Prunellae Spica is the dried spica of Prunella vulgaris belonging to Labiatae and it is widely used in pharmaceutical and general health fields. As a traditional Chinese medicine cultivated on a large scale, it produces a large amount of non-medicinal parts, which are discarded because they are not effectively used. To analyze the chemical constituents in the different samples from spica, seed, stem, and leaf of P. vulgaris, and explore the application value and development prospect of these parts, this study used ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupoles time of flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) to detect chemical constituents in different parts of P. vulgaris. As a result, 117 compounds were detected. Among them, 87 compounds were identified, including 32 phenolic acids, 8 flavonoids, and 45 triterpenoid saponins. Some new triterpenoid saponins containing the sugar chain with 4-6 sugar units were found. Further, multivariate statistical analysis was conducted on BPI chromatographic peaks of multiple batches of different parts, and the results showed that spica had the most abundant chemical constituents, including salviaflaside and linolenic acid highly contained in the seed and phenolic acids, flavonoids, and triterpenoid saponins in the stem and leaf. In general, the constituents in the spica were composed of those in the seed, stem, and leaf. UPLC was used to determine the content of 6 phenolic acids(danshensu, protocatechuic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, caffeic acid, salviaflaside, and rosmarinic acid) in different parts. The content of other phenolic acids in the seed was generally lower than that in the spica except that of salviaflaside. The content of salviaflaside in the spica was higher than that in the stem and leaf, but the content of other phenolic acids in the spica was not significantly different from that in the stem. The content of protocatechuic aldehyde and caffeic acid in the spica was lower than that in the leaf. DPPH free radical scavenging method was used to detect the antioxidant activity of four parts, and there was no significant difference in the antioxidant activity between the spica and the stem and leaf, but that was significantly higher than the seed. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of these parts was correlated with the content of total phenolic acids. Based on the above findings, the stem and leaf of P. vulgaris have potential application value. Considering the traditional medication rule, it is feasible to use the whole plant as a medicine. Alternatively, salviaflaside, occurring in the seed, can be used as a marker compound for the quality evaluation of Prunellae Spica, if only using spica as the medicinal part of P. vulgaris, as described in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition).
Antioxidants/chemistry* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Prunella/chemistry* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Caffeic Acids ; Flavonoids/analysis* ; Triterpenes/analysis* ; Saponins ; Sugars

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the incidence of extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) and its risk factors in very preterm infants (VPIs) during hospitalization in China. METHODS: A prospective multicenter study was performed on the medical data of 2 514 VPIs who were hospitalized in the department of neonatology in 28 hospitals from 7 areas of China between September 2019 and December 2020. According to the presence or absence of EUGR based on the evaluation of body weight at the corrected gestational age of 36 weeks or at discharge, the VPIs were classified to two groups: EUGR group (n=1 189) and non-EUGR (n=1 325). The clinical features were compared between the two groups, and the incidence of EUGR and risk factors for EUGR were examined. RESULTS: The incidence of EUGR was 47.30% (1 189/2 514) evaluated by weight. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher weight growth velocity after regaining birth weight and higher cumulative calorie intake during the first week of hospitalization were protective factors against EUGR (P<0.05), while small-for-gestational-age birth, prolonged time to the initiation of total enteral feeding, prolonged cumulative fasting time, lower breast milk intake before starting human milk fortifiers, prolonged time to the initiation of full fortified feeding, and moderate-to-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia were risk factors for EUGR (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS It is crucial to reduce the incidence of EUGR by achieving total enteral feeding as early as possible, strengthening breastfeeding, increasing calorie intake in the first week after birth, improving the velocity of weight gain, and preventing moderate-severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia in VPIs.
Female ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gestational Age ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Very Low Birth Weight ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To assess changes of nutritional status by comprehensive nutrition assessment including nutritional risk screening, dietary assessment, blood biochemical index, and body composition in acute leukemia patients who had undergone chemotherapy. METHODS: A total of 169 patients with acute leukemia treated at The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from June 2018 to August 2019 were recruited for this study. Before and after chemotherapy, the NRS-2002 and PG-SGA scales, dietary intake, blood biochemical index and body composition were evaluated to compare the changes of nutritional status. RESULTS: NRS-2002 score and PG-SGA score after chemotherapy were significantly increased than those before chemotherapy (P<0.001). Many patients had insufficient nutritional intake during chemotherapy, and the dietary intake score of patients with induction chemotherapy was significantly lower than that of patients with consolidation chemotherapy (P=0.043). The results of multivariate analysis showed that induction chemotherapy was the independent risk factor for the increase of PG-SGA scores and the decrease of dietary intake (all P<0.05). After chemotherapy, the white blood cell count, hemoglobin, and platelet count were significantly decreased (P<0.001), the prealbumin was significantly increased (P<0.001), and the blood glucose was increased (P=0.04), but albumin was not significantly changed. The weight, body mass index, fat-free mass, skeletal muscle mass and intracellular water were all significantly decreased (P<0.001), and visceral fat area was increased significantly after chemotherapy (P<0.05), especially in newly-diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients after the induction of chemotherapy. CONCLUSION The nutritional status of patients with acute leukemia has undergone significant changes after chemotherapy. A single indicator has limited significance for nutritional status assessment. Comprehensive assessment of nutritional status by multiple tools is worthy of clinical application.
Acute Disease ; Humans ; Induction Chemotherapy/methods* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/drug therapy* ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/drug therapy*

Objective Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and tuberculosis (TB) are major public health and social issues worldwide. The long-term follow-up of COVID-19 with pulmonary TB (PTB) survivors after discharge is unclear. This study aimed to comprehensively describe clinical outcomes, including sequela and recurrence at 3, 12, and 24 months after discharge, among COVID-19 with PTB survivors. Methods From January 22, 2020 to May 6, 2022, with a follow-up by August 26, 2022, a prospective, multicenter follow-up study was conducted on COVID-19 with PTB survivors after discharge in 13hospitals from four provinces in China. Clinical outcomes, including sequela, recurrence of COVID-19, and PTB survivors, were collected via telephone and face-to-face interviews at 3, 12, and 24 months after discharge. Results Thirty-two COVID-19 with PTB survivors were included. The median age was 52 (45, 59) years, and 23 (71.9％) were men. Among them, nearly two-thirds (62.5％) of the survivors were moderate, three (9.4％) were severe, and more than half (59.4％) had at least one comorbidity (PTB excluded). The proportion of COVID-19 survivors with at least one sequela symptom decreased from 40.6％ at 3 months to 15.8％ at 24 months, with anxiety having a higher proportion over a follow-up. Cough and amnesia recovered at the 12-month follow-up, while anxiety, fatigue, and trouble sleeping remained after 24 months. Additionally, one (3.1％) case presented two recurrences of PTB and no re-positive COVID-19 during the follow-up period. Conclusion The proportion of long symptoms in COVID-19 with PTB survivors decreased over time, while nearly one in six still experience persistent symptoms with a higher proportion of anxiety. The recurrence of PTB and the psychological support of COVID-19 with PTB after discharge require more attention.

Background/Aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) characterized by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, hepatocellular injury, and fibrosis. We aimed to investigate the usefulness of a key biomarker, lipocalin-2 (LCN2), for the detection of NASH progression. Methods: A mouse NASH model was established using a high-fat diet and a high-sugar drinking water. Gene expression profile of the NASH model was analyzed using RNA sequencing. Moreover, 360 NAFLD patients (steatosis, 83; NASH, 277), 40 healthy individuals, and 87 patients with alcoholic fatty liver disease were recruited. Results: Inflammatory infiltration, focal necrosis in the leaflets, steatosis, and fibrosis were documented in the mouse liver. In total, 504 genes were differentially expressed in the livers of NASH mice, and showed significant functional enrichment in the inflammation-related category. Upregulated liver LCN2 was found to be significantly interactive with various interleukins and toll-like receptors. Serum LCN2 levels were significantly increased in NAFLD patients. Serum LCN2 levels were correlated with steatosis, intralobular inflammation, semiquantitative fibrosis score, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score. The area under the curve of serum LCN2 was 0.987 with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 93.5% for NASH diagnosis, and 0.977 with almost the same specificity and sensitivity for steatosis. Conclusions LCN2 might be involved in the transition from NAFL to NASH by mediating inflammation. Serum LCN2 levels might be a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of NASH.

Postprostatectomy erectile dysfunction (pPED) remains a current problem despite improvements in surgical techniques. Vacuum therapy is clinically confirmed as a type of pPED rehabilitation. However, its underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Recently, autophagy and apoptosis were extensively studied in erectile dysfunction resulting from diabetes, senescence, and androgen deprivation but not in the context of pPED and vacuum therapy. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the roles of autophagy and apoptosis in pPED and vacuum therapy. Twenty-four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: the control group, bilateral cavernous nerve crush (BCNC) group, and BCNC + vacuum group. After 4 weeks of treatment, intracavernosal pressure was used to evaluate erectile function. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and immunohistochemistry were used to measure the molecular expression. TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling staining was used to assess apoptosis. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe autophagosomes. After treatment, compared with those of the BCNC group, erectile function and cavernosal hypoxia had statistically significantly improved (P < 0.05). Apoptosis and the relative protein expression of B-cell lymphoma-2-associated X and cleaved Caspase3 were decreased (P < 0.05). Autophagy-related molecules such as phosphorylated unc-51-like autophagy-activating kinase 1 (Ser757) and p62 were decreased. Beclin1, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 A/B, and autophagosomes were increased (P < 0.05). Besides, the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway, as a negative regulator of autophagy to some degree, was inhibited. This study revealed that vacuum therapy ameliorated pPED in BCNC rats by inhibiting apoptosis and activating autophagy.

Background/Aims: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) characterized by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, hepatocellular injury, and fibrosis. We aimed to investigate the usefulness of a key biomarker, lipocalin-2 (LCN2), for the detection of NASH progression. Methods: A mouse NASH model was established using a high-fat diet and a high-sugar drinking water. Gene expression profile of the NASH model was analyzed using RNA sequencing. Moreover, 360 NAFLD patients (steatosis, 83; NASH, 277), 40 healthy individuals, and 87 patients with alcoholic fatty liver disease were recruited. Results: Inflammatory infiltration, focal necrosis in the leaflets, steatosis, and fibrosis were documented in the mouse liver. In total, 504 genes were differentially expressed in the livers of NASH mice, and showed significant functional enrichment in the inflammation-related category. Upregulated liver LCN2 was found to be significantly interactive with various interleukins and toll-like receptors. Serum LCN2 levels were significantly increased in NAFLD patients. Serum LCN2 levels were correlated with steatosis, intralobular inflammation, semiquantitative fibrosis score, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score. The area under the curve of serum LCN2 was 0.987 with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 93.5% for NASH diagnosis, and 0.977 with almost the same specificity and sensitivity for steatosis. Conclusions LCN2 might be involved in the transition from NAFL to NASH by mediating inflammation. Serum LCN2 levels might be a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of NASH.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and predictors of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) in the treatment of T lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) . Methods: 41 patients with T-LBL who underwent auto-HSCT from April 2006 to July 2017 in the Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University and the Department of Lymphoma, Peking University Cancer Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. Results: ①Among 41 patients, there were 30 males and 11 females with median age of 24 (11-53) years old. According to the Ann Arbor staging, 33 (80.5%) patients were in stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ. 12 (29.3%) patients have mediastinal involvement, and 20 (48.8%) patients have bone marrow (BM) involvement. Before transplantation, there were 26 (63.4%) patients who achieved first complete remission (CR(1)) , the other 15 (36.6%) patients were in the non-CR(1) group, and there were 29 (70.7%) patients in the low-intermediate risk group (IPI<3 scores) , the other 12 (34.1%) patients were in the middle-high risk group (IPI≥3 scores) . ②The median follow-up was 29 (3-98) months. The 3-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for 41 patients were (64.3±8.2) % and (66.0±7.8) %, respectively. 3-year cumulative recurrence rate (CIR) was (30.7±7.4) %, and 3-year non-recurring mortality (NRM) was (4.8±4.6) %. ③The 3-year OS of the CR(1) group and the non-CR(1) group were (83.4±7.6) % and (38.9±12.9) % (P=0.010) , and the 3-year PFS of two groups were (83.8±7.4) % and (40.0±12.6) % (P=0.006) , respectively. The 3-year CIR of these two groups were (16.2±7.4) % and (53.3±12.9) % (P=0.015) , and the 3-year NRM were 0 and (14.3±13.2) % (P=0.157) , respectively. ④The 3-year OS of the IPI low-intermediate risk group and the high-intermediate risk group were (76.9±8.4) % and (35.7±15.2) % (P=0.014) and the 3-year PFS were (77.4±8.2) % and (40.0±14.6) (P=0.011) , respectively. The 3-year CIR of these two groups were (18.1±7.3) % and (60.0±14.6) % (P=0.006) , and the 3-year NRM were (5.6±5.4) % and 0 (P=0.683) , respectively. The OS and PFS of patients with low-intermediate risk group were significantly higher than the other group. Conclusion: Auto-HSCT could improve the survival of T-LBL. Pre-transplant status and IPI score are important predictors for survival T-LBL patients with auto-HSCT.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/therapy* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; T-Lymphocytes ; Transplantation, Autologous ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective:To investigate the effects of sling exercise therapy combined with Kinesio Taping on the balance and walking for stroke patients. Methods:From October, 2017 to August, 2018, 66 patients after stroke were randomly divided into routine group (n = 22), sling group (n = 22) and combined group (n = 22). All the groups accepted routine rehabilitation, while the sling group accepted sling exercise therapy based on routine group and the combined group accepted sling exercise therapy and Kinesio Taping. They were assessed with Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Lower Extremities (FMA-LE), and their gait parameters were measured with Motion Analysis, before and four weeks after treatment. Results:There were obvious improvements in the BBS score, FMA-LE score and gait parameters in all the groups after treatment (P < 0.05), and it was ranked from better to worse as the combined group, the sling group and the routine group (P < 0.05). Conclusion:Sling exercise therapy combined with Kinesio Taping may further improve balance and walking for stroke patients.

Objective To assess the effectiveness of infectious source control at various stages of transmission control of schistosomiasis in Eryuan County of Yunnan Province, so as to provide insights into the further monitoring and management of infectious sources of schistosomiasis. Methods Wenbi Village, a plateau subtype region and Qiandian Village, a mountain subtype region in Eryuan County were selected as the study areas. The species, schistosome infection and transmission capability of infectious sources were investigated in Wenbi and Qiandian villages in 2011 and 2018 and were compared. Results Schistosome infections were detected in human, bovine, horse, dog and mouse in Qiandian Village in 2011, with positive rates of 1.19%, 0.91%, 1.25%, 3.13% and 0.95%, respectively, and human, bovine and dog were found to have schistosome infections, with positive rates of 0.76%, 1.66% and 9.30%, respectively. However, no infections were identified in human, bovine, horse, pig, dog, sheep or mouse in these two villages in 2018. A total of 731 wild feces were collected in both villages in 2011. In Qiandian Village, horse, bovine and dog feces accounted for 34.40%, 29.80% and 20.20% of all fecal samples, and dog and horse feces were found to have schistosome infections (11.94% and 6.90% positive rates, respectively). In Wenbi Village, dog, bovine and human feces accounted for 44.59%, 39.83% and 14.29% of all fecal samples, and dog, human and bovine feces were found to have schistosome infections (16.95%, 9.52% and 2.33% positive rates, respectively). In 2018, a total of 204 wild feces were collected in both villages, and no schistosome infections were identified. Sheep, dog and bovine feces accounted for 36.27%, 33.33% and 27.45% of all fecal samples in Qiandian Village, and dog, bovine and human feces accounted for 72.55%, 11.76% and 10.78% of all fecal samples in Wenbi Village. Conclusions A remarkable achievement has been obtained in the control of infectious sources of schistosomiasis in Eryuan County, and the role of human and bovine as the major infectious sources of schistosomiasis has been effectively controlled. In the future, the integrated strategy with emphasis on the control of infectious sources should be intensified, and the management of reservoir hosts including dog and mouse should be strengthened.