Diabetic kidney disease （DKD）， a common complication of diabetes mellitus， is a leading global cause of end-stage renal disease （ESRD）. Current therapeutic strategies primarily focus on symptomatic management but exhibit limited efficacy in halting disease progression to ESRD， and some drugs carry non-negligible toxic side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has a long history in treating DKD， with single TCM and TCM compounds demonstrating unique advantages in multi-target， multi-pathway， and multi-effect therapeutic interventions. Tripterygium wilfordii （TW）， known for its effects in promoting blood circulation， dredging collaterals， dispelling wind， removing dampness， reducing swelling， and alleviating pain， contains bioactive components such as Tripterygium glycosides （TWG）， triptolide （TPL）， tripdiolide （TPD）， and celastrol （CEL）. The active ingredients possess various functions， including regulating immune-inflammatory balance， ameliorating renal fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis， combating oxidative stress， protecting podocytes， and improving glucose and lipid metabolism， all of which play a significant role in the treatment of DKD. This review summarized the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of T. wilfordii and its active ingredients on DKD， aiming to provide insights for clinical management and novel drug development of DKD.

Nephrotic syndrome （NS） is a glomerular disease characterized by massive proteinuria， hypoalbuminemia， edema， and hyperlipidemia. Tripterygium wilfordii exhibits remarkable efficacy in the prevention and treatment of renal diseases； however， its hepatotoxicity， nephrotoxicity， and other factors limit its clinical application. This article systematically reviews the mechanisms of pharmacological effects and detoxification of T. wilfordii and its active ingredients in the treatment of NS. The results show that the main active components of T. wilfordii include tripterygium glycosides， triptolide， and triptriolide， etc. T. wilfordii and its active ingredients exert significant renal protective effects by protecting glomerular podocytes， repairing the glomerular filtration barrier， regulating abnormal immune and inflammatory responses， inhibiting oxidative stress injury， and blocking renal fibrosis， thereby effectively reducing proteinuria， improving renal function， and lowering the recurrence rate of NS. Traditional Chinese medicine compatibility （e.g. T. wilfordii combined with Lysimachia christinae ， Cuscuta chinensis ethanol extract， and Paeonia lactiflora ， respectively） can regulate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant levels and optimize drug metabolic pathways. Combined with modern preparation technologies （e.g.， triptolide self-microemulsion drug delivery system）， these strategies can effectively antagonize the hepatotoxicity， nephrotoxicity， and other factors of T. wilfordii .

Objective To explore the predictive value of the modified frailty index-11 (mFI-11) for postoperative complications in elderly lung cancer patients undergoing robot-assisted lobectomy. Methods Clinical data were retrospectively collected from lung cancer patients aged ≥65 years who underwent robot-assisted lobectomy at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial Hospital, from January 2022 to June 2025. Based on the optimal grouping threshold of 0.27 in previous studies for the mFI-11 score, patients were divided into a frail and a non-frail group. Postoperative complications of the two groups were analyzed, and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between mFI-11 and postoperative complications. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive efficiency of mFI-11 for postoperative complications. Results A total of 161 patients were included, with 77 males and 84 females, and an average age of (68.48±2.90) years. Among them, 103 (64.0%) patients were in the non-frail group and 58 (36.0%) in the frail group. Differences between the two groups in terms of independent functional status, hypertension requiring drug control, history of type 2 diabetes, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification, and tumor staging were all statistically significant (P<0.05). The length of postoperative hospital stay in the frail group was longer than that in the non-frail group [5.50 (5.00, 8.25) d vs. 5.00 (4.00, 5.00) d, P<0.001]. The incidence rates of general respiratory diseases (25.9% vs. 8.7%), hypoproteinemia (15.5% vs. 4.9%), arrhythmia (12.1% vs. 1.9%), bronchopleural fistula (5.2% vs. 0.0%), transfer to ICU for severe complications (10.3% vs. 1.0%), and readmission within 30 days after discharge (12.1% vs. 1.9%) were all higher in the frail group compared to the non-frail group (P<0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis found that mFI-11 had a good predictive efficiency for postoperative complications: general respiratory diseases [area under the curve (AUC)=0.759], hypoproteinemia (AUC=0.723), arrhythmia (AUC=0.795), transfer to ICU for severe complications (AUC=0.713), and readmission within 30 days after discharge (AUC=0.702). Conclusion mFI-11 can effectively predict postoperative complications in elderly lung cancer patients undergoing robot-assisted lobectomy and can serve as an objective indicator for identifying high-risk elderly lung cancer patients.

Objective To explore the feasibility of the endoscopic occipital transtentorial transpineal-recess (EOTT-TR) approach for treatment of craniopharyngiomas within the third ventricle. Methods The clinical and imaging data of a 54-year-old female patient with craniopharyngioma was reviewed. The patient was presented with progressive visual impairment and headache for six months. Endocrine evaluation indicated mild impairment of the pituitary-hypothalamic axis function. Imaging revealed a large solid tumor was entirely confined within the third ventricle, maximal diameter of approximately 4.7 cm. The lesion was resected via right EOTT-TR approach, which involved upward retraction of the pineal gland under the 3D endoscopy, and accessing the third ventricle through the pineal recess. Following resection, pathological diagnosis was performed, and postoperative complications were observed. Results Subtotal resection was achieved. Postoperatively, central diabetes insipidus, diplopia and upward gaze dysfunction occurred, but improved after 3 months of follow-up. MRI confirmed subtotal resection of the tumor, and the vision of the patient was improved, and the Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score increased from 80 points to 90 points at 3 months after operation. The pathological diagnosis was papillary craniopharyngioma (WHO grade Ⅰ). Conclusions The EOTT-TR approach provides a unique postero-superior to antero-inferior perspective, allowing full exposure of the third ventricle. It is particularly advantageous for treating craniopharyngiomas originating from the antero-inferior wall of the third ventricle, enabling tumor resection while preserving hypothalamic function without affecting visual acuity or visual fields. Therefore, for craniopharyngiomas strictly confined within the third ventricle, the EOTT-TR approach is a feasible surgical approach.

Objective To analyze the current status of clinical trial registration in the TCM treatment of diabetic nephropathy(DN);To provide references for the registration and implementation of relevant clinical trials.Methods Clinical trials about TCM treatment for DN registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry(ChiCTR)and the U.S.Clinical Trial Registry(ClinicalTrials.gov)from their inception to August 18,2024 were retrieved.The following information was analyzed:registration year,geographical distribution,funding sources,TCM syndrome patterns of participants,number of research centers,sample size,study type,study design,randomization method,blinding method,intervention measures,outcome indicators and safety indicators.Results A total of 88 clinical trials were included,comprising 79 interventional studies and 9 observational studies.The number of registrations has increased annually.The domestic registered trials were distributed across 17 provincial-level administrative regions in China,with Beijing and Shanghai having the highest number of registrations.The primary sources of funding were local and national government funds.The most common TCM syndrome pattern among participants was qi-yin deficiency with blood stasis.Most trials were single-center studies,with the majority having a sample size between 31 and 60.The predominant study type was interventional,mostly randomized controlled trials(RCTs),with simple randomization being the most frequently used method.31 trials reported blinding methods,with double-blinding being the most common.The intervention measures were mostly oral Chinese patent medicines or TCM compounds,and the outcome indicators were mainly efficacy indicators,with less safety indicators.Conclusion The number of registered clinical trials on TCM treatment for DN has increased annually;however,the overall number remains limited.There is uneven regional distribution and incomplete registration information for various factors such as randomization methods,blinding methods,number of research centers,intervention measures,and outcome indicators.

Objective To investigate the expression levels of serum miR-186-5p and miR-942-5p in patients with glioma and their clinical significance.Methods A total of 98 patients with glioma who were treated in this hospital from October 2019 to December 2021 were selected as the monitored group,and 101 healthy indi-viduals who underwent physical examinations a the same time were selected as the control group.Quantitative fluorescent PCR(qPCR)method was applied to detect the expression levels of miR-186-5p and miR-942-5p in serum,and multivariate COX regression was applied to analyze the prognostic factors of glioma patients.Re-ceiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and area under curve(AUC)were used to analyze the diagnostic value of serum miR-186-5p and miR-942-5p in glioma.Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the re-lationship between serum miR-186-5p and miR-942-5p expression and prognosis of patients.Results The ex-pression level of serum miR-186-5p in monitored group was lower than that in the control group(P＜0.05),and the expression level of miR-942-5p was higher than that in the control group(P＜0.05).The AUC of ser-um miR-186-5p and miR-942-5p in the diagnosis of glioma alone and in combination were 0.735,0.809 and 0.895,respectively.There were significant differences in the proportion of low miR-186-5p expression and high miR-942-5p expression in serum of patients with different preoperative Karnofsky performance status(KPS)scores,World Health Organization(WHO)grades and local infiltration(P＜0.05).The 2-year surviv-al rate of patients with high expression of miR-186-5p was higher than that of patients with low expression of miR-186-5p(x2=6.455,P=0.011).The 2-year survival rate of patients with high miR-942-5p expression was lower than that of patients with low miR-942-5p expression(x2=9.858,P=0.002).miR-186-5p was a protective factor for mortality in glioma patients(P＜0.05),while miR-942-5p was a risk factor(P＜0.05).Conclusion Serum miR-186-5p expression level decreases and miR-942-5p expression level increases in glioma patients,both of which have certain diagnostic value for the occurrence of glioma.

Training general practice residents is a crucial part of cultivating high-level general practitioners at the grass roots level. However, the traditional training model has revealed several deficiencies, such as insufficient clinical practice opportunities. Virtual patients, as a computer simulation-based tool, can significantly enhance training outcomes due to their advantages, including the simulation of practical clinical scenarios, diverse case conditions, and prompt feedback. This article reviews the current status and potential of applying virtual patients in the training of general practice residents and analyzes their advantages in optimizing clinical decision-making and doctor-patient communication. In view of issues such as insufficient standardization and situational simulation in the application of virtual patients, this article proposes optimization strategies such as enhancing case complexity and integrating flipped classrooms and large language models. All these measures aim to explore a wider application range of virtual patients in modern medical education, improving the training quality of general practitioners and the level of primary medical services.

Objective To explore the application value of different deep learning models in predicting the lung cancer spread through air spaces(STAS).Methods A total of 203 patients with stage Ⅰ—Ⅱ primary lung cancer were included,of which 74 were STAS-positive and 129 were STAS-negative.Patients were randomly divided into training set(142 cases)and test set(61 cases)at a 7∶3 ratio.Region of interest(ROI)was outlined using ITK-SNAP software,facilitating the extraction of tumor and peritumoral images.The Resnet18,Inception_v3,and Vision Transformer(Vit)were employed for model training and feature extraction.Feature selection was performed by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)algorithm and Spearman correlation coefficient,followed by the establishment of a predictive model using the Naive Bayes machine learning algorithm.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to compare the prediction performance of each model.The assessment of calibration was performed using calibration curves,and the evaluation of clinical application value was conducted using decision curve analysis(DCA).Results The area under the curve(AUC)for the training and test sets were as follows:the training set Resnet18 0.849-0.930,Inception_v3 0.848-0.888,Vit 0.747-0.842;and the test set Resnet18 0.796-0.846,Inception_v3 0.783-0.804,Vit 0.690-0.796.In tumor-peritumoral images,Resnet18 had a higher calibration and better clinical net benefit,while Vit showed superior calibration and clinical net benefit when only tumor tissue was considered.Conclusion Deep learning models can effectively predict lung cancer STAS,providing more decision support for the preoperative diagnosis and treatment of stages Ⅰ—Ⅱ lung cancer.

Objective:To compare the accuracy of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and conventional 2D ultrasound in measuring bladder volume in pelvic tumor patients, using computed tomography (CT) as the reference.Methods:A set of bladder phantoms were constructed to compare CT and ultrasound measurements with actual injected volumes. Clinical data of 104 pelvic tumor patients who received radiotherapy at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between August and December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Portable transabdominal ultrasound was used to obtain the largest bladder cross-section, and the maximum diameters in the left-right (LR), anterior-posterior (AP), and superior-inferior (SI) directions (D LR, D AP, D SI) were measured. The 2D ultrasound volume was calculated as V=0.523 × D LR × D AP × D SI. Full-bladder transverse videos were recorded and processed in Matlab R2016a through frame extraction(60 images), followed by contrast enhancement, edge detection segmentation, cubic spline interpolation, and image smoothing to achieve 3D reconstruction. Paired t-tests, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and Bland-Altman analyses were performed to assess systematic bias and consistency between ultrasound methods and CT. Multivariate linear regression was applied to evaluate the effects of slice thickness, posture, age, and other factors on CT measurements. Results:In the phantom study, deviations of 2D ultrasound and CT from actual injected volumes were (0.73±3.05) ml ( t=-0.48, P=0.667) and (1.52±11.27) ml ( t=0.17, P=0.875), with ICC values>0.999. In the clinical study, mean bladder volumes measured by 3D-reconstructed ultrasound, conventional 2D ultrasound, and CT were (373.5±153.31), (314.89±135.28), (382.82±157.57) ml, respectively. The 3D-reconstructed method showed excellent agreement with CT (ICC=0.98; Bland-Altman mean bias=-9.32 ml, P=0.096), while 2D ultrasound also showed good consistency (ICC=0.91), but significantly underestimated bladder volume (mean bias=-67.93 ml, P<0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that 2D ultrasound had the best agreement with CT in the medium-volume group (200-500 ml, ICC=0.902), whereas agreement decreased in the small-volume (<200 ml, ICC=0.884) and large-volume (>500 ml, ICC=0.840) groups (all P<0.001). The 3D-reconstructed ultrasound maintained excellent consistency with CT across all subgroups (all ICC>0.95), and the measured bladder volume was not statistically significant. Multivariate regression showed that slice thickness, posture, age, sex, and surgical status had no significant effects on CT measurements. Conclusions:Ultrasound with 3D reconstruction enables accurate bladder volume monitoring through true 3D contour reconstruction, while conventional 2D ultrasound systematically underestimates bladder volume and requires correction.

Training general practice residents is a crucial part of cultivating high-level general practitioners at the grass roots level. However, the traditional training model has revealed several deficiencies, such as insufficient clinical practice opportunities. Virtual patients, as a computer simulation-based tool, can significantly enhance training outcomes due to their advantages, including the simulation of practical clinical scenarios, diverse case conditions, and prompt feedback. This article reviews the current status and potential of applying virtual patients in the training of general practice residents and analyzes their advantages in optimizing clinical decision-making and doctor-patient communication. In view of issues such as insufficient standardization and situational simulation in the application of virtual patients, this article proposes optimization strategies such as enhancing case complexity and integrating flipped classrooms and large language models. All these measures aim to explore a wider application range of virtual patients in modern medical education, improving the training quality of general practitioners and the level of primary medical services.