Medication Regularity of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Aplastic Anemia Based on Data Mining.

Objective: Aplastic anemia (AA) is an uncommon disease, characterized by pancytopenia and hypocellular bone marrow, but it is common in the blood system. The medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of AA are not clear, for which it is worth exploring the medication rules by data mining methods. Methods: This study used SPSS Modeler 18.0 and SPSS statistics to analyze the cases of AA from Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (ZJHCM) from March 1, 2019, to March 1, 2022. Data mining methods, including frequency analysis, cluster analysis, and association rule learning, were performed in order to explore the medication rules for AA. Results: (1) A total of 859 prescriptions, which met the inclusion criteria, consisted of 255 herbs. In descending order of the frequency of herbal medicine, we have Danggui, Huangqi, Shudihuang, Fuling, Gancao, Shanyao, Shanzhuyu, Baizhu, Dangshen, and Xianhecao. (2) Frequency analysis of herb properties: the Four Qi of 255 kinds of TCMs are mainly warm and neutral medicines. The Five Flavors are mainly sweet medicines, followed by bitter medicines. The main meridians are the liver, spleen, and kidney. (3) Clustering of medications: TCMs with the top 20 frequencies are classified into 9 groups by cluster analysis. (4) Association rule analysis of high-frequency herbs: using the Apriori algorithm, the results showed that there were 3 herb pairs with support of over 0.3 and 12 herb pairs with confidence above 0.85. Conclusion: The basic pathogenesis of AA (Sui Lao) is spleen and kidney essence deficiency, Qi deficiency, and blood stasis. The main herbs have warm and neutral properties, sweet tastes, and liver, spleen, and kidney meridian tropisms, whose purpose is to tonify the kidney and invigorate the spleen, tonify Qi, and promote blood circulation.

Thermostable and nonflammable polyimide/zirconia compound separator for lithium-ion batteries with superior electrochemical and safe properties.

Separators are applied to segregate cathode and anode, and provide ion transport channels in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Nevertheless, present commercial polyolefin separators represent high thermal shrinkage and inferior electrolyte wettability, seriously limiting wider development of LIBs. In this work, we prepared zirconia (ZrO2) nanolayer encapsulated polyimide (PI) nanofiber compound separator through in-situ polar adsorption and hydrolysis strategy. The obtained PI/ZrO2 compound separator has superior thermal stability, electrolyte wettability and flame retardance in comparison with polypropylene (PP) separator. The shrinkage ratio of prepared PI/ZrO2 compound separator is 0 even at 300 °C, while the PP separator significantly shrank at 160 °C. Furthermore, the ionic conductivity of PI/ZrO2 separator reaches up to 1.32 mS cm-1, far higher than 0.34 mS cm-1 of PP separator. Besides, the coin batteries of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811)/electrolyte-separator/lithium (Li) assembled with PI/ZrO2 compound separator exhibit enhanced rate performance, high discharge capacity retention rate of 88.3% after 100 cycles at 1C and excellent battery safety performance even at 140 °C. Thus, combined with its advantages, such as preparation, thermostability, electrolyte wettability, electrochemical property and safety, the PI/ZrO2 compound separator exhibits promising prospect in the application of commercial LIBs.

Liraglutide Attenuates Restenosis After Vascular Injury in Rabbits With Diabetes Via the TGF-ß/Smad3 Signaling Pathway.

Background: Lower limb ischemia due to arterial stenosis is a major complication in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Liraglutide is a long-acting analogue of a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist used for lowering blood glucose in patients with DM, and is believed to possess cardiovascular protective effects. The aim of this study was to investigate whether liraglutide has a protective effect on blood vessels and alleviates vascular intimal hyperplasia in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced rabbits with DM and its molecular mechanism. Methods: Rabbits with DM were induced by STZ, and a lower limb ischemia model was established. The animals were divided into a control group, DM-injury group and liraglutide treatment group. Pathological staining was used to observe the intimal growth, analyze the oxidation levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and analyze the changes in expression of marker proteins and signaling pathway proteins by Western blotting. A hyperglycemia (HG)-injured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) model was established to analyze reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, Cell-Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to analyze cell proliferation, scratch assay and Transwell Migration Assay to analyze cell migration, flow cytometry to analyze apoptosis and Western blotting was used to analyze changes in the expression of marker and signaling pathway proteins. Results: The results of pathological staining showed that intimal hyperplasia was severe after diabetes-induced lower limb ischemia in rabbits at 4 weeks, and liraglutide treatment reduced symptoms. Liraglutide treatment significantly decreased MDA content, increased SOD, GSH-Px content, and augmented total antioxidant capacity levels in tissues. The results of Western blotting analysis showed that E-cadherin, mitochondrial membrane potential 9 (MMP-9), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and type I collagen protein expression levels were significantly decreased after liraglutide treatment compared with the DM injury group. The results indicated that liraglutide inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) progression, vascular cell proliferation and migration and collagen production. Liraglutide inhibits transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1)/Smad3 signaling pathway protein expression. In vitro assays have shown that liraglutide reduces cellular ROS levels, inhibits cell proliferation and migration and promotes apoptosis. Liraglutide down-regulated the expression of E-cadherin, MMP-9, PCNA, type I collagen protein as well as the TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathway, but this effect could be reversed by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Conclusion: Liraglutide can significantly improve tissue antioxidant capacity, reduce vascular cell proliferation and migration via the TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathway, inhibit the EMT and collagen production processes, and alleviate hyperglycemia(HG)-induced lower limb ischemia and intimal hyperplasia.

Right costophrenic angle abscess due to Salmonella Dublin infection in combination with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The main manifestations of type 2 diabetes mellitus are excessive drinking, polyphagia, polyuria and wasting or weight loss in a short period of time, but it is rare to have persistent fever of unknown origin as the main manifestation. This case report describes a 68-year-old male patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus presenting with unexplained fever with persistent exacerbation and a cystic lesion in the right costophrenic horn on abdominal computed tomography (CT). A cytoculture examination of the puncture fluid suggested that the infection was due to Salmonella Dublin. The patient was treated with drainage of the abscess in the right costophrenic angle area, which then healed successfully. These findings suggest that Salmonella Dublin infection should be considered when a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus presents with an unexplained persistent fever. At the same time, CT-guided abscess puncture can be performed to improve the patient's symptoms, aid diagnosis and improve the quality of life.