Objective: To study the association between ankyloglossia and sagittal mandibular development impairment as well as lower anterior dental crowding, providing a reference for clinical practice. Methods: This study was approved by the hospital's Medical Ethics Committee. A total of 100 patients aged 7-13 years were enrolled from January 2024 to January 2025, comprising 50 patients with ankyloglossia (case group) and 50 individuals with a healthy lingual frenulum (normal group). Clinical examination was performed to assess lingual frenulum length, Kotlow classification, and the simplified Hazelbaker assessment tool for lingual frenulum function (HATLFF) score. Cephalometric radiographs were used to measure the A-point-nasion-B-point (ANB) angle, sella-nasion-B-point (SNB) angle, and mandibular total length (condylion-gnathion [Co-Gn]). Dental cast analysis was conducted to evaluate lower anterior teeth crowding. Data were compared between the two groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between the lingual frenulum length, simplified HATLFF score, and cephalometric/dental cast parameters (ANB, SNB, Co-Gn, lower anterior crowding). The diagnostic value of ankyloglossia for mandibular development and lower anterior crowding was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: Ankyloglossia was significantly associated with mandibular development and lower anterior crowding (P<0.05). The case group showed significantly lower values for the lingual frenulum length, simplified HATLFF score, SNB angle, and Co-Gn, while the ANB angle and lower anterior crowding index were significantly higher compared to the normal group (P<0.05). The lingual frenulum length and simplified HATLFF score were negatively correlated with the ANB angle and lower anterior crowding index, and positively correlated with the SNB angle and Co-Gn (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) for the simplified HATLFF score, and ankyloglossia in predicting mandibular development deficiency and lower anterior crowding was greater than 0.700, demonstrating good diagnostic value. Conclusion A significant correlation exists between ankyloglossia and both mandibular development deficiency and lower anterior crowding.

Objective:To investigate the effects of dagliprazin combined with olmesartan ester on the expression of Plin and miR-26a in renal tissues of diabetic nephropathy rats.Methods:Sixty male SD rats were selected and fed adaptively for 1 week, then fed high-fat and high-sugar diet for 2 months, and then injected streptozotocin (STZ) 30 mg/kg for modeling. They were given 10 mg/kg daaglizin intragastric administration as daglizin group, 10 mg/kg olmesartan ester intragastric administration as olmesartan ester group, 5 mg/kg daaglizin and 5 mg/kg olmesartan ester intragastric administration as daglizin and olmesartan ester combination group, respectively. Twenty rats were given 10 mg/kg normal saline intragastric administration as normal control group. After 3 months, the serum samples of rats were taken to detect the levels of fasting blood glucose, blood creatinine, urea nitrogen, 24h urinary microalbumin and other renal function indicators and the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), cell surface specific marker antigen (ED-1) and other inflammatory responses. Then the rats were killed and their kidney tissues were taken. The protein and gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), perilipin (Plin), Nephlrin, miR-26a were detected by Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.Results:The levels of fasting blood glucose, urea nitrogen, creatinine and 24h urinary microalbumin in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were higher than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the levels of fasting blood glucose, urea nitrogen, creatinine and 24h urinary microalbumin in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05). The difference between groups was statistically significant ( P<0.05). The levels of serum CRP, TNF-αand ED-1 in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were higher than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the levels of CRP, TNF-αand ED-1 in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05), and the differences between groups were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The expression of serum VEGF, Plin and Nephlrin protein in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were lower than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the protein and gene of Plin and Nephlrin in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group. The mRNA and protein expressions of miR-26a and VEGF were higher than those of Daglipzin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05), and the differences between groups were statistically significant ( P<0.05) . Conclusion:Dagliprazin combined with olmesartan ester can reduce kidney injury and delay the progression of diabetic nephropathy by regulating the expression of Plin and miR-26a protein and gene in renal tissue of diabetic nephropathy rats.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the current status of cleaning and disinfection of medical bedding items in public medical institutions of Liangshan ethnic minority area and analyze the risk of infections so as to provide ba-ses for optimizing the infection control strategies in the ethnic minority area.METHODS On the basis of question-naire survey,onsite sampling method and bacterial isolation and identification technique,a cross-sectional survey was conducted for the current status of cleaning and disinfection of medical bedding items in 15 different grades of public medical institutions of Liangshan ethnic minority area by stratified random sampling method from Sep.2021 to Sep.2023.RESULTS A total of 66 valid questionnaire were recycled,and 540 bedding item samples were col-lected.Totally 93.33％of the medical institutions relied on laundries for centralized cleaning of the medical bed-ding items.The implementation rates of management items such as policy formulation(100.00％)and pre-job training were remarkably higher in the tertiary hospitals than in the secondary and primary hospitals(allP＜0.05).There were no significant differences in the qualified rates of surveillance of microbiological indexes for the medical bedding items among the medical institutions,the qualified rate of surveillance of microbiological inde-xes was highest(71.30％)in the general hospitals and was lowest(61.11％)in the infectious diseases specialized hospital.The qualified rate of surveillance of microbiological indexes was lowest(3.33％)in pediatrics department or internal medicine department,and it raised most remarkably(80.00％)after the disinfection,and there was significant difference(x2=36.274,P＜0.001).CONCLUSIONS The current status of disinfection of the medical bedding items is not optimistic in the medical institutions of Liangshan ethnic minority area.There are the prob-lems such as imperfect system,insufficient equipment and absence of personnel training.It is necessary to com-plete the execution and supervision system for cleaning and disinfection standards,increase the cleaning facilities,promote the use of antibacterial textile and bring in smart management system so as to improve the cleaning and disinfection quality and reduce the risk of hospital-associated infections.

Objective:To investigate the effects of dagliprazin combined with olmesartan ester on the expression of Plin and miR-26a in renal tissues of diabetic nephropathy rats.Methods:Sixty male SD rats were selected and fed adaptively for 1 week, then fed high-fat and high-sugar diet for 2 months, and then injected streptozotocin (STZ) 30 mg/kg for modeling. They were given 10 mg/kg daaglizin intragastric administration as daglizin group, 10 mg/kg olmesartan ester intragastric administration as olmesartan ester group, 5 mg/kg daaglizin and 5 mg/kg olmesartan ester intragastric administration as daglizin and olmesartan ester combination group, respectively. Twenty rats were given 10 mg/kg normal saline intragastric administration as normal control group. After 3 months, the serum samples of rats were taken to detect the levels of fasting blood glucose, blood creatinine, urea nitrogen, 24h urinary microalbumin and other renal function indicators and the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), cell surface specific marker antigen (ED-1) and other inflammatory responses. Then the rats were killed and their kidney tissues were taken. The protein and gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), perilipin (Plin), Nephlrin, miR-26a were detected by Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.Results:The levels of fasting blood glucose, urea nitrogen, creatinine and 24h urinary microalbumin in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were higher than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the levels of fasting blood glucose, urea nitrogen, creatinine and 24h urinary microalbumin in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05). The difference between groups was statistically significant ( P<0.05). The levels of serum CRP, TNF-αand ED-1 in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were higher than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the levels of CRP, TNF-αand ED-1 in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05), and the differences between groups were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The expression of serum VEGF, Plin and Nephlrin protein in dagliprazin group, olmesartan ester group and combined group were lower than those in normal control group ( P<0.05), while the protein and gene of Plin and Nephlrin in combined group were lower than those in dagliprazin group and olmesartan ester group. The mRNA and protein expressions of miR-26a and VEGF were higher than those of Daglipzin group and olmesartan ester group ( P<0.05), and the differences between groups were statistically significant ( P<0.05) . Conclusion:Dagliprazin combined with olmesartan ester can reduce kidney injury and delay the progression of diabetic nephropathy by regulating the expression of Plin and miR-26a protein and gene in renal tissue of diabetic nephropathy rats.

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value and clinical application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) technology in pediatric urinary tract infections (UTI).Methods:In this retrospective study, the clinical data of children with UTI admitted to the Department of Nephrology, Children′s Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, from March 2023 to March 2024 were collected.The positive detection rates, timeliness, and consistency of mNGS technology were compared with those of urine culture.Measurement data were subject to test of normality.The independent sample t test, Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact probability test were used for comparison between groups. Results:A total of 193 patients were included.The positive detection rate of urine culture was 36.3% (70/193).Among 42 patients who underwent mNGS testing, 37 cases (88.1%) tested positive.The positive detection rate of mNGS was significantly higher than that of urine culture ( χ2=37.357, P<0.001).It took significantly less time to report mNGS results than to report urine culture results ( Z=3.524, P<0.001).In the 42 cases that underwent mNGS testing, 5 cases (11.9%) were negative for urine pathogens by both methods, and 21 cases (50.0%) were positive by mNGS but negative by urine culture.Among the remaining 16 cases (38.1%) positive by both mNGS and urine culture, 14 cases (33.3%) achieved fully matching results, 1 case (2.4%) was fully mismatched, and 1 case (2.4%) was partially matched.Comparison of the positive detection rate and the duration of anti-infective treatment prior to specimen collection between urine culture and mNGS showed that the median durations for urine culture and mNGS positivity were 5 and 20 days, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=0.537, P<0.001). Conclusions:mNGS technology has high sensitivity for diagnosing pathogens in pediatric UTI.Compared with urine culture, mNGS provides good consistency and significantly shortens the detection time.The positive detection rate is less affected by antimicrobial treatment.For children with UTI, especially those who have failed empirical anti-infective treatment and whose pathogen cannot be identified by urine culture, mNGS testing is recommended as early as possible.

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value and clinical application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) technology in pediatric urinary tract infections (UTI).Methods:In this retrospective study, the clinical data of children with UTI admitted to the Department of Nephrology, Children′s Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, from March 2023 to March 2024 were collected.The positive detection rates, timeliness, and consistency of mNGS technology were compared with those of urine culture.Measurement data were subject to test of normality.The independent sample t test, Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact probability test were used for comparison between groups. Results:A total of 193 patients were included.The positive detection rate of urine culture was 36.3% (70/193).Among 42 patients who underwent mNGS testing, 37 cases (88.1%) tested positive.The positive detection rate of mNGS was significantly higher than that of urine culture ( χ2=37.357, P<0.001).It took significantly less time to report mNGS results than to report urine culture results ( Z=3.524, P<0.001).In the 42 cases that underwent mNGS testing, 5 cases (11.9%) were negative for urine pathogens by both methods, and 21 cases (50.0%) were positive by mNGS but negative by urine culture.Among the remaining 16 cases (38.1%) positive by both mNGS and urine culture, 14 cases (33.3%) achieved fully matching results, 1 case (2.4%) was fully mismatched, and 1 case (2.4%) was partially matched.Comparison of the positive detection rate and the duration of anti-infective treatment prior to specimen collection between urine culture and mNGS showed that the median durations for urine culture and mNGS positivity were 5 and 20 days, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=0.537, P<0.001). Conclusions:mNGS technology has high sensitivity for diagnosing pathogens in pediatric UTI.Compared with urine culture, mNGS provides good consistency and significantly shortens the detection time.The positive detection rate is less affected by antimicrobial treatment.For children with UTI, especially those who have failed empirical anti-infective treatment and whose pathogen cannot be identified by urine culture, mNGS testing is recommended as early as possible.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of rituximab (RTX) in children with steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS).Methods:The was a retrospective observational study. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 14 children with SRNS who received RTX treatment in the Department of Nephrology, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from July 2021 to August 2023. The changes in urinary protein content, renal function, serum albumin, immunoglobulin and other indicators before and after RTX medication were compared to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of RTX treatment for SRNS.Results:A total of 14 children with SRNS were selected for this study, with a male to female ratio of 6:8. The age of onset of kidney disease was (4.36±3.12) years, and 8 of them underwent kidney biopsy. Among them, 6 cases showed focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in renal pathology, and 2 cases showed minimal change disease. The age of 14 children who first used RTX was (8.45±3.98) years old, with a dose of 375 mg/m 2 and a maximum dose of 500 mg. The number of children who had used 2, 3, 4, and 5 doses of RTX was 6, 6, 1, and 1, respectively. RTX was administered orally with compound sulfamethoxazole to prevent infection. Glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants were discontinued 4.0(2.5, 6.5) months after the first dose of RTX. The median follow-up time was 10.5(6.0, 18.3) months. By the end of the 3-month, 6-month, and follow-up endpoints, the complete remission rates of kidney disease in the children were 100.0%(14/14), 85.7%(12/14), and 64.3%(9/14), respectively. Five children experienced kidney disease recurrence. Compared with before the first dose of RTX treatment, the serum albumin and height significantly increased, while body mass index significantly decreased at the end of follow-up (all P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in urinary protein content, renal function, and IgG (all P>0.05). During the RTX treatment, all 14 children did not experience any infusion reaction, and there were no serious infections during follow-up. One case was diagnosed with hypogammaglobulinemia. Conclusions:RTX can improve the remission rate and recurrence rate of SRNS children, reduce the dosage of glucocorticoids and related drug untoward reaction, significantly improve patient height and BMI, with minimal side effects. Especially for SRNS patients who cannot be relieved by the combination of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants, RTX may be considered.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of renal abscess in children and provide suggestions for early diagnosis and treatment.Methods:The clinical data including general information, laboratory data, imaging results, treatment and prognosis of 20 pediatric patients with renal abscess admitted to the Department of Nephrology, Capital Center for Children's Health Capital Medical University were analyzed retrospectively.Results:A total of 8 males and 12 females were enrolled. The age of onset was 3.0 (0.8, 9.0) years. All cases had fever. Six cases presented with abdominal pain, 6 cases had poor appetite, 5 cases had vomiting and 5 cases urinary tract irritation symptoms. Laboratory data showed elevated white blood cells 20.4 (17.4,26.3)×10 9/L, C-reactive protein 126 (77, 154)mg/L, erythrocyte sedimentation rate 60 (41,73) mm/1 h in 20 cases and procalcitonin 4.7 (1.2,33.5)μg/L in 10 cases. Totally 18 cases had pyuria. Urine culture was positive in 8 cases. Enterococcus faecium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected in 2 cases. Klebsiella pneumoniae was found in 1 case after performing blood culture. Renal abscess was confirmed in all cases by doing contrast-enhanced CT scan, while only 9 cases with abscesses were identified by using renal ultrasound. There were 14 cases with renal abscess formation confirmed at onset by performing magnetic resonance imaging. Nine cases were accompanied with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract. All cases received conservative medical treatment. Intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered for 23 (14, 39) d initially, while the medication in 11 cases were upgraded to meropenem or imipenem. Oral antibiotics were continued for 23 (14, 28) d after discharge in all cases. Within 1 year of follow-up, except for 1 case of recurrence, the others had a favorable prognosis. Conclusions:Renal abscess should be suspected for children presenting with unexplained fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, elevated white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and pyuria. Ultrasonography is suitable for screening and follow-up, while CT or magnetic resonance imaging can be used to confirm the diagnosis. Conservative management with broad-spectrum antibiotics is effective and can be considered the first-line therapy for pediatric renal abscess.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the key features of facial and tongue images associated with anemia in female populations, establish anemia risk-screening models, and evaluate their performance. METHODS: A total of 533 female participants (anemic and healthy) were recruited from Shuguang Hospital. Facial and tongue images were collected using the TFDA-1 tongue and face diagnosis instrument. Color and texture features from various parts of facial and tongue images were extracted using Face Diagnosis Analysis System (FDAS) and Tongue Diagnosis Analysis System version 2.0 (TDAS v2.0). Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was used for feature selection. Ten machine learning models and one deep learning model (ResNet50V2 + Conv1D) were developed and evaluated. RESULTS: Anemic women showed lower a-values, higher L- and b-values across all age groups. Texture features analysis showed that women aged 30-39 with anemia had higher angular second moment (ASM)and lower entropy (ENT) values in facial images, while those aged 40-49 had lower contrast (CON), ENT, and MEAN values in tongue images but higher ASM. Anemic women exhibited age-related trends similar to healthy women, with decreasing L-values and increasing a-, b-, and ASM-values. LASSO identified 19 key features from 62. Among classifiers, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model achieved the best performance [area under the curve (AUC): 0.849, accuracy: 0.781]. The ResNet50V2 model achieved comparable results [AUC: 0.846, accuracy: 0.818]. CONCLUSION Differences in facial and tongue images suggest that color and texture features can serve as potential TCM phenotype and auxiliary diagnostic indicators for female anemia.
Humans ; Female ; Tongue/diagnostic imaging* ; Adult ; Anemia/diagnosis* ; Middle Aged ; Face/diagnostic imaging* ; Young Adult ; Machine Learning

Objective:To explore the effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) dose reduction regimen in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and its prognostic impact.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The clinical data of patients with chronic-phase CML treated with reduced-dose TKI in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between January 2018 and December 2022 were collected. Patients were divided into groups based on Sokal score, European Treatment and Outcome Study long-term survival (ELTS) score, TKI drug classification and dose reduction, and treatment phase. The overall survival (OS), the cumulative incidence of major molecular response (MMR), the cumulative molecular recurrence rate and event-free survival (EFS) among patients in different strata were compared. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis.Results:Among 154 patients with chronic-phase CML, the median duration [ M ( IQR)] of reduced-dose TKI therapy was 35.4 months (34.9 months); Sokal score high-risk and low-/intermediate-risk groups comprised 20 cases (12.99%) and 134 cases (87.01%), respectively; ELTS score high-risk and low-/intermediate-risk groups comprised 14 cases (9.09%) and 140 cases (90.91%), respectively. Among 154 patients, 83 cases (53.90%) received imatinib therapy, while 71 cases (46.10%) received second-generation TKI; 138 patients (89.61%) maintained stable TKI dosing at the first dose level, and 16 patients (10.39%) maintained it at the second dose level. The induction therapy group comprised 33 patients (21.43%), while the maintenance therapy group included 121 patients (78.57%). The 3-year OS rate of all 154 patients was 90.6%. Patients in the Sokal score high-risk group demonstrated a lower 3-year OS rate compared to those in the low-/intermediate-risk group (64.1% vs. 96.7%) ( P < 0.001); patients in the ELTS score high-risk group had a lower 3-year OS rate compared to those in the low-/intermediate-risk group (62.9% vs. 95.8%) ( P = 0.002). There was no statistically significant difference in the 3-year OS rate of patients receiving the first dose level and those receiving the second dose level (90.6% vs. 90.0%, P = 0.478); there was no statistically significant difference in the 3-year OS rate of the induction therapy group and the maintenance therapy group (88.9% vs. 91.4%, P = 0.868). Among the 33 patients in the induction therapy group, all received the first dose level. After treatment, 28 achieved MMR, and 2 achieved molecular response 4.0 (MR4.0). The cumulative 1-year MMR rate of all patients in reduction therapy group was 95.8%, with a median time to MMR of 8.4 months; patients in the high-risk Sokal score group had a 1-year cumulative MMR rate of 50.0%, which was lower than that of the low-/intermediate-risk group (95.3%) ( P = 0.014); the median time to MMR was 14.7 months and 7.8 months, respectively. The cumulative 1-year MMR rate of patients treated with first-generation TKI was lower than that in those treated with second-generation TKI (65.0% vs. 100.0%, P = 0.034), and the median time to MMR of patients treated with first-generation TKI was longer than that those treated with second-generation TKI (9.1 months vs. 6.9 months). Among the 149 patients who achieved MMR, 5 experienced molecular relapse, resulting in a 3-year cumulative molecular relapse rate of 8.3%. In the Sokal score low-/intermediate-risk group, the 3-year cumulative molecular relapse rate (1.5% vs. 39.8%, P < 0.001), EFS rate (92.3% vs. 57.1%, P < 0.001), and OS rate (100.0% vs. 62.8%, P < 0.001) were better than those in the Sokal score high-risk group. The 3-year cumulative molecular relapse rate and 3-year EFS rate in patients receiving first dose level therapy were better than those in patients receiving second dose level therapy, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.001). Conclusions:Patients with chronic-phase CML can still obtain good outcomes when receiving dose-reduced TKI, while the prognosis of patients in high-risk group is relatively poor. The choice of TKI and the dosage reduction should be individualized based on patients' characteristics.