Objective To construct a knowledge graph of Hai Yao Ben Cao(Oversea Materia Medica)based on Neo4j technology,and to analyze the knowledge graph and discuss its significance.Methods Taking the original text of Hai Yao Ben Cao as the data source,the data information related to Chinese medicine was extracted,and then the Excel data table was established.The data information included a total of 13 items,and covered the serial number of Chinese medicines,name of Chinese medicines,medicinal part,origin,medicinal property,medicinal flavor,efficacy,toxicity,and various indicators.The extracted information was preprocessed and standardized.And then the constructed knowledge graph was stored and analyzed by graph database Neo4j.Results The knowledge graph of Hai Yao Ben Cao based on Neo4j was constructed,and a total of 518 entities and 1 046 entity relationships were obtained,which were mainly related with origin,medicinal flavor,and efficacy.The results of the entity statistics presented the status of medicinal development and the distribution of oversea medicines in Late Tang and Five Dynasties.The constructed knowledge graph of Hai Yao Ben Cao ensured the realization of information query and content visualization.Conclusion The constructed knowledge graph of Hai Yao Ben Cao intuitively shows the relationship among the category,origin,medicinal property,medicinal flavor,toxicity and efficacy of the medicines in the book,which will lay a foundation for further research on the medicine-medicine relationship and medicine-disease relationship,and for the study of the history of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)development.The knowledge graph of Hai Yao Ben Cao will also provide methods for the rational and effective utilization of ancient TCM books,being beneficial to the modernization of TCM.

Objective To clarify the understanding of types of laboratories and manufacturers for GB 9706.1-2020 Medical electrical equipment-Part 1:General requirements for basic safety and essential performance by laboratory proficiency testing for creepage distance and electrical clearance test.Methods An operation guide was formed according to the testing program in GB 9706.1-2020,and the homogeneity and stability of the samples were evaluated according to CNAS-GL003:2018 Guidance on Evaluating the Homogenneity and Stability of Samples Used for Proficiency Testing.Robust statistic methods were used to assess the quantitative parameters of the test results of the participating laboratories according to the requirements in GB/T 28043-2019 Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparison;the results reported by the expert laboratories were used as the specified values of the qualitative parameters.SPSS 25.0 statistical software was used for data analysis.Results All the results of the crreepage distance and electrical clearance tests met the requirements for homogeneity and stability.Of the 46 laboratories involved in,37 ones did have comprehensive satisfactory determinations while the remained 9 ones not.Conclusion Some laboratories don't behave well in understanding the standard,which have to be reformed accordingly to enhance their proficiencies.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(10):54-59]

ObjectiveTo investigate the mental health of pediatricians in Guangzhou and its influencing factors， and to provide countermeasures for improving the mental health of pediatricians. MethodsA stratified random sampling method was used to randomly select 400 pediatricians in 11 districts of Guangzhou， and they were surveyed using the Symptom Check List（SCL-90） and the Job Stressor Scale. ResultsThe top three job stressors scored by pediatricians in Guangzhou were external environment （3.23±0.59）， workload （3.19±0.56）， and organizational management （2.74±0.55）. All factor scores were higher than those of the clinician group except for career interest， and the difference was statistically significant （P<0.01）. The number of pediatricians with mental health problems was 109， accounting for 27.25%. All factor scores were higher than the physician norm except for anxiety and paranoia. The correlations between each factor of work stressors and each factor of SCL-90 were positive and statistically significant （P<0.05）， except for two pairs of factors， workload and terror as well as external environment and terror. The results of univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences in the mental health scores of pediatricians with different health status， years of work experience， job satisfaction， job stress， and career prospects （P<0.05）. The results of multiple linear regression showed that health status， years of work experience， professional interest， interpersonal relationship， and doctor-patient relationship were influential factors in the mental health of pediatricians （P<0.05）. ConclusionThe mental health of pediatricians in Guangzhou is unsatisfactory， and the factors affecting them are mainly external objective factors such as workload and organizational management.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate postmortem interval (PMI) by analyzing the protein changes in skeletal muscle tissues with the protein chip technology combined with multivariate analysis methods. METHODS: Rats were sacrificed for cervical dislocation and placed at 16 ℃. Water-soluble proteins in skeletal muscles were extracted at 10 time points (0 d, 1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 4 d, 5 d, 6 d, 7 d, 8 d and 9 d) after death. Protein expression profile data with relative molecular mass of 14 000-230 000 were obtained. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) were used for data analysis. Fisher discriminant model and back propagation (BP) neural network model were constructed to classify and preliminarily estimate the PMI. In addition, the protein expression profiles data of human skeletal muscles at different time points after death were collected, and the relationship between them and PMI was analyzed by heat map and cluster analysis. RESULTS: The protein peak of rat skeletal muscle changed with PMI. The result of PCA combined with OPLS discriminant analysis showed statistical significance in groups with different time points (P<0.05) except 6 d, 7 d and 8 d after death. By Fisher discriminant analysis, the accuracy of internal cross-validation was 71.4% and the accuracy of external validation was 66.7%. The BP neural network model classification and preliminary estimation results showed the accuracy of internal cross-validation was 98.2%, and the accuracy of external validation was 95.8%. There was a significant difference in protein expression between 4 d and 25 h after death by the cluster analysis of the human skeletal muscle samples. CONCLUSIONS The protein chip technology can quickly, accurately and repeatedly obtain water-soluble protein expression profiles in rats' and human skeletal muscles with the relative molecular mass of 14 000-230 000 at different time points postmortem. The establishment of multiple PMI estimation models based on multivariate analysis can provide a new idea and method for PMI estimation.
Animals ; Humans ; Rats ; Multivariate Analysis ; Postmortem Changes ; Protein Array Analysis ; Technology

Betulinic acid (BA) exerts protective effects on organs in septic animals. However, whether BA can improve cardiac function in sepsis and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. Here, male Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with BA (25 mg/ kg/ d, i. g.) for 5 days and then intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 mg/ kg). The rats were anesthetized to determine transthoracic echocardiography using a high-resolution imaging system for small animals after they were treated with LPS for 6 h. Histopathologic alterations were examined by HE staining. Myocardial injury markers (cTnI and CK-MB) and inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6) in the serum were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Autophagy-related proteins (p62 and LC3 Ⅱ) and AKT-modulated autophagy pathways in the myocardium were determined by Western blotting. Pretreatment with BA markedly improved left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and fraction shortening (FS) (P<0. 05), improved myocardial histomorphology, and significantly inhibited cTnI, CK-MB, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 (P<0. 05) in the septic rat serum. BA markedly decreased p62 (P<0. 01), increased LC3 Ⅱ (P< 0. 001), and significantly down-regulated p-AKT (Thr308), p-AMPKα (Ser485/ 491), p-mTOR (Ser2448) and p-S6K (Thr389) (P<0. 05), while markedly up-regulated p-AMPKα (Thr172) and pULK1 (Ser317) (P<0. 01) in septic rat hearts. The findings indicate that BA can attenuate sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunctions associated with down-regulating autophagy inhibiting pathways mediated by AKT/ mTOR and AKT/ AMPK pathways.

Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) is a crucial mechanism for the diversity of the human transcriptome and proteome. Alternative splicing is a complex gene regulation process. Whole-transcriptome analysis shows that 95% of human exonic genes are alternatively spliced, involving various cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors. Any changes in any component or step may cause erroneous splicing events and lead to the occurrence of various related diseases. In addition to gene replacement therapy that directly changes the splicing results, RNA splicing modification is expected to become a new therapeutic strategy to alleviate or treat diseases by targeting and correcting abnormal pre-mRNA splicing. Splicing modification tools currently developed including RNA trans-splicing, antisense oligonucleotides, small interfering RNA, and small molecule drugs can correct abnormal splicing through different ways. This article reviews the resent progress of epigenetic regulation of pre-mRNA alternative splicing in recent years, and discusses the occurrence and regulation of alternative splicing, the types of diseases caused by related splicing defects, and the current-used tools for targeting and altering splicing. The importance of splicing modification strategies in the future treatment of human diseases is envisioned.

Background: It is well-established that serum testosterone in men decreases with age, yet the underlying mechanism of this change remains elusive. Methods: The expression patterns of Fancd2 opposite-strand (Fancd2os) in BALB/c male mice and testicular tissue derived cell lines (GC-1, GC-2, TM3, and TM4) were assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot and immunofluorescence. The Fancd2os-overexpressing or knockdown TM3 cells were constructed by infecting them with lentivirus particles and were used to evaluated the function of Fancd2os. The testosterone production was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the steroidogenic enzymes such as steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), P450 cholesterol side-chain cleavage (P450scc), and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) were analysed using RT-PCR. The apoptosis of TM3 cells induced by ultraviolet light or testicular tissues was detected using flow cytometry, Western blot or dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assays. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between the Fancd2os expression and TUNEL-positive staining in mouse testicular Leydig cells. Results: The Fancd2os protein was predominantly expressed in mouse testicular Leydig cells and its expression increased with age. Fancd2os overexpression inhibited testosterone levels in TM3 Leydig cells, whereas knockdown of Fancd2os elevated testosterone production. Fancd2os overexpression downregulated the levels of StAR, P450scc and 3β-HSD, while Fancd2os knockdown reversed this effect. Fancd2os overexpression promoted ultraviolet light-induced apoptosis of TM3 cells. In contrast, Fancd2os knockdown restrained apoptosis in TM3 cells. In vivo assays revealed that higher Fancd2os levels and mouse age were associated with increased apoptosis in Leydig cells and decreased serum testosterone levels. Pearson correlation analysis exhibited a strong positive correlation between the expression of Fancd2os and TUNEL-positive staining in mouse testicular Leydig cells. Conclusion Our findings suggest that Fancd2os regulates testosterone synthesis via both steroidogenic enzymes and the apoptotic pathway.

Objective: To establish an improved method of separating microglia from aged rats and to observe the biological characteristics of spinal microglia of aged rats. Methods: Young SD rats (2 months) were used as control group. Single cell suspension of rat microglia were prepared by trypsin, trypsin substitutes or mechanical net rubbing method. Then, by assessing the purity and survival rate of cells, and observing the morphological characteristics and analyzing the inflammatory functional characteristics, we optimized the isolation and purification method of microglia from aged rats (20 months old) , and observed the functional characteristics of spinal microglia in aged rats. Results: The survival rate of cells digested by pancreatic enzyme was low(young rats 83%, aged rats 60%). Although the survival rate of mechanical net rubbing method was higher than that of pancreatic enzyme digest methods (95%), the cell acquisition rate was lower(young rats(0.207±0.020)×10⁶, aged rats(0.243±0.023)×10⁶). Trypsin substitute dissociation combining density gradient centrifugation method was the best way to get abundant, active and higher survival microglia, and the purity reached more than 85%. We used this method to separate microglia from spinal cord of rats. Compared with the young rats, the spinal cord tissue of old rats was larger, the digestive fluid volume was higher, but the digestion time was shorter. Compared with the young rats, the aged rat spinal microglia had larger and rounder cell body, fewer and shorter protrusions, it tended to be activated morphologically, the level of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β of microglia in aged rats was lower, and the level of antiinflammatory factor IL-10 was higher. Conclusion: The method of trypsin substitute dissociation combined with density gradient centrifugation was successfully established to isolate and purify microglia from spinal cord of rats, the spinal microglia of old rats showed anti-inflammatory phenotype.
Animals ; Cytokines ; Microglia ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord ; Trypsin

In order to explore the functions of genes of key rate-limiting enzymes chalcone isomerase(CHI) and chalcone synthase(CHS) in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in Lonicera macranthoides, this study screened and cloned the cDNA sequences of CHI and CHS genes from the transcriptome data of conventional variety and 'Xianglei' of L. macranthoides. Online bioinformatics analysis software was used to analyze the characteristics of the encoded proteins, and quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR) to detect the expression of CHI and CHS in different parts of the varieties at different flowering stages. The content of luteo-loside was determined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and the correlation with the expression of the two genes was analyzed. The results showed that the CHI and CHS of the two varieties contained a 627 bp and 1170 bp open reading frame(ORF), respectively, and the CHI protein and CHS protein were stable, hydrophilic, and non-secretory. qRT-PCR results demonstrated that CHI and CHS of the two varieties were differentially expressed in stems and leaves at different flowering stages, particularly the key stages. Based on HPLC data, luteoloside content was in negative correlation with the relative expression of the genes. Thus, CHI and CHS might regulate the accumulation of flavonoids in L. macranthoides, and the specific functions should be further studied. This study cloned CHI and CHS in L. macranthoides and analyzed their expression for the first time, which laid a basis for investigating the molecular mechanism of the differences in flavonoids such as luteoloside in L. macranthoides and variety breeding.
Acyltransferases/metabolism* ; Chalcone ; Cloning, Molecular ; Intramolecular Lyases ; Lonicera/metabolism* ; Plant Breeding

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of injury time, postmortem interval (PMI) and postmortem storage temperature on mRNA expression of glycoprotein non-metastatic melanoma protein B (Gpnmb), and to establish a linear regression model between Gpnmb mRNA expression and injury time, to provide aimed at providing potential indexes for injury time estimation. METHODS: Test group SD rats were anesthetized and subjected to blunt contusion and randomly divided into 0 h, 4 h, 8 h, 12 h, 16 h, 20 h and 24 h groups after injury, with 18 rats in each group. After cervical dislocation, 6 rats in each group were collected and stored at 0 ℃, 16 ℃ and 26 ℃, respectively. The muscle tissue samples of quadriceps femoris injury were collected at 0 h, 12 h and 24 h postmortem at the same temperature. The grouping method and treatment method of the rats in the validation group were the same as above. The expression of Gpnmb mRNA in rat skeletal muscle was detected by RT-qPCR. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between Gpnmb mRNA expression and injury time, PMI, and postmortem storage temperature. SPSS 25.0 software was used to construct a linear regression model, and the validation group data was used for the back-substitution test. RESULTS: The expression of Gpnmb mRNA continued to increase with the prolongation of injury time, and the expression level was highly correlated with injury time (P<0.05), but had little correlation with PMI and postmortem storage temperature (P>0.05). The linear regression equation between injury time (y) and Gpnmb mRNA relative expression (x) was y=0.611 x+4.489. The back-substitution test proved that the prediction of the model was accurate. CONCLUSIONS The expression of Gpnmb mRNA is almost not affected by the PMI and postmortem storage temperature, but is mainly related to the time of injury. Therefore, a linear regression model can be established to infer the time of injury.
Animals ; Rats ; Glycoproteins ; Linear Models ; Melanoma ; Membrane Glycoproteins/genetics* ; Postmortem Changes ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism* ; Time Factors