The Huangdi Neijing proposes the " using bitter herbs to nourish or purge" theory to guide clinical prescription and formulation of herbal remedies based on the physiological characteristics and functions of the five zang viscera, along with the properties and flavors of medicinal herbs. This study explored diabetic kidney disease pathogenesis and treatment based on the " using bitter herbs to nourish or purge" theory. Kidney dryness is a key pathological factor in diabetic kidney disease, and the disharmony of kidney dryness is an essential aspect of its pathogenesis. Strengthening is the primary therapeutic principle, and kidney dryness is a persistent factor throughout the occurrence and progression of diabetic kidney disease. In the early stage, the pathogenesis involves heat-consuming qi and injuring yin, leading to kidney dryness. In the middle stage, the pathogenesis manifests as qi deficiency and blood stasis in the collaterals, resulting in turbidity owing to kidney dryness. In the late stage, the pathogenesis involves yin and yang deficiency, with kidney dryness and disharmony. This study proposes the staging-based treatment based on the " need for firmness" characteristic of the kidney. The aim is to provide new insights for clinical diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine by rationally using pungent, bitter, and salty medicinal herbs to nourish and moisturize the kidney. This approach seeks to promote precise syndrome differentiation and personalized treatment for different stages of diabetic kidney disease, thereby enhancing clinical efficacy.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) represents an emerging medical functional imaging technology, which operates by applying safe-to-human excitation currents through surface-mounted electrodes, measuring boundary voltages between electrodes, and selecting appropriate image reconstruction algorithms to visualize resistivity in tomographic cross-sections. Compared to traditional medical imaging techniques, EIT offers non-invasive and radiation-free operation, high sensitivity to tissue resistivity changes, and superior temporal resolution, meeting the real-time requirements of clinical dynamic condition monitoring. This paper comprehensively reviews the research status of brain EIT technology, systematically summarizes its advantages and technical limitations in perioperative applications, and prospectively forecasts future development directions of perioperative brain EIT based on current research foundations and clinical application demands, with the aim of providing methodological references for further optimization and clinical promotion of this technology.
Electric Impedance ; Tomography/methods* ; Humans ; Brain/diagnostic imaging*

AIM: To explore the clinical efficacy of 25G minimally invasive vitrectomy combined with 41G ultra-micro subretinal injection of tissue plasminogen activator(t-PA)in the treatment of subretinal hemorrhage(SMH).METHODS: Retrospective study. A totally 60 patients(60 eyes)who visited the Ophthalmology Department of Yuebei People's Hospital from June 2022 to September 2024 and were diagnosed with submacular hemorrhage were selected. According to different treatment methods, they were divided into a control group of 30 eyes(25G vitrectomy combined with intravitreal injection of t-PA)and an observation group of 30 eyes(25G vitrectomy combined with 41G subretinal injection of t-PA). The complete clearance rate of macular hemorrhage, best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), changes in intraocular pressure, central retinal thickness(CRT), the occurrence of postoperative complications were observed in the two groups of patients.RESULTS:The two groups of general data are comparable. After treatment for 7 d, the rate of complete clearance of macular hemorrhage was higher in the observation group than in the control group(100% vs 80%, P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the comparison of BCVA at 1 d and 6 mo postoperatively(all P>0.05), and in the comparison of BCVA between the two groups at 7 d, 1, and 3 mo postoperatively, BCVA of the observation group was better than that of the control group(all P<0.05); and the intraocular pressure of the observation group was lower than that of the control group at 1 d, 7 d, and 1 mo postoperatively(all P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between the two groups in the comparison of intraocular pressure at 3 and 6 mo postoperatively(all P>0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the comparison of CRT at 1 d and 6 mo postoperatively(all P>0.05), and CRT was lower than that of the control group at 7 d, 1 and 3 mo postoperatively(all P<0.05). The total incidence of complications in the observation group was not statistically different from that in the control group(0 vs 10%, P>0.05).CONCLUSION: The 25G minimally invasive vitrectomy combined with 41G ultra-microsubretinal injection of t-PA is more efficient in removing subretinal hemorrhage, promotes early anatomical restoration, and has a comparable long-term visual prognosis to the conventional method, with a favorable safety profile.

Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) have become prominent global health threats, escalating the burden on public health systems. The increasing occurrence of invasive fungal infections is due primarily to the extensive application of chemotherapy, immunosuppressive therapies, and broad-spectrum antifungal agents. At present, therapeutic practices utilize multiple categories of antifungal agents, such as azoles, polyenes, echinocandins, and pyrimidine analogs. Nevertheless, the clinical effectiveness of these treatments is progressively weakened by the emergence of drug resistance, thereby substantially restricting their therapeutic utility. Consequently, there is an imperative need to expedite the discovery of novel antifungal agents. This review seeks to present an exhaustive synthesis of novel antifungal drugs and candidate agents that are either under current clinical investigation or anticipated to progress into clinical evaluation. These emerging compounds exhibit unique benefits concerning their modes of action, antimicrobial spectra, and pharmacokinetic characteristics, potentially leading to improved therapeutic outcomes relative to conventional antifungal regimens. It is anticipated that these novel therapeutic agents will furnish innovative treatment modalities and enhance clinical outcomes in managing invasive fungal infections.

Objective: To investigate cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention status among residents with intra-urban migration in Central China, so as to provide insights into targeted prevention and control of CVD. Methods: Basic data of residents aged 35 to 75 years who participated in Early Screening and Comprehensive Intervention Project for CVD high-risk populations in Central China from September 2015 to August 2020 were collected. According to birth place, type of registered residence and current residence, residents were divided into four groups: local residents in old urban area, local residents in new urban area, other urban migrants and other rural migrants. The status of CVD primary and secondary prevention, were analysed by using a robust Poisson regression model. Results: A total of 76 513 residents were recruited, including 29 420 males (38.45%) and 47 093 females (61.55%), and had a mean age of (56.36±9.84) years. There were 45 087 (58.93%) local residents in old urban area, 23 868 (31.19%) local residents in new urban area, 5 668 (7.41%) other urban migrants and 1 890 (2.47%) other rural migrants. After adjusting for variables such as age, gender and educational level, the results of robust Poisson regression analysis showed that compared with local residents in old urban area, local residents in new urban area had lower compliance rates of non- or moderate-drinking (RR=0.987, 95%CI: 0.975-1.000) and healthy diet (RR=0.535, 95%CI: 0.365-0.782), lower proportion of using aspirin as primary prevention in CVD high-risk population (RR=0.616, 95%CI: 0.511-0.741), lower awareness (RR=0.873, 95%CI: 0.782-0.974) and control rates (RR=0.730, 95%CI: 0.627-0.849) of hypertension; other urban migrants had higher compliance rate of non-smoking (RR=1.045, 95%CI: 1.017-1.075); other rural migrants had lower proportion of using aspirin as primary prevention in CVD high-risk population (RR=0.826, 95%CI: 0.707-0.966). Conclusion The CVD primaryprevention among local residents in new urban area is relatively poor among four groups of residents in Central China, and key interventions are needed.

OBJECTIVE To compare the metabolomic characteristics of stage T1 papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC)and nodular goiter(NG),and the relationship between metabolites and lymph node metastasis of PTC.METHODS Serum samples were collected from 60 patients with stage T1 PTC and 30 patients with NG who underwent thyroidectomy at the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery,Civil Aviation General Hospital between September 2021 and April 2022.The PTC group was divided into the N+ group with lymph node metastasis and the N-group without lymph node metastasis according to the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis.The serum metabolites of the N+ and N-groups and the PTC and NG groups were compared and analyzed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS)coupled platform,and principal component analysis(PCA),partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA),and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA)was performed using SIMCA-P 14.1 software.OPLS-DA modeling,combined with FDR-corrected Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test results and metabolite difference multiples in the two groups undergoing comparison,etc.to screen for potential small molecule metabolic markers,and to establish a joint diagnostic model by binary logistic regression analysis.RESULTS There were no significant differential metabolites between the N+ group with lymph node metastasis and the N-group without lymph node metastasis.Seven differential metabolites were found between PCA patients and NG patients,and the five relevant metabolic pathways were the pentose phosphate pathway,pentose and glucuronide interconversion,glycolysis/gluconeogenesis,fructose,and mannose metabolism,and fatty acid biosynthesis.The differential metabolite with an area under the ROC curve>0.9 was D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate,and another N-undecanoylglycine,uronic acid,and the area under the ROC curve for three metabolites,N-undecanoylglycine,uric acid,and triiodothyronine glucuronide,was>0.8.CONCLUSION PTC patients differed from NG patients mainly in glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism,and D-glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate could be distinguished from NG patients with the aid of N-undecanoylglycine,uric acid,and triiodothyronine glucuronide,combined with imaging findings.Also,no significant differences in serum metabolites were found in the N+ group compared with the N-group,and the presence or absence of lymph node metastases did not affect serum metabolites in patients with stage T1 PTC.

Background::The goal of the assisted reproductive treatment is to transfer one euploid blastocyst and to help infertile women giving birth one healthy neonate. Some algorithms have been used to assess the ploidy status of embryos derived from couples with normal chromosome, who subjected to preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) treatment. However, it is currently unknown whether artificial intelligence model can be used to assess the euploidy status of blastocyst derived from populations with chromosomal rearrangement.Methods::From February 2020 to May 2021, we collected the whole raw time-lapse videos at multiple focal planes from in vitro cultured embryos, the clinical information of couples, and the comprehensive chromosome screening results of those blastocysts that had received PGT treatment. Initially, we developed a novel deep learning model called the Attentive Multi-Focus Selection Network (AMSNet) to analyze time-lapse videos in real time and predict blastocyst formation. Building upon AMSNet, we integrated additional clinically predictive variables and created a second deep learning model, the Attentive Multi-Focus Video and Clinical Information Fusion Network (AMCFNet), to assess the euploidy status of embryos. The efficacy of the AMCFNet was further tested in embryos with parental chromosomal rearrangements. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate the superiority of the model. Results::A total of 4112 embryos with complete time-lapse videos were enrolled for the blastocyst formation prediction task, and 1422 qualified blastocysts received PGT-A ( n = 589) or PGT for chromosomal structural rearrangement (PGT-SR, n = 833) were enrolled for the euploidy assessment task in this study. The AMSNet model using seven focal raw time-lapse videos has the best real-time accuracy. The real-time accuracy for AMSNet to predict blastocyst formation reached above 70% on the day 2 of embryo culture, and then increased to 80% on the day 4 of embryo culture. Combing with 4 clinical features of couples, the AUC of AMCFNet with 7 focal points increased to 0.729 in blastocysts derived from couples with chromosomal rearrangement. Conclusion::Integrating seven focal raw time-lapse images of embryos and parental clinical information, AMCFNet model have the capability of assessing euploidy status in blastocysts derived from couples with chromosomal rearrangement.

Background::In the clinic, practitioners encounter many patients with an abnormal pattern of dense punctate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal in the basal ganglia, a phenomenon known as "cheese sign". This sign is reported as common in cerebrovascular diseases, dementia, and old age. Recently, cheese sign has been speculated to consist of dense perivascular space (PVS). This study aimed to assess the lesion types of cheese sign and analyze the correlation between this sign and vascular disease risk factors.Methods::A total of 812 patients from Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) dementia cohort were enrolled. We analyzed the relationship between cheese sign and vascular risk. For assessing cheese sign and defining its degree, the abnormal punctate signals were classified into basal ganglia hyperintensity (BGH), PVS, lacunae/infarctions and microbleeds, and counted separately. Each type of lesion was rated on a four-level scale, and then the sum was calculated; this total was defined as the cheese sign score. Fazekas and Age-Related White Matter Changes (ARWMC) scores were used to evaluate the paraventricular, deep, and subcortical gray/white matter hyperintensities.Results::A total of 118 patients (14.5%) in this dementia cohort were found to have cheese sign. Age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.090, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.064-1.120, P <0.001), hypertension (OR: 1.828, 95% CI: 1.123-2.983, P = 0.014), and stroke (OR: 1.901, 95% CI: 1.092-3.259, P = 0.025) were risk factors for cheese sign. There was no significant relationship between diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cheese sign. The main components of cheese sign were BGH, PVS, and lacunae/infarction. The proportion of PVS increased with cheese sign severity. Conclusions::The risk factors for cheese sign were hypertension, age, and stroke. Cheese sign consists of BGH, PVS, and lacunae/infarction.