Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) possess a rich historical background, unique theoretical framework, remarkable therapeutic efficacy, and abundant resources. However, the modernization and internationalization of TCMs have faced significant obstacles due to their diverse ingredients and unknown mechanisms. To gain deeper insights into the phytochemicals and ensure the quality control of TCMs, there is an urgent need to enhance analytical techniques. Currently, two-dimensional (2D) chromatography, which incorporates two independent separation mechanisms, demonstrates superior separation capabilities compared to the traditional one-dimensional (1D) separation system when analyzing TCMs samples. Over the past decade, new techniques have been continuously developed to gain actionable insights from complex samples. This review presents the recent advancements in the application of multidimensional chromatography for the quality evaluation of TCMs, encompassing 2D-gas chromatography (GC), 2D-liquid chromatography (LC), as well as emerging three-dimensional (3D)-GC, 3D-LC, and their associated data-processing approaches. These studies highlight the promising potential of multidimensional chromatographic separation for future phytochemical analysis. Nevertheless, the increased separation capability has resulted in higher-order data sets and greater demands for data-processing tools. Considering that multidimensional chromatography is still a relatively nascent research field, further hardware enhancements and the implementation of chemometric methods are necessary to foster its robust development.

Kidney transplantation has achieved significant success in treating end-stage renal disease. Nevertheless, it still faces a series of complex and significant challenges after surgery, such as infection, rejection, ischemia-reperfusion injury and chronic renal allograft dysfunction, etc. With the development of science and technology, including biomaterials, gene sequencing and other emerging technologies, Chinese researchers have launched a series of remarkable research in the field of kidney transplantation, aiming to solve these thorny issues. In 2023, relevant research of kidney transplantation in China not only focused on resolving the above challenges, but also highlighting on expanding novel technologies and concepts to build a brighter future of kidney transplantation. In this article, academic achievements of Chinese research teams in the field of kidney transplantation in 2023 were systematically reviewed, covering the frontiers of basic and clinical research and the application of emerging technologies, aiming to provide novel ideas and strategies for major clinical problems in the field of kidney transplantation from the local perspective and accelerate the advancement of kidney transplantation in China to a higher peak.

This study aims to investigate the impact of hepatocyte nuclear factor 1β (HNF1b) on macrophage sortilin-mediated lipid metabolism and aortic atherosclerosis and explore the role of the flavone of Polygonatum odoratum (PAOA-flavone)-promoted small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) modification in the atheroprotective efficacy of HNF1b. HNF1b was predicted to be a transcriptional regulator of sortilin expression via bioinformatics, dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation. HNF1b overexpression decreased sortilin expression and cellular lipid contents in THP-1 macrophages, leading to a depression in atherosclerotic plaque formation in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-deficient (LDLR^-/-) mice. Multiple SUMO1-modified sites were identified on the HNF1b protein and co-immunoprecipitation confirmed its SUMO1 modification. The SUMOylation of HNF1b protein enhanced the HNF1b-inhibited effect on sortilin expression and reduced lipid contents in macrophages. PAOA-flavone treatment promoted SUMO-activating enzyme subunit 1 (SAE1) expression and SAE1-catalyzed SUMOylation of the HNF1b protein, which prevented sortilin-mediated lipid accumulation in macrophages and the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE^-/-) mice. Interference with SAE1 abrogated the improvement in lipid metabolism in macrophage cells and atheroprotective efficacy in vivo upon PAOA-flavone administration. In summary, HNF1b transcriptionally suppressed sortilin expression and macrophage lipid accumulation to inhibit aortic lipid deposition and the development of atherosclerosis. This anti-atherosclerotic effect was enhanced by PAOA-flavone-facilitated, SAE1-catalyzed SUMOylation of the HNF1b protein.
Mice ; Animals ; Polygonatum/metabolism* ; Sumoylation ; Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1-beta/metabolism* ; Atherosclerosis/metabolism* ; Flavones ; Lipids

Myocardial dysfunction is the most serious complication of sepsis. Sepsis-induced myocardial dysfunction (SMD) is often associated with gastrointestinal dysfunction, but its pathophysiological significance remains unclear. The present study found that patients with SMD had higher plasma gastrin concentrations than those without SMD. In mice, knockdown of the gastrin receptor, cholecystokinin B receptor (Cckbr), aggravated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiac dysfunction and increased inflammation in the heart, whereas the intravenous administration of gastrin ameliorated SMD and cardiac injury. Macrophage infiltration plays a significant role in SMD because depletion of macrophages by the intravenous injection of clodronate liposomes, 48 h prior to LPS administration, alleviated LPS-induced cardiac injury in Cckbr-deficient mice. The intravenous injection of bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) overexpressing Cckbr reduced LPS-induced myocardial dysfunction. Furthermore, gastrin treatment inhibited toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression through the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPAR-α) signaling pathway in BMMs. Thus, our findings provide insights into the mechanism of the protective role of gastrin/CCKBR in SMD, which could be used to develop new treatment modalities for SMD.

Empathy is one of the basic qualities that modern clinicians need to possess.Although traditional Chinese medicine has no definition for empathy,it does have practical applications.TCM clinical empathy,nurtured by Chinese excellent traditional culture,can be seen in TCM classics and clinical practice of famous doctors of previous generations,and has been inherited in the spiritual thinking of modern colleges and universities of Chinese medicine.However,at present,there is a relative lack of special training courses for"empathy"in Chinese medicine higher education.This paper first briefly describes the connotation,history,and neuroscience mechanism of the concept of"empathy".Secondly,the manifestations and characteristics of"empathy"in the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine were sorted out.Finally,we use modern medicine and psychology for reference,and combine the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine to make suggestions for the cultivation of the ability of"empathy"in clinical Chinese medicine.

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the common adverse drug reactions and is the main cause of withdrawal of drugs after marketing, which has attracted more and more attention of the public, and herb-induced liver injury (HILI) is a special type of DILI. In recent years, the frequent occurrence of HILI not only seriously endangers the health of patients, but also causes the controversy over the safety of traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, this article reviews the potential risk factors for HILI from the three aspects of "patient", "drug", and "use", so as to provide a basis for the objective identification, prevention, and control of HILI and a reference for the construction of traditional Chinese medicine pharmacovigilance system represented by liver injury.

Inflammasomes play an important role in the innate immunity of the liver; however, the excessive activation of inflammasomes can lead to liver inflammation and injury. The mechanism of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-mediated liver injury has been extensively studied. Related studies have shown that the development of various liver diseases may be associated with the excessive activation of inflammasomes, especially NLRP3 inflammasome. This article reviews inflammasomes, the activation mechanism of NLRP3 inflammasome, and the role of NLRP3 inflammasome in different liver diseases, so as to provide a reference for the treatment targets of liver diseases from the perspective of NLRP3 inflammasome.

Objective To investigate the impacts on inpatient costs of a hospital in Beijing as incurred by the reform of clinic-pharmacy-separation by means of DRGs. Methods As required by BJ-DRGs, we selected DRGs grouping information and medical record homepage information of the inpatients discharged from a tertiary hospital in Beijing from January to March in 2017 ( pre-reform group ) and that from May to July in 2017 ( the post-reform group ) . Then we compared the differences of inpatient costs before and after the reform, and the inpatient cost changes of the DRGs groups. Results The median of inpatient costs before the reform was 8751. 21 yuan, and that after the reform was 8522. 07 yuan, a difference without statistical significance (P>0. 05). Of the 104 DRGs studied, cost changes were found in 28 DRGs (P<0. 05), with increases in 19 DRGs and drops in 9 DRGs groups. Conclusions The reform, though without impact on the inpatient costs, changed the makeup of costs on the other hand, especially on HJ13 and BB25 DRGs groups, worthy of attention. A dynamic tuning mechanism is thus suggested for pricing of medical services, and a fine management suggested for the hospitals to curb unreasonable growth of costs.