Air pollution is a global issue that threatens human health. In recent years, more and more studies have found that air pollution is closely related to the occurrence of depression. As a serious neuropsychiatric disorder whose incidence is rising rapidly year by year, depression has become an invisible killer of public health. At present, studies on the correlation between air pollution and depression are still very limited, and the underlying molecular mechanisms by which air pollution affects depression are not clear. Based on existing epidemiological and toxicological studies, this paper provided a review of the relationship between air pollution and depression and the possible biological mechanisms, with a focus on the relationship between air pollution and depression indicators and the possible factors affecting depression such as types of air pollutants, exposure time, age and health status of study subjects. In addition, the potential roles of neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, neurogenesis, and apoptosis in the process of air pollution-induced depression were also discussed in order to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of air pollution-induced depression.

ObjectiveTo explore the effect of Dingkundan on Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD） at a stable phase. MethodA randomized controlled clinical design method was adopted， and 60 patients who were diagnosed with Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome in COPD at a stable phase in the outpatient and inpatient departments of the respiratory department of Guang' anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences from June 2019 to December 2019 were divided into observation group and control group according to 1∶1. During the study period， there was no dropout， loss of follow-up， or exclusion between the two groups. On the basis of both groups receiving traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） lung rehabilitation training， the observation group took Dingkundan 7 g/time orally， twice a day. The control group received oral administration of the same specification of Dingkundan starch simulator of 7 g/time， twice a day. Both groups have a treatment period of 12 weeks. The COPD Assessment Test （CAT）， modified Medical Research Council （mMRC）， fatigue scale-14 （FS-14）， self-rating anxiety scale （SAS）， self-rating depression scale （SDS）， 6-minute walk distance （6MWD）， and pulmonary function before and after treatment were evaluated. ResultAfter treatment， both groups showed improvements in CAT， mMRC， FS-14， SAS scores， and 6MWD （P<0.05）. The observation group also showed improvements in SDS scores and lung function indicators （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group after treatment， the observation group showed more significant improvement in CAT， FS-14， SAS， SDS scores， and 6MWD （P<0.05）. ConclusionDingkundan has a clear therapeutic effect on Qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome in patients with COPD at a stable phase. It can reduce symptom burden， enhance exercise capacity， and improve psychological status and has the potential to improve lung function.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of erianin （ERI） on the apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in rats with polycystic ovary syndrome （PCOS） and its mechanism. METHODS PCOS rat model was constructed by subcutaneous injection of dehydroepiandrosterone， and the successfully constructed rats were randomly divided into PCOS group， ERI low-dose， medium- dose and high-dose groups （10， 20， 40 mg/kg） and ERI high dose + verteporfin group （40 mg/kg ERI + 10 mg/kg verteporfin）， with 10 rats in each group. Another 10 normal rats were selected as the normal group. Rats in each administration group were given corresponding dose of ERI and/or intraperitoneal injection of vitiporfin， and rats in the PCOS group and normal group were orally administered an equal volume of 1% dimethyl sulfoxide， once a day， for 6 consecutive weeks. After administration， the body weight， fasting blood glucose （FPG）， serum levels of estradiol （E2）， testosterone （T）， follicle stimulating hormone （FSH） and luteinizing hormone （LH） were detected in each group； morphological changes in ovarian tissue were observed， and the apoptosis of ovarian tissue cells was analyzed. Apoptosis-associated proteins [B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）， Bcl-2 associated X protein （Bax）， Caspase-3] and Hippo-YAP signaling pathway associated proteins [large tumor suppressor kinase 1 （LATS1）， phosphorylated LATS1 （p-LATS1） and Yes associated protein （YAP）， phosphorylated YAP （p-YAP）， transcriptional co-activator with PDZ binding motif （TAZ）] were detected in ovarian tissue. RESULTS Compared with PCOS group， the ovarian polycystic characteristics of the ERI low-dose， medium-dose，and high-dose groups were reduced， the number of atretic follicles was reduced， and the granulosa cell layer was thickened； the body mass， FPG， T， LH， LH/FSH， the number of cystic follicles， cell apoptosis index， protein expressions of Bax， Caspase-3， p-LATS1 and p-YAP were greatly decreased （P＜0.05）； the number of corpus luteum， protein expressions of E2， Bcl-2， LATS1， YAP and TAZ were greatly increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with ERI high-dose group， the above indexes in ERI high-dose + vitiporfin group were inhibited （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS ERI can promote the proliferation of ovarian granulosa cells and improve the level of sex hormones in PCOS rats， and its mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of erianin （ERI） on the apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in rats with polycystic ovary syndrome （PCOS） and its mechanism. METHODS PCOS rat model was constructed by subcutaneous injection of dehydroepiandrosterone， and the successfully constructed rats were randomly divided into PCOS group， ERI low-dose， medium- dose and high-dose groups （10， 20， 40 mg/kg） and ERI high dose + verteporfin group （40 mg/kg ERI + 10 mg/kg verteporfin）， with 10 rats in each group. Another 10 normal rats were selected as the normal group. Rats in each administration group were given corresponding dose of ERI and/or intraperitoneal injection of vitiporfin， and rats in the PCOS group and normal group were orally administered an equal volume of 1% dimethyl sulfoxide， once a day， for 6 consecutive weeks. After administration， the body weight， fasting blood glucose （FPG）， serum levels of estradiol （E2）， testosterone （T）， follicle stimulating hormone （FSH） and luteinizing hormone （LH） were detected in each group； morphological changes in ovarian tissue were observed， and the apoptosis of ovarian tissue cells was analyzed. Apoptosis-associated proteins [B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）， Bcl-2 associated X protein （Bax）， Caspase-3] and Hippo-YAP signaling pathway associated proteins [large tumor suppressor kinase 1 （LATS1）， phosphorylated LATS1 （p-LATS1） and Yes associated protein （YAP）， phosphorylated YAP （p-YAP）， transcriptional co-activator with PDZ binding motif （TAZ）] were detected in ovarian tissue. RESULTS Compared with PCOS group， the ovarian polycystic characteristics of the ERI low-dose， medium-dose，and high-dose groups were reduced， the number of atretic follicles was reduced， and the granulosa cell layer was thickened； the body mass， FPG， T， LH， LH/FSH， the number of cystic follicles， cell apoptosis index， protein expressions of Bax， Caspase-3， p-LATS1 and p-YAP were greatly decreased （P＜0.05）； the number of corpus luteum， protein expressions of E2， Bcl-2， LATS1， YAP and TAZ were greatly increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with ERI high-dose group， the above indexes in ERI high-dose + vitiporfin group were inhibited （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS ERI can promote the proliferation of ovarian granulosa cells and improve the level of sex hormones in PCOS rats， and its mechanism of action may be related to the inhibition of the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway.

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) diseases are common clinical conditions. The number of patients with TMJ diseases is large, and the etiology, epidemiology, disease spectrum, and treatment of the disease remain controversial and unknown. To understand and master the current situation of the occurrence, development and prevention of TMJ diseases, as well as to identify the patterns in etiology, incidence, drug sensitivity, and prognosis is crucial for alleviating patients′suffering.This will facilitate in-depth medical research, effective disease prevention measures, and the formulation of corresponding health policies. Cohort construction and research has an irreplaceable role in precise disease prevention and significant improvement in diagnosis and treatment levels. Large-scale cohort studies are needed to explore the relationship between potential risk factors and outcomes of TMJ diseases, and to observe disease prognoses through long-term follw-ups. The consensus aims to establish a standard conceptual frame work for a cohort study on patients with TMJ disease while providing ideas for cohort data standards to this condition. TMJ disease cohort data consists of both common data standards applicable to all specific disease cohorts as well as disease-specific data standards. Common data were available for each specific disease cohort. By integrating different cohort research resources, standard problems or study variables can be unified. Long-term follow-up can be performed using consistent definitions and criteria across different projects for better core data collection. It is hoped that this consensus will be facilitate the development cohort studies of TMJ diseases.

OBJECTIVES: Firefighters are prone to suffer from psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the workplace, and have a poor prognosis after PTSD. Reliable models for predicting PTSD allow for effective identification and intervention for patients with early PTSD. By collecting the psychological traits, psychological states and work situations of firefighters, this study aims to develop a machine learning algorithm with the aim of effectively and accurately identifying the onset of PTSD in firefighters, as well as detecting some important predictors of PTSD onset. METHODS: This study conducted a cross-sectional survey through convenient sampling of firefighters from 20 fire brigades in Changsha, which were evenly distributed across 6 districts and Changsha County, with a total of 628 firefighters. We used the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) to process data sets and used grid search to finish the parameter tuning. The predictive capability of several commonly used machine learning models was compared by 5-fold cross-validation and using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC), accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. RESULTS: The random forest model achieved good performance in predicting PTSD with an average AUC score at 0.790. The mean accuracy of the model was 90.1%, with an F1 score of 0.945. The three most important predictors were perseverance, forced thinking, and reflective deep thinking, with weights of 0.165, 0.158, and 0.152, respectively. The next most important predictors were employment time, psychological power, and optimism. CONCLUSIONS PTSD onset prediction model for Changsha firefighters constructed by random forest has strong predictive ability, and both psychological characteristics and work situation can be used as predictors of PTSD onset risk for firefighters. In the next step of the study, validation using other large datasets is needed to ensure that the predictive models can be used in clinical setting.
Humans ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis* ; Firefighters/psychology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Algorithms ; Machine Learning

Objective:To investigate the value of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI in predicting the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The imaging data, pathological data, and follow-up data of 90 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI examination and surgical treatment in People's Hospital of Baise from January 2016 to October 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The correlation between the signal intensity of contrast-enhanced MRI and postoperative pathological grade was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to investigate the effects of the signal characteristics of hepatobiliary lesions on the early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.Results:A total of 59 (65.56%) patients showed low-intensity signals and 31 (34.44%) patients showed mixed-intensity signals. High-intensity signal was not found in any patients. The signal intensity of the hepatobiliary phase was significantly correlated with the pathological grade of the tumor ( χ2 = 2.26, P = 0.040) and tumor size ( t = 3.10, P = 0.033). The early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly higher in patients exhibiting mixed-intensity signals than that in patients exhibiting low-intensity signals ( χ2 = 2.25, P = 0.041). Conclusion:Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI in the hepatobiliary phase with different signal intensities has the potential to predict the pathological grade and early recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective:In recent years,the prevalence of diabetic nephropathy(DN)has increased significantly.An increasing number of studies have shown that lymphocyte-associated inflammatory responses play a role in DN.This study aims to investigate the relationship between lymphocytes and DN in patients with autoimmune diabetes. Methods:The clinical data of 226 patients with Type 1 diabetes(T1D)and 79 patients with latent autoimmune diabetes in adults(LADA)were retrospectively studied and stratified according to the urinary albumin to creatinine ratio(ACR).Risk factors associated with DN were analyzed using correlation analysis and logistic regression. Results:In T1D and LADA patients,systolic blood pressure(SBP),uric acid duration,and diabetes duration in patients with normoalbuminuria were lower or shorter than those in patients with macroalbuminuria(P＜0.05).The lymphocyte count of T1D patients was significantly higher than that in LADA patients(P＜0.05),while the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio(NLR)of T1D patients was significantly lower than that in LADA patients(P＜0.05).The lymphocyte count in the T1D patients with normoalbuminuria was lower than that those with macroalbuminuria(P＜0.05).The NLR was lower in the T1D patients with macroalbuminuria than those with microalbuminuria and normoproteinuria(all P＜0.01).Based on logistic regression analysis,lymphocytes were independently associated with DN in T1D after adjusting for various known risk factors such as course of disease,age,gender,dyslipidemia,hypertension,and smoking status.Analysis of the receiver operating characteristic curve of subjects predicting lymphocytes in normoalbuminuria showed that the area under the curve was 0.601(95% CI 0.510 to 0.693,P=0.039),and when the cutoff value of lymphocytes was 2.332,the sensitivity was 37.0%,and the specificity was 82.5%. Conclusion:Lymphocyte counts in autoimmune diabetic patients are closely associated with DN,suggesting that lymphocyte-mediated inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of DN in autoimmune diabetic patients.This study provides a possible perspective for using lymphocytes as a potential biomarker for the early identification of individuals at risk for DN and potential therapeutic targets for DN.

Objective:To construct and validate a predictive model for the risk of excessive blood loss in pa-tients with ruptured tubal pregnancy,and to provide a basis and tool for the assessment of changes in the condi-tion of patients with ruptured tubal pregnancy.Methods:Clinical data of inpatients with ruptured tubal pregnancy from January 2014 to July 2021 were retrospectively analyzed,who underwent surgical treatment in the Depart-ment of Gynecology,Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Hospital.The pelvic blood volume was categorized into excessive blood loss and non-excessive blood loss groups based on whether the amount of pelvic blood was found to be≥750 ml intraoperatively.Factors influencing the occurrence of excessive blood loss were screened and modeled by univariate analysis,Lasso regression,and multi-factor Logistic stepwise regression.The area un-der the subject working characteristic curve(AUC)was used to evaluate the discrimination of the predictive mod-el,the model's consistency was evaluated by calibration curve and goodness-of-fit test,and the clinical utility of the model was evaluated and validated by the decision analysis curve.Finally,column line plots were drawn.Results:①A total of 386 patients with ruptured tubal pregnancy were included,of whom 124(32.12%)had blood loss≥750 ml.②The optimal predictors for predicting concomitant blood loss in patients with ruptured tubal preg-nancy were screened,including:days of abdominal pain,dizziness,pallor,fatigue,the maximum diameter of para-metrial mass,human chorionic gonadotropin(β-hCG),and hemoglobin(Hb)and the model and the column line graphswere constructed accordingly.③The prediction model AUC was 0.827(95%CI 0.781-0.873);the cut-off value was 0.391,at which point the specificity and sensitivity were 68.55%and 84.35%,respectively,and the AUC validated within the model by resampling was 0.804.Clinical decision curves showed that the threshold probability intervals for the maximum net benefit values ranged from 8.5%-97%,respectively.Conclusions:The constructed prediction model was validated to suggest good discriminatory efficacy and degree of consistency.As a tool,it has clinical application value in predicting the risk of hemorrhage in patients with ruptured tubal pregnan-cy.It can help to determine the occurrence of adverse events such as hemorrhagic shock at an early stage and improve the success rate of rescue treatment.

OBJECTIVES: There is a high coagulation state in pregnant women, which is prone to coagulation and fibrinolysis system dysfunction. This study aims to explore the latest coagulation markers-thrombomodulin (TM), thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), plasmin-α2 plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC), and tissue plasminogen activator/plasminogen activator inhibitor compound (tPAI-C) in different stages of pregnancy, establish reference intervals (RIs) for healthy pregnant women of Chinese population, and to provide an effective and reliable reference for clinicians. METHODS: A total of 492 healthy pregnant women, who underwent pregnancy examination and delivery in the Department of Obstetrics, Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University from October 2019 to October 2020, were enrolled for this study. They were assigned into the first trimester group, the second trimester group, the third trimester group, and the puerperium group according to the pregnancy period, and 123 healthy non-pregnant women were selected as the controls. Plasma levels of TM, TAT, PIC and tPAI-C were analyzed by automatic chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer. The RIs for TM, TAT, PIC, and tPAI-C were defined using non-parametric 95% intervals, determined following Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Document C28-A3c (CLSI C28-A3c), and Formulation of Reference Intervals for the Clinical Laboratory Test Items (WS/T402-2012). RESULTS: TM and TAT levels increased gradually in the first, second, and third trimester women and decreased in the puerperium women (P<0.05 or P<0.01). PIC level of healthy non-pregnant women was lower than that of pregnant women (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but PIC level of pregnant and puerperium women did not differ significantly (P>0.05). tPAI-C level in healthy non-pregnant women was lower than that of pregnant women (P<0.05 or P<0.01), and tPAI-C level was significantly decreases in the puerperium women (P<0.01). The RIs for TM were as follows: Healthy non-pregnant women at 3.20-4.60 TU/mL, the first and second trimester at 3.12-7.90 TU/mL, the third trimester at 3.42-8.29 TU/mL, puerperium at 2.70-6.40 TU/mL. The RIs for TAT were as follows: Healthy non-pregnant women at 0.50-1.64 ng/mL, the first and second trimester at 0.52-6.91 ng/mL, the third trimester at 0.96-12.92 ng/mL, puerperium at 0.82-3.75 ng/mL. The RIs for PIC were as follows: Healthy non-pregnant women at 0.160-0.519 ng/mL, pregnant women at 0.162-0.770 μg/mL. The RIs for tPAI-C were as follows: Healthy non-pregnant women at 1.90-4.80 ng/mL, the first and second trimester at 2.03-9.33 ng/mL, the third trimester at 2.80-14.20 ng/mL, puerperium at 1.10-8.40 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS The levels of 4 new coagulation markers TM, TAT, PIC, and tPAI-C in pregnant women are increased significantly during pregnancy and gradually return to normal after delivery. The RIs for TM, TAT, PIC, and tPAI-C in pregnant women by trimester are established according to CLSI C28-A3c, thus providing a clinical reference for clinician in judgement of thrombotic risk.
Biomarkers/blood* ; Blood Coagulation ; Female ; Humans ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy ; Reference Values