In accordance with the theory of'treating the skin diseases with the skin',skin-related Chinese medicinals are usually used for the treatment of skin diseases,which reflects the thinking mode of holistic syndrome differentiation and classification according to the manifestations in traditional Chinese medicine.With ying-yang theory as the principle of differentiation and treatment of diseases and based on the core pathogenesis of'yin-yang imbalance causing the manifestations of the skin'for the skin diseases,Chinese medical master XU AN Guo-Wei has used skin-related Chinese medicinals in the treatment of skin diseases and has given full play to their unique advantage by following the theory of'treating the skin diseases with the skin'and'balanced regulation of yin and yang'.In the clinical practice,allergic skin diseases were usually treated with Cicadae Periostracum plus Dictamni Cortex for dispelling wind and relieving itching,hypopigmentation related skin diseases were usually treated with Sojae Semen Nigrum skin plus Dictamni Cortex for dispelling wind and tonifying kidney,autoimmune skin diseases were usually treated with Moutan Cortex plus Lycii Cortex for nourishing yin,clearing heat and activating blood,and skin diseases associated with abnormal sebum secretion were usually treated with Mori Cortex plus Lycii Cortex for purging lung and nourishing kidney.Skin-related Chinese medicinals have the actions of expelling wind and promoting eruption of papules,tonifying kidney and nourishing yin.The medication method of'treating the skin diseases with the skin'will provide reference for the treatment of skin diseases.

AIM: To examine the effects of salidroside on choroidal thickness, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α), dopamine(DA)and its D1 receptor expression in guinea pigs with lens-induced myopia(LIM).METHODS: A total of 18 two-week-old guinea pigs were randomly divided into the normal control(NC)group, the LIM group, and the LIM + salidroside(LIM+SA)group, with 6 guinea pigs in each group. The guinea pigs in the NC group were fed normally and intragastrically administered with 2 mL/d saline; those in the LIM group wore a -5D lens in front of their right eyes to establish a myopia model, then they were intragastrically administered with 2 mL/d saline. Finally, those in the LIM+SA group wore glasses along with intragastric administration of 2 mL/d salidroside at a dose of 100 mg/kg. The refraction, axial length, and choroidal thickness of guinea pigs in each group were measured 4wk following the establishment of the model. In addition, the relative mRNA expression and protein content of HIF-1α in the choroid and retina of guinea pigs in each group were detected by real-time quantitative PCR(qPCR)and immunohistochemistry(IHC). Finally, the DA concentration and its D1 receptor expression were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)and Western blot.RESULTS: At 4wk after model establishment, guinea pigs of LIM group and LIM+SA group exhibited increased negative refraction of the right eye, prolonged axial length, and decreased choroidal thickness compared to the NC group. The relative mRNA expression and protein content of HIF-1α in the choroid and retina of the guinea pigs increased. The concentration of DA and the expression of its D1 receptor both decreased. Moreover, compared to the LIM group, the diopter of the right eye of guinea pigs in LIM+SA group significantly reduced, the axial length was shorter, the thickness of choroid increased, the relative mRNA expression and protein content of HIF-1α in the choroid and retina decreased and the concentration of DA and the expression of its D1 receptor both increased.CONCLUSION: Salidroside can delay myopia progression in myopic guinea pigs by affecting choroidal thickness and the expression of HIF-1α, DA and its D1 receptor.

Bupleuri Radix is commonly used in the traditional Chinese medicine, and saikosaponins are the important active ingredients. In this study, we first established a relative quantitative method for 25 saikosaponins using ultra high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTrap-MS) in the scheduled multiple reaction monitoring (sMRM) mode. The established method showed good intra-day and intra-day precision, linearity, repeatability and stability. Then the method was applied to compare 37 batches of Bupleuri Radix from different planting areas. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the saikosaponins composition of Bupleuri Radix from different planting areas in Shanxi Province, which indicating that Bupleuri Radix is well adapted to the environment, so it is suitable for widely planting. However, Bupleuri Radix harvested at spring and autumn were differed from those harvested at summer, which indicated that the traditional harvesting experience was reasonable. Correlation analysis showed that saikosaponins a and d were positively correlated with some saponins, and 4 saponins (such as clinoposaponin XII) showed bigger content variation were identified by coefficient of variation analysis. The LC-MS based pseudotargeted metabonomic method established in this study can be applied to the comprehensive detection of saikosaponins, which providing new method for the quality evaluation of Bupleuri Radix.

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

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary brain tumor, which is prone to recurrence and metastasis with poor prognosis. In recent years, immunotherapy has prolonged the survival of patients with GBM, providing a new option for the treatment of GBM. Target selection is very important for immunotherapy. Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) is highly expressed on the surface of GBM cells in some patients, and EGFRvIII was not expressed in normal tissues. EGFRvIII are pivotal for the occurrence and progression of GBM, various targeted therapy including immunotherapy is promising to improve the efficacy of GBM. Currently, there are various approaches to target EGFRvIII, including humanized monoclonal antibodies, adoptive cell therapies and therapeutic vaccines. In this review, we focus on the preclinical and clinical findings of targeting EGFRvIII for GBM.

AIM: To investigate the correlation between postoperative lens decentration and tilt and visual quality in eyes implanted with aspherical intraocular lens(IOL)by using a new anterior segment swept-source optical coherence tomography(OCT)CASIA2.METHODS: An observational study. A total of 90 eyes of 62 participants who underwent age-related cataract surgery at 1mo were included. Using CASIA2 by an experienced examiner, IOL tilt and decentration were obtained three consecutive times after mydriasis and the vector mean values were calculated. Double-pass optical quality analysis system(OQAS)and wavefront aberration instrument KR-1W were used for the visual quality measurements, including the total high-order aberration(tHOA), spherical aberration(SA), Coma, objective scatter index(OSI), modulation transfer function cut off frequency(MTF cut off)and Strehl ratio(SR)at 4 and 6mm pupil diameter.RESULTS: IOL decentration was positively correlated with SA(r=0.347, P=0.001)and OSI(r=0.343, P=0.002)at 4mm pupil diameter, and it was negatively correlated with MTF cut off(r=-0.244, P=0.032). There was no significant correlation between IOL decentration and tHOA, Coma and SR. IOL tilt was negatively correlated with MTF cut off(r=0.-345, P=0.002)and SR(r=-0.256, P=0.023)at 4mm pupil diameter, but it was not correlated with tHOA, SA, Coma and OSI. There were no significant correlations between the IOL decentration and tilt and tHOA, SA, Coma, MTF cut off and SR at 6mm pupil diameter.CONCLUSION: After aspherical IOL implantation in age-related cataract patients, IOL decentration was weakly correlated with SA at 4mm pupil diameter, while decentration and tilt were not significantly correlated with other higher-order aberrations. The decentration and tilt were weakly correlated with OSI value and MTF cut off value of the visual quality parameters. The results suggest that clinicians should pay more attention to higher-order aberrations and visual quality during precise cataract surgery.

AIM: To explore the etiology classification and clinical characteristics of infants with moderate-severe visual impairment aged 0-2 years old, and preliminarily formulate a set of process for grass-roots health-care institutions to carry out the screening and management of children visual impairment.METHODS: There were 245 cases of children aged 0-2 years with moderate-severe visual impairment who were admitted to the Children Eye Care Specialist Clinic in Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2009 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. A complete profile of visual development was established, including age, sex, medical history, vision, eye position and movement, anterior segment examination, fundus examination, refractive examination under cycloplegia with 1% atropine ophthalmic gel, if necessary, some special eye examinations such as fundus photography, eye A/B ultrasound and visual electrophysiology were received.RESULTS: The average visit age of 245 cases of infants was 1.82±0.79 years, including refraction error of 128 cases(52.2%), among them, 100 cases(40.8%)were high refraction error; 79 cases(32.2%)were eye diseases, most of which were congenital cataract(33 cases); and 38 cases(15.5%)were cerebral visual impairment(CVI)(15.5%).CONCLUSION: It is necessary to proceed classified managements according to the etiology and clinical characteristics of infant visual impairment to find early and diagnose and treat multidisciplinary,including drawing up screening plans for remediable eye diseases, carrying out necessary refractive correction and training children to use residual visual function.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a sensitive, simple and rapid detection method for African swine fever virus (ASFV) B646L gene. METHODS: A recombinase-aided amplification-lateral flow dipstick (RAA-LFD) assay was developed in this study. Recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) is used to amplify template DNA, and lateral flow dipstick (LFD) is used to interpret the results after the amplification is completed. The lower limits of detection and specificity of the RAA assay were verified using recombinant plasmid and pathogenic nucleic acid. In addition, 30 clinical samples were tested to evaluate the performance of the RAA assay. RESULTS: The RAA-LFD assay was completed within 15 min at 37 °C, including 10 min for nucleic acid amplification and 5 minutes for LFD reading results. The detection limit of this assay was found to be 200 copies per reaction. And there was no cross-reactivity with other swine viruses. CONCLUSION A highly sensitive, specific, and simple RAA-LFD method was developed for the rapid detection of the ASFV.
African Swine Fever/virology* ; African Swine Fever Virus/isolation & purification* ; Animals ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques/methods* ; Recombinases/chemistry* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Swine ; Viral Proteins/genetics*

Amyloid β-protein(Aβ) deposition in the brain is directly responsible for neuronal mitochondrial damage of Alzheimer's disease(AD) patients. Mitophagy, which removes damaged mitochondria, is a vital mode of neuron protection. Ginsenoside Rg_1(Rg_1), with neuroprotective effect, has displayed promising potential for AD treatment. However, the mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effect of Rg_1 has not been fully elucidated. The present study investigated the effects of ginsenoside Rg_(1 )on the autophagy of PC12 cells injured by Aβ_(25-35) to gain insight into the neuroprotective mechanism of Rg_1. The autophagy inducer rapamycin and the autophagy inhi-bitor chloroquine were used to verify the correlation between the neuroprotective effect of Rg_1 and autophagy. The results showed that Rg_1 enhanced the viability and increased the mitochondrial membrane potential of Aβ-injured PC12 cells, while these changes were blocked by chloroquine. Furthermore, Rg_(1 )treatment increased the LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ protein ratio, promoted the depletion of p62 protein, up-regulated the protein levels of PINK1 and parkin, and reduced the amount of autophagy adaptor OPTN, which indicated the enhancement of autophagy. After the silencing of PINK1, a key regulatory site of mitophagy, Rg_1 could not increase the expression of PINK1 and parkin or the amount of NDP52, whereas it can still increase the LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ protein ratio and promote the depletion of OPTN protein which indicated the enhancement of autophagy. Collectively, the results of this study imply that Rg_1 can promote autophagy of PC12 cells injured by Aβ, and may reduce Aβ-induced mitochondrial damage by promoting PINK1-dependent mitophagy, which may be one of the key mechanisms of its neuroprotective effect.
Amyloid beta-Peptides/toxicity* ; Animals ; Ginsenosides/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Mitophagy/physiology* ; PC12 Cells ; Protein Kinases/metabolism* ; Rats ; Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism*

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infec¬tious disease endangering the respirator)' traet and multiple or¬gans of the whole body caused by severe aeute respirator)' syn¬drome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2).More than 200 million people in the world have been infected with the disease, which is an unprecedented global plague.Most patients with C0VID-19 only show mild symptoms with a good prognosis, but about 20% of them may develop into severe cases and eause serious compli-cations, including acute respirator)' distress syndrome ( ARDS) , systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) , cytokine re¬lease syndrome (CRS) , etc.Pyroptosis is a kind of programmed cell death characterized by significant inflammatory response.It is often mediated by inflammatory caspase and the gasdermin family of membrane perforating proteins is the final effector mol¬ecules, resulting in cell membrane swelling and rupture to death, accompanied by the release of a large number of pro-in¬flammatory cytokines (such as IL-lp and IL-18, etc).Pyropto- sis affects the occurrence, progression and treatment of many diseases due to its inflammatory and morphological characteris¬tics, and also plays an important role in severe COVID-19.Therefore, drugs that target key molecules in the pyroapoptotic pathway could he a promising breakthrough for treating severe COVID-19.This article reviews the role of pyroptosis in severe COVID-19 complications ARDS and CHS.