Poly(lactic-co-glycolide)(PLGA)is a key excipient in long-acting sustained-release preparations,and its degradation properties directly affect the drug release behavior.In this study,PLGA microspheres were prepared by microfluidic techniques,and the morphology changes of the microspheres were observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM).In alkaline environment,due to the accelerated hydrolysis of ester bonds,the surface of the microspheres was rapidly dissolved and eroded,and the degradation rate was significantly higher than that in acidic environment.High temperature accelerated the degradation of PLGA microspheres.Under neutral and alkaline conditions,the microspheres showed aggregation and adhesion.Under acidic conditions,the microspheres gradually decomposed into irregular fragments.The high ionic strength further promoted the surface corrosion of the microspheres,especially under extreme pH conditions.Simultaneously,PLGA microspheres encapsulating coumarin were prepared to simulate the microsphere formulation.The release rate of coumarin after degradation of the microspheres under different conditions was observed by measuring the absorbance with ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry.The results were consistent with those of the blank microspheres.This study revealed that the degradation of PLGA microspheres was significantly pH-dependent,temperature sensitive and ion strength responsive.These findings not only helped to understand and optimize the long-term stability and controlled release performance of drug-carrying microspheres,but also provided a theoretical basis for further improvement of PLGA-based drug carrier design.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with common pathophysiological processes, such as inflammation and fibrosis, in both the heart and the kidney. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that drive these processes are not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study focused on the molecular mechanism of heart and kidney injury in CKD. METHODS: We generated an microRNA (miR)-26a knockout (KO) mouse model to investigate the role of miR-26a in angiotensin (Ang)-II-induced cardiac and renal injury. We performed Ang-II modeling in wild type (WT) mice and miR-26a KO mice, with six mice in each group. In addition, Ang-II-treated AC16 cells and HK2 cells were used as in vitro models of cardiac and renal injury in the context of CKD. Histological staining, immunohistochemistry, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and Western blotting were applied to study the regulation of miR-26a on Ang-II-induced cardiac and renal injury. Immunofluorescence reporter assays were used to detect downstream genes of miR-26a, and immunoprecipitation was employed to identify the interacting protein of LIM and senescent cell antigen-like domain 1 (LIMS1). We also used an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to supplement LIMS1 and explored the specific regulatory mechanism of miR-26a on Ang-II-induced cardiac and renal injury. Dunnett's multiple comparison and t -test were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Compared with the control mice, miR-26a expression was significantly downregulated in both the kidney and the heart after Ang-II infusion. Our study identified LIMS1 as a novel target gene of miR-26a in both heart and kidney tissues. Downregulation of miR-26a activated the LIMS1/integrin-linked kinase (ILK) signaling pathway in the heart and kidney, which represents a common molecular mechanism underlying inflammation and fibrosis in heart and kidney tissues during CKD. Furthermore, knockout of miR-26a worsened inflammation and fibrosis in the heart and kidney by inhibiting the LIMS1/ILK signaling pathway; on the contrary, supplementation with exogenous miR-26a reversed all these changes. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that miR-26a could be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiorenal injury in CKD. This is attributed to its ability to regulate the LIMS1/ILK signaling pathway, which represents a common molecular mechanism in both heart and kidney tissues.
Animals ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Angiotensin II/toxicity* ; Mice ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/chemically induced* ; Mice, Knockout ; Disease Models, Animal ; Male ; Signal Transduction/genetics* ; LIM Domain Proteins/genetics* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Cell Line ; Humans

Objective:To investigate the association between peripheral immune function status and lung cancer metastasis,and to identify peripheral blood immune biomarkers for'Deficiency of Vital Qi'assessment in lung cancer metastasis.Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on peripheral blood immune markers collected before treatment from lung cancer patients admitted into Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine,affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,between March 2023 and April 2025.Patients were categorized into the non-metastatic and the metastatic groups based on the presence of distant metastasis,and the differences in the expressions of immune cells and cytokines between groups were compared.Peripheral blood immune markers with P<0.05 in univariate analysis were incorporated into a multivariate binary logistic regression model to identify independent predictors of lung cancer metastasis.Results:A total of 193 lung cancer patients were included(101 in the non-metastatic group and 92 in the metastatic group).There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender,age,smoking history,drinking history,or pathological type(all P>0.05).Univariate analysis revealed significant differences in multiple immune markers between the non-metastatic and metastatic groups(all P<0.05),including:lymphocyte count,CD3+,CD4+,and CD8+T,CD19+B cells,absolute counts of CD3-CD16+CD56+NK cells,percentages of Treg cells,CD8+CD28+Treg cells,G-MDSC,and CD3-CD16+CD56+dim NK cells,and levels of cytokine IL-1β,IL-6,and IL-10.Binary logistic regression analysis of differential indicators suggested that the percentage of Treg cells and CD8+CD28+Treg cells in peripheral blood were independent predictors of distant metastasis in lung cancer(OR=1.193,95%CI[1.047,1.36],P<0.01;OR=0.978,95%CI[0.957,0.999],P<0.05).Conclusion:Peripheral blood immune dysfunction is the biological basis for'qi deficiency'in lung cancer metastasis.This study quantitatively demonstrates the correlation between peripheral immune function status and lung cancer metastasis,providing empirical evidence for the theories of'qi deficiency and hidden toxicity'and'metastatic state of tumors'.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of preemptive analgesia with ibuprofen on postoperative pain following single posterior tooth implantation, aiming to provide a clinical reference for its application.Methods:A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group trial was conducted. A total of 82 participants were included in the trial, meeting the eligibility criteria from April 2022 to April 2024 at the Capital Medical University School of Stomatology (40 cases), Beijing TianTan Hospital, Capital Medical University (22 cases), Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University (20 cases). Participants were randomly assigned in a 1∶1 ratio to either the ibuprofen group or the control group, with each group comprising 41 individuals. Participants in the ibuprofen group received 300 mg of sustained-release ibuprofen capsules orally 15 min before surgery, while the control group received a placebo. Both groups received the same postoperative analgesic regimen for 3 days. Pain scores were assessed using the numerical rating scale at 30 min, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h postoperatively, and the additional use of analgesic medication was recorded from days 4 to 6 postoperatively.Results:A total of 82 participants were initially enrolled in the study, with 7 dropouts (4 from the control group and 3 from the ibuprofen group), resulting in 75 participants (37 in the control group and 38 in the ibuprofen group) completing the trial. There were no reports of adverse events such as nausea or vomiting among the participants. The ibuprofen group exhibited significantly lower pain scores at 4 h, 6 h and 8 h [1.0 (0.0, 2.0), 1.0 (0.0, 2.0), 1.5 (0.0, 3.0) ] postoperatively compared to the control group 4 h, 6 h and 8 h [2.0 (1.0, 3.0), 3.0 (1.5, 4.0), 2.0 (1.0, 4.0)] ( Z=-1.99, P=0.047; Z=-3.01, P=0.003; Z=-2.10, P=0.036). The proportions of patients requiring additional analgesic medication between days 4 and 6 post-surgery were 18.4% (7/38) in the ibuprofen group and 27.0% (10/37) in the control group, with no significant difference (χ 2=0.79, P=0.373). The median additional medication usage postoperatively was [0.0 (0.0, 0.0) pills] in the ibuprofen group and [0.0 (0.0, 1.0) pills] in the control group, with no significant difference ( Z=-0.78, P=0.439). Conclusions:Preemptive analgesia with ibuprofen effectively reduces postoperative pain following tooth implantation, representing a safe and effective perioperative pain management strategy.

Objective To study the effects of different SBRT-VMAT plans for non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)with unilateral ipsilateral double metastatic lesions on received dose,monitor unit(MU),conformity index(CI)and gradient index(GI)of the lung,so as to provide references for therapy planning of the patient above.Methods A total of 11 NSCLC patients with unilateral ipsilateral double metastatic lesions were selected,with three plans developed for each patient by the volumetric modulated arc therapy(VMAT).The inner target areas ITV1 and ITV2 were contoured based on the maximum projection image of the 4D-CT localization mode,which were uniformly expanded externally by 3 mm to obtain the plan target area PTV1 and PTV2,and then PTV1 was added with PTV2 to get PTV12.The first planning mode had the centers of PTV1 and PTV2 target areas as the treatment centers,and two separate plans of plan-1 and plan-2 were developed and then combined into a plan-sum plan for dose evaluation;the second planning mode had the centers of PTV1 and PTV2 target areas as the treatment center,resepctively,and a multicenter plan(plan-D)was formed.The third planning mode had the center of PTV12 target area as the treatment center,and a single-center plan(plan-S)was designed.To meet the requirements of prescribed dose,plan-1 and plan-2 of plan-sum were normalized to PTV1 and PTV2 95％volume and plan-S and plan-D were normalized to PTV 12 95％volume.The three planning modes were compared in terms of received dose,MU,CI and GI of the lung.SPSS 25.0 software was carried out for statistical analysis.Results Plan-S had no significant differences with Plan-sum except V5(P＞0.05),whose V10,V20,V30 and mean dose were significantly lower than those of plan-sum(P＜0.05);plan-D had its received dose and mean dose statistically lower than those of plan-sum(P＜0.05);plan-S and plan-D had no obvious differences in received dose of the lung(P＞0.05).Plan-sum had the CI significantly lower than those of plan-S and plan-D(P＜0.05);plan-S and plan-D had no statistically differences in CI(P＞0.05).Plan-D had the GI significantly lower than plan-S and plan-sum(P＜0.05).Plan-S and plan-sum had no significant differences in GI(P＞0.05).Plan-D and plan-sum had no statistical differences in MU(P＞0.05),which had the MUs significantly higher than that of plan-S(P＜0.05).Conclusion A multicenter planning mode may be used for optimizing dose distribution and enhancing conformity in case the patient can tolerate prolonged immobilization in a fixed position,and a singlecenter planning mode should be adopted to shorten treatment time when the patient is in poor physical conditions.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(10):49-53]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the combination of chemotherapy with staged Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) therapy could enhance health-related quality of life (QoL) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and prolong the time before deterioration of lung cancer symptoms, in comparison to chemotherapy alone. METHODS: A prospective, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted from December 14, 2017 to August 28, 2020. A total of 180 patients with stage I B-IIIA NSCLC from 5 hospitals in Shanghai were randomly divided into chemotherapy combined with CHM (chemo+CHM) group (120 cases) or chemotherapy combined with placebo (chemo+placebo) group (60 cases) using stratified blocking randomization. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality-of-Life-Core 30 Scale (QLQ-C30) was used to evaluate the patient-reported outcomes (PROs) during postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage NSCLC. Adverse events (AEs) were assessed in the safety analysis. RESULTS: Out of the total 180 patients, 173 patients (116 in the chemo+CHM group and 57 in the chemo+placebo group) were included in the PRO analyses. The initial mean QLQ-C30 Global Health Status (GHS)/QoL scores at baseline were 57.16 ± 1.64 and 57.67 ± 2.25 for the two respective groups (P>0.05). Compared with baseline, the chemo+CHM group had an improvement in EORTC QLQ-C30 GHS/QoL score at week 18 [least squares mean (LSM) change 17.83, 95% confidence interval (CI) 14.29 to 21.38]. Conversely, the chemo+placebo group had a decrease in the score (LSM change -13.67, 95% CI -22.70 to -4.63). A significant between-group difference in the LSM GHS/QoL score was observed, amounting to 31.63 points (95% CI 25.61 to 37.64, P<0.001). The similar trends were observed in physical functioning, fatigue and appetite loss. At week 18, patients in the chemo+CHM group had a higher proportion of improvement or stabilization in GHS/QoL functional and symptom scores compared to chemo+placebo group (P<0.001). The median time to deterioration was longer in the chemo+CHM group for GHS/QoL score [hazard ratio (HR)=0.33, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.48, P<0.0010], physical functioning (HR=0.43, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.75, P=0.0005), fatigue (HR=0.47, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.72, P<0.0001) and appetite loss (HR=0.65, 95% CI 0.42 to 1.00, P=0.0215). The incidence of AEs was lower in the chemo+CHM group than in the chemo+placebo group (9.83% vs. 15.79%, P=0.52). CONCLUSION The staged CHM therapy could help improve the PROs of postoperative patients with early-stage NSCLC during adjuvant chemotherapy, which is worthy of further clinical research. (Registry No. NCT03372694).
Humans ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/surgery* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Female ; Lung Neoplasms/pathology* ; Double-Blind Method ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Patient Reported Outcome Measures ; Quality of Life ; Aged ; Postoperative Period ; Prospective Studies

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of transanal drainage tube (TDT) in reducing the incidence of anastomotic leak following anterior resection in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: We conducted a systematic search for relevant studies published from inception to October 2022 across multiple databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 software. The primary outcomes included total incidence of anastomotic leak, grade B and C anastomotic leak rates, reoperation rate, anastomotic bleeding rate, and overall complication rate. Results: Three randomized controlled trials involving 1115 patients (559 patients in the TDT group and 556 in the non-TDT group) were included. Meta-analysis showed that the total incidences of anastomotic leak and of grade B anastomotic leak were 5.5% (31/559) and 4.5% (25/559), respectively, in the TDT group and 7.9% (44/556) and 3.8% (21/556), respectively, in the non-TDT group. These differences are not statistically significant (P=0.120, P=0.560, respectively). Compared with the non-TDT group, the TDT group had a lower incidence of grade C anastomotic leak (1.6% [7/559] vs. 4.5% [25/556]) and reoperation rate (0.9% [5/559] vs. 4.3% [24/556]), but a higher incidence of anastomotic bleeding (8.2% [23/279] vs. 3.6% [10/276]). These differences were statistically significant (P=0.003, P=0.001, P=0.030, respectively). The overall complication rate was 26.5%(74/279) in the TDT group and 27.2% (75/276) in the non-TDT group. These differences are not statistically significant (P=0.860). Conclusions: TDT did not significantly reduce the total incidence of anastomotic leak but may have potential clinical benefits in preventing grade C anastomotic leak. Notably, placement of TDT may increase the anastomotic bleeding rate.
Humans ; Anastomotic Leak/etiology* ; Rectal Neoplasms/complications* ; Drainage ; Anastomosis, Surgical/adverse effects* ; Reoperation/adverse effects* ; Hemorrhage ; Retrospective Studies

At present, there is still no stomatology specialty in the training system of clinical pharmacists in China and the relevant research is still blank. The development of stomatological clinical pharmacy is also slow due to the lack of clinical pharmacists. By analyzing the national oral health policies, the characteristics of oral diseases and the clinical needs of stomatology, this paper provides theoretical basis for the setting of clinical pharmacist training specialty of stomatology specialty in China. This paper also makes a preliminary discussion on the construction of the training system of clinical pharmacists in the specialty of stomatology, so as to provide advice and references for the design and specific plan of the training system in the specialty of stomatology.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the changes in the rate and volume of mother's own milk (MOM) feeding for very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs) hospitalized during the prevention and control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of the VLBWIs with a gestational age of <32 weeks who were born and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020. The changes in the rate and volume of MOM feeding for VLBWIs during hospitalization were examined. RESULTS: A total of 301 VLBWIs were enrolled. According to the timing of COVID-19 outbreak, these infants were divided into a pre-CIVID-19 group with 205 VLBWIs and a post-COVID-19 group with 96 VLBWIs. Compared with the pre-CIVID-19 group, the post-COVID-19 group had a significantly lower rate of MOM feeding within 28 days after birth and during hospitalization (P<0.05), a significantly lower volume of MOM feeding within 0-7 days, 0-14 days, and 0-28 days after birth (P<0.05), and significantly higher incidence rates of moderate-to-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia and feeding intolerance (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on MOM feeding for VLBWIs, and there are significant reductions in the rate and volume of MOM feeding for VLBWIs within 28 days after birth, as well as a significant reduction in the rate of MOM feeding during hospitalization.
Breast Feeding ; COVID-19 ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Pandemics ; Retrospective Studies

ObjectiveTo study the chemical structure of gardenia blue pigment and its inhibitory activity against monoamine oxidase B （MAO-B）， in order to seek a potential feasible way for rational utilization and value enhancement of iridoids in Gardeniae Fructus. MethodIridoid glycosides in Gardeniae Fructus were hydrolyzed by cellulase to obtain their aglycones and reacted with amino acids. Then， the products were purified by column chromatography packed with D101 macroporous resin and preparative liquid chromatography to obtain gardenia blue pigments， and the gardenia blue pigments were identified by nuclear magnetic resonance （NMR） and mass spectrometry （MS）. Benzylamine was used as the reaction substrate of MAO-B and in vitro incubated with gardenia blue pigment monomers， high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） was employed to determine the production of benzaldehyde for evaluating the inhibitory effect of gardenia blue pigments on MAO-B， the mobile phase was methanol （A） -50 mmol·L^-1 potassium phosphate buffer （B， pH 3.2） （2∶3）， and the detection wavelength was 245 nm. ResultEight compounds of gardenia blue pigment A-H were synthesized and identified. In MAO-B inhibition test， compared with geniposide， the inhibitory activity of gardenia blue pigment D and E was significantly enhanced （P<0.05）. Compared with the 6β-hydroxygeniposide， the inhibitory activity of gardenia blue pigment G and H was significantly enhanced （P<0.05， P<0.01）. All the four gardenia blue pigments showed better MAO-B inhibitory activity than the prototype compounds. ConclusionGardenia blue pigment is a simple compound formed by one molecule of amino acid and one molecule of iridoid. Some gardenia blue pigments have better MAO-B inhibitory activity than the prototype compounds. The activity of gardenia blue pigment produced by different substrates is different， and the high-value gardenia blue pigment can be prepared based on experimental optimization， which can expand the application range of gardenia blue pigment and enrich the comprehensive utilization of iridoids from Gardeniae Fructus.