To explore the effects of Dachengqi Decoction (DCQD), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, on pancreatic acinar cell apoptosis in a rat model of experimental acute pancreatitis.

Objective:To investigate the significance of serum glycocholic acid (CG), total bile acid (TBA), and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) in the transformation of fatty liver to liver cancer and their relationship with the body′s glucose and lipid metabolism.Methods:From May 2018 to August 2020, 96 patients with fatty liver (fatty liver group), 96 patients with liver cirrhosis (cirrhosis group) and 96 patients with liver cancer (liver cancer group) admitted to Jintang Hospital of West China Hospital of Sichuan University were selected. Ninety-six healthy physical examination patients were selected during the same period as the normal control group. Compared the general information, serum CG, TBA, GLP-1, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA 1c), triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels of each group. The correlation between serum CG, TBA, GLP-1 levels and the body′s glucose and lipid metabolism indicators were analyzed by Pearson correlation. The correlation between serum CG, TBA, GLP-1 and clinical stage were analyzed. Results:The levels of serum CG, TBA, GLP-1, and HbA 1c in the fatty liver group, cirrhosis group, liver cancer group were higher than those in the normal control group: (3.57 ± 1.06), (22.17 ± 8.44),(31.44 ± 9.65) mg/L vs. (1.26 ± 0.78) mg/L; (5.94 ± 1.26), (12.34 ± 4.02), (20.65 ± 5.17) μmol/L vs. (2.87 ± 0.59) μmol/L; (8.34 ± 1.55), (11.69 ± 3.26), (17.84 ± 2.78) pmol/L vs. (6.68 ± 1.24) pmol/L; (5.52 ± 0.31)%, (5.89 ± 0.27)%, (6.11 ± 0.23)% vs. (5.11 ± 0.36)%, and with the progression of the disease, the levels showed a rising trend, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The levels of TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C in the cirrhosis group and liver cancer group were lower than those in the normal control group and fatty liver group, the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). The results of correlation analysis showed that serum CG, TBA, GLP-1 were positively correlated with HbA 1c ( P<0.05), and serum CG, TBA, GLP-1 were negatively correlated with TG, TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C ( P<0.05). With the increase of clinical stage, serum CG and TBA levels showed an increasing trend ( P<0.05). Conclusions:With the transformation of fatty liver to liver cancer, serum CG, TBA, and GLP-1 levels increase, and the change trend is closely related to the body′s glucose and lipid metabolism, which can provide a reference for the clinical improvement of fatty liver outcome evaluation mechanism.

Objective To investigate the changes in interleukin-34 (IL-34)levels in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with severe pneumonia and their prognostic value. Methods A total of 66 patients with severe pneumonia (severe pneumonia group), 35 patients with non-severe pneumonia (non-severe pneumonia group), and 27 healthy adults (control group) were enrolled. The severe pneumonia group was further divided into survival group of 38 patients and non-survival group of 28 patients based on 28-day survival. Clinical data of all subjects were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to assess the predictive power of serum IL-34 and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia, as well as the predictive power of serum IL-34 for severe pneumonia. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted, and the Log-rank test was used to compare cumulative survival rates. Cox regression analysis was conducted to explore risk factors for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between serum IL-34 levels and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF of patients with severe pneumonia. Results Serum IL-34 levels were higher in the severe pneumonia group than those in the non-severe pneumonia group, and were higher in the non-severe pneumonia group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Serum IL-34 levels and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF were higher in the non-survival group than in the survival group (P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve for predicting 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia were 0.908 for serum IL-34 levels and 0.878 for relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF. The optimal cutoff value for serum IL-34 levels in predicting severe pneumonia was 129.9 pg/mL. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that increased serum IL-34 levels and increased relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF were independent risk factors for 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia (P < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis results indicate that, with a cutoff value of 129.9 pg/mL, patients with severe pneumonia who had high serum levels of IL-34 exhibited a lower cumulative survival rate compared to those with low IL-34 level(Log-rank P < 0.001). Conclusion Serum IL-34 levels are significantly increased in patients with severe pneumonia, and relative IL-34 gene expression in BALF is positively correlated with serum IL-34 levels. Both can be used as indicators for predicting the prognosis of 28-day mortality in patients with severe pneumonia.