Cardiovascular Diseases ; etiology ; Diet ; Glycemic Index ; Humans

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Shen warming Pi strengthening method on expressions of serum T cell subsets (C045+%, C03+%, and C04 +/COB+) in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-0) rats. Methods An IBS-0 rat model was established referring to AL-Chaer's modeling method combined with tail clamp and intragastric administration of sanna leaf. After modeling 30 SO rats were randomly divided into 6 groups according to random digit table, i.e., the model group, the high, middle, low dose Wenshen Jianpi Recipe (WJR) groups, and the Sishen Pill control group, 6 in each group. A normal control group consisting of 6 SO rats were also set up. Rats in high, middle, low dose WJ R groups were administered by gastrogavage with boil-free WJ R at the daily dose of 3. 100, 1. 550, 0. 775 g/kg, respectively. Rats in the Sis hen Pill control group were administered by gastrogavage with boil-free Sis hen Pill at the daily dose of 0. 736 g/kg. Equal volume of normal saline was given by gastrogavage to rats in the model group and the normal control group. All medication lasted for 2 successive weeks. Rats' general state, expressions of T cell subsets (CD45+%, CD3+%, and CD4+ /CDB+) changes were observed.

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, expressions of CD45+% and CD3+% increased, but CD4+ /CDB+ decreased with statistical difference (P < 0. 05). Compared with the model group, expressions of CD45+% and CD3+% decreased, but CD4+ ICDB+ increased with statistical difference in high, middle, low dose WJR groups, and the Sis hen Pill control group (P <0. 05). Compared with the Sis hen Pill control group, there was statistical difference in all indices except CD45+ value in the low dose SWPSM group (P <0. 05). Compared with the low dose WJ R group, the expression of CD3+% decreased in high and middle dose WJR groups, and the Sis hen Pill control group; CD4+ /CD8+ increased in the Sishen Pill control group and the high dose SWPSM group (all P < 0. 05).

CONCLUSIONSWJR showed better treatment effect. The mechanism of Shen warming Pi strengthening method might be achieved by regulating expressions of CD45+% and CD3+%, and CD4+ /CD8+ ratios.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Female ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; therapy ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Rats ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; metabolism

Breast Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Female ; Humans ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; analysis

The marine biological source of mineral drugs recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 version) mainly including pearl, nacre, clam shell, common oyster shell, ark shell, cuttle bone, and sea-ear shell are widely used in clinical. Calcium carbonate and a small amount of protein are the main components in this type of drugs. In this paper, a systematical and comparable study were carried out by determination of calcium carbonate by EDTA titration method, the crystal of calcium carbonate by X-Ray powder diffraction and the total amino acids (TAAs) of the hydrolyzed samples by ultraviolet spectrophotometry method. As a result, the crystal structure is calcite for common oyster shell, mixture of calcite and aragonite for nacre and sea-ear shell, aragonite for the other drugs. The content of calcium carbonate ranged from 86% to 96%. Cuttle bone has the highest amount of TAAs among the seven drugs which reached 1.7% while clam shell has the lowest content of 0.16% on average. In conclusion, an effective method was developed for the quality control of marine mineral drugs by comprehensive analysis of calcium carbonate and TAAs in the seven marine mineral drugs.
Amino Acids ; analysis ; chemistry ; Animal Shells ; chemistry ; Animals ; Calcium Carbonate ; analysis ; chemistry ; Crystallization ; Edetic Acid ; chemistry ; Mollusca ; chemistry ; classification ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; analysis ; chemistry ; standards ; Quality Control ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seawater ; Species Specificity ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ; X-Ray Diffraction

Objective To investigate the variation of immune index in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treated with autologous purified CD+34 cells transplantation and to clarify the relationship with pathogenesis and prognosis. Methods Flow cytometry (FCM) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) were used to test lymphocyte subsets, C3, C4, CH50, autoantibodies and immunoglobulin for 18 cases of SLE before and after transplantation. Results The results showed that the ratio of all the T cell subsets reduced obviously in early postgraft and recovered gradually in 1 to 3 months after transplantation except CD45 RO+CD+4 cells. The levels of serum C3, C4, CH50 increased significantly after transplantation. No case relapsed within one year after transplantation, but 2 patients relapsed one year after transplantation. The levels of the indexes in the patients with relapse were significantly lower than those in the patients with persistent remission, including C4 in the entire course, CH50 in the 3rd and 12th month after transplantation and CD45 RA+ CD+8 cells in the 6th month after transplantation. However, the ratio of CD45 RO+ CD+4 cells in the first month after transplantation in the patients with relapse was higher than that in the patients with persistent remission. Conclusion Autologous purified CD+34 cells transplantation is effective for treating SLE. Survey of immune indexes before and after transplantation is important to investigate the pathogenesis of SLE. Moreover, these immune indexes can be used to predict therapeutic efficacy of SLE.

The study was using the orthogonal test and making the extraction rates of icariin, ferulic acid, epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C, baohuoside I and ligustilide determinated by HPLC multiwavelength switch, gradient elution and multi-index comprehensive weighted scoring method (weight coefficient was 0.47: 0.16: 0.07: 0.07: 0.08: 0.06: 0.09) as evaluation index, combine with SPSS 16.0 software to optimizing the best extraction. It was Yinpian soak 1 h, 12 times more than the volumn of 50% ethanol solution, by heating reflux extraction for 60 min. The compliance test indicates that the optimized compatibility extraction technology is stable and practical, and it has provided an experimental basis for compound preparation technology research of Epimedium brevicornu and Ligusticum chuanxiong.
Chemical Fractionation ; methods ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Ligusticum ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of umbilical sticking therapy (UST) with Qitou Xiaugu Plaster (QXP) on hemodynamics of portal system in patients with liver cirrhosis.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty patients of liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension were assigned to two groups. On the basis of conventional therapy, UST was applied in the 66 patients in treated group, which was exchanged once every 3 days with an interval of 1-day rest. The 54 patients in the control group were orally administered with propanolol. The therapeutic course for both groups was 1 month. Before and after treatment, the hemodynamic changes in portal or splenic veins were observed by color Doppler ultrasonograph, and the changes of liver function, blood coagulation and patients' subjective symptoms were observed as well.

RESULTSAfter treatment, portal vein diameter and splenic vein diameter significantly decreased (P < 0.05, portal venous flow velocity and splenic venous flow velocity apparently increased (P < 0.05), and portal venous flow apparently decreased in both groups (P < 0.05), while no significant change was found in the splenic venous flow (P > 0.05). The liver function and blood coagulation indexes in both groups were improved. The improvement of clinical symptoms in the treated group was superior to that in the control group.

CONCLUSIONUST with QXP could decrease the portal vein pressure in a short time, with the therapeutic effect comparable to propanolol, and with no adverse reaction.

Adult ; Aged ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; drug effects ; Humans ; Hypertension, Portal ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Liver Cirrhosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Portal Pressure ; drug effects ; Portal Vein ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Splenic Vein ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Umbilicus ; blood supply ; Young Adult

Glomerular hypertrophy is the main pathological characteristic in the early stage of diabetic nephropathy (DN), and its regulatory mechanism is closely related to mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway activity. mTOR includes mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2(mTORC2), in which, the upstream pathway of mTORC1 is phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/serine-threonine kinase(Akt)/adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase(AMPK), and the representative signaling molecules in the downstream pathway of mTORC1 are 4E-binding proteins(4EBP) and phosphoprotein 70 S6Kinase(p70S6K). Some Chinese herbal extracts could improve cell proliferation via intervening the expressions of the key molecules in the upstream or downstream of PIK/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in vivo. As for glomerular mesangial cells(MC) and podocyte, mTOR plays an important role in regulating glomerular inherent cells, including adjusting cell cycle, energy metabolism and matrix protein synthesis. Rapamycin, the inhibitor of mTOR, could suppress glomerular inherent cell hypertrophy, cell proliferation, glomerular basement membrane (GBM) thickening and mesangial matrix deposition in model rats with DN. Some Chinese herbal extracts could alleviate glomerular lesions by intervening mTOR signaling pathway activity in renal tissue of DN animal models or in renal inherent cells in vivo and in vitro.
Animals ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; genetics ; pathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Hypertrophy ; drug therapy ; enzymology ; genetics ; pathology ; Kidney Glomerulus ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo screen the wnt and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) ligands involved in palatogenesis and cleft palate, and to study the dynamic expression of them in the different stages of palatal development and cleft palate formation.

METHODSMouse model of retinoic acid (RA)-induced cleft palate was set up. At embryo day (ED) 14.5, the palatal tissues of RA-treated group and wild type were collected and prepared for gene-chip analysis. According to the gene-chip results, wnt3, wnt8a, fgf9 and fgf10 were selected and their expression level was detected at ED13.5-15.5 by using semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR).

RESULTS(1) Gene-chip analysis showed that in RA-induced cleft palate group wnt8a and fgf9 were down-regulated, wnt3 and fgf10 were up-regulated in conversely. (2)During the different stage of the control group palatogenesis, intense expression of wnt3, wnt8a, fgf9 and fgf10 were detected with a continuous dynamic pattern. (3)Compared with the control group, the expression level of wnt3, wnt8a, fgf9 and fgf10 in RA-induced cleft palate showed significant difference, respectively (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONwnt and FGF signaling molecules participate in the palatogenesis, and RA pathway may interact with wnt and FGF signaling pathway.

Animals ; Cleft Palate ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 10 ; Fibroblast Growth Factors ; Genotype ; Ligands ; Mice ; Tretinoin ; Wnt3 Protein

BACKGROUNDThe prognosis for patients with gastric cancer and synchronous liver metastases is very poor. However, a standard therapeutic strategy has not been well established. The clinical benefit and prognostic factors after hepatic surgical treatment for liver metastases from gastric cancer remain controversial.

METHODSRecords of 105 patients who underwent gastrectomy regardless of hepatic surgical treatment for gastric cancer with synchronous liver-only metastases in our center between 1995 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTSThe overall survival rate for the 105 patients was 42.1%, 17.2%, and 10.6% at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively, with a median survival time of 11 months. Multivariate survival analysis revealed that the extent of lymphadenectomy (D) (P < 0.001), lymph node metastases (P < 0.001), extent of liver metastases (H) (P = 0.008), and lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.002) were significant independent prognostic factors for survival. Among patients who underwent D2 lymphadenectomy, those who underwent hepatic surgical treatment had a significantly improved survival compared with those who underwent gastrectomy alone (median survival, 24 vs. 12 months; P < 0.001). However, hepatic surgical treatment was not a prognostic factor for patients who underwent D1 lymphadenectomy (median survival, 8 vs. 8 months; P = 0.495). For the 35 patients who underwent gastrectomy plus hepatic surgical treatment, D2 lymphadenectomy (P < 0.001), lymph node metastases (P = 0.015), and extent of liver metastases (H1 vs. H2 and H3) (P = 0.017) were independent significant prognostic factors for survival.

CONCLUSIONSD2 lymphadenectomy plus hepatic surgical treatment may provide hope for long-term survival of judiciously selected patients with hepatic metastases from gastric cancer. Patients with a low degree of lymph node metastases and H1 liver metastases would make the most appropriate candidates. However, if D2 dissection cannot be achieved, hepatic surgical treatment is not recommended.

Aged ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; mortality ; secondary ; surgery ; Lymph Node Excision ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; complications ; mortality ; surgery ; Survival Rate