Plant medicine metabolite Yulinzhu treating neurological disorder causing polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent endocrine disorder that affects women of reproductive age, characterized by chronic anovulation, hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovarian morphology. Emerging evidence indicates that neurological disorders play a significant role in the etiology of PCOS, highlighting the complex interplay between the central nervous system (CNS) and ovarian function. Yulinzhu, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulation, has been traditionally used to regulate menstrual cycles and improve fertility. This study aims to investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of Yulinzhu in treating PCOS induced by neurological disorders. METHODS: An extensive literature search was performed across electronic databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), covering publications up to 1 June 2024. The review included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared Yulin Zhu with placebo, standard care, or other active treatments in patients with PCOS. Two reviewers independently carried out data extraction and quality assessment. Meta-analyses were conducted using both fixed and random-effects models, with heterogeneity evaluated using the I2 statistic. RESULTS: We screened 891 records and included 6 studi es in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that Yulinzhu about effective rate [RR = 1.19, 95% CI (1.10, 1.29), p < 0.0001], pregnancy rate [RR = 2.80, 95% CI (1.65, 4.76), p < 0.0001] and ovulation rate [RR = 1.33, 95% CI (1.10, 1.62), p = 0.04]. Meta-analysis shows the results of follicle estrogen [WMD = 0.69, 95% CI (-0.39, 1.78), p = 0.21], luteinizing hormone [WMD = -2.27, 95% CI (-3.86, -0.67), p = 0.005], testosterone [WMD = -0.44, 95% CI (-0.64, -0.25), p < 0.0001], estradiol [WMD = 16.20, 95% CI (2.74, 29.67), p < 0.0001]. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that plant medicine compund Yulinzhu may effectively treats PCOS including hormonal regulation, anti-inflammatory actions, and neuroprotection. We expect further research with larger, well-designed clinical trials to substantiate our conclusions

Preparative Isolation and Purification of Lignans from Justicia procumbens Using High-Speed Counter-Current Chromatography in Stepwise Elution Mode

Lignans, which are recognized as main constituents in Justicia procumbens, have attracted considerable attention due to their pharmacological activities, including antitumor, anti-hepatitic, cytotoxic, anti-microbial, and anti-virus properties. Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully applied to the isolation and purification of four lignans (justicidin B (1), justicidin A (2), 6\u27-hydroxyjusticidin C (3) and lignan J1 (4)) from J. procumbens using stepwise elution with a pair of two-phase solvent systems composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water at (1.3:1:1.3:1, v/v) and (2.5:1:2.5:1, v/v). The preparative HSCCC separation was performed on 300 mg of crude sample yielding compounds 1 (19.7 mg), 2 (9.86 mg), 3 (11.26 mg), and 4 (2.54 mg) in a one-step separation, with purities over 95% as determined by HPLC. The structures of these compounds were identified by MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. This is the first report on the application of HSCCC to the efficient separation of lignans from J. procumbens

Multi-Scenario Simulation of Land Use and Landscape Ecological Risk Response Based on Planning Control

This study applied territorial spatial planning control to a land use multi-scenario simulation in Changde, China, and measured the landscape ecological risk response. It embedded five planning control schemes, respectively, involving inertial development, urban expansion size quantity control, ecological spatial structure control, land use zoning control, and comprehensive control. Findings show that: (1) Woodland and arable land in Changde occupy 31.10% and 43.35% of land use, respectively, and constitute the main functional space of the research area. The scale of construction land in Changde has enlarged continuously, with ecological space represented by woodland and water constantly squeezed and occupied. (2) Comprehensive control has the most remarkable restraining effect on the disordered spread of construction land, while ecological space structure control is the most effective way to control ecological land shrinkage. (3) The overall landscape ecological risk index expanded over 2009–2018, presenting an S-type time evolution curve of “sharp increase–mitigation”. Landscape ecological risk presents a single-core, double-layer circle structure with the north and east regions as the core, attenuating to the periphery. (4) Landscape ecological risk under land use zoning control increased significantly more than in other scenarios. Comprehensive control best prevented landscape ecological risk and restrained the disorderly expansion of construction land

Tis, tis, tis wel mooi weer...

This paper is concerned with the problem of exponential stability for a class of stochastic neural networks with Markovian switching and mode-dependent interval time-varying delays. A novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional is introduced with the idea of delay-partitioning, and a new exponential stability criterion is derived based on the new functional and free-weighting matrix method. This new criterion proves to be less conservative than the most existing results. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

The effect and safety of anacetrapib in the treatment of dyslipidemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p><b>Background</b>: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Anacetrapib may be a new treatment option that has a cardiovascular benefit for the management of dyslipidemia.</p> <p><b>Objective</b>: The aim of our current study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect and safety of anacetrapib in the treatment of dyslipidemia.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library database from their inception to 5 October 2017, with the terms: ‘anacetrapib’ and ‘placebo’. From 287 initial citations, 10 studies including 34781 patients with dyslipidemia were included in the final systematic review and meta-analysis.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: Pooled results showed that anacetrapib significantly increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) [weighted mean differences (WMD) 53.07, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 46.79 to 59.36] and apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) (WMD 53.44, 95% CI 45.72 to 61.16). Our study also showed that anacetrapib significantly reduced low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (WMD −32.99; 95% CI −37.13 to −28.86), Non-HDL-C (WMD −39.19; 95% CI −52.22 to −26.16), triglycerides (TG) (WMD −9.97; 95% CI −10.54 to −9.41), apolipoprotein B (ApoB) (WMD −22.55; 95% CI −28.56 to −16.54) and lipoprotein a [LP(a)] (WMD −13.35; 95% CI −18.31 to −8.39). Our results demonstrated that there was no significant difference in all the following adverse events between the anacetrapib group and placebo group: [hepato-toxicity (OR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.75 to 1.07); musculoskeletal injury (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.88 to 1.15); drug-related adverse event (OR 1.00, 95% CI: 0.96 to 1.05); drug-related withdrawn (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95 to 1.08)].</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b>: Although further studies are needed, our findings clearly offer support to the use of anacetrapib in the clinical management of patients with dyslipidemia.</p

Preparative Isolation and Purification of Lignans from Justicia procumbens Using High-Speed Counter-Current Chromatography in Stepwise Elution Mode

Lignans, which are recognized as main constituents in Justicia procumbens, have attracted considerable attention due to their pharmacological activities, including antitumor, anti-hepatitic, cytotoxic, anti-microbial, and anti-virus properties. Preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was successfully applied to the isolation and purification of four lignans (justicidin B (1), justicidin A (2), 6'-hydroxyjusticidin C (3) and lignan J1 (4)) from J. procumbens using stepwise elution with a pair of two-phase solvent systems composed of n-hexane–ethyl acetate–methanol–water at (1.3:1:1.3:1, v/v) and (2.5:1:2.5:1, v/v). The preparative HSCCC separation was performed on 300 mg of crude sample yielding compounds 1 (19.7 mg), 2 (9.86 mg), 3 (11.26 mg), and 4 (2.54 mg) in a one-step separation, with purities over 95% as determined by HPLC. The structures of these compounds were identified by MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. This is the first report on the application of HSCCC to the efficient separation of lignans from J. procumbens

Temporal Downscaling of Crop Coefficients for Winter Wheat in the North China Plain: A Case Study at the Gucheng Agro-Meteorological Experimental Station

The crop coefficient (Kc) is widely used for operational estimation of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and crop water requirements. The standard method for obtaining Kc is via a lookup table from FAO-56 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56), which broadly treats Kc as a function of four crop-growing stages. However, the distinctive physiological characteristics of overwintering crops, such as winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which is extensively planted in the North China Plain (NCP), are not addressed in this method. In this study, we propose a stage-wise method that accounts for Kc variations for winter wheat at each critical phenological stage, thereby estimating Kc at finer temporal scales. Compared with the conventional FAO method, the proposed stage-wise method successfully captures the bimodal pattern in Kc time series for winter wheat, which is shown at both ten-day and phenological time scales. In addition, the accuracies of the proposed stage-wise Kc method and the FAO method were evaluated using micro-meteorological measurements of ETa collected at the Gucheng agrometeorological experimental station in the NCP. Using a leave-one-out strategy, the evaluation revealed that the stage-wise method significantly outperformed the FAO method at both daily and critical phenological time scales, with root-mean-square errors in ETa for the stage-wise method and the FAO method being 0.07 mm·day-1 and 0.16 mm·day-1, respectively, at the daily time scale, and 0.01 mm·day-1 and 0.27 mm·day-1 at the critical phenological time scale. Generally, the FAO method underestimates ETa during the initial stage and overestimates ETa during both the development and mid-season stages. It is shown that the proposed stage-wise method is important for the water-stressed NCP where precision irrigation is highly desirable, especially during the critical phenological stages. Results from this study provide insight into accurate estimation of water requirements for winter wheat at phenological time scales

One Stone, Two Birds: High-Brightness Aggregation-Induced Emission Photosensitizers for Super-Resolution Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy

Most aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens exhibit high brightness, excellent photostability, and good biocompatibility, but these AIE-active agents, which kill two birds with one stone to result in applications in both stimulated emission depletion (STED) super-resolution imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT), have not been reported yet but are urgently needed. To meet the requirements of STED nanoscopy and PDT, D-A-π-A-D type DTPABT-HP is designed by tuning conjugated π spacers. It exhibits red-shifted emission, high PLQY of 32.04%, and impressive 1O2 generation (9.24 fold compared to RB) in nanoparticles (NPs). Then, DTPABT-HP NPs are applied in cell imaging via STED nanoscopy, especially visualizing the dynamic changes of lysosomes in the PDT process at ultrahigh resolution. After that, in vivo PDT was also conducted by DTPABT-HP NPs, resulting in significantly inhibited tumor growth, with an inhibition rate of 86%. The work here is beneficial to the design of multifunctional agents and the deep understanding of their phototheranostic mechanism in biological research