Dried roots and rhizomes of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) are among the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicines in clinic. The material basis for its efficacy mainly includes hydrophobic tanshinones and hydrophilic salvianolic acids. The traditional effects of Danshen are "removing stasis and relieving pain, activating blood to promote menstruation, clearing heart fire and tranquilization". According to modern pharmacological studies, Danshen and its main components have cardiovascular and cerebrovascular protective effect. Recent studies showed that Danshen and its main components also demonstrated protective effects on liver injury models induced by carbon tetrachloride, D-galactosamine, acetaminophen and alcohol. In this paper, the hepatoprotective effect and mechanism of Danshen were summarized and studied.
Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; Protective Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry

Objective To study the clinical application of quantitative ultrasound(QUS) which evaluate skeletal status of children and adolescents.Methods Subjects were children and adolescents aged 0-18 years old.Tibia/radial bone strength was obtained using QUS.Children who were younger than 2 years old only were measured at midpiece of tibia,and children who were older than 2 years old were measu-red at midpiece of tibia and radius.At the same time,calcium in peripheral blood was measured by the method of atomic absorption.Results 1.Radial and tibial bone strength presented nonlinear growth with age in healthy children and adolescents.2.Bone strengths of different anatomic-sites were different and the disparity rate of evaluation at different anatomic sites was 30.1%.3.The bone strength of the children who had some risk factors that could induce decrease of bone strength or had some diseases of bone metabolism was lower than healthy children.Composition of low bone strength children was 71.1% in high risk children,and was 47.9% in those who had some symptom or physical sign of calcium deficiency.4.Composition of low bone strength children was 44.2% in those who had normal peripheral blood calcium,and composition of normal bone strength children in those who had low peripheral blood calcium was 59.7%.The 2 methods had no correlation.Conclusions QUS is a quite useful technique in evaluation skeletal status of children and adolescents,and is sensitive for high risk children.It is necessary to measure radius and tibia,and consider blood calcium and bone strength to evaluate practical level of calcium and nutritional state of children.

Analyzed the prescriptions for phlegm retention syndrome that built by Ma Peizhi by the association rules and clustering algorithm, the frequency of drug usage and the relationship between drugs could be get. And from that we could conclude the experiences for phlegm retention syndrome of Ma Peizhi of menghe medical genre. The results of the analysis were that 18 core combinations were dig out, such as Citri Exocarpium Rubrum-Eriobotryae Folium-Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium. And there were 9 new prescriptions were found out such as Aurantii Fructus-Citri Exocarpium Rubium-Eriobotryae Folium-Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium. The results of the analysis were proved that Ma Peizhi of Menghe Medical Genre was good at curing phlegm retention syndrome by using the traditional Chinese medicine of mild and light, such as the medicines of mild tonification, and clearing damp and promoting diuresis.
Algorithms ; Data Mining ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Prescriptions ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Mucus ; chemistry ; Practice Patterns, Physicians' ; Respiratory Tract Diseases ; drug therapy

The clinical prescriptions of hemoptysis that built by Menghe physician Ma Peizhi were collected, and were analyzed by the method of unsupervised data mining, such as association rules and clustering algorithm. From the prescriptions, we got the frequency of drugs, the association rules among drugs, 10 core drug combinations and 5 new prescriptions. Accordingly, after the analysis, Menghe physician Ma Peizhi had rich experience in the treatment of hemoptysis. His therapy for hemoptysis was clearing heat and moistening lung, dispel heat from blood to stop bleeding, and enriching yin and blood. And we can also make a conclusion that the TCM inheritance support system is of great practical value for minning the old doctors' clinical experiences.
Data Mining ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Prescriptions ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; therapeutic use ; Hemoptysis ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Practice Patterns, Physicians'

Abortion, Spontaneous ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p57 ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Hydatidiform Mole ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Pregnancy ; Uterine Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To investigate quantitatively the thermal sensation characteristics of the patients with facial palsy and the value of quantitative thermal test (QTT) in prognostication.Methods The QTT threshold of the fore ear and cheek of 30 patients with peripheral facial palsy was tested,their facial nerve conduction velocity was measured,and House-Brackmann facial nerve grading system was used to estimate facial nerve function at 2～3 weeks,a month,two months and half a year post onset.Results It was found that 12 out of 30 patients had abnor- mal QTT threshold value;the majority of them suffered from herpes virus and diabetes.In those with abnormal QTT, 8 were with diabetes mellitus (account for 66.7%),3 with partial shingles (account for 25%),and 1 with positive serum virus infection (account for 8.3%).Those with normal QTT were significantly different from those with abnor- mal QTT,with regard to the House-Brackmann rating scores after 2 and 6 months post onset (P

AIM: To observe the influence of gold nanoparticles combined with Endostar (AuNPs-Endostar) on the melanoma lung metastasis of mice and the underlying mechanism.METHODS: C57BL/6 mice (n=24) were selected for constructing the model of spontaneous lung metastasis of melanoma B16-F10 cells.Subsequently, the mice were randomly divided into Endostar group, AuNPs group, AuNPs-Endostar group and model group.After the formation of melanoma, the mice in each group were injected with different drugs through tail vein for 0.1 mL daily.After 9 d, the mice were narcotized for cutting the tumors in situ.After the operation, they were raised for 2 weeks before killed for obtaining the lung tissues to observe the situation of the metastasis.HE staining was utilized for observing the necrosis status of the tumors in situ, while immunostaining was applied for testing the expression of CD31, carbonic anhydrase-IX (CA-IX), vimentin and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in the tumors.RESULTS: Compared with model group, the pulmonary metastasis in the groups with medical treatment was obviously reduced.In AuNPs-Endostar group, the metastasis inhibition rate was the highest, and the tumor necrosis was also decreased obviously, with the significant reduction of CD31, CA-IX and vimentin expression in the tumors and significant increase in ZO-1 expression.CONCLUSION: Compared with using Endostar or AuNPs alone, the combination of AuNPs with Endostar significantly improves the curative effect of inhibiting the pulmonary metastasis of melanoma in the mice.The mechanism may be related to reducing the tumor angiogenesis, norma-lizing the blood vessels and improving tumor hypoxia, thus inhibiting the tumor epithelial-mesenchymal transition, increasing the tight junctions between tumor cells and decreasing the invasiveness.

Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease ; complications ; Vitamin D ; blood ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; complications

Objective To investigate effects of atorvastatin on the development from macrophages (HMDM) to foam cells.Methods Monocytes were isolated from human peripheral blood by Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation and plastic adsorptive process.The isolated cells were stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) (50 nmol/L) for 48 h and transformed to macrophages.Macrophages were co-incubated with 80 mg/L ox- idized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) and atorvastatin (0-100 ?mol/L),respectively for 0,6,12 and 24 h. Total cholesterol (TC),free cholesterol (FC) and protein (Pro) in cultured cells were quantitatively analyzed by high performance chromatography (HPLC) analysis and modified Lowry protein assay.Results When macropha- ges were incubated with 80 mg/L ox-LDL,the ratio of TC/Pro was greater than 20,and large amount of lipid drop- lets were displayed indicating the formation of foam cells.Atorvastatin decreased TC/Pro ratio in foam cells in a concentration and time dependent manner (0-100 ?mol/L)(P

Based on the complete genome sequence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) ZJI strain,seven pairs of primers were designed to amplify a cDNA fragment for constructing the plasmid pNDV/ZJI,which contained the full-length cDNA of the NDV ZJI strain.The pNDV/ZJI,with three helper plasmids,pCIneoNP,pCIneoP and pCIneoL,were then cotransfected into BSR-T7/5 cells expressing T7 RNA polymerase.After inoculation of the transfected cell culture supernatant into embryonated chicken eggs from specific-pathogen-free (SPF) flock,an infectious NDV ZJI strain was successfully rescued.Green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene was amplified and inserted into the NDV full-length cDNA to generate a GFP-tagged recombinant plasmid pNDV/ZJIGFP.After cotransfection of the resultant plasmid and the three support plasmids into BSR-T7/5 cells,the recombinant NDV,NDV/ZJIGFP,was rescued.Specific green fluorescence was observed in BSR-T7/5 and chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells 48h post-infection,indicating that the GFP gene was expressed at a relatively high level.NDV/ZJIGFP was inoculated into 10-day-old SPF chickens by oculonasal route.Four days post-infection,strong green fluorescence could be detected in the kidneys and tracheae,indicating that the recombinant GFP-tagged NDV could be a very useful tool for analysis of NDV dissemination and pathogenesis.