The balance between growth and defense in response to nearby or canopy shading in heliotropic plants has been deeply understood. However, the adaptive traits developed by shade-tolerant plants through long-term evolution remain unclear. In this study, the typical shade-tolerant medicinal plant Anoectochilus roxburghii was used as the experimental material.(1) Different planting densities were set, including 8 cm(row spacing) × 8 cm(plant spacing), 6 cm × 6 cm, 4 cm × 4 cm, and 2 cm × 2 cm, to monitor the individual plant responses to nearby shading.(2) Different light environments, including blue light∶red light=3∶2(B3R2), blue light∶red light∶far-red light=3∶2∶1(B3R2FR1), blue light∶red light∶far-red light=3∶2∶2(B3R2FR2), and blue light∶red light∶far-red light=3∶2∶4(B3R2FR4), were set to monitor the morphological and physiological changes in plants in response to actual shading conditions. The results showed that:(1) Moderate increases in planting density helped optimize morphological traits such as stem diameter and leaf area. This not only slightly increased biomass but also significantly improved SOD activity in both leaves and stems, as well as lignin content in stems, thereby enhancing the plant's defense capabilities.(2) Increasing the far-red light in the light environment negatively regulated the plant height of A. roxburghii, which was contrary to the typical shade-avoidance response observed in heliotropic plants. However, it significantly enhanced SOD and POD activity in both stems and leaves, as well as lignin content in stems. Furthermore, it reduced the incidence and disease index of stalk rot, effectively defending against biotic stress. Therefore, the shade-tolerant plant A. roxburghii has specific adaptive strategies for shading conditions. Reasonable dense planting or light environment modulation can synergistically improve yield, medicinal quality, and resistance of A. roxburghii. This study provides a theoretical foundation and technical support for optimizing the regional deployment and cultivation strategies of ecological planting for Chinese medicinal materials.
Orchidaceae/genetics* ; Light ; Plant Leaves/physiology* ; Sunlight ; Adaptation, Physiological/radiation effects* ; Plant Proteins/genetics*

RNA fluorescence aptamers are RNA sequences that can specifically bind to non-toxic,cell permeable,and self-fluorescent target molecules and activate their luminescent properties.These aptamers provide powerful tools for biosensing and imaging researches due to their simple structure,easy synthesis,and easy transfection.This article summarized the characteristics and development history of various RNA fluorescent aptamers,including Malachite Green,Spinach,Broccoli,Mango,Corn,and Pepper family,as well as their corresponding fluorescent groups.The applications of RNA fluorescent aptamers were also reviewed from two aspects:extracellular detection and cell imaging.This review might provide guidance for labeling,detection and interactions of molecules from proof of concept and clinical assessment to practical clinical and biomedical applications.

Objective: To explore the prognostic factors of extracellular NK/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL) treated with pegaspargase/L-asparaginase. Methods: The clinical data of 656 ENKTL patients diagnosed at 11 medical centers in the Huaihai Lymphoma Working Group from March 2014 to April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: a training set (460 cases) and a validation set (196 cases) at 7∶3, and the prognostic factors of the patients were analyzed. A prognostic scoring system was established, and the predictive performance of different models was compared. Results: Patients' median age was 46 (34, 57) years, with 456 males (69.5% ) and 561 nasal involvement (85.5% ). 203 patients (30.9% ) received a chemotherapy regimen based on L-asparaginase combined with anthracyclines, and the 5-year overall survival rate of patients treated with P-GEMOX regimen (pegaspargase+gemcitabine+oxaliplatin) was better than those treated with SMILE regimen (methotrexate+dexamethasone+cyclophosphamide+L-asparaginase+etoposide) (85.9% vs 63.8% ; P=0.004). The results of multivariate analysis showed that gender, CA stage, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) score, HGB, and EB virus DNA were independent influencing factors for the prognosis of ENKTL patients (P<0.05). In this study, the predictive performance of the prognostic factors is superior to the international prognostic index, Korean prognostic index, and prognostic index of natural killer lymphoma. Conclusion: Gender, CA stage, ECOG PS score, HGB, and EB virus DNA are prognostic factors for ENKTL patients treated with pegaspargase/L-asparaginase.
Male ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Asparaginase/therapeutic use* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell/drug therapy* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Etoposide ; Cyclophosphamide ; Methotrexate/therapeutic use* ; DNA/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To investigate the distribution of blood pressure and analyze the associated factors of blood pressure of the elderly with type 2 diabetes in Jiangsu Province. Methods: The elderly over 60 years old participants with type 2 diabetes in the communities of Huai'an City and Changshu City, Jiangsu Province were selected in this study. They were divided into two groups: taking antihypertensive drugs and not taking antihypertensive drugs. The demographic characteristics, such as age and sex, and relevant factors were collected by questionnaire. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured by physical examination. The percentile of SBP and DBP in each age group of men and women were described. The kernel density estimation curve was used to show the blood pressure distribution. The trend of blood pressure with age was fitted by locally weighted regression. The logistic regression model was used to analyze relevant factors of blood pressure. Results: A total of 12 949 participants were included in this study, including 7 775 patients in the antihypertensive drug group and 5 174 patients in the group without antihypertensive drugs. The SBP of participants was concentrated at 140-160 mmHg, and their DBP was concentrated at 75-85 mmHg. There were significant differences in the distribution of blood pressure among the subgroups of body mass index (BMI) and rural areas whether taking antihypertensive drugs and not. For participants aged under 80 years old, the SBP showed an increasing trend with age and the DBP showed a decreasing trend with age. Age, BMI ≥24 kg/m², fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L, living in rural areas and no smoking were influencing factors of the elevated SBP; BMI ≥24 kg/m², male, living in rural areas, no smoking, drinking alcohol and not receiving drug hypoglycemic treatment were influencing factors of the elevated DBP. Conclusion: The SBP of older diabetic adults in Jiangsu Province is at a high level, and the distribution of blood pressure is significantly different between men and women in taking antihypertensive drugs group. The SBP presents a rising trend and the DBP is decreasing at the age of 60-80 years. The blood pressure level of this population are mainly affected by age, BMI, urban and rural areas, smoking.
Adult ; Aged ; Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Blood Pressure/physiology* ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/epidemiology* ; Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Smoking ; Body Mass Index ; Hypertension/epidemiology*

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to analyze the applicability of the World Health Organization's exclusionary guidelines for Urinary creatinine (Ucr) in the general Chinese population, and to identify Ucr related factors. METHODS: We conduct a cross-sectional study using baseline data from 21,167 participants in the China National Human Biomonitoring Program. Mixed linear models and restricted cubic splines (RCS) were used to analyze the associations between explanatory variables and Ucr concentration. RESULTS: The geometric mean and median concentrations of Ucr in the general Chinese population were 0.90 g/L and 1.01 g/L, respectively. And 9.36% samples were outside 0.3-3.0 g/L, including 7.83% below the lower limit and 1.53% above the upper limit. Middle age, male, obesity, smoking, higher frequency of red meat consumption and chronic kidney disease were associated significantly with higher concentrations of Ucr. Results of the RCS showed Ucr was positively and linearly associated with body mass index, inversely and linearly associated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides level, and glomerular filtration rate, and were non-linearly associated with triiodothyronine. CONCLUSION The age- and gender-specific cut-off values of Ucr that determine the validity of urine samples in the general Chinese population were recommended. To avoid introducing bias into epidemiologic associations, the potential predictors of Ucr observed in the current study should be considered when using Ucr to adjust for variations in urine dilution.
Middle Aged ; Male ; Humans ; Creatinine ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Asian People ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; China

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of intradermal needling combined with heat-sensitive moxibustion for moderate to severe cancer pain. METHODS: A total of 60 patients with moderate to severe cancer pain were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group，30 cases in each one. In the control group，opioids were taken to relief pain according to the three-step analgesic method of World Health Organization. On the base of the treatment as the control group, intradermal needling combined with heat-sensitive moxibustion were applied at Neiguan (PC 6), Hegu (LI 4), Zusanli (ST 36), Taichong (LR 3), etc. in the observation group, 14 days of treatment were required. The equivalent morphine consumption at the first day and whole course, the scores of cancer quality of life questionnaire-C30 (QLQ-C30) and Hamilton anxiety scale before and after treatment, and the adverse reaction rate were compared in the two groups. The total analgesic effective rate was evaluated. RESULTS: The total analgesic effective rate was 93.3% (28/30) in the observation group, higher than 73.3% (22/30) in the control group ( CONCLUSION Intradermal needling combined with heat-sensitive moxibustion can reduce the dose of opioids, improve the quality of life, relief the anxiety in patients with moderate to severe cancer pain, and reduce the incidence of common adverse reaction of opioids.
Acupuncture Points ; Cancer Pain/therapy* ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Moxibustion ; Neoplasms/therapy* ; Pain ; Quality of Life ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To observe the effect of applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on swallowing function and auditory evoked potentials in the brain-stems of stroke survivors with dysphagia.Methods:Sixty stroke survivors with dysphagia were randomly assigned to an observation group and a control group, each of 30. Both groups were given 30 minutes of routine swallowing training 6 times a week for 5 weeks, while the observation group was additionally provided with two-second bursts of rTMS on the left and right brain hemispheres alternately for 20 minutes daily. The frequency was 3.0Hz and the strength was 80% of the resting motor threshold (RMT), with an interval of 10 seconds between bursts. Before and after the treatment, both groups′ swallowing was assessed using the functional communication measure (FCM) and the modified Mann swallowing capacity evaluation scale (MMASA). Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) were recorded to detect any changes in the peak latency (PL) and inter-peak latency (IPL). The clinical efficacy was also observed.Results:After the treatment, the average FCM results of both groups had improved significantly, but the observation group had improved significantly more. The average MMASA total scores and the average scores on all the sub-items had improved significantly more in the observation group except for the expressive speech disorder and anarthria scores. After the treatment, improvement was observed in respiration, anarthria, range of motion of the tongue muscles, strength of the tongue muscles, gag reflex and soft palate movement compared with before the intervention. Peak and inter-peak latencies had also improved significantly more in the observation than in the control group, on average.Conclusions:rTMS combined with conventional swallowing training can significantly improve the swallowing of dysphagic stroke survivors, and shorten the PL of the BAEP so as to better regulate deglutition.

Background: Human infections with zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, have raised great public health concern globally. Here, we report a novel bat-origin CoV causing severe and fatal pneumonia in humans. Methods: We collected clinical data and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from five patients with severe pneumonia from Jin Yin-tan Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Nucleic acids of the BAL were extracted and subjected to next-generation sequencing. Virus isolation was carried out, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed. Results: Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation. One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown β-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8–99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates. These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6–87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade. Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs. However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor. Conclusion: A novel bat-borne CoV was identified that is associated with severe and fatal respiratory disease in humans.

Objective　Trihostatin A (TSA) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor of oxime salts, which has certain anti-tumor activity. This article mainly investigates the molecular mechanism of TSA inhibiting cell proliferation through p-AKT/p-mTOR pathway in gastric cancer cells.　Methods　Gastric cancer cell line-SGC-7901 were treated with TSA of different concentrations, and the inhibition rate of TSA on the cells was detected by MTT assay. The cells were divided into control group (without any treatment), TSA-treated group (200ng/ml TSA), p-AKT covering group (200 ng/mL TSA+8 μg/mL SC79) and autophagy inhibition group (5 mmol/mL 3-methyladenine+200 ng/mL TSA). The protein expression distribution of Lc3 in control and TSA group were detected by cell immunofluorescence staining. The relative expression levels of p-AKT, p-mTOR and autophagy related proteins Lc3 and P62 in control group, TSA group and p-AKT covering group were detected by Western blot. The proliferation of cells in control group, TSA group, p-AKT covering group and autophagy inhibition group were measured by EdU and cell count assay.　Results　After 24h of treatment, Lc3 in TSA group formed a large number of granular aggregates in the cytoplasm, and the fluorescence distribution changed from the initial diffuse to dense. The TSA group showed a significant reduction in green fluorescence compared with the control group in the EdU experiment. The expression levels of p-AKT in the control group, TSA group and the autophagy inhibition group were 1.78±0.19, 0.92±0.03 and 1.71±0.19, respectively, and Lc3 were 0.21±0.01, 0.79±0.06 and 0.55±0.10, respectively. Compared with the control group, the relative expression level of p-AKT in the TSA group all decreased, while the expression level of Lc3 increased (P <0.05). p-mTOR in the three groups was 0.80±0.16, 0.45±0.04 and 0.98±0.16, respectively. Compared with the control group, the relative expression level of p-mTOR in the TSA group all decreased (P <0.05). P62 in the three groups was 1.17±0.15, 0.48±0.08 and 0.77±0.10, respectively. Compared with the control group, the relative expression level of P62 in the TSA group all decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the TSA group, p-AKT, p-mTOR and P62 expression in the p-AKT covering group increased (P<0.05), while Lc3 expression decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the inhibition effect of cell growth curve was the most obvious in the TSA group, while the cell growth curve of p-AKT covering group and autophagy inhibition group showed a partial recovery compared with the TSA group.　Conclusion　TSA can promote autophagy by inhibiting p-AKt/p-mTOR pathway, thus inhibiting the proliferation of gastric cancer cells.

Objective　The active protein of traditional Chinese medicine has anti-tumor effect, and salvia miltiorrhiza is an important anti-tumor traditional Chinese medicine. Here, the effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza lectin protein (SMLP) on the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells was studied.　Methods　SMLP expressed and purified from prokaryotic cells was used to treat the gastric cancer cells SGC-7901. The experiment was divided into the control group (untreated) and the SMLP treatment group (final concentration of 10 μmol / L of SMLP was treated for 24 h). Real-time RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the changes of apoptosis gene expression. Flow cytometry and Hoechst staining were applied to detect the apoptotic status. Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 activity assay kits were used to detect the apoptotic level.　Results　The result of RT-PCR showed that the mRNA level of Bax in the SMLP treatment group was significantly higher than in the control group (1.00±0.12 vs 0.67±0.10）(P<0.05). After treatment with SMLP to gastric cancer cells, the activity and expression level of cleaved Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 were increased significantly compared with the control group (P<0.05). The cell nucleus in the control group was bigger and rounder, with smooth surface and uniform staining, whilst in the SMLP-treated group, the cell nucleus became deeper with pyknosis, representing typical morphological characteristics of apoptosis. The early apoptosis level in the control group was 6.55%, and the SMLP treatment group reached 10.18%, showing an increase in the level of apoptosis.　Conclusion　SMLP expressed and purified in vitro can promote the apoptosis of gastric cancer cells, which is of great significance for further revealing the function of plant lectin and investigating the anti-tumor effect on the protein of traditional Chinese medicine.