For further improving the extraction efficiency of microwave extraction, a microwave-assisted contijuous extraction (MACE) device has been designed and utilized. By contrasting with the traditional methods, the characteristics and extraction efficiency of MACE has also been studied. The method was validated by the analysis of the triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum. The extraction conditions of MACE were: using 95% ethanol as solvent, microwave power 200 W and radiation time 14.5 min (5 cycles). The extraction results were subsequently compared with traditional heat reflux extraction ( HRE) , soxhlet extraction (SE), ultrasonic extraction ( UE) as well as the conventional microwave extraction (ME). For triterpenoids, the two methods based on the microwaves (ME and MACE) were in general capable of finishing the extraction in 10, 14.5 min, respectively, while other methods should consume 60 min and even more than 100 min. Additionally, ME can produce comparable extraction results as the classical HRE and higher extraction yield than both SE and UE, however, notably lower extraction yield than MASE. More importantly, the purity of the crud extract by MACE is far better than the other methods. MACE can effectively combine the advantages of microwave extraction and soxhlet extraction, thus enabling a more complete extraction of the analytes of TCMs in comparison with ME. And therefore makes the analytic result more accurate. It provides a novel, high efficient, rapid and reliable pretreatment technique for the analysis of TCMs, and it could potentially be extended to ingredient preparation or extracting techniques of TCMs.
Chemical Fractionation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Microwaves ; Reishi ; chemistry ; Terpenes ; analysis ; isolation & purification

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) on monocyte HLA DR expression and immune function Methods Sixteen ASA Ⅱ Ⅳ patients [mean age (38 5?5 1)yr,mean body weight (42 9?10 2kg)] of both sexes (male 7,female 9) with rheumatic value disease undergoing mitral value replacement (11 patients) and mitral value and aortic value replacement (5 patients) with moderate hypothermic CPB were enrolled in this study Another ten patients undergoing lung lobectomy were used as control group Patients suffering from infection, immuno deficiency or receiving corticosteroid or immunoregulatory drugs were excluded Premedication included intramusallar midazolam 0 1mg?kg -1 and morphine 0 1mg?kg -1 Anesthesia was induced with intravenous midazolam 0 15mg?kg -1 , fentanyl 8?g/kg and vecuronium 0 1mg?kg -1 and maintained with isoflurane inhalation (0 8%～1 2%) and intermittent boluses of fentanyl and vecuronium The total dose of fentanyl was (18 3?3 2)?g/kg in CPB group and (9 6?1 3)?g/kg in control group CPB time was (74 2?22 5) min and aortic clamping time (57 5?19 2) min Blood samples were taken from CVP line before and 5 min after induction of anesthesia, before and after CPB and on the 1st, 3rd and 5th postoperative day for determination monocyte count and percentage of HLA DR + monocytes Results The number of monocytes decreased at the end of surgery but greatly increased on the postoperative days The percentage of HLA DR + monocytes also decreased at the end of surgery and decreased further on the 1st postoperative day but started increasing on the 3rd postoperative day In two patients who developed infection the percentage of HLA DR + monoeytes was lower than the average percentage of HLA DR + monocytes of the other 14 CPB patients In control group the percentage of HLA DR + monocytes also decreased significantly after operation but there was no significant change in the number of monocytes However there was a significant difference in monoeyte HLA DR expression between the two groups Conclusions The changes in monocyte HLA DR expression and monocyte count may be induced by impaired immune response after CPB and dynamic monitoring of monocyte HLA DR expression may help to predict complication of infection after CPB

China ; Societies, Dental

Animals ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Myocarditis ; metabolism ; virology ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Osteopontin ; metabolism ; Virus Diseases ; metabolism

In this study, based on web database, 324 neurotoxic compounds and 234 non-neurotoxic compounds were selected as a data set for neurotoxicity discriminative model. 6 122 molecular descriptors, including charge distribution, physicochemical and geometrical descriptors,were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of neurotoxic compounds. The combination of Cfs Subset Evaluation and Best First-D1-N5 searching was used to select molecular descriptors. A discrimination model with high accuracy was built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach. Meanwhile, the model accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were all above 80%. Besides, 30 traditional Chinese medicine compositions with neurotoxicity were set as external validation to further verify the model accuracy,with anaccuracy of 73.333%. Using the model, 13 potential neurotoxic compounds were screened from Sophorae subprostrate Radix,4 of them were verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination model can be applied to screen neurotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials.
Computer Simulation ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Models, Theoretical ; Neurotoxins ; analysis ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results ; Support Vector Machine

On the basis of web databases, 111 compounds with nephrotoxicity and 90 compounds without nephrotoxicity were collected as data set of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 39 compounds with tubular necrosis and 39 compounds without tubular necrosis were collected as data set of tubular necrosis discrimination model. The 6 122 molecular descriptors, including physicochemical, charge distribution and geometrical descriptors were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of the above-mentioned compounds. CfsSubsetEval valuation method and BestFirst-D1-N5 searching method were used to select molecular descriptors. Two models with high accuracy were built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach, respectively. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and matthew's correlation coefficient of the two models were all above 70%. By using 22 nephrotoxicity compounds of Chinese medicine, the nephrotoxicity discrimination model was further verified with an accuracy of 72.73%. Using the tubular necrosis discrimination model, 10 potential compounds which can cause tubular necrosis were screened from the positive results of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 6 of them have been verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination models can be applied to screen nephrotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials, and they also offer a new research idea for the further studies on the mechanism of nephrotoxicity.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; toxicity ; Nephrons ; drug effects ; Support Vector Machine ; Toxicity Tests ; instrumentation ; methods

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of prenatal taurine supplementation on the Rho-ROCK signaling pathway activity and synaptophysin (Syp) expression in brain tissues of rats with intrauterine growth restriction.MethodsEighteen pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, fetal growth restriction (FGR) group and taurine group, with six rats in each group. Low-protein diet was given in FGR and taurine groups to establish an FGR model. Taurine 300 mg/(kg·d) was supplemented from gestational day 12 until delivery in taurine group. The mRNA expression levels of neurite growth inhibitor-A(Nogo-A), neurite growth inhibitor receptor (NgR), Rho-A and ROCKⅡin fetal rat brain were detected using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (n=24), which are the key signaling molecules of the Rho-ROCK signal pathway. The protein expression levels of Nogo-A and NgR were detected by Western blot (n=12). The mean optical density in Nogo-A, NgR and Syp was determined by immunohistochemistry (n=18). One-way analysis of variance and LSD-t test were used for statistical analysis.Results(1) Expression of mRNA: the expression levels of Nogo-A, NgR, Rho-A and ROCKⅡ mRNA in fetal rat brain were 4.09±1.34, 3.01±0.77, 39.89±7.71 and 7.82±1.83, respectively in FGR group, and were significantly higher than in control group (1.00±0.13, 1.00±0.10, 1.02±0.30 and 1.00±0.10) (t=4.735, 5.204, 7.682 and 10.675, allP<0.05). The expressions in taurine group (1.07±0.30, 1.20±0.27, 5.36±0.41 and 1.89±0.43) were significantly lower than in FGR group (t=4.645, 4.690, 6.687 and 9.485, allP<0.05), and there was no statistical difference between taurine group and control group (allP>0.05). (2) Expression of protein by Western blot: the expressions of Nogo-A and NgR protein in fetal rat brain were 1.51±0.09 and 0.31±0.05 in FGR group, 0.82±0.06 and 0.06±0.01 in taurine group, and 1.04±0.10 and 0.09±0.12 in control group. The expression was significantly higher in FGR group than in control group (t=9.644 and 5.285, bothP<0.05). The expression was significantly lower in taurine group than in FGR group (t=14.163 and 5.825, bothP<0.05), and there was no statistical difference between taurine group and control group (allP>0.05). (3) Positive expression of protein: the positive expressions of Nogo-A and NgR protein in fetal rat brain were 0.28±0.06 and 0.11±0.02 in FGR group, 0.10±0.02 and 0.04±0.01 in taurine group, and 0.07±0.01 and 0.04±0.01 in control group. The expression was significantly higher in FGR group than in control group (t=9.778 and 7.645, bothP<0.05). The expression in taurine group was significantly lower than in FGR group (t=8.679 and 7.413, bothP<0.05), and there was no statistical difference between taurine group and control group (bothP>0.05). The positive expression of Syp protein in fetal rat brain was 0.08±0.01 in FGR group, and was significantly lower than in control group (0.16±0.04,t=4.600,P<0.05). The expression in taurine group (0.14±0.36) was significantly higher than in FGR group (t=3.181,P<0.05), and there was no statistical difference between taurine group and control group (P>0.05).ConclusionsPrenatal taurine supplementation can improve neural axon development via down-regulating the expressions of the key molecules of Rho-ROCK signal pathway in fetal rat brain tissue.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and conventional-transbronchial needle aspiration (C-TBNA) in mediastinal and lung hilar lesions. Method 301 cases of lung hilar and mediastinal lesions were selected from 2010 to 2016. Among them, 183 cases underwent TBNA, and the other 118 cases received EBUS-TBNA technology. During the research, the associations of diagnostic positive rate and complications were analyzed in order to explore the advantage and the value of EBUS-TBNA. Results The positive rates of EBUS-TBNA in central groups (2R, 4L, 4R, 7) were higher than in the peripheral groups (10R, 10L, 11R, 11L) (P < 0.05). When studying the lymph node group 2R, 4R and 7R, the positive rate of EBUS-TBNA is much more significant than conventional TBNA (P < 0.05); When biopsying at the lymph node group R4 and group 7, one needle positive rate of EBUS-TBNA were much more superior than TBNA (P < 0.05), the three needles cumulative positive rate of EBUS-TBNA almost reach the total positive rate(P > 0.05), an approving effect of puncture can be acquired; The accuracy and sensitivity of EBUS-TBNA in the diagnosis of lung hilar and mediastinal lesions were much better than conventional TBNA (P < 0.05), especially the diagnostic positive rate of EBUS-TBNA in benign diseases was higher (P < 0.05); The complications rates in both two technologies were not significantly different (P > 0.05), there were no severe complications during the operations in all cases. Conclusion EBUS-TBNA is useful in diagnosis of mediastinal and hilar lesions of unknown reason, and significant in diagnosis of bronchial and extrabronchial diseases. It is an efficiency and safe operation while further application studies are needed.

Objective: To study the impact of interferon-inducible protein 16 (IFI16) inhibition on apoptosis of human aortic adventitial fibroblasts (HAAFs). Methods: Our research included 3 groups: ① IFI16-siRNA group, specific small interference RNAs (siRNAs) of IFI16 were transfected into HAAFs in vitro to make IFI16 gene silence, ②Con-siRNA group, non-specific siRNAs were transfected into HAAFs as negative control and ③Untreated HAAFs group, blank control. HAAFs cell cycle and apoptosis rate were examined by flow cytometry, IFI16 mRNA expression was measured by real time qRT-PCR, protein expressions of IFI16, p53, p21, Bax and Bcl-2 were detected by Western blot analysis. Results: Compared with Con-siRNA group and Untreated HAAFs group, IFI16-siRNA group showed decreased apoptosis rate of HAAFs (3.33±0.41) % vs (7.42±1.51) % and (6.49±1.10) %, P<0.05, reduced ratio of G0/G1 phase cells (56.64 ± 4.77 ) % vs (69.67±3.54) % and (68.29±4.14) %, P<0.05, while increased ratio of S phase cells (25.23±5.19)% vs (13.76±2.07) % and (14.04±3.00) %, P<0.05. Meanwhile, IFI16-siRNA group presented down-regulated IFI16 mRNA and protein expressions, decreased protein levels of p53, p21, Bax and increased protein level of Bcl-2, all P<0.05. Conclusion: Inhibited IFI16 expression could decrease HAAFs apoptosis, promote cell cycle transition from G1 to S phase which might be related to the suppression of p53/p21 signaling pathway and regulation of Bax/Bcl-2 expression.

Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; supply & distribution ; Occupational Health