Background In recent years, the increasingly widespread application of nuclear and medical radiation technologies has resulted in a large number of occupational populations exposed to low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR). At present, there is no consistent conclusion on the effects of long-term exposure to LDIR on the metabolic health of the occupational population. Objective To explore the association between long-term exposure to LDIR and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among medical radiologists. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to enroll 6431 medical radiologists who ordered occupational health checkups from January 2022 to December 2023, and basic information such as demographic characteristics, occupational characteristics, lifestyles, and dietary habits was collected through questionnaires. Physical examinations were conducted using a standardized protocol. Individual dose equivalents of occupational external exposure were monitored by dosimeters worn by medical radiologists. Logistic regression model was used for identifying influencing factors of MetS and sensitivity analysis, and restricted cubic spline model was used to explore the dose-response relationship between cumulative effective dose and MetS. Two-stage linear regression was used to evaluate threshold effect of association between cumulative effective dose and MetS. Results The positive rate of MetS was 13.6% (877/6431) among the enrolled 6431 study participants. The logistic regression showed that gender, age, monthly income, body mass index (BMI), cumulative effective dose, and smoking were influencing factors for MetS. The risk of MetS was higher in males (OR=1.511, 95%CI: 1.209, 1.888); using the < 30 years old group as reference, the risk of MetS was higher in the 30-39 years old (OR=1.509, 95%CI: 1.095, 2.079), 40-49 years old (OR=2.214, 95%CI: 1.551, 3.161), and ≥50 years old (OR=3.480, 95%CI: 2.338, 5.181) groups; using the <10000 yuan group as reference, the risk of MetS was lower in the group with a monthly income of 10000-14999 yuan (OR=0.715, 95%CI: 0.582, 0.878); the risk of MetS was higher in the BMI ≥ 24 kg·m⁻² group (OR=7.548, 95%CI: 6.223, 9.156); using the < 0.76 mSv group as reference, the risk of MetS was higher in the cumulative effective dose of 0.76-2.73 mSv group (OR=1.270, 95%CI: 1.017, 1.586); the risk of MetS was higher in the smoking group (OR=1.734, 95%CI: 1.428, 2.107). The results of restricted cubic spline showed that the cumulative effective dose was nonlinearly correlated with MetS (P _{non-linearity}=0.028), with an inflection point of 1.25 mSv. The risk of developing MetS increased by 34.1% for each unit increase in cumulative effective dose up to 1.25 mSv, whereas above 1.25 mSv, the statistical association was not significant. The sensitivity analysis results showed that after excluding the self-reported hypertensive and diabetic patients, the cumulative effective dose 0.76-2.73 mSv group still had an increased risk of developing MetS compared with the < 0.76 mSv group (P < 0.05), and the results were robust. Conclusion Among medical radiologists, male, age, BMI, and smoking are positively correlated with MetS, and monthly income is negatively correlated with MetS; cumulative effective dose is non-linearly correlated with MetS among medical radiologists.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the therapeutic mechanism of 2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (DMQ) for alleviating dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice. METHODS: Eighteen male C57BL/6J mice were equally randomized into control group, DSS group and DMQ treatment group. In DSS and DMQ groups, the mice were treated with DSS in drinking water to induce UC, and received intraperitoneal injections of sterile PBS or DMQ (20 mg/kg) during modeling. The changes in body weight, disease activity index (DAI), colon length, spleen weight, and colon histological scores of the mice were examined, and the percentages of Th17 and IFN-γ⁺ CD8⁺ T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen were analyzed using flow cytometry. The expressions of tight junction proteins (Occludin and ZO-1), proteins associated with inflammasome activation (caspase-1 and p20), IL-1β and TNF-α in the colon tissues were detected using Western blotting or ELISA. In the cell experiment, mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) primed with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were treated with DMQ, followed by stmulation with nigericin to activate the classical NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. In cultured human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) treated with either LPS alone or LPS plus nigericin, the effects of DMQ on inflammasome activation, pyroptosis, and cytokine release were evaluated via Western blotting, ELISA, and flow cytometry. RESULTS: In DSS-treated mice, DMQ treatment significantly alleviated DSS-induced body weight loss, colon shortening, spleen enlargement, and colon inflammation. The DMQ-treated mice showed significantly reduced percentages of Th17 cells and IFN-γ⁺ CD8⁺ T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen, with increased occludin and ZO-1 expressions and decreased caspase-1 expression in the colon tissue. DMQ obviously inhibited classical NLRP3 inflammasome activation in mouse BMDMs and both the classical and alternative pathways of NLRP3 activation in human PBMCs, causing also suppression of caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis. CONCLUSIONS DMQ ameliorates DSS-induced UC in mice by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Animals ; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Colitis, Ulcerative/metabolism* ; Dextran Sulfate/adverse effects* ; Male ; Inflammasomes/metabolism* ; Mice ; Benzoquinones/therapeutic use* ; Th17 Cells ; Caspase 1/metabolism*

Objective:To study and analyze radiation doses to the eye of the lens dose in interventional radiology staff of Guandong medical institutions from 2019 to 2023.Methods:Employing a convenience sampling method, the lens dose and chest dose was monitored with TLD dosimeters in 34 level A tertiary medical institutions. The monitoring data were analyzed on the basis of a summary, and the relationship between the two was explored.Results:A total of 1 033 interventional radiology staff were monitored. The ocular lens doses were in the range of (

Objective:To investigate impact of leonurine(Leo)on necrotic apoptosis in rats with myocardial ischemia/reperfu-sion(MIR)injury by regulating receptor interacting protein 1(RIP1)-receptor interacting protein 3(RIP3)-mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein(MLKL)pathway.Methods:Fifteen rats were randomly selected as sham surgery group(Sham),left anterior descending coronary artery of remaining rats were ligated to construct MIR model,and randomly grouped into MIR group,Leo group(15 mg/kg),Compound 6i group(1 mg/kg RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway activator Compound 6i)and Leo+Compound 6i group(15 mg/kg Leo+1 mg/kg Compound 6i),with 15 rats in each group.MIR group and Sham group were injected with equal amounts of physiological saline.Cardiac function indicators were observed through ultrasound electrocardiogram;ELISA was applied to detect myocardial injury indicators and inflammatory factor levels;HE staining was applied to observe pathological damage of heart;TTC staining was applied to detect myocardial infarction area;TUNEL staining was applied to detect cell apoptosis;Western blot was applied to detect expres-sions of RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway proteins.Results:Myocardial cells in Sham group were intact and arranged in an orderly manner;arrangement of myocardial cells was disordered and swollen,myofibril contracted,and sarcolemma was destroyed in MIR group,ejec-tion fraction(EF)and cardiac output(CO)level were obviously lower than Sham group(P<0.05),Mb,cTnⅠ,CK-Mb contents,IL-6,IL-18 levels,myocardial infarction area,myocardial cell apoptosis rate,RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL protein levels were obviously increased(P<0.05);compared with MIR group,Leo group had improved cell arrangement disorder and edema,and obviously increased EF and CO levels(P<0.05),Mb,cTnⅠ,CK-Mb contents,IL-6,IL-18 levels,myocardial infarction area,myocardial cell apoptosis rate,RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL protein levels were obviously reduced(P<0.05),trend of Compound 6i group was opposite;myocardial tissue structure of Leo+Compound 6i group was similar to MIR group,and Compound 6i eliminated cardioprotective effect of Leo on MIR rats.Conclusion:Leo may alleviate myocardial necrosis apoptosis in MIR rats by down-regulating RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway,thus playing a therapeutic role in MIR.

Objective:To study and analyze radiation doses to the eye of the lens dose in interventional radiology staff of Guandong medical institutions from 2019 to 2023.Methods:Employing a convenience sampling method, the lens dose and chest dose was monitored with TLD dosimeters in 34 level A tertiary medical institutions. The monitoring data were analyzed on the basis of a summary, and the relationship between the two was explored.Results:A total of 1 033 interventional radiology staff were monitored. The ocular lens doses were in the range of (

Objective:To investigate impact of leonurine(Leo)on necrotic apoptosis in rats with myocardial ischemia/reperfu-sion(MIR)injury by regulating receptor interacting protein 1(RIP1)-receptor interacting protein 3(RIP3)-mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein(MLKL)pathway.Methods:Fifteen rats were randomly selected as sham surgery group(Sham),left anterior descending coronary artery of remaining rats were ligated to construct MIR model,and randomly grouped into MIR group,Leo group(15 mg/kg),Compound 6i group(1 mg/kg RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway activator Compound 6i)and Leo+Compound 6i group(15 mg/kg Leo+1 mg/kg Compound 6i),with 15 rats in each group.MIR group and Sham group were injected with equal amounts of physiological saline.Cardiac function indicators were observed through ultrasound electrocardiogram;ELISA was applied to detect myocardial injury indicators and inflammatory factor levels;HE staining was applied to observe pathological damage of heart;TTC staining was applied to detect myocardial infarction area;TUNEL staining was applied to detect cell apoptosis;Western blot was applied to detect expres-sions of RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway proteins.Results:Myocardial cells in Sham group were intact and arranged in an orderly manner;arrangement of myocardial cells was disordered and swollen,myofibril contracted,and sarcolemma was destroyed in MIR group,ejec-tion fraction(EF)and cardiac output(CO)level were obviously lower than Sham group(P<0.05),Mb,cTnⅠ,CK-Mb contents,IL-6,IL-18 levels,myocardial infarction area,myocardial cell apoptosis rate,RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL protein levels were obviously increased(P<0.05);compared with MIR group,Leo group had improved cell arrangement disorder and edema,and obviously increased EF and CO levels(P<0.05),Mb,cTnⅠ,CK-Mb contents,IL-6,IL-18 levels,myocardial infarction area,myocardial cell apoptosis rate,RIP1,RIP3 and MLKL protein levels were obviously reduced(P<0.05),trend of Compound 6i group was opposite;myocardial tissue structure of Leo+Compound 6i group was similar to MIR group,and Compound 6i eliminated cardioprotective effect of Leo on MIR rats.Conclusion:Leo may alleviate myocardial necrosis apoptosis in MIR rats by down-regulating RIP1-RIP3-MLKL pathway,thus playing a therapeutic role in MIR.

Objective:To analyze the clinical features of postpartum hepatitis flares in pregnant women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted. Patients who met the enrollment criteria were included. Liver function and HBV virology tests were collected from pregnant women with chronic HBV infection at delivery, 6, 24, 36, and 48 weeks after delivery through the hospital information and test system. Additionally, antiviral therapy types and drug withdrawal times were collected. Statistical analysis was performed on all the resulting data.Results:A total of 533 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were included, with all patients aged (29.5±3.7) years old. A total of 408 cases received antiviral drugs during pregnancy to interrupt mother-to-child transmission. There was no significant difference in the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT, z ?=?-1.981, P ?=?0.048), aspartate aminotransferase (AST, z ?=?-3.956, P ?

Objective:To investigate the value of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), pediatric sequential organ failure assessment (pSOFA) and pediatric critical illness score (PCIS) in predicting mortality of pediatric sepsis in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) from Southwest China.Methods:This was a prospective multicenter observational study. A total of 447 children with sepsis admitted to 12 PICU in Southwest China from April 2022 to March 2023 were enrolled. Based on the prognosis, the patients were divided into survival group and non-survival group. The physiological parameters of SIRS, pSOFA and PCIS were recorded and scored within 24 h after PICU admission. The general clinical data and some laboratory results were recorded. The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to compare the predictive value of SIRS, pSOFA and PCIS in mortality of pediatric sepsis.Results:Amongst 447 children with sepsis, 260 patients were male and 187 patients were female, aged 2.5 (0.8, 7.0) years, 405 patients were in the survival group and 42 patients were in the non-survival group. 418 patients (93.5%) met the criteria of SIRS, and 440 patients (98.4%) met the criteria of pSOFA≥2. There was no significant difference in the number of items meeting the SIRS criteria between the survival group and the non-survival group (3(2, 4) vs. 3(3, 4) points, Z=1.30, P=0.192). The pSOFA score of the non-survival group was significantly higher than that of the survival group (9(6, 12) vs. 4(3, 7) points, Z=6.56, P<0.001), and the PCIS score was significantly lower than that of the survival group (72(68, 81) vs. 82(76, 88) points, Z=5.90, P<0.001). The predictive value of pSOFA (AUC=0.82) and PCIS (AUC=0.78) for sepsis mortality was significantly higher than that of SIRS (AUC=0.56) ( Z=6.59, 4.23, both P<0.001). There was no significant difference between pSOFA and PCIS ( Z=1.35, P=0.176). Platelet count, procalcitonin, lactic acid, albumin, creatinine, total bilirubin, activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time and international normalized ratio were all able to predict mortality of sepsis to a certain degree (AUC=0.64, 0.68, 0.80, 0.64, 0.68, 0.60, 0.77, 0.75, 0.76, all P<0.05). Conclusion:Compared with SIRS, both pSOFA and PCIS had better predictive value in the mortality of pediatric sepsis in PICU.

Background Air pollution is a major public health concern. Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a very important air quality risk communication tool. However, AQHI is usually constructed by single-pollutant model, which has obvious disadvantages. Objective To construct an AQHI based on the joint effects of multiple air pollutants (J-AQHI), and to provide a scientific tool for health risk warning and risk communication of air pollution. Methods Data on non-accidental deaths in Yunnan, Guangdong, Hunan, Zhejiang, and Jilin provinces from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2018 were obtained from the corresponding provincial disease surveillance points systems (DSPS), including date of death, age, gender, and cause of death. Daily meteorological (temperature and relative humidity) and air pollution data (SO₂, NO₂, CO, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, and maximum 8 h O₃ concentrations) at the same period were respectively derived from China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System and National Urban Air Quality Real-time Publishing Platform. Lasso regression was first applied to select air pollutants, then a time-stratified case-crossover design was applied. Each case was matched to 3 or 4 control days which were selected on the same days of the week in the same calendar month. Then a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) was used to estimate the exposure-response relationship between selected air pollutants and mortality, which was used to construct the AQHI. Finally, AQHI was classified into four levels according to the air pollutant guidance limit values from World Health Organization Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQG 2021), and the excess risks (ERs) were calculated to compare the AQHI based on single-pollutant model and the J-AQHI based on multi-pollutant model. Results PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂, and O₃ were selected by Lasso regression to establish DLNM model. The ERs for an interquartile range (IQR) increase and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂ and O₃ were 0.71% (0.34%–1.09%), 2.46% (1.78%–3.15%), 1.25% (0.9%–1.6%), and 0.27% (−0.11%–0.65%) respectively. The distribution of J-AQHI was right-skewed, and it was divided into four levels, with ranges of 0-1 for low risk, 2-3 for moderate risk, 4-5 for high health risk, and ≥6 for severe risk, and the corresponding proportions were 11.25%, 64.61%, 19.33%, and 4.81%, respectively. The ER (95%CI) of mortality risk increased by 3.61% (2.93–4.29) for each IQR increase of the multi-pollutant based J-AQHI , while it was 3.39% (2.68–4.11) for the single-pollutant based AQHI . Conclusion The J-AQHI generated by multi-pollutant model demonstrates the actual exposure health risk of air pollution in the population and provides new ideas for further improvement of AQHI calculation methods.

Background The thyroid gland is one of the organs sensitive to ionizing radiation, and there are few studies on the effects of long-term exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation on the thyroid gland of radiation workers. Objective To investigate thyroid abnormalities in workers in medical radiology departments in Guangdong Province and to identify potential influencing factors of thyroid abnormalities. Methods A total of 1657 radiation workers from 48 hospitals in Guangdong Province were selected as survey subjects using convenience sampling, and their personal dose monitoring results and health examination information were retrospectively analyzed to determine the factors affecting thyroid abnormalities. Results The M (P₂₅, P₇₅) of thyroid absorbed dose (D_T) was 1.55 (0.65, 3.96) mGy in the 1657 investigated workers. The attribute-specific medians of D_T were 1.29, 1.38, 1.99, and 3.51 mGy for departments of diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiotherapy, and nuclear medicine, respectively; and 1.10, 1.55, and 1.80 mGy for job titles of nurse, technician, and physician, respectively. Differences in D_T by gender, age, years of radiological work, age of radiation exposure onset, occupational category, and job title were statistically significant (Z=−6.35, H=708.52, 918.20, 31.19, 95.64, 39.28, P<0.05). The positive rate of thyroid abnormalities in investigated workers was 46.53% (771/1657). Among them, the positive rate of abnormal thyroid function was 22.87% (379/1657), that of abnormal thyroid morphology was 33.98% (563/1657), and that of thyroid nodule was 26.55% (440/1657). The differences in thyroid abnormality rates by gender, age, years of radiation work, age of radiation exposure onset, D_T, and job title of radiation workers were statistically significant (χ²=51.89, 49.64, 20.54, 18.29, 12.07, 16.16, P<0.05). The differences in abnormal thyroid function positive rate by gender, age of radiation exposure onset, and job title were statistically significant (χ²=26.21, 6.21, 8.32, P<0.05). The differences in the positive rates of abnormal thyroid morphology and nodules were statistically significant by gender, age, years of radiological work, age of radiation exposure onset, D_T, and job title (abnormal thyroid morphology, χ²=40.24, 64.17, 37.63, 15.17, 19.28, 15.05; nodules, χ²=31.41, 77.98, 42.11, 19.16, 21.70, 13.52, P<0.05). The positive rates of thyroid abnormality, thyroid morphology abnormality, and nodules all showed a linear increasing trend with increasing age, years of radiation work, and age of radiation exposure onset (P<0.05). The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that the factors influencing thyroid abnormalities were female (OR=2.17, 95%CI: 1.72-2.74), increased years of radiological work (OR=1.04, 95%CI: 1.03-1.06), onset of radiation exposure in age groups of 30-34 and ≥35 years (OR=1.63, 95%CI: 1.12-2.37; OR=2.58, 95%CI: 1.74-3.29), and working in department of diagnostic radiology (OR=1.40, 95%CI: 1.07-1.84). Conclusion Long-term exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation has an effect on thyroid abnormalities in medical radiation workers. Among them, being female, physicians, and working in department of diagnostic radiology are at a higher risk of abnormal thyroid function; being female, increased years of radiation work, and radiation exposure onset at age ≥30 years are associated with a higher risk of reporting abnormal thyroid morphology.