Objective To predict the lymph node metastasis status of patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma by constructing machine learning models based on primary tumor radiomics, peritumoral radiomics, and habitat radiomics, and to evaluate the predictive performance and generalization ability of different imaging features. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 1 263 patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma who underwent surgery at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital, from 2016 to 2019. Habitat regions were delineated by applying K-means clustering (average cluster number of 2) to the grayscale values of CT images. The peritumoral region was defined as a uniformly expanded area of 3 mm around the primary tumor. The primary tumor region was automatically segmented using V-net combined with manual correction and annotation. Subsequently, radiomics features were extracted based on these regions, and stacked machine learning models were constructed. Model performance was evaluated on the training, testing, and internal validation sets using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), F1 score, recall, and precision. Results After excluding patients who did not meet the screening criteria, a total of 651 patients were included. The training set consisted of 468 patients (181 males, 287 females) with an average age of (58.39±11.23) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years, the testing set included 140 patients (56 males, 84 females) with an average age of (58.81±10.70) years, ranging from 34 to 82 years, and the internal validation set comprised 43 patients (14 males, 29 females) with an average age of (60.16±10.68) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years. Although the habitat radiomics model did not show the optimal performance in the training set, it exhibited superior performance in the internal validation set, with an AUC of 0.952 [95%CI (0.87, 1.00)], an F1 score of 84.62%, and a precision-recall AUC of 0.892, outperforming the models based on the primary tumor and peritumoral regions. Conclusion The model constructed based on habitat radiomics demonstrated superior performance in the internal validation set, suggesting its potential for better generalization ability and clinical application in predicting lymph node metastasis status in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

Following the release of the Technical Requirements on Quality Control and Standard Establishment of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formula Granules by the National Medical Products Administration in 2021, Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission has promulgated 296 national drug standards so far, and most provinces have started the work of establishing provincial standards as supplements. The promulgation of standards fostered high-quality development of the industry. Since the implementation of national and provincial standards for more than three years, enterprises have gained deep understanding and hands-on experiences on the characteristics, technical requirements, production process, and quality control of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) formula granules. Meanwhile, challenges have emerged restricting the high-quality development of this industry, including how to formulate quality control strategies for medicinal materials and decoction pieces, how to reduce manufacturing costs, and how to improve the pass rate and product stability under high standards. Based on the work experiences from standard management and process research, this article analyzed the distribution of sources, processing methods, dry extract rate ranges, process requirements for volatile oil-containing decoction pieces, control measures of safety indices, characteristics and trends of setting characteristic chromatograms or fingerprints, characteristics and trends of setting content ranges, and main differences between national standards and provincial standards. On the one hand, this article aims to present main characteristics for deeply understanding different indicators in standards and provide basic ideas for establishing quality and process control systems. On the other hand, from the perspective of industrial practice, suggestions are put forward on the important aspects that need to be focused on in the quality and process control of TCM formula granules.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Quality Control ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/standards* ; China ; Drug Industry/standards*

Cardiovascular damage caused by cancer treatment has become an important cause of death for tumor survivors. With the recognition of cardiovascular diseases and cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT) in tumor patients, noninvasive imaging technologies play pivotal roles in the risk stratification, early diagnosis, monitoring and follow-up for CTR-CVT. In recent years, the field of cardio-oncology has witnessed continual updates in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, with several pertinent guidelines and expert consensus documents issued in China and abroad. However, there remains a conspicuous absence of systematic guidance documents on the application of imaging techniques in the clinical practice of cardio-oncology. Therefore, the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association Society of Integrative Cardio-oncology, the Ultrasound Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Chinese Society of Echocardiography convened experts to formulate the "Chinese guideline for the clinical application of noninvasive imaging technology in accessing cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity". Building upon the systematic evaluation of guidelines and the latest evidence-based medical research in the field of cardio-oncology domestically and abroad, and in conjunction with data derived from evidence-based medical research in China, this guideline proposes noninvasive imaging examination methods and monitoring strategies for CTR-CVT, aiming to further standardize and guide the clinical practice of multidisciplinary physicians specializing in cardio-oncology in China.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the functional roles and underlying mechanisms of neferine in the context of angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced hypertension and vascular dysfunction. METHODS: Male mice were infused with Ang II to induce hypertension and randomly divided into treatment groups receiving neferine or a control vehicle based on baseline blood pressure using a random number table method. The hypertensive mouse model was constructed by infusing Ang II via a micro-osmotic pump (500 ng/kg per minute), and neferine (0.1, 1, or 10 mg/kg), valsartan (10 mg/kg), or double distilled water was administered intragastrically once daily for 6 weeks. A non-invasive blood pressure system, ultrasound, and hematoxylin and eosin staining were performed to assess blood pressure and vascular changes. RNA sequencing and network pharmacology were employed to identify differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) and pathways. Vascular ring tension assay was used to test vascular function. A7R5 cells were incubated with neferine for 24 h and then treated with Ang II to record the real-time Ca²⁺ concentration by confocal microscope. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blot were used to evaluate vasorelaxation, calcium, and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 pathway. RESULTS: Neferine treatment effectively mitigated the elevation in blood pressure, pulse wave velocity, aortic thickening in the abdominal aorta of Ang II-infused mice (P<0.05). RNA sequencing and network pharmacology analysis identified 355 DETs that were significantly reversed by neferine treatment, along with 25 potential target genes, which were further enriched in multiple pathways and biological processes, such as ERK1 and ERK2 cascade regulation, calcium pathway, and vascular smooth muscle contraction. Further investigation revealed that neferine treatment enhanced vasorelaxation and reduced Ca²⁺-dependent contraction of abdominal aortic rings, independent of endothelium function (P<0.05). The underlying mechanisms were mediated, at least in part, via suppression of receptor-operated channels, store-operated channels, or voltage-operated calcium channels. Neferine pre-treatment demonstrated a reduction in intracellular Ca²⁺ release in Ang II stimulated A7R5 cells. IHC staining and Western blot confirmed that neferine treatment effectively attenuated the upregulation of p-ERK1/2 both in vivo and in vitro, which was similar with treatment of ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059 (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Neferine remarkably alleviates Ang II-induced elevation of blood pressure, vascular dysfunction, and pathological changes in the abdominal aorta. This beneficial effect is mediated by the modulation of multiple pathways, including calcium and ERK1/2 pathways.
Animals ; Angiotensin II ; Male ; Benzylisoquinolines/therapeutic use* ; Network Pharmacology ; Blood Pressure/drug effects* ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Mice ; Hypertension/chemically induced* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Calcium/metabolism*

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection,with a high mortality rate.Sirtuin 3,a deacetylase within mitochondria,plays an important regulatory role in cellular metabolism,oxidative stress,and inflammatory responses.In recent years,significant progress has been made in the study of the function and regulatory role of sirtuin 3 in sepsis-related diseases.Research has shown that sirtuin 3 can alleviate organ damage caused by sepsis by regulating mitochondrial function,reducing oxidative stress,and inhibiting inflammatory responses.The specific mechanisms include the regulation of mitochondrial bioenergetics,activation of antioxidant enzyme systems,and inhibition of inflammatory mediator expression.In addition,sirtuin 3 plays a protective role in the pathological process of sepsis by interacting with multiple signaling pathways.This article summarizes the functions and regulatory mechanisms of sirtuin 3 in various sepsis-related diseases,aiming to provide new targets and strategies for the prevention and treatment of sepsis in the future.
Sepsis/metabolism* ; Sirtuin 3/physiology* ; Humans ; Animals ; Oxidative Stress ; Mitochondria/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly widespread sleep-breathing disordered disease, and is an independent risk factor for many high-risk chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, arrhythmias and diabetes, which is potentially fatal. The key to the prevention and treatment of OSA is early diagnosis and treatment, so the assessment and diagnostic technologies of OSA have become a research hotspot. This paper reviews the research progresses of severity assessment parameters and diagnostic technologies of OSA, and discusses their future development trends. In terms of severity assessment parameters of OSA, apnea hypopnea index (AHI), as the gold standard, together with the percentage of duration of apnea hypopnea (AH%), lowest oxygen saturation (LSpO₂), heart rate variability (HRV), oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and the emerging biomarkers, constitute a multi-dimensional evaluation system. Specifically, the AHI, which measures the frequency of sleep respiratory events per hour, does not fully reflect the patients’ overall sleep quality or the extent of their daytime functional impairments. To address this limitation, the AH%, which measures the proportion of the entire sleep cycle affected by apneas and hypopneas, deepens our understanding of the impact on sleep quality. The LSpO₂ plays a critical role in highlighting the potential severe hypoxic episodes during sleep, while the HRV offers a different perspective by analyzing the fluctuations in heart rate thereby revealing the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The ODI provides a direct and objective measure of patients’ nocturnal oxygenation stability by calculating the number of desaturation events per hour, and the biomarkers offers novel insights into the diagnosis and management of OSA, and fosters the development of more precise and tailored OSA therapeutic strategies. In terms of diagnostic techniques of OSA, the standardized questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is a simple and effective method for preliminary screening of OSA, and the polysomnography (PSG) which is based on recording multiple physiological signals stands for gold standard, but it has limitations of complex operations, high costs and inconvenience. As a convenient alternative, the home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) allows patients to monitor their sleep with simplified equipment in the comfort of their own homes, and the cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) offers a minimal version that simply analyzes the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. As an emerging diagnostic technology of OSA, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) adeptly pinpoint respiratory incidents and expose delicate physiological changes, thus casting new light on the diagnostic approach to OSA. In addition, imaging examination utilizes detailed visual representations of the airway’s structure and assists in recognizing structural abnormalities that may result in obstructed airways, while sound monitoring technology records and analyzes snoring and breathing sounds to detect the condition subtly, and thus further expands our medical diagnostic toolkit. As for the future development directions, it can be predicted that interdisciplinary integrated researches, the construction of personalized diagnosis and treatment models, and the popularization of high-tech in clinical applications will become the development trends in the field of OSA evaluation and diagnosis.

With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence(GAI)technologies,their widespread application in academic research and writing is continuously expanding the boundaries of sci-entific inquiry.However,this trend has also raised a series of ethical and regulatory challenges,inclu-ding issues related to authorship,content authenticity,citation accuracy,and accountability.In light of the growing involvement of AI in generating academic content,establishing an open,controllable,and trustworthy ethical governance framework has become a key task for safeguarding research integrity and maintaining trust within the academic community.This expert consensus outlines ethical requirements across key stages of AI-assisted academic writing-including topic selection,data management,citation practices,and authorship attribution.It aims to clarify the boundaries and ethical obligations surrounding AI use in academic writing,ensuring that technological tools enhance efficiency without compromising in-tegrity.The goal is to provide guidance and institutional support for building a responsible and sustainable research ecosystem.

Objective:To analyze the association of peripheral blood systemic immune-inflammation index(SII),neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio(NLR),platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)with disease severity and progno-sis in elderly patients with chronic pulmonary heart disease(CPHD).Methods:A total of 180 elderly CPHD pa-tients admitted in Xuancheng Central Hospital between September 2021 and January 2023 were enrolled as case group.Healthy volunteers who simultaneously underwent physical examinations in our hospital were selected as con-trol group(n=50).According to the 28d prognosis,the case group was divided into death group(n=45)and sur-vival group(n=135).Levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR were compared among above-mentioned groups;Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the association of above indexes with cardiac function class and prognosis in these patients.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze risk factors for death in these patients.The predictive value of SII,NLR,and PLR for death in elderly CPHD patients was ana-lyzed using receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results:Compared with those in control group,those in the case group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR(P＜0.001 all).Compared with NYHA class Ⅱ group and class Ⅲ group,those in class Ⅳ group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII[(1759.87±179.43)vs.(1148.33±121.57)vs.(1392.44±146.36)],NLR[(8.65±0.89)vs.(7.14±0.75)vs.(7.76±0.81)],PLR[(152.45±16.79)vs.(125.29±13.46)vs.(138.77±13.58)];and levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR,PLR in class Ⅲ group were significantly higher than those of class Ⅱ group(P＜0.001 all).Com-pared with patients in survival group,those in death group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII[(1723.86±189.65)vs.(1296.81±142.33)],NLR[(8.24±0.89)vs.(7.63±0.78)],PLR[(148.75±15.26)vs.(134.41±14.58)](P＜0.001 all).Spearman correlation analysis indicated that the levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR were significant positively correlated with the severity and poor prognosis(r=0.336～0.432,P＜0.05 or＜0.01;r=0.319～0.504,P＜0.05 or＜0.01)in elderly CPHD patients.Multivariate Logistic regression analy-sis indicated that peripheral blood SII,NLR,PLR and smoking were independent risk factors for death(OR=1.024～9.514,P＜0.05 or＜0.01)in elderly CPHD patients.ROC curve indicated that area under curve(AUC)of combination of SII,NLR and PLR predicting death in elderly CPHD patients was 0.979(95％CI 0.946～0.995),significantly higher than those of each single detection[SII:0.847(95％CI 0.786～0.896),NLR:0.832(95％CI 0.769～0.883),PLR:0.881(95％CI 0.825～0.925),Z=3.988,4.386,4.217,P＜0.01 all].The nomogram calibration curve and decision curve showed good consistency and net benefit of the model.Conclusion:Peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR are associat-ed with the severity and prognosis of elderly CPHD patients,and have certain predictive value for patient's prognosis.

With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence(GAI)technologies,their widespread application in academic research and writing is continuously expanding the boundaries of sci-entific inquiry.However,this trend has also raised a series of ethical and regulatory challenges,inclu-ding issues related to authorship,content authenticity,citation accuracy,and accountability.In light of the growing involvement of AI in generating academic content,establishing an open,controllable,and trustworthy ethical governance framework has become a key task for safeguarding research integrity and maintaining trust within the academic community.This expert consensus outlines ethical requirements across key stages of AI-assisted academic writing-including topic selection,data management,citation practices,and authorship attribution.It aims to clarify the boundaries and ethical obligations surrounding AI use in academic writing,ensuring that technological tools enhance efficiency without compromising in-tegrity.The goal is to provide guidance and institutional support for building a responsible and sustainable research ecosystem.

Objective:To analyze the association of peripheral blood systemic immune-inflammation index(SII),neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio(NLR),platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)with disease severity and progno-sis in elderly patients with chronic pulmonary heart disease(CPHD).Methods:A total of 180 elderly CPHD pa-tients admitted in Xuancheng Central Hospital between September 2021 and January 2023 were enrolled as case group.Healthy volunteers who simultaneously underwent physical examinations in our hospital were selected as con-trol group(n=50).According to the 28d prognosis,the case group was divided into death group(n=45)and sur-vival group(n=135).Levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR were compared among above-mentioned groups;Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the association of above indexes with cardiac function class and prognosis in these patients.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze risk factors for death in these patients.The predictive value of SII,NLR,and PLR for death in elderly CPHD patients was ana-lyzed using receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results:Compared with those in control group,those in the case group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR(P＜0.001 all).Compared with NYHA class Ⅱ group and class Ⅲ group,those in class Ⅳ group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII[(1759.87±179.43)vs.(1148.33±121.57)vs.(1392.44±146.36)],NLR[(8.65±0.89)vs.(7.14±0.75)vs.(7.76±0.81)],PLR[(152.45±16.79)vs.(125.29±13.46)vs.(138.77±13.58)];and levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR,PLR in class Ⅲ group were significantly higher than those of class Ⅱ group(P＜0.001 all).Com-pared with patients in survival group,those in death group had significant higher levels of peripheral blood SII[(1723.86±189.65)vs.(1296.81±142.33)],NLR[(8.24±0.89)vs.(7.63±0.78)],PLR[(148.75±15.26)vs.(134.41±14.58)](P＜0.001 all).Spearman correlation analysis indicated that the levels of peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR were significant positively correlated with the severity and poor prognosis(r=0.336～0.432,P＜0.05 or＜0.01;r=0.319～0.504,P＜0.05 or＜0.01)in elderly CPHD patients.Multivariate Logistic regression analy-sis indicated that peripheral blood SII,NLR,PLR and smoking were independent risk factors for death(OR=1.024～9.514,P＜0.05 or＜0.01)in elderly CPHD patients.ROC curve indicated that area under curve(AUC)of combination of SII,NLR and PLR predicting death in elderly CPHD patients was 0.979(95％CI 0.946～0.995),significantly higher than those of each single detection[SII:0.847(95％CI 0.786～0.896),NLR:0.832(95％CI 0.769～0.883),PLR:0.881(95％CI 0.825～0.925),Z=3.988,4.386,4.217,P＜0.01 all].The nomogram calibration curve and decision curve showed good consistency and net benefit of the model.Conclusion:Peripheral blood SII,NLR and PLR are associat-ed with the severity and prognosis of elderly CPHD patients,and have certain predictive value for patient's prognosis.