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Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are among the most common noncommunicable diseases globally, with high morbidity and mortality rates. Acupuncture, a treatment method derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine, has been shown to be effective at treating CRDs, with little risk of adverse effects. Scientific research on the mechanisms underlying the effects of acupuncture, especially, its immune regulatory function, has rapidly advanced in recent years. Herein, the diverse immune regulatory mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of acupuncture are summarized from the perspectives of innate immunity, adaptive immunity, and neuroimmunity. A better understanding of these mechanisms will ultimately provide a scientific basis for the clinical use of acupuncture for the treatment of CRDs.

Purpose To investigate the function and expression of the PGE2 receptors EP1–4 in rat retinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury and to determine the regulatory role of resveratrol (RES) in this process. Methods In vitro, we stimulated primary astrocytes extracted from the optic disc of rats with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and RES, and detected the location of EP1–4 expression with immunofluorescence. The expression of antiglial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), EGF receptor (EGFR), inducible NOS (iNOS), and EP1–4 in astrocytes was detected with western blotting. In vivo, we established an I/R injury model and RES treatment model with Sprague-Dawley rats. Changes in the thickness of the inner retina were observed with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. EP1–4 localization in the retina was observed with immunohistochemistry. The expression of COX-2, iNOS, and EP1–4 in the control and model groups was detected with western blotting. Results In this study, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry showed that EP1–4 are expressed in astrocytes and the rat retina. EGF stimulation increased the expression of EGFR, iNOS, EP1, EP2, and EP4 in astrocytes. The expression of EP1–4 was statistically significantly increased on the third day after model induction, and EP1–4 expression decreased to normal levels on day 7. EGF and RES mediated the decrease in the expression of EP2. RES treatment significantly reduced retinal damage and RGC loss, as demonstrated by the relatively intact tissue structure on day 7 observed with H&E staining. Moreover, inflammation was associated with this I/R injury model, as demonstrated by the early induction of proinflammatory mediators, and this inflammation was significantly attenuated after RES treatment. Conclusions These results indicate that the COX-2/PGE2/EPs pathway is involved in retinal damage and astrocyte inflammation. In addition, the results suggest that the neuroprotective effects of RES may be associated with decreased production of inflammatory mediators. These results suggest that the PGE2 receptor may be a key factor in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, and that RES may be used as a possible therapeutic strategy for glaucoma.

BackgroundWhen thyroid disorders occurred, it can disturb the balance of trace elements in human body. Therefore, the detection of trace elements during an early screening of thyroid diseases, treatment, and prognosis judgment based on personal characteristics of drugs and treatment will provide a scientific basis for clinical decision-making and can effectively reduce patients' pain and social medical burden. Methods50 healthy volunteers and 200 patients with thyroid diseases (58 cases of thyroid nodule, 59 cases of goiter, 34 cases of postoperative thyroid cancer and 24 cases of thyroid cancer) were compared in our study. Total trace elements of iodine, selenium, manganese, chromium etc. (in total 28 elements) in human serum were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A risk assessment model for thyroid disease was established after analyzing trace elements content, thyroid function and ultrasonography results by gender and age with the characteristics of the Chinese population. ResultsThe results showed there were significant differences in eight trace elements (I, Ca, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Sb) between the thyroid disease group and the healthy control group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences in ten trace elements (I, Ca, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Sb) between the female thyroid disease group and the control group (P< 0.05). And there were significant differences in the eight trace elements (I, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Sb) between the male thyroid disease group and the control group (P< 0.05). There were significant correlations between the contents of FT3, FT4, T3 and T4 corresponding to iodine (P< 0.05) in thyroid disease group. Also, correlations between Fe-Zn, Cr-Mn, Ca-Zn, Ca-Se, Ca-Fe and Zn-Se (PConclusionsThe high concentration of iodine and manganese are risk factors of thyroid disease. In addition to the low concentration of cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, selenium, and antimony, calcium in the serum of female patients with thyroid disease and iron in the serum of male patients with thyroid disease play a very important role. Random forest model based on element risk assessment of thyroid disease is helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease.

Over 300 species of naturally occurring-organoarsenicals have been identified with the development of modern analytical techniques. Why there so many environmental organoarsenicals exist is a real enigma. Are they protective or harmful? Or are they simply by-products of existing pathways for non-arsenical compounds? Fundamental unanswered questions exist about their occurrence, prevalence and fate in the environment, metabolisms, toxicology and biological functions. This review focuses on possible answers. As a beginning, we classified them into two categories: water-soluble and lipid-soluble organoarsenicals (arsenolipids). Continual improvements in analytical techniques will lead to identification of additional organoarsenicals. In this review, we enumerate identified environmental organoarsenicals and speculate about their pathways of synthesis and degradation based on structural data and previous studies. Organoarsenicals are frequently considered to be nontoxic, yet trivalent methylarsenicals, synthetic aromatic arsenicals and some pentavalent arsenic-containing compounds have been shown to be highly toxic. The biological functions of some organoarsenicals have been defined. For example, arsenobetaine acts as an osmolyte, and membrane arsenolipids have a phosphate-sparing role under phosphate-limited conditions. However, the toxicological properties and biological functions of most organoarsenicals are largely unknown. The objective of this review is to summarize the toxicological and physiological properties and to provide novel insights into future studies.

Although fish and seafood are well known for their nutritional benefits, they contain contaminants that might affect human health. Organic lipid-soluble arsenic species, so called arsenolipids, belong to the emerging contaminants in these food items; their toxicity has yet to be systematically studied. Here, we apply the in vivo model Caenorhabditis elegans to assess the effects of two arsenic-containing hydrocarbons (AsHC), a saturated arsenic-containing fatty acid (AsFA), and an arsenic-containing triacylglyceride (AsTAG) in a whole organism. Although all arsenolipids were highly bioavailable in Caenorhabditis elegans, only the AsHCs were substantially metabolized to thioxylated or shortened metabolic products and induced significant toxicity, affecting both survival and development. Furthermore, the AsHCs were several fold more potent as compared to the toxic reference arsenite. This study clearly indicates the need for a full hazard identification of subclasses of arsenolipids to assess whether they pose a risk to human health.

To assess the curative effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) on leukopenia induced by chemo-radiotherapy in patients with lung cancer.A comprehensive electronic search in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Libary database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI) and Wanfang Database was conducted up to July 2017. Random-effects model was used to estimate the standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Eleven studies with a total of 957 patients were included in this meta-analysis.The effectiveness in TCM group was higher than control group [RR = 1.60, 95% CI (1.38, 1.85), P0.000 01]. Compare with Western Medicine group, the effectiveness has no significant difference [RR = 0.96, 95% CI (0.82, 1.12), P = 0.57]. The ineffective rate in test group was lower than the control group [RR = 0.30, 95% CI (0.21, 0.42), P0.000 01].By meta-regression it was suggested that TCM has curative effect on leukopenia induced by chemo-radiotherapy in patients with lung cancer, but by the influence of number and quality of researches, publication bias, more evidence from high quality studies, and larger cohorts for observational trials are needed.

Variation in arsenolipid concentrations was assessed in 18 seafood samples including fish, shellfish, and crustaceans purchased in Japan. Analyses were performed by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Stable isotope ratios for nitrogen and carbon were also measured in the samples for obtaining trophic level information of the species. Arsenic-containing hydrocarbons (AsHCs) and arsenic-containing fatty acids (AsFAs) were detected in the seafood samples; the toxic AsHCs were found in all of the seafood samples with large variation in the concentrations (83 ± 73 ng As/g fw, coefficient of variation = 88%). Our previous point estimate of health risk of AsHCs intake via seafood consumption in Japan, based on average AsHC concentration in seafood, suggested insignificant risk, and the present study supports our previous estimate. AsHC concentrations significantly correlated with lipid content of the seafood samples (r = 0.67, p

Background. Chinese oral herbal paste has been widely used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the treatment effects of herbal paste were controversial and lack evidence to support its clinical use. This study aims to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese oral herbal paste for the treatment of stable COPD. Methods. PubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL, EMBASE, CNKI, VIP, CBM, and WANFANG database in addition to two websites of clinical trial registry were searched from respective inception to August 2019. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studying Chinese herbal paste for the treatment of stable COPD were included. Methodological quality was assessed based on Cochrane risk of bias and GRADE approach. Data were analyzed using RevMan 5.3. Results. A total of 19 RCTs with 1303 individuals compared Chinese oral herbal paste and Western medicine (WM) with WM alone were included for meta-analysis. The review showed compared with WM alone, the combination of herbal paste and WM reduced exacerbation frequency. Subgroup analyses showed that after two to three months of treatment, compared with WM alone, Chinese herbal paste plus WM significantly decreased the St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, COPD assessment test (CAT) scores, and scores of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome, and improved clinical effective rates, lung function, and 6-minute walk distance. No serious adverse events related to herbal paste were reported. Conclusion. Current evidence showed that Chinese oral herbal paste may be an effective and well-tolerated adjuvant therapy for stable COPD. Considering the risks of bias and heterogeneity, more high-quality, well-designed RCTs are still needed.

Ubiquitous contamination of microplastics and arsenic in soil ecosystems can induce many health issues to nontarget soil organisms, and will also cause many potential threats to the gut bacterial communities of soil fauna. However, the changes in the gut bacterial communities of soil fauna after exposure to both microplastics and arsenic remain unknown. In this study, the toxicity and effects on the gut microbiota of earthworm Metaphire californica caused by the combined exposure of microplastics and arsenic were examined by using arsenic species analysis and high throughput sequencing of gut microbiota. Results showed that total arsenic and arsenic species in the earthworm gut and body tissues after exposure to combination of microplastics with arsenate (As(V)) were significantly different from that treated with As(V) alone. Microplastics lessened the accumulation of total arsenic and the transformation rate of As(V) to arsenite (As(III)). Microplastics alleviated the effect of arsenic on the gut microbiota possibly via adsorbing/binding As(V) and lowering arsenic bioavailability, thus prevented the reduction of As(V) and accumulation of total arsenic in the gut which resulted in a lower toxicity on the earthworm. The study broadens our understanding of the ecotoxicity of microplastics with other pollutants on the soil animals and on their gut microbiota.