In continuation of research aimed at identifying anti-inflammatory agents from natural sesquiterpenoids, an activity-guided fractionation approach utilizing lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated RAW264.7 cells was employed to investigate chemical constituents from Inula Britannica (I. britannica). Seven novel sesquiterpenoid dimers inulabritanoids A-G (1-7) and two novel sesquiterpenoid monomers inulabritanoids H (8) and I (9) were isolated from I. britannica together with eighteen known compounds (10-27). The structural elucidation was accomplished through comprehensive analysis of 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS), and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra, complemented by quantum chemical calculations. Compounds 1, 2, 12, 16, 19, and 26 demonstrated inhibitory effects on NO production, with IC₅₀ values of 3.65, 5.48, 3.29, 6.91, 3.12, and 5.67 μmol·L^-1, respectively. Mechanistic studies revealed that compound 1 inhibited IκB kinase β (IKKβ) phosphorylation, thereby blocking nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) nuclear translocation, and activated the kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1)/nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signal pathway, leading to decreased expression of NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), IL-1β, and IL-1α and increased expression of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), thus exhibiting anti-inflammatory effects in vitro. These results indicate that dimeric sesquiterpenoids may serve as promising candidates for anti-inflammatory drug development.
Mice ; Animals ; Sesquiterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/isolation & purification* ; Inula/chemistry* ; RAW 264.7 Cells ; Nitric Oxide ; Molecular Structure ; NF-kappa B/immunology* ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2/immunology* ; Macrophages/immunology* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II/immunology* ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/immunology* ; I-kappa B Kinase/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of self-efficacy between self-management ability and self-management behavior and its differences among patients with different disease courses through mediation tests. METHODS: In the study, 489 patients with type 2 diabetes who attended the endocrinology departments of four hospitals in Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from July to September 2022 were enrolled as the study population. They were investigated by General Information Questionnaire, Diabetes Self-Management Scale, Chinese version of Diabetes Empowerment Simplified Scale, and Diabetes Self-Efficacy Scale. Mediation analyses were performed using the linear regression model, Sobel test, and Bootstrap test in the software Stata version 15.0 and divided the patients into different disease course groups for subgroup analysis according to whether the disease course was > 5 years. RESULTS: In this study, the score of self-management behavior in the patients with type 2 diabetes was 6.16±1.41, the score of self-management ability was 3.99±0.74, and the score of self-efficacy was 7.05±1.90. The results of the study showed that self-efficacy was positively correlated with self-management ability (r=0.33) as well as self-management behavior (r=0.47) in the patients with type 2 diabetes (P < 0.01). The mediating effect of self-efficacy accounted for 38.28% of the total effect of self-management ability on self-management behaviors and was higher in the behaviors of blood glucose monitoring (43.45%) and diet control (52.63%). The mediating effect of self-efficacy accounted for approximately 40.99% of the total effect for the patients with disease course ≤ 5 years, while for the patients with disease course > 5 years, the mediating effect accounted for 39.20% of the total effect. CONCLUSION Self-efficacy enhanced the effect of self-management ability on the behavior of the patients with type 2 diabetes, and this positive effect was more significant for the patients with shorter disease course. Targeted health education should be carried out to enhance patients' self-efficacy and self-management ability according to their disease characteristics, to stimulate their inner action, to promote the development of their self-management behaviors, and to form a more stable and long-term mechanism for disease management.
Humans ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/therapy* ; Self Efficacy ; Self-Management ; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring ; Blood Glucose ; Self Care

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of welders' pneumoconiosis cases reported from 2001 to 2020 in Tianjin, and to provide a scientific basis for formulating prevention and control strategies for welders' pneumoconiosis. Methods A database was established based on the data of all welders' pneumoconiosis cases reported in Tianjin from 2001 to 2020，and SPSS 24.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results (1) From 2001 to 2020，there were 376 cases of welders' pneumoconiosis reported in Tianjin，with 356 new cases (91.05%). There were fewer progressed and death cases, which were 13 and 7 cases, respectively; (2) The number of new cases showed a trend of increasing firstly and then decreasing with the reporting year. The dust-exposure years were concentrated from 1970 to 1989，with the number of cases accounting for 69.94% of the total; (3) The median dust-exposure year of welders' pneumoconiosis new cases from 2001 to 2020 was 25.92 years. The median diagnosis age was 54.30 years old，which increased with the reporting year（F=20.23，5.13，P<0.05）; (4) The difference in median diagnosis age between different reporting years was statistically significant（H=17.62，P<0.01）， but the median dust-exposure working age was no significant difference（H=1.17，P>0.05）; (5) The main industries were general and professional equipment manufacturing industry and ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry. Conclusion The incidence of new cases of welder pneumoconiosis in Tianjin is relatively low and has significantly decreased in recent five years. The age of diagnosis and length of service for dust exposure are on the rise, indicating that the incidence of pneumoconiosis among welders has been effectively controlled. However, the impact of welding fumes on workers' health cannot be ignored. The control and engineering governance should be strengthened to reduce the impact of welding fumes on workers' health, and to achieve the goal of ultimately eliminating welders' pneumoconiosis.

BACKGROUND: In vitro isolation and culture of neural stem/progenitor cells will provide a good cell model for the study of neurodevelopment, neurological diseases, and neural transplantation. OBJECTIVE: To study the highly effective method for isolation and expansion of hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells from newborn mice, and to identify the proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells using improved adherent culture method. METHODS: Neural stem/progenitor cells were isolated from the hippocampus of newborn C57BL/6 mice and were expanded for several passages. Combination of polylysine and laminin were used for adherent culture to promote cell attachment. Morphological observation and immunofluorescence cytochemical staining were conducted to detect the expression of neural progenitor-specific marker protein Nestin and proliferation index Ki-67. After 7 days of induction and differentiation, the expression of GFAP, DCX, Tuj1 and S100β was detected by immunofluorescence. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: About 82％ of the cultured neural stem/progenitor cells expressed Nestin, and about 49％ expressed Ki-67. A small number of cells were DCX-positive neurons after induction and differentiation, while most of the cells were positive for GFAP. The ratio of neurons to astrocytes was 1:1.7 identified by Tuj1 and S100β double staining. The neural stem/progenitor cells derived from the hippocampus were efficiently isolated and cultured. The cell proliferation and differentiation abilities were effectively identified after adherent culture, which can provide sufficient cell sources for further experimental research.

Objective To explore the value of patient global assessment (PGA) on evaluating disease activity in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (SpA),Methods A total of 222 patients with axial SpA were recruited.Scores of PGA,disease activity index [Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI),ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score (ASDAS)crp] and spondyloarthritis research consortium of Canada (SPARCC) were calculated.Differences of PGA scores between different disease activity groups in axial SpA were compared and correlations between different disease activity index with PGA scores were analyzed.Statistical analyses were performed using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software (version 17.0).Comparison of frequency among different groups was performed by x2 test.Rank-sum test was used to compare the median of measurement data in different groups when the data were skewed in distribution.Cut-off value of PGA for assessing disease activity in axial SpA was calculated by ROC curve.Results Medians of PGA score in groups with BASDAI remission[3(1,4) vs 5(4,7)] and ASDAScrp remission [1(1,2) vs 4(2,5)] were lower than that in disease activity group (P＜0.01).BASDAI scores [1.80(1.20,2.90) vs 3.40(2.28,4.63) vs 5.15 (4.08,5.88)] and ASDAScrp scores [2.19(1.34,2.76) vs 2.86(2.08,3.54) vs 4.08(2.96,4.41)] were significant different among PGA groups (≤3,4-6 and ≥7) (P＜0.01).Differences of SPARCC scores [6.00(0,18.00) vs 7.50(3.75,18.00) vs 18.50(6.75,24.50)] were statistically significant among PGA groups (Z=7.427,P=0.037).Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) [12.00(5.00,23.00) mm/1 h vs 19.50(7.00,44.50) mm/1 h vs 18.00(7.75,54.75) mm/1 h],C-reactive protein (CRP) [7.85(2.37,22.49) mg/L vs 10.07(3.02,28.51) mg/L vs 21.28(7.14,37.74) mg/L] and Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI) [0.70(0.10,1.30) vs 2.25(0.60,3.30) vs 2.85(0.83,6.53)] were also different among PGA groups (P＜0.01,separately).Proportion of axial SpA patients in BASDAI disease activity group or ASDAScrp higher disease activity group were different among PGA groups (P＜0.01,separately),while represented as positive correlations (P＜0.01,separately).Correlation analyses revealed that PGA was positively correlated with ASDAScrp (r=0.694),BASDAI(r=0.616),SPARCC (r=0.271),ESR (r=0.288),CRP(r=0.215),occipital wall distance (r=0.196),finger-floor distance (r=0.385) and negatively correlated with Sschober's test (r=-0.195) (P＜0.05).Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis found that PGA-BASDAI AUC was 0.813,the cut off value of PGA was 3.5 and PGA-ASDAScrp AUC was 0.860,the cut off value of PGA was 2.5.Conclusion PGA has good correlations with the disease activity indexes in axial SpA patients.It can also reflect the degree of inflammation in iconography.PGA may reflect disease activity especially when the value of PGA is around 3.

Objective: To investigate the killing activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells after incubation with autologous tumor cell lysate-pulsed dendritic cells (Ag-DC) and to evaluate the immune functions of patients, the clinical efficacy and side effect of Ag-DC in combination with CIK on hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from 24 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and cultured with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 to produce dendritic cells (DCs). The DCs were pulsed with autologous tumor cell lysate. T lymphocytes from PBMC were cultured with interferon-Y (IFN-γ), IL-2, CD3-moAb, and IL-1α to prepare CIK. The killing effect of CIK on SMMC-7721 was investigated after CIK was incubated with Ag-DC. After immunotherapy with Ag-DC and CIK, immunolog-ic and clinical responses of the 24 patients were evaluated. Results: The killing effect of CIK was remarkably improved after CIK was incubated with Ag-DC. The immunotherapy with DC and CIK alleviated symptoms and improved the immune functions of the patients. Except for transient fever and chill, no remarkable adverse events were observed. Conclusion: Ag-DC in combination with CIK shows short-term efficacy on hepatocellular carcinoma through inducing specific anti-tumor immunity and can be an effective adjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.