ObjectiveThe widespread adoption of portable fundus cameras for primary care and community screening is hindered by limitations in current autofocus(AF) technologies. Image-based methods relying on sharpness evaluation require iterative searches, resulting in slow convergence, while projection-based techniques are susceptible to optical artifacts and calibration errors. To address these challenges, this study introduces a novel AF system based on direct wavefront sensing, designed to deliver simultaneous high speed, high precision, and operational robustness within the compact form factor essential for portable ophthalmic devices. MethodsOur approach fundamentally reimagines the AF process by directly measuring the ocular wavefront aberration. We developed a custom portable fundus camera integrating a miniaturized Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWS) into the optical path. An 850 nm laser diode projects a point source onto the retina via oblique illumination to minimize corneal reflections. Light scattered from this spot carries the eye’s refractive error through the imaging optics and is directed to the SHWS, positioned at a plane optically conjugate to the primary color CMOS imaging sensor. A microlens array within the SHWS samples the incident wavefront, generating a pattern of focal spots on a CCD. Real-time centroid analysis of these spots provides a map of local wavefront slopes. These measurements are processed through a singular value decomposition (SVD) algorithm to fit a Zernike polynomial basis set, enabling real-time reconstruction of the wavefront phase. The defocus component (S) is extracted from the second-order Zernike coefficients, providing a direct, quantitative measure of the refractive error in diopters. This value serves as a precise error signal in a closed-loop control system, which commands a voice-coil actuated focusing lens to its null position in a single, deterministic step, eliminating the need for iterative search algorithms. ResultsComprehensive evaluation demonstrated the system’s high performance. Testing on a calibrated model eye (OEMI-7) established a highly linear relationship between the computed defocus S and the focusing lens position across a ±20 Diopter (D) compensation range, achievable within a 5 mm mechanical travel. The system achieved a focusing precision of 0.08 D, corresponding to an 18-fold improvement over a conventional projection spot-size method tested under identical conditions. The total focus acquisition time, encompassing wavefront measurement, computation, and lens actuation, averaged under 0.5 s. Clinical validation with 25 human volunteers (50 eyes, refractive range -15 D to +10 D) confirmed practical efficacy. The wavefront-sensing AF succeeded in 92% of attempts with a mean time of 0.5 s, substantially outperforming a projection-based benchmark which achieved only a 32% success rate with an average time of 4.25 s. The system provided instantaneous directional guidance and maintained stability during minor ocular movements. Objective assessment of image quality, via amplitude contrast of retinal vasculature, showed consistent and significant enhancement following AF correction across the entire tested diopter range. ConclusionThis work successfully implements and validates a direct wavefront-sensing autofocus paradigm for portable fundus cameras. By directly quantifying and compensating for the optical defocus aberration, this method bypasses the fundamental limitations of image-processing and projection-based techniques, enabling rapid, precise, and deterministic diopter compensation. The developed system delivers an exceptional combination of a wide operational range (±20 D), high accuracy (0.08 D), fast convergence (0.5 s), and a compact physical footprint. This technology provides a practical and high-performance focusing solution capable of enhancing the reliability, throughput, and diagnostic utility of portable retinal imaging in large-scale screening applications. Future efforts will be directed towards system cost optimization and performance adaptation for diverse ocular conditions.

Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a structural and functional disruption of the spinal cord caused by various factors,leading to neurological dysfunction.As a common central nervous system disorder in clinical practice,SCI poses significant risks to human life and health.Its pathological mechanism is exceedingly complex,involving multiple pathological processes.Given the irreversibility of primary injury,targeting secondary injury has gradually become the main direction for the clinical treatment of SCI in recent years.Recent studies have highlighted the crucial role of blood-spinal cord barrier damage and microvascular dysfunction in the progression of secondary injury following SCI.Therefore,investigating the pathological mechanisms of microcirculation and exploring targeted therapies could provide valuable insights for clinical SCI treatment.This paper aims to provide an objective review of the role of microcirculation in SCI,identify the critical regulators of microvascular function,and summarize strategies for treating SCI by targeting microcirculation.The findings of this study may offer novel references for the clinical management of SCI.

Spinal cord injury(SCI)is a central nervous system disease with high morbidity and disability rates,bringing serious economic and psychological burdens to families and society worldwide.AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK)is an important sensor in the energy metabolism process in living organisms,which plays a central role in maintaining energy balance.It is currently considered a key target for the prevention and treatment of multiple diseases.Studies have shown that AMPK signaling can regulate autophagy,neuroinflammation,oxidative stress,mitochondrial function and other processes after SCI,thus affecting the pathological process of SCI.This review summarizes the research progress on AMPK signaling pathway involved in the regulation of SCI,in order to provide new ideas for the treatment and drug development of SCI.

AIM To optimize the cellulase-assisted ultrasound extraction process for total flavonoids from Plumbago zeylanica L.,and to evaluate their anti-oxidant activity.METHODS With extraction time,liquid-solid ratio,cellulase addition amount,extraction temperature and ultrasonic power as influencing factors,extraction rate of total flavonoids as an evaluation index,the extraction process was optimized by response surface method on the basis of single factor test.Subsequently,The scavenging rates of extract on DPPH,ABTS and OH free radicals were determined.RESULTS The optimal conditions were determined to be 34∶1 for liquid-solid ratio,3％for cellulase addition amount,51 ℃ for extraction temperature,38 min for extraction time,and 400 W for ultrasonic power,the extraction rate of total flavonoids was(33.411±0.97)％.The IC50 values of three free radicals were 0.13,0.042,3.29 mg/mL,respectively.CONCLUSION This reasonable and reliable method can be used for the cellulase-assisted ultrasound extraction of total flavonoids from P.zeylanica with strong anti-oxidant activity.

Objective To compare the effects of different detector combinations of 320-row CT on the image quality and radiation dose of head CT to explore the feasibility of using a wide detector for head CT scanning.Methods Totally 100 patients underwent head CT scanning due to trauma or cerebrovascular disease at some hospital from June to August 2023 were collected prospectively and divided into group A and group B by using block randomization grouping method,with the length of the block group being 2 and 50 patients in each group.In group A,all the detectors had the widths at z-axis direction being 40×0.5 mm and head scanning was completed after multiple exposures;in group B,detector combinations with widths of 280×0.5 mm or 320×0.5 mm were chosen based on the patient's head size in the head-foot direction(z-axis direction),and head scanning was performed with a single-turn exposure.The remaining scanning and image reconstruction parameters in the two groups were kept completely consistent.The head image quality of the 2 groups was evaluated objectively and scored subjectively by 2 radiologists.The volume CT dose index(CTDIvol),dose length product(DLP)and exposure time of the 2 groups were recorded,and the effective dose(ED)was calculated.SPSS 22.0 software was used for statistical analysis.Results In terms of objective evaluation of image quality,at the level of the parietal skull group B had the CT value of gray matter,image noise and contrast to noise ratio(CNR)of the images higher than those of group A,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05);at the level of the posterior skull group B had the CT values of gray and white matter,image noise and air noise lower while CNR higher than those of group A,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).In terms of subjective scoring of image quality,at the levels of parietal and posterior skull group A behaved better than group B,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).In group A 5 patients had obvious motion artifacts affecting the diagnosis and the image quality scores not higher than 2,and secondary scanning had to be carried out;In group B all the patients had no obvious motion artifacts and met the diagnosis requirements.When compared with group A Group B had the CTDIvol,DLP,ED and exposure time decreased by 17.44%,17.24%,17.48%and 85.53%,respectively,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).Conclusion A wide detector gains advantages over a 20 mm detector in image quality when 320-row CT is used for head CT scanning,with the diagnosis requirements satisfied.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(4):57-62]

Objective To compare the effects of different detector combinations of 320-row CT on the image quality and radiation dose of head CT to explore the feasibility of using a wide detector for head CT scanning.Methods Totally 100 patients underwent head CT scanning due to trauma or cerebrovascular disease at some hospital from June to August 2023 were collected prospectively and divided into group A and group B by using block randomization grouping method,with the length of the block group being 2 and 50 patients in each group.In group A,all the detectors had the widths at z-axis direction being 40×0.5 mm and head scanning was completed after multiple exposures;in group B,detector combinations with widths of 280×0.5 mm or 320×0.5 mm were chosen based on the patient's head size in the head-foot direction(z-axis direction),and head scanning was performed with a single-turn exposure.The remaining scanning and image reconstruction parameters in the two groups were kept completely consistent.The head image quality of the 2 groups was evaluated objectively and scored subjectively by 2 radiologists.The volume CT dose index(CTDIvol),dose length product(DLP)and exposure time of the 2 groups were recorded,and the effective dose(ED)was calculated.SPSS 22.0 software was used for statistical analysis.Results In terms of objective evaluation of image quality,at the level of the parietal skull group B had the CT value of gray matter,image noise and contrast to noise ratio(CNR)of the images higher than those of group A,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05);at the level of the posterior skull group B had the CT values of gray and white matter,image noise and air noise lower while CNR higher than those of group A,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).In terms of subjective scoring of image quality,at the levels of parietal and posterior skull group A behaved better than group B,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).In group A 5 patients had obvious motion artifacts affecting the diagnosis and the image quality scores not higher than 2,and secondary scanning had to be carried out;In group B all the patients had no obvious motion artifacts and met the diagnosis requirements.When compared with group A Group B had the CTDIvol,DLP,ED and exposure time decreased by 17.44%,17.24%,17.48%and 85.53%,respectively,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).Conclusion A wide detector gains advantages over a 20 mm detector in image quality when 320-row CT is used for head CT scanning,with the diagnosis requirements satisfied.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(4):57-62]

AIM To optimize the cellulase-assisted ultrasound extraction process for total flavonoids from Plumbago zeylanica L.,and to evaluate their anti-oxidant activity.METHODS With extraction time,liquid-solid ratio,cellulase addition amount,extraction temperature and ultrasonic power as influencing factors,extraction rate of total flavonoids as an evaluation index,the extraction process was optimized by response surface method on the basis of single factor test.Subsequently,The scavenging rates of extract on DPPH,ABTS and OH free radicals were determined.RESULTS The optimal conditions were determined to be 34∶1 for liquid-solid ratio,3％for cellulase addition amount,51 ℃ for extraction temperature,38 min for extraction time,and 400 W for ultrasonic power,the extraction rate of total flavonoids was(33.411±0.97)％.The IC50 values of three free radicals were 0.13,0.042,3.29 mg/mL,respectively.CONCLUSION This reasonable and reliable method can be used for the cellulase-assisted ultrasound extraction of total flavonoids from P.zeylanica with strong anti-oxidant activity.

This study aims to explore the diagnostic value of inflammation-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). By using bioinformatics analysis, three datasets including GSE32472, GSE125873, and GSE220135, which contain whole-genome expression profile data of 251 neonates, were included. The GSE32472 dataset was used as a training dataset to detect differentially expressed genes between non-BPD and BPD neonates in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The gene enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to detect the pathway enrichment of up-regulated genes in BPD newborns. The main regulatory factors analysis (MRA) algorithm was used to filter the main regulatory genes in the inflammation-related pathway (GO:0006954). After obtaining the main regulatory genes, the expression of the main regulatory genes in the GSE32472, GSE125873, and GSE220135 datasets was detected. Through the logistic regression model, risk scoring was conducted for neonates, and the risk scores of non-BPD and BPD neonates were compared. Lastly, the classification performance of the model was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). The results showed that compared with non-BPD neonates, there were 486 up-regulated genes and 433 down-regulated genes in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of BPD neonates. The inflammation-related pathway was highly enriched in the up-regulated genes. Ultimately, phospholipase C beta 1 (PLCB1), nidogen 1 (NID1), serum response factor binding protein 1 (SRFBP1), centrosomal protein 72 (CEP72), excision repair cross complementation group 6 like (ERCC6L), and peptidylprolyl isomerase like 1 (PPIL1) were identified as the main regulatory genes. The prediction model′s calculation formula for risk score was PLCB1×0.26+NID1×0.97+SRFBP1×1.58+CEP72×(-0.36)+ERCC6L×2.14+PPIL1×0.67. The AUCs in the GSE32472 test dataset, GSE125873 dataset, and GSE220135 dataset were 0.88, 0.86, and 0.89, respectively. This prediction model could distinguish between non-BPD and BPD neonates. In conclusion, the prediction model based on inflammation-related pathway genes has a certain diagnostic value for BPD.

This study aims to explore the diagnostic value of inflammation-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). By using bioinformatics analysis, three datasets including GSE32472, GSE125873, and GSE220135, which contain whole-genome expression profile data of 251 neonates, were included. The GSE32472 dataset was used as a training dataset to detect differentially expressed genes between non-BPD and BPD neonates in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The gene enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to detect the pathway enrichment of up-regulated genes in BPD newborns. The main regulatory factors analysis (MRA) algorithm was used to filter the main regulatory genes in the inflammation-related pathway (GO:0006954). After obtaining the main regulatory genes, the expression of the main regulatory genes in the GSE32472, GSE125873, and GSE220135 datasets was detected. Through the logistic regression model, risk scoring was conducted for neonates, and the risk scores of non-BPD and BPD neonates were compared. Lastly, the classification performance of the model was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). The results showed that compared with non-BPD neonates, there were 486 up-regulated genes and 433 down-regulated genes in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of BPD neonates. The inflammation-related pathway was highly enriched in the up-regulated genes. Ultimately, phospholipase C beta 1 (PLCB1), nidogen 1 (NID1), serum response factor binding protein 1 (SRFBP1), centrosomal protein 72 (CEP72), excision repair cross complementation group 6 like (ERCC6L), and peptidylprolyl isomerase like 1 (PPIL1) were identified as the main regulatory genes. The prediction model′s calculation formula for risk score was PLCB1×0.26+NID1×0.97+SRFBP1×1.58+CEP72×(-0.36)+ERCC6L×2.14+PPIL1×0.67. The AUCs in the GSE32472 test dataset, GSE125873 dataset, and GSE220135 dataset were 0.88, 0.86, and 0.89, respectively. This prediction model could distinguish between non-BPD and BPD neonates. In conclusion, the prediction model based on inflammation-related pathway genes has a certain diagnostic value for BPD.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of intense pulsed light (IPL) in the treatment of chronic hordeolum. METHODS: Patients with chronic hordeolum who underwent IPL treatment were enrolled in this study. According to the severity of hordeolum, the patients were treated with IPL 3 to 5 times. Patients' satisfaction and visual analog scale scores for ocular discomfort symptoms before and after treatment were collected. The number, congestion, long diameter, short diameter and area of nodules were also recorded and measured. Finally, eyelid margin signs, meibum quality, meibomian gland expressibility, meibomian gland dropout, tear meniscus height, and corneal fluorescein staining were scored. RESULTS: 20 patients were enrolled in this study. The eyelid margins were congestive and swollen, with blunt rounding or irregularity. The meibum was cloudy or toothpaste-like. The meibomian gland expressibility, meibomian gland dropout and tear meniscus height were reduced. The cornea showed scattered fluorescein staining. After treatment, score of visual analog scale, congestion and size of nodules were significantly reduced. Eyelid margin signs, meibum quality, meibomian gland expressibility, tear meniscus height and corneal fluorescein staining scores were improved. Meibomian gland dropout had no significant change. No side effects occurred during treatment. CONCLUSIONS IPL is beneficial for the treatment of chronic hordeolum.
Humans ; Hordeolum ; Meibomian Glands ; Tears ; Fluoresceins