Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) capable of clearing heat and removing toxin is most commonly used in clinical practice and has the effect of removing fire-heat and toxin. Studies have shown that most of the Ilex plants have the effect of clearing heat and removing toxin, among which the varieties of I. cornuta, I. pubescens, I. rotunda, I. latifolia, and I. chinensis are most widely used. These plants generally contain triterpenoids and their glycosides, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, and other chemical components, especially pentacyclic triterpenoids. According to their skeletons, pentacyclic triterpenoids can be divided into the oleanane type, the ursane type, the lupinane type, etc. Among them, ursane-type components are the most abundant, and 136 species have been found so far. These components have been proved to have pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, hypolipidemic, anti-thrombosis, cardiomyocyte-protective, antibacterial, and hepatoprotective effects. Therefore, this paper systematically reviews the domestic and foreign literature on Ilex plants with a focus on the research progress on pentacyclic triterpenoids and their pharmacological activities, aiming to provide reference for the development of TCM resources with the effect of clearing heat and removing toxin.
Ilex/chemistry* ; Plants, Medicinal/chemistry* ; Pentacyclic Triterpenes/pharmacology* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Animals

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a well-accepted therapy for atopic dermatitis (AD). However, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines integrating TCM and Western medicine for the treatment of AD, limiting the clinical application of such combined approaches. Therefore, the China Association of Chinese Medicine initiated the development of the current guideline, focusing on key issues related to the use of TCM in the treatment of AD. This guideline was developed in accordance with the principles of the guideline formulation manual published by the World Health Organization. A comprehensive review of the literature on the combined use of TCM and Western medicine to treat AD was conducted. The findings were extensively discussed by experts in dermatology and pharmacy with expertise in both TCM and Western medicine. This guideline comprises 23 recommendations across seven major areas, including TCM syndrome differentiation and classification of AD, principles and application scenarios of TCM combined with Western medicine for treating AD, outcome indicators for evaluating clinical efficacy of AD treatment, integration of TCM pattern classification and Western medicine across disease stages, daily management of AD, the use of internal TCM therapies and proprietary Chinese medicines, and TCM external treatments. Please cite this article as: Du XR, Wu MY, Tao MC, Lin Y, Gu CY, Wu MF, Cao Y, Chen DC, Li W, Wang HW, Wang Y, Wang Y, Lu HZ, Liu X, Su XF, Li FL. Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of atopic dermatitis with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):641-653.
Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods* ; Integrative Medicine ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Practice Guidelines as Topic

OBJECTIVE: Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals and other factors that can affect their health. Analysis of these mixture exposures presents several key challenges for environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, including high dimensionality, correlated exposure, and subtle individual effects. METHODS: We proposed a novel statistical approach, the generalized functional linear model (GFLM), to analyze the health effects of exposure mixtures. GFLM treats the effect of mixture exposures as a smooth function by reordering exposures based on specific mechanisms and capturing internal correlations to provide a meaningful estimation and interpretation. The robustness and efficiency was evaluated under various scenarios through extensive simulation studies. RESULTS: We applied the GFLM to two datasets from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the first application, we examined the effects of 37 nutrients on BMI (2011-2016 cycles). The GFLM identified a significant mixture effect, with fiber and fat emerging as the nutrients with the greatest negative and positive effects on BMI, respectively. For the second application, we investigated the association between four pre- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gout risk (2007-2018 cycles). Unlike traditional methods, the GFLM indicated no significant association, demonstrating its robustness to multicollinearity. CONCLUSION GFLM framework is a powerful tool for mixture exposure analysis, offering improved handling of correlated exposures and interpretable results. It demonstrates robust performance across various scenarios and real-world applications, advancing our understanding of complex environmental exposures and their health impacts on environmental epidemiology and toxicology.
Humans ; Environmental Exposure/analysis* ; Linear Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Environmental Pollutants ; Body Mass Index

Objective: To explore the current status of hyperopic reserve and its related factors among non-myopia preschool and primary school students aged 5 to 12 years in Guangdong Province, so as to provide a basis for formulating intervention strategies for the pre myopia stage of children. Methods: From October to December 2023, by using stratified cluster random sampling method, a survey on hyperopic reserve among preschool children and primary school students in Guangdong were conducted. And a total of 10 567 children from the senior class of kindergarten to the sixth grade of primary school who completed autorefraction measurements with and without cycloplegia and the questionnaire survey were included in the study. The prevalence characteristics of low hyperopic reserve among non-myopia children were analyzed, and multivariable Logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors. Results: The prevalence rate of low hyperopic reserve among 8 790 non-myopia children was 62.4%. The average spherical equivalent (SE) for children aged 5 to 12 years was 0.88 (0.25, 1.25)D, decreasing from 1.13 ( 0.75 , 1.50)D in senior kindergarten to -1.00 (-2.50, 0.38)D in sixth grade, with the difference was statistically significant ( H=2 475.3, P <0.01). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounders including gender, urban and rural, and grade, revealed that parental myopia was a risk factor for low hyperopic reserve in the preschool stage (one parent with myopia: OR=1.62, 95%CI =1.35-1.93; both parents with myopia: OR=2.05, 95%CI = 1.66 -2.55); in the lower primary school stage, parental myopia (one parent with myopia: OR=1.46, 95%CI =1.27-1.68; both parents with myopia: OR=1.58, 95%CI =1.33-1.89), frequently or always reading or using electronic screens while lying down or on one s stomach ( OR=1.43, 95%CI =1.13-1.81), and never or occasionally maintaining a viewing distance of over 3 meters when watching TV/playing video games ( OR=1.34, 95%CI =1.04-1.72) were risk factors; in the higher primary school stage, failing to take a break every hour during near work ( OR=1.79, 95%CI =1.16-2.75) was a risk factor (all P <0.05). Conclusions The emmetropization of children aged 5-12 years in Guangdong Province is accelerated, and non-myopia children generally exhibit insufficient hyperopic reserve. The contributing factors for insufficient hyperopia reserve in non-myopia children vary across different educational stages, necessitating targeted precision interventions.

Objective To investigate the genetic differences among different populations based on 13 autosomal STR loci in CODIS core.Methods Data of 13 autosomal STR loci(CSF1PO,FGA,THO1,TPOX,vWA,D3S1358,D5S818,D7S820,D8S1179,D13S317,D16S539,D18S51,D21S11)were collected from 95 populations in scientific journals between 1999 and 2021,soursed from the PubMed database,which had been published.Allele frequencies of loci were sorted out and forensic genetic parameters including gene differentiation coefficient(Gst),total heterozygosity(Ht),subpopula-tion heterozygosity(Hs)values,and Nei's DA genetic distance were calculated.Principal component analysis,phylogenetic tree,and multidimensional scale analysis were conducted to assess population ge-netic structure.Results A total of 265 alleles were detected at the 13 STR loci in these 95 popula-tions.The mean values of Gst,Ht,and Hs were 0.023 247,0.797 915 and 0.779 365.Population genetic analyses reflected significant differences among populations from Asia,Africa and Europe.In Asian populations,there was a certain degree of distinction between mainland and island populations;the Han population showed a certain degree of distinction with surrounding populations in mainland;while within the Han population,there were two distinct clusters formed by the northern Han and the south-ern Han.Conclusion The 13 autosomal STR loci in CODIS core demonstrate potential value for popu-lation identification across different groups,and may be used for the differentiation of ethnic groups,among different continental populations.

AIM:This study aims to investigate the functions of interleukin-6(IL-6)/Janus kinase 2(JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3)signaling pathway in adenomyosis(ADM),and to assess the therapeutic potential of JAK2 inhibitor AG490.METHODS:(1)Neonatal female mice were randomly divided into 2 groups:control group and ADM group.An ADM mice model was established by tamoxifen.Additionally,Western blot was employed to detect the expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins.(2)Human endometrial adenocarcinoma Ishikawa cells were treated with AG490,and Western blot was performed to evaluate the expression of the proteins related to IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway,epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT),cell migration and cell proliferation.Besides,wound-healing and Transwell assays were carried out to investigate the cell migration and inva-sion.Colony formation and EdU assays were employed to investigate the cell proliferation,and flow cytometry analysis was performed to investigate the cell apoptosis.(3)The ADM mice were randomly divided into 2 groups:ADM group and AG490 group.The expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins in uterine tissues was detected by Western blot.Besides,Western blot and immunohistochemistry were employed to detect the expression of the proteins re-lated to cell EMT,migration and proliferation.Cell apoptosis in uterine tissues was detected by TUNEL assay.RE-SULTS:(1)The expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins exhibited an increasing trend in ADM mice(P<0.05).(2)Treatment with AG490 significantly suppressed the expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins in Ishikawa cells(P<0.05).The protein level of E-cadherin showed an increasing trend(P<0.01),while the expression levels of N-cadherin,vimentin and Slug showed a decreasing trend(P<0.05)in Ishikawa cells after AG490 treatment.Besides,the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was down-regulated(P<0.05),and the capa-bilities of cell migration and invasion were suppressed in AG490-treated Ishikawa cells(P<0.05).The expression levels of Bcl-2 and cyclin D1 exhibited a decreasing trend(P<0.05),and the expression level of Bax increased(P<0.05)in Ishikawa cells after treatment with AG490.Additionally,AG490 inhibited Ishikawa cell proliferation,and enhanced the cell apoptosis(P<0.01).(3)The p-JAK2/JAK ratio and the IL-6 expression exhibited a decreasing trend in AG490 group(P<0.01).Moreover,the expression of E-cadherin was up-regulated(P<0.05),while the expression of N-cadherin,vi-mentin,Snail,Slug and Twist was down-regulated(P<0.05)in ADM mice after treatment with AG490.Compared with ADM group,the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 decreased in AG490 group(P<0.05),alongside the down-regulated Bcl-2/Bax ratio and PCNA expression(P<0.01).Besides,the cell apoptosis was enhanced by AG490.CONCLUSION:The IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway is aberrantly activated in ADM and facilitates endometrial cell EMT,prolifera-tion,invasion and migration.Additionally,AG490 inhibits the progression of ADM by blocking the IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 sig-naling pathway.

AIM:This study aims to investigate the functions of interleukin-6(IL-6)/Janus kinase 2(JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3)signaling pathway in adenomyosis(ADM),and to assess the therapeutic potential of JAK2 inhibitor AG490.METHODS:(1)Neonatal female mice were randomly divided into 2 groups:control group and ADM group.An ADM mice model was established by tamoxifen.Additionally,Western blot was employed to detect the expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins.(2)Human endometrial adenocarcinoma Ishikawa cells were treated with AG490,and Western blot was performed to evaluate the expression of the proteins related to IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway,epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT),cell migration and cell proliferation.Besides,wound-healing and Transwell assays were carried out to investigate the cell migration and inva-sion.Colony formation and EdU assays were employed to investigate the cell proliferation,and flow cytometry analysis was performed to investigate the cell apoptosis.(3)The ADM mice were randomly divided into 2 groups:ADM group and AG490 group.The expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins in uterine tissues was detected by Western blot.Besides,Western blot and immunohistochemistry were employed to detect the expression of the proteins re-lated to cell EMT,migration and proliferation.Cell apoptosis in uterine tissues was detected by TUNEL assay.RE-SULTS:(1)The expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins exhibited an increasing trend in ADM mice(P<0.05).(2)Treatment with AG490 significantly suppressed the expression of IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway-related proteins in Ishikawa cells(P<0.05).The protein level of E-cadherin showed an increasing trend(P<0.01),while the expression levels of N-cadherin,vimentin and Slug showed a decreasing trend(P<0.05)in Ishikawa cells after AG490 treatment.Besides,the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was down-regulated(P<0.05),and the capa-bilities of cell migration and invasion were suppressed in AG490-treated Ishikawa cells(P<0.05).The expression levels of Bcl-2 and cyclin D1 exhibited a decreasing trend(P<0.05),and the expression level of Bax increased(P<0.05)in Ishikawa cells after treatment with AG490.Additionally,AG490 inhibited Ishikawa cell proliferation,and enhanced the cell apoptosis(P<0.01).(3)The p-JAK2/JAK ratio and the IL-6 expression exhibited a decreasing trend in AG490 group(P<0.01).Moreover,the expression of E-cadherin was up-regulated(P<0.05),while the expression of N-cadherin,vi-mentin,Snail,Slug and Twist was down-regulated(P<0.05)in ADM mice after treatment with AG490.Compared with ADM group,the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 decreased in AG490 group(P<0.05),alongside the down-regulated Bcl-2/Bax ratio and PCNA expression(P<0.01).Besides,the cell apoptosis was enhanced by AG490.CONCLUSION:The IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway is aberrantly activated in ADM and facilitates endometrial cell EMT,prolifera-tion,invasion and migration.Additionally,AG490 inhibits the progression of ADM by blocking the IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 sig-naling pathway.

The processing of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is a core theory within TCM, embodying deep philosophical, cultural, and natural scientific wisdom. Among the various techniques, the "synergistic processing of medicinal materials and excipients" has garnered significant attention due to its uniqueness. This study explored the impact of the adjuvant Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma on the dynamic process of component transformation during the processing of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata using techniques such as acidic dye colorimetry, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS, density functional theory(DFT), and molecular dynamics simulations(MDS). The research revealed that during processing, various alkaloid components in Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata exhibited different weak interactions with glycyrrhizic acid in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, affecting the transformation and content changes of alkaloid components such as aconitine, hypaconitine, and other diester-type alkaloids. This study, based on the dynamic process of "interactions between excipients and herbal medicine and component transformation", elucidated the intrinsic mechanism of processing of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata with Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and provided a reference for understanding the scientific principles underlying the excipient processing of TCM.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Aconitum/chemistry* ; Excipients/chemistry* ; Glycyrrhiza/chemistry* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Molecular Dynamics Simulation ; Alkaloids/chemistry* ; Glycyrrhizic Acid/chemistry*

Glutamate,norepinephrine,and their receptors com-prise the glutamatergic and norepinephrine systems,which mu-tually affect each other and play essential roles in mediating vari-ous neuropsychiatric diseases.This paper reviews the functions of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor(NMDA-R)and α2-adrenergic receptor(α2-AR)and their functional crosstalk at the molecular level in brain in common neuropsychiatric diseases,which would benefit our understanding of neuropathophysiology of psychiatric diseases,drug development and optimization of clinical neuro-psychopharmacology.