Citations

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide, posing a serious threat to women’s physical and mental health. To address this significant global public health challenge, the Guidelines for the Integrated Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer with Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine working group, adhering to the principles of evidence-based medicine, has proposed a comprehensive and holistic diagnostic and therapeutic pathway. This pathway integrates the core concepts of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), such as holistic views and syndrome differentiation and treatment, with the latest advances in breast cancer treatment from both domestic and international perspectives. It objectively evaluates the role of integrated Chinese and western medicine in the all-encompassing and full-cycle management of breast cancer across different phases: the acute phase (perioperative, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy periods), early consolidation phase, late palliative care phase, and follow-up period addressing accompanying symptoms (eg, cancer-related fatigue, bone and joint symptoms). Highlighting the unique features of TCM, the guidelines provide a model for integrated breast cancer treatment for clinicians at various levels of health care institutions. This article offers a detailed interpretation of the guideline’s key highlights and 11 PICO questions concerning TCM management throughout the breast cancer continuum, aiming to enhance the understanding, application, and promotion of the guidelines.

Despite ongoing efforts to employ structure-based methods to discover targeted protein degraders (TPD), the prevailing strategy remains synthesizing a focused set of heterobifunctional compounds and screening them for target protein degradation.

Background and Aims: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) prevent fibrosis progression in a preclinical model of steatotic liver disease. Our objective was to assess the impact of ACEi/ARB use on clinical outcomes in patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver diseases. Approach and Results: Using TriNetX, a nationwide database, we identified all patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver diseases from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2019. Using a target trial emulation framework, ACEi/ARB users were matched with calcium channel blocker (CCB) users using propensity score matching (PSM). Patients were followed up to 10 years after the index date. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine the risk of mortality, major adverse liver outcomes, major adverse cardiac events, and incident cancers. Of the 35,988 eligible patients, 28,423 were ACEi/ARB users, and 7565 were CCB users. After PSM, 7238 pairs were well-balanced. ACEi/ARB use was associated with a significantly decreased mortality risk (HR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.51–0.68). ACEi/ARB was associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing major adverse liver outcomes (HR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.61–0.80), including ascites (HR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.63–0.98) and HE (HR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.57–0.78). ACEi/ARB use was also associated with a lower risk of major adverse cardiac events (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.76–0.90) but not incident cancer (HR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.86-1.10) compared with CCB. Conclusions: ACEi/ARB use in patients with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver diseases was associated with a reduced risk of mortality, major adverse liver outcomes, and major adverse cardiac events compared with CCB use. A large prospective study is needed for external validation.

Abstract The human microbiome consists of the microorganisms associated with the body, such as bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa, and viruses, along with their gene content and products. These microbes are abundant in the digestive, respiratory, renal/urinary, and reproductive systems. While microbes found in other organs/tissues are often associated with diseases, some reports suggest their presence even in healthy individuals. Lack of microbial colonization does not indicate a lack of microbial influence, as their metabolites can affect distant locations through circulation. In a healthy state, these microbes maintain a mutualistic relationship and help shape the host's physiological functions. Unlike the host's genetic content, microbial gene content and expression are dynamic and influenced by factors such as ethnicity, genetic background, sex, age, lifestyle/diet, and psychological/physical conditions. Therefore, defining a healthy microbiome becomes challenging as it is context dependent and can vary over time for an individual. Although differences in microbial composition have been observed in various diseases, these changes may reflect host alterations rather than causing the disease itself. As the field is evolving, there is increased emphasis on understanding when changes in the microbiome are an important component of pathogenesis rather than the consequence of a disease state. This article focuses on the microbial component in the digestive and respiratory tracts—the primary sites colonized by microorganisms—and the physiological functions of microbial metabolites in these systems. It also discusses their physiological functions in the central nervous and cardiovascular systems, which have no microorganism colonization under healthy conditions based on human studies. © 2024 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 14:5491‐5519, 2024.