Genetic predisposition to female infertility in relation to epithelial ovarian and endometrial cancers.

BACKGROUND: The associations between female infertility and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) or endometrial cancer (EC) have been reported in observational studies, but its causal relationship remains unknown. We intended to assess the causal effect of female infertility on EOCs and ECs using a two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) approach. METHODS: Large pooled genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets for female infertility (6481 cases and 68 969 controls), EOC (25 509 cases and 40 941 controls), and EC (12 906 cases and 108 979 controls) were derived from public GWAS databases and published studies. The Inverse Variance Weighted method, Weighted Median method, MR-Egger regression, and MR-Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier test were adopted for MR analyses. RESULTS: Our results suggested that genetically predicted infertility was positively associated with the risk of EOC (OR = 1.117, 95% CI = 1.003-1.245, P = .045), but did not find a causal relationship between infertility and EC (OR = 1.081, 95% CI = 0.954-1.224, P = .223). As to the reverse direction, our study did not obtain evidence from genetics that EOCs (OR = 0.974, 95% CI = 0.825-1.150, P = .755) and ECs (OR = 1.039, 95% CI = 0.917-1.177, P = .548) were associated with an increased risk of infertility. CONCLUSIONS: This large MR analysis supported a causal association between female infertility and increased risk of EOCs, but did not find a causal relationship between infertility and ECs.

Information Extraction from the Text Data on Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Review on Tasks, Challenges, and Methods from 2010 to 2021.

Background: The practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) began several thousand years ago, and the knowledge of practitioners is recorded in paper and electronic versions of case notes, manuscripts, and books in multiple languages. Developing a method of information extraction (IE) from these sources to generate a cohesive data set would be a great contribution to the medical field. The goal of this study was to perform a systematic review of the status of IE from TCM sources over the last 10 years. Methods: We conducted a search of four literature databases for articles published from 2010 to 2021 that focused on the use of natural language processing (NLP) methods to extract information from unstructured TCM text data. Two reviewers and one adjudicator contributed to article search, article selection, data extraction, and synthesis processes. Results: We retrieved 1234 records, 49 of which met our inclusion criteria. We used the articles to (i) assess the key tasks of IE in the TCM domain, (ii) summarize the challenges to extracting information from TCM text data, and (iii) identify effective frameworks, models, and key findings of TCM IE through classification. Conclusions: Our analysis showed that IE from TCM text data has improved over the past decade. However, the extraction of TCM text still faces some challenges involving the lack of gold standard corpora, nonstandardized expressions, and multiple types of relations. In the future, IE work should be promoted by extracting more existing entities and relations, constructing gold standard data sets, and exploring IE methods based on a small amount of labeled data. Furthermore, fine-grained and interpretable IE technologies are necessary for further exploration.

Chinese herbal medicine for previous cesarean scar defect: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Previous cesarean scar defect (PCSD) is a gynecological disease that can cause bleeding after intercourse, prolonging menstrual period, intermenstrual bleeding, dysmenorrhea, and even lead to infertility. Chinese herbal medicine plays an important role in the treatment of gynecological diseases in China and East Asia. This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine for PCSD. METHODS: We search the following databases: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CB), Chinese Science and Technique Journals Database (VIP), EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), and the Wanfang Database. Other sources will also be searched like Google Scholar and gray literature. All databases mentioned above are searched from the start date to the latest version. Randomized controlled trials will be included which recruiting PCSD participants to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicines against controls (placebo or other therapeutic agents). Primary outcomes will include the size of PCSD, menstrual cycle, menstrual phase, menstrual volume, duration of disease, security index. Two authors will independently scan the searched articles, extract the data from attached articles, and import them into Endnote X8 and use Microsoft Excel 2013 to manage data and information. We will assess the risk of bias by Cochrane tool of risk of bias. Disagreements will be resolved by consensus or the participation of a third party. All analysis will be performed based on the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The meta-analysis in this review will use RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: The study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the treatment that Chinese herbal medicine for PCSD. CONCLUSION: This study of the meta-analysis could provide evidence for clinicians and help patients to make a better choice. INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY202090080.

Effect of the warming and tonifying kidney- yang recipe on monoamine neurotransmitters and pathological morphology of hippocampus tissue in depression model rats.

OBJECTIVE: To study the molecular mechanism of warming and tonifying kidney-yang recipe (WTKYR) in the treatment of depression. METHODS: SD rats were divided into a control group, model group, WTKYR group, and fluoxetine group. Each group consisted of 21 rats. The chronic unpredictable mild stress model was used. Body weighing and SPT were performed regularly. After treatment, histopathology of the brain tissue was performed, and concentrations of 5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine), NE (norepinephrine), and DA (dopamine) in the hippocampus were determined. RESULTS: The WTKYR group showed higher body weight and sucrose consumption than the control groups. Moreover, the concentrations of 5-HT, NE, and DA in the hippocampus were significantly different in the WTKYR group in comparison to those in the other groups. The hippocampus histomorphology of the WTKYR group exhibited less dematous pyramidal cells and mild inflammatory cell infiltration. CONCLUSION: The treatment effect of WTKYR in depression may be based on improvement in the content of 5-HT, NE, and DA in the hippocampus, extenuating edema of the cortical surface and pyramidal cells and decreasing the infiltration of inflammatory cells into hippocampus tissue.

Auriculotherapy for sleep quality in people with primary insomnia: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Primary insomnia is one of the common sleep disorders. Auriculotherapy originated from traditional Chinese medicine, has been thought as a promising treatment for primary insomnia. We aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of auriculotherapy for patients with primary insomnia through this systematic review. METHODS: Five English databases (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, and CINAHL), 4 Chinese databases (CBM, CNKI, CQVIP, and Wanfang), and 5 clinical trial registration databases (ClinicalTrials.gov, ANZCTR, EU-CTR, ChiCTR, and ICTRP) will be searched from establishment of the database until November 2018. Articles written in English or Chinese languages will be included. The randomized controlled trials of auriculotherapy (auricular acupuncture and auricular acupressure) for patients with primary insomnia will be included. The primary outcome will be assessed according to the Pittsburgh sleep quality index. Meta-analysis will be conducted with the use of RevMan 5.3. The specific process will refer to the Cochrane Handbook 5.1 for Systematic Review. RESULTS: High-quality synthesis of current evidence on the efficacy and safety of auriculotherapy for primary insomnia will be provided in this study. CONCLUSION: This systematic review aims to present evidence for whether auriculotherapy is an effective intervention which can improve sleep quality in patients suffering primary insomnia. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019106422.

Activation of the hippocampal AC-cAMP-PKA-CREB-BDNF signaling pathway using WTKYR in depression model rats.

Depression, also called "depression disorder," is characterized by a significant and persistent low mood. It has become a major refractory disease in the 21st century. In recent years, Chinese medicine has shown some important clinical value in the treatment of depression. Among them, the Warming and "Tonifying" Kidney-Yang Recipe (WTKYR) has been demonstrated to have obvious effects in the clinical treatments of depression; however, the mechanism remains unclear. This study is based on the adenylyl cyclase (AC)-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-protein kinase A (PKA)-cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB)-brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling pathway, aiming to investigate the mechanism of WTKYR. The results showed that WTKYR can upregulate AC-cAMP-PKA-CREB-BDNF in the hippocampus of depression model rats and alleviate its depressive symptoms, which may be the mechanism of WTKYR.