Study of the Gastrointestinal Heat Retention Syndrome in Children: From Diagnostic Model to Biological Basis

Abstract

Gastrointestinal heat retention syndrome (GHRS) refers to a condition that is associated with increased gastrointestinal heat caused by a metabolic block in energy. It is common in children and is closely related to the occurrence and development of recurrent respiratory tract infection, pneumonia, recurrent functional abdominal pain, etc. However, there are no standardized diagnostic criteria to differentiate the GHRS. Therefore, this study is aimed to establish a diagnostic model for children’s GHRS and explore the possible biological basis by using systems biology to achieve. Furthermore, Delphi method and the clinical data of Lasso analysis were used to screen out the core symptoms. Nineteen core symptoms of GHRS in children were screened including digestive symptoms such as dry stool, poor appetite, vomiting, and some nervous system symptoms such as night restlessness and irritability. Based on the core symptoms, a GHRS diagnosis model was established using the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) method, and the accuracy of internal verification reached 93.03%. Relevant targets of the core symptoms in the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) were retrieved, and target interactions were linked through the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING) database, and core targets were selected after topological analysis using Cytoscape. Relevant biological processes and pathways were analyzed by applying the DAVID and KEGG databases. The enriched biological processes focused on the cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and mitochondrial metabolism, which were mainly associated with PI3K-AKT, MAPK network pathways, and the Wnt signaling pathway. In conclusion, we established a diagnosis model of GHRS in children based on the core symptoms and provided an objective standard for its clinical diagnosis. And, the Wnt signaling pathway and the estrogen receptor-activated PI3K-AKT and MAPK network pathways may play important roles in the GHRS processing.

Realgar Alleviated Neuroinflammation Induced by High Protein and High Calorie Diet in Rats via the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis

“…GHRS is defined by increased gastrointestinal heat with clinical manifestations including fever, sweating, halitosis, thirst and preference for cool drink, dry stool, yellow urine, and tongue redness [ 3 ]. GHRS is induced by intake of a high-calorie and high-fat diet, which mostly occur in children and adolescents, and in more females than males [ 1 ]. Previous clinical studies indicated that core symptoms of GHRS in children were mainly digestive symptoms, inflammatory reactions, and nervous system symptoms, such as dry stool, poor appetite, vomiting, recurrent respiratory tract infections, night restlessness, and irritability [ 1 , 5 ].…”

“…GHRS is induced by intake of a high-calorie and high-fat diet, which mostly occur in children and adolescents, and in more females than males [ 1 ]. Previous clinical studies indicated that core symptoms of GHRS in children were mainly digestive symptoms, inflammatory reactions, and nervous system symptoms, such as dry stool, poor appetite, vomiting, recurrent respiratory tract infections, night restlessness, and irritability [ 1 , 5 ]. Realgar, an arsenic tetrasulfide compound, is a highly recognized traditional Chinese medicinal product that has been widely used to treat various diseases such as inflammatory diseases and nervous system injury [ 17 , 19 ].…”

“…MGB axis mediates the development of GHRS through a complicated network. GHRS may be associated with MGB axis imbalance and microorganism effect on brain homeostasis by regulating nerves, immunity, and endocrine [ 1 ]. In addition, the microbiota has been shown to influence BBB permeability in mice [ 40 ].…”

“…Gastrointestinal heat retention syndrome (GHRS) is a metabolic syndrome which is associated with increased gastrointestinal heat caused by a high fat and calorie diet [ 1 ]. GHRS often results in damage of the nervous system and affects development of adolescents, a developmental stage with high burden of GHRS.…”

Development and evaluation of short-form version of the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire: study a new and best brief instrument of Chinese medicine for health management

“…If a < 0.5, the item discrimination is not well and can be deleted [ 51 ]; (c) difficulty parameters b. If b > 3, the item difficulty is relatively high and can be deleted [ 52 ]; and (d) considering the discrimination and difficulty of the reserved items comprehensively, the 3 items with the best parameters a and b were selected as the alternative items of the short-form CCMQ.…”