1.Combined Therapy of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Review
Xuan WU ; Hui LI ; Jian HUANG ; Xikun YANG ; Yan ZENG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(2):279-288
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the primary cause of viral hepatitis and represents a substantial disease burden in China. However, effective and safe agents capable of completely eliminating HBV DNA are still lacking. In modern medicine, anti-HBV strategies mainly target covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), among other mechanisms, and multiple novel drugs are currently under clinical investigation. Traditional medicine has been shown to exert anti-HBV effects through direct pathways, such as blocking viral entry, as well as indirect pathways, including the regulation of programmed cell death. Studies have confirmed that the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine in treating HBV infection and its related complications offers complementary advantages, particularly in enhancing HBV clearance rates, improving liver function, preventing various complications, and delaying the progression from hepatic fibrosis to hepatocellular carcinoma. This review focuses on advances in anti-HBV research involving TCM, Western medicine, and their integrated application, aiming to provide a basis for integrated HBV therapy and new drug development.
2.Research progress on the diagnosis of dry eye in children
International Eye Science 2026;26(1):67-73
The prevalence of dry eye among children has been progressively increasing each year; however, clinical diagnosis remains challenging due to the unique physiological attributes of the pediatric tear film functional unit, as well as symptoms that are often atypical and clinical signs that differ from those seen in adults. In healthy children, tear secretion is generally greater, the meibomian gland structure is typically more intact, and the meibum composition and physicochemical properties are more favorable for the maintenance of tear film stability. Compared to adults, the etiology of pediatric dry eye is more frequently associated with meibomian gland dysfunction, allergic ocular conditions, orthokeratology lens wear, environmental influences, such as growing screen time, and systemic disorders. Affected children frequently exhibit non-specific symptoms such as excessive blinking or rubbing of the eyes, which may be overlooked due to their limited ability to verbalize discomfort. Clinical signs can include conjunctival hyperemia, decreased tear meniscus height, and corneal epithelial punctate lesions, though these tend to be milder or less distinct compared with adults. Diagnostic requires the use of age-appropriate tear metrics, such as the Schirmer test and tear film breakup time, alongside ocular surface evaluation, with particular attention to features specific to children that distinguish it from dry eye in adults. Going forward, it is essential to establish and validate pediatric-specific diagnostic criteria to improve ocular surface health and maximize visual quality in this vulnerable population.
3.Pathogenic Mechanisms of Spleen Deficiency-Phlegm Dampness in Obesity and Traditional Chinese Medicine Prevention and Treatment Strategies:from the Perspective of Immune Inflammation
Yumei LI ; Peng XU ; Xiaowan WANG ; Shudong CHEN ; Le YANG ; Lihua HUANG ; Chuang LI ; Qinchi HE ; Xiangxi ZENG ; Juanjuan WANG ; Wei MAO ; Ruimin TIAN
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2026;67(1):31-37
Based on spleen deficiency-phlegm dampness as the core pathogenesis of obesity, and integrating recent advances in modern medicine regarding the key role of immune inflammation in obesity, this paper proposes a multidimensional pathogenic network of "obesity-spleen deficiency-phlegm dampness-immune imbalance". Various traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbs that strengthen the spleen, regulate qi, and resolve phlegm and dampness can treat obesity by improving spleen-stomach transport and transformation, promoting water-damp metabolism, and regulating immune homeostasis. This highlights immune inflammation as an important entry point to elucidate the TCM concepts of "spleen deficiency-phlegm dampness" and the therapeutic principle of "strengthening the spleen and eliminating dampness to treat obesity". By systematically analyzing the intrinsic connection between "spleen deficiency generating dampness, internal accumulation of phlegm dampness" and immune dysregulation in obesity, this paper aims to provide theoretical support for TCM treatment of obesity based on dampness.
4.Improvement effects and mechanism of water extract from Chrysanthemum morifolium on muscle atrophy in rats after ischemic stroke
Ruocong YANG ; Hu QI ; Yuanlin GAO ; Zeyang ZHANG ; Xiaorui CHEN ; Rong LIU ; Nan ZENG
China Pharmacy 2025;36(5):535-539
OBJECTIVE To study the improvement effects and potential mechanisms of water extract from Chrysanthemum morifolium on skeletal muscle atrophy in rats after ischemic stroke. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, ATP group (10 mg/kg), C. morifolium water extract high-dose and low-dose groups (1.08, 0.54 g/kg). Except for sham operation group, ischemic stroke models were induced in rats from the other groups using middle cerebral artery occlusion. Starting from the first day after surgery, rats in each group were given corresponding drug/normal saline intragastrically, once a day, for consecutive 7 days. On the 7th day post-surgery, the rats’ body weights were measured, and their motor functions were evaluated, including Longa scores, exercise distance, grip strength; the electrophysiological signals of the skeletal muscles in rats were measured; the pathological morphology of the soleus muscle in rats was observed; the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in serum and soleus muscle were measured; the expressions of proteins related to TNF-α/c-Jun N- terminal kinase (JNK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway in the soleus muscle were determined. RESULTS Compared with sham operation group, the body weight, grip strength and exercise distance of rats were decreased/ shortened significantly (P<0.01); additionally, there was a notable reduction in the interpeak value of skeletal muscle electrophysiology (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Longa score, as well as the levels of TNF-α in serum and soleus muscle, and the expression levels of TNF-α, phosphorylated JNK, phosphorylated MAPK, muscle ring-finger protein-1, and muscle atrophy Fbox- 1 protein in the soleus muscle, were all significantly elevated (P<0.01). The skeletal muscle cells of the soleus muscle in the model group showed significant atrophy, with a markedly decreased cross-sectional area (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the levels of the aforementioned indicators were significantly reversed in C. morifolium water extract groups (P<0.05 or P< 0.01), and the skeletal muscle cells of the soleus muscle were markedly enlarged. CONCLUSIONS C. morifolium water extract can improve skeletal muscle atrophy in rats after ischemic stroke, the mechanism of which may be associated with suppressing the activation of the TNF- α/JNK/MAPK E-mail:19932015@cdutcm.edu.cn signaling pathway.
5.Cost-effectiveness analysis of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue combined with recombinant human growth hormone in the treatment of central precocious puberty
Chunsong YANG ; Jianing LIU ; Zheng LIU ; Linan ZENG ; Jin WU ; Lingli ZHANG
China Pharmacy 2025;36(1):79-85
OBJECTIVE To compare the long-term cost-effectiveness of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogue (GnRHa) combined with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) (combination therapy regimen) versus GnRHa monotherapy (monotherapy regimen) in the treatment of central precocious puberty (CPP). METHODS From the societal perspective and based on a real-world study conducted at West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University, the cost-effectiveness analysis was performed to compare the long-term cost-effectiveness of two pharmacotherapy regimens for CPP girls, with final height as outcome indexes, using per capita disposable income of rural residents and urban residents (20 133-49 283 yuan) in 2022 as the social willing-to-pay (WTP) threshold. The robustness of the basic analysis result was verified by using one-way sensitivity analysis and probability sensitivity analysis, and the cost-effectiveness of different combinations of long-acting preparations was compared using scenario analysis. RESULTS The basic analysis result showed that the combination therapy regimen required an additional cost of 25 193.49 yuan for every one-centimeter improvement in the final height of girls with CPP compared with the monotherapy regimen, which was not cost-effective for residents in rural areas, but it was cost-effective for residents in urban areas. One-way sensitivity analysis showed that the uncertain factors with potential impacts on the results were, in order, the price of rhGH, the final height of pediatric patients in the combination therapy regimen group, the course of rhGH in the combination therapy regimen group, and the final height of pediatric patients in the monotherapy regimen group. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the probability of the combination therapy regimen being cost-effective was higher than that of the monotherapy regimen when WTP was more than 26 010 yuan/cm. When GnRHa long-acting preparation was used for intramuscular injection every 3 months, the combination therapy regimen was not cost-effective for rural residents, but was cost-effective for urban residents; when rhGH long-acting preparation was injected subcutaneously once a week, the combination therapy regimen was not cost-effective for residents in both rural areas and urban areas. CONCLUSIONS The combination of GnRHa and rhGH is only recommended for CPP children with better affordability to improve final height. The benefits, risks, and affordability of treatment should be comprehensively considered before the decisions on pharmacotherapy, to avoid abuse of rhGH due to the blind pursuit of height growth.
6.Mediating effect of frailty on social isolation and cognitive function among the elderly
JIANG Meiting ; YANG Wenfei ; ZHANG Xiang ; CAI Xin ; GUAN Aijun ; ZENG Dongyang
Journal of Preventive Medicine 2025;37(1):17-20
Objective:
To examine the mediating effect of frailty on social isolation and cognitive function among the elderly.
Methods:
Demographic information, smoking, alcohol consumption and cognitive function of the elderly at ages of 60 years and older were collected from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2020. Social isolation and frailty were evaluated using social isolation index and frailty index, respectively. The mediating effect of frailty on social isolation and cognitive function was analyzed using the Process program, and the significance of the mediating role was tested using the Bootstrap test.
Results:
A total of 2 822 individuals were enrolled, including 1 483 males (52.55%) and 1 339 females (47.45%). There were 2 497 (88.48%) and 325 (11.52%) individuals at ages of 60-<75 years and ≥75 years, respectively. The median cognitive function score was 14 (interquartile range, 16) points. There were 432 cases with social isolation (15.31%), with a median social isolation index of 10 (interquartile range, 5) points. The median frailty index was 0.11 (interquartile range, 0.15). There were 1 111 individuals without frailty, accounting for 39.37%; 1 214 individuals with pre-frailty, accounting for 43.02%; and 497 individuals with frailty, accounting for 17.61%. Mediating effect analysis showed that social isolation affected cognitive function directly and negatively with the effect value of -0.773 (95%CI: -0.899 to -0.647), and also affected cognitive function by frailty indirectly and negatively with the effect value of -0.147 (95%CI: -0.188 to -0.110), with the mediating effect contributed 15.98% of the total effect.
Conclusion
Frailty can directly or indirectly affect cognitive function among elderly through social isolation.
7.Concept, design and clinical application of minimally invasive liver transplantation through laparoscopic combined upper midline incision
Shuhong YI ; Hui TANG ; Kaining ZENG ; Xiao FENG ; Binsheng FU ; Qing YANG ; Jia YAO ; Yang YANG ; Guihua CHEN
Organ Transplantation 2025;16(1):67-73
Objective To explore the technical process and clinical application of laparoscopic combined upper midline incision minimally invasive liver transplantation. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 30 cases of laparoscopic combined upper midline incision minimally invasive liver transplantation. The cases were divided into cirrhosis group (15 cases) and liver failure group (15 cases) based on the primary disease. The surgical and postoperative conditions of the two groups were compared. Results All patients successfully underwent laparoscopic "clockwise" liver resection, with no cases of passive conversion to open surgery or intolerance to pneumoperitoneum. In 6 cases, the right lobe was relatively large, and the right hepatic ligaments could not be completely mobilized. One case required an additional reverse "L" incision during open surgery. All patients successfully completed the liver transplantation, with no major intraoperative bleeding, cardiovascular events, or other occurrences in the 30 patients. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score in the cirrhosis group was lower than that in the liver failure group (P<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, surgical time, blood loss, anhepatic phase, or cold ischemia time (all P>0.05). During the perioperative period, there was 1 case of hepatic artery embolism, 1 case of portal vein anastomotic stenosis, no complications of hepatic vein and inferior vena cava, and 3 cases of biliary anastomotic stenosis, all of which occurred in the liver failure group. Conclusions In strictly selected cases, the minimally invasive liver transplantation technique combining laparoscopic hepatectomy with upper midline incision for graft implantation has the advantages of smaller incisions, less bleeding, relatively easier operation, and faster postoperative recovery, which is worthy of clinical promotion and application.
8.Effect of refractive status before small incision lenticule extraction surgery on postoperative accommodative function
Meiluo ZHANG ; Chunyu TIAN ; Qinghua YANG ; Liexi JIA ; Hongtao ZHANG ; Manmei LI ; Zhengqing DU ; Zhuo ZENG ; Xue WANG ; Wei ZHANG
International Eye Science 2025;25(2):323-327
AIM: To investigate the abnormal conditions and change patterns of accommodative facility in patients with different refractive states before and after small incision lenticule extraction(SMILE)surgery.METHODS:A prospective clinical cohort study was conducted. A total of 59 patients(118 eyes)who underwent SMILE surgery and had visual function files established in our hospital from June to December 2023 were randomly selected, including 37 males and 22 females, aged 18-35 years(with an average age of 25.19±5.65 years). According to the preoperative spherical equivalent(SE), they were divided into two groups: the low-to-moderate myopia group(SE≥-6.00 DS)with 40 patients(80 eyes), and the high myopia group(SE<-6.00 DS)with 19 patients(38 eyes). The monocular and binocular accommodative facility before surgery and at 1 wk and 1 mo after surgery were compared, and the changes in accommodative facility before and after SMILE surgery in the two groups of patients were analyzed.RESULTS:All surgeries were completed successfully. In the low-to-moderate myopia group, 33 cases(66 eyes)completed the 1-month follow-up after surgery, with a loss to follow-up rate of 17.5%(7/40). In the high myopia group, 15 patients(30 eyes)completed the 1-month follow-up after surgery, with a loss to follow-up rate of 21.1%(4/19). After SMILE surgery, the uncorrected visual acuity and SE of both low-to-moderate myopia and high myopia were significantly improved(all P<0.05). The accommodative facility of the right eyes in all the patients at 1 mo after surgery was better than that before surgery and at 1 wk after surgery(P=0.002, 0.006), the accommodative facility of the left eyes was significantly increased at 1 mo after surgery than that at 1 wk after surgery(P=0.005), and the binocular accommodative facility at 1 mo after surgery was significantly increased compared with that before surgery(P<0.017). Furthermore, there were statistical significance in accommodative facility of the right eyes in the low-to-moderate group at 1 mo compared with that before surgery and at 1 wk after surgery(P=0.011, 0.004); it was significantly increased in the left eyes at 1 mo after surgery compared with that at 1 wk after surgery(P=0.001), and binocular accommodative facility at 1 mo after surgery was significantly better than that before surgery(P<0.001). Furthermore, there was no statistical significance in the right, left and binocular accommodative facility of patients in the high myopia group(all P>0.017).CONCLUSION: After SMILE surgery, the monocular accommodative facility shows a transient decrease and then exceeds the preoperative level at 1 mo after surgery, and the binocular accommodative facility gradually improves after surgery. SMILE surgery has a positive impact on the monocular and binocular accommodative facility in patients with low-to-moderate myopia, but has no significant impact on the accommodative facility in patients with high myopia. It is of clinical significance to strengthen the detection of monocular and binocular accommodative facility before and after SMILE surgery.
9.Interpretation of 2024 ESC guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension
Yu CHENG ; Yiheng ZHOU ; Yao LÜ ; ; Dongze LI ; Lidi LIU ; Peng ZHANG ; Rong YANG ; Yu JIA ; Rui ZENG ; Zhi WAN ; Xiaoyang LIAO
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(01):31-40
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) released the "2024 ESC guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension" on August 30, 2024. This guideline updates the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension." One notable update is the introduction of the concept of "elevated blood pressure" (120-139/70-89 mm Hg). Additionally, a new systolic blood pressure target range of 120-129 mm Hg has been proposed for most patients receiving antihypertensive treatment. The guideline also includes numerous additions or revisions in areas such as non-pharmacological interventions and device-based treatments for hypertension. This article interprets the guideline's recommendations on definition and classification of elevated blood pressure and hypertension, and cardiovascular disease risk assessment, diagnosing hypertension and investigating underlying causes, preventing and treating elevated blood pressure and hypertension. We provide a comparison interpretation with the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension" and the "2017 ACC/AHA guideline on the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults."
10.Construction of a prognostic prediction model for invasive lung adenocarcinoma based on machine learning
Yanqi CUI ; Jingrong YANG ; Lin NI ; Duohuang LIAN ; Shixin YE ; Yi LIAO ; Jincan ZHANG ; Zhiyong ZENG
Chinese Journal of Clinical Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 2025;32(01):80-86
Objective To determine the prognostic biomarkers and new therapeutic targets of the lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), based on which to establish a prediction model for the survival of LUAD patients. Methods An integrative analysis was conducted on gene expression and clinicopathologic data of LUAD, which were obtained from the UCSC database. Subsequently, various methods, including screening of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), were employed to analyze the data. Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were used to establish an assessment model. Based on this model, we constructed a nomogram to predict the probable survival of LUAD patients at different time points (1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 5-year, and 10-year). Finally, we evaluated the predictive ability of our model using Kaplan-Meier survival curves, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and time-dependent ROC curves. The validation group further verified the prognostic value of the model. Results The different-grade pathological subtypes' DEGs were mainly enriched in biological processes such as metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, antigen processing and presentation, and regulation of enzyme activity, which were closely related to tumor development. Through Cox regression and LASSO regression, we constructed a reliable prediction model consisting of a five-gene panel (MELTF, MAGEA1, FGF19, DKK4, C14ORF105). The model demonstrated excellent specificity and sensitivity in ROC curves, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.675. The time-dependent ROC analysis revealed AUC values of 0.893, 0.713, and 0.632 for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival, respectively. The advantage of the model was also verified in the validation group. Additionally, we developed a nomogram that accurately predicted survival, as demonstrated by calibration curves and C-index. Conclusion We have developed a prognostic prediction model for LUAD consisting of five genes. This novel approach offers clinical practitioners a personalized tool for making informed decisions regarding the prognosis of their patients.


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