AIM:To investigate the effect of fibroblast growth factor 21(FGF21)on high glucose-induced oxidative stress in retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells and to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms.METHODS:Single-cell sequencing data from the GEO database were analyzed to determine the expression profile of the FGF21 receptor FGFR1 in RPE cells. Human ARPE-19 cells were cultured and randomly assigned to control, high glucose(30 mmol/L), and high glucose+FGF21 analog treatment groups, with additional siFGFR1 and PI3K inhibitor groups. Cell viability in different treatment groups was assessed using CCK-8 assay, intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS)levels were quantified using DCFH-DA fluorescent probing combined with immunofluorescence staining and flow cytometry. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on cells from the high glucose group and high glucose+FGF21 group to analyze the enrichment level of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Western blotting was performed to detect phosphorylation levels of PI3K/Akt pathway components.RESULTS:Single-cell sequencing revealed specific expression of FGFR1 in RPE cells of retinal tissues from diabetic model mice. Under In vitro experiments, high glucose(30 mmol/L)exposure reduced ARPE-19 cell viability by 49.7% and increased ROS levels by approximately 2-fold. Whereas treatment with the FGF21 analog(60 ng/mL)restored cell viability and attenuated high glucose-induced ROS accumulation. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that FGFR1 knockdown inhibited the antioxidative stress of FGF21. Further validation of the molecular mechanism revealed that high glucose significantly suppressed the PI3K/Akt pathway activation(the levels of p-Akt and p-PI3K were decreased by 33.9% and 36.6%, respectively), while FGF21 effectively reversed this inhibitory effect and restored the expression of p-Akt and p-PI3K. Treatment with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 inhibited the cytoprotective effect of FGF21 and significantly increased the ROS-positive cells, these findings confirm that PI3K/Akt signaling is indispensable downstream mechanism for FGF21 to exert its effects.CONCLUSION:FGF21 alleviates high glucose-induced oxidative stress and cellular injury in RPE cells by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway through its receptor FGFR1.

To explore the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） and integrative TCM-Western medicine approaches in the treatment of diabetic microvascular complications （DMC）， refine key pathophysiological insights and treatment principles， and promote academic innovation and strategic research planning in the prevention and treatment of DMC. The 38th session of the Expert Salon on Diseases Responding Specifically to Traditional Chinese Medicine， hosted by the China Association of Chinese Medicine， was held in Beijing， 2024. Experts in TCM， Western medicine， and interdisciplinary fields convened to conduct a systematic discussion on the pathogenesis， diagnostic and treatment challenges， and mechanism research related to DMC， ultimately forming a consensus on key directions. Four major research recommendations were proposed. The first is addressing clinical bottlenecks in the prevention and control of DMC by optimizing TCM-based evidence evaluation systems. The second is refining TCM core pathogenesis across DMC stages and establishing corresponding "disease-pattern-time" framework. The third is innovating mechanism research strategies to facilitate a shift from holistic regulation to targeted intervention in TCM. The fourth is advancing interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance the role of TCM in new drug development， research prioritization， and guideline formulation. TCM and integrative approaches offer distinct advantages in managing DMC. With a focus on the diseases responding specifically to TCM， strengthening evidence-based support and mechanism interpretation and promoting the integration of clinical care and research innovation will provide strong momentum for the modernization of TCM and the advancement of national health strategies.

As the core vehicle for preserving and transmitting traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） academic thought and clinical experience， the establishment of a robust quality evaluation system for TCM clinical case reports is a crucial component in the current standardization and modernization of TCM. Based on the practical experience of constructing the China Clinical Cases Library of Traditional Chinese Medicine by the China Association of Chinese Medicine， this study conducted a comprehensive analysis of critical challenges， including insufficient authenticity and unfocused evaluation criteria. It proposed a three-dimensional evaluation framework grounded in the structure-process-outcome logic， encompassing three dimensions of authenticity and standardization， characteristics and advantages， application and translational impact. This framework integrated 12 key evaluation indicators in a systematic manner. The model preserved the academic characteristics of TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment， while aligning with modern scientific research standards， achieving a balance between individualized TCM experience and standardized evaluation. Concurrently， this study provided theoretical foundations and methodological guidance for evaluating the quality of TCM clinical cases， contributing significantly to the inheritance of TCM knowledge， evidence-based practice， and the reform of talent evaluation mechanisms.

ObjectiveThis paper aims to find the identified and validated clinical biomarker data building upon a clinical study of early-phase phase Ⅱ and investigate the correlation analysis of Huanglian Jiedu Wan on syndrome improvement and clinical biomarkers in the treatment of "excess heat-toxicity" based on a machine learning model. Additionally， the effective prediction of clinical biomarker values for the main symptoms of the "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome was assessed. MethodsA total of 229 patients meeting the inclusion criteria for "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome were randomly divided into the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group and the placebo group. Syndrome score transition matrices were constructed for the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group and the placebo group based on three main symptoms of "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome， such as oral ulcers， sore throat， and gum swelling and pain. Data from the patients with these three syndromes were also integrated for an overall analysis. The corresponding syndrome score transition matrices were further constructed to visualize symptom change trends of the patients in the two groups via heatmaps. Based on the identified and validated clinical biomarkers related to inflammation， oxidative stress， and energy metabolism in the early phase， Spearman correlation analysis was employed to analyze and evaluate the associations between clinical biomarkers and syndrome improvement. Key clinical biomarkers reflecting the effect of Huanglian Jiedu Wan were screened through the comparison of differences between groups. An extreme gradient boosting （XGBoost） algorithm was used to develop a prediction model for main symptom classification， with classification performance evaluated through 10-fold cross-validation. Feature importance analysis was applied to identify variables with the greatest contribution to the prediction result. ResultsThe syndrome transition matrix results indicated that the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group showed a superior effect to the placebo group in improving oral ulcers， sore throat， and overall symptoms， with significant effects observed especially in sore throat and overall symptom analyses （P<0.01）. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that several clinical biomarkers positively correlated with "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome and its main symptom improvement， were also called "heat-related biomarkers"， including succinic acid， α-ketoglutaric acid， glycine， lactic acid， adenosine monophosphate （AMP）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interferon-γ （IFN-γ）， interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， interleukin-4 （IL-4）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， interleukin-8 （IL-8）， interleukin-10 （IL-10）， and so on. Conversely， clinical biomarkers negatively correlated with symptom severity， were also called "heat-clearing related biomarkers" after administration of Huanglian Jiedu Wan， including malic acid， fumaric acid， cis-aconitic acid， adrenocorticotropic hormone （ACTH）， IL-1β， IL-4， IL-8， succinic acid， and citric acid. The XGBoost classification model using all 52 biomarkers as variables achieved an average test accuracy of 0.754 and an average F1 score of 0.777. Feature importance analysis identified the scores of glutamic acid in saliva and IL-6 were the highest in all the variables， with importance scores of 0.081 and 0.080， respectively. After screening out 14 key variables and optimizing the parameters， model performance improved to an average accuracy of 0.758 and an F1 score of 0.798. Feature importance analysis further determined that the glutamic acid in saliva and IL-6 showed obvious changes after screening the variables， confirming the good syndrome prediction ability of the model constructed by these key clinical biomarkers. ConclusionThis study systematically elucidates the correlation between syndrome improvement and clinical biomarkers of Huanglian Jiedu Wan in the treatment of "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome. An XGBoost classification model based on key clinical biomarkers is successfully established， achieving effective prediction of the symptoms related to the "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome such as oral ulcers and sore throat and providing a new insight for objective identification of traditional Chinese medicine syndromes.

ObjectiveThis paper aims to find the identified and validated clinical biomarker data building upon a clinical study of early-phase phase Ⅱ and investigate the correlation analysis of Huanglian Jiedu Wan on syndrome improvement and clinical biomarkers in the treatment of "excess heat-toxicity" based on a machine learning model. Additionally， the effective prediction of clinical biomarker values for the main symptoms of the "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome was assessed. MethodsA total of 229 patients meeting the inclusion criteria for "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome were randomly divided into the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group and the placebo group. Syndrome score transition matrices were constructed for the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group and the placebo group based on three main symptoms of "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome， such as oral ulcers， sore throat， and gum swelling and pain. Data from the patients with these three syndromes were also integrated for an overall analysis. The corresponding syndrome score transition matrices were further constructed to visualize symptom change trends of the patients in the two groups via heatmaps. Based on the identified and validated clinical biomarkers related to inflammation， oxidative stress， and energy metabolism in the early phase， Spearman correlation analysis was employed to analyze and evaluate the associations between clinical biomarkers and syndrome improvement. Key clinical biomarkers reflecting the effect of Huanglian Jiedu Wan were screened through the comparison of differences between groups. An extreme gradient boosting （XGBoost） algorithm was used to develop a prediction model for main symptom classification， with classification performance evaluated through 10-fold cross-validation. Feature importance analysis was applied to identify variables with the greatest contribution to the prediction result. ResultsThe syndrome transition matrix results indicated that the Huanglian Jiedu Wan group showed a superior effect to the placebo group in improving oral ulcers， sore throat， and overall symptoms， with significant effects observed especially in sore throat and overall symptom analyses （P<0.01）. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that several clinical biomarkers positively correlated with "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome and its main symptom improvement， were also called "heat-related biomarkers"， including succinic acid， α-ketoglutaric acid， glycine， lactic acid， adenosine monophosphate （AMP）， tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interferon-γ （IFN-γ）， interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， interleukin-4 （IL-4）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， interleukin-8 （IL-8）， interleukin-10 （IL-10）， and so on. Conversely， clinical biomarkers negatively correlated with symptom severity， were also called "heat-clearing related biomarkers" after administration of Huanglian Jiedu Wan， including malic acid， fumaric acid， cis-aconitic acid， adrenocorticotropic hormone （ACTH）， IL-1β， IL-4， IL-8， succinic acid， and citric acid. The XGBoost classification model using all 52 biomarkers as variables achieved an average test accuracy of 0.754 and an average F1 score of 0.777. Feature importance analysis identified the scores of glutamic acid in saliva and IL-6 were the highest in all the variables， with importance scores of 0.081 and 0.080， respectively. After screening out 14 key variables and optimizing the parameters， model performance improved to an average accuracy of 0.758 and an F1 score of 0.798. Feature importance analysis further determined that the glutamic acid in saliva and IL-6 showed obvious changes after screening the variables， confirming the good syndrome prediction ability of the model constructed by these key clinical biomarkers. ConclusionThis study systematically elucidates the correlation between syndrome improvement and clinical biomarkers of Huanglian Jiedu Wan in the treatment of "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome. An XGBoost classification model based on key clinical biomarkers is successfully established， achieving effective prediction of the symptoms related to the "excess heat-toxicity" syndrome such as oral ulcers and sore throat and providing a new insight for objective identification of traditional Chinese medicine syndromes.

OBJECTIVE To construct three-class （insufficient， normal， excessive） and two-class （insufficient， normal） models for predicting plasma concentration of valproic acid （VPA）， and compare the performance of these two models， with the aim of providing a reference for formulating clinical medication strategies. METHODS The clinical data of 480 patients who received VPA treatment and underwent blood concentration test at the Xi’an International Medical Center Hospital were collected from November 2022 to September 2024 （a total of 695 sets of data）. In this study， predictive models were constructed for target variables of three-class and two-class models. Feature ranking and selection were carried out using XGBoost scores. Twelve different machine learning algorithms were used for training and validation， and the performance of the models was evaluated using three indexes: accuracy， F1 score， and the area under the working characteristic curve of the subject （AUC）. RESULTS XGBoost feature importance scores revealed that in the three-class model， the importance ranking of kidney disease and electrolyte disorders was higher. However， in the two-class model， the importance ranking of these features significantly decreased， suggesting a close association with the excessive blood concentration of VPA. In the three-class model， Random Forest method performed best， with F1 score of 0.704 0 and AUC of 0.519 3 on the test set； while in the two-class model， CatBoost method performed optimally， with F1 score of 0.785 7 and AUC of 0.819 5 on the test set. CONCLUSIONS The constructed three-class model has the ability to predict excessive VPA blood concentration， but its prediction and model generalization abilities are poor； the constructed two-class model can only perform classification prediction for insufficient and normal blood concentration cases， but its model performance is stronger.

Objective To investigate whether successful percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)could improve symptoms and quality of life(QOL)in left main disease and/or 3-vessel disease patients with diabetes.Methods Patients with left main disease and/or 3-vessel disease who underwent PCI in the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from April 2018 to May 2021 were consecutively enrolled and subdivided into 2 groups:diabetes and no diabetes.Detailed baseline characteristics,symptoms,including dyspnea and angina,assessed with the Rose dyspnea scale(RDS),Seattle angina questionnaire(SAQ),the European quality of life-5 dimensions(EQ-5D)and 12-item short-form health survey(SF-12)questionnaire respectively,procedural details,and 1 month and 1 year follow-up data were collected.Results Among 440 left main disease and/or 3-vessel disease patients,disease was present in 176(40.00％),who had more hypertension,peripheral artery disease,and LCX lesion(all P＜0.05).The incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events(MACE)and all-cause mortality were similar between the two groups(both P＞0.05)at 1 month follow-up,while all-cause mortality in diabetes patients was significantly higher than those without diabetes at 1 year follow-up(P=0.013).Low left ventricular ejection fraction was an independent risk factor for MACE and all-cause mortality at 1 month and 1 year follow-up after successful revascularization(all P＜0.05).Most importantly,symptoms,including dyspnea and angina,and QOL were markedly improved regardless of diabetes both at 1 month and 1 year follow-up(all P＜0.05).Diabetes patients showed improved dyspnea and QOL at similar degree to the non-diabetes patients(all P＞0.05)and a more significantly relieved angina(P=0.013).Additionally,the number of chronic total occlusion(CTO)per patient was identified as an independent risk factor of dyspnea(OR 0.723,95％CI 0.525～0.997,P=0.048)and angina relief(OR 0.686,95％CI 0.473～0.995,P=0.047),and the contrast volume(OR 0.995,95％CI 0.992～0.999,P=0.008)as an independent risk factor of QOL improvement in diabetic patients.Conclusions Successful PCI is beneficial for relieving symptoms and improving quality of life in patients with diabetes who have left main disease and/or 3-vessel disease.

AIM:To investigate the effect and mechanism of panax notoginseng saponins(PNS)inhibiting the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells(PASMCs)in rats under the ef-fect of monocrotaline(MCT).METHODS:PASMCs cultured in vitro were randomly divided into the normal control(Control)group,the monocrotaline(MCT)group,the panax notoginseng saponins(PNS)group,the knockdown(M+Si ADAM10)group,the knockdown postconditioning(M+P+Si ADAM10)group,the overexpression(M+OE AD-AM10)group,and the overexpression postcondi-tioning(M+P+OE ADAM10)group.After the model was constructed,the cell viability of each group was measured using the CCK-8 assay,along with Western blot utilized to detect the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA),disinteg-rin metalloproteinase 10(ADAM10),and notch ho-mology protein-3(Notch3)at the cellular neurogen-ic locus,respectively.RESULTS:Under the effect of MCT,the viability of PASMCs was significantly en-hanced(P<0.05 or P<0.01);0-400 mg/L PNS was not toxic to the viability of normal cells,and 100 mg/L PNS could significantly inhibit the MCT-in-duced viability(P<0.01).After the knockdown of ADAM10,the viability of PASMCs significantly de-clined(P<0.01),and the expression of PCNA protein was significantly decreased(P<0.05),evidently in the M+P+Si ADAM10 group.Meanwhile,the ex-pression of ADAM10 and Notch3 protein was signif-icantly decreased(P<0.05 or P<0.01),evidently in the M+P+Si ADAM10 group.After overexpression of ADAM10,the viability of PASMCs was significant-ly enhanced(P<0.01),the expression of PCNA pro-tein was significantly increased(P<0.01),the PCNA value was slightly higher(P>0.05),and the expres-sion of ADAM10 and Notch3 protein was signifi-cantly elevated(P<0.05)in the M+P+OE ADAM10 group.Additionally,PASMCs overexpressing AD-AM10 with concomitant PNS exhibited a significant decrease in the expression of PCNA protein com-pared with PASMCs knocking down ADAM10(P<0.01),and the expression of ADAM10 and Notch3 protein declined to varying degrees(P>0.05).CON-CLUSION:Panax notoginseng saponins can mitigate MCT-induced PASMCs proliferation in rats by inhib-iting the ADAM10/Notch3 signaling pathway.

Objective:To investigate the effects of spinal cord injury(SCI)on neuropathic pain(NP)and cognitive dysfunction in mice,as well as the activation of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC),in order to provide experimental evidence for the connection between NP and cognitive dysfunction following SCI.Methods:Ten 8-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were used to prepare a model of spinal cord hemisection(SCI).Pain behavior and cognitive function of mice after SCI were assessed using von Frey,thermal stimulation,and Morris water maze behavioral experi-ments.Immunofluorescence staining were used to analyze the expression of c-Fos and GAD67/VGLUT2 positive cells in the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)of the SCI model mice.Results:Compared with the Sham group,the SCI group of mice showed a significant decrease in mechanical threshold and thermal pain threshold(P＜0.05).The Morris water maze results indicated a significantly prolonged escape latency(P＜0.05)and a significant reduction in the use of search strategies for locating the hidden platform.Immunofluorescence results showed a significant increase in the num-ber of c-Fos positive cells in the ACC(P＜0.05),which were mainly co-labeled with excitatory neuron marker VGLUT2 positive cells.Conclusion:SCI leads to abnormal pain behavior and cognitive dysfunction in mice,and it induces the activation of neurons in the ACC,with a predominant activation of excitatory neurons.This study provides morphological evidence for the involvement of excitatory neurons in the ACC in the comorbidity of NP and cognitive impairment following SCI.

OBJECTIVE To understand the molecular epidemiological characteristics,antimicrobial sensitivity and resistance mechanisms of Clostridioides difficile in Xi'an region,and provide data support for the prevention and control of C.difficile infection and the rational clinical use of antibiotics.METHODS A total of 87 strains of C.difficile,which were successfully isolated from stool samples collected from 6 hospitals from Oct.2018 to Dec.2022,were tested for virulence genes,population structure and genetic diversity were detected by Multilocus sequence typing(MLST)and Ribotyping(RT)methods,the drug sensitivity was detected by Etest,additionally,amino acid variations in the quinolone resistance-determining regions GyrA and GyrB were detected.RESULTS There were 41 strains(62.12％)with the genotype A+B+CDT—,23 strains(34.85％)with the genotype A-B+CDT—,and 2 strains(3.03％)with the genotype A+B+CDT+.MLST was divided into 25 ST types,and the main types were ST3,ST42 and ST39.There were 37 RT types,mainly were RT012,RT106 and RT001.All strains were sensitive to vancomycin and metronidazole,and the resistance rates to ciprofloxacin,levofloxacin and moxifloxacin were 90.80％,28.73％and 21.84％,respectively.GyrA contains two amino acid variations at Thr82-Ile and Asp205-Glu,and GyrB contains 6 amino acid variations.CONCLUSIONS The predominant toxin-producing strain of C.difficile in Xi'an is of A+B+CDT-genotype and the primary molecular types are ST54/RT012,ST42/RT106,ST3/RT001 and ST37/RT017.No strains resistant to vancomycin or metronidazole are detected.Amino acid variations in GyrA or GyrB of C.difficile are associated with quinolone resistance.To ef-fectively prevent the outbreak of C.difficile infection,it is crucial to enhance molecular epidemiology studies and strengthen antimicrobial resistance surveillance efforts.