Atractylodis Rhizoma is a kind of commonly used clinical Chinese medicine （TCM）， which was first recorded in Shennong Bencaojing （《神农本草经》）. At that time， it was called "Zhu"， which is the general name of Atractylodis Rhizoma and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma. After Song dynasty， Atractylodis Rhizoma and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma were separated. Atractylodis Rhizoma can be divided into Atractylodes lancea and A. chinensis. In history， A. lancea as authentic， that its quality is better than A. chinensis. However， the quality of Atractylodis Rhizoma was evaluated by the index component atractylodin in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The general results showed that the content of atractylodin in A. lancea was low， even failed to meet the specified standard， and its content in A. chinensis was significantly higher than that in A. lancea. The results were inconsistent with the records of ancient books and documents， and the quality theory of "genuine medicine is the best". It could not reflect the quality advantage of genuine Atractylodis Rhizoma， and may even affect the clinical application and development momentum of genuine medicine. In short， the quality standard of TCM should not only conform to the historical experience， but also have the connotation of modern science and technology， which can stand the test of practice. Based on this， the author intends to sort out relevant laws and regulations， sort out the literature related to the authenticity， composition and efficacy of Atractylodis Rhizoma， and analyze the rationality of the current standard of Atractylodis Rhizoma by integrating the relevant records of historical classics and modern research results， so as to provide a basis for the improvement of the quality standard of Atractylodis Rhizoma.

Objective: To analyze the clinical epidemiological characteristics including composition of pathogens , clinical characteristics, and disease prognosis acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) in Chinese children. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical and laboratory data of 1 610 children <15 years of age with ABM in 33 tertiary hospitals in China from January 2019 to December 2020. Patients were divided into different groups according to age,<28 days group, 28 days to <3 months group, 3 months to <1 year group, 1-<5 years of age group, 5-<15 years of age group; etiology confirmed group and clinically diagnosed group according to etiology diagnosis. Non-numeric variables were analyzed with the Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, while non-normal distrituction numeric variables were compared with nonparametric test. Results: Among 1 610 children with ABM, 955 were male and 650 were female (5 cases were not provided with gender information), and the age of onset was 1.5 (0.5, 5.5) months. There were 588 cases age from <28 days, 462 cases age from 28 days to <3 months, 302 cases age from 3 months to <1 year of age group, 156 cases in the 1-<5 years of age and 101 cases in the 5-<15 years of age. The detection rates were 38.8% (95/245) and 31.5% (70/222) of Escherichia coli and 27.8% (68/245) and 35.1% (78/222) of Streptococcus agalactiae in infants younger than 28 days of age and 28 days to 3 months of age; the detection rates of Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus agalactiae were 34.3% (61/178), 14.0% (25/178) and 13.5% (24/178) in the 3 months of age to <1 year of age group; the dominant pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae and the detection rate were 67.9% (74/109) and 44.4% (16/36) in the 1-<5 years of age and 5-<15 years of age . There were 9.7% (19/195) strains of Escherichia coli producing ultra-broad-spectrum β-lactamases. The positive rates of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture and blood culture were 32.2% (515/1 598) and 25.0% (400/1 598), while 38.2% (126/330)and 25.3% (21/83) in CSF metagenomics next generation sequencing and Streptococcus pneumoniae antigen detection. There were 4.3% (32/790) cases of which CSF white blood cell counts were normal in etiology confirmed group. Among 1 610 children with ABM, main intracranial imaging complications were subdural effusion and (or) empyema in 349 cases (21.7%), hydrocephalus in 233 cases (14.5%), brain abscess in 178 cases (11.1%), and other cerebrovascular diseases, including encephalomalacia, cerebral infarction, and encephalatrophy, in 174 cases (10.8%). Among the 166 cases (10.3%) with unfavorable outcome, 32 cases (2.0%) died among whom 24 cases died before 1 year of age, and 37 cases (2.3%) had recurrence among whom 25 cases had recurrence within 3 weeks. The incidences of subdural effusion and (or) empyema, brain abscess and ependymitis in the etiology confirmed group were significantly higher than those in the clinically diagnosed group (26.2% (207/790) vs. 17.3% (142/820), 13.0% (103/790) vs. 9.1% (75/820), 4.6% (36/790) vs. 2.7% (22/820), χ²=18.71, 6.20, 4.07, all P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the unfavorable outcomes, mortility, and recurrence between these 2 groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions: The onset age of ABM in children is usually within 1 year of age, especially <3 months. The common pathogens in infants <3 months of age are Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae, and the dominant pathogen in infant ≥3 months is Streptococcus pneumoniae. Subdural effusion and (or) empyema and hydrocephalus are common complications. ABM should not be excluded even if CSF white blood cell counts is within normal range. Standardized bacteriological examination should be paid more attention to increase the pathogenic detection rate. Non-culture CSF detection methods may facilitate the pathogenic diagnosis.
Adolescent ; Brain Abscess ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Escherichia coli ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrocephalus ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Meningitis, Bacterial/epidemiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Subdural Effusion ; beta-Lactamases

To explore the genetic causes of 3 male infertility patients with acephalospermia and the outcome of assisted reproductive technology. Clinical diagnosis, sperm morphology examination, sperm transmission electron microscopy examination were performed on 3 patients, and the whole exome sequencing technology was used for screening, Sanger sequencing verification, mutation pathogenicity analysis, and protein sequence homology comparison. Assisted reproductive technology was implemented to assist pregnancy treatment. The 3 patients were all sporadic infertile men, aged 25, 42 and 26 years, and there was no obvious abnormality in the general physical examination. Male external genitalia developed normally, bilateral testicles were normal in volume, and bilateral epididymis and spermatic vein were palpated without nodules, cysts, and tenderness. Repeated semen analysis showed that a large number of immature sperm could be seen, and they had the ability to move. The SUN5 gene of the 3 male infertile patients was a case of homozygous missense mutation c.7C>T (p.Arg3Trp), a case of compound heterozygous missense mutation c.1067G>A (p.Arg356His) and nonsense mutation c.216G>A (p.Trp72*) and a case of homozygous missense mutation c.1043A>T (p.Asn348Ile), of which c.7C>T (p.Arg3Trp) and c.1067G>A (p.Arg356His) were new variants that had not been reported. SIFT, Mutation Taster and PolyPhen-2 software function prediction results were all harmful, the nonsense mutation c.216G>A (p.Trp72*) led to the premature termination of peptide chain synthesis which might have a greater impact on protein function. The homology regions in the protein sequence homology alignment were all highly conserved.The 3 male patients and their spouses obtained 4 biological offspring through intracytoplasmic sperm injection, all of which were boys, and one of them was a twin.Three male infertile patients might be caused by SUN5 gene mutations. Such patients could obtain their biological offspring through assisted reproductive technology. It was still necessary to pay attention to the genetic risk of ASS, it was recommended that both men and women conduct genetic counseling and screening at the same time. In clinical diagnosis, whole exome sequencing technology could be used to perform auxiliary examinations to determine the treatment plan and assisted reproductive methods as soon as possible to reduce the burden on the family and society. The newly discovered mutation sites of SUN5 gene provided clues and directions for elucidating the pathogenic mechanism, and at the same time expanded the pathogenic mutation spectrum of ASS.
Female ; Humans ; Infertility, Male/genetics* ; Male ; Membrane Proteins/genetics* ; Mutation ; Pregnancy ; Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic ; Spermatozoa

Objective: To investigte the efficacy of docetaxel combined with androgen deprivation therapy for the treatment of metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer based on Chinese population. Methods: A total of 497 patients were enrolled from January 2004 to July 2018 in the Changhai Hospital. 459 patients received androgen deprivation therapy alone and 38 patients received androgen deprivation therapy combined with docetaxel. The mean age was (72.1±8.7)years. The median PSA level was 100.0 ng/ml, ranging 42.3-999.0 ng/ml. Patients of clinical T₂, T₃, T₄ stage were 213(42.9%), 160(32.2%), 124(24.9%), respectively. Patients of clinical N₀, N₁, N_x stage were 319(64.2%), 144(29.0%), 34(6.8%), respectively. Patients of clinical M₀, M_1a, M_1b, M_1c, M_x stage were 100(20.1%), 51(10.3%), 332(66.8%), 9(1.8%), 5(1.0%), respectively. Gleason scores of biopsy showed that 146(29.4%) patients was ≤7, 103(20.7%) was 8 and 248(49.9%)was ≥9. Propensity score matching was used to match the baseline between groups. Caliper value was set at 0.02. SPSS 22 software was used to achieve a 1∶1 match between the two groups. There were no statistical difference in the age(P=0.102), PSA(P=0.713), T stage(P=0.113), N stage(P=0.226), M stage(P=0.514), Gleason score(P=0.612), tumor loading(P=0.812)between the two groups. The castration resistance-free rate and cancer specific survival rate of the two groups were compared by log-rank and breslow-wilcoxon test. Furthermore, forest plots were used to display the analysis results of different subgroups such as age, PSA, clinical stage, Gleason score, tumor load, whether patients had received palliative resection, and the differences in castration resistance-free rate were compared between the subgroups with high tumor load. Results: The median follow-up time was 22.6 months in the androgen deprivation therapy group and 13.7 months in the combined therapy group. The number of patients with castration resistance in the two groups was 23 and 17, respectively. There were 3 and 6 deaths, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall progression time to castration resistance between the two groups (10.3 m vs. 16.5 m, P>0.05), and no statistically significant difference in the prostate cancer specific survival rate (21.9 m vs.14.8 m, P>0.05). When subgroup analysis was performed, it was found that patients in the high-metastasis-volume subgroup who received the combination therapy had a significantly longer castration resistance free lifetime (10.6 m vs. 7.2 m, P=0.044), but there was no significant difference in the low- metastasis-volume subgroup(10.5 m vs.12.6 m, P>0.05). Conclusion Docetaxel combined with androgen deprivation therapy can improve the castration resistance free rate in patients with high metastasis volume, but not in low metastasis volume group.

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation of IL-37 with T lymphocytes subsets and NK cells in ITP patients, and to explore its possible mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of ITP. METHODS: Forty-five patients with newly diagnosed ITP(newly diagnosed group), 32 patients of complete remission (remission group) and 22 healthy persons(control group) were selected. The serum level of IL-37 in 3 groups was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The mRNA expression of IL-37, IL-17 and IL-18 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells（PBMNC） in 3 groups was measured by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The number of IL-18RαCD4 T cells and Tim-3NK cells in the peripheral blood in 3 groups was detected by flow cytometry (FCM). RESULTS: The serum level of IL-37 in the peripheral blood of ITP patients in the newly diagnosed group was significantly higher than that in the control group and the remission group(P＜0.01) . The expression level of IL-37 in PBMNC of the ITP patients in newly diagnosed group was higher than that in the control group and the remission group(P＜0. 05). The expression level of IL-17 and IL-18 in PBMNC of the ITP patients in newly diagnosed group was higher than that in the control group and the remission group(P＜0. 01); the expression of IL-18Rα in CD4 T cells in newly diagnosed group was significantly higher than that in both the control and the remission group(P＜0.01).The expression of Tim-3 in NK cells in ITP patients was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0. 01). In ITP patients, the serum IL-37 level and IL-18RαCD4T cells ratio both negatively correlated with Plt count (r=-0.58, r=-0.48) moreo-ver the serum IL-37 level also negatively correlated with amount of CD4 T cells and NK cells (r=-0.29, r=-0.28), but positively correlated with amount of CD8 T cells (r=0.329). CONCLUSION The IL-37 and its receptors may play an immunoregulatory role in CD4 T cells and NK cells, the IL-37 may be a therapeutic target for ITP patients.
CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Interleukin-1 ; immunology ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets

Objective:To investigate the regulatory effect of serum containing Buyang Huanwu Tang on endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition(EndMT) in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC), and make further analysis on its mechanism from the perspective of the signal transduction of Jagged1/Notch1. Method:Rabbit serum containing Buyang Huanwu Tang was prepared by gavage with dosage of 53.36 g·kg^-1·d^-1, and blank serum was prepared by gavage with same volume of normal saline. The HPAECs cultured in vitro, EndMT model was established by the transforming growth factor-β₁(TGF-β₁) induced, which were divided into five groups:the control group (10%blank serum), the model group (10%blank serum+TGF-β₁), the serum containing high-dose Buyang Huanwu Tang group (10%medicated serum + TGF-β₁), the medium-dose group (5%medicated serum + 5%blank serum medicated + TGF-β₁) and the low-dose group(2.5%medicated serum+7.5%blank serum+ TGF-β₁). Cell proliferation was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method. Cell migration was detected by transwell and scratch assay. The endothelial markers platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1/CD31), vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) and the mesenchymal markers fibroblast-specific protein 1 (FSP1), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were observed by immunofluorescence assay. The expression levels of Notch1, Jagged1 and CBF1 were detected by Western blot assay. Result:Compared with the control group, the proliferation and migration abilities of the HPAEC cells in model group were enhanced (P<0.01), and the expressions of CD31 and VE-cadherin were decreased, while the expressions of FSP1 and α-SMA were increased. Further study found that the expressions of Notch1, Jagged1 and CBF1 were up-regulated (P<0.01). After the intervention of the serum containing Buyang Huanwu Tang, compared with model group, the proliferation and migration abilities of cells were decreased (P<0.05,P<0.01), and the expressions of CD31 and VE-cadherin were on the rise, while the expressions of FSP1and α-SMA were on the decline. The expressions of Notch1, Jagged1 and CBF1 were also significantly lower than those in model group (P<0.05,P<0.01). With the increase of serum concentration, the effect was more obvious. Conclusion:The serum containing Buyang Huanwu Tang can partly inhibit the EndMT in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells, which may be related to the regulation effect of Jagged1/Notch1 signaling.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells(MDSC) and the level of prostaglandin E2(PGE2) in the bone marrow of adult ITP patients, and to explore their possible mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of this disease.

METHODSTwenty-five patients of newly diagnosed ITP, 25 patients of complete remission group and 15 patients of control group were selected. The number of MDSC in the bone marrow between 3 groups was detect by flow cytometry (FCM). The serum level of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in 3 groups was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The relative expression of IFN-γ mRNA in bone marrow mononuclear cells was measured by real time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in each groups.

RESULTSThe number of MDSC in the complete remission group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05); the number of MDSC in the newly diagnosed group was higher than that in the control group; the number of MDSC in the complete remission group was higher than that in the newly diagnosed group. The serum level of PGE2 in bone marrow of ITP patients in the newly diagnosed group was higher than that of the control group（P<0.05）. The serum level of PGE2 in the bone marrow of ITP patients of the complete remission group was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05）. The level of PGE2 in bone marrow serum of ITP patients of the newly diagnosed group was lower than that in the complete remission group(P<0.05）. The relative expression level of IFN-gamma in bone marrow mononuclear cells of the ITP patients in newly diagnosed group was higher than that in the control group and the complete remission group（P<0.001）. The relative quantification (RQ) of IFN-γ in bone marrow mononuclear cells was 2.60 between the newly diagnosed group and the complete remission group.

CONCLUSIONWhen adult ITP disease is remitted, the number of MDSC rises and correlates with the therapeutic response and PGE2 level in the bone marrow.

ABSTRACT:OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of peiminine on MEK1/2,ERK1/2 and the phosphorylatioin of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats.METHODS Bleomycin of 5 mg/kg was instilled into the rats with a microliter injector to induce the acute lung injury.Sham-operated group and control group were given distilled water of 1 mL/100 g.Dexamethasone group was given equal volume of dexamethasone distilled water solution.Peiminine A and B group were given equal volume of peiminine distilled water solution of 5 mg/kg and 2.5 mg/kg,respectively.After consecutive daily gavage for 28 d,the rats were anesthetized and killed by carotid exsanguination.Lungs were fixed and embedded,and 4 μm sections were prepared. MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 in the lung tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry.The p-MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were detec-ted by Western blot.RESULTS Peiminine significantly reduced the levels of ERK1/2 and MEK1/2 in lung tissues of rats with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis(P <0.01),and the effects was similar to dexamethasone (P > 0.05).No significant difference was observed between peimine A group and B group(P >0.05).Compared to the model group and dexamethasone group,peiminine significantly reduced the level of p-MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 in lung tissue of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fi-brosis rats(P <0.01).Compared to peimine A group,the B group displayed more significant efficacy(P <0.01).CONCLU-SION Peiminine attenuates the level of MEK1,ERK1 / 2 and the phosphorylation in lung tissues of bleomycin-induced pul-monary fibrosis rats,which may be one of the mechanism of anti-fibrosis.

Cancer metastasis is the most dangerous stage of tumorigenesis and evolution, the primary cause of death in cancer patients. Clinically, more than 60% of cancer patients have found metastasis at the time of examination. Modern medicine has made significant progress on the mechanisms of cancer metastasis in recent years, from the simple "anatomy and machinery" theory forward to the "seed and soil" theory, then to the "microenvironmental" theory and the "cancer stem cell" theory. The emerging "cancer stem cell" theory successfully explains phenomenon such as tumor genetic heterogeneity, anoikis resistance, tumor dormancy, providing more new targets and ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer metastasis.
Animals ; Humans ; Medicine ; methods ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology