ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of mitochondrial translational initiation factor 2 （MTIF2） gene methylation and its association with the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. MethodsMethSurv and EWAS Data Hub were used to perform the standardized analysis and the cluster analysis of MTIF2 methylation samples， including survival curve analysis， methylation signature analysis， the association of tumor signaling pathways， and a comparative analysis based on pan-cancer database. The independent-samples t test was used for comparison between two groups； a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to perform the univariate and multivariate survival analyses of methylation level at the CpG site. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to investigate the survival differences between the patients with low methylation level and those with high methylation level， and the Log-likelihood ratio method was used for survival difference analysis. ResultsGlobal clustering of MTIF2 methylation showed that there was no significant difference in MTIF2 gene methylation level between different races， ethnicities， BMI levels， and ages. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the patients with N-Shore hypermethylation of the MTIF2 gene had a significantly better prognosis than those with hypomethylation （hazard ratio ［HR］=0.492， P<0.001）， while there was no significant difference in survival rate between the patients with different CpG island and S-Shore methylation levels （P>0.05）. The methylation profile of the MTIF2 gene based on different ages， sexes， BMI levels， races， ethnicities， and clinical stages showed that the N-Shore and CpG island methylation levels of the MTIF2 gene decreased with the increase in age， and the Caucasian population had significantly lower N-Shore methylation levels of the MTIF2 gene than the Asian population （P<0.05）； the patients with clinical stage Ⅳ had significantly lower N-Shore and CpG island methylation levels of the MTIF2 gene than those with stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ （P<0.05）. Clinical validation showed that the patients with stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ HCC had a significantly lower methylation level of the MTIF2 gene than those with stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ HCC and the normal population （P<0.05）. ConclusionN-Shore hypomethylation of the MTIF2 gene is a risk factor for the development and progression of HCC.

BACKGROUND:Exercises can reduce blood lipids and slow down the development of atherosclerosis.Atherosclerosis begins with mitochondrial dysfunction,and prohibitin 2 is involved in mitophagy by endurance training. OBJECTIVE:To explore the role of endurance training in the intervention of prohibitin 2 protein in the mitophagy autophagy pathway in atherosclerosis. METHODS:A total of 40 Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group,exercise group,atherosclerosis group and atherosclerosis combined with exercise group,with 10 rats in each group.A rat model of atherosclerosis was constructed by combining a high-fat diet(9 weeks)with vitamin D injections(weeks 1,3,and 6)in the latter two groups,while the two exercise groups were subjected to progressing intensity endurance training for 9 weeks.After the intervention,lipid and pathological detections were conducted to observe the modeling and interventional effects.Mitochondrial membrane potential and mitophagy proteins were detected by microplate reader and western blot.Immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the co-localization of mitophagy proteins in aortic tissue. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Lipid and pathological sections showed that compared with the atherosclerosis group,the serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol levels and aortic lipid deposition area were significantly reduced in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group(P<0.001).The results of mitochondrial membrane potential showed that the significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential of the aorta in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group was reversed(P<0.01).The results of western blot assay showed that compared with the control group,the mitochondrial protein expression of prohibitin 2,LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ,PINK1 and Parkin was significantly increased(P<0.05),and the protein expression of PARL and PGAM5 decreased(P<0.05).Compared with the atherosclerosis group,the protein expression of PINK1 and Parkin in the mitchondria of rats in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group was significantly decreased(P<0.05),and the protein expressions of prohibitin 2,LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ,PARL and PGAM5 were significantly increased(P<0.05).Immunofluorescence results showed that compared with the control group,the co-localization of LC3 and PINK1 with TOMM20 was significantly increased in the atherosclerosis group(P<0.05),while compared with the atherosclerosis group,the co-localization of LC3 and PINK1 with TOMM20 was significantly increased in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group(P<0.05).Co-localization of LC3 and PARL with prohibitin 2 was significantly increased in the atherosclerosis group compared with the control group(P<0.01),co-localization of LC3 with prohibitin 2 was significantly increased in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group compared with the atherosclerosis group(P<0.01),and co-localization of PARL protein with prohibitin 2 was significantly decreased in the atherosclerosis combined with exercise group compared with the atherosclerosis group(P<0.01).To conclude,endurance training can induce the expression of prohibitin 2 in the inner mitochondrial membrane and promote the binding of prohibitin 2 to the mitophagy junction protein to complete mitophagy,restore mitochondrial function,and slow down the occurrence of atherosclerosis.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of Yulin Hukun decoction on autophagy mediated by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K）/protein kinase B （Akt）/mammalian target of rapamycin （mTOR） signaling pathway in the mouse model of cyclophosphamide-induced diminished ovarian reserve and explore the follicular development-improving mechanism of this decoction. MethodsSixty female ICR mice with normal estrous cycle were assigned into a blank group （n=10） and a modeling group （n=50）. The model was established by intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide （60 mg·kg^-1） for 5 days. The successfully modeled mice were randomly grouped as follows： model， estradiol （0.26 mg·kg^-1）， and high-， medium-， and low-dose （56.42， 28.21， 14.105 g·kg^-1， respectively） Yulin Hukun decoction， with 10 mice in each group. The blank group and the model group received normal saline （10 mL·kg^-1）. The intervention was performed once a day for 21 days. The general conditions， estrous cycle， body weight， and ovary index were observed and recorded for each group. Serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone （FSH）， luteinizing hormone （LH）， estradiol （E₂）， and anti-Müllerian hormone （AMH） were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Histopathological changes in the ovarian tissue were observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Western blot was employed to determine the protein levels of PI3K， Akt， mTOR， autophagy-related protein 7 （Atg7）， beclin1， microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3Ⅱ （LC3Ⅱ）， ubiquitin-binding adaptor protein （p62）， forkhead box protein O1 （FoxO1）， and acetylated forkhead box protein O1 （Ac-FoxO1） in mouse ovaries. Real-time PCR was adopted to determine the mRNA levels of PI3K， Akt， mTOR， Atg7， beclin1， and LC3Ⅱ in the mouse ovarian tissue. ResultsCompared with the blank group， the model group had disturbed estrous cycle， decreased body weight （P<0.05）， loose ovarian structure with increased atretic follicles， increased serum FSH level （P<0.05）， and decreased AMH and estradiol levels （P<0.05）. Compared with the model group， the treatment groups showed recovered estrous cycles and body weight. The estradiol group and high- and medium-dose Yulin Hukun decoction groups showed declined FSH level （P<0.05） and elevated AMH levels （P<0.05）. In addition， the treatment groups showed downregulated protein levels of Atg7， LC3Ⅱ， beclin1， FoxO1， and Ac-FoxO1 （P<0.01）， upregulated protein levels of PI3K， Akt， mTOR， and p62 （P<0.01） in the ovarian tissue， gradual repair of the ovarian structure， with more intact and numerous follicles of various stages. ConclusionYulin Hukun decoction can inhibit autophagy in ovarian granulosa cells by activating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and inhibiting the expression of autophagy-related proteins and transcription factors， thereby improving follicular development and ovarian reserve.

Objective To investigate the health status of workers exposed to noise in a brewery in Beijing and to analyze the relationship between hearing loss and blood pressure. Methods A total of 949 noise-exposed workers in a brewery who participated in occupational health examination were selected as the investigation subjects. A survey was conducted to investigate the pure tone hearing threshold and abnormal blood pressure of the workers with different characteristics, and to analyze the relationship between the two. Results Among the noise-exposed workers, the detection rates of hearing abnormality, hypertension, and increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure were 73.55%, 52.37%, 43.84% and 46.47%, respectively. The detection rates of hearing abnormality, indicators of hypertension, high frequency hearing threshold abnormality and increased binaural high frequency hearing threshold on average in males were higher than those in females (P < 0.05). Except that there was no statistically significant difference in weighted values of the better ear’s hearing thresholds among different working age groups (P> 0.05), the detection rates of other hearing abnormality, indicators of hypertension, speech frequency hearing threshold abnormality, high frequency hearing threshold abnormality，increased binaural high frequency hearing threshold on average and the weighted value of the better ear's hearing threshold all increased or had an increasing trend with the increase of age or working years (P< 0.05). The detection rates of hypertension in the groups with high frequency hearing threshold abnormality and increased binaural high frequency hearing threshold on average were higher than those in the normal group (P＜0.05). Conclusion The noise-exposed workers in the brewery have hearing impairment, which is related to the occurrence of hypertension. It is recommended to strengthen the publicity and education on noise protection and take protective measures to reduce the occurrence of occupational noise injury.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a long history and plays a decisive role in the fields of modern medicine and pharmacy.It is an important part of our country's traditional medicine.With the progress of the times,people are paying more and more attention to the innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine.However,the current traditional Chinese medicine talents trained by major universities cannot meet the needs and requirements of society.This is closely related to the current talent training model of universities.Local high-level universities have unique advantages and potential in cultivating inno-vative talents in traditional Chinese medicine.They can incorporate traditional Chinese medicine culture with local characteristics into the teaching content and practical links of training traditional Chinese medicine talents,and build innovative traditional Chi-nese medicine talents integrating science and education.The training model is more conducive to cultivating top innovative talents that meet the needs of society and and the development of traditional Chinese medicine.This article analyzes and discusses how local high-level universities can develop innovative talent training models that suit the needs of traditional Chinese medicine by combining local characteristics and disciplinary advantages,so as to provide useful reference and inspiration for local high-level u-niversities in cultivating talents in traditional Chinese medicine.

Aquaporin 5(AQP5),as the main water transport protein in the body,can regulate lung diseases by regulating airway mucus secretion,pulmonary inflammation,and lung function.Programmed cell death(PCD)plays a crucial role in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).AQP5 may affect the development of COPD by regulating PCDs.This article reviews the molecular regulatory mechanism of AQP5 on apoptosis,autophagy,iron death and pyroptosis in PCDs in recent years,and further discusses its effect on COPD in order to provide theoretical support for clinical prevention and treatment of COPD.

Objective To explore the impact of sluggish cognitive tempo(SCT)on the efficacy of atomoxetine in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD).Methods A prospective study was conducted.Pediatric patients aged 6-12 years with a diagnosis of ADHD were selected from the Department of Psychiatry,Xijing Hospital,Air Force Military Medical University from May 2020 to May 2023.All the patients were treated with atomoxetine for 8 weeks.ADHD symptoms and SCT symptoms were assessed by Swanson,Nolan,and Pelham-Ⅳrating scale(SNAP-Ⅳ)and SCT rating scale at baseline(before treatment),4 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment.Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between SCT and SNAP-Ⅳscores.Results A total of 61 pediatric patients were enrolled,including 10 cases of inattentive type and 51 cases of mixed type.Baseline SCT score was positively correlated with baseline SNAP-Ⅳscore(r=0.490,P＜0.001)and reduction rate of SNAP-Ⅳscore at week 8(r=0.670,P＜0.001).The total SCT score at week 8 was positively correlated with total SNAP-Ⅳscore at baseline(r=0.320,P=0.012).The baseline SCT score of patients with mixed type was positively correlated with reduction rate of SNAP-Ⅳscore at week 8(r=0.578,P＜0.001).Conclusions The severity of SCT symptoms is positively correlated with the SNAP-Ⅳreduction rate 8 weeks after atomoxetine treatment,which could be a predictor of the efficacy of atomoxetine.

G protein-coupled receptor (GPR) 40, as one of GPRs family, plays a potential role in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism. To study the effect of GPR40 novel agonist SZZ15-11 on hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia and its potential mechanism, spontaneous type 2 diabetic KKA^y mice, human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and murine mature adipocyte 3T3-L1 cells were used. KKA^y mice were divided into four groups, vehicle group, TAK group, SZZ (50 mg·kg^-1) group and SZZ (100 mg·kg^-1) group, with oral gavage of 0.5% sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), 50 mg·kg^-1 TAK875, 50 and 100 mg·kg^-1 SZZ15-11 respectively for 45 days. Fasting blood glucose, blood triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC), non-fasting blood glucose were tested. Oral glucose tolerance test and insulin tolerance test were executed. Blood insulin and glucagon were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). After mice′s execution, liver tissue was harvested to test TG and TC content. Then pathological morphology of liver was observed through hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the lipid metabolism relative signal pathway was analyzed by Western blot and RT-PCR. The experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College. At the same time, Akt phosphorylation level in HepG2 cells and adiponectin in 3T3-L1 cells treated with TNFα were measured with Western blot. The results show that SZZ15-11 not only decreased blood glucose and lipid, improved insulin sensitivity, but also increased fasting blood glucagon and promoted insulin secretion after glucose loading in KKA^y mice. Additionally, SZZ15-11 alleviated hepatic steatosis and liver dysfunction in KKA^y mice. In liver tissue, SZZ15-11 increased AMPKα phosphorylation level and cholesterol metabolism relative gene Abcg8 transcription. In HepG2 cells, SZZ15-11 increased Akt phosphorylation level. In adipocyte 3T3-L1, SZZ15-11 recovered the decreased adiponectin expression by TNFα. This study proved that GPR40 agonist SZZ15-11 could be a candidate compound for regulating glucolipid metabolic disorder.

Objective To investigate the distribution patterns of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)constitution in 959 patients with endometriosis(EMs).Methods From January 2019 to November 2019,959 EMs patients were selected from Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences,Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University,Beijing Hospital,Dongfang Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine,Beijing Friendship Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University,and Fuxing Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University.The general clinical information of the patients was recorded and then the TCM constitution was identified.After that,the correlation of TCM constitution distribution with concurrent constitution and the relationship of TCM constitution distribution with age and the complication of dysmenorrhea were analyzed.Results(1)The constitution types of EMs patients listed in descending order of the proportion were yang deficiency constitution(65.1％,624/959),qi stagnation constitution(58.4％,560/959),qi deficiency constitution(52.8％,506/959),blood stasis constitution(44.2％,424/959),phlegm-damp constitution(42.5％,408/959),damp-heat constitution(41.9％,402/959),yin deficiency constitution(39.6％,380/959),balanced constitution(26.8％,257/959),and inherited special constitution(16.6％,159/959).Among the patients,there were fewer patients with single constitution,accounting for 20.2％(194/959),and most of them had concurrent constitution types,accounting for 79.8％(765/959).(2)The association rule mining based on Apriori algorithm obtained 33 related rules.The concurrent constitution types of qi deficiency-yang deficiency,blood stasis-yang deficiency,and blood stasis-qi stagnation were the association rules with high confidence.(3)Compared with patients aged 35 years and below,the patients over 35 years old were predominated by high proportion of blood stasis constitution(P＜0.05).Compared with patients without dysmenorrhea,the patients with dysmenorrhea had the increased proportion of biased constitutions and the decreased proportion of balanced constitution(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Conclusion Yang deficiency constitution,qi stagnation constitution,qi deficiency constitution and blood stasis constitution are the high-risk constitution types of EMs patients.The concurrent constitution types are commonly seen in EMs patients,which are more common than single biased constitution.Management of EMs patients with the methods of warming yang,relieving stagnation,benefiting qi and activating blood will be helpful for correcting the biased constitutions in time and preventing disease progression,which will achieve the preventive treatment efficacy through TCM constitution correction.

From October 2021 to February 2023, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical and laboratory data of six patients (three male and three female, median age: 54 years, age range: 29-73 years) with mast cell leukemia (MCL) diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (The Mastocytosis Collaborative Network of China). All patients had acute MCL, with at least one C-finding present. The main clinical presentations were hypoalbuminemia ( n=4), fatigue ( n=3), fever ( n=2), abdominal discomfort ( n=2), osteolytic lesions ( n=2), dizziness ( n=1), skin flushing ( n=1), and weight loss ( n=1). Splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy were noted in six and three patients, respectively. Six patients were strongly positive for CD117, five were positive for CD30 and CD25, and four were positive for CD2. Four patients had a normal karyotype and two patients had an abnormal karyotype. Gene mutations were detected in 4/6 cases. The median serum tryptase level was 24.9 (range: 20.1-171.9) μg/L. Two patients were treated with venetoclax and azacitidine for induction (one patient achieved partial remission by combination with afatinib, while there was no remission after combination with dasatinib in the other patient). Two patients did not achieve complete remission despite treatment with cladribine and imatinib, respectively. One patient treated with interferon combined with glucocorticoids was lost to follow-up, and one patient abandoned treatment. The follow-up time ranged from 1.1 to 21.7 months. Three patients died and two survived. Overall, MCL is a rare subtype of systemic mastocytosis with heterogeneous clinical course, and these patients have poor outcome. A better understanding of the clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of MCL is urgently needed.