1.Spatio-temporal distribution of pulmonary tuberculosis among students in Suzhou City from 2015 to 2023
CUI Caiyan ; JIANG Jun ; WANG Feixian ; FU Ying ; ZHANG Xiaolong
Journal of Preventive Medicine 2025;37(1):77-81
Objective:
To analyze the spatio-temporal distribution of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among students in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province from 2015 to 2023, so as to provide the evidence for the prevention and control of PTB in schools.
Methods:
Data of PTB cases among students in Suzhou City from 2015 to 2023 were collected from Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information System and Suzhou Report of Investigation and Disposal of Tuberculosis in Schools. The seasonal incidence of PTB among students was analyzed using seasonal index (SI). The spatio-temporal clustering characteristics of PTB among students were analyzed using spatial autocorrelation and retrospective spatio-temporal permutation scanning.
Results:
Totally 1 374 PTB cases among students were reported in Suzhou City from 2015 to 2023. PTB cases were reported in each month, and the SIs were 100.69%, 124.38%, 108.98%, 135.04%, 106.61% and 106.61% in April, May, July, September, October and November, respectively, indicating the prevalence of PTB among students. Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed there was a positive spatial correlation of PTB among students in 2019 and 2020 (Moran's I=0.053 and 0.089, both P<0.05). From 2015 to 2023, there were high-high clustering sites mainly in Hengtang Street and Shishan Street. Retrospective spatio-temporal permutation scanning showed a primary cluster in Hengtang Street, with aggregation time in 2017, and 6 secondary clusters covering 25 towns (streets).
Conclusion
From 2015 to 2023, the PTB cases among students in Suzhou City were mainly concentrated in summer and autumn, and were predominantly clustered in Hengtang Street and Shishan Street.
2.Severity Assessment Parameters and Diagnostic Technologies of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Zhuo-Zhi FU ; Ya-Cen WU ; Mei-Xi LI ; Ping-Ping YIN ; Hai-Jun LIN ; Fu ZHANG ; Yu-Xiang YANG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(1):147-161
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly widespread sleep-breathing disordered disease, and is an independent risk factor for many high-risk chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, arrhythmias and diabetes, which is potentially fatal. The key to the prevention and treatment of OSA is early diagnosis and treatment, so the assessment and diagnostic technologies of OSA have become a research hotspot. This paper reviews the research progresses of severity assessment parameters and diagnostic technologies of OSA, and discusses their future development trends. In terms of severity assessment parameters of OSA, apnea hypopnea index (AHI), as the gold standard, together with the percentage of duration of apnea hypopnea (AH%), lowest oxygen saturation (LSpO2), heart rate variability (HRV), oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and the emerging biomarkers, constitute a multi-dimensional evaluation system. Specifically, the AHI, which measures the frequency of sleep respiratory events per hour, does not fully reflect the patients’ overall sleep quality or the extent of their daytime functional impairments. To address this limitation, the AH%, which measures the proportion of the entire sleep cycle affected by apneas and hypopneas, deepens our understanding of the impact on sleep quality. The LSpO2 plays a critical role in highlighting the potential severe hypoxic episodes during sleep, while the HRV offers a different perspective by analyzing the fluctuations in heart rate thereby revealing the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The ODI provides a direct and objective measure of patients’ nocturnal oxygenation stability by calculating the number of desaturation events per hour, and the biomarkers offers novel insights into the diagnosis and management of OSA, and fosters the development of more precise and tailored OSA therapeutic strategies. In terms of diagnostic techniques of OSA, the standardized questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is a simple and effective method for preliminary screening of OSA, and the polysomnography (PSG) which is based on recording multiple physiological signals stands for gold standard, but it has limitations of complex operations, high costs and inconvenience. As a convenient alternative, the home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) allows patients to monitor their sleep with simplified equipment in the comfort of their own homes, and the cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) offers a minimal version that simply analyzes the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. As an emerging diagnostic technology of OSA, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) adeptly pinpoint respiratory incidents and expose delicate physiological changes, thus casting new light on the diagnostic approach to OSA. In addition, imaging examination utilizes detailed visual representations of the airway’s structure and assists in recognizing structural abnormalities that may result in obstructed airways, while sound monitoring technology records and analyzes snoring and breathing sounds to detect the condition subtly, and thus further expands our medical diagnostic toolkit. As for the future development directions, it can be predicted that interdisciplinary integrated researches, the construction of personalized diagnosis and treatment models, and the popularization of high-tech in clinical applications will become the development trends in the field of OSA evaluation and diagnosis.
3.Research progress on the structural modification of isosteviol and the biological activities of its derivatives
Li-jun ZHAO ; You-fu YANG ; Tong-sheng WANG ; Yan-li ZHANG ; Ya WU
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2025;60(1):22-36
Isosteviol is a tetracyclic diterpenoid compound obtained by hydrolysis of natural stevia glycoside under acidic conditions. It has many pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial. Due to its low water solubility, low activity and low bioavailability, isosteviol has poor performance. In order to overcome these shortcomings, scholars have obtained a large number of isosteviol derivatives with novel structures and excellent activity. In this paper, we review the recent progress in the research on the structure modification, biological activity, structure-activity relationship and microbial transformation of isosteviol, in order to provide a reference for the development of new drugs of isosteviol and its derivatives.
4.Prediction of lymph node metastasis in invasive lung adenocarcinoma based on radiomics of the primary lesion, peritumoral region, and tumor habitat: A single-center retrospective study
Hongchang WANG ; Yan GU ; Wenhao ZHANG ; Guang MU ; Wentao XUE ; Mengen WANG ; Chenghao FU ; Liang CHEN ; Mei YUAN ; Jun WANG
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(08):1079-1085
Objective To predict the lymph node metastasis status of patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma by constructing machine learning models based on primary tumor radiomics, peritumoral radiomics, and habitat radiomics, and to evaluate the predictive performance and generalization ability of different imaging features. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 1 263 patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma who underwent surgery at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangsu Province Hospital, from 2016 to 2019. Habitat regions were delineated by applying K-means clustering (average cluster number of 2) to the grayscale values of CT images. The peritumoral region was defined as a uniformly expanded area of 3 mm around the primary tumor. The primary tumor region was automatically segmented using V-net combined with manual correction and annotation. Subsequently, radiomics features were extracted based on these regions, and stacked machine learning models were constructed. Model performance was evaluated on the training, testing, and internal validation sets using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), F1 score, recall, and precision. Results After excluding patients who did not meet the screening criteria, a total of 651 patients were included. The training set consisted of 468 patients (181 males, 287 females) with an average age of (58.39±11.23) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years, the testing set included 140 patients (56 males, 84 females) with an average age of (58.81±10.70) years, ranging from 34 to 82 years, and the internal validation set comprised 43 patients (14 males, 29 females) with an average age of (60.16±10.68) years, ranging from 29 to 78 years. Although the habitat radiomics model did not show the optimal performance in the training set, it exhibited superior performance in the internal validation set, with an AUC of 0.952 [95%CI (0.87, 1.00)], an F1 score of 84.62%, and a precision-recall AUC of 0.892, outperforming the models based on the primary tumor and peritumoral regions. Conclusion The model constructed based on habitat radiomics demonstrated superior performance in the internal validation set, suggesting its potential for better generalization ability and clinical application in predicting lymph node metastasis status in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.
5.Diagnostic Techniques and Risk Prediction for Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) Syndrome
Song HOU ; Lin-Shan ZHANG ; Xiu-Qin HONG ; Chi ZHANG ; Ying LIU ; Cai-Li ZHANG ; Yan ZHU ; Hai-Jun LIN ; Fu ZHANG ; Yu-Xiang YANG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(10):2585-2601
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and metabolic disorders are the 3 major chronic diseases threatening human health, which are closely related and often coexist, significantly increasing the difficulty of disease management. In response, the American Heart Association (AHA) proposed a novel disease concept of “cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome” in October 2023, which has triggered widespread concern about the co-treatment of heart and kidney diseases and the prevention and treatment of metabolic disorders around the world. This review posits that effectively managing CKM syndrome requires a new and multidimensional paradigm for diagnosis and risk prediction that integrates biological insights, advanced technology and social determinants of health (SDoH). We argue that the core pathological driver is a “metabolic toxic environment”, fueled by adipose tissue dysfunction and characterized by a vicious cycle of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress, which forms a common pathway to multi-organ injury. The at-risk population is defined not only by biological characteristics but also significantly impacted by adverse SDoH, which can elevate the risk of advanced CKM by a factor of 1.18 to 3.50, underscoring the critical need for equity in screening and care strategies. This review systematically charts the progression of diagnostic technologies. In diagnostics, we highlight a crucial shift from single-marker assessments to comprehensive multi-marker panels. The synergistic application of traditional biomarkers like NT-proBNP (reflecting cardiac stress) and UACR (indicating kidney damage) with emerging indicators such as systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and Klotho protein facilitates a holistic evaluation of multi-organ health. Furthermore, this paper explores the pivotal role of non-invasive monitoring technologies in detecting subclinical disease. Techniques like multi-wavelength photoplethysmography (PPG) and impedance cardiography (ICG) provide a real-time window into microcirculatory and hemodynamic status, enabling the identification of early, often asymptomatic, functional abnormalities that precede overt organ failure. In imaging, progress is marked by a move towards precise, quantitative evaluation, exemplified by artificial intelligence-powered quantitative computed tomography (AI-QCT). By integrating AI-QCT with clinical risk factors, the predictive accuracy for cardiovascular events within 6 months significantly improves, with the area under the curve (AUC) increasing from 0.637 to 0.688, demonstrating its potential for reclassifying risk in CKM stage 3. In the domain of risk prediction, we trace the evolution from traditional statistical tools to next-generation models. The new PREVENT equation represents a major advancement by incorporating key kidney function markers (eGFR, UACR), which can enhance the detection rate of CKD in primary care by 20%-30%. However, we contend that the future lies in dynamic, machine learning-based models. Algorithms such as XGBoost have achieved an AUC of 0.82 for predicting 365-day cardiovascular events, while deep learning models like KFDeep have demonstrated exceptional performance in predicting kidney failure risk with an AUC of 0.946. Unlike static calculators, these AI-driven tools can process complex, multimodal data and continuously update risk profiles, paving the way for truly personalized and proactive medicine. In conclusion, this review advocates for a paradigm shift toward a holistic and technologically advanced framework for CKM management. Future efforts must focus on the deep integration of multimodal data, the development of novel AI-driven biomarkers, the implementation of refined SDoH-informed interventions, and the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration to construct an efficient, equitable, and effective system for CKM screening and intervention.
6.Association between the risk of tuberculosis outbreak in schools and the visit interval of index cases
ZHANG Xiaolong, CUI Caiyan, FU Ying, WANG Feixian, LI Yun, JIANG Jun
Chinese Journal of School Health 2024;45(1):138-141
Objective:
To analyze the relationship between the risk of tuberculosis outbreaks in schools and the visit interval of index cases, so as to provide a scientific reference for predicting the risks of tuberculosis outbreak and making preventive measures.
Methods:
A total of 630 index cases from school tuberculosis outbreaks were studied during January, 2015 to December, 2022. Data on demographics, consultation history, etiological diagnosis, and methods of detection were collected. Restricted Cubic Splines (RCS), unconditional Logistic regression, and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) were used for analysis.
Results:
The RCS fitted curve showed that the risk of a tuberculosis outbreak linearly increased when the consultation interval for etiologically negative patients exceeded 5.79 days, or for etiologically positive patients exceeded 8.37 days. After multi factor adjustment, for every additional day in the visit interval of the index case, the odds ratio ( OR ) value for a high risk outbreak was 1.10 (95% CI =1.07-1.13)( P <0.05). When analyzed by tertiles of visit intervals, compared to an interval of <14 days, the OR values (95% CI ) for high risk outbreaks in schools with intervals of 14-<28 days and ≥28 days were 10.32(3.04-35.10) and 82.58( 28.42 -239.95), respectively( P <0.01), indicating a trend of increasing outbreak risk with longer visit intervals. Based on the ROC curve analysis, the optimal threshold for predicting a high risk school tuberculosis outbreak was 23.5 days, with an area under the curve ( AUC ) of 0.93 (95% CI =0.89-0.98).
Conclusion
An extended visit interval of index cases is a good early warning indicator for high risk tuberculosis outbreaks in schools and could be considered a key factor in early intervention and risk control strategies.
7. A network pharmacology-based approach to explore mechanism of kaempferol-7 -O -neohesperidoside against prostate cancer
Qiu-Ping ZHANG ; Zhi-Ping CHENG ; Wei XUE ; Qiao-Feng LI ; Hong-Wei GUO ; Qiu-Ping ZHANG ; Jie-Jun FU ; Hong-Wei GUO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2024;40(1):146-154
Aim To explore the effect of kaempferol-7- 0-neohesperidoside (K70N) against prostate cancer (PCa) and the underlying mechanism. Methods The effect of K70N on the proliferation of PCa cell lines PC3, DU145, C4-2 and LNCaP was detected using CCK8 assay. The effect of K70N on migration ability of DU145 cells was determined by wound healing assay. The targets of K70N and PCa were screened from SuperPred and other databases. The common targets both related to K70N and PCa were obtained from the Venny online platform, a protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was constructed by the String and Cyto- scape. Meanwhile, the GO and KEGG functional enrichment were analyzed by David database. Then, a "drug-target-disease-pathway" network model was constructed. Cell cycle of PCa cells treated with K70N was analyzed by flow cytometry. The expressions of cycle-associated proteins including Skp2, p27 and p21 protein were detected by Western blot. Molecular docking between Skp2 and K70N was conducted by Sybyl X2. 0. Results K70N significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of PCa cells. A total number of 34 drug-disease intersection targets were screened. The String results showed that Skp2 and p27, among the common targets, were the key targets of K70N for PCa treatment. Furthermore, GO and KEGG functional en-richment indicated that the mechanism was mainly related to the cell cycle. Flow cytometry showed that K70N treatment induced cell cycle arrest at the S phase. Compared with the control group, the protein expression level of Skp2 was significantly down-regulated, while the protein expression levels of p27 and p21 were up-regulated. The network molecular docking indicated that the ligand K70N had a good binding ability with the receptor Skp2. Conclusions K70N could inhibit the proliferation and migration of PCa cells, block the cell cycle in the S phase, which may be related to the regulation of cell cycle through the Skp2- p27/p21 signaling pathway.
8.Stability study of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells formulation in large-scale production
Wang-long CHU ; Tong-jing LI ; Yan SHANGGUAN ; Fang-tao HE ; Jian-fu WU ; Xiu-ping ZENG ; Tao GUO ; Qing-fang WANG ; Fen ZHANG ; Zhen-zhong ZHONG ; Xiao LIANG ; Jun-yuan HU ; Mu-yun LIU
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2024;59(3):743-750
Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) have been widely used in regenerative medicine, but there is limited research on the stability of UC-MSCs formulation during production. This study aims to assess the stability of the cell stock solution and intermediate product throughout the production process, as well as the final product following reconstitution, in order to offer guidance for the manufacturing process and serve as a reference for formulation reconstitution methods. Three batches of cell formulation were produced and stored under low temperature (2-8 ℃) and room temperature (20-26 ℃) during cell stock solution and intermediate product stages. The storage time intervals for cell stock solution were 0, 2, 4, and 6 h, while for intermediate products, the intervals were 0, 1, 2, and 3 h. The evaluation items included visual inspection, viable cell concentration, cell viability, cell surface markers, lymphocyte proliferation inhibition rate, and sterility. Additionally, dilution and culture stability studies were performed after reconstitution of the cell product. The reconstitution diluents included 0.9% sodium chloride injection, 0.9% sodium chloride injection + 1% human serum albumin, and 0.9% sodium chloride injection + 2% human serum albumin, with dilution ratios of 10-fold and 40-fold. The storage time intervals after dilution were 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 h. The reconstitution culture media included DMEM medium, DMEM + 2% platelet lysate, 0.9% sodium chloride injection, and 0.9% sodium chloride injection + 1% human serum albumin, and the culture duration was 24 h. The evaluation items were viable cell concentration and cell viability. The results showed that the cell stock solution remained stable for up to 6 h under both low temperature (2-8 ℃) and room temperature (20-26 ℃) conditions, while the intermediate product remained stable for up to 3 h under the same conditions. After formulation reconstitution, using sodium chloride injection diluted with 1% or 2% human serum albumin maintained a viability of over 80% within 4 h. It was observed that different dilution factors had an impact on cell viability. After formulation reconstitution, cultivation in medium with 2% platelet lysate resulted in a cell viability of over 80% after 24 h. In conclusion, the stability of cell stock solution within 6 h and intermediate product within 3 h meets the requirements. The addition of 1% or 2% human serum albumin in the reconstitution diluent can better protect the post-reconstitution cell viability.
9.Correlation of serum metabolites and clinical features in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma
Yishuo DUAN ; Jun RAO ; Jing XIA ; Naya MA ; Shijia LIN ; Fu LI ; Shuhan TANG ; Sha ZHOU ; Yunjing ZENG ; Xinlei LI ; Dezhi HUANG ; Qiong LI ; Bangdong LIU ; Xianlan ZHAO ; Jin WEI ; Xi ZHANG
Journal of Army Medical University 2024;46(4):352-358
Objective To explore the changes in serum energy metabolites in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma,and investigate serum biomarkers for monitoring peripheral T-cell lymphoma from the perspective of energy metabolism.Methods Multiple/selected reaction monitoring(MRM/SRM)was used to detect the energy-related metabolites in the sera of 16 patients with newly diagnosed peripheral T-cell lymphoma admitted in the Hematology Medical Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from November 2020 to December 2021,as well as 10 recruited healthy volunteers.The corresponding clinical data including medical history,laboratory results and image data were collected and retrospectively analyzed.Results Significant differences were seen in the contents and expression profiles of serum energy metabolism-related products between the patients and the healthy volunteers.The patients had significantly reduced serum contents of cyclic AMP,succinate,citrate and cis-aconitate(P<0.05),and elevated D-glucose 6-phosphate content(P<0.05).The serum contents of citrate and succinate were negatively correlated with the risk stratification(low-,moderate-and high-risk)and clinical stage of the disease(P<0.05).Meanwhile,there was a negative correlation between the contents of L-malic acid and citrate and the mid-term efficacy evaluation results,such as complete/partial response(CR/PR)or stable disease(SD)(P<0.05).For patients with extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma(n=10),there were also significant reductions in the contents of cyclic AMP,succinate,citrate,isocitrate and cis-aconitate in the sera of patients compared with healthy volunteers(P<0.05),and the contents of citrate and succinate were negatively correlated with the clinical stage(P<0.05)and were rather correlated with mid-term efficacy evaluation results(CR/PR or SD)(P<0.05).For patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma(n=6),the serum contents of cyclic AMP,citrate and succinate were significantly lower,while the content of D-glucose 6-phosphate was higher when compared with the healthy volunteers(P<0.05),and the content of succinate was negatively correlated with both clinical stage and risk grade of the patients(P<0.05).Conclusion There are 5 serum differential metabolites identified between patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma and healthy controls,and succinate and citrate are expected to be serum biomarkers of peripheral T-cell lymphoma.
10.Comparison of the predictive value of new simplified insulin resistance assessment indexes in identifying left ventricular subclinical dysfunction in T2DM patients
Yan-Yan CHEN ; Meng-Ying LI ; Jie ZHOU ; Jian-Fang FU ; Ying ZHANG ; Yi WANG ; Cheng WANG ; Xiang-Yang LIU ; Sheng-Jun TA ; Li-Wen LIU ; Ze-Ping LI ; Xiao-Miao LI
Medical Journal of Chinese People's Liberation Army 2024;49(2):137-143
Objective To investigate the predictive value of new simplified insulin resistance(IR)assessment indexes in identifying subclinical left ventricular systolic function impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods A total of 150 T2DM patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF≥50%)who were admitted to Department of Endocrinology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University from June 2021 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed.All patients underwent two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography to measure left ventricular global longitudinal strain(GLS).According to GLS value,the subjects were divided into the normal group(GLS≥18%group,n=80)and the impaired group(GLS<18%group,n=70).Some new simplified IR assessment indicators were calculated and compared between the two groups,including body mass index(BMI),TG/HDL-C ratio,triglyceride-glucose(TyG)index,TyG-BMI index,TyG-WHR and metabolic score for IR(METS-IR).Correlation between the GLS and the new simplified IR assessment indexes was analyzed.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of different simplified IR assessment indexes,with the area under the curve(AUC)calculated.Furthermore,according to whether the subjects were complicated with hypertension,binary logistics regression analysis was performed to explore the independent correlation between the simplified IR assessment index and GLS<18%.Results Total 150 were included with aged(54.5±13.7)years with 96(64.0%)men and 54(36.0%)women.Compared with the GLS≥18%group,the TG/HDL-C ratio,TyG index,TyG-BMI,and METS-IR of subjects in the GLS<18%group were significantly increased(P<0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that TG/HDL-C ratio,TyG index,TyG-BMI,TyG-WHR,and METS-IR were negatively correlated with GLS(P<0.05).ROC analysis showed that TyG index had a certain predictive value for the evaluation of GLS<18%(AUC=0.678,95%CI 0.591-0.765,P<0.001).Stratification based on hypertension and further adjusting for confounding factors,TyG index remains significantly associated with GLS<18%(OR=3.249,95%CI 1.045-10.103,P=0.042).Conclusions The novel simplified insulin resistance evaluation indexes are closely associated with left ventricular subclinical systolic dysfunction in T2DM patients with preserved ejection fraction.TyG index is an effective index to identify left ventricular subclinical dysfunction in these populations.


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