OBJECTIVE: To investigate the Wnt signaling pathway and miRNAs mechanism of extracts of Plastrum Testudinis (PT) in the treatment of osteoporosis (OP). METHODS: Thirty female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups by random number table method, including sham group, ovariectomized group (OVX), ovariectomized groups treated with high-, medium-, and low-dose PT (160, 80, 40 mg/kg per day, respectively), with 6 rats in each group. Except for the sham group, the other rats underwent bilateral ovariectomy to simulate OP and received PT by oral gavage for 10 consecutive weeks. After treatment, bone mineral density was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; bone microstructure was analyzed by micro-computed tomography and hematoxylin and eosin staining; and the expressions of osteogenic differentiation-related factors were detected by immunochemistry, Western blot, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, Dickkopf-1 (Dkk-1) was used to inhibit the Wnt signaling pathway in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and miRNA overexpression was used to evaluate the effect of miR-214 on the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Subsequently, PT extract was used to rescue the effects of Dkk-1 and miR-214, and its impacts on the osteogenic differentiation-related factors of BMSCs were evaluated. RESULTS: PT-M and PT-L significantly reduced the weight gain in OVX rats (P<0.05). PT also regulated the bone mass and bone microarchitecture of the femur in OVX rats, and increased the expressions of bone formation-related factors including alkaline phosphatase, bone morphogenetic protein type 2, collagen type I alpha 1, and runt-related transcription factor 2 when compared with the OVX group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Meanwhile, different doses of PT significantly rescued the inhibition of Wnt signaling pathway-related factors in OVX rats, and increased the mRNA or protein expressions of Wnt3a, β-catenin, glycogen synthase kinase-3β, and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (P<0.05 or P<0.01). PT stimulated the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs inhibited by Dkk-1 and activated the Wnt signaling pathway. In addition, the expression of miR-214 was decreased in OVX rats (P<0.01), and it was negatively correlated with the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs (P<0.01). MiR-214 mimic inhibited Wnt signaling pathway in BMSCs (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conversely, PT effectively counteracted the effect of miR-214 mimic, thereby activating the Wnt signaling pathway and stimulating osteogenic differentiation in BMSCs (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSION PT stimulates bone formation in OVX rats through β-catenin-mediated Wnt signaling pathway, which may be related to inhibiting miR-214 in BMSCs.
Animals ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Female ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Wnt Signaling Pathway/genetics* ; Osteogenesis/genetics* ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/cytology* ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Bone Density/drug effects* ; Ovariectomy ; Osteoporosis/drug therapy* ; beta Catenin/metabolism* ; Rats ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*

Objective To propose a lead attention network-based ST-T change recognition algorithm to detect ECG ST-T changes accurately.Methods Firstly,heartbeat signals were extracted through R-wave localization,and a 12-lead heartbeat matrix was generated by correlation-based screening and merging to realize data augmentation.Secondly,a lead attention module was constructed by combining depthwise convolution(DWConv)with the channel attention squeeze-and-excitation block(SE-block)structure to perceive the differences in ST-T status among electrocardiogram leads.Thirdly,the mapping output by two independent attention modules was fused and splicing with the original signal residual was carried out,so that attention information extraction and original information transfer were enhanced effectively.Finally,SE-ResNet was used as the backbone network to extract signal features to complete the classification and identification of ST-T changes.To validate the recognition performance of the proposed algorithm for ST-T changes in ECG,the 12-lead ECG data of 97 472 patients containing different ECG rhythms were collected for ablation and comparison experiments at the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University.Results The proposed algorithm achieved an AUC of 0.965 with a sensitivity of 90.51%,specificity of 90.23%,positive predictive value of 89.24%and overall accuracy of 90.36%on an independent test set.Comparative analysis demonstrated superior performance to four benchmark architectures,including VGG16,ResNet18,MobileNetV3-Small and ShuffleNet,in terms of both classification accuracy and computational efficiency.Conclusion The algorithm designed can accurately detect ST-T changes and can be used for wearable ECG automatic analysis to assist in the early warning of cardiovascular diseases in both acute and chronic patients and highland residents.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(7):1-11]

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical features of children with STAT gene mutations, and to explore corresponding immunotherapy strategies. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 10 children with STAT gene mutations who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, from October 2015 to October 2024. Exploratory immunotherapy was implemented in some refractory cases, and the changes in symptoms, imaging manifestations, and cytokine levels were assessed after treatment. RESULTS: For the 10 children, the main clinical manifestations were recurrent rash since birth (7/10), cough (8/10), wheezing (5/10), expectoration (4/10), and purulent nasal discharge (4/10). Genotyping results showed that there was one child with heterozygous loss-of-function (LOF) mutation in the STAT1 gene, four children with heterozygous LOF mutation in the STAT3 gene, and five children with heterozygous gain-of-function (GOF) mutation in the STAT3 gene. Two children with LOF mutation in the STAT3 gene showed decreased interleukin-6 levels and improved clinical symptoms and imaging findings after omalizumab treatment. Three children with GOF mutation in the STAT3 gene achieved effective disease control after treatment with methylprednisolone (0.5 mg/kg per day). Two children with GOF mutation in the STAT3 gene received treatment with JAK inhibitor and then showed some improvement in symptoms. CONCLUSIONS STAT gene mutation screening should be considered for children with recurrent rash and purulent respiratory tract infections. Targeted immunotherapy may improve prognosis in patients with no response to conventional treatment.
Humans ; Male ; Immunotherapy ; Female ; Child, Preschool ; Child ; Gain of Function Mutation ; Retrospective Studies ; Infant ; Loss of Function Mutation ; STAT Transcription Factors/genetics*

Objective To propose a lead attention network-based ST-T change recognition algorithm to detect ECG ST-T changes accurately.Methods Firstly,heartbeat signals were extracted through R-wave localization,and a 12-lead heartbeat matrix was generated by correlation-based screening and merging to realize data augmentation.Secondly,a lead attention module was constructed by combining depthwise convolution(DWConv)with the channel attention squeeze-and-excitation block(SE-block)structure to perceive the differences in ST-T status among electrocardiogram leads.Thirdly,the mapping output by two independent attention modules was fused and splicing with the original signal residual was carried out,so that attention information extraction and original information transfer were enhanced effectively.Finally,SE-ResNet was used as the backbone network to extract signal features to complete the classification and identification of ST-T changes.To validate the recognition performance of the proposed algorithm for ST-T changes in ECG,the 12-lead ECG data of 97 472 patients containing different ECG rhythms were collected for ablation and comparison experiments at the First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University.Results The proposed algorithm achieved an AUC of 0.965 with a sensitivity of 90.51%,specificity of 90.23%,positive predictive value of 89.24%and overall accuracy of 90.36%on an independent test set.Comparative analysis demonstrated superior performance to four benchmark architectures,including VGG16,ResNet18,MobileNetV3-Small and ShuffleNet,in terms of both classification accuracy and computational efficiency.Conclusion The algorithm designed can accurately detect ST-T changes and can be used for wearable ECG automatic analysis to assist in the early warning of cardiovascular diseases in both acute and chronic patients and highland residents.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2025,46(7):1-11]

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of pneumococcal meningitis(PM),and drug sensitivity of Streptococcus pneumoniae(SP)isolates in Chinese children.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical information,laboratory data,and microbiological data of 160 hospitalized children under 15 years old with PM from January 2019 to December 2020 in 33 tertiary hospitals across the country.Results Among the 160 children with PM,there were 103 males and 57 females.The age ranged from 15 days to 15 years,with 109 cases(68.1% )aged 3 months to under 3 years.SP strains were isolated from 95 cases(59.4% )in cerebrospinal fluid cultures and from 57 cases(35.6% )in blood cultures.The positive rates of SP detection by cerebrospinal fluid metagenomic next-generation sequencing and cerebrospinal fluid SP antigen testing were 40% (35/87)and 27% (21/78),respectively.Fifty-five cases(34.4% )had one or more risk factors for purulent meningitis,113 cases(70.6% )had one or more extra-cranial infectious foci,and 18 cases(11.3% )had underlying diseases.The most common clinical symptoms were fever(147 cases,91.9% ),followed by lethargy(98 cases,61.3% )and vomiting(61 cases,38.1% ).Sixty-nine cases(43.1% )experienced intracranial complications during hospitalization,with subdural effusion and/or empyema being the most common complication[43 cases(26.9% )],followed by hydrocephalus in 24 cases(15.0% ),brain abscess in 23 cases(14.4% ),and cerebral hemorrhage in 8 cases(5.0% ).Subdural effusion and/or empyema and hydrocephalus mainly occurred in children under 1 year old,with rates of 91% (39/43)and 83% (20/24),respectively.SP strains exhibited complete sensitivity to vancomycin(100% ,75/75),linezolid(100% ,56/56),and meropenem(100% ,6/6).High sensitivity rates were also observed for levofloxacin(81% ,22/27),moxifloxacin(82% ,14/17),rifampicin(96% ,25/26),and chloramphenicol(91% ,21/23).However,low sensitivity rates were found for penicillin(16% ,11/68)and clindamycin(6% ,1/17),and SP strains were completely resistant to erythromycin(100% ,31/31).The rates of discharge with cure and improvement were 22.5% (36/160)and 66.2% (106/160),respectively,while 18 cases(11.3% )had adverse outcomes.Conclusions Pediatric PM is more common in children aged 3 months to under 3 years.Intracranial complications are more frequently observed in children under 1 year old.Fever is the most common clinical manifestation of PM,and subdural effusion/emphysema and hydrocephalus are the most frequent complications.Non-culture detection methods for cerebrospinal fluid can improve pathogen detection rates.Adverse outcomes can be noted in more than 10% of PM cases.SP strains are high sensitivity to vancomycin,linezolid,meropenem,levofloxacin,moxifloxacin,rifampicin,and chloramphenicol.[Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics,2024,26(2):131-138]

Skin avulsion injuries of the lower leg are common in clinical practice, which can easily lead to skin necrosis and infection of the lower leg, and have a significant impact on the appearance and function of the lower limb. Among them, the open avulsion injury has the highest incidence and is often accompanied by multiple tissue injuries. Therefore, improper diagnosis and treatment may cause skin and soft tissue defects of the lower leg combined with bone exposure or even bone defects, seriously impairing patients′ life and health. In order to have a better understanding of the open skin avulsion injury of the lower leg, achieve precise diagnosis and treatment and improve prognosis, the Chinese Society of Traumatology of Chinese Medical Association and the Chinese Association of Microsurgeons of Chinese Medical Doctor Association organized experts in the related fields to formulate Clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of open skin avulsion injuries of the lower leg ( version 2024) based on evidence-based medicine principles. A total of 16 recommendations were proposed on the diagnosis, treatment, postoperative rehabilitation of open lower leg skin avulsion injury, so as to provide a reference for its diagnosis and treatment.

Skin avulsion injuries of the lower leg are common in clinical practice, which can easily lead to skin necrosis and infection of the lower leg, and have a significant impact on the appearance and function of the lower limb. Among them, the open avulsion injury has the highest incidence and is often accompanied by multiple tissue injuries. Therefore, improper diagnosis and treatment may cause skin and soft tissue defects of the lower leg combined with bone exposure or even bone defects, seriously impairing patients′ life and health. In order to have a better understanding of the open skin avulsion injury of the lower leg, achieve precise diagnosis and treatment and improve prognosis, the Chinese Society of Traumatology of Chinese Medical Association and the Chinese Association of Microsurgeons of Chinese Medical Doctor Association organized experts in the related fields to formulate Clinical guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of open skin avulsion injuries of the lower leg ( version 2024) based on evidence-based medicine principles. A total of 16 recommendations were proposed on the diagnosis, treatment, postoperative rehabilitation of open lower leg skin avulsion injury, so as to provide a reference for its diagnosis and treatment.

Pheretima,also called"earthworms",is a well-known animal-derived traditional Chinese medicine that is extensively used in over 50 Chinese patent medicines(CPMs)in Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edi-tion).However,its zoological origin is unclear,both in the herbal market and CPMs.In this study,a strategy for integrating in-house annotated protein databases constructed from close evolutionary relationship-sourced RNA sequencing data from public archival resources and various sequencing al-gorithms(restricted search,open search,and de novo)was developed to characterize the phenotype of natural peptides of three major commercial species of Pheretima,including Pheretima aspergillum(PA),Pheretima vulgaris(PV),and Metaphire magna(MM).We identified 10,477 natural peptides in the PA,7,451 in PV,and 5,896 in MM samples.Five specific signature peptides were screened and then validated using synthetic peptides;these demonstrated robust specificity for the authentication of PA,PV,and MM.Finally,all marker peptides were successfully applied to identify the zoological origins of Brain Heart capsules and Xiaohuoluo pills,revealing the inconsistent Pheretima species used in these CPMs.In conclusion,our integrated strategy could be used for the in-depth characterization of natural peptides of other animal-derived traditional Chinese medicines,especially non-model species with poorly annotated protein databases.

OBJECTIVE: To explore risk factors for infections after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, and improve the under standing for reducing infection. METHODS: Clinical data of 2 591 patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair from January 2019 to January 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, including 1 265 males and 1 326 females, aged from 25 to 82 years old with an average age of (51.5±15.6) years old. They were divided into infection group(n=18) and uninfected group(n=2 573) according to whether or not patients had postoperative infection. Gender, age, smoking, diabetes, body mass index, local closure within 1 month before operation, operation time, preventive use of antibiotics, and internal fixation implantation between two groups were recorded. Univariate Logistic regression analysis screened factors associated with infections after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Theresultswere entered into the multivariate logistic regression analysis, screening the high risk factors for infections after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. RESULTS: In 2 591 patients, 18 patients were infected after operation, infection rate was 0.69%. Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, operation time, antibiotic prophylaxis, internal fixation implantation were risk factors for infections after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed male(OR=14.227), age≥65 years(OR=34.313), operation time≥2 h (OR=15.616), without antibiotic prophylaxis(OR=4.891), and internal fixation implantation(OR=5.103) were major risk factors for infection after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair(P<0.05). CONCLUSION Male, age≥65 years, operation time≥2 h, without antibiotic prophylaxis and internal fixation implantation were independent risk factors for infection after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Early diagnosis and timely treatment should be carried out to reduce the incidence of infection.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Rotator Cuff ; Rotator Cuff Injuries/surgery* ; Retrospective Studies ; Arthroscopy/adverse effects* ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome

Bone defects caused by different causes such as trauma, severe bone infection and other factors are common in clinic and difficult to treat. Usually, bone substitutes are required for repair. Current bone grafting materials used clinically include autologous bones, allogeneic bones, xenografts, and synthetic materials, etc. Other than autologous bones, the major hurdles of rest bone grafts have various degrees of poor biological activity and lack of active ingredients to provide osteogenic impetus. Bone marrow contains various components such as stem cells and bioactive factors, which are contributive to osteogenesis. In response, the technique of bone marrow enrichment, based on the efficient utilization of components within bone marrow, has been risen, aiming to extract osteogenic cells and factors from bone marrow of patients and incorporate them into 3D scaffolds for fabricating bone grafts with high osteoinductivity. However, the scientific guidance and application specification are lacked with regard to the clinical scope, approach, safety and effectiveness. In this context, under the organization of Chinese Orthopedic Association, the Expert consensus for the clinical application of autologous bone marrow enrichment technique for bone repair ( version 2023) is formulated based on the evidence-based medicine. The consensus covers the topics of the characteristics, range of application, safety and application notes of the technique of autologous bone marrow enrichment and proposes corresponding recommendations, hoping to provide better guidance for clinical practice of the technique.