1.Mechanism of Huangqin in Improving Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction Based on Network Pharmacology,Molecular Docking and Experimental Validation
Ronghua LI ; Liangyu CAI ; Yongcheng XU ; Shajin LIU ; Jingge WANG ; Ao XUE ; Minyi XU
World Science and Technology-Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2025;27(8):2406-2417
Objective To explore the mechanism of Scutellaria baicalensis(Huangqin)in ameliorating postoperative cognitive dysfunction in surgical patients through network pharmacology approaches combined with experimental validation.Methods Network pharmacology was used to screen the relevant targets and pathways of Huangqin in relation to postoperative cognitive dysfunction,followed by molecular docking to verify the affinity of core components with key targets.HT22 cell line of mouse hippocampal neurons was cultured,and an inflammation injury model was induced by LPS stimulation.Huangqin was selected for intervention treatment,divided into five groups:control group,model group,low-dose Huangqin group(10 μmol/L),medium-dose Huangqin group(50 μmol/L),and high-dose Huangqin group(100 μmol/L).After co-culturing for 24 h,the expression of key target proteins HIF1A,MAPK1(ERK2/p-ERK2),and SIRT1 were detected by Western blotting,and the mRNA expression of these proteins was measured by qRT-PCR.Results A total of 27 active components of Huangqin were screened by network pharmacology,corresponding to 379 targets,with 220 disease targets related to POCD,resulting in 35 intersecting genes.Molecular docking results showed that components like baicalein and oroxylin A had strong affinity with targets such as HIF1A,MAPK1,and SIRT1.In vitro experimental results indicated that baicalein significantly downregulated the expression and transcription levels of HIF1A and MAPK1(ERK2/p-ERK2),while upregulating the expression and transcription levels of SIRT1,effectively improved the inflammatory response in HT22 cells and reduced neuronal damage.Conclusion The traditional Chinese medicine Huangqin can reduce the occurrence and development of postoperative cognitive dysfunction by improving the expression of key proteins,controlling inflammatory responses,and protecting neuronal function.
2.Analysis of health information needs of patients with chronic kidney disease based on online medical consultation records
Minyi LI ; Hongxia SHEN ; Sijing YAN ; Cynthia HALLENSLEBEN ; Niels CHAVANNES
Chinese Journal of Practical Nursing 2025;41(8):561-569
Objective:Based on the consultation records of the online medical consultation platform, the chronic kidney disease (CKD) health information needs of users are analyzed, so as to provide a decision-making basis for the development of personalized CKD health information services, management and intervention.Methods:From September 15th to December 30th, 2022, the combination of manual retrieval and web crawler was used to obtain the question records of "kidney disease" in the three online medical platforms including Good Doctor Online, Dingxiang Doctor and Chunyu Doctor. Also, the hot question records were classified according to the content of users' questions. The top 50 high-frequency keywords were calculated by word segmentation and term frequency-inverse document frequency (IF-IDF) algorithm. The Gephi software was used to visualize the co-occurrence matrix of keywords.Results:A total of 78 405 valid consultation records were collected in the obtained question content. The classification results showed that the users' CKD health information needs can be classified into five categories, including basic knowledge (etiology and risk factors, symptoms and signs, classification and grading of diagnosis, complications or comorbidities, drug effects and adverse reactions), treatment plan, social life impact (physical impact, family impact, social interaction impact, economic burden impact, work impact), self-management (self-care or home care, emergency response) and social support (family support, professional medical team support).Conclusions:The information demand for CKD based on the online medical consultation platform presents a wide range of content and diversified subjects. This suggests that targeted and personalized health information guidance should be formulated when providing CKD health information services for different subjects.
3.Expression level and application analysis of soluble costimulatory molecule B7-H3 in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer
Mingming JIANG ; Zhongbo XIONG ; Minyi XU ; Yue DAI ; Yanan LI ; Lei WANG
Chinese Journal of Preventive Medicine 2025;59(3):382-389
To investigate the expression level of costimulatory molecule B7-H3 in the tumor tissues and the level of soluble costimulatory molecule B7-H3 (sB7-H3) in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), so as to evaluate the clinical value of sB7-H3 in auxiliary diagnosis of CRC. A cross-sectional study design was adopted. A total of 232 CRC patients, 87 patients with benign colorectal diseases, and 59 healthy subjects who were treated in Shanghai Eighth People′s Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022 were selected. The levels of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 in the serum were detected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the diagnostic value of sB7-H3 and the above-mentioned tumor markers for colorectal cancer (CRC). The expression levels of B7-H3 in CRC tissues and benign colorectal disease tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between the levels of sB7-H3 and clinicopathological features was analyzed statistically. The results showed that compared with the benign disease group or the healthy control respectively, the serum levels of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 in the CRC group were significantly increased, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). In the CRC group, the serum levels of sB7-H3 showed a weak positive correlation with CA50, CEA and CA724 (the r values were 0.220, 0.217 and 0.182 respectively; the P values were 0.005,<0.001 and 0.024 respectively), and there was no significant correlation with CA199 (the r value was 0.162; the P value were 0.051). The areas under the curve (AUC) of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 for diagnosing CRC were 0.862, 0.774, 0.646, 0.677 and 0.644 respectively, and the cut-off values were 20.67 ng/ml, 10.74 U/ml, 3.17 ng/ml, 3.16 U/ml, and 22.55 U/ml, respectively. Taking 20.67 ng/ml as the cut-off value, the positive rate of sB7-H3 in CRC was 62.9%, which was significantly higher than that in patients with benign colorectal diseases (35.6%) and the healthy control group (10%) ( χ2=81.995, P<0.001; χ2=103.56, P<0.001). The positive rates of sB7-H3 and CEA in patients with pathological stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ were significantly higher than those in patients with stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ ( χ2=82.876, P<0.001; χ2=22.617, P<0.001). The positive rate of sB7-H3 in patients with pathological stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ was 56.2%, which was significantly higher than that of CEA (38%) ( χ2=50.378, P<0.001). Immunohistochemistry showed that B7-H3 positive staining was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. The positive expression rate of B7-H3 in CRC (75.8%) was significantly higher than that in benign colorectal diseases (15.4%) ( χ2=16.133, P<0.001). The serum level of sB7-H3 in CRC patients was positively correlated with the expression level of B7-H3 in tumor tissues ( r=0.766, P<0.001). The serum level of sB7-H3 was significantly correlated with distant metastasis and pathological stage of CRC ( W=899, P=0.002; H=10.465, P=0.015). In conclusion, serum level of sB7-H3 may have certain clinical value in the auxiliary diagnosis of CRC.
4.Inhibitory effect of berberine on formation of biofilms of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates
Mingming JIANG ; Fangfang ZHOU ; Xuemei GU ; Yanan LI ; Minyi XU ; Lei WANG
Chinese Journal of Nosocomiology 2025;35(21):3243-3248
OBJECTIVE To explore the effect and potential mechanisms of berberine on formation of biofilms of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)isolates.METHODS Totally 95 clinical MRSA iso-lates were collected from Shanghai Eighth People's Hospital from Jan.2023 to Dec.2023.The 14 biofilm forma-tion-related genes in the strains were detected by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and multiplex PCR,the mini-mum inhibitory concentration(MIC)of berberine was determined by microbroth dilution method,the effect of berberine on resistance of biofilm formation was evaluated by crustal violet staining,fluorescence microscope,Congo red agar plate and extracelluar DNA(eDNA).The transcription levels of 9 biofilm formation-related genes were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription PCR.RESULTS All of the 95 strains of MRSA carried eno,clfA,clfB and icaA genes,the most widespread gene profile was bbp-eno-ebpS-fnbA-fib-clfA-clfB-icaA-sasG,and 29 strains had the phenotypes with strong capability of biofilm formation.The MIC score of berberine ranged between 64 and 1 024 μg/ml.Berberine with the concentration of 1/2 MIC could inhibit the biofilm formation of MRSA(P<0.001),and the inhibiting rate of biofilm formation of the MIC ≥512 μg/ml group was higher than that of the MIC≤128 μg/ml group and the MIC 256 μg/ml group(all P<0.05).The re-sult under the fluorescence microscope showed that the fluorescence intensity of biofilms decreased with the rise of berberine concentration.Berberine could reduce the formation of amyloid fibrils and the release of eDNA,down-regulating the transcription levels of ica A,sasG,ebpS,fib,eno,clfA,clfB,bbp and fnbA genes(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Berberine may inhibit the biofilm formation of MRSA by downregulating expression levels of related genes,interfering the formation of amyloid fibrils and blocking the release of eDNA,which may provide experimental bases for development of drugs resisting to MRSA biofilms.
5.Cerebral endothelial 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase improves ischemia-induced cognitive impairment via interacting with protein phosphatase 2A.
Li ZHU ; Yi HUANG ; Jing JIN ; Rongjun ZOU ; Rui ZUO ; Yong LUO ; Ziqing SONG ; Linfeng DAI ; Minyi ZHANG ; Qiuhe CHEN ; Yunting WANG ; Wei WANG ; Rongrong HE ; Yang CHEN
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2025;15(1):314-330
The catalytic activity of 3-mercaptopyruvate (3MP) sulfurtransferase (MPST) converts 3MP to hydrogen sulfide (H2S). However, the regulatory mechanisms governing MPST and its impact on the brain remain largely unexplored. Our study reveals the neuroprotective role of endothelial MPST-generated H2S, regulated by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Bioinformatics analysis and RNA sequencing demonstrated that endothelial PP2A is associated with neurodegenerative disease pathways. Cerebral ischemic mice exhibited significant inactivation of endothelial PP2A, evidenced by the reduction of PP2Acα in the brain endothelium. Mice with endothelium-specific null PP2A (PP2AEC-cKO) exhibited neuronal loss, cognitive dysfunction, and long-term potentiation deficits. Postnatal inactivation of endothelial PP2A also contributes to cognitive dysfunction and neuronal loss. However, regaining endothelial PP2A activity by overexpressing Ppp2ca rescued neuronal dysfunction. Mechanistically, PP2A deficiency is intricately linked to the MPST-H2S signaling pathway. A robust reduction in endothelial MPST-dependent H2S production followed PP2A deficiency. Exogenous H2S treatment and AAV-mediated overexpression of MPST in brain endothelial cells significantly mitigated neuronal dysfunction in PP2AEC-cKO mice. Furthermore, PP2A deficiency promotes an increase in calcium influx and calpain2 phosphorylation, subsequently leading to MPST degradation. The PP2A activator (FTY720) and MPST activator (3MP sodium) both remarkably restored endothelial MPST-dependent H2S production, subsequently rescuing ischemia-induced neurological deficits. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that endothelial PP2A deficiency leads to MPST degradation by activating calpain2, thus damaging neuronal function.
6.Expression level and application analysis of soluble costimulatory molecule B7-H3 in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer
Mingming JIANG ; Zhongbo XIONG ; Minyi XU ; Yue DAI ; Yanan LI ; Lei WANG
Chinese Journal of Preventive Medicine 2025;59(3):382-389
To investigate the expression level of costimulatory molecule B7-H3 in the tumor tissues and the level of soluble costimulatory molecule B7-H3 (sB7-H3) in the serum of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), so as to evaluate the clinical value of sB7-H3 in auxiliary diagnosis of CRC. A cross-sectional study design was adopted. A total of 232 CRC patients, 87 patients with benign colorectal diseases, and 59 healthy subjects who were treated in Shanghai Eighth People′s Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022 were selected. The levels of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 in the serum were detected. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the diagnostic value of sB7-H3 and the above-mentioned tumor markers for colorectal cancer (CRC). The expression levels of B7-H3 in CRC tissues and benign colorectal disease tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between the levels of sB7-H3 and clinicopathological features was analyzed statistically. The results showed that compared with the benign disease group or the healthy control respectively, the serum levels of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 in the CRC group were significantly increased, and the differences were statistically significant ( P<0.05). In the CRC group, the serum levels of sB7-H3 showed a weak positive correlation with CA50, CEA and CA724 (the r values were 0.220, 0.217 and 0.182 respectively; the P values were 0.005,<0.001 and 0.024 respectively), and there was no significant correlation with CA199 (the r value was 0.162; the P value were 0.051). The areas under the curve (AUC) of sB7-H3, CEA, CA199, CA724 and CA50 for diagnosing CRC were 0.862, 0.774, 0.646, 0.677 and 0.644 respectively, and the cut-off values were 20.67 ng/ml, 10.74 U/ml, 3.17 ng/ml, 3.16 U/ml, and 22.55 U/ml, respectively. Taking 20.67 ng/ml as the cut-off value, the positive rate of sB7-H3 in CRC was 62.9%, which was significantly higher than that in patients with benign colorectal diseases (35.6%) and the healthy control group (10%) ( χ2=81.995, P<0.001; χ2=103.56, P<0.001). The positive rates of sB7-H3 and CEA in patients with pathological stages Ⅲ and Ⅳ were significantly higher than those in patients with stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ ( χ2=82.876, P<0.001; χ2=22.617, P<0.001). The positive rate of sB7-H3 in patients with pathological stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ was 56.2%, which was significantly higher than that of CEA (38%) ( χ2=50.378, P<0.001). Immunohistochemistry showed that B7-H3 positive staining was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. The positive expression rate of B7-H3 in CRC (75.8%) was significantly higher than that in benign colorectal diseases (15.4%) ( χ2=16.133, P<0.001). The serum level of sB7-H3 in CRC patients was positively correlated with the expression level of B7-H3 in tumor tissues ( r=0.766, P<0.001). The serum level of sB7-H3 was significantly correlated with distant metastasis and pathological stage of CRC ( W=899, P=0.002; H=10.465, P=0.015). In conclusion, serum level of sB7-H3 may have certain clinical value in the auxiliary diagnosis of CRC.
7.Mechanism of Huangqin in Improving Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction Based on Network Pharmacology,Molecular Docking and Experimental Validation
Ronghua LI ; Liangyu CAI ; Yongcheng XU ; Shajin LIU ; Jingge WANG ; Ao XUE ; Minyi XU
World Science and Technology-Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2025;27(8):2406-2417
Objective To explore the mechanism of Scutellaria baicalensis(Huangqin)in ameliorating postoperative cognitive dysfunction in surgical patients through network pharmacology approaches combined with experimental validation.Methods Network pharmacology was used to screen the relevant targets and pathways of Huangqin in relation to postoperative cognitive dysfunction,followed by molecular docking to verify the affinity of core components with key targets.HT22 cell line of mouse hippocampal neurons was cultured,and an inflammation injury model was induced by LPS stimulation.Huangqin was selected for intervention treatment,divided into five groups:control group,model group,low-dose Huangqin group(10 μmol/L),medium-dose Huangqin group(50 μmol/L),and high-dose Huangqin group(100 μmol/L).After co-culturing for 24 h,the expression of key target proteins HIF1A,MAPK1(ERK2/p-ERK2),and SIRT1 were detected by Western blotting,and the mRNA expression of these proteins was measured by qRT-PCR.Results A total of 27 active components of Huangqin were screened by network pharmacology,corresponding to 379 targets,with 220 disease targets related to POCD,resulting in 35 intersecting genes.Molecular docking results showed that components like baicalein and oroxylin A had strong affinity with targets such as HIF1A,MAPK1,and SIRT1.In vitro experimental results indicated that baicalein significantly downregulated the expression and transcription levels of HIF1A and MAPK1(ERK2/p-ERK2),while upregulating the expression and transcription levels of SIRT1,effectively improved the inflammatory response in HT22 cells and reduced neuronal damage.Conclusion The traditional Chinese medicine Huangqin can reduce the occurrence and development of postoperative cognitive dysfunction by improving the expression of key proteins,controlling inflammatory responses,and protecting neuronal function.
8.Analysis of health information needs of patients with chronic kidney disease based on online medical consultation records
Minyi LI ; Hongxia SHEN ; Sijing YAN ; Cynthia HALLENSLEBEN ; Niels CHAVANNES
Chinese Journal of Practical Nursing 2025;41(8):561-569
Objective:Based on the consultation records of the online medical consultation platform, the chronic kidney disease (CKD) health information needs of users are analyzed, so as to provide a decision-making basis for the development of personalized CKD health information services, management and intervention.Methods:From September 15th to December 30th, 2022, the combination of manual retrieval and web crawler was used to obtain the question records of "kidney disease" in the three online medical platforms including Good Doctor Online, Dingxiang Doctor and Chunyu Doctor. Also, the hot question records were classified according to the content of users' questions. The top 50 high-frequency keywords were calculated by word segmentation and term frequency-inverse document frequency (IF-IDF) algorithm. The Gephi software was used to visualize the co-occurrence matrix of keywords.Results:A total of 78 405 valid consultation records were collected in the obtained question content. The classification results showed that the users' CKD health information needs can be classified into five categories, including basic knowledge (etiology and risk factors, symptoms and signs, classification and grading of diagnosis, complications or comorbidities, drug effects and adverse reactions), treatment plan, social life impact (physical impact, family impact, social interaction impact, economic burden impact, work impact), self-management (self-care or home care, emergency response) and social support (family support, professional medical team support).Conclusions:The information demand for CKD based on the online medical consultation platform presents a wide range of content and diversified subjects. This suggests that targeted and personalized health information guidance should be formulated when providing CKD health information services for different subjects.
9.Inhibitory effect of berberine on formation of biofilms of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates
Mingming JIANG ; Fangfang ZHOU ; Xuemei GU ; Yanan LI ; Minyi XU ; Lei WANG
Chinese Journal of Nosocomiology 2025;35(21):3243-3248
OBJECTIVE To explore the effect and potential mechanisms of berberine on formation of biofilms of clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA)isolates.METHODS Totally 95 clinical MRSA iso-lates were collected from Shanghai Eighth People's Hospital from Jan.2023 to Dec.2023.The 14 biofilm forma-tion-related genes in the strains were detected by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and multiplex PCR,the mini-mum inhibitory concentration(MIC)of berberine was determined by microbroth dilution method,the effect of berberine on resistance of biofilm formation was evaluated by crustal violet staining,fluorescence microscope,Congo red agar plate and extracelluar DNA(eDNA).The transcription levels of 9 biofilm formation-related genes were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription PCR.RESULTS All of the 95 strains of MRSA carried eno,clfA,clfB and icaA genes,the most widespread gene profile was bbp-eno-ebpS-fnbA-fib-clfA-clfB-icaA-sasG,and 29 strains had the phenotypes with strong capability of biofilm formation.The MIC score of berberine ranged between 64 and 1 024 μg/ml.Berberine with the concentration of 1/2 MIC could inhibit the biofilm formation of MRSA(P<0.001),and the inhibiting rate of biofilm formation of the MIC ≥512 μg/ml group was higher than that of the MIC≤128 μg/ml group and the MIC 256 μg/ml group(all P<0.05).The re-sult under the fluorescence microscope showed that the fluorescence intensity of biofilms decreased with the rise of berberine concentration.Berberine could reduce the formation of amyloid fibrils and the release of eDNA,down-regulating the transcription levels of ica A,sasG,ebpS,fib,eno,clfA,clfB,bbp and fnbA genes(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Berberine may inhibit the biofilm formation of MRSA by downregulating expression levels of related genes,interfering the formation of amyloid fibrils and blocking the release of eDNA,which may provide experimental bases for development of drugs resisting to MRSA biofilms.
10.Impact of revascularization therapy on intestinal rehabilitation therapy in patients with short bowel syndrome caused by acute mesenteric ischemia with chronic multivessel lesions
Yufei XIA ; Xin QI ; Minyi ZHU ; Xuejin GAO ; Li ZHANG ; Yudong SUN ; Xinying WANG
Chinese Journal of General Surgery 2024;39(3):172-182
Objective:To investigate whether intestinal rehabilitation therapy (IRT)could optimize the effectiveness of IRT in patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS) caused by acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) with chronic multivessel lesions.Methods:Clinical data of 18 hospitalized patients diagnosed with AMI leading to SBS and undergoing IRT at the Eastern Theater General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army from Jan 2012 to Oct 2023 was retrospectively analyzed.Result:Following IRT, the revascularization group showed significantly greater increases in ASMI and grip strength compared to the control group [(0.28±0.26) kg/m 2vs. (0.02±0.21) kg/m 2, P=0.033, and (0.97±0.33) kg vs. (0.48±0.34) kg, P=0.007, respectively]. Similarly, the increase in EN intake was significantly higher in the revascularization group compared to the control group [(572.5±93.6) ml/d vs. (375.2±176.3) ml/d, P=0.012], accompanied by a greater improvement in intestinal nitrogen absorption rate [(25.06±14.06)% vs. (13.84±4.62)%, P=0.034] and a more substantial decrease in GSRS scores [(-15.88±3.94) vs. (-6.33±5.13), P=0.030]. Moreover, there were significant differences in the composition of EN formulations between the two groups after IRT ( P=0.046). Additionally, SF-36 scores at discharge were significantly higher in the revascularization group than that in the control group for five indicators including BP, GH, VT, SF, and MH ( P<0.05). Conclusions:For patients with SBS resulting from AMI by chronic multivessel lesions, revascularization therapy may not leading to higher growth in weight and hematological nutritional indicators during IRT, but it is beneficial for improving muscle function, improving EN absorption, increasing the likelihood of PN independence, relieving gastrointestinal symptoms, and enhancing overall quality of life.

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