Objective To investigate the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of silybin A and silybin B in rats,respectively.Methods Following iv and ig administration of silybin to 20 Wistar rats,the plasma samples were collected at different time points up to 12 h.Sample pretreatment was involved in one-step protein precipitation with acetonitrile.Silybin A and silybin B were simultaneously determined by LC-MS/MS.Results After ig dosing silybin 28,56,and 112 mg/kg to rats,the t1/2β values were 5.48,5.08,and 5.73 h for silybin A,and 4.56,4.12,and 5.53 h for silybin B; The Cmax were 674.3,1349.4,and 2042.5 ng/mL for silybin A,and 671.0,1365.4,and 2066.2 ng/mL for silybin B; The Tmax were 0.20,0.23,and 0.20 h for silybin A,and 0.20,0.23,and 0.20 h for silybin B; The AUC were 454.4,845.9,and 1219.5 h·ng/mL for silybin A,and 432.0,817.1,and 1153.6 h·ng/mL for silybin B.The absolute bioavailabilities of silybin A and silybin B were 2.86％ and 1.93％,respectively.Conclusion Silybin A and silybin B have very low bioavailability after ig administration,and there is no significant difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters between silybin A and silybin B,which indicates that the two diastereoisomers have similar pharmacokinetic behavior in rats.

Aim To establish hyperlipidemic model and study the molecular mechanism of triglyceride (TG)disorder in hamsters.Methods The male ham-sters were randomly divided to control group fed with standard diet and model group fed with high-fat diet, both of the groups had been fed with diet for 4 weeks. The levels of serum TG,TC,LDL-C,FFA were detec-ted at the end of 2nd and 4th week.The hepatic TG, TC,LPL activity were detected by enzymatic method at the end of 4th week.The molecular mechanism was tested by real-time PCR.Meanwhile the effect of posi-tive drug fenofibrate on the model of hyperlipidemia in hamsters was investigated.Results Compared with the control,the serum levels of TG,TC,LDL-C,FFA in the model group increased 2.57,1.93,2.49,1.25 times at the end of2nd week,and 3.93,1.90,2.27, 2.29 times at the end of 4th week,respectively.The positive drug significantly decreased the concentrations of serum TG and FFA. The mechanism research showed that the hepatic AMPK,PPARα,CPT-1 mRNA decreased in hamsters fed with high-fat diet,and the SREBP-1 c,ACC,SCD-1 ,AGPAT2,DGAT2 mRNA ex-pressions increased.The hepatic ApoB mRNA expres-sion was up-regulated while the MTTP and LPL mRNA expressions were down-regulated slightly.LPL activity significantly decreased in model hamsters compared with the control.The alternations of these enzymes and receptors were the critical factors for TG disorder. Conclusion The hamsters fed with high-fat diet for 4 weeks can form a good hyperlipemic model with HTG feature.AMPK,SREBP-1 c,ACC,SCD-1 ,DGAT2,AG-PAT2,PPARα,CPT-1 and LPL are not only the main mechanisms of TG disorder,but also the biomarkers of hypotriglyceridemic drugs.

Aim To establish the hyperlipidemic model and ex-plore the mechanism of hypercholesterolemia in hamster. Meth-ods Hamsters were randomly divided into the control and model groups. The hamsters in the control group were fed with the standard chow and the model group were fed with the high fat di-et. Serum lipids and CYP7A1 activity were detected by enzymat-ic method. The molecular mechanism of cholesterol metabolism was investigated by real-time PCR. Results In comparison with the control group, the concentrations of serum TC, LDL-C, TG and hepatic TC, TG were significantly increased in the model
group. The mechanism research showed that in hamsters fed with the high fat diet, the CYP7A1 activity and the mRNA expres-sions of hepatic LDL-R, SREBP-2, CYP7A1, LXRαwere down-regulated, the expression of hepatic FXR was up-regulated. Conclusion The hyperlipidemic model could be developed in hamsters fed with the high fat diet for 4 weeks. LDL-R, SREBP-2, CYP7A1, FXR and LXRαare the biomarkers of hypercholes-terolemia, and also the targets of hypolipidemic drugs.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies. The poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients is mainly attributed to low diagnostic rate at the early stage, highly aggressive nature coupled with the inadequate efficacy of current chemotherapeutic regimens. Novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed for pancreatic cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important regulatory role in key processes of cancer development. The aberrant expression of miRNAs is often involved in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of pancreatic cancer. The discovery of tumor suppressor miRNAs provides prospects for the development of a novel treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer. We reviewed recent progress on the understanding of the role of miRNAs in pancreatic cancer, highlighted the efficient application of miRNAs-based therapies for pancreatic cancer in animal models and clinical trials, and proposed future prospects. This review focuses on the promise of integrating miRNAs into the treatment of pancreatic cancer and provides guidance for the development of precision medicine for pancreatic cancer.
Animals ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/genetics* ; Prognosis

Objective:To investigate the changes of exam scores of retrained peritoneal dialysis (PD) operators (patients, family members, or nannies) with an internal of one year during COVID-19 epidemic and provide basis for targeted training.Methods:It was a cross-sectional survey study. The maintenance PD patients who participated in two trainings with an interval of one year during COVID-19 epidemic from November 1, 2019 to February 28, 2021 in Department of Nephrology in Peking University People's Hospital were enrolled. During COVID-19 epidemic, retraining was extended from once every six months to once a year. The clinical data were collected, the self-designed training exam score table including theoretical knowledge and operational skills assessment was used to investigate the exam scores of two trainings, and the total exam scores and sub-item scores of PD operators before and after one year were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the associated factors of the reduction of exam scores.Results:A total of 59 patients were enrolled, with 35 males (59.32%), age of (58.41±14.52) years, and dialysis duration of 42 (12, 84) months. There were 54 patients (91.53%) operating by themselves, 22 operators (37.29%) having college degree or above, and 35 operators (59.32%) having decreased exam scores. The total exam scores were 83.17±7.90 and 80.61±8.20 before and after one year, respectively ( t=2.732, P=0.008). In the six contents of itemized scoring, compared with one year ago, the exam scores of complication treatment ( t=4.928, P<0.001) and self-monitoring ( t=3.222, P=0.002) were significantly decreased. There was no statistically significant difference in the exam scores of environment and hygiene, dialysate replacement operation, exit nursing and diet before and after one year (all P>0.05). The total exam scores in patients with dialysis duration <12 months and 36-60 months after one year were significantly lower than before one year ( t=2.309, P=0.041; t=3.086, P=0.009). There was no statistically significant difference in the exam scores of PD operators with dialysis duration of 12-<36 months and >60 months before and after one year (both P>0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that dialysis duration was an independent associated factor of exam scores reduction (dialysis duration 36-60 months/>60 months, OR=6.233, 95% CI 1.035-37.529, P=0.046). Conclusions:During COVID-19 epidemic, the reduced frequency of retraining reduces the training exam scores of PD operators, especially in patients with dialysis duration of 36-60 months. The weak points are focused on complication management and self-monitoring. Training should be strengthened for key patients and key contents if regular retraining is not possible due to special circumstances.

Objective:To explore the impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic on career choosing perspective among medical students and to analyze the related factors.Methods:Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted during March 1-25 2020 among 19 medical students of 8-year program from Peking Union Medical College. The grounded theory and thematic analysis were applied to code the data and identify categories and factors.Results:Among the 19 respondents aged 19-26 years, 9 were males and 10 were female; 10 were at the clinical stage, and 9 were at the premedical stage; 3 respondents had family members involved in medical profession. Thematic analysis identified 6 main categories that affect the variability of medical students' career prospects under the COVID-19 pandemic. The 6 themes were individual characteristics of students; occupational characteristics; systemic factors; COVID-19 events; stressors of physicians and influence of job satisfaction.The outbreak affected everyone's mind of future career to varying degrees. The participants had been exposed to more negative aspects, while only one participant changed her career intention. There were conflicting views on whether to choose some specialties in future, such as respiratory medicine, infectious disease and critical care medicine. The participants feel more pressure as a doctor from the attitude of the public. Almost all participants mentioned feeling unsafe due to the high risk of occupational exposure and doctor-patient relationships. Most valued the support from their family, faculty, classmates, and volunteers. Many participants expressed their hope to improve the medical policies and systems.Conclusions:The influence of COVID-19 outbreak on medical students' career choosing can be positive as well as negative in different degrees. However, we found no evidence that it altered their perspectives substantially.

Objective To investigate the risk factors for early-stage complications among liver transplant recipients, and to establish and validate a risk prediction model for early-stage complications after transplantation. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 234 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation in Department of Liver Transplantation, Tianjin First Central Hospital, from January 2016 to December 2018. According to the presence or absence of Clavien-Dindo grade ≥Ⅲ complications after liver transplantation, the patients were divided into complication group with 97 patients and non-complication group with 137 patients. The two groups were compared in terms of the indices including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), blood type, psoas muscle thickness/height (PMTH), Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, total serum bilirubin, serum creatinine, international normalized ratio of prothrombin time, blood urea nitrogen, hemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelet count, amount of intraoperative red blood cell transfusion, amount of frozen plasma transfusion, blood loss, anhepatic phase, time of operation, donor age, donor BMI, cold ischemia time of donor liver, and warm ischemia time of donor liver. The independent samples t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups; the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Univariate analysis and the binary logistic regression analysis were used to investigate the risk factors for early-stage complications after liver transplantation, and a risk prediction model for complications after liver transplantation was established based on the method for establishing a scoring system using the logistic model provided by Framingham Research Center. Internal validation of the model was performed by C-index, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and the decision curve was used to evaluate the clinical applicability of the model. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare the incidence rate of early-stage complications after liver transplantation between the patients with different risk scores. Results Compared with the non-complication group, the complication group had significantly higher MELD score, proportion of patients with low PMTH, total serum bilirubin, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, CONUT score, amount of intraoperative red blood cell transfusion, and amount of frozen plasma transfusion, as well as a significantly lower level of hemoglobin (all P < 0.1). The multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that MELD score (odds ratio [ OR ]=1.104, 95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 1.057-1.154, P < 0.05), PMTH ( OR =2.858, 95% CI : 1.451-5.626, P < 0.05), and CONUT score ( OR =1.481, 95% CI : 1.287-1.703, P < 0.05) were independent risk factors for grade ≥Ⅲ complications in the early stage after liver transplantation. MELD score, PMTH, and CONUT score were included in a predictive model, and this model had the highest score of 24 points, a C-index of 0.828, an area under the ROC curve of 0.812( P < 0.001), a sensitivity of 0.792, and a specificity of 0.751, suggesting that this predictive model had good discriminatory ability. The calibration curve of this model was close to the reference curve, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test obtained a chi-square value of 8.528( P =0.382), suggesting that this predictive model had a high degree of fitting. The decision curve showed that most patients were able to benefit from the predictive model and achieved a high net benefit rate, suggesting that this predictive model had good clinical applicability. The score of 11 was selected as the cut-off value according to the optimal Youden index of 0.507, and the patients were divided into low-risk (< 8 points) group with 55 patients, moderate-risk (8-10 points) group with 63 patients, high-risk (11-14 points) group with 67 patients, and extremely high-risk (≥15 points) group with 49 patients. These four groups had a 90-day cumulative incidence rate of early-stage postoperative complications of 3.6%, 28.6%, 59.7%, and 75.5%, respectively, and the incidence rate of complications increased with the increase in risk score ( P < 0.001). Conclusion MELD score, PMTH, and CONUT score are independent risk factors for early-stage complications among liver transplant recipients, and the risk prediction model established based on these factors has a high predictive value in high-risk patients.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of hospitalized premenopausal patients with hyperuricemia.Methods:The medical records of premenopausal women with hyperuricemia (serum uric acid ≥360 μmol/L during hospitalization) admitted in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 2013 to 2018 were reviewed and the clinical data were analyzed.Results:A total of 2 099 patients were enrolled. Only 14.01% (294 cases) of the patients were concerned about hyperuricemia by physicians. Autoimmune diseases (32.11%, 674 cases), nephrotic disease (19.29%, 405 cases) and endocrine system diseases (9.72%, 204 cases) are the main reasons for hospitalization, while 6.34%(133 cases) of patients were in gestation. In terms of the etiology, renal diseases (49.35%, 1 035 cases), specific drug use (49.26%, 1 034 cases) were the main causes of secondary hyperuricemia in premenopausal women, followed by metabolic diseases (10.62%, 233 cases). There was no significant difference in serum uric acid level among premenopausal women of different ages ( H=4.47, P=0.107), but the etiology of hyperuricemia among patients of different ages had significant differences. The proportion of hyperuricemia in patients with cancer and metabolic syndrome,secondary to use of diuretics and anti-tuberculosis drugs had differences among different age groups ( χ2=90.96,52.89,19.26 and 6.41, P<0.05). Conclusion:Hyperuricemia is not uncommon in premenopausal women. There are many secondary factors leading to hyperuricemia in premenopausal women, among which drugs and renal lesions are the main causes. In addition, the secondary factors in women with hyperuricemia has differences among different age groups.

Objective:To conduct a nationwide physician survey to better understand clinicians’ disease awareness, treatment patterns, and experience of Waldenstr?m macroglobulinemia (WM) in China.Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2022 to July 2022 by recruiting clinicians with WM treatment experience from hematology, hematology-oncology, and oncology departments throughout China. Quantitative surveys were designed based on the qualitative interviews.Results:The study included 415 clinicians from 219 hospitals spread across thirty-three cities and twenty-two provinces. As for diagnosis, the laboratory tests prescribed by physicians for suspected WM patients were relatively consistent (92% -99% recommendation for laboratory, 79% -95% recommendation for pathology, 96% recommendation for gene testing, and 63% -83% recommendation for imaging examination). However, from a physician's perspective, there was 22% misdiagnosis occurred in clinical practice. The rate of misdiagnosis was higher in lower-level hospitals than in tertiary grade A hospitals (29% vs 21%, P<0.001). The main reasons for misdiagnosis were that WM was easily confused with other diseases, and physicians lacked the necessary knowledge to make an accurate diagnosis. In terms of gene testing in clinical practice, 96% of participating physicians believed that WM patients would require gene testing for MYD88 and CXCR4 mutations because the results of gene testing would aid in confirming diagnosis and treatment options. In terms of treatment, 55% of physicians thought that the most important goal was to achieve remission, while 54% and 51% of physicians wanted to improve laboratory and/or examination results and extend overall survival time, respectively. Among patients with treatment indications, physicians estimated that approximately 21% of them refused to receive treatment, mainly owing to a lack of affordable care and disease awareness. When selecting the most appropriate treatment regimens, physicians would consider patient affordability (63% ), comorbidity (61% ), and risk level (54% ). Regimens containing Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) were most widely recommended for both treatment-na?ve and relapsed/refractory patients (94% for all patients, 95% for treatment-na?ve patients, and 75% for relapsed/refractory patients), and most physicians recommended Ibrutinib (84% ). For those patients who received treatment, physicians reported that approximately 23% of patients did not comply with the treatment regimen due to a lack of affordability and disease awareness. Furthermore, 66% of physicians believe that in the future, increasing disease awareness and improving diagnosis rates is critical. Conclusions:This study is the first national physician survey of WM conducted in China. It systematically describes the issues that exist in WM diagnosis and treatment in China, such as a high rate of misdiagnosis, limited access to gene testing and new drugs, and poor patient adherence to treatment. Chinese doctors believe that improving doctors’ and patients’ understanding of WM is one of the most urgent issues that must be addressed right now.

Background Essential and non-essential elements have an important impact on the development of the central nervous system during fetal development. Due to their less developed brain, preterm infants are more sensitive to element exposure, and are high-risk groups of neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, it is not clear whether the effects of element exposure in utero on postpartum neurodevelopment are different between full-term infants and preterm infants. Objective To evaluate the effects of element exposure levels during pregnancy on neurodevelopment of children aged 6-24 months (of corrected age), and compare the effects between preterm and full-term children. Methods A prospective study design was adopted and this study was conducted based on the Maoming Birth Cohort Study (MBCS) in Maoming City, Guangdong Province. Twenty elements in cord blood of 197 preterm infants and 297 full-term infants were measured, including 11 essential trace elements [vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), strontium (Sr), tin (Sn), and iron (Fe)], and 9 non-essential trace elements [aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), thallium (Tl), lead (Pb), uranium (U), cerium (Ce), antimony (Sb), cadmium (Cd), and yttrium (Y)]. The neurodevelopment of the children at 6, 12, and 24 months were evaluated by the Ages and Stages Questionnaires-the Third Edition (ASQ-3). A generalized estimating equation (GEE) model was adopted to evaluate the associations between elements and neurodevelopment in full-term and preterm children separately. Results The positive rates of 10 elements (Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr, Fe, Sb, Tl, Pb, and As) in cord blood were greater than 80%. Among the preterm birth children, the results of GEE analysis showed that after adjusting for the covariates, for each increase of interquartile range (IQR) in ln-transformed concentration, As was associated with problems/delay in the communication and problem-solving sub-scales, with the adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of 1.36 (1.03-1.80) and 1.55 (1.10-2.20), respectively; the adjusted OR (95%CI) of problems/delay in the fine motor and problem-solving sub-scales were 1.44 (1.00-2.07) and 1.76 (1.09-2.84) for Sb, respectively; the adjusted OR (95%CI) of problems/delay in the communication sub-scale was 1.37 (1.09-1.74) for Se. No statistically significant associations between umbilical cord blood element concentrations and neurodevelopment indicators were observed among full-term children. The results of stratified analysis by sex showed that the associations between umbilical cord blood element concentrations and neurodevelopment problems/delay were only significant among female preterm children. Conclusion Exposures to As, Se, and Sb during pregnancy may increase the risk of neurodevelopment problems/delay in preterm children aged 6-24 months, and female seem to be more vulnerable.