OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the dynamic changes of glucocorticoid (GC) dose and the feasibility of GC discontinuation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under the background of Chinese medicine (CM). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study included 1,196 RA patients enrolled in the China Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry of Patients with Chinese Medicine (CERTAIN) from September 1, 2019 to December 4, 2023, who initiated GC therapy. Participants were divided into the Western medicine (WM) and integrative medicine (IM, combination of CM and WM) groups based on medication regimen. Follow-up was performed at least every 3 months to assess dynamic changes in GC dose. Changes in GC dose were analyzed by generalized estimator equation, the probability of GC discontinuation was assessed using Kaplan-Meier curve, and predictors of GC discontinuation were analyzed by Cox regression. Patients with <12 months of follow-up were excluded for the sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Among 1,196 patients (85.4% female; median age 56.4 years), 880 (73.6%) received IM. Over a median 12-month follow-up, 34.3% (410 cases) discontinued GC, with significantly higher rates in the IM group (40.8% vs. 16.1% in WM; P<0.05). GC dose declined progressively, with IM patients demonstrating faster reductions (median 3.75 mg vs. 5.00 mg in WM at 12 months; P<0.05). Multivariate Cox analysis identified age <60 years [P<0.001, hazard ratios (HR)=2.142, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.523-3.012], IM therapy (P=0.001, HR=2.175, 95% CI: 1.369-3.456), baseline GC dose ⩽7.5 mg (P=0.003, HR=1.637, 95% CI: 1.177-2.275), and absence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use (P=0.001, HR=2.546, 95% CI: 1.432-4.527) as significant predictors of GC discontinuation. Sensitivity analysis (545 cases) confirmed these findings. CONCLUSIONS RA patients receiving CM face difficulties in following guideline-recommended GC discontinuation protocols. IM can promote GC discontinuation and is a promising strategy to reduce GC dependency in RA management. (Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, No. NCT05219214).
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/drug therapy* ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Retrospective Studies

Objective:To investigate the current situation of the use of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) for portal hypertension, which should aid the development of TIPS in China.Methods:The China Portal Hypertension Alliance (CHESS) initiated this study that comprehensively investigated the basic situation of TIPS for portal hypertension in China through network research. The survey included the following: the number of surgical cases, main indications, the development of Early-TIPS, TIPS for portal vein cavernous transformation, collateral circulation embolization, intraoperative portal pressure gradient measurement, commonly used stent types, conventional anticoagulation and time, postoperative follow-up, obstacles, and the application of domestic instruments.Results:According to the survey, a total of 13 527 TIPS operations were carried out in 545 hospitals participating in the survey in 2021, and 94.1% of the hospital had the habit of routine follow-up after TIPS. Most hospitals believed that the main indications of TIPS were the control of acute bleeding (42.6%) and the prevention of rebleeding (40.7%). 48.1% of the teams carried out early or priority TIPS, 53.0% of the teams carried out TIPS for the cavernous transformation of the portal vein, and 81.0% chose routine embolization of collateral circulation during operation. Most of them used coils and biological glue as embolic materials, and 78.5% of the team routinely performed intraoperative portal pressure gradient measurements. In selecting TIPS stents, 57.1% of the hospitals woulel choose Viator-specific stents, 57.2% woulel choose conventional anticoagulation after TIPS, and the duration of anticoagulation was between 3-6 months (55.4%). The limitation of TIPS surgery was mainly due to cost (72.3%) and insufficient understanding of doctors in related departments (77.4%). Most teams accepted the domestic instruments used in TIPS (92.7%).Conclusions:This survey shows that TIPS treatment is an essential part of treating portal hypertension in China. The total number of TIPS cases is far from that of patients with portal hypertension. In the future, it is still necessary to popularize TIPS technology and further standardize surgical indications, routine operations, and instrument application.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics in of different antibody subtypes in of patients with antisynthetase syndrome (ASS) complicated with interstitial lung disease (ILD).Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 132 ASS-ILD patients at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (Jiangsu Provincial People′s Hospital), encompassing a period from December 2019 to June 2023. The data included were basic demographic information, clinical features, laboratory test results, chest computed tomography (CT) scans, and pulmonary lung function tests. Patients were categorized into distinct subtypes based on anti-aminoacyl tRNA synthetase (ARS) antibodies. Statistical analysis was performed using a t-test for comparing means between two samples with equal variance, the Mann-Whitney U test for non-normally distributed continuous data, and the chi-square ( χ2) test or Fisher′s exact test for categorical variables. Results:The most prevalent subtype of anti-synthetase antibody was anti-histidine antibody (Jo-1), accounting for 60 of 132 cases (45.5%), followed by anti-glycine-based tRNA synthetase antibody (EJ) (33/132, 2 5.0%), anti-tRNA synthase antibody (PL-7) (26/132, 19.7%), anti-alanine-based tRNA synthetase antibody (PL-12) (7.6%, 10/132), anti-isoleucine-tRNA synthase antibody (OJ) (3/132, 2.2%). The presence of anti-Ro-52 antibodies was significantly associated with rapidly progressive ILD. In patients with different subtypes of ASS-ILD, the presence of anti-Jo-1 antibodies is was positive in 28 cases (46.7%), and the combination of infection is was more common than in other groups ( χ2=0.15, P=0.047). The group with positive anti-EJ antibodies has had a significant decline in lung function, and cough is was more common in 31 cases (93.9%) than in other groups ( P<0.05); the group with positive anti-PL-12 antibodies has had a more pronounced decline in lung function than other groups ( P<0.05), and fever (7 cases, 70.0%) wais more common than in other groups ( χ2=0.02, P=0.022). Conclusion:Anti-Jo-1, Anti-PL-7, and Anti-PL-12 antibodies were are observed more frequently in patients with ILD. Furthermore, a significant deterioration in lung function was is observed in patients testing positive for anti-PL-12 and anti-EJ antibodies.

Objective To compare the clinical outcomes of using elastic intramedullary nail and plate to fix fibular frac-ture.Methods The 60 patients with tibiofibular fractures admitted from January 2015 to December 2022 were divided into two groups:intramedullary nail group and plate group,30 cases each,intramedullary nail group was treated with elastic in-tramedullary nail fixation group,plate group was treated with steel plate and screw fixation group.Intramedullary nail group,there were 18 males and 12 females,aged from 22 to 75 years old with an average of(39.4±9.8)years old,including 24 cases of traffic accidents injury,6 cases of falling injury,23 cases of closed fractures,7 cases of open fractures.Steel plate group,there were 15 males and 15 females,aged from 24 to 78 years old with an average of(38.6±10.2)years old.The 22 cases were injured by traffic accident,8 cases were injured by falling.The 24 cases were closed fractures and 6 cases were open fractures.The operation time,intraoperative bleeding,American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society(AOFAS)ankle and hind foot scores,clinical healing time of fibula and the incidence of wound complications were compared between the two groups.Re-sults The patients in both groups were followed up for 6 to 21 months,with an average of(14.0±2.8)months.Compared with plate group,intramedullary nail group had shorter operative time,less bleeding,shorter clinical healing time of fibula,and low-er infection rate of incision,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).There were 2 cases of delayed healing in intramedullary nail group,1 case of nonunion in plate group,and 2 cases of delayed healing in plate group,and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).In the last follow-up,according to the AOFAS scoring standard,the ankle function in intramedullary nail group was excellent in 17 cases,good in 12 cases,fair in 1 case,with an av-erage of(88.33±4.57)points,while in plate group,excellent in 16 cases,good in 10 cases,fair in 4 cases,with an average of(87.00±4.14)points;There was no statistical difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion Elastic intramedullary nail has the advantages of short operation time,less intraoperative bleeding,short fracture healing time and less incision com-plications in the treatment of fibular fracture,which is worthy of clinical application.

As artificial intelligence technology rapidly advances, its deployment within the medical sector presents substantial ethical challenges. Consequently, it becomes crucial to create a standardized, transparent, and secure framework for processing medical data. This includes setting the ethical boundaries for medical artificial intelligence and safeguarding both patient rights and data integrity. This consensus governs every facet of medical data handling through artificial intelligence, encompassing data gathering, processing, storage, transmission, utilization, and sharing. Its purpose is to ensure the management of medical data adheres to ethical standards and legal requirements, while safeguarding patient privacy and data security. Concurrently, the principles of compliance with the law, patient privacy respect, patient interest protection, and safety and reliability are underscored. Key issues such as informed consent, data usage, intellectual property protection, conflict of interest, and benefit sharing are examined in depth. The enactment of this expert consensus is intended to foster the profound integration and sustainable advancement of artificial intelligence within the medical domain, while simultaneously ensuring that artificial intelligence adheres strictly to the relevant ethical norms and legal frameworks during the processing of medical data.
Artificial Intelligence/legislation & jurisprudence* ; Humans ; Consensus ; Computer Security/standards* ; Confidentiality/ethics* ; Informed Consent/ethics*

Objective:To explore the current status of surgery for portal hypertension to grasp current status and future development of surgery in China.Methods:This study is jointly sponsored by China Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Specialist Alliance & Portal Hypertension Alliance in China (CHESS).Comprehensive surveying is conducted for basic domestic situations of surgery for portal hypertension, including case load, surgical approaches, management of postoperative complications, primary effects, existing confusion and obstacles, liver transplantation(LT), laparoscopic procedures and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt(TIPS), etc.Results:A total of 8 512 cases of portal hypertension surgery are performed at 378 hospitals nationwide in 2021.Splenectomy plus devascularization predominated(53.0%)and laparoscopy accounted for 76.1%.Primary goal is preventing rebleeding(67.0%) and 72.8% of hospitals used preventive anticoagulants after conventional surgery.And 80.7% of teams believe that the formation of postoperative portal vein thrombosis is a surgical dilemma and 65.3% of hospitals practiced both laparoscopy and TIPS.The major reasons for patients with portal hypertension not receiving LT are due to a lack of qualifications for LT(69.3%)and economic factors(69.0%).Conclusions:Surgery is an integral part of management of portal hypertension in China.However, it is imperative to further standardize the grasp of surgical indications, the handling of surgical operation and the management of postoperative complications.Moreover, prospective, multi-center randomized controlled clinical studies should be performed.

CRISPR/Cas(the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-CRISPR associated)system exists in most bacteria and all archaea. It is an important strategy for bacteria and archaea to resist foreign nucleic acid invasion and use for self-defense. The CRISPR/Cas system is a simple, fast, and specific diagnostic tool, which is widely used in agriculture, industry, animal husbandry, and medicine. This article mainly introduces and discusses recently advantages and limitations of biosensors combining CRISPR/Cas system with fluorescence, visualization and surface enhanced raman related technologies, as well as future research directions.
Animals ; CRISPR-Cas Systems ; Bacteria/genetics* ; Archaea

The readmission rate within 30 days is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of hospital medical care and services. There are few studies on early readmission of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement in China. This article reviews the concept, screening tools, status and main reasons of readmission within 30 days in foreign countries, and analyzes the influencing factors from three aspects of patients, hospitals and society, aiming to build a risk prediction model of readmission within 30 days for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement suitable for China's national conditions and provide reference for related researches.

Objective:To explore the application value of artificial intelligence (AI) model based on deep learning in breast nodules classification of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System of ultrasound (BI-RADS-US).Methods:The ultrasound images of 2 426 breast nodules from 1 558 female patients with breast diseases at Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University between December 2006 and December 2019 were collected . The image data sets were divided into training (63%), verification (7%), and test (30%) subsets for the construction of AI model. The diagnostic efficiencies of AI model, doctors' arbitration results and doctors' diagnosis with or without AI model assistance were analyzed by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The Cohen weighted Kappa statistic was used to compare the consistency of BI-RADS-US classification among 5 ultrasound doctors' diagnosis with or without AI model assistance. And the changes of BI-RADS-US classification were analyzed before and after each doctor adopted AI model assistance.Results:The differences in diagnostic efficiencies of AI model, doctors' arbitration results and doctors' diagnosis with or without AI model assistance were statistically significant (all P > 0.05). The consistency among 5 ultrasound doctors was improved due to AI model assistance and Kappa value was increased from 0.433 (category 3), 0.600 (category 4a), 0.614 (category 4b), 0.570 (category 4c) and 0.495 (category 5) to 0.812, 0.704, 0.823, 0.690 and 0.509 (all P < 0.05), respectively. The upgrade and downgrade of BI-RADS-US classification occurred in 5 doctors after the classification of AI model assistance. Downgrade from category 4 to 3 in benign nodules of 56.6% (47/76) and upgrade from category 4 to 5 in malignant nodules of 69.4% (34/49) were mostly observed. Conclusions:AI-assisted BI-RADS-US classification can effectively improve the consistency of classification among the doctors without reducing the diagnostic efficiency. AI model shows clinical values in reducing unnecessary biopsy of partial benign lesions and increasing diagnostic accuracy of partial malignant lesions through the adjustment of breast nodule classification.

Objective: To explore the correlation between sleep status and frailty in adults aged 30-79 years in China, and explore the potential effect modification of general and central obesity. Methods: Based on the baseline data of the China Kadoorie Biobank, we used multinomial logistic regression to analyze the correlation between long and short sleep duration, insomnia disorder, snoring, and unhealthy sleep score with risks of pre-frailty and frailty. Both overall and obesity-stratified analyses were performed. Result: Among the 512 724 participants, 2.3% had frailty and 40.1% had pre-frailty. There was a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and frailty score. Short (OR=1.21, 95%CI: 1.19-1.23) or long sleep duration (OR=1.19, 95%CI: 1.17-1.21), insomnia disorder (OR=2.09, 95%CI: 2.02-2.17), and snoring (OR=1.61, 95%CI: 1.59-1.63) were all positively correlated with pre-frailty, and dose-response relationships were observed between unhealthy sleep score and pre-frailty (P for trend<0.001), with OR values of 1.46 (1.44-1.48), 1.97 (1.93-2.00) and 3.43 (3.21-3.67) respectively for those having unhealthy sleep score of 1 to 3. These sleep problems were also positively correlated with frailty. Compared with the overweight or obesity group, stronger relationships were observed between short sleep duration and frailty or pre-frailty and between insomnia disorder and pre-frailty, while the relationships between snoring and frailty and pre-frailty were weaker in the participants with normal weight (P for interaction <0.007 for all). We also observed similar effect modification by central obesity. Conclusion: Long or short sleep duration, insomnia disorder, snoring and higher unhealthy sleep scores were positively correlated with pre-frailty or frailty, general and central obesity status could modify the relationships.
Adult ; China/epidemiology* ; Frailty/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Obesity ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Sleep/physiology* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/epidemiology* ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Snoring/epidemiology*