The small-molecule alkaloid halofuginone (HF) is obtained from febrifugine. Recent studies on HF have aroused widespread attention owing to its universal range of noteworthy biological activities and therapeutic functions, which range from parasite infections and fibrosis to autoimmune diseases. In particular, HF is believed to play an excellent anticancer role by suppressing the proliferation, adhesion, metastasis, and invasion of cancers. This review supports the goal of demonstrating various anticancer effects and molecular mechanisms of HF. In the studies covered in this review, the anticancer molecular mechanisms of HF mainly included transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/Smad-3/nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), serine/threonine kinase proteins (Akt)/mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1(mTORC1)/wingless/integrated (Wnt)/β-catenin, the exosomal microRNA-31 (miR-31)/histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) signaling pathway, and the interaction of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and immune cells. Notably, HF, as a novel type of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-dependent inhibitor that is often combined with prolyl transfer RNA synthetase (ProRS) and amino acid starvation therapy (AAS) to suppress the formation of ribosome, further exerts a significant effect on the tumor microenvironment (TME). Additionally, the combination of HF with other drugs or therapies obtained universal attention. Our results showed that HF has significant potential for clinical cancer treatment.

Objective To compare the intestinal injury induced by different intensities of waveshock in rats exposed to extremely cold environment and to preliminarily explore the characteristics of the injury.Methods Sixty healthy male SD rats(2 months old,weighing 200～250 g)were randomly divided into 6 groups(n=10):blank control group,low-temperature control group,5.0 MPa shock control group,and low-temperature+4.0,4.5 and 5.0 MPa shock groups.The rats in the experimental groups were pre-treated in a-10℃low-temperature environment for 30 min and then subjected to intestinal injury by using BST-I biological shock tube with different driving pressures.At 3,8,and 24 h after injury,the serum levels of IL-6,TNF-α,intestinal fatty acid binding protein(I-FABP),and diamine oxidase(DAO)were detected,and the survival of rats within 24 h was recorded.At 24 h after injury,the rats were anesthetized and dissected,the characteristics of intestinal injury were observed,and pathological examination was performed.The differences of intestinal injury were compared among the 6 groups to explore the characteristics of intestinal injuries after different intensities of shockwave in rats after exposure to extremely cold environment.Results Compared with the blank control group,the other 5 groups exhibited different severities of intestinal injury,and the rats in the low-temperature+different shock groups were more prone to intestinal edema and trauma.The mortality rate was significantly increased in the low-temperature+5.0 MPa shock group(P<0.05).Pathological and serological studies found that dual effects of very cold environment and blast injury resulted in intestinal mucosal hemorrhage,edema,and disintegration of lamina propria in the experimental rats.The indicators of intestinal mucosal injury and intestinal inflammatory factors were also significantly increased when compared with the blank control group,and significant differences were among the groups with increment of shock intensity(P<0.05).Conclusion Exposure to very cold environment combined with abdominal blast injury increases mortality rate in rats,manifested by elevated serological indicators and intestinal inflammatory factors,as well as varying severities of intestinal wall edema and submucosal bleeding.Furthermore,the severity of the injury is positively related to the impact intensity,with worsened as the impact intensity increasing.

Objective To construct a deep learning-based target detection method to help radiologists perform rapid diagnosis of lesions in the CT images of patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia(NCP)by restoring detailed information and mining local information.Methods We present a deep learning approach that integrates detail upsampling and attention guidance.A linear upsampling algorithm based on bicubic interpolation algorithm was adopted to improve the restoration of detailed information within feature maps during the upsampling phase.Additionally,a visual attention mechanism based on vertical and horizontal spatial dimensions embedded in the feature extraction module to enhance the capability of the object detection algorithm to represent key information related to NCP lesions.Results Experimental results on the NCP dataset showed that the detection method based on the detail upsampling algorithm improved the recall rate by 1.07%compared with the baseline model,with the AP50 reaching 85.14%.After embedding the attention mechanism in the feature extraction module,86.13%AP50,73.92%recall,and 90.37%accuracy were achieved,which were better than those of the popular object detection models.Conclusion The feature information mining of CT images based on deep learning can further improve the lesion detection ability.The proposed approach helps radiologists rapidly identify NCP lesions on CT images and provides an important clinical basis for early intervention and high-intensity monitoring of NCP patients.

AIM:To investigate the effects of Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.polyphenol extract(PCE)on glucose metabolism in insulin-resistant HepG2(IR-HepG2)cells.METHODS:An IR-HepG2 cells model was established using high sugar and high insulin induction;a control group,an insulin resistance(IR)model group,a PCE treatment group with different concentrations,and a metformin treatment group were set up.Cells were treated with 50,100,200,and 400 mg/L of polyphenol extract for 24 hours,respectively,to detect their effects on cellular glucose consumption.At the same time,use thiazole blue(MTT)colorimetry to evaluate cell viability.Real-time PCR and Western blot were used to detect expression of glucose metabolism-related mRNA and proteins.RESULTS:Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.polyphenol ex-tract can significantly increase glucose consumption in IR-HepG2 cells,and cell activity tends to increase and then decline as its concentration increases;At mRNA and protein levels,in addition to significantly increasing the expression of phos-phorylated adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase(p-AMPK)protein in IR-HepG2 cells,it also decrease gly-cogen synthase kinase 3β(GSK3β)in glycogen synthesis and gluconeogenesis pathways,forked protein O1(FoxO1),peroxisome proliferator activates gamma co-receptor activation 1-alpha(PGC-1α),glucose-6-phosphatase(G6Pase)and phosphoenol pyruvate carboxykinase(PEPCK)expression.CONCLUSION:Prunus cerasifera Ehrh.polyphenol extract can activate the AMPK signaling pathway in IR-HepG2 cells,to further inhibit gluconeogenesis and glycogen synthesis pathways,thereby improving the insulin resistance state of HepG2 cells.

Objective:To analyze the situation of influenza vaccination among primary healthcare workers, find out the problems, and explore the strategies and measures to promote influenza vaccination among grass-roots medical staff.Methods:From April to May 2021, key insider interviews and literature research were carried out based on the perspectives of influenza vaccine suppliers (influenza vaccine manufacturers), consumers (primary medical institutions and primary healthcare workers), and managers (governments at all levels, health administrative departments and disease prevention and control departments). The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis technique was used to comprehensively evaluate the current situation of influenza vaccination among grass-roots healthcare workers, and a SWOT analysis matrix was established.Results:Influenza vaccination of grass-roots healthcare workers have advantages and opportunities, including primary medical and health institutions' vital influenza vaccination accessibility, influenza vaccine safety is higher, COVID-19 outbreak improves the public awareness of respiratory infectious diseases and vaccine production enthusiasm, coronavirus vaccination has strengthened the capacity of the vaccine distribution system. There are also disadvantages and threats such as the high price of influenza vaccine, insufficient supply, low awareness of influenza vaccine vaccination among grass-roots healthcare workers, lack of demand assessment mechanism on influenza vaccine, poor vaccine deployment, structural imbalance in vaccine supply in different areas, and severe vaccine waste. SWOT analysis matrix of the influenza vaccination status of grass-roots healthcare workers was established, forming dominant opportunity (SO) strategy, dominant threat (ST) strategy, inferior opportunity (WO) strategy, and inferior threat (WT) strategy.Conclusion:Measures should be taken by the supplier, the demand—side, and the management side to improve the influenza vaccine coverage rate of primary healthcare workers, but the emphasis should be on the coordination and management of the management side.

Objective:To investigate the expression of TAZ and KLF5 and their clinical significance in hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC).Methods:We freshly collected 76 samples of surgically resected HCC and matched normal tumor-adjacent tissues and detected TAZ and KLF5 expression in these samples using immunohistochemical staining.The clinical significance of TAZ and KLF5 protein expression were analysed.Results:The protein expression of TAZ and KLF5 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than those in matched normal tumor-adjacent tissues ( P=0.001;P=0.035 ).Clinicopathological analysis suggested that TAZ and KLF5 protein expression were associated with histopathological differentiation ( P=0.007;P=0.047 ) and TNM stage ( P=0.009;P=0.040).TAZ was positively correlated with KLF5 protein in HCC tissues (r=0.651,P=0.003).Conclusion:The high-expression of TAZ and KLF5 are correlated with poor clinicopathological characteristics,and TAZ is positively associated with KLF5 in HCC tissues, suggesting that TAZ may promote tumor progression through inhibition of KLF5 protein degradation in HCC.

OBJECTIVE:To determine bleomycinA5 cream and provide a methods for quality control.METHODS:Ultraviolet spectrophotometry was used.RESULTS:The maxium absorption of bleonyc inA5 in methanol is 293.5nm.The absorbance was linear with concentration of bl eomycinA5 within the range of 30～70μg/ml.Its regression equation is A =0.01066C-0.008(r=0.99998).The average recovery of bleomycinA5 was 100.0 5%,RSD=0.98%(n=5).CONCLUSION:The method is s imple,quick and accurate for simultaneous determination of bleomycinA5 cream.

OBJECTIVE:To observe the correlation of concentration-time curves of riboflavin in salive and plasma.METHOD:After peple orally taking riboflavin tablets,the riboflavin in salive was determinated by fluorescence spectrophotometry with excitation wavelength 475.4nm and emission wavelength 524.7nm.RESULTS:The recovery of riboflavin was over 96%.The detection limits of riboflavin was 5ng.ml-1,and the calibration curve was linear in the range of 5ng.ml-1～3μg.ml-1.The regression equation was △F′=0.116c+0.232(r=0.9999).CONCLUSION:The concentration-time curves of riboflavin in salive was similar to these in plasma.

Objective To construct a cDNA expression library from unfed female tick Haemaphysalis longicornis for screening and cloning potential antigenic genes.Methods Total RNA was isolated from unfed female ticks,mRNA was purified and a library of oligo(dT)-primed cDNA with added directional EcoR Ⅰ/Hind Ⅲ linkers was constructed from the purified mRNA.The constructed cDNA was ligated to the EcoRⅠ/HindⅢ arms of the ?SCREEN vector.Pure phage stocks were harvested by plaque purification and converted to plasmid subclones by plating phage on host strain BM25.8.Recombinant plasmids that were subcloned to E.coli BM25.8 were isolated and transformed into E.coli JM109.Recombinant plasmids abstracted from JM109 were identified by PCR and sequencing.Rusults The recombinant phage DNA was packaged by using phage-marker packaging extracts,resulting in a primary cDNA library with a size of 1.8?106 pfu.Data showed 100% of the library were recombinant and the titer of the amplified library was 2.4?109 pfu/ml.Forty-two clones of encoding immunodominant antigens were obtained from the cDNA library.Sequence analysis revealed 12 unique cDNA sequences and the encoded putative proteins showed similarities to H.longicornis tropomyosin mRNA,Rhipicephalus annulatus unknown larval protein mRNA,chromosome 2R of Drosophila melanogaster,mitochondrial DNA of H.flava,clones HqL09 unkown mRNA and Hq05 mRNA of H.qinghaiensis,and myosin alkali light chain protein mRNA.Conclusion The cDNA expression library from unfed female H.longicornis was successfully constructed and screening of protective genes may provide candidate antigens of the tick.