OBJECTIVE To optimize the water extraction technology for Kaixin granules. METHODS UPLC-MS/MS method was established for the simultaneous determination of ginsenoside Rg1， ginsenoside Re， ginsenoside Rb1， tenuifolin， polygalaxanthone Ⅲ and 3， 6′-disinapoyl-sucrose. An orthogonal test was designed with extraction times， extraction duration， and the volume of added water as factors. Using the contents of the aforementioned six indicator components and the extract yield as evaluation indexes， analytic hierarchy process-entropy weight method was employed to determine the combined weights of each indicator. Subsequently， process optimization and validation were conducted by integrating grey relational analysis （GRA） and back propagation （BP） neural network. RESULTS The water extraction technology optimized by the orthogonal test and GRA was 10- fold water for the first decoction and 8-fold water for the subsequent two， extracting 3 times，extracting for 1 h each time； the average comprehensive score of the validation experiment was 91.10 （RSD＝0.31%， n＝3）. The water extraction technology optimized by BP neural network was extracting 3 times with 10-fold water added each time， extracting for 1.5 h each time； the average comprehensive score of the validation experiment was 95.89 （RSD＝0.73%， n＝3）. Considering practical production requirements， the optimal water extraction technology was extraction performed three times， with 10-fold water for the first decoction and 8-fold water for the subsequent two extractions， with an extraction time of 1 h each. CONCLUSIONS The optimized water extraction technology for Kaixin granules is stable and feasible.

Objective Through integrative bioinformatics analysis of multi-source transcriptomic data, potential biomarkers to asthma epithelial cells were identified. The expression of these candidate target was subsequently validated in lung tissues and epithelial cells from asthma models. Methods The gene expression profile data of epithelial cells from three asthma patient cohorts and corresponding healthy controls were integrated from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis and gene co-expression network analysis were performed to identify key genes and biological pathways associated with asthma. The key genes were validated in lung tissues and epithelial cells in asthma animal models. Results Differential gene expression analysis revealed 1121 upregulated and 1484 downregulated genes in epithelial cells from asthma patients compared with healthy controls. The biological pathway enrichment analysis revealed that the upregulated genes were mainly involved in glycosylation processes, whereas the downregulated genes were mainly associated with immune cell differentiation process. The gene co-expression network analysis revealed that module 9, enriched in glycosylation-related pathways, was significantly positively correlated with asthma, whereas module 17, associated with insulin and other signaling pathways, showed a significant negative correlation with asthma. We identified the genes of polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 5 (GALNT5), pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase 1 (PYCR1), and carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 5 (CEACAM5) as key genes within module 9, all of which were significantly upregulated in asthma. Finally, we validated that the expression levels of GALNT5, PYCR1, and CEACAM5 were significantly upregulated in epithelial cells from asthmatic lung tissue. Additionally, using a rat asthma model, we further confirmed that the protein levels of these three genes were significantly upregulated in lung tissues of the model group. Conclusion Through data integration and experimental validation, this study identified key genes and biological pathways closely associated with asthma pathogenesis. These findings provide a novel theoretical basis and potential targets for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma.
Asthma/metabolism* ; Humans ; Epithelial Cells/metabolism* ; Animals ; Biomarkers/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Transcriptome ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; Rats ; Computational Biology

Dry eye disease (DED) is a prevalent and intractable ocular disease induced by a variety of causes. Elevated sphingomyelin (SM) levels and pro-inflammatory cytokines were detected on the ocular surface of DED patients, particularly in the meibomian glands. Sphingomyelin synthase 2 (SMS2), one of the proteins involved in SM synthesis, would light a novel way of developing a DED therapy strategy. Herein, we report the design and optimization of a series of novel thiophene carboxamide derivatives to afford 14l with an improved highly potent inhibitory activity on SM synthesis (IC_{50, SMS2} = 28 nmol/L). Moreover, 14l exhibited a notable protective effect of anti-inflammation and anti-apoptosis on human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC) under TNF-α-hyperosmotic stress conditions in vitro, with an acceptable ocular specific distribution (corneas and meibomian glands) and pharmacokinetics (PK) profiles (t _{1/2, cornea} = 1.11 h; t _{1/2, meibomian glands} = 4.32 h) in rats. Furthermore, 14l alleviated the dry eye symptoms including corneal fluorescein staining scores and tear secretion in a dose-dependent manner in mice. Mechanically, 14l reduced the mRNA expression of Tnf-α, Il-1β and Mmp-9 in corneas, as well as the proportion of very long chain SM in meibomian glands. Our findings provide a new strategy for DED therapy based on selective SMS2 inhibitors.

OBJECTIVE: Paridis Rhizoma (Chonglou in Chinese), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has been shown have strong anti-tumor effects. Paris saponin VII (PSVII), an active constituent isolated from Paridis Rhizoma, was demonstrated to significantly suppress the proliferation of BxPC-3 cells in our previous study. Here, we aimed to elucidate the anti-pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) effect of PSVII and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Cell viability was determined by CCK-8, colony formation, and cell migration assays. Cell apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were measured by flow cytometry with annexin V/propidine iodide (Annexin V/PI) and 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA), respectively. Pyroptosis was evaluated by morphological features, Hoechst 33342/PI staining assay, and release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). JC-1 fluorescent dye was employed to measure mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) were used to determine the levels of proteins or mRNAs. The effect in vivo was assessed by a xenograft tumor model. RESULTS: PSVII inhibited the viability of PDAC cells (BxPC-3, PANC-1, and Capan-2 cells) and induced gasdermin E (GSDME) cleavage, as well as the simultaneous cleavage of Caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP). Knockdown of GSDME shifted PSVII-induced pyroptosis to apoptosis. Additionally, the effect of PSVII was significantly attenuated by Z-Asp(OMe)-Glu(OMe)-Val-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone (Z-DEVD-FMK), on the induction of GSDME-dependent pyroptosis. PSVII also elevated intracellular ROS accumulation and stimulated Bax and Caspase-3/GSDME to conduct pyroptosis in PDAC cells. The ROS scavenger N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) suppressed the release of LDH and inhibited Caspase-9, Caspase-3, and GSDME cleavage in PDAC cells, ultimately reversing PSVII-induced pyroptosis. Furthermore, in a xenograft tumor model, PSVII markedly suppressed the growth of PDAC tumors and induced pyroptosis. CONCLUSION These results demonstrated that PSVII exerts therapeutic effects through Caspase-3/GSDME-dependent pyroptosis and may constitute a novel strategy for preventing chemotherapeutic resistance in patients with PDAC in the future.

Insufficient future liver remnant volume remains a critical limitation for single-stage resection in patients with hepatic malignancies. The techniques for promoting future liver remnant hypertrophy to realize two-stage hepatectomy include portal vein embolization， associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy， and portal vein ligation. In recent years， the application of auxiliary liver transplantation has further facilitated two-stage total hepatectomy. This article systematically reviews the clinical applications of these techniques and analyzes their advantages and limitations， so as to provide a reference for optimizing clinical decision-making.

Background As electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming increasingly prevalent, adolescents are experiencing growing levels of environmental exposure to them. Investigating the status and influencing factors of such exposure is essential to inform the development of targeted tobacco control strategies for youth. Objective To investigate the environmental exposure to electronic cigarettes among vocational school students in Shanghai, identify its influencing factors, and assess its impact on e-cigarette use behavior. Methods By cluster sampling, a total of 4890 students were recruited from 4 vocational schools in Shanghai. A questionnaire was designed to collect information on general characteristics, tobacco use (cigarettes and e-cigarettes), peer/parental e-cigarette use, and environmental e-cigarette exposure (environmental aerosol exposure, e-cigarette sales exposure and e-cigarette-related information exposure). Data were collected via Wenjuanxing (an online survey platform) anonymously and analyzed using SPSS 24.0. Chi-square test and logistic regressionwere used to analyze the data. Results The current vaping rate and vaping attempt rate were 2.29% and 8.94% among all participants. The proportions of students exposed to e-cigarette aerosol, e-cigarette sales, and e-cigarette-related information were 41.0%, 63.3%, and 77.3%, respectively. The exposure to environmental e-cigarette aerosol was higher among male students (45.3%) than among female students (34.5%), while the exposure to e-cigarette sales (65.4%) and e-cigarette-related information (78.8%) were higher among female students than among males (61.9%, 76.2%), respectively (P<0.05). Having friends using e-cigarettes increased the risk of exposure to e-cigarette aerosol (OR=7.32, 95%CI: 6.37, 8.41), exposure to e-cigarette sales (OR=3.10, 95%CI: 2.70, 3.56), and exposure to e-cigarette-related information (OR=1.45, 95%CI: 1.25, 1.69). Current cigarette smoking, parental e-cigarette use, and not living on campus also increased the risk of environmental e-cigarette aerosol exposure and sales exposure among the participants (P<0.01). Higher pocket money was significantly associated with increased risks of exposure to e-cigarette sales and e-cigarette information (P<0.001). Environmental e-cigarette aerosol exposure increased the risk of current (OR=6.21, 95%CI: 3.75, 10.29) and attempt (OR=2.25, 95%CI: 1.82, 2.77) e-cigarette use among the participants. Furthermore, reporting exposure to two or more categories of e-cigarette sales and information was associated with a higher risk of e-cigarette use than those reporting no exposure (P<0.05). Conclusion The adolescents are severely exposed to environmental e- cigarette, which increases their risk of e-cigarette use. We recommend implementing measures to mitigate environmental exposures, strengthen tobacco control education, and reduce peer influence related to e-cigarette use, with particular attention to female adolescents and those with higher pocket money.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of metformin against PM2.5-induced functional impairment of placental trophoblasts and explore the underlying mechanism.Methods Sixteen pregnant Kunming mice were randomly assigned into two groups(n=8)for intratracheal instillation of PBS or PM2.5 suspension at 1.5,7.5,and 12.5 days of gestation.The pregnancy outcome of the mice was observed,and placental zonal structure and vascular density of the labyrinth area were examined with HE staining,followed by detection of ferroptosis-related indexes in the placenta.In cultured human trophoblasts(HTR8/SVneo cells),the effects of PM2.5 exposure and treatment with metformin on cell viability,proliferation,migration,invasion,and tube formation ability were evaluated using CCK8 assay,EDU staining,wound healing assay,Transwell experiment,and tube formation experiment;the cellular expressions of ferroptosis-related proteins were analyzed using ELISA and Western blotting.Results M2.5 exposure of the mice during pregnancy resulted in significantly decreased weight and number of the fetuses and increased fetal mortality with a reduced placental weight(all P<0.001).PM2.5 exposure also caused obvious impairment of the placental structure and trophoblast ferroptosis.In cultured HTR8/SVneo cells,PM2.5 significantly inhibited proliferation,migration,invasion,and angiogenesis of the cells by causing ferroptosis.Metformin treatment obviously attenuated PM2.5-induced inhibition of proliferation,migration,invasion,and angiogenesis of the cells,and effectively reversed PM2.5-induced ferroptosis in the trophoblasts as shown by significantly increased intracellular GSH level and SOD activity,reduced MDA and Fe2+ levels,and upregulated GPX4 and SLC7A11 protein expression(P<0.05 or 0.01).Conclusion PM2.5 exposure during pregnancy causes adverse pregnancy outcomes and ferroptosis and functional impairment of placental trophoblasts in mice,and metformin can effectively alleviate PM2.5-induced trophoblast impairment.

Objective:To explore the optimal regimen of standardized mite allergen immunotherapy for airway allergic diseases in children, and to observe the clinical efficacy, safety and compliance.Method:Use a retrospective real-world study, clinical data from 156 children aged 5-16 years who received subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) with double mite allergen preparation in the pediatrics department of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat sen University from June 2019 to September 2020 were selected for allergic rhinitis (AR) and/or allergic asthma (bronchial asthma, BA), including gender, age, total VAS(visual analogue scale) score and CSMS(combined symptom and medication scores) score at different time points (before treatment, 4-6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after initiation of desensitization), peripheral blood eosinophil counts (EOS), serum total IgE (tIgE), specific IgE (tIgE), and serum IgE (tIgE), specific IgE (sIgE), tIgG4, and incidence of local and systemic adverse reactions. All patients had a consistent regimen during the initial treatment phase (dose-escalation phase), which was performed as directed. Among them, 81 cases (observation group) continued to continue subcutaneous injection of 1 ml of vial No. 3 every 4-6 weeks during the dose maintenance phase, while 75 cases (control group) followed the old traditional regimen during the maintenance phase (i.e., change to a new vial to halve the amount of vial No. 3 by 0.5 ml, and then 0.75 ml after 1-2 weeks, and 1 ml in a further interval of 1-2 weeks). The clinical efficacy, safety and adherence to the treatment were compared between the two groups.Results:A total of 81 cases of 156 children were included in the observation group, of which 58 children with AR, 15 children with BA, and 8 children with AR combined with BA; 75 cases were included in the conventional control group, of which 52 children with AR, 16 children with BA, and 7 children with AR combined with BA. In terms of safety, the difference in the incidence of local and systemic adverse reactions between the two groups was not statistically significant ( χ2=1.541 for local adverse reactions in the control group, χ2=0.718 for the observation group; χ2=0.483 for systemic adverse reactions in the control group, χ2=0.179 for the observation group, P value >0.05 for all of these), and there were no grade Ⅱ or higher systemic adverse reactions in any of them. In the control group, there were 15 cases of dropout at 2 years of follow-up, with a dropout rate of 20.0%; in the observation group, there were 7 cases of dropout at 2 years of follow-up, with a dropout rate of 8.6%, and there was a statistically significant difference in the dropout rates of the patients in the two groups ( χ2=4.147, P<0.05). Comparison of serological indexes and efficacy (compared with baseline at 3 different time points after treatment, i.e., 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years after treatment), CSMS scores of the observation group and the conventional control group at 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years after treatment were significantly decreased compared with the baseline status ( t-values of the conventional group were 13.783, 20.086 and 20.384, respectively, all P-values <0.001, and t-values of the observation group were 15.480, 27.087, 28.938, all P-values <0.001), and VAS scores also decreased significantly from baseline status in both groups at 4-6 months, 1 year, and 2 years of treatment ( t-values of 14.008, 17.963, and 27.512 in the conventional control group, respectively, with all P-values <0.001, and t-values of 9.436, 13.184, and 22.377 in the observation group, respectively; all P-values <0.001). Intergroup comparisons showed no statistically significant differences in CSMS at baseline status, 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years ( t-values 0.621, 0.473, 1.825, and 0.342, respectively, and P-values 0.536, 0.637, 0.070, and 0.733, respectively), and VAS was no statistically significant difference in comparison between groups at different time points ( t-values of 1.663, 0.095, 0.305, 0.951, P-values of 0.099, 0.925, 0.761, 0.343, respectively); suggesting that the treatment regimens of the observation group and the conventional control group were clinically effective, and that the two regimens were comparable in terms of efficacy. The peripheral blood eosinophil counts of the observation group and the conventional control group decreased significantly from the baseline status at 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years of treatment ( t-values of the conventional group were 3.453, 5.469, 6.273, P-values <0.05, and the t-values of the observation group were 2.900, 4.575, 5.988, P-values <0.05, respectively). 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years compared with the baseline status tIgE showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing ( t-value in the conventional group was -5.328, -4.254, -0.690, P-value was 0.000, 0.000, 0.492, respectively, and t-value in the observation group was -6.087, -5.087, -0.324, P-value was 0.000, 0.000, 0.745, respectively). However, the results of intergroup comparisons showed no statistically significant differences in serological indices and efficacy between the two groups in terms of peripheral blood eosinophil counts at baseline status, 4-6 months, 1 year and 2 years ( t-values of 0.723, 1.553, 0.766, and 0.234, respectively; P-values of 0.471, 0.122, 0.445, and 0.815, respectively), tIgE ( t-values of 0.170, -0.166, -0.449, 0.839, P-values 0.865, 0.868, 0.654, 0.403, respectively), tIgG4 ( t-values 1.507, 1.467, -0.337, 0.804, P-values 0.134, 0.145, 0.737, 0.422, respectively). Conclusion:Both immunotherapy regimens for airway allergic diseases with double mite allergen subcutaneous immunotherapy have significant clinical efficacy, low incidence of adverse reactions, and the observation group has better patient compliance than the control group.

Objective:To assess the value of serum tumor specific protein 70 (SP70) for prognostic stratification in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).Methods:A cohort study design was adopted. 129 newly diagnosed AML patients from September 2022 to January 2024 at the Hematology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University were included, as well as a control group consisted of 120 healthy individuals and 7 cases with benign hematologic diseases during the same period (total 127 cases). Clinical data were collected from Electronic Medical Records. According to the 2023 edition of the Chinese Leukemia Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines, AML patients with good or moderate prognosis were categorized as low-to-intermediate risk, while those with poor prognosis were high-risk group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify variables significantly associated with AML prognostic risk. ROC analysis was used to evaluate diagnostic performance. A nomogram for predicting patient prognostic risk was constructed by R 4.0.2 software, and the internal validation was performed using bootstrapping.Results:Among 129 AML patients, there were 71 males (55.0%) and 58 females (45.0%), with 42 (32.6%) classified as high-risk and 87 (67.4%) as low-intermediate risk. The high-risk group had a significantly higher median age [62 (48, 67) years] compared to the low-intermediate risk group [50 (35, 63) years, Z=-2.381, P=0.017], and a significantly higher proportion of males (30 patients, 71.4%) compared to the low-intermediate risk group (41 patients, 47.1%, χ 2=6.760, P=0.009). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that serum SP70 ( OR=2.54, 95% CI: 1.68-3.84, P<0.001), hemoglobin (HB) ( OR=0.96, 95% CI: 0.93-0.99, P<0.05), and bone marrow blast (BM blast) ( OR=1.07, 95% CI: 1.02-1.13, P<0.05) were independent risk factors for high-risk prognosis in AML patients. ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for SP70 predicting high-risk patients was 0.908 (cut-off value of 5.74 ng/ml, 95% CI: 0.845-0.952, sensitivity 90.5%, specificity 82.8%). The combined model of serum SP70, HB, and BM blasts had an AUC of 0.931 (95% CI: 0.890-0.973); C-index=0.925 (95% CI: 0.876-0.963),with no statistically significant difference compared to serum SP70 alone ( Z=1.693, P>0.05). Conclusion:Serum SP70 may be a promising non-invasive molecular biomarker for prognostic stratification in AML.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of metformin against PM2.5-induced functional impairment of placental trophoblasts and explore the underlying mechanism.Methods Sixteen pregnant Kunming mice were randomly assigned into two groups(n=8)for intratracheal instillation of PBS or PM2.5 suspension at 1.5,7.5,and 12.5 days of gestation.The pregnancy outcome of the mice was observed,and placental zonal structure and vascular density of the labyrinth area were examined with HE staining,followed by detection of ferroptosis-related indexes in the placenta.In cultured human trophoblasts(HTR8/SVneo cells),the effects of PM2.5 exposure and treatment with metformin on cell viability,proliferation,migration,invasion,and tube formation ability were evaluated using CCK8 assay,EDU staining,wound healing assay,Transwell experiment,and tube formation experiment;the cellular expressions of ferroptosis-related proteins were analyzed using ELISA and Western blotting.Results M2.5 exposure of the mice during pregnancy resulted in significantly decreased weight and number of the fetuses and increased fetal mortality with a reduced placental weight(all P<0.001).PM2.5 exposure also caused obvious impairment of the placental structure and trophoblast ferroptosis.In cultured HTR8/SVneo cells,PM2.5 significantly inhibited proliferation,migration,invasion,and angiogenesis of the cells by causing ferroptosis.Metformin treatment obviously attenuated PM2.5-induced inhibition of proliferation,migration,invasion,and angiogenesis of the cells,and effectively reversed PM2.5-induced ferroptosis in the trophoblasts as shown by significantly increased intracellular GSH level and SOD activity,reduced MDA and Fe2+ levels,and upregulated GPX4 and SLC7A11 protein expression(P<0.05 or 0.01).Conclusion PM2.5 exposure during pregnancy causes adverse pregnancy outcomes and ferroptosis and functional impairment of placental trophoblasts in mice,and metformin can effectively alleviate PM2.5-induced trophoblast impairment.