Ginger mainly contains two main categories of volatile and non-volatile components,of which the non-volatile gingerol is a general term for pungent substances in ginger,mainly containing gingerols,shogaols and other components,with a wide range of pharmacological effects.By reviewing the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and related literature in Chinese databases such as CNKI and Wanfang,it was found that the use of the Chinese names of gingerols and shogaols was confusing,which caused certain troubles to readers and obstacles to academic exchanges.According to the naming principles of Chinese medicinal extracts,it is suggested that gingersols,6-gingerol,8-gingerol and 10-gingerol should be uniformly named as gingerols(姜酚类),6-gingerol(6-姜酚),8-gingerol(8-姜酚)and 10-gingerol(10-姜酚),respectively,and shogaols and 6-shogaol should be uniformly named as shogaols(姜烯酚类)and 6-shogaols(6-姜烯酚).The standardized use of the Chinese names of gingerols and shogaols will facilitate in-depth research and academic exchange on ginger,dried ginger,baked ginger and other ginger herbal medicines.

Objective:To investigate the alterations of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN) among male smokers, and its correlation with clinical characteristics of smoking.Methods:The resting-state functional magnetic resonance data of 131 subjects recruited from January 2014 to December 2018 were analyzed retrospectively, including 76 smokers (smoking group) and 55 non-smokers (control group). VTA/SN was selected as regions of interest (ROI), and then calculated RSFC between VTA/SN and the whole brain.Based on SPM12 software, independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the differences in RSFC between smoking group and control group.Based on SPSS 22.0 software, Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the RSFC of brain regions with significant differences and Fagerstr?m test for nicotine dependence (FTND) score, pack-year of smokers. Results:Compared with control group, the results showed decreased RSFC between VTA and the brain regions related default mode network (DMN)(including posterior cingulate cortex, right anterior cuneiform lobe, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule), and regions of limbic system(including right marginal lobe and right angular gyrus), right calcarine (MNI: x, y, z=24, -55, -14) and left insula(MNI: x, y, z=-35, -11, 9) in smoking group(GRF corrected, voxel level P<0.005, cluster level P<0.05). Taking SN as the seed, there was no significant difference between smoking group and control group ( P>0.05). RSFC of VTA-left superior temporal gyrus was positively correlated with pack-year( r=0.243, P=0.034) and FTND ( r=0.282, P=0.014). VTA-left insula RSFC was positively correlated with FTND ( r=0.316, P=0.006). Conclusion:The RSFC in the mesolimbic system and the VTA-DMN circuit exist abnormal changes in smokers.To some extent, it may explain the reward deficits and dysfunction of emotion regulation in smokers, which may provide clues for further understanding the mechanism of tobacco addiction.

Objective:To fulfill the automatic radiolabeling of the norepinephrine transporter (NET) trancer 18F-meta-fluorobenzylguanidine (mFBG), and explore the 18F-mFBG PET/CT imaging effect of pheochromocytoma. Methods:On the basis of the chemical structure of mFBG, a spirocyclic iodonium ylide was used as the precursor to undergo a 3-step reaction sequence (radiofluorination, deprotection and neutralization) on AllinOne synthesis module. Purification by high performance liquid chromatography and formulation were conducted to generate 18F-mFBG. The corresponding quality control tests of 18F-mFBG product was performed. Afterwards, a postoperative patient with pheochromocytoma underwent 18F-mFBG PET/CT imaging. Results:The radiosynthesis was accomplished within 70 min, and 18F-mFBG was obtained in (17.8±2.4)% non-decay-corrected radiochemical yield ( n=5), with radiochemical purity >97% and molar activity >59.2 GBq/μmol. Sterility test, bacterial endotoxins test, abnormal toxicity test and the acetonitrile residue all met the requirements of Pharmacopoeia of the People′ s Republic of China (2020 Volume Ⅳ). The 18F-mFBG PET/CT imaging disclosed high uptake in pheochromocytoma and clear localization of lesions. Conclusions:The automatic radiolabeling of the NET targeted tracer 18F-mFBG is successfully realized by commercially available synthesis module, and the production quality meets all requirements for clinical translation. 18F-mFBG has a potential to image neuroendocrine lesions in clinical setting.

BACKGROUND: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most common malignant tumor of biliary tract. Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) is a natural compound with chalcone structure extracted from the roots of licorice and other plants. Relevant studies have shown that ISL has a strong anti-tumor ability in various types of tumors. However, the research of ISL against GBC has not been reported, which needs to be further investigated. METHODS: The effects of ISL against GBC cells in vitro and in vivo were characterized by cytotoxicity test, RNA-sequencing, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, reactive oxygen species (ROS) detection, lipid peroxidation detection, ferrous ion detection, glutathione disulphide/glutathione (GSSG/GSH) detection, lentivirus transfection, nude mice tumorigenesis experiment and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: ISL significantly inhibited the proliferation of GBC cells in vitro . The results of transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis showed that ferroptosis was the main pathway of ISL inhibiting the proliferation of GBC, and HMOX1 and GPX4 were the key molecules of ISL-induced ferroptosis. Knockdown of HMOX1 or overexpression of GPX4 can reduce the sensitivity of GBC cells to ISL-induced ferroptosis and significantly restore the viability of GBC cells. Moreover, ISL significantly reversed the iron content, ROS level, lipid peroxidation level and GSSG/GSH ratio of GBC cells. Finally, ISL significantly inhibited the growth of GBC in vivo and regulated the ferroptosis of GBC by mediating HMOX1 and GPX4 . CONCLUSION ISL induced ferroptosis in GBC mainly by activating p62-Keap1-Nrf2-HMOX1 signaling pathway and down-regulating GPX4 in vitro and in vivo . This evidence may provide a new direction for the treatment of GBC.
Animals ; Mice ; Carcinoma in Situ ; Chalcones/pharmacology* ; Ferroptosis ; Gallbladder Neoplasms/genetics* ; Glutathione Disulfide ; Kelch-Like ECH-Associated Protein 1 ; Mice, Nude ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2/genetics* ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Humans

Currently the main treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is chemotherapy combining hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, the unbearable side effect of chemotherapy and the high risk of life-threatening infections and disease relapse following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation restrict its application in clinical practice. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop alternative therapeutic tactics with significant efficacy and attenuated adverse effects. Here, we revealed that umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) efficiently induced AML cell differentiation by shuttling the neutrophil elastase (NE)-packaged extracellular vesicles (EVs) into AML cells. Interestingly, the generation and release of NE-packaged EVs could be dramatically increased by vitamin D receptor (VDR) activation in UC-MSC. Chemical activation of VDR by using its agonist 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 efficiently enhanced the pro-differentiation capacity of UC-MSC and then alleviated malignant burden in AML mouse model. Based on these discoveries, to evade the risk of hypercalcemia, we synthetized and identified sw-22, a novel non-steroidal VDR agonist, which exerted a synergistic pro-differentiation function with UC-MSC on mitigating the progress of AML. Collectively, our findings provided a non-gene editing MSC-based therapeutic regimen to overcome the differentiation blockade in AML.

Objective:To explore the value of machine learning models based on MRI predict the brain age of smokers and healthy controls, and further to explore the relationship between smoking and brain aging.Methods:This was a retrospective study. Dataset 1 consisted of 95 male smokers [20-50 (34±7) years old] and 49 healthy controls [20-50 (33±7) years old] recruited from August 2014 to October 2017 in First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Dataset 2 contained 114 healthy male volunteers [20-50 (34±11) years old] from the Southwestern University Adult Imaging Database from 2010 to 2015. All subjects underwent high-resolution 3D T 1WI scan. Gaussian process regression (GPR) model and support vector machine model were constructed to predict brain age based on structural MR images of healthy controls in dataset 1 and dataset 2. After the performance of the model was verified by the cross-validation method, the mean absolute error (MAE) between the predicted brain age and the actual age and the correlation ( r-value) between the actual age and the predicted brain age were calculated, and the best model was finally selected. The best models were applied to smokers and healthy controls to predict brain age. Finally, a general linear model was used to compare the differences in brain-predicted age difference (PAD) between smokers and healthy controls with age, taking years of education and total intracranial volume as covariates. Result:The performance of GPR model (MAE=5.334, r=0.747) in predicting brain age was better than support vector machine model (MAE=6.040, r=0.679). The GPR model predicted that PAD value of smokers in dataset 1 (2.19±6.64) was higher than that of healthy controls in dataset 1 (-0.80±8.94), and the difference was statistically significant ( F=8.52, P=0.004). Conclusion:GPR model based MRI has better performance in predicting brain age in smokers and healthy controls, and smokers show increased PAD values, further indicating that smoking accelerates brain aging.

Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether whole-tumor histogram-based analysis of readout-segmented echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging (RESOLVE-DWI) ADC map can help in the discrimination of parotid gland tumors(pleomorphic adenoma, Warthin tumor, malignant parotid gland tumor). Methods The MR images(pre / post-contrast enhanced MRI, RESOLVE-DWI, ADC map) of 47 patients with a biopsy-or surgery-proven pleomorphic adenomas, 25 patients with Warthin tumors and 36 patients with malignant parotid gland tumors were retrospectively analyzed. Histogram-based analysis was performed with the software MaZda. ROIs were drawn on every section of the ADC map containing the tumor, then 12 Parameters(Area, MinNorm, MaxNorm, Mean,Variance, Skewness, Kurtosis, Perc.1％, Perc.10％, Perc.50％, Perc.90％, Perc.99％) derived from histogram were calculated. Statistical analysis among the three groups (One-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test) were performed to find out the statistical significance of each histogram parameter. Then LSD test or Mann-Whitney U test was used for pairwise comparison between groups. And the differential efficiency of each parameter was determined using ROC analysis. Results Overall, 9 parameters (MinNorm, MaxNorm, Mean, Variance, Skewness, Perc. 10％, Perc. 50％, Perc. 90％, Perc. 99％) among three groups were shown to be statistically significant (P<0.05). Between the pleomorphic adenomas and Warthin tumors, these 9 parameters were of statistical significance. Perc.50％revealed the highest diagnostic efficiency, followed by Mean and Perc.10％. Between the pleomorphic adenomas and malignant parotid gland tumors, also all these 9 parameters were of statistical significance. Mean was revealed to have the highest diagnostic efficiency, followed by Perc. 10％ and Perc. 90％. However, between the Warthin tumors and malignant parotid gland tumors, only 5 parameters (MinNorm, Mean, Skewness, Perc. 10％, Perc. 50％) were statistically significant. MinNorm was revealed to have the highest diagnostic efficiency, followed by Perc. 50％ and Perc. 10％. Generally, Mean, Perc. 10％ and Perc. 50％ were more effective in the differential diagnosis of these three types common parotid neoplasms. Conclusion Whole-tumor histogram analysis of ADC maps are effective in differentiating common parotid neoplasms.

Objective To study the value of whole tumors T2WI gray histogram analysis for differential diagnosis of three commonly presented pediatric posterior fossa tumors. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted to compare brain MRI examination and pathology diagnosis of 133 cases of posterior fossa tumors in pediatric patients in our hospital.Among them, there were 49 cases of ependymoma(there were 25 males and 24 females), 36 cases of astrocytoma(WHO grade Ⅰ)(there were 19 males and 17 females), 48 cases of medulloblastoma(there were 36 males and 12 females),aged 1 to 14 years old, with an average (7±2) years old. Respectively draw the region of interest (ROI) in the T2 MR transaxial images of three groups on each layer of tumor level by using Mazda software and analyze the whole tumors gray histogram, including mean,variance, kurtosis,skewness, perc.01%,perc.10%,perc.50%,perc.90% and perc.99%.The histogram parameters of the three groups were not normally distributed. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the three groups. Bonferroni test was used to compare the two groups to find out statistical significance of each parameter. Results Through histogram analysis of 9 parameters, these 9 parameters were statistically significant (all P <0.05),including mean,variance,kurtosis,skewness, perc.01%,perc.10%,perc.50%,perc.90% and perc.99%. The sensitivity of skewness to differentiate ependymoma and the astrocytoma was 69.4％, the specificity was 77.8％, the area under the curve was 0.744, and the best cut-off value was-0.08. The sensitivity of kurtosis to differentiate astrocytoma and the medulloblastoma was 95.8％, the specificity was 97.2％ and the area under the curve was 0.972, the cut-off was 1.68. The sensitivity of kurtosis to differentiate ependymoma and the medulloblastoma was 91.7％, the specificity was 89.8％and the area under the curve was 0.932,the cut-off was 1.90.They had a high identification efficiency. Conclusions The T2WI gray histogram analysis based whole tumors is helpful for the dignosis of three types of pediatric posterior fossa tumors. Skewness has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and the astrocytoma. Kurtosis has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and the medulloblastoma. Kurtosis has a high diagnostic efficiency to differentiate ependymoma and medulloblastoma.

Objective To study the value of whole tumors volume based apparent diffusion coefficient histogram analysis in grading diagnosis of ependymoma. Methods Seventy?one patients with ependymal tumors were retrospectively analyzed, including 13 cases of WHOⅠ, 28 cases of WHOⅡ, 30 cases of WHO Ⅲ. Regions of interest (ROI) in the apparent diffusion coefficient maps of three groups on each layer of tumor level were drawn by using MaZda software and were analyzed using the whole tumors gray histogram. The histogram parameters of the three groups all fitted the normal distribution and homogeneity test of variance. The ANOVA analysis was used to compare the three groups. LSD-t test was used to compare the two groups to find out statistical significance of each parameter. Results Through histogram analysis of 9 parameters, three parameters were statistically significant (P<0.05), including variance, perc. 01％ and perc. 10％. The remaining 6 parameters had no significant difference between the three groups (P>0.05). Between the WHOⅠand the WHOⅡ, the sensitivity of perc.10％was 85.7％, the specificity was 87.7％, the area under the curve was 0.835, and the best cut-off value was 131.33. Between the WHOⅠand the WHOⅢ, the sensitivity of perc.10％was 85.7％, the specificity was 100.0％, the area under the curve was 0.872, and the cut-off was 126.5.Between the WHOⅡand the WHOⅢ, the sensitivity of variance was 68.4％, the specificity was 79.6％, the area under the curve was 0.794, and the cut-off was 2645.7. They had a high identification efficiency. Conclusion Whole-tumor histogram analysis of apparent diffusion coefficient maps could provide ancillary diagnostic value in grading diagnosis of ependymoma. Perc.10％and variance had a high diagnostic efficiency.

Objective To estimate the value of neck circumference in diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Methods We analyzed the neck circumference of 523 volunteers and the occurrence of metabolic syndrome among them. Then we updated and revalued their data after follow-up for 1.5 years, meanwhile, we evaulated the value of Body Mass Index (BMI) and neck circumference in predicting metabolic syndrome. Results The increase of neck circumference was closely related to the occurrence of metabolic syndrome , and this tendency continued in the follow-up. Compared with BMI , neck circumference was sensitive in identifying the patients of metabolic syndrome. Conclusion Neck circumference has great value in diagnosis and treatment of metabolic syndrome.