To evaluate the therapeutic effect of baicalein topical preparation on atopic dermatitis, we first constructed two atopic dermatitis-like mouse models induced by calcipotriol and 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene to assess their therapeutic effect with skin tissue staining and other experiments. It was found that topical preparation of baicalein could alleviate epidermal thickening of diseased skin tissues, repair damaged skin barrier proteins, and inhibit T helper 2 cells (Th2) infiltration and mast cell infiltration and activation in lesional sites. Cyberpharmacology was utilized to analyze whether baicalein could treat atopic dermatitis by interfering with multiple pathogenesis-associated pathways. Results indicated that baicalein reduced the mRNA levels of inflammatory factors and inhibited the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 and STAT1 proteins in keratinocyte cells. Together, the topical preparation of baicalein may be effective in alleviating atopic dermatitis-like symptoms in mice by down-regulating the phosphorylation level of NF-κB in keratinocytes, thereby decreasing the expression of inflammatory factors in keratinocytes, which provides an idea and a theoretical basis for the topical preparation of baicalein for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of stone needle thermocompression and massage compared to flurbiprofen gel patch in relieving chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back， and to explore the potential mediating mechanism through muscle elasticity. MethodsA total of 120 patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back were randomly assigned to either stone needle group or flurbiprofen group， with 60 patients in each. The stone needle group received stone needle thermocompression and massage for 30 minutes， three times per week； the flurbiprofen group received flurbiprofen gel patch twice daily. Both groups were treated for 2 weeks. Pain improvement， as the primary outcome， was assessed using the Global Pain Scale （GPS） at baseline， after 2 weeks of treatment， and again 2 weeks post-treatment. To explore potential mechanisms， a mediator analysis was conducted by measuring changes in superficial and deep muscle elasticity using musculoskeletal ultrasound at baseline and after the 2-week treatment period. ResultsThe stone needle group showed significantly greater pain relief than the flurbiprofen group 2 weeks post-treatment. After adjusting for confounders related to pain duration， the between-group mean difference was -8.8 ［95% CI （-18.2， -0.7）， P＜0.05］. Part of the therapeutic effect was mediated by changes in deep muscle elasticity， with a mediation effect size of -1.5 ［95% CI （-2.0， -0.9）， P = 0.024］， accounting for 17.9% of the total effect. ConclusionStone needle thermocompression and massage can effectively relieve chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder and back， partly through a mediating effect of improved deep muscle elasticity.

OBJECTIVE To construct three-class （insufficient， normal， excessive） and two-class （insufficient， normal） models for predicting plasma concentration of valproic acid （VPA）， and compare the performance of these two models， with the aim of providing a reference for formulating clinical medication strategies. METHODS The clinical data of 480 patients who received VPA treatment and underwent blood concentration test at the Xi’an International Medical Center Hospital were collected from November 2022 to September 2024 （a total of 695 sets of data）. In this study， predictive models were constructed for target variables of three-class and two-class models. Feature ranking and selection were carried out using XGBoost scores. Twelve different machine learning algorithms were used for training and validation， and the performance of the models was evaluated using three indexes: accuracy， F1 score， and the area under the working characteristic curve of the subject （AUC）. RESULTS XGBoost feature importance scores revealed that in the three-class model， the importance ranking of kidney disease and electrolyte disorders was higher. However， in the two-class model， the importance ranking of these features significantly decreased， suggesting a close association with the excessive blood concentration of VPA. In the three-class model， Random Forest method performed best， with F1 score of 0.704 0 and AUC of 0.519 3 on the test set； while in the two-class model， CatBoost method performed optimally， with F1 score of 0.785 7 and AUC of 0.819 5 on the test set. CONCLUSIONS The constructed three-class model has the ability to predict excessive VPA blood concentration， but its prediction and model generalization abilities are poor； the constructed two-class model can only perform classification prediction for insufficient and normal blood concentration cases， but its model performance is stronger.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate a new noninvasive diagnostic model for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) based on features of tongue images. METHODS: Healthy controls and volunteers confirmed to have NAFLD by liver ultrasound were recruited from China-Japan Friendship Hospital between September 2018 and May 2019, then the anthropometric indexes and sampled tongue images were measured. The tongue images were labeled by features, based on a brief protocol, without knowing any other clinical data, after a series of corrections and data cleaning. The algorithm was trained on images using labels and several anthropometric indexes for inputs, utilizing machine learning technology. Finally, a logistic regression algorithm and a decision tree model were constructed as 2 diagnostic models for NAFLD. RESULTS: A total of 720 subjects were enrolled in this study, including 432 patients with NAFLD and 288 healthy volunteers. Of them, 482 were randomly allocated into the training set and 238 into the validation set. The diagnostic model based on logistic regression exhibited excellent performance: in validation set, it achieved an accuracy of 86.98%, sensitivity of 91.43%, and specificity of 80.61%; with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.68-0.98]. The decision tree model achieved an accuracy of 81.09%, sensitivity of 91.43%, and specificity of 66.33%; with an AUC of 0.89 (95% CI 0.66-0.92) in validation set. CONCLUSIONS The features of tongue images were associated with NAFLD. Both the 2 diagnostic models, which would be convenient, noninvasive, lightweight, rapid, and inexpensive technical references for early screening, can accurately distinguish NAFLD and are worth further study.
Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/diagnostic imaging* ; Ultrasonography ; Anthropometry ; Algorithms ; China

Objective To analyze the spatial distribution of Helicobacter Pylori (Hp) infection and its correlation with gastrointestinal tumors in the physical examination population of Xi'an city, and to provide reference for the prevention of gastrointestinal tumors in this area. Methods A total of 23 200 subjects who underwent physical examination in 25 public hospitals in Xi'an from January 2019 to January 2023 were selected as the research objects. The basic Information of the patients was derived through the Hospital Information System (HIS), and all subjects underwent 13C-breath test and gastroenterological endoscope. ArcGIS 10.6 software was used to draw a statistical map of Hp infection in Xi 'an for spatial autocorrelation analysis. Hp infection in patients with different gastrointestinal tumors was analyzed. Results In this study population, there were 10 858 cases of Hp infection , with an infection rate of 46.80% ; among them , 5 491 cases were male, with an infection rate of 46.60% , and 5,367 cases were female, with an infection rate of 47.01% , and there was no significant difference in the infection rate between genders (P>0.05). The prevalence of HP infection was higher in the 30-year-old and 20-year-old groups, 55.62% and 42.71%, respectively, and the infection rate showed a first increase and then a decreasing trend with age (χ²_trend = 6201.21, 6945.22 , P<0.001 ). The spatial distribution of Hp infection rate in the physical examination population of each administrative region county in Xi'an was globally spatially positively correlated, with spatial clustering (Moran's I=0.14, P=0.02). Local spatial autocorrelation showed that the five districts and counties presented high-high clustering. A total of 418 cases of gastrointestinal tumors were detected, with a detection rate of 1.80% , including 156 cases of gastric cancer , 85.90% of Hp infection rate, 106 cases of gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, 83.02% of Hp infection rate, 98 cases of colon cancer, 80.61% of Hp infection rate, 58 cases of rectal cancer, 84.48% of Hp infection rate, and the differences were statistically significant (χ²=13.49, 16.16, 17.27, 24.66, P<0.05 for all). Conclusion The distribution of Hp infection in the physical examination population of Xi'an city has the characteristics of spatial aggregation and is related to gastrointestinal tumor diseases. It is suggested to carry out Hp infection education for the population in key areas to prevent the occurrence of gastrointestinal tumor diseases.

Objective     To investigate the relationship between preoperative mean daily step counts and pulmonary complications after thoracoscopic lobectomy in elderly patients. Methods     From 2018 to 2021, the elderly patients with pulmonary complications after thoracoscopic lobectomy were included. A 1∶1 propensity score matching was performed with patients without pulmonary complications. The clinical data were compared between the two groups. Results    Totally, 100 elderly patients with pulmonary complications were enrolled, including 78 males and 22 females, aged 66.4±4.5 years. And 100 patients without pulmonary complications were matched, including 71 males and 29 females aged 66.2±5.0 years. There was no significant difference in the preoperative data between the two groups (P>0.05). Compared to the patients with pulmonary complications, the ICU stay was shorter (8.1±4.4 h vs. 12.9±7.5 h, P<0.001), the first out-of-bed activity time was earlier (8.8±4.5 h vs. 11.2±6.1 h, P=0.002), and the tube incubation time was shorter (19.3±9.2 h vs. 22.5±9.4 h, P=0.015) in the patients wihout pulmonary complications. There was no statistical difference in other perioperative data between the two groups (P>0.05). The mean daily step counts in the pulmonary complications group were significantly less than that in the non-pulmonary complications group (4 745.5±2 190.9 steps vs. 6 821.1± 2 542.0 steps, P<0.001). The daily step counts showed an upward trend for three consecutive days in the two groups, but the difference was not significant. Conclusion     The decline of preoperative mean daily step counts is related to pulmonary complications after thoracoscopic lobectomy in elderly patients. Recording daily step counts can promote preoperative active exercise training for hospitalized patients.

Objective To explore the relationship between serum growth differentiation factor-15(GDF-15),chemerin,pentraxin 3(PTX3)levels and obesity,insulin resistance and inflammatory factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM),and to construct and evaluate the predictive efficacy.Methods A total of 231 T2DM patients admitted to the hospital from February 2020 to September 2022 were selected as T2DM group.Another 100 healthy subjects who came to the hospital for physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group.Serum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 levels of the two groups were detected and compared by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Clinical data of the two groups were collected and compared.Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the relationship between serum GDF-15,chemerin,PTX3 levels and obesity,insulin resistance and inflammation.Multivariate Logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent risk factors for T2DM development,and the com-bined prediction model of serum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 was constructed,and receiver operating charac-teristic(ROC)curve was plotted to evaluate its predictive efficacy for T2DM development.Results Compared with the control group,body mass index(BMI),waist-to-hip ratio(WHR),systolic blood pressure,total cho-lesterol,triglyceride,fasting blood glucose,fasting insulin(FINS),homeostasis model assessment of insulin re-sistance(HOMA-1R),interleukin(IL)-1β,IL-6,GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 were all increased in T2DM group,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that se-rum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 levels were positively correlated with BMI,WHR,FINS,HOMA-IR,IL-1βand IL-6 in T2DM group(P＜0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed that BMI,FINS,HOMA-IR,IL-1β and IL-6 were positively correlated with serum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 levels(P＜0.05).Multiva-riate Logistic regression analysis showed that the increase of serum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 levels was an independent risk factor for T2DM development(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis results showed that the com-bined prediction model of serum GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 had better prediction efficiency,and its area un-der the curve,sensitivity,specificity and accuracy were higher than those applied alone.Conclusion The levels of GDF-15,chemerin and PTX3 in serum of T2DM patients are elevated,and their levels increase with the ex-acerbation of obesity,insulin resistance and inflammatory response in T2DM patients.The combined predic-tion model constructed in this study has good predictive efficacy and has high predictive value for the occur-rence of T2DM.

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of FANG's scalp acupuncture combined with timing auricular point pressing therapy in the treatment of insomnia patients with maintenance hemodialysis(MHD).Methods A total of 70 patients with insomnia on MHD were randomly divided into observation group and control group,with 35 patients in each group.Both groups were given conventional treatment,the control group was given oral use of Estazolam Tablets on the basis of conventional treatment,and the observation group was given FANG's scalp acupuncture combined with timing auricular point pressing therapy.Both groups were treated for a total of 4 weeks of treatment.After 1 month of treatment,the clinical efficacy of the two groups was evaluated,and the changes in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI)score and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form(KDQOL-SF)score,as well as the scores of the Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD)and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA),were observed in the patients of the two groups before and after treatment.The changes in hemoglobin(Hb),serum creatinine(Scr),and blood urea nitrogen(BUN)levels were compared before and after treatment between the two groups,and the safety of the two groups was evaluated.Results(1)After treatment,the PSQI and KDQOL-SF scores of patients in the two groups were significantly improved(P＜0.05),and the observation group was significantly superior to the control group in improving PSQI and KDQOL-SF scores,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).(2)After treatment,the HAMD and HAMA scores of patients in the two groups were significantly improved(P＜0.05),and the observation group was significantly superior to the control group in improving HAMD and HAMA scores,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).(3)After treatment,the Hb,Scr,BUN levels of patients in the two groups were significantly improved(P＜0.05),and the observation group was significantly superior to the control group in improving Hb,Scr,BUN levels,and the differences were all statistically significant(P＜0.05).(4)The total effective rate was 77.14%(27/35)in the observation group and 62.86%(22/35)in the control group.The efficacy of the observation group was superior to that of the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).(5)Comparison of the incidence of adverse reactions in the two groups of patients,the difference was not statistically significant(P＞0.05).Conclusion FANG's scalp acupuncture combined with timing auricular point pressing therapy in the treatment of insomnia patients with MHD can effectively improve the sleep quality of patients and alleviate anxiety and depression,so as to improve the quality of life of patients,with remarkable efficacy.

Objective To explore the clinical effects of Tiaojing Zhuyun mixture combined with regulating menstration and promoting pregnancy by thirteen acupuncture in the treatment of Declining Ovarian Function(DOR)combined with follicular dysplasia infertility.Methods From January 1,2022 to January 1,2023,60 cases of infertility patients with DOR follicular dysplasia were treated in our hospital,and the above cases were randomly divided into experimental group:Tiaojing Zhuyun mixture+ regulating menstration and promoting pregnancy by thirteen acupuncture + Clomiphene group;Control group:Clomiphene group,30 cases each.The improvement of FSH,maximum follicle size and ovulation,uterine artery blood flow index,endometrial thickness and pregnancy were observed after treatment.Results The improvement of follicle stimulating hormone,maximum follicle size,endometrial thickness and uterine artery blood flow indexes in Tiaojing Zhuyun mixture+ regulating menstration and promoting pregnancy by thirteen acupuncture + Clomiphene group were better than clomiphene group.The difference between groups was statistically significant(P＜0.05).The ovulation rate was 66.7%and the pregnancy rate was 40%.The ovulation rate was 40%higher than the control group,and the pregnancy rate was 20%.The difference between groups was statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion In the patients with DOR follicular dysplasia infertility,Tiaojing Zhuyun mixture combined with regulating menstration and promoting pregnancy by thirteen acupuncture can improve the level of follicle stimulating hormone,promote follicular maturation and ovula-tion,reduce the resistance of uterine artery blood flow,increase the thickness of endometrial,promote pregnancy,and have fewer adverse reactions.

Objective:To analyze the correlation between serum glycated hemoglobin (HbA 1c), γ-glutamyltranspeptidase(γ-GT) and intercellular adhesion factor-1 (ICAM-1) levels and cognitive impairment in elderly patients with hyperlipidemia complicated with cardiovascular disease. Methods:In this retrospective cohort study, 158 elderly patients who underwent examination and were diagnosed with hyperlipidemia complicated with cardiovascular disease at Beijing Anzhen Hospital Affiliated with Capital Medical University from January to December 2022 were selected as study subjects. The simple mental state scale (MMSE) was assessed in the subjects in combination with the subject′s level of education. Illiteracy≤17 points, primary school≤20 points, middle school and above≤24 points were classified as cognitive impairment group (67 cases), the rest were were classified into the non-cognitive impairment group (91 cases); and another 50 healthy elderly people who received physical examination in the same period were selected as the control group. The blood samples in the three groups were extracted to measure serum HbA 1c, γ-GT and ICAM-1. The correlation between HbA 1c, γ-GT and ICAM-1 levels with cognitive impairment were analyzed. Results:The serum levels of HbA 1c, γ-GT and ICAM-1 in the cognitive impairment group were all significantly higher than those in the non-cognitive impairment group and the control group [5.41%±1.04% vs 4.82%±0.95%, 4.39%±0.86%; (52.01±10.96) vs (41.28±9.23), (25.03±7.17) U/L; (336.61±85.36) vs (286.93±72.53), (143.52±64.20) g/ml], and the MMSE score was significantly lower [(20.19±2.85) vs (25.30±1.24), (27.14±1.56) points] (all P<0.05). Serum levels of HbA 1c, γ-GT and ICAM-1 were all significantly negatively correlated with MMSE score ( r=-0.512, -0.498, -0.563) (all P<0.05). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) for serum HbA 1c, γ-GT, and ICAM-1 levels in the assessment of cognitive dysfunction were 0.657, 0.816, and 0.691, respectively (all P<0.05). The optimal cut-off values were 5.115%, 47.65 U/L, and 304.58 g/ml, respectively. Conclusion:Serum HbA 1c, γ-GT and ICAM-1 levels in elderly patients with hyperlipidemia complicated with cardiovascular disease are negatively correlated with cognitive impairment, and have certain value for the evaluation and early diagnosis of cognitive impairment.