To explore the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） and integrative TCM-Western medicine approaches in the treatment of diabetic microvascular complications （DMC）， refine key pathophysiological insights and treatment principles， and promote academic innovation and strategic research planning in the prevention and treatment of DMC. The 38th session of the Expert Salon on Diseases Responding Specifically to Traditional Chinese Medicine， hosted by the China Association of Chinese Medicine， was held in Beijing， 2024. Experts in TCM， Western medicine， and interdisciplinary fields convened to conduct a systematic discussion on the pathogenesis， diagnostic and treatment challenges， and mechanism research related to DMC， ultimately forming a consensus on key directions. Four major research recommendations were proposed. The first is addressing clinical bottlenecks in the prevention and control of DMC by optimizing TCM-based evidence evaluation systems. The second is refining TCM core pathogenesis across DMC stages and establishing corresponding "disease-pattern-time" framework. The third is innovating mechanism research strategies to facilitate a shift from holistic regulation to targeted intervention in TCM. The fourth is advancing interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance the role of TCM in new drug development， research prioritization， and guideline formulation. TCM and integrative approaches offer distinct advantages in managing DMC. With a focus on the diseases responding specifically to TCM， strengthening evidence-based support and mechanism interpretation and promoting the integration of clinical care and research innovation will provide strong momentum for the modernization of TCM and the advancement of national health strategies.

BackgroundLow medication compliance among patients with severe mental disorders increases the disease burden on both the patients' families and the society. Medication adherence is influenced by numerous factors. Traditional methods such as Logistic regression struggle to quantify the importance of these factors. By introducing Extreme Gradient Boosting （XGBoost） combined with Shapley Additive Explanations （SHAP）， enables the quantification of the relative contribution weights of each factor， providing support for identifying the core influencing factors. ObjectiveTo explore the influencing factors of medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders in Zhuhai， aiming to provide references for optimizing patient management strategies. MethodsExtract the data of patients with severe mental disorders who were registered on the mental health system platform in Zhuhai City from January 1， 2023 to March 31， 2025. A total of 9 329 patients were finally included for analysis. Influencing factors were screened using univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis， and an XGBoost model combined with the SHAP algorithm was constructed to quantify the importance of each influencing factor. ResultsAmong 9 329 patients， 8 446 demonstrated medication adherence， yielding an adherence rate of 90.53%. Multivariable analysis identified several risk factors significantly associated with medication non-adherence， being unmarried （OR=1.237， 95% CI： 1.019–1.502） or divorced （OR=1.389， 95% CI： 1.038–1.832）， a diagnosis of mental retardation with psychiatric disorders （OR=3.025， 95% CI： 2.402–3.796） or paranoid psychosis （OR=5.117， 95% CI： 3.086–8.299）， a disease duration of 2–4 years （OR=1.355， 95% CI： 1.085–1.696）， 4–6 years （OR=2.143， 95% CI： 1.671–2.747）， or >6 years （OR=1.681， 95% CI： 1.365–2.079）， lack of guardian subsidies （OR=1.412， 95% CI： 1.099–1.801）， absence of a disability certificate （OR=1.900， 95% CI： 1.588–2.282）， not being enrolled in care and support groups （OR=1.384， 95% CI： 1.183–1.617） or community services （OR=1.313， 95% CI： 1.042–1.645）， and not cohabiting with a guardian （OR=1.257， 95% CI： 1.048–1.501）. Conversely， the enrollment in special outpatient disease programs （OR=0.716， 95% CI： 0.609–0.842） and a family history of mental illness （OR=0.713， 95% CI： 0.503–0.982） were identified as protective factors. The XGBoost model exhibited robust predictive performance， with a sensitivity of 0.433， specificity of 0.944， accuracy of 0.891， Area Under the Curve （AUC） of 0.837， and F1 value of 0.449. Feature importance ranking indicated that the top three factors were disease duration， diagnosis， and the acquisition of disability certificates. ConclusionPolicy-based support （acquisition of disability certificates， special outpatient disease enrollment） and clinical disease characteristics （disease duration， diagnosis type） are key factors affecting medication adherence among patients with severe mental disorders in Zhuhai City. ［Funded by Zhuhai Medical Research Project （number， 2220009000281）］

Objective To assess the accuracy of pN staging prediction in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) using ultrasound radiomics and deep neural networks (DNN). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 375 patients with pathologically confirmed PTC, comprising 261 cases in the training set and 114 in the test set. Staging was categorized as pN0 (no cervical lymph node metastasis), pN1a (central neck lymph node metastasis), and pN1b (lateral neck lymph node metastasis). An ultrasound physician manually segmented the regions of interest (ROIs) for PTC, extracting 1899 radiomic features. Dimensionality reduction was performed using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression. A DNN model for predicting PTC pN staging was developed using the H2O deep learning platform, trained on the training set, and validated on the test set to assess the accuracy of the optimal model. Results A total of 153 patients were in the pN0 stage, 131 patients in the pN1a stage, and 91 patients in the pN1b stage. LASSO regression selected 15 radiomic features for each PTC. The optimal DNN model, constructed using these 15 features, achieved accuracies of 85.82% on the training set and 81.57% on the test set. Conclusion Ultrasound radiomics of PTC demonstrates high accuracy in predicting pN staging and shows potential for automating N staging in patients.

With the rapid development of network technology， live surgery has become the new way of surgery teaching. However， the issue of patient privacy protection caused by live surgery has received widespread attention. Based on the evolutionary game theory， this paper constructed an evolutionary game model from the three-party perspectives of doctors， patients， and government and analyzed the game behaviors of the three parties in the process of live surgery. Matlab software was utilized to conduct dynamic simulation and numerical simulation analysis. It was found that the factors affecting the choice of doctors’ strategies included protection costs， the cost of privacy leakage， the benefits of protection， high-traffic benefits， and other aspects； the factors affecting the choice of patient strategies encompassed surgical costs， the risk of privacy leakage， additional benefits， and other aspects； the factors affecting the choice of government strategies embodied regulatory costs and the improvement of credibility. To realize a win-win situation among doctors， patients， and the government， the three parties need to work together to ensure that patient privacy is not violated and find a balance between expanding the influence of medical education and protecting patient privacy.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of bioactive peptides combined with probiotics on serum uric acid (SUA) in patients with hyperuricemia (HUA), so as to provide the evidence for prevention and treatment of HUA. Methods: The patients with HUA aged 18 to 65 years were selected and randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. The patients in the intervention group received bioactive peptides combined with probiotics for 28 days at a dose of 3 g/d, while the patients in the control group received an equal dose of placebos. Demographic information, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and blood lipid were collected through questionnaire surveys, physical examination and laboratory tests. SUA levels were detected before and after 14 days and 28 days of interventions. The differences of SUA levels between the two groups were compared using generalized estimation equation. Results: Totally 108 patients with HUA were recruited, including 54 patients in the intervention group and 53 patients in the control group (1 dropout). Before interventions, there were no statistically significant differences in gender, age, course of HUA, exercise duration, frequency of alcohol consumption, frequency of meat broth consumption, BMI, prevalence of hypertension and prevalence of dyslipidemia between the two groups (all P>0.05). After 14 days of interventions, the SUA levels of the patients in the intervention group decreased by 3.00 μmol/L, while those in the control group increased by 7.00 μmol/L. After 28 days of interventions, the SUA levels of the patients in the intervention group and the control group decreased by 26.00 μmol/L and 16.00 μmol/L, respectively. However, there was no statistically significant interaction between the intervention time and group (both P>0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that after 28 days of interventions, the decrease in SUA levels in the patients aged 55 years and older and without hypertension in the intervention group was greater than those in the control group (both P<0.05). Conclusions Bioactive peptides combined with probiotics showed no significant difference in reducing SUA levels in patients with HUA compared to the control group. The effect was more significant for patients aged 55 years and older and without hypertension.

Endometriosis （EMT） is a common disease with frequent occurrence and difficult to be cured in modern clinical practice of obstetrics and gynaecology. It is characterized by progressively worsening dysmenorrhoea， pelvic mass， and infertility. The incidence of EMT is growing and increasingly younger patients are diagnosed with this disease， which poses a serious threat to the reproductive and psychological health of women of childbearing age and adolescent females. However， the pathogenesis of EMT is still not completely clear， and the disease has a long course. Therefore， developing new therapies is an urgent clinical problem to be solved. Great progress has been achieved in the treatment of EMT with traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， while the underlying mechanism remains in exploration. Programmed cell death （PCD） is a cell death mode mediated by a variety of bio-molecules with specific signaling cascades. The known PCD processes include apoptosis， pyroptosis， autophagy， ferroptosis， and cuproptosis， which all play a pivotal role in the development of EMT. Researchers have made achievements in the treatment of EMT with TCM， which regulates PCD via multiple pathways， routes， targets， and mechanisms. However， the progress in the regulation of PCD in the treatment of EMT with TCM remains to be reviewed. This paper reviews the research progress in the treatment of EMT with TCM from five PCD processes （apoptosis， pyroptosis， autophagy， ferroptosis， and cuproptosis）， with the aim of providing a theoretical basis for the clinical prevention and treatment of EMT.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis （IPF） is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by dyspnea and progressive deterioration of lung function， which significantly impacts patients' quality of life and imposes a major burden on society. Although modern medicine has increasingly enriched the treatment options for pulmonary fibrosis， unfavorable factors such as high costs and significant side effects contribute to the persistently low survival rate of patients. Studies have shown that the occurrence and development of pulmonary fibrosis are closely related to abnormalities in multiple pathways. Among these， Rho/Rho-associated coiled-coil protein kinase （ROCK） plays a key role in the disease progression of IPF by regulating the cytoskeleton. This pathway not only transmits biochemical molecular signals that promote the progress of fibrosis but also responds to the biomechanical environment， such as the increased lung tissue stiffness caused by the deposition of extracellular matrix （ECM） during the process of pulmonary fibrosis. Therefore， research on this pathway is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of IPF. In recent years， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has shown remarkable effects in preventing and treating IPF. Many TCM compounds and active components can reduce the production of α-smooth muscle actin （α-SMA）， CollagenⅠ （ColⅠ）， ColⅢ， and inflammatory factors in lung tissue by regulating the Rho/ROCK signaling pathway. These compounds inhibit the transformation of fibroblasts （FBs） into myofibroblasts （MyoFBs）， intervening in the process of pulmonary fibrosis. Based on this， the article briefly reviews relevant research from recent years， discusses the key role of the Rho/ROCK pathway in pulmonary fibrosis from an interdisciplinary perspective， and summarizes the mechanisms through which TCM regulates Rho/ROCK to prevent and treat IPF， based on resources from PubMed， CNKI， and other databases， in order to provide important references for the broader clinical application of TCM in the prevention and treatment of IPF.

Background: Maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) due to variants of hepatocyte nuclear factor 1-beta (HNF1β) (MODY5) has not been well studied in the Chinese population. This study aimed to estimate its prevalence and evaluate the application of a clinical screening method (Faguer score) in Chinese early-onset diabetes (EOD) patients. Methods: Among 679 EOD patients clinically diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (age at diagnosis ≤40 years), the exons of HNF1β were sequenced. Functional impact of rare variants was evaluated using a dual-luciferase reporter system. Faguer scores ≥8 prompted multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) for large deletions. Pathogenicity of HNF1β variants was assessed following the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines. Results: Two rare HNF1β missense mutations (E105K and G454R) were identified by sequencing in five patients, showing functional impact in vitro. Another patient was found to have a whole-gene deletion by MLPA in 22 patients with the Faguer score above 8. Following ACMG guidelines, six patients carrying pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant were diagnosed with MODY5. The estimated prevalence of MODY5 in Chinese EOD patients was approximately 0.9% or higher. Conclusion MODY5 is not uncommon in China. The Faguer score is helpful in deciding whether to perform MLPA analysis on patients with negative sequencing results.

ObjectiveTo investigate the features of serum HBV RNA in different stages of the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection without antiviral treatment， as well as its correlation with serum HBV DNA and HBsAg. MethodsA total of 306 treatment-naïve patients with chronic HBV infection who attended Department of Infections Diseases and Hepatoloty， the Second Hospital of Shandong University from January 2023 to June 2024 were divided into six groups based on the different stages of natural history， i.e.， HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection group with 29 patients， HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B （CHB） group with 107 patients， HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection group with 18 patients， HBeAg-negative CHB group with 60 patients， HBeAg-positive indeterminate-phase chronic HBV infection group with 7 patients， and HBeAg-negative indeterminate-phase chronic HBV infection group with 85 patients. Real-time isothermal RNA amplification was used to measure serum high-sensitivity HBV RNA. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison between multiple groups of continuous data， while the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison between two groups. The Spearman method was used to investigate the correlation of HBV RNA with HBV DNA and HBsAg. ResultsThe HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection group showed the highest level of serum HBV RNA ［7.5 （7.4‍ ‍—‍ ‍7.9） log₁₀ copies/mL］， followed by the HBeAg-positive CHB group ［7.4 （6.4‍ ‍—‍ ‍7.9） log₁₀ copies/mL］， the HBeAg-negative CHB group ［4.5 （3.0‍ ‍—‍ ‍5.7） log₁₀ copies/mL］， and the HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection group ［1.0 （1.0‍ ‍—‍ ‍2.0） log₁₀ copies/mL］； the HBeAg-positive indeterminate-phase chronic HBV infection group had a serum HBV RNA level of 3.9 （3.7‍ ‍—‍ ‍5.7） log₁₀ copies/mL， and the HBeAg-negative indeterminate-phase chronic HBV infection group had a serum HBV RNA level of 2.0 （1.0‍ ‍—‍ ‍3.0） log₁₀ copies/mL； there was a significant difference in serum HBV RNA level between the six groups （H=830.770， P<0.001）. There was a significant difference in HBV RNA level between the HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection group and all the other groups except the HBeAg-positive CHB group （all P<0.001）. In the 306 patients with HBV infection， HBV RNA was strongly correlated with HBV DNA （r=0.92， P<0.001） and was moderately correlated with HBsAg （r=0.67， P<0.001）. The correlation between serum HBV RNA and HBsAg in HBeAg-positive patients （r=0.61， P<0.001） was stronger than that in HBeAg-negative patients （r=0.31， P<0.001）. For the patients with HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection， the male patients with ALT>30 U/L and the female patients with ALT>19 U/L had a significantly lower serum HBV RNA level than the male patients with ALT≤30 U/L and the female patients with ALT≤19 U/L （P<0.001）， and there was no significant difference in serum HBV RNA level between the latter group of patients and the HBeAg-positive CHB group （P>0.05）. ConclusionIn patients with chronic HBV infection who do not receive antiviral therapy， there is a difference in serum HBV RNA level in different stages of natural history， and serum HBV RNA level has the strongest correlation with HBV DNA and a relatively weak correlation with HBsAg. In patients with HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection， serum HBV RNA level in male patients with ALT>30 U/L and female patients with ALT>19 U/L are in the transition stage between HBeAg-positive chronic HBV infection and HBeAg-positive CHB.

ObjectiveTo understand the current situation of medical damage liability disputes involving breach of the duty to inform in China， analyze the factors influencing the types of medical staff’s breach of the duty to inform， and explore the notification problems of medical staff in clinical practice. On these foundations， suggestions were proposed to improve the performance of the duty to inform and reduce medical disputes. MethodsUsing public cases from the China Judgements Online as the data source， the relationship between risk points and types of breach of duty to inform was analyzed using the Chi-square test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the influencing factors of the types of breach of the duty to inform， and qualitative research summarized the specific contents of breach of the duty to inform. ResultsThere were differences in the effects of factors， including whether the patient was hospitalized， whether surgery was performed， whether Intensive Care Unit （ICU） treatment was required， the level of the medical institution， and whether a consultation occurred， on the types of breach of the duty to inform （P<0.05）. Whether surgery was performed was an influencing factor for the types of breach of the duty to inform. Qualitative research showed that the contents of breach of duty to inform primarily involve risk， treatment plan， and deficiencies in disease notification. ConclusionStrengthening the performance of the medical staff’s duty to inform should mainly focus on the medical side， coordinating with multiple parties and taking measures to improve the performance of the duty to inform， to reduce unnecessary medical disputes.