Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease lacking effective therapy. Metformin, an antidiabetic medication, has shown promising therapeutic properties in preclinical fibrosis models; however, its precise cellular targets and associated mechanisms in fibrosis resolution remain incompletely defined. Most research on metformin's effects has focused on mesenchymal and inflammatory responses with limited attention to epithelial cells. In this study, we utilized Sftpc lineage-traced and Fgfr2b conditional knockout mice, along with BMP2/PPARγ and AMPK inhibitors, to explore metformin's impact on alveolar epithelial cells in a bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis model and cell culture. We found that metformin increased the proliferation and differentiation of alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells, particularly the recently identified injury-activated alveolar progenitors (IAAPs)-a subpopulation characterized by low SFTPC expression but enriched for PD-L1. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed a reduction in apoptosis among mature AT2 cells. Interestingly, metformin's therapeutic effects were not significantly affected by BMP2 or PPARγ inhibition, which blocked the lipogenic differentiation of myofibroblasts. However, Fgfr2b deletion in Sftpc lineage cells significantly impaired metformin's ability to promote fibrosis resolution, a process linked to AMPK signaling. In conclusion, metformin alleviates fibrosis by directly activating AT2 cells, especially the IAAPs, through a mechanism that involves AMPK and FGFR2b signaling, but is largely independent of BMP2/PPARγ pathways.

Objective To explore the potential categories of frailty development trajectories in patients undergoing cardiac surgery from pre-operation to 6 months post-operation,and analyze the influencing factors.Methods By a longitudinal study design,patients undergoing elective heart valve replacement surgery or coronary artery bypass grafting in a tertiary general hospital in Zunyi City from August 2022 to June 2023 were selected by the convenience sampling method.Tilburg frailty scale was used to investigate the frailty level of cardiac surgery patients 1 day before surgery(T0),1 month(T1),3 months(T2)and 6 months after surgery(T3).The growth mixture model was used to identify the trajectory categories,and the influencing factors of different frailty trajectories were analyzed by binary Logistic regression.Results 261 patients were enrolled at T0,with 22,9,and 3 patients lost at T1 to T3,and 227 patients were finally included in the analysis.There were 2 types of trajectories being identified as the low frailty decline group and the high frailty maintenance group.Age,use of sedative and analgesic drugs,pace,and depression were the factors influencing the frailty in cardiac surgery patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion There are 2 kinds of frailty development trajectories in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Medical staff should fonnulate precise interventions and nursing measures according to the factors influencing frailty,so as to improve frailty degree and quality of life of patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupuncture at Jiaji (EX-B2) points on upper limb motor dysfunction in patients after stroke. METHODS: A total of 62 patients with upper limb motor dysfunction after stroke were randomly assigned to an observation group (n=31, 3 cases dropped out) and a control group (n=31, 2 cases dropped out). Both groups received routine medical treatment and rehabilitation training. The control group was treated with conventional acupuncture at the affected side's Jianyu (LI15), Quchi (LI11), Shousanli (LI10), Huantiao (GB30), Yanglingquan (GB34), and Zusanli (ST36) etc. On this basis, the observation group received additional acupuncture at the affected side's Jiaji points from C₄ to T₅. Treatment was administered once daily, five times a week, for four weeks. Motor evoked potential (MEP) latency and amplitude of the abductor pollicis brevis and abductor digiti minimi, Fugl-Meyer assessment for upper extremity (FMA-UE), and Wolf motor function test (WMFT) scores were compared before and after treatment in the two groups. RESULTS: After treatment, both groups showed increased MEP amplitudes and decreased latencies of the abductor pollicis brevis and abductor digiti minimi (P<0.05), as well as increased FMA-UE and WMFT scores (P<0.05); the observation group had greater MEP amplitudes, shorter latencies, and higher FMA-UE and WMFT scores compared to the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Acupuncture at Jiaji (EX-B2) points could enhance the excitability of upper limb motor neural pathways in upper limb motor dysfunction after stroke patients, thereby promoting motor function recovery of the upper limb.
Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Acupuncture Points ; Stroke/complications* ; Upper Extremity/physiopathology* ; Aged ; Adult ; Stroke Rehabilitation ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of platelet autophagy related factors and peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer.Methods The data of 360 patients with gastric cancer who underwent surgery in Hunan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2021 to May 2023 were reviewed.Patients were divided into non-peritoneal metastasis group(n=322)and peritoneal metastasis group(n=38)according to whether peritoneal metastasis occurred or not.The following information was collected:patient's personal information(i.e.age,sex,body mass index)and tumor characteristics(i.e.location,size,pathological type,histopathological differentiation,lymphatic infiltration).Platelets were collected from all subjects,and the levels of autophagy-associated protein 7(ATG7),benzalkonium chloride 1(BECN1),microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3)and sequestosome 1(p62)were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Among the 360 patients included,peritoneal metastasis was detected in 38 cases.Compared with the non-peritoneal metastasis group,the peritoneal metastasis group exhibited decreased BMI(P<0.05),while the tumor size,non-ulcerative tumor,number of lymph node metastasis,infiltration depth,number of cases of lymphatic invasion,platelet count,platelet LC3-Ⅱ level,platelet ATG7 level and CEA level were increased(P<0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that BMI(OR=1.094),lymphatic invasion(OR=2.658),and LC3-Ⅱ(OR=3.793)and ATG7(OR=2.010)were independent influencing factors for peritoneal metastasis in patients with gastric cancer(P<0.05).LC3-Ⅱ>2.59ng/ml had the highest ability to predict peritoneal metastasis in patients with gastric cancer(AUC=0.932),followed by ATG7(AUC=0.916).Conclusions Elevated levels of platelet LC3-Ⅱ and ATG7 are independently related to peritoneal metastasis in patients with gastric cancer,and can be used to predict the occurrence of peritoneal metastasis,which is helpful to guide individualized treatment.

Objective To explore the potential categories of frailty development trajectories in patients undergoing cardiac surgery from pre-operation to 6 months post-operation,and analyze the influencing factors.Methods By a longitudinal study design,patients undergoing elective heart valve replacement surgery or coronary artery bypass grafting in a tertiary general hospital in Zunyi City from August 2022 to June 2023 were selected by the convenience sampling method.Tilburg frailty scale was used to investigate the frailty level of cardiac surgery patients 1 day before surgery(T0),1 month(T1),3 months(T2)and 6 months after surgery(T3).The growth mixture model was used to identify the trajectory categories,and the influencing factors of different frailty trajectories were analyzed by binary Logistic regression.Results 261 patients were enrolled at T0,with 22,9,and 3 patients lost at T1 to T3,and 227 patients were finally included in the analysis.There were 2 types of trajectories being identified as the low frailty decline group and the high frailty maintenance group.Age,use of sedative and analgesic drugs,pace,and depression were the factors influencing the frailty in cardiac surgery patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion There are 2 kinds of frailty development trajectories in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Medical staff should fonnulate precise interventions and nursing measures according to the factors influencing frailty,so as to improve frailty degree and quality of life of patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Objective To retrospectively analyze the research on the integrated medical and elderly care in China in re-cent ten years,and explore the research hotspots and future research trend of the integrated medical and elderly care.Methods Using the method of literature research,the journal articles with the theme of combination of medical care and nursing,integration of medical care and nursing or medical care and nursing service from 2013 to 2023 were searched in CNKI.The sources were lim-ited to Peking University Core,CSSCI,CSCD and AMI,and the selected articles were analyzed by CiteSpace.Results This ar-ticle takes 896 literatures as research objects,we found that the number of articles reached a peak in 2018,the higher number of articles issued by the institutions are medicine-related institutions.The high-frequency keywords are the integrated medical and elderly care,elderly services,senior citizens,elderly care institutions and elderly care model.The strongest emergent word de-tected is health care integration.Conclusion In the past ten years,domestic research on the integration of medical care and eld-erly care has shown diversification and innovation.Policy tools,pension insurance,community and rural pension,quality evalua-tion index system,influencing factors were the research focus of scholars.Future research needs to focus on the application of quantitative methods,empirical and practical analysis.

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) possess a rich historical background, unique theoretical framework, remarkable therapeutic efficacy, and abundant resources. However, the modernization and internationalization of TCMs have faced significant obstacles due to their diverse ingredients and unknown mechanisms. To gain deeper insights into the phytochemicals and ensure the quality control of TCMs, there is an urgent need to enhance analytical techniques. Currently, two-dimensional (2D) chromatography, which incorporates two independent separation mechanisms, demonstrates superior separation capabilities compared to the traditional one-dimensional (1D) separation system when analyzing TCMs samples. Over the past decade, new techniques have been continuously developed to gain actionable insights from complex samples. This review presents the recent advancements in the application of multidimensional chromatography for the quality evaluation of TCMs, encompassing 2D-gas chromatography (GC), 2D-liquid chromatography (LC), as well as emerging three-dimensional (3D)-GC, 3D-LC, and their associated data-processing approaches. These studies highlight the promising potential of multidimensional chromatographic separation for future phytochemical analysis. Nevertheless, the increased separation capability has resulted in higher-order data sets and greater demands for data-processing tools. Considering that multidimensional chromatography is still a relatively nascent research field, further hardware enhancements and the implementation of chemometric methods are necessary to foster its robust development.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy of the intelligent version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale(MoCA)in identifying mild cognitive impairment(MCI)in elderly inpatients.Methods:Seventy-five patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment(MCI group)from the Neurology and Geriatrics Departments of a tertiary hospital in Changsha City, along with 195 patients with normal cognitive function(normal control group), were selected between July 2020 and December 2022.Both groups underwent evaluations using the intelligent version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)and the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), and the results were analyzed.Results:The MCI group showed significantly lower total MoCA scores and MMSE scores[(19.73±2.42) vs.(24.8±2.33)]compared to the normal control group[(24.47±2.02) vs.(26.50±1.65)], with a statistically significant difference( P<0.01).The optimal cut-off score for the MoCA was found to be 23.5 points in diagnosing MCI, showing higher sensitivity, specificity, and kappa value(96.0%, 82.1%, and 0.690)compared to the MMSE scale(90.0%, 62.6%, and 0.428). Conclusions:The intelligent MoCA has a high screening accuracy for identifying MCI in this population, demonstrating superior sensitivity and specificity compared to the MMSE.

Objective:To explore the correlation between lean nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic indicators in a young and middle-aged population undergoing physical examination.Methods:It was a cross-sectional study. A total of 8 250 individuals who underwent routine physical examinations at the Health Medical Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January to December 2021 and met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected as the research subbjects. The general examination, fasting blood glucose, blood lipids, liver function, renal function, and fasting color ultrasound examination results were analyzed retrospectively to assess the correlation between lean NAFLD and major metabolic indicators using independent sample t-test, chi-square test, and multivariable logistic regression. Results:The prevalence of lean NAFLD was higher in men than in women (50.7% vs. 49.3%, χ2=97.261, P<0.001). After stratifying the age of onset of lean NAFLD, the peak age of onset was found to be between 45 and 59 years, with the prevalence gradually increasing with age. When stratified by body mass index (BMI), the peak incidence of lean NAFLD was observed in individuals with a BMI of ≥20 and <23 kg/m 2, with the prevalence showing a significant upward trend as BMI increased. The systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, fasting blood glucose, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, γ-glutamyltransferase, and serum uric acid in lean NAFLD groupwere all significantly higher than those in lean non-NAFLD group (all P<0.01), and the level of high density lipoprotein was significantly lower than that of lean non-NAFLD group ( t=23.755, P<0.001). The logistic analysis showed that systolic blood pressure ( OR=1.258, 95% CI: 1.081-1.465), diastolic blood pressure ( OR=1.282, 95% CI: 1.056-1.557), total cholesterol ( OR=1.712, 95% CI: 1.525-1.923), triglyceride ( OR=4.115, 95% CI: 3.621-4.676), alanine aminotransferase ( OR=1.467, 95% CI: 1.104-1.950), γ-glutamyltransferase ( OR=1.482, 95% CI: 1.242-1.769), fasting blood glucose ( OR=2.479, 95% CI: 2.092-2.939) and serum uric acid ( OR=1.390, 95% CI: 1.236-1.563) were independent metabolic risk factors for lean NAFLD (all P<0.05). Conclusions:The levels of various metabolic markers in young and middle-aged patients with lean NAFLD increase, and the risk of lean NAFLD increases. Metabolic markers are helpful to screen people at risk of lean NAFLD.

Objective:To understand the current situation of early mobilization in elder patients with acute ischemic stroke, and to analyze the influencing factors of early mobilization in patients with different degrees of neurological deficits, aiming to provide evidence for promoting early mobilization in patients with stroke and for formulating intervention strategies.Methods:Patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to the stroke centers of two class A tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province between January and December 2021 were enrolled.The degree of neurological impairment, activities of daily living and muscle strength were evaluated within 24 hours after admission, and patients' performance of early mobilization was recorded.Based on whether patients performed out-of-bed activities such as sitting at the bedside, standing or walking, transferring from bed to chair within 48 hours after admission, they were divided into an early ambulation group and a non-early ambulation group.Univariate analysis and Logistic regression analysis were then used to examine the influencing factors of early ambulation in patients with mild to moderate neurological deficits.Results:Among 257 patients with acute ischemic stroke, 60.7%(156 cases)conducted early mobilization.The rate of early mobilization for patients with moderate neurological deficits was only 12.9%(12/193), significantly lower than that for patients with mild neurological deficits(87.8%, 144/164)( χ2=139.571, P<0.001).Univariate analysis showed that there were significantly differences in the level of activities of daily living, stroke history, strength of the upper and lower limbs of the affected side between the early and non-early ambulation groups with moderate neurological impairment(all P<0.05), and there were significant differences in the level of activities of daily living between the early ambulation group and the non-early ambulation group in patients with mild neurological impairment( χ2=11.907, P<0.001).Logistic regression analysis showed that requiring assistance in daily life( OR=4.189, 95% CI: 1.724-10.668, P=0.002), muscle strength of the affected lower extremity ≤ grade 3( OR=9.605, 95% CI: 2.627-35.113, P=0.001)and moderate neurological deficits( OR=8.585, 95% CI: 3.216-22.913, P<0.001)were the risk factors of early mobilization in stroke patients. Conclusions:The rate of stroke patients with moderate neurological impairment performing early mobilization is low within 48 hours after admission.Activities of daily living ability, limb muscle strength and degrees of neurological deficits are influencing factors of early mobilization in stroke patients.