Image 1.

Natural products (NPs) are an important source of new drugs for the treatment of stroke. Identifying cellular targets for bioactive molecules is a major challenge and critical issue in the development of new drugs for stroke. Small-molecule probes play a unique role in target discovery. However, drawbacks to these probes include non-specificity, unstable activity, and difficulty in synthesis. Small-molecule probes based on NPs at least partially compensate for these shortcomings. NPs feature rich chemical and structural diversity, biocompatibility, and unique biological activities. These features could be exploited to provide new ideas and tools for target discovery. Small-molecule probes based on NPs provide a precise and direct search for interacting protein targets of NPs-active small molecules. This review explores the properties of small-molecule probes based on NPs and their applications in mechanistic studies of stroke and other diseases. We hope that this review will bring new perspectives to the mechanistic study of NPs-active small molecules and accelerate the translation of these ingredients into drug candidates for the treatment of stroke.

Proteins are fundamental carriers as the structural elements and biochemically active entities responsible for catalysis, transport, and regulation. These functions are depending on the protein folding into precise three-dimensional structures, interacting with ligands, and conformational changes. This article reviews the recent progress of nanopores in single-molecule protein sensing, involving the identification of polypeptides and proteins, the conformation changes of protein folding, the molecular structure responsible to the pH of solutions, the molecular interactions, and protein sequencing. These studies provide clues to understand life activities and facilitate the early diagnosis of diseases and design of drugs for precise treatment.
Nanopores ; Proteins/chemistry* ; Biosensing Techniques/methods* ; Protein Folding ; Humans

Objective To investigate the differences in personality traits between the patients with anx-ious depression(AND)and non-anxious depression(NAD)in order to provide the possible basis for early find of the patients with AND.Methods A total of 572 adult patients with depression visiting in the psychiatric outpatient department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2022 to December 2022 were selected to conduct the questionnaire survey.General demographic questionnaire,Self-rating Depression Scale(SDS),Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale(GAD-7)and Minnesota Multiphasic Per-sonality Inventory(MMPI)were collected and analyzed.The patients with GAD-7 total score ≥5 points served as the AND group(n=499)and those with GAD total score＜5 points served as the NAD group(n=73).The correlation between the general demographic questionnaire,SDS and GAD-7 with MMPI was ana-lyzed.Results There were statistically significant differences in the place of residence,number of children in a family,education years,MMPI total score and high score proportions of psychopathy,athopia,hysteria,depres-sion,hypochondriasis,paranoea,schizophrenia,social introversion and hypomania dimensions between the two groups(P＜0.05).The SDS and GAD-7 scores in the AND group were higher than those in the NAD group(P＜0.05).The MMPI total score,athopia,hysteria,depression,hypochondriasis,paranoea,schizophrenia,so-cial introversion and hypomania were positively correlated with SDS and GAD-7(P＜0.05).Conclusion The patients with depression accompanied by anxiety symptom could be early identified by the MMPI testing results.

Objective:To understand the current research status, hot issues, and development trends of Taohong Siwu Decoction.Methods:Research literature about Taohong Siwu Decoction was retrieved from Wanfang Data, CBM, CNKI, and Chongqing VIP from January 1, 2014, to August 13, 2024. Excel 2024 software was used to analyze the annual number of publications, the source journals, literature types and the distribution of diseases and syndromes. CiteSpace 6.3.R3 software was used for visualization analysis on the authors, research institutions and key words.Results:A total of 2 519 articles were included, and the annual publication volume showed a fluctuating growth trend. There were 396 source journals, of which Medicine and Health published the most (80 articles); 208 authors were involved, and the core authors included Peng Daiyin of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Zhu Fuping of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Sun Shaoqiu of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine and so on. The main research institutions in this field included Hunan University of Chinese Medicine and its affiliated hospitals. The high-frequency keywords included fracture, irregular menstruation, clinical efficacy, chloasma, Wuling Powder, experience of famous doctors, elderly, etc. Keywords could be clustered into 11 modules.Conclusions:The current research hotspots of Taohong Siwu Decoction mainly focus on the exploration of multi-system disease treatment, individualized syndrome differentiation and treatment, pharmacology and metabolic mechanism of Chinese materia medica, etc. Among them, the in-depth study of drug composition and metabolism, network pharmacology and mechanism is the research frontier in this field.

Objective:To investigate the improvement effect of the freeze-dried garlic powder on acute myocardial ischemia and its effect on phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/protein kinase B/nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (PI3K/Akt/Nrf2) signaling pathway.Methods:SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operation group, model group, positive drug group, and garlic freeze-dried powder low-, medium-, and high-dosage groups using a random number table method, with 12 rats in each group. The garlic freeze-dried powder low-, medium-, and high-dosage groups were orally administered with 0.58, 1.16, and 2.32 g/kg of garlic freeze-dried powder solution, the positive reference drug group was orally administered with 0.26 g/kg of compound Danshen tablet solution, and the model group and sham-operation group were orally administered with equal volumes of distilled water once a day for 14 consecutive days. Except for the sham-operation group, all other groups were prepared with acute myocardial ischemia models in rats by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. Electrocardiogram testing was performed. The incidence of ventricular premature beats, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation in each group was counted. Myocardial infarction was observed through TTC staining, and the myocardial infarction rate was calculated; serum creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), LDH, cardiac troponin T (cTnT), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), SOD, MDA, IL-1β, TNF-α levels were detected, and Western blot was used to detect myocardial tissue p-PI3K, p-Akt, Nrf2, HO-1 and Keap1 proteins.Results:Compared with the model group, the incidence of premature ventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular fibrillation in rats in each treatment group was reduced. Compared with the model group, the positive drug group and garlic freeze-dried powder medium- and high-dosage groups showed a decrease in myocardial infarction rate in rats ( P<0.05); compared with the model group, the levels of serum T-AOC and SOD in each treatment group increased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01), while the level of MDA decreased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01); the levels of CK, LDH, cTnT, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the serum of rats in the positive drug group and garlic freeze-dried powder high-dosage group decreased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01), while the expressions of p-PI3K, p-Akt, Nrf2, and HO-1 proteins in myocardial tissue increased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the expression of Keap1 protein decreased ( P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusions:Garlic freeze-dried powder can improve acute myocardial ischemia of rats by reducing the release of serum myocardial enzymes and exerting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The mechanism may be related to regulating PI3K/Akt/Nrf2 signaling pathway.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of haloperidol combined with auricular point pressing therapy in children with tic disorders.Methods A total of 120 pediatric patients diagnosed with tic disorders at the Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation,Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine,Hebei Province from March 2022 to March 2024 were enrolled.Participants were randomly divided into an observation group(n=60)and a control group(n=60)using a random number table.The control group received haloperidol alone,while the observation group received additional auricular point pressing therapy.Treatment duration was 12 weeks.After 3 months,clinical efficacy was assessed by comparing:Yale Global Tic Severity Scale(YGTSS)scores,serum 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT)and dopamine(DA)levels,immune function markers(CD3+,CD4+),and incidence of adverse reactions between groups.Results(1)The overall efficacy rate in the observation group was 91.67％(55/60),while that in the control group was 76.67％(46/60).The efficacy of the observation group was superior to that of the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).(2)After treatment,the YGTSS scores of children in both groups was significantly improved(P＜0.05),and the observation group showed a significantly greater improvement in YGTSS scores than the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).(3)After treatment,the levels of 5-HT and DA in both groups of children were significantly improved(P＜0.05),and the observation group showed a significantly greater improvement in 5-HT and DA levels than the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).(4)After treatment,CD3+and CD4+levels were significantly improved in both groups(P＜0.05),and the observation group showed a significantly greater improvement in CD3+and CD4+levels than the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).(5)There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the observation group and the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＞0.05).Conclusion The combination of haloperidol and auricular point pressing therapy significantly improves clinical symptoms and immune function in children with tic disorders,demonstrating both efficacy and safety.

Bronchial asthma(asthma)is a chronic respiratory disease with complex etiology.Because of increasing application of heavy metals in human society,human exposure to heavy metals is a challenge to public health.This review summarizes recent studies to evaluate the effects and mechanisms of heavy metal exposure on asthma in chil-dren.Results of researches have showed that heavy metal exposure resulted in production of reactive oxygen species(ROS)to induce oxidative stress,enhancement of the level of inflammatory cytokines,promoting airway inflamma-tory response and airway remodeling and thus aggravating the occurrence and development of asthma.Further study on these effects may lead to the development of clinical guidance for asthma management.

Objective To investigate the value of early maternal serological indicators in predic-ting the delivery of full-term small-for-gestational-age(SGA)infants.Methods The clinical data of pregnant women who delivered at Beijing Tongzhou District Maternal and Child Health Hospital from August 2023 to August 2024 were analyzed.A total of 180 pregnant women who delivered full-term SGA infants were included in case group,and 180 pregnant women who delivered full-term appropri-ate-for-gestational-age(AGA)infants during the same period were included in control group.The levels of serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein A(PAPP-A),placenta growth factor(PLGF),and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1(sFlt-1)in the first trimester(11 to 13 weeks+6 days of ges-tation)of the two groups were compared.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were used to analyze the predictive value of early maternal serological indicators for the delivery of full-term SGA infants.Results The levels of serum PAPP-A and PLGF in the first trimester of the case group were lower than those in the control group,while the level of sFlt-1 was higher(P＜0.05).The area un-der the ROC curve(AUC)for the combined detection of serum PAPP-A,PLGF,and sFlt-1 levels in the first trimester in predicting the delivery of full-term SGA infants was 0.823,which was higher than the AUCs for detection of each indicator(0.738,0.720,0.724)(P＜0.05).Conclusion The detection of early maternal PAPP-A,PLGF,and sFlt-1 levels can reflect the fetal growth status in utero.The combined detection of these three indicators has a higher predictive value for the delivery of full-term SGA infants by pregnant women,which is helpful for clinicians to take intervention measures in advance.

AIM: To analyze and screen influencing factors of diabetic patients complicated with retinopathy, and establish and validate prediction model of nomogram.METHODS: A total of 1 252 patients from the Diabetes Complications Early Warning Dataset of the National Population Health Data Archive(PHDA)between January 2013 to January 2021 were selected and randomly divided into a modeling group(n=941)and a validation group(n=311). Univariate analysis, LASSO regression and Logistic regression analysis were used to screen out the influencing factors of diabetic retinopathy, and a nomogram prediction model was established. The receiver operating characteristic curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test and calibration curve were used to evaluate the model. The clinical benefit was evaluated by the decision curve analysis(DCA).RESULTS: Age, hypertension, nephropathy, systolic blood pressure(SBP), glycated hemoglobin(HbA1c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C), and blood urea(BU)were the influencing factors of diabetic retinopathy. The area under the curve(AUC)of the modeling group was 0.792(95%CI: 0.763-0.821), and the AUC of the validation group was 0.769(95%CI: 0.716-0.822). The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test and calibration curve suggested that the theoretical value of the model was in good agreement(modeling group: χ2=14.520, P=0.069; validation group: χ2=14.400, P=0.072). The DCA results showed that the threshold probabilities range was 0.09-0.89 for modeling group and 0.07-0.84 for the validation group, which suggested the clinical net benefit was higher.CONCLUSION: This study constructed a risk prediction model including age, hypertension, nephropathy, SBP, HbA1c, HDL-C, and BU. The model has a high discrimination and consistency, and can be used to predict the risk of diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetes.