This study investigated the effect of different carrier materials on the in vitro properties of progesterone solid dispersions. The solid dispersions of the insoluble drug progesterone were prepared by hot melt extrusion technique using rheological properties as the index of investigation, and the in vitro properties of the solid dispersions were characterized. Scanning electron microscope revealed solid dispersions with rough surfaces and agglomerated microstructures into irregular lumpy particles. Differential scanning calorimetry and powder X-ray diffraction showed the change of progesterone crystalline form in solid dispersions from crystalline to amorphous state. In vitro dissolution studies showed that solid dispersions prepared with different carrier materials can effectively improve the dissolution rate of drugs. The results of the study showed that the type of carrier material had a significant effect on the in vitro properties of solid dispersions, providing a reference for the study of solid dispersions in the controlled release of insoluble drugs.

A polymethionine(p-Met)-modified laser-induced graphene(LIG)electrode was constructed and integrated with portable electrochemical workstations and handheld computer to achieve on-site,simultaneous detection of azo dyes sunset yellow(SY)and tartrazine(Tz)in environmental water.Firstly,the sensor interface with the best electrical conductivity was obtained by optimizing the laser processing parameters,and then the electrochemical responses of SY and Tz were improved by electropolymerization of methionine on the surface of LIG.Finally,a portable electrochemical sensor platform was built by connecting p-Met/LIG,a small electrochemical workstation and a handheld computer application program.Differential pulse voltammetry(DPV)was used to determine these two dyes.SY showed a good linear relationship in the concentration range of 0.2-20 μmol/L and 20-100 μmol/L,the detection limit was as low as 0.001 μmol/L.Tz showed a good linear relationship in concentration range of 0.3-40 μmol/L and 40-100 μmol/L,and the detection limits was as low as 0.005 μmol/L.p-Met/LIG also had excellent anti-interference performance and reproducibility.The portable electrochemical platform was applied to real-time detection of real water samples,and the results showed that the platform was expected to be applied in field detection of SY and Tz in real environmental water bodies.

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) is an active chalcone compound isolated from licorice. It possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative activities. In our previous study, we uncovered a great potential of ISL in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Therefore, this study aims to reveal the mechanism underlying the alleviatory effects of ISL on T2DM-induced glycolipid metabolism disorder. High-fat-high-sugar diet (HFD) combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) were used to establish T2DM mice model. All animal experiments were carried out with approval of the Committee of Ethics at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. HepG2 cells were used in in vitro experiments, and sodium palmitate (SP) was applied to establish insulin resistance (IR) model cells. The effects of ISL on body weight, fasting blood glucose levels, and pathological changes in the livers of mice were examined. Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) were applied to detect the regulatory effects of ISL on key targets involved in glucolipid metabolism. Additionally, molecular docking and analytical dynamics simulation methods were used to analyze the interaction between ISL and key target protein. The results indicate that ISL significantly downregulates the transcriptional levels and inhibits the activities of key enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis, including pyruvate carboxylase (PC), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), and fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase (FBP). It also downregulates the transcriptional and protein levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) and cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), the two transcriptional factors involved in gluconeogenesis. Thus, ISL inhibits hepatic gluconeogenesis in T2DM mice. In addition, ISL reduces total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels in the livers of T2DM mice. Moreover, ISL downregulates the mRNA levels of lipogenesis genes and upregulates those of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, lipid uptake, and lipid export. In conclusion, ISL suppresses hepatic gluconeogenesis, promotes lipolysis, and restrains lipogenesis in T2DM mice, thereby improving the abnormal glycolipid metabolism caused by T2DM.

The incidence of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) continues to rise, and there are no effective drugs to treat it. The immune microenvironment plays an important role in the development of ICC and is currently a research hotspot. Icaritin (ICA) is an innovative traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. It is considered to have potential immunoregulatory and anti-tumor effects, which is potentially consistent with the understanding of "Fuzheng" in the treatment of tumor in traditional Chinese medicine. However, whether ICA can be used to treat ICC has not been reported. Therefore, in this study, sgp19/kRas, an in situ ICC mouse model with intact immune system, was selected to evaluate the efficacy of ICA in the treatment of ICC in vivo for the first time, and the effects of ICA on the tumor immune microenvironment of ICC mice were analyzed by flow cytometry. This experiment was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Capital Medical University (approval number: AEEI-2023-138). In this study, sgp19/kRas ICC mouse model was treated with oral gavage of 100 mg·kg^-1 ICA. We found that ICA significantly inhibited tumor growth and tumor cell proliferation in the sgp19/kRas ICC mouse model after 3 weeks of treatment. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that ICA treatment markedly reduced the proportion of M2 macrophages and increased the number of CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells. In vitro experiments demonstrated that ICA promoted macrophage polarization towards the M1 phenotype while inhibiting polarization towards the M2 phenotype. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis suggested that ICA enhanced Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) expression, influencing macrophage nitric oxide metabolism synthesis pathways and receptor-related activities, thereby regulating macrophage polarization. In summary, this study demonstrates that ICA treatment significantly delays tumor progression in sgp19/kRas ICC mouse models. Mechanistically, ICA may achieve its anti-ICC effects by upregulating TLR9 receptor expression levels, promoting macrophage polarization towards the M1 phenotype, and altering the tumor immune microenvironment.

PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ have important regulatory roles in the immune system, and targeting these two subtypes helps to reshape the tumor microenvironment. PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ are potential targets for tumor immunotherapy. In this study, a series of new pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives were designed and synthesized on the basis of our previously reported PI3K inhibitors, resulting in the discovery of compound 16l as a potent and selective PI3Kγ/δ dual inhibitor. Compound 16l demonstrated strong biochemical potencies against PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ with IC₅₀ values of 0.11 and 0.79 nmol·L^-1. In cell-based assays, it potently inhibited the PI3Kγ and PI3Kδ mediated Akt S473 phosphorylation with EC₅₀ values of 3 and 7 nmol·L^-1. In vivo, compound 16l exhibited acceptable pharmacokinetic properties in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and suppressed the tumor growth in a MC38 syngeneic mouse model. The animal experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (approval number: DWLL-2000-06). In addition, no appreciable human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) inhibition was observed for compound 16l even at 30 μmol·L^-1. These results suggested that compound 16l might be a potential research tool for studying the PI3Kγ/δ mediated signaling pathways.

Objective To compare the effects of 20 mg qd and 10 mg bidadministration of iprrazole enteric-coated tablets on the control of gastric acid in healthy subjects.Methods A randomized,single-center,parallel controlled trial was designed to include 8 healthy subjects.Randomly divided into 2 groups,20 mg qd administration group:20 mg enteric-coated tablets of iprrazole in the morning;10 mg bid administration group:10 mg enteric-coated tablets of iprrazole in the morning and 10 mg in the evening.The pH values in the stomach of the subjects before and 24 h after administration were monitored by pH meter.The plasma concentration of iprazole after administration was determined by HPLC-MS/MS.The main pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by Phoenix WinNonlin(V8.0)software.Results The PK parameters of iprrazole enteric-coated tablets and reference preparations in fasting group were as follows:The Cmax of 20 mg qd group and 10 mg bid group were(595.75±131.15)and(283.50±96.98)ng·mL-1;AUC0-t were(5 531.94±784.35)and(4 686.67±898.23)h·ng·mL-1;AUC0-∞ were(6 003.19±538.59)and(7 361.48±1 816.77)h·ng·mL-1,respectively.The mean time percentage of gastric pH＞3 after 20 mg qd and 10 mg bid were 82.64％and 61.92％,and the median gastric pH within 24 h were 6.25±1.49 and 3.53±2.05,respectively.The mean gastric pH values within 24 h were 5.71±1.36 and 4.23±1.45,respectively.The correlation analysis of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics showed that there was no significant correlation between the peak concentration of drug in plasma and the inhibitory effect of acid.Conclusion Compared with the 20 mg qd group and the 10 mg bid group,the acid inhibition effect is better,the administration times are less,and the safety of the two administration regimes is good.

Objective To mine and conduct comparative analysis for hepatic dysfunction adverse events of voriconazole and other antifungal drugs,based on the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System(FAERS)database,and provide reference for clinical practice.Methods Data from January 2004 to March 2022 in FAERS were retrieved.We estimate the association between the hepatic dysfunction events and voriconazole using reporting odds ratio(ROR)for mining the adverse drug event report signals and compare voriconazole with the full database and other antifungal drugs.Results A total of 646 reports of hepatic dysfunction related to voriconazole as the primary suspect drug were collected totally.The median time to event of the hepatic dysfunction events was 8 d.The overall ROR 95％confidence interval(CI)for hepatic-related adverse drug events was 6.82(95％CI=6.26-7.42).Comparing to other antifungal drugs,voriconazole significantly increased the risk of hepatic dysfunction compared with fluconazole,isavuconazole and amphotericin B,with RORs of 2.19(95％CI=1.94-2.47),2.31(95％CI=1.66-3.22)and 1.26(95％CI=1.08-1.48).The top 10 adverse event signals are cholestasis,hepatic cytolysis,mixed liver injury,hepatitis cholestatic,blood alkaline phosphatase increased,γ-glutamyltransferase increased,hepatic function abnormal,hepatocellular injury,liver function test abnormal and hepatosplenomegaly,and all of them have great correlation with voriconazole(ROR＞5).Conclusion Voriconazole is closely related to hepatic dysfunction,indicating that clinical attention should be paid to patients'hepatic function indicators during medication.Since the risk of hepatic dysfunction caused by voriconazole depends on several factors including the underlying disease of the patient and the exposure level of the drugs,close clinical and laboratory monitoring,including therapeutic drug monitoring,are essential to prevent or promptly recognize further deterioration of the hepatic function.

Objective Recombinase-aided polymerase chain reaction(RAP)is a sensitive,single-tube,two-stage nucleic acid amplification method.This study aimed to develop an assay that can be used for the early diagnosis of three types of bacteremia caused by Staphylococcus aureus(SA),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(PA),and Acinetobacter baumannii(AB)in the bloodstream based on recombinant human mannan-binding lectin protein(M1 protein)-conjugated magnetic bead(M1 bead)enrichment of pathogens combined with RAP. Methods Recombinant plasmids were used to evaluate the assay sensitivity.Common blood influenza bacteria were used for the specific detection.Simulated and clinical plasma samples were enriched with M1 beads and then subjected to multiple recombinase-aided PCR(M-RAP)and quantitative PCR(qPCR)assays.Kappa analysis was used to evaluate the consistency between the two assays. Results The M-RAP method had sensitivity rates of 1,10,and 1 copies/μL for the detection of SA,PA,and AB plasmids,respectively,without cross-reaction to other bacterial species.The M-RAP assay obtained results for<10 CFU/mL pathogens in the blood within 4 h,with higher sensitivity than qPCR.M-RAP and qPCR for SA,PA,and AB yielded Kappa values of 0.839,0.815,and 0.856,respectively(P<0.05). Conclusion An M-RAP assay for SA,PA,and AB in blood samples utilizing M1 bead enrichment has been developed and can be potentially used for the early detection of bacteremia.

Objective To explore characteristics of clinical parameters and cytokines in patients with drug-induced liver injury(DILI)caused by different drugs and their correlation with clinical indicators. Method The study was conducted on patients who were up to Review of Uncertainties in Confidence Assessment for Medical Tests(RUCAM)scoring criteria and clinically diagnosed with DILI.Based on Chinese herbal medicine,cardiovascular drugs,non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs),anti-infective drugs,and other drugs,patients were divided into five groups.Cytokines were measured by Luminex technology.Baseline characteristics of clinical biochemical indicators and cytokines in DILI patients and their correlation were analyzed. Results 73 patients were enrolled.Age among five groups was statistically different(P=0.032).Alanine aminotransferase(ALT)(P=0.033)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)(P=0.007)in NSAIDs group were higher than those in chinese herbal medicine group.Interleukin-6(IL-6)and tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α)in patients with Chinese herbal medicine(IL-6:P<0.001;TNF-α:P<0.001)and cardiovascular medicine(IL-6:P=0.020;TNF-α:P=0.001)were lower than those in NSAIDs group.There was a positive correlation between ALT(r=0.697,P=0.025),AST(r=0.721,P=0.019),and IL-6 in NSAIDs group. Conclusion Older age may be more prone to DILI.Patients with NSAIDs have more severe liver damage in early stages of DILI,TNF-α and IL-6 may partake the inflammatory process of DILI.

Pogostemon cablin is a famous southern medicine.As the important raw material for modern medicine and industry,Pogostemon cablin becomes required with a large marketing demand.However,due to the serious continuous cropping obstacles in the growth process of Pogostemon cablin,the aggravation of diseases of Pogostemon cablin and the degradation of its quality arose.This paper outlined the ecological factors such as climate factors,soil factors and topographic factors suitable for the growth of Pogostemon cablin,analyzed the continuous cropping obstacles and diseases arising in the cultivation,reviewed the current ecological planting mode of Pogostemon cablin such as crop rotation,intercropping,relay-cropping and under-forest planting,and also made a comprehensive evaluation of the economic benefits,ecological benefits and social benefits of the ecological planting mode of Pogostemon cablin,aiming to provide a theoretical basis and a reference for the promotion of the ecological planting mode of Pogostemon cablin.