The roots of the plant Cynanchum otophyllum C. K. Schneid (Apocynaceae), known as Qingyangshen in Chinese, are used for a long time as a traditional medicine by different ethnic communities in the Yunnan province (China). The multiple properties and applications of this herbal medicine have been analyzed. C. otophyllum is a perennial herbal liana, nonedible, and generally wild harvested. A cultivation method has been proposed to increase the fruit set level. Qingyangshen is used essentially to treat epilepsy, rheumatism, or other inflammatory diseases. The plant can be found also in diverse polyherbal preparations used in cosmetic or as food supplement (detox products), and in phyto-preparations claimed to reduce hair loss. The plant is a rich reservoir of C-21 steroidal glycosides. Many bioactive compounds have been isolated from this plant and some of them have been pharmacologically characterized, such as otophyllosides, cynotophyllosides, cynanotins, cynotogenins, cynanchins, all briefly evocated here. The plant presents also interesting features in other domains. In particular, leave extracts of C. otophyllum C. K. Schneid contain proteases which are exploited for the local preparation of a cheese-like milk cake. Qingyangshen herbal preparation can be useful to treat epilepsy and inflammation. It has applications beyond medicine in the cosmetic and food industry.

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The objective of the study is to identify the effective common Chinese herbal medicines used in treating chronic cholecystitis with liver-gallbladder dampness-heat syndrome (CCLGDHS) through reviewing relevant clinical studies published in the past 10 years. Data were collected from ScienceDirect and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure. Data screening was carried out for the abstracts and full texts of the data. The top 15 Chinese herbal medicines with the highest occurring frequency were selected, statistically analyzed, and classified by their medicinal properties, actions, and indications according to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015 edition. The top 15 effective common Chinese herbal medicines comprise Chai Hu, Huang Qin, Jin Qian Cao, Bai Shao, Yin Chen, Yu Jin, Chuan Lian Zi, Yan Hu Suo, Zhi Shi, Ban Xia, Bai Zhu, Pu Gong Ying, Gan Cao, Zhi Zi, and Qing Pi. The predominant natures were cold, cool, and warm. This combination can clear stagnant heat, warm Yang, and regulate Qi dynamics. In addition, bitter, pungent, and sweet were the predominant flavors. They can clear dampness-heat, regulate Qi dynamics to relieve cramps and pain, as well as tonify the deficiency. Along with entering the liver and gallbladder meridians, these herbal medicines also entered the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians to prevent potential disease transmission. The combinatorial medicinal actions of the effective common Chinese herbal medicine highlight the importance of the holistic concept of traditional Chinese medicine when treating CCLGDHS. In addition, the inclusion of activating blood to promote blood circulation, relieving cramps and alleviating pain, and tonifying the spleen and stomach represents a new finding in the treatment principle for CCLGDHS.

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The study focuses on developing mobile applications based on intelligent acupuncture, classified into education and intelligent diagnosis and treatment. The mobile application function is divided into two directions: assisting acupoint positioning and perfecting acupoint knowledge system. The study does a relative review on Android and IOS, showing that the number of Android users is rather more prevailing than IOS. It suggests that intelligent acupuncture mobile applications should comply with the trend of acupuncture globalization in the future, developing multilingual versions. Further, the content should be characterized by the experience of different famous doctors to avoid homogenization. Technically, intelligent applications should continue to develop three-dimensional and augmented reality technology, to optimize the accuracy of acupoint positioning.

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Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plays a crucial role in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Objective: The study aimed to reveal the distribution characteristics of COVID-19 TCM syndrome types and syndrome elements and the law of TCM treatment and medication. Methods: The TCM diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID-19 and clinical research data were obtained through network retrieval, and Revman 5.3 and SPSS 23.0 were employed to analyze the composition of TCM syndromes and the situation of TCMs in meta and frequency. Results: The top three TCM syndromes of COVID-19 included damp-heat accumulation in the lung pattern, damp abundance due to spleen deficiency, and epidemic toxin invading the lung pattern, while the syndrome elements were dampness, heat, and toxin. Gypsum fibrosum, Pogostemonis herba, and Armeniacae semen were identified as the commonly used drugs. Different syndrome elements were identified at lung disease location: Forsythiae fructus, Glycyrrhizae radix, and Armeniacae semen can be used for “wind;” Glycyrrhizae radix, Armeniacae semen, and Scutellariae radix can be used for “Heat;” Armeniacae semen, Sheng Gypsum fibrosum, and Ephedrae herba can be used for “Toxin;” Ephedrae herba, Armeniacae semen, and Atractylodis rhizome can be used for “Damp;” Magnoliae officinalis Cortex, Ephedrae herba, and Zingiberis Rhizoma recens can be used for “cold;” and Armeniacae semen, Gypsum fibrosum, Ephedrae herba, and Lepidii/Descurainiae semen can be used for “epidemic.” Conclusion: The establishment of a treatment scheme based on the classification of disease syndrome elements should be considered for sudden infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. Pogostemonis herba, Armeniacae semen, Gypsum fibrosum, and Glycyrrhizae radix should be considered as effective drugs from TCM for the treatment of COVID-19.

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Background: Rhizoma drynariae is a traditional Chinese medicine used in orthopedics and traumatology, but its effect on endometrial receptivity remains unknown. Aims and Objectives: To observe effect of Rhizoma drynariae and its main components on endometrial receptivity in a mus model of dysfunctional embryo implantation. Materials and Methods: Mus models were established by the GnRHa+HMG+HCG method. Normal mus receiving saline were used as controls and the remaining six groups were: model receiving saline, progynova, aspirin, Rhizoma drynariae, osteopractic total flavone, and naringin. Pinopodes in uterine endometrium were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Stem cell factor (SCF) mRNA expressions was determined by real-time RT-PCR, and estrogen receptor α (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR) by immunohistochemistry. Results: In the model group, surface morphology of endometrium was heterogeneous, without obvious pinopodes. In the Rhizoma drynaria and progynova groups, pinopodes were abundant. Compared with the blank group, model group had lower levels of SCF (-47%), ERα (-63%) and PR (-50%) (all P<0.05). In comparison, Rhizoma drynariae group had higher levels of SCF (+73%), ERα (+118%) and PR (+101%) (all P<0.01). The individual main components of Rhizoma drynariae had variable efficacy. Conclusion: Rhizoma drynariae could improve endometrial receptivity of mouse models of dysfunctional embryo implantation as shown by increased numbers of pinopodes and higher levers of SCF, ERα, PR compared with the model group.

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Objective: To explore the regulatory mechanism of competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) in gastric cancer (GC) and to predict the prognosis of GC. Materials and Methods: Expression profiles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), and mRNAs were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas platform. Differentially expressed RNAs (DERNAs) were screened to construct a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses were performed on the ceRNA network-related differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs). Next, the DERNAs were subjected to Cox regression and survival analyses to identify crucial prognostic factors for patients with GC. Results: We detected 1029 differentially expressed lncRNAs, 104 differentially expressed miRNAs, and 1659 DEmRNAs in patients with GC. Next, we performed bioinformatic analysis to construct the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA network, which included 10 miRNAs, 65 lncRNAs, and 10 mRNAs. Subsequently, KaplanMeier (K-M) analysis showed that the survival rate of the high-risk group was significantly lower than that of the low-risk group, and the area under the curve value of the receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that the polygenic model had good predictive ability. The results indicated that ADAMTS9-AS1, ATAD2, and CADM2 might be potential therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers for GC. Conclusions: Our study has implications for predicting prognosis and monitoring surveillance of GC and provides a new theoretical and experimental basis for the clinical prognosis of GC.

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Objective: This study was designed to develop a method for detecting differences in the chemical composition of Corydalis yanhusuo W. T. Wang using high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector technology. Materials and Methods: We established a novel quantitative evaluation method for identifying multiple components in natural extracts using a single-marker method quantitative analysis of multi-components by single marker (QAMS). This method was then validated using eight alkaloid phytochemical markers designed to evaluate C. yanhusuo quality. Results: Our evaluations revealed good linearity (R² ≥ 0.9991) within the range of tested concentrations for all eight alkaloids, with recovery ranging from 95.5% to 101.5%. The evaluations also returned stability results that fell within the acceptable range. Cluster analysis and Heatmap analyses were applied to classify and evaluate alkaloids across 21 different production areas. These results revealed a significant difference in the component profiles between samples from different origins. Conclusions: Thus, these data suggest that in the absence of a material reference, QAMS may help facilitate the stable production of C. yanhusuo. In addition, our data suggest that this method may have value as a promising alternative to common quality evaluations for controlling C. yanhusuo composition.

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Objective: The high transmission rate and mutations of SARS-CoV-2 have made it a global pandemic, and the shortage of any effective clinical treatment has created such a commotion. There are some synthetic antiviral drugs, such as remdesivir and lopinavir that are being repurposed to treat SARS-CoV-2, but all of these demonstrate extreme side effects in humans. Hence, promoting herbal-based drug development has become crucial as they are cost-effective and have lesser or no side effects. Urtica dioica is abundant in the Himalayan region and the compounds present in it have shown significant antiviral and anti-SARS activity. Therefore, molecular docking studies were performed to identify SARS-CoV-2 spike protein inhibitors from U. dioica to combat the COVID-19 disease. Materials and Methods: Compounds from U. dioica were screened using the bioinformatic approach, and subsequently, these compounds were docked with the S1 subunit of the COVID-19 spike protein (PDB ID: 6YOR). Molecular docking was carried out using the PyRx software (0.8 version) and further examined by employing the Discovery Studio Visualizer. Results: About all the selected compounds showed significant binding energy (e.g., beta-sitosterol: −10.3 kcal/mol) in contrast to the control chloroquine phosphate. This binding was observed with the spike protein residues that were common in the old strain and the more contagious newly modified B.1.1.7 strain of SARS-CoV-2. Conclusions: Thus, our study can be used in effective drug development against SARS-CoV-2 and its mutant strains also.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the potential pharmacological mechanisms of Gualou-Xiebai-Banxia decoction (GLXBBX) against unstable angina (UA). Materials and Methods: The active compounds of GLXBBX were collected from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, and their targets were predicted using the SwissTargetPrediction database. The targets associated with UA were obtained from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, GeneCards, and Therapeutic Target Database. Individual targets associated with UA and GLXBBX were cross-checked to identify the targets of GLXBBX involved in the treatment of UA. A protein–protein interaction network was built using the STRING online database. Cytoscape 3.7.2 software was used to screen out hub genes. Additional gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses were performed using the clusterProfiler package in R. Results: A total of 28 bioactive compounds and 320 protein targets of GLXBBX associated with UA were screened out. Enrichment analysis indicated that the therapeutic effect of GLXBBX may be mediated through the PI3K/AKT, MAPK, and HIF-1 signaling pathways. Molecular docking suggested that the active compounds including Vitamin E, cavidine, and baicalein can bind to their protein receptors. Conclusions: This research confirmed the multifactorial effects of GLXBBX in the treatment of UA and laid the foundation for the experimental research on GLXBBX.

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Background: Traditional plants, their parts, and phytochemicals obtained from them are beneficial for human beings. They are used as potent antimicrobials, but very little research is conducted on the use of traditional medicine against food-borne infection. Different berry plants are rich in phenolic compounds and conventionally known to have many properties such as antioxidants, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-diabetics. However, only limited polyphenols are known for their antilisterial effect. The present study aimed to explore the antimicrobial efficacy of phenolic compounds of berries for the treatment of food-borne infection caused by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Materials and Methods: Molecular docking studies employing the SwissDOCK server were performed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of phenolic compounds obtained from different varieties of berries. Internalin B (InlB), a virulence protein of L. monocytogenes was selected as a target. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity profiling of each test ligand was done through the SwissADME tool. Results: Among all the test ligands, p-coumaric acid, epicatechins, chlorogenic acid, and quercetin showed better binding efficiency with the target protein InlB. The binding energy obtained for quercetin, p-coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, and epicatechins was-8.93,-8.23,-8.18,-7.58, kcal/mol, respectively. Quercetin and p-coumaric acid were forming 4 H-bonds, whereas chlorogenic acid and epicatechins were forming 3-H bonds inside the binding pocket. Conclusion: In a nutshell, analyses indicated that identified ligands have the potential to block the virulent protein InlB of L. monocytogenes and help combat Listeria infection. These phenolic compounds could be a substitute for synthetic antimicrobials and can be used in food preservation and combat food-borne diseases. However, future in-depth in vitro and in vivo analysis is needed to get more information on these four phenolic ligands of berries.

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