1.Serpina3c Mitigates Adipose Tissue Inflammation by Inhibiting the HIF1α-Mediated Endoplasmic Reticulum Overoxidation in Adipocytes
Yu JIANG ; Jia-Qi GUO ; Ya WU ; Peng ZHENG ; Shao-Fan WANG ; Meng-Chen YANG ; Gen-Shan MA ; Yu-Yu YAO
Diabetes & Metabolism Journal 2026;50(1):62-76
Background:
Visceral white adipose tissue (vWAT) inflammation is a critical pathology of obesity-caused heart damage and is closely associated with adipocyte endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dysfunction. Serine (or cysteine) peptidase inhibitor, clade A, member 3C (Serpina3c) has been identified as an adipokine with anti-vWAT inflammatory effects. However, it remains unclear whether Serpina3c deficiency promotion of vWAT inflammation involves adipocyte ER dysfunction and whether it further contributes to heart damage in obesity.
Methods:
Wild type and Serpina3c knockout (Serpina3c–/–) mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. An adeno-associated virus (AAV) was injected locally into epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) of Serpina3c–/– mice to induce eWAT-adipocyte- specific overexpression of Serpina3c (AAV-Serpina3c) or knockdown of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (AAV-shHIF1α). In vitro experiments were performed in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
Results:
Serpina3c–/– mice exhibited more severe eWAT, serum and heart inflammation after HFD feeding. Consistently, these adverse phenotypes were mitigated in AAV-Serpina3c and AAV-shHIF1α mice. Mechanistically, ER oxidoreductase 1α (Ero1α) and protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) family members PDIA3 and PDIA4 were found to be target genes of HIF1α. In the obese mice, Serpina3c deficiency caused adipocyte more hypertrophy, and activated HIF1α-Ero1α/PDI mediated ER overoxidation and ER stress in eWAT. Subsequently, this led to increased adipocyte apoptosis and chemokine production and decreased adiponectin expression, which promoted macrophage infiltration and M1 polarization in eWAT, thus exacerbating eWAT inflammation and ultimately facilitating serum and distal heart inflammation.
Conclusion
These findings indicate that Serpina3c is a significant regulator of adipocyte ER redox homeostasis, thus highlighting Serpina3c as a potential therapeutic target for obesity-related eWAT inflammation and heart damage.
2.Technique and Application of Deep Learning-based EEG Denoising
Bao-Lian SHAN ; Hai-Qing YU ; Yong-Zhi HUANG ; Jia-Yuan MENG ; Min-Peng XU ; Tzyy-Ping JUNG ; Dong MING
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2026;53(8):2147-2160
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive neurophysiological monitoring technique. It records the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex using electrodes placed on the scalp surface. Owing to its high safety, portability, and millisecond-level temporal resolution, EEG has been widely utilized in a variety of fields, including clinical diagnosis, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), and cognitive neuroscience research. However, due to its microvolt-level amplitude, EEG is highly susceptible to various artifacts, including electrooculographic (EOG), electrocardiographic (ECG), electromyographic (EMG), and power line interference (PLI). These artifacts can obscure genuine neural activity and introduce spurious electrophysiological features. Consequently, they may compromise EEG signal quality, thereby reducing the reliability of downstream analyses. To address this issue, numerous EEG artifact removal methods have been developed, including both traditional denoising techniques and deep learning-based approaches. Traditional EEG denoising methods have long served as the primary solutions for artifact removal. Representative approaches include filtering, regression, and blind source separation. Although these methods have demonstrated effectiveness in specific scenarios, they suffer from several inherent limitations. Filtering assumes that artifacts and EEG signals can be separated in the frequency domain, but many artifacts, such as EOG and EMG, overlap with EEG spectra, which may lead to the loss of valuable neural information. Regression methods require high-quality artifact references to estimate and subtract contaminations, limiting their effectiveness in reference-free scenarios. Blind source separation can remove artifacts without external references, but it typically requires the number of EEG channels to exceed the number of sources, restricting its application in single- or low-channel EEG recordings. Deep learning-based EEG denoising methods address these limitations effectively. First, they learn the nonlinear mapping between contaminated and clean EEG directly from data in an end-to-end manner. This approach does not rely on assumptions about spectral separability, thereby preserving neural activity more completely. Second, the reference information is incorporated during the training phase, allowing the trained model to perform artifact removal independently without external references. Third, deep learning models can be flexibly designed to accommodate various recording setups, achieving robust denoising for both high-density and single-channel EEG. Collectively, these advantages enable deep learning-based methods to overcome the main challenges of traditional approaches, providing more accurate and reliable EEG signal recovery. The superior denoising performance of deep learning-based EEG denoising methods has attracted increasing attention in EEG artifact removal research. As a result, many deep learning-based denoising methods have been developed and successfully applied in neural engineering areas. However, a systematic review of the techniques and applications in this field is still lacking. To address this gap, this paper reviews recent advances in deep learning-based EEG denoising from four perspectives: technical principle, benchmark dataset, denoising model, and evaluation method. Representative applications in neural signal analysis and BCI decoding are also summarized. Furthermore, the advantage, existing challenge, and future research direction of deep learning-based EEG denoising are discussed. This review aims to provide valuable theoretical insights and technical guidance for researchers. It is also expected to promote further advances and broader applications of deep learning-based EEG denoising techniques.
3.Applications of Brain-heart Interaction in Consciousness State Assessment
Jun-Yi WANG ; Hai-Qing YU ; Qiang-Fan MENG ; Yong-Zhi HUANG ; Min-Peng XU ; Dong MING
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2026;53(10):2767-2785
Consciousness, which underpins human perception, cognition, and behavioural responses, has long been a major focus of neuroscience and medicine. Alterations in consciousness occur not only during reversible processes such as sleep and anaesthesia, but also in pathological conditions, including disorders of consciousness (DOC) and brain injury. With recent advances in the synchronized acquisition and analysis of multimodal physiological signals, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG), the dynamic interactions between the heart and brain have become increasingly apparent. A growing body of evidence indicates that heart-brain interactions are closely associated with the maintenance and transition of consciousness states, offering a novel perspective for elucidating their underlying mechanisms and supporting relevant clinical assessments. Current approaches to heart-brain interaction analysis for consciousness-state assessment can be broadly grouped into three categories: ECG-based methods, EEG-based methods, and heart-brain coupling analysis. These approaches characterize heart-brain interactions during changes in consciousness from the complementary perspectives of autonomic regulation, cortical interoceptive processing, and cross-system information transfer, respectively. Nevertheless, this field remains at an early stage. Most studies have focused on a single experimental context or a fixed analytical method, with insufficient systematic consideration of the applicability and limitations of different approaches. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying the emergence and alteration of consciousness remain incompletely understood. Accordingly, this review examines heart-brain interaction methods employed in recent consciousness-state assessment studies in accordance with progressively deeper analytical perspectives, and systematically evaluates the advantages and limitations of these methods across distinct consciousness-related conditions. Heart rate variability (HRV) is one of the classical ECG-based indices used to investigate heart-brain interactions. It refers to fluctuations in consecutive interbeat intervals over a specified time period and is regarded as a physiological measure of autonomic nervous system regulation that may indirectly reflect the strength of heart-brain interactions. Depending on the analytical dimension, HRV analysis is commonly divided into time-domain, frequency-domain, and complexity-index analyses. These approaches characterize autonomic activity in terms of temporal fluctuations, the distribution of frequency components, and nonlinear dynamical properties, respectively. Although extensive research supports their physiological interpretation, they cannot characterize directional interactions from the heart to the brain. Among EEG-based methods for heart-brain interaction analysis, EEG activity directly related to cardiac fluctuations has received particular attention. One of the most widely used measures is the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP). HEP-based approaches are considered to directly reflect the capacity of the cerebral cortex to process cardiac afferent signals and may be especially advantageous for characterizing rapidly changing consciousness levels, such as those observed during sleep. However, they do not comprehensively capture dynamic bidirectional information exchange between the brain and heart and are susceptible to cardiac artefacts, respiration, and variation in preprocessing procedures. Heart-brain coupling analysis quantifies functional associations between ECG and EEG through cross-system interaction measures, thereby assessing dynamic interactions between the heart and brain. It emphasizes information transfer, feedback regulation, and cross-timescale coordination between the two systems, offering a more comprehensive perspective for investigating changes in consciousness during sleep, anaesthesia, and DOC. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms and physiological interpretation of individual computational indices have not yet been fully established, and the robustness of their results and their potential for clinical generalization require further validation. Finally, this review summarizes the commonalities and differences among the three classes of methods across research domains involving different consciousness states. It further argues that heart-brain interaction research requires deeper investigation at both the mechanistic level of consciousness and the level of clinical application. Current challenges and key issues are identified, and future directions and feasible pathways for heart-brain interaction research are discussed, with the aim of providing new perspectives for researchers in related fields.
4.Temporal Expression of NETosis Marker CitH3 in Deep Vein Thrombosis in Mice
Qian WANG ; Song-Min YANG ; Juan-Juan WU ; Yu ZHANG ; Xiang-Meng WANG ; Gang CHEN ; Peng-Fei JIANG
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;41(3):201-207
Objective To detect the expression changes of citrullinated histone H3(CitH3)during the development of deep vein thrombosis(DVT)in mice,and to explore its value in estimating the time to thrombosis.Methods The inferior vena cava(IVC)of mice was ligated to establish a thrombosis model induced by congestion.Mice were sacrificed under excessive anesthesia at 0 h,1 d,3 d,5 d,7 d,10 d,14 d and 21 d after the modeling,respectively.The congested IVC segments(0 h after modeling)and the thrombosed IVC segments(1-21 days after modeling)were extracted.Immunohistochemistry and double immunofluorescence staining were used to observe the number of neutrophils and the ex-pression of CitH3 during thrombosis.Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression level of CitH3.Results During thrombosis,CitH3 was mainly expressed in neutrophils within the thrombus.A small number of neutrophils and a few CitH3-positive cells were observed at 0 h after modeling in the congested IVC.Between 1 d and 21 d after modeling,the number of neutrophils reached a peak at 1 d and gradually decreased.The number of CitH3-positive cells and their ratio to neutrophils began to increase at 1 d,reached a peak at 5 d after modeling,and then decreased.The expression level of CitH3 protein began to increase at 1 d and reached a peak at 5 d after modeling.Conclusion The expres-sion of CitH3 during DVI shows temporal changes,and is expected to become a biological marker for estimating the formation time of thrombosis.
5.Exploration of the application of vehicle-mounted 5G remote mobile robotic surgical system in thyroid surgery
Meng WANG ; Wen TIAN ; Qingqing HE ; Guolou LI ; Jian ZHU ; Xiaodong MA ; Wei WEI ; Qiongqiong TAN ; Jinzhi HU ; Yingying WANG ; Peng ZHOU ; Gang WANG ; Yixin LIU ; Hejun WANG ; Yu LIU ; Lihu LIU
International Journal of Surgery 2025;52(1):28-32
Objective:To investigate the feasibility and safety of implementing a domestic vehicle-mounted remote mobile robotic surgical system in thyroid surgery applications, integrated with 5G communication technology.Methods:Using the main system located on the vehicle-mounted mobile robot operating platform of the 960th Hospital of PLA Joint Logistics Support Force and the slave system of Weifang Traditional Chinese Hospital, the remote radical thyroidectomy 5G communication technology, and analyze the clinical and information transmission data of two female patients who underwent remote mobile robot thyroid cancer surgery on October 21, 2024 at Weifang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.Results:The remote radical thyroidectomy was conducted by the robosurgeons utilizing a vehicle-mounted mobile robotic surgical system, and the procedure was successfully completed without necessitating intermediate open surgery. The operation durations for patient 1 and patient 2 were 135 minutes and 108 minutes, respectively, with 7 and 13 lymph nodes dissected, respectively. The average delay in surgical data transmission was recorded at 61.9 milliseconds, with no instances of signal interruption or frame loss. The procedure proceeded smoothly, without any jamming, and the audio and video transmissions were consistently clear. Follow up for 21 days after surgery showed no complications such as hoarseness, skin damage, or lymphatic fistula.Conclusion:The implementation of a vehicle-mounted remote mobile robotic surgery system for thyroid surgery has demonstrated safety and feasibility. Furthermore, the utilization of the 5G network offers rapid data transmission and minimal latency, closely approximating the therapeutic efficacy of traditional robotic thyroidectomy.
6.Identification of Medical Surge Risk Influencing Factors and Analysis of Causal Coupling Relationships Based on DEMATEL-ISM
Yiran GAO ; Nan MENG ; Tian YU ; Yanping WANG ; Min WEI ; Wanmeng TENG ; Jialin LU ; Peng WANG ; Kexin WANG ; Ning NING ; Yanhua HAO ; Avdeev SERGEY ; Qunhong WU
Chinese Hospital Management 2025;45(11):6-10
Objective To identify the key factors affecting the risk of medical surges and their coupling relation5 ships,providing strategic support for medical institutions to optimize risk management and emergency governance.Methods 17 influencing factors were determined based on WSR theory,and an expert scoring method was employed to assess the impact strength among the factors.The DEMATEL method was applied to calculate the centrality,cau5 sality,influence,and being influenced degrees of the influencing factors.The ISM method was used to construct a hierarchical structure of the influencing factors related to medical surge risks,thereby revealing the connections and interaction mechanisms among these factors.Results Seven critical influencing factors were identified,including the crisis decision-making capacity and leadership effectiveness of emergency managers,the completeness of the emer5 gency system and dynamic execution capabilities,and the cross-departmental coordination mechanism and com5 mand collaboration efficiency.Deep driving factors and coupling pathways were also revealed.Conclusion The risk of medical surges exhibits multi-factorial coupling cascade effects;attention should be directed towards the construc5 tion of mid-to-deep level mechanisms such as information systems,institutional frameworks,and organizational management,to enhance targeted capabilities and systemic resilience in risk governance.
7.A Dual-Layer Network Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Medical Surge Risk Diffusion Based on MATLAB and REPAST
Nan MENG ; Yanping WANG ; Yiran GAO ; Tian YU ; Min WEI ; Wanmeng TENG ; Peng WANG ; Fengqian ZHONG ; Lili JIANG ; Jialin LU ; Ning NING ; Avdeev SERGEY ; Qunhong WU
Chinese Hospital Management 2025;45(11):22-27
Objective To explore the coupling mechanism between medical surge response resources and the spread of secondary risks during public health emergencies,as well as the effectiveness of relevant interventions.Methods Based on complex network theory,a dual-layer network model of medical resources and secondary events was constructed.The interactive feedback between medical resource status and secondary event risk,as well as the effects of network structure,were analyzed through MATLAB simulations,REPAST agent-based modeling,and mean-field analysis.Results Simulation and prediction results show that an increase in first-layer resource-deficient nodes significantly raises the activation rate and transmission speed of secondary events,while the clustering and spread of secondary events in the second layer,in turn,intensify resource depletion,creating a negative feedback loop.Mean-field analysis indicates a nonlinear positive correlation between the adequacy of medical resources and the likelihood of secondary events.Network structure analysis reveals that when the average node degree exceeds 8,resource allocation efficiency improves markedly.Conclusion There exists a dynamic coupling and bidirectional feedback relationship between medical resource status and secondary event risks.Enhancing the flexible allocation and responsiveness of medical resources,improving multi-sectoral collaborative monitoring and coordinated regulation,optimizing network connectivity and coordination mechanisms for resource distribution,and establishing dynamic monitoring and tiered early warning systems are key strategies for strengthening the resilience of healthcare systems and effectively containing the spread of secondary events.
8.Research on Conceptual Connotation and Theoretical Model Construction of Network Dynamic Collaboration Capacity in Medical Surge Response
Yanping WANG ; Nan MENG ; Min WEI ; Yiran GAO ; Tian YU ; Peng WANG ; Jialin LU ; Huan LIU ; Shue ZHANG ; Avdeev SERGEY ; Ning NING ; Yanhua HAO ; Qunhong WU
Chinese Hospital Management 2025;45(11):28-33
Objective To define the conceptual connotation of network dynamic collaboration capacity in medical surge response and construct its theoretical model.Methods A mixed concept analysis method was employed,integrating multidisciplinary literature and collecting empirical evidence through semi-structured expert interviews to extract the concept of network dynamic collaboration capacity in medical surge response.By integrating complex systems,network science,synergetics,and dynamic capability theory,and combining the interview results,the study used the analogy of flood control in hydraulic engineering to develop a"network-dynamic-collaboration"triangular capacity theoretical model.Results It reveals one antecedents(sudden external shocks have led to an abnormal and continuous surge in medical demand),six core attributes(information interconnection accessibility,dynamic resource adaptability,risk perception responsiveness,multi-party collaborative interactivity,service process adaptability elasticity,and learning iterative evolution),and four consequences(mitigation of crowding risk,protection of service continuity,minimization of crisis spillover,and enhancement of system resilience)for the network dynamic collaboration capacity in medical surge response.The theoretical model elucidates the coupling mechanisms among network structural resilience,dynamic regulation processes,and collaborative co-evolution in resisting medical surge.Conclusion The new concept and theoretical model proposed in this study deepen the understanding of medical surge response system mechanisms and offer a theoretical framework and practical guidance for strengthening the full-chain resilience of health emergency systems.
9.circHERC4_041 Inhibits the Fibrotic Phenotype of Cardiac Fibroblasts by Encoding Protein
Yuan GAO ; Chuan-Meng ZHOU ; Hua-Yan WU ; Ya WANG ; Ru-Shi WU ; Pei-Ying GUAN ; Jun-Tao FANG ; Jin-Dong XU ; Yu-Peng LIU ; Zhi-Qin HU ; Zhi-Xin SHAN
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(3):393-403
A mounting body of research suggests that circRNAs significantly contribute to the develop-ment of myocardial fibrosis.The microarray results of human circular RNA expression profile indicated that circHERC4_041 expression increased in the myocardium of patients with heart failure,RT-qPCR a-nalysis confirmed that the myocardial expression level of circHERC4_041 in individuals with heart failure were considerably elevated compared to that in healthy organ donors.Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)confirmed that circHERC4_041 was abundant in the cytoplasm of human cardiomyocyte AC16.Overexpression of circHERC4_041 in mouse myocardial fibroblasts(mCFs)mediated by adenovirus in-hibited the expression of fibrosis-related proteins in mCFs.Experiments involving cell proliferation,wound healing,and Transwell assays demonstrated that overexpression of circHERC4_041 suppressed the growth and mobility of mCFs(P<0.001).Sequence analysis results suggested that circHERC4_041 con-tains potential ribosome entry sequence(IRES)and open reading frame(ORF).Western blot confirmed that circHERC4_041 could translate the 516 amino acid HERC4-516aa protein,which was mainly located in the cytoplasm of the cell.Cell functional experiments confirmed that circHERC4_041 inhibited the fi-brotic phenotype of mCFs by specifically translating HERC4-516aa(P<0.05).The specific interaction between HERC4-516aa and transglutaminase 2(TGM2)was confirmed by IP-MS screening and Co-IP i-dentification.Further results found that the degradation of TGM2 was promoted through proteasome path-way.The overexpression of TGM2 in mCFs facilitated by adenoviral vectors could counteract the suppres-sive effects of HERC4-516aa on the fibrotic phenotype of mCFs.Therefore,this study confirmed that the HERC4-516aa protein translated by circHERC4_041 can specifically bind to TGM2 to inhibit the fibrotic phenotype of myocardial fibroblasts.
10.A Study on the Mechanism of Moxibustion at Tianshu(ST25)Acupoint in Alleviating 5-FU-Induced Intestinal Mucositis via Regulating the PPARα-NF-κB/NLRP3 Signaling Pathway
Peng LIU ; Meng-ying HONG ; Bing-rong LI ; Min-yu YAN ; Bi-meng ZHANG
Progress in Modern Biomedicine 2025;25(14):2241-2249
Objective:To investigate the effects of moxibustion at Tianshu(ST25)acupoint on 5-fluorouracil(5-FU)-induced intestinal mucositis(IM)and its underlying mechanisms.Methods:Eighteen C57BL/6 male mice were randomly divided into four groups:normal control(NC),IM model(IM),moxibustion 15 min(MO 15 min),and moxibustion 30 min(MO 30 min).The IM model was established via intraperitoneal injection of 5-FU.Pathological changes in colon tissues were observed using hematoxylin and eosin(HE)staining.Protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha(PPARα),nuclear factor kappa-B(NF-κB),phosphorylated NF-κB(p-NF-κB),NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3(NLRP3),caspase-1,interleukin-1β(IL-1β),and interleukin-18(IL-18)were analyzed via Western blot,ELISA,and immunohistochemistry.Results:Compared with the NC group,the IM group showed significantly shortened colon length(P<0.05),exhibited mucosal damage,inflammatory cell infiltration,and glandular disorder,along with upregulated protein expression of p-NF-κB,NLRP3,IL-1β,IL-18,and caspase-1(P<0.05),and downregulated PPARα expression(P<0.05).After moxibustion intervention,the MO 15 min group demonstrated increased intestinal length(P<0.05),reduced pathological scores(P<0.05),significantly downregulated expression of NLRP3,p-NF-κB,IL-1β,and IL-18(P<0.05),and elevated PPARα expression(P<0.05),while total NF-κB protein levels remained unchanged.Conclusion:Moxibustion at Tianshu(ST25)acupoint may alleviate 5-FU-induced intestinal mucosal inflammatory responses by activating PPARα to suppress the NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway.

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