This study aimed to provide scientific evidence for predicting quality markers(Q-markers) of Elephantopus scaber by establishing UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber from different geographical origins and determining the content of 13 major components, as well as conducting in vitro anti-cancer activity investigation of the main components. The chromatographic column used was Waters CORTECS UPLC C_(18)(2.1 mm×150 mm, 1.6 μm), and the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solution(gradient elution). The column temperature was set at 30 ℃, and the flow rate was 0.2 mL·min~(-1). The injection volume was 1 μL, and the detection wavelength was 240 nm. The UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber was fitted using the Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine(2012 edition) to determine common peaks, evaluate similarity, identify and determine the content of major components. The CCK-8 assay was used to explore the inhibitory effect of the main components on the proliferation of lung cancer cells. The results showed that in the established UPLC fingerprint of E. scaber, 35 common peaks were identified. Thirteen major components, including neochlorogenic acid(peak 1), chlorogenic acid(peak 2), cryptochlorogenic acid(peak 3), caffeic acid(peak 4), schaftoside(peak 6), galuteolin(peak 9), isochlorogenic acid B(peak 10), isochlorogenic acid A(peak 12), isochlorogenic acid C(peak 18), deoxyelephantopin(peak 28), isodeoxyelephantopin(peak 29), isoscabertopin(peak 31), and scabertopin(peak 32) were identified and quantified, and a quantitative analysis method was established. The results of the in vitro anti-cancer activity study showed that deoxyelephantopin, isodeoxyelephantopin, isoscabertopin, and scabertopin in E. scaber exhibited inhibition rates of lung cancer cell proliferation exceeding 80% at a concentration of 10 μmol·L~(-1), higher than the positive drug paclitaxel. These results indicate that the fingerprint of E. scaber is highly characteristic, and the quantitative analysis method is accurate and stable, providing references for the research on quality standards of E. scaber. Four sesquiterpene lactones in E. scaber show significant anti-cancer activity and can serve as Q-markers for E. scaber.
Humans ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Asteraceae/chemistry* ; Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy*

Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and identify the risk factors of Giardia lamblia infections among patients with colorectal cancer in Henan Province. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed for questionnaire surveys among colorectal cancer patients in Henan Cancer Hospital during the period from March to July, 2021. Patients’ stool samples were collected, and the triosephosphate isomerase (tpi) gene of G. lamblia was amplified in stool samples using nested PCR assay to characterize the parasite genotype. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the risk factors of G. lamblia infections among colorectal cancer patients. Results A total of 307 colorectal cancer patients were investigated, including 176 males (57.3%) and 131 females (42.7%). PCR assay detected 8.1% [95% confidential interval (CI): (0.056, 0.117)] prevalence of G. lamblia infections among the study subjects, and there was no significant difference in the prevalence between men [9.1%, 95% CI: (0.057, 0.143)] and women [6.9%, 95% CI: (0.037, 0.125)] (χ² = 0.495, P = 0.482). In addition, there was no age-specific prevalence of G. lamblia infections among the participants (χ² = 1.534, P = 0.675). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified use of septic tanks [odds ratio (OR) = 3.336, 95% CI: (1.201, 9.267)], daily use of well water [OR = 3.042, 95% CI: (1.093, 8.465)] and raising livestock [OR = 3.740, 95% CI: (1.154, 12.121)] as risk factors of G. lamblia infections among colorectal cancer patients, and the prevalence of abdominal pain was significantly greater in colorectal cancer patients with G. lamblia infections than in those without infections (P = 0.017). Among the 25 patients with G. lamblia infections, assemblage A was characterized in 24 (96.0%) cases and assemblage B in one case (4.0%). Conclusions The prevalence of G. lamblia is high among colorectal cancer patients in Henan Province, and assemblage A is the dominant genotype of G. lamblia. Use of septic tanks, daily use of well water and raising livestock are risk factors of G. lamblia infections among patients with colorectal cancer.

Objective: To explore the predictive values of the modified Baux score, Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, and Ryan score on the death risk of severe burn patients. Methods: A retrospective case series study was conducted. From February 2018 to November 2019, 260 severe burn patients who met the inclusion criteria were admitted to the Department of Burns of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, including 158 males and 102 females, aged 36 (3, 53) years. According to the final outcome, the patients were divided into survival group (n=229) and death group (n=31). Data of patients were compared and statistically analyzed with chi-square test or Mann-Whitney U test between the two groups, including the gender, age, cause of burn, site of burn, total burn area, depth of burn, combined inhalation injury, and combined underlying diseases on admission, and the modified Baux score, Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, and Ryan score calculated based on part of the aforementioned data. The Kendall tau-b coefficient method was used to analyze the consistency of the above-mentioned three scores in 260 severe burn patients. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of the above-mentioned three scores predicting the death risk of 260 severe burn patients were drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC), the optimal threshold, and the sensitivity and specificity under the optimal threshold were calculated. The quality of AUC of the above-mentioned three scores was compared by Delong test. Results: The gender, site of burn, and depth of burn of patients between the two groups were all similar (P>0.05). The age, total burn area, proportion of flame burn, proportion of combined inhalation injury, and proportion of combined underlying diseases of patients in death group were significantly higher than those in survival group (with Z values of 5.53 and 17.78, respectively, χ² values of 16.23, 15.89, and 17.78, respectively, P<0.01); the modified Baux score, Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, and Ryan score of patients in death group were 142 (115, 155), 7 (5, 7), 2 (2, 3), all significantly higher than 64 (27, 87), 1 (0, 3), 0 (0, 1) in survival group (with Z values of 7.91, 7.64, and 7.61, respectively, P<0.01). In 260 severe burn patients, the results between the modified Baux score and Ryan score, modified Baux score and Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, Ryan score and Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score were significantly consistent (with Kendall tau-b coefficients of 0.75, 0.71, and 0.86, respectively, P<0.01). The AUCs of ROC curves of the modified Baux score, Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, and Ryan score for predicting the death risk of 260 severe burn patients were 0.92, 0.89, and 0.85, respectively (with 95% confidence intervals of 0.86-0.98, 0.83-0.95, and 0.78-0.93, respectively, P<0.01); the optimal thresholds were 106.5, 4.5, and 1.5 points, respectively; the sensitivity under the optimal threshold were 88.5%, 76.9%, and 73.1%, respectively, and the specificity under the optimal threshold were 88.5%, 87.2%, and 86.3%, respectively. The modified Baux score was similar to Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score in the AUC quality (z=1.25, P>0.05), which were both significantly better than the AUC quality of Ryan score (with z values of 2.35 and 2.11, respectively, P<0.05). Conclusions: The modified Baux score, Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury score, and Ryan score have good ability in predicting the death risk of severe burn patients. From the perspective of clinical practice, the modified Baux score is more suitable as a predictive tool for the prognosis of severe burn patients.
Adult ; Burns ; Female ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Male ; Prognosis ; ROC Curve ; Retrospective Studies

Objective:To explore the mechanism of Xiaojinwan in treating breast cancer bone metastases through cell experiments and bioinformatic analysis. Method:The inhibitory effect of Xiaojinwan on MCF-7 cell viability was detected by cell counting kit-8 （CCK-8） assay. The key components and targets responsible for Xiaojinwan in inhibiting breast cancer bone metastases were predicted by network pharmacology and molecular docking. The active components and targets of Xiaojinwan were retrieved from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform （TCSMP） and SwissTarget Prediction， and the breast cancer bone metastases-related targets from GeneCards and DisGeNET. The results were imported into STRING for constructing a protein-protein interaction （PPI） network， followed by Gene ontology （GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） enrichment analysis using DAVID. A network of the active components of Xiaojinwan-breast cancer bone metastases-related targets-pathways was constructed using Cytoscape 3.7.2. AutoDock 4 was employed for molecular docking. The protein expression levels of matrix metallopmteinase-9 （MMP-9）， hypoxia-inducible factor 1α （HIF1A）， and androgen receptor （AR） were assayed by Western blot. Result:Xiaojinwan inhibited the viability of MCF-7 cells and acted on breast cancer bone metastases through such processes as redox and protein autophosphorylation. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that HIF-1， vascular endothelial growth factor （VEGF） and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt） pathways were involved. As verified by molecular docking， the active components such as eucalyptin stably bound to AR and MMP-9. Western blot indicated that Xiaojinwan dose-dependently inhibited the expression of MMP-9 and HIF1A proteins in MCF-7 cells. Conclusion:Xiaojinwan acts on AR and MMP-9 through HIF， VEGF and other related signaling pathways， thereby improving hypoxia in tumor microenvironment， inhibiting angiogenesis， and reducing cell invasion and viability.

OBJECTIVE: To study the long-term clinical effect of multicenter multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) in children with renal malignant tumors. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 55 children with renal malignant tumors who were diagnosed and treated with MDT in 3 hospitals in Hunan Province from January 2015 to January 2020, with GD-WT-2010 and CCCG-WT-2016 for treatment regimens. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the survival of the children. RESULTS: Of the 55 children, 10 had stage I tumor, 14 had stage Ⅱ tumor, 22 had stage Ⅲ tumor, 7 had stage IV tumor, and 2 had stage V tumor. As for pathological type, 47 had FH type and 8 had UFH type. All children underwent complete tumor resection. Of the 55 children, 14 (25%) received preoperative chemotherapy. All children, except 1 child with renal cell carcinoma, received postoperative chemotherapy. Among the 31 children with indication for radiotherapy, 21 (68%) received postoperative radiotherapy. One child died of postoperative metastasis. The incidence rate of FH-type myelosuppression was 94.4%, and the incidence rate of UFH-type myelosuppression was 100%. The median follow-up time was 21 months and the median survival time was 26 months for all children, with an overall survival rate of 98% and an event-free survival rate of 95%. CONCLUSIONS Multicenter MDT has the advantages of high success rate of operation and good therapeutic effect of chemotherapy in the treatment of children with renal malignant tumors, with myelosuppression as the most common side effects, and radiotherapy is safe and effective with few adverse events. Therefore, MDT has good feasibility, safety, and economy.
Child ; Family ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms/therapy* ; Progression-Free Survival ; Retrospective Studies

After one-month of oral treatment with traditional Chinese medicine decoction, without using other drugs, the lung inflammatory exudate, pulmonary fibrosis and quality of life of a 61-year-old female patient with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were significantly improved. No recurrence or deterioration of the patient's condition was found within seven weeks of treatment and follow-up, and no adverse events occurred, indicating that oral Chinese medicine decoction was able to improve the pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in a patient recovering from COVID-19, but further research is still needed.
Administration, Oral ; COVID-19/virology* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Exudates and Transudates ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation/etiology* ; Lung/pathology* ; Magnoliopsida ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Phytotherapy ; Pulmonary Fibrosis/etiology* ; SARS-CoV-2

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between the levels of D-dimer and inflammatory factors C-reactive protein（CRP）and prognosis in patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia（COVID-19）.Methods The clinical data of a total of 242 patients with COVID-19 who were treated in hospital from February 4th 2020 to February 18th 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. According to the classification standard,the patients with COVID-19 were divided into common patients(131 cases), severe patients（88 cases）, and critical patients（23 cases）. The difference between the levels of D-dimer and CRP in patients with pneumonia of different severity and clinical outcomes was compared and the correlation between D-dimer and CRP was analyzed.ResultsThe levels of D-dimer and CRP in severe and critical patients were significantly higher than those in common patients(P<0.05). The levels of CRP in critical patients were significantly higher than those in severe patients(P<0.05). These two indicator levels of patients who died of COVID-19 within 30 dayswere significantly higher than those who survived. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the levels of D-dimer were positively correlated with the levels of CRP(r=0.649，P<0.05).ConclusionD-dimer and CRP are highly expressed in severe and critical patients, and the severe abnormality of the two indicators in the early stage of COVID-19 predicted the poor prognosis. D-dimer and CRP have certain clinical value in evaluating the severity and prognosis of COVID-19.

Objective::To investigate the effect of betulic acid(BA) on steatosis LO2 cells. Method::LO2 cells were intervened with BA at different gradient concentrations (0, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 250 μmol·L^-1) for 24 hours. methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT) staining was used to observed cell viability to determine the final concentration of BA. The cells were divided into control, model, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and BA groups, as well as BA groups intervened with low, middle and high concentrations. First, model, DMSO and BA group's cells were cultured in 10% Lipid Mix 1 medium for 24 hours to establish a nonalcoholic fatty liver model. Then, DMSO group and low, medium and high-concentration groups were separately cultured with 0.1%DMSO medium and 20, 40, 80 μmol·L^-1 BA medium for 24 hours. And control and model groups were cultured in drug-free medium for 24 hours. Oil red O staining and Nile red staining were used to observe the intracellular lipid droplets. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), nuclear factor κB p65 (NF-κB p55) and iNOS. Result::BA within the concentration of 80 μmol·L^-1 had no significant toxicity on LO2 cells. Compared with control group, the intracellular lipid droplets were significantly increased in the model group, and the expressions of oxidative stress-related proteins RAGE, NF-κB p65 and iNOS also increased significantly(P<0.05). Compared with model group, the intracellular lipid droplets in DMSO group were similar to those in model group, with no significant difference in the three protein expressions between the two groups. However, the intracellular lipid droplets deposition in the BA group was significantly decreased. And the expressions of RAGE, NF-κB p65 and iNOS proteins in high-concentration BA group were significantly decreased(P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion::BA can significantly improve the intracellular fat deposition in LO2 cells, which was probably related to the inhibition of the expressions of oxidative stress-related proteins RAGE, NF-κB p65 and iNOS.