Application of integrative medicine protocols in treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 / 中草药

Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was discovered in Hubei, it has rapidly swept across the whole country and many overseas regions. At present, there are no specific drugs and vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 in modern medicine. Therefore, the therapy is mainly symptomatic for treatment. According to the instruction-spirit of “Following the development rules of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), inheriting the essence and keeping the integrity and innovation” and “attaching equal importance to TCM and Western medicine” by President Xi Jin-ping, many local hospitals has established and improved the cooperation mechanism between traditional and modern medicine. And many protocols on the prevention & treatment have been published. By retrieving these protocols, opinions of academicians and scholars, and clinical therapies reported by medical research institutions, we summarized the main prevention and cure methods of COVID-19, and found that the clinical application of integrative medicine protocols have obvious advantages in improving patient symptoms, shortening the course of disease, delaying the progress of disease, and reducing mortality. The integrative medicine can play an active role in COVID-19’s prevention and treatment.

Quantitative evaluation of image quality of megavoltage computed tomography for guiding helical tomotherapy / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To quantitatively analyze image quality of two sets of phantom (CatPhan504 and Cheese) Megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) images acquired by Helical Tomotherapy with three scanning modes (Fine, Normal and Coarse), and to explore and validate a semi-automatic quality assurance procedure for MVCT images of Helical Tomotherapy.@*METHODS@#On Helical Tomotherapy, CatPan504 and Cheese phantoms were scanned with three pitch levels (Fine, Normal, Coarse: 4 mm, 8 mm, 12 mm/circle) respectively. Pylinac, Matlab and Eclipse were used to calculate and compare spatial resolution, noise level and low contrast resolution of images obtained under three scanning modes respectively. The spatial resolution can be evaluated by the blurring of line-pair CT value in the images of CatPhan504's CTP528 module. The noise level can be evaluated by the integral non-uniformity in the images of Cheese's uniformity module. the low contrast resolution can be evaluated by contrast-to-noise ratio of both phantoms' plug-in module, or visibility of the region of interest (Supra-Slice) in the images of CatPhan504's CTP515 module.@*RESULTS@#Analyses on CatPhan504's line pair module(CTP528 module) showed that the first three line pairs(the gap size are 0.500 cm, 0.250 cm and 0.167 cm respectively) could be clearly observed but blurring began to occur from the fourth line pair(the gap size is 0.125 cm) under Coarse mode. Meanwhile, the first four line pairs were all observable under the Normal and Fine modes. Integral non-integrity index(the value negatively correlated with the noise level) were 0.155 7, 0.136 8 and 0.122 9 for Coarse, Normal and Fine modes respectively. None of the Supra-Slice in CatPhan504's CTP515 module could be observed under three imaging modes. Low contrast contrast-to-noise ratio of Cheese phantom was similar under three modes and the insert visibility exhibited nearly linear growth with the increasing difference between CT average value of the insert material and background.@*CONCLUSION@#Superiority and inferiority of three image modes in terms of the three image quality index was not consistent. Evaluation results above could provide reference for more rational decision on scanning modes selection of helical tomotherapy, which was based on image visualization demands in clinical practice. The proposed method could also provide guidance for similar image quality assessment and periodic quality assurance.

Effect of Blocking PYR Complex Binding to DNA Site by Peptide Nucleic Acid on γ-Globin Gene Expression / 中国实验血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of blocking polypyrimidine complex binding to DNA site by using peptide nucleic acid (PNA) on γ-globin gene expression.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>PYR-PNA, β-PNA and RS-PNA (random sequence-PNA) were designed and synthesized, then were transfected into K562 cells with the cationic liposome lipofectamine 2000 used as vector. The expression of γ-globin gene at both the transcriptional and translational level was detected by RT-PCR and the Western blot respectively at 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after transfection with PNAs.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with RS-PNA and control groups, the expression of γ-globin gene at mRNA and protein levels in PYR-PNA group was significantly up-regulated(P<0.05), especially at 48 h after tranfection, the levels of mRNA and protein in PYR-PNA group were increased by 2.0 and 2.5 times than those in control group, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PYR-PNA can significantly up-regulate the expression of γ-globin gene in K562 cells, this study may provide a new research idea for gene therapy of β-thalassemia.</p>

Time-series analysis of expression profile of adrenocortical carcinoma in children for screening related targets / 天津医药

@#Objective To explore the potential pathogenic mechanism of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACT), and screen out genes that may be related to biological targets. Methods In this study, the gene expression datasets of ACT were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) with the accession number of GSE75415. Through R programming software, the microarray preprocessing and differential expression analysis of 18 ACT tissue samples (experimental group) and 7 normal adrenocortical tissue samples (control group) were conducted to identify potential biomarkers for ACT in different stages. Besides, through functional enrichment and Kaplan-Meier analysis, several more reliable biomarkers for ACT were identified. At the same time, the two generation sequencing data of the TCGA database, including 79 ACT samples were analyzed, and the genes that can affect the survival of ACT patients were screened. Results There were 248, 334, 315 and 561 differentially expressed genes in stage1-4 respectively. There were 73 overlapping genes (OLDEGs) among the different grading samples. Central genes HSPA13, GARS, STXBP1, AKIRIN1 and TUBB3, were up-regulated in all of stages of ACT samples compared with those of normal samples, while, central genes ADH1B, DCN, RASSF2, PDGFRA, PLAT, C3 and FOS were down-regulated in ACT samples. They were found to be significantly associated with pathways of immune response, cell cycle, phosphorylation and cruor, which were all closely related with ACT progression. Besides, Kaplan-Meier analysis of 73 OLDEGs in 79 ACT samples from TCGA database identified several genes, including XPO1, RACGAP1, PDGFD, NR4A2, MXRA5, VPS51, TMED3, NDFIP1 and CDKN1C, which were significantly associated with ACT overall survival. Conclusion Differentially expressed genes and survival related genes in all of stages can serve as new targets for ACT therapy, and which should be helpful for the understanding of its pathogenesis and prognosis.

Change of NK Cell Number in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Its Clinical Significance / 中国实验血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical significance of peripheral blood NK cell number change in patients with mantle cell lymphoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eight-four patients with mantle cell lymphoma treated in our hospital from November 2003 to November 2011 were studied, the venous blood was collected from all patients and detected with flow cytometry. The age, sex, pathologic type, B-symptoms, clinical stage, absolute NK count(ANKC), hemoglobin(Hb), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) and β2-microglobulin(β2-MG) levels, bone marrow involuement(BMI) and the international prognostic index of mantle cell lymphoma(MIPI) were recorded. All patients were followed up.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no significant differences in ANKC among different age, sex, B symptom, Ann Arbor stages, Hb, LDH and β2-MG levels, BMI and MIPI of patients with MCL(P>0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of ANKC were 76.6% and 73.8%, respectively. The optimal throshold of ANKC was 0.10×10/L and AUC was 0.798(95% CI: 0.689-0.902)(P<0.01). The 3 year-PFS rate in patients with ANKC≥0.10×10/L was higher than that in patients with ANKC<0.10×10/L(68.2% vs 32.10%)(P<0.01). The 3 year-OS rate in patients with ANKC≥0.10×10/L was significantly higher than that in patients with ANKC<0.10×10/L (85.1% vs 43.8%)(P<0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that the independent predictors of PFS and OS in patients with MCL were ANKC and MIPI(P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The ANKC in peripheral blood has an important value for judging the prognosis of patients with MCL and can be used as an important index to judge the disease status of patients with MCL.</p>

Ancient clinical application of herb-participated moxibustion on umbilicus / 中国针灸

In order to further improve the curative effect of the herb-participated moxibustion on umbilicus, we collected a wide range of literature on herb-participated moxibustion on umbilicus and then systematically arranged them to analyze and summarize the technology and operating methods of herb-participated moxibustion on umbilicus. We also briefly discussed issues on application of medicine, locust tree skin and ginger, the method of kneading dough for medical uses, and the appropriate size of moxa cone and its using frequency in order to form clear concepts and standardized operations to provide theories and operational basis for the clinical application of modern herb-participated moxibustion on umbilicus.

Plasma concentration and pharmacokinetics of ursolic acid carried in self-microemulsifying drug delivery system in rats studied by UPLC-MS/MS / 药学学报

This study is to report the establishment of an UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of plasma concentration of UA carried in self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) and its pharmacokinetics in rats. It was used for determination and analysis when serum with internal standard was extracted from C18 solid-phase column. Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm x 2.1 mm, 1.7 microm) was used for separation. The mobile phase was acetonitrile -0.1% ammonia with gradient elution at the flow rate of 0.2 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was 40 degrees C and the detection wave length was 210 nm. It was detected by negative ion using electrospray ionization source (ESI) and scanned by multiple reaction ion monitoring (MRM) mode. The liner relationship of UA was very good in the range of 1.19-3 815.00 ng x mL(-1) (r = 0.999 0). Recovery rate of different concentrations were 87.42%-89.95%. The precision of inter-day and intra-day were less than 11%. The method developed in our study was proved to be sensitive, rapid and simple. It is suitable for the pharmacokinetic study of UA-SMEDDS in rats.

Simultaneous separation and detection of principal component isomer and related substances of raw material drug of ammonium glycyrrhizinate by RP-HPLC and structure confirmation / 药学学报

A simple, fast and sensitive analytical method for the simultaneous separation and detection of 18alpha-glycyrrhizinic acid, 18beta-glycyrrhizinic acid, related substance A and related substance B by RP-HPLC and drug quality standard was established. The structures of principal component isomer and related substances of raw material drug of ammonium glycyrrhizinate have been confirmed. Reference European Pharmacopoeia EP7.0 version, British Pharmacopoeia 2012 version, National Drug Standards of China (WS 1-XG-2002), domestic and international interrelated literature were referred to select the composition of mobile phase. The experimental parameters including salt concentration, pH, addition quantities of organic solvent, column temperature and flow rate were optimized. Finally, the assay was conducted on a Durashell-C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) with 0.01 mol x mL(-1) ammonium perchlorate (add ammonia to adjust the pH value to 8.2) -methanol (48 : 52) as mobile phase at the flow rate of 0.8 mL x min(-1), and the detection wavelength was set at 254 nm. The column temperature was 50 degrees C and the injection volume was 10 microL. The MS, NMR, UV and RP-HPLC were used to confirm the structures of principal component isomer and related substances of raw material drug of ammonium glycyrrhizinate. Under the optimized separation conditions, the calibration curves of 18 alpha-glycyrrhizinic acid, 18beta-glycyrrhizinic acid, related substance A and related substance B showed good linearity within the concentration of 0.50-100 microg x mL(-1) (r = 0.999 9). The detection limits for 18alpha-glycyrrhizinic acid, 18beta-glycyrrhizinic acid, related substance A and related substance B were 0.15, 0.10, 0.10, 0.15 microg x mL(-1) respectively. The method is sensitive, reproducible and the results are accurate and reliable. It can be used for chiral resolution of 18alpha-glycyrrhizinic acid, 18Pbeta-glycyrrhizinic acid, and detection content of principal component and related substances of raw material drug of ammonium glycyrrhizinate. It is concluded that the separation of principal component isomer of raw material drug of ammonium glycyrrhizinate and the validity of the substance's structure assignments of retention time being 1.2 in the European pharmacopoeia EP7.0 version, British pharmacopoeia 2012 version remains open to question. It may be of practical value for the quality control of raw material drug, preparation, and Chinese herbal medicine of ammonium glycyrrhizinate.