Germplasm degeneration occurs during the long-term cultivation of root-and rhizome-derived traditional Chinese medicine(RR-TCM), which seriously restricts the high-quality development of their industry. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the problem of germplasm degeneration through variety breeding. In this paper, based on previously published research articles, monographs, and news reports, the research progresses on the number and origins, breeding methods, and selection of new varieties of RR-TCM listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(Edition 2020) were summarized and analyzed. The results show that there are 169 kinds of RR-TCM listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(Edition 2020), originated from 223 origins with three breeding methods(i.e., seed propagation, vegetative reproduction, and tissue culture), and there are 215 species derived from seed propagation, 177 species derived from vegetative reproduction, and 164 species derived from tissue culture. To date, there are 62 origins breeding new varieties through conventional breeding, cross breeding, mutation breeding, ploidy breeding, or modern biotechnology breeding methods, including 57 origins breeding 145 new varieties through conventional breeding, 10 origins breeding 43 new varieties through mutation breeding, and seven origins breeding 12 new varieties through cross breeding method. They are used mainly to improve yield, disease resistance, and active ingredient content, but only a few new varieties have been widely used. This review will provide useful references in variety breeding, quality breeding, and standardized planting of RR-TCM.
Plant Breeding/methods* ; Plant Roots/growth & development* ; Rhizome/growth & development* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Plants, Medicinal/classification* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVE: To explore prevalence, incidence and possible factors of immediate herniated discs after posterior cervical expansive open-door laminoplasty (EODL). METHODS: Totally 29 patients with cervical spinal stenosis and intervertebral disc herniation who underwent EODL from October 2020 to December 2021 were collected, including 24 males and 5 females, aged from 43 to 81 years old with an average of (61.3±9.0) years old;the courses of disease ranged from 1 to 120 months with an average of (36.4±37.0) months. Three or more intervertebral discs on C₃-C₇ were observed. The clinical efficacy was evaluated according to Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score before operation, 3 days and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after operation, respectively. The changes of herniated disc before and after operation were measured by multipoint area method and two-dimensional distance method, and incidence and percentage of herniated disc regression were further calculated. Cervical imaging parameters such as Cobb angle (C₃-C₇), intervertebral angle, T₁ slope (T₁S), spinal canal sagittal diameter, K-line angle, dural sac sagittal diameter were measured and compared before and after operation. Pearson correlation was used to analyze correlation between cervical sagittal imaging parameters and disc herniation changes before and after operation. RESULTS: All patients obtained grade A wound healing, and 14 of them were followed up for 3(1.00, 5.25) months. There were no immediate or long-term postoperative complications. Totally 101 herniated intervertebral discs were measured, of which 79 regression numbers were obtained by area measurement. The number of intervertebral disc regressions by distance measurement was 77. There was no statistically significant difference in Cobb angle, intervertebral angle, T₁S and K-line angle of C₃-C₇ (P>0.05), however, there were statistically significant differences in sagittal diameter of spinal canal, sagittal diameter of dural sac, and JOA score before and after operation(P<0.05). The regression ratio of disc herniation ranged from 5% to 50%, and regression ratio of disc herniation was greater than 25% in 45.57%(36/79). Disc herniation in C_4,5 was positively correlated with sagittal plane diameter in C₅(r=0.423, P=0.028). There was a negative correlation between changes of C_3,4 and C_3,4 intervertebral angle (r=-0.450, P=0.041). The improvement rate of cervical JOA score immediately after operation was (59.54±15.07) %, and postoperative follow-up improved to (76.57±14.66) %. CONCLUSION Herniated disc regression immediately after EODL is a common occurrence, and EODL should be selected as far as possible under the premise of satisfying surgical indications. The regression of disc herniation is positively correlated with spinal canal sagittal diameter, and spinal canal should be enlarged as far as possible in the appropriate scope during EODL, so as to create more opportunities and conditions for disc regression and achieve better clinical results.
Humans ; Female ; Male ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement/diagnostic imaging* ; Spinal Stenosis/diagnostic imaging* ; Laminoplasty/methods* ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Cervical Vertebrae/diagnostic imaging* ; Adult ; Aged, 80 and over ; Intervertebral Disc/surgery*

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Shexiang Tongxin Dropping Pill (STDP) in treating stable angina patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis syndrome by exercise duration and metabolic equivalents. METHODS: This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial enrolled stable angina patients with phlegm-heat and blood-stasis syndrome from 22 hospitals. They were randomized 1:1 to STDP (35 mg/pill, 6 pills per day) or placebo for 56 days. The primary outcome was the exercise duration and metabolic equivalents (METs) assessed by the standard Bruce exercise treadmill test after 56 days of treatment. The secondary outcomes included the total angina symptom score, Chinese medicine (CM) symptom scores, Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) scores, changes in ST-T on electrocardiogram and adverse events (AEs). RESULTS: This trial enrolled 309 patients, including 155 and 154 in the STDP and placebo groups, respectively. STDP significantly prolonged exercise duration with an increase of 51.0 s, compared to a decrease of 12.0 s with placebo (change rate: -11.1% vs. 3.2%, P<0.01). The increase in METs was significantly greater in the STDP group than in the placebo group (change: -0.4 vs. 0.0, change rate: -5.0% vs. 0.0%, P<0.01). The improvement of total angina symptom scores (25.0% vs. 0.0%), CM symptom scores (38.7% vs. 11.8%), reduction of nitroglycerin consumption (100.0% vs. 11.3%), and all domains of SAQ, were significantly greater with STDP than placebo (all P<0.01). The changes in Q-T intervals at 28 and 56 days from baseline were similar between the two groups (both P>0.05). Twenty-five participants (16.3%) with STDP and 16 (10.5%) with placebo experienced AEs (P=0.131), with no serious AEs observed. CONCLUSION STDP could improve exercise tolerance in patients with stable angina and phlegm-heat and blood stasis syndrome, with a favorable safety profile. (Registration No. ChiCTR-IPR-15006020).
Humans ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/adverse effects* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Angina, Stable/physiopathology* ; Aged ; Syndrome ; Treatment Outcome ; Placebos ; Tablets

OBJECTIVE: Varied acupoint selections represent a potential cause of the uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis (OA). Skin temperature, a guiding factor for acupoint selection, may help to address this issue. This study explored thermal sensitization of acupoints used for the treatment of knee OA. METHODS: This cross-sectional case-control study enrolled cases aged 45-75 years with symptomatic knee OA and age- and gender-matched non-knee OA controls in a 1:1 ratio. All participants underwent infrared thermographic imaging. The primary outcome was the relative skin temperature of acupoint (STA), and the secondary outcome was the absolute STA of 11 acupoints. The Z test was used to compare the relative and absolute STAs between the groups. Principal component analysis was used to extract the common factors (CFs, acupoint cluster) in the STAs. A general linear model was used to identify factors affecting the STA in the knee OA cases. For the group comparisons of relative STA, P < 0.0045 (adjusted for 11 acupoints through Bonferroni correction) was considered to indicate statistical significance. For other analyses, P < 0.05 was used as the threshold for statistical significance. RESULTS: The analysis included 308 participants, consisting of 151 cases (mean age: [64.58 ± 6.67] years; male: 25.83%; mean body mass index: [25.70 ± 3.16] kg/m²) and 157 controls (mean age: [63.37 ± 5.96] years; male: 26.11%; mean body mass index: [24.47 ± 2.84] kg/m²). The relative STAs of ST34 (P = 0.0001), EX-LE2 (P < 0.0001), EX-LE5 (P = 0.0006), SP10 (P < 0.0001), BL40 (P = 0.0012) and GB39 (P = 0.0037) were higher in the knee OA group. No difference was found in the STAs of ST35, ST36, SP9, GB33 and GB34. Four CFs were identified for relative STA in both groups. The acupoints within each CF were consistent between the groups. The mean values of the relative STAs across each CF were higher in the knee OA group. In the knee OA cases, no factors were observed to affect the relative STA, while age and gender were found to affect the absolute STA. CONCLUSION Among patients with knee OA, thermal sensitization occurs in the acupoints of the lower extremity, exhibiting localized and regional thermal consistencies. The thermally sensitized acupoints that we identified in this study, ST34, SP10, EX-LE2, EX-LE5, GB39 and BL40, may be good choices for the acupuncture treatment of knee OA. Please cite this article as: Tu JF, Wang XZ, Yan SY, Wang YR, Yang JW, Shi GX, Zhang WZ, Jing LN, Yang LS, Liu DH, Wang LQ, Mi BH. Thermal sensitization of acupoints in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A cross-sectional case-control study. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(3): 289-296.
Humans ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/physiopathology* ; Male ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Middle Aged ; Female ; Acupuncture Points ; Case-Control Studies ; Aged ; Skin Temperature ; Acupuncture Therapy

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to evaluate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine (RV5) among < 5-year-old children in three provinces of China during 2020-2024 via a propensity score-matched test-negative case-control study. METHODS: Electronic health records and immunization information systems were used to obtain data on acute gastroenteritis (AGE) cases tested for rotavirus (RV) infection. RV-positive cases were propensity score matched with RV-negative controls for age, visit month, and province. RESULTS: The study included 27,472 children with AGE aged 8 weeks to 4 years at the time of AGE diagnosis; 7.98% (2,192) were RV-positive. The VE (95% confidence interval, CI) of 1-2 and 3 doses of RV5 against any medically attended RV infection (inpatient or outpatient) was 57.6% (39.8%, 70.2%) and 67.2% (60.3%, 72.9%), respectively. Among children who received the 3rd dose before turning 5 months of age, 3-dose VE decreased from 70.4% (53.9%, 81.1%) (< 5 months since the 3rd dose) to 63.0% (49.1%, 73.0%) (≥ 1 year since the 3rd dose). The three-dose VE rate was 69.4% (41.3%, 84.0%) for RVGE hospitalization and 57.5% (38.9%, 70.5%) for outpatient-only medically attended RVGE. CONCLUSION Three-dose RV5 VE against rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) in children aged < 5 years was higher than 1-2-dose VE. Three-dose VE decreased with time since the 3rd dose in children who received the 3rd dose before turning five months of age, but remained above 60% for at least one year. VE was higher for RVGE hospitalizations than for medically attended outpatient visits.
Humans ; Rotavirus Vaccines/immunology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Case-Control Studies ; Child, Preschool ; Infant ; Rotavirus Infections/epidemiology* ; Male ; Propensity Score ; Female ; Vaccine Efficacy ; Gastroenteritis/virology* ; Vaccines, Attenuated ; Rotavirus

Objective To compare the diagnostic value of transabdominal intestinal ultrasound (IUS) and magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) for intestinal stenosis in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the imaging features of 51 IBD patients who underwent both IUS and MRE at Beijing Friendship Hospital,Capital Medical University,between January 2021 and February 2025.With endoscopy as the gold standard,the diagnostic performance of the two methods was compared. Results The sensitivity (84.2% vs. 52.6%,P=0.008) and accuracy (66.7% vs. 45.1%,P=0.035) of IUS for stenosis were higher than those of MRE.In the localization of stenosis,IUS demonstrated higher sensitivity than MRE for detecting stenosis in the terminal ileum (78.6% vs. 35.7%,P=0.070) and colorectum (86.7% vs. 53.3%,P=0.060).Furthermore,IUS showed higher diagnostic accuracy than MRE for terminal ileum stenosis (70.6% vs. 29.4%,P=0.039).The intestinal wall thickness[(8.2±2.7) mm vs. (10.3±3.8) mm;t=3.20,P=0.002)] and stenosis inner diameter[(3.0±1.6) mm vs. (4.3±1.8) mm;t=2.15,P=0.035] measured by IUS were lower than those measured by MRE,with a moderate level of consistency (ICC:0.19-0.53).In addition,IUS demonstrated a higher detection rate for mesenteric fat hypertrophy (70.6% vs. 27.5%,Kappa=0.27,P=0.005),whereas MRE was more sensitive in detecting lymphadenopathy (90.2% vs. 56.9%,Kappa=0.16,P=0.080). Conclusions IUS is superior to MRE in the diagnosis and localization sensitivity for intestinal stenosis in IBD.However,the two methods showcase poor consistency in detecting and quantitating some inflammatory signs.IUS can be used as a first-line screening method for diagnosing intestinal stenosis in IBD patients,while its clinical application should be combined with specific needs to optimize diagnosis.
Humans ; Retrospective Studies ; Constriction, Pathologic/diagnostic imaging* ; Ultrasonography/methods* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Intestines/diagnostic imaging* ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Aim To analyze the anti-A549 and HI299 lung ade-nocarcinoma activities via using examples of baicalin, astragalo-side, hesperidin and cisplatin based on real time cellular analysis (RTCA) technology, and to build a new strategy for EC50 e-valuation reflecting the time-dimensional characteristic. Methods Using RTCA Software Pro for data analysis and GraphPad Prism and Origin Pro plotting, the in vitro anti-A549 and H1299 lung adenocarcinoma activities of baicalin, astragaloside, hesperidin, and cisplatin were characterized using the endpoint method and time dimension, respectively. Results (X) There were significant differences in EC50 values of A549 and H1299 cells at 24 h and 48 h endpoint methods. (2) The correlation coefficient of the curve fitted with the four-parameter equation was > 0. 9, and the dynamic change of EC50 remained relatively stable (the linear fitting of EC50 at adjacent 4 points I slope 1^1) used to calculate the EC50 value within this time dimension. The EC50 of baicalin, astragaloside, hesperidin and cisplatin on A549 cells was 52. 97 ±1.75 плпо! • L~1(16~48 h) , 62.88 ± 2.91 ijunol • L"1 (32.25 -48 h) , 78.84 ±0.33 плпо1 • L"1 (21.5 -29.75 h), 13.57 ±1.54 плпо1 • L_1(27.5 -48 h), respectively; the EC50 of baicalin, astragaloside, hesperidin and cisplatin on H1299 cells was 43. 71 ± 1. 26 |лто1 • L_1 ( 19. 5 -48 h), 47.23 ±1. 19 |лто1 • L_1(14 -48 h) , 39.45 ±0.24 плпо1 • L"1 (12.75 -46.25 h), 25.97 ±4.76 плпо1 • L"1 (10. 25 -48 h) , respectively. The results showed that the time window for the anti-tumor effect of the test solution/drug was different. Conclusions Based on RTCA technology, it is more accurate and reasonable to select EC50 data that exhibit better fitting, stable changes, and time-dimensional characteristics for the evaluation of anti-tumor activity. In addition, this method of distinguishing different effective time of antitumor drugs can provide a reference for the timing of clinical combination drugs, and this approach will also provide a reference for further related studies.

Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of recombinant human anti-severe acute respiratory syn-drome coronavirus 2(anti-SARS-CoV-2)monoclonal antibody injection(F61 injection)in the treatment of patients with coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)combined with renal damage.Methods Patients with COVID-19 and renal damage who visited the PLA General Hospital from January to February 2023 were selected.Subjects were randomly divided into two groups.Control group was treated with conventional anti-COVID-19 therapy,while trial group was treated with conventional anti-COVID-19 therapy combined with F61 injection.A 15-day follow-up was conducted after drug administration.Clinical symptoms,laboratory tests,electrocardiogram,and chest CT of pa-tients were performed to analyze the efficacy and safety of F61 injection.Results Twelve subjects(7 in trial group and 5 in control group)were included in study.Neither group had any clinical progression or death cases.The ave-rage time for negative conversion of nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in control group and trial group were 3.2 days and 1.57 days(P=0.046),respectively.The scores of COVID-19 related target symptom in the trial group on the 3rd and 5th day after medication were both lower than those of the control group(both P＜0.05).According to the clinical staging and World Health Organization 10-point graded disease progression scale,both groups of subjects improved but didn't show statistical differences(P＞0.05).For safety,trial group didn't present any infusion-re-lated adverse event.Subjects in both groups demonstrated varying degrees of elevated blood glucose,elevated urine glucose,elevated urobilinogen,positive urine casts,and cardiac arrhythmia,but the differences were not statistica-lly significant(all P＞0.05).Conclusion F61 injection has initially demonstrated safety and clinical benefit in trea-ting patients with COVID-19 combined with renal damage.As the domestically produced drug,it has good clinical accessibility and may provide more options for clinical practice.

3ʹ-Hydroxy-4ʹ-methoxy-2-hydroxy-5-bromochalcone (hereinafter referred to as C13) is a novel chalcone derivative obtained in the process of structural modification of DHMMF, the antitumor active compound of Resina Draconis, in our laboratory. In this study, we investigated the effects of C13 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human gastric cancer HGC-27 and AGS cells and its potential mechanism of action. Firstly, through methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), colony formation assay, and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining, we found that C13 inhibited the proliferation ability of human gastric cancer HGC-27 and AGS cells. Using flow cytometry and Western blot, it was found that C13 induced apoptosis in human gastric cancer HGC-27 and AGS cells, and up-regulated the protein level of cleaved poly ADP-ribose polymerase (cleaved-PARP). The results of RNA sequencing analysis showed that the Erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 4/phosphoinositide 3-kinases/AKT (ErbB4/PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway may be involved in anti-gastric cancer activity of C13. Finally, the results of immunoblotting assay showed that C13 treatment down-regulated the protein levels of ErbB4 and phospho-ErbB4, as well as down-regulated the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and AKT in human gastric cancer HGC-27 and AGS cells, which verified the results from RNA-seq analysis. In conclusion, C13 inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells, which may be related to the down-regulation of ErbB4/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This study may provide a candidate drug for the treatment of gastric cancer.