OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the dynamic changes of glucocorticoid (GC) dose and the feasibility of GC discontinuation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under the background of Chinese medicine (CM). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study included 1,196 RA patients enrolled in the China Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry of Patients with Chinese Medicine (CERTAIN) from September 1, 2019 to December 4, 2023, who initiated GC therapy. Participants were divided into the Western medicine (WM) and integrative medicine (IM, combination of CM and WM) groups based on medication regimen. Follow-up was performed at least every 3 months to assess dynamic changes in GC dose. Changes in GC dose were analyzed by generalized estimator equation, the probability of GC discontinuation was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curve, and predictors of GC discontinuation were analyzed by Cox regression. Patients with <12 months of follow-up were excluded for the sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Among 1,196 patients (85.4% female; median age 56.4 years), 880 (73.6%) received IM. Over a median 12-month follow-up, 34.3% (410 cases) discontinued GC, with significantly higher rates in the IM group (40.8% vs. 16.1% in WM; P<0.05). GC dose declined progressively, with IM patients demonstrating faster reductions (median 3.75 mg vs. 5.00 mg in WM at 12 months; P<0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis identified age <60 years [P<0.001, hazard ratios (HR)=2.142, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.523-3.012], IM therapy (P=0.001, HR=2.175, 95% CI: 1.369-3.456), baseline GC dose ⩽7.5 mg (P=0.003, HR=1.637, 95% CI: 1.177-2.275), and absence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use (P=0.001, HR=2.546, 95% CI: 1.432-4.527) as significant predictors of GC discontinuation. Sensitivity analysis (545 cases) confirmed these findings. CONCLUSIONS RA patients receiving CM face difficulties in following guideline-recommended GC discontinuation protocols. IM can promote GC discontinuation and is a promising strategy to reduce GC dependency in RA management. (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, No. NCT05219214).
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/drug therapy* ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals and other factors that can affect their health. Analysis of these mixture exposures presents several key challenges for environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, including high dimensionality, correlated exposure, and subtle individual effects. METHODS: We proposed a novel statistical approach, the generalized functional linear model (GFLM), to analyze the health effects of exposure mixtures. GFLM treats the effect of mixture exposures as a smooth function by reordering exposures based on specific mechanisms and capturing internal correlations to provide a meaningful estimation and interpretation. The robustness and efficiency was evaluated under various scenarios through extensive simulation studies. RESULTS: We applied the GFLM to two datasets from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the first application, we examined the effects of 37 nutrients on BMI (2011-2016 cycles). The GFLM identified a significant mixture effect, with fiber and fat emerging as the nutrients with the greatest negative and positive effects on BMI, respectively. For the second application, we investigated the association between four pre- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gout risk (2007-2018 cycles). Unlike traditional methods, the GFLM indicated no significant association, demonstrating its robustness to multicollinearity. CONCLUSION GFLM framework is a powerful tool for mixture exposure analysis, offering improved handling of correlated exposures and interpretable results. It demonstrates robust performance across various scenarios and real-world applications, advancing our understanding of complex environmental exposures and their health impacts on environmental epidemiology and toxicology.
Humans ; Environmental Exposure/analysis* ; Linear Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Environmental Pollutants ; Body Mass Index

Objective To analyze the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3(VEGFR3)and adaptor protein containing PH domain,PTB domain,and leucine zipper motif 1(APPL1)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)and their relationship with clinical pathology.Methods A total of 100 patients with NSCLC admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University from January 2019 to December 2020 were selected as the study objects,and the NSCLC tissues and adjacent tissues of the patients were collected.The expression of VEGFR3 and APPL1 was detected by immunohistochemistry,and the relationship between VEGFR3 and APPL1 expression and clinical pathology of patients was analyzed,as well as the predictive value of VEGFR3 and APPL1 for prognosis of patients with NSCLC.Results The posi-tive rates of VEGFR3 and APPL1 in NSCLC tissues and adjacent tissues were significantly different(P<0.05).The positive rate of VEGFR3 was significantly different in patients with different histological type,lymph node metastasis and tumor invasion(P<0.05).The positive rate of APPL1 was significantly different in patients with different histological type and tumor invasion(P<0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that VEGFR3 was positively correlated with APPL1 expression(r=0.330,P<0.05).The relative expression levels of VEGFR3 and APPL1 in death group were higher than those in survival group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve of relative expression levels of VEGFR3 and APPL1 to predict the prognosis of NSCLC patients was 0.843(95%CI:0.757-0.908)and 0.799(95%CI:0.707-0.872).Conclusion The ex-pression of VEGFR3 and APPL1 in NSCLC patients is related to their clinical pathological features.The relative ex-pression levels of VEGFR3 and APPL1 are of great value in predicting the prognosis of NSCLC patients.

OBJECTIVE To observe the clinical efficacy of donafenib combined with programmed death-1 （PD-1） inhibitors and vascular intervention therapy in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. METHODS This retrospective study included 165 patients with unresectable HCC who were treated at the Fourth and First Affiliated Hospitals of Soochow University between June 2022 and March 2023. Among them， 89 patients received PD-1 inhibitors （tislelizumab or sintilimab， similarly hereinafter） plus vascular intervention （control group） and 76 patients received donafenib in combination with PD-1 inhibitors and vascular intervention （observation group）. Short-term efficacy （3 months after treatment）， long-term efficacy （2 years after treatment）， the levels of liver function indexes [serum alanine amino-transferase （ALT）， aspartate transferase （AST）， and total bilirubin （TBil）] and tumor biomarkers [alpha fetoprotein （AFP）， carcinoembryonic antigen （CEA）， carbohydrate antigen 19-9 （CA19-9）， and des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin （DCP）] before treatment and after 3 months of treatment， as well as the occurrence of adverse drug reaction （ADR） during treatment， were compared between the two groups. In addition， overall response rate （ORR） stratified by PD-1 inhibitor type was analyzed. RESULTS After treatment， the ORR was significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group （P＜0.05）； although the disease control rate was higher in the observation group compared to the control group， the difference was not statistically significant （P＞0.05）. The median overall survival of patients in the observation group was 16.9 months [95% confidence interval （CI）： 14.2 to 19.1 months]， which was significantly longer than that in the control group （12.4 months， 95%CI： 10.1 to 15.3 months） （P＜0.05）. Subgroup analysis result indicated that therapeutic advantage was consistent across both sintilimab and tislelizumab subgroups， with no significant heterogeneity （P＞0.1， I 2＜0.001%）. Before treatment， there were no significant differences in liver function indexes or tumor marker levels between 2 groups （P＞0.05）. After treatment， both groups showed significant declines in these indicators compared with baseline （P＜0.05）， with greater reductions observed in the observation group （P＜0.05）. There were no statistically significant differences in overall incidence of ADR and grade ≥3 ADRs between the two groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS For patients with unresectable HCC， the combination of donafenib， PD-1 inhibitors and vascular intervention therapy may achieve superior clinical outcomes without increasing the risk of treatment-related ADR.

Lung transplantation is the optimal treatment for end-stage lung diseases and can significantly improve prognosis of the patients. However, postoperative complications such as infection, rejection, ischemia-reperfusion injury, and other challenges (like shortage of donor lungs) , limit the practical application of lung transplantation in clinical practice. Chinese research teams have been making continuous efforts and have achieved breakthroughs in basic research on lung transplantation by integrating emerging technologies and cutting-edge achievements from interdisciplinary fields, which has strongly propelled the development of this field. This article will comprehensively review the academic progress made by Chinese research teams in the field of lung transplantation in 2024, with a focus on the achievements of Chinese teams in basic research on lung transplantation. It aims to provide innovative ideas and strategies for key issues in the basic field of lung transplantation and to help China's lung transplantation cause reach a higher level.

Objective To observe the correlations of metabolite levels in medial prefrontal cortex(mPFC)and cancer-related depression(CRD)in patients with non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods Totally 38 NSCLC patients were prospectively enrolled and divided into CRD group(n=23)and non CRD group(n=15)based on Hamilton depression scale(HAMD-17).Meanwhile,22 healthy individuals were taken as control group.1 H-MR spectroscopy was performed using Meshcher-Garwood point resolved spectroscopy sequence,then metabolite levels of mPFC were measured,and their correlations with HAMD-17 score were analyzed.Results Significant differences of gamma-aminobutyric acid(GABA)+/Water and glutamate/glutamine complex(Glx)/Water in mPFC were found among 3 groups.GABA+/Water in mPFC of CRD group was significantly lower than that of the other 2 groups(both P＜0.05),and Glx/Water in mPFC of CRD group was significantly lower than that of control group(P=0.034).In NSCLC patients,GABA+/Water in mPFC was negatively correlated with HAMD-17 score(r=-0.491,P=0.002).Conclusion GABA+/Water in mPFC was negatively correlated with HAMD-17 score in NSCLC patients.

Aim To examine the pathogenesis of disul-fide death gene in vascular dementia(VD)by bioin-formatics analysis of disulfide death differentially ex-pressed genes(DEGs)combined with experimental verification.Methods The death DEGs of disulfide were screened and their correlation was analyzed.The VD patients data in the data set were analyzed by clus-tering and typing and gene set variation.The clustering risk of DEGs was tested with a nomogram model,and the optimal learning model was predicted.After the es-tablishment of VD rat model,water maze test,HE stai-ning and RT-qPCR detection were performed to verify the results of health information.Results Four DEGs including SLC7A11 were obtained,which had antago-nistic or synergistic interaction with each other.The genetic data could be divided into two subtypes with significant differences.After typing,VD disulfide DEGs were mainly concentrated in GnRH signaling pathways.The accuracy of the nomogram prediction model was high.Generalized linear was the best ma-chine learning model.Compared with the sham opera-tion group,the escape latency of rats in the model group was prolonged,the number of crossing platforms decreased,the relative mRNA expression levels of Slc3a2 and Slc7a11 decreased,and LRPPRC in-creased.Conclusions SLC7A11 and other disulfide death DEGs and its related GnRH signaling pathway may be an important part of the pathogenesis of VD di-sulfide death.SLC3A2,LRPPRC and SLC7A11 can be used as characteristic genes in the regulation of VD by disulfide death,which may affect VD progression through the regulation of disulfide death.

Objective:To investigate level and influencing factors of information overload of intensive care unit (ICU) patients′ decision-making agents in order to provide positive clinical interventions for improving their information overload.Methods:During March 2023 to February 2024, 302 ICU patients′ decision-making agents from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University of the People′s Liberation Army of China were cross-sectional surveyed by Basic Information Questionnaire, Information Overloading Scale, Decision Participation Expectancy Scale, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Vickers Forest Physician Trust Scale, Decision Preparation Scale, Decision Fatigue Scale and Information Literacy Scale through convenience sampling methods.Results:In the valid 297 questionnaires, there were 172 males and 125 females in ICU patients′ decision-making agents aged 28-69(47.94 ± 8.71) years. The score of information overload was (19.65 ± 7.71), the score of perceived social support was (52.34 ± 7.87), the score of state anxiety was (60.88 ± 6.16), the score of trait anxiety was (60.09 ± 5.49), the score of physician trust was (35.34 ± 4.30), the score of preparation of decision was (27.90 ± 3.01), the score of decision fatigue was (20.61 ± 3.30), and the score of information literacy was (56.18 ± 11.46) in ICU patients′ decision-making agents. Linear regression analysis showed that age, educational level, having a common decision-maker, times of making medical decisions, type of participating in medical decision (cooperative type and proactive type), perceived social support, state anxiety, physician trust, preparation for decision making, decision fatigue and information literacy were all significant influencing factors of information overload of ICU patients′ decision-making agents ( t values were -6.76 to 7.57, all P<0.05). Conclusions:The level of information overload of ICU patients′ decision-making agents was above average. Therefore, while educating them about patients′ illness situation and inviting them to participate in decision-making, ICU medical staff should pay attention on their level of information overload, and then select simply easy communication methods and content to help them quickly understand information and make decisions according to their characteristics and information processing ability.

Objective To construct a scientific and effective evaluation system for the medical science popularization a-bility of public hospitals,providing a reference for the evaluation and improvement of their medical science popularization abili-ties.Methods 27 experts from 6 public hospitals and 2 science popularization committees were invited to participate in two rounds of consultations.The Delphi method was used to screen evaluation indicators for medical science popularization ability,and the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP)was adopted to determine the weight of each indicator.Results The constructed e-valuation system for the medical science popularization ability of public hospitals includes 3 first-level indicators,7 second-level indicators,and 23 third-level indicators.The comprehensive weights of the third-level indicators range from 0.013 to 0.086.Conclusion The constructed evaluation system for the medical science popularization ability of public hospitals has a certain au-thority and scientific validity,which can provide a reference for promoting the evaluation of medical science popularization abili-ties in public hospitals.