Research advances in hepatic fibrosis related signal pathways and anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs / 临床肝胆病杂志

Hepatic fibrosis is a pathological process in which the liver is subjected to various acute and chronic injuries for a long time, resulting in activation of hepatic stellate cells, the imbalance between the production and degradation of extracellular matrix, and the deposition of extracellular matrix in the liver, and it is jointly controlled by multiple cellular signal transduction pathways and a series of cellular information molecular networks. If there is no effective treatment, with the progression of the disease, liver fibrous nodules will form, destroy normal liver structure and function, and finally develop into liver cirrhosis, the decline of liver function, and even liver cancer. This article summarizes the research advances in the signaling pathways, receptors, and non-coding RNAs involved in liver fibrosis and the corresponding anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs/molecules.

The analysis of the efficacy of patients with allergic rhinitis treated with specific immunotherapy / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the efficacy and safety of standardized subcutaneous immunotherapy for dust mite in patients with allergic rhinitis.@*METHOD@#Using self-control methods, 35 cases with allergic rhinitis were treated with specific immunotherapy for 2 years. Symptom score and visual analogue scale (VAS) score were observed before treatment and 1 years, 2 years after treatment respectively.@*RESULT@#The symptoms, signs and VAS score of the 35 patients who were treated with specific immunotherapy after 1 year were significantly reduced than that before treatment, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The symptoms, signs and VAS score of the patients who completed 2 years' treatment, compared with that of pretreatment and 1 year treatment were significantly reduced, the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Standardized immunotherapy for dust mite is a safe, effective method for patients with perennial allergic rhinitis, which can be used as a routine treatment for allergic rhinitis. To further improve the therapeutic effect, immunotherapy should be continued for at least 2 years.

Effects of multiple-trough sampling design and algorithm on the estimation of population and individual pharmacokinetic parameters / 药学学报

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of multiple-trough sampling design and nonlinear mixed effect modeling (NONMEM) algorithm on the estimation of population and individual pharmacokinetic parameters. Oxcarbazepine and tacrolimus were used as one-compartment and two-compartment model drugs, respectively. Seven sampling designs were investigated using various number of trough concentrations per individual ranging from 1-4. Monte Carlo simulations were performed to produce state-steady trough concentrations. One-compartment model was used to fit simulated data from oxcarbazepine and tacrolimus. The accuracy and precision of the estimated parameters were evaluated using the median prediction error (PE), the median absolute PE and boxplot. The results indicated that trough concentrations could yield reliable estimates of apparent clearance (CL/F). For oxcarbazepine, as the number of trough concentrations per subject increased, the accuracy and precision of CL/F, between-subject variability (BSV) of CL/F and residual variability (RUV) tended to be improved. For tacrolimus, however, although no improvement were observed in the accuracy of CL/F and BSV of CL/F, the PE distribution ranges were significantly narrowed and the RUV estimates were less bias and imprecise. In terms of algorithm, Monte Carlo importance sampling (IMP) and IMP assisted by mode a posteriori estimation (IMPMAP) were consistently better than other methods. Additionally, the sampling design had no significant effects on the individual parameter estimates, which were only depended on the interaction between BSV and RUV in various algorithms. Decreased in BSV and RUV levels can improve the accuracy and precision of the estimation for both population and individual pharmacokinetic parameter estimates.

Analyzing of the inhaled allergens profiles of 890 allergic rhinitis patients / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the inhaled allergens spectrum of 890 allergic rhinitis patients in Shanghai, and to provide basic epidemiologic information for the prevention and treatment of allergic rhinitis.@*METHOD@#Thirteen allergens skin prick test results of 890 allergic rhinitis patients recruited were retrospectively analyzed.@*RESULT@#The main common inhaled allergens in allergic rhinitis patients in Shanghai were house dust mite (91.24%), dermatophagoides farinae (86.58%), tropical mite (51.98%), dog hair (15.96%). Moreover, the positive frequency was decreased with age increasing, and gender group had no obvious difference.@*CONCLUSION@#House dust mite and dermatophagoides farinae were the main allergens of allergic rhinitis patients in Shanghai. Skin prick test is helpful for the discovery of the allergens so as to provide important basis of immunotherapy.

Estimation of individual pharmacokinetic parameters using maximum a posteriori Bayesian method with D-optimal sampling strategy / 药学学报

This study was aimed to develop a maximum a posteriori Bayesian (MAPB) estimation method to estimate individual pharmacokinetic parameters based on D-optimal sampling strategy. Meanwhile, the performance of MAPB was compared with the multiple linear regression (MLR) method in terms of accuracy and precision. Pharmacokinetic study of pioglitazone was employed as the example case. The population pharmacokinetics was characterized by nonlinear mixed effects model (NONMEM). The sparse sampling strategy (1-4 points) was identified by D-optimal algorithm using WinPOPT software. The simulated data generated by Monte Carlo method were used to access the performance of MAPB and MLR. As the number of samples per subject decreased, the accuracy and precision of MAPB method tended to get worse. The estimation for CL and Vby MAPB using D-optimal two-point design had less bias with low inter-individual variability, and had more bias and imprecision with high residue variability. The estimation of AUC by MAPB using D-optimal 2 points design had similar accuracy and precision to MLR. However, MAPB estimation was better than MLR while adjusting the sampling time to one hour. Overall, the MAPB method had similar predictive performance as MLR, but MAPB could provide more pharmacokinetic information with higher sampling flexibility.