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The quality of traditional Chinese medicine has a direct impact on the effectiveness and safety of its use, and is the premise necessary to ensure the healthy development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. Comprehensive and accurate control and evaluation of the quality of medicinal materials is of great significance to the traditional Chinese medicine industry, but the complexity and dynamics of the chemical composition of medicinal materials makes their quality evaluation a challenge. Plant metabolomics provides an integrated and comprehensive analysis that is consistent with the holistic approach of traditional Chinese medicine. Chemical information therein promotes the establishment of a traceable system and provides new ideas and methods for the quality evaluation of medicinal materials. Plant metabolomics in the quality evaluation of medicinal materials is gradually increasing, and the core is the screening and identification of differential metabolites or specific marker compounds by means of stoichiometry. This study focused on the main factors that affect the quality of medicinal materials, such as origin, environmental adversity, varieties, harvest time, commercial specification and TCM processing. We describe the research progress in plant metabolomics combined with chemometrics analysis for the quality control and evaluation of medicinal materials, summarize existing problems, identify trends, and propose future research directions. Metabolomics plays an increasingly important role in the quality evaluation of medicinal materials, but the absolute qualitative and quantitative information of metabolomics needs to be further developed, and a single 'omics' technique is not sufficient for an in-depth analysis of medicinal value. In the future, standardization of plant metabolomics methods and a more complete database should be actively promoted, and plant metabolomics should be integrated into quality marker exploration. Plant metabolomics will need to be integrated with other 'omics' methods to improve the quality and evaluation system of medicinal materials.
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Concerns has been raised in improving the quality of adaptive design randomized trials reports. Based on the CONSORT 2010 (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials), The Adaptive designs CONSORT Extension (ACE) has developed items and reporting specifications for adaptive design trials. This paper presents a brief explanation of the extension and new items of ACE and introduces the applications of ACE checklist with examples.
Subject(s)
Humans , Checklist , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , Research Design , Research ReportABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the potential molecular mechanism of Nelumbinis Plumula alkaloids （NAPs） in the prevention and treatment of non-small cell lung cancer （NSCLC） based on network pharmacology and cell experiment. Method:The main active components of NAPs were obtained by searching Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform （TCMSP） and Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine （BATMAN-TCM）， and their main targets were predicted and analyzed by employing Swiss Target Prediction. The main target genes of NSCLC were retrieved from GeneCards， Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man （OMIM） and DrugBank databases. The resulting common targets were imported into STRING platform for constructing the protein-protein interaction （PPI） network， followed by gene ontology （GO） and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） enrichment analysis based on Database for Annotation， Visualization， and Integrated Discovery （DAVID）. The NAPs-common target -pathway network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.7.1. After NSCLC cell line A549 was treated with isoliensinine， the cell morphology was observed under an inverted fluorescence microscope. The effect of isoliensinine on A549 vitality was detected by cell counting kit-8 （CCK-8） assay and the target protein changes were verified by Western blot. Result:The main active components for NAPs against NSCLC were lysicamine， liensinine， and isoliensinine. The phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-protein kinase B （PI3K-AKT）， RAS-related protein 1 （Rap1）， epidermal growth factor family of receptor tyrosine kinases （ErbBs）， and hypoxia inducible factor-1 （HIF-1） pathways were mainly involved for binding adenosine triphosphate （ATP） and regulating protein kinase activity. The main targets included protein kinase B-1 （AKT1）， alpha catalytic subunit of phosphoinositol-3-kinase （PIK3CA）， cyclin-dependent kinase 2 （CDK2）， mitogen-activated protein kinase-1 （MAPK1）， epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR）， adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette B1 （ABCB1）， mammalian target of rapamycin （mTOR）， tyrosine kinase （Src）， Janus kinase 1 （JAK1）， and G1-phase-specific gene cyclin-D<sub>1</sub> （CCND1）. The <italic>in vitro</italic> cell experiment also revealed that isoliensinine down-regulated the expression of phosphorylated AKT （p-AKT） and phosphorylated mTOR （p-mTOR） in a concentration- and time-dependent manner and inhibited the growth of A549 cells. Conclusion:NAPs exert the preventive and therapeutic effects against NSCLC through multiple components， multiple targets， and multiple pathways， especially the PI3K-AKT pathway.
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Objective There are few studies on whether progesterone has neuroprotective effects on cerebral hemorrhage. This study aimed to observe the effects of different doses of progesterone on Matrix metalloproteinase-9（MMP-9）and Nuclear factor-κB （NF-κB）in cerebral hemorrhage in male rats, and to explore the neuroprotective effects and possible mechanism of progesterone on cerebral hemorrhage in rats. Methods We randomly divided 174 adult male rats into six groups of equal number with random number table. The models of cerebral hemorrhage were established. The low-, medium- and high-dose progesterone groups were administered with progesterone 4, 8, 16 mg/kg, respectively. The rats in the sham operation and model groups were given same volume of normal saline. We detected the expression of MMP-9 and NF-κB in the brain tissue of each group by Western blotting at 3 days. Moreover, we used the other rats to obtain the neurological severity scores（NSS），and measure the water content of brain tissue. Furthermore, we detected the expressions of MMP-9 and NF-κB by immunohistochemistry at 1, 3 and 7 days. Results The low-, medium- and high-dose progesterone groups could all improve the neurological function of rats after cerebral hemorrhage, and the middle dose group showed the best effects（P<0.05）. Moreover, the low-, medium- and high-dose progesterone groups can reduce the expression of MMP-9 and NF-κB, and the middle dose group also indicated the best effects （P<0.05）. Conclusion Progesterone might improve the neurological function and reduce edema in rats after cerebral hemorrhage, which may be related to the decrease of MMP-9 and NF-κB expression.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyses and summarize a case of multiple myeloma with disseminated infiltration in central nervous system.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The results of laboratorial examination and clinical data were analyzed and compared in the light of published literatures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The headache and diplopia were caused by infiltration of multiple myeloma cells to the central nervous system. Unlike those reported in the literatures, this case was a rare case of disseminated infiltration inside the brain, and plasma cells were CD56+, this patient has not yet accepted any multiple myeloma-associated treatment as like that reported in the literatures. And different from cases reported, this patient showed a good response to the intrathecal chemotherapy.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Whether this good response is due to a heterogeneity of MM or effect of treatment-associated drug is still to be decided.</p>