1.Ethical examination of artificial intelligence application in Alzheimer’s disease imaging diagnosis
Chinese Medical Ethics 2025;38(2):179-186
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, fatal, and neurodegenerative disease, clinically characterized by gradually developed cognitive and memory function decline, language and visuospatial disorders, and other aspects. It remains incurable and irreversible to date. In clinical settings, Alzheimer’s disease usually faces the possibility of untimely diagnosis, causing difficulties in the early intervention of the disease. Thus, it is essential to improve diagnostic efficiency and help patients diagnose Alzheimer’s disease as early as possible. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, its application in Alzheimer’s disease imaging diagnosis has shown great potential. Meanwhile, it is also accompanied by many ethical issues. By exploring the ethical challenges brought by AI in the research and application of Alzheimer’s disease imaging diagnosis, such as data security, interpretability, algorithmic discrimination, and disclosure of incidental findings, the paper proposed the corresponding countermeasures, with a view to providing certain ethical guidance for the AI application in medical imaging diagnosis, protecting the rights and interests of subjects/patients, and promoting the healthy development of technology.
2.Association between short-term exposure to atmospheric fine particulate matter and ozone and inflammatory indicators in peripheral blood of patients with pneumonia
Lulu SONG ; Qi YU ; Nannan LIU ; Yuhui GAO ; Zeyu NIU ; Yan ZHANG ; Huiqiu ZHENG ; Jiayu TIAN ; Junxia LIU ; Lifang ZHAO ; Zhihong ZHANG
Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine 2024;36(6):551-558
ObjectiveTo explore the association between short-term exposure to atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) and systemic inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, and to identify the susceptible populations. MethodsFrom September 2018 to April 2020, data of 1 480 patients admitted for pneumonia was collected from a tertiary hospital in Taiyuan City. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to explore the associations between PM2.5 and O3 exposure and inflammatory indicators of patients with pneumonia; and to explore the susceptibility factors and susceptible populations to PM2.5 and O3 exposures through stratified analyses. ResultsThe short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with changes in peripheral blood C-reation protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), easinophil (EOS), neutrophil (NEU) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with pneumonia, and there were different degrees of hysteresis effects, with the effect values reaching a maximum at lag03, lag03, lag0, lag03, lag03, respectively, which were 4.13% (95%CI: 0.43%‒7.84%), 3.10% (95%CI: 0.24%‒5.97%), 5.27% (95%CI: 3.12%‒7.42%), 1.85% (95%CI: 0.36%‒3.34%), and 2.53% (95%CI: 0.53%‒4.74%) for every 10 μg·m-3 of PM2.5. The changes in O3 concentration were associated with the elevation of peripheral blood PCT and ESR in patients with pneumonia, and their effect values all reached the maximum at lag01 d, every 1 μg·m-3 of O3 elevation increased by 0.38% (95%CI: 0.04%‒0.73%) and 0.47% (95%CI: 0.19%‒0.76%), respectively. Stratified analyses showed that the associations of PM2.5 with peripheral blood CRP, ESR, NEU, and NLR in pneumonia patients were more significant in males, the elderly, and those with onset in the cold season; the associations of O3 with peripheral blood PCT and ESR in pneumonia patients were more significant in the elderly and those with onset in the warm season, and the peripheral blood CRP and PCT in female patients with pneumonia were more susceptible to the changes of O3. ConclusionShort-term exposure to atmospheric PM2.5 and O3 are positively associated with changes in inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, and the effects of PM2.5 on patients with pneumonia are more extensive than those of O3, with a longer lag effect. In addition, elderly patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to air pollution, male patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to PM2.5, and female patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to O3. Cold and warm seasons can exacerbate the effects of PM2.5 and O3 on inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, respectively, and the patients must be protected well.
3.Methodology for Developing Rapid and Living Guidelines of Traditional Chinese Medicine (RALIG-TCM) (Part 1):Concept and Current Practice
Lijiao YAN ; Ning LIANG ; Ziteng HU ; Yujing ZHANG ; Yaxin CHEN ; Fuqiang ZHANG ; Xiaoling LI ; Wenjie CAO ; Chen ZHAO ; Cheng LYU ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(3):269-274
Rapid and living guidelines are those developed in response to public health emergencies in a short period of time using a scientific and standardized approach. Subsequently, they provide timely and credible recommendations for decision makers through regular and frequent updates of clinical evidence and recommendations. In this paper, we introduced the definition of rapid and living guideline as well as analyzed the basic characteristics of eight rapid and living guidelines in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) published till 2023 June, summarizing three core methodological issues in relation to how to rapidly develop guidelines, how to formulate recommendations when there is lack of evidence, and how to ensure the timeliness of guidelines. Based on the analysis of current rapid and living guidelines, it is implicated that there is necessity to carry out rapid and living guideline in the field of TCM, and the methodology of rapid integration of multivariate evidence in the field of TCM needs to be further explored; furthermore, it is necessary to further explore the obstacles of implementation of guidelines and promote timely updating, all of which provide certain theoretical references for relevant guideline developers and researchers.
4.Methodology for Developing Rapid and Living Guidelines of Traditional Chinese Medicine (RALIG-TCM) (Part 2): Development Process and Key Steps during Preparation Stage
Yujing ZHANG ; Lijiao YAN ; Ziteng HU ; Yaxin CHEN ; Xiaoling LI ; Qianzi CHE ; Jingya WANG ; An LI ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG ; Ning LIANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(3):275-280
It is necessary to develop rapid and living guidelines in order to improve the evidence translation and guidance for clinical practice in emergency situations, and to enhance the participation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in management of emergencies. This paper introduced the process of developing rapid and living guidelines of TCM and divided it into three stages, that is preparation, rapid development and dynamic updating, which highlights the features of rapid development, high quality, and dynamic updating and the integration with the predominance of TCM. By comparing with general guidelines on composition, personnel number, timing to formulate and communication patterns of the guideline working groups, as well as the content and number of clinical questions, this paper mainly gave suggestions on how to formulate a concise but authoritative team during the preparation stage, how to efficiently manage the guideline team and promote the development process from conflict of interest management, working and communication mode adjustment, and how to formulate and update the important and prioritized clinical questions, all of which may provide reference for the development of TCM rapid and living guidelines.
5.Methodology for Developing Rapid and Living Guidelines of Traditional Chinese Medicine (RALIG-TCM) (Part 3): Rapid Evidence Collection, Integration and Recommendation Formation
Ziteng HU ; Lijiao YAN ; Yujing ZHANG ; Yaxin CHEN ; Xiaoling LI ; Haili ZHANG ; Huizhen LI ; Jingya WANG ; An LI ; Zhao CHEN ; Ning LIANG ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(3):281-286
The lack of direct evidence is an important problem faced in the formation of recommendations in rapid living guidelines of traditional Chinese medicine under public health emergencies, and the supplementation of indirect evidence can be a key method to solve this problem. For the collection of evidence, the type of evidence required, including direct and indirect evidence, should be clarified, and ‘direct first’ principle for selecting evidence can be set to standardize and accelerate the guideline development. When integrating evidence, recommendations can be formed directly if there is sufficient direct evidence, while regarding insufficient direct evidence, recommendations need to be supplemented and improved by integrating indirect evidence. In addition, when the body of evidence contains evidence from multiple sources, it is suggested to rate the evidence according to “higher rather than lower” principle. Finally, when forming recommendations, the level of evidence, safety and economic efficiency should be taken into consideration to determine the strength of the recommendation.
6.Methodology for Developing Rapid and Living Guidelines of Traditional Chinese Medicine (RALIG-TCM) (Part 4): Evidence Monitoring and Dynamic Updates
Lijiao YAN ; Ning LIANG ; Yujing ZHANG ; Ziteng HU ; Yaxin CHEN ; Xiaoling LI ; Wenjie CAO ; Huizhen LI ; Xingyu ZONG ; Chen ZHAO ; Cheng LYU ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(3):287-291
In developing rapid and living guidelines of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in response to public health emergencies, it is important that evidence continue to be reviewed, and clinical questions and recommendations updated if necessary, due to the rapid changes in disease progression and the continuous generation of relevant research evidence. This paper proposed that the updating scope in dynamic mode should first be identified; then evidence monitoring should be carried out in four aspects, including clinical research, related guidelines or laws and regulations, disease progression, as well as clinical use of recommendations and clinical needs; finally, based on the results of the evidence monitoring, different options should be made, including revising the clinical questions, updating the evidence and recommendations, and withdrawing the guideline.
7.Characteristics of Emergency Health Systems Guidance Based on AGREE-HS
Danping ZHENG ; Wei YANG ; Nannan SHI ; Dongfeng WEI ; An LI ; Gezhi ZHANG ; Xue CHEN ; Fangqi LIU ; Zhaoshuai YAN ; Weixuan BAI ; Xinghua XIANG ; Yaxin TIAN ; Mengyu LIU ; Huamin ZHANG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2024;30(22):137-148
This study used the Appraisal of Guidelines Research & Evaluation-Health Systems (AGREE-HS) to demonstratively compare 34 global coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) health systems guidance documents (HSGs) and 6 World Health Organization (WHO) standard HSGs. The comparison involved topic, participants, methods, recommendations, and implementability, with the aim of exploring the characteristics of emergency HSGs. The results showed that the emergency HSGs had an overall average score of 49%, with topic having the highest score, recommendations having the second highest score, and participants having the lowest score. The standard HSGs had an overall average score of 79%, with high scores in all items. The emergency HSGs had lower scores in participants, methods, recommendations, and implementability than the standard HSGs (P<0.001), while the COVID-19 emergency HSGs developed by the WHO had higher score in topic than the standard HSGs (P<0.05). Compared with those released by countries, the COVID-19 emergency HSG developed by the WHO showed superiority in all items and overall scores (P=0.000 2). This indicates that emergency HSGs, represented by the COVID-19 emergency HSG, place equal emphasis on topic and recommendations as standard HSGs but have low requirements in terms of expert participation, evidence support, and comprehensive consideration in the time- and resource-limited context. They have the characteristics of prominent topics, clear purposes, orientation to demand, keeping up with the latest evidence, flexible adjustment, and timeliness, emphasizing immediate implementation effects, weakening long-term effects, and focusing on comprehensive benefits. Additionally, developers, types, and report completeness are important influencing factors.
8.Methodology for Developing Patient Guideline (3):Reporting Frameworks and Presentation
Lijiao YAN ; Ning LIANG ; Haili ZHANG ; Nannan SHI ; Ziyu TIAN ; Ruixiang WANG ; Xiaojia NI ; Yufang HAO ; Wei CHEN ; Yingfeng ZHOU ; Dan YANG ; Shuyu YANG ; Yujing ZHANG ; Ziteng HU ; Jianping LIU
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(22):2304-2309
Standardized reporting is a crucial factor affecting the use of patient guidelines (PGs), particularly in the reporting and presentation of recommendations. This paper introduced the current status of PG reporting, including the research on PG content and presentation formats, and provided comprehensive recommendations for PG reporting from aspects such as overall framework, recommendations, presentation format, and readability. First, the presentation of PG recommendations should include clearly defined clinical questions, recommendations and their rationale, and guidance on how patients should implement the interventions; for specific content in the PG, such as level of evidence, level of recommendation, it is recommended to explain in text the reasons for giving different levels of recommendation, i.e., to present the logic behind giving the level of recommendation to the patient; additional information needed in the recommendation framework should be supplemented by tracing references or authoritative textbooks and literature that support the recommendations. Subsequently, the PG text should be written based on the Reporting Checklist for Public Versions of Guidelines (RIGHT-PVG) reporting framework. Finally, to enhance readability and comprehension, it is recommended to refer to the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) for translating PG content. To enhance the readability of PGs, it is suggested to present the PG content in a persona-lized and layered manner.
9.Methodology for the Development of Clinical Practice Guideline for Chinese Patent Medicine(Part 1): Development Status and Characteristics
Ning LIANG ; Lijiao YAN ; Yujing ZHANG ; Fuqiang ZHANG ; Ziteng HU ; Yaxin CHEN ; Huizhen LI ; Haili ZHANG ; Zhao CHEN ; Yin JIANG ; Bin LIU ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(1):44-49
The irrational use of Chinese patent medicines (CPM) is becoming more and more prominent, which makes the demand for clinical practice guidelines of CPM gradually increase. In order to make domestic scholars understand the latest developments and existing problems of the CPM guidelines, and promote its development, this paper introduced the concept of CPM guidelines, summarized the characteristics of the two development modes, namely “taking CPM as the key” and “taking disease/syndrome as the key”, and analyzed the current methodological status of developing and reporting CPM guidelines. Based on the existed problems, three suggestions have been put forward to optimize the quality of CPM guidelines, which were clarifying the target users and scope of CPM guidelines, establishing an open and transparent mechanism of the personnel involvement and process steps, and formulating implementable and operable recommendations for the use of CPM.
10.Methodology for the Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Chinese Patent Medicine: 2.Establishment of Guideline Working Group and Management of Conflict of Interests
Yaxin CHEN ; Ning LIANG ; Lijiao YAN ; Ziteng HU ; Yujing ZHANG ; Fuqiang ZHANG ; Haili ZHANG ; Huizhen LI ; Yijiu YANG ; Jing GUO ; Nannan SHI ; Yanping WANG
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2024;65(1):50-54
This paper summarized the key points and methods in terms of the establishment of the guideline working group and the management of conflict of interests, trying to provide reference for the development of clinical practice guidelines for Chinese patent medicine (CPM). The establishment of the working group is the first important step for developing CPM guidelines. Considering the characteristics of the clinical practice guidelines for CPM, this study suggests that the three key elements of ‘multidisciplinarity’, ‘clinical relevance’ and ‘geographical representativeness’ should be put focus on when forming the working group. The guideline advisory committee, clinical expert group, evidence systematic evaluation group, secretary group and the external review group should be established. All group members should clarify the conflict of interest, and the process and management method of the conflict of interest should be clearly reported.

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