Three hundred and ninety five patients with bronchial asthma were randomly divided into 4 groups:patients in group A received inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate(BDP)100μg and Zhichuan decoction;patients in group B were given inhaled BDP 200μg;patients in group C took Zhichuan decoction only;patients in group D were given inhaled BDP 100 μg.Methacholine airway reactivity,pulmonary ventilation function,serum acidophilia cationic protein and symptom score were determined before and after treatment.All above indicators were significantly improved in groups A and B,which suggests that Zhichuan decoction could reduce hormone dosage in control of airway chronic inflammation,reduction of airway reactivity and improvement of pulmonary ventilation function of patients with bronchial asthma.

Objective To explore the significance of the suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS-1)gene methylation in the genesis, development and prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).Methods The methylation state of CpG island in SOCS-1 gene were detected by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the level of SOCS-1 gene was measured by the real-time PCR. The clinical data of 30 patients with DLBCL were collected, and according to the international prognosis index (IPI), they were divided into low risk group and high risk group. Results Aberrant methylation of SOCS-1 in 17 DLBCL patients (56.7 %) were positive, however, in control group aberrant methylation was negative(P ＜0.01).The methylation level of DLBCL patients with positive SOCS-1 methylation was higher than that of patients with negative (P ＜0.05). Combined with the clinical data, the positive rate of methylation in patients with high level of serum LDH or the numbers of extra-nodal lesions＞l were significantly higher than that in patients with normal LDH level or the numbers of extra-nodal lesions ≤ 1, respectively. Hence, the positive rate of methylation in the high risk group of DLBCL was higher than that in the low risk group (P ＜0.05). Conclusion There were aberrant methylations of the SOCS-1 gene in the patients with DLBCL. The methylations of SOCS-1 can silence the gene expression, which indicates that SOCS-1 and its methylations play some role on genesis and development of DLBCL and can evaluate the prognosis of the patients with DLBCL.

Objective To investigate the relations between p53 and K-ras gene mutation in portal venous blood of gastric carcinoma patients and cancer metastasis. Methods p53 and K-ras gene mutation was detected with PCR-SSCP technology in 62 cases of gastric carcinoma. Results p53 and K-ras mutation rate were 39% and 34% in portal venous blood, but only 8% and 4. 8% in peripheral blood; The rate of gene mutation in p53 and K-ras were 24% and 22% in patient without liver metastasis, 92% and 77% in patient with liver metastasis; The rate of gene mutation in p53 and K-ras in portal venous were 39% and 34% before surgical exploration, but 56% and 63% after exploration. The rate of positive detection of the mutation was significantly (P

Objective To explore the prognostic value of serum neutrophils/lymphocytes(NLR)for first-line treatment of patients with advanced gastric cancer using programmed cell death receptor 1(PD-1)inhibitors.Methods A total of 168 patients with advanced gastric cancer who were treated with immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy in the Fourth Hospital of Qinhuangdao from January 2018 to January 2021 were selected as study subjects,and the follow-up period was terminated at January 2023.The patients'data were collected,hematological and tumor markers before the combined treatment were analyzed,and the optimal cut-off value of NLR was calculated using X-tile software.The effect of NLR expression on the survival rate of patients with advanced gastric cancer was analysed by the Kaplan-Meier survival curve.Receiver operating curve(ROC)was used to analyze the predictive value of NLR in patients with advanced gastric cancer.The related factors affecting the disease progression of patients with advanced gastric cancer were screened combined with Cox proportional risk model.Results Among 168 patients,the optimal cut-off value of serum NLR before treatment was 2.41.Patients were divided into high NLR group(NLR＞2.41,n=93)and low NLR group(NLR＜2.41,n=75).NLR was related to tumor differentiation,distant metastasis,composite positive scores of PD-L1,carcinoembryonic antigen and cancer antigen 125(P＜0.05);the effective rate in the low NLR group was significantly higher than that in the high NLR group(P＜0.05);the median progression free survival(PFS)and the overall survival(OS)of patients in the low NLR group were both longer than those in the high NLR group(PFS:P=0.006;OS:P=0.023);ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve of NLR for the prognosis of advanced gastric cancer patients was 0.740,sensitivity was 81.50％,and specificity was 69.70％;in multivariate analysis,except initial NLR value,tumor differentiation degree and distant metastasis were also independent predictors of poor prognosis in patients with advanced gastric cancer(P＜0.05).Conclusion Among patients with advanced gastric cancer who received first-line immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy,pretreatment NLR is correlated with efficacy and PFS/OS,and has high value in predicting the prognosis of immunotherapy for advanced gastric cancer.

Objective:To investigate the association of lipoprotein a (Lpa) in early pregnancy with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk.Methods:A total of 445 pregnant women in 12-14 gestational weeks from "Maternal Key Nutritional Factors and Offspring's Atopic Dermatitis" cohort were included in this study. The demographic characteristics of participants were collected by using questionnaires, and the fasting glucose and lipids levels in early pregnancy were measured. The results of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) between 24-28 gestational weeks were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression model was applied to analyze the association of Lpa with GDM by calculating the OR and 95% CI after adjustment for covariates. Results:The incidence number of GDM was 78 (17.5%). The Lpa level in pregnant women with GDM was significantly higher than that in pregnant women without GDM [105.5 (92.0, 122.0) vs. 97.0 (87.0, 109.0) mg/L], P<0.05. Lpa was significantly associated with GDM risk [ OR (95% CI) =1.21(1.08-1.36) per 10 mg/L], P<0.05. The association was still significant after adjustment for covariates including age, gestational weeks et al, the adjusted OR was 1.14 (95% CI: 1.01-1.30), P=0.03. Conclusions:The elevation of Lpa in early pregnancy is one of risk factor for GDM. Maintaining normal Lpa level during early pregnancy can benefit early prevention of GDM and offspring health.

Objective:To quantify the associations between periconceptional maternal homocysteine (HCY) and offspring′s birth weight and risk of small for gestational age (SGA) infant.Methods:The 19 984 mother-child pairs in this prospective cohort study were recruited from the Shanghai preconception cohort; the infants were delivered from 1 st September 2016 to 11 th November 2022. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the mothers′ demographic information, medical history, dietary supplement use, and maternal complications during pregnancy, and their serum samples were collected. Serum HCY, folate, and vitamin B 12 were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay based on serum sample drawn at enrollment. Birth weight data were obtained from medical records. Multiple imputation methods were applied to handle missing data in key variables. Multivariable linear regression and Poisson regression models were used to analyze the relationship between maternal HCY concentration during the periconceptional period and the birth weight and SGA risk of the offspring. Results:A total of 9 452 pairs were enrolled preconceptionally and the remaining 10 532 pairs were enrolled in early pregnancy. The proportion of mothers whose pregnancy age was greater than 35 years was 9.2% (1 832/19 984), the proportion of primiparous women was 76.5% (15 283/19 984), the proportion of pre-pregnancy overweight and obesity was 14.0% (2 804/19 984), the proportion of using folic acid supplements before pregnancy was 21.4% (4 272/19 984), and the proportion of those who supplemented with folic acid during early pregnancy was 85.2% (8 976/10 532); gestational diabetes mellitus was in 6.2% (1 245/19 984), gestational hypertensive syndrome in 3.6% (711/19 984). The birth weight of the offspring was (3 297±468) g, and there were 1 962 SGA children (9.8%). The HCY concentration in the overall population in appropriate for gestational age during the periconceptional period was (7.9±3.2) μmol/L, with (8.3±3.7) μmol/L in the preconception subgroup and (7.3±2.4) μmol/L in the early pregnancy subgroup. After adjustment for the covariates of perinatal demographic information, adverse pregnancy outcomes, serum folate and vitamin B 12, increased maternal periconceptional HCY was significantly associated with lower offspring birth weight ( β=-2.30, 95% CI -4.43--0.16, P=0.035). Only the early pregnancy subgroup was significantly associated with lower offspring birth weight ( β=-7.39, 95% CI-11.50--3.21, P<0.001). No association was found between peripregnancy HCY and offspring SGA risk. However, elevated HCY in early pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of SGA in the offspring ( RR=1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.08, P=0.002). Periconceptional vitamin B 12 was a mediator of the association between HCY and offspring birth weight, accounting for 16.5%, 41.2% and 5.4% of its total effect in the overall periconceptional population, the pre-pregnancy subgroup and the early pregnancy subgroup, respectively. Conclusions:Maternal periconceptional HCY level is associated with lower birth weight in offspring, but not with the risk of SGA. Elevated maternal HCY in early pregnancy subgroup may be associated with increased risk of SGA in offspring.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between clinical phenotype, electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics and genotype in children with Angelman syndrome(AS). Methods: A total of 103 children with AS at Department of Neurology, Children′s Hospital of Fudan University from June 2017 to June 2018, were included in this study.The information of clinical characteristics, EEG manifestations, genotypes as well as the epileptic outcome were collected retrospectively.The correlations between clinical phenotype, genotype, and epileptic outcome were evaluated. Results: (1) Of the 103 cases, 48 were male (46.6%) and 55 were female (53.4%). (2) Genotypes on AS critical region were maternal chromosome 15q11.2-q13 [86.4%(89/103 cases)], paternal uniparental disomy [3.9%(4/103 cases)], imprinting defects [1.9%(2/103 cases)], and mutations in the maternal copy of UBE3A [7.8%(8/103 cases)]. (3) Apparent happy demeanor or smile and general developmental delay were observed in all AS children.Dyskinesia accounted for 98.1% (101/103 cases), followed by oral movement or suck disorders [97.1%(100/103 cases)] and abnormal posture [67.0%(69/103 cases)]. The proportion of acquired small head circumfe-rence or microcephaly, flat occiput or occipital groove and wide-spaced teeth were 61.2%(63/103 cases), 85.4%(88/103 cases) and 44.7%(46/103 cases), respectively.(4) Behavioral problems like fascination with water, sleep problems and feeding difficulties were found in 86.4%(89/103 cases), 89.3%(92/103 cases) and 85.5%(88/103 cases) of the children, respectively.Sleep disorders [94.4%(84/89 cases) vs.57.1%(8/14 cases)] and feeding difficulties [93.3%(83/89 cases) vs.35.7%(5/14 cases)] were more frequently seen in children with maternal absence group, compared those with no absence, and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). (5) Epilepsy was present in 77.7% (80/103 cases) of children with onset age varying from 8 to 72 months and 80.8% (59/73 cases) were developing seizures prior to 3 years old.Children with maternal absence showed more multiple seizure types than those with no absence[41.7%(32/68 cases) vs.0(0 case)], and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). Children with well-controlled epilepsy had more atonic seizure, compared with those with poorly controlled seizure [48.3%(14/29 cases) vs.18.5%(4/27 cases)], and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). Conclusions Sleep disorders, feeding difficulties in infancy and multiple seizure types are more commonly seen in AS children with maternal absence.Atonic seizure is easier to be controlled over other types of seizures.

The obstacle to successful remyelination in demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, mainly lies in the inability of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to differentiate, since OPCs and oligodendrocyte-lineage cells that are unable to fully differentiate are found in the areas of demyelination. Thus, promoting the differentiation of OPCs is vital for the treatment of demyelinating diseases. Shikimic acid (SA) is mainly derived from star anise, and is reported to have anti-influenza, anti-oxidation, and anti-tumor effects. In the present study, we found that SA significantly promoted the differentiation of cultured rat OPCs without affecting their proliferation and apoptosis. In mice, SA exerted therapeutic effects on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), such as alleviating clinical EAE scores, inhibiting inflammation, and reducing demyelination in the CNS. SA also promoted the differentiation of OPCs as well as their remyelination after lysolecithin-induced demyelination. Furthermore, we showed that the promotion effect of SA on OPC differentiation was associated with the up-regulation of phosphorylated mTOR. Taken together, our results demonstrated that SA could act as a potential drug candidate for the treatment of demyelinating diseases.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Demyelinating Diseases ; prevention & control ; Encephalitis ; prevention & control ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental ; prevention & control ; Female ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Myelin Basic Protein ; metabolism ; Neuroprotective Agents ; administration & dosage ; Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Remyelination ; drug effects ; Shikimic Acid ; administration & dosage ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; metabolism