The purpose of this study was to identify the tick species native to Xindi Township,Yumin County,Xinjiang,China.Preliminary morphological identification of parasitic ticks collected from animals in the area was conducted with an ultra-depth of field three-dimensional VHX 600 digital stereo microscope.Total DNA of the ticks was extracted,amplified by PCR based on the COI and ITS2 gene loci,and the posi-tive PCR products were sequenced.The sequence were a-ligned with reference sequences from the NCBI database were aligned with the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool.A genet-ic phylogenetic tree was generated with the neighbor-joining method of MEGA 7.0 software to determine the evolutionary biological characteristics of ticks.Morphological identification showed that the ticks collected from Xindi Township of Yu-min County were consistent with the characteristics of Hya-lomma asiaticum.An evolutionary tree based on the COI and ITS2 gene sequences showed that the ticks collected in this study were clustered with known H.asiaticum sequences.The PCR products of COI and ITS2 were sequenced and compared,which confirmed that the collected tick species were H.asiaticum,in agreement with the morphological and molecular biological results.These findings help to clarify the distribution of ticks in Xindi Township of Xinjiang,and provide basic data for the analysis of tick genetic and evolutionary characteristics,as reference for surveillance and control of ticks in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a relatively high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Risk stratification guided by CVD risk prediction models is essential for managing CKD populations. We reviewed the outcome events, predictive variables, modeling methods, and predictive performance of CVD risk prediction models in CKD populations. We found a large variability in predictive outcomes, number of predictors, and sample sizes across studies. The models tended to overestimate the CVD risk of CKD populations. There are few independently validated or constructed CVD risk prediction models for CKD populations in developing countries, and in particular, there is a lack of independent external validation studies of model calibration. Future studies should comply with the reporting standards of risk prediction models to better support the application of CVD risk prediction models for CKD populations.

Objective:To evaluate the health benefits and intervention efficiency of different strategies of initiating antihypertensive therapy for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in a community-based Chinese population from the Chinese electronic health records research in Yinzhou(CHERRY)study.Methods:A decision-analytic Markov model was used to simulate and compare different antihy-pertensive initiation strategies,including:Strategy 1,initiation of antihypertensive therapy for Chinese adults with systolic blood pressure(SBP)≥140 mmHg(2020 Chinese guideline on the primary preven-tion of cardiovascular diseases);Strategy 2,initiation of antihypertensive therapy for Chinese adults with SBP≥130 mmHg;Strategy 3,initiation of antihypertensive therapy for Chinese adults with SBP ≥140 mmHg,or with SBP between 130 and 140 mmHg and at high risk of cardiovascular diseases(2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline for the prevention,detection,evaluation,and management of high blood pressure in adults);Strategy 4,initiation of antihypertensive therapy for Chinese adults with SBP≥ 160 mmHg,or with SBP between 140 and 160 mmHg and at high risk of car-diovascular diseases(2019 United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline for the hypertension in adults:Diagnosis and management).The high 10-year cardiovascular risk was de-fined as the predicted risk over 10％based on the 2019 World Health Organization cardiovascular disease risk charts.Different strategies were simulated by the Markov model for ten years(cycles),with parame-ters mainly from the CHERRY study or published literature.After ten cycles of simulation,the numbers of quality-adjusted life years(QALY),cardiovascular events and all-cause deaths were calculated to evaluate the health benefits of each strategy,and the numbers needed to treat(NNT)for each cardiovas-cular event or all-cause death could be prevented were calculated to assess the intervention efficiency.One-way sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of incidence rates of cardiovascular disease and probabilis-tic sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of hazard ratios of interventions were conducted.Results:A to-tal of 213 987 Chinese adults aged 35-79 years without cardiovascular diseases were included.Com-pared with strategy 1,the number of cardiovascular events that could be prevented in strategy 2 increased by 666(95％UI:334-975),while the NNT per cardiovascular event prevented increased by 10(95％UI:7-20).In contrast to strategy 1,the number of cardiovascular events that could be prevented in strategy 3 increased by 388(95％UI:194-569),and the NNT per cardiovascular event prevented decreased by 6(95％UI:4-12),suggesting that strategy 3 had better health benefits and intervention efficiency.Compared to strategy 1,although the number of cardiovascular events that could be prevented decreased by 193(95％UI:98-281)in strategy 4,the NNT per cardiovascular event prevented decreased by 18(95％UI:13-37)with better efficiency.The results were consistent in the sensitivity analyses.Conclusion:When initiating antihypertensive therapy in an economically developed area of China,the strategy combined with cardiovascular risk assessment is more efficient than those purely based on the SBP threshold.The cardiovascular risk assessment strategy with different SBP thresholds is suggested to balance health benefits and intervention efficiency in diverse populations.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to analyze the difference in setup error before and after correction of systematic error. To determine the most appropriate image-guided strategy during HT treatment， we use different scanning ranges and image-guidance frequencies in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma （NPC） treated with helical tomotherapy （HT）. MethodsFifteen patients with NPC who received HT treatment in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from October 2019 to February 2020 were selected. Megavoltage computed tomography （MVCT） scanning was performed before each treatment. After five times of radiotherapy， system-error correction was performed to adjust the setup center. The setup errors before and after the correction of systematic errors， as well as the setup errors of different scanning ranges and different scanning frequencies， were collected for analysis and comparison. ResultsWhen comparing the setup errors before and after the correction of systematic error， the differences in setup errors in the left–right （LR）， superior–inferior （SI）， and anterior–posterior （AP） directions were statistically significant （P<0.05）.The different scanning ranges of "nasopharynx + neck" and "nasopharynx" were compared， and a statistically significant difference was found in yaw rotational errors （P<0.05）. In the comparison of daily and weekly scan frequency after system-error correction， a significant difference was found in AP direction （P<0.05）. ConclusionDuring radiotherapy for NPC， the systematic error can be corrected according to the first five setup errors， and then small-scale scanning was selected for image-guided radiotherapy every day.

Discrete event simulation (DES) model is based on individual data, by which discrete events over time are simulated to reflect disease progression. The effects of individual characteristics on disease progression could be considered in the DES model. Moreover, unlike state-transition models, DES model without setting of fixed cycle can contribute to more accurate estimation of event time, especially in the evaluation of the long-term effectiveness of screening strategies for complex diseases in which time dimension needs to be considered. This article introduces the general principles, construction steps, analytic methods and other relevant issues of the DES model. Based on a research case of estimating the cost-effectiveness of screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms in women aged 65 years and above in the United Kingdom, key points in applications of the DES model in analysis on effectiveness of complex disease screening are discussed in detail, including model construction and analysis and interpretation of the results. DES model can predict occurring time of discrete events accurately by establishing the distribution function of their occurring time and is increasingly used to evaluate the screening strategies for complex diseases in which time dimension needs to be considered. In the construction of DES model, it is necessary to pay close attention to the clear presentation of model structure and simulation process and follow the relevant reporting specification to conduct cost-effectiveness analysis to ensure the transparency and repeatability of the research.
Humans ; Female ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Cost-Effectiveness Analysis ; Disease Progression

The development of chemoresistance which results in a poor prognosis often renders current treatments for colorectal cancer(CRC).In this study,we identified reduced microvessel density(MVD)and vascular immaturity resulting from endothelial apoptosis as therapeutic targets for overcoming chemoresistance.We focused on the effect of metformin on MVD,vascular maturity,and endothelial apoptosis of CRCs with a non-angiogenic phenotype,and further investigated its effect in overcoming chemoresistance.In situ transplanted cancer models were established to compare MVD,endothelial apoptosis and vascular maturity,and function in tumors from metformin-and vehicle-treated mice.An in vitro co-culture system was used to observe the effects of metformin on tumor cell-induced endothelial apoptosis.Transcriptome sequencing was performed for genetic screening.Non-angiogenic CRC developed inde-pendently of angiogenesis and was characterized by vascular leakage,immaturity,reduced MVD,and non-hypoxia.This phenomenon had also been observed in human CRC.Furthermore,non-angiogenic CRCs showed a worse response to chemotherapeutic drugs in vivo than in vitro.By suppressing endo-thelial apoptosis,metformin sensitized non-angiogenic CRCs to chemo-drugs via elevation of MVD and improvement of vascular maturity.Further results showed that endothelial apoptosis was induced by tumor cells via activation of caspase signaling,which was abrogated by metformin administration.These findings provide pre-clinical evidence for the involvement of endothelial apoptosis and subsequent vascular immaturity in the chemoresistance of non-angiogenic CRC.By suppressing endothelial apoptosis,metformin restores vascular maturity and function and sensitizes CRC to chemotherapeutic drugs via a vascular mechanism.

Blood stasis syndrome is one of the core clinical syndrome of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the biological connotation of this syndrome is not clear, and there is a lack of disease improved animal models that match the characteristics of this disease and syndrome. The aim of this study was to screen the candidate biomarker gene set of blood stasis syndrome of RA, reveal the biological connotation of this syndrome, and explore and evaluate the preparation method of the improved animal model based on the characteristics of "disease-syndrome-symptom". The study was approved by the ethics committee of Guang'anmen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. 2019-073-KY-01) and the First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. TYLL2021[K]018), and the study subjects gave their informed consent. Animal welfare and experimental procedures followed the regulations of the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. IBTCMCACMS21-2207-01). The whole blood samples were collected clinically from RA patients with blood stasis syndrome (3 cases) or other syndromes (7 types, 3 cases/type), and healthy volunteers (4 cases), and then transcriptome sequencing, KEGG, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) analysis were performed. 126 pivotal genes were screened, and their functional annotation results were significantly enriched in "immune-inflammation" related pathways and lipid metabolism regulation (sphingolipids, ether lipid metabolism and steroid biosynthesis). Syndrome-symptom mapping of hub gene set to the TCM primary and secondary symptoms, Western phenotypic symptoms and pathological links showed that joint tingling, abnormal joint morphology, petechiae and abnormal blood circulation are representative of blood stasis syndrome of RA. The results of the improved animal model showed that the rats in the collagen-induced arthritis + adrenaline hydrochloride (CIA+Adr) 3 model group had increased blood rheology, coagulation, platelet function and endothelial function abnormalities compared with the CIA-alone model group, suggesting that the rats with blood stasis syndrome of RA may be in a state of "blood stasis". The results of the study can help to advance the objective study of the evidence of blood stasis syndrome in RA, and provide new ideas for the establishment of an animal model that reflects the clinical characteristics of the disease and syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the expected population impact of benefit and risk of aspirin treatment strategies for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases recommended by different guidelines in the Chinese Electronic Health Records Research in Yinzhou (CHERRY) study. METHODS: A decision-analytic Markov model was used to simulate and compare different strategies of aspirin treatment, including: Strategy ①: Aspirin treatment for Chinese adults aged 40-69 years with a high 10-year cardiovascular risk, recommended by the 2020 Chinese Guideline on the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases; Strategy ②: Aspirin treatment for Chinese adults aged 40-59 years with a high 10-year cardiovascular risk, recommended by the 2022 United States Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement on Aspirin Use to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease; Strategy ③: Aspirin treatment for Chinese adults aged 40-69 years with a high 10-year cardiovascular risk and blood pressure well-controlled (< 150/90 mmHg), recommended by the 2019 Guideline on the Assessment and Management of Cardio-vascular Risk in China. The high 10-year cardiovascular risk was defined as the 10-year predicted risk over 10% based on the 2019 World Health Organization non-laboratory model. The Markov model simulated different strategies for ten years (cycles) with parameters mainly from the CHERRY study or published literature. Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and the number needed to treat (NNT) for each ischemic event (including myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke) were calculated to assess the effectiveness of the different strategies. The number needed to harm (NNH) for each bleeding event (including hemorrhagic stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding) was calculated to assess the safety. The NNT for each net benefit (i.e., the difference of the number of ischemic events could be prevented and the number of bleeding events would be added) was also calculated. One-way sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of the incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases and probabilistic sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of hazard ratios of interventions were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 212 153 Chinese adults, were included in this study. The number of people who were recommended for aspirin treatment Strategies ①-③ was 34 235, 2 813, and 25 111, respectively. The Strategy ③ could gain the most QALY of 403 [95% uncertainty interval (UI): 222-511] years. Compared with Strategy ①, Strategy ③ had similar efficiency but better safety, with the extra NNT of 4 (95%UI: 3-4) and NNH of 39 (95%UI: 19-132). The NNT per net benefit was 131 (95%UI: 102-239) for Strategy ①, 256 (95%UI: 181-737) for Strategy ②, and 132 (95%UI: 104-232) for Strategy ③, making Strategy ③ the most favorable option with a better QALY and safety, along with similar efficiency in terms of net benefit. The results were consistent in the sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION The aspirin treatment strategies recommended by the updated guidelines on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases showed a net benefit for high-risk Chinese adults from developed areas. However, to balance effectiveness and safety, aspirin is suggested to be used for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases with consideration for blood pressure control, resulting in better intervention efficiency.
Adult ; Humans ; Aspirin/therapeutic use* ; Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology* ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; Myocardial Infarction/prevention & control* ; Primary Prevention/methods* ; Middle Aged ; Aged

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of statin treatment strategies based on risk assessment for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases by the Western guidelines in a community-based Chinese population from economically developed areas using data from the Chinese electronic health records research in Yinzhou (CHERRY) study. METHODS: A Markov model was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the following statin treatment strategies, including: (1) usual care without cardiovascular risk assessment(Strategy 0); (2) using the World Health Organization (WHO) non-laboratory-based risk charts with statin treatment for high-risk group (risk ≥ 20%) (Strategy 1); (3) using the WHO laboratory-based risk charts with statin treatment for high-risk group (risk ≥ 20%) (Strategy 2); and (4) using the Prediction for Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease Risk in China (China-PAR) model with statin treatment for high-risk group (risk ≥ 10%, Strategy 3). According to the guidelines, adults in the medium-risk group received lifestyle intervention, and adults in the high-risk group received life-style intervention and statin treatment under these strategies. The Markov model simulated different strategies for ten years (cycles) using parameters from the CHERRY study, published data, meta-analyses and systematic reviews for Chinese. The number of cardiovascular events or deaths, as well as the number need to treat (NNT) with statin per cardiovascular event or death prevented, were calculated to compare the effectiveness of different strategies. One-way sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases, and probabilistic sensitivity analysis on the uncertainty of hazard ratios of interventions were conducted. RESULTS: Totally 225 811 Chinese adults aged 40-79 years without cardiovascular diseases at baseline were enrolled. In contrast to the usual care without risk assessment-based statin treatment strategy, Strategy 1 using the WHO non-laboratory-based risk charts could prevent 3 482 [95% uncertainty interval (UI): 2 110-4 661] cardiovascular events, Strategy 2 using the WHO laboratory-based risk charts could prevent 3 685 (95%UI: 2 255-4 912) events, and Strategy 3 using the China-PAR model could prevent 3 895 (95%UI: 2 396-5 181) events. NNTs with statin per cardiovascular event prevented were 22 (95%UI: 14-54), 21 (95%UI: 14-52), and 27 (95%UI: 17-67), respectively. Strategy 3 could prevent more cardiovascular events, while Strategies 1 and 2 required fewer numbers need to treat with statin per cardiovascular event prevented. The results were consistent in the sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION The statin treatment strategies based on risk assessment for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases recommended by the Western guidelines could achieve substantive health benefits in adults from developed areas of China. Using the China-PAR model for cardiovascular risk assessment could prevent more cardiovascular diseases while using the WHO risk charts seems more efficient.
Adult ; Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors/therapeutic use* ; Primary Prevention

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of different screening strategies for type 2 diabetes to prevent cardiovascular disease in a community-based Chinese population from economically developed areas based on the Chinese electronic health records research in Yinzhou (CHERRY) study. METHODS: A Markov model was used to simulate different systematic diabetes screening strategies, including: (1) screening among Chinese adults aged 40-70 years recommended by the 2020 Chinese Guideline for the prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (Strategy 1); (2) screening among Chinese adults aged 35 to 70 years recommended by the 2022 American Diabetes Association Standard of Medical Care in Diabetes (Strategy 2); and (3) screening among Chinese adults aged 35-70 years with overweight or obesity recommended by the 2021 United States Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement on Screening for Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes (Strategy 3). According to the guidelines, individuals who were screened positively (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 7.0 mmol/L) would be introduced to intensive glycemic targets management (glycated hemoglobin < 7.0%).The Markov model simulated different screening scenarios for ten years (cycles) with parameters mainly from the CHERRY study or published literature. Number of cardiovascular disease events or deaths could be prevented and number needed to screen (NNS) were calculated to compare the effectiveness of the different strategies. One-way sensitivity analysis on the sensitivity of screening methods and probabilistic sensitivity analysis on uncertainties of diabetes incidence, the sensitivity of screening methods, and intensive glycemic management effects were conducted. RESULTS: Totally 289 245 Chinese adults aged 35-70 years without cardiovascular diseases or diagnosed diabetes at baseline were enrolled. In terms of the number of cardiovascular disease events could be prevented, Strategy 1 for systematic diabetes screening among the adults aged 35-70 years was 222 (95%UI: 180-264), Strategy 2 for systematic diabetes screening among the adults aged 40-70 years was 227 (95%UI: 185-271), and Strategy 3 for systematic diabetes screening among the adults aged 35-70 years with obesity or overweight (body mass index ≥ 24 kg/m²) was 131 (95%UI: 98-164), compared with opportunistic screening. NNS per cardiovascular disease event for the strategies 1, 2 and 3 were 1 184 (95%UI: 994-1 456), 1 274 (95%UI: 1 067-1 564) and 814 (95%UI: 649-1 091), respectively. Compared with Strategy 1, NNS per cardiovascular disease event for Strategy 2 increased by 90 (95%UI: -197-381) with similar effectiveness of cardiovascular prevention; however, NNS per cardiovascular disease event for Strategy 3 was reduced by 460 (95%UI: 185-724) in contrast to the Strategy 2, suggesting that the Strategy 3 was more efficient. The results were consistent in multiple sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION Systematic screening for diabetes based on the latest guidelines in economically developed areas of China can reduce cardiovascular events and deaths. However, merely lowering the starting age of screening from 40 to 35 years seems ineffective for preventing cardiovascular disease, while screening strategy for Chinese adults aged 35-70 years with overweight or obesity is recommended to improve efficiency.
Adult ; Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control* ; China/epidemiology* ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/prevention & control* ; Humans ; Mass Screening/methods* ; Obesity ; Overweight ; United States