Rheumatoid arthritis （RA） is a common autoimmune disease characterised clinically by symmetrical joint pain， swelling， and stiffness. Long-term chronic synovial inflammation can lead to severe joint damage and even disability， thereby affecting quality of life for patients. Current clinical treatment of RA emphasises an integrated approach combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine， with traditional Chinese medicine offering certain advantages in reducing disease activity of RA， preventing relapses， and other aspects. Modern clinical evidence confirms that Guizhi Shaoyao Zhimutang （GSZT） is effective in improving symptoms such as immune metabolism， joint stiffness， and joint pain in RA patients. Pharmacological studies have revealed that GSZT primarily contains components such as cinnamaldehyde， total glucosides of paeony， total alkaloids of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata， glycyrrhetinic acid， zingiberone， isoimperatorin， ephedra polysaccharides， and cedrol. It improves RA symptoms via multiple mechanisms and targets， including enhancing immune responses， exerting anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects， regulating relevant signalling pathways， inhibiting cell apoptosis， and suppressing bone destruction. This paper reviewed the syndrome patterns and pharmacological basis of GSZT in the treatment of RA， as well as its clinical applications and related mechanisms， thereby providing a theoretical basis and reference for the further development and utilisation of GSZT in the treatment of RA.

Rheumatoid arthritis （RA） is a common autoimmune disease characterised clinically by symmetrical joint pain， swelling， and stiffness. Long-term chronic synovial inflammation can lead to severe joint damage and even disability， thereby affecting quality of life for patients. Current clinical treatment of RA emphasises an integrated approach combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine， with traditional Chinese medicine offering certain advantages in reducing disease activity of RA， preventing relapses， and other aspects. Modern clinical evidence confirms that Guizhi Shaoyao Zhimutang （GSZT） is effective in improving symptoms such as immune metabolism， joint stiffness， and joint pain in RA patients. Pharmacological studies have revealed that GSZT primarily contains components such as cinnamaldehyde， total glucosides of paeony， total alkaloids of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata， glycyrrhetinic acid， zingiberone， isoimperatorin， ephedra polysaccharides， and cedrol. It improves RA symptoms via multiple mechanisms and targets， including enhancing immune responses， exerting anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects， regulating relevant signalling pathways， inhibiting cell apoptosis， and suppressing bone destruction. This paper reviewed the syndrome patterns and pharmacological basis of GSZT in the treatment of RA， as well as its clinical applications and related mechanisms， thereby providing a theoretical basis and reference for the further development and utilisation of GSZT in the treatment of RA.

Objective:To explore the effects of early debridement and conservative eschar removal followed by wound coverage with acellular dermal matrix (ADM), i.e., early surgery, in the treatment of children with deep burns.Methods:This study was a retrospective cohort study. From January 2017 to December 2022, 278 deep burned hospitalized children aged 1-7 years who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University. According to the differences in treatment processes, 134 children who underwent early surgery+routine dressing change were enrolled in eschar removal+dressing change group (77 males and 57 females, aged 1 (1, 2) years), and 144 children who underwent only routine dressing change were enrolled in dressing change alone group (90 males and 54 females, aged 1 (1, 2) years). Fifty-one children without full-thickness burns in eschar removal+dressing change group were enrolled in eschar removal+dressing change group 1 (26 males and 25 females, aged 1 (1, 2) years), and 57 cases of the 83 children with full-thickness burns who did not undergo autologous skin grafting at the same time of early surgery (namely early skin grafting) in eschar removal+dressing change group were included in eschar removal+dressing change group 2 (37 males and 20 females, aged 1 (1, 2) years). Seventy-six children without full-thickness burns in dressing change alone group were included in dressing change alone group 1 (51 males and 25 females, aged 1 (1, 3) years), and 68 children with full-thickness burns in dressing change alone group were included in dressing change alone group 2 (39 males and 29 females, aged 1 (1, 2) years). For deep partial-thickness burn wounds and small full-thickness burn wounds in eschar removal+dressing change group, the eschar removal was performed on the basis of retaining a thin layer of denatured dermis so as to preserve the healthy tissue of the wound base, and ADM was applied to all wounds externally after eschar removal. For larger full-thickness burn wounds in this group, especially those located in the functional part of joints, eschar removal to the plane layer of viable tissue and early autologous skin grafting was needed. When the superficial wounds of children healed or tended to heal, the residual wounds were evaluated, and elective autologous skin grafting was performed if it was difficult to heal within 14 days. The healing time, intervention healing time, times of operation/dressing change, and times of intervention operation/dressing change in children with deep partial-thickness burn wounds of children in eschar removal+dressing change group, dressing change alone group, eschar removal+dressing change group 1, and dressing change alone group 1 were recorded. At the last follow-up (follow-up period was set to 7-12 months), the modified Vancouver scar scale (mVSS) scores of the most severe area of scar hyperplasia of healed deep partial-thickness burn wounds of 54 children in eschar removal+dressing change group and 48 children in dressing change alone group were recorded. The healing time and times of operation/dressing change of all burn wounds of children in eschar removal+dressing change group and dressing change alone group, and the healing time and times of operation/dressing change of full-thickness burn wounds of children in eschar removal+dressing change group 2 and dressing change alone group 2 were recorded. The incidences of wound infection, sepsis, fever, and fever after 5 days of burns in children of eschar removal+dressing change group and dressing change alone group during wound healing.Results:Compared with those in dressing change alone group, the healing time and intervention healing time were significantly shortened, and the times of operation/dressing change and times of intervention operation/dressing change were significantly reduced in children with deep partial-thickness burn wounds in eschar removal+dressing change group (with Z values of -11.00, -11.33, -12.64, and -11.65, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in dressing change alone group 1, the healing time and intervention healing time were significantly shortened, and the times of operation/dressing change and times of intervention operation/dressing change were significantly reduced in children with deep partial-thickness burn wounds in eschar removal+dressing change group 1 (with Z values of 6.57, 6.46, 8.04, and 6.57, respectively, P<0.05). At the last follow-up, the mVSS score of the most severe scar hyperplasia area of healed deep partial-thickness burn wounds of 54 children in eschar removal+dressing change group was 4.00 (3.00,5.00), which was significantly lower than 6.50 (5.00,7.00) of 48 children in dressing change alone group ( Z =-4.67, P<0.05).Compared with those in dressing change alone group, the healing time was significantly shortened, and times of operation/dressing change was significantly reduced in all burn wounds in eschar removal+dressing change group (with Z values of -5.20 and -6.34, respectively, P<0.05). Compared with those in dressing change alone group 2, the healing time was significantly shortened, and times of operation/dressing change was significantly reduced in full-thickness burn wounds in eschar removal+dressing change group 2 (with Z values of -5.22 and -5.73, respectively, P<0.05). During wound healing, the probabilities of fever and fever after 5 days of burns in children of eschar removal+dressing change group were significantly lower than those in dressing change alone group (with χ2 values of 4.13 and 3.91, respectively, P<0.05); only 1 child in dressing change alone group developed sepsis, and there was no statistically significant difference in the wound infection rate of children in the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:For children with deep burns, early surgery, and early skin grafting or elective autologous skin grafting as needed, have better short-term and long-term effects than those without early surgery.

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common congenital malformations in humans. Inconsistent results emerged in the existed studies on associations between air pollution and congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of gestational exposure to air pollutants with congenital heart disease, and to explore the critical exposure windows for congenital heart disease. METHODS: The nested case-control study collected birth records and the following health data in Tianjin Women and Children's Health Center, China. All of the cases of congenital heart disease from 2013 to 2015 were selected matching five healthy controls for each case. Inverse distance weighting was used to estimate individual exposure based on daily air pollution data. Furthermore, the conditional logistic regression with distributed lag non-linear model was performed to identify the association between gestational exposure to air pollution and congenital heart disease. RESULTS: A total of 8,748 mother-infant pairs were entered into the analysis, of which 1,458 infants suffered from congenital heart disease. For each 10 µg/m³ increase of gestational exposure to PM_2.5, the ORs (95% confidence interval, 95%CI) ranged from 1.008 (1.001-1.016) to 1.013 (1.001-1.024) during the 1^st-2^nd gestation weeks. Similar weak but increased risks of congenital heart disease were associated with O₃ exposure during the 1^st week and SO₂ exposure during 6^th-7^th weeks in the first trimester, while no significant findings for other air pollutants. CONCLUSIONS This study highlighted that gestational exposure to PM_2.5, O₃, and SO₂ had lag effects on congenital heart disease. Our results support potential benefits for pregnancy women to the mitigation of air pollution exposure in the early stage, especially when a critical exposure time window of air pollutants may precede heart development.
Infant ; Pregnancy ; Child ; Humans ; Female ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Case-Control Studies ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/epidemiology* ; Heart Defects, Congenital/etiology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Particulate Matter/adverse effects* ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects*