3-to 24-month Follow-up on COVID-19 with Pulmonary Tuberculosis Survivors after Discharge:Results from a Prospective,Multicenter Study

Objective Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)and tuberculosis(TB)are major public health and social issues worldwide.The long-term follow-up of COVID-19 with pulmonary TB(PTB)survivors after discharge is unclear.This study aimed to comprehensively describe clinical outcomes,including sequela and recurrence at 3,12,and 24 months after discharge,among COVID-19 with PTB survivors.Methods From January 22,2020 to May 6,2022,with a follow-up by August 26,2022,a prospective,multicenter follow-up study was conducted on COVID-19 with PTB survivors after discharge in 13 hospitals from four provinces in China.Clinical outcomes,including sequela,recurrence of COVID-19,and PTB survivors,were collected via telephone and face-to-face interviews at 3,12,and 24 months after discharge.Results Thirty-two COVID-19 with PTB survivors were included.The median age was 52(45,59)years,and 23(71.9%)were men.Among them,nearly two-thirds(62.5%)of the survivors were moderate,three(9.4%)were severe,and more than half(59.4%)had at least one comorbidity(PTB excluded).The proportion of COVID-19 survivors with at least one sequela symptom decreased from 40.6%at 3 months to 15.8%at 24 months,with anxiety having a higher proportion over a follow-up.Cough and amnesia recovered at the 12-month follow-up,while anxiety,fatigue,and trouble sleeping remained after 24months.Additionally,one(3.1%)case presented two recurrences of PTB and no re-positive COVID-19during the follow-up period.Conclusion The proportion of long symptoms in COVID-19 with PTB survivors decreased over time,while nearly one in six still experience persistent symptoms with a higher proportion of anxiety.The recurrence of PTB and the psychological support of COVID-19 with PTB after discharge require more attention.

To explore the potential vitiligo treatment mechanism of Piperine in Piperis Longi Fructus via network pharmacology and bioinformatics strategies

Objective:To explore the mechanism of Piperine of Piperis Longi Fructus in the treatment of vitiligo based on network pharmacology and transcriptome.Methods:Piperine,the active component of Piperis Longi Fructus,was screened from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology,and the target network and protein interaction network of piperine-vitiligo were constructed.PPI analyzed the cross targets,GO function,and KEGG pathway analysis.In the GEO database,vitiligo gene expression profile chips GSE65127 and GSE75819 were selected for differential gene screening and gene set enrichment analysis.The potential key signal pathways of piperine in the treatment of vitiligo were identified by transcriptome microarray data verification.Results:31 potential targets of piperine in the treatment of vitiligo were found,of which 9 targets such as ESR1,AKT1,and IGF1 were closely related to the treatment of vitiligo.Enrichment analysis showed that signal pathways such as PI3K-Akt,MAPK,and Melanogenesis were related to piperine's mechanism in treating vitiligo.The cross-validation of chip analysis results confirmed that Melanogenesis is a potential key signal pathway for piperine in vitiligo treatment.Conclusion:This study discusses the potential targets and signal pathways of piperine in the treatment of vitiligo,which helps clarify the mechanism of piperine in the treatment of vitiligo and provides a theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of vitiligo.It also provides direction for the research and development of new drugs for vitiligo.

Case report:pre tibial myxedema combined with hyperthyroidism and blastocystis hominis infection

The patient is a 37-year-old male with a right anterior tibial mass for more than one year and a left anterior tibial mass for more than one month.There was a history of hyperthyroidism.Histopathology of the lesions showed epidermal hyperkeratosis of the skin tissue,thickening of the spinous layer,extensive collagen fibrillation in the superficial dermis and reticular layer,and numerous linear and granular mucoprotein deposits in the lower and middle dermis.Blastocystis hominis was routinely detected in the stool.Diagnosis:1.Pretibial myxedema 2.intestinal parasitosis(Blastocystis hominis infection).

Efficacy and safety of Mahuang Fuzi Xixin Decoction on sick sinus syndrome： Ameta – analysis

目的：评价麻黄附子细辛汤治疗病态窦房结综合征的疗效与安全性,为临床实践提供循证参考.方法：采用Cochrane系统评价方法,通过计算机检索和手工检索,全面收集麻黄附子细辛汤治疗病态窦房结综合征的所有语种随机对照试验,检索时间为2000年至2017年01月,由2名评价者按照纳入和排除标准独立选择文献、提取资料、评价质量、交叉核对并进行方法学质量评估,若遇分歧,通过讨论或者第三名研究者协助解决,对纳入文献采用RevMan5.3软件进行Meta分析.结果：共纳入7篇文献,共612例患者,麻黄附子细辛汤（治疗组）358例,对照组254例.纳入的7篇文献均报告了有效率,治疗组有效率（86.9%）高于对照组（70.1%）,差异具有统计学意义[RR=1.25,95%CI（1.15,1.37）,P〈0.00001];纳入的文献中有5篇报告了不良反应,治疗组不良反应发生率（17.0%）明显低于对照组（49.8%）,差异具有统计学意义[RR=0.23,95%CI（0.06,0.93）,P=0.04].结论：现有临床研究提示,麻黄附子细辛汤治疗病态窦房结综合征疗效明显且未见明显不良反应;受纳入文献质量限制,以上结论有待开展更多高质量随机对照试验予以验证.

Prognostic value of red cell distribution width in elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of red blood cell distribution width(RDW)for all-cause mortality in elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis(MHD).Methods:We retrospectively analyzed the data of 172 elderly patients who initiated maintenance hemodialysis from June 2013 to June 2018.Basic data on demographic,dialysis,laboratory data and clinic outcomes were recorded.Compare the basic information of death and survival groups,such as general characteristics baseline laboratory data,baseline RDW and time average RDW during the follow-up;Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors of all-cause mortality,and predictive value of RDW for all-cause death in elderly maintenance hemodialysis patients.Results:A total of 172 elderly MHD patients were inrolled in this study with age of(66.3±6.1)years old and the dialysis duration of(27.3±15.3)months,including 94 males(54.6%).37 patients died during the follow-up period.Non-survivors had higher levels of RDW at baseline,higher time-average RDW,higher blood PTH,higher blood C-reactive protein(CRP),higher blood brain natriuretic peptide(BNP)(P<0.05)and lower albumin(P<0.05).Multivariate Cox regression analysis suggested that RDW,serum albumin,serum CRP,and serum BNP were independent risk factors for all-cause mortality in elderly patients with MHD.The receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)showed that RDW=14.75%was the best cut-off point for predicting all-cause mortality in elderly patients undergoing MHD(P<0.01).Conclusions:High RDW is an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality in elderly patients with MHD,and it has important value for prognosis.

Pricking cupping bloodletting combined with slide cupping for acne:a case report

Objective:To report a patient with acne by using the combined treatment of pricking cupping bloodletting and slide cupping.Methods:Pricking cupping bloodletting was prescribed at the points of Feishu(BL13)in the bladder meridian of foot-Taiyang and Dazhui(DU14)in governor vessel and slide cupping was prescribed at the points on the back in the bladder meridian of foot-Taiyang.Results:Clinical manifestations revealed that acne and scar were significantly reduced after two courses.Conclusion:Pricking cupping bloodletting combined with slide cupping can successfully relieve acne and promote skin healing,which may provide us a new idea for the non-drug therapy of acne.

Identification of signal pathways and biomarkers of plaque psoriasis and prediction of potential microRNA targets via comprehensive strategies

Psoriasis is a complex skin disease and the pathogenesis of psoriasis is not clear.The purpose of this study is to identify the key driving genes and signal pathways involved in psoriasis and to predict the potential miRNA,for further understanding the pathogenesis of psoriasis.Methods:Three gene expression profiling chips,including GSE67853,GSE78097,and GSE136757 with a total of 120 samples were collected and analyzed with R software.The protein-protein interaction network of differentially expressed genes was constructed with STRING database and Cytoscape.CIBERSORT was used to evaluate the infiltration of immune cells in psoriasis tissues,and the correlation between diagnostic markers and infiltrating immune cells was analyzed.Further,the key biomarkers were identified and the targeting miRNA of crucial genes was predicted.Results:A total of 201 differentially expressed genes(163 upregulated genes and 38 downregulated genes)were determined.CXCL1,CXCL2,and CXCL8,the critical biomarkers of psoriasis,were identified by different calculation methods.The potential critical signal pathway NOD-like receptor signaling pathway of psoriasis was explored by gene expression profiling chip gene enrichment analysis and differentially expressed gene enrichment analysis.Immune cell infiltration analysis found that CXCL1,CXCL2,CXCL8 was positively correlated with macrophages M1 and T cells CD4 memory activated and negatively correlated with macrophages M2 and mast cells resting.At the same time,through miRNA prediction,we found that hsa-miR-216a-3p and hsa-miR-6750-5p can be used as potential psoriasis targets.Conclusions:This research proposes a new comprehensive strategy to identify psoriasis’s potential biomarkers through cross-validation and significant scores of different calculation methods.In this research,we identified CXCL1,CXCL2,and CXCL8 as potential key biomarkers of psoriasis,and the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway is the critical signal pathway of psoriasis.Hsa-miR-216a-3p and hsa-miR-6750-5p can be used as potential psoriasis targets.

Conditional reprogramming:next generation cell culture

Long-term primary culture of mammalian cells has been always difficult due to unavoidable senescence. Conventional methods for generating immortalized cell lines usually require manipulation of genome which leads to change of important biological and genetic characteristics. Recently, conditional reprogramming(CR) emerges as a novel next generation tool for long-term culture of primary epithelium cells derived from almost all origins without alteration of genetic background of primary cells. CR cocultures primary cells with inactivated mouse 3T3-J2 fibroblasts in the presence of RHO-related protein kinase(ROCK) inhibitor Y-27632, enabling primary cells to acquire stem-like characteristics while retain their ability to fully differentiate. With only a few years’ development, CR shows broad prospects in applications in varied areas including disease modeling, regenerative medicine, drug evaluation, drug discovery as well as precision medicine. This review is thus to comprehensively summarize and assess current progress in understanding mechanism of CR and its wide applications, highlighting the value of CR in both basic and translational researches and discussing the challenges faced with CR.

Advances in quantum dot-mediated siRNA delivery

Nano-sized quantum dots（QDs） exhibit uniquely optical properties that are tunable with different sizes and shapes.QDs can emit narrow symmetric bands under a wide excitation range,possess antiphotobleaching stability,and be bio-functionalized on the large surface area.Therefore,QDs are attractive vectors for imaging-guided therapy.Small-interfering RNA（siRNAs）-based therapeutics hold great potential to target a large part of the currently undruggable genes,but overcoming the lipid bilayer to deliver siRNA into cells has remained a major challenge to solve for widespread development of siRNA therapeutics.In this mini-review,we focus on theranostic QD/siRNA assembles for enhancing delivery of siRNA and facilitating evaluation of therapeutic efficacy via imaging of QDs,with special attention to carbonaceous QDs for delivery of siRNA.