Objective To assess the value of multimodal ultrasonography for diagnosing thyroid nodules—atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) of thyroid imaging reporting and data system (TI-RADS) categories 3 to 5. Methods A total of 90 AUS thyroid nodules in TI-RADS 3-5 categories from 88 patients underwent conventional ultrasonography, ultrasound elastography, superb microvascular imaging, and multimodal ultrasonography at the same time. With fine needle aspiration biopsy results as the gold standard, the methods were compared in terms of the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, false positive rate (FPR), false negative rate (FNR), and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for diagnosing thyroid nodules. Results There were no significant differences between patients with benign and those with malignant thyroid nodules in terms of sex, age, and nodule locations (all P > 0.05), but the proportion of thyroid nodules ≤ 1 cm in diameter was significantly higher for malignant thyroid nodules than for benign thyroid nodules (χ²=9.610, P=0.002). Compared with benign nodules, malignant nodules were significantly more frequent to have low-level echoes or very low-level echoes, a blurred margin, a vertical diameter/horizontal diameter ratio of > 1, and microcalcifications or no calcifications (all P < 0.05). An ultrasound elastography score of ≥ 3 and type III vascularity on superb microvascular imaging indicated a higher possibility of malignant thyroid nodules (both P < 0.001). The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the size, echogenicity, margin, and vertical diameter/horizontal diameter ratio, and superb microvascular imaging type of thyroid nodules were not significant markers for benign or malignant thyroid nodules (all P > 0.05), while microcalcifications/no calcifications and an ultrasound elastography score of ≥ 3 were independent risk factors for malignant AUS nodules (both P < 0.05). The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, FPR, and FNR of conventional ultrasonography for AUS nodules were 91.30%, 71.40%, 62.70%, 28.60%, and 8.70%, respectively; the values for ultrasound elastography were 85.50%, 66.70%, 52.20%, 33.30%, and 14.50%, respectively; the values for superb microvascular imaging were 66.70%, 76.20%, 42.90%, 23.80%, and 33.30%, respectively; and the values for multimodal ultrasonography were 75.20%, 92.50%, 67.70%, 24.80%, and 7.50%, respectively. For distinguishing between benign and malignant AUS nodules, the AUC values of conventional ultrasonography, ultrasound elastography, superb microvascular imaging, and multimodal ultrasonography were 0.866, 0.745, 0.774, and 0.918, respectively. Conclusion Multimodal ultrasonography shows better diagnostic efficacy for AUS nodules of TI-RADS 3-5 compared with conventional ultrasonography, ultrasound elastography, and superb microvascular imaging, which can facilitate the malignancy risk stratification and management of AUS thyroid nodules.

ObjectiveTo analyze the research status and trends in low-level occupational benzene exposure. Methods Articles on low-level occupational benzene exposure from Chinese and English journals from January 1st, 2000, to December 31th, 2022 were retrieved using the Web of Science and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and a bibliometric analysis was conducted. Results A total of 327 articles were included in the analysis, comprising 216 English articles and 111 Chinese articles. i) The number of articles published in English fluctuates greatly over the years, without a trend of continuous growth or decline. Authors from 359 research institutions in 45 countries and regions have published relevant English articles in 97 kinds of journals, involving 281 grants from 226 foundations. The top three countries in terms of articles amount were the United States, Italy, and China, with 81, 46, and 43 papers, respectively. The English articles mainly focused on mechanistic research at the genetic level, such as hematotoxicity, oxidative stress, and DNA damage. ii) The number of Chinese articles increased gradually after 2012, with the growth peak in 2017. Authors from 127 research institutions in 26 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities published Chinese articles in 51 kinds of journals, involving 154 grants from 78 foundations. Chinese articles tended to focus on benzene-induced hematotoxicity and occupational health damage. Conclusion Most studies on low-level occupational benzene exposure were conducted in China, the United States and Italy, focused on hematotoxicity. Monitoring international research topics and hotspots of the field has certain reference value for related research in China.

Objective Recent studies have indicated potential anti-inflammatory effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists(GLP-1RAs)on asthma,which is often comorbid with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)and obesity.Therefore,we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the association between the administration of glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1)receptor-based agonists and the incidence of asthma in patients with T2DM and/or obesity. Methods PubMed,Web of Science,Embase,the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials,and Clinicaltrial.gov were systematically searched from inception to July 2023.Randomized controlled trials(RCTs)of GLP-1 receptor-based agonists(GLP-1RA,GLP-1 based dual and triple receptor agonist)with reports of asthma events were included.Outcomes were computed as risk ratios(RR)using a fixed-effects model. Results Overall,39 RCTs with a total of 85,755 participants were included.Compared to non-GLP-1 receptor-based agonist users,a trend of reduced risk of asthma was observed in patients with T2DM or obesity using GLP-1 receptor-based agonist treatments,although the difference was not statistically significant[RR=0.91,95%confidence interval(CI):0.68 to 1.24].Further Subgroup analyses indicated that the use of light-molecular-weight GLP-1RAs might be associated with a reduced the risk of asthma when compared with non-users(RR=0.65,95%CI:0.43 to 0.99,P=0.043).We also performed sensitivity analyses for participant characteristics,study design,drug structure,duration of action,and drug subtypes.However,no significant associations were observed. Conclusion Compared with non-users,a modest reduction in the incidence of asthma was observed in patients with T2DM or obesity using GLP-1 receptor-based agonist treatments.Further investigations are warranted to assess the association between GLP-1 receptor-based agonists and the risk of asthma.

Objective:To explore the status quo of pediatric nurses' cognition of death education, and analyze its influencing factors, so as to provide experience and reference for carrying out death education in pediatric wards.Methods:In this study, 827 nurses from 15 children's hospitals in China were investigated by using the scale for evaluating the cognition of death education in medical staff prepared by Zhang Yan-gai, and the related factors affecting the cognition of death education were analyzed. SPSS 23.0 was used for independent-samples t-test and ANOVA analysis, and multiple regression equation was used to further analyze the relationship between the cognitive factors of death education in pediatric nurses. Results:The total score of death education cognition of pediatric nurses was (35.61±5.64) points, which was lower than the median score of 36 points. The degree of death education cognition of pediatric nurses was at the medium-low level. The results of correlation analysis showed that the professional title of nurses (regression coefficient: 0.064, P=0.045), the training demand for death education (regression coefficient: 0.300, P<0.001), and the way of understanding (regression coefficient: 0.018, P=0.003) were independent influencing factors of the death education cognition level of pediatric nurses. Conclusions:Pediatric nurse death education related theoretical knowledge should be improved through various professional trainings. The hospitals should include death education in pediatric nurse continuing education training plan to improve pediatric nurses' cognitive level of death education through a variety of ways and means, promote the application of death education activities carried out in pediatric ward in the hospice care, reduce deaths impact to nurse their own emotions, and alleviate parents' anxiety and painful experience, thereby improving medical satisfaction.

Intestinal injury is a common adverse reaction of clinical chemotherapy drugs, which limits the further application of chemotherapy drugs and causes serious physical and mental burden to patients. At present, the mechanism of chemotherapy-induced intestinal injury is complex, and traditional Chinese medicine has an excellent preventive effect. This article reviews the related mechanisms of intestinal flora imbalance, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, cell apoptosis, and immune damage caused by chemotherapy, and summarizes the role of traditional Chinese medicine in prevention and treatment of oxidative stress, inflammatory response, cell apoptosis, and immune damage.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor that mainly occurs in East and Southeast Asia. Although patients benefit from the main NPC treatments (e.g., radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy), persistent and recurrent diseases still occur in some NPC patients. Therefore, investigating the pathogenesis of NPC is of great clinical significance. In the present study, replication factor c subunit 4 (RFC4) is a key potential target involved in NPC progression via bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, the expression and mechanism of RFC4 in NPC were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Our results revealed that RFC4 was more elevated in NPC tumor tissues than in normal tissues. RFC4 knockdown induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and inhibited NPC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, HOXA10 was confirmed as a downstream target of RFC4, and the overexpression of HOXA10 attenuated the silencing of RFC4-induced cell proliferation, colony formation inhibition, and cell cycle arrest. For the first time, this study reveals that RFC4 is required for NPC cell proliferation and may play a pivotal role in NPC tumorigenesis.
Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma/pathology* ; Carcinoma/pathology* ; Replication Protein C/metabolism* ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Cell Movement

Clinical pathway is an important quality management tool for regulating medical behavior both at home and abroad, and an important means of controlling medical costs in the reform of medical insurance payment methods.The author reviewed the current development status of clinical pathways both at home and abroad, focusing on summarizing the development experience of foreign countries, and analyzing the shortcomings in the development of clinical pathways in China from the perspectives of formulation, implementation, and evaluation. It is proposed that China should establish and improve the regulatory and incentive mechanisms for clinical pathways, accelerate the construction of supporting medical security systems, explore new incentive transmission models, attach importance to the role of patient participation in the formulation and implementation of clinical pathways, and so on, in order to provide reference for promoting the efficient development of clinical pathways in China.

Objective: To explore the potential biological mechanism of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) qi deficiency syndrome, we used the integrated pharmacology network computing platform and carried out experimental verification.Methods: Using an integrated pharmacology strategy to analyze the potential biological targets of COPD qi deficiency syndrome. Based on the established qi deficiency syndrome rat model of COPD, the bio-logical targets of lung and skeletal muscle were detected by electron microscopy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content assays, and western blotting. Results: According to the integrated pharmacological results, it was found that the locations of cell components related to COPD qi deficiency syndrome were mainly mitochondria. Electron microscopy results using lung tissue showed that mitochondria in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS group) and pulmonary instillation of LPS combined with cigarette smoke (LPS+CS group) were swollen, deformed, and frag-mented, with disappearing or broken crista. Results also showed that the total content of ATP in the lung and skeletal muscle of both groups was significantly lower than that in the control group at the 12th week (P<.05). At the 12th week, the expression of dynamin-related protein 1 (DRP1) and mitofusin 1 (MFN1) protein was significantly difference than that of the control group (P<.05). At the 10th and 14th weeks, changes in fission and fusion proteins in mitochondria of the lung and skeletal muscle were further detected. There was also a significant difference in the expression between the two groups compared to that in the control group at the 10th week and 14th week (P<.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that the changes in mitochondrial morphology and ATP content and the unbalanced expression of DRP1 and MFN1 might be the key mechanisms underlying qi deficiency syndrome in rats with COPD.

Objective To investigate the distribution and drug resistance of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae ( CRE) isolated from children in China. Methods CRE strains were collected in 10 ter-tiary children's hospitals of China from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the clinical strains was detected with disk diffusion method ( KB method) and automated method. The re-sults were analyzed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute ( CLSI) Standards published in 2017. WHONET 5. 6 software was used to retrospectively analyze the distribution characteristics and drug resistance of these strains. Results A total of 3065 CRE clinical strains were isolated from children with an overall prevalence of 7. 7％ and among them, 13. 5％ were isolated in neonatal group and 5. 8％ in non-neo-natal group. The detection rate of CRE in 2017 was higher than that in 2016 (9. 7％ vs 5. 7％). Among the 3065 CRE strains, there were 1912 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae (62. 0％), 667 strains of Escherichia coli (22. 0％), 206 strains of Enterobacter cloacae (7. 0％), 56 strains of Klebsiella aerogenes (1. 8％) and 47 strains of Serratia marcescens (1. 5％). Most of the strains were isolate in neonatology departments including neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and intensive care units (ICU), accounting for 44. 8％ and 19. 7％, respectively. Respiratory tract (61. 8％), urine (19. 4％) and blood (5. 7％) specimens were the main sources of CRE isolates. Results of antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that the CRE strains were highly resistant to carbapenem antibiotics such as imipenem, meropenem and ertapenem, as well as penicillins and most cephalosporins (79. 6％-100％), especially those isolated in the neonatal group (P<0. 05). Children had relatively low resistance rates to aminoglycosides such as amikacin (19. 7％) and fos-fomycin (11. 9％), fluoroquinolones such as levofloxacin (37. 7％) and ciprofloxacin (43. 3％), and tige-cycline (3. 8％). Currently, no polymyxin B-resistant strains were isolated. Conclusions The prevalence of common CRE strains in children in 2017 was higher than that in 2016, especially in newborns. Drug re-sistance in CRE strains isolated from neonates to common antibiotics was more severe, suggesting that great attention should be paid to it and timely measures should also be taken.

Objective To explore the effect of robot assistance on the gait kinematics of hemiplegic persons after a stroke.Methods Forty hemiplegic stroke patients were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group,each of 20.Both groups were given routine neurological medication and rehabilitation training,while the experimental group was additionally provided with 20 minutes of robot-assisted gait training daily,six times a week,for 8 weeks.Before and after the intervention,both groups' motor function,balance,step length and pace were evaluated,as well as their pelvic rotation angles,side inclination,vertical displacement and lateral displacement.The Fugl-Meyer assessment for the lower extremities (FMA-LE) was used along with the Berg balance scale (BBS),the gait analysis system of Biodex Gait Trainer-2 equipment.Results After the treatment,the average FMA-LE score,BBS score,pace and step length of the experimental group were all significantly better than the before the treatment and significantly better than the control group's averages after the treatment.The improvements observed in the pelvic rotation angle,side inclination,vertical displacement and lateral displacement were all significant.Conclusion Robot assistance can usefully supplement routine rehabilitation training after stroke.It can improve control of the pelvis,enhance walking and balance and generally improve the motor function of the lower extremities.