This study is to develop a sensitive method by using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled with UV detector (HPLC-UV) to simultaneously determine four bioactive compounds, iriflophenone 3-C-beta-D-glucoside, iriflophenone 3,5-C-beta-D-diglucoside, mangiferin, and iriflophenone 2-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside in the leaves of Aquilaria sinensis. An Agilent Zorbax SB-C, column (4, 6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was used, and the gradient elution was performed with mobile phase of 0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 1 mL x min(-1). The detection wavelength was 280 nm, and the column temperature was 25 degrees C. The four marker compounds were well separated with good linearity (R2 > 0.9990), precision, stability and repeatabili y. The-recovery rates were in the range of 98.80%-101.39%. For 15 branch of the leaves, the contents of iriflophenone 3-C-beta-D-gluoside, iriflophenone 3,5-C-beta-D-diglucoside, mangiferin, and iriflophenone 2-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside were between 0.41-14.48, 0.72-3.85, 4.30-29.07, 0.24-5.06 mg, respectivley. This method is precise, accurate and reliable, which provides an efficient way for the quality control of the leaves of A. sinensis. This will promote the comprehensive usage of this plant.
Benzophenones ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ; methods ; Thymelaeaceae ; chemistry ; Xanthones ; analysis

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of trimebutine combined with mosapride on functional dyspepsia. Methods Patients with functional dyspepsia were randomly divided into three clinical groups. Group A (n=116) received 0.2 g trimebutine after meal,group the drug combination B (n=116) received 5 mg mosapride before meal,and the drug combination group (n=115) received 0. 2 g trimebutine after meal plus 5 mg mosapride before meal. All medications were taken orally three times daily for 4 weeks. Improvement in clinical symptoms and adverse reactions in each group were evaluated at the end of study. Results A total of 339 patients among 347 enrollees completed the treatment and follow-up. The clinical efficacy on postprandial fullness, early satiation, epigastric pain, epigastric burning, upper abdominal bloating and nausea were 88. 4%,76. 9%,72. 9%,61. 8%,86. 7% and 81. 7%,respectively in the drug combination group after 4-week treatment,which were superior to those in group A or B (P<0. 05) except for epigastric burning. The total effective rate of the drug combination group was 78. 8%,significantly higher than the other two groups (P<0. 05). The total incidence of side effects in the drug combination group was 1. 8%,similar to that of group A and B (1. 8% and 0. 9%,respectively, P =0. 776). Conclusion Trimebutine combined with mosapride is safe and effective for improving symptoms in functional dyspepsia.

For the establishment of chemical library of protoberberines provided for the bio-activity screening, the target compounds were synthesized by thermal degradation and nucleophilic substitution reactions with the bio-active alkaloid, palmatine (1), as the raw material, and their structures were identified and conformed by 1H-NMR and MS spectra. Among them, 13 compounds were new.
Berberine Alkaloids ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure

OBJECTIVETo select the optimum purification process of all tubeimosides from Bolbostemma paniculatum by macroporous resin.

METHODStatic absorption test and deabsorption test were carried out to screen the best macroporous resin for all tubeimosides. The single factor test, orthogonal experimental designs and variance analysis were applied to optimize the manipulation parameters of macroporous resin.

RESULTThe macroporous resin NKA possessed the strongest absorption ability to all tubeimosides among the 9 resins studied, in addition to an easy de-absorption property. The optimum absorption conditions were A2B3C1, namely concentration of feed 30 mg x mL(-1), diameter: height of the chromatography column 1:7, the weight ratio of raw material and resins 1:2.

CONCLUSIONThe above experimental results can provide experimental basis for large-scale purification process of all tubeimosides.

Cucurbitaceae ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Resins, Synthetic ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Saponins ; isolation & purification ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Triterpenes ; isolation & purification

A new algorithm of adaptive super-resolution (SR) reconstruction based on the regularization parameter is proposed to reconstruct a high-resolution (HR) image from the low-resolution (LR) image sequence, which takes into full account the inaccurate estimates of motion error, point spread function (PSF) and the additive Gaussian noise in the LR image sequence. We established a novel nonlinear adaptive regularization function and analyzed experimentally its convexity to obtain the adaptive step size. This novel algorithm can effectively improve the spatial resolution of the image and the rate of convergence, which is verified by the experiment on optical images.
Algorithms ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Motion ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the estrogenic activity of several kinds of Chinese herbal medicines.

METHODUse zoopery and reporter gene technique to study the estrogenic activity of five Chinese herbal medicines. Zoopery: weanling female Kunming mice weight 9-12 g were administrated botanical extracts of Selaginella tamariscina, Pinus Massoniana, Corallodiscus flabellate, Dryopteris sublaeta and Leonurus heterophyllus, the positive control group with Nilestriol tablets and control group with water, respectiely. On the eighth day, the animals were sacrificed and the uteri were separated solely and weighed. Reporter gene technique: Induce the expression of reporter gene controlled by ERE and measure the activity of luciferase on cell's clear supernatant.

RESULTThe botanical extracts of S. tamariscina can increase weights of mice (P < 0.01); In the expression of reporter gene controlled by ERE, Either ERalpha or ERbeta's has estrogenic activity (P < 0.01). Follow in the zoopery we find the water part and the n-butanol part of S. tamariscina are the two active parts.

CONCLUSIONS. tamariscina and it's water part and n-butanol part have estrogenic activities, effect on ERbeta is greater than ERalpha.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Estrogen Receptor alpha ; metabolism ; Estrogen Receptor beta ; metabolism ; Female ; Leonurus ; chemistry ; Mice ; Organ Size ; drug effects ; Phytoestrogens ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Pinus ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Selaginellaceae ; chemistry ; Uterus ; anatomy & histology

To increase the resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of magnetic resonance (MR) images, an adaptively regularized super-resolution reconstruction algorithm was proposed and applied to acquire high resolution MR images from 4 subpixel-shifted low resolution images on the same anatomical slice. The new regularization parameter, which allowed the cost function of the new algorithm to be locally convex within the definition region, was introduced by the piori information to enhance detail restoration of the image with a high frequency. The experiment results proved that the proposed algorithm was superior to other counterparts in achieving the reconstruction of low-resolution MR images.
Algorithms ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; methods ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods

OBJECTIVETo analyze risk factors of marginal donors in living donor liver transplantation.

METHODS98 living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) patients over the 7-year period from 2001 to 2007 in our transplantation center were retrospected. Potential risk factors, including donor age, gender-mismatch, steatotic donors and graft-recipient weight ratio (GRWR), and their relationship with 6-month patient survival rate were analyzed.

RESULTSThe 4 patients received livers with more than 30% steatosis died within 6 months, and 6-month survival rate was 91.7% in patients received livers with less than 30% steatosis. The 6-month survival rate was 86.9% and 87.8% in patients with grafts of GRWR more than 0.8% and in patients with graft of GRWR less than 0.8%, respectvely (x2=0.022, P more than 0.05), however, middle hepatic vein reconstruction significantly affected the survival rate of small-size-liver recipients (x2=10.612, P less than 0.01). Donor age and gender-mismatch were not associated with the survival rate of recipients (P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSSteatosis is an important risk factor in living donor liver transplantation. Lower GRWR is not a limitation but we must reconsider its importance in liver transplantation. The donor age and gender-mismatch are not associated with the survival rate of recipients.

Humans ; Liver Transplantation ; Living Donors ; Organ Size ; Risk Factors

In this study, we propose that diprophylline exerts bidirectional modulation (BM) on the isolated rat jejunal segment depending on its contractile state. The results supported the hypothesis. Diprophylline (20 microM) exerted stimulatory effects on the contractility of jejunal segment in six low contractile states while inhibitory effects in six high contractile states, showing the characteristics of BM. Diprophylline-induced stimulatory effect was significantly blocked by atropine, indicating the correlation with cholinergic activation. Diprophylline-induced inhibitory effect was partially blocked by phentolamine, propranolol, and L-N-Nitro-Arginine respectively, indicating their correlation with sympathetic activation and nitric oxide-mediated relaxing mechanisms. Diprophylline-induced BM was abolished by tetrodotoxin or in a Ca2+ free condition or pretreated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib, suggesting that diprophylline-induced BM is Ca2+ dependent, and that it requires the presence of enteric nervous system as well as pacemaker activity of interstitial cells of Cajal. Diprophylline significantly increased the reduced MLCK expression and myosin extent in constipation-prominent rats and significantly decreased the increased MLCK expression and myosin extent in diarrhea-prominent rats, suggesting that the change of MLCK expression may also be involved in diprophylline-induced BM on rat jejunal contractility. In summary, diprophylline-exerted BM depends on the contractile states of the jejunal segments, requires the presence of Ca2+, enteric nervous system, pacemaker activity of interstitial cells of Cajal, and MLCK-correlated myosin phosphorylation. The results suggest the potential implication of diprophylline in relieving alternative hypo/hyper intestinal motility.
Animals ; Atropine ; Dyphylline ; Enteric Nervous System ; Gastrointestinal Motility ; Interstitial Cells of Cajal ; Myosins ; Phentolamine ; Phosphorylation ; Propranolol ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Rats* ; Tetrodotoxin ; Imatinib Mesylate

BACKGROUND: Single tooth loss at posterior mandibular area is difficult to complete regularly axial implantation under limited conditions. Concerning this problem, some scholars employ the skill of tilted implantation with abutment angulations to restore it. However, the security study of this design has been limited until now. OBJECTIVE: To provide theoretical evidence for tilted implantation in the posterior mandibular area, and to make a biomechanical analysis on bone-implant interface after titled implantation under the same dynamic force stress. METHODS: First, restoration models of implant crown at different tilting angles in posterior mandibular area were built and optimized using the software CBCT and DICOM. Then dynamic force stress was applied in chewing cycles of the crown model. Finally, the stress-strain analysis of bone-implant interface was made by utilizing the three-dimensional finite element software Ansys. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) When the dental implant in the axis implantation was tilted to the lingual side at 5° or 10°, the maximum stress and strain values at the bone interface were 53.8 MPa and 2 671, respectively, under three loading conditions: the force during the chewing cycle was given vertical to the implant, toward the lingual side from the buccal side at 45° with the long axis of the tooth, and toward the buccal side from the lingual side at 45° with the long axis of the tooth. (2) When the implant inclined to the lingual side at a 15° angle, the rear edge of the implant was close to the interface between the cortical and cancellous bone, and the stress and strain values were bigger than those at any other implantation angle. (3) When the implant inclined to the lingual side at a 20° angle, the rear edge of the implant was beyond the interface between the cortical and cancellous bone, and contacted with the cortical bone that provided a support for the rear part of the implant. The stress and strain values on the bone interface were both reduced. The stress was concentrated in the cortex around the neck of the implant, and reduced a lot in the cancellous bone. The maximum strain value appeared at the contact site between the bone interface and the implant neck or rear part. It is concluded that in posterior mandibular area, the dental implant can be implanted at a < 10° linguoclination angle.