of VL from 2022 to 2035, so as to provide insights into global VL prevention and control. Methods The global age-standardized incidence, prevalence, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates of VL and their 95% uncertainty intervals (UI) were captured from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021) data resources. The trends in the global burden of VL were evaluated with average annual percent change (AAPC) and 95% confidence interval (CI) from 1990 to 2021, and gender-, age-, country-, geographical area- and socio-demographic index (SDI)-stratified burdens of VL were analyzed. The trends in the global burden of VL were projected with a Bayesian age-period-cohort (BAPC) model from 2022 to 2035, and the associations of age-standardized incidence, prevalence, mortality, and DALYs rates of VL with SDI levels were examined with a smoothing spline model. Results The global age-standardized incidence [AAPC = -0.25%, 95% CI: (-0.25%, -0.24%)], prevalence [AAPC = -0.06%, 95% CI: (-0.06%, -0.06%)], mortality [AAPC = -0.25%, 95% CI: (-0.25%, -0.24%)] and DALYs rates of VL [AAPC = -2.38%, 95% CI: (-2.44%, -2.33%)] all appeared a tendency towards a decline from 1990 to 2021, and the highest age-standardized incidence [2.55/10⁵, 95% UI: (1.49/10⁵, 4.07/10⁵)], prevalence [0.64/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.37/10⁵, 1.02/10⁵)], mortality [0.51/10⁵, 95% UI: (0, 1.80/10⁵)] and DALYs rates of VL [33.81/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.06/10⁵, 124.09/10⁵)] were seen in tropical Latin America in 2021. The global age-standardized incidence and prevalence of VL were both higher among men [0.57/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.45/10⁵, 0.72/10⁵); 0.14/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.11/10⁵, 0.18/10⁵)] than among women [0.27/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.21/10⁵, 0.33/10⁵); 0.06/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.05/10⁵, 0.08/10⁵)], and the highest mortality of VL was found among children under 5 years of age [0.24/10⁵, 95% UI: (0.08/10⁵, 0.66/10⁵)]. The age-standardized incidence (r = -0.483, P < 0.001), prevalence (r = -0.483, P < 0.001), mortality (r = -0.511, P < 0.001) and DALYs rates of VL (r = -0.514, P < 0.001) correlated negatively with SDI levels from 1990 to 2021. In addition, the global burden of VL was projected with the BAPC model to appear a tendency towards a decline from 2022 to 2035, and the age-standardized incidence, prevalence, mortality and DALYs rates were projected to be reduced to 0.11/10⁵, 0.03/10⁵, 0.02/10⁵ and 1.44/10⁵ in 2035, respectively. Conclusions Although the global burden of VL appeared an overall tendency towards a decline from 1990 to 2021, the burden of VL showed a tendency towards a rise in Central Asia and western sub-Saharan African areas. The age-standardized incidence and prevalence rates of VL were relatively higher among men, and the age-standardized mortality of VL was relatively higher among children under 5 years of age. The global burden of VL was projected to continue to decline from 2022 to 2035.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between acupuncture during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) and the live birth rate (LBR) using different propensity score methods. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, eligible women who underwent a COH were divided into acupuncture and non-acupuncture groups. The primary outcome was LBR, as determined by propensity score matching (PSM). LBR was defined as the delivery of one or more living infants that reached a gestational age over 28 weeks after embryo transfer. The propensity score model encompassed 16 confounding variables. To validate the results, sensitivity analyses were conducted using three additional propensity score methods: propensity score adjustment, inverse probability weighting (IPW), and IPW with a "doubly robust" estimator. RESULTS: The primary cohort encompassed 9751 patients (1830 [18.76%] in the acupuncture group and 7921 [81.23%] in the non-acupuncture group). Following 1:1 PSM, a higher LBR was found in the acupuncture cohort (41.4% [755/1824] vs 36.4% [664/1824], with an odds ratio of 1.23 [95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.41]). Three additional propensity score methods produced essentially similar results. The risk of serious adverse events did not significantly differ between the two groups. CONCLUSION This retrospective study revealed an association between acupuncture and an increased LBR among patients undergoing COH, and that acupuncture is a safe and valuable treatment option. Please cite this article as: Zheng XY, Jiang ZY, Li YT, Li CL, Zhu H, Yu Z, Yu SY, Yang LL, Tang SY, Lü XY, Liang FR, Yang J. Association between acupuncture and live birth rates after fresh embryo transfer: A cohort study based on different propensity score methods. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):528-536.
Humans ; Female ; Propensity Score ; Embryo Transfer ; Adult ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Pregnancy ; Live Birth ; Birth Rate ; Cohort Studies

Objective To evaluate the types and imaging features of early and late complications after liver transplantation.Methods A retro-spective analysis was conducted on the complications imaging data from 124 patients after liver transplantation.The CT and MRI characteristics of these complications was analyzed,categorized based on their occurrence time and type.Results The postoperative complications in the total 124 patients included vascular complication in 85 patients,biliary complication in 78 patients,and parenchy-mal complication in 21 patients.Additionally,the simple and complex complications were exhibited in 43 and 81 patients.Early vas-cular complication accounted for 69.8％,especially 21 cases(91.3％)were with early hepatic artery thrombosis.Bile leakage in 9 cases occurred in the early postoperative period,whereas biliary stenosis in 43 cases and biliary stones in 23 cases were observed in the late postoperative period.All ischemic infarction in 13 cases occurred in the early postoperative period.Among the 10 cases of liver abscess,8 cases were secondary to ischemic necrosis of liver parenchyma,and other 2 cases were secondary to suppurative cholangitis.Addi-tionally,6 cases of liver tumor recurrence were all detected in the late postoperative period.Conclusion The types of complications occurring after liver transplantation vary over time,and CT and MRI can be used to detect and evaluate postoperative complications.

Objective To study the application of CE-Chirp in the evaluation of hearing impairment in forensic medicine by testing the auditory brainstem response(ABR)in adults using CE-Chirp to ana-lyze the relationship between the V-wave response threshold of CE-Chirp ABR test and the pure tone hearing threshold.Methods Subjects(aged 20-77 with a total of 100 ears)who underwent CE-Chirp ABR test in Changzhou De'an Hospital from January 2018 to June 2019 were selected to obtain the V-wave response threshold,and pure tone air conduction hearing threshold tests were conducted at 0.5,1.0,2.0 and 4.0 kHz,respectively,to obtain pure tone listening threshold.The differences and statistical differences between the average pure tone hearing threshold and V-wave response threshold were compared in different hearing levels and different age groups.The correlation,differences and statistical differences between the two tests at each frequency were analyzed for all subjects.The lin-ear regression equation for estimating pure tone hearing threshold for all subjects CE-Chirp ABR V-wave response threshold was established,and the feasibility of the equation was tested.Results There was no statistical significance in the CE-Chirp ABR response threshold and pure tone hearing threshold dif-ference between different hearing level groups and different age groups(P>0.05).There was a good correlation between adult CE-Chirp ABR V-wave response threshold and pure tone hearing threshold with statistical significance(P<0.05),and linear regression analysis showed a significant linear correla-tion between the two(P<0.05).Conclusion The use of CE-Chirp ABR V-wave response threshold can be used to evaluate subjects'pure tone hearing threshold under certain conditions,and can be used as an audiological test method for forensic hearing impairment assessment.

Objective To investigate the expression of serum Elabela and leucine-rich-alpha-2-glycoprotein-1(LRG1)in ulcerative colitis(UC)patients and their correlation with disease activity index(DAI).Methods A total of 98 patients with UC admitted to Yuncheng Central Hospital from January to December 2022 were selected as the UC group,including 62 patients in active stage and 36 patients in remission stage.According to the severity of the disease,these patients were divided into mild group(n=26),moderate group(n=43)and severe group(n=29).In addition,these patients were grouped into gradeⅠ group(n=25),grade Ⅱ group(n=40)and grade Ⅲ group(n=33)based on the endoscopic activity index(EAI).According to the mucosal healing condition under endoscopy,these patients were divided into the healed group(n=65)and the unhealed group(n=33).Another 51 patients with colonic polyps were selected as control group 1,and 50 healthy individuals were selected as control group 2.Serum Elabela and LRG1 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Pearson method was used to analyze the correlation between serum Elabela,LRG1 levels and DAI in UC patients.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was applied to analyze the predictive value of serum Elabela and LRG1 for endoscopic mucosal healing.Results The levels of Elabela(4.77±1.36 ng/ml)and LRG1(352.12±39.45 ng/ml)in UC group were higher than those in control group 1(2.51±0.53 ng/ml,121.02±21.06 ng/ml)and control group 2(2.35±0.42 ng/ml,120.35±23.49 ng/ml),and the differences were statistically significant(t= 11.410～39.000,all P＜0.05).The levels of Elabela(5.26±0.54 ng/ml)and LRG1(370.42±12.49 ng/ml)in the active group were higher than those in the remission group(3.93±0.42 ng/ml,320.60±8.47 ng/ml),and the differences were statistically significant(t=12.705,21.242,all P＜0.05).The levels of Elabela(5.89±0.20 ng/ml)and LRG1(369.92±16.59 ng/ml)in the severe group were higher than those in the moderate groups(4.51±0.67 ng/ml,356.12±18.75 ng/ml)and mild groups(3.95±0.21 ng/ml,325.65±10.14 ng/ml),and the differences were statistically significant(t=3.205～35.077,all P＜0.05).The levels of Elabela(5.80±0.18 ng/ml)and LRG1(369.16±13.47 ng/ml)in grade Ⅲ group were higher than those in grade Ⅱ group(4.49±0.35 ng/ml,355.46±16.34 ng/ml)and grade Ⅰgroup(3.86±0.16 ng/ml,324.15±8.71 ng/ml),and the differences were statistically significant(t= 3.854～48.725,all P＜0.05).The levels of Elabela(5.12±0.42 ng/ml)and LRG1(367.12±14.27 ng/ml)in unhealed group were higher than those in healed group(4.08±0.37 ng/ml,322.57±10.35 ng/ml),and the differences were statistically significant(t=12.043,15.917,all P＜0.05).The serum levels of Elabela and LRG1 in UC patients were positively correlated with EAI and ESR(r=0.602,0.298;0.576,0.302,all P＜0.05),but negatively correlated with hemoglobin level(r=-0.351,-0.334,all P＜0.05).The area under the curve predicted by the combination of serum Elabela and LRG1 for endoscopic mucosal healing was 0.926(95%CI:0.880～0.958),was higher than the 0.803(95%CI:0.741～0.856)and 0.783(95%CI:0.720～0.838)predicted by Elabela and LRG1 alone,and the difference was statistically significant(Z=4.101,4.228,all P＜0.05).Conclusion The serum levels of Elabela and LRG1 in UC patients increased,and they were related to the increase of DAI and worsening of the condition.Testing serum Elabela and LRG1 can provide a reference for evaluating mucosal healing under UC endoscopy.

The BTB (broad-complex, tramtrack, and bric-à-brac) domain is a highly conserved protein interaction motif in eukaryotes. They are widely involved in transcriptional regulation, protein degradation and other processes. Recently, an increasing number of studies have shown that these genes play important roles in plant growth and development, biotic and abiotic stress processes. Here, we summarize the advances of these proteins ubiquitination-mediated development and abiotic stress responses in plants based on the protein structure, which may facilitate the study of this type of gene in plants.
Eukaryota ; Plant Development/genetics* ; Proteolysis ; Ubiquitination

cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) is an eukaryotic intranuclear protein widely expressed in a variety of organs, and its activation increases the transcriptional activity of downstream genes and promotes the expression of related genes. The neuronal function of CREB is related to many intracellular processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, survival, long-term synaptic potentials, neurogenesis and neuronal plasticity. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that CREB plays an important role in the stroke development and therefore, it may serve as a potential target for stroke therapy. Since some herbal medicines as well as their active ingredients regulate the CREB signaling, this article will summarize the role of CREB signaling pathway in stroke pathophysiology. The research progress of traditional Chinese medicine and its active ingredients modulating CREB activity will also be discussed, with the aim of providing the basis and reference for the future research and development of natural medicines against stroke.

Objective To analyze the effects of three sterilization methods,namely,pressure steam,low-temperature plasma and ethylene oxide,on the magnetic flux of magnetic surgical devices and their sterilization costs.Methods A total of 234 magnetic surgical devices of different specifications and models(magnetic rings)were randomly divided into Group A,Group B and Group C after the paired number was labelled,and each group consisted of 78 pieces(39 pairs).After packaging each pair of devices according to sterilization specifications,Group A was sterilized by pressure steam,Group B was sterilized by low-temperature plasma,and Group C was sterilized by ethylene oxide.We measured the magnetic flux of three sets of magnetic rings before and after sterilization,and comparatively analyzed the sterilization cost and sterilization time of the single package.Results There was no statistically significant difference in the impact of the three sterilization methods on the magnetic flux of the magnetic surgical devices(P＞0.05),but there was a significant difference in the magnetic flux before and after sterilization for each sterilization method(P＜0.001);the sterilization cost was(1.96±0.16)yuan for Group A,(23.17±0.32)yuan for Group B,and(8.16±0.18)yuan for Group C,showing statistically significant differences among the three groups(P＜0.01).The sterilization time was(65.21±3.36)min for Group A,(45.46±1.39)min for Group B,and(1020.38±12.21)min for Group C,with statistically significant differences among the three groups(P＜0.01).Conclusion None of the three sterilization methods affects the magnetic flux of the magnetic surgical devices.Pressure steam method shows the lowest cost of single package,low-temperature plasma method shows the highest cost of single package,while ethylene oxide method shows the highest sterilization time.Pressure steam should be the preferred sterilization method for magnetic surgical devices.

Objective To explore the application effect of advanced lung rehabilitation programs in patients un-dergoing high flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy(HFNC).Methods Convenience sampling method was used to se-lect 40 HFNC patients admitted to the respiratory department,ICU,coronary heart disease monitoring unit,and other departments of a tertiary A comprehensive hospital in Tianjin from January to June 2023 as the experimental group,and 40 HFNC patients admitted from June to December 2022 as the control group.Both groups of patients received HFNC treatment during hospitalization and continued at home,while the experimental group adopts the information-motivation-behavioral skills(IMB)model as the theoretical basis,implements advanced pulmonary rehabili-tation during the stable condition period,discharge preparation period,and home rehabilitation period,and imple-ments compliance management of home pulmonary rehabilitation through cloud follow-up,and the control group re-ceived routine lung rehabilitation and home follow-up.The degree of respiratory distress,6-minute walking distance,exercise self-efficacy,quality of life were compared between the 2 groups before intervention,2 months and 6 months after intervention,and compliance with home pulmonary rehabilitation was compared between the 2 groups 6 months after intervention.Results The repeated measures analysis of variance showed that there was an interaction effect between time and the 2 groups in terms of difficulty in breathing,6-minute walking distance,exercise self-ef-ficacy,and quality of life(P＜0.05).Simple effect analysis showed that after 2 and 6 months of intervention,the ex-perimental group performed better than the control group in the respiratory distress,6-minute walking distance,exer-cise self-efficacy,and quality of life(P＜0.05).Within 6 months of intervention,the compliance of home pulmonary rehabilitation in the experimental group was better than that in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion The application of advanced pulmonary rehabilitation programme based on IMB can improve respiratory symptoms and improve exercise self-efficacy and adherence to pulmonary rehabilitation,en-hance activity endurance and improve quality of life.

Objective:To investigate the expression of soluble lectin-like oxidized low den-sity lipoprotein receptor-1(sLOX-1)and C1q/tumor necrosis factor related protein 3(CTRP3)in the serum of patients with lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans(ASO)and their relationship with restenosis(ISR)after stent intervention.Methods:From June 2019 to June 2022,106 ASO pa-tients who underwent stent intervention in our hospital were regarded as the study subjects.One year after surgery,they were separated into a non ISR group(n=64)and an ISR group(n=42)based on their onset of ISR.The serum levels of sLOX-1 and CTRP3 were compared between the two groups;multivariate Logistic regression was applied to analyze the influencing factors of ISR after stent intervention in ASO patients;ROC curve was applied to analyze the predictive value of se-rum sLOX-1 and CTRP3 levels for ISR after stent intervention in ASO patients.Results:The se-rum sLOX-1 level in the ISR group was obviously higher than that in the non ISR group(P＜0.05),and the CTRP31 level was obviously lower than that in the non ISR group(P＜0.05).The complete occlusion,and sLOX-1 were independent risk factors for ISR after stent intervention in ASO pa-tients,while CTRP3 was a protective factor for ISR after stent intervention in ASO patients(P＜0.05).The AUC of the combination of serum sLOX-1 and CTRP3 in predicting ISR after stent in-tervention in ASO patients was 0.944,with a sensitivity of 97.62％and a specificity of 79.69％,which was superior to the individual predictions of sLOX-1 and CTRP3(Zcombineddetaction-sLOX-1=2.732,Zcombineddetection-CTRP3=2.143,P=0.006,0.032).Conclusion:After ASO stent intervention,the serum level of sLOX-1 was obviously increased in ISR patients,while the level of CTRP3 was obviously reduced,and the combination of the two fatcors has high predictive value for the occurrence of ISR in ASO patients after stent intervention.