OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupuncture on chondrocyte autophagy in rats of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and explore its underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Forty male SPF-grade SD rats were randomized into a blank group, a model group, a suspension group, an acupuncture group, and a combined therapy group, 8 rats in each one. Except the blank group, KOA model was prepared by the injection with papain. The suspension exercise therapy (10 min each time, three times daily), acupuncture (at "Yanglingquan" [GB34], "Zusanli" [ST36], and "Dubi" [ST35] on the right side, 30 min each intervention, once daily) and the combined therapy (the suspension exercise therapy combined with acupuncture) were delivered in the suspension group, the acupuncture group and the combined therapy group, respectively. The intervention of each group was performed continuously for 6 days, and 4 consecutive weeks, at the interval of 1 day. Before and after intervention, Lequesne MG score was assessed in the rats. After intervention, HE staining was adopted to observe the cartilaginous tissue morphology of the right knee joints, and Mankin score was evaluated; the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor neurosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured using ELISA; the real-time PCR was provided to determine the mRNA expression of collagen protein type Ⅱ(COL2), collagen protein type Ⅹ (COL10), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and autophagy-regulated protein (Beclin-1) in the cartilaginous tissue of the right knee joint; Western blot was employed to detect the protein expression of PI3K, phosphorylated PI3K (p-PI3K), Akt, phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt), mTOR, phosphorylated mTOR (p-mTOR) and Beclin-1 in the cartilaginous tissue of the right knee joint. RESULTS: Compared with the blank group, the rats in the model group showed the higher Lequesne MG score (P<0.01), thinner cartilage of the right knee, reduced chondrocytes and disordered arrangement, and higher Mankin score (P<0.01). Besides, in the model group, the serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were elevated (P<0.01), the mRNA expression of COL2 and Beclin-1 and the protein expression of Beclin-1 decreased (P<0.01), the mRNA expression of COL10, PI3K, Akt and mTOR, and the protein expression of p-PI3K, p-Akt and p-mTOR increased (P<0.01) in the cartilaginous tissue of the right knee joint. Compared with the model group, in the suspension group, the acupuncture group and the combined therapy group, the Lequesne MG scores were reduced (P<0.01), the cartilage of the right knee was thickened, the arrangement of chondrocytes was improved, and the Mankin scores were lower (P<0.01). Besides, in these intervention groups, the serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were reduced (P<0.01), the mRNA expression of COL2 and Beclin-1 and the protein expression of Beclin-1 increased (P<0.05, P<0.01), the mRNA expression of COL10, PI3K, Akt and mTOR, and the protein expression of p-PI3K, p-Akt and p-mTOR decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01) in the cartilaginous tissue of the right knee joint. When compared with the suspension group and the acupuncture group, in the combined therapy group, the Lequesne MG score was reduced (P<0.01), and the Mankin score was reduced (P<0.05, P<0.01). Besides, the serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were reduced (P<0.05), the mRNA expression of COL2 and Beclin-1 and the protein expression of Beclin-1 increased (P<0.05), the mRNA expression of COL10, PI3K, Akt and mTOR, and the protein expression of p-PI3K, p-Akt and p-mTOR decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01) in the cartilaginous tissue of the right knee joint. CONCLUSION Acupuncture can promote cartilage regeneration of knee joint and autophagy in KOA rats, alleviate inflammation, so as to retard cartilage degeneration, which may be possibly associated with the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
Animals ; Male ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics* ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics* ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/physiopathology* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/genetics* ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Chondrocytes/metabolism* ; Humans ; Autophagy ; Acupuncture Points

The timely use of screening tools to assess the palliative care needs of emergency patients can provide decision-making basis for patient referral and help patients receive palliative care in a timely manner.This paper reviews the palliative care needs screening tools for emergency patients at home and abroad,describes their development methods,scoring criteria and application status,compares and analyzes their characteristics and shortcomings.It aims to provide references for the localized development and application of palliative care needs screening tools in emergency patients.

Objective To analyze the current situation of healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) management of fever clinics among different levels of medical institutions in Wuhan, and to provide a scientific basis for improving hospital infection management. Methods In January 2023, a network questionnaire survey was conducted on medical institutions with fever clinics in Wuhan. Results A total of 72 medical institutions were investigated, of which 58.33% had CT, and 48.61% had fever clinics for children. The total qualified rate of HCAI management was 78.28%. The qualified rates of four primary indicators, including hospital management, diagnosis and treatment environment protection, training and education, and implementation of infection control measures, were 82.27%, 71.49%, 75.93%, and 81.31%, respectively. There were statistical differences among different levels of medical institutions (all P<0.01). Among the 13 secondary indicators, the qualified rates of 7 indicators were more than 80%, with the highest being medical item management (93.06%), medical waste disposal (89.72%), and personnel management (83.33%), and the lowest being facilities and equipment (66.32%), and patients and accompanying personnel education (66.67%). Among the 65 tertiary indicators, 30 had a pass rate great than 80%. Conclusion Wuhan actively promotes the construction of fever clinics in medical institutions, and the overall situation of HCAI management is good. However, there are still some problems to varying degrees, especially in the layout procedures, hand hygiene, and staff training of fever clinics in secondary and lower medical institutions, which should be further strengthened.

【Objective】 To explore the application of machine learning in scientific and rational blood preparation and predictive analysis for surgical blood usage before liver transplantation surgery. 【Methods】 Clinical basic information including gender, age, clinical diagnosis and surgical methods of 356 liver transplantation patients were collected. The duration (Time) and preoperative laboratory test results of hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), platelet count (Plt), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (Fib), total bilirubin (TBIL), albumin (ALB), creatinine (Crea) and total protein (TP), as well as the amount of intraoperative blood transfusion were collected. A machine learning model capable of predicting the risk of massive blood transfusion during liver transplantation surgery was established by Python, and was evaluated to select the optimal predictive model. 【Results】 Among the 7 machine learning models constructed, the logistic regression model performed the best (AUROC: 0.90, F1 score: 0.82), with an accuracy of 79.44% and precision of 79.69%, followed by the random forest classifier (AUROC: 0.87, F1 score: 0.83), with an accuracy of 79.44% and precision of 77.94%. 【Conclusion】 Establishing a machine learning prediction model by Python is of significant clinical importance for scientific blood preparation, predicting the risk of massive blood transfusion and ensuring the safety of blood use in liver transplantation surgery.

Objective:To study the value of sound touch elastography (STE) linear combined with ultrasound score (US) in the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) liver fibrosis, and to investigate whether their combination can improve the diagnostic efficiency of subdividing the degree of CHB liver fibrosis. Furthermore, a comparison with STE linear combined with the serological model was performed to seek the optimal linear combination model.Methods:A total of 313 subjects were enrolled from September 2018 to December 2021 in Shenzhen Third People′s Hospital Affiliated to Guangdong Medical University, including 259 patients with CHB who had completed liver biopsy and 54 healthy volunteers. CHB patients were divided into liver fibrosis group (F1-F4 group) according to METAVIR classification standard, and healthy volunteers were used as the control group. All subjects underwent liver ultrasound examination, STE and blood biochemical indexes of liver function. The US was performed according to the liver ultrasound examination, and the liver stiffness measurement (LSM) was measured by STE, aspartate aminotransferase and platelet ratio index (APRI) was calculated by blood biochemical index. Fisher discriminant analysis was used to establish the linear combination (LC) diagnostic marker of US and LSM, and the linear combination (LC2) diagnostic marker of LSM and APRI, successively. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlations between US, LSM, APRI, LC2, LC and pathological results. The ROC curves of US, LSM, APRI, LC2 and LC for diagnosing CHB liver fibrosis were plotted, and the diagnostic efficiency of above diagnostic markers was evaluated according to the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve (AUC).Results:The formula for the linear combination of US and LSM was LC=0.986 0×US+ 0.166 7×LSM, and LC was highly positively correlated with pathological findings ( rs=0.851, P<0.001), higher than US, LSM, LC2 and APRI ( rs=0.825, 0.775, 0.802, 0.586, all P<0.001). LC showed the best diagnostic efficiency. The AUCs for diagnosing ≥F1, ≥F2, ≥F3 liver fibrosis and =F4 cirrhosis were 0.945, 0.911, 0.954, 0.955, respectively, which superior to the AUCs of US (0.913, 0.879, 0.934 and 0.916, respectively), the AUCs of LSM (0.860, 0.871, 0.934 and 0.952, respectively) and the AUCs of LC2(0.899, 0.883, 0.941, 0.946, respectively). Compared with US, the AUC of LC diagnosis of ≥F1, ≥F2, ≥F3 liver fibrosis and =F4 cirrhosis increased by 3.2%, 3.2%, 2.0% and 3.9%, respectively, with all significant differences ( P<0.05). Compared with LSM, the AUC of LC increased by 8.5%, 4.0%, 2.0% and 0.3%, respectively, with significant difference ( P<0.05) except for stage =F4 cirrhosis.Compared with LC2, the AUC of LC increased by 4.6%, 2.8%, 1.3% and 0.9%, respectively, and there were significant differences in the diagnosis of ≥F1 and ≥F2 liver fibrosis ( P<0.05). Moreover, the overall efficiency of LC2 was not significantly improved than LSM, the difference was not significant ( P>0.05). Conclusions:US, LSM, LC2 and LC can be used to diagnose the degree of CHB liver fibrosis, but LC is better than US or LSM and LC2 alone, especially in the subdivision of mild liver fibrosis, which is a promising new diagnostic marker to subdivide the degree of CHB liver fibrosis.

In order to explore the platform role and practicability of network teaching in the teaching and training of clinical blood transfusion. By building an "Internet+APP" teaching and training management platform, this research develops personalized teaching and training courses and assessment plans for different groups such as interns, trainees and on-the-job staff in the blood transfusion department, so as to achieve time-saving and high-efficient training results. The results showed that the interns' assessment scores were all up to standard, with more than 90 points accounting for 66% and 80-90 points accounting for 34%. The assessment scores of the trainees and on-the-job personnel were above 90 points, which showed that they had significant improvement of their professional level. The teaching resources of this teaching mode are stable, centered on the trainees, free from traditional time and space constraints, high-efficient, time-saving, and easy to accept.

In order to evaluate the efficacy of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) for achalasia, data of 63 patients with achalasia who were treated with POEM in China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University from 2017 to 2021 were collected. Postoperative Eckardt score, high-resolution manometry and upper gastrointestinal radiography were compared with preoperative data. The mean age of the 63 patients was 49.0 years, and there were 31 famales. The preoperative Eckardt score was 9 (3), and the postoperative Eckardt score was 2 (2), with significant difference ( V=1 953, P<0.001). The lower esophageal sphincter pressure decreased significantly after operation compared with that before operation [9.90 (3.35) mmHg VS 26.80（13.85）mmHg， V=2 016, P<0.001]. Fifty-three patients (84.1%) had satisfactory curative effects. The incidence of adverse events was 3.2% (2/63). POEM is safe, effective and minimally invasive for the treatment of achalasia.

Objective: To assess the value of cyclin D1 immunocytochemistry combined with a small panel molecular analysis in indeterminate cytological diagnosis of Bethesda category Ⅲ-Ⅴ. Methods: A consecutive cohort of 96 thyroid FNA specimens with indeterminate diagnosis (TBSRTC category Ⅲ-Ⅴ) and available histopathologic follow-up data were collected between December 2018 and December 2021 in Department of Pathology, Beijing Hospital. The cases were evaluated by cyclin D1 immunocytochemistry and molecular testing of BRAF^V600E or a small panel of markers (BRAF, N-RAS, H-RAS, K-RAS and TERT) in the FNA specimens. The identification of the optimal cut-off point of cyclin D1 for the diagnosis of malignancy was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the assessment of the area under the ROC curve (AUC). The specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of all these markers were evaluated with the crosstabs and significance was calculated. Results: Ninty-six patients with 96 thyroid nodules were enrolled, including 42 cases of TBSRTC-III, 10 cases of TBSRTC-IV and 44 cases of TBSRTC-V. There were 79 females and 17 males with a median age of 47 years (range, 25 to 75 years). A 7.5% cut-off value for positive cyclin D1 nuclear immunostaining in thyroid cells demonstrated 100% PPV, 57.1% NPV, 81.0% sensitivity and 100% specificity for thyroid malignancy diagnosis. The sensitivity of the BRAF^V600E mutation test or combined with a small panel test alone for thyroid malignancy diagnosis were 65.5% and 69.0% respectively. The sensitivity for thyroid malignancy diagnosis increased to 94.0% and 95.2% respectively when combining the cyclin D1 immunocytochemistry with the molecular test, and the specificities remained 100% and 91.7% respectively.The accuracy of cyclin D1 immunocytochemistry combined with a small panel of molecular test in detecting thyroid malignancy increased to 94.8% compared to using these markers alone. Conclusions: The addition of cyclin D1 immunocytochemistry and a small panel of molecular testing to FNA cytology can increase the sensitivity and NPV of cytology in indeterminate categories, and this supplementary approach provides a simple, accurate and convenient diagnostic method for reducing unnecessary thyroidectomies.
Adult ; Aged ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Cyclin D1/genetics* ; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques ; Thyroid Nodule/genetics* ; Male ; Female

【Objective】 To investigate the association between HLA-A, B, DRB1 alleles and chronic renal failure (CRF) in Han population of Shandong Peninsula. 【Methods】 Sequence specific oligonucleotide probe-polymerase chain reaction (PCR-SSO) was used to genotype 880 patients with CRF in the Han population of Shandong Peninsula. The allele frequencies of HLA-A, B and DRB1 were compared with 865 hematopoietic stem cell voluntary donors, and the association between HLA gene polymorphism and CRF was analyzed. 【Results】 A total of 33 HLA-A alleles, 76 HLA-B alleles and 39 HLA-DRB1 alleles were detected in the study group. DRB1^*11∶01 (6.70% vs 4.45%) and DRB1^*12∶02 (8.69% vs 5.90%) in CRF group were significantly higher than those in the control(Pc<0.05), and B^*15∶11 (1.82% vs 3.64%) among CRF group was significantly lower compared with the control(Pc<0.05). The frequency of three loci haplotypes A^*30∶01 -B^*13∶02 -DRB1^*07∶01 (16.61% vs 7.61%), A^*33∶03 -B^*58∶01 -DRB1^*03∶01 (4.57% vs 1.62%) and A^*02∶07 -B^*46∶01 -DRB1^*09∶01 (4.06% vs 1.09%) in CRF patients were significantly higher than that of the control(Pc<0.05), which were strongly correlated with CRF. 【Conclusion】 The data on the association of HLA-A, B, DRB1 alleles and haplotype polymorphisms with CRF in Shandong Peninsula has been obtained in this study. DRB1^*11∶01 and DRB1^*12∶02 may be the susceptibility risk factors for development of CRF, and B^*15∶11 may be protective genes against development of CRF, and A^*30∶01 -B^*13∶02 -DRB1^*07∶01, A^*33∶03 -B^*58∶01 -DRB1^*03∶01 and A^*02∶07 -B^*46∶01 -DRB1^*09∶01 may be the susceptible haplotypes in Han population of Shandong Peninsula.

Objective To explore the value of ultrasound elastography in the non-invasive monitoring of liver elasticity of stable recipients at different stages after liver transplantation. Methods Clinical data of 73 stable recipients after liver transplantation were collected. According to the time after liver transplantation, all patients were divided into the early group (n=25) and medium-to-long group (n=48). In addition, 38 healthy subjects were assigned into the control group. The ultrasound indexes and liver function indexes were statistically compared among each group. The ultrasound elastography indexes of liver and spleen were analyzed, and their correlation with liver function indexes was analyzed. Results Compared with the control group, the ultrasound indexes, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels were significantly increased in the early group (all P < 0.05), and the ultrasound indexes in the medium-to-long group were significantly increased, whereas the GGT level was significantly decreased (all P < 0.05). Compared with the early group, the right oblique diameter of liver, ALT, GGT and ALP levels were significantly decreased in the medium-to-long group (all P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the sound touch elastography (STE) and sound touch quantify (STQ) values of liver and STE value of spleen in the early group and medium-to-long group were significantly increased (all P < 0.05). Compared with the early group, the ultrasound elastography indexes of liver and spleen in the medium-to-long group were remarkably decreased (all P < 0.05). The ultrasound elastography indexes of liver were weakly correlated with the ALT, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and GGT levels, significantly correlated with ALP level. The STE value of spleen was weakly correlated with the ALP level. The STE value of liver was significantly correlated with the STQ value of liver. The STE and STQ values of liver were weakly correlated with the STE value of spleen. Conclusions The characteristics of liver elasticity in stable recipients after liver transplantation are various among different stages. Persistent monitoring of liver elasticity may provide a novelnon-invasive monitoring method during follow-up after liver transplantation.