At present, the treatment of sepsis depends largely on non-specific methods, highlighting an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. Stem cells have garnered significant attention in the treatment of various diseases due to their unique biological properties. Stem cells enhance sepsis survival through mechanisms such as reducing bacterial burden, modulating inflammation, and ameliorating organ dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that stem cells can increase the survival rate of sepsis patients through multiple pathways such as reducing the bacterial load of the host, regulating inflammatory homeostasis, and improving multi-organ dysfunction. Their derivatives, exosomes, can also alleviate the imbalanced immune response in sepsis patients. Recent advances in stem cell-based therapies for sepsis were summarized in this paper.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and possible mechanism of Wei's Huoxue Tongluo Formula （韦氏活血通络方，WHTF） in treating atrophic-stage non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy （NAION） with qi deficiency and blood stasis. MethodsA total of 82 atrophic-stage NAION patients with qi deficiency and blood stasis were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group， with 41 cases in each group. The treatment group was given oral administration of WHTF twice a day plus acupoint injection of distilled water 2 ml at Taiyang （EX-HN5） once daily， while the control group received injection of compound anisodine injection 2 ml at Taiyang （EX-HN5） once daily and oral administration of WHTF placebo twice a day. Both groups received treatment for a course of 14 days. The best-corrected visual acuity （BCVA）， optic disc perfusion density （PD）， flux index （FI）， macular superficial PD， vascular density （VD）， and traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome scores were compared between groups before treatment and on day 7 and day 14 of treatment. Additionally， mean defect （MD） and mean sensitivity （MS） of visual fields were measured before treatment and on day 14， along with safety evaluation. ResultsAfter treatment， both groups showed significant improvement in BCVA， visual field MD and MS， and TCM syndrome scores （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. On day 14 of treatment， the TCM syndrome score in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group （P＜0.05）. There was no significant improvement in optic disc PD and FI， and macular superficial PD and VD after treatment in either group （P＞0.05） except that on day 7 the macular superficial foveal PD in the control group was significantly better than that in the treatment group （P＜0.05）. During the treatment period， no serious adverse events occurred in either group. ConclusionWHTF can improve the visual function indicators including visual acuity and visual field， as well as TCM syndrome scores in atrophic-stage NAION patients with qi deficiency and blood stasis. It shows clinical safety， although it does not appear to have a significant effect on optic disc or macular blood flow.

A retrospective investigation was conducted to analyze the occupational exposure history, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, imaging findings, and diagnosis and treatment of two cases of sequential latent occupational acute organotin poisoning. Both patients were successively employed in the same enterprise, engaged in crushing of waste polyvinyl chloride plastics, and thus potentially exposed to organotin hazards. Within several days of employment, both patients developed discomfort symptoms, and central nervous system impairment was observed, including short-term memory loss, slow response, and cognitive dysfunction. Hypokalemia was detected in both cases. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed abnormalities (multiple ischemic lesions in the bilateral frontal and parietal lobes), and urinary tin was positive. Symptoms relieved in both patients after treatments with tin-exclusion, potassium supplementation, and neurotrophic treatment. Based on the GBZ 26-2007 Diagnostic Criteria of Occupational Acute Trialkyltin Poisoning, and combined with worksite survey of occupational health and exclusion of cerebrovascular disease, viral encephalitis, and autoimmune encephalitis and other neurological disorders, both patients were diagnosed with mild occupational acute trialkyltin poisoning. Sequential latent occupational acute organotin poisoning is prone to misdiagnosis, with great difficulty in etiological identification. Comprehensive assessment of occupational exposure history and biomarker testing are essential for differential diagnosis. Early recognition and intervention improve prognosis, highlighting the need for strengthened occupational health supervision and protection in high-risk work posts.

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or metal(loid)s individually has been associated with neural tube defects (NTDs). However, the impacts of PAH and metal(loid) co-exposure and potential interaction effects on NTD risk remain unclear. We conducted a case-control study in China among population with a high prevalence of NTDs to investigate the combined effects of PAH and metal(loid) exposures on the risk of NTD. METHODS: Cases included 80 women who gave birth to offspring with NTDs, whereas controls were 50 women who delivered infants with no congenital malformations. We analyzed the levels of placental PAHs using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, PAH-DNA adducts with ³²P-post-labeling method, and metal(loid)s with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Unconditional logistic regression was employed to estimate the associations between individual exposures and NTDs. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized regression models were used to select a subset of exposures, while additive interaction models were used to identify interaction effects. RESULTS: In the single-exposure models, we found that eight PAHs, PAH-DNA adducts, and 28 metal(loid)s were associated with NTDs. Pyrene, selenium, molybdenum, cadmium, uranium, and rubidium were selected through LASSO regression and were statistically associated with NTDs in the multiple-exposure models. Women with high levels of pyrene and molybdenum or pyrene and selenium exhibited significantly increased risk of having offspring with NTDs, indicating that these combinations may have synergistic effects on the risk of NTDs. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that individual PAHs and metal(loid)s, as well as their interactions, may be associated with the risk of NTDs, which warrants further investigation.
Humans ; Neural Tube Defects/chemically induced* ; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons/adverse effects* ; Female ; Case-Control Studies ; China/epidemiology* ; Adult ; Pregnancy ; Environmental Pollutants ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects* ; Metals/toxicity* ; Young Adult ; Risk Factors

Objective To explore the effect of different packing contents of solid phase extraction column, repeated use times and solid phase extraction column under pressure on the determination of morphine content in compound liquorice oral solution. Methods The component was performed by high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） equipped with the C₈ （4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm） chromatographic column. The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-2.5 mmol/L sodium heptanesulfonate solution-50 mmol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution （5∶18∶18）. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min with the 220 nm detection wavelength, 20 μl injection volume and 30℃ column temperature. Results It was found that the SPE column produced of 500 mg had a higher recovery rate of morphine, and the RSD value was small. It was found that SPE column could be reused for up to 3 times under the condition of guaranteeing recovery rate.In the pressurized experiment,at the flow rate of 0.5 ml/min, the measured morphine content was basically consistent with that measured at atmospheric pressure. Conclusion The determination of morphine in compound liquorice oral solution could be carried out by C₁₈ solid phase extraction column of 500 mg. Under pressure, the flow rate was about 0.5 ml/min for morphine recovery, which could achieve high recovery of morphine in compound liquorice oral solution and improve the detection efficiency of morphine.

Research indicates that microbe activity within the human body significantly influences health by being closely linked to various diseases.Accurately predicting microbe-disease interactions(MDIs)offers critical insights for disease intervention and pharmaceutical research.Current advanced AI-based technologies automatically generate robust representations of microbes and diseases,enabling effec-tive MDI predictions.However,these models continue to face significant challenges.A major issue is their reliance on complex feature extractors and classifiers,which substantially diminishes the models' generalizability.To address this,we introduce a novel graph autoencoder framework that utilizes decoupled representation learning and multi-scale information fusion strategies to efficiently infer po-tential MDIs.Initially,we randomly mask portions of the input microbe-disease graph based on Bernoulli distribution to boost self-supervised training and minimize noise-related performance degradation.Secondly,we employ decoupled representation learning technology,compelling the graph neural network(GNN)to independently learn the weights for each feature subspace,thus enhancing its expressive power.Finally,we implement multi-scale information fusion technology to amalgamate the multi-layer outputs of GNN,reducing information loss due to occlusion.Extensive experiments on public datasets demonstrate that our model significantly surpasses existing top MDI prediction models.This indicates that our model can accurately predict unknown MDIs and is likely to aid in disease discovery and precision pharmaceutical research.Code and data are accessible at:https://github.com/shmildsj/MDI-IFDRL.

Objective To observe the value of Cox proportional hazards regression model constructed based on high-resolution MRI for predicting the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC)progression after definitive chemoradiotherapy(dCRT).Methods Thirty ESCC patients who underwent dCRT were retrospectively enrolled.Quantitative and qualitative indicators of primary tumor and imaging-defined metastatic lymph nodes were analyzed based on pre-treatment high-resolution M RI.The progression-free survival(PFS)of patients were recorded.A Cox proportional hazards regression model was established to predict the risk of tumor progression based on MRI indices,and the risks of tumor progression were stratified into high and low according to the median prediction.PFS rates were compared between patients with high or low risk of tumor progression.Results Tumor thickness(HR[95％CI]=1.210[1.025,1.429],P=0.024),relationship between the tumor and aorta(HR[95％CI]=4.275[1.064,17.168],P=0.041)and lymph node signal change rate on delayed phase pre-treatment MRI(HR[95％CI]=0.049[0.007,0.362],P=0.003)were all independent factors for predicting PFS.Based on Cox proportional hazards regression model and its predicted value,PFS rate in high risk patients was lower than that in low risk patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion High-resolution MRI could be used to predict prognosis of ESCC after dCRT.

Objective To explore the deeper understanding of the pregnancy and delivery experience of three-child pregnant and matemal women,and to provide a basis for healthcare personnel to provide more systematic,safe,and targeted perinatal healthcare services and care measures for three-child pregnant and matemal women.Methods Purposive sampling method was used to select 17 cases of three-child pregnant and matemal women who were admitted and delivered in a tertiary level-A matemal and child healthcare hospital in Nanjing from August 2022 to June 2023 for semi-structured interviews,and Colaizzi 7-step process of analyzing,summarizing,and refining the themes was used.Results A total of 4 themes were extracted,including determination of willingness to become pregnant,perceived risks of childbirth,perceived benefits to themselves and their families,diversified support needs.Conclusion The establishment of pregnancy intention of three-child pregnant women is affected by many factors.Relevant departments should actively implement the supporting measures of the three-child birth policy;healthcare workers should strengthen perinatal healthcare services for three-child mothers to reduce the risk of giving birth,actively strengthen their sense of benefits related to pregnancy,and establish a whole process of support system to promote the health of mothers and infants.

In order to integrate clinical data, image data, and omics data scattered across different systems, and effectively support clinical research based on real-world data, a hospital has integrated Hadoop big data processing technology with distributed parallel database technology to build a data storage and calculation system that integrates lakes and warehouses. Through the integration of 15 medical information system data, data governance based on patient master indexes, and the design and development of an application platform that covered 8 major functions and integrated general scientific research and specialized disease applications, the hospital has built an integrated scientific research big data platform, which included 3.3 billion pieces of data from 20.26 million patients and 98.57 million visits, and has built 3 specialized disease databases. From January to August 2024, it has supported data extraction and analysis for 35 research projects, reducing traditional code-based data retrieval time from 5-45 workdays to several hours or even minutes, significantly enhancing the efficiency of clinical research.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the drug resistance,laboratory indicators and clinical characteristics of blood-stream infections caused by Enterobacter in children,providing references for early empirical treatment.METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 302 children(aged 29 days to 12 years)with bloodstream infections caused by Enterobacter(monomicrobial infections)admitted to the Maternity and Child Health Care of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from Jan.2017 to Dec.2023.The drug resistance of Enterobacter and major pathogens were analyzed across different age groups of children.Based on prognosis,the children were divided into a favorable prognosis group(266 cases)and a poor prognosis group(36 cases),and their laboratory indicators and clinical characteristics were compared.Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for poor prognosis.RESULTS The major pathogens causing infections were Salmonella,Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.The distribution difference of major pathogens across age groups(29 days-6 months,＞6 months-1 year,＞1-2 years,＞2 years)was statistically significant(P＜0.001).The drug resistance rates of Salmonella to ampicillin,chloramphenicol and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim were 68.61％,54.01％and 44.53％,respectively.E.coli exhibited drug resistance rates of 83.33％,52.22％and 47 78％to ampicillin,sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and cefazolin,respectively.K.pneumoniae showed drug resistance rates exceeding 50％to ampicillin/sulbactam,cefuroxime and cefazolin.Hypoalbuminemia(OR=3.319),sepsis(OR=3.122),ventricular purulent encephalitis(OR=5.104)and prior use of penicillin-class anti-bacterial drugs before culture positivity(OR=3.374)were identified as risk factors for poor prognosis of the chil-dren with Enterobacteriaceae bloodstream infections(P＜0.05).CONCLUSIONS Bloodstream infections caused by Enterobacter in children predominantly occur in those under 2 years of age,with Salmonella,E.coli and K.pneumoniae as the major pathogens,exhibiting high drug resistance rates to penicillin and cephalosporin antibacte-rial drugs.Clinical therapeutic regimen should be adjusted early based on laboratory indicators and risk factors to improve prognosis.