To explore the feasibility of chemical and biological method in evaluation of the in vitro dissolution rate of Liuwei Wuling tablet (LWT), this experiment investigated the inhibitory effect of LWT dissolving solutions on LX-2 hepatic stellate cells in 0.1% SDS dissolution medium in different dissolving periods. From these results, the cumulative dissolution rate of LWT was obtained based on the cell inhibitory rate. The dissolution rates of deoxyschizandrin, phillyrin, and Specnuezhenide were determined by HPLC method. A novel approach of self-defined weighting coefficient had been created to establish the integrated dissolution rate model. Then f2 similar factor method was used to evaluate the relevance of these two methods. The results showed that f2 values for deoxyschizandrin, phillyrin, Specnuezhenide, and the integrated dissolution were 61, 43, 61 and 75 respectively, indicating that the dissolution of multi-component integration could fully reflect the biological potency of the whole recipe. The dissolution evaluation method for multicomponent integration based on biological activity is expected to be one of the effective means for in vitro dissolution test of LWT.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Kinetics ; Quality Control ; Solubility ; Tablets ; chemistry

BACKGROUNDSpinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is known as an autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia; patients with genetically confirmed diagnoses of SCA7 have increased rapidly in recent years. However, SCA7 is a rare subtype of SCA, and most data available about SCA7 are those of white people. The aim of the present study was to systematically review the prevalence and clinical and genetic aspects of SCA7 patients in East Asian population.

METHODSA search for publications on SCA7 was performed by using the "PubMed" database with the published language limited in English. Publications mainly focusing on the prevalence of SCA7 in patients with SCA and the clinical and genetic features of SCA7 patients were fully reviewed and analyzed.

RESULTSThe prevalence of SCA7 in SCA patients ranged from 0 to 7.7%, which was similar to those reported previously. The clinical manifestations were typically present at the 30's of its victims (median, 29 years; interquartile range (IQR), 19.5-36.5 years), and the symptoms appeared 15 years ((15.17+/-4.22) years) earlier on average in the offspring than in the parents. Gait ataxia and visual impairment were both found in all patients of whom the clinical features were described. Mutant SCA7 alleles contained 40-100 CAG repeats, with a median of 47 repeats (IQR, 44.5-50.0); and the offspring had 13 more repeats on average compared with their parents (12.62+/-19.03). A strong negative correlation was found between CAG repeat size and the onset age of patients (r=-0.739, P=0.000). In addition, no significant difference was found in CAG repeat sizes between patients with visual impairment as the initial symptom and those with gait disturbance as their initial symptom (P=0.476).

CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of SCA7 in SCA patients, the age at onset and CAG repeats of SCA7 patients in East Asia are consistent with those of white people. However, larger population study is needed to assess the correlation between the CAG repeat size and initial symptoms of SCA7 patients in East Asia.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Age of Onset ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Far East ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinocerebellar Ataxias ; epidemiology ; genetics ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE Congenital aural atresia repair is difficult owing to unpredictable anatomy. Benefits may be gained from image-guided surgery(IGS) . its exact role and surgery indication were def ined. METHODS From 2001 to 2004,36 ears with bony type C(Schuknecht classification) congenital atresia were performed. In the IGS group(n=18) ,repair surgery was performed with IGS,while in the control group(Non-IGS,n=18) ,similar intervention was applied without IGS. IGS group:aged from 12-29 years,follow-up from 6 months to 1 year. Non-IGS group:aged from 10-27 years,follow-up from 6 months to 3 years. Intra-and post-operative clinical and audiometric findings were compared. RESULTS All of the patients had congenital bony aural atresia,ossicles malformation,tympanic cavity hypoplasia and facial nerve malformation. IGS revealed a malformed horizontal semicircular canal hidden in the bony atresia plate during the operation while computed tomography(CT) did not show preoperatively. IGS computed tomography images correlated well with intra-operative findings,gave the surgeon more securityand reduced operative time(2 hours and 24 minutes) by 25 minutes. The prepare time increased 20 minutes(15-30 minutes) ,but total time decreased 5 minutes in IGS group. The registration accuracy was 0.6-1.3 mm,average 0.84 mm,which was suitable for the otologic surgery. There were 1 case in IGS group and 3 cases in Non-IGS group happened local aural restenosis after operation. But there were no facial nerve paralysis and hearing injury happened in both groups,and all of the patients got the satisfactory hearing after the hearing reconstruction(the air-bone gap with an average of IGS is 31.8dB,Non-IGS is 30.5dB) . CONCLUSION In our estimation,IGS is valuable for type C congenital aural atresia repair. It serves as an educational tool and a guide both for the experienced and inexperienced surgeons in critical situations where anatomical landmarks are distorted and approach is limited. There is no statistically significant between two groups on hearing improvement after operation.

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of different perioperative treatments on the number and proportion of gut flora in SD rats.

METHODSForty-eight SD rats were randomized into 8 groups including the control group, antibiotics group, bowel preparation group, fasting group, antibiotic-bowel preparation group, antibiotics-bowel preparation-fasting group, bowel preparation-surgery-antibiotics-early postoperative feeding group (early feeding group), and bowel preparation-surgery-antibiotics-postoperative fasting group. The rats were sacrificed and stool specimens were collected from the cecum. Stools were diluted and transferred to selective medium. Bacteria counts were calculated after 48 hours of culture under constant temperature. The changes in gut flora between the different groups were compared in terms of E.coli, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Enterococcus.

RESULTSCompared with the control group, the total bacteria, Bacteroid, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium were all significantly decreased(P<0.05), while the E.coli count and the bacillus/coccus ratio were significantly elevated(P<0.05). In the bowel preparation group, the total bacteria count, Bacteroid, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium were all significantly decreased(P<0.05), while the E.coli count remained stable(P>0.05) and the bacillus/coccus ratio was significantly elevated(P<0.05). In the fasting group, the total bacteria count, Bacteroid, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium were all significantly decreased(P<0.05), while the E.coli count remained stable(P>0.05) and the bacillus/coccus ratio was significantly elevated(P<0.05). Early postoperative feeding increased E.coli, Enterococcus, and total bacteria count(P<0.05), and lowered bacillus/coccus ratio(P<0.05) as compared to the fasting group.

CONCLUSIONSAntibiotics, bowel preparation, and fasting have influence on the gut flora of SD rats in count and bacillus/coccus ratio, leading to dysbiosis. Early postoperative feeding may improve dysbiosis.

Animals ; Feces ; microbiology ; Male ; Microbiota ; Perioperative Care ; methods ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

To investigate the neuronal mechanism of retrieval of long-term digital memory in healthy volunteers, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique was used in the study. Twenty-two right-handed volunteers were subjected to a long-term digital memory test with block-design. The memory task and control task were adopted in the experiment alternatively. The fMRI data were recorded by a Siemens 1.5T MR machine and analyzed by SPM99. The activated brain regions were shown in the Talairach coordinate. The results showed that the Brodmann's area (BA) 9 region in left middle frontal gyrus was the most activated cortex during the long-term digital memory task. The left medial frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, left superior parietal lobule, right superior parietal lobule, right middle temporal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, right middle brain, cerebellum and right caudate nucleus tail were also involved. The activation in cortices showed obvious left predominance. It is suggested that a series of brain regions with left predominance are involved in long-term digital memory. Left lateral frontal cortex would be the most important structure for information extraction, while the other cortices and their connections may be important for processing and long-term storage of digital information.
Adolescent ; Brain ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Memory, Long-Term ; physiology ; Parietal Lobe ; physiology ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the prevalence, etiology, rehabilitation demands and service condition of hearing disorders based on the whole population in Jilin Province, China. Methods Using the probability proportion to size (PPS) sampling, 9246 (93.3%) out of 9909 residents sampled form 36 counties were targeted for investigation from August, 2014 to January, 2015, followed the WHO Ear and Hearing Disorders Survey Protocol. The hearing loss and disability were classified as WHO recommended and Classification and Grading Criteria of Disability (GB/T 26341-2010). Results The standardized prevalence of hearing loss and disability was 16.41%and 4.78%, re-spectively. Age, sex, residence, occupation and marriage status, education level and household income were significantly associated with hearing loss prevalence, while nationality was not. The main etiologies included non-infectious disease (47.33%), ear disease (14.17%), un-known causation (13.89%), and noise (8.59%). Among all people with hearing loss, those who accepted intervention service accounted for 11.02%. Among all people with hearing disability, those who used hearing aids accounted for 5.58%, and 0.67%used artificial cochlea. Con-clusion Demographics and socioeconomic factors are significantly associated with the prevalence of hearing loss. The main etiology con-tains non-infectious disease, ear disease and noise. Both the rate of service utilization among people with hearing loss and the rate of adopt-ing hearing aids among people with hearing disability are low. It is needed to do more in prevention and rehabilitation of hearing impairment.

Objective In order to investigate the Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) infection and drug resistance in children in Fuyang, Hangzhou, and to provide a rational basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of MP in children. Methods A total of 1104 respiratory tract samples were collected from children patients with pneumonia. MP and its mutations in 23S rRNA gene locus were detected by real-time PCR. Then analyze pertinence between the clinical data and experimental results were conducted. Results Among 1104 respiratory tract samples, 175 cases (15.85％) were MP positive. Moreover, the mutation of 23S rRNA gene locus existed in 115 MP positive samples with the positive infection rate of 65.71％ . The infection rate (25.74％) and mutation rate (82.69％) in summer (Jul.-Sep.) was higher than other seasons, and the infection rate (11.72％) and mutation rate (40.63％) was the lowest in winter (Jan.-Mar.) . The infection rates of male and female children were 66.67％ and 64.56％, and the mutation rates of male and female children were 66.67％ and 64.56％. Conclusion MP infection may be related with climate and age. 23S rRNA gene locus mutation has a higher detection rate, prompting that MP shows high resistant rate to macrolides.

The Pichia pastoris strain GS115-PreS could produce a high expression level of full-length PreS protein that secreted to the supernatant after methanol induction in the fermentation. The Western blot analysis showed a single band with expected molecular mass of 48kD and that the major component of the particles was the full-length PreS protein (PreS1 + PreS2 + S) and small envelope protein (S) of 48 and 28 kD, respectively. Electron microscopy image showed PreS particles with 30 nm in diameter. The supernatants of the fermentation were desalted and concentrated. Purified PreS protein was obtained by DEAE-SFF anion exchange column chromatography and the PreS particles were obtained by ultracentrifugation and sucrose density gradient. The ELISA assay results proved that both full-length PreS protein and particles showed high immunogenicity and specificity. P/N ratio further demonstrated that the immunogenicity of the particles is higher than the full-length PreS protein.
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Hepatitis B virus ; immunology ; Humans ; Pichia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Precursors ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo evaluate and compare the results of vagina vasorum lymph node dissection (VLND) and non-vagina vasorum lymph node dissection (NVLND) in patients with gastric cancer after radical operation.

METHODSA total of 759 cases of evaluable patients with gastric cancer, operated from June 1994 to April 2005, were retrospectively analyzed. Of which, 627 cases underwent radical gastrectomy: 215 patients received VLND and 412 cases received NVLND. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, operative complications and survival rate were recorded and compared between the two groups.

RESULTSThe 5- and 10-year overall accumulative survival rates of VLND group and NVLND group were 55.4% and 51.2%, 39.1%and 36.8%, respectively (all P < 0.05). No significant differences in intraoperative blood transfusion (loss), operation time, operative complication rate was found between the two groups. The 5- and 10-year accumulative survival in patients with a tumor of phase N0-N2, T2-T4, Ib-IV in VLND groups were all significant higher than those in NVLND group.

CONCLUSIONSVLND is a safe technique in advanced gastric cancer, it dose not prolong operation time or increase operative complications but improves survival.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; methods ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Survival Analysis ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo understand the incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in infants and toddlers and evaluate the possibility of predicting AKI with urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), interleukin 18 (IL-18), N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), microalbumin (MA) and α1-microglobulin (α1-MG) after surgeries for congenital heart diseases with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

METHODFifty-eight children (ages ≤ 3 years) who had undergone surgery for congenital heart diseases with CPB were enrolled. Urinary samples were collected before and 4 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h post CPB to detect the concentration of NGAL, IL-18, NAG, MA and α1-MG.

RESULTThe AKI group had 29 cases, none AKI group also had 29 cases. Urinary concentration of NGAL 4, 6, and 12 h post CPB were significantly higher in AKI group (2820 µg/g, 905.7 µg/g, 76.1 µg/g separately) than in none AKI group (27.6 µg/g, 19.5 µg/g, 16.0 µg/g separately, P < 0.01). Urinary concentration of IL-18 4, 6, 12 and 24 h post CPB were significantly higher in AKI group than in none AKI group (P < 0.05). Urinary concentration of NAG 4 h and 6 h post CPB were significantly higher in AKI group than in none AKI group (P < 0.01). Urinary concentration of MA/UCr post CPB 4 h, 6 h and 12 h were significantly higher in AKI group than in none AKI group (P < 0.05). Urinary concentration of α1-MG/UCr post CPB 4 h, 6 h and 12 h were significantly higher in AKI group than in none AKI group (P < 0.01). All the five biomarkers had predictive abilities at 4-hour after surgery.

CONCLUSIONUrine biomarkers NGAL, IL-18, NAG, MA and α1-MG were valuable early predictors of AKI after CPB surgery.

Acute Kidney Injury ; etiology ; urine ; Acute-Phase Proteins ; urine ; Alpha-Globulins ; urine ; Biomarkers ; urine ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; adverse effects ; Child, Preschool ; Creatinine ; urine ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; surgery ; Humans ; Infant ; Interleukin-18 ; urine ; Lipocalin-2 ; Lipocalins ; urine ; Male ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins ; urine ; Sensitivity and Specificity