As a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), borneol has shown superior ability for anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities when coupled with other active ingredients from ancient times. Furthermore, borneol is believed to improve blood concentration and bioavailability of drugs. Thus, it has been paired with various TCM formulas since ancient time. The physiological barriers in human can cause significant limitations in drug efficiency as the drug is primarily restricted from entering into blood and brain. Borneol has been proven to enhance the permeability of biological barriers such as the blood-brain, transdermal, corneal, and intestinal barriers. Moreover, growing interest has been shown in the drug delivery system design for trans-barrier transport involving borneol. Nano-drug delivery system with increased surface area and improved active sites, has been applied to increase the bioactivity of water insoluble drugs. Nano-drug delivery system has been used to enhance drug efficacy by reducing the time of action as compared to conventional administration approach of TCM formulas. Given its ability to enhance cross-barrier permeation and drug efficacy, borneol has been integrated into TCM formulas of drug delivery system for precise and prolonged targeting at tumor sites. However, the design and preparation of a drug delivery system consisting of borneol still face great challenges. Current research fails to unravel the difference in mechanism of action between nano-drug delivery systems comprised of borneol and conventional drug systems coupled with borneol. Enhanced penetration of borneol in drug delivery system is rarely verified compared to conventional administration with identical drug formulation consisting of borneol regarding dosage and medical indications. This study outlines the current state of research on the properties, formulation and pharmacological effects of borneol, allowing cross-comparison of borneol coupled with single compound and classical TCM formulas for various medical indications. This study aims to provide insights into the design of borneol-based enhanced cross-barrier delivery drug formulation, and the potential development of nano-drug system for TCM formulas with borneol for enhanced bioavailability.

Therapeutic resistance in cancer is responsible for numerous cancer deaths in clinical practice. While target mutations are well recognized as the basis of genetic resistance to targeted therapy, nontarget mutation resistance (or nongenetic resistance) remains poorly characterized. Despite its complex and unintegrated mechanisms in the literature, nongenetic resistance is considered from our perspective to be a collective response of innate or acquired resistant subpopulations in heterogeneous tumors to therapy. These subpopulations, e.g., cancer stem-like cells, cancer cells with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and drug-tolerant persisters, are protected by their resistance traits at cellular and molecular levels. This review summarizes recent advances in the research on resistant populations and their resistance traits. NOTCH signaling, as a central regulator of nongenetic resistance, is discussed with a special focus on its canonical maintenance of resistant cancer cells and noncanonical regulation of their resistance traits. This novel view of canonical and noncanonical NOTCH signaling pathways is translated into our proposal of reshaping therapeutic strategies targeting NOTCH signaling in resistant cancer cells. We hope that this review will lead researchers to study the canonical and noncanonical arms of NOTCH signaling as an integrated resistant mechanism, thus promoting the development of innovative therapeutic strategies.
Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Receptors, Notch/metabolism* ; Disease Resistance/physiology* ; Signal Transduction/physiology* ; Humans ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/physiology* ; Molecular Targeted Therapy/methods*

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of plastic bronchitis(PB)occurrence in children patients with refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia(RMPP).Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 399 children patients with RMPP treated by fiberoptic bronchoscopy hospitalized in this hospital from January 2017 to December 2019.The pa-tients were divided into the PB group(n=142)and non-PB group(n=257)according to whether or not find-ing PB under fiberoptic bronchoscopy.The differences in clinical characteristics,laboratory detection indicators and imageological manifestations were compared between the two groups.The risk factors of PB occurrence in children RMPP were analyzed.Results Compared with the non-PB group,the incidence rates of hypoxemia and extrapul-monary complications,and the highest body temperature in the PB group were higher,number of fever days and hospitalization days was longer,the proportions of hormone and intravenous injection of immunoglobulin were higher,the levels of NEUT,CRP,IL-6,AST,ALT LDH CK and D-Dimer and incidence rates of pulmo-nary atelectasis and pleural effusion were higher,the levels of PLT and lymphocytes were lower,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analy-sis results showed that the highest body temperature,NEUT,PCT,IL-6,AST and LDH could serve as the predictive indicators for PB occurrence in RMPP(P＜0.05).The multivariate logistic regression analysis re-sults showed that the highest body temperature＞39.8 ℃,NEUT＞72.9％,IL-6＞26.65 pg/mL,AST＞49.5 U/L and pulmonary atelectasis were the risk factors of PB occurrence in RMPP.Conclusion Should pay at-tention to the risk factors of PB occurrence in children patients with RMPP and take necessary preventive measures to improve their prognosis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the causal association between ticagrelor and risk of infection METHODS Two-sample Mendelian randomization was adopted. Genetic instrumental variables were selected based on the results of the largest genome-wide association analysis to in vivo exposure of ticagrelor and its major active metabolite AR-C124910XX. The causal associations of ticagrelor and its major active metabolite AR-C124910XX with drug indications （coronary artery disease， unstable angina pectoris， myocardial infarction， stroke and ischemic stroke）were analyzed by inverse variance weighted Mendelian randomization model as a positive control for genetic instrumental variables. The causal relationship between ticagrelor and bacterial infection， acute lower respiratory infection， bacterial pneumoniae， pneumoniae，acute upper respiratory infection and sepsis were furtheranalyzed by using this method， and the robustness of the results was assessed by using heterogeneity tests and horizontal 202002030415） pleiotropy tests. RESULTS The increase of area under the curve at steady state （AUCss） of the genetic surrogated ticagrelor significantly reduced the risk of coronary artery disease， myocardial infarction and unstable angina pectoris （P＜0.001）. AUCss genetic instrument variables of its main active metabolite AR-C124910XX failed to pass positive control. Further analysis showed that the increase of the genetic surrogated ticagrelor exposure suggestively reduced the risk of bacterial infection [OR（95%CI）＝0.80（0.65，0.99），P＝0.040] and sepsis [OR （95%CI）＝0.84（0.73， 0.98）， P＝0.023]. The results of the heterogeneity tests showed that there was no heterogeneity in the causal association of the genetic surrogated ticagrelor AUCss with bacterial infection and sepsis （P＞0.05）. The results of horizontal pleiotropy tests showed that the causal association of genetic surrogated ticagrelor AUCss with bacterial infection and sepsis had no effects on horizontal pleiotropy （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS Ticagrelor has a potential role in reducing the risk of sepsis and bacterial infections.

The Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) flaviviruses exhibit similar replicative processes but have distinct clinical outcomes. A systematic understanding of virus–host protein–pro-tein interaction networks can reveal cellular pathways critical to viral replication and disease patho-genesis. Here we employed three independent systems biology approaches toward this goal. First, protein array analysis of direct interactions between individual ZIKV/DENV viral proteins and 20,240 human proteins revealed multiple conserved cellular pathways and protein complexes, including proteasome complexes. Second, an RNAi screen of 10,415 druggable genes identified the host proteins required for ZIKV infection and uncovered that proteasome proteins were crucial in this process. Third, high-throughput screening of 6016 bioactive compounds for ZIKV inhibition yielded 134 effective compounds, including six proteasome inhibitors that suppress both ZIKV and DENV replication. Integrative analyses of these orthogonal datasets pinpoint proteasomes as crit-ical host machinery for ZIKV/DENV replication. Our study provides multi-omics datasets for fur-ther studies of flavivirus–host interactions, disease pathogenesis, and new drug targets.

Objective:To understand the genetic variation of soft tissue sarcomas, and to provide a scientific evidence for the individualized treatment.Methods:The somatic mutation and germline mutation of 45 adult soft tissue sarcomas had been detected by high-throughput sequencing technology, the clinical data were also analyzed.Results:A total of 88 gene mutations were detected in 45 samples, including 78 single nucleotide variation (SNV), 13 insertion/deletion (Indel) and 19 copy number variation (CNV). The most common mutant genes are TP53, CDKN2A, MDM2, CDK4, NF1 and PTEN. Among them, the mutation rates of TP53-MDM2/MDM4-CDKN2A pathway, CDKN2A/CDK4/RB1 pathway, and RAS/NF1/PTEN/PI3K pathway were more frequent (32/88, 36%). In terms of immunotherapy biomarkers among 10 samples, the median value of tumor mutation burden was 2.02 muts/Mb (0-4.24 muts/Mb), and all were microsatellite stable.Conclusions:This study analyzes the genetic variation of soft tissue sarcoma, and determines the high-frequency gene mutations and pathways, which may be the potential drug targets. This finding can provide scientific evidences for the personalized treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Objective:To understand the genetic variation of soft tissue sarcomas, and to provide a scientific evidence for the individualized treatment.Methods:The somatic mutation and germline mutation of 45 adult soft tissue sarcomas had been detected by high-throughput sequencing technology, the clinical data were also analyzed.Results:A total of 88 gene mutations were detected in 45 samples, including 78 single nucleotide variation (SNV), 13 insertion/deletion (Indel) and 19 copy number variation (CNV). The most common mutant genes are TP53, CDKN2A, MDM2, CDK4, NF1 and PTEN. Among them, the mutation rates of TP53-MDM2/MDM4-CDKN2A pathway, CDKN2A/CDK4/RB1 pathway, and RAS/NF1/PTEN/PI3K pathway were more frequent (32/88, 36%). In terms of immunotherapy biomarkers among 10 samples, the median value of tumor mutation burden was 2.02 muts/Mb (0-4.24 muts/Mb), and all were microsatellite stable.Conclusions:This study analyzes the genetic variation of soft tissue sarcoma, and determines the high-frequency gene mutations and pathways, which may be the potential drug targets. This finding can provide scientific evidences for the personalized treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Objective Cysteinyl leukotrienes are potent inflammatory mediators. Their actions are mediated by specific receptors,the CysLT receptors(CysLT1R and CysLT2R),which have been cloned and characterized. In this stud-y,we investigated the protective effects of the CysLTR antagonist Pranlukast and HAMI 3379 on global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion(CI/R)injury in gerbils and its underlying mechanisms. Methods The gerbil model of CI/R was established by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion for 10 min followed by 24 h reperfusion. Then the animals were equally ran-domized into four groups: sham, model, Pranlukast(0.1 mg/kg)and HAMI 3379(0.1 mg/kg)groups. The later two groups were treated with intraperitoneal injection of Pranlukast and HAMI 3379,respectively,once daily for 4 days before carotid artery occlusion,while the former two groups with saline only,all at 10 mL/kg. After 24 h reperfusion,neurologi-cal deficit scores were observed and the behavioral dysfunction was assessed. The neuron morphology of cerebral cortex and CA1 subregion of hippocampus were observed in brain sections stained with cresyl violet. The expression of autophagy-relat-ed proteins beclin-1 and LC3 in the homogenate of cerebral cortex and hippocampus were determined using western blotting analysis. The ultrastructure of autophagosomes in the CA1 subregion of hippocampus was observed by electron microscopy. Results Compared with the model group, Pranlukast and HAMI 3379 attenuated neurological deficits, improved the be-havioral dysfunction,inhibited the neuron injury and loss, decreased the expression of autophagy-related protein beclin-1 and LC3 and the number of autophagosomes. Conclusions cysteinyl Leukotriene receptor antagonist Pranlukast and HAMI 3379 can alleviate global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in gerbils. The protective effects of Pranlukast and HAMI 3379 appear to be associated with the inhibition of autophagy.

Objective To investigate the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection and related knowledge and behavior among special population in Changzhou City,so as to provide the evidence for formulating effective measures of toxoplasmosis prevention. Methods The pregnant women and patients with neoplasia in Changzhou hospitals,and livestock and poultry breeding or processing workers were selected as the subjects of the study. Venous blood samples were collected from each partici-pant for detecting IgG and IgM antibodies against T. gondii by ELISA. A questionnaire investigation on knowledge and behavior about T. gondii infection was conducted. Results Among the total 300 respondents investigated from March to May,2015,the prevalence of T. gondii infection was 16.3％(49/300). Totally 52 respondents knew the knowledge about the prevention and con-trol of T. gondii infection with an awareness rate of 17.3％(52/300). The proportion of participants who frequently contacted with cats/dogs(25.0％,13/52)in the group who knew the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection was lower than that of participants(50.8％,126/248)in the group who did not know the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection,and the difference was statistically significant(X2=11.51,P<0.05). The proportion of participants sepa-rating chopping boards for raw and cooked food(61.5％,32/52)in the group who knew the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection was statistically higher than that of the participants(9.3％,23/248)in the group who did not know the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection,and the difference was statistically significant (X2=78.43,P<0.001). There was a negative correlation between the awareness rate of the knowledge about the prevention and con-trol of T. gondii infection and the infection rate of T. gondii. The infection rate of T. gondii(5.8％,3/52)in the group who knew the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection was lower than that(18.5％,46/248)of the group who did not know the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infection,and the difference was statistically significant (X2=5.14,P<0.05). Conclusions The awareness rate of the knowledge about the prevention and control of T. gondii infec-tion among special population in Changzhou City is low. The health education on the knowledge of the prevention and control of toxoplasmosis should be strengthened,in order to improve the awareness of personal hygiene and change the unhealthy lifestyles and dietary habits.

Objective To predict the value of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the risk and severity of coronary heart disease in diabetic patients.Methods Totally 120 cases were divided into 3 groups.Group A had no diabetes mellitus (DM) and no coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CAD).Group B had DM without CAD.Group C had DM with CAD.The levels of AGEs,low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C),glycosylated hemoglobin,and the severity of coronary stenosis were detected.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the sensitivities and specificities of AGEs for the diagnosis of DM with CAD.Results The highest level of AGEs,LDL-C,glycosylated hemoglobin and carotid plaque was in the C group,with a statistically significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).The severity of AGEs was significantly correlated with the severity of CAD and the Gensini score of AGEs (r =0.445).ROC curve showed that the sensitivity,specificity and area under ROC curve of AGEs determination of DM with CAD were 80.0％,75.0％,and 0.86,respectivity.Conclusions The level of AGEs is significantly correlated with atherosclerosis and prognosis in DM.The severity of CAD was higher in the patients with higher AGEs,and the incidence and severity of restenosis increased.