Debates persist regarding the efficacy and safety of azvudine, particularly its real-world outcomes. This study involved patients aged ≥60 years who were admitted to 25 hospitals in mainland China with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between December 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. Efficacy outcomes were all-cause mortality during hospitalization, the proportion of patients discharged with recovery, time to nucleic acid-negative conversion (T _NANC), time to symptom improvement (T _SI), and time of hospital stay (T _HS). Safety was also assessed. Among the 5884 participants identified, 1999 received azvudine, and 1999 matched controls were included after exclusion and propensity score matching. Azvudine recipients exhibited lower all-cause mortality compared with controls in the overall population (13.3% vs. 17.1%, RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90; P = 0.001) and in the severe subgroup (25.7% vs. 33.7%; RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.66-0.88; P < 0.001). A higher proportion of patients discharged with recovery, and a shorter T _NANC were associated with azvudine recipients, especially in the severe subgroup. The incidence of adverse events in azvudine recipients was comparable to that in the control group (2.3% vs. 1.7%, P = 0.170). In conclusion, azvudine showed efficacy and safety in older patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the SARS-CoV-2 omicron wave in China.

This study retrospectively reviews and analyzes the application and funding status of traditional Chinese medicine pediat-rics(code H3112)projects under the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)from 2014 to 2023.It introduces the ap-plication and funding situations of projects in three categories:general programs,young scientists programs,and regional fund programs.The study also summarizes the characteristics of funded projects in the field of traditional Chinese medicine pediatrics,ai-ming to provide references for researchers and clinical professionals in this field when applying for future projects.

This study retrospectively reviews and analyzes the application and funding status of traditional Chinese medicine pediat-rics(code H3112)projects under the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)from 2014 to 2023.It introduces the ap-plication and funding situations of projects in three categories:general programs,young scientists programs,and regional fund programs.The study also summarizes the characteristics of funded projects in the field of traditional Chinese medicine pediatrics,ai-ming to provide references for researchers and clinical professionals in this field when applying for future projects.

AIM:To investigate the effects of sodium hydrosulfide(NaHS)on hexokinase 2(HK2)-nucleo-tide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)-gasdermin D(GSDMD)pathway and pyroptosis in-duced by lung ischemia/reperfusion(I/R)in rats.METHODS:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 6 groups:control group,control+NaHS group,I/R group,low-dose NaHS+I/R(L+I/R)group,medium-dose NaHS+I/R(M+I/R)group,and high-dose NaHS+I/R(H+I/R)group,with 6 rats in each group.The NaHS was administered via intraperi-toneal injection at 1.5 mL,30 min before modeling.The left lung tissues were collected 30 min after ischemia and 1 h af-ter reperfusion,and the wet/dry weight ratio and total lung water content were recorded.Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was used to examine lung tissue morphological changes.The levels of malondialdehyde(MDA),myeloperoxidase(MPO)and lactate in lung tissues were measured with test kits.ELISA was employed to determine the levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β)and IL-18.The expression of glycolysis-and pyroptosis-related indicators was analyzed by Western blot,qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining.RESULTS:Compared with control group,the rats in NaHS group showed no signifi-cant differences in all laboratory tests(P>0.05).The rats in I/R group exhibited significant lung injury,oxidative stress,increased lactate level,and up-regulated glycolysis and pyroptosis(P<0.05 or P<0.01).Compared with I/R group,the indicators in L+I/R group showed a downward trend(P<0.01)or no difference(P>0.05),while those in M+I/R group dis-played a significant reduction(P<0.05 or P<0.01).However,the indexes in H+I/R group exhibited no significant dif-ferences in these tests(all P>0.05).CONCLUSION:A moderate dose(56 μmol·L-1·kg-1)of NaHS mitigated the oc-currence of pyroptosis by inhibiting the HK2-NLRP3-GSDMD pathway,thus contributing to the attenuation of lung I/R in-jury in rats.

AIM:To investigate the effect and mechanism of the exogenous hydrogen sulfide donor GYY4137 on hypoxia-induced proliferation of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells(PASMCs).METHODS:Rat PASMCs in optimal growth condition were used.Once the cell density reached 60%～70%,the cells were serum starved for 24 h.The cells were then randomly divided into four groups:normal group,normal+GYY4137 group,hypoxia group,and hypoxia+GYY4137 group.A CCK-8 assay was used to determine the safe concentration range of GYY4137 that exerted no adverse effects on normal cells,and the optimal concentration of GYY4137 to inhibit hypoxia-induced proliferation of PASMCs was identified.EdU staining was employed to assess PASMCs proliferation in each group.Western blot analysis was conducted to evaluate the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA)and proteins related to glycolysis and pyroptosis in PASMCs.Lactic acid content was quantified using a lactic acid assay kit.Immunofluorescence was used to detect the pro-tein expression of hexokinase 2(HK2)and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)in PASMCs,and the levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β)and IL-18 in PASMCs were measured using ELISA.RESULTS:The effective concentration of GYY4137 in inhibiting hypoxia-induced viability of PAMSCs was 100 μmol/L(P＜0.05).Com-pared with the hypoxia group,the hypoxia+GYY4137 group showed a significant decrease in PCNA protein expression(P＜0.05),reduced PAMSCs proliferation(P＜0.01),decreased HK2 and pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2(PKM2)protein expression(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),increased pyruvate dehydrogenase(PDH)protein expression(P＜0.05),and reduced lac-tic acid content(P＜0.01).Additionally,the expression of pyroptosis-related proteins was significantly decreased(P＜0.015,P＜0.01),and immunofluorescence revealed a significant decrease in HK2 and NLRP3 expression(P＜0.01).ELISA results showed that IL-1β and IL-18 protein levels were significantly decreased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01).CONCLU-SION:GYY4137 inhibits hypoxia-induced proliferation of rat PASMCs by regulating glycolysis and pyroptosis.

AIM:To investigate the effect and mechanism of the exogenous hydrogen sulfide donor GYY4137 on hypoxia-induced proliferation of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells(PASMCs).METHODS:Rat PASMCs in optimal growth condition were used.Once the cell density reached 60%～70%,the cells were serum starved for 24 h.The cells were then randomly divided into four groups:normal group,normal+GYY4137 group,hypoxia group,and hypoxia+GYY4137 group.A CCK-8 assay was used to determine the safe concentration range of GYY4137 that exerted no adverse effects on normal cells,and the optimal concentration of GYY4137 to inhibit hypoxia-induced proliferation of PASMCs was identified.EdU staining was employed to assess PASMCs proliferation in each group.Western blot analysis was conducted to evaluate the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA)and proteins related to glycolysis and pyroptosis in PASMCs.Lactic acid content was quantified using a lactic acid assay kit.Immunofluorescence was used to detect the pro-tein expression of hexokinase 2(HK2)and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3)in PASMCs,and the levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β)and IL-18 in PASMCs were measured using ELISA.RESULTS:The effective concentration of GYY4137 in inhibiting hypoxia-induced viability of PAMSCs was 100 μmol/L(P＜0.05).Com-pared with the hypoxia group,the hypoxia+GYY4137 group showed a significant decrease in PCNA protein expression(P＜0.05),reduced PAMSCs proliferation(P＜0.01),decreased HK2 and pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2(PKM2)protein expression(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),increased pyruvate dehydrogenase(PDH)protein expression(P＜0.05),and reduced lac-tic acid content(P＜0.01).Additionally,the expression of pyroptosis-related proteins was significantly decreased(P＜0.015,P＜0.01),and immunofluorescence revealed a significant decrease in HK2 and NLRP3 expression(P＜0.01).ELISA results showed that IL-1β and IL-18 protein levels were significantly decreased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01).CONCLU-SION:GYY4137 inhibits hypoxia-induced proliferation of rat PASMCs by regulating glycolysis and pyroptosis.

Objective: To compare the clinical significance of human epididymis protein 4(HE4), CA125, ROMA in the differential diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Methods: From May 2016 to October 2017, 240 patients with ovarian tumor in Xuzhou Cancer Hospital were selected.According to the result of postoperative pathology, the patients were divided into benign ovarian disease group(n=120) and ovarian cancer group(n=120). And 100 healthy women from medical examination center were selected as control group.The electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) technique was used to assess the serum levels of CA125, HE4, and ROMA was calculated.The clinical significance of HE4, CA125, ROMA in the differential diagnosis of ovarian cancer was analyzed by statistic methods. Results: The CA125, HE4 concentrations and ROMA in the ovarian cancer group[(370.9±213.2)U/mL, (364.4±227.0)pmpl/L, (80.2±26.1)%]were higher than those in the benign ovarian disease group and the health control group(all P<0.01), there were no statistically significant differences between the benign ovarian disease group and the healthy control group(P=0.356, P=0.321, P=0.292). The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, accuracy of ROMA were higher than those of HE4 and CA125.By using the ROC analysis, the AUC for CA125, HE4, ROMA were 0.832, 0.888, 0.960, respectively, AUC(CA125)Conclusion CA125 and HE4 have important value in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, but the ROMA shows the best diagnostic performance and actual value.

Objective To observe the effects of Yiqi Huoxue Tongluo Jiedu fang (YHTJF) on pneumocyte apoptosis after lung ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury (LIRI) in mice and to investigate whether c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) is involved in the mechanism of apoptosis.Methods Seventy C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into seven groups:normal control group (C group),carboxyl methyl cellulose-Na+normal control group (CMC-Na+C group),CMC-Na+sham group (CMC-Na+S group),CMC-Na+I/R group (CMC-Na+I/R group) and CMC-Na+YHTJF-low,-middle,-high dose groups (CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM,CMC-Na+YH groups).C group did not undergo any processing;in CMC-Na+S group,only was chest opened without clipping the lung hilum;in the rest of the four groups,they all underwent opening of the chest and clipping the lung hilum for 30 minutes,then the clipping of artery was relieved and left lung reperfusion was carried out for 3 hours.After operation,the mice were sacrificed,the lung tissues were harvested.Under light and electron microscopes,the lung morphological and ultra-structural changes were observed,and the changes of index of quantitative evaluation for alveolar damage (IQA) were determined.The terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) was applied to evaluate the apoptosis index (AI) of the lung tissues.The protein and mRNA expressions of JNK and glucose regulating protein 78 (GRP78) in lung tissues were detected by Western Blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR);the correlations between lung AI and the expressions of mRNA and protein of JNK and GRP78,IQA were analyzed.Results Compared with CMC-Na+S group,IQA,AI and mRNA and the protein expressions of JNK and GRP78 in CMC-Na+I/R group were obviously higher [IQA:(74.00 ± 7.31)％ vs.(7.00 ± 1.23)％,AI:(64.40 ± 11.97)％ vs.(5.60 ± 1.14)％,JNK mRNA (gray value):1.143 ± 0.284 vs.0.152 ± 0.128,GRP78 mRNA (gray value):0.897 ± 0.129 vs.0.284 ± 0.044,JNK protein (A value):0.428 ± 0.074 vs.0.073 ± 0.052,GRP78 protein (A value):1.075 ± 0.145 vs.0.589 ± 0.060].Compared with CMC-Na+I/R group,the IQA,AI,protein and mRNA expressions of JNK and GRP78 in CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM,CMC-Na+YH groups were all lower,and the degree of reduction in group CMC-Na+YM was the most remarkable,greater than that in CMC-Na+YL or CMC-Na+YH group [IQA:(26.20 ± 3.35)％ vs.(34.00±5.34)％,(41.20±9.18)％,AI:(29.40±3.05)％ vs.(48.20±3.83)％,(39.20±6.14)％,JNK mRNA (gray value):0.681 ± 0.130 vs.0.804 ± 0.153,0.938 ± 0.11,GRP78 mRNA (gray value):0.450 ± 0.105 vs.0.747 ± 0.231,0.566 ± 0.115,JNK protein (A value):0.188 ± 0.049 vs.0.261 ± 0.065,0.209 ± 0.063,all P ＜ 0.01],compared with the CMC-Na+I/R group,the expression of GRP78 protein was obviously higher in CMC-Na+YH,CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM groups and the most remarkably high was in CMC-Na+YH group (A value:1.429 ±0.226 vs.1.130±0.169,1.128 ±0.177,all P ＜ 0.01).The apoptosis of each group was mainly in the pulmonary vascular endothelial cells and alveolar epithelial cells,and brown particles were positive cells under light microscope.Under transmission electron microscope:nuclear pyknosis and margination under the nuclear membrane,cytoplasm condensed,lamellar bodies decreased and emptying increased,cell membrane microvilli decreased or disappeared,mitochondria swelling,inflammatory cells increased in alveolar septum and adhering onto the capillary walls could be seen in CMC-Na+I/R group.Compared with CMC-Na+I/R group,the lung tissue ultrastructural damage alleviated,ultrastructure of alveoli clearly seen,nuclear chromatin relatively uniform,cytoplasm increased,type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cell surface microvilli relatively plenty,lamellar corpuscle number increased,mitochondria swelling ameliorated in CMC-Na+YH,CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM groups and the most remarkable one was CMC-Na+YM group.AI was significantly positive correlated with the mRNA and protein expressions of JNK,GRP78 and IQA (r =0.907,0.928,0.880,0.712,0.911,all P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions YHTJF may effectively alleviate the cell apoptosis in mice LIRI,and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of JNK pathway.

Objective To explore the effects of lentivirus-mediated RNA interference targeting HOXA10 gene on the proliferation, apoptosis and drug resistance of leukemic cell line NB4.Methods NB4 cells were divided into three groups: interference group, negative control group and untreated group.The infection efficiency of lentivirus for NB4 cells was detected by flow cytometry, and the expression of HOXA10 gene of NB4 cells at mRNA and protein level was detected by real-time PCR and Western blot.Cell survival was determined by MTF assay, and apoptosis and necrosis rates were detected by flow cytometry.Western blot was used to detect the influence of down-regulation HOXA10 gene on the multi-drug resistance-1 (MDR-1) protein.Results The ratio of GFP positive cells was up to 90 ％.HOXA10 gene mRNA and protein levels were decreased in interference group compared with control group.The inhibition rate of interference group was (52.12±4.02) ％, the apoptosis rate of interference group was (30.0±2.7) ％, and their differences in the interference group and in control groups (negative control group and untreated group) were significant (P ＜ 0.05).Western blot results showed that interfering HOXA10 gene significantly reduced the resistance gene MDR-1 expression level and reverse the drug-resistant of leukemia cells.Conclusions Lentivirns-shHOXA10 can steadily reduce the expression level of HOXA10, inhibit the leukemic cells proliferation, promote apoptosis and reverse drug-resistant.HOXA10 gene is expected to become a new target for reversing leukemia drug resistance.

AIM: To investigate the effect of ligustrazine on hydrogen sulfide (H_2S) system in pulmonary hypertension induced by hypoxic hypercapnia in rats. METHODS: Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group (C), hypoxic hypercapnia group (HH), and hypoxic hypercapnia+ligustrazine group (HH+L). The change of hemodynamics was measured. The ratio of vessel wall area and total area of arteriae pulmonalis were observed under light microscope. The apoptosis of arteriae pulmonalis was tested with TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), and the apoptosis index was calculated. Plasma level of hydrogen sulfide and activity of hydrogen sulfide generating enzymes in homogenates of rat lung tissue were evaluated by sensitive modified sulfide electrode method. Cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE) mRNA in lung tissues was determined by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The level of mean pulmonary arterial pressure, the ratio of vessel wall area/total area and the right ventricle/left ventricle+septum were significantly higher in HH group than those in C group, and the value was obviously lower in HH+LTZ group than that in HH group (all P<0.01). The mean carotid arterial pressure of 3 groups had no significant difference (P>0.05). The apoptotic index of arteriae pulmonalis in HH group and HH+LTZ group was significantly lower than that in C group, and that in HH+LTZ group was significantly higher than that in HH group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Plasma level of H_2S, the activity of H_2S generating enzymes in homogenates of rat lung tissue, cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE) mRNA in lung tissues in HH group were significantly lower than those in C group (all P<0.01), and those in HH+LTZ group were significantly lower than those in HH group (all P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Ligustrazine up-regulates the expression of cystanthionine-γ-splitting enzyme (CSE), enhances the activity of CSE and increases the level of H_2S to prevent pulmonary hypertension induced by hypoxic hypercapnia.