AIM: To explore the relationship between the changes of serum circFTO and microRNA-141-3p(miR-141-3p)levels and the different disease stages of diabetes retinopathy.METHODS: A total of 198 patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to our hospital from October 2019 to November 2022 were collected as the study subjects, the patients were grouped into non diabetes retinopathy(NDR)group(70 cases), non proliferative diabetes retinopathy(NPDR)group(66 cases)and proliferative diabetes retinopathy(PDR)group(62 cases)according to different stages; meantime, 67 volunteers with normal physical examination results were collected as the control group. The levels of serum circFTO and miR-141-3p were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR); Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between the serum circFTO, miR-141-3p and various indicators in patients with diabetes retinopathy; multivariate Logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the influencing factors of diabetes retinopathy.RESULTS: CircFTO, systolic blood pressure(SBP), and diastolic blood pressure(DBP)in PDR group were higher than those in control group, NDR group and NPDR group, while miR-141-3p and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)were lower than those in control group, NDR group and NPDR group(P<0.05). Fasting blood glucose(FPG)and glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c)in NDR group, NPDR group and PDR group were higher than those in the control group(all P<0.05). The course of disease in PDR group was longer than that in NDR group and NPDR group(P<0.05). Serum circFTO in patients with diabetes retinopathy was positively correlated with SBP, DBP, FPG, HbA1c, and miR-141-3p was negatively correlated with SBP, DBP, FPG, HbA1c(all P<0.05). CircFTO was a risk factor for diabetes retinopathy, and miR-141-3p was a protective factor for diabetes retinopathy(P<0.05).CONCLUSION: Serum circFTO is obviously increased and miR-141-3p is obviously decreased in patients with diabetes retinopathy, both of them are closely related to disease stage, and are expected to become important indicators for evaluating disease progress.

Humans ; Otitis Media, Suppurative ; Chronic Disease ; Biofilms ; Otitis Media

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of the SIRT1/NF-κB pathway in mediating the effect of puerarin against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). METHODS: Fifteen BALB/C mice were randomized into control group, LPS group and puerarin treatment group, and in the latter two groups, the mice were given an intraperitoneal injection of LPS (5 mg/kg), followed by daily injection of normal saline for 3 days or injection of puerarin (25 mg/kg) given 1 h later and then on a daily basis for 3 days. On day 5 after modeling, the kidney tissues were taken for histological observation and detection of cell apoptosis. The renal function indexes including urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Scr) and kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) and the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) were measured, and the expressions of SIRT1 and NF-κB-p65(acetyl K310) in the renal tissues were detected. RESULTS: Intraperitoneal injection of LPS caused obvious glomerular capillary dilatation, hyperemia, renal interstitial edema, and renal tubular epithelial cell swelling and deformation in the mice. The mouse models of LPS-induced AKI also showed significantly increased renal tubular injury score and renal cell apoptosis (P < 0.01) with increased serum levels of BUN, Scr, KIM-1, TNF-α and IL-1β (P < 0.01), enhanced renal expressions of TNF-α, IL-1β and NF-κB p65(acetyl K310) (P < 0.01) and lowered renal expression of SIRT1 (P < 0.05). Treatment with puerarin effectively alleviated LPS-induced renal interstitial edema and renal tubular epithelial cell shedding, lowered renal tubular injury score (P < 0.01) and renal cell apoptosis rate (P < 0.01), and decreased serum levels of BUN, Scr, KIM, TNF-α and IL-1β (P < 0.01). Puerarin treatment significantly reduced TNF-α, IL-1β and NF-κB p65 (acetyl K310) expression in the renal tissue (P < 0.05) and increased SIRT1 expression by 17% (P < 0.05) in the mouse models. CONCLUSION Puerarin can effectively alleviate LPS-induced AKI in mice possibly by modulating the SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway.
Animals ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; NF-kappa B ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Sirtuin 1 ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Acute Kidney Injury ; Disease Models, Animal ; Edema

AIM: To explore the clinical efficacy of different anti-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)drugs in the treatment of diabetic macular edema(DME), and analyze their relationship with optical coherence tomography(OCT)classification.METHODS: A total of 45 DME patients treated with ranibizumab(admitted to our hospital from February 2020 to February 2022)were selected as the ranibizumab group, and 45 DME patients treated with conbercept during the same period were selected as the conbercept group. The ranibizumab group was treated with retinal photocoagulation combined with ranibizumab, and the conbercept group was treated with retinal photocoagulation combined with conbercept. The improvement of symptoms(improvement time of macular edema, time of retinal thickness returning to normal, disappearance time of neovascularization and absorption time of fundus hemorrhage), levels of serum interleukin-6(IL-6)and VEGF, central macular thickness(CMT), best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), and complications were compared between the two groups, and the relationship between their clinical efficacy and different OCT types were analyzed.RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the improvement time of macular edema, time of retinal thickness returning to normal, disappearance time of neovascularization and absorption time of fundus hemorrhage between the two groups(P>0.05); After treatment, the values of IL-6, VEGF and BCVA in the two groups were significantly lower than those before treatment(P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between the two groups(P>0.05); compared with before treatment, CMT was significantly decreased in both groups after treatment(P<0.05), and compared with ranibizumab group, the CMT was significantly decreased in the conbercept group(P<0.01); there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between two groups(P>0.05); there were significant differences in the total effective rate among patients with serous retinal detachment(SRD), cystoid macular edema(CME)and diffuse retinal thickening(DRT; P<0.05), among which DRT had the highest total effective rate and SRD had the lowest total effective rate.CONCLUSION: Both conbercept and ranibizumab in the treatment of DME can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of patients and reduce the inflammatory response, but conbercept can better reduce the level of CMT, and has better treatment effect on DRT-type DME patients.

Cancer immunotherapy has become a new generation of anti-tumor treatment, but its indications still focus on several types of tumors that are sensitive to the immune system. Therefore, effective strategies that can expand its indications and enhance its efficiency become the key element for the further development of cancer immunotherapy. Natural products are reported to have this effect on cancer immunotherapy, including cancer vaccines, immune-check points inhibitors, and adoptive immune-cells therapy. And the mechanism of that is mainly attributed to the remodeling of the tumor-immunosuppressive microenvironment, which is the key factor that assists tumor to avoid the recognition and attack from immune system and cancer immunotherapy. Therefore, this review summarizes and concludes the natural products that reportedly improve cancer immunotherapy and investigates the mechanism. And we found that saponins, polysaccharides, and flavonoids are mainly three categories of natural products, which reflected significant effects combined with cancer immunotherapy through reversing the tumor-immunosuppressive microenvironment. Besides, this review also collected the studies about nano-technology used to improve the disadvantages of natural products. All of these studies showed the great potential of natural products in cancer immunotherapy.

Esculetin, a natural derivative from the traditional and widely-used Chinese medicinal herb Cortex Fraxini, has a variety of pharmacological effects, especially in anti-inflammation. However, it is not clear whether esculetin has a therapeutic effect on sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and protective effects of esculetin on early sepsis. The results showed that the lung injury was significantly relieved with the treatment of esculetin, accompanied with the restrained production of inflammatory factors including IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, CCL2 and iNOS during the early phase of E.coli-induced sepsis. Of note, activation of NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signals, the main upstream signals of many inflammatory factors, were attenuated by esculetin in both lung tissues from septic mice and LPS-stimulated macrophage. These findings suggested that the protection of esculetin against early sepsis should be related to its anti-inflammatory effect, which was at least partly due to its inhibition on NF-κB and STAT1/STAT3 signaling pathway in macrophage. Thus, esculetin could serve as a potential therapeutic agent by rebalancing innate immune response in macrophage for the treatment of early sepsis.

Rotational vertebral artery occlusion syndrome, also known as bow hunter′s syndrome (BHS), is a rare cause of posterior circulation ischemia. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is still the gold standard for diagnosis. A case of bilateral cerebellar infarction, with color Doppler ultrasound showing special vertebral artery hemodynamic changes after head and neck rotation, was diagnosed by DSA as BHS and intracranial vertebral artery dissection. Based on the literature published previously, the clinical manifestations and imaging features of BHS were discussed to improve clinicians′ awareness of the syndrome.

Objective:To investigate the effect of Qianghuo Decoction iontophoresis combined with joint mobilization technique in treating Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) patients with cold-damp syndrome. Methods:A total of 98 KOA patients, who were admitted in our hospital from October 2017 to October 2018, were randomly divided into control group and observation group (49 in each group) according to random number table method. Both groups were treated by joint mobilization technique. The control group were given Glucosamine sulfate capsule (0.5 g/time and tid) orally. The observation group was treated by iontophoresis of Qianghuo Decoction. After 6 weeks’ treatment, to evaluate syndrome of cold-damp, the efficacy, by using bone metabolism indexes, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) and symptoms of such as serum levels of collagen type Ⅱ C-peptide (CTX-Ⅱ), collagen type Ⅰ C-peptide (CTX-Ⅰ), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase isoform 5b (TRACP-5b), and the pain medium indexes, such as serum levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), substance P (SP), dopamine (DA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were compared between two groups. Results:After the treatment, the total efficacy in the observation group was 93.9% (46/49), the control group was 77.6% (38/49), and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ2=4.083, P=0.043). After the treatment, scores of WOMAC indexes joint pain, joint stiffness, limited daily movement of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group ( t values 8.430, 9.986, 12.776, respectively, all Ps<0.01), and scores of symptoms joint pain, joint temperature pain reduction, morning stiffness, waist pain of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group ( t values 8.825, 9.043, 7.230, 7.034, respectively, all Ps <0.01). After treatment, the serum levels of CTX-Ⅰ (404.99 ± 43.35 g/L vs. 458.69 ± 48.61 g/L, t=21.005), CTX-Ⅱ (414.99 ± 43.39 g/L vs. 484.06 ± 50.77 g/L, t=18.991), TRACP-5b (2.98 ± 0.35 U/L vs. 5.67 ± 0.61 U/L, t=9.043) of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group ( P<0.01); while the serum levels of PGE2 (167.81 ± 18.79 g/L vs. 252.61 ± 27.34 g/L, t=26.389), SP (143.67 ± 15.92 g/L vs. 179.55 ± 19.53 g/L, t=25.416), DA (9.15 ± 1.15 g/L vs. 13.17 ± 1.81 g/L, t=10.445), 5-HT (615.08 ± 63.95 g/L vs. 712.69 ± 72.88 g/L, t=31.004) were significantly lower than those of the control group ( P<0.01). Conclusions:Iontophoresis of Qianghuo Decoction combined with joint mobilization technique for KOA patients with syndrome of cold-damp can improve the symptoms of the patients, reduce the level of bone metabolism, reduce the pain mediators, improve clinical symptoms and enhance efficacy.

Objective:To collect the current status and healthcare needs of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in China during the COVID-19 outbreak to inform quick response from government and communities.Methods:During February 5 th to 10 th, 2020, a national anonymous survey was conducted using an online questionnaire among PLHIV at least 18 years of age and had started antiretroviral treatment (ART) to collect the information on COVID-19 prevention, HIV-related health services and the needs on psychosocial support. Current status and needs of people living with HIV were analyzed in Hubei and other regions. Results:A total of 1 014 valid questionnaires were collected, with PLHIV respondents cross the country. The survey revealed that 93.79% of the respondents could obtain information regarding the prevention of COVID-19 from their communities or villages. Respondents were concerned with HIV-specific protective measures and personal protective equipment shortage. 32.64% of all respondents were not carrying sufficient antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) to meet the needs under traffic and travel restrictions, and some could face stock-outs in the coming month. In Hubei province where 53 respondents needed ARV refill, 64.15% reported difficulty accessing ARV due to the "blockage" . 28.93% respondents were in need of sociopsychological support, and 85.31% anticipated further improvement of the out-of-town ARV refill process from the government.Conclusion:PLHIV wants to know HIV-specific protective measures against COVID-19 outbreak. PLHIV who returned to their home-towns and affected by the lock-downs reported challenges with refills. We should undertake a more systematic study on impacts of the COVID-19 on PLHIV to develop preparedness capacity for future public health emergency.

Objective To explore the role of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) in vascular endothelial cells dysfunction induced by sodium arsenite (NaAsO2).Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (EA.Hy926 cells) were treated with different levels of NaAsO2 [0 (control),1,2,5,10,20,50 μmol/L] for 24 hours.The cell viability was determined using CCK8.Colorimetric assay was used to detect the activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in culture supematants,PEDF content in the supematant of EA.Hy926 cells was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),and nitric oxide (NO) content in cells was detected by flow cytometry.Results Compared with the control group [(101.08 ± 3.22)％],the cell viability of 20 μ mol/L group [(80.69 ± 7.95)％] and 50 μmol/L group [(69.87 ± 10.54)％] decreased significantly,and the differences were statistically significant (P ＜ 0.05).The activity of iNOS increased significantly in 10,20,50 μmol/L groups [(829.1 ± 68.2),(772.3 ± 37.1),(874.6 ± 43.5) U/L],respectively,in comparison with that of the control group [(397.5 ± 43.5) U/L] in the cell culture supematant (P ＜ 0.01).Similarly,PEDF levels in the groups of 10,20,50 μmol/L [(12.06 ± 0.55),(11.97 ± 0.39) and (13.89 ± 0.26) mg/L respectively] were higher than that of the control group [(10.70 ± 0.35) mg/L,P ＜ 0.01],and the highest content of PEDF was found in 50 μmol/L group.The NO level in 50 μmol/L group (11 558.99 ± 397.43) was significantly lower than that of the control group (14 131.49± 262.61,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion PEDF is involved in the vascular endothelial cells dysfunction induced by arsenic.