To enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the baicalin-berberine complex(BA-BBR) in the treatment of ulcerative colitis(UC), BA-BBR nanocrystal microspheres(BA-BBR NC MS) were prepared using the dropping method. The microspheres were characterized in terms of morphology, particle size, differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), and powder X-ray diffraction(XRD). The release profiles of BA and BBR from the microspheres were measured, and the drug release mechanism was investigated. A rat model of UC was induced by 5% dextran sodium sulfate(DSS) and treated continuously for 7 days to evaluate the therapeutic effects of different formulations. The results showed that the prepared BA-BBR MS and BA-BBR NC MS were uniform gel spheres with particle sizes of(1.77±0.16) mm and(1.67±0.08) mm, respectively. After drying, the gels collapsed inward and exhibited a rough surface. During the preparation process, the BA-BBR nanocrystals(BA-BBR NC) were uniformly encapsulated within the microspheres. The release profiles of the microspheres followed a first-order kinetic model, and the 12-hour cumulative release of BA and BBR from BA-BBR NC MS was higher than that from BA-BBR MS. Compared with BA-BBR, BA-BBR NC, and BA-BBR MS, BA-BBR NC MS further alleviated UC symptoms in rats, most significantly reducing the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and MPO, while increasing the level of IL-4 in colon tissues. These results indicate that BA-BBR NC MS, based on a "nano-in-micro" design, can deliver BA-BBR to the intestine and exert significant therapeutic effects in a UC rat model, suggesting it as a promising new strategy for the treatment of UC.
Animals ; Colitis, Ulcerative/metabolism* ; Rats ; Nanoparticles/chemistry* ; Microspheres ; Male ; Berberine/administration & dosage* ; Flavonoids/administration & dosage* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Humans ; Particle Size ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/immunology* ; Drug Liberation ; Drug Compounding

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of bilateral vertebral puncture guided by an angle-adjustable linear laser auxiliary device versus free-hand bilateral vertebral puncture. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 47 patients who underwent thoracolumbar percutaneous kyphoplasty(PKP) from July 2022 to July 2023. All patients received bilateral percutaneous kyphoplasty, among whom 27 cases underwent conventional free-hand puncture (conventional puncture group) and 20 cases underwent puncture guided by a laser auxiliary device (auxiliary puncture group). In the conventional puncture group, there were 11 males and 16 females, with an average age of (69.6±5.1) years and a disease duration of (6.5±3.8) days;the fractured vertebrae were T₁₁-T₁₂ in 13 cases and L₁-L₂ in 14 cases. In the auxiliary puncture group, there were 7 males and 13 females, with an average age of (70.8±5.6) years and a disease duration of (6.4±3.8) days;the fractured vertebrae were T₁₁-T₁₂ in 7 cases and L₁-L₂ in 13 cases. The operation time, total blood loss, intraoperative fluoroscopy times, fluoroscopy duration, radiation dose, puncture success rate, and surgical complications were compared between the two groups. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate low back pain before surgery, 2 days after surgery, and 1 year after surgery. RESULTS: All patients achieved successful puncture, with good postoperative wound healing and no complications. The operation time of the auxiliary puncture group was (12.1±2.6) minutes, which was shorter than that of the conventional puncture group (14.1±2.8) minutes. The total blood loss of the auxiliary puncture group was (228.5±35.8) ml, less than that of the conventional puncture group (257.0±48.3) ml. The fluoroscopy times, fluoroscopy duration, and radiation dose of the auxiliary puncture group were (5.4±1.3) times, (15.9±3.3) seconds, and (159.4±37.4) μSv, respectively, all lower than those of the conventional puncture group (6.4±1.6) times, (18.8±4.6) seconds, (192.2±48.5) μSv, with statistically significant differences(P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in low back VAS scores between the two groups before surgery, 2 days after surgery, or 1 year after surgery(P>0.05). CONCLUSION Both laser auxiliary device-guided vertebral puncture and free-hand vertebral puncture have high success rates and similar postoperative curative effects. However, the laser auxiliary device-guided puncture has shorter operation time, less blood loss, and lower radiation hazard.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Punctures/methods* ; Kyphoplasty/instrumentation* ; Spinal Fractures/surgery* ; Lasers ; Thoracic Vertebrae/injuries* ; Lumbar Vertebrae/injuries*

OBJECTIVE: To distinguish the ambiguous genotyping results of human leukocyte antigen (HLA), identify a novel HLA-B allele and analyze the nucleotide sequence. METHODS: A total of 2 076 umbilical core blood samples from the Zhejiang Cord Blood Bank in 2022 were detected using the next generation sequencing technology (NGS) based on the Ion Torrent S5 platform. Among these a rare HLA-B allele with ambiguous combination result containing a base mutation was identified, and was further confimed by the third-generation sequencing (TGS) based on the nanopore technology. RESULTS: The NGS typing result of HLA-B locus showed HLA-B* 46:18, 54:06 or HLA-B*46:01, 54:XX (including a base mutation), and nanopore sequencing confirmed the typing as HLA-B*46:01, 54:XX (including a base mutation). Compared with HLA-B*54:01:01:01, the HLA-B*54:XX allele showed one single nucleotide substitution at position 1014 T>C in exon 6, with no amino acid change. The nucleotide sequence of the novel HLA-B*54:XX has been submitted to the GenBank nucleotide sequence database and the accession number OP853532 was assigned. CONCLUSION A ambiguous genotyping of the HLA-B Locus detected by NGS was distinguished by nanopore sequencing and a new HLA-B allele was successfully identified, which was officially named as HLA-B*54:01:11 by the World Health Organization Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System.
Humans ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Alleles ; HLA-B Antigens/genetics* ; Genotype ; Mutation ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Base Sequence

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), when released extracellularly, plays a pivotal role in the development of spinal cord synapses and exacerbates autoimmune diseases within the central nervous system. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a condition that models multiple sclerosis, the levels of extracellular HMGB1 and interleukin-33 (IL-33) have been found to be inversely correlated. However, the mechanism by which IL-33 deficiency enhances HMGB1 release during EAE remains elusive. Our study elucidates a potential signaling pathway whereby the absence of IL-33 leads to increased binding of P300/CBP-associated factor with HMGB1 in the nuclei of astrocytes, upregulating HMGB1 acetylation and promoting its release from astrocyte nuclei in the spinal cord of EAE mice. Conversely, the addition of IL-33 counteracts the TNF-α-induced increase in HMGB1 and acetylated HMGB1 levels in primary astrocytes. These findings underscore the potential of IL-33-associated signaling pathways as a therapeutic target for EAE treatment.
Animals ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental/metabolism* ; Astrocytes/metabolism* ; Interleukin-33/metabolism* ; HMGB1 Protein/metabolism* ; Acetylation ; Mice, Knockout ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; p300-CBP Transcription Factors/metabolism* ; Mice ; Spinal Cord/metabolism* ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVE: To explore and quantify the association of hot night exposure during the sperm development period (0-90 lag days) with semen quality. METHODS: A total of 6,640 male sperm donors from 6 human sperm banks in China during 2014-2020 were recruited in this multicenter study. Two indices (i.e., hot night excess [HNE] and hot night duration [HND]) were used to estimate the heat intensity and duration during nighttime. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association between hot nights and semen quality parameters. RESULTS: The exposure-response relationship revealed that HNE and HND during 0-90 days before semen collection had a significantly inverse association with sperm motility. Specifically, a 1 °C increase in HNE was associated with decreased sperm progressive motility of 0.0090 (95% confidence interval [ CI]: -0.0147, -0.0033) and decreased total motility of 0.0094 (95% CI: -0.0160, -0.0029). HND was significantly associated with reduced sperm progressive motility and total motility of 0.0021 (95% CI: -0.0040, -0.0003) and 0.0023 (95% CI: -0.0043, -0.0002), respectively. Consistent results were observed at different temperature thresholds on hot nights. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight the need to mitigate nocturnal heat exposure during spermatogenesis to maintain optimal semen quality.
Humans ; Male ; Semen Analysis ; Adult ; Sperm Motility ; Hot Temperature/adverse effects* ; China ; Middle Aged ; Spermatozoa/physiology* ; Young Adult

Objective To retrospectively analyze the prevention and control effect and epidemic characteristics of elderly tuberculosis in Hubei Province from 2016 to 2020, and to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of elderly tuberculosis in Hubei Province． Methods The data on tuberculosis patients aged 60 and above who registered their current address in Hubei Province from 2016 to 2020 were collected and analyzed. The registration rates and composition ratios were analyzed using χ² test and χ² test for trend. Results A total of 135 976 tuberculosis patients were reported in Hubei from 2016 to 2020. The annual average registration rate of elderly tuberculosis among the elderly registered residence population (referring to the registration rate of elderly registered residence population aged 60 and above as the denominator, and tuberculosis patients aged 60 and above as the numerator) was 263.51/100 000. The highest rate was 300.02/100,000 in 2017, and the lowest was 188.19/100,000 in 2020 (χ²=70,227.603, P<0.001). In terms of composition, the average annual proportion of tuberculosis patients in the 60-70 years old group was 59.60%, which decreased year by year (χ²_trend=40.448，P<0.001 ). The average annual proportion of males was 73.35%, which was significantly higher than that of females (26.65%). The average annual proportion of farmers was 62.03%. From the perspective of case management, the annual average proportion of major epidemic online reports was 85.17%. The classification of cases was mainly based on clinical diagnosis, accounting for 48.33% annually and showing a decreasing trend year by year (χ²_trend=740.911, P<0.001). The proportion of confirmed cases was 25.08%, which showed an increasing trend (χ²_trend=380.557, P<0.001). From 2016 to 2019, the delay rate of diagnosis and treatment of elder tuberculosis patients was 49.42% (67 876/135 967), and the delay rate decreased year by year (χ²_trend=323.764, P<0.001). Conclusion The elderly population with pulmonary tuberculosis in Hubei Province shows a downward trend. It is necessary to focus on the efforts of designated hospitals to proactively identify cases, increase the proportion of confirmed cases, maintain a high tracking in place, reduce medical delays, and ensure the effectiveness of tuberculosis prevention and treatment for the elderly.

Objective:To observe the relationship between early quality of life symptom clusters and psychological stress and its influencing factors,so as to lay a foundation for clinical timely control of symptom clusters,improving of psychological stress state,and improving the early quality of life after lung cancer surgery.Methods:A total of 248 patients with lung cancer who received surgical treatment in our hospital from Oct 2021 to Oct 2023 were selected to evaluate their general condition,quality of life,symptom clusters,and psychological stress by general situation questionnaire,Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy(FACT),Anderson Symptom Assessment Scale,and Symptom Self-Rating Scale(SCL-90).Pearson method was used to analyze the correlation between FACT score symptom clusters and SCL-90 score.On the basis of multivariable logistic regression analysis,cumulative ratio regression model was used to analyze the early quality of life after lung cancer surgery.Results:A total of 239 patients with lung cancer were enrolled.FACT-L score was(53.66±6.85),SCL-90 score was(109.24±11.97),symptom clusters score was(104.03±16.83),including 117 patients in low group,69 patients in middle group,and 53 patients in high group,48.95%,28.87%and 22.18%,respectively.Pearson analysis showed that FACT score was negatively correlated with SCL-90 score and symptom clusters(r value was-0.779 and-0.737,respectively,P＜0.05).Multivariate cumulative ratio logistic regression analysis showed that seven factors including clustered airway management and sleep quality were protective factors for early quality of life after lung cancer surgery(P＜0.05),and malnutrition,pain degree,operation duration,SCL-90 score and symptom clusters score were risk factors for early quality of life after lung cancer surgery(P＜0.05).Conclusions:The influencing factors of early postoperative quality of life of lung cancer patients come from many aspects.Clinical prevention and control strategies can be formulated according to the influencing factors to improve the level of early postoperative quality of life of lung cancer patients.

The study explored the pathological mechanism of doxorubicin chemotherapy-induced neurotoxicity and the intervention methods of traditional Chinese medicine. BALB/c mice were selected to establish tumor-bearing mouse models by orthotopic injection of 4T1 triple-negative breast cancer cells. After randomization, the mice were treated with doxorubicin chemotherapy or doxorubicin chemotherapy + Kaixin San(KXS). The lesions in the prefrontal cortex of mice were observed by pathological examination, and the lesion information was obtained by long non-coding RNA sequencing. The occurrence of lesions was determined by Western blot and biochemical indicators. In addition, neuroblastoma cells and microglia cells were used to construct in vitro models, and drug-containing serum and p-AMPK dephosphorylation inhibitors were used to further verify the accuracy of animal experiments. Pathological results showed that KXS could alleviate doxorubicin-induced neuronal degeneration in the prefrontal cortex. The long non-coding RNA sequencing suggested that neuronal degeneration and the intervention process of KXS were related to ferroptosis, immune diseases, AMPK signaling pathway, etc. Western blot and biochemical indicators confirmed that this process was directly related to the activation of the AMPK/HIF-1α/ACSL4 signaling pathway to alleviate ferroptosis of neurons and immune response of glial cells. In conclusion, KXS could alleviate doxorubicin-induced neurotoxicity by activating the AMPK signaling pathway and reducing the ferroptosis of neurons and immune response of glial cells.
Animals ; Doxorubicin/toxicity* ; Mice ; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Female ; Humans ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Neurotoxicity Syndromes/genetics*

Objective:To explore the development trends, frontiers, and hotspots of research on early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases at home and abroad in the past 10 years, with a view to providing reference for the development of early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases in China.Methods:The article on early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases was systematically searched in the Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) . The search period was from January 1, 2012 to June 1, 2022. CiteSpace software was used to construct a visual graph of early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases in authoritative databases in both Chinese and English, for agency cooperation, author cooperation, keyword co-occurrence, and keyword clustering analysis.Results:A total of 349 articles were included, including 237 Chinese articles and 112 English articles. According to the search results of CNKI, there were 161 institutions publishing article related to early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases in China, among which the Nursing Department of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medicine School had the highest number of publications (4 articles) . The search results of the Web of Science showed that there were 160 institutions publishing article in this field, among which the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Australia in Australia had the highest number of publications (16 articles) . Foreign researchers mainly focused on the safety assessment and timing of early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases, while domestic research mainly focused on the evaluation of the effectiveness of different rehabilitation methods on early rehabilitation for patients with severe neurological diseases.Conclusions:The research on early rehabilitation of patients with severe neurological diseases in foreign countries is more in-depth and comprehensive than in China, and there are more multi-center clinical studies, providing a high-level evidence for clinical decision-making. On the basis of existing research results, domestic scholars should focus on strengthening interdisciplinary and inter institutional cooperation, improving the quality and effectiveness of rehabilitation, and fully leveraging the leading role of nurses while collaborating across multiple disciplines.

ObjectiveTo observe the efficacy and safety of Fuzheng Huayu tablets （FHT） for treating pulmonary inflammation in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 （COVID-19）. MethodA total of 70（4 cases were lost to follow-up, and 66 cases were finally completed） COVID-19 patients were recruited from February 1 to April 15 in 2020. They were assigned to a control group （35 patients） and a FHT group （31 patients）. The patients in the control group received routine treatment alone and those in the FHT group received FHT in addition to routine treatment. The primary outcome was the ratio of patients showing improvement in chest computed tomographic manifestations after 14 days. The secondary outcome measures included remission rate or progression rate of critical illness， clinical remission rate of respiratory symptoms， routine blood examination， C-reactive protein （CPR） level， procalcitonin （PCT） level， and blood oxygen saturation （SPO₂）. The safety was assessed based on liver and kidney functions and adverse events. ResultAfter the 14-day treatment， the ratio of patients showing improvement in the FHT group （100%） was higher than that in the control group （77.1%） （χ²=8.063，P<0.01）. The ratio of disease stages after treatment showed no significant difference between two groups. In the FHT group， the symptoms including cough， dyspnea， and fatigue were alleviated after treatment （P<0.01）. In the control group， the symptoms including fever， cough， and dyspnea were alleviated （P<0.01）， while the fatigue was not relieved after treatment. No significant difference was observed in the clinical symptoms between the two groups after treatment. After treatment， the FHT group showed decreased white blood cell （WBC） count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio （NLR） （P<0.01）， elevated platelet （PLT） level （P<0.05）， lowered CRP level （P<0.05）， and no significant difference in lymphocyte （LYM）， hemoglobin （Hb）， SPO₂ or PCT level. The control group showed decreased NLR （P<0.05） and WBC count （P<0.01）， elevated PCT level （P<0.05）， and no significant change in LYM， Hb， PLT， SPO₂ or CRP level after treatment. Furthermore， the FHT group had higher PLT level than the control group （P<0.05） after treatment， and other indicators had no significant differences between the two groups. The liver and kidney functions had no significant difference between the two groups after treatment. ConclusionFHT can safely promote the absorption of acute pulmonary inflammation in COVID-19 patients.