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Esculetin, a natural derivative from the traditional and widely-used Chinese medicinal herb Cortex Fraxini, has a variety of pharmacological effects, especially in anti-inflammation. However, it is not clear whether esculetin has a therapeutic effect on sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and protective effects of esculetin on early sepsis. The results showed that the lung injury was significantly relieved with the treatment of esculetin, accompanied with the restrained production of inflammatory factors including IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, CCL2 and iNOS during the early phase of E.coli-induced sepsis. Of note, activation of NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signals, the main upstream signals of many inflammatory factors, were attenuated by esculetin in both lung tissues from septic mice and LPS-stimulated macrophage. These findings suggested that the protection of esculetin against early sepsis should be related to its anti-inflammatory effect, which was at least partly due to its inhibition on NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signaling pathway in macrophage. Thus, esculetin could serve as a potential therapeutic agent by rebalancing innate immune response in macrophage for the treatment of early sepsis.
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Objective: To explore the relationship between daily tea intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Methods: PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, CNKI, and Wanfang Database were searched to collect research on tea intake and CVD mortality. The search period was from the establishment of the database to June 2020. Two researchers independently screened and extracted literature. The risk of bias was evaluated in the included studies, a dose-response meta-analysis was conducted, sensitivity analysis and publication bias analysis of the research results, and quality evaluation of the included literature and GRADE classification of the evidence body were performed. Results: A total of 21 cohort or case-control studies were included, including 1 304 978 subjects. Among them, 38 222 deaths from CVD were reported. The quality scores of the included studies were all ≥ 6 points. The dose-response meta-analysis showed that for every additional cup of tea intake per day, the mortality rate of CVD decreased by about 3% (95%CI 0.95-0.98, P<0.05), and there was a non-linear dose-response relationship (P<0.05). Compared with people who do not drink tea, people who drink 1 to 8 cups of tea a day have 8% lower CVD mortality (RR=0.92, 95%CI 0.89-0.95), 13% (RR=0.87, 95 %CI 0.84-0.91), 15% (RR=0.85, 95%CI 0.82-0.89), 15% (RR=0.85, 95%CI 0.81-0.89), 16% (RR=0.84, 95%CI 0.80-0.89), 16% (RR=0.84, 95%CI 0.81-0.88), 16% (RR=0.84, 95%CI 0.81-0.87), 16% (RR=0.84, 95%CI 0.80-0.88), respectively. The results of traditional meta-analysis showed that compared with people who do not drink tea, people who drink more than 1 cup of tea a day are associated with 14% lower CVD mortality rate (RR=0.86, 95%CI 0.81-0.91, I2=73.2%, P<0.05). The results of subgroup analysis showed that compared with the corresponding people who did not drink tea, men who drank more than 1 cup of tea a day reduced the CVD mortality rate by 24%, women by 14%, European and American populations by 12%, and Asian populations by 15%. The population who consumed green tea decreased CVD mortality by 15%, and the population of non-smokers decreased CVD mortality by 20% (all P<0.05). The population who consumed black tea decreased CVD mortality by 8%, and the smoking population who consumed black tea decreased CVD mortality by 3%, and the difference was not statistically significant (all P>0.05). The results of the bias analysis showed that Begg=0.42 and Egger=0.62, indicating that the distribution on both sides of the funnel chart is symmetrical, suggesting that there is no publication bias. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that the effect size of the outcome index did not change significantly after excluding any article, indicating that the results are robust and credible. The GRADE evaluation showed that the evidence grades of the outcome indicators were all low grade. Conclusions: Daily tea consumption is related to reduced CVD mortality. It is therefore recommended to drink an appropriate amount of tea daily.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Cardiovascular Diseases , Case-Control Studies , Cause of Death , Cohort Studies , TeaABSTRACT
To establish the ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) fingerprint of Dandeng Tongnao Ruanjiaonang and conduct a systemic, comprehensive quality evaluation of the drug by combining with a chemical pattern recognition method. In this study, Waters UPLC ultra-high performance liquid chromatography instrument and ACQUITY UPLCHSS T3 chromatographic colum n were employed to perform the separation with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid aqueous solution as the mobile phase for gradient elution; and the detection wavelength was set at 256 nm to establish the UPLC fingerprint of 10 batches of Dandeng Tongnao Ruanjiaonang. Then, the further quality assessment of the drug was carried out by similarity evaluation, Cluster Analysis(CA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Finally, 77 peaks were recognised as common peaks in the fingerprint, and 15 peaks of them were identified using standard references. The similarity value of these 10 batches of drugs was all above 0.960, indicating a relatively stable quality. But minor differences were still discovered between the batches of the drug by CA and PCA. Finally, 6 common peaks were recognised as the quality makers using OPLS-DA method. The analysis method established in this study was scientific, accurate, reliable and simple; fingerprint combined with chemical pattern recognition technique can be used to systematically and comprehensively evaluate the drug quality of Dandeng Tongnao Ruanjiaonang; what's more, it could also provide a reference for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine and its preparations at the same time.
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Background The diagnosis and treatment of fungal keratitis are knotty.There is no quantitative method to identify the disease and judge the therapeutic effect of the antifungal agent.Studies have determined that serum (1,3-) β-D-glucan level can sensitively and specifically reflect the state of systemic mycotic-causing diseases.However,whether (1,3-) β-D-glucan level in tear can monitor and diagnose mycotic keratitis is unclear.Objective Purpose of this study was to investigate the change of tear (1,3-) β-D-glucan level following the administration of antifungal drug in fungal keratitis patients,and evaluate the diagnosis and monitor value of (1,3-) β-D-glucan in tears for fungal keratitis.Methods Sixty patients who were diagnosed as fungal keratitis by fungal culture were analyzed in Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College from July 2010 to May 2012.The patients received the topical administration of antifungal drug for 28 days.Thirty healthy volunteers without eye disease served as normal controls.The tear of 50 μl was collected from each subject for the detection of (1,3)-β-D-glucan before the therapy,7,14,28 days after therapy and 7 days,14 days after the drugs were stopped,respectively.The dynamic changes of (1,3-) β-D-glucan levels in tears were evaluated and compared with the manifestation of the lesions under the laser scanning confocal microscope.The patients without hyphal by the laser scanning confocal microscopy and tear (1,3-)β-D-glucan level less than 20 ng/L were subsequently treated for another 7 days,and the following-up duration was 2 months.The informed consent was obtained before any medical examination was performed from each subject.Results (1,3-)β-D-glucan level in tears (Log value) was (6.37 ±0.48)ng/L in the patient group,and was significantly higher than (2.00±0.31) ng/L in the normal control group (t =2.89,P＜0.01).The lesion was smaller with the gradually clear border,and the number of mycelia was decreased under the laser scanning confocal microscope 7 days after treatment.(1,3-) β-D-glucan level in tears was gradually declined in a time-dependent manner after treatment.The (1,3)-β-D-glucan level in tears (Log) was (5.19 ± 0.42),(4.16 ± 0.33),(2.99 ±0.42),(2.91 ±0.39),(2.80±0.40) ng/L 7,14,28 days after treatment,and 7 days,14 days after the drugs were stopped,respectively,with a statistically significant difference in comparison with (6.37±0.48)ng/L before treatment (P＜0.01).(1,3)-β-D-gluean level in tears remained a lower level till the end of follow-up,and no recurrence of lesion was found in the patient group.Conclusions Detecting (1,3)-β-D-glucan level in tears is of good diagnosis and monitor value in the evaluation of fungal keratitis.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the changes of hepatic hemodynamics in patients with splenectomy plus living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The data of 66 patients received LDLT from August 2006 to March 2009 were analyzed retrospectively:22 cases received splenectomy with LDLT (splenectomy group) and aged (45 ± 11) years. Forty-four comparable cases received LDLT only in the mean time were selected as control group and aged (44 ± 10) years. Comparative analysis was performed between the two groups with respect to the changes of hepatic hemodynamics after transplantation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Blood velocity in portal vein in control group and splenectomy group at 1 day before and after the transplantation were (12 ± 2) cm/s vs. (11 ± 3) cm/s, (35 ± 18) cm/s vs. (32 ± 17) cm/s, respectively. Postoperative blood velocity in portal vein in both groups increased significantly than the preoperative level (P < 0.05). Blood flow velocity in right hepatic vein in both groups at 1 week after the treatment were (44 ± 18) cm/s and (31 ± 15) cm/s (P < 0.05), respectively. Blood flow velocity in hepatic artery in both groups 2 weeks after the operation were (18 ± 8) cm/s vs. (26 ± 7) cm/s (P < 0.05) and resistance coefficient of hepatic artery were 0.66 ± 0.13 vs. 0.57 ± 0.12 (P < 0.05), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Hepatic hemodynamics in patients received LDLT plus splenectomy is superior to that in patients received LDLT only.</p>