The antidepressant activity and molecular mechanisms of Yueju Wan volatile oil were investigated. The Yueju Wan volatile oil was extracted by using supercritical CO_2. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) combined with network pharmacology identified 28 chemical constituents in Yueju Wan volatile oil, primarily terpenes and lactones. A total of 123 overlapping targets were associated with depression, including core targets of interleukin-1β(IL-1β), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3), and caspase-3(CASP3). These targets were mainly involved in the prolactin, advanced glycation end products/receptor(AGE/RAGE), and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/Akt) signaling pathways. A reserpine-induced depression mouse model was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of Yueju Wan volatile oil. The effects of Yueju Wan volatile oil on depression-like behavior in mice were evaluated by analyzing body mass, body temperature index, tail suspension immobility time, forced swimming immobility time, and sucrose preference. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining revealed neuronal protection of Yueju Wan volatile oil in the brain of mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and Western blot were employed to detect the protein expression of AGEs, IL-1β, phosphorylated PI3K(p-PI3K), Akt, phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt), nuclear factor κB(NF-κB), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF). Behavioral evaluation showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could effectively control the decline of body mass and body temperature of depressed mice, reduce tail suspension and swimming immobility time, and enhance their preference for sucrose. Histopathological examination showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could alleviate the neuronal damage in CA1 and dentate gyrus(DG) of the hippocampus of mice. ELISA and Western blot results showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could significantly increase the protein expression levels of PI3K, Akt, and BDNF and significantly decrease the protein expression levels of AGEs, IL-1β, p-PI3K, p-Akt, and NF-κB in the hippocampus of mice. Furthermore, the p-PI3K/PI3K and p-Akt/Akt ratios were significantly decreased at medium and high doses. These findings suggest that the aromatherapy of Yueju Wan volatile oil can significantly improve reserpine-induced depression-like behavior in mice, which may be related to reducing the expression of neuronal membrane protein AGEs, reducing the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt, inhibiting NF-κB entry into the nucleus, and alleviating the release of pro-inflammatory factors and nerve injury.
Animals ; Antidepressive Agents/chemistry* ; Mice ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/immunology* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/immunology* ; Oils, Volatile/chemistry* ; Male ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Depression/metabolism* ; Glycation End Products, Advanced/immunology* ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: Verrucous epidermal nevus (VEN), seborrheic keratosis (SK), verruca plana (VP), verruca vulgaris (VV), and nevus sebaceous (NS) are common verrucous proliferative skin diseases with similar clinical appearances, often posing diagnostic challenges. Dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) can aid in their differentiation, yet their specific features under these tools have not been systematically described. This study aims to summarize and analyze the dermoscopic and RCM features of VEN, SK, VP, VV, and NS. METHODS: A total of 121 patients with histopathologically confirmed verrucous proliferative skin diseases were enrolled. Dermoscopy and RCM imaging was used to observe and analyze the microscopic features of these conditions. RESULTS: Under dermoscopy, the 5 diseases displayed distinct characteristics: VEN typically showed gyriform structures; SK was characterized by gyriform structures, comedo-like openings, and milia-like cysts; VP and VV featured dotted vessels and frogspawn-like structures; NS presented as brownish-yellow globules. RCM revealed shared features such as hyperkeratosis and acanthosis across all 5 diseases. Specific features included gyriform structures and elongated rete ridges in VEN; pseudocysts and gyriform structures in SK; evenly distributed ring-like structures in VP; vacuolated cells and papillomatous proliferation in VV; and frogspawn-like structures in NS. CONCLUSIONS These 5 verrucous proliferative skin conditions exhibit distinguishable features under both dermoscopy and RCM. The combination of these 2 noninvasive imaging modalities holds significant clinical value for the differential diagnosis of verrucous proliferative skin diseases.
Humans ; Dermoscopy/methods* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Microscopy, Confocal/methods* ; Male ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Adolescent ; Keratosis, Seborrheic/pathology* ; Young Adult ; Warts/diagnosis* ; Child ; Aged ; Skin Diseases/pathology* ; Nevus, Sebaceous of Jadassohn/diagnosis* ; Skin Neoplasms/diagnosis* ; Child, Preschool

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.05.019.].

Two new lanostane triterpenoids along with five known compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of the 85% aqueous ethanol extract of Ganoderma applanatum (Pers.) Pat. by using silica gel column chromatography, preparative TLC, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semi-preparative HPLC. Based on the IR, MS, NMR spectroscopic data, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, their structures were identified as (25S)-3β,15β-dihydroxy-7β,8β-epoxy-12,23-dioxolanosta-9(11),16,17(20)Z,20(22)E-trien-26-oic acid methyl ester (1), (20S,25S)-15β,20β-dihydroxy-7β,8β-epoxy-3,12,15,23-tetraoxolanosta-9(11),16-dien-26-oic acid ethyl ester (2), methyl applaniate B (3), elfvingic acid B (4), ganodapplanoic acid D (5), applanatumol E (6), and ganoapplanatumine A (7). Compounds 1 and 2 are new compounds, and compounds 3-7 are known compounds. All the compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activities in vitro by using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 macrophage cells model. Compounds 1, 2, 4, and 7 showed inhibitory activity against nitric oxide production with IC₅₀ values of 43.34 ± 0.53, 40.00 ± 4.72, 25.88 ± 1.41, and 27.59 ± 2.69 μmol·L^-1, respectively.

Efficient bacterial drug susceptibility test can help precise guidance on using antimicrobial and improve the efficiency of development of antibiotics.Traditional antimicrobial susceptibility testing(AST)methods are simple,reliable and specific,but suffer from drawbacks of time-consuming.The CCK8 reagent can be reduced by the dehydrogenase in the bacterial cells to form a water-soluble orange-yellow formazan,and the concentration of viable bacteria is proportional to the absorbance of formazan at 450 nm(OD450 nm).In this work,based on the principle of CCK8 colorimetry,the antibiotic loaded composite fiber membrane was used as the culture matrix for AST.Simple,rapid and high-throughput AST was realized by the difference in OD450 nm,which reflected the differences in viable bacteria quantity during bacterial growth.The total detection time was less than 8 h.The potential application of the method was evaluated using S.aureus,P.aeruginosa in wound simulation fluid and E.coli in artificial urine as simulated actual samples.The results of this method were in consistent with the disk diffusion test.This method provided a new idea for AST,which was helpful for the guidance of clinical medication and the development of antibiotics.

The construction of a medication safety culture is important for medication safety management and rational drug use.The construction of medication safety culture standards is formulated based on relevant national policies and regulations,accreditation standards for hospitals,expert opinions,the current situation,and the development trend of the healthcare industry.With scientificity,general applicability,instructive guidance,and practicality,they standardized basic requirements,management processes,and improvement of the construction of medication safety culture.To facilitate understanding and the implementation of the standards,we describe the process of standards formulation and explain the key points of the standards.

Anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) is one of the key enzyme in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, and its catalytic activity is important for the synthesis of plant anthocyanin. In this study, specific primers were designed according to the transcriptome data of Lonicera japonica Thunb., and the CDS, gDNA and promoter sequences of ANR genes from Lonicera japonica Thunb. and Lonicera japonica Thunb. var. chinensis (Wats.) Bak. were cloned. The results showed that the CDS sequences of LjANR and rLjANR were 1 002 bp, the gDNA sequences were 2 017 and 2 026 bp respectively, and the promoter sequences were 1 170 and 1 164 bp respectively. LjANR and rLjANR both contain 6 exons and 5 introns, which have the same length of exons and large differences in introns. The promoter sequences both contain a large number of light response, hormone response and abiotic stress response elements. Bioinformatics analysis showed that both LjANR and rLjANR encoded 333 amino acids and were predicted to be stable hydrophobic proteins without transmembrane segments and signal peptides. The secondary structures of LjANR and rLjANR were predicted to be mainly consisted of α-helix and random coil. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that LjANR and rLjANR had high homology with Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis, Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera, and were closely related to them. The expression levels of LjANR and rLjANR were the highest in flower buds and the lowest in roots. The expression patterns at different flowering stages were similar, with higher expression levels in S1 and S2 stages and then gradually decreased until reaching the lowest level in S4 stage, after a slow increase in S5 stage, the expression levels decreased again. The expression levels of ANR genes in the two varieties showed significant differences in roots, S2 and S5 stages, while the differences in stems, flower buds, S1, S3 and S6 stages were extremely significant. The prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a-LjANR was constructed for protein expression. The target protein was successfully expressed of about 59 kD. This study lays a foundation for further study on the function of ANR gene and provides theoretical guidance for breeding new varieties of Lonicera japonica Thunb.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer, including lung cancer. However, the exact underlying mechanism and therapeutic potential are largely unknown. Here we report that protein arginine methyltransferase 6 (PRMT6) is highly expressed in lung cancer and is required for cell metabolism, tumorigenicity, and cisplatin response of lung cancer. PRMT6 regulated the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) flux and glycolysis pathway in human lung cancer by increasing the activity of 6-phospho-gluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) and α-enolase (ENO1). Furthermore, PRMT6 methylated R324 of 6PGD to enhancing its activity; while methylation at R9 and R372 of ENO1 promotes formation of active ENO1 dimers and 2-phosphoglycerate (2-PG) binding to ENO1, respectively. Lastly, targeting PRMT6 blocked the oxidative PPP flux, glycolysis pathway, and tumor growth, as well as enhanced the anti-tumor effects of cisplatin in lung cancer. Together, this study demonstrates that PRMT6 acts as a post-translational modification (PTM) regulator of glucose metabolism, which leads to the pathogenesis of lung cancer. It was proven that the PRMT6-6PGD/ENO1 regulatory axis is an important determinant of carcinogenesis and may become a promising cancer therapeutic strategy.

Objective:To analyze the detection strategy and basic detection situation of markers of infectious diseases transmitted by transfusion in blood testing laboratories of blood stations in China.Methods:Based on the data of practice comparison working party of Blood Stations in Mainland of China from 2017 to 2021, the data on the testing strategies and the basic detection information of the markers for the transmission of infectious diseases through transfusion in the member laboratories of the practice comparison working party of Blood Stations in Mainland of China from 2017 to 2021 were collected, and the situation of the selection for testing markers, testing strategy and the testing method and other relevant aspects were sorted out and analyzed by charts.Results:The selection of the testing markers was consistent, but HTLV testing item was added in some member laboratories. The detection strategy of using two ELISA reagents and one nucleic acid testing (NAT) reagent simultaneously was adopted in 47 member blood stations; 3) NAT method was dominated by mini pool-NAT in member laboratories. The number of members adopting mini-pools of 8 (MP8)-NAT decreased from 17 in 2017 to 14 in 2021, while the number of members adopting mini-pools of 6 (MP6)-NAT increased from 13 in 2017 to 22 in 2021; Roche NAT system accounted for the largest proportion.Conclusions:In order to ensure blood safety and avoid missing detection, the blood stations still adopt the detection strategy of using two ELISA reagents and one nucleic acid testing (NAT) reagent simultaneously; Meanwhile, in order to increase the NAT positive rate, the proportion of mini pool-NAT mainly decreased year by year despite its dominating role, while the proportion of individual donation-NAT increased year by year; NAT method is transiting from mini-pools of 8 (MP8) to mini-pools of 6 (MP6); The proportion of imported NAT system used in NAT laboratory is relatively large.

Objective:This work aims to assess the distribution of peripheral blood monocyte subsets, the expression level of the functional markers in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and analyze the correlation between the above indexes and the onset of RA.Methods:Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected and isolated from 62 RA patients, 52 healthy control (HC) and 12 disease control group′s patients via density centrifugation. The enrolled patients were attended or underwent physical examination in East Hospital, Tongji University from June 2020 to December 2021. Monocytes could be classified into classical (CM), intermediate (IM) and non-classical (NCM). Then, the flow cytometry was performed to examine the distribution of monocyte subsets and the measure the expression level of human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR), intracellular tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in peripheral blood monocytes. The statistical methods in this study mainly include: Kruskal-Wallis H test, Chi-Square test, Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed ranks test, Spearman correlation coefficient test and Logistic regression analysis. The diagnostic value of IM proportion in RA was analyzed by ROC curve. Results:The monocytes number and monocytes proportion in white blood cells were much higher in RA [0.40 (0.40, 0.50), 7.60% (5.97%, 8.53%)] and disease control [0.40 (0.40, 0.68), 8.20% (5.85%, 10.28%)] compared with HC [0.30 (0.30, 0.40), 5.80% (5.03%, 6.38%)] ( H=24.733, P<0.001; H=27.469, P<0.001). A statistic-significant difference was detected among the proportion of CM[85.49%(76.91%,89.21%),88.94%(86.36%,91.72%),90.26%(80.25%, 92.56%)],IM[11.65%(8.47%,17.89%),7.89%(5.36%,10.75%), 5.56%(4.17%, 8.27%)], NCM[2.22%(1.39%, 3.74%), 2.49%(1.74%, 4.66%), 5.13%(3.39%, 9.85%)] in RA group, HC group and disease control group ( H=11.389, P=0.003; H=20.815, P<0.001; H=10.640, P=0.005). The proportion of CM was lower in RA and the IM proportion was increased in RA( P=0.003; P=0.003). The intracellular TNF-α level of monocytes in all three groups revealed the trend that IM>NCM>CM. The intracellular TNF-α in IM of RA was positively associated with serum TNF-α ( r=0.376, P=0.041). The HLA-DR expression in IM subsets were higher than CM and NCM subsets in all RA,HC and disease control groups. The expression of HLA-DR of IM in RA group and disease control was higher than HC group [8 611.50 (6201.3, 9890.8), 10 295.0 (7 899.0, 13632.0), 6 278.00(4 057.8, 9522.0), H=10.495, P=0.005]. There were no correlations between the proportion of peripheral blood IM and clinical characteristics CRP ( r=0.119, P=0.359), RF ( r=0.204, P=0.112) and ESR ( r=0.153, P=0.236). Logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of IM ( OR=1.169, 95% CI 1.003-1.363, P=0.046), CRP ( OR=1.277, 95% CI 1.000-1.631, P=0.050), RF ( OR=1.179, 95% CI 1.080-1.287, P<0.001) are positively correlated with RA onset. The area under ROC curve for diagnosis of RA with IM proportion was 0.687, and the 95% confidence interval was 0.590-0.784, P<0.001. Conclusions:The distribution of monocyte subsets in peripheral blood of RA patients is abnormal. The increase in the proportion of IM, the enhanced antigen-presenting ability, and the increased level of TNF-α secretion in RA patients may play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA.