The study aims to examine the effects and potential mechanisms of disulfiram (DSF) on cardiac hypertrophic injury, focusing on the role of transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1)-mediated pan-apoptosis (PANoptosis). H9C2 cardiomyocytes were treated with angiotensin II (Ang II, 1 µmol/L) to establish an in vitro model of myocardial hypertrophy. DSF (40 µmol/L) was used to treat cardiomyocyte hypertrophic injury models, either along or in combination with the TAK1 inhibitor, 5z-7-oxozeaenol (5z-7, 0.1 µmol/L). We assessed cell damage using propidium iodide (PI) staining, measured cell viability with CCK8 assay, quantified inflammatory factor levels in cell culture media via ELISA, detected TAK1 and RIPK1 binding rates using immunoprecipitation, and analyzed the protein expression levels of key proteins in the TAK1-mediated PANoptosis pathway using Western blot. In addition, the surface area of cardiomyocytes was measured with Phalloidin staining. The results showed that Ang II significantly reduced the cellular viability of H9C2 cardiomyocytes and the binding rate of TAK1 and RIPK1, significantly increased the surface area of H9C2 cardiomyocytes, PI staining positive rate, levels of inflammatory factors [interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α)] in cell culture media and p-TAK1/TAK1 ratio, and significantly up-regulated key proteins in the PANoptosis pathway [pyroptosis-related proteins NLRP3, Caspase-1 (p20), and GSDMD-N (p30), apoptosis-related proteins Caspase-3 (p17), Caspase-7 (p20), and Caspase-8 (p18), as well as necroptosis-related proteins p-MLKL, RIPK1, and RIPK3]. DSF significantly reversed the above changes induced by Ang II. Both 5z-7 and exogenous IL-1β weakened these cardioprotective effects of DSF. These results suggest that DSF may alleviate cardiac hypertrophic injury by inhibiting TAK1-mediated PANoptosis.
Animals ; MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases/physiology* ; Rats ; Myocytes, Cardiac/pathology* ; Disulfiram/pharmacology* ; Cardiomegaly ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Cell Line ; Angiotensin II ; Necroptosis/drug effects* ; Interleukin-1beta/metabolism* ; Receptor-Interacting Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; Lactones ; Resorcinols ; Zearalenone/administration & dosage*

OBJECTIVE: To identify the key features of facial and tongue images associated with anemia in female populations, establish anemia risk-screening models, and evaluate their performance. METHODS: A total of 533 female participants (anemic and healthy) were recruited from Shuguang Hospital. Facial and tongue images were collected using the TFDA-1 tongue and face diagnosis instrument. Color and texture features from various parts of facial and tongue images were extracted using Face Diagnosis Analysis System (FDAS) and Tongue Diagnosis Analysis System version 2.0 (TDAS v2.0). Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was used for feature selection. Ten machine learning models and one deep learning model (ResNet50V2 + Conv1D) were developed and evaluated. RESULTS: Anemic women showed lower a-values, higher L- and b-values across all age groups. Texture features analysis showed that women aged 30-39 with anemia had higher angular second moment (ASM)and lower entropy (ENT) values in facial images, while those aged 40-49 had lower contrast (CON), ENT, and MEAN values in tongue images but higher ASM. Anemic women exhibited age-related trends similar to healthy women, with decreasing L-values and increasing a-, b-, and ASM-values. LASSO identified 19 key features from 62. Among classifiers, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model achieved the best performance [area under the curve (AUC): 0.849, accuracy: 0.781]. The ResNet50V2 model achieved comparable results [AUC: 0.846, accuracy: 0.818]. CONCLUSION Differences in facial and tongue images suggest that color and texture features can serve as potential TCM phenotype and auxiliary diagnostic indicators for female anemia.
Humans ; Female ; Tongue/diagnostic imaging* ; Adult ; Anemia/diagnosis* ; Middle Aged ; Face/diagnostic imaging* ; Young Adult ; Machine Learning

Objective:To analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of pertussis cases identified through active surveillance.Methods:Active surveillance for pertussis was conducted in three sentinel hospitals in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, and Yongcheng, Henan Province. The study population included cases that met the surveillance case definition and sought medical care at outpatient/emergency departments or were hospitalized between June 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022. Samples were collected for bacterial culture and PCR detection. Case information and clinical data were collected. Differences in rates were assessed using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact probability test, and the differences in cough time were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results:Among 1 423 cases of pertussis surveillance, the positive rate of pertussis was 28.11% (400/1 423), with a median age of 5 years (interquartile range: 2, 8). The positive rate in Yongcheng, Henan Province, and Yiwu, Zhejiang Province were 39.27% (216/550) and 21.08% (184/873), respectively; the positive rate of pertussis was highest in July 2021, and the highest positive rate of pertussis was among those aged 10-14. The positive rate of pertussis in hospitalized cases was higher than in outpatient/emergency cases (26.68%) ( χ2=4.16, P=0.041). Among the 400 laboratory test-positive cases, the highest proportion of atypical symptom cases was in adults aged 20-59 (43.33%, 13/30). The specificity rates of apnea and worsening nocturnal cough in monitored cases under 3 months of age were 100.00% and 73.81%, respectively. Among monitored cases aged 3 months to 9 years, the proportions of symptoms including worsening nighttime cough (63.00%) and night sweats (4.59%) in test-positive cases were significantly higher than those in the test-negative group (47.77% and 0.56%, respectively), with statistically significant differences (both P<0.05). The specificity rates of worsened nighttime coughing and night sweats were 52.23% and 99.44%, respectively. Conclusions:The active surveillance results for pertussis showed that the 10-14 age group exhibited the highest positivity rate. Active surveillance enhanced the detection rate of pertussis. Among laboratory-confirmed cases, the proportion of atypical symptoms was the highest in adults, suggesting that laboratory testing should be combined to diagnose programs of pertussis. For infants under 3 months, worsening nighttime cough and apnea increase the diagnostic specificity, while for individuals aged 3 to 9 years old, worsening nighttime cough and night sweats increase the diagnostic specificity.

Objective To modify the YOLOv5 algorithm with similarity attention mechanism(SimAM)to enhance the recognition and segmentation accuracy of CT images for cerebral hemorrhage.Methods A basic framework was established with a YOLOv5 algorithm consisting of a backbone network(Backbone),a neck module(Neck)and a head module(Head),and then SimAM was introduced at the end of Backbone to form a YOLOv5-Sim-B algorithm and at the end of Neck to construct a YOLOv5-Sim-N algorithm.The YOLOv5-Sim-B and YOLOv5-Sim-N algorithms were trained and validated using the CT image dataset for cerebral hemorrhage publicly available on the Kaggle competition platform,and compared with the traditional YOLOv5 algorithm for recognizing and segmenting cerebral hemorrhagic lesions in CT images.Results In case the value of IoU-T was 0.6,the mean average precision(mAP)was 0.967 for YOLOv5-Sim-B algorithm,0.960 for the YOLOv5-Sim-N algorithm and 0.964 for the traditional YOLOv5 algorithm during the recognition and segmentation of cerebral hemorrhagic lesions in CT images.Conclusion The proposed algorithm gains advantages in detection accuracy and robustness,and can efficiently identify and segment cerebral hemorrhage foci in CT images.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(5):1-8]

Aim To construct and analyze the genotype of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2(GRK2)conditional knockout mice in synoviocytes,and to provide an animal model for stud-ying the function of GRK2 in synoviocytes.Methods Grk2flox/+mice were bred to generate Grk2flox/flox mice,Grk2flox/flox mice were bred to Col1a1-iCre+mice,Grk2flox/+Col1a1-iCre+mice were bred to Grk2flox/flox mice.Grk2flox/flox Col1a1-iCre+mice were ob-tained as target mice.DNA was extracted and amplified by PCR to identify the genotype.Western blot was used to verify the effect of Grk2 knockout in synovium,liver and kidney tissues.HE staining was used to detect the effects of Grk2 conditional knockout in synovial cells on ankle synovium,liver and kidney tissues.Multiple immunofluorescence was used to detect GRK2 expression in synovial cells.Results The results of gene iden-tification showed that Grk2flox/flox Col1a1-iCre+mice had both Flox and Col1a1-iCre genotypes.Western blot results showed that GRK2 expression decreased in synovial tissues of Grk2flox/flox Col1a1-iCre+mice,but there was no significant change in the expression of GRK2 in liver and kidney tissues.HE staining showed that Grk2flox/flox Col1a1-iCre+mice had no significant pathological changes in the ankle synovium,liver and kidney.The results of multiple immunofluorescence showed that GRK2 expression in synovial cells of Grk2flox/flox Col1a1-iCre+mice de-creased.Conclusion Grk2 conditional knockout mice in syno-viocytes are successfully constructed and identified,which pro-vides an animal model for further study of the role of GRK2 in synovial-related diseases.

Objective:To assess the influencing factors of glycemic control among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, in particular the correlations between peripheral blood eosinophils and metabolic indicators such as glucose, lipids, and uric acid (UA) in these patients.Methods:T2DM patients who were regularly followed up in the Intensive Diabetes Mellitus Clinic of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2016 to September 2024 were prospectively selected as the research subjects. The clinical data of these patients at their first visit and at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of follow-up were collected. The potential correlations of peripheral blood eosinophils with blood glucose control, lipid metabolism, UA metabolism, and inflammation as well as their influencing factors were analyzed.Results:A total of 161 T2DM patients were included. The glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) compliance rate was significantly higher during the follow-up visits (3, 6, 9, and 12 months) than baseline (all P<0.05) but showed no significant correlation with the count or percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils was negatively correlated with Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) ( P=0.049) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ( P=0.002) and positively with serum triglyceride (TG) ( P=0.034) and UA levels ( P<0.001). A further linear regression model analysis of these four variables and the percentage of eosinophils revealed that the percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils was only linearly correlated with serum UA level ( P<0.001). Conclusion:The percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils in T2DM patients is independently correlated with serum UA level, and monitoring serum UA level is important in T2DM management. Early identification and intervention of hyperuricemia can help provide more comprehensive and precise medical interventions for T2DM patients.

X-ray is usually used to determine anatomy and localization during conventional permanent pacemaker implantation.But X-ray exposure might induce radiation injury to fetus.In this paper,we reported 2 cases successful double cavity permanent pacemaker implantation in pregnant women woman at 13 weeks of gestation under the guidance of transthoracic echocardiography.The postoperative pacing parameters were good,the whole process was finished with zero radiation,and there were complications during pregnancy.Both cases resulted in full-term pregnancies and the natural delivery of healthy newborns.Pacemaker electrodes were in normal position as confirmed by post-delivery X-ray examinations.

Objective:To assess the influencing factors of glycemic control among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, in particular the correlations between peripheral blood eosinophils and metabolic indicators such as glucose, lipids, and uric acid (UA) in these patients.Methods:T2DM patients who were regularly followed up in the Intensive Diabetes Mellitus Clinic of Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2016 to September 2024 were prospectively selected as the research subjects. The clinical data of these patients at their first visit and at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of follow-up were collected. The potential correlations of peripheral blood eosinophils with blood glucose control, lipid metabolism, UA metabolism, and inflammation as well as their influencing factors were analyzed.Results:A total of 161 T2DM patients were included. The glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) compliance rate was significantly higher during the follow-up visits (3, 6, 9, and 12 months) than baseline (all P<0.05) but showed no significant correlation with the count or percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils was negatively correlated with Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) ( P=0.049) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ( P=0.002) and positively with serum triglyceride (TG) ( P=0.034) and UA levels ( P<0.001). A further linear regression model analysis of these four variables and the percentage of eosinophils revealed that the percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils was only linearly correlated with serum UA level ( P<0.001). Conclusion:The percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils in T2DM patients is independently correlated with serum UA level, and monitoring serum UA level is important in T2DM management. Early identification and intervention of hyperuricemia can help provide more comprehensive and precise medical interventions for T2DM patients.