To increase the integral economic effectiveness, biorefineries of lignocellulosic materials should not only utilize carbohydrates hydrolyzed from cellulose and hemicellulose but also use lignin. We used steam-exploded corn stalk as raw materials and optimized the temperature and alkali concentration in the lignin extraction process to obtain lignin liquor with higher yield and purity. Then the concentrated lignin liquor was used directly to substitute phenol for phenolic foam preparation and the performances of phenolic foam were characterized by microscopic structure analysis, FTIR, compression strength and thermal conductivity detection. The results indicated that, when steam-exploded corn stalk was extracted at 120 degrees C for 2 h by 1% NaOH with a solid to liquid ratio of 1:10, the extraction yield of lignin was 79.67%. The phenolic foam prepared from the concentrated lignin liquor showed higher apparent density and compression strength with the increasing substitution rate of lignin liquor. However, there were not significant differences of thermal conductivity and flame retardant properties by the addition of lignin, which meant that the phenolic foam substituted by lignin liquor was approved for commercial application. This study, which uses alkali-extracted lignin liquor directly for phenolic foam preparation, provides a relatively simple way for utilization of lignin and finally increases the overall commercial operability ofa lignocellulosic biorefinery derived by steam explosion.
Biotechnology ; methods ; Chemical Fractionation ; Hot Temperature ; Lignin ; chemistry ; Phenols ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Steam ; Zea mays ; chemistry

Carotid stenting has become one of the effective ways in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis.In-stent restenosis is one of the major causes impacting long-term effects following carotid stenting.It is also an important factor for impacting the prognosis of patients.The monitoring,prevention and treatment of in-stent restenosis have been a major clinical chanllege.This article reviews the progress in research on the in-stent restenosis in recent years.

AIM: To establish the model of aging rats and observe the effect of the group of effective components of Xiaoxuming Decoction(XXM)on aging rats. METHODS: D-galactose and rotenone were used to establish aging animal model.The ability of learning and memory were measured by using Morris water maze test.Then, the content of GSH and MDA,the activity of SOD,the activity of AchE and ChAT in rats'brain were measured. (RESULTS): D-galactose could induce aging like indicators in rats:decrease the content of GSH and the activity of SOD,and increase the content of MDA,but have no effect on AchE and ChAT.It showed that GEC could improve the ability of learning and memory and ameliorate biochemistry function in rats with aging induced by D-galactose. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that GEC of XXM could improve the responses of aging rats and these effects may be related to its ability of antioxidation.

ABSTRACT Recent research suggests that the ?-amyloid peptide (A?) is central to the pathophysi-ology of Alzheimers disease (AD). Amyloid plaques, primarily composed of A?, have significant neurotoxic effects. So it is therapeutic strategies for AD to lower the production of A? in the brain. A? is a product of catabolism of amyloid precursor protein ( APP) by ?-secretase and y- secretase. BACE ( ?-secretase) exhibits all the properties of the ?-secretase, and as the key rate-limiting enzyme that initiates the formation of A?, BACE is an attractive drug target for AD. The recent research of ?-secretase is reviewed in this paper.

AIM: To apply high throughput screening methods to research Xiaoxuming Decoction's effective components combination and its action mechanism. METHODS: We studied the effects of 240 sequential components of Xiaoxuming Decoction (L1-L120,A1-A120) on anti-A? neurotoxicity、anti-H_2O_2 damage、anti-glutamic acid damage and ?-secretase activity. RESULTS: We evaluated these results of screening comprehensively,and found several components of Xiaoxuming Decoction (L1-L40,A30-A60,A100-A120) had the potential effects of listed before.So the combination of these components was regarded as the effective components combination of Xiaoxuming Decoction for anti-Alzheimer's disease. CONCLUSION: Xiaoxuming Decoction had effective protection against Alzheimer's disease through multi-component and multi-target.High throughput screening methods will push the development of Chinese traditional compound prescription greatly.

The experiment was conducted in the Central Laboratory of Tianjin Stomatological Hospital from November 2004 to March 2005. Epithelial cells were isolated from normal parotid gland tissues obtained form resected benign tumor of an adult, so as to prepare rat tail collagen. Two adult rats were selected to obtain the tendon fascia from rat tail, which were then immersed in the 500 mL of 0.1% glacial acetic acid. The infiltration culture board of collagen glacial acetic acid, proximal wall of culture flask and beaker with ammonia water were placed in a sterile containers to reserve at 37 ℃ for 72 hours. The epithelial cells were isolated from parotid gland tissues by enzyme digestion and cultured in 1:1 DMEM/F12 culture medium supplemented with some growth stimulating factors such as insulin (INS), hydrocortisone (HC) and isoproterenol (ISO) by using self-made rat tail collagen gel substrate. The cytomorphological characteristics of primary and passage cells were observed with inverted microscope. The result showed that the primary culture of parotid gland epithelial cells: cells were in polarity arrangement on the 4th day and formed in different size of acinus and pip kind structure. The serial subcultivation of parotid gland epithelial cells. In the culture period of 50 days, parotid gland epithelial cells were passed to the F3 generation, and the cells of F3 generation frozen in liquid nitrogen recovered and survived. It could be seen by HE staining that the cell body was bigger, the kytoplasm was abundant and the nuclear membrane was clear with one or two entoblasts. The karyogenetic division could be found in partial entoblast, whereas no abnormal karyogenetic division was seen.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the status quo and causes of adverse drug reaction(ADR) caused by traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in our hospital.METHODS:154 ADR cases reported in our hospital from Feb.2008 to Jun.2009 were analyzed statistically in respect of age and gender of patients,organs and systems involved in ADR and its clinical manifestation.RESULTS:Main clinical manifestations were lesion of skin and its appendents.Most of ADR cases were caused by TCM injections.CONCLUSION:Great importance should be attached to TCM injections and its monitoring to reduce the incidence of ADR.

Alzheimers disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder severely affecting the aged population. Its pathological hallmarks include amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, loss of synapes and neurons as well as brain inflammation. This review focuses on multiple roles of p38MAPK, one of the members of mitogen-activated protein kinases(MAPK) family, in the pathogenesis and progression of AD. The review discusses the evidences of p38 activation in AD models, its connection with each pathological mark of AD and the interaction between p38 and significant pathophysiological process, such as inflammation, neuronal apoptosis and hyperphosphorylation of tau. Moreover, a discussion is also made to address the basis of p38 as the target for therapeutic intervention in AD. All in all, p38 is considered to be a new promising target for drugs to control the progression of AD.

To explore the correlation between the C807T polymorphism of platelet membrane glycoprotein I a (GP I a) gene and aspirin resistance in Chinese people, 200 patients with high-risk of atherosclerosis took aspirin (100 mg/d) for 7 days. Platelet aggregation function was detected using adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and arachidonic acid (AA) before and after the administration of aspirin. Then the subjects were divided into three groups according to the results of platelet aggregation function: an aspirin resistant (AR) group, an aspirin semi-responder (ASR) group and an aspirin-sensitive (AS) group. Platelet GP I a gene 807CT polymorphism was examined by means of polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). The results showed that T allelic frequency in AR group and ASR group were higher that of AS group (P<0.005), and the prevalence of genotypes (TT+TC) of these two groups was significantly higher than that in AS group (P<0.05). Platelet GP I a T allele was significantly associated with aspirin resistance as revealed by multiple logistic regression (OR=3.76, 95% CI: 2.87-9.58). The results suggest that inherited platelet GP I a variations may have an important impact on aspirin resistance and the presence of GP I a T allele may be a marker of genetic susceptibility to aspirin resistance.
Aspirin/*administration & dosage ; Atherosclerosis/drug therapy ; Atherosclerosis/genetics ; Drug Resistance/*genetics ; Integrin alpha2/*genetics ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/*administration & dosage ; Polymorphism, Genetic/*genetics

Pulmonary artery hypertension is a disease with complicated pathogenesis, which is characterized by enhanced pulmonary artery constriction and arterial wall remodeling, leading to progressive increase of pulmonary vascular resistance and pulmonary artery pressure, then resulting in right heart failure.Many studies have shown that transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) plays an important role in the development of various diseases, especially in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.TGF-β1 is involved in multiple cellular responses including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and apoptosis.TGF-β1 participates in pulmonary artery hypertension mainly via promoting the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells as well as inducing the deposition of extracellular matrix and endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition(EndMT) through many signaling, which is mainly dominated by pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells and pulmonary artery endothelial cells.This review mainly introduces the role of TGF-β1 in pulmonary artery hypertension in order to provide potential drug targets and therapeutic strategies for pulmonary artery hypertension.