OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of traditional Chinese medical syndrome (TCM syndrome) of hepatocirrhosis. METHODS: Clinical information from the four diagnosis methods of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and related laboratorial indexes were systematically collected from 223 hepatocirrhosis cases, and the multi-statistical methods including systematic cluster analysis, principal component analysis, stepwise discrimination and variance analysis were made with the software SAS 6.11. RESULTS: Multi-analysis showed that there were 3 categories of syndrome characteristics. Type 1 (134 cases): damp heat, blood stasis, deficiency of liver and spleen Qi; Type 2 (62 cases): deficiency of both Qi and Yin with severe deficiency of Qi, heat with severe dampness, blood stasis; Type 3 (27 cases): deficiency of both Qi and Yin with severe deficiency of Yin, stasis and heat or dampness. Analysis of the changes of the related laboratorial indexes among the three types of syndrome showed that Type 1 mainly manifested asthenia syndrome with sthenia syndrome, and its indexes of AST, ALT, GGT levels were markedly higher than those of Type 2 and Type 3, both of which mainly showed sthenia syndrome with asthenia syndrome, and that Type 3 was in active inflammation, deficiency of both Qi and Yin (deficiency of Yin > deficiency of Qi), and its FN, Alb, FV, FVII, PLT, PCT levels were obviously reduced. CONCLUSION: The multi-statistical methods can reveal the characteristics and regularity of TCM syndrome of hepatocirrhosis, and the 3 categories of syndrome characteristics basically conform to clinical manifestations. The result of TCM syndrome distribution and laboratorial indexes infer that damp heat is the pathological basis of hepatocirrhosis, and the degree of liver function disorder and liver damage may be the pathological basis of deficiency of Yin of both liver and kidney.

Objective: To investigate the influence of serum creatinine (sCr) at different time-points on prognosis of critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Methods: This study was retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of critical patients with AKI who admitted to the mixed ICU of Xiaolan Hospital of Southern Medical University during March 2015 and January 2016. According to the clinical prognosis, the patients were divided into the renal replacement therapy (RRT) group and non-renal replacement therapy (non-RRT) group, 28-day renal loss group and renal recover group, hospital death group and survival group. Serum Cr at different time-points and clinical data were collected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the capability of sCr at different time-points in predicting clinical prognosis. Results: During the study, 85 AKI patients were enrolled. The in-hospital mortality was 20%, RRT rate was 15.3%, and renal lose at 28 days after ICU admission was 31.8%. The levels of sCr out of ICU (o-sCr) and the peak of sCr were significantly higher in the RRT group than the non-RRT group (P<0.01). The o-sCr and p-sCr predicted RRT during the hospital stay with a higher AUC value (0.806 vs 0.833) than b-sCr and a-sCr. The levels of b-sCr, a-sCr, o-sCr, and p-sCr were all significantly higher in the28-day renal loss group than the kidney recover group (P<0.01). The levels of o-sCr and p-sCr were significantly higher in the hospital death group than the survival group (P<0.05). The o-sCr predicted renal lose at 28 days and hospital death with the highest AUC value of 0.850 and 0.797, respectively. Conclusions It cannot be ignored to monitor dynamically the level of sCr at different time-points in critical patients with AKI, which can predict the clinical prognosis such as hospital death, RRT and renal lose at 28 days after ICU admission.

Objective:To optimize the forming technology of Zuojin concentrated pills. Methods: Single factor test was used to optimize the types of excipients and wetting agents with the shaping result as the index. Orthogonal test was used to optimize the forming technology taking the dissolution time,shaping rate and appearance quality as the evaluation indices,and the proportion of excipients, the rate of drugs to excipients and wetting agent amount as the investigation factors. Results: The best forming technology of Zuojin concentrated pills was as follows:MCC and PVP-K30 were used as the excipients with the ratio of 3:1,the ratio of drugs to excipients was 1:1,5% water was used as the wetting agent to obtain the damp mass,and then Zuojin concentrated pills were prepared in a pill machine. Conclusion:The optimized forming technology is stable with good reproducibility,and the pills are round and smooth with u-niform color,whose quality meets the requirements described in Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2015 edition,partⅣ,page 0108 for concen-trated pills). The study provides reference for the further study.

ObjectiveTo investigate the value of early fluid resuscitation endpoints in evaluating blood volume in patients with acute pancreatitis. MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 445 previously untreated patients with acute pancreatitis who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from 2003 to 2016 and had an onset time of less than 24 hours, and according the fluid resuscitation endpoints of mean arterial pressure (MAP), hematocrit (HCT), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), the patients were divided into standard-reaching group (MAP ＞65 mm Hg, BUN ＜7.14 mmol/L, and HCT ≥0.35 and ≤044, n=219) and non-standard-reaching group (MAP ≤65 mm Hg or BUN ≥7.14 mmol/L or HCT ＞0.44 or ＜0.35, n=226). The standard-reaching group represented normal volume, while the non-standard-reaching group represented insufficient volume. The two groups were compared in terms of symptoms, signs, etiology, severity, complication, and prognosis. The chi-square test or the Fisher’s exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups. ResultsCompared with the standard-reaching group, the non-standard-reaching group had significant increases in white blood cell count, BUN, and Computed Tomography Severity Index of the pancreas (Z=-2.85, -6.725, and -2.293, all P＜0.01). As for local complications, compared with the non-standard-reaching group, the standard-reaching group had significantly lower incidence rates of peripancreatic exudation (45.2% vs 54.9%, χ2=4.15, P＜0.05) and pancreatic necrosis (10.0% vs 186%, χ2=6.59, P＜0.05). As for systemic complications, compared with the non-standard-reaching group, the standard-reaching group had significantly lower incidence rates of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (0.5% vs 4.4%, χ2=7.26, P＜0.05) and renal dysfunction (1.4% vs 6.6%, χ2=7.95, P＜0.05). The standard-reaching group had significantly lower proportion of patients with severe pancreatitis and hospital costs than the non-standard-reaching group (both P＜0.05). ConclusionFluid resuscitation endpoints can be used to evaluate the blood volume of patients with acute pancreatitis in the early stage after admission, and the patients not reaching the standard of fluid resuscitation tend to develop the complications such as peripancreatic exudation, pancreatic necrosis, ARDS, and renal dysfunction and may have higher hospital costs.

Objective To explore the effect of drug injection under bronchoscopy on the retreatment of smear positive cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods From June 2016 to December 2017,164 cases of pul-monary tuberculosis with smear Yang cavity type were selected,which were divided into 2 groups according to the random digital table method,each groups has 82 cases.The control group received routine treatment,the observa-tion group underwent bronchoscopy with Kangfuxin Liquid combined with drug injection therapy.The clinical effect of the two groups,the changes of lung function before and after treatment and the improvement of clinical symp-toms were compared.Results The clinical curative effect of the treatment group was better than the control group, which difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05). FEV1,FEV1/FVC,PEF index in the observation group were better than the control group,which difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The complication rate of observation group was lower than the control group,which difference was statistically significant(P < 0.05). Conclusion Drug injection under bronchoscopy can significantly improve the clinical efficacy and lung function and promote clinical symptoms in patients with retreated smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis.It is worthy of popu-larization and application.

Objective:To construct and evaluate a decision tree based on biomarkers for predicting severe acute kidney injury (AKI) in critical patients.Methods:A prospectively study was conducted. Critical patients who had been admitted to the department of critical care medicine of Xiaolan Hospital of Southern Medical University from January 2017 to June 2018 were enrolled. The clinical data of the patients were recorded, and the biomarkers, including serum cystatin C (sCys C) and urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (uNAG) were established immediately after admission to intensive care unit (ICU), and the end points were recorded. The test cohort was established with patient data from January to December 2017. The decision tree classification and regression tree (CART) algorithm was used, and the best cut-off values of biomarkers were used as the decision node to construct a biomarker decision tree model for predicting severe AKI. The accuracy of the decision tree model was evaluated by the overall accuracy and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The validation cohort, established on patient data from January to June 2018, was used to further validate the accuracy and predictive ability of the decision tree.Results:In test cohort, 263 patients were enrolled, of whom 57 developed severe AKI [defined as phase 2 and 3 of Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criterion]. Compared with patients without severe AKI, severe AKI patients were older [years old: 64 (49, 74) vs. 52 (41, 66)], acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (APACHEⅡ) score were higher [23 (19, 27) vs. 15 (11, 20)], the incidence of hypertension, diabetes and other basic diseases and sepsis were higher (64.9% vs. 40.3%, 28.1% vs. 10.7%, 63.2% vs. 29.6%), the levels of sCys C and uNAG were higher [sCys C (mg/L): 1.38 (1.12, 2.02) vs. 0.79 (0.67, 0.98), uNAG (U/mmol Cr): 5.91 (2.43, 10.68) vs. 2.72 (1.60, 3.90)], hospital mortality and 90-day mortality were higher (21.1% vs. 4.4%, 52.6% vs. 13.1%), the length of ICU stay was longer [days: 6.0 (4.0, 9.5) vs. 3.0 (1.0, 6.0)], and renal replacement therapy requirement was higher (22.8% vs. 1.9%), with statistically significant differences (all P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under ROC curve (AUC) of sCys C and uNAG in predicting severe AKI were 0.857 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) was 0.809-0.897) ] and 0.735 (95% CI was 0.678-0.788), and the best cut-off values were 1.05 mg/L and 5.39 U/mmol Cr, respectively. The structure of the biomarker decision tree model constructed by biomarkers were intuitive. The overall accuracy in predicting severe AKI was 86.0%, and AUC was 0.905 (95% CI was 0.863-0.937), the sensitivity was 0.912, and the specificity was 0.796. In validation cohort of 130 patients, this decision tree yielded an excellent AUC of 0.909 (95% CI was 0.846-0.952), the sensitivity was 0.906, and the specificity was 0.816, with an overall accuracy of 81.0%. Conclusion:The decision tree model based on biomarkers for predicting severe AKI in critical patients is highly accurate, intuitive and executable, which is helpful for clinical judgment and decision.

Objective:To investigate the topological alterations of brain functional networks in patients with chronic methamphetamine (MA) dependence.Methods:Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to map the brain networks of 46 patients with MA-dependence (MA group) and 46 healthy controls (control group). Statistical methods were used to compare the differences of brain functional connection and topological parameters between the two groups, and the correlations between these topological parameters with significant inter-group differences and clinical measurements were analyzed.Results:(1) Brain functional connection: as compared with the control group, the MA group had significantly enhanced functional connectivity in the subnetworks consisting of several brain regions, including the inferior parietal lobule, posterior central gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, ventromedial occipital cortex, orbital gyrus, anterior central gyrus, fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus and thalamus; as compared with the control group, the MA group had significantly attenuated functional connectivity in the subnetworks consisting of several brain regions, the orbit frontal cortex, precentral gyrus, paracenter lobule, inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, postcentral gyrus, medioventral occipital cortex, lateral occipital cortex and amygdala. (2) Network topology attributes: the brain functional networks in all subjects from the MA group and control group held worldlet; but attribute of worldlet in the MA group was significantly reduced as compared with that in the control group ( P<0.05); moreover, the MA group had significantly decreased clustering coefficient, local efficiency, and modularity as compared with the control group ( P<0.05). In terms of regional topological attributes, such as betweenness centrality, the MA group presented evident reduction in the left superior frontal gyrus, right orbit frontal cortex, right middle temporal gyrus and right/left lateral occipital cortex as compared with the control group with significant differences ( P<0.05). (3)Correlation analysis: the betweenness centrality of right middle temporal gyrus exhibited a positive correlation with the age of patients using MA for the first time ( r=0.327, P=0.028); a positive correlation was found between the modularity and activating factor scores in Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in MA group ( r=0.315, P=0.035). Conclusions:Part of the global/local topological attributes of the brain functional network of patients with MA addiction are damaged. The younger the patients are when they take MA for the first time, the lower the betweenness centrality of the right middle temporal gyrus; the more the local attributes are damaged; and furthermore, the deeper the network modularity, the severer the active symptoms in the psychotic symptoms.

Objective:To investigate the differences of spontaneous neural activity and functional connectivity between bilateral symmetrical voxels in the local brain regions at resting-state of methamphetamine (MA) dependent patients and healthy controls (HCs).Methods:Forty-six MA-dependent patients, admitted to and received drug rehabilitation treatment for the first time in our hospital from February 2014 to October 2019, and 46 HCs matched with age, gender and education level during the same period were enrolled in this study. The resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of these subjects were collected; the static and dynamic regional homogeneity (ReHo, d-ReHo) and static and dynamic voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC, d-VMHC) were used to evaluate MA-related alterations of brain spontaneous activity and interhemispheric functional connectivity. The correlations of brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) scores with above values in the brain regions with significant inter-group differences were analyzed.Results:As compared with the HCs, the MA-dependent patients had significantly decreased ReHo in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), and significantly increased d-ReHo in the left mOFC, left middle frontal gyrus, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus and left postcentral gyrus ( P<0.05). As compared with the HCs, the MA-dependent patients had significantly decreased VMHC in the bilateral mOFC, precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus ( P<0.05). The ReHo, VMHC, d-ReHo, and d-VMHC were not significantly correlated with total scores and each factor scores of BPRS, and total dose of MA (after removing outliers) in MA-dependent patients ( P>0.05). Conclusion:During resting state, MA-dependent patients show obvious abnormalities in the coordination and stability of spontaneous neural activity and the coordination of interhemispheric activity in local brain regions, especially in the mOFC; abnormal ReHo, d-ReHo and VMHC in left mOFC may be important neuroimaging biomarkers for MA-dependence.

OBJECTIVE To explore the mechanism of Yishen tongluo formula （YSTLF） in improving abnormal lipid metabolism based on the sterol regulatory element binding proteins （SREBPs） pathway. METHODS Using C57BLKS/J （db/db） mice as model and C57BLKS/J （db/m） mice as normal control， the mechanism of 1， 2.5 and 5 g/kg YSTLF improving abnormal lipid metabolism of db/db mice was investigated by determining the liver coefficient， the contents of serum total cholesterol （TC）， triglyceride （TG）， low-density lipoprotein （LDL） and high-density lipoprotein （HDL）， observing steatosis and lipid accumulation in liver tissue of mice， detecting the protein expressions of SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 as well as mRNA transcription levels of Srebp- 1c， Srebp-2 and their downstream lipid metabolism-related target genes （Fasn， Acc1， Scd5， Fads1， Hmgcr， Dhcr24， Insig-1， Fdps） in liver tissue of mice. Using low-fat cultured human liver cancer cell HepG2 as an in vitro cell model for abnormal lipid metabolism， and 25-HC （SREBPs inhibitor， 10 μmol/L） as the control， the effects of 125， 250 and 500 μg/mL YSTLF on protein expressions of SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 as well as mRNA transcription of SREBP-1c， SREBP-2 and their downstream lipid metabolism-related target genes were investigated to verify the mechanism in vitro. RESULTS 1， 2.5， 5 g/kg YSTLF significantly reduced the levels of TC， TG and LDL， the percentage of lipid droplet-positive region in liver tissue and liver coefficient， significantly down-regulated protein expressions of Pre-SREBP-1， n-SREBP-1， Pre-SREBP-2 and n-SREBP-2， and mRNA transcription of Srebp-1c， Srebp-2 and their downstream target genes in liver tissue， while significantly increased HDL level， with statistical significance （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. In the cell experiment in vitro， the expressions of the above-mentioned proteins and genes in the cells treated with YSTLF at 125， 250 and 500 μg/mL for 24 hours were consistent with those in the animal experiment； there was no significant difference in the expressions of the above-mentioned proteins and genes between inhibitor control group and 250， 500 μg/mL YSTLF groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS YSTLF can regulate the expression of transcription factor SREBPs， so as to inhibit the high expression of fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis-related genes， promote the degradation of TC and TG， improve the abnormality of lipid metabolism and inhibit lipid accumulation， thus playing the role of lipid-lowering.