In this paper, the five strains of Polygonatum odoratum were used as the experimental materials to test the supercooling point, freezing point, the degree of supercooling, the transition stage time, cooling time and water composition of the plant tissue. The cold resistance of P. odoratum was analyzed with the Gray Correlation Method. The results showed that the cold resistances of the five strains of P. odoratum were different, and the water content of plant tissue had some relevance with freezing point and supercooling point, whereas, it could not be measured when the moisture content was too low. The order of cold resistance of the five strains of P. odoratum was ZJCY, DYYZ, XYYZ, CYYZ and JZ I.
Cold Temperature ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; physiology ; Polygonatum ; chemistry ; classification ; physiology ; Water ; analysis

This study is to investigate the effect of total flavonoids of Uygur medicine bugloss (BTF) on rats with myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, and to explore the mechanisms by which it acts. Left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery in rats was occluded for 30 min followed by 4 h reperfusion. Meanwhile, BTF dissolved in saline was administered intraperitoneally at dosage of 10, 30 and 50 mg x kg(-1). Electrocardiograph, infarction index, serum myocardial enzymes and heart function were determined to evaluate the effect of BTF. Some other observations were carried out to explore whether inhibiting inflammation and apoptosis is involved in the mechanisms underlying BTF. Our results showed that in ischemia/reperfusion injured rats BTF could dose-dependently reduce myocardial infarction index and myocardial enzyme leakage, and enhance heart function, indicating that it possesses significant cardio protection. ELISA analysis showed that BTF could decrease the content of myocardial inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha. Western-blotting confirmed that BTF could increase the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and reduce the expression of proapoptosis protein Bax. Further more, the phosphorylation level of PI3K and Akt was upregulated by BTF treatment. BTF can protect rat against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. Anti-inflammation and inhibition of apoptosis through upregulating PI3K/Akt signal pathway may contribute to the protective effect of BTF.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins ; Boraginaceae ; chemistry ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; Heart ; Interleukin-6 ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; drug therapy ; Myocardium ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; Phosphorylation ; Protective Agents ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein

Objective To study systemic hematogenic immunoreactions induced by bacterial infections using simulation of natural system.Methods Whole blood 0.2 mL or white blood cells 0.2 mL and plasma(or normal saline)0.3 mL were stimulated by 0.2 mL of yeast and inactivated Bacillus Calmette-Guerin(BCG,5?10~8/mL),respectively,which were incubated at 37℃for 1 h. Interleukin(IL)-8,C3,C4 and chemokine receptor Fy6 were detected by flow cytometry(FCM)and en- zyme-linked immunosorbentassay(ELISA).Results Bacteria could activate red blood cell to modulate IL-8 release from white blood cells in plasma.In nature experimental group,activation rate(37.04?34.84)of IL-8 was significantly higher than that(1.09?0.77)in isolation experimental group.In nature experimen- tal group,value increment(0.01?0.01)of complement C4 was significantly higher than that(-0.0027?0.008)of isolation experimental group(P

OBJECTIVETo explore cell death and apoptosis in rat hippocampal neurons at different time points after ischemia, hypoxia and reperfusion injury and to elucidate time window characteristics in ischemia neuronal injury.

METHODSHippocampal neurons were obtained from rat embryo and were cultured in vitro. The ischemia and reperfusion of cultured rat hippocampal neurons were simulated by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) and recovery. OGD at different time points (0.25 h to 3.0 h) and then the same recovery (24 h) were prepared. Annexin V-PI staining and flow cytometry examined neuron death and apoptosis at different time after injury.

RESULTSAfter OGD and recovery, both necrosis and apoptosis were observed. At different times after OGD, there were statistically significant differences in neuron necrosis rate (P < 0.05), but not in apoptosis rate (P > 0.05). At recovery, survival rate of hippocampal neurons further decreased while apoptosis rate increased. Furthermore, apoptosis rates of different time differed greatly (P < 0.05). Apoptosis rate gradually increased with significant difference among those of different time points (P < 0.05). However, 2 h after ischemia, apoptosis rate decreased markedly.

CONCLUSIONSApoptosis is an important pathway of delayed neuron death. The therapeutic time window should be within 2 h after cerebral ischemia and hypoxia.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; physiology ; Brain Ischemia ; pathology ; Cell Death ; physiology ; Cell Hypoxia ; Cells, Cultured ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Fetus ; cytology ; Flow Cytometry ; Hippocampus ; pathology ; Neurons ; pathology ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Animal ; Probability ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; pathology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo identify the original plant of "Daibaijie", commonly used Dai herb.

METHODThe literature review, morphology and anatomy, pharmacognosy, molecular biology, chemistry were used to analysis.

RESULTDaibaijie's historical scientific name, Dregea sinensis Hemsl., was mistakenly given "Daibaijie" and D. sinensis have significant differences from the distribution, morphology and anatomy, pharmacognosy, molecular biology and chemical composition. "Daibaijie" matches with the characteristics of Marsdenia tenacissima (Roxb.) Moon in Flora of China in English.

CONCLUSIONDaibaijie's original plant is M. tenacissima (Roxb.) Moon. The description and illustration of M. tenacissima (Roxb.) Moon in Flora of China in China are wrong. The illustration of M. tenacissima in Flora of China in English is wrong too.

China ; ethnology ; Herbal Medicine ; Marsdenia ; anatomy & histology ; classification ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plant Components, Aerial ; anatomy & histology ; classification

OBJECTIVETo prepare cryptotanshinone (CT)-cyclodextrin inclusion compound and improve dissolution of CT.

METHODInclusion ratio was determined by plotting the phase solubility curve of CT versus hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPCD). CT-cyclodextrin inclusion compound was made by wet grinding method. Properties of the inclusion compound was investigated by in vitro dissolution test, DTA and IR spectrum.

RESULTInclusion ratio of CT versus HPCD was 1:1. Dissolution of CT-HPCD inclusion compound at 45 min was 21.6 times of material drug.

CONCLUSIONDissolution of CT was improved remarkably in CT-HPCD inclusion compound. The complexation force of the inclusion compound was hydrogen bond formed by carbonyl group of CT and hydroxyl group of HPCD.

2-Hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin ; Biological Availability ; Drug Carriers ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Phenanthrenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry ; Solubility ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Time Factors ; beta-Cyclodextrins ; chemistry

Objective To evaluate contrast-enhanced fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging in the detection of leptomeningeal lesions.Methods Seventeen patients with a variety of leptomeningeal lesions were analyzed.The MRI protocol included un-enhanced and contrast-enhanced FLAIR images and contrast-enhanced T_1WI,Comparisons between contrast-enhanced FLAIR images and T_1WI and between un-enhanced and contrast-enhanced FLAIR images were made to determine which sequence better depicted the lesions.Results Leptomeningeal lesions showed as either diffusely or locally abnormal hyper-intensity along sulci or cistern on three sequences.Comparison between contrast-enhanced FLAIR and T_1WI showed that only contrast-enhanced FLAIR revealed the abnormalities in 7,both revealed the abnormalities but the former was superior in 2 ,and both were conspicuous in 7. In 1 patient of tuberculous meningitis,diffuse abnormalities of sulci were shown only on contrast-enhanced FLAIR, abnormalities of cisterns were shown on both sequences but the former was superior.Comparison between un- enhanced and contrast-enhanced FLAIR showed that only contrast-enhanced FLAIR revealed the abnormalities in 9,both revealed the abnormalities but the former was superior in 3,and both were conspicuous in 4. In 1 patient of tuberculous meningitis,abnormalities of cisterns were shown only on contrast-enhanced FLAIR,diffuseabnormalities of sulci were shown on both sequences but the former was superior.Conclusions Contrast-enhanced FLAIR images were superior to un-enhanced FLAIR images and contrast-enhanced T_1WI in the detection of leptomeningeal lesions. Contrast-enhanced FLAIR images are helpful and should be considered when findings on un-enhanced FLAIR images and/or contrast-enhanced T,WI are inconclusive.

Objective: To investigate the change in intestinal flora in Mongolian students with anxiety,so as to provide basis for exploring the relationship between flora and secretion expression in vivo. Methods: The Self rating Anxiety Scale(SAS)was used to assess anxiety in medical college students; then a semi structured interview was administered. Fecal samples that met the inclusion criteria were collected and divided into anxiety (SAS score≥50) and control groups (no anxiety, SAS score<50) according to the standard score of SAS. Samples provided by Mongolian female students were selected from each group. The total bacterial DNA was extracted from the fecal samples for PCR amplification and NovaSeq 2x250bp high throughput sequencing was performed for the V3- V4 region of 16S rDNA gene to obtain the biological information of the intestinal flora. The intergroup OTU, structural diversity, significant difference, and LEfSe analyses were performed with information mining of the literature think tanks. Results: Anxiety existed in 23.86% of the Mongolian students,and 16.96% of the Han people. A Chi square test showed no significant difference in detection of anxiety between Mongolian and Han college students ( P =0.07). Analysis of the alpha diversity index showed that the Shannon index, Simpson index, Chao1 index, and Observed species did not differed significantly between the two groups( t =8.0， 9.0 ，6.0，6.5). The difference in abundance of some bacteria was significant at the Class, Order, Family, and Genus levels between the two groups( t =-2.26-2.57，-5.08-3.58，-2.65-2.09， P <0.05). Conclusion The alpha diversity index showed that there was no significant difference in the abundance and diversity of intestinal flora between the two groups. While there were significant differences at different classification levels, the results suggest that the structure of intestinal flora can change in students with anxiety.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the surgical technique and indication on descending aortic aneurysms.

METHODSFrom January 1996 to June 2006, 41 patients with descending aortic aneurysm underwent operation, including DeBakey type III dissection in 26, false aneurysm in 6, true aneurysm in 4, and residual or newly complicated type III dissection after the surgery of Marfan syndrome in 5. Operations were performed by left heart bypass in 9, femoral-femoral bypass in 7, pulmonary-femoral bypass in 2, and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest in 23. The whole thoracic descending aorta was replaced in 15, and intercostal arteries were reimplanted in 12.

RESULTSOne patient died of acute renal failure with the hospital mortality 2.4%. Main complications: respiratory dysfunction in 6, renal dysfunction in 6, recurrent nerve injuries in 4, chylothorax in 2, and no paraplegia.

CONCLUSIONSSurgical intervention of descending aortic aneurysm still has its unique advantages and indications; surgical safety is markedly improved by the use of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic ; surgery ; Extracorporeal Circulation ; methods ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hypothermia, Induced ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo estimate the size of female sex workers and clients in Taizhou city.

METHODSA household survey using network scale-up method (NSUM) was conducted among the 3000 community residents in Taizhou city from August to October in 2011, which aimed to estimate the social network size (c value) of Taizhou residents, and the c value was adjusted by demographic characteristics, back estimation and outlier elimination. Using the adjusted c value, the number of acquaintance of female sex workers or clients and the respect level toward female sex workers or clients were used to estimate the size of female sex workers and clients.

RESULTSA total of 2783 valid questionnaires were collected, among which 1380 (49.6%) were collected from Taixing city, 1403 (50.4%) were collected from Jingjiang city. 1334 respondents were male (47.9%) and 1449 (47.9%) respondents were female. The mean age was (39.4 ± 10.7) years. The average personal social network size using original data for Taizhou residents was 525, which differed from place, sex, age, educational level and marriage status. Using the remaining known populations through back estimation, the social network size was 419 and became 424 after the elimination of outliers. The estimated population size for female sex worker was 6370 (95%CI: 5886 - 6853), which accounted for 0.52% (6370/1 229 980) of the total number of female aged from 15 to 49. The estimated population size for clients was 15 202 (95%CI: 14 560 - 15 847), which accounted for 1.28% (15 202/1 190 340) of the total number of males aged from 15 to 49 and the ration of clients to female sex worker was 2.39:1.

CONCLUSIONNSUM is an easy and quick way to estimate the size of female sex workers or clients, but the estimated sizes are subject to bias and error due to estimate effect and sample representativeness.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Sex Work ; statistics & numerical data ; Sex Workers ; statistics & numerical data ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult