The effect of physical interventions on pain control after orthodontic treatment: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Pain is a frequent adverse reaction during orthodontic treatment, which can significantly reduce treatment compliance and compromise the expected treatment effect. Physical interventions have been used to alleviate pain after orthodontic treatment, but their effectiveness is controversial. This study used a network meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of various physical interventions typically used in managing pain after orthodontic treatment, with a view to provide evidence-based recommendations for representative interventions for orthodontic pain relief during peak pain intensity. METHODS: A systematic search of six electronic databases, from their respective inception dates, was conducted to identify relevant literature on the efficacy of various typical physical interventions for managing pain after orthodontic treatment. Literature screening was performed according to the Cochrane System Evaluator's Manual. Stata 16.0 was used to assess heterogeneity, inconsistency, publication bias, and sensitivity to generate an evidence network diagram and conduct a network meta-analysis. RESULTS: In total, 771 articles were reviewed to collect literature on interventions, including low-level laser therapy (LLLT), vibration, acupuncture, and chewing. Of these, 28 studies using a visual analog scale (VAS) as an outcome indicator were included. The results showed that LLLT, vibration, acupuncture, and chewing effectively relieved the pain symptoms in patients after orthodontic treatment. At 24 h post-treatment, LLLT (surface under the cumulative ranking curve [SUCRA] = 80.8) and vibration (SUCRA = 71.1) were the most effective interventions. After 48 h of treatment, acupuncture (SUCRA = 89.6) showed a definite advantage as the best intervention. CONCLUSION: LLLT, vibration, acupuncture, and chewing can alleviate pain associated with orthodontic treatment. Among these interventions, acupuncture was found to be the most effective at 48 h after orthodontic treatment. In addition, acupuncture demonstrated long-lasting and stable pain-relieving effects. However, further studies are needed to determine the most suitable equipment-specific parameters for acupuncture in relieving pain associated with orthodontic treatment.

Shufeng Jiedu capsule ameliorates olfactory dysfunction via the AMPK/mTOR autophagy pathway in a mouse model of allergic rhinitis.

BACKGROUND: Shufeng Jiedu capsule (SFJDC) has been widely used as a conventional Chinese pharmaceutical agent for various upper respiratory infections, including acute lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome and allergic rhinitis (AR). However, its mechanism in AR remains unclear. PURPOSE: The present study aimed to decipher the antiallergic inflammatory effect of SFJDC in an AR model with olfactory dysfunction. Specifically, we wanted to explore whether SFJDC can improve the olfactory abnormality in AR mice and reduce the levels of inflammatory factors in the olfactory epithelium (OE) and olfactory bulb (OB). METHODS: To address the above issues, we constructed an AR model using C57BL/6 mice, which were sensitised and challenged with ovalbumin (OVA) by intraperitoneal injection. SFJDC (0.045 or 0.18 g/kg) was delivered by gavage administration 1 h prior to the intraperitoneal injection of OVA. The control mice received saline alone. Then, the animals were assessed according to the presence of nasal symptoms and nasal inflammation, and a buried food test was used to evaluate olfactory function. The levels of proteins involved in the AMPK/mTOR autophagy pathway in the OE and OB were investigated by western blotting and fluorescence staining. RESULTS: After OVA induction of AR and drug administration, we found that SFJDC significantly ameliorated the nasal symptoms and allergic inflammatory reaction of the nasal mucosa superior to cetirizine. A behavioural test indicated that the mice with AR had olfactory dysfunction, and SFJDC can ameliorate this behavior deficiency. Meanwhile, SFJDC clearly reduced the neuroinflammation level in OE tissue. In addition, SFJDC increased p-mTOR and decreased p-AMPK, beclin1, LC3 and cleaved caspase-3 levels in the OE. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to antibacterial and antiviral activities, SFJDC has marked anti-inflammatory effects in AR mice. Its mechanism of action in the nasal cavity involves inhibition of upregulated anti-inflammatory cytokines, modulation of autophagy and apoptosis levels and regulation of autophagy through the AMPK/mTOR pathway in the OE tissue of AR mice. Hence, SFJDC is a promising drug for AR, and clinical trials should further validate the therapeutic impact of SFJDC on AR with olfactory dysfunction.

An MYB Transcription Factor Modulates Panax notoginseng Resistance Against the Root Rot Pathogen Fusarium solani by Regulating the Jasmonate Acid Signaling Pathway and Photosynthesis.

Root rot of Panax notoginseng, a precious Chinese medicinal plant, seriously impacts its sustainable production. However, the molecular regulatory mechanisms employed by P. notoginseng against root rot pathogens, including Fusarium solani, are still unclear. In this study, the PnMYB2 gene was isolated, and its expression was affected by independent treatments with four signaling molecules (methyl jasmonate, ethephon, salicylic acid, and hydrogen peroxide) as assessed by quantitative real-time PCR. Moreover, the PnMYB2 expression level was induced by F. solani infection. The PnMYB2 protein localized to the nucleus and may function as a transcription factor. When overexpressed in transgenic tobacco, the PnMYB2 gene conferred resistance to F. solani. Jasmonic acid (JA) metabolism and disease resistance-related genes were induced in the transgenic tobacco, and the JA content significantly increased compared with in the wild type. Additionally, transcriptome sequencing, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes annotation enrichment, and metabolic pathway analyses of the differentially expressed genes in the transgenic tobacco revealed that JA metabolic, photosynthetic, and defense response-related pathways were activated. In summary, PnMYB2 is an important transcription factor in the defense responses of P. notoginseng against root rot pathogens that acts by regulating JA signaling, photosynthesis, and disease-resistance genes.

Chemical constituents from the stems of Acanthopanax senticosus with their inhibitory activity on α-glucosidase.

A new aurone named (2Z)-2-[(4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl) methylene]-6-methoxy-7-prenyl-3(2H)-benzofurane (1), together with five known compounds (2-6), were isolated from EtOAc-soluble extract of the stems of Acanthopanax senticosus. The chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. All isolates were evaluated for in vitro inhibitory activity on α-glucosidase. Among them, compounds 1 and 4 were found to exhibit moderate inhibitory activity on α-glucosidase with IC50 value of 64.1 ± 1.2 and 48.9 ± 1.1 µM, respectively.[Formula: see text].

A Pathogenesis-Related Protein-Like Gene Is Involved in the Panax notoginseng Defense Response to the Root Rot Pathogen.

Pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) are a class of proteins that accumulate in response to biotic and abiotic stresses to protect plants from damage. In this study, a gene encoding a PR-like protein (PnPR-like) was isolated from Panax notoginseng, which is used in traditional Chinese herbal medicines. An analysis of gene expression in P. notoginseng indicated that PnPR-like was responsive to an infection by the root rot pathogen Fusarium solani. The expression of this gene was induced by several signaling molecules, including methyl jasmonate, ethephon, hydrogen peroxide, and salicylic acid. The PnPR-like-GFP fusion gene was transiently expressed in onion (Allium cepa) epidermal cells, which revealed that PnPR-like is a cytoplasmic protein. The purified recombinant PnPR-like protein expressed in Escherichia coli had antifungal effects on F. solani and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides as well as inhibited the spore germination of F. solani. Additionally, the in vitro ribonuclease (RNase) activity of the recombinant PnPR-like protein was revealed. The PnPR-like gene was inserted into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) to verify its function. The gene was stably expressed in T2 transgenic tobacco plants, which exhibited more RNase activity and greater disease resistance than the wild-type tobacco. Moreover, the transient expression of hairpin RNA targeting PnPR-like in P. notoginseng leaves increased the susceptibility to F. solani and decreased the PnPR-like expression level. In conclusion, the cytoplasmic protein PnPR-like, which has RNase activity, is involved in the P. notoginseng defense response to F. solani.

Effect of blindness on mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones, consonants, and vowels.

According to the hypothesis of auditory compensation, blind listeners are more sensitive to auditory input than sighted listeners. In the current study, we employed the passive oddball paradigm to investigate the effect of blindness on listeners' mismatch responses to Mandarin lexical tones, consonants, and vowels. Twelve blind and twelve sighted age- and verbal IQ-matched adults with normal hearing participated in this study. Our results indicated that blind listeners possibly had a more efficient pre-attentive processing (shorter MMN peak latency) of lexical tones in the tone-dominant hemisphere (i.e., the right hemisphere); and that they exhibited greater sensitivity (larger MMN amplitude) when processing phonemes (consonants and/or vowels) at the pre-attentive stage in both hemispheres compared with sighted individuals. However, we observed longer MMN and P3a peak latencies during phoneme processing in the blind versus control participants, indicating that blind listeners may be slower in terms of pre-attentive processing and involuntary attention switching when processing phonemes. This could be due to a lack of visual experience in the production and perception of phonemes. In a word, the current study revealed a two-sided influence of blindness on Mandarin speech perception.

Selenium supplementation shows protective effects against patulin-induced brain damage in mice via increases in GSH-related enzyme activity and expression.

AIMS: This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of selenium supplementation on patulin-induced neurotoxicity. MAIN METHODS: Mice were subjected to patulin for 8 weeks. Sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) and selenium-methionine (Se-Met) were supplemented with the diet, and we investigated the effects of selenium on patulin-induced neurotoxicity. The animals were randomly divided into 4 groups containing 6-8 mice each. The first group was used as a control, and only physiological saline (0.9%) was injected. The second group was treated with patulin (1mg/kg) intraperitoneally. The third group was treated with patulin (1mg/kg) along with a dietary supplementation of Na2SeO3 (0.2mg Se/kg of diet). The fourth group was treated with patulin (1mg/kg) plus Se-Met (0.2mg Se/kg of diet). KEY FINDINGS: Patulin treatment increased oxidative damage in the brain, as evidenced by a decrease in non-protein thiol and total thiol groups, along with significant increases in GSSG, reactive oxygen species, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and protein carbonyl levels. Moreover, the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase were inhibited with patulin treatment. Selenium supplementation significantly ameliorated these biological parameter changes. In addition, selenium treatments significantly increased the mRNA levels of GPx-1, GPx-4 and thioredoxin reductase. SIGNIFICANCE: Our data show that selenium supplementation increases the activity and expression of glutathione-related enzymes and offers significant protection against brain damage induced by patulin.

Genome rearrangement of influenza virus for anti-viral drug screening.

Rearrangement of the influenza A genome such that NS2 is expressed downstream of PB1 permits the insertion of a foreign gene in the NS gene segment. In this report, the genome rearranged strategy was extended to A/California/04/2009 (pH1N1), and Gaussia luciferase (GLuc) or GFP was expressed downstream of the full-length NS1 gene (designated GLucCa04 and GFPCa04, respectively). In growth kinetics studies, culture of amantadine sensitive GLucCa04 (Sens/GlucCa04) in the presence of amantadine significantly decreased GLuc expression and viral titers for 48 h post-infection (hpi). When Sens/GlucCa04 was subsequently used in an in vitro anti-viral screening assay, amantadine treatment significantly decreased GLuc expression from amantadine sensitive compared to amantadine resistant GLucCa04 (Res/GlucCa04) as early as 16 hpi. In in vivo screening studies, DBA mice were treated daily with amantadine from 1 day prior to infection and inoculated with either Sens/GlucCa04 or Res/GlucCa04 alone or as a co-infection with the parental strain. On days 3 and 5 post-infection, lung samples were collected and amantadine treatment was shown to decrease GLuc expression by two orders of magnitude (p<0.05) in Sens/GlucCa04 infected mice. Furthermore, while both Sens and Res/GlucCa04 were highly attenuated, addition of the parental strain to the inoculum yielded clinical disease indicative of GLuc expression and pulmonary viral titers. These findings indicate that the use of GLucCa04 can potentially accelerate in vitro and in vivo anti-viral screening by shortening the time required for virus detection.

Magnetic bead-based approach to monitoring of cigarette smoke-induced DNA oxidation damage and screening of natural protective compounds.

Cigarette smoking can damage DNA and induce spontaneous mutagenesis or carcinogenesis. Here, we describe a novel strategy for in situ monitoring of cigarette smoke-induced DNA oxidation damage and offer a method for screening natural compounds that protect DNA against tobacco smoke. The present protocol takes advantage of a fast and simple magnetic separation/mixing method and a highly sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) ELISA. The DNA immobilized on the magnetic beads was oxidized by the smoke in the absence or presence of natural compounds, and then oxidative DNA was conveniently held by magnetic force, whereas the complex tobacco smoke matrix and any remaining compounds were completely eliminated by extensive washing, and possible interferences were thus removed and oxidative damage was then sensitively monitored by CL ELISA. A library of 32 natural products was then screened and three were found to protect DNA from oxidative damage and thus may be promising compounds for the development of new drugs. Moreover, the protection effect of these three natural compounds against DNA oxidation damage was successfully classified by directly spiking them in the reference cigarettes. In addition, the potential to screen a mixture in a complex sample matrix, such as crude extracts, was also demonstrated, and hence the proposed technique can screen compounds within a complex matrix and enhance the screening throughput.