Objective To preliminarily evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a novel non-implantable atrial shunt device based on radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of chronic heart failure(CHF).Methods This was a prospective single-arm study.From January 2023 to December 2023,five eligible CHF patients were consecutively enrolled at Beijing Anzhen Hospital,Capital Medical University,and underwent inter-atrial shunt using Shenzhen Betterway atrial shunt device.Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure(PCWP),right atrial pressure(RAP),pulmonary artery pressure(PAP),total pulmonary resistance(TPR),pulmonary vascular resistance(PVR),and pulmonary/systemic blood flow ratio(Qp/Qs)were measured using right heart catheterization before and immediately after procedure.Patients were followed up for 90 days,and echocardiography,right heart catheterization,and cardiac functional indicators were evaluated.The primary endpoint was procedural success.Secondary endpoints included clinical success,echocardiographic changes,6-minute walk distance(6MWD)changes,New York Heart Association(NYHA)class changes,Kansas city cardiomyopathy questionnaire(KCCQ)score changes,and amino-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP)level changes at 90 days.The safety endpoint was major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular adverse events and device-related adverse events.Results All five patients successfully achieved left-to-right atrial shunt.Compared with baseline,PCWP decreased significantly immediately after procedure in all five patients,with a procedural success rate of 100％.There were no significant changes in RAP,PAP,TPR,and PVR before and immediately after procedure.After 90 days follow-up,four patients had persistent left-to-right atrial shunt,and PCWP was significantly lower than baseline,with a clinical success rate of 80％.Compared with baseline,LVEF increased,left ventricular end-diastolic diameter decreased,and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion and right ventricular fractional area change were not impaired in all five patients at 90 days.KCCQ scores and 6MWT improved,NT-proBNP decreased,and NYHA class did not change significantly.There were no deaths,rehospitalizations for heart failure,stroke-related adverse events,or device-related adverse events during the follow-up.Conclusions The novel non-implantable atrial shunt catheter can safely and effectively improve hemodynamic,echocardiographic,and cardiac functional indicators in patients with heart failure.However,larger-scale clinical studies are still needed to validate its long-term clinical effectiveness.

Hair roots induced by Agrobacterium rhizogene produce higher levels of secondary metabolites than non-induced plants, and the enhanced metabolic capacity is driven by the rol gene. We hypothesized that rol genes can be utilized to improve the biosynthesis of tropane alkaloids (TAs) in Atropa belladonna. In this study, the rolC gene from Agrobacterium rhizogene pRiA4 plasmid, driven by a CaMV35S promoter, was overexpressed in A. belladonna. The phenotypes, TAs content and transcriptional expression of key genes in TAs biosynthesis were analyzed in transgenic A. belladonna plants. Results show that transgenic A. belladonna exhibited a well-developed root system, male sterility, higher stamen column length than pistil, early flowering, internode shortening, smaller but more flowers, increased axillary buds and lateral buds, decreased apical dominance, and long and narrow leaves as compared to wild-type plants. Transgenic A. belladonna produced more TAs than wild-type plants, with the content of hyoscyamine, anisodamine and scopolamine reaching 2.58, 3.59 and 15.77-fold that of the control group, respectively. The gene expression of putrescine N-methyltransferase (PMT), tropinone reductase I (TRⅠ) and hyoscyamine 6-β-hydroxylase (H6H), key enzymes in TAs biosynthesis, were up-regulated compared with the control group. The above results indicate that the rolC gene enhances TAs biosynthesis in A. belladonna by up-regulating the expression of key enzymes in the TAs biosynthesis pathway, laying a foundation for genetic manipulation of A. belladonna to increase TAs content by increasing rolC gene expression.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the early interventions of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on the conversion time of nucleic acid in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and find possible underlying mechanisms of action. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 300 confirmed COVID-19 patients who were treated with TCM, at a designated hospital in China. The patients were categorized into three groups: TCM1, TCM2 and TCM3, who respectively received TCM interventions within 7, 8-14, and greater than 15 days of hospitalization. Different indicators such as the conversion time of pharyngeal swab nucleic acid, the conversion time of fecal nucleic acid, length of hospital stay, and inflammatory markers (leukocyte count, and lymphocyte count and percentage) were analyzed to observe the impact of early TCM interventions on these groups. RESULTS: The median conversion times of pharyngeal swab nucleic acid in the three groups were 5.5, 7 and 16 d (P < 0.001), with TCM1 and TCM2 being statistically different from TCM3 (P < 0.01). TCM1 (P < 0.05) and TCM3 (P < 0.01) were statistically different from TCM2. The median conversion times of fecal nucleic acid in the three groups were 7, 9 and 17 d (P < 0.001). Conversion times of fecal nucleic acid in TCM1 were statistically different from TCM3 and TCM2 (P < 0.01). The median lengths of hospital stay in the three groups were 13, 16 and 21 d (P < 0.001). TCM1 and TCM2 were statistically different from TCM3 (P < 0.01); TCM1 and TCM3 were statistically different from TCM2 (P < 0.01). Both leucocyte and lymphocyte counts increased gradually with an increase in the length of hospital stay in TCM1 group patients, with a statistically significant difference observed at each time point in the group (P < 0.001). Statistically significant differences in lymphocyte count and percentage in TCM2 (P < 0.001), and in leucocyte count (P = 0.043) and lymphocyte count (P = 0.038) in TCM3 were observed. The comparison among the three groups showed a statistically significant difference in lymphocyte percentage on the third day of admission (P = 0.044). CONCLUSION In this study, it was observed that in COVID-19 patients treated with a combination of Chinese and Western medicines, TCM intervention earlier in the hospital stay correlated with faster conversion time of pharyngeal swab and fecal nucleic acid, as well as shorter length of hospital stay, thus helping promote faster recovery of the patient. The underlying mechanism of action may be related to improving inflammation in patients with COVID-19.
Adult ; Aged ; COVID-19/drug therapy* ; Female ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2

Platelet adhesion is a key process in thrombosis. Anti-platelet adhesion effect of some Chinese medicines for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis (PBCRBS) has been reported, but their relative efficacies as a whole and specific targets remained unclear. This paper combined activity screening, drug compatibility analysis, pathway clustering, target prediction, and molecular docking to explore the mechanism of anti-platelet adhesion by PBCRBS Chinese medicine. Screening the activity of anti-platelet adhesion of 58 commercially available PBCRBS Chinese patent medicines showed that about 50.0% significantly inhibit ADP-induced platelet adhesion in vitro, and about 96.6% significantly inhibit thrombin-induced platelet adhesion in vitro. The animal experiment involved was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Tianjin International Biomedical Research Institute. Combined with the auxiliary platform for TCM (V2.0) inheritance showed that the compatibility of Danshen-Chuanxiong was used most frequently among the top 20 active proprietary Chinese patent medicines. IPA network analysis revealed that IL-1, APP and CCL2 might be the key targets for anti-platelet adhesion function of Danshen-Chuanxiong against atherosclerosis, neuroinflammation and chemokine signaling pathways as the main mechanisms. Molecular docking analysis confirmed the interaction between one of the active compounds shared by Danshen and Chuanxiong, i.e. chlorogenic acid, with its target CCL2. This study provides TCM theory guidance and experimental support for targeting platelet adhesion in anti-thrombosis therapy by Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.

AIM:To observe the efficacy of intravitreal conbercept injection for chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).METHODS: Nine eyes of 9 patients diagnosed as chronic CSC between October 2015 to May 2016 were treated with an intravitreal injection of conbercept (0.5mg/0.05mL) (six patients were given the same does of intravitreal injection again at 1mo after the first injection).Follow-up observation was at 1, 2, and 6mo after injection.Observed indicators included best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), choroidal indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), macular fovea thickness (CMT), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT).RESULTS:Seven of the 9 patients responded significantly to the drug, while 2 patients had no response.The CMT was 373.12±72.43μm at baseline, which decreased significantly to 332.05±67.13μm, 282.24±62.30μm and 225.56±71.08μm at 1, 2 and 6mo after the intravitreal injection.The mean thickness of SFCT was 422.11±64.82μm before treatment.The choroidal thickness of non-responsive patients before treatment was below average, respectively 353μm and 365μm.The SFCT of 1, 2, and 6mo after treatment was 391.45±75.24μm, 365.53±63.07μm, 355.40±66.65μm.Before treatment and 1mo after, there was no significant difference (P=0.074), but there was statistically significant (P<0.01) between those of before and 2mo and 6mo after.The mean BCVA of the prior treatment was 0.53±0.32, the after treatment was 0.65±0.20, there was no different between the two(P>0.05).CONCLUSION: Intravitreal conbercept injection in chronic CSC may have some effect in accelerating subertinal fluid resolution and decreasing the CMT.The SFCT within 6mo after treatment was significantly lower than pretreatment.The SFCT may be an indicator of whether patients respond.

The composition and potency of the high temperature (40℃) stress induced size variants of a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody (rhumAb1) were characterized by means of SEC-HPLC, nonreduced CE-SDS, liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) assay. The molecular masses of the four size variants (SEC-1-SEC-4) separated by SEC-HPLC and seven size variants (NR-1-NR-7) detected by non-reduced CE-SDS were all characterized by LC-MS. The major low molecular weight variants were generated due to the hinge region fragmentation of heavy chain. The hinge region cleavage was found mainly in the Ser221-Cys-Asp-Lys-Thr-His-Thr-Cys228 sequence, in which C222-D223 and H226-T227 were the major cleavage sites. The size variants of rhumAb1, namely dimer and fragments, have significantly reduced ADCC activity in comparison with the intact rhumAb1 drug product. This study provided insights into the stability profiling for rhumAb1 drug product. The study protocols presented here may be applicable to the analytical characterization of other monoclonal antibody-based therapeutic products.

The chemical constituents of Taxus chinensis var. mairei cell cultures were investigated by chromatographic methods, including silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 and preparative HPLC. Thirteen compounds were isolated from the 80% ethanol extract of cultured cells and their structures were elucidated by spectral data and physicochemical properties, which were identified as 2α,4α,7β,9α,10β-pentaacetoxy-14β-hydroxytax-11-ene (1), 2α,4α,7β,9α,10β-pentaacetoxytax-11-ene (2), 1β-deoxybaccatin VI (3), 2α-acetoxytaxusin (4), taxuyunnanine C (5), yunnanxane (6), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-propionyloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (7), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-isobutyryloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (8), 2α,5α,10β-triacetoxy-14β-(2'-methyl)butyryloxy-4 (20), 11-taxadiene (9), 13-dehydroxylbaccatin III (10), 13-dehydroxy-10-deacetylbaccatin III (11), paclitaxel (12) and (13) β-sitosterol. Among them, compound 1 is a new compound, and compounds 2, 4, 10 and 11 are isolated from the cell culture of Taxus chinensis var. mairei for the first time.
Alkenes ; analysis ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cells, Cultured ; Diterpenes ; analysis ; Molecular Structure ; Paclitaxel ; analysis ; Sitosterols ; analysis ; Taxoids ; analysis ; Taxus ; chemistry

The aim of this study is to prepare self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) of the mixture of paeonol (Pae) and borneol (Bor). Solubility test, ternary phase diagrams and simplex lattice method were employed to screen and optimize the formulation of the mixture of Pae and Bor-loaded SMEDDS. After formed into microemulsions, the particle diameter (PD) was determined and a TEM was employed to observe the microemulsions' morphology. The contents of Pae and Bor were determined by gas chromatography. As a result, while ethyl oleate (EO) as the oil phase, cremophor EL35 (EL35) as surfactant and Transcutol HP (HP) as cosurfactant, the range of the microemulsion on the ternary phase diagram was larger than other combinations. And at a ratio of 20:45:35, the microemulsions' PD was about 34 nm and the polydispersity index (PI) was about 0.2. There were 16% of Pae, 2% of Bor, 16% of EO, 37% of EL35 and 29% of HP in the prepared SMEDDS. The preparation process of the Pae and Bor-loaded SMEDDS based on Xingbi Fang is simple and feasible. This study provides a reference for the researches on the related traditional Chinese medicine and the related components.
Acetophenones ; administration & dosage ; toxicity ; Administration, Intranasal ; Animals ; Bornanes ; administration & dosage ; toxicity ; Bufonidae ; Cilia ; drug effects ; Drug Combinations ; Drug Delivery Systems ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; toxicity ; Emulsions ; Ethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Female ; Male ; Nasal Mucosa ; drug effects ; Oleic Acids ; chemistry ; Particle Size ; Polyethylene Glycols ; chemistry ; Solubility ; Surface-Active Agents ; chemistry

This study is to investigate effects of genistein on rat femoral bone metabolic in vitro. Rat femoral tissues was isolated and randomly divided into two groups including control group and genistein (1 x 10(-5) mol x(-1)) group. Determinations of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium content and osteoprotegerin (OPG), type I-collagen (Collagen-I), RANKL, Runx-2 and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2) mRNA expression were done by real-time PCR. The results showed that 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1) genistein could increase the activity of ALP and contents of Ca, regulate bone metabolism activity of OPG, RANKL, BMP-2, Collagen-I and Runx-2 mRNA expression level. Genistein can significantly modulate bone metabolism related gene expression level of rat femoral tissue in vitro, and can increase calcium content and the activity of ALP.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Collagen Type I ; genetics ; metabolism ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit ; genetics ; metabolism ; Enzyme Activation ; drug effects ; Femur ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Genistein ; pharmacology ; Osteoprotegerin ; genetics ; metabolism ; Phytoestrogens ; pharmacology ; RANK Ligand ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

This study is to investigate the effect of 8-prenylnaringenin (8-PNG) on osteoclastogensis of bone marrow cells and bone resorption activity of osteoclasts. Osteoclasts were separated from long bone marrow of newborn rabbits and cultured in alpha-MEM containing 10% FBS. 8-PNG was added into culture media at 1 x 10(-7), 1 x 10(-6), 1 x 10(-5) mol xL(-1), separately. 17beta-Estradiol (E2, 1 x 10(-7) mol x L(-7)) was used as positive control. T RAP staining and TRAP activity measurement were performed after 5 days, and the bone resorption pits were analyzed after 7 days. Annexin V staining for the detection of apoptotic osteoclasts was performed after 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h separately. The mRNA expression level of TRAP and cathepsin K (CTSK) was measured by real-time RT-PCR. 8-PNG significantly reduced the number of osteoclasts which was TRAP staining positive and with more than three nucleus, the area and number of bone resorption pits decreased obviously in 8-PNG-supplemented groups. The apoptosis rate peaked earlier in the 8-PNG-supplemented groups and the mRNA expression level of TRAP and CTSK decreased significantly. All these inhibitory effects were in a dose dependent manner, the highest effect was obtained by 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1) 8-PNG. 8-PNG inhibits bone resorption activity of osteoclasts by inducing osteoclast apoptosis and inhibiting the gene expression and enzyme activity including TRAP and CTSK, and restrains bone marrow cells to osteoclast differentiation.
Acid Phosphatase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Bone Resorption ; Cathepsin K ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cells, Cultured ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Flavanones ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Isoenzymes ; genetics ; metabolism ; Osteoclasts ; cytology ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Rabbits ; Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase