Objective To observe the efficacy of monosialotetrahexosy lganglioside (GM1) in the treatment of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). Methods Sixty patients with VCI were randomly divided into either a treatment group or a control group. The patients in the control group received conventional treatment and those in the treatment control group were treated with conventional treatment plus continuous intravenous infusion of GM1 (80 mg/d) for 2 weeks. The efficacy was evaluated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) before and after the treatment, and the safety of the treatment was observed. Results After 2 weeks of treatment, the MoCA scores were significantly higher than those before treatment in both groups (all P ＜ 0. 05). The MoCA scores of the treatment group were significantly higher than those of the control group (20. 82 ± 1. 96 vs. 19. 61 ±2. 02, t =2. 315, P =0. 023). No obvious adverse reactions were found. Conclusions The efficacy of GM1 is positive in the treatment of vascular cognitive impairment, and there is no obvious adverse reactions. It is worthy of using widely in clinical practice.

This study was aimed to reveal characteristics of functions, main indications and applications of Chinese patent medicines in order to provide references for development of new Chinese patent medicines for antitussive ef-fect. Chinese patent medicines recorded in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and the New Na-tional Chinese Patent Medicines were taken as research subjects. Chinese patent medicines classified in the function and indication with key words of cough-relieving, cough-suppressing, cough and chronic cough were col-lected. Analysis was made on the prescription characteristics, such as functions, main indications and applications. The results showed that there were 684 Chinese patent medicines and 462 terms, which were used for a total of 1533 times. The frequently-used terms are antitussive effect with expectorant, antitussive effect, expectorant, heat-clearing and exterior-releasing, antiasthmatic, wind-expelling and antipyretic, antitussive effect with antiasthmatic, purging lung heat, relieving exterior syndrome and moistening the lungs. All 684 Chinese patent medicines were used 48 ma-jor treatments for a total of 1107 times. The main indications include acute and chronic trachitis / bronchitis, exoge-nous wind-heat type of common cold, exogenous wind-cold type of common cold, cough with abundance of phlegm due to phlegm-heat obstructing the lung, acute upper respiratory tract infection, asthma, acute and chronic pharyngi-tis, lung heat cough, and etc. All 684 Chinese patent medicines used a total of 537 kinds of herbs and chemical medicines, including 441 kinds of herbal medicine, 36 kinds of animal medicine, 25 kinds of mineral medicine and 35 kinds of chemical medicine. The top ten herbs in terms of using frequency are Glycyrrhizae radix et rhizoma, Platycodonis radix, Armeniacae semen amarum, Menthae haplocalycis herba, Citri reticulatae pericarpium, Ephedrae herba, Scutellariae radix, Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt, Pinelliae rhizoma, Fritillariae cirrhosae bulbus. Among them, 1/4 of Chinese patent medicines used extract. Five kinds of food or fruits were also used, which were orange, fresh gin-ger, pear, watermelon and dried mushroom. It was concluded that Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect can be adopted in the treatment of various kinds of diseases, especially for the treatment of cough(heat cough in partic-ular), abundance of phlegm, asthma, pharyngitis, laryngitis, and etc. The treatment methods of clearing heat, dis-pelling wind and relieving exterior syndrome played an important role in the realization of antitussive effect. However, the expression of functions and main indications is far from standardized and clear. Drugs commonly used are herbal medicine plus animal medicine, mineral medicine and chemical medicine as well as food and fruit. The discovery of preparations with certain clinical curative effect from ethnomedicine and the using of their extracts as a major ingre-dient are one important way to develop new Chinese patent medicines with antitussive effect.

Objective:We genetically modified our non-replicating vaccinia virus NTV to improve its immunogenicity.Methods:We constructed NTV-modified strain NTV-ΔF1L-C7L by homologous recombination of vaccinia virus based on CRISPR-Cas9 technology by inserting the C7L gene while deleting the F1L gene. The recombinant virus NTV-ΔF1L-C7L was then immunized with 10 7 PFU in BALB/c mice, and the levels of humoral and cellular immunity induced by NTV-ΔF1L-C7L were detected by ELISA and ELISpot method, respectively, and the levels of neutralizing antibodies were determined by the phage-reduced neutralization assay. Results:The PCR and western- blot identification proved that the F1L gene of the constructed NTV-modified strain NTV-ΔF1L-C7L was missing, while the C7L gene was inserted back in the region, and the C7L gene could be expressed normally, indicating that the recombinant virus was constructed correctly. After immunization of mice with NTV-ΔF1L-C7L, ELISA result showed that the recombinant virus NTV-ΔF1L-C7L induced a higher level of IgG antibody than NTV; ELISpot result also showed that the recombinant virus was able to induce a higher level of IFN-γ; and the result of plaque reduction neutralization test showed that the recombinant virus was able to induce a higher level of IFN-γ antibody than that of NTV.Conclusions:We correctly constructed the NTV gene-modified strain NTV-ΔF1L-C7L, which induced stronger humoral and cellular immunity compared with NTV, and provided reference data for the research and development of replacement products for smallpox or monkeypox vaccines.

Objective:To study the cell morphological changes and related molecular mechanisms of non-replicating vaccinia virus NTV infection with human cells and to provide a scientific basis for the further optimization, transformation and application of NTV vectors.Methods:HeLa cells were infected with vaccinia virus Tiantan strain VTT and non-replicating vaccinia virus NTV, and the morphological changes of cells were observed. Then cells were harvested, and rRNA break levels were detected by electrophoresis and the molecular signals associated with apoptosis were detected by Western blotting, and the pathways and mechanisms of NTV-induced early apoptosis were preliminarily determined.Results:In this study, in terms of cell morphology, it was observed that cells infected with NTV were able to have cell rounding, wrinkles and other lesions at an earlier time compared with VTT. DAPI staining showed that NTV-infected nuclei exhibited high chromatin aggregation, marginalization, and disintegration over time. The rRNA fracture level test result indicate that rRNA has been broken and degraded after 16 hours of NTV infection. The Western blotting test result showed that the molecular signals of PARP, caspase-3 and caspase-9 that were stronger than in normal cells could be detected in NTV-infected HeLa cells, but there was no significant increase in caspase-8, while the result of VTT were the opposite of those in NTV.Conclusions:NTV can induce apoptosis in the early stage and provide a theoretical basis for the modification of vaccinia vectors.

Objective:Through the study of the cell biological characteristics and virulence in mice in vivo of three non-replicating vaccinia virus modified strains to provide reference for the development of smallpox/monkeypox vaccine replacement products.Methods:Replicating vaccinia virus Tiantan strain VTT and non-replicating Tiantan Vaccinia Strain NTV were studied in BHK-21/CEF and its modified strains NTV-C7L, NTV-△F1L-C7L, NTV-K1L were amplified, purified, and identified by Western blotting. The virulence and diffusivity of each strain in cells were evaluated by immune-plaque assay. The replication dynamics curves were used to compare the replication differences between the strains, and the weight loss was observed by intranasal route in the mouse model to compare the virulence levels of the viruses.Results:In this study, Western blotting result proved that the amplified and purified vaccinia virus strains were correct. Immunophagocytosis and replication kinetics showed that the replication capacity of the three NTV modified strains in CEF was similar to that of NTV. The diffusion ability and replication ability between Vero cells were improved, but the replication multiple was less than 100 times. The replication level of MRC-5 was significantly enhanced compared with that of NTV, and the replication ratio of NTV-C7L was more than 20000 times. The virulence in mice showed that the body weight of the three NTV modified strains had no statistical significance compared with that of NTV.Conclusions:The three NTV modified strains recovered their replication ability in human MRC-5 cells, but their virulence in mice was similar to that of NTV, which provided the preliminary conditions for being candidate strains of smallpox/monkeypox vaccine replacement products.

Objective:To further improve socket shield technique. The treatment outcome and the key related factors in Asian population are evaluated by measuring the root fragment and alveolar crest parameters in immediate implant placement cases with socket shield.Methods:A total of 18 patients, with 21 implants placed using socket shield technique were included in this retrospective study. Fourteen implants of 11 cases were recruited from West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, 7 implants of 7 cases were recruited from Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. The relationship between the thickness of the root fragment, the vertical height of the root fragment and the dimensional changes of buccal alveolar bone in 6 months was analyzed respectively. The pink-white esthetic scores were evaluated. The complications were recorded, analyzed and preventive measures were put forward.Results:There is a negative correlation between the vertical height of tooth fragment and the buccal crest height reduction ( r=-0.458, P=0.037). There were negative correlations between the thickness of the tooth fragment with the vertical dimensional changes ( r=-0.574, P=0.007) and horizontal dimensional changes ( r=-0.619, P=0.003) of buccal alveolar bone. Three cases with internal exposure were recorded during the treatment. No severe complications were observed. Every case achieved a satisfying pink-white esthetic outcome according to the existing treatment protocols. Conclusions:Rigorous case screening, delicate surgical procedures, and maintaining adequate thickness of the root are the key to achieve a good esthetic outcome of implant treatment with socket shield technique.

Esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most lethal malignancies in the world and occurs at particularly higher frequency in China. While several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of germline variants and whole-genome or whole-exome sequencing studies of somatic mutations in ESCC have been published, there is no comprehensive database publically available for this cancer. Here, we developed the Chinese Cancer Genomic Database-Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (CCGD-ESCC) database, which contains the associations of 69,593 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with ESCC risk in 2022 cases and 2039 controls, survival time of 1006 ESCC patients (survival GWAS) and gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL) in 94 ESCC patients. Moreover, this database also provides the associations between 8833 somatic mutations and survival time in 675 ESCC patients. Our user-friendly database is a resource useful for biologists and oncologists not only in identifying the associations of genetic variants or somatic mutations with the development and progression of ESCC but also in studying the underlying mechanisms for tumorigenesis of the cancer. CCGD-ESCC is freely accessible at http://db.cbi.pku.edu.cn/ccgd/ESCCdb.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; genetics ; China ; epidemiology ; Databases, Genetic ; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genetic Variation ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans ; Internet ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; User-Computer Interface