A scoping review was performed to systematically search and summarize the clinical research in the treatment of dysmenorrhea with oral Chinese patent medicines. The oral Chinese patent medicines for treating dysmenorrhea in three major drug lists, guidelines, and textbooks were screened, and the relevant clinical trials were retrieved from eight Chinese and English databases. The key information of the included trials was extracted and visually analyzed. A total of 50 Chinese patent medicines were included, among which oral Chinese patent medicines for the dysmenorrhea patients with the syndrome of Qi stagnation and blood stasis accounted for the highest proportion, and the average daily cost varied greatly among Chinese patent medicines. A total of 150 articles were included, involving 22 Chinese patent medicines, among which Guizhi Fuling Capsules/Pills, Sanjie Zhentong Capsules, and Dan'e Fukang Soft Extract were the most frequently studied. These articles mainly reported randomized controlled trial(RCT), which mainly focused on the comparison of the intervention effect between Chinese patent medicines combined with western medicine and western medicine alone, and the sample size was generally 51-100 cases. The high-frequency outcome indicators belonged to nine domains such as effective rate, adverse reactions, and laboratory examinations. This study showed that oral Chinese patent medicines had advantages in the treatment of dysmenorrhea, and the annual number of related clinical trials showed an overall growing trend. However, there were still problems such as insufficient safety information and vague description of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndromes types in the instructions of Chinese patent medicines. The available clinical research had shortcomings such as uneven distribution of Chinese patent medicines, limited research scale, poor methodological rigor, and insufficient standardization of outcome indicators. In the future, it is necessary to deepen the development of high-quality clinical research and improve the contents of the instructions to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the clinical application of oral Chinese patent medicines in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.
Dysmenorrhea/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Female ; Administration, Oral ; Nonprescription Drugs/administration & dosage*

This study identified blood-entering components of Anshen Dropping Pills and explored their anti-insomnia effects and mechanisms. The main blood-entering components of Anshen Dropping Pills were detected and identified by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. The rationality of the formula was assessed by using enrichment analysis based on the relationship between drugs and symptoms, and core targets of its active components were selected as the the potential anti-insomnia targets of Anshen Dropping Pills through network pharmacology analysis. Furthermore, protein-protein interaction(PPI) network, Gene Ontology(GO) enrichment analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway analysis were performed on the core targets. An active component-core target network for Anshen Dropping Pills was constructed. Finally, the effects of low-, medium-, and high-dose groups of Anshen Dropping Pills on sleep episodes, sleep duration, and sleep latency in mice were measured by supraliminal and subliminal pentobarbital sodium experiments. Moreover, total scores of the Pittsburgh sleep quality index(PSQI) scale was used to evaluate the changes before and after the treatment with Anshen Dropping Pills in a clinical study. The enrichment analysis based on the relationship between drugs and symptoms verified the rationality of the Anshen Dropping Pills formula, and nine blood-entering components of Anshen Dropping Pills were identified by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. The network proximity revealed a significant correlation between eight components and insomnia, including magnoflorine, liquiritin, spinosin, quercitrin, jujuboside A, ginsenoside Rb_3, glycyrrhizic acid, and glycyrrhetinic acid. Network pharmacology analysis indicated that the major anti-insomnia pathways of Anshen Dropping Pills involved substance and energy metabolism, neuroprotection, immune system regulation, and endocrine regulation. Seven core genes related to insomnia were identified: APOE, ALB, BDNF, PPARG, INS, TP53, and TNF. In summary, Anshen Dropping Pills could increase sleep episodes, prolong sleep duration, and reduce sleep latency in mice. Clinical study results demonstrated that Anshen Dropping Pills could decrease total scores of PSQI scale. This study reveals the pharmacodynamic basis and potential multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway effects of Anshen Dropping Pills, suggesting that its anti-insomnia mechanisms may be associated with the regulation of insomnia-related signaling pathways. These findings offer a theoretical foundation for the clinical application of Anshen Dropping Pills.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/metabolism* ; Mice ; Network Pharmacology ; Male ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Humans ; Protein Interaction Maps/drug effects* ; Sleep/drug effects* ; Female ; Adult

Studies have shown that a variety of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease and cancer are closely related to trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). Clinically, abnormal elevation of TMAO has been used as an evaluation index of atherosclerosis (AS) prior to imaging. In this study, we investigated the effects of lipid metabolism disorders as well as pharmacological interventions on urinary TMAO using a hyperlipidemic golden gopher model. The study used 48 Syrian golden hamster modeled with a high-fat diet for 2 weeks, and then ezetimibe, simvastatin, ezetimibe and simvastatin groups were administered for 4 consecutive weeks, as well as the clinical trial drug, IMM-H007, for pharmacological intervention. The animal experiment was conducted in accordance with the regulations of the Ethics Committee for Experimental Animal Management and Animal Welfare of Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (approval number: SCXK (Beijing) 2021-0011). Urine from rats was analyzed for 2D band selective heteronuclear single quantum coherence (2D bs-HSQC) at week 2 and 4 after drug administration. The results indicated that, in comparison to the control group, the high-fat diet significantly elevated urinary TMAO levels in the model group of hamsters after both 2 and 4 weeks of treatment (P < 0.05). Urinary TMAO levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in the model group after 2 or 4 weeks of intervention with ezetimibe, simvastatin, combination therapy, and IMM-H007, showing a marked decrease even after 2 weeks of treatment. The detection of TMAO could precede the measurement of serum biochemical indicators, facilitating earlier efficacy assessment. This study evaluated the modulatory effects of clinical drugs and clinical trial drugs on TMAO, which provides useful information for clinical drug use and drug research. It also provides a means of TMAO detection based on 2D NMR technology, which is helpful for the clinical application of TMAO detection index.

Purpose::Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common functional injuries observed in trauma patients. However, certain trauma medications may exacerbate renal injury. Therefore, the early detection of trauma-related AKI holds paramount importance in improving trauma prognosis.Methods::Qualified datasets were selected from public databases, and common differentially expressed genes related to trauma-induced AKI and hub genes were identified through enrichment analysis and the establishment of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. Additionally, the specificity of these hub genes was investigated using the sepsis dataset and conducted a comprehensive literature review to assess their plausibility. The raw data from both datasets were downloaded using R software (version 4.2.1) and processed with the "affy" package19 for correction and normalization.Results::Our analysis revealed 585 upregulated and 629 downregulated differentially expressed genes in the AKI dataset, along with 586 upregulated and 948 downregulated differentially expressed genes in the trauma dataset. Concurrently, the establishment of the PPI network and subsequent topological analysis highlighted key hub genes, including CD44, CD163, TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor 1, cytochrome b-245 beta chain, versican, membrane spanning 4-domains A4A, mitogen-activated protein kinase 14, and early growth response 1. Notably, their receiver operating characteristic curves displayed areas exceeding 75%, indicating good diagnostic performance. Moreover, our findings postulated a unique molecular mechanism underlying trauma-related AKI. Conclusion::This study presents an alternative strategy for the early diagnosis and treatment of trauma-related AKI, based on the identification of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Additionally, this study provides theoretical references for elucidating the mechanisms of trauma-related AKI.

Humans ; Vascular Stiffness ; Coal Mining ; Occupational Diseases/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Coal ; Miners

Objective:To investigate the expressions and clinical significances of histone marks H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer.Methods:A retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinical data of 98 patients with colorectal cancer in Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital from May 2008 to July 2017 were retrospectively analyzed, including 35 patients in the non-metastatic operation-only group, 29 patients in the synchronous hepatic oligometastasis group and 34 patients in the extensive metastasis group, and 33 patients with benign colorectal lesions who underwent colonoscopy in 2017 were selected as the control group. Immunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 proteins in each group, and the expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 proteins in colorectal cancer patients with different clinicopathological features were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis and log-rank test was performed.Results:The positive expression rate of H3K9me3 protein in colorectal cancer group was 11.2% (11/98), which was lower than that in control group [60.6% (22/33)] ( χ2 = 33.33, P < 0.001); the positive expression rate of H3K27me3 protein in colorectal cancer group was 10.6% (13/98), which was lower than that in control group [97.0% (32/33)] ( χ2 = 76.70, P < 0.001). The positive expression rates of H3K9me3 protein were 60.6% (20/33), 17.1% (6/35), 10.3% (3/29) and 5.9 % (2/34) in the control group, the non-metastatic operation-only group, the synchronous hepatic oligometastasis group and the extensive metastasis group, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 26.10, P < 0.001); the positive expression rates of H3K27me3 protein were 97.0% (32/33), 14.3% (5/35), 20.7% (6/29) and 5.9% (2/34), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2 = 44.16, P < 0.001). The positive expression rate of H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer tissues of patients with lymph node metastasis degree ≤0.2 was higher than that of patients with lymph node metastasis degree >0.2 [22.4% (11/49) vs. 4.2% (2/48), χ2 = 6.98, P = 0.008]. The median overall survival (OS) time of H3K9me3 positive and negative colorectal cancer patients was 77.0 months (95% CI: 10.6-143.3 months) and 34.0 months (95% CI: 25.5-42.5 months), respectively, and there was no significant difference in OS between the two groups ( P = 0.078). The median OS time of H3K27me3 positive and negative colorectal cancer patients was 39.0 months (95% CI: 15.3- 62.7 months) and 34.0 months (95% CI: 24.3-43.7 months), respectively, and there was no significant difference in OS between the two groups ( P = 0.524). Conclusions:The expressions of H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 in colorectal cancer tissues are lower than those in colorectal benign lesions, and gradually decrease with occurrence of liver metastasis and extensive metastasis. H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 may be potential cancer suppressor factors.

The looming stimulus-evoked flight response to approaching predators is a defensive behavior in most animals. However, how looming stimuli are detected in the retina and transmitted to the brain remains unclear. Here, we report that a group of GABAergic retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) projecting to the superior colliculus (SC) transmit looming signals from the retina to the brain, mediating the looming-evoked flight behavior by releasing GABA. GAD2-Cre and vGAT-Cre transgenic mice were used in combination with Cre-activated anterograde or retrograde tracer viruses to map the inputs to specific GABAergic RGC circuits. Optogenetic technology was used to assess the function of SC-projecting GABAergic RGCs (scpgRGCs) in the SC. FDIO-DTA (Flp-dependent Double-Floxed Inverted Open reading frame-Diphtheria toxin) combined with the FLP (Florfenicol, Lincomycin & Prednisolone) approach was used to ablate or silence scpgRGCs. In the mouse retina, GABAergic RGCs project to different brain areas, including the SC. ScpgRGCs are monosynaptically connected to parvalbumin-positive SC neurons known to be required for the looming-evoked flight response. Optogenetic activation of scpgRGCs triggers GABA-mediated inhibition in SC neurons. Ablation or silencing of scpgRGCs compromises looming-evoked flight responses without affecting image-forming functions. Our study reveals that scpgRGCs control the looming-evoked flight response by regulating SC neurons via GABA, providing novel insight into the regulation of innate defensive behaviors.
Animals ; Superior Colliculi/physiology* ; Retinal Ganglion Cells/physiology* ; GABAergic Neurons/physiology* ; Mice, Transgenic ; Mice ; Optogenetics ; Visual Pathways/physiology* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Photic Stimulation/methods* ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/metabolism* ; Male

The hemodynamic characteristics of venous reflux are associated with infertility in patients with varicocele; however, an effective method for quantifying the structural distribution of the reflux is lacking. This study aimed to predict surgical outcomes using a new software for venous reflux quantification. This was a retrospective cohort study of a consecutive series of 105 patients (age range: 22-44 years) between July 2017 and September 2019. Venous reflux of the varicocele was obtained using the Valsalva maneuver during scrotal Doppler ultrasonography before microsurgical varicocelectomy. Using this software, the colored reflux signals were segmented, and the gray scale of the color pixels representing the reflux velocity was comprehensively quantified into the mean reflux velocity of the green layer (MRVG) and the reflux velocity standard deviation of the green layer (RVSDG). Spontaneous pregnancy and changes from baseline in the semen parameters were assessed during a 12-month follow-up period. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. An association of the high MRVG group with impaired progressive motility (odds ratio [OR] = 2.868, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.133-7.265) and impaired sperm concentration (OR = 2.943, 95% CI: 1.196-7.239) was found during multivariate analysis. High MRVG (OR = 2.680, 95% CI: 1.086-6.614) and high RVSDG (OR = 2.508, 95% CI: 1.030-6.111) were found to be independent predictors of failure to achieve pregnancy following microsurgical repair. In summary, intense venous reflux is an independent predictor of impaired progressive motility, sperm concentration, and pregnancy outcomes after microsurgical varicocelectomy.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Varicocele/surgery* ; Retrospective Studies ; Semen ; Veins/surgery* ; Sperm Count ; Infertility, Male/surgery* ; Microsurgery/methods* ; Sperm Motility