[Analysis of echocardiographic features and postnatal management of fetal pulmonary valve stenosis].

Objective: To investigate the echocardiographic features, consistency of diagnosis between fetal and postnatal periods and postnatal clinical outcomes of fetal pulmonary valve stenosis (PS) with different degrees. Methods: This study was a retrospective cohort study comprising 108 cases of fetal PS diagnosed during the fetal period and followed up postnatally at Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine from November 2012 to February 2023. Echocardiographic characteristics, including morphological and hemodynamic features were collected for all fetuses who were then were followed up to at least 6 months after birth. One-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the differences in the echocardiographic features among fetuses with different degrees of PS. Subsequently, McNemar test was used to assess the consistency of diagnosis between the fetal and postnatal periods. Furthermore, Logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the risk factors for neonatal intervention in fetuses with moderate PS and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was utilized to ascertain the optimal cut-off value for continuous variables. Results: The age of the mothers of the 108 fetuses at the initial assessment was (30.8±4.0) years, and the gestational age was 26.5 (24.6, 30.0) weeks. The fetuses were categorized into mild (17 cases), moderate (49 cases), and severe groups (42 cases) based on the initial echocardiographic features. Mild PS was characterized by valve thickening and hyperechogenicity combined with systolic flow acceleration or dilation of main pulmonary artery. Moderate PS exhibited both restricted valve motion and a colorful blood flow pattern at the valve orifice. The peak flow velocities of fetuses with moderate and critical PS were notably higher than those in the mild group ((2.66±0.86) and (2.77±1.30) vs. (1.43±0.59)m/s, F=14.52, P<0.001). In critical PS, all cases showed retrograde ductal flow, with a significantly higher proportion of a small right ventricle compared to the mild and moderate PS (42.9% (18/42) vs. 0 and 2.0% (1/49), χ2=31.73, P<0.001). The proportion of severe tricuspid regurgitation was also higher (35.7% (15/42) vs. 0 and 10.2% (5/49), χ2=36.94, P<0.001). Compared to mild and severe PS, the consistency of diagnosis between fetal and postnatal periods in moderate PS was lower (40.8% (20/49) vs.13/17 and 80.3% (35/42), χ2=12.45, P=0.006). The systolic flow velocity was identified as an independent risk factor for neonatal intervention in fetuses with moderate PS (OR=7.21, 95%CI2.11-24.62). A flow velocity of ≥2.18 m/s in second trimester and ≥3.15 m/s in third trimester indicated the necessity of neonatal intervention for fetal moderate PS. Among the 108 fetuses, 68 underwent surgical intervention and all survived. Additionally, 39 fetuses were regularly followed up. A sole non-surgical fatality occurred, leading to a 6-month survival rate of 99.1% (107/108). Conclusions: Various degrees of fetal PS demonstrate distinctive morphological and hemodynamic alterations in echocardiography. The disparity in severity between the postnatal and fetal stages requires ongoing monitoring for fetal PS. The prognosis for fetal PS is generally favorable.

Clinical effectiveness of semaglutide on weight loss, body composition, and muscle strength in Chinese adults.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effectiveness of semaglutide on weight loss, body composition and muscle strength in the Chinese population with obesity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were retrospectively analyzed for participants prescribed semaglutide in 2021 and 2022 from a Chinese weight management clinic. Changes in weight, body composition, biochemical indicators, calf circumference and handgrip strength were collected. Body fat and skeletal muscle were also measured using the bioelectrical impedance analysis. Paired t-test was used to compare the values after 6 months of treatment with the baseline values. RESULTS: A total of 53 obese patients received 24 weeks of lifestyle intervention plus semaglutide treatment. 10 patients who failed to adhere to the follow-up were excluded, and 43 patients were studied. The average baseline body mass index (BMI) was 33.0 kg/m2, and the average body weight was 90.0 kg. After 6 months of treatment, the patient's weight was significantly reduced by 9.9 ± 3.9 kg (p < 0.001), and the weight loss percentage was 11.2 ± 4.5% (p< 0.001). The proportion of patients with weight loss ≥ 5% and ≥ 10% was 93% and 54%, respectively. Fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) index, blood uric acid and blood lipid levels also decreased after treatment. Body composition analysis showed that the loss of skeletal muscle mass was 1.4 ± 1.3 kg (p < 0.001), which was significantly less than the loss of fat mass of 5.6 ± 3.7 kg (p < 0.001). By percentage, the fat mass loss was 15.6 ± 10.1%, and the muscle mass loss was 4.8 ± 4.4% (p < 0.001). The visceral fat area was significantly reduced by 24.4 ± 17.7 cm (p < 0.001). There was no significant change in skeletal muscle index (8.1 ± 1.0 kg/m2 at baseline and 7.9 ± 1.0 kg/m2 at 24 weeks). The calf circumference (42.6 ± 3.6 cm at baseline, 41.2 ± 3.8 cm at 24 weeks) and grip strength (33.3 ± 9.5 kg at baseline, 32.3 ± 9.0 kg at 24 weeks) did not decrease significantly. The main adverse reactions were mild gastrointestinal dysfunction (nausea, diarrhea and vomiting), without ketoacidosis. CONCLUSIONS: In a real-world setting, semaglutide can reduce the weight and fat of obese patients while effectively maintaining muscle mass and muscle strength.

[Progress in the study of artemisinin and its derivatives against head and neck cancer].

The head and neck cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. There are more than 600 000 new cases in the world every year. Cisplatin is often used in the treatment of head and neck cancer at present. However, because of its side effects and drug resistance, cisplatin often failed in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Artemisinin and its derivatives as first-line antimalarial drugs have the advantages of high efficiency, low toxicity and so on. Further study found that artemisinin and its derivatives had cytotoxic effects against head and neck cancer through inducing cell cycle arrest, inducing tumor cell apoptosis and inhibiting cell invasion and migration, oxidative damage, blocking the cell signal transduction and inhibiting angiogenesis. Studying the anti-tumor effects of artemisinin and its derivatives allows for development of safer and more effective antitumor drugs and pain-reduction caused by diseases and traditional treatment, then improve the survival rate and life quality of patients with head and neck cancer. This article reviews the progress in the study of artemisinin and its derivatives in the treatment of head and neck cancer.

Experimental demonstration of high sensitivity refractive index sensing based on magnetic plasmons in a simple metallic deep nanogroove array.

A high-performance wide-angle refractive index sensor based on a simple one-dimensional (1D) metallic deep nanogroove array with a high aspect ratio is experimentally fabricated and demonstrated. The 1D deep groove array is featured by the excitation of magnetic plasmon (MP), referring to an effective coupling of incident electromagnetic waves with a strong magnetic response induced inside the deep grooves. Utilizing the MP resonances that are extremely sensitive to the surrounding dielectric medium, we successfully achieve a refractive index sensitivity (RIS) up to ∼1300 nm/RIU, which is higher than that of most experimentally designed plasmonic sensors in the infrared region. Importantly, benefiting from angle-independent MP resonances with strong confinement of the magnetic field inside the deep grooves and strong electric field localization at the groove openings, we demonstrate wide-angle sensing capability valid in a broadband infrared region with an excellent linear dependence on the change of refractive index. Such a MP-based sensor, together with its simple 1D flat nature and ease of fabrication, has great potential for the practical design of high sensitive, cost-effective and compact sensing devices.

Integrating Multiple Evidence Sources to Predict Adverse Drug Reactions Based on a Systems Pharmacology Model.

Identifying potential adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is critically important for drug discovery and public health. Here we developed a multiple evidence fusion (MEF) method for the large-scale prediction of drug ADRs that can handle both approved drugs and novel molecules. MEF is based on the similarity reference by collaborative filtering, and integrates multiple similarity measures from various data types, taking advantage of the complementarity in the data. We used MEF to integrate drug-related and ADR-related data from multiple levels, including the network structural data formed by known drug-ADR relationships for predicting likely unknown ADRs. On cross-validation, it obtains high sensitivity and specificity, substantially outperforming existing methods that utilize single or a few data types. We validated our prediction by their overlap with drug-ADR associations that are known in databases. The proposed computational method could be used for complementary hypothesis generation and rapid analysis of potential drug-ADR interactions.

In silico toxicity prediction by support vector machine and SMILES representation-based string kernel.

There is a great need to assess the harmful effects or toxicities of chemicals to which man is exposed. In the present paper, the simplified molecular input line entry specification (SMILES) representation-based string kernel, together with the state-of-the-art support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, were used to classify the toxicity of chemicals from the US Environmental Protection Agency Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) database network. In this method, the molecular structure can be directly encoded by a series of SMILES substrings that represent the presence of some chemical elements and different kinds of chemical bonds (double, triple and stereochemistry) in the molecules. Thus, SMILES string kernel can accurately and directly measure the similarities of molecules by a series of local information hidden in the molecules. Two model validation approaches, five-fold cross-validation and independent validation set, were used for assessing the predictive capability of our developed models. The results obtained indicate that SVM based on the SMILES string kernel can be regarded as a very promising and alternative modelling approach for potential toxicity prediction of chemicals.

A modified uncorrelated linear discriminant analysis model coupled with recursive feature elimination for the prediction of bioactivity.

To meet the requirements of providing accurate, robust, and interpretable prediction of bioactivity, a modified uncorrelated linear discriminant analysis (M-ULDA) model was developed. In addition, a feature selection method called recursive feature elimination (RFE), originally used for support vector machine (SVM), was introduced and modified to fit the scheme of ULDA. From the evaluation of six pharmaceutical datasets, the M-UDLA coupled with RFE showed better or comparable classification accuracy with respect to other well-studied methods such as SVM and decision trees. The RFE used for ULDA has the advantage of increasing the computational speed and provides useful insights into biochemical mechanisms related to pharmaceutical activity by significantly reducing the number of variables used for the final model.

Local factor analysis of rank-deficient reaction systems.

The analysis of spectral measurement data sets using local factor analysis (LFA) requires the rank of the sub-matrix under study to be equal to the number of absorbing species present in the associated sub-system. However, because of mass balance or kinetic constraints, LFA will fail if local rank deficiency occurs. A local rank deficiency sub-system may be present in a global full-rank reaction system or a rank-deficient one. In this paper, the problems occurring when using window target-testing factor analysis (WTTFA), one type of the LFA methods, in a local rank-deficient situation are shown. A new augmented WTTFA (AWTTFA) is then proposed for the correct use of WTTFA when rank deficiency occurs. Principles of this new method have been demonstrated by a simulated kinetic system and an industrial batch data set.

Identification and quality assessment of Houttuynia cordata injection using GC-MS fingerprint: a standardization approach.

Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae) injection (HCI) was widely used to treat disease in China. At present, there were about 40 factories producing HCI, but a good quality standard for its quality control was lacking. In this study, an optimized and validated gas chromatography-mass spectrum (GC-MS) method was applied for the fingerprint analysis of 340 batches of HCI from 34 Chinese pharmaceutical factories. The results showed that HCI from the same factory had very similar GC-MS fingerprints, and evident difference existed among different factories. The representative fingerprints from 20 factories whose intra-factory correlation coefficients were over 0.90 and inter-factory correlation coefficients were over 0.75 were used to calculate the mean fingerprint of all samples. Spectral correlative chromatogram (SCC) was adopted to identify common component in different samples. Fifteen main "common components" were obtained. The mean fingerprint containing those 15 components was suggested to be used as characteristic fingerprint for the rapid identification of HCI and evaluation of the consistency of HCI from factory to factory and from batch to batch.

Anti-inflammatory effect of Houttuynia cordata injection.

Houttuynia cordata (Saururaceae) injection (HCI) is a traditional Chinese medicine used in China. It was chosen as one of eight types of traditional Chinese medicine that play a unique role in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) owing to the effect of curbing inflammation. In order to validate this plausible anti-inflammatory property, the chemical composition of HCI has been analysed by GC/MS, 22 components were identified, and the inflammation induced by carrageenan in the rat pleurisy model and by xylene in the mice ear edema model was adopted to study the anti-inflammatory activity of HCI. Injection of carrageenan into the pleural cavity elicited an acute inflammatory response characterized by protein rich fluid accumulation and leukocyte infiltration in the pleural cavity. The peak inflammatory response was obtained at 24 h when the fluid volume, protein concentration, C-reactive protein and cell infiltration were maximums. The results showed that these parameters were attenuated by HCI at any dose and touched bottom at dose of 0.54 ml/100 g, although less strong than dexamethasone. This drug was also effective in inhibiting xylene induced ear edema, and the percentage of inhibition came to 50% at dose of 80 microl/20 g. The results clearly indicate that HCI have anti-inflammatory activity.

Library search of mass spectra with a new matching algorithm based on substructure similarity.

A new matching algorithm for library searches of mass spectra is presented in this paper. The algorithm is based on the substructure similarity of substances. It emphasizes m/z positions rather than abundance values. 32 spectra, whose corresponding molecular weights are less than 200, were randomly selected from a mass library of 61,993 spectra and taken as targets of library search to illustrate the availability of this algorithm. The results show that the algorithm is better than the one built in a commercial instrument when there is no spectrum of the unknown in the library but there are similar ones.

Resolution of the essential constituents of Ramulus cinnamomi by an evolving chemometric approach.

The analysis of complex mixtures, such as those of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is difficult by conventional methods of analysis. Chemometric methods provide a new way to solve such problems. Subwindow factor analysis (SFA) paired with the evolving window orthogonal projection (EWOP) method, has been used as a new evolving approach to the resolution of volatile components of Ramulus cinnamomi (RC). Compared with conventional chromatographic analysis, the chromatographic separation conditions necessary are greatly mitigated in our approach, yet the accuracy of qualitative and quantitative results is improved, because the measured data matrix has been resolved into chromatograms and mass spectra of the chemical components. Our method is, moreover, friendly to use and easy to program. Experimental results show the efficiency and convenience of the proposed approach. Forty-seven of the seventy-eight separated constituents in an essential oil, accounting for 89.55% of the sample, were identified by mass spectroscopy (MS).

Determination of volatile components in peptic powder by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemometric resolution.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) coupled with chemometric resolution upon two-dimensional data was proposed as a method for the analysis of volatile components in a traditional Chinese medicinal preparation peptic powder which contains Rhizoma Atractylodis, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis and Radix Glycyrrhizae. Ninety-three components were separated and 65 of them were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed which represented about 90.28% of the total content. With the help of chemometric resolution, the data were resolved into a pure chromatogram and a mass spectrum of each chemical component. The accuracy of qualitative and quantitative results was greatly improved by using the two-dimensional comprehensive information of chromatograms and mass spectra. The example showed that chemometric resolution could greatly enhance separation ability. This makes it possible to analyze complicated practical systems like traditional Chinese medicinal preparations with the help of coupled instruments and chemometric resolution methods.

Two novel procedures for automatic resolution of two-way data from coupled chromatography.

In order to deal with the problem of simultaneous qualitative and quantitative analysis of the complicated samples in analytical chemistry, two novel procedures for automatic resolution of two-way data from coupled chromatography were developed in this work. The first can be used to determine automatically the number of components involved in a certain peak cluster. The second method is an iterative resolution procedure named the stepwise key spectrum selection which has also been developed to resolve automatically the spectra and chromatographic profiles of every component in the peak cluster investigated. The results obtained from simulated and real data show that the proposed methods perform fairly well.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemometric resolution applied to the determination of essential oils in Cortex cinnamomi.

In this paper, a novel procedure for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the two-dimensional data obtained from GC-MS is investigated to determine chemical components of essential oils in Cortex Cinnamomi from four different producing areas. A new method named iterative optimization procedure (IOP) specially used to resolve embedded peaks is also developed. With the help of IOP and other chemometric techniques, such as heuristic evolving latent projections, evolving factor analysis, sub-window factor analysis and orthogonal projection resolution, and etc., the detection of the purity of chromatographic peaks can be first addressed, and then the overlapping peaks are resolved into the pure chromatogram and mass spectrum of each component. The similarity searches in the MS database are finally conducted to qualitatively determine the chemical components. The results obtained showed that the accuracy of qualitative and quantitative analysis could be greatly enhanced by chemometric resolution methods. The chemometric resolution techniques upon the two-dimensional data can be quite promising tools for the analysis of the complex samples like traditional Chinese medicine.

[Analysis of the essential oil of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. with GC/MS].

AIM: To detect chemical components of the essential oil of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.. METHODS: The essential oil was analyzed with GC/MS, heuristic evolving latent projections(HELP) resolution and overall volume integration method. RESULTS: HELP method along with the data from GC/MS can be used to conduct the peak purity examination and resolution of overlapping peaks to obtain pure chromatogram and MS spectrum of each component. Fifty six components were separated and 49 of them were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. All the components represent about 98.27% of the total content. CONCLUSION: The resolved pure chromatogram and MS spectrum can greatly enhance the reliability of similar searches in the commercial MS database and thus contribute to the accuracy of the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the essential oil.

[IR spectra resolution of pure components for unknown mixtures].

The spectral resolution into individual components from a set of unknown mixture IR spectra was investigated. The method based on iterative target transformation of factor analysis is developed and used to treat several three-component and two-component mixture systems of amino-acids. The results show that the method proposed in this paper is applicable.