BACKGROUND:At present,osteoarthritis has become a major disease affecting the quality of life of the elderly,and the therapeutic effect is poor,often focusing on preventing the disease process,and the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis is still not fully understood.Bioinformatics analysis was carried out to explore the main pathogenesis of osteoarthritis and related mechanisms of gene coding regulation. OBJECTIVE:To screen core differential genes with a major role in osteoarthritis by gene expression profiling. METHODS:Datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO):GSE114007,GSE117999,and GSE129147.Differential genes in the GSE114007 and GSE117999 data collections were screened using R software,performing differential genes to weighted gene co-expression network analysis.The module genes most relevant to osteoarthritis were selected to perform protein interaction analysis.Candidate core genes were selected using the cytocape software.The candidate core genes were subsequently subjected to least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression and COX analysis to identify the core genes with a key role in osteoarthritis.The accuracy of the core genes was validated using an external dataset,GSE129147. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)A total of 477 differential genes were identified,265 differential genes associated with osteoarthritis were obtained by weighted gene co-expression network analysis,and 8 candidate core genes were identified.The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis finally yielded a differential gene ASPM with core value that was externally validated.(2)It is concluded that abnormal gene ASPM expression screened by bioinformatics plays a key central role in osteoarthritis.

Objective:To clarify the genetic associations between obesity, diabetes, smoking, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer risk.Methods:Summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of individuals of European descent were used. Obesity, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and acute and chronic pancreatitis data for the UK population were obtained from the GWAS catalog, while alcohol consumption, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, occasional smoking, and regular smoking data were obtained from the UK biobank. Pancreatic cancer-related data for the Finnish population were sourced from the latest R11 version of the Finnish database. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted on the associations between the aforementioned risk factors and pancreatic cancer using five MR methods, primarily inverse variance weighting. The robustness of the results was assessed through Q heterogeneity tests, pleiotropy tests, MR-PRESSO analysis, and reverse MR analysis.Results:Obesity showed a significant positive association with pancreatic cancer risk ( OR=1.407, 95% CI: 1.100-1.714, P=0.030), and the results were robust based on Q heterogeneity tests, pleiotropy tests, MR-PRESSO, and reverse MR analysis (all P>0.05). However, no significant associations were found between pancreatic cancer risk and alcohol consumption ( P=0.330), heavy drinking ( P=0.382), type 1 diabetes ( P=0.674), type 2 diabetes ( P=0.825), occasional smoking ( P=0.607), regular smoking ( P=0.758), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( P=0.287), acute pancreatitis ( P=0.336), or chronic pancreatitis ( P=0.545). Conclusion:This study further confirms the strong genetic association between obesity and increased pancreatic cancer risk.

Nigella sativa L. seeds have been traditionally utilized in Chinese folk medicine for centuries to treat vitiligo. This study revealed that the ethanolic extract of Nigella sativa L. (HZC) enhances melanogenesis and mitigates oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence and dysfunction in melanocytes. In accordance with established protocols, the ethanol fraction from Nigella sativa L. seeds was extracted, concentrated, and lyophilized to evaluate its herbal effects via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays, tyrosinase activity evaluation, measurement of cellular melanin contents, scratch assays, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Western blot analysis for expression profiling of experimentally relevant proteins. The results indicated that HZC significantly enhanced tyrosinase activity and melanin content while notably increasing the protein expression levels of Tyr, Mitf, and gp100 in B16F10 cells. Furthermore, HZC effectively mitigated oxidative stress-induced cellular senescence, improved melanocyte condition, and rectified various functional impairments associated with melanocyte dysfunction. These findings suggest that HZC increases melanin synthesis in melanocytes through the activation of the MAPK, PKA, and Wnt signaling pathways. In addition, HZC attenuates oxidative damage induced by H₂O₂ therapy by activating the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2-antioxidant response element (Nrf2-ARE) pathway and enhancing the activity of downstream antioxidant enzymes, thus preventing premature senescence and dysfunction in melanocytes.
Oxidative Stress/drug effects* ; Melanocytes/cytology* ; Cellular Senescence/drug effects* ; Nigella sativa/chemistry* ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Seeds/chemistry* ; Mice ; Animals ; Melanins/metabolism* ; Monophenol Monooxygenase/metabolism* ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: To explore the displacement and pressure distribution of American Chiropractic in a model of third lumbar syndrome based on finite element analysis. METHODS: On March 2021, CT and MRI images of a 23-year-old male patient with right third lumbar syndrome were selected. A 3D stl model was established using Mimics and CATIA, and the data was imported into Hypermesh, Abaqus & ANSYS. The elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of the affected side material were adjusted to establish its finite element model. Based on the comparison of the operating positions and routines of the American Chiropractic and the lumbar spine oblique pull method, but with differences in the focus and direction of force, the experimental group simulated the American Chiropractic with the healthy side (left side) lying position of the model. The upper endplate of L₃ and the lower part below L₃ twisted accordingly with the body position, we applied a vertical forward thrust of 246 N to the plane formed by the L₄, L₅ spinous processes and L₄ upper articular processes;The control group simulates the oblique pull method of the lumbar spine, requiring the model to lie on the healthy side (left side), fix the upper endplate of L₄, and perform a horizontal rotation along the longitudinal axis of L₃ vertebral body. At this time, the contact force in the upward direction is also set to 246 N. Compare the displacement and stress differences between the L₁-L₅ intervertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, articular processes, and transverse process muscles in two intervention models. RESULTS: ① Under safe load conditions, a test force of 246 N was applied to the model, and the maximum vertebral displacement occurred on the right side of the L₃ vertebral body (1.197 mm) after manual intervention in the control group. The vertebral displacement between L₁-L₅ induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was smaller than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). ② The maximum vertebral body stress occurred on the right side of the L₃ vertebral body after manual intervention in the control group (98.425 MPa). The stress on each vertebral body formed by the experimental group's manual intervention was lower than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). ③The maximum intervertebral disc stress occurred on the right side of the L_2,3 intervertebral disc (6.282 MPa) after manual intervention in the control group. ④ The maximum joint process stress occurred on the right side of the L₄ upper joint process after manual intervention in the experimental group (1.587 MPa). The joint process stress on the left side below L₁ and the left side above and below L₂ induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). ⑤The maximum stress on the intertransverse process muscle was observed at the right lateral L₃ process end (31.960 MPa) of L_3,4 in the control group after manual intervention. The stress on the L_2,3 and L_4,5 segments of the intertransverse process muscle induced by manual intervention in the experimental group was lower than that of the control group's manual intervention (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The mechanical feedback of the L₁-L₅ vertebral body, the lower left side of the articular process L₁, the upper and lower left side of the articular process L₂, and the L_2,3 and L_4,5 segments of the transverse process muscle in the model indicates that performing American Chiropractic for the treatment of third lumbar transverse process syndrome can accurately hit the target pain point and allow the patient's tissue to form a low stress and low tension state after manual operation, thereby reducing the possibility of tissue damage caused by hypertonia after intervertebral joint movement, making it relatively safe. The application of American Chiropractic will be a new supplement to the traditional treatment plan for third lumbar transverse process syndrome.
Humans ; Finite Element Analysis ; Male ; Lumbar Vertebrae/physiopathology* ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Young Adult ; Manipulation, Chiropractic ; Adult ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Objective:To clarify the genetic associations between obesity, diabetes, smoking, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer risk.Methods:Summary data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of individuals of European descent were used. Obesity, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and acute and chronic pancreatitis data for the UK population were obtained from the GWAS catalog, while alcohol consumption, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, occasional smoking, and regular smoking data were obtained from the UK biobank. Pancreatic cancer-related data for the Finnish population were sourced from the latest R11 version of the Finnish database. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted on the associations between the aforementioned risk factors and pancreatic cancer using five MR methods, primarily inverse variance weighting. The robustness of the results was assessed through Q heterogeneity tests, pleiotropy tests, MR-PRESSO analysis, and reverse MR analysis.Results:Obesity showed a significant positive association with pancreatic cancer risk ( OR=1.407, 95% CI: 1.100-1.714, P=0.030), and the results were robust based on Q heterogeneity tests, pleiotropy tests, MR-PRESSO, and reverse MR analysis (all P>0.05). However, no significant associations were found between pancreatic cancer risk and alcohol consumption ( P=0.330), heavy drinking ( P=0.382), type 1 diabetes ( P=0.674), type 2 diabetes ( P=0.825), occasional smoking ( P=0.607), regular smoking ( P=0.758), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( P=0.287), acute pancreatitis ( P=0.336), or chronic pancreatitis ( P=0.545). Conclusion:This study further confirms the strong genetic association between obesity and increased pancreatic cancer risk.

Objective To investigate the current situation and influencing factors of latent tuberculosis infection(LTBI)among close contacts of positive etiology pulmonary tuberculosis(PTB)patients,provide basis for formula-ting intervention measures for LTBI.Methods A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select close contacts of positive etiology PTB patients from 39 districts and counties in Chongqing City as the study objects.Demographic information was collected by questionnaire survey and the infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected by interferon gamma release assay(IGRA).The influencing factors of LTBI were analyzed by x2 test and binary logistic regression model.Results A total of 2 591 close contacts were included,the male to female ratio was 0.69∶1,with the mean age of(35.72±16.64)years.1 058 cases of LTBI were detected,Myco-bacterium tuberculosis latent infection rate was 40.83％.Univariate analysis showed that the infection rate was dif-ferent among peoples of different age,body mass index(BMI),occupation,education level,marital status,wheth-er they had chronic disease or major surgery history,whether they lived together with the indicator case,and whether the cumulative contact time with the indicator case ≥250 hours,difference were all statistically significant(all P＜0.05);infection rate presented increased trend with the increase of age and BMI(both P＜0.001),and decreased trend with the increase of education(P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that age 45-54 years old(OR=1.951,95％CI:1.031-3.693),age 55-64 years old(OR=2.473,95％CI:1.279-4.781),other occupations(OR=0.530,95％CI:0.292-0.964),teachers(OR=0.439,95％CI:0.242-0.794),students(OR=0.445,95％CI:0.233-0.851),junior high school education or below(OR=1.412,95％CI:1.025-1.944),BMI＜18.5 kg/m2(OR=0.762,95％CI:0.586-0.991),co-living with indicator cases(OR=1.621,95％CI1.316-1.997)and cumu-lative contact time with indicator cases ≥250 hours(OR=1.292,95％CI:1.083-1.540)were the influential fac-tors for LTBI(all P＜0.05).Conclusion The close contacts with positive etiology PTB have a high latent infection rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,and it is necessary to pay attention to close contacts of high age,farmers,and frequent contact with patients,and take timely targeted interventions to reduce the risk of occurrence of disease.

Objective To study the effect of pain on the lumbar and hip joint moments in patients with lumbar disc herniation(LDH)while sitting and standing.Methods Dynamic data from 20 healthy controls and 20 patients with LDH were collected using an AMTI dynamometer.The differences in moments between the lumbar spine and hip joints in the sagittal and coronal planes for the two groups of subjects performing sitting-standing tasks were analyzed using statistical parameter mapping(SPM).Results Compared to the healthy control group,the LDH group showed a significant increase in the maximum lumbar flexion moment and the maximum hip adduction moment from standing to sitting(P＜0.05).SPM analysis showed that during the initial phase of standing(37％-42％),the hip abduction moment of the LDH group was significantly greater than that of the healthy control group(P=0.007).Conclusions Subjects with LDH have an unstable lumbar spine and pelvis during sitting and standing,especially at the stationary stage,which makes it difficult to achieve balance in their body.Therefore,increasing the hip abduction moment is necessary to maintain pelvic stability.During clinical evaluation and treatment,emphasis should be placed on the stable function of the spine and pelvis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of treating sepsis patients with Xuebijing injection (XBJI). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 418 patients who experienced severe infections and were treated with XBJI from June 2018 to June 2021. Propensity score matching was used to match the patient cases. The study population included 209 pairs of cases (418 individuals), and the analysis included data from before and after a 14-day course of treatment with carbapenem alone, or carbapenem with XBJI. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the 14-day mortality or length of hospital stay (P > 0.05) between the two groups. The combined treatment group had more patients with C-reactive protein that returned to normal levels (compared to baseline) than the non-combined treatment group (14.4% vs 8.1%; odds ratio [OR]: 0.528; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.282-0.991; P = 0.026). Similarly, the combined treatment group had higher procalcitonin attainment rate (55.0% vs 39.7%; OR: 0.513; 95% CI: 0.346-0.759; P = 0.001) than the non-combined treatment group. Further, more patients in the combined treatment group achieved normal creatinine levels than in the non-combined treatment group (64.1% vs 54.1%; OR: 0.659; 95% CI: 0.445-0.975; P = 0.037). CONCLUSION The combination of XBJI with carbapenem did not reduce the 14-day mortality rate of patients with severe infection, but it was able to reduce the level of inflammatory factors in patients with sepsis, and had a protective effect on liver and kidney function. Please cite this article as: Gong ZT, Yang HX, Zhu BB, Liu HH, Siri GL. Clinical efficacy of Xuebijing injection for the treatment of sepsis: A retrospective cohort study. J Integr Med. 2024; 22(6): 645-651.
Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Sepsis/mortality* ; Retrospective Studies ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/administration & dosage* ; C-Reactive Protein/analysis* ; Carbapenems/therapeutic use* ; Length of Stay ; Injections ; Adult ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Procalcitonin/blood*

Objectives::The aim of this multicenter, prospective, single-arm pilot study (ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT05040074) was to observe the procedural and 30-day results of the novel transcatheter mitral valve repair system, SQ-Kyrin ?-M Clip (Shenqi Medical, Shanghai, China), in patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR). Methods::The heart team considered patients from 5 centers in China with clinically significant functional mitral regurgitation ≥3+ despite optimal medical therapy or degenerative mitral regurgitation ≥3+ with high surgical risk as candidates for transcatheter repair. All patients received transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair under general anesthesia. The primary outcome was technical success, which included all of the following measured at the exit from the catheterization laboratory: (1) absence of procedural mortality; (2) successful access, delivery, and retrieval of the device delivery system; (3) successful deployment and correct positioning of the first intended device; and (4) no emergency surgery or reintervention related to the device or access procedure. The secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality, serious adverse events, device success, and procedural success 30 d after the intervention.Results::From June 2021 to December 2021, 18 patients were enrolled in this study with age (75.7 ± 7.4) years. Fifteen patients had MR 4+, while 3 had MR 3+. Technical success was achieved in all patients, including 6 degenerative mitral regurgitation and 12 functional mitral regurgitation patients. There was no all-cause mortality at 30 d. One patient had single leaflet device attachment within 30 d, which was regarded as a serious adverse event, and the patient was successfully treated with reintervention by implanting another clip. Another patient’s transmitral gradient was 6 mmHg (>5 mmHg), with an effective orifice area of 2.57 cm 2 after the procedure. Sixteen patients had device success and procedural success at 30 d postoperation. Fourteen patients had MR 1+, 3 had MR 2+, and only 1 patient had MR 3 + 30 d after the procedure. Conclusions::The results of this feasibility study showed the efficacy and safety of the SQ-Kyrin ?-M device in the Chinese population with severe MR, laying a solid foundation for a subsequent large-scale confirmatory study.