OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Xianxiong decoction on the mice with acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide.

METHODEighty female ICR mice were randomly divided into 8 groups: model group, Xianxiong decoction group, Daxianxiong decoction group, Xianxiong decoction group without Kansui Radix group, Xianxiong decoction group without Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma group, Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Kansui Radix group, normal group and control group. Animals of each group, except normal group, were undertaken intraperitoneal injection and intranasal inhalation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on day 1, 2, 3 to establish acute lung injury (ALI) model. 30 min after modeling, 0.2 mL corresponding drugs were administrated to each mice, dexam ethasone and normal saline were given to the mice of control group and normal group respectively. White blood cell in blood, neutrophil percentage of blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) supernatant, the ratio of wet and dry lung tissue ( W/D), histopathological changes of lung tissue were estimated. Sixty ICR mice were randomly divided into normal, model, control, high, middle and low dose Xianxiong decoction groups and were modeled in the same way. ELISA was applied to detect the level of NF-kappaB, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in BALF, PCR for NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha mRNA in lung tissue, and Western blot for NF-kappaB and TNF-alpha. Half of 20 ICR mice were administrated with Xianxiong decoction of its maximum tolerant normal saline.

RESULTCompared with model group, the number of WBC in blood of Xianxiong decoction group mice decreased (P < 0.01), percentage of neutrophils in both blood and BALF decreased as well (P < 0.01, P < 0.05); it also significantly reduced the ratio of W/D (P < 0.01); and found the alveolar wall, the number of inflammatory cells infiltrating improved, compared with model group. Xianxiong decoction reduced the level of NF-kappaB, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in BALF (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05); its high and low dose groups only found TNF-alpha level declined. Five mice died 24 h after administration of Xianxiong decoction which indicated its toxicity when other influential factors were considered.

CONCLUSIONXianxiong decoction is effective on the ALI mice induced by LPS, but it is of toxicity at 3 g x mL(-1).

Acute Lung Injury ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; adverse effects ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; NF-kappa B ; genetics ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; genetics ; metabolism

Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma were widely used in strengthening spleen under different disease conditions, and were easily and often misused each other. Therefore, DNA barcode was used to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma from their adulterants to ensure the safe use. The sequence lengths of ITS2 of Atractylodes macrocephala, Atractylodis Rhizoma (A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana) were both 229 bp. Among the ITS2 sequences of A. macrocephala, only one G/C transversion was detected at site 98, and the average GC content was 69.42%. No variable site was detected in the ITS2 sequences of A. lancea. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of both A. japonica and A. coreana were 0.013. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of A. macrocephala, A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana were less than the minimum interspecific genetic distance of adulterants. The ITS2 sequences in each of these polytypic species were separated into pairs of divergent clusters in the NJ tree. DNA barcoding could be used as a fast and accurate identification method to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Atractylodis Rhizoma, from their adulterants to ensure its safe use.
Atractylodes ; classification ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; classification ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of American Ginseng Capsule (AGC) on the liver oxidative injury and the Nrf2 protein expression in the liver tissue of rats exposed by 900 MHz cell phone electromagnetic radiation.

METHODSTotally 40 male SD rats were randomly divided into the normal control group, the model group, the Shuifei Jibin Capsule (SJC) group, and the AGC group,10 in each group. Rats in the normal control group were not irradiated. Rats in the rest three groups were exposed by imitated 900 MHz cellular phone for 4 h in 12 consecutive days. Meanwhile, rats in the SJC group and the AGC group were intragastrically administrated with suspension of SJC and AGC (1 mL/200 g body weight) respectively. Normal saline was administered to rats in the normal control group and the model group. The histolomorphological changes of the liver tissue were observed by HE staining. Contents of malonic dialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX)were detected by colorimetry. The Nrf2 protein expression of hepatocytes was detected by immunohistochemical assay and Western blot.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, hepatocyte nucleus was atrophied or partially disappeared, the contents of liver MDA and Nrf2 protein obviously increased (P <0. 05, P <0. 01); contents of liver SOD and GSH decreased (P <0. 05) in the model group. Compared with the model group, karyopyknosis was obviously attenuated and approached to the normal level in the SJC group and the AGC group. The contents of liver MDA and Nrf2 protein expression decreased (P <0. 05), and the contents of liver SOD, GSH, and GSH-PX obviously increased (P < 0.05) in the SJC group. The contents of liver MDA and the Nrf2 protein expression decreased (P < 0.05), and contents of SOD and GSH obviously increased in the AGC group (P <0.01, P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe electromagnetic radiation induced by 900 MHz cell phone could affect the expression of Nrf2 protein, induce oxidative injury, and induce abnormal morphology of liver cells. SJC and AGC could promote the morphological recovery of the liver cells. Its mechanism might be related to affecting the expression of Nrf2 protein and attenuating oxidative damage of liver cells.

Animals ; Cell Phone ; Electromagnetic Radiation ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Hepatocytes ; metabolism ; Liver ; Male ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2 ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Panax ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the prognostic effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with local advanced gastric cancer.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed prognosis in 191 patients with advanced gastric cancer, of whom 71 were treated with NAC and 120 received surgery only between February 2007 and July 2013. Postoperative complication rate was recorded. Survival by clinicopathological features, pathological T and N stages, and histopathological tumor regression was retrospectively compared between the two groups.

RESULTSAccording to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, none of the 71 patients in the NAC followed by surgery group showed complete response, 36 showed partial response, 25 had stable disease, and 10 had progressive disease. The chemotherapy response rate was 50.7%; the disease control rate was 85.9%. Grade 3/4 adverse events were seen in less than 20% patients, with acceptable toxicities. No difference was found in the overall postoperative complication rates between the two groups (7 versus 22 cases, P=0.18). Median survival time was significantly different, at 54 months in the NAC combined with surgery group and 25 months in the surgery-only group (P=0.025).

CONCLUSIONIn patients with operable gastric adenocarcinomas, NAC can significantly improve overall survival without increasing surgical complications.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect of hydrotherapy with Chinese drugs (HT-C) in early intervention on children hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

METHODSHIE children were assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 50 in each, at random depending on the willingness of patients' parents. Both groups received the conventional functional training, according to the "0 -3-year-old early intervention outline", but for the treatment group, HT-C was applied additionally. Indexes for quality of sleep, gross motor function, severity of spasm and intellectual development were observed and compared before and after treatment to assess the therapeutic effects.

RESULTSTherapeutic effect in the treatment group was better than that in the control group in all the indexes observed, showing statistical significance (all P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONEarly intervention of HT-C could improve clinical symptom, promote the functional recovery and intellectual development in children HIE, and also could reduce or prevent the sequelae occurrence of the nervous system in them.

Administration, Cutaneous ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrotherapy ; methods ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; therapy ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Massage ; Phytotherapy ; Time Factors

Axons ; chemistry ; Myelin Sheath ; chemistry ; Staining and Labeling ; methods

Objective To obtain the elasticity value of solid breast lesions with supersonic shear wave elastrography (SWE) and apply the binary Logistic regression in order to evaluate the value of SWE in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions. Methods SWE quantitative elastography was preformed in 91 breast lesions of 91 patients in Zhenghai Longsai Hospital to obtain the maximum and mean elasticity value (Emax, Emean). And receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the diagnostic performance. A Logistic regression for the gray scale ultrasound and the elastic modulus was conducted with multiple variables including Emax, Emean, border, echo, form, calcification. Results Pathological examination showed 73 benign lesions and 18 malignant lesions. Emax and Emean of malignant lesions were obviously higher than those of benign lesions [(99.73±41.15) kPa vs (38.59±14.28) kPa, (61.45±24.88) kPa vs (23.46±11.44) kPa, t=-15.05,-14.12, both P=0.000]. The area under the ROC curve of Emax and Emean were 0.932 and 0.915. Taking 63.70 kPa as the threshold of Emax, the sensitivity was 77.8%and the speciifcity was 97.3%. Then taking 44.22 kPa as the threshold of Emean, the sensitivity was 83.3%and the speciifcity was 94.5%. The results of Logistic regression analysis showed:the 3 most effective variables were Emax, border of the lesions and Emean. Conclusions The multivariate analysis model of binary Logistic regression can select the valuable indexes of differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions. SWE plays an important role in differentiating benign and malignant lesions and it is valuable in clinical practice.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterized by myofibroblast foci in lung parenchyma.Myofibroblasts are thought to originate from epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT).Wnt1 and lithium chloride (LiCl) induce EMT in alveolar epithelial cells (AECs),but the mechanisms are unclear.AECs were treated with Wnt1 and LiCl,respectively;morphological change and molecular changes of EMT,including E-cadherin,fibronectin,and vimentin,were observed.SB203580 was administrated to test the role of p38 MAPK signaling in EMT.Then AECs were treated with siRNAs targeting p38 MAPK to further test the effects of p38 MAPK,and the role was further confirmed by re-expression of p38 MAPK.At last β-catenin siRNA was used to test the role of β-catenin in the EMT process and relationship of β-catenin and p38 MAPK was concluded.Exposure of AECs to Wnt1 and LiCl resulted in upregulation of vimentin and fibronectin with subsequent downregulation of E-cadherin.Wnt1 and LiCl stimulated the p38 MAPK signaling pathways.Perturbing the p38 MAPK pathway either by SB203580 or through p38 MAPK siRNA blocked EMT and inhibited fibronetin synthesis,which were reversed by transfection of p38 MAPK expression plasmid.β-catenin siRNA attenuated the EMT process and decreased p38 MAPK phosphorylation,indicating that β-catenin is involved in the EMT-related changes through regulation of p38 MAPK phosphorylation.These findings suggest that p38 MAPK participates in the pathogenesis of EMT through Wnt pathway and that p38 MAPK may be a novel target for IPF therapy.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of ischemic postconditioning (IPostC) on pneumocyte apoptosis after lung ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

METHODSAdult male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups based upon the intervention (n = 8): control group (C), lung ischemic reperfusion group (LIR), LIR+ IPostC group (IPostC). At the end of the experiment, blood specimens drawn from the arteria carotis were tested for the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and myeloperoxidase (MPO); the pneumocyte apoptosis index (AI) was achieved by tennrminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end abeling (TUNEL); the expression of Bcl-2, Bax protein in lung tissue was accessed by quantitative immunohistochemistry (MHC) and Bcl-2, Bax mRNA by RT-PCR.

RESULTSIPostC could significantly attenuate the MDA level, MPO activity and improve SOD activity in blood serum which was comparable to I/R and significantly reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells compared with I/R group, expressed as Al (% total nuclei) from (39.0 +/- 3.46) to (8.0 +/- 0.88) (P < 0.01). The protein and mRNA expression of Bcl-2 and Bax showed that IPO significantly attenuated the ischemia/reperfusion-upregulated expression of Bax protein but improved the expression of Bcl-2 that improved the Bcl-2/Bax ratio (P < 0.01) .

CONCLUSIONIPostC may attenuate pneumocyte apoptosis in LIRI by up-regulating expression of Bcl-2/Bax ratio and by inhibiting oxidant generation and neutrophils filtration.

Alveolar Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lung Injury ; physiopathology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of a new anticoagulant, annexin V derivative (AND) on anticoagulation and antithrombosis.

METHODSHigh and low doses of AND were given to rabbits (groups 1 and 2 respectively) by intravenous (iv) bolus injections followed by half the respective AND doses by iv infusion over 2 hours. Control groups were iv given heparin (group 3) and saline (group 4) of the same volume and procedure as that in group 1 and 2. Blood cell count, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), thrombin time (TT) and fibrinogen level were examined before and 15, 30 and 60 min after iv bolus and 2 hours after the end of iv infusion. A 3.0 mm x 15 mm balloon was put into femoral artery to induce endothelial denudation 15 min after IV bolus and the blood pressure of femoral artery was monitored until the pulse pressure recorded 0 mm Hg when the vessel was occluded completely by a thrombus. The femoral arteries were collected and the thrombi were stripped off for measuring their lengths, wet and dry weights.

RESULTSAnticoagulation parameters: APTT at 15 min after iv bolus in AND group was significantly longer than that in group 4 (P < 0.05) but shorter than that in group 3 (P < 0.05); APTT and TT in group 3 were significantly longer than those in groups 1, 2 and 4. Fibrinogen: 0.70 mg/kg AND may decrease fibrinogen. Antithrombosis values: the wet and dry weights in AND groups were significantly lighter than those in group 3 and 4 (P < 0.05). The dry weight in high-dose AND group was remarkably lighter than that in low-dose group (P = 0.029). The length of thrombus in low-dose AND group was remarkably shorter than that in group 4 (P = 0.013), but not for group 3 (P > 0.05). It was remarkably shorter in high-dose AND group than in both group 3 (P < 0.001) and 4 (P = 0.015). The time when pulse pressure equaled to 0 was longer in AND group than in group 4 (P < 0.05), but not in 3.

CONCLUSIONAND is an effective anticoagulant and antithrombosis agent, the highest anticoagulation effect occurs at 15 min after IV bolus. Its anticoagulation effect is not more potent than that of standard heparin, while antithrombosis capacity is more effective. AND in treating thrombosis clinically might be promising.

Animals ; Annexin A5 ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Anticoagulants ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Blood Coagulation ; drug effects ; Disease Models, Animal ; Fibrinogen ; analysis ; Humans ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Prothrombin Time ; Rabbits ; Random Allocation ; Thrombin Time ; Thrombosis ; prevention & control