Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that severely affects the health of the elderly, marked by its incurability, high prevalence, and extended latency period. The current approach to AD prevention and treatment emphasizes early detection and intervention, particularly during the pre-AD stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which provides an optimal “window of opportunity” for intervention. Clinical detection methods for MCI, such as cerebrospinal fluid monitoring, genetic testing, and imaging diagnostics, are invasive and costly, limiting their broad clinical application. Speech, as a vital cognitive output, offers a new perspective and tool for computer-assisted analysis and screening of cognitive decline. This is because elderly individuals with cognitive decline exhibit distinct characteristics in semantic and audio information, such as reduced lexical richness, decreased speech coherence and conciseness, and declines in speech rate, voice rhythm, and hesitation rates. The objective presence of these semantic and audio characteristics lays the groundwork for computer-based screening of cognitive decline. Speech information is primarily sourced from databases or collected through tasks involving spontaneous speech, semantic fluency, and reading, followed by analysis using computer models. Spontaneous language tasks include dialogues/interviews, event descriptions, narrative recall, and picture descriptions. Semantic fluency tasks assess controlled retrieval of vocabulary items, requiring participants to extract information at the word level during lexical search. Reading tasks involve participants reading a passage aloud. Summarizing past research, the speech characteristics of the elderly can be divided into two major categories: semantic information and audio information. Semantic information focuses on the meaning of speech across different tasks, highlighting differences in vocabulary and text content in cognitive impairment. Overall, discourse pragmatic disorders in AD can be studied along three dimensions: cohesion, coherence, and conciseness. Cohesion mainly examines the use of vocabulary by participants, with a reduction in the use of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives in AD patients. Coherence assesses the ability of participants to maintain topics, with a decrease in the number of subordinate clauses in AD patients. Conciseness evaluates the information density of participants, with AD patients producing shorter texts with less information compared to normal elderly individuals. Audio information focuses on acoustic features that are difficult for the human ear to detect. There is a significant degradation in temporal parameters in the later stages of cognitive impairment; AD patients require more time to read the same paragraph, have longer vocalization times, and produce more pauses or silent parts in their spontaneous speech signals compared to normal individuals. Researchers have extracted audio and speech features, developing independent systems for each set of features, achieving an accuracy rate of 82% for both, which increases to 86% when both types of features are combined, demonstrating the advantage of integrating audio and speech information. Currently, deep learning and machine learning are the main methods used for information analysis. The overall diagnostic accuracy rate for AD exceeds 80%, and the diagnostic accuracy rate for MCI also exceeds 80%, indicating significant potential. Deep learning techniques require substantial data support, necessitating future expansion of database scale and continuous algorithm upgrades to transition from laboratory research to practical product implementation.

[Summary]Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic microvascular complication and the leading cause of vision loss in adults.Mitochondrial quality control regulates the quality and quantity of mitochondria through a series of processes to maintain mitochondrial function and homeostasis.These processes include mitochondrial biogenesis,mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondrial autophagy,abnormalities of which can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction.Current studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with a variety of diseases,including neurodegenerative diseases,tumors,cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.At present,there are few studies on mitochondrial dysfunction and DR.This paper reviews the literature on mitochondrial quality control and DR,discusses the possible role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the occurrence and development of DR in order to seek possible molecular therapeutic targets.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy（AIT） remains the only therapeutic approach with the potential to modify the natural course of allergic rhinitis（AR）. Nevertheless, considerable inter-individual variability exists in patients'responses to AIT. To facilitate more reliable assessment of treatment efficacy, the China Rhinopathy Research Cooperation Group（CRRCG） convened young and middle-aged nasal experts in China to formulate the present consensus. The recommended subjective outcome measures for AIT comprise symptom scores, medication scores, combined symptom and medication scores, quality-of-life assessments, evaluation of disease control, and assessment of comorbidities. Objective indicators may supplement these measures. Currently available objective approaches include skin prick testing, nasal provocation testing, and allergen exposure chambers. However, these methods remain constrained by practical limitations and are not yet appropriate for routine implementation in clinical efficacy evaluation. In addition, several biomarkers, including sIgE and the sIgE/tIgE ratio, sIgG4, serum IgE-blocking activity, IgA, cytokines and chemokines, as well as immune cell surface molecules and their functional activity, have been shown to have associations with AIT outcomes. While these biomarkers may complement subjective assessments, they are subject to significant limitations. Consequently, large-scale multicenter trials and real-world evidence are required to strengthen the evidence base. The present consensus underscores the necessity of integrating patients'subjective experiences with objective testing throughout the treatment process, thereby providing a more comprehensive and accurate framework for efficacy evaluation. Looking forward, future investigations should prioritize the incorporation of multi-omics data and artificial intelligence methodologies, which hold promise for overcoming current limitations in assessment strategies and for advancing both the standardization and personalization of AIT.
Humans ; Allergens/immunology* ; China ; Consensus ; Desensitization, Immunologic ; Immunoglobulin E ; Quality of Life ; Rhinitis, Allergic/therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; East Asian People

Objective:To investigate, for multi-sensitized allergic rhinitis (AR) patients allergic to dust mites combined with other allergens (pollen, mold, animal dander, etc.), whether the single dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) can improve the specific symptoms caused by other allergens in the patients, and to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of symptom improvement in these patients and the type, quantity and severity of the allergens.Methods:A multicenter retrospective study was conducted to collect mul-sensitized AR patients from allergy or respiratory departments of 5 hospitals who received house dust mite allergen preparation SCIT for 12 to 36 months and met other inclusion and exclusion criteria from February to July 2024. General clinical data were collected and the perennial or seasonal symptoms before and after treatment were evaluated with visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess whether there was an perennial or allergen-specific symptom improvement (VAS score decrease ≥30%), by which the patients were divided into effective group and ineffective. R software was used to analyze the differences between groups by using Fisher′s exact test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:A total of 62 patients were enrolled, and the treatment were effective in 39 of them, with an effective rate of 62.9%. For allergen-specific symptoms, the median age of the effective group was higher than that of the ineffective group (12 years old vs. 8 years old, P=0.039), and the effective rate in dust mite specific immunoglobin E (sIgE) grade ≤5 group was higher than that in sIgE grade >5 group (81.6% vs. 45.5%, P=0.008), and the effective rate of mold sIgE grade ≤2 group was higher than that of sIgE grade >2 group (83.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.045), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). For perennial symptoms, the effective rate in the mold grade ≤2 group was higher than that in the sIgE grade >2 group (91.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.010), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the treatment effectiveness of perennial or allergen-specific symptoms and the number of combined allergens, the grade of skin test, and the difference between the grade of combined allergens and that of dust mites ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Among the patients with multi-sensitized AR allergic to dust mites included in this study, single dust mite SCIT is effective in some of them, and for allergen-specific symptoms, the effective group was elder, and dust mite sIgE grade 6 and mold sIgE grade ≥2 was related to the low effective rate of SCIT. The present results are insufficient for selecting single or multiple AIT in any type of multi-sensitized patients.

Objective:To examine the status of self-perceived aging, family function, and fear of disease progression among elderly patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and to explore the mediating role of self-perceived aging in the relationship between family function and fear of disease progression.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. Using a convenience sampling method, a total of 307 elderly patients with PUD hospitalized in the Third Hospital of Bethune, Jilin University between December 2023 and May 2024 were included. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Brief Ageing Perceptions Questionnaire (B-APQ), the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), and the Chinese version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES II-CV). The PROCESS macro in SPSS was used to construct and validate a mediation model to assess the mediating effect of self-perceived aging between family function and fear of disease progression among elderly patients with PUD.Results:A total of 307 questionnaires were distributed, with 276 valid responses obtained (effective response rate: 89.90%). The B-APQ score was (53.79±18.30), the FACES II-CV score was (92.17±16.39), and the FoP-Q-SF score was (30.16±6.02). Family function negatively predicted fear of disease progression directly, with a direct effect value of -0.083, accounting for 44.15% of the total effect (-0.083/-0.188). Self-perceived aging exerted a significant mediating effect between family function and fear of disease progression, with an indirect effect value of -0.105, representing 55.85% of the total effect (-0.105/-0.188) .Conclusions:This study reveals the mediating role of self-perceived aging in the relationship between family function and fear of disease progression in elderly PUD patients. The findings enrich the explanatory dimensions of psychosocial models in chronic disease management and underscore the importance of addressing family dynamics and aging perceptions in designing comprehensive interventions for elderly patients with digestive diseases.

Objective:To examine the status of self-perceived aging, family function, and fear of disease progression among elderly patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and to explore the mediating role of self-perceived aging in the relationship between family function and fear of disease progression.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study. Using a convenience sampling method, a total of 307 elderly patients with PUD hospitalized in the Third Hospital of Bethune, Jilin University between December 2023 and May 2024 were included. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Brief Ageing Perceptions Questionnaire (B-APQ), the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF), and the Chinese version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES II-CV). The PROCESS macro in SPSS was used to construct and validate a mediation model to assess the mediating effect of self-perceived aging between family function and fear of disease progression among elderly patients with PUD.Results:A total of 307 questionnaires were distributed, with 276 valid responses obtained (effective response rate: 89.90%). The B-APQ score was (53.79±18.30), the FACES II-CV score was (92.17±16.39), and the FoP-Q-SF score was (30.16±6.02). Family function negatively predicted fear of disease progression directly, with a direct effect value of -0.083, accounting for 44.15% of the total effect (-0.083/-0.188). Self-perceived aging exerted a significant mediating effect between family function and fear of disease progression, with an indirect effect value of -0.105, representing 55.85% of the total effect (-0.105/-0.188) .Conclusions:This study reveals the mediating role of self-perceived aging in the relationship between family function and fear of disease progression in elderly PUD patients. The findings enrich the explanatory dimensions of psychosocial models in chronic disease management and underscore the importance of addressing family dynamics and aging perceptions in designing comprehensive interventions for elderly patients with digestive diseases.

[Summary]Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic microvascular complication and the leading cause of vision loss in adults.Mitochondrial quality control regulates the quality and quantity of mitochondria through a series of processes to maintain mitochondrial function and homeostasis.These processes include mitochondrial biogenesis,mitochondrial dynamics and mitochondrial autophagy,abnormalities of which can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction.Current studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with a variety of diseases,including neurodegenerative diseases,tumors,cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.At present,there are few studies on mitochondrial dysfunction and DR.This paper reviews the literature on mitochondrial quality control and DR,discusses the possible role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the occurrence and development of DR in order to seek possible molecular therapeutic targets.

Objective:To investigate, for multi-sensitized allergic rhinitis (AR) patients allergic to dust mites combined with other allergens (pollen, mold, animal dander, etc.), whether the single dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) can improve the specific symptoms caused by other allergens in the patients, and to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of symptom improvement in these patients and the type, quantity and severity of the allergens.Methods:A multicenter retrospective study was conducted to collect mul-sensitized AR patients from allergy or respiratory departments of 5 hospitals who received house dust mite allergen preparation SCIT for 12 to 36 months and met other inclusion and exclusion criteria from February to July 2024. General clinical data were collected and the perennial or seasonal symptoms before and after treatment were evaluated with visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess whether there was an perennial or allergen-specific symptom improvement (VAS score decrease ≥30%), by which the patients were divided into effective group and ineffective. R software was used to analyze the differences between groups by using Fisher′s exact test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:A total of 62 patients were enrolled, and the treatment were effective in 39 of them, with an effective rate of 62.9%. For allergen-specific symptoms, the median age of the effective group was higher than that of the ineffective group (12 years old vs. 8 years old, P=0.039), and the effective rate in dust mite specific immunoglobin E (sIgE) grade ≤5 group was higher than that in sIgE grade >5 group (81.6% vs. 45.5%, P=0.008), and the effective rate of mold sIgE grade ≤2 group was higher than that of sIgE grade >2 group (83.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.045), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). For perennial symptoms, the effective rate in the mold grade ≤2 group was higher than that in the sIgE grade >2 group (91.3% vs. 28.6%, P=0.010), and there was no statistically significant correlation between the other allergen grades and the effective rate ( P>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the treatment effectiveness of perennial or allergen-specific symptoms and the number of combined allergens, the grade of skin test, and the difference between the grade of combined allergens and that of dust mites ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Among the patients with multi-sensitized AR allergic to dust mites included in this study, single dust mite SCIT is effective in some of them, and for allergen-specific symptoms, the effective group was elder, and dust mite sIgE grade 6 and mold sIgE grade ≥2 was related to the low effective rate of SCIT. The present results are insufficient for selecting single or multiple AIT in any type of multi-sensitized patients.

Decline of immunity is an epidemiological feature of opioid addicts.Recent work reveals a landscape of peripheral immune microenvironment in opioid addicts.Opioid addicts exhibit a significant expansion of fragile-like regulatory T cells(Tregs)and enhanced Treg-derived interferon-y(IFN-γ)expression.IFN-γ signaling reshapes synaptic morphology in nucleus accumbens(NAc)neurons,modulating subsequent withdrawal symptoms.Treg fragility transformation from WT Tregs is primarily due to opioid-induced global hypoxia during acute withdrawal period.Opioids increase the expression of neuron-derived C-C motif chemokine ligand 2(Ccl2)and disrupt blood-brain barrier(BBB)integrity through the downregulation of astrocyte-derived fatty-acid-binding protein 7(Fabp7),both of which trigger peripheral Treg infiltration into NAc.Recent studies suggest that subtle homeostatic changes in the peripheralimmune milieu may also contribute to modulating synapses that are responsible for addictive behaviors,which may lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Objective: First-line bevacizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel (CP) is approved for stage III/IV ovarian cancer treatment following initial surgical resection, based on global phase III GOG-0218 and ICON7 trials. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab + CP as first-line ovarian cancer therapy in Chinese patients. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III/IV epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer post-primary surgery were randomized 1:1 to receive 6 cycles of CP with bevacizumab/ placebo, followed by bevacizumab/placebo maintenance until unacceptable toxicity or disease progression. Primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). Stratification factors were FIGO stage and debulking status (stage III optimally debulked vs stage III suboptimally debulked vs stage IV) and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (0 vs 1 or 2). Results: Of randomized patients, 51 received bevacizumab + CP and 49 received placebo + CP. Median PFS was 22.6 months with bevacizumab + CP (95% confidence interval [CI]=18.6, not estimable) and 12.3 months (95% CI=9.5, 15.0) with placebo + CP (stratified hazard ratio=0.30; 95% CI=0.17, 0.53). Treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 46 of 49 (94%) patients receiving bevacizumab + CP, and 34 of 50 (68%) receiving placebo + CP. Conclusion Bevacizumab + CP showed clinically meaningful improvement in PFS vs placebo + CP, consistent with GOG-0218 results. Safety data were aligned with the known bevacizumab safety profile. These results support first-line bevacizumab + CP therapy in Chinese patients with ovarian cancer.