OBJECTIVE To establish the quality standards of medicinal materials in light of related methods in the general principles of part four of Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 Edition), and to conduct systematic research on the Tibetan medicine "Yajima"(Chrysosplenium axillare). METHODS The powder characteristics of medicinal materials were described by microscopic identification method. Silica gel GF254 thin-layer plate was employed to establish a TLC identification method with 5-O-demethylapulein and oxyayanin A as reference substances. Loss on drying, total ash, acid-insoluble ash and ethanol-soluble extractives of 10 batches of Chrysosplenium axillare were determined according to the general principles of part four of Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 Edition). HPLC was used to establish the characteristic chromatogram of Chrysosplenium axillare, and the content determination method was established with chrysosplenoside I(CI) and chrysosplenoside A(CA) as the quality control index components of Chrysosplenium axillare. RESULTS The water content, total ash, acid-insoluble ash, ethanol-soluble extractive and the content of CI and CA of all samples varied in the ranges of 9.17%−12.52%, 14.11%−16.74%, 1.50%−4.72%, 32.77%−40.30%, 0.30%−0.99% and 0.28%−0.88%, respectively. CONCLUSION The identification and content determination methods of Yajima(Chrysosplenium axillare) are established for the first time. The methods are easy to operate and exclusive, which is of great significance to accurately evaluate the internal quality of medicinal materials and ensure the quality of drug used.

Evolution and natural selection have endowed animal venoms, including scorpion venoms, with a wide range of pharmacological properties. Consequently, scorpions, their venoms, and/or their body parts have been used since time immemorial in traditional medicines, especially in Africa and Asia. With respect to their pharmacological potential, bioactive peptides from scorpion venoms have become an important source of scientific research. With the rapid increase in the characterization of various components from scorpion venoms, a large number of peptides are identified with an aim of combating a myriad of emerging global health problems. Moreover, some scorpion venom-derived peptides have been established as potential scaffolds helpful for drug development. In this review, we summarize the promising scorpion venoms-derived peptides as drug candidates. Accordingly, we highlight the data and knowledge needed for continuous characterization and development of additional natural peptides from scorpion venoms, as potential drugs that can treat related diseases.
Animals ; Scorpion Venoms/pharmacology* ; Peptides/pharmacology* ; Scorpions ; Drug Development ; Medicine, Traditional

Objective:To compare the effects of citrate and heparin anticoagulation on coagulation function and efficacy in children with septic shock undergoing continuous blood purification (CBP), and to provide guidance for CBP anticoagulation in children with septic shock.Methods:A case control study was conducted. Thirty-seven children with septic shock admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of the First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University from July 2019 to September 2022 were enrolled as the research subjects. The patients were divided into citrate local anticoagulation group and heparin systemic anticoagulation group according to different anticoagulation methods. The baseline data, the level of coagulation indicators [prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen (Fib), D-dimer] before treatment and 1 day after weaning from CBP, serum inflammatory mediators [interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), hypersensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), procalcitonin (PCT)], bleeding complications during CBP and 7-day mortality were collected.Results:A total of 37 cases were enrolled finally, including 17 cases with citric acid local anticoagulation and 20 cases with heparin systemic anticoagulation. There was no statistically significant difference in general data such as gender, age, and body weight of children between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in baseline levels of coagulation indicators and inflammatory mediators before treatment of children between the two groups. One day after weaning from CBP, both groups showed varying degrees of improvement in coagulation indicators compared with those before treatment. Compared with before treatment, the PT of the heparin systemic anticoagulation group was significantly shortened after 1 day of weaning (s: 11.82±2.05 vs. 13.64±2.54), APTT and TT were significantly prolonged [APTT (s): 51.54±12.69 vs. 35.53±10.79, TT (s): 21.95±4.74 vs. 19.30±3.33], D-dimer level was significantly reduced (mg/L: 1.92±1.58 vs. 4.94±3.94), with statistically significant differences (all P < 0.05). While in the citrate local anticoagulation group, only APTT was significantly prolonged after treatment compared with that before treatment (s: 49.28±10.32 vs. 34.34±10.32, P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in other coagulation indicators compared with before treatment. Compared with the citric acid local anticoagulation group, the PT of the heparin systemic anticoagulation group was significantly shortened after treatment (s: 11.82±2.05 vs. 13.61±3.05, P < 0.05), and the D-dimer level was significantly reduced (mg/L: 1.92±1.58 vs. 3.77±2.38, P < 0.01). The levels of inflammatory mediators in both groups were significantly reduced 1 day after CBP weaning compared with those before treatment [citric acid local anticoagulation group: hs-CRP (mg/L) was 12.53±5.44 vs. 22.65±7.27, PCT (μg/L) was 1.86±1.20 vs. 3.30±2.34, IL-6 (ng/L) was 148.48±34.83 vs. 202.32±48.62, TNF-α (ng/L) was 21.38±7.71 vs. 55.14±15.07; heparin systemic anticoagulation group: hs-CRP (mg/L) was 11.82±4.93 vs. 21.62±8.35, PCT (μg/L) was 1.90±1.08 vs. 3.18±1.97, IL-6 (ng/L) was 143.81±33.41 vs. 194.02±46.89, TNF-α (ng/L) was 22.44±8.17 vs. 56.17±16.92, all P < 0.05]. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (all P > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in bleeding complication during CBP and 7-day mortality in children between the citrate local anticoagulation group and the heparin systemic anticoagulation group (5.9% vs. 30.0%, 17.6% vs. 20.0%, both P > 0.05). Conclusions:Heparin for systemic anticoagulation and regional citrate anticoagulation can significantly reduce the levels of IL-6, TNF-α, hs-CRP and PCT in children with septic shock, and relieve inflammatory storm. Compared with citric acid local anticoagulation, heparin systemic anticoagulation can shorten the PT and reduce the level of D-dimer in children with septic shock, which may benefit in the prevention and treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

Anti-seizure medications (ASMs) are the main therapy for epilepsy.There are many kinds of ASMs with complex mechanism of action, so it is difficult for pharmacists to examine prescriptions.This paper put forward some suggestions on the indications, dosage forms/routes of administration, appropriateness of usage and dosage, combined medication and drug interaction, long-term prescription review, individual differences in pathophysiology of children, and drug selection when complicated with common epilepsy, for the reference of doctors and pharmacists.

Aristolochic acids (AAs) have long been considered as a potent carcinogen due to its nephrotoxicity. Aristolochic acid I (AAI) reacts with DNA to form covalent aristolactam (AL)-DNA adducts, leading to subsequent A to T transversion mutation, commonly referred as AA mutational signature. Previous research inferred that AAs were widely implicated in liver cancer throughout Asia. In this study, we explored whether AAs exposure was the main cause of liver cancer in the context of HBV infection in mainland China. Totally 1256 liver cancer samples were randomly retrieved from 3 medical centers and a refined bioanalytical method was used to detect AAI-DNA adducts. 5.10% of these samples could be identified as AAI positive exposure. Whole genome sequencing suggested 8.41% of 107 liver cancer patients exhibited the dominant AA mutational signature, indicating a relatively low overall AAI exposure rate. In animal models, long-term administration of AAI barely increased liver tumorigenesis in adult mice, opposite from its tumor-inducing role when subjected to infant mice. Furthermore, AAI induced dose-dependent accumulation of AA-DNA adduct in target organs in adult mice, with the most detected in kidney instead of liver. Taken together, our data indicate that AA exposure was not the major threat of liver cancer in adulthood.

Objective:To explore the value of 5G-based robotic remote ultrasound diagnosis system in musculoskeletal joint injuries.Methods:From March to December 2020, 58 volunteers at a training base who felt musculoskeletal pain or paresthesia were selected and performed both robotic remote ultrasound (remote ultrasound group) and conventional ultrasound (portable ultrasound group). The two types of examinations were compared, the consistency of the two diagnosis results was analyzed by the Kappa test, and the the difference of the diagnosis results was compared by McNemar test.Results:Among the 58 volunteers, 40 cases were positive by both methods and 11 volunteers had 2-3 positive results. There were 59 positive results in the remote ultrasound group and 64 positive results in the portable ultrasound group. The positive rate of the examination sites from high to low was knee joint>foot and ankle joint >hand and wrist joint >shoulder joint>elbow joint, calf and hip. The diagnosis results of the two groups were in good consistency (Kappa=0.782, P<0.001), and there was no statistically significant difference in the diagnosis results between the two groups (χ 2=3.2, P=0.063). Five more diseases with positive results were detected in the portable ultrasound group: 1 meniscus injury, 1 medial collateral ligament injury, 1 soft tissue injury around the metatarsal, 1 biceps tendinitis with effusion and 1 cubital ulnar nerve subluxation. Conclusions:The 5G-based robotic remote ultrasound system has good consistency with conventional ultrasound in the diagnosis of musculoskeletal injures. It can be applied to the ultrasound diagnosis of musculoskeletal joint injuries in remote areas.

"Westward Migration Spirit" is the precious spiritual wealth of Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese nation. The course teaching team takes the undergraduate students of clinical medicine as the teaching object, tries to integrate the "Westward Migration Spirit" into the cultivation of medical students’ medical professionalism, so as to endow new connotation of medical professionalism and promote the improvement of medical students’ professionalism. Through literature review, expert consultation and questionnaire survey, the paper sorted out the context of "Westward Migration Spirit" of Chongqing Medical University, and typical examples with the spirit of medical science and humanity were selected and integrated into the teaching. A questionnaire was designed to investigate the evaluation of 425 clinical medicine undergraduates and 5 teachers on the medical professionalism course integrated with "Westward Migration Spirit" . The results show that the students and teachers have good feedback to the medical professionalism courses integrated with the "Westward Migration Spirit" , and the course has a significant positive effect on the cultivation of medical students’ medical professionalism.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between nutritional risk status and clinical outcome in children with tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Methods: The clinical data (basic information, clinical symptoms and laboratory test results) of 112 patients with TBM, who were admitted to Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University,from January 2013 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the nutritional risk group and the non-nutritional risk group according to the assessment of the nutritional risk by the STRONGkids Scale. The variables of basic information, clinical symptoms and laboratory test measurements etc. were compared between the two groups by using Student t test, Rank sum test or Chi-square test. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to analyze nutritional risk factors. Results: Among 112 patient with TBM, 55 were males and 57 females. There were 62 cases in the nutritional risk group and 50 cases in the non-nutritional risk group. The proportion of cases with nutritional risk was 55.4% (62/112). Patients in the nutritional risk who lived in rural areas, had symptoms of brain nerve damage, convulsions, emaciation and anorexia, with a diagnosis time of ≥21 days, and the level of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein were all higher than those in the non-nutritional risk group ((50 cases (80.6%) vs. 32 cases (64.0%), 20 cases (32.3%) vs.8 cases (16.0%), 33 cases (53.2%) vs. 15 cases (30.0%), 30 cases (48.4%) vs. 2 cases (4.0%), 59 cases (95.2%) vs. 1 case (2.0%),41 cases (66.1%) vs.18 cases (36.0%), 1 406 (1 079, 2 068) vs. 929 (683, 1 208) mg/L, χ²=3.91, 3.90, 6.10, 26.72, 98.58, 10.08, Z=4.35, all P<0.05). The levels of serum albumin,hemoglobin,lymphocyte count, white blood cell count, and CSF glucose were significantly lower in patients with nutritional risk ((36±5) vs. (41±4) g/L, (110±17) vs. (122±14) g/L, 1.4 (1.0, 2.0)vs. 2.3 (1.6, 3.8)×10⁹/L, 7.8 (6.3, 10.0)×10⁹ vs. 10.0 (8.3, 12.8)×10⁹/L, 1.0 (0.8, 1.6) vs. 2.1 (1.3, 2.5) mmol/L, t=-6.15, -4.22, Z=-4.86, -3.92, -4.16, all P<0.05).Increased levels of serum albumin (OR=0.812, 95%CI:0.705-0.935, P=0.004) and lymphocyte count (OR=0.609, 95%CI:0.383-0.970, P=0.037) may reduce the nutritional risk of children with TBM; while convulsions (OR=3.853, 95%CI:1.116-13.308, P=0.033) and increased level of CSF protein (OR=1.001,95%CI:1.000-1.002, P=0.015) may increase the nutritional risk of children with TBM. Similarly, the rate of complications and drug-induced liver injury was higher in the nutritional risk group (47 cases (75.8%) vs. 15 cases(30.0%), 31 cases (50.0%) vs.8 cases (16.0%), χ²=23.50, 14.10, all P<0.05). Moreover, the length of hospital stay was also longer in the nutritional risk group ((27±13) vs. (18±7) d, t=4.38, P<0.05). Conclusions: Children with TBM have a high incidence of nutritional risk. Convulsive, the level of serum albumin, the level of lymphocyte count and CSF protein may affect the nutritional risk of children with TBM. The nutritional risk group has a high incidence of complications and heavy economic burden.It is necessary to carry out nutritional screening and nutritional support for children with TBM as early as possible.
Female ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Male ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal/diagnosis*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of silencing CD46 and desmoglein 2 (DSG2) in host A549 cells on the entry of human adenovirus type 3 (HAdV-3) and type 7 (HAdV-7) and host cell secretion of inflammatory cytokines. METHODS: RNA interference technique was use to silence the expression of CD46 or DSG2 in human epithelial alveolar A549 cells as the host cells of HAdV-3 or HAdV-7. The binding of the viruses with CD46 and DSG2 were observed with immunofluorescence staining at 0.5 and 1 h after viral infection. The viral load in the host cells was determined with qRT-PCR, and IL-8 secretion level was measured using ELISA. RESULTS: In infected A549 cells, immunofluorescent staining revealed colocalization of HAdV-3 and HAdV-37 with their receptors CD46 and DSG2 at 0.5 h and 2 h after infection, and the copy number of the viruses increased progressively after the infection in a time-dependent manner. In A549 cells with CD46 silencing, the virus titers were significantly lower at 2, 6, 12 and 24 h postinfection in comparison with the cells without gene silencing; the virus titers were also significantly decreased in the cells with DSG2 silencing. The secretion level of IL-8 increased significantly in A549 cells without siRNA transfection following infection with HAdV-3 and HAdV-7 (P < 0.0001), but decreased significantly in cells with CD46 and DSG2 silencing (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION HAdV-3 and HAdV-7 enter host cells by binding to their receptors CD46 and DSG2, and virus titer and cytokines release increase with infection time. Silencing CD46 and DSG2 can inhibit virus entry and cytokine IL-8 production in host cells.
A549 Cells ; Adenoviruses, Human/metabolism* ; Desmoglein 2/metabolism* ; Humans ; Interleukin-8 ; Membrane Cofactor Protein/genetics* ; RNA, Small Interfering

Echinococcosis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Echinococcus infections, and this disorder may cause fibrosis of multiple vital organs, which may further progress into cirrhosis. Early-stage hepatic fibrosis is reversible, and unraveling the mechanisms underlying hepatic fibrosis induced by Echinococcus infections is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of early-stage hepatic fibrosis. Recently, the studies pertaining to hepatic fibrosis associated with Echinococcus infections focus on cytokines and immune cells. This review summarizes the advances in the mechanisms underlying host immune cells- and cytokines-mediated hepatic fibrosis in humans or mice following Echinococcus infections.