Under the background of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with 15 national ministries and commissions, has formulated the Implementation Plan on Establishing a Carbon Footprint Management System, and it is urgent for traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) pharmaceutical enterprises to carry out research on carbon footprint accounting methods of related products. Based on the life cycle assessment(LCA) theory, taking mulberry leaf extract produced by a certain enterprise as an example, this study analyzed the carbon footprint of TCM extracts during the life cycle. The results show that for every 1 kg of product produced, the carbon emissions from the stages of raw material acquisition, transportation, and extract production are-20.569, 1.205, and 173.577 kgCO_2eq(CO_2 equivalent), respectively. The carbon footprint of the product is 154.213 kgCO_2eq·kg~(-1). In addition, the carbon emission is the highest in the production stage, in which the consumption of ethanol solvents makes the greatest contribution to the carbon footprint, accounting for 25.71%, more than one-fourth of the total carbon footprint. The second contribution was from the treatment process of TCM residues, accounting for 19.67%, closely followed by wastewater treatment(17.71%), the consumption of hot steam(17.43%), and drinking water(16.90%). The consumption of electric power and packaging materials has a smaller carbon emission of 2.58%. In particular, the carbon emission caused by the consumption of packaging materials is only 0.04%, which is negligible. The results of the study are expected to provide a reference for TCM enterprises to carry out research on the carbon footprint of products, offer ideas for collaborative innovation in reducing pollution and carbon emissions throughout the entire industry chain of TCM, and develop new quality productivity of modern TCM industry based on green and low-carbon manufacturing.
Morus/chemistry* ; Plant Leaves/chemistry* ; Carbon Footprint ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Plant Extracts/analysis* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

This study explored the active ingredients for anti-angiogenesis in Wenyujin Rhizoma Concisum. Ten sesquiterpenoids were isolated from Wenyujin Rhizoma Concisum by silica gel column chromatography, thin layer chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography. According to the results of multiple spectroscopic methods and circular dichroism, they were identified as wenyujinlactam A(1),(4S,7S)11-hydroxycurdione(2), 8,9-seco-4β-hydroxy-1α,5βH-7(11)-guaen-8,10-olide(3), curcumadione(4), phaeocaulisin E(5), procurcumadiol(6), zedouronediol(7), epiprocurcumenol(8), gajutsulactone A(9), and(7Z)-1β,4α-dihydroxy-5α,8β(H)-eudesm-7(11)-en-8,12-olide(10). Compounds 1 and 2 were new sesquiterpenoids. Compounds 1, 6, 8, and 10 can inhibit human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVEC) proliferation with IC_(50) values of 38.83, 45.19, 32.12, and 37.80 μmol·L~(-1), respectively. Compounds 1 and 10 can inhibit HUVEC migration with IC_(50) values of 29.70 and 36.48 μmol·L~(-1), respectively.
Sesquiterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/isolation & purification* ; Rhizome/chemistry* ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells/drug effects* ; Molecular Structure ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects*

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) in plateau areas, and screen potential biomarkers for the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes by metabolomics.Methods:A total of 42 patients with AP admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology in Lhasa People's Hospital from December 2023 to May 2024 were prospectively enrolled (AP group), and 33 healthy controls (Control group) were included during the same period. Demographic and clinical data were collected, and serum non-targeted metabolomics was performed based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The serum metabolites map was evaluated by using principal component analysis, and a regression model with orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was constructed to evaluate the explanatory power ( R2) and predictive power ( Q2) of these metabolites. The OPLS-DA-based dimensionality reduction was applied to compute variable importance in projection (VIP), while fold change (FC) values were used to assess the difference of metabolites between groups. A bidirectional clustering heat map was generated for samples and differential metabolites to evaluate sample similarity within groups. Additionally, a volcano plot was created to visualize differential metabolites, and the top five up-regulated and down-regulated metabolites distinguishing AP from healthy controls were selected. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity based on ROC analysis were calculated to evaluate the differential power of differential metabolites. Results:The majority of participants were Tibetans in both the AP group (37 cases, 88.1%) and the control group (27 cases, 81.8%). The average age of AP patients was (50.45±17.85) years old, and the male to female ratio was 1.1∶1.0. The leading etiology was biliary disease (33 cases, 78.6%), and most patients encountered moderately severe disease (26 cases, 61.9%). The incidence of local complications was 83.3%, mainly thoracoabdominal effusion and peripancreatic effusion (30 cases, 71.4%). The incidence of systemic complications was 59.5%, mainly systemic inflammatory response syndrome (22 cases, 52.4%) and respiratory failure (15 cases, 35.7%). Principal component analysis showed significant differences in serum metabolites between groups. OPLS-DA showed that these metabolites effectively distinguished AP patients from healthy controls: R2=0.992 and Q2=0.913 in the positive ion mode, R2=0.983 and Q2=0.914 in the negative ion mode. There were 450 up-regulated and 366 down-regulated differential metabolites in AP group, respectively. Among them, gamma-glutamylleucine, cortisone, 4(15)-Copaen-11-ol, mytiloxanthin, and indole-3-glycol aldehyde were the top five up-regulated metabolites, while N-Acetyltryptophan, kynurenic acid, deoxyuridine monophosphate, pseudouridine, and farnesyl acetate were the top five down-regulated metabolites. ROC analysis of these markers showed that all AUC values were >0.8, with all P values <0.001, with both sensitivity and specificity exceeding 80%. Among them, N-Acetyltryptophan and farnesyl acetate possessed the best differential performance. Conclusions:Biliary causes are most frequent among AP patients in plateau area. The disease severity is mainly moderately severe, accompanied by high incidences of local and systemic complications. Some amino acids and prenol lipids could significantly distinguish AP patients from healthy controls, and might be involved in the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) in plateau areas, and screen potential biomarkers for the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes by metabolomics.Methods:A total of 42 patients with AP admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology in Lhasa People's Hospital from December 2023 to May 2024 were prospectively enrolled (AP group), and 33 healthy controls (Control group) were included during the same period. Demographic and clinical data were collected, and serum non-targeted metabolomics was performed based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. The serum metabolites map was evaluated by using principal component analysis, and a regression model with orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was constructed to evaluate the explanatory power ( R2) and predictive power ( Q2) of these metabolites. The OPLS-DA-based dimensionality reduction was applied to compute variable importance in projection (VIP), while fold change (FC) values were used to assess the difference of metabolites between groups. A bidirectional clustering heat map was generated for samples and differential metabolites to evaluate sample similarity within groups. Additionally, a volcano plot was created to visualize differential metabolites, and the top five up-regulated and down-regulated metabolites distinguishing AP from healthy controls were selected. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity based on ROC analysis were calculated to evaluate the differential power of differential metabolites. Results:The majority of participants were Tibetans in both the AP group (37 cases, 88.1%) and the control group (27 cases, 81.8%). The average age of AP patients was (50.45±17.85) years old, and the male to female ratio was 1.1∶1.0. The leading etiology was biliary disease (33 cases, 78.6%), and most patients encountered moderately severe disease (26 cases, 61.9%). The incidence of local complications was 83.3%, mainly thoracoabdominal effusion and peripancreatic effusion (30 cases, 71.4%). The incidence of systemic complications was 59.5%, mainly systemic inflammatory response syndrome (22 cases, 52.4%) and respiratory failure (15 cases, 35.7%). Principal component analysis showed significant differences in serum metabolites between groups. OPLS-DA showed that these metabolites effectively distinguished AP patients from healthy controls: R2=0.992 and Q2=0.913 in the positive ion mode, R2=0.983 and Q2=0.914 in the negative ion mode. There were 450 up-regulated and 366 down-regulated differential metabolites in AP group, respectively. Among them, gamma-glutamylleucine, cortisone, 4(15)-Copaen-11-ol, mytiloxanthin, and indole-3-glycol aldehyde were the top five up-regulated metabolites, while N-Acetyltryptophan, kynurenic acid, deoxyuridine monophosphate, pseudouridine, and farnesyl acetate were the top five down-regulated metabolites. ROC analysis of these markers showed that all AUC values were >0.8, with all P values <0.001, with both sensitivity and specificity exceeding 80%. Among them, N-Acetyltryptophan and farnesyl acetate possessed the best differential performance. Conclusions:Biliary causes are most frequent among AP patients in plateau area. The disease severity is mainly moderately severe, accompanied by high incidences of local and systemic complications. Some amino acids and prenol lipids could significantly distinguish AP patients from healthy controls, and might be involved in the pathogenesis of AP at high altitudes.

Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic value of PSA and the f/t PSA ratio in prostate cancer screening in Chinese people.Methods:Original articles on the application of PSA and f/t PSA ratio in prostate cancer screening among Chinese population were retrieved from Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang data and VIP databases from the establishment of the database to June 2023. The literature quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2(QUADAS-2) tool. A meta-analysis was performed with Stata 15.1 software.Results:A total of 26 articles were included, encompassing 18 407 individuals, of whom 4 095 were diagnosed with prostate cancer based on biopsy and postoperative pathological examination, while the rest were patients with other prostate diseases or healthy individuals. 24 used a PSA threshold of>4.0 ng/ml as the cutoff for prostate cancer screening, the pooled sensitivity was 0.88(95% CI: 0.84-0.91), the specificity was 0.42(95% CI: 0.34-0.50), and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve (AUC) was 0.7(95% CI: 0.73-0.81). Four articles considered a PSA threshold of>10.0 ng/ml for prostate cancer screening (three of which used the above two cutoff values), the pooled sensitivity was 0.83(95% CI: 0.74-0.89), the specificity was 0.67(95% CI: 0.45-0.84), and the AUC of the SROC was 0.79(95% CI: 0.75-0.83). Eleven articles used the f/t PSA ratio as a screening tool for prostate cancer. When the f/t PSA ratio was<0.16, the pooled sensitivity was 0.82(95% CI: 0.76-0.87), the specificity was 0.76(95% CI: 0.67-0.83), and the AUC of the SROC was 0.86(95% CI: 0.83-0.89). Conclusion:In the screening for prostate cancer in China, PSA has a relatively high sensitivity, and the f/t PSA ratio has a better specificity. Combined application of the two indices is recommended.

The working principle of F-50 helium compressor of Philips Ingenia 3.0T MRI Scanner was described.The causes and treatment of F-50 helium compressor were introduced.The importance of routine helium compressor maintenance for stable MRI operation was presented.References were provided for eliminating similar helium compressor faults.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2023,44(10):114-117]

A pharmacophore-based study was conducted to investigate the therapeutic activity of the traditional Tibetan medicine Zha Xun (ZX) in liver diseases. In the present study, the protective effect of ZX on the acute liver injury induced by concanavalin A (ConA) and 0.15% carbon tetrachloride (0.15% CCl₄) in ICR mice was evaluated, and the results showed that ZX significantly reduced serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the ConA-induced acute immune liver injury model and the CCl₄-induced acute oxidative liver injury model (P < 0.05). Subsequently, the protective effects of aqueous, 95% ethanol, 60% ethanol and 30% ethanol eluting fractions of ZX, and fulvic acid, the main water-soluble constituent of ZX, were evaluated against acute oxidative liver injury induced by 0.15% CCl₄ in mice. The results showed that different solvent-eluting fractions of ZX showed certain hepatoprotective activities, among which the aqueous extract of ZX and 30% ethanol extract of ZX significantly reduced the serum levels of ALT, AST, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in mice (P < 0.05), and the serum levels of LDH in mice were significantly reduced by fulvic acid (P < 0.05), which showed significant hepatoprotective activity. The protective activities and preliminary mechanisms of the total extract of ZX, the aqueous extract of ZX, the 30% ethanol extract of ZX, and fulvic acid against hepatocellular injury in vitro were further evaluated by using the H₂O₂-induced hepatocellular injury model. The results showed that the components could significantly inhibit H₂O₂-induced hepatocellular injury, reduce the levels of ALT, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and LDH, improve the survival rate of hepatocellular cells, and reduce the content of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cell culture. At the same time, it can inhibit hepatocyte apoptosis by increasing the expression ratio of Bcl-2/BAX protein and decreasing the expression ratio of cleaved caspase-3/pro caspase-3 protein. The present study showed that ZX has clear hepatoprotective activity in vitro and in vivo, and the different solvent elution fractions of ZX showed certain hepatoprotective activity, among which the aqueous extract of ZX, 30% ethanol extract of ZX had better hepatoprotective activity, and the activity of 60% ethanol extract of ZX was stronger than that of 95% ethanol extract of ZX. The activity of ZX and its water-soluble elution site exerted hepatoprotective effects by inhibiting hepatocyte apoptosis and oxidative stress. The animals used in this experiment and related disposal meet the requirements of animal welfare, and have been reviewed and approved by the Laboratory Animal Management and Use Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (approval number: 00004018).

Huocao(a traditional Chinese herbal medicine) moxibustion is a characteristic technology in Yi medicine suitable for cold-dampness diseases. Huocao, as the moxibustion material, is confusedly used in clinical practice and little is known about its quality control. In this study, UPLC method was used to establish the chemical fingerprint of non-volatile components in Huocao, and the contents of eight phenolic acids such as chlorogenic acid were determined. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed to obtain the indicator components of Huocao for quality evaluation, and thus a comprehensive evaluation system for the quality of Huocao was built. The UPLC fingerprints of 49 batches of Huocao were established, and there were 20 common peaks, of which eight phenolic acids including neochlorogenic acid and chlorogenic acid were identified. Except for three batches of Huocao, the similarity of the other 46 batches was higher than 0.89, suggesting that the established fingerprint method could be used for quality control of the medicinal herb. The correlation coefficient between entropy weight score of the eight phenolic acids and comprehensive fingerprint score in Huocao was 0.875(P<0.01), which indicated that the eight phenolic acids could be used as indicator components for the quality evaluation of Huocao. Furthermore, in multivariate statistical analysis on the common peaks of fingerprint and the contents of the eight phenolic acids, chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid A and isochlorogenic acid C were screened to be the indicator components. The results revealed that the proposed method achieved a simple and accurate quality control of Huocao based on UPLC fingerprint and multi-component content determination, which provided useful data for establishing the quality standard of Huocao.
Chlorogenic Acid ; Entropy ; Hydroxybenzoates ; Quality Control

With the progress of globalization, the public health emergencies represented by major infectious diseases have become a major challenge for the public health management in China. The article briefly describes the emergency response capability assessment tools in China, and introduces two emergency response assessment tools with complete content structure and wide application in the world. Then the advantages and disadvantages of the tools are compared and discussed in order to provide reference for improvement of the assessment tools for public health emergency response capability in China.
China ; Disaster Planning ; Humans ; Public Health ; Public Health Administration

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.