Objective: The NaCl stress conditions were simulated to study the effect of the endophytic fungi C1, C4 on antisalty characteristic of Chrysanthemum morifolium in the adverse circumstance. Methods: Endophytic Botrytis sp. (C1) and Chaetomium globosum (C4) were inoculated to the C. morifolium plantlets which were planted in the pots in order to research the effects of salt stress on physiological indicators of C. morifolium. Results: With the increase of NaCl concentration, the water content of root and leaf decreased in every group. The loss of root and leaf's water in fungi-treated group was smaller than that in the control group. SOD activities in every group increased with the increase of NaCl concentration, and achieved the peak value at 20 g/L NaCl. The SOD activity in fungi-treated group was higher than that in the control group. Soluble protein of fungi-treated group was higher than that in the control group, and C4 group surpassed C1 group. POD activity increased firstly and then decreased, and compared to the control group, the POD activities in C4 and C1 groups increased by 25.50% and 1.35%, respectively at 15 g/L NaCl. PAL activity of C4 treated group was seven folds compared to the control group at 15 g/L NaCl. Conclusion: Endophytic fungi could enhance the salt-tolerant ability of C. morifolium, and the effect in C4 group was better than C1 group.

0.05). Compared with the healthy neonates, the concentration of blood MDA and ROS was significantly higher, and that of blood HB and SOD was significantly lower in both groups(P

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the function of tubomanometry (TMM) in forcasting the progonosis of acute otitis media with effusion (OME). METHOD: We used the technique of TMM to quantify the degree of eustachian tube (ET) dysfunction in 65 patients with OME. The opening of the ET and the transportation of gas into the middle ear were registered by a pressure sensor in the occluded outer ear after applying the stimulus of a controlled gas bolus into the nasopharynx during swallowing. Three excess pressure values were tested subsequently (30, 40, and 50 mbar). If tube opening was registered, the time of opening in relation to pressure applied was measured. The TMM calculated the opening latency index or index R. An R value of < 1 indicated early opening of the tube at the start of application of the stimulus, which was considered optimal. A value > 1 indicated late opening of the tube occurring after the initial stimulus and was interpreted as suboptimal. Inability to calculate the index R value indicated that the tube was unable to actively open at all. The TMM results, were weighted as follows: no R with 0 points, R > 1 with 1 point and R < 1 with 2 points for the measurements at 30, 40, and 50 mbar, respectively. The points of these three tests were added so the ET score (ETS) ranges from 0 (worst value) to 6 (best value). According to the medical history, the patients were divided into two groups, chronic OME group (defined as positive control group), 30 cases with 38 ears; and acute OME group, 35 cases with 46 ears. The healthy ears of all patients were defined as normal control group, 46 cases with 46 ears. The same regular treatments, including classic medical treatments and intratympanic dexamethasone injections, were used to acute OME group in the following 1-2 months. On the basis of therapeutic effect, acute OME group was subdivided into valid group (26 cases with 33 ears) and invalid group (9 cases with 13 ears). RESULT: The ETS of normal control group was 5.11 ± 1.32 while it was 1.08 ± 1.32 in positive control group. It was found marked differences between the two groups (P < 0.01). The ETS of both valid and invalid subgroup of actue OME group were significantly lower than normal control group (P < 0.01), but in valid subgroup it was significantly higher than positive control group (P < 0.01), and no marked difference was found between the invalid subgroup and positive control group. After treatments, a significant improvement of the ETS was found in both valid and invalid subgroup (P < 0.05) there was no marked difference between valid subgroup and normal control group. But in invalid subgroup it was still significantly lower than normal cohtrol group (P < 0. 01). CONCLUSION TMM could forecast the prognosis of acute OME. Patients with acute OME suffered from ET dysfunction of varied degrees. Those with high ETS could be cured by classic medical treatments and intratympanic dexamethasone injections. But those with poor ETS could not be cured in short period, tube insertion should be considered. If ETS could not be improved by ventilation tube placement, more active treatment, for example, balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET), should be used to prevent transforming into chronic OME.
Acute Disease ; Ear, Middle ; Eustachian Tube ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Injection, Intratympanic ; Manometry ; Middle Ear Ventilation ; Otitis Media with Effusion ; diagnosis ; Pressure ; Prognosis

Asthma ; blood ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Complement Membrane Attack Complex ; analysis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; blood ; Male ; Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 ; blood

In order to optimize extraction process conditions of tannins from Geranium orientali-tibeticum by supercritical CO2, the content of tannins was determined by phosphomolybdium tungsten acid-casein reaction, with extraction pressure, extraction temper- ature and extraction time as factors, the content of tannins from extract of G. orientali-tibeticum as index, technology conditions were optimized by orthogonal test. Optimum technology conditions were as follows: extraction pressure was 25 MPa, extraction temperature was 50 °C, extracted 1.5 h. The content of tannins in extract was 12.91 mg x g(-1), extract rate was 3.67%. The method established could be used for assay the contents of tannin in G. orientali-tibeticum. The circulated extraction was an effective extraction process that was stable and feasible, and that provides a way of the extraction process conditions of tannin from G. orientali-tibeticum.
Carbon Dioxide ; chemistry ; Chemical Fractionation ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Geranium ; chemistry ; Tannins ; isolation & purification

In this paper the species of ethnic medicinal plants Orobanche, Cistanche and Boschniakia, and their ethnopharmaceutical uses were comprehensively summarized by field investigation, systematical data analysis and comparison of relevant specimen and references. The results showed that six plants belonging to Orobanche were used as seven kinds of ethnic medicinal plants, two plants attributing Boschniakia were used as ten kinds of ethnic medicinal plants, two plants of Cistanche were used as three ethnic medicinal plants. The same plant was often used as different ethnic medicine in varied ethnic minorities. The effects of the ethnic medicines included yang-tonifying, hemostasis and analgesic activities. Hence, it is necessary to develop the rich plant resource of Orobanche for alleviation of Cistanche resources shortage.
Cistanche ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Orobanchaceae ; chemistry ; Orobanche ; chemistry ; Phytotherapy

Adult ; Antigens, CD20 ; metabolism ; Brain ; pathology ; Brain Neoplasms ; immunology ; pathology ; CD3 Complex ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis ; immunology ; pathology ; Male

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Female ; Heart Failure ; blood ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Serum Response Factor ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare whole exome sequencing (WES) and targeted panel sequencing in the clinical molecular diagnosis of the Chinese families affected with inherited retinal dystrophies (IRDs). METHODS: The clinical information of 182 probands affected with IRDs was collected, including their family history and the ophthalmic examination results. Blood samples of all probands and their relatives were collected and genomic DNA was extracted by standard protocols. The first 91 cases were subjected to the WES and the other 91 cases were subjected to a specific hereditary eye disease enrichment panel (HEDEP) designed by us. All likely pathogenic and pathogenic variants in the candidate genes were determined by Sanger sequencing and co-segregation analyses were performed in available family members. Copy number variations (CNVs) detected by HEDEP were further validated by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). As PRGR ORF15 was difficult to capture by next generation sequencing (NGS), all the samples were subjected to Sanger sequencing for this region. All sequence changes identified by NGS were classified according to the American College of Medical Gene-tics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP) variant interpretation guidelines. In this study, only variants identified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic were included, while those variants of uncertain significance, likely benign or benign were not included. RESULTS: In 91 cases with WES, pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants were determined in 30 cases, obtaining a detection rate of 33.00% (30/91); While in 91 cases with HEDEP sequencing, pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants were determined in 51 cases, achieving the diagnostic rate of 56.04% (51/91), and totally, the diagnostic rate was 44.51%. HEDEP had better sequencing coverage and read depth than WES, therefore HEDEP had higher detection rate. In addition, HEDEP could detect CNVs. In this study, we detected disease-causing variants in 29 distinct IRD-associated genes, USH2A, ABCA4 and RPGR were the three most common disease-causing genes, and the frequency of these genes in Chinese IRDs population was 11.54% (21/182), 6.59% (12/182) and 3.85% (7/182), respectively. We found 43 novel variants and 6 cases carried variants in RPGR ORF15. CONCLUSION NGS in conjunction with Sanger sequencing offers a reliable and effective approach for the genetic diagnosis of IRDs, and after evaluating the pros and cons of the two sequencing methods, we conclude that HEDEP should be used as a first-tier test for IRDs patients, WES can be used as a supplementary molecular diagnostic method due to its merit of detecting novel IRD-associated genes if HEDEP or other methods could not detect disease-causing va-riants in reported genes. In addition, our results enriched the mutational spectra of IRDs genes, and our methods paves the way of genetic counselling, family planning and up-coming gene-based therapies for these families.
DNA Copy Number Variations ; Humans ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; Retinal Dystrophies/genetics* ; Whole Exome Sequencing

Background As a main suppressing neurotransmitter in visual system,gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) participates in the transmission and regulation of visual information.GABA and dopamine (DA) coexist in the visual cortex,and their mutual effects should be clarified.Objective This study was to investigate the effect of DA on GABA-activated current in vitro in cultured visual cortical neurons of rats.Methods Neutrons from visual cortex of clean neonatal rats were isolated and cultured by explant culture method.The neutrons cultured for 11 -to 14- days were collected for the record of whole cell currents of GABA-A (IGABA) channels in vitro using patch clamp technique.The DA solution (100mmol/L),SKF38393 (10mmol/L) solution and quinpirole solution(10mmol/L) were prepared with double distilled water and then the extracellular fluid was added to different concentrations.The IGABA changing rate under the action of SKF38393+SCH23390,SKF38393+Quinpirole for different time was recorded respectively and compared with that of action of DA,SKF38393,SCH23390,Quinpirole.The IGABA activated by extracellular fluid along served as control.Results The IGABA was significantly attenuated after activated by ≥10μmol/L of DA or SKF38393 separately in comparison to that of extracellular fluid action (P＜0.05).In various time of action,there were obviously differences in IGABA between DA or SKF38393 action and extracellular fluid (P＜0.05,P＜0.01).No evident change in IGABA changing rate was found after only SCH23390 action in comparison with extracellular cells (P＜0.05).However,after combination of SCH23390 and SKF38393,IGABA changing rate reduced by 19.49%.No significant differences were found in the changing rates of IGABA among different concentrations of quinpirole action groups compared with extracellular fluid group (P＞0.05);while when quinpirole was combined with SKF38393,the IGABA was elevated in comparison with only SKF38393 action group (P＜0.05).Conclusion Dopamine participates in the transfer and regulation of visual information through suppressing GABA-activated currents from neutrons of visual cortex at time-dependent manner in vitro.