Cardiac fibrosis(CF) is a cardiac pathological process characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix(ECM). When the heart is damaged by adverse stimuli, cardiac fibroblasts are activated and secrete a large amount of ECM, leading to changes in cardiac fibrosis, myocardial stiffness, and cardiac function declines and accelerating the development of heart failure. There is a close relationship between heart yin deficiency and cardiac fibrosis, which have similar pathogenic mechanisms. Heart Yin deficiency, characterized by insufficient Yin fluids, causes the heart to lose its nourishing function, which acts as the initiating factor for myocardial dystrophy. The deficiency of body fluids leads to stagnation of blood flow, resulting in blood stasis and water retention. Blood stasis and water retention accumulate in the heart, which aligns with the pathological manifestation of excessive deposition of ECM, as a tangible pathogenic factor. This is an inevitable stage of the disease process. The lingering of blood stasis combined with water retention eventually leads to the generation of heat and toxins, triggering inflammatory responses similar to heat toxins, which continuously stimulate the heart and cause the ultimate outcome of CF. Considering the syndrome of heart Yin deficiency, traditional Chinese medicine capable of nourishing Yin, activating blood, and promoting urination can reduce myocardial cell apoptosis, inhibit fibroblast activation, and lower the inflammation level, showing significant advantages in combating CF.
Humans ; Fibrosis/drug therapy* ; Animals ; Yin Deficiency/metabolism* ; Myocardium/metabolism* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of mucin 1 (MUC1) on the proliferation and apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and its regulatory mechanism. MethodsThe 60 NPC and paired para-cancer normal tissues were collected from October 2020 to July 2021 in Quanzhou First Hospital. The expression of MUC1 was measured by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) in the patients with PNC. The 5-8F and HNE1 cells were transfected with siRNA control (si-control) or siRNA targeting MUC1 (si-MUC1). Cell proliferation was analyzed by cell counting kit-8 and colony formation assay, and apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry analysis in the 5-8F and HNE1 cells. The qPCR and ELISA were executed to analyze the levels of TNF-α and IL-6. Western blot was performed to measure the expression of MUC1, NF-кB and apoptosis-related proteins (Bax and Bcl-2). ResultsThe expression of MUC1 was up-regulated in the NPC tissues, and NPC patients with the high MUC1 expression were inclined to EBV infection, growth and metastasis of NPC. Loss of MUC1 restrained malignant features, including the proliferation and apoptosis, downregulated the expression of p-IкB、p-P65 and Bcl-2 and upregulated the expression of Bax in the NPC cells. ConclusionDownregulation of MUC1 restrained biological characteristics of malignancy, including cell proliferation and apoptosis, by inactivating NF-κB signaling pathway in NPC.

Objective To investigate the risk factors for bronchopulmonary dysplasia(BPD)in twin preterm infants with a gestational age of<34 weeks,and to provide a basis for early identification of BPD in twin preterm infants in clinical practice.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the twin preterm infants with a gestational age of<34 weeks who were admitted to 22 hospitals nationwide from January 2018 to December 2020.According to their conditions,they were divided into group A(both twins had BPD),group B(only one twin had BPD),and group C(neither twin had BPD).The risk factors for BPD in twin preterm infants were analyzed.Further analysis was conducted on group B to investigate the postnatal risk factors for BPD within twins.Results A total of 904 pairs of twins with a gestational age of<34 weeks were included in this study.The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that compared with group C,birth weight discordance of>25%between the twins was an independent risk factor for BPD in one of the twins(OR=3.370,95%CI:1.500-7.568,P<0.05),and high gestational age at birth was a protective factor against BPD(P<0.05).The conditional logistic regression analysis of group B showed that small-for-gestational-age(SGA)birth was an independent risk factor for BPD in individual twins(OR=5.017,95%CI:1.040-24.190,P<0.05).Conclusions The development of BPD in twin preterm infants is associated with gestational age,birth weight discordance between the twins,and SGA birth.

Objective To evaluate the application effect of broth microdilution(BMD)method in susceptibility testing of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis(MDR-MTB).Methods The Roche's proportion method and BMD method were adopted in drug susceptibility testing on 108 MDR-MTB strains and 11 non-MDR-MTB strains in Hainan Province.Whole genome sequencing(WGS)was performed on strains with inconsistent results by the above two methods.Results The average time to acquire drug susceptibility testing results by Roche's propor-tional method and BMD method were 28.0 and 8.5 days,respectively.Roche's proportional method showed higher resistance rates to isoniazid(INH),rifampicin(RFP),ethambutol(EMB),kanamycin(KM),and capreomycin(CPM)than BMD method(all P＜0.001).BMD method showed higher resistance rates to protionamide(PTO)and para-aminosalicylic acid(PAS)than Roche's proportional method(both P＜0.001).Taking Roche's proportional method as the gold standard,the sensitivity and specificity of BMD method for testing drug resistance were 50.00％-100％and 95.69％-100％,respectively.Except EMB(87.39％)and INH(94.96％),the consistency rates of the BMD method in testing drug resistance of other drugs were all ≥95.00％.The overall consistency rate between Roche's proportional method and WGS was 76.19％(32/42),while the consistency rate between BMD method and WGS was 23.81％(10/42),difference was statistically significant(x2=23.048,P＜0.001).34 MTB strains showed inconsistent results by two drug susceptibility testing methods.Among the 26 MTB strains that were resis-tant in Roche's proportion method but sensitive in BMD method,22 strains(84.62％)had mutations in relevant re-sistance genes.Among the 11 MTB strains that were sensitive in Roche's proportion method but resistant in BMD method,5 strains(45.45％)had mutations in relevant resistance genes.Conclusion BMD method is an accurate and rapid MDR-MTB susceptibility testing method,but further improvement and optimization are still needed.Drug resistance is closely related to mutations in relevant resistance genes.

Objective To summarize the reasons and management strategies of reoperation after oblique lateral interbody fusion(OLIF),and put forward preventive measures.Methods From October 2015 to December 2019,23 patients who under-went reoperation after OLIF in four spine surgery centers were retrospectively analyzed.There were 9 males and 14 females with an average age of(61.89±8.80)years old ranging from 44 to 81 years old.The index diagnosis was degenerative lumbar intervertebral dics diseases in 3 cases,discogenie low back pain in 1 case,degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis in 6 cases,lumbar spinal stenosis in 9 cases and degenerative lumbar spinal kyphoscoliosis in 4 cases.Sixteen patients were primarily treated with Stand-alone OLIF procedures and 7 cases were primarily treated with OLIF combined with posterior pedicle screw fixation.There were 17 cases of single fusion segment,2 of 2 fusion segments,4 of 3 fusion segments.All the cases underwent reoperation within 3 months after the initial surgery.The strategies of reoperation included supplementary posterior pedicle screw instrumentation in 16 cases;posterior laminectomy,cage adjustment and neurolysis in 2 cases,arthroplasty and neuroly-sis under endoscope in 1 case,posterior laminectomy and neurolysis in 1 case,pedicle screw adjustment in 1 case,exploration and decompression under percutaneous endoscopic in 1 case,interbody fusion cage and pedicle screw revision in 1 case.Visu-al analogue scale(VAS)and Oswestry disability index(ODI)index were used to evaluate and compare the recovery of low back pain and lumbar function before reoperation and at the last follow-up.During the follow-up process,the phenomenon of fusion cage settlement or re-displacement,as well as the condition of intervertebral fusion,were observed.The changes in in-tervertebral space height before the first operation,after the first operation,before the second operation,3 to 5 days after the second operation,6 months after the second operation,and at the latest follow-up were measured and compared.Results There was no skin necrosis and infection.All patients were followed up from 12 to 48 months with an average of(28.1±7.3)months.Nerve root injury symptoms were relieved within 3 to 6 months.No cage transverse shifting and no dislodgement,loosening or breakage of the instrumentation was observed in any patient during the follow-up period.Though the intervertebral disc height was obviously increased at the first postoperative,there was a rapid loss in the early stage,and still partially lost after reopera-tion.The VAS for back pain recovered from(6.20±1.69)points preoperatively to(1.60±0.71)points postoperatively(P＜0.05).The ODI recovered from(40.60±7.01)％preoperatively to(9.14±2.66)％postoperatively(P＜0.05).Conclusion There is a risk of reoperation due to failure after OLIF surgery.The reasons for reoperation include preoperative bone loss or osteoporosis the initial surgery was performed by Stand-alone,intraoperative endplate injury,significant subsidence of the fusion cage after surgery,postoperative fusion cage displacement,nerve damage,etc.As long as it is discovered in a timely manner and handled properly,further surgery after OLIF surgery can achieve better clinical results,but prevention still needs to be strengthened.

Aim To establish the fingerprint of raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum,investigate the difference in their anti-liver fibrosis effects,and ex-plore the relationship between the chemical composition of raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum and their an-ti-liver fibrosis efficacy.Methods The fingerprints of 10 batches of raw bupleuri and 10 batches of bupleuri were established by UPLC method.The liver fibrosis cell model in vitro was established by TGF-β induced LX-2 hepatic stellate cells.The liver fibrosis cell mod-el was analyzed with collagen type Ⅰ(col1a1)and α-smoothmuscleactin.The expression of α-SMA protein was used as the pharmacodynamic index.MetaboAna-lyst5.0 was used to screen the difference markers af-fecting the quality of raw bupledges and vinegar bu-pledges with VIP value＞1 as the criterion.Orthogo-nal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA)was used to screen the main components of raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum against liver fibro-sis.Results There were 18 peaks in the UPLC fin-gerprints of raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum,and the analysis results showed that there were nine main differences between raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum,among which peaks 9,7 and 6 could be considered as bupleurin d,bupleurin a and bupleurin f.The results of spectral effect relationship showed that the main components of bupleurum anti-liver fibrosis were peaks 11,12,14,15 and 18.Conclusions The established fingerprint method of raw bupleurum and vinegar bupleurum is simple and feasible,and the important components of anti-liver fibrosis activity are screened through the spectrum effect relationship,which provides a basis for clarifying the material basis of anti-liver fibrosis effect of raw bupleurum and vine-gar bupleurum.

This study aimed to investigate the ameliorative effect of Xinyang Tablets on myocardial fibrosis in uremic cardiomyopathy(UCM) using single-cell sequencing technology. UCM mouse models were established by 5/6 nephrectomy(NPM) and randomly divided into the model group, Xinyang Tablets group, and sham-operated(sham) group as the control. The Xinyang Tablets group received postoperative interventions of Xinyang Tablets(0.34 g·kg~(-1)). After eight weeks, the hearts of the mice in each group were disassociated and subjected to 10×Genomics single-cell sequencing. The data were subjected to t-SNE dimensionality reduction, K-means clustering, and CellMarker annotation prior to analyzing differential expression and cell differentiation trajectories using the Seurat and Monocle3 tools. Additionally, the CellChat tool was used to parse intercellular signaling communication. The results showed that a total of nine types of cells including fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and immune cells were identified in this study. The single-cell expression results of fibroblasts and Gene Ontology(GO) enrichment analysis showed that Xinyang Tablets regulated myocardial fibrosis factors and related signals. Mimetic timing analysis identified three major differentiation trajectories of mouse cardiac fibroblasts and identified the expression of secreted phosphoprotein 1(Spp1) as consistent with the fibroblast differentiation trajectory. Cellular interaction network analysis showed that the communication signals between mouse cardiac fibroblasts and other cells were weakened in the Xinyang Tablets group compared with the model group. The results of ligand-receptor interaction analysis showed that the interaction between myeloid cell-derived osteopontin(OPN) and cardiac fibroblasts and between myeloid cell Spp1 ligand and cardiac fibroblast receptor of mice in the Xinyang Tablets group was weakened compared with the model group. In conclusion, Xinyang Tablets may improve myocardial fibrosis in UCM by inhibiting both endogenous and exogenous OPN at the single-cell level.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Mice ; Cardiomyopathies/pathology* ; Single-Cell Analysis ; Male ; Fibrosis/drug therapy* ; Myocardium/metabolism* ; Uremia/metabolism* ; Tablets ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Humans

Clinical efficacy is the basis for the development of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), and the evaluation of clinical efficacy of TCM has always been the focus of attention. The technical and methodological difficulties in the evaluation process often restrict the generation of high-level evidence. Therefore, methodological research should be deepened and innovative practice should be carried out to study the application of scientific research methods in the evaluation of the advantages of TCM. After more than ten years of development, the clinical efficacy evaluation of TCM, on the basis of the initially classic placebo randomized controlled trials, has successively carried out a series of meaningful attempts and explorations in N-of-1 trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, real world studies, narrative medicine studies, systematic evaluation, and other aspects, laying the foundation for the transformation of TCM from "experience" to "evidence". This paper focused on the clinical efficacy evaluation of TCM, summarized the main connotation and development status of efficacy evaluation indicators, standards, and methods, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for the problems of indicator selection, standard formulation, and methodology optimization in the research process. It is clear that scientific and objective evaluation of the efficacy of TCM is an urgent problem to be solved at present.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Case-Control Studies ; Narrative Medicine

Amid the modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the safety of TCM has attracted much attention. At the moment, the government, scientific research teams, and pharmaceutical enterprises have made great efforts to explore methods and techniques for clinical safety evaluation of TCM. Although considerable achievements have been made, there are still many problems, such as the non-standard terms of adverse reactions of TCM, unclear evaluation indicators, unreasonable judgment methods, lack of evaluation models, out-of-date evaluation standards, and unsound reporting systems. Therefore, it is urgent to further deepen the research mode and method of clinical safety evaluation of TCM. Based on the current national requirements for the life-cycle management of drugs, this study focused on the problems in the five dimensions of clinical safety evaluation of TCM, including normative terms, evaluation modes, judgment methods, evaluation standards, and reporting systems, and proposed suggestions on the development of a life-cycle clinical safety evaluation method that conformed to the characteristics of TCM, hoping to provide a reference for future research.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional/adverse effects* ; Social Change

Objective: To examine the feasibility and surgical approach of removing type D trigeminal schwannoma through nasal cavity and nasal sinus under endoscope. Methods: Eleven patients with trigeminal schwannoma who were treated in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from December 2014 to August 2021 were analyzed retrospectively in this study. There were 7 males and 4 females, aged (47.5±13.5) years (range: 12 to 64 years). The neoplasm involved the pterygopalatine fossa, infratemporal fossa, ethmoidal sinus, sphenoid sinus, cavernous sinus, and middle cranial fossa. The size of tumors were between 1.6 cm×2.0 cm×2.0 cm and 5.7 cm×6.0 cm×6.0 cm. Under general anesthesia, the tumors were resected through the transpterygoid approach in 4 cases, through the prelacrimal recess approach in 4 cases, through the extended prelacrimal recess approach in 2 cases, and through the endoscopic medial maxillectomy approach in 1 case. The nasal endoscopy and imaging examination were conducted to detect whether neoplasm recurred or not, and the main clinical symptoms during follow-up. Results: All the surgical procedures were performed under endonasal endoscope, including Gross total resection in 10 patients. The tumor of a 12-year-old patient was not resected completely due to huge tumor size and limited operation space. One patient was accompanied by two other schwannomas located in the occipital region and the ipsilateral parotid gland region originating from the zygomatic branch of the facial nerve, both of which were removed concurrently. After tumor resection, the dura mater of middle cranial fossa was directly exposed in the nasal sinus in 2 cases, including 1 case accompanied by cerebrospinal fluid leakage which was reconstructed by a free mucosal flap obtained from the middle turbinate, the other case was packed by the autologous fat to protect the dura mater. The operation time was (M(IQR)) 180 (160) minutes (range: 120 to 485 minutes). No complications and deaths were observed. No recurrence was observed in the 10 patients with total tumor resection during a 58 (68) months' (range: 10 to 90 months) follow-up. No obvious change was observed in the facial appearance of all patients during the follow-up. Conclusion: Type D trigeminal schwannoma involving pterygopalatine fossa and infratemporal fossa can be removed safely through purely endoscopic endonasal approach by selecting the appropriate approach according to the size and involvement of the tumor.
Male ; Female ; Humans ; Child ; Retrospective Studies ; Endoscopy/methods* ; Nasal Cavity/surgery* ; Neurilemmoma/surgery* ; Cranial Nerve Neoplasms/surgery*