Effects of Aromatherapy on Physical and Mental Health of Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy and/or Chemotherapy: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUP: Currently, aromatherapy is being increasingly utilized in clinical practice, particularly in managing the side effects associated with radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy. However, it remains to be established whether aromatherapy can effectively alleviate these symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of aromatherapy on the physical and mental health of patients with cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. METHODS: Seven databases were researched from inception until September 29, 2023, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, China Biology Medicine disc and VIP Chinese Medical Journal Database. Review Manager version 5.3 was utilized for data analysis. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool RoB2 was employed to evaluate the quality of the literature included in the study. Evidence quality rating was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach through the GRADEpro GDT online tool. RESULTS: Nineteen studies involving 1,541 patients were included. Aromatherapy can alleviate nausea [relative risk (RR)=0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53 to 0.78, P<0.05, I2=46%; standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.86, 95% CI: -1.21 to -0.51, P<0.05, I2=64%] and vomiting (RR=0.54, 95% CI: 0.42 to 0.69, P<0.05, I2=35%; SMD=-1.28, 95% CI: -1.52 to -1.03, P<0.05, I2=92%), improve sleep disorders [mean difference (MD)=-3.39, 95% CI: -3.95 to -2.84, P<0.05, I2=0%], relieve pain (SMD=-1.58, 95% CI: -1.96 to -1.21, P<0.05, I2=0%), mitigate fatigue (SMD=-1.28, 95% CI: -2.44 to -0.11, P<0.05, I2=93%) and enhance quality of life (SMD=0.50, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.79, P<0.05, I2=0%) in cancer patients after radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but it may not have a significant effect on anxiety. The risk of bias was high in the included studies using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool RoB2, and no studies were considered to be of high grade according to the GRADE system. CONCLUSIONS: Aromatherapy is an efficacious, safe and economic adjunctive therapy for cancer patients, which can mend the physical symptoms and mental health of cancer patients. However, more high-quality studies are needed to verify it. (PROSPERO registration No. CRD42023390171).

Zuogui Pill Promotes Neurite Outgrowth by Regulating OPN/ IGF-1R/PTEN and Downstream mTOR Signaling Pathway.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Zuogui pill (ZGP) is the traditional Chinese medicine for tonifying kidney yin. Clinical and animal studies have shown that ZGP effectively enhances neurologic impairment after ischemic stroke, which may be related to promoting neurite outgrowth. This investigation aimed to prove the pro-neurite outgrowth impact of ZGP and define the underlying molecular pathway in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The major biochemical components in the ZGP were investigated using UPLC-QTOF-MS. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) was employed to stimulate SH-SY5Y cells to develop into mature neurons, followed by oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation damage (OGD/R). Then the cells were supplemented with different concentrations of ZGP, and cell viability was identified by CCK-8. The neurites' outgrowth abilities were detected by wound healing test, while immunofluorescence staining of ß-III-tubulin was used to label neurites and measure their length. Western blot was employed to discover the changes in protein levels. RESULTS: ZGP improved the cell viability of differentiated SH-SY5Y cells following OGD/R damage, according to the CCK-8 assay. Concurrently, ZGP promoted neurite outgrowth and improved neurite crossing and migration ability. Protein expression analysis showed that ZGP upregulated the expression of GAP43, OPN, p-IGF-1R, mTOR, and p-S6 proteins but downregulated the expression of PTEN protein. Blocking assay with IGF-1R specific inhibitor Linstinib suggested IGF-1R mediated mTOR signaling pathway was involved in the pro-neurite outgrowth effect of ZGP. CONCLUSION: This work illustrated the molecular mechanism underpinning ZGP's action and offered more proof of its ability to promote neurite outgrowth and regeneration following ischemic stroke.

Whole-genome resequencing analysis of the medicinal plant Gardenia jasminoides.

Background: Gardenia jasminoides is a species of Chinese medicinal plant, which has high medicinal and economic value and rich genetic diversity, but the study on its genetic diversity is far not enough. Methods: In this study, one wild and one cultivated gardenia materials were resequenced using IlluminaHiSeq sequencing platform and the data were evaluated to understand the genomic characteristics of G. jasminoides. Results: After data analysis, the results showed that clean data of 11.77G, Q30 reached 90.96%. The average comparison rate between the sample and reference genome was 96.08%, the average coverage depth was 15X, and the genome coverage was 85.93%. The SNPs of FD and YP1 were identified, and 3,087,176 and 3,241,416 SNPs were developed, respectively. In addition, SNP non-synonymous mutation, InDel mutation, SV mutation and CNV mutation were also detected between the sample and the reference genome, and KEGG, GO and COG database annotations were made for genes with DNA level variation. The structural gene variation in the biosynthetic pathway of crocin and gardenia, the main medicinal substance of G. jasminoides was further explored, which provided basic data for molecular breeding and genetic diversity of G. jasminoides in the future.

Moderate precipitation reduction enhances nitrogen cycling and soil nitrous oxide emissions in a semi-arid grassland.

The ongoing climate change is predicted to induce more weather extremes such as frequent drought and high-intensity precipitation events, causing more severe drying-rewetting cycles in soil. However, it remains largely unknown how these changes will affect soil nitrogen (N)-cycling microbes and the emissions of potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2 O). Utilizing a field precipitation manipulation in a semi-arid grassland on the Loess Plateau, we examined how precipitation reduction (ca. -30%) influenced soil N2 O and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions in field, and in a complementary lab-incubation with simulated drying-rewetting cycles. Results obtained showed that precipitation reduction stimulated plant root turnover and N-cycling processes, enhancing soil N2 O and CO2 emissions in field, particularly after each rainfall event. Also, high-resolution isotopic analyses revealed that field soil N2 O emissions primarily originated from nitrification process. The incubation experiment further showed that in field soils under precipitation reduction, drying-rewetting stimulated N mineralization and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in favor of genera Nitrosospira and Nitrosovibrio, increasing nitrification and N2 O emissions. These findings suggest that moderate precipitation reduction, accompanied with changes in drying-rewetting cycles under future precipitation scenarios, may enhance N cycling processes and soil N2 O emissions in semi-arid ecosystems, feeding positively back to the ongoing climate change.

Interaction mechanism between soybean protein isolate and citrus pectin.

In this study, citrus pectin (CP) and soybean protein isolate (SPI) were used as raw materials to prepare a complex. The interaction mechanism and structural changes between SPI and CP were deeply studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier infrared spectroscopy. The results show that CP has a strong quenching effect on SPI's endogenous fluorescence, and with the addition of CP, the endogenous fluorescence intensity of SPI decreased from 13,565.2 to 6067.3. The CP quenching of SPI is static quenching, and the number of combined bits is 1.26. The results of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra showed that the addition of CP reduced the polarity of SPI amino acid residue microenvironment and changed the protein structure. Hydrophobic interaction exists between CP and SPI. The results of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra showed that the addition of CP reduced the polarity of the amino acid residue microenvironment of SPI and changed the protein structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that CP could change the secondary structure of SPI by decreasing the α-helix and ß-sheet, increasing ß-rotation and irregular curl, destroying the ordered structure of SPI and increasing the polarity of the amino acids exposed to the solution. The microstructure analysis shows that SPI-CP composite system has honeycomb structure and dense pores. From the perspective of reaction thermodynamics, it was found that the addition of CP could improve the thermal stability of SPI and increase the denaturation temperature of SPI from 119.73 to 132.97°C. This study can provide a theoretical basis for the preparation of protein-pectin complexes and provides reference for their application in food grade gels and Pickering emulsions.

Effect of ROS generation on highly dispersed 4-layer O-Ti7O13 nanosheets toward tumor synergistic therapy.

Ultra-thin two-dimensional nanosheets have attracted increasing attention due to their great application prospects in nanomaterial science and biomedicine. Herein, we report the preparation of exfoliated raw and oxidized 4-layer Ti7O13 (O-Ti7O13) and their ability to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). The results show that O-Ti7O13 nanosheets can effectively produce ROS induced by X-ray irradiation. The 4-layer nanosheets can quickly load doxorubicin (DOX) within 5 min with a high loading rate to obtain a novel nanodrug system through their electrostatic adsorption capacity, and they exhibit a sustained release behavior. In this way, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and photodynamic therapy effectively combine for cancer synergistic treatment. We evaluated the cytotoxicity, cellular uptake and intracellular location of the O-Ti7O13 nanosheet-based drug delivery system in A549 lung cancer cells. Our results show that the O-Ti7O13/DOX complex is more cytotoxic to A549 cells than free DOX since a low concentration of loaded DOX (10 µg/mL) with a low dose of X-rays can cause the complete apoptosis of tumor cells. This work reveals that the therapeutic effect of DOX-loaded O-Ti7O13 nanosheets is strongly dependent on their loading mode, and the effects of chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy are enhanced under X-ray irradiation, which allows O-Ti7O13 nanosheet use as a photo-activated drug carrier. This work provides a new strategy for preparing 2D metal oxide nanosheets toward biomedical applications.

SiO2-coated magnetic nano-Fe3O4 photosensitizer for synergistic tumour-targeted chemo-photothermal therapy.

In this study, we integrated chemotherapy and photothermal therapy in a magnetically targeted doxorubicin-loaded Fe3O4@SiO2 nanodrug system. Size-controllable magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized via a solvothermal method and a modified Stǒber method. A molecular anticancer drug, namely, doxorubicin, was loaded onto Fe3O4@SiO2 nanocomposites to form a magnetically targeted drug delivery system. This drug delivery system exhibits pH-sensitive effects on drug loading and release. The drug loading rate in a neutral environment is higher than that in an acidic environment; the opposite property is observed for the release rate. In addition, the magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanocomposites exhibit a satisfactory photothermal effect under NIR (808 nm) irradiation. The temperature can increase to 55 °C after only 10 min of irradiation, which effectively induces apoptosis of cancer cells in vitro. The cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of Fe3O4@SiO2@DOX nanodrugs were evaluated in A549 lung cancer cells. After treatment with Fe3O4@SiO2@DOX that contains only 10 µg/mL of DOX, 82.8% of A549 lung cancer cells can be killed. Furthermore, 81.3% of A549 lung cancer cells are killed after incubation with Fe3O4@SiO2@DOX that contains only 0.5 µg/mL of DOX and 15 min of NIR irradiation, thereby suggesting an excellent synergistic chemo-photothermal effect in tumour therapy. Our results suggest a new approach for the synthesis of a multifunctional, highly targeted, size-controlled nanodrug for tumour synergistic therapy.