Objective To study the activity of ten kinds of antipyretic-antidotal traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),including radix tinosporae.herb of blin conyza and turmeric,against extensively drug-resistant Acineto-bacter baumannii(XDR-AB)infection,screen out the extracts of antipyretic-antidotal TCM which have in vivo anti-infection activity,provide a research basis for the discovery of novel antimicrobials against XD-RAB infection.Methods Ten antipyretic-antidotal TCM were extracted with water,50％ethanol and 95％ethanol respectively,and TCM extracts with different concentrations were prepared,which were co-incubated with the model of XDR-AB-infected Caenorhabditis elegans previously optimized by the research group.The in vivo activity of antipyretic-antidotal TCM against XDR-AB infection was judged through the survival rate of Caenorhabditis elegans.Results With the increase of concentration of turmeric and cortex pseudolaricis extracts,the survival rate of XDR-AB-infec-ted nematodes continued to improve.The water extract,50％ethanol extract,and 95％ethanol extract of turmeric at a concentration of 1 000 μg/mL could increase the survival rates of XDR-AB-infected Caenorhabditis elegans to 54.2％(compared to the negative control group,P＜0.001),18.8％,and 13.3％,respectively.The water ex-tract,50％ethanol extract,and 95％ethanol extract of cortex pseudolaricis at a concentration of 1 000 μg/mL could increase the survival rates of XDR-AB-infected Caenorhabditis elegans to 47.4％(compared to the negative control group,P＜0.001),23.8％,and 15.8％,respectively.Conclusion The water extracts of turmeric and cortex pseudolaricis have good activity against XDR-AB infection,and their main chemical components can be tested for in vitro antimicrobial efficacy to discover novel antimicrobial agents against XDR-AB infection.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Jianpi Jieyu Decoction (JJD) for treating patients with mild-to-moderate depression of Xin (Heart)-Pi (Spleen) deficiency (XPD) syndrome. METHODS: In this multi-center, randomized, controlled study, 140 patients with mild-to-moderate depression of XPD syndrome were included from Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Botou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from December 2017 to December 2019. They were randomly divided into JJD group and paroxetine group by using a random number table, with 70 cases in each group. The patients in the JJD group were given JJD one dose per day (twice daily at morning and evening, 100 mL each time), and the patients in the paroxetine group were given paroxetine (10 mg/d in week 1; 20 mg/d in weeks 2-6), both orally administration for a total of 6 weeks. The primary outcome was the change of 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) score at week 6 from baseline. The secondary outcomes included the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) score, Traditional Chinese Medicine Symptom Scale (TCMSS), and Clinlcal Global Impression (CGI) scores at the 2nd, 4th, and 6th weekends of treatment, HAMD-17 response (defined as a reduction in score of >50%) and HAMD-17 remission (defined as a score of ⩽7) at the end of the 6th week of treatment. Adverse events (AEs) were also recorded. RESULTS: From baseline to week 6, the HAMD-17 scores decreased 10.2 ± 4.0 and 9.1 ± 4.9 points in the JJD and paroxetine groups, respectively (P=0.689). The HAMD-17 response occurred in 60% of patients in the JJD group and in 50% of those in the paroxetine group (P=0.292); HAMD-17 remission occurred in 45.7% and 30% of patients, respectively (P=0.128). The differences of CGI scores at the 6th week were not statistically significant (P>0.05). There were significant differences in HAMD-17 scores between the two groups at 2nd and 4th week (P=0.001 and P=0.014). The HAMA scores declined 8.1 ± 3.0 and 6.9 ± 4.3 points from baseline to week 6 in the JJD and paroxetine groups, respectively (P=0.905 between groups). At 4th week of treatment, there was a significant difference in HAMA between the two groups (P=0.037). TCMSS decreased 11.4 ± 5.1, and 10.1 ± 6.8 points in the JJD and paroxetine groups, respectively (P=0.080 between groups). At the 6th week, the incidence of AEs in the JJD group was significantly lower than that in the paroxetine group (7.14% vs. 22.86%, P<0.05). CONCLUSION Compared with paroxetine, JJD was associated with a significantly lower incidence of AEs in patients with mild-to-moderate depression of XPD syndrome, with no difference in efficacy at 6 weeks. (Trial registration No. ChiCTR2000040922).
Humans ; Paroxetine/adverse effects* ; Spleen ; Anxiety ; Syndrome ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Treatment Outcome ; Double-Blind Method

OBJECTIVE: To explore the brain effect mechanism and the correlation between brain functional imaging and cognitive function in treatment of depressive disorder (DD) with transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) based on the resting-state functional magenetic reasonance imaging (rs-fMRI). METHODS: Thirty-two DD patients were included in a depression group and 32 subjects of healthy condition were enrolled in a normal group. In the depression group, the taVNS was applied to bilateral Xin (CO₁₅) and Shen (CO₁₀), at disperse-dense wave, 4 Hz/20 Hz in frequency and current intensity ≤20 mA depending on patient's tolerance, 30 min each time, twice daily. The duration of treatment consisted of 8 weeks. The patients of two groups were undertaken rs-fMRI scanning. The scores of Hamilton depression scale (HAMD), Hamilton anxiety scale (HAMA) and Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) were observed in the normal group at baseline and the depression group before and after treatment separately. The differential brain regions were observed before and after treatment in the two groups and the value of degree centrality (DC) of fMRI was obtained. Their correlation was analyzed in terms of HAMD, HAMA and WCST scores. RESULTS: The scores of HAMD and HAMA in the depression group were all higher than those in the normal group (P<0.05). After treatment, the scores of HAMD and HAMA were lower than those before treatment in the depression group; the scores of total responses, response errors and perseverative errors of WCST were all lower than those before treatment (P<0.05). The brain regions with significant differences included the left inferior temporal gyrus, the left cerebellar peduncles region 1, the left insula, the right putamen, the bilateral supplementary motor area and the right middle frontal gyrus. After treatment, the value of DC in left supplementary motor area was negatively correlated to HAMD and HAMA scores respectively (r=-0.324, P=0.012; r=-0.310, P=0.015); the value of DC in left cerebellar peduncles region 1 was negatively correlated to the total responses of WCST (r=-0.322, P=0.013), and the left insula was positively correlated to the total responses of WCST (r=0.271, P=0.036). CONCLUSION The taVNS can modulate the intensity of the functional activities of some brain regions so as to relieve depressive symptoms and improve cognitive function.
Humans ; Depression/therapy* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Vagus Nerve Stimulation/methods* ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation/methods* ; Vagus Nerve

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.

Dirigent(DIR) proteins are involved in the biosynthesis of lignin, lignans, and gossypol in plants and respond to biotic and abiotic stresses. Based on the full-length transcriptome of Schisandra chinensis, bioinformatics methods were used to preliminarily identify the DIR gene family and analyze the physico-chemical properties, subcellular localization, conserved motifs, phylogeny, and expression patterns of the proteins. The results showed that a total of 34 DIR genes were screened and the encoded proteins were 156-387 aa. The physico-chemical properties of the proteins were different and the secondary structure was mainly random coil. Half of the DIR proteins were located in chloroplast, while the others in extracellular region, endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasm, etc. Phylogenetic analysis of DIR proteins from S. chinensis and the other 8 species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, and Glycine max demonstrated that all DIR proteins were clustered into 5 subfamilies and that DIR proteins from S. chinensis were in 4 subfamilies. DIR-a subfamily has the unique structure of 8 β-sheets, as verified by multiple sequence alignment. Finally, through the analysis of the transcriptome of S. chinensis fruit at different development stages, the expression pattern of DIR was clarified. Combined with the accumulation of lignans in fruits at different stages, DIR might be related to the synthesis of lignans in S. chinensis. This study lays a theoretical basis for exploring the biological functions of DIR genes and elucidating the biosynthesis pathway of lignans in S. chinensis.
Fruit/genetics* ; Lignans/analysis* ; Phylogeny ; Schisandra ; Sequence Alignment

Actin-like 6A (ACTL6A), also known as BAF53A, is an SWI / SNF subunit of chromatin-remodeling factors and plays an important role in regulating stem cell function. Recent studies found that ACTL6A was involved in tumor occurrence and development. However, the mechanism of ACTL6A in cisplatin resistance is still unclear. This study investigated the biological function and molecular mechanism of ACTL6A in maintaining cancer stem cell function and cisplatin resistance. First, analysis from TCGA, GEO, and GEPIA databases showed that ACTL6A expression levels in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) tissues and cisplatin resistant cells were dramatically higher than that in adjacent normal tissues and cisplatin sensitive cells (P < 0. 05), and ACTL6A high expression was positively associated with a poor prognosis of LUAD. Knockdown of ACTL6A enhanced cisplatin sensitivity (P < 0. 05), reduced tumor sphere (P<0. 05), inhibited cell migration (P<0. 05), and promoted cell apoptosis (P<0. 05) in A549 cells. Western blotting showed that knockdown of ACTL6A increased the protein expression of E-cadherin, and decreased the protein expression of N-cadherin, vimentin, and twist. Moreover, knockdown of ACTL6A inhibited the expression of cancer stem cell markers, including ALDH3A1, ALDH4A1, SOX2, OCT4, and Nanog. Subsequently, Hippo / YAP signaling-related proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. The results showed the expression of beta-TRCP and YAP was decreased in A549 cell with knockdown of ACTL6A. However, phosphorylation levels at S127 and S397 of YAP were increased and inhibited translocation of YAP into the nucleus for regulating related gene expression. In summary, ACTL6A maintained the stemness of lung cancer stem cells and promoted cisplatin resistance in A549 cells by inhibiting activation of the Hippo signaling pathway.

An UPLC method was established for the direct determination of six major bioactive isosteroidal alkaloids, namely peimisine, imperialine, sipeimine-3-D-glucoside, verticinone, verticine and hupehenine from the bulbus of Fritillaria(Beimu), a commonly used antitussive traditional Chinese medicinal(TCM) herb. An Acquity UPLC~(TM) CSH C_(18) column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 μm) was used for all analysis. The investigated six compounds were all separated with gradient mobile phase consisting of 0.02% diethylamine-water-methanol at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min~(-1). The temperature of sample manager was set at 20 ℃. Drift tube temperature was 45 ℃, and spray parameter was 40% with injection volume of 1 μL. Then, the further quality assessment of Beimu was carried out by cluster analysis(CA) and principal component analysis(PCA). The investigated all had good linearity(r≥0.998 9) over the tested ranges. The method is simple, accurate and reproducible, and can be used for determining the content of six major bioactive isosteroidal alkaloids.
Alkaloids/isolation & purification* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Fritillaria/chemistry* ; Phytochemicals/isolation & purification* ; Plant Roots/chemistry*

Objective To explore the effects of magnesium sulfate in combination with astragalus membranaceus injection on the birth outcomes and expression of placenta tissue related gene of patients with gestational hypertension. Methods Seventy-six gestational hypertension patients were selected and randomly assigned to control group (n = 38) and treatment group (n = 38). The control group was given intravenous injection of 25％ magnesium sulfate (60 mL) once daily for 7 days,while the treatment group was give intravenous injection of astragalus (60 mL) on the basis of the control group once daily for 7 days. The changes of blood pressure,mean arterial pressure (MAP) and 24 h urine protein content of the two groups were compared. The placenta tissue of the two groups were collected after childbirth. Results After treatment,the total effective rates of the control group and the treatment group were86. 84％ (33/38) and 97. 37％ (37/38) ,respectively; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0. 05). There were significant differences between the control group and the treatment group in systolic blood pressure [(147. 21 ± 20. 01) mmHg vs (128. 46 ± 18. 43) mmHg],diastolic blood pressure [(90. 25 ± 15. 46) mmHg vs (73. 14 ± 14. 53) mmHg],MAP [(126. 76 ± 9. 65) mmHg vs (108. 15 ± 9. 57) mmHg] and the 24 h urine protein content [(2. 65 ±0. 87) g vs (1. 34 ±0. 79) g](P < 0. 05). Conclusion Magnesium sulfate combined with astragalus membranaceus injection can reduce the blood pressure of gestational hypertension patients,improve the pregnancy outcome; the action mechanism maybe related to the up-regulation of PLGF and MMP-9 protein expression of placenta tissue.

Objective To investigate the effect of puerarin on oxidative stress and immune status in placenta of preeclampsia (PE) rats. Methods Forty-five pregnant female SD rats were randomly divided into control group,model group and test group,15 rats in each group. The rats in model group and test group were subcutaneously injected with 100 mg·kg-1 of L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) once daily from Day 13-21 of gestation,the rats in control group were injected with the same amount of saline; and the rats in test group were intraperitoneally injected with 80 mg·kg-1 of puerarin solution once daily from Day 17-21 of gestation,control group and model group were injected with the same amount of 0. 9％ NaCl. The caudal arterial pressure and 24 h urinary protein content were measured at Day 10,16 and 21 of gestation,the oxidative stress indexes in rat placenta was detected by thibabituric acid method and Xanthine oxidase method,the cellular immune function was detected by flow cytometry,and the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) expressionin of rat placenta trophoblasts was detected by Western blot. Results On Day 21 of gestation,there were significant differences between the model group and the control/test group in caudal arterial pressure [(136. 25 ± 5. 48) mm- Hg vs (119. 25 ± 4. 21) mmHg or (123. 52 ± 6. 45) mmHg],24 h-urinary protein contents [((11. 83 ± 0. 12) mg vs 6. 42 ± 0. 08) mg or (8. 58 ± 0. 12) mg],the content of MDA in placenta tissue [(4. 75 ± 0. 08) mmol·mg-1 vs(10. 69 ± 0. 07) mmol·mg-1,(8. 37 ± 0. 08) mmol·mg-1 ],the content of SOD [(93. 26 ± 4. 29) U·mg-1 vs(168. 97 ± 3. 42) U·mg-1 or (112. 63 ± 3. 48) U·mg-1 ],the ratio of CD4 +/CD8 + [(2. 61 ± 0. 56) vs(1. 46 ± 0. 05) or (1. 48 ± 0. 12) ] and the relative expression of XIAP protein in trophoblast [(0. 89 ± 0. 05) vs(0. 36 ± 0. 09) or (0. 41 ± 0. 11) ](all P < 0. 05). Conclusion Puerarin can inhibit the oxidative stress reaction and enhance the cellular immune function in the placenta of PE rats,and reduce the expression of XIAP protein in the placenta tissue trophoblasts to reduce the apoptosis of placenta trophoblasts.

Background: Automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) can cater to individual needs, provide treatment while asleep, take into account the adequacy of dialysis, and improve the quality of life. Currently, independent research and development of APD machines made in China are more conducive to patients. A randomized, multicenter, crossover study was conducted by comparing an APD machine made in China with an imported machine. The safety, effectiveness, and manipulability of the two machines were compared. Methods: Two hundred and sixty patients who underwent peritoneal dialysis (PD) on a regular basis in 18 centers between August 2015 and February 2016 were included. The inclusion criteria include age ≥18 years and PD ≥30 days. The exclusion criteria were as follows: hemodialysis; exit site or tunnel infection; and peritonitis ≤30 days. The patients were randomly divided into Group A, who were first treated with a FM machine made in China, then changed to an imported machine; and Group B, who were treated using the reverse sequence. APD treatment was performed with 10 L/10 h and 5 cycles of exchange. After 72 h, the daily peritoneal Kt/V, the accuracy of the injection rate, accuracy of the injection temperature, safety, and manipulability of the machine were assessed. Noninferiority test was conducted between the two groups. Results: The daily peritoneal Kt/V in the APD machine made in China and the imported APD machine were 0.17 (0.14, 0.25) and 0.16 (0.13, 0.23), respectively. There was no significant difference between the groups (Z = 0.15, P = 0.703). The lower limit of the daily Kt/V difference between the two groups was 0.0069, which was greater than the noninferiority value of -0.07 in this study. The accuracy of the injection rate and injection temperature was 89.7% and 91.5%, respectively, in the domestic APD machine, which were both slightly better than the accuracy rates of 84.0% and 86.8% in the imported APD machine (89.7% vs. 84.0%, P = 0.2466; 91.5% vs. 86.8%, P = 0.0954). Therefore, the APD machine made in China was not inferior to the imported APD machine. The fuselage of the imported APD machine was space-saving, while the APD machine made in China was superior with respect to body mobility, man-machine dialog operation, alarm control, and patient information recognition. Conclusions: The FM machine made in China was not inferior to the imported APD machine. In addition, the FM machine made in China had better operability. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02525497; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=NCT02525497&cntry=& state=&city=&dist=.
Adult ; China ; Cross-Over Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multicenter Studies as Topic ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; adverse effects ; instrumentation ; methods ; Quality of Life ; Temperature