A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture combined with Tuina in the treatment of insomnia.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a sleep disorder with insufficient sleep time or/and poor sleep quality. Relevant epidemiological studies have shown that insomnia symptoms occur in about 35% to 50% of the adult population, and it is one of the most common diseases in the elderly. Patients who often suffer from insomnia are prone to symptoms such as fatigue, weakened cognitive function, depression, and even mental illness, which bring serious physical and mental damage to individuals and a heavy economic burden to social medical care and families. Traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine have their own advantages in the treatment of insomnia, and there is currently a lack of reports on the comparison of acupuncture combined with massage and conventional medicine. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined with Tuina in the treatment of insomnia. METHODS: Search for clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture combined with Tuina in the treatment of insomnia from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang Database, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. The RevMan5.4 software was used for Meta- analysis after literature screening, data extraction and quality evaluation. RESULTS: A total of 29 studies were included with a total of 2688 cases. Compared with drugs or acupuncture alone, acupuncture combined with Tuina has advantages in the total clinical effectiveness, as well as the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Statistical Self-Rating Anxiety Scale score (SAS) (OR = 3.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] [2.77, 4.66], Z = 9.62 [P < .00001]) (MD = -2.44, 95% CI [-2.93, -1.95], Z = 9.72 [P < .00001]) (MD = -8.42, 95% CI [-10.23, -6.61], Z = 9.09 [P < .00001]). There was no statistically significant difference in Statistical Self-rating Depression Scale score (SDS) (MD = -5.26, 95% CI [-11.29, 0.78], Z = 1.71 [P > .05]). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with Tuina has obvious clinical advantages in the treatment of insomnia. This result is expected to provide a reference for the clinical treatment of insomnia, but the long-term effect of clinical efficacy still needs further study.

Caudatin targets TNFAIP1/NF-κB and cytochrome c/caspase signaling to suppress tumor progression in human uterine cancer.

Caudatin, a C-21 steroidal glyco-side isolated from Chinese herbs, has a long history of use for the treatment of multiple diseases, including cancers. However, the precise mechanisms of actions of caudatin in human uterine cancer cells remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which caudatin inhibits cell growth in human cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa) and endometrial carcinoma cell line (HEC-1A). Treatment with caudatin promoted cell morphology change, inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and spheroid formation, and induced cell apoptosis. Our results showed that the expression of tumor necrosis factor; α-induced protein 1 (TNFAIP1) was downregulated in uterine cancer cells and tissues compared to paired adjacent non-tumor uterine tissues. Further molecular mechanism study showed that caudatin can directly regulate TNFAIP1 expression in a concentration-dependent manner and also associated with the downregulation of NF-κB and upregulation of BAX/BcL-2 ratio and caspase-3. Moreover, we found that overexpression of TNFAIP1 inhibits the growth and invasion, and induces apoptosis in uterine cancer cells through inhibition of the NF-κB pathway, suggesting that TNFAIP1 may act as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer. We found that caudatin inhibited tumorigenicity and upregulated TNFAIP1 in vivo. Taken together, caudatin impacts on cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis of uterine cancer cells by regulating several carcinogenesis-related processes, including a novel mechanism involving the targeting of TNFAIP1/NF-κB signaling. Our findings provide new insights into understanding the anticancer mechanisms of caudatin in human uterine cancer therapy.

[Expression, purification and enzymatic characterization of adenylate kinase of Thermus thermophilus HB27 in Escherichia coli].

OBJECTIVE: To clone the gene encoding adenylate kinase of Thermus thermophilus HB27, an extremely thermophilic bacterium, express the protein in Escherichia coil and study the enzymatic characterization. METHODS: The DNA fragment encoding adenylate kinase was obtained by PCR from the total DNA of Thermus thermophilus HB27 and cloned into the vector pET-28a. The recombinant plasmid was identified by PCR, restriction endonuclease digestion and sequence analysis. Enzymatic characterization of the expressed protein was carried out using spectrophotometric assays. RESULTS: The gene coding for adenylate kinase from Thermus thermophilus HB27 was cloned and the protein was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The optimum reactive pH and temperature for the enzyme were 8.5 and 90 degrees celsius;, respectively. The Km of the recombinant adenylate kinase for ADP was 68.6 micromol/L, with an V(max)ADP of 0.294 mmol/(L.min). Under the condition of environmental temperature at 70, 80, 90, or 100 degrees celsius; for 7 h, the recombinant adenylate kinase still retained the enzymatic activity with high thermostability. AP5A, a specific adenylate kinase inhibitor, inhibited the enzymatic activity of the protein by 70% at the concentration of 2.0 mmol/L, with a Ki value of 46.39 micromol/L for ADP. CONCLUSION: The gene coding for adenylate kinase of Thermus thermophilus HB27 has been successfully cloned and expressed in Escherichia coil, which provides the basis for potential use of the highly thermostable recombinant HB27 adenylate kinase.