Objective To analyze the predictive value of spermatic vein diameter in diagnosing occult oblique inguinal hernia in children.Methods A total of 93 children of oblique inguinal hernia were admitted to Hangzhou Linping District Maternal &Child Health Care Hospital from August 2021 to August 2023 as research objects,including 15 with 30 sides of bilateral dominant hernia and 78 with 78 sides of unilateral dominant hernia.Among them,21 with 21 sides of contralateral recessive hernia were found by laparoscopic exploration in unilateral dominant hernia.The 108 sides of dominant hernia were used as dominant hernia group and 21 sides of occult hernia group as recessive hernia group.According to different ages,the patients were divided into 1 to 3 years old group 60 cases,4 to 6 years old group 33 cases;Children with oblique inguinal hernia were divided into＜2 years group(68 cases)and ≥2 years group(25 cases).The color ultrasound diagnostic instrument uses a 7.5MHz linear transducer to measure the diameter of the spermatic vein in the inguinal region of the child using blood flow imaging with a signal displayed at 2mm/s.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis of the predictive value of spermatic vein diameter for the diagnosis of occult inguinal hernia in children.Results Compared with occult hernia group,diameter of spermatic cord was increased in dominant hernia group(P＜0.05).Compared with overt hernia group,diameter of spermatic cord in＜2 year group and ≥2 year group was smaller,and difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).In prediction of disease diagnosis with different age and course of disease,sensitivity of 1 to 3 years old was lower than that of 4 to 6 years old,and specificity was higher.The sensitivity of ≥2 years group was lower than that of＜2 years group.The specificity was higher and difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion diameter of spermatic vein can be used to predict the diagnosis of occult oblique inguinal hernia in children with high sensitivity and specificity.

Objective In this study,a risk prediction model for Alzheimer's disease(AD)was constructed based on Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative(ADNI)database to provide a theoretical basis for a better understanding of AD,as well as to provide a reference basis for the rational allocation of health resources and the development of preventive and control strategies.Methods The ADNIMERGE,UPENNBIOMK,ADNINIGHTINGALELONG and DXSUM datasets from the ADNI database were downloaded and random forest algorithm was used for the missing values imputation.Variable screening was performed by LASSO regression.Borderline-1 SMOTE resampling was used to adjusted for intergroup balance,and the variables were incorporated into base classifiers including XGBoost,random forest,bagging,AdaBoost,and support vector machine.Enhanced integrated classifiers were then constructed based on voting and Stacking strategies.Youden index,area under curve(AUC),F-score,G-mean,accuracy,Matthews correlation coefficient(MCC)and Kappa on the validation set were used to evaluate and compare the model efficacy.Results The performance of the classifiers based on balanced data were improved for both base and enhanced integrated classifiers.The performance of stacking and voting enhanced integrated classifiers constructed based on advantageous base classifiers have better performance compared to the base classifiers.After data balancing,the XGBoost performed better in the base classifiers(AUC:0.9090,accuracy:0.9091)and voting algorithm performs better in enhanced integrated classifiers(AUC:0.9178,accuracy:0.9179).Conclusion After Borderline-1 SMOTE resampling adjusted,the performance of both base classifiers and the enhanced integrated classifiers were all improved.For balanced data,XGBoost classifier and the voting enhanced integrated classifier can effectively assist in clinical prediction of Alzheimer's disease progression.

Objective:To explore the causal association between insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1)and colorectal cancer(CRC)based on two sample Mendelian randomization(MR)analysis.Methods:A bidirectional two sample MR analysis was conducted based on publicly aggregated data from the IEU OpenGWAS project.The inverse variance weighted(IVW)method was used as the main analysis model to assess the causal relationship between IGF-1 and CRC.Additional analyses were performed using weighted median(WM),MR-Egger regression,weighted mode estimator(WME),and simple mode(SM)methods.Sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the robustness of the results.Results:A total of 386 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)were selected as instrumental variables(IVs)with IGF-1 as the exposure factor.The MR analysis results revealed a positive causal association between IGF-1 and the risk of CRC[odds ratio(OR)=1.178,95％confidence interval(CI):1.092-1.272)](P＜0.001),and the association remained significant after adjusting for height[OR(95％CI)=1.214(1.111,1.327)](P＜0.001).Cochran's Q-test showed heterogeneity among the IVs(P＜0.05),while the horizontal pleiotropy of IV was not detected by the MR-Egger regression(P＞0.05).The leave-one-out analysis showed that the MR results were robust.Reverse MR analysis indicated no reverse causal relationship between IGF-1 and CRC[OR(95％CI):1.017(0.997,1.037)](P=0.103).Conclusion:There is a causal relationship between IGF-1 level and CRC,and elevated IGF-1 level could be a risk factor for CRC.

Objective:To reveal the differences in the transcriptome maps of brain tissues in mice subjected to Flash irradiation and conventional dose rate irradiation with electron beams and to explain the biological effect and mechanisms of Flash irradiation from multiple perspectives.Methods:Following the principle of grouping based on approximate body weights, 36 female C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups, i. e., the control, conventional dose rate irradiation (CONV), and Flash irradiation (Flash) groups, with 12 mice in each group. Both the CONV and Flash groups received a single 15 Gy whole-brain irradiation with 9 MeV electron beams. At 3 d post-irradiation, the whole-brain tissue specimens were collected for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining to observe pathological changes. At 1, 3, and 10 weeks post-irradiation, the motion function, cognitive ability, depression level, and spatial memory capacity of the mice were assessed using ethology. At 1 and 10 weeks after behavioral experiments, brain tissue samples were collected and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen for reference-based transcriptome sequencing. Accordingly, the differences in the transcriptome maps of radiation-induced brain injury between CONV and Flash groups were analyzed.Results:The HE staining-based pathological result revealed that compared to the CONV group, the Flash group exhibited reduced glial cell hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration in brain tissues. Ethological research result at 1 week post-irradiation showed that the CONV group manifested a significantly decreased total traveled distance compared to the control and Flash groups ( t = 5.51, 2.38, P < 0.05) and a significantly increased immobility time compared to the control group ( t = 3.60, P < 0.05). Ethological research result at 3 weeks post-irradiation indicated that compared to the CONV group, the Flash group displayed significantly alleviated cognitive impairment ( t = 3.35, P < 0.05) and reduced depression levels ( t = 2.39, P < 0.05). Ethological research result at 10 weeks post-irradiation demonstrated that the CONV group showed the worst cognitive performance, significantly differing from the control group ( t = 4.53, P < 0.05). Transcriptome sequencing result revealed that besides immune-related pathways, the Flash group also exhibited multiple upregulated metabolic pathways and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-related pathways compared to the CONV group. Conclusions:Compared to conventional dose rate irradiation, Flash irradiation can effectively alleviate radiation-induced brain injury in mice. This effect is associated with various metabolic pathways (including amino acid metabolism) and FGF-related pathways besides immune pathways.

Objective:To reveal the differences in the transcriptome maps of brain tissues in mice subjected to Flash irradiation and conventional dose rate irradiation with electron beams and to explain the biological effect and mechanisms of Flash irradiation from multiple perspectives.Methods:Following the principle of grouping based on approximate body weights, 36 female C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups, i. e., the control, conventional dose rate irradiation (CONV), and Flash irradiation (Flash) groups, with 12 mice in each group. Both the CONV and Flash groups received a single 15 Gy whole-brain irradiation with 9 MeV electron beams. At 3 d post-irradiation, the whole-brain tissue specimens were collected for hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining to observe pathological changes. At 1, 3, and 10 weeks post-irradiation, the motion function, cognitive ability, depression level, and spatial memory capacity of the mice were assessed using ethology. At 1 and 10 weeks after behavioral experiments, brain tissue samples were collected and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen for reference-based transcriptome sequencing. Accordingly, the differences in the transcriptome maps of radiation-induced brain injury between CONV and Flash groups were analyzed.Results:The HE staining-based pathological result revealed that compared to the CONV group, the Flash group exhibited reduced glial cell hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration in brain tissues. Ethological research result at 1 week post-irradiation showed that the CONV group manifested a significantly decreased total traveled distance compared to the control and Flash groups ( t = 5.51, 2.38, P < 0.05) and a significantly increased immobility time compared to the control group ( t = 3.60, P < 0.05). Ethological research result at 3 weeks post-irradiation indicated that compared to the CONV group, the Flash group displayed significantly alleviated cognitive impairment ( t = 3.35, P < 0.05) and reduced depression levels ( t = 2.39, P < 0.05). Ethological research result at 10 weeks post-irradiation demonstrated that the CONV group showed the worst cognitive performance, significantly differing from the control group ( t = 4.53, P < 0.05). Transcriptome sequencing result revealed that besides immune-related pathways, the Flash group also exhibited multiple upregulated metabolic pathways and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-related pathways compared to the CONV group. Conclusions:Compared to conventional dose rate irradiation, Flash irradiation can effectively alleviate radiation-induced brain injury in mice. This effect is associated with various metabolic pathways (including amino acid metabolism) and FGF-related pathways besides immune pathways.

Objective In this study,a risk prediction model for Alzheimer's disease(AD)was constructed based on Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative(ADNI)database to provide a theoretical basis for a better understanding of AD,as well as to provide a reference basis for the rational allocation of health resources and the development of preventive and control strategies.Methods The ADNIMERGE,UPENNBIOMK,ADNINIGHTINGALELONG and DXSUM datasets from the ADNI database were downloaded and random forest algorithm was used for the missing values imputation.Variable screening was performed by LASSO regression.Borderline-1 SMOTE resampling was used to adjusted for intergroup balance,and the variables were incorporated into base classifiers including XGBoost,random forest,bagging,AdaBoost,and support vector machine.Enhanced integrated classifiers were then constructed based on voting and Stacking strategies.Youden index,area under curve(AUC),F-score,G-mean,accuracy,Matthews correlation coefficient(MCC)and Kappa on the validation set were used to evaluate and compare the model efficacy.Results The performance of the classifiers based on balanced data were improved for both base and enhanced integrated classifiers.The performance of stacking and voting enhanced integrated classifiers constructed based on advantageous base classifiers have better performance compared to the base classifiers.After data balancing,the XGBoost performed better in the base classifiers(AUC:0.9090,accuracy:0.9091)and voting algorithm performs better in enhanced integrated classifiers(AUC:0.9178,accuracy:0.9179).Conclusion After Borderline-1 SMOTE resampling adjusted,the performance of both base classifiers and the enhanced integrated classifiers were all improved.For balanced data,XGBoost classifier and the voting enhanced integrated classifier can effectively assist in clinical prediction of Alzheimer's disease progression.

Objective To analyze the predictive value of spermatic vein diameter in diagnosing occult oblique inguinal hernia in children.Methods A total of 93 children of oblique inguinal hernia were admitted to Hangzhou Linping District Maternal &Child Health Care Hospital from August 2021 to August 2023 as research objects,including 15 with 30 sides of bilateral dominant hernia and 78 with 78 sides of unilateral dominant hernia.Among them,21 with 21 sides of contralateral recessive hernia were found by laparoscopic exploration in unilateral dominant hernia.The 108 sides of dominant hernia were used as dominant hernia group and 21 sides of occult hernia group as recessive hernia group.According to different ages,the patients were divided into 1 to 3 years old group 60 cases,4 to 6 years old group 33 cases;Children with oblique inguinal hernia were divided into＜2 years group(68 cases)and ≥2 years group(25 cases).The color ultrasound diagnostic instrument uses a 7.5MHz linear transducer to measure the diameter of the spermatic vein in the inguinal region of the child using blood flow imaging with a signal displayed at 2mm/s.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis of the predictive value of spermatic vein diameter for the diagnosis of occult inguinal hernia in children.Results Compared with occult hernia group,diameter of spermatic cord was increased in dominant hernia group(P＜0.05).Compared with overt hernia group,diameter of spermatic cord in＜2 year group and ≥2 year group was smaller,and difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).In prediction of disease diagnosis with different age and course of disease,sensitivity of 1 to 3 years old was lower than that of 4 to 6 years old,and specificity was higher.The sensitivity of ≥2 years group was lower than that of＜2 years group.The specificity was higher and difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion diameter of spermatic vein can be used to predict the diagnosis of occult oblique inguinal hernia in children with high sensitivity and specificity.

Objective:To evaluate the value of the ratio of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion to pulmonary artery systolic pressure (TAPSE/PASP) in evaluating right ventricular function of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).Methods:A total of 74 patients with HCM and HFpEF and 22 healthy individuals who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2021 to January 2023 were included in this study. The HCM patients with HFpEF were divided into three groups based on the tertiles of the TAPSE/PASP (low group: <0.280 0 mm/mmHg; middle group: 0.280 0-0.476 2 mm/mmHg; high group: >0.476 2 mm/mmHg). Conventional echocardiographic parameters were collected, and two-dimensional speckle tracking technology was used to obtain right ventricular strain parameters. The differences in parameters among the groups were compared, and the correlations between TAPSE/PASP and clinical parameters and right ventricular function parameters were analyzed.Results:The results of difference analysis showed that there were significant differences in 6-minute walking test, New York Heart Association grade (NYHA grade), incidence of atrial fibrillation, left atrial area (LAA), left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS), TAPSE, PASP, right ventricular fractional area change (RVFAC), right ventricular global longitudinal strain (RVGLS), right ventricular free wall strain (RVFWST) and cardiac magnetic resonance right ventricular ejection fraction (CMR-RVEF) among the three groups. The results of correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis showed that the TAPSE/PASP was positively correlated with 6-minute walking distance, RVFAC, tricuspid annulus peak systolic velocity (RV s′), and CMR-RVEF ( r=0.449, 0.284, 0.358, 0.577; all P<0.05). It was negatively correlated with N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), NYHA grade, LAA, mitral early diastolic peak velocity / mitral annulus early diastolic peak velocity (LV E/e′), LVGLS, RVGLS, RVFWST and tricuspid early diastolic peak velocity / tricuspid annulus early diastolic peak velocity (RV E/e′) (r/ rs=-0.336, -0.349, -0.468, -0.452, -0.444, -0.339, -0.405, -0.320; all P<0.05). The LAA and CMR-RVEF correlated independently with TAPSE/PASP(all P<0.05). Conclusions:The TAPSE/PASP can provide an early, simple, rapid, and convenient evaluation of right ventricular function in patients with HCM and HFpEF, so as to guide clinical treatment and monitoring disease progression.

Objective:To screen the main characteristic variables affecting the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases,and to construct the Bayesian network model of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease incidence risk based on the top 10 characteristic variables,and to provide the reference for predicting the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease incidence.Methods:From the UK Biobank Database,315 896 participants and related variables were included.The feature selection was performed by categorical boosting(CatBoost)algorithm,and the participants were randomly divided into training set and test set in the ratio of 7∶3.A Bayesian network model was constructed based on the max-min hill-climbing(MMHC)algorithm.Results:The prevalence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in this study was 28.8％.The top 10 variables selected by the CatBoost algorithm were age,body mass index(BMI),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),total cholesterol(TC),the triglyceride-glucose(TyG)index,family history,apolipoprotein A/B ratio,high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C),smoking status,and gender.The area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUC)for the CatBoost training set model was 0.770,and the model accuracy was 0.764;the AUC of validation set model was 0.759 and the model accuracy was 0.763.The clinical efficacy analysis results showed that the threshold range for the training set was 0.06-0.85 and the threshold range for the validation set was 0.09-0.81.The Bayesian network model analysis results indicated that age,gender,smoking status,family history,BMI,and apolipoprotein A/B ratio were directly related to the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and they were the significant risk factors.TyG index,HDL-C,LDL-C,and TC indirectly affect the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases through their impact on BMI and apolipoprotein A/B ratio.Conclusion:Controlling BMI,apolipoprotein A/B ratio,and smoking behavior can reduce the incidence risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.The Bayesian network model can be used to predict the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease incidence.

Objective:To explore the clinical characteristics of persistent HBeAg positivity in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with nucleos(t)ide analogues.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed according to different data types. An independent sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square test, or Fisher's exact probability method were used. Chronic hepatitis B patients followed up for four years were collected from the follow-up case database of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Zhongshan Third Hospital from January 2009 to December 2018 and were divided into two groups, A and B, with 87 and 145 cases respectively, according to the duration of HBeAg-negativity≤ 3 and persistent positivity >3 years. Statistical analysis was conducted on the age, gender, family history, baseline, follow-up visit duration, liver function, and other data among the two patient groups.Results:There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age, family history of liver cirrhosis, family history of liver cancer, liver cirrhosis condition before treatment, fatty liver disease combined condition before treatment, baseline HBsAg, anti-HBc, alanine aminotransferase, albumin, or total bilirubin between the two groups of patients ( P ?>?0.05). HBV DNA and HBeAg were significantly higher in group B than those in group A at baseline, with P≤0.001. Aspartate aminotransferase and γ-glutamyl transferase were significantly higher in group A than those in group B at baseline. The proportion of family history of hepatitis B was significantly higher in group B (69.0%) than that in group A (50.6%) among the two groups of patients, and the difference was statistically significant ( P ?=?0.005). The proportion of mothers with hepatitis B was significantly higher in group B (25.5%) than in group A (11.5%), P ?=?0.010. During the treatment process, the HBV DNA quantification was significantly higher in group B than that in group A at 0.5 and 1 years (P≤0.002). The proportion of HBV DNA <100IU/ml was also significantly different at six months and one year (χ 2=30.327, P ??0.05). Conclusion:HBeAg-positive patients with chronic hepatitis B have persistent HBeAg positivity when treated with long-term nucleos(t)ide analogues. Accordingly, a greater proportion of this kind of patient family and mothers have a remarkable history of hepatitis B and a reduced HBV DNA relapse rate in the early stages (within a year or less).