The chemical components of Carthami Flos were investigated by using macroporous resin, silica gel column chromatography, reversed-phase octadecylsilane(ODS) column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The planar structures of the compounds were established based on their physicochemical properties and ultraviolet-visible(UV-Vis), infrared(IR), high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry(HR-ESI-MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) spectroscopic technology. The absolute configurations were determined by comparing the calculated and experimental electronic circular dichroism(ECD). Six flavonoid C-glycosides were isolated from the 30% ethanol elution fraction of macroporous resin obtained from the 95% ethanol extract of Carthami Flos, and identified as saffloquinoside F(1), 5-hydroxysaffloneoside(2), iso-5-hydroxysaffloneoside(3), isosafflomin C(4), safflomin C(5), and vicenin 2(6). Among these, the compounds 1 to 3 were new chalcone C-glycosides. The compounds 1, 2, 4, and 5 could significantly increase the viability of H9c2 cardiomyocytes damaged by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation(OGD/R) at a concentration of 50 μmol·L~(-1), showing their good cardioprotective activity.
Glycosides/pharmacology* ; Flowers/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Carthamus tinctorius/chemistry* ; Chalcones/pharmacology* ; Animals

OBJECTIVE: This study examines utilizes the advantages of machine learning algorithms to discern key determinants in prognosticate postoperative circulatory complications (PCCs) for older patients. METHODS: This secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial involved 1,720 elderly participants in five tertiary hospitals in Beijing, China. Participants aged 60-90 years undergoing major non-cardiac surgery under general anesthesia. The primary outcome metric of the study was the occurrence of PCCs, according to the European Society of Cardiology and the European Society of Anaesthesiology diagnostic criteria. The analysis metrics contained 67 candidate variables, including baseline characteristics, laboratory tests, and scale assessments. RESULTS: Our feature selection process identified key variables that significantly impact patient outcomes, including the duration of ICU stay, surgery, and anesthesia; APACHE-II score; intraoperative average heart rate and blood loss; cumulative opioid use during surgery; patient age; VAS-Move-Median score on the 1st to 3rd day; Charlson comorbidity score; volumes of intraoperative plasma, crystalloid, and colloid fluids; cumulative red blood cell transfusion during surgery; and endotracheal intubation duration. Notably, our Random Forest model demonstrated exceptional performance with an accuracy of 0.9872. CONCLUSION We have developed and validated an algorithm for predicting PCCs in elderly patients by identifying key risk factors.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology* ; Machine Learning ; Postoperative Complications/etiology* ; Risk Factors ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Secondary Data Analysis

Objective To explore clinical efficacy of osteoplasty combined with percutaneous vertebroplasty(PVP)and percutaneous kyphoplasty(PKP)alone in treating osteoporosis vertebral compression fractures(OVCFs).Methods The clini-cal data of 80 patients with single-level OVCFs treated from January 2021 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed,and were divided into treatment group and control group according to different surgical methods,40 patients in each group.In treatment group,there were 24 males and 16 females,aged from 60 to 83 years old with an average of(70.43±7.31)years old;bone min-eral density ranged from-3.30 to-2.50 SD with an average of(-2.84±0.24)SD;1 patient with T10,4 patients with T11,11 pa-tients with T12,7 patients with L1,7 patients with L2,5 patients with L3,3 patients with L4,2 patients with L5;bone setting tech-nique combined with PVP were performed.In control group,there were 27 males and 13 females,aged from 60 to 82 years old with an average of(68.98±6.94)years old;bone mineral density ranged from-3.40 to-2.50 SD with an average of(-2.76±0.23)SD;2 patients with T10,3 patients with T11,13 patients with T12,11 patients with L1,5 patients with L2,3 patients with L3,2 patients with L4,1 patient with L5;simple PKP were peformed.Visual analogue scale(VAS)and lumbar Oswestry disability in-dex(ODI)were compared between two groups before operation,3 days,3 and 12 months after operation.The changes of local kyphotic angle,vertebral wedge angle and vertebral anterior margin height ratio were compared between two groups before op-eration,3 days and 12 months after operation.Results All patients were successfully completed operation.Treatment group were followed up from 13 to 22 months with an average of(16.82±2.14)months,and control group were followed up from 13 to 23 months with an average of(16.45±2.56)months.Three patients were occurred bone cement leakage in treatment group,while 1 patient were occurred bone cement leakage and 1 patient occurred sensory disturbance of lower limb skin in control group;there were no significant difference in complications between two groups(P＞0.05).There were no significant difference in preoperative VAS and ODI between two groups(P＞0.05).At 3 days after operation,VAS of treatment group 3.68±0.62 was significantly higher than that of control group 4.00±0.72(P＜0.05).There were no significant difference in VAS and ODI be-tween two groups at 3 and 12 months after operation(P＞0.05).There were no significant difference in local kyphotic angle,vertebral wedge angle and vertebral anterior margin height between two groups at 3 days and 12 months after operation(P＞0.05).Conclusion Compared with PKP,bone setting manipulation combined with PVP for the treatment of OVCFs has advan-tages in early postoperative pain relief.In terms of vertebral height recovery,bone setting manipulation combined with PVP and PKP alone have similar clinical effects.

The risks related to the essential performance were analyzed with considerations on the concept of the essential performance in GB 9706.1-2020 Medical electrical equipment-Part 1:General requirements for basic safety and essential performance,and the determination process for the essential performance of medical electrical equipment was summarized.The essential performance of the example equipment was clarified with the semi-quantitative risk analysis,and the influences of the arrangement of the electromagnetic compatibility test on the determination of the essential performance were explored with the conducted immunity test and conventional test.References were provided for standard users to understand and determine the essential performance effectively.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(11):72-76]

Objective To investigate the effect of varying ureteral wall thickness(UWT)at the site of ureteral stones on the clinical efficacy of ureteroscopic lithotripsy(URL).Methods The clinical data of 164 patients with ureteral stones in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.According to different UWT,the patients were divided into the mild thickening group(84 cases,UWT<3.16 mm),the moderate thickening group(31 cases,UWT 3.16 to 3.49 mm),and the severe thickening group(49 cases,UWT>3.49 mm),and the differences of clinical related indicators among the three groups were compared.Results The incidence of postoperative renal colic and leukocyte disorder in the mild thickening group and the moderate thickening group were lower than those in the severe thickening group,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).The postoperative catheterization time in the mild thickening group and the moderate thickening group were shorter than that in the severe thickening group,and the incidences of secondary lithotripsy,residual stones and stone return to kidney in the mild thickening group and the moderate thickening group were lower than those in the severe thickening group,with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).The length of hospital stay and hospitalization cost in the mild thickening group and the moderate thickening group were shorter/less than those in the severe thickening group,with statistically significant differences(P<0.05).Conclusion With the increase of UWT(especially when UWT>3.49 mm),the incidence of postoperative complications and hospitalization cost of URL increase to varying degrees,and the surgical efficacy decreases.In clinical work,UWT measurement holds potential value in predicting the surgical efficacy and complications of URL.

It is necessary to pay close attention to the integration of ideological and political elements and the organic combination of professional curriculum content in the implementation of science and engineer-ing courses.The genetics course is highly specialized,and the course ideological and political develop-ment has its own unique methods.This paper first discusses the characteristics of contemporary college students,and points out the necessity of ideological and political ideas in contemporary college teaching.Based on the characteristics of genetics course,this paper explores the improvement strategies of ideolog-ical and political teaching from four aspects:teaching team building,teaching design optimization,ideo-logical and political elements mining,and organic integration of ideological and political materials into the course content.Taking the actual teaching situation of the author's teaching team as an example to con-duct subsequent teaching evaluation and reflection,the results show that more than 80％of the students believe that the implementation of the genetics course has improved their learning interest and comprehen-sive ability,and promoted the study of professional courses,and the total score of students has increased by about 5.5％on average.In this way,it can provide inspiration for the construction of other related courses,so that the curriculum ideology and politics can escort the improvement of students'ability and the optimization of their character.

Sucrose synthase plays a crucial role in the plant sugar metabolism pathway by catalyzing the production of uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose, which serves as a bioactive glycosyl donor for various metabolic processes. In this study, a sucrose synthase gene named CtSus was cloned from Cistanche tubulosa, a traditional Chinese medicine known for its rich content of diverse glycosides, based on transcriptome analysis results. The open reading frame of CtSus was 2 418 bp long encoding 805 amino acids. Sequence analysis revealed conserved domains associated with the plant sucrose synthase family at both the N-terminal and C-terminal regions of CtSus protein. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that CtSus shares a close evolutionary relationship with sucrose synthases from other plants within the same order. Functional identification of CtSus was performed through whole-cell catalysis coupling with UGT71BD1, a characterized glycosyltransferase enzyme. The results showed that the introduction of CtSus significantly enhanced the conversion rate of glycosylation catalyzed by UGT71BD1. The soluble expression of CtSus in Escherichia coli was further achieved using the pCold^TM TF expression vector. In vitro enzymatic assay indicated the activity of CtSus to catalyze the formation of UDP-glucose in the presence of sucrose and UDP. Real-time quantitative-polymerase chain reaction results showed that the expression patterns of CtSus gene in different parts of C. tubulosa and the suspension cell cultures of C. tubulosa under drought stress correlated with the accumulation patterns observed for phenylethanol glycosides, respectively. Furthermore, key amino acids and their interactions between enzyme and substrate were explored based on protein structure prediction and molecular docking results. Overall, our findings identify a sucrose synthase CtSus responsible for the supply of the active glycosyl donor UDP-glucose during the biosynthesis of glycoside products in C. tubulosa and have also provided a gene element that can be utilized in engineering strain construction for glycoside products production.

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated for determining the concentrations of costunolide(CO), piperine(PI), agarotetrol(AG), glycyrrhizic acid(GL), vanillic acid(VA), and glycyrrhetinic acid(GA) in rat plasma. This method was then applied to the toxicokinetic study of these six compounds in rats with chronic cerebral ischemia(CCI) following multiple oral doses of Zhachong Shisanwei Pills. Finally, the effects of continuous multiple-dose administration of Zhachong Shisanwei Pills on the liver of CCI rats were investigated. The results showed that after oral administration of different doses of Zhachong Shisanwei Pills, the in vivo exposure of AG, VA, and GA was relatively high, with AUC_(0-∞) values ranging from 604.0-2 494.2, 1 305.4-4 634.5, and 2 177.5-4 045.7 h·ng·mL~(-1), respectively, while the exposure of CO, PI, and GL was relatively low, with AUC_(0-∞) values ranging from 37.8-238.2, 2.4-17.0, and 146.9-408.5 h·ng·mL~(-1), respectively. The C_(max) and AUC_(0-∞) of the six compounds were positively correlated with the administered dose. The T_(max) of PI and AG ranged from 0.3 to 2.0 h, their T_(1/2) ranged from 0.8 to 2.9 h, and their mean residence time(MRT) ranged from 1.0 to 3.7 h. The T_(max) of GL and VA was shorter(0.4-1.9 h), while their T_(1/2)(2.6-5.9 h) and MRT(2.5-8.5 h) were longer. Both CO and GA exhibited a bimodal phenomenon, with T_(max) ranging from 1.6 to 6.6 h, T_(1/2) ranging from 2.8 to 7.7 h, and MRT ranging from 4.1 to 12.9 h. Liver histopathology after 28 days of continuous multiple-dose administration of Zhachong Shisanwei Pills showed that the liver tissue remained normal at a low dose(crude drug 0.8 g·kg~(-1), approximately 5 times the clinical equivalent dose). However, as the dose increased(crude drug 1.1-3.0 g·kg~(-1), 6.9-18.8 times the clinical equivalent dose), varying degrees of liver damage were observed. Blood biochemical tests revealed no significant changes in the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), alkaline phosphatase(ALP), and total bile acid(TBA) in CCI rats from administration groups 1 to 3(crude drug 0.8, 1.1, 1.5 g·kg~(-1)). However, ALT, AST, ALP, and TBA levels in groups 4 and 5(crude drug 2.1, 3.0 g·kg~(-1)) showed significant increases. This study preliminarily elucidated the toxicokinetic characteristics of the six compounds in Zhachong Shisanwei Pills and their effects on liver tissue in CCI rats, providing data as a reference for clinical use.
Animals ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Rats ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/toxicity* ; Male ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Brain Ischemia/blood* ; Chromatography, Liquid/methods* ; Polyunsaturated Alkamides/blood* ; Piperidines/toxicity* ; Benzodioxoles/toxicity* ; Alkaloids/blood* ; Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

OBJECTIVE: Jiedu Recipe (JR), a Chinese herbal remedy, has been shown to prolong overall survival time and decrease recurrence and metastasis rates in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This work investigated the mechanism of JR in HCC treatment. METHODS: The chemical constituents of JR were detected using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The potential anti-HCC mechanism of JR was screened using network pharmacology and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) microarray chip assay, followed by experimental validation in human HCC cells (SMMC-7721 and Huh7) in vitro and a nude mouse subcutaneous transplantation model of HCC in vivo. HCC cell characteristics of proliferation, migration and invasion under hypoxic setting were investigated using thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide, wound healing and Transwell assays, respectively. Image-iT™ Hypoxia Reagent was added to reveal hypoxic conditions. Stem cell sphere formation assay was used to detect the stemness. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers like E-cadherin, vimentin and α-smooth muscle actin, and pluripotent transcription factors including nanog homeobox, octamer-binding transcription factor 4, and sex-determining region Y box protein 2 were analyzed using Western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Western blot was performed to ascertain the anti-HCC effect of JR under hypoxia involving the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. RESULTS: According to network pharmacology and mRNA microarray chip analysis, JR may potentially act on hypoxia and inhibit the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. In vitro and in vivo experiments showed that JR significantly decreased hypoxia, and suppressed HCC cell features of proliferation, migration and invasion; furthermore, the hypoxia-induced increases in EMT and stemness marker expression in HCC cells were inhibited by JR. Results based on the co-administration of JR and an agonist (LiCl) or inhibitor (IWR-1-endo) verified that JR suppressed HCC cancer stem-like properties under hypoxia by blocking the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. CONCLUSION JR exerts potent anti-HCC effects by inhibiting cancer stemness via abating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway under hypoxic conditions. Please cite this article as: Guo BJ, Ruan Y, Wang YJ, Xiao CL, Zhong ZP, Cheng BB, Du J, Li B, Gu W, Yin ZF. Jiedu Recipe, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, inhibits cancer stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma via Wnt/β-catenin pathway under hypoxia. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(5): 474-486.
Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/genetics* ; beta Catenin/pharmacology* ; Liver Neoplasms/genetics* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; RNA, Messenger/therapeutic use* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Movement ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic

Bufonis Venenum, an animal medicinal material, is widely used for treating cardiovascular diseases and pain induced by rheumatics or malignant tumors. In view of the high activity and high toxicity, it is of great significance to pay attention to the quality control of Bufonis Venenum to ensure the safety and effectiveness of its preparations. China's drug standards involve 102 preparations(474 batch numbers) containing Bufonis Venenum approved for sale, including 14 preparations in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition) and 68 preparations in the standards issued by the Ministry of Health Drug Standard of the People's Republic of China. Bufonis Venenum is mostly used in pill and powder preparations in the form of raw powder, with the main functions of clearing heat, removing toxin, relieving swelling and pain, replenishing qi, activating blood, opening orifice, and awakening brain. Except the high level of quality control for Bufonis Venenum in the preparations in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition), the quality control standards of Bufonis Venenum in other preparations are low or even absent. Therefore, it is urgent to conduct research on the improvement of quality standards for the preparations containing Bufonis Venenum. This study retrieved the reports focusing on the quality evaluation and quality control of the preparations containing Bufonis Venenum from CNKI, PubMed, and Web of Science. Qualitative and quantitative analysis methods for 64 preparations containing Bufonis Venenum have been reported, mainly including thin-layer chromatography, HPLC fingerprint, and multi-component content determination. The index components mainly involved bufadienolides, such as gamabufalin, arenobufagin, bufotalin, bufalin, cinobufagin, and resibufogenin. According to the literature information, this paper suggests that attention should be paid to the correlations between the analysis methods and detection indexes of medicinal materials, decoction pieces and preparations, the monitoring of indole alkaloids, and the content uniformity inspection for further improving the quality standards for the preparations containing Bufonis Venenum.
Animals ; Humans ; Bufonidae ; Powders ; Bufanolides/pharmacology* ; Quality Control ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Pain/drug therapy*