ObjectiveTo explore the impact of Gegen Qinliantang（GQT） on the fecal short-chain fatty acids（SCFAs） metabolism in antibiotic-associated diarrhea（AAD） through targeted metabolomics. MethodA total of 240 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups（n=40， half male and half female）， including blank group， model group， bifidobiogen group（0.15 g·kg^-1）， and GQT high-， medium-， and low-dose groups（10.08， 5.04， 2.52 g·kg^-1）， except for the blank group， clindamycin（250 mg·kg^-1） was given to all groups by gavage for modeling every day for 7 d. After successful modeling， each administered group was gavaged with the corresponding dose of the drug， and the blank and model groups were gavaged with an equal volume of normal saline solution， 1 time/d， for 14 d. At 0， 3， 7， 14 d after the drug intervention， eight rats were randomly selected from each group， respectively. Gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry（GC-TOF-MS） was used to perform targeted metabolomic analysis of SCFAs in the feces of rats， and partial least squares-discriminant analysis（PLS-DA） was applied to compare the differences in metabolic profiles between groups at different treatment times， and to compare the changes in the contents of SCFAs in rat feces between groups. ResultPLS-DA results showed that the blank group could be clearly distinguishable from the model group， with GQT exhibiting a closer proximity to the blank group after 7 d of treatment. After further analyzing the composition of SCFAs， it was found that the proportion of acetic acid increased and the proportions of butyric acid， valeric acid， hexanoic acid and isovaleric acid decreased in the model group compared with the blank group. After the treatment with GQT， the proportions of butyric acid， isobutyric acid， valeric acid， and isovaleric acid increased， and the proportions of acetic acid， propionic acid and caproic acid decreased. Subsequent differential analysis revealed that GQT could significantly improve the content of butyric acid， and had a certain retrogressive effect on the contents of valeric acid and hexanoic acid. ConclusionThe medium dose group of GQT can improve the contents of SCFAs in AAD feces after 7 days of treatment， which may be related to the improvement of the composition ratio of SCFAs and the contents of butyric acid， valeric acid and caproic acid.

Phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway is one of the most important secondary metabolic pathways in plants. It directly or indirectly plays an antioxidant role in plant resistance to heavy metal stress, and can improve the absorption and stress tolerance of plants to heavy metal ions. In this paper, the core reactions and key enzymes of the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway were summarized, and the biosynthetic processes of key metabolites such as lignin, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins and relevant mechanisms were analyzed. Based on this, the mechanisms of key products of phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway in response to heavy metal stress were discussed. The perspectives on the involvement of phenylpropanoid metabolism in plant defense against heavy metal stress provides a theoretical basis for improving the phytoremediation efficiency of heavy metal polluted environment.
Plants/metabolism* ; Metals, Heavy/metabolism* ; Flavonoids/metabolism* ; Biodegradation, Environmental ; Antioxidants

ObjectiveTo investigate the mechanism of Gegen Qinliantang（GQT） on the intestinal flora of antibiotic-associated diarrhea（AAD） by 16S rRNA sequencing and network pharmacology. MethodSixty SD rats were randomly divided into six groups（n=10）， including blank group， model group， GQT high-， medium- and low-dose groups（10.08， 5.04， 2.52 g·kg^-1） as well as Lizhu Changle group（0.15 g·kg^-1）， except for the blank group， each group was given clindamycin（250 mg·kg^-1） by gavage once a day for 7 consecutive days. After successful modeling， the blank group and the model group were given equal volumes of normal saline by gavage. The other groups were given corresponding doses of drugs by gavage for 14 days. Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform（TCMSP） was used to screen the active components and targets of GQT， GeneCards， Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man（OMIM） database， Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base（PharmGKB）， DrugBank and DisGeNET were used to search for AAD disease targets. The drug-disease common targets were obtained by R software. STRING was applied to analyze the target protein-protein interaction， and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes（KEGG） pathway enrichment analysis was performed. Then hematoxylin-eosin（HE） staining was used to observe the pathological changes of the colon， and 16S rRNA sequencing of AAD colon content flora structure further verified the results of network pharmacology. ResultThrough network pharmacology， it was found that 238 active components were screened from GQT and acted on 276 component targets， among which quercetin， puerarin， wogonin and apigenin were the main core components of GQT， 1 097 AAD disease targets and 127 drug-disease intersection targets. The protein-protein interaction network mainly included core targets such as protein kinase B1（Akt1）， interleukin（IL）-6 and IL-1β， which were mainly enriched in the IL-17 signaling pathway. It was verified through animal experiments that compared with the blank group， the colon structure of the model group was seriously abnormal， the intestinal epithelial columnar cells were damaged， the goblet cells were reduced， and a large number of inflammatory cells were infiltrated. Compared with the model group， the colon structure of the GQT high-dose group improved， but there were still abnormalities， the colon structure of GQT medium- and low- dose groups and Lizhu Changle group improved significantly and reached the normal level. GQT could improve the structural diversity of AAD intestinal flora. At the phylum level， the abundance of Firmicutes was increased and the abundance of Bacteroidetes was decreased. At the genus level， the abundance of Lactobacillus was increased， and the abundances of Prevotella and Bacteroides were decreased. Among them， Lactococcus could be used as a biomarker for AAD treatment with GQT， and the prediction of functional metabolism of intestinal flora revealed that GQT could promote acetate and lactate metabolic pathways in the intestine. ConclusionGQT may activate IL-17 signaling pathway by acting on the targets of Akt1 and IL-6 through key components such as quercetin and wogonin， and improve the abundance of Lactococcus in the intestinal tract as well as acetate and lactate metabolic pathways， so as to play a role in repairing the intestinal barrier for the treatment of AAD.

Objective:To compare the short- and long-term efficacy and safety of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) in the treatment of rectal neuroendocrine tumor (NET) with maximum diameter ≤20 mm.Methods:From January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2022, the clinical data of 111 patients with rectal NET with maximum diameter ≤20 mm treated by ESD or TEM at Peking University People′s Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. According to the treatment of ESD or TEM, 111 patients with rectal NET were divided into ESD group (76 cases) and TEM group (35 cases). The clinicopathological characteristics (age, distance from anal margin, depth of invasion, etc.) were compared between patients with tumor maximum diameter<10 mm and 10 to 20 mm, and between ESD group patients and TEM group patients. The clinical efficacy and prognosis were also compared between ESD group and TEM group. The follow-up time was 41 months (16 months, 76 months). The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to balance the differences of clinical characteristics between ESD and TEM groups. Independent sample t test, Wilcoxon rank-sum and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. The risk factors of lymph node or distant metastasis were analyzed by univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression. Results:The maximum tumor diameter of 111 patients with rectal NET was (6.6±0.3) mm (ranged from 2 to 20 mm). The maximum tumor diameter of 85 cases (76.6%) was <10 mm and that of 26 cases (23.4%) was between 10 mm and 20 mm. There were statistically significant differences in age, distance from the anal margin and incidence of submucosal infiltration between patients with tumor maximum diameter<10 mm and patients with tumor maximum diameter 10 to 20 mm ((49.8±11.6 ) years old vs. (56.8±13.8) years old; 5.0 cm (4.0 cm, 8.0 cm) vs. 8.0 cm (5.0 cm, 8.0 cm); 69.4%, 59/85 vs. 96.2%, 25/26; t=2.58, Z=-2.23, χ2=6.35, P=0.011, 0.026 and 0.012). The en block resection rate of rectal NET treated with ESD or TEM was 100.0%(111/111), the complete resection rate was 93.7% (104/111), and the postoperative bleeding rate was 2.7% (3/111). There were no postoperative perforation or other major complications. During the follow-up period, there was no local recurrence. The metachronous recurrent rate was 0.9% (1/111), 3.6% (4/111) patients had lymph node or distant metastasis, and there was no death. Compared with patients with tumor maximum diameter<10 mm, more patients with tumor maximum diameter of 10 to 20 mm selected TEM (57.7%, 15/26 vs. 23.5%, 20/85), and the difference was statistically significant ( χ2=10.76, P=0.001). Before PSM, a total of 7 patients in the ESD group had positive vertical margins, and during the follow-up of 21 months (15 months, 48 months), 2 patients had lymph node or distant metastasis and received surgery. The proportion of patients with tumor maximum diameter of 10 to 20 mm and submucosal invasion in TEM group were both higher than those in ESD group (42.9%, 15/35 vs. 14.5%, 11/76; 88.6%, 31/35 vs. 69.7%, 53/76), and the differences were statistically significant( χ2=10.76 and 3.65, P=0.001 and 0.032). After PSM, there were no statistically significant differences in the complete resection rate, postoperative bleeding rate, metachronous recurrence rate, lymph node or distant metastasis rate between ESD group and TEM group (89.3%, 25/28 vs.100.0%, 28/28; 3.6%, 1/28 vs. 0, 0/28; 3.6%, 1/28 vs. 0, 0/28; 0, 0/28 vs.3.6%, 1/28; all P>0.05). However, the operation time and hospital stay of the ESD group were both shorter than those of the TEM group (27.0 min (25.0 min, 30.0 min) vs. 39.0 min (32.0 min, 45.0 min); 5.0 d (4.0 d, 5.0 d) vs. 6.0 d (3.0 d, 9.0 d)), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-3.38 and -2.23, P=0.001 and 0.021). Conclusion:The efficacy of ESD and TEM in rectal NET with maximum diameter ≤ 20 mm is equal, however, ESD has the advantage of shorter procedure time and hospital stay.

Objective:To analyze the expression of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in serum and vitamin D receptor (VDR) in descending duodenum of adult patients with celiac disease and the correlation between 25 (OH) D, VDR and the clinical characteristics and indexes of celiac disease.Methods:From September 1, 2020 to May 1, 2022, 37 patients who were diagnosed with celiac disease (celiac disease group) in the Department of Gastroenterology of People′s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were enrolled. During the same period, according to gender, age and nationality matched at a ratio of 1 to 1, 37 patients who visited the hospital with suspected symptoms of celiac disease and finally were excluded from the diagnosis of celiac disease after screening (non-celiac disease group) were selected. General data and clinical characteristics of all the patients were collected, including diarrhea, bone mineral density (BMD), Marsh stage. Serum 25(OH)D levels were detected, and the expression of VDR(high or low expression) in the descending duodenum was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Independent sample t test, chi-square test and Spearman correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results:The serum 25(OH)D level and the proportion of patients with high VDR expression in the celiac disease group were both lower than those of the non-celiac disease group ((12.40±8.93) μg/L vs. (16.78±7.09) μg/L; 45.9%, 17/37 vs. 75.7%, 28/37), and the proportion of patients with diarrhea was higher than that of the non-celiac disease group (45.9%, 17/37 vs. 21.6%, 8/37), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-2.52, χ2=6.86 and 4.89, all P<0.05). The serum 25(OH)D level was positively correlated with the VDR expression level in the descending duodenum both in the celiac disease group and the non-celiac disease group ( r=0.75 and 0.64, both P<0.001), and was not correlated with the diarrhea symptoms in the 2 groups (both P>0.05). There was a positive correlation between serum 25(OH)D and BMD in the celiac disease group ( r=0.48, P=0.017), and serum 25(OH)D was also correlated with BMD in the non-celiac disease group ( r=0.93, P<0.001). The VDR expression level in the descending duodenum was negatively correlated with the Marsh stage in the celiac disease group ( r=-0.36, P=0.031), while the VDR expression level was not related to the Marsh stage in the non-celiac disease group ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Vitamin D metabolism imbalance exists in the serum and duodenal mucosa of adult patients with celiac disease, which is related to the severity of osteoporosis and histopathology. It is suggested that patients with celiac disease should receive vitamin D metabolism regulation treatment.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between the fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) and colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we measured the expression of FABP4 in plasma of 50 patients who underwent surgery for CRC from October 2017 to May 2018 and 50 healthy controls. The content of the visceral fat area (VFA) as seen with abdominal computed tomography (CT) scanning was measured by ImageJ software. The expression levels of FABP4, E-cadherin, and Snail proteins in CRC and adjacent tissues were determined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The mean concentration of plasma FABP4 of CRC patients was higher than that of the control group (22.46 vs. 9.82 ng/mL; CONCLUSIONS High LPA and VFA were risk factors for increased plasma FABP4 in CRC patients. FABP4 protein was highly expressed in CRC tissues and associated with TNM stage, differentiation, and lymph node metastasis of CRC. The level of FABP4 in CRC tissue was correlated with E-cadherin and Snail expression, suggesting that FABP4 may promote CRC progression related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).

Objective:To explore the value of 3.0 T high resolution MRI (HR-MRI) in the follow-up of drug treatment in acute and non-acute ischemic stroke caused by middle cerebral artery (MCA) plaque.Methods:The perspective study enrolled patients with ischemic stroke caused by MCA stenosis from October 2012 to October 2015 in the department of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Changhai Hospital Affiliated to Naval Medical University. All the patients underwent HR-MRI and then were divided into acute and non-acute stroke groups according to the intervels of the last symptom onset to the time of HR-MRI examination. All patients were informed consent to receive antiplatelet drug and intensive lipid therapy and followed up with HR-MRI. The HR-MRI sequence including T 2WI, T 1WI and contrast-enhanced T 1WI of vessel wall, and T 2WI and DWI of brain were routinely performed. T-test of paired samples was used to evaluate the changes of stenosis rate of vascular lumen, plaque enhancement degree, plaque volume and plaque burden on HR-MRI, and the NIHSS score of nervous system and blood biochemical indicators of the patients before and after treatment. Chi square test was used to compare the difference in ischemic event recurrcence between the acute and the non-acute stroke group. Results:A total of 31 acute stroke patients and 20 non-acute stroke patients were enrolled in the study. The mean follow-up time of acute stroke group was (671.71±522.86) days. Compare with the baseline, the stenosis rate of vascular lumen ( P=0.039), plaque enhancement degree ( P<0.001), plaque volume ( P=0.024) and plaque burden ( P=0.031) were all improved after the drug treatment, the NIHSS score of nervous system was also significantly improved, and the levels of total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in 12 patients were significantly decreased. The mean follow-up time of patients with non-acute stroke was (695.35±555.90) days. The stenosis rate of vascular lumen, plaque enhancement degree, plaque volume and plaque burden were slightly improved, but without statistical significance ( P>0.05). There were no significant changes in NIHSS score of nervous system, TC, triglyceride (TG) and LDL-C ( P>0.05), however the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly increased than that in the baseline ( P=0.02). During the follow-up period, no new cerebral infarction was found in the DWI images of the two groups. Six patients had transient ischemic attack (TIA) recurrence in the acute stroke group and 5 patients in the non-acute stroke group, there was no significant difference between both groups(χ 2=0.229, P= 0.632). Conclusion:HR-MRI can be used as an important evaluation method for the follow-up of MCA atherosclerotic plaque therapy. After antiplatelet therapy and intensive lipid-lowering therapy, the plaque volume and burden of MCA offending plaque, and plaque enhancement decreased in acute stroke patients but there was no significant change in non-acute patients.

Objective To investigate the ability of quantitative radiomic method based on highresolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) to distinguish between culprit plaques and non-culprit plaques of intracranial atherosclerosis.Methods Patients with middle cerebral artery and basilar artery stenosis underwent HR-MRI in Changhai Hospital Affiliated to the Naval Medical University from September 2013 to October 2016 were analyzed retrospectively.The minimum lumen area,plaque burden,severity of luminal stenosis,intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH),enhancement rate,and 109quantitative radiomic characteristics of the culprit and non-culprit plaques were measured.For clinical features and traditional plaque morphology,multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine independent risk factors for culprit plaque.A random forest-supervised machine learning method was used to determine the radiomic characteristics of distinguishing between symptomatic plaques and asymptomatic plaques.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed,and the diagnostic efficacy was described by the area under the curve (AUC).Results During the study,158 subjects were enrolled,and they aged (59.42± 11.62) years.The plaques of 75 patients were located in middle cerebral artery,and the plaques of 83 patients were located in basilar artery.There were 111 symptomatic patients and 47 asymptomatic patients.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that smoking (odds ratio [OR] 2.724,95％ confidence interval [CI] 1.200-6.183),IPH (OR 11.340,95％ CI 1.441-89.221),and enhancement rate (OR 6.865,95％ CI 1.052-44.802) were the independent risk factors for culprit plaques.The AUC of these three characteristics for predicting symptomatic plaques were 0.605,0.584,and 0.590,respectively.The combination of the three cloud improve the test efficacy for the intracranial atherosclerotic culprit plaques,AUC could reached 0.714.Radiomic analysis showed that 22 radiomic characteristics extracted from T-2 weighted imaging,T1 weighted imaging,and contrast-enhanced T1 weighted imaging were associated with the culprit plaques.Their AUCs were 0.801,0.835,and 0.846,respectively.After the combination of all morphological and radiomic characteristics,AUC could reach 0.976,the accuracy rate was 87.4％.However,the difference was not statistically significant compared to the combined AUC of all radiomic characteristics (0.953) (P=0.275).Conclusion Radiomic analysis could accurately distinguish between the culprit plaques and non-culprit plaques of intracranial atherosclerosis,and is superior to the traditional morphological methods.

Objective To explore the remodeling modes and the plaque distribution of atherosclerotic BA at 3.0T high resolution MRI.Methods 90 symptomatic patients with atherosclerotic stenosis of BA on digital subtraction angiography (DSA) (50 ％-99 ％) were recruited consecutively.Luminal area,vessel area of maximal narrow sites and the reference sites were measured.The differences of involved imaging parameters between negative group and positive group were analyzed.Results 51 patients with required imaging quality were enrolled finally.Among the 51 patients,the rate of positive remodeling cases was 72.5％ (37/51) and negative remodeling took over 27.5％ (14/51).Compared with the negative remodeling group,the positive remodeling group had greater plaque size,larger plaque burden percentage,and higher maximal wall thickness at maximal lumen narrowing sites.The plaques were mainly located at ventral wall of the vessel.Conclusion 3.0T high-resolution MR imaging could be applied in assessing the remodeling modes and plaque distribution of BA stenosis.

Objective To analyze the clinical features of juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) combined with soft-tissue calcification. Methods Forty-seven patients with JDM combined with soft-tissue calcification (soft-tissue calcification group) were retrospectively analyzed, and they were contrasted with 89 patients with non-calcification (non-calcification group). Results The rates of Gotton signe, muscle contracture and joint dysfunction in soft-tissue calcification group were significantly higher than those in non-calcification group:87.23% (41/47) vs. 43.82% (39/89) and 68.09% (32/47) vs. 21.35% (19/89), and there were statistical differences (P<0.05). The dosage of glucocorticoid (conversion of prednisone measuring more than 1.5 mg/kg), rate of using immunodepressant, level of creatine kinase in soft-tissue calcification group were significantly lower than those in non-calcification group:17.02%(8/47) vs. 68.54%(61/89), 25.53%(12/47) vs. 88.76%(79/89), (566.45±240.41) U/L vs. (1 680.12±656.50) U/L, and there were statistical differences (P<0.05). Conclusions The patients with JDM combined with Gotton signe are more prone to soft-tissue calcification. The rate of muscle contracture and joint dysfunction in soft-tissue calcification patients is significantly higher than that in non-calcification patients. For the patients whose creatine kinase are not obviously elevated, they are more prone to soft-tissue calcification. Early active application of glucocorticoid and immunodepressant therapy can reduce or prevent the occurrence or development of late calcium deposition.