Addressing the enduring challenge of evaluating traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), the integrated evidence chain-based effectiveness evaluation of TCMs (Eff-iEC) has emerged. This paper explored its capacity through a demonstration study that evaluated the effectiveness evidence of six commonly used anti-hepatic fibrosis Chinese patent medicines (CPMs), including Biejiajian Pill (BP), Dahuang Zhechong Pill (DZP), Biejia Ruangan Compound (BRC), Fuzheng Huayu Capsule (FHC), Anluo Huaxian Pill (AHP), and Heluo Shugan Capsule (HSC), using both Eff-iEC and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. The recognition of these CPMs within the TCM academic community was also assessed through their inclusion in relevant medical documents. Results showed that the evidence of BRC and FHC received higher assessments in both Eff-iEC and GRADE system, while the assessments for others varied. Analysis of community recognition revealed that Eff-iEC more accurately reflects the clinical value of these CPMs, exhibiting superior evaluative capabilities. By breaking through the conventional pattern of TCMs effectiveness evaluation, Eff-iEC offers a novel epistemology that better aligns with the clinical realities and reasoning of TCMs, providing a coherent methodology for clinical decision-making, new drug evaluations, and health policy formulation.

Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy of laparoscopic stomach intestinal pylorus sparing surgery (SIPS) in the treatment of severe obesity. Methods: The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinical data of 5 patients with severe obesity who were admitted to the China-Japan Union Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University from October to November 2018 were collected. There was 1 male and 4 females, aged from 18 to 55 years, with an average age of 33 years. All the 5 patients underwent laparoscopic SIPS. Observation indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) postoperative situations; (3) follow-up. Follow-up was performed by outpatient examination, telephone interview and Wechat up to February 2019, including general condition, changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure, percentage of excess weight loss, fasting plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, blood lipid, and uric acid at 3 months after surgery. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and they were tested with Hotelling T² test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M (range). Results: (1) Surgical situations: 5 patients underwent successfully laparoscopic SIPS under clear surgical field, without obvious bleeding, conversion to open surgery or perioperative death. The operation time was 240 minutes (range, 165-345 minutes). (2) Postoperative situations: the time to initial out-of-bed activity, time to first and flatus, and time to initial drinking and liquid intake were 2 days (range, 2-3 days), 3 days (range, 2-3 days), and 3 days (range, 3-4 days), respectively. On the third day after surgery, all the 5 patients were confirmed anastomotic patency, without gastric leakage, stenosis, or obstruction by upper gastrointestinal contrast. The abdominal drainage-tube was removed on the fourth day after feeding without obvious discomfort and foreign substances extraction from the drainage-tube. The duration of postoperative hospital stay was 6 days (range, 6-7 days). (3) Follow-up: 5 patients with severe obesity were successfully followed up for 3 months. During the follow-up, one patient had significantly increased frequency of defecation, roughly 5-8 times a day, especially after eating greasy food. According to the dietary guidance of the case manager, diarrhea was improved significantly after reducing the intake of oily food. Of the 5 patients with severe obesity, color doppler ultrasonography examination revealed that cholestasis was found in 2 patients at 3 months after operation, which may be related to significant weight loss, ratio imbalance of bile acid to and cholesterol, intestinal microbiota, injury of vagus nerve, significant increasing in mucin of gallbladder, and without oral ursodeoxycholic acid as prescribed by the doctor. The body weight, body mass index, waistline, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure of 5 patients with severe obesity were (100±15)kg, (36±4)kg/m^2, (111±10)cm, (130±12)mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), and (78±14)mmHg at 3 months after operation, respectively, showing significant differences compared with these of preoperation (F=61.631, 75.558, 87.045, 9.501, 16.248, P<0.05). The percentage of excess weight loss was 44%±9%. Among the 5 patients with severe obesity, the fasting plasma glucose of 2 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus decreased from 9.55 mmol/L and 13.49 mmol/L to 5.18 mmol/L and 5.62 mmol/L after operation, respectively. Level of glycated hemoglobin decreased from 10.0% and 9.9% to 5.2% and 6.2% after operation, respectively. In the 2 patients with hyperlipidemia, one patient with hypertriglyceride had level of triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein increased from preoperative 2.24 mmol/L, 4.84 mmol/L and 2.92 mmol/L to 2.47 mmol/L, 6.68 mmol/L and 5.51 mmol/L after operation, another patient with hypercholesterol had cholesterol level decreased from preoperative 5.97 mmol/L to postoperative 5.75 mmol/L after operation. In the 3 patients with hyperuricemia, two patients had the uric acid decreased from 404 μmol/L and 484 μmol/L to 319 μmol/L and 417 μmol/L after operation, respectively, one had the uric acid increased from 531 μmol/L to 674 μmol/L after operation. Conclusions Laparoscopic SIPS has a significant short-term effect on patients with severe obesity, but its long-term safety and efficacy need to be further followed up.

The main constituents of a typical medicinal herb,Polygonum muMflorum (Heshouwu in Chinese),that induces idiosyncratic liver injury remain unclear.Our previous work has shown that cotreatment with a nontoxic dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and therapeutic dose of Heshouwu can induce liver injury in rats,whereas the solo treatment cannot induce observable injury.In the present work,using the constituent "knock-out" and "knock-in" strategy,we found that the ethyl acetate (EA) extract of Heshouwu displayed comparable idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity to the whole extract in LPS-treated rats.Results indicated a significant elevation of plasma alanine aminotransferase,aspartate aminotransferase,and liver histologic changes,whereas other separated fractions failed to induce liver injury.The mixture of EA extract with other separated fractions induced comparable idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity to the whole extract in LPS-treated rats.Chemical analysis further revealed that 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxy trans-stilbene-2-O-β-glucoside (trans-SG) and its cis-isomer were the two major compounds in EA extract.Furthermore,the isolated cis-,and not its trans-isomer,displayed comparable idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity to EA extract in LPS-treated rats.Higher contents of cis-SG were detected in Heshouwu liquor or preparations from actual liver intoxication patients associated with Heshouwu compared with general collected samples.In addition,plasma metabolomics analysis showed that cis-SG-disturbing enriched pathways remarkably differed from trans-SG ones in LPS-treated rats.All these results suggested that cis-SG was closely associated with the idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity of Heshouwu.Considering that the cis-trans isomerization of transSG was mediated by ultraviolet light or sunlight,our findings serve as reference for controlling photoisomerization in drug discovery and for the clinical use of Heshouwu and stilbene-related medications.

To screen the harmful substance 5-hydroxymethyl furfural content in commercially available traditional Chinese medicine injection which are commonly used, and to preliminarily evaluate the quality of these injections, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural was taken as an index. The contents of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural in 56 samples which consist of 23 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine injections and glucose injection were determined using LC-MS/MS, and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural was detected in 52 of these samples. The minimal content was 0.0038 microg x L(-1) and the maximum content was 1420 microg x mL(-1). The contents of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural were significantly different in traditional Chinese medicine injection which came from different kinds, manufacturers or batches. The results showed the quality difference of commercially available traditional Chinese medicine injection is significant taking 5-hydroxymethyl furfural content as assessment index. More attention should be paid to the safety of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural in traditional Chinese medicine injection, and unified limitation standard should be set to improve medication safety of traditional Chinese medicine injection.

Objective To investigate the value of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in the diagnosis of hemorrhagic diffuse axonal injury (DAI). Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 20 patients with DAI who received MRI examination at day 3 post-injury.MRI sequences included T1WI,T2WI,fluid attenuated inversion recovery ( FLAIR),diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and SWI.There were 15 patients with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score≤8,three with GCS score of 9-12 and two with GCS of 13-15.The location and quantity of hemorrhage focus were counted.The area of hemorrhage focus was measured on each MR sequence.Differences of detection rate of hemorrhage focus on each sequence were compared by using X2 test.The correlation between DAI related bleeding area and GCS score was analyzed. Results DAI related hemorrhage focus showed a larger number in superficial cerebrum than that in posterior cranial fossa and in deep cerebrum.The detection rate of hemorrhage focus on SWI was the highest,as compared with other sequences ( P ＜ 0.05 ).Bleeding area and GCS score showed a negative correlation (r =-0.921,P ＜ 0.01 ). Conclusion SWI is very sensitive in detection of the intracerebral hemorrhage focus in the acute period of traumatic DAI.