Objective To set up the technology for adsorbing and separating total flavone in Sarcandra glabra with macroporous adsorption resin,11 types of macroporous adsorption resins were investigated.Methods The static adsorption and separation were used in investigation of macroporous adsorption resin;the dynamic adsorption and separation were used in studying the condition of adsorption and separation.The total flavone adsorption capacity,total flavone content,and total flavone recovery rate were used as the evaluation criteria.The UV spectrophotometric method was used in the determination of total flavone content.Results The results showed that among 11 types of macroporous adsorption resins,the HPD400 was the best for adsorbing and separating the total flavone in S.glabra in the following technological condition: the concentration of S.glabra sample extract was 10 mg/mL;the maximum adsorbing capacity for total flavone in S.glabra was 9.5 mg/mL;the current velocity was 2.5 mL/min;the eluting reagent was 70% ethanol(three times as the volume of the resin);and the HPD400 resin could be used three times,repeatedly.Conclusion It is a simple and efficient to separate the total flavone in S.glabra under the technological conditions,and a total flavone recovery rate is about 85%.

Aim To establish a LC-MS/MS method for the determination of hydroxysafflor yellow A ( QA ) in human plasma. Methods After being added into 0. 2M ammonium acetate (1∶1,V/V), QA was extrac-ted using solid-phase extraction technique, and the eluent was directly injected into LC-MS/MS systems. Agilent ZORBAX SB C18 (3. 0 × 100 mm, 3. 5 μm) column and isocratic elution system composing of meth-anol and 0. 2 mM ammonium acetate (70 ∶ 30, V/V) provided chromatographic separation of QA and internal standard isorhamnetin-3-O-neohespeidoside ( SLS) fol-lowed by detection with mass spectrometry. The mass transition ion-pair was followed as m/z 611 . 131→490. 900 for QA and m/z 623. 032→298. 800 for SLS. Results The retention time of QA and SLS was 2. 7 min and 3. 9 min respectively, with no interference in human blank plasma. The proposed method showed good linearity over the concentration range of 8. 57 ~4185 μg·L-1 for QA with a correlation coefficient≥ 0 . 9949 . The lower limit of quantitation was 8. 570 μg ·L-1 . The intra-batch and inter-batch precision and accuracy were within 7%. The average matrix effect ranged from 115. 72% to 119. 06% with RSD less than 5%. The average extraction recovery ranged from 77. 75% to 80. 76% with RSD less than 5%. Stability of human samples after 4 h at room temperature, after the three freeze-thaw cycles and after 31 days at -70℃, and post-preparative stability of the processed sam-ples after 24 h was acceptable. Plasma samples with the concentration beyond the upper quantitation limit could be accurately determined after being diluted using 6. 25 times ( V/V ) of human blank plasma. Conclusion Our current LC-MS/MS method is sensitive, accurate and convenient, and is proved to be suitable for the sys-tematic study on clinical pharmacokinetics of QA.

Objective To investigate the effects of allele-31 C>T on the binding activity to IL-1βpromoter of the nuclear transcription factor C/EBPβand PU.1 induced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.Methods The electrophoretic mobility shift assay ( EMSA) was performed to explore whether the nuclear transcription factor C/EBPβand PU.1 could bind to -31 region in IL-1βpromoter.The C/EBPβ-and PU.1-expressing vectors were constructed and co-transfected into HeLa cells with IL-1βpromoter luciferase vector.The expression of C/EBPβand PU.1 was confirmed using Western blotting assay, and the promoter activity was determined using Dual-Glo Luciferase system under various transfection conditions. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference was used to explore the effects of C/EBPβand PU.1 on IL-1βexpression.GraphPad Prism 5.0 was used for data analysis.Results EMSA results showed that both C/EBPβand PU.1 could bind to -31 region in IL-1βpromoter.Both C/EBPβand PU.1 induced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection could increase IL-1βpromoter activity, especially for the -31 T allele (t=22.33 and 7.98,P<0.01), and there was a synergy on the promoter activity between C/EBPβand PU.1.The promoter activity decreased significantly when C/EBPβand/or PU.1 were silenced by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (q=5.79, 6.23 and 11.66,P<0.01).Conclusion The allele-31 C>T can induce IL-1βpromoter activity and gene transcription through regulation of binding activity to C/EBPβand PU.1 induced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

To assess relationships between xanthine oxidase (XOD) and nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus (NIBV) infection, 240 growing layers (35 days old) were randomly divided into two groups (infected and control) of 120 chickens each. Each chicken in the control and infected group was intranasally inoculated with 0.2 mL sterile physiological saline and virus, respectively, after which serum antioxidant parameters and renal XOD mRNA expression in growing layers were evaluated at 8, 15 and 22 days post-inoculation (dpi). The results showed that serum glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities in the infected group were significantly lower than in the control group at 8 and 15 dpi (p < 0.01), while serum malondialdehyde concentrations were significantly higher (p < 0.01). The serum uric acid was significantly higher than that of the control group at 15 dpi (p < 0.01). In addition, the kidney mRNA transcript level and serum activity of XOD in the infected group was significantly higher than that of the control group at 8, 15 and 22 dpi (p < 0.05). The results indicated that NIBV infection could cause the increases of renal XOD gene transcription and serum XOD activity, leading to hyperuricemia and reduction of antioxidants in the body.
Antioxidants ; Chickens ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; Hyperuricemia ; Infectious bronchitis virus* ; Kidney ; Malondialdehyde ; RNA, Messenger* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Uric Acid ; Xanthine Oxidase* ; Xanthine*

AIM:We investigated how AT 1-R stimulated by mechanical stresses induces cardiac fibrosis .METHODS:We produced in vivo cardiac pressure overload model in angiotensinogen knockout ( ATG-/-) mice and in vitro mechanically-stretched cell model in cultured neonatal cardiac cells of ATG-/-mice both lack the participation of Ang II .RESULTS: Pressure overload for 4 weeks in ATG-/-mice induced myocardial hypertrophy accompanied by the significant interstitial fibrosis , however , the TGF-β, a key regulatory factor of fibrosis, was not significantly increased in these ATG-/-mice.Meanwhile, the inhibitor for AT1-R significantly inhibited mechani-cal stress-induced cardiac fibrosis in these ATG-/-models whereas inhibition of TGF-βdid not.CONCLUSION:The results showed that mechanical stress-induced fibrotic responses through AT 1-R required the phosphorylation of Smad 2 but not the involvement of TGF-β.

Objective To study the protective effects ofcatalpol on cardiomyocytes in type 2 diabetic rats.Methods Based on the method of random number table,8-wee k-old SD rats were randomly divided into normal group (10 rats) and experimental group (90 rats).The rats in the experimental group that were fed with high-fat and high-sugar diet for 8 weeks were injected intraperitoneally with STZ (15 mg/kg),with fasting blood glucose≥16.7mmol/L as a model for type 2 diabetes.Then based on fasting blood glucose and body weight,the rats meeting the criteria of type 2 diabete mellitus were randomy divided into five group,namely,the model group,the control group,the low or medium and high doses of the catalpol group,and there were 12 rats in each group.The normal group and the model group were filled with distilled water (5 ml/kg·d,the control group were treated with metformin (90 mg/kg·d),and Low,medium and high dose group were intragastric administration of Catalpol(2.5,5,10 mg/kg·d).Then,the level of glucose,myocardial oxidative stress related protein,cardiac strcture and function change were measured after 12 weeks of intervention in rats.Results Compared with the model group,the level of fasting blood glucose in catalpol low,medium and high dose groups was significantly lower (P＜0.05).The levels of SOD (197.43 ± 8.85 U/ml,186.54 ± 5.89 U/ml,175.62 ± 7.67 U/ml vs.157.75 ±11.29 U/ml) in myocardial tissue of those groups significantly increased (P＜0.05),the levels of MDA (7.26 ±0.72 nmol/mg,8.58 ± 0.93 nmol/mg,10.62 ± 0.59 nmol/mg vs.14.80 ± 0.71 nmol/mg) in myocardial tissue of those groups significantly decreased (P＜0.05),the E/A value (1.25 ± 0.18,1.09 ± 0.14,0.97 ± 0.11 vs.0.51 ±0.11) in those groups significantly increased (P＜0.05),the E/E'values (12.33 ± 0.73,13.26 ± 1.07,14.73 ± 1.23 vs.20.54 ± 1.64) and the IVRT (21.90 ± 2.60 ms,22.05 ± 2.84 ms,24.42 ± 2.22 ms vs.27.40 ± 2.81 ms) in those groups significantly decreased (P＜0.05).Conclusions The catalpol can reduce oxidative stress,improve cardiac function and protect cardiomyocytes.

Objective: To analyze the correlations between intraoperative ultrasound and MRI metrics of the spinal cord in degenerative cervical myelopathy and identify novel potential predictive ultrasonic indicators of neurological recovery for degenerative cervical myelopathy. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two patients who underwent French-door laminoplasty for multilevel degenerative cervical myelopathy were followed up for 12 months. The Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores were assessed preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively. Maximum spinal cord compression and compression rates were measured and calculated using both intraoperative ultrasound imaging and preoperative T2-weight (T2W) MRI. Signal change rates of the spinal cord on preoperative T2W MRI and gray value ratios of dorsal and ventral spinal cord hyperechogenicity on intraoperative ultrasound imaging were measured and calculated. Correlations between intraoperative ultrasound metrics, MRI metrics, and the recovery rate JOA scores were analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The postoperative JOA scores improved significantly, with a mean recovery rate of 65.0 ± 20.3% (p < 0.001). No significant correlations were found between the operative ultrasound metrics and MRI metrics. The gray value ratios of the spinal cord hyperechogenicity was negatively correlated with the recovery rate of JOA scores (ρ = -0.638, p = 0.001), while the ventral and dorsal gray value ratios of spinal cord hyperechogenicity were negatively correlated with the recovery rate of JOA-motor scores (ρ = -0.582, p = 0.004) and JOA-sensory scores (ρ = -0.452, p = 0.035), respectively. The dorsal gray value ratio was significantly higher than the ventral gray value ratio (p < 0.001), while the recovery rate of JOA-motor scores was better than that of JOA-sensory scores at 12 months post-surgery (p = 0.028). Conclusion For degenerative cervical myelopathy, the correlations between intraoperative ultrasound and preoperative T2W MRI metrics were not significant. Gray value ratios of the spinal cord hyperechogenicity and dorsal and ventral spinal cord hyperechogenicity were significantly correlated with neurological recovery at 12 months postoperatively.

Objective: To analyze the correlations between intraoperative ultrasound and MRI metrics of the spinal cord in degenerative cervical myelopathy and identify novel potential predictive ultrasonic indicators of neurological recovery for degenerative cervical myelopathy. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two patients who underwent French-door laminoplasty for multilevel degenerative cervical myelopathy were followed up for 12 months. The Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores were assessed preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively. Maximum spinal cord compression and compression rates were measured and calculated using both intraoperative ultrasound imaging and preoperative T2-weight (T2W) MRI. Signal change rates of the spinal cord on preoperative T2W MRI and gray value ratios of dorsal and ventral spinal cord hyperechogenicity on intraoperative ultrasound imaging were measured and calculated. Correlations between intraoperative ultrasound metrics, MRI metrics, and the recovery rate JOA scores were analyzed using Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The postoperative JOA scores improved significantly, with a mean recovery rate of 65.0 ± 20.3% (p < 0.001). No significant correlations were found between the operative ultrasound metrics and MRI metrics. The gray value ratios of the spinal cord hyperechogenicity was negatively correlated with the recovery rate of JOA scores (ρ = -0.638, p = 0.001), while the ventral and dorsal gray value ratios of spinal cord hyperechogenicity were negatively correlated with the recovery rate of JOA-motor scores (ρ = -0.582, p = 0.004) and JOA-sensory scores (ρ = -0.452, p = 0.035), respectively. The dorsal gray value ratio was significantly higher than the ventral gray value ratio (p < 0.001), while the recovery rate of JOA-motor scores was better than that of JOA-sensory scores at 12 months post-surgery (p = 0.028). Conclusion For degenerative cervical myelopathy, the correlations between intraoperative ultrasound and preoperative T2W MRI metrics were not significant. Gray value ratios of the spinal cord hyperechogenicity and dorsal and ventral spinal cord hyperechogenicity were significantly correlated with neurological recovery at 12 months postoperatively.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of Jiawei Shenqi Yixin prescription on cardiovascular risk factors in the patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and insulin resistance. MethodFrom January 2021 to January 2022， a total of 82 patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction were enrolled in the ward of the First Affiliated Hospital of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups （ 41 cases） and received the same basic treatment. The observation group was additionally treated with Jiawei Shenqi Yixin prescription for 8 weeks. The clinical efficacy， traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） efficacy， cardiac function indexes ［NT-probrain natriuretic peptide （NT-proBNP） and 6-min walking test （6MWT）］， echocardiographic parameters ［left atrial volume index （LAVI）， left ventricular mass index （LVMI）， peak early diastolic to peak late diastolic mitral flow velocity （E/A） ratio］， insulin resistance-related indexes ［fasting insulin （FINS）， fasting plasma glucose （FPG）， triglyceride （TG）， high-density lipoprotein cholesterol （HDL-C）， homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance （HOMA-IR）， triglyceride-glucose index （TYG）， and triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol （TG/HDL-C） ratio］， inflammatory cytokines ［tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， adiponectin （ADP）， and C-reactive protein （CRP）］， vascular endothelial function indicators ［nitric oxide （NO）， endothelial nitric oxide synthase （eNOS）， inducible nitric oxide synthase （iNOS）， and endothelin-1 （ET-1）］， and the safety of treatment were determined. In addition， Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlations of insulin resistance， inflammatory cytokines， and vascular endothelial factors with the mitigation of heart failure. ResultIn terms of clinical efficacy， the therapy of the observation group was significantly effective in 26 patients， effective in 12 patients， ineffective in 3 patients， with the total effective rate of 92.68%， the therapy of the control group was significantly effective in 14 patients， effective in 12 patients， and ineffective in 15 patients， with the total effective rate of 63.41%. The clinical total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group （χ²=11.6， P<0.05）. In terms of TCM efficacy， the therapy of the observation group was significantly effective in 26 patients， effective in 11 patients， and ineffective in 4 patients， with the total effective rate of 90.24%； the therapy of the control group was significantly effective in 9 patients， effective in 13 patients， and ineffective in 19 patients， with the total effective rate of 53.66%. The TCM total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group （χ²=8.19， P<0.05）. Compared with those before treatment， the levels of NT-proBNP， LAVI， LVMI， FPG， FINS， HOMA-IR， TYG， TG/HDL-C， TNF-α， IL-6， CRP， ET-1， and iNOS in two groups declined after treatment （P<0.05）， while the levels of 6MWT， E/A， ADP， NO， and eNOS elevated （P<0.05）. After treatment， the observation group had lower levels of NT-proBNP， LAVI， LVMI， FPG， FINS， HOMA-IR， TYG， TG/HDL-C， TNF-α， CRP， and ET-1 （P<0.05） and higher levels of 6MWT， E/A， ADP， and NO than the control group （P<0.05）. In addition， the increase in 6MWT after treatment was positively correlated with the increase in NO and the decrease in ET-1. The decrease in LVMI after treatment was positively correlated with the increase in NO and the decrease in FINS. The increase in left ventricular ejection fraction after treatment was positively correlated with the decreases in TNF-α and TYG （P<0.05）. Adverse reactions were observed in neither group. ConclusionJiawei Shenqi Yixin prescription can significantly mitigate the symptoms， reduce inflammation， and improve vascular endothelial function in the patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and insulin resistance， being safe without causing adverse reactions.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that patients with hypertension infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are at increased risk of acute lung injury. However, it is still not clear whether this increased risk is related to the usage of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers. We collected medical records of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients from the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (Hangzhou, China), and evaluated the potential impact of an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) on the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients with hypertension. A total of 30 hypertensive COVID-19 patients were enrolled, of which 17 were classified as non-ARB group and the remaining 13 as ARB group based on the antihypertensive therapies they received. Compared with the non-ARB group, patients in the ARB group had a lower proportion of severe cases and intensive care unit (ICU) admission as well as shortened length of hospital stay, and manifested favorable results in most of the laboratory testing. Viral loads in the ARB group were lower than those in the non-ARB group throughout the disease course. No significant difference in the time of seroconversion or antibody levels was observed between the two groups. The median levels of soluble angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (sACE2) in serum and urine samples were similar in both groups, and there were no significant correlations between serum sACE2 and biomarkers of disease severity. Transcriptional analysis showed 125 differentially expressed genes which mainly were enriched in oxygen transport, bicarbonate transport, and blood coagulation. Our results suggest that ARB usage is not associated with aggravation of COVID-19. These findings support the maintenance of ARB treatment in hypertensive patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists/therapeutic use* ; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/blood* ; Antibodies, Viral/blood* ; Antihypertensive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Biomarkers ; COVID-19/complications* ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension/drug therapy* ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Transcriptome ; Viral Load