Objective To explore the physical function indicators of elderly women with fall experiences,so as to provide more data reference for fall prevention,risk assessment,and solving of aging-related health problems in elderly women.Methods The fall history of 167 elderly women in communities in Tianjin was investigated by a questionnaire.The participants were assigned into a fall group(more than 2 falls in the last 1 year)and a non-fall group according to the number of falls.Body composition was tested by an Inbody 770 Body Composition Analyzer,and the calcaneus bone mineral density was measured by a UBD2002A Ultrasound Bone Densitometer.The muscle strength and proprioception of knee and ankle joints of lower limbs were measured by a PRIMUS BTE Isokinetic Tester.The muscle strength of lower limbs was evaluated by the number of 30-second sitting-rising.The visual sensitivity was examined by two-contrast near point reading cards(with a small number of strokes).The dynamic and static balance abilities were determined by a Korebalance Tester,and the static balance ability was tested by one-leg standing with eyes closed.The dynamic and static balance was assessed based on the Berg balance scale,and walking gait characteristics were studied by a BTS three-dimensional motion capture system.Results The skeletal muscle content(P<0.001),strength of non-dominant knee flexor muscle(P=0.002),number of 30-second sitting-rising(P=0.006),and average walking speed(P=0.013)in the fall group were lower than those in the non-fall group.The visual acuity at 10% grayscale(P=0.001),active knee joint position sense(P<0.001),strength of non-dominant ankle flexor muscle(P<0.001),and one-leg standing time with eyes closed(P<0.001)in the fall group were lower than those in the non-fall group.The fall group outperformed the non-fall group in right-left balance rate(P=0.031)and forward-backward balance rate(P=0.028)during static and dynamic balance tests.Conclusion The ankle angle,proprioception,muscle strength,and skeletal muscle content of lower limbs,visual sensitivity,dynamic and static balance abilities,and walking ability of elderly women with fall experiences were lower than those without fall experiences.
Humans ; Accidental Falls ; Aged ; Female ; Postural Balance ; Muscle Strength ; Body Composition ; Bone Density ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Gait

Objective To investigate the mechanism by which long non-coding RNA(lncRNA)AI662270 regulates insulin resistance in adipocytes in aging mice.Methods(1)Twenty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into youth(4-month-old)group and aged(18-month-old)group(n=10).Mice in youth group were raised to 4 months of age and euthanized by orbital exsanguination under urethane anesthesia,while aged mice were euthanized at 18 months using the same sacrifice method.Epididymal white adipose tissue(eWAT)and liver tissue were rapidly dissected.Western blotting was employed to detect the protein expression levels of tumor suppressor gene 1(p16ink4a)and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(p21kip1),RT-qPCR was used to measure the expression of 4 differentially expressed lncRNAs(C4a,AI662270,BATE1 and Gm29719).Mouse embryonic fibroblasts(3T3-L1)were cultured and divided into a normal control group(no treatment after induced differentiation into mature adipocytes)and a senescence model group[doxorubicin(ADR)-treated group;0.2 μmol/L ADR was used to induce senescent adipocytes].β-galactosidase staining was performed to assess adipocyte senescence.RT-qPCR was applied to evaluate the expression of AI662270 and senescence markers(p16ink4a,p21kip1,p53),while Western blotting was utilized to detect the expression levels of phosphorylated H2A histone family member X(γ-H2AX),p16ink4a,and p21kip1 proteins.(2)Hexokinase method was adopted to measure glucose content in mouse serum and 3T3-L1 adipocyte culture medium.RT-qPCR was performed to analyze mRNA expression levels of insulin sensitivity-related gene protein kinase B(Akt),insulin receptor substrate 1(IRS1),phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase(PI3K)and glucose transporter 4(GLUT4)in mouse eWAT and adipocytes.Western blotting was conducted to determine the protein expression levels of IRS 1,PI3K,Akt,and p-Akt.(3)Spearman correlation analysis was applied to examine the correlation between AI662270 expression levels and IRS1/PI3K mRNA expression levels.A low-expression model of AI662270 in senescent adipocytes was constructed,and RT-qPCR was used to verify the knockdown efficiency.Hexokinase method was employed to assess glucose content in the cell culture medium of senescent adipocytes after AI662270 knockdown.RT-qPCR was performed to measure the mRNA expressions of Akt,IRS1,IRS2,and PI3K,while Western blotting was utilized to detect the expressions levels of Akt and p-Akt proteins.(4)Bioinformatics analysis was performed to predict downstream target genes of AI662270 and their binding sites.RT-qPCR and Western blotting were subsequently applied to validate the expression of these downstream target genes following AI662270 knockdown.Results(1)Compared with youth group,the protein expression levels of p16ink4a and p21kip1 in eWAT of aged mice were significantly increased(P＜0.05).Additionally,the expression levels of C4a,AI662270,BATE1,and Gm29719 in both eWAT and liver tissues were significantly increased in aged group(P＜0.05).β-galactosidase staining revealed enhanced blue-green coloration and enlarged,flattened cellular morphology in ADR-treated senescent adipocytes compared with normal control group.Compared with normal control group,ADR-treated senescent adipocytes significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of AI662270,p16ink4a,and p21kip1,and significantly elevated protein expression levels of γ-H2AX,p16ink4a,and p21kip1(P＜0.05).(2)Serum glucose content was significantly higher in aged group mice compared with youth group(P＜0.01),and glucose content in the adipocyte culture medium in ADR group was significantly increased(P＜0.05).The expression levels of IRS1 and PI3K in eWAT in aged group were significantly reduced compared with youth group(P＜0.01).Compared with normal control group,the expression levels of IRS 1 and PI3K in adipocytes in ADR-treated group were also significantly reduced(P＜0.05).(3)Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated that the expression level of AI662270 was negatively correlated with the mRNA expression levels of IRS1 and PI3K(P＜0.05).RT-qPCR showed that AI662270 expression level was significantly reduced in the siAI662270-transfected senescent adipocytes compared with siNC group(P＜0.05),indicating the low expression model of aged adipocytes AI662270 was successfully constructed.Hexokinase assay results showed that glucose content in the cell culture medium was significantly reduced after the AI662270 was knocked down by senescent adipocytes(P＜0.05).Furthermore,the mRNA expression levels of IRS1,IRS2 and PI3K(P＜0.05)and the p-Akt/Akt ratio in senescent adipocytes was significantly increased after knockdown of AI662270(P＜0.01).(4)Bioinformatics analysis predicted miR-3073b-3p as a downstream target gene of AI662270,and heme oxygenase 1(Hmox1)was identified as a target molecule of miR-3073b-3p.The expression level of miR-3073b-3p in senescent adipocytes in siAI662270 group was significantly increased,while the mRNA and protein expression level of Hmox1 were significantly decreased compared with siNC group(P＜0.01).Conclusions Aging significantly increases the expression of AI662270 in eWAT of mice,and the expression of AI662270 was negatively correlated with insulin sensitivity.AI662270 knockdown can reduce glucose content in senescent adipocyte culture medium,upregulate the expression of IRS1 and PI3K,and increase insulin sensitivity in senescent adipocytes,which may be mediated through the AI662270/miR-3073b-3p/Hmox1 pathway.

Objective To investigate the status of population dynamics and distribution changes of Aedes aegypti in Guangdong Province.Methods Continuous monitoring was conducted from May 2018 to July 2024 in Wushi Town and Qishui Town,Leizhou City,Zhanjiang City,Guangdong Province.Additionally,a survey of the distribution of Ae.aegypti along the Leizhou Peninsula coast was carried out.Results The density of Ae.aegypti in Zhanjiang showed a gradual decline from 2018 to 2024.The last detection of adult Ae.aegypti in Wushi Town was in September 2021,and the last larva was found in October 2023.No Ae.aegypti was detected in Qishui Town during surveys from 2021 to 2024.A survey of 18 coastal villages in the Leizhou Peninsula revealed no detections of Ae.aegypti.Conclusions This study provides a basis for understanding the distribution and population density fluctuations of Ae.aegypti,assessing its invasion risk,and scientifically conducting relevant prevention and control efforts.

Objective To observe the effect of multi-modal hand hygiene(HH)intervention on HH compliance,as well as the relationship between HH compliance and the healthcare-associated(HA)case infection incidence.Methods From 2014 to 2022,the infection control team in a tertiary first-class hospital implemented multi-modal HH intervention for health care workers(HCWs).The changing trend of HH monitoring data,the correlation be-tween HH compliance rate and HA case infection incidence were analyzed retrospectively.Results The consump-tion of HH products in the wards showed a stable upward trend;HH compliance rate increased from 64.98％in 2014 to 85.01％in 2022(P＜0.001),and HA case infection incidence decreased from 1.21％to 0.83％(P＜0.05).HH compliance rate was negatively correlated with HA case infection incidence(r=-0.369,P=0.027).HH compliance rates in different regions and job posts in each quarter were increased(P＜0.001).For 5 different HH moments in each quarter,HH compliance rate fluctuated slightly before sterile manipulation and after touching patient;presented rising trend after touching surroundings around patient,and decreased before touching patient and after touching patient's body fluid since 2020(P＜0.001).Conclusion Multi-modal HH intervention can im-prove the HH compliance of HCWs,improving their HH awareness is conducive to reducing HA case infection incidence.

Objective To evaluate the characteristics of different antigen-specific T cell immune responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)after inoculation with 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine for 12 months.Methods Fifteen healthy adults were enrolled in this study and blood samples collected at 12 months after receiving two doses of SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine.The level and phenotypic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-specific T lymphocytes were detected by activation-induced markers(AIM)based on polychromatic flow cytometry.Results After 12 months of inoculation with 2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine,more than 90%of adults had detectable Spike and Non-spike antigen-specific CD4+ T cells immune responses(Spike:14/15,P=0.0001;Non-spike:15/15,P<0.0001).80%of adults had detectable Spike and Non-spike antigen-specific CD8+ T cells immune responses(Spike:12/15,P=0.0463;Non-spike:12/15,P=0.0806).Antigen-specific CD4+ T cells induced by SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccination after 12 months were composed of predominantly central memory(CM)and effector memory 1(EM1)cells.On the other hand,in terms of helper subsets,antigen-specific CD4+ T cells mainly showed T helper 1/17(Th1/17)and T helper 2(Th2)phenotypes.Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccination generates durable and extensive antigen-specific CD4+ T cell memory responses,which may be the key factor for the low proportion of severe coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)infection in China.

Objective Viral encephalitis is an infectious disease severely affecting human health.It is caused by a wide variety of viral pathogens,including herpes viruses,flaviviruses,enteroviruses,and other viruses.The laboratory diagnosis of viral encephalitis is a worldwide challenge.Recently,high-throughput sequencing technology has provided new tools for diagnosing central nervous system infections.Thus,In this study,we established a multipathogen detection platform for viral encephalitis based on amplicon sequencing. Methods We designed nine pairs of specific polymerase chain reaction(PCR)primers for the 12 viruses by reviewing the relevant literature.The detection ability of the primers was verified by software simulation and the detection of known positive samples.Amplicon sequencing was used to validate the samples,and consistency was compared with Sanger sequencing. Results The results showed that the target sequences of various pathogens were obtained at a coverage depth level greater than 20×,and the sequence lengths were consistent with the sizes of the predicted amplicons.The sequences were verified using the National Center for Biotechnology Information BLAST,and all results were consistent with the results of Sanger sequencing. Conclusion Amplicon-based high-throughput sequencing technology is feasible as a supplementary method for the pathogenic detection of viral encephalitis.It is also a useful tool for the high-volume screening of clinical samples.

Background/Aims: Despite the high efficacy of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), approximately 1–3% of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients fail to achieve a sustained virological response. We conducted a nationwide study to investigate risk factors associated with DAA treatment failure. Machine-learning algorithms have been applied to discriminate subjects who may fail to respond to DAA therapy. Methods: We analyzed the Taiwan HCV Registry Program database to explore predictors of DAA failure in HCV patients. Fifty-five host and virological features were assessed using multivariate logistic regression, decision tree, random forest, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and artificial neural network. The primary outcome was undetectable HCV RNA at 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Results: The training (n=23,955) and validation (n=10,346) datasets had similar baseline demographics, with an overall DAA failure rate of 1.6% (n=538). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, poor DAA adherence, and higher hemoglobin A1c were significantly associated with virological failure. XGBoost outperformed the other algorithms and logistic regression models, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 1.000 in the training dataset and 0.803 in the validation dataset. The top five predictors of treatment failure were HCV RNA, body mass index, α-fetoprotein, platelets, and FIB-4 index. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the XGBoost model (cutoff value=0.5) were 99.5%, 69.7%, 99.9%, 97.4%, and 99.5%, respectively, for the entire dataset. Conclusions Machine learning algorithms effectively provide risk stratification for DAA failure and additional information on the factors associated with DAA failure.

Objective To achieve intelligent recognition and segmentation of common craniocerebral inju-ries(hereinafter referred to as"segmentation")by training convolutional neural network DeepLabV3+model based on CT images of blunt craniocerebral injury(BCI),and to explore the value of deep learning in automated diagnosis of BCI in forensic medicine.Methods A total of 5 486 CT images of BCI from living persons were collected as the training set,validation set and test set for model training and performance evaluation.Another 255 CT images of BCI and 156 normal craniocerebral CT images from living persons were collected as the blind test set to evaluate the ability of the model to seg-ment the five types of craniocerebral injuries including scalp hematoma,skull fracture,epidural hema-toma,subdural hematoma,and brain contusion.Another 340 BCI and 120 normal craniocerebral CT images from cadavers were collected as the new blind test set to explore the application value of the model trained by living CT images in the segmentation of BCI in cadavers.The five types CT images of all BCI except the blind test set were manually labeled;then,each dataset was inputted into the model to train the model.The performance of the model was evaluated and optimized based on the loss function and accuracy curves of the training set and validation set,and the generalization ability was evaluated based on the Dice value of the test set.According to the accuracy,precision and F1 value of the blind test set,the segmentation performance of the model for five types of BCI was evaluated.Results After training and optimizing the model,the average Dice values of the final optimal model to scalp hematoma,skull fracture,epidural hematoma,subdural hematoma and brain contusion segmen-tation were 0.766 4,0.812 3,0.938 7,0.782 7 and 0.858 1,respectively,all greater than 0.75,meeting the expected requirements.External validation showed that the F1 values were 93.02%,89.80%,87.80%,92.93%and 86.57%in living CT images,respectively;83.92%,44.90%,76.47%,64.29%and 48.89%in cadaveric CT images,respectively.The above suggested that the model was able to accu-rately segment various types of craniocerebral injury on living CT images,while its segmentation ability was relatively poor on cadaveric CT images,but still able to accurately segment scalp hematoma,epidu-ral hematoma and subdural hematoma.Conclusion Deep learning model trained on CT images can be used for BCI segmentation.However,the direct use of living persons'BCI models for the identifica-tion of cadaveric BCI has some limitations.This study provides a new approach for intelligent segmen-tation of virtual anatomical data for BCI.

ObjectiveTo explore the value of MRI ovarian-adnexal reporting and data system （O-RADS MRI） in differentiating benign and malignant ovarian-adnexal masses.MethodsTotally 146 patients （202 masses） with ovarian-adnexal lesions who underwent pelvic examination at 3.0 T MRI according to standardized scan protocol of O-RADS MRI and were pathologically confirmed in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between January 2020 and February 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Two radiologists classified the ovarian-adnexal masses as risk levels 1~5 according to O-RADS MRI and evaluated their consistency by Cohen’s kappa. Using pathological findings as the gold standard， the detection yield of malignant lesions with O-RADS MRI classification was analyzed. Sensitivity， specificity， accuracy， and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were calculated （cutoff for malignancy， score ≥ 4）.ResultsOf 202 masses， 62 （30.7%） were malignant， 140 （69.3%） were benign. The two radiologists presented good agreement in O-RADS MRI classification of ovarian adnexal masses （Kappa=0.932）. The malignancy rates of masses with scores of 1， 2， 3， 4 and 5 were 0%， 0%， 7.7%， 95%， 97.6%， respectively. Sensitivity， specificity， accuracy， and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 96.8% （60/62）， 98.6% （138/140）， 98.0% （198/202）， 0.977.ConclusionsO-RADS MRI yields high diagnostic efficiency for benign and malignant ovarian adnexal masses and its widespread implementation will improve communication between radiologists and clinicians， and facilitate optimal patient management. Therefore， O-RADS MRI warrants widespread use in clinical setting.

As a recognized rare and highly fatal disease, hereditary angioedema (HAE) is difficult to diagnose and characterized by recurrent edema involving the head, limbs, genitals and larynx, etc. Diagnosis of HAE is not difficult. However, low incidence and lack of clinical characteristics lead to difficulty of doctors on timely diagnosis and correct intervention for HAE patients. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the awareness of this disease and prevent its recurrence. for HAE patients. In view of absent cognition of doctors and the general public on HAE, patients often suffer from sudden death or become disabled due to laryngeal edema which cannot be treated in time. Thus, based on the Internet mobile terminal platform, the team set up an all-day rapid emergency response system which is provided for HAE patients by setting up "one-click help". The aim is to offer optimization on overall management of HAE and designed the intelligent follow-up management to provide timely assistance and specialized suggestion for patients with acute attacks.
Humans ; Angioedemas, Hereditary/drug therapy*