Application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in the diagnosis and treatment of refractory pneumonia in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To investigate the clinical application of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in the etiological diagnosis and treatment of refractory pneumonia (RTP) in children.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed on 160 children with RTP who were admitted to the Department of Pediatric Internal Medicine, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, from January 2020 to March 2023. According to whether mNGS was performed, they were divided into two groups: mNGS (n=80) and traditional testing (n=80). All children received the tests of inflammatory markers and pathogen tests after admission. Traditional pathogenicity tests included microbial culture (sputum specimen collected by suction tube), nucleic acid detection of respiratory pathogens, and serological test (mycoplasma, tuberculosis, and fungi). For the mNGS group, BALF specimens were collected after bronchoscopy and were sent to the laboratory for mNGS and microbial culture. The two groups were analyzed and compared in terms of the detection of pathogens and treatment.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the traditional testing group, the mNGS group had a significantly higher detection rate of pathogens (92% vs 58%, P<0.05), with more types of pathogens and a higher diagnostic rate of mixed infections. Compared with the traditional testing group, the mNGS group had a significantly higher treatment response rate and a significantly lower incidence rate of complications during hospitalization (P<0.05). Treatment was adjusted for 68 children in the mNGS group according to the results of mNGS, with a treatment response rate of 96% (65/68) after adjustment.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Compared with traditional pathogen tests, BALF mNGS can significantly improve the detection rate of pathogens and find some rare pathogens. In clinical practice, when encountering bottlenecks during the diagnosis and treatment of children with RTP, it is advisable to promptly perform the mNGS to identify the pathogens.

Recent progress of neuroprotective mechanisms of luteolin in Alzheimer's disease / 中国药理学通报

Luteolin is a widely distributed type of flavone herbsand vegetables, which has diverse pharmacological activities against human ailments including Alzheimer's disease(AD). Recently, luteolin has been the most widely studied phytochemicals for their neuroprotective effects against experimental models of AD. Luteolin also improves brain insulin sensitivity and neuroinflammation, which attenuates the phosphorylation of tau and the formation of tangles, and the tendency of Aβ to form deposits. Furthermore, luteolin has anti-oxidative stress and anti-apoptosis effect in AD. The present study aims at reviewing experimental studies and describing the possible underlying molecular mechanisms by which luteolin and the related compounds protect against AD.

Ginger-partitioned moxibustion plus pediatric massage for treating infantile diarrhea due to spleen deficiency: a randomized controlled clinical trial / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of ginger-partitioned moxibustion plus pediatric massage (tuina) in treating infantile diarrhea due to spleen deficiency. Methods: Ninety infants were randomly divided into a massage plus moxibustion group, a massage group and a drug group by the random number table method, with 30 cases in each group. The intervention was conducted for two consecutive courses. The infants in the massage plus moxibustion group were treated with pediatric massage and ginger-partitioned moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8). The infants in the massage group were treated with pediatric massage alone, while those in the drug group were treated with smecta. The primary and secondary symptom scales were assessed before and after treatment and at the follow-ups, and the total effective rate was evaluated after treatment. Results: The total effective rate in the massage plus moxibustion group was significantly different from that in the massage group and drug group (both P<0.05). After treatment, the scores of primary and secondary symptoms decreased in all three groups, with statistically significant intra-group differences (all P<0.05); the scores of primary symptoms were significantly different between the massage plus moxibustion group and the drug group (P<0.05); the scores of secondary symptoms in the massage plus moxibustion group and the massage group were significantly different from that in the drug group (both P<0.05). The differences in the time to recover normal bowel movement frequency among the three groups were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: Ginger-partitioned moxibustion plus pediatric massage compared with pediatric massage or smecta monotherapy shows superior clinical efficacy in treating infantile diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, and has the advantages of appetite improvement, physique strengthening and short course.

Efficacy and mechanism of electroacupuncture on insulin resistant polycystic ovary syndrome / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the therapeutic effect and partial mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) for patients with insulin resistance (IR) polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).@*METHODS@#Seventy patients with IR-PCOS were randomly divided into an EA group (36 cases, 5 cases dropped off) and a medication group (34 cases, 4 cases dropped off). The patients in the medication group were treated with oral administration of metformin hydrochloride, 500 mg each time, twice a day. The patients in the EA group were treated with EA (continuous wave, 2 Hz of frequency) at Zusanli (ST 36), Zhongwan (CV 12), Qihai (CV 6), Yishu (EX-B 3), Shenshu (BL 23), Pishu (BL 20), Ciliao (BL 32) for 30 min, three times a week. One menstrual cycle or 4 weeks were taken as a course of treatment, and 3 continuous courses were given. The follow-up was 3 months. The lipid metabolism indexes of triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and testosterone (T) in serum were compared before and after treatment, and the clinical effects of the two groups were evaluated during the follow-up.@*RESULTS@#The total effective rate was 67.7% (21/31) in the EA group and 60.0% (18/30) in the medication group, with no significant difference between the two groups (>0.05). After treatment, the levels of serum T, HOMA-IR, LDL, TG and TC were decreased significantly in the two groups (<0.01, <0.05), and HDL was increased significantly (<0.01); the levels of TC in the EA group after treatment was lower than that in the medication group (<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#EA may adjust some dyslipidemia in patients to correct IR and improve endocrine disorder of PCOS, which had superior/similar effects to metformin.

Warm needling moxibustion versus electroacupuncture for simple obesity due to yang deficiency of the spleen and kidney: a controlled clinical trial / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To compare the therapeutic efficacy between warm needling moxibustion and electroacupuncture (EA) in the treatment of simple obesity due to yang deficiency of the spleen and kidney. Methods: Seventy patients with simple obesity due to yang deficiency of the spleen and kidney were randomly divided into a warm needling moxibustion group and an EA group, with 35 subjects in each group. Same major acupoints were selected for the two groups, including Shuifen (CV 9), Guanyuan (CV 4), Daheng (SP 15), Shuidao (ST 28), Shousanli (LI 10), Zusanli (ST 36), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Taixi (KI 3). The warm needling moxibustion group received warm needling moxibustion, while the EA group received EA treatment. The interventions were performed once every other day, with 15 treatments as one course. The therapeutic efficacy, body weight and body mass index (BMI) were then observed and compared. Results: The total effective rate in the warm needling moxibustion group was 85.7％ versus 77.1％ in the EA group, and the between-group difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The warm needling moxibustion was remarkably superior to the EA in weight loss and lowering BMI, both with statistical significance (P<0.05, P<0.01). At the three-month follow-up, the body weight and BMI further decreased in the warm needling moxibustion group (both P<0.05), and the levels were lower than those in the EA group (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion: Warm needling moxibustion can produce reliable and consistent efficacy in the treatment of simple obesity due to yang deficiency of the spleen and kidney. Compared with EA, warm needling moxibustion shows advantage in both short-term and long-term efficacies, and thus is worth promotion in clinical practice.

Establishment of an animal model of osteoarthritis and its application in functional food research / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:Unclear pathogenesis of osteoarthritis results in a lack of radical therapy.The current studies mainly focus on pain relief and joint function improvement.Establishing an animal model is helpful to explore the pathogenesis,prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis,and also contributes to develop health food with new functions used for preventing and improving osteoarthritis.OBJECTIVE:To overview the establishment of the osteoarthritic animal model and its application in functional food research,thereby providing scientific basis for reasonable selection of ostecarthritic animal models and screening tests of bioactive substances.METHODS:CNKI and PubMed databases were retrieved for the articles related to animal model establishment published before May,2016,using the keywords of "osteoarthritis,animal model" in Chinese and English,respectively.Totally 157 articles were searched initially after repetitive ones excluded,and then 59 eligible articles were included.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Animal models of osteoarthritis are established in a variety of ways,and have their own advantages and disadvantages,with different application scopes.Therefore,we need select and establish appropriate animal models used for studying the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and screening more specific and effective substances that can prevent and improve osteoarthritis.Additionally,it is of great significance for further developing the corresponding functional health food to alleviate the patients' pain and improve their quality of life.

Research progress on polyoxometalate-based transition-metal-rare-earth heterometallic derived materials: synthetic strategies, structural overview and functional applications.

With the rapid development of science and technology and the trend of multidisciplinary pervasion, POM-based TM-RE heterometallic chemistry (POM = polyoxometalate, TM = transition-metal, RE = rare-earth) has become one of the most rapidly growing and challengeable areas of inorganic chemistry due to the impressive structural diversities, various chemical compositions and potential applications of these materials in magnetism, optics, electrochemistry, electrocatalysis and materials science. Over the past several years, continuous interest and persisting efforts have been dedicated to the preparation and exploration of POM-based TM-RE heterometallic derived materials (PTRHDMs), which have led to more than two hundred PTRHDMs. In this review, we summarize the structural types of reported PTRHDMs together with synthetic strategies, structural motifs and relevant functional applications. The exciting array of this emerging research theme presages continuous growth and great vitality. In the last section, some prospects of this branch are also presented and possible guidance for future work is outlined.

Preparation of H3PW12O40/MCM-48 and its photocatalytic degradation of pesticides.

A composite catalyst H3PW12O40/MCM-48 was prepared by loading photocatalyst phosphotungstic acid H3PW12O40 (HPW) to molecular sieve MCM-48 by impregnation method, and its structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, small angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, nitrogen adsorption analysis and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis. Photocatalytic degradation activities of HPW/MCM-48 against pesticides imidacloprid and paraquat were evaluated under UV radiation (365 nm). The results show that HPW/MCM-48 maintains the mesoprous molecular sieve structure of MCM-48 and the Keggin structure of HPW, while the BET surface area is 793.35 m2 x g(-1), pore volume is 1.46 cm3 x g(-1), average pore diameter is 2.76 nm, suggesting loading HPW on MCM-48 is a considerable way to improve its surface area. After 14 h UV irradiation (365 nm), 57.38% imidacloprid and 63.79% paraquat were degraded by 20 mg HPW/MCM-48 catalyst, while HPW and blank group degraded the two pesticides at the degradation rate of about 25% and 5%, respectively. Implying loading on MCM-48 could greaterly improve the degradation activity of HPW. The reslut of degradation kinetics show that, the degradation process of HPW/MCM-48 fits first order kinetics equation. The rate constant Ka of HPW/MCM-48 toward imidacloprid and paraquat are 0.089 h and 0.117 h, with the half-life t(1/2) of 7.8 h and 5.9 h, respectively.

Syntheses, structures and electrochemical properties of a class of 1-D double chain polyoxotungstate hybrids [H(2)dap][Cu(dap)(2)](0.5)[Cu(dap)(2)(H2O)][Ln(H(2)O)3(α-GeW(11)O(39))]·3H(2)O.

A series of novel organic-inorganic hybrid 1-D double chain germanotungstates [H2dap][Cu(dap)2]0.5[Cu(dap)2(H2O)][Ln(H2O)3(α-GeW11O39)]·3H2O [Ln = La(III) (1), Pr(III) (2), Nd(III) (3), Sm(III) (4), Eu(III) (5), Tb(III) (6), Er(III) (7)] (dap = 1,2-diaminopropane) have been hydrothermally prepared and structurally characterized by elemental analyses, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), IR spectra, thermogravimetric (TG) analyses, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The most prominent structural feature of 1-7 is that the [Ln(H2O)3(α-GeW11O39)](5-) moieties are firstly connected with each other via the W-O-Ln-O-W bridges creating a 1-D {[Cu(dap)2(H2O)][Ln(H2O)3(α-GeW11O39)]}n(3n-) polymeric chain and then two adjacent antiparallel 1-D polymeric chains are linked together through [Cu(dap)2](2+) linkages giving rise to the rare organic-inorganic hybrid 1-D Cu(II)-Ln(III) heterometallic double-chain architectures. To the best of our knowledge, 1-7 represent the first 1-D double-chain Cu(II)-Ln(III) heterometallic germanotungstates. The variable-temperature magnetic susceptibilities of 2, 4 and 7 have been investigated. Furthermore, the solid-state electrochemical and electro-catalytic properties of 3 and 4 have been measured in 0.5 mol L(-1) Na2SO4 + H2SO4 aqueous solution by entrapping them in a carbon paste electrode. 3 and 4 display apparent electro-catalytic activities for nitrite, bromate and hydrogen peroxide reduction.

[Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic activities of polyoxometalates immobilized on mesoporous moleculer sieve].

Heterogeneous photocatalysts consisting of phosphotungstic acid or silicotungstic acid immolilized on mesoporous molecular sieve MCM-41 were prepared and characterized by FTIR, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). The photocatalytic activities of the prepared H3PW12 O40/MCM-41 or H4SiW12O40/MCM-41 were examined by photodegradation of pesticide paraquat. Results show that the prepared composites have large specific surface area and uniform mesopores, the Keggin structure of two parent heteropoly acids was retained after loading on MCM-41. Both of the prepared photocatalysts exhibit high activityies under irradiation of 365 nm monochromatic Light. For 50 mL paraquat (10 mg x L(-1)), conversions of paraquat using 15 mg H3PW12O40/MCM-41 or H4SiW12O40/MCM-41 as catalysts after 14 hours' irradiation are 92.0% and 87.6% respectively. The photocatalytic reactions are in accordance with the first order kinetics equation, and the half lives of the reactions are 3.6 h and 4.7 h respectively.

[Applications of near-infrared spectroscopy to analysis of traditional Chinese herbal medicine].

Analysis of traditional Chinese herbal medicine is of great importance to its quality control Conventional analysis methods can not meet the requirement of rapid and on-line analysis because of complex process more experiences or needed. In recent years, near-infrared spectroscopy technique has been used for rapid determination of active components, on-line quality control, identification of counterfeit and discrimination of geographical origins of herbal medicines and so on, due to its advantages of simple pretreatment, high efficiency, convenience to use solid diffuse reflection spectroscopy and fiber. In the present paper, the principles and methods of near-infrared spectroscopy technique are introduced concisely. Especially, the applications of this technique in quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis of traditional Chinese herbal medicine are reviewed.

[Study on the methods and applications of near-infrared spectroscopy chemical pattern recognition].

Near infrared spectroscopy pattern recognition technique is an important part of modern near infrared spectroscopy technique. In the present paper, main methods of near infrared spectroscopy chemical pattern recognition and some recent developments are introduced. Basic principles of the methods in cluster analysis, discriminant analysis and latent projection are discussed, including some new methods such as support vector machines (SVM), bubble agglomeration algorithm (BA) and focal eigen functions (FEF) etc. Finally, the applications of near infrared spectroscopy pattern recognition technique in agriculture, pharmaceutical industry, food analysis, petroleum industry and other fields are reviewed.

Problems and Measures on the Opening of Laboratories / 中华医学教育探索杂志

The opening of laboratories in universities is one of important parts in teaching reform and it is necessary for bringing up high-qualified students.Combined with the practical teaching,we have a primary discussion with the problems of the laborato- ry opening and put forward some suggestions and measures.