One important purpose to investigate medicinal plants is to understand genes and enzymes that govern the biological metabolic process to produce bioactive compounds.Genome wide high throughput technologies such as genomics,transcriptomics,proteomics and metabolomics can help reach that goal.Such technologies can produce a vast amount of data which desperately need bioinformatics and systems biology to process,manage,distribute and understand these data.By dealing with theomicsdata,bioinformatics and systems biology can also help improve the quality of traditional medicinal materials,develop new approaches for the classification and authentication of medicinal plants,identify new active compounds,and cultivate medicinal plant species that tolerate harsh environmental conditions.In this review,the application of bioinformatics and systems biology in medicinal plants is briefly introduced.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of botulinum toxin A in conjunction with Wuidatechniques in the treatment of lower limbs spasticity in children with cerebral palsy. Methods Forty patients weredivided randomly into a treatment group and a control group. The 18 patients in the treatment group were treatedwith Botulinum toxin A injection and Wuida rehabilitation techniques, the other 22 patients with Wuida techniquessolely served as control. All the patients were evaluated with Physician Rating Scale (PRS) and Ashworth Scale.Results Botulinum toxin A in conjunction with Wuida techniques significantly improved in the lower limbs func-tion of the patients at 3 days after treatment(P

OBJECTIVETo observe the ability of triple helix-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) modified with manganese porphyrin to combine with and cleave HBV DNA fractions.

METHODSTFO were modified with manganese porphyrin and acridines, and then reacted with the (32)P labeled HBV DNA fragments at 37 degrees C in vitro (pH 7.4). Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting tests were used to show the affinity and specificity of TFO to bind to target sequences. The ability of TFO to cleave HBV DNA fragments was tested by cleavage experiments.

RESULTSTFO modified with manganese porphyrin and acridine could bind to the target sequence in a sequence-dependent manner, with a Kd value of 3.5 x 10(-7) mol/L and a relative affinity of 0.008. In the presence of potassium monopersulfate (KHSO(5)), TFO modified with manganese porphyrin and acridine could cleave the target sequence where the triplex DNA was formed.

CONCLUSIONIn the presence of KHSO(5), TFO modified with manganese porphyrin and acridine could bind and cleave the target HBV-DNA in a sequence-dependent manner.

DNA ; drug effects ; pharmacology ; DNA, Viral ; chemistry ; drug effects ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Manganese ; pharmacology ; Metalloporphyrins ; pharmacology ; Potassium Compounds ; pharmacology ; Sulfates ; pharmacology