Objective: To investigate the association of special family structure and physical activity with psychological sub health among secondary vocational school students, so as to provide reference to inform mental health promotion in the population. Methods: From September to December 2024, a convenience sample was drawn from 16 schools including 5 141 secondary vocational school students across 8 provinces (municipalities) in China (Fujian, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang). A self developed questionnaire, Multidimensional Sub health Questionnaire of Adolescents and International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form were used to investigate and evaluate basic information, family structure, psychological sub health status and physical activity. Descriptive statistics and Logistic regression analysis were performed to explore relationships of special family structures and physical activity with psychological sub health in secondary vocational school students. Results: The detection rate of psychological sub health among secondary vocational school students was 11.0%. The reporting rates for secondary vocational school students who lost their father or lost their mother, whose parents divorced, whose parents remarried, and those from special family structures were 2.8%, 0.8%, 11.8%, 3.9%, and 14.7%, respectively. Moreover, the detection rates of psychological sub health and its sub dimensions significantly differed among secondary vocational school students grouped by family type (divorced parental families, remarried parental families and special family structures)( χ 2=5.90-22.67, all P <0.05). Binary Logistic regression indicated that maternal bereavement was associated with a higher risk of conduct problems [ AOR ( 95% CI )= 2.90(1.15-7.33)], and parental divorce was associated with a higher risk of psychological sub health ( AOR= 2.71 , 95%CI =1.04- 7.06 ) among secondary vocational school students (both P <0.05). Interaction analysis showed that both students with a special family structure and insufficient physical activity [ AOR (95% CI )=1.99(1.44-2.75)] and those with a non-special family structure and insufficient physical activity [ AOR (95% CI )=1.81(1.48-2.22)] were associated with increased risks of psychological sub health among secondary vocational school students (both P <0.01). Conclusion Special family structure and physical activity are associated with psychological sub health among secondary vocational school students; early identification and assessment based interventions for those with a special family structure should be strengthened, while school based physical activity should be implemented to increase physical activity levels,thereby reducing the risk of psychological sub health.

To investigate the therapeutic effects of ZLY16, a novel peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) β agonist, on Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), C57BL/10ScSnJGpt-Dmdem3Cd4/Gpt (mdx) mice were gavaged with 30 mg/kg ZLY16 for 6 weeks. Expression of proteins associated with muscle regeneration, exercise ability, blood lipids content and skeletal muscle damage in mdx mice were investigated by behavioral experiments, histopathology, blood biochemical analysis, immunofluorescence and Western blot. A high-fat-induced myoblast differentiation inhibition model was established to examine lipid content and myoblast differentiation-related protein expression in myoblasts using Nile Red staining, immunofluorescence and Western blot. The results demonstrated that ZLY16 increased muscle grip strength, reduced triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels, attenuated muscle fiber necrosis, fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration, and promoted muscle regeneration in mdx mice. ZLY16 promoted myoblast differentiation and myotube fusion in vitro by reducing lipid accumulation in murine skeletal muscle myoblast line (C2C12) cells. These findings suggest that ZLY16 improves motor function in mdx mice by decreasing lipid accumulation and promoting muscle regeneration.

To investigate the correlation between hepatic lipid accumulation and the metabolic profiles of free fatty acids(FFAs), tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and ketone body in alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), a chronic plus acute alcohol feeding model (Gao-Binge model) was employed using C57BL/6N mice to simulate different stages of AFLD. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was employed to measure the levels of FFAs, TCA cycle intermediates, and ketone bodies in mouse liver tissue and plasma, followed by Pearson correlation analysis. The study revealed that both acute and chronic models showed significant increases in total FFAs, saturated FFAs and short-chain FFAs, as well as β-hydroxybutyric acid(HDBT) in plasma and liver, indicating FFA metabolic profile disturbances in the Gao-Binge model. Moreover, in both models, acetic acid (AA), 2-Methylbutyric acid (2-meBA), and HDBT displayed strong positive correlations with hepatic injury markers in plasma and liver samples (for instance, in the acute model plasma data, r = 0.834, 0.699, 0.818, P<0.05), while pyruvic acid (PRA) showed a strong negative correlation (r = −0.66, P<0.05). These findings suggest that FFAs, TCA cycle, and ketone body metabolism are disrupted in the alcoholic liver disease in mice model, and metabolites such as AA, 2-meBA, HDBT and PRA may serve as potential biomarkers for AFLD, which would be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH)is one of the major chronic complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM),and sex steroid hormones are common risk factors for the occurrence of T2DM and BPH.The profiles of sex steroid hormones are simultaneously quantified by LC-MS/MS in the clinical serum of patients,including simple BPH patients,newly diagnosed T2DM patients,T2DM complicated with BPH patients and matched healthy individuals.The G protein-coupled estrogen receptor(GPER)inhibitor G15,GPER knockdown lentivirus,the YAP1 inhibitor verteporfin,YAP1 knockdown/overexpression lentivirus,targeted metabolomics analysis,and Co-IP assays are used to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the disrupted sex steroid hormones homeostasis in the pathological process of T2DM complicated with BPH.The homeostasis of sex steroid hormone is disrupted in the serum of patients,accompanying with the proliferated prostatic epithelial cells(PECs).The sex steroid hormone metabolic profiles of T2DM patients complicated with BPH have the greatest degrees of separation from those of healthy individuals.Elevated 17β-estradiol(E2)is the key contributor to the disrupted sex steroid hormone homeostasis,and is significantly positively related to the clinical characteristics of T2DM patients complicated with BPH.Activating GPER by E2 via Hippo-YAP1 signaling exacerbates high glucose(HG)-induced PECs prolifer-ation through the formation of the YAP1-TEAD4 heterodimer.Knockdown or inhibition of GPER-mediated Hippo-YAP1 signaling suppresses PECs proliferation in HG and E2 co-treated BPH-1 cells.The anti-proliferative effects of verteporfin,an inhibitor of YAP1,are blocked by YAP1 overexpression in HG and E2 co-treated BPH-1 cells.Inactivating E2/GPER/Hippo/YAP1 signaling may be effective at delaying the progression of T2DM complicated with BPH by inhibiting PECs proliferation.

The occurrence of benign prostate hyperplasia(BPH)was related to disrupted sex steroid hormones,and metformin(Met)had a clinical response to sex steroid hormone-related gynaecological disease.How-ever,whether Met exerts an antiproliferative effect on BPH via sex steroid hormones remains unclear.Here,our clinical study showed that along with prostatic epithelial cell(PEC)proliferation,sex steroid hormones were dysregulated in the serum and prostate of BPH patients.As the major contributor to dysregulated sex steroid hormones,elevated dihydrotestosterone(DHT)had a significant positive rela-tionship with the clinical characteristics of BPH patients.Activation of adenosine 5'-monophosphate(AMP)-activated protein kinase(AMPK)by Met restored dysregulated sex steroid hormone homeostasis and exerted antiproliferative effects against DHT-induced proliferation by inhibiting the formation of androgen receptor(AR)-mediated Yes-associated protein(YAP1)-TEA domain transcription factor(TEAD4)heterodimers.Met's anti-proliferative effects were blocked by AMPK inhibitor or YAP1 over-expression in DHT-cultured BPH-1 cells.Our findings indicated that Met would be a promising clinical therapeutic approach for BPH by inhibiting dysregulated steroid hormone-induced PEC proliferation.

Total glucosides of Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (RSG) are selective immunosuppressants that exhibit primary efficacy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis through targeted inhibition of activated T cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential application of RSG in the treatment of psoriasis and elucidate its mechanism of action and material basis. Our findings revealed significant improvements upon administration of RSG in an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis model. These improvements were characterized by a remarkable increase in the number of tail scales in mice and a substantial amelioration of skin erythema, ulceration, and flaking. By transcriptome sequencing and T-cell flow sorting assay, we identified notable effects of RSG on the modulation of various cellular processes. Specifically, RSG prominently down-regulated the Th17/Treg ratio in damaged skin tissues and reduced the proportion of G₂ phase cells. Furthermore, RSG exhibited a stimulatory effect on the proliferation and differentiation of epithelial cells. Of particular interest, we discovered that β-sitosterol, sitostenone, stigmasterol, smiglanin, and cinchonain Ib displayed potent inhibitory effects on the IL-17-mediated inflammatory response in HaCaT cells. In summary, our study highlights the therapeutic potential of RSG in the treatment of psoriasis, attributed to its ability to regulate the Th17/Treg balance. These findings contribute to the development of new indications for RSG and provide a solid theoretical foundation for further exploration in this field.
Animals ; Mice ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Psoriasis/drug therapy* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Biological Assay ; Glucosides/pharmacology*

ObjectiveTo establish a more accurate and sensitive liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (LC-UV) method for the determination of uric acid in rat serum, and compare the results with those of commercial kits, providing a new method for the accurate determination of uric acid in the rat hyperuricemia model induced by potassium oxonate.Methods A hyperuricemia model was established by intraperitoneal injection of potassium oxonate (300 mg/kg) into SPF-grade male SD rats, and the control group was administered an equal amount of 0.5% sodium carboxymethylcellulose solution. Blood samples were collected from the posterior orbital venous plexus and centrifuged to obtain serum samples. After precipitation with 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid-acetonitrile (containing the internal standard 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine hydrobromide), the supernatant was injected for analysis. Uric acid was separated on a Waters XBridge HILIC column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 3.5 μm) using acetonitrile (containing 0.5% formic acid and 2 mmol/mL ammonium formate) as the organic phase and methanol solution (methanol∶water=1∶1, containing 0.5% formic acid with 2 mmol/L ammonium formate) as the aqueous phase for isocratic elution and detection at 290 nm. Serum samples treated with activated carbon were used as substitute matrices for the methodological verification. Serum uric acid levels in rats with potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemia were measured using the established LC-UV method and commercially available kits (uricase and phosphotungstic acid methods), and the accuracies of the three methods were compared.Results Serum uric acid showed a good linear relationship (R>0.999) at mass concentration of 10–200 μg/mL in rats, the lower limit of quantification was 10 μg/mL, the accuracy ranged from -2.17% to 2.21%, the intra-batch precision ranged from 0.52% to 1.95%, the inter-batch precision ranged from 3.04% to 4.90%, and the extraction recovery ranged from 83.12% to 89.91%. In the rat model, the results obtained using the commercially available phosphotungstic acid method kit were significantly higher than those of the LC-UV method, and those obtained using the commercially available uricase method kit were significantly lower than those of the LC-UV method, but the LC-UV method showed the best recovery of the spiked sample (95.90%–99.96%).ConclusionThe LC-UV method developed in this study can determine the concentration of uric acid in rat serum with higher accuracy than commercially available kits and is recommended for the determination of serum uric acid in the rat model of hyperuricemia induced by potassium oxonate.

Cholesterol is an important lipid component in the body, which not only participates in the formation of cell membranes, but also is the raw material for the synthesis of bile acids and steroid hormones. Low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) is involved in cholesterol metabolism and plays an important role in maintaining the cholesterol homeostasis of organism cells. The expression of LDLR is precisely regulated by transcription, post-transcription and post-translation, and the imbalance of ldlr expression will lead to the occurrence and development of many diseases. In this paper, the molecular regulation mechanism of LDLR, the damage of target organs caused by the imbalance of LDLR expression and the research and development progress of drugs targeting LDLR are reviewed, which provides theoretical basis for further understanding of the progress of diseases related to lipid metabolism disorder and new insights for developing drugs targeting LDLR with more effective and less side effects.

Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a serious progressive muscular dystrophy.Reports in recent years about abnormal lipid in DMD patients have increased, yet little attention has been paid to liver lipid.This study aimed to explore the effect of dystrophin gene defect on liver lipid synthesis.7-week-old mdx male mice were used as DMD model.The conditions of liver function, liver lipid accumulation and liver lipid synthesis were determined through liver tissue morphological examination, blood biochemical examination, and detection of hepatic gene and protein expression.The results showed that lipid droplets in liver of mdx mice increased significantly.The contents of total cholesterol and triglyceride in liver, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in serum increased.The gene and protein expression of hepatic lipid synthesis-related enzymes such as fatty acid synthase, acetyl CoA carboxylase, and sterol regulatory element binding protein 1-c were up-regulated.These results showed accumulation of liver lipid in 7-week-old mdx male mice.

Estrogen receptors are steroid receptors, widely distributed in skeletal muscle, liver and other tissues.Currently, there are 5 known estrogen receptors.Different estrogen receptors are distributed in different places and have different functions.By mediating different estrogen receptors, estrogen plays an important role in anti-inflammation, promoting proliferation and inhibiting muscle atrophy.Skeletal muscle is the main tissue in the human body, accounting for about 40% of body weight.Skeletal muscle not only plays the role of exercise and support, but also plays an important role in maintaining the body′s metabolism.In recent years, estrogen receptors have received extensive attention in skeletal muscle diseases.Estrogen receptors are considered as potential targets for the treatment of skeletal muscle diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy(DMD)and myotubular myopathy(MTM). This article reviews the research progress of estrogen receptors in skeletal muscle diseases.