Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxemia is a critical condition that initiates microcirculatory disturbance and may progress to multiple organ failure that threatens the lives of millions of people around the world each year. The pathology of endotoxemia involves multiple insults mediated by a range of signaling pathways. Multitarget management is required to relieve endotoxemia. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a type of therapeutic that commonly contains numerous components and, thus, exhibits multitarget potential. More importantly, some TCM formulas have been proposed and used for effective treatment of endotoxemia-like diseases. In the past 20 years, an increasing number of studies have explored the effects and mechanisms of these formulas and their major bioactive components on microcirculatory disturbance and organ injury caused by LPS. The results obtained thus far provide support for the clinical use of TCM and shed light on the underlying mechanisms.

Crocus sativus L., a member of the Iridaceae family, commonly known as saffron has very much popular as both medicine and spice. Earlier saffron was used as one of the important constituents in opioid preparations for pain relief. Its uses in the treatment of mild-to-moderate depression are well documented. Depression can affect the quality of life of individuals by causing headaches, difficulty in thinking, and loss of interest. Many clinical trials have been conducted for evaluating the efficacy of saffron in depression cases. Almost fifty constituents of C. sativus L are well known. Few of the major constituents include crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal. In the present review, the main focus is on the antidepressant effects of saffron and its major constituents, in which it was found that saffron has substantial effects on depression and anxiety because of double-blind study the data can be trusted.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for anti-abortion is based on the theory of gynecology of TCM, which aims to prevent and treat abdominal pain during pregnancy, fetal leakage, uneasy fetal movement, and fetal atrophy. Because of the complexity of the ingredients of Chinese Materia Medica, and the imprecise intervention mechanism for tocolysis, further investigation about the effects of Chinese herbs and their components on tocolysis by utilizing advanced technologies is required to be made. All the information available about TCM and its effects on pregnant women and fetuses was collected via electronic search using Web of Science, PubMed, and CNKI, and a library search was performed to locate classic herbal medicine books. The active ingredients in TCM were screened with the help of Traditional chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP). The keywords being used included herbal names, pharmacology, pregnancy, threatened abortion, and fetus. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that TCM mainly prevents threatened abortion by a direct effect on the pregnant woman's immune system, sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone, the uterus and the endometrium, and the decidual tissue such as the placenta. It may also address pregnancy complications due to advanced maternal age, infection, polycystic ovary syndrome, diabetes, and mental disorders caused by threat of a miscarriage. TCM protects against spontaneous miscarriage, but its mechanisms are largely unknown. This research applies scientific methods to characterize and examine the effective components of TCM and their application to lower the risk of abortion to the pregnant women and fetuses.

Objective: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the clinical efficiency and safety of moxibustion for the treatment of poststroke insomnia (PSI). Methods: We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service platform (Wanfang Data), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), and clinical rial for trandomized controlled trials on moxibustion as a treatment for PSI, including results from the creation of all databases until December 12, 2020. The functional languages used were Chinese and English. Two reviewers independently performed the literature search, data extraction, and quality evaluation. The primary and secondary outcome measures were the effective rate and adverse events, respectively. The meta-analysis was carried out using RevMan5.4 software and Stata15. Results: Of the 11 trials, 996 patients in mainland China were included. Compared to the control group, the combination of single moxibustion therapy or moxibustion combined with acupuncture in the treatment of DN could reduce the sleep quality score (SQS) (mean difference [MD] = −0.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] [ − 0.89, −0.11], Z = 2.51, P = 0.01), time to falling asleep score (MD = −0.39, 95% CI [−0.49, −0.29], Z = 7.79, P < 0.00001), sleep time score (MD = −0.34, 95% CI [−0.59, −0.09], Z = 2.64, P = 0.008), sleep efficiency score (MD = −0.30, 95% CI [−0.52, −0.08], Z = 2.69, P = 0.007), sleep disorder score (MD = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.49, −0.09], Z = 2.85, P = 0.004), daily function disturbance score (MD = −0.54, 95% CI [−0.82, −0.26], Z = 3.78, P = 0.0002), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index aggregate score (MD = −2.30, 95% CI [−2.97, −1.63], Z = 6.71, P < 0.00001), SPIEGEL aggregate score (MD = −7.62, 95% CI [−8.12, −7.12], Z = 29.75, P < 0.00001), and stroke-specific quality of life aggregate score (MD = 12.68, 95% CI [0.92, 24.44], Z = 2.11, P = 0.03). Conclusion: This study indicates that moxibustion contributes to the treatment of PSI. Nevertheless, more extensive trials are required to validate the results due to the small sample sizes, few reports on adverse effects, and high risk of bias in the included studies.

Ferulic acid (FA) is a phenolic phytochemical with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory pharmacological effects. In recent years, the neuroprotective effects of FA have been studied extensively. Many researchers have attempted to use FA to prevent and treat neurological diseases and have made some progress. This paper mainly collated the study of the protective effect of FA on stroke and summarized the protective effect of FA on ischemic stroke and the potential protective effects of FA on neurovascular units.

Coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD) has a high incidence, disability rate, and mortality rate, which severely affect people's health, work, and life. Based on its clinical manifestations, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has classified CHD as “chest impediment” and “heart pain” for the treatment. The course of CHD is protracted, and the pathogenesis is complex and changeable. Moreover, different disease stages have different syndrome characteristics. Thus, this article aimed to summarize the classification and distribution characteristics of the TCM syndrome in various stages of CHD, such as before and after percutaneous coronary intervention therapy, disease progression, age, and complications, to provide references for the TCM clinical diagnosis and treatment of CHD.

Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI) refers to a pathological phenomenon that aggravates the injury after the restoration of blood perfusion and oxygen supply to the cerebral ischemia-induced tissues and organs, with a relatively high incidence. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that Qi deficiency and blood stasis are the cause of CIRI. Therefore, Chinese medicine for tonifying Qi and activating blood is regarded as an important choice for the treatment of CIRI. In recent years, it has been found that many Chinese herbal medical ingredients and compound Chinese medicine (CCM) have significant anti-CIRI effects, and their mechanisms of action mainly include improving brain blood supply, neuroprotection, regulating signal pathways such as TLR4/HO-1/Bcl-2, protecting mitochondrial function, regulating related protein levels, and regulating oxidative molecule levels. This article summarizes and introduces the pharmacological mechanisms of Tonifying-Qi and activating-blood Chinese medicine and CCM which have the function of anti-CIRI. Our goal is to provide effective reference for further researches on the cerebral protection of related TCMs or compounds and their clinical application.

Objective: The objective of the study is to study the growth promotion effects of Bacillus subtilis inoculants on the growth of Bletilla striata seedlings. Methods: Various concentrations (1/10×, 1/50×, 1/100×, and 1/500 × dilutions) of B. subtilis inoculants were applied on the B. striata seedlings. Plant height, base diameter, leaf length, leaf width, relative chlorophyll content, tuber diameter, average fibrous root length, number of fibrous roots, and fresh weight were measured after incubation for 50 days. Results: Treatments with different concentrations of B. subtilis significantly increased the number of fibrous roots of the B. striata seedlings and promoted root elongation, and a higher concentration (1/10 × dilution) is associated with more significant promotion effects. B. striata seedlings treated with different concentrations of B. subtilis all showed an increase of relative chlorophyll contents in leaves with the increasing inoculant concentration. Only B. subtilis inoculant at a high concentration (1/10 × dilution) significantly promoted the plant height and base diameter of B. striata seedlings. The application of B. subtilis did not significantly promote the tuber diameter and fresh weight of B. striata seedlings. Principal component analysis confirmed the maximum growth promotion by B. subtilis inoculant in 1/10 × dilution than the other treatments. Conclusions: The application of B. subtilis can increase the relative chlorophyll content, promote growth and development of roots, and increase plant height and base diameter of B. striata seedlings. Therefore, B. subtilis has significant growth promotion effects on B. striata seedlings. These findings provide theoretical basis for the ecological cultivation of B. striata.

Objective: The aim is to investigate the protective effect of andrographolide (AP) on retinal ganglion cells (RGC) in rats with glaucoma and its mechanism. Methods: ninety-six adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control (NC) group, chronic ocular hypertension (CHOT) group, vehicle group, and AP group. The density of RGCs and the number of apoptotic cells in retinal slices were evaluated, and the function of RGC was evaluated by photopic negative wave response (PhNR). The expression of Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 in the retina was detected. Results: (1) The density of RGC in the CHOT and vehicle groups were significantly lower than that in the NC and AP (P < 0.01). After AP intervention, the RGC density of the rats significantly increased (P < 0.01). The ganglion cell layer (GCL) of the CHOT and vehicle groups was obviously thinner, and the thickness of the GCL was partially restored in the AP group. (2) A large number of terminal deoxytransferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) positive cells were found in the GCL of the CHOT and vehicle groups, but only a few TUNEL positive cells were found in the AP group. The percentage of TUNEL positive cells was 8.80 ± 4.97%, 37.00 ± 5.27%, 46.16 ± 6.50%, and 22.29 ± 3.52% for groups NC, CHOT, vehicle, and AP, respectively. (3) At 2 weeks, the amplitude of PhNR in the CHOT and vehicle groups decreased by 63.22 ± 13.89% and 57.88 ± 6.95%, respectively. The amplitude of PhNR in the AP group was only 22.56 ± 6.44% lower than that in the NC group. The AP intervention significantly reduced the decrease of the PhNR amplitude in CHOT eyes. (4) Compared with the NC group, the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was decreased in the CHOT and vehicle groups, and the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and caspase-3 significantly increased in the CHOT and vehicle groups, which could be reversed by AP treatment. The trend of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was consistent with that of the western blot analysis. Conclusion: The protective effect of caspase-3/Bcl-2 may be achieved through the regulation of the Caspase-3/Bcl-2 pathway in the rat retina.

Objective: To observe the effect of Danhong injection (DHI) on perioperative metabolomics of unstable angina pectoris (UA) with blood stasis syndrome. Materials and Methods: A prospective, randomized, controlled, and single-blind clinical trial was conducted. Sixty-one UA patients with traditional Chinese medicine blood stasis syndrome undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were randomly divided into the Danhong and control groups, and 10 healthy volunteers were included as baseline. The Danhong group received western medicine + DHI treatment, while the control group received western medicine + saline. Nontargeted metabolomics was used to analyze the serum metabolites of healthy volunteers in the Danhong and control groups before and 5 days after PCI. Results: Before treatment, there was no significant difference in serum metabolites between the Danhong and control groups, but there was a significant difference between the two groups and the healthy group. Differential metabolites were clustered mainly in glycerophospholipid, sphingolipid, purine, and amino acid groups, which were generated in their metabolic pathways. After 5 days of PCI, the profiles of serum metabolites were significantly closer between the Danhong-or control-treated groups and that of the healthy group. Furthermore, DHI treatment converted the serum metabolite profile more to that of the healthy group than the control treatment. Conclusion: The beneficial effect of DHI on patients with unstable angina is reflected at the level of serum metabolic biomarkers.

Objective: Extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) was used to predict the 7^th day efficacy of the acupoint application (AP) of Chinese herbs (Xiao Zhong Zhi Tong Tie) in patients with diarrhea. Materials and Methods: We consecutively collected medical records of patients with diarrhea nationwide on the Chun Bo Wan Xiang cloud platform from August 22 to November 5, 2020. Demographic and clinical data and the fecal properties were included in this study. We established the XGBoost model to predict the 7^th day efficacy of AP in patients with diarrhea. The XGBoost model was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). We next compared the performance of XGBoost with that of artificial neural network (ANN), ANN + boosting, ANN + bagging, and support vector machine (SVM). Results: The XGBoost model provided a prediction accuracy of 84.86% (95% confidence interval = 82.74% to 86.81%) and the ROC curve analysis showed an AUC of 0.81. The top-three variables with the highest importance are age, duration of diarrhea, and region (North). Our study revealed that XGBoost was not superior to ANN, ANN + boosting, ANN + bagging, and SVM. Conclusions: The established XGBoost model for predicting the 7^th day efficacy of AP in patients with diarrhea exhibited good accuracy and precision, which can be used for efficacy prediction.

Background: Component compatibility is important to the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Studies have shown that San-ao decoction (SAD) can treat respiratory diseases by relaxing airway smooth muscle (ASM) and reducing airway hyper-responsiveness. However, whether its bioactive components and compatibility also present with similar relaxant effects remains unknown. This study aims to explore the potential relaxant property, dose-response relationship, and underlying mechanisms of the bioactive component compatibility in SAD. Methods: Network pharmacology was primarily used to identify the bioactive components of SAD and uncover its underlying mechanisms. ASM tension force measuring technique was utilized to verify the relaxant and dose-response effects on in vitro guinea pig ASM. Results: We postulated pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (PH), amygdalin (AM), and diammonium glycyrrhizate (DG) to be the bioactive components of SAD, which could effectively relax ASM in a dose-dependent manner on both acetylcholine-induced and spontaneous contraction. Both PH and AM could lead to DG dose–response curve shift. The regression equation of these three bioactive components was Y = −2.048 × X₁ + 0.411 × X₂ + 14.052 × X₃ (X₁, X₂, X₃ representing PH, AM, and DG, respectively). The underlying mechanisms of these components might be associated with the regulation of smooth muscle contraction. Conclusions: PH, AM, and DG are the bioactive components of SAD, which can relax ASM in a dose–response manner and exert a synergistic effect. Clinically, compatibility of these three bioactive components may serve as a new complementary and alternative treatment for respiratory diseases.

Background: Cyclomyrsinane diterpenes especially those extracted from various Euphorbia species have shown interesting biological properties in recent years. Because of the high prevalence of breast cancer and the challenges ahead in its treatment, the use of these compounds as potential anti cancer agents seem reasonable. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of some myrsinane type diterpenoids extracted from Euphorbia sogdiana Popov and determine their induced cell death mechanism. Methods: MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of six various myrsinane compounds on MCF 7 and 4T1 breast cancer cell lines. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were used as the normal cell line too. The apoptotic effects of the structure with the most cytotoxic effects were determined using flow cytometry assay in IC50 concentration for 24 h of incubation. Results: Compound (6) showed the most cytotoxic effects with IC50 of about 8 ± 4 and 24 ± 4 μg/mL for MCF 7 and 4T1 cell lines, respectively. Furthermore, the cells treated with 5 and 10 μg/mL of compound (6) for 24 h, showed 37 and 55% of apoptotic cells. Conclusions: These surveyed compounds have the potential to be considered as useful anti-breast cancer agents due to the great cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects against these cancer cells and the fact that there was no significant cytotoxicity on normal cells.