In August 2001 we began to use WELPAS (a benzalkonium chloride solution) as part of our cost-containment drive, replacing self-made glycerol-added ethanol, which had been used for a long time to prevent nosocomial infections. Since then, blackish stains have become particularly noticeable here and there on the floorboards of the passageways in the hospital wards. The newly adopted quick-drying hand disinfectant was suspected as the culprit. To find the real cause of the dirt, we built a hallway similar to the real passageway for experiment. The disinfectant agents used were WELPAS, WELLUP (chlorhexidine gluconate), HIBISOFT (chlorhexidine gluconate), medicinal ethanol, cationic detergent solution, HIBITANE solution (chlorhexidine hydrochioride) and glycerol solution. These agents and distilled water were dropped on a limited area of the floor respectively for comparison of the degrees of dirt. The cationic detergent solution and WELPAS containing cationic detergent left blackish stains that were hardest to remove. From this finding, it was inferred that the cationic detergent solution was responsible for the dirt on the floor. So we decided to switch to a quick-drying hand disinfectant which does not contain cationic detergents. After considering economic benefit, we chose WELLUP which contains medicinal alcohol plus chlorhexidine gluconate and put it into actual use in October 2003. Since then, the hospitall floors have become unmistakalbly clean.
Solutions ; Disinfectants ; Hand ; Detergents ; Desiccation

In order to explore the effect of different drying methods(drying-in-the-shade, sun-drying, and hot air drying) on appearance characteristics, internal structure and composition of Belamcandae Rhizoma, so as to provide a theoretical basis for screening out suitable drying methods for primary processing. In this study, the Belamcandae Rhizoma's dynamic changes of the moisture content ratio and drying rate with different drying time under different drying methods, as well as the effects of different drying methods on the appearance, drying rate, density, ash, extractives and the contents of six flavonoids(mangiferin, tectoridin, iridin, tectorigenin, irigenin, irisflorentin) were compared. The results showed that fresh Belamcandae Rhizoma consumed the longest time to reach the water balance point by traditional dry drying in the shade, whiche was about 311 h; that by sun drying was 19.3%, which was shorter than drying in the shade; both drying curves were smoother. The section color of the sun drying samples was the closest to that of fresh samples, but the interior is full of holes, with a low density and loose structure. Hot air drying(40, 60, 80 ℃) could save about 27% to 88% of the drying time, which was greatly shorter, with less pores, a larger density and compact structure. Compared with the traditional drying method, the drying rate of hot air drying was reduced by 13.7%. Ash was affected by temperature, the drying conditions under 40 ℃ and below were not significantly different from those of conventional drying. The ash content decreased by 7.73% to 18.5% compared with conventional drying at 60,80 ℃. After conventional drying and 40 ℃ hot air drying, the contents of tectoridin and iridin(glycosides) in the samples were significantly higher than those in 60,80 ℃ hot air drying, while the contents of tectorigenin, irigenin and irisflorentin(aglycones) dried at 60 ℃ were the best. Therefore, considering comprehensive appearance characteristics and content of medicinal ingredients, traditional Chinese medicinal materials after 60 ℃ hot air drying show a solid texture, tight internal structure, good appearance, appropriate reduction of toxic parasides and higher aglycone content.
Desiccation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Rhizome

Angelicae sinensis Radix( ASR) is a commonly used medicinal material in Chinese medicine,widely used in clinical practice of Chinese medicine,Gansu province is the genuine production area of ASR. This paper studies the evolution law of drying method of ASR,the results showed that drying process was the key affection of the medicinal properties and quality of ASR,and it was an important reflection of the authentic properties of ASR. The drying history of ASR has gradually changed from the earliest shade drying to various drying methods. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia stipulates that the drying method of ASR is"fumigation drying",and the traditional drying method can not meet the processing needs of the origin. In recent years,the new drying methods and drying effects on the quality of ASR are more.
Angelica sinensis ; Desiccation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal

With the rapid development of computer technology, numerical simulation has gradually become an important method to study drying process and improve drying equipment. Using computer to simulate the drying process of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is characterized by intuitiveness, scientificity, and low cost, which serves as an auxiliary means for technical innovation in TCM drying. This paper summarizes the theories of different drying methods and the research status of numerical simulation in drying, introduces the modeling methods and software of numerical simulation, and expounds the significance of numerical simulation modeling in shortening the research and development cycle, improving drying equipment, and optimizing drying parameters. However, the current numerical simulation method for drying process has problems, such as low accuracy, lack of quantitative indicators for the control of simulation results on the process, and insufficient in-depth research on the mechanism of drug quality changes. Furthermore, this paper put forward the application prospect of numerical simulation in TCM drying, providing reference for the further study of numerical simulation in this field.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Desiccation

The present study explored the drying effect of new spiral vibration drying technology on Chinese medicinal pills with Liuwei Dihuang Pills, Zhuanggu Guanjie Pills, and Muxiang Shunqi Pills as model drugs. With the drying uniformity, drying time, energy consumption, pill split, dissolution time, and change of index components as evaluation indicators, the drying effect of spiral vibration drying technology on model drugs was evaluated and compared with traditional drying methods, such as hot air drying and vacuum drying in the oven. The dynamic changes of moisture in Liuwei Dihuang Pills with different drying time were investigated. Compared with the traditional drying methods in the oven(hot air drying and vacuum drying) at 80 ℃, the spiral vibration drying only took 80 min, shortened by 80%, with 10%-13% energy consumed. The results showed that the moisture of Liuwei Dihuang Pills was negatively related to the drying time. By virtue of multi-layer countercurrent drying and super resonant fluidization techniques, the new spiral vibration drying technology can significantly improve the drying quality of Chinese medicinal pills, improve the drying efficiency, and enhance the manufacturing capacity of Chinese medicinal pills. This study is expected to provide references for the innovation and development of new drying technology of Chinese medicinal pills.
China ; Desiccation ; Physical Therapy Modalities ; Technology ; Vibration

There is no consensus on the drying methods of Salvia miltiorrhiza in ancient and modern times,especially on the content of phenolic acid in fresh S. miltiorrhiza. In order to further explore the content of main components in fresh S. miltiorrhiza and study the dynamic changes during the drying process,the content of main components was used as the index in this study to evaluate the processing method,drying method,correlation between dehydration rate and component content for fresh S. miltiorrhiza. In addition,the sealed and unsealed parallel control groups were set to carry out verification test during the drying process. UPLC method was used for determination of seven main components including rosmarinic acid,lithosperic acid,salvianolic acid B,cryptotanshinone,tanshinoneⅠ,methylene salianolate and tanshinone ⅡAin S. miltiorrhiza. The results showed that the fresh S. miltiorrhiza contained low levels of phenolic acid,and the content of phenolic acid increased significantly with the increase of dehydration rate during drying process,while the change of tanshinone was not obvious. In the comparison of three drying methods,we found that drying at 50 ℃ was better than drying in the sun,and drying in the sun was superior to drying in the shade. So,drying at 50 ℃ was the best drying method. The correlation between dehydration and phenolic acid content of S. miltiorrhiza was analyzed by verification test and SPSS software,which further proved that the dehydration rate was significantly positively correlated with the content of phenolic acid components. This study provides reference for the production processing and drying methods of S. miltiorrhiza medicinal materials,which is of great significance for improving the quality of S. miltiorrhiza.
Abietanes ; Desiccation ; Plant Roots ; Salvia miltiorrhiza

There were significant differences in phenolic acid content between fresh and dried Salvia miltiorrhiza before and after drying. That is to say, the content of phenolic acid in S. miltiorrhiza significantly increased with the increase of dehydration during the drying process.In order to investigate the differences and transformation of free and bound phenolic acids before and after the drying process of S.miltiorrhiza, we studied hydrolysis method, hydrolysates and hydrolysis regularity of phenolic acids in S.miltiorrhiza. UPLC method was used to determine four main hydrolysates of bound phenolic acids, namely danshensu, caffeic acid dimer(SMND-309), caffeic acid, przewalskinic acid A(prolithosperic acid), and three main free phenolic acids in S.miltiorrhiza, namely rosmarinic acid, lithospermic acid, salvianolic acid B. The results of the acid-base hydrolysis experiment of salvianolic acid showed that the alkaline hydrolysis effect was significantly better than acid hydrolysis. The optimal alkaline hydrolysis condition was hydrolysis at 70 ℃ for 4 h with 2 mol·L~(-1) NaOH solution containing 1% ascorbic acid(Vit C). The hydrolysates of free phenolic acids were the same with the hydrolysates of bound phenolic acids. Fresh S.miltiorrhiza contains a low level of free phenolic acids and a high level of bound phenolic acids, which were exactly opposite to dried S.miltiorrhiza. It was suggested that a large amount of bound phenolic acids was accumulated during the growth of S.miltiorrhiza. These bound phenolic acids were coupled with polysaccharides on the cytoderm through ester bonds to form insoluble phenolic acids, which was not easy to be detected by conventional methods. However, during drying and dehydration processes, the bound phenolic acids were converted to a large amount of free phenolic acids under the action of the relevant enzyme.
Desiccation ; Hydroxybenzoates/analysis* ; Salvia miltiorrhiza/chemistry*

Zinc sulfate, which was used as zinc sulfate ophthalmic solution in herpetic keratitis, has been found to have the therapeutic effects in cutaneous and mucosal herpes simplex. We studied ta evaluate the therapeutic effect of zinc sulfate in patients with herpes simplex. Nine patients with primary herpes simplex and twenty five patient with recurrent herpes simplex were included in this study. Twenty five patients(six with primary type and nineteen with recurrent type were treated with topical applicatiion of 0.3% zinc sulfate solutiion seven to eight times a day and nine patients(three with primary type and six with recurrent type)were applied with placebo vehicle in the same way. Maintenance treatment was then given tc all these patients, first once a week for one month, and then twice a month indefinitely. The effect was assessed by the comparison of the duration of disappearance of symptoms, drying of vesicles and crust formation, and desiccation and sloughing-off of cursts, and recurrence rate between zine sulfat,e group and placebo group. The resuilts were summarized as follows : 1. In the average time of the disappearance of symptoms, drying of vesicles and crust formation, a,nd desiccation and sloughing-off of crusts, the resu1t observecl in zinc, sulfate group was shorter than that of placebo group, respectively ( p < 0.01). 2. In recurrence rate, 11.1% observed in zinc sulfate group was much lower than 80.0%i in placebo group(p . 0.01). These findings suggest that topical zinc sulfate is an effective agent for treatment and prevention of recurrence af herpes simplex infection.
Desiccation ; Herpes Simplex* ; Humans ; Keratitis, Herpetic ; Recurrence ; Zinc Sulfate* ; Zinc*

BACKGROUNDFrozen or dried corneal grafts are commonly used for stromal transplantation such as lamellar keratoplasty (full or partial thickness), keratophakia, epikeratophakia. Structural properties are important for the final optical results of these surgeries but the effects of freezing/thawing and drying/rehydration on the properties of the stroma are known little compared with the corneal endothelium, mainly because of lack of non-invasive technique to evaluate the stromal structure. This study aimed to investigate the swelling and structural properties of the bovine corneal stroma following freezing or drying by X-ray diffraction which was a non-invasive technique and could give ultra-structural information in hydrated tissues.

METHODSBovine corneas were either frozen at -40 degrees C or dried to constant weight in a dessicator over silica gel. Swelling was carried out by placing the corneas into dialysis tubing and equilibrating them against various concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to obtain a range of tissue hydrations. This method minimises the loss of soluble tissue components during the swelling process. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used to measure the average intermolecular spacing, the interfibrillar spacing and the fibril diameter as a function of hydration. Changes in light scattering were detected using a microdensitometer.

RESULTSFreezing and thawing of the cornea caused an increase in light scattering by 63.9% at tissue hydration (H) = 3.4, and by 50.0% at H = 4.9. Repeated freezing and thawing causes further increased by 38.9% at the second time and another 36.0% at the third time (P < 0.05). There was a tendency for both the frozen and the dried corneas to lose some swelling ability, achieving hydrations respectively of 10% and 18% below those of fresh corneas at 0 PEG. There were no changes in the fibril diameters, interfibrillar or intermolecular spacings as measured by X-ray diffraction in the equilibrated fresh, pre-frozen and pre-dried corneas.

CONCLUSIONSThe increase in light scattering and the loss of swelling ability after freezing and thawing probably results from structural changes following the close association of the collagen molecules and fibrils whilst the tissue is in the dry or frozen state. Some unknown changes in the extracellular matrix between the collagen fibrils may also play a role in the light scattering. The equilibration technique may improve the quality of rehydrated corneal graft or lenticules used for corneal surgeries.

To provide a scientific basis for the selection of the appropriate drying method for Mentha Haplocalyx Herba (MHH), determine 2 monoterpenes, 4 phenolic acids and 5 flavonoids in MHH by GC-MS and UPLC-TQ-MS methods, and investigate the effects of the drying methods on the changes in contents of these analytes. The qualities of products obtained with different drying methods were evaluated by the multivariate statistical method of Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Results showed that the drying methods had the greatest impact on menthol, caffeic acid, and rosemary acid, which were followed by chlorogenic acid and diosmetin-7-O-glucoside. The contents in these analytes processed with hot-air-drying method were higher than those with microwave-drying and infrared-drying methods at the same temperatures. The contents in these analytes processed under low temperature (40-45 °C) were higher than those under higher temperature (60-70 °C). Above all, the contents in phenolic acids processed with microwave fixation (exposed under microwave at 100 °C for several minutes) were obviously higher than those of not being processed, showing an inhibition of some enzymes in samples after fixation. The TOPSIS evaluation showed that the variable temperature drying method of 'Hot-Air 45-60 °C' was the most suitable approach for the primary drying processing of MHH. The results could provide the scientific basis for the selection of appropriate drying method for MHH, and helpful reference for the primary drying proces of herbs containing volatile chemical components.
Desiccation ; methods ; Flavonoids ; analysis ; Hydroxybenzoates ; analysis ; Mentha ; chemistry ; Monoterpenes ; analysis