Since its establishment in 2016, the National Rare Diseases Registry System of China (NRDRS) has accumulated valuable case data and bio-specimen for basic and clinical research on rare diseases in China. However, the emerging challenges in clinical diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases make it unable for data and resource platform to fully meet the diversified needs. Under this backdrop, we have developed a protocol to optimize and upgrade the system based on the core functions of the NRDRS platform. The goal is to leverage intelligent digital technologies to transform NRDRS into a new platform integrating multimodal data and auxiliary diagnostic and treatment functions. It is specified as the development and construction of "one platform and four intelligent tools." Currently, we have upgraded and developed NRDRS platform, intelligent tool for genotype-phenotype analysis of rare diseases, AI-assisted diagnostic tool for rare diseases, remote multidisciplinary diagnosis and teaching tool for rare diseases, drug screening and validation tool for rare diseases. The next step will focus on the promotion of the application of these tools in clinical settings in order to address the issue of severe imbalance in the allocation of resources for the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases. This article provides an overview of the digital and intelligent upgrades of the NRDRS, the trials in applications in clinical settings, and direction in the future.

With the rapid development of social economy and the continuous improvement of human living standard, the incidence, fatality and recurrence rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are increasing year by year, which seriously affects people's life and health. Conventional therapeutic drugs have limited improvement on the disability rate, so the search for new therapeutic drugs and action targets has become one of the hotspots of current research. In recent years, the therapeutic role of the natural compound rosmarinic acid (RA) in CVD has attracted much attention, which is capable of preventing CVD by modulating multiple signalling pathways and exerting physiological activities such as antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet aggregation, as well as anti-coagulation and endothelial function protection. In this paper, the role of RA in the prevention of CVD is systematically sorted out, and its mechanism of action is summarised and analysed, with a view to providing a scientific basis and important support for the in-depth exploration of the prevention value of RA in CVD and its further development as a prevention drug.

Objectives:To analyze the range of motion(ROM)and intradiscal pressure(IDP)of lower cervical spine in occipitocervical fixation with different posterior occipitocervical angles(POCA),and explore the selec-tion strategy of POCA in occipitocervical fusion(OCF)surgery.Methods:8 fresh frozen human occipitocervical cadaveric specimens(C0-T1,cephalic end included the bony structure of the skull base below the occipital tuberosity)were selected,including 4 males and 4 females,aged 25-45 years,and bone abnormalities and destruction were excluded with X-ray fluoroscopy.The speciemens were removed of muscles and fat tissues and preserved with ligaments,joint capsules and intervertebral discs as the normal group.Specimens were loaded with 2N·m in a servo-hydraulic materials testing system for measuring the ROM and IDP of C3/4,C4/5,C5/6 and C6/7 in the directions of flexion,extension,left torsion and left lateral bending with the help of optoelectronic motion analysis system and miniature pressure transducers.Then,the specimens were subject-ed to occipitocervical fixation with different POCAs as 5 experimental groups,which were:neutral position group(POCA=111°),neutral position-standard deviation(SD)group(POCA=101°),neutral position+SD group(POCA=121°),neutral position-2SD group(POCA=91°),and neutral position+2SD group(POCA=131°).The fixed segments were C0,C2 and C3.All experimental groups used the displacement control protocol to perform experiment,and the ROM and IDP of C3/4,C4/5,C5/6 and C6/7 in four directions were measured.Results:After occipitocervical fixation,ROM in the four directions of C0-C3 was significantly reduced compared with the normal group(P＜0.001).Of the four directions,the change of POCA had regular impacts on ROM and IDP of the 4 segments in flexion and extension:in flexion,with the increase of POCA,ROM and IDP of each segment showed a decreasing trend;In extension,with the increase of POCA,ROM of each segment showed an increasing trend,while IDP showed a decreasing trend.When POCA was in the neutral position,ROM in flexion or extension of each segment was significantly greater than that of normal group,yet there was no extremely increased ROM in flexion as POCA was too little or in extension as POCA was too large,and there was no significant difference of IDP compared with that of the normal group(P＞0.05).The change of POCA had no regular effect on ROM and IDP of 4 segments in left torsion and left lateral bending,although ROM increased significantly compared with that of the normal group.Conclusions:In OCF surgery,fixing POCA in a neutral position,the ROM and IDP of subaxial cervical spine are approximately normal.

Objective To monitor the susceptibility of clinical isolates to antimicrobial agents in tertiary hospitals in major regions of China in 2022.Methods Clinical isolates from 58 hospitals in China were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility using a unified protocol based on disc diffusion method or automated testing systems.Results were interpreted using the 2022 Clinical &Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)breakpoints.Results A total of 318 013 clinical isolates were collected from January 1,2022 to December 31,2022,of which 29.5％were gram-positive and 70.5％were gram-negative.The prevalence of methicillin-resistant strains in Staphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis and other coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species(excluding Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Staphylococcus schleiferi)was 28.3％,76.7％and 77.9％,respectively.Overall,94.0％of MRSA strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 90.8％of MRSE strains were susceptible to rifampicin.No vancomycin-resistant strains were found.Enterococcus faecalis showed significantly lower resistance rates to most antimicrobial agents tested than Enterococcus faecium.A few vancomycin-resistant strains were identified in both E.faecalis and E.faecium.The prevalence of penicillin-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae was 94.2％in the isolates from children and 95.7％in the isolates from adults.The resistance rate to carbapenems was lower than 13.1％in most Enterobacterales species except for Klebsiella,21.7％-23.1％of which were resistant to carbapenems.Most Enterobacterales isolates were highly susceptible to tigecycline,colistin and polymyxin B,with resistance rates ranging from 0.1％to 13.3％.The prevalence of meropenem-resistant strains decreased from 23.5％in 2019 to 18.0％in 2022 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa,and decreased from 79.0％in 2019 to 72.5％in 2022 in Acinetobacter baumannii.Conclusions The resistance of clinical isolates to the commonly used antimicrobial agents is still increasing in tertiary hospitals.However,the prevalence of important carbapenem-resistant organisms such as carbapenem-resistant K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa,and A.baumannii showed a downward trend in recent years.This finding suggests that the strategy of combining antimicrobial resistance surveillance with multidisciplinary concerted action works well in curbing the spread of resistant bacteria.

This study was aimed at analyzing the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with Listeria monocyto-genes bacteremia,to provide evidence for its diagnosis and treatment.A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data for patients with L.monocytogenes bacteremia at Tangdu Hospital between September 2012 and April 2022.The data included age,sex,underlying diseases,treatments,and prognosis.Changes in indicators such as white blood cell(WBC)count,mono-cyte percentage,neutrophil percentage,monocyte/neutrophil ratio(M/N),C-reactive protein(CRP),and procalcitonin before and after treatment were statistically analyzed.Among the 32 patients with L.monocytogenes bacteremia,the average age was 31.9 years,and three patients were older than 65 years.The incidence rate was highest in summer(11 patients,34.4％),fol-lowed by spring(9 patients,28.1％).A total of 24 patients(75.0％)had underlying diseases.After accurate diagnosis,the treatment plans of 29 patients were adjusted to target antibacterial therapy consisting primarily of penicillins(17 patients,53.1％)and carbapenems(12 patients,37.5％).After treatment,the levels of neutrophils,lymphocytes,and CRP were signifi-cantly lower than those before treatment(P＜0.05).A total of 29 patients(90.6％)improved and were discharged,one patient died,and two patients had poor prognosis.The primary risk factors for L.monocytogenes infection were autoimmune diseases,tumors,and pregnancy.Penicillin was the first choice effective empirical treatment for listeriosis.A clear diagnosis of the pathogen and appropriate choice of antibiotics were particularly important for the treatment of L.monocytogenes infection.

Objective: There is controversy among different guidelines regarding the use of thermal ablation to treat clinical T1a renal cell carcinomas with tumor sizes ranging from 3.1–4 cm. Therefore, we compared oncological outcomes between heat-based thermal ablation (hTA) and cryoablation (CA) in patients with solid T1a renal cell carcinomas, including those with a tumor size ≤3 cm and a tumor size of 3.1–4 cm. Materials and Methods: Within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2000–2019), we identified patients with clinical T1a renal cell carcinomas that were histologically confirmed and treated with hTA or CA. After propensity score matching using a 1:1 ratio, the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were estimated and compared between the two methods. Cancer-specific mortality (CSM) was also analyzed, considering other-cause mortality as a competing risk. Results: Of the 3513 assessable patients, 1426 (40.6%) and 2087 (59.4%) were treated with hTA and CA, respectively. After propensity score matching, the hTA and CA groups included 1393 and 1393 patients, respectively. hTA was associated with shorter OS than CA with a hazard ratio of 1.17 (95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.32; P = 0.010). The hTA and CA groups did not reveal statistically significant differences in CSS with a hazard ratio of 1.07 (95% confidence interval, 0.76–1.50; P = 0.706). The hTA and CA groups did not show statistically significant differences in CSM (P = 0.849). However, the hTA group showed a significantly higher other-cause mortality (P = 0.011). Conclusion In patients with clinical stage T1a renal cell carcinomas, hTA was comparable to CA in terms of CSS and CSM.However, hTA resulted in a slightly shorter OS than CA. Large-scale randomized clinical trials are required to obtain more robust evidence.

Objective:To report the results of national surveillance on the distribution and antimicrobial resistance profile of clinical Gram-positive bacteria isolates from bloodstream infections in China in 2022.Methods:The clinical isolates of Gram-positive bacteria from blood cultures in member hospitals of National Bloodstream Infection Bacterial Resistant Investigation Collaborative System（BRICS）were collected during January 2022 to December 2022. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were conducted by agar dilution or broth dilution methods recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute（CLSI）. WHONET 5.6 and SPSS 25.0 software were used to analyze the data.Results:A total of 3 163 strains of Gram-positive pathogens were collected from 51 member units，and the top five bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus（ n=1 147，36.3%），coagulase-negative Staphylococci（ n=928，29.3%）， Enterococcus faecalis（ n=369，11.7%）， Enterococcus faecium（ n=296，9.4%）and alpha-hemolyticus Streptococci（ n=192，6.1%）. The detection rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus（MRSA）and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci（MRCNS）were 26.4%（303/1 147）and 66.7%（619/928），respectively. No glycopeptide and daptomycin-resistant Staphylococci were detected. The sensitivity rates of Staphylococcus aureus to cefpirome，rifampin，compound sulfamethoxazole，linezolid，minocycline and tigecycline were all >95.0%. Enterococcus faecium was more prevalent than Enterococcus faecalis. The resistance rates of Enterococcus faecium to vancomycin and teicoplanin were both 0.5%（2/369），and no vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium was detected. The detection rate of MRSA in southern China was significantly lower than that in other regions（ χ2=14.578， P=0.002），while the detection rate of MRCNS in northern China was significantly higher than that in other regions（ χ2=15.195， P=0.002）. The detection rates of MRSA and MRCNS in provincial hospitals were higher than those in municipal hospitals（ χ2=13.519 and 12.136， P<0.001）. The detection rates of MRSA and MRCNS in economically more advanced regions（per capita GDP≥92 059 Yuan in 2022）were higher than those in economically less advanced regions（per capita GDP<92 059 Yuan）（ χ2=9.969 and 7.606， P=0.002和0.006）. Conclusions:Among the Gram-positive pathogens causing bloodstream infections in China， Staphylococci is the most common while the MRSA incidence decreases continuously with time；the detection rate of Enterococcus faecium exceeds that of Enterococcus faecalis. The overall prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococci is still at a low level. The composition ratio of Gram-positive pathogens and resistant profiles varies slightly across regions of China，with the prevalence of MRSA and MRCNS being more pronounced in provincial hospitals and areas with a per capita GDP≥92 059 yuan.

Objective:To assess the deformation of the bladder-neck opening and the impact of the bladder-neck angle(BNA)on urination in male patients by fluid-structure interaction(FSI)analysis.Methods:We established geometric models of the blad-der,prostate and urethra were established,incorporating both normal and enlarged BNAs,and assessed the effects of BNA alteration on urinary flow by FSI simulation of the flow rate and pressure of the urine within the bladder,bladder neck and urethra,and that of pros-tate displacement as well.We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data on 145 male patients from the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University between June 2020 and June 2023,39 with acute urine retention(the AUR group)and 106 without(the non-AUR group),and evaluate the impact of BNA on urination based on the urinary flow rate and prostate volume.Results:Comparative simulation a-nalysis showed significant differences in the total urethral pressure and flow rate between the normal and enlarged BNA models(P＜0.05).The maximum prostate displacement was found at the bladder neck,with moderate displacement and unchanged urethral diame-ter in the normal BNA model,but significant displacement and a reduced urethral opening diameter in the enlarged BNA model.FSI analysis confirmed an evident impact of enlarged BNA on urination,more significant in the AUR than in the non-AUR patients(P＜0.05).The BNAs in the patients with the maximum urinary flow rate(Qmax)of＜10,10-15 or＞15 ml/s were 83.7°±2.5°,67.5°±1.8° and 65.1°±4.8° respectively,with statistically significant difference between the former one and the latter two groups(P＜0.05).The BNAs in the patients with normal prostate volume or BPH of grade Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ or Ⅳ were 65.0°±3.7°,67.2°±3.1°,71.5°±2.0°,82.8°±3.5° and 105.8°±6.0°,respectively(P＜0.05),with statistically significant difference between BPH grades Ⅲ and Ⅳ(P＜0.05)as well as between these two and the other three groups(P＜0.05),but not among the normal prostate volume,BPH grade Ⅰ and BPH grade Ⅱ groups(P＞0.05).Spearman correlation analysis indicated that BNA was strongly correlated with total prostate volume(TPV),transition zone volume(TZV),intravesical prostatic protrusion(IPP),prostatic urethral angle(PUA),IPSS,and Qmax(P＜0.05).Conclusion:Changes in BNA affect urination and are closely associated with the se-verity of prostate hyperplasia.The BNA may be an important anatomical factor for assessing the severity of lower urinary tract symptoms in BPH patients.

Objective:To investigate the expression level of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues, and its effects on the cell cycle, cell proliferation, and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells in vitro as well as its molecular mechanisms.Methods:The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was used to obtain the lncRNA series data set GSE139869, and the differential expression of CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues and adjacent tissues was analyzed. The transcriptional expression levels of CTC-338M12.4 in human immortalized oral keratinocytes (HOK) and tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell lines HN13, TSCCa, CAL-27, Tca8113, SCC15 were detected by using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). CAL-27 cells with the lowest expression level of CTC-338M12.4 were selected and were divided into the control group (co-transfected with vectors containing negative sequence) and CTC-338M12.4 group (co-transfected with CTC-338M12.4 overexpression vectors). The proliferation ability of CAL-27 cells in each group was detected by using cell colony formation assay, and the cell cycle distribution of CAL-27 cells was detected by using flow cytometry. The migration ability of CAL-27 cells was detected by using scratch test. The lncACTdb database was used to predict the complementary binding sites between CTC-338M12.4 and miRNA-27a-5p (miR-27a-5p), and dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify. The expression level of miR-27a-5p in CAL-27 cells of all groups was detected by using qRT-PCR. The protein expression level of related factors on JAK/STAT signaling pathway in CAL-27 cells of all groups was detected by using Western blot.Results:Analysis of GEO database data showed that transcriptional level CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma tissues was lower than that in adjacent tissues, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.01). Transcriptional level CTC-338M12.4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma HNl3, TSCCa, CAL-27, Tca8113, and SCC15 cells was lower than that in HOK cells, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). The transcriptional level relative expression level of CTC-338M12.4 in CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was higher than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.01). Cell colony formation assay showed that the colong number of CAL-27 cell in the CTC-338M12.4 group was less than that in the control group [(51±10) vs. (114±21)], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 2.71, P = 0.035). Flow cytometry showed that the proportion of G 0/G 1 phase cells in CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was higher than that in the control group [(64±3)% vs. (43±4)%], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 4.87, P = 0.003). The scratch test showed that when scratching, the scratch width of both groups was similar ( P > 0.05); after scratch for 25 h, the scratch width of CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was wider than that in the control group [(133±15) μm vs. (64±10) μm], and the difference was statistically significant ( t = 3.78, P = 0.009). The dual luciferase reporter gene assay showed that the relative luciferase activity of CAL-27 cells co-transfected with wild-type CTC-338M12.4 sequence and miR-27a-5p sequence was lower than that of CAL-27 cells co-transfected with wild-type CTC-338M12.4 sequence and miR-27a-5p irrelevant sequence, and the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). The relative expression level of transcriptional level miR-27a-5p of CAL-27 cells in the CTC-338M12.4 group was lower than that in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P = 0.003). Western blot showed that the protein expression levels of JAK/STAT signaling pathway p-JAK, p-STAT, p-Raf, p-ERK, and p-mTOR were lower than those in the control group. Conclusions:The level of lncRNA CTC-338M12.4 is low in tongue squamous cell carcinoma. CTC-338M12.4 mediates the inactivation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway via inhibiting miR-27a-5p expression in tongue squamous cell carcinoma CAL-27 cells, thereby leading to cell cycle arrest and inhibiting the cell proliferation and migration of CAL-27 cells.

Objective: There is controversy among different guidelines regarding the use of thermal ablation to treat clinical T1a renal cell carcinomas with tumor sizes ranging from 3.1–4 cm. Therefore, we compared oncological outcomes between heat-based thermal ablation (hTA) and cryoablation (CA) in patients with solid T1a renal cell carcinomas, including those with a tumor size ≤3 cm and a tumor size of 3.1–4 cm. Materials and Methods: Within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2000–2019), we identified patients with clinical T1a renal cell carcinomas that were histologically confirmed and treated with hTA or CA. After propensity score matching using a 1:1 ratio, the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were estimated and compared between the two methods. Cancer-specific mortality (CSM) was also analyzed, considering other-cause mortality as a competing risk. Results: Of the 3513 assessable patients, 1426 (40.6%) and 2087 (59.4%) were treated with hTA and CA, respectively. After propensity score matching, the hTA and CA groups included 1393 and 1393 patients, respectively. hTA was associated with shorter OS than CA with a hazard ratio of 1.17 (95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.32; P = 0.010). The hTA and CA groups did not reveal statistically significant differences in CSS with a hazard ratio of 1.07 (95% confidence interval, 0.76–1.50; P = 0.706). The hTA and CA groups did not show statistically significant differences in CSM (P = 0.849). However, the hTA group showed a significantly higher other-cause mortality (P = 0.011). Conclusion In patients with clinical stage T1a renal cell carcinomas, hTA was comparable to CA in terms of CSS and CSM.However, hTA resulted in a slightly shorter OS than CA. Large-scale randomized clinical trials are required to obtain more robust evidence.