Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a highly heterogeneous systemic autoimmune disease characterized by multi-organ involvement, recurrent flares, and chronic progression. With advances in diagnostics and therapeutics, SLE management is shifting from disease control toward long-term remission and organ protection. Incorporating recent global evidence and characteristics of the Chinese population, the National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases and the Chinese SLE Treatment and Research Group (CSTAR) have developed the Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (2025 edition). Centered on a treat-to-target strategy, the guidelines prioritize clinical remission and low disease activity as primary goals, optimizing the use of glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, biologics, and novel therapies. Key updates include individualized management recommendations for lupus nephritis, multi-organ involvement, and antiphospholipid syndrome, alongside first-ever evidence-based recommendations on vaccination in SLE patients. By integrating large-scale domestic cohort studies and real-world data, this edition provides more precise and actionable guidance, offering significant value for standardizing and improving SLE diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management in China.

Objective:To determine the correlation between serum soluble CD146 (sCD146) levels and disease activity in patients with systemic vasculitis and the potential of sCD146 as a novel biomarker.Methods:We recruited 304 patients from the systemic vasculitis cohort at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 2013 to December 2022. The cohort comprised 200 patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK) and 104 with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). The patient′s demographic and clinical data, including age, sex, disease duration, disease type, laboratory results, and disease status, were extracted from the database. The serum sCD146 concentration was measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Continuous variables were presented as mean±standard deviation if normally distributed, with between-group comparisons conducted using the t-test. For non-normally distributed data, median ( Q1, Q3) was used, and comparisons between groups were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical data were expressed as percentages, and comparisons between groups were conducted using the Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact test,as appropriate. Kendall′s tau-b′s rank correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the correlation between sCD146 and variables associated with systemic vasculitis. A two-sided P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results:Serum sCD146 levels were significantly lower in patients with active disease compared to those in remission in both cohorts [TAK: 246 (218, 287) vs. 277 (230, 322) μg/L, Z=-2.58, P=0.010; AAV: (301±90) vs. (344±81) μg/L, t=-2.56, P=0.007]. Serum sCD146 levels were positively correlated with age and disease duration (TAK: τ=0.09, 0.12, P=0.040, P=0.009; AAV: τ=0.28, 0.15, P<0.001, P=0.020). In patients with TAK, sCD146 levels were negatively correlated with IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and disease activity status ( τ=-0.17, -0.18, -0.16, -0.16; P=0.001, P<0.001, P=0.003, P=0.010). In patients with AAV, sCD146 levels were negatively correlated with platelet count (PLT),disease activity status,and the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score ( τ=-0.36, -0.27, -0.27; P<0.001, P=0.007, P=0.001). Conclusion:Serum sCD146 levels were significantly lower in patients with active systemic vasculitis than in remission, displaying a negative correlation with disease activity. These findings suggest that sCD146 has potential as a novel biomarker for assessing disease activity in systemic vasculitis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA)is a critical disease that endangers the health of the Chinese pop-ulation.At present,there are still many deficiencies in the diagnosis and treatment of RA in China.The 2024 Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis addresses 10 important clinical issues in the diagnosis and treatment of RA,and provides evidence-based recommendations based on the latest domes-tic and international literature,with consideration of the actual situation of RA diagnosis and treatment in China.The guidelines comprehensively cover the diagnosis of RA,imaging examinations,treatment goals,follow-up monitoring,initial treatment plans,treatment adjustments,the application of glucocorticoids,drug tapering,and health education.They will promote the RA diagnosis and treatment levels and improve the prog-nosis of RA patients in China.

OBJECTIVE T o carry out the health economics evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of the type b Hae-mophilus influenzae(Hib)vaccination for the children who were hospitalized due to Hib infection so as to provide evidence for public health policies.METHODS The children who were diagnosed with Hib-related respiratory tract infections or meningitis and were hospitalized in respiratory medicine department,infection management depart-ment,emergency rooms and neurology department of Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital from Jan.1,2021 to Dec.31,2023 were recruited as the research subjects.Based on a 1∶1 matching condition,the matching variables included four items such as the same age for the admission to the hospital,same gender,same department and same grade of disease severity.The children for whom the primary immunization of Hib vaccination(including Hib monovalent vaccine and Hib-containing combination vaccine)were completed and the integrity of vaccination infor-mation could be checked out were assigned as the intervention group,while the children for whom the primary im-munization of Hib vaccination was not completed were chosen as the control group.The clinical data,vaccination data and the data such as length of hospital stay and hospitalization cost were collected from the children.The cost-benefit of the Hib vaccination among the children with Hib infection was observed.RESULTS A total of 622 hospi-talized children who were detected with Hib-positive respiratory tract infections or meningitis were enrolled in the study,and 73 children(20 children from infection management department,27 children from respiratory medi-cine department,26 children from emergency rooms)were finally included in the intervention group after matc-hing and multiple rounds of screening,73 children were chosen as the control group based on a 1∶1 matching con-dition.The male children accounted for 57.53％(42 cases)in both groups,and the female children accounted for 42.47％(31 cases)in both groups.With the respect to the length of hospital stay,it was 7.00(5.00,8.00)days in the intervention group,7.00(6.00,8.00)days in the control group(Z=-0.341,P=0.733).In terms of the hospitalization cost,it was 7 756.17(6 617.92,10 617.69)yuan in the intervention group,9 040.65(8 033.76,10 935.84)yuan in the control group(Z=-2.795,P=0.005).The cost of Hib vaccination was 343.03 yuan per capita in the intervention group,and the benefit-cost ratio(BCR)was 1∶3.74(343.03 yuan/1 284.48 yuan).CONCLUSIONS The Hib vaccination can save the hospitalization cost and has high cost effectiveness.It is sugges-ted that the Hib vaccination should be promoted and the coverage rate of Hib vaccination should be raised among the age-eligible children.

OBJECTIVE T o carry out the health economics evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of the type b Hae-mophilus influenzae(Hib)vaccination for the children who were hospitalized due to Hib infection so as to provide evidence for public health policies.METHODS The children who were diagnosed with Hib-related respiratory tract infections or meningitis and were hospitalized in respiratory medicine department,infection management depart-ment,emergency rooms and neurology department of Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital from Jan.1,2021 to Dec.31,2023 were recruited as the research subjects.Based on a 1∶1 matching condition,the matching variables included four items such as the same age for the admission to the hospital,same gender,same department and same grade of disease severity.The children for whom the primary immunization of Hib vaccination(including Hib monovalent vaccine and Hib-containing combination vaccine)were completed and the integrity of vaccination infor-mation could be checked out were assigned as the intervention group,while the children for whom the primary im-munization of Hib vaccination was not completed were chosen as the control group.The clinical data,vaccination data and the data such as length of hospital stay and hospitalization cost were collected from the children.The cost-benefit of the Hib vaccination among the children with Hib infection was observed.RESULTS A total of 622 hospi-talized children who were detected with Hib-positive respiratory tract infections or meningitis were enrolled in the study,and 73 children(20 children from infection management department,27 children from respiratory medi-cine department,26 children from emergency rooms)were finally included in the intervention group after matc-hing and multiple rounds of screening,73 children were chosen as the control group based on a 1∶1 matching con-dition.The male children accounted for 57.53％(42 cases)in both groups,and the female children accounted for 42.47％(31 cases)in both groups.With the respect to the length of hospital stay,it was 7.00(5.00,8.00)days in the intervention group,7.00(6.00,8.00)days in the control group(Z=-0.341,P=0.733).In terms of the hospitalization cost,it was 7 756.17(6 617.92,10 617.69)yuan in the intervention group,9 040.65(8 033.76,10 935.84)yuan in the control group(Z=-2.795,P=0.005).The cost of Hib vaccination was 343.03 yuan per capita in the intervention group,and the benefit-cost ratio(BCR)was 1∶3.74(343.03 yuan/1 284.48 yuan).CONCLUSIONS The Hib vaccination can save the hospitalization cost and has high cost effectiveness.It is sugges-ted that the Hib vaccination should be promoted and the coverage rate of Hib vaccination should be raised among the age-eligible children.

Objective:To determine the correlation between serum soluble CD146 (sCD146) levels and disease activity in patients with systemic vasculitis and the potential of sCD146 as a novel biomarker.Methods:We recruited 304 patients from the systemic vasculitis cohort at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 2013 to December 2022. The cohort comprised 200 patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK) and 104 with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). The patient′s demographic and clinical data, including age, sex, disease duration, disease type, laboratory results, and disease status, were extracted from the database. The serum sCD146 concentration was measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Continuous variables were presented as mean±standard deviation if normally distributed, with between-group comparisons conducted using the t-test. For non-normally distributed data, median ( Q1, Q3) was used, and comparisons between groups were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical data were expressed as percentages, and comparisons between groups were conducted using the Chi-square test or Fisher′s exact test,as appropriate. Kendall′s tau-b′s rank correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the correlation between sCD146 and variables associated with systemic vasculitis. A two-sided P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results:Serum sCD146 levels were significantly lower in patients with active disease compared to those in remission in both cohorts [TAK: 246 (218, 287) vs. 277 (230, 322) μg/L, Z=-2.58, P=0.010; AAV: (301±90) vs. (344±81) μg/L, t=-2.56, P=0.007]. Serum sCD146 levels were positively correlated with age and disease duration (TAK: τ=0.09, 0.12, P=0.040, P=0.009; AAV: τ=0.28, 0.15, P<0.001, P=0.020). In patients with TAK, sCD146 levels were negatively correlated with IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and disease activity status ( τ=-0.17, -0.18, -0.16, -0.16; P=0.001, P<0.001, P=0.003, P=0.010). In patients with AAV, sCD146 levels were negatively correlated with platelet count (PLT),disease activity status,and the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score ( τ=-0.36, -0.27, -0.27; P<0.001, P=0.007, P=0.001). Conclusion:Serum sCD146 levels were significantly lower in patients with active systemic vasculitis than in remission, displaying a negative correlation with disease activity. These findings suggest that sCD146 has potential as a novel biomarker for assessing disease activity in systemic vasculitis.

Objective: To evaluate the image quality of novel dark-blood computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging combined with deep learning reconstruction (DLR) compared to delayed-phase CTA images with hybrid iterative reconstruction (HIR), to visualize the cervical artery wall in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TAK). Materials and Methods: This prospective study continuously recruited 53 patients with TAK (mean age: 33.8 ± 10.2 years; 49 females) between January and July 2022 who underwent head-neck CTA scans. The arterial- and delayed-phase images were reconstructed using HIR and DLR. Subtracted images of the arterial-phase from the delayed-phase were then added to the original delayed-phase using a denoising filter to generate the final-dark-blood images. Qualitative image quality scores and quantitative parameters were obtained and compared among the three groups of images: Delayed-HIR, Dark-blood-HIR, and Dark-blood-DLR. Results: Compared to Delayed-HIR, Dark-blood-HIR images demonstrated higher qualitative scores in terms of vascular wall visualization and diagnostic confidence index (all P < 0.001). These qualitative scores further improved after applying DLR (Dark-blood-DLR compared to Dark-blood-HIR, all P < 0.001). Dark-blood DLR also showed higher scores for overall image noise than Dark-blood-HIR (P < 0.001). In the quantitative analysis, the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) values between the vessel wall and lumen for the bilateral common carotid arteries and brachiocephalic trunk were significantly higher on Darkblood-HIR images than on Delayed-HIR images (all P < 0.05). The CNR values were significantly higher for Dark-blood-DLR than for Dark-blood-HIR in all cervical arteries (all P < 0.001). Conclusion Compared with Delayed-HIR CTA, the dark-blood method combined with DLR improved CTA image quality and enhanced visualization of the cervical artery wall in patients with TAK.

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a critical disease that endangers the health of the Chinese population. At present, there are still many deficiencies in the diagnosis and treatment of RA in China. The 2024 Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis addresses 10 important clinical issues in the diagnosis and treatment of RA, and provides evidence-based recommendations based on the latest domestic and international literature, with consideration of the actual situation of RA diagnosis and treatment in China. The guidelines comprehensively cover the diagnosis of RA, imaging examinations, treatment goals, follow- up monitoring, initial treatment plans, treatment adjustments, the application of glucocorticoids, drug tapering, and health education. They will promote the RA diagnosis and treatment levels and improve the prognosis of RA patients in China.

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of chronic inflammatory diseases which predominantly involve spine and/or peripheral joints. SpA can be disabling and seriously affect the quality of life and function of patients. With the increasing clinical use of targeted drug therapy, precise and standardized use becomes the focus. China's first Consensus on Targeted Drug Therapy for Spondyloarthritis was developed by National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases using international norms for consensus development. The consensus addresses 13 important clinical questions, ranging from principles, patient eligibility, pre-treatment screening, treatment initiation, drug selection and switch, co-medication, to adverse event monitoring of targeted drug therapy in SpA, and recommends treatment for specific patients, playing a key role in guiding clinical practices.