Jiegeng decoction is a classic prescription composed of two Chinese medicinal herbs： Platycodon grandiflorum and Glycyrrhiza uralensis. It has the efficacy of diffusing lung qi， resolving phlegm， relieving sore throat and discharging pus， and is commonly used in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as cough and pharyngodynia. This article reviews the chemical components， pharmacological mechanisms and clinical applications of Jiegeng decoction. It was found that Jiegeng decoction contains triterpenoid saponins， flavonoids， glycosides， acids， and other components， with platycodin D， platycodin D2， glycyrrhizic acid， glycyrrhetinic acid， liquiritin， etc.， serving as the main active pharmaceutical ingredients. Jiegeng decoction and its chemical constituents exert anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting signaling pathways such as nuclear factor-κB and mitogen- activated protein kinases， and demonstrate anti-tumor activities through mechanisms like modulating the tumor immune microenvironment and promoting cancer cell apoptosis. Additionally， it exhibits various pharmacological actions including antibacterial， antiviral， and antioxidant effects. Clinically， Jiegeng decoction， its modified prescription and compound combinations are widely used in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as cough， pneumonia， and pharyngitis， as well as digestive system disorders like constipation.

BACKGROUND: The effects of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (UC-MSC) treatment on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have been preliminarily characterized. However, real-world data on the safety and efficacy of intravenous transfusions of MSCs in hospitalized COVID-19 patients at the convalescent stage remain to be reported. METHODS: This was a single-arm, multicenter, real-word study in which a contemporaneous external control was included as the control group. Besides, severe and critical COVID-19 patients were considered together as the severe group, given the small number of critical patients. For a total of 110 patients, 21 moderate patients and 31 severe patients were enrolled in the MSC treatment group, while 26 moderate patients and 32 severe patients were enrolled in the control group. All patients received standard treatment. The MSC treatment patients additionally received intravenous infusions of MSCs at a dose of 4 × 10 7 cells on days 0, 3, and 6, respectively. The clinical outcomes, including adverse events (AEs), lung lesion proportion on chest computed tomography, pulmonary function, 6-min walking distance (6-MWD), clinical symptoms, and laboratory parameters, were measured on days 28, 90, 180, 270, and 360 during the follow-up visits. RESULTS: In patients with moderate COVID-19, MSC treatment improved pulmonary function parameters, including forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and maximum forced vital capacity (VCmax) on days 28 (FEV1, 2.75 [2.35, 3.23] vs . 2.11 [1.96, 2.35], P  = 0.008; VCmax, 2.92 [2.55, 3.60] vs . 2.47 [2.18, 2.68], P  = 0.041), 90 (FEV1, 2.93 [2.63, 3.27] vs . 2.38 [2.24, 2.63], P  = 0.017; VCmax, 3.52 [3.02, 3.80] vs . 2.59 [2.45, 3.15], P  = 0.017), and 360 (FEV1, 2.91 [2.75, 3.18] vs . 2.30 [2.16, 2.70], P  = 0.019; VCmax,3.61 [3.35, 3.97] vs . 2.69 [2.56, 3.23], P  = 0.036) compared with the controls. In addition, in severe patients, MSC treatment notably reduced the proportion of ground-glass lesions in the whole lung volume on day 90 ( P  = 0.045) compared with the controls. No difference in the incidence of AEs was observed between the two groups. Similarly, no significant differences were found in the 6-MWD, D-dimer levels, or interleukin-6 concentrations between the MSC and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the safety and potential of MSC treatment for improved lung lesions and pulmonary function in convalescent COVID-19 patients. However, comprehensive and long-term studies are required to confirm the efficacy of MSC treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000031430.
Humans ; COVID-19/therapy* ; Female ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation/adverse effects* ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Umbilical Cord/cytology* ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/cytology* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Aged ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To investigate the risk factors of wet ear status and its impact on the efficacy of endoscopic type Ⅰ tympanoplasty. Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted at the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army（PLA）Air Force Medical University, on 160 ears that underwent endoscopic type Ⅰ tympanoplasty; these were assigned to a dry-ear group （n= 118） and a wet-ear group （n= 42）.Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression were used to identify risk factors for wet ear status. Postoperative outcomes, including tympanic meoombrane healing rate and hearing improvement across frequencies, were compared between groups. Results:①Significant intergroup differences were observed in age, residual tympanic membrane status, external auditory canal condition, mastoid pneumatization（MC0）, and middle ear ventilation dysfunction（P<0.05）; ②The degree of mastoid pneumatization being MC0 is an independent risk factor for wet ear（P<0.05）; ③No significant difference in tympanic membrane healing rates was found（P>0.05）; ④The wet ear group showed significantly higher pre-and postoperative air-conduction（AC） and bone-conduction（BC） thresholds at 2 kHz and 4 kHz compared to the dry ear group（P<0.05）, though the postoperative air-bone gap（ABG） improvement was comparable. Conclusion:Poor mastoid pneumatization is a risk factor for wet ears. The wet ear state has no effect on tympanic membrane healing and air-bone conduction gap, but patients in the wet ear group may have more severe inner ear or auditory nerve pathway damage.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Tympanoplasty/methods* ; Adult ; Risk Factors ; Male ; Female ; Young Adult ; Endoscopy ; Adolescent ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome ; Child ; Logistic Models ; Tympanic Membrane/surgery*

Objective To investigate the effects of paeoniflorin(PF)on lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced aerobic glycolysis in renal tubular epithelial cell line HK-2 and its underlying mechanism of action.Methods This study consists of a preliminary experiment and a formal experiment.Preliminary experiment:CCK-8 assay and RT-qPCR were used respectively to measure cell viability and mRNA expression levels of inflammatory factors in HK-2 cells after LPS stimulation to determine the optimal LPS concentration for modeling as well as to evaluate the toxicity of PF and screen for its appropriate concentration.Formal experiment:HK-2 cells were divided into control group(CON group),LPS group,LPS+PF group and LPS+PF+740Y-P group.LPS was used to establish a cell model of sepsis associated-acute kidney injury(SA-AKI)in HK-2 cells,and then the cell model was treated with PF and PI3K activator 740Y-P,correspondingly for 24 h.CCK-8 assay was employed to detect cell viability,and Extracellular Acidification Rate(ECAR)Kit was utilized to measure the rate.The contents of IL-1β,IL-18,lactic acid(Lac)and lactate dehydrogenase A(LDHA)were determined with ELISA.Western blotting was applied to detect the expression of p-PI3K,p-AKT,HIF-1α,pyruvate kinase 2(PKM2,a key enzyme in aerobic glycolysis)and NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3(NLRP3),and immunofluorescence assay was performed to observe the expression and distribution of PKM2.Results ① Our preliminary experiment identified that the optimal concentration of LPS for modeling was 20.0 μg/mL,a safe dosage range of PF was 0～100.0 μmol/L,and its optimal therapeutic concentration was 25.0 μmol/L.② Compared with the CON group,LPS stimulation resulted in significantly decreased cell viability(P<0.05),increased ECAR(P<0.05),elevated contents of IL-1β,IL-18,Lac and LDHA(P<0.05),up-regulated protein levels of p-PI3K,p-AKT,HIF-1α,p-PKM2 and NLRP3(P<0.05),and enhanced fluorescence intensity of PKM2 in the nucleus of cells(P<0.05).Compared with the model group,PF treatment reversed all above effects induced by LPS stimulation(all P<0.05).Compared with the LPS+PF group,in the LPS+PF+740Y-P group,ECAR was elevated(P<0.05),the contents of IL-1β,IL-18,Lac and LDHA were increased(P<0.05),and the relative expression levels of p-PI3K,p-AKT,HIF-1α,p-PKM2 and NLRP3 were increased(P<0.05),and the fluorescence intensity of PKM2 was strengthened(P<0.05)and enhanced in the nucleus(P<0.05).Conclusion PF reduces aerobic glycolysis in HK-2 cells and alleviates the inflammatory response by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/HIF-1α signaling pathway.

Objective:To construct of evaluation index system and theory-skill-humanity (TSH) model for core competence of radiation specialist nurses, to provide reference for clinical training of radiation specialist nurses.Methods:In January 2023, the draft of the evaluation index system of core competence for radiation specialist nurses was development by literature reviews and semi-structured interviews; from February to March 2023, 20 experts were consulted with 2 rounds of Delphi consultations to determine the index system and determine indicator weights based on the importance assigned by experts to each indicator.Results:Among 20 experts, 17 were female and 3 were male, aged 35-65 (46.48 ± 8.19) years old. The effective recovery rate of the questionnaires was 100.0% (20/20) and 95.0% (19/20) in the first and second round, respectively. The authority coefficient of the experts was 0.937 in the second round, the Kendall coefficients of concordance in the first-level indexes, second-level indexes and third-level indexes were 0.448, 0.407, 0.464, respectively, the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 53.60, 148.81, 58.18, all P<0.001). The final evaluation index system of the core competence of radiation specialist nurses included 3 first-level indicators, 11 second-level indicators and 56 third-level indicators. Conclusions:The evaluation index system of the core competence of radiation specialist nurses constructed based on TSH model in the present study has certain feasibility and practicality, which can be used as the basis for the training and evaluation of radiation specialized nurses.

Objective·To investigate the expression of miR-146a in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA)and its correlation with inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6).Methods·A total of 30 active RA patients who received medical treatment and 30 healthy controls who underwent physical examinations at the People's Hospital of Longhua,Shenzhen from August 2019 to July 2021 were selected.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)and CD4+T lymphocytes were isolated from venous blood extracted from RA patients and healthy controls,respectively.Quantitative real-time PCR(qPCR)was used to detect the expression of miR-146a in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes,and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)was used to detect the levels of TNF-α and IL-6.After transfection of the peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of RA patients with miR-146a mimic,the expression of miR-146a,TNF-α and IL-6 was detected again.The correlations between miR-146a expression and TNF-α and IL-6 expression in RA patients,both before and after transfection,were analyzed by using Pearson correlation coefficient.Results·Before transfection with miR-146a mimic,the expression levels of miR-146a,TNF-α and IL-6 in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of RA patients were significantly higher than those of healthy controls(all P＜0.001).After transfection,the expression of miR-146a in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of RA patients was significantly higher,and the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 was significantly lower(all P＜0.001).The results of Pearson correlation analysis showed that the expression of miR-146a in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of RA patients,both before and after transfection,was positively correlated with the expression of TNF-α and IL-6,respectively(r=0.959,P＜0.001;r=0.916,P＜0.001;r=0.971,P＜0.001;r=0.861,P＜0.001).Conclusion·miR-146a can regulate the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes of RA patients,indicating that miR-146a may play a role in the pathogenesis of RA.

Health insurance fund regulation (HIFR) is a vital issue in the modernization of healthcare security governance, with its importance as a primary task of the healthcare security department continually reinforced in policy practice. This study focused on the 22 specialized policies issued by the National Healthcare Security Administration from its establishment in 2018 to March 2024, deeply analyzed their issue characteristics, and summarized the evolutionary trends of policy changes, as well as the knowledge production patterns that existed in the series of policy formulation, implementation, and feedback processes. Our analysis revealed that the diverse issue characteristics had led to heterogeneous directions in HIFR policies. The policy development process presented distinct composite evolutionary trends, mainly manifested in four aspects: the integration of regulatory system and content, the convergence of professional and societal forces, the parallelism of special governance and regular supervision, and the complementarity of conventional and emerging methods. Additionally, the study demonstrated that the knowledge production embedded in policy evolution encompassed four different dimensions: problem rectification, norm setting, pilot experience, and technical absorption. Together with issue characteristics and policy evolution, they formed an integrated, dynamic, and open system of knowledge production, continuously promoting the renewal and iteration of regulation policies.

Objective:To understand the real experiences of scientific research anxiety among nurses in tertiary hospitals, for references for improving the research capabilities of clinical nurses and formulating corresponding training and management strategies.Methods:From January to June 2023, this study adopted the phenomenological research method in qualitative research, and used the purposive sampling method to select 15 clinical nurses from two tertiary hospitals for semi-structured interviews. The seven-step analysis method was used to extract the theme of nurses′ experiences of scientific research anxiety.Results:A total of 337 minutes of interviews were conducted, with over 80 000 words transcribed. After analysis, four themes were formed, including the manifestations of clinical nurses′ research anxiety(imbalance between work and family life, negative emotions caused by anxiety, positive effects of moderate anxiety), individual reasons(research motivation and self doubt, challenges in time management and resource allocation), external reasons(fast iteration and updating of research methods, research pressure caused by career development, multidimensional support resources to overcome research anxiety), and adjustment strategies(nurses′ own internal drive and insensitivity, multidimensional support resources to overcome research anxiety).Conclusions:Most clinical nurses attached great importance to nursing research and were eager to receive more research support and assistance; The research anxiety of clinical nurses was influenced by multiple factors such as research motivation, time management, iterative updates of research methods, and research support systems. It was recommended that hospital managers actively support clinical nurses to participate in scientific research activities, establish a sound scientific research management system, in order to enhance nurses′ scientific research capabilities.

Objective To investigate the association between clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential(CHIP)and the severity of coronary artery lesions in coronary heart disease(CHD)patients with renal insufficiency.Methods A case-control trial was conducted on 70 CHD patients with renal insufficiency admitted in Chongqing Emergency Medical Center(Affiliated Central Hospital of Chongqing University)and Department of Cardiovascular Diseases of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from December 2023 to July 2024.According to the median Gensini score,they were classified into the Gensini score＜44 group(n=34)and ≥44 group(n=36),and based on carrying CHIP mutation or not,they were divided into CHIP group(n=23)and non-CHIP group(n=47).The differences in clinical data were compared between the above 2 pair groups respectively.Binary logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between CHIP status and the severity of coronary artery lesions.Results Compared with the Gensini score＜44 group,the Gensini score ≥44 group had a higher CHIP carriage rate(17.2％vs 47.6％,P=0.008)as well as NT-proBNP level(767 vs 3 480 ng/L,P=0.039).Binary logistic regression analysis showed that CHIP status was still associated with higher Gensini scores after adjustment of NT-proBNP(OR=3.935,95％CI=1.153～13.435,P=0.029).Further CHIP grouping results suggested that the patients in the CHIP group had higher Gensini score(48 vs 38,P=0.004),larger proportion of 3-vessle disease(52.2％vs 25.5％,P=0.040),and lower left ventricular ejection fraction(55.0％vs 58.0％,P=0.042)than those in the non-CHIP group.Conclusion CHIP is an independent risk factor for severe coronary artery disease in CHD patients with renal insufficiency.

Objective : To evaluate the clinical effect of enamel matrix derivative(EMD) assisted with connective tissue graft(CTG) in the treatment of gingival recession. Methods : Search The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, Wanfang Public Database,VIP database and CNKI to search for randomized controlled trials of EMD in the treatment of gingival recession. The search period is from the establishment of the databases to October 3, 2022. The test group was treated with EMD+CTG, while the control group was treated with CTG alone. Meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.4.1 and Stat12.0. Results: Meta analysis results showed that only 12 months after treatment, there was a statistically significant difference in the PD and CAL outcome indicators between the EMD assisted treatment group and the control group [MDPD=-0.10, 95% CI (-0.19, -0.01), P = 0.03], [MDCAL=-0.38, 95% CI(-0.71, -0.04), P = 0.03]. There was no significant difference between the test group and the control group in other indicators. Conclusion EMD assisted CTG in the treatment of gingival recession may be beneficial to the reduction of PD and CAL.