Objective To investigate the expression characteristics of serum resistin(RETN)and Beclin-1 in patients with gouty arthritis(GA),and to analyze the relationship between RETN and GA clinical charac-teristics and clinical efficacy.Methods A total of 82 GA patients(GA group)and 60 healthy volunteers(con-trol group)in Dongguan People's Hospital from January 2019 to December 2022 were enrolled in the study.The expressions of serum RETN and Beclin-1 in GA patients were detected before and after treatment(on the physical examination day of the control group),and the differences of serum RETN and Beclin-1 in GA pa-tients with different clinical characteristics and efficacy were compared.Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between serum RETN,Beclin-1 expression and uric acid(UA)level in GA pa-tients.The diagnostic value of serum RETN and Beclin-1 in GA was analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results The serum RETN level in the GA group was higher than that in the con-trol group,and the expression of Beclin-1 was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05).The serum RETN levels in GA patients with acute stage,disease duration≥5 years,affected joints≥5,annual attack fre-quency≥3 times were higher than those in GA patients with chronic stage and intermittent stage,disease du-ration<5 years,affected joints<5,annual attack frequency<3 times(P<0.05),and the expression of Bec-lin-1 were lower than those in GA patients in chronic and intermittent stages,disease duration<5 years,af-fected joints<5,annual frequency<3 times(P<0.05).The serum UA level in GA patients was positively correlated with RETN(r=0.674,P<0.05),and negatively correlated with Beclin-1 expression(r=-0.568,P<0.05).After treatment,the serum expression of level RETN in the effective group was lower than that in the ineffective group,while the level Beclin-1 was higher than that in the ineffective group(P<0.05).The ar-ea under the curve of combined RETN and Beclin-1 diagnosis for GA was 0.921,which was higher than that of individual diagnosis(Z=3.752,3.154,P<0.05).Conclusion Serum RETN level increases,and Beclin-1 ex-pression decreases in GA patients,which is associated with increased UA level,prolonged acute stage and course of GA,increased number of affected joints and annual attack frequency,and treatment ineffectiveness.RETN and Beclin-1 could serve as biomarkers for GA diagnosis.

Objective:To compare the efficacy of proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) with metaphyseal expansion or non-expansion in the treatment of femoral intertrochanteric fracture in the elderly.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 349 elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture, comprising 168 males and 181 females, aged 60-84 years [(73.5±8.6)years]. According to AO fracture classification, 108 patients were classified as type A1, 164 type A2, and 77 type A3. Of them, 168 patients received PFNA with metaphyseal expansion (expansion group), while 181 received PFNA with metaphyseal non-expansion (non-expansion group). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, recessive blood loss, postoperative drainage volume, total blood loss, intraoperative blood transfusion rate and length of hospital stay were compared between the two groups. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores preoperatively, at 2 and 6 weeks postoperatively of the two groups were detected. The neck-shaft angle and tip-apex distance were measured preoperatively, immediately after surgery, and at 6 months postoperatively. Harris hip score was evaluated at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively. Additionally, time to weight-bearing ambulation, fracture healing time, and postoperative complication rate were compared between the two groups.Results:All the patients were followed up for 6-10 months [(7.8±1.2)months]. The operation time for the expansion group was (69.6±12.4)minutes, significantly longer than (65.3±11.5)minutes of the non-expansion group ( P<0.01). Intraoperative blood loss, recessive blood loss, postoperative drainage volume and total blood loss were (124.8±16.9)ml, (684.1±95.3)ml, (123.9±25.1)ml and (932.8±125.4)ml respectively, which were more than those of the non-expansion group [(96.3±12.6)ml, (623.4±87.4)ml, (110.6±29.7)ml, and (830.3±112.6)ml] ( P<0.01). The intraoperative blood transfusion rate was 50.0% (84/168), higher than 38.1% (69/181) of the non-expansion group ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the length of hospital stay between the two groups ( P>0.05). There was no significant difference in VAS scores between the two groups before surgery, at 2 and 6 weeks after surgery ( P>0.05). The VAS scores of the two groups at 2 and 6 weeks after surgery were lower than those before surgery, and there were significantly lower scores at 6 weeks after surgery when compared with those at 2 weeks after surgery ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in neck-shaft angle and tip-apex distance of the two groups before surgery, immediately after surgery and at 6 months after surgery ( P>0.05). In both groups, the neck-shaft angle immediately after surgery and at 6 months after surgery decreased while the apex distance increased when compared with those before surgery ( P<0.05). Furthermore, significantly lower neck-shaft angle and larger apex distance were observed at 6 months after surgery when compared with those immediately after surgery ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in Harris hip scores at 1, 3 and 6 months after surgery between the two groups ( P>0.05). In both groups, the Harris hip scores at 3 and 6 months after surgery were higher than those at 1 month after surgery ( P<0.05) and the Harris hip scores at 6 months after surgery were higher than that those at 3 months after surgery ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in time to weight-bearing ambulation, fracture healing time and total postoperative complication rate between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:For the elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fractures, PFNA with proximal metaphyseal expansion or non-expansion is equally effective in shortening hospital stay, relieving pain, improving reduction quality, promoting hip function recovery and reducing complication rate. However, PFNA with non-expansion treatment can shorten the operation time, reduce intraoperative blood loss, recessive blood loss, postoperative drainage volume and total blood loss, and lower intraoperative blood transfusion rate.

Multi-Efficacy of One Drug (MEOD) refers to the traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) with diverse efficacies.MEOD,one of the important characteristics of TCM,is regarded as the basis of clinical rational drug use.However,there have been few reports on the MEOD research so far.In this paper,with rhubarb selected as a typical model drug,metabolomics and network pharmacology analysis are integrated to investigate the mechanisms of MEOD with the employment of the two animal models of constipation and jaundice.Then,the biological target network of MEOD is established for promoting the precision of the quality control and clinical use of TCM.

This study aims at trying to establish a novel method of sterility test for injections based on biothermodynamics, in order to overcome the deficiencies of routine sterility tests such as long detecting cycle, low sensitivity and prone to misjudgments. A biothermodynamics method was adopted to rapidly detect the microorganism contamination of injections by monitoring the heat metabolism during the growth of microbe. The growth rate equal to or greater than zero and the heat power difference of P(i) and P(0) with three folds higher than the noise of baseline were chosen as indexes to study the heat change rule of microbe. In this way, the effectiveness of the new method to detect strains required by conventional sterility test or in injection samples was also investigated. Results showed that the Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi demanded by sterility testing methodology could be detected by biothermodynamics method within 10 hours, with the sensitivity lower than 100 CFU x mL(-1). Meanwhile, this method was successfully applied to the sterility test of Compound Yinchen injection (FFYC), Shuanghuanglian powder injection (SHL) and Compound Triamcinolone injection (TAND) which were sterilized with different degrees. Therefore, the biothermodynamics method, with advantages of fast detection and high sensitivity, could be a complementary solution for conventional sterility tests.

The paper is to report the establishment of a method for quickly evaluating compatibility of Chinese medicines injections. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was used to evaluate compatibility of Yiqifumai (YQFM) and vitamin C injection (Vc)/5% glucose injection (5% GS). The diversification of Gibbs free energy (deltaG), enthalpy (deltaH) and entropy (deltaS) were used to decide reaction types of colliquefaction procedures of different injections. The reactive profiles were used to determine signs and quantity of heat. And high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used as a supportive method for ITC. Then, feasible binding sites were analyzed based on the information of spatial structures of major compositions. During the colliquefaction procedure of YQFM and Vc, [deltaH] > T[deltaS], so, the reaction is enthalpy-driving. And the reactive profile showed that a big deal of heat was given out during the procedure. Obviously, chemical reactions happened and the major compositions changed. On the other side, the reaction of YQFM mixed with 5% GS was entropy-driving, because [deltaH] < T[deltaS]. The reactive profile showed there was a little heat gave out. So, non-chemical reactions happened, and the major compositions did not change. The conformity existed between the results of ITC and HPLC. ITC could be used to evaluate the compatibility of Chinese medicines injections because of the advantages of ITC, such as real time, fast, sensitive and having more parameters.

This paper is aimed to provide the methods of quality control and bioassay of traditional Chinese medicine injections including bioassay method. Shuanghuanglian freeze-dried powder for injection (SFPI) was chosen as study object. HPLC-ELSD fingerprints of SFPI had been established and the samples were differentiated by similarity calculation. Meanwhile, biological profiles of SFPI on Escherichia coli had been established by microcalorimetry. The similarity values were calculated using the correlation coefficient, based on quantitative thermo-kinetic parameters (T2m, Tj, I%). The results indicated that HPLC-ELSD fingerprints, which showed content changes of chemical components, could not monitor minimal variation of different samples, especially that of biological pollutants, while biological profiles could sensitively detect antibiotic activity alterations of the samples, which were kept under specific conditions. In conclusion, characterized by two-dimension, microcalorimetry could supply thermograms as biological profiles characterized to describe the bioactivity of drugs. This study could clearly demonstrate that the correlative detection was proposed as an efficient strategy for quality control of SFPI, based on HPLC-ELSD fingerprints and biological profiles, which could detect quality fluctuation of samples early and quickly and predict the potential adverse drug events (ADE) for ensuring clinical safety.

In this study, microcalorimetry was adopted to establish a novel method for detecting the hemagglutination process of Radix Isatidis (Banlangen in Chinese, BLG), and to evaluate the hemagglutination activity diversity of BLG from various habitats. The hemagglutination biothermokinetics curves of positive reagent (phytohemagglutinin, PHA) and 8 batches BLG from different regions of the hemagglutination with 20% rabbit erythrocyte were recorded by microcalorimetry, then biothermokinetics parameters were abstracted, the hemagglutination utility of samples were calculated and analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA), meanwhile the results were authenticated by micro-plate agglutination. It showed that the hemagglutination was an exothermic reaction, the reaction rate constant (k: 0.039-73.6 min(-1)), maximum reaction power (Pmax: -1 140.2 - 988.2 microW) and reaction enthalpy (Hi: -529.9 - 717.9 microJ) had good linear correlation with BLG extraction concentration (0.2-1.0 g mL(-1), r > 0.97), and PCA showed Pmax (531-1 335 microW) and Ht (585.2-989.2 microJ) could represent the hemagglutination activity diversity of BLG samples, just confirming with the results of micro-plate agglutination (the agglutination dilution was 3-11 respectively). According to the hemagglutination utility, the BLG samples from Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) regions, main producing area and general regions could be clustered correctly; meanwhile, the biothermokinetics curves with perfect distinctive fingerprint and specificity could give out more information for the quality control and evaluation for BLG. In conclusion, the microcalorimetry method established for detecting the hemagglutination activity of BLG samples on rabbit erythrocyte is sensitive and reliable, and could be adopted as an effective technique in detection aggulatination precisely, quantitatively and consecutively; and provide a novel approach for examining and evaluating quality for Chinese herbal medicine with aggulatinative activity such as BLG.

Bioassay, which construct the characteristics consistents with Chinese medical science, is the core mode and methods for the quality control of Chinese materia medica. Taking the bioassay of Radix Isatidis as an example, the contribution, status and application of bioassay in the quality control of Chinese materia medica were introduced in this article, and two key issue (the selection of reference and measurement methods) in the process of establishing bioassay were also explained. This article expects to provide a reference for the development and improvement of the bioassay of Chinese materia medica in a practical manipulation level.
Aconitum ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; utilization ; Quality Control

Objective To establish an objective method for evaluating the intrinsic characteristics between cold and hot nature of Chinese materia medica(CMM)through the different effects of Mahuang decoction(MHD)and Maxing Shigan decoction(MSD)on animal temperature tropism.Methods The equipment with cold/hot pads was used to investigate the variety ofthe temperature tropism between two groups of mice treated by MHD and MSD,respectively.Meanwhile,the activities ofadenosine triphosphatase(ATPase),superoxide dismutase,succinate dehydrogenase,and malondialdehyde were measured.Results After treated by MHD,the macroscopic behavioral index of remaining rate on warm pad(40 ℃)of mice decreasedsignificantly(P < 0.05),suggesting the enhancement of cold tropism,meanwhile,the internal indices of ATPase activity and oxygen consuming volume increased significantly(P < 0.05),suggesting the enhancement of energy metabolism.On theother hand,the above-mentioned indices in MSD group changed on the inverse way.Conclusion The relative drug natureof MHD and MSD revealed in this study is consistent with the theoretical prognostication or definition.It indicates that theinternal cold and hot nature of CMM could be reflected in ethological way on the changes of animal temperature tropismwhich might be internally regulated by body energy metabolism.

OBJECTIVETo study the toxicity-attenuating effect and the dose-toxicity relationship of rhubarb by processing based on correspondence.

METHODThe effects of different processed materials of rhubarb on the hepatic and renal functions of mice was researched in a way of parallel comparison, as well as the chemical alteration induced by processing was observed. Correspondence analysis, a kind of multivariate statistical analysis, was performed to explore the dose-toxicity relationship of processed materials of rhubarb.

RESULTNo obvious toxic effect was found in mice after single intragastric administration of crude drug of rhubarb at dosage of 76 g x kg(-1), while some lesions to liver and kidney tissues were observed in mice after repeated administration of rhubarb and its processed materials for 14 days at the same dosage. In the correspondence analysis diagram, it could be deduced that there was definite dose-toxicity relationship of processed rhubarb as the distance between trial groups and control group increased along with the dosage and the toxicity. The distance of the processed rhubarb showed as the following consequence: crude drug of rhubarb > vinegar-processed rhubarb > alcohol-processed rhubarb > steamed rhubarb > carbonized rhubarb > Qingning pian. Theerefoer, the toxicity of processed rhubarb was much lower than that of crude drug and the extent of toxicity attenuation was related to the processing intensity. Meanwhile, the toxicity-attenuating effect of processed rhubarb was related to the decline of the contents of both anthraquinone glycosides and tannins, and the former was contributed remarkably to toxicity.

CONCLUSIONThe toxicity-attenuating effect of processed rhubarb was verified in this study and the toxicity of steamed rhubarb attenuated notably while the pharmacological substances degraded little. The correspondence analysis would be useful to assess the pharmacological and toxic effects with multiple indexes of traditional Chinese medicines.

Animals ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Female ; Kidney ; drug effects ; Liver ; drug effects ; Male ; Mice ; Random Allocation ; Rheum ; chemistry