Objective To investigate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Methods Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data of gut microbiota and IPF were obtained from MiBioGen and IEU OpenGWAS, respectively. Instrumental variables were screened by means of significance, linkage disequilibrium, weak instrumental variable screening, and removal of confounding factors (genetics, smoking, host characteristics). Inverse variance weighted (IVW) was used as the main Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis method, and the weighted median, simple mode, MR-Egger, and weighted mode were used to perform MR to reveal the causal effect of gut microbiota and IPF. The Cochrane's Q, leave-one-out, MR-Egger-intercept, and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) and Steiger tests were used to analyze the heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, outliers, and directionality, respectively. Results IVW analysis results showed that Actinobacteria [OR=1.773, 95%CI (1.323, 2.377), P<0.001], Erysipelatoclostridium [OR=2.077, 95%CI (1.107, 3.896), P=0.023], and Streptococcus [OR=1.35, 95%CI (1.100, 1.657), P=0.004] could increase the risk of IPF. Bifidobacterium [OR=0.668, 95%CI (0.620, 0.720), P<0.001], Ruminococcus [OR=0.434, 95%CI (0.222, 0.848), P=0.015], and Tyzzerella [OR=0.479, 95%CI (0.304, 0.755), P=0.001] could reduce the risk of IPF. No significant heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, outliers, and reverse causality were found. Conclusion Actinobacteria, Erysipelatoclostridium and Streptococcus may increase the risk of IPF, while Bifidobacterium, Ruminococcus and Tyzzerella may reduce the risk of IPF. Regulation of the above gut microbiota may become a new direction in the study of the pathogenesis of IPF.

Objective:To evaluate the value of ultrasound radiomics combined with machine learning for early diagnosis of seronegative Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (SN-HT) .Methods:This retrospective study included 164 patients from Liaoning Provincial People’s Hospital , Lixin County People’s Hospital, Linghai Dalinghe Hospital, Fengcheng Phoenix Hospital, who underwent thyroidectomy for solitary nodules with normal thyroid function between Nov. 2016 and Jan. 2024. Postoperative pathology confirmed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) in some cases, who were further categorized into antibody-positive and antibody-negative groups based on serum antibody status. Patients without Hashimoto’s thyroiditis served as the control group. A total of 298 ultrasound images were analyzed. Radiomics features were extracted from hypoechoic non-nodular areas within 0.5 cm surrounding the tumor. Two senior pathologists and two senior ultrasound physicians independently assessed lymphocytic infiltration, eosinophilic changes of follicular epithelium, and the proportion of hypoechoic areas in pathology and ultrasound images, respectively. A machine learning model, CCH-NET, was developed using linear regression and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) techniques. The dataset was divided into a training set (80%) and a validation set (20%) to compare the diagnostic accuracy of CCH-NET with that of senior ultrasound physicians. Results:In internal validation, CCH-NET achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 88.89% for both antibody-positive and antibody-negative groups, significantly higher than the 66.67% accuracy of senior ultrasound physicians ( P<0.01). In external validation, CCH-NET achieved 75.00% and 66.67% accuracy for the two groups, compared to 50.00% by senior ultrasound physicians. For the control group, both methods achieved 93.33% accuracy. The AUC of CCH-NET was 0.848, outperforming senior ultrasound physicians (0.681) ,demonstrating superior diagnostic performance. Conclusion:The radiomics-based CCH-NET model, using non-nodular hypoechoic areas as a specific indicator, can accurately identify early SN-HT in euthyroid patients. It significantly outperforms senior ultrasound physicians, improving diagnostic accuracy and reducing missed diagnoses.

Objective:To evaluate the value of ultrasound radiomics combined with machine learning for early diagnosis of seronegative Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (SN-HT) .Methods:This retrospective study included 164 patients from Liaoning Provincial People’s Hospital , Lixin County People’s Hospital, Linghai Dalinghe Hospital, Fengcheng Phoenix Hospital, who underwent thyroidectomy for solitary nodules with normal thyroid function between Nov. 2016 and Jan. 2024. Postoperative pathology confirmed Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) in some cases, who were further categorized into antibody-positive and antibody-negative groups based on serum antibody status. Patients without Hashimoto’s thyroiditis served as the control group. A total of 298 ultrasound images were analyzed. Radiomics features were extracted from hypoechoic non-nodular areas within 0.5 cm surrounding the tumor. Two senior pathologists and two senior ultrasound physicians independently assessed lymphocytic infiltration, eosinophilic changes of follicular epithelium, and the proportion of hypoechoic areas in pathology and ultrasound images, respectively. A machine learning model, CCH-NET, was developed using linear regression and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) techniques. The dataset was divided into a training set (80%) and a validation set (20%) to compare the diagnostic accuracy of CCH-NET with that of senior ultrasound physicians. Results:In internal validation, CCH-NET achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 88.89% for both antibody-positive and antibody-negative groups, significantly higher than the 66.67% accuracy of senior ultrasound physicians ( P<0.01). In external validation, CCH-NET achieved 75.00% and 66.67% accuracy for the two groups, compared to 50.00% by senior ultrasound physicians. For the control group, both methods achieved 93.33% accuracy. The AUC of CCH-NET was 0.848, outperforming senior ultrasound physicians (0.681) ,demonstrating superior diagnostic performance. Conclusion:The radiomics-based CCH-NET model, using non-nodular hypoechoic areas as a specific indicator, can accurately identify early SN-HT in euthyroid patients. It significantly outperforms senior ultrasound physicians, improving diagnostic accuracy and reducing missed diagnoses.

Objective:To discuss the influence of high load and weightlessness environment on intervertebral disc by observing and analyzing the imaging changes of the spines in New Zealand white rabbits and the content changes of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) in the intervertebral disc under high load and weightlessness environment, and to provide theoretical basis for prevention and delay of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration under high load and weightlessness environment.Methods:A total of 120 New Zealand white rabbits with balanced age and body weight were randomly and averagely divided into control groups (further grouped by 30 d, 60 d and 90 d) and high load/weightlessness groups (further grouped by 30 d, 60 d and 90 d) with residual single-blind method. High load was simulated by animal centrifuge and weightlessness was simulated by tail suspension. The imaging changes and the positive expression rates of MMP1, MMP3 and TIMP1 in intervertebral disc were detected, and the statistical differences between the high load/weightlessness group and the control group in different time periods were compared, as well as among the different exposure time in load/weightlessness groups.Results:From the imaging observation, the T2-weighted images of lumbar 6 sacral 1 intervertebral disc in experimental animals decreased to some extent. The positive rates of MMP1 and MMP3 in each high load/weightlessness group were higher than those in the control group for the same exposure time, and the differences were statistically significant ( t=22.97-145.51,all P<0.001). The positive rates of MMP1 and MMP3 increased with the extension of exposure time, and there were statistically differences among the groups with different exposure time in high load/weightlessness group ( F=2531.10, 1758.80, both P<0.001). The positive rate of TIMP1 in each high load/weightlessness group was higher than that in the control group for the same exposure time, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=29.34-65.05, all P<0.001). There was statistically difference on TIMP1 positive rate among different load/weightlessness exposure time groups ( F=462.20, P<0.001). Conclusions:High load/weightlessness can cause the MMP1, MMP3 and TIMP1 content changes in animal lumbar disc. The changes of TIMP1 are obvious in the early stage and the sensitivity is decreased in the late stage. High load/weightlessness may lead to changes in the contents of MMP and TIMP in intervertebral discs, which may accelerate intervertebral disc degeneration.

Objective:To investigate the prevalence and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients in Tibet.Methods:A total of 239 patients with DR who received treatment in Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibet Autonomous Region from December 2017 to December 2018 were included in this study. They were divided into Han nationality and Zang nationality groups according to ethnicity. The condition of DR was evaluated with nonmydriatic ocular fundus photography according to the staging criteria of the severity of retinopathy.Results:The prevalence of DR in Tibet was 18.0％. The prevalence of DR in Tibetan and Han patients with diabetes was 17.5% and 19.2%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of DR between Tibetan and Han patients with diabetes ( χ2 = 0.10, P = 0.754). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors of developing DR in Tibet included diabetes duration ( OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.05-1.24, P < 0.05), insulin therapy ( OR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.09-6.89, P < 0.05), fasting plasma glucose ( OR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.07-1.75, P < 0.05) and hypertension ( OR = 1.98, 95% CI: 1.02-3.86, P < 0.05). Diabetes duration and fasting plasma glucose are independent risk factors of DR. However, although elevated glycated hemoglobin levels were high in Tibet, they could not be used to predict the risk for developing DR ( OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.82-1.25, P > 0.05). Conclusion:Hyperglycemia is an important risk factor of developing DR in Tibet. However, elevated glycated hemoglobin levels cannot be used to predict the risk of developing DR in Tibet. Findings from this study fill the gap in the research on DR prevalence and ethic difference of DR prevalence, providing scientific evidence for prevention and treatment of DR in high-altitude areas.

Objective:To discuss the influence of high load and weightlessness environment on intervertebral disc by observing and analyzing the imaging changes of the spines in New Zealand white rabbits and the content changes of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) in the intervertebral disc under high load and weightlessness environment, and to provide theoretical basis for prevention and delay of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration under high load and weightlessness environment.Methods:A total of 120 New Zealand white rabbits with balanced age and body weight were randomly and averagely divided into control groups (further grouped by 30 d, 60 d and 90 d) and high load/weightlessness groups (further grouped by 30 d, 60 d and 90 d) with residual single-blind method. High load was simulated by animal centrifuge and weightlessness was simulated by tail suspension. The imaging changes and the positive expression rates of MMP1, MMP3 and TIMP1 in intervertebral disc were detected, and the statistical differences between the high load/weightlessness group and the control group in different time periods were compared, as well as among the different exposure time in load/weightlessness groups.Results:From the imaging observation, the T2-weighted images of lumbar 6 sacral 1 intervertebral disc in experimental animals decreased to some extent. The positive rates of MMP1 and MMP3 in each high load/weightlessness group were higher than those in the control group for the same exposure time, and the differences were statistically significant ( t=22.97-145.51,all P<0.001). The positive rates of MMP1 and MMP3 increased with the extension of exposure time, and there were statistically differences among the groups with different exposure time in high load/weightlessness group ( F=2531.10, 1758.80, both P<0.001). The positive rate of TIMP1 in each high load/weightlessness group was higher than that in the control group for the same exposure time, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=29.34-65.05, all P<0.001). There was statistically difference on TIMP1 positive rate among different load/weightlessness exposure time groups ( F=462.20, P<0.001). Conclusions:High load/weightlessness can cause the MMP1, MMP3 and TIMP1 content changes in animal lumbar disc. The changes of TIMP1 are obvious in the early stage and the sensitivity is decreased in the late stage. High load/weightlessness may lead to changes in the contents of MMP and TIMP in intervertebral discs, which may accelerate intervertebral disc degeneration.

BACKGROUND:In recent years,artificial cervical disc replacement surgery as a new method for the treatment of cervical disease has gradualy been accepted and understood,but relevant complications have gradualy attracted attention.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the clinical outcomes of artificial cervical disc replacement in the treatment of cervical disease and the range of motion of the replacement segment.METHODS: A total of 25 patients with artificial cervical disc replacement in the treatment of cervical spondylosis,who were treated in the Department of Orthopedics,Air Force General Hospital of Chinese PLA from August 2006 to April 2012,were enroled in this study,including 15 males and 10 females,aged 31-76 years,averagely 51.04 years.There were 6 cases of double segments and 19 cases of single segment.They were folowed up for 24 to 93 months.Clinical results were assessed using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score,cervical dysfunction index and pain visual analog scale scores.Imaging was used to observe range of motion,cervical curvature,heterotopic ossification,and degeneration of adjacent segments.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Neurological function in al patients was improved to different degrees.One case suffered from mild heterotopic ossification,but no clinical symptoms were found.No significant difference in range of motion of surgical segment,and range of motion of upper and lower adjacent segments was detected between pre-replacement and final folow-up results (P＞0.05).No significant difference in range of motion of C2-C7 was found between pre-replacement and final folow-up results (P＞0.05).Japanese Orthopaedic Association score,cervical dysfunction index and pain visual analog scale scores were significantly improved during final folow-up compared with pre-replacement (P＜0.05).These results indicated that artificial cervical disc replacement in the treatment of cervical disease can achieve better clinical efficacy,can keep the range of motion of replacement segment and avoid the accelerated degeneration of adjacent segments.