Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of modified Fuzheng Yiliu Decoction(composed of Astragali Radix,Codonopsis Radix,Ligustri Lucidi Fructus,Hedyotis Diffusae Herba,Moutan Cortex,Visci Herba,etc.)combined with XELOX regimen(Oxaliplatin plus Capecitabine)for the treatment of postoperative patients with advanced gastric cancer of qi and yin deficiency type.Methods A total of 80 postoperative patients with advanced gastric cancer of qi and yin deficiency type were randomly divided into the Chinese medicine group and the control group,with 40 cases in each group.Both groups received chemotherapy with XELOX regimen,while the Chinese medicine group was given modified Fuzheng Yiliu Decoction.Three weeks constituted a course of treatment,the medication of Chinese medicine decoction lasted for two weeks or more in each course of treatment,and a total of 8 courses of treatment were performed.The incidence of adverse reactions during chemotherapy was monitored and changes in serum tumor markers of serum carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA),carbohydrate antigen 199(CA199)and alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)were observed in the two groups before and after treatment.Moreover,the patients'quality of life was assessed by the scores of Karnofsky's Performance Status(KPS)and World Health Organization Quality of Life Measurement Scale(WHOQOL-100).Long-term follow-up was carried out for the evaluation of the prognostic indicators such as overall survival and one-year and 2-year overall survival rates.Results(1)Patients in the two groups were all followed up,and the median follow-up time was 27 months(95%CI:23.59-27.86).(2)After treatment,the levels of serum CEA and AFP in the Chinese medicine group were significantly lower than those before treatment(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),while serum CA199 tended to decrease compared with those before treatment,but the difference was not statistically significant(P＞0.05);in the control group,the levels of serum CEA,CA199,and AFP were not significantly decreased after treatment(P＞0.05).The intergroup comparison showed that the decrease of serum CEA,CA199 and AFP levels in the Chinese medicine group was significantly superior to that in the control group(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).(3)The adverse reactions during chemotherapy in the two groups mainly involved bone marrow suppression,gastrointestinal reactions and liver function abnormalities,etc.The incidences of all adverse reactions in the Chinese medicine group tended to be lower than those in the control group,but the differences were not statistically significant(P＞0.05).(4)After treatment,the KPS scores of patients in both groups were improved compared with those before treatment(P＜0.01),and the improvement in the Chinese medicine group was significantly superior to that in the control group(P＜0.01).(5)After treatment,the scores of the four dimensions of WHOQOL-100 such as health status,mobility,life feelings,and other activities of daily life in the Chinese medicine group were significantly improved compared with the pre-treatment(P＜0.05),whereas there was no significant improvement in the control group(P＞0.05).The intergroup comparison showed that the improvement of the scores of each dimension of the WHOQOL-100 in the Chinese medicine group was significantly superior to that in the control group(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).(6)The median survival in the Chinese medicine group was 29.0 months(95%CI:25.95-31.70)and that in the control group was 22.0 months(95%CI:19.67-25.58),indicating that the median survival was significantly prolonged in Chinese medicine group(P＜0.01).The one-year and 2-year postoperative survival rates were 97.5%and 77.5%in the Chinese medicine group and 92.5%and 47.5%in the control group,respectively.The intergroup comparison showed that the one-year and 2-year postoperative survival rates in the Chinese medicine group were higher than those in the control group(P＜0.01).Conclusion Modified Fuzheng Yiliu Decoction can effectively alleviate the adverse reactions during adjuvant chemotherapy for postoperative patients with advanced gastric cancer of qi and yin deficiency type,improve the quality of life of patients,and prolong the survival time of patients.

Objective This study aimed to evaluate whether the onset of the plateau phase of slow hepatitis B surface antigen decline in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with intermittent interferon therapy is related to the frequency of dendritic cell subsets and expression of the costimulatory molecules CD40,CD80,CD83,and CD86. Method This was a cross-sectional study in which patients were divided into a natural history group(namely NH group),a long-term oral nucleoside analogs treatment group(namely NA group),and a plateau-arriving group(namely P group).The percentage of plasmacytoid dendritic cell and myeloid dendritic cell subsets in peripheral blood lymphocytes and monocytes and the mean fluorescence intensity of their surface costimulatory molecules were detected using a flow cytometer. Results In total,143 patients were enrolled(NH group,n = 49;NA group,n = 47;P group,n = 47).The results demonstrated that CD141/CD1c double negative myeloid dendritic cell(DNmDC)/lymphocytes and monocytes(%)in P group(0.041[0.024,0.069])was significantly lower than that in NH group(0.270[0.135,0.407])and NA group(0.273[0.150,0.443]),and CD86 mean fluorescence intensity of DNmDCs in P group(1832.0[1484.0,2793.0])was significantly lower than that in NH group(4316.0[2958.0,5169.0])and NA group(3299.0[2534.0,4371.0]),Adjusted P all<0.001. Conclusion Reduced DNmDCs and impaired maturation may be associated with the onset of the plateau phase during intermittent interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Objective To explore characteristics of clinical parameters and cytokines in patients with drug-induced liver injury(DILI)caused by different drugs and their correlation with clinical indicators. Method The study was conducted on patients who were up to Review of Uncertainties in Confidence Assessment for Medical Tests(RUCAM)scoring criteria and clinically diagnosed with DILI.Based on Chinese herbal medicine,cardiovascular drugs,non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs),anti-infective drugs,and other drugs,patients were divided into five groups.Cytokines were measured by Luminex technology.Baseline characteristics of clinical biochemical indicators and cytokines in DILI patients and their correlation were analyzed. Results 73 patients were enrolled.Age among five groups was statistically different(P=0.032).Alanine aminotransferase(ALT)(P=0.033)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)(P=0.007)in NSAIDs group were higher than those in chinese herbal medicine group.Interleukin-6(IL-6)and tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α)in patients with Chinese herbal medicine(IL-6:P<0.001;TNF-α:P<0.001)and cardiovascular medicine(IL-6:P=0.020;TNF-α:P=0.001)were lower than those in NSAIDs group.There was a positive correlation between ALT(r=0.697,P=0.025),AST(r=0.721,P=0.019),and IL-6 in NSAIDs group. Conclusion Older age may be more prone to DILI.Patients with NSAIDs have more severe liver damage in early stages of DILI,TNF-α and IL-6 may partake the inflammatory process of DILI.

Objective To explore the influence of gender on the prognosis of patients with atrial fibrillation(AF)undergoing left atrial appendage occlusion(LAAO).Methods All non-valvular AF patients who were admitted in our hospital and underwent LAAO from August 2014 to August 2021 were enrolled and grouped according to gender.Their general information,including gender,age,comorbid underlying diseases,and results of transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography(TEE)were collected.The incidences of device-related thrombosis(DRT),pericardial tamponade,stroke,bleeding,hospitalization for heart failure,and cardiac death were recorded during follow-up.The influence of gender on the prognosis of these patients was analyzed.Results There were totally 673 patients with non-valvular AF were enrolled,including 366 males and 307 females,at a mean age of 68.2±9.4 years.When compared with the male patients,the female ones had a higher CHA2DS2-VASc score(P＜0.01),but smaller proportions of history of stroke,average compression ratio of occluders,and incidence of residual shunt(＜3 mm)after occlusion(P＜0.05).In 45～60 d after surgery,TEE revealed that there were 17 cases of DRT,including 8 males(2.2％)and 9 females(2.9％),though without statistical difference between the groups.Among the 17 DRT cases,1 experienced stroke,and the incidence of stroke was 5.9％in those with DRT and 0.5％without.There were 4 cases of postoperative pericardial tamponade,including 1 in the male group and 3 in the female group(no significant difference),and all of them were improved after pericardial puncture and fluid extraction.During the follow-up period of 40.2±20.5 months,no obvious differences were observed between the 2 groups in terms of stroke,bleeding,hospitalization for heart failure,and cardiogenic death.Conclusion Gender shows no significant effect on the prognosis of patients with non-valvular AF after LAAO.

A boy, aged 16 months, attended the hospital due to head and facial erythema for 15 months and vulva erythema for 10 months with aggravation for 5 days. The boy developed perioral and periocular erythema in the neonatal period and had erythema and papules with desquamation and erosion in the neck, armpit, and trigone of vulva in infancy. Blood gas analysis showed metabolic acidosis; the analysis of amino acid and acylcarnitine profiles for inherited metabolic diseases and the analysis of organic acid in urine suggested multiple carboxylase deficiency; genetic testing showed a homozygous mutation of c.1522C>T(p.R508W) in the HLCS gene. Finally the boy was diagnosed with holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and achieved a good clinical outcome after oral biotin treatment. This article analyzes the clinical data of a child with holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency and summarizes the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this child, so as to provide ideas for clinicians to diagnose this rare disease.
Humans ; Male ; Biotin/therapeutic use* ; Holocarboxylase Synthetase Deficiency/drug therapy* ; Homozygote ; Mutation ; Rare Diseases/drug therapy* ; Infant

Approximately 140 million people worldwide are homozygous carriers of APOE4 (ε4), a strong genetic risk factor for late onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD), 91% of whom will develop AD at earlier age than heterozygous carriers and noncarriers. Susceptibility to AD could be reduced by targeted editing of APOE4, but a technical basis for controlling the off-target effects of base editors is necessary to develop low-risk personalized gene therapies. Here, we first screened eight cytosine base editor variants at four injection stages (from 1- to 8-cell stage), and found that FNLS-YE1 variant in 8-cell embryos achieved the comparable base conversion rate (up to 100%) with the lowest bystander effects. In particular, 80% of AD-susceptible ε4 allele copies were converted to the AD-neutral ε3 allele in human ε4-carrying embryos. Stringent control measures combined with targeted deep sequencing, whole genome sequencing, and RNA sequencing showed no DNA or RNA off-target events in FNLS-YE1-treated human embryos or their derived stem cells. Furthermore, base editing with FNLS-YE1 showed no effects on embryo development to the blastocyst stage. Finally, we also demonstrated FNLS-YE1 could introduce known protective variants in human embryos to potentially reduce human susceptivity to systemic lupus erythematosus and familial hypercholesterolemia. Our study therefore suggests that base editing with FNLS-YE1 can efficiently and safely introduce known preventive variants in 8-cell human embryos, a potential approach for reducing human susceptibility to AD or other genetic diseases.
Humans ; Apolipoprotein E4/genetics* ; Cytosine ; Mutation ; Blastocyst ; Heterozygote ; Gene Editing ; CRISPR-Cas Systems

In this study, rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry(REIMS) fingerprints of 388 samples of roots of Pulsatilla chinensis(PC) and its common counterfeits, roots of P. cernua and roots of Anemone tomentosa were analyzed based on REIMS combined with machine learning. The samples were determined by REIMS through dry burning, and the REIMS data underwent cluster analysis, similarity analysis(SA), and principal component analysis(PCA). After dimensionality reduction by PCA, the data were analyzed by similarity analysis and self-organizating map(SOM), followed by modeling. The results indicated that the REIMS fingerprints of the samples showed the characteristics of variety differences and the SOM model could accurately distinguish PC, P. cernua, and A. tomentosa. REIMS combined with machine learning algorithm has a broad application prospect in the field of traditional Chinese medicine.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Algorithms ; Anemone ; Machine Learning

Wound healing is a slow and complex biological process, including inflammatory reaction, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell migration, angiogenesis, extracellular matrix deposition, tissue remodeling, and so on. Wnt signaling pathway can be divided into classical pathway and non-classical pathway. Wnt classical pathway, also known as Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, plays an important role in cell differentiation, cell migration, and maintenance of tissue homeostasis. Many inflammatory factors and growth factors are involved in the upstream regulation of this pathway. The activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays an important role in the occurrence, development, regeneration, repair and related treatment of skin wounds. This article review the relationship between Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and wound healing, meanwhile summarizes its effects on important processes of wound healing, such as inflammation, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, hair follicle regeneration, and skin fibrosis, as well as the role of inhibitors of Wnt signaling pathway in wound healing.
Humans ; Wnt Signaling Pathway ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Inflammation ; Wound Healing

Aim To study the apoptosis of human hep-atoma cell line ( HepG2 ) induced by different polar parts of Arnebia euchroma ( Royle ) Johnst ( AE ) and to verify its anti-hepatoma effect by a mouse orthotopic liver cancer model so as to explore the anti-cancer effect of AE extract. Methods Firstly, MTT method and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining method were used to detect the anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of each polar part of AE on HepG2 cells, and Western blot was used to detect the expression of Bcl-2 apoptosis family proteins incells. Based on the above experimental results, the effective parts with significant pro-apoptotic effect were screened out for anti-in situ liver cancer experiments in mice, and the organ indexes, liver function indexes and tissue sections of mice with orthotopic liver cancer before and after administration were evaluated. Results With the decrease of the polarity of AE extract,the anti-proliferation and pro-apoptotic effects on HepG2 cells were enhanced, and the anti-proliferation and apoptosis-inducing effects of AE petroleum ether fraction ( AEP) were the most significant. When AEP dose was 1.56 (μg • L

BACKGROUND: All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) promotes the osteogenic differentiation induced by bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9), but the intrinsic relationship between BMP9 and ATRA keeps unknown. Herein, we investigated the effect of Cyp26b1, a critical enzyme of ATRA degradation, on the BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and unveiled possible mechanism through which BMP9 regulates the expression of Cyp26b1. METHODS: ATRA content was detected with ELISA and HPLC–MS/MS. PCR, Western blot, and histochemical staining were used to assay the osteogenic markers. Fetal limbs culture, cranial defect repair model, and micro–computed tomographic were used to evaluate the quality of bone formation. IP and ChIP assay were used to explore possible mechanism. RESULTS: We found that the protein level of Cyp26b1 was increased with age, whereas the ATRA content decreased. The osteogenic markers induced by BMP9 were increased by inhibiting or silencing Cyp26b1 but reduced by exogenous Cyp26b1. The BMP9-induced bone formation was enhanced by inhibiting Cyp26b1. The cranial defect repair was promoted by BMP9, which was strengthened by silencing Cyp26b1 and reduced by exogenous Cyp26b1. Mechanically, Cyp26b1 was reduced by BMP9, which was enhanced by activating Wnt/b-catenin, and reduced by inhibiting this pathway. b-catenin interacts with Smad1/5/9, and both were recruited at the promoter of Cyp26b1. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggested the BMP9-induced osteoblastic differentiation was mediated by activating retinoic acid signalling, viadown-regulating Cyp26b1. Meanwhile, Cyp26b1 may be a novel potential therapeutic target for the treatment of bone-related diseases or accelerating bone-tissue engineering.