Objective To observe the value of global and contextual dual attention U-Net model for segmenting thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images.Methods Totally 600 spinal sagittal X-ray images of 600 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were retrospectively enrolled.The images were preprocessed,and T4-T12 and L1-L5 were manually annotated as reference standards.The global attention refinement(GAR)module and attention-based atrous spatial pyramid pooling(A-ASPP)module were added to U-Net model,fivefold cross validation method was used for training and validation,and its performance for segmenting sagittal X-ray images was analyzed,and compared with pyramid scene parsing network(PSPNet),visual geometry group(VGG)-UNet and DeepLabv3+.Results The precision,sensitivity and Dice similarity coefficient of global and contextual dual attention U-Net model for segmenting thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images was 90.58％,89.51％,and 90.20％,respectively,which were superior to PSPNet,VGG-UNet and DeepLabv3+.The loss function and mean intersection over union curves showed that it converged quickly and had good generalization ability.Conclusion The global and contextual dual attention U-Net model could effectively segment thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images.

Objective:To describe the epidemiological characteristics of 22 common respiratory patho-gens in patients with pneumonia in Yinzhou,Ningbo,from January 1,2015 to December 21,2024.Methods:The test data of 22 common respiratory pathogens in patients diagnosed with pneumonia or lung infection in the Yinzhou Regional Health Information Platform from January 1,2015 to December 21,2024 were collected.The positive cases,positive rates,and positive proportions were calculated.The epidemiological characteristics were described by the year,sex,age group,season,and coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic period.Results:A total of 77 531 pneumonia patients were included,with 492 696 respiratory pathogen tests performed.The number of respiratory pathogen tests and positive cases of pneumonia patients in Yinzhou showed an upward trend.In the study,34.63％of the pneumo-nia patients tested positive for at least one pathogen,and the pathogen non-detection rate decreased from 79.44％in 2015 to 58.38％in 2024.The overall pathogen positive rate was 9.12％,which decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and had not returned to the historical level after the COVID-19 pande-mic.The positive rate was highest in children aged 6-17 years(13.99％),and lowest in the elderly over 60 years(4.16％).The top 3 highest number of positive cases was Mycoplasma pneumoniae,influenza A virus,and influenza B virus;the top 3 highest positive rates of pathogen tests were Mycoplasma pneu-moniae(25.26％),rhinovirus(12.02％),and Bordetella pertussis(11.66％).The pathogen spectrum proportion in men was similar to that in women,only showing a higher ratio of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a slightly lower ratio of Mycoplasma pneumoniae(P＜0.001).Mycoplasma pneumoniae,respiratory syncytial virus,and rhinovirus infections were more common in children,while influenza virus,Mycobac-terium tuberculosis,and Streptococcus pyogenes infections were more common in adults and the elderly(P＜0.001).Influenza virus and human metapneumovirus infections were more common in winter,rhi-novirus and Bordetella pertussis infections were more common in spring,and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in-fections were relatively more common in fall(P＜0.001).After the COVID-19 pandemic,the propor-tions of rhinovirus,respiratory syncytial virus,and human metapneumovirus infections in the pneumonia patients increased signi-ficantly,reaching 7.53％,4.26％,and 2.25％,respectively,while the propor-tions of influenza B virus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections decreased to 4.14％and 2.80％,re-spectively(P＜0.001).Conclusion:In the past decade,the scale of respiratory pathogen infection in the pneumonia population in Yinzhou had expanded significantly,and there were differences in distribu-tion by the year,gender,age group,and season.The respiratory pathogen spectrum in pneumonia pa-tients after the COVID-19 pandemic had a trend of diversification.

Objective:To describe the epidemiological characteristics of 22 common respiratory patho-gens in patients with pneumonia in Yinzhou,Ningbo,from January 1,2015 to December 21,2024.Methods:The test data of 22 common respiratory pathogens in patients diagnosed with pneumonia or lung infection in the Yinzhou Regional Health Information Platform from January 1,2015 to December 21,2024 were collected.The positive cases,positive rates,and positive proportions were calculated.The epidemiological characteristics were described by the year,sex,age group,season,and coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic period.Results:A total of 77 531 pneumonia patients were included,with 492 696 respiratory pathogen tests performed.The number of respiratory pathogen tests and positive cases of pneumonia patients in Yinzhou showed an upward trend.In the study,34.63％of the pneumo-nia patients tested positive for at least one pathogen,and the pathogen non-detection rate decreased from 79.44％in 2015 to 58.38％in 2024.The overall pathogen positive rate was 9.12％,which decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic and had not returned to the historical level after the COVID-19 pande-mic.The positive rate was highest in children aged 6-17 years(13.99％),and lowest in the elderly over 60 years(4.16％).The top 3 highest number of positive cases was Mycoplasma pneumoniae,influenza A virus,and influenza B virus;the top 3 highest positive rates of pathogen tests were Mycoplasma pneu-moniae(25.26％),rhinovirus(12.02％),and Bordetella pertussis(11.66％).The pathogen spectrum proportion in men was similar to that in women,only showing a higher ratio of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a slightly lower ratio of Mycoplasma pneumoniae(P＜0.001).Mycoplasma pneumoniae,respiratory syncytial virus,and rhinovirus infections were more common in children,while influenza virus,Mycobac-terium tuberculosis,and Streptococcus pyogenes infections were more common in adults and the elderly(P＜0.001).Influenza virus and human metapneumovirus infections were more common in winter,rhi-novirus and Bordetella pertussis infections were more common in spring,and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in-fections were relatively more common in fall(P＜0.001).After the COVID-19 pandemic,the propor-tions of rhinovirus,respiratory syncytial virus,and human metapneumovirus infections in the pneumonia patients increased signi-ficantly,reaching 7.53％,4.26％,and 2.25％,respectively,while the propor-tions of influenza B virus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections decreased to 4.14％and 2.80％,re-spectively(P＜0.001).Conclusion:In the past decade,the scale of respiratory pathogen infection in the pneumonia population in Yinzhou had expanded significantly,and there were differences in distribu-tion by the year,gender,age group,and season.The respiratory pathogen spectrum in pneumonia pa-tients after the COVID-19 pandemic had a trend of diversification.

Objective To observe the value of global and contextual dual attention U-Net model for segmenting thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images.Methods Totally 600 spinal sagittal X-ray images of 600 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were retrospectively enrolled.The images were preprocessed,and T4-T12 and L1-L5 were manually annotated as reference standards.The global attention refinement(GAR)module and attention-based atrous spatial pyramid pooling(A-ASPP)module were added to U-Net model,fivefold cross validation method was used for training and validation,and its performance for segmenting sagittal X-ray images was analyzed,and compared with pyramid scene parsing network(PSPNet),visual geometry group(VGG)-UNet and DeepLabv3+.Results The precision,sensitivity and Dice similarity coefficient of global and contextual dual attention U-Net model for segmenting thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images was 90.58％,89.51％,and 90.20％,respectively,which were superior to PSPNet,VGG-UNet and DeepLabv3+.The loss function and mean intersection over union curves showed that it converged quickly and had good generalization ability.Conclusion The global and contextual dual attention U-Net model could effectively segment thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in spinal sagittal X-ray images.

Objective　To timely understand the current status and distribution of nail snails (Oncomelania hupensis) in Tongjiang River channels in Zhenjiang City, providing a scientific basis for achieving the goal of eliminating schistosomiasis. Methods　From 2019 to 2023, nine Tongjiang River channels on the south bank of the Yangtze River under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang City were selected as the monitoring area. Snail monitoring was carried out onshore and beach nail snails floats in the Tongjiang River channels, nail snails on attachments in hardened areas, snails induced by straw curtains, and snails carried by boats and domestic animals. Results　The monitoring results of shoreline snail from 2019 to 2023 showed that the snail situation in the Tongjiang River channel and its outer river bank remained relatively stable from 2019 to 2020; however, in 2021, under the influence of the Yangtze River flooding disaster in 2020, the area of snails increased significantly. In 2021, the area with snails in the Tongjiang River channel and the outer river bank increased by 45.70% (11.95/26.15) and 100.00% (20.00/20.00) compared to 2020; the average density of nails snails in the Tongjiang River channel and the outer river bank and the emergence rate of snail frames both showed a significant increase, rising by 94.73% (0.18/0.19) and 68.08% (8.68/12.75) compared to 2020, and by 122.73% (0.81/0.66) and 102.78% (43.26/42.09), respectively. The differences in the increase in the occurrence rate of spiked frames in the Tongjiang River channel Chili River and Renmin River were not statistically significant (χ2=0.329, P>0.05; χ2=0.646, P>0.05). From 2022 to 2023, the density of nail snails and the occurrence rate of framed snails in the Tongjiang River channel showed a decreasing trend (F=4.72, P=0.04 and χ2=372.58, P<0.01). The area of nail snails, density of live snails, and occurrence rate of framed snails in the outer river bank showed a decreasing trend (F=13.96, P=0.02; F=23.43, P<0.01; χ2=1 029.69, P<0.01). During the five years, no nail snails were detected in the ancient canal and 11 tributaries. From 2019 to 2023, 180 times of 3 003 kg of floating objects were salvaged, with a total of 148 live snails detected. A total of 17 live snails were captured on attachments in the hardened berm area; a total of 11 live snails were captured by straw curtain snail baiting;112 boats were inspected, and no snails were found; there were 112 boats surveyed, and no snails were found; 97 cattle were observed, and 2 cattle were found to carry 1 live snail on their hooves; 321 sheep were observed, and no snails were found on their hooves; and no infectious snails were found in the monitoring area in 5 years. Conclusions　Nail snails continue to exist in the Tongjiang River channel, and the risk factors for schistosomiasis transmission have not been completely eliminated. It is still necessary to carry out accurate monitoring of the snail situation in the Tongjiang River and the river bank, so as to grasp the risk of transmission in time and take emergency measures.

Objective:To understand the current status of gastroscopy in diagnosing gastric lesions in general population, and to recommend the optimal age for the first gastroscopy and intervals for repeated gastroscopy.Methods:The gastroscopy records of residents aged 18-80 years in Yinzhou District of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, between April 2010 and December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. The detections of gastric lesions across different years, age and genders were described. Goodness of fit tests were applied to compare the differences in detection rates of different lesions in first-time endoscopy in different age groups and different populations. Generalized additive models were used to fit the trend of age specific gastric lesion detection rate explore the optimal age for gastroscopy. The appropriate gastroscopy intervals were determined according to the progress of the gastric lesions detected in repeated gastroscopy.Results:A total of 237 751 participants with 344 398 gastroscopy records were included in analyses. A total of 5 597 cases of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), 9 796 cases of intestinal metaplasia (IM), 165 cases of low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN), 52 cases of high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN) and 435 cases of gastric cancer were detected by the first gastroscopy. The overall detection rate of gastric lesions increased significantly in age group 45-70 years, and remained stable after 70 years old, with LGIN and HGIN showing notable increases at 50 and 55 years old, respectively. Repeated gastroscopy detected CAG, IM, LGIN, and HGIN at a higher rate compared with the first gastroscopy. Normal/superficial gastritis progressed in 3-5 years, whereas CAG or more severe lesions progressed in 1-6 years.Conclusion:Gastroscopy is recommended for general population aged 45 years and above. Furthermore, gastroscopy can be performed every 3-5 years for individuals with normal endoscopy results and once a year for patients with CAG or more severe gastric lesions.

Objective:To explore the efficacy of breaking blood expelling stasis method accelerates hematoma resolution after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and its potential mechanism.Methods:63 ICH patients confirmed by computer tomography (CT) scan from August 2019 to February 2020 were selected as the research objects and randomly divided into control group ( n=29, routine treatment plus placebo) and observation group ( n=34, routine treatment plus breaking blood expelling stasis granules). The changes of neurological function and hematoma volume were observed before and after treatment. At the same time, the ICH rat model was constructed to observe the changes of neurobehavior and hematoma volume after the intervention of breaking blood expelling stasis granules. The expressions of peroxidase proliferator-activated-receptor γ(PPARγ), CD11b and CD36 in the surrounding tissues of hematoma were detected by Western blot on the third day after the intervention. Results:After two weeks of treatment, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and hematoma volume of the two groups decreased (all P<0.05), and the NIHSS score and hematoma volume of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group (all P<0.05). In addition, the changes of NIHSS score and hematoma volume in the observation group before and after treatment were significantly greater than those in the control group ( P<0.01). In animal experiments, the hematoma volume in the breaking blood expelling stasis group on the 14th day after ICH was significantly smaller than that in the ICH group [(9.8±4.9)mm 3 vs (17.6±6.4)mm 3,P<0.05], and the reduction of hematoma in the breaking blood expelling stasis group on the 7th and 14th day was significantly larger than that in the ICH group [(4.6±2.9)mm 3 vs (-2.1±1.6)mm 3, (14.3±3.8)mm 3 vs (4.2±2.8)mm 3, all P<0.01]. The percentage of right turn on 3rd, 7th and 14th day and the modified Neurological Severity Score (mNSS) on 7th and 14th day in the breaking blood expelling stasis group were lower than those in the ICH group (all P<0.05). Western blot analysis showed that the expressions of CD11b, CD36 and PPARγ in the breaking blood expelling stasis group on the third day after ICH were significantly higher than those in the ICH group (CD11b: 0.78±0.12 vs 0.49±0.11, P<0.05; CD36: 1.16±0.16 vs 0.80±0.11, P<0.05; PPARγ: 0.78±0.11 vs 0.37±0.10, P<0.01). Conclusions:Breaking blood expelling stasis can effectively accelerate intracerebral hematoma clearance and improve neurological outcome after ICH, and the mechanism maybe probably mediated by activating PPARγ and enhanced CD36, CD11b upregulation on microglia/macrophages, which resulting in facilitating erythrocyte endogenous phagocytosis.

Episodic ataxia (EA) is a group of disorders characterized by recurrent spells of vertigo, truncal ataxia, and dysarthria. Episodic ataxia type 2 (EA2), the most common subtype of EA, is an autosomal dominant disease caused by mutation of the CACNA1A gene. EA2 has been rarely reported in the Chinese population. Here we present an EA2 family admitted to Xiangya Hospital in October 2018. The proband was a 22-year-old male who complained of recurrent spells of vertigo, slurred speech, and incoordination for 4 years. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed cerebellar atrophy. He had neuropsychological development disorder in childhood, and cognitive assessment in adulthood showed cognitive impairment. The proband's mother and grandmother had a similar history. Peripheral blood samples from the proband and family members were collected, and genomic DNA was isolated. Whole exome sequencing of the proband detected a heterozygous frameshift mutation c.2042_2043del (p.Q681Rfs*100) of CACNA1A gene. This mutation was verified in the proband and 2 family members using Sanger sequencing. One family member carrying this mutation was free of symptoms and signs, suggesting an incomplete penetrance of the mutation. We reported a variant c.2042_2043del of CACNA1A gene as the pathogenic mutation in a Chinese EA2 family for the first time. This case enriched the clinical spectrum of CACNA1A related EA2, and contributed to the understanding of clinical and genetic characteristics of EA2 to reduce misdiagnosis.
Adult ; Ataxia ; Calcium Channels/genetics* ; Humans ; Male ; Mutation ; Nystagmus, Pathologic ; Pedigree ; Vertigo ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a syndrome that excludes secondary causes such as intracranial space-occupying lesion, hydrocephalus, cerebrovascular disease, and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. If not be treated promptly and effectively, IIH can cause severe, permanent vision disability and intractable, disabling headache. This study aims to explore the clinical and image features for IIH, to help clinicians to understand this disease, increase the diagnose rate, and improve the outcomes of patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 15 cases of IIH that were admitted to Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, during January 2015 to September 2020. The diagnosis of IIH was based on the updated modified Dandy criteria. We analyzed clinical data of patients and did statistical analysis, including age, gender, height, weight, medical history, physical examination, auxiliary examination, treatment and outcome. RESULTS: There were 10 females and 5 males. Female patients were 22 to 42 years old with median age of 39.5. Male patients were 27 to 52 years old with the median age of 44.0. The BMI was 24.14-34.17 (28.71±2.97) kg/m CONCLUSIONS IIH primarily affects women of childbearing age who are overweight. The major hazard of IIH is the severe and permanent visual loss. Typical image signs have high specificity in IIH diagnosis. Prompt diagnosis and effective treatment are significantly important to improve the outcomes of patients.
Adult ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Female ; Humans ; Intracranial Hypertension ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pseudotumor Cerebri/diagnostic imaging* ; Retrospective Studies ; Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt ; Young Adult

Objective:To investigate the expression level of C-type lectin domain family 4 member G ( CLEC4 G) in liver disease tissues and its correlation with the clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods:The cancer tissue and the corresponding adjacent tissues (at least 2 cm from the edge of the cancer tissue), cut in surgeries from January to December in 2019, of 40 HCC patients in Zhuzhou Central Hospital, as well as 10 normal liver tissue samples (seen as far away as possible from the edge of the cancer tissue with naked eyes) and 10 liver cirrhosis samples were analyzed retrospectively. The tumor genome atlas (TCGA) database was used to screen the HCC transcriptome data sets, and bioinformatics methods were used to make expression heat maps and box maps which can help analyze the difference of CLEC4 G in cancer and adjacent tissues. The mRNA expression level of CLEC4 G was detected by conducting real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR), and the protein expression level of CLEC4G was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC). The measurement data were expressed as mean±standard deviation ( Mean± SD). Group t test was used for inter-group comparison. The counting information was expressed as a percentage (%). The χ2 test was adopted to analyze the correlation between CLEC4 G expression level and the clinicopathological features of patients. Results:The expression level of CLEC4 G in cancer tissues was significantly decreased in heat map compared with that in adjacent tissues. In the box figure, the relative expression of CLEC4 G mRNA in the cancer tissues was (82.5±18.9) and (3 354.4±296.2) in paracancer tissues, with statistically significant difference ( P<0.001). Respectively, qRT-PCR and IHC showed that mRNA of CLEC4 G were abundant in normal liver tissues (3 301.3±286.4), while they were very little in liver cancer tissues (63.6±32.9), significantly decreasing in liver cirrhosis (1 742.6±208.7) and paracancer tissues (1 553.2±249.9), with statistically significant difference ( P<0.001). Moreover, low CLEC4 G expression level was associated with tumor vascular metastasis in HCC patients. Conclusions:CLEC4 G is highly expressed in normal liver tissue, but with the progression of malignant liver disease, it is significantly decreased with little expression in HCC tissue. It can be expected to be a good marker for the pathological diagnosis of HCC.