Beneficial Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training and Dietary Changes Intervention on Hepatic Fat Accumulation in HFD-Induced Obese Rats.

Lifestyle intervention encompassing nutrition and physical activity are effective strategies to prevent progressive lipid deposition in the liver. This study aimed to explore the effect of dietary change, and/or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on hepatic lipid accumulation in high fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. We divided lean rats into lean control (LC) or HIIT groups (LH), and obese rats into obese normal chow diet (ND) control (ONC) or HIIT groups (ONH) and obese HFD control (OHC) or HIIT groups (OHH). We found that dietary or HIIT intervention significantly decreased body weight and the risk of dyslipidemia, prevented hepatic lipid accumulation. HIIT significantly improved mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation through upregulating mitochondrial enzyme activities, mitochondrial function and AMPK/PPARalpha/CPT1alpha pathway, as well as inhibiting hepatic de novo lipogenesis in obese HFD rats. These findings indicate that dietary alone or HIIT intervention powerfully improve intrahepatic storage of fat in diet induced obese rats. Keywords: Obesity, Exercise, Diet, Mitochondrial function, Lipid deposition.

[Analysis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease differences from metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease based on clinical features].

Objective: To explore the clinical features of fatty liver disease (FLD) from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD), so as to elucidate its clinical application value under three renames. Methods: Patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Hepatology, Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University, from January 2020 to September 2023 and met the diagnosis of NAFLD, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), or MASLD were selected as the research subjects. The clinical indicators differences among the three groups of patients were compared, mainly including general information (age, gender, body mass index, past history, etc.), serological indicators (liver and kidney function, blood lipids, blood sugar, coagulation function, etc.), non-invasive liver fibrosis indicators, fat attenuation parameters, etc. Measurement data were analyzed using ANOVA and the rank sum test, while count data were analyzed using the χ(2) test. Results: NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD prevalence rates among 536 cases were 64.0%, 93.7%, and 100%, respectively. 318 cases (59.3%) met the three fatty liver names at the same time among them. Male population proportions in NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD were 30.9%, 55.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. The alcohol consumption history proportion was 0, 36.7%, and 36.0%, respectively. The smoking history proportion was 7.0%, 31.9%, and 30.6%, respectively. The body mass index was (27.66 ± 3.97), (28.33 ± 3.63), and (27.90 ± 3.89) kg/m(2), respectively. The γ-glutamyltransferase levels were 26.6 (18.0, 47.0) U/L, 31.0 (20.0, 53.0) U/L, and 30.8 (19.8, 30.8) U/L, respectively. The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were 1.07 (0.90, 1.23) mmol/L, 1.02 (0.86, 1.19) mmol/L, and 1.03 (0.87,1.21) mmol/L, respectively. Sequentially measured uric acid was (322.98 ± 84.51) µmol/L, (346.57 ± 89.49) µmol/L, and (344.89 ±89.67) µmol/L, respectively. Sequentially measured creatinine was 69.6 (62.9, 79.0) µmol/L, 73.0 (65.0, 83.5) µmol/L, and 73.0 (65.0, 83.0) µmol/L, respectively. The sequential analysis of obesity proportion was 74.3%, 81.7%, and 76.5%, respectively, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). Conclusion: Compared with the NAFLD population, the MAFLD and MASLD populations were predominantly male, obese, and had a history of smoking and drinking. The levels of γ-glutamyltransferase, uric acid, and creatinine were slightly higher, while the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were lower. MASLD appeared in NAFLD and MAFLD on the basis of inheritance and progression, emphasizing once again the important role of metabolic factors in a fatty liver.

Experimental Limits on Solar Reflected Dark Matter with a New Approach on Accelerated-Dark-Matter-Electron Analysis in Semiconductors.

Recently a dark matter-electron (DM-electron) paradigm has drawn much attention. Models beyond the standard halo model describing DM accelerated by high energy celestial bodies are under intense examination as well. In this Letter, a velocity components analysis (VCA) method dedicated to swift analysis of accelerated DM-electron interactions via semiconductor detectors is proposed and the first HPGe detector-based accelerated DM-electron analysis is realized. Utilizing the method, the first germanium based constraint on sub-GeV solar reflected DM-electron interaction is presented with the 205.4 kg·day dataset from the CDEX-10 experiment. In the heavy mediator scenario, our result excels in the mass range of 5-15 keV/c^{2}, achieving a 3 orders of magnitude improvement comparing with previous semiconductor experiments. In the light mediator scenario, the strongest laboratory constraint for DM lighter than 0.1 MeV/c^{2} is presented. The result proves the feasibility and demonstrates the vast potential of the VCA technique in future accelerated DM-electron analyses with semiconductor detectors.

Association of clopidogrel resistance and ABCD-GENE score with long-term clinical prognosis in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA.

BACKGROUND: Clopidogrel resistance (CR) is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients. However, whether CR affects the long-term clinical prognosis remains to be clarified. The ABCD-GENE score is a novel risk model that identifies CR in cardiovascular disease patients; its diagnostic ability and application in ischemic stroke or TIA remain to be studied. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic ability of the ABCD-GENE score for CR and analyze the relationship between CR and long-term clinical prognosis in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA. METHODS: From January 2018 to January 2021, 251 ischemic stroke or TIA patients who were treated with clopidogrel for more than three months after onset and maintained the medication until the follow-up time were enrolled, and platelet reactivity was detected by thromboelastography. CYP2C19 gene analysis was performed. Adverse clinical outcomes were recorded from 3months after onset. The median follow-up time was 878days. RESULTS: The prevalence of CR was 33.9%. The proportion of CYP2C19 loss-of-function carriers was 62.2%. The ABCD-GENE score≥10 was independently associated with CR (OR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.02-3.24, P=0.041), and the C-statistic value of the score (as a binary and integer variable) on CR was 0.58 and 0.63, respectively. The risk of long-term adverse clinical outcomes was not significantly different between CR and clopidogrel sensitive groups (12.94% vs. 11.44%, HR=1.22, 95% CI: 0.57-2.62, P=0.603). A similar result was observed between ABCD-GENE score≥10 and ABCD-GENE score<10 groups (10.38% vs. 12.64%, HR=1.19, 95% CI: 0.55-2.60, P=0.666). CONCLUSIONS: In ischemic stroke or TIA patients, the ABCD-GENE score could identify the risk of CR. CR was not associated with long-term adverse clinical outcomes.

[Retrospective analysis of diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in designated medical institutions in China from 2017 to 2022].

Objective: To understand the status of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment capacity and the development and changes of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment in provincial and municipal designated medical institutions in China from 2017 to 2022, so as to provide a basis for the formulation of relevant policies for the improvement and development of designated medical institutions for tuberculosis and the tuberculosis prevention and treatment service system, and to provide reasonable support for further strengthening the capacity of designated medical institutions for tuberculosis. Methods: This study was initiated and carried out by Beijing Chest Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University/Clinical Center for Tuberculosis Prevention and Control of China CDC (hereinafter referred to as "Clinical Center") by means of questionnaire survey, and the investigation was carried out from March to November 2023. During this period, the clinical center distributed questionnaires to the hospital member units of "Beijing Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment Technology Innovation Alliance", retrospectively collected their tuberculosis-related diagnosis and treatment data from 2017 to 2022, and used descriptive statistical methods to analyze the number of tuberculosis beds, outpatients and hospitalizations in medical institutions. The results were expressed in absolute numbers (percentages), and three-line tables, bar charts and line charts were drawn to describe the analysis results and changing trends. Results: The 54 medical institutions surveyed in this survey included 21 provincial-level designated medical institutions and 33 prefecture-level designated medical institutions. Most medical institutions have set up clinical departments, auxiliary departments and functional departments to undertake public health tasks of infectious diseases. The tuberculosis laboratory in the hospital has a comprehensive ability and has the detection technology needed for most tuberculosis diagnosis; The number of tuberculosis beds, children's tuberculosis beds and ICU beds all showed an increasing trend from 2017 to 2022. The proportion of tuberculosis beds in the hospital decreased slightly, from 39.31% in 2017 to 34.76% in 2022, showing a slight downward trend. Compared with the hospital surveyed, the number of tuberculosis outpatients in 2019 was 562 029, and the number of outpatients in 2020-2022 was 462 328, 519 630 and 424 069 respectively, which was significantly lower than that in 2019. The number of tuberculosis outpatients in medical institutions decreased significantly from 2020 to 2022. By analyzing the proportion of patients with different types of tuberculosis, the proportion of sensitive tuberculosis outpatients in 2017-2022 decreased from 84.49% in 2017 to 78.05% in 2022, showing a downward trend year by year. The proportion of patients with multidrug-resistant/ rifampin-resistant tuberculosis increased from 2.03% in 2017 to 7.18% in 2022. From 2017 to 2019, the total number of inpatients with tuberculosis showed an upward trend. Compared with 2019, the number of inpatients in 2020, 2021 and 2022 showed a downward trend, and the decline in 2020 was large (down 14.94% compared with 2019). Among the inpatients, the absolute number and proportion of patients with sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis remained relatively stable, and the number and proportion of inpatients with multidrug-resistant/rifampin-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis increased year by year. Conclusions: Most medical institutions have the capacity to carry out routine diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, but the public health function needs to be strengthened. The transformation of medical institutions requires proper guidance and adequate support. During 2019-2022, most medical institutions were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and their tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment work also changed to varying degrees. During this period, hospitals took various measures to overcome difficulties and tried their best to maintain the normal development of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment, and the tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment work of various institutions gradually resumed in 2022.

[Analysis of compliance with lung protective mechanical ventilation strategy in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome].

Objective: To assess the compliance with a lung protective ventilation strategy and to evaluate the relationship with prognosis in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods: In the prospective multicenter cohort study (CHARDS), patients with ARDS undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation were enrolled to collect essential information, mechanical ventilation data, and prognostic data. Compliance was operationally defined as tidal volume ≤7 ml/kg predicted body weight (PBW) or plateau pressure ≤30 cmH2O or driving pressure≤15 cmH2O. Tidal volume data collected 7 days prior to ventilation after ARDS diagnosis were categorized into four groups: standard group (Group A, 100% compliance), non-standard group (Group B, 50%-99% compliance, Group C,1%-49% compliance,and Group D,totally non-compliant). Plateau pressure and drive pressure measurements were recorded on the first day. Stepwise regression, specifically Logistics regression, was used to identify the factors influencing ICU survival. Results: A total of 449 ARDS patients with invasive mechanical ventilation were included; the proportion of mild, moderate, and severe patients was 71 (15.8%), 198 (44.1%) and 180 (40.1%), respectively. During the first 7 days, a total of 2880 tidal volume measurements were recorded with an average tidal volume of (6.89±1.93) ml/kg PBW. Of these measurements, 53.2% were found to be≤7 ml/kg PBW. The rates of compliance with lung protective mechanical ventilation were 29.8% (134/449), 24.5% (110/449), 23.6% (106/449), and 22% (99/449) in groups A, B, C, and D, respectively. In the standard group, the tidal volume for mild ARDS patients was 18.3%(13/71), while it was 81.7%(58/71)in the non-standard group. Similarly, in patients with moderate ARDS, the tidal volume was 25.8% (51/198) in the standard group, while it was 74.2% (147/198) in the non-standard group. Finally, in patients with severe ARDS, the tidal volume was 38.9% (70/180) in the standard group, while it was 61.1% (110/180) in the non-standard group. Notably, the compliance rate was higher in patients with moderate and severe ARDS in group A compared to patients with mild and moderate ARDS (18.3% vs. 25.8% vs. 38.9%, χ2=13.124, P=0.001). Plateau pressure was recorded in 221 patients, 95.9% (212/221) patients with plateau pressure≤30 cmH2O, and driving pressure was recorded in 207 patients, 77.8% (161/207) patients with a driving pressure ≤15 cmH2O.During the first 7 days, the mortality rate in the intensive care unit (ICU) was lower in the tidal volume standard group compared to the non-standard group (34.6% vs. 51.3%, χ2=10.464, P=0.001). In addition, the in-hospital mortality rate was lower in the standard group compared to the non-standard group (39.8% vs. 57%, χ2=11.016, P=0.001).The results of the subgroup analysis showed that the mortality rates of moderate and severe ARDS patients in the standard group were significantly lower than those in the non-standard group, both in the ICU and in the hospital (all P<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in mortality among mild ARDS patients (all P>0.05). Conclusions: There was high compliance with recommended lung protective mechanical ventilation strategies in ARDS patients, with slightly lower compliance in patients with mild ARDS, and high compliance rates for plateau and drive pressures. The tidal volume full compliance group had a lower mortality than the non-compliance group, and showed a similar trend in the moderate-to-severe ARDS subgroup, but there was no significant correlation between compliance and prognosis in patients with mild ARDS subgroup.

[Exploration and contemplation of homogenized education of specialists in pulmonary and critical care medicine at member hospitals of a hospital consortium].

Talent construction is the cornerstone to the establishment of a high-quality, homogeneous healthcare system in a healthcare consortium. Pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) as the first pilot specialty, the standardized training of PCCM specialists has started and achieved remarkable results. The consortium member hospitals' physician specialist education is an important complement to PCCM training. The establishment of the consortium provides a new form of the education of physicians in PCCM, with the advantages of high quality teaching, wide coverage of staff and throughout the career development process. This article summarized the current status of physician specialty education in the member hospitals of the consortium, and further proposes the goal of homogenized specialty education for physicians in the member hospitals. And it analyzed in depth the problems that existed in the practice of training for hospital consortium member hospitals specialists, such as non-uniform level of instruction, non-systematic content of training, limited sources of teaching cases, and lack of teaching materials and equipment. For the medical consortium member hospital physician specialty education of in-depth thinking, we put forward the corresponding countermeasures. The aim of this study is to explore the homogenization of the specialty education system of pulmonary and critical care medicine in the member hospitals, in order to comprehensively improve the medical level of respiratory specialists in the member hospitals of the medical consortium.

[Introduction to Guidelines for public health protection against high temperature and heatwaves].

In recent years, the high temperature and heatwaves have seriously affected the health of Chinese residents, and there is an important need for public health protection guidelines for high temperature and heatwaves in China. The National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention has organized experts to fully investigate the evidence from epidemiological research on the health of populations in high temperature and heatwaves globally and in China, analyze the health hazards and protection needs of different populations, and put forward practical and effective individual protection measures and health recommendations. For this reason, the "Guideline for Public Health Protection against High Temperature and Heatwaves" (referred to as the "Guideline") was officially issued in June 2023. This article interprets the background and significance of the Guideline, the principles of compilation, the main considerations, the main contents, the implementations and promotions and other aspects, to improve the understanding of the content of the Guideline and strengthen the publicity and implementations.

Exploring the structure and hydrogen storage capacity of CeHn0/+ clusters.

The unique 4f orbitals and abundant electronic energy levels of rare earth elements enable effective doping and modification to enhance hydrogen storage performance, making it an increasingly prominent focus of research. The structures of neutral and cationic CeHn0/+ (n = 2-20) clusters have been determined using the Crystal Structure AnaLYsis by Particle Swarm Optimization (CALYPSO) method in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT). Interestingly, the CeH13 and CeH14+ exhibit remarkable stability in the doublet state with Cs and C2v symmetry, respectively. The adsorption energy of CeHn0/+ (n = 2-20) suggests a preference for H atoms to chemically adsorb on Ce atoms. The analysis of molecular orbital composition reveals that the stability of both CeH13 and CeH14+ is attributed to the significant hybridization between the H 1s and Ce 4f orbitals. Both CeH13 and CeH14+ demonstrate significant hydrogen storage capacities, with values reaching 8.5 wt% and 9.1 wt%, respectively.

[Value of peripheral blood rare cell EGFR gene amplification detection in the evaluation of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules].

Objective: To explore the value of detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene amplification in peripheral blood rare cells in the assessment of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. Methods: A total of 262 patients with pulmonary nodules were selected as the retrospectively study subjects from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Military Medical University and Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 2022 to August 2023. There were 98 males and 164 females, with the age range from 16 to 79 (52.1±12.1) years. The EGFR gene amplification testing was performed on the rare cells enriched from patients' peripheral blood, and the clinical manifestations, CT imaging features, histopathological and/or pathological cytological confirmed results of patients were collected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off value of the method of detection of EGFR gene amplification in peripheral blood rare cells, and its diagnostic efficacy was evaluated. Results: Among the 262 patients, 143 were malignant pulmonary nodules and 119 were benign pulmonary nodules. The differences between malignant pulmonary nodules and benign pulmonary nodules in nodule diameter and nodule density were statistically significant (both P<0.001), while the differences in age, gender and nodule number were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The number [M (Q1, Q3)] of EGFR gene amplification positive rare cells in patients with malignant pulmonary nodule was 8 (6, 11), which was higher than that in patients with benign pulmonary nodule [2 (1, 4), P<0.001]. The ROC curve results showed that when the optimal cut-off value was 5 (that was, the number of EGFR gene amplification positive rare cells was>5), the area under the curve (AUC) of the detection of EGFR gene amplification in peripheral blood rare cells for discrimination of benign and malignant pulmonary lesions was 0.816 (95%CI: 0.761-0.870), with a sensitivity of 83.2%, a specificity of 80.7%, and an accuracy of 82.1%. Based on the analysis of the diameter of the nodules, the AUC for distinguishing between benign and malignant pulmonary nodules with diameter 5-9 mm and 10-30 mm was 0.797 (95%CI: 0.707-0.887) and 0.809 (95%CI: 0.669-0.949), respectively, with sensitivity, specificity and accuracy reached 75% or above. Based on the analysis of nodule density, the AUC for distinguishing between benign and malignant solid nodule and subsolid nodule was 0.845 (95%CI: 0.751-0.939) and 0.790 (95%CI: 0.701-0.880), respectively, with sensitivity, specificity and accuracy reached 75% or above. Based on the analysis of nodule number, the AUC for distinguishing between benign and malignant solitary pulmonary nodule and multiple pulmonary nodule was 0.830 (95%CI: 0.696-0.965) and 0.817 (95%CI: 0.758-0.877), respectively, with sensitivity, specificity and accuracy reached 80% or above. Conclusion: The detection of EGFR gene amplification in peripheral blood rare cells contributes to the evaluation of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules, and can be used in the auxiliary diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules.

[A survey on the implementation of cardiovascular surgery for congenital heart disease in China between 2017 and 2021].

Objective: To investigate the inplementation of cardiovascular surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) in China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out. The CHD cardiovascular surgery data collected by the Chinese Society of Extracorporeal Circulation from 2017 to 2021 in 31 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) of China were retrospectively reviewed, the implementation of CHD cardiovascular surgery in different provinces, regions, general/specialized hospitals, and different age groups (whether≤18 years old) were summarized, and the correlation analysis between the number of surgeries carried out in each province/region and the gross regional product and the number of the regional population was performed. Results: Between 2017 and 2021, the annual volume of CHD cardiovascular surgery was 77 120, 77 634, 81 161, 62 663 and 71 492, respectively, showing a decreasing trend. Meanwhile, the proportion of CHD patients aged≤18 years who underwent cardiovascular surgery also showed a downward trend, from 79.8% (61 557/77 120) in 2017 to 58.6% (41 871/71 492) in 2021 (P=0.027). The number of surgical cases varied greatly among different provinces, including 4 provinces with≥5 000 cases and 9 provinces with 2 000-5 000 cases. In the five years, the number of CHD cardiovascular surgeries in Central and East China was the largest, accounting for 41.1%-45.5% of the total surgical cases. The proportion of CHD surgery cases≤18 years old was the highest in Southwest China (69.7%-87.4%) and the lowest in Northeast China (28.2%-68.9%). Except for 2021, the number of cases carried out by each region between 2017 and 2020 was correlated with the gross regional product (r=0.929, 0.929, 0.893 and 0.964, respectively, all P<0.05) and the population (r=0.821, 0.893, 0.821 and 0.857, respectively, all P<0.05). Hospitals that performed more than 100 operations (20.5%±1.2% of the total number of hospitals) completed 86.2%±1.2% of the total number of operations in China during the 5-year period. In 2017 and 2021, the number of CHD cardiovascular surgeries preformed in children's/women's and children's specialized hospitals accounted for 24.3% (18 772/77 120) and 23.8% (17 012/71 492) of the total number of cases in China, respectively. Conclusions: From 2017 to 2021, the number of cardiovascular surgery for CHD decreases slightly, but the proportion of surgery for adult CHD patients increases significantly.There is a strong correlation between the number of CHD operations in each region and their economic development status. The scale of CHD cardiovascular surgery performed in children's hospitals/women's and children's hospitals accounts for about a quarter of the total volume in China.

[Aprospective study of detection and clinical significance of bone marrow tumor cells in small cell lung cancer].

Objective: To investigate the detection of bone marrow tumor cells in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients and their relationship with clinical features, treatment response and prognosis. Methods: A total of 113patients with newly diagnosed SCLC from January 2018 to October 2022 at Beijing Chest Hospital were prospectively enrolled. Before treatment, bone marrow was aspirated and separately submitted for tumor cells detection by liquid-based cytology and disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) detection by the substrction enrichment and immunostaining fluorescence in situ hybridization (SE-iFISH) platform. The correlation between the detection results of the two methods with patients' clinical features and treatment response was evaluated by Chi-square. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to create survival curves and the Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Results: The positive rate of bone marrow liquid-based cytology in SCLC was 15.93% (18/113). The liver and bone metastases rates were significantly higher (55.56% vs 11.58% for liver metastasis, P＜0.001; 77.78% vs 16.84% for bone metastasis, P＜0.001) and thrombocytopenia was more common (16.67% vs 2.11%, P=0.033) in patients with tumor cells detected in liquid-based cytology than those without detected tumor cells. As for SE-iFISH, DTCs were detected in 92.92% of patients (105/113), the liver and bone metastasis rates were significantly higher (37.93% vs 11.90% for liver metastasis, P=0.002; 44.83% vs 20.23 % for bone metastasis, P=0.010), and the incidence of thrombocytopenia was significantly increased (13.79% vs 1.19%, P=0.020) in patients with DTCs≥111 per 3 ml than those with DTCs＜111 per 3 ml. The positive rates of bone marrow liquid-based cytology in the disease control group and the disease progression group were 12.00% (12/100) and 46.15% (6/13), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P=0.002). However, the result of SE-iFISH revealed the DTCs quantities of the above two groups were 29 (8,110) and 64 (15,257) per 3 ml, and there was no statistical difference between the two groups (P=0.329). Univariate analysis depicted that the median progression-free survival (PFS) and median overall survival (OS) of liquid-based cytology positive patients were significantly shorter than those of tumor cell negative patients (6.33 months vs 9.27 months for PFS, P=0.019; 8.03 months vs 19.50 months for OS, P=0.019, P=0.033). The median PFS and median OS in patients with DTCs≥111 per 3 ml decreased significantly than those with DTCs＜111 per 3 ml (6.83 months vs 9.50 months for PFS, P=0.004; 11.2 months vs 20.60 months for OS, P=0.019). Multivariate analysis showed that disease stage (HR=2.806, 95%CI:1.499-5.251, P=0.001) and DTCs quantity detected by SE-iFISH (HR=1.841, 95%CI:1.095-3.095, P=0.021) were independent factors of PFS, while disease stage was the independent factor of OS (HR=2.538, 95%CI:1.169-5.512, P=0.019). Conclusions: Both bone marrow liquid-based cytology and SE-iFISH are clinically feasible. The positive detection of liquid-based cytology or DTCs≥111 per 3 ml was correlated with distant metastasis, and DTCs≥111 per 3 ml was an independent prognostic factor of decreased PFS in SCLC.

Sex identification of ducklings based on acoustic signals.

Sex identification of ducklings is a critical step in the poultry farming industry, and accurate sex identification is beneficial for precise breeding and cost savings. In this study, a method for identifying the sex of ducklings based on acoustic signals was proposed. In the first step, duckling vocalizations were collected and an improved spectral subtraction method and high-pass filtering were applied to reduce the influence of noise. Then, duckling vocalizations were automatically detected by using a double-threshold endpoint detection method with 3 parameters: short-time energy (STE), short-time zero-crossing rate (ZCR), and duration (D). Following the extraction of Mel-Spectrogram features from duckling vocalizations, an improved Res2Net deep learning algorithm was used for sex classification. This algorithm was introduced with the Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) attention mechanism and Ghost module to improve the bottleneck of Res2Net, thereby improving the model accuracy and reducing the number of parameters. The ablative experimental results showed that the introduction of the SE attention mechanism improved the model accuracy by 2.01%, while the Ghost module reduced the number of model parameters by 7.26M and the FLOPs by 0.85G. Moreover, this algorithm was compared with 5 state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms, and the results showed that the proposed algorithm has the best cost-effectiveness, with accuracy, recall, specificity, number of parameters, and FLOPs of 94.80, 94.92, 94.69, 18.91M, and 3.46G, respectively. After that, the vocalization detection score and the average confidence strategy were used to predict the sex of individual ducklings, and the accuracy of the proposed model reached 96.67%. In conclusion, the method proposed in this study can effectively detect the sex of ducklings and serve as a reference for automated sex identification of ducklings.

[Clinical analysis of 4 cases of acute nitrite food poisoning].

Nitrite has high toxicity and is commonly found in food poisoning. Poisoned patients may experience cyanosis of the skin and lips, nausea, vomiting, and difficulty breathing or coma may occur in severe cases. Four cases of nitrite poisoning patients who were transferred from primary hospitals to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, the First People's Hospital of Baiyin were reported. After symptomatic supportive treatment with special antidote methylene blue, oxygen inhalation, blood purification, etc., the patients recovered and were discharged after 4 days of treatment.

[Quantitative HER2 mRNA assay in breast cancer with HER2 immunohistochemistry 0].

Objective: To investigate HER2 mRNA expression in breast cancer with HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) 0 and to analyze the feasibility of distinguishing between the tumor with HER2 µltra-low expression and the one without expression of HER2 (no staining by IHC) by HER2 mRNA level preliminarily. Methods: HER2 mRNA was analyzed by reverse transcription digital PCR in 41 cases of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded surgical tissue samples of invasive breast cancer obtained between January 2020 and March 2023 at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The cohort included 21 HER2 IHC 1+ and 20 IHC 0 (12 ultra-low and 8 non-expression of HER2). HER2 mRNA expression level was quantitatively evaluated by the FAM (HER2)/VIC (reference gene) ratio. Results: The expression of HER2 mRNA for the cases with 1+, ultra-low, and non-expression of HER2 by IHC was 0.30 to 1.78 (average 0.90, median 0.82), 0.55 to 1.51 (average 0.93, median 0.90) and 0.22 to 0.78 (average 0.41, median 0.36), respectively. For the mean and median HER2 mRNA levels, there was no significant difference between HER2 IHC 1+ and HER2 ultra-low expression diseases (P=0.757). A remarkable difference in HER2 gene expression was found between the tumors with 1+ and non-expression of HER2 by IHC (P=0.002). And, HER2 ultra-low cases contained statistically higher levels of HER2 mRNA compared with non-expression of HER2 subgroup by IHC (P=0.001). Conclusions: Based on HER2 mRNA, HER2 non-expression and HER2 weak expression (including HER2 IHC 1+ and ultra-low) belong to two different types of the tumor and the disease with HER2 IHC 1+ and HER2 ultra-low expression may be the same. It is necessary to further test the performance of HER2 mRNA detection for stratifying the HER2 weak expression subgroup and to determine the threshold.

[Interpretation of specification for service of cancer screening for workers].

As the backbone force of China's social and economic construction, the health status of workers is closely related to the nation's productivity and social development. Currently, cancers have become one of the major diseases threatening the health of workers. However, there are still many shortcomings in the cancer screening services for the workers. To standardize cancer screening services for workers, ensure the quality of screening services, and improve the overall screening effectiveness, 19 institutions, including Peking Union Medical College Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, have jointly formulated the Group Standard "Specification for service of cancer screening for workers (T/CHAA 023-2023)". This standard follows the principles of "legality, scientific rigor, advancement, and feasibility" and combines the frontier scientific advances in cancer screening. It clarifies the relevant requirements for service principles, service design, service delivery, service management, service evaluation, and improving worker cancer screening. Implementing this group standard will help connect the common screening needs of workers, employers, and cancer screening service providers, standardize the screening process, improve screening quality, and ultimately increase the early diagnosis rate and survival rate of cancer patients. Consequently, this group standard will help safeguard workers' health rights and interests, ensure the labor force resources, promote the comprehensive coordinated and sustainable development of society, and contribute to realizing the "Healthy China 2030" strategic policy.

[Application and advancement of digital teaching materials in teaching epidemiology].

This study aims at examining the application and development of digital teaching materials in the field of epidemiology, encompassing both China and international contexts. The research involved conducting search on websites and literature databases to assess the status of digital teaching materials in epidemiology, nationally and internationally. At present, in China, digital teaching materials used in epidemiology are primarily presented in the form of printed books with added QR codes, providing teaching resources such as videos and exercises. However, issues with the level of interactivity have been identified. In foreign countries, with stronger emphasis placed on personalization, interactivity, and the use of rich media technologies in the digital teaching materials, epidemiologically. Enhanced digitization regarding materials and learning outcomes is achieved through features such as real-time notes, interactive animations, and quizzes. These approaches are considered worth considering for adoption. This study provides valuable insights for the digital transformation of epidemiology education.