Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is the end stage of various chronic and progressive interstitial lung diseases. TGF-β, a profibrotic cytokine, can promote epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation, and fibroblast proliferation, which contribute to progressive lung remodeling in PF. The Wenfei Buqi Tongluo (WBT) formula has been certified to be effective in the prevention and treatment of PF in clinical practice and has inhibitory effects on EMT, inflammation, and profibrotic factors. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of WBT against PF need to be further explored. In this study, we first analyzed the chemical components of the WBT formula using the UHPLC/Q-TOF-MS analysis. The potential targets of the identified compounds from WBT were predicted by the network pharmacology, which was confirmed by in vivo and in vitro study. After screening by the PubChem database, we first identified the 36 compounds of WBT and predicted the TGF-β signaling pathway, with ECM degradation as potential mechanism of WBT against PF by the network pharmacology. Furthermore, WBT treatment inhibited the levels of TGF-β and Smad3 phosphorylation and subsequently alleviated EMT and ECM accumulation in the bleomycin-induced mouse model and TGF-β1–induced cell model. These findings indicate that WBT can block the progressive process of PF by inhibiting EMT and promoting ECM degradation via the TGF-β/Smad3 pathway. This study may provide new insights into the molecular mechanism of WBT for the prevention and treatment of PF in the clinical application.

Objective. To explore the dynamic changes recorded in pulse graph related to the changes in the severity of pain before and after electroacupuncture (EA) intervention among young women suffering from primary dysmenorrhea (PD). Methods. A total of 147 female college students were recruited in this study. Based on participants’ symptoms associated with menstruation, they were divided into the PD group and the healthy control group. In addition, participants in the PD group were further sorted into the Cold Coagulation and Blood Stasis Pattern (CCBSP) and Qi Stagnation and Blood Stasis Pattern (QSBSP) based on TCM diagnoses and their pulses differences. Participants in the PD group received EA at maximal pain during menstruation. The primary acupuncture points selected were SP 6 and RN 3, additional RN 4 for CCBSP, and LR 3 for QSBSP. Four observation time points were 7–10 days before menstruation (T0), maximal pain during menstruation (T1), immediately after EA (T2), and 30 mins after EA (T3). The severity of pain was assessed by a visual analog scale (VAS) along with a pulse analyzer to record the variations of the pulse graph throughout the changes of pain level. Results. (1) The average VAS score in the PD group decreased from 5.44 ± 1.46 at T1 to 1.72 ± 1.27 at T2 and 1.59 ± 1.30 at T3. The average VAS score in participants of CCBSP at T1, T2, and T3 was higher than that of QSBSP. (2) At T1, h2, h3, h4, and w 1 /t were all significantly increased, compared with those at T0. At T2, t and t5 were both significantly increased, and w 1 /t, t1, and t1/t were all significantly decreased, compared with those at T1. At T3, w 1 /t, t1, and t1/t were all significantly increased, and t and t5 were both significantly decreased, compared with those at T2. (3) Comparing the pulse graphs between the healthy control and the PD groups, h1 was significantly lower at T0; w 1 /t was significantly higher at T1; t was significantly higher at T2; and t1 and t1/t were both significantly higher at T3 in PD group. (4) When comparing the pulse graphs between QSBSP and CCBSP, t4/t5 was significantly higher at T0 and t1 was significantly higher at T1 in the CCBSP group. Conclusion. EA is effective in relieving primary dysmenorrhea. Our results showed the opposite changing of the pulse graph recorded before the onset of pain to the maximum pain and that from maximum pain to pain relief. Indeed, there were differences in the recorded pulse graphs between CCBSP and QSBSP (two patterns of PD) as described in traditional Chinese pulses diagnosis. The study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registered number: ChiCTR2000040065; registered date: 2020/11/19).

Facial appearance reveals clues about personality. Studies have found that facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) correlates with some personality traits, and mandibular morphology as a potential facial feature that might have correlation with personality traits. Therefore, a face recognition study was carried out to explore the personality traits’ correlation to both fWHR and bilateral mandibular line angles. Specifically, face images of 904 college students in China were collected and measured, with the personality traits evaluated using the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire. Analyses revealed that the average bilateral mandibular line angle of the male were significantly more extensive than that of the female, while the fWHR of the female was significantly more extensive than that of the male. We found facial features (fWHR and average bilateral mandibular line angle) were correlated with 16PF in the canonical correlation analysis and the loadings of bilateral mandibular line angles were greater than that of fWHR. The fWHR was significantly negatively correlated with the scores of sensitivity and self-reliance in male but none of the factors related to fWHR in female. The bilateral mandibular line angles were significantly negatively correlated with the scores of social boldness in male, and were significantly negatively correlated with the scores of vigilance and apprehension in female. Over all, the correlations between fWHR, average bilateral mandibular line angle and certain 16PF factors in male and female tend to be different, suggesting that such correlations might vary with gender. In the future, mandibular morphology could be selected as a potential indicator in facial perception. The limitations of this study were the participants were limited to 18–30 years of age and the mandibular morphology was not measured with anthropometry, which could be further improved in future studies.

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