Objective:To explore the application value of laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound in laparoscopic surgery for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma combined with cirrhosis.Methods:The clinical data of 71 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma combined cirrhosis from February 2018 to February 2020 in Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology were retrospectively analyzed. The patients underwent preoperative enhanced CT and multi-parameter MRI examination, followed by laparoscopic partial hepatectomy, and intraoperative laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound examination. Based on histological examination and follow-up results, the diagnostic efficacy of preoperative imaging and preoperative imaging combined with intraoperative laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma combined with cirrhosis was compared.Results:Among the 71 patients, 69 completed laparoscopic surgery and 2 converted to open surgery. One hundred and ten HCC lesions were diagnosed by preoperative imaging examination, 105 lesions were detected by intraoperative ultrasound among them, of which 98 lesions were diagnosed as HCC by intraoperative laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound. There were no statistically significant difference in sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value between preoperative imaging and preoperative imaging combined with intraoperative laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound in the diagnosis of malignant liver lesions: 94.4% (102/108) vs. 99.1% (107/108), 81.0% (34/42) vs. 66.7% (28/42), 90.6% (136/150) vs. 90.0% (135/150), 92.7% (102/110) vs. 88.4% (107/121) and 85.0% (34/40) vs. 96.6% (28/29), P>0.05. Laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound revealed an additional 11 suspected malignant lesions, of which 5 lesions were histologically confirmed as HCC. Seven patients underwent surgical strategy changes. Conclusions:Laparoscopic contrast enhanced ultrasound in patients with HCC combined with cirrhosis during laparoscopic surgery can be used to detect, identify, accurately locate of the lesions and modify the surgical plan.

This study searched the clinical researches on traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） for cardiovascular diseases registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry and the US Clinical Trial Registry， the cardiovascular disease-related studies funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China， as well as those published in China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， Wanfang database， VIP.com， China Biology Medicine disc （CBMdisc）， Embase， Medline， Cochrane Library， and other databases published cardiovascular disease-related studies from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2023. In order to analyse and evaluate the research progress of TCM treatment for coronary heart disease， hypertension， heart failure， and arrhythmia， this study aimed at recent research hotspots and research direction. It is found that the research on TCM for cardiovascular diseases was gradually deepening and the high-quality evidence continued to emerge. It is believed that studies related to the prevention and treatment of common cardiovascular diseases by TCM reflected the multi-angle integration of modern technology and pattern differentiation and treatment， closer integration of clinical and basic research， and further optimisation of pattern identification and interventions. On this basis， the research programme and implementation process should be further standardized， and the translation of research results should be emphasized to promote the standardized application and promotion of TCM diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

We report a case of a male patient who developed persistent fever and central nervous system symptoms after eating raw snails for 10 days. The patient was diagnosed with Angiostrongyliasis depended on the clinical presentation, epidemiological history, and etiological results. The patient recovered after receiving albendazole anthelmintic and dexamethasone anti-inflammatory therapy. This article incorporates literature review to sort out the diagnosis and treatment of this patient, in order to provide feasible reference for clinicians.

BACKGROUND:Sepsis is one of the main causes of mortality in intensive care units(ICUs).Early prediction is critical for reducing injury.As approximately 36%of sepsis occur within 24 h after emergency department(ED)admission in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care(MIMIC-IV),a prediction system for the ED triage stage would be helpful.Previous methods such as the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment(qSOFA)are more suitable for screening than for prediction in the ED,and we aimed to find a light-weight,convenient prediction method through machine learning. METHODS:We accessed the MIMIC-IV for sepsis patient data in the EDs.Our dataset comprised demographic information,vital signs,and synthetic features.Extreme Gradient Boosting(XGBoost)was used to predict the risk of developing sepsis within 24 h after ED admission.Additionally,SHapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP)was employed to provide a comprehensive interpretation of the model's results.Ten percent of the patients were randomly selected as the testing set,while the remaining patients were used for training with 10-fold cross-validation. RESULTS:For 10-fold cross-validation on 14,957 samples,we reached an accuracy of 84.1%±0.3%and an area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve of 0.92±0.02.The model achieved similar performance on the testing set of 1,662 patients.SHAP values showed that the five most important features were acuity,arrival transportation,age,shock index,and respiratory rate. CONCLUSION:Machine learning models such as XGBoost may be used for sepsis prediction using only a small amount of data conveniently collected in the ED triage stage.This may help reduce workload in the ED and warn medical workers against the risk of sepsis in advance.

We report a case of a male patient who developed persistent fever and central nervous system symptoms after eating raw snails for 10 days. The patient was diagnosed with Angiostrongyliasis depended on the clinical presentation, epidemiological history, and etiological results. The patient recovered after receiving albendazole anthelmintic and dexamethasone anti-inflammatory therapy. This article incorporates literature review to sort out the diagnosis and treatment of this patient, in order to provide feasible reference for clinicians.

Objective:To explore the association between insulin resistance (IR) and genome-wide DNA methylation based on Shanghai twin study.Methods:Monozygotic twins (MZ) from Shanghai were recruited during 2012-2013, 2017-2018, and 2022-2023. Data were collected by questionnaire survey, physical examination and laboratory tests. Genome-wide DNA methylation was quantified. Generalized linear mixed effect model was applied to analyze the association between methylation level at each site and homeostatic model assessment 2-insulin resistance (HOMA2-IR). Non-paired and paired designs were used to assess the association between DNA methylation and phenotype of IR. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify the clusters of top significant sites. Generalized linear regression was performed to examine the differential methylation patterns from clusters.Results:A total of 100 MZ pairs were included in this study. Hypermethylated cg10535199-2q23.1 ( β=0.74%, P=1.51×10 -7, OR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.03-1.09) and ch.17.49619327- SPOP ( β=0.23%, P=7.54×10 -7, OR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.08-1.28) were identified with suggestive significance. After correcting for multiple testing, no sites reached genome-wide significance. There was no statistical significance in the paired analysis. Two clusters with hypomethylated ( β=-0.39%, P<0.001) and hypermethylated ( β=0.47%, P<0.001) patterns were observed for HOMA2-IR. Conclusions:IR was significantly associated with DNA methylation, and genetic factors might contribute to the association.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors （ICIs） can activate anti-tumour-related immunity in the treatment of malignant tumours， but at the same time， they can also cause non-specific immune activation， leading to the occurrence of immune-related adverse reactions （irAEs）. It is believed that under physiological conditions， ICIs can be classified as tonic agents in traditional Chinese medicine， exerting the effect of warming yang and benefiting qi， but when the immune response become over-excited， ICIs evolve into pathogen of exuberant fire， which is destructive to the body. Combining the different periods of immunotherapy and the degree of symptoms， irAEs are divided into two phases： symptom onset phase （exuberant fire consuming qi and essence） and intermittent phase （latent fire dispersing healthy qi in critical condition）， in which yang movement is excess fire leading to toxicity of the skin and oral mucous membranes， qi constraint transforming into fire leading to toxicity of gastrointestinal tract， qi block generating fire leading to cardiotoxicity， and qi and yin deficiencies leading to fire manifesting as ICIs-related diabetes. The general principle of “simultaneous treatment of qi and fire” is proposed to guide the treatment of irAEs. During the onset phase， draining fire， directing qi downward， and dispelling drug toxicity are used to remove excess fire； raising yang， dispersing fire， and dispelling drug toxicity are used to disperse fire constraint； promoting the flow of yang and qi and dispelling drug toxicity are used to close fire and smoothen the flow； cultivating qi， clearing fire， and dispelling drug toxicity are used to disperse the deficiency fire， so as to achieve the goal of clearing exuberant fire， eliminating drug toxicity， and alleviating acute symptoms. During the intermittent phase， the aim is to generate fire slightly to warm yang qi， block latent fire， and prevent recurrence， and ultimately restore the balance of qi and yang in human physiology to prevent and treat irAEs and improve the quality of life of patients.