Characteristics of phenotypic antibiotic resistance of Helicobacter pylori and its correlation with genotypic antibiotic resistance: A retrospective study in Ningxia.

BACKGROUND: Geographic differences exist in the antibiotic resistance patterns of Helicobacter pylori. Personalized treatment regimens based on local or individual resistance data are essential. We evaluated the current status of H. pylori resistance in Ningxia, analyzed resistance-related factors, and assessed the concordance of phenotypic and genotypic resistance. METHODS: Strains were isolated from the gastric mucosa of patients infected with H. pylori in Ningxia and relevant clinical information was collected. Phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility assays (Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion) and antibiotic resistance gene detection (Sanger sequencing) were performed. RESULTS: We isolated 1955 H. pylori strains. The resistance rates of H. pylori to amoxicillin, levofloxacin, clarithromycin, and metronidazole were 0.9%, 42.4%, 40.4%, and 94.2%, respectively. Only five tetracycline-resistant and one furazolidone-resistant strain were identified. Overall, 3.3% of the strains were sensitive to all six antibiotics. Multidrug-resistant strains accounted for 22.9%, of which less than 20% were from Wuzhong. Strains isolated from women and patients with nonulcerative disease had higher rates of resistance to levofloxacin and clarithromycin. Higher rates of resistance to metronidazole, levofloxacin, and clarithromycin were observed in the older age group than in the younger age group. The kappa coefficients of phenotypic resistance and genotypic resistance for levofloxacin and clarithromycin were 0.830 and 0.809, respectively, whereas the remaining antibiotics showed poor agreement. CONCLUSION: H. pylori antibiotic resistance is severe in Ningxia. Therefore, furazolidone, amoxicillin, and tetracycline are better choices for the empirical therapy of H. pylori infection in this region. Host sex, age, and the presence of ulcerative diseases may affect antibiotic resistance of the bacteria. Personalized therapy based on genetic testing for levofloxacin and clarithromycin resistance may be a future direction for the eradication therapy of H. pylori infection in Ningxia.

Determination of Characteristic Volatile Component Fingerprint of Peucedanum Praeruptorum Dunn at Different Harvest Periods Based on HS-GC-IMS.

BACKGROUND: Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn (PPD) is a Chinese herbal medicine with medicinal value. Clinical studies have shown that PPD has protective effects against wind-heat, cough, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Therefore, cultivation of PPD is becoming more common. However, it has been difficult to determine the optimal harvest period for botanical Chinese medicines such as PPD. OBJECTIVES: Odor characteristics are directly related to the chemical components contained in traditional Chinese medicines. In particular, for traditional Chinese medicines such as PPD that are rich in volatile components, higher quality usually means more beneficial volatile components. The purpose of this study was to analyze changes in PPD volatile components across different harvest periods, and provide the basis for the identification of the ideal harvest period to ensure PPD quality. METHODS: We measured the volatile components of PPD at different harvest periods using HS-GC-IMS to characterize its volatile component fingerprint at different harvest periods. RESULTS: We identified 80 volatile components in PPD across five harvest periods, and combined complex heatmap and PCA methods distinguish the characteristics of the different harvest periods, and used ion mobility spectrometry to determine the volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which mainly included compounds such as olefins, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones, and determined that the abundance of volatile components reached a peak in December. CONCLUSIONS: The fingerprint determination of characteristic volatile components based on HS-GC-IMS can distinguish PPD in different harvest periods. HIGHLIGHTS: We used HS-GC-IMS to determine the characteristic fingerprint of volatile components from PPD across different harvest periods. This approach differs from past studies, which have determined the optimal harvest time of medicinal materials based on only the content of a single active ingredient.

Anticonvulsant Activity of Bombyx batryticatus and Analysis of Bioactive Extracts Based on UHPLC-Q-TOF MS/MS and Molecular Networking.

Bombyx batryticatus (BB) is an anticonvulsant animal medicine in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and acts on the central nervous system. This research aimed to study the anticonvulsant effects of different polarity fractions of extracts from BB and to explore the components conferring anticonvulsant activity. Materials and methods: Crude extracts of BB at 20 g/kg were divided into different polarity fractions (petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, water) and were administered to groups of mice before injecting pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) to induce convulsions. The animals were placed in chambers, and their behaviors were recorded for 30 min following the injection. Latency time, percent of protection, convulsion, convulsion rate, and convulsion score were determined for these mice. The compounds present in the different fractions were analyzed, and those from the fraction that conferred anticonvulsant activity were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF MS) and molecular networking (MN). The chloroform extract fractions (B-C) clearly increased the seizure latency time and protection percentage and decreased the convulsion percentage compared to the control group. The anticonvulsant effect of other extract fractions was not significant. Our study shows that the chloroform extract fractions (B-C) of BB have a significant anticonvulsant effect. We also identified 17 compounds including lumichrome, pheophorbide A, and episyringaresinol 4'-O-beta-d-glucopyranose that were found for the first time. The results of this study may lay the groundwork for studying compounds derived from Bombyx batryticatus and their anticonvulsant effect.

Prevalence and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection in Ningxia, China: comparison of two cross-sectional studies from 2017 and 2022.

OBJECTIVES: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection causes a variety of intragastric and extragastric diseases. Despite its decreasing global prevalence, it remains a major public health problem in many developing countries. This study aimed to understand the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its risk factors in five cities of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, an area with high incidence of gastric cancer. METHODS: Cross-sectional studies were conducted in Ningxia from 2017 and 2022, to detect the prevalence of H. pylori using the 14C urea breath test. All participants completed a questionnaire that included demographics, personal habits, household economic characteristics, and previous health status. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent factors for H. pylori infection. RESULTS: Our findings demonstrated that the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Ningxia decreased significantly from 60.3% in 2017 to 43.6% in 2022, with an increase in public awareness rate from 35.9% in 2017 to 68.5% in 2022. The lowest infection rate was found in Zhongwei and highest in Guyuan. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was higher among Hui ethnicity, farmers, individuals living in rural areas, individuals with lower income, low education, and those who consumed less fruit. Gallbladder, respiratory, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases were not associated with H. pylori infection. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of H. pylori in Ningxia decreased in the past five years. Ethnicity, location, occupation, income, education, and consumption of fruits were independent risk factors for H. pylori infection in Ningxia. It was not associated with extra-gastric disease.

[Screening of anti-lung cancer bioactive compounds from Curcuma longa by target cell extraction and UHPLC/LTQ Orbitrap MS].

A target cell extraction-chemical profiling method based on human alveolar adenocarcinoma cell line (A549 cells) and UHPLC/LTQ Orbitrap MS for screening the anti-lung cancer bioactive compounds from Curcuma longa has been developed in this paper. According to the hypothesis that when cells are incubated together with the extract of Curcuma longa, the potential bioactive compounds in the extract should selectively combine with the cells, then the cell-binding compounds could be separated and analyzed by LC-MS. The bioactive compounds in C. longa are lipophilic components. They intend to be absorbed on the inner wall of cell culture flask when they were incubated with A549 cells, which will produce interference in the blank solution. In this paper, by using cells digestion and multi-step centrifugation and transfer strategy, the interference problem has been solved. Finally, using the developed method, three cell-binding compounds were screened out and were identified as bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and curcumin. These compounds are the main bioactive compounds with anti-lung cancer bioactivity in C. longa. The improved method developed in this paper could avoid the false positive results due to the absorption of lipophilic compounds on the inner wall of cell culture flask, which will to be an effective complementary method for current target cell extraction-chemical profiling technology.