Effect of dietary with Zhibai dihuang pills and gonadotropinreleasing-hormone-analogue on girls with precocious and rapidly progressive puberty

BACKGROUND At present,the clinical mechanisms underlying precocious puberty remain unclear,making effective intervention for children experiencing this condition and rapidly progressive puberty essential.AIM To explore the effects of Zhibai dihuang pills and gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue(GnRHa)on growth and ovarian function in girls with precocious puberty.METHODS The clinical data of 84 adolescent girls with precocious puberty and rapidly progressive puberty from February 2017 to August 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.Girls were divided into a control group and an observation group,with 42 cases in each group.The control group received diet intervention combined with GnRHa treatment,while the observation group received diet intervention combined with Zhibai dihuang pills+GnRHa treatment.Outcomes such as clinical efficacy,growth indicators,ovarian function,and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups.RESULTS The observation group showed superior clinical efficacy compared to the control group(P<0.05).Prior to the intervention,no significant differences were found in growth or ovarian function between the groups(P>0.05).Post-intervention,the observation group exhibited significantly lower rates in growth,height,and bone age,along with reduced levels of progesterone,testosterone,estradiol,prolactin,luteinizing hormone,and follicle-stimulating hormone compared to the control group(P<0.05).The incidence of adverse reactions was similar across both groups(P>0.05).CONCLUSION Combining Zhibai dihuang pills with GnRHa and dietary intervention effectively improves growth,enhances ovarian function,and minimizes adverse reactions in adolescent girls with precocious and rapidly progressive puberty.

Systematic review and Meta-analysis of efficacy and safety of dienogest in treatment of endometriosis

BACKGROUND The quality of life of women with endometriosis is substantially adversely affected by the pelvic pain caused by this disease.However,the choice of medication for endometriosis remains controversial,and no drug has been clearly proven to be superior to others.AIM To assess the efficacy and safety of dienogest,a synthetic progestin,in the treatment of women with painful symptoms of endometriosis.METHODS PubMed,EMBASE,the Cochrane Library,and the Web of Science databases were searched from their inceptions to January 21,2020 for randomized controlled trials(RCTs)that compared dienogest with other popular prescription drugs for the treatment of endometriosis.Two reviewers extracted the data.Mean difference(MD)values and risk ratios(RRs)with 95%confidence intervals(CIs)were calculated.RESULTS Ultimately,seven RCTs with a total of 1493 participants met the requirements for this review.Dienogest was found to more effective than placebo in alleviating endometriosis-related pain(MD=-32.93,95%CI:-44.63 to-21.23),but led to a more significant decline in plasma estradiol concentrations than placebo(MD=-44.7,95%CI:-62.24 to-24.69).Dienogest was superior to gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues(GnRH-a)in relieving pain(MD=-2.41,95%CI:-3.58 to-1.24).Moreover,compared with dienogest,GnRH-a were significantly more likely to lead to the loss of bone mineral density(MD=2.77,95%CI:0.16 to 5.37)and were significantly associated with a higher incidence of headaches(RR=0.68,95%CI:0.52 to 0.91)and hot flushes(RR=0.43,95%CI:0.18 to 1.02).CONCLUSION This meta-analysis demonstrated that dienogest may be a better pain-relief treatment for endometriosis patients,due to its high efficacy and tolerability.

Metatranscriptome of the protistan community in Reticufitermes flaviceps

The hindgut of lower termites harbors various symbiotic protists, which per- form varied functions in lignocellulose decomposition. As termites are social insects, the species and numbers of these flagellated protists in the termite gut vary among the different castes. Juvenile hormones （JHs） can regulate caste differentiation in termites. In this study, we used the juvenile hormone analog fenoxycarh to induce termite workers （Reticulitermesflaviceps） to differentiate into pre-soldiers. A metatranscriptomic investigation of the protistan community was then performed by 454 pyrosequencing. From a thorough analysis based on 597 312 generated reads, we found that the starch and sucrose metabolism pathway was the most abundant pathway across the metatranscriptome. The current study demonstrates that the metatranscriptome of the protistan community in termites contains an abundance of lignocellulase, which plays a vital role in termite nutrition.