ObjectiveTo investigate the mechanisms by which Jianpi Yangzheng Xiaozheng prescription （JPYZXZ） treats poorly cohesive gastric carcinoma （PC-GC） through regulation of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 51 （USP51）. MethodsIn vitro experiments： Cell viability and proliferation of PC-GC cell lines （MKN-45 and HGC-27） treated with different concentrations of JPYZXZ （2， 4， 6 g·L^-1） were assessed using Cell Counting Kit-8 （CCK-8） and colony formation assays. Cell migration was evaluated by wound healing （scratch） and Transwell assays. The mRNA and protein expression levels of USP51， zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 （ZEB1）， and epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT）-related markers （e.g.， E-cadherin） were detected by quantitative real-time PCR （Real-time PCR） and Western blot， respectively. Subsequently， stable MKN-45 and HGC-27 cell lines with USP51 knockdown （sh-USP51） and overexpression （oe-USP51） were constructed. Their migration ability and EMT-related protein expression were further evaluated by scratch assay， Transwell assay， and Western blot. In vivo experiments： A subcutaneous xenograft model of MKN-45 human gastric cancer was established in BALB/c nude mice. Thirty mice were randomly divided into six groups （NC， NC + JPYZXZ， sh-USP51， sh-USP51 + JPYZXZ， oe-USP51， and oe-USP51 + JPYZXZ）， with five mice in each group. After successful modeling， mice in the treatment groups were administered JPYZXZ （30 g·kg^-1） by gavage for 28 days. Body weight and tumor volume were monitored during the experiment. The expression levels of USP51 and EMT-related proteins in tumor tissues were detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry （IHC）. ResultsCompared with the blank group， the colony formation rate， wound healing rate， and number of migrated cells in MKN-45 and HGC-27 cells were significantly reduced in all JPYZXZ groups and the 5-fluorouracil （5-FU） group （P<0.05）. The mRNA and protein expression levels of USP51 were decreased （P<0.05）. The expression of ZEB1 and mesenchymal phenotype proteins （e.g.， N-cadherin and vimentin） was reduced （P<0.05）， whereas the expression of the epithelial marker E-cadherin was increased （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group， USP51 expression was decreased in the sh-USP51 group and increased in the oe-USP51 group （P<0.05）. Compared with the NC group， USP51 knockdown significantly reduced the migration and proliferation of gastric cancer cells （P<0.01）， decreased the expression of ZEB1 and EMT-related proteins， and increased E-cadherin expression （P<0.05）. In vivo results showed that JPYZXZ significantly inhibited the growth of xenograft tumors in nude mice （P<0.05） and markedly reversed the abnormal expression of EMT-related proteins in tumor tissues （P<0.05）. ConclusionThe therapeutic mechanisms of JPYZXZ in PC-GC may be associated with inhibition of the EMT process via regulation of the USP51-ZEB1 signaling pathway.

Objective To establish an epirubicin (EPI)-resistant murine triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (4T1/EPI) cell line and evaluate its biological characteristics and drug resistance. Methods The EPI-resistant cell line 4T1/EPI was developed through intermittent induction with gradually increasing EPI concentrations in vitro. Morphological changes were observed under an inverted microscope. Drug resistance index (MTT assay), cell doubling time (CCK-8 assay), and migration ability (wound healing assay) were evaluated. Western blot was used to detect the expression of drug resistance-related proteins. Transcriptome sequencing and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed to identify the pathways and targets involved in EPI resistance, followed by experimental validation. Results The 4T1 cells eventually grew normally in a medium containing 100 ng/mL EPI, confirming the establishment of the 4T1/EPI resistant cell line. After stable resistance was acquired, morphological alterations were observed. Compared with their parental 4T1 cells, 4T1/EPI cells showed significantly prolonged doubling time (P<0.01) and enhanced migration ability (P<0.05). Expression levels of drug resistance-related proteins MDR1, MRP1 (P<0.01), and ABCG2 (P<0.05) were elevated in 4T1/EPI cells. In vivo models also demonstrated significant EPI resistance in 4T1/EPI tumors in terms of tumor weight and volume. Transcriptome sequencing highlighted the involvement of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and ABC transporter pathway. Validation experiments showed the upregulation of Erbb3, Egfr, PI3K, and Akt (P<0.05) and significant downregulation of Fgfr1 (P<0.01) in 4T1/EPI cells. Conclusion The EPI-resistant TNBC cell line 4T1/EPI was successfully established, exhibiting significant resistance in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism may involve the EPI-induced upregulation of Egfr and Erbb3, activating the PI3K/Akt pathway and subsequently enhancing ABC transporter expression.

To analyze the characteristics of outpatient rare disease admissions at Xi′an Children′s Hospital based on the two batches of the China′s Rare Disease Catalogs.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly widespread sleep-breathing disordered disease, and is an independent risk factor for many high-risk chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, arrhythmias and diabetes, which is potentially fatal. The key to the prevention and treatment of OSA is early diagnosis and treatment, so the assessment and diagnostic technologies of OSA have become a research hotspot. This paper reviews the research progresses of severity assessment parameters and diagnostic technologies of OSA, and discusses their future development trends. In terms of severity assessment parameters of OSA, apnea hypopnea index (AHI), as the gold standard, together with the percentage of duration of apnea hypopnea (AH%), lowest oxygen saturation (LSpO₂), heart rate variability (HRV), oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and the emerging biomarkers, constitute a multi-dimensional evaluation system. Specifically, the AHI, which measures the frequency of sleep respiratory events per hour, does not fully reflect the patients’ overall sleep quality or the extent of their daytime functional impairments. To address this limitation, the AH%, which measures the proportion of the entire sleep cycle affected by apneas and hypopneas, deepens our understanding of the impact on sleep quality. The LSpO₂ plays a critical role in highlighting the potential severe hypoxic episodes during sleep, while the HRV offers a different perspective by analyzing the fluctuations in heart rate thereby revealing the activity of the autonomic nervous system. The ODI provides a direct and objective measure of patients’ nocturnal oxygenation stability by calculating the number of desaturation events per hour, and the biomarkers offers novel insights into the diagnosis and management of OSA, and fosters the development of more precise and tailored OSA therapeutic strategies. In terms of diagnostic techniques of OSA, the standardized questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is a simple and effective method for preliminary screening of OSA, and the polysomnography (PSG) which is based on recording multiple physiological signals stands for gold standard, but it has limitations of complex operations, high costs and inconvenience. As a convenient alternative, the home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) allows patients to monitor their sleep with simplified equipment in the comfort of their own homes, and the cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) offers a minimal version that simply analyzes the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. As an emerging diagnostic technology of OSA, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) adeptly pinpoint respiratory incidents and expose delicate physiological changes, thus casting new light on the diagnostic approach to OSA. In addition, imaging examination utilizes detailed visual representations of the airway’s structure and assists in recognizing structural abnormalities that may result in obstructed airways, while sound monitoring technology records and analyzes snoring and breathing sounds to detect the condition subtly, and thus further expands our medical diagnostic toolkit. As for the future development directions, it can be predicted that interdisciplinary integrated researches, the construction of personalized diagnosis and treatment models, and the popularization of high-tech in clinical applications will become the development trends in the field of OSA evaluation and diagnosis.

Abelmoschi Corolla, the dried corolla of Abelmoschus manihot, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-fibrosis activities. Its chemical constituents mainly include flavonoids, organic acids, steroids, and polysaccharides. This study reviewed the research progress in the chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Abelmoschi Corolla in recent 20 years. According to the concept of quality marker(Q-marker), the Q-markers of Abelmoschi Corolla were predicted from plant phylogeny, chemical constituent specificity, traditional efficacy, chemical constituent measurability, and absorbed constituents. The primary Q-markers for Abelmoschi Corolla were anticipated to include quercetin-3'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, gossypetin-8-O-β-D-glucuronide, isoquercetin, myricetin,quercetin, and hyperoside, with the aim of providing reference data for improving the quality evaluation system of Abelmoschi Corolla.
Abelmoschus/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Flowers/chemistry* ; Humans ; Animals ; Quality Control ; Flavonoids/chemistry*

Sishen Pills and its separated prescriptions are classic prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine to treat intestinal diseases. In this study, a high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry(HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) technology was used to identify the components of Sishen Pills, Ershen Pills, and Wuweizi Powder. The positive and negative ion sources of electrospray ionization were simultaneously collected by mass spectrometry. A total of 11 effective components were detected in Sishen Pills, with four effective components detected in Ershen Pills and eight effective components detected in Wuweizi Powder, respectively. To explore the effects of Sishen Pills and its separated prescriptions on the human intestinal flora, an in vitro anaerobic fermentation model was established, and the human intestinal flora was incubated with Sishen Pills, Ershen Pills, and Wuweizi Powder in vitro. The 16S rDNA sequencing technology was used to analyze the changes in the intestinal flora. The results showed that compared with the control group, Sishen Pills, and its separated prescriptions could decrease the intestinal flora abundance and increase the Shannon index after fermentation. The abundance of Bifidobacterium was significantly increased in the Sishen Pills and Ershen Pills groups. However, the abundance of Lactobacillus, Weissella, and Pediococcus was significantly increased in the Wuweizi Powder group. After fermentation for 12 h, the pH of the fermentation solution of three kinds of liquids with feces gradually decreased and was lower than that of the control group. The decreasing amplitude in the Wuweizi Powder group was the most obvious. The single-bacteria fermentation experiments further confirmed that Sishen Pills and Wuweizi Powder had inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis, and the antibacterial activity of Wuweizi Powder was stronger than that of Sishen Pills. Both Sishen Pills and Ershen Pills could promote the growth of Lactobacillus brevis, and Ershen Pills could promote the growth of Bifidobacterium adolescentis. This study provided a more sufficient theoretical basis for the clinical application of Sishen Pills and its separated prescriptions.
Humans ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome/drug effects* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Fermentation/drug effects* ; Bacteria/drug effects* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Intestines/microbiology*

Objective To analyze the expression,biological functions,and potential molecular regulatory mechanisms of synaptojanin-2 binding protein(SYNJ2BP)in epithelial ovarian cancer.Methods Clinical specimens from 73 patients treated at Rugao People's Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University between September 2018 and September 2022 were collected,including 53 epithelial ovarian cancer tissues and 20 normal ovarian tissues.A retrospective analysis was performed to examine SYNJ2BP gene and protein ex-pression and its correlation with clinicopathological features.The effects of SYNJ2BP overexpression on pro-liferation,apoptosis,migration,and invasion abilities of epithelial ovarian cancer A2780 cells were assessed via CCK-8 assays,colony formation assays,cell cycle analysis,apoptosis assays,Transwell migration assays,and wound healing assays.Western blot was used to detect the impact of SYNJ2BP overexpression on ERK1/2 protein phosphorylation and c-Myc protein expression in A2780 cells.Results The expression of SYNJ2BP was significantly downregulated in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues,and its expression level was significantly correlated with FIGO stage,tumor grade,and histological type(P<0.05),but not with other clinicopatholog-ical features.CCK-8 and colony formation assays demonstrated that the proliferation level of A2780 cells in the pcDNA3.1-SYNJ2BP group was significantly lower than that in the pcDNA3.1-NC group(P<0.01).Flow cytometry with PI single staining revealed altered cell cycle distribution in A2780 cells of the pcDNA3.1-SYNJ2BP group,with cells arrested in the S phase and a significantly increased apoptosis ratio compared to the pcDNA3.1-NC group(P<0.05).Transwell assays showed that the number of A2780 cells invading through the artificial matrix membrane in the pcDNA3.1-SYNJ2BP group was approximately half that in the pcD-NA3.1-NC group(P<0.01).Western blot results indicated downregulated expression of ERK1/2 and c-Myc in A2780 cells of the pcDNA3.1-SYNJ2BP group compared to the pcDNA3.1-NC group.In nude mouse tumors of the pcDNA3.1-SYNJ2BP group,compared to the pcDNA3.1-NC group,SYNJ2BP expression was upregulated while ERK1/2 and c-Myc expression was downregulated,consistent with the cellular-level expres-sion results.Conclusion Low expression of SYNJ2BP is observed in epithelial ovarian cancer tissues,and overexpression of SYNJ2BP inhibits the proliferation and invasion abilities of epithelial ovarian cancer cells.This suggests that SYNJ2BP may serve as a potential tumor suppressor in epithelial ovarian cancer and could be considered as a prognostic typing marker or potential therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy（AIT） remains the only therapeutic approach with the potential to modify the natural course of allergic rhinitis（AR）. Nevertheless, considerable inter-individual variability exists in patients'responses to AIT. To facilitate more reliable assessment of treatment efficacy, the China Rhinopathy Research Cooperation Group（CRRCG） convened young and middle-aged nasal experts in China to formulate the present consensus. The recommended subjective outcome measures for AIT comprise symptom scores, medication scores, combined symptom and medication scores, quality-of-life assessments, evaluation of disease control, and assessment of comorbidities. Objective indicators may supplement these measures. Currently available objective approaches include skin prick testing, nasal provocation testing, and allergen exposure chambers. However, these methods remain constrained by practical limitations and are not yet appropriate for routine implementation in clinical efficacy evaluation. In addition, several biomarkers, including sIgE and the sIgE/tIgE ratio, sIgG4, serum IgE-blocking activity, IgA, cytokines and chemokines, as well as immune cell surface molecules and their functional activity, have been shown to have associations with AIT outcomes. While these biomarkers may complement subjective assessments, they are subject to significant limitations. Consequently, large-scale multicenter trials and real-world evidence are required to strengthen the evidence base. The present consensus underscores the necessity of integrating patients'subjective experiences with objective testing throughout the treatment process, thereby providing a more comprehensive and accurate framework for efficacy evaluation. Looking forward, future investigations should prioritize the incorporation of multi-omics data and artificial intelligence methodologies, which hold promise for overcoming current limitations in assessment strategies and for advancing both the standardization and personalization of AIT.
Humans ; Allergens/immunology* ; China ; Consensus ; Desensitization, Immunologic ; Immunoglobulin E ; Quality of Life ; Rhinitis, Allergic/therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; East Asian People

Aim To explore the mechanism of the syn-ergistic effect of the ferroptosis inducer erastin com-bined with shikonin in promoting ferroptosis in human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts(HSFBs).Methods Hypertrophic scar tissues provided by the General Hos-pital of Ningxia Medical University were collected,and HSFBs were extracted.HSFBs were identified by HE staining and immunofluorescence.The inhibitory rates of Era and SHK on HSFBs at different concentrations were detected by CCK-8 assay,and the IC50 value was calculated.CompuSyn software was used to calculate the co-use index(CI).Control group,Erastin(Era)group,shikonin(SHK)group and Era+SHK group were set up,and the number and morphological chan-ges of cells were observed after 24 hours of interven-tion.The ability of cell migration and invasion was de-tected by scratch test and Transwell test.The changes of malondialdehyde(MDA),total iron ion and reactive oxygen species(ROS)were detected by corresponding biochemical kits.The expressions of collagen I,α-SMA and GOT1,SLC7A11,GPX4 and FTH1 were detected by Western blot.Results The IC50 value of Era and SHK of primary HSFBs was 2.22 μmol·L-1 and 3.94μmol·L-1 respectively,which was used as the single drug concentration for subsequent experiments.The CompuSyn software was employed to calculate the CI value when the two drugs were used in combination,and the concentrations corresponding to CI=0.39597(Era:1.2 μmol·L-1+SHK:1.5 μmol·L-1)were selected as subsequent combination concentrations(Because when CI was equal to 0.395 97,the concen-tration of each drug was lower than the concentration of single drug,and the inhibition rate of combined drug was greater than 50％).Compared with the monother-apy group,the number of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group was significantly reduced,cell membrane showed breakage and vesiculation,cell wrinkling became smal-ler,and cytoplasm was concentrated.The migration and invasion ability of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group were obviously weakened(P＜0.05),and the expres-sion of fibrosis-related proteins collagen Ⅰ and α-SMA was reduced(P＜0.05);the contents of MDA,total i-ron ions,and ROS in HSFBs of the SHK+Era group increased(P＜0.05),and the protein expression lev-els of SLC7A11,GOT1,GPX4,and FTH1 further de-creased(P＜0.05).Conclusions Erastin in combi-nation with shikonin can synergistically inhibit the pro-liferation,migration and fibrosis levels of HSFBs.The mechanism may be that erastin enhances the inhibition of shikotin on GOT1,increases the levels of cellular i-ron ions,ROS,and lipid peroxides,thereby promoting ferroptosis in HSFBs.