Search

[Abstract]: [Objective]: To analyze the main syndrome types, medication rules, and core prescription characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of metabolism-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), and to predict the anti-MAFLD mechanism of core formula, so as to provide references for the clinical application of TCM and the development of new drugs. [Methods]: Literature research on TCM in treating MAFLD was retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and Wanfang Database since the establishment of the database to July 2022. Excel 2019 and Chinese Medicine Inheritance Computing Platform (V3.0) were used for frequency analysis, association rule analysis, and cluster analysis of effective prescriptions. The key components, targets, and action pathways of anti-MAFLD core formulas were predicted by network pharmacology. Finally, the interactions between the obtained core components and their core targets were verified reversely by molecular docking technology. [Results]: A total of 218 articles were screened and selected, including 352 prescriptions, involving 270 traditional Chinese herbs. The drugs were used a total of 3 901 times, and a total of 10 915 cases were collected, among which the prevalence rate was higher in males. The main types of TCM syndrome included intermingled phlegm and blood stasis syndrome, liver depression and spleen deficiency syndrome, and damp-heat in liver and gallbladder syndrome, among which Shanzha (Crataegi Fructus), Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma), Fuling (Poria), Zexie (Alismatis Rhizoma), Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix), and Baizhu (Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma) were the most frequently used. The properties of Chinese medicine primarily encompassed thermal characteristics, with a predominant emphasis on cold and warm; the flavors of herbs were predominantly characterized by bitterness and sweetness, while the majority exhibited tropism towards the spleen and liver meridians. The drugs were primarily classified based on their efficacy in tonifying deficiencies, promoting diuresis and moistening, enhancing blood circulation and removing blood stasis, heat-clearing, etc. The association rules were employed to derive a set of 20 core drug pairs, while cluster analysis was utilized to identify three distinct groups of core drug combinations. Network pharmacological showed that the main components of the core formula “Shanzha (Crataegi Fructus) - Danshen (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma) - Zexie (Alismatis Rhizoma) - Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) - Fuling (Poria)” in the treatment of MAFLD were quercetin, apigenin, puerarin, luteolin, ursolic acid, kaempferol, tanshinone IIA, emodin, paeonol, etc., which involved RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (AKT1), cellular tumor antigen p53 (TP53), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), peroxisome proliferative activated receptor gamma (PPARG), and other key targets. The molecular docking results showed that the core components had good binding to lipid and atherosclerosis, and phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling pathway-associated proteins. [Conclusion]: The main principles of TCM for the treatment of MAFLD involve soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen, eliminating phlegm and dampness, clearing heat and dampness, as well as promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. The core formula may exert anti-MAFLD effects mediated through multiple components, targets, and signaling pathways. This study establishes a theoretical foundation for the clinical application of TCM in the treatment of MAFLD, and serves as a reference for further exploration of new drugs against MAFLD.

Knowledge reduction of information systems is one of the most important parts of rough set theory in real-world applications. Based on the connections between the rough set theory and the theory of topology, a kind of topological reduction of incomplete information systems is discussed. In this study, the topological reduction of incomplete information systems is characterized by belief and plausibility functions from evidence theory. First, we present that a topological space induced by a pair of approximation operators in an incomplete information system is pseudo-discrete, which deduces a partition. Then, the topological reduction is characterized by the belief and plausibility function values of the sets in the partition. A topological reduction algorithm for computing the topological reducts in incomplete information systems is also proposed based on evidence theory, and its efficiency is examined by an example. Moreover, relationships among the concepts of topological reduct, classical reduct, belief reduct, and plausibility reduct of an incomplete information system are presented.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Methods Patients who received single-level percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy for lumbar disc herniation in our department from January 2012 to December 2015 were recruited and followed up for at least 5 years. Oswestry disability index (ODI) and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of waist and leg were evaluated preoperatively, 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively, and at the last follow-up. Postoperative complications and their treatment were recorded and analyzed. Results A total of 1 807 cases were included, of which, 1 706 cases were followed up and 101 cases were lost to follow-up, with a follow-up rate of 94.08%. The mean follow-up time was 6.36±1.08 years. The ODI scores at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively and last follow-up were 26.01±7.48, 20.87±7.50, 17.25±7.77 and 17.26±13.53, respectively, which were significantly lower than that preoperatively (58.23±13.06). The ODI score at 12 months postoperatively was significantly lower than those at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. The VAS scores of low back at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively and last follow-up were 2.50±0.83, 1.93±0.84, 1.54±0.82 and 1.46±1.28, respectively, and all these scores were significantly lower than that preoperatively (5.48±1.24). The score at 12 months postoperatively was obviously lower than those at 3 and 6 months. The VAS scores of leg at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively and last follow-up were 2.00±1.07, 1.43±1.02, 1.01±1.01 and 0.89±1.39, respectively, and all of them were significantly lower than the preoperative score (4.73±1.84). The incidence of postoperative complications was 0.53% (9/1 706), including 2 cases of intervertebral disc cyst, 2 of intervertebral space infection and 5 of adjacent segment disease. Eleven patients do not relieve postoperatively. The recurrence rate was 10.38% in 177 cases. One year postoperatively was the peak time of disc recurrence, and the patients aged 61 to 90 years had a higher recurrence rate. The reoperation rate for recurrence was 50.85% and total reoperation rate was 5.98%. For the recurrence, 90 cases were treated with surgery and 87 cases were treated conservatively. Conclusion Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy has good long-term follow-up outcomes in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation.

With the rapid development of new energy, wind power, photovoltaic, geothermal and other energy sources are connected to the power grid on a large scale, showing the characteristics of system stability and reliability, complex safety characteristics, imbalance between supply and demand, and insufficient peak shaving capacity. As a flexible demand response resource, distributed energy storage can effectively promote the coordinated and stable operation of power supply and demand resources. Considering the economy and technology of distributed aggregators, an operation optimization model for their participation in demand response is constructed, and a distributed energy storage operation control strategy considering demand response is proposed, which can effectively realize peak load shifting.

Time history analysis is becoming the routine process to quantify the response of the structure under dynamic loads. In this paper, a novel two-step unconditionally stable explicit integration algorithm, named Unconditional Stable Two-Step Explicit Displacement Method (USTEDM), is proposed for vibration analysis of structure. USTEDM is unconditionally stable, requires low memory, produces no overshoot, and is third order accurate. The accuracy and efficiency of USTEDM are presented and compared with other commonly used integration algorithms. The result shows that the proposed algorithm has superior performance and can be used efficiently in solving vibration response of civil engineering structure.

Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) composed of elements such as silica and titanium, smaller than 100 nm in diameter and their aggregates, are found in consumer products such as cosmetics, food, antimicrobials and drug delivery systems, and oral health products such as toothpaste and dental materials. They may also interact accidently with epithelial tissues in the intestines and oral cavity, where they can aggregate into larger particles and induce inflammation through pathways such as inflammasome activation. Persistent inflammation can lead to precancerous lesions. Both the particles and lesions are difficult to detect in biopsies, especially in clinical settings that screen large numbers of patients. As diagnosis of early stages of disease can be lifesaving, there is growing interest in better understanding interactions between NPs and epithelium and developing rapid imaging techniques that could detect foreign particles and markers of inflammation in epithelial tissues. NPs can be labelled with fluorescence or radioactive isotopes, but it is challenging to detect unlabeled NPs with conventional imaging techniques. Different current imaging techniques such as synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy are discussed here. Improvements in imaging techniques, coupled with the use of machine learning tools, are needed before diagnosis of particles in biopsies by automated imaging could move usefully into the clinic.