Objective To observe the contents of hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and homocysteine before and after cluster needling at scalp acupoints in patients with acute cerebral infarction, and to discuss its significance in clinic. Method Sixty patients with acute cerebral infarction were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 in each group. The control group was intervened by regular medication, while the treatment group was intervened by cluster needling at scalp acupoints in addition to the treatment given to the control group. The contents of serum hs-CRP and homocysteine were observed before and after intervention, to objectively evaluate the cluster needling at scalp acupoints in patients with acute cerebral infarction. Result The contents of serum hs-CRP and homocysteine were significantly changed after intervention in both groups (P＜0.05); there were significant differences in comparing the contents of serum hs-CRP and homocysteine between the two groups after intervention (P＜0.01). Conclusion Cluster needling at scalp acupoints can decline the contents of hs-CRP and homocysteine in patients with acute cerebral infarction.

Objective To investigate the tendency of diapause symptoms in breast cancer patients during their chemotherapy. Method Sixty-four breast cancer patients with chemotherapy participated in the study by using Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), the cancer fatigue scale (CFS), the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and the self-rating depression scale (SDS) to assess their sleep, fatigue, anxiety and depression at every first day from the second course to sixth one of chemotherapy. Results The diapause symptoms including fatigue, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression varied with the therapeutic course progressing. The conditions in sleep quality, fatigue and depression were the poorest at the diapause of the fourth course and the condition of anxiety was the poorest at the diapause of the third course. Conclusion The medical staff should attach importance to the patients'physical and mental problems brought by the process of chemotherapy, strengthen the regulation of psychosomatic symptoms during chemotherapic diapause, and give reasonable control and intervention before the symptoms deteriorating.

This study was aimed to establish a quantitative method for the determination of agarotetrol in agarwood to control its quality. The HPLC analysis was performed on a Diamonsil C18 column (4.6 mm í 250 mm, 5 μm), eluted with a mobile phase of water with 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile in gradient mode with the flow rate of 0.7 mL·min-1. The detection wavelength was set at 252 nm. The column temperature was 30oC. The results showed that the separation of agarotetrol and adjacent peaks were more than 1.5, which achieved a baseline separation. A good lin-earity (r = 0.999 8) was observed in the range of 2.0-125.0 μg·mL-1, with the average recovery of 102.75%. The a-garotetrol cannot be less than 0.15% based on the data of Agarwood samples. It was concluded that the method was accurate and reliable to determine the content of agarotetrol, which can be used for the quality control of agarwood.

This study was aimed to investigate the chemical constituents from the leaves of Vitex negundovar. cannabifolia. Column chromatography including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, ODS, and semi-preparative HPLC were used to separate and purify the chemical constituents, and the structures were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical properties, MS and NMR spectroscopic data. As a result, 11 compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of V. negundo var. cannabifolia, and identified as apigenin (1), penduletin (2), chrysosplenol-D (3), quercetin (4), 1,4-dihydroxy-3R,5R-dicaffeoyloxy cyclohexane carboxylic acid (5), maeranthoin F (6), capsidiol (7), caryolandiol (8), β-sitosterol (9), p-hydroxybenzonic acid (10), and β-daucosterin (11). It was concluded that compounds 5 8were firstly isolated from the plants of Vitex genus, and compounds 1 and 4 were isolated from V. negundovar. cannabifolia for the first time.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effect and explore the underlying mechanisms of Longxue Tongluo Capsule (LTC) on ischemic stroke rats. METHODS: Twenty-six rats were randomly divided into four groups, including sham group, sham + LTC group, MCAO group, and MCAO + LTC group. Ischemic stroke rats were simulated by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and LTC treatment group were orally administrated with 300 mg/kg of LTC once daily for seven consecutive days. LTC therapy was validated in terms of neurobehavioral abnormality evaluation, cerebral infarct area, and histological assessments. The plasma metabolome comparisons amongst different groups were conducted by UHPLC-Q Exactive MS in combination with subsequent multivariate statistical analysis, aiming to finding the molecules in respond to the surgery or LTC treatment. RESULTS: Intragastric administration of LTC significantly decreased not only the neurobehavioral abnormality scores but also the cerebral infarct area of MCAO rats. The interstitial edema, atrophy, and pyknosis of glial and neuronal cells occurred in the infarcted area, core area, and marginal area of cerebral cortex were improved after LTC treatment. A total of 13 potential biomarkers were observed, and Youden index of 11 biomarkers such as LysoPC, SM, and PE were more than 0.7, which were involved in neuroprotective process. The correlation and pathway analysis showed that LTC was beneficial to ischemic stroke rats via regulating glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid metabolism, together with nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism. Heatmap and ternary analysis indicated the synergistic effect of carbohydrates and lipids may be induced by flavonoid intake from LTC. CONCLUSION The present study could provide evidence that metabolomics, as systematic approach, revealed its capacity to evaluate the holistic efficacy of TCM, and investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the clinical treatment of LTC on ischemic stroke.