Effect of aerosol inhalation of budesonide on respiratory symptoms and inflammatory factors in patients with asthma: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To review the efficacy, symptoms, inflammatory factors and pulmonary function of different doses of budesonide aerosol inhalation in the treatment of patients with asthma. METHODS: The Chinese and English literature databases were searched with "Effects of different doses of budesonide aerosol inhalation on the efficacy, lung function, inflammation, symptoms and adverse reactions in patients with asthma" as the search direction, and a Meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS: Compared with the low dose group, the efficacy, PEF and FEV1 were significantly increased and the clinical symptom score, TNF-α and IL-4 were significantly decreased in the high dose group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in IFN-γ level and the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: High-dose budesonide aerosol inhalation therapy can improve the efficacy and lung function of patients, reduce inflammation and clinical symptoms, and does not increase the risk of adverse reactions, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

A clinical study of non-bioartificial liver DPMAES support system in hepatitis B-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

This study aims to observe the clinical efficacy of the dual plasma molecular adsorption exchange system (DPMAES) in patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF), with a focus on its regulatory effect on cytokine storm. A total of 60 HBV-ACLF patients were enrolled in this study. The observation group, comprising 30 patients, received DPMAES treatment, while the control group underwent PE treatment. We compared the efficacy changes between the two groups post-treatment. A total of 55 HBV-ACLF patients who completed the study were analyzed, Patients treated with DPMAES showed significant improvements in clinical outcomes. After DPMAES treatment, HBV-ACLF patients exhibited notably 90 day survival rate increased by 18% compared to those in the PE group. Moreover, total bilirubin levels decreased markedly, albumin and platelet levels increased compared to the PE group. After DPMAES treatment, the patient showed a significant decrease in inflammatory cytokine IL-6 (t = 5.046, P < 0.001) and a significant decrease in procalcitonin (t = 4.66, P < 0.001). DPMAES was more effective than PE in rapidly reducing TBiL, improving coagulation function and mitigating cytokine storm. It maintained platelet stability more effectively while minimizing albumin consumption to a greater extent, significantly improved 90-day survival.Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2300076117.

Effect of progressive resistance exercise using Thera-band on edema volume, upper limb function, and quality of life in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema.

This study aimed to determine the effects of progressive resistive exercise (PRE), including complex decongestive physical therapy (CDPT), on edema volume, handgrip strength, upper extremity function, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). Twenty patients were randomized between the progressive resistance exercise group (PREG) and the self-home resistance exercise group (SREG). Two patients in each group dropped out of the study, leaving 16 patients: n=8 in the exercise group and n=8 in the SREG. First, the PREG and the SREG received CDPT. Subsequently, the patients in the PREG performed PRE, whereas the patients in the SREG performed self-home resistance exercises. Interventions were performed for 50 min, 3 times a week, for 6 weeks. The results showed that, for the edema volume, a significant intergroup variation was absent, whereas the intragroup variation was significant. The inter- and intragroup variations were significant for both handgrip strength and upper extremity function. Regarding QoL, a significant difference was observed in global health status/QoL and role function between the groups. Furthermore, significant differences were observed within the PREG in global health status/QoL; physical, role, and cognitive function; and dyspnea. No significant differences were observed within the SREG. The results collectively suggest that the exercise program was an intervention with a greater potential contribution to reducing edema and enhancing physical function in patients with BCRL.

Comprehensive characterisation of immunogenic cell death in melanoma revealing the association with prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment.

Increasing evidence has highlighted the critical functions of immunogenic cell death (ICD) within many tumors. However, the therapeutic possibilities and mechanism of utilizing ICD in melanoma are still not well investigated. Melanoma samples involved in our study were acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. First, pan-cancer analysis of ICD systematically revealed its expression characteristics, prognostic values, mutation information, methylation level, pathway regulation relationship in multiple human cancers. The non-negative matrix factorization clustering was utilized to separate the TCGA-melanoma samples into two subtypes (i.e. C1 and C2) with different prognosis and immune microenvironment based on the expression traits of ICD. Then, LASSO-Cox regression analysis was utilized to determine an ICD-dependent risk signature (ICDRS) based on the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the two subtypes. Principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis of ICDRS showed that high- and low-risk subpopulations could be clearly distinguished. Survival analysis and ROC curves in the training, internal validation, and external validation cohorts highlighted the accurate prognosis evaluation of ICDRS. The obvious discrepancies of immune microenvironment between the different risk populations might be responsible for the different prognoses of patients with melanoma. These findings revealed the close association of ICD with prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment. More importantly, ICDRS-based immunotherapy response and targeted drug prediction might be beneficial to different risk subpopulations of patients with melanoma. The innotative ICDRS could function as a marker to determine the prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment in melanoma. This will aid in patient classification for individualized melanoma treatment.

Integration of single-cell RNA sequencing and bulk RNA sequencing to reveal an immunogenic cell death-related 5-gene panel as a prognostic model for osteosarcoma.

Background: Despite the comparatively low prevalence of osteosarcoma (OS) compared to other cancer types, metastatic OS has a poor overall survival rate of fewer than 30%. Accumulating data has shown the crucial functions of immunogenic cell death (ICD) in various cancers; nevertheless, the relationship between ICD and OS was not previously well understood. This research aims to determine the function of ICD in OS and construct an ICD-based prognostic panel. Methods: Single cell RNA sequencing data from GSE162454 dataset distinguished malignant cells from normal cells in OS. The discrepancy in ICD scores and corresponding gene expression was intensively explored between malignant cells and normal cells. Using the RNA sequencing data of the TARGET-OS, GSE16091, GSE21257, and GSE39058 datasets, the molecular subtype of OS was determined by clustering seventeen ICD-related genes obtained from the literature. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between different molecular subtypes were identified to develop a novel ICD-associated prognostic panel. Results: The malignant cells had a remarkable decrease in the ICD scores and corresponding gene expression compared with normal cells. A total of 212 OS patients were successfully stratified into two subtypes: C1 and C2. C1-like OS patients were characterized by better prognostic outcomes, overexpression of ICD genes, activation of the ICD pathway, high inflitration abundance of immunocytes, and low expression levels of immune checkpoint genes (ICGs); however, the reverse is true in C2-like OS patients. Utilizing the limma programme in R, the DEGs between two subtypes were determined, and a 5-gene risk panel consisting of BAMBI, TMCC2, NOX4, DKK1, and CBS was developed through LASSO-Cox regression analysis. The internal- and external-verification cohorts were employed to verify the efficacy and precision of the risk panel. The AUC values of ROC curves indicated excellent prognostic prediction values of our risk panel. Conclusions: Overall, ICD represented a protective factor against OS, and our 5-gene risk panel serving as a biomarker could effectively evaluate the prognostic risk in patients with OS.

Ai-Tong-An-Gao-Ji and Fisetin Inhibit Tumor Cell Growth in Rat CIBP Models by Inhibiting the AKT/HIF-1α Signaling Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Ai-Tong-An-Gao-Ji (ATAGJ) has been extensively applied for acute bone cancer pain treatment with a satisfactory efficacy, while the specific mechanisms remain unclear and require further investigation. METHODS: Overlapped genes of ATAGJ and CIBP obtained from SwissTargetPrediction website and GeneCards database were presented as a Venn diagram. A network diagram of drug-component-target was further established using the Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. The effect of fisetin on Walker 256 cell proliferation was observed by clone formation assay and EDU assay, and the interaction between fisetin and AKT was revealed using the immunoprecipitation assay. Effects of fisetin on AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway in Walker 256 cells were ultimately detected using Western blot and qPCR assays. RESULTS: The key component fisetin and core target gene AKT were sorted out using the drug-component-target network with a binding energy between fisetin and AKT less than -5 kcal/mol. Clone formation assay and EDU assay showed that fisetin substantially suppressed the proliferation of Walker 256 cells. Immunoprecipitation assay results revealed that the combination of fisetin and AKT decreased the level of AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway of Walker 256 cells. CONCLUSIONS: The fisetin of ATAGJ can markedly suppress Walker 256 cells, and the mechanisms may be intimately associated with the combination of fisetin and AKT. Furthermore, fisetin decreased the level of p-AKT and inhibited the expression of the AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway.

Study on the molecular mechanism of nightshade in the treatment of colon cancer.

The present study attempts to explore the effective components, action targets, and potential mechanism of nightshade for colon cancer treatment. The relationship network diagram of 'traditional Chinese medicine - component - target - disease' was firstly constructed by employing network pharmacology. Experiments were conducted in vivo and in vitro to verify the influence of quercetin, the core effective component of nightshade, on colon cancer. Meanwhile, the regulatory effects of quercetin on core targets and main signaling pathways were determined. Based on the network diagram of 'traditional Chinese medicine - component - target - disease' and KEGG analysis, quercetin might exhibit certain effects on colon cancer treatment by regulating the biological behavior of core targets related to cell apoptosis in tumors including PIK3R1, PIK3CA, Akt1, and Akt2. Furthermore, quercetin has been demonstrated in vitro experiments to suppress the proliferation and migration of colon cancer cells whereas promote their apoptosis in a dose-dependent fashion. In vivo experiments indicate that quercetin had an antitumor effect on human colon cancer SW480 cells in nude mice bearing tumors. Furthermore, PIK3CA could bind to quercetin directly, which is validated by immunocoprecipitation. Therefore, the activation of PI3K/AKT phosphorylation was inhibited by quercetin and moreover the expressions of apoptotic proteins caspase-3 and Bcl2-Associated X protein (BAX) were up-regulated. In conclusion, the potential mechanism of nightshade lies in the activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway inhibited by quercetin, thus promoting apoptosis of colon cancer cells for colon cancer treatment.

[Quality control of Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma based on fingerprint and quantitative analysis].

Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma, the dried rhizoma of Dioscorea nipponica, has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicines. According to the different of the growth and cultivation patterns, Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma can be divided into two species, the wild Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma and the cultivated Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma. In this paper, an accurate and reliable fingerprint of Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma was established based on HPLC coupled with evaporative light scattering detector(ELSD). A total of 6 common peaks were marked, and the similarity of the Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma samples was above 0.950. The results indicated that the established fingerprint could be used for quality evaluation of Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma. Moreover, an HPLC coupled with ELSD method was developed for simultaneous quantitative analysis of six steroidal saponins, including protodioscin, protogracillin, methyl protodioscin, pseudoprotodioscin, dioscin and gracillin in wild Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma and cultivated Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma samples. Furthermore, chemometrics analysis such as principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis were performed to compare and discriminate wild Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma and cultivated Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma samples based on the quantitative data. The results indicated that the contents of steroidal saponins were notably different between the wild and cultivated Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma, and protodioscin and protogracillin were significant to effectively discriminate the wild and cultivated Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma samples, and these two compounds could be recognized as chemical markers. In conclusion, this present study might provide useful data and acceptable analysis method for identification and quality evaluation of Dioscoreae Nipponicae Rhizoma.

[Effects of oral care with essential oil on improvement in oral health status of hospice patients].

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine the effects of oral care with essential oil in improving the oral health status of hospice patients with terminal cancer. METHODS: The participants were 43 patients with terminal cancer admitted to K hospital in G city, Korea. Twenty-two patients were assigned to the experimental group and 21 to the control group. Participants in the experimental group received special mouth care with essential oil (application of essential oil mixture consisting of geranium, lavender, tea tree, and peppermint). The control group received special mouth care with 0.9% saline. The special mouth care was performed twice daily for one week in both groups. The scores for subjective oral comfortness, objective oral state, and numbers of colonizing Candida albicans were measured before and after the treatment. RESULTS: The score for subjective oral comfortness and objective oral state were significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The numbers of colonizing Candida albicans significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Oral care with essential oil could be an effective oral health nursing intervention for hospice patients with terminal cancer.