Natural Plant-derived Polysaccharides Against Cervical Cancer： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Cervical cancer is a gynecological malignant tumor with a high incidence in the world. With the insidious onset and lack of obvious symptoms and signs in the early stage， 13% of cervical cancer patients are diagnosed in the advanced stage of the disease， and the 5-year survival rate of metastatic cervical cancer is only 16.5%. So far， surgery and radiotherapy/chemotherapy are still the basic means for the treatment of cervical cancer. However， with the emergence of toxicity， drug resistance， and other side effects， there are still some limitations in the clinical application of these therapies. In recent years， natural compounds represented by polysaccharides have been found to have a significant anti-cervical cancer effect， which has attracted extensive attention from researchers in China and abroad. Widely distributed in the roots， stems， leaves， flowers， and fruits of higher plants， plant-based polysaccharides are important components of natural polysaccharides， as well as multimers with a complex structure and biological response regulators， which have been widely studied in the fields of cancer， cardiovascular， endocrine， and other diseases. This study reviewed the research on the anti-cervical cancer effect and mechanism of natural plant-derived polysaccharides by consulting the literature in the past 20 years to bring breakthroughs in the research and development of anti-cervical cancer new drugs. Through the literature review， the results indicated that natural plant-derived polysaccharides could exert anti-tumor effects by inhibiting cell proliferation， promoting apoptosis， inhibiting invasion and migration， promoting autophagy， arresting cell cycle of cervical cancer cells， regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT）， resisting oxidative stress， inhibiting tumor angiogenesis， improving immunomodulatory activity， and regulating signaling pathways. It should be noted that in the current research on natural plant-derived polysaccharides against cervical cancer， the bioavailability of some natural polysaccharides is low and a considerable proportion of the research is limited to the in vitro experiment. Therefore， it is urgent to carry out more clinical experimental studies on the anti-cervical cancer of natural plant-based polysaccharides to obtain a more reliable theoretical and practical basis.

Determination of the ELISA kits for screening convalescence plasma with high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To determine the ELISA kit for screening convalescence plasma with high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG by comparing and analyzing the plasma detection results of convalescent plasma collected in different periods via ELISA kits from two manufacturers and the results of mixed plasma with different potency via pseudovirus neutralization experiments. 【Methods】 Two ELISA kits from different manufacturers(named A, B) were used to detect the plasma of 269 convalescent patients collected from Feb.2020~Jan.2022. The correlation and concordance rate of the two results were analyzed to determine the kit preliminarily. According to the titers of diluted series of standard of the preliminary selected kit, 5 mixed plasma samples (G4-G128) with different potency were prepared. The correlation of ELISA IgG results of product A/B, as well as the pseudovirus neutralization test of the original strain, Omicron mutant BA.1 and BA.2 strains were analyzed. Combined with the outside-well dilution mode of the strongly positive samples, the kit for high potency of SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening was determined. 【Results】 When the internal control reference B2 was used as the standard, the detection sensitivity of product A and B was 1∶32 vs 1∶8; the detection sensitivity of product A was 4 times that of product B. The correlation Pearson r between the results given by two kits was 0.944 1(P<0.000 1). Product B with low sensitivity was primarily selected as an alternative kit. The ELISA IgG results of samples from mixed plasma showed that the order of correlation r between product A and B was 0.988. The correlation r between product A and neutralization antibody potency of the three viruses was original strain (0.978)>BA.2(0.970)>BA.1(0.799); the order of correlation r between ELISA IgG results of product B and neutralization antibody potency of the three viruses was original strain(0.994)>BA.2(0.968)>BA.1(0.804). If twice-diluted B2 was taken as the excellent standard, 55.4% of product B met the criterion, while 47.2% of product A met.For positive plasma with high IgG potency, the product B kit required a lower dilution of the sample, which was more convenient to operate. 【Conclusion】 Both of the ELISA IgG kit from product A and B can be used to screen IgG antibodies of SARS-CoV-2, while product B is more suitable for screening positive plasma with high IgG potency.

Flavonoids from the roots and rhizomes of Sophoratonkinensis and their in vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity / 中国天然药物

Acute respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had caused a global pandemic since 2019, and posed a serious threat to global health security. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an indispensable role in the battle against the epidemic. Many components originated from TCMs were found to inhibit the production of SARS-CoV-2 3C-like protease (3CLpro) and papain-like protease (PLpro), which are two promising therapeutic targets to inhibit SARS-CoV-2. This study describes a systematic investigation of the roots and rhizomes of Sophora tonkinensis, which results in the characterization of 12 new flavonoids, including seven prenylated flavanones (1-7), one prenylated flavonol (8), two prenylated chalcones (9-10), one isoflavanone (11), and one isoflavan dimer (12), together with 43 known compounds (13-55). Their structures including the absolute configurations were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of MS, 1D and 2D NMR data, and time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism (TDDFT ECD) calculations. Compounds 12 and 51 exhibited inhibitory effects against SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro with IC50 values of 34.89 and 19.88 μmol·L-1, repectively while compounds 9, 43 and 47 exhibited inhibitory effects against PLpro with IC50 values of 32.67, 79.38, and 16.74 μmol·L-1, respectively.

Effect of monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment on neurological function, inflammatory factor and blood coagulation function in patients with traumatic brain injury / 中国基层医药

Objective:To investigate the effect of monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment on neurological function, inflammatory factor, and blood coagulation function in patients with traumatic brain injury.Methods:The clinical data of 90 patients with traumatic brain injury who received treatment in Taizhou Central Hospital from February 2018 to May 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were divided into a control group ( n = 46) and an observation group ( n = 44) according to different treatment methods. The control group was given routine symptomatic treatment and the observation group was given monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment based on routine symptomatic treatment. Remission rate, inflammatory factor level, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, Glasgow Outcome Scale score, and coagulation function were compared between the two groups at each time point. Results:At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, neuropeptide Y in the observation group was (121.13 ± 12.68) ng/L and (68.52 ± 10.21) ng/L, tumor necrosis factor α was (96.15 ± 8.16) ng/L and (46.68 ± 5.95) ng/L, interleukin-6 was (231.26 ± 9.41) ng/L and (126.74 ± 12.23) ng/L, C-reactive protein was (47.52 ± 4.32) μg/L and (18.65 ± 1.32) μg/L, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was (20.12 ± 2.22) points and (17.67 ± 1.31) points. They were significantly lower than those in the control group [neuropeptide Y: (135.69 ± 15.42) ng/L, (79.36 ± 11.15) ng/L; tumor necrosis factor-α: (108.56 ± 10.13) ng/L, (69.33 ± 6.42) ng/L; interleukin-6: (264.13 ± 10.24) ng/L and (157.89 ± 12.13) ng/L; C-reactive protein: (65.19 ± 5.17) μg/L and (24.39 ± 3.45) μg/L; the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score: (24.56 ± 2.54) points and (20.39 ± 2.55) points] ( t3 days post-surgery = 4.88, 6.38, 15.83, 17.55, 8.81; t2 weeks post-surgery= 4.80, 17.33, 12.12, 10.33, 6.32, all P < 0.001). At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, the Glasgow Outcome Scale score in the observation group was (3.65 ± 0.35) points and (4.65 ± 0.26) points, respectively, which was significantly higher than (3.15 ± 0.10) points and (4.11 ± 0.11) points in the control group ( t = 9.30, 12.93, both P < 0.05). At 3 days and 2 weeks post-surgery, fibrinogen in the observation group was (4.52 ± 0.39) g/L and (3.12 ± 0.10) g/L, thrombin time was (18.46 ± 2.95) seconds and (21.79 ± 2.45) seconds, prothrombin time was (12.42 ± 1.33) seconds and (15.79 ± 2.36) seconds, activated partial thromboplastin time was (34.59 ± 2.64) seconds and (38.98 ± 2.78) seconds, which were significantly superior to those in the control group [fibrinogen: (5.02 ± 0.13) g/L and (4.29 ± 0.16) g/L; thrombin time: (17.36 ± 1.56) seconds and (19.63 ± 1.62) seconds; prothrombin time: (10.69 ± 1.21) seconds and (13.26 ± 1.78) seconds; activated partial thromboplastin time: (32.16 ± 2.59) seconds and (35.69 ± 2.91) seconds] ( t3 days post-surgery = 8.23, 2.22, 6.46, 4.40; t2 weeks post-surgery = 41.38, 4.95, 5.75, 5.48, all P < 0.001). At 1 and 2 weeks post-surgery, the remission rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group ( χ2 = 4.75, 4.44, both P < 0.05). Conclusion:Monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium treatment for a traumatic brain injury can inhibit inflammatory reactions, improve blood coagulation and protect brain tissue.

Erratum: Author correction to "Development of small-molecule tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitors for NTRK fusion cancers" Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 11 (2021) 355-372

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2020.05.004.].

Development of small molecule extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) inhibitors for cancer therapy

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway is widely activated by a variety of extracellular stimuli, and its dysregulation is associated with the proliferation, invasion, and migration of cancer cells. ERK1/2 is located at the distal end of this pathway and rarely undergoes mutations, making it an attractive target for anticancer drug development. Currently, an increasing number of ERK1/2 inhibitors have been designed and synthesized for antitumor therapy, among which representative compounds have entered clinical trials. When ERK1/2 signal transduction is eliminated, ERK5 may provide a bypass route to rescue proliferation, and weaken the potency of ERK1/2 inhibitors. Therefore, drug research targeting ERK5 or based on the compensatory mechanism of ERK5 for ERK1/2 opens up a new way for oncotherapy. This review provides an overview of the physiological and biological functions of ERKs, focuses on the structure-activity relationships of small molecule inhibitors targeting ERKs, with a view to providing guidance for future drug design and optimization, and discusses the potential therapeutic strategies to overcome drug resistance.

Clinical analysis of 10 cases with extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment methods and outcomes of extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 10 cases with extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck who were admitted to Henan Tumor Hospital from January 2005 to January 2020. Among the 10 patients, 6 were male and 4 were female. The average age at diagnosis was 56.3 years old (34-74 years old). Among them, 3 cases were located in the nasal cavity, 2 cases in the nasopharynx, 1 case in the sinuses, 2 cases in the larynx, 1 case in the oropharynx, and 1 case in the cervical lymph nodes. Treatments were administered according to tumor size and resection extent. Complete surgical excision (negative margins) was preferred, followed by adjuvant radiotherapy or radiotherapy alone. The clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of EMP were analyzed. Results: The patients' symptoms were not specific, frequently with local obstruction symptom and localized masses. All patients were confirmed pathologically as suffering from monoclonal plasmacytoma, with negative bone marrow biopsy and negative skeletal survey. Five patients received surgery, 3 received radiotherapy, and 2 received surgery with additional radiation. The follow-up time was 16-125 months, with a median of 92 months. Two patients developed into multiple myeloma. One patient who received radiotherapy after surgery relapsed after 7 years of follow-up and again received surgical treatment, with no evidence of second recurrence. The remaining patients had no recurrence or progression. Conclusion: Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the head and neck has a good prognosis. Surgical treatment can be considered for completely resectable lesions.

Effects of resveratrol on high-fat diet-induced hypertrophic obesity in elderly mice / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of resveratrol on obesity in elderly mice.Methods:In this study, 3 groups were randomly formed for 32-week-old mice and for 48-week-old mice.The normal diet group received regular chow and 0.3 ml saline by gavage once a day, the high-fat diet group received a high-fat diet(containing 21% fat and 1.25% cholesterol)and 0.3 ml saline once a day, and the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group received a high-fat diet and resveratrol(22.4 mg/kg, dispersed in 0.3 ml saline)by gavage once a day.After 12 weeks, body weight and adipose tissues were measured.Plasma leptin concentrations were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and values for hypertrophic obesity-related indexes of mice were obtained by quantitative real-time PCR.Results:The body weight and the proportion of subcutaneous fat tissues were lower in the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group than in the high-fat diet group[(34.43±3.23)g vs.(53.16±2.16)g, (3.21±1.58)% vs.(4.86±0.64)%, P<0.01], and were similar to those in the normal diet group.Resveratrol had a more obvious inhibitory effect on leptin in elderly mice than in middle-aged mice.In elderly mice, the plasma leptin concentration was lower in the high-fat diet plus resveratrol group than in the high-fat diet group[(0.015±0.009)g/L vs.(0.100±0.027)g/L]and the normal diet group( F=19.85, P=0.001), and it was similar to that in the middle-aged mice on a normal diet.Resveratrol significantly increased the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ)and glucose transporter 4(GLUT4)and reduced the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)( F=10.79, 9.31 and 7.02, P=0.003, 0.006 and 0.010). Conclusions:Resveratrol can significantly improve hypertrophic obesity in elderly mice, and the inhibition of leptin secretion and up-regulation of PPARγ may be the key mechanisms.

MCDB: A comprehensive curated mitotic catastrophe database for retrieval, protein sequence alignment, and target prediction

Mitotic catastrophe (MC) is a form of programmed cell death induced by mitotic process disorders, which is very important in tumor prevention, development, and drug resistance. Because rapidly increased data for MC is vigorously promoting the tumor-related biomedical and clinical study, it is urgent for us to develop a professional and comprehensive database to curate MC-related data. Mitotic Catastrophe Database (MCDB) consists of 1214 genes/proteins and 5014 compounds collected and organized from more than 8000 research articles. Also, MCDB defines the confidence level, classification criteria, and uniform naming rules for MC-related data, which greatly improves data reliability and retrieval convenience. Moreover, MCDB develops protein sequence alignment and target prediction functions. The former can be used to predict new potential MC-related genes and proteins, and the latter can facilitate the identification of potential target proteins of unknown MC-related compounds. In short, MCDB is such a proprietary, standard, and comprehensive database for MC-relate data that will facilitate the exploration of MC from chemists to biologists in the fields of medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, oncology and so on. The MCDB is distributed on http://www.combio-lezhang.online/MCDB/index_html/.

Targeting autophagy using small-molecule compounds to improve potential therapy of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD), known as one of the most universal neurodegenerative diseases, is a serious threat to the health of the elderly. The current treatment has been demonstrated to relieve symptoms, and the discovery of new small-molecule compounds has been regarded as a promising strategy. Of note, the homeostasis of the autolysosome pathway (ALP) is closely associated with PD, and impaired autophagy may cause the death of neurons and thereby accelerating the progress of PD. Thus, pharmacological targeting autophagy with small-molecule compounds has been drawn a rising attention so far. In this review, we focus on summarizing several autophagy-associated targets, such as AMPK, mTORC1, ULK1, IMPase, LRRK2, beclin-1, TFEB, GCase, ERR

The use of miR122 and its target sequence in adeno-associated virus-mediated trichosanthin gene therapy / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Plant-derived cytotoxic transgene expression, such as trichosanthin (tcs), regulated by recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vector is a promising cancer gene therapy. However, the cytotoxic transgene can hamper the vector production in the rAAV producer cell line, human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Here, we explored microRNA-122 (miR122) and its target sequence to limit the expression of the cytotoxic gene in the rAAV producer cells.@*METHODS@#A miR122 target (122T) sequence was incorporated into the 3' untranslated region of the tcs cDNA sequence. The firefly luciferase (fluc) transgene was used as an appropriate control. Cell line HEK293-mir122 was generated by the lentiviral vector-mediated genome integration of the mir122 gene in parental HEK293 cells. The effects of miR122 overexpression on cell growth, transgene expression, and rAAV production were determined.@*RESULTS@#The presence of 122T sequence significantly reduced transgene expression in the miR122-enriched Huh7 cell line (in vitro), fresh human hepatocytes (ex vivo), and mouse liver (in vivo). Also, the normal liver physiology was unaffected by delivery of 122T sequence by rAAV vectors. Compared with the parental cells, the miR122-overexpressing HEK293-mir122 cell line showed similar cell growth rate and expression of transgene without 122T, as well as the ability to produce liver-targeting rAAV vectors. Fascinatingly, the yield of rAAV vectors carrying the tcs-122T gene was increased by 77.7-fold in HEK293-mir122 cells. Moreover, the tcs-122T-containing rAAV vectors significantly reduced the proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells without affecting the normal liver cells.@*CONCLUSION@#HEK293-mir122 cells along with the 122T sequence provide a potential tool to attenuate the cytotoxic transgene expression, such as tcs, during rAAV vector production.

Pulmonary function grading and comprehensive assessment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 预防医学

Objective@#To understand the characteristics of different pulmonary function grades and comprehensive assessment groups among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from community survey, so as to provide the evidence for the comprehensive community management of COPD. @*Methods@#The survey data of five monitoring sites in Zhejiang Province during 2014-2015 in the COPD surveillance of Chinese residents aged 40 years and above was collected. The patients with COPD were classified by pulmonary function according to the percentage of forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) in the predicted value, and by comprehensive assessment according to modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) score, COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score and acute exacerbation in the past year. The characteristics of different pulmonary function grading and comprehensive assessment groups were compared. @*Results@#A total of 355 patients with COPD were found, with an average age of (63.00±9.63) years. The male-to-female ratio was 3.18:1. There were 243 patients with an education level of primary school or below, accounting for 68.45%. The awareness rate of COPD related knowledge was only 1.69%. There were 257 (72.39%) patients with mild, 86 (24.23%) patients with moderate, and 12 (3.38%) patients with severe pulmonary function. The proportions of patients with childhood history of severe respiratory infection, self-reported respiratory system diseases, chronic cough, chronic sputum, acute exacerbation in the past year, CAT score ≥10 points, and inhaled medication were lower in the patients with mild pulmonary function than with moderate and severe pulmonary function; the body mass index and waist circumference were higher in the patients with mild pulmonary function than in the patients with moderate and severe pulmonary function (all P<0.05). The comprehensive assessment resulted in 158 (44.51%) patients of Group A, 134 (37.75%) patients of Group B, 1 (0.28%) patient of Group C, and 7 (1.97%) patients of Group D. The average age and systolic pressure were lower in Group A than in Group B, C and D; the proportions of patients with self-reported respiratory system diseases, family history of respiratory diseases, chronic cough, chronic sputum, dyspnea, acute exacerbation in the past year and CAT score ≥10 points were lower in Group A than in Group B, C and D (all P<0.05). @*Conclusion@#The community patients with COPD are mainly classified to mild pulmonary function and Group A in the comprehensive assessment; thus they need different levels of management.

Development of small-molecule tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) inhibitors for

Tropomyosin receptor kinase A, B and C (TRKA, TRKB and TRKC), which are well-known members of the cell surface receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family, are encoded by the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 1, 2 and 3 (

Willingness of influenza vaccination among the communitymanaged diabetic patients in Keqiao District / 预防医学

Objective@#To learn the willingness and influencing factors of influenza vaccination among the community managed diabetic patients in Keqiao District, Shaoxing, so as to provide the basis for influenza vaccination promotion.@*Methods@#A self-compiled questionnaire survey was conducted from October to December 2017 among all the managed diabetic patients in Keqiao District. The contents of questionnaire included the basic information of the respondents, awareness of influenza vaccine, vaccination status and vaccination intention. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors for the willingness of influenza vaccination.@*Results@#A total of 15 060 questionnaires were sent out and 13 781 valid ones were retrieved, the response rate was 91.51%. There were 3 888 patients with the awareness of influenza vaccine, accounting for 28.21%; 4 259 patients with the willingness to be vaccinated, accounting for 30.90%; 630 previously-vaccinated patients, accounting for 4.57%. The patients who were female (OR=1.157, 95%CI: 1.064-1.258) , were married (OR=1.242, 95%CI:1.107-1.393), were with other chronic diseases (OR=1.199, 95%CI: 1.103-1.303) , believed diabetic patients were more susceptible to influenza (OR=1.251, 95%CI: 1.102-1.419) , believed influenza aggravate diabetes status (OR=1.640, 95%CI: 1.445-1.860) , believed that the vaccination effectively prevent influenza (OR=3.129, 95%CI: 2.866-3.416) , knew about influenza vaccine (OR=1.111, 95%CI: 1.105-1.216) and ever received influenza vaccination (OR=1.316, 95%CI: 1.103-1.570) were more willing to be vaccinated.@*Conclusions@#The willingness of influenza vaccination among the community managed diabetic patients in Keqiao District is low. The patients＇gender, married status, other chronic diseases, awareness of influenza vaccine and the history of vaccination can affect the willingness of influenza vaccination.

Dietary patterns and thyroid cancer: a case-control studyin Hangzhou residents / 预防医学

Objective @#To learn the association between dietary patterns and thyroid cancer in Hangzhou residents, and to provide evidence for thyroid cancer prevention.@*Methods@#The newly diagnosed patients with thyroid cancer in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital were selected as the case group, while the healthy population matched (1∶1) by gender, age and residence were selected from community as the control group. A questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain demographic characteristics, disease history, dietary intake, lifestyle and other information. The dietary patterns were established by factor analysis. The multivariate conditional logistic regression model was conducted to explore the relationship between different dietary patterns and thyroid cancer.@*Results@#A total of 258 pairs of cases and controls were recruited. Five dietary patterns were obtained, including vegetarian pattern, high-protein food pattern, salted vegetables and algae pattern, seafood and cereal pattern, as well as alcohol and tea pattern. The multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis suggested seafood and cereal pattern might reduce the risk of thyroid cancer (OR=0.286, 95%CI: 0.146-0.561).@*Conclusion@#More consumption of seafood and cereal may decrease the incidence of thyroid cancer.

Lithium chloride inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell calcification by increasing pyrophosphate levels / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of lithium chloride on vascular smooth muscle cell calcification and the potential underlying mechanisms.Methods:Human aortic smooth muscle cells were cultured in vitro, and a smooth muscle cell calcification model was established by using a calcification medium(the concentration of inorganic phosphorus was 3 mmol/L). Cells in the drug treatment group were pretreated with lithium chloride(10 mmol/L)for 4 hours and then with inorganic phosphorus at 3 mmol/L.After several days in culture, calcium deposition in cells was measured by alizarin red S staining.The secretion of extracellular pyrophosphate was detected by measuring nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen(NADH) consumption of pyrophosphate-coupled enzyme reactions, which were monitored spectrophotometrically at 340 nm.Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to detect mRNA and protein expression of the human progressive ankylosis( ankh)gene.Human aortic smooth muscle cells were infected with the scramble control lentivirus and the sh- ankh lentivirus, respectively, to establish the control cell group and the ankh knockdown cell group.The effects of ankh knockdown on cell calcification were examined. Results:The calcification level in vascular smooth muscle cells increased in the high inorganic phosphorus group, compared with the control group[(65.00±2.11)ng/g vs.(12.39±0.38)ng/g, P<0.01)]. Compared with the high-phosphorus control group, lithium chloride evidently inhibited high phosphate-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification[(24.92±1.87)ng/g vs.(60.94±4.51)ng/g, P<0.01)]. Lithium chloride pretreatment clearly increased extracellular pyrophosphate levels under unstimulated conditions[(51.70±7.26)×10 -3mmol/g vs.(28.71±2.55)×10 -3mmol/g( P<0.01)]and under high phosphorus stimulation[(34.35±4.27)×10 -3mmol/g vs.(20.89±4.93)×10 -3mmol/g( P<0.05)], and increased the expression of ankh as well( P<0.01). In addition, ankh knockdown markedly enhanced the extent of inorganic phosphorus-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification(71.73±2.45 ng/g vs.56.19±3.59 ng/g, P<0.01). Conclusions:Lithium chloride inhibits high phosphorus-induced vascular smooth muscle cell calcification by enhancing the level of extracellular pyrophosphate via increased ankh expression.

Preliminary study on phonetic characteristics of patients with pulmonary nodules / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Pulmonary nodules (PNs) are one of the imaging manifestations of early lung cancer screening, which should receive more attention. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that voice changes occur in patients with pulmonary diseases. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in phonetic characteristics between patients with PNs and able-bodied persons.@*METHODS@#This study explores the phonetic characteristics of patients with PNs in order to provide a simpler and cheaper method for PN screening. It is a case-control study to explore the differences in phonetic characteristics between individuals with and without PNs. This study performed non-parametric statistics on acoustic parameters of vocalizations, collected from January 2017 to March 2018 in Shanghai, China, from these two groups; it explores the differences in third and fourth acoustic parameters between patients with PNs and a normal control group. At the same time, computed tomography (CT) scans, course of disease, combined disease and other risk factors of the patients were collected in the form of questionnaire. According to the grouping of risk factors, the phonetic characteristics of the patients with PNs were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#This study was comprised of 200 patients with PNs, as confirmed by CT, and 86 healthy people that served as a control group. Among patients with PNs, 43% had ground glass opacity, 32% had nodules with a diameter ≥ 8 mm, 19% had a history of smoking and 31% had hyperlipidemia. Compared with the normal group, there were statistically significant differences in pitch, intensity and shimmer in patients with PNs. Among patients with PNs, patients with diameters ≥ 8 mm had a significantly higher third formant. There was a significant difference in intensity, fourth formant and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) between smoking and non-smoking patients. Compared with non-hyperlipidemia patients, the pitch, jitter and shimmer of patients with PNs and hyperlipidemia were higher and the HNR was lower; these differences were statistically significant.@*CONCLUSION@#This measurable changes in vocalizations can be in patients with PNs. Patients with PNs had lower and weaker voices. The size of PNs had an effect on the phonetic formant. Smoking may contribute to damage to the voice and formant changes. Voice damage is more pronounced in individuals who have PNs accompanied by hyperlipidemia.

Psychosexual health among students during pubertal transition and associated family factors / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate psychosexual health of students during pubertal transition in Taizhou and explore the influence of family factors.@*Methods@#A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 215 students in senior grades of primary school, junior and senior high schools in Taizhou by stratified cluster sampling.@*Results@#The average score of adolescents sexual and mental health questionnaire was (3.82±0.52), the sexual knowledge score was (3.31±1.00) and the score of sexual adaptation was (4.29±0.68). Sexual attitude and sexual control among female students were significantly better than male students (t=4.53,6.96，P<0.01). The four dimensions of physiological knowledge, sexual knowledge, sexual concept and self-adaptation made significant progress with the improvement increased with educational background(F=157.18，85.18，85.96，65.54，P<0.01). The parent-child relationship, parental sex education, the only child in the family, education background of parents, family economic status and the long-term separation from parents in early childhood had predictive effects on the development of puberty students’ psychosexual health (P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Students during pubertal transition in Taizhou show moderate level of psychosexual health. Schools should strengthen sexual knowledge education.In order to promote students’ psychosexual health, more attention should be paid to the influence of family factors.

Prevalence and influencing factors of dyslipidemia among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in rural communities of Zhejiang Province / 预防医学

Objective@#To learn the prevalence of dyslipidemia and its influencing factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in rural areas of Zhejiang Province, and to provide evidence for dyslipidemia control.@* Methods@#A sample of 10 343 patients with T2DM managed by communities from three counties (Jiashan,Suichang and Yongkang) were recruited. Through the residents’ health record system and specific investigation, demographic features,physical examination results of blood pressure,height, weight, waist circumstance (WC), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c),total cholesterol (TC),triglyceride (TG),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were collected to analyze the spectrum of dyslipidemia. A logistic regression model was established to explore the associated factors of dyslipidemia. @*Results @#The prevalence rate of dyslipidemia among the patients with T2DM in rural communities was 66.91%. The prevalence rates of higher level of TC, TG, LDL-C were 41.76%, 41.28%, 15.89%, respectively, while the prevalence rateof lower level of HDL-C was 16.92%. The prevalence rates of purely high TC,high TC with TG and purely high TG were 11.84%,11.75% and 11.47%,respectively. Higher level of TG with lower level of HDL-C was common in males (11.32%) and higher level of TC with TG was common in females (14.60%). The results from multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that females(OR=1.499,95%CI:1.352-1.663),age(OR=0.992,95%CI:0.988-0.996),poor control of HbA1c(OR=1.241,95%CI:1.141-1.351), abdominal obesity(OR=1.169,95%CI:1.064-1.285),overweight(OR=1.384,95%CI:1.257-1.524)and obesity(OR=1.582,95%CI:1.352-1.852)were associated with dyslipidemia. @*Conclusions@#The prevalence of dyslipidemia is relatively higher among the patients with T2DM in rural communities of Zhejiang Province. Higher level of TC and TG contributed to most dyslipidemia. The patients with T2DM who are females,have poor control of plasma glucose and suffer from obesity should be under surveillance.

PPD results after 3-6 years of BCG vaccination and its effect on latent tuberculosis infection in children / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the results of tuberculin skin test (PPD) in preschool children after the vaccination of BCG, and to analyze the effect of BCG vaccination on latent tuberculosis infection in children.@*Methods@#From January to November 2018, a total of 1 359 preschool children from 14 kindergartens in 8 districts and cities of Jiangsu Province were selected for tuberculin test(PPD), and chest X-ray examination was performed on children with strong PPD results.@*Results@#The positive rate of PPD in preschool children in Jiangsu Province was 23.33%, of which strong positive and moderate positive (PPD≥10 mm) were totaled 6.47%. There were 149 boys (21.29%) with PPD positive reactions and 168 girls(25.50%) with PPD positive reactions, and differences of PPD positive reactions with different genders were of no statistical significance (χ2=3.36, P>0.05) And there were 201 children (25.35%) with PPD positive reactions in northern Jiangsu, 116 children (20.50%) with PPD positive reactions in southern Jiangsu. There were significant differences in the results of PPD positive and negative reactions between different regions(χ2=4.35, P<0.05). There was 1 case of PPD positive reactions among 3-year-old children(0.71%), 19 cases among 4-year-old children(3.89%), 31 cases among 5-year-old children(8.96%), and 37 cases among 6-year-old children(9.63%), and the differences of PPD positive reactions of different age groups were of statistical significance(χ2=21.69, P<0.01).@*Conclusion@#The positive rate of PPD in preschool children in Jiangsu Province is very low, indicating that PPD can be used as a detection method for latent infection in children. The overall positive rate of PPD in preschool children in Jiangsu Province is also low, and appropriate measures should be taken to protect susceptible children and effectively prevent and control childhood tuberculosis.