OBJECTIVE:To improve the management on drug supply in our hospital by using the Six sigma method. METHODS: The quality control of the management on drug supply is achieved by practicing the five steps of Six sigma: concept, measurement, analysis, improvement and control. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: Six sigma method did effectively bring down the defect rate of drug supply from 6.66% before the introduction of the method to 0.59% after and raise the degree of satisfaction to the work of medicine provision from 80% before the introduction of the method to 95% after.

Objective To study the profiles of decompression sickness(DCS) in various kinds of animals and to find out the target organ of decompression sickness by providing a basic experimental method for establishing animal models.Method Eleven kinds of animals were exposed to different pressures for different times at different compression/decompression rates.They were monitored at the precordial regions with Doppler flow meter for bubble sounds after decompression to normal pressure,to obtain a record about the developing course of the DCS.Pathological examinations of the bulbar conjunctiva were also made. Result Bubble sound of grade IV were recorded at the precordial regions after decompression.Among them,75%~100% incurred DCS with a diverse extent. Animals developed DCS showed vascular spasm,dysfunction and endothelial tumefaction.Conclusion Each of the 11 kinds of animals can serve as a model of DCS and the processes of development of DCS in various animals are similar.Blood vessels are the target organs of decompression sickness.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between Arg778Leu/Gln gene mutation spot in ATP7B and TCM Syndrome type in Chinese patients with Wilson disease (WD).

METHODSExon 8 of ATP7B of 90 WD patients and 30 healthy controls were amplified by PCR and analysed by restriction enzyme Msp I, the TCM Syndrome type of the patients was differentiated at the same time.

RESULTSIn the 90 WD patients, 34 with Arg778Leu/Gln of exon 8 were detected, among them 20 cases belonged to the TCM Syndrome type of endogenous Liver-Wind agitation.

CONCLUSIONOnset age of WD patients with Arg778Leu/Gln mutation is later than that without this mutation. Arg778Leu/Gln mutation might be related to the TCM Syndrome type of endogenous Liver-Wind agitation.

Adenosine Triphosphatases ; genetics ; Adolescent ; Arginine ; genetics ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cation Transport Proteins ; genetics ; Child ; Copper-transporting ATPases ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Exons ; Female ; Hepatolenticular Degeneration ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Humans ; Leucine ; genetics ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phenotype ; Point Mutation

Objective To investigate the effects of ginsenoside Rg3 on growth and apoptosis of gastric cancer cell line MKN-45 and SGC-7901 in vitro. Methods MKN-45 and SGC-7901 cells at logarithmic growth phase were obtained, and were cultured with ginsenoside Rg3 of different concentrations (20, 30, 40, 50 μg/mL) for 24, 48 h or 24, 48 and 72 h. Cells cultured without ginsenoside Rg3 were served as controls. The inhibition rates of ginsenoside Rg3 on MKN-45 and SGC-7901 cells were detected by MTT assay, apoptosis rate of SGC-7901 cells was determined by Annexin V/PI double staining flow cytometry, cell cycles of SGC-7901 cells were analysed by flow cytometry, and morphological changes of SGC-7901 cells in 50 μg/mL ginsenoside Rg3 treatment group were observed by transmission electron microscopy. Results The inhibition rates on MKN-45 and SGC-7901 cells in each ginsenoside Rg3 treatment group were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.05), and the inhibition rates increased with the concentrations of ginsenoside Rg3 and time of culture ( P < 0.05). Compared with control group, the apoptosis rates of SGC-7901 cells and percentages of cells in G_1/G_1 cell cycle in each ginsenoside Rg3 treatment group were significantly increased in a concentration and time dependent manner. Typical morphology of SGC-7901 cell apoptosis was observed by transmission electron microscopy in 50 μg/mL ginsenoside Rg3 treatment group. Conclusion Ginsenoside Rg3 has significant inhibition effect on gastric cancer cell lines in vitro with a concentration and time dependent manner, the mechanism of which may involve the induction of gastric cell line apoptosis.

Objective To investigate the effect of highly expressed β-catenin on the proliferative activity of and expressions of two apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2 and Bax by human skin fibroblasts induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).Methods Normal human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) from child foreskin were divided into three groups:empty vector group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1,H2O2 group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 followed by treatment with H2O2 (150 μ mol/L) for 2 hours,β-catenin group transfected with pcDNA3.1-β-catenin followed by treatment with H2O2 (150 μ mol/L) for 2 hours.Subsequently,methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was conducted to estimate proliferative activity of fibroblasts,flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis,and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western blot were performed to measure the mRNA and protein expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax respectively.The relative expression levels of genes were expressed as the ratios between the targets and GAPDH.Results Significant differences were found between the empty vector group,H2O2 group and β-catenin group in cellular proliferative activity (expressed as absorbance value at 570 nm:0.792 ± 0.012 vs.0.462 ± 0.012 vs.0.521 ± 0.015,P＜ 0.01) and apoptosis rate (3.407％ ± 0.217％ vs.24.555％ ± 1.793％ vs.15.360％ ± 0.755％,P＜ 0.01).Both mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were significantly lower in the H2O2 group (0.333 ± 0.003 and 0.336 ± 0.004 respectively) than in the empty vector group (0.507 ± 0.013 and 0.514 ± 0.021,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01) and β-catenin group (0.404 ± 0.006 and 0.411 ± 0.005,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01).Increased expression levels of Bax mRNA and protein were observed in the H2O2 group compared with the empty vector group and β-catenin group (mRNA:0.451 ± 0.002 vs.0.303 ± 0.005 and 0.339 ± 0.012,protein:0.460 ± 0.008 vs.0.320 ± 0.013 and 0.346 ± 0.013,all P＜ 0.01).Conclusion High expression of β-catenin can raise proliferative activity of aging HSFs.

AIM:To investigate the differentiation-inducing effects of baicalin on HL-60 leukemia cells.METHODS:The effect of baicalin on differential induction in AML cell line HL-60 was evaluated by cellular morphology,clone formation assay,CD11b and CD33 expression and NBT assay.RESULTS:Baicalin inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells.It enhanced the expression of CD11b on HL-60 cells,also increased the expression of CD33.HL-60 cells showed differentiation morphology after the drug treatment examined by Wright-Gimesa staining and NBT assay.CONCLUSION:Baicalin possessed differentiation-inducing effects on HL-60 cells.

Objective To observe the effect of high expression of β-catenin on senescent phenotypes in normal human skin fibroblasts (NHSFs) induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).Methods Cultured NHSFs were classified into three groups: β-catenin + H2O2 group transfected with a recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-β-catenin and treated with H2O2 of 150 μ mol/L for two hours,H2O2 group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 and treated by H2O2 of 150 μmol/L for two hours,and vector group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 and receiving no treatment.Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western blot were performed to quantify the mRNA and protein expressions of β-catenin in these cells,microscopy to observe the morphological changes of cells.The activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected by using commercial kits.Data were processed with the software SPSS 13.0,and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for multiple group comparisons.Results The expression of β-catenin was significantly upregulated in NHSFs transfected with the recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-β-catenin.Both the mRNA and protein expression levels of β-catenin described as β-catenin/ glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) ratio were significantly lower in the H2O2 group compared with the vector group (0.2900 ± 0.0195 vs.0.5963 ± 0.0400,0.3130 ± 0.0171 vs.0.6190 ± 0.0090,both P ＜0.05),while the protein expression level of β-catenin was statistically higher in the β-catenin + H2O2 group than in the H2O2 group (0.7953 ± 0.0074 vs.0.3130 ± 0.0171,P ＜0.05).Significant differences were observed between the vector group,H2O2 group and β-catenin+ H2O2 group in the percentage of SA-β-gal-positive cells ((2.9667 ± 0.2517)％ vs.(37.70 ± 0.9539)％ vs.(29.330 ± 0.6359)％,P ＜0.05),ROS activity ((50.9963 ±9.2688)％ vs.(109.9190 ± 11.5215)％ vs.(75.1063 ± 3.0138)％,P ＜0.05),and SOD levels ((88.0856 ±3.9181) vs.(35.5585 ± 3.4438) vs.(61.7029 ± 3.1716) U/mg,P ＜0.05).Conclusion The overexpression of β-catenin can downr_egulate the activity of SA-β-Gal and ROS level,but enhance the activity of SOD.

Objective:To systematically evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of tuina therapy for primary insomnia.Methods:Nine Chinese and English databases were searched from the inception to May 2017 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studying tuina therapy for insomnia.The enrolled articles were all RCTs with tuina as the monotherapy or major therapy in the experiment group,with clear diagnostic criteria for primary insomnia well recognized worldwide or in China,and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQ I) as one of the outcome measures.Two researchers evaluated the risk of bias and quality of the enrolled studies by following Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0.The meta-analysis was performed by RevMan version 5.3.Results:Eleven studies were included with a total of 1 076 participants.The Western medication adopted in the control groups were benzodiazepine receptor agonists.The studies were all assessed as high risk of bias for blinding since blinding method was unable to be performed due to the specificity of tuina therapy;no study reported the support of fund or potential interest conflict,so they were all rated unclear for selective reporting.The meta-analysis showed that compared with other traditional Chinese medicine therapies,tuina worked more effectively in reducing the PSQI score (MD=-4.11＜0,95％ confidence interval (CI)-6.01 to-2.22,P＜0.0001);compared with oral administration of Western medication,tuina showed more significant efficacy in reducing the PSQI score (MD=-3.42＜0,95％CI-5.19 to-1.66,P＜0.0001).Subgroup analysis showed that head tuina alone showed no significant difference compared with oral administration of Western medication regarding the change of PSQI score (MD=-4.19＜0,95％CI-8.87 to 0.50,P＞0.05);a combination of head and back tuina could more effectively reduce the PSQI score compared with oral administration of Western medication (MD=-2.08＜0,95％CI-3.09 to-1.06,P＜0.0001).Conclusion:Tuina can produce more significant efficacy in treating primary insomnia compared with other traditional Chinese medicine therapies and oral administration of Western medication,especially the combination of head and back tuina.

Transcription factor is one of the key factors in the regulation of gene expression at the transcriptional level. It plays an important role in plant growth, active components biosynthesis and response to environmental change. This paper summarized the structure and classification of bHLH transcription factors and elaborated the research progress of bHLH transcription factors which regulate the active components in plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids. In addition, the possibility of increasing the concentration of active substances by bHLH in medicinal plants was assessed. The paper emphasized great significance of model plants and multidisciplinary research fields including modern genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics, providing the contribution to improve the discovery and function characterization of bHLH transcription factors. Accelerating the research in the mechanism of bHLH transcription factors on the regulation of active components biosynthesis will promote the development of breeding and variety improvement of Chinese medicinal materials, also ease the pressure of resources exhaustion of traditional Chinese medicine home and abroad.
Alkaloids ; biosynthesis ; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavonoids ; biosynthesis ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; metabolism ; Terpenes ; metabolism

Objective To explore the effect of action verb processing on the excitability of the motor cortex and any effect on the upper limb motor function of stroke survivors.Methods Experiment 1:The motor evoked potential by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS-MEP) was measured while 18 healthy subjects were processing concrete action verbs or abstract verbs.Experiment 2:Eight hemiplegic stroke survivors were asked to read silently text describing concrete hand actions,and then repeat and explain the meaning of the action verbs used in the text.This was repeated for 30 minutes per day,5 days per week for 3 weeks.In the 2nd week the same training was conducted except that the text was about abstract verbs.The modified Ashworth scale (MAS),Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA),the Hong Kong version of the functional test for a hemiplegic upper extremity (FTHUE-HK) and a simple test for evaluating hand function (STEF) were used to assess upper limb motor function before and after the training each week.Results Experiment 1:Processing the concrete action verbs induced significantly greater MEP than processing the abstract verbs.Experiment 2:The average FMA and STEF ratings improved significantly after the training each week.Training with the concrete action verbs resulted in significantly better FMA and STEF scores than with the abstract verbs.The average MAS score increased significantly week by week.There was significantly more improvement in the average FTHUE-HK rating after the 1st and 3rd week of training than after the 2nd week.Conclusion Action verb processing induces greater motor cortex excitation than abstract verb processing among healthy subjects and better improves the upper limb motor function of stroke survivors.