Objective To evaluate the effects of Yangxue Qingnao Granules (YQG) in decreasing blood pressure in rats with renal hypertension and to investigate its mechanism.Methods Modified Goldblatt renal hypertension rat models were used.The rats were randomized into 6 groups: model group,YQG groups (treated with high-,moderate-and low-dose respectively),Captopril Tablets group and Niuhuang Jiangya Pills group, 10 rats in each group. The model group was given with distilled water and the other groups with corresponding drugs by gavage, once time a day. Blood pressure was detected in 1st, 2nd and 4th week after treatment. Four weeks after treatment plasma levels of endothelin (ET),calcitonin gene related peptide(CGRP) and nitric oxide(NO) were examined by radioimmunoassay.Results Plasma level of ET was increased and those of NO and CGRP were decreased in rats with renal hypertension. YQG could decrease ET level and increase the levels of NO and CGRP, high-dose YQG in particular (P

Crohn disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease which progressively affects the digestive tract with unknown etiology. During the disease course, intestinal fibrosis will gradually develop in many CD patients and results in irreversible fibrosis stricture, causing refractory abdominal pain and even intestinal obstruction, and necessitating one or more surgical interventions. Thus far the exact etiology of CD remains unknown. It is believed that genetic, environmental and immunologic factors are involved, which may also predict the development of intestinal fibrosis. Recent studies have found the association of mutations in genes, such as NOD2, ATG16L1, CX3CR1, IL-23R and MMP3 with the fibrogenic phenotype of CD. In addition, serum extracellular matrix molecules, growth factors, miRNAs and microbial antibodies have also been linked to the fibrogenesis in CD patients, however the results of researches were divergent. Therefore it is of significance to explore noninvasive markers of intestinal fibrosis with high sensitivity and specificity, and the high-throughput proteomic technique may be an approach that deserves further investigation. Screening the high-risk patients for the fibrostenotic phenotype of CD by susceptibility genes, and early detection of intestinal fibrosis using noninvasive serum markers, will help improve the treatment outcomes and reduce the surgical rates. The article aims at summarizing the current susceptibility genes and serum markers of intestinal fibrosis in CD.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting any part of the digestive tract which relapses and remits throughout the disease course. It occurs in individuals with genetic susceptibility and involves an abnormal response of the immune system to the external environment. Besides, improved hygiene, abuse of antibiotics, westernization of diet with high sugar and fat are thought to be associated with rapidly increasing incidence of CD. Certain components of foods may influence gut inflammation through antigen presentation and alteration of the microflora. This article aims mainly to review diet-related clinical studies to outline its roles in the pathogenesis and progress of disease, and then give some evidence-based suggestions.
Crohn Disease ; Diet ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans

Objective To establish a set of operational status assessment indicators to meet the needs of informationized hospital management.Methods Assessment indicators were selected and weights were set respectively through literature review,field interview,and questionnaire survey.Six target dimensions were key performance indicators medical business,operational performance,cost control,medical insurance,balance and risk management,and development capability.Thus a set of operational status evaluation indicators was established in IT means,and based on the informationization level of a tertiary A general hospital in Zhejiang province.Results In the principle of public welfare,objectivity,effectiveness and prospectiveness,we analyzed and sorted out relevant data in the current hospital informationization,identifying six quantitative indicators,15 level-1 indicators,and 86 level-2 indicators.Conclusions It is feasible to build a set of assessment indicators for hospital operation and management in view of both technology and methodology.

The Chinese herbs have been used for thousands years, their effects were certified in clinic. The compatibility of Chinese medicine prescriptions is the basis principle in clinical application. In order to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity, reasonable compatibility of the Chinese herbs is the main method for the safety and effective use. However, it is not clear about its mechanism. So it is necessary to study their mechanisms by using the modern pharmacological technology. At present, there are some studies on the mechanisms of the compatibility relating with toxicity or adverse effect attenuation, for instance, reducing the dose of toxic Chinese herbs, changing their pharmacokinetic parameter and resisting the damage to human body system. In this paper, we planed to review the attenuation mechanism of the prescription compatibility from relevant studies.
Drug Prescriptions ; Drug Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; adverse effects

OBJECTIVETo investigate the predictive value of procalcitonin(PCT) in postoperative intra-abdominal infections (IAI) after definitive operation of intestinal fistulae(IF).

METHODSWith the exclusion of emergence operation, preoperative clinical infection, preoperative renal or hepatic dysfunction, and age less than 18 years, a total of 356 consecutive patients who underwent elective digestive tract reconstruction of intestinal fistulae from February 2012 to December 2015 at Intestinal Fistula Center of Jinling Hospital were prospectively enrolled in the study. All the patients were divided into IAI group (26 cases, 21 of anastomosis leakage and 5 of peritoneal abscess) and non-IAI group (330 cases) based on the existence of postoperative IAI. The non-IAI group was then divided into two subgroups of other infection (93 cases) and non-infection(237 cases) according to the presence of other infections. Plasma PCT level, serum CRP concentration and WBC count were assessed preoperatively and on postoperative days (PODs) 1, 3, 5, 7 by immunofluorescence, turbidimetry and automatic blood analyzer, respectively. The predictive value of each marker for IAI was calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

RESULTSThere was no significant difference in general clinical data between IAI and non-IAI group (all P>0.05). The proportions of multi-IF (53.8%, 14/26) and colectomy (61.5%, 16/26) in IAI group were higher than those of non-IAI group [20.0% (66/330), χ=15.847, P=0.000 and 31.2%(103/330), χ=9.961, P=0.002]. Differences of preoperative PCT, CRP and WBC levels among IAI, other infection and non-infection groups were not significant. These three markers all increased obviously and immediately after surgery. PCT and WBC values reached the peak point on POD 1, whereas CRP on POD 3. In IAI group, mean PCT values were (5.4±4.2) μg/L, (2.9±1.9) μg/L and (1.6±1.8) μg/L on POD 1, POD 3 and POD 5, respectively, which were higher than those of other infection group [(4.2±8.7) μg/L, (1.9±3.8) μg/L and (0.6±0.8) μg/L] and non-infection group [(2.7±5.8) μg/L, (1.1±1.7) μg/L and (0.5±0.7) μg/L, all P<0.05]. Mean CRP values in IAI group were 99.4 mg/L and 183.9 mg/L respectively on POD 1 and POD 3,and mean WBC values of IAI group on POD 1, POD 3 and POD 5 were 16.0×10/L, 10.8×10/L and 8.7×10/L, respectively, which were all significantly higher than those in the other 2 groups (all P<0.05). No significant differences were obtained between other infection group and non-infection group in all these three markers (all P>0.05). ROC curve demonstrated that PCT had the biggest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.86 and 0.84 on POD 3 and POD 5, with the cut-off value of 0.98 μg/L and 0.83 μg/L, 92.0% sensitivity and 74.0% specificity, 91.0% sensitivity and 73.0% specificity, respectively. The highest AUC was 0.72 on POD 3 for CRP and 0.71 on POD 3 for WBC, with 80.0% sensitivity and 54.0% specificity, 56.0% sensitivity and 73.0% specificity, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe value of procalcitonin above 0.98 μg/L on POD 3 and 0.83 μg/L on POD 5 can predict the occurrence of IAI after definitive operations of intestinal fistulae.

Abdominal Abscess ; etiology ; Anastomotic Leak ; etiology ; Area Under Curve ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Calcitonin ; blood ; Colectomy ; adverse effects ; statistics & numerical data ; Elective Surgical Procedures ; adverse effects ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Intestinal Fistula ; complications ; surgery ; Intraabdominal Infections ; etiology ; Male ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Predictive Value of Tests ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Objective To explore the predictive value of prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in surgical site infections (SSIs) for intestinal fistula patients undergoing bowel resections.Methods Clinical data of 290 gastrointestinal fistula patients who underwent intestinal resections between 2012 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed.Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for SSIs,and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to quantify the effectiveness of PNI.Results SSIs were diagnosed in 99 (34.1％) patients.ROC curve analysis defined a PNI cut-off level of 45 corresponding to postoperative SSIs (area under the curve =0.72,76％ sensitivity,55％ specificity).Furthermore,a multivariate analysis indicated that the PNI ＜ 45 (OR:2.24,95％ CI:1.09-4.61,P =0.029) and preoperative leukocytosis (OR:3.70,95 ％ CI:1.02-13.42,P =0.046) were independently associated with postoperative SSIs.Conclusions Preoperative PNI is useful to predict SSIs in intestinal fistulae patients after enterectomies.

Small ubiquitin-related modifier(SUMOylation)is a dynamic post-translational modification that maintains cardiac function and can protect against a hypertrophic response to cardiac pressure overload.However,the function of SUMOylation after myocardial infarction(MI)and the molecular details of heart cell responses to SUMO1 deficiency have not been determined.In this study,we demonstrated that SUMO1 protein was inconsistently abundant in different cell types and heart regions after MI.However,SUMO1 knockout significantly exacerbated systolic dysfunction and infarct size after myocardial injury.Single-nucleus RNA sequencing revealed the differential role of SUMO1 in regulating heart cells.Among cardiomyocytes,SUMO1 deletion increased the Nppa+Nppb+Ankrd1+cardiomyocyte subcluster pro-portion after MI.In addition,the conversion of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts subclusters was inhibited in SUMO1 knockout mice.Importantly,SUMO1 loss promoted proliferation of endothelial cell subsets with the ability to reconstitute neovascularization and expressed angiogenesis-related genes.Computational analysis of ligand/receptor interactions suggested putative pathways that mediate cardiomyocytes to endothelial cell communication in the myocardium.Mice preinjected with cardiomyocyte-specific AAV-SUMO1,but not the endothelial cell-specific form,and exhibited ameliorated cardiac remodeling following MI.Collectively,our results identified the role of SUMO1 in cardiomyocytes,fibroblasts,and endothelial cells after Ml.These findings provide new insights into SUMO1 involvement in the patho-genesis of MI and reveal novel therapeutic targets.

COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the globe, posing an enormous threat to public health and safety. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), in combination with Western medicine (WM), has made important and lasting contributions in the battle against COVID-19. In this review, updated clinical effects and potential mechanisms of TCM, presented in newly recognized three distinct phases of the disease, are summarized and discussed. By integrating the available clinical and preclinical evidence, the efficacies and underlying mechanisms of TCM on COVID-19, including the highly recommended three Chinese patent medicines and three Chinese medicine formulas, are described in a panorama. We hope that this comprehensive review not only provides a reference for health care professionals and the public to recognize the significant contributions of TCM for COVID-19, but also serves as an evidence-based in-depth summary and analysis to facilitate understanding the true scientific value of TCM.