Osteoporosis is a prevalent skeletal condition characterized by reduced bone mass and strength, leading to increased fragility. Buqi-Tongluo (BQTL) decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, has yet to be fully evaluated for its potential in treating bone diseases such as osteoporosis. To investigate the mechanism by which BQTL decoction inhibits osteoclast differentiation in vitro and validate these findings through in vivo experiments. We employed MTS assays to assess the potential proliferative or toxic effects of BQTL on bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) at various concentrations. TRAcP experiments were conducted to examine BQTL's impact on osteoclast differentiation. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses were utilized to evaluate the relative expression levels of osteoclast-specific genes and proteins under BQTL stimulation. Finally, in vivo experiments were performed using an osteoporosis model to further validate the in vitro findings. This study revealed that BQTL suppressed receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis and osteoclast resorption activity in vitro in a dose-dependent manner without observable cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effects of BQTL on osteoclast formation and function were attributed to the downregulation of NFATc1 and c-fos activity, primarily through attenuation of the MAPK, NF-κB, and Calcineurin signaling pathways. BQTL's inhibitory capacity was further examined in vivo using an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model, demonstrating a strong protective effect against bone loss. BQTL may serve as an effective therapeutic TCM for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and the alleviation of bone loss induced by estrogen deficiency and related conditions.
Animals ; NFATC Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Ovariectomy ; Osteoclasts/metabolism* ; Female ; Osteogenesis/drug effects* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; NF-kappa B/genetics* ; Osteoporosis/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Bone Resorption/genetics* ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Humans ; RANK Ligand/metabolism* ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics* ; Transcription Factors

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.

Objective To explore the influencing factors of ecological momentary assessment(EMA)in the implementation of home rehabilitation exercise for middle-aged stroke patients,and to provide a basis for decision-making and practice of precision rehabilitation nursing for stroke.Methods This descriptive qualitative research utilized purposive sampling method to select 8 medical staff,4 information technicians,8 middle-aged stroke patients,and 5 caregivers from a tertiary A general hospital in Wuhan from January 2 to March 10,2024 as the research subjects.Semi-structured interview was conducted based on the framework of diffusion of innovations theory.The data were analyzed using directed content analysis.Results 5 themes and 10 sub-themes were extracted,including relative advantage factors(conducive to precise and dynamic evaluation of patient rehabilitation behavior and symptom trajectory by medical staff;enhancing patient self-management awareness,effectively reducing care burden),compatibility factors(new methods conflict with existing values;new methods are in line with clinical work practice),complexity factors(evaluation frequency affects the accuracy of rehabilitation tracking;limited limb function and social support increase user burden),experimental factors(pilot and real-time feedback improve user experience;experience summary and promotion,the strengthening of practical verification orientation),and observable factors(successful cases of mobile health help popularize new methods;visualization of new methods to enrich mobile health practice).Conclusion There are certain promoting and hindering factors in the implementation of EMA in the field of home rehabilitation exercise for middle-aged stroke patients.In the future,it is necessary to explore the potential of EMA in the field of precision rehabilitation and ensure its compatibility with clinical practice.

Background: and Purpose Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Early recognition OH is required with sensitive assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine whether blood pressure (BP) changes during exercise can predict the occurrence of OH in PD. Methods: This prospective cohort study included 80 consecutive patients with PD. All patients agreed to participate in a baseline evaluation and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET).According to the initial active standing test (AST), those without OH (PD-nonOH) at baseline had their AST results followed up for 6 months. The main outcome was defined as whether patients without OH at baseline would develop OH after 6 months. Logistic regression analysis was applied to identify the relevant variables. A nomogram was constructed based on clinical features and identified variables. The concordance index (C-index) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the accuracy and predictive ability of the nomogram, respectively. Results: CPET results indicated that peak load, peak heart rate, heart rate recovery at 1 min, and systolic BP change (ΔSBP) were lower in those with OH than in the PD-nonOH group (p<0.05) at baseline. Logistic regression analysis indicated that peak load and ΔSBP during CPET had significant effects on OH (p<0.05). Age, sex, peak load, and ΔSBP were used to construct the nomogram model (C-index=0.761). The prediction model had an AUC of 0.782 (95% confidence interval=0.649–0.889) and a specificity and sensitivity of 70.0% and 81.8%, respectively. Conclusions This study has identified predictive factors for OH development in patients with PD. CPET could be used as a complementary examination to identify patients at a high risk of OH.

BACKGROUND: Red-cell transfusion is critical for surgery during the peri-operative period; however, the transfusion threshold remains controversial mainly owing to the diversity among patients. The patient's medical status should be evaluated before making a transfusion decision. Herein, we developed an individualized transfusion strategy using the West-China-Liu's Score based on the physiology of oxygen delivery/consumption balance and designed an open-label, multicenter, randomized clinical trial to verify whether it reduced red cell requirement as compared with that associated with restrictive and liberal strategies safely and effectively, providing valid evidence for peri-operative transfusion. METHODS: Patients aged >14 years undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery with estimated blood loss > 1000 mL or 20% blood volume and hemoglobin concentration <10 g/dL were randomly assigned to an individualized strategy, a restrictive strategy following China's guideline or a liberal strategy with a transfusion threshold of hemoglobin concentration <9.5 g/dL. We evaluated two primary outcomes: the proportion of patients who received red blood cells (superiority test) and a composite of in-hospital complications and all-cause mortality by day 30 (non-inferiority test). RESULTS: We enrolled 1182 patients: 379, 419, and 384 received individualized, restrictive, and liberal strategies, respectively. Approximately 30.6% (116/379) of patients in the individualized strategy received a red-cell transfusion, less than 62.5% (262/419) in the restrictive strategy (absolute risk difference, 31.92%; 97.5% confidence interval [CI]: 24.42-39.42%; odds ratio, 3.78%; 97.5% CI: 2.70-5.30%; P <0.001), and 89.8% (345/384) in the liberal strategy (absolute risk difference, 59.24%; 97.5% CI: 52.91-65.57%; odds ratio, 20.06; 97.5% CI: 12.74-31.57; P <0.001). No statistically significant differences were found in the composite of in-hospital complications and mortality by day 30 among the three strategies. CONCLUSION: The individualized red-cell transfusion strategy using the West-China-Liu's Score reduced red-cell transfusion without increasing in-hospital complications and mortality by day 30 when compared with restrictive and liberal strategies in elective non-cardiac surgeries. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01597232.
Humans ; Adult ; Postoperative Complications ; Erythrocyte Transfusion/adverse effects* ; Blood Transfusion ; Hospitals ; Hemoglobins/analysis*

OBJECTIVE: Clinical characteristics and outcome in COVID-19 with brucellosis patients has not been well demonstrated, we tried to analyze clinical outcome in local and literature COVID-19 cases with brucellosis before and after recovery. METHODS: We retrospectively collected hospitalization data of comorbid patients and prospectively followed up after discharge in Heilongjiang Infectious Disease Hospital from January 15, 2020 to April 29, 2022. Demographics, epidemiological, clinical symptoms, radiological and laboratory data, treatment medicines and outcomes, and follow up were analyzed, and findings of a systematic review were demonstrated. RESULTS: A total of four COVID-19 with brucellosis patients were included. One patient had active brucellosis before covid and 3 patients had nonactive brucellosis before brucellosis. The median age was 54.5 years, and all were males (100.0%). Two cases (50.0%) were moderate, and one was mild and asymptomatic, respectively. Three cases (75.0%) had at least one comorbidity (brucellosis excluded). All 4 patients were found in COVID-19 nucleic acid screening. Case C and D had only headache and fever on admission, respectively. Four cases were treated with Traditional Chinese medicine, western medicines for three cases, no adverse reaction occurred during hospitalization. All patients were cured and discharged. Moreover, one case (25.0%) had still active brucellosis without re-positive COVID-19, and other three cases (75.0%) have no symptoms of discomfort except one case fell fatigue and anxious during the follow-up period after recovery. Conducting the literature review, two similar cases have been reported in two case reports, and were both recovered, whereas, no data of follow up after recovery. CONCLUSION These cases indicate that COVID-19 patients with brucellosis had favorable outcome before and after recovery. More clinical studies should be conducted to confirm our findings.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Brucellosis ; COVID-19 ; Retrospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Treatment Outcome ; Case Reports as Topic

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression pattern and clinical significance of Integral membrane protein 2A（ITM2A） in drug resistant patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). METHODS: The expression of ITM2A in CML was evaluated by qRT-PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemistry. In order to understand the possible biological effects of ITM2A, apoptosis, cell cycle and myeloid differentiation antigen expression of CML cells were detected by flow cytometry after over-expression of ITM2A. The nuderlying molecular mechanism of its biological effect was explored. RESULTS: The expression of ITM2A in bone marrow of CML resistant patients was significantly lower than that of sensitive patients and healthy donors（P<0.05）. The CML resistant strain cell K562R was successfully constructed in vitro. The expression of ITM2A in the resistant strain was significantly lower than that in the sensitive strain(P<0.05). Overexpression of ITM2A in K562R cells increased the sensitivity of K562R cells to imatinib and blocked the cell cycle in G₂ phase(P<0.05), but did not affect myeloid differentiation. Mechanistically, up-regulation of ITM2A reduced phosphorylation in ERK signaling (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of ITM2A was low in patients with drug resistance of CML, and the low expression of ITM2A may be the key factor of imatinib resistance in CML.
Humans ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology* ; Apoptosis ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Imatinib Mesylate/therapeutic use* ; K562 Cells ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/drug therapy* ; Signal Transduction

Objective:To explore the effectiveness of short-term prehabilitation in elderly patients undergoing gastrointestinal tumor surgery.Methods:Elderly patients(139 cases) with gastrointestinal tumors who were admitted to Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University for surgery from December 2020 to January 2022 were included through the purposive sampling method, and were divided into the intervention group (69 cases) and the control group (70 cases) according to the patient's wishes using a quasi-experimental research design of non randomized grouped. Routine perioperative nursing was used in the control group, while the short-term prehabilitation was used in the intervention group in addition. The incidence of postoperative complications, the performance indicators, and postoperative functional recovery indicators were analyzed in the two groups.Results:The 6MWD in the intervention group of 1 day and 7 days after the surgery were (460.93 ± 76.36) m and (391.72 ± 72.93) m, which were significant higher than those in the control group, (423.69 ± 72.88) m and (351.13 ± 65.04) m ( t = 8.65, 12.01, both P<0.05). The first exhaust time, first postoperative ambulatory time, the first full fluid intake time and the duration of drainage tube indwelling in the intervention group were (51.28 ± 21.74) h, (33.93 ± 12.50) h, (69.39 ± 29.36) h and (4.30 ± 1.44) d, which were significant lower than those in the control group, (71.51 ± 23.68) h, (47.37 ± 14.58) h, (96.29 ± 38.36) h and (5.35 ± 2.09) d ( t values were -5.83 - -3.44, all P<0.05). Besides, the best critical value of preoperative 6MWD to predict postoperative rehabilitation effect was 477.5 m, with a sensitivity of 68% and specificity of 71%. Conclusions:Short-term prehabilitation improves the perioperative functional reserve and promotes overall functional recovery after surgery to a certain extent, and the postoperative functional recovery effect may be better when the patient′s preoperative 6MWD reaches 477.5 m.

The major vascular complications associated with diabetes make the management of diabetic mellitus erectile dysfunction (DMED) a challenging endeavor. Notable factors contributing to DMED include oxidative stress, nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathway activation, and apoptosis, while nitro-oleic acid (NO2-OA) has been shown to be beneficial in treating these aspects of this condition. We, herein, investigated the effects and possible mechanisms of NO2-OA on erectile function as assessed in a streptozotocin-induced rat model of diabetes. Our results revealed that the erectile function of DMED rats was significantly impaired compared with that of the control group. However, in response to 4 weeks of NO2-OA treatment, there was an improvement in erectile function. The expression of oxidative stress-related indicators was significantly increased and the NO/cGMP pathway was impaired in the DMED group. The expression of proapoptotic factors was increased, while that of antiapoptotic factors was decreased in the DMED group. Moreover, the cell morphology in the cavernous tissue of the DMED group also changed adversely. NO2-OA treatment significantly reversed all these changes observed in the DMED group. In conclusion, NO2-OA treatment partially improved erectile function in DMED rats through mechanisms that included inhibition of oxidative stress, activation of the NO/cGMP pathway, and a reduction in apoptosis.

Aim To investigate the mechanism of RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway in abnormal aortic contractility in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) mice. Methods The experiment was divided into two groups, the control group (db/m mice) and the model group (db/db mice). Changes of the response to different methods were measured in aorta rings using a Multi Myograph System. At the same time, the protein expression changes of aortic smooth muscle contraction signaling pathway in mice were determined by Western method. Results Compared with the control group, the blood glucose and body weight levels of the mice in the T2DM group significantly increased, and the cardiac function was abnormal (P <0. 01). The contractile response of the aorta of the diabetic mice induced by the contractile agents Phe, 5-HT and CaCl