Linxian County in Henan Province, Northern China is known as the region with the highest incidence and mortality rate of esophageal cancer worldwide. Since 1959, the Henan medical team has conducted field work on esophageal cancer prevention and treatment in Linxian. Through three generations of effort exerted by oncologists over 65 years of research on esophageal cancer prevention and treatment in Linxian, the incidence rate of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in this area has dropped by nearly 50%, and the 5-year survival rate has increased to 40%, reaching the international leading level. This article aims to summarize the history, present opportunities and new challenges, and explore the experience of esophageal cancer prevention and treatment in Linxian (referred to as the “Linxian experience”), providing reference and guidance to cancer prevention and treatment research in China.

Objective To explore the probability and associated factors of pulmonary fibrosis in 350 cases of elderly pneumonia. Methods Elderly patients who received diagnosis and treatment at Changzhi Medical College Affiliated Peace Hospital from January 2018 to December 2022 were selected, and 350 patients who met the criteria were included in the study. Analyze its clinical data, incidence of pulmonary fibrosis, and analyze the relationship between the two. Results The average age of 350 patients was (63.51 ± 5.74) years old; 219 cases were common type , 72 cases were severe type, and 59 cases were critically ill. At admission, the CT signs were: ground glass in 66 cases (18.86%) , paving stone in 37 cases (10.57%), consolidation in 73 cases (20.86%), nodules in 93 cases (26.57%) , fried egg sign in 20 cases (5.71%) , and mosaic sign in 61 cases (17.43%). At discharge, the lesion signs were as follows: 61 cases (17.43%) had no lesions, 207 cases (59.14%) maintained the original lesion signs, and 82 cases (23.43%) evolved into other signs. 76 cases of pulmonary fibrosis were discharged, with an incidence rate of 21.71%. There were significant differences in the incidence of pulmonary fibrosis among patients with different ages, lesion evolution during treatment, lesion signs at discharge, and clinical stages (all P<0.001). Pulmonary fibrosis is positively correlated with age (P=0.047), lesion signs at discharge (P=0.032), and clinical classification (P=0.010). The incidence of lesions presenting as paving stones (P=0.014) and fibrosis in critically ill patients (P=0.013) at discharge is higher. Age increase (P=0.047) , wide range of lesions at admission (P=0.042), evolution of lesions into other signs at discharge (P=0.016), and clinical classification as severe (P=0.008) or critically ill (P=0.021) are independent risk factors for the development of pulmonary fibrosis in elderly pneumonia patients. Conclusion The incidence of pulmonary fibrosis in elderly patients exceeds 20%. Increasing age, wide range of lesions upon admission, evolution of lesions into other signs upon discharge, and clinical classification as severe or critically ill are independent risk factors for the occurrence of pulmonary fibrosis in elderly pneumonia patients.

Objective:To explore the application value of multiple indexes of high-frequency ultrasound in the diagnosis of shoulder stiffness, and to provide data support and theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of shoulder stiffness.Methods:Clinical data of 261 patients with unilateral shoulder pain with limited mobility admitted to the Orthopedic Trauma, Hebei Medical University Third Hospital from January to December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. With the results of shoulder arthroscopy as the gold standard, the patients were divided into 127 patients with shoulder stiffness (observation group) and 134 patients with non-shoulder stiffness and shoulder pain (control group). The fluid accumulation of long head of the biceps tendon (LHBT), echo of rotator interval (RI) and blood flow signal, thickness of coracohumeral ligament (CHL), thickness of subacromial-subdeltoid bursa (SASD), fluid accumulation and blood flow signal, fluid accumulation of posterior glenohumeral joint capsule (PJ), the inferior capsule thickness (ICT) and the thickness of inferior glenohumeral ligament (IGHL) were observed and measured in the two groups in addition, the CHL difference, ICT difference and IGHL difference between the affected side and the contralateral side were calculated, and the difference between the two groups of ultrasound indicators was compared and the multivariate logistic stepwise regression analysis was performed, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic value of each indicator for shoulder stiffness.Results:RI hypoecho with increased blood flow signal, SASD thickening, SASD effusion, SASD blood flow signal detection rate, IGHL thickness, IGHL difference and ICT difference in observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Multivariate logistic stepwise regression analysis showed that SASD thickening, SASD effusion and IGHL difference were independent predictors of shoulder stiffness (all P<0.05). The area under the curve of SASD thickening, SASD effusion and IGHL difference in the diagnosis of shoulder stiffness were 0.550, 0.540 and 0.636, respectively. The diagnostic sensitivity was 89.8%, 10.2% and 60.6%, and the specificity was 20.1%, 97.8% and 67.2%, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.676, the diagnostic sensitivity was 59.8%, and the specificity was 75.4%. Conclusions:High-frequency ultrasound is an effective imaging method to assist clinical diagnosis of shoulder stiffness. SASD thickening, SASD effusion and IGHL difference may be independent predictors of shoulder stiffness. The combined application of these three indicators has higher clinical application value and provides favorable ultrasound indicators for clinical differential diagnosis of shoulder stiffness.

AIM:From the perspective of regulating mitochondrial complex I activity by DJ-1 protein,this study aims to explore the mechanism of DJ-1-mediated resveratrol(RES)preconditioning in protecting against oxidative stress injury induced by myocardial ischemia-reperfusion(I/R)in rats.METHODS:After intramyocardial injection of lentivirus carrying DJ-1 shRNA(sh-DJ-1)or negative control(NC)shRNA,the myocardial I/R model was constructed by ligating the left anterior descending branch of the rat coronary artery.Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats were randomly divided in-to 6 groups:sham group,I/R group,RES+I/R group,NC+RES+I/R group,sh-DJ-1+RES+I/R group,and IACS-010759(mitochondrial complex I inhibitor)+RES+I/R group,with 10 rats in each group.The rats in RES treatment groups were given RES(20 mg/kg)via gavage for 7 d prior to the myocardial I/R modeling,once daily.Moreover,the rats in sham and I/R groups received an equivalent volume of normal saline via gavage.Myocardial infarction area and cardiac function were assessed by TTC staining and echocardiography,respectively.The MitoSOX fluorescent probe was used to detect levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species(ROS)in the myocardium.The levels of malondialdehyde(MDA),superoxide dis-mutase(SOD)and lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)in the serum were detected using kits.Western blot and co-immunopre-cipitation assays were used to observe the interaction between DJ-1 and the two subunits,ND-1 and NDUFA4,of the mito-chondrial complex I.RESULTS:Compared with I/R group,RES pretreatment significantly reduced the myocardial in-farction area,mitochondrial ROS levels,serum LDH activity,and serum MDA content(P＜0.01).It also elevated left ventricular ejection fraction,left ventricular fractional shortening and serum SOD activity(P＜0.01).Pretreatment with RES increased the expression and mitochondrial translocation of DJ-1(P＜0.01),promoted the interaction between DJ-1 and ND-1/NDUFA4,which in turn protected the activity of mitochondrial complex I(P＜0.01).However,when the ex-pression of DJ-1 was suppressed,the protective effects of RES against myocardial I/R injury were significantly inhibited compared with RES+I/R group(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).CONCLUSION:Pretreatment with RES increases the expression and mitochondrial translocation of DJ-1,and facilitates the interaction of DJ-1 with ND1 and NDUFA4 subunits of mito-chondrial complex I,thus preserving the activity of mitochondrial complex I and attenuating myocardial I/R-induced oxida-tive stress damage.

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) strategies in COVID-19 patients differ from those in patients suffering from cardiogenic cardiac arrest. During CPR, both healthcare and non-healthcare workers who provide resuscitation are at risk of infection. The Working Group for Expert Consensus on Prevention and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Cardiac Arrest in COVID-19 has developed this Chinese Expert Consensus to guide clinical practice of CPR in COVID-19 patients. Main recommendations: 1) A medical team should be assigned to evaluate severe and critical COVID-19 for early monitoring of cardiac-arrest warning signs. 2) Psychological counseling and treatment are highly recommended, since sympathetic and vagal abnormalities induced by psychological stress from the COVID-19 pandemic can induce cardiac arrest. 3) Healthcare workers should wear personal protective equipment (PPE). 4) Mouth-to-mouth ventilation should be avoided on patients suspected of having or diagnosed with COVID-19. 5) Hands-only chest compression and mechanical chest compression are recommended. 6) Tracheal-intubation procedures should be optimized and tracheal-intubation strategies should be implemented early. 7) CPR should be provided for 20-30 min. 8) Various factors should be taken into consideration such as the interests of patients and family members, ethics, transmission risks, and laws and regulations governing infectious disease control. Changes in management: The following changes or modifications to CPR strategy in COVID-19 patients are proposed: 1) Healthcare workers should wear PPE. 2) Hands-only chest compression and mechanical chest compression can be implemented to reduce or avoid the spread of viruses by aerosols. 3) Both the benefits to patients and the risk of infection should be considered. 4) Hhealthcare workers should be fully aware of and trained in CPR strategies and procedures specifically for patients with COVID-19.

Objective: Several COVID-19 patients have overlapping comorbidities. The independent role of each component contributing to the risk of COVID-19 is unknown, and how some non-cardiometabolic comorbidities affect the risk of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods: A retrospective follow-up design was adopted. A total of 1,160 laboratory-confirmed patients were enrolled from nine provinces in China. Data on comorbidities were obtained from the patients' medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio ( Results: Overall, 158 (13.6%) patients were diagnosed with severe illness and 32 (2.7%) had unfavorable outcomes. Hypertension (2.87, 1.30-6.32), type 2 diabetes (T2DM) (3.57, 2.32-5.49), cardiovascular disease (CVD) (3.78, 1.81-7.89), fatty liver disease (7.53, 1.96-28.96), hyperlipidemia (2.15, 1.26-3.67), other lung diseases (6.00, 3.01-11.96), and electrolyte imbalance (10.40, 3.00-26.10) were independently linked to increased odds of being severely ill. T2DM (6.07, 2.89-12.75), CVD (8.47, 6.03-11.89), and electrolyte imbalance (19.44, 11.47-32.96) were also strong predictors of unfavorable outcomes. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease on admission (5.46, 3.25-9.19), while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes (6.58, 1.46-29.64) within two weeks. Conclusion Besides hypertension, diabetes, and CVD, fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, other lung diseases, and electrolyte imbalance were independent risk factors for COVID-19 severity and poor treatment outcome. Women with comorbidities were more likely to have severe disease, while men with comorbidities were more likely to have unfavorable treatment outcomes.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/virology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Comorbidity ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Severity of Illness Index ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To analyse the long-term efficacy in childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cases enrolled in the national protocol of childhood leukemia in China-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (NPCLC-ALL) 2008.Methods:Clinical data of 96 patients diagnosed as T-ALL and treated with NPCLC-ALL2008 protocol between January 2009 and December 2017 in the Department of Hematology-Oncology, the Children′s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine were analyzed retrospectively. Predictive value of minimal residual disease (MRD) monitored by flow cytometry was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for long-term survival analysis.Results:A total of 96 evaluable patients with newly diagnosed T-ALL were analysed, including 72 males and 24 females. The age was 9.5 (ranged from 1.0 to 16.0) years. The follow-up time was 5.7 (ranged from 1.0 to 9.7) years. Among 96 patients, 92 (96%) achieved complete remission. The 5-year event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were (61±6) % and (70±5) %, respectively. Relapse occurred in 18 cases and the 5-year cumulative incidence of relapse was (27±6) %. Twenty-four patients died. The 5-year OS rates of patients with MRD>5% on day 15 of induction therapy was significantly worse than those with MRD≤5% ((60±12) % vs. (72±6) %, χ 2=3.904, P=0.048) . The 5-year EFS and OS rates were obviously lower in patients with MRD>10% before the consolidation therapy ((50±35) %). The 5-year OS rates of patients with relapsed disease was significantly worse than those without ((26±13) % vs. (81±5) %, χ 2=18.411, P<0.01). The earlier the relapse, the worse the prognosis. The 5-year OS rates for patients relapsed within 6 months, within 3 years and more than 3 years, were (25±22) %, (30±14) % and (50±35) % respectively (χ 2=13.207, P<0.01). Conclusions:NPCLC-ALL2008 protocol is effective for childhood T-ALL. The MRD guided accurate risk stratification and individualized treatment can reduce the relapse and improve the survival rate of pediatric T-ALL.

Objective To compare the accuracy of three classification systems [determinant based classification (DBC),Revision of the Atlanta classification (RAC),and Atlanta classification (AC)] to stratify severity of acute pancreatitis (AP),and to analyze the association between different severity categories and clinical outcomes.Methods In this retrospective study,we reviewed the clinical data of 458 patients with AP admitted to our unit from January 2015 to December 2017.AP severity was stratified according to the three classification systems (DBC,RAC,and AC) respectively.The classification accuracy of three classification systems was analyzed.Receiver operating characteristic analysis (area under the curve) compared the accuracy of each classification.Multi-factors logistic regression analysis identified the independent risk fators for mortality of AP.Results Among the three classification systems,there were significant differences in the mortality rate,invasive treatment rate,ICU monitoring rate and the average hospitalization time among the three subtypes (P＜0.001).The RAC and DBC were comparable,but performed better than AC in predicting mortality (AUC 0.94 and 0.95 vs.0.63,P＜0.001),ICU admission (AUC 0.90 and 0.88 vs 0.60,P＜0.001).The DBC performed better than the RAC and OAC in predicting the need for intervention (AUC 0.88 vs 0.69 and 0.68,P＜0.001).Persistent organ failure (OR=13.131,P=0.003) and infected necrosis(OR=9.424,P=0.014) were independent risk factors for mortality.Conclusion The accuracy of DBC and RAC to stratify the severity of AP was significantly higher than that of AC.The accuracy of DBC in predicting clinical outcome was genarally higher than that of RAC and AC.Infectious necrosis and persistent organ failure were the independent risk fators for mortality.

Tung tree (Vernicia fordii) is an economically important woody oil plant that produces tung oil rich in eleostearic acid. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale genome sequence of tung tree. The genome sequence was assembled by combining Illumina short reads, Pacific Bio-sciences single-molecule real-time long reads, and Hi-C sequencing data. The size of tung tree gen-ome is 1.12 Gb, with 28,422 predicted genes and over 73％ repeat sequences. The V. fordii underwent an ancient genome triplication event shared by core eudicots but no further whole-genome duplication in the subsequent ca. 34.55 million years of evolutionary history of the tung tree lineage. Insertion time analysis revealed that repeat-driven genome expansion might have arisen as a result of long-standing long terminal repeat retrotransposon bursts and lack of efficient DNA deletion mechanisms. The genome harbors 88 resistance genes encoding nucleotide-binding sites;17 of these genes may be involved in early-infection stage of Fusarium wilt resistance. Further, 651 oil-related genes were identified, 88 of which are predicted to be directly involved in tung oil biosynthesis. Relatively few phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase genes, and synergistic effectsbetween transcription factors and oil biosynthesis-related genes might contribute to the high oil content of tung seed. The tung tree genome constitutes a valuable resource for understanding genome evolution, as well as for molecular breeding and genetic improvements for oil production.

Objective To investigate the staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec)genotypes and molecular epidemi-ology of hospital-acquired MRSA.Methods A total of 26 non-duplicate MRSA isolates with the same resistant pattern were studied.SCCmec genotyping was analyzed by multiplex PCR.Repetitive element polymerase chain reaction (Rep-PCR)tech-nique was used to analyze the homology between these strains based on the DiversiLab system.Results The most common geno-type of these MRSA strains was SCCmec-III (84.6%).Two strains belonged to SCCmec-II and 1 SCCmec-IV.SCCmec-I strain was not identified.Based on the results of DiversiLab analysis,these MRSA strains were classified into 10 groups.The genetic similarity ranged from 40% to 100% among these SCCmec types.The two strains of SCCmec-II belonged to the same subtype.The similarity coefficient was higher than 90% for one strain of SCCmec-III subtype 1.The 4 strains of SCCmec-III subtype 3 were grouped into the same set with a similarity coefficient of > 95%.The MRSA strains of SCCmec-III subtype 2 was divided into 5 groups (similarity co-efficient > 90%).Conclusions SCCmec-III is the major genotype of MRSA isolates in our hospital.MRSA strains may spread in some wards.Clinicians and infection control department should pay close attention to this issue.