Objective To develop an automated system for the determination of gross α and gross β activity concentrations in water, and to support the rapid and automated monitoring of environmental water bodies. Methods Based on the thick source method, microwave evaporation-ashing was used to replace conventional electric hotplate heating. A grinder and a sample-spreading device were designed and operated via a robotic arm, achieving fully automated pretreatment, sample preparation, and measurement. Results Spike recovery tests demonstrated that the recovery rates were 95.7%-102.5% for gross α and 97.2%-108.1% for gross β. The relative standard deviations were 4.1%-7.8% for gross α and 5.9%-7.7% for gross β. Compared with manual laboratory methods, the average relative errors were 2.17%-6.25% for gross α and 4.17%-6.90% for gross β. The sample preparation time was reduced from an average of 72 hours to less than 5 hours, representing an efficiency improvement of over 90%. Conclusion The developed system enables rapid, accurate, and fully automated monitoring of gross α/β radioactivity, making it suitable for online monitoring of environmental water bodies. It can provide timely data on the radiological indicators of water bodies for environmental protection and water resource management authorities.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether Huanglian Jiedutang can inhibit neutrophil infiltration in the brains of middle cerebral artery occlusion （MCAO） mice by regulating the expression of neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes， thereby achieving therapeutic effects. MethodsA total of 130 male specific pathogen-free （SPF） C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into four groups： Sham-operated group， MCAO model group， Huanglian Jiedutang group （6 g·kg^-1）， and Ginaton group （21.6 mg·kg^-1）， with 10 mice in the Ginaton group and 40 mice in each of the remaining three groups. Mice in the Huanglian Jiedutang group and the Ginaton group were administered the corresponding drugs by oral gavage once daily at a volume of 0.15 mL·（10 g）^-1 for 7 consecutive days， while the sham-operated and model groups received an equal volume of saline via the same route. After 7 days， MCAO surgery was performed. The distal and proximal ends of the right common carotid artery （CCA） were ligated， a small incision was made between the two ligatures， and a silicone rubber-coated monofilament with a rounded tip was inserted into the lumen to occlude the CCA. The filament was left in place for 1 h to establish a focal cerebral ischemia model. At 24 h after modeling， mice were evaluated. Neurological function was assessed using the Longa score. Cerebral infarct volume was measured by 2，3，5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride （TTC） staining. Cerebral blood flow was observed by laser speckle imaging. Hematoxylin and eosin （HE） staining and Nissl staining were used to observe pathological changes in brain tissues. Exosomes were isolated from mouse plasma and brain tissues by ultracentrifugation and molecular size exclusion and identified by electron microscopy， particle size analysis， and protein blotting. Long-chain RNA libraries of exosomes were constructed and sequenced. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was used to detect the mRNA expression of inflammatory factors and neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues of each group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was used to detect the protein expression of inflammatory factors and neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from brain tissues of each group. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of the neutrophil-specific protein myeloperoxidase （MPO） in the brains of mice in each group. ResultsCompared with the sham-operated group， the model group showed decreased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， obvious cerebral infarction （P<0.01）， reduced cerebral blood flow （P<0.01）， neuronal necrosis in the brain， and decreased numbers of Nissl bodies （P<0.01）. The mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL1， CXCL2， CXCL3， CXCL10， CCL2， and CCL3 in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues were significantly increased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The protein expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL2， and CXCL10 in exosomes from brain tissues were increased （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and MPO-positive rates and mean optical density values in brain tissues were elevated （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang group and the Ginaton group showed increased neurological function scores （P<0.05）， reduced cerebral infarct volume （P<0.01）， restored cerebral blood flow （P<0.01）， reduced necrotic cells in the brain， and increased numbers of Nissl bodies （P<0.01）. In the Huanglian Jiedutang group， the mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL1， CXCL2， CXCL3， CXCL10， CCL2， and CCL3 in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues were decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The protein expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL2， and CXCL10 in exosomes from brain tissues were reduced （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and MPO-positive rates and mean optical density values in brain tissues were decreased （P<0.01）. ConclusionHuanglian Jiedutang can effectively regulate the expression of neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues of MCAO mice， thereby reducing neutrophil infiltration in the brain and achieving therapeutic effects.

ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of metabolic reprogramming during cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury using single-cell transcriptome sequencing， analyze the heterogeneity of microglial populations， and evaluate the interventional effects of Huanglian Jiedutang on metabolic abnormalities and neuroinflammation. MethodsA transient middle cerebral artery occlusion （tMCAO） model was used to establish ischemic stroke in mice. Local cerebral blood flow changes were monitored by laser speckle imaging. Neurological impairment was evaluated using the Zea-Longa score， and histopathological damage in brain tissue was observed by HE and Nissl staining. Animals were divided into a sham group， model group， Huanglian Jiedutang group， and Ginkgo biloba extract （GBE） group. After 1 week of acclimatization， intragastric administration was initiated. The sham and model groups received normal saline， the Huanglian Jiedutang group was administered 1.82 g·kg^-1， and the GBE group was administered 0.432 g·kg^-1 after preparation as a 2.16 mg/mL solution. All groups were treated for 5 consecutive days （0.2 mL/10 g/day）， and the tMCAO model was established on day 6 after the final administration. At the molecular level， single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on ischemic hemisphere tissue. Non-negative matrix factorization （NMF） was used to cluster microglial subpopulations， combined with differential expression analysis， metabolic reprogramming assessment， and inflammatory factor correlation analysis to elucidate their functional characteristics in ischemia-reperfusion injury. Transcription factor enrichment analysis was further conducted to identify key regulatory nodes. Finally， PCR was used to detect mRNA expression changes of relevant genes to validate the single-cell sequencing results. ResultsCompared with the sham group， the model group showed increased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， decreased blood flow levels （P<0.01）， disordered cortical structure， increased cytoplasmic vacuolization， and increased Nissl bodies. Compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang and GBE groups showed decreased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， increased blood flow levels （P<0.01）， alleviated cortical structural disorder， reduced cytoplasmic vacuolization， and decreased Nissl bodies. Single-cell analysis showed that microglia could be divided into five subpopulations. Among them， clusters 3 and 5 exhibited significant pro-inflammatory phenotypes， with marked activation of hypoxia and NF-κB signaling pathways， and were identified as pro-inflammatory subpopulations. Clusters 1 and 2 were enriched in Wnt/β-catenin and transforming growth factor（TGF）-β signaling pathways and exhibited prominent anti-inflammatory and reparative characteristics. Meanwhile， glycolysis-related genes， such as HK2， PFKP， and LDHA， were significantly upregulated in the pro-inflammatory subpopulations. Correlation analysis showed that the expression levels of inflammatory molecules were positively correlated with glycolysis-related gene expression levels， whereas the expression levels of reparative and anti-inflammatory molecules were negatively correlated with glycolysis-related gene expression levels， indicating that microglia rely on the glycolytic pathway for energy acquisition under ischemic conditions. Further single-cell transcriptome analysis revealed that Huanglian Jiedutang effectively downregulated key genes driving metabolic reprogramming （such as HK2， PFKP， and LDHA）， significantly reduced the proportion of microglial subpopulations accompanied by glycolytic reprogramming， and inhibited their transformation toward a damage phenotype， thereby reducing inflammatory injury. Meanwhile， compared with the sham group， the mRNA expression levels of interleukin （IL）-1β， IL-6， tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α， CCL2， CXCL2， and CSF3 were significantly upregulated （P<0.01） in the model group， whereas the mRNA expression levels of endothelial- and pericyte-related functional genes， including RGS5， PECAM1， VEGFB， and NOS3， were significantly downregulated （P<0.01）. In contrast， compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang and GBE groups showed significantly decreased mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， IL-6， TNF-α， CCL2， CXCL2， and CSF3 （P<0.01）， and significantly increased mRNA expression levels of endothelial- and pericyte-related functional genes， including RGS5， PECAM1， VEGFB， and NOS3 （P<0.01）. ConclusionHuanglian Jiedutang exerts neuroprotective effects by regulating the metabolic reprogramming state of microglia and modulating their inflammatory levels， thereby inhibiting neuroinflammatory injury.

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.

Environmental pollution is a significant public health challenge worldwide, and investigating the causal relationship between environmental exposure and population health outcomes is a key objective of environmental epidemiology research. In recent years, the complexity of environmental exposures has increasingly come to the forefront, making it challenging for observational studies that dominate environmental epidemiology to accurately estimate causal effects. Causal inference methods are particularly advantageous in controlling for confounding factors, thus holding great potential in environmental epidemiology research. Researchers can use appropriate causal inference methods to simulate the process of randomization, providing strong support for revealing the causal relationship between environmental exposure and health outcomes. However, there is a lack of reviews on the application of causal inference methods in environmental epidemiology studies in China. Therefore, this study introduced the basic principles of common causal inference statistical methods in environmental epidemiology, summarized the applicable conditions, advantages and disadvantages of various methods, and provided R software implementation codes for these methods, aiming to offer guidance for optimizing research design and practicing causal inference statistical methods.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether Huanglian Jiedutang can inhibit neutrophil infiltration in the brains of middle cerebral artery occlusion （MCAO） mice by regulating the expression of neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes， thereby achieving therapeutic effects. MethodsA total of 130 male specific pathogen-free （SPF） C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into four groups： Sham-operated group， MCAO model group， Huanglian Jiedutang group （6 g·kg^-1）， and Ginaton group （21.6 mg·kg^-1）， with 10 mice in the Ginaton group and 40 mice in each of the remaining three groups. Mice in the Huanglian Jiedutang group and the Ginaton group were administered the corresponding drugs by oral gavage once daily at a volume of 0.15 mL·（10 g）^-1 for 7 consecutive days， while the sham-operated and model groups received an equal volume of saline via the same route. After 7 days， MCAO surgery was performed. The distal and proximal ends of the right common carotid artery （CCA） were ligated， a small incision was made between the two ligatures， and a silicone rubber-coated monofilament with a rounded tip was inserted into the lumen to occlude the CCA. The filament was left in place for 1 h to establish a focal cerebral ischemia model. At 24 h after modeling， mice were evaluated. Neurological function was assessed using the Longa score. Cerebral infarct volume was measured by 2，3，5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride （TTC） staining. Cerebral blood flow was observed by laser speckle imaging. Hematoxylin and eosin （HE） staining and Nissl staining were used to observe pathological changes in brain tissues. Exosomes were isolated from mouse plasma and brain tissues by ultracentrifugation and molecular size exclusion and identified by electron microscopy， particle size analysis， and protein blotting. Long-chain RNA libraries of exosomes were constructed and sequenced. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was used to detect the mRNA expression of inflammatory factors and neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues of each group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was used to detect the protein expression of inflammatory factors and neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from brain tissues of each group. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of the neutrophil-specific protein myeloperoxidase （MPO） in the brains of mice in each group. ResultsCompared with the sham-operated group， the model group showed decreased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， obvious cerebral infarction （P<0.01）， reduced cerebral blood flow （P<0.01）， neuronal necrosis in the brain， and decreased numbers of Nissl bodies （P<0.01）. The mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL1， CXCL2， CXCL3， CXCL10， CCL2， and CCL3 in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues were significantly increased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The protein expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL2， and CXCL10 in exosomes from brain tissues were increased （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and MPO-positive rates and mean optical density values in brain tissues were elevated （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang group and the Ginaton group showed increased neurological function scores （P<0.05）， reduced cerebral infarct volume （P<0.01）， restored cerebral blood flow （P<0.01）， reduced necrotic cells in the brain， and increased numbers of Nissl bodies （P<0.01）. In the Huanglian Jiedutang group， the mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL1， CXCL2， CXCL3， CXCL10， CCL2， and CCL3 in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues were decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The protein expression levels of IL-1β， MPO， CXCL2， and CXCL10 in exosomes from brain tissues were reduced （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and MPO-positive rates and mean optical density values in brain tissues were decreased （P<0.01）. ConclusionHuanglian Jiedutang can effectively regulate the expression of neutrophil-related chemokines in exosomes from plasma and brain tissues of MCAO mice， thereby reducing neutrophil infiltration in the brain and achieving therapeutic effects.

ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of metabolic reprogramming during cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury using single-cell transcriptome sequencing， analyze the heterogeneity of microglial populations， and evaluate the interventional effects of Huanglian Jiedutang on metabolic abnormalities and neuroinflammation. MethodsA transient middle cerebral artery occlusion （tMCAO） model was used to establish ischemic stroke in mice. Local cerebral blood flow changes were monitored by laser speckle imaging. Neurological impairment was evaluated using the Zea-Longa score， and histopathological damage in brain tissue was observed by HE and Nissl staining. Animals were divided into a sham group， model group， Huanglian Jiedutang group， and Ginkgo biloba extract （GBE） group. After 1 week of acclimatization， intragastric administration was initiated. The sham and model groups received normal saline， the Huanglian Jiedutang group was administered 1.82 g·kg^-1， and the GBE group was administered 0.432 g·kg^-1 after preparation as a 2.16 mg/mL solution. All groups were treated for 5 consecutive days （0.2 mL/10 g/day）， and the tMCAO model was established on day 6 after the final administration. At the molecular level， single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on ischemic hemisphere tissue. Non-negative matrix factorization （NMF） was used to cluster microglial subpopulations， combined with differential expression analysis， metabolic reprogramming assessment， and inflammatory factor correlation analysis to elucidate their functional characteristics in ischemia-reperfusion injury. Transcription factor enrichment analysis was further conducted to identify key regulatory nodes. Finally， PCR was used to detect mRNA expression changes of relevant genes to validate the single-cell sequencing results. ResultsCompared with the sham group， the model group showed increased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， decreased blood flow levels （P<0.01）， disordered cortical structure， increased cytoplasmic vacuolization， and increased Nissl bodies. Compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang and GBE groups showed decreased neurological function scores （P<0.01）， increased blood flow levels （P<0.01）， alleviated cortical structural disorder， reduced cytoplasmic vacuolization， and decreased Nissl bodies. Single-cell analysis showed that microglia could be divided into five subpopulations. Among them， clusters 3 and 5 exhibited significant pro-inflammatory phenotypes， with marked activation of hypoxia and NF-κB signaling pathways， and were identified as pro-inflammatory subpopulations. Clusters 1 and 2 were enriched in Wnt/β-catenin and transforming growth factor（TGF）-β signaling pathways and exhibited prominent anti-inflammatory and reparative characteristics. Meanwhile， glycolysis-related genes， such as HK2， PFKP， and LDHA， were significantly upregulated in the pro-inflammatory subpopulations. Correlation analysis showed that the expression levels of inflammatory molecules were positively correlated with glycolysis-related gene expression levels， whereas the expression levels of reparative and anti-inflammatory molecules were negatively correlated with glycolysis-related gene expression levels， indicating that microglia rely on the glycolytic pathway for energy acquisition under ischemic conditions. Further single-cell transcriptome analysis revealed that Huanglian Jiedutang effectively downregulated key genes driving metabolic reprogramming （such as HK2， PFKP， and LDHA）， significantly reduced the proportion of microglial subpopulations accompanied by glycolytic reprogramming， and inhibited their transformation toward a damage phenotype， thereby reducing inflammatory injury. Meanwhile， compared with the sham group， the mRNA expression levels of interleukin （IL）-1β， IL-6， tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α， CCL2， CXCL2， and CSF3 were significantly upregulated （P<0.01） in the model group， whereas the mRNA expression levels of endothelial- and pericyte-related functional genes， including RGS5， PECAM1， VEGFB， and NOS3， were significantly downregulated （P<0.01）. In contrast， compared with the model group， the Huanglian Jiedutang and GBE groups showed significantly decreased mRNA expression levels of IL-1β， IL-6， TNF-α， CCL2， CXCL2， and CSF3 （P<0.01）， and significantly increased mRNA expression levels of endothelial- and pericyte-related functional genes， including RGS5， PECAM1， VEGFB， and NOS3 （P<0.01）. ConclusionHuanglian Jiedutang exerts neuroprotective effects by regulating the metabolic reprogramming state of microglia and modulating their inflammatory levels， thereby inhibiting neuroinflammatory injury.

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 evaluate the impact of an integrated management mode of prenatal diagnosis-postnatal treatment for congenital heart disease (CHD) on perioperative and long-term outcomes of the arterial switch operation (ASO), and to analyze the efficacy of ASO in a single center. Methods This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of 183 children who underwent ASO at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital from 2018 to 2024. The cohort included 106 (57.9%) patients of transposition of the great arteries with intact ventricular septum (TGA/IVS), 61 (33.3%) patients of transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect (TGA/VSD), and 16 (8.7%) patients of Taussig-bing anomaly (TBA). Perioperative indicators were compared between 91 patients in the prenatal-postnatal integrated management group (an integrated group) and 92 patients in the traditional management group (a non-integrated group). Long-term survival and reoperation rates were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results The overall perioperative mortality rate was 4.9% (9/183), showing a downward trend year by year. The primary cause of perioperative mortality was low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS), which occurred in 12 patients (6.6% incidence) with a mortality rate of 75.0%. The integrated group had a higher proportion of males (89.0% vs. 72.8%, P<0.05) and lower body weight [3.1 (2.7, 3.3) kg vs. 3.3 (3.0, 3.7) kg, P<0.05] compared to the non-integrated group. The age at surgery was significantly earlier in the integrated group [7 (3, 10) d vs. 14 (9, 48) d, P<0.05], and all children in the integrated group underwent ASO within the optimal surgical window (100.0% vs. 82.6%, P<0.05). Intraoperatively, cardiopulmonary bypass time [173 (150, 207) min vs. 186 (159, 237) min, P<0.05] and aortic cross-clamp time [100 (90, 117) min vs. 116 (97, 142) min, P<0.05] were significantly shorter in the integrated group. Although the integrated group had longer postoperative mechanical ventilation time [145 (98, 214) h vs. 116 (77, 147) h, P<0.05] and higher 48-hour maximum vasoactive inotropic score [15 (10, 21) points vs. 12 (8, 16) points, P<0.05], there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of severe complications (LCOS, necrotizing enterocolitis, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) or mortality rate (3.3% vs. 6.5%, P=0.51) between the two groups, despite earlier surgical intervention and a higher proportion of critically ill cases in the integrated group. The length of hospital stay in the emergency surgery group was significantly shorter than that in the elective surgery group [20 (15, 28) d vs. 25 (21, 30) d, P<0.05], suggesting that early surgery may be of potential benefit. A total of 163 patients were successfully followed up for a median of 4.7 years, with a 5-year survival rate of 95.1% and a freedom from reintervention survival rate of 95.1%. There were no late deaths, and the most common postoperative complication was pulmonary artery stenosis. Conclusion The integrated management model allowed critically ill children with lower body weights to safely undergo surgery, significantly optimizing the timing of surgery and shortening intraoperative times. The long-term risk of reoperation after ASO is primarily concentrated on pulmonary artery stenosis, necessitating long-term follow-up and monitoring.

Objective: To investigate the status of antibiotic exposure in third grade primary school students in Shenzhen,so as to provide evidence for the scientific management of antibiotic use and reduction of population health risks. Methods: From 1 September to 30 October 2021, 200 third grade students from 8 primary schools in Luohu District of Shenzhen were selected by cluster random sampling as research subjects. The body composition was measured, urine samples were collected, and the contents of 35 antibiotics in the samples were detected by mass spectrometry. Relevant dietary habit information of the subjects was collected via questionnaires. The Chi square test was used to compare the detection rate of antibiotics among different genders and weight grades. The Logistic regression model was adopted to evaluate the correlation between the target antibiotic detection rate and dietary habits. Results: At least one type of antibiotic was detected in 198 of the subjects with an overall detection rate of 99.0% . Among the 35 target antibiotics, 23 were detected with detection rates ranging from 0.5%-69.5%. Quinolones had the highest detection rate of 86.5% , followed by macrolides and sulfonamides with detection rates of 77.5% and 76.5%, respectively. The detection rate of antibiotics was 98.3% in boys and 100.0% in girls with no statistically significant difference ( χ 2=1.35, P >0.05). The detection rates of quinolones, macrolides, and sulfonamides varied significantly among children with different BMI categories ( χ 2=38.18, 12.45, 9.76 , all P <0.05). The multivariate Logistic regression model analysis showed that the macrolide detection rate was affected by genders( OR =0.42) and the sulfonamide detection rate was significantly correlated with the frequency of dairy product consumption and being overweight( OR =2.01)(both P <0.05). Enrofloxacin was associated with the weekly consumption frequency of livestock meat such as pork, beef and mutton, as well as the weekly consumption frequency of poultry meat such as chicken, duck and goose ( OR = 2.81,2.17,both P <0.05). Trimethoprim was associated with the weekly frequency of drinking pure milk ( OR =5.49, P < 0.05 ). Conclusions Third grade primary school students in Shenzhen are generally exposed to low dose antibiotics. Macrolides, quinolones, and sulfonamides may be associated with the risk of obesity in primary school students.