BACKGROUND: Spicy food consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with mortality from multiple diseases. However, the effect of spicy food intake on the incidence of vascular diseases in the Chinese population remains unclear. This study was conducted to explore this association. METHODS: This study was performed using the large-scale China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) prospective cohort of 486,335 participants. The primary outcomes were vascular disease, ischemic heart disease (IHD), major coronary events (MCEs), cerebrovascular disease, stroke, and non-stroke cerebrovascular disease. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the association between spicy food consumption and incident vascular diseases. Subgroup analysis was also performed to evaluate the heterogeneity of the association between spicy food consumption and the risk of vascular disease stratified by several basic characteristics. In addition, the joint effects of spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of vascular disease were also evaluated, and sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the reliability of the association results. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of 12.1 years, a total of 136,125 patients with vascular disease, 46,689 patients with IHD, 10,097 patients with MCEs, 80,114 patients with cerebrovascular disease, 56,726 patients with stroke, and 40,098 patients with non-stroke cerebrovascular disease were identified. Participants who consumed spicy food 1-2 days/week (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.95, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = [0.93, 0.97], P <0.001), 3-5 days/week (HR = 0.96, 95% CI = [0.94, 0.99], P = 0.003), and 6-7 days/week (HR = 0.97, 95% CI = [0.95, 0.99], P = 0.002) had a significantly lower risk of vascular disease than those who consumed spicy food less than once a week ( Ptrend <0.001), especially in those who were younger and living in rural areas. Notably, the disease-based subgroup analysis indicated that the inverse associations remained in IHD ( Ptrend = 0.011) and MCEs ( Ptrend = 0.002) risk. Intriguingly, there was an interaction effect between spicy food consumption and the healthy lifestyle score on the risk of IHD ( Pinteraction = 0.037). CONCLUSIONS Our findings support an inverse association between spicy food consumption and vascular disease in the Chinese population, which may provide additional dietary guidance for the prevention of vascular diseases.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Prospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Vascular Diseases/etiology* ; Risk Factors ; China/epidemiology* ; Adult ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/epidemiology* ; East Asian People

Objectives:To investigate clinical characteristics, outcomes and antimicrobial resistance of community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CAPA) infections in Chinese pediatric patients. Methods:This retrospective study was conducted at 6 tertiary hospitals in China during January 2016 to December 2018. The clinical and microbiological data of CAPA infected hospitalized children in Hainan and in other regions were collected and compared, and the antimicrobial resistance patterns, clinical characteristics and antibiotic therapy were analyzed. Between different groups were compared using the Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results:Among 91 patients, 63 cases were males, 28 cases were females, and 74 cases were from Hainan province, 17 cases were from other regians. The age of consultation was 22.5 (5.4, 44.0) months. Twenty-four cases (26%) had underlying diseases. Fever (79 cases (87%)) and cough (64 cases (70%)) were common initial symptoms. Other concomitant symptoms included wheezing 8 cases (9%), diarrhea 3 cases (3%) and vomiting 4 cases (4%). Twenty-eight cases (31%) had organ infections, including pneumonia 22 cases (24%), skin infection 5 cases (5%), meningitis, intra-abdominal infection and upper urinary tract infection each 1 case (1%). The resistance rate of CAPA isolates to cefepime (4% (4/90)), amikacin (1% (1/90)), ciprofloxacin (2% (2/90)) and levofloxacin (1% (1/89)) was low, and to ceftazidime, piperacillin, piperacillin-azobactam, carbapenem was 12% (11/90), 3/16, 18% (10/56) and 6% (5/90), respectively. Antimicrobial combination therapy accounted for 52% (47/91) of empirical therapy and 59% (52/88) of definite therapy. Two cases (2%) were hopeless discharged, and 3 cases (3%) died during hospitalization. The worse prognosis of CAPA infection is significantly different among children in other regions and in Hainan (4/17 vs. 1% (1/74), χ2=9.74, P<0.05). Conclusions:The invasive CAPA-infection has regional difference in incidence and prognosis in China. Clinical symptoms and signs are non-specific. CAPA strains isolated from pediatric patients display low level of resistance to most of the common antipseudomonal antibiotics. The proportion of poor prognostic outcome is lower in Hainan than in other regions.

Objective:To assess the methodological and measurement quality of comprehensive assessment tools for evaluating senile dementia, in order to provide evidence-based guidance for clinical selection of the best assessment tool.Methods:Manually searched CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, SinoMed, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, ProQuest, Ovid and Scopus databases to collect and evaluate comprehensive assessment tool measurements forsenile dementia. For research on academic attributes, the search time limit was from the establishment of the database to January 4th, 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted information, used the COSMIN guidelines to evaluate the included assessment tools, and formed final recommendations.Results:A total of 14 articles were included, including 9 comprehensive assessment tools for the elderly with dementia. Among them, the Care Needs Assessment Scale for Alzheimer′s Disease Patients had moderate and above evidence proving that its content validity and internal consistency were "sufficient", so it was a category A strong recommendation. The remaining 8 evaluation tools were all category B recommendations.Conclusions:Among the existing comprehensive assessment tools for the elderly with dementia, the Care Needs Assessment Scale for Alzheimer′s Disease Patients has good reliability and validity. This scale has 4 dimensions and 16 items. However, there are uncertainties and unmentioned measurement properties of the scale in terms of cross-cultural validity/measurement equivalence, stability, measurement error, hypothesis testing, calibration validity, and responsiveness. More evidence is needed in the future to further comprehensively validate and improve it, providing a basis for selecting a more effective, comprehensive and high-quality comprehensive assessment tool for the elderly with dementia.

Objective To investigate the effects of nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium on monocyte-to-high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and cardiac function in patients with coronary slow flow (CSF). Methods A group case-control study was used to select 240 patients with CSF confirmed by coronary angiography, and they were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 120 patients in each group. On the basis of conventional drug treatment, the control group was treated with rosuvastatin calcium, while the observation group was treated with nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium for 6 months. Clinical efficacy, inflammatory markers[high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), MHR, SII], corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC) of major coronary branches [left anterior descending branch (LAD), left circumflex branch (LCX), right coronary artery (RCA)], cardiac function indicators[left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), global longitudinal strain (GLS)], and the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate in the observation groupwas significantly higher than that in the control group (95.00% versus 80.00%, P < 0.05). After treatment, the duration, severity, andfrequency of angina pectoris attacks were reduced or shortened in both groups, with more changes observed in the observation group (P < 0.05). Serum levels of hs-CRP, MHR, and SII were lower in both groups after 6 months of treatment, and the observation group with significantly was lower compared to the control group (P < 0.05). CTFC values of LAD, LCX, and RCA were also lower in both groups after 6 months, with the observation group showing significantly lower values (P < 0.05). The absolute values of LVEF and GLS increased in both groups after 6 months of treatment, and the observation group was higher than the control group (P < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in LVEDD and occurrence of MACE between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The application of nicorandil combined with rosuvastatin calcium in the treatment of CSF patients can significantly improve the overall treatment efficacy, reduce hs-CRP, MHR, and SII levels, enhance cardiac function indicators such as LVEF, LVEDD, and GLS, and effectively alleviate the severity of angina pectoris attacks.

【Objective】 To use hairy enhancer of split 1 (Hes1) to regulate the differentiation of liver epithelial progenitor cells (LEPCs) into cholangiocytes. 【Methods】 The vectors, pTet-on and pTRE2hyg-Hes1, were transfected into LEPCs. The expression of Hes1 was induced by doxycycline (DOX) with different concentrations (0, 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 μg/mL). The expressions of Hes1, molecular markers of hepatocyte and cholangiocyte, glutathione synthetase (Gss), keratin 19 (Krt19) and hepatic nuclear factor 1β (HNF1β) in LEPCs were verified by Western blotting, RT-PCR, Real-time PCR, immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence. 【Results】 The expression of Hes1 in LEPCs transfected by pTet-on/pTRE2hyg-Hes1 was increased by 11.21 fold when induced by DOX at 10 ug/mL, which drove the LEPCs to differentiate into biliary epithelial cells. With increasing expression of Hes1, cholangiocyte markers, Krt19 and HNF1β, were significantly upregulated, while the hepatocyte marker, Gss, was obviously downregulated. 【Conclusion】 DOX at 10 μg/mL may induce a suitably up-regulated expression of Hes1 in LEPCs double-transfected by pTet-on and pTRE2hyg-Hes1, and the suitable high-expression rather than over-expression of Hes1 can regulate LEPCs to differentiate into cholangiocytes.

Objective:To investigate the effect of miRNA (miR) -193b-5p on melanogenesis and its possible mechanisms.Methods:Human primary melanocytes were isolated from discarded normal foreskin tissues of healthy males after circumcision, and cultured in vitro. miR-NC mimics (miR-NC mimic group) and miR-193b-5p mimics (miR-193b-5p mimic group) were transfected into human primary melanocytes and human MNT1 melanoma cells, separately. After transfection, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was performed to determine the overexpression efficiency of miR-193b-5p at 48 hours, Western blot analysis to determine the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins tyrosinase (TYR) and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) in human primary melanocytes and human MNT1 melanoma cells at 72 hours, and the melanin content in the above cells was determined by a sodium hydroxide solubilization method at 1 week. The target gene of miR-193b-5p was predicted by using Targetscan algorithms and verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay, and RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis were performed to analyze changes in mRNA and protein expression of the target gene respectively after the overexpression of miR-193b-5p. Two-independent-samples t test was used for comparisons between two groups. Results:In human primary melanocytes and human MNT1 melanoma cells, the miR-193b-5p expression levels were significantly higher in the miR-193b-5p mimic groups than in the miR-NC mimic groups ( t = 65.57, 22.49, respectively, both P < 0.001) , and the melanin content was significantly lower in the miR-193b-5p mimic groups (0.091 ± 0.007, 0.130 ± 0.004, respectively) than in the miR-NC mimic groups (0.117 ± 0.002, 0.188 ± 0.032, t = 5.98, 3.24, P < 0.01, < 0.05, respectively) . Western blot analysis showed that the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins TYR and MITF in both human primary melanocytes and human MNT1 melanoma cells was significantly lower in the miR-193b-5p mimic groups than in the miR-NC mimic groups (all P < 0.01) . TargetScan analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed a binding site for miR-193b-5p in the 3′ untranslated region of the transcriptional regulator CITED2. After up-regulation of miR-193b-5p expression in human primary melanocytes and human MNT1 melanoma cells, the CITED2 mRNA and protein expression levels significantly decreased compared with the miR-NC mimic groups (all P < 0.05) . Conclusion:miR-193b-5p overexpression can down-regulate the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins TYR and MITF, and then inhibit melanogenesis, which may be related to the targeted inhibition of CITED2 expression.

Objective:To analyze the treatment effect and drug resistance mutation of HIV-1 infected patients who changed to the second-line antiretroviral treatment regimen after they had developed drug-resistance with first-line antiretroviral treatment regimen in some areas of Sichuan Province.Methods:Using the cohort study method, the patients who had developed drug resistance with the first-line regimen were followed up for two years from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021.The changes of CD4 +T lymphocytes (CD4) counts and viral load (VL) at the endline and the detection of drug-resistant mutation sites were analyzed using the chi-square test. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of antiretroviral treatment effect in patients who had good compliance after switching to the second-line regimen. Results:A total of 737 patients were recruited. Among the cases with continuous good compliance, those who timely changed to the second-line regimen had higher proportion of maintaining continuous CD4 >200 cells/μl and sustained virus inhibition ( P<0.05). Among the patients with different levels of drug resistance at baseline, there was no significant difference in continuous CD4 >200 cells/μl and sustained VL <200 copies/ml ( P>0.05). After changing to the second-line regimen, the drug-resistant mutation sites of some protease inhibitors showed an upward trend, while those of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors showed a downward trend ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, among patients who had good compliance and who had switched to the second-line regimen, mother-to-child-transmitted patients had 3.01 times higher risk than heterosexual sexually transmitted infection (95% CI:1.29-7.00), failure to change the second-line protocol in time brought 2.55 times higher risk than that of timely changing to the second-line regimen (95% CI:1.41-4.62) and patients who infected with CRF85_BC subtype had 3.32 times higher risk than those infected with CRF01_AE subtype (95% CI:1.49-7.42). Conclusions:Difference in the drug resistance levels with the first-line regimen does not affect patients' antiretroviral treatment effect after changing to the second-line regimen in Sichuan Province. Changing to the second-line regimen in time and maintaining good compliance are beneficial to higher immune levels and lower VLs in drug-resistant patients. Among patients who changed to the second-line regimen, mother-to-child transmission, failure to change the second-line program in time, and infection with CRF85_BC virus are risk factors endangering antiretroviral treatment success after changing to the second-line regimen.

Objective:To investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of xerosis in elderly inpatients, to provide basis for effective prevention and management of xerosis.Methods:Using the cross-sectional survey method and the self-designed survey table of the current situation of xerosis and prevention of the elderly, the incidence of xerosis in 1 028 patients hospitalized in Suqian Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Siyang County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was investigated, and the related factors were analyzed.Results:The incidence of xerofosis was 20.23%(208/1028); the incidence of xerosis was 20.23% (208/1 028), which was mainly found in the lower limbs, with the incidence of 53.37% (111/208), among which the incidence of mild xerosis was the most, with the incidence of 51.44% (107/208). The incidence rate of the elderly patients with xerosis between different age, qualifications, nutritional status, comorbidity, Braden score, drug use, main caregivers, departments, and daily skin care were statistically significant ( χ2 values were 6.91-35.71, all P<0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that age, nutritional status, comorbidity status, Braden score and daily skin care were the independent influencing factors of skin dryness in elderly inpatients. Conclusions:There is a common skin symptom of xerosis in the elderly. It is necessary to establish a standardized management process and take targeted preventive and nursing measures.

Objective:To compare oxytocin combined with ergometrine with oxytocin alone in terms of primary prophylaxis for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) at the time of cesarean section (CS).Methods:This was a multicenter double-blind randomized controlled interventional study comparing ergometrine combined with oxytocin and oxytocin alone administered at CS. From December 2018 to November 2019, a total of 298 parturients were enrolled in 16 hospitals nationwide. They were randomly divided into experimental group (ergometrine intra-myometrial injection following oxytocin intravenously; 148 cases) and control group (oxytocin intra-myometrial injection following oxytocin intravenously; 150 cases) according to 1∶1 random allocation. The following indexes were compared between the two groups: (1) main index: blood loss 2 hours (h) after delivery; (2) secondary indicators: postpartum blood loss at 6 h and 24 h, placental retention time, incidence of PPH, the proportion of additional use of uterine contraction drugs, hemostatic drugs or other hemostatic measures at 2 h and 24 h after delivery, the proportion requiring blood transfusion, and the proportion of prolonged hospital stay due to poor uterine involution; (3) safety indicators: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and other adverse reactions, and blood pressure at each time point of administration.Results:(1) The blood loss at 2 h after delivery in the experimental group [(402±18) ml] was less than that in the control group [(505±18) ml], and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). (2) The blood loss at 6 h and 24 h after delivery in the experimental group were less than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the incidence of PPH, the proportion of additional use of uterine contraction drugs, hemostatic drugs or other hemostatic measures at 2 h and 24 h after delivery, the proportion requiring blood transfusion, and the proportion of prolonged hospital stay due to poor uterine involution (all P>0.05). (3) Adverse reactions occurred in 2 cases (1.4%, 2/148) in the experimental group and 1 case (0.7%, 1/150) in the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). The systolic blood pressure within 2.0 h and diastolic blood pressure within 1.5 h of drug administration in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05), but the blood pressure of the two groups were in the normal range. Conclusion:The use of ergometrine injection in CS could reduce the amount of PPH, which is safe and feasible.

Objective:To report a case of combined oxidative phosphorylation deficiency 28 (COXPD28) in China, identified the pathogenic mutation and explored the pathogenic mechanism preliminarily.Methods:The clinical characteristics of a patient with COXPD28 were retrospectively analyzed and the pathogenic mutations were identified by mitochondrial gene sequencing and whole exome sequencing. The wild-type and mutant plasmids of pathogenic genes were constructed, and effect of mutation on protein expression by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western blot were evaluated. Statistical methods mainly used one-way ANOVA and LSD test.Results:A 21 year old female patient presented with lactic acid poisoning due to repeated chest distress and wheezing since childhood. The sequencing of the whole exon group gene found that solute carrier family 25 member 26 (SLC25A26) gene had a compound heterozygous mutation (c.34G>C, p.A12P; c.197C>A, p.A66E), which was the first report in China. In vitro function test showed that the expression levels of SLC25A26 mRNA and S-adenosylmethionine carrier (SAMC) protein in cells transfected with SLC25A26 mutant plasmid were significantly lower than those transfected with wild type plasmid. The p.A66E mutant plasmid reduced the expression level of SLC25A26 mRNA and SAMC protein to 6% and 26% of wild type plasmids respectively (both P<0.001), while p.A12P mutant plasmid decreased to 62% and 82% of wild type plasmids respectively ( P<0.001, P=0.044). When the double mutant (p.A66E+p.A12P) plasmids were co-transfected, the expression levels of SLC25A26 mRNA and SAMC protein decreased to 47% and 57% of the wild type plasmids, respectively ( P<0.001, P=0.001). Conclusion:The pathogenic mutation gene of this patient with COXPD28 is SLC25A26 gene mutation (p.A66E, p.A12P), which causes the decrease of SLC25A26 expression level, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation dysfunction, and induces COXPD28.