Objective To isolate and identify 3 flavonoids (taxifolin, orobol and quercetin) from Cudrania tricuspidata, and develop a method for determining 3 flavonoid constituents in Cudrania tricuspidata. Methods Three flavonoids was isolated from ethanol extract of Cudrania tricuspidata by chromatography, and its structure was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance. The analysis was conducted on an Aglient C18 column (4.6 mm ×250 mm, 5 μm) eluted with 1％ acetic acid and methanol as mobile phases in gradient mode. The flow rate was 1 ml/min and the detection wavelength was set at 310 nm. The column temperature was 25 ℃. Results Taxifolin, orobol and quercetin were isolated from ethanol extract of Cudrania tricuspidata by chromatography. The content of taxifolin, orobol and quercetin were 0.850 mg/g, 0.518 mg/g, 0.103 mg/g. Conclusion The method can be used for the quality control of Cudrania tricuspidata as a reference.

Objective:To observe the effects of salvianolic acid B on migration and tube formation of the retinal vascular endothelial cell (RVEC) in high glucose, and explore its mechanism with network pharmacology.Methods:The cells were divided into normal group, model group and 1.0, 0.5, 0.1 μg/ml salvianolic acid B group according to the random number table method. The cells of each group were added with 5.5 mmol/L glucose for intervention, and the salvianolic acid B group was added with 1.0, 0.5, and 0.1 μg/ml salvianolic acid B for intervention. After 72 h, the cell viability of each group was detected by the CCK-8 method. The cells were divided into normal group, model group and low-, medium-, and high-dose salvianolic acid B group according to the random number table method. Then the cells of the normal group were added with 5.5 mmol/L glucose; the model group was added with 25 mmol/L glucose; the low-, medium-, and high-dose salvianolic acid B group was added with 25 mmol/L glucose and 0.062 5, 0.1250, 0.250 0 μg/ml salvianolic acid B. Then by taking Transwell test to detect the number of cell migration, and Matrigel test to analyze the total length of cells tubes. The active targets of Salvianolic acid B were screened by SuperTarget and Swiss TargetPrediction. Then, the targets of diabetic retinopathy were obtained by searching the GAD database, pharmGkb database, TTD database, DiGSeE database and OMIM database. The effective targets of drug-disease interaction were screened, and the component-target-disease interaction network was constructed by Cytoscape. Finally, the effective targets were analyzed by DAVID for GO analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Molecular docking was performed by using Accelrys Discovery Studio Client 2.5 software.Results:The CCK-8 method showed that the cell absorbance values of 0.5 and 0.1 μg/ml salvianolic acid B group were not significantly different from those of the normal group ( P>0.05). The results of Transwell experiment and Matrigel experiment showed that compared with the model group, the relative number of migrating cells and the total length of tubule formation in each dose group of salvianolic acid B decreased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01). The interaction network revealed that salvianolic acid B acted on 46 targets and 8 signaling pathways. Conclusions:Salvianolic acid B could inhibit the migrating and tube forming ability of RVEC cultivated by high glucose. The results suggest that salvianolic acid B may play roles in preventing diabetic retinopathy.

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic value of 99Tc m-pyrophosphate (PYP) in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis. Methods:From December 2018 to July 2019, 17 patients (9 males, 8 females, age: (53.4±13.0) years) with suspected cardiac amyloidosis underwent 99Tc m-PYP imaging in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were prospectively included. Visual score and semi-quantitative values (heart to contralateral ratio, H/CL) of 99Tc m-PYP uptake were used to diagnose transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR). Biopsies and genetic measurements were also developed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the imaging. Results:Five of the 17 patients were diagnosed as ATTR with a visual score of 2-3, H/CL≥1.5, and confirmed with the biopsy or gene test. Four patients were diagnosed as ATTR with positive genetic results but no cardiac symptoms, and their visual scores were between 0 and 1 with H/CL<1.5. Considering the young age of the patients, amyloid deposition might have not yet caused visceral damage. Visual score of other 8 patients with negative 99Tc m-PYP imaging were also between 0 and 1 with H/CL<1.5, 2 of 8 were confirmed with light chain amyloidosis (AL) by biopsy, 3 were clinically diagnosed as AL and 3 were ATTR excluded. The accuracy of 99Tc m-PYP imaging for diagnosing ATTR was 11/11. Conclusion:99Tc m-PYP imaging is helpful for non-invasive diagnosis of transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a global health problem that causes major illnesses and disabilities worldwide. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of AR has increased progressively over the last few decades in more developed countries and currently affects up to 40% of the population worldwide. Likewise, a rising trend of AR has also been observed over the last 2–3 decades in developing countries including China, with the prevalence of AR varying widely in these countries. A survey of self-reported AR over a 6-year period in the general Chinese adult population reported that the standardized prevalence of adult AR increased from 11.1% in 2005 to 17.6% in 2011. An increasing number of original articles and imporclinical trials on the epidemiology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, diagnosis, management and comorbidities of AR in Chinese subjects have been published in international peer-reviewed journals over the past 2 decades, and substantially added to our understanding of this disease as a global problem. Although guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in Chinese subjects have also been published, they have not been translated into English and therefore not generally accessible for reference to non-Chinese speaking international medical communities. Moreover, methods for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in China have not been standardized entirely and some patients are still treated according to regional preferences. Thus, the present guidelines have been developed by the Chinese Society of Allergy to be accessible to both national and international medical communities involved in the management of AR patients. These guidelines have been prepared in line with existing international guidelines to provide evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of AR in China.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; China ; Comorbidity ; Developed Countries ; Developing Countries ; Diagnosis* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology ; Global Health ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity* ; Prevalence ; Rhinitis, Allergic*

Objective:To investigate the application of different imaging methods of 99Tc m-pyrophosphate (PYP) in the diagnosis and pathological classification of cardiac amyloidosis (CA). Methods:A total of 31 patients (22 males, 9 females, age 21-81(57.2±13.4) years) with suspected CA who underwent 99Tc m-PYP dual-phase scintigraphy (early-phase: 1 h, delay-phase: 2-3 h) and SPECT/CT (1 h) between December 2018 and December 2019 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were retrospectively included. Taking clinical diagnosis as the standard, the results of visual score (≥2, positive) and semi-quantitative values (heart to contralateral lung (H/CL)≥1.5, positive) of 99Tc m-PYP uptake in dual-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging were analyzed. One-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni test were used to analyze the data. Results:Among 31 patients with suspected CA, 15 were clinically diagnosed as CA (5 patients with transthyretin-related CA (ATTR-CA) and 10 patients with light chain CA (AL-CA)) and 16 were diagnosed as non-CA. All 5 patients with ATTR-CA had positive dual-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging results. Three out of 10 patients with AL-CA had positive early-phase scintigraphy whereas negative delay-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging results. Sixteen patients who were clinically diagnosed as non-CA had negative dual-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging results. The sensitivity (5/5), specificity (10/10), positive predictive value (5/5), negative predictive value (10/10) and accuracy (15/15) of delay-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT imaging were the same. Among 31 patients, 16 patients carried transthyretin-related (TTR) gene mutation, and 4 of them who clinically diagnosed as variant ATTR (ATTRv) had positive image findings while 12 of them who not clinically diagnosed as CA had negative image findings. There were significant differences in H/CL between ATTR-CA group and AL-CA group in early-phase (2.11±0.24 vs 1.31±0.07) and delay-phase (2.02±0.19 vs 1.30±0.05; F values: 75.41 and 87.15, Bonferroni test, both P<0.01). Conclusions:99Tc m-PYP delay-phase scintigraphy and SPECT/CT have high diagnostic efficiencies in ATTR-CA, helping to determine the pathological classification of CA; while early-phase scintigraphy has false positive results. Moreover, 99Tc m-PYP imaging is helpful to detect CA in patients with TTR gene mutation.

The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)inflammasome is an inflammatory protein complex, and can participate into the inflammatory response. Upon activation, these inflammasomes can lead to Caspase-1 activation, thereby inducing a cascade of inflammatory factor activation and further cell pyroptosis. Excessive activation of inflammasomes will induce the overexpression of inflammatory factors, persistently triggering immune dysregulation and inflammatory chain reactions, even causing severe damage. The recent studies have confirmed a close association between retinal diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy(DR), retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury(RIRI), and proliferative vitreoretinopathy(PVR)with immune dysregulation and inflammatory responses, which is serving as crucial factors in the progression of retinal diseases. This article reviews the NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway and its role in the occurrence and development of retinal diseases, in order to provide new ideas for the pathogenesis and prevention of retinal diseases.

Amyloidosis is a disease caused by abnormal deposition of amyloid protein, and the main types of amyloidosis involving myocardium are light chain amyloidosis (AL) and transthyretin-related amyloidosis (ATTR). Different types of myocardial amyloidosis have different prognosis and treatment methods. Therefore, early diagnosis and classification are particularly important. Nuclear medical imaging can diagnose and classify myocardial amyloidosis noninvasively. Radiotracers for bone scintigraphy has high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of ATTR, and have certain value for prognosis. Sympathetic innervation imaging tracers can detect cardiac sympathetic innervation, which may show myocardial involvement of amyloidosis earlier than bone scintigraphy. Amyloid protein specific imaging agent, which was first used in the diagnosis of amyloidosis in nervous system, has also yielded good results from preliminary studies in myocardial amyloidosis, and the diagnostic specificity in AL is slightly better than that in ATTR. This review introduces the application of nuclear medical imaging in myocardial amyloidosis.