Objective To assess the value of serum amyloid A(SAA)in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic pulmonary diseases. Methods Seventy AECOPD patients were randomly chosen. The AECOPD patients were divided into bacterial infection induced group and non-bacterial infection induced group by sputum bacteria culture. Thirty five SCOPD patients were chosen as control group. General data was collected. Lung function ,chest X ray,blood routine,CRP,SAA,IL6 and PCT were deteced and compared in the 3 groups. The diagnostic value of SAA to distinguish bacterial infection induced AECOPD was estimated. Results SAA of both AECOPD sub-groups were significantly higher than that of healthy controls. SAA in infection group is higher that that in exacerba-tion group. In terms of ROC curve,AUC was 0.8682 for SAA to distinguish merging bacterial infection,and the cut-off value was 72.10 mg/L with sensitivity of 94.29% and specificity of 65.71%. Conclusion SAA increases in AECOPD patients,and more obviously in AECOPD patients with bacterial infection. SAA may be used as a reliable biomarker not only to distinguish AECOPD patients from SCOPD patients ,but also distinguish merging bacterial infection during AECOPD.

Objective: To determine the main components of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge (A. membranaceus, Huang Qi), Astragaloside IV (AIV) and Astragalus polysaccharides (AP), to characterize their properties, evaluate their in vivo efficacy, and to analyze drug diffusion using dissolving microneedle (DMN) technology in vivo. Methods: Respectively, AIV- and AP-loaded DMNs comprising chitosan (CTS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were prepared via dual-mold forming. Their morphology, mechanical properties, in vivo solubility, and skin irritation characteristics were tested. In vivo efficacy was assessed in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed mice, in vivo diffusion of AIV and AP by DMNs and conventional methods was compared, and the rheological properties of AIV-CTS-PVA and AP-CTS-PVA mixtures were measured. Results: Subcutaneous dissolution and absorption of AIV-CTS-PVA and AP-CTS-PVA microneedles (MNs) at low doses (50%–17% of intraperitoneal AIV injection and 12%–4% of intravenous AP injection) reduced the spleen index and acid phosphatase activity in immunosuppressed mouse models, increased the thymus index, and achieved equivalent or better systemic therapeutic effects. Compared with injections, AIV and AP achieved controllable solid-liquid conversion through delivery with CTS-PVA MNs, resulting in highly localized aggregation within 48 h, reducing the initial explosive effect of the drug, and achieving stable and slow drug release. Conclusion The present study enhances our understanding of the efficacy and remote effects of drug-loaded DMNs from a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) perspective, thereby promoting the development of precise and efficient delivery of TCM and further expanding the drug-loading range and application scenarios for DMNs.