Effects of Ganjianglingzhu Decoction on Lean Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Mice Based on Untargeted Metabolomics.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is usually associated with obesity. However, it is crucial to recognize that NAFLD can also occur in lean individuals, which is frequently overlooked. Without an approved pharmacological therapy for lean NAFLD, we aimed to investigate whether the Ganjianglingzhu (GJLZ) decoction, a representative traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), protects against lean NAFLD and explore the potential mechanism underlying these protective effects. The mouse model of lean NAFLD was established with a methionine-choline-deficient (MCD) diet in male C57BL/6 mice to be compared with the control group fed the methionine-choline-sufficient (MCS) diet. After four weeks, physiological saline, a low dose of GJLZ decoction (GL), or a high dose of GJLZ decoction (GH) was administered daily by gavage to the MCD group; the MCS group was given physiological saline by gavage. Untargeted metabolomics techniques were used to explore further the potential mechanism of the effects of GJLZ on lean NAFLD. Different doses of GJLZ decoction were able to ameliorate steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and oxidative stress in the liver; GL performed a better effect on lean NAFLD. In addition, 78 candidate differential metabolites were screened and identified. Combined with metabolite pathway enrichment analysis, GL was capable of regulating the glucose and lipid metabolite pathway in lean NAFLD and regulating the glycerophospholipid metabolism by altering the levels of sn-3-O-(geranylgeranyl)glycerol 1-phosphate and lysoPC(P-18:0/0:0). GJLZ may protect against the development of lean NAFLD by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism, inhibiting the levels of sn-3-O-(geranylgeranyl)glycerol 1-phosphate and lysoPC(P-18:0/0:0) in glycerophospholipid metabolism.

Progress and hotspot of diet or exercise therapy in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Introduction: The primary treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is modifying lifestyle through dietary or exercise interventions. In recent decades, it has received increasing attention. However, the lack of bibliometric analysis has posed a challenge for researchers seeking to understand the overall trends in this field. Methods: As of February 3rd, 2024, 876 articles on treating NAFLD through diet or exercise therapy from 2013 to 2023 had been retrieved. Two software tools, VOSviewer and CiteSpace, were utilized to analyze the growth of publications, countries, institutions, authors, journals, citations, and keywords. Additionally, the keywords with strong citation burstiness were identified to determine the changes and future trends of research hotspots in this field. Results: China had the highest number of articles, followed by the United States and South Korea. Yonsei University and Nutrients were the institutions and journals with the most significant contributions. Professor Younossi Zobair M, from the United States, is the most prolific author in this field. Through analyzing the keywords, three research hotspots were identified: research on the pathogenesis of NAFLD, research on the treatment modalities of NAFLD, and research on the risk factors and diagnosis methods of NAFLD. In recent years, the research emphasis in this field has changed, suggesting that future research will focus on two frontier keywords: "oxidative stress" and "aerobic capacity." Conclusion: In the past eleven years, the attention in this field was still rising, and the authors, journals, countries and so on had formed a considerable cooperative relationship. There were also many highly influential and productive researchers in this field. It is speculated that new research will continue around "aerobic exercise" and "oxidative stress" in the future.

A bidirectional link between metabolic syndrome and elevation in alanine aminotransferase in elderly female: a longitudinal community study.

Pre-obesity, as a significant risk factor for the progression of metabolic syndrome (MS), has become a prevalent public health threat globally. In this three-year longitudinal study of pre-obese women at baseline, the goal was to clarify the female-specific bidirectional relationship between the risk of MS and blood alanine aminotransferase. In this manuscript, the MS score was determined using the following equation: MS score = 2*waist/height + fasting glucose/5.6 + TG/1.7 + SBP/130-HDL/1.02 for men and 1.28 for women, which is highly related to the risk of MS. With 2,338 participants, a hierarchical nonlinear model with random effects was utilized to analyze the temporal trends of serum characteristics from 2017 to 2019. A bivariate cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was employed to estimate the structural relations of frequently measured variables at three different time points to determine the directionality of the relationship between the risk of MS and serum characteristics. MassARRAY Analyzer 4 platforms were used to evaluate and genotype candidate SNPs. In this study, the MS score only rose with age in females; it was positively correlated with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in females; the CLPM revealed that the MS score in 2017 predicted ALT in 2018 (ß = 0.066, p < 0.001); and ALT in 2018 predicted an MS score in 2019 (ß = 0.037, p < 0.050); both relationships were seen in females. Additionally, the MS score in elderly females with NAFLD was related to the rs295 in the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene (p = 0.042). Our work showed that there may be female-specific causal correlations between elevated ALT and risk of MS and that the polymorphism rs295 in LPL may serve as a marker for the prognosis of MS. The genetic roles of rs295 in the LPL gene in the onset of MS and the development of ALT in the elderly Chinese Han population are thus provided by this, offering one potential mechanism.

Bibliometric analysis of acute pancreatitis in Web of Science database based on CiteSpace software.

OBJECTIVES: Recent years have witnessed some controversial viewpoints in clinical and basic research, which exert a great influence on the research trend of acute pancreatitis (AP). We aimed to analyze the literature on AP by metrology, co-occurrence, co-citation, and visualization, and to explore the research status and trend in this field in the past 5 years. METHODS: The relevant literature collected in Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database from 2015 to 2019 was searched using "acute pancreatitis" as the title word, and the co-occurrence analysis of authors, institutions, countries, and keywords was carried out by using CiteSpace V. On this basis, the keywords were clustered and analyzed by using VOSviewer 1.6.8 and Carrot 2 software, and a visual map was drawn. RESULTS: A total of 2035 articles were included, with an average annual volume of more than 400. The high-yield authors were mainly Chinese, among which Li WQ was the most prominent. Most of these articles were from universities and institutions of high-yielding countries including China, the United States, and India. The main sources of journals were professional journals, among which Pancreas and Pancreatology have the most literature collection volume (both over 100), including clinical and basic research. Among the funds, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and NIH were the main 2 sponsors. Disciplinary attributes involved multiple subjects such as gastroenterology, internal medicine, and surgery. Keyword co-occurrence and clustering results showed that the classification, mortality, and risk factors of AP were still more concerned, and the research trend of this disease was the molecular mechanism of the severity of AP. CONCLUSIONS: CiteSpace can be used to analyze the knowledge graph of AP, to show its development status initially and intuitively, and to provide a reference for topic content and its further development.

Verum- versus Sham-Acupuncture on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in Animal Models: A Preclinical Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common health condition affecting senile people and leads to severe cognitive dysfunctions. Acupuncture has been shown to be a possible alternative natural remedy for AD in some animal studies. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review to identify the effect of verum-acupuncture compared with sham-acupuncture on learning and memory performance among animal models of AD. METHODS: Experimental animal studies of treating AD via verum- and sham- acupuncture were searched in nine electronic databases, including Sciverse ScienceDirect, PubMed, Springer, Ebsco Medline, AMED, EMBASE (Elsevier), Scopus (Elsevier), PsycINFO (ProQuest), and OVID from the dates of the databases' inception to June 2019. The Morris water maze test was considered as an outcome measure. The software Revman 5.3 and Stata 16.0 were used to conduct the meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was examined by using I2 statistics. The publication bias was assessed via Begg's test by Stata 16.0. RESULTS: Twelve studies involving 229 animals met the inclusion criteria. Most of the studies had a moderate quality according to SYRCLE's risk of bias tool for animal studies. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that verum-acupuncture could reduce the escape latency (MD = -12.90, 95% CI (-17.08, -8.71), p < 0.001) and increase the time spent in the original platform quadrant (MD = 7.28, 95% CI (4.23, 10.33), p < 0.001) and frequency of the crossing former platform (MD = 2.01, 95% CI (1.53, 2.50), p < 0.001) compared with the sham-acupuncture. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture is effective in improving cognitive functions in AD animal models, and this benefit is more than just a placebo effect. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm the findings.

A clinical and mechanistic study of topical borneol-induced analgesia.

Bingpian is a time-honored herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is an almost pure chemical with a chemical composition of (+)-borneol and has been historically used as a topical analgesic for millennia. However, the clinical efficacy of topical borneol lacks stringent evidence-based clinical studies and verifiable scientific mechanism. We examined the analgesic efficacy of topical borneol in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study involving 122 patients with postoperative pain. Topical application of borneol led to significantly greater pain relief than placebo did. Using mouse models of pain, we identified the TRPM8 channel as a molecular target of borneol and showed that topical borneol-induced analgesia was almost exclusively mediated by TRPM8, and involved a downstream glutamatergic mechanism in the spinal cord. Investigation of the actions of topical borneol and menthol revealed mechanistic differences between borneol- and menthol-induced analgesia and indicated that borneol exhibits advantages over menthol as a topical analgesic. Our work demonstrates that borneol, which is currently approved by the US FDA to be used only as a flavoring substance or adjuvant in food, is an effective topical pain reliever in humans and reveals a key part of the molecular mechanism underlying its analgesic effect.

Efficacy and safety of vandetanib, a dual VEGFR and EGFR inhibitor, in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Vandetanib, an oral inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and epidermal growth factor receptor signaling, has attracted wide interest in treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to assess its efficacy and safety via a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Trials comparing vandetanib-based therapy and non-vandetanib therapy for advanced NSCLC were identified. Endpoints evaluated were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective tumor response rate (ORR), and toxicity. RESULTS: Seven trials including 4,492 patients were included in the analysis. As compared with placebo, vandetanib yielded a clear benefit for ORR (odds ratio (OR) = 2.04; 95% CI, 1.60-2.61; P <0.001), and a clinically and statistically significant 25% improvement in PFS (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.66- 0.85; P < 0.001). However, these benefits did not translate into a significant improvement in OS (HR = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.88-1.04; P = 0.291). Subgroup analyses showed that vandetanib 100mg/d was associated with greater antitumor activity than 300 mg/d when given in combination with chemotherapy. In addition, the pooled results demonstrated no statistically significant difference between vandetanib and single-targeted agents in PFS, ORR or OS. Vandetanib was associated with more frequent adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Vandetanib, as compared with placebo, significantly increases ORR and PFS, but does not improve OS in the treatment of advanced NSCLC. As compared with single-targeted agent, vandetanib does not provide any efficacy advantage. Furthermore grade 3 or greater toxicity proved greater in the vandetanib arm.

[The laboratorial study about relation of balance between trestle and cervical spine of cervical type spondylosis patients].

When 85 cervical type spondylosis patients randomly lay on one's back and on one's right side the 8 different tresles and pillows. We survey indexes of the cervical spine anatomy, for example cervical arcs and angles of cervical spine and level line. We appraise relation of balance between different trestle or pillow and cervical spine. liquid needle-free injection, jet power, stagnation pressure