BACKGROUND: Directly percutaneous injection of protein-denaturant hydrochloric acid (PDHA) into tumors can lead to fast killing of tumor, sustained drug release and prevention of in situ recurrence of tumor. However, whether implants can be used combined with denaturant still remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the compatibility of fluorouracil implants and PDHA (6 mol/L). DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: Observational study was performed in the Hefei Industry University between October 2006 and March 2007. MATERIALS: A total of 78 Wistar rats, weighing (200i20) g, half males and half females, were used for testing drug release in vivo. Drugs fluorouracil implants (H20030345; columniform particle, diameter 0.8 mm, length 4 mm; specifications: Fluorouracil 2 mg/particle; batch number: 20060922; meeting the National Drug Quality Standards [WS1-(X-103)-2005Z]) were provided by Wuhu Zhongren Pharmaceutical Company,Ltd. Hydrochloric acid (37%) was analytical reagent. METHODS: 96 tubes of the implants and PDHA were kept at (37.0± 0.5) ℃. Each time, six samples were collected at 1, 8, 16, 24, 96, 120, 168, 240, 360, 432, 480, 528, 600, 720, and 960 hours after incubation. Appearance of the implants was observed by microscope. Stability of fluorouracil in PDHA was determined by HPLC and ultraviolet absorb method. Based on the entering quantity and residual quantity of fluorouracil, the release rates were calculated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The approximate solubility, stability and morphological change of fluorouracil in denaturant and the corresponding drug release character in both denaturant and rats in vivo. RESULTS: At (37.0±0,5) ℃, the fluorouracil was stable for 960 hours in PDHA, the saturated concentration of fluorouracil was (22.72±0.04) g/L. The appearance of implants was intact. The surface was porous. Compared with the speed of releasing drug in rats, the speed of releasing drug was faster in the early stage of release process and slower in the later stage. The drug release was incomplete. At 1, 24, 96, 360 and 960 hours, the implants' release rates were (11.9±6.7)%, (37.9±5.3)%, (52.6±4.5)%, (75.3±3.8)%, and (85.5±2.1)%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The fluorouracil implants and hydrochloric acid (6 mol/L) are compatible and no influence is detected during the observation.

Abstract Long-term use of levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease can cause motor complications, which seriously impair the patients'motor function, reduce the quality of life, and aggravate the functional disability. Since there has been no effective treatment for motor complications, clarifying the influencing factors and prevention methods are conducive to reducing the risk of incidence and improving the quality of life of the patients. This paper summarizes the types and mechanism of motor complications of Parkinson's disease, the influencing factors ( levodopa dose, onset age, Helicobacter pylori infection and high protein diet ) and preventive measures ( psychological intervention, low protein diet, rehabilitation exercise and drugs ), so as to provide reference for the prevention and control of the disease.

Objective:To observe the efficacy, median progression-free survival (PFS) and adverse reaction induced by rh-endostatin injection (Endostar) plus platin-based chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods:Fifty five histologically or cytologically confirmed advanced NSCLC patients received Endostar combined with platin-based chemotherapy for more than 2 cycles. The evaluated parameters included PFS, response rate (RR), clinical benefit rate (CBR) and adverse reaction. Results:Of the 51 patients who can be evaluated for response, 15 (29.4%) achieved partial response (PR), 27 (52.9%) had stable disease (SD), 9 (17.6%) had progressive disease(PD), no patient had complete response(CR). The overall RR was 29.4% (15/51) and CBR was 82.4% (42/51). The median PFS was 6.3 months. There were no significant differences in the short-term efficacy and PFS between the patients who had different pathological features (P=0.037), those had naive or relapsed diseases (P=0.101), or those received different chemotherapeutic regimens (P=0.232). The total white cells and platelets decreased by 72.7% and 54.5%, respectively. The frequency of grade Ⅲ or Ⅳ neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were 36.4% (20 caces) and 21.8% (12 cases), respectively. Four patients stopped the therapy for adverse reaction. One died of gastrointestinal hemorrhage; one had uncontrolled grade Ⅲ hypertension; one had superventricular arrhythmia; one had grade Ⅳ hepatic dysfunction. Conclusion:The combination of Endostar and platin-based chemotherapy increased the CBR and prolonged the PFS of the patients with advanced NSCLC. The toxicities were tolerable.

It's difficult to identify Aucklandiae Radix and Vladimiriae Radix because of their similar composition. In this paper, UPLC method was used to establish their UPLC fingerprint to identify them with the mobile of acetonitrile -0. 05% phosphoric acid water solution by gradient elution at the detection wavelength of 238 nm. Clustering analysis and principal components analysis showed that Vladimiriae Radix was significantly different from Aucklandiae Radix. Eight common peaks and twelve common peaks were defined respectively in Aucklandiae Radix and Vladimiriae Radix herbs by fingerprint analysis. Six of them were identified as syringoside, chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acid A, isochlorogenic acid B, costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone by comparing with standard references. There are four peaks in all of Vladimiriae Radix samples and in none of Aucklandiae Radix samples. So UPLC fingerprint can be used to identify these two herbs.
Asteraceae ; chemistry ; classification ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Cluster Analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; chemistry

Most chemical medicines have polymorphs. The difference of medicine polymorphs in physicochemical properties directly affects the stability, efficacy, and safety of solid medicine products. Polymorphs is incomparably important to pharmaceutical chemistry, manufacturing, and control. Meantime polymorphs is a key factor for the quality of high-end drug and formulations. Polymorph prediction technology can effectively guide screening of trial experiments, and reduce the risk of missing stable crystal form in the traditional experiment. Polymorph prediction technology was firstly based on theoretical calculations such as quantum mechanics and computational chemistry, and then was developed by the key technology of machine learning using the artificial intelligence. Nowadays, the popular trend is to combine the advantages of theoretical calculation and machine learning to jointly predict crystal structure. Recently, predicting medicine polymorphs has still been a challenging problem. It is expected to learn from and integrate existing technologies to predict medicine polymorphs more accurately and efficiently.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of Pien Tze Huang on bile excretion and its analgesic effect in experimental animals. MethodsA total of 30 guinea pigs were randomly divided into Pien Tze Huang group, ursodeoxycholic acid group, and control group. According to body mass, the three groups were treated with Pien Tze Huang (140 mg/kg), ursodeoxycholic acid (22.5 mg/kg), and normal saline, respectively, by gavage for 4 consecutive days. Then bile drainage was performed to measure the volume of bile secretion and the change in bile composition. Related liver function parameters were also measured. A total of 30 mice were randomly divided into Pien Tze Huang group (360 mg/kg), ursodeoxycholic acid group (120 mg/kg), and control group. At one hour after the last administration, the mice were given intraperitoneal injection of 0.6% glacial acetic acid (0.15 ml/10 g), and the writhing test was performed to observe the analgesic effect of Pien Tze Huang. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups. ResultsCompared with the control group, the Pien Tze Huang group and the ursodeoxycholic acid group had a significant increase in the volume of bile secretion (P=0.039 and 0.009). There were no significant differences between the three groups in cholesterol, bilirubin, total bile acid, and phospholipid in bile (all P＞0.05) and liver function parameters (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, and total bile acid) (all P＞0.05). Compared with the control group, the Pien Tze Huang group had a significant reduction in the number of writhing times (P＜0.001), suggesting that Pien Tze Huang had a marked analgesic effect. ConclusionAnimal experiments show that Pien Tze Huang has marked choleretic and analgesic effects, which provides theoretical and data support for the clinical application of Pien Tze Huang.

OBJECTIVETo investigate pathological changes in the epileptogenic foci of children with intractable epilepsy and their clinical significance.

METHODSThirty children with intractable epilepsy were included in the study. The epileptogenic foci were surgically resected and pathological changes in the obtained specimens were observed under a light microscope (LM) and a transmission electron microscope (TEM).

RESULTSUnder the LM, cortical dysplasia was found in 14 cases (47%), hippocampal sclerosis in 11 cases (37%), dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor in 1 case (3%), ganglioglioma in 1 case (3%), and encephalomalacia in 3 cases (10%). The TEM observation revealed pathological changes in the ultrastructure of the hippocampus and extra-hippocampal cortex, such as changes in the number of synapses and synaptic structure, decrease in neurons and karyopyknosis, swelling and degeneration of astrocytes, and changes in mitochondrial structures.

CONCLUSIONSPathological changes in the hippocampus and extra-hippocampal cortex, especially synaptic remodeling, may be the morphological basis for spontaneous recurrent seizures in children with intractable epilepsy. The pathological changes and epileptiform activity are related to an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission.

Adolescent ; Brain ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Cerebral Cortex ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Epilepsy ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Hippocampus ; pathology ; ultrastructure ; Humans ; Infant ; Intelligence ; Male ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of moxibustion combined with intermittent urethral catheterization on vesical function in the patient of neurogenic vesical dysfunction.

METHODSSeventy-six cases were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 38 cases in each group. The control group was treated with routine intermittent urethral catheterization and the observation group with the intermittent urethral catheterization and moxibustion on Guanyuan (CV 4), Mingmen (GV 4), Zusanli (ST 36), etc. Changes of residual urine volume, white cell count and the balance state of the urinary bladder were selected as the indexes of therapeutic effect and the therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 97.4% in the observation group and 79.0% in the control group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05); after treatment, there were significant differences between the two groups in the residual urine volume, the bladder volume and the case numbers reaching to the functional balance state of bladder (all P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference between the two groups in white cell count change (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion combined with intermittent urethral catheterization can significantly improve vesical function in the patient of neurogenic vesical dysfunction, reducing residual urine volume, increasing volume of bladder, promoting the balance state of vesical function, but it is basically same as intermittent urethral catheterization in prevention of urinary infection and therapeutic effect.

Adult ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic ; therapy ; Urinary Catheterization

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical efficacy of sublingual immunotherapy using standardized Dermatophagoides farinae extract for children with combined allergic rhinitis and asthma syndrome.

METHODSFifty-two children, from 4 to 14 years of age, with mite-sensitive combined allergic rhinitis and asthma syndrome were treated sublingually with standardized Dermatophagoides farinae extract. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by monthly follow-up visits. After treatment for 1 or 2 years using the standardized Dermatophagoides farinae extract, the asthma and rhinitis symptom scores, medication scores and adverse reactions before and after treatment were evaluated. SPSS 17.0 software was used to analyze the data.

RESULTSThe allergic asthma symptom scores before treatment during the day were 3.22 ± 0.66 and at night 2.05 ± 0.57. After 1 year of treatment, the day and night scores (1.68 ± 0.61, 0.94 ± 0.32) respectively, were decreased significantly (q values were 15.25 and 13.78 respectively, all P < 0.01). After 2 years of treatment, the scores (0.61 ± 0.28, 0.43 ± 0.13) were also decreased significantly (q values were 10.29 and 6.07 respectively, all P < 0.01). The allergic rhinitis symptom scores and medication scores were 2.34 ± 0.59 and 3.09 ± 1.01 respectively before treatment and 1.21 ± 0.46 and 1.89 ± 0.64 after 1 year of treatment. The differences were significant (q values were 15.48 and 18.61 respectively, all P < 0.01). The allergic rhinitis symptom scores and medication scores were 1.02 ± 0.37 and 1.49 ± 0.38 after 2 years of treatment. There was no significant difference between 2 years of treatment and 1 year of treatment (q values were 2.53 and 2.78 respectively, all P > 0.05). There were no severe adverse events during the treatment, except for mild mouth cavity discomfort.

CONCLUSIONSSublingual immunotherapy using standardized Dermatophagoides farinae extract is safe and effective in the treatment of children with combined allergic rhinitis and asthma syndrome.

Administration, Sublingual ; Adolescent ; Animals ; Antigens, Dermatophagoides ; administration & dosage ; immunology ; Asthma ; therapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Dermatophagoides farinae ; immunology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Male ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

The discussion centered primarily on background, basis and research ways of the study on producing area suitability of genuine traditional Chinese drugs in this paper. The authors expounded application and development of the used modem techniques. The direction and strategy of producing area suitability of genuine traditional Chinese drugs for the future were proposed and prospected aiming to provide with scientific thoughtway and guiding later production and practice.
Climate ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Ecosystem ; Geographic Information Systems ; Pharmacognosy ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; growth & development ; Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique ; Soil ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods