Untargeted metabolomics analysis of serum and follicular fluid samples from women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder with well-established metabolic abnormalities. In the present study, untargeted metabolomics technology was applied to analyze the serum and follicular fluid samples from women with polycystic ovary syndrome and healthy controls using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). METHODS: Seventy samples for PCOS analysis were collected in hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Jinan, China), NMR was used as analytical technology and multivariate analysis was applied to analyze metabolomics difference in PCOS and healthy controls. RESULTS: Significant metabolic differences were found in both serum and follicular fluid samples with orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Three discriminated metabolites (1-Methylhistidine, threonine and Citrate) in both serum and follicular fluid were altered in PCOS patients. Abnormal energy metabolism, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism were detected in PCOS patients. Furthermore, more significantly changed amino acids were discovered in follicular fluid samples. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings would provide a resource for further investigations on metabolic disturbance in PCOS patients.

[Research progress on chemical constituents and biological activities of Arisaematis Rhizoma].

Arisaematis Rhizoma included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia is the dried tuber of Arisaema erubescens, A. heterophyllum or A. amurense in the family Araceae. This paper mainly focuses on the classification and summary of the chemical components and structures reported in recent years in the above three varieties of this medicinal material included in the pharmacopoeia, including alkaloids, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, lignans and benzene ring derivatives, steroids and terpenes, glycosides and esters, etc. Then we reviewed the reported biological activities of these chemical components, including cytotoxicity, antitumor activity, antibacterial activity, nematicidal activity, etc. Although there have been reports on the review of the chemical composition of the medicinal material, the structure and classification of the chemical composition in these reviews are not clear enough. This review provides a basis for the later study of the chemical composition of this medicinal material, especially the identification of the chemical structures. And most of the current reviews on the biological activity of this medicinal material are mainly for the crude extract. This paper mainly summarized the biological activity of related monomer compounds and expected to lay a foundation for the development of novel high-efficiency and low-toxicity active leading compounds from Arisaematis Rhizoma.

A New Method for Syndrome Classification of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Based on Data of Tongue and Pulse with Machine Learning.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the data characteristics of tongue and pulse of non-small-cell lung cancer with Qi deficiency syndrome and Yin deficiency syndrome, establish syndrome classification model based on data of tongue and pulse by using machine learning methods, and evaluate the feasibility of syndrome classification based on data of tongue and pulse. METHODS: We collected tongue and pulse of non-small-cell lung cancer patients with Qi deficiency syndrome (n = 163), patients with Yin deficiency syndrome (n = 174), and healthy controls (n = 185) using intelligent tongue diagnosis analysis instrument and pulse diagnosis analysis instrument, respectively. We described the characteristics and examined the correlation of data of tongue and pulse. Four machine learning methods, namely, random forest, logistic regression, support vector machine, and neural network, were used to establish the classification models based on symptom, tongue and pulse, and symptom and tongue and pulse, respectively. RESULTS: Significant difference indices of tongue diagnosis between Qi deficiency syndrome and Yin deficiency syndrome were TB-a, TB-S, TB-Cr, TC-a, TC-S, TC-Cr, perAll, and the tongue coating texture indices including TC-CON, TC-ASM, TC-MEAN, and TC-ENT. Significant difference indices of pulse diagnosis were t4 and t5. The classification performance of each model based on different datasets was as follows: tongue and pulse < symptom < symptom and tongue and pulse. The neural network model had a better classification performance for symptom and tongue and pulse datasets, with an area under the ROC curves and accuracy rate which were 0.9401 and 0.8806. CONCLUSIONS: It was feasible to use tongue data and pulse data as one of the objective diagnostic basis in Qi deficiency syndrome and Yin deficiency syndrome of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Magnetic stent hyperthermia for esophageal cancer: an in vitro investigation in the ECA-109 cell line.

Magnetic stent hyperthermia (MSH) is a novel approach for targeted thermotherapy for esophageal cancer, which is based on the mechanism that inductive heat can be generated by the esophageal stent upon exposure under an alternative magnetic field (AMF). A positive effect of MSH on esophageal cancer has been demonstrated, however, there is no study on the in vitro effects of heating treatment or of the effects of AMF exposure on human esophageal cancer cells. This study aimed to investigate the effect of MSH and of AMF exposure in esophageal cancer cells. Inductive heating characteristics of esophageal stents were assessed by exposing the stents under AMF. A rather rapid temperature rise of the Ni-Ti stent when subjected to AMF exposure was observed and the desired hyperthermic temperature could be controlled by adjusting the field parameter of the AMF. Human esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESCC) ECA-109 cells were divided into four groups: the control group, the water-bath heating group, the MSH group and the AMF exposure group. Hyperthermic temperatures were 43, 48 and 53˚C and the treatment time was in the range of 5-30 min. The MTT assay, apoptotic analysis and TUNEL staining were applied in the current investigation. Exposure of ECA-109 cells under AMF with a field intensity of 50 to 110 kA/m had negligible effect on cell viability, cell necrosis and apoptosis. Hyperthermia had a remarkable inhibitory effect on the cell viability and the effect was dependent on the thermal dose (temperature and time). The optimal thermal dose of MSH for ECA-109 cells was 48˚C for 20-30 min. The study also elucidated that there was a difference in the effects on cell necrosis and apoptosis between the heating mode of water bath and MSH. The data suggest that MSH may have clinical significance for esophageal cancer treatment.