BACKGROUND:Patellar tendonitis can present as tendon degeneration that fails to heal due to tissue overload and incomplete recovery.Patellar tendonitis is a predisposition to high jumping and its pathogenesis has not been clearly defined.OBJECTIVE:To explore the stress-strain relationship of patellar tendon in the take-off technique of high jump through the finite element model with accurate human anatomical structure,so as to provide ideas for the prevention and rehabilitation of patellar tendinitis.METHODS:Based on the CT and MRI imaging data of the lower extremity(including the knee and ankle)of one subject(22 years old,183 cm height,70 kg body mass),a three-dimensional finite element model of the lower extremity was reconstructed using medical imaging software,reverse engineering software and modeling software.The plantar pressure of the take-off leg was collected in eight subjects by gait testing system,and the technical action of high jump take-off was collected by motion capture system.The captured data were imported into human sports biomechanics software for analysis,and kinematic and kinetic data were obtained as the boundary conditions of finite element model for finite element simulation analysis.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The force borne by the patellar tendon reached 3.29 times of its own body mass when the subjects took off.In the take-off stage,the peak values of normal equivalent stress,strain and shear stress of the patellar tendon were 127.76 MPa,0.81 and 37.69 MPa,respectively,which were in the nonlinear region of the stress-strain curve,and the peak values were distributed in the proximal and posterior parts of patellar tendon.To conclude,the high patellar tendon force,strain and shear stress caused by the load of 3.29 times its own body mass during take-off are related to the induction of patellar tendinitis.

BACKGROUND:Patellar tendonitis can present as tendon degeneration that fails to heal due to tissue overload and incomplete recovery.Patellar tendonitis is a predisposition to high jumping and its pathogenesis has not been clearly defined.OBJECTIVE:To explore the stress-strain relationship of patellar tendon in the take-off technique of high jump through the finite element model with accurate human anatomical structure,so as to provide ideas for the prevention and rehabilitation of patellar tendinitis.METHODS:Based on the CT and MRI imaging data of the lower extremity(including the knee and ankle)of one subject(22 years old,183 cm height,70 kg body mass),a three-dimensional finite element model of the lower extremity was reconstructed using medical imaging software,reverse engineering software and modeling software.The plantar pressure of the take-off leg was collected in eight subjects by gait testing system,and the technical action of high jump take-off was collected by motion capture system.The captured data were imported into human sports biomechanics software for analysis,and kinematic and kinetic data were obtained as the boundary conditions of finite element model for finite element simulation analysis.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The force borne by the patellar tendon reached 3.29 times of its own body mass when the subjects took off.In the take-off stage,the peak values of normal equivalent stress,strain and shear stress of the patellar tendon were 127.76 MPa,0.81 and 37.69 MPa,respectively,which were in the nonlinear region of the stress-strain curve,and the peak values were distributed in the proximal and posterior parts of patellar tendon.To conclude,the high patellar tendon force,strain and shear stress caused by the load of 3.29 times its own body mass during take-off are related to the induction of patellar tendinitis.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the prophylactic effects of caloric restriction (CR) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the cardioprotective actions of CR. This research aims to provide innovative strategies and theoretical support for the prevention of SCM. MethodsA total of forty-eight 8-week-old male C57BL/6 mice, weighing between 20-25 g, were randomly assigned to 4 distinct groups, each consisting of 12 mice. The groups were designated as follows: CON (control), LPS, CR, and CR+LPS. Prior to the initiation of the CR protocol, the CR and CR+LPS groups underwent a 2-week acclimatization period during which individual food consumption was measured. The initial week of CR intervention was set at 80% of the baseline intake, followed by a reduction to 60% for the subsequent 5 weeks. After 6-week CR intervention, all 4 groups received an intraperitoneal injection of either normal saline or LPS (10 mg/kg). Twelve hours post-injection, heart function was assessed, and subsequently, heart and blood samples were collected. Serum inflammatory markers were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The serum myocardial enzyme spectrum was analyzed using an automated biochemical instrument. Myocardial tissue sections underwent hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and immunofluorescence (IF) staining. Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression of protein in myocardial tissue, including inflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-9, IL-18), oxidative stress markers (iNOS, SOD2), pro-apoptotic markers (Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, CASP3), and SIRT3/SIRT6. ResultsTwelve hours after LPS injection, there was a significant decrease in ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) ratios, along with a notable increase in left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD). Morphological and serum indicators (AST, LDH, CK, and CK-MB) indicated that LPS injection could induce myocardial structural disorders and myocardial injury. Furthermore, 6-week CR effectively prevented the myocardial injury. LPS injection also significantly increased the circulating inflammatory levels (IL-1β, TNF-α) in mice. IF and Western blot analyses revealed that LPS injection significantly up-regulating the expression of inflammatory-related proteins (TNF-α, IL-9, IL-18), oxidative stress-related proteins (iNOS, SOD2) and apoptotic proteins (Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, CASP3) in myocardial tissue. 6-week CR intervention significantly reduced circulating inflammatory levels and downregulated the expression of inflammatory, oxidative stress-related proteins and pro-apoptotic level in myocardial tissue. Additionally, LPS injection significantly downregulated the expression of SIRT3 and SIRT6 proteins in myocardial tissue, and CR intervention could restore the expression of SIRT3 proteins. ConclusionA 6-week CR could prevent LPS-induced septic cardiomyopathy, including cardiac function decline, myocardial structural damage, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. The mechanism may be associated with the regulation of SIRT3 expression in myocardial tissue.

Aim To investigate the effects of the fangchinoline derivative LYY-32 on the biological prop-erties of the BLM642-1290 DNA helicase,in order to lay a foundation for further research on its antitumor activity.Methods Fluorescence polarization assay,malachite green-phosphate and ammonium molybdate colorime-try,and fluorescein-labeled DNA gel electrophoresis experiments were conducted to study the effects of fangchinoline derivative LYY-32 on the DNA binding activity,ATPase activity,and DNA unwinding activity of BLM642-1290 DNA helicase.The effects of LYY-32 on the DNA unwinding activity of DNA helicase in cells were studied using fluorescent techniques and time-lapse microscopy.Ultraviolet spectral scanning was used to investigate the effects of LYY-32 on the confor-mation of the BLM642-1290 DNA helicase.Results At a concentration of 10 μmol·L-1,the inhibition rate of LYY-32 on BLM642-1290 DNA helicase binding to dsDNA was 53.17％.At a concentration of 5 μmol·L-1,the inhibition rate of LYY-32 on BLM642-1290 DNA helicase binding to ssDNA was 88.49％.The inhibition rate of LYY-32 on the ATPase activity of BLM642-1290 DNA he-licase was 89.3％at a concentration of 50 μmol·L-1.When the concentration of LYY-32 exceeded 5μmol·L-1,its inhibition rate on the DNA unwinding activity of BLM642-1290 DNA helicase was 100％.LYY-32 also significantly inhibited the DNA unwinding ac-tivity of DNA helicase in cells.However,LYY-32 had no effect on the conformation of BLM642-1290 DNA heli-case.Conclusion The DNA binding activity,AT-Pase activity,and DNA unwinding activity of BLM642-1290 DNA helicase could be significantly inhibi-ted by the fangchinoline derivative LYY-32.

Objective To investigate the potential mechanism of action of polygonatum odoratum in treating Alzheimer's disease through the utilization of network pharmacology and molecular docking techniques.Methods The methods employed include target screening,Gene Ontology(GO)function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)enrichment analysis,and molecular docking simulations to assess the binding interactions between the active compounds in polygonatum odoratum(POD)and the key target proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease.Subsequently,lipopolysaccharide(LPS)was used to induce an inflammatory cell model in BV2 microglial cells.After treating the cell model with POD extract for 24 hours,the cells were collected,and the expression of the target genes were detected by Real-time PCR.Results Eight active ingredients and 172 targets of POD were screened.The biological processes such as protein phosphorylation and signal transduction,protein binding and ATP binding were obtained by GO functional analysis.KEGG enrichment yielded PI3K/Akt,cAMP and other signaling pathways.The molecular docking result showed that the active ingredient of POD had well binding activity with epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR),proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src(SRC),tumor necrosis factor(TNF),STAT3.Through Real-time PCR experiments,the gene expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS),prostaglandin G/H synthase 2(PTGS2),interleukin(IL)-6,and IL-1β in the LPS-induced inflammatory cell model were significantly upregulated.After treating the inflammatory model with POD extract for 24 hours,the expression of TNF-α was significantly reduced,the expression of STAT3 was upregulated,there were no significant changes in the expressions of SRC and EGFR.Conclusion Network pharmacology suggests polygonatum odoratum's potential anti-Alzheimer's effects may be mediated through its interaction with targets such as EGFR,TNF,SRC,and STAT3.The experimental results suggest that polygonatum odoratum exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by acting on TNF-α,which may further alleviate the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

This study was aimed at understanding the relationships among the drug resistance and genome characteristics of group A Streptococcus in Jiangsu Province.A total of 149 group A Streptococcus strains were collected from hospitals between 2016 and 2023.Thirteen antimicrobial minimal inhibitory concentrations were detected with the micro-dilution broth method.The GAS strains were typed with emm genotyping analysis and whole genome sequencing,to determine the carriage rates of drug resistance genes and the evolutionary relationships among strains.The resistance rates of 149 GAS strains to erythromy-cin,tetracycline,and clindamycin exceeded 90％,whereas the strains showed sensitivity to 8 different antibiotics,including penicillin.Notably,the resistance rates to erythromycin,tetracycline,and clindamycin consistently increased over time.All strains were classified into 9 emm types,among which emm12 accounted for the highest proportion(77/149;51.68％).Signifi-cant statistical differences were observed among emm types,in terms of the drug resistance rate,number of resistant species,and prevalence of drug resistance genes.Furthermore,SNP evolutionary tree analysis revealed 3 distinct clusters within the GAS strains:emm12,emm1,and other emm types.emm 12 and emm1 were the dominant GAS strains in Jiangsu Province.Most isolates were resistant to erythromycin,tetracycline,and clindamycin.Differences in phenotypes and genomic characteris-tics were observed among emm types.

With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence(GAI)technologies,their widespread application in academic research and writing is continuously expanding the boundaries of sci-entific inquiry.However,this trend has also raised a series of ethical and regulatory challenges,inclu-ding issues related to authorship,content authenticity,citation accuracy,and accountability.In light of the growing involvement of AI in generating academic content,establishing an open,controllable,and trustworthy ethical governance framework has become a key task for safeguarding research integrity and maintaining trust within the academic community.This expert consensus outlines ethical requirements across key stages of AI-assisted academic writing-including topic selection,data management,citation practices,and authorship attribution.It aims to clarify the boundaries and ethical obligations surrounding AI use in academic writing,ensuring that technological tools enhance efficiency without compromising in-tegrity.The goal is to provide guidance and institutional support for building a responsible and sustainable research ecosystem.

Objective To determine the knee joint cartilage thickness using different methods and explore the feasibility of mathematical statistical models of dataset for the prediction of cartilage thickness.Methods A total of 304 patients diagnosed as knee osteoarthritis(OA)combined with varus deformity and undergoing unilateral total knee arthroplasty at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from March 2023 to March 2024 were selected for the study.All patients had complete preoperative and postoperative clinical data.The healthy cartilage at four anatomical sites of patients,including the distal femur lateral condyle,lateral tibial plateau,posterior medial femoral condyle,and posterior lateral femoral condyle were selected,and the knee joint cartilage thickness was determined based on preoperative MRI analysis,robotic navigation system tracing,tissue section of surgical specimen and digital vernier caliper.The baseline indicators of demographics,disease and imaging ffor patients were collected to construct a dataset,and four models of linear regression analysis,principal component analysis,Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator(LASSO)regression analysis,and K-nearest neighbors(KNN)analysis were established for predicting the accuracy,determination coefficient(R2)and root mean square error(RMSE),and the regression equation for predicting cartilage thickness was established.Results The knee joint cartilage thicknesses determined by preoperative MRI analysis,robotic navigation system tracing,tissue section of surgical specimen had no statistically significant difference with that by digital vernier caliper(P>0.05).The predictive efficiencies of models of linear regression analysis,principal component analysis,and LASSO regression analysis for the knee joint cartilage thickness all failed to meet the expectations(R2<0.3,RMSE>0.03).The predictive effect of KNN model on the cartilage thickness of the distal femur lateral condyle and lateral tibial plateau was not ideal(R2=0.23,RMSE=0.29),while it had potential predictive value(accuracy=0.21,accuracy=0.15).Conclusion The prediction model of knee joint cartilage thickness based on individual parameters has certain scientificity,and the feasibility of KNN model is relatively high.However,due to insufficient sample size and unclear individual parameter weight,the efficiencies of the four established prediction models are not ideal,which fails to provide definite prediction equations.Therefore,the construction scheme of the prediction model still needs to be further optimized.

BACKGROUND: The use of inserted sham acupuncture as a placebo in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is controversial, because it may produce specific effects that cause an underestimation of the effect of acupuncture treatment. OBJECTIVE: This systematic survey investigates the magnitude of insert-specific effects of sham acupuncture and whether they affect the estimation of acupuncture treatment effects. SEARCH STRATEGY: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched to identify acupuncture RCTs from their inception until December 2022. INCLUSION CRITERIA: RCTs that evaluated the effects of acupuncture compared to sham acupuncture and no treatment. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: The total effect measured for an acupuncture treatment group in RCTs were divided into three components, including the natural history and/or regression to the mean effect (controlled for no-treatment group), the placebo effect, and the specific effect of acupuncture. The first two constituted the contextual effect of acupuncture, which is mimicked by a sham acupuncture treatment group. The proportion of acupuncture total effect size was considered to be 1. The proportion of natural history and/or regression to the mean effect (PNE) and proportional contextual effect (PCE) of included RCTs were pooled using meta-analyses with a random-effect model. The proportion of acupuncture placebo effect was the difference between PCE and PNE in RCTs with non-inserted sham acupuncture. The proportion of insert-specific effect of sham acupuncture (PIES) was obtained by subtracting the proportion of acupuncture placebo effect and PNE from PCE in RCTs with inserted sham acupuncture. The impact of PIES on the estimation of acupuncture's treatment effect was evaluated by quantifying the percentage of RCTs that the effect of outcome changed from no statistical difference to statistical difference after removing PIES in the included studies, and the impact of PIES was externally validated in other acupuncture RCTs with an inserted sham acupuncture group that were not used to calculate PIES. RESULTS: This analysis included 32 studies with 5492 patients. The overall PNE was 0.335 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.255-0.415) and the PCE of acupuncture was 0.639 (95% CI, 0.567-0.710) of acupuncture's total effect. The proportional contribution of the placebo effect to acupuncture's total effect was 0.191, and the PIES was 0.189. When we modeled the exclusion of the insert-specific effect of sham acupuncture, the acupuncture treatment effect changed from no difference to a significant difference in 45.45% of the included RCTs, and in 40.91% of the external validated RCTs. CONCLUSION The insert-specific effect of sham acupuncture in RCTs represents 18.90% of acupuncture's total effect and significantly affects the evaluation of the acupuncture treatment effect. More than 40% of RCTs that used inserted sham acupuncture would draw different conclusions if the PIES had been controlled for. Considering the impact of the insert-specific effect of sham acupuncture, caution should be taken when using inserted sham acupuncture placebos in RCTs. Please cite this article as: Luo XC, Liu JL, Yao MH, Chen YM, Fan AY, Liang FR, Zhao JP, Zhao L, Zhou X, Zhong XY, Yang JH, Li B, Zhang Y, Sun X, Li L. Specific effect of inserted sham acupuncture and its impact on the estimation of acupuncture treatment effect in randomized controlled trials: A systematic survey. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):630-640.
Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Humans ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Placebo Effect ; Placebos ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: This study reports the first imported case of Lassa fever (LF) in China. Laboratory detection and molecular epidemiological analysis of the Lassa virus (LASV) from this case offer valuable insights for the prevention and control of LF. METHODS: Samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood, urine, saliva, and environmental materials were collected from the patient and their close contacts for LASV nucleotide detection. Whole-genome sequencing was performed on positive samples to analyze the genetic characteristics of the virus. RESULTS: LASV was detected in the patient's CSF, blood, and urine, while all samples from close contacts and the environment tested negative. The virus belongs to the lineage IV strain and shares the highest homology with strains from Sierra Leone. The variability in the glycoprotein complex (GPC) among different strains ranged from 3.9% to 15.1%, higher than previously reported for the seven known lineages. Amino acid mutation analysis revealed multiple mutations within the GPC immunogenic epitopes, increasing strain diversity and potentially impacting immune response. CONCLUSION The case was confirmed through nucleotide detection, with no evidence of secondary transmission or viral spread. The LASV strain identified belongs to lineage IV, with broader GPC variability than previously reported. Mutations in the immune-related sites of GPC may affect immune responses, necessitating heightened vigilance regarding the virus.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Genome, Viral ; Lassa Fever/virology* ; Lassa virus/classification* ; Molecular Epidemiology ; Phylogeny