Światowa produktywność badań w dziedzinie endokrynologii i metabolizmu — analiza bibliometryczna

  Introduction: Recently, significant contributions to the study of endocrinology and metabolism have been made. The national contribution, however, has not been reported. The aim of this study was to assess national efforts in the field of endocrinology and metabolism. Material and methods: A Web of Science search was performed using subject categories “endocrinology & metabolism” to identify articles published from 2010 to 2014. The total and per capita numbers of articles and citations were analysed for different countries. Results: A total of 79,394 articles were published on endocrinology and metabolism from 2010 to 2014. Most were published in North America, East Asia, and Europe. The majority (82.28%) were reported by authors in high-income countries, 17.64% were published in middle-income countries, and only 0.08% were published in low-income countries. Authors in the United States published the most articles (27.38%), followed by China (7.22%), Italy (5.70%), the United Kingdom (5.6%), and Japan (5.54%). Articles published by authors in the United States had the most citations (260,934). A positive correlation was found between the number of publications and population/gross domestic product (GDP; p < 0.01). When normalised to population size, the ranking for the most publications was Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands; when normalised to GDP, the ranking was Denmark, Greece, and the Netherlands. Conclusions: The majority of endocrinology and metabolism articles were published by authors from high-income countries with few from low-income countries. The United States was the most productive country. However, when population size and GDP were considered, some European countries were ranked higher. (Endokrynol Pol 2015; 66 (5): 434–442)    Wstęp: Ostatnio pojawiło się wiele znaczących publikacji na temat badań z dziedziny endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Narodowy wkład na tym polu został jednak pominięty. Celem niniejszego badania była ocena krajowych badań w dziedzinie endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Materiał i metody: Wyszukiwanie za pomocą Web of Science przeprowadzono z wykorzystaniem kategorii podmiotowych „endokrynologia i metabolizm”, aby zidentyfikować artykuły opublikowane w latach 2010–2014. Analizie poddano łączną liczbę artykułów i cytowań, a także ich liczbę przypadającą na osobę w odniesieniu do różnych krajów. Wyniki: W latach 2010–2014 opublikowano łącznie 79 394 artykułów na temat endokrynologii i metabolizmu. Większość artykułów pochodziła z Ameryki Północnej, Azji Wschodniej i Europy. Większość artykułów (82,28%) napisali autorzy z krajów o wysokich dochodach, 17,64% opublikowano w krajach średnio zamożnych, a jedynie 0,08% artykułów opublikowano w krajach o niskich dochodach. Najwięcej artykułów publikowali autorzy ze Stanów Zjednoczonych (27,38%), następnie z Chin (7,22%), Włoch (5,70%), Wielkiej Brytanii (5,6%) i Japonii (5,54%). Prace publikowane przez amerykańskich autorów zawierały największą liczbę cytowań (260 934). Stwierdzono pozytywny związek między liczbą publikacji i populacją/produktem krajowym brutto (PKB; p < 0,01). Po unormalizowaniu do liczebności populacji, w rankingu krajów o najwyższej liczbie publikacji znalazły się Dania, Szwecja oraz Holandia. Gdy znormalizowano wyniki pod względem PKB, w rankingu znalazły się Dania, Grecja oraz Holandia. Wnioski: Większość artykułów z dziedziny endokrynologii i metabolizmu została opublikowana przez autorów z krajów o wysokich dochodach; w krajach o niskich dochodach ukazało się niewiele artykułów. Stany Zjednoczone wykazały największą produktywność, jednak kiedy brano pod uwagę liczebność populacji i PKB, niektóre kraje europejskie zajmowały wyższą pozycję. (Endokrynol Pol 2015; 66 (5): 434–442)

The Efficacy and Safety of Chinese Herbal Decoction in Type 2 Diabetes: A 5-Year Retrospective Study

Background. The study was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal decoction in treating outpatients with T2DM. Methods. All patients enrolled received decoction for at least 6 months. The primary outcome was the control rate of HbA1c and the change in HbA1c. FPG, 2hPG, HOMA-IR, and HOMA-β were also collected and evaluated. Results. The control rates after treatment at months 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60 were 45.07%, 52.78%, 47.22%, 45.83%, 50.00%, 57.14%, and 40.00%. Multiple linear regression showed the change of HbA1c has a significant relationship with the baseline HbA1c and duration of DM and BMI (p<0.05). Both FPG and 2hPG levels significantly decreased compared to the baseline (p<0.05). Chinese herbal decoction also improved islet cell function with decreased HOMA-IR and increased HOMA-β (p<0.05). 19 and 4 subjects deactivated the antidiabetes drugs or insulin, respectively, after taking decoction. One subject developed DKD and one developed DPN, and another subject showed abnormal liver function which was irrelevant to decoction treatment. Conclusions. Chinese herbal decoction significantly enhanced the hypoglycemic action and had certain effect on protecting islet cell function. As a candidate diabetes therapy, it may reduce the use of antidiabetes drugs and slow the progression to diabetes complications

Parallelism and non-parallelism in diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) and diabetic retinopathy (DR), as microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus, are currently the leading causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and blindness, respectively, in the adult working population, and they are major public health problems with social and economic burdens. The parallelism between the two in the process of occurrence and development manifests in the high overlap of disease-causing risk factors and pathogenesis, high rates of comorbidity, mutually predictive effects, and partial concordance in the clinical use of medications. However, since the two organs, the eye and the kidney, have their unique internal environment and physiological processes, each with specific influencing molecules, and the target organs have non-parallelism due to different pathological changes and responses to various influencing factors, this article provides an overview of the parallelism and non-parallelism between DN and DR to further recognize the commonalities and differences between the two diseases and provide references for early diagnosis, clinical guidance on the use of medication, and the development of new drugs

The rational dose for MaXingShiGan decoction is crucial for its clinical effectiveness in treating bronchial pneumonia: three randomized, double-blind, dose-parallel controlled clinical studies

Objective: Evaluate the impact of adjusting the overall dose, Gypsum Fibrosum [Mineral; Gypsum] (ShiGao, SG) dose, and Prunus armeniaca L. [Rosaceae; Semen Armeniacae Amarum] (KuXingRen, KXR) dose on the efficacy of MaXingShiGan Decoction (MXSG) in treating children with bronchial pneumonia (Wind-heat Blocking the Lung), in order to provide strategy supported by high-quality evidence for the selection of rational clinical doses of MXSG.Methods: Based on the basic dose of MXSG, we conducted three randomized, double-blind, dose parallel controlled, multicenter clinical trials, involving adjustments to the overall dose, SG dose, and KXR dose, and included 120 children with bronchial pneumonia (Wind-heat Blocking the Lung) respectively. And the patients were divided into low, medium, and high dose groups in a 1:1:1 ratio, with 40 cases in each group. The intervention period lasted for 10 days. The primary outcome was the clinical cured rate, while the secondary outcomes included the effectiveness in alleviating major symptoms of bronchial pneumonia (including fever, cough, dyspnea, and phlegm congestion). And the occurrence of adverse events was recorded.Results: We first recorded and analyzed the baseline characteristics of the three studies, including age, gender, height, and so on. The results indicated that there were no significant differences among the dose groups within each study. For the study adjusting the overall dose of MXSG, the results showed that both the medium-dose group and high-dose group had significantly higher clinical cured rates compared to the low-dose group (Chi-square value 9.01, p = 0.0111). However, there was no significant benefit between the high-dose group and the medium-dose group (81.58% vs. 81.08%). Regarding phlegm congestion, excluding fever, cough, and dyspnea, both the medium-dose group and high-dose group had significantly higher clinical cured rates than the low-dose group (Chi-square value 6.31, p = 0.0426), and there was no significant benefit between the high-dose group and the medium-dose group (69.23% vs. 75.00%). A total of 5 adverse events were observed, of which only 1 case in the medium-dose group was possibly related to the experimental medication. For the study adjusted the SG dose in MXSG, the results showed that the high-dose group had the highest clinical cured rate, but the inter-group difference was not statistically significant (Chi-square value 3.36, p = 0.1864). The area under the curve (AUC) for cough in the medium-dose group was significantly lower than in the low-dose group and high-dose group (F-test value 3.14, p = 0.0471). Although no significant differences were observed in fever and dyspnea among the groups, the AUC in the high-dose group was lower than in the medium-dose and low-dose groups. In comparing the complete defervescence time, both the high-dose group (p &lt; 0.0001) and the medium-dose group (p = 0.0015) achieved faster than the low-dose group. The high-dose group slightly outperformed the medium-dose group (0.50 (0.50, 0.80) vs. 0.80 (0.40, 1.40)), although the difference was not significant. In the medium-dose group, 1 adverse event was observed, but it was not related to the experimental medication. For the study adjusted the KXR dose in MXSG, the results showed that both the medium-dose group and high-dose group had significantly higher cured rates compared to the low-dose group (Chi-square value 47.05, p &lt; 0.0001). However, there was no significant benefit comparing the high-dose group to the medium-dose group (90.00% vs. 92.50%). Regarding clinical symptoms, the results indicated that for cough (F-test value 3.16, p = 0.0460) and phlegm congestion (F-test value 3.84, p = 0.0243), the AUC for both the medium-dose group and high-dose group were significantly lower than in the low-dose group. Although there was benefit in the high-dose group compared to the medium-dose group, it was not statistically significant. No adverse events were observed during the study period.Conclusion: The synthesis of the three conducted clinical studies collectively indicates that for children with bronchial pneumonia (Wind-heat Blocking the Lung), the basic clinical dose of MXSG may represents an optimal intervention dose based on the accumulated clinical experience of doctors. If the dose is insufficient, the clinical effects might be compromised, but using a higher dose does not significantly enhance benefits. Concerning different symptoms, increasing the overall formula’s dose has a favorable impact on improving phlegm congestion, increasing the SG is effective in improving symptoms such as fever, cough, and dyspnea, while higher dose of KXR is effective in alleviating cough and phlegm congestion. These findings suggest that for MXSG, achieving the optimal intervention dose is crucial to achieve better clinical efficacy. For the SG and KXR, if certain symptoms are more severe, increasing the dose can be considered within safe limits, can lead to significant clinical benefits in symptom improvement. This also explains why the dose of MXSG might vary among clinical doctors, while maintaining a balance between safety and effectiveness. Of course, our study is still exploratory clinical trials, and further studies are needed to confirm our findings.Clinical Trial Registration:https://www.chictr.org.cn/index.html; Identifier: ChiCTR-TRC-13003093, ChiCTR-TRC-13003099

The Application of Fuzzy Mathematics in the Optimization of the Recipe of Filling Paste for Coal Mine Backfill

Backfill is a very important technology that can be used to reduce the environmental footprints resulting from coal mining. The selection of proper filling materials is of great significance to the operation cost and the stability of the goaf. This paper investigated the feasibility of using the coal gangue as the main component of the filling paste so as to reuse the byproducts in coal mining to the maximum extent. The filling pastes were composed of coal gangue as the aggregates, cement or gypsum as cementitious materials, and some additives. In order to determine the optimal recipe, the performances of filling pastes were first comprehensively evaluated according to their fluidity, mechanical properties, shrinkage, and permeability. The results showed that cement content was the most influential factor, while the fly ash addition was the weakest factor for the performance of filling pastes. Moreover, the appropriate use of a water reducer and expansion agent improved the working performance of the paste. Based on the performances of filling pastes, the fuzzy mathematics evaluation method was then used to establish the weight vector and index vector. The principle of maximum membership degree and the principle of maximum closeness were used to identify the identified objects and find the best recipe for the filling paste. The results showed that this evaluation method could fully reflect the influence of various factors and provide accurate evaluation results

Compound Danshen Dripping Pill for Treating Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy: A Meta-Analysis of 13 Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective. We assess the clinical effect of compound Danshen dripping pill (CDDP) for treating diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods. Electronic databases were searched from January 2001 to October 2016 to locate randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Efficacy was measured as main outcome and microaneurysms, hemorrhage, exudate, vision, and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) were measured as second outcomes. Methodological quality for each study was evaluated, RevMan 5 software was used to assess treatment effects, and GRADE was used to rate quality of evidence. Results. We located 13 RCTs and methodological quality was evaluated as high risk. Statistics indicated CDDP for treating DR was better than controls and DR risk was reduced 64% with CDDP (RR: 0.36, P=0.68); retinal microaneurysms (MD = −4.32NO, P<0.00001); retinal hemorrhages (MD = −0.70PD, P=0.03); exudate improvements (MD = −0.09PD, P=0.79); visual changes (MD = −0.12 letter, P=0.006); FFA (RR: 0.40, P=0.003). About GRADE, quality of evidence was “low.” Conclusion. CDDP may be safe and efficacious for treating or delaying DR and may improve vision or delay vision loss

Efficacy of Shenzhuo formula on diabetic kidney disease: a retrospective study

AbstractObjectiveTo observe the efficacy of a traditional Chinese medicine, Shenzhuo formula, on patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD).MethodsEighty-eight outpatients with DKD were enrolled. Changes in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), creatinine clearance, serum creatinine, blood-urea-nitrogen, albuminuria, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), blood pressure, and lipid profile were measured and analyzed before and after intervention with Shenzhuo formula for 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months.ResultsCompared with the baseline amounts, serum creatinine decreased, and eGFR and creatinine clearance increased, significantly after intervention for 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months (all P < 0.05). Mean eGFR increased by 2.11 mL/min per 1.73 m2/y after 18-month treatment. Urinary protein at 24 h decreased significantly after 1, 3, 9, and 12 months (P < 0.05). HbA1C decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 months, and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 1, 3, and 6 months. Total cholesterol decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 1, 3, 6, and 18 months. Triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 1 and 3 months.ConclusionShenzhuo formula can improve eGFR and possibly slow DKD progression. Shenzhuo formula can also lower HbA1C, lipid levels and blood pressure

A Study on the Mechanism of Milkvetch Root in the Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy Based on Network Pharmacology

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus. Owing to its complicated pathogenesis, no satisfactory treatment strategies for DN are available. Milkvetch Root is a common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and has been extensively used to treat DN in clinical practice in China for many years. However, due to the complexity of botanical ingredients, the exact pharmacological mechanism of Milkvetch Root in treating DN has not been completely elucidated. The aim of this study was to explore the active components and potential mechanism of Milkvetch Root by using a systems pharmacology approach. First, the components and targets of Milkvetch Root were analyzed by using the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology database. We found the common targets of Milkvetch Root and DN constructed a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using STRING and screened the key targets via topological analysis. Enrichment of Gene Ontology (GO) pathways and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were analyzed. Subsequently, major hubs were identified and imported to the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery for pathway enrichment analysis. The binding activity and targets of the active components of Milkvetch Root were verified by using the molecular docking software SYBYL. Finally, we found 20 active components in Milkvetch Root. Moreover, the enrichment analysis of GO and KEGG pathways suggested that AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and TNF signaling pathway might be the key pathways for the treatment of DN; more importantly, 10 putative targets of Milkvetch Root (AKT1, VEGFA, IL-6, PPARG, CCL2, NOS3, SERPINE1, CRP, ICAM1, and SLC2A) were identified to be of great significance in regulating these biological processes and pathways. This study provides an important scientific basis for further elucidating the mechanism of Milkvetch Root in treating DN

Metformin modulates the gut microbiome in a mice model of high-fat diet-induced glycolipid metabolism disorder

Introduction Metformin (MET) can regulate glucose and lipid levels, and the gut microbiota may be involved in the control of metabolism. We hypothesized that MET alleviates glucolipid metabolism disorder by modulating gut microbiota and microbial metabolites.Research design and methods A total of 24 male C57BL/6 J mice were equally divided into three groups (normal control, model control (MC), and MET-treated groups). Model mice were established by feeding a high-fat diet for 6 weeks. The MET-treated group was administered MET solution (2.5 g/100 mL, 250 mg/kg). Fecal samples were collected to characterize the microbiota system using metagenomic shotgun sequencing and gas chromatography–time of flight–mass spectrometry analysis. Phenotypic and biochemical indices were obtained for further correlation analysis.Results Compared with the MC group, MET reduced the levels of weight, glucose, areas under the glucose curve in the glucose tolerance test, triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC). A decreasing abundance of bacteria, including Parabacteroides distasonis, and an increasing abundance of bacteria, including Bacteroides vulgatus, were observed in the MET-treated group. The 2-deoxytetronic acid declined after MET intervention and was positively correlated with species over-represented in the MC group and negatively correlated with species enriched in the MET-treated group. Additionally, species enriched in the MET-treated group negatively correlated with glucose, areas under the glucose curve in the glucose tolerance test, and TGs. Further, the correlation between the differential metabolites, which decreased after MET intervention, and the phenotypic indices was positive.Conclusions MET-induced restoration of intestinal homeostasis correlates with the amelioration of host glucolipid metabolism