Background The incidence of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures is increasing every year. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can shed new light on the treatment of osteoporosis. This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of paeoniflorin in promoting osteogenic differentiation of an osteoblast precursor cell line (MC3T3-E1). Methods MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured in osteogenic induction medium (OIM) and OIM combined with different concentrations of paeoniflorin. The optimal dose of paeoniflorin was assessed by a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Then, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Alizarin Red S (ARS) staining were performed to assess the osteogenic capacity of paeoniflorin. The transcription of osteogenic genes and the expression of osteogenic proteins were assessed by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The transcription of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway genes and proteins was assessed by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Finally, Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), a Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibitor, was used to identify whether the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was involved in the osteogenic differentiation of paeoniflorin. Osteoclastogenesis in RAW264.7 cells was identified by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining. Results At concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 100 μM, paeoniflorin was not cytotoxic to MC3T3-E1 cells. Paeoniflorin significantly increased the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, paeoniflorin significantly increased osteogenic differentiation gene and protein expression. Through bioinformatic analysis, paeoniflorin-affected genes were found to be involved in different signaling pathways, such as the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Paeoniflorin enhanced β-catenin and CyclinD1 expression compared with that of the control groups. DKK-1 partially reversed the promoting effects of paeoniflorin in promoting osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells. Moreover, paeoniflorin inhibited the osteoclastogenesis of RAW264.7 cells. Conclusion Paeoniflorin promotes osteogenic differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells by regulating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Paeoniflorin is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Objective. In this study, a prognostic model for the respiratory function was constructed based on the treatment methods of patients with nonsevere pulmonary infection, aiming to provide a reference for clinical decision-making. Method. A total of 500 patients with nonsevere pulmonary infection were included in this study. The patients were randomized into training set ( n = 350 ) and validation set ( n = 150 ), and the baseline characteristics were collected. All patients received breathing exercises or breathing exercises combined with acupuncture therapy for 3 months, and then the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) was assessed. Next, an ordinal multinomial logistic regression model was used to analyze prognostic factors affecting respiratory function of patients with nonsevere pulmonary infection. The Test of Parallel Lines was used to determine the accuracy (ACC) of the model and screen the influencing factors. The confusion matrix was drawn, and the ACC and harmonic mean (F1 score) were calculated to evaluate the feasibility of the model results. Results. Results of the ordinal multinomial logistic regression model showed that age ( P = 0.000 ), treatment method ( P = 0.000 ), underlying diseases ( P < 0.001 ), and sex ( P = 0.389 ) were independent factors affecting the respiratory function of patients in the training set. The ACC value of the training set was 88.86%, and that of the validation set was 91.33%, indicating a high accuracy and favorable predictive ability of the model. Besides, the F1 score was 62.38%, indicating a high reliability of the model. Conclusion. The prognostic model for respiratory function of patients with nonsevere pulmonary infection constructed in this study had favorable predictive performance, which is of great significance in the clinical nursing and treatment of patients with pulmonary infection.