Objective To understand the impact of system reform of salt industry on iodine nutrition of people in Gansu Province, and to provide a scientific basis for policy adjustment of relevant departments. Methods The investigation period (2014-2021) was divided into two sub-periods: before system reform of salt industry (2014-2016) and after system reform of salt industry (2017-2021). Thirty counties were selected according to the method of ^“population proportional probability sampling (PPS)^” in 2014. According to the iodine deficiency disease monitoring program of Gansu Province, from 2016 to 2021, children aged 8-10 years and pregnant women were taken as research objects to collect urine samples for urine iodine detection. Children in 2014 and 2018 were selected to measure thyroid volume. Results A total of 90 989 children urine iodine samples were investigated, and the median urinary iodine (MUI) of children was 194.70µg/L; 7 663 and 83,326 children's urinary iodine samples were investigated in the two periods, the MUI was 180.73 µg/L and 196.00 µg/L, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). A total of 44 741 pregnant women's urinary iodine samples were investigated, and the MUI of pregnant women was 176.50 µg/L; 4 480 and 40 261 pregnant women's urinary iodine samples were investigated in the two periods, the MUI was 160.61 µg/L and 178.10 µg/L, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The thyroid volume of 1 555 children and 8 509 children was investigated in the two periods, the median thyroid volume was 2.70 mL and 2.55 mL , respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The rates of goiter in children were 3.15% and 1.26%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The iodine nutrition of people in Gansu Province has not fluctuated significantly after the reform of salt industry system and has maintained an appropriate level. It is necessary to pay attention to the potential risk of insufficient iodine nutrition level and thyroid health of key populations such as children and pregnant women and strengthen health education of scientific iodine supplementation.

Background The effects of meteorological factors and air pollutants on ischemic heart disease (IHD) hospitalizations in Urumqi have not been fully understood. Objective To investigate the effects of meteorological conditions (temperature, relative humidity) and common air pollutants [fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), inhalable particulate matter (PM₁₀), ozone (O₃), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and carbon monoxide (CO)] on the daily hospitalization volume of IHD, and to provide a scientific basis for the development of targeted prevention and management strategies. Methods Basic information of 90622 IHD hospitalized patients in Urumqi City was collected from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2022, and daily air pollutant concentration data and meteorological data were collected during the same period. The meteorological data included daily mean temperature, daily maximum temperature, daily minimum temperature, and daily mean relative humidity, and the common air pollutants included PM_2.5, PM₁₀, daily maximum 8-h average concentration of O₃ (O₃_8 h), SO₂, NO₂, and CO. Descriptive statistical analyses (mean, standard deviation, and quartiles) were performed on the collected data. A distribution lag nonlinear model (DLNM) based on time-stratified case-crossover design was established to estimate the lagged effects (RR) as well as the cumulative lagged effects (RR_cum) of daily mean temperature, relative humidity, and different air pollutants on the number of IHD admissions, stratified by gender and age (<60 and ≥60 years). Subsequently, a generalized additive model (GAM) was used to explore the effects of cold waves (≤ P₅ of the daily minimum temperature and lasting ≥3 d) versus heat waves (≥ P₉₅ of the daily maximum temperature and lasting ≥3 d) on IHD hospitalizations and the potential interactions between temperature and the more influential air pollutants [particulate matter (PM) and O₃_8 h] on IHD hospitalizations. Results The maximum number of IHD hospitalizations in a single day in Urumqi from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2022 was 100, and the average daily number of hospitalized IHD patients was 27. Daily mean temperature, relative humidity, and air pollutants had different nonlinear relationships and hysteresis with IHD hospitalizations. Extremely low temperatures (<P₁: −18 °C) showed the greatest risk to admission for the total IHD population at a cumulative lag of 31 d (lag0-31) (RR_cum=2.092, 95%CI: 1.261,3.471). Female [lag0-31, RR_cum and 95%CI: 3.416 (2.296,5.082)] and people ≥60 years old [lag0-31, RR_cum and 95%CI: 2.356 (1.681,3.303)] were more sensitive to extremely low temperatures. The risk of IHD hospitalization was greatest on lag20 for cold waves (RR=1.242, 95%CI: 1.053, 1.465), and no lagged effect of heat waves on the number of IHD hospitalizations was found. There was a positive interaction (SI >1, P<0.001) between temperature, PM, and O₃_8 h on the risk of IHD hospitalization, especially for low temperature-high PM and O₃_8 h. Conclusion Both low temperature and high pollutant concentrations associate with an increase in IHD hospitalizations with lagged effects in Urumqi from 2014 to 2022, while cold waves associate with a higher risk of IHD admissions. Females and people aged 60 years and older are at high risk.

Objective:To investigate the intelligence status of children aged 10 - 12 in rural areas of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (referred to as Linxia) in Gansu Province.Methods:From September to November 2019, a cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the intelligence status of children aged 10 to 12 in 8 counties (cities) of Linxia. Chinese Raven's Progressive Matrices (rural version) was used for intelligence test and children's intelligence quotient (IQ) was calculated by regular mold to evaluate children's intelligence level.Results:A total of 1 721 children in Linxia were tested for intelligence, with an average IQ of 103.2. Among them, low intelligence (≤69) accounted for 1.0% (18/1 721), borderline (70 - 79) accounted for 3.0% (52/1 721), middle and lower (80 - 89) accounted for 8.4% (144/1 721), moderate (90 - 109) accounted for 56.6% (974/1 721), middle and upper (110 - 119) accounted for 21.9% (377/1 721), excellent (120 - 129) accounted for 7.8% (135/1 721), extremely excellent (≥130) accounted for 1.2% (21/1 721). There were 635, 598 and 488 children aged 10, 11 and 12, respectively, with an average IQ of 106.1, 103.3 and 99.2. There were 919 males and 802 females, with an average IQ of 102.9 and 103.4, respectively.Conclusion:In 2019, the intelligence of children aged 10 to 12 in rural areas of Linxia has reached the moderate level.

In March 2020, the outflow of age limited videos from ICU in Spain inspired us to rethink whether there is age discrimination in the allocation of scarce medical resources. This paper frist reflected on the problem of age discrimination caused by this phenomenon from four moral intuitions: the sacred view of life, the quality of life and values, public health ethics and Chinese culture, and then examined whether it is illegal from the legal level, finally pointed out the negative impact on the society, and put forward that taking age as the standard for the allocation of scarce medical resources is not suitable for China’s national conditions.

Background Air quality health index (AQHI) is derived from exposure-response coefficients calculated from air pollution and morbidity/mortality time series, which helps to understand the overall short-term health impacts of air pollution. Objective To study the effects of common air pollutants on respiratory diseases in Urumqi and to develop an AQHI for the risk of respiratory diseases in the city. Methods The daily outpatient volume data of respiratory diseases from The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, meteorological data (daily mean temperature and daily mean relative humidity), and air pollutants [fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), inhalable particulate matter (PM₁₀), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon dioxide (CO), and ozone (O₃)] in Urumqi City, Xinjiang, China were collected from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. A distributed lag nonlinear model based on quasi-Poisson distribution was constructed by time-stratified case crossover design. Adopting zero concentration of air pollutants as reference, the exposure-response coefficient (β value) was used to quantify the impact of included air pollutants on the risk of seeking medical treatment for respiratory diseases, and the AQHI was established. The association of between AQHI and the incidence of respiratory diseases and between air quality index (AQI) and the incidence of respiratory diseases was compared to evaluate the prediction effect of AQHI. Results Each 10 µg·m⁻³ increase in PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, and O₃ concentrations presented the highest excess risk of seeking outpatient services at 3 d cumulative lag (Lag03) and 2d cumulative lag (Lag02), with increased risks of morbidity of 0.687% (95%CI: 0.101%, 1.276%), 17.609% (95%CI: 3.253%, 33.961%), 13.344% (95%CI: 8.619%, 18.275%), and 4.921% (95%CI: 1.401%, 8.502%), respectively. There was no statistically significant PM_2.5 or CO lag effect. An AQHI was constructed based on a model containing PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, and O₃, and the results showed that the excess risk of respiratory disease consultation for the whole population, different genders, ages, or seasons for each inter-quartile range increase in the AQHI was higher than the corresponding value of AQI. Conclusion PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, and O₃ impact the number of outpatient visits for respiratory diseases in Urumqi, and the constructed AQHI for the risk of respiratory diseases in Urumqi outperforms the AQI in predicting the effect of air pollution on respiratory health.

Objective To explore whether or not the glioma U251 stem cell regulates its resistance to TMZ by the FOXO3a/β-catenin pathway.Methods The U251 stem cells were divided into the TMZ group(100 μmol/IL TMZ treated cells)and the control group.The Western blot and real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR(qRT-PCR)were used to detect the expression levels of FOXO3a,β-catenin,Nestin,CD133 and Sox2 under the TMZ action in the two groups.The stem cell pelletization experiment was used to verify the resistance of U251 stem cell on TMZ.Recombinant viral vectors pHY-FOXO3a,pHY-β-catenin-KD and PHy-β-Catenin-KD were constructed by embedding FOXO3a/β-catenin interference sequences into lentivirus pHY-LV-KD1.1 expression vector and transfected into U251 stem cells.The change of stem cell clone pellets number was measured under TMZ action.The effects of knockdown FOXO3a and β-catenin on the characteris-tics and drug resistance of U251 stem cells were observed.Results The Western blot and qRT-PCR results showed that compared with the control group,the expression levels of FOXO3a,β-catenin,Nestin,CD133 and Sox2 protein in the TMZ group were increased,the Nestin,CD133,Sox2 mRNA expression levels were in-creased(P＜0.05).The clone formation experiment results showed that the majority of survival cells on 5 d after TMZ treatment were the stem cells,indicating that the U251 stem cells could better tolerate TMZ.Knoc-king down FOXO3a and β-catenin could reduce the U251 stem cell populations number,indicating that its re-sistance to TMZ was weakened.Conclusion The FOXO3a/β-catenin pathway could regulates the characteris-tics of U251 stem cell and TMZ resistance.

Objective To use the auto-regressive moving average(ARMA)model and long short term memory(LSTM)depth neural network to predict the incidence trend of pulmonary tuberculosis in Jiashi County.Methods The legal infectious disease report data in this area from January 2014 to June 2023 were collected to construct the data set,in which the onset data of pulmonary tuberculosis from January 2014 to De-cember 2021 were used to the model construction and the data from January 2022 to June 2023 were used to the model verification.The Eviews7.2 and MATLAB2023a softwares were used to construct the ARMA mode and LSTM neural network.The monthly onset number of pulmonary tuberculosis from 2022 to 2023 was pre-dicted.Results The root-mean-square error(RMSE)of the optimal ARMA model and LSTM neural network verification from January 2014 to June 2023 was 26.494 and 12.713 respectively,suggesting that the fitting effect of LSTM neural network was better than that of ARMA model.The predictive results by adopting the LSTM neural network was basically consistent with the actual onset situation.Conclusion The LSTM neural network has good fitting and predicting effect for the onset trend in Jiashi County,which could provide the theoretical reference for predicting the onset number of pulmonary tuberculosis in the future in this area.

BACKGROUND:Early identification of patients requiring ventilator support will be beneficial for the outcomes of botulism.The present study aimed to establish a new scoring system to predict mechanical ventilation(MV)for botulism patients. METHODS:A single-center retrospective study was conducted to identify risk factors associated with MV in botulism patients from 2007 to 2022.Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to screen out risk factors for constructing a prognostic scoring system.The area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was calculated. RESULTS:A total of 153 patients with botulism(66 males and 87 females,with an average age of 43 years)were included.Of these,49 patients(32.0%)required MV,including 21(13.7%)with invasive ventilation and 28(18.3%)with non-invasive ventilation.Multivariate analysis revealed that botulinum toxin type,pneumonia,incubation period,degree of hypoxia,and severity of muscle involvement were independent risk factors for MV.These risk factors were incorporated into a multivariate logistic regression analysis to establish a prognostic scoring system.Each risk factor was scored by allocating a weight based on its regression coefficient and rounded to whole numbers for practical utilization([botulinum toxin type A:1],[pneumonia:2],[incubation period≤1 day:2],[hypoxia<90%:2],[severity of muscle involvement:grade II,3;grade III,7;grade IV,11]).The scoring system achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.82(95%CI 0.75-0.89,P<0.001).At the optimal threshold of 9,the scoring system achieved a sensitivity of 83.7%and a specificity of 70.2%. CONCLUSION:Our study identified botulinum toxin type,pneumonia,incubation period,degree of hypoxia,and severity of muscle involvement as independent risk factors for MV in botulism patients.A score≥9 in our scoring system is associated with a higher likelihood of requiring MV in botulism patients.This scoring system needs to be validated externally before it can be applied in clinical settings.

Intracranial seminoma is a rare malignant tumor originating from the germ cells,usually occurring in the pineal gland or pituitary gland.In June 2020,the Department of Endocrinology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Military Medical University admitted a 20-year-old male patient with an intracranial germ cell tumor and spinal metastases.The patient presented with headache,dizziness,and visual impairment.Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)of the head indicated thickening of the pituitary stalk.After multidisciplinary consultation,the patient underwent endonasal transsphenoidal resection of the tumor,with the pathological diagnosis confirming germ cell tumor.The patient received regular radiotherapy postoperatively.One year later,the tumor recurred and metastasized,leading to a second surgery for tumor resection in the thoracic spinal canal,followed by continued chemotherapy.The patient's clinical symptoms,such as headache and visual disturbances,improved,but he continued to experience panhypopituitarism and required long-term hormone replacement therapy.Early diagnosis of intracranial germ cell tumors is challenging,and they are prone to metastasis and highly sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.Early diagnosis and multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment can help improve the quality of life and prognosis for patients.

Objective To analyze the incidence characteristics and trends in pulmonary tuberculosis in the Hotan prefecture,before and after the epidemic,and to provide a reference basis for the formulation and evaluation of tu-berculosis prevention and control measures in the Hotan prefecture.Methods The Hotan prefecture's pulmonary tuberculosis incidence data was collected between 2015 and 2021.Joinpoint regression(JPR)model and Interrupt-ed Time Series(ITS)model were established to explore the incidence trend of pulmonary tuberculosis,as well as the impact of COVID-19 prevention and control measures in Xinjiang on the incidence trend in Hotan,respectively.Furthermore,an analysis of variations in incidence among different age and gender subgroups was carried out.Re-sults The results of the JPR model showed that from 2015 to 2021,the reported incidence rate of pulmonary tuber-culosis in the Hotan prefecture initially increased and then decreased,with a turning point appearing in December 2018.The incidence rate in males was slightly higher than that in females,and the turning point and incidence trend were consistent with the overall trend.Among all age subgroups,those≥60 age group had the highest inci-dence rate,with the trend also showing an initial increase followed by a decrease.A turning point in the incidence rate for the under 18 age group appeared in June 2021,yet the trend was not statistically significant(P>0.05).The turning points in the 19-59 age group and in those aged≥60 were consistent with the overall trend.The re-sults of the ITS model showed that the incidence rate of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Hotan prefecture significantly decreased since January 2020,dropping from 319.28 per 100 000 in 2019 to 155.88 per 100 000 in 2021,a de-crease of 51.16%year-on-year,with a monthly average reduction of 0.049 per 100 000.Conclusion In 2018,Xinjiang province integrated tuberculosis screening into the universal health checkup for the entire population,which led to the identification of numerous cases of tuberculosis.In the Hotan prefecture,the reported incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis peaked in December 2018 and then started to decline.Under the impact of COVID-19 isola-tion measures in Xinjiang,the reported incidence rate showed a notable decrease starting in January 2020.Reitera-ting preventive measures and remaining watchful for the possible appearance of latent tuberculosis patients is crucial as the pandemic fades.