Varicocele (VC) is a common cause of male infertility, yet there is a lack of molecular information for VC-associated male infertility. This study investigated alterations in the seminal plasma metabolomic and lipidomic profiles of infertile male VC patients. Twenty infertile males with VC and twenty-three age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited from Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Beijing, China) between October 2019 and April 2021. Untargeted metabolite and lipid profiles from seminal plasma were analyzed using mass spectrometry. Four hundred and seventy-six metabolites and seventeen lipids were significantly different in infertile male VC patients compared to HCs. The top enriched pathways among these significantly different metabolites are protein digestion and absorption, aminoacyl-transfer RNA (tRNA) biosynthesis, and biosynthesis of amino acids. Different key lipid species, including triglyceride (TG), diacylglycerol (DG), ceramides (Cer), and phosphatidylserine (PS), varied between VC and HC groups. The distinct metabolites and lipids were moderately correlated. DL-3-phenyllactic acid is a potential diagnostic biomarker for VC-related male infertility (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.893), positively correlating with sperm count, concentration, and motility. Furthermore, DL-3-phenyllactic acid is the only metabolite shared by all four comparisons (VC vs HC, VC-induced oligoasthenospermia [OAS] vs VC-induced asthenospermia [AS], OAS vs HC, and AS vs HC). DL-3-phenyllactic acid significantly decreased in OAS than AS. Metabolite-targeting gene analysis revealed carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA9) might be the strongest candidate associated with the onset and severity of VC. The seminal plasma metabolite and lipid profiles of infertile males with VC differ significantly from those of HCs. DL-3-phenyllactic acid could be a promising biomarker.
Humans ; Male ; Varicocele/complications* ; Infertility, Male/etiology* ; Semen/metabolism* ; Lipidomics ; Adult ; Metabolomics ; Case-Control Studies ; Biomarkers/metabolism*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Shexiang Tongxin Dropping Pill (STDP) in treating stable angina patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis syndrome by exercise duration and metabolic equivalents. METHODS: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial enrolled stable angina patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis syndrome from 22 hospitals. They were randomized 1:1 to STDP (35 mg/pill, 6 pills per day) or placebo for 56 days. The primary outcome was the exercise duration and metabolic equivalents (METs) assessed by the standard Bruce exercise treadmill test after 56 days of treatment. The secondary outcomes included the total angina symptom score, Chinese medicine (CM) symptom scores, Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) scores, changes in ST-T on electrocardiogram and adverse events (AEs). RESULTS: This trial enrolled 309 patients, including 155 and 154 in the STDP and placebo groups, respectively. STDP significantly prolonged exercise duration with an increase of 51.0 s, compared to a decrease of 12.0 s with placebo (change rate: -11.1% vs. 3.2%, P<0.01). The increase in METs was significantly greater in the STDP group than in the placebo group (change: -0.4 vs. 0.0, change rate: -5.0% vs. 0.0%, P<0.01). The improvement of total angina symptom scores (25.0% vs. 0.0%), CM symptom scores (38.7% vs. 11.8%), reduction of nitroglycerin consumption (100.0% vs. 11.3%), and all domains of SAQ, were significantly greater with STDP than placebo (all P<0.01). The changes in Q-T intervals at 28 and 56 days from baseline were similar between the two groups (both P>0.05). Twenty-five participants (16.3%) with STDP and 16 (10.5%) with placebo experienced AEs (P=0.131), with no serious AEs observed. CONCLUSION STDP could improve exercise tolerance in patients with stable angina and phlegm-heat and blood stasis syndrome, with a favorable safety profile. (Registration No. ChiCTR-IPR-15006020).
Humans ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/adverse effects* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Angina, Stable/physiopathology* ; Aged ; Syndrome ; Treatment Outcome ; Placebos ; Tablets

Early correction of childhood malocclusion is timely managing morphological, structural, and functional abnormalities at different dentomaxillofacial developmental stages. The selection of appropriate imaging examination and comprehensive radiological diagnosis and analysis play an important role in early correction of childhood malocclusion. This expert consensus is a collaborative effort by multidisciplinary experts in dentistry across the nation based on the current clinical evidence, aiming to provide general guidance on appropriate imaging examination selection, comprehensive and accurate imaging assessment for early orthodontic treatment patients.
Humans ; Malocclusion/diagnostic imaging* ; Child ; Consensus

Functional dyspepsia (FD), characterized by persistent or recurrent dyspeptic symptoms without identifiable organic, systemic or metabolic causes, is an increasingly recognized global health issue. The objective of this guideline is to equip clinicians and nursing professionals with evidence-based strategies for the management and treatment of adult patients with FD using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The Guideline Development Group consulted existing TCM consensus documents on FD and convened a panel of 35 clinicians to generate initial clinical queries. To address these queries, a systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Database, China Biology Medicine (SinoMed) Database, Wanfang Database, Traditional Medicine Research Data Expanded (TMRDE), and the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (TCMLARS). The evidence from the literature was critically appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The strength of the recommendations was ascertained through a consensus-building process involving TCM and allopathic medicine experts, methodologists, pharmacologists, nursing specialists, and health economists, leveraging their collective expertise and empirical knowledge. The guideline comprises a total of 43 evidence-informed recommendations that span a range of clinical aspects, including the pathogenesis according to TCM, diagnostic approaches, therapeutic interventions, efficacy assessments, and prognostic considerations. Please cite this article as: Zhang SS, Zhao LQ, Hou XH, Bian ZX, Zheng JH, Tian HH, Yang GH, Hong WS, He YY, Liu L, Shen H, Li YP, Xie S, Shu J, Zeng BF, Li JX, Liu Z, Xiao ZH, Xiao JD, Zheng PY, Huang SG, Chen SL, Fei GJ. International clinical practice guideline on the use of traditional Chinese medicine for functional dyspepsia (2025). J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):502-518.
Dyspepsia/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*

Objective:To summarize the experience and effect of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA).Methods:The data of 70 patients with AMI-IHCA-ECPR in extracorporeal life support center of the first affiliated hospital of Nanjing medical university from January 2017 to December 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were grouped by Survival/death at 90 days, with/without combined intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). Age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, initial rhythm, Gensini score, ECPR initial blood gas pH and lactate value, no-flow time, time from cardiac arrest to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) initiation (CA-Pump On time), ECMO treatment time, 90-day survival rate were analyzed.Results:Among the 70 patients with AMI-IHCA-ECPR, 22 (31.4%) patients survived at 90 days, of whom 19 (86.4%) patients had good neurological outcomes. About 50% of AMI-IHCA-ECPR patients had severe multi-vessel coronary artery lesions, and there was no significant difference in survival outcomes among different vascular lesions. In the IABP group, the success rate of ECMO withdrawal was low, the duration of ECMO treatment was long, and the combination of IABP did not reduce the mortality. Compared with the death group, the 90-day survival group had a lower Gensini score, a higher ECPR initial blood gas pH and a lower lactic acid value.Conclusions:AMI-IHCA-ECPR combined with IABP did not show significant survival benefits, and about 50% of patients had severe lesions of multiple coronary arteries. It is difficult to evaluate the prognosis based on a single offender vessel. It is recommended to evaluate the outcome of patients by quantification of the severity of coronary artery lesions by Gensini score.

Turning to critical illness is a common stage of various diseases and injuries before death. Patients usually have complex health conditions, while the treatment process involves a wide range of content, along with high requirements for doctor′s professionalism and multi-specialty teamwork, as well as a great demand for time-sensitive treatments. However, this is not matched with critical care professionals and the current state of medical care in China. Telemedicine, which shortens the distance of medical professionals and the gap of disease diagnosis and treatments in various regions through electronic information, can effectively solve the current problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a standardized, high-quality visualization telemedicine round system .Therefore, experts have been organized to search domestic and foreign literature on telemedicine round for critically ill patients and to form this consensus based on clinical experiences so as to further improve the level of critical care treatments in regions.

Objective To investigate the relationship between quantitative parameters of the histogram of global fat fraction(FF)in the infrapatellar fat pad(IPFP)and the severity of knee osteoarthritis(KOA).Methods A total of 120 patients were prospectively selected and divided into the non-KOA group(KL grade 0-1),the mild KOA group(KL grade 2),and the severe KOA group(KL grade 3-4)based on the Kellgren-Lawrence(KL)classification criteria of knee X-rays.The FF maps of the IPFP were obtained based on the mDIXON-Quant technique.The region of interest(ROI)was delineated using 3D Slicer software,and global histogram analysis was performed to obtain quantitative parameters,including mean,median,10th percentile(10th),90th percentile(90th),skewness,kurtosis,and entropy.Pearson or Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between each quanti-tative parameter and the severity of KOA.The diagnostic efficacy was analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves.Results As the progression of KL classification,the mean,median,percentiles,and kurtosis of the global FF histogram quantitative parameters in the IPFP decreased,while skewness and entropy increased,with statistically significant among the three groups(P＜0.001).The mean,median,10th,90th,and kurtosis showed negative correlations with the KL classification(r=-0.563,-0.448,-0.614,-0.294,-0.450),while skewness and entropy showed positive correlations with the KL classification(r=0.385,0.637),all of which were statistically significant(P＜0.05).The area under the curve(AUC)for diagnosing KOA were 0.799,0.725,0.828,0.636,0.741,0.688,and 0.830,respectively.The sensitivity of the 10th and entropy were 74.4％and 77.9％,respectively,and the specificity were 85.3％and 88.2％,respectively.Conclusion The quantitative parameters of the histogram of global FF in the IPFP are correlated with the severity of KOA and can reflect the pathophysiological changes in the IPFP.They can serve as objective indicators for diagnosing KOA and assessing its severity.

Aim To explore the mechanism of the syn-ergistic effect of the ferroptosis inducer erastin com-bined with shikonin in promoting ferroptosis in human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts(HSFBs).Methods Hypertrophic scar tissues provided by the General Hos-pital of Ningxia Medical University were collected,and HSFBs were extracted.HSFBs were identified by HE staining and immunofluorescence.The inhibitory rates of Era and SHK on HSFBs at different concentrations were detected by CCK-8 assay,and the IC50 value was calculated.CompuSyn software was used to calculate the co-use index(CI).Control group,Erastin(Era)group,shikonin(SHK)group and Era+SHK group were set up,and the number and morphological chan-ges of cells were observed after 24 hours of interven-tion.The ability of cell migration and invasion was de-tected by scratch test and Transwell test.The changes of malondialdehyde(MDA),total iron ion and reactive oxygen species(ROS)were detected by corresponding biochemical kits.The expressions of collagen I,α-SMA and GOT1,SLC7A11,GPX4 and FTH1 were detected by Western blot.Results The IC50 value of Era and SHK of primary HSFBs was 2.22 μmol·L-1 and 3.94μmol·L-1 respectively,which was used as the single drug concentration for subsequent experiments.The CompuSyn software was employed to calculate the CI value when the two drugs were used in combination,and the concentrations corresponding to CI=0.39597(Era:1.2 μmol·L-1+SHK:1.5 μmol·L-1)were selected as subsequent combination concentrations(Because when CI was equal to 0.395 97,the concen-tration of each drug was lower than the concentration of single drug,and the inhibition rate of combined drug was greater than 50％).Compared with the monother-apy group,the number of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group was significantly reduced,cell membrane showed breakage and vesiculation,cell wrinkling became smal-ler,and cytoplasm was concentrated.The migration and invasion ability of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group were obviously weakened(P＜0.05),and the expres-sion of fibrosis-related proteins collagen Ⅰ and α-SMA was reduced(P＜0.05);the contents of MDA,total i-ron ions,and ROS in HSFBs of the SHK+Era group increased(P＜0.05),and the protein expression lev-els of SLC7A11,GOT1,GPX4,and FTH1 further de-creased(P＜0.05).Conclusions Erastin in combi-nation with shikonin can synergistically inhibit the pro-liferation,migration and fibrosis levels of HSFBs.The mechanism may be that erastin enhances the inhibition of shikotin on GOT1,increases the levels of cellular i-ron ions,ROS,and lipid peroxides,thereby promoting ferroptosis in HSFBs.

Objective To investigate the clinical treatment effect and safety of 3D microscopy technology for adjuvant neuraxial tumor resection on neuraxial tumor diseases.Methods A total of 37 patients with neuraxial tumors treated from January 2019 to July 2023,15 patients treated with 3D microscope tumor resection(3D group),and 22 patients treated with general microscope tumor resection(ordinary group)were analyzed.The perioperative indexes,clinical efficacy indexes and safety indexes were compared between the two groups.Results The operation time was(223.78±46.46)min in the ordinary group and(182.93±39.28)min in the 3D group,which was significantly lower than that in the ordinary group(P<0.05),and there was no significant difference in other perioperative indicators between the two groups(P>0.05).All patients had significantly reduced their postoperative pain symptoms and recovered their neurological function to a certain extent.There were statistically significant differences between the two groups(P<0.01),but there was no statistical difference between the two groups(P>0.05),and the McCormick spinal cord function rating was grade I.at one year after surgery.Conclusion The use of 3D microscopy and general microscopy for neuraxial tumor surgery has good clinical efficacy.However,the operation time can be significantly shortened under 3D microscopy,thereby reducing the risk of surgical complications and has better clinical safety.