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.

Objective To examine the changing prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Burkholderia cepacia in 52 hospitals across China from 2015 to 2021.Methods A total of 9 261 strains of B.cepacia were collected from 52 hospitals between January 1,2015 and December 31,2021.Antimicrobial susceptibility of the strains was tested using Kirby-Bauer method or automated antimicrobial susceptibility testing systems according to a unified protocol.The results were interpreted according to the breakpoints released in the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)guidelines(2023 edition).Results A total of 9 261 strains of B.cepacia were isolated from all age groups,especially elderly patients.The proportion was 11.1％(1 032 strains)in children,significantly lower than the proportion in adults.About half(46.5％,4 310/9 261)of the strains were isolated from patients at least 60 years old and 42.3％(3 919/9 261)of the strains were isolated from young adults.Most isolates(71.1％)were isolated from sputum and respiratory secretions,followed by urine(10.7％)and blood samples(8.1％).B.cepacia isolates were highly susceptible to the five antimicrobial agents recommended in the CLSI M100 document(33rd edition,2023).B.cepacia isolates showed relatively higher resistance rates to meropenem and levofloxacin.However,the resistance rates to ceftazidime,trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole,and minocycline remained below 8.1％.The percentage of B.cepacia strains resistant to levofloxacin was the highest compared to other antibiotics in any of the three age groups(from 12.4％in the patients＜18 years old to 20.6％in the patients aged 60 years or older).Conclusions B.cepacia is one of the clinically important non-fermenting gram-negative bacteria.Accurate and timely reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility test results and ongoing antimicrobial resistance surveillance are helpful for rational prescription of antimicrobial agents and proper prevention and control of nosocomial infections.

Objective:To identify risk factors associated with endoscopic atrophic progression of gastric mucosa after Helicobacter pylori ( HP) eradication and to develop a risk scoring system for establishing an individualized endoscopic follow-up strategy for patients with chronic gastritis. Methods:This retrospective cohort study included chronic gastritis patients with successful HP eradication at the Department of Gastroenterology, Beijing Friendship Hospital between January 2018 and October 2021. Demographic characteristics, endoscopic findings, and other clinical data were analyzed. Endoscopic outcomes of gastric mucosal atrophy before and after follow-up were compared to classify patients into progression and non-progression groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify independent risk factors for endoscopic atrophic progression. A risk scoring system was then constructed based on these factors. Results:A total of 218 patients with chronic gastritis were included, including 153 in the non-progression group and 65 in the progression group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gastric ulcer ( P=0.008, OR=4.24, 95% CI: 1.46-12.25), history of proton pump inhibitor use ( P=0.007, OR=4.06, 95% CI: 1.46-11.27), alcohol consumption ( P=0.002, OR=3.77, 95% CI: 1.64-8.67), high-salt diet ( P=0.008, OR=2.90, 95% CI: 1.32-6.41), and high red meat intake ( P=0.025, OR=2.33, 95% CI: 1.11-6.31) were independent risk factors for endoscopic atrophic progression after HP eradication. The predictive model based on these 5 factors demonstrated strong discriminative capacity, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.813 (95% CI: 0.755-0.876, P<0.001). The optimal cut-off value was 1.5 points, stratifying patients into low-risk (0-2 points) and high-risk (3-5 points) groups. Conclusion:Patients with chronic gastritis remain susceptible to progression even after successful HP eradication. Individualized endoscopic follow-up strategies should be considered based on patients' medical history, medication use, lifestyle, and dietary habits.

Aim To investigate the role and regulatory mechanism of CREB regulated transcription coactivator 2(CRTC2)in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Methods A pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy model was established in C57BL/6 mice by intraperitoneal injection of isoproterenol(ISO),the expression of CRTC2 in cardiac tissue was detec-ted by Western blot.The CRTC2 knockout mice model was constructed,the cardiac function of mice was detected by small animal echocardiography,the collagen fiber content in mice cardiac tissue was detected by Masson staining,the car-diomyocyte hypertrophy related proteins:skeletal muscle α1-actin(ACTA1)and brain natriuretic peptide(BNP),as well as ferroptosis related proteins:acyl-CoA synthetase long chain family member 4(ACSL4),solute carrier family 7 member 11(SLC7A11)and glutathione peroxidase 4(GPX4)in mice cardiac tissue were detected by Western blot,the iron ion content in mice cardiac tissue was detected by iron ion kit,to evaluate the correlation between CRTC2 and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and ferroptosis.H9c2 cells were induced by ISO to construct an in vitro model of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,the protein expressions of CRTC2,ACTA1,BNP,ACSL4,SLC7A11 and GPX4 were detected after intervention with fer-roptosis inhibitor ferrostatin-1(Fer-1).H9c2 cells with CRTC2 overexpression induced by ISO were used to construct an in vitro model of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,the related indicators of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and ferroptosis were detec-ted to explore the mechanism of CRTC2 in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Results Compared with the control group,the expression of CRTC2 protein in the cardiac tissue of ISO induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy mice was increased(P＜0.05).Compared with wild-type mice,CRTC2-/-mice showed worsened cardiac function,manifested as increased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDD),left ventricular end-systolic diameter(LVESD),left ventricular posterior wall thickness(LVPWT),heart weight/tibia length(HW/TL)and heart weight/body weight(HW/BW),decreased short axis shortening(FS)and ejection fraction(EF),increased collagen fiber content in cardiac tissue,upregulated ex-pression of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy-related proteins ACTA1 and BNP,increased mRNA and protein expression of ferrop-tosis-related protein ACSL4,decreased mRNA and protein expression of SLC7A11 and GPX4,and elevated iron ion content in cardiac tissue(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).In vitro experiments showed that compared with ISO group,the ISO+Fer-1 group had no significant change in CRTC2 protein expression(P＞0.05),the expression of ACTA1 and BNP protein decreased,the surface area of cardiomyocyte reduced,the expression of ACSL4 protein decreased,and the expression of SLC7A11 and GPX4 proteins increased(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Compared with the ISO group,the LV-CRTC2+ISO group showed a decrease in surface area of cardiomyocytes(P＜0.01),a decrease in ACTA1,BNP and ACSL4 protein ex-pression,an increase in SLC7A11 and GPX4 protein expression,and a decrease in ROS and iron ion content(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Conclusion CRTC2 alleviates cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and protect cardiac function by suppressing fer-roptosis in cardiomyocytes.

Objective To investigate the effect of the structure of 3D-printed silk fibroin/hydroxypropyl methylcellulose(SF/HPMC)scaffolds on the growth of tracheal epithelial cells in vitro.Methods Six types of SF/HPMC scaffolds with different surface topography,pore size,and porosity were fabricated using a 3D printer by adjusting the concentration of SF/HPMC solutions and printing parameters,combined with freeze-drying.Normal human bronchial epithelial cell lines BEAS-2B were cultured on these scaffolds for 7 days.The cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay and live/dead cell staining,and the cell morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM).Results The porosity of 20%(weight percentage)SF/HPMC scaffolds with rough surface and smooth surface were 70.5%±2.0%and 65.5%±6.1%,respectively,and the porosity of 30%(weight percentage)SF/HPMC scaffolds with rough surface and smooth surface were 63.9%±2.1%and 59.6%±2.1%,respectively.The two pore sizes of the rough-surfaced 20%SF/HPMC scaffolds were(443.9±104.1)μm and(681.1±115.1)μm.BEAS-2B cells spread better on the rough-surfaced scaffolds,and their proliferation was higher on scaffolds with higher porosity and smaller pore sizes compared to those with lower porosity and larger pore sizes.Conclusion The 3D-printed SF/HPMC scaffolds are suitable for bronchial epithelial cell growth.Scaffolds with rough surfaces,higher porosity,and appropriate pore sizes might facilitate BEAS-2B cell growth.

The medical ultrasonic nebulizer was introduced in terms of composition,working principle and testing principle and method of the maximum nebulization rate.The testing characteristics of the volumetric and gravimetric methods were compared.A series of experiments were conducted using the whole-unit gravimetric approach.The initial liquid charge was indicated to be the primary factor affecting the maximum nebulization rate,and the influence increased significantly when the nebulizer's nominal volume got expanded.References were provided for medical testing staffs in selecting testing methods.

Objective To summarize the changing prevalence of carbapenem resistance in Enterobacterales based on the data of CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program from 2015 to 2021 for improving antimicrobial treatment in clinical practice.Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using a commercial automated susceptibility testing system according to the unified CHINET protocol.The results were interpreted according to the breakpoints of the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI)M100 31st ed in 2021.Results Over the seven-year period(2015-2021),the overall prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales(CRE)was 9.43％(62 342/661 235).The prevalence of CRE strains in Klebsiella pneumoniae,Citrobacter freundii,and Enterobacter cloacae was 22.38％,9.73％,and 8.47％,respectively.The prevalence of CRE strains in Escherichia coli was 1.99％.A few CRE strains were also identified in Salmonella and Shigella.The CRE strains were mainly isolated from respiratory specimens(44.23±2.80)％,followed by blood(20.88±3.40)％and urine(18.40±3.45)％.Intensive care units(ICUs)were the major source of the CRE strains(27.43±5.20)％.CRE strains were resistant to all the β-lactam antibiotics tested and most non-β-lactam antimicrobial agents.The CRE strains were relatively susceptible to tigecycline and polymyxins with low resistance rates.Conclusions The prevalence of CRE strains was increasing from 2015 to 2021.CRE strains were highly resistant to most of the antibacterial drugs used in clinical practice.Clinicians should prescribe antimicrobial agents rationally.Hospitals should strengthen antibiotic stewardship in key clinical settings such as ICUs,and take effective infection control measures to curb CRE outbreak and epidemic in hospitals.

Objective To characterize the changing species distribution and antibiotic resistance profiles of respiratory isolates in hospitals participating in the CHINET Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program from 2015 to 2021.Methods Commercial automated antimicrobial susceptibility testing systems and disk diffusion method were used to test the susceptibility of respiratory bacterial isolates to antimicrobial agents following the standardized technical protocol established by the CHINET program.Results A total of 589 746 respiratory isolates were collected from 2015 to 2021.Overall,82.6％of the isolates were Gram-negative bacteria and 17.4％were Gram-positive bacteria.The bacterial isolates from outpatients and inpatients accounted for(6.0±0.9)％and(94.0±0.1)％,respectively.The top microorganisms were Klebsiella spp.,Acinetobacter spp.,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Staphylococcus aureus,Haemophilus spp.,Stenotrophomonas maltophilia,Escherichia coli,and Streptococcus pneumoniae.Each microorganism was isolated from significantly more males than from females(P＜0.05).The overall prevalence of methicillin-resistant S.aureus(MRSA)was 39.9％.The prevalence of penicillin-resistant S.pneumoniae was 1.4％.The prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase(ESBL)-producing E.coli and K.pneumoniae was 67.8％and 41.3％,respectively.The overall prevalence of carbapenem-resistant E.coli,K.pneumoniae,Enterobacter cloacae,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,and Acinetobacter baumannii was 3.7％,20.8％,9.4％,29.8％,and 73.3％,respectively.The prevalence of β-lactamase was 96.1％in Moraxella catarrhalis and 60.0％in Haemophilus influenzae.The H.influenzae isolates from children(＜18 years)showed significantly higher resistance rates to β-lactam antibiotics than the isolates from adults(P＜0.05).Conclusions Gram-negative bacteria are still predominant in respiratory isolates associated with serious antibiotic resistance.Antimicrobial resistance surveillance should be strengthened in clinical practice to support accurate etiological diagnosis and appropriate antimicrobial therapy based on antimicrobial susceptibility testing results.

This study investigated the prevalence and potential mechanisms of gentamicin heterore-sistance in Streptococcus isolates from dairy cows.In this study,A total of 39 Streptococcus isola-ted from raw milk were collected,and the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC)of gentamicin and other drugs on the isolates was determined by micro broth dilution method,and the K-B paper diffusion method,colony analysis profile(PAP),and resistance stability test were used to investigate the heteroresistance characteristics of Streptococcus,and the mechanism of heteroresis-tance was analyzed based on whole genome sequencing and resequencing.Seven suspected heterore-sistance strains were identified by K-B paper diffusion method,accounting for 17.95％(7/39)of the total number of suspected strains.PAP confirmed that the MIC to MNIC ratio of L147,L108 and L174 was greater than 8,and the frequency of resistant subgroups ranged from 1.38×10-5 to 8.18 × 10-5,which was greater than 1 × 10-7,confirming that they were heteroresistance strains.Resistance stability tests revealed that the resistant subpopulations of all three strains were not stably inherited.Whole-genome sequencing revealed mutations in the ribosomal target genes of aminoglycoside antibiotics,rsmA,rsmB and rsmE,compared with the reference genome,which may lead to heteroresistance to gentamicin in Streptococcus.The occurrence of heteroresistance of Streptococcus to gentamicin is high in dairy sources,so more attention should be paid to the occur-rence of heteroresistance when using gentamicin for clinical treatment.

Objective:To investigate lymph node metastasis(LNM)in the prostatic anterior fat pad(PAFP)of PCa patients after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy(RARP),and analyze the clinicopathological features and prognosis of LNM in the PAFP.Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data on 1 003 cases of PCa treated by RARP in the Department of Urolo-gy of PLA General Hospital from January 2017 to December 2022.All the patients underwent routine removal of the PAFP during RARP and pathological examination,with the results of all the specimens examined and reported by pathologists.Based on the pres-ence and locations of LNM,we grouped the patients for statistical analysis,compared the clinicopathological features between different groups using the Student's t,Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square tests,and conducted survival analyses using the Kaplan-Meier and Log-rank methods and survival curves generated by Rstudio.Results:Lymph nodes were detected in 77(7.7％)of the 1 003 PAFP samples,and LNM in 11(14.3％)of the 77 cases,with a positive rate of 1.1％(11/1 003).Of the 11 positive cases,9 were found in the upgraded pathological N stage,and the other 2 complicated by pelvic LNM.The patients with postoperative pathological stage≥T3 constituted a significantly higher proportion in the PAFP LNM than in the non-PAFP LNM group(81.8％[9/11]vs 36.2％[359/992],P=0.005),and so did the cases with Gleason score ≥8(87.5％[7/8]vs 35.5％[279/786],P=0.009).No statisti-cally significant differences were observed in the clinicopathological features and biochemical recurrence-free survival between the pa-tients with PAFP LNM only and those with pelvic LNM only.Conclusion:The PAFP is a potential route to LNM,and patients with LNM in the PAFP are characterized by poor pathological features.There is no statistically significant difference in biochemical recur-rence-free survival between the patients with PAFP LNM only and those with pelvic LNM only.Routine removal of the PAFP and inde-pendent pathological examination of the specimen during RARP is of great clinical significance.