The quality of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) has been mainly evaluated based on chemical ingredients, yet recently more attentions have been paid on biological ingredients, especially for pill-based preparations. It is a key approach to establish a fast, accurate and systematic method of biological ingredient analysis for realization of modernization, industrialization and internationalization of TCMs. The biological ingredient analysis of TCM preparations could be abstracted as the identification of multiple species from a biological mixture. The metagenomic approach based on high-throughput-sequencing (HTS) and big-data-mining has been considered as one of the most effective methods for multiple species analysis of a biological mixture, which would also be helpful for the analysis of biological ingredients in TCMs. Simultaneous identification of diverse species, including the prescribed species, adulterants, toxic species, protected species and even the biological impurities introduced through production process, could be achieved by selecting appropriate DNA biomarkers, as well as applying large-scale sequence comparison and data mining. By this approach, it is prospective to offer an evaluation basis for the effectiveness, safety and legality of TCM preparations.
Biological Products ; chemistry ; Data Mining ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Metagenomics ; methods

Clinically being applied treatment against chronic hepatitis has three limitations: low response rates, severe adverse effects and a high rate of drug resistance. Hence, novel targets for antiviral therapy need to be developed so as to provide an armory of different strategies. During the replication of hepatitis B virus, the interaction of viral polymerase (P protein, also called P) and epsilonRNA is indispensable for the initiation of reverse transcription via protein priming and the pregenome RNA (pgRNA) packaging. Three strategies are currently developed for blocking P-epsilon interaction: heat shock protein inhibitors, epsilonaptamers and chemical compounds for blocking formation of P-epsilon complex. Previously, our group has for the first time worldwide in vitro screened several aptamers, which are able to interfere with the P-epsilon interaction. A strong inhibition against HBV was observed in vitro and in vivo experiments, respectively. In conclusion, the so far developed chemicals suppressing the P-epsilon interaction may bypass or overcome the viral resistance problems during clinic treatment and represent a highly attractive option for therapeutic intervention.
Animals ; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral ; Gene Products, pol ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Hepatitis B ; therapy ; virology ; Hepatitis B virus ; enzymology ; genetics ; physiology ; Humans ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; metabolism ; Virus Replication

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Hypertension*

No abstract available.
Humans ; Male* ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

No abstract available.
Occupational Diseases*

No abstract available.
Heart*

Solitary fibrous tumors (SFTs) most often involve the pleura and also may encompass the peritoneum and nonserosal sites. They occur as solitary encapsulated tumors and pursue a relatively benign clinical course. The usual criteria for malignancy are high cellularity, mitotic activity (more than 4 per 10 high-power fields), cellular pleomorphism, hemorrhage and necrosis as well as infiltrative growth. We report a case of malignant SFT of pleura who presented with an anterior mediastinal mass. Grossly, it was a 10x8x6.5 cm sized, encapsulated and well-demarcated, solid neoplasm with areas of extensive necrosis. Microscopically, parallel or haphazard arrangement of spindle cells with variable degrees of collagenous background were noted. Storiform fascicle formation, hemangiopericytoma-like pattern, and epithelioid cell clusters were often intermingled. Nodular areas with high cellularity and mitotic activity (> or =10/10 HPFs) were scattered throughout the neoplasm, however no definite cellular pleomorphism was encountered. Tumor cells were immunoreactive for vimentin and CD-34, which distinguished them from the mesothelial cells. Electron microscopically, they revealed fibroblastic and myofibroblastic differentiation.
Collagen ; Epithelioid Cells ; Fibroblasts ; Hemorrhage ; Mediastinum ; Myofibroblasts ; Necrosis ; Peritoneum ; Pleura ; Solitary Fibrous Tumor, Pleural* ; Solitary Fibrous Tumors* ; Vimentin

No abstract available.
Pregnancy*

In this study, we investigate the bioaccessibility of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, As, Cd and Hg) in wild Artemisia annua and use target hazard quotients (THQ) proposed by US Environmental Protection Agency to assess the health risk under the heavy metal exposure. The results showed that the bioaccessibility of Cu, Pb, As, Cd and Hg in A. annua are 0.77, 0.66, 0.46, 0.68 and 0, respectively, and that the value of THQ for adults and children were 0.030 and 0.025 calculated by risk assessment model. The results indicated that the heavy metals in A. annua were not able to be completely absorbed by human body and that their contents were in a safe range. In this study, by combining the bioavailability of heavy metal and health risk assessment, we assessed the security of heavy metals of wild A. annua, which will provide reference for the standard of heavy metals for medicinal materials.
Artemisia annua ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Consumer Product Safety ; Drug Contamination ; Humans ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; metabolism ; Risk Assessment ; Soil Pollutants ; analysis ; metabolism

Twelve compounds were isolated from the herb of Chenopodium ambrosioides, and their structures were identified by spectroscopic methods as kaempferol-7-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (1), kaempferol-3,7-di-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (2), patuletin (3), quercetin-7-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (4), grasshopper ketone (5), 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one (6), syringaresinol (7), benzyl beta-D-glucopyranoside (8), dendranthemoside B (9), N-trans-feruloyl tyramine (10), N-trans-feruloyl 4'-O-methyldopamine (11), and 4-hydroxy-N-[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl) ethyl] benzamide (12). Among them,compounds 3, 6-8,10, and 12 were isolated from the genus Chenopodium for the first time, and compounds 2-12 were isolated from this plant for the first time.
Chenopodium ambrosioides ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification