Objective:To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and influencing factors of single-cigarette use and dual cigarette-cigar use in China.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study that selected 85 638 urban and rural residents who met the inclusion criteria from the 2018 China Health Literacy Survey as research subjects. An analysis was conducted on 21 849 users of cigarettes and cigars among them. Due to the small number of individuals who exclusively used cigars (247 cases), the research subjects were divided into two categories: exclusive cigarette users and dual users of cigarettes and cigars. The groups were categorized by age (18-34 years, 35-54 years, ≥55 years), gender (male, female), education level (primary school and below, junior high school and high school, university and above) and annual household income (<20 000 yuan, 20 000-<80 000 yuan, ≥80 000 yuan) to compare the tobacco usage rate and conduct subgroup analyses for each subgroup. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed, incorporating general demographic characteristic information to explore the influencing factors of exclusive cigarette use and dual use of cigarettes and cigars, respectively.Results:The rate of exclusive cigarette use in our country was 24.3%, while the dual use rate of cigarettes and cigars was 0.9%. The exclusive cigarette use rate and the dual use rate of cigarettes and cigars among males were significantly higher than those among females (48.25% vs 2.48%, and 1.84% vs 0.06%) (both P<0.001). For males, the high-risk factors for exclusive cigarette use included living in urban areas ( OR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.23-1.54), being Han ethnicity ( OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.51-1.98), and having an annual household income ≥20 000 yuan ( OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.38-1.82) while having a junior high school education or higher was a protective factor ( OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.52-0.90). Age≥35 years ( OR: 3.36, 95% CI: 2.62-4.32) and having a junior high school education or higher ( OR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02-1.67) were risk factors for dual use of cigarettes and cigars in males. Among females, living in urban areas ( OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.19-1.97) and being Han ethnicity ( OR: 5.96, 95% CI: 4.47-7.96) were risk factors for exclusive cigarette use, while having a university education or higher was a protective factor ( OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.18-0.42). However, for female dual use of cigarettes and cigars, no significant effects were observed for any demographic characteristics. Conclusions:The use rate of cigarettes alone in China is significantly higher than that of cigarette-cigar dual use, and the rates of cigarette use alone and cigarette-cigar dual use in men are significantly higher than those in women. Tobacco use is being affected by sociodemographic factors, among which place of residence, ethnicity and education level are the main influencing factors of cigarette use alone, and gender, age and education level are the main influencing factors of cigarette-cigar dual use.

Objective:To establish a new method and platform for screening, identifying, and exploring a new strategy for anti-hepatitis B immunotherapy based on hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific TCR.Methods:Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from patients with acute hepatitis B. CD3 +CD8 +CD137 +T single cells were sorted out after stimulation with the HBsAg peptide library. The α and β chains in TCRs of single cells were amplified by PCR. TCR double-chain pairing and lentiviral packaging were performed through high-throughput sequencing. Re-infected Jurkat-76-NFAT-GFP cells and the cell lines stably expressing TCR were screened. HBsAg peptide library and immortalized B lymphocytes co-cultured with J76N-TCR were used to screen HBsAg-specific TCRs. K562 cell lines stably expressing HLA-A*24:02 were established to determine epitope peptide by screening A*24:02-restricted TCR. The screened TCRs were replaced with mouse C regions and packaged with lentiviruses. Functional validation was performed on healthy human CD4 +T and CD8 +T lymphocytes following infection. Results:Stable TCR-expressing cell lines were successfully prepared based on single-cell TCRαβ double-chain amplification and pairing technology. Twenty-one TCRs were screened using immortalized B lymphocytes, resulting in nine possible HLA-A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCRs. Further screening with K562-A2402 resulted in six A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCRs with identically recognized epitope peptide. The functional determination of the two TCR clones revealed their specific recognition function for target cells expressing HBsAg.Conclusion:HLA-A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCR with recognition function for target cells expressing HBsAg was successfully obtained based on the new experimental technology system, laying an important foundation for further exploration of antiviral immunotherapy based on HBV-specific TCR.

Objective To evaluate the application of serum soluble suppression of tumorigenicity-2(sST2),glo-merular filtration rate(GFR),and serum iron(SI)combined test for predicting prognosis of acute decompensated heart failure(ADHF)patients.Methods A total of 575 ADHF patients were included in this study.Serum sST2,GFR,SI levels and other biomarkers were measured and followed up.Patients were divided into poor prognosis and good prognosis groups based on the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events(MACEs).Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to evaluate the prognostic value of these indicators,and receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were employed to compare the prediction outcome of single and combined indicators.Results In the poor prognosis group,heart rate,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pres-sure and fasting blood glucose level were all significantly higher than in those in the control group(P＜0.05).Ad-ditionally,the poor prognosis group had higher level of sST2 and total iron-binding capacity,while GFR,SI and transferring saturation were lower as compared to control group(P＜0.05).Cox multivariate survival analysis showed that sST2,GFR,and SI were independent predictors of poor prognosis in ADHF patients(P＜0.05).Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that higher level of sST2 was associated with poor survival prognosis.ROC curve analysis showed that when the biomarkers like sST2,GFR and SI were used together,the area under the curve(AUC)in-creased to 0.834,with a sensitivity of 80.2%and a specificity of 75.6%.Conclusions Combination test of serum sST2,GFR and SI significantly supports the predictive function for ADHF patients'prognosis.The highest AUC val-ue from the combined biomarker prediction may contribute to a more accurate assessment of patient risk.This com-bined test of indicators provides a more reliable tool for clinicians in terms of early identification of high-risk pa-tients,guiding treatment decisions and improving the prognosis management of patients.

Objective:To explore the influence of Stat1 on Foxp3 expression and production of Treg.Methods:C57BL/6 mice were used and separated into normal control group and Stat1 specific inhibitor Fludarabine(Flud)treatment group.Ratio of CD4+Foxp3+Treg and expression of Foxp3 in spleen,lymph nodes and peripheral blood of mice in each group were detected by flow cy-tometry.Human Stat1 overexpression plasmid was constructed and transfected into human breast cancer MCF-7 cells,and expression changes of Foxp3 was detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot.Results:Compared with mice in normal control group,proportion of Treg and expression of Foxp3 in lymph nodes and peripheral blood of mice in Flud treatment group were increased,while Stat1 overex-pression resulted in decreased Foxp3 mRNA and protein expression in MCF-7 cells.Conclusion:Stat1 inhibits expression of Foxp3 and production of Tregs.

Objective To examine the effects of SMAD4 on the proliferation and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in rats with poly-cystic ovary syndrome(PCOS).Methods A PCOS rat model was established using DHEA,and ovarian granulosa cells were extracted and cultured in vitro.The expression of SMAD4 in ovarian granulosa cells was detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot-ting.SMAD4-siRNA was transfected into ovarian granulosa cells from PCOS rats.The expression of SMAD4 mRNA after transfection was determined by quantitative real-time PCR.Western blotting was performed to detect the expression levels of PCNA,BAX,and BCL-2 proteins after transfection.A CCK-8 assay was performed to evaluate cell growth after siRNA interference.Results The HE staining results revealed that the number of ovarian follicular vacuoles increased and that the number of granulosa cell layers and corpus luteum decreased,thus indicating the establishment of a PCOS model.The FSHR positivity rate exceeded 95％.SMAD4 expression in ovarian granulosa cells was higher in the PCOS group than in the control group(P＜0.05).Furthermore,siRNA effectively reduced SMAD4 expression in ovarian granulosa cells of PCOS rats(P＜0.01),promoted proliferation,and inhibited the apoptosis of granulosa cells.Con-clusion The hindered growth of ovarian granulosa cells in PCOS rats may be linked to the overexpression of SMAD4 mRNA,which sug-gests that targeting SMAD4 could be a promising approach for treating ovulatory abnormalities in patients with PCOS.

Objective:To explore the influence of Stat1 on Foxp3 expression and production of Treg.Methods:C57BL/6 mice were used and separated into normal control group and Stat1 specific inhibitor Fludarabine(Flud)treatment group.Ratio of CD4+Foxp3+Treg and expression of Foxp3 in spleen,lymph nodes and peripheral blood of mice in each group were detected by flow cy-tometry.Human Stat1 overexpression plasmid was constructed and transfected into human breast cancer MCF-7 cells,and expression changes of Foxp3 was detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot.Results:Compared with mice in normal control group,proportion of Treg and expression of Foxp3 in lymph nodes and peripheral blood of mice in Flud treatment group were increased,while Stat1 overex-pression resulted in decreased Foxp3 mRNA and protein expression in MCF-7 cells.Conclusion:Stat1 inhibits expression of Foxp3 and production of Tregs.

Objective To examine the effects of SMAD4 on the proliferation and apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in rats with poly-cystic ovary syndrome(PCOS).Methods A PCOS rat model was established using DHEA,and ovarian granulosa cells were extracted and cultured in vitro.The expression of SMAD4 in ovarian granulosa cells was detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot-ting.SMAD4-siRNA was transfected into ovarian granulosa cells from PCOS rats.The expression of SMAD4 mRNA after transfection was determined by quantitative real-time PCR.Western blotting was performed to detect the expression levels of PCNA,BAX,and BCL-2 proteins after transfection.A CCK-8 assay was performed to evaluate cell growth after siRNA interference.Results The HE staining results revealed that the number of ovarian follicular vacuoles increased and that the number of granulosa cell layers and corpus luteum decreased,thus indicating the establishment of a PCOS model.The FSHR positivity rate exceeded 95％.SMAD4 expression in ovarian granulosa cells was higher in the PCOS group than in the control group(P＜0.05).Furthermore,siRNA effectively reduced SMAD4 expression in ovarian granulosa cells of PCOS rats(P＜0.01),promoted proliferation,and inhibited the apoptosis of granulosa cells.Con-clusion The hindered growth of ovarian granulosa cells in PCOS rats may be linked to the overexpression of SMAD4 mRNA,which sug-gests that targeting SMAD4 could be a promising approach for treating ovulatory abnormalities in patients with PCOS.

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological characteristics and influencing factors of single-cigarette use and dual cigarette-cigar use in China.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study that selected 85 638 urban and rural residents who met the inclusion criteria from the 2018 China Health Literacy Survey as research subjects. An analysis was conducted on 21 849 users of cigarettes and cigars among them. Due to the small number of individuals who exclusively used cigars (247 cases), the research subjects were divided into two categories: exclusive cigarette users and dual users of cigarettes and cigars. The groups were categorized by age (18-34 years, 35-54 years, ≥55 years), gender (male, female), education level (primary school and below, junior high school and high school, university and above) and annual household income (<20 000 yuan, 20 000-<80 000 yuan, ≥80 000 yuan) to compare the tobacco usage rate and conduct subgroup analyses for each subgroup. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed, incorporating general demographic characteristic information to explore the influencing factors of exclusive cigarette use and dual use of cigarettes and cigars, respectively.Results:The rate of exclusive cigarette use in our country was 24.3%, while the dual use rate of cigarettes and cigars was 0.9%. The exclusive cigarette use rate and the dual use rate of cigarettes and cigars among males were significantly higher than those among females (48.25% vs 2.48%, and 1.84% vs 0.06%) (both P<0.001). For males, the high-risk factors for exclusive cigarette use included living in urban areas ( OR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.23-1.54), being Han ethnicity ( OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.51-1.98), and having an annual household income ≥20 000 yuan ( OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.38-1.82) while having a junior high school education or higher was a protective factor ( OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.52-0.90). Age≥35 years ( OR: 3.36, 95% CI: 2.62-4.32) and having a junior high school education or higher ( OR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02-1.67) were risk factors for dual use of cigarettes and cigars in males. Among females, living in urban areas ( OR: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.19-1.97) and being Han ethnicity ( OR: 5.96, 95% CI: 4.47-7.96) were risk factors for exclusive cigarette use, while having a university education or higher was a protective factor ( OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.18-0.42). However, for female dual use of cigarettes and cigars, no significant effects were observed for any demographic characteristics. Conclusions:The use rate of cigarettes alone in China is significantly higher than that of cigarette-cigar dual use, and the rates of cigarette use alone and cigarette-cigar dual use in men are significantly higher than those in women. Tobacco use is being affected by sociodemographic factors, among which place of residence, ethnicity and education level are the main influencing factors of cigarette use alone, and gender, age and education level are the main influencing factors of cigarette-cigar dual use.

Objective:To establish a new method and platform for screening, identifying, and exploring a new strategy for anti-hepatitis B immunotherapy based on hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific TCR.Methods:Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from patients with acute hepatitis B. CD3 +CD8 +CD137 +T single cells were sorted out after stimulation with the HBsAg peptide library. The α and β chains in TCRs of single cells were amplified by PCR. TCR double-chain pairing and lentiviral packaging were performed through high-throughput sequencing. Re-infected Jurkat-76-NFAT-GFP cells and the cell lines stably expressing TCR were screened. HBsAg peptide library and immortalized B lymphocytes co-cultured with J76N-TCR were used to screen HBsAg-specific TCRs. K562 cell lines stably expressing HLA-A*24:02 were established to determine epitope peptide by screening A*24:02-restricted TCR. The screened TCRs were replaced with mouse C regions and packaged with lentiviruses. Functional validation was performed on healthy human CD4 +T and CD8 +T lymphocytes following infection. Results:Stable TCR-expressing cell lines were successfully prepared based on single-cell TCRαβ double-chain amplification and pairing technology. Twenty-one TCRs were screened using immortalized B lymphocytes, resulting in nine possible HLA-A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCRs. Further screening with K562-A2402 resulted in six A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCRs with identically recognized epitope peptide. The functional determination of the two TCR clones revealed their specific recognition function for target cells expressing HBsAg.Conclusion:HLA-A*24:02-restricted HBsAg-specific TCR with recognition function for target cells expressing HBsAg was successfully obtained based on the new experimental technology system, laying an important foundation for further exploration of antiviral immunotherapy based on HBV-specific TCR.

Purpose To investigate the consistency of the"Standards and guidelines for the interpretation and reporting of sequence variants in cancer"published in 2017 by the Associa-tion for Molecular Pathology(AMP)/American Society of Clini-cal Oncology(ASCO)/College of American Pathologists(CAP).Methods Sixty variants of 26 genes from 11 types of cancer were selected.5 professionals from four hospitals e-quipped with in-hospital NGS detection ability were used to in-terpret the treatment,diagnosis and progenosis respectivly.In the first phase of the study,each researcher rated the variants individually according to their own understanding of the 2017 guideline.In the second phase,the details of the guidelines'e-valuation principles were discussed and interpreted again after reaching a consensus.Results Eleven principles recognized by all participants were summarized as a supplement to interpreta-tion.Fleiss consistency showed that the consistency of interpre-tation of treatment and prognostic significance in the second stage was higher than that in the first phase(κ value was 0.166 vs 0.276,0.014 vs 0.185).The consistency of interpretation of diagnostic significance in the second stage was lower than that in the first phase(κ value was 0.454 vs 0.035).Conclusion There is inconsistency in the clinical interpretation of tumor gene variation among different laboratories.It is feasible for laborato-ries to establish a mutually recognized interpretation system for the clinical diagnosis,treatment,and prognosis of tumors.