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Objective To investigate the the clinical application of triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and its correlation with atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods From January 2020 to December 2022，499 patients with T2DM were screened from the inpatients and physical examination populations of Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital. Based on the presence or absence of atherosclerotic plaques， the subjects were divided into T2DM with plaques group (n=249) and T2DM without plaques group (n=250). The subjects underwent medical history collection，physical examination，and serum biochemical testing. The TyG index was calculated，and the correlation between TyG and common risk factors for T2DM atherosclerosis was statistically analyzed. Results The age，systolic blood pressure (SBP)，triglyceride (TG)，total cholesterol (TC)，fasting blood glucose (FBG)，glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c)，and apolipoprotein A of the T2DM without plaques group were lower than those in the T2DM with plaques group, the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was higher than that in the T2DM with plaques group (P＜0.05). The TyG index in the T2DM with plaques group was higher than that in the T2DM without plaques group (11.52±0.37 vs 9.34±0.48, t=56.803, P＜0.01). TyG index was positively correlated with age, SBP, TG, TC, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), uric acid (UA), and HbA1c (P＜0.05)，and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and fasting C-peptide (P＜0.05). The area under ROC curve of TyG index for predicting T2DM atherosclerosis was 0.611 ，with a best cut-off value of 10.21，sensitivity of 84.8%, and specificity of 62.2%. Conclusion TyG index is closely related to multiple risk factors for atherosclerosis in patients with T2DM. TyG index combined with risk factors for atherosclerosis can comprehensively assess the risk of T2DM atherosclerosis development.

"Objective To investigate the effect of visceral fat area (VFA) on carotid atherosclerotic plaque in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM). Methods From August 2018 to August 2023, 683 T2DM patients included in the database of the National Metabolic Management Center (MMC) were selected from the Department of Endocrinology, the Affiliated Geriatric Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Medical history, physical examination, serum biochemical indicators, VFA and other data were collected from the study subjects. According to the presence or absence of carotid atherosclerotic plaque, all patients were divided into T2DM patients with plaque (n=342) and T2DM patients without plaque (n=341), and statistical analysis was performed. Results There were statistically significant differences in age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), abdominal subcutaneous fat area (SFA) and VFA between the two groups (PConclusion Age and VFA are independent influencing factors for atherosclerotic plaque formation in patients with T2DM，and as a new obesity assessment index, VFA can better predict and assess the risk of atherosclerotic plaque formation in T2DM patients."

"Objective To investigate the application of in-hospital informatized blood glucose monitoring system (IGMS) in Jiangsu and the satisfaction of medical staff to use IGMS. Methods From August 2021 to July 2022, a survey was conducted among medical staff in 119 secondary and tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province. The survey included questions on the application status of IGMS, such as the year of initiation and the medical units using it, and the satisfaction with the use of IGMS in medical staff was investigated by a 5-level Likert scale. Results (1) Utilization rate of IGMS: among the 119 hospitals, 58 (48.7%) utilized IGMS. The utilization rate in Southern Jiangsu (61.0%) was significantly higher than that in Central Jiangsu (34.8%) and Northern Jiangsu (37.8%) (χ2=7.113,P=0.029). (2) Distribution of medical units using IGMS: utilization rate in internal medicine department (96.6%) was significantly higher than that in surgical department (51.7%) and ICU (39.7%) (χ2=44.550,P＜0.01), with the highest utilization rate observed in endocrinology department (96.6%). (3) Satisfaction survey: the satisfaction scale had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.702 and a KMO value of 0.742, and Bartlett's sphericity test yielded aχ2 value of 298.268 (P＜0.01). Two initial factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 accounted for 72.5% of the variance. Following a scree plot analysis, two factors were extracted ,and the items were deleted according to the reliability and validity, and the satisfaction scale containing two factors and seven items was finally determined. Ninety-seven medical staff completed the scale with a score of 29.0 (25.5, 31.0). There was no significant difference in personal satisfaction with IGMS among medical staff in different regions, hospitals of grades and titles (P＞0.05). Conclusion The utilization rate of IGMS in secondary and tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu is approximately 48.7%, with a higher rate in Southern Jiangsu. Endocrinology departments have the highest rate of IGMS usage. Medical staff are satisfied with the use of IGMS, and put forward higher expectations for the stability of networking and the standardization of training."

Objective: This paper proposes an ultrasound imaging algorithm based on sub-beamformer and multi-apodization with cross-correlation (SUB-MAX), aiming to achieve high resolution close to the minimum variance (MV) beamforming with low complexity and to enhance image contrast while maintaining background quality., Methods: The output of two (N/2)-element DAS beamformers with asymmetric phase centers is subtracted, resulting in a large drop in the main-lobe amplitude, while the sidelobe maintains a relatively high amplitude level. Inspired by this characteristic, the coefficients with opposite trends compared with the subtracted output are obtained and fused with the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) weighting matrix acquired by using multi-pair received apodization, the proposed SUB-MAX obtains a new weighting matrix to weight the output of the DAS beamformer., Results: For ats_wire point targets, the average full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of SUB-MAX compared with DAS, DMAS, CF, and MAX decreases by 52.7%, 43.5%, 33.3%, and 52.7%, respectively. For geabr_0 cysts, the average contrast ratio (CR) of SUB-MAX compared with DAS, MV, DMAS, and CF increases by 57.7%, 86.8%, 2.5%, and 14.4%, respectively. Experiments on rat_tumor dataset also indicate that SUB-MAX has a superior comprehensive imaging performance., Conclusion: The experimental results indicate that the superior comprehensive imaging performance of the proposed SUB-MAX is expected to be suitable for real-time imaging systems due to its non-reliance on covariance matrix inversion., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)