Non-coding RNAs: targets for Chinese herbal medicine in treating myocardial fibrosis.

Cardiovascular diseases have become the leading cause of death in urban and rural areas. Myocardial fibrosis is a common pathological manifestation at the adaptive and repair stage of cardiovascular diseases, easily predisposing to cardiac death. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), RNA molecules with no coding potential, can regulate gene expression in the occurrence and development of myocardial fibrosis. Recent studies have suggested that Chinese herbal medicine can relieve myocardial fibrosis through targeting various ncRNAs, mainly including microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs). Thus, ncRNAs are novel drug targets for Chinese herbal medicine. Herein, we summarized the current understanding of ncRNAs in the pathogenesis of myocardial fibrosis, and highlighted the contribution of ncRNAs to the therapeutic effect of Chinese herbal medicine on myocardial fibrosis. Further, we discussed the future directions regarding the potential applications of ncRNA-based drug screening platform to screen drugs for myocardial fibrosis.

Communication between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and atherosclerosis: Focusing on exosomes.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent chronic hepatic disorder on a global scale. Atherosclerosis (AS), a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases, stands as the primary contributor to mortality among patients diagnosed with NAFLD. However, the precise etiology by which NAFLD causes AS remains unclear. Exosomes are nanoscale extracellular vesicles secreted by cells, and are considered to participate in complex biological processes by promoting cell-to-cell and organ-to-organ communications. As vesicles containing protein, mRNA, non-coding RNA and other bioactive molecules, exosomes can participate in the development of NAFLD and AS respectively. Recently, studies have shown that NAFLD can also promote the development of AS via secreting exosomes. Herein, we summarized the recent advantages of exosomes in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and AS, and highlighted the role of exosomes in mediating the information exchange between NAFLD and AS. Further, we discussed how exosomes play a prominent role in enabling information exchange among diverse organs, delving into a novel avenue for investigating the link between diseases and their associated complications. The future directions and emerging challenges are also listed regarding the exosome-based therapeutic strategies for AS under NAFLD conditions.

Anti-atherosclerosis mechanisms associated with regulation of non-coding RNAs by active monomers of traditional Chinese medicine.

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of numerous cardiovascular diseases with a high mortality rate. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), RNA molecules that do not encode proteins in human genome transcripts, are known to play crucial roles in various physiological and pathological processes. Recently, researches on the regulation of atherosclerosis by ncRNAs, mainly including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs, have gradually become a hot topic. Traditional Chinese medicine has been proved to be effective in treating cardiovascular diseases in China for a long time, and its active monomers have been found to target a variety of atherosclerosis-related ncRNAs. These active monomers of traditional Chinese medicine hold great potential as drugs for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Here, we summarized current advancement of the molecular pathways by which ncRNAs regulate atherosclerosis and mainly highlighted the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine monomers in regulating atherosclerosis through targeting ncRNAs.

Robust adaptive recursive sliding mode attitude control for a quadrotor with unknown disturbances.

Model uncertainties, unknown disturbances, and sensors measurement noises affect the attitude tracking control performance of quadrotors. In this article, a novel robust adaptive recursive sliding mode control (ARSMC) strategy is proposed for the quadrotor to improve the attitude tracking performance and disturbance rejection. Firstly, recursive sliding mode control is introduced, including a two-layer sliding surface, an integral sliding surface, and a fast nonsingular terminal sliding surface, which are recursive. Both sliding surfaces converge to zero in turn. And the initial value of the integral sliding surface is designed to eliminate the reaching phase. Besides, the adaptive gain adjustment method is presented to make an estimate of the unknown upper bound of disturbances. It is proved that the attitude control system has the finite-time convergence and the attitude tracking error will converge to zero. A quadrotor attitude test platform is built to evaluate the proposed algorithm. For comparison, twisting controller (TC), cascade PID, and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) algorithms are introduced. Ultimately, the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed algorithm are verified by simulation and experimental results.

The clinical features and prognosis of type 4C myocardial infarction in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND: Type 4C myocardial infarction (MI) is a special type of myocardial infarction related to restenosis without thrombosis. There is a lack of relevant data on this new classification of acute MI (AMI). This study set out to examine the prognosis and treatment of type 4C MI in patients with non-ST-segment elevation MI (NSTEMI). METHODS: With reference to the NSTEMI cohort study database, we enrolled 1,032 cases of type 1 MI and 42 cases of type 4C MI from the period January 01, 2018 to August 31, 2018. All cases were followed up for 1 year. The outcome was major cardiovascular adverse events (including all-cause deaths, nonfatal MI, heart failure necessitating hospitalization, uncontrollable angina pectoris, and revascularization of the target vessels). Risk ratios (RR) were calculated using the generalized linear model. Cox multivariate analysis was performed to analyze the prognostic effects of drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty or drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in patients with type 4C MI. RESULTS: Compared with type 1 MI, type 4C MI was associated with a higher incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) [21.43% vs. 5.14%; adjusted RR: 3.725, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.937-7.164]. Type 4C MI also showed a higher 1-year mortality rate than type 1 MI (7.14% vs. 1.55%; unadjusted RR: 4.607, 95% CI: 1.395-15.212). However, after adjusting for covariates, no statistical difference was noted (adjusted RR: 2.515, 95% CI: 0.768-8.233). Multiple adjustments to the Cox multivariate models revealed that neither DCB nor DES affected the clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Type 4C MI has a poorer prognosis than type 1 MI. DCB angioplasty and DES implantation show similar efficacy in the treatment of type 4C MI.

Correction to: Identifying the active components of Baihe-Zhimu decoction that ameliorate depressive disease by an effective integrated strategy: a systemic pharmacokinetics study combined with classical depression model tests.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13020-019-0254-9.].

Identifying the active components of Baihe-Zhimu decoction that ameliorate depressive disease by an effective integrated strategy: a systemic pharmacokinetics study combined with classical depression model tests.

BACKGROUND: Modern pharmacological studies have demonstrated that Baihe-Zhimu decoction (BZD) has antidepressant effects. However, the complex composition and lack of clear evaluation standards for BZD make it less likely to be understood and accepted than evidence-based active natural compounds. METHODS: In this study, an effective method for the identification of antidepressant components was demonstrated and applied to BZD. The first step was to evaluate the efficacy of BZD by the forced swimming test (FST) and the tail suspension test (TST), followed by successive quantitative analyses of the absorbed constituents at different stages, such as before hepatic disposition, liver distribution, after hepatic disposition and brain distribution after the oral administration of BZD. Finally, the compounds detected in the brain were confirmed by activity testing. RESULTS: Our investigation observed that timosaponin BII and timosaponin BIII were accurately determined in the brain after oral administration of BZD, and they were further confirmed to reduce the immobility time in the FST and TST. As described above, timosaponin BII and timosaponin BIII were used to scientifically and reasonably explain the effective chemical basis of the effect of BZD on depression. CONCLUSIONS: This research affords an effective method to discover lead molecules for antidepressants from traditional Chinese medicine.

Cloning and overexpression of transferrin gene from cypermethrin-resistant Culex pipiens pallens.

The complete sequence of transferrin has been cloned from cypermethrin-resistant strain of Culex pipiens pallens(Cr-C strain). Quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis indicated that the transferrin transcription level was 12.6 times higher in Cr-C strain than in susceptible strain at fourth instar larvae. The transferrin expression was also found to be consistently higher throughout the life cycle of Cr-C strain. A protein of predicted size 90.8 kDa has been detected by Western blotting in transferrin-transfected mosquito C6/36 cells. These transferrin-transfected cells also showed enhanced cypermethrin resistance compared to null-transfected or plasmid vector-transfected cells as determined by methyl tritiated thymidine((3)H-TdR) incorporation. These results indicate that transferrin is expressed at higher levels in Cr-C strain and may confer some insecticide resistance in C. pipiens pallens.

Molecular cloning and preliminary function study of iron responsive element binding protein 1 gene from cypermethrin-resistant Culex pipiens pallens.

BACKGROUND: Insecticide resistance jeopardizes the control of mosquito populations and mosquito-borne disease control, which creates a major public health concern. Two-dimensional electrophoresis identified one protein segment with high sequence homology to part of Aedes aegypti iron-responsive element binding protein (IRE-BP). METHOD: RT-PCR and RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA end) were used to clone a cDNA encoding full length IRE-BP 1. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used to evaluate the transcriptional level changes in the Cr-IRE strain Aedes aegypti compared to the susceptible strain of Cx. pipiens pallens. The expression profile of the gene was established in the mosquito life cycle. Methyl tritiated thymidine (3H-TdR) was used to observe the cypermethrin resistance changes in C6/36 cells containing the stably transfected IRE-BP 1 gene of Cx. pipiens pallens. RESULTS: The complete sequence of iron responsive element binding protein 1 (IRE-BP 1) has been cloned from the cypermethrin-resistant strain of Culex pipiens pallens (Cr-IRE strain). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that the IRE-BP 1 transcription level was 6.7 times higher in the Cr-IRE strain than in the susceptible strain of 4th instar larvae. The IRE-BP 1 expression was also found to be consistently higher throughout the life cycle of the Cr-IRE strain. A protein of predicted size 109.4 kDa has been detected by Western blotting in IRE-BP 1-transfected mosquito C6/36 cells. These IRE-BP 1-transfected cells also showed enhanced cypermethrin resistance compared to null-transfected or plasmid vector-transfected cells as determined by 3H-TdR incorporation. CONCLUSION: IRE-BP 1 is expressed at higher levels in the Cr-IRE strain, and may confer some insecticide resistance in Cx. pipiens pallens.