Herb Target Prediction Based on Representation Learning of Symptom related Heterogeneous Network.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has received increasing attention as a complementary approach or alternative to modern medicine. However, experimental methods for identifying novel targets of TCM herbs heavily relied on the current available herb-compound-target relationships. In this work, we present an Herb-Target Interaction Network (HTINet) approach, a novel network integration pipeline for herb-target prediction mainly relying on the symptom related associations. HTINet focuses on capturing the low-dimensional feature vectors for both herbs and proteins by network embedding, which incorporate the topological properties of nodes across multi-layered heterogeneous network, and then performs supervised learning based on these low-dimensional feature representations. HTINet obtains performance improvement over a well-established random walk based herb-target prediction method. Furthermore, we have manually validated several predicted herb-target interactions from independent literatures. These results indicate that HTINet can be used to integrate heterogeneous information to predict novel herb-target interactions

Complex Networks Approach for Analyzing the Correlation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Evolvement and Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Stable Coronary Heart Disease

This is a multicenter prospective cohort study to analyze the correlation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome evolvement and cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). The impact of syndrome evolvement on cardiovascular events during the 6-month and 12-month follow-up was analyzed using complex networks approach. Results of verification using Chi-square test showed that the occurrence of cardiovascular events was positively correlated with syndrome evolvement when it evolved from toxic syndrome to Qi deficiency, blood stasis, or sustained toxic syndrome, when it evolved from Qi deficiency to blood stasis, toxic syndrome, or sustained Qi deficiency, and when it evolved from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. Blood stasis, Qi deficiency, and toxic syndrome are important syndrome factors for stable CHD. There are positive correlations between cardiovascular events and syndrome evolution from toxic syndrome to Qi deficiency or blood stasis, from Qi deficiency to blood stasis, or toxic syndrome and from blood stasis to Qi deficiency. These results indicate that stable CHD patients with pathogenesis of toxin consuming Qi, toxin leading to blood stasis, and mutual transformation of Qi deficiency and blood stasis are prone to recurrent cardiovascular events

Network Pharmacology Based Research on the Combination Mechanism Between Escin and Low Dose Glucocorticoids in Anti-rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by chronic progressive symmetrical synovitis and destruction of multiple joints. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used in the treatment of RA. However, their adverse effects can be serious. Escin, which is isolated from Aesculus hippocastanum L., has been reported to have anti-inflammatory effects. We investigated the anti-RA effect of Escin combined with low dose GCs (dexamethasone, Dex) and the underlying mechanism. Adjuvant-induced RA rats and lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-injured RAW264.7 cells were used to investigate the anti-RA effects of Escin combined with low dose Dex in vivo and in vitro. The results showed that Escin combined with low-dose Dex significantly decreased arthritic index, serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels, reduced paw swelling, and ameliorated the joint pathology and immune organ pathology. Gene chip results revealed that Nr3c1 (GR) expression was significantly altered, and that GR was activated by Escin and low dose Dex in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, Escin combined with low dose Dex also significantly increased GR mRNA expression. However, when GR expression was suppressed by its specific inhibitor, the anti-RA effect of Escin combined with low-dose Dex was abolished. The data in this study demonstrated that Escin combined with Dex reduced the dose of Dex, and exerted significant anti-RA effects, which could also reduce the adverse effects of Dex. This combination might result from GR activation. This study might provide a new combination of drugs for the treatment of RA

The gut microbiome in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

The gut microbiota may play a role in cardiovascular diseases. Here, the authors perform a metagenome-wide association study on stools from individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and healthy controls, identifying microbial strains and functions associated with the disease

Potential Benefits of Selenium Supplementation in Reducing Insulin Resistance in Patients with Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Selenium is a trace element that has been reported to be effective in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism. However, there is conflicting evidence from different clinical trials of selenium supplementation in treating cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to identify the effects of selenium supplementation on insulin resistance, glucose homeostasis, and lipid profiles in patients with CMDs. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of selenium supplementation for treating CMDs were screened in five electronic databases. Insulin levels, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and glycosylated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) were defined as the primary outcome markers, and lipid profiles were considered the secondary outcome markers. Results: Ten studies involving 526 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The results suggested that selenium supplementation significantly reduced serum insulin levels (standardized men difference [SMD]: −0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI] [−0.84, −0.21], p = 0.001, I2 = 68%) and HOMA-IR (SMD: −0.50, 95% CI [−0.86, −0.14], p = 0.006, I2 = 75%) and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (SMD: 0.97; 95% CI [0.26, 1.68], p = 0.007, I2 = 92%), but had no significant effect on FPG, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C). Conclusion: Current evidence supports the beneficial effects of selenium supplementation on reducing insulin levels, HOMA-IR, and increasing HDL-C levels. Selenium supplementation may be an effective strategy for reducing insulin resistance in patients with CMDs. However, more high-quality clinical studies are needed to improve the certainty of our estimates

Prediction of the Network Pharmacology-Based Mechanism for Attenuation of Atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice by Panax notoginseng Saponins

This study investigated whether Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) reduced atherosclerotic lesion formation in apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE-KO) mice and illustrated the potential mechanism for a network pharmacology approach. Pharmacodynamics studies on ApoE-KO mice with atherosclerosis (AS) showed that PNS generated an obvious anti-AS action. Then, we explored the possible mechanisms underlying its anti-AS effect using the network pharmacology approach. The main chemical components and their targets of PNS were collected from TCMSP public database and SymMap. The STRING v11.0 was used to establish the protein-protein interactions of PNS. Furthermore, the Gene Ontology (GO) function and KEGG pathways were analyzed using STRING to investigate the possible mechanisms involved in the anti-AS effect of PNS. The predicted results showed that 27 potential targets regulated by DSLHG were related to AS, including ACTA2, AKT1, BCL2, and BDNF. Mechanistically, the anti-AS effect of PNS was exerted by interfering with multiple signaling pathways, such as AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, and TNF signaling pathway. Network analysis showed that PNS could generate the anti-AS action by affecting multiple targets and multiple pathways and provides a novel basis to clarify the mechanisms of anti-AS of PNS

Efficacy and Safety of Xinyue Capsule for Coronary Artery Disease after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Xinyue capsule (XYC) in the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE (Ovid), PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure database (CNKI), Wanfang, and VIP were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on XYC in CAD after PCI published before October 2020. Data extraction, methodological quality assessment, and data analysis were performed according to the Cochrane standard. Dichotomous data were shown as risk ratios (RRs) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). All analyses were done with Review Manager, version 5.3. The quality of evidence was assessed by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. A total of 9 related studies from 166 related articles were identified, which included 2979 patients. Compared with conventional treatment alone (or placebo plus), XYC decreased cardiovascular events [RR = 0.37, 95% CI (0.27, 0.51), I2 = 0%] (nonfatal myocardial infarction [RR = 0.26, 95% CI (0.10, 0.70), I2 = 0%], revascularization [RR = 0.38, 95% CI (0.24, 0.61), I2 = 0%], and rehospitalization due to ACS [RR = 0.48, 95% CI (0.33, 0.68), I2 = 0%]) and improved cardiac function (LVEF [RR = 6.93, 95% CI (4.99, 8.87), I2 = 81%], LVEDV [RR = −4.07, 95% CI (−5.61, −2.54), I2 = 7%], and LVESV [RR = −4.32, 95% CI (−5.90, −2.74), I2 = 50%]) in patients after PCI. In addition, XYC reduced serum NT-pro-BNP [RR = −126.91, 95% CI (−231.51, −22.31), I2 = 69%]. However, XYC had little effect on cardiovascular death [RR = 0.47, 95% CI (0.13, 1.68), I2 = 0%], stroke [RR = 0.52, 95% CI (0.23, 1.20), I2 = 0%], heart failure [RR = 0.53, 95% CI (0.24, 1.20), I2 = 0%], and quality of life [RR = −1.37, 95% CI (−4.97, 2.22), I2 = 93%]. Thus, this meta-analysis suggests that XYC has potential advantages in reducing the occurrence of cardiovascular events after PCI, improving cardiac function, and reducing serum NT-pro-BNP. This potential benefit requires a high-quality RCT to assess