OBJECTIVE:To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of escitalopram and duloxetine in the treatment of depression, and provide evidence-based reference for clinical treatment. METHODS:Retrieved from PubMed, Wanfang database,VIP,CNKI and CBM,randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about escitalopram (trial group) and duloxetine (control group) in the treatment of depression were collected. Meta-analysis was conducted by using Rev Man 5.3 software after data extraction and quality evaluation according to bias risk assessment tool recommended by system evaluator manual 5.3. RESULTS:Finally 25 RCTs were included,involving 2621 patients. The results of Meta-analysis showed that there was no statistical significance in total response rate between 2 groups after 1,2,4,6,8 weeks of treatment or cure rate between 2 groupsafter 4,6,8 weeks of treatment (P>0.05). There was no statistical significance in total response rate [RR=0.96,95％CI(0.88, 1.05),P=0.42] or cure rate [RR=0.91,95％CI(0.78,1.06),P=0.24] of female patients,as well as total response rate [RR=0.96, 95％CI(0.84,1.11),P=0.61] or cure rate [RR=0.90,95％CI(0.54,1.49),P=0.69] of elderly patients between 2 groups. The incidence of constipation [RR=0.59,95％CI (0.42,0.81),P=0.001],dry mouth [RR=0.65,95％CI(0.51,0.82),P=0.0004], nausea [RR=0.68,95％CI(0.56,0.83),P=0.0002] and decreased appetite [RR=0.74,95％CI(0.55,0.99),P=0.04] in trial group were significantly lower than control group,with statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS:The effectiveness of escitalopram is similar to duloxetine in the treatment of depression,but the safety of escitalopram is better than duloxetine.

Objective:To deliver understanding of the latest research progress on clinical trials and approval of dermatological drugs in China in 2020.Methods:A registration and information disclosure platform for drug clinical studies and a query system for domestic and imported drugs in the National Medical Products Administration of China were searched for registered clinical trials and approved dermatological drugs, respectively. The number and stages of clinical trials, indications and classification of involved products, and listed dermatological drugs in 2020 were summarized and depicted.Results:There were 157 dermatological drug trials registered in China in 2020, accounting for 6.16% of all the 2 548 clinical drug trials, including 127 (80.9%) initiated by Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises and 25 (15.9%) international multicenter trials. Among the 127 drug trials initiated by Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises, bioequivalence trials were mostly common, accounting for 55.9% (71/127) . Compared with global pharmaceutical enterprises, domestic pharmaceutical companies initiated significantly decreased proportions of international multicenter trials (1.9% [3/157] vs. 14.0% [22/157], P < 0.001) , but significantly increased proportions of phaseⅠclinical trials and bioequivalence trials (24.4% [31/127] vs. 10.0% [3/30], 55.9% [71/127] vs. 0, respectively, both P < 0.001) . Totally, 90 kinds of dermatological drug were involved in all the trials, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and melanoma were the most common indications, and innovative drugs accounted for 53.3% (48/90) ; the proportion of innovative drugs was significantly lower in domestic pharmaceutical companies than in global pharmaceutical companies (43.2% [32/74] vs. 16/16, P < 0.001) . In addition, 28 dermatological drugs developed by 22 pharmaceutical companies were approved in China in 2020, of which 21 drugs were developed by domestic pharmaceutical companies. Conclusion:Clinical drug trials carried out by domestic pharmaceutical companies mostly focus on generic drugs, and it is still necessary for domestic pharmaceutical companies to further improve the innovation ability.

Iron is an essential trace element for both humans and bacteria. It plays a vital role in life, such as in redox reactions and electron transport. Strict regulatory mechanisms are necessary to maintain iron homeostasis because both excess and insufficient iron are harmful to life. Competition for iron is a war between humans and bacteria. To grow, reproduce, colonize, and successfully cause infection, pathogens have evolved various mechanisms for iron uptake from humans, principally Fe 3+ -siderophore and Fe 2+ -heme transport systems. Humans have many innate immune mechanisms that regulate the distribution of iron and inhibit bacterial iron uptake to help resist bacterial invasion and colonization. Meanwhile, researchers have invented detection test strips and coupled antibiotics with siderophores to create tools that take advantage of this battle for iron, to help eliminate pathogens. In this review, we summarize bacterial and human iron metabolism, competition for iron between humans and bacteria, siderophore sensors, antibiotics coupled with siderophores, and related phenomena. We also discuss how competition for iron can be used for diagnosis and treatment of infection in the future.
Humans ; Siderophores/metabolism* ; Iron/metabolism* ; Bacteria ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology* ; Biological Transport

Objective: To explore the short-term effects of ambient PM_2.5 on the outpatient visits of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Ningbo city. Methods: Through the regional health information platform, number of daily COPD outpatients from the four general hospitals in Ningbo was gathered. Related data on meteorological and air pollution from 2014 to 2016 was also collected. Generalized additive model (GAM) of Possion regression was used to estimate the impact of PM_2.5 pollution on COPD outpatients and the lagging effects. Results: In cold (November- April) or warm seasons (May-October), an 10 μg/m³ increase of PM_2.5 would result in the excessive number of COPD outpatients as 1.87% (95%CI: 0.98%-2.76%), 2.09% (95%CI: 1.11%-3.08%) and 2.56% (95%CI: 0.56%-4.59%), respectively. In terms of the short-term effects of PM_2.5 the strongest was seen in the days of warm season but without delay (P<0.05). The strongest effect appeared at day 4 in cold season and the effect was particularly significant seen in the over 65 year-old group or in the female population. After the introduction of PM₁₀, SO₂ and NO₂, the concentration of PM_2.5, did not show significant effect on the number of hospital visits due to COPD on the same day (P>0.05). The effect of COPD on the fourth day showed a slight change after the lagging, and the effect was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The increase of PM_2.5 concentration in Ningbo was related to the increase of COPD outpatient numbers. Effective prevention measures should be taken to protect the vulnerable population and to reduce the risk of COPD.

Objective To observe the 24-week survival status of patients with hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) treated with plasma exchange (PE) and double plasma molecular adsorption system (DPMAS) alone or in combination, and to establish a predictive model for 24-week prognosis. Methods Related clinical data were collected from 133 patients with HBV-ACLF who received PE and DPMAS alone or in combination in The Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2015 to December 2019, and according to the survival status at the 24-week follow-up after treatment, they were divided into survival group with 71 patients and death group with 62 patients. A total of 55 patients with HBV-ACLF who received PE and DPMAS alone or in combination in The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2018 to January 2020 were enrolled as validation group to validate the performance of the model. Related clinical data included mode of artificial liver support therapy, age, sex, total bilirubin (TBil), international normalized ratio (INR), creatinine (Cr), serum sodium, platelet count (PLT), albumin (Alb), and presence or absence of ascites, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy, and gastrointestinal bleeding. The t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of continuous data with skewed distribution between two groups; the chi-square test and the Fisher's exact test were used for comparison of categorical data between groups. The Cox regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors for the prognosis of HBV-ACLF patients after PE and DPMAS alone or in combination and establish a predictive model; the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted and the DeLong method was used to compare the area under the ROC curve (AUC) between the new predictive model and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD)/MELD combined with serum sodium concentration (MELD-Na) scores. Results At 24 weeks after treatment, 71 patients survived and 62 patients died in the modeling group. The Cox regression analysis showed age (hazard ratio [ HR ]=1.030, P =0.013), TBil ( HR =1.018, P < 0.001), INR ( HR =1.517, P < 0.001), and PLT ( HR =0.993, P =0.04) were independent influencing factors for 24-week survival. According to the results of the Cox regression analysis, a prognostic model for HBV-ACLF patients treated with PE and DPMAS alone or in combination was established as ATIP=0.029×age (years)+0.018×TBil (mg/dL)+0.417×INR-0.007×PLT (10 9 /L). Both the modeling group and the validation group showed that the ATIP model had a better predictive performance than MELD and MELD-NA scores(all P < 0.05). Conclusion Age, TBil, INR, and PLT are independent influencing factors for the 24-week survival of HBV-ACLF patients treated with PE and DPMAS alone or in combination, and the ATIP model has a good performance in predicting the 24-week prognosis of HBV-ACLF patients treated with PE and DPMAS alone or in combination.

Increasing attention is focused on the down-regulation of miRNAs in cancer process. Nuclear receptor subfamily 2 (NR2F2, also known as COUP-TFII) is involved in the development of many types of cancers, but its role in gastric cancer remains elusive. In this experiment, oncomine and Kaplan-meier database revealed that NR2F2 was up-regulated in gastric cancer and that the high NR2F2 expression contributed to poor survival. MicroRNA-27b was targeted and down-regulated by NR2F2 in human gastric cancer tissues and cells. The ectopic expression of miR-27b inhibited gastric cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Assays suggested that the overexpression of miR-27b could promote MGC-803 cells' migration and invasion and retard their metastasis to the liver. In addition, down-regulation of miR-27b enhanced GES-1 cells' proliferation and metastasis in vitro. These findings reveal that miR-27b is a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer and a biomarker for improving patients' survival.
Animals ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; metabolism ; COUP Transcription Factor II ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Female ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Male ; Mice, Nude ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; RNA, Neoplasm ; genetics ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. The pro-viral integration site for Moloney murine leukemia virus 1 (PIM1) is a proto-oncogene and belongs to the serine/threonine kinase family, which are involved in cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) is a tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. Small molecule HCI-48 is a derivative of chalcone, a class of compounds known to possess anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. However, the underlying mechanism of chalcones against colorectal cancer remains unclear. This study reports that HCI-48 mainly targets PIM1 and FGFR1 kinases, thereby eliciting antitumor effects on colorectal cancer growth in vitro and in vivo. HCI-48 inhibited the activity of both PIM1 and FGFR1 kinases in an ATP-dependent manner, as revealed by computational docking models. Cell-based assays showed that HCI-48 inhibited cell proliferation in CRC cells (HCT-15, DLD1, HCT-116 and SW620), and induced cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase through modulation of cyclin A2. HCI-48 also induced cellular apoptosis, as evidenced by an increase in the expression of apoptosis biomarkers such as cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved caspase 7. Moreover, HCI-48 attenuated the activation of downstream components of the PIM1 and FGFR1 signaling pathways. Using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) murine tumor models, we found that treatment with HCI-48 diminished the PDX tumor growth of implanted CRC tissue expressing high protein levels of PIM1 and FGFR1. This study suggests that the inhibitory effect of HCI-48 on colorectal tumor growth is mainly mediated through the dual-targeting of PIM1 and FGFR1 kinases. This work provides a theoretical basis for the future application of HCI-48 in the treatment of clinical CRC.