Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.

Background/Aims: Metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a chronic liver disease characterized by hepatic steatosis. Ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) plays pivotal roles in hepatic ischemiareperfusion injury and hepatocellular carcinoma, but its role in MASLD remains unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the effects and underlying mechanisms of USP29 in MASLD progression. Methods: USP29 expression was assessed in liver samples from MASLD patients and mice. The role and molecular mechanism of USP29 in MASLD were assessed in high-fat diet-fed and high-fat/high-cholesterol diet-fed mice and palmitic acid and oleic acid treated hepatocytes. Results: USP29 protein levels were significantly reduced in mice and humans with MASLD. Hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis were significantly exacerbated by USP29 deletion and relieved by USP29 overexpression. Mechanistically, USP29 significantly activated the expression of genes related to fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) under metabolic stimulation, directly interacted with long-chain acyl-CoA synthase 5 (ACSL5) and repressed ACSL5 degradation by increasing ACSL5 K48-linked deubiquitination. Moreover, the effect of USP29 on hepatocyte lipid accumulation and MASLD was dependent on ACSL5. Conclusions USP29 functions as a novel negative regulator of MASLD by stabilizing ACSL5 to promote FAO. The activation of the USP29-ACSL5 axis may represent a potential therapeutic strategy for MASLD.

AIM: To quantitatively evaluate the clinical characteristics of haze after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy(TPRK)for astigmatism using corneal densitometry.METHODS:In this retrospective clinical study, a total of 74 patients(106 eyes)with astigmatism ≥1.25 D who underwent TPRK in our hospital from October 2022 to December 2024 were continuously collected. All of the study subjects were divided into transparent group(65 eyes)and haze group(41 eyes)based on whether haze occurred after surgery. Pentacam examination was performed before and after surgery, and corneal densitometry was recorded at the time points of preoperation, 1 mo postoperation in the transparent group and the most severe haze degree in the haze group. The collected corneal densitometry included the average densitometry of the entire corneal layer in the central 2 mm, 2-6 mm, and 6-10 mm areas, as well as the average densitometry of the entire layer of the corneal section in the center 6 mm of the astigmatism axis(astigmatism expressed in negative cylindrical form)and orthogonal axis(the axis perpendicular to the astigmatism axis), and the average densitometry of the entire layer of the corneal section in the nasal and temporal 2-6 mm areas of the astigmatism axis in the haze group of patients with regular astigmatism. The change in corneal densitometry after surgery compared with that before surgery was calculated.RESULTS:There was no statistically significant difference in baseline data such as gender, age, and spherical equivalent between the transparent group and the haze group(all P>0.05). The change in corneal densitometry in the 2-6 mm area of the haze group was greater than that in the transparent group(Z=-2.226, P=0.026), while there was no significant difference in the change of corneal densitometry in the central 2 mm and 6-10 mm areas between the two groups(both P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the change of corneal densitometry between the transparent group and haze group along the orthogonal axis(all P>0.05), while the change of corneal densitometry in the haze group along the astigmatism axis was greater than that in the transparent group(Z=-2.371, P=0.018). The temporal corneal densitometry of patients with regular astigmatism in the haze group after surgery was higher than that of the nasal side, and the change in corneal densitometry was also greater than that of the nasal side(Z=-4.288, P<0.001; Z=-4.043, P<0.001).CONCLUSION:Unlike spherical correction for myopia and hyperopia, haze after TPRK for astigmatism was mainly manifested in the peripheral cutting area of the astigmatism axis, and patients with regular astigmatism had a higher probability or severity of haze on the temporal side of the astigmatism axis than on the nasal side.

ObjectiveTo characterize the seasonal patterns of influenza in Kunming City, Yunnan Province before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide scientific evidence for optimizing influenza prevention and control strategies. MethodsInfluenza-like illness (ILI) and etiological surveillance data for influenza from the 14^th week of 2010 to the 13^th week of 2024 in Kunming City of Yunnan Province were collected. Harmonic regression models were constructed to analyze the epidemic characteristics and seasonal patterns of influenza before (2010/2011‒2019/2020 influenza seasons), during (2020/2021‒2022/2023 influenza seasons), and after (2023/2024 influenza season) the COVID-19 pandemic. ResultsBefore the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza in Kunming City mainly exhibited an annual cyclic pattern without a significant semi-annual periodicity, peaking from December to February of the next year, with an epidemic duration of 20‒30 weeks. During the pandemic, influenza seasonality shifted, with an increase in semi-annual periodicity and an approximate one month delay in annual peaks. However, after the pandemic, the annual amplitude of influenza increased compared with that before the pandemic, and the epidemic duration extended by about one month. Although the annual peak largely reverted to the pre-pandemic levels, the annual peaks for different influenza subtypes/lineages had not fully recovered. ConclusionInfluenza seasonality in Kunming City underwent substantial alterations following the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet fully reverted to pre-pandemic levels. Continuous surveillance on different subtypes/lineages of influenza viruses remains essential, and prevention and control strategies should be adjusted and optimized in a timely manner based on current epidemic trends.

Objective Explore the impact of long-term blood glucose fluctuations and blood glucose control on the stroke incidence in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods An observa-tional cohort of patients with T2DM was established based on"Shanghai Community Chronic Disease Health Management Service Objects"on October 1st,2018.Follow-ups were conducted every three months,and fasting blood glucose(FBG)were tested at each visit.Basic epidemiological data were collected via the Shanghai Community Health Management Information Platform or survey questionnaires,and stroke incidents were gathered via the"Shanghai Cardio-Cerebrovascular Event Monitoring System".The first reported stroke incident within the observation period was considered.The observational deadline was December 31st,2021.Standard deviation of FBG was used to evaluate blood glucose fluctuation and FBG control rate was used to reflect blood glucose control status.Cox Proportional Hazards Model was utilized to analyze the impacts.Results The cumulative observation time was 91,826.1 person-years for the study,in which there were 1785 cases of stroke events observed,implying a cumulative incidence of 5.73%and incidence rate of 1943.9/100000 person-years.The mean number of follow-ups(10.29±3.07)per patient was recorded.The details of the stroke cases were as follows:transient ischemic attacks(n=111,6.22%),non-lacunar brain infarctions(n=754,42.24%),lacunar brain infarctions(n=798,44.71%),intracerebral hemorrhages(n=80,4.48%),non-intracerebral hemorrhages(n=8,0.45%),subarachnoid hemorrhages(n=12,0.67%),and unclassified strokes(n=22,1.23%).After excluding subjects with less than five follow-ups,the Cox Proportional Hazards Model suggested that increased standard deviation of FBG was an independent risk factor for the first stroke incident,and an increased blood glucose control rate was an independent protective factor.Both the standard deviation of FBG and the blood glucose control rate were not correlated with stroke recurrence.Conclusion Long-term blood glucose fluctuations and blood glucose control can predict the risk of a first stroke in patients with T2DM.The relationship between blood glucose fluctuations,blood glucose management,and stroke recurrence requires further studies.

ObjectiveBased on non-targeted metabolomics， to analyze the regulation of endogenous differential metabolites in serum of type 2 diabetes mellitus（T2DM） rats by Fuling Yunhua granules， and to clarify the metabolic pathways through which this granules exerted its effect on improving T2DM. MethodSeventy SD rats， half male and half female， were randomly divided into the control group， model group， and high， medium， low dose groups of Fuling Yunhua granules（20.70， 10.35， 5.18 g·kg^-1 in raw drug amount） and the positive drug group（pioglitazone hydrochloride tablets， 8.1 mg·kg^-1）. Except for the control group， other groups were fed with high-sugar and high-fat diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin（STZ） to establish a T2DM rat model. After successful modeling， the treatment groups were administered the corresponding drugs by gavage， and the control group and model group were treated with an equal volume of saline by gavage， once/d， for 28 d. Fasting blood glucose（FBG） and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c（GHbA1c） levels were measured in all groups of rats during the administration period， and hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining was used to observe the pathomorphological changes in the pancreatic tissues of rats at the end of the administration period. The endogenous metabolite levels in rat serum were detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap-electrostatic field orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry（UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS）， and the data were processed using principal component analysis（PCA） and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis（OPLS-DA）. Differential metabolites were identified by the Human Metabolome Database（HMDB） and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG）， and screened for differential metabolites with variable importance in the projection（VIP） value>1， P<0.05， and fold change（FC）<0.6 or FC>1. And the metabolic pathway enrichment analysis of the screened differential metabolites was performed by MetaboAnalyst 5.0， then the screened differential metabolites were diagnosed and evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curves. ResultCompared with the control group， the FBG level of rats in the model group increased significantly（P<0.01）， the GHbA1c content tended to increase， but the difference was not statistically significant， and the pancreatic tissue of rats was obviously damaged， the number of pancreatic islets decreased， and the pancreatic β-cells were obviously reduced， atrophied and enlarged. Compared with the model group， the FBG levels of rats in the high dose group of Fuling Yunhua granules and the positive drug group were significantly reduced after 2 weeks of administration（P<0.05， P<0.01）， the GHbA1c content of rats in the high dose group of Fuling Yunhua granules was significantly reduced（P<0.05）， and the pancreatic tissue lesions of rats in the different dose groups of Fuling Yunhua granules were reduced. The results of non-targeted metabolomics showed that 46 differential metabolites were significantly changed in the model group compared with the blank group. Pathway enrichment analysis found that T2DM mainly affected biological processes including biosynthesis of primary bile acid， D-amino acid metabolism， steroid hormone biosynthesis， and glycerophospholipid metabolism in rats. Compared with the model group， the levels of 8 differential metabolites in the high dose group of Fuling Yunhua granules were significantly adjusted， and the pathway enrichment analysis found that D-amino acid metabolism， retinol metabolism， glycine， serine and threonine metabolism， tryptophan metabolism and other metabolic pathways were mainly involved. ROC curves further analysis revealed that the four characteristic differential markers of 11-cis-retinol， D-piperidinic acid， D-serine， and p-cresol sulfate had high diagnostic value for the treatment of T2DM with Fuling Yunhua granules. ConclusionFuling Yunhua granules can improve the symptoms of T2DM rats by regulating the amino acid metabolic and retinol metabolic pathways through the modulation of endogenous differential metabolites.

Objective To investigate the effects of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation on blood indicators of radiation workers, and to provide evidence for occupational health monitoring. Methods This study included 3853 radiation workers who participated in occupational health examination in Gansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022. The results of fasting blood glucose, renal function, liver function, white blood cell count, platelet count, and lymphocyte micronucleus were analyzed. Results The detection rates of abnormal fasting blood glucose and liver function were significantly higher in males than in females (P < 0.05), and the detection rates of abnormal renal function, white blood cell count, platelet count, and lymphocyte micronucleus were significantly lower in males than in females (P < 0.05). The detection rates of abnormal fasting blood glucose, liver function, and lymphocyte micronucleus were significantly higher in radiation workers with ≥ 21 years of working experience than those with ≤ 10 years of working experience (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the non-medical group than in the diagnostic radiology, radiation therapy, and interventional radiology groups (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the primary medical institution group than in the tertiary medical institution group (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal liver function was significantly higher in the primary medical institution group than in the secondary and tertiary medical institution groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion Long-term occupational exposure to ionizing radiation may cause radiation damage to the human body. Health education should be strengthened for non-medical and male radiation workers to prevent the occurrence of chronic metabolic diseases.

ObjectiveTo adapt the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale（SETS） into Chinese（C-SETS） and test the feasibility， validity and reliability of its application in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome（IBS-D） with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome treated with traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）. MethodsWe obtained authorisation from the developer of the SETS， and followed the principle of "two-way translation" to translate the SETS by literal translation and back translation to form the C-SETS. Ninety-six IBS-D patients with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome were enrolled as respondents and filled out C-SETS before receiving treatment； the feasibility was assessed by the recall rate， completion rate and the duration of filling out the scale； the reliability was assessed by Cronbach's α； the structural validity was assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis， and the content validity was assessed by correlation analysis. ResultsThe C-SETS consists of 10 items， with the 1st， 3rd， and 5th rating items constituting the Positive Expectations subscale， and the 2nd， 4th， and 6th rating items constituting the Negative Expectations subscale， each of which is rated on a 7-point Likert Scale. The recall of C-SETS was 100%（96/96）， the completion rate was 89.58%（86/96）； Cronbach's α for the Positive and Negative Treatment Expectations subscales were 0.845 and 0.854， respectively； exploratory factor analysis showed that the coefficient of commonality for all six entries was larger than 0.4， and that the six entries could be used by both factors to explain 77.092% of the total variance； validation factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit index， comparative fit index， root mean square of approximation error， canonical fit coefficient， and chi-square degrees of freedom ratio took the values of 0.943， 1.003， 0， 0.943， and 0.626， respectively； and the results of Spearman's analysis suggested that the C-SETS had good content validity. ConclusionThe C-SETS has well feasibility， reliability， and validity， which initially proves that it can be used as a tool to assess the treatment expectation of patients with IBS-D with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome before receiving TCM treatment.

Objective To investigate the effects of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation on blood indicators of radiation workers, and to provide evidence for occupational health monitoring. Methods This study included 3853 radiation workers who participated in occupational health examination in Gansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022. The results of fasting blood glucose, renal function, liver function, white blood cell count, platelet count, and lymphocyte micronucleus were analyzed. Results The detection rates of abnormal fasting blood glucose and liver function were significantly higher in males than in females (P < 0.05), and the detection rates of abnormal renal function, white blood cell count, platelet count, and lymphocyte micronucleus were significantly lower in males than in females (P < 0.05). The detection rates of abnormal fasting blood glucose, liver function, and lymphocyte micronucleus were significantly higher in radiation workers with ≥ 21 years of working experience than those with ≤ 10 years of working experience (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the non-medical group than in the diagnostic radiology, radiation therapy, and interventional radiology groups (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal fasting blood glucose was significantly higher in the primary medical institution group than in the tertiary medical institution group (P < 0.05). The detection rate of abnormal liver function was significantly higher in the primary medical institution group than in the secondary and tertiary medical institution groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion Long-term occupational exposure to ionizing radiation may cause radiation damage to the human body. Health education should be strengthened for non-medical and male radiation workers to prevent the occurrence of chronic metabolic diseases.