Accidents, Occupational ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Ammonia ; poisoning ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Young Adult

Ginsenosides,which belongs to triterpenoid saponins of plant terpenoids,are the main active components of the valuable medicinal herbs ginseng and American ginseng.Recent studies show that ginsenosides have a variety of beneficial effects,including anti-inflamatory,antioxidant,and anticancer effects.Ginsenosides are synthesized by complicated modification of triterpenoid skeleton after cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene through triterpene saponin synthesis pathway in which they share common early steps with phytosterols synthesis.It outlines recent advances for the biosynthesis of ginsenosides,the cloning and characterization of genes encoding key enzymes in the pathway and the basal framework of ginsenosides biosynthesis pathway.The prospects of secondary metabolism engineering in the biosynthesis of plant natural products and its application in ginsenosides biosynthesis are also discussed.

OBJECTIVETo study the infrared (IR) fingerprint spectra of Coptis chinensis for different parts, ages, and heights, and to analyze the integrate rules about the content of berberine component in Coptis chinensis for different parts, ages, and heights.

METHODThe Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was applied to detect the infrared spectra of Coptis chinensis samples rapidly and non-separately.

RESULTSThe IR spectra of the root, leafstalk, and fibre of Coptis chinesis have their unique features. The content of berberine component in Coptis chinensis was different for different parts and the sequence: root > leafstalk > fibre. When Coptis chinensis grows, the content of berberine component in leafstalk also increases. The content of berberine component in leafstalk which planting in 1 200 m was less than that in 1 300, 1 400, and 1 500 m. The ages and heights provide no obvious influences on the content of berberine in the root of Coptis chinensis.

CONCLUSIONUsing FTIR spectroscopy, the quality of Coptis chinensis can be controlled, which provides a useful method for the standardized planting of Coptis chinensis.

Altitude ; Berberine ; analysis ; Coptis ; chemistry ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared ; Time Factors

To investigate the effects of oxymatrine injection (OI) combined with low-dose paclitaxel on expressions of mRNAs and proteins of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) in human gastric carcinoma SGC-7901 cells.

In this study, modification technology by surface coating was used to improve the flowability of powder of Chinese herbs extracts. Seven kinds of powder of Chinese herbs extracts were coated with 1% silica nanoparticles using an under-driven Comil. The powder characteristics tester was used to evaluate the flowability of uncoated and coated powders. Surface morphology and particle size distribution of powders were compared by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope. The powder hygroscopicity was also investigated. The results showed that, after modification, angle of repose, angle of spatula, compressibility and adhesiveness extremely decreased, and flowability index substantially increased, the powder flowability was significantly improved, especially Gegen and Dahuang extracts powders. Scanning electron microscopy images showed the distribution of silica nanoparticles on the host drug particle surfaces. There were no remarkable changes in the particle size distribution and hygroscopicity of all powders after coating. Therefore, Comilling for surface coating modification technology was an effective method to improve the flowability of Chinese herbs extracts and suggested a possible way forward to enhance the quality of Chinese drugs pharmaceutics in their study and manufacture.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Nanoparticles ; chemistry ; Particle Size ; Powders ; chemistry ; Surface Properties

Objective To investigate the clinical manifestation of trachoma,and to select the appropriate laboratory test for clini- cal diagnosis.Design Retrospective case series.Participants Retrospective analysis of medical records from 61 patients with trachoma from Jan 2003 to Aug 2006 in Bejing Tongren Eye Center.Methods Grades of trachoma diagnosis were according to the criteria de- signed by Chinese Ophthalmological Society (1979).The general state of health,case history,and the laboratory investigations of pa- tients were recorded.Laboratory tests included the conjunctiva scraping for inclusions,C.trachomatis immune antigen test and PCR test.Main Outcome Measures Manifestation of corneal and conjunctiva,the results of laboratory tests of C.trachomatis.Results Out of sixty-one patients including 28 males and 33 females,the average old was (29.05?19.99) years.88.5% cases were inⅠstage of tra- choma,8.2% were inⅡstage,and 3.3% were inⅢstage.The C.trachomatis inclusions were found in 7 (11.5%) scraping smears.42 (68.9%) cases were positive in C.trachomatis antigen test.46 (75.4%) cases were positive in PCR tests.The positive rates of antigen and PCR test were significantly higher than that of scraping (P=0.00).Conclusions A majority of clinical patients were inⅠstage of trachoma.The degree of their distress was minimal.It is necessary to apply C.trachomatis,antigen test or PCR test to improve the clin- ical diagnosis.

Objective To understand the relationship between the infants′iron-deficiency anemia and the dependents′KAP (knowledge,attitude,practice)of iron nutrition,and to provide a theoretical support for the prevention and cure of the infants′iron-eficiency anemia.Methods A total of 960 infants,aging from 6 months to 36 months,were randomly chosen as samples at the child care clinics in Wuhan while they were doing their routine health check-up there.Their hemoglobin was examined.Their dependents were asked to fill in questionnaires about KAP of iron nutrition.Results The ratio of anemia in infants in Wuhan is 26.6%.The ra-tio difference of different age groups has statistical significance(P <0.05).The dependents′KAP of iron nutrition is in direct pro-portion to their educational level and family income.The ratio of anemia in infants is in inverse proportion to their dependents′edu-cational level and family income.The dependents′knowledge,attitude and practice of iron-intake were positively related.The aver-age score of guardian nutrition knowledge(K)was (11.96±3.77)points,the average score of attitude(A)was (7.09±2.80)points while the average score of feeding practice(P)was (18.05±3.60)points.Conclusion Much publicity should be given to the knowl-edge of iron nutrition and it should be conducted from various perspectives,in order to improve the cognitive level of the depend-ents′knowledge of iron nutrition and to lower the ratio of anemia in infants.

[ABSTRACT]AIM:Toobservetheeffectofazithromycinontheratswithchronicobstructivepulmonarydisease ( COPD) , and to explore the underlying mechanism about the airway inflammation and mucus hypersecretion.METH-ODS:Male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group, COPD model group, azithromycin treatment group. The COPD model was established by the method of cigarette smoking combined with intratracheal injection of LPS.Patho-logical changes of the bronchi and lung tissues of the rats were observed with HE staining.Pulmonary ventilation function in the rats was detected with pulmonary function instrument.The levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured by ELISA.The expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in bronchi and lung tissues was determined by real-time PCR and Western blot.RESULTS:HE staining showed that the changes of bron-chi and lung tissues in model group were consistent with typical pathological manifestations of COPD .Compared with model group, these changes were alleviated in treatment group.The pulmonary functions in model group were significantly de-creased compared with control group.The levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin the BALF in model group were significantly increased compared with control group (P<0.05).The expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in model group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05).Compared with model group, the degree of the descent in pulmonary function in treatment group was significantly lessened.Compared with model group, the levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin treatment group were significantly inhibited (P<0.05).Furthermore, the expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 at mRNA and protein levels in treatment group was significantly lower than that in model group ( P<0.05 ) . CONCLUSION:Azithromycin decreases the levels of IL-8, IL-17 and TNF-αin the BALF of COPD model rats, inhibits the protein expression of MUC5ac and TLR4 in the lung tissues, thus playing a preventive and therapeutic role to reduce airway inflammation and airway mucus hypersecretion.

Objective To investigate the correlations between miRNA and mRNA ( the regulatory effects of miRNA) in a rat model of trinitro-benzene-sulfonic acid (TNBS)/ethanol induced ulcerative colitis ( UC) .Methods TNBS and ethanol were used to induce the development of UC in rats .After the modeling procedure and oral administration of normal saline ( NS) for 14 days, rats from the control and model groups were dissected to collect the samples of colonic mucosa .General and histological evaluations were performed to validate the modeling of UC .The expression of miRNA was profiled using miRNA microarray .The target miRNAs that were closely related to the pathogenesis of UC were selected out according to the results of mi -croarray and related literatures .RT-PCR was performed to verify the differentially expressed miRNAs .The mirWalk database was used to predict the target genes of miRNAs .In order to verify whether the predicted results were in accordance with the actual results , the microarray technology was used for mRNA expression profiling .The genes that showed interactions with those miRNAs were screened out .The David database was used for gene annotation .An interaction net between miRNA and mRNA was formed .Results General and histological manifestation of colon tissue samples from the model group were in accordance with the features of UC.Sixty-eight miRNAs were identified to be differentially expressed in rats from the model group and the control group (fold change>2, P<0.05, expression mean>7).Six candidate miRNAs were selected as hav-ing close relations to the pathogenesis of UC referring to reported literatures , the expression of which was checked and verified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Compared with the control group, 4 miRNAs (miR-146a-5p, miR-146b-5p, miR-126a-3p and miR-21-5p) were up-regulated (P<0.01, P<0.05) and 2 miRNAs (miR-200b-3p and miR-145-5p) were down-regulated (P<0.01) in rats with TNBS/ethanol induced UC.Four mRNAs (IL-6, Ccl5, Mapk3 and Smad7) that interacted with the 6 miRNAs were identified based on the results of target gene prediction of the above 6 miRNAs and gene expression pro-filing.The David database was used to annotate the interactions for elucidating their significance in the path -ogenesis of UC .Conclusion A miRNA can regulate many signaling pathways and a signaling pathway can also be regulated by many miRNAs .Therefore , simply inhibiting certain pathways may not radically stop the process of inflammation .Studying the functions of miRNAs and elucidating the correlations between miRNA and mRNA might fundamentally inhibit the development of UC .

Background Trachoma is a common disease in ophthalmology,but few reports about the pathogenetic genotype are reported.Objective This study was to investigate the genotypes of Chlamydia trachomatis.Methods Conjunctival specimens were collected in 16 patients with trachoma in Beijing Tongren Eye Center from January,2003 and August,2006.Variable sequence 4 (VS4) of ompl fragment was amplified by nested PCR(n-PCR) using specific primer of Chlamydia trachomatis,and then the PCR products were sequenced.The DNA sequences were analyzed by software Clustal X and MEGA2,and the genetic characteristics were compared with the known sequences of GenBank.Results The PCR product fragment of MOMP gene of trachoma was 277 bp.Three types of Chlamydia trachomatis strains were idcntified in the 16 specimens,including B-genotype in 9 strains (56.3％),C-genotype in 4 strains(25.0％) and D-genotype in 3 strains(18.7％).High homology was seen in the gene sequences of Chlamydia trachomatis strains between the B-genotype or C-genotype strains and the same genotypes of GenBank or those from some districts of China.However,some differences were exhibited among the Dgenotype strains.Conclusions Identification of genotype of Chlamydia trachomatis has differential effect on trachoma and inclusion conjunctivitis.