1.Facial color-preserving generative adversarial network-based privacy protection of facial diagnostic images in traditional Chinese medicine
Jilong SHEN ; Aihua GUAN ; Xinyu WANG ; Jiadong XIE ; Youwei DING ; Kongfa HU
Digital Chinese Medicine 2025;8(4):455-466
Objective:
To develop a facial image generation method based on a facial color-preserving generative adversarial network (FCP-GAN) that effectively decouples identity features from diagnostic facial complexion characteristics in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) inspection, thereby addressing the critical challenge of privacy preservation in medical image analysis.
Methods:
A facial image dataset was constructed from participants at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine between April 23 and June 10, 2023, using a TCM full-body inspection data acquisition equipment under controlled illumination. The proposed FCP-GAN model was designed to achieve the dual objectives of removing identity features and preserving colors through three key components: (i) a multi-space combination module that comprehensively extracts color attributes from red, green, blue (RGB), hue, saturation, value (HSV), and Lab spaces; (ii) a generator incorporating efficient channel attention (ECA) mechanism to enhance the representation of diagnostically critical color channels; and (iii) a dual-loss function that combines adversarial loss for de-identification with a dedicated color preservation loss. The model was trained and evaluated using a stratified 5-fold cross-validation strategy and evaluated against four baseline generative models: conditional GAN (CGAN), deep convolutional GAN (DCGAN), dual discriminator CGAN (DDCGAN), and medical GAN (MedGAN). Performance was assessed in terms of image quality [peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM)], distribution similarity [Fréchet inception distance (FID)], privacy protection (face recognition accuracy), and diagnostic consistency [mean squared error (MSE) and Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC)].
Results:
The final analysis included facial images from 216 participants. Compared with baseline models, FCP-GAN achieved superior performance, with PSNR = 31.02 dB and SSIM = 0.908, representing an improvement of 1.21 dB and 0.034 in SSIM over the strongest baseline (MedGAN). The FID value (23.45) was also the lowest among all models, indicating superior distributional similarity to real images. The multi-space feature fusion and the ECA mechanism contributed significantly to these performance gains, as evidenced by ablation studies. The stratified 5-fold cross-validation confirmed the model’s robustness, with results reported as mean ± standard deviation (SD) across all folds. The model effectively protected privacy by reducing face recognition accuracy from 95.2% (original images) to 60.1% (generated images). Critically, it maintained high diagnostic fidelity, as evidenced by a low MSE (< 0.051) and a high PCC (> 0.98) for key TCM facial features between original and generated images.
Conclusion
The FCP-GAN model provides an effective technical solution for ensuring privacy in TCM diagnostic imaging, successfully having removed identity features while preserving clinically vital facial color features. This study offers significant value for developing intelligent and secure TCM telemedicine systems.
2.Progress on ketogenic diet in children with autism spectrum disorder
Yu WANG ; Lianhu YU ; Ling LI ; Aihua CAO
International Journal of Pediatrics 2025;52(9):614-618
Autism spectrum disorder(ASD)is a neurodevelopmental disorder that originates in early childhood. The precise pathogenesis of ASD remains unclear,and current interventions show limited effectiveness in improving patient outcomes. Various treatment strategies are being explored.The ketogenic diet(KD),as a high-fat,low-carbohydrate,moderate-protein diet,gains attention as a potential therapeutic option for ASD. This article reviews the current application of the KD in the treatment of ASD,with a detailed exploration of its efficacy in alleviating ASD symptoms,clinical uncertainties,and potential mechanisms of action. These mechanisms include its effects on gut microbiota,neural excitation-inhibition balance,inflammation,oxidative stress,and so on. The review aims to provide reference for further scientific research and practical clinical applications.
3.Exploration on the mechanism of Shengxue Tongbian Granules in improving intestinal injury in septic rats based on bioinformatics and experimental validation
Xuan HE ; Aihua ZHENG ; Bing GUO ; Siqin TANG ; Min WANG ; Hongmei LIU
International Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2025;47(10):1418-1424
Objective:To explore the molecular mechanism of TCM compound Shengxue Tongbian Granules in improving intestinal injury in septic rats through bioinformatics and experimental validation methods.Methods:The GSE131761 gene set was processed by bioinformatics to screen differential genes, then weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to screen modular genes. The intersection of modular genes and differential genes was taken, and finally, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) technique was applied to further obtain the key targets of sepsis, which was validated by experiments. Totally 72 SD rats were divided into sham-operation group, model group, dexamethasone group (0.15 mg/kg), Shengxue Tongbian Granules low- (0.3 g/kg), medium- (0.6 g/kg), and high-dosage (1.2 g/kg) groups, with 12 rats in each group. Corresponding drug interventions were administered to each treatment group before and 12 hours after modeling. The sham-operation group and the model group were gavaged daily with equal amounts of saline. Samples were collected after 24 hours. HE staining was used to detect the pathological morphology of intestinal tissues in each group of rats; ELISA was used to detect the levels of TNF-α, diamine oxidase (DAO), IL-6, IL-10, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) in rat serum. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the protein expressions of MPO and neutrophil elastase (NE/LANE) in intestinal tissue, and Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of peptidyl arginine deaminase (PAD4) in intestinal tissue.Results:Seven final key genes related to sepsis were selected, namely ANXA3, CYP1B1, FCAR, LILRA5, PADI4, NOV, and S100A12. Experimental results showed that drug administration alleviated intestinal injury; compared with the model group, the levels of TNF-α, IL-6, MPO, and DAO decreased in the Shengxue Tongbian Granules high-dosage group ( P<0.05), the levels of ELANE and MPO were reduced in Shengxue Tongbian Granules low-, medium-, and high-dosage groups ( P<0.05), and PAD4 expression was reduced in the Shengxue Tongbian Granules high-dosage group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Shengxue Tongbian Granules can improve the intestinal injury of septic rats, and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of PAD4-mediated formation of NETs and the improvement of inflammatory response.
4.Effects of three sterilization methods on the magnetic flux of magnetic surgical devices and analysis of sterilization cost
Feng MA ; Aihua SHI ; Xiaoyan ZENG ; Fang BAI ; Ningxia JIA ; Hao XUE ; Fengling WANG ; Yan LI ; Xufeng ZHANG ; Yi LÜ ; Lingling SHI
Journal of Xi'an Jiaotong University(Medical Sciences) 2024;45(4):669-673
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.
5.Study on mechanism and Huanglong Mixture in the treatment of children with cough variant asthma and experimental verification based on network pharmacologic analysis
Xixi JI ; Aihua WANG ; Hongyan LONG
International Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;46(2):196-202
Objective:To study the the mechanism of action of Huanglong Mixture in the treatment of cough variant asthma (CVA) in children based on the IL-4/signal transduction and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) signaling pathway using network pharmacology methods, molecular docking techniques, and in vitro cell experiments.Methods:The components and targets of various TCM components in Huanglong Mixture were searched in TCMSP database, HERB database and literature, and the disease targets of CVA were found in Gene Cards database, OMIM database, DrugBank database and PharmGkb database. The STRING database was used to construct the protein-protein interaction network, and Cytoscape 3.9.1 was used for topology analysis to screen out the core targets. The disease-drug-component-target network was constructed to screen out the core components. The KEGG enrichment analysis and GO enrichment analysis of the intersection targets were performed using Metascape software. PDB protein database, PubChem, Autodock and R language were used for molecular docking verification of core targets and core drug components. Finally, rat primary airway smooth muscle cells were cultured, modeled with interleukin-4 (IL-4), and p-STAT6 expression in the cytoplasm and nucleus was detected by Western blot.Results:A total of 122 effective components were obtained, including quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin and so on. The core targets included JUN, ESR1, TP53, MYC, HIF1, etc. GO enrichment analysis involved biological processes such as response to external stimuli, response to oxygen levels, positive regulation of protein phosphorylation, and regulation of cellular stress response. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the main pathways of Huanglong Mixture in treating CVA included advanced glycation end product-glycation end product receptor (AGE-RAGE) signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-protein kinase B (PI3K-Akt) signaling pathway, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, Janus kinase/signal transduction activation factor (JAK-STAT) signaling pathway. Molecular docking found that the core targets and core drug components had good combination. Cell experiments also confirmed that Huanglong Mixture could inhibit p-STAT6 entering the nucleus.Conclusions:The effective components and targets of Huanglong Mixture in the treatment of CVA are successfully predicted. The mechanism of Huanglong Mixture in the treatment of children with CVA may be related to the inhibition of IL-4/STAT6 signaling pathway.
6.Impacts of muscone on malignant progression of ovarian cancer cells by regulating SHH mediated autophagy
Aihua WANG ; Feizhong ZHANG ; Hongying WANG
Tianjin Medical Journal 2024;52(2):142-148
Objective To investigate the effect of muscone on malignant progression of ovarian cancer cells mediated by regulating sonic hedgehog(SHH)mediated autophagy.Methods Survival rates of human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 treated with 0,2,4,8,16,and 24 μmol/L muscone were detected,and the optimal cell action concentration of muscone was selected.SKOV3 cells were cultured in vitro,and their transplanted tumor mouse models were constructed.Cells were randomly grouped into the control group,the muskone group,the muskone+chloroquine(CQ,an autophagy inhibitor)group,the muskone+empty group and the muskone+SHH overexpression group.After grouping and treatment with musconeand,CQ,empty plasmid and SHH overexpression plasmid,the tumor volume and weight in transplanted tumor mice were detected.EdU staining,TUNEL staining,cell scratch,Transwell invasion assay,immunoblotting and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR were used to detect proliferation,apoptosis,migration and invasion of SKOV3 cells,the expression of autophagy related proteins(LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ,Beclin-1)and SHH in SKOV3 cells and transplanted tumor mice in each.Results Compared with the control group,the cell proliferation rate,cell migration rate,number of invasions,tumor volume and weight,and the expression of SHH mRNA and protein in tumor tissue were decreased in the muskone group(P<0.05),and the apoptosis rate,LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ,Beclin-1 protein in cells and tumor tissue were increased(P<0.05).Compared with the muscone group,the cell proliferation rate,cell migration rate,number of invasion,tumor volume and weight were increased in the muscone+CQ group and the muskone+SHH overexpression group(P<0.05),and the apoptosis rate,LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ and the expression of Beclin-1 protein in cells and tumor tissue were decreased(P<0.05).There were no significant differences in the above indicators in the muscone+empty group(P>0.05).Conclusion Muscone can promote autophagy of ovarian cancer cells by down-regulating SHH,thereby inhibiting their proliferation,in vivo growth,migration and invasion,promoting their apoptosis,and ultimately inhibiting their malignant progression.
7.Visualization Analysis on Research Literature of TCM Regulation of miRNA
Weiqing LI ; Haidong WANG ; Haolin LI ; Xuemei TIAN ; Aihua WANG ; Xiaojun SU ; Ping CHEN ; Xiangjun LI
Chinese Journal of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;31(1):44-50
Objective To analyze the current status and trends of TCM regulation of microRNA(miRNA)using visualization methods.Methods The literature related to the TCM regulation of miRNA was retrieved from CNKI,VIP and Wanfang Data from the establishment of the databases to May 31,2022.Excel 2019,VOSviewer 1.6.18,and CiteSpace 5.8.R3 software were applied to visualize and analyze the year of publication,journal source,author and keywords of the included literature.Results A total of 787 articles were included,and the number of publications continued to rise.Source journals with more publications includes Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulas,China Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy,Chinese Archives of Traditional Chinese Medicine,etc.Research teams were formed with Wang Jie,Liu Xide,Diao Limei,etc.as the representatives,and the cooperation among the teams was not very close.Analysis on the keywords in the literature showed that the studies mainly focused on apoptosis,miRNA-21,electroacupuncture,atherosclerosis,proliferation and other related fields;TCM intervention that accounted for the most research were extracts of Chinese materia medica,with 42%of the studies;there were 24 miRNAs studied≥3 times,and the most studied miRNA was miRNA-21.Conclusion The research hotspots of TCM regulation of miRNA are mainly the molecular mechanism of various TCM therapeutic tools to improve cell autophagy,apoptosis,inflammatory response and other pathways through regulation of miRNAs.The trend of research is to study the mechanism of empirical prescriptions of famous TCM practitioners based on precise therapeutic strategies.
8.Opportunities and challenges in the collaborative development of laboratory medicine and lifeomics
Xiaobo YU ; Aihua SUN ; Yan WANG ; Fuchu HE
Chinese Journal of Laboratory Medicine 2024;47(1):7-13
With the maturation of proteomics technologies in recent years, proteomics has made significant achievements in early detection of major diseases, disease classification, drug target discovery, and other fields. To explore the important role of proteomics, especially proteomics-based cutting-edge lifeomics technologies, in promoting the development of precision laboratory medicine and to discuss the opportunities and challenges faced during the clinical translation of innovative outcomes, the National Center for Protein Sciences-Beijing invited renowned experts and scholars in laboratory medicine, lifeomics, and precision medicine. The discussions revolved around the collaborative development of laboratory medicine and lifeomics, the future trends of new technologies in clinical laboratory testing, the innovation and development of lifeomics in laboratory medicine, the translational application of proteomics technologies in laboratory medicine, and the opportunities and challenges in the industrialization of proteomics achievements. All participants agreed that proteomics provides new directions and opportunities for precision diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, close collaboration between academia, hospitals and industry is required. Additionally, challenges such as clinical applicability of equipment, standardization of detection methods and data, cost and quality control, talent cultivation, and the industrialization pathway need to be addressed.
9.Research Analysis of SLC12A3 Gene Mutation and Molecular Mechanism in Gitelman Syndrome
Chunli WANG ; Bixia ZHENG ; Wei ZHOU ; Ruochen CHE ; Fei ZHAO ; Aihua ZHANG ; Guixia DING
JOURNAL OF RARE DISEASES 2024;3(1):50-56
This study aimed at conducting retrospective analysis of the clinical symptoms and genetic mutations in 20 children with Gitelman syndrome treated at the Affiliated Children′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from August 2015 to November 2022 and also explored the molecular mechanism of the pathogenic high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population. We collected the clinical manifestations, growth and development status, laboratory examination results, and In the 20 patients with Gitelman syndrome, all of them had hypokalemia. We indemnified twenty-six We found the preliminary evidence that the high-frequency mutation D486N in the Chinese population affected the expression of total and membrane-bound NCC protein and influenced the membrane localization of NCC protein. The findings of this study provides experimental evidence for genetic counseling, diagnosis, and treatment of Gitelman syndrome.
10.Analysis of the suspected cases of measles and rubella in Pudong New Area of Shanghai, 2013‒2022
Xiao WANG ; Aihua ZHANG ; Huiqin FU ; Yuying YANG ; Xiaoxian CUI ; Lipeng HAO ; Yanqiu ZHOU ; Lifeng PAN
Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine 2024;36(6):534-539
ObjectiveTo analyze the epidemic characteristics of measles and rubella in Pudong New Area of Shanghai from 2013 to 2022, and to provide data support for the elimination of measles and rubella. MethodsEnzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect IgM antibodies in serum samples. The sequence of 630 nucleotides at the C-terminal of N gene of measles virus was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and the phylogenic tree was constructed. ResultsA total of 1 529 suspected cases of measles were detected from 2013 to 2022, among which the positive rate of measles IgM antibody was 33.55% (513/1 529). The highest positive rate (20.73%) was from March to May , and the positive rate of rubella IgM antibody was 6.80% (104/1 529). The positive rate of both IgM was higher in males than that in females (P<0.05). The IgM against measles was mainly detected in 0‒ years old (63.16%, 96/152) and 20‒ years old (45.61%, 161/353). The IgM against rubella was mainly detected in 10‒20 years old (27.27%, 18/66). The IgM antibody could be detected more easily from 4 to 28 days after eruption, and the IgM antibody positive rate of measles/rubella from 2020 to 2022 was significantly lower than previous years (2013‒2019). There were 2 D8 genotype strains, and the rest were H1a gene subtypes. ConclusionThe positive rate of IgM antibodies against measles/rubella in Pudong New Area of Shanghai decreased significantly. People aged 0‒ years and 20‒ years old are more susceptible to measles, and rubella is concentrated in 10‒ years old. It is necessary to strengthen the vaccination of school-age children, in order to achieve the goal of eliminating measles. The age group with high risk of exposure should be checked for vaccination status to ensure the enhanced immunization, and the surveillance of imported measles cases should be strengthened.

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