BACKGROUND: Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors or dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors are both hypoglycemia agents that specifically impact on postprandial hyperglycemia. We compared the effects of acarbose and sitagliptin add on to metformin on time in range (TIR) and glycemic variability (GV) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus through continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). METHODS: This study was a randomized, open-label, active-con-trolled, parallel-group trial conducted at 15 centers in China from January 2020 to August 2022. We recruited patients with type 2 diabetes aged 18-65 years with body mass index (BMI) within 19-40 kg/m 2 and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) between 6.5% and 9.0%. Eligible patients were randomized to receive either metformin combined with acarbose 100 mg three times daily or metformin combined with sitagliptin 100 mg once daily for 28 days. After the first 14-day treatment period, patients wore CGM and entered another 14-day treatment period. The primary outcome was the level of TIR after treatment between groups. We also performed time series decomposition, dimensionality reduction, and clustering using the CGM data. RESULTS: A total of 701 participants received either acarbose or sitagliptin treatment in combination with metformin. There was no statistically significant difference in TIR between the two groups. Time below range (TBR) and coefficient of variation (CV) levels in acarbose users were significantly lower than those in sitagliptin users. Median (25th percentile, 75th percentile) of TBR below target level <3.9 mmol/L (TBR 3.9 ): Acarbose: 0.45% (0, 2.13%) vs . Sitagliptin: 0.78% (0, 3.12%), P = 0.042; Median (25th percentile, 75th percentile) of TBR below target level <3.0 mmol/L (TBR 3.0 ): Acarbose: 0 (0, 0.22%) vs . Sitagliptin: 0 (0, 0.63%), P = 0.033; CV: Acarbose: 22.44 ± 5.08% vs . Sitagliptin: 23.96 ± 5.19%, P <0.001. By using time series analysis and clustering, we distinguished three groups of patients with representative metabolism characteristics, especially in GV (group with small wave, moderate wave and big wave). No significant difference was found in the complexity of glucose time series index (CGI) between acarbose users and sitagliptin users. By using time series analysis and clustering, we distinguished three groups of patients with representative metabolism characteristics, especially in GV. CONCLUSIONS: Acarbose had slight advantages over sitagliptin in improving GV and reducing the risk of hypoglycemia. Time series analysis of CGM data may predict GV and the risk of hypoglycemia. TRIAL REGISTRATION Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2000039424.
Humans ; Metformin/therapeutic use* ; Sitagliptin Phosphate/therapeutic use* ; Acarbose/therapeutic use* ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/blood* ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Blood Glucose/drug effects* ; Hypoglycemic Agents/therapeutic use* ; Aged ; Glycated Hemoglobin/metabolism* ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; China ; East Asian People

Natural product-based drug combinations (NPDCs) present distinctive advantages in treating complex diseases. While high-throughput screening (HTS) and conventional computational methods have partially accelerated synergistic drug combination discovery, their applications remain constrained by experimental data fragmentation, high costs, and extensive combinatorial space. Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI), encompassing traditional machine learning and deep learning algorithms, have been extensively applied in NPDC identification. Through the integration of multi-source heterogeneous data and autonomous feature extraction, prediction accuracy has markedly improved, offering a robust technical approach for novel NPDC discovery. This review comprehensively examines recent advances in AI-driven NPDC prediction, presents relevant data resources and algorithmic frameworks, and evaluates current limitations and future prospects. AI methodologies are anticipated to substantially expedite NPDC discovery and inform experimental validation.
Artificial Intelligence ; Biological Products/chemistry* ; Humans ; Drug Combinations ; Drug Discovery/methods* ; Machine Learning ; Algorithms

Peripheral blood eosinophilia is now becoming an increasingly prevalent scenario in clinical practice. Eosinophilia can be physiological or associated with many diseases involving multiple organ systems. Due to various etiologies and complex pathogenesis, the clinical characteristics of patients with eosinophilia can range from asymptomatic to severe organ dysfunction, and their prognosis may also vary greatly. At present, medical practitioners are not paying more attention to the peripheral eosinophil in routine blood tests. Therefore, this article aims to summarize the incidence of eosinophilia in healthy and diseased population in order to draw attention and serve as a reference for future research.

Peripheral blood eosinophilia is now becoming an increasingly prevalent scenario in clinical practice. Eosinophilia can be physiological or associated with many diseases involving multiple organ systems. Due to various etiologies and complex pathogenesis, the clinical characteristics of patients with eosinophilia can range from asymptomatic to severe organ dysfunction, and their prognosis may also vary greatly. At present, medical practitioners are not paying more attention to the peripheral eosinophil in routine blood tests. Therefore, this article aims to summarize the incidence of eosinophilia in healthy and diseased population in order to draw attention and serve as a reference for future research.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influencing factors of depressive symptom of employees in a mould-producing enterprises using two occupational stress models. METHODS: A total of 457 employees in a mould-producing enterprise were selected as study subjects using cluster sampling method. The Center for Epidemiological Study-Depression Scale, the Chinese version of Job Demand Content Questionnaire and the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire were used to investigate the level of depressive symptom and occupational stress by the job demand control(JDC) model and effort reward imbalance(ERI) model. RESULTS: Among the 457 employees, the median score of depressive symptom was 11.00, the detection rate of depressive symptom in the subjects was 23.4%(107/457). The incidence of occupational stress by the JDC and ERI models was 78.3%(358/457) and 62.6%(286/457), respectively. The rate of depressive symptom was statistically higher in the high occupational stress group than that of the low occupational stress group by the ERI model(26.6% vs 18.1%, P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that both marital status and monthly income were influencing factors of depressive symptom by the JDC model(P<0.05). The marital status, monthly income and occupational stress were influencing factors of depressive symptom by the ERI model(P<0.05). The risk of depressive symptom was statistically higher in the high occupational stress group than that of the low occupational stress group(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Employees in mould-producing enterprise have some depressive symptom. The marital status, monthly income and occupational stress by the ERI model are the main influencing factors of depressive symptom.

Objective To investigate the influence of murine cytomegalovirus on the expansion of CD+CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cell (Treg) and the activation of CD4+ CD25+Foxp3 - effector T cell (TE) in vivo. Methods Forty-two BALB/c mice were intraperitoneally inoculated with appropriate amount ofMCMV Smith strain for establishing the model of infection, another 42 mice served as mocked-infected con-trois. Day 28 post MCMV infection was determined to be the demarcation point of the acute and chronic in- fection based on the viral load of major visceral organs. On day 1,3, 7, 14, 28, 45 and 60 post infection, splenocytes were prepared by means of routine method. The proportions of CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+Treg and CD4+CD25+Foxp3- activated TE in T lymphocyte were measured by flow cytometry. Results The propor- tion of CD+CD25+ Foxp3+ T cells in T lymphocytes was persistently suppressed since day 7 post infection, and fell to the lowest level on day 28 post infection (P <0.01), then zoomed and reached the peak value on day 60 post infection (P < 0.05). CD4+CD25+ Foxp3 - TE proportion was up to the highest on day 3 post infection(P < 0. 01), then suppressed and in significantly lower level since day 45 post infection (P < 0.05). Treg/CD+TE ratio was in lower level on day 3 to 14 post infection(P <0.05) ; but on day 45 and day 60 post infection Treg/CD+ TE ratio was markedly increased (P < 0.05). Conclusion MCMV infec- tion can increase the CD+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg proportion, and inhibit CD4+T cells activation in chronic in- fection phase, which is likely to suppress the function of antiviral immunity in the infected host to cause a persistent latent infection.

AIM:To investigate the changes of brain-derived neruotrophic factor(BDNF),tyrosine kinase B(TrkB) in rat cortex and hippocampus with chronic immobilization stress and the influence of three Chinese formulas(Xiaoyaosan,Sijunzitang,Jinkuishenqiwan) on them.METHODS:Chronic immobilization stress method(180 min daily,repeated 7 days or 21 days) was taken,and the changes of BDNF,TrkB in rat forehead cortex and hippocampus CA1 were measured by immunohistochemistry integrated image analysis.RESULTS:The contents of BDNF in rat forehead cortex and hippocampus CA1 were obviously lower in the model group of 7 days and 21 days than those in the normal control group(P