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1.
An overview: Management of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
Wang, J, Wu, R, Sun, JY, Lei, F, Tan, H, Lu, X
Bioscience trends. 2022;(6):405-425
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has constituted a significant health burden worldwide, and patients with advanced HCC, which is stage C as defined by the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system, have a poor overall survival of 6-8 months. Studies have indicated the significant survival benefit of treatment based on sorafenib, lenvatinib, or atezolizumab-bevacizumab with reliable safety. In addition, the combination of two or more molecularly targeted therapies (first- plus second-line) has become a hot topic recently and is now being extensively investigated in patients with advanced HCC. In addition, a few biomarkers have been investigated and found to predict drug susceptibility and prognosis, which provides an opportunity to evaluate the clinical benefits of current therapies. In addition, many therapies other than tyrosine kinase inhibitors that might have additional survival benefits when combined with other therapeutic modalities, including immunotherapy, transarterial chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation, hepatectomy, and chemotherapy, have also been examined. This review provides an overview on the current understanding of disease management and summarizes current challenges with and future perspectives on advanced HCC.
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2.
Liriopogons (Genera Ophiopogon and Liriope, Asparagaceae): A Critical Review of the Phytochemical and Pharmacological Research.
Lei, F, Weckerle, CS, Heinrich, M
Frontiers in pharmacology. 2021;:769929
Abstract
The closely related genera Liriope and Ophiopogon (Asparagaceae), collectively known in English as liriopogons, have similar therapeutic uses in treating cough, rheumatoid arthritis, and cleaning heat. The main aim of this review is to understand the current phytochemical and pharmacological knowledge including an assessment of the quality of the scientific evidence. A literature search was conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines, by retrieving available information up to 2020 from five online resources. The bioactive metabolites of liriopogons include steroidal saponins, flavonoids, polysaccharides, organic acids, phenols. Cardiovascular protective, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, neuroprotective, anti-viral, anti-acute myeloid leukemia and hepatoprotective effects have been at the center of attention. From a toxicological perspective Ophiopogon japonicus seems to be safe. Some problems with the quality of the pharmacological evidence stand out including the application of excessive dose level and methodological problems in the design. Additionally, a reasonable link between local/traditional uses and pharmacological assessment is often vague or not reflected in the text. Future researches on liriopogons are required to use rigorous scientific approaches in research on evidence-based natural products for the future benefits of patients.
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3.
Perspectives on emerging pressures and their integrated impact on large river systems: An insight from the Yellow River basin.
Singh, DK, Xu, M, Singh, N, Lei, F
Journal of environmental management. 2021;:113423
Abstract
The Yellow River, with a developmental and historical significance to China, is now facing several emerging pressures, which are degrading the river status and creating challenges for high-quality development in the basin. Numerous studies on such emerging pressures, present scattered outcomes, and trigger uncertainties and deficient assumptions on the river's problems. This review integrated such scattered information and investigated the emerging pressures, their drivers and integrated impacts at the basin level. The study intended to prioritize those pressures needing expeditious consideration, and carried a discussion on the alternative pathways to the solution. To determine the critical emerging pressures, a literature review was conducted and experts' opinion was sought. The outcome further led to a comprehensive review, data collection, and analysis of three groups of emerging pressures. The review recognized 'Water Stress' in the lower reach, primarily caused by an abated flow, as the most distressing emerging pressure inflicting social, ecological, and economic consequences. Such decline in flow was mostly induced by a recent increase in 'Anthropogenic activities', such as intensive water withdrawal for irrigation (≥27 BCM), and construction of check dams in the Loess Plateau region (trapping~5 BCM water). The increasing 'Pollution' in the river, besides threatening public health and ecology, also contributed to the water stress by rendering certain stretches of the river biologically dead and unsuitable for any use. The 'Climate Change', with its key negative effect on precipitation in the middle sub-basin, overall contributed small (8-11 %) to the observed reduction in river flow. With increasing challenges for the adopted engineering solutions tackling the water stress, the study suggested the use of a demand management approach, employing adaptive policy measures, as an alternative or supplementary solution to the current approach. In addition, the study highlights that regular reviewing and reforming the key decisions based on evidence and updated information, and taking a participatory approach, may offer a sustainable pathway to the environment as well as socio-economic goals.
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4.
Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals a potential role for CaMK4 in γδT17 cells from systemic lupus erythematosus patients with lupus nephritis.
Du, B, Fan, X, Lei, F, Zhang, S, Li, G, Xi, X
International immunopharmacology. 2020;:106139
Abstract
γδ T cells may be involved in the onset of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) though the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. IL-17 has been shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of SLE with lupus nephritis (LN). Although some investigations have indicated that γδ T cells are the major producing cells of IL-17 (γδT17 cells), the function of γδT17 cells in SLE with LN has not yet been fully established. In the present study, transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed to identify genes in γδ T cells differentially expressed between SLE patients with LN and healthy subjects. We first showed that IL-17A expression level in SLE patients is higher than in healthy controls, and the most pronounced increase occurred in the SLE patients with LN. The population of γδ T cells was shown to be smaller in SLE patients, but there was no difference between SLE patients and controls with respect to γδT17 cells. Transcriptome sequencing analysis revealed 28 different genes associated with SLE disease among the γδ T cells from SLE patients with LN. In these genes, CaMK4 was further confirmed to be differently expressed in SLE patients. Finally, CaMK4 inhibitor was shown to inhibit the secretion of IL-17A in γδ T cells from SLE with LN. Our results suggest that CaMK4 may participate in the pathogenic mechanism of SLE with LN induced by γδT17 T cells. This constitutes evidence that CaMK4 inhibitors may serve as effective reagents in the treatment of SLE with LN.
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5.
Association of Blood Glucose Control and Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19 and Pre-existing Type 2 Diabetes.
Zhu, L, She, ZG, Cheng, X, Qin, JJ, Zhang, XJ, Cai, J, Lei, F, Wang, H, Xie, J, Wang, W, et al
Cell metabolism. 2020;31(6):1068-1077.e3
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Plain language summary
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by infection from the newly emerged, highly contagious coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between plasma glucose levels and clinic outcomes in COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study is a retrospective longitudinal, multi-centre study from a cohort of 7,337 COVID-19 cases enrolled among 19 hospitals. Results show that patients with pre-existing T2D received significantly more intensive integrated treatments to manage their symptoms of COVID-19 than the non-diabetic subjects. Furthermore, findings indicate that well-controlled blood glucose was associated with a markedly improved outcome of patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing T2D. Authors conclude that T2D is an important risk factor for COVID-19 progression and adverse endpoints, and well-controlled blood glucose is associated with a significant reduction in the composite adverse outcomes and death.
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major comorbidity of COVID-19. However, the impact of blood glucose (BG) control on the degree of required medical interventions and on mortality in patients with COVID-19 and T2D remains uncertain. Thus, we performed a retrospective, multi-centered study of 7,337 cases of COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China, among which 952 had pre-existing T2D. We found that subjects with T2D required more medical interventions and had a significantly higher mortality (7.8% versus 2.7%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.49) and multiple organ injury than the non-diabetic individuals. Further, we found that well-controlled BG (glycemic variability within 3.9 to 10.0 mmol/L) was associated with markedly lower mortality compared to individuals with poorly controlled BG (upper limit of glycemic variability exceeding 10.0 mmol/L) (adjusted HR, 0.14) during hospitalization. These findings provide clinical evidence correlating improved glycemic control with better outcomes in patients with COVID-19 and pre-existing T2D.
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Long-term behaviors of phosphate-based rapid repairing material for concrete shafts in coal mines.
Lei, F, Zhen-Ya, Z, Xiao-Dong, W, Chao, X, Dong-Yuan, H
Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials. 2018;(3):171-177
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Concrete structures in shaft linings are apt to deteriorate prematurely and therefore prompt restoration is required. In considering this, desulphurization fly ash and machine-made tuff sand are employed to fabricate a phosphate-based rapid repairing material. METHODS The long-term efficiency of the material is evaluated based on combined factors, so drying shrinkage, interfacial bonding strength, corrosion resistance, and combustibility of the specimens are tested and researched in this paper. RESULTS Experimental results showed that, under a dry circumstance, the material goes through a minor expansion at an early stage. It goes into a stage of rapid contraction after one day and a stable contraction after seven days. After 28 days, the total deformation is 67 micro-strains. On the other hand, the fabricated material manifests an excellent mechanical property. The one hour bending strength and compressive strength were 9.2 MPa and 32.6 MPa, respectively. A long-term mine water flushing simulation demonstrates that only 10% bending strength is lost and the corrosion resistance coefficient stays above 0.8, so a very good corrosion resistance is thus achieved. CONCLUSIONS What is more, this repairing material retains its stability even at a high temperature of 1000°C, revealing its good thermo-stability. All these prominent properties make it a good prospective material for real restoration applications.
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Coaxial Electrospray of Curcumin-Loaded Microparticles for Sustained Drug Release.
Yuan, S, Lei, F, Liu, Z, Tong, Q, Si, T, Xu, RX
PloS one. 2015;(7):e0132609
Abstract
Curcumin exhibits superior anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and analgesic activities without significant side effects. However, clinical dissemination of this natural medicine is limited by its low solubility and poor bio-availability. To overcome this limitation, we propose to encapsulate curcumin in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles (MPs) by an improved coaxial electrospray (CES) process. This process is able to generate a stable cone-jet mode in a wide range of operation parameters in order to produce curcumin-loaded PLGA MPs with a clear core-shell structure and a designated size of several micrometers. In order to optimize the process outcome, the effects of primary operation parameters such as the applied electric voltages and the liquid flow rates are studied systemically. In vitro drug release experiments are also carried out for the CES-produced MPs in comparison with those by a single axial electrospray process. Our experimental results show that the CES process can be effectively controlled to encapsulate drugs of low aqueous solubility for high encapsulation efficiency and optimal drug release profiles.
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8.
Effects of baicalin on Chlamydia trachomatis infection in vitro.
Hao, H, Aixia, Y, Lei, F, Nancai, Y, Wen, S
Planta medica. 2010;(1):76-8
Abstract
Baicalin has emerged as a promising agent for the therapy of infectious diseases due to the increasing number of pathogenic microbial strains resistant to several antibiotics. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory activity of baicalin on Chlamydia infection in vitro. We found that baicalin blocked the infection of HeLa cells in vitro when added to the infected cells. In order to shed light on the inhibitory effects of baicalin on the Chlamydia-infected cells, the expression of RFX5 and Chlamydia protease-like activity factor (CPAF) mRNAs and proteins in the Chlamydia-infected cells were examined using Western blot and real-time RT-PCR analysis. The results demonstrated that RFX5 and CPAF were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, by baicalin. Because CPAF is responsible for degrading RFX5, it is suggested that CPAF is a primary target of baicalin and plays an important role in downregulating RFX5. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that baicalin can effectively inhibit Chlamydia Trachomatis in HeLa cells and therefore can be considered a potential agent for the therapy of infectious diseases caused by C. trachomatis.
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Baicalin suppresses expression of Chlamydia protease-like activity factor in Hep-2 cells infected by Chlamydia trachomatis.
Hao, H, Aixia, Y, Dan, L, Lei, F, Nancai, Y, Wen, S
Fitoterapia. 2009;(7):448-52
Abstract
In this study, we tested the ability of Baicalin to block Chlamydia trachomatis infection and found that the Baicalin blocked infection of Hep-2 cells. Then, we looked into the expression of RFX5 and CPAF gene in Chlamydia-infected cells. We found that RFX5 and CPAF were up-regulated and down-regulated respectively by Baicalin. Since CPAF is responsible for degrading RFX5, we suggest that CPAF was a primary target of Baicalin and played an important role in regulating RFX5. Our findings demonstrate that Baicalin can inhibit C. trachomatis effectively and therefore, can be considered as potential agents for therapy of Chlamydia infectious diseases.