Treatment based on meridian differentiation is a characteristic method in clinical acupuncture diagnosis and treatment. Accurately defining and explaining its main content and core concepts is essential for effective clinical guidance. This paper reviews the historical and contemporary understanding, concepts, and primary content of treatment based on meridian differentiation. It proposes a four-step process for clinical application: meridian examination, treatment based on meridian differentiation, acupoint selection, and appropriate treatment methods, with TCM syndrome differentiation applied throughout. Constructing a diagnostic and treatment system which is based on meridian differentiation and suited to clinical acupuncture is significant for enhancing therapeutic efficacy and maximizing the benefits of acupuncture in disease treatment.
Humans ; Meridians ; Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Acupuncture Points ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has recently been proposed as a key player in the representation of itch stimuli. However, to date, little is known about the contribution of specific ACC interneuron populations to itch processing. Using c-Fos immunolabeling and in vivo Ca²⁺ imaging, we reported that both histamine and chloroquine stimuli-induced acute itch caused a marked enhancement of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-expressing interneuron activity in the ACC. Behavioral data indicated that optogenetic and chemogenetic activation of these neurons reduced scratching responses related to histaminergic and non-histaminergic acute itch. Similar neural activity and modulatory role of these neurons were seen in mice with chronic itch induced by contact dermatitis. Together, this study highlights the importance of ACC VIP⁺ neurons in modulating itch-related affect and behavior, which may help us to develop novel mechanism-based strategies to treat refractory chronic itch in the clinic.
Animals ; Pruritus/physiopathology* ; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide/metabolism* ; Interneurons/metabolism* ; Gyrus Cinguli/metabolism* ; Mice ; Male ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Histamine ; Chloroquine ; Optogenetics ; Mice, Transgenic

Objective To explore the relationship between serum chitosinase 3-like protein 1(CHI3L1)and Syndecan-1(SDC1)levels and bone metabolism in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and their predictive efficacy on osteoporosis.Methods A total of 412 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to this hospital from May 2019 to May 2023 were included in this study,and were divided into normal bone mass group(n=151),reduced bone mass group(n=138)and osteoporosis group(n=123)according to the iffer-ences in bone mineral density.Serum CHI3L1 and SDC1 levels were detected by enzyme-linked immunosor-bent assay,and serum levels of type 1 collagen cross-linked carboxyl terminal peptide(CTX),25-hydroxyvita-min D[25-(OH)D],osteocalcin(OC),and type 1 procollagen N-terminal propeptide(P1NP)were deter-mined by automatic chemiluminescence immunoassay.Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between serum CHI3L1,SDC1 and bone metabolism in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.Re-ceiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of serum CHI3L1 and SDC1 on osteoporosis in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors of osteoporosis in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.Results There were significant differences in diabetes course,fasting blood glucose,HbA1c and HDL-C a-mong normal bone mass group,decreased bone mass group and osteoporosis group(P＜0.05).The levels of serum CHI3L1,25-(OH)D,P1NP and osteocalcin in osteoporosis group were lower than those in osteopenia group,and those in osteopenia group were lower than those in normal bone mass group,the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).Serum SDC1 and CTX levels in osteoporosis group were higher than those in osteopenia group,and those in osteopenia group were higher than those in normal bone mass group,the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).Serum CHI3L1 was positively correlated with 25-(OH)D,P1NP and OC(P＜0.05),and negatively correlated with CTX(P＜0.05).Serum SDC1 was negatively correlated with 25-(OH)D,P1NP,OC(P＜0.05),and positively correlated with CTX(P＜0.05).The area under the curve(AUC)of serum CHI3L1,SDC1 and their combination predicted osteoporosis in elderly pa-tients with type 2 diabetes were 0.851,0.772 and 0.904,respectively.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that long duration of diabetes,increased HbA1c,high expression of OC,CHI3L1＞4.16 ng/mL,SDC1≥50.94 ng/mL were all influential factors for osteoporosis in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes(P＜0.05).Conclusion Low expression of CHI3L1 and high expression of SDC1 in serum are associated with ab-normal bone metabolism in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.These two indexes are expected to be used as biological markers to predict osteoporosis in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes.

Tic disorder is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder with complex etiology and diverse phenotypes,and its incidence has been increasing significantly in recent years.Most scholars believe that abnormalities in the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuit and its interconnected brain regions are closely related to the development of tic disorder.Chinese materia medica intervention in tic disorders is characterized by multi-targets,multi-mechanisms and holistic nature,and has a good prospect for research application.This article summarized the experimental studies of TCM compound intervention in tic disorder in recent years,which have shown that TCM compounds could reduce the damage of nerve cells through the regulation of neurotransmitters,inflammatory response,immune function and the"colony-gut-brain axis"to improve and prevent tic disorder,which could provide a reference for the research and development of new medicines for tic disorder and for the clinical research.

Tic disorder is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder with complex etiology and diverse phenotypes,and its incidence has been increasing significantly in recent years.Most scholars believe that abnormalities in the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical circuit and its interconnected brain regions are closely related to the development of tic disorder.Chinese materia medica intervention in tic disorders is characterized by multi-targets,multi-mechanisms and holistic nature,and has a good prospect for research application.This article summarized the experimental studies of TCM compound intervention in tic disorder in recent years,which have shown that TCM compounds could reduce the damage of nerve cells through the regulation of neurotransmitters,inflammatory response,immune function and the"colony-gut-brain axis"to improve and prevent tic disorder,which could provide a reference for the research and development of new medicines for tic disorder and for the clinical research.

ObjectiveTo analyze the effects of new integration processing method in producing area and traditional method on the composition and pharmacological action of Polygoni Multiflori Radix Praeparata（PMRP）， and to illustrate the advantages of toxicity reducing and efficacy enhancing of the decoction pieces prepared by the new method. MethodFresh Polygoni Multiflori Radix（PMR） was taken from Dao-di producing area， and was processed by new integration processing method in producing area（steaming with black bean juice under pressure of 0.1 MPa and temperature at 120 ℃ for 10.5 h） and traditional method（steaming with black bean juice under water for 36 h）， respectively. Samples were collected during the processing process of the two methods， For new method， the samples were collected at 0.5， 3， 5.5， 8， 10.5 h， separately. For traditional method， the samples were collected every 4 h. High performance liquid chromatography（HPLC） was used to establish fingerprint and identify common peaks， the content of polysaccharides was determined by anthrone-sulfuric acid colorimetry at 627 nm， and the contents of anthraquinones and stilbene glycosides in different processed products were determined according to the methods under the item of determination of PMR and PMRP in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. In pharmacological experiments， 90 SD rats were randomly divided into 9 groups with 10 in each group（half of male and half of female）， including the blank group， and raw products， 24 h processed products under atmospheric pressure， 30 h processed products under atmospheric pressure， 8 h processed products under high pressure groups with low and high dosages（4.125， 16.5 g·kg^-1）. Rats were given the drug by gavage for 29 d with once a day， blood was collected from the abdominal aorta after the last administration， and the serum was isolated， the body mass and liver mass of rats were weighed and the organ index was calculated. The pathological change of liver tissue was observed by hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining， and biochemical methods were used to detect the contents of aspartate aminotransferase（AST）， alanine aminotransferase（ALT）， alkaline phosphatase（ALP）， γ-glutamyltransferase（GGT）， lactic dehydrogenase（LDH） in serum which used as liver function indicators and the levels of superoxide dismutase（SOD）， malondialdehyde（MDA）， glutathione peroxidase（GSH-Px） in brain tissues which used as oxidation indicators. ResultA total of 14 common peaks were identified in the fingerprint of PMR， PMRP prepared by new method and traditional method， and three of the peaks were designated as stilbene glycoside， emodin and emodin methyl ether， respectively. The characteristic peak areas of each processed products changed significantly from 0 min to 25 min， indicating that different processing methods had an effect on the contents of components with high polarity in PMRP， and the trend of the changes of the two methods was similar， with the higher degree of change in the new method. The determination results showed that compared with the traditional method， the content of polysaccharide（a kind of beneficial component in PMRP obtained by the new method） significantly increased， while the contents of stilbene glycoside and bound anthraquinone（liver-damaging ingredients） significantly decreased. The pharmacological results showed that compared with the blank group， AST and LDH levels of male rats in the low and high dose groups of 24 h processed products under atmospheric pressure and AST level of male rats in the low and high dose groups of 8 h processed products under high pressure were significantly reduced（P<0.05， P<0.01）， while compared with the raw product groups with the same dose， AST and LDH levels of male rats in the low dose group of 30 h processed products under atmospheric pressure were significantly reduced（P<0.05， P<0.01）， the AST levels of male rats in the low and high dose groups of 8 h processed products under high pressure were significantly decreased（P<0.01）， and there was no statistical significance in the differences of biochemical indexes of female rats in each administration group as compared with those of the blank group. ConclusionThe new integration processing method in producing area of PMRP can reach the quality of relevant regulations in 8 h. The processed products obtained by this method have more advantages than the traditional method in terms of toxicity reducing and efficacy enhancing， and energy saving to avoid the loss of ingredients， which can provide ideas for the production of high-quality decoction pieces of PMRP， and the integration processing method in producing area of other roots and rhizomes of traditional Chinese medicines.

ObjectiveTo investigate the mechanism of neferine（Nef） in promoting vascular regeneration against cerebral ischemia through modulation of mitochondrial calcium uniporter（MCU） ion channel. MethodTaking the area of subintestinal vessels in microvascular deficiency zebrafish as an index， the vascular regenerative efficacy of Nef was evaluated， and the median effective concentration（EC₅₀） was calculated. Rats were randomly divided into a sham operation group， a model group， a positive drug group（butylphthalide， 6 mg·kg^-1）， and Nef low， medium， and high dose groups（0.125， 0.625， 3.125 μg·kg^-1）. Except for the sham operation group， the middle cerebral artery occlusion（MCAO） model was established in other groups. After modeling， the groups were administered the corresponding dose of drugs by gavage， while the sham operation and model groups received equal volumes of saline， once a day for 7 consecutive days. Neurobehavioral scores were assessed for each group of rats， and the infarct rate of ischemic brain tissue was calculated by 2，3，5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride（TTC） staining. The regional cerebral blood flow（rCBF） of each group was measured using a speckle contrast imaging. Immunofluorescence and Western blot were conducted to detect the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor（VEGF）， platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1（CD31）， and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α（HIF-1α） proteins in each group. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells（HUVECs） were divided into the normal group， model group， positive drug group（astragaloside Ⅳ， 10 μmol·L^-1）， and Nef group （32 nmol·L^-1）. In the verification of mitochondrial protection of Nef and its mechanism in promoting vascular regeneration， the spermine（MCU agonist） and Nef+spermine group were added. HUVECs model of oxygen-glucose deprivation（OGD） was established in all groups except the normal group， the cell viability was assessed using 3-（4，5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl）-2，5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide（MTT） assay， and cell migration ability was evaluated through scratch and tube formation assays. Fluorescent probes（Rhod-2 AM， Fluo-3 AM， JC-1， Calcein AM） and a cellular energy metabolism analyzer were used to analyze the mitochondrial protective effects of Nef. Molecular docking was performed to predict the binding ability of Nef with MCU and HIF-1α， and Western blot was used to detect the effects of Nef on the protein expressions of MCU， B-cell lymphoma-2 associated X protein（Bax）， Caspase-3 and HIF-1α in the OGD model HUVECs. ResultThe results of vascular regeneration in microvascular deficiency zebrafish showed that compared to the normal group， the area of subintestinal vessels in the model group significantly decreased（P<0.01）. Compared to the model group， different concentrations of Nef could significantly increase the area of subintestinal vessels（P<0.01）， with the maximum tolerated concentration of 10.24 μmol·L^-1 and the EC₅₀ of 0.23 μmol·L^-1. Anti-cerebral ischemia results on MCAO rats showed that compared to the sham operation group， the model group had a significant decrease in rCBF and a significant increase in infarct rate， while CD31 expression significantly decreased（P<0.01）， and VEGF and HIF-1α protein expressions significantly increased（P<0.05）. Compared to the model group， the treated groups showed significant increases in rCBF， significant reductions in infarct volume， and significant increases in CD31， VEGF， and HIF-1α protein expression（P<0.01）. Cell experiment results showed that compared to the normal group， the model group had decreased cell viability and migration ability， increased intracellular Ca²⁺ and mitochondrial Ca²⁺ levels， reduced mitochondrial permeability transition pore（MPTP） opening， and decreased mitochondrial energy metabolism capability， with increased expressions of MCU， Bax， Caspase-3 and HIF-1α proteins（P<0.05， P<0.01）. Compared to the model group， the Nef group showed increased cell viability and migration ability， decreased intracellular Ca²⁺ and mitochondrial Ca²⁺ levels， increased MPTP opening， enhanced mitochondrial energy metabolism capability， decreased expressions of MCU， Bax and Caspase-3 proteins， and increased HIF-1α protein expression（P<0.05， P<0.01）. ConclusionNef can stabilize mitochondrial membrane potential and inhibit mitochondrial apoptosis. By down-regulating the expression of MCU， it suppresses the activation of intracellular Bax and Caspase-3 while activating the HIF-1α signaling pathway， enhancing the expression of VEGF and CD31， thereby promoting vascular regeneration to treat ischemic brain injury.

Objective:To evaluate the clinical value of combined detection of placenta associated 8 (PLAC8) and platelet activating factor acetylhydrolase (PLA2G7) for early identification of sepsis and non-infectious systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 189 febrile patients suspected infection who were admitted to Huashan Hospital, Fudan University from October 2022 to April 2023 were included. Based on etiological, laboratory test results and clinical data, patients were classified as infection or non-infection, and further classified as sepsis or non-infectious SIRS according to diagnostic criteria. Real-time fluorescence polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the mRNA levels of PLAC8 and PLA2G7 in peripheral venous blood of patients. Hematology, inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and procalcitonin, sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, and the difference of cycle threshold (Ct) values between PLA2G7 and PLAC8 ((PLA2G7-PLAC8)ΔCt value))were compared between the sepsis and non-infectious SIRS groups. Statistical comparison was analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test, and the diagnostic performance of (PLA2G7-PLAC8)ΔCt value in discriminating sepsis from non-infectious SIRS was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve. Results:Among the 189 febrile patients suspected infection, there were 80 non-infectious patients, including 51 non-infectious SIRS patients, and 109 infection patients, including 53 sepsis patients. The neutrophil ratio, CRP, IL-6, procalcitonin, and SOFA score of non-infectious SIRS patients were lower than those of the sepsis group, and the differences were all statistically significant ( Z=-2.70, -3.11, -2.16, -3.76 and -2.33, respectively, all P<0.05). The (PLA2G7-PLAC8)ΔCt value in the non-infectious SIRS group was 4.38(1.41), which was lower than 8.18 (6.19) in the sepsis group, with a statistically significant difference ( U=193.50, P<0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for (PLA2G7-PLAC8)ΔCt value in the differential diagnosis of sepsis and non-infectious SIRS was 0.859, with the optimal cut-off value of 5.86. The sensitivity and specificity were 82.2% and 71.9%, respectively. When combined with procalcitonin, the AUROC was 0.917, with a sensitivity of 95.6% and specificity of 70.6%. Conclusions:The (PLA2G7-PLAC8)ΔCt value in peripheral blood has good clinical value for early identification of sepsis and non-infectious SIRS, especially when combined with procalcitonin, which could further improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis.

Drug conditional approval refers to the accelerated approval and marketing of clinically urgently needed drugs with outstanding therapeutic value through the form of "approval first, verification later" before completing complete clinical trials. Since the 1990s, the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom have successively implemented drug conditional approval for marketing. In 2017, the application for conditional approval of drugs was implemented in China. In this paper, the pre-market conditions and requirements, post-market monitoring and supervision of drugs in China are compared with other countries/regions. Based on the comparison results, the possible optimization directions of China′s drug conditional approval system are summarized and explored.

Drug conditional approval refers to the accelerated approval and marketing of clinically urgently needed drugs with outstanding therapeutic value through the form of "approval first, verification later" before completing complete clinical trials. Since the 1990s, the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom have successively implemented drug conditional approval for marketing. In 2017, the application for conditional approval of drugs was implemented in China. In this paper, the pre-market conditions and requirements, post-market monitoring and supervision of drugs in China are compared with other countries/regions. Based on the comparison results, the possible optimization directions of China′s drug conditional approval system are summarized and explored.