ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical efficacy of Xu's Shenqiyizhu （SQYZ） decoction combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer-related fatigue （CRF） of stagnated-toxin spleen deficiency type after gastric cancer surgery and explore its possible mechanism. MethodsFifty postoperative gastric cancer patients with CRF of stagnated-toxin spleen deficiency type were selected and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group by using a random number table，with 25 cases in each group. The control group was treated with FLOT chemotherapy （50 mg·m^-2 docetaxel （iv drip on day 1） + 85 mg·m^-2 oxaliplatin （iv drip on day 1） + 200 mg·m^-2 calcium folinate （iv drip on day 1） + 2 600 mg·m^-2 fluorouracil （iv drip for 24 h on day 1），once every three weeks） and basic and symptomatic supportive treatment. The experimental group was treated with Xu's SQYZ decoction （decocted twice，200 mL taken orally twice a day） in addition to the treatment of the control group. One course of treatment lasted for three weeks，with a total of four courses conducted. Observation was performed on the piper fatigue scale （PFS） scores，karnofsky performance status （KPS） scores，European Organization for Research and Treatment of cancer quality of life questionnaire （EORTC QLQ-C30） scores，traditional Chinese medicine syndrome scores，and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α），interferon-γ （IFN-γ），and interleukin-6 （IL-6）detected via enzyme linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） before and after treatment in the two groups. The safety test results before and after treatment for the two groups of patients，as well as the occurrence of adverse events during treatment， were recorded. Transcriptome sequencing data of peripheral blood samples from gastric adenocarcinoma patients and normal individuals were downloaded from the gene expression omnibus （GEO） database，and differentially expressed genes between the tumor and normal groups were identified. Differential gene enrichment analysis was made based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） and Gene Ontology （GO）. The CRF relevance scores of genes were retrieved from the GeneCards database. Results① Compared with that before treatment，the total PFS score in the experimental group was significantly reduced （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group after treatment，the experimental group showed significantly reduced total PFS score （P<0.05）. ② Compared with that before treatment，the KPS score in the experimental group decreased significantly （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group after treatment，the experimental group exhibited a significantly decreased KPS score （P<0.05）. The experimental group demonstrated significantly increased functional scores （physical function，role function，emotional function，social function，and overall health） （P<0.05） and significantly reduced symptom scores （fatigue，shortness of breath，loss of appetite，constipation，and diarrhea） of the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale after treatment compared with before treatment. Compared with the control group after treatment，the experimental group presented significantly increased functional scores （physical function，emotional function，social function，and overall health） （P<0.05） and significantly reduced symptom scores （fatigue，nausea and vomiting，shortness of breath，loss of appetite，and diarrhea） of the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale （P<0.05）. Compared with those before treatment，the traditional Chinese medicine syndrome scores （eating too little and poor digestion，fatigue and weakness，postprandial bloating，abnormal bowel movements，lassitude and weakness，and total score） in the experimental group were significantly reduced （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group after treatment，the experimental group had significantly reduced traditional Chinese medicine syndrome scores （eating too little and poor digestion，fatigue and weakness，nausea and vomiting，and sallow complexion） （P<0.05）， which indicated better efficacy in the experimental group than in the control group （χ²=7.996，P<0.05）. The serum levels of TNF-α，IL-6，and IFN-γ were significantly correlated with each other （P<0.01）. Compared with those before treatment，the levels of serum cytokines TNF-α，IL-6，and IFN-γ in the experimental group were significantly reduced （P<0.05）. Compared with the control group after treatment，the experimental group showed significantly reduced serum levels of cytokines TNF-α，IL-6，and IFN-γ （P<0.05）. ③ There were no significant intra-group and inter-group differences in the safety test results of the two groups before and after treatment. During the treatment period，there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups of patients. ④ Compared with the normal group，the tumor group exhibited a total of 328 significantly up-regulated genes in the peripheral blood （P<0.05），and KEGG and GO analyses showed that they were significantly enriched in signaling pathways such as TNF （P<0.05）. ⑤ TNF，IL6，IFNG， and other cytokine encoding genes may be key pathogenic genes for CRF. ConclusionXu's SQYZ decoction can alleviate symptoms such as fatigue in postoperative chemotherapy patients with gastric cancer and improve their functional status and quality of life. Its mechanism may be related to improving cytokine imbalance.

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents of the roots of Angelica dahurica, a well-known Chinese herbal medicine named Baizhi in Chinese. METHODS: Compounds were separated by various chromatographies, and the structures of new compounds were elucidated based on the analysis of their spectroscopic and spectrometric data (1D, 2D NMR, HRESI MS, IR, and UV). The absolute configurations of new compounds were determined by the calculated electronic circular dichroism and chemical derivatization. The inhibitory activities of all isolates against nitric oxide (NO) production were evaluated using lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. RESULTS: Seven new 3,4-dihydro-furanocoumarin derivatives ( 1a/ 1b, 2a/ 2b, 3a/ 3b, 4) together with a known furanocoumarin ( 5) were isolated from the roots of A. dahurica. The new compounds included three pairs of enantiomers, (4S, 2''R)-angelicadin A ( 1a)/(4R, 2''S)-angelicadin A ( 1b), (4S, 2''S)-angelicadin A ( 2a)/(4R, 2''R)-angelicadin A ( 2b), and (4S, 2''S)-secoangelicadin A ( 3a)/(4R, 2''R)-secoangelicadin A ( 3b), together with (4R, 2''R)-secoangelicadin A methyl ester ( 4). The known xanthotoxol ( 5) inhibited the NO production with the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value of (32.8 ± 0.8) µmol/L, but all the new compounds showed no inhibitory activities at the concentration of 100 µmol/L. CONCLUSION This is the first report of the discovery of 3,4-dihydro-furanocoumarins from A. dahurica. The results are not only meaningful for the understanding of the chemical constituents of A. dahurica, but also enrich the reservoir of natural products.

Objective    To assess the early outcome of transapical transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for patients with aortic insufficiency. Methods    The patients with aortic valvular disease who underwent transapical TAVR from October 2020 to October 2022 in the Department of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University were enrolled in the current retrospective study. The patients with aortic stenosis were assembled in a group A, and the patients with aortic insufficiency were assembled in a group B. The improvements of heart function and complications were assessed for the two groups. Results    A total of 56 patients were enrolled, including 32 males and 24 females with an average age of 73.34±5.10 years. There were 31 patients in the group A and 25 patients in the group B. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the age, gender, height, weight, hypertension, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal disorder or classification of heart function (P>0.05). Also, there was still no statistical difference in the rate of permanent peacemaker implants, emergent open surgery, valve re-implants, or perivalvular leakage (P>0.05). After TAVR, the left ventricular diastolic diameter, left ventricular ejection fraction, complicated moderated mitral and tricuspid regurgitation were significantly improved in both groups compared with preoperative findings (P<0.05); however, there was no statistical difference in these parameters between groups (P>0.05). Conclusion    Interventional valve (J-Valve) in the treatment of patients with aortic insufficiency through transapical TAVR significantly improves cardiac function and reduces functional valve regurgitation.

Background; Immunological dysfunction plays a key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (I B D). Notopterol is the main ingredient of the traditional Chinese herb medicine Notopterygium ineisum Ting ex H. T. Chang and has anti-inflammatory effect. Aims; To explore the effect of notopterol on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. Methods; C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into normal group, negative control group, model group and notopterol group. Mice in model group and notopterol group were treated with 2% DSS to induce colitis. Mice in negative control group and notopterol group were injected intraperitoneally with notopterol 40 mg/kg, and mice in normal group and model group were injected intraperitoneally with 0. 9% NaCl solution. Mice were sacrificed 10 days later, and disease activity index (DAI) score, colon length and histopathologieal score were determined. The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A were assessed by ELISA. The mRNA expressions of IL-17A, RORγt were detected by quantitative PCR. Results; Compared with the normal group, DAI score, histopathologieal score, levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A, mRNA expressions of IL-17A and RORγt in model group were significantly increased (P < 0. 0 1), and colon length were significantly shortened (P < 0. 0 1). Compared with the model group, notopterol significantly reduced DAI score and histopathologieal score (P<0.01), downregulated levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A (P<0.01), inhibited the mRNA expressions of IL-17A, ROR-γt (P < 0. 0 1), and greatly recovered colon length (P < 0. 0 1). Conclusions; Notopterol has protective effects on DSS-induced colitis in mice. The mechanism may be related to reducing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibiting the function and differentiation of Thl7 cells.

A patient aged 68 years old presented urinary frequency, urgency, and gross hematuria for 1 month, with initial PSA of 72.72 ng/ml and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)of 114 U/L. Prostate biopsy pathology showed small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of prostate. The patient was immediately administered 6 cycle of chemotherapy including etoposide and cisplatin combined with medical castration. The CDK4 gene was detected 1.99 times amplification by peripheral blood free DNA (cfDNA)gene analysis. The chemotherapy was followed by parbosini therapy. The number and density of bone metastases continued to decrease significantly by bone scan at 3 and 6 months after treatment, with a continuous decline of ALP and PSA. After 1 year of follow-up, pelvic MRI and bone systemic imaging indicated stable lesions, with PSA of 0.05 ng/ml and ALP of 59 U/L.

Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy of kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules in treating kidney deficiency type of bronchial asthma patients in persistent.Methods:A total of 100 patients with bronchial asthma admitted to Shanghai Municipal Hospital of TCM from March 2020 to August 2020 were selected as the research subjects. The patients were divided into control group and treatment group by random and double blind method, 50 in each group. Both groups were treated by routine basic treatment. The control group was treated with Kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving Placebo, while the observation group was treated with kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules. All the treatment lasted for 6 weeks. The TCM syndromes scores, Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores, Peak expiratory flow/predicted value (PEF%) and eosinophil in peripheral blood before and after treatment were observed.Results:A total of 91 patients completed the clinical study. There were 45 patients in the control group and 46 in the treatment group. The total effective rate in the treatment group was 93.5% (43/46), while that in the control group was 77.8% (35/45), and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=4.579, P=0.032). After the treatment, the scores of integral efficacy on syndromes in Chinese medicine, ACT and PEF% in the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( t values were 2.802, 3.420 and 8.938, respectively, all Ps<0.01). The eosinophil in peripheral blood of patients in the treatment group was significantly lower than that of the control group ( t=3.481, P=0.001). Conclusion:On the basis of conventional treatment of western medicine, kidney-invigorating and asthma-relieving granules can relieve the clinical symptoms of asthma, improve the control level of asthma, enhance the level of PEF, reduce airway inflammation.

Indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging technology has been applied in laparoscopic surgery. It is possible to highly visualize the tumor cutting edge and liver segment boundary during laparoscopic hepatectomy. Although the application of this technique in liver tumor surgery has become more and more mature, the factors affecting the quality of fluorescence imaging are still not completely clear. In this paper, we analyzed and summarized the effects of different factors such as ICG administration scheme, imaging acquisition, tumor characteristics of patients and preoperative liver function indexes on the quality of intraoperative ICG imaging, in order to provide new ideas and practical experience for clinical practice and research.

Objective:To explore risk factors for relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in adult Philadelphia chromosome-negative B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-ALL).Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed for 65 adult Ph-ALL patients undergoing initial allo-HSCT from 2016 to 2018. The effect of baseline level and treatment pre-transplantation for relapse after allo-HSCT was analyzed.Results:There were 37 males and 28 females with a median age of 25(14-58) years during allo-HSCT. And the median follow-up period was 27 months post-HSCT. The 2-year overall survival (OS) was 78.8%(95%CI 67.8%-89.8%) and the 2-year relapse-free survival (RFS) 70.7% (95%CI 58.2%-83.2%). Pre-transplant chemotherapy was offered for 3 to 7 courses and the median dose of polyethylene glycol-conjugated asparaginase (PEG-ASP) was 3 doses (2 000 IU/m 2 per dose). Multiariate analysis revealed that the regimen included more than 4 doses of PEG-ASP pre-HSCT (HR=4.067, P=0.046) was a protective factor for post-transplant relapse (HR=0.193, P=0.009). High-risk chromosome karyotype was a risk factor for relapse (HR=0.193, P=0.009). The 2-year RFS rate was 90.0%(95%CI 79.2%-100.0%) for intensive PEG-ASP group and 56.9%(95%CI 39.1%-74.7%) for control group ( P=0.01). No significant inter-group difference existed in overall survival (OS)( P=0.079). The 2-year OS was 90.6% (95%CI 80.4%-100.0%) in intensive PEG-ASP group and 72.1% (95%CI 56.6%-87.6%) in control group. Conclusions:For adult ph-ALL patients, a higher dose of PEG-ASP in pretransplant chemotherapy regimens may improve post-transplant RFS and achieve a better outcome.

Objective:To investigate clinical features of intermittent flushing in patients with rosacea, and to evaluate its impact on the quality of life of patients.Methods:A prospective study was conducted, a total of 728 patients with rosacea were enrolled from Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital from August 2017 to August 2019. Data were collected by using flushing symptom questionnaire (FSQ) , clinician erythema assessment scale (CEA) , patient′s self-assessment (PSA) and visual analogue scale (VAS) . Clinical features and severity of intermittent flushing episodes, degree of bother and impact on life, and correlation of flushing scores with persistent erythema scores were analyzed. Statistical analysis was carried out by using chi-square test and Spearman correlation analysis.Results:Among the 728 patients with rosacea, intermittent flushing most frequently occurred on the cheek (682 cases, 93.7%) and zygomatic region (617 cases, 84.8%) ; the proportion of patients with a flushing duration of 5 minutes to 2 hours was the highest (484 cases, 66.5%) ; 317 (43.6%) had flushing episodes after stimulation, and 233 (32.0%) had multiple flushing episodes every day. Moreover, 503 patients (69.1%) had an overall flushing score above the moderate level; 412 (56.6%) considered that flushing could affect sleep to varying degrees, of which 59 (8.1%) considered that the impact was severe or very severe; 662 (90.9%) considered that flushing had impact on life to different degrees, of which 304 (41.8%) thought that the impact was severe. Both the overall flushing score and life bother score were positively but lowly correlated with the CEA scores ( rs = 0.166, 0.151 respectively, both P < 0.05) , and were positively correlated with the PSA scores ( rs = 0.518, 0.500 respectively, both P < 0.05) . Conclusion:Intermittent flushing occurs at typical sites of patients with rosacea, with long duration of episodes and high frequency, and affects quality of life of patients, so attention needs to be paid by clinicians.

Objective:To propose a Chinese diagnostic criterion for rosacea on the basis of clinical feature analysis of rosacea, and to assess its sensitivity and specificity.Methods:A total of 3 350 Chinese patients with newly diagnosed rosacea were collected from Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University between December 2017 and July 2018, their phenotypes and clinical features were retrospectively analyzed, and a Chinese modified diagnostic criterion for rosacea was put forward. A national multi-center clinical observational trial, which included 2 269 patients with rosacea and 2 408 patients with other facial skin diseases from 28 centers, was conducted to verify this diagnostic criterion. Then, the sensitivity and specificity of the modified diagnostic criterion were evaluated by comparing with the 2017 standard classification of rosacea developed by the National Rosacea Society Expert Committee (NRSEC) .Results:Fixed centrofacial erythema occurred in 3 350 (100%) patients with rosacea. Flushing occurred before or simultaneously with fixed erythema in 1 850 (99.4%) of the 1 861 patients with erythema on the cheeks; among the 1 489 patients with erythema on the nose or perioral area, only 52 (3.5%) had flushing; all the 342 patients presenting with phymatous changes had fixed erythema before phymatous changes. Based on the above clinical findings, it was proposed that patients with periodically aggravated fixed erythema on the cheeks accompanied with flushing could be diagnosed with rosacea; patients with fixed erythema on the nose and perioral area accompanied with at least one of selective phenotypes (flushing, telangiectasia, papules and pustules, phymatous changes, or ocular manifestations) could be diagnosed with rosacea. The national multi-center clinical observational trial revealed that the sensitivity of the Chinese modified diagnostic criterion for rosacea was 99.6%, which was close to the sensitivity (100%) of the NRSEC standard, and its specificity was 91.9%, higher than the specificity (73.3%) of the NRSEC standard.Conclusion:The Chinese modified diagnostic criterion for rosacea has good sensitivity and specificity, and can facilitate the early diagnosis of phymatous rosacea.