AIM: To study the effect and mechanism of Di'ao Xinxuekang (DXXK) on insulin resistance in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) mice. METHODS: C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal group and model group. After 16 weeks of high-fat diet, the model group was randomly divided into model group and Pioglitazone group (6.0 mg · kg

ObjectiveTo investigate the role and mechanism of total saponins of Dioscorea （TSD） in mitigating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis （NASH） in mice. MethodForty-eight C57BL/6J mice were randomized into a normal group and a modeling group. The mice for modeling were fed with a high-fat and high-cholesterol diet + 20% fructose solution for 16 weeks and randomized into model， atorvastatin （4 mg·kg^-1·d^-1）， and high-， medium-， and low-dose （200， 60， and 20 mg·kg^-1·d^-1） TSD groups. The mice were administrated with corresponding doses of drugs by gavage for 8 weeks. The mouse activity， liver index， levels of total cholesterol （TC）， triglycerides （TG）， and free fatty acids （FFAs） in the liver， and levels of TC， TG， aspartate aminotransferase （AST）， alanine aminotransferase （ALT）， γ-glutamyl transferase （GGT）， interleukin-1β （IL-1β）， and tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α） in the serum were measured. Hematoxylin-eosin staining， Masson staining， oil red O staining， and transmission electron microscopy were employed to observe the pathological changes， lipid accumulation， and morphological changes of liver ultrastructure. Western blot was employed to determine the protein levels of AMP-activated protein kinase （AMPK）， sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c （SREBP-1c）， acetyl-CoA carboxylase （ACC）， and phosphorylated ACC （p-ACC） in the liver tissue. ResultCompared with the normal group, the activity of mice in the model group decreased(P<0.05， P<0.01), the levels of TC, TG, FFA and serum TC, TG, ALT, AST, GGT, IL-1β and TNF-α, liver coefficient and liver pathology scores were significantly increased, the expression of p-AMPK/AMPK and p-ACC proteins in liver tissues was significantly reduced, and the expressions of SREBP-1c and ACC proteins were significantly increased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group， atorvastatin increased the mouse activity （P<0.05）， while each dose of TSD caused no significant changed in the mouse activity. The levels of TC, TG, FFA in liver and serum TC, TG, ALT, AST, GGT, IL-1β, TNF-α, liver coefficient and liver pathological score in TSD and atorvastatin groups were significantly decreased, and the expressions of p-AMPK/AMPK and p-ACC in liver tissue were significantly increased. The expressions of SREBP-1c and ACC were significantly decreased (P<0.05,P<0.01). ConclusionTSD may alleviate NASH in mice by regulating the AMPK/SREBP-1c/ACC signaling pathway to reduce lipid synthesis.

This study aimed to explore key quality control factors that affected the prognosis of intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Chinese mainland over six years (2015-2020). The data for this study were from 31 provincial and municipal hospitals (3425 hospital ICUs) and included 2 110 685 ICU patients, for a total of 27 607 376 ICU hospitalization days. We found that 15 initially established quality control indicators were good predictors of patient prognosis, including percentage of ICU patients out of all inpatients (%), percentage of ICU bed occupancy of total inpatient bed occupancy (%), percentage of all ICU inpatients with an APACHE II score ⩾15 (%), three-hour (surviving sepsis campaign) SSC bundle compliance (%), six-hour SSC bundle compliance (%), rate of microbe detection before antibiotics (%), percentage of drug deep venous thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis (%), percentage of unplanned endotracheal extubations (%), percentage of patients reintubated within 48 hours (%), unplanned transfers to the ICU (%), 48-h ICU readmission rate (%), ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) (per 1000 ventilator days), catheter related blood stream infection (CRBSI) (per 1000 catheter days), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) (per 1000 catheter days), in-hospital mortality (%). When exploratory factor analysis was applied, the 15 indicators were divided into 6 core elements that varied in weight regarding quality evaluation: nosocomial infection management (21.35%), compliance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines (17.97%), ICU resources (17.46%), airway management (15.53%), prevention of deep-vein thrombosis (14.07%), and severity of patient condition (13.61%). Based on the different weights of the core elements associated with the 15 indicators, we developed an integrated quality scoring system defined as F score=21.35%xnosocomial infection management + 17.97%xcompliance with SSC guidelines + 17.46%×ICU resources + 15.53%×airway management + 14.07%×DVT prevention + 13.61%×severity of patient condition. This evidence-based quality scoring system will help in assessing the key elements of quality management and establish a foundation for further optimization of the quality control indicator system.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Cross Infection/epidemiology* ; Intensive Care Units/statistics & numerical data* ; Quality Control ; Quality Indicators, Health Care/statistics & numerical data* ; Sepsis/therapy* ; East Asian People/statistics & numerical data*

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of elective or limited operations, including tumor treatment, have been postponed. With the deepening of the understanding of the virus and the change of the prevention policy, the impact of the pandemic is gradually shrinking, and a large number of operations delayed by the pandemic will be rescheduled. However, there is no consensus on the best time to perform surgery for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the consensus on thoracic surgery is more limited. This article reviews the research progress in the timing of surgical operations, especially thoracic surgery, after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Objective:To explore the predictive value of the serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin (ALB) ratio (CAR) for organ damage in tsutsugamushi disease.Methods:The clinical data of 166 patients with tsutsugamushi disease admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the organ damage group (72 cases) and non-organ damage group (94 cases) according to the organ damage criteria. The general data and laboratory test results of the two groups of patients were compared. The significant indicators of univariate analysis were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to analyze the predictive value of CAR for organ damage in patients with tsutsugamushi disease.Results:There were no significant differences in age, sex, days of fever, and admission body temperature between the organ damage group and non-organ damage group ( P>0.05). However, the body mass index, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), length of hospital stay, hospitalization expense, percentage of neutrophils (NEUT), lymphocyte count, procalcitonin, CRP, and CAR in the organ damage group were significantly higher than those in the non-organ damage group ( P<0.05), and ALB was significantly lower than that in the non-organ damage group ( P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that APACHEⅡ( P=0.039), NEUT ( P=0.003), and CAR ( P=0.011) were independent risk factors for tsutsugamushi disease complicated by organ damage. The ROC curve showed that the AUCs of APACHEⅡ, NEUT, and CAR were 0.655, 0.716, and 0.727, respectively. When the cut-off value of CAR was 2.86, the sensitivity was 55.6%, and the specificity was 79.8%. Conclusions:Elevated CAR is an independent risk factor for tsutsugamushi disease complicated with organ damage and can be used as an important indicator to evaluate the presence or absence of organ damage in patients with tsutsugamushi disease.

Objective:To explore the influencing factors of severity of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) and to establish the early warning evaluation model in the form of line chart, so as to provide a feasible basis for emergency nurses' triage.Methods:A total of 680 UGIB patients admitted to the Emergency Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 2019 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into a modeling group ( n=510) and a validation group ( n=170) by random number table method, and were divided into a high-risk group and a low-risk group according to the expert Consensus on Emergency Diagnosis and Treatment Procedures for Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding in 2020. The differences of various indicators between groups were compared, the factors affecting the severity of the disease were analyzed by Logistic regression, and the nomogram was drawn and validated. Results:Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that hematemesis ( OR=3.875, 95% CI: 2.212-6.79), diabetes ( OR=2.64, 95% CI: 1.184-5.883), syncope ( OR=10.57, 95% CI: 3.675-30.403), heart rate ( OR=3.262, 95% CI: 1.753-6.068), red blood cell distribution width ( OR=3.904, 95% CI: 2.176-7.007), prothrombin time ( OR=3.665, 95% CI: 1.625-8.269), lactic acid ( OR=3.498, 95% CI: 1.926-6.354) and hemoglobin ( OR=4.984, 95% CI: 2.78-8.938) were the influencing factors of the severity of UGIB patients ( P < 0.05). The nomogram model showed good consistency and differentiation (C-index=0.903, 95% CI: 0.875-0.931), and was verified internally (C-index=0.895) and Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test ( P=0.7936). Externally verified C-index was 0.899 (95% CI: 0.846-0.952). The calibration curve prompt warning evaluation model had good stability and the prediction efficiency was better than the modified early warning score ( P < 0.05). Conclusions:The early warning evaluation model has a reliable predictive value, which can provide a reference for emergency medical staff to screen high-risk patients and formulate targeted nursing interventions.

Objective:To explore the value of vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cad) in evaluating the severity of sepsis.Methods:A prospective study was conducted to select 85 patients with sepsis treated in the emergency ward of the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from June 1, 2015 to November 1, 2017. The gender, age, medical history, first infection site, number of affected organs, laboratory indexes, acute physiology and chronic health evaluationⅡ(APACHEⅡ), simplified acute physiology score Ⅱ(SAPSⅡ), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and the total length of stay, emergency intensive care unit (EICU) length of stay, 28-day at admission and survival during hospitalization were measured, and the VE-cad level within 24 hours at admission was measured. The patients were divided into sepsis group and septic shock group according to the progress of the disease. The patients were divided into multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) group and non MODS group according to whether they were accompanied by MODS. The differences of the above indexes in patients with different disease progression, MODS and different prognosis were analyzed and compared. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was drawn to evaluate the value of VE-cad in evaluating the severity of sepsis.Results:A total of 85 patients were included, mainly respiratory tract infection. Among them, 38 cases were sepsis and 47 cases were septic shock, 39 cases had MODS, 46 cases had no MODS, 64 cases survived and 21 cases died within 28 days after admission. Compared with sepsis group, the number of affected organs in septic shock group was greater [3 (2, 4) vs. 1 (0, 2)], APACHE Ⅱscore [13 (10, 21) vs. 7 (5, 12)], SAPS Ⅱscore [35 (31, 55) vs. 7 (5, 12)], SOFA score [7.0 (5.0, 10.0) vs. 3.0 (0, 5.0)], blood lactic acid [Lac (mmol/L): 3.5 (2.4, 6.2) vs. 1.9 (1.2, 2.2)], C-reactive protein [CRP (mg/L): 90.0 (58.1, 90.0) vs. 50.5 (38.0, 90.0)] and VE-cad levels [mg/L: 1.427 (1.141, 2.150) vs. 1.195 (0.901, 1.688)] were significantly increased, while platelet count [PLT (×10 9/L): 113.4±67.2 vs. 202.5±109.5] and hemoglobin (Hb) levels (g/L: 106.3±36.3 vs. 118.6±18.0) were significantly decreased (all P < 0.05). Compared with non MODS group, APACHE Ⅱ score [14 (10, 22) vs. 8 (6, 13)], SAPS Ⅱ score [36 (32, 56) vs. 29 (24, 35)], SOFA score (7.9±3.9 vs. 4.0±3.8), in-hospital mortality [53.8% (21/39) vs. 0% (0/46)], Lac [mmol/L: 3.1 (2.3, 6.3) vs. 2.1 (1.4, 4.6)] and VE-cad levels [mg/L: 1.427 (1.156, 1.937) vs. 1.195 (0.897, 1.776)] in MODS group were significantly higher, the length of stay in EICU was significantly longer [days: 6 (3, 12) vs. 3 (0, 7)], and the PLT level was significantly lower (×10 9/L: 118.2±80.0 vs. 182.5±104.0, all P < 0.05). Compared with the death group, the number of affected organs in the survival group was fewer [2 (1, 3) vs. 3 (1, 5)], APACHE Ⅱ score [9 (6, 13) vs. 21 (13, 25)], SAPS Ⅱ score [31 (25, 36) vs. 55 (35, 63)] and SOFA score (4.7±3.7 vs. 8.9±4.5) were significantly reduced, and the length of stay in EICU [days: 4 (1, 8) vs. 8 (3, 15)] was significantly shorter (all P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that area under the ROC curve (AUC) of VE-cad, SOFA score and VE-cad combined with SOFA score in evaluating the severity of sepsis were 0.632 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 0.513-0.750], 0.830 (95% CI was 0.744-0.916) and 0.856 (95% CI was 0.779-0.933), respectively. When the cut-off value of VE-cad was 1.240 mg/L, the sensitivity was 68.1% and the specificity was 55.3%, the sensitivity of VE-cad combined with SOFA score was 85.1%, the specificity was 73.7%. Conclusion:VE-cad has a certain evaluation value for the severity of sepsis, and the evaluation value of VE-cad combined with SOFA score is better than that of VE-cad single index.

Objective:To analyze the operation efficiency of hospitals in 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2019 based on the three-stage data envelopmeni analysis(DEA) model, for references to improve the operation efficiency of hospitals in China and promote the high-quality development of public hospitals.Methods:The data came from such sources as China health statistics yearbook and China general hospital ranking list of Fudan university.The number of hospitals, health technicians and beds in 31 provinces of China from 2009 to 2019 were used as input indicators, while that of hospital patients, discharged patients, hospitalized patients, reputational scoring of superior specialties and academic scoring of scientific research were used as output indicators.Government health expenditure, per capita GDP, population density and the proportion of tertiary hospitals were used as environmental variables.The three-stage DEA model was used to calculate the hospital operation efficiency and scale reward.Results:The environmental variables affected the operation efficiency of hospitals in China( P<0.05). After removing the impact, the average of comprehensive efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency of hospitals in 31 provinces from 2009 to 2019 were 0.703, 0.961 and 0.726, respectively.Among them, the scale benefit of hospitals in 4 provinces remained unchanged, while those in 26 provinces increased progressively and 1 province decreased progressively. Conclusions:Pure technical efficiency could be the main factor to improve the operation efficiency of hospitals in China, while the low scale efficiency will affect the improvement of the operation efficiency of hospitals.The scale efficiency of hospitals in most provinces had great room for improvement.In order to improve the overall hospital operation efficiency in China, the authors suggested to expand hospital scale based on the precondition of quality, promote balanced distribution of high-quality medical resources, and play the positive role of the social, economic and environment variables.

Objective To investigate the protective effect and mechanism of curcumin on acute lung injury in septic mice.Methods Totally 120 clean BALB/c male mice were randomly (random number) divided into 8 groups:sham group,sepsis group,curcumin control group,curcumin intervention group,negative virus-sepsis group,negative virus-curcumin intervention group,Mfn2 interference-sepsis group,and Mfn2 interference-curcumin intervention group,15 rats in each group.Mice in the sepsis and the curcumin groups were given the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mice in the curcumin intervention and curcumin control groups were given curcumin 200 mg/(kg·d) for 1 week,and mice in the negative virus-sepsis group and negative virus-curcumin intervention groups were established by injection of a negative adeno-associated virus in the tail vein.The Mfn2 interference-sepsis and Mfn2 interference-curcumin intervention groups were established by injecting an adeno-associated virus carrying the Mfn2 interference sequence through the tail vein.Mice were sacrificed after 24 h in each group.The degree of lung injury was examined by lung wet-to-dry weight ratio and pathological examination.The inflammatory factors of alveolar lavage fluid including TNF-α and IL-6 were detected by ELISA,the activation of caspase-3,a key molecule for apoptosis,was detected by Western blot,and apoptosis was detected by TUNEL.The data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 software,the count data was analyzed by x2 test,and the comparison of measurement data between groups was analyzed by one-way ANOVA.Results Compared with the sham group,the wet-to-dry weight ratio of lung tissue in the sepsis group was significantly increased (71.11 ± 3.78 vs 31.11 ± 5.61,P=0.002),the histopathological score was significantly higher (P=0.006),the inflammatory factors TNF-α (P=0.001) and IL-6 (P=0.012) were dramatically increased,and the apoptosis of lung tissue and the expression of caspase-3 cleaved were also significantly increased (P=0.001).Compared with the sepsis group,the wet-to-dry weight ratio and the histopathological score of lung tissue in the curcumin-treated group was significantly lower (32.84 ± 6.15 vs 71.11 ± 3.78,P=0.004),and the inflammatory factors TNF-α(P=0.013) and IL-6 (P=0.003) were obviously decreased,and apoptosis and apoptosis-related protein caspase-3 cleaved expression were also dramatically decreased (P=0.012).After Mfn2 was down-regulated,Mfn2 interference-curcumin intervention group interfered with Mfn2.Compared with the sepsis group,the dry-to-wet weight ratio and the histopathological score of the lung tissue of the mice was not significantly decreased.Further studies found that after down-regulating Mfn2,compared with the Mfn2 interfere-sepsis group,Mfn2 interfere-curcumin intervention group had no such performance.The inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-6 were not significantly decreased,and the apoptosis of lung tissue and the expression of apoptosis-related protein caspase-3 cleaved were not significantly reduced.Conclusion Curcumin may attenuate acute lung injury in sepsis by up-regulating the expression of Mfn2.

Objective:To explore the value of shear wave elastography imaging(SWE) in the diagnosis of renal allograft fibrosis and analyze its advantages and limitations.Methods:The renal allograft of 61 patients who underwent renal allograft biopsy from June 2019 to April 2020 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were included in this study. According to the Banff classification, there were 51 patients with mild-degree fibration(interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy, IFTA 0-Ⅰ), and 29 patients with moderate or severe-degree fibration(IFTA Ⅱ-Ⅲ). Two-dimensional ultrasound, color Doppler flow imaging, SWE and kidney function test performed. All the results were compared between the two groups. Diagnostic performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve using pathology as gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated for the diagnosis of moderate or severe-degree fibration.Results:Compared to mild-degree fibration group, creatinine( P<0.001), glomerular filtration rate( P<0.001), RI of arcuate arteries( P=0.022) and SWE value( P<0.001) significantly increased in the moderate or severe-degree fibration group. There were significant correlations between IFTA and creatinine ( r s=0.488, P<0.001), glomerular filtration rate ( r s=-0.452, P<0.001), RI of arcuate arteries( r s=0.228, P=0.042), SWE value( r s=0.584, P<0.001). Taking the cutoff value of SWE value deduced by ROC curve as 21.7 kPa, the area under ROC curve was 0.827. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 86.2%, 74.5%, 61.0% and 89.7%, respectively. Conclusions:There is a good correlation between the SWE value and the degree of fibrosis in the transplanted kidney. SWE can be used to distinguish mild from moderate or severe fibrosis of renal allograft, providing a potential noninvasive method for the assessment of kidney allograft fibration.