Estimating cardiovascular effects of influenza vaccination in older adults: a target trial emulation using proximal causal inference.

Background: The substantial burden of cardiovascular diseases highlights the urgent need for cost-effective interventions to mitigate their impact. While existing evidence on the cardioprotective effect of the influenza vaccine comes primarily from populations with cardiovascular comorbidities, these studies remain susceptible to several sources of bias, including immortal time bias and unmeasured confounding. To attenuate these limitations, our study aimed to assess the effect of influenza vaccination on cardiovascular events in an older population in China, utilizing a target trial emulation framework in conjunction with a proximal causal inference (PCI) approach.

TSLEPS: A Two-Stage Localization and Erasure Method for Privacy Protection in Sensor-Captured Images.

With the widespread deployment of mobile imaging sensors and smart devices, the risk of image privacy leakage is increasing daily. Protecting sensitive information in captured images has become increasingly critical. Existing image privacy protection measures usually rely on manual blurring and occlusion, which are inefficient, prone to omitting privacy information, and have an irreversible impact on the usability and quality of images.

Association of longer-term versus shorter-term antihypertensives prescriptions and clinical outcomes in patients with hypertension: A population-based propensity score matching study.

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that longer-term prescriptions could improve medication adherence of patients with chronic diseases. However, no evidence demonstrated the impact of a longer supply duration on patients' clinical outcomes. The objective is to estimate the association between longer-term prescriptions with patients' clinical outcomes.

HBV infection, liver enzymes and their association with adverse liver disease and all-cause death: a matched retrospective cohort study in Eastern China.

Background: China has historically been a high-prevalence area for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, leading to a high incidence of adverse liver diseases and significant disease burden. However, comprehensive data on HBV infection and associated adverse liver diseases in the Chinese population remain limited. This study aimed to analyse the risk factors for adverse liver outcomes in patients who tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).

Colonoscopic fecal microbiota transplantation for Mild-to-Moderate Parkinson's Disease: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Growing evidence supports the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in treating Parkinson's disease (PD). Fecal microbiota are commonly transplanted via oral capsules, a nasojejunal tube, or colonoscopy, but freezing often decreases the diversity and viability of transplanted microbiota. This single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial aims to explore the efficacy and safety of fresh FMT via colonoscopy in dealing with PD.

Plasticized electrohydraulic robot autopilots in the deep sea.

Soft robots, with their compliant bodies, minimal environmental disturbance, and ability to withstand ambient pressures, offer promising solutions for deep-sea exploration. However, a common challenge of stiffening in soft materials impairs their effective actuation in harsh conditions. In this work, we integrated a liquid dielectric plasticizer within an electrohydraulic soft robot, serving dual critical functions as a softening agent to maintain the softness of the polymer shell and an electrohydraulic fluid for efficient actuation.

Multimodal Assessment of Gentiopicroside's Protective Effect in CDCA-induced HepG2 Cell Injury.

The primary active component of Swertia chirayita, gentiopicroside (GPS), has been shown to shield the liver in cholestasis instances. In order to elucidate the protective mechanism of GPS on cholestatic liver injury, HepG2 cells were treated with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) to simulate the cholestasis environment in vitro, and the CCK-8 method was used to determine the protective effect of GPS on HepG2 cells. Using a biological kit, the contents of intracellular TBA, T-CHO, TG, ALP, ALT, AST, GSH, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, SOD, and MDA were detected.

Immunogenic cell death-related genes as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic insights in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma: an integrative bioinformatics analysis.

Introduction: Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is the phenomenon in which tumor cells undergo the transition from a non-immunogenic state to an immunogenic state upon their demise as a result of external stimuli. While ICD systems have been widely adopted in oncological research, their specific utilization for Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (UCEC) investigations has received comparatively little attention.

Methods: The ICD score was assessed using single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA).

Dissection of genomic drivers of spike morphology changes in wheat by high-throughput phenotyping.

Spike morphology is crucial for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield and environmental adaptation. We developed a high-throughput phenotyping platform to dissect spike morphology traits based on 54 traits in 1,359 wheat accessions.

Treatment Patterns and Triple Therapy Utilization in Chinese Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Analysis of Real-World Data from the Yinzhou Database.

Purpose: Triple therapy of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), consisting of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), long-acting β2-agonist (LABA) and long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) has shown benefits in patients with COPD. However, little is known about the use of triple therapy in Chinese patients. This study aims to describe the treatment patterns and the utilization of triple therapy in COPD patients based on real-world data from China.

A YOLOv7-based method for crown extraction from UAV imagery.

In response to the challenges of complex background interference, inadequate feature utilization, and model redundancy in multispectral crown extraction, this paper proposes a dual-channel crown detection and segmentation approach based on an improved YOLOv7 architecture, named Dual-YOLOv7. First, a dual-branch feature extraction network is designed, integrating visible light and infrared spectral information and dynamically weights key features through an attention mechanism. Second, the D-SimSPPF module is introduced, which employs depthwise separable convolution to optimize spatial pyramid pooling, thereby enhancing the capability to capture fine details while reducing the number of parameters.

Understanding the Modification Process of Montmorillonite by Cetyltrimethylammonium via Molecular Dynamics Simulation: Insights into Structure Evolution and Thermodynamic Mechanism.

Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-modified montmorillonite (MMT) exhibits enhanced adsorption capacity for both anionic and nonpolar contaminants. However, the structure evolution and underlying thermodynamic mechanism during the modification process remain poorly understood. This paper employs molecular dynamics to simulate the adsorption behavior and drying process during CTAB-MMT modification at varying dosages.

Machine learning to predict postdialysis fatigue in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Background: Machine learning (ML) has been widely used to predict complications and prognosis in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD). However, accurate and efficient models for predicting postdialysis fatigue (PDF) in this population are still needed because PDF is surprisingly prevalent.

Aims: This study aimed to explore the potential of ML models for predicting PDF in patients undergoing HD.

Pharmacoepidemiologic Research Based on Common Data Models: Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis.

Background: The adoption of common data models (CDMs) has transformed pharmacoepidemiologic research by enabling standardized data formatting and shared analytical tools across institutions. These models facilitate large-scale, multicenter studies and support timely real-world evidence generation. However, no comprehensive global evaluation of CDM applications in pharmacoepidemiology has been conducted.

Impacts of COPD exacerbation history on mortality and severe cardiovascular events among patients with COPD in China: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations are associated with increased mortality and cardiovascular events. However, there is limited evidence on the relationship between COPD exacerbations and mortality and cardiovascular outcomes in China.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included Chinese patients with COPD aged ≥ 40 years from the Yinzhou regional electronic health records database.

[Association between obesity and the risk of microvascular complications in Yinzhou District, Ningbo adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus].

Objective: To investigate the association between various obesity indices and the risk of developing microvascular complications in adult patients with Type 2 diabetes(T2DM), using cohort data derived from Yinzhou District Health Big Data Platform of China.

Methods: This study included adult patients with type 2 diabetes(T2DM) who were enrolled between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2013, in Yinzhou District, Ningbo, and did not have any microvascular complications at baseline. Data collection encompassed demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, laboratory test result, and physical examination findings, obtained at both baseline and during follow-up periods through structured epidemiological surveys and clinical assessments.

Antihypertensive medications and cancer risk: Evidence from 0.27 million patients with newly diagnosed hypertension.

Background: Whether specific antihypertensive treatments increase cancer risk in patients with hypertension is still controversial. We aimed to estimate the associations of different antihypertensive treatments with cancer risk in real-world settings.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was designed in a population of 1.

Stem cell-derived exosomes: a potential therapeutic strategy for enhancing tendon stem/progenitor cells function in tendon-bone healing.

Tendon-bone insertion (TBI) injuries and diseases are one of the common musculoskeletal conditions that can severely impair an individual's daily activities and quality of life. The healing process following an injury is intricate and depending on microenvironmental factors such as mechanical loading, inflammatory responses, and the extracellular matrix. Tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) primarily contribute to the replenishment of tendon cells via self-renewal and differentiation, which is essential for tendon-bone healing.

Effects of Pretreatment Processes on Grain Size and Wear Resistance of Laser-Induction Hybrid Phase Transformation Hardened Layer of 42CrMo Steel.

To address the issue of surface grain coarsening in laser-induction hybrid phase transformation of 42CrMo steel, this study investigated the effects of four pretreatment processes (quenching-tempering (QT), laser-induction quenching (LIQ), laser-induction normalizing (LIN), and laser-induction annealing (LIA)) on the austenite grain size and wear resistance after laser-induction hybrid phase transformation. The results showed that QT resulted in a tempered sorbite structure, resulting in coarse austenite grains (139.8 μm) due to sparse nucleation sites.

Polyunsaturated fatty acid-induced metabolic exhaustion and ferroptosis impair the anti-tumour function of MAIT cells in MASLD.

Background & Aims: Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells constitute a highly abundant innate-like T-cell population in the human liver that is critical for immune surveillance of hepatic cancers. However, MAIT cells are often dysfunctional in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), for reasons that remain unclear. Here, we aimed to identify the mechanisms driving MAIT cell dysfunction in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a chronic liver condition that predisposes patients to HCC.

The Landscape of lower respiratory tract herpesviruses in severe pneumonia patients: a multicenter, retrospective study with prospective validation.

Objective: Herpesviruses are widely distributed in the lower respiratory tract, yet no study has comprehensively characterized their clinical features and prognostic impact in severe pneumonia.

Method: In this multicenter, retrospective study, we included severe pneumonia patients who underwent bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) metagenomic testing in intensive care units across 17 medical centers from January 2019 to June 2023. Based on metagenomic results, patients were categorized into herpesvirus-negative, HSV-1, EBV, CMV, HHV-6B, and HHV-7 groups.

Epidemiological characteristics of adenovirus in children in Yancheng, China, 2023-2024.

Objective: To understand the epidemiology and evolutionary characteristics of human adenovirus (HAdV) infecting children in Yancheng, China, during the winter of 2023-2024.

Methods: HAdV-positive throat swab samples were collected from pediatric patients in Yancheng. The Hexon, Penton base, and Fiber genes were amplified and sequenced for typing and phylogenetic analysis of HAdV.

Assessment and recalibration of seventeen lung cancer risk prediction models in approximately one million Chinese population utilising healthcare big data: a retrospective cohort analysis.

Background: A number of lung cancer prediction models have been developed worldwide. However, there have been limited validation studies conducted specifically on Chinese populations. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and performance of 17 global lung cancer risk prediction models when applied to Chinese healthcare big data.

Integrating TWAS and GWAS identifies gut microbiota-immune interactions to alcohol dependence genetics in European sample.

Objective: Alcohol dependence (AD) is a global public health concern with strong genetic characteristics. The purpose of this study was to explore the underlying pathogenic genes and mechanisms associated with AD.

Methods: This study employed a multi-omics Mendelian randomization approach to identify potential disease-causing genes for AD.