Objective To explore the role of ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) and unilateral centrifugation subjective visual vertical (UC-SVV) tests in evaluating the utricular function of patients with Meniere’s disease (MD) at different clinical stages. Methods A total of 97 unilateral MD patients at Shandong Provincial ENT Hospital from July 2019 to September 2021 were selected. All patients underwent oVEMP, UC-SVV, and pure tone audiometry tests. MD patients were classified into clinical stages 1, 2, 3, and 4, with stages 1 and 2 defined as early stage and stages 3 and 4 as late stage. The results of utricular function tests (abnormal rates of oVEMP, UC-SVV, and oVEMP＋UC-SVV) were compared among patients at different stages. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between utricular function and clinical staging. Results Among the 97 MD patients, the abnormal rate of oVEMP was 66.0% (64/97), and the abnormal rate of UC-SVV was 55.7% (54/97). The abnormal rates of oVEMP and oVEMP＋UC-SVV in early-stage patients were significantly lower than those in late-stage patients (P＜0.05), while the difference in UC-SVV abnormal rates between the two groups was not statistically significant. Intra-group comparisons showed that the abnormal rate of oVEMP＋UC-SVV in stage 1 patients was significantly lower than that in stage 2 patients (P＜0.05), without significant difference in the other indices. There were no significant differences among the three indices in stages 3 and 4 patients. Spearman correlation test results indicated that the abnormal rate of oVEMP (r＝0.336, P＝0.001) and the abnormal rate of oVEMP＋UC-SVV (r＝0.301, P＝0.003) were weakly positively correlated with clinical staging, while there was no correlation between the abnormal rate of UC-SVV and clinical staging (r＝0.022, P＝0.832). Conclusions Both oVEMP and UC-SVV tests can assess utricular function in MD patients at different clinical stages. Their combination is helpful of early-stage (stages 1 and 2) MD diagnosis.

Zebrafish larvae are useful for identifying chemicals against lateral line (LL) hair cell (HC) damage and this type of chemical screen mainly focuses on searching for protectors against cell death. To expand the candidate pool of HC protectors, a self-built acoustic escape response (AER)-detecting system was developed to apply both low-frequency near-field sound transmission and AER image acquisition/processing modules. The device quickly confirmed the changed LL HC functions caused by most known ototoxins, protectors, and neural transmission modifiers, or knockdown of LL HC-expressing genes. With ten devices wired in tandem, five 'hit' chemicals were identified from 124 cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors to partially restore cisplatin-damaged AER in less than a day. AS2863619, ribociclib, and SU9516 among the hits, protected the HCs in the mouse cochlea. Therefore, using free-swimming larval zebrafish, the self-made AER-detecting device can efficiently identify compounds that are protective against HC damage, including cell death and loss-of-function.
Animals ; Zebrafish ; Hair Cells, Auditory/physiology* ; Lateral Line System/cytology* ; Escape Reaction/physiology* ; Larva ; Mice ; Cisplatin/toxicity* ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical/methods*

Objective The present study conducted a comprehensive literature review and visualization analysis of both domestic and international research on the utilization of hemodialysis water over the past two decades,aiming to gain insights into the current research status,identify prominent areas of interest,and highlight future development trends in this field,thereby of-fering valuable references for subsequent studies.Methods By employing bibliometric analysis,the relevant literature on hemo-dialysis water usage was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection(WoSCC)database and China National Knowledge Network(CNKI)for the period between 2004 and 2024.Subsequently,an in-depth examination of countries,research institu-tions,authors,and keywords associated with these publications was conducted.The visualization map was generated using CiteSpace 6.2.R4 software.Results A total of 3 304 papers were included,with 147 in Chinese and 3 157 in English.Over the past two decades,there has been a consistent upward trend in the number of publications both domestically and international-ly,although the growth rate of domestic literature lags behind that of foreign countries.The United States,China,and Japan rank as the top three countries in terms of publication volume,with the United States exhibiting the highest centrality.Foreign coun-tries tend to form small research groups with close institutional collaborations,while domestic research teams and institutions are relatively dispersed.Currently,foreign research primarily focuses on Fabrication,Ultrafiltration Membranes and Performance;meanwhile,domestic research emphasizes infection control,quality control,and daily maintenance.Conclusion From 2004 to 2024,both domestic and international researchers have consistently focused on water research for hemodialysis.However,China lags behind foreign countries in this field,necessitating enhanced collaboration among nations,institutions,and regions to broad-en the scope and depth of domestic research.

Background::Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have shown similar worsening epidemic patterns globally and shared various overlapping pathophysiological mechanisms. However, evidence on the relationship between NAFLD and IBD risk is lacking. We aimed to investigate the associations between long-term risk of incident IBD and NAFLD in a large prospective cohort.Methods::Participants from the United Kingdom Biobank cohort (https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/) who were free of IBD and alcoholic liver disease at baseline were enrolled. Baseline non-alcoholic fatty liver degree was measured by the well-established fatty liver index (FLI). The outcomes of interest included incident IBD, ulcerative colitis (UC), and Crohn’s disease (CD). Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results::Among 418,721 participants (mean FLI: 48.11 ± 30.11), 160,807 (38.40%) participants were diagnosed as NAFLD at baseline. During a median of 12.4 years’ follow-up, 2346 incident IBD cases (1545 UC, 653 CD, and 148 IBD-unclassified) were identified. Due to limited events, those IBD-unclassified were combined in UC or CD when examining the associated risk of UC or CD, separately. Compared with the lowest quartile of FLI, the highest quartile showed a separately 36.00%, 25.00%, and 58.00% higher risk of incident IBD (HR Q4 vs. Q1 =1.36, 95% CI: 1.19-1.55, Ptrend <0.001), UC (HR Q4 vs. Q1 =1.25, 95% CI: 1.07-1.46, Ptrend=0.047), and CD (HR Q4 vs. Q1 =1.58, 95% CI: 1.26-1.97, Ptrend <0.001) after multivariable adjustment. Compared with non-NAFLD, NAFLD participants had a significantly higher risk of incident IBD (HR=1.13, 95% CI: 1.04-1.24) and CD (HR =1.36, 95% CI: 1.17-1.58). Conclusions::Higher degree of non-alcoholic fatty liver is associated with increased risk of incident IBD. Interventions aimed at improving NAFLD may be a potential targeted strategy for the detection and treatment of IBD.

Objective To explore the association between delay discounting and delay aversion with household activities in adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods This study was a cross-sectional study.A total of 400 adult patients with T2DM were recruited as the study subjects from the People's Hospital of Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province from February 2023 to June 2023.The face to face survey was conducted to collect the basic data and related information of household activities,delay discounting,delay aversion of the study subjects.The height and weight information was obtained by the phy-sique measurement.The multiple linear regression was adopted to analyze the association between delay dis-counting,delay aversion and the level of household activities.Results After adjusting the sample characteris-tics,the multiple linear regression analysis showed that the delay discounting was negatively correlated with the level of household activities(β=-1.570,95％CI:-3.077 to-0.062),and delay aversion was also nega-tively correlated with the level of household activities(β=-2.442,95％CI:-3.998 to-0.887),and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion Both higher delay discounting and higher de-lay aversion are associated with lower levels of household activity.Delay discounting and delay aversion could affect the patients with T2DM to participate in household activities.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral sulfate solution (OSS) for bowel preparation.Methods:A multi-center, randomized, single-blinded, positive-controlled and non-inferiority clinical study was conducted. Participants were randomized to receive two bottles of OSS or 4-liter polyethylene glycol (Ⅲ) (PEG) regimen. The primary indicator was efficacy for bowel preparation. Boston bowel preparation scale (BBPS) ≥2 scores in each segment was determined as effective. Secondary endpoints included subjects' compliance, colonoscopy bubble evaluation, time interval of defecation after medication, time interval of defecation type Ⅶ (Bristol stool classification), the number of defecation, and the positive rate of colonoscopy (detection rate of polyps, non-polyp eminence, ulcers, etc.) were also recorded. The safety was evaluated by the incidence of adverse events and severe adverse events.Results:A total of 240 subjects from 4 hospitals were enrolled in the study, with 120 subjects in the experimental group (the OSS group) and 120 subjects in the control group (the PEG group). The full analysis set (FAS) showed that the bowel preparation success rates were 92.44% (110/119) in the OSS group and 91.60% (109/119) in the PEG group ( χ2=0.058, P=0.809) . The total BBPS score and the scores of each bowel segment were all higher in the OSS group than those in the PEG group ( P<0.05) in both FAS and per protocol set (PPS) except the score of left colon in the FAS. The satisfaction rate of bubble evaluation in the OSS group was higher ( 95.80% VS 89.08%, P=0.025). The compliance, positive rate of colonoscopy and safety of the two groups were comparable. Conclusion:Compared with 4-liter PEG regimen, OSS regimen shows similar bowel preparation quality, superior anti-foaming effect with acceptable safety.

Alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) is a liver disease characterized by steatosis, inflammation, and necrosis of the liver tissue as a result of excessive alcohol consumption. Pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a xenobiotic nuclear receptor best known for its function in the transcriptional regulation of drug metabolism and disposition. Clinical reports suggested that the antibiotic rifampicin, a potent human PXR activator, is a contraindication in alcoholics, but the mechanism was unclear. In this study, we showed that the hepatic expression of fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) was uniquely elevated in ASH patients and a mouse model of ASH. Pharmacological inhibiting FABP4 attenuated ASH in mice. Furthermore, treatment of mice with the mouse PXR agonist pregnenolon-16α-carbonitrile (PCN) induced the hepatic and circulating levels of FABP4 and exacerbated ASH in a PXR-dependent manner. Our mechanism study established FABP4 as a transcriptional target of PXR. Treatment with andrographolide, a natural compound and dual inhibitor of PXR and FABP4, alleviated mice from ASH. In summary, our results showed that the PXR-FABP4 gene regulatory axis plays an important role in the progression of ASH, which may have accounted for the contraindication of rifampicin in patients of alcoholic liver disease. Pharmacological inhibition of PXR and/or FABP4 may have its promise in the clinical management of ASH.

ObjectiveTo investigate the pharmacodynamic characteristics and explore the molecular mechanism of Honghua oral liquid （HOL） in relieving neuropathic pain （NP）. MethodHealthy male SD rats were randomly assigned into sham group， model group， low-， medium-， high-dose （0.5， 1.0， 2.0 mL·kg^-1·d^-1， respectively） HOL groups， and a positive drug （pregabalin， 25 mg·kg^-1·d^-1） group， with 6 rats in each group. Spinal nerve ligation （SNL） of L5 was conducted in other groups except the sham group. Drug administration was performed 3 days after the SNL surgery for 2 consecutive weeks， and samples were collected after the end of the administration. During the treatment period， the mechanical pain threshold and cold pain threshold were determined to measure the pain-relieving effect of HOL. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on hippocampal tissue samples from the sham， model， and high-dose HOL groups， and differentially expressed genes between the sham group and the model group as well as the model group and HOL high-dose group were obtained. After pathway enrichment analysis， we selected the targets which were closely related to neuroinflammation for validation， and predicted the specific binding sites of the major active components in HOL with the targets through molecular docking. In addition， the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α） and interleukin-10 （IL-10） were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） to evaluate the effect of HOL on neuroinflammation in NP rats. ResultCompared with the sham group， SNL decreased the mechanical pain threshold and cold pain threshold （P<0.05）. Compared with the model group， HOL recovered the mechanical pain threshold and cold pain threshold （P<0.05）. The transcriptome data showed that 376 differentially expressed genes （DEGs） were identified between the model group and the sham group， including 124 upregulated genes and 252 downregulated genes， and 194 DEGs between the model group and the high-dose HOL group， including 33 upregulated genes and 161 downregulated genes. Among them， insulin-like growth factor 1（IGF1）， matrix metallopeptidase-2 （MMP-2）， matrix metallopeptidase-14 （MMP-14）， erb-B2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 （ERBB2）， and integrin subunit alpha 5 （ITGA5） associated with NP were selected for further validation. The Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction（Real-time PCR） results showed that compared with the sham group， the modeling up-gurelated the mRNA levels of the above five molecules in the hippocampus （P<0.01）. Compared with model group， HOL down-regulated the mRNA levels of these molecules （P<0.01）. The molecular docking results showed that the main active components of safflower， hydroxysafflor yellow A， kaempferol， and quercetin， formed stable hydrogen bonds with the amino acid residues of IGF1， MMP-2， MMP-14， ERBB2， and ITGA5. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA） results showed that compared with those in the sham group， the serum levels of TNF-α and IL-10 were out of balance in the model rats （P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， HOL lowered the level of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α （P<0.01） and elevated that of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 （P<0.05）. ConclusionHOL exerts analgesic effect on SNL rats by inhibiting neuroinflammation.

Objective:To disclose the epidemiological characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Ningbo city from 2013 to 2021.Methods:Epidemic data and laboratory-confirmed results of SFTS patients in Ningbo city were analyzed in the past 10 years. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by using genomic sequences of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) strains isolated from the patients.Results:During 2013-2021, a total of 65 confirmed SFTS cases were reported with the mortality of 12.31%, including 8 dead cases. The average age was 53.65 years with higher incidence in 60-70 years old cases. Cases were reported in 6 districts (counties) from Ningbo city, of which Ninghai county (33 cases, 50.77%) and Xiangshan county (20 cases, 30.77%) reported the highest number of cases. The cases mainly occurred from April to August, accounting for 81.54% (53/65); 76.92% (50/65) of the patients were farmers; 92.31% (60/65) of patients lived in mountainous or hilly terrain. Of the 65 SFTS cases, 8 patients had a clear history of tick bites, and 20 patients had contact with domestic animals (pets) or rats in their residence. The evolution analysis on gene sequencing results showed that SFTSV epidemic strains in Ningbo city included genotype J2 and C4.Conclusion:Most of the SFTS patients were elderly people. The top two high-risk areas were Ninghai county and Xiangshan county. July was the peak month of the disease. Genotype J2 and C4 were epidemic strains in Ningbo city.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of oral sulfate solution (OSS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) electrolyte powder for colonoscopy bowel preparation.Methods:A total of 283 randomized patients from 9 centers in China taking OSS ( n=143) or PEG ( n=140) using two-day split bowel preparation regimen received colonoscopy and assessment. The primary index was the bowel preparation success rate [global Boston bowel preparation scale (BBPS)≥ 6 by independent assessment center]. Secondary indices included BBPS global and segmental scores, investigator satisfaction (5-point Likert scale) with the quality of bowel preparation, patient satisfaction assessed by questionnaires, and patient tolerance assessed by Sharma scale. Compliance and safety were compared between the two groups. Results:The bowel preparation success rates were 100.0% for OSS and 99.3% for PEG [adjusted difference 0.7% (95% CI: -5.3% - 6.7%), P<0.001 for non-inferiority]. The BBPS global score in OSS group was significantly higher than that in PEG group (8.1 VS 7.7, P<0.001). The segment BBPS scores were also higher in OSS group than those in PEG group for all 3 segments (right colon: 2.4 VS 2.3, P=0.002; transverse colon: 2.8 VS 2.7, P=0.018; left colon: 2.8 VS 2.7, P=0.007). Investigator Likert score in the OSS group was significantly higher than that in the PEG group (2.6 VS 2.3, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in compliance between OSS and PEG, except for the second dose (90.9% VS 82.6%, P=0.039). There was no significant difference in patient satisfaction, Sharma score or proportion of patients with tolerance-related symptoms between the two groups. Safety was comparable between the two groups, and all adverse events were mild to moderate. Conclusion:OSS has comparable efficacy with PEG, with higher BBPS scores in all segments, better investigator satisfaction, better compliance in split dose, and comparable patient tolerance and safety.