OBJECTIVE To investigate the use of common disposable and reusable supplies for prevention and con-trol of infections in Shanghai.METHODS A survey was conducted for the use and reuse of disposable high-value consumables,disposable bronchoscopes and environmental cleaning and disinfection tools in Shanghai by using structured questionnaire.RESULTS Totally 81 medical institutions were involved in the survey,44(54.32％)of which were tertiary hospitals,and the median number of beds was 500.The orthopedic implants(70.37％),ul-trasound knife(69.14％)and endoscopic puncture instrument(66.67％)were the high-value consumables rank-ing the top 3 utilization rates.There was reuse of 18 types of high-value consumables in total among the 12 medi-cal institutions.The major causes of reuse of high-value consumables included fee less tan cost of consumables(58.33％)or being unable to included in charge items(33.33％).27.78％of the recycle high-value consumables were not treated with a dedicated disinfection and sterilization system and procedures for the disposable high-value consumables,and 33.33％did not have the report systems for related adverse reactions.49.09％of the medi-cal institutions reported to use the disposable bronchoscopes,4 of which reused them.The majority of the medi-cal institutions could carry out centralized cleaning and disinfection for the recycled floor cloths(60.81％)and cloth towels(56.76％),and 32.43％of the medical institutions reused the cloth towels by manual cleaning.The utilization rate of antiseptic wipes was 75.41％in adult intensive care unit,62.50％in neonatal intensive care unit.CONCLUSION The study reveals that there are some problems in the use of disposal and reusable supplies for prevention and control of infections,which may provide baseline data for management of the related supplies and the surveillance of disinfection of the recycled supplies so as to enhance the quality of management of hospital-asso-ciated infections.

OBJECTIVE T o explore the value of targeted next-generation sequencing(t-NGS)in diagnosis of respir-atory tract pathogens through meta-analysis so as to provide reference for clinical application.METHODS PubMed database,Web of Science database,Wanfang database,CNKI database and Sinomed database were retrieved,and the time period of retrieval ranged from Jan.2010 to May 2024.The literatures were screened out based on the es-tablished standards.The quality was assessed by QU ADAS-2,the risk of bias graph was drawn by Revman 5.4,and the statistical analysis was performed by Stata 16.0.RESULTS A total of 9 literatures were included in the study.The result of meta-analysis showed that the heterogeneity test Q for sensitivity was 268.21,P＜0.01,I2=97.02％,with the heterogeneity test Q for specificity 210.04,P＜0.01,I2=96.19％,the combined sensitivity 0.88(95％CI:0.62 to 0.97),combined specificity 0.68(95％CI:0.41 to 0.86),combined positive likelihood ratio 2.72(95％CI:1.44 to 5.15),combined negative likelihood ratio 0.18(95％CI:0.06 to 0.53),combined diagno-sis score 2.74(95％CI:1.68 to 3.80),and combined diagnostic odds ratio 15.44(95％CI:5.34 to 44.66).The area under synthesize receiver operating characteristic(SROC)curve(AUC)was 0.85(95％CI:0.82 to 0.88).The result of Deeks funnel plot showed that P was 0.99,indicating that there was no obvious publication bias.CONCLUSIONS The sensitivity of tNGS is high in detection of the pathogens causing acute respiratory tract infection,the specificity needs to be improved,but its comprehensive ability is satisfactory.It has certain val-ue in early clinical diagnosis.

Objective To investigate shared mechanisms and therapeutic targets between heart failure(HF)and vascular de-mentia(VaD),and identify natural compounds for dual-organ protection.Methods Single-cell data(8 samples)from GEO were processed via Seurat for clustering.Through CellChat,inter-organ communication was constructed,and top 95%ligand-receptor pairs were analyzed by KEGG enrichment.Bulk RNA-seq(70 samples)underwent differential gene(limma)and immune infiltra-tion(CIBERSORT)analyses.31186 compounds from TCMbank werescreened by AutoDock Vina,followed by molecular dynam-ics validation.Results HF fibroblasts(43.75%,7 subclusters)and VaD oligodendrocytes(76.57%,6 subclusters)dominated re-spective tissues.Cross-disease integration revealed HF-driven fibrosis(COLLAGEN)and VaD-associated neuroinflammation(SPP1),converging on PI3K-Akt and ECM pathways.HF-specific markers(TNXB/THBS4/COL1 A2)and VaD signatures(SPP1/PDGFC/TGFA)were identified,with FOXC1 identified as a shared transcriptional regulator.B cell activation character-ized immune dysregulation.Among 8 FOXC1 inhibitors,Qingdainone showed optimal binding[affinity:-9.0 kcal/mol;RMSD:(0.2±0.06)nm].Conclusion This study uncovers fibrosis-neuroinflammation crosstalk in HF-VaD comorbidity and proposes Qingdainone as a FOXC1-targeting therapeutic candidate.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the value of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight-mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS)in direct identification of carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae positive for blood culture.METHODS The blood culture bottles that were positive for E.coli or K.pneumoniae were collected from the patients with bloodstream infection who were treated in Zhongshan Hospi-tal,Fudan University from Jul.2021 to Jun.2023.The isolates were collected by using a gel-contact clotting tube,then the tested strains were respectively mixed with 4 μg/ml of imipenem,4 μg/ml of meropenem and 2 μg/ml of ertapenem for coculture and were incubated at 35 ℃ for 4 and 5 hours,finally,the strains were i-dentified by using the mass spectrum.The minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs)of the three types of drugs were tested by microbroth dilution method and were set as the golden standards for the test.RESULTS Totally 31 strains of E.coli and 28 strains of K.pneumoniae that were positive in blood culture bottles were collected,both of the effective rates of controlled growth of the E.coli strains were 100.00％after the incuba-tion for 4 and 5 hours,and the effective rates of controlled growth of the K.pneumoniae strains were 9 6.43％and 100.00％after the incubation for 4 and hours,respectively.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the K.pneumoniae strains against the three types of drugs were 100.00％after the incubation for 5 hours.The specificity and positive predictive value of the E.coli strains against imipenem,meropenem and ertapenem were 100.00％after the incubation for 5 hours;the sensitivities were 73.58％,78.93％and 78.93％,respectively;the negative predictive values were 70.60％,75.00％and 75.00％,respectively.CONCLUSIONS MALDI-TOF MS is rapid and accurate for direct identification of the carbapenem-resistant E.coli and K.pneumoniae strains positive in blood culture bottles,and the accuracy reaches at 100.00％for the test of drug-resistant K.pneumoniae strains after the incubation for 5 hours.The method may provide evidence for clinical treatment of bloodstream infections induced by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

OBJECTIVE: Peritoneal fibrosis (PF) is an adverse event that occurs during long-term peritoneal dialysis, significantly impairing treatment efficiency and adversely affecting patient outcomes. Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), a principal active component derived from Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge, has exhibited anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic effects in various settings. This study aims to investigate the potential therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of AS-IV in the treatment of PF. METHODS: The PF mouse model was established by intraperitoneal injection of 4.25% peritoneal dialysis fluid (100 mL/kg). The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HMrSV5 cells was induced by the addition of 10 ng/mL transforming growth factor β (TGF-β). The differentially expressed genes in HMrSV5 cells treated with AS-IV were screened using transcriptome sequencing analysis. The potential targets of AS-IV were screened using network pharmacology and analyzed using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. RESULTS: Administration of AS-IV at doses of 20, 40, or 80 mg/kg effectively mitigated the increase in peritoneal thickness and the development of fibrosis in mice with PF. The expression of the fibrosis marker α-smooth muscle actin in the peritoneum was significantly decreased in AS-IV-treated mice. The treatment of AS-IV (10, 20, and 40 μmol/L) significantly delayed the EMT of HMrSV5 cells induced by TGF-β, as demonstrated by the decreased number of 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine-positive cells, reduced migrated area, and decreased expression of fibrosis markers. A total of 460 differentially expressed genes were detected in AS-IV-treated HMrSV5 cells through transcriptome sequencing, with notable enrichment in the phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT) signaling pathway. The reduced levels of phosphorylated PI3K (p-PI3K) and p-AKT were detected in HMrSV5 cells with AS-IV treatment. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was predicted as a direct target of AS-IV, exhibiting strong hydrogen bond interactions. The activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway by the compound 740Y-P, and the activation of the EGFR pathway by NSC 228155 each partially counteracted the inhibitory effect of AS-IV on the EMT of HMrSV5 cells. CONCLUSION AS-IV delayed the EMT process in peritoneal mesothelial cells and slowed the progression of PF, potentially serving as a therapeutic agent for the early prevention and treatment of PF. Please cite this article as: Huang Y, Chu CL, Qiu WH, Chen JY, Cao LX, Ji SY, Zhu B, Wang GK, Shen QQ. Astragaloside IV delayed the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in peritoneal fibrosis by inhibiting the activation of EGFR and PI3K-AKT pathways. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):694-705.
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/drug effects* ; Animals ; Saponins/pharmacology* ; Triterpenes/pharmacology* ; Mice ; Peritoneal Fibrosis/pathology* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism* ; ErbB Receptors/metabolism* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Male ; Humans ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Cell Line ; Mice, Inbred C57BL

Objective: To investigate the distribution of GP (B-A-B) hybrid glycophorins in several Chinese minority populations from southern regions of China (Guangdong & Guizhou). Methods: Whole blood samples were collected from 536 blood donors representing 15 different Chinese ethnic minority groups, including She, Bouyei, Yi and Miao, as well as Chuanqing populations. Genomic DNA was extracted and GYP (B-A-B) genotyping was conducted by high resolution melting (HRM) minority method using the GYPB pseudoexon 3-specific primers. Direct sequencing of GYPB pseudoexon 3 was performed in the samples with variant curves. Results: Only one genotype of GP (B-A-B) hybrid glycophorins (GYP Mur/GYPB) was identified among these 536 samples. In total, 15 She (15/162, 9.26%), 18 Bouyei (18/113, 15.93%), 3 Yi (3/79, 3.80%), 3 Chuanqing (3/45, 6.67%), 2 Bai (2/42, 4.76%), 3 Miao (3/40, 7.50%), 1 Shui (1/12, 8.33%), 2 Gelao (2/12, 16.67%), 1 Tujia (1/8, 12.50%) and 1 Dong (1/6, 16.67%) blood donors with heterozygous GYP Mur allele were identified. Among 8 Hui, 5 Manchu, 2 Mongolian, 1 Yao and 1 Li donors, no GYP (B-A-B) hybrid gene carrier was found. In addition, four nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in 6 samples with a variant melting curve detected by HRM. Conclusion: GP. Mur is the most common type of GP (B-A-B) hybrid glycophorins among Chinese minority populations, with frequency varying across different populations. It is recommended to involve GP. Mur reagent cells in the antibody screening cells for populations with a high frequency of GYP Mur allele.

Background Although current evidence suggests a link between outdoor air pollution and depressive symptoms, the effect of solid fuel use (a significant indoor air pollutant) on depressive symptoms in China's rural middle-aged and elderly population remains poorly understood. Objective To explore the association between solid fuel use for cooking and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and elderly people in rural areas of China, and to provide a basis for the prevention and control of depressive symptoms among residents in rural areas. Methods Data were obtained from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), depressive symptoms were assessed using 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and cooking fuel type was self-reported. Subsequently, two-level binary unconditional logistic regression models were fitted to assess the impact of solid fuel use for cooking on depressive symptoms. Results A total of 7991 participants aged 45 years and older [mean age (58.52±9.18) years] were included in the study, with a mean CES-D score of 6.07±4.48 and a mean positive depressive symptoms rate of 34% (40.54% in the solid fuel group and 30.81% in the clean fuel group, χ²=74.40, P<0.001). After controlling for potential confounding covariates, rural middle-aged and elderly residents in the solid fuel group had a higher risk of reporting depressive symptoms than those in the clean fuel group (OR=1.36, 95%CI: 1.20-1.54), an association that was unaffected by participant characteristics and was positive across age and gender groups. Conclusion There is a positive association between solid fuel use for cooking and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people in rural areas of China. It is recommended that rural areas promote the upgrading of stoves through the installation of ventilation equipment or the switch from solid cooking fuel to clean fuel. This approach is directed toward reducing exposure to household air pollution, alleviating the prevalence of depression among middle-aged and elderly residents in vast rural areas, and enhancing their mental health.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the use of common disposable and reusable supplies for prevention and con-trol of infections in Shanghai.METHODS A survey was conducted for the use and reuse of disposable high-value consumables,disposable bronchoscopes and environmental cleaning and disinfection tools in Shanghai by using structured questionnaire.RESULTS Totally 81 medical institutions were involved in the survey,44(54.32％)of which were tertiary hospitals,and the median number of beds was 500.The orthopedic implants(70.37％),ul-trasound knife(69.14％)and endoscopic puncture instrument(66.67％)were the high-value consumables rank-ing the top 3 utilization rates.There was reuse of 18 types of high-value consumables in total among the 12 medi-cal institutions.The major causes of reuse of high-value consumables included fee less tan cost of consumables(58.33％)or being unable to included in charge items(33.33％).27.78％of the recycle high-value consumables were not treated with a dedicated disinfection and sterilization system and procedures for the disposable high-value consumables,and 33.33％did not have the report systems for related adverse reactions.49.09％of the medi-cal institutions reported to use the disposable bronchoscopes,4 of which reused them.The majority of the medi-cal institutions could carry out centralized cleaning and disinfection for the recycled floor cloths(60.81％)and cloth towels(56.76％),and 32.43％of the medical institutions reused the cloth towels by manual cleaning.The utilization rate of antiseptic wipes was 75.41％in adult intensive care unit,62.50％in neonatal intensive care unit.CONCLUSION The study reveals that there are some problems in the use of disposal and reusable supplies for prevention and control of infections,which may provide baseline data for management of the related supplies and the surveillance of disinfection of the recycled supplies so as to enhance the quality of management of hospital-asso-ciated infections.

OBJECTIVE T o explore the value of targeted next-generation sequencing(t-NGS)in diagnosis of respir-atory tract pathogens through meta-analysis so as to provide reference for clinical application.METHODS PubMed database,Web of Science database,Wanfang database,CNKI database and Sinomed database were retrieved,and the time period of retrieval ranged from Jan.2010 to May 2024.The literatures were screened out based on the es-tablished standards.The quality was assessed by QU ADAS-2,the risk of bias graph was drawn by Revman 5.4,and the statistical analysis was performed by Stata 16.0.RESULTS A total of 9 literatures were included in the study.The result of meta-analysis showed that the heterogeneity test Q for sensitivity was 268.21,P＜0.01,I2=97.02％,with the heterogeneity test Q for specificity 210.04,P＜0.01,I2=96.19％,the combined sensitivity 0.88(95％CI:0.62 to 0.97),combined specificity 0.68(95％CI:0.41 to 0.86),combined positive likelihood ratio 2.72(95％CI:1.44 to 5.15),combined negative likelihood ratio 0.18(95％CI:0.06 to 0.53),combined diagno-sis score 2.74(95％CI:1.68 to 3.80),and combined diagnostic odds ratio 15.44(95％CI:5.34 to 44.66).The area under synthesize receiver operating characteristic(SROC)curve(AUC)was 0.85(95％CI:0.82 to 0.88).The result of Deeks funnel plot showed that P was 0.99,indicating that there was no obvious publication bias.CONCLUSIONS The sensitivity of tNGS is high in detection of the pathogens causing acute respiratory tract infection,the specificity needs to be improved,but its comprehensive ability is satisfactory.It has certain val-ue in early clinical diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the value of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight-mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS)in direct identification of carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae positive for blood culture.METHODS The blood culture bottles that were positive for E.coli or K.pneumoniae were collected from the patients with bloodstream infection who were treated in Zhongshan Hospi-tal,Fudan University from Jul.2021 to Jun.2023.The isolates were collected by using a gel-contact clotting tube,then the tested strains were respectively mixed with 4 μg/ml of imipenem,4 μg/ml of meropenem and 2 μg/ml of ertapenem for coculture and were incubated at 35 ℃ for 4 and 5 hours,finally,the strains were i-dentified by using the mass spectrum.The minimum inhibitory concentrations(MICs)of the three types of drugs were tested by microbroth dilution method and were set as the golden standards for the test.RESULTS Totally 31 strains of E.coli and 28 strains of K.pneumoniae that were positive in blood culture bottles were collected,both of the effective rates of controlled growth of the E.coli strains were 100.00％after the incuba-tion for 4 and 5 hours,and the effective rates of controlled growth of the K.pneumoniae strains were 9 6.43％and 100.00％after the incubation for 4 and hours,respectively.The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the K.pneumoniae strains against the three types of drugs were 100.00％after the incubation for 5 hours.The specificity and positive predictive value of the E.coli strains against imipenem,meropenem and ertapenem were 100.00％after the incubation for 5 hours;the sensitivities were 73.58％,78.93％and 78.93％,respectively;the negative predictive values were 70.60％,75.00％and 75.00％,respectively.CONCLUSIONS MALDI-TOF MS is rapid and accurate for direct identification of the carbapenem-resistant E.coli and K.pneumoniae strains positive in blood culture bottles,and the accuracy reaches at 100.00％for the test of drug-resistant K.pneumoniae strains after the incubation for 5 hours.The method may provide evidence for clinical treatment of bloodstream infections induced by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.