液质联用技术鉴定清血八味片化学成分研究

目的:采用高效液相色谱-三重四级杆质谱(HPLC-MS/MS)测定清血八味片中的化学成分。方法:在负离子条件下采用Halo C_(18)色谱柱(2.1 mm×100 mm,2.7μm),以0.1%甲酸-10 mmol/L甲酸铵水和乙腈为流动相进行梯度洗脱,质谱采用Scan模式和MRM模式,检测清血八味片中的化学成分。结果:共鉴定出紫草中成分7种、土木香中成分3种、人工牛黄中成分4种、栀子中成分7种、瞿麦中成分7种、甘草中成分12种。结论:该方法快速可靠,操作简便,可用于清血八味片的质量控制研究,为临床药物使用提供一定的依据。     

Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors in COVID-19: Beyond glycemic control

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with a high risk of mortality and complications in patients with diabetes mellitus. Achieving good glycemic control is very important in diabetic patients to reduce complications and mortality due to COVID-19. Recent studies have shown the mortality benefit and anti-inflammatory effects of Dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4i) in diabetic patients with COVID-19. DPP-4i may have a beneficial role in halting the severity of infection primarily by three routes, namely viral entry inhibition, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects and glycemic control. This has raised the pro-mising hypothesis that DPP-4i might be an optimal strategy for treating COVID-19 in patients with diabetes. This review aims to summarise the possible therapeutic non-glycemic effects of DPP-4i in diabetic patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the light of available evidence.     

Cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening programme for women in rural China

In low and middle-income countries mammographic breast cancer screening is prohibitively expensive and a cheaper alternative option is to use ultrasound as the primary screening test. In 2009, China launched a breast cancer screening programme for rural women aged 35–64 years with clinical breast examination coupled with ultrasound as the primary tool. Our study aimed to analyse the cost-effectiveness of breast screening compared to no screening among Chinese rural women. We developed a Markov model to estimate the lifetime costs and effects for rural women aged 35 years from a societal perspective. Asymptomatic women in the intervention arm were screened every 3 years before age 64 years. Breast cancer in the non-screening arm can only be diagnosed on presentation of symptoms. Parameter uncertainty was explored using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Compared to no screening, breast cancer screening cost $186.7 more and led to a loss of 0.20 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Breast screening was more expensive and did harm to health among rural women with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $-916/QALY. The sensitivity analysis identified utility loss from false positives as the factor that most influenced the results, but this did not affect the conclusions. In a rural setting with such low breast cancer incidence, screening for asymptomatic disease is not cost-effective with current screening tools. Priority should be given to ensure that symptomatic women have proper access to diagnosis and treatment at an early stage as this will lead to mortality reductions without the usual screening harms.     

The influence of environmental and health indicators on premature mortality: An empirical analysis of the City of Toronto's 140 neighborhoods

The objective of this paper was to assess the link between premature mortality and a combination of neighbourhood contextual (environmental and health) and compositional (socioeconomic and demographic) characteristics. We statistically and spatially examined six environmental variables (ultrafine particles, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic pollutants, pollution released to air, tree cover, and walkability index), six health service indicators (number health providers, breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening uptake rates, student nutrition program uptake rates, and healthy food index), and eight socioeconomic indicators (total income, Gini coefficient, two age categories – below and above 40 years, proportion of females to males, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, education, less than grade 9) among 140 neighbourhoods of the City of Toronto in Ontario (Canada). We applied principal component analysis to identify patterns and to reduce the number of explanatory variables into combined component axes that represent unique variation in these confounded and overlapping factors. We then applied regression analysis to model the relationship between the indices of enviro-health and socioeconomics and their potential relationship with premature mortality. Residual spatial analysis was used to investigate any remaining spatial structure (such as neighbourhoods with higher residual premature mortality rates). Neighbourhood Equity Index was correlated with our enviro-health and socioeconomic indices. Premature mortality within neighbourhoods was predicted by poor cancer screenings, pollution, lack of tree canopy, increased uptake of student nutrition programs and high walkability index. A negative association between premature mortality and pollution was associated low walkability index and presence of visible minorities within neighbourhoods. There was some unexplained residual spatial variation in our model of premature mortality - especially along the shores of Lake Ontario and in neighbourhoods with major highways or road corridors: premature mortality in Toronto neighbourhoods was higher than expected along highway-corridor neighbourhoods and shorelines. Our analysis revealed a significant relationship between neighbourhood contextual features – both environmental and health – and premature mortality, suggesting that these contextual components of neighbourhoods can predict rates of urban premature mortality in Toronto.     

Effects of newly introduced antidiabetic drugs on autophagy

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder that has a complex molecular and cellular pathophysiology, resulting in its dynamic progression and that may show differing responses to therapy. The incidence of diabetes mellitus increases with age and requires additive therapeutic agents for its management. SGLT2i and DPP-4 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) are newly introduced antidiabetic drugs that work through differing mechanisms; DPP-4 inhibitors maintain the endogenous level of GLP1; GLP-1RA result in pharmacological levels of GLP1, whilst SGLT2i act on the proximal tubules of the kidney. They have shown efficacy in the management of diabetes and in contrast to other antidiabetic drugs, do not inherently cause hypoglycemia in therapeutic doses. Autophagy as a highly conserved mechanism to maintain cell survival and homeostasis by degradation of damaged or aged organelles and components, and recognised to be increasingly important in diabetes. In the present review, we discuss the modulatory effects of these newly introduced antidiabetic drugs on the autophagy process.     

Elevated glycohemoglobin HbA1c is associated with low back pain in nonoverweight diabetics

Background Context

Low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint in clinical practice of multifactorial origin. Although obesity has been thought to contribute to LBP primarily by altering the distribution of mechanical loads on the spine, the additional contribution of obesity-related conditions such as diabetes mellitus (DM) to LBP has not been thoroughly examined.