ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of exhalation-inhalation exercise on early pulmonary rehabi-litation for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （AECOPD）. MethodsA total of 120 participants with AECOPD were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group， with 60 participants in each group. The control group treated with conventional western medicine， while the treatment group received exhalation-inhalation exercise training on the basis of conventional western medicine treatment， with 30 minutes per session and 5 sessions per week. The course of treatment for both groups was 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the 6-minute walking distance （6MWD）. The secondary outcomes included pulmonary function indexes including forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity （FEV1/FVC）， percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in one second （FEV1%） and percentage of predicted forced vital capacity （FVC%）， St.George's Respiratory Questionnaire （SGRQ） score， modified Medical Research Council （mMRC） dyspnea scale score， COPD assessment test （CAT） score， hospital anxiety and depression scale-anxiety subscale ［HADS（A）］ score， and hospital anxiety and depression scale-depression subscale ［HADS（D）］ score. Meanwhile， safety of all participants was recorded and assessed. ResultsDuring the treatment， 12 participants dropped out from both the treatment group and the control group， with 48 participants in each group finally included in the analysis. The 6MWD of both groups after treatment was higher than that before treatment， and the 6MWD of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. After treatment， the SGRQ score， mMRC score and CAT score of the treatment group were lower than those before treatment， while FEV1%， FVC% and FEV1/FVC were higher than those before treatment （P＜0.05）. Moreover， after treatment， the FEV1/FVC of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group， while the SGRQ score， mMRC score and CAT score were lower than those of the control group （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. There was no statistically significant difference in pulmonary function indexes， SGRQ score， mMRC score and CAT score after treatment in the control group （P＞0.05）. No statistically significant difference was observed in HADS（A） score and HADS（D） score after treatment within and between groups （P＞0.05）. The incidence of adverse reactions in the treatment group was 6.25% （3/48）， and 0 in the control group， with no statistically significant difference between groups （P＞0.05）. ConclusionExhalation-inhalation exercise for patients with AECOPD in early pulmonary rehabilitation can improve patients' exercise tole-rance， quality of life， clinical symptoms and pulmonary function， with good safety.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the impact of the diagnosis-related groups （DRG） payment reform on the length of stay and medical costs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD） in Kashgar region， aiming to provide localized empirical evidence for the optimization of regional medical insurance payment methods. METHODS Based on the inpatient settlement database of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Healthcare Security Administration， settlement data of COPD inpatients from 17 medical institutions in Kashgar region between January 1， 2022， and December 31， 2024， were extracted. The overall changes in patients’ length of stay and costs were compared before and after the reform. Subsequently， interrupted time series analysis （ITSA） was employed to explore the impact of the DRG payment reform on these variables. RESULTS Following the reform， both the average length of stay and various cost decreased significantly compared to the pre-reform period （ P ＜0.001）. At the overall sample level， the average length of stay， average total cost， average drug cost， average medical service cost， and average examination cost per admission all demonstrated significant long-term downward trends after the reform （ P ＜0.05）. However， the decrease in average out-of-pocket costs and the increase in average consumable costs per admission were not statistically significant （ P ＞0.05）. In tertiary medical institutions， the average length of stay and all categories of costs （except average consumable costs per admission） exhibited significant long-term upward trends after the reform （ P ＜0.05）； conversely， in secondary and lower-level medical institutions， the average length of stay， average total cost， average drug cost， average medical service cost， and average examination cost per admission showed significant long-term downward trends （ P ＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS The DRG payment reform has achieved an overall effect of reducing the length of stay and controlling costs in COPD patients from Kashgar region. However， the effects vary across different levels of medical institutions： secondary and lower-level institutions show a long-term downward trend in length of stay and costs， whereas tertiary institutions exhibit a long-term upward trend. Furthermore， patients’ out-of-pocket financial burden does not show significant improvement.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) represents a paradigmatic approach to personalized medicine, developed through the systematic accumulation and refinement of clinical empirical data over more than 2000 years, and now encompasses large-scale electronic medical records (EMR) and experimental molecular data. Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated its utility in medicine through the development of various expert systems (e.g., MYCIN) since the 1970s. With the emergence of deep learning and large language models (LLMs), AI's potential in medicine shows considerable promise. Consequently, the integration of AI and TCM from both clinical and scientific perspectives presents a fundamental and promising research direction. This survey provides an insightful overview of TCM AI research, summarizing related research tasks from three perspectives: systems-level biological mechanism elucidation, real-world clinical evidence inference, and personalized clinical decision support. The review highlights representative AI methodologies alongside their applications in both TCM scientific inquiry and clinical practice. To critically assess the current state of the field, this work identifies major challenges and opportunities that constrain the development of robust research capabilities-particularly in the mechanistic understanding of TCM syndromes and herbal formulations, novel drug discovery, and the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered clinical care. The findings underscore that future advancements in AI-driven TCM research will rely on the development of high-quality, large-scale data repositories; the construction of comprehensive and domain-specific knowledge graphs (KGs); deeper insights into the biological mechanisms underpinning clinical efficacy; rigorous causal inference frameworks; and intelligent, personalized decision support systems.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Artificial Intelligence ; Humans ; Precision Medicine ; Decision Support Systems, Clinical

Objective:To investigate the outcomes of endoscopic balloon dilation laryngoplasty （EBDL） in managing acquired subglottic stenosis in children. Methods:A retrospective analysis of clinical data from patients who underwent endoscopic balloon dilation for secondary subglottic stenosis between January 2017 and January 2024 at Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai. The study included 10 children （6 males, 4 females） aged between 13 days and 3 years at the time of their first procedure, with an average age of 7 months. Subglottic stenosis was graded according to the Myer-Cotton classification, with two cases classified as grade Ⅱ and eight cases as grade Ⅲ. All patients had a history of tracheal intubation, including seven for rescue purposes and three for operations. Eight cases were complicated by other conditions: two with atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, and patent foramen ovale; two with patent foramen ovale only; one with atrial septal defect and extreme deafness in the left ear; one with a brain tumor and hydrocephalus; one with a traumatic diaphragmatic hernia and hepatic rupture; and one case complicated by type Ⅰ laryngeal cleft. Prior to surgery, all children required respiratory support-seven needed high-flow oxygen while three required CPAP. Results:All ten cases underwent endoscopic balloon dilation under spontaneous respiration and general anesthesia, totaling fourteen dilations （an average of 1.4 dilations per person） without any complications. Post-surgery air permeability tests showed that eight cases had grade Ⅰ stenosis while two had grade Ⅱ stenosis. The follow-up period ranged from six months to six years （average duration: 46 months）. Following treatment, all patients no longer required respiratory support or experienced significant mobility limitations. Conclusion:Endoscopic balloon dilation under general anesthesia is deemed safe and effective in treating secondary subglottic stenosis. Early diagnosis coupled with prompt intervention can help avoid tracheotomy procedures altogether. Standard tracheoscopy combined with breathability testing represents a crucial approach to assess normal airway diameter and effectively reduce or prevent secondary subglottic stenosis following re-intubation.
Humans ; Laryngostenosis/surgery* ; Male ; Female ; Retrospective Studies ; Laryngoplasty/methods* ; Child, Preschool ; Infant ; Dilatation/methods* ; Laryngoscopy/methods* ; Treatment Outcome ; Endoscopy

The translocator protein (TSPO) positron emission tomography (PET) can noninvasively detect neuroinflammation associated with epileptogenesis and epilepsy. This study explored the role of the TSPO-targeting radioligand [¹⁸F]F-TFQC, an m-trifluoromethyl ER176 analog, in the PET neuroimaging of epileptic rats. Initially, [¹⁸F]F-TFQC was synthesized with a radiochemical yield of 8%-10% (EOS), a radiochemical purity of over 99%, and a specific activity of 38.21 ± 1.73 MBq/nmol (EOS). After determining that [¹⁸F]F-TFQC exhibited good biochemical properties, [¹⁸F]F-TFQC PET neuroimaging was performed in epileptic rats at multiple time points in various stages of disease progression. PET imaging showed specific [¹⁸F]F-TFQC uptake in the right hippocampus (KA-injected site, i.e., epileptogenic zone), which was most pronounced at 1 week (T/NT 1.63 ± 0.21) and 1 month (T/NT 1.66 ± 0.20). The PET results were further validated using autoradiography and pathological analysis. Thus, [¹⁸F]F-TFQC can reflect the TSPO levels and localize the epileptogenic zone, thereby offering the potential for monitoring neuroinflammation and guiding anti-inflammatory treatment in patients with epilepsy.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2024.09.010.].

Despite therapy with potent antiviral agents, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients remain at high risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While metabolites have been rediscovered as active drivers of biological processes including carcinogenesis, the specific metabolites modulating HCC risk in CHB patients are largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that baseline plasma from CHB patients who later developed HCC during follow-up exhibits growth-promoting properties in a case-control design nested within a large-scale, prospective cohort. Metabolomics analysis reveals a reduction in long-chain acylcarnitines (LCACs) in the baseline plasma of patients with HCC development. LCACs preferentially inhibit the proliferation of HCC cells in vitro at a physiological concentration and prevent the occurrence of HCC in vivo without hepatorenal toxicity. Uptake and metabolism of circulating LCACs increase the intracellular level of acetyl coenzyme A, which upregulates histone H3 Lys14 acetylation at the promoter region of KLF6 gene and thereby activates KLF6/p21 pathway. Indeed, blocking LCAC metabolism attenuates the difference in KLF6/p21 expression induced by baseline plasma of HCC/non-HCC patients. The deficiency of circulating LCACs represents a driver of HCC in CHB patients with viral control. These insights provide a promising direction for developing therapeutic strategies to reduce HCC risk further in the antiviral era.

An overview of the application of association rule mining(ARM)in real-world study(RWD)on drug safety to inform pharmacovigilance real-world data analysis.The applications of ARM in RWD of drug safety were divided into single drug/vaccine signal detection,combined medication risk mining,multidimensional risk factor analysis and adverse drug event occurrence characterization based on passive monitoring data;medication characterization pattern analysis,auxiliary epidemiological study design and risk mining of the whole dataset based on active monitoring data.In general,foreign scholars pay more attention to method rule setting,performance evaluation and application research,while domestic scholars pay more attention to multidimensional risk factor analysis,adverse drug event occurrence pattern,and clinical drug use characteristics research.With the accumulation of medical data and the continuous development of data mining technology,ARM may provide new ideas for RWD on drug safety.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation(TEAS)in reducing the consumption of analgesics after total knee arthroplasty(TKA).Methods Totally 124 patients undergoing unilateral TKA were included and divided into an intervention group and a control group according to random number table method,with 62 cases in each group.Both groups received routine postoperative analgesic protocols,with the intervention group additionally receiving TEAS treatment,30 min per time,twice a day.The additional doses of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia pumps and opioid analgesic consumption in two groups of patients after surgery were analyzed,as well as the adverse events and laboratory test results(WBC,PLT,SCr,BUN,ALT and AST)in both groups.Results The number of additional doses in the intervention group with the patient-controlled analgesia pump and the consumption of opioid analgesic were both lower than those in the control group(P<0.05);the incidence of postoperative nausea symptoms in the intervention group was lower than that in the control group,while other adverse reactions showed no significant difference(P>0.05).There was no significant difference in laboratory test results(WBC,PLT,SCr,BUN,ALT and AST)between the two groups on the day before surgery and on the 1st and 7th days after surgery(P>0.05).Conclusion TEAS can reduce the consumption of analgesics after TKA,decrease some adverse reactions associated with the use of analgesics,and has good safety.