Modern and international studies on new traditional Chinese medicines are the main trend of the development of traditional Chinese medicines at present. In Australia, new traditional Chinese medicines refer to complementary medicines, which are mainly registered and launched as listed medicines. The application documents of registered (listed) medicines in Australia mainly cover detailed description of active pharmaceutical ingredients, pharmacological and toxicological studies, dosage form and adverse effects. Each part has detailed specifications and instructions, which helps ensure that applicants could accurately understand the requirements in application for registering (listing) medicines, and provides very important reference to the studies and development of new traditional Chinese medicines in China.
Australia ; Drug Approval ; Drug Evaluation ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

The pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) is more complex. For the upstream of traditional pathogenesis, to looking for unifying mechanism theory which proposed in foundation of common promoters and the latest view of DR may be the result of chronic inflammation. Both of them provide the basic and clinical theraby of DR with new direction. Therefore, there are many related issuess till needs to intensive study.

Objective To study the relationship between the level of uric acid and oxidative stress in patients with chronic systolic heart failure (CSHF). Methods One hundred and nine hospitalized patients from June 2006 to March 2007 were selected. Based on organic heart disease and heart function, they were classified into two groups: CSHF group (81 cases) and control group (28 eases). According to NYHA heart function grade (Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ), CSHF group was divided into three subgroups. The plasma concentration of GSH and GSSG was determined by using glutathione reduetase recycling method (GR-DTNB). Redox potential (Eh) was calculated using Nemst equation according to the concentration of reduced and oxidized glutathione. Results There was significant difference between control group and CSHF group in the level of uric acid [(310.54±99.92) μ mol/L vs (499.09±168.04) μ mol/L], P < 0.01. Uric acid had a negative correlation with LVEF (r=-0.247, P=0.026), and a positive correlation with LVED D (r=0.266, P=0.016). The concentration of uric acid had a negative correlation with GSH (r=-0.328,P=0.003), and a positive correlation with GSSG (r=0.244, P=0.028) and Eh (r=0.309, P=0.005). Conclusions The concentration of uric acid increases in CSHF patients and has a correlation with LVEF and LVEDD. It may be a supplementary marker to reflect heart function and the serious degree of CSHF. The concentration of uric acid has a negative correlation with GSH, and a positive correlation with GSSG and the value of Eh. It may be used as an indicator of oxidative stress concerning its metabolic pathway.

Objective: To evaluate the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in CKD patients and to establish a Markov model for graded prognosis of CKD. Methods: A total of 272 CKD patients were retrospectively investigated. A Markov model consisting of six states (CKD1 stage, CKD2 stage, CKD3 stage, CKD4 stage, CKD5 stage as well as death/ end-stage renal disease [ESRD] stage) was established. Results: The mean follow-up period was 2.0 years. Transition rates from CKD1 stage to CKD2 stage, from CKD2 stage to CKD3 stage, from CKD3 stage to CKD4 stage, from CKD4 stage to CKD5 stage and from CKD5 stage to death/ESRD stage were 9.2%/year, 10.9%/year, 13.2%/year, 16.1%/year, and 47.1%/year, respectively. The Markov model estimated that the mean duration of CKD1 stage, CKD2 stage, CKD3 stage, CKD4 stage, CKD5 stage and death/ESRD stage in our cohort were 11.1 years, 7.8 years, 5.4 years, 2.5 years and 1.0 years, respectively. The mean renal survival time or dialysis free period was 27.8 years. Conclusion: Evaluation of severity and the treatment of CKD patients should be done according to the prognoses of CKD patients at different stages.

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a common ocular complication of diabetes patients.It mainly involve macular which is closely related with visual function,thus DME is one of the major reasons causing visual impairment or blindness for diabetes patients.How to reduce the visual damage of DME is always a big challenge in the ophthalmic practice.In the past three decades,there are tremendous developments in DME treatments,from laser photocoagulation,anti-inflammation drugs to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy.However,the mechanism of DME development is not yet completely clear; every existing treatment has its own advantages and weaknesses.Therefore DME treatment still challenges us to explore further to reduce the DME damages.

As the main force of new drug research and development (R&D) in China,pharmaceutical universities are in charge of developing new drugs with our own intellectual property rights.The concept of translational medicine provides opportunity and challenge to improve the efficiency of new drug R&D.Several translational medicine centers have been set up in pharmaceutical universities,which provide practical conditions for new drug R&D in domestic.Administration management approaches to promote new drug R&D in translational medicine platform are analyzed in the paper.

The genus Salvia in the family Lamiaceae with nearly 1 000 species, is widespread in temperate and tropical regions around the world. Many species of genus Salvia are important medicinal plants with a long history of which Danshen (the dried roots and rhizomes of S. miltiorrhiza) is one of the most popular herbal traditional medicines in Asian countries. The chemical constituents from Salvia plants mainly contain sesquiterpenoids, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, steroids and polyphenols etc, which exhibit antibacterial, antidermatophytic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antineoplastic, antiplatelet aggregation activities and so on. In this article, the development of new constituents and their biological activities of Salvia genus in the past five years were reviewed and summarized for its further development and utilization.
Diterpenes ; isolation & purification ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Salvia ; chemistry ; Sesquiterpenes ; isolation & purification ; Triterpenes ; isolation & purification

Objective Traditional raw pangolin products are not used as medicine, which can only be used as medicine after processing. Therefore, the processing mechanism of high temperature sand-fried pangolin was studied. Methods The changes of liposolubility and protein composition of pangolin before and after processing were analyzed by TLC and Nano LC-Q Exactive Orbitrap MS. Meanwhile, the simulation processing of cyclic dipeptides, which were significantly increased during processing, was performed. The activity of L-serine-L-tyrosine cyclic dipeptide was screened. Results The results showed that there was no significant change in fat-soluble components, significant decrease in polypeptides and significant increase in cyclic dipeptides after the sand-fried processing of pangolin. The formation of cyclic dipeptides was mainly related to the heating of the processing. At low temperature, the N-terminal of the linear peptide could be cycled to form L-shaped cyclic dipeptides. At high temperature, the N-terminal and C-terminal of the linear peptide could be rapidly cycled to form cyclic dipeptides. L-serine-L-tyrosine cyclic dipeptide could prolong coagulation time and increase the proliferation rate of mammary epithelial cells and the expression of genes related to milk protein synthesis in dairy cows. It also had significant analgesic activity, which was consistent with the traditional efficacy of pangolin. Conclusion These results suggested that large amounts of L-serine-L-tyrosine cyclic dipeptide produced by the processing of pangolin may be one of the material bases for enhancing the processing efficiency of pangolin. It was of great significance for revealing the material basis of pharmacodynamics of pangolin, searching for alternative resources and protecting pangolin.

Objective:To explore the associations of menopause with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related metabolic disorders (including hypertension,diabetes or higher blood sugar,obesity,dyslipi-demia)in Chinese females aged 45 -59 years .Methods:Data were acquired from a national cross-sectional survey conducted in 201 3,China,which was also the second follow-up survey of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).In the study,4 702 Chinese perimenopausal women aged 45 -59 years were enrolled,including 1 769 premenopausal women and 2 933 postmenopausal women.Information was collected from questionnaires of health status and functioning and physical exa-mination.General liner models were employed to calculate age-adjusted or age-and-body-mass-index-adjusted or multiple-factor-adjusted means and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs)of cardiovas-cular risk factors (CRFs).The comparisons of CVD and its risk factors according to menopausal status, and calculation of adjusted odds ratios (ORs)and their 95%CIs for the associations of menopause with CVD and its risk factors were performed by multivariate Logistic regression models separately.Results:After adjustment for age and other confounders (including body mass index,marriage,education,current smoking,drink alcohol more than once per month),statistically significant associations of menopause with cardiovascular disease,which referred to having a history of heart disease or stroke in this study, were observed in the participants (OR =1 .34,95% CI:1 .04 -1 .74);prevalence of hypertension (OR =1 .42,95%CI:1 .1 0 -1 .84),prevalence of CRFs clustering number≥2 (OR =1 .31 ,95%CI:1 .02 -1 .68)and average waist circumference level (87.1 1 cm,95%CI:86.81 -87.42 cm in post-menopausal group vs.86.41 cm,95%CI:85.99 -86.84 cm in premenopausal group)were presented higher in postmenopausal group,compared with the premenopausal one.However,diabetes or higher blood sugar (OR =0.96,95%CI:0.60 -1 .52),dyslipidemia (OR =0.84,95%CI:0.59 -1 .20) and obesity (OR =1 .06,95%CI:0.86 -1 .32)were not shown significantly statistically related to me-nopause,after excluding effect of age and other confounders.Conclusion:Postmenopausal women in China had worse CRFs profile than the premenopausal ones,which implied menopause might aggravate the CRFs epidemic and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease beyond effects of aging,which would increase the CVD burden during and after their middle ages.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the activity of nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide phosphate(NADPH ) oxidase in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and left ventricular remodeling in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods Fifty-two patients with AMI hospitalized from December 2010 to June 2011 were selected as AMI group,and 25 patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia hospitalized in the same period were selected as control group.All patients were examined by Doppler echocardiography and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was calculated.Fasting blood was drawn on the second day after hospitalization to measure the level of biochemical indexes,malondialdehyde(MDA ) and the activity of NADPH oxidase.The correlation of the level of MDA,the activity of NADPH oxidase and LVMI was analyzed.Results The level of MDA in AMI group was significantly higher than that in control group [(6.14 ±t 2.80) μ mol/L vs(2.95 ± 1.82) μmol/L,P ＜ 0.01 ].The levd of O2- in AMI group was also obviously higher than that in control group [(21.61 ± 10.66) RLU/mg protein vs.( 7.12 ± 4.48 ) RLU/mg protein,P ＜ 0.01 ],as well as the activity of NADPH oxidase [ ( 2.84 ± 1.05 ) RLU/mgprotein vs.( 1.97 ± 0.80) RLU/mg protein,P ＜ 0.01].Positive correlation was found between LVMI and the level of MDA(r =0.57,P ＜ 0.01 ),as well as between LVMI and the activity of NADPH oxidase(r =0.71,P＜0.01 ).Conclusions The activity of NADPH oxidase in peripheral blood mononuclear cell inereases in AMI patients and plays an important role in left ventricular remodeling after AMI.