Obesity is considered as a chronic disease that can induce a series of comorbidities and complications. Chinese medicine has long clinical experiences in the treatment of obesity. This review ...summarizes the natural products from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that are reported to have anti‐obesity effects in the past two decades. Botanic TCM comprises 90% of total Chinese crude drugs, and generally contains various active ingredients, in which the effective anti‐obesity ingredients identified can be divided into saponins, polysaccharides, alkaloids, polyphenols and others. Astragaloside IV, glycyrrhizin, macrostemonoside A, berberine, betaine, capsaicin, matrine, methyl piperate, piperine, rutaecarpine, asimilobine, epigallocatechingallate, magnolol, resveratrol, soybean‐isoflavone, α‐linolenic acid, emodin, geniposide, phillyrin, salidroside and ursolic acid are specified in this review, and their sources, models, efficacy are described. It is concluded that the mechanisms of these components for the treatment of obesity include: (i) suppression of appetite, increase of satiety, reduction of energy intake; (ii) reduction in the digestion and absorption of exogenous lipid; (iii) attenuation of the synthesis of endogenous lipid; (iv) promotion of the oxidation and expenditure of lipid and (v) improvement of lipid metabolism disorder. Authors believe that the effective compounds from TCM will provide an alternative and hopeful way for the treatment of obesity.
The prevalence of diabetes in China is among the highest in the world. For this reason, findings from the 2016 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study were used to calculate the burden of hyperglycaemia ...and diabetes in China.
Following the general analytical strategy used in GBD 2016, diabetes prevalence and mortality were analyzed by age and gender. Trends in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to diabetes were assessed in 33 province-level administrative units from 1990 to 2016, and similar data were provided for chronic kidney disease (CKD) related to diabetes and, as an overall summarizing measure, for hyperglycaemia expressed as high fasting plasma glucose (HFPG).
From 1990 to 2016, all-age prevalence of diabetes rose from 3.7% to 6.6%, and all-age diabetes and diabetes-related CKD mortality rates increased by 63.5% and 33.3%, respectively, with both rates increasing more rapidly in diabetes patients aged 15–49 years than in any other age groups. In 2016, HFPG became China's sixth leading cause of DALYs, and the attributable DALYs burden was 1802.3/100,000 population. Although the number of diabetes DALYs increased by 95% from 1990 to 2016, age-standardized diabetes DALYs rates increased by only 2.3%. Also, from 1990 to 2016, rates of age-standardized DALYs due to diabetes decreased in 14 provinces, but increased in 19 provinces. High BMI Scores and diets low in whole grains, nuts and seeds were the most important risk factors for diabetes in 2016.
Diabetes and hyperglycaemia constitute a huge health burden in China. The substantial increase in diabetes-related burden represents an ongoing challenge, given the rapidly ageing Chinese population. Thus, a targeted control and preventative strategy needs to be developed at risk factor level to reduce this burden.
Interactions between inhibitors of the proteasome and histone deacetylases have been examined in human T-leukemia/lymphoma cells both in vitro and in vivo. Co-exposure of cells to bortezomib and ...suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) synergistically induces T-leukemia/lymphoma cells to undergo apoptosis, consistent with a significant increase in mitochondrial injury and caspase activation. These events are accompanied by inhibition of cyto-protective signaling pathways, including the nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, Raf-1/mitogen-induced extracellular kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) and AKT pathways, and activation of stress-related cascades, including the stress-activated kinases c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK). Moreover, bortezomib in conjunction with SAHA efficiently induces apoptosis of primary T-leukemia/lymphoma cells and inhibits tumor growth in a murine xenograft model established with subcutaneous injection of Jurkat cells. Taken together, these findings confirm the synergistic anti-tumor effect of the proteasome and histone deacetylase inhibitors, and provide an insight into the future clinical applications of bortezomib-SAHA combining regimen in treating T-cell malignancies.
High-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs), which lose energy quickly during their propagation, provide a probe of Galactic high-energy processes and may enable the observation of ...phenomena such as dark-matter particle annihilation or decay. The CRE spectrum has been measured directly up to approximately 2 teraelectronvolts in previous balloon- or space-borne experiments, and indirectly up to approximately 5 teraelectronvolts using ground-based Cherenkov γ-ray telescope arrays. Evidence for a spectral break in the teraelectronvolt energy range has been provided by indirect measurements, although the results were qualified by sizeable systematic uncertainties. Here we report a direct measurement of CREs in the energy range 25 gigaelectronvolts to 4.6 teraelectronvolts by the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) with unprecedentedly high energy resolution and low background. The largest part of the spectrum can be well fitted by a 'smoothly broken power-law' model rather than a single power-law model. The direct detection of a spectral break at about 0.9 teraelectronvolts confirms the evidence found by previous indirect measurements, clarifies the behaviour of the CRE spectrum at energies above 1 teraelectronvolt and sheds light on the physical origin of the sub-teraelectronvolt CREs.
Highlights • Autophagy contributes to brain damage after focal ischemia in the barrel cortex. • The autophagic cell death increases in adult NF-κB p50 knockout mice. • The autophagic damage involves ...neuronal and vascular cells. • A reduction of Akt-mTOR signaling may contribute to the autophagy activity.
Tumor-derived DNA can be found in the plasma of cancer patients. In this study, we explored the use of shotgun massively parallel sequencing (MPS) of plasma DNA from cancer patients to scan a cancer ...genome noninvasively.
Four hepatocellular carcinoma patients and a patient with synchronous breast and ovarian cancers were recruited. DNA was extracted from the tumor tissues, and the preoperative and postoperative plasma samples of these patients were analyzed with shotgun MPS.
We achieved the genomewide profiling of copy number aberrations and point mutations in the plasma of the cancer patients. By detecting and quantifying the genomewide aggregated allelic loss and point mutations, we determined the fractional concentrations of tumor-derived DNA in plasma and correlated these values with tumor size and surgical treatment. We also demonstrated the potential utility of this approach for the analysis of complex oncologic scenarios by studying the patient with 2 synchronous cancers. Through the use of multiregional sequencing of tumoral tissues and shotgun sequencing of plasma DNA, we have shown that plasma DNA sequencing is a valuable approach for studying tumoral heterogeneity.
Shotgun DNA sequencing of plasma is a potentially powerful tool for cancer detection, monitoring, and research.
Highlights • Intrathecal administration of ATL alleviates mechanical allodynia and neuroinflammation induced by CCI surgery. • ALX is mainly expressed in astrocytes in the spinal dorsal horn of CCI ...rats. • ATL regulates the upregulation of p-STAT3 and SOCS3 mRNA expression in the spinal cord of CCI rats. • Inhibition of JAK2 and STAT3 reduced mechanical mechanical allodynia and spinal neuroinflammation induced by CCI surgery.
Uncertainty surrounds the effects of cerebral edema on outcomes in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
We used data from the INTERACT trial to determine the predictors and prognostic significance of ..."perihematomal" edema over 72 hours after ICH. INTERACT included 404 patients with CT-confirmed ICH and elevated systolic blood pressure (BP) (150-220 mm Hg) who had the capacity to commence BP lowering treatment within 6 hours of ICH. Baseline and repeat CT (24 and 72 hours) were performed using standardized techniques, with digital images analyzed centrally. Predictors of growth in edema were determined using generalized estimating equations, and its effects on clinical outcomes were estimated using a logistic regression model.
Overall, 270 patients had 3 sequential CT scans available for analyses. At baseline, there was a highly significant correlation between hematoma and perihematomal edema volumes (r(2) = 0.45). Lower systolic BP and baseline hematoma volume were independently associated with absolute increase in perihematomal edema volume. History of hypertension, baseline hematoma volume, and earlier time from onset to CT were independently associated with relative increase in edema volume. Both absolute and relative increases in perihematomal edema growth were significantly associated with death or dependency at 90 days after adjustment for age, gender, and randomized treatment, but not when additionally adjusted for baseline hematoma volume.
The degree of, and growth in, perihematomal edema are strongly related to the size of the underlying hematoma of acute intracerebral hemorrhage, and do not appear to have a major independent effect in determining the outcome from this condition.
Highlights • Intra-femoral inoculation of 4T1 mammary carcinoma cells induced bone cancer pain. • Spinal IL-33 expression was elevated in mice with bone cancer. • ST2 gene knockout ameliorated bone ...cancer pain and spinal proinflammatory cytokine expression.
The present study was undertaken to investigate the anthelmintic activity of crude extracts and pure compounds from the rhizomes of
Paris polyphylla. The methanol extract showed a promising ...anthelmintic activity against
Dactylogyrus intermedius (EC
50 value
=
18.06
mg
l
−1). Based on these finding, the methanol extract was fractionated on silica gel column chromatography in a bioassay-guided fractionation affording two known steroidal saponins showing potent activity, dioscin (
1) and polyphyllin D (
2). Both dioscin and polyphyllin D exhibited significant activity against
D. intermedius with EC
50 values of 0.44 and 0.70
mg
l
−1, respectively, which were more effective than the positive control, mebendazole (EC
50 value
=
1.25
mg
l
−1). The acute toxicities (LC
50) of dioscin and polyphyllin D for goldfish were 1.37 and 1.08
mg
l
−1, respectively. These results indicated that
P. polyphylla extract and the isolated compounds are potential natural agents for the control of
Dactylogyrus infestation. This is the first report on
in vivo anthelmintic investigation for
P. polyphylla.
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