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Background and objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic continues worldwide, and there is no effective treatment to treat it. Chinese medicine is considered the recommended treatment for COVID-19 in China. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of tetrandrine in treating COVID-19, which is originally derived from Chinese medicine. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients, categorized into three types (mild, moderate, severe), from Daye Hospital of Chinese Medicine with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were included in this study. Demographics, medical history, treatment, and results were collected. We defined two main groups according to the clinical outcome between improvement and recovery. All underlying factors including clinical outcomes were assessed in the total number of COVID-19 patients and moderate-type patients. Results: In a total of 60 patients, there were significant differences in the clinical outcome underlying treatment with antibiotics, tetrandrine, and arbidol (p < 0.05). When the comparison was limited to the moderate type, treatment with tetrandrine further increased recovery rate (p = 0.007). However, the difference disappeared, and no association was indicated between the clinical outcome and the treatment with and without antibiotic (p = 0.224) and arbidol (p = 0.318) in the moderate-type patients. In all-type and moderate-type patients, tetrandrine improved the rate of improvement in cough and fatigue on day 7 (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Tetrandrine may improve clinical outcome in COVID-19 patientsand could be a promising potential natural antiviral agent for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ribes meyeri leaves are used as traditional Kazakh medicine in China. However, no study on the characterization of the phenolic compounds in R. meyeri leaves has been reported, resulting in the lack of quality control measures and poor standardization. This study was conducted to identify the phenolic compounds in R. meyeri leaves and evaluate their antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. A total of 77 phenolics were tentatively identified by liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry. Ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was applied to simultaneously quantify 12 phenolics in R. meyeri leaves. Rutin, epigallocatechin, isoquercitrin, epicatechin, protocatechuic acid, and kaempferol‐3‐O‐rutinoside were abundant in the R. meyeri leaves. The methanol extract and four different extracts enhanced the glucose uptake in 3T3‐L1 adipocytes. The ethyl acetate extracts showed a total phenolic content of 966.89 ± 3.59 mg gallic acid equivalents/g, a total flavonoid content of 263.58 ± 17.09 mg catechin equivalents/g, and good protein‐tyrosine phosphatase‐1B inhibitory activities (IC50: 0.60 ± 0.03 μg/mL). To our knowledge, this work is the first to identify and quantify the major phenolics in R. meyeri leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the increasing number of reports on the analysis of ATP7B variants, reports on carrier screening for Wilson's disease (WD, OMIM:277900) are rare., Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 42 patients from Qingdao Women and Children's Hospital diagnosed with WD for direct sequencing of ATP7B gene. Twelve hotspot variants of ATP7B were selected for carrier screening in Qingdao area based on an analysis of information related to ATP7B variants and literature reports in China. We screened 5012 dried blood spots (DBSs) from asymptomatic newborns in Qingdao area to estimate carrier frequency. DNA was extracted from dried blood spots. Gene sequencing was performed using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with second-generation sequencing. The carrier frequency of each hotspot variant was calculated using the count data (expressed as number of carriers (%) obtained by direct counting., Results: The carrier frequency of 12 hotspot variants was 1.46% (95% CI: 1.16-1.83%). The ATP7B variant with the highest carrier frequency was c.2333G>T, accounting for 54.79% of all variants screened, followed by c.2975C>T and c.2621C>T, accounting for 17.81% and 15.07% of all variants screened, respectively., Conclusion: Carrier frequency of ATP7B gene pathogenic variants is high in the population in Qingdao area., (© 2021 The Authors. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: To study the serum triglyceride (TG) distribution characteristics and their relation with abnormal glucose metabolism in populations of different nationalities in Ili Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to provide a basis for extending the prevention and treatment of abnormal glucose metabolism., Methods: With stratified cluster sampling method, epidemiological survey was conducted together with tests blood lipid and abnormal blood glucose metabolism among the permanent resident populations of six major nationalities, i.e Kazak, Uygur, Han, Hui, Xibe and Mongolia; they account for 96.8% of the total population in Ili Prefecture. In the meantime of conducting questionnaire survey and physical examination, blood glucose and blood lipid levels of the surveyed subjects were examined., Results: Among all the people surveyed in Ili Prefecture, the prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia was 36.10%, being higher in urban than in rural areas and higher in males than females (P < 0.001). The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia in Uygur and Han people (51.73% and 46.56%) was higher than that of Kazak and Mongolian people (16.39% and 18.42%). The prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia increased with the increase of age to different extent (RR value: 1.10 - 2.48). The prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism also increased with the increase of blood TG levels., Conclusion: The levels of serum triglyceride in the population of different nationalities in Ili Prefecture are different in different nationalities, areas, ages and sexes. In those with hypertriglyceridemia, the prevalence of abnormal glucose metabolism increases also.