A novel fumigation moxibustion device has been designed to enable adjustable and controllable moxa smoke temperature, maintaining a relatively stable fumigation temperature while improving the utilization efficiency of moxa smoke. The device consists of five main components: a temperature control chamber, fumigation outlet, temperature measurement module, moxa smoke filtration chamber, and elastic band. It is compact, refined, and easy to operate. The device allows users to set the desired fumigation temperature according to therapeutic needs and simultaneously filters and eliminates residual moxa smoke after treatment. This design addresses the challenges of traditional fumigation moxibustion therapy, including unstable moxa smoke temperature, difficulty in regulation, low utilization efficiency, and high dependence on manual operation. It contributes to the promotion and application of fumigation moxibustion therapy and supports the establishment of a standardized moxibustion system.
Moxibustion/methods* ; Humans ; Equipment Design ; Fumigation ; Temperature

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of preoperative prediction of regional lymph node (RLN) metastasis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using a machine learning model based on habitat imaging radiomics from renal MRI.Methods:This cross-sectional study retrospectively analyzed 220 patients with RCC who underwent nephrectomy and RLN dissection at four medical centers of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2010 to August 2023. The cohort included 65 patients with RLN metastasis and 155 without. A stratified random sampling method was used to divide 175 patients from the first medical center into a training set ( n=140) and an internal test set ( n=35) in an 8∶2 ratio, while 45 patients from the third, fourth, and fifth medical centers constituted the external test set. The primary RCC lesions were categorized into 15 habitat subregions based on corticomedullary-phase enhancement and T 2WI signal intensity on MRI, and the volume fractions of different subregions were analyzed. In the training cohort, radiomics features derived from the habitat subregions were used to construct a radiomics model employing various machine learning algorithms, including extremely random trees (ET), gradient boosting decision trees (GBDT), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM). The optimal model was selected and combined with RLN short-axis diameter to develop a combined model. The efficacy of each model in predicting RLN metastasis was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:The volume fraction of hyper-enhanced hyper-intense regions in the non-metastatic group was significantly higher than that in the metastatic group (0.05±0.09 vs. 0.02±0.03; t=3.00, P=0.003). Among the machine learning models constructed using 15 optimal habitat radiomics features, the SVM model demonstrated the best performance, with area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of 0.85 (95% CI 0.72-0.98) in the internal test set and 0.82 (95% CI 0.67-0.98) in the external test set, surpassing those of the ET, GBDT, and RF models. The combined model, integrating the SVM model with RLN short-axis diameter, achieved AUC values of 0.94 (95% CI 0.85-1.00) in the internal test set and 0.89 (95% CI 0.78-1.00) in the external test set, with RLN short-axis diameter contributing AUC values of 0.81 (95% CI 0.66-0.96) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.68-0.94), respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity of the combined model was 91.7% in the internal test set and 85.7% in the external test set, with specificities of 78.3% and 67.7%, respectively. Conclusion:The combined model based on MRI habitat imaging radiomics and RLN short-axis diameter demonstrates excellent preoperative assessment capability for RLN metastasis in RCC.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of preoperative prediction of regional lymph node (RLN) metastasis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using a machine learning model based on habitat imaging radiomics from renal MRI.Methods:This cross-sectional study retrospectively analyzed 220 patients with RCC who underwent nephrectomy and RLN dissection at four medical centers of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2010 to August 2023. The cohort included 65 patients with RLN metastasis and 155 without. A stratified random sampling method was used to divide 175 patients from the first medical center into a training set ( n=140) and an internal test set ( n=35) in an 8∶2 ratio, while 45 patients from the third, fourth, and fifth medical centers constituted the external test set. The primary RCC lesions were categorized into 15 habitat subregions based on corticomedullary-phase enhancement and T 2WI signal intensity on MRI, and the volume fractions of different subregions were analyzed. In the training cohort, radiomics features derived from the habitat subregions were used to construct a radiomics model employing various machine learning algorithms, including extremely random trees (ET), gradient boosting decision trees (GBDT), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM). The optimal model was selected and combined with RLN short-axis diameter to develop a combined model. The efficacy of each model in predicting RLN metastasis was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:The volume fraction of hyper-enhanced hyper-intense regions in the non-metastatic group was significantly higher than that in the metastatic group (0.05±0.09 vs. 0.02±0.03; t=3.00, P=0.003). Among the machine learning models constructed using 15 optimal habitat radiomics features, the SVM model demonstrated the best performance, with area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of 0.85 (95% CI 0.72-0.98) in the internal test set and 0.82 (95% CI 0.67-0.98) in the external test set, surpassing those of the ET, GBDT, and RF models. The combined model, integrating the SVM model with RLN short-axis diameter, achieved AUC values of 0.94 (95% CI 0.85-1.00) in the internal test set and 0.89 (95% CI 0.78-1.00) in the external test set, with RLN short-axis diameter contributing AUC values of 0.81 (95% CI 0.66-0.96) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.68-0.94), respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity of the combined model was 91.7% in the internal test set and 85.7% in the external test set, with specificities of 78.3% and 67.7%, respectively. Conclusion:The combined model based on MRI habitat imaging radiomics and RLN short-axis diameter demonstrates excellent preoperative assessment capability for RLN metastasis in RCC.

Background Photovoltaic (PV) cells can convert solar energy into electricity and alleviate the dilemma of energy supply shortage. Shanghai's PV module industry is booming, but there are few reports on the health status of the workers and there is an urgent need for health risk assessment. Objective To evaluate the health status of PV module production workers and the association between work and health status, in order to provide a direction for the health management of the workers. Methods Among the PV module production workers who completed prescriptive occupational health examination by a designated medical institution in 2021, 2453 workers with more than one year of working age were selected as the exposure group and 538 newly hired workers as the control group. On the basis of the Technical specifications for occupational health surveillance (GBZ 188−2014), the health examination included physical examination and laboratory examination and information such as sociodemographics, living habits, and disease history. We compared the indicators of pure-tone hearing test, blood routine examination, electrocardiogram (ECG), liver function, and kidney function between the two groups. The blood routine results included erythrocyte-related indicators, leukocyte-related indicators, and platelet-related indicators, and the results of liver function included hepatocyte injury indicators, hepatic secretory function indicators, and hepatic synthesis function indicators. The workers were divided into four groups by quartiles of working age. Trend chi-square test was used to analyze differences in health status between the four working age groups. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between working age and health indicators. Results Among the exposure group workers, 2035 (83.0%) were male and 418 (17.0%) were female. The median (P₂₅, P₇₅) age was 34.0 (30.0, 39.0) years and the median (P₂₅, P₇₅) working age was 6.0 (3.0, 10.0) years. The abnormality rate of blood routine was 61.7%. Among them, the abnormality rates of platelet-related indicators and liver secretory function indicators were 39.8% and 48.1% respectively. The risks of abnormal hepatocyte injury-related indicators, fatty liver, and platelet-related indicator abnormalities among the exposure group were 1.471 (95%CI: 1.060, 2.054), 1.691 (95%CI: 1.208, 2.385), and 7.576 (95%CI: 4.967, 11.994) times higher than those in the control group respectively. The single-factor analysis demonstrated a positively linear trend between working age and hypertension prevalence, electrical audiometry abnormality rate, or liver secretory function indicator abnormality rate. Corrected for gender, age, smoking status, hypertension, etc., the results of logistic analysis showed that quartile working age was positively related to abnormal liver secretion function and abnormal platelet-related indicators respectively (OR=1.047, P=0.005; OR=1.037, P=0.014), and inversely associated with the abnormal rate of renal function (OR=0.953, P=0.044). Conclusion Negative associations between health status and working age are identified in PV module production workers. The target PV module production employees are in younger age, and with the increase of working age, the abnormalities of liver function and platelets may increase. Therefore, the enterprises should extend occupational health work from workplace to workers.

Objective To generate and identify the Itgbl1(integrin beta-like)promoter-driven Cre knock-in mouse line.Methods Itgbll-Cre knock-in mice were generated using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9(Cas9)gene editing.The Itgbl1-Cre mice were crossed with the Cre reporter ROSALSL-tdTomato)mice to detect the expression profile of Cre activity.The tdTomato expression pattern across tissues and cell-specific markers were used to identify the cell types of Itgbl1-expressing cells and their progeny.Results and Conclusion tdTomato was specifically expressed in mucous acinar cells of the sublingual gland,pancreatic islet cells,and gastric endocrine cells.In addition,tdTomato expression was also found in some of the neurons of the retina and brain,as well as in a few cells in the serosal layer of the intestine,articular cartilage,periosteum,and bone marrow.The first Itgbl1-Cre recombinase transgenic mouse line was established,which can specifically label the mucous acinar cells of the sublingual gland.

A fixation device for experimental rat in moxibustion was developed. Using this device, the points for moxibustion can be fully exposed, and the temperature of moxibustion be relatively constant. This fixation device consists of three parts: fixation seat, fixation clip and moxa-stick holder; characterized as the flexible fixation and easy operation. The device is advantaged at simultaneous operation of moxibustion at many points and supports the point combinations. It makes up for the shortcomings of the existing fixation devices, reduces the workload of moxibustion in experimental rat and improves the work efficiency and experimental safety of experimenters.
Animals ; Rats ; Moxibustion/methods* ; Equipment Design ; Acupuncture Points ; Humans ; Male ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Objective To investigate the characteristics and liver function of the population with occupational exposure to hepatotoxicants. Methods A total of 17 093 workers with occupational hepatotoxicants exposure who underwent occupational medical examination during their employment in a occupational medical examination institution of Shanghai in 2021 were selected as the research subjects by judgement sampling method. Occupational medical examination data were collected, and the prevalence of abnormal liver function and fatty liver were analyzed. The association between hepatotoxicants exposure and abnormal liver function were analyzed. Results The median and the 0th-100th percentiles of the duration of exposure to hepatotoxicants was 6.5(1.0-42.0) years. The prevalence of fatty liver was 48.4% and the incidence of abnormal liver function was 23.7%. Among the workers with fatty liver, the prevalence of abnormal liver function was higher in workers exposed to metals, metalloids and their compounds than in unexposed workers (33.9% vs 30.0%, P<0.01). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the risk of abnormal liver function increased with the number of different hepatotoxicants mixed exposures (all P<0.01), after correcting for confounding factors including gender, age, years of exposure, marital status, drinking, hypertension, fatty liver and blood sugar. Conclusion Exposure to hepatotoxicants is a risk factor for abnormal liver function. The more diverse types of hepatotoxicants an individual is exposed to, the stronger the association with this risk.

Objective:To explore the value and significance of sensorimotor cortex (SMC) in the recovery of upper limb motor function after cerebral infarction in the striatum with blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI).Methods:A total of 17 patients with primary onset of striatal intracapsular infarction (SCI) with unilateral severe upper limb paralysis, who were strictly screened from the Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University from June 2015 to December 2017, were selected as research subjects, and 15 healthy volunteers were selected as controls. BOLD-fMRI under the passive finger extension (FE) task on the hemiplegic side was performed within one week, one month and three months after the onset of the disease. The activation of SMC was observed by SPM8 software. The activation of corresponding brain activation areas in BOLD-fMRI was observed by Xjview software and compared with the standard brain activation areas dynamically. The upper limb section of the Fugl-Meyer Scale (FM-UL) was used to track the motor function of the upper limb. The upper limb motor function of the selected patients was evaluated before functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, at one month and three months after onset of the disease.Results:In the controls, fMRI showed that the main brain activation areas were located in the contralateral SMC and bilateral supplementary motor area. According to the activation time course of the affected side SMC and the comparison results with the standard brain activation area, the study patients were divided into three groups: group 1 (six patients), in which the activation intensity of SMC was stronger than that of standard brain activation area in the early stage of onset; group 2 (five patients), in which the activation intensity of SMC in the affected side was stronger than that in the standard brain activation area at one month after onset; group 3 (six patients), in which the activation intensity of SMC in the affected side increased gradually in three months, but still did not exceed the standard brain activation area. The activated voxel values of the affected side SMC in group 1 patients at the first time, one month and three months were 3 570.2±1 125.9, 1 205.8±328.2 and 1 121.5±407.5, respectively, the difference within the group being statistically significant ( F=12.8, P=0.001); the activated voxel values of the affected SMC in group 2 patients were 556.2±171.7, 648.6±177.3 and 993.2±182.9, respectively, and the differences within the group were statistically significant ( F=6.5, P=0.018); the activated SMC values of the affected SMC in group 3 patients were 520.0±375.9, 573.5±375.0 and 680.9±359.8, respectively, and there was no statistically significant difference within the group ( P>0.05). The three times FM-UL scores corresponding to group 1 patients were (10.0±3.3) points, (52.3±4.6) points and (63.7±2.9) points; the three times FM-UL scores corresponding to group 2 patients were (10.6±5.7) points, (36.6±2.4) points and (59.2±3.1) points; and the three times FM-UL scores corresponding to group 3 patients were (9.2±4.0) points, (12.5±3.0) points and (13.3±5.0) points; FM-UL scores in group 1 and group 2 patients showed statistically significant differences within the groups ( F=348.4, 183.6; P<0.001), whereas that in group 3 patients showed no statistically significant difference within the group ( P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the initial FM-UL score among the groups ( P>0.05), while the differences among the groups at one month and three months were statistically significant ( F=191.7,304.5; P<0.001). Conclusions:The survival of SMC on the affected side after cerebral infarction is a prerequisite for the rehabilitation of limb motor function. Its early activation cannot predict the clinical prognosis, but the dynamic enhancement of SMC activation on the affected side is related to the rehabilitation speed of the affected limb.

Objective:To evaluate the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury and the relationship with autophagy in rats.Methods:Thirty-six healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 250-300 g, were divided into 3 groups ( n=12 each) using a random number table method: sham operation group (Sham group), myocardial I/R group (IR group), and endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitor 4-PBA group (PBA group). Myocardial I/R was produced by occlusion of left anterior descending branch of coronary artery for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 120 min.Sham group only underwent thoracotomy without block of left anterior descending branch of coronary artery.Endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitor 4-PBA 500 mg·kg -1·d -1 was given intragastrically for 3 consecutive days before the I/R model was developed in PBA group, while the equal volume of normal saline was given instead in Sham and IR groups.The blood samples from the iliac vein were collected at 120 min of reperfusion for determination of the plasma creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). The rats were then sacrificed, and myocardial tissues were removed for detection of myocardial glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 Ⅱ (LC3 Ⅱ) and autophagy-related protein 5 (ATG5) expression (by Western blot). Result:Compared with Sham group, the concentrations of CK-MB and cTnI in plasma were significantly increased in IR and PBA groups, the expression of GRP78, ATG5 and LC3Ⅱ was up-regulated, and the pathological damage was aggravated in IR group ( P<0.05). Compared with IR group, the concentrations of CK-MB and cTnI in plasma were significantly decreased, the expression of GRP78, ATG5 and LC3Ⅱ was down-regulated ( P<0.05), and the pathological changes were significantly attenuated in PBA group. Conclusion:Endoplasmic reticulum stress is involved in the process of myocardial I/R injury, and the mechanism may be related to promotion of autophagy in rats.

Objective:To study the dynamic changes of cortical functional reorganization in striatocapsular infarction (SCI) by blood oxygenation level dependent-functional MR imaging (BOLD-fMRI) and its relation with recovery of motor function in the upper extremity of the hemiplegia.Methods:A total of 17 patients with SCI at first onset and combined with upper extremity of the hemiplegia, admitted to our hospital from June 2015 to December 2017, were included; 15 healthy volunteers recruited at the same time were selected as control group. Within 1 week of onset, and 1 and 3 months after onset, BOLD-fMRI was performed under passive finger flexion and extension task on hemiplegia side, and the activation of brain functional areas at different stages was observed by SPM8 software. The Xjview software was used to observe the activation of the corresponding brain activation areas in BOLD-fMRI and make dynamic comparison with the standard brain activation areas. The upper limb part of Fugl-Meyer (FM-UL) scale was used to track the motor function of the upper limb.Results:The activation in the control group was mainly located in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex (SMC) and bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA). The regions of interest in early BOLD-fMRI for stroke patients at early stage can be divided into 3 types. The activation in patients with type I was mainly at the affected side, enjoying bilateral SMC and SMA activation; 1 and 3 months after onset, activation at the contralateral SMC decreased gradually, and activation at the ipsilateral SMC region gradually increased. The activation in patients with type Ⅱ was merely at the ipsilateral SMC and SMA regions; 1 month after onset, bilateral SMC area and SMA area were significantly activated, mainly at the contralateral side; 3 months after onset, the SMC area was further activated at the ipsilateral side and weakened at the ipsilateral side. The activation in patients with type Ⅲ was only at SMC or M1 at the ipsilateral side; 1 month after onset, activation at the ipsilateral SMC area increased slightly; 3 months after onset, activation at the ipsilateral SMC area further enhanced, and SMA area was without activation performance. The FM-UL scores of the affected limbs of patients with type I, type II and type III at the early onst were 10.0±3.3, 10.6±5.7 and 9.2±4.0, respectively, without statistical differences ( P>0.05); 1 month after onset, the FM-UL scores of patients with type I, type II and type III were 52.3±4.6, 36.6±2.4 and 12.5±3.0, respectively, with significant differences ( P<0.05); 3 months after onset, FM-UL scores of patients with type I, type II and type III were 63.7±2.9, 59.2±3.1 and 13.3±5.0, respectively, with statistical differences ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Intracranial functional reorganization is a dynamic process. The early and dynamic activation of the affected SMC region and the early activation of the contralateral SMC region and bilateral SMA regions are of great significance in the process of stroke rehabilitation.