BACKGROUND: Generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), a rare and recurrent autoinflammatory disease, imposes a substantial burden on patients and society. Awareness of GPP in China remains limited. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey, conducted between September 2021 and May 2023 across 14 hospitals in China, included GPP patients of all ages and disease phases. Data collected encompassed demographics, clinical characteristics, economic impact, disease severity, quality of life, and treatment-related complications. Risk factors for GPP recurrence were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 127 patients (female/male ratio = 1.35:1), the mean age of disease onset was 25 years (1st quartile [Q1]-3rd quartile [Q3]: 11-44 years); 29.2% had experienced GPP for more than 10 years. Recurrence occurred in 75.6% of patients, and nearly half reported no identifiable triggers. Younger age at disease onset ( P  = 0.021) and transitioning to plaque psoriasis ( P  = 0.022) were associated with higher recurrence rates. The median diagnostic delay was 8 months (Q1-Q3: 2-41 months), and 32.3% of patients reported misdiagnoses. Comorbidities were present in 53.5% of patients, whereas 51.1% experienced systemic complications during treatment. Depression and anxiety affected 84.5% and 95.6% of patients, respectively. During GPP flares, the median Dermatology Life Quality Index score was 19.0 (Q1-Q3: 13.0-23.5). This score showed significant differences between patients with and without systemic symptoms; it demonstrated correlations with both depression and anxiety scores. Treatment costs caused financial hardship in 55.9% of patients, underscoring the burden associated with GPP. CONCLUSIONS The substantial disease and economic burdens among Chinese GPP patients warrant increased attention. Patients with early onset disease and those transitioning to plaque psoriasis require targeted interventions to mitigate the high recurrence risk.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Psoriasis/pathology* ; Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Adolescent ; Child ; Young Adult ; Quality of Life ; Middle Aged ; China/epidemiology* ; Recurrence ; Risk Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; East Asian People

Lumbar disc (LD) herniation and aging are prevalent conditions that can result in substantial morbidity. This study aimed to clarify the mechanisms connecting the LD aging and herniation, particularly focusing on cellular senescence and molecular alterations in the nucleus pulposus (NP). We performed a detailed analysis of NP samples from a diverse cohort, including individuals of varying ages and those with diagnosed LD herniation. Our methodology combined histological assessments with single-nucleus RNA sequencing to identify phenotypic and molecular changes related to NP aging and herniation. We discovered that cellular senescence and a decrease in nucleus pulposus progenitor cells (NPPCs) are central to both processes. Additionally, we found an age-related increase in NFAT1 expression that promotes NPPC senescence and contributes to both aging and herniation of LD. This research offers fresh insights into LD aging and its associated pathologies, potentially guiding the development of new therapeutic strategies to target the root causes of LD herniation and aging.
Intervertebral Disc Displacement/metabolism* ; Humans ; Aging/pathology* ; Nucleus Pulposus/pathology* ; Male ; Female ; Transcriptome ; Middle Aged ; Lumbar Vertebrae/pathology* ; Adult ; Cellular Senescence ; Stem Cells/pathology* ; Aged ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration/metabolism*

Objective:To construct a sizeable naive human Fab phage display antibody library to screen high-affinity specific antibodies in vitro. Methods:Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 126 healthy individuals, subsequently reverse-transcribed into cDNA, and used as a template. PCR amplification was performed to obtain the V H from IgG, IgM and light chain κ, λ, separately, with the initial PCR products serving as templates for a second round of PCR. Overlap extension PCR was employed to generate fragments of the κ and λ light chains. These fragments were ligated with the phage vector pNC3, which harbors the variable region 1 of the heavy chain, to construct a recombinant phage plasmid. This plasmid was then electroporated into competent Escherichia Coli TG1 cells to establish a naive human Fab phage display antibody library. One hundred clones were randomly selected for identification and sequencing, and antibody gene polymorphisms were analyzed using the IMGT database and MAFFT software. Recombinant α-hemolysin from Staphylococcus aureus was utilized to screen Fab antibody fragments through biopanning of the antibody library, followed by random selection of phage ELISA-identified clones. The positive clones (antigen A450∶blank control A450≥2.1) were sequenced. Results:Two large naive Fab phage display antibody libraries were successfully constructed, in which the capacity of κ and λ chain antibody libraries were 1.25×10 11 and 1.54×10 11, respectively. The titers for two antibody libraries were 6.04×10 13 CFU/ml and 3.50×10 13 CFU/ml. The positive transformation insertion rates for κ and λ chain antibody libraries were 96% (96/100) and 100% (100/100), respectively. Sequence analysis revealed that all antibody sequences were unique. The amino acid sequences in the skeletal region were relatively conserved. In contrast, significant variations in the length of the complementarity determining region (CDR) were found, and the diversity of amino acid sequence of the complementary determining region was high, especially the CDR3. Analysis using the IMGT database indicated that the sequences exhibited a broad distribution across variable-diversity-joining gene families. After six rounds of panning, specific phage antibodies enrichment targeting α-hemolysin were achieved. A total of 142 monoclonal antibodies were sequenced, yielding 8 distinct Fab antibody sequences. Conclusion:This study successfully constructed two naive human Fab phage display antibody libraries with large capacity and good diversity, which can be used for screening human antibodies for serum epidemiology.

OBJECTIVE To understand the distribution and drug susceptibility rates of clinical Nocardia isolates so as to provide bases for standardized clinical diagnosis and treatment.METHODS The characteristics of clinical dis-tribution of the Nocardia strains that were isolated from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical Univer-sity between Aug.2019 and Aug.2024 were retrospectively analyzed.The isolated strains were identified by means of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS),16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequencing were performed for the strains with low score,and the drug susceptibility testing was carried out by broth micro dilution method.RESULTS Totally 35 strains of Nocardia were isolated from clinical specimens in the five years,11 of which were Nocardia cyriacigeorgica,4 were Nocardia asiatica,3 were No-cardia farcinica,3 were Nocardia brasiliensis,3 were Nocardia sputorum,2 were Nocardia nova,2 were No-cardia otitidiscaviarum,2 were Nocardia beijingensis,2 were Nocardia concava,1 was Nocardia abscessus,1 was Nocardia pseudobrasiliensis,and 1 was Nocardia terpenica.Totally 85.71％of the strains were isolated from lower respiratory tract specimens including sputum,bronchoalveolar lavage fluid,bronchial brushing and lung puncture tissues,and 11.43％were isolated from skin and soft tissues.It was basically same in the male to female ratio for the patients with Nocardia infections,there were 18 cases of male and 17 cases of female.The elderly patients were dominant,and the patients aged more than 60 years old accounted for 51.43％.The strains were mainly isolated from respiratory medicine department and critical care medicine department.The drug sus-ceptibility rates of all the isolated strains to amikacin and linezolid were 100％,the drug susceptibility rates to sul-famethoxazole-trimethoprim were 97.14％,and the drug susceptibility rates to tobramycin,ceftriaxone and imi-penem were 80％,65.71％and 62.86％,respectively;the drug resistance rates to clarithromycin and ciprofloxa-cin were 65.71％and 62.86％,respectively.Among the major species of isolated Nocardia strains,the N.cyri-acigeorgica strains were all sensitive to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim,linezolid,tobramycin,amikacin,imipen-em and ceftriaxone,the strains were resistant to ciprofloxacin,and the drug resistance rate to clarithromycin reached up to 81.82％.CONCLUSIONS N.cyriacigeorgica is the predominant species of isolated Nocardia strains.The pulmonary infection is the major type of infection.There is little difference in the male to female ratio among the patients with Nocardia infection,and the elderly patients are dominant.Amikacin,linezolid and sulfame-thoxazole-trimethoprim are the most sensitive drugs,and the drug resistance rates of the stains to clarithromycin are high.

Objective:To establish and explore a novel model and its clinical application value based on abnormal des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) for the early-stage diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:A total of 420 cases with chronic HBV infection with nodular liver lesions examined by imaging at the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2021 to June 2024 were retrospectively selected. They were divided into the HBV-HCC group (182 cases) and the control group (238 cases) according to the current HCC diagnostic criteria. The basic information of patients, liver-related biochemical indicators, serum DCP, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, and the efficacy of combined detection in diagnosing early-stage HCC were collected and analyzed. A DSGAA model based on DCP (D) combined with gender (S), γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT, G), AFP (A) and age (A) as independent variables was constructed. The diagnostic performance of the novel model was compared with that of the traditional model through nomogram visualization output and calibration curve.Results:The age, sex, hemoglobin, albumin, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and GGT levels were significantly higher in patients with HCC than those of the control group ( P<0.05). The positivity detection rate in patients with HBV-HCC was significantly higher in DCP than that of AFP (85.71% vs. 59.89%, P<0.05). The abnormal detection rate of DCP in patients with AFP-negative was 76.7%. The sensitivity for diagnosing HCC was significantly higher in DCP than AFP (73.63% vs. 64.29%, P<0.05), with specificity of 83.6% in all. The specificity for diagnosing early-stage HCC was 89.09%, surpassing that of AFP at 68.06% ( P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the constructed DSGAA diagnostic model was 0.8841, with an optimal cutoff value of 0.377, a sensitivity of 80.22%, and a specificity of 86.13%. The AUC for diagnosing early-stage HCC was 0.8122, with a sensitivity of 66.18%, and a specificity of 86.13%, and the diagnostic efficacy was higher than other models ( P<0.05). Conclusion:DCP has superior diagnostic efficacy for HBV-related HCC, and the DSGAA model is expected to be used as a new method for screening and diagnosing early-stage HBV-related HCC.

The coexistence of inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)and autoimmune liver disease(AILD)has gained increasing attention in clinical practice,and there are significant increases in the prevalence rates of autoimmune hepatitis(AIH),primary sclerosing cholangitis(PSC),and AIH-PSC overlap syndrome among the patients with IBD.Several pathogenic mechanisms are shared between IBD and AILDs,including genetic susceptibility,dysregulation of the gut-liver axis,immune imbalance,and abnormal bile acid metabolism.The ECCO guidelines recommend that patients who are suspected of IBD and receive no treatment should undergo a series of liver function tests,including alanine aminotransferase,alkaline phosphatase,gamma-glutamyl transferase,and total serum bilirubin,as well as regular reexaminations during follow-up.While IBD-AILD patients have unique clinical features,there is still a lack of unified diagnosis and treatment guidelines for this comorbidity,and the selection of therapeutic goal often entails a careful balance between the intestinal tract and the liver,requiring interdisciplinary collaboration and combined therapies based on pathogenesis.Future research should focus on the dynamic regulatory networks of the gut-liver axis to develop innovative intervention strategies that ensure both efficacy and safety.

Objective To investigate whether the PI3K/AKT/Cdkn1a/GPX4 signaling axis participates in the pathogenesis of radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) through the ferroptosis pathway. Methods An RIHD mouse model was established by irradiating C57BL/6J mice with 20 Gy X-rays. Transcriptomic sequencing, the FerrDb ferroptosis-related gene set, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis were used to identify hub genes associated with ferroptosis in RIHD. KEGG enrichment analysis was employed to determine key signaling pathways. An AC16 cardiomyocyte model of RIHD was constructed, and the optimal modeling conditions were determined using CCK-8 assays and flow cytometry. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and Western blotting were applied to validate the expression changes of key genes and pathways in cardiomyocytes. Results Compared with the control group, myocardial tissues from irradiated mice exhibited typical RIHD pathological alterations, including structural disorganization and degeneration. Bioinformatics analysis identified Cdkn1a and Ddit4 as potential hub genes, with the PI3K/AKT pathway as the key signaling pathway. The optimal conditions for establishing the RIHD cell model were determined to be 10 Gy irradiation and 48 hours of incubation. Cellular experiments confirmed that, compared with the control group (0 Gy), irradiated cardiomyocytes (10 Gy) showed significantly elevated CDKN1A expression (P < 0.01), inhibited phosphorylation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway (P < 0.05), downregulated GPX4 expression (P < 0.05), and induction of ferroptosis. Conclusion This study preliminarily clarifies the potential role of the PI3K/AKT/Cdkn1a/GPX4 signaling axis in regulating ferroptosis in RIHD cardiomyocytes, providing new therapeutic targets and strategies for the prevention and treatment of RIHD.

Objective: To construct a deep learning model based on convolutional neural network(CNN)-long short term memory network(LSTM)-Attention to explore the correlation between meteorological and clinical factors and the incidence of ischemic stroke. Methods: A fusion model CNN-LSTM-Attention based on CNN, LSTM, and Attention was constructed by incorporating clinical data and meteorological data of ischemic stroke inpatients. The predictive performance of the model was evaluated by maximum prediction error and root mean square error(RMSE). The impact of different lag days on prediction performance was investigated by selecting lag periods ranging from 1 to 7 days. Results: In both short-term and long-term predictions, the CNN-LSTM-Attention fusion model(short-term: 1.5 and 0.6; long-term: 8.3 and 2.5) showed superior maximum prediction bias and RMSE compared to the LSTM model(short-term: 2.8 and 1.2; long-term: 19.5 and 5.5) and the CNN-LSTM model(short-term: 2.0 and 0.8; long-term: 11.2 and 3.3). After incorporating lag days, the maximum prediction deviation and RMSE for lags of 3 days(short-term: 0.7 and 0.4; long-term: 5.5 and 1.9) and 5 days(short-term: 0.8 and 0.3; long-term: 6.5 and 2.0) in both short-term and long-term forecasts were smaller than lags of 0 days(short-term: 1.5 and 0.6; long-term: 8.3 and 2.5). The maximum prediction deviation and RMSE in the short-term forecast were greater than lag 0 days for both lag 1 days(1.5 and 0.8) and lag 7 days(1.9 and 0.9). In the long-term forecast, the two indicators for lag 1 days(6.8 and 2.4) were lower than those for lag 0 days but higher than those for lag 3 days and 5 days. The maximum prediction deviation for lag 7 days(7.5) was lower than that for lag 0 days, but the RMSE(2.7) is higher than that for lag 0 days. Conclusion The established CNN-LSTM-Attention model demonstrates significant predictive value for the onset of ischemic stroke and can provide reference for the rational allocation of medical resources.

Objective To evaluate the advantages of powder-liquid double-chamber bag products compared with traditional powder injection. Methods The systematic review method was used to collect the literature on powder-liquid double-chamber bag, extract common evaluation indicators, evaluate the use value of powder-liquid double-chamber bag products, and conduct a comprehensive comparison with traditional powder injection products. Results A total of 23 articles were included in the literature. The effectiveness indicators used for evaluation were the stability of the liquid medicine, the accuracy of the preparation concentration, and the residual amount of the liquid medicine; the safety indicators were the incidence of insoluble particles and the incidence of punctures and scratches. The economic indicators were preparation cost, occupied volume of preparation supplies, waste weight, hospitalization cost and incidence of blood infection. The applicability indicators were preparation time, average occupation of medical staff, packaging weight and storage and transportation volume, environmental adaptability, and ease of waste disposal. Accessibility indicators are the number of manufacturers, raw material supply capacity, and patient affordability. Through the evaluation of literature evidence, it was found that the stability and concentration accuracy of the powder-liquid double-chamber bag were higher than those of the traditional powder injection, and the domestic supply had been achieved. The double-chamber bag method can reduce the infusion reaction and shorten the preparation time of the liquid medicine. Conclusion Compared with traditional powder injectabler products, powder-liquid double-chamber bags have advantages in the dimensions of effectiveness, safety, economy, suitability and innovation, and the accessibility dimension meets the requirements.

Mechanical thrombectomy,which improves the successful vascular recanalization rate and neurological functional prognosis in patients with acute ischemic stroke(AIS)caused by anterior circulation large vessel occlusion,has become one of the primary therapeutic strategies.Among the pharmacologic adjuvant therapies for mechanical thrombectomy,tirofiban(a platelet glycoprotein Ⅱ b/Ⅲ a receptor antagonist)has attracted significant attention due to its antithrombotic mechanism.This article summarized the research progress of tirofiban in the mechanical thrombectomy treatment of AIS patients from the perspectives of pharmacological mechanisms,administration timing,selection of eligible populations,and dosage regimens.It also analyzed the clinical application value and existing controversies of tirofiban,aiming to provide a scientific basis for optimizing the AIS treatment system.