Water soluble extract (WSE) is an important index for the quality evaluation of Astragali Radix (AR). In this study, the WSE of the wild AR from Shanxi province (SX) and the cultivated AR from Gansu Province (GS) were compared. The WSEs of two types of AR were determined according to the appendix of Chinese pharmacopoeia. Then the WSEs were subjected to NMR analysis, and the obtained data were analyzed using HCA, PCA, OPLS-DA, microarray analysis, and Spearman rank analysis. In addition, the Pearson correlation of differential metabolites were also calculated. The results showed that the WSE content of GS-AR (37.80%) was higher than that of SX-AR (32.13%). The main constituent of WSE was sucrose, and other 18 compounds, including amino acids, organic acids, were also detected. Multivariate analysis revealed that SX-AR contained more choline, succinic acid, citric acid, glutamate, taurine and aspartate, while GS samples contained more sucrose, arginine and fumaric acid. In addition, the Pearson correlations between different metabolites of the two types of AR also showed apparent differences. The results suggested that the WSE of two types of AR differs not only in the content, but also in the chemical compositions. Thus, the cultivation way is important to the quality of AR. This study supplied a new method for the comparison of extract of herbal drugs.
Arginine ; analysis ; Aspartic Acid ; analysis ; Choline ; analysis ; Citric Acid ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; chemistry ; Fumarates ; analysis ; Glutamic Acid ; analysis ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Multivariate Analysis ; Phylogeography ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Succinic Acid ; analysis ; Sucrose ; analysis ; Taurine ; analysis

Objective To analyze the district differences of height among Chinese Han population aged 7 to 18 years,and to divide the levels of heights into several regions accordingly,to provide basis for evaluation the development of height in the above said population.Methods Standard Deviation was used to compare the relative lavels of height in different provinces and to divide them into several regions.The results were then showed in map through the Geographic Information System (GIS).Results All the 30 provinces in China were divided into three regions:high,medium and short regions according to the stature.Region with high stature was mainly located in northern,while medium stature was in central and northwest parts and short stature was in southwest parts of China.The differences of height appeared to be significant among regions in every age group.The differences of height were 1-3 cm between adjacent regions,and were even lager between the regions with high or short stature which appeared to be 4-5 cm.Conclusion Overall,heights among the Chinese Han children and adolescents were taller in the northern and shorter in the southern areas.The highest and lowest levels of heights were in the Northern and the Southwest areas respectively.It was observed that the levels of height in the coastal areas were higher than that of the inland.There were no absolute boundaries between different regions because of the gradual transition in the levels of heights in various districts.

Objective To develop the reference on height among children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years of Chinese Han ethnicity in different administrative districts of China and to use this height reference for screening stunting.Results from the national screening program were compared with the WHO references.Methods Data from the Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health in 2005 was used to develop the height references through LMS method.Results Differences among the references on height for children and adolescents in different districts ( Ⅰ - Ⅳ ) were remarkable.The highest was seen in the Second Districts while the lowest was seen in the First Districts among those at the age of 18,with differences as 3.18 cm for boys and 2.92 cm for girls.The heights from the inland were shorter than that of the WHO references,with the differences ranging from 0.31 cm to 5.07 cm for boys,and from 0.98 cm to 4.22 cm for girls.The prevalence rates of stunting were 2.22％,2.29％,5.25％,respectively according to local references,national references and the WHO references.Conclusion Universal height references from the whole nation could not discriminate the variations caused by geographic conditions and hereditory factors related to socio-economie situations.Height references should be developed locally,to evaluate height levels of the areas.

Conidial suspension was obtained from the Penicillium sp. DS9713a which could decompose PHB. Through screening a lot of mutants with the methods of transparent zones and flask culture, five strains were selected from starting strain treated with UV and their activity were higher than the original .The best mutant strain named DS9713a-CS01, it's enzyme activity was as 197.42% high as that of the original ,furthermore, the characters of crude enzyme were studied.

Objective The use of targeting therapy for the treatment of gastric glandular cancer has been a hot topic in recent years. This study aims to clarify that through what ways the histone deacetylase inhibitor MS-275 completes its selectively killing effect on gastric glandular cancer cell line SGC-7901. Methods SGC-7901 cells and GES-1 cells were respectively cultured for 24h, with(10-100) μmol/L concentrations of MS-275. (1) The survival rate of SGC-7901 cells, GES-1 cells and the normal cells were analyzed by WST-1; (2) The change of the mitochondrial membrane potential in SGC-7901 was estimated by flow cytometry;(3) The expression levels of p21, p27, p57, cyclinB1, cyclinD1 were determined by Western blot and PCR methods. Results (1) MS-275 could decrease the survival rate of SGC-7901 cells, the effect was significantly enhanced with the increasing of the concentration (P<0.05), but MS-275 showed no obvious effect on normal gastric mucosa epithelial cells GES-1; (2) MS-275 treatment could decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential of SGC-7901 cells (P<0.05); (3) MS-275 treatment could increase the relative contents of p21, p27, p57 genes and their protein and, at the same time, decrease the relative contents of CyclinB1 and CyclinD1 (P<0.05). Conclusion MS-275 treatment can selectively kill gastric glandular cancer cells SGC-7901 through several possible ways, such as inducing mitochondrial apoptosis and regulating the expression levels of cell cycle-related genes and proteins.

L-amino acid transporter 1 ( LAT1) is a member of L-amino transporter family and an important heterodi?meric amino acid transporter that belongs to subfamily of SLC7. LAT1 mainly mediates trans-membrane transportation of those neutral amino acids that had cyclobenzene or long side chains with high molecular mass such as L-Leu, L-Met and L-Phe as well as some amino acid analogues such as melphalan, L-DOPA and thyroxine in a Na+and ATP-independent diffu?sion. As LAT1 was abnormally overexpressed in various transformed cell lines, it might be related with tumor stage and prog?nosis. It is not only a biomarker that specifically expressed in some tumor cells but also plays an important role in tumor diag?nosis and therapy. Here we demonstrate the structure of LAT1 and its mechanism in transport peculiarity. We also reviewed the development of LAT1 in tumor diagnosis and treatment.

This study was aimed to establish a stable animal model of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) to provide theoretical and experimental basis for understanding the development of LVH. The abdominal aorta of male Wistar rats (80-100 g) was constricted to a diameter of 0.55 mm between the branches of the celiac and anterior mesenteric arteries. Echocardiography using a linear phased array probe was performed as well as pathological examination and plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) measurement at 3, 4 and 6 weeks after abdominal aortic constriction (AAC). The results showed that the acute mortality rate (within 24 h) of this modified rat model was 8%. Animals who underwent AAC demonstrated significantly increased interventricular septal (IVS), LV posterior wall (LVPWd), LV mass index (LVMI), cross-sectional area (CSA) of myocytes, and perivascular fibrosis; the ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS), and cardiac output (CO) were consistently lower at each time point after AAC. Notably, differences in these parameters between AAC group and sham group were significant by 3 weeks and reached peaks at 4th week. Following AAC, the plasma BNP was gradually elevated compared with the sham group at 3rd and 6th week. It was concluded that this modified AAC model can develop LVH, both stably and safely, by week four post-surgery; echocardiography is able to assess changes in chamber dimensions and systolic properties accurately in rats with LVH.

Objective To investigate the correlation between chronic insomniacs' sleep quality and age,gender,education level,anxiety,depression and sympathetic skin response (SSR) in chronic insomniacs.Methods General information of 197 outpatients with chronic insomnia was recorded,including age,gender and education,etc.They were tested by Pittsburgh's Sleep Quality Index (PSQI),Hamilton's Anxiety Scale (14 item version) (HAMA14),Hamilton's Depression Scale (24 item version)(HAMD24) and Sympathetic Skin Response (SSR).Distribution properties of different age,gender and education groups were studied.Chronic insomniacs were divided into mild insomnia group (7 ≤ PSQI ＜ 14)and moderate-severe insomnia group (PSQI ≥ 14).Dependency relation analysis and stepwise linear regression analysis were conducted among indices of PSQI scores,HAMA14 scores and total score,HAMD24 scores and total score,SSR positive incidence.Results Among 197 chronic insomniacs (male,50 cases,25.4％;female,147 cases,74.6％),insomniacs aged over 40 accounted for 77.2％.Female patients were older than male patients with statistical significance,of whom those aged 40-60 years accounted for the highest proportion of 37.1％.Female patients with less education (junior high school and below)accounted for the highest proportion of 50.3％ (73/197),whose education level was generally lower than male patients.Among 197 chronic insomniacs,104 cases (52.8％,99/197) had mild insomnia and 93cases (47.2％) had moderate-severe insomnia.Total score of HAMA14 of patients with moderate-severe insomnia was significantly higher than that of patients with mild insomnia (16.47 ± 5.40 vs 12.51 ± 4.53;t =5.552,P＜0.01).There was statistically significanct difference in subitem HAMA14 scores of anxiety somatization factor (4.31 ± 2.26 vs 5.90-3.10,t =5.600,P ＜ 0.01) and spiritualized anxiety factor (10.5 ± 72.97 vs 8.20 ± 3.00,t =4.157,P ＜ 0.01) between mild and moderate-severe groups with insomnia.Total score of HAMD24 of patients with moderate-severe insomnia was significantly higher than that of patients with mild insomnia (18.04 ± 5.91 vs 13.41 ± 5.05;t=3.931,P＜ 0.01).There was statistically significanct difference in scores of most HAMD24 subitems including anxiety/somatization (3.56 ± 1.51 vs 2.94 ± 1.28;t =3.110,P =0.002),cognitive dysfunction (2.91 ± 1.68 vs 2.17 ± 1.57;t=3.191,P=0.002),retardation (2.331 ±1.31 vs 1.72 ±1.22;t=3.939,P=0.01),dyssomnia (4.51 ± 1.54 vs 3.01 ± 1.80;t =6.228,P ＜0.01) and hopelessness factor (2.29 ± 1.46 vs 1.66 ± 1.07,t =3.459,P =0.001;except body weight and diurnal variation factor) between groups with different degrees of insomnia.SSR abnormal incidences of moderate-severe insomniacs were significantly higher than that of mild insomniacs.The proportion of poorly differentiated waveform and not elicited waveform in SSR abnormal groups had statistically significant difference.The Pearson correlation analysis showed that PSQI scores in chronic insomnia patients and HAMA14,HAMD24 score as well as abnormal rate of SSR were positively correlated (r =0.439,0.465,0.249,all P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Chronic insomnia was commonly seen in middle-aged women with education level of junor high school and below.The degree of sleep quality and anxiety,depression as well as the abnormal rate of SSR was positively correlated in patients with chronic insomnia.

Objectives To evaluate the long-term outcomes of childhood low-or intermediate-risk neuroblastoma (NB) and their relevant prognostic factors. Methods A total of 70 new cases of low-or intermediate-risk NB diagnosed and treated by NB-99 protocol between 1999 and 2008 were analyzed retrospectively. Results Of these 70 NB patients, fourteen patients were in low-risk group and 56 were in intermediate-risk group. Sixty-seven patients reached complete remission (CR) or very good partial remission and 3 (5%) achieved partial remission. Ten patients relapsed. One patient occured second malignant neo-plasm. No patients died of chemotherapy-related adverse events or infections. The 5 year overall survival rate was 85.9%, event-free survival rate was 81.0%. Bone marrow infiltration, age at diagnosis, stage, lactate dehydrogenase level had a significant effect on prognosis. Conclusion Develop cytogenetic and molecular biology tests and pretreatment risk stratification are im-portant for further improvement of treatment protocol.

BACKGROUND:Currently, neural stem celltransplantation can be performed through three main approaches:local lesions, blood circulation, and cerebrospinal fluid.
OBJECTIVE:To review the transplantation of neural stem cells or neural precursor cells via the cerebrospinal fluid in the treatment of central nervous system diseases.
METHODS:A computer-based search of PubMed and CHKD databases was performed to retrieve articles concerning transplantation of neural stem cells via the cerebrospinal fluid, and its application and therapeutic mechanism in the treatment of central nervous system diseases in both animal experiment and clinic study published from 2000 to 2009.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:It is suitable for neural stem cellsurvival, proliferation, and differentiation in the cerebrospinal fluid. Transplantation of neural stem cells via the cerebrospinal fluid is effective and feasible to treat central nervous system diseases. However, some problems have not been solved, such as the source of neural stem cells, the optimal time window and celldose, the safety and the long-term effect. Further studies are needed to pave the way for the intrathecal injection of neural stem cells in the treatment of central nervous system diseases.