OBJECTIVES: To investigate the chain mediating role of family care and emotional management in the relationship between social support and anxiety among rural primary school students. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted among students in grades 4 to 6 from four counties in Hunan Province. Data were collected using the Social Support Rating Scale, Family Care Index Scale, Emotional Intelligence Scale, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder -7. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the influencing factors of anxiety symptoms. Mediation analysis was conducted to assess the chain mediating effects of family care and emotional management between social support and anxiety. RESULTS: A total of 4 141 questionnaires were distributed, with 3 874 valid responses (effective response rate: 93.55%). The prevalence rate of anxiety symptoms among these students was 9.32% (95%CI: 8.40%-10.23%). Significant differences were observed in the prevalence rates of anxiety symptoms among groups with different levels of social support, family functioning, and emotional management ability (P<0.05). The total indirect effect of social support on anxiety symptoms via family care and emotional management was significant (β=-0.137, 95%CI: -0.167 to -0.109), and the direct effect of social support on anxiety symptoms remained significant (P<0.05). Family care and emotional management served as significant chain mediators in the relationship between social support and anxiety symptoms (β=-0.025,95%CI:-0.032 to -0.018), accounting for 14.5% of the total effect. CONCLUSIONS Social support can directly affect anxiety symptoms among rural primary school students and can also indirectly influence anxiety symptoms through the chain mediating effects of family care and emotional management. These findings provide scientific evidence for the prevention of anxiety in primary school students from multiple perspectives.
Humans ; Female ; Male ; Social Support ; Anxiety/etiology* ; Child ; Students/psychology* ; Emotions ; Logistic Models

Debates persist regarding the efficacy and safety of azvudine, particularly its real-world outcomes. This study involved patients aged ≥60 years who were admitted to 25 hospitals in mainland China with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between December 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. Efficacy outcomes were all-cause mortality during hospitalization, the proportion of patients discharged with recovery, time to nucleic acid-negative conversion (T _NANC), time to symptom improvement (T _SI), and time of hospital stay (T _HS). Safety was also assessed. Among the 5884 participants identified, 1999 received azvudine, and 1999 matched controls were included after exclusion and propensity score matching. Azvudine recipients exhibited lower all-cause mortality compared with controls in the overall population (13.3% vs. 17.1%, RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90; P = 0.001) and in the severe subgroup (25.7% vs. 33.7%; RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.66-0.88; P < 0.001). A higher proportion of patients discharged with recovery, and a shorter T _NANC were associated with azvudine recipients, especially in the severe subgroup. The incidence of adverse events in azvudine recipients was comparable to that in the control group (2.3% vs. 1.7%, P = 0.170). In conclusion, azvudine showed efficacy and safety in older patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the SARS-CoV-2 omicron wave in China.

Nigella sativa L. seeds have been traditionally utilized in Chinese folk medicine for centuries to treat vitiligo. This study revealed that the ethanolic extract of Nigella sativa L. (HZC) enhances melanogenesis and mitigates oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence and dysfunction in melanocytes. In accordance with established protocols, the ethanol fraction from Nigella sativa L. seeds was extracted, concentrated, and lyophilized to evaluate its herbal effects via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays, tyrosinase activity evaluation, measurement of cellular melanin contents, scratch assays, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Western blot analysis for expression profiling of experimentally relevant proteins. The results indicated that HZC significantly enhanced tyrosinase activity and melanin content while notably increasing the protein expression levels of Tyr, Mitf, and gp100 in B16F10 cells. Furthermore, HZC effectively mitigated oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence, improved melanocyte condition, and rectified various functional impairments associated with melanocyte dysfunction. These findings suggest that HZC increases melanin synthesis in melanocytes through the activation of the MAPK, PKA, and Wnt signaling pathways. In addition, HZC attenuates oxidative damage induced by H₂O₂ therapy by activating the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2-antioxidant response element (Nrf2-ARE) pathway and enhancing the activity of downstream antioxidant enzymes, thus preventing premature senescence and dysfunction in melanocytes.
Oxidative Stress/drug effects* ; Melanocytes/cytology* ; Cellular Senescence/drug effects* ; Nigella sativa/chemistry* ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Seeds/chemistry* ; Mice ; Animals ; Melanins/metabolism* ; Monophenol Monooxygenase/metabolism* ; Humans

Objective: To explore the balance of peripheral blood T helper 17 cells/regulatory T cell (Th17/Treg) ratio and the polarization ratio of M1 and M2 macrophages in lower extremity arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO). Methods: A rat model of lower extremity ASO was established, and blood samples from patients with lower extremity ASO before and after surgery were obtained. ELISA was used to detect interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-10, and IL-17. Real-time RCR and Western blot analyses were used to detect Foxp3, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17 expression. Moreover, flow cytometry was applied to detect the Th17/Treg ratio and M1/M2 ratio. Results: Compared with the control group, the iliac artery wall of ASO rats showed significant hyperplasia, and the concentrations of cholesterol and triglyceride were significantly increased (P<0.01), indicating the successful establishment of ASO. Moreover, the levels of IL-6 and IL-17 in ASO rats were pronouncedly increased (P<0.05), while the IL-10 level was significantly decreased (P<0.05). In addition to increased IL-6 and IL-17 levels, the mRNA and protein levels of Foxp3 and IL-10 in ASO rats were significantly decreased compared with the control group. The Th17/Treg and M1/M2 ratios in the ASO group were markedly increased (P<0.05). These alternations were also observed in ASO patients. After endovascular surgery (such as percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and arterial stenting), all these changes were significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusions: The Th17/Treg and M1/M2 ratios were significantly increased in ASO, and surgery can effectively improve the balance of Th17/Treg, and reduce the ratio of M1/M2, and the expression of inflammatory factors.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics,treatment methods,and prognosis of a-cute leukemia patients with extramedullary infiltration.Methods The clinical characteristics and treatment methods of 47 acute leukemia patients with extramedullary infiltration admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from April 2014 to April 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.Subgroup analysis was performed according to whether there was extramedullary infiltration before transplantation,and whether there was isolated extramedullary recurrence after transplantation.Based on this analysis,the patients were di-vided into the pre-transplantation radiotherapy group and pre-transplantation non-radiotherapy group,the post-transplantation radiotherapy group and post-transplantation non-radiotherapy group.According to the treatment methods of central nervous system leukemia(CNSL),the patients were divided into the intrathecal injection group(n=12)and combination of intrathecal injection and radiotherapy group(n=13).The local remission situation,survival duration,and toxic and side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy were com-pared.Results For acute leukemia patients with extramedullary infiltration,the overall survival time(OS)in the radiotherapy group was better than that in the non-radiotherapy group(median OS:706 d vs.151 d,P=0.015).Subgroup analysis showed that the OS of the pre-transplantation radiotherapy group was better than that of the pre-transplantation non-radiotherapy group(median OS:592 d vs.386 d,P=0.035).For CNSL,the combination of intrathecal injection and radiotherapy group had a better OS than the intrathecal injection group(median OS:547 d vs.388 d,P=0.045).The event-free survival time(EFS)of the radiotherapy group was better than that of the non-radiotherapy group(median EFS:175 d vs.50 d,P=0.005).The COX pro-portional-hazards model showed that treatment with or without radiotherapy had a significant impact on the OS of acute leukemia patients with extramedullary infiltration.The risk of death in the pre-transplantation non-radiotherapy group was 2.231 times higher than that in the pre-transplantation radiotherapy group(HR=3.231,95％CI:1.021-10.227,P=0.046).Compared with the non-radiotherapy group,the radiother-apy group had a higher local remission and a lower risk of haematological toxicity,infection,and haemorrhage.Conclusion Radiotherapy can rapidly alleviate the local symptoms of acute leukemia complicated with extr-amedullary infiltration,prolong the survival time of these patients,and reduce the risk of hematologic toxicity,infection,and haemorrhage.

Improving the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) holds important clinical and social significance. Immunotherapy is an emerging therapy approach for cancers, which mainly include immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), immune vaccine and adoptive cell therapy. ICI have achieved good clinical translation in treatment of metastatic CRC with deficient DNA mismatch repair/high microsatellite instability (dMMR/MSI-H) status. The application of some ICI, such as PD-1 inhibitors pembrolizumab and nivolumab, in this type patients have been approved by the FDA. In addition,numerous positive results are acquired in clinical trials of neoadjuvant therapy for resectable dMMR/MSI-H CRC. These results greatly bolstered the exploration enthusiasm of CRC immunotherapy. However, the proficient DNA mismatch repair/microsatellite stability (pMMR/MSS) CRC, which accounting for the vast majority in related patients, hardly benefit from ICI therapy. Various combination strategies, mainly including ICI combined with traditional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or targeted therapy, have been attempted to alter the “cold tumors” microenvironment characteristics of pMMR/MSS CRC in clinical trials, whereas no breakthrough results were reached. Theoretically, tumor vaccines are ideal choice to break down the barrier of insufficient immune infiltration in solid tumors. However, the outcomes of related clinical trials in CRC patents are not satisfactory, and partially due to the weak specificity of the applied tumor-associated antigens. Clinical studies of adoptive cell therapy in CRC are also actively underway. The favorable efficacy of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, cytokine-induced killer (CIK) and dendritic cell-CIK in CRC have been confirmed, while the CAR-T and TCR-T therapies need more exploration based on screening more suitable antigens and optimizing engineering design. In this review, we made a summary based on the mainline of clinical studies related to diverse immunotherapies, so as to clarify the progress of CRC immunotherapy and provide bases for exploration of better treatment options.

Objective To investigate the incidence rate,clinical characteristics,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen,China.Methods Led by Shenzhen Children's Hospital,the Shenzhen Neonatal Data Collaboration Network organized 21 institutions to collect 36 cases of neonatal stroke from January 2020 to December 2022.The incidence,clinical characteristics,treatment,and prognosis of neonatal stroke in Shenzhen were analyzed.Results The incidence rate of neonatal stroke in 21 hospitals from 2020 to 2022 was 1/15 137,1/6 060,and 1/7 704,respectively.Ischemic stroke accounted for 75％(27/36);boys accounted for 64％(23/36).Among the 36 neonates,31(86％)had disease onset within 3 days after birth,and 19(53％)had convulsion as the initial presentation.Cerebral MRI showed that 22 neonates(61％)had left cerebral infarction and 13(36％)had basal ganglia infarction.Magnetic resonance angiography was performed for 12 neonates,among whom 9(75％)had involvement of the middle cerebral artery.Electroencephalography was performed for 29 neonates,with sharp waves in 21 neonates(72％)and seizures in 10 neonates(34％).Symptomatic/supportive treatment varied across different hospitals.Neonatal Behavioral Neurological Assessment was performed for 12 neonates(33％,12/36),with a mean score of(32±4)points.The prognosis of 27 neonates was followed up to around 12 months of age,with 44％(12/27)of the neonates having a good prognosis.Conclusions Ischemic stroke is the main type of neonatal stroke,often with convulsions as the initial presentation,involvement of the middle cerebral artery,sharp waves on electroencephalography,and a relatively low neurodevelopment score.Symptomatic/supportive treatment is the main treatment method,and some neonates tend to have a poor prognosis.

Hepatic lipid deposition is one of the basic manifestations of obesity, and nowadays pharmacological treatment is the most important tool. Punicalagin(PU), a polyphenol derived from pomegranate peel, is a potential anti-obesity substance. In this study, 60 C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into a normal group and a model group. After establishing a model of simple obesity with a high-fat diet for 12 weeks, the successfully established rat models of obesity were then regrouped into a model group, an orlistat group, a PU low-dose group, a PU medium-dose group, and a PU high-dose group. The normal group was kept on routine diet and other groups continued to feed the high-fat diet. The body weight and food intake were measured and recorded weekly. After 8 weeks, the levels of the four lipids in the serum of each group of mice were determined by an automatic biochemical instrument. Oral glucose tole-rance and intraperitoneal insulin sensitivity were tested. Hemoxylin-eosin(HE) staining was applied to observe the hepatic and adipose tissues. The mRNA expression levels of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ(PPARγ) and C/EBPα were determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(Q-PCR), and the mRNA and protein expression levels of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase(AMPK), anterior cingulate cortex(ACC), and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A(CPT1A) were determined by Western blot. Finally, the body mass, Lee's index, serum total glyceride(TG), serum total cholesterol(TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) levels were significantly higher and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C) levels were significantly lower in the model group as compared with the normal group. The fat deposition in the liver was significantly increased. The mRNA expression levels of hepatic PPARγ and C/EBPα and the protein expression level of ACC were increased, while the mRNA and protein expression levels of CPT-1α(CPT1A) and AMPK were decreased. After PU treatment, the above indexes of obese mice were reversed. In conclusion, PU can decrease the body weight of obese mice and control their food intake. It also plays a role in the regulation of lipid metabolism and glycometabolism metabolism, which can significantly improve hepatic fat deposition. Mechanistically, PU may regulate liver lipid deposition in obese mice by down-regulating lipid synthesis and up-regulating lipolysis through activation of the AMPK/ACC pathway.
Rats ; Mice ; Animals ; Mice, Obese ; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases/metabolism* ; PPAR gamma/metabolism* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Liver/metabolism* ; Obesity/genetics* ; Body Weight ; Lipid Metabolism ; Diet, High-Fat/adverse effects* ; Lipids ; Cholesterol

From the perspective of market classification of Cnidii Fructus, this paper revealed the scientific connotation of evaluating the quality grade of Cnidii Fructus by its appearance traits. Thirty batches of Cnidii Fructus in different grades were selected as the research objects. The canonical correlation analysis and principal component analysis(PCA) were used to explore the measurement values of 15 appearance traits and intrinsic content indexes. The results of correlation analysis showed that except the aspect ratio, the 5 appearance trait indexes(length, width, 1 000-grain weight, broken grain weight proportion, and chroma) and 9 internal content indexes(the content of moisture, total ash, acid insoluble ash, osthole, imperatorin, 5-methoxy psoralen, isopimpinellin, xanthotoxin, and xanthotol) showed significant correlation to varying degrees. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the first typical variable U_1 composed of appearance traits and the first typical variable V_1 composed of internal content indexes(CR_1=0.963, P<0.01). The results of PCA showed that the classification results of appearance traits for 30 batches of Cnidii Fructus were consistent with the actual information of the samples. Under the same analysis conditions, 30 batches of Cnidii Fructus were reclassified by 9 groups of internal content indexes, and the analysis results were consistent. From the classification standard of the appearance traits of the system study, the statistical results of 6 appearance traits of Cnidii Fructus showed a correlation with grades. There was a good correlation between the appearance and the internal content of Cnidii Fructus, and the appearance quality effectively predicted the level of the internal content. There is a certain scientific basis for the quality classification of Cnidii Fructus by main appearance traits. Appearance classification can replace quality grading to realize the "quality evaluation through morphological identification" of Cnidii Fructus.
Fruit ; Phenotype ; Principal Component Analysis ; Social Group

OBJECTIVE: To derive the Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome classification and subgroup syndrome characteristics of ischemic stroke patients. METHODS: By extracting the CM clinical electronic medical records (EMRs) of 7,170 hospitalized patients with ischemic stroke from 2016 to 2018 at Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong Province, China, a patient similarity network (PSN) was constructed based on the symptomatic phenotype of the patients. Thereafter the efficient community detection method BGLL was used to identify subgroups of patients. Finally, subgroups with a large number of cases were selected to analyze the specific manifestations of clinical symptoms and CM syndromes in each subgroup. RESULTS: Seven main subgroups of patients with specific symptom characteristics were identified, including M3, M2, M1, M5, M0, M29 and M4. M3 and M0 subgroups had prominent posterior circulatory symptoms, while M3 was associated with autonomic disorders, and M4 manifested as anxiety; M2 and M4 had motor and motor coordination disorders; M1 had sensory disorders; M5 had more obvious lung infections; M29 had a disorder of consciousness. The specificity of CM syndromes of each subgroup was as follows. M3, M2, M1, M0, M29 and M4 all had the same syndrome as wind phlegm pattern; M3 and M0 both showed hyperactivity of Gan (Liver) yang pattern; M2 and M29 had similar syndromes, which corresponded to intertwined phlegm and blood stasis pattern and phlegm-stasis obstructing meridians pattern, respectively. The manifestations of CM syndromes often appeared in a combination of 2 or more syndrome elements. The most common combination of these 7 subgroups was wind-phlegm. The 7 subgroups of CM syndrome elements were specifically manifested as pathogenic wind, pathogenic phlegm, and deficiency pathogens. CONCLUSIONS There were 7 main symptom similarity-based subgroups in ischemic stroke patients, and their specific characteristics were obvious. The main syndromes were wind phlegm pattern and hyperactivity of Gan yang pattern.
Humans ; Syndrome ; Ischemic Stroke ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Liver ; Phenotype