Emodin suppresses alkali burn-induced corneal inflammation and neovascularization by the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of emodin on alkali burn-induced corneal inflammation and neovascularization. METHODS: The ability of emodin to target vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) was predicted by molecular docking. The effects of emodin on the invasion, migration, and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were determined by cell counting kit-8, Transwell, and tube formation assays. Analysis of apoptosis was performed by flow cytometry. CD31 levels were examined by immunofluorescence. The abundance and phosphorylation state of VEGFR2, protein kinase B (Akt), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and P38 were examined by immunoblot analysis. Corneal alkali burn was performed on 40 mice. Animals were divided randomly into two groups, and the alkali-burned eyes were then treated with drops of either 10 µM emodin or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) four times a day. Slit-lamp microscopy was used to evaluate inflammation and corneal neovascularization (CNV) in all eyes on Days 0, 7, 10, and 14. The mice were killed humanely 14 d after the alkali burn, and their corneas were removed and preserved at －80 ℃ until histological study or protein extraction. RESULTS: Molecular docking confirmed that emodin was able to target VEGFR2. The findings revealed that emodin decreased the invasion, migration, angiogenesis, and proliferation of HUVEC in a dose-dependent manner. In mice, emodin suppressed corneal inflammatory cell infiltration and inhibited the development of corneal neovascularization induced by alkali burn. Compared to those of the PBS-treated group, lower VEGFR2 expression and CD31 levels were found in the emodin-treated group. Emodin dramatically decreased the expression of VEGFR2, p-VEGFR2, p-Akt, p-STAT3, and p-P38 in VEGF-treated HUVEC. CONCLUSION: This study provides a new avenue for evaluating the molecular mechanisms underlying corneal inflammation and neovascularization. Emodin might be a promising new therapeutic option for corneal alkali burns.

Screening of anti-COPD quality biomarkers of Gnaphalium affine / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To screen the quality biomarkers of Gnaphalium affine with anti-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease （COPD） effect and determine their contents. METHODS The effective components and targets of “G. affine” with anti- COPD effect were predicted by using network pharmacology as a search criterion. HPLC fingerprints for 10 batches of G. affine were established by using Similarity Evaluation System of TCM Chromatographic Fingerprint （2012 edition）； common peak identification and similarity evaluation were conducted； cluster analysis （CA）， principal component analysis （PCA）， and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis （OPLS-DA） were performed to screen differential components as quality maker that affected the quality of G. affine using variable importance projection （VIP）＞1 as the standard. The same HPLC method was adopted to determine the contents of the differential components in 10 batches of samples. RESULTS A total of 10 flavonoids （such as quercetin， luteolin， and chlorogenic acid） and organic acid components， were identified through network pharmacology search， with 91 targets closely related to anti-COPD. A total of 9 common peaks were identified in 10 batches of samples， with similarity greater than 0.90. Among them， the differential components included chlorogenic acid， caffeic acid， 1，3-O- dicaffeoylquinic acid and apigenin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside； S3， S4， S6， S7 and S10 were clustered into one category， S2， S5， S8 and S9 clustered into one category， and S1 clustered into one category. The contents of chlorogenic acid， caffeic acid， 1，3-O- dicaffeoylquinic acid， and apigenin 7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside in 10 batches of G. affine ranged 0.070-7.653， 0.010-0.097， 0.001- 0.036， 0.508-6.627 mg/g， respectively. CONCLUSIONS Chlorogenic acid， caffeic acid， 1，3-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid， apigenin 7- O-β-D-glucopyranoside can serve as the potential quality marker for the anti-COPD effect of G. affine， with the highest content of chlorogenic acid in G. affine produced in Ji’an， Jiangxi province， and the highest content of caffeic acid in G. affine produced in Ji’an， Jiangxi province and Sanming， Fujian province. The contents of the last two components are highest in G. affine produced in Chaoshan， Guangdong province.

Application of Ancient Books in Clinical Practice Guidelines and Expert Consensus of Traditional Chinese Medicine： Current Status and Methodological Recommendations / 中医杂志

ObjectiveTo explore the current status and issues regarding the application of ancient books in clinical practice guidelines and expert consensus of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） published in China， and to provide methodological recommendations for the incorporation of ancient books in the development of TCM guidelines. MethodsWe searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， WanFang Data， VIP， SinoMed， PubMed， Embase， as well as six industry websites including China Association of Chinese Medicine， National Group Standards Information Platform， and Chinese Association of the Integration of Traditional and Western Medicine，etc. TCM clinical practice guidelines or expert consensus issued during January 1st， 2017， to November 26th， 2022 were searched. Clinical practice guidelines or expert consensus that explicitly referred to ancient books were included， and the content regarding the searching for ancient books， sources of access to ancient books， methods of evaluating the level of evidence， methods of evaluating the level of recommendation， and methods of evaluating the evidence for the ancient books were analysed. ResultsA total of 1,215 TCM clinical practice guidelines or expert consensus were retrieved， with 442 articles explicitly mentioning the application of ancient books， including 300 （67.87%） clinical practice guidelines and 142 （32.13%） expert consensus. Sixty of the 442 publications explicitly reported that ancient books searching had been conducted （13.57%）； among these 60 publications 27 （45.00%） explicitly reported ancient books searching strategies， and the most frequent method was manual searching with a total of 24 articles （40.00%）. The most popular search source was Chinese Medical Dictionary， a TCM classics database， with a total of 18 articles. 197 articles （44.57%） explicitly reported the evaluation criteria for the level of evidence， of which 141 articles （71.57%） involved the evaluation criteria for the ancient books； 413 articles （93.44%） mentioned ancient books in the recommendations， and only the source of formula name was mentioned in 409 （99.03%） of the publications. ConclusionThe current application of ancient books in TCM clinical practice guidelines and expert consensus is limited， with issues of non-standard searching and evaluation methods. Standar-dization and uniformity are needed in evidence grading and recommendation standards. Future research should clarify the scope and methods of applying ancient book， emphasize their integration with modern research evidence， and enhance their value and quality in the development of TCM clinical practice guidelines.

Analysis of clinical characteristics and risk factors of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in gastric inflammatory fibroid polyp / 中国内镜杂志

Objective To investigate the risk factors and clinical characteristics of gastric inflammatory fibroid polyp(GIFP)for gastrointestinal hemorrhage.Methods 66 patients(68 lesions in total)with GIFP diagnosed by endoscopic or surgical resection from January 1,2013 to September 30,2022 were collected.According to the presence or absence of gastrointestinal hemorrhage,the patients were divided into bleeding group(n = 16)and non-bleeding group(n = 50).Collect clinical data on gender,age,clinical manifestations,lesion location and size,endoscopic characteristics,Helicobacter pylori infection,surgical methods and pathological results of each group of patients.Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the risk factors of endoscopic characteristics of GIFP for gastrointestinal hemorrhage,and summarize the clinical characteristics of GIFP with gastrointestinal hemorrhage,then calculate the rate of correct diagnosis.Results The age of the bleeding group was significantly younger than that of the non-bleeding group,and the lesion size was significantly larger than that of the non-bleeding group,with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05).The incidences of endoscopic neoplasm-like elevation of lesions,surface with erosion or ulceration,accompanied by ballvalve syndrome and ultrasonic gastroscopy with blood flow signals in the bleeding group were significantly higher than those in the non-bleeding group,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05),but there were no statistical differences in other indicators between the two groups(P＞0.05).In order to further investigate the relationship between endoscopic characteristics and gastrointestinal hemorrhage,multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that neoplasm-like elevation,submucosal eminence,ulcer or erosion on the surface and ball valve syndrome were risk factors for gastrointestinal hemorrhage in GIFP(O(R)＞1,P＜0.05).The overall rate of GIFP correct diagnosis before surgery was 27.94%.The rate of diagnosis in patients echoendoscope before surgery was 38.78%,it was significantly higher than that without undergoing echoendoscope(χ2 = 20.82,P = 0.000).Conclusion The shape of the lesion,presence of ulcers or erosion on the surface,and presence of ball valve syndrome are risk factors for gastrointestinal hemorrhage.Preoperative endoscopic ultrasonography can improve the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis.When there is a risk of gastrointestinal hemorrhage in GIFP,early endoscopic diagnosis and therapeutic resection should be performed to avoid unnecessary surgical procedures,which can improve prognosis and improve patient quality of life.

Analysis of bacterial spectrum and variability of drug resistance of bile in patients with common bile duct stones and biliary tract infections / 中华消化杂志

Objective:To analyze the distribution of pathogenic bacteria in bile culture in patients with common bile duct stones and biliary tract infections, in order to guide clinical optimization of antibiotics application.Methods:From March 30, 2017 to December 31, 2021, at Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, 753 patients with common bile duct stones and biliary tract infections and received endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography were selected. Bile samples were obtained for bacterial culture, strain type identification and drug sensitivity test in order to analyze bile pathogenic bacteria distribution, change trend and drug resistance. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.Results:From 2017 to 2021, the total positive rate of bile culture in 753 patients with choledocholithiasis complicated with biliary tract infection was 90.17% (679/753). From 2017 to 2021, the positive rates of bile culture were 82.05% (64/78), 88.81% (119/134), 88.03% (125/142), 93.87% (199/212), and 91.98% (172/187), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=10.78, P=0.029). The positive rate of bile culture in 2017 was lower than those in 2020 and 2021, and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=9.43 and 5.57, P=0.002 and 0.018). There were no significant differences in the positive rates of bile culture among the other years (all P>0.05). A total of 1 033 pathogenic bacteria were detected in the 679 bile specimens with positive bile culture results. Among which the total proportion of Gram-negative bacilli was 57.02% (589/1 033), and from 2017 to 2021 the proportions were 66.38% (77/116), 66.47% (111/167), 59.43% (104/175), 54.75% (173/316), and 47.88% (124/259), respectively. The total proportion of Gram-positive cocci was 41.05% (424/1 033), and from 2017 to 2021 the proportions were 31.90% (37/116), 31.74% (53/167), 38.86% (68/175), 44.30% (140/316), and 48.65% (126/259), respectively. The total proportion of fungus was 1.94% (20/1 033), and from 2017 to 2021 the proportions were 1.72% (2/116), 1.80% (3/167), 1.71% (3/175), 0.95% (3/316), and 3.47% (9/259), respectively. From 2017 to 2021, the proportion of Gram-negative bacilli gradually decreased, while the proportion of Gram-positive cocci gradually increased, and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=20.14 and 17.91, P<0.001 and =0.001). From 2017 to 2021, the change in the proportion of fungus was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). The main Gram-negative bacilli in the bile culture were Escherichia coli (31.36%, 324/1 033) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (12.68%, 131/1 033); the main Gram-positive cocci were Enterococcus faecalis (14.04%, 145/1 033) and Streptococcus salivarius (4.36%, 45/1 033). From 2017 to 2021, the proportions of Escherichia coli were 39.66% (46/116), 38.92% (65/167), 33.14% (58/175), 28.48% (90/316), and 25.10% (65/259), respectively, with gradual decrease and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=14.34, P=0.006). From 2017 to 2021 the detection rates of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were 30.43% (14/46), 26.15% (17/65), 29.31% (17/58), 38.89% (35/90), 40.00% (26/65), and 4/15, 20.00% (5/25), 20% (5/25), 24.32% (9/37), and 31.03% (9/29), and there were no significant differences in the detection rates of ESBL between different years (both P>0.05). Conclusions:From 2017 to 2021, the positive rate of bile culture in patients with choledocholithiasis complicated with biliary tract infection showed an overall increasing trend. Gram-negative bacilli were still dominated in bile pathogenic bacteria, while the proportion of Gram-positive cocci remarkably increased, and the bile bacterial spectrum significantly changed. Clinicians should adjust the antibiotic dosing regimens according to the variation of bacterial spectrum and drug resistance.

A phenotypic and genetic study on β-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration / 中华儿科杂志

Objective@#To summarize the clinical and genetic features of β-propeller protein-associated neurodegeneration (BPAN).@*Methods@#The clinical data of 17 patients with BPAN with WDR45 gene variants were retrospectively collected at Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, Peking University First Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University and Shanghai Children's Hospital from June 2016 to December 2018, and their clinical manifestations, electroencephalogram, neuroimaging and genetics were analyzed.@*Results@#Seventeen cases (13 females, 4 males), aged 1.1-8.8 years, were included. The median age of seizure onset was 14.5 months, from 3 months to 24 months of age, manifested with epileptic spasm in 6 cases and focal seizures in 5 cases. Eight patients had only one seizure type and 8 patients had two or more seizure types. Nine patients had complete remission of seizures. All 16 patients with seizures had developmental delay before the seizure onset, of whom 13 patients had moderate to severe seizures. The brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was abnormal in 13 patients, including cerebral atrophy (10 cases) and thinning of the corpus callosum (9 cases). The brain magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in preschool stage showed prominent T2 hypointense signals in bilateral globus pallidus and brainstem ventral in two cases. Five seizure types (spasm, focal, absence, myodonic and generalized tonic clonic seizures)were found on ictal electroencephalogram(EEG) recordings. Compared to female patients(17(6-24) months of ege), male cases had earlier seizure onset (3, 4, 5, 18 months of age) . All patients had de novo variations in WDR45(6 nonsense, 4 frameshift, 3 missense and 4 splicing variations), with hemizygous variants in 3 males, mosaic variants in a male and heterozygous variants in 13 females, within which 5 variations had not been reported (c.977-1C>T,c.976+1G>C,c.10C>T,c.806del and c.110T>C).@*Conclusions@#The patients with BPAN have profound developmental delay and are vulnerable to seizures. The male patients with BPAN tend to have more severer clinical phenotype than females. Early brain SWI could facilitate the timely diagnosis of this disease.

Influence of mitochondrial MnSOD on vascular ALP activity and transcription factor expressions in mice model of vascular calcification / 心血管康复医学杂志

Objective:To observe influence of mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD ) on vascular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity ,transcription factor :Runx2 and Osterix expression levels in MnSOD‐Tg mice model of vascular calcification .Methods :A total of 20 wild type (WT) mice were selected as WT group and 20 Mn‐SOD‐Tg mice were enrolled as MnSOD‐Tg group ,then mice model of vascular calcification was established .Vascu‐lar ALP activity ,expression levels of transcription factor Runx2 and Osterix were compared and analyzed between two groups .Results:After successful model establishment ,compared with WT group ,there were significant reduc‐tions in ALP activity [ (75.89 ± 4.17) vs .(61.32 ± 3.12)] , expression levels of transcription factor Runx2 [ (0.928 ± 0.016) vs .(0.694 ± 0.007)] and Osterix [ (0.472 ± 0.036) vs .(0.257 ± 0.013)] in MnSOD‐Tg group , P<0.01 all .Conclusion:Manganese superoxide dismutase may be improving atherosclerosis via reducing activity of vascular alkaline phosphatase ,expression levels of transcription factor Runx2 and Osterix .

Health literacy, screen time and associated factors among middle school students in Yinchuan / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the status and influencing factors of health literacy of middle school students in Yinchuan City, to provide reference for health literacy improvement of middle school students in this region.@*Methods@#Using stratified cluster sampling method, 2 003 middle school students from three districts of Yinchuan were investigated to complete the questionnaire survey.The survey included basic characteristics, health literacy and screen time status.@*Results@#The total score of Chinese Adolescent Interactive Health Literacy Questionnaire was(101.3±17.5). The proportion of high, medium and low level of health literacy were 25.0%, 51.2% and 23.9% respectively;the proportion of long screen time exposure among middle school students was 52.5%. The health literacy level of junior middle school students, middle school students with father or mother education level of high school or above and appropriate screen time were higher than those of the corresponding group（χ 2=49.90，14.59，16.53，46.73，P<0.01）. Logistic regression analysis showed that education group, grade, father s or mother s education level and long screen time exposure were associated with middle school students health literacy level(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#The health literacy level of middle school students in Yinchuan City needs to be further improved and targeted health education should be carried out from school, family and society.

Event-related potentials of non-mediated obsessive-compulsive disorder patients in an emotional Stroop task / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To study the difference of attentional bias towards general negative words between non-mediated obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients and healthy controls.Methods Event-related potentials (ERPs) were collected from 26 non-mediated OCD patients and 24 normal controls while they performed an emotional Stroop task.Results Compared to healthy controls,OCD patients showed significantly longer reaction time (OCD:(467 ± 14.88) ms,Controls:(409.65 ± 15.49) ms,P＜ 0.01),and had significantly larger P2 and P3 amplitude to all three types of words (P2 amplitude:OCD:(10.41±0.49) μV,Controls:(8.89±0.48) μV,P＜0.05;P3 amplitude:(10.04±0.68) μV,Controls:(7.68±0.67) μV,P＜0.05).In addition,the P2 peak latency of the frontal area in OCD patients was significantly longer than that in healthy controls(OCD:(190.09±4.71) ms,Controls:(179.60±4.72) ms,P＜0.05).Conclusion Current findings suggest that OCD patients are characterized by a general attentional inhibition deficit but not an attentional bias to the negative words.