The American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC), in collaboration with multiple professional organizations, jointly released the "Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults" in August 2025. Based on the latest evidence-based medical findings from February 2015 to January 2025, the guideline proposes an individualized treatment strategy grounded in total cardiovascular disease risk stratification, incorporates the novel PREVENT risk assessment model, lowers the medication initiation threshold and control targets for high-risk populations, and provides specific management recommendations for special populations. This article provides an interpretation of these updates and conducts a comparative analysis with the current status of hypertension prevention and treatment in China as well as Chinese guidelines, aiming to offer reference for hypertension control practices in China.

The American Heart Association (AHA) officially released the "2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association" on January 27, 2025. This report systematically compiles the latest statistics on major cardiovascular diseases worldwide, while simultaneously integrating relevant outcome indicators, including quality of care, procedures, and economic costs, and updating the global prevalence patterns and evolving trends of diverse risk factors impacting cardiovascular health, providing essential guidance for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Synthesizing insights from this pivotal report and other relevant studies, this article highlights key findings concerning the global prevalence and mortality of heart diseases, associated risk factors, and emerging diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a highly prevalent degenerative joint disease worldwide, is defined by articular cartilage degradation, abnormal bone remodeling, and persistent chronic inflammation. It severely compromises patients’ quality of life, and currently, there is no radical cure. Abnormal mechanical stress is widely regarded as a core driver of OA pathogenesis, and the exploration of mechanical signal perception and transduction mechanisms has become crucial for deciphering OA’s pathophysiological processes. Piezo1, a key mechanosensitive cation channel belonging to the Piezo protein family, has recently gained significant attention due to its pivotal role in mediating cellular responses to mechanical stimuli in joint tissues. This review systematically examines Piezo1’s expression patterns, regulatory mechanisms, and pathological functions in OA, with a particular focus on its dual roles in modulating chondrocyte homeostasis and bone metabolism disorders, while also delving into the underlying molecular signaling pathways and potential therapeutic implications. Piezo1, consisting of approximately 2 500 amino acids and forming a unique trimeric propeller-like structure, is widely expressed in chondrocytes, osteocytes, mesenchymal stem cells, and synovial cells. It exhibits permeability to cations such as Ca²⁺, K⁺, and Na⁺, and directly responds to membrane tension changes induced by mechanical stimuli like fluid shear stress and mechanical overload. In OA patients and animal models, Piezo1 expression is significantly upregulated, especially in cartilage regions subjected to abnormal mechanical stress (e.g., human temporomandibular joint cartilage). This overexpression is closely associated with aggravated cartilage degeneration, increased chondrocyte apoptosis, accelerated cellular senescence, and intensified inflammatory responses. Mechanical overload and pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-1β) are key inducers of Piezo1 upregulation: IL-1β activates the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway to enhance Piezo1 expression, forming a pathogenic positive feedback loop that inhibits chondrocyte autophagy, promotes apoptosis, and further accelerates joint degeneration. Mechanistically, Piezo1 mediates OA progression through multiple interconnected pathways. When activated by mechanical stress, Piezo1 triggers excessive Ca²⁺ influx, leading to endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and mitochondrial dysfunction, which directly induce chondrocyte apoptosis. This process involves the activation of downstream signaling cascades such as cGAS-STING and YAP-MMP13/ADAMTS5. YAP, a transcriptional regulator, upregulates the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) and aggrecanase (ADAMTS5), thereby accelerating cartilage matrix degradation. Additionally, Piezo1-driven Ca²⁺ overload promotes the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and upregulates senescence markers (p16 and p21), accelerating chondrocyte senescence via the p38MAPK and NF-κB pathways. Senescent chondrocytes secrete senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors (e.g., IL-6, IL-1β), further amplifying joint inflammation. In terms of bone metabolism, Piezo1 maintains joint homeostasis by promoting the differentiation of fibrocartilage stem cells into chondrocytes and balancing bone formation and resorption through regulating the FoxC1/YAP axis and RANKL/OPG ratio. Therapeutically, targeting Piezo1 shows promising potential. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that Piezo1 inhibitors (e.g., GsMTx4) can reduce joint damage and alleviate pain in OA mice. Simultaneously, siRNA-mediated co-silencing of Piezo1 and TRPV4 (another mechanosensitive channel) decreases intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration, inhibits chondrocyte apoptosis, and promotes cartilage repair. Conditional knockout of Piezo1 using Gdf5-Cre transgenic mice alleviates cartilage degeneration in post-traumatic OA models by downregulating MMP13 and ADAMTS5 expression. Despite existing challenges, such as off-target effects of inhibitors, inefficient local drug delivery, and interindividual genetic variability, strategies like developing selective Piezo1 antagonists, optimizing targeted nanocarriers, and combining Piezo1-targeted therapy with physical therapy provide viable avenues for clinical translation. The authors propose that Piezo1 serves as a critical therapeutic target for OA, and future research should focus on deciphering its context-dependent regulatory networks, developing tissue-specific intervention strategies, and validating their efficacy and safety in clinical trials to address the unmet medical needs of OA patients.

ObjectiveIn nature, objects cast shadows due to illumination, forming the basis for stereoscopic perception. Birds need to adapt to changes in lighting (meaning they can recognize stereoscopic shapes even when shadows look different) to accurately perceive different three-dimensional forms. However, how neurons in the key visual brain area in birds handle these lighting changes remains largely unreported. In this study, pigeons (Columba livia) were used as subjects to investigate how neurons in pigeon’s ventrolateral mesopallium (MVL) represent stereoscopic shapes consistently, regardless of changes in lighting. MethodsVisual cognitive training combined with neuronal recording was employed. Pigeons were first trained to discriminate different stereoscopic shapes (concave/convex). We then tested whether and how light luminance angle and surface appearance of the stereoscopic shapes affect their recognition accuracy, and further verify whether the results rely on specify luminance color. Simultaneously, neuronal firing activity of neurons was recorded with multiple electrode array implanted from the MVL during the presentation of difference shapes. The response was finally analyzed how selectively they responded to different stereoscopic shapes and whether their selectivity was affected by the changes of luminance condition (like lighting angle) or surface look. Support vector machine (SVM) models were trained on neuronal population responses recorded under one condition (light luminance angle of 45°) and used to decode responses under other conditions (light luminance angle of 135°, 225°, 315°) to verify the invariance of responses to different luminance conditions. ResultsBehavioral results from 6 pigeons consistently showed that the pigeons could reliably identify the core 3D shape (over 80% accuracy), and this ability wasn’t affected by changes in light angle or surface appearance. Statistical analysis of 88 recorded neurons from 6 pigeons revealed that 83% (73/88) showed strong selectivity for specific 3D shapes (selectivity index>0.3), and responses to convex shapes were consistently stronger than to concave shapes. These shape-selective responses remained stable across changes in light angle and surface appearance. Neural patterns were consistent under both blue and orange lighting. The decoding accuracy achieves above 70%, suggesting stable responses under different conditions (e.g., different lighting angles or surface appearance). ConclusionNeurons in the pigeon MVL maintain a consistent neural encoding pattern for different stereoscopic shapes, unaffected by illumination or surface appearance. This ensures stable object recognition by pigeons in changing visual environments. Our findings provide new physiological evidence for understanding how birds achieve stable perception (“invariant neural representations”) while coping with variations in the visual field.

AIM To evaluate the quality consistency of Tongmai Granules,Tongmai Tablets,Tongmai Capsules and Tongmai Oral Liquid.METHODS The HPLC fingerprints were established,after which the contents of danshensu,protocatechuic aldehyde,3'-hydroxy puerarin,puerarin,puerarin apioside,daidzin,ferulic acid,salvianolic acid B and salvianolic acid A were determined,and cluster analysis and principal component analysis were adopted in the quality analysis from the perspective of daily intake.RESULTS There were 21 common peaks in the fingerprints for 39 batches of samples with the similarities of 0.765-0.997.Various batches of samples were clustered into 5 categories,2 principal components demonstrated the accumulative variance contribution rate of 83.53％ .The daily intakes of various constituents in different dosage forms exhibited obvious differences,especially for that of salvianolic acid B,which were low in tablets and capsules,and their heterogeneities existed among the same dosage forms.CONCLUSION This simple and accurate method can provide a reference for the quality evaluation of Tongmai preparations from different manufacturers.

Objective To analyze the correlation between lesion volume,lesion mass,and maximum lesion diameter in the assessment of advanced hepatocarcinoma with lung metastasis,and to evaluate the application value of total volume response and total mass response of lung metastatic lesions in efficacy assessment.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the CT imaging data of 20 patients clinically confirmed with hepatocarcinoma and lung metastases,followed by subsequent follow-up to monitor their survival outcomes.Volume measurement software was used to measure the volume of lesions before and after treatment.We recored lesion diameter,volume measurements and CT values,calculated the mass of the lesions.The correlation between lesion volume,mass and diameter was analyzed,as well as the correlation between the change rates of volume,mass and lesion diameter.Additionally,the total volume and total mass of all lesions were calculated.The correlation between the change rates of total volume/total mass and the change rate of pulmonary lesion diameter under the RECIST 1.1 criteria,as well as the correlation with changes in patients'tumor markers,were analyzed.Furthermore,the overall volume response and overall mass response of lesions were evaluated based on changes in total volume and total mass,and their consistencies with the RECIST 1.1 criteria for efficacy evaluation were analyzed.Finally,univariate Cox regression analysis was performed to explore the association between these variables and patient survival outcomes.Results There was strong correlation between lesion volume,mass and tumor diameter(r=0.771,0.775),between the rate of change in mass and the rate of change in lesion diameter(r=0.846),and between the rates of change in total volume/total mass and the rate of change in pulmonary lesion diameter under the RECIST 1.1 criteria(r=0.800,0.896).The correlation between the rates of change in total volume/total mass and patients'tumor markers was not statistically significant.There was moderate correlation between the rate of change in volume and the rate of change in lesion diameter(r=0.692).The evaluation results of total volume response and total mass response for pulmonary lesions in advanced hepatocarcinoma with lung metastasis were generally consistent with the RECIST 1.1 criteria(Kappa=0.486,0.426).Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed that total lesion volume(P=0.047)and total lesion mass(P=0.049)were independent prognostic factors for survival outcomes.Conclusion Lesion volume,mass,and diameter,as well as their respective change rates,were found to be interrelated.Furthermore,total lesion volume and total lesion mass were identified as independent prognostic factors for survival outcomes.The total volume response and total mass response are promising evaluation methods in evaluating the efficacy of lung metastasis of hepatocarcinoma,which are different from the RECIST 1.1 evaluation criteria.

This study was aimed at developing an in vitro fluorescent substrate assay for the activity of leucyl aminopeptid-ase(LAP)from Echinococcus multilocularis and comparing it with the chemical chromogenic substrate enzyme activity assay.Through the establishment of reaction conditions for the fluorescent substrate-based in vitro enzyme activity assay,we com-pared the differences between the fluorescent substrate L-Leucine-7-amido-4-methylocoumarin(Leu-AMC)and the chemical chromogenic substrate L-Leucine-4-nitroanilide(Leu-pNA)through molecular docking,inhibition rates,and precision measures.Molecular docking revealed that the fluorescent substrate Leu-AMC had higher affinity for the protein than the chemical chromogenic substrate Leu-pNA.Through analysis of the effects of varying reaction conditions on fluorescence intensi-ty,we optimized the fluorescent substrate enzyme activity assay to demonstrate favorable performance at a reaction temperature of 37℃,a pH of 9.0,a protein concentration of 800 nmol/L,and a reaction duration of 60 minutes.Leu-AMC exhibited significant and distinct responses at a 5 μmol/L substrate concentration,under varying substrate conditions.The fluo-rescent substrate assay demonstrated more significant intergroup differences than the chemical chromogenic substrate assay when various inhibitors were added.This study established a fluorescence-based enzyme activity assay for leucyl aminopeptidase from Echinococcus multilocularis by using Leu-AMC as the substrate;this method demonstrated a more significant intergroup difference and sensitivity than the chemical chromogenic substrate assay.

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of facilitated percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)with half-dose recombinant staphylokinase(r-SAK)in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI)who are expected to undergo PCI within 120 minutes.Methods From October 2021 to August 2022,a total of 200 STEMI patients in eight centers were included and randomly assigned in a 1﹕1 ratio to either r-SAK group or control group.Patients received loading doses of aspirin and ticagrelor and intravenous heparin and were randomized to receive an intravenous bolus of either 5 mg r-SAK or normal saline prior to PCI.The outcomes were set as ST-segment resolution(STR)at 60-90 minutes after PCI,the proportion and transition of pathological Q waves on the 5th day after PCI,and the proportion of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T(hs-cTnT)peaking within 12 hours of onset.The safety outcome was major bleeding events defined as Bleeding Academic Research Consortium(BARC)≥type 3 bleeding during hospitalization.Results Compared with the control group,the r-SAK group had a higher proportion of STR≥70%within 60-90 minutes after PCI(58.3%vs.40.3%,P=0.009);a lower proportion of pathological Q waves(59.1%vs.74.1%,P=0.040);a lower rate of Q wave progression(14.8%vs.43.2%,P＜0.001);a higher rate of Q wave disappearance(12.5%vs.3.7%,P=0.027);and a higher proportion of hs-cTnT peaking within 12 hours of symptom onset[31/40(77.5%)vs.17/33(51.5%),P=0.027].Regarding the safety outcome,no significant difference in BARC≥type 3 bleeding was found between the two groups during hospitalization(P＞0.05).Conclusions For STEMI patients who were expected to undergo primary PCI within 120 minutes of symptom onset,the facilitated PCI with half-dose r-SAK significantly increased the proportion of STR≥70%at 60-90 minutes after PCI,reduced the formation of pathological Q waves,and shortened the time to peak hs-cTnT,without increasing the risk of bleeding,which should be an alternative reperfusion strategy worthy of further study.

This study was aimed at tracing the molecular typing and drug resistance characteristics of a suspected food poi-soning event caused by Clostridium perfringens in a district of Wuhan City.The FilmArray detection system and multiple fluo-rescence quantitative PCR methods were used to rapidly screen for pathogens in samples from the poisoning event.According to the initial screening results,bacteria were isolated,cultured,and identified by mass spectrometry.Fluorescence PCR was used to detect six virulence genes of the isolated Clostridium perfringens strains.On the basis of whole genome sequencing results,we conducted virulence genes,resistance genes,and whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism genetic evolution(wgSNPs)analyses.Antibiotic sensitivity testing was conducted with the agar dilution method.A total of ten strains of Clos-tridium perfringens were isolated,including eight strains from seven anal swab samples,one strain from fecal samples,and one strain from food samples.Food with suspected contamination had a Clostridium perfringens count of 7.8×106 CFU/g.The PLC(a)toxin gene was detected in all ten gas producing capsule isolation strains,but no other 5 tox-in genes such as CPE were detected,thus confirming that all were type A bacteria producing capsule Clostridium.All strains were 100％resistant to clindamycin and almost completely sensitive to antibiotics such as vancomycin,cefoxitin,and meropenem.Ten strains of Clos-tridium perfringens carried resistance genes such as tetB(P),tetA(P),and mprF,followed by ermQ(70％),ant(6)-Ⅰb(10％),and LnuP(10％).Genetic evolution analysis of wgSNPs indicated that the four outbreak strains clustered together and belonged to an independent subbranch with the suspected food sourcestrains,thus indicating close genetic relationships.In con-clusion,this food poisoning incident might have been be caused by hand torn chickens contaminated with Clostridium perfrin-gens,and the molecular types of the strains revealed high genetic diversity.No multiple drug resistance was observed,but all strains were resistant to clindamycin,an aspect requiring further clinical attention.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa(PA)is an opportunistic pathogen commonly involved in environmental-and difffcult-to-treat nosocomial infection.Currently,multidrug-resistant(MDR)and extensively drug-resistant(XDR)strains of PA are e-merging due to the inappropriate use of antibiotics,which has become a major threat related to healthcare.The antibiotics re-sistance mechanism of PA is very complicated.PA can acquire resistance through mutations in genes encoding for membrane-associated proteins,antibiotics inactivation enzymes and their regulatory proteins,antibiotics target proteins,and two-compo-nent systems.Additionally,resistance genes acquired by horizontal gene transfer(HGT)lead to resistance of PA,which are frequently localized within mobile genetic elements(MGEs),including genes encoding enzymes that inactivate and modify anti-biotics,proteins genes that protect and modify antibiotic targets.In this review,acquired resistance mechanisms of PA involved in gene mutations and HGT was summarized.This review would provide references for the prevention and treatment of PA in-fection,as well as the research and development of new antibiotics.