Chapter 221 - 152: Subversion
"We won't have to wait for them to deteriorate. We'll know immediately."
"At that point, we can intervene early. We can go straight to the highest level of intervention, block the inflammatory storm, and even transfer them to the ICU for prophylactic ventilation. That time difference is two, even three days."
After Jiang He finished, Lu Xiaolin summarized for him, "A time difference of two or three days, applied to clinical practice worldwide, could save tens of thousands of patients every year—and I might be understating it... It could directly change the initial diagnostic process in emergency rooms of major hospitals globally, becoming a gold standard written into medical textbooks worldwide. Chen Hao, do you get how incredible this thing is now?"
Chen Hao's mouth hung open, but he couldn't say a word.
"But..." Yi Xiangwan looked slightly puzzled. "Boss, it just sounds like you're pulling five lab indicators into a table and calculating a score... If this thing can save tens of thousands of lives, why hasn't anyone at the top research institutes managed to do it before?"
Jiang He explained, "The human body has hundreds, even thousands of biochemical indicators. How would you go about screening those thousands of indicators to select five as the gold standard? Most importantly, when a patient comes into the ER now with a stomach ache, the routine tests are just a blood count and amylase. The two most critical predictive indicators, procalcitonin (PCT) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), are not only expensive but also not typically ordered."
Hearing this, Tang Pei had a realization. "So... that's why you went to Director Yang to apply for an ethical exemption, to get those frozen serum samples from 2003 to 2008?"
Jiang He said, "Correct."
"I have another question," Gu Yizhou said, raising his hand. "Boss, how did you determine these five indicators? How did you do it?"
Jiang He replied, "The causes of death are essentially inflammatory storms and organ failure. I just worked backward from the underlying pathology, using three biochemical indicators to lock onto immune system anomalies and two data points to anchor organ damage. I first built the logical framework in my head, then used the frozen serum for targeted validation. Of course, there was an element of luck involved."
Gu Yizhou silently lowered his hand.
He didn't understand either. All he could say was, "Badass."
Lu Xiaolin said, "If this paper really gets published under Southern Medical University's name, do you all know what that means?"
The juniors shook their heads vigorously, looking at their senior with admiration in their eyes.
Lu Xiaolin continued, "First, guaranteed admission to a direct-to-PhD program is set in stone. You could take your pick of any medical school in the country. Even places like Peking Union Medical College Hospital or Fudan would be fighting over you. Second, when you look for a job after graduation, you just have to slap a copy of this top-tier journal article on the HR manager's desk, and you'll be treated as a specially recruited talent. A settling-in allowance, research start-up funds—that's all just the basic package. Third, within the entire medical system, we'll make our names in a single stroke. Our names, along with Jiang He's, will be mentioned repeatedly by pancreatic surgeons and critical care physicians all over the world."
The lab fell silent.
Now they understood.
So that's how incredible this was...
And so, their reactions that followed were surprisingly uniform.
'I have to start working RIGHT NOW!'
Chen Hao tightened his grip on his mouse. Cheng Xiyao went to the sink and splashed water on her face. Tang Pei took a hair tie from her pocket and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Yi Xiangwan and Gu Yizhou exchanged a look.
Yi Xiangwan was just about to speak.
Gu Yizhou cut her off. "Shut up. Get to work."
Yi Xiangwan muttered, "Damn..."
Now, there was no need for Jiang He to crack the whip.
Honor, the future, and the power to change the world were right in front of them, within reach.
Any words of encouragement would have seemed pale and weak.
'Will we make our names, or will we remain nobodies?'
The lab was buzzing with a feverish energy.
Only Jiang He remained perfectly calm.
He silently integrated the extracted data, continuing to refine the methodology and discussion sections of the paper.
「4:00 AM.」
Yi Xiangwan called out, "Patient 05-231: Interleukin-6 peak 85.4, pleural effusion present. Outcome: death."
Gu Yizhou quickly cross-referenced on another computer. "Copy that. Entry complete, comparison confirmed."
「5:30 AM.」
Cheng Xiyao said, "Patient 07-112: Procalcitonin 0.82, BUN 24. Discharged."
Tang Pei said, "Saved."
Jiang He, in turn, imported the spreadsheets they compiled one by one into the SPSS database.
Confidence intervals, P-values, OR values.
One by one, the numbers filled the framework.
Outside, the horizon turned a pale, fish-belly white.
The dawn of a warm South City autumn pierced through the laboratory windows.
Dawn broke.
By now, the overall framework of the paper was mostly complete. All the core charts and supporting data were in place.
All that remained was to polish some of the language and finish entering the remaining case files.
"Alright," Jiang He spoke up. "Let's take a break."
Chen Hao glanced at the case files next to him. "Old Jiang, I can push for another hour. I'm almost done with the data entry."
"There's no need. If we enter one piece of data incorrectly, the weighting of our entire model will be skewed. Let's go. We'll grab breakfast at Cafeteria No. 2, take a break, and come back to wrap things up after we eat."
"But..." Tang Pei was still hesitant.
Jiang He said, "My call."
The others looked at each other, their resolve finally breaking. One by one, they let out long sighs and slumped back into their chairs, utterly exhausted.
Ten minutes later, they had tidied up and headed out for food.
On the autumn campus.
The seven of them walked side-by-side down a tree-lined path.
As they were walking, Chen Hao suddenly sped up and threw an arm around Jiang He's neck in a headlock.
"Old Jiang, don't move. Seriously, don't move."
He closed his eyes and started rubbing his head against Jiang He's.
Jiang He turned his head away in disgust, trying to push him off. "Are you crazy?"
Chen Hao spouted earnest nonsense, "I want to see if I can transfer some of the knowledge from your brain into mine through physical contact. Tell me, we all grew up eating the buns from Cafeteria No. 2, so how come your brain can come up with a top-tier paper for the *New England Journal of Medicine*, while mine can only hold World of Warcraft and Aoi-sensei?"