By employing the analytic hierarchy process(AHP), the CRITIC method(a weight determination method based on indicator correlations), and the AHP-CRITIC hybrid weighting method, the weight coefficients of evaluation indicators were determined, followed by a comprehensive score comparison. The grey correlation analysis was then performed to analyze the results calculated using the hybrid weighting method. Subsequently, a backpropagation-artificial neural network(BP-ANN) model was constructed to predict the extraction process parameters and optimize the extraction process for Shenxiong Huanglian Jiedu Granules(SHJG). In the extraction process, an L_9(3~4) orthogonal experiment was designed to optimize three factors at three levels, including extraction frequency, water addition amount, and extraction time. The evaluation indicators included geniposide, berberine, ginsenoside Rg_1 + Re, ginsenoside Rb_1, ferulic acid, and extract yield. Finally, the optimal extraction results obtained by the orthogonal experiment, grey correlation analysis, and BP-ANN method were compared, and validation experiments were conducted. The results showed that the optimal extraction process involved two rounds of aqueous extraction, each lasting one hour; the first extraction used ten times the amount of added water, while the second extraction used eight times the amount. In the validation experiments, the average content of each indicator component was higher than the average content obtained in the orthogonal experiment, with a higher comprehensive score. The optimized extraction process parameters were reliable and stable, making them suitable for subsequent preparation process research.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Neural Networks, Computer

Objective To investigate the mechanisms by which paeoniflorin improves tissue and cell damage caused by diabetic retinopathy(DR)through the hypoxia-induced factor-1α(HIF-1α)pathway.Methods Thirty rats were ran-domly divided into a control group(10 normal rats),a DR group(10 diabetic model rats)and a paeoniflorin group(10 dia-betic model rats given 80 mg·kg-1 paeoniflorin by gavage).Rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells(rRMECs)were di-vided into a control group(cultured with 5 mmol·L-1 glucose),a high glucose group(cultured with 30 mmol·L-1 glu-cose)and a paeoniflorin group(cultured with 30 mmol·L-1 glucose and 20 mol·L-1 paeoniflorin).The three groups of cells were all cultured for 24 h.Fasting blood glucose was measured by a glucose meter.Hematoxylin and eosin(HE)stai-ning was used to detect the retinal histopathological structure.The levels of HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)proteins and mRNAs in retinal tissues and rRMECs were detected by Western blotting and real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR).The proliferative ability of rRMECs was detected by the EdU kit.The serum levels of total cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),low density cholesterol(LDL-C),interleukin-6(IL-6)and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in retinal tissues and rRMECs were detected by kits.The activity and invasive ability of rRMECs were measured by CCK-8 and Transwell assay,respectively.The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins in rRMECs were detected by immunofluorescence staining.Results Compared with those in the DR group,the fasting blood glucose,TC,TG and LDL-C levels in the paeoniflorin group were significantly decreased(all P＜0.05).The retinal tissue was loose with an un-clear boundary in the DR group,compared with that in the control group.The retinal tissue in the paeoniflorin group was less loose with a clearer boundary than that in the DR group.The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-αand IL-6 in retinal tissues of the DR group were significantly higher than those of the control group(all P＜0.05).The lev-els of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in retinal tissues of the paeoniflorin group were significantly lower than those in the DR group(all P＜0.05).The activity,proliferation and invasive abilities of rRMECs in the high glu-cose group were higher than those in the control group(all P＜0.05).Compared with those in the high glucose group,rRMECs in the paeoniflorin group showed decreased cell activity,proliferation and invasive abilities(all P＜0.05).The lev-els of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in the rRMECs of the high glucose group were higher than those of the control group(all P＜0.05).The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in the rRMECs of the paeoniflorin group were lower than those of the high glucose group(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Paeoni-florin can down-regulate the HIF-1α/VEGF pathway to improve the inflammatory injury of the retinal tissue and inhibit rRMEC activity,proliferation and invasive abilities in DR rats,thereby preventing angiogenesis and reducing the incidence of DR.

Aim To investigate the anti-acute lung injury(ALI)effect of Sterculiae Lychnophorae Semen(SLS)and its mechanism.Methods The main ac-tive components of SLS and their core targets and path-ways of action against ALI were obtained by network pharmacology methods.Subsequently,molecular doc-king technology and in vitro cellular experiments were applied for validation.Results A total of 19 core tar-gets were obtained,including HSP90AA1,CASP3,TNF,MAPK8 and MAPK14.The mechanisms may in-volve signaling pathways such as cancer,PI3K/Akt and MAPK.Molecular docking confirmed that the key targets of SLS formed a better binding activity with the relevant active ingredients.The in vitro results showed that SLS was able to protect the PM2.5-contaminated BEAS-2B cells,inhibit their NO,IL-1β and TNF-αlevels,and reduce the expression of p-p38 MAPK and p-JNK proteins.Conclusions The study successfully predicts the active ingredients,targets and signaling pathways of SLS against ALI,and in vitro experiments demonstrate that SLS might protect BEAS-2B cells from PM2.5 stimulus-induced inflammation and apoptosis by inhibiting the over-activation of p38 MAPK and JNK signaling pathways.

Aim To investigate the anti-acute lung injury(ALI)effect of Sterculiae Lychnophorae Semen(SLS)and its mechanism.Methods The main ac-tive components of SLS and their core targets and path-ways of action against ALI were obtained by network pharmacology methods.Subsequently,molecular doc-king technology and in vitro cellular experiments were applied for validation.Results A total of 19 core tar-gets were obtained,including HSP90AA1,CASP3,TNF,MAPK8 and MAPK14.The mechanisms may in-volve signaling pathways such as cancer,PI3K/Akt and MAPK.Molecular docking confirmed that the key targets of SLS formed a better binding activity with the relevant active ingredients.The in vitro results showed that SLS was able to protect the PM2.5-contaminated BEAS-2B cells,inhibit their NO,IL-1β and TNF-αlevels,and reduce the expression of p-p38 MAPK and p-JNK proteins.Conclusions The study successfully predicts the active ingredients,targets and signaling pathways of SLS against ALI,and in vitro experiments demonstrate that SLS might protect BEAS-2B cells from PM2.5 stimulus-induced inflammation and apoptosis by inhibiting the over-activation of p38 MAPK and JNK signaling pathways.

Objective To investigate the mechanisms by which paeoniflorin improves tissue and cell damage caused by diabetic retinopathy(DR)through the hypoxia-induced factor-1α(HIF-1α)pathway.Methods Thirty rats were ran-domly divided into a control group(10 normal rats),a DR group(10 diabetic model rats)and a paeoniflorin group(10 dia-betic model rats given 80 mg·kg-1 paeoniflorin by gavage).Rat retinal microvascular endothelial cells(rRMECs)were di-vided into a control group(cultured with 5 mmol·L-1 glucose),a high glucose group(cultured with 30 mmol·L-1 glu-cose)and a paeoniflorin group(cultured with 30 mmol·L-1 glucose and 20 mol·L-1 paeoniflorin).The three groups of cells were all cultured for 24 h.Fasting blood glucose was measured by a glucose meter.Hematoxylin and eosin(HE)stai-ning was used to detect the retinal histopathological structure.The levels of HIF-1α and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)proteins and mRNAs in retinal tissues and rRMECs were detected by Western blotting and real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR).The proliferative ability of rRMECs was detected by the EdU kit.The serum levels of total cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),low density cholesterol(LDL-C),interleukin-6(IL-6)and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in retinal tissues and rRMECs were detected by kits.The activity and invasive ability of rRMECs were measured by CCK-8 and Transwell assay,respectively.The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins in rRMECs were detected by immunofluorescence staining.Results Compared with those in the DR group,the fasting blood glucose,TC,TG and LDL-C levels in the paeoniflorin group were significantly decreased(all P＜0.05).The retinal tissue was loose with an un-clear boundary in the DR group,compared with that in the control group.The retinal tissue in the paeoniflorin group was less loose with a clearer boundary than that in the DR group.The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-αand IL-6 in retinal tissues of the DR group were significantly higher than those of the control group(all P＜0.05).The lev-els of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in retinal tissues of the paeoniflorin group were significantly lower than those in the DR group(all P＜0.05).The activity,proliferation and invasive abilities of rRMECs in the high glu-cose group were higher than those in the control group(all P＜0.05).Compared with those in the high glucose group,rRMECs in the paeoniflorin group showed decreased cell activity,proliferation and invasive abilities(all P＜0.05).The lev-els of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in the rRMECs of the high glucose group were higher than those of the control group(all P＜0.05).The levels of HIF-1α and VEGF proteins and mRNAs,TNF-α and IL-6 in the rRMECs of the paeoniflorin group were lower than those of the high glucose group(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Paeoni-florin can down-regulate the HIF-1α/VEGF pathway to improve the inflammatory injury of the retinal tissue and inhibit rRMEC activity,proliferation and invasive abilities in DR rats,thereby preventing angiogenesis and reducing the incidence of DR.

Objective To improve the efficiency of hospital antimicrobial management and ensure rational clinical use of antimicrobial agents with the aid of antimicrobial stewardship(AMS)empowered by digital intelligence tech-nology in hospital.Methods Information systems such as early warning of antimicrobial indexes,closed-loop ma-nagement of microbial detection information,and decision-making system of antimicrobial resistance monitoring data were applied to the traditional AMS system.Through hospital information systems(HIS)to collect data about thera-peutic antimicrobial use and healthcare-associated infection(HAI)quality control indexes of hospitalized patients in a tertiary first-class public hospital in Shenzhen City before and after digital technology improvement,indexes of 2021 and 2022 were as control group(before improvement)and observation group(after improvement)respective-ly,improvement trend of antimicrobial management was compared.Results After upgrading and renovating the hospital information system,hospital antimicrobial management indexes improved significantly compared to before the renovation.The use rate of antimicrobial agents and the preventive use rate of antimicrobial agents in class Ⅰincision surgery in patients in the observation group were both lower than those in the control group(27.0％vs 38.8％,20.9％vs 23.8％,respectively,both P＜0.05).Antimicrobial use density in hospitalized patients in the observa-tion group was lower than that in the control group([33.27±3.03]DDDs vs[42.06±4.42]DDDs),difference was statistically significant(t=13.11,P＜0.001).The observation group had a higher qualified rate for evaluating antimicrobial medical orders compared to the control group(98.5％vs 96.8％).The pathogenic detection rate of hospitalized patients before therapeutic antimicrobial use and pathogen detection rate related to HAI diagnosis were both higher than those in the control group(87.1％vs 84.5％,99.0％vs 95.4％,respectively),differences were both statistically significant(both P＜0.05).Conclusion Empowering the hospital's AMS system with digital technology can promote more scientific,standardized,efficient,and rational antimicrobial management in hospitals.

Objective:To investigate the safety and therapeutic effect of split liver transplantation (SLT) in clinical application.Methods:This is a retrospective case-series study. The clinical data of 203 consecutive SLT, 79 living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and 1 298 whole liver transplantation (WLT) performed at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from July 2014 to July 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Two hundred and three SLT liver grafts were obtained from 109 donors. One hundred and twenty-seven grafts were generated by in vitro splitting and 76 grafts were generated by in vivo splitting. There were 90 adult recipients and 113 pediatric recipients. According to time, SLT patients were divided into two groups: the early SLT group (40 cases, from July 2014 to December 2017) and the mature SLT technology group (163 cases, from January 2018 to July 2023). The survival of each group was analyzed and the main factors affecting the survival rate of SLT were analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were used for survival analysis.Results:The cumulative survival rates at 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 74.58%, 71.47%, and 71.47% in the early SLT group, and 88.03%, 87.23%, and 87.23% in the mature SLT group, respectively. Survival rates in the mature SLT group were significantly higher than those in the early SLT group ( χ2=5.560, P=0.018). The cumulative survival rates at 1-, 3- and 5-year were 93.41%, 93.41%, 89.95% in the LDLT group and 87.38%, 81.98%, 77.04% in the WLT group, respectively. There was no significant difference among the mature SLT group, the LDLT group and the WLT group ( χ2=4.016, P=0.134). Abdominal hemorrhage, infection, primary liver graft nonfunction,and portal vein thrombosis were the main causes of early postoperative death. Conclusion:SLT can achieve results comparable to those of WLT and LDLT in mature technology liver transplant centers, but it needs to go through a certain time learning curve.

Objective:To investigate the safety and therapeutic effect of split liver transplantation (SLT) in clinical application.Methods:This is a retrospective case-series study. The clinical data of 203 consecutive SLT, 79 living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and 1 298 whole liver transplantation (WLT) performed at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from July 2014 to July 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Two hundred and three SLT liver grafts were obtained from 109 donors. One hundred and twenty-seven grafts were generated by in vitro splitting and 76 grafts were generated by in vivo splitting. There were 90 adult recipients and 113 pediatric recipients. According to time, SLT patients were divided into two groups: the early SLT group (40 cases, from July 2014 to December 2017) and the mature SLT technology group (163 cases, from January 2018 to July 2023). The survival of each group was analyzed and the main factors affecting the survival rate of SLT were analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were used for survival analysis.Results:The cumulative survival rates at 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 74.58%, 71.47%, and 71.47% in the early SLT group, and 88.03%, 87.23%, and 87.23% in the mature SLT group, respectively. Survival rates in the mature SLT group were significantly higher than those in the early SLT group ( χ2=5.560, P=0.018). The cumulative survival rates at 1-, 3- and 5-year were 93.41%, 93.41%, 89.95% in the LDLT group and 87.38%, 81.98%, 77.04% in the WLT group, respectively. There was no significant difference among the mature SLT group, the LDLT group and the WLT group ( χ2=4.016, P=0.134). Abdominal hemorrhage, infection, primary liver graft nonfunction,and portal vein thrombosis were the main causes of early postoperative death. Conclusion:SLT can achieve results comparable to those of WLT and LDLT in mature technology liver transplant centers, but it needs to go through a certain time learning curve.

Objective:To study the application of 3D printing technology in multi-center fenestrated/branched endovascular repair (F/B-EVAR) for endovascular repair of abdominal aortic diseases.Methods:From Feb 2018 to Mar 2023, The clinical and followup data of 316 cases of abdominal aortic lesions undergoing repair with F/B-EVAR at 69 medical centers nationwide using 3D printing technology to guide physician-modified stent graft were retrospectively analyzed.Results:The mean follow-up time of the patients was 23 months (2-60 months), and 24 cases were lost to follow up, the follow-up rate was 92.4% (292/316), the mean postoperative hospitalization time was (8.2±4.9) days. A total of 944 main abdominal branch arteries were reconstructed. Intraoperative reconstruction of 11 branches failed, with a success rate of 98.8% (933/944). Within 30 days after surgery, 8 patients died (2.5%), and 6 patients died during follow-up, a total of 14 patients died (4.4%). There were 11 cases (3.5%) of spinal cord ischemia and no patient suffered from permanent paraplegia. There were 19 patients (6.0%) with postoperative renal function injury. Internal leakage was found in 26 patients, and the rate of internal leakage was 8.2%.Conclusion:3D printing technology can accurately locate the location of branch arteries, simplifing the surgical process, shortening the learning curve , and improving clinical efficacy.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has stimulated tremendous efforts to develop therapeutic agents that target severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to control viral infection. So far, a few small-molecule antiviral drugs, including nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid), remdesivir, and molnupiravir have been marketed for the treatment of COVID-19. Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir has been recommended by the World Health Organization as an early treatment for outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. However, the existing treatment options have limitations, and effective treatment strategies that are cost-effective and convenient for tackling COVID-19 are still needed. To date, four domestically developed oral anti-COVID-19 drugs have been granted conditional market approval in China. These drugs include azvudine, simnotrelvir-ritonavir (Xiannuoxin), leritrelvir, and mindeudesivir (VV116). Preclinical and clinical studies have explored the efficacy and tolerability of mindeudesivir and supported its early use in mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases at high risk for progression. In this review, we discuss the most recent findings regarding the pharmacological mechanism and therapeutic effects focusing on mindeudesivir and other small-molecule antiviral agents for COVID-19. These findings will expand our understanding and highlight the potential widespread application of China's homegrown anti-COVID-19 drugs.
Humans ; Ritonavir/therapeutic use* ; COVID-19 ; Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use* ; China ; Nitriles ; Lactams ; Proline ; Adenosine/analogs & derivatives* ; Leucine