It is proposed that the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis （RA） is centered on deficiency， dampness， and blood stasis， which interact with and evolve into one another during the onset and progression of the disease. The development of RA is closely associated with insufficiency of healthy qi and the interbinding of dampness and blood stasis. Accordingly， treatment emphasizes an integrated approach that combines tonifying deficiency， eliminating dampness， and resolving blood stasis， and is implemented in three main stages. In the initial stage， therapy focuses on supporting healthy qi， dispelling dampness， and relieving impediment， with modified Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction （黄芪桂枝五物汤） combined with Yiyiren Decoction （薏苡仁汤）. In the active stage， treatment aims to eliminate dampness， resolve blood stasis， and unblock the collaterals， using modified Wutou Decoction （乌头汤） or Guizhi Shaoyao Zhimu Decoction （桂枝芍药知母汤）. In the remission stage， therapy emphasizes strengthening the spleen and reple-nishing qi to prevent recurrence， with modified Shenling Baizhu Powder （参苓白术散） combined with Guipi Decoction （归脾汤）.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of Janus kinase （JAK） inhibitors combined with Chinese herbal medicine （CHM） in treating rheumatoid arthritis （RA）. MethodsClinical data from 169 RA patients were retrospectively collected. Among them， 71 cases received JAK inhibitors as the control group， while 98 cases received JAK inhibitors plus CHM as the observation group， both treated for 24 weeks. The rheumatoid factor （RF）， cyclic citic peptide antibody （anti-CCP）， erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR）， C-reactive protein （CRP）， and white blood cell count （WBC） were recorded before and after treatment. Databases including CNKI， Wanfang， VIP， PubMed and Web of Science were searched from inception till August 31st， 2025 for randomized controlled trials （RCTs） on the combined use of JAK inhibitors and CHM for RA. The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the risk of bias assessment tool. Meta-analyses were performed for RF， anti-CCP， ESR， CRP， 28-joint disease activity score （DAS28）， overall clinical effective rate， and incidence of adverse events. Sensitivity analysis were also performed. ResultsThe retrospective study demonstrated that after treatment， ESR， CRP， and anti-CCP levels decreased in the observation group， while ESR and CRP levels decreased in the control group （P＜0.05）. Moreover， ESR and RF levels in the observation group were lower than those in the control group （P＜0.05）. A total of 9 RCTs involving 770 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The results indicated that the JAK inhibitors plus CHM group was superior to the JAK inhibitors group in reducing RF （MD=-8.97， 95%CI -15.01 to -2.94， P=0.004）， CRP （MD=-3.34， 95%CI -3.82 to -2.86， P＜0.001）， ESR （MD=-5.33， 95%CI -7.98 to -2.69， P＜0.001）， and DAS28 score （MD=-0.54， 95%CI -0.74 to -0.34， P＜0.001）， as well as in improving the overall clinical effective rate （OR=4.53， 95%CI 2.55 to 8.03， P＜0.001）. No statistically significant differences were observed between groups in anti-CCP levels （SMD=-2.08， 95%CI -4.41 to 0.24， P=0.080） or incidence of adverse events （OR=0.93， 95%CI 0.55 to 1.57， P=0.790）. ConclusionThe combination of JAK inhibitors and CHM demonstrates remarkable efficacy in treating RA， contributing to improved disease activity and reduced inflammatory markers with a favorable safety profile.

Objective:Exploring gene-age interactions associated with breast cancer prognosis based on epigenomic data.Methods:Differential expression analysis of DNA methylation was conducted using multiple independent epigenomic datasets of breast cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The false discovery rate (FDR) method was used for multiple corrections, retaining differentially methylated sites with q-FDR≤0.05. A three-stage analytic strategy was implemented, using a multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model to examine gene-age interactions. In the discovery phase, signals with q-FDR ≤ 0.05 were screened out using TCGA-BRCA database. In validation phaseⅠ, the interaction was validated using GSE72245 data, with criteria of P≤0.05 and consistent effect direction. In validation phaseⅡ, the signals were further validated using GSE37754 and GSE75067 data. A prognostic prediction model was constructed by incorporating clinical indicators and interaction signals. Results:The three-stage analytic strategy identified a methylation site (cg16126280 EBF1), which interacted with age to jointly affect the overall survival time of patients (interaction HR= 1.001 1,95% CI:1.000 7-1.001 5, P<0.001). Stratified analysis by age showed that the effect of hypermethylation of cg16126280 EBF1 was completely opposite in younger patients ( HR=0.550 5, 95% CI: 0.383 8-0.789 6, P=0.001) and older patients ( HR=2.166 5, 95% CI: 1.285 2-3.652 2, P=0.004). Conclusions:The DNA methylation site cg16126280 EBF1 exhibits an interaction with age, jointly influencing the prognosis of breast cancer in a complex association pattern. This finding contributes new population-based evidence for the development of age-specific targeted drugs.

Based on the Delphi method, combined with the results of the previous literature study and expert interviews, 3 rounds of expert consultation were conducted to evaluate the degree of concentration of expert opinions and their importance from 3 aspects: arithmetic mean, full score ratio ( Ki), and rank sum ( Si), to construct a diagnostic scale for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cold-dampness syndrome. In this study, 30 expert questionnaires were distributed in the 1st round, 30 questionnaires were recovered, and the expert coordination coefficient was 0.309; 30 expert questionnaires were distributed in the 2nd round, 30 questionnaires were recovered, and the expert coordination coefficient was 0.320; and 30 expert questionnaires were distributed in the 3rd round, 29 questionnaires were recovered, and the expert coordination coefficient was 0.387. The maximum value of the coefficient of variation of the experts of the 3 rounds was 0.27, and the minimum value was 0.09, suggesting that the consistency and credibility of the experts' evaluation of the importance of the entries of cold-dampness syndrome were high. In this study, the mean values and weights of 17 entries were finally obtained, of which the top 5 entries were cold pain in joints (4.793, 0.066 6); aggravated by cold (4.586, 0.063 7); white tongue coating (4.552, 0.063 2); aggravated in cloudy and rainy days (4.448, 0.061 8); and painful joints that are not warm to the touch (4.379, 0.060 8). This study completed the screening of relevant entries and conducted preliminary discussions, laying the foundation for constructing a diagnostic scale for RA cold-dampness syndrome and forming the final diagnostic criteria. The research method is scientific and reliable, which can provide reference for the diagnostic standard of RA cold-dampness syndrome, but further clinical practice research is still needed.

Background: Excessive growth of keratinocytes is the critical event in the etiology of psoriasis.However, the underlying molecular mechanism of psoriatic keratinocyte hyperproliferation is still unclear. Objective: This study aimed to figure out the potential contributory role of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) in promoting the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes in psoriasis. Methods: We analyzed microarray data (GSE41662) to investigate the gene expression of SKP2in psoriatic lesion skins compared with their adjacent non-lesional skin. Then, we further confirmed the mRNA and protein expression of SKP2 in human psoriatic skin tissues, imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriatic mice back skins and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-6-stimulated keratinocytes by using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot (WB). Furthermore, we explored the potential pathogenic role and its underlying cellular mechanism of SKP2 in promoting keratinocytes hyperproliferation through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, cell cycle detection, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine staining and WB. Finally, we determined whether inhibition of SKP2 can effectively alleviate the keratinocytes hyperproliferation in vivo. Results: We identified that SKP2 is aberrantly upregulated in the psoriatic lesion skin and cytokines-stimulated keratinocytes. Moreover, upregulated SKP2 augments cytokines-induced keratinocytes hyperproliferation. Mechanistically, enhanced SKP2 increased the S phase ratio through inhibiting Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 (P27 Kip1) expression. Correspondingly, suppression of SKP2 with SMIP004 can significantly ease the epidermis hyperplasia in vivo. Conclusion Our results suggest that elevated SKP2 can empower keratinocytes proliferation and psoriasis-like epidermis hyperplasia via downregulation of P27 Kip1. Therefore, targeting SKP2-P27 Kip1 axis might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of psoriasis in future.

Objective:To investigate the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) in Jiangsu province during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in China from December 7, 2022 to January 27, 2023, and to analyze the influencing factors of all-cause death.Methods:It was a multi-center cross-sectional investigation. Structured questionnaire was used to collect patient information by medical staff of each hemodialysis center (room) as investigators. Part of the demography data and laboratory examination data came from the Jiangsu Province Hemodialysis Data Information System. MHD patients from hemodialysis centers (rooms) at all levels of medical institutions and independent hemodialysis institutions in Jiangsu province during the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection were included, and the clinical characteristics and all-cause mortality of confirmed and suspected cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were analyzed.Results:Questionnaire surveys and data analysis on 57 278 patients in 407 hemodialysis centers (rooms) were completed, accounting for 90.41% of the total number of MHD patients (63 357 cases) in Jiangsu province during the same period. There were 24 038 cases (41.97%) of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 14 805 cases (25.85%) of suspected infection, which were widely distributed in all dialysis centers in Jiangsu province. After clinical classification of 38 843 confirmed and suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection cases, 3 662 cases were severe and critical cases, accounting for 9.43% of the infected and suspected cases. Among the patients who had completed the questionnaires, there were 1 812 all-cause deaths, with an all-cause mortality rate of 3.16%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that elderly (taking ≤50 years as a reference, 51-59 years: OR=1.583, 95% CI 1.279-1.933, P=0.001; 60-69 years: OR=3.972, 95% CI 3.271-4.858, P<0.001; 70-79 years: OR=7.236, 95% CI 5.917-8.698, P<0.001; ≥80 years: OR=11.738, 95% CI 9.459-14.663, P<0.001), male ( OR=1.371, 95% CI 1.229-1.529, P<0.001), and co-infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) (positive serum HBV surface antigen, OR=0.629, 95% CI 0.484-0.817, P<0.001) were independent influencing factors for all cause mortality. Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve for male, age and current HBV infection prediction of all-cause death was 0.529 ( P<0.001), 0.724 ( P<0.001) and 0.514 ( P=0.042), respectively, and the cut-off value for age prediction of all-cause death was 65.5 years old. Compared with patients without HBV infection, MHD patients with HBV infection significantly reduced the proportion of severe and critically ill patients, all-cause hospitalizations and all cause deaths when infected with SARS-CoV-2 (4.99% vs. 6.41%, χ2=6.136, P=0.013; 8.90% vs. 11.44%, χ2=11.662, P<0.001; 2.01% vs. 3.37%, χ2=10.713, P=0.001, respectively). Conclusion:The MHD patients in Jiangsu province are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Elderly age and male gender are independent risk factors for death in MHD patients during the epidemic, while the HBV infection may be a protective factor for death of MHD patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Objective: To understand the relationship between eye strain and eye health behavior in college students learning at home during the period of COVID-19 epidemic, and to provide a scientific reference for improving the hygiene of using eyes among the college students. Methods: A cross sectional study and stratified cluster sampling was used to select 2 671 college students from 8 colleges in Anhui Province during the March 1st to July 1st in 2020, and an online questionnaire was survey included general information,eye strain,and daily eye health behavior. Results: The prevalence of eye strain in college students was 69.64%. Multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed that eye strain was correlated with gender, myopia, siesta habit, staying up until 2:00 am, and the use of eye liquid, with OR values(95% CI ) were 0.64(0.53-0.76), 1.77(1.42- 2.20 ),0.71(0.59-0.86), 1.39(1.17-1.65), and 2.18(1.71-2.79), respectively. There was no correlation among daily outdoor activity time, daytime reading time and the occurrence of eye strain( P >0.05). Conclusion During the period of COVID-19 epidemic, eye strain among college students is common. The daily eye health behavior is related to the occurrence of eye strain. Under the special learning context, eye care measures should be encouraged specifically.