The role of traditional Chinese medicine in postoperative wound complications of gastric cancer.

Due to the high risks of postoperative complications brought on by gastric cancer, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a commonly used therapy, has exerted its vital role in postoperative recovery care. In this sense, this meta-analysis was conducted to explore the related documents about TCM's impact on gastric cancer postoperative recovery. During the research, we explored a total of 1549 results from databases PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science (WoS). Thirty-two clinical randomized trials (RCTs) were then selected and analysed for this meta-analysis by using the software RevMan 5.4 (under PRISMA 2020 regulations), with a population of 3178 patients. Data prove that TCM therapy reduced the risks for postoperative complications exposure by an estimated average of 19% (95% CI). Among the complications, TCM therapy suppressed the risks of wound infection and incisional infections by 53% and 48% respectively. Meanwhile, the patient's wound healing duration exhibited a significant reduction compared to those without TCM treatment, with a difference at around 0.74 days (95% CI). TCM also exerted its potential to strengthen the patient's immune and health conditions, leading to a significantly promoted gastrointestinal function in the patients with a shorter duration to release first exhaustion and defecation compared to those with no TCM therapy. In addition, similar promoted phenomena also exist in those patients with TCM therapy in terms of their immunity and nutritional conditions. These facts all indicate a positive impact of TCM therapy in clinical applications.

Evaluating traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Jie Geng and Huang Qi combination on reducing surgical site infections in colorectal cancer surgeries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Postoperative wound infections (PWIs) pose a significant challenge in colorectal cancer surgeries, leading to prolonged hospital stays and increased morbidity. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combination of Jie Geng and Huang Qi in reducing PWIs following colorectal cancer surgeries. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, we focused on seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 1256 patients, examining the incidence of PWIs within 30 days post-surgery, alongside secondary outcomes such as length of hospital stay and antibiotic use. The analysis revealed a significant reduction in PWI incidence in the TCM-treated group compared to controls, with a Risk Ratio of 0.21 (95% CI: 0.14 to 0.30, p < 0.01), a notable decrease in hospital stay (Mean Difference: 1.2 days, 95% CI: 0.15 to 1.28 days, p < 0.01) and a significant reduction in antibiotic use (Risk Ratio: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.36, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that Jie Geng and Huang Qi in TCM could be an effective adjunct in postoperative care for colorectal cancer surgeries, underscoring the need for further high-quality RCTs to substantiate these results and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Behavioral adaptation in an adoptive free-ranging female Tibetan macaque.

Adoption is an important form of allomaternal care in nonhuman primates, with implications for reproductive output and infant survival. Here, we report a kidnapping that became an adoption of a 3-week-old infant by a mother with her own infant in Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana). The adoptive mother nursed her "new" infant (allonursing), the first observation of this behavior in the species. The case provided a natural experiment for comparing how a female copes with a heavier burden of care for both her biological infant and another female's infant, compared to mothers caring for only one infant. Our results showed that the adoptive female spent more time foraging and resting, and less time in group social activity compared to females with a single infant. The adoptive female showed more instances of social bridging. Although the duration of post-bridging grooming received from group members decreased, the frequency of such grooming increased. We discuss this adoption with reference to possible factors involved in the evolution of adoption and allonursing behavior in Tibetan macaques.

Effects of Mother's Dominance Hierarchy on the Development of Social Relationships among Immature Tibetan Macaques.

During a relatively long period of growth, immature individuals rely on their mothers to obtain nutrition, and a good environment for learning social skills needed to cope with complex environments in adulthood. In this study, we collected the behavioral data of Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) to investigate the effects of females' social rank on the development of social relationships among their immature offspring from November to June 2021. The results show that there was no difference in the rate/type of social play and grooming among infants. However, among juveniles and adolescents, the higher their mother's social rank, the higher the rate of social play they participated in, and the more aggressive play they engaged in. Immatures with high-ranking mothers initiated more social play among each other. A similar pattern of playmates was found among juveniles/adolescents with middle-ranking and low-ranking mothers. We also found that immatures preferred immatures with higher-ranking mothers as grooming mates and initiated more grooming with immatures with higher-ranking mothers than with those with lower-ranking mothers. Our study suggests that females' social ranks affect the development of social relationships among their immature offspring. In despotic nonhuman primates, this indicates that the mother's dominance hierarchy would directly or indirectly influence the processes of participating in social interactions and choosing partnerships among immature individuals with age (i.e., infancy, juvenile, and adolescent periods).

Tibetan Macaques with Higher Social Centrality and More Relatives Emit More Frequent Visual Communication in Collective Decision-Making.

Animals on the move often communicate with each other through some specific postures. Previous studies have shown that social interaction plays a role in communication process. However, it is not clear whether the affinity of group members can affect visual communication. We studied a group of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan Mountain, China, and answered whether and how social centrality or relatives matter in visual signals during group movement using Tobit regression modeling. All individuals emitted the signals of back-glances and pauses in collective movement. The emission of two signals decreased with the number of participants increased. The back-glance and pause signals emitted by the participating individuals were stronger as the position moved backward in the group. Sex, age, and rank had no significant influence on back-glance and pause signals. Individuals with higher social centrality would emit more pause signals, but social centrality had no effect on the back-glance signal. Individuals with more relatives in the group had more back-glance signals, but this had no effect on the pause signal. This study verifies that social centrality and the number of relatives have effects on visual signals in Tibetan macaques. We provide insights into the relationship between communication behaviors and group cooperation in social animals.

Total polysaccharides of adlay bran (Coix lachryma-jobi L.) improve TNF-α induced epithelial barrier dysfunction in Caco-2 cells via inhibition of the inflammatory response.

Dysfunction of the intestinal epithelial barrier plays an important role in the pathogenesis of several intestinal diseases, including celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. The present research was carried out to investigate the protective effect of total polysaccharides of adlay bran (TPA) on TNF-α-evoked epithelial barrier dysfunction in Caco-2 cells. Caco-2 cells were treated with or without TPA in the absence or presence of TNF-α, and transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and Phenol Red flux were assayed to evaluate the intestinal epithelial barrier function. The results indicated that TPA suppressed the TNF-α-induced release of pro-inflammatory factors. Furthermore, TPA obviously assuaged both the increased paracellular permeability and the decrease of TEER in TNF-α-challenged Caco-2 cells. Furthermore, TPA obviously assuaged TNF-α-evoked up-regulation of IL-8 and IL-6 expression, down-regulation of occludin and ZO-3 expression, and markedly suppressed the activation and protein expression of NF-κB p65. Our results indicated that TPA assuages the TNF-α-evoked dysfunction of the intestinal epithelial barrier by inhibiting the NF-κB p65-mediated inflammatory response.

[Analysis of the intestinal infectious diseases occurring in the past ten years in a military unit].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the causes of intestinal infectious diseases in a military unit in the past 10 years. METHODS: The data of these diseases were acquired from a disease control and prevention center of a military command, including the epidemic cards, the first pages of medical record and investigation reports of the infectious diseases. Statistical analysis was performed after summarization of the data. RESULT: From 1992 to 2001, 3 612 cases of intestinal infectious diseases were reported in the military unit, most of which were bacillary dysentery (32.40%), hepatitis A (26.80%), typhoid (14.34%) and infectious diarrhea (7.34%), and 40.13% of them were intestinal infectious diseases. Fifteen epidemic outbreaks were documented from 1988 to 2002, including 9 arising from water and 6 from food contamination. CONCLUSION: Intestinal infectious diseases are seasonal and strict food and water hygiene should be maintained.