Paraplegia caused by spinal cord injury is a serious neurological complication, for which surgery is currently the main treatment method. Due to different surgical approaches, patients are usually expected to maintain a passive prone position for a long time or switch between the supine and prone positions. Affected by multiple factors such as neurogenic sensory disorders, pathological changes in muscle tone and operative duration, the risk of intraoperative acquired pressure injury (IAPI) is significantly increased. Current clinical prevention strategies for IAPI in these patients predominantly focus on localized pressure relief during positioning, lacking systematic, standardized comprehensive prevention protocols or evidence-based guidelines. To address it, Department of Nursing, Orthopedics Branch, China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, Spinal Trauma Professional Committee, Orthopedics Branch, Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Nursing Group of Spine and Spinal Cord Professional Committee of Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine organized experts in relevant fields to formulate Guideline for the prevention of intraoperative acquired pressure injury in paraplegic patients with spinal cord injury ( version 2025), based on evidence-based medical evidence and latest research results and clinical practice at home and abroad. Eleven recommendations were put forward from the aspects of preoperative risk assessment, intraoperative prevention strategies, postoperative handover and monitoring, and supportive mechanisms for IAPI prevention, aiming to standardize the prevention measures and management strategies of IAPI in paraplegic patients with spinal cord injury and accelerate the recovery of patients and improve the therapeutic effect.

Paraplegia caused by spinal cord injury is a serious neurological complication, for which surgery is currently the main treatment method. Due to different surgical approaches, patients are usually expected to maintain a passive prone position for a long time or switch between the supine and prone positions. Affected by multiple factors such as neurogenic sensory disorders, pathological changes in muscle tone and operative duration, the risk of intraoperative acquired pressure injury (IAPI) is significantly increased. Current clinical prevention strategies for IAPI in these patients predominantly focus on localized pressure relief during positioning, lacking systematic, standardized comprehensive prevention protocols or evidence-based guidelines. To address it, Department of Nursing, Orthopedics Branch, China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, Spinal Trauma Professional Committee, Orthopedics Branch, Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Nursing Group of Spine and Spinal Cord Professional Committee of Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine organized experts in relevant fields to formulate Guideline for the prevention of intraoperative acquired pressure injury in paraplegic patients with spinal cord injury ( version 2025), based on evidence-based medical evidence and latest research results and clinical practice at home and abroad. Eleven recommendations were put forward from the aspects of preoperative risk assessment, intraoperative prevention strategies, postoperative handover and monitoring, and supportive mechanisms for IAPI prevention, aiming to standardize the prevention measures and management strategies of IAPI in paraplegic patients with spinal cord injury and accelerate the recovery of patients and improve the therapeutic effect.

Based on network pharmacology and in vitro experiments,this study was performed to explore the possible mechanism of astragaloside Ⅳ(AS-Ⅳ)in the prevention and treatment of pneumonia by regulating immune function in RAW264.7 macrophages.Pharm Mapper,SwissTargetPrediction and STITCH databases were used to predict the target sites of AS-Ⅳ,while Genecard and DisGeNET databases were used to retrieve the pneumonia targets,and the intersection with AS-Ⅳ targets was obtained.Then STRING platform and Cytoscape software were used to construct the protein interaction network of the intersection targets,and the core targets were selected according to the degree value.The DAVID database was used for GO functional annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis,and the KEGG database was further used to predict the possible pathways of AS-Ⅳ intervention in pneumonia.For in vitro experiment,macrophage RAW264.7 of logarithmic phase were randomly divided into 3 groups:control group(C),model group(M)and the AS-Ⅳ group(AS-Ⅳ).Except for group C,the other two groups were stimulated with LPS,and the AS-Ⅳ group was further intervened by AS-Ⅳ.CCK8 method was used to determine the effect of AS-Ⅳ on the proliferation of RAW264.7 cells;ELISA was used to determine the secretion levels of NF-κB,IL-1β,MCP-1 and Arg-1;qPCR was used to detect the gene expression of TLR4 and its downstream pathway molecules HMGB1 and TLR4 in each group.Network pharmacological analysis predicted that AS-Ⅳ had 158 targets and 112 intersection targets with pneumonia,while the enrichment analysis of KEGG pathway obtained 126 pathways.In consider with literature,HMGB1,TLR4,TRIF,Myd88 and NF-κB were identified as the target of pathway to be verified.Further in vitro experiments confirmed that NF-κB,IL-1β and MCP-1 in AS-Ⅳ group were significantly decreased as compared with M group,while Arg-1 was significantly increased,the expression of HMGB1,TLR4,TRIF and Myd88 genes were significantly decreased as compared with M group.Taken together,AS-Ⅳ can regulate the inflammatory immune responses of RAW264.7 through HMGB1/TLR4 related signaling pathways,which provides experimental basis and data support for clinical pneumonia treatment.

Background::Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a stress response protein and is related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aimed to investigate the association between GDF-15 and pre-eclampsia (PE).Method::The study involved 299 pregnant women, out of which 236 had normal pregnancies, while 63 participants had PE. Maternal serum levels of GDF-15 were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and then translated into multiple of median (MOM) to avoid the influence of gestational week at blood sampling. Logistic models were performed to estimate the association between GDF-15 MOM and PE, presenting as odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results::MOM of GDF-15 in PE participants was higher compared with controls (1.588 vs. 1.000, p < 0.001). In the logistic model, pregnant women with higher MOM of GDF-15 (>1) had a 4.74-fold (95% CI= 2.23-10.08, p < 0.001) increased risk of PE, adjusted by age, preconceptional body mass index, gravidity, and parity. Conclusions::These results demonstrated that higher levels of serum GDF-15 were associated with PE. GDF-15 may serve as a biomarker for diagnosing PE.

Background::Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a stress response protein and is related to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aimed to investigate the association between GDF-15 and pre-eclampsia (PE).Method::The study involved 299 pregnant women, out of which 236 had normal pregnancies, while 63 participants had PE. Maternal serum levels of GDF-15 were measured by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits and then translated into multiple of median (MOM) to avoid the influence of gestational week at blood sampling. Logistic models were performed to estimate the association between GDF-15 MOM and PE, presenting as odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results::MOM of GDF-15 in PE participants was higher compared with controls (1.588 vs. 1.000, p < 0.001). In the logistic model, pregnant women with higher MOM of GDF-15 (>1) had a 4.74-fold (95% CI= 2.23-10.08, p < 0.001) increased risk of PE, adjusted by age, preconceptional body mass index, gravidity, and parity. Conclusions::These results demonstrated that higher levels of serum GDF-15 were associated with PE. GDF-15 may serve as a biomarker for diagnosing PE.

Objective:To investigate the biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes of carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in the wounds of diabetic foot patients. Methods:This study was a retrospective observational study. The 233 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii were cultured from 177 inpatients (128 males and 49 females, aged (56±10) years) with diabetic foot admitted to the Department of Diabetic Foot of Tianjin Medical University Chu Hsien-I Memorial Hospital from October 2020 to September 2023. Two hundred and thirty-three Acinetobacter baumannii strains were detected by bacterial culture from the diabetic foot wounds of the aforementioned patients. All Acinetobacter baumannii strains were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, followed by analysis of their resistance rate using kinetic turbidimetric assay by a fully automated microbiological analysis system. Ten CRAB strains (from 10 patients, 9 males and 1 female, aged (63±13) years) and 10 carbapenem sensitive Acinetobacter baumannii (CSAB; from 10 patients, 8 males and 2 females, aged (63±9) years) strains were randomly selected, and the whole DNA genome was extracted and sequenced. The antibiotic resistance genes were annotated using a comprehensive antibiotic resistance gene database, and a phylogenetic tree was drawn to analyze the homologous relationship between CRAB and CSAB. The 7 housekeeping genes of Acinetobacter baumannii was entered into the PubMLST website to analyze the multi-locus sequence typing of CRAB and CSAB. All the measured genes were put into the PubMLST website to search for the biofilm genes bap, csuA, csuB, csuA/B, csuC, csuD, csuE, pgaA, pgaB, pgaC, pgaD, bfmR, bfmS, ompA carried by each Acinetobacter baumannii, as well as the quorum sensing genes abaI and abaR, and flagellar gene pilA. The differences in carrying these genes between CRAB and CSAB were compared. The biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes carried by CRAB and CSAB carrying oxacillinase (OXA) resistance gene blaOXA were analyzed. Gross observation was performed to check if there was gel-like membrane-like substance in the diabetic foot wounds infected with CRAB and CSAB, and if so, the microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscope. Results:Among the detected Acinetobacter baumannii, the positive detection rates of CSAB, CRAB, multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and pan-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii were 16.7% (39/233), 83.3% (194/233), 95.3% (222/233), and 34.3% (80/233), respectively, and no fully drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii was detected. Among 233 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, the resistance rate to carbapenem antibiotics exceeded 80%; the resistance rate of cefoperazone/sulbactam was relatively low, at 37%; the resistance rates to the other cephalosporin antibiotics (cefotaxime, ceftazimide, cefotetan, and cefuroxime) were more than 80%; the resistance rates to all penicillin antibiotics were greater than 80%; the resistance rates to quinolone antibiotics were all over 60%; the resistance rate to minocycline was only 12%; the resistance rates to tigecycline and colistin did not exceed 1%. The phylogenetic tree showed that 10 CRAB strains were highly homologous, while 10 CSAB strains had low homology. The analysis of multi-locus sequence typing showed that 10 CRAB strains were all the same type; among the 10 CSAB strains, except 1 strain without typing, the remaining 9 CSAB strains had 7 types. Eight of 10 CRAB strains contained complete biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes. The biofilm genes from the strains of CSAB were incomplete and none carried the bap gene. Neither CRAB nor CSAB carried the flagellar gene pilA. Compared with that carried by CRAB, biofilm genes bap, csuA, csuC, and csuD and quorum sensing genes abaI and abaR carried by CSAB were significantly decreased ( P<0.05). The main blaOXA categories carried by CRAB were blaOXA-23-like (specifically BlaOXA-167) and blaOXA-51-like (specifically blaOXA-66), both of which had carbapenase activity. Eight of 10 CRAB strains carried both blaOXA-66 and blaOXA-167, and all of them had relatively complete quorum sensing genes and biofilm genes. The main blaOXA categories carried by CSAB were blaOXA-51-like and blaOXA-213-like. Although they had carbapenemase activity, clinical drug sensitivity test showed that they were all sensitive to carbapenem antibiotics. Gel-like and membrane-like substance could be seen in wounds infected with CRAB, which were biofilm; no gel-like and membrane-like substance was found in the wound infected with CSAB. Conclusions:CRAB and CSAB in diabetic foot wounds are significantly different in terms of multi-locus sequence typing, carrying biofilm genes, quorum sensing genes, and blaOXA gene, leading to differences in antibiotic resistance between the two.

Based on network pharmacology and in vitro experiments,this study was performed to explore the possible mechanism of astragaloside Ⅳ(AS-Ⅳ)in the prevention and treatment of pneumonia by regulating immune function in RAW264.7 macrophages.Pharm Mapper,SwissTargetPrediction and STITCH databases were used to predict the target sites of AS-Ⅳ,while Genecard and DisGeNET databases were used to retrieve the pneumonia targets,and the intersection with AS-Ⅳ targets was obtained.Then STRING platform and Cytoscape software were used to construct the protein interaction network of the intersection targets,and the core targets were selected according to the degree value.The DAVID database was used for GO functional annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis,and the KEGG database was further used to predict the possible pathways of AS-Ⅳ intervention in pneumonia.For in vitro experiment,macrophage RAW264.7 of logarithmic phase were randomly divided into 3 groups:control group(C),model group(M)and the AS-Ⅳ group(AS-Ⅳ).Except for group C,the other two groups were stimulated with LPS,and the AS-Ⅳ group was further intervened by AS-Ⅳ.CCK8 method was used to determine the effect of AS-Ⅳ on the proliferation of RAW264.7 cells;ELISA was used to determine the secretion levels of NF-κB,IL-1β,MCP-1 and Arg-1;qPCR was used to detect the gene expression of TLR4 and its downstream pathway molecules HMGB1 and TLR4 in each group.Network pharmacological analysis predicted that AS-Ⅳ had 158 targets and 112 intersection targets with pneumonia,while the enrichment analysis of KEGG pathway obtained 126 pathways.In consider with literature,HMGB1,TLR4,TRIF,Myd88 and NF-κB were identified as the target of pathway to be verified.Further in vitro experiments confirmed that NF-κB,IL-1β and MCP-1 in AS-Ⅳ group were significantly decreased as compared with M group,while Arg-1 was significantly increased,the expression of HMGB1,TLR4,TRIF and Myd88 genes were significantly decreased as compared with M group.Taken together,AS-Ⅳ can regulate the inflammatory immune responses of RAW264.7 through HMGB1/TLR4 related signaling pathways,which provides experimental basis and data support for clinical pneumonia treatment.

Objective:To investigate the biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes of carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) in the wounds of diabetic foot patients. Methods:This study was a retrospective observational study. The 233 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii were cultured from 177 inpatients (128 males and 49 females, aged (56±10) years) with diabetic foot admitted to the Department of Diabetic Foot of Tianjin Medical University Chu Hsien-I Memorial Hospital from October 2020 to September 2023. Two hundred and thirty-three Acinetobacter baumannii strains were detected by bacterial culture from the diabetic foot wounds of the aforementioned patients. All Acinetobacter baumannii strains were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, followed by analysis of their resistance rate using kinetic turbidimetric assay by a fully automated microbiological analysis system. Ten CRAB strains (from 10 patients, 9 males and 1 female, aged (63±13) years) and 10 carbapenem sensitive Acinetobacter baumannii (CSAB; from 10 patients, 8 males and 2 females, aged (63±9) years) strains were randomly selected, and the whole DNA genome was extracted and sequenced. The antibiotic resistance genes were annotated using a comprehensive antibiotic resistance gene database, and a phylogenetic tree was drawn to analyze the homologous relationship between CRAB and CSAB. The 7 housekeeping genes of Acinetobacter baumannii was entered into the PubMLST website to analyze the multi-locus sequence typing of CRAB and CSAB. All the measured genes were put into the PubMLST website to search for the biofilm genes bap, csuA, csuB, csuA/B, csuC, csuD, csuE, pgaA, pgaB, pgaC, pgaD, bfmR, bfmS, ompA carried by each Acinetobacter baumannii, as well as the quorum sensing genes abaI and abaR, and flagellar gene pilA. The differences in carrying these genes between CRAB and CSAB were compared. The biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes carried by CRAB and CSAB carrying oxacillinase (OXA) resistance gene blaOXA were analyzed. Gross observation was performed to check if there was gel-like membrane-like substance in the diabetic foot wounds infected with CRAB and CSAB, and if so, the microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscope. Results:Among the detected Acinetobacter baumannii, the positive detection rates of CSAB, CRAB, multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and pan-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii were 16.7% (39/233), 83.3% (194/233), 95.3% (222/233), and 34.3% (80/233), respectively, and no fully drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii was detected. Among 233 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, the resistance rate to carbapenem antibiotics exceeded 80%; the resistance rate of cefoperazone/sulbactam was relatively low, at 37%; the resistance rates to the other cephalosporin antibiotics (cefotaxime, ceftazimide, cefotetan, and cefuroxime) were more than 80%; the resistance rates to all penicillin antibiotics were greater than 80%; the resistance rates to quinolone antibiotics were all over 60%; the resistance rate to minocycline was only 12%; the resistance rates to tigecycline and colistin did not exceed 1%. The phylogenetic tree showed that 10 CRAB strains were highly homologous, while 10 CSAB strains had low homology. The analysis of multi-locus sequence typing showed that 10 CRAB strains were all the same type; among the 10 CSAB strains, except 1 strain without typing, the remaining 9 CSAB strains had 7 types. Eight of 10 CRAB strains contained complete biofilm genes and quorum sensing genes. The biofilm genes from the strains of CSAB were incomplete and none carried the bap gene. Neither CRAB nor CSAB carried the flagellar gene pilA. Compared with that carried by CRAB, biofilm genes bap, csuA, csuC, and csuD and quorum sensing genes abaI and abaR carried by CSAB were significantly decreased ( P<0.05). The main blaOXA categories carried by CRAB were blaOXA-23-like (specifically BlaOXA-167) and blaOXA-51-like (specifically blaOXA-66), both of which had carbapenase activity. Eight of 10 CRAB strains carried both blaOXA-66 and blaOXA-167, and all of them had relatively complete quorum sensing genes and biofilm genes. The main blaOXA categories carried by CSAB were blaOXA-51-like and blaOXA-213-like. Although they had carbapenemase activity, clinical drug sensitivity test showed that they were all sensitive to carbapenem antibiotics. Gel-like and membrane-like substance could be seen in wounds infected with CRAB, which were biofilm; no gel-like and membrane-like substance was found in the wound infected with CSAB. Conclusions:CRAB and CSAB in diabetic foot wounds are significantly different in terms of multi-locus sequence typing, carrying biofilm genes, quorum sensing genes, and blaOXA gene, leading to differences in antibiotic resistance between the two.

Objective:To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients with femoral fracture.Methods:Retrospectively analyzed were the data of 2,571 patients with femoral fracture who had been treated at the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University from January 2019 to December 2019. There were 1,079 males and 1,492 females, aged from 14 to 96 years (average, 67.1 years). There were 1,158 femoral neck fractures, 951 femoral intertrochanteric fractures, 309 femoral shaft fractures, and 153 femoral condylar fractures. 2,414 patients were treated surgically while 157 patients non-surgically. Color Doppler ultrasonography of both lower extremities was performed to determine the occurrence of DVT before operation and every week after operation for patients undergoing surgical treatment, and within 48 hours after admission and every week during hospitalization for those undergoing non-surgical treatment. The incidence and location of DVT were recorded for different femoral fractures.Results:The incidence of DVT in this cohort was 35.5%(913/2,517), that of proximal DVT 5.3%(135/2,571), and that of distal DVT 30.3% (778/2,571). In patients with femoral neck fracture, femoral intertrochanteric fracture, femoral shaft fracture and femoral condylar fracture, the incidence of DVT was respectively 28.8% (334/1,158), 44.7% (425/951), 30.7% (95/309) and 38.6% (59/153), the incidence of proximal DVT was respectively 2.7% (31/1,158), 5.6%(53/951), 9.7% (30/309) and 13.7% (21/153), and the incidence of distal DVT was respectively 26.2% (303/1,158), 39.1% (372/951), 21.0% (65/309) and 24.8%(38/153). The incidence of DVT in the femoral vein and above, popliteal vein, tibiofibular vein and intermuscular vein in this cohort was respectively 2.3%(60/2,571), 2.9%(75/2,571), 6.4%(165/2,571) and 23.8%(613/2,571).Conclusions:The incidence of DVT may be high in patients with femoral fracture, and the proximal DVT with a high risk of pulmonary embolism may occur more in patients with femoral condylar fracture.

Objective:To compare the in vitro susceptibility of fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans strains from superficial and deep infections to 8 antifungal drugs, and to compare drug resistance mutations in these strains. Methods:According to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) protocol M27-A4, 26 deep infection-derived and 33 superficial infection-derived drug-resistant Candida albicans strains were tested for in vitro susceptibility to 8 antifungal drugs (fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, amphotericin B, fluorocytosine, terbinafine, and micafungin) alone or in combination. DNA was extracted from all drug-resistant strains, and mutations in 3 drug resistance genes, including ERG3, ERG11 and FUR1, were detected by PCR. Normally distributed measurement data with homogeneous variance were compared between two groups by using two-independent-sample t test, non-normally distributed measurement data with non-homogeneous variance were compared using Mann-Whitney U test, and enumeration data were compared using chi-square test. Results:The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole and fluorocytosine all significantly differed between the superficial infection group and deep infection group (all P < 0.05) , while there was no significant difference in the MIC of amphotericin B or micafungin between the two groups (both P > 0.05) . The MIC of terbinafine was >64 μg/ml in 96.6% of the above strains, so could not be compared between groups. As combination drug susceptibility testing revealed, the combination of terbinafine with azoles (fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole or posaconazole) showed synergistic inhibitory effects against 15 Candida albicans strains (7 strains from deep infections, 8 strains from superficial infections) , with fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) indices being 0.033 to 0.187; no marked synergistic effect was observed in the combinations between fluorocytosine and azoles, between fluorocytosine and amphotericin B, or between amphotericin B and fluconazole, with the FIC indices being 0.56 to 1.125. The missense mutation V351A in the ERG3 gene was identified in all the 33 (100%) superficial infection-derived strains, as well as in 13 (50%) deep infection-derived strains, and the mutation A353T in the ERG3 gene was identified in 4 (15%) deep infection-derived strains; as for the ERG11 gene, missense mutations identified in the superficial infection-derived strains included I437V (32 strains, 97%) , Y132H (23 strains, 70%) , T123I (16 strains, 48%) , K128T (6 strains, 18%) , D116E (5 strains, 15%) , A114S (4 strains, 12%) , E266D (2 strains, 6%) , G448E (2 strains, 6%) , and G465S (2 strains, 6%) , while missense mutations identified in the deep infection-derived strains included I437V (23 strains, 88%) , E266D (13 strains, 50%) , E260G (5 strains, 19%) , and V488I (4 strains, 15%) ; the missense mutation R101C in the FUR1 gene was identified in 11 (33%) superficial infection-derived strains, but not identified in deep infection-derived strains. Conclusion:The drug susceptibility and drug resistance mutations differed to some extent between superficial infection- and deep infection-derived fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans strains.