OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the dynamic changes of glucocorticoid (GC) dose and the feasibility of GC discontinuation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under the background of Chinese medicine (CM). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study included 1,196 RA patients enrolled in the China Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry of Patients with Chinese Medicine (CERTAIN) from September 1, 2019 to December 4, 2023, who initiated GC therapy. Participants were divided into the Western medicine (WM) and integrative medicine (IM, combination of CM and WM) groups based on medication regimen. Follow-up was performed at least every 3 months to assess dynamic changes in GC dose. Changes in GC dose were analyzed by generalized estimator equation, the probability of GC discontinuation was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curve, and predictors of GC discontinuation were analyzed by Cox regression. Patients with <12 months of follow-up were excluded for the sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Among 1,196 patients (85.4% female; median age 56.4 years), 880 (73.6%) received IM. Over a median 12-month follow-up, 34.3% (410 cases) discontinued GC, with significantly higher rates in the IM group (40.8% vs. 16.1% in WM; P<0.05). GC dose declined progressively, with IM patients demonstrating faster reductions (median 3.75 mg vs. 5.00 mg in WM at 12 months; P<0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis identified age <60 years [P<0.001, hazard ratios (HR)=2.142, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.523-3.012], IM therapy (P=0.001, HR=2.175, 95% CI: 1.369-3.456), baseline GC dose ⩽7.5 mg (P=0.003, HR=1.637, 95% CI: 1.177-2.275), and absence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use (P=0.001, HR=2.546, 95% CI: 1.432-4.527) as significant predictors of GC discontinuation. Sensitivity analysis (545 cases) confirmed these findings. CONCLUSIONS RA patients receiving CM face difficulties in following guideline-recommended GC discontinuation protocols. IM can promote GC discontinuation and is a promising strategy to reduce GC dependency in RA management. (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, No. NCT05219214).
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/drug therapy* ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Retrospective Studies

Functional dyspepsia (FD), characterized by persistent or recurrent dyspeptic symptoms without identifiable organic, systemic or metabolic causes, is an increasingly recognized global health issue. The objective of this guideline is to equip clinicians and nursing professionals with evidence-based strategies for the management and treatment of adult patients with FD using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The Guideline Development Group consulted existing TCM consensus documents on FD and convened a panel of 35 clinicians to generate initial clinical queries. To address these queries, a systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Database, China Biology Medicine (SinoMed) Database, Wanfang Database, Traditional Medicine Research Data Expanded (TMRDE), and the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (TCMLARS). The evidence from the literature was critically appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The strength of the recommendations was ascertained through a consensus-building process involving TCM and allopathic medicine experts, methodologists, pharmacologists, nursing specialists, and health economists, leveraging their collective expertise and empirical knowledge. The guideline comprises a total of 43 evidence-informed recommendations that span a range of clinical aspects, including the pathogenesis according to TCM, diagnostic approaches, therapeutic interventions, efficacy assessments, and prognostic considerations. Please cite this article as: Zhang SS, Zhao LQ, Hou XH, Bian ZX, Zheng JH, Tian HH, Yang GH, Hong WS, He YY, Liu L, Shen H, Li YP, Xie S, Shu J, Zeng BF, Li JX, Liu Z, Xiao ZH, Xiao JD, Zheng PY, Huang SG, Chen SL, Fei GJ. International clinical practice guideline on the use of traditional Chinese medicine for functional dyspepsia (2025). J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):502-518.
Dyspepsia/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*

This study aimed to address the limitations of current diagnostic methods for well leg compartment syndrome(WLCS),including invasiveness,high costs,and insufficient accuracy,by proposing a solution based on electrical impedance tomography(EIT)technology.The electrical response characteristics of the human calf muscle to changes in compartment pressure using EIT were investigated,aiming to visualize the effects of pressure variations on the electrical properties within the compartment and to provide technical support for early non-invasive detection of WLCS.EIT sensors were placed on the right calf of the experimental subjects,with pressure applied externally to the right thigh.Measurements were conducted in two phases:pre-pressure(pre)and post-pressure(post).Pre-pressure,the conductivity distribution image σpre was measured when the calf was placed horizontally.Post-pressure,the calf was raised at an angle of approximately 30°,and pressures of 0,40,80,and 120 mmHg were applied to the right thigh,and the corresponding conductivity distribution images σP=0,σP=40,σP=80,andσP=120were recorded.To quantitatively analyze the pressure effects on the compartment response,paired sample t-test was used to assess the spatial-mean conductivity((σ))from the EIT reconstructed images.Compared to the horizontal position of the right calf,raising the calf at approximately 30° resulted in a significant increase in the spatial-mean conductivity(σ)of the M1 compartment.Furthermore,when pressure was applied to the right thigh while the calf remained at a 30° angle,the spatial-mean conductivity of the M1 compartment σM1 showed an increasing trend with rising pressure.The results indicated that as compartment pressure increased,the volume of extracellular fluid and ion concentration significantly increased,leading to an increase in conductivity,which reflected ischemia and hypoxia in muscle tissue and the related pathophysiological changes.EIT,due to its high sensitivity to conductivity changes,offered a potential effective diagnostic method for non-invasively monitoring the onset and progression of muscle compartment syndrome.

The risks related to the essential performance were analyzed with considerations on the concept of the essential performance in GB 9706.1-2020 Medical electrical equipment-Part 1:General requirements for basic safety and essential performance,and the determination process for the essential performance of medical electrical equipment was summarized.The essential performance of the example equipment was clarified with the semi-quantitative risk analysis,and the influences of the arrangement of the electromagnetic compatibility test on the determination of the essential performance were explored with the conducted immunity test and conventional test.References were provided for standard users to understand and determine the essential performance effectively.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(11):72-76]

Aim To explore the improvement effect of Bazi Bushen capsule on thymic degeneration in SAMP6 mice and the possible mechanism.Methods Twenty 12 week old male SAMP6 mice were randomly divided into the model group(SAMP6)and the Bazi Busheng capsule treatment group(SAMP6+BZBS).Ten SAMR1 mice were assigned to a homologous control group(SAMR1).The SAMP6+BZBS group was oral-ly administered Bazi Bushen capsule suspension(2.8 g·kg-1)daily,while the other two groups were orally administered an equal amount of distilled water.After nine weeks of administration,the morphology of the thymus in each group was observed and the thymus in-dex was calculated;HE staining was used to observe the structural changes of thymus tissue;SA-β-gal stai-ning was used to detect thymic aging;flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of thymic CD3+T cells in each group;Western blot was used to detect the levels of p16,Bax,Bcl-2,and cleaved caspase-3 proteins in thymus;immunofluorescence was applied to detect the proportion of cortical thymic epithelial cells in each group;ELISA was employed to detect IL-7 lev-els in thymus.Results Compared with the SAMP6 group,the thymic index of the SAMP6+BZBS group significantly increased(P＜0.05);the disordered thy-mic structure was significantly improved;the positive proportion of SA-β-gal staining significantly decreased(P＜0.01);the proportion of CD3+T cells apparently increased(P＜0.05);the level of p16 protein signifi-cantly decreased(P＜0.05);the level of Bcl-2 pro-tein significantly increased(P＜0.05),while the lev-el of cleaved caspase-3 protein markedly decreased(P＜0.05);the proportion of cortical thymic epithelial cells evidently increased;the level of IL-7 significantly increased(P＜0.01).Conclusions Bazi Bushen capsule can delay thymic degeneration,inhibit cell ap-optosis in thymus and promote thymic cell development in SAMP6 mice,which may be related to increasing the proportion of cortical thymic epithelial cells and promoting IL-7 secretion.

Humans ; Adult ; Serum Albumin, Human ; Consensus ; Cardiac Surgical Procedures ; Thoracic Surgery

Acute Disease ; Fatty Liver/diagnosis* ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications/diagnosis*

This study aimed to establish nomograms to preoperatively predict the possibility of testicular salvage (TS) in patients with testicular torsion. The clinical data of 204 patients with testicular torsion diagnosed at Xijing Hospital and Tangdu Hospital (Xi'an, China) between August 2008 and November 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the independent predictors of TS. Based on multivariate regression coefficients, nomograms to predict possibility of TS were established. The predictive ability of the nomograms was internally validated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calibration plots. The duration of symptoms ranged from 2 h to 1 month, with a median of 3.5 days. Thirty (14.7%) patients underwent surgical reduction and contralateral orchiopexy, while the remaining 174 (85.3%) underwent orchiectomy and contralateral orchiopexy. Finally, long symptom duration was an independent risk predictor for TS, while visible intratesticular blood flow and homogeneous testicular echotexture under color Doppler ultrasound were independent protective predictors. Internal validation showed that the nomograms, which were established by integrating these three predictive factors, had good discrimination ability in predicting the possibility of TS (areas under the ROC curves were 0.851 and 0.828, respectively). The calibration plots showed good agreement between the nomogram-predicted possibility of TS and the actual situation. In conclusion, this brief preoperative prediction tool will help clinicians to quickly determine the urgency of surgical exploration.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:From January 23, 2020 to February 29, 2020, the medical records of 251 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the West Campus of the Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, were collected. The proportion of the patients with gastrointestinal symptoms including anorexia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain were analyzed respectively. The patients were divided into common type (76 cases), severe type (65 cases) and critical type (110 cases). The incidence of liver function injury and the changes of liver function parameters such as total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin and globulin of the patients with different clinical types and with or without gastrointestinal symptoms were analyzed. Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test and Fisher′s exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results:The main gastrointestinal symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were anorexia (33.9%, 85/251), diarrhea (12.0%, 30/251), nausea and vomiting (7.6%, 19/251) and abdominal pain (1.2%, 3/251). 143 patients (57.0%) had liver function injury, the rate of liver function injury in critical type patients was 75.5% (83/110), which was higher than that of common type patients (40.8%, 31/76) and severe type patients (44.6%, 29/65), and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=22.765 and 16.865, both P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with liver function injury between common type and severe type patients ( P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of liver function injury between patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and those without gastrointestinal symptoms (57.8%(67/116) vs. 56.3%(76/135), P>0.05). The median values of TBil, DBil, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, LDH and globulin level of critical type patients were 13.5 μmol/L, 4.9 μmol/L, 44.5 U/L, 50.0 U/L, 64.0 U/L, 41.0 U/L, 527.0 U/L and 33.6 g/L respectively. The proportions of critical type patients with TBil level >34.2 μmol/L, DBil level>13.6 μmol/L, ALT level>80 U/L and AST level>80 U/L were 7.3% (8/110), 7.3% (8/110), 17.3% (19/110) and 17.3% (19/110), respectively. These results were all higher than those of common type patients (9.5 μmol/L, 2.9 μmol/L, 28.5 U/L, 28.5 U/L, 54.0 U/L, 25.5 U/L, 225.5 U/L, 30.1 g/L, 0, 0, 6.6% (5/76) and 2.6% (2/76) ) and severe type patients (10.4 μmol/L, 3.4 μmol/L, 30.0 U/L, 31.0 U/L, 49.0 U/L, 25.0 U/L, 284.0 U/L, 30.7 g/L, 0, 0, 6.2% (4/65) and 1.5% (1/65)), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-4.264, -5.507, -4.000, -6.558, -3.112, -4.333, -4.858, -3.873, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.574, 9.620; Z=-3.060, -3.850, -3.923, -5.005, -9.495, -7.651, -3.853, -2.725, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.425, 10.169; all P<0.01). The median values of pre-albumin level, albumin level and the albumin to globulin ratio of critical type patients were 85.3 g/L, 28.2 g/L and 0.8, which were all lower than those of common type patients (157.3 g/L, 32.3 g/L and 1.1, respectively) and severe type patients (133.6 g/L, 31.6 g/L and 1.1, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-6.631, -3.647, -4.924, -4.503, -5.283 and -3.903, all P<0.01). The median albumin level of patients with diarrhea was lower than that of patients without diarrhea (28.2 g/L vs. 30.5 g/L), the proportion of diarrhea patients whose TBil level >20.0 to 34.2 μmol/L was higher than that of patients without diarrhea (70.0%, 21/30 vs. 10.9%, 24/221), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-2.182, χ2 =62.788; both P<0.05). Conclusions:Anorexia is the most common digestive symptom in COVID-19 patients, and the incidences of abdominal pain is low. The incidence of liver function injury of critical type patients is high. There is no significant correlation between gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury, and patients with diarrhea have lower albumin levels.

Nifedipine, a calcium channel antagonist, is metabolized mainly by CYP3A4 to dehydronifedipine. A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed to simultaneously determine nifedipine and dehydronifedipine in human plasma using d₆-nifedipine/d₆-dehydronifedipine as internal standards. After extraction from the plasma by protein precipitation, the analytes and internal standard were separated on a Hypersil Gold C₁₈ (50 mm×2.1 mm, 1.9 μm). The mobile phase consisted of methanol and 5 mmol·L^-1ammonium acetate aqueous solution (0.1% formic acid). Positive electrospray ionization was performed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with transitions of m/z 347.3→254.1 for nifedipine, m/z 345.2→283.9 for dehydronifedipine, m/z 353.3→257.1 for d₆-nifedipine, m/z 351.2→286.9 for d₆-dehydronifedipine. The method had a linear calibration curves over the concentrations of 0.10-80.0 ng·mL^-1 for nifedipine and 0.050-40.0 ng·mL^-1 for dehydronifedipine. The validated LC-MS/MS method has been successfully used study pharmacokinetic interactions of apatinib (CYP3A4 inhibitor) and nifedipine (CYP3A4 substrate) in human. This clinical trial was approved by the society of ethics and conducted in the first hospital of China medical university.