Sulfur , a major component of gunpowder , has been widely used in the engineering and military in-dustries since ancient times . In fact , the application of sulfur in traditional Chinese medicine ( TCM ) has a long history , which indicated the uniqueness of TCM theory and practice . Besides , sulfur has played an impor-tant role for the development of TCM in the history . In order to scientifically analyze the role of sulfur in TCM , this paper focused on the application and evolution of sulfur in the development process of TCM , which aimed to provide a reference for the study of the value and role of sulfur in TCM .

Objective To investigate and analyze the capabilities of Plasmodium microscopic examinations in medical and health organizations in Dongxihu District,Wuhan City,so as to provide evidences for achieving the standard of malaria elimina?tion and malaria control in the future. Methods The basic information of the laboratorians and the hardware facilities in 15 mi?croscopic examination stations of Plasmodium were collected and analyzed from 2010 to 2015. Meanwhile,the quality of mak?ing,dyeing,cleanliness of all the negatives blood smears were evaluated,and all the positive smears were re?checked in the dis?trict during the period above mentioned. Results Totally,there were 28 laboratorians and 9 qualified microscopes in 15 micros?copy stations in Dongxihu District. The age of the laboratorians in the first?level and third?level organizations was mainly from 40 to 50 years old,but the age of those in the second?level organizations was from 20 to 30 years old. The years for microscopic ex?amination working of most of the laboratorians in the first?level and third?level organizations were more than 15 years,while the working years of those in the second?level organizations were mainly less than 10 years. The education level of the laboratorians in the first?level organization was mainly(50.00%)junior college,while the education levels of those in the second and third or?ganizations were mainly bachelor. From 2010 to 2015,8 561 blood smears were produced and 539 of them were reviewed,the co?incidence rates of review were all 100%,and the average qualified rates of making,dyeing,and cleanliness of the negative blood smears were 82.08%,79.92%and 83.33%,respectively. All the rates mentioned above in 2015 were higher than those in 2010(χ2=26.45,16.85,13.93,all P<0.01). Conclusion The capability of microscopic examinations of Plasmodium has improved obviously in Dongxihu District,but the human resources construction and hardware input in this district should be im?proved,meanwhile,the check on the quality control of microscopic examinations of Plasmodium should be continued,so as to guarantee the sustainable and healthy development of malaria control work in this district.

Objective: To research the best processing method for ginger pinellia by orthogonal tests.Methods: The orthogonal tests included the soaking time, boiling water and cooking time as the influencing factors, an HPLC method was used for the determination of 4 nucleosides (uridine, guanosine, adenosine, inosine), and the alum limit and extract content were also studied.The results were evaluated by multi index comprehensive weighted score to optimize the processing technology of ginger pinellia.Results: The best processing technology of ginger pinellia was as follows: soaked for 60 hours, the proportion of boiling water and pinellia tuber was 15:1, and boiled for about 5 h.Conclusion: The optimum processing technology of ginger pinellia is reasonable, reliable and reproducible, which can be used as the reference for the processing standardization of Chinese crude drugs.

BACKGROUNDMetabolic syndrome (MS) is a risk factor for stroke and thromboembolism event. Left atrial or LA appendage (LA/LAA) thrombus is a surrogate of potential stroke. The relationship between MS and atrial thrombus remains unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate the effect of MS on risk stratification of LA/LAA thrombus formation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

METHODSThis cross-sectional study enrolled 294 consecutive NVAF patients without prior anticoagulant and lipid-lowering therapies. LA/LAA thrombus was determined by transesophageal echocardiography. Risk assessment of LA/LAA thrombus was performed using the CHADS2 , CHA2DS2 -VASc, MS, CHADS2 -MS, and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS scores. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine which factors were significantly related to LA/LAA thrombus. Odds ratio (OR) including 95% confidence interval was also calculated. The predictive powers of different scores for the risk of LA/LAA thrombus were represented by C-statistics and compared by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTSLA/LAA thrombi were identified in 56 patients (19.0%). Logistic analysis showed that MS was the strongest risk factor for LA/LAA thrombus in NVAF patients (OR = 14.698, P < 0.001). ROC curve analyses revealed that the C-statistics of CHADS2 -MS and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS was significantly higher than those of CHADS2 and CHA2DS2 -VASc scores (CHADS2 -MS vs. CHADS2 , 0.807 vs. 0.726, P = 0.0019). Furthermore, MS was helpful for identifying individuals with a high risk of LA/LAA thrombus in the population with a low risk of stroke (CHADS2 or CHA2DS2 -VASc score = 0).

CONCLUSIONSMS is associated with LA/LAA thrombus risk in patients with NVAF. In addition to the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2 -VASc scores, the CHADS2 -MS and CHA2DS2 -VASc-MS scores provide additional information on stroke risk assessment.

Aged ; Atrial Appendage ; pathology ; Atrial Fibrillation ; complications ; physiopathology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; ROC Curve ; Risk Factors ; Thrombosis ; etiology ; physiopathology