Epimedium sagittatum is a perennial herb of Berberidaceae. Its leaves have a long history of medicinal use in China. This plant is widely used as a Chinese traditional medicine，with the main functions of tonifying kidney Yang，strengthening bones and muscles，and dispelling wind and dampness. It can be used for treating kidney Yang deficiency，impotence，spermatorrhea，flaccidity of bones and muscles，rheumatic arthralgia，numbness，and spasms. The chemical constituents of this plant include flavonoids，polysaccharides，lignans，and alkaloids. Flavonoids are the main active ingredients. These compounds show a wide range of biological activities，including cartilage repair，anti-aging，anti-fatigue，cough-relieving，blood glucose-lowering，and anti-tumor effects. Modern pharmacological research has shown that E. sagittatum has definite pharmacological effects on the reproductive system，respiratory system，nervous system，cardiovascular system，skeletal system，etc. It has remarkable effects of helping pregnancy，resisting osteoporosis，controlling diabetes，improving immunity，and inhibiting tumor. Under the background of advocating one health and Chinese medicine，E. sagittatum is widely used in health care products，serving as the main raw material of various products. It has great market potential and is a Chinese medicinal herb with great clinical application and research value. This paper reviews the main chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of E. sagittatum based on domestic and foreign reports， providing a theoretical basis for further study on E. sagittatum and its safe clinical application.

Epimedium sagittatum is a perennial herb of Berberidaceae. Its leaves have a long history of medicinal use in China. This plant is widely used as a Chinese traditional medicine，with the main functions of tonifying kidney Yang，strengthening bones and muscles，and dispelling wind and dampness. It can be used for treating kidney Yang deficiency，impotence，spermatorrhea，flaccidity of bones and muscles，rheumatic arthralgia，numbness，and spasms. The chemical constituents of this plant include flavonoids，polysaccharides，lignans，and alkaloids. Flavonoids are the main active ingredients. These compounds show a wide range of biological activities，including cartilage repair，anti-aging，anti-fatigue，cough-relieving，blood glucose-lowering，and anti-tumor effects. Modern pharmacological research has shown that E. sagittatum has definite pharmacological effects on the reproductive system，respiratory system，nervous system，cardiovascular system，skeletal system，etc. It has remarkable effects of helping pregnancy，resisting osteoporosis，controlling diabetes，improving immunity，and inhibiting tumor. Under the background of advocating one health and Chinese medicine，E. sagittatum is widely used in health care products，serving as the main raw material of various products. It has great market potential and is a Chinese medicinal herb with great clinical application and research value. This paper reviews the main chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of E. sagittatum based on domestic and foreign reports， providing a theoretical basis for further study on E. sagittatum and its safe clinical application.

Exosomes are lipid bilayer structures containing various bioactive molecules that can be secreted by almost all cells.However,exosomes released by different types of cells perform differ-ent biological functions,and have been confirmed to participate in physiological processes such as immune response,antigen presentation,cell migration and differentiation,and hair growth through ligand receptor binding.Recent research reports have shown that exosomes can also be secreted from the fetus and placenta,playing an important role in embryo implantation and development,as well as in the treatment of animal pregnancy diseases.In order to offer recommendations for endan-gered and unique economic animals in the diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy and pregnancy-re-lated illnesses,this paper reviewed the most recent developments and innovative theories about the use of extracellular vesicles in pregnancy.

With the accelerating of aging population in China, the long-term care demand of the elderly is increasing. In recent years, extended reality technology has shown great development potential in assisting elderly chronic nursing, rehabilitation nursing, psychological nursing, palliative care, nursing personnel training. This paper reviews the application status of extended reality technology in geriatric care at home and abroad, and puts forward the problems and countermeasures of extended reality technology applied in geriatric care, so as to provide reference for promoting the application of extended reality technology in geriatric care.

Objective:To develop an in vitro neuroinflammation model by establishing a microglia-neuron co-culture system. Methods:Mouse microglia (BV-2), motor neurons (NSC34) and hippocampal neurons (HT-22) were selected.This experiment was performed in two parts.Experiment Ⅰ BV-2 microglia were stimulated with different concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10, 100, 500 and 1 000 ng/ml). Microglia culture supernatant(Conditioned Medium) was extracted and two types of neurons were cultured separately.The concentration of LPS that resulted in a significant 50% decrease in neuronal viability was selected using the CCK-8 method for establishment of the Transwell co-culture system.Experiment Ⅱ Microglia were cultured in the upper chamber of Transwell, and neurons were seeded in the lower chamber.Microglia were divided into 2 groups ( n=12 each) using the random number table method: control group and LPS group.In control group and LPS group, microglia were cultured for 6 h with cell culture medium and LPS, respectively, then the medium was replaced with fresh medium, microglia were continuously incubated for 12 h, and then the cells in the upper and lower chambers were combined.The cells were incubated using the BV-2-NSC34 Transwell co-culture system for 12 h and using the BV-2-HT-22 Transwell co-culture system for 24 h. The concentrations of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) and IL-18 in neuronal culture supernatant were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the apoptotic rate of neurons was determined by flow cytometry, the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax mRNA in neurons was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and the expression of cleaved caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax in neurons was detected by Western blot. Results:Experiment Ⅰ LPS concentration for stimulation was 10 ng/ml in BV-2-NSC34 Transwell co-culture system and 1, 000 ng/ml in BV-2-HT-22 Transwell co-culture system.Experiment Ⅱ Compared with control group, the concentrations of IL-1β and IL-18 and apoptotic rate of neurons were significantly increased, Bax protein and mRNA expression was up-regulated, Bcl-2 protein and mRNA expression was down-regulated, and cleaved caspase-3 expression was up-regulated in LPS group ( P<0.05 or 0.01). Conclusions:The microglia-neuron co-culture system is successfully established by the conditioned medium technique and Transwell co-culture system, which provides an experimental protocol for establishment of neuroinflammation models associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction.

Objective:To evaluate the long-term efficacy of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and surgical resection on the treatment of early esophagogastric junction (EGJ) adenocarcinoma.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the data of 166 consecutive cases with early EGJ adenocarcinoma in Digestive Endoscopy Center and Department of General Surgery of Shanxi Provincial People′s Hospital from January 2004 to June 2018. Their preoperative assessment conformed to the absolute and expanded criteria of ESD, and postoperative pathological assessment accorded with the absolute and expanded criteria of curative resection. Patients were divided into the ESD group (n=77) and the surgical resection group (n=89), and the recent results (curative resection rate and complications) and long-term results (cumulative survival rate) were compared between the two groups.Results:In the ESD group, 65 (84.4%) patients met the absolute criteria of ESD treatment and 12 (15.6%) patients met the expanded criteria. In the surgical resection group, 60 (67.4%) patients met the absolute criteria of ESD and 29 (32.6%) patients met the expanded criteria. The difference in the composition of ESD criteria was statistically significant between the two groups ( P=0.011). Other baseline indicators showed no significant difference between the two groups ( P > 0.05). In the ESD group, the overall resection rate was 98.7% (76/77), the complete resection rate was 94.8% (73/77), and the curative resection rate was 93.5% (72/77). In the surgical resection group, the curative resection rate was 100.0% (89/89). The difference in the curative resection rate between the two groups was not statistically significant ( P=0.05). In the ESD group, there were 3 (3.9%) cases of intraoperative bleeding, 1 (1.3%) case of early postoperative bleeding, and 2 (2.6%) cases of intraoperative perforation. In the surgical resection group, there was 1 (1.1%) case of intraoperative bleeding, 4 (4.5%) cases of postoperative bleeding, and 2 (2.2%) cases of postoperative anastomotic leakage. There was no death or local recurrence occurred in the both groups within 1 month after treatment. The median follow-up time was 89.3 months (ranged 72.5-105.7 months) in the ESD group and 82.3 months (ranged 69.6-101.0 months) in the surgical treatment group, respectively. There was no tumor-related death or recurrence occurred in the two groups during follow-up. The 5-year survival rate in the ESD group and the surgical resection group was 94.8% (73/77) and 96.6% (86/89), respectively. The difference in the cumulative survival rate was not significant between the two groups ( P=0.648). Subgroup analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the cumulative survival rate between patients receiving ESD and those receiving surgical resection who met the absolute criteria of ESD ( P=0.449) and met ESD expanded criteria ( P=0.505). Conclusion:For EGJ adenocarcinoma conforming to the ESD treatment absolute and expanded criteria, ESD may be an alternative treatment option to surgery with the comparable long-term outcomes.

Objective: To investigate the effect of PM2.5 exposure on the thyroid function in male SD rats. Methods: Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into " filtered air" (FA) and " PM2.5" groups. These rats exposed to the 2 kinds of air for 12 weeks were killed and their plasma and thyroid tissues were taken for investigation. The morphological status and pathological changes of thyroid tissue were observed after H&E staining. The levels of triiodothyronine (T₃), free triiodothyronine (FT₃), thyroxine(T₄), free thyroxine (FT₄), anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb), anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), thyrotropin (TSH), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in rats were measured by ELISA. Results: The results showed that there was no significant difference in body weight between two groups after 12 weeks of exposure to either filtered air or PM2.5. No pathological changes and significant differences were observed in the thyroid tissues of two groups after HE staining. There were no significant differences in plasma levels of T₄, T₃, FT₃, TNF-α, and IL-6 between two groups. However, compared with rats exposed to filtered air, rats exposed to PM2.5 had significantly lower plasma FT₄[(3.81±1.23) vs (6.02±2.40)pmol/L, P<0.01] and higher TSH [(5.63±1.74) vs (4.29±1.37) mU/L, P<0.05] levels. Conclusion The exposure to PM2.5 for a period of 12 weeks may lead to the decrease of FT₄ and increase of TSH in rats.

Locoweeds are presently defined as those species of the genera Oxytropis and Astragalus (family Leguminosae) that specifically contain the key toxic constituent,swainsonine.After ingesting locoweeds,livestock can develop poisoning disease characterized by chronic dysfunction of the nervous system,which causes severe economic losses to the pastoral areas.In addition,swainsonine has attracted a great attention from toxicology and medicine fields,due to its dual role of toxicity and pharmacological activity.This review not only summarizes the latest research progress of toxicity and its poisoning mechanism,pharmacological activity,source,and biosynthesis pathway of swainsonine,but also speculates the possible regulatory enzymes involved in the synthesis pathway.Moreover,the future research on swainsonine is also looked ahead,which provide references for the prevention and treatment of locoism.

Objective: To investigate the role and mechanism of action of Yiqi Huoxue Recipe (YQHXR) in regulating autophagy and reversing liver fibrosis in rats with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis. Methods: Healthy male Wistar rats were intraperitoneally injected with a mixture of CCl4 (30%) and olive oil (70%) twice a week for 8 weeks to establish a rat model of liver fibrosis. The rats administered normal diet were used as control group. Furthermore, YQHXR or Fuzheng Huayu Recipe (FZHYR) was intragastrically administered to the rats. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured using an automatic biochemical analyzer. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining were performed to observe the degree of fibrosis in rat liver. The protein expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and type I collagen α1 chain (Col1A1) in liver tissue was measured by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the mRNA and protein expression of α-SMA, Col1A1, autophagy-related protein 7 (Atg7), microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), and ubiquitin-binding protein (SQSTM1/p62) were determined using qRT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Comparison between multiple groups was made by one-way analysis of variance, and comparison between any two groups was made using the LSD test. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The YQHXR group and FZHYR group had significantly lower serum levels of ALT and AST than the model group (ALT: 66.8±10.42 U/L and 73.2±10.33 U/L vs 106.80±18.24 U/L, F = 31.672, P < 0.001; AST: 122.6±16.65 U/L and 125.4±16.92 U/L vs 278.4±66.14 U/L, F = 25.539, P < 0.001). The pathological grades of hepatic fibrosis were S5.64±0.22, S3.70±0.35, and S3.90±0.34 in the model group, YQHXR group, and FZHYR group, respectively (F = 362.188, P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the YQHXR group and FZHYR group had significantly reduced mRNA and protein expression of α-SMA, Col1A1, Atg7, and LC3B and significantly increased expression of p62 (all P < 0.05), and the differences were greatest in the YQHXR group. Conclusion YQHXR and FZHYR can prevent or reverse liver fibrosis by regulating hepatocyte autophagy and inhibiting hepatic stellate cell activation and collagen deposition.

Bones are stained into red color with feeding madder, but we do not know whether the fed madder can change the bone biomechanical properties and bone mineral contents in animals. In this research, we established a rat model with feeding madder. The bone biomechanical properties were detected by universal material mechanics, bone mineral contents were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and spectrometer, and red color material in bone was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that bone biomechanical parameters in femur diaphysis in the 10% and 15% group rats were significantly higher than those in the control group after feeding madder for 6 months. The level of calcium, magnesium and zinc in femur diaphysis in 10% and 15% group rats were higher than those in the control group after feeding madder for 6 months. However, it was shown that the kidney congestion and hyperemia and the level of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine in the 15% group rats were significantly different compared to those in the control group rats after feeding madder for 6 months. The red colored material in bone is related to alizarin analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography. The conclusion could be drawn that feeding 10% madder in diet was not toxic to the rats fed for 6 months, and it could improve bone biomechanical properties and increase bone mineral elements.
Animals ; Anthraquinones ; toxicity ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Bone Density ; Bone and Bones ; drug effects ; physiology ; Calcium ; Femur ; Magnesium ; Rats ; Zinc