Experiences and perception of caregivers on home care service for community-dwelling elderly: a qualitative study / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To survey the experiences and perception of caregivers on home care service for community-dwelling elderly.Methods:From August to December 2021, individual semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with caregivers of the elderly from five community health centers in Beijing Xicheng and Miyun districts selected by purposive sampling.Results:Nine caregivers,2 males and 7 females aged 49-76 (62.8±9.4) years were interviewed in this study. The nursing care period was 3-48 (17±13) years. Four themes were extracted from the interview data: older people′s own condition was the primary factor influencing the home care needs; medical needs for home care were determined by the caregivers′ factors; community health service was important for meet home medical needs; and supporting of home care services for the elderly need to be strengthened.Conclusion:The experience of elderly home caregivers in using community home medical services is affected by many factors, and in the future, the content of home medical services should be improved, and the skills training of community elderly home caregivers should be strengthened, so as to improve the quality of life at home and promote the health literacy of the elderly.

XiaoEr LianHuaQinqGan alleviates viral pneumonia in mice infected by influenza A and respiratory syncytial viruses.

CONTEXT: Xiaoer lianhuaqinqgan (XELH), developed based on Lianhua Qingwen (LHQW) prescription, contains 13 traditional Chinese medicines. It has completed the investigational new drug application to treat respiratory viral infections in children in China. OBJECTIVE: This study demonstrates the pharmacological effects of XELH against viral pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of XELH were investigated in vitro using H3N2-infected A549 and LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and in vivo using BALB/c mice models of influenza A virus (H3N2) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-infection. Mice were divided into 7 groups (n = 20): Control, Model, LHQW (0.5 g/kg), XELH-low (2 g/kg), XELH-medium (4 g/kg), XELH-high (8 g/kg), and positive drug (20 mg/kg oseltamivir or 60 mg/kg ribavirin) groups. The anti-inflammatory effects of XELH were tested in a rat model of LPS-induced fever and a mouse model of xylene-induced ear edoema. RESULTS: In vitro, XELH inhibited the pro-inflammatory cytokines and replication of H1N1, H3N2, H1N1, FluB, H9N2, H6N2, H7N3, RSV, and HCoV-229E viruses, with (IC50 47.4, 114, 79, 250, 99.2, 170, 79, 62.5, and 93 µg/mL, respectively). In vivo, XELH reduced weight loss and lung index, inhibited viral replication and macrophage M1 polarization, ameliorated lung damage, decreased inflammatory cell infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines expression in lung tissues, and increased the CD4+/CD8+ ratio. XELH inhibited LPS-induced fever in rats and xylene-induced ear edoema in mice. CONCLUSION: XELH efficacy partially depends on integrated immunoregulatory effects. XELH is a promising therapeutic option against childhood respiratory viral infections.

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Profiles of bZIP Genes in Cannabis sativa L.

Background: The bZIP gene family plays roles in biotic and abiotic stress, secondary metabolism, and other aspects in plants. They have been reported in Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Artemisia annua, and other plants, but their roles in Cannabis sativa have not been determined. Materials and Methods: In this study, we analyzed the genome-wide identification and expression profile of the bZIP gene family in C. sativa. Results: A total of 51 members of the bZIP gene family were identified based on the C. sativa genome and numbered in order from CsbZIP1 to CsbZIP51. Their phylogenetic relationships, cis-elements in promoter region, gene structures and motif compositions, physicochemical properties, chromosome locations, and expression profiles, were analyzed. The results showed that the 51 CsbZIPs were unevenly distributed on 10 chromosomes and could be clustered into 11 subfamilies. Furthermore, CsbZIPs located in the same subfamilies presented similar intron/exon organization and motif composition. The expression levels of CsbZIPs in various tissues (flowers, bracts, vegetative leaves, stems, and seeds) were determined using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The expression levels of CsbZIPs were higher in flowers and bracts. The 51 CsbZIPs were explored, and their structure, evolution, and expression pattern in different tissues of C. sativa were characterized synthetically. The findings indicated that CsbZIPs are essential for the growth and development of C. sativa. Conclusions: These results provide a theoretical basis for subsequent research on hemp bZIP transcription factors and the cultivation of high-cannabidiol and low-tetrahydrocannabinol high-quality cannabis varieties.

Research competence and training needs of young general practitioners / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To investigate the research competence and training needs of young general practitioners (GPs) in Guangdong province.Methods:A questionnaire survey on research competence and training needs was conducted in December 2020 among GPs from one selected economically developed area and one selected less developed area in Guangdong Province.Results:A total of 172 young GPs were included in the study. The survey showed that 75.6% (130/172) and 76.2% (131/172) respondents thought that participation in scientific research and research literacy were important, but only 11.9% (21/172) had participated in research project, among whom 81.0% (17/21) undertook data collection. The basic score of evidence-based medicine was 24.00(21.00, 28.00), and 55.2% respondents (95/172) were able search literature when they encountered problems and 43.7% (77/172) used domestic databases. The self-assessment score of scientific research ability was 14.00(12.00, 17.00), the score of research training needs was 41.00(31.00, 49.50), and the scores of "scientific research topic selection, scientific research design, statistical analysis, organization and implementation, and paper writing" were generally high. There was significant difference in the total scores of the two scales of evidence-based medicine basis and scientific research ability self-assessment among respondents with different educational background ( P<0.05). The basic score of evidence-based medicine of orientation-trained GPs was higher than that of non-orientation-tranined GPs; the average score of research training needs in female respondents was higher than that in males ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The study suggests that young general practitioners have inadequate experience in research participation and organization, and low self-ratings of research competence, but generally high personal efficacy in research. It is recommended that appropriate training content and well-organized intervention should be developed for young GPs.

Survey on status quo of reception of pediatric patients by general practitioners in Longhua District of Shenzhen / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To investigate the status quo and related issues of reception of pediatric patients by general practitioners in community health centers in Longhua District of Shenzhen through qualitative and quantitative studies.Methods:In qualitative study, 10 general practitioners (GPs) from community health centers in Longhua District of Shenzhen were selected by the purpose sampling method for personal in-depth interviews. The interview contents were recorded and transcribed, then coded by Nvivo software. Theme frame analysis method was used for data sorting and theme extraction. Based on the results of qualitative interviews, the questionnaire was developed and distributed through the electronic questionnaire platform. The contents of the questionnaire included general information, the situation of pediatric patient reception in community health centers, the willingness and ability of GPs to receive children, the existing problems and the measures to promote receiving pediatric patients in community health centers.Results:The results of personal in-depth interviews with 10 GPs showed that the obtained information reached saturation. Through repeated reading, induction and analysis of the interview data, four themes were extracted: ① GPs in community health centers received a large number of pediatric outpatients with common diseases; ② GPs in community health centers are willing to receive child patients, but they were lack of ability; ③ there were many problems of pediatric patients reception in community health centers; ④ training and incentive policies would help to promote child patient reception in community health centers. A total of 223 electronic questionnaires were collected, 219 of which were valid for analysis. All the community health centers in Longhua District received pediatric patients, the number accounted for 20%-60% of the total outpatients; 84.5%(185/219)of the responders were willing to receive child patients, 65.8% (144/219)of them assumed that the consulting ability was average. The main problems for GPs to receive pediatric patients were "insufficient training" (76.7%,168/219) and "lack of consulting ability" (55.3%,121/219). The important measures to promote GPs to receive child patients were to improve their own clinical competence (94.1%,206/219), to have clinical faculty with pediatric background mentoring at the community health center (74.9%,164/219), to improve the supporting facilities (42.9%,94/219) and continuous professional support (38.8%,85/219).Conclusion:The status quo of pediatric patient reception in the community of Shenzhen Longhua District is generally satisfactory. The main problems in this aspect are insufficient training for general practitioners and lack of clinical competence, which should be strengthened and improved in the future.

The therapeutic promises of Lianhuaqingke in the mice model of coronavirus pneumonia (HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2).

BACKGROUND: Lianhuaqingke (LHQK) has been approved for the treatment of acute tracheobronchitis and exerts a broad-spectrum antiviral effect in our previous study. METHODS: Acute pneumonia caused by HCoV-229E was modeled in BALB/c mice. The anti-viral effect of LHQK was assessed by measuring the lung index and virus titer of lung tissues. The expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in lung tissues and peripheral blood were measured by ELISA. The morphological changes of lung tissues were observed by H&E staining. The subsets of Th cells were assayed by the flow cytometry, including Th0, Th1, Th2, Treg, and Th17. The expression level of MUC5AC in 16HBE cells treated with TNFα was measured by ELISA. Immunofluorescence staining for ß-IV tubulin was used to identify the airway epithelial ciliary in the condition-cultured RTE cells treated with TNFα. The direct antiviral effect of LHQK was assessed in vitro in Vero E6 infected by SARS-CoV-2, validated in vivo in the COVID-19 model of hACE2 transgenic mouse by detecting the lung index, the SARS-CoV-2 virus load, and the morphological changes of lung tissues. RESULTS: LHQK reduced the weight loss and the lung index by inhibiting the HCoV-229E replication and reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in lung tissues. An assay for the Th cell subsets in peripheral blood revealed that LHQK could reduce the ratio of Th1/Th2 and increase the Treg/Th17 ratio in a dose-dependent way, which indicated that LHQK could coordinate the Th-mediated immune responses against the virus. In in vitro injury by TNFα, LHQK inhibited MUC5AC expression in 16HBE cells and increased the number of ß-IV tubulin positive staining cells in the condition-cultured RTE cells. In the SARS-CoV-2-infected mice, LHQK could reduce weight loss, inhibit viral replication, and alleviate lung tissue damage. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that LHQK exerts therapeutic effects on pneumonia caused by HCoVs (HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2) in mice, and that the anti-HCoV effects might depend on its immunomodulatory capacities. All these results suggest that LHQK serves as a potential adjuvant for anti-HCoV therapies.

Ultra-Highly Sensitive Ammonia Detection Based on Light-Induced Thermoelastic Spectroscopy.

This invited paper demonstrated an ultra-highly sensitive ammonia (NH3) sensor based on the light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES) technique for the first time. A quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a resonance frequency of 32.768 kHz was employed as a detector. A fiber-coupled, continuous wave (CW), distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser emitting at 1530.33 nm was chosen as the excitation source. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) and second-harmonic (2f) detection techniques were applied to reduce the background noise. In a one scan period, a 2f signal of the two absorption lines located at 6534.6 cm-1 and 6533.4 cm-1 were acquired simultaneously. The 2f signal amplitude at the two absorption lines was proved to be proportional to the concentration, respectively, by changing the concentration of NH3 in the analyte. The calculated R-square values of the linear fit are equal to ~0.99. The wavelength modulation depth was optimized to be 13.38 mA, and a minimum detection limit (MDL) of ~5.85 ppm was achieved for the reported NH3 sensor.

Prevention and control of novel coronavirus infections in primary care institutions at early stage of the epidemic: a qualitative study / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To analyze the status of prevention and control of COVID-19 in primary care institutions at the early stage of the epidemic.Methods:Thirty healthcare professionals from various places of China were recruited in the study from 6 thto 16 th February 2020 through WeChat platform advertising and by purposive sampling method. They were general practitioners (GPs), administrators, and other specialists, all of whom were involved in the prevention and control of COVID-19. Personal interview and focus group discussion were conducted online. The topic guide was as follows: (1) Introduction of the work that primary healthcare professionals carried out during the outbreak of COVID-19. (2) Difficulties and challenges that healthcare professionals encountered. (3) Opinions on the prevention and control of COVID-19. (4) Advices on future outbreak of similar epidemics or disease. NVivo 12 software system was used to code and classify the interview content, and thematic framework analysis was used to sort out and analyze the data and extract the interview themes. Results:Six themes were extracted: (1) The community hospital leaders led the work in time but job distribution and prevention procedures were insufficient; and the workload of GPs was heavy. (2) Primary care settings had carried out pre-screening and triage; while outpatient clinic continued to provide health care service for local residents, especially stressing online service and consultation to reduce the population mobility. (3) GPs should make full use of technical advantages and participate in joint prevention and control. (4) GPs offered various health education to residents to improve their awareness of self-protection. (5) GPs lacked professional skills and needed more related training, while the current training were still insufficient. (6) There were not enough supplies and GPs had increasing worries about the infection risks.Conclusions:GPs play an important role in effectively curbing the spread of the epidemic. It is suggested that the setting of triage and fever clinic in primary care institutions need to be readjusted; and the training of prevention and control knowledge and skill for GPs need to be strengthened in the future.

[Advances in biosynthesis of indigo in plants].

Natural indigo, as one of the oldest dyes, is also a pivotal dye utilized in cotton fabrics today. A diversity of plants rich in indigo compounds belong to traditional Chinese herbal medicines. Indigo compounds have a variety of biological and pharmacological activities, including anticonvulsant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anticancer activities. A substantial progress in indigo biosynthesis has been made lately. This paper summarizes the value of indigo from the aspects of cultural history, biosynthetic pathways and the medicinal activities of its related derivatives involved in the pathways. In addition, the latest research advancements in indigo biosynthetic pathways is demonstrated in this paper, which would lay the theoretical foundation for the exploration and utilization of natural indigo.

[Application of MALDI-mass spectrometry imaging in spatial distribution of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants -- a case study of Lepdium meyenii root].

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging(MALDI-MSI) is a novel technique for in-situ distribution of various substances in tissue without labeling. This technique is increasingly applied to the study of medicinal plants owing to its high spatial resolution and its potential of in-situ analysis in small molecules. In this study, the structural information and their fragmentation patterns of the midazole alkaloids(1,3-dibenzyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium chloride and 1,3-dibenzyl-2,4,5-trimethylimi-dazolium chloride) and benzylglucosinolate in the medicinal plant Maca(Lepdium meyeni) root were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid phase combined with LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry(UHPLC-HR-MS). The localization of these active ingredients in the cross-sections of Maca root was performed by MALDI-MSI. These results demonstrated that the two types of imidazole alkaloids had a similar distributed pattern. They were located more in the cortex and the periderm than those in the medulla of a lateral root, while the localization of benzylglucosinolate was concentrated in the center of the root rather than in the cortex and the periderm. The precise spatial distribution of various secondary metabolites in tissue provides an important scientific basis for the accumulation of medicinal plant active ingredients in tissues. In addition, this imaging method is a promising technique for the rapid evaluation and identification of the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine in plant tissues, as well as assisting the research on the processing of medicinal plants.

Primary Care Practitioners' Response to 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in China

The emerging outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originated from Wuhan poses a great challenge to healthcare system in China.1 Primary care practitioners (PCPs) have an important role in district communicable disease control.2 However, because primary health-care system in China still needs to be substantially strengthened,3,4 whether PCPs are proactive and capable in responding to the outbreak remains unclear. Using an electronic questionnaire, we surveyed a national sample of PCPs to assess their response to novel coronavirus outbreak.

Genome-wide analysis of LBD(lateral organ boundaries domain) gene family in Cannabis sativa of traditional Chinese medicine hemp seed / 中国中药杂志

LBD(lateral organ boundaries)transcription factors play an important role in the regulation of plant growth, development and secondary metabolism. In order to explore the function of LBD genes in cannabis, the Cannabis sativa genome and transcriptome were used to identify the C. sativa LBD gene family, and analyzed their expression patterns. Our results showed that the cannabis LBD contains 32 members, which were divided into two major categories, seven sub-families. Class Ⅰ was divided into 5 sub-families, named Class Ⅰ_a to Class Ⅰ_e, while Class Ⅱ was divided into 2 sub-families, including Class Ⅱ_a and Class Ⅱ_b. Analysis showed that the number of amino acids encoded LBDs was between 172 and 356, and the isoelectric point was between 4.92 and 9.43. The mole-cular weight of LBD was between 18 862.92 Da and 40 081.33 Da, and most members are located in the nucleus. Chromosome positioning of LBD showed that 32 members were unevenly distributed on 10 chromosomes of C. sativa LBD transcription factor domain, gene structure and motifs are relatively conservative, and the characteristics of different class members are similar. The upstream promoter region of the gene contains a variety of cis-acting elements related to plant hormones and environmental factors, C. sativa LBD genes have different expression patterns in the stems, leaves, and flowers of ZYS varieties(low tetrahydrocannabinol, high cannabidiol). The members of the LBD gene family are mainly expressed in the flowers and stems of ZYS varieties, while members expressed in the leaves very few; Class Ⅱ members CsLBD21 and CsLBD23 are expressed in flowers and stems, and CsLBD8 and CsLBD18 are expressed in flowers, stems and leaves. These genes may participate in the growth and development of cannabis and affect the biosynthesis of cannabinoids. This study laid the foundation for the subsequently functional research of the cannabis LBD gene family.

The role of potassium channel activation in celecoxib-induced analgesic action.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Celecoxib (CXB) is a widely prescribed COX-2 inhibitor used clinically to treat pain and inflammation. Recently, COX-2 independent mechanisms have been described to be the targets of CXB. For instance, ion channels such as the voltage-gated sodium channel, L-type calcium channel, Kv2.1, Kv1.5, Kv4.3 and HERG potassium channel were all reported to be inhibited by CXB. Our recent study revealed that CXB is a potent activator of Kv7/M channels. M currents expressed in dorsal root ganglia play an important role in nociception. Our study was aimed at establishing the role of COX-2 independent M current activation in the analgesic action of CXB. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared the effects of CXB and its two structural analogues, unmethylated CXB (UMC) and 2,5-dimethyl-CXB (DMC), on Kv7/M currents and pain behavior in animal models. UMC is a more potent inhibitor of COX-2 than CXB while DMC has no COX-2 inhibiting activity. We found that CXB, UMC and DMC concentration-dependently activated Kv7.2/7.3 channels expressed in HEK293 cells and the M-type current in dorsal root ganglia neurons, negatively shifted I-V curve of Kv7.2/7.3 channels, with a potency and efficiency inverse to their COX-2 inhibitory potential. Furthermore, CXB, UMC and DMC greatly reduced inflammatory pain behavior induced by bradykinin, mechanical pain behavior induced by stimulation with von Frey filaments and thermal pain behavior in the Hargreaves test. CXB and DMC also significantly attenuated hyperalgesia in chronic constriction injury neuropathic pain. CONCLUSION: CXB, DMC and UMC are openers of Kv7/M K(+) channels with effects independent of COX-2 inhibition. The analgesic effects of CXBs on pain behaviors, especially those of DMC, suggest that activation of Kv7/M K(+) channels may play an important role in the analgesic action of CXB. This study strengthens the notion that Kv7/M K(+) channels are a potential target for pain treatment.