Eucommiae Cortex, the dried bark of Eucommia ulmoides( Eucommiaceae), has both medicinal and edible values.Modern research has shown that Eucommiae Cortex contains various components such as flavonoids, lignans, iridoids, phenolic acids,terpenoids, and steroids, which have anti-osteoporosis, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, blood glucose-lowering, and gastrointestinal tract-protecting effects. Eucommiae Cortex has applications in multiple fields such as healthcare, industry, and animal husbandry,demonstrating broad development prospects. This article reviews the chemical constituents, pharmacological effects, and quality control status of Eucommiae Cortex. Furthermore, according to the concept of quality marker(Q-marker), this article predicts the Q-markers of Eucommiae Cortex from traditional medicinal properties, traditional medicinal effects, new medicinal effects, measurability of chemical components, compatibility, harvesting periods, and geographical origins. The components such as pinoresinol diglucoside,chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, quercetin, baicalein, baicalin, olivil, coniferyl ferulate, and kaempferol can be used as Q-markers for Eucommiae Cortex, which provide reference for establishing a systematic quality control system for Eucommiae Cortex.
Eucommiaceae/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Quality Control ; Humans ; Animals

Objective:To present an evaluation indicator system for access to cancer screening services.Methods:The evaluation indicator pool was constructed through a scoping review. The theoretical framework was constructed based on the multi-source indicators, and the qualitative expert consultation method was employed to form the initial version of the three-level evaluation indicator system. Delphi expert consultation method was conducted in two rounds to evaluate the relevance, importance, and availability of the proposed evaluation indicator system. The expert positive coefficient, authority coefficient, coordination degree of expert opinions, and concentration of expert opinions were subjected to analysis. Subsequently, the three-level evaluation indicator system for access to cancer screening services was adjusted and determined based on the boundary value method and the open opinions of experts. Finally, the combination weight method was employed to determine the weight.Results:The initial version of the indicator system comprised 3 primary (first-level) indicators, 11 secondary (second-level) indicators, and 46 tertiary (third-level) indicators. Delphi expert consultation was conducted for the initial version, and 17 experts ultimately completed it, exhibiting a positive coefficient of 100% and an authority coefficient of 0.87. In comparison to the initial round of consultation, Kendall's W coefficient ranges (0.15-0.43, all P<0.05) of relevance, importance, and availability scores for each tertiary indicator in the second round exhibited an improvement. The analysis of the importance dimension indicates that expert opinions are also more concentrated, as evidenced by an increase of 8.5% and 7.0% in the proportion of the tertiary indicators with an arithmetic mean above 8 and a full mark ratio above 0.5, respectively. The final evaluation indicator system comprises three primary indicators, with the weights of structure evaluation, process evaluation, and outcome evaluation being 0.338, 0.378, and 0.285, respectively. It also comprises 11 secondary indicators and 45 tertiary indicators. Conclusions:The evaluation indicator system developed in this article can be an effective evaluation tool for quantitative comparison of access to cancer screening services across different populations, cancer types, and before and after intervention. Furthermore, it is recommended that the system undergo continuous optimization concerning its application.

Objective:To understand the current status of epidemiological investigation task force construction and the performance of infectious disease epidemic response in county (district) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) in China, analyze the influencing factors and provide scientific evidence to improve the construction of grassroot epidemiological investigation task force.Methods:A survey was conducted in epidemiological investigation staff in county (district) CDCs in 31 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect information based on the epidemiological dynamic data collection platform of China CDC. A descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted, and multiple linear regression models were used to identify the factors associated with the performance of infectious disease epidemic response.Results:A total of 24 934 epidemiological investigation task force members from 2 897 county (district) CDCs were surveyed in the study. In the epidemiological investigation task force, women, those with bachelor's degree and public health workers accounted for 62.46%, 71.36%, and 49.05% respectively. Up to 91.72% of the task force members had participated in field epidemic response. The average score of awareness of epidemic investigation procedures was 60.00, while the average score of key skill proficiency in the investigation was 42.22. The epidemic response performance showed correlations with area, gender, age, education level, major, and field epidemiology training programs, those who had received longer training showed higher competency scores (all P<0.001). Conclusions:Progress has been made in the construction of epidemiological investigation task force in grass-root CDCs in China, but further improvements are needed, especially in the knowledge awareness and investigation skills of the task force. Field epidemiology training demonstrated substantial impact on the improvement of epidemic response performance, indicating that it is necessary to further strengthen the training in grassroot public health workers for the better response to infectious disease epidemics.

Objective To investigate the effects of galectin-3(Gal3)on autophagy in high glucose-induced human telomerase reverse transcriptase-immortalized retinal pigment epithelial(hTERT-RPE)cells.Methods The hTERT-RPE cells cultured in vitro were randomly divided into a normal group(group C),a high glucose group(group HG),a high glu-cose+si-NC group(group HG+si-NC)and a high glucose+si-Gal3 group(group HG+si-Gal3).Reverse transcrip-tion polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was used to detect the relative mRNA expression levels of Gal3,intercellular ad-hesion molecule(ICAM)-1,interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α in hTERT-RPE cells of each group.The expression levels of IL-1 and IL-6 in the supernatant of hTERT-RPE cells were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).The expression level of reactive oxygen species(ROS),the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and the content of malondialdehyde(MDA)in hTERT-RPE cells were analyzed by dichlorofluorescin diacetate(DCFH-DA)staining,the colorimetric method and the microplate method,respectively.The protein expression levels of Gal3,the ratio of microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3)type Ⅱ to type Ⅰ(LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ),Beclin 1,and autophagy-associat-ed 5(ATG5)and 7(ATG7)in hTERT-RPE cells from each group were detected by Western blot analysis.After the hTERT-RPE cells in each group were transfected with double fluorescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmids alone and with RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plasmids jointly,the changes of autophagy flow in hTERT-RPE cells were detected by laser confocal microscopy.Results Compared with the group C,the group HG showed an increase in the expression of Gal3,IL-1,IL-6,TNF-α,ICAM-1,P62,ROS and MDA content(all P＜0.05).However,the expression of LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ,Beclin1,ATG7,ATG5,the SOD activity,and the number of red(autolysosomes)and yellow fluorescence spots(autophagosomes)of the double fluo-rescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmid were all lower in the group HG than those in the group C(all P＜0.05).There was no sig-nificant difference in the number of yellow fluorescent spots(autolysosomes)co-located by RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plas-mids between groups C and HG(P＞0.05).There were no significant differences in the expression levels of the above-mentioned indexes in hTERT-RPE cells between groups HG and HG+si-NC(all P＞0.05).The expression levels of Gal3,IL-1,IL-6,TNF-α,ICAM-1,P62,ROS and MDA content in hTERT-RPE cells of the group HG+si-Gal3 were lower than those of the group HG+si-NC(all P＜0.05).Compared with those in the group HG+si-NC,the expression levels of LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ,Beclin1,ATG7,ATG5,SOD activity,and the number of red and yellow fluorescent spots of the double fluo-rescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmid were increased in the group HG+si-Gal3(all P＜0.05).There was no significant differ-ence in the number of yellow fluorescent spots co-located by RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plasmids between groups HG+si-GaL3 and HG+si-NC(P＞0.05).Conclusion Gal3 is significantly elevated in hTERT-RPE cells induced by high glu-cose,resulting in impaired autophagy flow.It produces a direct regulatory effect on the formation of autophagosomes,and plays a highly active role in oxidative damage and expression of inflammatory factors in hTERT-RPE cells induced by high glucose.

Objective:To present an evaluation indicator system for access to cancer screening services.Methods:The evaluation indicator pool was constructed through a scoping review. The theoretical framework was constructed based on the multi-source indicators, and the qualitative expert consultation method was employed to form the initial version of the three-level evaluation indicator system. Delphi expert consultation method was conducted in two rounds to evaluate the relevance, importance, and availability of the proposed evaluation indicator system. The expert positive coefficient, authority coefficient, coordination degree of expert opinions, and concentration of expert opinions were subjected to analysis. Subsequently, the three-level evaluation indicator system for access to cancer screening services was adjusted and determined based on the boundary value method and the open opinions of experts. Finally, the combination weight method was employed to determine the weight.Results:The initial version of the indicator system comprised 3 primary (first-level) indicators, 11 secondary (second-level) indicators, and 46 tertiary (third-level) indicators. Delphi expert consultation was conducted for the initial version, and 17 experts ultimately completed it, exhibiting a positive coefficient of 100% and an authority coefficient of 0.87. In comparison to the initial round of consultation, Kendall's W coefficient ranges (0.15-0.43, all P<0.05) of relevance, importance, and availability scores for each tertiary indicator in the second round exhibited an improvement. The analysis of the importance dimension indicates that expert opinions are also more concentrated, as evidenced by an increase of 8.5% and 7.0% in the proportion of the tertiary indicators with an arithmetic mean above 8 and a full mark ratio above 0.5, respectively. The final evaluation indicator system comprises three primary indicators, with the weights of structure evaluation, process evaluation, and outcome evaluation being 0.338, 0.378, and 0.285, respectively. It also comprises 11 secondary indicators and 45 tertiary indicators. Conclusions:The evaluation indicator system developed in this article can be an effective evaluation tool for quantitative comparison of access to cancer screening services across different populations, cancer types, and before and after intervention. Furthermore, it is recommended that the system undergo continuous optimization concerning its application.

Objective:To understand the current status of epidemiological investigation task force construction and the performance of infectious disease epidemic response in county (district) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCs) in China, analyze the influencing factors and provide scientific evidence to improve the construction of grassroot epidemiological investigation task force.Methods:A survey was conducted in epidemiological investigation staff in county (district) CDCs in 31 provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect information based on the epidemiological dynamic data collection platform of China CDC. A descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted, and multiple linear regression models were used to identify the factors associated with the performance of infectious disease epidemic response.Results:A total of 24 934 epidemiological investigation task force members from 2 897 county (district) CDCs were surveyed in the study. In the epidemiological investigation task force, women, those with bachelor's degree and public health workers accounted for 62.46%, 71.36%, and 49.05% respectively. Up to 91.72% of the task force members had participated in field epidemic response. The average score of awareness of epidemic investigation procedures was 60.00, while the average score of key skill proficiency in the investigation was 42.22. The epidemic response performance showed correlations with area, gender, age, education level, major, and field epidemiology training programs, those who had received longer training showed higher competency scores (all P<0.001). Conclusions:Progress has been made in the construction of epidemiological investigation task force in grass-root CDCs in China, but further improvements are needed, especially in the knowledge awareness and investigation skills of the task force. Field epidemiology training demonstrated substantial impact on the improvement of epidemic response performance, indicating that it is necessary to further strengthen the training in grassroot public health workers for the better response to infectious disease epidemics.

Objective To investigate the effects of galectin-3(Gal3)on autophagy in high glucose-induced human telomerase reverse transcriptase-immortalized retinal pigment epithelial(hTERT-RPE)cells.Methods The hTERT-RPE cells cultured in vitro were randomly divided into a normal group(group C),a high glucose group(group HG),a high glu-cose+si-NC group(group HG+si-NC)and a high glucose+si-Gal3 group(group HG+si-Gal3).Reverse transcrip-tion polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)was used to detect the relative mRNA expression levels of Gal3,intercellular ad-hesion molecule(ICAM)-1,interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α in hTERT-RPE cells of each group.The expression levels of IL-1 and IL-6 in the supernatant of hTERT-RPE cells were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).The expression level of reactive oxygen species(ROS),the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and the content of malondialdehyde(MDA)in hTERT-RPE cells were analyzed by dichlorofluorescin diacetate(DCFH-DA)staining,the colorimetric method and the microplate method,respectively.The protein expression levels of Gal3,the ratio of microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3)type Ⅱ to type Ⅰ(LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ),Beclin 1,and autophagy-associat-ed 5(ATG5)and 7(ATG7)in hTERT-RPE cells from each group were detected by Western blot analysis.After the hTERT-RPE cells in each group were transfected with double fluorescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmids alone and with RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plasmids jointly,the changes of autophagy flow in hTERT-RPE cells were detected by laser confocal microscopy.Results Compared with the group C,the group HG showed an increase in the expression of Gal3,IL-1,IL-6,TNF-α,ICAM-1,P62,ROS and MDA content(all P＜0.05).However,the expression of LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ,Beclin1,ATG7,ATG5,the SOD activity,and the number of red(autolysosomes)and yellow fluorescence spots(autophagosomes)of the double fluo-rescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmid were all lower in the group HG than those in the group C(all P＜0.05).There was no sig-nificant difference in the number of yellow fluorescent spots(autolysosomes)co-located by RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plas-mids between groups C and HG(P＞0.05).There were no significant differences in the expression levels of the above-mentioned indexes in hTERT-RPE cells between groups HG and HG+si-NC(all P＞0.05).The expression levels of Gal3,IL-1,IL-6,TNF-α,ICAM-1,P62,ROS and MDA content in hTERT-RPE cells of the group HG+si-Gal3 were lower than those of the group HG+si-NC(all P＜0.05).Compared with those in the group HG+si-NC,the expression levels of LC3 Ⅱ/LC3 Ⅰ,Beclin1,ATG7,ATG5,SOD activity,and the number of red and yellow fluorescent spots of the double fluo-rescent mRFP-GFP-LC3 plasmid were increased in the group HG+si-Gal3(all P＜0.05).There was no significant differ-ence in the number of yellow fluorescent spots co-located by RFP-LAMP1 and GFP-LC3 plasmids between groups HG+si-GaL3 and HG+si-NC(P＞0.05).Conclusion Gal3 is significantly elevated in hTERT-RPE cells induced by high glu-cose,resulting in impaired autophagy flow.It produces a direct regulatory effect on the formation of autophagosomes,and plays a highly active role in oxidative damage and expression of inflammatory factors in hTERT-RPE cells induced by high glucose.

Objective:To investigate the clinical value of abdominal adipose volume in predicting early tumor recurrence after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 132 HCC patients with tumor diameter ≤5 cm who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University from December 2017 to October 2019 were collected. There were 110 males and 22 females, aged (51±4)years. All patients underwent resection of HCC. Preoperative computer tomography scanning was performed and the visceral and subcutaneous fats of patients were quantified using the Mimics Research 21.0 software. Based on time to postoperative tumor recurrence patients were divided to two categories: early recurrence and non-early recurrence. Observation indicators: (1) consistency analy-sis; (2) analysis of factors influencing early tumor recurrence after resection of HCC and construction of prediction model. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was conducted using the t test. Measurement data with skewed distribu-tion were represented as M( Q1,Q3) or M(range), and comparison between groups was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test. Count data were expressed as absolute numbers, and comparison between groups was conducted using the chi-square test or Fisher exact probability. Consistency analysis was conducted using the intragroup correlation coefficient (ICC) test. Multivariate analysis was performed using the binary Logistic regression model forward method. Independent risk factors influencing early tumor recurrence after resection of HCC were screened. The area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to select the optimal cut-off value to classify high and low risks of recurrence. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw survival curve and calculate survival time. The Log-Rank test was used for survival analysis. Results:(1) Consistency analysis. The consistency ICC of abdominal fat parameters of visceral fat volume (VFV), subcutaneous fat volume, visceral fat area, and subcutaneous fat area measured by 2 radiologists were 0.84, 1.00, 0.86, and 0.94, respectively. (2) Analysis of factors influencing early tumor recurr-ence after resection of HCC and construction of prediction model. All 132 patients were followed up after surgery for 662(range, 292-1 111)days. During the follow-up, there were 52 patients with non-early recurrence and 80 patients with early recurrence. Results of multivariate analysis showed that VFV was an independent factor influencing early tumor recurrence after resection of HCC ( odds ratio=4.07, 95% confidence interval as 2.27-7.27, P<0.05). The AUC of ROC curve based on VFV was 0.78 (95% confidence interval as 0.70-0.85), and the sensitivity and specificity were 72.2 % and 77.4 %, respectively. The optimal cut-off value of VFV was 1.255 dm 3, and all 132 patients were divided into the high-risk early postoperative recurrence group of 69 cases with VFV >1.255 dm 3, and the low-risk early postoperative recurrence group of 63 cases with VFV ≤1.255 dm 3. The disease-free survival time of the high-risk early postoperative recurrence group and the low-risk early post-operative recurrence group were 414(193,702)days and 1 047(620,1 219)days, showing a significant difference between them ( χ2=31.17, P<0.05). Conclusions:VFV is an independent factor influen-cing early tumor recurrence of HCC after resection. As a quantitative indicator of abdominal fat, it can predict the prognosis of HCC patients.

Methods: Patients with dry eye who were treated in the Ophthalmology Ward and Outpatient Department of the First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine from October 1, 2020, to October 30, 2021 were enrolled as the research participants in the study. They were assigned to two groups based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome types: heat stagnation in liver meridian pattern group and Qi-Yin deficiency pattern group. Healthy volunteers who underwent health check-ups in the Health Management Department were included as healthy group following the random number table method. The tears of the patients and the healthy volunteer participants were tested by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The differential metabolites were screened out by multivariate statistical analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment was performed on the differential metabolites. Finally, the association analysis of differential proteins and metabolites was conducted to verify and supplement the metabolites. Results: A total of 32 dry eye patients were enrolled, including 16 cases with heat stagnation in liver meridian pattern and 16 cases with Qi-Yin deficiency pattern. Fourteen healthy volunteers were included as healthy group. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics among the three groups (P > 0.05). A total of 412 biomarkers were determined in Qi-Yin deficiency pattern group, mainly including lipids, lipid-like molecules, organic acids and their derivatives, organic heterocyclic compounds, and nucleosides and their analogues. For heat stagnation in liver meridian pattern group, 112 metabolites were determined, mainly including organic acids and their derivatives, lipids, and lipid-like molecules. The KEGG enrichment results of pathways and the relative content analysis of differential markers demonstrate that purine metabolism and caffeine metabolism pathways are common metabolic characteristics of all dry eyes. Among them, deoxyinosine monophosphate (dIMP) and 2-(formamido)-N1-(5-phospha-D-ribosyl) acetamidine can serve as their biomarkers. The main characteristics of Qi-Yin deficiency syndrome pattern were the significant enhancement of metabolic pathways such as lysine degradation, ovarian steroidogenesis, cholesterol metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and bile secretion (P < 0.05). Dry eye associated with the heat stagnation in liver meridian pattern is mainly characterized by inhibition of the valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis pathways (P < 0.05). Conclusion Metabolomics can be used as an effective basis for TCM syndrome classification. Different patterns of dry eye syndrome exhibit typical characteristics in the types and concentrations of metabolites, which correspond to the syndrome classification in TCM. This study initially confirms the rationality of TCM syndrome classification and provides significant reference for the mechanism of dry eye and drug development.

Background::Hypothermia therapy has been suggested to attenuate myocardial necrosis; however, the clinical implementation as a valid therapeutic strategy has failed, and new approaches are needed to translate into clinical applications. This study aimed to assess the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a novel selective intracoronary hypothermia (SICH) device in mitigating myocardial reperfusion injury.Methods::This study comprised two phases. The first phase of the SICH was performed in a normal porcine model for 30 minutes ( n = 5) to evaluate its feasibility. The second phase was conducted in a porcine myocardial infarction (MI) model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion which was performed by balloon occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery for 60 minutes and maintained for 42 days. Pigs in the hypothermia group ( n = 8) received hypothermia intervention onset reperfusion for 30 minutes and controls ( n = 8) received no intervention. All animals were followed for 42 days. Cardiac magnetic resonance analysis (five and 42 days post-MI) and a series of biomarkers/histological studies were performed. Results::The average time to lower temperatures to a steady state was 4.8 ± 0.8 s. SICH had no impact on blood pressure or heart rate and was safely performed without complications by using a 3.9 F catheter. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α, C-reactive protein (CRP), and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were lower at 60 min post perfusion in pigs that underwent SICH as compared with the control group. On day 5 post MI/R, edema, intramyocardial hemorrhage, and microvascular obstruction were reduced in the hypothermia group. On day 42 post MI/R, the infarct size, IL-6, CRP, BNP, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 were reduced, and the ejection fraction was improved in pigs that underwent SICH.Conclusions::The SICH device safely and effectively reduced the infarct size and improved heart function in a pig model of MI/R. These beneficial effects indicate the clinical potential of SICH for treatment of myocardial reperfusion injury.