Objective This study was designed to predict the main targets of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix based on network pharmacology and molecular docking methods, and to explore its “multi-component, multi-target, and multi- pathway” mechanism. Methods According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), the library of chemical constituents of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix was established by referring to Chinese and foreign literature reports and collecting targets for treating AD in DrugBank. The Discovery Studio 3.5 software was used to carry out molecular docking, virtual screening of the chemical composition set of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix combined with AD target, and KEGG database was used to enrich and analyze the key target of virtual screening. The active compounds of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix with anti-AD activities were yielded to Discovery Studio 3.5 software and molecular docking to predict the poteneial proteins and carry out related KEGG pathways notation separately. Finally, the network of “active compound-target proteins-pathway” was built and analyzed using the Cytoscape 3.2.1 software. Results The 58 active compounds were selected from Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix, of which were mostly small alkanes, esters, and carboxylic acids followed by flavonoids and terpenoids. These active ingredients may regulate 36 potential target proteins such as CaMK-IIα, CaMK-IIβ, CaMK-IIγ, Akt1, and TNF-α to play a role in the pathogenesis of AD. The results also suggested that 12 signaling pathways were involved in the pathogenesis of AD, such as MAPK signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathways and so on. Conclusion This research method initially revealed that the active ingredients of flavonoids and glycosides in Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix are the material basis for the treatment of AD. Its mechanism of action involved anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptosis and so on.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the bioequivalence of the domestic pidotimod granules with the imported pidotimod syrup as control.METHODS:20 healthy male volunteers were treated with a single dose(800 mg)of pidotimod granules(test formulation)or pidotimod syrup(reference formulation)by a randomized crossover design,with plasma concentrations of pidotimod determined by HPLC and pharmacokinetic parameters of pidotimod computed,and the bioequivalence between two formulations was evaluated using DAS2.0 program.RESULTS:The pharmacokinetic parameters of the reference formation vs.the test formulation of pidotimod were expressed as follows:t1/2(2.70?0.80)h vs.(2.62?0.84)h;Cmax(4.04?0.59)?g?mL-1 vs.(3.87 ?0.66)?g?mL-1;tmax(2.28?0.44)h vs.(2.13 ?0.43)h;AUC0～14(22.11?4.20)mg?h?L-1 vs.(23.00?4.25)mg?h?L-1;AUC0～∞(22.85?4.42)mg?h?L-1 vs.(23.83?4.52)mg?h?L-1.The relative bioequivalence of the test formulation as against the control was(106.08?22.05)%.CONCLUSION:The pidotimod granules and pidotimod syrup are bioequivalent.

Selective protein degradation by the ubiquitin 26S proteasome pathway has emerged as a key regulatory mechanism in a wide variety of cellular processes.The ubiquitin/26S proteosome pathway mainly consists of ubiquitin activating enzyme(E1),ubiquitin conjugating enzyme(E2),ubiquitin protein ligase(E3),and 26S proteasome.In an ATP-dependent reaction,uibquitin(Ub) is conjugated to E1,the activated Ub is then transferred to an E2.Finally,the Ub-E2 intermediate delivers the Ub to the target protein by E3 recognition.Polyubiquinated proteins are eventually degraded by the 26S proteasome.In plants,regulated protein degradation by /26S proteasome pathway contributes significantly to development by affecting a wide range of progress,including hormone signaling,photomorphogenesis,self-incompatibility and cell cycle.The recent progress towards understanding the role of the Ub/26S proteasome pathway during plant development was reviewed.

Hair follicle (HF), one of the skin appendages, has received a lot of attention to be a new target and pathway for drug delivery. The development of hair follicle targeted drug delivery system (HFTDDS) through percutaneous permeation is particularly important for skin diseases derived from HF such as acne, hair loss, and folliculitis for their on-site action. This review describes the structure and physiological function of HF, the microenvironment of HF, and factors affecting HF permeation. Multiple nanoformulations used to improve the HF permeation and technologies to characterize the HF permeation were introduced. The latest advance of HFTDDS based on nanoformulations were systematically summarized and analyzed in the treatment of acne and hair loss. Finally, the challenges of formulating HFTDDS were discussed. The review is expected to provide some ideas and references for developing delivery systems for treating skin diseases derived from HF.

This study was aimed to collect relevant provisions of bulging disease medical records in the Ming and Qing dynasties to excavate the syndrome differentiation, drug law and medication frequency analysis. A database was established to analyze relevant provisions. The results showed that the syndromes of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency, dampness-heat accumulation, spleen-yang deficiency are the most common type. The mainly used drugs are from the category to eliminate dampness and water, and to tonify the deficiency. The top three used drugs are poria, atractylodes, and dried citrus peel. It was concluded that medications used in the Ming and Qing dynasties were mainly targeted to the disordered zangfu-organ, which was mainly about the spleen and the stomach. The syn-drome differentiation is the mixture of deficiency and excess. And deficiency is the main part. The medication should combine tonification and reducing. And tonification should be paid attention to. The syndrome differentiation and treatment should be coordinated and the primary and secondary aspect should be identified. These rules provide ref-erence effect for the clinical practice and scientific research of bulging disease treatment.

Objective To investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Thirty patients with stable bronchial asthma (asthma group), 28 patients with stable COPD (COPD group), and 24 healthy subjects (control group) were studied. Lung function, inflammatory cell differentials in sputum and the level of VEGF in induced sputum were determined by induced sputum method and ELISA method respectively. Results The levels of eosinophils in induced sputum in asthma group were 0.9 (0.4-1.4) × 109/L, significantly higher than those in COPD greup[0.1 (0-0.2)×109/L], and control group[0.0(0-0.1) × 109/L] (P < 0.05). The levels of neutrophils in COPD group were 2.3 (1.8-2.8) × 109/L, significantly higher than those in asthma group [1.1 (0.2-1.9) × 109/L], and control group [1.0(0.8-1.2) × 109/L] (P < 0.05). The levels of VEGF in asthma group, COPD group and control group were (2.3 ± 0.5), (0.3 ± 0.1), (0.9 ± 0.2) μg/L, respectively, and significant difference was showed between each group (P < 0.05). The VEGF level in induced sputum was positively correlated with the number of eosinophils in induced sputum in asthma group (γ = 0.62,P < 0.05), and was negatively correlated with FEV<,1>% (γ =-0.56, P < 0.05). The VEGF level in induced sputum was positively correlated with FEV1% in COPD group (γ = 0.43, P < 0.05), and was not correlated with the number of neutrophils in induced sputum (γ = 0.21, P > 0.05). Conclusions The concentration of VEGF in induced sputum increases in patients with bronchial asthma. VEGF may take part in the airway inflammatory development of asthma. The concentration of VEGF in induced sputum decreases in patients with COPD. VEGF may take part in the incidence of COPD.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation(NPPV) as a weaning strategy in patients with acute respiratory failure after failure to wean from invasive positive pressure ventilation(IPPV). Method A prospective randomized and controlled clinical trial of weaning of IPPV was carried out in patients mechanically ventilated in mode of IPPV for more than 48 hours with failure in a spontaneous breathing trial(SBT: PSV 6 cmH_2O). Patients with contraindications to NPPV were excluded. After failure the SBT, patients were randomly divided(random number) in two groups. Patients in NPPV group were extubated after being ventilated with high pressure support for 30 minutes and then placed on NPPV. Patients in IPPV group were weaned following conventional procedure. Arterial blood gases, maximal inspiratory pressure, respiratory rate,tidal volume, rapid shallow breathing index, heart rate, arterial blood pressure, and peripheral oxygen saturation were measured before and after failing the SBT. The rate of complications, including pneumonia and tracheotomy duration mechanical ventilation, days of hospital stay and outcome were observed. Findings of the two groups were vompared using the Student t test and the chi-square test. Results The percentage of complications in the NPPV group was lower(22.9% versus 72.2%, P <0.01) ,with lower incidences of pneumonia(6.1%,36.1%; P <0.01) and tracheotomy. Compared between the two groups, days of ICU stay( 14.16(3.45) d vs. 22.57( 7.71 ) d; P <0.01) and total days of mechanical ventilation(14.88±3.76 days vs. 20.68± 2.79 days, P <0.01) of NPPV group are shorter than IPPV group. Conclusions NPPV is a good alternative to the mechanically venti-lated patients who fail in initial weaning attempts. The key to successful NPPV weaning is the proper selection of weaning candidates and using NPPV as soon as possible after extubation.

Adrenal Glands ; Female ; Hematopoiesis, Extramedullary ; Humans ; Spherocytosis, Hereditary ; complications ; Young Adult

Objective To study the effect of glutathione(GSH)on liver antioxidative function of microcystin‐LR(MC‐LR)‐in‐duced mice .Methods Forty healthy clean class KM 5‐week old mice were selected and divided into five groups by the random sam‐pling method ,including the norml saline control group ,GSH control group ,MC‐LR group ,MC‐LR+low dose GSH group and MC‐LR+high dose GSH group ,8 cases in each group ,half male and half female .The experiment lasted for 15 d by intraperitoneal injec‐tion of MC‐LR ,then the liver histopathological changes ,liver tissue activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) ,glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px)and content of malondialdehyde(MDA) were detected .Results Compared with the normal saline control group ,liver cell GSH level ,SOD and GSH‐Px activities in the MC‐LR group were significantly decreased (P<0 .05) ,while the MDA level was sig‐nificantly increased (P<0 .05) .Compared with the MC‐LR group ,the GSH level ,SOD and GSH‐Px activities in the MC‐LR+low dose GSH group and MC‐LR+high dose GSH group were significantly increased (P<0 .05) ,while the MDA level was significant‐ly decreased(PP<0 .05) .Conclusion The GSH intervention can alleviate MC‐LR induced mouse liver oxidative toxicity and has protective effect on the liver to some extent .

OBJECTIVE:To determine the plasma concentration of Phencynonate hydrochloride(PCH)in dogs,and to calcu-late pharmacokinetic parameters. METHODS:6 Beagle dogs were given PCH tablets(2 mg and 4 mg)intragastrically. The blood samples were collected 5 min before medication and 0.17,0.25,0.5,0.75,1.0,1.25,1.5,2,3,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18, 24 and 36 h after medication,2 ml each time. Using penehyclidine hydrochloride as internal standard,HPLC-MS/MS method was adopted to determine the plasma concentration of PCH. The medication plans were interchanged 2 weeks later. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using DAS 2.0 software. RESULTS:The linear range of PCH was 0.1-15 ng/ml(r=0.999 6);the low-est limit of quantification was 0.1 ng/ml;the methodology recovery were 97.30%-103.20%;the extraction recovery were 52.30%-60.11%(RSD<11%,n=5). The main pharmacokinetic parameters of low and high doses were as follows as t1/2α of (0.678±0.525)and(0.405±0.465)h,tmax of(1.042±0.401)and(0.900±0.418)h,cmax of(14.063±6.29)and(31.580±9.673) mg/L,AUC0-36 h of(48.186±14.776)and(79.269±34.649)mg·h/L. CONCLUSIONS:The method is simple,sensitive and speci-fic,and can be used for pharmacokinetic study of PCH in dogs.