The purpose of this study was to explore the effect and mechanism of Xihuang Pills on rats with precancerous lesions of the breast. Of 48 healthy female rats, 8 were randomly selected as blank group, and the other 40 were treated with 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene(DMBA) combined with estrogen and progestin to establish a model of precancerous lesions of the breast. The successfully modeled rats were randomly divided into a model group, a tamoxifen group(1.8 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), a Xihuang Pills low-dose group(0.3 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), a medium-dose group(0.6 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) and a high-dose group(1.2 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)). After 30 days of admi-nistration, the histopathological changes of viscera and breast were observed by haematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining, and the visceral index was calculated. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the contents of estradiol(E_2) and progesterone(P) in serum. The protein expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2(FGF2) were detected by immunohistochemistry. The protein expressions of VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2(VEGFR2), phosphorylated-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2(p-VEGFR2), B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2), and Bcl-2 associated X protein(Bax) were detected by Western blot and the mRNA expressions of VEGF, FGF2, CXC-chemokine receptor 4(CXCR4), cysteine aspartic acid-specific protease(caspase-3), and stromal cell-derived factor 1(SDF-1) were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). HE staining revealed that the model group had some liver and kidney damages and severe hyperplastic mammary tissue, while the Xihuang Pills high-dose group had mild hyperplasia. Compared with the model group, the Xihuang Pills groups had lo-wer ovarian coefficient(P<0.05 or P<0.01) and Xihuang Pills high-dose group had lower uterine coefficient(P<0.01). ELISA results showed that compared with the model group, expressions of E_2 and P in Xihuang Pills high-dose group were significantly decreased(P<0.05 or P<0.01). Immunohistochemistry, Western blot and RT-PCR indicated that compared with the conditions in the model group, the protein and mRNA expressions of VEGF and FGF2 in the Xihuang Pills groups were down-regulated(P<0.05 or P<0.01), and the protein expression of Bcl-2 was lowered(P<0.01); there was a decrease in the protein expressions of VEGFR2 and p-VEGFR2(P<0.01), a down-regulation in the mRNA expressions of CXCR4 and SDF-1(P<0.01), while an increase in the mRNA expression of caspase-3(P<0.01) in both Xihuang Pills medium-dose and high-dose groups; the protein expression of Bax in Xihuang Pills high-dose group was increased(P<0.01). The above results indicated that Xihuang Pills can effectively intervene in precance-rous lesions of the breast, and the mechanism may be related to the regulation of E_2 and P secretion as well as the inhibition of angiogenesis and chemokine receptor expression, thus controlling the occurrence of precancerous lesions of the breast in rats.
Rats ; Female ; Animals ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A/metabolism* ; Caspase 3 ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; 9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene/toxicity* ; Precancerous Conditions ; Hyperplasia ; Receptors, Chemokine ; RNA, Messenger

Objective: This cross-sectional investigation aimed to determine the incidence, clinical characteristics, prognosis, and related risk factors of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions related to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain in mainland China. Methods: Data of patients with SARS-CoV-2 from December 28, 2022, to February 21, 2023, were collected through online and offline questionnaires from 45 tertiary hospitals and one center for disease control and prevention in mainland China. The questionnaire included demographic information, previous health history, smoking and alcohol drinking, SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, olfactory and gustatory function before and after infection, other symptoms after infection, as well as the duration and improvement of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction. The self-reported olfactory and gustatory functions of patients were evaluated using the Olfactory VAS scale and Gustatory VAS scale. Results: A total of 35 566 valid questionnaires were obtained, revealing a high incidence of olfactory and taste dysfunctions related to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain (67.75%). Females(χ2=367.013, P<0.001) and young people(χ2=120.210, P<0.001) were more likely to develop these dysfunctions. Gender(OR=1.564, 95%CI: 1.487-1.645), SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status (OR=1.334, 95%CI: 1.164-1.530), oral health status (OR=0.881, 95%CI: 0.839-0.926), smoking history (OR=1.152, 95%CI=1.080-1.229), and drinking history (OR=0.854, 95%CI: 0.785-0.928) were correlated with the occurrence of olfactory and taste dysfunctions related to SARS-CoV-2(above P<0.001). 44.62% (4 391/9 840) of the patients who had not recovered their sense of smell and taste also suffered from nasal congestion, runny nose, and 32.62% (3 210/9 840) suffered from dry mouth and sore throat. The improvement of olfactory and taste functions was correlated with the persistence of accompanying symptoms(χ2=10.873, P=0.001). The average score of olfactory and taste VAS scale was 8.41 and 8.51 respectively before SARS-CoV-2 infection, but decreased to3.69 and 4.29 respectively after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and recovered to 5.83and 6.55 respectively at the time of the survey. The median duration of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions was 15 days and 12 days, respectively, with 0.5% (121/24 096) of patients experiencing these dysfunctions for more than 28 days. The overall self-reported improvement rate of smell and taste dysfunctions was 59.16% (14 256/24 096). Gender(OR=0.893, 95%CI: 0.839-0.951), SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status (OR=1.334, 95%CI: 1.164-1.530), history of head and facial trauma(OR=1.180, 95%CI: 1.036-1.344, P=0.013), nose (OR=1.104, 95%CI: 1.042-1.171, P=0.001) and oral (OR=1.162, 95%CI: 1.096-1.233) health status, smoking history(OR=0.765, 95%CI: 0.709-0.825), and the persistence of accompanying symptoms (OR=0.359, 95%CI: 0.332-0.388) were correlated with the recovery of olfactory and taste dysfunctions related to SARS-CoV-2 (above P<0.001 except for the indicated values). Conclusion: The incidence of olfactory and taste dysfunctions related to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain is high in mainland China, with females and young people more likely to develop these dysfunctions. Active and effective intervention measures may be required for cases that persist for a long time. The recovery of olfactory and taste functions is influenced by several factors, including gender, SARS-CoV-2 vaccination status, history of head and facial trauma, nasal and oral health status, smoking history, and persistence of accompanying symptoms.
Female ; Humans ; Adolescent ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Smell ; COVID-19/complications* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; Incidence ; Olfaction Disorders/etiology* ; Taste Disorders/etiology* ; Prognosis

Humans ; Consensus ; Hypersensitivity ; Desensitization, Immunologic/adverse effects* ; Immunotherapy/adverse effects* ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Allergens

The UPLC-MS/MS was established for the determination of acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid(AKBA) and β-boswellic acid(β-BA), the main active components of Olibanum and Myrrha extracts in Xihuang Formula, in rat plasma and urine. The effects of compatibility on the pharmacokinetic behaviors of AKBA and β-BA in rats were investigated, and the differences in pharmacokinetic behaviors between healthy rats and rats with precancerous lesions of breast cancer were compared. The results showed that compared with RM-NH and RM-SH groups, the AUC_(0-t) and AUC_(0-∞) of β-BA increased(P<0.05 or P<0.01), T_(max) decreased(P<0.05 or P<0.01), and C_(max) increased(P<0.01) after compatibility. The trends of AKBA and β-BA were the same. Compared with RM-SH group, the T_(max) decreased(P<0.05), C_(max) increased(P<0.01), and the absorption rate increased in the normal group of Xihuang Formula. The results of urinary excretion showed that there was a decreasing trend in the urinary excretion rate and total urinary excretion of β-BA and AKBA after compatibility, but there was no statistical difference. Compared with normal group of Xihuang Formula, the AUC_(0-t) and AUC_(0-∞) of β-BA increased(P<0.05), T_(max) increased(P<0.05), and the clearance rate decreased in the breast precancerous lesion group. AUC_(0-t) and AUC_(0-∞) of AKBA showed an increasing trend, the in vivo retention time was prolonged, and the clearance rate was reduced, but there was no significant difference compared with the normal group. The cumulative urinary excretion and urinary excretion rate of β-BA and AKBA decreased under pathological conditions, indicating that pathological conditions could affect the in vivo process of β-BA and AKBA, and reduce their excretion in the form of prototype drugs, showing different pharmacokine-tic characteristics from normal physiological conditions. In this study, UPLC-MS/MS analysis method was established, which was sui-table for in vivo pharmacokinetic analysis of β-BA and AKBA. This study laid a foundation for the development of new dosage forms of Xihuang Formula.
Rats ; Animals ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Precancerous Conditions ; Triterpenes/pharmacology*

Objective: To explore the prognostic factors of extracellular NK/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL) treated with pegaspargase/L-asparaginase. Methods: The clinical data of 656 ENKTL patients diagnosed at 11 medical centers in the Huaihai Lymphoma Working Group from March 2014 to April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: a training set (460 cases) and a validation set (196 cases) at 7∶3, and the prognostic factors of the patients were analyzed. A prognostic scoring system was established, and the predictive performance of different models was compared. Results: Patients' median age was 46 (34, 57) years, with 456 males (69.5% ) and 561 nasal involvement (85.5% ). 203 patients (30.9% ) received a chemotherapy regimen based on L-asparaginase combined with anthracyclines, and the 5-year overall survival rate of patients treated with P-GEMOX regimen (pegaspargase+gemcitabine+oxaliplatin) was better than those treated with SMILE regimen (methotrexate+dexamethasone+cyclophosphamide+L-asparaginase+etoposide) (85.9% vs 63.8% ; P=0.004). The results of multivariate analysis showed that gender, CA stage, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) score, HGB, and EB virus DNA were independent influencing factors for the prognosis of ENKTL patients (P<0.05). In this study, the predictive performance of the prognostic factors is superior to the international prognostic index, Korean prognostic index, and prognostic index of natural killer lymphoma. Conclusion: Gender, CA stage, ECOG PS score, HGB, and EB virus DNA are prognostic factors for ENKTL patients treated with pegaspargase/L-asparaginase.
Male ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Asparaginase/therapeutic use* ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell/drug therapy* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Etoposide ; Cyclophosphamide ; Methotrexate/therapeutic use* ; DNA/therapeutic use* ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To investigate hypertriglyceridemia and hepatomegaly caused by Schisandrae Sphenantherae Fructus (FSS) and Schisandra chinensis Fructus (FSC) oils in mice. Methods: Mice were orally administered a single dose of Schisandrae Fructus oils. Serum and hepatic triglyceride (TG), triglyceride transfer protein (TTP), apolipoprotein B48 (Apo B48), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), alanine aminotransfease (ALT) and liver index were measured at 6-120 h post-dosing. Results: FSS and FSC oil caused time and dose-dependent increases in serum and hepatic TG levels, with maximum increases in the liver (by 297% and 340%) at 12 h post-dosing and serum (244% and 439%) at 24-h post-dosing, respectively. Schisandrae Fructus oil treatments also elevated the levels of serum TTP by 51% and 63%, Apo B48 by 152% and 425%, and VLDL by 67% and 38% in mice, respectively. FSS and FSC oil treatments also increased liver mass by 53% and 55% and HGF by 106% and 174%, but lowered serum ALT activity by 38% and 22%, respectively. Fenofibrate pre/ co-treatment attenuated the FSS and FSC oil-induced elevation in serum TG levels by 41% and 49% at 48 h post-dosing, respectively, but increased hepatic TG contents (by 38% and 33%, respectively) at 12 h post-dosing. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence to support the establishment of a novel mouse model of hypertriglyceridemia by oral administration of FSS oil (mainly increasing endogenous TG) and FSC oil (mainly elevating exogenous TG).

OBJECTIVES: To reduce the dimension of characteristic information extracted from pelvic CT images by using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) methods. To establish a support vector machine (SVM) classification and identification model to identify if there is pelvic injury by the reduced dimension data and evaluate the feasibility of its application. METHODS: Eighty percent of 146 normal and injured pelvic CT images were randomly selected as training set for model fitting, and the remaining 20% was used as testing set to verify the accuracy of the test, respectively. Through CT image input, preprocessing, feature extraction, feature information dimension reduction, feature selection, parameter selection, model establishment and model comparison, a discriminative model of pelvic injury was established. RESULTS: The PLS dimension reduction method was better than the PCA method and the SVM model was better than the naive Bayesian classifier (NBC) model. The accuracy of the modeling set, leave-one-out cross validation and testing set of the SVM classification model based on 12 PLS factors was 100%, 100% and 93.33%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In the evaluation of pelvic injury, the pelvic injury data mining model based on CT images reaches high accuracy, which lays a foundation for automatic and rapid identification of pelvic injuries.
Algorithms ; Bayes Theorem ; Data Mining ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Support Vector Machine

Objective: To compare the treatment effect of distraction osteogenesis (DO) and maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) for severe obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients and to guide clinical decisions about treatment of OSAHS. Methods: Thirty-seven OSAHS patients which accepted maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) or distraction osteogenesis (DO) in Stomatological Hospital of the Department of Maxillofacial Trauma and Orthognathic Surgery, School of Stomatology, The Forth Military Medical University from June 2017 to June 2019 were collected. Their preoperative and postoperative data of cephalometry, polysomnography (PSG), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) scores were collected and analyzed. With propensity score matching method, the treatment effect of MMA and DO was analyzed and compared. Results: According to the statistics of MMA group, only AHI was correlated with operative successful rate and cure rate. With the increase of AHI, the treatment effect of MMA on OSAHS patients gradually decreased. The cut-off point of AHI as a predictor of MMA treatment failure was 78.2 n/h. All the matched cases were severe OSAHS patients. Statistical analysis showed that the mandibular elongation of DO patients[(24.00±4.39) mm] was significantly more than that of MMA group [(11.20±1.37) mm] (t=-6.11, P<0.001), the improvement of PSG index [including lowest oxygen saturation (LSpO₂), longest apnea (LA) and longest hypopnea (LH)] in DO group [LSpO₂=(93.40±1.82)%; LA=(18.28±8.32) s; LH=(61.84±32.94) s] was significantly higher than that in the MMA group [LSpO₂=(86.00±4.06)%, LA=(64.08±21.78) s, LH=(172.40±30.70) s](t=-3.72, P=0.005; t=4.39, P=0.003; t=5.49, P=0.004). The PSQI and the ESS scores of DO group (PSQI=4.20±0.83; ESS=3.40±1.52) were also significantly better than that of MMA group (PSQI=8.80±2.39, ESS=9.40±2.88)(t=4.07, P=0.001; t=4.12, P=0.002). Conclusions: For severe OSAHS patients, the objective and subjective indicators of DO treatment group showed a better therapeutic effect than that of MMA.
Humans ; Mandibular Advancement ; Osteogenesis, Distraction ; Retrospective Studies ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/surgery* ; Treatment Outcome

Many Chinese medicinal materials, vegetable oils and extracts, and even Chinese patent medicines are spicy, which influences the medication compliance of patients, especially children. Different from the sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami tastes, it is a painful sensation formed when the spicy substances stimulate the nerve endings. At the moment, there are a few studies on the spicy components and mechanism and masking technology for the spicy flavor of Chinese medicine in the pharmaceutical industry, and the findings in food science are usually taken as a reference, which fail to guide the masking of the spicy flavor in Chinese medicine preparations. According to literature research, the exterior-releasing medicine, dampness-resolving medicine, and interior-warming medicine are spicy, especially some vegetable oils and extracts. Taking Zingiberis Rhizoma and prescriptions containing this medicinal as an example, the spicy components in Chinese medicine and the structure-activity characteristics were analyzed to reveal the mechanism for the spicy flavor: spicy components activate the transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily member 1(TRPV1). The advantages and disadvantages of separation, neutralization with sugar, and inclusion for the masking of the spicy flavor were summarized and the applicability in Chinese medicine was analyzed. Moreover, the future development direction was put forward. This study is expected to promote the development of spicy masking technology for Chinese medicine prescriptions for children.
Child ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Spices ; Technology ; Plant Oils ; Plant Extracts

Aged ; Anticoagulants/therapeutic use* ; Atrial Fibrillation/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Risk Factors ; Stroke/prevention & control* ; Warfarin