BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Deoxyshikonin (DSK) has been reported to inhibit tumor growth in various types of cancers, but its roles and action mechanisms in breast cancer (BC) are unclear. This study examined the anti-cancer function and mechanism of DSK in BC.MATERIALS/METHODS: MDA-MB-231 and BT549, human BC cells, were used. The cell viability and apoptosis levels were examined using Cell Counting Kit-8 experiments and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression of apoptosis-related factors (Ki-67, Bax, and Bcl-2), CD206, CD168, and proteins involved in the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)uclear factor (NF)-κB pathway was evaluated by Western blot analysis. The cell invasion ability was determined using the Transwell experiment. The levels of interleukin (IL)-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The in vivo functions of DSK were assessed using a xenograft mouse model. RESULTS: DSK inhibited cell proliferation, enhanced cell apoptosis, and reduced the cell invasion of MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells. DSK also reduced the levels of CD206 and CD168 proteins, as well as IL-10 and TGF-β in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-induced THP-1 cells.DSK downregulated the expression of the phosphorylated (p)-PI3K, p-AKT, and p-NF-κB proteins in cells. These effects were reversed by 740 Y-P (PI3K/AKT activator). In addition, DSK significantly reduced the tumor volume and weight in a xenograft mouse model. DSK increased the level of cell apoptosis and decreased the expression of Ki-67 and CD206 in subcutaneous tumor tissue. DSK also inactivated the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway proteins. CONCLUSION DSK inhibits the proliferation, invasion, and tumor immune microenvironment of BC cells by inactivating the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway, indicating that DSK may be a potential therapeutic option for BC treatment.

PURPOSE: Intertrochanteric fracture (ITF) classification is crucial for surgical decision-making. However, orthopedic trauma surgeons have shown lower accuracy in ITF classification than expected. The objective of this study was to utilize an artificial intelligence (AI) method to improve the accuracy of ITF classification. METHODS: We trained a network called YOLOX-SwinT, which is based on the You Only Look Once X (YOLOX) object detection network with Swin Transformer (SwinT) as the backbone architecture, using 762 radiographic ITF examinations as the training set. Subsequently, we recruited 5 senior orthopedic trauma surgeons (SOTS) and 5 junior orthopedic trauma surgeons (JOTS) to classify the 85 original images in the test set, as well as the images with the prediction results of the network model in sequence. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) to compare the differences among the SOTS, JOTS, SOTS + AI, JOTS + AI, SOTS + JOTS, and SOTS + JOTS + AI groups. All images were classified according to the AO/OTA 2018 classification system by 2 experienced trauma surgeons and verified by another expert in this field. Based on the actual clinical needs, after discussion, we integrated 8 subgroups into 5 new subgroups, and the dataset was divided into training, validation, and test sets by the ratio of 8:1:1. RESULTS: The mean average precision at the intersection over union (IoU) of 0.5 (mAP50) for subgroup detection reached 90.29%. The classification accuracy values of SOTS, JOTS, SOTS + AI, and JOTS + AI groups were 56.24% ± 4.02%, 35.29% ± 18.07%, 79.53% ± 7.14%, and 71.53% ± 5.22%, respectively. The paired t-test results showed that the difference between the SOTS and SOTS + AI groups was statistically significant, as well as the difference between the JOTS and JOTS + AI groups, and the SOTS + JOTS and SOTS + JOTS + AI groups. Moreover, the difference between the SOTS + JOTS and SOTS + JOTS + AI groups in each subgroup was statistically significant, with all p < 0.05. The independent samples t-test results showed that the difference between the SOTS and JOTS groups was statistically significant, while the difference between the SOTS + AI and JOTS + AI groups was not statistically significant. With the assistance of AI, the subgroup classification accuracy of both SOTS and JOTS was significantly improved, and JOTS achieved the same level as SOTS. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the YOLOX-SwinT network algorithm enhances the accuracy of AO/OTA subgroups classification of ITF by orthopedic trauma surgeons.
Humans ; Hip Fractures/diagnostic imaging* ; Orthopedic Surgeons ; Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence

Objective To investigate the current situation of frailty in patients with home peritoneal dialysis and analyze its influencing factors,so as to provide bases for early identification of high-risk groups and targeted clinical intervention.Methods From October to December 2024,205 home-based peritoneal dialysis patients under long-term follow-up at a tertiary A hospital in Zhongshan,Guangdong Province,were selected by convenience sampling.The General Information Questionnaire,Fried Phenotype Scale,Nutritional Risk Screening Tool,Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale,and Social Support Rating Scale were used to investigate the influencing factors of frailty in home-based peritoneal dialysis patients by ordinal logistic regression analysis.Results A total of 201 valid questionnaires were collected.The prevalence of frailty among home-based peritoneal dialysis patients was 24.3％,while 39.3％were in the pre-frailty stage,and 36.3％showed no frailty.0rdinal logistic regression analysis revealed that age,residence location,primary disease,sleep status,serum albumin concentration,and exercise self-efficacy level were influencing factors of frailty in the home peritoneal dialysis patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion The incidence of frailty in patients with home peritoneal dialysis is higher,and patients with advanced age,living in rural areas,other types of primary diseases,insomnia,low serum albumin concentration and low exercise self-efficacy are more likely to develop frailty.Specialist doctors and nurses of peritoneal dialysis should pay attention to the early screening of frailty in patients with peritoneal dialysis at home,and take personalized intervention measures to prevent or delay the occurrence of frailty according to the relevant risk factors.

Objective To investigate the current situation of frailty in patients with home peritoneal dialysis and analyze its influencing factors,so as to provide bases for early identification of high-risk groups and targeted clinical intervention.Methods From October to December 2024,205 home-based peritoneal dialysis patients under long-term follow-up at a tertiary A hospital in Zhongshan,Guangdong Province,were selected by convenience sampling.The General Information Questionnaire,Fried Phenotype Scale,Nutritional Risk Screening Tool,Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale,and Social Support Rating Scale were used to investigate the influencing factors of frailty in home-based peritoneal dialysis patients by ordinal logistic regression analysis.Results A total of 201 valid questionnaires were collected.The prevalence of frailty among home-based peritoneal dialysis patients was 24.3％,while 39.3％were in the pre-frailty stage,and 36.3％showed no frailty.0rdinal logistic regression analysis revealed that age,residence location,primary disease,sleep status,serum albumin concentration,and exercise self-efficacy level were influencing factors of frailty in the home peritoneal dialysis patients(P＜0.05).Conclusion The incidence of frailty in patients with home peritoneal dialysis is higher,and patients with advanced age,living in rural areas,other types of primary diseases,insomnia,low serum albumin concentration and low exercise self-efficacy are more likely to develop frailty.Specialist doctors and nurses of peritoneal dialysis should pay attention to the early screening of frailty in patients with peritoneal dialysis at home,and take personalized intervention measures to prevent or delay the occurrence of frailty according to the relevant risk factors.

Aim To explore the protective effects of Xiyanping injection against lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced acute lung injury(ALI)in mice,and investi-gate the underlying mechanism.Methods In the LPS-induced ALI mouse model,the protective effect of Xiyanping injection against ALI was evaluated by ob-serving the pathological indicators of lung tissue.Net-work pharmacology and molecular docking were used to explore its mechanism.Western blot method was used to validate the predicted target proteins.Results Xiy-anping injection significantly improved the pathological injury and alleviated inflammatory reactions in lungs of ALI mice.Four active ingredients were identified in Xiyanping injection,namely,14-deoxy-11-oxo-an-drographolide,14-deoxyandrographolide,14-deoxy-12-methoxyandrographolide,and andrographolide-19-β-D-glucoside.A total of 288 corresponding drug targets and 4 960 ALI-related targets were obtained,with 192 genes overlapping.The ten core targets associated with Xiyanping injection were identified as STAT3,EGFR,PIK3R1,MAPK1,PIK3CA,NFKB1,ESR1,MAPK8,JAK2,and FYN.GO enrichment analysis re-vealed 310 biological processes(BP),65 cellular components(CC),and 80 molecular functions(MF)associated with the overlapping genes.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified 141 pathways related to ALI,with the top 20 pathways including MAPK,TNF-α,VEGF,cAMP,mTOR,AMPK,NOD,JAK-STAT,IL-17,and NF-κB.Molecular docking results demonstrated strong binding affinity between core tar-gets(MAPK1,MAPK8,NFKB1)and active ingredi-ents(14-deoxy-12-methoxyandrographolide and 14-de-oxyandrographolide).Western blotting showed that medium and high doses of Xiyanping injection signifi-cantly downregulated p38,JNK,ERKl/2,NF-κB p65 protein expression in lung tissue of ALI mice(P＜0.01).Conclusions Xiyanping injection has a cer-tain protective effect against ALI,and the mechanism is related to regulating MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways.

The DNA characterization of Cannabis sativa L.has been one of the key directions of anti-drug research at home and abroad.Previous research mainly focused on the identification of cannabis-species and gender differentiation,and have constructed a number of corresponding composite amplification systems.With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technology,the whole genome of C.sativa and the sequences of key enzyme genes for its major physicochemical components have been sequenced successively,and intra-species differentiation studies of C.sativa based on specific molecular markers have gradually emerged.However,due to the high variability of cannabis subspecies-and variety-specific molecular markers,relevant foreign studies failed to provide ideal molecular marker support for the identification of intra-specific distinctions of Cannabis sativa in China.Based on this,this paper comprehensively analyzes the current situation and shortcomings of domestic and international research on intra-specific differentiation of C.sativa,and combines the previous research results of this group to elaborate on how to use high-throughput sequencing technology to solve the problem of the lack of intra-specific molecular markers of C.sativa in China.

Wogonin, extracted from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, has been shown to suppress collagen deposition in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). This study was performed to investigate the role and mechanism of wogonin underlying vascular remodeling in SHRs. After injection of SHRs with 40 mg/kg of wogonin, blood pressure in rats was measured once a week. Masson's trichrome staining was conducted to observe the changes in aortas and mesenteric arteries.Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) isolated from rat thoracic aortas were treated with Angiotensin II (Ang II; 100 nM) in the presence or absence of varying concentrations of wogonin. The viability and proliferation of VSMCs were examined using Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine assay, respectively. The migration of VSMCs was examined using wound healing assay and transwell assay. We found that wogonin administration alleviated hypertension, increased lumen diameter, and reduced the thickness of the arterial media in SHRs. Ang II treatment enhanced the viability of VSMCs, which was inhibited by wogonin in a concentration-dependent manner. Wogonin reversed Ang II-induced increases in the viability, proliferation, and migration of VSMCs. Moreover, wogonin inhibited Ang II-induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in VSMCs. Overall, wogonin repressed the proliferative and migratory capacity of VSMCs by regulating the MAPK signaling pathway, thereby attenuating vascular remodeling in hypertensive rats, indicating that wogonin might be a therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular diseases.

The primary chemical components of Astragalus membranaceus include polysaccharides, saponins, flavonoids, and amino acids. Recent studies have shown that Astragalus membranaceus has multiple functions, including improving immune function and exerting antioxidative, anti-radiation, anti-tumor, antibacterial, antiviral, and hormone-like effects. Astragalus membranaceus and its extracts are widely used in clinical practice because they have obvious therapeutic effects against various autoimmune diseases and relatively less adverse reaction. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of central nervous system (CNS), which mainly caused by immune disorder that leads to inflammatory demyelination, inflammatory cell infiltration, and axonal degeneration in the CNS. In this review, the authors analyzed the clinical manifestations of MS and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and focused on the efficacy of Astragalus membranaceus and its chemical components in the treatment of MS/EAE.
Animals ; Humans ; Astragalus propinquus/chemistry* ; Multiple Sclerosis/drug therapy* ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Polysaccharides

RNA interference induced by small interfering (siR¬NA) has shown great potential in disease treatment.However, due to the poor stability of siRNA and lack of targeting, it is still challenging to deliver siRNA to target tissues/cells and induce gene silencing.Aptamer is a kind of oligonucleotide sequence that can specifically recognize the target.Covalently binding aptamers with siRNA or linking with other siRNA carriers can guide siRNA into target tissues/cells.In this review we summa¬ rize the research progress in the design strategy and application of aptamer-based targeted deliver)' of siRNA in the treatment of diseases in recent years, and discuss the challenges and pros-pects of aptamer-mediated siRNA deliver>r in clinical transforma¬tion.