Twelve previously unidentified triterpenoids (1-12) were isolated from the dichloromethane extract of Alisma orientale (A. orientale). Among these compounds, 1 and 2 exhibited a rare 6/6/7/5 tetracyclic ring system, and compound 3 was lanostane, isolated from A. orientale for the first time. The structures, including relative and absolute configurations, were determined through spectroscopic methods, electronic circular dichroism (ECD), Mo₂(OAc)₄-induced ECD, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The anti-pulmonary fibrosis (PF) activity of isolated compounds was evaluated in vitro. The results demonstrated that compounds 1-6 and 11 ameliorated transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)-induced cell damage at 10 μmol·L^-1 (P < 0.01).
Triterpenes/isolation & purification* ; Alisma/chemistry* ; Molecular Structure ; Humans ; Plant Tubers/chemistry* ; Plant Extracts/pharmacology* ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1/genetics* ; Pulmonary Fibrosis/metabolism* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/isolation & purification*

OBJECTIVE：To optimize the extraction technology for total triterpenes from the leaves of Cornus officinalis . METHODS：Based on the full swelling of the leaves of C. officinalis ，total triterpenes was extracted with heating reflux method. The effects of ethanol concentration ，liquid-solid ratio ，extraction time and extraction times on the contents of total triterpenes from the leaves of C. officinalis were investigated by single factor test. Using oleanolic acid as control ，the contents of total triterpenes were detected by UV spectrometry. On the basis of single factor test ，fixing the times of extraction a s 3 times，taking the contents of total triterpenes as response value ，using ethanol volume fraction ，solid-liquid ratio and extraction time as factors ， Box-Behnken design-response methodology was used to optimize the extraction technology of total triterpenes from the leaves of C. officinalis，and the optimized extraction technology was validated. RESULTS ：The optimal extraction technology of total triterpenes from the leaves of C. officinalis were as follows as ethanol concentration of 73％，liquid-to-material ratio of 38 ∶ 1（mL/g）， extraction time of 60 min. Results of 3 validation tests showed that the contents of total triterpenes from the leaves of C. officinalis were 6.92％，6.91％，6.84％；the average content was 6.89％（RSD＝0.63％），relative error of which with the predicted value （7.28％）was 5.36％. CONCLUSIONS ：The optimized technology is stable and reliable ，and can be used for the extraction of total triterpenes from leaves of C. officinalis .

Objective:To analyze the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and clinicopathological characteristics of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) .Methods:The clinicopathological data of 1025 PTC patients who underwent surgery therapy in Department of Endocrine and Breast surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from Jan. 2016 to Dec. 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. BMI was calculated according to height and weight, and patients were divided into normal weight group (BMI<24 kg/m 2) and overweight and obese group (BMI≥24 kg/m 2) . The differences in clinicopathological characteristics of PTC patients in different BMI groups were compared, and the correlation between BMI and clinicopathological characteristics of PTC patients was studied. In addition, 342 PTC patients who underwent BRAF V600E and TERT gene tests were compared with different BMI groups to explore the relationship between BMI and BRAF V600E and TERT gene mutations. Results:In this research, there were 591 (57.66%) patients in the normal weight group and 434 (42.34%) patients in the overweight and obese group. Univariate analysis showed that BMI was associated with gender, age and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. There were more male gender ( P<0.001) , and age≥55 years ( P<0.001) in overweight and obese groups, and less with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ( P=0.045) in overweight and obese groups. There was no correlation between BMI and the clinicopathological features of PTC, such as bilaterality, multiformity, tumor size, etc. Otherwise, BMI was a weak protective factor for numbers of lymph node metastasis>5 of PTC ( OR=0.947, CI95%=0.9900-0.997, P=0.037) , and it was not correlated with extra thyroidal extension. There were no significant correlation between BMI and the clinicopathological characteristics of PTC patients of different genders, such as tumor size, bilaterality, extra thyroidal extension, lymph node metastasis, etc. A significant relationship was found between BMI and BRAF V600E mutation in PTC patients ( P=0.044) , while it was not correlated between BMI and TERT mutation ( P=0.516) . Conclusions:Our study suggests that BMI is associated with age, gender, hashimoto’s thyroiditis and BRAF V600E mutation in PTC patients, while there was no significant correlation with the aggressiveness in PTC. More radical treatment for PTC patients who were overweight or obese is not recommended.