Evidence of traditional Chinese medicine for treating type 2 diabetes mellitus: from molecular mechanisms to clinical efficacy.

Context: The global prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has increased significantly in recent decades. Despite numerous studies and systematic reviews, there is a gap in comprehensive and up-to-date evaluations in this rapidly evolving field.

Objective: This review provides a comprehensive and current overview of the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in treating T2DM.

Advances of traditional Chinese medicine preclinical mechanisms and clinical studies on diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Context: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) results in an enormous burden and reduces the quality of life for patients. Considering there is no specific drug for the management of DPN, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has increasingly drawn attention of clinicians and researchers around the world due to its characteristics of multiple targets, active components, and exemplary safety.

Objective: To summarize the current status of TCM in the treatment of DPN and provide directions for novel drug development, the clinical effects and potential mechanisms of TCM used in treating DPN were comprehensively reviewed.

Prevalence of sexual dysfunction and its association with psychological symptoms in drug-naive major depressive disorder patients in West China.

Background: Sexual dysfunction is commonly observed in individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), along with various psychological symptoms such as anxiety, somatic complaints, interpersonal sensitivity, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. However, there is a research gap in understanding the impact of these psychological symptoms on sexual functioning in MDD. Furthermore, there is limited data on the incidence of sexual dysfunction among drug-naive MDD patients in West China.

Reoxygenation Modulates the Adverse Effects of Hypoxia on Wound Repair.

Hypoxia is a major stressor and a prominent feature of pathological conditions, such as bacterial infections, inflammation, wounds, and cardiovascular defects. In this study, we investigated whether reoxygenation has a protective effect against hypoxia-induced acute injury and burn using the C57BL/6 mouse model. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to hypoxia and treated with both acute and burn injuries and were in hypoxia until wound healing.

Polyvinylamine with moderate binding affinity as a highly effective vehicle for RNA delivery.

Polymeric carriers for RNA therapy offer potential advantages in terms of low immunogenicity, promoting modifiability and accelerating intracellular transport. However, balancing high transfection efficacy with low toxicity remains challenging with polymer-based vehicles; indeed, polyethyleneimine (PEI) remains the "gold standard" polymer for this purpose despite its significant toxicity limitations. Herein, we demonstrate the potential of polyvinylamine (PVAm), a commodity high-charge cationic polymer used in the papermaking industry and has similar structure with PEI, as an alternative carrier for RNA delivery.

Antitumor Activity and Mechanism Study of Riluzole and Its Derivatives.

To explore novel antitumor agents with high efficiency and low toxicity, riluzole alkyl derivatives () were synthesized. Their anti-proliferative activities against HeLa, HepG2, SP2/0, and MCF-7 cancer cell lines were assessed by the CCK-8 assay and compared with human normal liver (LO2) cells. Most of them showed potent cytotoxic effects against four human tumor cell lines and low toxic to LO2 cells.

Cinnamaldehyde and Doxorubicin Co-Loaded Graphene Oxide Wrapped Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced MCF-7 Cell Apoptosis.

Background: Combined chemotherapy is often affected by the different physicochemical properties of chemotherapeutic drugs, which should be improved by the reasonable design of co-loaded preparations.

Purpose: A kind of simple but practical graphene oxide (GO) wrapped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) modified with hyaluronic acid (MSN@GO-HA) were developed for the co-delivery of cinnamaldehyde (CA) and doxorubicin (DOX), in order to enhance their combined treatment on tumor cells and reduce their application defects.

Methods: The MSN@GO-HA was constructed by MSN (loading CA via physical diffusion) and GO-HA (modified with HA and loading DOX via π-π stacking) through the electrostatic adsorption, followed by the physicochemical characterization, serum stability and in vitro release study.

Quercetin prevents bone loss in hindlimb suspension mice via stanniocalcin 1-mediated inhibition of osteoclastogenesis.

Recent studies demonstrate that diet quercetin (Quer) has obvious bone protective effects on ovariectomized rodents but thus far there is no direct evidence to support the inhibitory effect of Quer on bone loss caused by long-term unloading. In the present study, we investigated whether Quer could prevent bone loss induced by unloading in mice. Mice were subjected to hindlimb suspension (HLS) and received Quer (25, 50, 100 mg· kg ·day, ig) for 4 weeks.

Upregulation of Beta4 subunit of BK channels in the anterior cingulate cortex contributes to mechanical allodynia associated anxiety-like behaviors.

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) serves as a critical hub for the anxiety and pain perception. The large-conductance Ca-activated potassium channels, or BK channels, are ubiquitously expressed throughout the central nervous system including the cingulate cortex. However, what changes of cortical BK channels undergo in the ACC remains unknown in pain-related anxiety.

Downregulation of microRNA-30a-5p contributes to the replication of duck enteritis virus by regulating Beclin-1-mediated autophagy.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) is increasingly recognized as an important element in regulating virus-host interactions. Our previous results showed that cellular miR-30a-5p was significantly downregulated after duck enteritis virus (DEV) infection cell. However, whehter or not the miR-30a-5p is involved in DEV infection has not been known.

Electrophoretic deposition of GHK-Cu loaded MSN-chitosan coatings with pH-responsive release of copper and its bioactivity.

Despite the fact that titanium has been widely applied in the replacement of bone defects, prosthesis failure still occurred because of the lack of adequate bone-bonding ability and the incidence of post-surgery infections. Concentration-dependent effects of therapeutic copper ions (Cu) for antibacterial and osteogenic activity have been well-established in the field of biomedical application. In this study, we prepared mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and MSN-COOH with uniform sphere size (~100 nm) and developed multifunctional chitosan coatings loaded with MSN@GHK-Cu (glycyl-L-histidyl-l-lysine-Cu) as a suitable strategy by electrophoretic deposition (EPD).

Regulating intracellular ROS signal by a dual pH/reducing-responsive nanogels system promotes tumor cell apoptosis.

The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in tumor cells are much higher than that in normal cells, and rise rapidly under the influence of exogenous or endogenous inducing factors, eventually leading to the apoptosis of tumor cells. Therefore, this study prepared a dual pH/reducing-responsive poly (-isopropylacrylamide-co-Cinnamaldehyde-co-D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate, PNCT) nanogels, which employed two exogenous ROS inducers, cinnamaldehyde (CA) and D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS), to selectively induce apoptosis by regulating ROS levels in tumor cells. The PNCT nanogels were prepared by the free radical precipitation polymerization under the crosslink between pH-sensitive hydrazone and reducing-sensitive disulfide bonds, followed by the physicochemical and morphological characteristics investigations.

Optogenetic Stimulation Enhanced Neuronal Plasticities in Motor Recovery after Ischemic Stroke.

Motor capability recovery after ischemic stroke involves dynamic remodeling processes of neural connectomes in the nervous system. Various neuromodulatory strategies combining direct stimulating interventions with behavioral trainings for motor recovery after ischemic stroke have been developed. However, the effectiveness of these interventions varies widely due to unspecific activation or inhibition of undefined neuronal subtypes.

Amplification of Oxidative Stress in MCF-7 Cells by a Novel pH-Responsive Amphiphilic Micellar System Enhances Anticancer Therapy.

The excessive increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) makes tumor cells usually in the state of oxidative stress. Although tumor cells can adapt to this state to a certain extent by upregulating antioxidant systems, the further ROS insults disrupt the transient intracellular redox balance, eventually leading to apoptosis and necrosis. Therefore, increasing the intracellular ROS level can effectively amplify the oxidative stress and induce apoptosis, which can be employed as a strategy for tumor treatment.

Analysis of the microRNA expression profiles in DEF cells infected with duck Tembusu virus.

Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV), belonging to the Flaviviridae family, is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus. Since April 2010, the outbreak of DTMUV in southeast provinces of China has caused great economic losses. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in viral infection through binding to the host target genes or the viral genomes.

Electrophoretic deposition of dexamethasone-loaded gelatin nanospheres/chitosan coating and its dual function in anti-inflammation and osteogenesis.

Surface modification of metallic implants with bioactive and biodegradable coatings could be a promising approach for bone regeneration. The objective of this study was to prepare chitosan/gelatin nanospheres (GNs) composite coating for the delivery of dexamethasone (DEX). GNs with narrow size distribution and negative surface charge were firstly prepared by a two-step desolvation method.

Virulent duck enteritis virus infected DEF cells generate a unique pattern of viral microRNAs and a novel set of host microRNAs.

Background: Duck enteritis virus (DEV) belongs to the family Herpesviridae and is an important epornitic agent that causes economic losses in the waterfowl industry. The Chinese virulent (CHv) and attenuate vaccines (VAC) are two different pathogenic DEV strains. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression in viral infection.

A comparative study on the effect of promoting the osteogenic function of osteoblasts using isoflavones from Radix Astragalus.

Radix Astragalus has been shown to exert beneficial effects regarding the prevention postmenopausal osteoporosis. However, its mechanism of action remains to be investigated. Calycosin, formononetin, and calycosin-7-O-β-d-glucoside are the main isoflavone constituents of Astragalus.

Dual-Functional Fluorescein-Based Chemosensor for Chromogenic Detection of Fe and Fluorgenic Detection of HOCl.

A novel fluorescein-based dual probe was designed and synthesized. The probe exhibited highly sensitive and selective colormetric response to Fe and turn-on fluorescence response towards OCl with very low detection limits of 100 and 50 nM, respectively. It was successfully applied for quantitative detection of Fe and OCl in real water samples.

Bioactivity assessment of PLLA/PCL/HAP electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Aims: The purpose of this paper was to fabricate PLLA/PCL nanofibrous scaffolds containing HAP to mimic the native bone extracellular matrix for potential applications as bone tissue engineering scaffolds materials and ultimately to help the repairing of bone defects.

Materials And Methods: PLLA (MW 200kDa), PCL (MW 80kDa), HAP, dichloromethane, N,N-dimethylformamide; α-MEM, FBS, trypsin-EDTA, penicillin G, streptomycin, β-sodium glycerophosphate, l-ascorbic acid, dexamethasone; CCK-8, Alkaline Phosphatase Assay Kit, Mouse Osteocalcin ELISA Kit, MC3T3-E1 cells. PLLA, PCL and HAP were dissolved in the solution of DCM and DMF to fabricate nanofibrous scaffolds through electrospinning.

Radix Dipsaci total saponins stimulate MC3T3-E1 cell differentiation via the bone morphogenetic protein-2/MAPK/Smad-dependent Runx2 pathway.

Radix Dipsaci total saponins (RTS) are primary active components of Radix Dipsaci, which is administered orally for the treatment of osteoporosis according to Chinese Medicine. RTS have also been shown to reduce the risk of bone fractures in rats. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying their action remain elusive.

[Synthesis and antifatigue activities of new benzamide derivatives].

To explore novel antifatigue agents targeting with AMPA receptor, 10 compounds were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by 1H NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. 1-BCP was treated as the leading compound. The antifatigue activities were evaluated by weight-loaded forced swimming test, and the AMPA receptor binding affinities were tested with radioligand receptor binding assays.

Treatment of Radix Dipsaci extract prevents long bone loss induced by modeled microgravity in hindlimb unloading rats.

Context: Radix Dipsaci is a kidney tonifying herbal medicine with a long history of safe use for treatment of bone fractures and joint diseases in China. Previous studies have shown that Radix Dipsaci extract (RDE) could prevent bone loss in ovariectomized rats.

Objective: This study investigates the effect of RDE against bone loss induced by simulated microgravity.