Objective To establish characteristic fingerprint of essential oil in Rhizoma Chuanxiong and to scientifically evaluate and effectively control the inner quality of Rhizoma Chuanxiong.MethodsChemical components in essential oil from ten batches of Rhizoma Chuanxiong samples were analyzed by GC-MS method and the common peaks and characteristic peaks were identified.Results Thirteen common peaks were identified and eight characteristic peaks was established.Precision,stability and reproducibility tests had good results with the characteristic peaks as indexes.Conclusion The established characteristic fingerprint is very exclusive and can be used for the quality control of Rhizoma Chuanxiong.

Objective To investigate the effect of early insulin therapy on NF-KB pathway and inflammatory cytokine responses in fiver of diabetic rat.Methods NF-KB p65 DNA binding was assayed with ELISA-based assay kit,cytokine gene expressions were quantified with real-time PCR and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase(PEPCK),NF-KB and inhibitor KB(IKBα)protein levels wlere assayed with Westem blot.Results Compared with control,hepatic PEPCK protein level in the untreated diabetic rat increased by 40%.Early insulin and gliclazide treatment normalized PEPCK protein level.The abundance of IKBα protein was significantly decreased and nuclear NF-KB p65 DNA binding activity was incteased in untreated diabetic rats.IKBot protein content increased and NF-KB p65 DNA binding decreased during early intervention treatment.mRNAs encoding IL-1β and TNFα were increased,which were reduced to normal levels after insulin and gliclazide treatment.Conclusions It is suggested that early insulin treatment inhibits NF-KB activity and inflammatory cytokine responses in fiver that are involved in the aniefioration of insulin resistance in diabetic rats.Such results misht be due to indirect antiinflammatory effects of insulin thus relieving glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity in pefipherM tissues.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims at investigating tympanogram in newborns who passed hearing screening using 226 and 1 000 Hz probe tones in order to interpret the test results correctly and find out its clinical value in audiological evaluation and diagnosis in this population. METHOD: Tympanogram was conducted using 226 and 1000 Hz probe tones in 206 newborns between 2 and 7 days of age (3.92 +/- 1.24) in both ears that passed the DPOAE screening and without any of the high risk register (HRR) factors associated with hearing loss according to the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing in 2007. RESULT: The tympanogram results tested in 408 ear were as following: the percentage of single-peaked, double-peaked, and none-peaked tympanograms using 226 Hz were 52.20% (213 ears), 47.55% (194 ears) and 0.25% (1 ear) respectively. The percentage of single-peaked and other morphological type tympanograms using 1000 Hz were 94.85%(387 ears) and 5.15% (21 ears) respectively. The parameters of 1000 Hz single-peaked tympanogram in this study were as following: the average tympanometric peak pressure was 33.24 +/- 44.37 dapa, the average peak compensated static acoustic admittance was 0.52 +/- 0.25 mmho, the average tympanometric width for right and left ears were 121.38 +/- 28.79 and 108.63 +/- 26.00 dapa respectively with a statistically significant difference between them (P < 0.01). The average volume of ear canal (Vec, using 226 Hz probe tone) at boys and girls were 0.44 +/- 0.10 and 0.43 +/- 0.08 ml respectively with a statistically significant difference between them (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The morphology of tympanogram using a 226 Hz probe tone in newborns usually includes two main types: single-peaked and double-peaked, while it is primarily the single-peaked tympanogram while using a 1000 Hz probe tone. It is more appropriate to use a 1000 Hz probe tone than 226 Hz when testing newborns' tympanogram. The parameters obtained in this study using 1000 Hz and 226 Hz could be tried and applied to interpret clinical tympanogram test results and evaluate middle ear function. However, more studies with bigger sample size are necessary in this field.
Acoustic Impedance Tests ; Ear, Middle ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Neonatal Screening ; methods

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of Pro12Ala variant in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 gene with type 2 diabetes mellitus and its clinical characteristics.

METHODSThe genotypes of Pro12Ala variant in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 gene were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms assay in 401 unrelated subjects of the Han population in the southern part of China (including 180 subjects with normal glucose tolerance and 221 type 2 diabetic patients). The clinical data were also analyzed.

RESULTSThe allele frequencies in the case and control groups were 96.15%,96.11% for P and 3.85%, 3.89% for A; the genotype frequencies were 92.77%, 92.22% for PP, 6.78%, 7.78% for PA and 0.45%, 0 for AA. The Pro12Ala variant of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes. The Pro12Ala polymorphism of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 in diabetes patients was associated with increased waist circumference and waist to hip ratio. The Pro12Ala polymorphism in Chinese population was similar to that in Japanese population and was different from that in European and American population.

CONCLUSIONThe above data showed that the Pro12Ala variant of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes, but it could be associated with abdominal obesity in type 2 diabetes. The significant difference of Pro12Ala of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma2 among various races was observed.

Adult ; Alanine ; genetics ; Alleles ; Amino Acid Substitution ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Body Constitution ; Body Mass Index ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Cholesterol, HDL ; blood ; Cholesterol, LDL ; blood ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; blood ; genetics ; pathology ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Insulin ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Proline ; genetics ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; Triglycerides ; blood

Bronchial asthma （referred to as “asthma”） is a heterogeneous airway disease characterized by chronic airway inflammation and airway remodeling. Its pathogenesis is complex， the incidence is high and the disease is easy to repeat. Autophagy plays an important regulatory role in improving asthma symptoms. By regulating autophagy-related proteins and signaling pathways， the active components of traditional Chinese medicine （such as flavonoids， anthraquinones， terpenoids） and traditional Chinese medicine compounds （such as Wuhu decoction， Pingchuan granule， Sanzi yangqin decoction） can inhibit airway inflammatory response，reduce airway hyperresponsiveness，and alleviate airway remodeling，thus playing a role in the treatment of asthma. However， most of the current studies are basic studies，and the quality of evidence is not high．In the future，high-quality clinical and basic studies should be further carried out to fully demonstrate the scientific nature of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of asthma by regulating autophagy．

Dysregulation of mTORC1/mTORC2 pathway is observed in many cancers and mTORC1 inhibitors have been used clinically in many tumor types; however, the mechanism of mTORC2 in tumorigenesis is still obscure. Here, we mainly explored the potential role of mTORC2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its effects on the sensitivity of cells to mTOR inhibitors. We demonstrated that RICTOR, the key factor of mTORC2, and p-AKT (Ser473) were excessively activated in ESCC and their overexpression is related to lymph node metastasis and the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) phase of ESCC patients. Furthermore, we found that mTORC1/ mTORC2 inhibitor PP242 exhibited more efficacious anti-proliferative effect on ESCC cells than mTORC1 inhibitor RAD001 due to RAD001-triggered feedback activation of AKT signal. Another, we demonstrated that down-regulating expression of RICTOR in ECa109 and EC9706 cells inhibited proliferation and migration as well as induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Noteworthy, knocking-down stably RICTOR significantly suppresses RAD001-induced feedback activation of AKT/PRAS40 signaling, and enhances inhibition efficacy of PP242 on the phosphorylation of AKT and PRAS40, thus potentiates the antitumor effect of RAD001 and PP242 both and . Our findings highlight that selective targeting mTORC2 could be a promising therapeutic strategy for future treatment of ESCC.

In the context of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by dysregulated lipid metabolism in hepatocytes, the quest for safe and effective therapeutics targeting lipid metabolism has gained paramount importance. Sanhuang Xiexin Tang (SXT) and Baihu Tang (BHT) have emerged as prominent candidates for treating metabolic disorders. SXT combined with BHT plus Cangzhu (SBC) has been used clinically for Weihuochisheng obese patients. This retrospective analysis focused on assessing the anti-obesity effects of SBC in Weihuochisheng obese patients. We observed significant reductions in body weight and hepatic lipid content among obese patients following SBC treatment. To gain further insights, we investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of SBC in HFD-fed mice. The results demonstrated that SBC treatment mitigated body weight gain and hepatic lipid accumulation in HFD-fed mice. Pharmacological network analysis suggested that SBC may affect lipid metabolism, mitochondria, inflammation, and apoptosis-a hypothesis supported by the hepatic transcriptomic analysis in HFD-fed mice treated with SBC. Notably, SBC treatment was associated with enhanced hepatic mitochondrial biogenesis and the inhibition of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/NF-κB pathways. In conclusion, SBC treatment alleviates NAFLD in both obese patients and mouse models by improving lipid metabolism, potentially through enhancing mitochondrial biogenesis. These effects, in turn, ameliorate inflammation in hepatocytes.
Humans ; Mice ; Animals ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/metabolism* ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Organelle Biogenesis ; Retrospective Studies ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Obesity/metabolism* ; Liver ; Inflammation/metabolism* ; Body Weight ; Lipid Metabolism ; Lipids ; Diet, High-Fat/adverse effects*