Objective:To investigate the relationship between the visceral adiposity index(VAI) and cognitive decline.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted.Between October 2020 and March 2023, 483 elderly residents living in communities in Hefei were recruited and divided into four groups based on VAI scores, Q1(VAI ≤ 1.14), Q2(VAI>1.15 and ≤1.85), Q3(VAI>1.86 and ≤2.81) and Q4(VAI>2.82).General cognitive function was assessed by(MMSE)and(MoCA).Attention and working memory were tested by forward and backward digit span tasks.Logistic regression was utilized to analyze the relationship between different VAI scores and insulin resistance.The correlation between different VAI scores and cognitive function domains was analyzed by partial correlation.Results:The values of BMI, fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, HbA1c, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, HOMA-IR and HOMA-β increased with increasing VAI scores(all P<0.01).VAI was significantly correlated with insulin sensitivity after adjusting for confounding factors including sex.The risk of insulin resistance in Q4 was 7.40 times that in Q1( OR=7.40, 95% CI: 4.30-12.74, P<0.05).In addition, the correlation coefficients between VAI and forward digital span and between VAI and backward digital span were -0.116 and -0.105, respectively(both P<0.05), but there was no correlation between VAI and MMSE or MoCA. Conclusions:VAI is closely related to insulin resistance and also associated with early cognitive decline in elderly people with visceral obesity.

Objective To investigate the survival time of patients diagnosed with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in China between 2020 and 2022 and explore the associated factors influencing survival.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinically diagnosed cases with complete information on sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob dis-ease diagnosed by the China Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance network from 2020 to 2022,baseline information of patients was obtained from the case files,telephone follow-up was used to obtain the treatment and survival status of the patients after the diagnosis,life-table method was used for estimating the survival rate,Kaplan-Meier method was used for calculating the median survival time and the 95％CI,Cox regression model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses were used to screen for factors influencing survival time.Results The median survival time of the 300 patients was 5 months(95％CI:4.165-5.835).Univariate analysis revealed that factors such as age at onset,regional distribution,presence of corticobasal or extrapyramidal symptoms as initial manifestations,number of initial symptoms,presence of corticobasal or extrapyramidal functional abnormalities,number of major clinical manifestations,presence of typical electroencephalogram findings,and use of nasal feeding during the course of the disease were potential factors influencing survival time(P＜0.1).Multivariate analysis showed that the risk of death in patients with onset age＞65 years was 1.350 times higher than in patients with onset age ≤65 years(P=0.021,95.0％CI:1.046-1.742).Patients without pyramidal or extrapyramidal dysfunction had a 0.674-fold lower risk of death compared to those with these symptoms(P=0.020,95.0％CI:0.483-0.939).Patients who did not receive nasal feeding had a 1.817-fold higher risk of death compared to those who did(P＜0.001,95.0％CI:1.406-2.349).Conclusion Age at onset,the presence of pyramidal or extrapyramidal functional abnormalities,and the use of nasal feeding during the disease course are factors influencing the survival time of pa-tients clinically diagnosed with sCJD.

Objective:To understand the medical care of patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in China and its relationship with survival time.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on data of 150 patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease diagnosed by China′s Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Network during the period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022 in this study, and telephone follow-up with family members was used to obtain information of the patients′ care, treatment, and survival after diagnosis. Survival was estimated by life table method, median survival time and 95% confidence interval ( CI) were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank method was used to compare the difference in survival time between different groups, and multifactorial analysis was performed by COX proportional risk regression model regarding the influencing factors on patients′ survival time. Results:The median survival time of 150 patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was 6 months, and the cumulative lifetime survival rates at 2, 6, 12, and 18 months were 62%, 39%, 22%, and 9%, respectively. The result of univariate analysis showed that the differences in survival time between groups with the presence or absence of cortical blindness in the first symptom, the presence or absence of respiratory support (oxygen therapy), the presence or absence of adjunctive medication, and the presence or absence of tube feeding (nasogastric) were meaningful ( P<0.1). Multifactorial COX regression analysis showed that the risk of death in patients without adjuvant medication was 1.429 times higher than that in patients with adjuvant medication (95.0% CI: 1.014-2.014), and the risk of death in patients without tube feeding (nasal feeding) was 1.479 times higher than that in patients with tube feeding (nasal feeding) (95% CI: 1.052-2.081). Conclusions:Whether or not adjuvant medication is administered and whether or not tube feeding (nasogastric) is used are factors that affect survival time in patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and the administration of appropriate adjuvant medication and tube feeding (nasogastric) may contribute to prolonging survival time in patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

OX40 is a costimulatory receptor that is expressed primarily on activated CD4⁺, CD8⁺, and regulatory T cells. The ligation of OX40 to its sole ligand OX40L potentiates T cell expansion, differentiation, and activation and also promotes dendritic cells to mature to enhance their cytokine production. Therefore, the use of agonistic anti-OX40 antibodies for cancer immunotherapy has gained great interest. However, most of the agonistic anti-OX40 antibodies in the clinic are OX40L-competitive and show limited efficacy. Here, we discovered that BGB-A445, a non-ligand-competitive agonistic anti-OX40 antibody currently under clinical investigation, induced optimal T cell activation without impairing dendritic cell function. In addition, BGB-A445 dose-dependently and significantly depleted regulatory T cells in vitro and in vivo via antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. In the MC38 syngeneic model established in humanized OX40 knock-in mice, BGB-A445 demonstrated robust and dose-dependent antitumor efficacy, whereas the ligand-competitive anti-OX40 antibody showed antitumor efficacy characterized by a hook effect. Furthermore, BGB-A445 demonstrated a strong combination antitumor effect with an anti-PD-1 antibody. Taken together, our findings show that BGB-A445, which does not block OX40-OX40L interaction in contrast to clinical-stage anti-OX40 antibodies, shows superior immune-stimulating effects and antitumor efficacy and thus warrants further clinical investigation.
Mice ; Animals ; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor/physiology* ; Receptors, OX40 ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; Ligands ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/pharmacology* ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology*

OBJECTIVE To study the protective effect and potential mechanism of Hypericum perforatum on cerebral ischemia- reperfusion in rats. METHODS The male SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group， model group， positive control group （nimodipine 0.012 g/kg）， H. perforatum high-dose and low-dose groups （5.212， 1.303 g/kg）， with 10 rats in each group. Except for sham operation group， the left middle cerebral artery ischemia-reperfusion model was established with the modified suture method. Administration groups were given relevant medicine intragastrically since the second day after surgery， once a day， for 7 consecutive days. The neurological function scores of rats were measured before drug intervention （the first day after modeling） and after the last administration， and the cerebral infarction after the last administration was observed using TTC staining method；HE staining and TUNEL staining methods were used to observe the pathological changes of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus， and the apoptosis of nerve cells， respectively. Western blot and RT-PCR were used to observe the protein and mRNA expressions of erythropoietin （EPO）， erythropoietin receptor （EPOR）， Janus kinase 2 （JAK2） and signal transduction and activator of transcription 3 （STAT3）， and protein expression of phosphorylated STAT3 （p-STAT3）， respectively. RESULTS Compared with sham operation group， neurological function score and the proportion of cerebral infarction in model group were significantly increased before intervention and after the last administration （P＜0.01）， with significant damage to nerve cells in cerebral cortex and hippocampus， an increase in apoptotic nerve cells， and a significant increase in apoptosis rate （P＜0.01）； protein and mRNA expressions of EPO and EPOR in the brain tissue were significantly reduced （P＜0.01）， while the protein expressions of JAK2， p- STAT3 and STAT3， and mRNA expressions of JAK2 and STAT3 were significantly increased （P＜0.01）. Compared with model group， the damage and apoptosis of nerve cells in cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats in administration groups were improved， and the quantitative indicators were almost significantly improved （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS H. perforatum has a protective effect against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats， and the related mechanism may be related to the regulation of EPO-mediated JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Objectives:Microvascular obstruction (MVO) is a specific cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging feature in patients with acute myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the predictive value of MVO in left ventricular adverse remodeling after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Methods:A total of 167 patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI in the Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2016 to 2020 were enrolled in this prospective cohort study, the average age of study patients was 57±10 years old, with 151 males (90.4%) and 16 females (9.6%). The patients were divided into the MVO group ( n=81) and non-MVO group ( n=86) according to the presence or absence of MVO on CMR imaging, respectively. The primary endpoint of the study was the occurrence of left ventricular adverse remodeling, which was defined as an increase in left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV) by >20% at 6 months after primary PCI compared with the baseline. Patients who completed follow-up were diagnosed as left ventricular adverse remodeling or no left ventricular adverse remodeling according to CMR. The baseline data, perioperative data, and related data of end points were compared between the MVO group and non-MVO group. Finally, the predictive value of MVO in left ventricular adverse remodeling was calculated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results:In the baseline data, preoperative thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow ( χ2=13.74, P=0.003) and postoperative TIMI flow ( χ2=14.87, P=0.001) were both obviously decreased in the MVO group. After 6 months of follow-up, the incidence of left ventricular adverse remodeling in the MVO group was significantly higher than that in the non-MVO group [37.0%(27/73) vs. 18.9%(14/74), χ2=5.96, P=0.015]. The left ventricular end systolic volume at 6 months post infarction in the MVO group was significantly larger than that in the non-MVO group [(94±32) vs. (68±20) ml, t=-5.98, P<0.001], as well as the LVEDV [(169±38) vs. (143±29) ml, t=-4.74, P<0.001]. Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the area under the curve of MVO size for predicting left ventricular adverse remodeling was 0.637. Conclusion:The risk of left ventricular adverse remodeling is significantly increased in patients with MVO after primary PCI for acute STEMI.

Established in 2017, the Screening Cohort for Asian Nomadic descendants in China (Scan-China) has benefited over 180,000 members of a multi-ethnic population, particularly individuals of Mongolian descent compared with the general population (Han ethnicity), in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. This cohort study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of cancer screening and serve as a real-world data platform for cancer studies. The 6 most prevalent cancers in China are considered—namely, breast, lung, colorectal, gastric, liver and esophageal cancer. After baseline cancer risk assessments and screening tests, both active and passive follow-up (based on the healthcare insurance database, cancer registry, the front page of hospital medical records, and death certificates) will be conducted to trace participants’ onset and progression of cancers and other prevalent chronic diseases. Scan-China has preliminarily found a disproportionately lower screening participation rate and higher incidence/mortality rates of esophageal and breast cancer among the Mongolian population than among their Han counterparts. Further research will explore the cancer burden, natural history, treatment patterns, and risk factors of the target cancers.

Objective:To investigate the effect of diabetes mellitus in the elderly on memory function in patients with mild cognitive impairment(MCI).Methods:Totally 449 community residents were selected for a 2-year follow-up survey.Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)and Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)were selected for overall cognitive function assessment.Fuld Object Memory(FOM)and Digital Span Test(DST)were used to evaluate delayed recall and instantaneous memory.Demographic data such as gender, age, education level, marital history, annual income, blood pressure, medical history etc.were collected.The glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting insulin, and carotid artery intima-media thickness were checked regularly.All subjects were grouped into non-diabetes mellitus normal cognitive group(NDM-NC group), non-diabetes mellitus mild cognitive impairment group(NDM-MCI group), diabetes mellitus normal cognitive group(DM-NC group)and diabetes mellitus mild cognitive impairment group(DM-MCI group).Results:In cross-sectional observation, the first, second, and last recall scores in the FOM showed a decreasing trend in the DM-MCI group, showed a word "U" -shaped fluctuation trend in the DM-NC group and the NDM-MCI group, and showed no significant change in the NDM-NC group.There were no significant differences in DST anterior-backward test scores between the DM-MCI group and NDM-MCI group(all P>0.05).Through longitudinal follow-up and two-by-two comparison with the other three groups, the average value of glycosylated hemoglobin in the DM-MCI group(6.78±0.60)% was the highest, and the differences were statistically significant( P<0.05).During follow-up, the average carotid intima-media thickness(CIMT)was higher in the DM-MCI group(1.03±0.20)mm than in NDM-NC group(0.89±0.20)mm( P<0.05), and the difference was statistically significant.Comparing with the other three longitudinal follow-up groups, the CIMT thickening speed in DM-MCI group was fastest. Conclusions:Elderly DM patient population have a higher prevalence of MCI, and their memory function fluctuates or declines significantly.Therefore, regular detection of memory function is conducive to delaying the progression of DM and MCI.

In order to better assist doctors in the diagnosis of dry eye and improve the ability of ophthalmologists to recognize the condition of meibomian gland, a meibomian gland image segmentation and enhancement method based on Mobile-U-Net network was proposed. Firstly, Mobile-Net is used as the coding part of U-Net for down sampling, and then features are extracted and fused with the features in decoder to guide image segmentation. Secondly, the segmentation of meibomian gland region is enhanced to assist doctors to judge the condition. Thirdly, a large number of meibomian gland images are collected to train and verify the semantic segmentation network, and the clarity evaluation index is used to verify the meibomian gland enhancement effect. The experimental results show that the similarity coefficient of the proposed method is stable at 92.71%, and the image clarity index is better than the similar dry eye detection instruments on the market.
Deep Learning ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Dry Eye Syndromes ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Meibomian Glands/diagnostic imaging*

Objective:To construct a bowel preparation assessment scale for patients undergoing enteroscopy based on Delphi method and provide clinical nurses with a scientific and convenient bowel preparation assessment tool.Method:The bowel preparation assessment scale for patients undergoing enteroscopy was constructed through literature review, Delphi expert correspondence and analytic hierarchy process. Using the convenient sampling method, a total of 1 988 patients who needed bowel cleansing due to enteroscopy in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from June 2020 to January 2022 were selected as the research objects. The patients who underwent enteroscopy from June 2020 to April 2021 were set up as the pre-application group ( n=980) and patients who underwent enteroscopy from April 2021 to January 2022 were set up as the post-application group ( n=1 008) . The qualified rate of bowel preparation in patients undergoing enteroscopy was compared between the two groups. Results:A total of 16 experts were invited for 2 rounds of correspondence. The effective recovery rates of the two rounds of questionnaires were respectively 100.00% and 93.75%, the expert authority coefficients were respectively 0.837 and 0.800, and the Kendall's harmony coefficients were respectively 0.207 and 0.280 (all P<0.01) . The final constructed bowel preparation assessment scale for patients undergoing enteroscopy included 4 first-level indicators, 18 second-level indicators and 47 third-level indicators. After the assessment scale was applied to the clinic, the bowel preparation qualified rate (82.24%) of patients in the post-application group was higher than that in the pre-application group (66.43%) , and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.01) . Conclusions:The bowel preparation assessment scale for patients undergoing enteroscopy constructed based on the Delphi method is reliable, scientific and practical, which can effectively guide clinical nursing work.