A mounting body of research suggests that circRNAs significantly contribute to the develop-ment of myocardial fibrosis.The microarray results of human circular RNA expression profile indicated that circHERC4_041 expression increased in the myocardium of patients with heart failure,RT-qPCR a-nalysis confirmed that the myocardial expression level of circHERC4_041 in individuals with heart failure were considerably elevated compared to that in healthy organ donors.Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)confirmed that circHERC4_041 was abundant in the cytoplasm of human cardiomyocyte AC16.Overexpression of circHERC4_041 in mouse myocardial fibroblasts(mCFs)mediated by adenovirus in-hibited the expression of fibrosis-related proteins in mCFs.Experiments involving cell proliferation,wound healing,and Transwell assays demonstrated that overexpression of circHERC4_041 suppressed the growth and mobility of mCFs(P＜0.001).Sequence analysis results suggested that circHERC4_041 con-tains potential ribosome entry sequence(IRES)and open reading frame(ORF).Western blot confirmed that circHERC4_041 could translate the 516 amino acid HERC4-516aa protein,which was mainly located in the cytoplasm of the cell.Cell functional experiments confirmed that circHERC4_041 inhibited the fi-brotic phenotype of mCFs by specifically translating HERC4-516aa(P＜0.05).The specific interaction between HERC4-516aa and transglutaminase 2(TGM2)was confirmed by IP-MS screening and Co-IP i-dentification.Further results found that the degradation of TGM2 was promoted through proteasome path-way.The overexpression of TGM2 in mCFs facilitated by adenoviral vectors could counteract the suppres-sive effects of HERC4-516aa on the fibrotic phenotype of mCFs.Therefore,this study confirmed that the HERC4-516aa protein translated by circHERC4_041 can specifically bind to TGM2 to inhibit the fibrotic phenotype of myocardial fibroblasts.

Aim To investigate the expression levels of cytoplasmic FMR1-interacting protein-1(CYFIP1)in colorectal cancer and assess the impact of CYFIP1 interaction on the proliferation and apoptosis of colorec-tal cancer cell HT29,along with its potential mecha-nisms.Methods Immunohistochemistry was em-ployed to assess CYFIP1 expression in 32 colorectal cancer tissues and adjacent tissues.Coexpressed genes were identified using the GEPIA2 website to predict potential correlations and binding sites.Following the construction of a siRNA-CYFIP1,alterations in cell proliferation,apoptosis,and levels of apoptosis-related proteins were evaluated through CCK-8 assay,Hoechst 33342/PI double staining assay,and Western blot a-nalysis,respectively.Results The immunohisto-chemical findings revealed a significantly elevated level of CYFIP1 expression in colorectal cancer tissues com-pared to paracancer tissues(P＜0.05).The expres-sion of CYFIP1 did not show any correlation with age and gender,but exhibited associations with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis(P＜0.05).A conserved TP53 binding site was predicted in the 3kbps DNA re-gion upstream of the CYFIP1 gene using GEPIA2,JASPAR databases,and rVista 2.0 promoter prediction software.Following transfection of HT29 cells with siRNA-CYFIP1,the clonogenesis and proliferation of cells significantly decreased(P＜0.05).Additional-ly,the levels of cleaved caspase-3 were elevated,while the expression levels of caspase-3 and Bcl-2 were reduced after transfection with siRNA-CYFIP1(P＜0.05),which might be related to the interaction be-tween CYFIP1 and TP53.Conclusions The upregu-lation of CYFIP1 in colorectal cancer is associated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis.Upon silen-cing,CYFIP1 demonstrates the ability to suppress pro-liferation in HT29 cells and modulate the expression of apoptotic proteins.

A mounting body of research suggests that circRNAs significantly contribute to the develop-ment of myocardial fibrosis.The microarray results of human circular RNA expression profile indicated that circHERC4_041 expression increased in the myocardium of patients with heart failure,RT-qPCR a-nalysis confirmed that the myocardial expression level of circHERC4_041 in individuals with heart failure were considerably elevated compared to that in healthy organ donors.Fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH)confirmed that circHERC4_041 was abundant in the cytoplasm of human cardiomyocyte AC16.Overexpression of circHERC4_041 in mouse myocardial fibroblasts(mCFs)mediated by adenovirus in-hibited the expression of fibrosis-related proteins in mCFs.Experiments involving cell proliferation,wound healing,and Transwell assays demonstrated that overexpression of circHERC4_041 suppressed the growth and mobility of mCFs(P＜0.001).Sequence analysis results suggested that circHERC4_041 con-tains potential ribosome entry sequence(IRES)and open reading frame(ORF).Western blot confirmed that circHERC4_041 could translate the 516 amino acid HERC4-516aa protein,which was mainly located in the cytoplasm of the cell.Cell functional experiments confirmed that circHERC4_041 inhibited the fi-brotic phenotype of mCFs by specifically translating HERC4-516aa(P＜0.05).The specific interaction between HERC4-516aa and transglutaminase 2(TGM2)was confirmed by IP-MS screening and Co-IP i-dentification.Further results found that the degradation of TGM2 was promoted through proteasome path-way.The overexpression of TGM2 in mCFs facilitated by adenoviral vectors could counteract the suppres-sive effects of HERC4-516aa on the fibrotic phenotype of mCFs.Therefore,this study confirmed that the HERC4-516aa protein translated by circHERC4_041 can specifically bind to TGM2 to inhibit the fibrotic phenotype of myocardial fibroblasts.

Aim To investigate the expression levels of cytoplasmic FMR1-interacting protein-1(CYFIP1)in colorectal cancer and assess the impact of CYFIP1 interaction on the proliferation and apoptosis of colorec-tal cancer cell HT29,along with its potential mecha-nisms.Methods Immunohistochemistry was em-ployed to assess CYFIP1 expression in 32 colorectal cancer tissues and adjacent tissues.Coexpressed genes were identified using the GEPIA2 website to predict potential correlations and binding sites.Following the construction of a siRNA-CYFIP1,alterations in cell proliferation,apoptosis,and levels of apoptosis-related proteins were evaluated through CCK-8 assay,Hoechst 33342/PI double staining assay,and Western blot a-nalysis,respectively.Results The immunohisto-chemical findings revealed a significantly elevated level of CYFIP1 expression in colorectal cancer tissues com-pared to paracancer tissues(P＜0.05).The expres-sion of CYFIP1 did not show any correlation with age and gender,but exhibited associations with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis(P＜0.05).A conserved TP53 binding site was predicted in the 3kbps DNA re-gion upstream of the CYFIP1 gene using GEPIA2,JASPAR databases,and rVista 2.0 promoter prediction software.Following transfection of HT29 cells with siRNA-CYFIP1,the clonogenesis and proliferation of cells significantly decreased(P＜0.05).Additional-ly,the levels of cleaved caspase-3 were elevated,while the expression levels of caspase-3 and Bcl-2 were reduced after transfection with siRNA-CYFIP1(P＜0.05),which might be related to the interaction be-tween CYFIP1 and TP53.Conclusions The upregu-lation of CYFIP1 in colorectal cancer is associated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis.Upon silen-cing,CYFIP1 demonstrates the ability to suppress pro-liferation in HT29 cells and modulate the expression of apoptotic proteins.

Objective To evaluate the safety,tolerability and pharmacokinetic profiles of naldemedine in Chinese healthy adult subjects after single and multiple administrations.Methods After single and multiple oral administrations of naldemedine to 10 healthy Chinese subjects,the plasma concentrations of naldemedine and its metabolite(nor-naldemedine)were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry,and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by Phoenix WinNonlin 8.3.1 software.Results Compared with single administration,naldemedine showed no significant change in the tmax(1.06 h for single and 1.08 h for multiple)and Cmax(4.16 ng·mL-1 for single and 4.11 ng·mL-1 for multiple),higher AUC0-τ than that of single(23.88 ng·h·mL-1 for single and 28.93 ng·h·mL-1 for multiple),slightly prolonged t1/2(9.26 h for single,12.50 h for multiple),there was a slight drug accumulation after multiple doses(accumulation ratio of 0.99 for Cmax and 1.22 for AUC);t1/2(18.10 h for single,29.30 h for multiple),Cmax(0.19 ng·mL-1 for single,0.38 ng·mL-1 for multiple),and AUC0-τ(3.13 ng·h·mL-1 for single,6.02 ng·h·mL-1 for multiple)were all significantly elevated with nor-naldemedine,and the tmax(single was 3.49 h and multiple was 3.56 h)did not change significantly.The Cmax ratio and AUC ratio of metabolites to naldemedine were significantly elevated,and accumulation was present after multiple administrations(accumulation ratio of 2.01 for Cmax and 1.95 for AUC).All adverse events that occurred after treatment were mild.Conclusion After multiple oral administrations of 0.2 mg naldemedine tablets to Chinese healthy subjects(single dose on day 1 and once daily on days 4-13),the drug was eliminated rapidly with mild accumulation,and reached a steady state before the second dose of the multiple-dosing phase,and the product has a favorable safety and tolerability profiles.

A new alkaloid (1) and six known compounds (2-7) were isolated from the solid fermentation extract of the endophytic fungus Alternaria tenuissima Pas85 of Phragmites australis by silica gel column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography and other chromatographic techniques. The structures of these compounds were determined by HREIMS, NMR, IR spectroscopy, and literature comparison, and the anti MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) activity of 1-5 were tested. Compounds 1, 2, 3 and 4 exhibited certain inhibitory activity with MIC values of 64, 4, 32 and 32 μg·mL^-1, respectively, and compound 5 showed no significant inhibitory activity.

AIM: To observe the expression levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor(PEDF)and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in lens epithelial cells(LECs)of diabetic patients with age-related cataract, and explore the pathogenesis of diabetic with age-related cataract.METHODS: Retrospectively study. A total of 30 patients with age-related cataract(ARC group)and 30 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus combined with age-related cataract(DC group)who treated at the Department of Ophthalmology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from August 2020 to April 2021 were collected. Anterior capsule specimens with a diameter of 5.5-6.0mm in the central region of the intraoperative eye were collected during phacoemulsification. The protein expression levels of PEDF and VEGF in LECs were detected by Western-blot. Quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR)was used to detect the relative mRNA expression levels of PEDF and VEGF.RESULTS:PEDF and VEGF were expressed in LECs of both groups, and the relative expression of VEGF mRNA in DC group was 1.364±0.062, which was higher than that of ARC group(1.000±0.0; P<0.01). The relative mRNA expression level of PEDF was 0.398±0.053, which was significantly lower than 1.000±0.0 in the ARC group(P<0.001). The expression of VEGF protein in LECs was 2.053±0.026 in DC group and 1.680±0.064 in ARC group, respectively. Meanwhile, the expression of PEDF protein was 0.579±0.045 in DC group and 1.058±0.007 in ARC group(all P<0.01).CONCLUSION:The changes of PEDF and VEGF expression levels in LECs may be related to the occurrence and development of cataract in diabetic patients.

Chinese patent medicine (CPM) is an important part of traditional and Chinese medicine (TCM). Its quality has direct impact on the safety and effectiveness of clinical use. The quality standard is the pivotal approach to guarantee the quality of CPM. Due to the complex material basis, multitudinous quality influencing factors and unveiled active ingredients, dose-effect relationship and action mechanism, the investigation on quality standard faces many difficulties. This paper surveys the current quality status of CPM and the general situation of CPM standards. At present, the dosing problem has the crucial impact on the quality of CPM. The current quality standard system of CPM is confirmed and the limitations are indicated. Based on the above analysis, the principles and considerations on investigation of quality standard are proposed as follows: ① Adhere to safety as the bottom line, strengthen the risk-control ability of the standard of CPM; ② Adhere to theory of TCM and comprehensive quality, improve the integrative control level of the CPM standard; ③ Emphasize technological development and innovation, promote the quality control competence of CPM standard; ④ Facilitate planning and coordination, optimize the management of the CPM standard system; ⑤ Reinforce investigation on evaluation method, develop grade evaluation standard, accelerate high-quality development of CPM. Finally, the future perspective on investigation of CPM quality standard is prospected.

At present, the research of Moutan cortex carbonisata (MCC) mainly focuses on the changes of chemical composition before and after charcoal production, and there is a lack of material basic research directly related to the efficacy at home and abroad. In this study, Moutan cortex, as a precursor, and was calcined to MCC at high temperature. The Moutan cortex carbonisata nano-components (MCC-NCs) were extracted and separated from MCC to explore its cooling-blood and hemostatic effects. In the experiment, the MCC was calcined at a high temperature in a muffle furnace (350 ℃, 1 h), and then MCC-NCs were extracted for MCC, and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, the study evaluated the blood-cooling and hemostatic effects of MCC-NCs. The results showed that MCC-NCs have a size distribution of 0.80-2.8 nm, a lattice spacing of 0.26 nm. MCC-NCs are mainly composed of C, O and N elements and have abundant surface functional groups such as OH, C=O, C-N and C=C. The fluorescence yield of MCC-NCs was 7.18%. The experiments complied with the Animal Ethics Committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The result indicated that pretreatment MCC-NCs can significantly (P < 0.05) reduce the high, medium, and low viscosity of whole blood and plasma viscosity, and reduce hematocrit, red blood cell distribution width, hemoglobin and red blood cell level. In addition, MCC-NCs significantly reduced the levels of activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time and fibrinogen (P < 0.05). The pathological examination results showed that MCC-NCs can significantly reduce lung tissue damage, reduce bleeding and inflammatory cell infiltration. At the same time, it can also significantly reduce the symptoms of gastric mucosal bleeding. In conclusion, the results indicated that MCC-NCs has significantly the effect of blood cooling and hemostasis, and its hemostatic effect is mainly related to the activation of endogenous coagulation pathway or fibrinogen system, which provided a novel strategy for exploring the material basis of traditional Chinese medicine for hemostasis.

Objective: The relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and glycemic indices, including plasma glucose (FPG), 2-hour postload glucose (2h-PG), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), remains inconclusive. We aimed to explore the associations between glycemic indices and SUA levels in the general Chinese population. Methods: The current study was a cross-sectional analysis using the first follow-up survey data from The China Cardiometabolic Disease and Cancer Cohort Study. A total of 105,922 community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 40 years underwent the oral glucose tolerance test and uric acid assessment. The nonlinear relationships between glycemic indices and SUA levels were explored using generalized additive models. Results: A total of 30,941 men and 62,361 women were eligible for the current analysis. Generalized additive models verified the inverted U-shaped association between glycemic indices and SUA levels, but with different inflection points in men and women. The thresholds for FPG, 2h-PG, and HbA1c for men and women were 6.5/8.0 mmol/L, 11.0/14.0 mmol/L, and 6.1/6.5, respectively (SUA levels increased with increasing glycemic indices before the inflection points and then eventually decreased with further increases in the glycemic indices). Conclusion An inverted U-shaped association was observed between major glycemic indices and uric acid levels in both sexes, while the inflection points were reached earlier in men than in women.
Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Blood Glucose/analysis* ; China/epidemiology* ; Cohort Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus/blood* ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Glycated Hemoglobin A/analysis* ; Glycemic Index ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Uric Acid/blood*