AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study aimed to characterize the chemical properties of a purified polysaccharide extracted from the aerial part of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum (SYQP) and investigate its antipyretic and antitumor effects in mice models.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Water-soluble crude polysaccharides from the aerial parts of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum were extracted and fractionated by DEAE and gel permeation chromatography. Homogeneity, molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, and FTIR analysis were performed to characterize the SYQP. Antipyretic effect of SYQP was examined using Brewer's yeast induced hyperthermia test. Antitumor effect was investigated using H22 tumor bearing mice. The serum cytokines were determined to evaluated the biological activities of SYQP.

RESULTS: SYQP was composed of galacturonic acid (GalA), glucose (Glc), mannose (Man), arabinose (Ara), galactose (Gal), and rhamnose (Rha) with a molar ratio of 11.3:7.1:2.5:1.0:0.9:0.5 and it had an average molecular weight of 66.2 kDa. The oral administration of SYQP at 200 and 400 mg/kg could markedly suppress the hyperthermia of mice induced by Brewer's yeast and decrease the production of cytokines especially prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the serum of mice. SYQP inhibited the growth of H22 tumor in mice with inhibitory rate of 39.9% at the administration dose of 200 mg/kg and increased the production of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and interferon γ (IFN-γ). Experimental results showed that the preventive administration of SYQP before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) reduced the high cytokine levels such as IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-γ, indicating that SYQP might act as a competitor with LPS to interact with toll like receptor 4 (TLR4), which further regulated the secretion of cytokines.

METHOD: Five databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Google Scholar, were used to select articles published up to 20 December 2023, using a combination of keywords related to PT and female basketball players. The risk of bias and the certainty of evidence in included articles were assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias (RoB2) tool and "The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation" (GRADE).

RESULTS: Ten studies were included for the systematic review, and eight for the meta-analysis, totalling 246 female basketball players aged 14.5-22.5 years. Most of these players were highly trained. Most of the included studies exhibited concerns regarding the risk of bias. The PT programs lasted 4-8 weeks, conducted 2-3 sessions per week, with sessions lasting 20-90 min and including 29-190 jumps. In the systematic review, most studies showed that PT significantly improved performance in countermovement jump (CMJ), squat jump (SJ), Sargent jump, standing long jump, lateral hop, medicine ball throw, t-Test, Illinois agility, lane agility drill, linear 20-m sprint, stable and dynamic leg balance, dribbling, passing, shooting, and various basketball-specific tests, as well as increased muscle volume and thigh cross-sectional area. However, some studies showed PT to induce no significant changes in performance during CMJ, t-Test, Illinois agility, knee extensor/flexor strength, linear sprint, and single leg balance tests. In the meta-analysis, CMJ height (ES = 0.37; p = 0.036), vertical jump (VJ) peak power (ES = 0.57; p = 0.015), VJ peak velocity (ES = 0.26; p = 0.004), and t-Test performance time (ES = 0.32; p = 0.004) were significantly improved with small effects following PT.

CONCLUSION: The effect of PT on performance in female basketball players was mixed. Most studies indicated that PT could improve various measures of physical fitness and skill-related performance, but performance remained unchanged in some tests. More studies with established tests are needed to investigate the effect of PT on female basketball players in the future.

METHODS: Patients who underwent ASCR for massive rotator cuff tears between January 2013 and July 2021were reviewed. Based on the achievement of the minimal clinically important differences for clinical outcome measures at the final follow up, patients were divided into the good outcome (GO) and poor outcome (PO) groups. The minimal clinically important differences were calculated as the values equal to one-half of the standard deviation of the changes in outcome scores between the preoperative baseline and the latest follow-up. Pre- and final follow-up variables included demographics, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, Constant score, visual analog scale (VAS) score, range of motion, Preoperative and postoperative 1-year radiological variables were analyzed using MRIs, including anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) tear sizes, subscapularis tear, acromiohumeral distance (AHD), and degree of fatty degeneration. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the significant predictors of poor outcomes.

RESULTS: A total of 33 patients who underwent ASCR presented with graft tears, which were confirmed by postoperative 1-year magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and had a minimum follow-up duration of 2 years after surgery were enrolled. The GO group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in functional outcomes compared with the PO group (ASES: 83.5 ± 11.8 vs. 64.0 ± 20.4, P = 0.004; Constant: 67.6 ± 5.7 vs. 57.1 ± 9.8, P <0.001; and VAS: 0.9 ± 1.2 vs. 2.4 ± 2.0, P = 0.026). The postoperative 1-year AHD showed significant improvement in the GO group (3.1 ± 1.2 vs. 6.1 ± 1.4, P <0.001) but no change in the PO group (3.4 ± 1.3 vs. 4.2 ± 0.9, P = 0.074) postoperatively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that a decreased postoperative 1-year AHD (OR, 0.145; P = 0.019) was associated with a poor outcome after a graft tear.

CONCLUSION: A narrow postoperative 1-year AHD was identified as the most importantindependent risk factor indicating poor clinical outcomes after a graft tear post-ASCR, which was related to a larger tear and loss of integrity between the grafts and infraspinatus at 1 year postoperatively.