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Abstract Objective Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a disease associated with impaired quality of life and heredity. This study aimed to investigate the association of allergic rhinitis in preschool children with exposure to indoor environment-related factors early in life. Methods In August 2019, the authors implemented a study among 2020 preschool children in Urumqi City using a case-control design. The study included parental reports for the occurrence of AR in children, parental history of respiratory disease, and indoor environmental correlates of maternal exposure from 1 year prior to pregnancy until the child's age of 0-1 year. Results Mode of birth (cesarean section) (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.02∼1.67), father with AR (OR = 2.67, 95% CI = 2.08∼3.44), mother with AR (OR = 3.70, 95% CI = 2.88∼4.74), mother with asthma (OR = 3.11, 95% CI = 1.18∼8.20), and mother with newly purchased furniture in the parents' residence during pregnancy (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.03∼2.14) were risk factors for AR in children. Conclusions The focus of allergic rhinitis should be on children with a family history of AR and asthma and cesarean delivery. Primary prevention efforts for AR in preschool children are avoiding exposure of children to indoor environmental hazardous factors early in life.
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The combination of Shuanghuanglian injection (SHLI) and ciprofloxacin injection (CIPI) is frequently prescribed in clinical practice, but the basis for the combination is weak. In this study, isothermal titration calorimetry and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrometry were applied to identify the molecular interactions of SHLI and its main components, chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid with CIPI. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and cold-spray ionization mass spectrometry were performed to confirm that this molecular interaction was related to the formation of self-assembled supramolecular systems induced by chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid with CIPI through weak intermolecular bonds. The antibacterial activity toward Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) was evaluated via molecular interactions, and the inhibitory ability of SHLI, chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid against P. aeruginosa was significantly reduced after interaction with CIPI. A molecular docking study demonstrated that the reduced antibacterial ability was closely related to the competitive binding of drug molecules to the same binding site of the DNA gyrase B (GyrB) subunit of P. aeruginosa. The present study uncovered the intermolecular interactions of SHLI and its main components chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid with CIPI from the perspective of molecular self-assembly and contribute to the reduction of its antibacterial ability, providing a basis for the clinical combination of SHLI and CIPI.
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The joint application of traditional Chinese medicine injection containing chlorogenic acid (CA) and cefotaxime sodium (CS) is sometimes appeared in clinical practice, but the scientific basis of drug molecular compatibility is still weak. This study proposes a sequential analysis strategy based on isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), cold-spray ionization mass spectrometry (CSI-MS) and antibacterial activity test to evaluate the molecular interactions between CA and CS. The results of ITC experiments showed that the Gibbs free energy ΔG < 0 and it was driven by enthalpy change when CA titrated CS, suggesting CA could spontaneously chemically react with CS. Subsequently, the parent ions (m/z 808.143 5) of binding molecular of CA and CS was detected by CSI-MS, indicating CA could chemically bond with CS. Furtherly, the antibacterial experiments found the antibacterial ability of CS against Klebsiella pneumonia was significantly reduced (P < 0.01) by CA in mixed solution. Finally, molecular docking technology showed CA and CS have a common target of penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3), suggesting that the phenomenon of CA reduced the antibacterial ability of CS may be related to the competitive binding of two components with PBP3. Our studies have shown that CA could spontaneously chemically bond to CS and reduced its antibacterial ability, providing scientific data for molecular interaction evaluation of CA and CS.
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The quality evaluation of compound Chinese medicines is an important but challenging issue in this research field, which has been paid much controversial due to the constrained association with clinical efficacy. Developing a methodology for quality evaluation of compound Chinese medicines related to clinical efficacy is an important measure in research on Chinese material medica quality to ensure clinical effectiveness and safety. Therefore, based on the research concept that "originating from clinic-testing in experiment-returning to clinic", and taking Xiaoke prescription as an example, the characteristic information of metabolome, proteome and microbiome are discussed from the clinical aspect, and the integrated markers associated with clinical efficacy constructed with artificial intelligence technology. Taking the integrated markers as the link and indication are connecting the clinical and basic, the main pharmacodynamic substances and key targets of Xiaoke prescription that are related to clinical efficacy are explained. Clinical samples are used for validation. Based on the main pharmacodynamic substances and key targets, methods and key technologies for chemical and biological evaluation of the quality of Xiaoke prescription are established, providing a methodology for quality evaluation of compound Chinese medicines, including clinical efficacy response indicators (related to clinic), main pharmacodynamic substances (chemical evaluation), and key targets (biological evaluation), to provide new ideas and methods for improving the quality evaluation of compound Chinese medicines.
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The present study investigated the therapeutic efficacy and potential mechanism of Jinqi Jiangtang Tablets(JQJT) on pancreatic β cell dysfunction based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. TCMSP platform was used to retrieve the chemical components and targets of the three Chinese herbal medicines of JQJT. The genes were converted to gene symbol by the UniProt, and its intersection with targets related to pancreatic β cell function in GeneCards and CTD databases was obtained. The drugs, active components and common targets were imported into Cytoscape 3.8.2 to plot the drug-component-target network. The main effective components and targets were obtained by software analysis. The drug targets and targets related to pancreatic β cell function were imported separately into the STRING platform for the construction of protein-protein interaction(PPI) networks. The two PPI networks were merged by Cytoscape 3.8.2 and the key targets were obtained by plug-in CytoNCA. The targets obtained from drug-component-target network and PPI networks were imported into DAVID for GO analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis. AutoDock was used to carry out molecular docking of main active components and core targets and Pymol was used to plot the molecular docking diagram. The results showed that there were 371 active components and 203 targets related to JQJT and 2 523 targets related to pancreatic β cell damage, covering 136 common targets. The results revealed core targets(such as PTGS2, PTGS1, NOS2, ESR1 and RXRA) and effective key components(such as quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, β-carotene and β-sitosterol). KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that apoptosis, inflammation, and other signaling pathways were mainly involved. Molecular docking results showed that the main active components could spontaneously bind to the targets. This study preliminarily revealed the mechanism of JQJT in improving pancreatic β cell damage through multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway, and provided a theoretical basis for JQJT in the treatment of pancreatic β cell dysfunction.
Subject(s)
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , Insulin-Secreting Cells , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Molecular Docking Simulation , Tablets , TechnologyABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the current status of screen time in preschoolers during the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the influences of parent-child active play and school online education on screen time.@*Methods@#A total of 2 370 preschoolers were chosen through clustering sampling from 7 kindergartens in Wuxi urban areas. Questionnaire survey was administered to parents for child screen time, active play, online education as well as characteristics information.@*Results@#A total of 1 428(60.3%) preschoolers reported more than 1 hour screen time a day, and 1 915(80.8%) preschoolers reported more than 20 minutes consecutive screen time. Compared with the weekend before the COVID-19 outbreak, 1 551(65.4%) preschoolers reported an increase of 10 minutes in screen time perday, and 1 444(60.9%) reported an increase of 5 minutes for one sersion. Logistic regression analysis showed that after controlling for confounding factors, high frequency of parent-child active play, parents’ exercise habits, online education from kindergartens and children’s active participation in the online education were negatively associated with preschoolers’ excessive and increased screen time during this period(OR=0.39-0.79, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#During the COVID-19 outbreak, preschoolers’ media use in Wuxi city is worrisome. Parent-child active play, parents’ exercise and online education from kindergartens may play a positive role in reducing preschoolers’ media use.
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Objective To study the correlation of multi-slice CT portography (MSCTP) and digestive endoscopy in the diagnosis and evaluation of esophageal and gastric varices (EGV) caused by cirrhosis.Methods A total of 92 patients with cirrhosis were enrolled in the prospective study.All the patients were examined by endoscopy and 64-slice spiral CT scan in 4 weeks.The types,grading of EGV were observed by endoscopy and MSCTP,and Kappa conformance test was applied with the endoscopic findings as gold standard.The sensitivity,specificity,consistency,and Youden index were evaluated for the diagnosis of sophageal and gastric varices by MSCTP.Results Sixty-five patients were diagnosed to have EGV by endoscopy and 27 were negative.The positive patients included 45 patients of GOV1,19 of GOV2 and 1 patient of IGV1.MSCTP diagnosed 67 cases of EGV and 25 patients of negative results.The positive patients included 46 of GOV1,18 of GOV2 and 3 of IGV1.Two patients of IGV1 varicose veins without positive findings on endoscopy were diagnosed by using MDCTP,which revealed isolated varicose veins under the gastric mucosa.There was high consistency between MSCTP and EGV in the diagnosis of EGV (Kappa =0.732,P ＜ 0.01).The sensitivity of MSCTP was 93.8％,specificity was 77.8％,consistency was 89.1％,and Youden index 71.6％.There was high consistency between MSCTP and EGV in the classification of EGV (Kappa values were 0.743 and 0.763,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions There is high consistency between MSCTP and digestive endoscopic in the diagnosis and classification of EGV in cirrhosis.MSCTP is superior to endoscopy in the detection of gastric varices.
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γ-glutamyltranspeptidase was detected from the cultured mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis (CSGT). Km and Vmax of CSGT was 2.54×10-4 mol/L and 0.1808 mol/L·min respectively when L-glutamic acid 5-(4-nitroanilide) (GpNA) and glycyglycine was used as its substrate. CSGT was stable from pH 8.0 to 11.0 and at or below 20℃. It was optimally active at pH 9.0～10.0 and 30℃. A series of reducing reagents could activate CSGT, and metal cations such as Zn2+, Cu2+, Hg2+ , Mn2+ inhibited strongly activity of the enzyme, but K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+ at high concentrations had no effect on its activity, indicating that its active center could contain -SH.
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γ-glutamyltranspeptidase was detected from the cultured mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis (CSGT). Km and Vmax of CSGT was 2.54×10-4 mol/L and 0.1808 mol/L·min respectively when L-glutamic acid 5-(4-nitroanilide) (GpNA) and glycyglycine was used as its substrate. CSGT was stable from pH 8.0 to 11.0 and at or below 20℃. It was optimally active at pH 9.0～10.0 and 30℃. A series of reducing reagents could activate CSGT, and metal cations such as Zn2+, Cu2+, Hg2+ , Mn2+ inhibited strongly activity of the enzyme, but K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+ at high concentrations had no effect on its activity, indicating that its active center could contain -SH.