Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndromes in Depressive Episodes of Bipolar Disorder Based on Cluster Analysis and Bayesian Network：A Cross-sectional Study / 中医杂志

ObjectiveTo explore the elements， distribution and characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndromes in depressive episodes of bipolar disorder （BD）. MethodsBasic information， along with the four examination information， the Hamilton Depression Scale and Young Mania Rating Scale scores， were collected from 293 outpatients with BD at Beijing Anding Hospital， Capital Medical University. The four examination information with an occurrence rate greater than 12% were retained. The R language “dist” function was used to calculate the distances between samples using the Euclidean distance method. The hierarchical clustering of the four examination information was performed using the “hclust” function and the squared Euclidean distance method. A team of five researchers was formed to determine the nature and location of the essential elements of TCM syndrome in BD based on the clustering results. The PC algorithm was used to construct a Bayesian network model of the essential elements. The working group combined the essential elements of TCM syndromes in the Bayesian network according to the reference model results， and then extracted common TCM syndromes. The score of each patient based on the essential elements was matched with the common TCM syndromes to determine the syndrome type of each patient. The working group then performs conformity and revision based on this， obtaining the final distribution of TCM syndromes for the patients. ResultsThere were 77 common TCM symptoms in BD with a frequency greater than 12%. The top 15 symptoms with higher frequencies were slippery pulse， mental fatigue and lack of strength， wiry pulse， excessive rumination， preference for solitude， vexation， agitation and irritability， dry mouth， palpitations， profuse dreaming， unwarranted worries， chest oppression， thin white coating， amnesia， frequent sighing， and poor appetite. TCM syndrome elements of BD can be grouped into 11 categories. The nature of disease-related essential elements included fire， qi deficiency， blood deficiency， qi counterflow， yin deficiency， dampness， heat， fire from constraint， and phlegm. The location of disease-related essential elements included heart， liver， spleen， stomach， kidney， bladder channel， and gallbladder. By constructing a Bayesian network model and considering the opinions from the experts， six common syndromes of BD were identified， among which the highest proportion was heart-stomach heat accumulation， accounting for 27.99% （82 cases）， followed by heart-spleen deficiency （55 cases， 18.77%）， non-interaction between the heart and the kidney （49 cases， 16.72%）， liver constraint and blood deficiency （42 cases， 14.33%）， heart qi deficiency （37 cases， 12.63%）， and damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder （28 cases， 9.56%）. ConclusionsThe nature of disease-related elements of BD are predominantly fire and heat， while the location of disease-related essential elements are primarily associated with the heart， liver， and spleen. The most common TCM syndromes are heart-stomach heat accumulation and heart-spleen deficiency.

Analysis of Diagnostic Value of CTC and CTDNA in Early Lung Cancer.

This paper is the exploration and analysis of the diagnostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTC) and circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid (ctDNA) in early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).A total of 125 NSCLC patients that hospitalized from March 2019 to December 2020 were selected, of which 64 subjects with stage I-II were listed as the early-stage group, and 61 patients with stage III-IV were classified as the intermediate-advanced group; In addition, 47 patients with benign pulmonary nodules hospitalized within same period were selected as a group of benign pulmonary nodules, and 50 healthy subjects were enrolled as a control group. The levels of CTC and ctDNA, serum tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), cytokeratin 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) and gastrin-releasing peptide precursor (pro-GRP) were detected. The diagnostic value of CTC and ctDNA in early NSCLC patients was analyzed by ROC curve. The area under the curve of CTC count for early-stage lung cancer was 0. 949 (P=0. 000, 95%CI: 0. 918-0. 980), and ctDNA was 0. 914 (P=0. 000, 95%CI: 0. 866~0. 963). There were significant differences in CTC count and ctDNA among subjects in each group (P<0. 05). CTC count and ctDNA of the early and intermediate-advanced group were remarkably higher than those of the control group and group of benign pulmonary nodules (P<0. 05), and CTC count and ctDNA of patients in the middle-late group were critically higher than those in the early-stage group (P<0. 05). There were significant differences in serum CEA, NSE, CYFRA21-1 and pro-GRP levels among all groups (P<0. 05). The results showed that CTC and ctDNA in NSCLC patients were significantly positively correlated with CEA, NSE, CYFRA21-1 and pro-GRP (P<0. 05).  Peripheral blood CTC and ctDNA levels are significantly increased in NSCLC patients. They are positively correlated with serum tumor markers CEA, NSE, CYFRA21-1 and pro-GRP levels, and are related to tumor progression. CTC and ctDNA have high value in the clinical diagnosis of early NSCLC.

Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica-associated wound infection: one case report / 中华检验医学杂志

The male patient of middle-age was admitted to Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University on September 5, 2020, due to wear and rupture of the left foot hallux for more than 10 days, gradually developed swelling and blackening of the left foot and accompanied by drowsiness for 1day. Results from etiological examination of his wound secretions suggested the mixed infection of Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica and Enterococcus faecalis. The disease progressed rapidly and the patient still died of septic shock after anti-infective treatment. The infection of W. chitiniclastica is rare and has a great relationship with poor hygiene and chronic open wounds. It is necessary to use matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry or 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing for strain identification. Moreover, it is recommended to use cephalosporins or carbapenems as first-line drugs due to the poor prognosis of patients with bloodstream infections.

Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activity of luteolin in experimental animal models.

Luteolin, a flavonoid abundant in plants worldwide, demonstrates a spectrum of biological activities. This study is aimed at evaluating its inhibiting effects on inflammatory responses in vivo. We investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of luteolin in acute and chronic models in mice. We found that oral administration of luteolin (10 and 50 mg/kg) efficiently suppressed paw edema when induced by injecting carrageenan, and a similar tendency was also observed in the cotton pellet granuloma test. In the air pouch test, luteolin markedly reduced the number of infiltrated leukocytes and the elevated level of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1alpha (6-keto-PGF1alpha) in the exudate. The results derived from the whole blood assay for cyclooxygenase (COX) and from the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay indicate that luteolin may be a potent selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and that the inhibition is attributable to its down-regulation of the mRNA expression of COX-2 in inflammatory responses.