Humans ; Fibrous Dysplasia, Polyostotic/complications* ; Hemangioma

Male infertility has evolved from a common reproductive system disease to a major social issue. Youjing granule (YG) is a Chinese medicinal material used as a therapy method for tonifying the kidneys and removing dampness due to its pathogenic characteristics. YG has been shown to regulate sperm quality in clinical trials, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. The present study was aimed to explore the protective effects and mechanism of action of YG on male reproductive system damage caused by methyl methane sulfonate (MMS). We first established an infertility model of rats through oral administration of MMS and then treated with YG. To determine the effect of YG, spermatogenesis, microvascular density, and secretory function of Leydig cells and Sertoli cells in rats were assessed. Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) were co-cultured with mouse embryo fibroblast (MEF) cells as an in vitro cell model before exposure to serum containing YG. Furthermore, the proliferation and apoptosis of SSCs were measured. Results indicated that YG increased the expression of self-renewal and proliferation-related molecules such as glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2), and improved the quality of sperm and the proliferation of SSCs. In conclusion, YG may protect spermatogenetic function of rats through regulating the proliferation and self-renewal of SSCs.
Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Male ; Mice ; Rats ; Semen ; Spermatogenesis ; Spermatogonia ; Stem Cells

Qingjin Huatan Decoction is a classic prescription with the effects of clearing heat, moistening lung, resolving phlegm, and relieving cough. In order to explore the critical quality attributes of Qingjin Huatan Decoction, we identified the blood components of Qingjin Huatan Decoction by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) under the following conditions, chromatographic column: Acquity UPLC BEH C_(18) column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 μm); mobile phase: 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile(A)-0.1% formic acid in water(B); gradient elution; flow rate: 0.2 mL·min~(-1); column temperature: 30 ℃; injection volume: 5 μL. The electrospray ionization(ESI) source was used to collect data in both positive and negative ion modes under the following conditions, capillary voltage: 3 kV for the positive ion mode and 2 kV for the negative ion mode; ion source temperature: 110 ℃; cone voltage: 30 V; cone gas flow rate: 50 L·h~(-1); nitrogen degassing temperature: 350 ℃; degassing volume flow rate: 800 L·h~(-1); scanning range: m/z 50-2 000. In this experiment, a total of 66 related components of Qingjin Huatan Decoction were identified, including 22 prototype components and 44 metabolites. The results of this study preliminarily revealed the pharmacodynamic material basis of Qingjin Huatan Decoction in vivo, which has provided an experimental basis for the determination of quality markers of Qingjin Huatan Decoction and the development of new drugs.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry/methods*

With the rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix unearthed from the tomb of Haihunhou in the Western Han Dynasty as the re-ference, the present study evaluated the quality of Rehmanniae Radix and investigated the processing technology of rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix to lay the foundation for the research on rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix products. With catalpol and rehmannioside D as the investigation indexes, the quality and grade of Rehmanniae Radix from different producing areas were evaluated with the methods in 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. UPLC method was established for the determination of catalpol and rehmannioside D in the rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix. The effects of steaming time, the amount of supplementary rice, and steaming times in the rice-steamed processing on the quality of products were investigated by L_9(3~4) orthogonal test and multi-index comprehensive balance scoring method combined with the content of catalpol and rehmannioside D and appearance characteristics. At last, the stability of the processing technology was tested. The results showed that the optimal processing technology for rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix was as follows: Rehmanniae Radix and rice(200 g∶4 g) were steamed twice at atmospheric pressure, four hours each time. The mass fractions of catalpol and rehmannioside D were 0.184% and 0.335%, respectively, and the character score was 6.5. The processing conditions are reaso-nable, stable, and feasible. It can provide a basis for the restoration of the ancient rice-steamed processing technology and references for the development of rice-steamed Rehmanniae Radix products in the future.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Oryza ; Plant Extracts ; Rehmannia ; Technology

Gut microbiome sequencing studies have great potential to translate microbial analysis outcomes into human health research. Sequencing strategies of 16S amplicon and whole-metagenome shotgun (WMS) are two main methods in microbiome research with respective advantages. However, how sample heterogeneity, sequencers and library preparation protocols affect the sequencing reproducibility of gut microbiome needs further investigation. This study aims to provide a reference for the selection of sequencing technologies by comparing differences in microbial composition from different sampling sites. The results of three widely adopted sequencers showed that the technical repetition correlation (r= 0. 94) was high in WMS method, while the biological repetition correlation (r = 0. 69) was low. Bray-Curtis distance identified that dissimilarity from biological replicates was larger than that of technical replicates (P<0. 001). In addition, dissimilarity and specific taxonomic profiles were observed between 16S and WMS datasets. Our results imply that homogenization is a necessary step before sample DNA extraction. The sequencers contributed less to taxonomic variation than the library preparation protocols. We developed an empirical Bayes approach that " borrowed information" in calculations and analyzed batch effect parameters using standardized data and prior distributions of (non-) parameters, which may improve population comparability between 16S and WMS and provide a basis for further application to fusion analysis of published 16S and microbial datasets.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze and compare the effects of leukapheresis on hemostatic function in patients with hyperleukocytic leukemia. METHODS: A total of 139 patients with AML, ALL and CML who underwent leukapheresis from June 2009 to February 2020 and did coagulation test before and after operation were included in this study. The clearance efficiency of each group and the difference among three groups were evaluated, as well as hemostatic function including platelet counts, coagulation indicators, CDSS score and incidence of adverse events. The difference of hemostatic function caused by leukapheresis in different leukemia patients were compared. RESULTS: After leukapheresis, the WBC counts were decreased significantly in the three groups of patients (P<0.001), and the clearance efficiency was highest in ALL patients. However, the platelet counts also were decreased significantly (AML:P＜0.001, ALL: P＜0.001, CML: P＜0.01) in the three groups of patients, particularly for acute leukemia patients with a positive correlation with WBC clearance efficiency(r=0.284). After leukapheresis, fibrinogen decreased, PT and APTT prolonged. For acute leukemia patients, higher CDSS score was related to an elevated incidence of bleeding events (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Leukapheresis is an effective method to decrease the leukemic burden, but it is necessary to monitor the impact on hemostatic function. It is recommended to assess the CDSS socre for acute leukemia patients, in order to identify the predictive value for bleedings.
Acute Disease ; Blood Coagulation ; Blood Coagulation Tests ; Hemorrhage ; Hemostatics ; Humans ; Leukapheresis/methods* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/therapy*

Paeoniae Radix Alba is the dried root of Paeonia lactiflora, which was first recorded in the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica and listed as the top grade. It is a common blood-tonifying herb, and its chemical components are mainly monoterpenes and their glycosides, triterpenes, flavonoids and so on. Modern research has demonstrated that Paeoniae Radix Alba has the activities of anti-inflammation, pain easing, liver protection, and anti-oxidation, and thus it is widely used in clinical practice and has broad development prospects. In this paper, the research progress on the chemical composition, pharmacological effects, and quality control of Paeoniae Radix Alba were summarized. On this basis, the Q-markers of Paeoniae Radix Alba were predicted from the aspects of mass transfer and traceability, chemical composition specificity, and availability and measurability of chemical components, which will provide a scientific basis for the quality evaluation of Paeoniae Radix Alba.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Monoterpenes ; Paeonia ; Plant Extracts

Objective:To explore whether renal artery involvement is an independent risk factor of acute renal injury (AKI) KDIGO stage 3 after moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest in patients with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection.Methods:From December 2015 to October 2017, 492 consecutive patients with acute Stanford A-type aortic dissection received surgical treatment, 486 of them were included in the study. All patients underwent aortic CTA to determine the extent of aortic dissection and renal artery involvement. According to the standard of Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO), the renal function of patients after operation was graded. The risk factors of AKI KDIGO stage 3 were analyzed.Renal artery involvement and other risk factors were included in univariate analysis, and significant variables in univariate analysis were included in multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results:In 492 patients, 40 (8.13%) died in hospital, of which 6 died of severe bleeding during operation or failed to wean from cardiopulmonary bypass which lead to unable to leave the Weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass and these 6 patients were excluded in the research. Among 486 patients included in the study, 251 (51.64%) had AKI. Among them, 83 (17.08%) were in the KDIGO stage 1, 56 (11.52%) in stage 2 and 112 (23.05%) in stage 3.The results of univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in renal artery involvement, age, time from onset to operation, D-dimer, leukocytes and platelets in peripheral blood, creatinine clearance rate, time of cardiopulmonary bypass during operation and aortic cross-clamping time( P>0.05). The above risk factors were included in multivariate logistic regression. The results showed that preoperative renal artery involvement ( OR=1.94, P=0.02), age ( OR=1.03, P=0.02), creatinine clearance rate<85 ml/min ( OR=2.28, P=0.001), and intraoperative cardiopulmonary bypass time ( OR=1.01, P=0.02) were independent risk factors. The incidence of AKI in patients with renal artery involvement was 54.65%, significantly higher than 41.98% in patients without renal artery involvement ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Renal artery involvement is an independent risk factor of AKI KDIGO stage 3 after moderate deep hypothermic circulatory arrest of acute Stanford type A aortic dissection.

ObjectiveTo describe the epidemiologic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological characteristics and prognoses of COVID-19 confirmed patients in a single center in Beijing, China. Methods The study retrospectively included 19 patients with nucleic acid-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection at our hospital from January 20 to March 5, 2020. The final follow-up date was March 14, 2020. The epidemiologic and clinical information was obtained through direct communication with the patients or their family members. Laboratory results retrieved from medical records and radiological images were analyzed both qualitatively by two senior chest radiologists as well as quantitatively via an artificial intelligence software. Results We identified 5 family clusters (13/19, 68.4%) from the study cohort. All cases had good clinical prognoses and were either mild (3/19) or moderate (16/19) clinical types. Fever (15/19, 78.9%) and dry cough (11/19, 57.9%) were common symptoms. Two patients received negative results for more than three consecutive viral nucleic acid tests. The longest interval between an initial CT abnormal finding and a confirmed diagnosis was 30 days. One patient's nucleic acid test turned positive on the follow-up examination after discharge. The presence of radiological abnormalities was non-specific for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Conclusions COVID-19 patients with mild or no clinical symptoms are common in Beijing, China. Radiological abnormalities are mostly non-specific and massive CT examinations for COVID-19 screening should be avoided. Analyses of the contact histories of diagnosed cases in combination with clinical, radiological and laboratory findings are crucial for the early detection of COVID-19. Close monitoring after discharge is also recommended.
Adult ; COVID-19/diagnostic imaging* ; COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing ; Child ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Lung/diagnostic imaging* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Objective:To observe the motor capacity of patients early after cardiac surgery using a cardiopulmonary exercise test.Methods:Patients who had performed a cardiopulmonary exercise test within 3 months after cardiac surgery were included in this retrospective study. Patients who took the test within 30 days of the operation formed a discharge group ( n=20), those within 30 to 60 days and 60 to 90 days formed the one month and two month groups ( n=10 for both). The discharge group was further divided into an aortic surgery group ( n=9), a bypass surgery group ( n=6) and a valve surgery group ( n=5) according to their procedure. The exercise capacity of each person was measured in terms of the changes in heart rate and systolic pressure from the resting to the anaerobic threshold stage. Anaerobic threshold, peak oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide ventilation equivalent were also recorded. Results:All of the patients completed the cardiopulmonary exercise test above the anaerobic threshold, and no adverse events such as exercise accidents occurred. At the anaerobic threshold the average heart rate of the discharge group was (8.8±7.1)bpm, significantly lower than the averages of the one month and two months groups: (17.0±5.9) and (18.3±10.5)bpm respectively. The average anaerobic thresholds and peak oxygen uptakes of the 1 month and 2 months groups were not significantly different, but they were all significantly higher than the discharge group′s averages. There were, however, no significant differences among the groups in the average changes in their systolic pressure and carbon dioxide ventilation equivalent. Moreover, the average anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen uptake of the aortic surgery group and the bypass surgery group were significantly lower than the valve surgery group′s averages.Conclusions:Postoperative motor ability after cardiac surgery improves significantly for at least 30 days. Patients who have received aortic or bypass surgery have significantly lower exercise capacity than those after valve surgery.