The chemical constituents of sesquiterpenes from 95% ethanol extract of Aquilariae Lignum Resinatum were isolated and purified by various column chromatography techniques, including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, octadecylsilyl(ODS), and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). Their planar structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by ultraviolet(UV) spectrometry, infrared(IR) spectroscopy, mass spectrometry(MS), nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR), electronic circular dichroism(ECD), and other techniques. Eight sesquiterpenoids were isolated and identified as(+)-(7R,10R)-selina-4,11-dien-12-dimethoxy-15-al(1),(+)-(7R,10R)-selina-4,11-diene-12,15-dial(2), agalleudesmanol B(3), aquisinenoid C(4), 12,15-dioxo-α-selinen(5), agarospiranic aldehyde B(6), neopetasane(7), and eremophila-7(11),9-dien-8-one(8). Compound 1 was a new compound, and it was the first time to find a dimethoxy substitution on the side chain of eudesmane-type sesquiterpene skeleton.
Sesquiterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Thymelaeaceae/chemistry* ; Molecular Structure ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/isolation & purification* ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Testicular histology based on testicular biopsy is an important factor for determining appropriate testicular sperm extraction surgery and predicting sperm retrieval outcomes in patients with azoospermia. Therefore, we developed a deep learning (DL) model to establish the associations between testicular grayscale ultrasound images and testicular histology. We retrospectively included two-dimensional testicular grayscale ultrasound from patients with azoospermia (353 men with 4357 images between July 2017 and December 2021 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China) to develop a DL model. We obtained testicular histology during conventional testicular sperm extraction. Our DL model was trained based on ultrasound images or fusion data (ultrasound images fused with the corresponding testicular volume) to distinguish spermatozoa presence in pathology (SPP) and spermatozoa absence in pathology (SAP) and to classify maturation arrest (MA) and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) in patients with SAP. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were used to analyze model performance. DL based on images achieved an AUC of 0.922 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.908-0.935), a sensitivity of 80.9%, a specificity of 84.6%, and an accuracy of 83.5% in predicting SPP (including normal spermatogenesis and hypospermatogenesis) and SAP (including MA and SCOS). In the identification of SCOS and MA, DL on fusion data yielded better diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.979 (95% CI: 0.969-0.989), a sensitivity of 89.7%, a specificity of 97.1%, and an accuracy of 92.1%. Our study provides a noninvasive method to predict testicular histology for patients with azoospermia, which would avoid unnecessary testicular biopsy.
Humans ; Male ; Azoospermia/diagnostic imaging* ; Deep Learning ; Testis/pathology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Adult ; Ultrasonography/methods* ; Sperm Retrieval ; Sertoli Cell-Only Syndrome/diagnostic imaging*

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of lesion removal,bone grafting,fusion,and external fixation in the treatment of late-stage wrist tuberculosis.Methods From October 2015 to May 2019,25 patients with late-stage wrist tubercu-losis were treated using lesion removal,bone grafting,fusion,and external fixation.Among these patients,there were 14 males and 11 females,aged from 40 to 74 years old,with an average age of(60.72±8.45)years old.The duration of the disease ranged from 5 to 24 months,with an average of(11.52±7.61)months.There were 11 cases of left wrist tuberculosis and 14 cases of right wrist tuberculosis,with 5 cases accompanied by sinus formation.Postoperative regular anti-tuberculosis treatment was continued.Visual analogue score(VAS),inflammatory indicators,Gartland-Werley wrist function score,and upper limb function score were observed before and after treatment.Results All 25 patients were followed up for ranging from 12 to 36 months with an average of(19.7±6.3)months.At the latest follow-up,all wounds were healed satisfactorily,and there was no recurrence of tuberculosis or infection.VAS at one week before operation and three months after operation were(5.16±1.14)score and(1.68±0.80)score respectively.One week before operation and three months after operation,erythrocyte sedimenta-tion rate(ESR)was(44.20±20.56)mm·h-1 and(14.44±1.14)mm·h-1,and C-reactive protein(CRP)was(12.37±7.95)mg· L-1and(4.3±3.37)mg·L-1.The differences in all three data sets were statistically significant(P＜0.01).According to Gartland-Werley wrist function scoring,the scores at one week before operation and one year after operation were(21.32±3.44)and(14.96±1.37)respectively,showed a statistically significant difference(P＜0.01).According to the upper limb function score(disabilities of the arm,shoulder,and hand,DASH),the score was(70.52±7.95)at one week before operation and(28.84± 2.30)at one year after operation.The difference was statistically significant(P＜0.01).At the latest follow-up,no patient had a recurrence of tuberculosis.Conclusion The short-term clinical efficacy of treating wrist tuberculosis with lesion removal,bone grafting,fusion,and external fixation is satisfactory.

Objective To investigate the effect of glycyrrhizin(GA)on the spasticity of hemiplegic spasticity in stroke rats by regulating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)/protein kinase B(Akt)/glycogen synthase kinase 3β(GSK3β)signaling pathway.Methods A rat model of post-stroke spasm(PSS)was established by middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO).Rats were divided into control group,sham operation group,model group,GA-L group,GA-H group and baclofen group.Rats in the model group,sham operation group and control group were intragastrically administered with the same amount of 0.9％NaCl every day,GA-H group was given 10.8 g·kg-1 GA by gavage daily,GA-L group was given 5.4 g·kg-1 GA by gavage every day,baclofen group was intragastrically administered with 5.4 mg·kg-1 baclofen every day for 4 weeks.Muscle tone was assessed by modified Ashworth scale.The volume of cerebral infarction was analyzed by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining.The protective effect of GA on neuronal injury after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury was observed by Nissl staining and transmission electron microscopy.The expression levels of phosphorylated PI3K(p-PI3K),phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt)and phosphorylated GSK3β(p-GSK3β)in cerebral infarction and peripheral brain stem were detected by immunohistochemical staining.Results The volume of cerebral infarction in sham operation group,model group,GA-L group,GA-H group and baclofen group were 0,(34.23±1.21)％,(24.12±1.03)％,(18.26±1.08)％and(26.38±1.35)％,respectively.The contents of Nissl bodies in control group,sham operation group,model group,GA-L group,GA-H group were(126.23±8.13)％,(131.14±9.62)％,(52.21±6.11)％,(84.29±6.17)％and(112.24±8.21)％,respectively.At 4 weeks,the expressions of p-PI3K in sham operation group,model group,GA-L group,GA-H group and baclofen group in brain tissue surrounding cerebral infarction were 5.45±0.44,4.89±0.34,5.54±0.42,20.59±1.35,25.34±1.46 and 6.47±0.45;the expression of p-PI3K in the brain tissues around brain stem were 14.47±1.48,10.82±1.24,15.39±1.45,13.51±1.32,25.55±1.49 and 8.84±0.74;the expression levels of p-AKT in brain tissue surrounding cerebral infarction were 6.47±0.41,6.18±0.32,5.58±0.51,19.54±1.48,28.56±1.48 and 14.39±1.56;the expression of p-Akt in the surrounding brain tissue were 6.45±1.41,8.09±1.32,6.05±1.12,13.63±1.45,16.58±1.61 and 10.75±1.01;the expression levels of p-GSK3β in brain tissue surrounding cerebral infarction were 8.64±0.52,5.18±0.61,18.54±1.45,39.56±1.63,43.57±1.59 and 18.43±1.48;the expression of p-GSK3β in the surrounding brain tissue were 8.04±1.39,6.91±1.01,6.82±1.16,15.59±1.33,15.65±1.18 and 5.18±0.47.Compared with model group,the expressions of p-PI3K,p-Akt and p-GSK3β in cerebral infarction and peribrainstem brain tissue of rats in GA-L and GA-H groups were significantly up-regulated(all P＜0.05).Conclusion The inhibitory effect of GA on spasticity in PSS rats may be related to the up-regulation of PI3K/Akt/GSK3β pathway,which may be a supplementary treatment strategy for PSS.

Objective: To understand the population structure of food-borne Staphylococcus (S.) aureus in China. Methods: Whole genome sequencing was used to analyze 763 food-borne S. aureus strains from 16 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), staphylococcal protein A gene (spa) typing, and staphylococcal chromosome cassettemec (SCCmec) typing were conducted, and minimum spanning tree based on ST types (STs) was constructed by BioNumerics 7.5 software. Thirty-one S. aureus strains isolated from imported food products were also included in constructing the genome phylogenetic tree. Results: A total of 90 STs (20 novel types) and 160 spa types were detected in the 763 S. aureus isolates. The 72 STs (72/90, 80.0%) were related to 22 clone complexes. The predominant clone complexes were CC7, CC1, CC5, CC398, CC188, CC59, CC6, CC88, CC15, and CC25, accounting for 82.44% (629/763) of the total. The STs and spa types in the predominant clone complexes changed over the years. The methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) detection rate was 7.60%, and 7 SCCmec types were identified. The ST59-t437-Ⅳa (17.24%, 10/58), ST239-t030-Ⅲ (12.07%, 7/58), ST59-t437-Ⅴb (8.62%, 5/58), ST338-t437-Ⅴb (6.90%, 4/58) and ST338-t441-Ⅴb (6.90%, 4/58) were the main types in MRSA strains. The genome phylogenetic tree had two clades, and the strains with the same CC, ST, and spa types clustered together. All CC7 methicillin sensitive S. aureus strains were included in Clade1, while 21 clone complexes and all MRSA strains were in Clade2. The MRSA strains clustered according to the SCCmec and STs. The strains from imported food products in CC398, CC7, CC30, CC12, and CC188 had far distances from Chinese strains in the tree. Conclusions: In this study, the predominant clone complexes of food-borne strains were CC7, CC1, CC5, CC398, CC188, CC59, CC6, CC88, CC15, and CC25, which overlapped with the previously reported clone complexes of hospital and community-associated strains in China, suggesting that close attention needs to be paid to food, a vehicle of pathogen transmission in community and food poisoning.
Humans ; Staphylococcus aureus/genetics* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus/genetics* ; Multilocus Sequence Typing ; Phylogeny ; Staphylococcal Infections/epidemiology* ; China/epidemiology*

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of humanized anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-aGVHD) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients. Methods: A total of 64 patients with SR-aGVHD between June 2019 and October 2020 in Suchow Hopes Hematology Hospital were enrolled in this study. Humanized anti-CD25 monoclonal antibodies 1 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1) were administered on days 1, 3, and 8, and then once per week according to the disease progression. Efficacy was assessed at days 7, 14, and 28 after humanized anti-CD 25 treatment. Results: Of the 64 patients with a median age of 31 (15-63) years, 38 (59.4%) were male and 26 (40.6%) were female. The overall response (OR) rate of the humanized CD25 monoclonal antibody in 64 patients with SR-aGVHD on days 7, 14, and 28 were 48.4% (31/64), 53.1% (34/64), and 79.7% (51/64), respectively. Liver involvement is an independent risk factor for poor efficacy of humanized CD25 monoclonal antibody for SR-aGVHD at day 28 (OR=9.588, 95% CI 0.004-0.291, P=0.002). The median follow-up time for all patients was 17.1 (0.2-50.8) months from the start of humanized CD25 monoclonal antibody therapy. The 1- and 2-year OS rates were 63.2% (95% CI 57.1% -69.3%) and 52.6% (95% CI 46.1% -59.1%), respectively. The 1- and 2-year DFS rates were 58.4% (95% CI 52.1% -64.7%) and 49.8% (95% CI 43.4% -56.2%), respectively. The 1- and 2-year NRM rates were 28.8% (95% CI 23.1% -34.5%) and 32.9% (95% CI 26.8% -39.0%), respectively. The results of the multifactorial analysis showed that liver involvement (OR=0.308, 95% CI 0.108-0.876, P=0.027) and GVHD grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ (OR=9.438, 95% CI 1.211-73.577, P=0.032) were independent risk factors for OS. Conclusion: Humanized CD25 monoclonal antibody has good efficacy and safety for SR-aGVHD. This study shows that SR-aGVHD with pretreatment grade Ⅲ/Ⅳ GVHD and GVHD involving the liver has poor efficacy and prognosis and requires early intervention.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Acute Disease ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use* ; Graft vs Host Disease/therapy* ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects* ; Retrospective Studies ; Salvage Therapy/methods* ; Steroids ; Adolescent ; Young Adult

Objective: To evaluate the performance of point-of-care testing for cervical cancer and precancerous lesions screening. Methods: In September 2020, 197 and 273 women were selected by using simple random sampling method from "self-sampling" cohort and "physician-sampling" cohort established in Xiangyuan county, Shanxi Province, China, respectively. Cervical exfoliated cells were collected by women themselves or gynecologists. All samples were detected by POCT and women with positive result were directly referred for colposcopy. Subsequently, all the samples were detected by careHPV and PCR test. Colposcopy and punch biopsy were performed for women with POCT negative but careHPV or PCR test positive at another visit. Using histopathological diagnosis as the gold standard, we calculated sensitivity, specificity and drew the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The accuracy of POCT was analyzed and compared to that of careHPV and conventional PCR test in cervical cancer and precancerous lesions screening. Results: The median (Q₁ , Q₃) age of 470 women was 51 (45, 57) years old. Based on self-sampling, the sensitivity and specificity of POCT for CIN2+ were 100.00% (95%CI: 56.56%-100.00%) and 28.95% (95%CI: 22.97%-35.76%), respectively. Compared with POCT, POCT HPV16/18 test had similar sensitivity and higher specificity of 89.47% (95%CI: 84.30%-93.08%). Self-sampling POCT HPV16/18 test had an AUC of 0.947 (95%CI:0.910-0.985), which was higher than that of careHPV and PCR test. Physician-sampling POCT test had 100.00% sensitivity (95%CI: 64.57%-100.00%) and 55.85% specificity (95%CI: 49.83%-61.70%) for detecting CIN2+. POCT HPV16/18 test had lower sensitivity (71.43%, 95%CI: 35.90%-91.76%) and higher specificity (92.45%, 95%CI: 88.63%-95.06%). POCT HPV16/18 test generally showed similar AUC on both self-collected samples and clinician-collected samples (0.947 vs 0.819, P=0.217). Conclusion: POCT HPV16/18 test is an effective method with relatively high sensitivity and specificity for cervical cancer screening.
Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia/diagnosis* ; Colposcopy ; Early Detection of Cancer/methods* ; Female ; Human papillomavirus 16/genetics* ; Human papillomavirus 18 ; Humans ; Mass Screening/methods* ; Papillomaviridae ; Papillomavirus Infections/diagnosis* ; Point-of-Care Testing ; Pregnancy ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Objective: To analyze the clinical epidemiological characteristics including composition of pathogens , clinical characteristics, and disease prognosis acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) in Chinese children. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical and laboratory data of 1 610 children <15 years of age with ABM in 33 tertiary hospitals in China from January 2019 to December 2020. Patients were divided into different groups according to age,<28 days group, 28 days to <3 months group, 3 months to <1 year group, 1-<5 years of age group, 5-<15 years of age group; etiology confirmed group and clinically diagnosed group according to etiology diagnosis. Non-numeric variables were analyzed with the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, while non-normal distrituction numeric variables were compared with nonparametric test. Results: Among 1 610 children with ABM, 955 were male and 650 were female (5 cases were not provided with gender information), and the age of onset was 1.5 (0.5, 5.5) months. There were 588 cases age from <28 days, 462 cases age from 28 days to <3 months, 302 cases age from 3 months to <1 year of age group, 156 cases in the 1-<5 years of age and 101 cases in the 5-<15 years of age. The detection rates were 38.8% (95/245) and 31.5% (70/222) of Escherichia coli and 27.8% (68/245) and 35.1% (78/222) of Streptococcus agalactiae in infants younger than 28 days of age and 28 days to 3 months of age; the detection rates of Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus agalactiae were 34.3% (61/178), 14.0% (25/178) and 13.5% (24/178) in the 3 months of age to <1 year of age group; the dominant pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae and the detection rate were 67.9% (74/109) and 44.4% (16/36) in the 1-<5 years of age and 5-<15 years of age . There were 9.7% (19/195) strains of Escherichia coli producing ultra-broad-spectrum β-lactamases. The positive rates of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture and blood culture were 32.2% (515/1 598) and 25.0% (400/1 598), while 38.2% (126/330)and 25.3% (21/83) in CSF metagenomics next generation sequencing and Streptococcus pneumoniae antigen detection. There were 4.3% (32/790) cases of which CSF white blood cell counts were normal in etiology confirmed group. Among 1 610 children with ABM, main intracranial imaging complications were subdural effusion and (or) empyema in 349 cases (21.7%), hydrocephalus in 233 cases (14.5%), brain abscess in 178 cases (11.1%), and other cerebrovascular diseases, including encephalomalacia, cerebral infarction, and encephalatrophy, in 174 cases (10.8%). Among the 166 cases (10.3%) with unfavorable outcome, 32 cases (2.0%) died among whom 24 cases died before 1 year of age, and 37 cases (2.3%) had recurrence among whom 25 cases had recurrence within 3 weeks. The incidences of subdural effusion and (or) empyema, brain abscess and ependymitis in the etiology confirmed group were significantly higher than those in the clinically diagnosed group (26.2% (207/790) vs. 17.3% (142/820), 13.0% (103/790) vs. 9.1% (75/820), 4.6% (36/790) vs. 2.7% (22/820), χ²=18.71, 6.20, 4.07, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the unfavorable outcomes, mortility, and recurrence between these 2 groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions: The onset age of ABM in children is usually within 1 year of age, especially <3 months. The common pathogens in infants <3 months of age are Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae, and the dominant pathogen in infant ≥3 months is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Subdural effusion and (or) empyema and hydrocephalus are common complications. ABM should not be excluded even if CSF white blood cell counts is within normal range. Standardized bacteriological examination should be paid more attention to increase the pathogenic detection rate. Non-culture CSF detection methods may facilitate the pathogenic diagnosis.
Adolescent ; Brain Abscess ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Meningitis, Bacterial/epidemiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Subdural Effusion ; beta-Lactamases

Post-transcriptional modifications of eukaryotic mRNA can regulate the genetic information of many genes, and the study of m

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI), as a label-free imaging technique with high coverage and sensitivity is widely used for visualizing the spatial distribution of proteins, peptides and small metabolites in tissues. With the development of MALDI technique, MALDI-MSI is also employed to monitor the spatial distribution of phytochemical constituents of medicinal plants. In this review, we first briefly introduce MALDI-MSI technique, and we focus on its application in the spatial distribution and accumulation of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. The ultimate advantage of using MALDI-MSI for spatial distribution analysis at the molecular level, offers crucial evidence of synthesis, transfer and accumulation of bioactive molecules in medicinal plants.