Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)poses a serious threat to human health and carries a heavy burden of disease.The disease burden mainly includes traditional epidemiological indicators such as morbidity,disability rate,and mortality rate,as well as economic burden evaluation indicators such as direct economic burden,indirect economic burden,and intangible economic burden,as well as social/health burden evaluation indicators such as potential years of life reduction,disability adjusted life years,and quality adjusted life years.It summarized the existing methods for evaluating the burden of COPD diseases and proposed the following suggestions:(1)enriching economic burden research methods to comprehensively and accurately evaluate direct economic burden;(2)expanding the scope of economic burden research and improve the economic burden research of COPD;(3)strengthening information management and enhance the accuracy of disease burden data;(4)exploring multidimensional indicators and establish a COPD disease burden evaluation system;(5)strengthening relevant research and highlight the health economics advantages of traditional Chinese medicine intervention in COPD.It can provide references for establishing a COPD disease burden evaluation system and policy formulation.

ObjectiveTo analyze the development status and quality of clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of dominant diseases with Chinese patent medicines （CPMs）. MethodsDatabases were searched from Jan. 2019 to Dec.2023 to collect the published clinical practice guidelines of CPMs for the treatment of dominant diseases. The information about the title， the participants， clinical problems， outcomes， evidence grade， recommendations， and recommendation strength in the included clinical practice guidelines were collected， for which the development status was analyzed， and the quality was evaluated with the Scientific， Transparent and Applicable Rankings （STAR） tool for clinical practice guidelines. ResultsTotally， 34 guidelines were included， involving 273 kinds of CPMs. One to ten （with the medium five） clinical problems were proposed from 29 clinical practice guidelines respectively. All the guidelines divided the evidence into four grades according to Grade of Recommendation Assessment， Deve-lopement an Evaluation. And 28 guidelines had five levels of recommendation strength. A total of 344 recommendations were extracted， including 86 strong-recommendations， 191 weak-recommendations （including 36 weak recommendations only based on expert consensus） and 67 recommendations with unclear recommendation strength. All guidelines had high scores in the three areas of “clinical questions （94.20%）”， “evidence （91.45%）” and “recommendations （89.06%）”， while the scores in the three areas of “registry （22.06%）”， “protocol （19.00%）” and “accessibility （31.51%）” were low. The STAR recommended stars of 8 guidelines were 5.0~4.0 stars， while that of 18 guidelines were 3.5~2.5 stars， and 8 guidelines were 2.0~1.0 stars. The three guidelines with the highest recommended stars were depressive disorder， community-acquired pneumonia， and influenza in adult. ConclusionThere is a certain gap in the quality of the published clinical practice guidelines of CPMs， and the quality of the guidelines could be further improved in registry， protocols， funds， and accessibility.

AIM:To establish a mouse model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)induced by cigarette smoke(CS)exposure combined with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid(Poly I:C)nasal drip,and to investigate the mechanism of airway epithelial barrier injury in COPD.METHODS:(1)Ninety-six male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into control group,CS group,Poly I:C group,and CS+Poly I:C group(n=24).The model was established from week 1 to week 8,with pulmonary function tested every 4 weeks.Six mice from each group were sacrificed at the end of weeks 4,8,16,and 24.Changes in minute volume(MV),enhanced pause(Penh),mean linear intercept(MLI)and bronchial wall thickness(BWT)were observed.The protein levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),zonula occludens-1(ZO-1)and E-cadherin(E-Cad)in the lung were detected.(2)Human bronchial epithe-lial BEAS-2B cells were stimulated with CS extract(CSE)combined with Poly I:C for 24 h,and then the protein levels of occludin(Occ),ZO-1,and phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR),P38 and extracellular signal-regu-lated kinase(ERK)1/2 were analyzed.RESULTS:(1)Compared with control group,at the 8th week,the mice in CS and CS+Poly I:C groups showed typical pathological changes in lung tissues,including significant inflammatory cell infil-tration,alveolar cavity expansion,alveolar wall rupture and fusion,and airway wall thickening.The Penh,BWT,MLI,and lung IL-1β and TNF-α levels were significantly increased(P<0.05 or P<0.01),while MV and lung ZO-1 and E-Cad levels were remarkably decreased(P<0.05 or P<0.01).By the 24th week,these pathological changes remained relative-ly stable in CS+Poly I:C group.(2)Compared with control group,CSE and its combination with Poly I:C dramatically in-duced a reduction in ZO-1 and Occ protein expression in BEAS-2B cells(P<0.05 or P<0.01),and increased the levels of phosphorylated EGFR,P38 and ERK1/2(P<0.01).The effects in CSE combined with Poly I:C group were considerably superior to those in CSE or Poly I:C group alone.CONCLUSION:Poly I:C can enhance the pathological changes and airway epithelial barrier damage induced by CS in a mouse model of COPD,which may be related to the activation of EGFR/ERK/P38 signaling pathway.

Objective:To explore the diagnostic value of virtual monoenergetic image (VMI) and electron density map (EDM) generated by non-contrast dual-layer spectral detector CT in acute pulmonary embolism(APE).Methods:The clinical and imaging data of 27 patients (41 lesions) who underwent CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) using dual-layer spectral detector CT and were diagnosed with APE in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from October 2022 to May 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received a dual-layer spectral detector CT non-contrast scan. Based on the non-contrast scan data, conventional 120 kVp polyenergetic images (PI), virtual monoenergetic images (40, 70, 100 keV VMI), electron density maps (EDM), and effective atomic number maps (Z eff) were respectively reconstructed. Taking CTPA as the gold standard, the detection rate of APE in different reconstruction images of non-contrast scan were evaluated. The vascular lesion was used as the pulmonary embolism group and the corresponding position of the normal vessel at the same level of the diseased vessel as the control group, and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the differences of CT values on PI and 40, 70, and 100 keV VMI (CT PI, CT 40 keV, CT 70 keV, CT 100 keV) as well as the ED values on the EDM, and the Z eff value on the Z eff images between the 2 groups. Parameters with statistically significant differences were included in a multifactor logistic regression, resulting in the construction of a logistic regression model. Receiver operator characteristic curve and area under curve (AUC) were applied to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of different spectral quantitative parameters and logistic regression model in identifying pulmonary embolism group from normal control group. Results:The detection rates of APE on PI, EDM, Z eff map, and EDM and Z eff map fusion images were 14.6% (6/41), 82.9% (34/41), 51.2% (21/41), and 97.6% (40/41), respectively. CT PI, ED, CT 40 keV, CT 70 keV and CT 100 keV in pulmonary embolism group were statistically higher than those in control group ( Z values were 1 009.00, 1 024.50, 1 038.00, 1 079.00 and 1 076.00, respectively, P<0.05). Finally, CT PI, CT 40 keV, and CT 100 keV were selected to construct the logistic regression model. The AUC, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the logistic regression model for distinguishing the embolism group from the control group were 0.771, 0.769, 0.744, and 0.756, respectively. Conclusion:Non-contrast images of dual-layer spectral detector CT VMI and EDM have some clinical value in detecting and diagnosing APE.

After systematically reviewing the syndrome distribution， evolution， diagnostic criteria， effectiveness evaluation and genomics study on acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （AECOPD） in the past decade， we found that there are problems such as inconsistency in the nomenclature of syndrome， lack of quantitative diagnostic tools for syndrome， less developed evaluation tools for syndrome efficacy， and singularity of genomics technique. Based on this， it was proposed that we should pay attention to the standardisation of syndrome naming， strengthen the research on quantitative diagnostic methods， establish standardised and quantitative diagnostic tools， further improve the existing assessment tools of syndrome effectiveness， and integrate the existing genomics techniques to conduct research， so as to support the further research on AECOPD syndromes.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common during pregnancy, with the prevalence reaching as high as 31.0% in some European regions (McIntyre et al., 2019). Dysfunction of the glucose metabolism in pregnancy can influence fetal growth via alteration of the intrauterine environment, resulting in an increased risk of abnormal offspring birth weight (McIntyre et al., 2019). Infants with abnormal birth weight will be faced with increased risks of neonatal complications in the perinatal period and chronic non-communicable diseases in childhood and adulthood (Mitanchez et al., 2015; McIntyre et al., 2019). Therefore, accurate estimation of birth weight for neonates from women with GDM is crucial for more sensible perinatal decision-making and improvement of perinatal outcomes. Timely antenatal intervention, with reference to accurately estimated fetal weight, may also decrease the risks of adverse long-term diseases.
Adult ; Birth Weight ; Diabetes, Gestational ; Female ; Fetal Development ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Pregnancy

Objective:To analyze the phenotypes and genetic etiology of microcephaly- seizures-development delay (MCSZ) syndrome.Methods:The patient was diagnosed with MCSZ syndrome in June 2018 at Shenzhen Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital. She was the couple's first child, and the mother conceived a second child in 2020. The clinical data of the proband were retrospectively analyzed, and the bioinformatics analysis and whole-exome sequencing (WES) were performed on the proband and her parents to identify the pathogenic variants, which were further validated using Sanger sequencing. The prenatal genetic diagnosis of the second fetus was performed following the molecular diagnosis of the proband was confirmed. The clinical manifestations and pathogenesis of MCSZ syndrome were summarized by reviewing related literature.Results:(1) Case report: The patient, an eight-month-old girl, was admitted to our hospital due to microcephaly and repeated seizures. Another clinical characteristic was mental retardation. Auditory evoked potential detected moderate impairment of the left auditory nerve pathway. WES showed a compound heterozygous variation in the PNKP gene of the proband. Moreover, the pathogenic variation, c.199-10_203delinsTCTGAGGGGT, was inherited from the father, and the likely pathogenic variation, c.1505C>T(p.P502>L), was inherited from the mother, which was both de novo mutations. The compound heterozygous variation in the PNKP gene was considered genetic etiology based on the genetic testing and clinical features. Prenatal diagnosis showed that the second fetus did not inherit the PNKP gene variants from the parents and the couples chose to continue the pregnancy. A girl was born, and her psychomotor development and occipitofrontal size circumference were normal at 13 months old. (2) Literature review: 39 MCSZ syndrome cases were retrieved, including the present case and 38 cases from 12 relevant literature. The clinical characteristics were microcephaly (91.7%, 33/36), seizures (88.2%, 30/34), development delay (96.4%, 27/28), hyperactivity (25.6%, 9/39), gastroesophageal reflux (10.3%, 4/39), and hearing loss (7.7%, 3/39). Most patients' first onset of epilepsy was in infancy (96.3%, 26/27). Cranial MRI examination showed brain dysplasia in 31 cases (91.2%, 31/34). Conclusions:When the fetal head circumference is smaller than normal and is progressively reduced combined with postnatal microcephaly, epilepsy, developmental retardation, hyperactivity disorder, gastroesophageal reflux, and hearing loss, MCSZ syndrome should be considered. The prognosis varies widely, and genetic testing facilitates the early diagnosis and genetic counseling of MCSZ syndrome.

Effective therapy options for pneumoconiosis are lacking. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) presents a favorable prospect in the treatment of pneumoconiosis. A pilot study on TCM syndrome differentiation can evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of TCM and lay a foundation for further clinical research. A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial was conducted for 24 weeks, in which 96 patients with pneumoconiosis were randomly divided into the control and treatment groups. Symptomatic treatment was conducted for the two groups. The treatment group was treated with TCM syndrome differentiation, and the control group was treated with placebo. The primary outcomes were the six-minute walking distance (6MWD) and the St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score. The secondary outcomes were the modified British Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test (CAT), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and pulmonary function. Only 83 patients from the 96 patients with pneumoconiosis finished the study. For the primary outcome, compared with the control groups, the treatment group showed a significantly increased 6MWD (407.90 m vs. 499.51 m; 95% confidence interval (CI) 47.25 to 135.97; P < 0.001) and improved SGRQ total score (44.48 vs. 25.67; 95% CI -27.87 to -9.74; P < 0.001). The treatment group also significantly improved compared with the control group on mMRC score (1.4 vs. 0.74; 95% CI -1.08 to -0.23; P =0.003), CAT score (18.40 vs. 14.65; 95% CI -7.07 to -0.43; P =0.027), and the total symptom score (7.90 vs. 5.14; 95% CI -4.40 to -1.12; P < 0.001). No serious adverse events occurred. This study showed that TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment had a favorable impact on the exercise endurance and quality of life of patients with pneumoconiosis.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Quality of Life ; Pilot Projects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/drug therapy* ; Pneumoconiosis/drug therapy* ; Double-Blind Method ; Treatment Outcome ; Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic etiology for a newborn with corneal opacity. METHODS: The neonate and her parents were subjected to routine G-banding chromosomal karyotyping analysis. Copy number variation (CNV) was analyzed with low-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP array). RESULTS: No karyotypic abnormality was found in the newborn and her parents. Low-coverage WGS has identified a de novo 5.5 Mb microdeletion at chromosome 8q21.11-q21.13 in the neonate, which encompassed the ZFHX4 and PEX2 genes. The result was confirmed by SNP array-based CNV analysis. CONCLUSION The newborn was diagnosed with chromosome 8q21.11 deletion syndrome. ZFHX4 may be one of the key genes underlying this syndrome.
Chromosome Banding ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8/genetics* ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Homeodomain Proteins/genetics* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Karyotyping ; Monosomy/genetics* ; Peroxisomal Biogenesis Factor 2/genetics* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Transcription Factors/genetics*

Objective:To evaluate the best parameter of predicting the operation time and clearance of flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy through comparing correlations between three stone burden parameters (diameter, area, volume) and the operation time or clearance retrospectively.Methods:Clinical data and CT images of 70 patients who performed flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy because of single kidney stone in our center from January 2018 to December 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 46 males and 24 females; their age was (47±12) years old. Stones were located on the left side in 28 cases and right side in 42 cases; 32 cases in the renal pelvis , 29 cases in the lower calyx, 6 cases in the middle calyx and 3 cases in the upper calyx. The free software ITK-SNAP 3.6.0 to segment kidney stones in 3D models with the CT image was used. The stone volume was calculated automatically after the segment. The largest section of the stone on the CT coronal plane was selected to measure the maximum length (D) and width (d) of the stone, the maximum diameter of the stone was D, and the stone area was calculated using the formula 0.25πDd. The patients were divided by the operation clearance into total clearance group and partial clearance group. The correlations between three stone burden parameters (volume, diameter, area) and operation time or clearance of the flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy were compared. Simple linear regression model was also applied to compare three measurement methods. Then other factors which may affect the operation time was evaluated with the stepwise linear regression model, such as stone component and location.Results:The median operation time was 63(50, 84)min. Of 70 cases, 47 cases were in the stone-free group, with stone volume 633(248, 1 087)mm 3, maximum diameter 15(10, 19)mm, and area 82(49, 186)mm 2. 23 cases were in the non stone-free group, with volume 696(408, 1 418)mm 3, maximum diameter 15(12, 20)mm, area 105(73, 201)mm 2. There was no difference between the two groups in volume, maximum diameter and area of stones (all P>0.05). The stone-free rate of the diameter >2 cm group was 55% (6/11), ≤2 cm group was 70% (41/59). There was no significant difference between the two groups. Correlation between stone volume and operation time is the best. The correlation coefficient of stone volume is 0.58, of stone diameter is 0.33, of stone area is 0.34. Coefficients of determination of the stone volume linear regression is the best, too. R square of stone volume is 0.36, of stone diameter is 0.17, of stone area is 0.22. Forward stepwise regression model shows stone volume is the most important parameter which correlate with operation time. None of stone volume, diameter or area has significant correlation with the clearance of stone. Conclusion:Stone volume is the best predictive parameter of the stone burden because it has the best correlation with the operation time of the flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy of the single kidney stone.