1.Epidemiological survey of Helicobacter pylori infection and correlation of dietary and lifestyle habits among adult physical examination population in Xuzhou Area
Jiao JIAO ; Xingsong JIANG ; Chunping QIAN ; Shujuan GAO ; Shuli ZHAO ; Jie ZHUANG ; Hui ZHANG ; Yun ZHU
Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine 2026;37(1):163-166
Objective To explore the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection and its association with dietary and lifestyle habits among the adult physical examination population in Xuzhou area. Methods Retrospectively selected the physical examination population who underwent HP testing at our hospital's physical examination center from May 2021 to December 2023 as the research object. The prevalence of Hp infection in the population was analyzed based on the physical examination results. A questionnaire survey was used to collect information on the eating and living habits of all study subjects. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between eating and living habits and Hp infection. Results A total of 1 354 physical examination people were included in the study, and the Hp infection rate was 37.30% (505/1354). The difference in Hp infection rates among people of different age groups is statistically significant (P<0.05), with the middle-aged population (41-59 years old) having the highest Hp positive infection rate (45.38%).High salt (41.11%), hot diet (40.56%), history of smoking (45.23%) and drinking (43.80%), less consumption of fruits and vegetables (43.73%), irregular exercise (41.29%), irregular diet People who frequently eat out (43.56%) and eat out frequently (42.57%) have a higher Hp infection rate (P<0.05).After adjusting for demographic factors such as gender, age, place of residence and education level, multivariate Logistic regression results showed that high-salt diet (OR=3.975, 95%CI: 2.670-5.917) and hot diet (OR=3.357, 95%CI: 2.291-4.919), smoking (OR=1.458, 95%CI: 1.082-1.964), drinking alcohol (OR=1.654, 95%CI: 1.279-2.138), eating fruits and vegetables (OR=1.759, 95%CI: 1.345-2.301), regular exercise (OR=1.822, 95%CI: 1.371-2.421), regular diet (OR=1.893, 95%CI: 1.391-2.575), eating out (OR=1.690, 95%CI: 1.277-2.237) were associated with the risk of Hp infection (P<0.05). Conclusion The positive infection rate of Hp among the physical examination population in Xuzhou is slightly lower than the average epidemic level in China. Cultivating healthy eating and living habits can effectively reduce the risk of Hp infection.
2.Research on the current situation and development suggestions of centralized (cloud) prescription review center of the close-knit county-level medical consortium in a city
Lu HE ; Mingyang ZHU ; Xiaolei HU ; Yan QIAN
China Pharmacy 2026;37(5):578-583
OBJECTIVE To investigate the actual construction and operation status of established and under-construction centralized (cloud) prescription review centers (shortened for “prescription review center”) of close-knit county-level medical consortium in a certain city, so as to provide reference for improving the construction quality of the prescription review center. METHODS An online questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the data from 51 established and under-construction prescription review center in the city, covering basic information, funding sources, talent management, system construction, review rule maintenance, prescription review practices, prescription evaluation, data utilization, and current challenges. The collected data were summarized and analyzed. RESULTS A total of 51 valid questionnaires were retrieved, covering 32 established and 19 under-construction prescription review center. Among the 32 established prescription review centers, the main funding sources for their construction came from government financial allocations, accounting for 56.25%. Only 25.00% of prescription review center had review pharmacists who fully met national qualification requirements, and just 55.00% updated more than 10 review rule entries per month on average. Outpatient prescription verification realized full coverage, but 37.50% of prescription review centers only supported rationality verification of single prescriptions, and 50.00% could not retrieve laboratory and examination results to assist in prescription review. Additionally, 40.62% of prescription review center had not regularly conducted prescription evaluations for primary care institutions. The data from prescription review center was mainly used to support medication monitoring. Among the 19 prescription review centers currently in the planning stage, 63.16% had no identified funding sources. CONCLUSIONS The operation and construction of prescription review center in the city face challenges, such as funding shortages, absence of collaborative incentive mechanisms, and insufficient manpower.It is suggested that the state should issue a unified standard for the construction of the prescription review center as soon as possible, and local health administrative departments should formulate supporting policies and clarify assessment indicators in combination with the actual situation of the region.
3.Statistical approaches to causal inference in environmental epidemiology: Methodological introductions and R implementations
Guiming ZHU ; Wanying LIU ; Yanchao WEN ; Simin HE ; Qian GAO ; Tong WANG
Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2026;43(2):253-260
Environmental pollution is a significant public health challenge worldwide, and investigating the causal relationship between environmental exposure and population health outcomes is a key objective of environmental epidemiology research. In recent years, the complexity of environmental exposures has increasingly come to the forefront, making it challenging for observational studies that dominate environmental epidemiology to accurately estimate causal effects. Causal inference methods are particularly advantageous in controlling for confounding factors, thus holding great potential in environmental epidemiology research. Researchers can use appropriate causal inference methods to simulate the process of randomization, providing strong support for revealing the causal relationship between environmental exposure and health outcomes. However, there is a lack of reviews on the application of causal inference methods in environmental epidemiology studies in China. Therefore, this study introduced the basic principles of common causal inference statistical methods in environmental epidemiology, summarized the applicable conditions, advantages and disadvantages of various methods, and provided R software implementation codes for these methods, aiming to offer guidance for optimizing research design and practicing causal inference statistical methods.
4.A machine learning-based depression recognition model integrating spirit-expression features from traditional Chinese medicine
Minghui YAO ; Rongrong ZHU ; Peng QIAN ; Huilin LIU ; Xirong SUN ; Limin GAO ; Fufeng LI
Digital Chinese Medicine 2026;9(1):68-79
Objective:
To develop a depression recognition model by integrating the spirit-expression diagnostic framework of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with machine learning algorithms. The proposed model seeks to establish a TCM-informed tool for early depression screening, thereby bridging traditional diagnostic principles with modern computational approaches.
Methods:
The study included patients with depression who visited the Shanghai Pudong New Area Mental Health Center from October 1, 2022 to October 1, 2023, as well as students and teachers from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the same period as the healthy control group. Videos of 3 – 10 s were captured using a Xiaomi Pad 5, and the TCM spirit and expressions were determined by TCM experts (at least 3 out of 5 experts agreed to determine the category of TCM spirit and expressions). Basic information, facial images, and interview information were collected through a portable TCM intelligent analysis and diagnosis device, and facial diagnosis features were extracted using the Open CV computer vision library technology. Statistical analysis methods such as parametric and non-parametric tests were used to analyze the baseline data, TCM spirit and expression features, and facial diagnosis feature parameters of the two groups, to compare the differences in TCM spirit and expression and facial features. Five machine learning algorithms, including extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), decision tree (DT), Bernoulli naive Bayes (BernoulliNB), support vector machine (SVM), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN) classification, were used to construct a depression recognition model based on the fusion of TCM spirit and expression features. The performance of the model was evaluated using metrics such as accuracy, precision, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). The model results were explained using the Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP).
Results:
A total of 93 depression patients and 87 healthy individuals were ultimately included in this study. There was no statistically significant difference in the baseline characteristics between the two groups (P > 0.05). The differences in the characteristics of the spirit and expressions in TCM and facial features between the two groups were shown as follows. (i) Quantispirit facial analysis revealed that depression patients exhibited significantly reduced facial spirit and luminance compared with healthy controls (P < 0.05), with characteristic features such as sad expressions, facial erythema, and changes in the lip color ranging from erythematous to cyanotic. (ii) Depressed patients exhibited significantly lower values in facial complexion L, lip L, and a values, and gloss index, but higher values in facial complexion a and b, lip b, low gloss index, and matte index (all P < 0.05). (iii) The results of multiple models show that the XGBoost-based depression recognition model, integrating the TCM “spirit-expression” diagnostic framework, achieved an accuracy of 98.61% and significantly outperformed four benchmark algorithms—DT, BernoulliNB, SVM, and KNN (P < 0.01). (iv) The SHAP visualization results show that in the recognition model constructed by the XGBoost algorithm, the complexion b value, categories of facial spirit, high gloss index, low gloss index, categories of facial expression and texture features have significant contribution to the model.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that integrating TCM spirit-expression diagnostic features with machine learning enables the construction of a high-precision depression detection model, offering a novel paradigm for objective depression diagnosis.
5.Preliminary evaluation of the effect of comprehensive health management on the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke
Shuai ZHU ; Genming ZHAO ; Yiying ZHANG ; Dongni LIANG ; Hongjie YU ; Qian PENG ; Fang XIANG ; Na WANG
Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine 2026;37(2):89-93
Objective To evaluate the short-term effects of comprehensive health management interventions for stroke high-risk population screening on the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke, and to provide reference and basis for improving and exploring health management and prevention strategies for stroke high-risk population. Methods From 2018 to 2022, 13 community health service centers in Jiading District, Shanghai were selected in the present study. Based on information push platform, stroke risk assessment and health intervention follow-up were conducted for community residents through convenience sampling. The residents were divided into a full course intervention group (intervention group) and a routine intervention group (control group) according to different health intervention measures and forms. The incidence of ischemic stroke in the two groups of survey subjects was tracked within 36 months. Results A total of 52144 subjects were included in the study. The total number of patients in the full course intervention group was 14227, with an incidence density of 577.32/100 000 (556.49/100 000-598.12/100 000), which was lower than that of the conventional intervention group (37 917), with an incidence density of 1 485.47/100 000 (1 464.99/100 000-1 505.94/100 000) (χ2=2490.212, P<0.001). The relative risk of the full course intervention group was 0.39, and the relative risk of stroke risk factors in the full course intervention group from low to high was 0.33, 0.43, 0.45, and 0.49, respectively. The incidence density of males in the full course intervention group was 660.76 (627.46/100 000 - 694.05/100 000), with a relative risk of 0.43, and the incidence density of female patients was 509.71/100 000 (483.37/100 000 - 536.05/100 000), with a relative risk of 0.35. The overall incidence density of the population under 62 years old gourp, 62-75 years old group and over 75 years old group was 197.45/100 000 (173.09/100 000 -221.80/100 000), 608.36/100 000 (580.19/100 000-636.54/100 000), and 1 025.06/100 000 (958.51/100 000-1 091.61/100 000), with relative risks of 0.51, 0.44, and 0.38, respectively. Conclusion Comprehensive health management measures can effectively reduce the short-term risk of ischemic stroke, and should be further promoted and improved to enhance the effectiveness of stroke prevention and control.
6.Comparison of the in-hospital mortality risk predictive models among patients with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia based on interpretable machine learning
Yaoyong TAI ; Shengyong WU ; Xiao LUO ; Ronghui ZHU ; Qian HE ; Cheng WU
Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine 2025;37(3):199-205
ObjectiveTo predict the in-hospital mortality risk among patients with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia using interpretable machine learning methods, so as to provide more evidence-based support for the prognosis prediction of patients with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia. MethodsMedical record of 308 patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care Ⅳ (MIMIC-Ⅳ) (2.0) in the United States were retrospectively analyzed. Features of the research data were screened based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, and which were randomly divided into a training set and a test set at a ratio of 7∶3. Then ten models, including logistic regression, random forest, K-nearest neighbor, linear discriminant analysis, naive bayes (NB), neural network, quadratic discriminant analysis, recursive partitioning tree, extreme gradient boosting tree, and support vector machine, etc. were constructed. The predictive effect was measured by calculating the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristics. In addition, the calibration curve and Brier score were used to evaluate the calibration degree of the model, and the decision curve was drawn to reflect the clinical net benefit. The Shapley additive explanation method was used to analyze the interpretability of the black box model and explore the important decision-making factors. ResultsThe NB model in the test set showed better predictive ability compared with other models (AUC=0.85, 95%CI: 0.83‒0.88). After interpretability analysis, it was found that blood urea nitrogen (BUN), age, sequential organ failure assessment, bicarbonate, chloride, and hypertension were important risk factors for in-hospital mortality in patients with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia. ConclusionThe comprehensive performance of the NB model is better than that of the other nine models in predicting the risk of in-hospital mortality in patients with ischemic stroke combined by dysphagia. The interpretability of the model can help clinicians better understand the reasons behind the results and take further reasonable intervention measures for risk factors to improve the survival probability of patients.
7.Hypoxia Exercise Mediates The miR-27/PPARγ Pathway to Improve Lipid Metabolism in Obese Rats at Target Genes and Protein Levels
Wei KONG ; Jie SHAO ; Teng ZHAI ; Qian CHENG ; Fang-Zheng HAN ; Yi QU ; Lei ZHU
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(6):1386-1400
ObjectiveTo explore the sequential effects of hypoxic exercising on miR-27/PPARγ and lipid metabolism target gene and protein expression levels in the obesity rats’ liver. Methods13-week-old male diet-induced obesity rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=10): normal oxygen concentration quiet group (N), hypoxia quiet group (H), hypoxic exercise group (HE). Exercise training on the horizontal animal treadmill for 1 h/d, 5 d/week for a total of 4 week, and the intensity of horizontal treadmill training was 20 m/min (hypoxic concentration was 13.6%). Comparison of the weights of perirenal fat and epididymal fat in rats across different groups and calculation of Lee’s index based on body weight and body length of rats in each group were done. And the serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were detected. RT-PCR and Western Blot were used to detect the levels of miR-27, PPARγ, CYP7A1 and CD36. ResultsHypoxic exercise decreased the expression levels of miR-27 in the obese rats’ liver, however, the expression level of PPARγ was gradually increased. The expression levels of miR-27 in HE group were significantly lower than N group (P<0.05). The expression levels of PPARγ mRNA in N group were significantly lower than H group (P<0.05), especially lower than HE group (P<0.01). The protein expression of PPARγ protein in N group was significantly lower than that other groups (P<0.01). The expression of lipid metabolism-related genes and proteins increased in the obese rats’ liver. The expression of CYP7A1 mRNA in N group was significantly lower than H group (P<0.05), especially lower than HE group (P<0.01). The expression of CYP7A1 protein in the obese rats’ liver in N group was extremely lower than H group and HE group (P<0.01). The protein expression of CD36 in N group was significantly lower than that in HE group (P<0.05). Hypoxia exercise improved the related physiological and biochemical indexes of lipid metabolism disorder. The perirenal fat weight of obese rats in HE group was extremely lower than N group and H group (P<0.01), and the perirenal fat weight in N group was significantly higher than H group (P<0.05). The epididymal fat weight in N group was significantly higher than H group (P<0.05), and extremely higher than HE group (P<0.01). The Lee’s index in HE group was extremely lower than N group and H group (P<0.01). The serum concentration of TC in obese rats in HE group was extremely lower than N group and H group (P<0.01). The serum concentration of TG in HE group was extremely lower than N group and H group (P<0.01). The serum concentration of LDL-C in N group was extremely higher than HE group (P<0.01). The serum concentration of HDL-C in N group was extremely lower than H group (P<0.01). ConclusionHypoxia and hypoxia exercise may negatively regulate the levels of PPARγ by inhibiting miR-27 in the obese rats’ liver, thereby affecting the expression of downstream target genes CYP7A1 and CD36, and promoting cholesterol, fatty acid oxidation and HDL-C transport in the liver, and ultimately the lipid levels in obese rats were improved. The effect of hypoxia exercise on improving blood lipid is better than simple hypoxia intervention.
8.Clinical characteristics and influencing factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients complicated with heart failure in Nanjing
Yumin ZHU ; Guoxin ZHANG ; Liping YIN ; Fan CHEN ; Bowen HUANG ; Qian LI
Journal of Public Health and Preventive Medicine 2025;36(4):64-68
Objective To analyze the clinical features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with heart failure (HF) in Nanjing and explore the influencing factors. Methods A total of 773 COPD inpatients were selected from January 2021 to January 2024 in Nanjing Combined Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing Qixia District Hospital, Nanjing Lishui District People's Hospital, Nanjing Pukou District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Nanjing First Hospital., and were divided into 2 groups according to the presence or absence of combined HF. The general data and medical records of the two groups were compared, the clinical characteristics of COPD patients with HF were summarized, and the influencing factors of COPD patients with HF were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results Among the 242 patients (31.31%) with COPD had HF, chronic paroxysmal dyspnea was the most common first symptom, 169 patients (69.83%) had left heart failure, 63 patients (30.17%) were diagnosed as right heart failure or global heart failure , 17 patients (7.02%) had myocardial infarction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of HF was 1.678 times and 1.691times higher in COPD groups ≥ 50 years old and male COPD groups than in < 50 years old and female groups, respectively; the risk of HF was 1.491 times higher in COPD groups engaged in physical work than in physical work groups; the risk of HF was 1.447 times and 1.580 times higher in COPD groups with hypertension and coronary heart disease than in COPD groups without hypertension and coronary heart disease, respectively; the risk of HF was 1.859 times higher in COPD groups smoking>400 vial/year than in COPD groups≤400 vial/ year; the risk of HF was 1.757 times higher in COPD groups with acute exacerbation frequency≥2 times/year than in COPD groups<2 times/year; the above differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Attention should be paid to elderly, male and heavy physical work group of COPD patients. Active treatment of hypertension and coronary heart disease, effective tobacco control and reduction of the frequency of acute exacerbation are effective ways to reduce the risk of HF in COPD patients in Nanjing.
9.Research progress on influencing factors and assessment methods of pulp vitality
ZHU Xiao ; CHEN Yanqi ; QIAN Linna ; JIANG Dingzhuo ; SHI Ying ; WU Zhifang
Journal of Prevention and Treatment for Stomatological Diseases 2025;33(8):690-698
Healthy dental pulp is essential for preserving teeth and maintaining their normal function. Vital pulp therapy (VPT) is widely used in clinical applications because it aims to preserve vital pulp and enhance the long-term survival of teeth. An accurate diagnosis of pulp vitality is a prerequisite for successful VPT. However, accurately assessing pulp viability remains challenging in clinical practice. Pulp viability is influenced by various factors, including the type of pulp exposure, caries status, periodontitis, trauma, treatment factors, patient age, and individual differences. Assessing pulp viability requires a comprehensive consideration of medical history and clinical manifestations, along with a combination of various auxiliary methods, such as pulp sensibility tests, pulp blood flow tests, imaging techniques and molecular diagnostics. In the future, the technology for assessing pulp vitality should evolve toward chairside, visualization, and precision techniques, to achieve consistency between clinical and histological diagnoses, thereby providing patients with the most effective treatment.
10.Exploring Role of Energy Dyshomeostasis in Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Fatty Liver Disease Panvasculopathy from Theory of Liver Being Substantial Yin and Functional Yang
Jing CUI ; Qian XU ; Wenting WANG ; Mengmeng ZHU ; Yanfei LIU ; Yue LIU
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2025;31(17):227-233
Liver being substantial Yin and functional Yang maintain normal function of Qi, blood and meridians. In clinical practice, it is often found that pan-vascular lesions with atherosclerosis as the predominant pathological change often co-occur with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease(MAFLD). MAFLD leads to increased risk and worse prognosis for many pan-vascular diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Dysregulation of energy homeostasis disrupts the hepatic homeostasis of body use, and representative drugs to improve metabolism, such as metformin, sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors, and glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, not only have a clear cardiovascular benefit, potential improvement of MAFLD has also been demonstrated. The liver stores blood and the heart pumps blood, and liver diseases affect the heart, that's why the unsmoothness of vessels appears. So the treatment should from the standpoint of liver, restoring liver function, soothing the liver and nourishing heart, activating blood and dredging meridian. It is of great significance to explore in depth the pathogenesis and treatment of pan-vascular lesions caused by MAFLD, and to restore the energy homeostasis by adjusting the balance of liver Yin and Yang.


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