Acupoint catgut embedding advantage in treating gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (ACE-GERD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a highly prevalent disorder worldwide and developing effective treatment strategies for GERD is a clinical priority. GERD is associated with anxiety and depression. Several approaches have been developed to improve GERD, although effectiveness is limited. Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) is an established technique in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of anxiety and depression. This study will investigate the effects of ACE on anxiety, depression, acid reflux and heartburn in patients with GERD. METHODS: The ACE-GERD trial is a single-centre, prospective randomised controlled trial. 62 patients will be randomly assigned equally to the experimental and control groups. Patients will be treated with ACE or sham ACE. In the experimental group, absorbable polyglycolic acid sutures will be implanted at the acupoints using sterile disposable injection needles. The sham ACE treatment will exhibit similar surface characteristics but lack absorbable polyglycolic acid sutures. Treatments will be administered every 2 weeks for a period of 10 weeks. The main outcome measure is the Reflux Disease Questionnaire symptom score. Secondary outcomes are the endoscopic assessment, 24-hour pH/impedance monitoring test, oesophageal high-resolution manometer, Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire score, Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease Health-related Quality of Life, Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale scores. DISCUSSION: The ACE-GERD trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of ACE treatment as a therapeutic tool for improving anxiety, depression, acid reflux and heartburn in patients with GERD and to provide the evidence base for future clinical studies. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The trial has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine (ethics no. BF2023-113-01). Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific conferences and meetings. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2300074643.

Risk factors and prediction model for delayed bleeding after cold snare polypectomy: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Delayed bleeding (DB) is a serious complication after cold snare polypectomy (CSP) for polyps in the colon. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of DB after CSP and to develop a risk-scoring model for predicting DB. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in four Chinese medical institutions. 10650 patients underwent CSP from June 2019 to May 2023. The study analyzed the rate of DB and extracted the general clinical information and polyp-related information of patients with postoperative DB. As a control, non-DB patients who received CSP at the same 4 hospitals were analyzed. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to develop the prediction model. The model was further validated using a Kaplan-Meier log-rank analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) plot and risk plot. RESULTS: In our study, we found a 0.24% rate of DB and the risk factors were history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, antithrombotics use, antiplatelet use, anticoagulant use, abdominal operation, sigmoid colon lesion, hematoma, cold snare defect protrusion, polyp size, wound size, the grade of wound bleeding, and morphology of Ip. These factors were incorporated into the prediction model for DB after CSP. For 1, 3, and 5 days of bleeding, the AUC of the ROC curve was 0.912, 0.939, and 0.923, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that the high-risk group had a significantly higher risk of DB than the low-risk group. CONCLUSIONS: This study screened the risk factors and established a prediction model of DB after CSP. The results may help preventing and reducing the DB rate after CSP of colorectal polyps.

Non-targeted identification and risk assessment of unknown substances in disposable plastic tableware by GC-Orbitrap HRMS.

Disposable plastic tableware was widely used and it was particularly important to identify potential hazardous substances in it and evaluate the risk to humans health. In this study, 85 substances were identified in 60 samples (22 bowls, 20 sporks, and 18 straws) by methanol extraction and non-targeted analysis using GC-Orbitrap HRMS. Subsequently, 14 high-risk substances were further screened and their migration in the samples was measured in three food simulants. Finally, based on the proposed safety limit assessment scheme for EU- authorized and unauthorized substances, the risk assessment of exposure to high-risk substances in disposable plastic tableware was performed for three age groups. The results showed that the dibutyl phthalate and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in some samples exceeded the safety limit value. Overall, the risk of bowls was lower than spock and straws, and the potential exposure risk for young children was higher than that of adults and older children.

PrivShieldROS: An Extended Robot Operating System Integrating Ethereum and Interplanetary File System for Enhanced Sensor Data Privacy.

With the application of robotics in security monitoring, medical care, image analysis, and other high-privacy fields, vision sensor data in robotic operating systems (ROS) faces the challenge of enhancing secure storage and transmission. Recently, it has been proposed that the distributed advantages of blockchain be taken advantage of to improve the security of data in ROS. Still, it has limitations such as high latency and large resource consumption. To address these issues, this paper introduces PrivShieldROS, an extended robotic operating system developed by InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), blockchain, and HybridABEnc to enhance the confidentiality and security of vision sensor data in ROS. The system takes advantage of the decentralized nature of IPFS to enhance data availability and robustness while combining HybridABEnc for fine-grained access control. In addition, it ensures the security and confidentiality of the data distribution mechanism by using blockchain technology to store data content identifiers (CID) persistently. Finally, the effectiveness of this system is verified by three experiments. Compared with the state-of-the-art blockchain-extended ROS, PrivShieldROS shows improvements in key metrics. This paper has been partly submitted to IROS 2024.

Differential analysis of volatiles in five types of mosquito-repellent products by chemometrics combined with headspace GC-Orbitrap HRMS nontargeted detection.

This paper reports a method for the differential analysis of volatile chemical components in five novel types of mosquito-repellent products based on chemometrics combined with headspace gas chromatography-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (HS-GC-Orbitrap HRMS) nontargeted screening. A total of 358 unknown substances were detected in 30 samples under specific headspace conditions. Through principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis, 36 significantly different substances with variable importance in the projection values greater than 1 were further screened, and these substances were accurately identified by GC-Orbitrap HRMS. Most substances were found for the first time in mosquito-repellent products. The clustered heat map, Venn diagram and peak area histogram showed that the mosquito-repellent products had similar volatile composition, and the volatile species and content of different types of mosquito-repellent products significantly varied. Substances, such as eucalyptol, d-limonene, α-pinene, ß-pinene, dl-menthol and methyl salicylate, may be the main sources of odour in mosquito-repellent products. This work explored the characteristic volatile components in mosquito-repellent products and comparatively analysed the chemical composition of different types of products. It can be generalised to consumer products as a case study and has positive implications for promoting product quality and safety and improving production processes.

Case report: Confusing lung signs - is the source of the disease in the lungs or intestines?

At the time of the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, blurred lung signs suggested by imaging examination are particularly common. Novel coronavirus infection is mainly caused by respiratory symptoms. In the early stage of imaging examination, multiple small patchy shadows or ground glass shadows and invasive shadows of both lungs are dominant. While the pulmonary involvement in Crohn's disease (CD) is rare and not widely reported. For CD patients, the pulmonary manifestations do not belong to its routine symptoms. The lung involvement of CD patients is difficult to attract clinicians' attention. If CD patients have vague lung manifestations but have no response to routine treatment, they should consider the respiratory diseases related to CD. We describe a rare case of granulomatous inflammation associated with Crohn's disease. The patient do not respond to conventional treatment. The final treatment plan was CD immunomodulatory therapy (oral corticosteroids and azathioprine). After treatment, a review of the lung CT showed focal fibrosis and significant improvement in the lung lesions. It suggests that CD related respiratory diseases should be considered when CD patients have abnormal lung manifestations that do not respond to conventional treatment.

Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil from Allium tenuissimum L. Flowers.

Allium tenuissimum L. as a kind of food condiment in northern China, is popular among more and more consumers owning to its special flavor from the flower. However, its composition has not been widely studied. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition and antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of essential oil from Allium tenuissimum L. flowers. Gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was applied to detect the chemical composition. The antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens was evaluated by measuring the zones of inhibition (ZOI), the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), and the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC). The antioxidant effect was tested by the scavenging capacity on DPPH, ABTS+•, and •OH. The results of GC-MS showed that 72 volatile components were isolated and the structures 68 of them were identified, which comprised about 91.92% of the total composition of the oil. Among these compounds, terpenoid compounds and sulfurous compounds had the highest contents, especially dimethyl trisulfide. Our investigation demonstrated that the essential oil has better antimicrobial efficiency to Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Aspergillus flavus, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In addition, the essential oil had a strong stability to UV. Furthermore, the essential oil exhibited a high radical-scavenging effect on DPPH, ABTS+•, and •OH, which is significant for application in the food industry. In conclusion, the essential oil could be used as an inexpensive and natural antibacterial and antioxidant agent in food.

Hypertension as a rare adverse effect caused by infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Infliximab is an effective drug for the treatment of Crohn's disease. As a rare and unique adverse effect of infliximab, hypertension should be paid enough attention in clinical work. At present, there is no relevant case report. We report a case of a 38-year-old man with Crohn's disease who had no history of hypertension and developed hypertension symptoms during infliximab treatment. CASE DESCRIPTION: The patient was treated with 5 mg/kg infliximab on August 27, 2020. From August 27, 2020 to October 20, 2020, the patient underwent 3 treatment sessions. After each injection of infliximab, the patient's blood pressure became elevated, accompanied by dizziness and symmetrical numbness of both lower limbs. Amlodipine benazepril tablets were given orally to control blood pressure. Under close monitoring, 5 mg/kg infliximab was used again. After 10 min of infusion, blood pressure rose to 160/118 mmHg. Infusion was discontinued immediately, after which blood pressure decreased to normal. Adrenal computed tomography did not indicate adrenal hyperplasia or space occupying lesions, and the detection of hypertension related indicators in standing and supine position was abnormal. Since follow up, the patient has stopped using infliximab and has had no hypertension-related symptoms, even without antihypertensives. Measured blood pressure was within the normal range. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension, as one of the rare adverse reactions of infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease, should be paid enough attention.

Trace Element Changes in the Plasma of Autism Spectrum Disorder Children and the Positive Correlation Between Chromium and Vanadium.

Existing data demonstrate a significant correlation between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the status of biologically essential and toxic trace elements. However, there is still a lack of data on the steady state of trace elements in ASD. We performed a case-control study to explore the association between the risk of ASD and 23 trace elements in plasma. The results showed that children with ASD had considerably decreased lithium (Li), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), barium (Ba), mercury (Hg), and tin (Sn) levels when compared to their age- and sex-matched controls. Meanwhile, children with ASD had considerably increased plasma chromium (Cr) and vanadium (V) concentrations. We also divided each group into subgroups based on age and gender and created element-related networks for each subgroup. We detected significant element correlations within or between subgroups, as well as changes in correlations that included all elements examined. Finally, more element correlations were observed among males, which may open a new avenue for understanding the complicated process behind the sex ratio of children with ASD. Overall, our data revealed a novel relationship between elements and ASD, which may extend current understanding about ASD.

TiaochangXiaoliu decoction inhibits azomethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colorectal cancer by regulating immune response.

BACKGROUND: TiaochangXiaoliu decoction (TXD) has an anti-tumor effect in clinical practice. We further investigated the role of TXD in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Mouse models of CRC were induced by azomethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), with sixty male C57BL/6 mice randomly divided into six groups (10 mice/group): a control group, AOM/DSS group, TXD at low dose (L-dose) group, middle dose (M-dose) group, high dose (H-dose) group, and Celecoxib (Cel) group. The colorectum, serum, and plasma of mice in each group was collected following sacrifice to record the number of tumors. HE staining was utilized for observing pathological damage to colorectal tissues, ELISA used for detecting INF-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α expression in serum, and flow cytometry used for measuring the proportion of CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cells in plasma. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the AOM/DSS group showed tumor masses in the colorectum and different degrees of pathological damage in the intestine. AOM/DSS induction also resulted in an increase in INF-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α expression in serum, and a decrease in the percentages of CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cells(P<0.05). In comparison with the AOM/DSS group, with the increase of TXD dose, the number of tumors decreased significantly, and intestinal structure and mucosal inflammatory cell infiltration also improved. Further, in comparison with the AOM/DSS group, all three doses of TXD and celecoxib caused an increase in the contents of CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cells in plasma. In addition, in the M-dose, H-dose, and Cel groups, INF-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α expression showed a marked decrease, and the reduction in these two groups treated with TXD was dose-dependent. CONCLUSIONS: TXD leads to a marked reduction in the number of tumors and inflammatory cell infiltration in CRC mice. This decoction significantly decreased the levels of INF-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α in serum, and increased the contents of CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, and NK cell in the plasma of mice with AOM/DSS-induced CRC.

Tiaochang Xiaoyan extract tablets ameliorate chronic inflammation by activating macrophage lysosomes in chronic colitis rats.

BACKGROUND: Tiaochang Xiaoyan tablet (TCXYT) is a traditional Chinese medicine prescription derived from the Xianglian pill, which is a traditional Chinese medicine for treating chronic dysentery recorded in the Taiping Huimin Heji Bureau [1078-1085]. For many years, TCXYT has been used to treat ulcerative colitis, however, its therapeutic mechanism is still unclear. In the present study, we used colonic lamina propria macrophages (LPM) and mouse-derived macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cells as the research objects, with the aim of exploring the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of TCXYT on colitis. METHODS: We used 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) to induce a rat model of chronic colitis, and normal rats as the control. The disease activity index (DAI) and colonic histopathological changes of rats were used to evaluate the severity of colitis. Rats were divided into the control group; model group; high, middle-, and low-dose TCXYT group; and the hydroxychloroquine sulfate group. TCXYT was administered by gavage on the 3rd day after model replication and lasted for 7 days. The doses used for the high-, middle-, and low-dose TCXYT groups were 0.8, 0.4 and 0.2 g/kg, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the serum concentration of cytokines. Western blot was used to detect the expressions of Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88), interleukin (IL) receptor-associated kinase (IRAK) 1, and IRAK4 in colonic LPM and RAW264.7 cells. Immunofluorescence was used to detect lysosomal activity. The chemical constituents of TCXYT were separated and identified based on Q-Orbitrap high resolution LC/MS data. RESULTS: TCXYT promoted the repair of colonic mucosal injury, attenuated inflammation, increased lysosome activity in macrophages, and decreased the DAI in rats with colitis compared with those in the model group. TCXYT decreased the serum concentrations of IL-1ß and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), increased those of IL-4 and IL-10, and decreased the TLR9, MyD88, IRAK1, and IRAK4 protein levels in LPM and RAW264.7 cells compared to the model group. CONCLUSIONS: TCXYT could ameliorate colon inflammation and CD11c+ macrophage infiltration in rats with chronic colitis. This effect may be mediated by activating lysosomes in macrophages by inhibiting the TLR9/MyD88/IRAK signaling pathway.

Anti-inflammatory activity of 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid.

The oral anti-inflammatory activity of 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid (1) was compared with that of two other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, loxoprofen sodium (LOX) and diclofenac sodium (DIC). The activity of 1 against the inflammatory pain response induced by formalin was comparable to that of LOX, but weaker than that of DIC. In the monosodium urate (MSU)-induced acute inflammatory model, 1 showed stronger anti-inflammatory activity than both LOX and DIC. The ED50 value for 1 was 4.5 micromol/kg, while the values for LOX and DIC were 65 and 25 micromol/kg, respectively. Otherwise, the oral single-dose toxicity of 1 was investigated in both sexes of Sprague-Dawley rats administered once at a dose of 2000 mg/kg. 1 showed no death, clinical signs, changes in body weight or pathological findings related to the treatment. In addition, no mutagenicity was observed in the reverse mutation assay. Furthermore, 1 did not show any ulcerogenic activity at doses ranging from 30 to 300 mg/kg in rat. Thus, 1 might be considered to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent with no deleterious adverse effect.

Antinociceptive activities of alpha-truxillic acid and beta-truxinic acid derivatives.

Our recent study demonstrated that the dimeric structure of alpha-truxillic acid derivatives played an important role in the expression of their anti-inflammatory activities. In the present report, to investigate the correlation between the structure and anti-inflammatory activity, alpha-truxillic acid (1) and its derivatives (2-6), beta-truxinic acid (7) and its derivatives (8-10) were prepared, and their activities were evaluated in the formalin test. All compounds showed only weak or no activities against the neurogenic pain response, but demonstrated significant activities against the inflammatory pain response induced by formalin. The highest anti-inflammatory activities were observed for alpha-truxillic acid (1) and its derivative 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid (2). In addition, alpha-truxillic acid (1) and its derivative, alpha-truxillic acid bis(p-nitrophenyl)ester (5), showed higher anti-inflammatory activities than beta-truxinic acid (7) and the corresponding derivative (10). Furthermore, free carboxylic acids (1, 2) showed higher activities than their dimethyl esters (3, 4) and bis(p-nitrophenyl)ester (5). These results confirmed that the alpha-formation of dimeric structure and the free carboxylic acid were also important for the expression of anti-inflammatory activities. Otherwise, 4,4'-dichloro-beta-truxinic acid (8) had higher activity than its parent compound 7; furthermore, 1,3-dibenzoyl-2,4-di(4-chlorophenyl)cyclobutane (6) also showed strong anti-inflammatory activity. These results suggested that substituents in the phenyl groups were also important for the expression of anti-inflammatory activity. In order to gain information about their activity intensity, the anti-inflammatory activities of 2 and 4,4'-dichlorolated derivatives (6, 8) were compared with that of indomethacin (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) in the formalin test. As a result, compounds 2, 6 and 8 showed stronger anti-inflammatory activities than indomethacin. These results suggested that alpha-truxillic acid and beta-truxinic acid derivatives might be developed into a new type of anti-inflammatory drug.

Quantitative determination of incarvillateine in Incarvillea sinensis by solid phase extraction and high performance liquid chromatography.

Method for rapid quantitative analysis of incarvillateine in Incarvillea sinensis by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been developed. The sample preparation involves solid phase extraction (SPE) with a mixed-mode reversed-phase and cation-exchange cartridge. The linear calibration range for incarvillateine was 0.002-0.5 mg/ml. The limit of detection was 0.35 microg/ml (S/N=3). Intra- and interday precisions were less than 0.36% (n=6) and 1.61% (n=18), respectively. The recovery of incarvillateine was 97.61-102.44% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) ranging from 0.63 to 1.93% (n=3). This method was proposed as a simple, rapid and accurate method for quantitative determination of incarvillateine content in various samples of Incarvillea sinensis collected from different areas of China.

Pharmacological study on the novel antinociceptive agent, a novel monoterpene alkaloid from Incarvillea sinensis.

To determine the antinociceptive mechanism of incarvillateine (INCA), the opiate antagonists nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI), beta-funaltrexamine (beta-FNA) and naltrindole (NTI) were pretreated prior to its injection in a formalin test. The antinociceptive effect of INCA was antagonized by nor-BNI (kappa-receptor antagonist) and beta-FNA (mu-receptor antagonist), while NTI (delta-receptor antagonist) did not influence its effect. Furthermore, the antinociceptive effect of INCA was blocked by theophylline (THEO), an adenosine-receptor antagonist. These results suggested that the antinociceptive effect arose from the activation of mu-, kappa-receptors and adenosine-receptor.

Anti-inflammatory activities of alpha-truxillic acid derivatives and their monomer components.

The anti-inflammatory activities of alpha-truxillic acid (1) and 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid (2) as well as their monomer components (E)-cinnamic acid (3) and (E)-p-coumaric acid (4) were evaluated in the formalin test. alpha-Truxillic acid (1) and its derivative 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid (2) exhibited significant activity against inflammatory pain response, while their monomer components (E)-cinnamic acid (3) and (E)-p-coumaric acid (4) did not show any activity against either neurogenic or inflammatory pain responses induced by formalin in mice. These results suggested that the dimeric structure might play an important role for the expression of anti-inflammatory activity. Furthermore, in order to gain information on their potencies, their anti-inflammatory activities were compared with that of incarvillateine (5) which contains the same dimeric structure and showed more potent antinociceptive activity than morphine in the formalin test. The activities of alpha-truxillic acid (1) and 4,4'-dihydroxy-alpha-truxillic acid (2) at the dose of 40 mg/kg against inflammatory pain response were equal to that of incarvillateine at doses of 20 mg/kg.

A monoterpene alkaloid from incarvillea sinensis.

A novel monoterpene alkaloid, named incarvillateine E, possessing three moles of incarvilline moieties, has been obtained from the aerial parts of Incarvillea sinensis LAM. (Bignoniaceae). On the basis of spectroscopic evidence, the structure of incarvillateine E has been characterized.

[Inter-laboratory validation studies of analytical method for determination of chloramphenicol in royal jelly].

Inter-laboratory validation studies were conducted in 6 laboratories to validate the analytical method for determination of chloramphenicol in royal jelly. Chloramphenicol spiked at the levels of 0.1 and 0.5 ppm was analyzed. Mean recoveries were 89 and 89%, reproducibility relative standard deviations (RSD(R)) were 10.5 and 6.8%, HORRAT(R) values were 0.5 and 0.4. Samples containing residues at the levels of 0.25 and 0.80 ppm were analyzed. Mean recoveries were 89 and 84%, RSD(R) were 9.8 and 12.3%, and HORRAT(R) values were 0.5 and 0.7. The determination limit was 0.05 ppm. These results show that this method has good performance.