OBJECTIVE: To investigate possible associations between physical function assessment scales, such as Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and Berg Balance Scale (BBS), with all-cause mortality in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) patients. METHODS: A total of 108 ADHF patients were analyzed from October 2020 to October 2022, and followed up to May 2023. The association between baseline clinical characteristics and all-cause mortality was analyzed by univariate Cox regression analysis, while for SPPB and BBS, univariate Cox regression analysis was followed by receiver operating characteristic curves, in which the area under the curve represented their predictive accuracy for all-cause mortality. Incremental predictive values for both physical function assessments were measured by calculating net reclassification index and integrated discrimination improvement scores. Optimal cut-off value for BBS was then identified using restricted cubic spline plots, and survival differences below and above that cut-off were compared using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and the log-rank test. The clinical utility of BBS was measured using decision curve analysis. RESULTS: For baseline characteristics, age, female, blood urea nitrogen, as well as statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, or angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors, were predictive for all-cause mortality for ADHF patients. With respect to SPPB and BBS, higher scores were associated with lower all-cause mortality rates for both assessments; similar area under the curves were measured for both (0.774 for SPPB and 0.776 for BBS). Furthermore, BBS ≤ 36.5 was associated with significantly higher mortality, which was still applicable even adjusting for confounding factors; BBS was also found to have great clinical utility under decision curve analysis. CONCLUSIONS BBS or SPPB could be used as tools to assess physical function in ageing ADHF patients, as well as prognosticate on all-cause mortality. Moreover, prioritizing the improvement of balance capabilities of ADHF patients in cardiac rehabilitation regimens could aid in lowering mortality risk.

Given that ovarian stimulation is vital for assisted reproductive technology (ART) and results in elevated serum estrogen levels, exploring the impact of elevated estrogen exposure on oocytes and embryos is necessary. We investigated the effects of various ovarian stimulation treatments on oocyte and embryo morphology and gene expression using a mouse model and estrogen-treated mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Female C57BL/6J mice were subjected to two types of conventional ovarian stimulation and ovarian hyperstimulation; mice treated with only normal saline served as controls. Hyperstimulation resulted in high serum estrogen levels, enlarged ovaries, an increased number of aberrant oocytes, and decreased embryo formation. The messenger RNA (mRNA)‍-sequencing of oocytes revealed the dysregulated expression of lysine-specific demethylase 6b (Kdm6b), which may be a key factor indicating hyperstimulation-induced aberrant oocytes and embryos. In vitro, Kdm6b expression was downregulated in mESCs treated with high-dose estrogen; treatment with an estrogen receptor antagonist could reverse this downregulated expression level. Furthermore, treatment with high-dose estrogen resulted in the upregulated expression of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) and phosphorylated H2A histone family member X (γ-H2AX). Notably, knockdown of Kdm6b and high estrogen levels hindered the formation of embryoid bodies, with a concomitant increase in the expression of H3K27me3 and γ-H2AX. Collectively, our findings revealed that hyperstimulation-induced high-dose estrogen could impair the demethylation of H3K27me3 by reducing Kdm6b expression. Accordingly, Kdm6b could be a promising marker for clinically predicting ART outcomes in patients with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
Female ; Mice ; Demethylation/drug effects* ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; Estrogens/administration & dosage* ; Gene Expression/drug effects* ; Histones/metabolism* ; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Oocytes ; Ovary/drug effects* ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Animals

OBJECTIVE: To assess the independent and combined effects of air pollutants, meteorological factors, and greenspace exposure on new tuberculosis (TB) cases. METHODS: TB case data from Shanghai (2013-2018) were obtained from the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Environmental data on air pollutants, meteorological variables, and greenspace exposure were obtained from the National Tibetan Plateau Data Center. We employed a distributed-lag nonlinear model to assess the effects of these environmental factors on TB cases. RESULTS: Increased TB risk was linked to PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, and rainfall, whereas NO ₂, SO ₂, and air pressure were associated with a reduced risk. Specifically, the strongest cumulative effects occurred at various lags: PM _2.5 ( RR = 1.166, 95% CI: 1.026-1.325) at 0-19 weeks; PM ₁₀ ( RR = 1.167, 95% CI: 1.028-1.324) at 0-18 weeks; NO ₂ ( RR = 0.968, 95% CI: 0.938-0.999) at 0-1 weeks; SO ₂ ( RR = 0.945, 95% CI: 0.894-0.999) at 0-2 weeks; air pressure ( RR = 0.604, 95% CI: 0.447-0.816) at 0-8 weeks; and rainfall ( RR = 1.404, 95% CI: 1.076-1.833) at 0-22 weeks. Green space exposure did not significantly impact TB cases. Additionally, low temperatures amplified the effect of PM _2.5 on TB. CONCLUSION Exposure to PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, and rainfall increased the risk of TB, highlighting the need to address air pollutants for the prevention of TB in Shanghai.
China/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Tuberculosis/epidemiology* ; Incidence ; Meteorological Concepts ; Particulate Matter/adverse effects* ; Environmental Exposure ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Air Pollution ; Middle Aged

Postoperative pain seriously affects the recovery process of patients, resulting in prolonged hospital stay and increased care costs. Appropriate application of patient-controlled analgesia devices can effectively relieve perioperative acute pain. In 1994 patient-controlled analgesia began to be used in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and the Acute Pain Service Working Group was established in 2004. With the cooperation of anesthesiologists and specialist nurses, the group jointly has implemented the whole process and standardized management based on patient-controlled analgesia, and constantly improved and innovated working methods, laying a solid foundation for the development of postoperative pain management. This paper systematically reviews and summarizes the work from the aspects of clinical focus, nursing management experience, promotion and dissemination of pain treatment concepts, and development of acute pain service model under the new situation, with the hope of providing valuable reference for comprehensively strengthening pain management in the process of diagnosis and treatment, and enhancing patients' satisfaction with perioperative analgesia services.

  Objective  To investigate the occurrence of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) among patients with preoperative COVID-19, and further analyze the risk factors for CPSP.  Methods  This study was a ambispective cohort study, with subjects from a completed cohort study with follow-up. We included the clinical data of the patients with preoperative COVID-19 who underwent surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from December 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023. Follow-up was conducted up to 6 months postoperatively, with the primary outcome being CPSP. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the correlation between COVID-19-related exposure indicators and CPSP.  Results  A total of 4117 surgical patients were included, all of whom had preoperative COVID-19. Among them, 4002 cases had mild symptoms during the acute phase, 62 cases had severe symptoms, and 53 cases were critically ill. At 6th month postoperatively, 1298 cases (31.53%) had long COVID-19 syndrome, and the incidence of CPSP was 5.59% (95% CI: 4.88%-6.28%). After adjusting for confounding factors including age, gender, comorbidities, anesthesia method, and type of surgery, multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that critically ill COVID-19 during the acute phase (aOR=3.35, 95% CI: 1.48-7.62, P < 0.001) and presence of long COVID-19 syndrome postoperatively (aOR=2.50, 95% CI: 1.90-3.29, P < 0.001) were associated with CPSP.  Conclusions  It is clear for the first time that critically ill COVID-19 during the acute phase and the presence of long COVID-19 syndrome postoperatively are the risk factors for CPSP among patients with preoperative COVID-19.

  Objective  To identify the risk factors for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in surgical patients undergoing patient controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA).  Methods  Our study was a retrospective cohort study, including patients who underwent surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 1 to October 31, 2023 and received PCIA after surgery. Patient characteristics, medical history, surgical information, intraoperative medication information, postoperative analgesia follow-up information were obtained through the electronic medical record system. The patients were divided into PCIA-PONV group and non-PCIA-PONV group, depending on the occurrence of PONV during PCIA, and all patients were also divided into PCIA-POV group and non-PCIA-POV according to whether postoperative vomiting (POV) occurred. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for PCIA-PONV and PCIA-POV.  Results  A total of 1373 patients were included in this study, with 676 cases in PCIA-PONV group. The incidence of PCIA-PONV was 49.2%. There were 285 patients in PCIA-POV group, and the incidence of PCIA-POV was 20.8%. The results of multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that female (OR=2.134, 95% CI: 1.590-2.865, P < 0.001) and abdominal surgery (OR=1.655, 95% CI: 1.253-2.186, P < 0.001) were risk factors for PCIA-PONV, whereas the increase of age (OR=0.990, 95% CI: 0.982-0.998, P=0.019) and the increase of BMI (OR=0.961, 95% CI: 0.932-0.991, P=0.012) were protective factors for PCIA-PONV. Female (OR=2.646, 95% CI: 1.754-3.992, P < 0.001), history of general anesthesia (OR=1.372, 95% CI: 1.042-1.806, P=0.024), and intraoperative use of high-dose opioids (OR=1.607, 95% CI: 1.206-2.142, P=0.001) were risk factors for PCIA-POV, whereas no intraoperative use of neuromuscular blocking antagonists (OR=0.393, 95% CI: 0.237-0.651, P < 0.001) was protective factor for PCIA-POV.  Conclusions  Our study reveals the risk factors for PONV in surgical patients undergoing PCIA, and shows that comprehensive preoperative assessment and reasonable perioperative management strategies are significant in the prevention of PCIA-PONV.

Pain is one of the most common symptoms in pancreatic cancer patients. Pancreatic cancer-related pain has various sources and complex mechanisms, which seriously affects patients' quality of life and adversely affects their prognosis. Effective pain management may prolong the survival of pancreatic cancer patients. Since the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer-related pain has not been elucidated, part of the pain management may be based on the mechanism, and part of the pain management may be based on physician's experience only. This article discusses both the pathophysiological classification and treatment strategies of pancreatic cancer-related pain, with the aim of providing reference for clinical analgesic practice in pancreatic cancer.

Postoperative pain, a common problem in perioperative management, has negative impact on patients' experience and functional recovery. The development of postoperative pain is not only related to direct surgical trauma, but also a series of preventable perioperative risk factors, among which perioperative sleep quality should not be neglected. In recent years, more and more researches have indicated that poor perioperative sleep quality is a risk factor for both acute and chronic postoperative pain, and some researches have even pointed out that sleep quality can directly influence patients' pain threshold. Therefore, this review aims to summarize current research progress on the influence of perioperative sleep quality on postoperative pain, hoping to provide reference for improving the perioperative pain management for patients.

To improve the current situation of multiple preoperative visits and evaluations for elderly patients and other patients with complex conditions, in December 2022, Peking Union Medical College Hospital established preoperative multidisciplinary evaluation clinic (shorted as joint clinic). The joint clinic established a multidisciplinary team, clarified service targets, and developed standardized clinic workflows to provide patients with a " one-stop" preoperative assessment(physical fitness assessment, nutritional assessment, and frailty assessment, etc.), nutritional optimization intervention, and prerehabilitation education and guidance services. This practice strengthened preoperative risk management, improved preoperative assessment efficiency, and ensured the safety of patients during the perioperative period. As of September 2023, the joint clinic had received a total of 128 patients, of which 86 underwent surgery after preoperative evaluation and prehabilitation optimization. The obesity rate, smoking rate, and number of frailty cases of these patients had decreased from 13.96%, 11.63%, and 18 at the time of visit to 9.30%, 4.65%, and 14 on the day before surgery, respectively. They had recovered well after surgery. This practice had improved the preoperative status of patients and created conditions for high-risk patients to undergo surgery smoothly, so as to provide references for other hospitals to carry out multidisciplinary collaborative preoperative evaluation works.

Objective:To construct the liver organoid infected with hepatitis D virus (HDV), and to investigate the role of the sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) receptor inhibitor bulevirtide in inhibiting viral replication.Methods:Hepatocyte-like cells (HLC) differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) were seeded onto inverted colloidal crystal polyethylene glycol scaffolds (ICC) to construct liver organoids. After transfecting human hepatocelluar carcinoma cells (HuH7 cells) with plasmids, HDV particles were harvested from the supernatant, while HBV particles were extracted from the HepG2.2.15 cell supernatant. The liver organoids were infected with both HBV and HDV particles, and the negative control group without HDV infection was set up. The microstructure of the liver organoid units and the expression of hepatitis D antigen (HDAg) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) were observed under laser scanning confocal microscope by immunofluorescence method. The protein levels of NTCP and HDAg in the liver organoids were detected by Western blotting. Bulevirtide was added before HDV infection (bulevirtide pre group) and 24 hours after infection (bulevirtide post group), and interferon-alpha (IFN-α) was also added after 24 hours infection (IFN-α group), and a control group without drug treatment was set up. HDV replication was compared among the four groups after drug intervention. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to measure the relative mRNA expression levels of Nanog homeobox (NANOG), sex determining region Y-box (SOX)2, SOX17, forkhead box protein A2 (FOXA2), hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF-4α), albumin (ALB), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), NTCP during the differentiation of iPSC, and the mRNA expression of HDV after the drug intervention of the four groups. Statistical analysis was performed using two independent sample t tests. Results:Within 21 days of the differentiation of iPSC into HLC, the mRNA expression level of NANOG gradually decreased, while the expression levels of SOX17, FOXA2 initially increased then decreased, and the expression levels of the HNF-4α, ALB, AFP and NTCP progressively increased. The protein level of NTCP in iPSC (0.118±0.003) was lower than that in HLC (1.315±0.073), and the difference was statistically significant ( t=11.92, P<0.001).The protein level of HDAg in the liver organoids after HDV infection was higher than that in the negative control group without HDV infection (1.284±0.128 vs 0.157±0.040), and the difference was statistically significant ( t=23.27, P<0.001).Laser scanning confocal microscopy showed three-dimensional spheroid structures and high expressions of HDAg and HBsAg at the 14th day of infection.Compared with the control group (1.000±0.077), the HDV mRNA expressions in both IFN-α group (0.453±0.028) and bulevirtide pre group (0.136±0.012) decreased after three days of drug intervention. The differences were statistically significant ( t=19.95 and 33.15, respectively, both P<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in HDV mRNA expressions between the bulevirtide post group (0.968±0.069) and the control group ( t=0.94, P>0.05). Conclusions:The liver organoids constructed from iPSC-derived HLC and ICC can simulate human liver functions and successfully be infected by HDV particles. Early blockade with bulevirtide can effectively reduce the level of viral replication in the HDV-infected liver organoids.