ObjectiveTo investigate the optimal termination time for acupuncture in treating patients with acute peripheral facial paralysis and its cost-effectiveness. MethodsA total of 120 eligible patients with acute-stage peri-pheral facial paralysis were randomly assigned to either the mild dysfunction termination group and the complete recovery termination group， with 60 patients in each group. Both groups received the standard acupuncture treatment protocol. Treatment in the mild dysfunction termination group was terminated when the Sunnybrook facial grade scale （SFGS） score first reached or exceeded 83 points， while that in the complete recovery termination group was terminated when the SFGS score first reached or exceeded 95 points. Assessments were conducted before treatment， 6 and 12 months after onset. SFGS， facial disability index （FDI） including physical function （FDIp） and social function （FDIs）， self-rating anxiety scale （SAS）， and self-rating depression scale （SDS） scores were assessed before treatment， and 6 and 12 months after onset. Any acupuncture-related adverse events during treatment were recorded for safety evaluation. Treatment sessions and medical costs including direct costs， indirect costs， insurance coverage， total societal costs， and patient out-of-pocket expenses were also recorded， and an economic evaluation was conducted including cost-effectiveness ratio （CER） and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio （ICER）. ResultsUltimately， 56 patients in the mild dysfunction termination group and 55 in the complete recovery termination group completed the follow-up. At 6 and 12 months after onset， SFGS and FDIp scores in both groups improved significantly while FDIs， SAS and SDS scores decreased （P＜0.05）. Comparison of scores between groups 6 months and 12 months after onset showed no statistically significant differences （P＞0.05）. During the trial， the incidence of adverse events was 13.3% （8/60） in the mild dysfunction termination group and 18.3% （11/60） in the complete recovery termination group， with no statistically significant difference （P＞0.05）. The number of treatment sessions， total social costs， and out-of-pocket expenses in the mild dysfunction termination group were significantly lower than those in the complete recovery termination group （P＜0.05）. The CER of the mild dysfunction termination group in SFGS， FDIp， FDIs， SAS， and SDS scores was lower than that of the complete recovery termination group. The ICER analysis showed that continuing treatment until full recovery incurred an additional cost of 573.30 CNY/point in SFGS improvement， whereas 1-point improvement in FDIp， FDIs， SAS， and SDS required 21,355.25 CNY， 1779.60 CNY， 3713.96 CNY， and 2755.52 CNY， respectively. ConclusionFor acupuncture in treating acute peripheral facial palsy， terminating treatment when mild dysfunction is achieved yields long-term efficacy comparable to that of continuing treatment until complete recovery， while significantly reducing medical costs and socioeconomic burden.

Background: and Purpose Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute posterior circulation tandem lesion (PCTL). This study aimed to explore the role of extracranial vertebral artery (VA) stenting in patients with PCTL stroke undergoing EVT. Methods: Individual patient data were pooled from the BASILAR (EVT for Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Study) and PERSIST (Posterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke) registries. Patients with PCTLs who underwent EVT were included in the present cohort and divided into the stenting and nonstenting groups based on the placement of extracranial VA stents. The primary efficacy outcome was the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 90 days and 1 year. Safety outcomes included 24-hour symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and all-cause mortality at 90 days and 1 year post-surgery. Results: A combined dataset of 1,320 patients with posterior circulation artery occlusion, including 263 (19.9%) with tandem lesions, of whom 217 (median age, 65 years; 82.9% male) met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The stenting group had 84 (38.7%) patients, while the non-stenting group had 133 (61.3%). After adjustment for the potential confounders, extracranial VA stenting was associated with favorable shifts in mRS scores at both 90 days (adjusted common odds ratio [OR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23–4.28; P<0.01) and 1 year (adjusted OR [aOR], 2.04; 95% CI [1.05–3.97]; P=0.04), along with lower rate of mortality at both 90 days (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI [0.21–0.93]; P=0.01) and 1 year (aOR, 0.36; 95% CI [0.16–0.79]; P=0.01), with no significant difference in sICH incidence (aOR, 0.35; 95% CI [0.06–1.98]; P=0.24). Conclusion Extracranial VA stenting during EVT may improve functional outcomes and reduce mortality in patients with PCTL strokes.

BackgroundInvasive vagus nerve stimulation therapy has been approved for the adjunctive treatment of treatment-resistant depression， which may contribute to the anti-inflammatory properties of vagus nerve stimulation （VNS）， whereas the efficacy of non-invasive transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation （tcVNS） in treating major depressive disorder （MDD） and its impact on plasma inflammatory factors remain unclear. ObjectiveTo observe the effect of escitaloprom combined with tcVNS on the status of depression， anxiety and sleep quality as well as the plasma levels of interleukin-6 （IL-6） and interleukin-10 （IL-10） in MDD patients， in order to provide references for the recovery and treatment of MDD patients. MethodsFrom August 21， 2019 to April 17， 2024， 45 patients who met the diagnostic criteria for MDD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders， fifth edition （DSM-5） were recruited from the psychosomatic outpatient clinic of the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University. Subjects were divided into study group （n=23） and control group （n=22） using random number table method. All patients were treated with escitalopram. On this basis， study group added a 30-minute tcVNS therapy once a day for 4 weeks. While control group was given corresponding sham stimulation， and the duration of each stimulation lasted 30 seconds. Before and after 4 weeks of treatment， Hamilton Depression Scale-17 item （HAMD-17） was used to assess depressive symptoms， and HAMD-17 anxiety/somatization subfactor and insomnia subfactor were used to assess patients' anxiety/somatization symptoms and sleep quality. Levels of plasma IL-6 and IL-10 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. ResultsThe generalized estimating equation model yielded a significant time effect for HAMD-17 total score， anxiety/somatization subfactor score and insomnia subfactor score in both groups （Wald χ²=315.226， 495.481， 82.420， P<0.01）. After 4 weeks of treatment， HAMD-17 total score and anxiety/somatization subfactor score of study group were lower than those of control group， with statistically significant differences （Wald χ²=4.967， 32.543， P<0.05 or 0.01）， while no statistically significant difference was found in the insomnia subfactor score between two groups （Wald χ²=0.819， P=0.366）. Significant time effects were reported on plasma IL-6 and IL-10 levels in both groups （Wald χ²=21.792， 5.242， P<0.05 or 0.01）. Compared with baseline data， a reduction in plasma IL-6 levels was detected in both groups （Wald χ²=22.015， 6.803， P<0.01）， and an increase in plasma IL-10 levels was reported in study group （Wald χ²=5.118， P=0.024） after 4 weeks of treatment. ConclusionEscitalopram combined with tcVNS therapy is effective in improving depressive symptoms， anxiety/somatization symptoms and sleep quality in patients with MDD. Additionally， it helps reduce plasma IL-6 levels and increase IL-10 levels. ［Funded by Shaanxi Provincial Key Research and Development Program-General Project （number， 2023-YBSF-185）， www.clinicaltrials.gov number， NCT04037111］

Objective:To summarize the clinical and related characteristics of hospitalized patients with pemphigus, and to analyze their correlations with systemic inflammatory and serological indicators.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data from pemphigus patients hospitalized in the Department of Dermatology, Wuhan No.1 Hospital from January 2021 to December 2023. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to assess the correlations between the Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) scores and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) , pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) , serum albumin levels, anti-desmoglein 1/3 (Dsg-1/3) antibody levels, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Linear regression models were used to evaluate the associations of systemic inflammatory and serological indicators with the length of hospital stay and treatment costs. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the effect of these indicators on the risk of infection in pemphigus patients.Results:A total of 235 pemphigus patients were included (112 males and 123 females) , with ages of 58.12 ± 16.47 years. Among them, 73 patients (31.06%) had pemphigus alone, while 162 (68.94%) had comorbidities including tumors, infections, or hypoalbuminemia. PDAI scores showed significantly positive correlations with SII, PIV, and CRP levels ( r = 0.62, 0.58, 0.50, respectively, all P<0.001) . According to PDAI scores, 164 cases (69.79%) were classified as mild pemphigus, 57 (24.26%) as moderate pemphigus, and 14 (5.96%) as severe pemphigus; compared with the patients with mild pemphigus, those with moderate-to-severe pemphigus had significantly increased SII, PIV, anti-Dsg-1 antibody and CRP levels, but significantly decreased serum albumin levels (all P < 0.05) . Among the 235 patients, 213 were diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, 9 with pemphigus erythematosus, 10 with pemphigus foliaceus, and 3 with paraneoplastic pemphigus; serum albumin levels and anti-Dsg-1/3 antibody levels differed significantly among patients with different subtypes of pemphigus (all P < 0.05) . The serum albumin level was significantly associated with the length of hospital stay and treatment costs ( β [95% CI]: -0.729 [-0.946 - -0.512], -0.266 [-0.362 - -0.171], respectively, both P < 0.001) ; furthermore, the serum albumin level was identified as a relevant factor for infections in pemphigus patients ( OR = 0.938, 95% CI: 0.883 - 0.995, P = 0.036) . Conclusion:SII, PIV, CRP, serum albumin, and anti-Dsg-1 antibody levels could reflect the severity of pemphigus to some extent, and the serum albumin level was significantly associated with comorbid infections, length of hospital stay, and treatment costs in hospitalized patients with pemphigus.

Osteoporosis is a prevalent skeletal condition characterized by reduced bone mass and strength, leading to increased fragility. Buqi-Tongluo (BQTL) decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, has yet to be fully evaluated for its potential in treating bone diseases such as osteoporosis. To investigate the mechanism by which BQTL decoction inhibits osteoclast differentiation in vitro and validate these findings through in vivo experiments. We employed MTS assays to assess the potential proliferative or toxic effects of BQTL on bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) at various concentrations. TRAcP experiments were conducted to examine BQTL's impact on osteoclast differentiation. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses were utilized to evaluate the relative expression levels of osteoclast-specific genes and proteins under BQTL stimulation. Finally, in vivo experiments were performed using an osteoporosis model to further validate the in vitro findings. This study revealed that BQTL suppressed receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis and osteoclast resorption activity in vitro in a dose-dependent manner without observable cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effects of BQTL on osteoclast formation and function were attributed to the downregulation of NFATc1 and c-fos activity, primarily through attenuation of the MAPK, NF-κB, and Calcineurin signaling pathways. BQTL's inhibitory capacity was further examined in vivo using an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model, demonstrating a strong protective effect against bone loss. BQTL may serve as an effective therapeutic TCM for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and the alleviation of bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency and related conditions.
Animals ; NFATC Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Ovariectomy ; Osteoclasts/metabolism* ; Female ; Osteogenesis/drug effects* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; NF-kappa B/genetics* ; Osteoporosis/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Bone Resorption/genetics* ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Humans ; RANK Ligand/metabolism* ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics* ; Transcription Factors

The incidence rate of suspected adverse events following immunization (AEFI) after single administration of pentavalent recombinant rotavirus attenuated live vaccine (RV5) in Chaoyang District, Beijing City from 2019 to 2021 was 362.3 per 100 000 doses. The incidence rate of AEFI after simultaneous administration with oral polio vaccine (OPV), inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), hepatitis B vaccine (HBV), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13-valent (PCV13) was 239.3 per 100 000, 643.4 per 100 000, 346.8 per 100 000, 438.1 per 100 000, and 434.0 per 100 000, respectively. The specific incidence rates for common AEFI symptoms such as fever, local allergic rash, irritability, and vomiting under different vaccination regimens were as follows: RV5 alone (fever: 88.3 per 100 000, rash: 9.1 per 100 000, irritability: 100.5 per 100 000, vomiting: 83.3 per 100 000), RV5 and IPV simultaneous administration (fever: 239.4 per 100 000, rash: 104.7 per 100 000, irritability: 134.7 per 100 000, vomiting: 89.8 per 100 000), RV5 and OPV simultaneous administration (fever: 119.6 per 100 000, rash: 32.6 per 100 000, irritability: 32.6 per 100 000, vomiting: 32.6 per 100 000), RV5 and HBV simultaneous administration (fever: 111.0 per 100 000, rash: 69.4 per 100 000, irritability: 83.2 per 100 000, vomiting: 41.6 per 100 000), RV5 and Hib simultaneous administration (fever: 159.3 per 100 000, rash: 238.9 per 100 000, irritability: 0 per 100 000, vomiting: 39.8 per 100 000), and RV5 and PCV13 simultaneous administration (fever: 142.8 per 100 000, rash: 98.0 per 100 000, irritability: 126.0 per 100 000, vomiting: 25.2 per 100 000).

Objective To compare and find an optimal model for predicting the risk of DKD occurrence in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods A total of 2005 patients with T2DM were enrolled in this study from The Second Hospital of Shijiazhuang City during December 2017 to December 2022.All the subjects were divided into a training set(n=1403)and a validation set(n=602)according to the ratio of 3∶1 by simple random sampling.With the occurrence of DKD as the outcome variablein the training set,important feature variables were screened by LASSO regression.Six different machine learning models were established according to the feature variables,thenthe optimal model was determined by comparison,and anonlinerisk predictor for DKD occurrence was constructed in patients with T2DM.Results Taking the occurrence of DKD as the outcome variable in the training set,the results of LASSO regression analysis showed that the optimal value of the model was 10-fold cross validation lambda.1se=0.01662473,and 15 characteristic variables with nonzero coefficient were screened out to be related to the occurrence of DKD.The data included sex,age,family history of DM,DM duration,LDL-C,HbA1c,WBC,PDW,Scr,urine α1-microglobulin,urine β2-microglobulin,urine microalbumin,hypertension,hypokalemia,and DR.In the training set and validation set,the prediction performance of XGBoost model was better than that of other models(AUC=0.872,0.893,95%CI 0.853～0.891,0.865～0.921),the sensitivity was 0.779,0.863,and the specificity was 0.721,0.758,respectively.The F1 scores were 0.774 and 0.787.DCA analysis showed that the XGBoost model had a greater net benefit and threshold probability.According to the XGBoost model,the online predictor of DKD risk in T2DM patients was laid out,and two patients were selected for application,the results showed that the predictive value of the model was 0.185 in non-DKD patients,and the predictive value was 0.510 in DKD patients.Conclusions The XGBoost model is the best model for predicting the occurrence of DKD in T2DM patients,and an online predictor was successfully built.

Pharmacotranscriptomic profiles, which capture drug-induced changes in gene expression, offer vast potential for computational drug discovery and are widely used in modern medicine. However, current computational approaches neglected the associations within gene‒gene functional networks and unrevealed the systematic relationship between drug efficacy and the reversal effect. Here, we developed a new genome-scale functional module (GSFM) transformation framework to quantitatively evaluate drug efficacy for in silico drug discovery. GSFM employs four biologically interpretable quantifiers: GSFM_Up, GSFM_Down, GSFM_ssGSEA, and GSFM_TF to comprehensively evaluate the multi-dimension activities of each functional module (FM) at gene-level, pathway-level, and transcriptional regulatory network-level. Through a data transformation strategy, GSFM effectively converts noisy and potentially unreliable gene expression data into a more dependable FM active matrix, significantly outperforming other methods in terms of both robustness and accuracy. Besides, we found a positive correlation between RS_GSFM and drug efficacy, suggesting that RS_GSFM could serve as representative measure of drug efficacy. Furthermore, we identified WYE-354, perhexiline, and NTNCB as candidate therapeutic agents for the treatment of breast-invasive carcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma, and castration-resistant prostate cancer, respectively. The results from in vitro and in vivo experiments have validated that all identified compounds exhibit potent anti-tumor effects, providing proof-of-concept for our computational approach.

Background: and Purpose Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute posterior circulation tandem lesion (PCTL). This study aimed to explore the role of extracranial vertebral artery (VA) stenting in patients with PCTL stroke undergoing EVT. Methods: Individual patient data were pooled from the BASILAR (EVT for Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Study) and PERSIST (Posterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke) registries. Patients with PCTLs who underwent EVT were included in the present cohort and divided into the stenting and nonstenting groups based on the placement of extracranial VA stents. The primary efficacy outcome was the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 90 days and 1 year. Safety outcomes included 24-hour symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and all-cause mortality at 90 days and 1 year post-surgery. Results: A combined dataset of 1,320 patients with posterior circulation artery occlusion, including 263 (19.9%) with tandem lesions, of whom 217 (median age, 65 years; 82.9% male) met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The stenting group had 84 (38.7%) patients, while the non-stenting group had 133 (61.3%). After adjustment for the potential confounders, extracranial VA stenting was associated with favorable shifts in mRS scores at both 90 days (adjusted common odds ratio [OR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23–4.28; P<0.01) and 1 year (adjusted OR [aOR], 2.04; 95% CI [1.05–3.97]; P=0.04), along with lower rate of mortality at both 90 days (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI [0.21–0.93]; P=0.01) and 1 year (aOR, 0.36; 95% CI [0.16–0.79]; P=0.01), with no significant difference in sICH incidence (aOR, 0.35; 95% CI [0.06–1.98]; P=0.24). Conclusion Extracranial VA stenting during EVT may improve functional outcomes and reduce mortality in patients with PCTL strokes.

Background: and Purpose Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute posterior circulation tandem lesion (PCTL). This study aimed to explore the role of extracranial vertebral artery (VA) stenting in patients with PCTL stroke undergoing EVT. Methods: Individual patient data were pooled from the BASILAR (EVT for Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Study) and PERSIST (Posterior Circulation Ischemic Stroke) registries. Patients with PCTLs who underwent EVT were included in the present cohort and divided into the stenting and nonstenting groups based on the placement of extracranial VA stents. The primary efficacy outcome was the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 90 days and 1 year. Safety outcomes included 24-hour symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and all-cause mortality at 90 days and 1 year post-surgery. Results: A combined dataset of 1,320 patients with posterior circulation artery occlusion, including 263 (19.9%) with tandem lesions, of whom 217 (median age, 65 years; 82.9% male) met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The stenting group had 84 (38.7%) patients, while the non-stenting group had 133 (61.3%). After adjustment for the potential confounders, extracranial VA stenting was associated with favorable shifts in mRS scores at both 90 days (adjusted common odds ratio [OR], 2.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23–4.28; P<0.01) and 1 year (adjusted OR [aOR], 2.04; 95% CI [1.05–3.97]; P=0.04), along with lower rate of mortality at both 90 days (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI [0.21–0.93]; P=0.01) and 1 year (aOR, 0.36; 95% CI [0.16–0.79]; P=0.01), with no significant difference in sICH incidence (aOR, 0.35; 95% CI [0.06–1.98]; P=0.24). Conclusion Extracranial VA stenting during EVT may improve functional outcomes and reduce mortality in patients with PCTL strokes.