Jianxiong Cai

Purpose: To investigate the association between polymorphisms of the APOA5 rs2075291 and CIDEB rs2144492 loci and hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) in a population with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) dampness syndrome.Methods: A case-control study was conducted, enrolling 100 HTG patients and 100 age-matched controls with normal triglyceride levels from the physical examination cohort at Guangzhou 11th People’s Hospital (January–December 2023). Peripheral blood samples were collected to analyze APOA5 rs2075291 and CIDEB rs2144492 polymorphisms using PCR and sequencing. Lipid profiles were measured via an automated biochemical analyzer. Statistical analyses (chi-square tests, correlation analysis, and logistic regression) evaluated associations among gene polymorphisms, dampness syndrome, and HTG.Results: The observation group showed significant differences in genotype frequencies of APOA5 rs2075291 (OR = 2.916, 95% CI:1.160–7.334, χ²p = 0.019) and CIDEB rs2144492 (OR = 1.688, 95% CI:0.886–3.141, χ²p = 0.042) versus the control group. Significant intergroup differences were also observed in allele frequencies of APOA5 rs2075291 (OR = 2.727, 95% CI:1.113–6.682, χ²p = 0.023) and CIDEB rs2144492 (OR = 1.837, 95% CI:1.040–3.244, χ²p = 0.034). Stratified by dampness syndrome status, in the dampness syndrome subgroup, the HTG group had a higher frequency of CIDEB rs2144492 TG/TT genotypes than controls, though the difference was not significant (OR = 2.065, 95% CI:0.816–5.226, χ²p = 0.146). No significant difference in gene frequency was observed after FDR correction (p = 0.043, FDR threshold = 0.042). APOA5 rs2075291 showed no significant genotype/allele frequency differences (p > 0.05). In the non-dampness subgroup, FDR correction (p ≤ 0.033) revealed no significant differences in APOA5 rs2075291 genotype (OR = 4.083, 95% CI:0.977–17.063, χ²p = 0.041) or allele frequencies (p = 0.05), nor in CIDEB rs2144492 genotypes/allele frequencies (p > 0.05). Triglyceride levels did not differ significantly between dampness/non-dampness groups across genotypes (p > 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression identified male gender, higher BMI, dampness syndrome, and APOA5 rs2075291 genotype as independent risk factors for HTG (p < 0.05), while CIDEB rs2144492 trended toward significance (p = 0.05).Conclusion: APOA5 rs2075291 and CIDEB rs2144492 polymorphisms are associated with hypertriglyceridemia. Dampness syndrome individuals with CIDEB rs2144492 variants may have increased HTG predisposition. Larger cohort studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore underlying mechanisms.

To investigate the dampness syndrome score in hypertriglyceridemia and the correlations between hypertriglyceridemia and other chronic diseases and lifestyle factors. Data were retrospectively obtained from individuals who underwent physical examinations at Guangzhou Cadres Health Management Centre from May 2022 to May 2023. t Test, variance analysis, and chi-square test were used to compare the score of dampness syndrome and the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia among different subgroups. Pearson, Spearman correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used to explore the correlations between hypertriglyceridemia and dampness syndrome, chronic diseases, and lifestyle factors. The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia was 26.70%. Clinical test index and dampness syndrome score were significant differences between hypertriglyceridemia group and normal group (P < .05). Subgroup analyses as a function of the degree of triglyceridemia indicated that the dampness syndrome score increased with increasing degree of triglyceridemia (P < .05). Correlation analysis showed that hypertriglyceridemia was correlated with dampness syndrome, overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases (P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex, marriage, education level, smoking, drinking, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, milk and dairy product consumption, dessert or snack consumption, the degree of dampness syndrome, and engagement in exercise were associated with hypertriglyceridemia (P < .05). Hypertriglyceridemia is associated with a variety of chronic diseases and lifestyle factors, and is closely related to dampness syndrome. The score of dampness syndrome can reflect hypertriglyceridemia to a certain extent. It provides more clinical reference for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia combined with the analysis of dampness syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine.

Group decision-making (GDM) is a useful uncertain decision theory and tool. With the evolution of time, GDM problems become more and more complex. In reality, there are plenty of GDM problems with diversified attributes and heterogeneous information. In this paper, the diversified attributes describe the differences in attributes given by different decision-makers, and heterogeneous information refers to the differences in data types. Nonetheless, few existing GDM studies simultaneously focus on the above two characteristics of GDM problems. Moreover, the scenario of multiple decision preferences, and the attribute and expert weights based on heterogeneous information are also seldom discussed. Given this, by considering a kind of GDM problem with the characteristics of multi-source, heterogeneity, diversity, and multiple fuzzy decisions, this paper builds a novel GDM method from the perspective of multigranulation rough sets (MGRSs). Firstly, we construct a new weighted multigranulation generalized fuzzy rough set (WMGGFRS) over multi-source heterogeneous fuzzy decision systems. Subsequently, in response to heterogeneous information, the extended entropy weight methods are given to calculate the weight of each attribute and the weight of each expert. After that, we establish a GDM method using the WMGGFRS model to realize multi-source information fusion. Lastly, we apply the established method to the management decision-making problem of gout diagnosis. The results of comparative and sensitivity analyses demonstrate the feasibility, effectiveness, stability, and superiority of the method.

Background: Body constitution is a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for clinical diagnosis, treatment of illness, and community-based health promotion. Clinical assessment of patients’ body constitutions, however, has never been easy and consistent, even by well-trained clinicians and TCM practitioners. Therefore, questionnaires such as the popular Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) can be an appealing and convenient assessment alternative. The present research borrowed advanced methodologies for questionnaire development in psychology and other social sciences to examine the performance of the CCMQ in terms of (i) the strength of relations of each item with its designated constitution, (ii) the reliabilities of each constitution, and (iii) the overall 9-constitution structure. This research provided empirical evidence to support the use of the CCMQ and proposed directions for refinement in future revisions of the CCMQ or similar measures. Methods: A total of 1571 volunteers from three villages in southern China participated in the CCMQ survey. The item characteristics, reliabilities, interconstitution correlations, and confirmatory factor analysis of the 9-body-constitution structure were examined. Results: The results generally supported the appropriateness of the clinical observations (the questionnaire items) and the CCMQ 9-constitution classification structure. Nevertheless, some relatively weaker items, item pairs with similar meanings, and highly overlapping constitutions were identified for future CCMQ revisions. Conclusion: The CCMQ measured the 9 constitutions efficiently and with reasonably good reliability and construct validity. Given the various challenges to assessing TCM body constitutions even by experienced clinicians, the CCMQ provides an appealing alternative to measure the Chinese body constitutions of healthy participants in large-scale research or community health promotion programs. The present study also demonstrated how advanced methodologies in social sciences can help validate and refine the CCMQ and similar complementary medicine measures.