Objective To investigate perinatal outcomes of twin pregnancy.Methods Perinatal outcomes of 658 pregnancies with twins hospitalized and born at Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital during 2002 to 2005 were retrospective analyzed to compare the influence of type of twin,delivery mode, gestational week,birth time interval between twins,as well as specific complications of twin pregnancies on their outcomes.Results Pefinatal fatality of monzygous twins was 53.69 per thousand(16/298),higher than that of dizygous twins(27.11 per thousand,9/332),with U=2.35,P0.05.Perinatal fatality was higher in twins with different development (birth weight).Perinatal fatality in dizygous twins(12.5 percent,2/16)was lower than that in monozygous ones(14.3 percent,6/42),and that in twins with different development(birth weight)(0.6 percent, 2/316)was lower than that with same development(1.2 percent,3/256),with ?~2=16.944,P

A suitable ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of 11 mycotoxins with isotope internal standard in malt. The mycotoxins in malt were extracted and purified by one-step ultrasonic extraction procedure using acetonitrile/water/acetic acid (80 : 19 : 1), and then detected and confirmed by UPLC-MS/MS, and quantified by isotope labeled AFB1 ([13C17]-AFB1) and ZEN ([13C18]-ZEN) internal standards. Rapid separation of the 11 mycotoxins was successfully achieved on a Phenomenex Kinetex C18 column (100 mm x 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm) with gradient elution using the mobile phase of methanol containing 0.1% formic acid and 2 mmol x L(-1) ammonium acetate in water. Simultaneous acquisition was performed in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with electrospray ionization (ESI) source operated in both positive and negative ionization modes. The established method provided a good linearity for the 11 mycotoxins within their respective linear ranges with correlation coefficients all higher than 0.999 1. The average recoveries ranged from 75.0% to 117.0% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 5.1%. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantitation (LOQs) ranged from 0.05 to 30 μg x kg(-1) and 0.15 to 87.5 μg x kg(-1), respectively, which were below the maximum residue levels (MRLs) set by the European Union. Twenty malt samples were analyzed and nine samples were detected with mycotoxins, which were confirmed according to the same fragment ions found in positive samples and the standards at the same retention time. This study has demonstrated that the one-step extraction procedure of mycotoxins from complex matrices coupled to UPLC-MS/MS method is simple, quick, accurate and sensitive for quantitative and qualitative analysis of multiple mycotoxins in malt.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Fermentation ; Hordeum ; chemistry ; Limit of Detection ; Mycotoxins ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Advocating green, nature, environmental protection, safety and the pursuit of efficacy are the trends of cosmetics in the world. In recent years, more and more Chinese herbal extracts with mild, high safety and small irritation are applied to cosmetics as the natural additives. This has become a new hot spot. The recent application advances of Chinese medicine raw materials in cosmetics are overviewed according to their main functions. This review will provide useful references for the future development and application of Chinese medicinal herbs cosmetics.
Animals ; Biomedical Research ; trends ; Consumer Product Safety ; Cosmetics ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Humans

During the process of growth, harvesting, transportation, processing and storage, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) can be easily contaminated by fungi and their metabolites like mycotoxins, which not only express negative effects on the quality and safety of CHMs and their processed products, but also pose great threats to human health. Now, some chemical synthetic fungicides have been frequently used to control the growth of fungi and accumulation of mycotoxins in the preservation of CHMs. However, the concentration and type of chemical fungicides allowed for postharvest application are restricted due to the disadvantages of their high residual toxicity, long degradation period and pollution to the environment and so on. Therefore, it is critical to research and develop some highly effective, safe and non-toxic, natural, environment-friendly fungistatic agents from plants to prevent CHMs from being contaminated by fungi and mycotoxins. The paper reviews mycotoxins and their harmfulness, the effective compounds of fungistatic plants as well as the antifungal mechanism to provide scientific evidences for developing novel and effective fungistatic agents plants. Then, the application prospect of fungistatic agents from plants in the preservation of CHMs was discussed.
Animals ; Fungi ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Fungicides, Industrial ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Mycotoxins ; metabolism ; toxicity ; Plant Diseases ; microbiology ; prevention & control ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; microbiology ; Preservation, Biological ; methods

Cytometric bead array (CBA) is a new analytical technique, which can achieve real-time and rapid detection of targeted components in a small amount of sample. With many advantages of high throughput screening, high specificity and sensitivity, low cost, easy operation and good repeatability, this CBA technique has been widely used for the detection of various components in foods, agricultural products and environmental samples. Recently, it has got significant development in rapid detection of small molecules. This review briefly introduced the theory of CBA technique, summarized the application in the analysis of small molecules, such as mycotoxins, pesticide residues, shellfish toxins, and then prospected the application of trace small molecules detection in the complex matrices of traditional Chinese medicine and the development trend of it.
Drug Contamination ; High-Throughput Screening Assays ; instrumentation ; methods ; Immunoassay ; instrumentation ; methods ; Microspheres ; Pesticides ; analysis ; Toxins, Biological ; analysis

All kinds of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) differed from each other with different chemical components and properties. Owing to poor conditions and technologies, and the lack of scientific preservation, most TCMs will easily become mouldy during the processes of growth, harvest, handling, translation and especially storage, which will not only influence the quality, safety and efficacy of TCMs, but also cause serious waste and economic losses, and even do great harm to human health. The process of storage is closely related to the qualities of TCMs with many interference factors. Therefore, scientific preservation of TCM during storage is crucial to prevent them from being mouldy. This review analyzed the important harm of mouldy TCMs, summarized the internal and external factors of resulting in TCMs to become mouldy. Based on the above discussion, together with the characteristics and limitations of current TCM preservation techniques, we prospect novel, scientific and reasonable preservation techniques, expecting to provide references for scientific preservation of TCMs to avoid becoming mouldy and guarantee their qualities.
Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drug Storage ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Fungi ; growth & development ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; microbiology

Objective To perform a mechanical test of fresh cadaver specimens and compare the biomechanical properties of the novel minimal invasion dynamic hip plate (MIDHP) and the dynamic condylar screw (DCS) in treatment of subtrochanteric fractures of the femur.Methods All specimens were firstly used to simulate models of Seinsheimer type ⅡA subtrochanteric fractures of the femur,which were later divided into DCS group and MIDHP group.Based on experimental requirements,the femoral head and distal femur were embedded using seff-freezing type dental base acrylic resin powder.Torsion strength test was given in the first place,succeeded by compression strength test.Finally,destructive test was made to record the limit load.All experimental data were analyzed statistically.Results Torsion strength test showed that specimens of both groups were basically stable as the reverse was within 3°.Torque for specimens in DCS and MIDHP groups was (3.16 ± 0.13) N · m and (3.31 ± 0.27) N · m respectively as the reverse was 1.5°.Both torque and torsion stiffness had no statistical significance between the two groups,and the anti-rotation features of the two internal fixations were similar.Compression strength test showed that compression stiffness of specimens in DCS group was (532.27 ±61.02) N/mm and (581.98 ±77.56) N/mm in MIDHP group at a load of 800 N,with evidently higher compression displacement and stiffness in MIDHP group (P ＜ 0.05).Destructive test showed the maximum load of specimens in DCS and MIDHP groups was (2 994.38 ±244.81) N and (3 322.13 ± 141.21) N respectively,far higher in MIDHP group (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions MIDHP is characterized by reasonable design,strong anti-rotation property and anti-compression property over DCS.In comparison with DCS,MIDHP has biomechanical advantage in treatment of femoral subtrochanteric fractures,for it can be performed minimally invasive and is worthy of further application.

Objective To evaluate the expression of Toll-like receptor(TLR)on the monocyte- derived dendritic cells(DC)from chronic hepatitis B(CHB)patients and to analyze the expression pro- file and significance of the TLR such as TLR3,TLR4,TLR?,TLR8 and TLRg,which are associat- ed with immune response to viral infection.Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cell(PBMC) centrifugated by the hydroxyethyl starch(HES)centrifugation were cultured and induced into DC by granulocyte-maerophage colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF)and interleukin-4(IL-4),and their mor- phology and phenotype were detected by the inverted microscope and flow cytometry respectively. Monocyte-derived DC were obtained from 10 chronically hepatitis B virus(HBV)-infected patients and 15 healthy volunteers.TLR3,TLR4,TLR7,TLRS,TLR9 expression on immature and mature DC were analyzed by FACS Calibur.DC was pulsed with HBcAg on day 3 and 5,then DC maturation and ability to process HBcAg and to stimulate autogeneic T cells were evaluated.Results Monocyte- derived DC developed different TLR expression patterns as they went through different maturation stages.TLR7,TLR8 expressions on immature DC and TLR3,TLR7 expressions on mature DC were lower in CHB than in control(for TLR7,TLR8 expression on immature DC:75.9%,1.0%vs 98.4%,15.4%,P

The contamination of extrinsic harmful contaminants including mycotoxins, heavy metals and pesticides, etc, brings serious risks to traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), further to human health. Due to their unique photoluminescence, chemiluminescence, electrochemical and electrochemiluminescence properties, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) nanoparticles are widely used to immobilize bioprobes and biosensors, etc. In this review, the luminescence characteristics and specific ligands of QDs probles which are used to determine contaminants were summed up. Then, the applications of QDs-coated novel probes in the determination of mycotoxins, heavy metals and pesticides were discussed in detail. In addition, the contamination levels and characteristics of extrinsic harmful residues in TCMs were investigated. Further, the maximum levels of those contaminants in TCMs were compared with those set by various countries. Finally, the future development trends and problems of QDs-coated probes in the determination of those extrinsic residues in TCMs were prospected.
Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Nanotechnology ; instrumentation ; methods ; Quantum Dots ; Safety ; Time Factors

Objective To investigate the effects of dengue type 2 virus(DENV-2)on the apopto-sis and autophagy of primary human hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells(HHSECs)and the expression of ICAM-1 and Beclin-1 at mRNA level and to analyze the possible pathogenic mechanism of DENV-2. Meth-ods Immunohistochemistry(IHC)and flow cytometry analysis(FCM)were performed to identify HHSECs by detecting factor Ⅷ and CD31. The DENV-2 strain was identified by using PCR and HindⅢ. The 50%tissue culture infective dose(TCID50 )of DENV-2 was calculated after infecting C6 / 36 cells with DENV-2. Dynamic changes of DENV-2 NS1 were measured by real-time PCR after infecting HHSECs with DENV-2. CCK-8 was used to dynamically detect the cytotoxicity of DENV-2 to HHSECs. The transcriptional levers of Beclin-1 and ICAM-1 in DENV-2-infected HHSECs were detected by real-time PCR. FCM was performed to analyze the apoptosis of HHSECs and the expression of LC3B and ICAM-1. Results The cells in the exper-imental group were stained brown by DAB and the positive expression rate of CD31 reached 87. 1% . The TICD50 of DENV-2 to C6 / 36 cells was 10-6. 845 / 0. 1 ml. Compared with the uninfected cells,partial se-quences of NS1 gene were expressed in DENV-2-infected HHSECs. DENV-2 suppressed the cell activities of HHSECs. The suppression rates of DENV-2 to HHSECs at 12 h,24 h,36 h and 48 h were respectively (10. 90±1. 24)% ,(16. 40±0. 42)% ,(17. 00±0. 46)% and(29. 60±0. 26)%(P﹤0. 05). The tran-scriptional levels of Beclin-1 and ICAM-1 in HHSECs were significantly increased at the time point of 24 h after DENV-2 infection,the 2-△△Ct values of which were 46. 77±2. 55 and 40. 97±4. 91,respectively. The expression of LC3B and ICAM-1 in DENV-2-infected HHSECs were increased,the peaks of which were reached at 24 h(14. 7% )and 36 h(35. 5% ),respectively. The apoptosis of DENV-2-infected HHSECs was remarkably enhanced at 12 h with an apoptosis rate of 13. 17% . Conclusion HHSECs was susceptible to DENV-2. DENV-2 induced the upregulation of ICAM-1 and the activation of HHSECs. Moreover,autoph-agy and apoptosis of HHSECs could also be induced by DENV-2.