Bupleurum chinense used in the study were cultivated in the experimental fields of Gansu agricultural University for three years. The seeds of B. chinense were collected every 3 days 10 d after the blossom. The result showed that the 1 000-grain fresh weight reached the maximum 43 d after the blossom and then decreased rapidly, at the mature period the fresh weight of seeds were falling to the same level of the dry weight. The dynamic change of the grain dry matter accumulation showed as an S-shape curve, the rapid increase stage was 25-34 d following the flower, and the grain filling was ended 46 d after blossom. Grain filling rate was under the law "fast-slow-fast-slow". And there were two peaks of grain filling rate appeared, after reached the second peak 28 d after the flower the filling rate decreased rapidly and stayed steadily 43 d after flowering. The dehydration rate was also measured at its maximum 43 d following flower. The indexes of seeds all reached the top 52 days following the blossom, when the germination rate reached the peak (34.33%) and water content of seeds was near 10%. The rate of germination and the 1 000-graid weight of seed showed significant positive correlation, while the water content of seeds was found significant negatively correlation with germination percentage. So the best time for harvest should be 52 d after flowering (9 month), the seeds collected at that time showed both high quality and germination rate.
Bupleurum ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Flowers ; growth & development ; Germination ; Seeds ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Water ; analysis

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Meningeal Neoplasms ; complications ; pathology ; Meningioma ; complications ; pathology ; Metaplasia ; complications

No abstract available.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and the least-squares estimation (IDEAL) method with a fat-saturated T2-weighted (T2W) fast recovery fast spin-echo (FRFSE) imaging of the spine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Images acquired at 3.0 Tesla (T) in 35 patients with different spine lesions using fat-saturated T2W FRFSE imaging were compared with T2W IDEAL FRFSE images. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)-efficiencies measurements were made in the vertebral bodies and spinal cord in the mid-sagittal plane or nearest to the mid-sagittal plane. Images were scored with the consensus of two experienced radiologists on a four-point grading scale for fat suppression and overall image quality. Statistical analysis of SNR-efficiency, fat suppression and image quality scores was performed with a paired Student's t test and Wilcoxon's signed rank test. RESULTS: Signal-to-noise ratio-efficiency for both vertebral body and spinal cord was higher with T2W IDEAL FRFSE imaging (p < 0.05) than with T2W FRFSE imaging. T2W IDEAL FRFSE demonstrated superior fat suppression (p < 0.01) and image quality (p < 0.01) compared to fat-saturated T2W FRFSE. CONCLUSION: As compared with fat-saturated T2W FRFSE, IDEAL can provide a higher image quality, higher SNR-efficiency, and consistent, robust and uniform fat suppression. T2W IDEAL FRFSE is a promising technique for MR imaging of the spine at 3.0T.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Spinal Diseases/*diagnosis/pathology ; Statistics, Nonparametric

OBJECTIVETo understand the current status and its changing patterns of perinatal health care in some southern and northern areas of China from 1994 to 2000.

METHODSData was collected in 13 counties/cities covered by Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System which was part of the Sino-American cooperative project on neural tube defects prevention, established in 1992. The study population consisted of 368 589 women who delivered single live births of at least 20 gestational weeks from 1994 through 2000. Chi-square test was employed to test the difference on the proportions of women with prenatal checkup, women with early prenatal care onset, women with at least five prenatal visits, hospital delivery versus home delivery as well as the proportion of women with at least three postpartum visits. Two-way ANOVA was used to test the differences of mean of gestational weeks at first prenatal visit and the mean of prenatal visits between different year and areas.

RESULTSThe proportion of women with prenatal checkup remained over 99.0% from 1994 through 2000. The mean of gestational weeks at first prenatal visit changed from 13.1 weeks in 1994 to 10.7 weeks in 2000. The proportions of women with early prenatal care onset increased from 65.5% in 1994 to 79.4% in 2000 while women with at least five prenatal visit increasing from 34.1% to 71.8%, hospital delivery increasing from 91.3% to 98.8%, home delivery decreasing from 5.6 % to 0. 6%, women with at least three postpartum visits increasing from 80.5 % to 95.1%. Except for the proportion of women with early prenatal care onset, other proportions in northern areas were lower than those in southern areas in the same year. Greater differences between urban and rural areas in northern areas were found than in southern areas.

CONCLUSIONThe utilization of perinatal health care services was greatly improved in both southern and northern areas from 1994 to 2000. However, there were still obvious differences in the perinatal health care services between northern and southern areas as well as between urban and rural areas in northern China.

China ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Perinatal Care ; utilization ; Pregnancy ; Rural Health ; Urban Health

OBJECTIVETo understand the distribution of birth weight among premature infants and the associated social factors.

METHODSThe study population consisted of 97 537 women who delivered singleton live birth of 20 to 41 gestational weeks in 4 counties/cities, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, China from 1995 to 2000. Chi-square test was employed to test the difference of proportions between respective groups. One- way ANOVA was used to test the differences regarding the mean of gestational weeks at the first prenatal visit and the mean of prenatal visits between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the factors associated with premature birth.

RESULTSWomen aged 35 years had higher (8.8%) premature incidence than those aged less than 24 years (5.6%), 25 - 29 years (4.6%), or 30 - 34 years (4.5%, P < 0.001). Women with height less than 149 cm had higher (6.8%) premature incidence than those with height taller than 150 cm (5.0%). Women whose BMI were at least 28 and 24 - 28 had higher (5.5%, 5.5%) premature incidences than those whose BMI were 18.5 - 24.0 (5.0%), < 18.5 (4.6%, P < 0.001). The incidence of premature birth was 6.0% among women without previous pregnancy, higher than that among those women with 4 times of pregnancies (5.7%), 2 times of pregnancies (4.3%), and 3 times of pregnancies (4.0%). Parous women with at least two deliveries had higher (9.3%) premature incidence than the primiparous women (5.2%) and whose women with only one delivery (4.5%, P < 0.001). Women who received early prenatal care had lower 4.7% premature incidence than those who did not receive the service (6.1%). The mean times of prenatal visits among women with premature births was 8.53, less than that of those with full term delivery (10.97). Women with less than four times of prenatal visit had higher (18.9%) premature incidence than those with at least five prenatal visits (4.9%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that premature delivery risk was associated with age, height, BMI, gravidity, parity, early prenatal care, the mean of gestational weeks at first prenatal visit and the mean number of prenatal visits etc.

CONCLUSIONPremature delivery risk was associated with factors as age, height, BMI, gravidity, parity, early prenatal care, the mean of gestational weeks at first prenatal visit, the mean number of prenatal visits etc.

Adult ; Birth Weight ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Infant, Premature, Diseases ; epidemiology ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate the target cells and molecules with sodium valproate induced differentiation of human glioma cells.

METHODSNude mice bearing human glioma xenogenic graft subcutaneously were treated with sodium valproate. The expressions of HDAC1 and Tob genes of xenografts were analyzed with semiquantitative RT-PCR. The CD133+ cells (BTSCs) were isolated from glioma specimens by immunomagnetic sorting, and cultured in the medium containing FCS or in the serum-free medium supplemented with growth factors, respectively, followed by treatment with sodium valproate in vitro for 21 days. The cell surface markers were detected with flow cytometry and confocal microscopy.

RESULTSSodium valproate inhibited the growth of subcutaneous xenografs bearing on nude mice (P<0.05), and up-regulated the HDAC1 expression (P<0.01), down-regulated the Tob expression (P<0.05). The cell surface markers of BTSCs were detected by flow cytometry after sodium valproate treatment for 21 days. In the FCS group, the GFAP or beta-tubulin III positive cells increased significantly (P<0.01), but in the growth factor group, no statistical differences were observed in the GFAP or beta-tubulin III expression (P>0.05). The results of confocal microscopy indicated that the GFAP+ or beta-tubulin III+ cells coexpressed with Nestin.

CONCLUSIONSHDAC1 and Tob genes were the potential target molecules in reversion of the differential inhibition of human glioma cells with sodium valproate. The BTSCs undergoing the processes of differentiation were the target cells for sodium valproate.

AC133 Antigen ; Actins ; analysis ; Animals ; Antigens, CD ; analysis ; Brain Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Flow Cytometry ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ; analysis ; Glioma ; metabolism ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Glycoproteins ; analysis ; Histone Deacetylases ; genetics ; Humans ; Intermediate Filament Proteins ; analysis ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; analysis ; Nestin ; Peptides ; analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Tumor Suppressor Proteins ; metabolism ; Valproic Acid ; pharmacology ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays ; methods

The present study aimed to study the changes of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) expression of intrafusal muscle fibers in rat soleus muscles under simulated weightlessness. The tail-suspension (SUS) rat model was used to simulate weightlessness. Forty mature female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to ambulatory control (CON), 3-day SUS, 7-day SUS, 14-day SUS and 21-day SUS groups. Immunohistochemistry ABC staining method and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to detect the NT-3 expression of intrafusal muscle fibers in rat soleus muscles. The results from the immunohistochemistry staining technique showed that the extrafusal muscle fibers did not exhibit the NT-3-like immunoreactivity, and NT-3-like immunoreactivity was mainly expressed in nuclear bag 1 and nuclear bag 2 fibers of the muscle spindles. The ELISA results showed that the expression quantity of NT-3 in rat soleus muscles in control, 3-day SUS, 7-day SUS, 14-day SUS and 21-day SUS groups were (14.23±1.65), (14.11±1.53), (13.09±1.47), (12.45±1.51) and (9.85±1.52) pg/mg of tissue respectively. Compared to the control group, the expression quantity of NT-3 was significantly decreased after 14 days of SUS (P<0.05). After 21 days of SUS, the NT-3 expression was further reduced (P<0.01). These results suggest that simulated weightlessness induces an obvious decrease in the NT-3 expression level of intrafusal fibers in rat soleus muscles. Accompanying the simulated weightlessness extension, NT-3 expression in rat soleus muscle spindles is progressively decreased. These changes may contribute to the proprioceptive adaptations to microgravity.
Animals ; Down-Regulation ; Female ; Hindlimb Suspension ; Muscle Spindles ; metabolism ; Muscle, Skeletal ; metabolism ; Neurotrophin 3 ; genetics ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Weightlessness Simulation

To investigate the chemical constituents of hemostatic extract of Pyrola calliantha H. Andres, the extract was subjected to chromatographic separation and purification. Along with some known compounds, a new naphthaquinone derivative was isolated and identified as 2-(1, 4-dihydro-2, 6-dimethyl-1, 4-dioxo-3-naphthalenyl)-3, 4, 5-trihydroxylbenzoic acid by physicochemical and spectroscopic analysis.
Molecular Structure ; Naphthoquinones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Pyrola ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effect on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection in high risk populations.

METHODSA computerized literature searching had been carried out in PubMed, EMbase, Ovid, Web of Science, Science Direct, Wanfang, Tsinghua Tongfang database and related websites to collect relevant papers (from establishment to June 2012) with the key words of pre-exposure prophylaxis, HIV, AIDS, high risk populations, relative risk, reduction. All randomized controlled trials (RCT) papers about using single or compound antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) orally or topically before HIV exposure or during HIV exposure in high risk populations were enrolled. Meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 10.0 to calculate the pooled RR value (95%CI). Consistency test was performed and publication bias was evaluated.

RESULTSFinally 5 RCT papers were enrolled, including 10 271 persons who were at high risk of HIV infection. The number of the experimental group was 5929, among which 116(1.96%) became infected. The number of the control group was 4342, among which 201(4.63%) became infected. Meta-analysis showed that the pooled relative risk (RR) and 95%CI was 0.49 (0.39 - 0.61), P < 0.05, indicating that the persons in experimental group had a 0.49 times lower risk of HIV infected, as compared with the control group. Publication bias analysis revealed a symmetry funnel plot. The fail-safe number was 825.

CONCLUSIONPrEP was an effective and safe protection measure to reduce HIV infection in high risk populations.

Anti-HIV Agents ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; HIV Infections ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Risk