The chemical constituents of the petroleum ether extract derived from the 90% ethanol extract of Elephantopus scaber were investigated. By silica gel column chromatography, C_(18), MCI column chromatography and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography, ten compounds were isolated. Their structures were identified as 3β-hydroxy-6β,7β-epoxytaraxeran-14-ene(1), 3β-hydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid(2), D-friedoolean-14-ene-3β,7α-diol(3), 3β-hydroxy-11α-methoxyolean-12-ene(4), 3β-hydroxyolean-11,13(18)-diene(5), 11α-hydroxy-β-amyrin(6), betulinic acid(7), 3β-hydroxy-30-norlupan-20-one(8), 6-acetonylchelerythrine(9), and 4',5'-dehydrodiodictyonema A(10) by analysis of the 1D NMR, 2D NMR, MS, and IR spectral data. Among them, compound 1 was a new triterpene and other compounds except compounds 2 and 7 were isolated from this plant for the first time.
Triterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/isolation & purification* ; Molecular Structure ; Asteraceae/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Yangxue Qingnao Pills (YXQNP) combined with amlodipine in treating patients with grade 1 hypertension. METHODS: This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study. Adult patients with grade 1 hypertension of blood deficiency and Gan (Liver)-yang hyperactivity syndrome were randomly divided into the treatment or the control groups at a 1:1 ratio. The treatment group received YXQNP and amlodipine besylate, while the control group received YXQNP's placebo and amlodipine besylate. The treatment duration lasted for 180 days. Outcomes assessed included changes in blood pressure, Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome scores, symptoms and target organ functions before and after treatment in both groups. Additionally, adverse events, such as nausea, vomiting, rash, itching, and diarrhea, were recorded in both groups. RESULTS: A total of 662 subjects were enrolled, of whom 608 (91.8%) completed the trial (306 in the treatment and 302 in the control groups). After 180 days of treatment, the standard deviations and coefficients of variation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels were lower in the treatment group compared with the control group. The improvement rates of dizziness, headache, insomnia, and waist soreness were significantly higher in the treatment group compared with the control group (P<0.05). After 30 days of treatment, the overall therapeutic effects on CM clinical syndromes were significantly increased in the treatment group as compared with the control group (P<0.05). After 180 days of treatment, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, ankle brachial index and albumin-to-creatinine ratio were improved in both groups, with no statistically significant differences (P>0.05). No serious treatment-related adverse events occurred during the study period. CONCLUSIONS Combination therapy of YXQNP with amlodipine significantly improved symptoms such as dizziness and headache, reduced blood pressure variability, and showed a trend toward lowering urinary microalbumin in hypertensive patients. These findings suggest that this regimen has good clinical efficacy and safety. (Registration No. ChiCTR1900022470).
Humans ; Amlodipine/adverse effects* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/adverse effects* ; Male ; Female ; Hypertension/complications* ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Adult ; Blood Pressure/drug effects* ; Double-Blind Method ; Aged ; Antihypertensive Agents/adverse effects*

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality based on the 10-year population-based multicenter prospective study. METHODS: A general population-based multicenter prospective study was conducted at four sites in rural China between 2013 and 2023. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models and restricted cubic spline analyses were used to assess the association between BMI and mortality. Stratified analyses were performed based on the individual characteristics of the participants. RESULTS: Overall, 19,107 participants with a sum of 163,095 person-years were included and 1,910 participants died. The underweight (< 18.5 kg/m ²) presented an increase in all-cause mortality (adjusted hazards ratio [ aHR] = 2.00, 95% confidence interval [ CI]: 1.66-2.41), while overweight (≥ 24.0 to < 28.0 kg/m ²) and obesity (≥ 28.0 kg/m ²) presented a decrease with an aHR of 0.61 (95% CI: 0.52-0.73) and 0.51 (95% CI: 0.37-0.70), respectively. Overweight ( aHR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67-0.86) and mild obesity ( aHR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.59-0.87) had a positive impact on mortality in people older than 60 years. All-cause mortality decreased rapidly until reaching a BMI of 25.7 kg/m ² ( aHR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92-0.98) and increased slightly above that value, indicating a U-shaped association. The beneficial impact of being overweight on mortality was robust in most subgroups and sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION This study provides additional evidence that overweight and mild obesity may be inversely related to the risk of death in individuals older than 60 years. Therefore, it is essential to consider age differences when formulating health and weight management strategies.
Humans ; Body Mass Index ; China/epidemiology* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Rural Population/statistics & numerical data* ; Aged ; Follow-Up Studies ; Adult ; Mortality ; Cause of Death ; Obesity/mortality* ; Overweight/mortality*

A precursor ion selection (PIS) based ultra high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) analytical method was used to screen the chemical components in Jiawei Dingzhi pills (JWDZP) comprehensively and rapidly. To compile the components of the compound medicine, a total of 1 921 components were found utilizing online databases and literature. After verifying the sources, unifying the component names, merging the multi-flavor attributed components, and removing the weak polar molecules, 450 components were successfully retained. The Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm) was used, with a 0.1% formic acid water (A)-acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase. The flow rate was 0.35 mL·min^-1, the column temperature was 35 ℃, and an electrospray ion source was used. Data was collected with the PIS strategy in both positive and negative ion modes. Compounds were screened through matching accurate molecular weight of the database, and identified according to MS/MS data (characteristic fragment ions and neutral loss), with comparison of reference. Some compounds were confirmed using standard products. A total of 176 compounds were screened out in the extract of JWDZP, among which 26 compounds were confirmed by standard products. These compounds include 96 components from the sovereign drug, and 34 coefflux components with low ion intensity. The PIS-UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS method established in this study can quickly and comprehensively screen the chemical components of JWDZP, which enhanced the screening rate of components with co-elution compounds of low ion intensities and provided a basis for the study of the material foundation of JWDZP.

This review provides a comprehensive summary of the latest advancements in high-throughput protein structural bioinformatics, a field that has undergone a revolutionary transformation with the advent of deep learning-based protein structure prediction systems like AlphaFold2. These systems have significantly increased the accuracy, speed, and scale of protein structure prediction, resulting in an exponential growth in the number of protein structures available for analysis. Notably, the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (AFDB) has amassed over 214 million protein structures, surpassing the PDB’s 50-year cumulative data by over 1 000-fold within several months. Big data is driving the comprehensive upgrade of protein structural bioinformatics. This review focuses on three main areas: structure data management, tool development, and structure data mining. In the realm of structure data management, the review spotlights the optimization strategy of AlphaFold-like systems, which significantly reduces the resource requirements for protein folding, enabling more researchers to make custom structure predictions and further enlarging the data scale. The resulting “data explosion” has exerted increased pressure on storage and bandwidth, prompting the development of cutting-edge tools such as Foldcomp, PDC, and ProteStAr for compressing PDB files. Moreover, the review underscores the critical role of public repositories like ModelArchive and PDB-Dev in archiving and sharing third-party AlphaFold models. It also highlights the utilization of independent services like MineProt and 3D-Beacons to create more interactive and accessible data portals. In terms of tool development, the review spotlights recent breakthroughs in structure alignment algorithms, represented by Foldseek, which enable ultra-fast searching of large protein structure databases. It also covers tools for functional annotation of proteins based on their structures, including AlphaFill for ligand annotation, DeepFRI for Gene Ontology (GO) annotation, TT3D for protein-protein interaction (PPI) prediction, among others. It is proposed that 3Di sequences born concurrently with Foldseek can enhance many sequence-based deep learning models developed in the pre-AlphaFold era, enabling them to be applied to structure-based function prediction. The challenges on traditional molecular docking methods in the high-throughput era are mentioned at last, in a gesture to arouse the attention of researchers. Finally, the review explores the burgeoning field of structure data mining. Whole proteome structuring has become feasible in recent years, and scientists are processing large structure datasets from an omics viewpoint, continuously identifying analyzable elements and optimizing methodologies, as well as utilizing newly developed tools to push the boundaries. Notable examples include the identification of new protein families, the development of protein structure clustering, and the integration of AlphaFold with conventional experimental techniques to solve large structures. These advancements are paving the way for a deeper understanding of protein structure and function and have the potential to unlock new discoveries in the life sciences. However, the review also acknowledges the challenges and limitations that persist in the field, including the lack of diversity in high-throughput software for protein structural bioinformatics and the existing bottleneck in rapidly predicting protein complex structures. Overall, structural bioinformatics is expected to play an even more crucial role in the life sciences with the development of high-throughput methodology.

Objective To observe the efficacy and safety of Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides in the continuation treatment of mild and moderate depression.Methods An open,single-arm,multi-center design was adopted in our study.Adult patients with mild and moderate depression who had received acute treatment of Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides were enrolled and continue to receive Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides capsules for 24 weeks,the dose remained unchanged during continuation treatment.The remission rate,recurrence rate,recurrence time,and the change from baseline to endpoint of Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD),Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA),Clinical Global Impression-Severity(CGI-S)and Arizona Sexual Experience Scale(ASEX)were evaluated.The incidence of treatment-related adverse events was reported.Results The scores of HAMD-17 at baseline and after treatment were 6.60±1.87 and 5.85±4.18,scores of HAMA were 6.36±3.02 and 4.93±3.09,scores of CGI-S were 1.49±0.56 and 1.29±0.81,scores of ASEX were 15.92±4.72 and 15.57±5.26,with significant difference(P＜0.05).After continuation treatment,the remission rate was 54.59％(202 cases/370 cases),and the recurrence rate was 6.49％(24 cases/370 cases),the recurrence time was(64.67±42.47)days.The incidence of treatment-related adverse events was 15.35％(64 cases/417 cases).Conclusion Morinda officinalis oligosaccharides capsules can be effectively used for the continuation treatment of mild and moderate depression,and are well tolerated and safe.

Rapid and accurate detection methods for food-borne pathogens are essential to ensure food safety and human health.One promising innovation in this area is the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated systems(CRISPR/Cas)biosensor,which utilizes Cas protein and CRISPR RNA(crRNA)ribonucleo protein to specifically recognize target genes,and converts target signals into detectable physical and chemical signals.The CRISPR/Cas biosensor shows many advantages,such as high specificity,programmability,and ease of use,making it promising to pathogen detection.This paper introduced the principles and characteristics of CRISPR/Cas systems,along with the strategies for signal recognition,amplification,and output based on different CRISPR/Cas biosensors,and their respective applications in food-borne pathogen detection.Furthermore,the construction principles and challenges of multiple biosensors based on CRISPR/Cas were explored,as well as their potential for simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens.Finally,the challenges and future development trends of CRISPR/Cas-based biosensors in rapid pathogen detection were discussed,aiming to provide valuable reference and inspiration for biosensor designers and food safety practitioners.

Objective To compare the three methods in intensity modulated radiation therapy(IMRT)dose verification using PTW Detector729.Methods A total of 50 patients with nasopharyngeal cancer,lung cancer,breast cancer,cervical cancer and whole brain radiation therapy who completed radiation treatment at some hospital from January to December 2022 were selected retrospectively.Two-dimensional(zero and actual gantry angles)and three-dimensional dose verifications were carried out for the IMRT plans using PTW Detector729 2D ionization chamber matrix combined with PTW RW3 solid water and PTW Ocavius 4D rotation unit.The dose assessment threshold was set to 10％,and the γ pass rates of the three verification methods were counted under four assessment criteria,namely 3％/1 mm,2％/2 mm,3％/2 mm and 3％/3 mm.SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used for data analysis.Results Under the 10％dose assessment threshold criterion,zero-gantry-angle 2D dose verification had the highest γ pass rate,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05);actual-gantry-angle 2D dose verification had the γ pass rate higher than that of 3D verification,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).The γ pass rates of the three verification methods gradually increased under four criteria,namely,3％/1 mm,2％/2 mm,3％/2 mm and 3％/3 mm,and exceeded 90％under the 3％/2 mm criterion,and the results met the requirements of clinical radiotherapy.Conclusion The results of the three verification methods satisfy the requirements of the IMRT dose verification practice guidelines,and the selection of appropriate verification methods is of great significance to ensure the implementation of the treatment plan.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(5):56-59]

Objective To provide anatomical,radiological,and clinical diagnostic and therapeutic references for ankylosing spondylitis and spinal surgical operations.Methods Non-measurement spinal observations,X-ray examinations,and measurements were performed on two spinal specimens,along with digital image acquisition and processing.Results The first specimen included thoracic vertebra 7(T7)to lumbar vertebra 3(L3),with an average total length of 29.7 cm;the second specimen ranged from cervical vertebra 7(C7)to lumbar vertebra 2(L2),with an average total length of 38.3 cm.The specimens showed partial or complete calcification of ligaments,ossification of the small joints and intervertebral discs,and osteoporosis;The anterior-posterior diameter(width)of the vertebral foramen was narrower than that of a normal adult,while most of the superior-inferior diameter(height)was wider.Radiographically,the anterior longitudinal ligament calcification appeared as dot-like or striated,but it was actually flaky in the actual specimens.The specimens provided views of the facet joints,costovertebral joints,and intervertebral foramina that was difficult to demonstrate on two-dimensional X-ray images.Conclusion As ankylosing spondylitis progresses,the range of motion in spinal bending and rotation decreases,as does the extent of thoracic expansion,thereby affecting respiration and complicating procedures such as intraspinal anesthesia and sacral canal injections.In terms of diagnosis,bone specimens and X-ray films allow us to understand the development process and severity of ankylosing spondylitis more directly and accurately.

Objective:To investigate the efficacy of different frequencies of modified electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depressive disorder and its effect on cognitive function and functional near infrared spectroscopy.Methods:The clinical data from 60 patients with depressive disorder, admitted to The Third People's Hospital of Huzhou between December 2022 and July 2023, were retrospectively analyzed. This study was designed as a case-control study. These patients were divided into three treatment groups according to different treatment methods: Group 1 ( n = 20), Group 2 ( n = 20), and Group 3 ( n = 20). All patients underwent conventional antidepressant therapy. Additionally, Group 1 received six sessions of modified electroconvulsive therapy, Group 2 received eight sessions, and Group 3 received ten sessions. The treatment duration for all groups was 4 weeks. Comparisons were made among the three groups for pre- and post-treatment scores on the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, Clinical Global Impression Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail Making Test Part A (TMT-A), Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B), and Digit Symbol Substitution Test. Furthermore, the incidence of adverse reactions during treatment was calculated, and the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale was used to assess the occurrence of adverse drug reactions. Moreover, functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy was used before and after treatment to evaluate the cognitive function of patients under the Verbal Fluency Task. Results:At 1, 2, and 4 weeks of treatment, the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and Clinical Global Impression Scale scores of Group 2 and Group 3 were significantly lower than those of Group 1 ( Finter-group = 32.09, Ftime = 54.27, Finteraction = 7.53, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 38.14, Ftime = 69.33, Finteraction = 8.59, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 11.22, Ftime = 28.29, Finteraction = 9.14, all P < 0.05). The Mini-Mental State Examination, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test scores of Group 1 and Group 2 were significantly higher than those of Group 3, while Trail Making Test Part A and Trail Making Test Part B scores of Group 1 and Group 2 were significantly lower than those of Group 3 ( Finter-group = 14.20, Ftime = 44.27, Finteraction = 6.24, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 18.23, Ftime = 67.15, Finteraction = 8.54, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 9.30, Ftime = 75.16, Finteraction = 9.41, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 19.47, Ftime = 85.76, Finteraction = 9.33, all P < 0.05; Finter-group = 22.26, Ftime = 46.37, Finteraction = 6.52, all P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions among the three groups ( Finter-group = 3.03, Ftime = 8.36, Finteraction = 1.25, all P > 0.05). After 4 weeks of treatment, the number of Verbal Fluency Task words and oxy-Hb level in Group 2 were significantly higher compared with those in Group 1 and Group 3 ( F = 29.71, 198.57, both P < 0.05). Conclusion:Modified electroconvulsive therapy is highly effective and safe in treating depressive disorders in patients. Eight sessions of modified electroconvulsive therapy administered within 4 weeks have been shown to exhibit better clinical efficacy and lead to greater improvements in cognitive function and functional near-infrared spectroscopy measurements compared with six or ten sessions of treatment.