The rhizomes of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz improve gastrointestinal health and pregnancy outcomes in pregnant mice via modulating intestinal barrier and water-fluid metabolism.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Baizhu (BZ) is the dried rhizome of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz (Compositae), which invigorates the spleen, improves vital energy, stabilizes the fetus, and is widely used for treating spleen deficiency syndrome. However, the impact of BZ on gastrointestinal function during pregnancy remains unexplored. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study elucidated the ameliorative effects of BZ on gastrointestinal health and pregnancy outcomes in pregnant mice with spleen deficiency diarrhea (SDD). METHODS: To simulate an irregular human diet and overconsumption of cold and bitter foods leading to SDD, a model of pregnant mice with SDD was established using an alternate-day fasting and high-fat diet combined with oral administration of Sennae Folium. During the experiment, general indicators and diarrhea-related parameters were measured. Gastric and intestinal motility (small intestinal propulsion and gastric emptying rates) were evaluated. Serum motilin (MTL), ghrelin, growth hormone (GH), gastrin (Gas), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), chorionic gonadotropin ß (ß-CG), progesterone (P), and estradiol (E2) were quantified using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Pathological changes were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E) and alcian blue periodic acid Schiff staining (AB-PAS). Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were used to measure the expression levels of the intestinal barrier and water metabolism-related proteins in colonic tissues. The pregnancy rate, ovarian organ coefficient, uterus with fetus organ coefficient, small size, average fetal weight, and body length of fetal mice were calculated. RESULTS: The results showed that BZ significantly improved general indicators and diarrhea in pregnant mice with SDD, increased gastric emptying rate and small intestinal propulsion rate, elevated the levels of gastrointestinal hormones (AMS, ghrelin, GH, and Gas) in the serum, and reduced lipid levels (TC and LDL-c). It also improved colonic tissue morphology, increased the number of goblet cells, and promoted the mRNA and protein expression of occludin, claudin-1, ZO-1, AQP3, AQP4, and AQP8 in colonic tissues, downregulating the mRNA and protein expression levels of claudin-2, thereby alleviating intestinal barrier damage and regulating the balance of water and fluid metabolism. BZ also held the levels of pregnancy hormones (ß-CG, P, and E2) in the serum of pregnant mice with SDD. Moreover, it increased the pregnancy rate, ovarian organ coefficient, uterus with fetus organ coefficient, litter size, average fetal weight, and body length of fetal mice. These findings indicate that BZ can improve spleen deficiency-related symptoms in pregnant mice before and during pregnancy, regulate pregnancy-related hormones, and improve pregnancy outcomes.

Gender Differences in the Score and Influencing Factors of Social Participation among Chinese Elderly.

This study measured the social participation score of the Chinese elderly, described its decayed trajectory based on birth cohort, and analyzed the gender differences of factors that affected the social participation of the elderly based on MIMIC model by groups. Results showed that age, economic status, and living status were the influencing factors with significant gender differences on social participation level of Chinese elderly. At any age, the social participation of Chinese elderly women was lower than that of elderly men, and this gap widened with age. Social participation of older women was more vulnerable to economic conditions. Living with children had a significant negative impact on the social participation of elderly women. There was no significant gender difference in the influence of marital status and educational level on the social participation of the elderly.

Analysis of HPV infection genotype spectrum in female cervical cells / 国际检验医学杂志

Objective To investigate the distribution of 39 kinds of human papillomavirus(HPV)infection genotypes in female cervical cells and its clinical significance.Methods 39 types of HPV DNA were extracted from 434 samples of female cervical cells. The gene amplification combined with the gene chip technique was adopted to detect 39 kinds of HPV genotype.And the clinical da-ta of the patients were analyzed.Results Among 434 samples of female cervical cell,175 cases were HPV positive,the total HPV infection rate was 40.32%(175/434).Among them,105 cases were the single type HPV infection with the positive detection rate of 24.19%(105/434)and 70 cases were the multiple types HPV infection with the positive detection rate of 16.13%(70/434).Among single type HPV infection,31 cases were the HPV18 infection with the positive detection rate of 17.71%(31/175),which was the main HPV infection type;followed by HPV16 in 12 cases with the positive detection rate of 6.86%(12/175)and HPV52 in 11 cases with the positive detection rate of 6.29%(11/175).Among the multi-type HPV infection,each 2 cases were HPV 6+54,HPV 18+52,HPV 51+68 infection respectively,each accounted for 2.86% of the multi-type HPV infection,which were the main infection types.Conclusion HPV 16,18,52 and HPV 6+54,HPV 18 +52 and HPV 51 +68 are the main HPV infection genotypes of fe-male cervical cells.The gene amplification combined with the gene chips technique is a method suitable for clinically conducting the HPV genotyping diagnosis and the molecular epidemiologic research of HPV infection.Along with the increase of detected HPV genotypes,the HPV infection rate is also increased,its genotypes combinations trend towards diversification.

A comparative study of liquid based cytology examination and DNA quantitative analysis in 879 women / 国际检验医学杂志

Objective To compare the application and clinical significance of the liquid based cytology examination and the DNA quantitative analysis in female cervical lesions.Methods The cervical cell samples were collected from 879 women participating in the comparison by the cervical brush and performed the the liquid-based thin layer section preparation for conducting Papanicolaou staining and DNA staining respectively.The liquid based cytology examination was performed on the Papanicolaou staining section and the fully automatic scanning diagnosis was performed on the DNA staining section.Results The cases of above atypical squa-mous cells of undetermined significance(ASCUS)detected by the liquid based cytology examination and the partial cases of hetero-ploid cell detected by the fully automated DNA ploidy analysis system were recommended to further perform colposcopy and cervi-cal biopsy.28 women were performed the pathological biopsy.With the cytological examination result as the standard,the detection rate of above ASCUS cervical lesions detected by the cellular DNA quantitative analysis was calculated.Conclusion The combined application of the cellular DNA quantitative analysis method and the liquid based cytology examination can obviously increase the positive detection rate of cervical cancer and precancerous lesion,which has important significance for the prevention and treatment of female cervical cancer in our country.