1.Practice and optimization pathways of the surveillance - response system for schistosomiasis during the elimination stage in China: a One Health perspective
Jiajia WAN ; Jingye SHANG ; Jing XU ; Chen PU ; Nannan WANG ; Rongzhi LI ; Yu ZHANG ; Liang XU ; Xianhong MENG ; Ding LU ; Lin CHEN ; Zisong WU ; Bo ZHONG ; Xiaonong ZHOU ; Yang LIU
Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control 2026;38(4):361-368
This paper systematically analyzes schistosomiasis transmission risks during the elimination stage and reviews the evolution of the schistosomiasis surveillance system in China from a One Health perspective, with a special emphasis on schistosomiasis surveillance and response practices during the elimination stage from a One Health perspective. These practices include precise screening of human schistosomiasis under low-endemicity conditions, systematic monitoring of schistosomiasis in domestic and wild animals, ecological management of Oncomelania snails, and information-coordinated responses. Nevertheless, the current surveillance and response system for schistosomiasis suffers from challenges of insufficient cross-sectoral coordination and complex external environments, which constrain precise schistosomiasis surveillance and response in China. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to integrate coordination mechanisms, empower the surveillance system with technological innovation, improve capacity building, and actively promote diverse social participation in the One Health framework, so as to consolidate current schistosomiasis control achievements and achieve the target for schistosomiasis elimination across China, which may provide a replicable technical model for global zoonoses control.
2.Serum anti-Müllerian hormone levels among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations
LI Wei ; WAN Huiqing ; HAN Haiyan ; YU Jiqi ; HUANG Yizhou ; WANG Feixue ; ZHOU Jianhong
Journal of Preventive Medicine 2026;38(2):187-190
Objective:
To analyze serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level and its influencing factors among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations, so as to provide the evidence for optimizing reproductive health management measures.
Methods:
Female who received free premarital and preconception examinations and voluntarily underwent serum AMH testing at Women and Children's Health Center of Gongshu District, Hangzhou City from January 2022 to April 2025 were selected as study subjects. Demographic information and reproductive history were collected through questionnaire survey. Venous blood was collected to detect thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), alanine aminotransferase, hemoglobin (Hb), and AMH levels. The original AMH values did not follow a normal distribution, but followed a normal distribution after natural logarithm transformation, recorded as ln (AMH). Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between variables, and multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors for ln (AMH) levels among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations.
Results:
A total of 1 073 females undergoing premarital and preconception examinations were surveyed, with a mean age of (29.43±3.30) years. There were 959 females without pregnancy (89.38%) and 1 042 females without full-term live birth history (97.11%). The median AMH level was 3.85 (interquartile range, 3.63) ng/mL, and the mean ln (AMH) level was 1.27±0.75. The ln (AMH) levels were higher in females without pregnancy and without full-term live birth history (both P<0.05). The ln (AMH) level was negatively correlated with age (r=-0.260) and TSH (r=-0.093), and positively correlated with Hb (r=-0.260, -0.093, and 0.073, all P<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age (β′=-0.253) and TSH (β′=-0.103) were statistically associated with ln (AMH) levels among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations (both P<0.05). The associations of other variables with ln (AMH) levels were not statistically significant (all P>0.05).
Conclusions
Age and TSH level are influencing factors for AMH levels among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations. AMH levels among female undergoing premarital and preconception examinations decrease with increasing age and increasing TSH level.
3.Resection of mediastinal tumor combined with persistent left superior vena cava: A case report
Zongjun XIANG ; Fan ZHANG ; Lei LI ; Yongguo LU ; Xiaoming LI ; Haide MU ; Xiaowei ZHOU ; Linqi YANG ; Zhiyu WAN
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(07):1044-1046
Persistent left superior vena cava is a rare venous variant that is often combined with cardiovascular malformations. In thoracic surgery, especially mediastinal tumor resection, neglect of this variant may make the surgery difficult and risky, and careful preoperative imaging interpretation and adequate preoperative evaluation play an important role in the perioperative safety of the patient. In this paper, we reported a case of a 17-year-old female patient with a persistent left superior vena cava combined with mediastinal tumors. She was successfully discharged 5 days after thoracoscopic surgery, and after 3 years of postoperative follow-up, no tumor recurrence was observed.
4.Single - molecule, real - time sequencing of ceftazidime - avibactam - resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the mechanism of resistance to ceftazidime - avibactam
Li WAN ; Weiqi LIU ; Yangyang ZHOU ; Hang WENG ; Xingwang CAI ; Chengye MAO
Chinese Journal of Schistosomiasis Control 2025;37(5):530-536
Objective To perform single-molecule, real-time sequencing of ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI)-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to investigate the mechanism underlying ceftazidime-avibactam resistance in P. aeruginosa. Methods The susceptibility of 89 P. aeruginosa isolates randomly sampled from clinical specimens in Sanming First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University from November 2021 through July 2023 to common antimicrobial agents was tested, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CAZ-AVI was determined against P. aeruginosa with a broth microdilution assay, with CAZ-AVI MICs of 8 mg/L and lower defined as susceptible and 16 mg/L and higher as resistant. The expression of drug-resistant genes ampC, oxa-488, oprD, mexA, oxa-10, oxa-14, vim and tem was quantified in P. aeruginosa using a real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qPCR) assay. CAZ-AVI-susceptible and -resistant P. aeruginosa isolates from the same case were selected for PacBio single-molecule, real-time sequencing, and sequencing results were subjected to genome structure and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional annotations. Results The 89 P. aeruginosa isolates showed a relatively high level of resistance to meropenem (75.28%) and imipenem (74.16%) and the highest susceptibility to amikacin (91.01%). There were 49 CAZ-AVI-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates and 40 susceptible isolates. qPCR assay detected lower oprD gene expression in CAZ-AVI-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates [0.104 (2.385)] than in susceptible isolates [0.551 (17.885)] (Z = -2.958, P < 0.01), and there were no significant differences between CAZ-AVI-susceptible and -resistant P. aeruginosa isolates in terms of ampC, oxa-488, mexA or tem gene expression (all P values > 0.05), while oxa-10, oxa-14 and vim gene was expressed in few P. aeruginosa isolates. There were 1 729, 3 936, 3 737 and 3 955 genes in CAZ-AVI-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates PA-762 and PA-M174 and susceptible isolates PA-885 and PA-808 that were annotated to GO terms, with the highest numbers of genes enriched in the molecular function of catalytic activity, high numbers of genes enriched in biological processes of metabolic process, single-organism process and cellular process, and high numbers of genes enriched in cellular components of cell and cell membranes. There were 1 803, 4 084, 3 915 and 4 066 genes in the PA-762, PA-M174, PA-885 and PA-808 isolates enriched in the KEGG signaling pathway, and the majority of genes were enriched in four primary signaling pathways of metabolism, genetic information processing, environmental information processing and cellular process, with the highest number of genes associated with metabolic pathways. Both CAZ-AVI-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates PA-762 and PA-M174 carried multiple efflux pumps systems, including MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ, MexEF-OprN and MexXY-OprM. Single nucleotide substitution was found at position 169 in the DNA sequence of the PA-762 isolate, leading to substitution of serine for glycine at position 57 in the protein sequence, and there are deletions of two bases at positions 307 and 308 in the DNA sequence of the PA-M174 isolate, leading to substitution of threonine for arginine at position 103 in the protein sequence. Conclusion Mutation or downregulation of oprD gene may lead to CAZ-AVI resistance in P. aeruginosa.
5.S100A9 as a promising therapeutic target for diabetic foot ulcers.
Renhui WAN ; Shuo FANG ; Xingxing ZHANG ; Weiyi ZHOU ; Xiaoyan BI ; Le YUAN ; Qian LV ; Yan SONG ; Wei TANG ; Yongquan SHI ; Tuo LI
Chinese Medical Journal 2025;138(8):973-981
BACKGROUND:
Diabetic foot is a complex condition with high incidence, recurrence, mortality, and disability rates. Current treatments for diabetic foot ulcers are often insufficient. This study was conducted to identify potential therapeutic targets for diabetic foot.
METHODS:
Datasets related to diabetic foot and diabetic skin were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using R software. Enrichment analysis was conducted to screen for critical gene functions and pathways. A protein interaction network was constructed to identify node genes corresponding to key proteins. The DEGs and node genes were overlapped to pinpoint target genes. Plasma and chronic ulcer samples from diabetic and non-diabetic individuals were collected. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to verify the S100 calcium binding protein A9 (S100A9), inflammatory cytokine, and related pathway protein levels. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to measure epidermal layer thickness.
RESULTS:
In total, 283 common DEGs and 42 node genes in diabetic foot ulcers were identified. Forty-three genes were differentially expressed in the skin of diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. The overlapping of the most significant DEGs and node genes led to the identification of S100A9 as a target gene. The S100A9 level was significantly higher in diabetic than in non-diabetic plasma (178.40 ± 44.65 ng/mL vs. 40.84 ± 18.86 ng/mL) and in chronic ulcers, and the wound healing time correlated positively with the plasma S100A9 level. The levels of inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin [IL]-1, and IL-6) and related pathway proteins (phospho-extracellular signal regulated kinase [ERK], phospho-p38, phospho-p65, and p-protein kinase B [Akt]) were also elevated. The epidermal layer was notably thinner in chronic diabetic ulcers than in non-diabetic skin (24.17 ± 25.60 μm vs. 412.00 ± 181.60 μm).
CONCLUSIONS
S100A9 was significantly upregulated in diabetic foot and was associated with prolonged wound healing. S100A9 may impair diabetic wound healing by disrupting local inflammatory responses and skin re-epithelialization.
Calgranulin B/therapeutic use*
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Diabetic Foot/metabolism*
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Humans
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Datasets as Topic
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Computational Biology
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Mice, Inbred C57BL
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Animals
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Mice
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Protein Interaction Maps
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Immunohistochemistry
6.Mechanism of vanillic acid against cardiac fibrosis induced by isoproterenol in mice based on Drp1/HK1/NLRP3 and mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathways.
Hai-Bo HE ; Mian WU ; Jie XU ; Qian-Qian XU ; Fang-Zhu WAN ; Hua-Qiao ZHONG ; Ji-Hong ZHANG ; Gang ZHOU ; Hui-Lin QIN ; Hao-Ran LI ; Hai-Ming TANG
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2025;50(8):2193-2208
This study investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of vanillic acid(VA) against cardiac fibrosis(CF) induced by isoproterenol(ISO) in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group, VA group(100 mg·kg~(-1), ig), ISO group(10 mg·kg~(-1), sc), ISO + VA group(10 mg·kg~(-1), sc + 100 mg·kg~(-1), ig), ISO + dynamin-related protein 1(Drp1) inhibitor(Mdivi-1) group(10 mg·kg~(-1), sc + 50 mg·kg~(-1), ip), and ISO + VA + Mdivi-1 group(10 mg·kg~(-1), sc + 100 mg·kg~(-1), ig + 50 mg·kg~(-1), ip). The treatment groups received the corresponding medications once daily for 14 consecutive days. On the day after the last administration, cardiac functions were evaluated, and serum and cardiac tissue samples were collected. These samples were analyzed for serum aspartate aminotransferase(AST), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), creatine kinase-MB(CK-MB), cardiac troponin I(cTnI), reactive oxygen species(ROS), interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) levels, as well as cardiac tissue catalase(CAT), glutathione(GSH), malondialdehyde(MDA), myeloperoxidase(MPO), superoxide dismutase(SOD), total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC) activities, and cytochrome C levels in mitochondria and cytoplasm. Hematoxylin-eosin, Masson, uranium acetate and lead citrate staining were used to observe morphological and mitochondrial ultrastructural changes in the cardiac tissues, and myocardial injury area and collagen volume fraction were calculated. Flow cytometry was applied to detect the relative content and M1/M2 polarization of cardiac macrophages. The mRNA expression levels of macrophage polarization markers [CD86, CD206, arginase 1(Arg-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS)], CF markers [type Ⅰ collagen(Coll Ⅰ), Coll Ⅲ, α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA)], and cytokines(IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-18, TNF-α) in cardiac tissues were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of Coll Ⅰ, Coll Ⅲ, α-SMA, Drp1, p-Drp1, voltage-dependent anion channel(VDAC), hexokinase 1(HK1), NOD-like receptor protein 3(NLRP3), apoptosis-associated speck-like protein(ASC), caspase-1, cleaved-caspase-1, gasdermin D(GSDMD), cleaved N-terminal gasdermin D(GSDMD-N), IL-1β, IL-18, B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma-xl(Bcl-xl), Bcl-2-associated death promoter(Bad), Bcl-2-associated X protein(Bax), apoptotic protease activating factor-1(Apaf-1), pro-caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-3, pro-caspase-9, cleaved-caspase-9, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1(PARP-1), and cleaved-PARP-1 in cardiac tissues. The results showed that VA significantly improved cardiac function in mice with CF, reduced myocardial injury area and cardiac index, and decreased serum levels of AST, CK-MB, cTnI, LDH, ROS, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α. VA also lowered MDA and MPO levels, mRNA expressions of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and TNF-α, and mRNA and protein expressions of Coll Ⅰ, Coll Ⅲ, and α-SMA in cardiac tissues, and increased serum levels of IL-4 and IL-10, cardiac tissue levels of CAT, GSH, SOD, and T-AOC, and mRNA expressions of IL-4 and IL-10. Additionally, VA ameliorated cardiac pathological damage, inhibited myocardial cell apoptosis, inflammatory infiltration, and collagen fiber deposition, reduced collagen volume fraction, and alleviated mitochondrial damage. VA decreased the ratio of F4/80~+CD86~+ M1 cells and the mRNA expressions of CD86 and iNOS in cardiac tissue, and increased the ratio of F4/80~+CD206~+ M2 cells and the mRNA expressions of CD206 and Arg-1. VA also reduced protein expressions of p-Drp1, VDAC, NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1, cleaved-caspase-1, GSDMD, GSDMD-N, IL-1β, IL-18, Bad, Bax, Apaf-1, cleaved-caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-9, cleaved-PARP-1, and cytoplasmic cytochrome C, and increased the expressions of HK1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xl, pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-9 proteins, as well as the Bcl-2/Bax and Bcl-xl/Bad ratios and mitochondrial cytochrome C content. These results indicate that VA has a significant ameliorative effect on ISO-induced CF in mice, alleviates ISO-induced oxidative damage and inflammatory response, and its mechanism may be closely related to the inhibition of Drp1/HK1/NLRP3 and mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathways, suppression of myocardial cell inflammatory infiltration and collagen fiber deposition, reduction of collagen volume fraction and CollⅠ, Coll Ⅲ, and α-SMA expressions, thus mitigating CF.
Animals
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Isoproterenol/adverse effects*
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Male
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Mice
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Signal Transduction/drug effects*
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Vanillic Acid/administration & dosage*
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Dynamins/genetics*
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Mice, Inbred C57BL
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Fibrosis/genetics*
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Apoptosis/drug effects*
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Mitochondria/metabolism*
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NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/genetics*
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Myocardium/metabolism*
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Humans
7.Mechanisms and treatment of inflammation-cancer transformation in colon from perspective of cold and heat in complexity in integrative medicine.
Ning WANG ; Han-Zhou LI ; Tian-Ze PAN ; Wei-Bo WEN ; Ya-Lin LI ; Qian-Qian WAN ; Yu-Tong JIN ; Yu-Hong BIAN ; Huan-Tian CUI
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2025;50(10):2605-2618
Colorectal cancer(CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, primarily originating from recurrent inflammatory bowel disease(IBD). Therefore, blocking the inflammation-cancer transformation in the colon has become a focus in the early prevention and treatment of CRC. The inflammation-cancer transformation in the colon involves multiple types of cells and complex pathological processes, including inflammatory responses and tumorigenesis. In this complex pathological process, immune cells(including non-specific and specific immune cells) and non-immune cells(such as tumor cells and fibroblasts) interact with each other, collectively promoting the progression of the disease. In traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), inflammation-cancer transformation in the colon belongs to the categories of dysentery and diarrhea, with the main pathogenesis being cold and heat in complexity. This paper first elaborates on the complex molecular mechanisms involved in the inflammation-cancer transformation process in the colon from the perspectives of inflammation, cancer, and their mutual influences. Subsequently, by comparing the pathogenic characteristics and clinical manifestations between inflammation-cancer transformation and the TCM pathogenesis of cold and heat in complexity, this paper explores the intrinsic connections between the two. Furthermore, based on the correlation between inflammation-cancer transformation in the colon and the TCM pathogenesis, this paper delves into the importance of the interaction between inflammation and cancer. Finally, it summarizes and discusses the clinical and basic research progress in the TCM intervention in the inflammation-cancer transformation process, providing a theoretical basis and treatment strategy for the treatment of CRC with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Humans
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Colon/pathology*
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Integrative Medicine
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Animals
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Cold Temperature
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Cell Transformation, Neoplastic/drug effects*
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Medicine, Chinese Traditional
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Hot Temperature
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Inflammation
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Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*
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Colonic Neoplasms/drug therapy*
8.Effect and mechanism of Moringa oleifera leaves, seeds, and velamen in improving learning and memory impairments in mice based on transcriptomic and metabolomic.
Zhi-Hao WANG ; Shu-Yi FENG ; Tao LI ; Wan-Ping ZHOU ; Jin-Yu WANG ; Yang LIU ; Lin ZHANG ; Yuan-Yuan XIE ; Xiu-Lan HUANG ; Zhi-Yong LI ; Lu-Qi HUANG
China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica 2025;50(13):3793-3812
Moringa oleifera, widely utilized in Ayurvedic medicine, is recognized for its leaves, seeds, and velamen possessing traditional effects such as vātahara(wind alleviation), sirovirecaka(brain clearing), and hridya(mental nourishment). This study aims to identify the medicinal part of ■ in the Sārasvata ghee formulation as described in the Bower Manuscript, while investigating the ameliorative effects of different medicinal parts of M. oleifera on learning and memory deficits in mice and elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms. A total of 144 male ICR mice were randomly assigned to the following groups: control, model(scopolamine hydrobromide, Sco, 2 mg·kg~(-1)), donepezil(donepezil hydrochloride, Don, 3 mg·kg~(-1)), M. oleifera leaf low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.5, 1, 2 g·kg~(-1)), M. oleifera seeds low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.25, 0.5, 1 g·kg~(-1)), and M. oleifera velamen low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.31, 0.62, 1.24 g·kg~(-1)). Learning and memory abilities were assessed using the passive avoidance test and Morris water maze. Nissl and HE staining were employed to examine histopathological changes in the hippocampus. Transcriptomics and targeted metabolomics were used to screen differential genes and metabolites, with MetaboAnalyst 6.0 and O2PLS methods applied to identify key disease-related targets and pathways. RESULTS:: demonstrated that M. oleifera leaf(1 g·kg~(-1)) significantly ameliorated Sco-induced learning and memory deficits, outperforming M. oleifera seeds(0.25 g·kg~(-1)) and M. oleifera velamen(1.24 g·kg~(-1)). This was evidenced by improved behavioral performance, reversal of neuronal damage, and reduced acetylcholinesterase(AChE) activity. Multi-omics analysis revealed that M. oleifera leaf upregulated Tuba1c gene expression through the synaptic vesicle cycle, enhancing glutamate(Glu), dopamine(DA), and acetylcholine(ACh) release via Tuba1c-Glu associations for neuroprotection. M. oleifera seeds targeted the dopaminergic synapse pathway, promoting memory consolidation through Drd2-ACh associations. M. oleifera velamen was associated with the cocaine addiction pathway, modulating dopamine metabolism via Adora2a-DOPAC, with limited relevance to learning and memory. In conclusion, M. oleifera leaf exhibits superior efficacy and mechanistic advantages over M. oleifera seeds and velamen, suggesting that the ■ in the Sārasvata ghee formulation is likely M. oleifera leaf, providing scientific evidence for its identification in ancient texts.
Animals
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Moringa oleifera/chemistry*
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Male
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Mice
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Seeds/chemistry*
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Plant Leaves/chemistry*
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Mice, Inbred ICR
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Memory Disorders/psychology*
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Transcriptome/drug effects*
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Memory/drug effects*
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Learning/drug effects*
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Metabolomics
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Humans
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Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage*
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Maze Learning/drug effects*
9.Bone Age Estimation of Chinese Han Adolescents's and Children's Elbow Joint X-rays Based on Multiple Deep Convolutional Neural Network Models
Dan-Yang LI ; Hui-Ming ZHOU ; Lei WAN ; Tai-Ang LIU ; Yuan-Zhe LI ; Mao-Wen WANG ; Ya-Hui WANG
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;41(1):48-58
Objective To explore a deep learning-based automatic bone age estimation model for elbow joint X-ray images of Chinese Han adolescents and children and evaluate its performance.Methods A total of 943(517 males and 426 females)elbow joint frontal view X-ray images of Chinese Han ado-lescents and children aged 6.00 to<16.00 years were collected from East,South,Central and North-west China.Three experimental schemes were adopted for bone age estimation.Scheme 1:Directly in-put preprocessed images into the regression model;Scheme 2:Train a segmentation network using"key elbow joint bone annotations"as labels,then input segmented images into the regression model;Scheme 3:Train a segmentation network using"full elbow joint bone annotations"as labels,then in-put segmented images into the regression model.For segmentation,the optimal model was selected from U-Net,UNet++and TransUNet.For regression,VGG16,VGG19,InceptionV2,InceptionV3,ResNet34,ResNet50,ResNet101 and DenseNet121 models were selected for bone age estimation.The dataset was randomly split into 80%(754 samples)for training and validation for model fitting and hyperparameter tuning,and 20%(189 samples)as an internal test set to test the performance of the trained model.An additional 104 elbow joint X-ray images from the same demographic and age group were col-lected and used as an external test set.Model performance was evaluated by comparing the mean ab-solute error(MAE),root mean square error(RMSE),accuracies within±0.7 years(P±0.7 years)and±1.0 years(P±1.0 years)between the estimated age and the actual age,and by drawing radar charts,scat-ter plots,and heatmaps.Results When segmented with Scheme 3,the UNet++model achieved good segmentation performance with a segmentation loss of 0.000 4 and an accuracy of 93.8%at a learning rate of 0.000 1.In the internal test set,the DenseNet121 model with Scheme 3 yielded the best results with MAE,P±0.7 years and P±1.0 years being 0.83 years,70.03%,and 84.30%,respectively.In the external test set,the DenseNet121 model with Scheme 3 also performed best,with an average MAE of 0.89 years and an average RMSE of 1.00 years.Conclusion When performing automatic bone age estima-tion using elbow joint X-ray images in Chinese Han adolescents and children,it is recommended to use the UNet++model for segmentation.The DenseNet121 model with Scheme 3 achieves optimal per-formance.Using segmentation networks,especially that trained with annotation areas encompassing the full elbow joint including the distal humerus,proximal radius,and proximal ulna,can improve the ac-curacy of bone age estimation based on elbow joint X-ray images.
10.Dual-Channel Shoulder Joint X-ray Bone Age Estimation in Chinese Han Ado-lescents Based on the Fusion of Segmentation Labels and Original Images
Hui-Ming ZHOU ; Dan-Yang LI ; Lei WAN ; Tai-Ang LIU ; Yuan-Zhe LI ; Mao-Wen WANG ; Ya-Hui WANG
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;41(3):208-216
Objective To explore a deep learning network model suitable for bone age estimation using shoulder joint X-ray images in Chinese Han adolescents.Methods A retrospective collection of 1 286 shoulder joint X-ray images of Chinese Han adolescents aged 12.0 to<18.0 years(708 males and 578 females)was conducted.Using random sampling,approximately 80%of the samples(1 032 cases)were selected as the training and validation sets for model learning,selection and optimization,and the other 20%samples(254 cases)were used as the test set to evaluate the model's generalization ability.The original single-channel shoulder joint X-ray images and dual-channel inputs combining original images with segmentation labels(manually annotated shoulder joint regions multiplied pixel-by-pixel with original images,followed by segmentation via the U-Net++network to retain only key shoulder joint region information)were respectively input into four network models,namely VGG16,ResNet18,ResNet50 and DenseNet121 for bone age estimation.Additionally,manual bone age estimation was con-ducted on the test set data,and the results were compared with the four network models.The mean absolute error(MAE),root mean square error(RMSE),coefficient of determination(R2),and Pear-son correlation coefficient(PCC)were used as main evaluation indicators.Results In the test set,the bone age estimation results of the four models with dual-channel input of shoulder joint X-ray images outperformed those with single-channel input in all four evaluation indicators.Among them,DenseNet121 with dual-channel input achieved best results with MAE of 0.54 years,RMSE of 0.82 years,R2 of 0.76,and PCC(r)of 0.88.Manual estimation yielded an MAE of 0.82 years,ranking second only to dual-channel DenseNet121.Conclusion The DenseNet121 model with dual-channel input combined with original images and segmentation labels is superior to manual evaluation results,and can effectively estimate the bone age of Chinese Han adolescents.


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