Progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) is a progressive and lethal condition with few effective treatment options. Improvements in quality of life for patients with PPF remain limited even while receiving treatment with approved antifibrotic drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has the potential to improve cough, dyspnea and fatigue symptoms of patients with PPF. TCM treatments are typically diverse and individualized, requiring urgent development of efficient and precise design strategies to identify effective treatment options. We designed an innovative Bayesian adaptive two-stage trial, hoping to provide new ideas for the rapid evaluation of the effectiveness of TCM in PPF. An open-label, two-stage, adaptive Bayesian randomized controlled trial will be conducted in China. Based on Bayesian methods, the trial will employ response-adaptive randomization to allocate patients to study groups based on data collected over the course of the trial. The adaptive Bayesian trial design will employ a Bayesian hierarchical model with "stopping" and "continuation" criteria once a predetermined posterior probability of superiority or futility and a decision threshold are reached. The trial can be implemented more efficiently by sharing the master protocol and organizational management mechanisms of the sub-trial we have implemented. The primary patient-reported outcome is a change in the Leicester Cough Questionnaire score, reflecting an improvement in cough-specific quality of life. The adaptive Bayesian trial design may be a promising method to facilitate the rapid clinical evaluation of TCM effectiveness for PPF, and will provide an example for how to evaluate TCM effectiveness in rare and refractory diseases. However, due to the complexity of the trial implementation, sufficient simulation analysis by professional statistical analysts is required to construct a Bayesian response-adaptive randomization procedure for timely response. Moreover, detailed standard operating procedures need to be developed to ensure the feasibility of the trial implementation. Please cite this article as: Zhang C, Nie YS, Zhang CT, Yang HJ, Zhang HR, Xiao W, Cui GF, Li J, Li SJ, Huang QS, Yan SY. An adaptive Bayesian randomized controlled trial of traditional Chinese medicine in progressive pulmonary fibrosis: Rationale and study design. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(2): 138-145.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Bayes Theorem ; Disease Progression ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Pulmonary Fibrosis/therapy* ; Quality of Life ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Research Design ; Adaptive Clinical Trials as Topic

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a well-accepted therapy for atopic dermatitis (AD). However, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines integrating TCM and Western medicine for the treatment of AD, limiting the clinical application of such combined approaches. Therefore, the China Association of Chinese Medicine initiated the development of the current guideline, focusing on key issues related to the use of TCM in the treatment of AD. This guideline was developed in accordance with the principles of the guideline formulation manual published by the World Health Organization. A comprehensive review of the literature on the combined use of TCM and Western medicine to treat AD was conducted. The findings were extensively discussed by experts in dermatology and pharmacy with expertise in both TCM and Western medicine. This guideline comprises 23 recommendations across seven major areas, including TCM syndrome differentiation and classification of AD, principles and application scenarios of TCM combined with Western medicine for treating AD, outcome indicators for evaluating clinical efficacy of AD treatment, integration of TCM pattern classification and Western medicine across disease stages, daily management of AD, the use of internal TCM therapies and proprietary Chinese medicines, and TCM external treatments. Please cite this article as: Du XR, Wu MY, Tao MC, Lin Y, Gu CY, Wu MF, Cao Y, Chen DC, Li W, Wang HW, Wang Y, Wang Y, Lu HZ, Liu X, Su XF, Li FL. Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of atopic dermatitis with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):641-653.
Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Integrative Medicine ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic

Objective:To investigate the value of myocardium scar area in predicting adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM).Methods:The first part of this study was a retrospective study. Patients diagnosed with ICM and undergoing CABG surgery at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2017 to December 2022 were enrolled as the discovery cohort. All patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance-late gadolinium enhancement (CMR-LGE) before surgery. According to the occurrence of postoperative MACEs, the patients were divided into MACEs group and MACEs-free group. Preoperative clinical and imaging data, intraoperative and postoperative data were collected and compared between the two groups. The primary endpoint was postoperative MACEs. Univariate and multifactor regression analyses were used to analyze the risk factors for MACEs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the predictive efficacy and optimal cut-off value of myocardial scar area for endpoint events. The second part of this study was a prospective study. Patients with ICM who received CABG at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2023 to June 2023 were enrolled as a validation cohort, and were divided into MACEs group and MACEs-free group according to whether MACEs occurred after surgery. Preoperative clinical and imaging data, intraoperative and postoperative data were collected and compared between the two groups. Verify the reliability of the cut-off value obtained by ROC curve in the validation cohort.Results:A total of 120 patients with ICM (30 patients in MACEs group and 90 patients in MACEs-free group), aged (61.6±8.7) years, including 93 males, were included in the discovery cohort. A total of 22 ICM patients (5 patients in MACEs group and 17 patients in MACEs-free group), aged (59.5±8.2) years, including 18 males, were included in the validation cohort. Multivariate Cox regression showed that myocardial scar area ( HR=1.258, 95% CI 1.096-1.444, P=0.001) was an independent risk factor for the primary endpoint event. The area under ROC curve of myocardial scar area for predicting postoperative MACEs was 0.90 (95% CI 0.83-0.95), and myocardial scar area≥36.0% was the optimal cut-off value for predicting postoperative MACEs, and its sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 96.7%, 72.2% and 78.3%, respectively. In the validation cohort, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of myocardial scar area in predicting postoperative MACEs in patients with ICM after CABG were 80.0%, 82.4% and 81.8%, respectively. Conclusion:Myocardial scar area is an independent risk factor for MACEs after CABG in patients with ICM, and myocardial scar area≥36.0% is the optimal cut-off value for predicting MACEs after CABG. Myocardial scar area can help to identify patients at high risk of surgery and provide a basis for risk stratification of patients.

Aim To investigate the protective effect of carnosine on BV2 cell damage induced by oxygen-glu-cose deprivation/reperfusion(OGD/R)and its role in mediating pyrodeath through the ROS/NLRP3/GSDMD pathway.Methods BV2 cells were randomly divided into the control group(Con),model group(OGD/R),carnosine group(OGD/R+CAR),inhibitor group(OGD/R+MCC950),and carnosine+inhibitor group(OGD/R+CAR+MCC950).The cell survival rate was detected by MTT assay.The release rate of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH)in cell supernatant was detected by microenzyme labeling method.Cell damage was as-sessed using Hoechst 33342/SYTOX Green staining.ROS levels in cells were detected by DCFH-DA.The nucleation level of NF-κB p65 was observed by immu-nofluorescence.The protein expression levels of NLRP3,ASC,cleaved caspase-1,and GSDMD-N were detected by Western blot.The levels of IL-1 β and IL-18 in the supernatant were detected by ELISA.Results Com-pared with Con group,the survival rate of cells in the OGD/R group was significantly reduced,LDH release was significantly raised,cell morphology was damaged,and the positive rate of SYTOX Green was significantly elevated with ROS level in cells.The fluorescence in-tensity of NF-κB p65 in the nucleus increased,and the protein expression levels of NLRP3,ASC,cleaved caspase-1,GSDMD-N increased significantly,and the levels of IL-1 β and IL-18 in the cell superserum in-creased significantly.Compared with the OGD/R group,the survival rate of cells in other groups in-creased significantly,the LDH release rate significantly decreased,and the cell damage was improved to a cer-tain extent.The positive rate of SYTOX Green and ROS production in cells significantly decreased,and the fluorescence intensity of NF-κB p65 in nucleus markedly decreased.The expression levels of related proteins and the levels of IL-1 β and IL-18 in cell super-natant significantly decreased.Conclusion Carnosine can protect BV2 cells from OGD/R-induced damage by inhibiting oxidative stress and NF-κB activation,then inhibiting NLRP3/GSDMD signaling pathway.

Objective To conduct a survey on students for their common needs for the course and the support to their research training,to provide reference for course reform and curriculum of ideology and politics.Methods A survey before and after course was conducted in 704 graduates who selected the course of"Experiments of Molecu-lar Biology"from the autumn of 2018 to the spring of 2024.After collecting the survey,they were summarized,counted,and analyzed.Results The students selected this course were mainly research-oriented graduate students.Their professional background was mainly in clinical medicine,and there was a relatively lack of training in tech-nology and laboratory skill in molecular biology experiment.The follow-up survey showed that experimental operation and implementation as well as analysis of experimental results were the two most helpful aspects for students;PCR,RNA extraction and detection,and Western blot were the most useful techniques for student learning and scientific research.Conclusions Through the survey,the professional background of students,dynamic changes in their course selection needs are well acknowledged and so thus able to optimize,provide good reference for teaching and learning in this field,and provide a basis for curriculum reform and construction of ideological and political courses.

By targeting the key gene csgD involved in the biofilm formation of Escherichia coli, we employed molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation to screen the active components of Chinese medicine with inhibitory effects on the biofilm formation from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP). After the anti-biofilm properties of the active components were validated in vitro, data-independent acquisition (DIA) proteomics was employed to further identify the differential proteins involved in interfering with the biofilm formation of Escherichia coli. The mechanisms of inhibition were explored with consideration to the phenotype. Through virtual screening, we identified four candidate active components, including tannic acid, narirutin, salvianolic acid B, and rosmarinic acid. Among them, tannic acid demonstrated significant inhibitory effect on the biofilm formation of E. coli. The analysis of differential proteins, combined with relevant phenotype validation, suggested that tannic acid primarily affected E. coli by intervening in pilus assembly, succinic acid metabolism, and the quorum sensing system. This study provided a lead compound for the development of new drugs against biofilm-associated infections in the future.
Biofilms/drug effects* ; Escherichia coli/metabolism* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Tannins/chemistry* ; Cinnamates/metabolism* ; Benzofurans/chemistry* ; Depsides/metabolism* ; Rosmarinic Acid ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemistry* ; Escherichia coli Proteins/genetics* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Humans ; Facial Nerve/surgery* ; Endolymphatic Sac/surgery* ; Cranial Sinuses ; Postoperative Complications ; Neoplasms

The study aims to investigate the mechanism of Fengshining fecal microbiota transplants in the intervention of rheumatoid arthritis by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/electrostatic field obitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS). All animal welfare and experimental procedures followed the regulations of the Medical Ethics Committee of Shanxi University of Chinese medicine. The rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, fecal microbiota transplantation group and Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycoside group, and the collagen induced arthritis (CIA) was established. The changes of body weight and metatarpodal lesions of rats were evaluated. The serum of rats in each group was analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and metagenomic technology for differential metabolites and microflora. The protein expression levels of Toll-like receptors (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) and nuclear factor of kappa B (NF-κB p65) were detected by Western blot. A total of 13 different metabolites, including arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, 13S-hydroxyoctadecanodienoic acid and L-phenylalanine were screened from serum. Three metabolic pathways, including phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism and arachidonic acid metabolism were identified through pathway enrichment. Metagenomic analysis showed that the abundance of g_Bacteroides, g_Prevotella and p_Actinobacteria in CIA group was higher. The abundance of c_Clostridia, g_Akkermansia and s_Akkermansia_muciniphila in fecal microbiota transplantation group is higher. The hierarchical cluster heat map showed that Akkermansia was negatively correlated with L-phenylalanine; while positively correlated with docosahexaenoic acid. Prevotella was positively correlated with L-phenylalanine. Fecal microbiota transplantation group could significantly inhibit the expression of TLR4, MyD88 and p65 proteins in the synovium of rats (P < 0.01). The anti-rheumatoid arthritis effects of fecal microbiota transplantation group is closely related to the intervention of the metabolism of phenylalanine and arachidonic acid, through Akkermansia, Prevotella and other microorganisms, inhibition the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway.

Objective     To analyze the efficacy of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG) in elderly patients with coronary artery disease complicated with moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation. Methods     The clinical data of patients aged≥70 years with coronary artery disease complicated with moderate mitral regurgitation, and undergoing OPCABG from January 2009 to January 2020 in Beijing Anzhen Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The echocardiographic indicators of the patients were compared preoperatively, postoperatively before discharge and during the follow-up. Results     Finally 239 patients were enrolled. There were 136 males and 103 females, aged 74.1±3.2 years. Before postoperative discharge, 49 (20.5%) patients had no mitral regurgitation, 144 (60.3%) mild regurgitation, 46 (19.2%) moderate regurgitation, and 0 severe regurgitation. The area of mitral regurgitation was significantly improved (2.5±1.8 cm2 vs. 5.6±1.0 cm2, P<0.001). There were 10 (4.2%) patients of hospital death, 23 (9.6%) of low cardiac output, 3 (1.3%) of myocardial infarction, and 8 (3.3%) of nervous system injury after operation. As a result, 208 (90.8%) patients were followed up and the mean follow-up time was 3.4 years (range 1-9 years). The cumulative survival rates at postoperative 2, 4, 6, and 8 years were 95.8%, 88.0%, 78.4%, and 73.1%, respectively. Postoperative follow-up showed significant improvements compared with those before surgery in the area of mitral regurgitation, left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic and left ventricular end-systolic diameters (all P<0.05). Duirng the follow-up, the major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events were all cause death in 22 (10.6%) patients, including cardiac death in 17 (8.2%) patients, myocardial infarction in 7 (3.4%) patients, heart failure in 24 (11.5%) patients, cerebrovascular events in 11 (5.3%) patients, re-hospitalization due to heart disease in 23 (11.1%) patients, and none of the patients with myocardial infarction were revascularized. Conclusion     The mid- and long-term outcomes of OPCABG in the treatment for elderly patients with coronary artery disease complicated with moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation is good.

Accumulating studies have demonstrated that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), functioning as important regulators of transcription and translation, are involved in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, especially the maternal immune adaptation process. The endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), trophoblast cells, and decidua immune cells that reside at the maternal-fetal interface are thought to play significant roles in normal pregnancy and pregnancy-associated diseases. Here, we reviewed the up-to-date evidence on how microRNA, long non-coding RNA, and circular RNA regulate ESCs, trophoblast cells, and immune cells and discussed the potential applications of these ncRNAs as diagnostic and therapeutic markers in pregnancy complications.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; RNA, Long Noncoding/genetics* ; RNA, Circular/genetics* ; Trophoblasts ; Pregnancy Complications/genetics*