ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the effects of Linggui Zhugantang （LGZGT） on ventricular remodeling （VR） in mice with myocardial infarction （MI） and its impact on the Ras homologgene A （RhoA）/Rho-associated coiled-coil forming protein kinase （ROCK） signaling pathway. MethodsThe MI model of mice was established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery （LAD）. They were divided into the sham-operated group， the model group， the low-dose， medium-dose， and high-dose groups of LGZGT （2.34， 4.68， 9.36 g·kg^-1）， and the captopril group （3.25 mg·kg^-1）， with 10 mice in each group. After four weeks of continuous drug administration by gavage， the level of cardiac function in each group of mice was examined using small animal Doppler ultrasound. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Masson staining was used to assess the morphological changes of myocardial tissue and calculate the rate of collagen fiber deposition in mouse myocardial tissue. Wheat germ agglutinin （WGA） staining was employed to compare the cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes in each group of mice. The expression levels of α-smooth muscle actin （α-SMA）， matrix metalloproteinase-2 （MMP-2）， type Ⅰcollagen （Col Ⅰ）， Col Ⅲ， tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1（TIMP1）， B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）-associated X protein （Bax）， Bcl-2， Caspase-3， and cleaved Caspase-3 were detected by Western blot. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was used to evaluate the mRNA levels of the pathway-related genes RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2. The protein expression levels of RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2 were tested by Western blot. ResultsThe level of cardiac function was markedly declined in the model group compared to the sham-operated group（P<0.01）. Myocardial tissue morphology changed significantly. The cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes was significantly enlarged. The expression of α-SMA， MMP-2， Col Ⅰ， and Col Ⅲ was significantly upregulated（P<0.01）， and TIMP1 protein expression was significantly reduced（P<0.01）. The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins Bax were significantly up-regulated（P<0.01）， while the expression of Bcl-2 protein was significantly decreased（P<0.01）. The mRNA expression of RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2 were significantly upregulated （P<0.01）. Compared to the model group， the low-dose， medium-dose， and high-dose groups of LGZGT and the captopril group significantly reversed the experimental results of the model group in a dose-dependent manner （P<0.05， P<0.01）. ConclusionLGZGT significantly attenuated myocardial fibrosis， myocardial hypertrophy， and cardiomyocyte apoptosis after MI in mice and effectively reversed VR， the mechanism of which may be related to the modulation of the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway.

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the effects of Linggui Zhugantang （LGZGT） on ventricular remodeling （VR） in mice with myocardial infarction （MI） and its impact on the Ras homologgene A （RhoA）/Rho-associated coiled-coil forming protein kinase （ROCK） signaling pathway. MethodsThe MI model of mice was established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery （LAD）. They were divided into the sham-operated group， the model group， the low-dose， medium-dose， and high-dose groups of LGZGT （2.34， 4.68， 9.36 g·kg^-1）， and the captopril group （3.25 mg·kg^-1）， with 10 mice in each group. After four weeks of continuous drug administration by gavage， the level of cardiac function in each group of mice was examined using small animal Doppler ultrasound. Hematoxylin-eosin （HE） staining and Masson staining was used to assess the morphological changes of myocardial tissue and calculate the rate of collagen fiber deposition in mouse myocardial tissue. Wheat germ agglutinin （WGA） staining was employed to compare the cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes in each group of mice. The expression levels of α-smooth muscle actin （α-SMA）， matrix metalloproteinase-2 （MMP-2）， type Ⅰcollagen （Col Ⅰ）， Col Ⅲ， tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1（TIMP1）， B-cell lymphoma-2 （Bcl-2）-associated X protein （Bax）， Bcl-2， Caspase-3， and cleaved Caspase-3 were detected by Western blot. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was used to evaluate the mRNA levels of the pathway-related genes RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2. The protein expression levels of RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2 were tested by Western blot. ResultsThe level of cardiac function was markedly declined in the model group compared to the sham-operated group（P<0.01）. Myocardial tissue morphology changed significantly. The cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes was significantly enlarged. The expression of α-SMA， MMP-2， Col Ⅰ， and Col Ⅲ was significantly upregulated（P<0.01）， and TIMP1 protein expression was significantly reduced（P<0.01）. The expressions of apoptosis-related proteins Bax were significantly up-regulated（P<0.01）， while the expression of Bcl-2 protein was significantly decreased（P<0.01）. The mRNA expression of RhoA， ROCK1， and ROCK2 were significantly upregulated （P<0.01）. Compared to the model group， the low-dose， medium-dose， and high-dose groups of LGZGT and the captopril group significantly reversed the experimental results of the model group in a dose-dependent manner （P<0.05， P<0.01）. ConclusionLGZGT significantly attenuated myocardial fibrosis， myocardial hypertrophy， and cardiomyocyte apoptosis after MI in mice and effectively reversed VR， the mechanism of which may be related to the modulation of the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway.

Objective:To investigate the value of the ratio of heparin binding protein (HBP) to albumin (ALB) in diagnosis and predict the severity of Kawasaki disease shock syndrome (KDSS).Methods:This study was a retrospective study. Pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) admitted to the Children's Intensive Care Unit and department of Pediatric Emergency Center of Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2019 to May 2022 were enrolled. The HBP/ALB ratio was calculated according to HBP and serum ALB. The children were divided into three groups (low, medium, and high ratio groups) according to the median and upper and lower quartiles of the HBP/ALB ratio. The differences of each index among the three groups were compared. The receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn to evaluate the clinical value of the HBP/ALB ratio in diagnosis of KDSS and the severity of the disease.Results:A total of 111 cases were included in this study, including 28 cases in the low ratio group, 56 cases in the medium ratio group, and 27 cases in the high ratio group. There were 24 cases with coronary artery damage, 87 cases without coronary artery damage, 27 cases with abnormal ECG findings, and 17 children with KDSS (including 5 cases in the medium ratio group, and 12 cases in the high ratio group). The incidence of KDSS, coronary involvement, and abnormal electrocardiogram proportions in the high ratio group were significantly higher than those in the other two groups. Compared with low and medium ratio groups, the levels of cardiac troponin I, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, lactate, stroke output variation, trends in thoracic fluid content, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and D-dimer levels were higher in the high ratio group, while ALB and blood sodium levels were lower in the high ratio group (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in above indicators between the low and medium ratio groups (all P>0.05). The HBP/ALB ratio had a higher area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity (0.942, 0.882, and 0.883, respectively) in predicting KDSS compared to HBP alone (0.776, 0.842, and 0.670, respectively). Conclusion:The HBP/ALB ratio could reflect the severity of children with KD and has certain clinical value for prognostic evaluation.

Objective:To construct a risk prediction model for the inter-hospital transfer of critically ill children using machine learning methods, identify key medical features affecting transfer outcomes, and improve the success rate of transfers.Methods:A prospective study was conducted on critically ill children admitted to the pediatric transfer center of Hunan Children's Hospital from January 2020 to January 2021. Medical data on critical care features and relevant data from the Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISMⅢ) scoring system were collected and processed. Three machine learning models, including logistic regression, decision tree, and Relief algorithm, were used to construct the risk prediction model. A back propagation neural network was employed to build a referral outcome prediction model to verify and analyze the selected medical features from the risk prediction model, exploring the key medical features influencing inter-hospital transfer risk.Results:Among the 549 transferred children included in the study, 222 were neonates (40.44%) and 327 were non-neonates (59.56%). There were 50 children in-hospital deaths, resulting in a mortality rate of 9.11%. After processing 151 critical care medical feature data points, each model selected the top 15 important features influencing transfer outcomes, with a total of 34 selected features. The decision tree model had an overlap of 72.7% with PRISMⅢ indicators, higher than logistic regression (36.4%) and Relief algorithm (27.3%). The training prediction accuracy of the decision tree model was 0.94, higher than the accuracy of 0.90 when including all features, indicating its clinical utility. Among the top 15 important features selected by the decision tree model, the impact on transfer outcomes was ranked as follows based on quantitative feature violin plots: base excess, total bilirubin, ionized calcium, total time, arterial oxygen pressure, blood parameters (including white blood cells, platelets, prothrombin time/activated partial thromboplastin time), carbon dioxide pressure, blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, organ failure, lactate, capillary refill time, temperature, and cyanosis. Eight of these important features overlapped with PRISMⅢ indicators, including systolic blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, pupillary reflex, consciousness, acidosis, arterial oxygen pressure, carbon dioxide pressure, blood parameters, and blood glucose. The decision tree was used to select the top 15 medical features with high impact on the neonatal and non-neonatal datasets, respectively. A total of 19 features were selected, among which there were 8 differences and 11 overlap terms between the important features of the neonatal and non-neonatal.Conclusions:Machine learning models could serve as reliable tools for predicting the risk of inter-hospital transfer of critically ill children. The decision tree model exhibits superior performance and helps identify key medical features affecting inter-hospital transfer risk, thereby improving the success rate of inter-hospital transfers for critically ill children.

Objective To explore the medication rules and mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine compound patent formulas for vitiligo,and provide ideas for the development and the patent declaration work of new Chinese medicines for vitiligo.Methods China Patent Publication Bulletin website,National Knowledge Infrastructure Database,Patent Information Service Platform of China Intellectual Property Right Net(CNIPR),and Baiten Patent Platform were used to search for the patents of traditional Chinese medicine compound formulas for vitiligo from the establishment of the databases to 30th September,2023.Excel software and Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Computing Platform(TCMICS V3.0)were used to establish a database of compound formulas,and carry out the statistics of frequency,association rules and clustering analysis of the formulas for internal and external prescriptions.The target and mechanism of action of the internal prescriptions of core high-frequency Traditional Chinese Medicine group for the treatment of vitiligo were further explored by Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP),Symptom Mapping(Symmap),The Human Gene Database(Genecards),UniversalProtein(UniProt),STRING,Pharmaceutical DataBase(PDB)and other databases as well as software such as R Studio 4.2.2 and Cytoscape 3.9.1,and AutoDock Vina was used for molecular docking validation.Results The internal formulas included 335 patents and the external formulas included 189 patents.The rules of internal and external use are similar.The high-frequency traditional Chinese medicines are Tribuli Fructus,Psoraleae Fructus,Angelicae sinensis,Radix Polygoni Multiflori,Carthami Flos,Angelica dahurica,etc.;the key efficacies of the medicines are based on tonifying the deficiency,activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis;and the properties of the Chinese medicines are the nature of warmth,coldness and flatness,sweetness,bitterness,pungency and attribution to the liver,the spleen,the heart and the kidneys.Commonly used oral medicine pairs are Chuanxiong rhizome-Angelica,Astragalus-Angelica,etc.,high-frequency pairs of external medicines are Fructus mume-Psoraleae fructus,cuscuta-Psoraleae fructus,etc.;internal and external clustering of the core drugs are Psoraleae fructus,Tribuli Fructus,Angelica,Polygonum multiflorum,Angelica dahurica,Safflower,and other high-frequency medicines.The key targets of internal patents for the treatment of vitiligo are genes such as albumin,protein kinase B1,cystatinase 3,etc.The main active ingredients of the internal grouping for the treatment of vitiligo may be quercetin,kaempferol,luteolin,etc.,and the therapeutic mechanism may be related to the end products of glycosylation/receptor for glycosylation end products,tumour necrosis factor signalling pathway,phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B and other signalling pathways,and involved in the process of blood lipids and atherosclerosis,human cytomegalovirus infection.The molecular docking results confirmed the docking activity of the herbal components with key receptor proteins.Conclusion This study reveals the similarity between the internal and external patented formulas of vitiligo in terms of medication,flavour,and meridian,suggesting that the pathways and indexes such as albumin,interleukin,and tumour necrosis factor of vitiligo patients can be improved by tonifying the liver and kidney,activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis,which also provides a reference for the research and development of new medicines for vitiligo,patent protection,and the use of clinical prescriptions.

Objective To monitor the susceptibility of clinical isolates to antimicrobial agents in tertiary hospitals in major regions of China in 2022.Methods Clinical isolates from 58 hospitals in China were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility using a unified protocol based on disc diffusion method or automated testing systems.Results were interpreted using the 2022 Clinical &Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)breakpoints.Results A total of 318 013 clinical isolates were collected from January 1,2022 to December 31,2022,of which 29.5％were gram-positive and 70.5％were gram-negative.The prevalence of methicillin-resistant strains in Staphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis and other coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species(excluding Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Staphylococcus schleiferi)was 28.3％,76.7％and 77.9％,respectively.Overall,94.0％of MRSA strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 90.8％of MRSE strains were susceptible to rifampicin.No vancomycin-resistant strains were found.Enterococcus faecalis showed significantly lower resistance rates to most antimicrobial agents tested than Enterococcus faecium.A few vancomycin-resistant strains were identified in both E.faecalis and E.faecium.The prevalence of penicillin-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae was 94.2％in the isolates from children and 95.7％in the isolates from adults.The resistance rate to carbapenems was lower than 13.1％in most Enterobacterales species except for Klebsiella,21.7％-23.1％of which were resistant to carbapenems.Most Enterobacterales isolates were highly susceptible to tigecycline,colistin and polymyxin B,with resistance rates ranging from 0.1％to 13.3％.The prevalence of meropenem-resistant strains decreased from 23.5％in 2019 to 18.0％in 2022 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa,and decreased from 79.0％in 2019 to 72.5％in 2022 in Acinetobacter baumannii.Conclusions The resistance of clinical isolates to the commonly used antimicrobial agents is still increasing in tertiary hospitals.However,the prevalence of important carbapenem-resistant organisms such as carbapenem-resistant K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa,and A.baumannii showed a downward trend in recent years.This finding suggests that the strategy of combining antimicrobial resistance surveillance with multidisciplinary concerted action works well in curbing the spread of resistant bacteria.

Objective To investigate the distribution and antimicrobial resistance profiles of the common pathogens isolated from urine from 2015 to 2021 in the CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program.Methods The bacterial strains were isolated from urine and identified routinely in 51 hospitals across China in the CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program from 2015 to 2021.Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by Kirby-Bauer method,automatic microbiological analysis system and E-test according to the unified protocol.Results A total of 261 893 nonduplicate strains were isolated from urine specimen from 2015 to 2021,of which gram-positive bacteria accounted for 23.8％(62 219/261 893),and gram-negative bacteria 76.2％(199 674/261 893).The most common species were E.coli(46.7％),E.faecium(10.4％),K.pneumoniae(9.8％),E.faecalis(8.7％),P.mirabilis(3.5％),P.aeruginosa(3.4％),SS.agalactiae(2.6％),and E.cloacae(2.1％).The strains were more frequently isolated from inpatients versus outpatients and emergency patients,from females versus males,and from adults versus children.The prevalence of ESBLs-producing strains in E.coli,K.pneumoniae and P.mirabilis was 53.2％,52.8％and 37.0％,respectively.The prevalence of carbapenem-resistant strains in E.coli,K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa and A.baumannii was 1.7％,18.5％,16.4％,and 40.3％,respectively.Lower than 10％of the E.faecalis isolates were resistant to ampicillin,nitrofurantoin,linezolid,vancomycin,teicoplanin and fosfomycin.More than 90％of the E.faecium isolates were ressitant to ampicillin,levofloxacin and erythromycin.The percentage of strains resistant to vancomycin,linezolid or teicoplanin was＜2％.The E.coli,K.pneumoniae,P.aeruginosa and A.baumannii strains isolated from ICU inpatients showed significantly higher resistance rates than the corresponding strains isolated from outpatients and non-ICU inpatients.Conclusions E.coli,Enterococcus and K.pneumoniae are the most common pathogens in urinary tract infection.The bacterial species and antimicrobial resistance of urinary isolates vary with different populations.More attention should be paid to antimicrobial resistance surveillance and reduce the irrational use of antimicrobial agents.

Objective To understand the distribution and changing resistance profiles of clinical isolates of Enterococcus in hospitals across China from 2015 to 2021.Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted for the clinical isolates of Enterococcus according to the unified protocol of CHINET program by automated systems,Kirby-Bauer method,or E-test strip.The results were interpreted according to the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)breakpoints in 2021.WHONET 5.6 software was used for statistical analysis.Results A total of 124 565 strains of Enterococcus were isolated during the 7-year period,mainly including Enterococcus faecalis(50.7％)and Enterococcus faecalis(41.5％).The strains were mainly isolated from urinary tract specimens(46.9％±2.6％),and primarily from the patients in the department of internal medicine,surgery and ICU.E.faecium and E.faecalis strains showed low level resistance rate to vancomycin,teicoplanin and linezolid(≤3.6％).The prevalence of vancomycin-resistant E.faecalis and E.faecium was 0.1％and 1.3％,respectively.The prevalence of linezolid-resistant E.faecalis increased from 0.7％in 2015 to 3.4％in 2021,while the prevalence of linezolid-resistant E.faecium was 0.3％.Conclusions The clinical isolates of Enterococcus were still highly susceptible to vancomycin,teicoplanin,and linezolid,evidenced by a low resistance rate.However,the prevalence of linezolid-resistant E.faecalis was increasing during the 7-year period.It is necessary to strengthen antimicrobial resistance surveillance to effectively identify the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and curb the spread of resistant pathogens.

Objective To examine the changing antimicrobial resistance profile of Enterobacter spp.isolates in 53 hospitals across China from 2015 t0 2021.Methods The clinical isolates of Enterobacter spp.were collected from 53 hospitals across China during 2015-2021 and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility using Kirby-Bauer method or automated testing systems according to the CHINET unified protocol.The results were interpreted according to the breakpoints issued by the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)in 2021(M100 31st edition)and analyzed with WHONET 5.6 software.Results A total of 37 966 Enterobacter strains were isolated from 2015 to 2021.The proportion of Enterobacter isolates among all clinical isolates showed a fluctuating trend over the 7-year period,overall 2.5％in all clinical isolates amd 5.7％in Enterobacterale strains.The most frequently isolated Enterobacter species was Enterobacter cloacae,accounting for 93.7％(35 571/37 966).The strains were mainly isolated from respiratory specimens(44.4±4.6)％,followed by secretions/pus(16.4±2.3)％and urine(16.0±0.9)％.The strains from respiratory samples decreased slightly,while those from sterile body fluids increased over the 7-year period.The Enterobacter strains were mainly isolated from inpatients(92.9％),and only(7.1±0.8)％of the strains were isolated from outpatients and emergency patients.The patients in surgical wards contributed the highest number of isolates(24.4±2.9)％compared to the inpatients in any other departement.Overall,≤ 7.9％of the E.cloacae strains were resistant to amikacin,tigecycline,polymyxin B,imipenem or meropenem,while ≤5.6％of the Enterobacter asburiae strains were resistant to these antimicrobial agents.E.asburiae showed higher resistance rate to polymyxin B than E.cloacae(19.7％vs 3.9％).Overall,≤8.1％of the Enterobacter gergoviae strains were resistant to tigecycline,amikacin,meropenem,or imipenem,while 10.5％of these strains were resistant to polycolistin B.The overall prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacter was 10.0％over the 7-year period,but showing an upward trend.The resistance profiles of Enterobacter isolates varied with the department from which they were isolated and whether the patient is an adult or a child.The prevalence of carbapenem-resistant E.cloacae was the highest in the E.cloacae isolates from ICU patients.Conclusions The results of the CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program indicate that the proportion of Enterobacter strains in all clinical isolates fluctuates slightly over the 7-year period from 2015 to 2021.The Enterobacter strains showed increasing resistance to multiple antimicrobial drugs,especially carbapenems over the 7-year period.

Objective To understand the changing distribution and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Proteus,Morganella and Providencia in hospitals across China from January 1,2015 to December 31,2021 in the CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program.Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out following the unified CHINET protocol.The results were interpreted in accordance with the breakpoints in the 2021 Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)M100(31 st Edition).Results A total of 32 433 Enterobacterales strains were isolated during the 7-year period,including 24 160 strains of Proteus,6 704 strains of Morganella,and 1 569 strains of Providencia.The overall number of these Enterobacterales isolates increased significantly over the 7-year period.The top 3 specimen source of these strains were urine,lower respiratory tract specimens,and wound secretions.Proteus,Morganella,and Providencia isolates showed lower resistance rates to amikacin,meropenem,cefoxitin,cefepime,cefoperazone-sulbactam,and piperacillin-tazobactam.For most of the antibiotics tested,less than 10％of the Proteus and Morganella strains were resistant,while less than 20％of the Providencia strains were resistant.The prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales(CRE)was 1.4％in Proteus isolates,1.9％in Morganella isolates,and 15.6％in Providencia isolates.Conclusions The overall number of clinical isolates of Proteus,Morganella and Providencia increased significantly in the 7-year period from 2015 to 2021.The prevalence of CRE strains also increased.More attention should be paid to antimicrobial resistance surveillance and rational antibiotic use so as to prevent the emergence and increase of antimicrobial resistance.