Xueshuantong improves cerebral microcirculation disorder: action mechanism based on network pharmacology and experimental validation / 药学学报

This study is to explore the mechanism of Xueshuantong improving cerebral microcirculation disorder through the combination of network pharmacology and experimental validation in vivo. Structural formulas of main Panax notoginseng saponins, including notoginsenoside R1, and ginsenoside Rg1, Re, Rb1 and Rd were obtained from Pubchem website and their potential targets were predicted by Swiss Target Prediction database. Potential molecular targets of brain microcirculation disorder were acquired from OMIM and GeneCards database. The overlapped molecular targets between the drug and disease were analyzed. Protein interaction analysis and topology maps were constructed through the STRING online analysis platform and Cytoscape software. Core action targets were selected. GO function and KEGG pathway were analyzed by DAVID database. Immunohistochemical method was used to examine the expression of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (CD31) in the ischemic cortex of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO/R) rats. The levels of mRNA and protein expressions of core action targets in MCAO/R model rats′ brain microvessels were verified by RT-qPCR and Western blot. Based on network pharmacology, 242 targets of Xueshuantong, 425 targets of brain microcirculation disorder, and 35 overlapped targets were obtained. The potential key targets of Xueshuantong, protein kinase B (AKT1), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), caspase 3 (CASP3), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha (PIK3CA), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) involved in the alleviation of cerebral microcirculation disorder were obtained by setting degree and betweenness centrality as screening parameters. Xueshuantong at the dose of 48 mg·kg-1 was shown to significantly improve the injury of neurological behaviors, as well as the density and morphology of microvessels of MCAO/R model rats. Xueshuantong could down-regulate the mRNA levels of AKT1, MMP-9, and STAT3, increase the protein expression levels of CD31, phosphorylated AKT and phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K), and the ratio of B-cell lymphoma 2/Bcl-2-associated X (Bcl-2/Bax), but decrease the protein expression levels of MMP-9, cleaved caspase-3 and phosphorylated STAT3. In summary, Xueshuantong could improve ischemic cerebral microcirculation disorder and thereby reduce nerve damage in ischemia-reperfusion rats by regulating signaling pathways related with PI3K, AKT, MMP-9, STAT3 and caspase-3 in microvessels. The study strictly adhered to all ethical protocols that experimental animals should follow in the course of medical research.

MHC-DRB1 exon 2 polymorphism and its association with mycoplasma ovipneumonia resistance or susceptibility genotypes in sheep

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphisms are associated with animal and human diseases. However, only a few studies have reported an association between MHC polymorphisms and mycoplasma ovipneumonia (MO). In the present study, three resistance/susceptibility genotypes associated with MO were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism genotyping, assessing the clinical and pathological features, and examining the immune factors. The current results showed that MvaI bb and HaeIII ee were dominant genotypes in the susceptible Hu population, while MO-resistant populations, Dorper and D 9 H hybrids, were dominated by the MvaI cc and HaeIII dd genotypes, suggesting that MvaI cc and HaeIII dd genotypes might be associated with the trait of MO resistance. Further, the clinical symptoms and pathological morphology in the susceptibility group infected with MO were more severe than those in the resistant groups infected similarly. The data on the changes in the immune factor responses were utilized to deduce the molecular mechanism underlying the MO resistance/susceptibility. The results showed that the susceptible genotypes promote the inflammatory responses by inducing a high expression of TNFa, IFNc, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-1b, while the resistant genotypes inhibit the inflammatory response by increasing the expression of IL-2 and IL-10 significantly. This finding would provide the theoretical guidance for propagating sheep breeds that are highly resistant to MO.

Characteristics of sleep among Chinese preschool children born preterm / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To examine sleep characteristics of preschool children who were born preterm, which could provide a reference for the future intervention in the risk population.@*Methods@#This retrospective cohort study was conducted from March 2017 to November 2018 in hospitals in cities of Guangzhou, Zhongshan, and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, we recruited 202 preschool children aged 4-6 years, including 40 early-and moderate preterm (gestational age <34 weeks), 56 late preterm (34-36 weeks) , and 106 full-term preschool children (≥37 weeks). Caregivers reported children’s sleep time and habits using Chinese version of Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ).@*Results@#Compared to the full-term group, the very-or-moderate-preterm group had shorter nighttime sleep duration (9.07±0.75 vs 9.33±0.59 h; adjusted β=-0.33), shorter total sleep duration (10.39±0.86 vs 11.05±1.32 h; adjusted β=-0.70), higher sleep duration score of CSHQ (4.60 ± 1.57 vs 3.97 ± 1.25 points; adjusted β=0.58), and higher sleepdisordered breathing score of CHSQ (3.78±1.27 vs 3.41±0.71 points; adjusted β=0.49). The late preterm group had lower parasomnias score of CSHQ (8.40±1.65 vs 8.75±1.72 points; adjusted β=-0.57), than the full-term group(P<0.05). When gestational age was analyzed as a continuous variable, it was positively associated with the total sleep duration (adjusted β= 0.06), while was inversely associated with sleep-disordered breathing scores of CSHQ (adjusted β=-0.06).@*Conclusion@#Very-or-moderate preterm children have shorter sleep duration and more sleep disordered breathing problems than full-term children, and have more disorders of sleeping duration and sleeping breathing than full-term children, while the late preterm children have less sleeping disorders than full-term children. The children of lower gestational age can have shorter sleep duration and more sleep-disordered breathing which should be addressed in future intervention.

Short-term efficacy and safety of low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy in erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Aim: The role of low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LI-ESWT) in erectile dysfunction (ED) is not clearly determined. The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term efficacy and safety of LI-ESWT for ED patients. Materials and Methods: Relevant studies were searched in Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WANFANG and VIP databases. Effective rate in terms of International Index of Erectile Function-Erectile Function Domain (IIEF-EF) and Erectile Hardness Score (EHS) at about 1XSmonth after LI-ESWT was extracted from eligible studies for meta-analysis to calculate risk ratio (RR) of effective treatment in ED patients treated by LI-ESWT compared to those receiving sham-treatment. Results: Overall fifteen studies were included in the review, of which four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were for meta-analysis. Effective treatment was 8.31 [95°/o confidence interval (CI): 3.88-17.78] times more effective in the LI-ESWT group (n=176) than in the sham-treatment group (n= 101) at about 1 month after the intervention in terms of EHS, while it was 2.50 (95% CI: 0.74-8.45) times more in the treatment group (n= 121) than in the control group (n=89) in terms of IIEF-EF. Nine-week protocol with energy density of 0.09mJ/mm2 and 1500 pluses seemed to have better therapeutic effect than five-week protocol. No significant adverse event was reported. Conclusion: LI-ESWT, as a noninvasive treatment, has potential short-term therapeutic effect on patients with organic ED irrespective of sensitivity to PDE5is. Owing to the limited number and quality of the studies, more large-scale, well-designed and longterm follow-up time studies are needed to confirm our analysis.

Effect of data management quality on clinical research evidence evaluation / 中国中西医结合杂志

Current clinical evaluation of literature quality has various ways. Most of them lay special emphasis on the evaluation of the design quality, but the evaluation of the implementation process quality is not perfect. Especially data management is not fully emphasized during the enforcement of clinical trials. Data from clinical research were bases for evaluating clinical findings. Although strict specifications and requirements for data management might be strictly written clearly in research protocols, they were not embodied in current clinical research evidence evaluation system. Data management is an important part of implementing the whole clinical trial process, which is a comprehensive reflection of data collecting, logging, sorting, and managing. Its objective is to obtain high quality research data for statistical analysis, thereby coming to a true and reliable conclusion. In order to overall evaluating clinical design and implement, we suggest that present quality evaluation indicators of clinical trails should be completed, and add data management quality evaluation during the whole implement process. Data management plans, standards and requirements for data checking, and management regulations for disobeying data and exception data should be added in quality evaluation indicators for clinical research evidence. The effect of data management quality on clinical research evidence evaluation should be emphasized.

Functional Expression of Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels Navl.5 in Human Breast Caner Cell Line MDA-MB-231 / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are known to be involved in the initiation and progression of many malignancies,and the different subtypes of VGSCs play important roles in the metastasis cascade of many tumors.This study investigated the functional expression of Nav 1.5 and its effect on invasion behavior of human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231.The mRNA and pro-tein expression of Navl.5 was detected by real time PCR,Western Blot and immunofluorescence.The effects of Navl.5 on cell proliferation,migration and invasion were respectively assessed by MTT and Transwell.The effects of Nav1.5 on the secretion of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) by MDA-MB-231 were analyzed by RT-PCR.The over-expressed Navl.5 was present on the membrane of MDA-MB-231 cells.The invasion ability in vitro and the MMP-9 mRNA expression were respec-tively decreased to (47.82±0.53)% and (43.97±0.64)% (P<0.05) respectively in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with VGSCs specific inhibitor tetrodotoxin (TTX) by blocking Navl.5 activity.It was con-eluded that Nav1.5 functional expression potentiated the invasive behavior of human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 by increasing the secretion of MMP-9.