Yuan, Zihan
Huang, Hui
Guo, Zihao
Mok, Chris Ka Pun
Lu, Weiguo
Hui, David S. C.
Hao, Yuantao
Zhao, Shi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8722-6149
Chong, Ka Chun
Huang, Junyuan
Funding for this research was provided by:
Prevention and Control of Emerging and Major Infectious Diseases - National Science and Technology Major Project (2025ZD01900802)
National Natural Science Foundation of China (12401648)
Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2024QNRC001)
Article History
Received: 1 June 2026
Accepted: 1 September 2026
First Online: 5 September 2026
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (approval No.: K-2024-177; on November 8, 2024). All enrolled patients or their legal guardians provided informed consent prior to study participation. The study was performed strictly in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Consent for publication: Not applicable.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.