1.Pinelliae Rhizoma and Its Prescription Compatibility for Depression Treatment: A Review
Zhe XIE ; Yifan SHI ; Linzhe SU ; Ming BAI ; Yucheng LI ; Baoying WANG ; Erping XU
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(9):284-293
Depression is a common mental disorder that falls under the category of "stagnation syndrome" in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Its complex pathogenesis poses challenges for the development of novel therapeutic agents. Currently, clinically used antidepressants are often accompanied by significant side effects, and statistics show that about one-third of patients do not respond to these medications. TCM demonstrates advantages in the treatment of depression through multi-target, multi-pathway and multi-mechanistic approaches. Pinelliae Rhizoma, a phlegm-resolving herb, exhibits effects such as drying dampness and resolving phlegm, as well as eliminating stuffiness and reducing masses. The characteristics of harmonizing Yin and Yang and resolving stagnation in the middle energizer align precisely with the pathogenesis of depression syndrome, demonstrating therapeutic efficacy in affected patients. Literature studies have found that the active ingredients of Pinelliae Rhizoma, such as cavidine, baicalein, β-sitosterol, as well as Pinelliae Rhizoma herb pairs, such as Pinelliae Rhizoma-Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex, Pinelliae Rhizoma-husked sorghum, Pinelliae Rhizoma-Prunellae Spica, exhibit significant antidepressant effects. Furthermore, TCM formulas containing Pinelliae Rhizoma as the principal therapeutic agent, such as Banxia Xiexin Tang, Banxia Houpo Tang, and Wendan Tang, as well as formulas incorporating Pinelliae Rhizoma like compound Xiaochaihu Tang, Chaihu Jia Longgu Muli Tang, and Erchen Tang, have also demonstrated favorable antidepressant efficacy. The antidepressant mechanism of these agents may involve modulation of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) levels, up-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, reduction of oxidative stress, modulation of nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway, and inhibition of microglia-mediated inflammatory responses. This review summarized the antidepressant mechanisms and clinical applications of the active components, herb pairs, and TCM formulas containing Pinelliae Rhizoma, aiming to provide a reference for modern research on the use of Pinelliae Rhizoma in antidepressant therapy.
2.Teaching Practice and Exploration of"Tutorial System"Based on The Cultivation of Scientific Research and Innovation Ability of Medical Students
Qiao ZHANG ; Yin-Feng YANG ; Yue-Li NI ; Zhuo-Ran TENG ; Wen-Jing LIU ; Jing WU ; Yan-Rui WU ; Yu DOU ; Ming HE ; Shu-De LI ; Ping GAN ; Fang YUAN ; Zhe YANG ; Xin-Wang YANG
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(3):470-480
The scientific research and innovation capabilities of medical students are intrinsically linked to the sustained and high-quality development of national healthcare initiatives.Cultivating outstanding medi-cal students with independent scientific capabilities and innovative consciousness is a critical component in the education and training of high-level medical professionals.Our investigation revealed that within the imperfections of the cultivating model,some faculty and students at medical schools have an insufficient understanding of scientific research and innovation and lack motivation for engaging in such activities,which hinder the progression of scientific research activities.Consequently,we initiated a teaching practice and exploratory study on the"tutorial system"aimed at fostering medical students'scientific research and innovation abilities.Based on the principle of"research informing teaching,teaching and research advan-cing together,"this study implements a"tutorial system"coordinated by tutors,supplemented by graduate and undergraduate student mentors,to cultivate innovative thinking,stimulate interest in scientific re-search,and enhance practical and research skills among medical students.Through collaborative efforts within"scientific research innovation teams,"various educational methods—including preliminary re-search,in-class and extracurricular activities,intra-group and inter-group interactions,and theoretical and practical applications—are employed to improve and strengthen the cultivation of medical students'scientif-ic research and innovation abilities.This study aims to provide valuable references for optimizing medical education management systems and enhancing the quality of medical student training.
3.Research progress on role of necroptosis in chronic kidney disease
Ping QIU ; Shuo HUANG ; Qi-han LUO ; Qing MA ; Fu-zhe CHEN ; Zi-yi SHAN ; Yi-ming LIU ; Chang-yu LI
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(5):816-820
Chronic kidney disease(CKD)is a chronic disease characterized by renal structural damage and dysfunction.At present,there is still a lack of effective therapeutic drugs and prevention and treatment methods for CKD in clinical practice.More and more studies have shown that necroptosis,as a new type of programmed cell death,plays a vital role in the onset and progression of CKD.Targeting key molecules in the necroptosis pathway,such as RIPK1,RIPK3 and MLKL,the development of small molecule inhibitors has become an emerging strategy for the treatment of CKD,and has shown significant potential to pro-tect the kidneys and alleviate renal fibrosis in a variety of in vitro and in vivo models.Therefore,this article summarizes the re-search progress of the mechanism of necroptosis in recent years,and focuses on the potential role of necroptosis in the pathogene-sis of CKD and the therapeutic potential of targeting this path-way,providing a new perspective and research direction for the prevention and treatment of CKD in the future.
4.Analysis of the association between patent foramen ovale and migraine:advances in biomarker and imaging research
Kai-yuan LIU ; Ji-zhe XU ; Ming BAI ; Qiang WANG ; Li-he YAO
Chinese Journal of Interventional Cardiology 2025;33(9):516-522
Patent foramen ovale(PFO)demonstrates significant comorbidity with migraine,but its causal relationship and the efficacy of transcatheter closure remain controversial.This systematic review examines potential biomarkers and relevant imaging assessments for PFO-associated migraine,aiming to provide a theoretical foundation for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Key biomarkers include platelet activation markers,calcitonin gene-related peptide,homocysteine,and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio.Imaging evaluations encompass right-to-left shunt grading(transthoracic echocardiography,transcranial Doppler ultrasound),cerebrovascular breath-holding index,characteristics of white matter hyperintensities,alterations in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-f-MRI)brain networks,in-situ thrombi detected by optical coherence tomography,and electroencephalogram(EEG)power spectral features.Research indicates that integrating biomarkers with imaging technologies enhances diagnostic discrimination and treatment outcome prediction.Current challenges include unclear causal relationships and insufficient standardization of detection methods.Future efforts require multidisciplinary collaboration to establish personalized diagnostic and therapeutic frameworks through multimodal indicators,thereby advancing precise prevention and treatment strategies for PFO-related migraine.
5.Research progress on role of necroptosis in chronic kidney disease
Ping QIU ; Shuo HUANG ; Qi-han LUO ; Qing MA ; Fu-zhe CHEN ; Zi-yi SHAN ; Yi-ming LIU ; Chang-yu LI
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(5):816-820
Chronic kidney disease(CKD)is a chronic disease characterized by renal structural damage and dysfunction.At present,there is still a lack of effective therapeutic drugs and prevention and treatment methods for CKD in clinical practice.More and more studies have shown that necroptosis,as a new type of programmed cell death,plays a vital role in the onset and progression of CKD.Targeting key molecules in the necroptosis pathway,such as RIPK1,RIPK3 and MLKL,the development of small molecule inhibitors has become an emerging strategy for the treatment of CKD,and has shown significant potential to pro-tect the kidneys and alleviate renal fibrosis in a variety of in vitro and in vivo models.Therefore,this article summarizes the re-search progress of the mechanism of necroptosis in recent years,and focuses on the potential role of necroptosis in the pathogene-sis of CKD and the therapeutic potential of targeting this path-way,providing a new perspective and research direction for the prevention and treatment of CKD in the future.
6.Analysis of the association between patent foramen ovale and migraine:advances in biomarker and imaging research
Kai-yuan LIU ; Ji-zhe XU ; Ming BAI ; Qiang WANG ; Li-he YAO
Chinese Journal of Interventional Cardiology 2025;33(9):516-522
Patent foramen ovale(PFO)demonstrates significant comorbidity with migraine,but its causal relationship and the efficacy of transcatheter closure remain controversial.This systematic review examines potential biomarkers and relevant imaging assessments for PFO-associated migraine,aiming to provide a theoretical foundation for clinical diagnosis and treatment.Key biomarkers include platelet activation markers,calcitonin gene-related peptide,homocysteine,and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio.Imaging evaluations encompass right-to-left shunt grading(transthoracic echocardiography,transcranial Doppler ultrasound),cerebrovascular breath-holding index,characteristics of white matter hyperintensities,alterations in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-f-MRI)brain networks,in-situ thrombi detected by optical coherence tomography,and electroencephalogram(EEG)power spectral features.Research indicates that integrating biomarkers with imaging technologies enhances diagnostic discrimination and treatment outcome prediction.Current challenges include unclear causal relationships and insufficient standardization of detection methods.Future efforts require multidisciplinary collaboration to establish personalized diagnostic and therapeutic frameworks through multimodal indicators,thereby advancing precise prevention and treatment strategies for PFO-related migraine.
7.Creation and Exploration of the"Organized Fill-in-the-Blank Format"Disci-pline Construction Model for Forensic Medicine in the New Era
Zhi-Wen WEI ; Hong-Xing WANG ; Jun-Hong SUN ; Hao-Liang FAN ; Hong-Liang SU ; Le-Le WANG ; Wen-Ting HE ; Zhe CHEN ; Jie ZHANG ; Xiang-Jie GUO ; Ji LI ; Geng-Qian ZHANG ; Xin-Hua LIANG ; Jiang-Wei YAN ; Qiang-Qiang ZHANG ; Cai-Rong GAO ; Ying-Yuan WANG ; Hong-Wei WANG ; Jun XIE ; Bo-Feng ZHU ; Ke-Ming YUN
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;41(1):25-29
Forensic medicine has been designated as a first-level discipline,presenting new opportunities and challenges for the development of forensic medicine.Since the 1980s,the establishment of foren-sic medicine discipline and the cultivation of high-level forensic talents have become hot topics in the development of forensic medicine in China.Since the 13th Five-Year Plan,the forensic team of Shanxi Medical University has been aiming at the forefront,proposing the development goals of"Five First-class"and the discipline development path"Six Major Achievements".It has selected benchmark disci-plines,identified gaps in disciplinary development,unified thoughts,formulated completion timelines,concentrated superior resources,assigned tasks to individuals,and created an"Organized Fill-in-the-Blank Format"forensic medicine discipline construction model with the characteristics of the new era.The construction model of forensic medicine has achieved good results in the goals,discipline frame-work,scientific research,talent cultivation,discipline team and platform construction,forming a rela-tively complete discipline construction and management system,and accumulating valuable experience for the construction of first-level discipline and high-level talent cultivation of forensic medicine.
8.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.
9.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.
10.Detection of Ketamine and Norketamine Using an Aptamer-Functionalized Gra-phene Oxide Fluorescent Sensor
Li-Xia WEI ; Bo LIU ; Xiao-Yuan YANG ; Xi ZHANG ; Yi-Feng LAN ; Chao ZHANG ; Juan JIA ; Dan ZHANG ; Zhi-Wen WEI ; Ke-Ming YUN ; Zhe CHEN
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;41(4):326-339
Objective To construct an aptamer-functionalized carboxylated graphene oxide(CGO)fluo-rescent sensor to achieve highly sensitive and specific detection of ketamine(KET)and its metabolite norketamine(NK)using an aptamer capable of simultaneously recognizing KET and NK.Methods A specific aptamer for simultaneous recognition of KET and NK was screened using graphene oxide-sys-tematic evolution of ligand by exponential enrichment(GO-SELEX)and molecular docking tech-niques.The aptamer,labeled with Cy5 fluorescence,was chemically conjugated to CGO to construct an aptamer-functionalized CGO fluorescent sensor.By optimizing detection conditions,including the mass concentration of CGO,aptamer concentration,reaction temperature,and incubation time,quantita-tive analysis of the target analytes was achieved using the ratio of fluorescence intensity changes be-fore and after target addition.The stability of the sensor in biological matrices was evaluated by moni-toring fluorescence intensity changes over incubation time in blank blood and urine,in comparison with the traditional physical adsorption-based CGO fluorescent sensor.Spiked recovery experiments in blank blood and urine were conducted to compare performance with that of HPLC-MS/MS.Results A specific aptamer A5 was selected and chemically conjugated with CGO to construct the aptamer-functionalized CGO fluorescent sensor.Under optimized conditions,the proposed fluorescent sensor ex-hibited a linear detection range of 1.0-5.0 ng/mL for KET,with a limit of detection(LOD)of 0.86 ng/mL;while for NK,the linear detection range was 1.0-5.0 ng/mL,with an LOD of 0.70 ng/mL.Com-pared with the CGO fluorescent sensor constructed via physical adsorption,this sensor demonstrated greater stability in blood and urine.The spiked recovery rates of KET and NK in blank blood and urine ranged from 81.50%to 110.03%,exhibiting detection performance comparable to that of HPLC-MS/MS.Conclusion The aptamer screening method offers a novel approach for selecting aptamers tar-geting drugs and their metabolites.The constructed aptamer-functionalized CGO fluorescent sensor pro-vides an efficient and reliable strategy for the high-performance detection of KET and NK.

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