BACKGROUND: Research has indicated that the disease burden of alopecia areata (AA) in China exceeds the global average. Therefore, accurate and updated epidemiological information is crucial for policymakers. In this study, we aimed to comprehensively assess the disease burden of AA in China. METHODS: The following four key indicators were utilized: the prevalence of cases; disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs); the age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR); and the age-standardized DALY rate (ASDR) of AA according to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2021. We analyzed the epidemiological burden of AA in China during 2021, examined changes between 1990 and 2021, and performed a Bayesian age-period-cohort analysis to predict trends over the course of the next decade (2022-2030). Additionally, a Gaussian process regression model was applied to estimate the relationship between the gross domestic product (GDP) and the ASPR and ASDR of AA at the provincial level between 1992 and 2021. RESULTS: In 2021, the estimated number of patients with AA in China was approximately 3.49 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 3.37-3.62 million); of these patients, 1.20 million (95% UI, 1.16-1.25 million) were male and 2.29 million (95% UI, 2.20-2.37 million) were female. This large number of patients with AA resulted in a total of 114,431.25 DALYs (95% UI, 74,780.27-160,318.96 DALYs). Additionally, the ASPR and ASDR were 224.61 per 100,000 population (95% UI, 216.73-232.65 per 100,000 population) and 7.41 per 100,000 population (95% UI, 4.85-10.44 per 100,000 population), respectively; both of these rates were higher than the global averages. The most affected demographic groups were young and female individuals 25-39 years of age. Slight regional disparities were observed, with the northern and central regions of China bearing comparatively higher burdens. Between 1990 and 2021, the health loss and disease burden caused by AA in China remained relatively stable. The ASPR and ASDR of AA increased with the GDP when the annual GDP was less than 2 trillion Chinese yuan; however, a downward trend was observed as the GDP surpassed 2 trillion Chinese yuan. A slight upward trend in the disease burden of AA in China is predicted to occur over the next decade. CONCLUSIONS AA continues to be a public health concern in China that shows no signs of declining. Targeted efforts for young individuals and females are necessary because they experience a disproportionately high burden of AA.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Alopecia Areata/epidemiology* ; Global Burden of Disease ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Disability-Adjusted Life Years ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Bayes Theorem ; Child ; Quality-Adjusted Life Years ; Child, Preschool

PURPOSE: Hand-sewn anastomosis as the gold standard of vascular anastomosis cannot fully meet the requirements of vascular anastomosis in speed and quality. Various vascular couplers have been developed to ameliorate this situation. Most of them are mainly used for venous anastomosis rather than arterial anastomosis. Although it is generally acknowledged that in almost all operations involving vascular reconstruction, it is the arteries that need to be anastomosed faster and more accurately and not the veins. A dedicated device is needed for creating arterial anastomosis in an easy, timesaving, less damaging but reliable procedure. Therefore, we plan to develop a novel arterial coupler device and test pre-clinical safety and effectiveness. METHODS: In this cohort study, the rationality of this novel arterial coupler was preliminarily tested by finite element analysis before it was manufactured. Several factors restrict the use of vascular couplers in arterial anastomosis, such as arterial eversion, fixation, etc. The manufactured arterial couplers underwent in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vitro, isolated arteries of beagles were anastomosed with the assistance of an arterial coupler, and the anastomosed arteries were evaluated through anti-traction tests. In animal experiments, the bilateral femoral arteries of 5 beagles served as a control group. After dissection, the femoral artery on one side was randomly selected to be anastomosed with a quick arterial coupler (QAC) (QAC group), and the femoral artery on the other side was anastomosed by the same person using an end-to-end suture technique with a 6-0 Prolene suture (suture group). The bilateral femoral arteries of 5 beagles were used for coupler-assisted anastomosis and hand-sewn anastomosis in vivo, respectively. Success rate, blood loss, anastomotic time, clamp time, total operation time, and patency rate were recorded. The patency of anastomosed arteries was assessed using vascular Doppler ultrasound, electromagnetic flowmeter, and pathological examination (6 weeks after surgery). RESULTS: As a novel arterial coupler, QAC was successfully designed and manufactured by using poly lactic-co-glycolic acid raw materials and 3-dimensions printing technology. Its rationality was preliminarily tested through finite element analysis and related mechanical analysis methods. The isolated arteries were successfully anastomosed with the assistance of QAC in vitro testing, which showed good anti-traction properties. In animal studies, QAC-assisted arterial anastomosis has superior profiles compared to hand-sewn anastomosis in anastomotic time (7.80 ± 1.41 vs. 16.38 ± 1.04 min), clamp time (8.80 ± 1.41 vs. 14.14 ± 1.57 min), and total operation time (46.64 ± 2.38 vs. 51.96 ± 3.65 min). The results of electromagnetic flowmeter, vascular Doppler ultrasound, and pathological examination showed that QAC-assisted anastomotic arteries were superior to hand-sewn arteries in terms of postoperative blood flow (16.86 ± 3.93 vs. 10.36 ± 0.92 mL/min) and vascular patency in 6 weeks after surgery. CONCLUSION QAC is a well-designed and easily maneuverable device specialized for end-to-end arterial anastomosis. Application of this device may decrease thermal ischemia time and improve the patency of anastomotic arteries, thus, improving outcomes.
Animals ; Anastomosis, Surgical/instrumentation* ; Dogs ; Femoral Artery/surgery* ; Vascular Surgical Procedures/instrumentation* ; Finite Element Analysis

ObjectiveIn kinesin-3, the neck coil correlates with the following segments to form an extended neck that contains a characteristic hinge diverse from a proline in KIF13B to a long flexible linker in KIF1A. The function of this neck hinge for controlling processive movement, however, remains unclear. MethodsWe made a series of modifications to the neck hinges of KIF13B and KIF1A and tested their movement using a single-molecule motility assay. ResultsIn KIF13B, the insertion of flexible residues before or after the proline differentially impacts the processivity or velocity, while the removal of this proline increases the both. In KIF1A, the deletion of entire flexible neck hinge merely enhances the processivity. The engineering of these hinge-truncated necks of kinesin-3 into kinesin-1 similarly boosts the processive movement of kinesin-1. ConclusionThe neck hinge in kinesin-3 controls its processive movement and proper modifications tune the motor motility, which provides a novel strategy to reshape the processive movement of kinesin motors.

Patients with severe trauma require an extremely timely treatment and transfusion plays an irreplaceable role in the emergency treatment of such patients. An increasing number of evidence-based medicinal evidences and clinical practices suggest that patients with severe traumatic bleeding benefit from early transfusion of low-titer group O whole blood or hemostatic resuscitation with red blood cells, plasma and platelet of a balanced ratio. However, the current domestic mode of blood supply cannot fully meet the requirements of timely and effective blood transfusion for emergency treatment of patients with severe trauma in clinical practice. In order to solve the key problems in blood supply and blood transfusion strategies for emergency treatment of severe trauma, Branch of Clinical Transfusion Medicine of Chinese Medical Association, Group for Trauma Emergency Care and Multiple Injuries of Trauma Branch of Chinese Medical Association, Young Scholar Group of Disaster Medicine Branch of Chinese Medical Association organized domestic experts of blood transfusion medicine and trauma treatment to jointly formulate Chinese expert consensus on blood support mode and blood transfusion strategies for emergency treatment of severe trauma patients ( version 2024). Based on the evidence-based medical evidence and Delphi method of expert consultation and voting, 10 recommendations were put forward from two aspects of blood support mode and transfusion strategies, aiming to provide a reference for transfusion resuscitation in the emergency treatment of severe trauma and further improve the success rate of treatment of patients with severe trauma.

Objective A random survival forest algorithm was applied to explore the prognostic factors and develop the prognosis model for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE).Methods Retrospective selection of 636 HCC patients treated with TACE as first-line treatment in the Department of Hepatology,Zhongshan Hospital,Fudan University from January 2014 to December 2017.The patients were divided into a training set(n=445)and a validation set(n=191)in a 7∶3 ratio.Based on the clinical data,laboratory indicators and follow-up survival of patients,the Cox proportional-hazards regression model and the random survival forest model based on machine learning algorithm was developed,and the predictive ability of the two models was evaluated.Results The tumor burden,age,baseline gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase(GGT)level,baseline alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)level and albumin-bilirubin grade(ALBI)were independent factors affecting the prognosis of unresectable HCC patients treated with TACE.In the Cox model,the 1-year,3-year and 5-year AUC of the training set was 0.782,0.796 and 0.791,respectively,and the validation set was 0.750,0.766 and 0.766,respectively.The 1-year,3-year and 5-year AUC of the training set in the random survival forest model was 0.896,0.894 and 0.875,respectively,and validation set was 0.743,0.763 and 0.770,respectively.Random survival forest model could distinguish patients into good prognosis group and poor prognosis group,and the overall survival of these two groups was significantly different(P＜0.05).The decision curve analysis showed that the net benefit of the random survival forest model was better than that of the Cox proportional-hazards model.Conclusions The random survival forest model is a reliable tool for predicting the prognosis of unresectable HCC patients treated with TACE.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with keratoconus, and to explore the factors influencing keratoconus severity.Methods:A cross-sectional study was performed.A total of 908 patients (1 476 eyes) with primary keratoconus were enrolled in Henan Eye Hospital from January 2019 to December 2021.The medical history data of patients were collected by face-to-face questionnaire survey.Refractive parameters were measured by subjective optometry.Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured by a non-contact tonometer, and corrected IOP was calculated by Dresden formula.Corneal topography parameters was obtained using Pentacam HR.The subgroup analysis of clinical characteristics of all patients was performed by age (<21 years, 21~<31 years, ≥31 years) and gender.Disease severity was graded based on steep keratometry (Ks), namely mild (Ks<48 D), moderate (48 D≤Ks<55 D) and severe (Ks≥55 D). The influencing factors of disease severity in keratoconus were analyzed by ordered Logistic regression.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Henan Eye Hospital (No.HNEECKY-2019[5]). All subjects or guardians were informed of the purpose and significance of the study and written informed consent was obtained.Results:Of the 908 patients, 622 were with bilateral keratoconus and 286 were with unilateral keratoconus.The median age of onset was 20(17, 26) years, and the median age of diagnosis was 21(18, 27) years.The ratio of males to females was 3.05∶1.There were 9.80%(89/908) of the patients having a history of allergy, 25.55%(232/908) having a history of other systemic diseases, and 1.98%(18/908) having a family history of keratoconus.Of the 1 476 affected eyes, 27.57%(407/1 476) were diagnosed as severe keratoconus, and 61.94%(568/917) had a history of eye rubbing.The medians of sphericity, cylindricity, IOP, corrected IOP, Ks, thinnest corneal thickness (TCT), anterior corneal surface elevation (AE) and posterior corneal surface elevation (PE) were -4.00(-7.00, -1.75)D, -3.50(-6.00, -1.50)D, 12.00(10.30, 13.80)mmHg, 15.40(13.60, 17.00)mmHg, 49.85(46.40, 54.90)D, 460.00(425.00, 490.00)μm, 21.00(13.00, 34.75)μm, 51.00(33.00, 75.00)μm, respectively.The spherical refraction, IOP and corrected IOP were lower and the cylindrical refraction was higher in patients at age <21 years than in patients at age 21~<31 years, and the TCT of patients at age <21 years was higher than that at age ≥31 years, and the differences were statistically significant (all at P<0.05). Compared with female patients, male patients had younger onset age, lower spherical refraction, IOP and corrected IOP, as well as higher cylindrical refraction, AE and PE, showing statistically significant differences (all at P<0.05). The spherical refraction and IOP of male patients were lower than those of female patients at age <21 years, and the cylindrical refraction was higher in males than in females among the patients at age 21~<31 years, and the differences were statistically significant (both at P<0.05). Among the patients with onset age <21 years and diagnosis age <21 years, the ratio of males to females in patients with severe keratoconus was higher than those with mild and moderate disease, and the difference was statistically significant (both at P<0.05). Older age of onset was a protective factor for disease severity in keratoconus (odds ratio=0.981, 95% confidence interval: 0.963~0.999). Conclusions:The younger the onset age of keratoconus patients, the more severe the disease.Among the patients with severe keratoconus, there were more male patients, and males have a younger onset age and severer conditions.It is suggested that early screening of keratoconus in children and adolescents should be strengthened in clinical work, and more active prevention and treatment measures should be taken for younger patients, especially males.

Humans ; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/genetics* ; Herpesvirus 4, Human/genetics* ; Mutation ; Epstein-Barr Virus Infections/pathology* ; Hepatitis A Virus Cellular Receptor 2/genetics*

AIM:To explore the effect of genetic factors on the pathogenesis of keratoconus and its genetic model.METHODS: Genetic epidemiological methods were used to investigate the prevalence of keratoconus in 280 first-degree relatives of 100 patients with keratoconus who attended Henan Eye Hospital between July 2020 and April 2023. The heritability was estimated by Falconer regression method. The general genetic model was calculated using Penrose method, and the genetic model was confirmed by Falconer formula, Edwards approximation formula and the projection formula of San-Duo Jiang's threshold model theory.RESULTS: The results showed that there were 16(5.714%)first-degree relatives of keratoconus probands suffering from keratoconus, and the heritability of keratoconus was(86.100±7.400)%. The S/q score calculated by the Penrose method was 35.348, which was near to 1/(q)1/2, suggesting that the genetic model of keratoconus might be polygenic inheritance. The expected prevalence in first-degree relatives of keratoconus patients by Falconer formula, Edwards approximation formula and the projection formula of San-Duo Jiang's threshold model theory were 5.900%, 7.714% and 5.700%, respectively, which showed no significant differences from the actual prevalence(5.714%), suggesting that keratoconus was a polygenetic disease.CONCLUSION:Genetic factors might play an important role in the pathogenesis of keratoconus, and keratoconus is a polygenetic disease.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the associations between genetic variations of pyroptosis pathway related key genes and adverse events (AEs) of postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood which was collected from 347 patients before CRT. Sequenom MassARRAY was used to detect the genotypes of 43 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) in eight pyroptosis genes, including absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), caspase-1 (CASP1), caspase-4(CASP4), caspase-5 (CASP5), caspase-11 (CASP11), gasdermin D (GSDMD), gasdermin E (GSDME) and NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3). The associations between 43 htSNPs and AEs were evaluated by the odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by unconditional logistic regression models, adjusted for sex, age, clinical stage, tumor grade, Karnofsky performance status (KPS), surgical procedure, and tumor location. Results: Among the 347 patients with rectal cancer underwent concurrent CRT with capecitabine after surgery, a total of 101(29.1%) occurred grade ≥ 2 leukopenia. rs11226565 (OR=0.41, 95% CI: 0.21-0.79, P=0.008), rs579408(OR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.03-2.29, P=0.034) and rs543923 (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.41-0.98, P=0.040) were significantly associated with the occurrence of grade ≥ 2 leukopenia. One hundred and fifty-six (45.0%) had grade ≥ 2 diarrhea, two SNPs were significantly associated with the occurrence of grade ≥ diarrhea, including CASP11 rs10880868 (OR=0.55, 95% CI: 0.33-0.91, P=0.020) and GSDME rs2954558 (OR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.01-2.31, P=0.050). In addition, sixty-six cases (19.0%) developed grade ≥2 dermatitis, three SNPs that significantly associated with the risk of grade ≥2 dermatitis included GSDME rs2237314 (OR=0.36, 95% CI: 0.16-0.83, P=0.017), GSDME rs12540919 (OR=0.52, 95% CI: 0.27-0.99, P=0.045) and NLRP3 rs3806268 (OR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.03-2.22, P=0.037). There was no significant difference in the association between other genetic variations and AEs of rectal cancer patients (all P>0.05). Surgical procedure and tumor location had great impacts on the occurrence of grade ≥2 diarrhea and dermatitis (all P<0.01). Conclusion: The genetic variants of CASP4, CASP11, GSDME and NLRP3 are associated with the occurrence of AEs in patients with rectal cancer who received postoperative CRT, suggesting they may be potential genetic markers in predicting the grade of AEs to achieve individualized treatment of rectal cancer.
Humans ; Pyroptosis ; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/metabolism* ; Gasdermins ; Chemoradiotherapy/adverse effects* ; Rectal Neoplasms/surgery* ; Caspases/metabolism* ; Diarrhea/chemically induced* ; Leukopenia/genetics* ; Genetic Variation ; Dermatitis