The marine biological source of mineral drugs recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 version) mainly including pearl, nacre, clam shell, common oyster shell, ark shell, cuttle bone, and sea-ear shell are widely used in clinical. Calcium carbonate and a small amount of protein are the main components in this type of drugs. In this paper, a systematical and comparable study were carried out by determination of calcium carbonate by EDTA titration method, the crystal of calcium carbonate by X-Ray powder diffraction and the total amino acids (TAAs) of the hydrolyzed samples by ultraviolet spectrophotometry method. As a result, the crystal structure is calcite for common oyster shell, mixture of calcite and aragonite for nacre and sea-ear shell, aragonite for the other drugs. The content of calcium carbonate ranged from 86% to 96%. Cuttle bone has the highest amount of TAAs among the seven drugs which reached 1.7% while clam shell has the lowest content of 0.16% on average. In conclusion, an effective method was developed for the quality control of marine mineral drugs by comprehensive analysis of calcium carbonate and TAAs in the seven marine mineral drugs.
Amino Acids ; analysis ; chemistry ; Animal Shells ; chemistry ; Animals ; Calcium Carbonate ; analysis ; chemistry ; Crystallization ; Edetic Acid ; chemistry ; Mollusca ; chemistry ; classification ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; analysis ; chemistry ; standards ; Quality Control ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seawater ; Species Specificity ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet ; X-Ray Diffraction

Objective To investigate the leukemia incidence among residents in the vicinity area of a nuclear installation.Methods The data were collected by the retrospective survey.Diagnosis is based on the medical records in all the relevant hospitals.The study area was those residential areas within 10 km of radium surrounding the installation.All residents who had lived in the study area for six months and over were recruited into the study group.Results The survey ascertained 643 newly diagnosed leukemia cases in the study area during 1997 to 2007.The crude rate was 2.51/100,000,and its standardized rate to national population structure was 2.53/100,000.The incidence rate in the study area was slightly lower than that in the whole city.No increase trend was detected during the period.Conclusions No significant difference of the leukemia incidence rate was found between the vicinity area of the nuclear installation and the whole city.

AIM: To study the role of nitric oxide ( NO ) and γ-aminobutyric acid ( GABA) in the formation of amblyopia by establishing 2 different types of amblyopic models.METHODS:A total of 18 aged 3-week kittens were randomly divided into monocular deprivation, strabismus and normal groups. All types of amblyopia were developed in the experimental eyes that were detected by P-VEP 12wk later. The cats were killed and the immunocytochemistry staining method were applied to observe under the light microscope the changes of distribution and positive cells areas of NO and GABA across the amblyopic retinal, compared to that from the normal cats of identical age.
RESULTS: The P-VEP showed that the amplitude of wave P1 was lower (P<0. 05) and the P1 latent time was longer ( P<0. 05 ) in two types of amblyopic cats than those in the normal cats. Compared to the normal cats, the NO and GABA positive cells areas were obviously reduced ( P<0. 05 ) across the retina in the amblyopic cats. But no significant difference was found between two kinds of amblyopic cats.
CONCLUSION:The NO and GABA play an important role in the formation of amblyopia in the level of retinal.

Background and purpose:Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is one of the hot studied area in breast cancer research.Our aim was to explore the relationship between the clinical effect,pathological changes and the neoadjuvant chemotherapy containing THP and docetaxel on breast cancer.Methods:The expression of ER, PR and CerbB-2 in breast cancer tissue of patients who had received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were detected by immunohistochemistry method.The relationship of age,ER,PR,CerbB-2,pathological stage and axillary lymph node metastasis with pathological complete response(pCR) was analysed.Results:For the patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy,the pCR of the positive ER(0%),PR(9.38%) was lower than that of negative ER(20.27),PR(90.63%) respectively.The pCR of the positive CerbB-2(33.33%) was higher than that of negative CerbB-2(9.74%,P

Child ; Electroencephalography ; Epilepsy ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Syndrome ; Video Recording

Objective To explore the changes of plasma angiotensinⅡ (AngⅡ) and cardiac function,and the curative effect of children with acute viral myocarditis (VMC) treated with captopril(CAP).Methods Concentrations of plasma AngⅡ were measured with radio-immunity and cardiac function was detected by Doppler echocardiography for the VMC group (n=60) before and after treatment [the CAP group (n=30), the routine group (n=30) and the control group (n=30)].Results 1. The level of plasma AngⅡ significantly increased and the contractive and diastolic function obviously declined in children with acute VMC. There was a significant difference between VMC group and control group, with a significant correlation between the level of AngⅡand the contractive diastolic function.2. Compared with the level before treatment, the level of AngⅡ decreased and the contractive function obviously ameliorated in two groups; the diastolic function obviously ameliorated in the CAP group and did not ameliorate in the routine group after treatment. In CAP group the level of AngⅡ and the cardiac function significantly improved; there were statistical differences between the two groups after treatment.Conclusions 1.The increase of the plasma AngⅡ was an important factor for decrements of the contractive and diastolic function in acute viral myocarditis.2.It could decrease the concentration of plasma AngⅡ and ameliorate cardiac function in children with acute VMC treated with captopril,which was an effective therapy for acute VMC.

Adult ; Benzene ; poisoning ; Chronic Disease ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1 ; genetics ; Female ; Humans ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukopenia ; chemically induced ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Genetic

BACKGROUND: Acute pulmonary embolism (APE) is a disorder involving the pulmonary circulation resulting from a blockage of the pulmonary artery. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of aspirin on the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity in a rat model of APE. METHODS: A total of 108 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into six groups (n=18 rats per group): control group, sham operation group, APE model group, and low-, medium- and high-dose aspirin groups. Six, 24, and 72 hours after the induction of APE, rats in the low-, medium- and high-dose aspirin groups were given aspirin at a respective daily dose of 150, 300, and 600 mg/kg by gavage for three consecutive days. Rats in the other groups were treated with equal volumes of normal saline. Six rats in each group were anesthetized with 10％ chloral hydrate solution at each time point, and then the lung tissues were colected and analyzed using immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: Positive immunohistochemical staining was present in the bronchial epithelial cells, alveolar cells, macrophages, and surrounding bronchial smooth muscle cells. When compared with the APE model group, the number of positive cells was significantly lower in the other groups at each time point (P<0.001). Statistically significant differences were also observed among the aspirin-treated groups at 6 hours (P<0.05,P<0.001). Compared with the APE model group, NF-κB protein expression was reduced in the other groups at each time point (P<0.05,P<0.001). Rats from the APE model group had thrombosis, damaged alveolar walls, and pulmonary hemorrhage, along with different degrees of infl ammatory cellular infiltration at each time point. However, pathological changes such as pulmonary hemorrhage and infiltration of inflammatory cells were attenuated after the aspirin treatment. CONCLUSION: Aspirin can significantly inhibit NF-κB activity in the lung of rats with APE in a dose-dependent manner, and can alleviate lung injury after APE.

OBJECTIVEStudies have showed that L type calcium channel plays an important role in dentin calcification and affects tooth development and tooth reparation after injury. The objective of this article is to study the effects of nimodipine, blocking agent of L type calcium channel, on human dentinogenesis using human tooth slice organ culture in vitro.

METHODSYoung healthy human premolars were collected, and cut into 2 mm-thick transverse slices by low speed diamond saw. Agarose beads dipped in nimodipine solution and PBS weresy minetrically placed on tooth slices, and the slices were then embedded in a semisolid agarose-based medium and cultured with organ culture method for 1 week. Fluorescent band of tetracycline, Von-Kossa staining, immunohistochemical staining of the slices and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of odontoblasts were observed to evaluate dentinogenesis changes of the slices.

RESULTSTooth slices were successfully cultured in vitro for 1 week and the odontoblasts could maintain their original morphology. After treatment with nimodipine, the fluorescent band of tetracycline was narrow and weak, and globular calcification in predentine was decreased compared with the control. TEM showed that secretory vesicles in odontoblast were somewhat increased, hut iminunohistochemical staining for collagen I showed no difference between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONNimodipine can influence the calcification of dentine, but has no obvious influence on the synthesis and secretion of dentine matrix. The results show that L type calcium channel is important in dentin calcification.