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1.
MAPKK2/4/5/7-MAPK3-JAZs modulate phenolic acid biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza.
Xie, Y, Ding, M, Yin, X, Wang, G, Zhang, B, Chen, L, Ma, P, Dong, J
Phytochemistry. 2022;:113177
Abstract
Phenolic acids are the major bioactive metabolites produced in Salvia miltiorrhiza, a traditional Chinese medicine called Danshen. Many phytohormone elicitor treatments induce phenolic acid biosynthesis, even though the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Expression pattern analysis showed that SmMAPK3 was highly expressed in leaves, and SmMAPK3 was significantly induced by salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (JA). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that SmMAPK3 belongs to group A and contains a TEY motif in the activation loop together with three conserved regions (P-loop, C-loop and CD-domain). A previous study speculated that SmMAPK3 is likely a positive regulator in the biosynthesis of phenolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza. In this study, overexpression of SmMAPK3 increased phenolic acid biosynthetic gene expression and enhanced the accumulation of phenolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza plantlets. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) analysis and firefly luciferase complementation imaging (LCI) assays revealed that SmMAPKK2/4/5/7-SmMAPK3-SmJAZs form a cascade that regulates the accumulation of phenolic acids. In summary, this work deepens our understanding of the posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms of phenolic acid biosynthesis and sheds new light on metabolic engineering in S. miltiorrhiza.
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2.
Efficacy and Safety of a Simplified Lamivudine Plus Dolutegravir Dual Therapy in HIV-1-Infected Patients: A Multicenter Cohort Study in China.
Zhong, M, Chen, C, Hu, Y, Zou, M, Yan, L, Huang, J, Lv, R, Su, Y, Qi, M, Ye, Z, et al
Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999). 2022;(S1):S42-S50
Abstract
BACKGROUND Results from both clinical trials and real-world observational studies suggest that lamivudine plus dolutegravir (3TC + DTG) dual therapy has excellent virological efficacy and safety in HIV-1-infected patients. However, there is still no relevant study related to this dual therapy reported in China. METHODS In this multicenter, retrospective, observational study that included HIV-1-infected patients in China, baseline and follow-up data were collected to analyze the virological suppression rate, immune restoration, and adverse events during follow-up in HIV-1-infected patients who switched to the 3TC + DTG dual therapy. RESULTS This study recruited 112 HIV-1-infected patients, including 101 men (90.2%), with a median age of 44.0 years (IQR: 33.00-57.75) and median CD4+ T-cell count of 432.13 cells/μL (IQR: 237.75-578.50). The overall virological suppression rate was 94.5% at the 24-week follow-up. However, the virological suppression rates of men who have sex with men patients and patients with CD4+ T-cell count of <350 cells/μL were higher than the baseline value (P < 0.05) at week 24. The results of Cox regression analysis showed that the baseline CD4+ T-cell count was an independent determinant of immune restoration in patients, and patients with baseline CD4+ T-cell count of 350-500 cells/μL outperformed patients with baseline CD4+ T-cell count of <350 cells/μL in immune restoration (hazard ratio: 4.469, 95% confidence interval: 1.801 to 11.091, P = 0.001). Adverse events were reported in 5 patients (incidence rate of 4.5%); among them, 3 patients developed neuropsychiatric symptoms. Results from the laboratory data analysis showed that patients with grade 1 and 2 adverse events had elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total bilirubin. Furthermore, grade 3 and 4 adverse events were associated with the elevation of blood glucose level in 4 patients. CONCLUSIONS Thus, the 3TC + DTG dual therapy displayed an excellent virological efficacy against HIV-1 infections and had an acceptable safety profile, with predominantly mild adverse events in HIV-1-infected patients in China.
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3.
The potential applications of traditional Chinese medicine in Parkinson's disease: A new opportunity.
Chen, J, Xu, J, Huang, P, Luo, Y, Shi, Y, Ma, P
Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie. 2022;:112866
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Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) presents a common challenge for people all over the world and has become a major research hotspot due to the large population affected by the illness and the difficulty of clinical treatment. The prevalence of PD is increasing every year, the pathogenesis is complex, and the current treatment is ineffective. Therefore, it has become imperative to find effective drugs for PD. With the advantages of low cost, high safety and high biological activity, Chinese medicine has great advantages in the prevention and treatment of PD. This review systematically summarizes the potential of Chinese medicine for the treatment of PD, showing that Chinese medicine can exert anti-PD effects through various pathways, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant pathways, reducing mitochondrial dysfunction, inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress and iron death, and regulating intestinal flora. These mainly involve HMGB1/TLR4, PI3K/Akt, NLRP3/ caspase-1/IL-1β, Nrf2/HO-1, SIRT1/Akt1, PINK1/parkin, Bcl-2/Bax, BDNF-TrkB and other signaling pathways. In sum, based on modern phytochemistry, pharmacology and genomic proteomics, Chinese medicine is likely to be a potential candidate for PD treatment, which requires more clinical trials to further elucidate its importance in the treatment of PD.
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Casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate modified glass ionomer cement attenuates demineralization and modulates biofilm composition in dental caries.
Mao, B, Xie, Y, Yang, H, Yu, C, Ma, P, You, Z, Tsauo, C, Chen, Y, Cheng, L, Han, Q
Dental materials journal. 2021;(1):84-93
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Abstract
The study investigated the effects of the modified conventional glass ionomer cement (GIC) incorporated with casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) on biofilm composition of dental caries. Shear bond strength, durability tests, adhesive remnant index (ARI) and scanning electron microscope were used to measure the physical properties. Microhardness and ions release were determined to evaluate anti-demineralization effects; growth of the biofilm and its composition were assessed using MTT assay and Q-PCR assay. All experimental groups exhibited a significant stimulation of ions release, and reduced attenuation of microhardness. Nearly 39% reduction in the bacterial biofilm was observed with 5% CPP-ACP group. The regulation ability is mainly manifested in the inhibition of S. mutans and promotion of S. gordonii. The modified GICs by exhibiting anti-demineralization effects potentially lead to a reduction in the cariogenicity of plaque and can serve as a putative promising remineralization system with both enhanced antimicrobial and remineralization properties.
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Effect of continuous nursing on angina attack and quality of life in patients with coronary artery disease: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.
Zhou, X, Yuan, Y, Wang, Z, Zhang, K, Fan, W, Zhang, Y, Ma, P
Medicine. 2021;(5):e24536
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Coronary Artery Disease is an ischemic or necrotic heart disease caused by myocardial hypoxia caused by coronary artery stenosis or occlusion. The main symptoms are heart failure and recurrent angina pectoris. Continuous nursing refers to the nursing mode from in-hospital nursing to out-of-hospital nursing, including guiding patients' follow-up treatment and lifestyle, which can effectively improve the quality of life in patients with Coronary Artery Disease and reduce the number of angina attacks. The study implemented in this program will systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of continuous nursing intervention on an angina attack and quality of life in Coronary Artery Disease, and provide evidence-based basis for clinical application of continuous nursing intervention in Coronary Artery Disease. METHOD The 2 researchers search the databases of China Knowledge Network, VP Information Chinese Journal Service Platform, PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science. From the establishment of the database in December 2020, all the randomized controlled trials on continuous nursing intervention for Coronary Artery Disease are collected. The relevant data are extracted and the quality is evaluated. meta-analysis is performed on the included literature using Stata15.0 software. RESULT In this study, the efficacy and safety of continuous nursing intervention on Coronary Artery Disease are evaluated by Seattle angina questionnaire and other indicators. CONCLUSION This study will provide reliable evidence for the clinical application of nursing intervention in Coronary Artery Disease. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION Private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also does not involve endangering participant rights. Ethical approval will not be required. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated at relevant conferences. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/7QRKV.
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Vitamin K2 Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Proliferation by Binding to 17β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase 4.
Lu, X, Ma, P, Kong, L, Wang, X, Wang, Y, Jiang, L
Frontiers in oncology. 2021;:757603
Abstract
Our previous studies have proved that 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 4 (HSD17B4) is a novel proliferation-promoting protein. The overexpression of HSD17B4 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell proliferation. Vitamin K2 (VK2), a fat-soluble vitamin, has the function of promoting coagulation and can inhibit the progression of liver cancer. A previous study demonstrated that VK2 could bind to HSD17B4 in HepG2 cells. However, the mechanism of VK2 in inhibiting HCC cell proliferation is not clear. In this study, we investigate whether VK2 can inhibit the proliferation of HCC cell induced by HSD17B4 and the possible mechanism. We detected the effect of VK2 on HSD17B4-induced HCC cell proliferation, and the activation of STAT3, AKT, and MEK/ERK signaling pathways. We measured the effect of HSD17B4 on the growth of transplanted tumor and the inhibitory effect of VK2. Our results indicated that VK2 directly binds to HSD17B4, but does not affect the expression of HSD17B4, to inhibit the proliferation of HCC cells by inhibiting the activation of Akt and MEK/ERK signaling pathways, leading to decreased STAT3 activation. VK2 also inhibited the growth of HSD17B4-induced transplanted tumors. These findings provide a theoretical and experimental basis for possible future prevention and treatment of HCC using VK2.
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Enhanced Mechanical Properties and Isotropy of Mg-2Al-0.8Sn Alloy through Ca Addition.
Miao, Y, Wang, C, Wang, M, Deng, H, Ma, P, Li, Z
Materials (Basel, Switzerland). 2021;(24)
Abstract
Calcium (Ca), with abundant and cheap reserves, is a potential element to facilitate the further application of Mg-Al-Sn based alloys. Here, effects of Ca content on the microstructure and tensile properties of Mg-2.0Al-0.8Sn (wt.%) alloys were systematically studied. The experimental results illustrated that the strength, ductility and isotropy of the alloys improved simultaneously with the increase of Ca content. The better ductility and isotropy could be contributed to the weakened texture via particle stimulation nucleation mechanism. The higher strength benefited from the combination of finer grains, more precipitates and residual dislocation density. Eventually, the Mg-2.0Al-0.8Sn-0.5Ca (wt.%) alloy showed the best room-temperature balance of strength and ductility with a yield strength of ∼226.0 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of ∼282.4 MPa and a fracture elongation of ∼20.2%, which has huge potential as an applicable low-cost high-performance magnesium alloy.
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Manganese oxide nanomaterials boost cancer immunotherapy.
Ding, B, Yue, J, Zheng, P, Ma, P, Lin, J
Journal of materials chemistry. B. 2021;(35):7117-7131
Abstract
Immunotherapy, a strategy that leverages the host immune function to fight against cancer, plays an increasingly important role in clinical tumor therapy. In spite of the great success achieved in not only clinical treatment but also basic research, cancer immunotherapy still faces many huge challenges. Manganese oxide nanomaterials (MONs), as ideal tumor microenvironment (TME)-responsive biomaterials, are able to dramatically elicit anti-tumor immune responses in multiple ways, indicating great prospects for immunotherapy. In this review, on the basis of different mechanisms to boost immunotherapy, major highlighted topics are presented, covering adjusting an immunosuppressive TME by generating O2 (like O2-sensitized photodynamic therapy (PDT), programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression downregulation, reprogramming tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), and restraining tumor angiogenesis and lactic acid exhaustion), inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD), photothermal therapy (PTT) induction, activating the stimulator of interferon gene (STING) pathway and immunoadjuvants for nanovaccines. We hope that this review will provide holistic understanding about MONs and their application in cancer immunotherapy, and thus pave the way to the translation from bench to bedside in the future.
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Green synthesis of stable Fe,Cu oxide nanocomposites from loquat leaf extracts for removal of Norfloxacin and Ciprofloxacin.
Liu, Q, Ma, P, Liu, P, Li, H, Han, X, Liu, L, Zou, W
Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research. 2020;(4):694-708
Abstract
Mass production of nanomaterials to remove pollutants from water still faces many challenges, mainly due to the complexity of the synthesis methods involved and the use of dangerous reagents. The green method of preparation of nanomaterials from plants can effectively solve these problems. Fe,Cu oxide nanocomposites (Fe-Cu-NCs) were synthesized by a green and single-step method using loquat leaf extracts, and were used as an adsorbent for removal of Norfloxacin (NOR) and Ciprofloxacin (CIP) from aqueous solution. The synthesized adsorbent showed excellent adsorption properties for NOR and CIP. The experimental equilibrium data fitted the Redlich-Peterson and Koble-Corrigan models well and the maximum adsorption capacities of Fe-Cu-NCs calculated by the Langmuir model for NOR and CIP were 1.182 mmol/g and 1.103 mmol/g, respectively, at 293 K. Additionally, the morphologies and properties of Fe-Cu-NCs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and the adsorption mechanism of NOR and CIP onto Fe-Cu-NCs was discussed. Thermodynamic parameters revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. This study indicated that Fe-Cu-NCs are a potential adsorbent and provide a simple and convenient strategy for the purification of antibiotics-laden wastewater.
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Quantified MRI and 25OH-VitD3 can be used as effective biomarkers for patients with neoadjuvant chemotherapy-induced liver injury in CRCLM?
Wang, Q, Ye, F, Ma, P, Che, Y, Guo, W, Yan, D, Zhao, X
BMC cancer. 2020;(1):767
Abstract
BACKGROUND To evaluate proton-density fat-fraction (PDFF) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) techniques, and human 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OH-VitD3) levels, as potential biomarkers in patients with colorectal cancer with liver metastasis (CRCLM). Changes were compared with those related to chemotherapy-associated steatohepatitis (CASH) and sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). METHODS 63 patients with pathologically confirmed colorectal adenocarcinoma received 4-6 courses of NC before liver resection and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation quantification and IVIM sequences. Blood samples were analyzed using CTCAE. Pathological changes of liver tissues outside the metastases were assessed as the gold standard, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were analyzed. RESULTS 16 cases had CASH liver injury, 14 cases had SOS changes, and 4 cases had CASH and SOS, and 7 showed no significant changes. Consistency between biochemical indices and pathological findings was poor (kappa = 0.246, p = 0.005). The areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, and TBIL were 0.571-0.691. AUCs of D, FF, and 25OH-VitD3 exceeded 0.8; when considering these markers together, sensitivity was 85.29% and specificity was 93.13%. ANOVA showed statistically significant differences among D, FF, and 25OH-VitD3 for different grades of liver injury (F = 4.64-26.5, p = 0.000-0.016). CONCLUSIONS D, FF, and 25OH-VitD3 are biomarkers for accurate prediction of NC-induced liver injury in patients with CRCLM, while FF and 25OH-VitD3 might be beneficial to distinguish liver injury grades. TRIAL REGISTRATION Current Trials was retrospectively registered as ChiCTR1800015242 at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on March 16, 2018.