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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The primary adverse effect of cyclophosphamide (CTX) chemotherapy to cancer in male patients of reproductive age is a significant impairment of reproductive function. Huangqi-Guizhi-Wuwutang (HGW), a classical traditional Chinese medicine formula, is designed to exert a salutary effect on qi and promote blood circulation, thereby eliminating blood stasis and promoting spermatogenesis, and it has been recorded as a treatment for oligospermia. However, its potential in mitigating the adverse impact of CTX on male spermatogenesis remains unexplored., Aim of the Study: The present investigation aims to elucidate the potential protective effects and underlying mechanisms of HGW against CTX - induced spermatogenic dysfunction in mice., Material and Methods: C57BL/6J mice that received intraperitoneal injections of CTX were employed to induce dysfunction in spermatogenesis. Pharmacological experimentation was conducted to evaluate the potential effect of HGW in mitigating spermatogenic toxicity induced by CTX. Additionally, mRNA sequencing was utilized to identify genes exhibiting differential expression between the untreated and HGW treated groups, thereby elucidating the comprehensive underlying mechanisms involved. The most significantly enriched potential pathways were identified and subsequently validated in vivo., Results: The administration of HGW significantly increased the testicular index, epididymal index, sperm concentration and sperm motility in mice with spermatogenesis dysfunction. Furthermore, HGW effectively ameliorated the observed tissue damage in pathological sections of the testes, elevated serum levels of inhibin B (INH-B) and testosterone (T), while reduced levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) compared to the Model group. An analysis on the genes associated with HGW treatment for CTX-induced oligospermia revealed a significantly enhanced functional enrichment in steroid hormone biosynthesis signaling pathways. Experimental results demonstrated that HGW significantly enhanced cellular activity and T levels in TM3 cell injury model using phosphoramide mustard (PM, the active ingredient of CTX invivo) and upregulates protein expression of key enzymes involved in hormonal steroid synthesis within testicular tissues, including 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD), steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 family 17 subfamily A member 1 (CYP17A1) and sytochrome P450 family 11 subfamily A member 1 (CYP11A1)., Conclusion: Our data has demonstrated the effectiveness of HGW in improving CTX-induced spermatogenic dysfunction by enhancing hormonal steroid synthesis in a model system, indicating the potential chemoprotective effects of HGW against CTX-induced spermatotoxicity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Infertility affects about 10% of the world's population and has been recognized by the WHO as a global public health problem. The aim of this network meta-analysis was to investigate the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions on sperm quality. All randomized clinical trials (RCTs) from the PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, and Cochrane Library databases evaluating the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on semen parameters using network meta-analyses. Results of the ω-3 fatty acid, lycopene, acupuncture, and vitamin suggested evident advantages in improving sperm concentration (MD, 9.93 (95% CI, 7.21 to 12.65)), (MD, 8.79 (95% CI, 2.67 to 14.91)), (MD, 5.40 (95% CI, 2.32 to 8.49)) and (MD, 3.82 (95% CI, 0.70 to 6.94) respectively). Acupuncture has a significant advantage over placebo in improving sperm total motility (MD, 17.81 (95% CI, 10.32 to 25.29)), and the effect of lycopene was obviously greater than that of placebo (MD, 19.91 (95% CI, 2.99 to 36.83)). Lycopene, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), acupuncture, ω-3 fatty acid, and vitamin suggested significant advantages in improving sperm forward motility (MD, 8.64 (95% CI, 1.15 to 16.13), MD, 5.28 (95% CI, 2.70 to 7.86), MD, 3.95 (95% CI, 3.23 to 4.67), MD, 3.50 (95% CI, 2.21 to 4.79)) and (MD, 2.38 (95% CI, 0.96 to 3.80) respectively). This review establishes that non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly acupuncture, exercise, lycopene, ω-3 fatty acids, CoQ10, zinc, vitamins, selenium, carnitine, or foods rich in these supplements, profitably improve sperm quality that may be used to treat male infertility.

Docetaxel (Doc) is the gold standard of care for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients, although the therapeutic effects are modest. Fuzheng Yiliu decoction (FZYL) comprises multiple herbs, and has been used for >10 years to treat various cancers, including hepatocellular tumors, malignant gastrointestinal tumors, and prostate cancer. In the study reported, we evaluated the anticancer effects of FZYL and of a combination of Doc and FZYL in CRPC tumor-bearing mice, and explored the underlying mechanisms. PC-3 tumor-bearing mice were treated with FZYL, Doc, Doc + FZYL or vehicle solution. Tumor volume was monitored, and tumor weight, proliferation and apoptosis of tumor tissues were measured. Deep sequencing was used to profile the miRNA expression patterns in tumor tissues. Our results suggested that FZYL alone could depress tumor growth, and the combination of Doc and FZYL treatment exhibited enhanced anticancer effects. Doc + FZYL regulated the expression of 10 miRNAs: miR-34b-5p, miR-674-3p, miR-140-3p, miR-342-3p, miR-214-3p, miR-149-5p, miR-378c, miR-29b-3p, miR-218-5p, and miR-378a-3p, involving in the PI3K-Akt pathway in the treatment of CRPC., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: In this work, we evaluated the expression of microRNA-384 (miR-384) in human prostate cancer (CAP) cells and its regulatory role on CAP in vitro and in vivo functions., Methods: In CAP cell lines, miR-384 expression was evaluated by qRT-PCR. In LNCaP and VCaP cells, lentiviral infection was done to overexpress miR-384. The regulatory effects of miR-384 overexpression on CAP in vitro proliferation and migration, and in vivo tumorigenesis, were evaluated, respectively. The targeting of miR-384 on Homeobox b7 gene (HOXB7), was evaluated by dual-luciferase reporter assay and qRT-PCR. In addition, HOXB7 was upregulated in miR-384-overexpressed CAP cells to evaluate the correlated role of HOXB7 in miR-384-mediated CAP proliferation and migration in vitro., Results: MiR-384 was lowly expressed in CAP cell lines. Lentiviral infection induced miR-384 overexpression inhibited CAP in vitro proliferation and migration, and in vivo tumorigenesis. HOXB7 was directly targeted by miR-384 in CAP cells. In miR-384-overexpressed CAP cells, HOXB7 upregulation reversed the effect of miR-384 by promoting CAP in vitro proliferation and migration., Conclusion: MiR-384 was downregulated in CAP cells. MiR-384 overexpression suppressed CAP in vitro and in vivo development, possibly via acting through its downstream target gene of HOXB7., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

The vegetation supply water index (VSWI = NDVI/LST) is an effective metric estimating soil moisture in areas with moderate to dense vegetation cover. However, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) exhibits a long water stress lag and the land surface temperature (LST), sensitive to water stress, does not contribute considerably to surface soil moisture monitoring due to the constraints of the mathematical characteristics of VSWI: LST influences VSWI less when LST value is sufficiently high. This paper mathematically analyzes the characteristics of VSWI and proposes a new operational dryness index (surface water content temperature index, SWCTI) for the assessment of surface soil moisture status. SWCTI uses the surface water content index (SWCI), which provides a more accurate estimation of surface soil moisture than that of NDVI, as the numerator and the modified surface temperature, which has a greater influence on SWCTI than that of LST, as the denominator. The validation work includes comparison of SWCTI with in situ soil moisture and other remote sensing indices. The results show SWCTI demonstrates the highest correlation with in situ soil moisture; the highest correlation R = 0.801 is found between SWCTI and the 0⁻5 cm soil moisture in a sandy loam. SWCTI is a functional and effective method that has a great potential in surface soil moisture monitoring.