Huanglian Jiedutang （HLJDT）， as a classical formula for clearing heat and removing toxins， has been widely applied in the treatment of various clinical diseases in recent years， particularly during the fire-heat stage of stroke， where it has attracted considerable attention. Based on previous studies， this paper systematically elaborates on the research progress on the active components of HLJDT， its clinical application in ischemic stroke， and advances in studies on its mechanisms of action. Modern pharmacological studies have demonstrated that HLJDT contains multiple active components， including baicalin， geniposide， and berberine. In the treatment of ischemic stroke， these components exert therapeutic effects through multi-target， multi-pathway， and multi-level mechanisms. Clinical studies have shown that HLJDT can increase cerebral blood flow， reduce cerebral infarct volume， and improve post-stroke physical dysfunction in patients with ischemic stroke. Experimental studies have indicated that HLJDT can improve neurological function scores and increase cerebral perfusion in experimental stroke models. In addition， the mechanisms underlying the anti-ischemic stroke effects of HLJDT may be related to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities， promotion of angiogenesis， and regulation of amino acid and energy metabolism. Although existing studies have confirmed that HLJDT exhibits multi-target and multi-pathway synergistic therapeutic characteristics， further large-sample randomized controlled trials are still needed to verify its long-term efficacy and to further elucidate the dynamic interaction network among components， targets， and pathways. Combined with network pharmacology and molecular docking analyses， this study further clarifies the synergistic targets of the core components （berberine， baicalin， and geniposide）， providing a theoretical basis for in-depth research and clinical translation of HLJDT in the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Objective To assess the impact of long working hours on sleep disorders among manufacturing workers and explore the roles of alcohol consumption and mental health factors(anxiety and depressive symptoms)in this association.Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to survey 1 336 manufacturing workers in Shenzhen.We collected the data of their demographic characteristics,work-related factors,personal behaviors,sleep disorders,and mental health status.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between long working hours and sleep disorders.Stratified analysis and mediation effect models were applied to examine the effect modification by alcohol consumption and the mediating role of mental health factors,respectively.Results Among the study samples,31.8％reported long working hours and 45.6％had sleep disorders.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that long working hours significantly increased the risk of sleep disorders(adjusted OR=2.073,95％ CI:1.478-2.907,P＜0.001).Stratified analysis revealed that the association between long working hours and sleep disorders was more pronounced among alcohol consumers(adjusted OR=2.556,95％ CI:1.432-4.562,P=0.001).Mediation effect analysis showed that anxiety and depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship between long working hours and sleep disorders,with indirect effects accounting for 25.71％ and 27.14％,respectively.Conclusion Long working hours increase the risk of sleep disorders among manufacturing workers,particularly among those who consume alcohol.Anxiety and depressive symptoms partially explain the association between long working hours and sleep disorders.

Objective:To investigate the effects of thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1) on ferroptosis and immune function of dendritic cells (DCs) in septic mice, and to provide a basis for improving the immunosuppression in sepsis caused by wound infection.Methods:This study was an experimental research. Sixty male C57BL/6J mice aged 6-8 weeks were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) to establish sepsis models. Ten mice were selected at 0 (immediately), 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after CLP surgery, respectively, according to the random number table method. Mouse splenic DCs were isolated using CD11c-positive magnetic beads. The protein expressions of TXNRD1, and anti-ferroptosis proteins solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in the cells were detected by Western blotting, the reduced glutathione (GSH) content in the cells was measured by colorimetric assay, the lipid peroxidation level was assessed via live-cell imaging technology, and the levels of major histocompatibility complex class Ⅱ subtype I-A/I-E and leukocyte differentiation antigens CD80 and CD86 were detected by flow cytometry. Another 100 male C57BL/6J mice aged 6-8 weeks were divided into corn oil+sham injury group, corn oil+CLP group, inhibitor+sham injury group, and inhibitor+CLP group according to the random number table method, with 25 mice in each group. Mice in the two inhibitor groups were intraperitoneally injected with TXNRD1 inhibitor auranofin, while mice in the two corn oil groups were intraperitoneally injected with corn oil. One hour later, mice in the two CLP groups underwent CLP surgery to establish sepsis models, while mice in the two sham injury groups underwent sham surgery. Twenty mice from each group were selected to observe survival within 7 d post-surgery, and the survival rate was calculated. At 24 h post-surgery, mouse splenic DCs from the remaining 5 mice in each group were collected for corresponding assays as above.Results:Compared with those at 0 h after CLP surgery, the protein expressions of TXNRD1, GPX4, and SLC7A11 in mouse cells at 24 h after CLP surgery and the protein expression of TXNRD1 in mouse cells at 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly decreased ( P<0.05), the GSH content in mouse cells was significantly decreased at 24 and 48 h after CLP surgery ( P<0.05). The lipid peroxidation level in mouse cells was low at 0, 6, and 12 h after CLP surgery, slightly lower than that at 72 h after CLP surgery; the lipid peroxidation levels in mouse cells at 24 and 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly higher than those at 0, 6, 12, and 72 h after CLP surgery. Compared with those at 0 h after CLP surgery, the levels of I-A/I-E and CD80 in mouse cells at 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after CLP surgery and the levels of CD86 in mouse cells at 12, 24, and 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly increased ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the protein expressions of TXNRD1, SLC7A11, and GPX4 in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group were significantly lower than those in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05), while the protein expressions of TXNRD1, SLC7A11, and GPX4 in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group were significantly lower than those in corn oil+CLP group and inhibitor+sham injury group ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the content of GSH in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group was (239±32) μg/mg, which was significantly lower than (366±59) μg/mg in corn oil +sham injury group ( P<0.05); the content of GSH in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group was (134±19) μg/mg, which was significantly lower than (355±31) μg/mg in inhibitor+sham injury group and that in corn oil+CLP group (with both P values <0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the lipid peroxidation level of mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group was significantly higher than that in the other three groups ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the levels of I-A/I-E, CD80, and CD86 in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group were significantly higher than those in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05), while the levels of I-A/I-E and CD80 in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group were significantly higher than those in inhibitor+sham injury group ( P<0.05) but significantly lower than those in corn oil+CLP group ( P<0.05); the level of CD86 in mouse cells in inhibitor+sham injury group was significantly higher than that in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05). Within 7 d post-surgery, the survival rate of mice in inhibitor+CLP group was significantly lower than that in inhibitor+sham injury group and corn oil+CLP group (with χ2 values of 31.19 and 3.91, respectively, both P values <0.05). Conclusions:In septic mice, the expression of TXNRD1 in DCs is reduced, cell ferroptosis is enhanced, and immune function is weakened. The inhibition of TXNRD1 in DCs will exacerbate cell ferroptosis and immune function suppression, and is closely related to the poor prognosis of sepsis.

Frailty is a complex aging syndrome characterized by diminished strength and physiological dysfunction.Early diagnosis of frailty is of great value in helping the elderly to improve the quality of life.However,specific bio-logical markers to diagnose frailty are still lacking.In recent years,moderate protein intake has been shown to be an effective intervention in the management of frailty in older adults,and the relationship between frailty and amino acid metabolism has received widespread attention.This review discusses recent advances in the study of the mecha-nisms by which amino acid metabolism affects frailty and provide new ideas for searching specific biomarkers of frailty.

Objective To assess the impact of long working hours on sleep disorders among manufacturing workers and explore the roles of alcohol consumption and mental health factors(anxiety and depressive symptoms)in this association.Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to survey 1 336 manufacturing workers in Shenzhen.We collected the data of their demographic characteristics,work-related factors,personal behaviors,sleep disorders,and mental health status.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between long working hours and sleep disorders.Stratified analysis and mediation effect models were applied to examine the effect modification by alcohol consumption and the mediating role of mental health factors,respectively.Results Among the study samples,31.8％reported long working hours and 45.6％had sleep disorders.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that long working hours significantly increased the risk of sleep disorders(adjusted OR=2.073,95％ CI:1.478-2.907,P＜0.001).Stratified analysis revealed that the association between long working hours and sleep disorders was more pronounced among alcohol consumers(adjusted OR=2.556,95％ CI:1.432-4.562,P=0.001).Mediation effect analysis showed that anxiety and depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship between long working hours and sleep disorders,with indirect effects accounting for 25.71％ and 27.14％,respectively.Conclusion Long working hours increase the risk of sleep disorders among manufacturing workers,particularly among those who consume alcohol.Anxiety and depressive symptoms partially explain the association between long working hours and sleep disorders.

Objective:To investigate the effects of thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1) on ferroptosis and immune function of dendritic cells (DCs) in septic mice, and to provide a basis for improving the immunosuppression in sepsis caused by wound infection.Methods:This study was an experimental research. Sixty male C57BL/6J mice aged 6-8 weeks were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) to establish sepsis models. Ten mice were selected at 0 (immediately), 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after CLP surgery, respectively, according to the random number table method. Mouse splenic DCs were isolated using CD11c-positive magnetic beads. The protein expressions of TXNRD1, and anti-ferroptosis proteins solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11), and glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in the cells were detected by Western blotting, the reduced glutathione (GSH) content in the cells was measured by colorimetric assay, the lipid peroxidation level was assessed via live-cell imaging technology, and the levels of major histocompatibility complex class Ⅱ subtype I-A/I-E and leukocyte differentiation antigens CD80 and CD86 were detected by flow cytometry. Another 100 male C57BL/6J mice aged 6-8 weeks were divided into corn oil+sham injury group, corn oil+CLP group, inhibitor+sham injury group, and inhibitor+CLP group according to the random number table method, with 25 mice in each group. Mice in the two inhibitor groups were intraperitoneally injected with TXNRD1 inhibitor auranofin, while mice in the two corn oil groups were intraperitoneally injected with corn oil. One hour later, mice in the two CLP groups underwent CLP surgery to establish sepsis models, while mice in the two sham injury groups underwent sham surgery. Twenty mice from each group were selected to observe survival within 7 d post-surgery, and the survival rate was calculated. At 24 h post-surgery, mouse splenic DCs from the remaining 5 mice in each group were collected for corresponding assays as above.Results:Compared with those at 0 h after CLP surgery, the protein expressions of TXNRD1, GPX4, and SLC7A11 in mouse cells at 24 h after CLP surgery and the protein expression of TXNRD1 in mouse cells at 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly decreased ( P<0.05), the GSH content in mouse cells was significantly decreased at 24 and 48 h after CLP surgery ( P<0.05). The lipid peroxidation level in mouse cells was low at 0, 6, and 12 h after CLP surgery, slightly lower than that at 72 h after CLP surgery; the lipid peroxidation levels in mouse cells at 24 and 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly higher than those at 0, 6, 12, and 72 h after CLP surgery. Compared with those at 0 h after CLP surgery, the levels of I-A/I-E and CD80 in mouse cells at 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after CLP surgery and the levels of CD86 in mouse cells at 12, 24, and 48 h after CLP surgery were significantly increased ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the protein expressions of TXNRD1, SLC7A11, and GPX4 in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group were significantly lower than those in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05), while the protein expressions of TXNRD1, SLC7A11, and GPX4 in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group were significantly lower than those in corn oil+CLP group and inhibitor+sham injury group ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the content of GSH in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group was (239±32) μg/mg, which was significantly lower than (366±59) μg/mg in corn oil +sham injury group ( P<0.05); the content of GSH in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group was (134±19) μg/mg, which was significantly lower than (355±31) μg/mg in inhibitor+sham injury group and that in corn oil+CLP group (with both P values <0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the lipid peroxidation level of mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group was significantly higher than that in the other three groups ( P<0.05). At 24 h post-surgery, the levels of I-A/I-E, CD80, and CD86 in mouse cells in corn oil+CLP group were significantly higher than those in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05), while the levels of I-A/I-E and CD80 in mouse cells in inhibitor+CLP group were significantly higher than those in inhibitor+sham injury group ( P<0.05) but significantly lower than those in corn oil+CLP group ( P<0.05); the level of CD86 in mouse cells in inhibitor+sham injury group was significantly higher than that in corn oil+sham injury group ( P<0.05). Within 7 d post-surgery, the survival rate of mice in inhibitor+CLP group was significantly lower than that in inhibitor+sham injury group and corn oil+CLP group (with χ2 values of 31.19 and 3.91, respectively, both P values <0.05). Conclusions:In septic mice, the expression of TXNRD1 in DCs is reduced, cell ferroptosis is enhanced, and immune function is weakened. The inhibition of TXNRD1 in DCs will exacerbate cell ferroptosis and immune function suppression, and is closely related to the poor prognosis of sepsis.

BACKGROUND:Early identification of patients requiring ventilator support will be beneficial for the outcomes of botulism.The present study aimed to establish a new scoring system to predict mechanical ventilation(MV)for botulism patients. METHODS:A single-center retrospective study was conducted to identify risk factors associated with MV in botulism patients from 2007 to 2022.Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to screen out risk factors for constructing a prognostic scoring system.The area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was calculated. RESULTS:A total of 153 patients with botulism(66 males and 87 females,with an average age of 43 years)were included.Of these,49 patients(32.0%)required MV,including 21(13.7%)with invasive ventilation and 28(18.3%)with non-invasive ventilation.Multivariate analysis revealed that botulinum toxin type,pneumonia,incubation period,degree of hypoxia,and severity of muscle involvement were independent risk factors for MV.These risk factors were incorporated into a multivariate logistic regression analysis to establish a prognostic scoring system.Each risk factor was scored by allocating a weight based on its regression coefficient and rounded to whole numbers for practical utilization([botulinum toxin type A:1],[pneumonia:2],[incubation period≤1 day:2],[hypoxia<90%:2],[severity of muscle involvement:grade II,3;grade III,7;grade IV,11]).The scoring system achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.82(95%CI 0.75-0.89,P<0.001).At the optimal threshold of 9,the scoring system achieved a sensitivity of 83.7%and a specificity of 70.2%. CONCLUSION:Our study identified botulinum toxin type,pneumonia,incubation period,degree of hypoxia,and severity of muscle involvement as independent risk factors for MV in botulism patients.A score≥9 in our scoring system is associated with a higher likelihood of requiring MV in botulism patients.This scoring system needs to be validated externally before it can be applied in clinical settings.

Objective To investigate the predictive value of geriatric nutritional risk index(GNRI)for stroke-associated pneumonia in elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke(AIS).Methods A total of 1505 elderly patients with AIS admitted to Department of Neurology of the Second Affili-ated Hospital of Nanchang University from January 2017 to October 2022 were included in this retrospective study.According to GNRI nutritional assessment,they were divided into T1(high nutritional risk,GNRI＜82,n=49),T2(moderate nutritional risk,GNRI 82-91,n=305),T3(low nutritional risk,GNRI 92-98,n=555),and T4(no nutritional risk,GNRL＞98,n=596)groups.Additionally,based on the discharge diagnosis,they were further classified into pulmonary infection group(150 cases)and non-infection group(1355 cases).These subjects were also ran-domly assigned into training,validation,and testing sets in a ratio of 16∶4∶5.Multivariate logis-tic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for pulmonary infection in stroke patients.Logistic regression and XGBoost algorithms were used to establish prediction models for pulmonary infection.The models were evaluated with their AUC value,accuracy,sensitivity,and specificity based on ROC curve analysis.Results Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that hypertension,invasive procedures,consciousness disorders,CRP,lymphocyte count,hemoglo-bin and GNRI were independent risk factors for pulmonary infection in stroke patients(P＜0.05).The AUC value of the GNRI model for predicting pulmonary infection in the testing set was 0.742(95％CI:0.651-0.833),with an accuracy of 71.8％,sensitivity of 76.7％,and specificity of 71.2％.The combined model of clinical indicators(hypertension,invasive procedures,conscious-ness disorders,CRP,lymphocyte count,hemoglobin)and GNRI achieved an AUC value of 0.776(95％CI:0.700-0.853),accuracy of 74.8％,sensitivity of 83.3％,and specificity of 73.8％in the test set.Conclusion GNRI is an independent risk factor for pulmonary infection in elderly pa-tients with AIS and has a certain value in predicting pulmonary infection after AIS.

Microbiology is a key basic professional course for all the students specializing in biology, biotechnology and related majors. To date, microbiology is mainly taught in Chinese within colleges and universities in China. Development of a microbiology course that is taught in English may satisfy the diversified learning needs of the students and promote the "Double First-Class" initiative. We started to teach the microbiology course in English at the East China University of Science and Technology since 2016. This practice was associated with reform and innovation in the teaching methods and contents. The microbiology course taught in English greatly attracted the interest of the attending students and helped improve their professional English learning as well as scientific research. This course provided important support for fostering innovative professional first-class undergraduates under the context of the "Double First-Class" initiative.
China ; Humans ; Learning ; Students ; Universities

Starting from participating the high-level professional competition, our school has built a talent training system with the spirit of "biomaker" and an innovative practical ability training system. Such system takes the interest of student as the starting point, and relies on the strong scientific research and teaching infrastructure. The programme gives full play to students' initiatives and enhances the scientific research literacy and comprehensive ability of undergraduates majoring in biotechnology. It is an effective exploration of the traditional university education model and meets the urgent demand for innovative talents training in the era of rapid development of life sciences.
Biological Science Disciplines ; Biotechnology ; Genetic Engineering ; Humans ; Students ; Universities