Background Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is a serious occupational disease in China. Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can serve as the "breath fingerprint" of internal pathological processes, which provides a theoretical basis for exhaled VOCs to be used as potential non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Objective To screen out the characteristic VOCs and important characteristic VOCs of exhaled air in patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and to explore the potential of these VOCs as biomarkers for early non-invasive diagnosis of the disease. Methods In this study, 27 VOCs in the exhaled breath of 22 patients with stage I coal workers' pneumoconiosis, 77 workers exposed to dust, and 92 healthy controls were quantitatively detected by thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Substances with P<0.05 in univariate analysis and variable importance projection (VIP) >1 in supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model were selected as the characteristic VOCs for early diagnosis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Age was included in the LASSO regression model as a covariate to screen out important characteristic VOCs, and the diagnostic performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Spearman correlation was further used to explore the correlation between important characteristic VOCs and clinical lung function indicators. Results Through univariate analysis and OPLS-DA modeling, 8 VOCs were selected, including 2-methylpentane, 3-methylpentane, n-hexane, methylcyclopentane, n-heptane, methylcyclohexane, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and 2-hexanone, in exhaled breath of patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis. The concentrations of 4 VOCs, including 3-methylpentane, n-hexane, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and 2-hexanone, showed a decreasing trend with the increase of dust exposure years. By LASSO regression, the important characteristic VOCs of the coal workers' pneumoconiosis group and the dust exposure group were n-hexane, methylcyclohexane and 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and the important characteristic VOCs of the coal workers' pneumoconiosis group and the healthy group were 2-methyl-pentane and 4-methyl-2-pentanone. The ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, and 4-methyl-2-pentanone were 0.969, 0.909, and 0.956, respectively, and the AUC of combined diagnosis was 0.988 and its Youden index was 0.961, suggesting that these results can serve as a valuable reference for further research on early diagnosis. The Correlation analysis found that there was a positive correlation between n-hexane and lung function indicators in the important characteristic VOCs, indicating that it could indirectly reflect the obstruction of lung function ventilation, further proving that important characteristic VOCs have the potential to monitor lung function decline. Conclusion Three important characteristic VOCs selected in this study have the potential to be used as non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis and disease monitoring of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and are worthy of further study and verification.

Objective To investigate the effects of different inspired oxygen concentrations on periop-erative cerebrovascular function in patients with a history of ischemic stroke.Methods A total of 150 patients scheduled for elective surgery with a history of ischemic stroke were enrolled from Renji Hospital,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,between June 2020 and March 2024.Using a random number table,patients were allocated into two groups:F30 group(intraoperative fraction of inspired oxygen,FiO2=30%)and F80 group(FiO2=80%),with 75 patients in each group.Bilateral middle cerebral artery(MCA)blood flow was continu-ously monitored using transcranial Doppler(TCD),including mean flow velocity(Vm),resistance index(RI),and pulsatility index(PI).Cerebral oxygen saturation(rScO2)was measured using a FORE-SIGHT oximeter.Arterial blood gas analysis was performed preoperatively,1 hour after induction,and before extubation to assess pH,partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide(PaCO2),oxygenation index(OI),base excess(BE),hematocrit(Hct),and lactate(Lac).Peripheral blood samples were collected 24 hours postoperatively to measure thrombox-ane A2(TXA2)and prostacyclin(PGI2)levels.At 1 month postoperatively,telephone follow-up was conducted to evaluate the risk of recurrent cerebral ischemic events using the ABCD2 score and Essen Stroke Risk Score(ESRS).Results No significant differences were observed in baseline characteristics between the two groups.Perioperative arterial blood gas parameters did not differ significantly between groups(P>0.05).Compared with the F30 group,the F80 group exhibited a smaller reduction in mean flow velocity(Vm)of the affected MCA at the end of surgery(8.18%±3.34%vs.13.57%±5.32%,P<0.05),while no significant intergroup differences were found in RI or PI.At 1 hour after induction and before extubation,rScO2 of the affected hemisphere was signifi-cantly increased in the F80 group as compared with the F30 group(P<0.05),whereas no significant difference was observed in the contralateral hemisphere.Before extubation and on postoperative day 1,TXA2 levels were significantly lower and PGI2 levels higher in F80 group compared with F30 group(P<0.05).The proportion of patients at high risk of cerebral ischemia by ABCD2 and ESRS at 1 month postoperatively did not differ between groups(P>0.05).Conclusion In patients with a history of stroke,intraoperative administration of 80%FiO2under general anesthesia better maintains perioperative cerebral hemodynamic stability and cerebral oxygen satura-tion,improves cerebrovascular endothelial function,but does not significantly affect the short-term incidence of postoperative cerebrovascular events compared with 30%FiO2.

Objective To investigate the effects of different inspired oxygen concentrations on periop-erative cerebrovascular function in patients with a history of ischemic stroke.Methods A total of 150 patients scheduled for elective surgery with a history of ischemic stroke were enrolled from Renji Hospital,Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine,between June 2020 and March 2024.Using a random number table,patients were allocated into two groups:F30 group(intraoperative fraction of inspired oxygen,FiO2=30%)and F80 group(FiO2=80%),with 75 patients in each group.Bilateral middle cerebral artery(MCA)blood flow was continu-ously monitored using transcranial Doppler(TCD),including mean flow velocity(Vm),resistance index(RI),and pulsatility index(PI).Cerebral oxygen saturation(rScO2)was measured using a FORE-SIGHT oximeter.Arterial blood gas analysis was performed preoperatively,1 hour after induction,and before extubation to assess pH,partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide(PaCO2),oxygenation index(OI),base excess(BE),hematocrit(Hct),and lactate(Lac).Peripheral blood samples were collected 24 hours postoperatively to measure thrombox-ane A2(TXA2)and prostacyclin(PGI2)levels.At 1 month postoperatively,telephone follow-up was conducted to evaluate the risk of recurrent cerebral ischemic events using the ABCD2 score and Essen Stroke Risk Score(ESRS).Results No significant differences were observed in baseline characteristics between the two groups.Perioperative arterial blood gas parameters did not differ significantly between groups(P>0.05).Compared with the F30 group,the F80 group exhibited a smaller reduction in mean flow velocity(Vm)of the affected MCA at the end of surgery(8.18%±3.34%vs.13.57%±5.32%,P<0.05),while no significant intergroup differences were found in RI or PI.At 1 hour after induction and before extubation,rScO2 of the affected hemisphere was signifi-cantly increased in the F80 group as compared with the F30 group(P<0.05),whereas no significant difference was observed in the contralateral hemisphere.Before extubation and on postoperative day 1,TXA2 levels were significantly lower and PGI2 levels higher in F80 group compared with F30 group(P<0.05).The proportion of patients at high risk of cerebral ischemia by ABCD2 and ESRS at 1 month postoperatively did not differ between groups(P>0.05).Conclusion In patients with a history of stroke,intraoperative administration of 80%FiO2under general anesthesia better maintains perioperative cerebral hemodynamic stability and cerebral oxygen satura-tion,improves cerebrovascular endothelial function,but does not significantly affect the short-term incidence of postoperative cerebrovascular events compared with 30%FiO2.

Objective To investigate the potential roles of nucleotide -binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor in the pathogenesis of asthma.Methods Through rat asthma model,24 rats were randomly divided into three groups on average,named asthma group,control group and dexamethasone group.Expression levels of NOD1 and NOD2 mRNA were detected by Real -time PCR in lung tissues.Results The expression levels of NOD1 mRNA in the asthma group,control group and dexamethasone group were (0.62 ±0.34)RQ value,(1 .00 ± 0.00)RQ value,(0.65 ±0.33 )RQ value respectively.The levels of NOD1 mRNA in the asthma group was significantly lower than that in the control group(F =4.75,P <0.05 ),while there was no statistically significant difference of NOD1 mRNA level between the dexamethasone group and asthma group(P >0.05).Moreover,expression levels of NOD2 mRNA in the asthma group,control group and dexamethasone group were (0.92 ±0.32)RQ value, (1 .00 ±0.00)RQ value,(1 .50 ±0.56)RQ value,respectively.There was no statistically significant difference of NOD2 mRNA level between the asthma group and control group (P >0.05 ),but level of NOD2 mRNA in the dexamethasone group was significantly higher than that in the asthma group(F =5.64,P <0.01 ).And there was no significant correlation between level of NOD1 and NOD2 mRNA(r =0.1 5,P >0.05).Conclusion Expression of NOD -like receptor subtype was not at the same level,and their reaction to dexamethasone were different either.