Objective To establish method for simultaneous determination of hesperidin, cinnamaldehyde and eugenol in Chunyang Zhengqi capsules by high performance liquid chromatography. Methods The column was Agilent PorosheⅡ 120 EC-C₁₈ (4.6 mm×150 mm, 4 μm). The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water with gradient elution. The column temperature was 35℃. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min, and the detection wavelength was 284 nm. Results The methodological verification showed that hesperidin, cinnamaldehyde and eugenol had a good linearity (r≥0.999 9). The precisions were less than 2.0%. The average recovery was between 98.0% and 101.9%. The stability and repeatability of RSD were also less than 3.0%, which met the requirements of method validation. Conclusion The method is simple, stable, reproducible and accurate, which could be used to the quality control of Chunyang Zhengqi capsules.

It is believed that the pathogenesis of oculomotor nerve palsy is insufficient marrow sea （髓海）， withered yang qi， poor contraction of eyelids and periocular meridians， and inability to open and close the eyes. The eye system is connected to the marrow sea， as well as the the foot taiyang （太阳） channel， foot yangming （阳明） channel， foot jueyin （厥阴） channel， yinqiao mai （阴跷脉） and yangqiao mai （阳跷脉）， and is nourished by the liver， spleen and kidney. Treatment should take into account both the branch and the root cause. It is suggested to treat the root by regulating the marrow sea， and treat the branch by unblocking the meridians and dredging the collaterals， thereby balancing the mild and the urgency of the yinqiao mai and yangqiao mai. Using the "Gen （根）-Liu（溜）-Zhu （注）-Ru （入）"acupoints to bypass the various meridians and taking the gallbladder meridian according to twelve major meridians that run on both sides of the body， both of which can provide ideas for improving symptoms such as ptosis and limited eye movement caused by oculomotor nerve palsy.

Objective:To investigate the immunophenotypic and molecular biological characteristics of patients with elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and enteroblastic differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma (GAED).Methods:The clinicopathological data of 13 patients with elevated serum AFP and GAED admitted to Shanxi Cancer Hospital from 2018 to 2020 were collected. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used to analyze the immune markers and molecular biological characteristics of the pathological tissues of the patients. Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test were used for survival analysis.Results:Among the 13 patients with GAED, 12 were male and 1 was female, aged 41-70 years, with a median age of 64 years. The lesions were mainly located in the gastric antrum (5 cases) and gastric body (4 cases). IHC results showed that the tumor embryonic protein (AFP, SALL4, GPC3), intestinal epithelial differentiation protein (CDX-2, CD10), and some original intestinal epithelial phenotype markers (OCT3/4, Claudin6) were expressed in the tumor tissues. Combined application of multiple markers can reduce the rate of missed diagnosis. Among the 13 patients, 12 had at least one mutation (1 mutation: 1 case, 2-5 mutations: 3 cases, 6-15 mutations: 8 cases), and 1 case was not detected. The gene with the highest mutation frequency was TP53 (10 cases), and other mutant genes included EPHB1 (3 cases), ATRX (2 cases), EPHA5 (2 cases), GATA3 (2 cases), LRP1B (2 cases) and MAP2K4 (2 cases) were also detected. Three of the 13 patients had structural variations, which were C14orf177- GNAS, AIM1- FGFR3, and EPHA6- ROS1 gene rearrangements. All 13 patients had copy number variation, and 11 patients had copy number variation of more than 2 genes. The common amplification genes were IRS2 (5 cases), PTEN (5 cases), GNAS (4 cases), CCNE1 (3 cases), CEBPA (3 cases), PCK1 (3 cases) and ERBB2 (2 cases). The common deletion genes were SOX2 (5 cases) and MYC (5 cases). Among the 13 patients, 4 died, and 2 of the dead patients had liver metastasis. There were 4 patients with disease-free survival and 5 patients with disease progression, including 3 cases of abdominal metastasis and 2 cases of liver metastasis. The 3-year survival rate of patients was 65.9 %, and the 3-year progression-free survival rate was 30.7 %. Gene LRP1B point mutation was associated with poor prognosis ( P＜0.001). There was no significant improvement in the prognosis of patients treated with immunotherapy compared with those treated with chemotherapy alone ( P=0.595), but the prognosis of patients treated with postoperative chemotherapy or postoperative chemotherapy plus immunotherapy was better than that of patients treated with surgery alone ( P＜0.05). Conclusions:Elevated serum AFP with GAED is a highly invasive tumor with unique molecular characteristics, often accompanied by multiple molecular events. TP53 mutation is the most common type of gene mutation. In addition, some cases are accompanied by HER2 amplification and gene rearrangement.

Objective:To investigate the immunophenotypic and molecular biological characteristics of patients with elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and enteroblastic differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma (GAED).Methods:The clinicopathological data of 13 patients with elevated serum AFP and GAED admitted to Shanxi Cancer Hospital from 2018 to 2020 were collected. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) were used to analyze the immune markers and molecular biological characteristics of the pathological tissues of the patients. Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test were used for survival analysis.Results:Among the 13 patients with GAED, 12 were male and 1 was female, aged 41-70 years, with a median age of 64 years. The lesions were mainly located in the gastric antrum (5 cases) and gastric body (4 cases). IHC results showed that the tumor embryonic protein (AFP, SALL4, GPC3), intestinal epithelial differentiation protein (CDX-2, CD10), and some original intestinal epithelial phenotype markers (OCT3/4, Claudin6) were expressed in the tumor tissues. Combined application of multiple markers can reduce the rate of missed diagnosis. Among the 13 patients, 12 had at least one mutation (1 mutation: 1 case, 2-5 mutations: 3 cases, 6-15 mutations: 8 cases), and 1 case was not detected. The gene with the highest mutation frequency was TP53 (10 cases), and other mutant genes included EPHB1 (3 cases), ATRX (2 cases), EPHA5 (2 cases), GATA3 (2 cases), LRP1B (2 cases) and MAP2K4 (2 cases) were also detected. Three of the 13 patients had structural variations, which were C14orf177- GNAS, AIM1- FGFR3, and EPHA6- ROS1 gene rearrangements. All 13 patients had copy number variation, and 11 patients had copy number variation of more than 2 genes. The common amplification genes were IRS2 (5 cases), PTEN (5 cases), GNAS (4 cases), CCNE1 (3 cases), CEBPA (3 cases), PCK1 (3 cases) and ERBB2 (2 cases). The common deletion genes were SOX2 (5 cases) and MYC (5 cases). Among the 13 patients, 4 died, and 2 of the dead patients had liver metastasis. There were 4 patients with disease-free survival and 5 patients with disease progression, including 3 cases of abdominal metastasis and 2 cases of liver metastasis. The 3-year survival rate of patients was 65.9 %, and the 3-year progression-free survival rate was 30.7 %. Gene LRP1B point mutation was associated with poor prognosis ( P＜0.001). There was no significant improvement in the prognosis of patients treated with immunotherapy compared with those treated with chemotherapy alone ( P=0.595), but the prognosis of patients treated with postoperative chemotherapy or postoperative chemotherapy plus immunotherapy was better than that of patients treated with surgery alone ( P＜0.05). Conclusions:Elevated serum AFP with GAED is a highly invasive tumor with unique molecular characteristics, often accompanied by multiple molecular events. TP53 mutation is the most common type of gene mutation. In addition, some cases are accompanied by HER2 amplification and gene rearrangement.

Objectives:To investigate the mutation of PIK3CA in colorectal cancer and to analyze their clinicopathological features, and evaluate their role in clinical treatment and prognostication.Methods:A total of 128 paraffin-embbeded tissue samples of colorectal cancer from Shanxi Cancer Hospital from 2018 to 2021 were collected. DNA was extracted from the samples, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to detect PIK3CA mutation. The relationship between PIK3CA mutation, their clinicopathological features, and prognosis were analyzed.Results:Among the 128 colorectal cancer samples, there were 75 males and 53 females; with aged range 32-86 years, median 61.5 years, 27 (21.09%) had PIK3CA mutations. Colorectal cancer with PIK3CA mutation was more likely to occur in male patients ( P=0.007), which was related to tumor site ( P=0.032), tumor size ( P=0.029) and TP53 wild-type ( P=0.001). The common site mutations of PIK3CA mostly occurred in tumors with tumor mutation burden≥10 Muts/Mb ( P=0.031).PIK3CA mutation had no significant effect on the survival prognosis of patients, but the efficacy of anti-angiogenic therapy was poor in these patients. Conclusions:PIK3CA mutation is a common mutation in colorectal cancer and plays an important role in the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer. PIK3CA mutation may lead to resistance to anti-angiogenic drugs in colorectal cancer, but its impact on survival and prognosis to patients needs further study.

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of emodin on focal cerebral ischemia in rats based on myeloid differentiation factor 88(MyD88)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK)pathway and nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)nuclear translocation.Methods SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group,model group and emodin group,with six rats in each group.The rat model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion(tMCAO)was established by middle cerebral artery embolization.Rats in the emodin group were given 40 mg·kg-1 emodin by gavage for three times at 72,48 and 24 hours before modeling.At 24 hours after modeling,the neurological function of rats was scored.TTC staining was used to detect the area of cerebral infarction.HE staining was used to observe the morphological changes of brain tissue.The mRNA expression levels of MyD88 and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in brain tissue were detected by RT-qPCR.The expression levels of MyD88,ERK,p-ERK and TNF-α in brain tissue were detected by Western Blot.The protein expression of NF-κB in brain tissue was detected by immunofluorescence.Results Compared with the sham operation group,the neurological function score of the model group was significantly increased(P＜0.01),and the cerebral infarction area was significantly increased(P＜0.01).In the cortical area of the ischemic penumbra,cell necrosis,abnormal cell morphology,nuclear fragmentation and atrophy,and the number of cells decreased significantly;the mRNA expression levels of MyD88 and TNF-α in brain tissue were significantly increased(P＜0.01,P＜0.001),the protein levels of MyD88,p-ERK/ERK and TNF-α were significantly increased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01,P＜0.001),and the proportion of NF-κB into nuclear cells was significantly increased(P＜0.001).Compared with the model group,the neurological function score of rats in the emodin group was significantly decreased(P＜0.05),and the area of cerebral infarction was significantly reduced(P＜0.05).The number and morphology of neurons in the ischemic penumbra cortex were restored to a certain extent.The mRNA expression levels of MyD88 and TNF-α in brain tissue were significantly decreased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),the protein levels of MyD88,p-ERK/ERK and TNF-α were significantly decreased(P＜0.05),and the proportion of NF-κB into nuclear cells was significantly decreased(P＜0.001).Conclusion Emodin has a preventive and protective effect on rats with focal cerebral ischemia,which may be related to its inhibition of MyD88 activation,ERK phosphorylation and NF-κB nuclear translocation,and then down-regulation of inflammatory cascades and secretion of pro-inflammatory factors such as TNF-α,thereby exerting anti-inflammatory effects.

Biased signaling or functional selectivity refers to the ability of an agonist or receptor to selectively activate a subset of transducers such as G protein and arrestin in the case of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Although signaling through arrestin has been reported from various GPCRs, only a few studies have examined side-by-side how it differs from signaling via G protein. In this study, two signaling pathways were compared using dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) mutants engineered via the evolutionary tracer method to selectively transduce signals through G protein or arrestin (D2G and D 2Arr, respectively). D2G mediated the inhibition of cAMP production and ERK activation in the cytoplasm. D2Arr, in contrast, mediated receptor endocytosis accompanied by arrestin ubiquitination and ERK activation in the nucleus as well as in the cytoplasm. D2Arr-mediated ERK activation occurred in a manner dependent on arrestin3 but not arrestin2, accompanied by the nuclear translocation of arrestin3 via importin1. D2R-mediated ERK activation, which occurred in both the cytosol and nucleus, was limited to the cytosol when cellular arrestin3 was depleted. This finding supports the results obtained with D2Arr and D2G. Taken together, these observations indicate that biased signal transduction pathways activate distinct downstream mechanisms and that the subcellular regions in which they occur could be different when the same effectors are involved. These findings broaden our understanding on the relation between biased receptors and the corresponding downstream signaling, which is critical for elucidating the functional roles of biased pathways.

Peptides are increasingly important resources for biological and therapeutic development, however, their intrinsic susceptibility to proteolytic degradation represents a big hurdle. As a natural agonist for GLP-1R, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is of significant clinical interest for the treatment of type-2 diabetes mellitus, but its in vivo instability and short half-life have largely prevented its therapeutic application. Here, we describe the rational design of a series of α/sulfono-γ-AA peptide hybrid analogues of GLP-1 as the GLP-1R agonists. Certain GLP-1 hybrid analogues exhibited enhanced stability (t _1/2 > 14 days) compared to t _1/2 (<1 day) of GLP-1 in the blood plasma and in vivo. These newly developed peptide hybrids may be viable alternative of semaglutide for type-2 diabetes treatment. Additionally, our findings suggest that sulfono-γ-AA residues could be adopted to substitute canonical amino acids residues to improve the pharmacological activity of peptide-based drugs.

Objective:To investigate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of nonmetastatic pheochromocytoma.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 7 patients with nonmetastatic pheochromocytoma admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2018 to June 2020, all of whom underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation. The changes of postoperative blood pressure, improvement of symptoms, intraoperative and postoperative complications were observed.Plasma free methoxypinephrine (MN) and normetanephrine (NMN) levels were recorded before and 2 weeks after operation. The reduction rate of ablation lesion volume at 1, 3 and 6 months after operation was calculated.Results:Postoperative blood pressure of all 7 patients was reduced to the normal range within 3 days, and symptoms such as headache were significantly relieved immediately after operation.No serious complications occurred during or after operation. Plasma free MN and NMN levels decreased to normal levels 2 weeks after operation. The mean reduction rates of the ablation lesions at 1, 3 and 6 months after operation were (46.61±13.42)%, (67.21±10.54)% and (85.73±4.15)%, respectively. Postoperative follow-up of 12-30 months showed that the blood pressure, plasma free MN and NMN levels of the patients were all in the normal range, and no symptoms such as headache and palpitation occurred again. All the tumors were completely ablated, and no recurrence was observed.Conclusions:Ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of nonmetastatic pheochromocytoma is minimally invasive, safe and effective, and can retain adrenal cortex function, which is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective:To investigate the safety and efficacy of transgluteal ultrasound-guided puncture and drainage in prone position in the treatment of deep pelvic abscess with pelvic adhesion.Methods:A total of 24 cases of deep pelvic abscess with pelvic adhesion treated in the ultrasound intervention room of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from October 2018 to May 2021 were selected.Ultrasound-guided puncture and drainage were performed through the buttocks. The operation time, blood loss and distal limb pain during the operation were recorded. The decreasing trend of body temperature, the white blood cell, C-reactive protein and abscess size were observed. The incidence of complications such as bleeding, pain, infection and intestinal injury were counted.Results:There were 28 abscesses in 24 patients were successfully intubated through the buttocks, the abscesses disappeared after drainage, and there were no serious complications after operation. During the follow-up of 3-22 months, there was no abscess recurrence and no long-term complications.Conclusions:Ultrasound-guided transgluteal puncture and drainage is safe and effective in the treatment of deep pelvic abscess with pelvic adhesion.