ObjectiveTo investigate the protective effect of α-ketoglutarate （α-KG） on hepatic lipid deposition in offspring caused by arsenic exposure during pregnancy. Methods8-week-old institute of cancer research （ICR） mice were mated in a ratio of 2∶1 between females and males， and the detection of vaginal plugs confirmed pregnant. A total of 32 pregnant mice were randomly divided into four groups： control group， arsenic group， α-KG group， arsenic+α-KG group. On gestational day 0-16 （GD0-GD16）， the arsenic and arsenic+α-KG groups were exposed to sodium arsenite （NaAsO₂ ，15 mg/L） in drinking water everyday， and the α-KG and arsenic+α-KG groups were gavaged with α-KG （2 g/kg） everyday. On GD16， pregnant mice were euthanized to collect fetal liver， and fetal body weight and crown-rump length were measured. Gene expression differences between the control group and the arsenic group were analyzed by transcriptome. The total triglycerides （TGs） and subtypes in fetal liver were detected by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry （LC-MS/MS）. Oil red O staining was used to observe the histopathological changes in the liver. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction （qPCR） was used to detect the expression level of genes related to lipid synthesis， transport， and degradation， and phosphatidylinositol 3' -kinase/ protein kinase B （PI3K/AKT） in the liver of fetus. ResultsTranscriptomics analysis showed that 2 144 genes were downregulated and 1 675 genes were upregulated in the arsenic exposed fetal liver； body weight and crown-rump length were reduced （P_TuKey<0.05）； the level of hepatic TGs was elevated in arsenic group （P_TuKey<0.05）； oil-red O staining showed a significant increase in lipid droplets in arsenic group （P_TuKey<0.01）； the expression of lipid synthesis-related genes were significantly upregulated （P_TuKey<0.05）； the expression of β-oxidation-related genes and lipid degradation-related genes were downregulated （P_TuKey<0.05）； the expression of PI3K， AKT decreased（P_TuKey<0.05）. Compared with the arsenic group， the body weight and crown-rump length of fetus increased in the arsenic+α-KG group （P_TuKey<0.05）； the level of hepatic TGs decreased in the arsenic+α-KG group （P_TuKey<0.05）； oil red O staining showed lipid droplets significantly decreased （P_TuKey<0.01）； the expression of lipid synthesis-related genes were downregulated （P_TuKey<0.05）， the expression of β-oxidation-related genes and lipid degradation-related genes were upregulated （P_TuKey<0.05）； the expression levels of PI3K and AKT increased （P_TuKey<0.05）. Conclusionα-KG alleviated hepatic lipid deposition in offspring exposed to arsenic during pregnancy through activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Objective To conduct a comparative analysis of the epidemic characteristics of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Northeast and Southwest China from 2005 to 2020, and to provide a reference for developing regional prevention and control strategies. Methods Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of HFRS outbreaks. The Joinpoint regression model was employed to calculate the annual percentage change (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC), thereby analyzing the trends in HFRS incidence. Results From 2005 to 2020, 63 878 HFRS cases were reported in Northeast China (average annual incidence: 3.58/100,000), showing a significant downward trend (AAPC=-13.08%, P<0.05). In Southwest China, 5 313 cases were reported (average annual incidence: 0.168/100 000) with stable overall incidence (AAPC=2.73%, P>0.05) but obvious inter-provincial differences. Northeast had a primary autumn-winter peak (Nov-Dec) and a secondary spring-summer peak (Apr-Jun), while Southwest showed the opposite seasonal pattern. For population distribution, both regions had males (Northeast: 45.01/100 000; Southwest: 1.76/100 000) and farmers aged 20-60 as the main high-risk groups, but differed in the second largest group: household workers/unemployed in the Northeast and students in the Southwest. Incidence presented an inverted ^”U^”-shape with age, peaking in the 40-50 years group. Geographically, high-incidence areas were widely distributed across multiple prefectures (e.g., Shuangyashan) in the Northeast, while in the Southwest, the distribution was highly concentrated, clustered only in a few ethnic minority autonomous prefectures such as Dali and Chuxiong in Yunnan. Conclusion The incidence of HFRS in Northeast China continues to decline, while it remains generally stable but shows localized increases in Southwest China, exhibiting regional differences in seasonal characteristics and geographical distribution. The differences in epidemic patterns across different regions may be related to climate and host species. Differentiated prevention and control strategies should be developed based on the specific epidemic characteristics of each region.

To develop a deep learning model based on arteriovenous dual-phase CT imaging features and evaluate its diagnostic value in differentiating benign from malignant pancreatic cystic lesions(PCLs).

Objective:To identify the key epithelial cell characteristics that can accurately diagnose eosinophilic chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps（ECRSwNP） through nasal brush sampling and comparing with the pathological results of nasal polyp tissue sections. Methods:Ninety-one patients underwent surgery in the Ophthalmology and ENT Department of the Second People's Hospital of Longgang District, Shenzhen, from January 2022 to July 2024 were selected. The cohort comprised 58 males and 33 females（mean age: 41.4 years; range: 12.0-71.0）. The clinical characteristics of the patients, including gender, age, disease duration, smoking and drinking history, asthma history, subjective symptoms, sinus CT, and nasal endoscopy scores, were recorded. Nasal brush sampling of nasal polyps and inferior turbinate mucosa was performed before surgery to obtain cytological specimens, and nasal polyp tissues were collected during surgery. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps were compared, as well as the relationship between nasal brush cytology of nasal polyps and inferior turbinate and nasal polyp histopathology. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 software. Results:Among the 91 patients, no significant differences were observed between ECRSwNP and NECRSwNP patients in terms of age, gender, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and disease duration. The nasal brush cell population in ECRSwNP patients was more likely to contain eosinophils（P<0.001） and less likely to contain lymphocytes and plasma cells（P<0.001）. Additionally, the ciliated cells in ECRSwNP patients exhibited larger widths（P=0.036）, shorter cilium lengths（P<0.001）, and more disordered arrangements（P<0.001） compared to NECRSwNP patients. In nasal brush cells from the inferior turbinate, ECRSwNP patients also showed shorter cilium lengths（P<0.001） and shorter cilia（P=0.024） compared to NECRSwNP patients. Conclusion:There are significant differences in obtaining epithelial cytological information from nasal polyps or inferior turbinates through nasal brush sampling between ECRSwNP and NECRSwNP patients.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Nasal Polyps/complications* ; Sinusitis/complications* ; Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Adolescent ; Nasal Mucosa/pathology* ; Young Adult ; Rhinitis/complications* ; Eosinophilia/pathology* ; Child ; Eosinophils/pathology* ; Rhinosinusitis

OBJECTIVES: To explore the molecular mechanism of Jiangzhi Huaban Decoction (JZHBD) for improving atherosclerosis through the "qi meridian-blood channels" pathway. METHODS: ApoE^-/- mouse models of atherosclerosis were established by high-fat diet feeding for 8 weeks, with C57BL/6 mice on a normal diet as the controls. Forty ApoE^-/- mouse models were randomized into model group, low-, medium-, and high-dose JZHBD treatment groups, and atorvastatin treatment group (n=8) for their respective treatments for 8 weeks. The changes in body weight and overall condition of the mice were monitored weekly. After the treatments, serum levels of TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, TBA, ALT, and AST of the mice were measured, pathological changes in the liver and aortic root plaques were examined with HE staining, and lipid accumulation in the liver and aortic wall was assessed using Oil Red O staining. The core molecular mechanism was studied through transcriptomics, and the expressions of the key pathway proteins were confirmed using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Treatment with JZHBD significantly reduced blood lipid and total bile acid levels, improved liver function and hepatic steatosis, and decreased aortic lipid deposition and plaque area in the mouse models of atherosclerosis. Transcriptomic analysis suggested that the therapeutic mechanism of JZHBD involved reverse cholesterol transport, PPAR signaling, and the inflammatory pathways. In atherosclerotic mice, JZHBD treatment obviously up-regulated hepatic expressions of PPARγ, LXRα, ABCA1, ABCG1, and CYP7A1, down-regulated hepatic expressions of p-p65/p65, IL-6, IL1β in the liver, increased ABCG5 and ABCG8 expressions in the intestines, and decreased ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expressions in the aortic plaques. CONCLUSIONS JZHBD improves atherosclerotic vascular damage and plaque formation possibly by regulating hepatic reverse cholesterol transport and inflammation via modulating the hepatic PPARγ/LXRα/NF-κB signaling pathway.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Plaque, Atherosclerotic/metabolism* ; Liver/metabolism* ; Mice ; Atherosclerosis/metabolism* ; Cholesterol/metabolism* ; PPAR gamma/metabolism* ; Male ; Diet, High-Fat ; Biological Transport

Subtype classification of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images serves as an effective auxiliary tool for clinicians in diagnosing disease progression and formulating treatment plans. To improve the classification accuracy of AMD subtypes, this study proposes a keypoint-based, attention-enhanced residual network (KPA-ResNet). The proposed architecture adopts a 50-layer residual network (ResNet-50) as the backbone, preceded by a keypoint localization module based on heatmap regression to outline critical lesion regions. A two-dimensional relative self-attention mechanism is incorporated into convolutional layers to enhance the representation of key lesion areas. Furthermore, the network depth is appropriately increased and an improved residual module, ConvNeXt, is introduced to enable comprehensive extraction of high-dimensional features and enrich the detail of lesion boundary contours, ultimately achieving higher classification accuracy of AMD subtypes. Experimental results demonstrate that KPA-ResNet achieves significant improvements in overall classification accuracy compared with conventional convolutional neural networks. Specifically, for the wet AMD subtypes, the classification accuracies for inactive choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and active CNV reach 92.8% and 95.2%, respectively, representing substantial improvement over ResNet-50. These findings validate the superior performance of KPA-ResNet in AMD subtype classification tasks. This work provides a high-accuracy, generalizable network architecture for OCT-based AMD subtype classification and offers new insights into integrating attention mechanisms with convolutional neural networks in ophthalmic image analysis.
Tomography, Optical Coherence/methods* ; Humans ; Macular Degeneration/diagnostic imaging* ; Neural Networks, Computer

Microplastics and nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), raising significant concerns about their impact on human health. Research highlights the hazardous effects of MPs/NPs on both male and female reproductive systems, influencing germ cells, embryo development, and progeny. Additionally, studies show that MPs/NPs affect the gene expression of anabolic steroid hormones in vitro and in vivo, inducing reproductive toxicity through mechanisms such as oxidative stress and inflammation. Considering these adverse effects, identifying natural compounds that can mitigate the toxicity of MPs/NPs is increasingly important. Plants offer a wealth of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds that can counteract these harmful effects. Among these, anthocyanins, natural colorants responsible for the vibrant hues of fruits and flowers, exhibit a wide range of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-neoplastic properties. Moreover, anthocyanins can modulate sex hormone levels and alleviate reproductive toxicity. Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), one of the most extensively studied anthocyanins, shows promise in reducing reproductive toxicity, particularly in females, and in protecting male reproductive organs, including the testis and epididymis. This protective effect is believed to result from its interaction with steroid receptors, specifically the androgen and estrogen receptors (ERs). These findings highlight the need to explore the mechanisms by which anthocyanins mitigate the reproductive toxicity caused by MPs/NPs. This review provides novel insights into how natural compounds can be leveraged to lessen the impact of environmental contaminants on human health, especially concerning reproductive health.

Objective:To analyze the association between unhealthy lifestyles and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress among secondary school students in Jiangsu Province.Methods:From September to November 2023, a multistage stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select secondary school students from 13 districts and cities in Jiangsu Province. A questionnaire survey was conducted on their unhealthy lifestyles (low physical activity, smoking, drinking, internet addiction, poor sleep quality, and unhealthy diet), as well as their depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress. The multivariate logistic regression model and mixed graph model were used to construct a network and analyze the association between unhealthy lifestyles and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress.Results:A total of 81 414 secondary school students were finally included in this study, including 39 725 (48.79%) female students and 41 689 (51.21%) male students. The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress were 18.55%, 32.09% and 12.91%, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that after adjusting for age, gender, urban-rural status, residential status, and family type, compared with students without unhealthy lifestyles, students with low physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, internet addiction, poor sleep quality, and unhealthy diet had a significantly increased risk of depressive symptoms ( OR=1.12, 95% CI:1.07-1.17; OR=1.60, 95% CI: 1.49-1.72; OR=1.79, 95% CI: 1.71-1.88; OR=3.05, 95% CI: 2.77-3.36; OR=6.66, 95% CI: 6.40-6.93; OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.24-1.34) and a significantly increased risk of anxiety symptoms ( OR=1.09, 95% CI: 1.05-1.13; OR=1.42, 95% CI: 1.33-1.52; OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.69-1.83; OR=2.40, 95% CI: 2.17-2.65; OR=5.79, 95% CI: 5.59-6.00; OR=1.16, 95% CI: 1.12-1.21). Students who smoked, drank alcohol, had internet addiction, and had poor sleep quality had a significantly increased risk of stress ( OR=1.49, 95% CI: 1.38-1.61; OR=1.79, 95% CI: 1.70-1.89; OR=2.25, 95% CI: 2.04-2.48; OR=6.74, 95% CI: 6.43-7.06). The node with poor sleep quality (bridge strength=0.48) in the network constructed by the mixed graph model had the strongest centrality of the bridge connecting unhealthy lifestyles with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and stress. Conclusion:Low physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, internet addiction, poor sleep quality, and unhealthy diet increase the risk of depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms among Jiangsu Province secondary school students. Smoking, alcohol consumption, internet addiction, and poor sleep quality increase the risk of stress among Jiangsu Province secondary school students. Sleep quality is an important intervention target for Jiangsu Province secondary school students to alleviate their negative emotions.

Objective The aim of this study is to discuss the causal relationship between periodontal disease(PD)and prostate cancer(PCa).Methods A two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization(MR)analysis based on publicly statistical data from genome-wide association studies(GWAS)was conducted.MR Egger,weighted medium,simple mode and weighted mode were supplemented,while inverse variance weighted analysis(IVW)was the main method of analysis.Heterogeneity testing,pleiotropy testing and leave-one-out testing were used to assess the sensitivity and stabili-ty.Results The results of MR analysis showed that PD had no significant impact on the occurrence of PCa:East Asian(IVW,PD:OR=1.07,P=0.48);European(IVW,PD:OR=1.00,P=0.37,periodontitis:OR=1.03,P=0.14,chronic gingivitis:OR=0.99,P=0.37,chronic periodontitis:OR=1.03,P=0.22).The reverse MR analysis also did not show a causal relationship between PCa and PD:East Asian(IVW,PD:OR=0.97,P=0.22);European(IVW,PD:OR=0.84,P=0.44,periodontitis:OR=1.01,P=0.75,chronic gingivitis:OR=0.93,P=0.23,chronic periodontitis:OR=0.99,P=0.80).The results of other analysis were consistent with those of IVW analysis.Conclusions The results of our two-sample bidirectional MR analysis do not support a causal relationship between PD and PCa.

Objective:To explore the characteristics of attention bias and the role of embodied emotion prim-ing in college students with different traits of anxiety.Methods:From 2 310 college students,28 from low trait anxi-ety group and 30 from high trait anxiety group were selected based on the scores of the Trait Anxiety Scale.The at-tention bias index,attention orientation index and attention detachment difficulty index were calculated by point de-tection experiment.By asking two groups of subjects to change their body posture to induce embodied emotion,and then responding to the location of the detection point,the effects of embodied emotion priming on the attention bias of college students with different traits of anxiety were investigated.Results:The point detection experiment found that the attention detachment difficulty index of negative emotional faces in the high trait anxiety group was signifi-cantly greater than 0,and the attention orientation index of positive emotional faces in the low trait anxiety group was significantly greater than 0(Ps＜0.05).The attention bias index for positive emotional faces in low trait anxie-ty group was significantly higher than that in high trait anxiety group(P＜0.05).Under embodied negative prim-ing,the attention bias index of negative emotional faces in low trait anxiety group was significantly greater than 0(P＜0.05).The attention orientation indices of negative emotional faces were significantly higher than that of posi-tive emotional faces in both groups(P＜0.05).Conclusion:College students with high trait anxiety have difficulty in escaping attention to negative faces,while those with low trait anxiety have accelerated attention orientation to positive emotional faces.Embodied negative priming may have a greater impact onattention bias of towards negative emotional faces in students with low trait anxiety.