【Objective】 To investigate the relationship between the level of thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT)/α2-plasmin inhibitor-plasmin complex (PIC) and the utilization rate of mechanical ventilation (MV) in critically ill patients. 【Methods】 For the cross-sectional study, adult patients who had been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for one day or longer and had a record of the first four tests for thrombosis were enrolled. Age, gender, the results of TAT and PIC, disseminated intravascular coagulation score, treatment, and diagnostic information were retrospectively collected from the hospital information system and laboratory information system. Logistic regression model was used to explore the relationship between TAT/PIC and the MV utilization rate. Interaction analysis and subgroup analysis were conducted to explore whether there was any difference between patients with different age and gender, patients with/without DIC, and with/without infection. 【Results】 A total of 1 176 patients were enrolled in this study. The median of the first TAT/PIC was 15.84 (8.13-33.11) in all the patients. The multivariable Logistic regression model results showed that for every 5 increase in TAT/PIC, the possibility of using MV increased by 2.9% (OR=1.029, 95% CI: 1.008-1.050), and the possibility of using MV in Q3 patients was 1.566 times than that in Q1 patients (OR=1.566, 95% CI: 1.095-2.239); the possibility of using MV in Q4 patients was 2.457 times than that in Q1 patients (OR=2.457, 95% CI: 1.694-3.563). Interaction results showed that the relationship between the level of TAT/PIC and MV usage was different in patients with and without infection (Pinteraction=0.02). Further subgroup analysis showed that in the infected patients (674 cases), the possibility of using MV increased by 5.9% for every 5 increase in TAT/PIC (OR=1.059, 95% CI: 1.022-1.097, P=0.001), while there was no significant difference between different TAT/PIC and MV usage in non-infected patients (502 cases) (OR=1.012, 95% CI: 0.984-1.040, P=0.405). 【Conclusion】 There is a correlation between the level of TAT/PIC and mechanical ventilation in patients with infection in the ICU.

Gandou decoction (GDD), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula, has been widely used for decades to treat Wilson's disease (WD) in China due to its remarkable clinical effects. However, the chemical constituents of GDD still remain unclear because of their complexity. In this work, a reliable and sensitive strategy based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE) and UNIFI informatics platform was applied to investigate the chemical components in GDD. In total, 96 compounds including anthraqui-nones, alkaloids, protostane triterpenoids, flavonoids, triterpenoid saponins, tannins, curcuminoids, etc, were identified or tentatively characterized from GDD by comparing their retention time, accurate mass within 5 ppm error and MSE fragmentation patterns. Among them, eleven compounds were confirmed unambiguously with reference standards. Representative compounds in different chemical structure types were analyzed in fragmentation patterns and characteristic ions. Moreover, to better understand the chemical contribution of individual herbs to the whole decoction, the corresponding each herb in GDD was also detected. This study developed a rapid method for characterizing the chemical constitu-ents in GDD, which could not only be used for chemical standardization and quality control, but also be helpful for further research of GDD in vivo.