Intestinal fibrosis is a significant clinical challenge in inflammatory bowel diseases, but no effective anti-fibrotic therapy is currently available. Glucagon receptor (GCGR) and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1R) are both peptide hormone receptors involved in energy metabolism of epithelial cells. However, their role in intestinal fibrosis and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Herein GCGR and GLP1R were found to be reduced in the stenotic ileum of patients with Crohn's disease as well as in the fibrotic colon of mice with chronic colitis. The downregulation of GCGR and GLP1R led to the accumulation of the metabolic byproduct lactate, resulting in histone H3K9 lactylation and exacerbated intestinal fibrosis through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Dual activating GCGR and GLP1R by peptide 1907B reduced the H3K9 lactylation in epithelial cells and ameliorated intestinal fibrosis in vivo. We uncovered the role of GCGR/GLP1R in regulating EMT involved in intestinal fibrosis via histone lactylation. Simultaneously activating GCGR/GLP1R with the novel dual agonist peptide 1907B holds promise as a treatment strategy for alleviating intestinal fibrosis.

Functional dyspepsia (FD), characterized by persistent or recurrent dyspeptic symptoms without identifiable organic, systemic or metabolic causes, is an increasingly recognized global health issue. The objective of this guideline is to equip clinicians and nursing professionals with evidence-based strategies for the management and treatment of adult patients with FD using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The Guideline Development Group consulted existing TCM consensus documents on FD and convened a panel of 35 clinicians to generate initial clinical queries. To address these queries, a systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP Database, China Biology Medicine (SinoMed) Database, Wanfang Database, Traditional Medicine Research Data Expanded (TMRDE), and the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (TCMLARS). The evidence from the literature was critically appraised using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The strength of the recommendations was ascertained through a consensus-building process involving TCM and allopathic medicine experts, methodologists, pharmacologists, nursing specialists, and health economists, leveraging their collective expertise and empirical knowledge. The guideline comprises a total of 43 evidence-informed recommendations that span a range of clinical aspects, including the pathogenesis according to TCM, diagnostic approaches, therapeutic interventions, efficacy assessments, and prognostic considerations. Please cite this article as: Zhang SS, Zhao LQ, Hou XH, Bian ZX, Zheng JH, Tian HH, Yang GH, Hong WS, He YY, Liu L, Shen H, Li YP, Xie S, Shu J, Zeng BF, Li JX, Liu Z, Xiao ZH, Xiao JD, Zheng PY, Huang SG, Chen SL, Fei GJ. International clinical practice guideline on the use of traditional Chinese medicine for functional dyspepsia (2025). J Integr Med. 2025; 23(5):502-518.
Dyspepsia/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*

Background and Objectives: Although several studies have compared the characteristics of Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS) with Bell’s palsy (BP), the differences in comorbid symptoms and prognosis according to symptoms have not been determined. This study therefore evaluated the differences in otologic symptoms and prognosis between patients with these two conditions.Subjects and Method The medical records of 118 patients with RHS and 215 patients with BP were retrospectively reviewed. Factors compared in these two groups included otologic symptoms, general health condition, electroneurography (ENoG) and House-Brackmann grades. Results: Age, sex, body mass index, lipid profiles, ENoG, rate of diabetes, and side of palsy did not differ significantly between patients with RHS and BP (p>0.05). The rates of hearing disturbance, tinnitus, vertigo, and postauricular pain were significantly higher in RHS (p<0.05 each). Hearing disturbance was more frequent in patients with severe Bell’s facial palsy than with moderate Bell’s facial palsy (p<0.05). The prognosis of patients with BP and RHS who had otologic symptoms did not differ from those who had not (p>0.05). Additionally, in patients with facial paralysis, diabetes was associated with hearing disturbance and vertigo symptoms and dyslipidemia was associated with postauricular pain (p<0.05 each). Conclusion Otologic symptoms were more common in RHS than in BP. However, the prognosis of RHS and BP were not related to otologic symptoms. In patients with facial palsy hearing disturbance and vertigo were associated with diabetes and hypertension. Also, dyslipidemia was associated with post auricular pain.

The flaviviruses are small single-stranded RNA viruses that are typically transmitted by mosquitoes or tick vectors and are etiological agents of acute zoonotic infections. The viruses are found around the world and account for significant cases of human diseases. We investigated population of culicine mosquitoes in central region of Korean Peninsula, Incheon Metropolitan City and Hwaseong-si. Aedes vexans nipponii was the most frequently collected mosquitoes (56.5%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (23.6%), Anopheles spp. (10.9%), and Culex pipiens complex (5.9%). In rural regions of Hwaseong, Aedes vexans nipponii was the highest population (62.9%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (23.9%) and Anopheles spp. (12.0%). In another rural region of Incheon (habitat of migratory birds), Culex pipiens complex was the highest population (31.4%), followed by Ochlerotatus dorsalis (30.5%), and Aedes vexans vexans (27.5%). Culex pipiens complex was the predominant species in the urban region (84.7%). Culicine mosquitoes were identified at the species level, pooled up to 30 mosquitoes each, and tested for flaviviral RNA using the SYBR Green-based RT-PCR and confirmed by cDNA sequencing. Three of the assayed 2,683 pools (989 pools without Anopheles spp.) were positive for Culex flaviviruses, an insect-specific virus, from Culex pipiens pallens collected at the habitats for migratory birds in Incheon. The maximum likelihood estimation (the estimated number) for Culex pipiens pallens positive for Culex flavivirus was 25. Although viruses responsible for mosquito-borne diseases were not identified, we encourage intensified monitoring and long-term surveillance of both vector and viruses in the interest of global public health.

BACKGROUND: Current dilemma working with surgically-induced OA (osteoarthritis) model include inconsistent pathological state due to various influence from surrounding tissues. On the contrary, biochemical induction of OA using collagenase II has several advantageous points in a sense that it does not involve surgery to induce model and the extent of induced cartilage degeneration is almost uniform. However, concerns still exists because biochemical OA model induce abrupt destruction of cartilage tissues through enzymatic digestion in a short period of time, and this might accompany systemic inflammatory response, which is rather a trait of RA (rheumatoid arthritis) than being a trait of OA. METHODS: To clear the concern about the systemic inflammatory response that might be caused by abrupt destruction of cartilage tissue, OA was induced to only one leg of an animal and the other leg was examined to confirm the presence of systemic degenerative effect. RESULTS: Although the cartilage tissues were rapidly degenerated during short period of time upon biochemical induction of OA, they did not accompanied with RA-like process based on the histology data showing degeneration of articular cartilage occurred only in the collagenase-injected knee joint. Scoring evaluation data indicated that the cartilage tissues in non-induced joint remained intact. Neutrophil count transiently increase between day 8 and day 16, and there were no significant change in other complete blood count profile showing a characteristics of OA disease. CONCLUSION: These study shows that biochemically induced cartilage degeneration truly represented uniform and reliable OA state.
Animals* ; Blood Cell Count ; Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular ; Clothing ; Collagenases* ; Digestion ; Inflammation ; Joints ; Knee Joint ; Leg ; Models, Animal* ; Neutrophils ; Osteoarthritis* ; Regeneration

PURPOSE: To realistically map the electric fields of biological tissues using a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (DT-MREIT) method to estimate tissue response during electrical stimulation. METHODS: Imaging experiments were performed using chunks of bovine muscle. Two silver wire electrodes were positioned inside the muscle tissue for electrical stimulation. Electric pulses were applied with a 100-V amplitude and 100-μs width using a voltage stimulator. During electrical stimulation, we collected DT-MREIT data from a 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We adopted the projected current density method to calculate the electric field. Based on the relation between the water diffusion tensor and the conductivity tensor, we computed the position-dependent scale factor using the measured magnetic flux density data. Then, a final conductivity tensor map was reconstructed using the multiplication of the water diffusion tensor and the scale factor. RESULTS: The current density images from DT-MREIT data represent the internal current flows that exist not only in the electrodes but also in surrounding regions. The reconstructed electric filed map from our anisotropic conductivity tensor with the projected current density shows coverage that is more than 2 times as wide, and higher signals in both the electrodes and surrounding tissues, than the previous isotropic method owing to the consideration of tissue anisotropy. CONCLUSIONS: An electric field map obtained by an anisotropic reconstruction method showed different patterns from the results of the previous isotropic reconstruction method. Since accurate electric field mapping is important to correctly estimate the coverage of the electrical treatment, future studies should include more rigorous validations of the new method through in vivo and in situ experiments.
Anisotropy ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Diffusion* ; Electric Conductivity* ; Electric Impedance ; Electric Stimulation* ; Electrodes ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methods ; Silver ; Water*

Ursolic acid (UA) supplementation was previously shown to improve skeletal muscle function in resistance-trained men. This study aimed to determine, using the same experimental paradigm, whether UA also has beneficial effects on exercise-induced skeletal muscle damage markers including the levels of cortisol, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), myoglobin, creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in resistance-trained men. Sixteen healthy participants were randomly assigned to resistance training (RT) or RT+UA groups (n=8 per group). Participants were trained according to the RT program (60~80% of 1 repetition, 6 times/week), and the UA group was additionally given UA supplementation (450 mg/day) for 8 weeks. Blood samples were obtained before and after intervention, and cortisol, BNP, myoglobin, CK, CK-MB, and LDH levels were analyzed. Subjects who underwent RT alone showed no significant change in body composition and markers of skeletal muscle damage, whereas RT+UA group showed slightly decreased body weight and body fat percentage and slightly increased lean body mass, but without statistical significance. In addition, UA supplementation significantly decreased the BNP, CK, CK-MB, and LDH levels (p<0.05). In conclusion, UA supplementation alleviates increased skeletal muscle damage markers after RT. This finding provides evidence for a potential new therapy for resistance-trained men.
Adipose Tissue ; Body Composition ; Body Weight ; Creatine ; Creatine Kinase ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Male ; Muscle, Skeletal* ; Myoglobin ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Pilot Projects* ; Resistance Training*