ObjectiveThe malaria parasites remodel the host erythrocyte structure by exporting parasite proteins that interact with the membrane skeleton proteins of red blood cells (RBCs), facilitating their intracellular survival and pathogenicity. Skeleton-binding protein 1 (SBP1) is a conserved exported protein across Plasmodium species. In Plasmodium falciparum, SBP1 has been reported to interact with erythrocyte membrane skeleton proteins 4.1R and spectrin, while its contribution to erythrocyte remodeling and parasite virulence in Plasmodium berghei (Pb) remains unclear. This study aims to determine whether PbSBP1 associates with the host cytoskeletal protein 4.1R and to investigate its role in the remodeling of host RBCs and the pathogenicity of Plasmodium berghei. MethodsIn Plasmodium berghei, the relationship between PbSBP1 and the erythrocyte cytoskeletal protein 4.1R was examined using co-immunoprecipitation. A Pbsbp1 gene knockout mutant of Plasmodium berghei (Pbsbp1∆) was generated based on the principle of double crossover homologous recombination. The deformability of erythrocytes infected with Pbsbp1∆ parasites was assessed using microfluidic methods. Microchannels with an array of cylindrical pillars were used to detect modifications in infected RBC deformability. The infected RBCs were squashed between the rows and recovered between the columns and the transit velocity (μm/s) of infected RBCs travelling through the microchannel was recorded. The component of the erythrocyte membrane skeleton junctional complex, tropomodulin (TMOD), was fluorescently labeled, and the cytoskeletal network of infected erythrocytes was imaged using super-resolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) to analyze ultrastructural changes in the cytoskeleton of wild-type (WT) and Pbsbp1∆-infected erythrocytes. Actin-based junctional complexes were displayed as individual clusters by the labeled TMOD in the STORM images, and the cluster densities and distances between adjacent clusters of infected RBCs were calculated. Additionally, rodent malaria models (BALB/c mice) and experimental cerebral malaria models (C57BL/6 mice) were employed to monitor the growth of Pbsbp1∆ and WT parasites during the intraerythrocytic stage and their capacity to induce cerebral malaria in mice. ResultsPbSBP1 may participate in the remodeling of infected erythrocytes through direct or indirect interaction with the erythrocyte cytoskeletal protein 4.1R. Microfluidic assays revealed that the deformability of erythrocytes infected with Pbsbp1∆ parasites was significantly enhanced compared to those infected with WT parasites. STORM imaging further demonstrated that the ultrastructure of the erythrocyte cytoskeleton in Pbsbp1∆-infected cells was altered relative to that in WT-infected erythrocytes. The distances between nearest neighbors of clusters had a tendency to increase while the cluster densities were decreased in Pbsbp1∆-infected RBCs compared to WT-infected RBCs. Subsequent phenotypic analysis indicated that the growth rate of Pbsbp1∆ parasites during the intraerythrocytic stage was significantly slower than that of WT parasites, and their ability to induce cerebral malaria in mice was also attenuated. These findings suggest that PbSBP1 is involved in the remodeling of the erythrocyte membrane skeleton, likely through its direct or indirect interaction with protein 4.1R, thereby regulating the deformability of infected erythrocytes and influencing the pathogenicity of the blood-stage parasites. ConclusionThis study establishes a role for PbSBP1 in host erythrocyte remodeling and parasite virulence, providing new research strategies for the prevention and treatment of malaria.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of subanesthetic dose of esketamine on postoperative anxiety and recovery in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS A total of 200 patients scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy at Suzhou Ninth Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University from January 2023 to December 2024 were randomly assigned to control group （n＝100） and observation group （n＝100）. One minute before the initiation of anesthesia， patients in the control group received intravenous injections of Propofol emulsion injection， Sufentanil citrate injection， and Succinylcholine chloride injection. On this basis， patients in the observation group received an intravenous injection of Esketamine hydrochloride injection. The anxiety status of patients in both groups was compared， along with their general intraoperative conditions （including sufentanil dosage， duration of pneumoperitoneum， operative time， anesthesia time， and extubation time）， postoperative recovery， incidence of adverse reactions， and the need for dezocine rescue analgesia. Heart rate and mean arterial pressure， entropy index （state entropy and response entropy）， inflammatory marker levels [interleukin-6 （IL-6） and C-reactive protein （CRP）]， numerical rating scale （NRS） for pain intensity were compared between the two groups at different time points. RESULTS No significant differences were found between the two groups in pneumoperitoneum duration， operative time， anesthesia time，extubation time， incidence of postoperative dry mouth， entropy index or length of stay in the post-anesthesia care unit （P＞0.05）. Compared with the control group， the observation group showed significantly lower postoperative STAI-S scores， reduced intraoperative sufentanil consumption， decreased incidence of postoperative nausea， vomiting， and shivering， the need for dezocine rescue analgesia， as well as lower plasma IL-6 and CRP levels at 24 h after surgery， and NRS （P＜0.05）. The heart rate and mean arterial pressure of patients in the observation group at the start of surgery， end of surgery， and during extubation were all significantly higher than those in the control group （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS Subanesthetic dose of esketamine can effectively alleviate postoperative anxiety， reduce intraoperative opioid consumption， suppress postoperative inflammatory response， relieve postoperative pain， and promote recovery in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Purpose To explore factors influencing vaginal delivery during the first stage of labor using intrapartum ultrasound and to construct predictive models for delivery decision-making.Materials and Methods A total of 473 nulliparous women admitted to Heping Hospital,Northern Theater General Hospital from July to December 2021 were prospectively enrolled as the training set.Clinical data on admission and fetal biometric parameters(biparietal diameter,femur length,head circumference and abdominal circumference)measured within one week before delivery were collected.Ultrasound assessments of fetal position,angle of progression(AOP)and head-perineum distance(HPD)were performed during the first stage of labor.The latent phase group(n=255)was subdivided into vaginal delivery group(n=186)and cesarean section group(n=69);the active phase group(n=218)was divided into vaginal delivery group(n=168)and cesarean section group(n=50).The associations between fetal position,AOP,HPD and vaginal delivery were analyzed,and predictive models were constructed for the latent phase(model 1)and active phase(model 2).A validation set of 547 women from January to September 2022 was used to evaluate model performance via area under the curve(AUC),calibration curves and decision curve analysis.Results In the latent phase,multivariate regression identified maternal height(OR=3.970,P=0.002),pre-pregnancy body mass index(OR=0.893,P=0.036),labor onset type(OR=2.415,P=0.045),neonatal birth weight(OR=3.728,P=0.002),AOP(OR=11.649,P<0.001)and HPD(OR=4.240,P=0.004)as significant predictors.The training and validation sets showed AUCs of 0.917 and 0.869,respectively.Goodness-of-fit tests indicated excellent model calibration(χ2=3.437,P=0.904;χ2=10.877,P=0.209).Decision curve analysis demonstrated strong clinical utility.For the active phase,significant predictors included maternal height(OR=6.532,P<0.001),neonatal birth weight(OR=11.890,P<0.001),fetal position(OR=4.600,P=0.003),AOP(OR=7.229,P<0.001)and HPD(OR=4.722,P=0.005).AUCs were 0.943(training)and 0.906(validation),with good calibration(χ2=4.340,P=0.740;χ2=9.836,P=0.277)and clinical applicability.Conclusion First stage ultrasound assessment of fetal position,AOP and HPD correlates with delivery outcomes.The developed nomogram models combining these parameters with clinical factors provide valuable guidance for delivery decision-making.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors for adverse outcomes in elderly patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrilla-tion(AF)after percutaneous left atrial appendage closure(LAAC)combined with radiofrequency ablation(RFA).Meth-ods:A total of 199 elderly AF patients who admitted in Department of Cardiology,Yuhuangding Hospital between Jan 1st,2019 and Aug 17th,2023 and underwent LAAC combined RFA were enrolled.The patients were divided into case group(n=78)and control group(n=121)according to presence of atrial arrhythmia and/or cerebral infarction(CI)within one year after operation.Baseline clinical data,laboratory indexes and color Doppler ultrasound indexes were compared be-tween the two groups,and multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for postoperative atrial ar-rhythmia and/or CI.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was constructed to analyze the predictive efficacy of risk factors for atrial arrhythmia and/or CI after operation.Results:Univariate analysis indicated that compared with pa-tients in control group,those in case group had significant higher proportions of preoperative persistent atrial fibrillation(52.60％ vs.37.20％),old myocardial infarction(OMI)(11.50％vs.1.70％)and left atrial diameter(LAD)[(45.47±6.90)mm vs.(43.34±6.64)mm](P＜0.05 or＜0.01).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis indicated history of OMI(OR=8.736,95％CI 1.772～43.069,P=0.008)and LAD(OR=1.053,95％CI 1.006～1.102,P=0.027)were independent risk factors of adverse outcomes in elderly AF patients after LAAC+RFA.ROC analysis indicated that predic-tive efficacy of combined detection of OMI and LAD(AUC=0.663,95％CI 0.593～0.728)for adverse outcomes within 1 year in elderly AF patients after LAAC+RFA was significantly better than those of OMI(AUC=0.549,95％CI 0.477～0.620)and LAD(AUC=0.602,95％CI 0.531～0.671)alone(Z=3.045,2.312,P=0.002,0.021).Conclusion:His-tory of old myocardial infarction and left atrial diameter are independent risk factors for atrial arrhythmia and/or cerebral infarction within 1 year after percutaneous left atrial appendage closure combined with radiofrequency ablation in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation,and the combination has good predictive performance.

Objective:To establish a genomic nucleic acid mass spectrometry detection platform for allelic risk associated with Alzheimer's disease.Methods:Whole blood samples of 61 patients diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease in the Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from December 28th, 2023 to 31st, March 2024 were collected and deoxynucleic acid (DNA) was extracted, including 22 males and 39 females, aged (67.36 ± 8.18) years old. After screening out 17 risk gene loci in Chinese population, multiplex polymerase chain reaction primers, single-base extension primers and Sanger sequencing primers were designed. Ten samples were used for primer optimization and debugging through Sanger sequencing and time-of-flight mass spectrometry to establish a detection system. The remaining samples were genotyped using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer and verified by Sanger sequencing for accuracy evaluation. Five samples were selected for gradient dilution and then subjected to time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection to evaluate the detection limit. Three clinical samples, one case of Escherichia coli and one case of Staphylococcus aureus genomic DNA samples were selected for cross-reaction research. The anti-interference ability of the detection system was evaluated against hemolysis, chylous substances and conventional anticoagulants in the samples. Two samples, one wild and one homozygous mutation sample with representative peak shapes, were selected to evaluate the anti-interference ability. Four samples containing the common genotypes of all gene loci in the system were selected and repeated 10 times to evaluate the precision.Results:The minimum intensity of single-base extension primers on mass spectrometry is greater than half of the maximum intensity. All 17 risk gene loci screened were successfully typed. The time-of-flight mass spectrometry detection results of 1,037 loci from 61 samples showed that the genotyping detection rate was 100%. The genotypes of the 20 DNA samples were completely consistent with the results of Sanger sequencing, with an accuracy rate of 100%. The mass spectrometry detection results of five samples after gradient dilution indicated that the low detection limit was 5 ng of DNA. The reaction system has a strong anti-interference ability against hemolysis of samples, chylous substances, conventional anticoagulants and DNA cross-contamination. Homologous allele interference and no cross-reaction between the bacterial genome and 17 gene loci do not affect the risk genome detection results. The results of 10 repeated mass spectrometry tests on 4 samples showed that the precision was 100%.Conclusion:The genomic detection system of Alzheimer's disease risk has been successfully established to provide an auxiliary mean for disease diagnosis and risk assessment.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(CJD)is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by abnor-malities in the prion protein(PrP),the most common form of human prion disease.Although Genome-Wide Association Studies(GWAS)have identified numerous risk genes for CJD,the mechanisms under-lying these risk loci remain poorly understood.This study aims to elucidate novel genetically prioritized candidate proteins associated with CJD in the human brain through an integrative analytical pipeline.Uti-lizing datasets from Protein Quantitative Trait Loci(pQTL)(NpQTL1=152,NpQTL2=376),expres-sion QTL(eQTL)(N=452),and the CJD GWAS(NCJD=4 110,NControls=13 569),we imple-mented a systematic analytical pipeline.This pipeline included Proteome-Wide Association Study(PWAS),Mendelian randomization(MR),Bayesian colocalization,and Transcriptome-Wide Associa-tion Study(TWAS)to identify novel genetically prioritized candidate proteins implicated in CJD patho-genesis within the brain.Through PWAS,we identified that the altered abundance of six brain proteins was significantly associated with CJD.Two genes,STX6 and PDIA4,were established as lead causal genes for CJD,supported by robust evidence(False Discovery Rate＜0.05 in MR analysis;PP4/(PP3+PP4)≥0.75 in Bayesian colocalization).Specifically,elevated levels of STX6 and PDIA4 were asso-ciated with an increased risk of CJD.Additionally,TWAS demonstrated that STX6 and PDIA4 were asso-ciated with CJD at the transcriptional level.

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study assessed the methodological quality of systematic reviews (SRs) of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) published in Chinese between Jan 2021 and Sep 2022. METHODS: Chinese language CHM SRs were identified through literature searches across 3 international and 4 Chinese databases. Methodological quality was appraised using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2. Logistic regressions were used to explore associations between bibliographical characteristics and quality. RESULTS: Analyses of methodological quality found that among the 213 sampled SRs, 69.5% were of critically low quality, 30.5% were of low quality, and none achieved high or moderate quality. Common shortcomings included the failure to identify the studies excluded from the analysis, failure to disclose funding sources, and limited evaluation of the potential impact of bias on conclusions. Logistic regressions revealed that SRs led by corresponding authors affiliated with universities or academic institutions tended to be of lower quality than SRs led by authors affiliated with hospitals or clinical facilities. CONCLUSION Recent Chinese language CHM SRs exhibited limited methodological quality, making them unlikely to support the development of clinical practice guidelines. Urgent initiatives are needed to enhance training for researchers, peer-reviewers and editors involved in the preparation and publication of SRs. Adoption of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting guidelines in Chinese language journals is crucial to improve the relevance of SRs for Chinese medicine development. Addressing deficiencies in methodology and reporting is essential for promoting evidence-based practices and informed clinical decisions in Chinese medicine. Please cite this article as: Jiang Y, Zhong CC, Wang BH, Xu SS, Ho FF, Kwong MH, Ho L, Zhou JHS, Lam KC, Liu JP, Zhang BT, Chung VCH. Methodological quality of systematic reviews on orally administered Chinese herbal medicine published in Chinese between 2021 and 2022: A cross-sectional study. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):492-501.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Systematic Reviews as Topic/standards* ; Humans ; China ; Administration, Oral ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Radiopharmaceuticals operate by combining radionuclides with carriers. The radiation energy emitted by radionuclides is utilized to selectively irradiate diseased tissues while minimizing damage to healthy tissues. In comparison to external beam radiation therapy, radionuclide drugs demonstrate research potential due to their biological targeting capabilities and reduced normal tissue toxicity. This article reviews the applications and research progress of radiopharmaceuticals in cancer treatment. Several key radionuclides are examined, including ²²³Ra, ⁹⁰Y, Lutetium-177 (¹⁷⁷Lu), ²¹²Pb, and Actinium-225 (²²⁵Ac). It also explores the current development trends of radiopharmaceuticals, encompassing the introduction of novel radionuclides, advancements in imaging technologies, integrated diagnosis and treatment approaches, and equipment-medication combinations. We review the progress in the development of new treatments, such as neutron capture therapy, proton therapy, and heavy ion therapy. Furthermore, we examine the challenges and breakthroughs associated with the clinical translation of radiopharmaceuticals and provide recommendations for the research and development of novel radionuclide drugs.
Humans ; Radiopharmaceuticals/therapeutic use* ; Neoplasms/radiotherapy* ; Radioisotopes/therapeutic use* ; Animals

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the spatiotemporal patterns and socioeconomic factors influencing the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the Guangdong Province between 2010 and 2019. METHOD: Spatial and temporal variations in TB incidence were mapped using heat maps and hierarchical clustering. Socioenvironmental influencing factors were evaluated using a Bayesian spatiotemporal conditional autoregressive (ST-CAR) model. RESULTS: Annual incidence of TB in Guangdong decreased from 91.85/100,000 in 2010 to 53.06/100,000 in 2019. Spatial hotspots were found in northeastern Guangdong, particularly in Heyuan, Shanwei, and Shantou, while Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Foshan had the lowest rates in the Pearl River Delta. The ST-CAR model showed that the TB risk was lower with higher per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [Relative Risk ( RR), 0.91; 95% Confidence Interval ( CI): 0.86-0.98], more the ratio of licensed physicians and physician ( RR, 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90-0.98), and higher per capita public expenditure ( RR, 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90-0.97), with a marginal effect of population density ( RR, 0.86; 95% CI: 0.86-1.00). CONCLUSION The incidence of TB in Guangdong varies spatially and temporally. Areas with poor economic conditions and insufficient healthcare resources are at an increased risk of TB infection. Strategies focusing on equitable health resource distribution and economic development are the key to TB control.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Incidence ; Bayes Theorem ; Spatio-Temporal Analysis ; Tuberculosis/epidemiology* ; Socioeconomic Factors