Background Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is a serious occupational disease in China. Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can serve as the "breath fingerprint" of internal pathological processes, which provides a theoretical basis for exhaled VOCs to be used as potential non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Objective To screen out the characteristic VOCs and important characteristic VOCs of exhaled air in patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and to explore the potential of these VOCs as biomarkers for early non-invasive diagnosis of the disease. Methods In this study, 27 VOCs in the exhaled breath of 22 patients with stage I coal workers' pneumoconiosis, 77 workers exposed to dust, and 92 healthy controls were quantitatively detected by thermal desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Substances with P<0.05 in univariate analysis and variable importance projection (VIP) >1 in supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model were selected as the characteristic VOCs for early diagnosis of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Age was included in the LASSO regression model as a covariate to screen out important characteristic VOCs, and the diagnostic performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Spearman correlation was further used to explore the correlation between important characteristic VOCs and clinical lung function indicators. Results Through univariate analysis and OPLS-DA modeling, 8 VOCs were selected, including 2-methylpentane, 3-methylpentane, n-hexane, methylcyclopentane, n-heptane, methylcyclohexane, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and 2-hexanone, in exhaled breath of patients with coal workers' pneumoconiosis. The concentrations of 4 VOCs, including 3-methylpentane, n-hexane, 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and 2-hexanone, showed a decreasing trend with the increase of dust exposure years. By LASSO regression, the important characteristic VOCs of the coal workers' pneumoconiosis group and the dust exposure group were n-hexane, methylcyclohexane and 4-methyl-2-pentanone, and the important characteristic VOCs of the coal workers' pneumoconiosis group and the healthy group were 2-methyl-pentane and 4-methyl-2-pentanone. The ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, and 4-methyl-2-pentanone were 0.969, 0.909, and 0.956, respectively, and the AUC of combined diagnosis was 0.988 and its Youden index was 0.961, suggesting that these results can serve as a valuable reference for further research on early diagnosis. The Correlation analysis found that there was a positive correlation between n-hexane and lung function indicators in the important characteristic VOCs, indicating that it could indirectly reflect the obstruction of lung function ventilation, further proving that important characteristic VOCs have the potential to monitor lung function decline. Conclusion Three important characteristic VOCs selected in this study have the potential to be used as non-invasive biomarkers for early diagnosis and disease monitoring of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and are worthy of further study and verification.

ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the public health governance capacity of 40 cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Provinces, providing a scientific evaluation basis for building a "Healthy Yangtze River Delta". MethodsA comprehensive collection of policy documents, public information reports, and research literature related to public health governance capacity in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Provinces was conducted, totaling 6 920 policy documents, 1 720 information reports, and 1 200 literature pieces. Based on the evaluation standards for an appropriate public health system established by the research team, the basic status of public health governance capacity was assessed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the 40 cities. ResultsIn 2022, the public health governance capacity score for the 40 cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Provinces was (562.5±38.0) points. In terms of specific areas, the emergency response field received the highest score of (791.4±49.7) points, while the chronic disease prevention and control field received the lowest score of (368.2±29.6) points. The Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui region has largely achieved the strategic priority of health, gradually improved public health legal regulations, and established a basic organizational framework with a solid foundation for information and data infrastructure. However, challenges still need to be addressed, such as unstable government funding for public health, unclear departmental responsibilities, and barriers to information interoperability. ConclusionThe public health governance capacity of the 40 cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui Province has been at a moderate level, but disparities have still existed across regions and fields. In the future, while continuing to deepen existing advantages, it is essential to accurately identify the causes of problems, establish a long-term and stable investment mechanism, enhance information connectivity mechanisms, further clarify departmental responsibilities, and promote the achievement of the "Healthy Yangtze River Delta" goal.

ObjectiveThe full name of vertebroplasty is percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). It is a clinical technique that injects bone cement into the diseased vertebral body to achieve strengthening of the vertebra. The research on the safety and efficacy of bone cement is the basis for clinical application. In this study, vertebroplasty is used to evaluate and compare the safety and efficacy of Tecres and radiopaque bone cement in experimental pigs, and to determine the puncture method suitable for pigs and the pre-clinical evaluation method for the safety and efficacy of bone cement. MethodsTwenty-four experimental pigs (with a body weight of 60-80 kg) were randomly divided into an experimental group (Group A) and a control group (Group B). Group A was the Tecres bone cement group, and Group B was the radiopaque bone cement group, with 12 pigs in each group. Under the monitoring of a C-arm X-ray machine, the materials were implanted into the 1st lumbar vertebra (L1) and 4th lumbar vertebra (L4) of the pigs via percutaneous puncture using the unilateral pedicle approach. The animals were euthanized at 4 weeks and 26 weeks after the operation, respectively. The L4 vertebrae were taken for compressive strength testing, and the L1 vertebrae were taken for hard tissue pathological examination to observe the inflammatory response, bone necrosis, and degree of osseointegration at the implantation site. ResultsThe test results of compressive strength between groups A and B showed no significant difference at 4 weeks and 26 weeks after bone cement implantation (P > 0.05). Observation under an optical microscope (×100) revealed that at 4 weeks postoperatively, both groups A and B showed that the bone cement was surrounded by proliferative fibrous tissue, with lymphocyte infiltration around it. The bone cement was combined with bone tissue, the trabecular arrangement was disordered, and osteoblasts and a small amount of osteoid were formed. At 26 weeks postoperatively, bone cement was visible in both groups A and B. The new bone tissue was mineralized, the trabeculae were fused, the trabecular structure was regular and dense with good continuity, and no obvious inflammatory reaction was observed. ConclusionIn experimental pig vertebrae, there were no significant differences observed in the compressive strength, inflammation response, bone destruction, and integration with the bone between Tecres and non-radiopaque bone cement. Both exhibited good biocompatibility and osteogenic properties. It indicates that using vertebroplasty to evaluate the safety and efficacy of bone cement in pigs is scientifically sound.

Objective To investigate the mid- to long-term follow-up results of ascending aorta (AAO)-descending thoracic aorta (DTA) bypass grafting via median sternotomy incision for the treatment of complex aortic arch coarctation. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of patients with complex aortic arch coarctation who underwent AAO-DTA bypass grafting via median sternotomy incision at the First Hospital of Tsinghua University from August 2004 to May 2017. Results A total of 7 patients were enrolled, including 4 males and 3 females, aged (13.3±4.6) years, and weighted (40.2±12.2) kg. Six (85.7%) patients had concomitant upper limb hypertension. Four patients were aortic arch coarctation combined with intracardiac malformations, two were post-operative restenosis, and 1 was post-operative restenosis combined with intracardiac malformation. All patients underwent surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass. There were no perioperative deaths or major complications. The pre-operative upper-lower limb pressure difference was (39.3±19.2) mm Hg, which decreased to (2.9±2.7) mm Hg post-operatively (P<0.01). The follow-up period was (14.9±5.9) years. There were no long-term deaths or artificial graft-related complications. Except for one patient who still had mild hypertension, the blood pressure of the remaining patients returned to normal. Conclusion AAO-DTA bypass grafting via median sternotomy incision for the treatment of complex aortic arch coarctation can effectively reduce upper limb blood pressure and the upper-lower limb arterial pressure difference, has fewer complications, and demonstrates satisfactory mid- to long-term efficacy.

Objective:To develop a risk assessment tool for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with primary liver cancer, and to verify its predictive efficiency, so as to provide reference for risk assessment and nursing intervention of nausea and vomiting in patients with primary liver cancer.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was used. The risk assessment tool was compiled by using literature analysis, Delphi expert consultation and analytic hierarchy process. 153 patients with primary liver cancer who underwent transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in the Department of Intervention, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital from May 2022 to April 2023 were selected for assessment by using convenience sampling method. Receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity and Youden index were used to test the prediction efficiency of risk assessment tools.Results:Among 153 patients, there were 78 males, 75 females, aged (48.44 ± 7.76) years old. The expert positive coefficient of the three rounds of inquiry letters was all 100%, the expert authority coefficient was 0.936, 0.950 and 0.960 respectively, and the Kendall harmony coefficient was 0.490, 0.327 and 0.414 respectively (all P<0.01). The risk assessment tool for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with primary liver cancer included 14 items. The results of prediction efficiency analysis showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.938 (95% CI 0.903-0.974, P<0.01). When the cut-off score was 56.2, the sensitivity, specificity and Youden index of the risk assessment tool were 0.926, 0.881 and 0.807, which had the best prediction efficiency. Conclusions:The risk assessment tool for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with primary liver cancer has high scientificity, predictive efficiency and practicability, and is suitable for the risk assessment for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with primary liver cancer in China.

Medical device imaging data augmentation is a method of expanding existing datasets by generating new data samples,which is of great significance for improving the performance of artificial intelligence(AI)medical device-related models and clinical application effects.However,traditional data augmentation methods are usually limited by the quality,realism,and diversity of generated samples.Denoising diffusion probabilistic model(DDPM)is a generative model based on the noise diffusion process,and its main idea is to generate samples with high quality by modelling the sampling process of the target distribution as a process of progressive denoising from the noise distribution.The basic principles and working mechanisms of DDPM were reviewed,the application scenarios of this method in AI medical device data augmentation were analyzed,and its advantages,challenges,and future development directions were explored to provide a reference for the field of AI medical device data augmentation.

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of lenvatinib combined with camrelizumab as the second-line treatment for advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).Methods:The clinical data of patients with advanced ICC undergoing the second-line treatment of lenvatinib combined with camrelizumab in the Affiliated Changzhou No. 2 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from June 2021 to June 2022 were screened and analyzed. A total of 12 patients were enrolled, including seven males and five females, aged (67.5±8.6) years. Response evaluation criteria in solid tumor 1.1 was used to evaluate the efficacy of treatment. The safety assessment adopts the Adverse Event Evaluation Standard 5.0. Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to plot survival curves.Results:Among the 12 patients (after 1-7 cycles of immune and targeted therapy), three achieved partial response, four achieved stable disease, and five were defined as progression disease. Adverse events of different degrees occurred in seven cases, among which three patients had adverse events of grade ≥ 3: one with hypertension, which was managed after antihypertensive and symptomatic treatment; one with elevated serum total bilirubin, which was improved after reducing the dose of lenvatinib; one with liver dysfunction, which was considered as immune-related liver toxicity and alleviated after discontinuing camrelizumab. The 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month survival rates and progression-free survival rates of the patients were 100.0%, 91.7%, 66.7%, and 83.3%, 41.7%, and 25.0%, respectively. The median overall survival of patients was 14.7 months (95% CI: 9.2-21.2) and the median time to progression was 8.0 months (95% CI: 4.1-11.9). Conclusion:Combination of lenvatinib and camrelizumab could bring survival benefits with controllable adverse events as the second-line treatment of patients with advanced ICC.

Objective:To analyze the hard tissue thickness in the crown of primary teeth by CBCT.Methods:The CBCT imaging data of 47 children were included,and the hard tissue thickness of primary teeth was measured by MIMICS software.SPSS 22.0 was used for data analysis.Results:The average thickness in the mesial surfaces was the smallest(P＜0.01),except for the libial surface of maxillary central incisor and the distal surface of mandibular first primary molar.In primary anteriors,the thickness in the same sur-face of maxillary teeth was greater than that of mandibular teeth significantly(P＜0.01)except for the libial surface of primary canine.In primary molars,the thickness of hard tissue in the same part of the distal and lingual side of the maxillary teeth was greater than that of the mandibular teeth(P＜0.01),and the thickness in the buccal side of maxillary teeth was lower than that of the mandibular teeth(P＜0.01).Conclusion:The distribution of hard tissue thickness of primary teeth in different position is different.

Objective To investigate the association between recurrent low back pain(RLBP)and postoperative weight gain(PWG)after recurrent low back pain(TLIF)at three-month follow-up.Methods We analyzed 254 patients at three-month after TLIF from September 2020 to September 2022.Data such as age,gender,height and weight before surgery,smoking status,Pfirrmann grade of preoperative intervertebral disc degeneration,visual analogue scale(VAS)before surgery and 7 days,1 month and 2 months after surgery were collected.RLBP was defined for patients with low back pain with VAS score ≤3 on the 7th,1st and 2nd month after surgery,but ≥4 on the 3rd month after surgery.Three months after surgery,PWG was divided into 4 groups:＜0 kg group,0～＜5 kg group,5～＜10 kg group,and ≥10 kg group.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis of odds ratio(ORs).Results The prevalence of persistent RLBP was 18.5％(n=47).Compared to patients with a PWG of＜0 kg,patients with a PWG of 5 kg to＜10 kg and ≥ 10 kg had a higher prevalence of RLBP(OR=2.48 and 4.19,respectively);the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).However,no significant difference was found for patients with a PWG of 0 kg to＜5 kg.In addition,Logistic regression analysis also showed female,higher preoperative body mass index(BMI)and higher preoperative Pfirrmann grade were other three independent risk factors of RLBP.Conclusion PWG in TLIF patients is one of the independent risk factors for RLBP.Postoperative weight intervention for patients can reduce the incidence of RLBP and improve patient satisfaction with the surgery.

Objective To evaluate the difference in dose distribution calculated using X-ray voxel Monte Carlo(XVMC)algorithm and ArcherQA Monte Carlo(MC)algorithm in preoperative radiotherapy for rectal cancer,thus providing reference for the planning and evaluation of XVMC algorithm in clinical practice.Methods For 10 patients with rectal cancer undergoing preoperative radiotherapy,the XVMC algorithm in MONACO planning system was used to develop the plan.The CT,tissue structure,and field information from the prepared plan were transmitted to Monte Carlo software,and the MC algorithm was used for the secondary dose calculation.The dose differences between XVMC algorithm and MC algorithm in the target area and organs-at-risk dose calculations were analyzed.Results The differences in Dmin and Dmean of the planning target volume(PTV),V40 of the small intestine,V45 and Dmean of the bladder,and Dmeanof the femoral head calculated by XVMC and MC algorithms for isocenter dose were all within 2%.The differences in the Dmax of PTV,spinal cord expansion,and small intestine between two algorithms were 3.43%,3.59%,and 3.62%,respectively;and the difference in the V5040 of PTV was 2.87%.Conclusion XVMC algorithm underestimates the planned maximum dose and overestimates the prescription dose coverage in the target area as compared with MC algorithm,but the dosimetric differences between the two algorithms are within a clinically acceptable range(within 5%).When evaluating the plan,attention should be paid to the dose calculation errors caused by the algorithm.