1.Study on the effects and mechanisms of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. in improving sleep
Ming QIAO ; Yao ZHAO ; Yi ZHU ; Yexia CAO ; Limei WEN ; Yuehong GONG ; Xiang LI ; Juanchen WANG ; Tao WANG ; Jianhua YANG ; Junping HU
China Pharmacy 2026;37(1):24-29
OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects and mechanisms of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. in improving sleep. METHODS Network pharmacology was employed to identify the active components of L. ruthenicum and their associated disease targets, followed by enrichment analysis. A caffeine‑induced zebrafish model of sleep deprivation was established , and the zebrafish were treated with L. ruthenicum Murr. extract (LRME) at concentrations of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg/mL, respectively; 24 h later, behavioral changes of zebrafish and pathological alterations in brain neurons were subsequently observed. The levels of inflammatory factors [interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)], oxidative stress markers [superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT)], and neurotransmitters [5- hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamic acid (Glu), dopamine (DA), and norepinephrine (NE)] were measured. The protein expression levels of protein kinase B1 (AKT1), phosphorylated AKT1 (p-AKT1), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), sarcoma proto-oncogene,non-receptor tyrosine kinase (SRC), and heat shock protein 90α family class A member 1 (HSP90AA1) in the zebrafish were also determined. RESULTS A total of 12 active components and 176 intersecting disease targets were identified through network pharmacology analysis. Among these, apigenin, naringenin and others were recognized as core active compounds, while AKT1, EGFR and others served as key targets; EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance signaling pathway was identified as the critical pathway. The sleep improvement rates in zebrafish of LRME low-, medium-, and high-dose groups were 54.60%, 69.03% and 77.97%, 开发。E-mail:hjp_yft@163.com respectively, while the inhibition ratios of locomotor distance were 0.57, 0.83 and 0.95, respectively. Compared with the model group, the number of resting counts, resting time and resting distance were significantly increased/extended in LRME medium- and high-dose groups (P<0.05). Neuronal damage in the brain was alleviated. Additionally, the levels of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, MDA, Glu, DA and NE, as well as the protein expression levels of AKT1, p-AKT1, EGFR, SRC and HSP90AA1, were markedly reduced (P<0.05), while the levels of IL-10, SOD, GSH-Px, CAT, 5-HT and GABA, as well as Bcl-2 protein expression, were significantly elevated (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS L. ruthenicum Murr. demonstrates sleep-improving effects, and its specific mechanism may be related to the regulation of inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, neurotransmitter balance, and the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance signaling pathway.
2.Impacts of ambient air pollutants on childhood asthma from 2019 to 2023: An analysis based on asthma outpatient visits of Nanjing Children's Hospital
Li WEI ; Xing GONG ; Lilin XIONG ; Yi ZHANG ; Fengxia SUN ; Wei PAN ; Changdi XU
Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2025;42(4):408-414
Background Asthma poses a serious threat to children's growth, development, and mental health, thus there has been an increasing focus on the control of asthma morbidity in children and the assessment of its risk factors. A growing body of research has found that exposure to ambient air pollutants an significatly increase the risk of childhood asthma. Objective To understand the changes of ambient air pollutant concentrations in Nanjing and asthma outpatient visits to Nanjing Children's Hospital, and to quantitatively analyze the effects of exposure to different ambient air pollutants on children's asthma outpatient visits. Methods Daily data of ambient air pollutants fine particulate matter (PM2.5), inhalable particle (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), meteorological factors (air temperature & relative humidity), and outpatient visits due to asthma in the hospital from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023 were collected, and a generalized additive model based on quasi poisson distributions was used to quantitatively analyze the short-term effects of ambient air pollutant exposure on outpatient visits due to asthma in the hospital. Results The annual average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 in Nanjing from 2019 to 2023 did not exceed the national limits. For single-day lagged effects, the single-pollutant model showed that the effects of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO on children's asthma outpatient visits were greatest for every 10 units increase at lag0, with excess risk (ER) of 1.39% (95%CI: 0.65%, 2.14%), 1.46% (95%CI: 0.97%, 1.95%), 5.46% (95%CI: 4.36%, 6.57%), and 0.18% (95%CI: 0.11%, 0.26%), respectively, and SO2 reached the maximum effect at lag1, with an ER of 23.15% (95%CI: 13.57%, 33.53%) for each 10 units increase in concentration. Different pollutants reached their maximum cumulative lag effects at different time. The PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and CO showed the largest cumulative lag effects at lag01, lag01, lag02, lag02, and lag03, respectively, with ERs of 1.35% (95%CI: 0.77%, 1.92%), 0.96% (95%CI: 0.10%, 1.83%), 28.50% (95%CI: 15.49%, 42.98%), 6.92% (95%CI: 5.53%, 8.33%), and 0.31% (95%CI: 0.20%, 0.42%), respectively. The influences of PM2.5 and PM10 on outpatient visits due to asthma in the hospital became more pronounced with advancing age, while the associations with NO₂, SO₂, and CO were weakened as children grew older. Conclusion Ambient air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO) can increase childhood asthma visits, and different pollutants have varied effects on the number of asthmatic children's visits at different ages.
3.Overexpression of Ptpn2 inhibits SiO2-mediated inflammatory response in alveolar type II epithelial cells
Mengfei FENG ; Yi WEI ; Xinru SUN ; Jingshuo GONG ; Xuemin GAO ; Hong XU ; Ying ZHU
Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine 2025;42(4):482-489
Background Protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type II (PTPN2) is essential for the regulation of inflammation and immunity, but the specific mechanism of action of Ptpn2 in silicosis is unknown. Objective To investigate the regulatory role of overexpression of Ptpn2 in SiO2-mediated inflammatory response in alveolar type II epithelial cells based on transcriptome sequencing. Methods This study was an in vitro study. A negative control group (vector transferred) and an overexpression of Ptpn2 group of mouse lung epithelial cell line MLE-12 cells were firstly constructed. Transcriptome sequencing was performed to detect differentially expressed genes (DEGs), differentially expressed mRNAs, and differentially expressed ncRNAs in the two groups of MLE-12 cells, and then the DEGs were analyzed by the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Constructed MLE-12 cells and A549 cells were stimulated using SiO2 suspension, and divided into a negative control group (vector transferred), an overexpression of Ptpn2 group, a negative control + SiO2 group, and an overexpression of Ptpn2 + SiO2 group, respectively. Protein expressions of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-2, IL-1β were detected by Western blot. Positive TNF-α expression was detected by immunofluorescence staining. Results The results of Western blot showed that the protein expression level of PTPN2 was up-regulated in the overexpressed Ptpn2 group compared with the negative control group (P < 0.05). The volcano plot and clustering heat map showed that there were
4.Application of AI versus Mimics software for three-dimensional reconstruction in thoracoscopic anatomic segmentectomy: A retrospective cohort study
Chengpeng SANG ; Yi ZHU ; Yaqin WANG ; Li GONG ; Bo MIN ; Haibo HU ; Zhixian TANG
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(03):313-321
Objective To analyze the application effects of artificial intelligence (AI) software and Mimics software in preoperative three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction for thoracoscopic anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy at the Second People's Hospital of Huai'an from October 2019 to March 2024. Patients who underwent AI 3D reconstruction were included in the AI group, those who underwent Mimics 3D reconstruction were included in the Mimics group, and those who did not undergo 3D reconstruction were included in the control group. Perioperative related indicators of each group were compared. Results A total of 168 patients were included, including 73 males and 95 females, aged 25-81 (61.61±10.55) years. There were 79 patients in the AI group, 53 patients in the Mimics group, and 36 patients in the control group. There were no statistical differences in gender, age, smoking history, nodule size, number of lymph node dissection groups, postoperative pathological results, or postoperative complications among the three groups (P>0.05). There were statistical differences in operation time (P<0.001), extubation time (P<0.001), drainage volume (P<0.001), bleeding volume (P<0.001), and postoperative hospital stay (P=0.001) among the three groups. There were no statistical differences in operation time, extubation time, bleeding volume, or postoperative hospital stay between the AI group and the Mimics group (P>0.05). There was no statistical difference in drainage volume between the AI group and the control group (P=0.494), while there were statistical differences in operation time, drainage tube retention time, bleeding volume, and postoperative hospital stay (P<0.05). Conclusion For patients requiring thoracoscopic anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy, preoperative 3D reconstruction and preoperative planning based on 3D images can shorten the operation time, postoperative extubation time and hospital stay, and reduce intraoperative bleeding and postoperative drainage volume compared with reading CT images only. The use of AI software for 3D reconstruction is not inferior to Mimics manual 3D reconstruction in terms of surgical guidance and postoperative recovery, which can reduce the workload of clinicians and is worth promoting.
5.Enzyme-directed Immobilization Strategies for Biosensor Applications
Xing-Bao WANG ; Yao-Hong MA ; Yun-Long XUE ; Xiao-Zhen HUANG ; Yue SHAO ; Yi YU ; Bing-Lian WANG ; Qing-Ai LIU ; Li-He ZHANG ; Wei-Li GONG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(2):374-394
Immobilized enzyme-based enzyme electrode biosensors, characterized by high sensitivity and efficiency, strong specificity, and compact size, demonstrate broad application prospects in life science research, disease diagnosis and monitoring, etc. Immobilization of enzyme is a critical step in determining the performance (stability, sensitivity, and reproducibility) of the biosensors. Random immobilization (physical adsorption, covalent cross-linking, etc.) can easily bring about problems, such as decreased enzyme activity and relatively unstable immobilization. Whereas, directional immobilization utilizing amino acid residue mutation, affinity peptide fusion, or nucleotide-specific binding to restrict the orientation of the enzymes provides new possibilities to solve the problems caused by random immobilization. In this paper, the principles, advantages and disadvantages and the application progress of enzyme electrode biosensors of different directional immobilization strategies for enzyme molecular sensing elements by specific amino acids (lysine, histidine, cysteine, unnatural amino acid) with functional groups introduced based on site-specific mutation, affinity peptides (gold binding peptides, carbon binding peptides, carbohydrate binding domains) fused through genetic engineering, and specific binding between nucleotides and target enzymes (proteins) were reviewed, and the application fields, advantages and limitations of various immobilized enzyme interface characterization techniques were discussed, hoping to provide theoretical and technical guidance for the creation of high-performance enzyme sensing elements and the manufacture of enzyme electrode sensors.
6.Key Points for Quality Management in Phase Ⅰ Clinical Trials of Anti-Tumor Drugs
Li GONG ; Bin LIAO ; Jie SHEN ; Juan ZHAO ; Yi GONG ; Xiaoxiao LU ; Huiyao YANG ; Sha LI ; Yongsheng LI
Cancer Research on Prevention and Treatment 2025;52(5):347-354
Phase Ⅰ clinical trials play a crucial role in the research and development of new drugs, serving as the initial studies to assess their safety, tolerability, effectiveness, and pharmacokinetic properties in humans. These trials involve uncertainties regarding safety and efficacy. Comprehensive management of all aspects of phase Ⅰ clinical trials for anti-tumor drugs is crucial to protect the rights and safety of participants. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the key points and precautions necessary for effective quality control throughout the process. The analysis is informed by guidelines such as the “Good Clinical Practice for Drugs” “Key Points and Judgment Principles for Drug Registration Verification” “Key Points and Judgment Principles for Supervision and Inspection of Drug Clinical Trial Institutions” and the standard operating procedures for quality control of the center. Topics discussed include informed consent, inclusion criteria, experimental drugs, biological samples, adverse events, and serious adverse events. The goal is to standardize quality control in phase Ⅰ clinical trials of anti-tumor drugs, ensure the authenticity and reliability of clinical trial data, and protect the rights and safety of participants.
7.Design of a mammography X-ray image classification assistant system adapted to Chinese population
Changjin SUN ; Fei TONG ; Yi WU ; Yuting WANG ; Junjie LUO ; Yan GONG ; Mingguo QIU ; Liang QIAO
Journal of Army Medical University 2025;47(1):92-99
Objective To construct a mammography image classification assistant system suitable for Chinese population,and explore the potential of artificial intelligence technology to assist early screening of breast cancer in China.Methods Curated breast imaging subset of digital database for screening mammography(CBIS-DDSM),Mammographic image analysis society database(MIAS)and other international open datasets were used to conduct model training respectively in order to reproduce the mainstream in-depth learning methods in the current literature.The model was also tested on the Chinese breast mammography database(CBMD)provided by Huajiao Technology Co.,Ltd,and the performance was compared.Aiming at the problem that the Chinese population data are not ideal in the performance test of the open dataset training model,an optimization strategy based on the sliding window adjustment mechanism was implemented in combination with the characteristics of Chinese population data.Then a two-stage migration learning method was designed to improve the overall performance of the model,and then development of our system was carried out.Results With the sliding window adjustment mechanism and the CBMD training model after two-stage transfer learning,the accuracy of our developed system was improved from 0.50 of the open datasets to 0.80,precision from 0.54 to 0.82,sensitivity from 0.52 to 0.80,F1 value from 0.52 to 0.80,and AUC value from 0.51 to 0.89 based on the Chinese population dataset as the test set.Conclusion Through the introduction of sliding window adjustment mechanism and two-stage migration learning strategy,the performance of the breast molybdenum target image classification model has been significantly improved in the Chinese population dataset,and our system primarily achieves the purpose of assisting the classification of breast molybdenum target images for the Chinese population.
8.Target prediction and preliminary validation of quercetin in treatment of endometriosis
Yi ZHANG ; Lulu WU ; Li TANG ; Jiao CUI ; Wanjing YUAN ; Wenying GONG ; Jiao ZHU ; Xiuwei LYU
Journal of Army Medical University 2025;47(16):1913-1922
Objective To investigate the multi-target mechanisms of quercetin in treating endometriosis(EMT)through integrative network pharmacology analysis.Methods Active targets of quercetin were collected from the TCMSP database,while EMT-related differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were identified through the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)dataset.A comparative analysis was conducted to pinpoint potential therapeutic targets of quercetin for EMT treatment.Functional enrichment analyses were employed to investigate the biological functions associated with these targets,and a protein-protein interaction(PPI)network was conducted to identify core targets.Molecular docking and dynamics simulations were performed to validate the binding characteristics between quercetin and the core targets.The top 2 target protein pairs,HSP90AB1 and AR,exhibiting the lowest binding energy,were selected for subsequent cellular experimental validation.Human EMT-immortalized ectopic endometrial epithelial cell line 12Z(n=6,independent replicates)was subjected,and CCK-8 assay was used to determine ehe effects of quercetin on cell viability and proliferation,and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration(IC50)was calculated at 48 h after treatment.Then the 12Z cells were treated with quercetin at a concentration gradient of 0,30,60 and 90 μmol/L,the migration and invasion abilities were assessed with cell scratch and cell invasion assays.Western blotting was conducted to detect the changes in the expression of HSP90AB1 and AR proteins after different doses of treatment.Results There were 49 potential EMT-related therapeutic targets and 10 core targets identified.Functional enrichment analyses revealed that these targets were significant enriched in inflammation-related signaling pathways,including AGE-RAGE,ErbB and TNF;immune-related pathways,such as Th17 cell differentiation,T/B cell receptor signaling;angiogenesis-related pathways like VEGF;and hormonal regulatory pathways involving estrogen and GnRH.Molecular docking demonstrated that quercetin exhibited favorable binding activity(binding energy<-5 kcal/mol)with all core target proteins,with particularly strong binding energies(<-7 kcal/mol)observed for AR,EGFR,FOS,ERBB2,and HSP90AB1.Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that quercetin forms sustained hydrogen bond interactions with AR and HSP90AB1,facilitating the formation of stable complexes.CCK-8 assay,cell scratch assay,and transwell invasion assay indicated that quercetin inhibited the proliferative activity,and migrative and invasive abilities of 12Z cells in a concentration-dependent manner,with more pronounced inhibitory effects observed at 60 and 90 μmol/L quercetin(P<0.001);Western blotting revealed that treatment of 12Z cells with varying quercetin concentrations for 48 h up-regulated the expression of HSP90AB1 and AR,with the most significant increase observed at 90 μmol/L quercetin(HSP90AB1,P<0.05;AR,P<0.001).The restored expression levels of HSP90AB1 and AR showed positive correlations with the proliferative activity,migrative and invasive abilities of ectopic endometrial cells.Conclusion Quercetin effectively addresses endometriosis through multiple molecular targets and signaling pathways,and stabilization of the HSP90AB1/AR complex and subsequent protein upregulation represents a key therapeutic mechanism.
9.Antimicrobial resistance profiles of Escherichia coli based on molecular typing and public health prevention and control strategy
Hua ZONG ; Caiyun LI ; Lingyu GONG ; Yi LUO ; Hong XIAO
Journal of Army Medical University 2025;47(21):2706-2716
Objective The pathogenic characteristics of Escherichia coli(E.coli)in bacterial infections were analyzed using a combination of multiple molecular typing techniques in order to provide evidence for the management of clinical medication safety.Methods Samples from some bacterial infection-related cases in a district of Chongqing in 2021 were collected.A total of 30 E.coli strains were selected by a completely random method,and phoA gene PCR assay was performed for identification.Molecular typing of the strains was analyzed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PFGE)and multilocus sequence typing(MLST).Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted to determine the drug resistance of the strains,and four β-lactamase-encoding genes(blaCTX-M,blaTEM,blaSHV,blaZ)were selected to detect the carriage of resistance genes.Results All 30 E.coli strains displayed the phoA gene target band.Their PFGE banding patterns,with a similarity of 50%~98%,could be classified into 8 clusters.Cluster C was the dominant group,accounting for 53.3%(16/30).C1 and C2 exhibited high genetic correlation,indicating a close phylogenetic relationship.One E.coli strain could not be assigned a sequence type(ST)by MLST,while the remaining 29 E.coli isolates were classified into 16 different STs,demonstrating a polymorphic distribution.Among them,10 isolates belonged to ST131(10/30,33.33%).Evolutionary analysis of the 10 ST131 E.coli strains revealed their distribution across different branches,indicating varying degrees of genetic relatedness.Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that all 30 E.coli strains exhibited varying degrees of resistance,with the highest resistance rate observed against the β-lactam antibiotic ampicillin(25/30,83.33%).Among them,60.0%were multidrug-resistant bacteria(MDRB).These MDRB strains exhibited 16 distinct resistance profiles,displaying a scattered distribution without a dominant resistance pattern.50.0%(9/18)of the MDRB strains exhibited six-drug resistance,while the most drug-resistant strain showed eight-drug resistance.Furthermore,the blaCTX-M gene carriage rate among the 30 E.coli strains was 86.67%(26/30),while no blaZ gene was detected.Conclusion E.coli related to bacterial infections from a Chongqing district exhibited diverse PFGE/MLST patterns and significant drug resistance.The application of multiple molecular typing techniques can reveal the genetic diversity,evolutionary relationships,and antimicrobial resistance characteristics of pathogenic bacteria.Countermeasures It is recommended to enhance the molecular typing and drug resistance surveillance network for pathogenic bacteria,establish an early warning mechanism,and implement hierarchical management of antibiotics,thereby improving targeted prevention and epidemic traceability capabilities for key drug-resistant bacteria such as ST131.
10.Reverse Fluorescence Enhancement Test Strip for Detection of Interleukin-8 Biomarker in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Qiu-Ting ZHANG ; Yi XU ; Shuang ZHAO ; Xiao-Qun GONG
Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry 2025;53(5):823-831
Oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC)is a common malignant tumor.Interleukin-8(IL-8)is an important biomarker of OSCC,and its level can reflect the occurrence and development of OSCC.It is of great significance to detect IL-8 rapidly and sensitively for the purpose of early diagnosis of OSCC.In this study,gold nanoparticles(AuNPs)with uniform particle size were synthesized by reduction of chloroauric acid with trisodium citrate,and the probe(AuNPs@mAb1)was prepared by coupling AuNPs with the murine anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibody mAb1.Cy5-NHS and murine anti-IL-8 monoclonal antibody mAb2 complex(Cy5-mAb2)and sheep anti-mouse IgG antibody were sprayed on nitrocellulose membrane to form test line(T line)and control line(C line)respectively,and reverse fluorescence-enhanced test strips were thus constructed,based on which an immunochromatographic method was established for highly sensitive detection of IL-8 in saliva samples.The experimental results showed that the test strip had good stability,high specificity and high sensitivity.The linear range for fluorescence detection of IL-8 was 0.01-100 ng/mL,and the limit of detection(3σ)was 7.93 pg/mL.The linear range for visualization detection was 6-100 ng/mL,with limit of detection(3σ)of 0.85 ng/mL.The fabricated test trip had good preparation reproducibility,with inter-and intra-batch assay precision of less than 5.5%.The test strip was used for detection of IL-8 in healthy human saliva samples,with spiked recoveries of 93.7% -102.4%,and relative standard deviations of 2.1% -4.3%.The fabricated test strip could be used for early screening of OSCC.

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