BACKGROUND: Spicy food consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with mortality from multiple diseases. However, the effect of spicy food intake on the incidence of vascular diseases in the Chinese population remains unclear. This study was conducted to explore this association. METHODS: This study was performed using the large-scale China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) prospective cohort of 486,335 participants. The primary outcomes were vascular disease, ischemic heart disease (IHD), major coronary events (MCEs), cerebrovascular disease, stroke, and non-stroke cerebrovascular disease. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the association between spicy food consumption and incident vascular diseases. Subgroup analysis was also performed to evaluate the heterogeneity of the association between spicy food consumption and the risk of vascular disease stratified by several basic characteristics. In addition, the joint effects of spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of vascular disease were also evaluated, and sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the reliability of the association results. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of 12.1 years, a total of 136,125 patients with vascular disease, 46,689 patients with IHD, 10,097 patients with MCEs, 80,114 patients with cerebrovascular disease, 56,726 patients with stroke, and 40,098 patients with non-stroke cerebrovascular disease were identified. Participants who consumed spicy food 1-2 days/week (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = [0.93, 0.97], P <0.001), 3-5 days/week (HR = 0.96, 95% CI = [0.94, 0.99], P = 0.003), and 6-7 days/week (HR = 0.97, 95% CI = [0.95, 0.99], P = 0.002) had a significantly lower risk of vascular disease than those who consumed spicy food less than once a week ( Ptrend <0.001), especially in those who were younger and living in rural areas. Notably, the disease-based subgroup analysis indicated that the inverse associations remained in IHD ( Ptrend = 0.011) and MCEs ( Ptrend = 0.002) risk. Intriguingly, there was an interaction effect between spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of IHD ( Pinteraction = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS Our findings support an inverse association between spicy food consumption and vascular disease in the Chinese population, which may provide additional dietary guidance for the prevention of vascular diseases.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Prospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Vascular Diseases/etiology* ; Risk Factors ; China/epidemiology* ; Adult ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/epidemiology* ; East Asian People

Cemental tear is a rare and indetectable condition unless obvious clinical signs present with the involvement of surrounding periodontal and periapical tissues. Due to its clinical manifestations similar to common dental issues, such as vertical root fracture, primary endodontic diseases, and periodontal diseases, as well as the low awareness of cemental tear for clinicians, misdiagnosis often occurs. The critical principle for cemental tear treatment is to remove torn fragments, and overlooking fragments leads to futile therapy, which could deteriorate the conditions of the affected teeth. Therefore, accurate diagnosis and subsequent appropriate interventions are vital for managing cemental tear. Novel diagnostic tools, including cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), microscopes, and enamel matrix derivatives, have improved early detection and management, enhancing tooth retention. The implementation of standardized diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols, combined with improved clinical awareness among dental professionals, serves to mitigate risks of diagnostic errors and suboptimal therapeutic interventions. This expert consensus reviewed the epidemiology, pathogenesis, potential predisposing factors, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cemental tear, aiming to provide a clinical guideline and facilitate clinicians to have a better understanding of cemental tear.
Humans ; Dental Cementum/injuries* ; Consensus ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Tooth Fractures/therapy*

Objectives To analyze the risk factors and their predictive value for postoperative hypoxemia in Type-A aortic dissection(TAAD).Methods A single-center retrospective study was conducted among 146 consecutive patients diagnosed as TAAD and undergone aortic arch surgery from January 2018 to June 2021 in Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University.According to the lowest postoperative PaO2/FiO2 ratio within 24 hours,the patients were classified into two groups:hypoxemia group(PaO2/FiO2≤200 mmHg)and non-hypoxemia group(PaO2/FiO2>200 mmHg).The difference of preoperative oxygen index,duration of mechanical ventilation and mortality in hospital were analyzed between the two groups.The independent risk factors for postoperative hypoxemia were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression and the predictive value was analyzed by receiver operator character(ROC)curves.Results For TAAD patients,the incidence of postoperative hypoxemia was 45.9%.Compared to non-hypoxemia group,hypoxemia group exhibited longer duration of mechanical ventilation(P<0.001)and longer intensive care unit(ICU)length of stay(P<0.05).Moreover,patients with hypoxemia presented higher mortality during hospital(P=0.011).Multivariate regression analysis identified BMI as independent risk factor(OR=1.701,P<0.001)and preoperation PaO2/FiO2 ratio as protective factors for postoperative hypoxemia in patients with TAAD(OR=0.987,P=0.004).Area under the ROC curve of BMI was 0.848,the optimal cut-off point of BMI was 25.8 kg/m2.Area under the ROC curve of pre-operation PaO2/FiO2 ratio was 0.808,the optimal cut-off point of preoperation PaO2/FiO2 ratio was 265 mmHg.Conclusions BMI higher than 25.8 kg/m2 is an independent risk factor and preoperation PaO2/FiO2 ratio higher than 265 mmHg is a protective factor for postoperative hypoxemia in patients with TAAD.Subjects with hypoxemia had longer duration of mechanical ventilation,ICU stay and higher mortality.

Objective: To examine the association of greenness exposure with waist circumference (WC) and central obesity in older adults in China. Methods: Based on the cross-sectional data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey in 2017-2018, 14 056 participants aged 65 years and over were included. Demographic characteristics, lifestyle, WC, and other information were collected through a questionnaire and physical examination. Based on the satellite monitoring data of moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) provided by NASA, the annual mean of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) within a radius of 1 000 meters was obtained as the measurement value of greenness exposure. Multivariate linear regression model, multivariate logistic regression model, and restricted cubic splines (RCS) model were used to analyze the association and dose-response relationship between greenness exposure and WC and central obesity in older adults in China. Results: A total of 14 056 participants were enrolled with a median age of 84.0 years [IQR: 75.0-94.0 years]. About 45.0% (6 330) of them were male and 48.6% (5 853) were illiterate. There were 10 964 (78.0%) participants from rural. The mean of WC was (84.4±10.8) cm. Central obesity accounted for 60.2% (8 465), and the NDVI range was (-0.06, 0.78). After adjusting for confounding factors, the multivariate linear regression model showed that the change value of WC in the urban group [β (95%CI):-0.49 (-0.93, -0.06)] was smaller than that in the rural [-0.78 (-0.98, -0.58)] for every 0.1 unit increase in NDVI (P_interaction=0.022). Compared with the Q₁ group in NDVI, WC of Q₂ and Q₃ groups in rural decreased, and the β (95%CI) values were-1.74 (-2.5, -0.98) and-2.78 (-3.55, -2.00), respectively. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that after adjusting for confounding factors, the risk of central obesity decreased for urban and rural older adults with an increase of 0.1 unit in NDVI, and the OR (95%CI) values were 0.87 (0.80, 0.95) and 0.86 (0.82, 0.89), respectively (P_interaction=0.284). Compared with the Q₁ group in NDVI, the risk of central obesity in the Q₂ and Q₃ groups in rural was lower, and the OR (95%CI) values were 0.68 (0.58, 0.80) and 0.57 (0.49, 0.68), respectively. The results of the multivariate regression model with RCS showed that there was a non-linear association of NDVI with WC (P_nonlinear=0.006) and central obesity (P_nonlinear=0.025). Conclusion: Greenness exposure is negatively associated with WC and central obesity in older adults in China.

Acupoint is the initial response site of acupuncture stimulus and also the source link of the effect onset of acupuncture. Acupuncture is a mechanical physical stimulus. How is the mechanical force of acupuncture transduced into neuroelectrical and biochemical signals at acupoint? How does the physiochemical information of acupoint launch acupuncture effect? All of these remain the common and crucial questions in the study of acupuncture effect mechanism. Physical changes are induced in the local tissue of acupoint by needling techniques, such as the deformation and displacement of muscle fibers, which may act on the nerve ending receptors and produce electroneurographic signals. Besides, these changes may activate the mechanosensitive ion channels of the cytomembrane in acupoint site. Through cellular signal transduction, the physical signals may be transformed into chemical ones to trigger the physiochemical coupling response of acupoint microenvironment. Eventually, acupuncture effect is generated via nerves and body fluids. "The mechanical force of acupuncture", through "the physiochemical transduction", promotes the body's perception and transmits acupuncture signals. It suggests that acupoint is the "transducer" in the physiochemical information coupling response of acupuncture.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Acupuncture Points

Cancer is a complex disease associated with multiple gene mutations and malignant phenotypes, and multi-target drugs provide a promising therapy idea for the treatment of cancer. Natural products with abundant chemical structure types and rich pharmacological characteristics could be ideal sources for screening multi-target antineoplastic drugs. In this paper, 50 tumor-related targets were collected by searching the Therapeutic Target Database and Thomson Reuters Integrity database, and a multi-target anti-cancer prediction system based on mt-QSAR models was constructed by using naïve Bayesian and recursive partitioning algorithm for the first time. Through the multi-target anti-cancer prediction system, some dominant fragments that act on multiple tumor-related targets were analyzed, which could be helpful in designing multi-target anti-cancer drugs. Anti-cancer traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and its natural products were collected to form a TCM formula-based natural products library, and the potential targets of the natural products in the library were predicted by multi-target anti-cancer prediction system. As a result, alkaloids, flavonoids and terpenoids were predicted to act on multiple tumor-related targets. The predicted targets of some representative compounds were verified according to literature review and most of the selected natural compounds were found to exert certain anti-cancer activity in vitro biological experiments. In conclusion, the multi-target anti-cancer prediction system is very effective and reliable, and it could be further used for elucidating the functional mechanism of anti-cancer TCM formula and screening for multi-target anti-cancer drugs. The anti-cancer natural compounds found in this paper will lay important information for further study.
Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology* ; Bayes Theorem ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Neoplasms/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between drug treatment and outcomes in patients with late-onset severe pneumonia (LOSP) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the effects of the initiation time of treatment drugs, especially antiviral drugs and glucocorticoids on the clinical outcomes in 82 patients between January 2016 and August 2021 who developed LOSP after allo-SCT in Peking University People's Hospital. Univariate analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney U test and χ² test, and multivariate analysis was performed by Logistic regression. When multiple groups (n>2) were involved in the χ² test, Bonferroni correction was used for the level of significance test. RESULTS: Of all 82 patients in this study, the median onset time of LOSP was 220 d (93-813 d) after transplantation, and the 60-day survival rate was 58.5% (48/82). The median improvement time of the survival patients was 18 d (7-44 d), while the median death time of the died patients was 22 d (2-53 d). Multivariate analysis showed that the initiation time of antiviral drugs from the onset of LOSP (< 10 d vs. ≥10 d, P=0.012), and the initiation time of glucocorticoids from antiviral drugs (< 10 d vs. ≥10 d, P=0.027) were the factors affecting the final outcome of the patients with LOSP at the end of 60 d. According to the above results, LOSP patients were divided into four subgroups: group A (antiviral drugs < 10 d, glucocorticoids ≥10 d), group B (antiviral drugs < 10 d, glucocorticoids < 10 d), group C (antiviral drugs ≥10 d, glucocorticoids ≥10 d) and group D (antiviral drugs ≥10 d, glucocorticoids < 10 d), the 60-day survival rates were 91.7%, 56.8%, 50.0% and 21.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that in patients who developed LOSP after allo-SCT, the initiation time of antiviral drugs and glucocorticoids were associated with the prognosis of LOSP, and the survival rate was highest in patients who received antiviral drugs early and glucocorticoids later. It suggested that for patients with LOSP of unknown etiology should be highly suspicious of the possibility of a secondary hyperimmune response to viral infection.
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use* ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/methods* ; Humans ; Pneumonia/etiology* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplantation, Homologous/adverse effects*

Cavernous nerve injury is an important cause of erectile dysfunction (ED). Although protective nerve technology has been widely used in nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy (nsRP), the incidence of ED is still very high after surgery. The purpose of our study was to evaluate erectile function (EF) and penile length in the non-erectile state (PLNES) following scheduled phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor (PDE5i), vacuum erectile device (VED) treatment, and combination therapy after nsRP. One hundred patients with localized prostate cancer and normal EF were randomized to scheduled PDE5i group, VED treatment group, a combined treatment group, and the control group without any intervention. The International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) scores and PLNES were evaluated after 6 months and 12 months of treatment. Sexual Encounter Profile (SEP-Question 2 and SEP-Question 3) were evaluated after 12 months of treatment. Ninety-one of the 100 randomized patients completed the study. We found that the 5 mg tadalafil once a day (OaD) combined with VED can help improve IIEF-5 scores in nsRP patients after both 6 months and 12 months. VED alone or combined with tadalafil OaD can help patients maintain PLNES. VED combined with tadalafil OaD can improve the rate of successful penetration (SEP-Question 2) after 12 months. There were no significant differences in the return to target EF after 12 months among the groups. No significant correlation was noted between the variables and return to target EF (IIEF ≥ 17), and between the variables and effective shortening of the patient's penis (shortening ≥ 1 cm) after 12 months of intervention.
Erectile Dysfunction ; Humans ; Male ; Penile Erection ; Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors ; Prospective Studies ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Tadalafil ; Treatment Outcome ; Vacuum

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) strategies in COVID-19 patients differ from those in patients suffering from cardiogenic cardiac arrest. During CPR, both healthcare and non-healthcare workers who provide resuscitation are at risk of infection. The Working Group for Expert Consensus on Prevention and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Cardiac Arrest in COVID-19 has developed this Chinese Expert Consensus to guide clinical practice of CPR in COVID-19 patients. Main recommendations: 1) A medical team should be assigned to evaluate severe and critical COVID-19 for early monitoring of cardiac-arrest warning signs. 2) Psychological counseling and treatment are highly recommended, since sympathetic and vagal abnormalities induced by psychological stress from the COVID-19 pandemic can induce cardiac arrest. 3) Healthcare workers should wear personal protective equipment (PPE). 4) Mouth-to-mouth ventilation should be avoided on patients suspected of having or diagnosed with COVID-19. 5) Hands-only chest compression and mechanical chest compression are recommended. 6) Tracheal-intubation procedures should be optimized and tracheal-intubation strategies should be implemented early. 7) CPR should be provided for 20-30 min. 8) Various factors should be taken into consideration such as the interests of patients and family members, ethics, transmission risks, and laws and regulations governing infectious disease control. Changes in management: The following changes or modifications to CPR strategy in COVID-19 patients are proposed: 1) Healthcare workers should wear PPE. 2) Hands-only chest compression and mechanical chest compression can be implemented to reduce or avoid the spread of viruses by aerosols. 3) Both the benefits to patients and the risk of infection should be considered. 4) Hhealthcare workers should be fully aware of and trained in CPR strategies and procedures specifically for patients with COVID-19.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) and to investigate risk factors affecting prognosis. Materials and Methods: A total of 94 HCC patients with PVTT type I (segmental PVTT) and PVTT type II (lobar PVTT) were involved and divided into LR (n=47) and LT groups (n=47). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared before and after inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Prognostic factors for RFS and OS were explored. Results: Two treatment groups were well-balanced using IPTW. In the entire cohort, LT provided a better prognosis than LR. Among patients with PVTT type I, RFS was better with LT (p=0.039); OS was not different significantly between LT and LR (p=0.093). In subgroup analysis of PVTT type I patients with α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels >200 ng/mL, LT elicited significantly longer median RFS (18.0 months vs. 2.1 months, p=0.022) and relatively longer median OS time (23.6 months vs. 9.8 months, p=0.065). Among patients with PVTT type II, no significant differences in RFS and OS were found between LT and LR (p=0.115 and 0.335, respectively). Multivariate analyses showed treatment allocation (LR), tumor size (>5 cm), AFP and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels to be risk factors of RFS and treatment allocation (LR), AFP and AST as risk factors for OS. Conclusion LT appeared to afford a better prognosis for HCC with PVTT type I than LR, especially in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/mL.