Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) exerts integrative effects on complex diseases owing to the characteristics of multiple components with multiple targets. However, the syndrome-based system of diagnosis and treatment in TCM can easily lead to bias because of varying medication preferences among physicians, which has been a major challenge in the global acceptance and application of TCM. Therefore, a standardized TCM prescription system needs to be explored to promote its clinical application. In this study, we first developed a gradient weighted disease-target-herbal ingredient-herb network to aid TCM formulation. We tested its efficacy against intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). First, the top 100 ICH targets in the GeneCards database were screened according to their relevance scores. Then, SymMap and Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) databases were applied to find out the target-related ingredients and ingredient-containing herbs, respectively. The relevance of the resulting ingredients and herbs to ICH was determined by adding the relevance scores of the corresponding targets. The top five ICH therapeutic herbs were combined to form a tailored TCM prescriptions. The absorbed components in the serum were detected. In a mouse model of ICH, the new prescription exerted multifaceted effects, including improved neurological function, as well as attenuated neuronal damage, cell apoptosis, vascular leakage, and neuroinflammation. These effects matched well with the core pathological changes in ICH. The multi-targets-directed gradient-weighting strategy presents a promising avenue for tailoring precise, multipronged, unbiased, and standardized TCM prescriptions for complex diseases. This study provides a paradigm for advanced achievements-driven modern innovation in TCM concepts.

Objective There are few researches for the serum betatrophin level and diabetic nephropathy (DN) recently.The aim of this study was to investigate the change of serum betatrophin level and the correlation of serum betatrophin and urinary albumin-to-creatintine ratio (UACR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods A total of 150 Chinese subjects from Mar 2013 to Jul 2016 were enrolled in the study, including 90 patients with type 2 diabetes and 60 healthy controls.According to the level of UACR, the diabetic patients were divided into two groups:normal UACR group (UACR<30 mg/g, n=60) and abnormal UACR group(UACR>30 mg/g, n=30).Serum betatrophin was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).UACR was measured by turbidimetric inhibition immune assay.Blood glucose blood lipid were measured simultaneously.Results The serum betatrophin level was significantly higher in abnormal UACR group than that in normal UACR group[677.37±59.02 vs 486.13±41.22 pg/mL, P<0.05];Serum betatrophin level in T2DM patients was positively correlated with age (r=0.246), waist hip ratio (WHR) (r=0.240), fasting blood glucose (FPG) (r=0.234), 2 hour plasma glucose (2hPG) (r=0.363), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r=0.346), fasting insulin (FINS) (r=0.249), insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) (r=0.309), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (r=0.223), creatinine (CREA) (r=0.277) and UACR (r=0.244) (P<0.05),and negatively correlated with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (r=0.308) (P<0.01).Serum betatrophin level in normal UACR group was positively correlated with age, HbA1c and UACR (P<0.05);Serum betatrophin level in abnormal UACR group was positively correlated with WHR (r=0.504), 2hPG (r=0.600), HbA1c (r=0.449), HOMA-IR (r=0.395) (P<0.05).The WHR, HbA1c, HOMA-IR and GFR were the influential factors of the serum betatrophin level.Conclusion The level of serum betatrophin was significantly increased in T2DM patients with albuminuria, which suggests that the betatrophin might play an important role in the pathogenesis of DN.

Objective To over-express human trefoil factor 2 (hTFF2) by Escherichia coli system and an-alyze its activities in promoting migration and anchorage-independent growth in SW480 colonic cancer cells. Meth-ods hTFF2 gene encoding mature peptide was obtained by RT-PCR, and the recombinant expression vector pET32a-hTFF2 was constructed. Then pET32a-hTFF2 was transformed into E. coli BL21-32a and TrxA-hTFF2 fu-sion protein was induced to over-express. The expressed product was isolated by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, purified by dialysis and identified by Western blotting. The activities of the recombinant hTFF2 in promoting SW480 cells migration and anchorage-independent growth were analyzed by MicroChemotaxis Chamber migration assay and Soft-agar assay,respectively. Results The TrxA-hTFF2 fusion protein was expressed to 220 mg/L at high purity. In vitro model demonstrated that recombinant hTFF2 obviously enhanced SW480 cell migration activity and anchor-age-independent growth. Conclusion The recombinant hTFF2 can be expressed in E. coli with high production, purity and biological activities. And its roles in cell migration and anchorage-independent growth suggest that up-regulation of TFF2 in colonic cancer might be involved in cancer invasion and metastases.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the combined application of dissociate skin flap and vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) for the repairing for defect after surgical management of huge neck neoplasms. METHOD: Nineteen patients with huge neck malignant tumor involving the skin of the neck were given radical operation, making use of VSD covering the wound surface. After giving 6.65-7.98 mm Hg continuous negative pressure drainage for 72 h, the patients turned to be treated by intermittent negative pressure therapy with 2 min free interval after each treatment period for 5 min. After dismantling the VSD at 7th to 10th day postoperatively, the good wounds covered by granulation tissue were treated by the skin graft operation with dissociate skin flap from thighs; as for the wounds of which the granulation tissue didn't grow well and important cervical tissues was not fully covered by the granulation tissue, VSD was applied again for 1 week, followed by the skin graft operation. RESULT: Nineteen patients have received a total of 23 times of VSD wound treatment, one-stage operation time was significantly shortened. The granulation tissue grew faster on the wound after VSD treatment, and the important cervical tissues such as great vessels could be well covered. The infection and tumor recurrence were observed directly after dismantling the VSD. The skin graft transplantation would be performed after 1-3 weeks. CONCLUSION The treatment by vacuum sealing drainage combined with skin graft for surgical wounds of huge neck tumor postoperatively has the advantages of simple operation, little injury and promotion of the wound healing, which is an effective way for treatment of neck skin defect by surgical operation for the huge tumor.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy ; Skin Transplantation ; methods ; Soft Tissue Injuries ; etiology ; surgery ; Surgical Flaps