Randomized controlled trials （RCTs） have been widely used in clinical efficacy evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， but also having limitations such as high cost，time consuming， and difficulty in patient recruitment and enrollment. The introduction of matching adjusted indirect comparison （MAIC） can alleviate the problem caused by the limitation of traditional RCT methodology to some extent. This paper introduced the basic principles of MAIC， and analyzed the similarities and differences， advantages and disadvantages of the two design methods， that is the anchored and the non-anchored. By analyzing two case studies in the evaluation of TCM efficacy， which are acupuncture for paroxysmal migraine and moxibustion for diarrhea-type irritable bowel syndrome， respectively， this paper introduced the methodological characteristics of MAIC in the efficacy evaluation of TCM， explored the strengths and feasibility of MAIC in the evaluation of efficacy evidence in TCM， the evaluation of efficacy of non-pharmacological TCM therapy and the development of new Chinese medicine， and discussed the limitations of existing research， matching factors and sample size. Additionally， the paper offered prospects by combining the simulation treatment comparison method and emulated target trials， with the goal of providing recommendations and references for the clinical efficacy evaluation of TCM.

ObjectiveTo adapt the Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale（SETS） into Chinese（C-SETS） and test the feasibility， validity and reliability of its application in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome（IBS-D） with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome treated with traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）. MethodsWe obtained authorisation from the developer of the SETS， and followed the principle of "two-way translation" to translate the SETS by literal translation and back translation to form the C-SETS. Ninety-six IBS-D patients with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome were enrolled as respondents and filled out C-SETS before receiving treatment； the feasibility was assessed by the recall rate， completion rate and the duration of filling out the scale； the reliability was assessed by Cronbach's α； the structural validity was assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis， and the content validity was assessed by correlation analysis. ResultsThe C-SETS consists of 10 items， with the 1st， 3rd， and 5th rating items constituting the Positive Expectations subscale， and the 2nd， 4th， and 6th rating items constituting the Negative Expectations subscale， each of which is rated on a 7-point Likert Scale. The recall of C-SETS was 100%（96/96）， the completion rate was 89.58%（86/96）； Cronbach's α for the Positive and Negative Treatment Expectations subscales were 0.845 and 0.854， respectively； exploratory factor analysis showed that the coefficient of commonality for all six entries was larger than 0.4， and that the six entries could be used by both factors to explain 77.092% of the total variance； validation factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit index， comparative fit index， root mean square of approximation error， canonical fit coefficient， and chi-square degrees of freedom ratio took the values of 0.943， 1.003， 0， 0.943， and 0.626， respectively； and the results of Spearman's analysis suggested that the C-SETS had good content validity. ConclusionThe C-SETS has well feasibility， reliability， and validity， which initially proves that it can be used as a tool to assess the treatment expectation of patients with IBS-D with liver-constraint and spleen-deficiency syndrome before receiving TCM treatment.

Objective:To explore the mechanism of kidney-protecting spirit pill for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy(DN)based on the network pharmacology and molecular docking technology.Methods:The database of TCMSP and Swiss Target Prediction was searched to obtain the active ingredients and targets of kidney-protecting spirit pill,and the intersection with the disease targets was obtained.The protein-protein interaction(PPI)network of intersection targets was constructed,GO and KEGG enrichment were analyzed.The key targets and small molecules were obtained and their interactions were verified by molecular docking.Results:A total of 60 active ingredients and 112 therapeutic DN targets were predicted.The key components were Cerevisterol,3,9-di-O-methylnissolin,Jaranol,Palmidin A and 16α-Hydroxydehydrotrametenolic acid.The key targets were PIK3CA,MAPK1,AKT1,PIK3R1 and BCL2,which were closely related to cancer-related pathways,AGE-RAGE signaling pathway,endocrine resistance,lipids and atherosclerosis pathways in diabetic complications.Conclusion:The mechanism of kidney-protecting spirit pill in the treatment of DN is characterized by multi-components,multi-targets and multi-pathways,with synergistic effects between the herbs,which provides a basis for the study of the pharmacological effects of kidney-protecting spirit pill.

With the wide application of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), to obtain treatment-free remission (TFR) has gradually become the long-term goal for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Self-renewing leukemia stem cells during disease progression are related with the recurrence, and surveillance of residual leukemic cells is hypothesized to be one of the critical factors in successful TFR. On the way to obtain TFR, many breakthroughs have been made in innate and adaptive immunity of CML cells. This paper reviews the immune function of CML patients, the role of the immune markers in maintaining TFR, and the exploration of TKI combined with new immunomodulator therapy to achieve a greater degree of TFR.

Objective: To observe the efficacy of herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion for lumbar disc herniation (LDH) due to kidney deficiency and blood stasis and observe the influence of this method on lumbar functions and inflammatory factors in patients with this condition. Methods: A total of 120 LDH patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into three groups, including a herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group, a flour cake-partitioned moxibustion group, and a Western medication group, with 40 patients in each group. The patients in the Western medication group were treated with diflunisal tablets, 0.5 g per dose, 2 doses a day. Those in the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group were treated with additional herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group at Back-Shu Points and Jiaji (EX-B2) Points once a day. Those in the flour cake-partitioned moxibustion group were treated with the same methods as in the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group, except that the herbal cake was replaced by a flour cake. All the patients were treated for 10 d. After treatment, the scores of the visual analog scale (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) and the changes of the interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and substance P (SP) levels were observed, and the efficacy was evaluated. Results: After treatment, the VAS score and the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and SP were lower than those before treatment, and the JOA score was higher than that before treatment in the three groups, indicating intra-group statistical significance (P<0.05). The VAS score and the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and SP of the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group were lower than those of the flour cake-partitioned moxibustion group and the Western medication group, while the JOA score of the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group was higher than that of the other two groups, indicating inter-group statistical significance (P<0.05). The total effective rate of the herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group was 92.5％, higher than that of the flour cake-partitioned moxibustion group (80.0％) and the Western medication group (72.5％), indicating inter-group statistical significance (P<0.05). Conclusion: On the basis of Western oral medication, additional herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion can alleviate the pain and improve the lumbar functions in patients with LDH due to kidney deficiency and blood stasis. The efficacy of the integrated method is better than that of either flour cake-partitioned moxibustion or Western medication alone, which may be related to the reduction of serum inflammatory factors.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors affecting the occurrence of complications in patients with vaginal bleeding after in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer(IVF/ICSI-ET) and the construction of nomogram prediction model. Methods: A total of 272 patients with threatened abortion after IVF/ICSI-ET were retrospectively analyzed in this study. They were divided into the live birth group and abortion group according to the final outcome of pregnancy. Patient characteristics were evaluated using the chi-square test, independent-samples Student's t-test or Wilcoxon rank sum test. A nomogram was created to predict the pregnancy outcome of women with threatened abortion who received IVF/ICSI using multivariate logistic regression coefficients. Results: There was no significant difference in the basic data, percentage of frozen embryos, treatment method, number of embryos transferred, high-quality embryo rate, and embryo implantation rate of the live birth group and abortion group(P>0.05). There were significant differences in body mass index, the onset of vaginal bleeding time after transplantation, serum levels of hCG and progesterone on 14 th day after embryo-transfer, and the number of gestational sacs between the two groups(P<0.05). After multivariate logistic regression analysis, the onset of vaginal bleeding time after transplantation and serum hCG levels on 14 th day after transfer were statistically significant(P<0.05). The nomogram was established based on the above indicators, with an area under the curve of 0.710 for the nomogram. The area under the ROC curve of our nomogram was better than the area under the ROC curve of a single risk factor(AUC of bleeding time after embryo-transfer: 0.644, AUC of serum hCG14:0.625). Conclusion The nomogram model established based on the onset of vaginal bleeding time after embryo-transfer and serum hCG value on 14 th day after embryo-transfer can better predict pregnancy outcome of patients with threatened abortion after IVF/ICSI-ET.

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment status, and existing problems of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy type 2 (EIEE2) caused by de novoa mutation of cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 gene (CDKL5).Methods:The medical history, auxiliary examination and diagnosis and treatment characteristics of 1 case with EIEE2 caused by de novoa mutation of CDKL5 gene in neonatal department of Children′s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University on August 12, 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.Combined with relevant literatures, the clinical diagnosis and treatment ideas and future prospects of this disease were summarized.Results:The patient was a female child with the age of 13 days and 23 hours.The main clinical manifestation was recurrent convulsion which was not alleviated significantly after using antiepileptic drug.The second-generation sequencing detected c. 119C>T/ p. A40V heterozygous mutation of CDKL5 gene, which was de novo mutation.Conclusions:EIEE2 caused by de novoa mutation of CDKL5 gene is a rare disease worthy of attention.Early detection and genetic diagnosis are the key to improve the diagnosis and treatment rate.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disease characterized by heterotopic Ph chromosome. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) has significantly improved the prognosis of patients with CML. Cytogenetic and molecular monitoring for assessing the therapeutic efficacy of TKI to guide disease management has become an important component of CML therapy. However, the expanded genomic analysis of the disease diagnosis, transformation and drug resistance has not been fully explored in CML research. The paper reviews the frequency and type of gene mutations at initial diagnosis and the time of treatment failure and transformation, and investigates the relationship between genetic mutations and the prognosis of CML patients in the diagnosis and treatment.

Objective:To evaluate the early diagnostic value of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-7 (IGFBP-7) in acute kidney injury induced by sepsis.Methods:A total of 85 sepsis patients admitted to the EICU and GICU in Shanghai East Hospital from September 2017 to June 2019 were divided into theAKI group ( n=37) and the non-AKI group ( n=48) according to KIDGO diagnostic criteria, and 20 healthy volunteers were served as the control group. The clinical data were recorded and samples of urine were collected at 0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 1 d, 3 d and 7 d post sepsis. The levels of TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 in the urine were analyzed with ELISA at different time points. Based on the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and the area under the curve (AUC), the early diagnostic value of urinary TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 in sepsis-induced AKI patients was determined. Results:Compared with the control group, the levels of TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 of the AKI group were significantly higher at the above time points ( P<0.05), while those of the non-AKI group showed no significant differences. The levels of TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 of the AKI group were significantly higher than the those of the non-AKI group ( P<0.05). ROC analysis showed that when the AUC of urine TIMP-2 peaked at 1 d, the sensitivity and specificity reached 97.5% and 81.2%, separately with the cutoff value of 151.23 ng/mL. Furthermore, when the AUC of urine IGFBP-7 peaked at 12 h, the sensitivity and specificity reached 100% and 72.8%, separately with the cutoff value of 14.91 ng/mL. Interestingly, when the AUC of combined TIMP-2×IGFBP-7 peaked at 12 h, the sensitivity reached 98.0% and specificity reached 91.5% with the cutoff value of 2.09 [(ng/mL) 2/1 000]. There was no significant correlation between the levels of TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 with SOFA and APACHEⅡ score at 1 d, 3 d and 7 d post sepsis in the AKI group ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Urine TIMP-2 and IGFBP-7 have early diagnostic value in sepsis-induced AKI. Besides, the combination of the two biomarkers have superior predictive value than each single of them.

Objective:To analyze the value of serum ceruloplasmin (CP) levels in predicting the outcome of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).Methods:The clinical data of 1 751 patients with HBV-ACLF treated in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2010 to March 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. According to 30-day outcomes, 1 220 survival patients were classified into group A; 465 fatal patients and 46 patients receiving liver transplantation were classified into group B (total 531 cases). Risk factors associated with 30-day survival were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive value of CP on the 30-day outcome of patients with HBV-ACLF.Results:Multivariate analysis indicated that CP, albumin and alpha fetoprotein were independent protective factors for 30-day survival of HBV-ACLF patients ( P<0.05 or <0.01), while age, white blood cell count, AST, total bilirubin, INR, serum creatinine, HBV DNA, hepatorenal syndrome and hepatic encephalopathy were independent risk factors ( P<0.01). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of CP was 0.570 (95% CI 0.540-0.599, P<0.01); while AUC of MELD score was 0.783 (95% CI 0.759-0.807, P<0.01) and MELD-Na score was 0.774 (95% CI 0.750-0.798, P<0.01). Compared with MELD score and MELD-Na score, the value of CP in predicting the 30-day prognosis of HBV-ACLF patients was lower ( P<0.01). The cut-off value of CP for predicting 30-day outcome of HBV-ACLF patients was 0.173 g/L, with the sensitivity of 69.4%, and the specificity of 41.6%. According to the cut-off value, the patients were divided into low CP level group (level of CP<0.173 g/L) and high CP level group (level of CP≥0.173 g/L); the 30-day cumulative survival rate of low CP level group was lower than that of high CP level group ( χ2=17.75, P<0.01). Conclusions:Serum CP level can predict the 30-day outcome of HBV-ACLF patients to a certain extent.