Evidence-Based Dampness-Heat ZHENG (Syndrome) in Cancer: Current Progress toward Establishing Relevant Animal Model with Pancreatic Tumor / 中国结合医学杂志

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases affecting the health of human beings. With limited therapeutic options available, complementary and alternative medicine has been widely adopted in cancer management and is increasingly becoming accepted by both patients and healthcare workers alike. Chinese medicine characterized by its unique diagnostic and treatment system is the most widely applied complementary and alternative medicine. It emphasizes symptoms and ZHENG (syndrome)-based treatment combined with contemporary disease diagnosis and further stratifies patients into individualized medicine subgroups. As a representative cancer with the highest degree of malignancy, pancreatic cancer is traditionally classified into the "amassment and accumulation". Emerging perspectives define the core pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer as "dampness-heat" and the respective treatment "clearing heat and resolving dampness" has been demonstrated to prolong survival in pancreatic cancer patients, as has been observed in many other cancers. This clinical advantage encourages an exploration of the essence of dampness-heat ZHENG (DHZ) in cancer and investigation into underlying mechanisms of action of herbal formulations against dampness-heat. However, at present, there is a lack of understanding of the molecular characteristics of DHZ in cancer and no standardized and widely accepted animal model to study this core syndrome in vivo. The shortage of animal models limits the ability to uncover the antitumor mechanisms of herbal medicines and to assess the safety profile of the natural products derived from them. This review summarizes the current research on DHZ in cancer in terms of the clinical aspects, molecular landscape, and animal models. This study aims to provide comprehensive insight that can be used for the establishment of a future standardized ZHENG-based cancer animal model.

Imbalance between myopic shift and the minimum amplitude of accommodation: a hypothesis for the pathogenesis of ocular hypertension secondary to drug-induced bilateral acute ciliochoroidal effusion / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To report 5 cases with drug-induced bilateral acute ciliochoroidal effusion(DBACE)and myopic shift, with or without ocular hypertension(OHT), summarize patients' clinical characteristics and recovery process of DBACE, and investigate the possible pathophysiological mechanism.METHODS:A retrospective observational case study conducted from June 2017 to February 2021. The included patients were subjected to a series of ocular examinations listed as follows: 1)best corrected visual acuity; 2)intraocular pressure(IOP); 3)slit-lamp microscopy; 4)fundus photography; 5)ultrasound biomicroscopy(UBM); 6)subjective optometry; 7)axial length and anterior chamber depth. All patients were followed up every 2d until the diopters were completely restored to the state before the disease onset.RESULTS:In total, 5 patients aged 10-45 years old, including 3 female and 2 male patients, were enrolled in this study. All patients were bilaterally involved(5/5), and had myopic shift(5/5), of whom 3 patients had OHT(3/5). With the increase of age, myopic shift decreased, while OHT increased. Based on OHT, the dynamic aggravation process of DBACE was subdivided into 2 stages, stage 1(myopic shift without OHT)and stage 2(myopic shift with OHT). With the deterioration of DBACE, when myopic shift approached or exceeded the minimum amplitude of accommodation(MAA), IOP gradually rose, and DBACE progressed from stage 1 to stage 2. With the recovery of DBACE after discontinuing the suspicious drugs, DBACE in stage 2 first returned to stage 1, and then returned to normal.CONCLUSION:Pathophysiological mechanism of DBACE was subdivided into 2 stages, including stage 1(myopic shift without OHT)and stage 2(myopic shift with OHT). The transition between the two stages depends on the imbalance between myopic shift and MAA.

Pancreatic melatonin enhances anti-tumor immunity in pancreatic adenocarcinoma through regulating tumor-associated neutrophils infiltration and NETosis

Tumor microenvironment contributes to poor prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) patients. Proper regulation could improve survival. Melatonin is an endogenous hormone that delivers multiple bioactivities. Here we showed that pancreatic melatonin level is associated with patients' survival. In PAAD mice models, melatonin supplementation suppressed tumor growth, while blockade of melatonin pathway exacerbated tumor progression. This anti-tumor effect was independent of cytotoxicity but associated with tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs), and TANs depletion reversed effects of melatonin. Melatonin induced TANs infiltration and activation, therefore induced cell apoptosis of PAAD cells. Cytokine arrays revealed that melatonin had minimal impact on neutrophils but induced secretion of Cxcl2 from tumor cells. Knockdown of Cxcl2 in tumor cells abolished neutrophil migration and activation. Melatonin-induced neutrophils presented an N1-like anti-tumor phenotype, with increased neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) causing tumor cell apoptosis through cell-to-cell contact. Proteomics analysis revealed that this reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated inhibition was fueled by fatty acid oxidation (FAO) in neutrophils, while FAO inhibitor abolished the anti-tumor effect. Analysis of PAAD patient specimens revealed that CXCL2 expression was associated with neutrophil infiltration. CXCL2, or TANs, combined with NET marker, can better predict patients' prognosis. Collectively, we discovered an anti-tumor mechanism of melatonin through recruiting N1-neutrophils and beneficial NET formation.

Prostate cancer risk prediction models in Eastern Asian populations: current status, racial difference, and future directions / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

Prostate cancer (PCa) risk calculators (RCs) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and other risk factors can greatly improve the accurate prediction of potential risk of PCa compared to PSA. The European Randomized Study of Screening for PCa Risk Calculator (ERSPC-RC) and the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Risk Calculator (PCPT-RC) are developed on the Western population. However, the Western RCs showed limited diagnostic efficacy in the Eastern Asian population, mainly due to racial differences between the two populations. We aimed to review the application of Western RCs and Eastern Asian RCs in Eastern Asian cohorts and to identify the characteristics and efficacy of these RCs.

Ultrasonic manifestations of subungual exostosis / 中国医学影像技术

Objective: To observe the ultrasonic manifestations of subungual exostosis. Methods Ultrasonic data of 9 cases with pathologically confirmed subungual exostosis after excision were retrospectively analyzed. The location, echo signal, boundary, morphology, posterior echogenicity and relationship with phalanx as well as blood flow of the lesions were observed. And the size of the lesion was detected. Results Solitarly lesion located on toe was detected in 9 patients, 8 at the hallux and 1 at the fourth toe, 5 at the right foot and 4 at the left foot. All lesions appeared as linear hyperechogenic mass with clear boundary and posterior acoustic shadowing located in the hyponychium of toes, with length from 0.50 cm to 1.33 cm and the average length of (0.86±0.29)cm, all connected with the distal phalanx with no interruption of bone continuity. No blood flow was detected in the mass. The hyponychium of the toe was thickened. Two cases with ingrown nail infection and 1 case with paronychia showed increased blood flow in the hyponychium, while other 6 cases showed no abnormal blood flow in the hyponychium. Conclusion: Subungual exostosis has some specific ultrasonic characteristics, which are helpful to the diagnosis of this disease.

Role of Static Posturography in Fatigue Assessment due to Flight TasksLoad / 现代生物医学进展

Objective:To explore the role of static posturography in the assessment of fatigue due to flight tasks.Methods:Thirtymale college students were asked to perform simulated flight tasks consecutively forfour hours.Meanwhile their statie posturography and tasks performance would be repeatedly measured during the task-load at end of every hour.Based on the changed significantly parameters,the static balance index would be built by principle component analysis.Then its correlation with task-load level would be further analyzed by curve estimation.Results:Static postural control declined significantly under effect of simulated flight tasks.With task load sustaining,static balance index increased significantly and correlated linearly with duration of task load (R2=0.949).Besides,there was quadratic relationship between the change of multi-tasks performance and duration of task load (R2=0.968).And correlation of multi-tasks performance with static standing balance level also had been proved to be quadratic (R2=0.976).Conclusions:Static posturography correlated linearly with flight task-load level,which could reflect fatigue level caused by task load.

Design and application of testing system for visual-feedback-based posture adjusting ability / 医疗卫生装备

Objective To develop a new visual feedback postural adjusting ability assessing system, and to study its application value. Methods Pressure sensor was used to determine the changes of the body weight center by tracing the pressure variation of the soles and heels, then eight target points in different directions were added into the software interface to enable the subject move his body weight center to the target point intentionally, finally the system was evaluated by loading on back.Results Program design was performed for the testing system. It's proved that posture adjusting ability might decrease with 20% load on back or the body leaning backwards. Conclusion The newly developed visual feedback postural adjusting ability testing system can be used to research standing balance function.

Effects of cytotoxin-associated gene A [CagA] positive Helicobacter pylori infection on anti-platelet glycoprotein antibody producing B cells in patients with primary idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura [ITP]

To explore the effects of cytotoxin-associated gene A [CagA] positive Helicobacter pylori [H. pylori or HP] infection on circulating B cells producing specific platelet glycoprotein antibodies and the association between therapeutic outcomes in primary idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura [ITP] patients. A total of 76 newly diagnosed primary ITP patients were included in the study which was conducted at the first affiliated hospital of Shantou University Medical college, in Shantou city China, between January 2013 and January 2014. These patients were tested for H. pylori infection by 13C urea breath test and for anti-CagA antibody in H. pylori positive cases by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] method. Anti-GPIb and anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibody-producing B cells were measured using an enzyme-linked immunospot [ELISPOT] assay in all ITP patients and 30 controls. Anti-nuclear antibody [ANA] was also detected in ITP patients. The numbers of anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibody-producing B cells in HP+CagA+ patients were higher than in HP+CagA- or HP- patients. However, anti-GPIb antibody-producing B cells were found higher in HP- patients. Analysis of treatment outcomes showed that a therapeutic response was more likely in patients presenting anti-GPIIb/IIIa B cells, but the poor response was found to be associated with anti-GPIb B cells and ANA presences. CagA antigen of H. pylori may induce anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibodies production by a molecular mimicry mechanism. Anti-GPIIb/IIIa and anti-GPIb antibody producing B Cells detection is useful for predicting treatment effects of primary ITP

Effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on learning and memory function and morphology of hippocampal neurons of rats with electrical hippocampal injuries / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of ginsenoside Rg1 (G-Rg1) on the morphology of the hippocampal neurons of rats with electrical hippocampal injuries and evaluate its protective effects on the learning and memory function.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty female SD rats were randomly divided into G-Rg1 group, saline group, sham-operated group and G-Rg1+Sham operation group. Using the stereotactic apparatus, electrical hippocampal injury was induced, not in the two sham groups, by application of direct electrical current, followed by treatments with intragastric administration of G-Rg1 or saline for 14 consecutive days. The learning and memory function of the rats was assessed with Morris water maze test. The viability and arrangement of the hippocampal neurons and the number of Nissl bodies were observed after the treatments.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Treatment with G-Rg1 significantly improved the learning and memory function of rats with electrical hippocampal injury. The viability of the hippocampal neurons showed no significant changes in the two sham-operated groups (P>0.05), and the number of Nissl bodies was much lower in saline group than in the other groups (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>G-Rg1 can improve the learning and memory function of rats with electrical hippocampal injury, the mechanism of which is probably associated with its protective effect on the hippocampal neurons against electrical injury.</p>

Treatment of femoral unstable intertrochanteric fractures in the elderly with uncemented long stem bipolar prosthetic prosthesis / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of cemented long stem bipolar prosthetic prosthesis in the management of unstable intertrochanteric fractures in the elderly.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A retrospective analysis of 23 elderly cases of uncemented long-stem prosthetic replacement for unstable intertrochanteric fractures was conducted. Of the 23 elderly patients, 6 had type IIA fracture by Evans-Jenson classification, 11 had type IIB fractures, and 6 had type III fractures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>One patient died due to severe respiratory failure during the follow-up period. The patients were followed up for 6 to 10 months (mean 15 months), and no dislocation, infection, loosening or sinking of the prosthesis was found in the followed-up cases with a Harris score reaching 84.8.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Cemented long-stem bipolar prosthetic prosthesis replacement is effective for management of unstable intertrochanteric fractures in the elderly.</p>

Age-specific PSA reference ranges in Chinese men without prostate cancer / 亚洲男科学杂志(英文版)

This study is to determine age-specific prostate-specific antigen (PSA) distributions in Chinese men without prostate cancer (PC) and to recommend reference ranges for this population after comparison with other studies. From September 2003 to December 2006, 9 374 adult men aged from 18 to 96 years agreed to participate in the study. After all cases of PC were excluded, 8 422 adult men participated in statistical analysis and were divided into five age groups. Simple descriptive statistical analyses were carried out and quartiles and 95th percentiles were calculated for each age group. The age-specific PSA reference ranges are as follows: 40-49 years, 2.15 ng mL(-1); 50-59 years, 3.20 ng mL(-1); 60-69 years, 4.10 ng mL(-1); 70-79 years, 5.37 ng mL(-1). The results indicate that the ethnic differences in PSA levels are obvious. The currently adopted Oesterling's age-specific PSA reference ranges are not appropriate for Chinese men. The reference ranges of this study should be more suitable to Chinese men.

Relationship between anti-myelin basic protein antibody and myelinoclasis in rat brain stem after brain trauma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relations between anti-myelin basic protein antibody (anti-MBP) variation and myelinoclasis in the brain stem following brain trauma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In rat models of brain trauma, MBP content and anti-MBP titer in the blood were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at different time points after brain trauma, and the degree of myelinoclasis in the brain stem slices was assessed with osmic acid staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Early after brain trauma, MBP content in the blood increased followed by significant reduction 10 days later. Four days after the trauma, anti-MBP titer was markedly increased, accompanied by obvious exacerbation of myelinoclasis in the brain stem, both reaching the highest levels on day 10, at the point of which anti-MBP titer increased by 4 folds and the number of myelinoclasis by 10 folds compared with the control group. Anti-MBP titer and brain stem myelinolysis both lowered 30 days later. Correlation analysis showed an intimate positive correlation between anti-MBP titer and the degree of myelinoclasis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>After brain trauma, MBP is released as a specific antigen into the blood to stimulate the immune system for anti-MBP production, and the antibody is intimately related to the brain stem myelinoclasis.</p>

Clinical analysis of 36 cases of sinus-straddling hematoma after craniocerebral injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relation between sinus-straddling hematoma (SSH) and venous sinus injury and explore the approaches for surgical management.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six cases of stride sinus hematoma were reviewed to observe the incidence rate of sinus injury complicated with (SSH) and explore its surgical management.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The incidence rate of venous sinus injury following (SSH) was 80.56% (29/36), and appropriate surgical management yielded good therapeutic effect in these patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Intracranial stride sinus hematoma is often accompanied by venous sinus injury, and adequate preoperative risk evaluation may improve the success rate of the operation.</p>

Effect of 5-hydroxtryptamine on megakaryocytopoiesis--review / 中国实验血液学杂志

5-hydroxtryptamine (5-HT, serotonin) has been recognized not only as a neurotransmitter and vasoactive agent, but also as a growth factor. 5-HT mainly binds to 5-HT(2) receptors or 5-HT(1) receptors on cell surface to stimulate cell proliferation through Ras or MAPK pathway in many cell types. It has been reported that 5-HT stimulates megakaryocytopoiesis via 5-HT receptors. The possible mechanism of 5-HT on the proliferation and differentiation of megakaryocytes (MK) has been discussed in this review article. In early stage of megakaryocytopoiesis, 5-HT may bind to 5-HT(2B) receptor on megakaryocytes, and promotes their proliferation and differentiation. In the late stage, 5-HT may involve in the platelet release procedure by inducing nitric oxide (NO) synthesis via 5-HT(2A) receptors. 5-HT can also antagonize the apoptotic effect induced by thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) which is a platelet alpha granule protein and has synergic effect with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) to enhance megakaryocytes proliferation. Therefore, 5-HT is likely to be an important substance in the feedback regulation of thrombopoiesis. In this review the 5-HT and its receptors, 5-HT as cell growth factor, pathway of 5-HT stimulating cell proliferation and influance of 5-HT on MK-progenitor cells were summarized.

Association of blood and cerebrospinal fluid IgG contents and severity of craniocerebral injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the association of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IgG contents and the severity of craniocerebral injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totalling 143 patients with craniocerebral injury were divided into 3 groups according Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, namely the mild injury group with GCS score of 12-15 (n=41), moderate injury group with GCS score of 9-11 (n=71) and severe injury group (GCS score 3-8, n=32). Another 9 patients with congenital hydrocephalus were also recruited as the control group. The CSF and blood samples were collected from these patients to measure the IgG contents 4 and 14 days and 1, 2, and 6 months after the injury, respectively. Physical disabilities of the patients were estimated with Rappaport's disability rating scale (DRS), whose correlations with CSF and blood IgG contents were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the early stage of moderate to severe brain injury, the IgG content was lowered significantly in the blood but increased in CSF as compared with the control patients (P<0.05), and the changes in CSF and blood IgG displayed a significant correlation with the severity of the injury (r=0.950, P<0.01). During the recovery of severe brain injury, DRS score was in inverse correlation with blood IgG content but in positive correlation with CSF IgG content (Spearman's correlation coefficient of 0.800, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In the early stage of brain injury, detection of blood IgG content may help with the assessment of the injury severity. During the recovery of the injury, dynamic monitoring of blood and CSF IgG contents provides clues of the outcome of the patients and benefit the modification of the treatment plan.</p>

Directly Injury Effects of Lipopolysaccharide on Human Endothelial Cells in Vitro / 中国医师杂志

Objective To study the directly injury effects of lipopolysaccharide(LPS) on human vascular endothelial cells(HVEC).Methods Lipopolysaccharide with different concentrations added into cultured vascular endothelial cells of human umbilical vein,at different phase after lipopolysaccharide being added,the concentrations of nitric oxide(NO),lactic acid dehydrogenase(LDH) were measured,and the adhesion of HVEC to polymorphonuclear leucocytes(PMN) were observed,the morphological changes of HVEC were detected by phase-contrast microscope.Results The NO content,LDH activity were obviously elevated with increase of LPS concentration(P