Integrative Medicine Institute

The global anticorruption legal regime—anchored in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the UK Bribery Act—rests on a foundational premise: that corruption is primarily a problem of morally deficient individuals, addressable through criminal sanctions and enhanced enforcement. This article challenges that premise by applying a systems-theoretic framework to the analysis of anticorruption law. Drawing on transaction-cost economics, evolutionary game theory, and the theory of complex adaptive systems, the article argues that corruption is better understood as an emergent property of institutional systems operating under structural stress—specifically, the excess regulatory burden that this article terms institutional friction. Four interconnected claims are advanced. First, corruption prevalence correlates more strongly with institutional friction than with enforcement intensity or cultural variables. Second, when friction exceeds a critical threshold, corrupt behavior becomes the only individually rational strategy, and competitive dynamics systematically displace non-corrupt actors. Third, increasing punitive severity does not reduce corruption volume but drives it into more sophisticated and costly forms, generating an enforcement–concealment arms race that constitutes pure deadweight loss. Fourth, replacing human decision-makers with algorithmic systems at routine administrative nodes eliminates the structural precondition for corruption at those nodes. The article concludes that effective anticorruption reform requires a shift from punitive legal frameworks to structural interventions: regulatory simplification, strategic automation of discretionary decision points, and targeted rather than totalizing enforcement. The implications for international anticorruption law and domestic legal reform are discussed.

High-quality research is essential to enhance the delivery and outcomes of supportive care for patients with cancer. In this review, we discuss key challenges and potential solutions for conducting supportive care clinical trials in oncology. Structural barriers to supportive care research include limited infrastructure and investigators, insufficient funding, a paucity of foundational research, and a lack of standardized terminologies. Process barriers involve challenges in patient recruitment and retention, intervention design, control selection, and outcome assessments. Recognition of these barriers enables the development of targeted strategies to overcome them. Encouragingly, there is growing awareness of the importance of supportive care among investigators, clinicians, patients, and healthcare administrators, leading to an increase in research activity, funding, and publications. Research centers and professional organizations dedicated to supportive care are actively building capacity and fostering collaboration. Additionally, innovative study designs, personalized outcome measures, and multicenter research networks offer promising strategies to enhance both the quantity and quality of clinical trials. Through interdisciplinary collaborations, we can continue to strengthen the infrastructure and refine the processes in supportive care trials. These efforts will help build a robust evidence base and ultimately improve outcomes for patients with cancer.

Background The Critical Appraisal Tool for Homeopathic Intervention Studies (CATHIS) core is a streamlined appraisal tool for homeopathic intervention studies focusing on credibility, coherence, and clinical relevance. The aim of the research project was to evaluate its inter-rater reliability, feasibility, and face validity.Methods In a preregistered cross-sectional study, four raters independently applied CATHIS core to 28 trials (21 randomised controlled trials, 7 non-randomised studies on interventions) drawn from reviews on insomnia and hypertension; two external reviewers provided consensus ratings. Inter-rater reliability (IRR) was estimated using percent agreement, Fleiss' κ, and Gwet's AC2 (95% CIs). Feasibility was quantified as rating time and consensus time. Associations among the three domains were explored with correlation analyses and sensitivity checks.Results IRR varied markedly by domain. Credibility showed good agreement (Fleiss' κ=0.66, 95% CI 0.57-0.74; AC2=0.76, 0.71-0.82). Coherence yielded only poor-to-fair agreement (κ=0.28, 0.16-0.40; AC2=0.41, 0.30-0.51). Clinical relevance was similarly limited (κ=0.32, 0.23-0.41; AC2=0.36, 0.28-0.44). Individual ratings required on average 65.8minutes, while consensus discussions averaged 17.7minutes. Correlation analyses indicated heterogeneous and partly overlapping domain signals with limited interpretability. Face-validity responses reflected moderate-to-high acceptance but difficulties in consistent application.Conclusion CATHIS core yielded reproducible credibility ratings but only fair and operationally fragile agreement for coherence and clinical relevance, alongside non-trivial rating burden. Taken together, the current reliability profile is insufficient for confident use in systematic reviews. Targeted refinement appears warranted before broader implementation.

Herein, we present a database, KLSD, which is a curatedresourceof 787 213 small-molecule kinase inhibitors annotated with 1.8 M quantitativeactivity records across 428 human kinases, emphasizing selectivityand polypharmacology. Moreover, we introduce a dual-task ensemblethat simultaneously regresses pAct and computes selectivity scores.The core is a multibranch residual multilayer perceptron (MLP) whosebranches are kinase-specific; this is augmented by SVM, RF, XGBoost,CNN, GCN, GAT, RGCN and VAE-enhanced graph nets. Continuous potencylabels replace categorical classes to improve resolution. Benchmarkedon the JAK family (JAK1/2/3, TYK2), the ensemble achieves classificationaccuracies of ≥0.84 for each kinase and 0.98 overall, demonstratingstrong generalizability. KLSD and models are freely available at http://ai.njucm.edu.cn:8080.

Owing to their biocompatibility and thermal responsiveness, Agar hydrogels are extensively applied in chemistry and biology fields. However, their fixed water content and rigid sugar ring structure normally exhibit limited mechanical strength, while introducing additional networks possibly deteriorates the intrinsic thermoreversible cross-linking properties of Agar hydrogel. In this work, we achieve the mechanical enhancement and tunability of Agar-based single-network hydrogels based on the Hofmeister effect via a preforming postimmersion method without the need for supplementary networks. After being immersed in different solutions of the Hofmeister salt series, the tensile strength and toughness of Agar hydrogels can be regulated between 54.7–412.1 kPa and 5.5–94.1 kJ m–3. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses via SEM and SAXS, together with molecular dynamics simulations, were employed to reveal the systematic mechanisms from the number of hydrogen bonds to the aggregation state and ultimately to the mechanical properties. Since the gelation of Agar relies on double-helix formation, the Hofmeister series and regulation behaviors are different from typical synthetic polymer hydrogels. These results further promoted the elucidation of the water state regulation in the hydration layer of Agar hydrogels. This work provides an understanding of the correlation between the cross-linking state of molecular chains and the resultant Agar hydrogel properties based on the Hofmeister effect, which inspires research on the mechanical regulation mechanisms of natural polysaccharide-based hydrogels.

Photocatalytic CO2 conversion demands precise control over multielectron reaction pathways to achieve selective solar fuel production. Atomically dispersed Fe and Cu catalysts on TiO2 direct divergent photoreduction outcomes-CO via Fe and CH4/C2H6 via Cu-through modulation of CO intermediate binding. Using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, this study unveils how metal-support interactions reshape electronic structure, stabilize key intermediates, and create oxygen vacancies that enhance CO2 adsorption in the dark. The Cu sites further promote C─C coupling, enabling multicarbon products under mild conditions. The optimized single-atom catalysts show up to 55.7-fold enhancement in CO and 44.5-fold in CH4 yields, far surpassing pristine TiO2. This work illustrates how rational single-atom design can precisely manipulate reaction pathways at the atomic scale, offering a unified framework for selective photoredox catalysis in CO2 reduction.

To analyze the clinical effect of ulinastatin (UTI)-somatostatin (SS) combination on acute severe pancreatitis (SAP) patients, focusing on changes in efficacy and serum inflammatory markers (IMs). This study retrospectively enrolled 104 SAP patients (July 2022-July 2025), with 51 patients (control group) treated with SS and 53 cases (observation group) receiving UTI+SS. Clinical efficacy, safety (rash, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, kidney injury, hyperglycemia), symptom relief time (vomiting, pyrexia, celialgia, defecation recovery, abdominal distension), disease-related indicators (blood amylase [AMS], Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation II [APACHE-II]), pancreatic function (insulin [INS], trypsinogen-2 [TPS2], glucose [Glu]), serum IMs (C-reactive protein [CRP], tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, interleukin [IL]-6), intestinal mucosal barrier function (diamine oxidase [DAO], D-lactic acid [D-Lac], endotoxin [ET]), laboratory-related indexes (total white blood cell count [WBC], platelet count [PLT], creatinine [Cr], total bilirubin [TBIL]), and humoral immunity (immunoglobulin [Ig] A/M/G) were comparatively assessed. Finally, determinants of patients' therapeutic effects were isolated by uni- and multivariate analyses. UTI+SS was markedly superior to sole SS in terms of overall effectiveness, INS, PLT, and IgA/M/G, along with faster symptom relief, lower AMS, APACHE-II scores, TPS2, Glu, CRP, TNF-α, IL-6, DAO, D-Lac, WBC, Cr, and TBIL. Total adverse reaction incidence showed no notable inter-group difference. CRP and Cr were independent risk factors for therapeutic efficacy among SAP patients, while treatment modality acted as an independent protective factor. UTI+SS for SAP is effective in clinical efficacy enhancement and serum inflammation suppression.

Addressing the complex and evolving needs of individuals with autism requires more than incremental improvement; it demands a rethinkingof how care systems are designed, delivered, and evaluated, and how we educate the health workforce. While existing clinical guidelines and resources provide valuable foundations, they often remain fragmented and may not fully reflect the diversity of the populations they serve. This paper presents a critical analysis of existing global autism care frameworks, highlighting gaps that particularly impact underserved populations, especially in low-and middle-income settings. While many guidelines emphasize early diagnosis and evidence-based therapies, they frequently overlook essential areas such as trauma-informed care, sexual health, caregiver support, transitions across the lifespan, and more. This paper offers a fresh, equity-driven perspective and proposes actionable, context-sensitive strategies to reimagine autism care. For mental health and social care professionals and trainees, including primary care providers and other healthcare practitioners, as well as those supporting individuals with autism in public health and social care settings, this paper highlights key challenges and outlines practical solutions. A full set of detailed recommendations is presented in our comprehensive report.