Chinese Caterpillar Fungus (CCF) is one of the rare Chinese traditional drugs. As the resource is reducing sharply, the price is rising higher and higher, and there have been much more adulterants in the markets, but until now we don't have a scientific and accurate research on the identification study for this drug. On the basis of resource investigation, during the study of the samples collected by ourselves and the specimens stored in the museum, using the macroscopic and microscopic methods, referring to the literatures of entomology, emphasizing on the characteristics of polypide part, we have studied this species in detail of the macroscopic characters such as the insertion position of the stroma part, the annulations and segments of the caterpillar, the abdominal leg, the pinaculum, and the microscopic characters of the body wall; firstly added the microscopic character of the crotchets on the planta of abdominal leg. The result turned out that the characters which we have studied are regular and stable, and it have laid the foundation for the powder products and patent medicines which have used the crude drug of CCF.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the macroscopic and microscopic identification method for Cordyceps Feturae. METHODS: By using stereomicroscopy and optical microscopy, introducing the professional terms of entomology and mycology, and combining the macroscopic and microscopic fetures of caterpillar part and stroma part, the samples of Cordyceps Feturae were observed and recorded, and compared with wild Cordyceps sinensis products, and the counterfeits-Cordyceps hawksii and Cordyceps taii. RESULTS: There was a slight difference in the morphological characteristics between Cordyceps Feturae and wild Cordyceps sinensis, but there was a significant difference between Cordyceps Feturae and the counterfeits. CONCLUSION: The macroscopic and microscopic identification method can be used for identification of Cordyceps Feturae, wild Cordyceps sinensis and the counterfeits.

Objective To evaluate the effects of right ventricular pressure load on left ventricular ( LV) myocardial mechanics using speckle tracking technology ,and to detect the change of LV function in patients with pulmonary hypertension( PH) at a earlier stage ,in order to provide reference for early clinical intervention . Methods The study included 74 patients with PH and 40 healthy volunteers ,who had of similar age and sex distribution . According to the pulmonary artery systolic pressure ( PASP) ,patients with PH were divided into mild ,moderate and severe groups ,which were marked with A ,B ,C , respectively . All subjects underwent echocardiographic examination . Conventional echocardiographic parameters ,the systolic longitudinal ,radial and circumferential peak strain ( LS ,RS ,CS) in various segments of LV ,as well as basal and apical segment myocardial rotation angle peak and peak time were determined ,LV systolic global longitudinal ,radial and circumferential strain (GLS ,GRS ,GCS) ,free wall (LAT ,lateral wall+ posterior wall) and interventricular septum ( IVS ,anteroseptal+ posteroseptal) overall LS ,RS ,CS were calculated . Results ①LVejectionfraction(LVEF):groupA,B,Chadnosignificantreduction(P>0.05)thanthe control group . ②Overall LS ,RS ,CS of LAT of LV and IVS and GLS ,GRS ,GCS of LV :B ,C group were lower than the control group and group A and C were lower than group B ( P < 0 .05) . ③ The rotation angle in ventricular apical basal segments and segment :group B and C were lower than the control group and group A and C were lower than group B ( P <0 .05) . ④GLS ,GRS ,GCS and overall LS ,RS ,CS of LAT and IVS were similar between group A and the control group( P >0 .05) ,but LV base segment rotation of groupAwaslowerthanthatofthecontrolgroup(P<0.05).Conclusions ①Rightventricularpressure overload can lead to increased LV mechanical damage ,LV strain changes were earlier than the change of LVEF . ②LV strain with increased right ventricular pressure overload is gradually reduced . ③Compared with other strain parameters , LV basal segments rotation angle were able to detect changes of LV myocardiol mechanics in patients with PH more sensitively .

Recently, there are many prominent problems about the quality ofIndigo Naturalis. To explore the underlying reasons, both ancient and modern herbal literatures were reviewed. Through the organization of recordings onIndigo Naturalis, the traditional process method required soaking and fermentation, stiring and depositing, foaming and shade drying. The currently usedIndigo Naturalis was mostly isolated and purified from crude deposit -“Cu-Dian.” The modern process technique ofIndigo Naturalis was gradually deviated from the traditional processing method. This paper also discussed the quality standards ofIndigo Naturalis. The author considered that the current standard on descriptions ofIndigo Naturalis characteristics was deviated from the traditional morphological features ofIndigo Naturalis, which should be further researched and verified. Therefore, this study provided certain references for the quality control and market supervision ofIndigo Naturalis.

Purpose To investigate the value of three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in evaluating the cardiac function in breast cancer patients treated with Anthracycline. Materials and Methods Thirty-two breast cancer patients were followed with three-dimensional echocardiography prechemotherapy (group A), 2 cycles (group B) and 4 cycles (group B) postchemotherapy to compare left ventricle global longitudinal strain (GLS), global radial strain (GRS), global circular strain (GCS), global area strain (GAS), early diastolic global area strain rate (EASR), and early diastolic 3D velocity (3DVe). Results GCS, GAS and EASR were signiifcantly lower in group C than group A (t=3.555, 3.692 and 3.590, P<0.01);EASR was lower in group B than group A with statistical significance (t=2.190, P<0.05). GLS, GRS and 3DVe were not significantly different among three groups (F=2.305, 1.957 and 1.205, P>0.05). EASR was negatively correlated with IVRT (r=-0.44, P<0.01); EASR was positively correlated with Em (r=0.49, P<0.01) and Em/Am (r=0.32, P<0.01). GSR was positively correlated with Sm (r=0.21, P<0.05). Conclusion Three-dimensional echocardiography sensitively detects the early changes in diastole function in breast cancer patients treated with Anthracycline.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method for determination of D(-) sulbenicillin sodium in sulbenicillin sodium for injection by HPLC/MS. METHODS: The analysis was performed on a SHIMADZU VP-ODS column with mobile phase consisting of 0.01 mol·L-1 ammonium acetate solution-methanol (90:10) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL·min-1. The detection was performed by Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) scanning mode with ESI negative ion mode. RESULTS: D(-) and L(+) sulbenicillin could be effectively separated. Good liner relationship was achieved when the concentration of D(-) sulbenicillin was in the range of 1.03-51.90 μg· mL-1 (r = 0.9997). The average recovery rate was 99.98% at three levels (RSD = 0.30%, n = 9). CONCLUSION: The MRM method is accurate, reliable, and can be used for the determination of D(-) sulbenicillin sodium in sulbenicillin sodium for injection.

Objective To establish an accurate sorting method with less interference to the cell activity for isolating CD 3+CD4+T lymphocytes in human intestinal tissue .Methods Firstly the digestive enzymes were adopted to decompose the human intestinal tissue ,and then the cell suspension was obtained by the filtration of 40 μm cell strainer .Mononuclear cells were collected by using continuous density Percoll gradient centrifugation technique ,then the flow cytometry was adopted to sort CD3+ CD4+ T lympho-cytes in mononuclear cells .The survival rate ,cell purity and morphological observation of the sorted cells were adopted to conduct the evaluation on the sorting method .Results The digestive enzymes well decomposed human intestinal tissue into cell suspension , the purity of CD3+CD4+ T lymphocytes by using continuous density Percoll gradient centrifugation was (43 .9 ± 7 .3)% ,while the purity of CD3+CD4+ T lymphocytes was(96 .9 ± 1 .2)% after fluorescence-activated cell sorting ,the difference between them was statistically significant(P<0 .01) .The survival rate of sorted CD3+CD4+ T lymphocytes was(97 .8 ± 1 .6)% with intact cell shape . Conclusion The Percoll gradient centrifugation technique combined with the fluorescence-activated cell sorting not only collects highly pure human intestinal CD3+CD4+ T lymphocytes with little influence on the cell activity and shape ,but aslo may be carried out under sterile conditions ,the sorted cells can continue to be used in the other functional researches .

Epmedii Folium is a commonly used traditional Chinese drug, and is beneficial for the "liver" and "kidney" s function in Chinese medicine. Recently, the origin of this drug is more complex. Most of the identification studies are emphasized on the species certified by the pharmacopoeia and other related species from the same genus of Epimedium, but few was emphasized on the counterfeit. In this paper, one counterfeit of Epmedii Folium, identified as the dried leaf of Quercus variabilis (Fam. Fagaceae), has been reported based on field investigation, comparing specimen of Epmedii Folium and Q. variabilis,using the macroscopic, microscopic and TmC methods. It is resulted that they could be identified clearly not only by the macroscopic features, such as the vein character and the tooth apex, but also by the microscopic features, such as the vascular bundles of the midrib, the non-glandular hair, the anticlinal wall of the epidermis cell and the calcium oxalate crystal. Furthermore their TLC chromatograms showed also difference. This study will give reference for the identification of Epmedii Folium and the related supervision and inspection work.
China ; Discriminant Analysis ; Epimedium ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Plant Leaves ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry ; Quercus ; anatomy & histology ; chemistry

Chinese Caterpillar Fungus (CCF) is one of the rare Chinese traditional drugs. As the resource is reducing sharply, the price is rising higher and higher, and there have been much more adulterants in the markets, but until now we don't have a scientific and accurate research on the identification study for this drug. On the basis of resource investigation, during the study of the samples collected by ourselves and the specimens stored in the museum, using the macroscopic and microscopic methods, referring to the literatures of entomology, emphasizing on the characteristics of polypide part, we have studied this species in detail of the macroscopic characters such as the insertion position of the stroma part, the annulations and segments of the caterpillar, the abdominal leg, the pinaculum, and the microscopic characters of the body wall; firstly added the microscopic character of the crotchets on the planta of abdominal leg. The result turned out that the characters which we have studied are regular and stable, and it have laid the foundation for the powder products and patent medicines which have used the crude drug of CCF.
Animals ; Cordyceps ; ultrastructure ; Larva ; anatomy & histology ; ultrastructure ; Lepidoptera ; anatomy & histology ; ultrastructure ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

OBJECTIVETo explore the value of spinal canal and dural sac dimensions for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation in MRI.

METHODSThe clinical data of 144 patients with single-level lumbar disc herniation underwent nonsurgical or surgical treatment from January 2010 to December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 91 patients in the nonsurgical group, including 55 males and 36 females, ranging in age from 20 to 68 years old with an average of (43.37±12.48) years; and there were 53 patients in the surgical group, including 28 males and 25 females, ranging in age from 20 to 64 years old with an average of (42.98±12.95) years. JOA scores (29 scores) were used to evaluate clinical manifestation (including subjective symptoms, objective findings, limitation of daily activities and bladder function) and outcomes. The parameters related to spinal canal and dural sac dimensions (including spinal canal midsagittal diameter and available diameter, lateral recess width, spinal canal and dural sac cross-sectional area) in the initial axial T2-weighted MRI were measured, and odds ratio of available diameter to midsagittal diameter, odds ratio of lateral recess width to midsagittal diameter and area ratio of dural sac to spinal canal were calculated. Then, the differences of all parameters between two groups, and the correlations with initial JOA scores were analyzed.

RESULTS(1) All patients were followed up from 1 to 3 years with an average of 2.1 years. JOA scores before treatment were 16.27±2.96 in nonsurgical group and 12.64±3.30 in surgical group, there was statistically significant difference (t=6.319, P<0.01). At final follow-up time, there was no statistically significant difference in JOA scores (25.41±2.22 vs 25.76±2.29), improvement rate [(72.95±12.54)% vs (76.80±9.45)%], and the excellent and good rate (84.91% vs 78.02%) between two groups (P>0.05). But, the relapse rate of nonsurgical group was higher than surgical group (14.29% vs 5.67%). (2) Spinal canal midsagittal diameter and available diameter, lateral recess width, spinal canal and dural sac area, the ratio of available diameter to midsagittal diameter, and the ratio of lateral recess width to midsagittal diameter in surgical group were smaller than that of nonsurgical group, but the area ratio of dural sac to spinal canal was larger, and there were statistically significant differences between two groups (P<0.01). (3) The initial JOA scores showed significantly positive correlation with spinal canal midsagittal diameter and available diameter, lateral recess width, and canal and dural sac area (P<0.01); also presented positive correlation with the ratio of available diameter to midsagittal diameter and the ratio of lateral recess width to midsagittal diameter (P<0.05); but there was a significantly negative correlation between initial JOA scores and the area ratio of dural sac to spinal canal.

CONCLUSIONBoth nonsurgical and surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation can obtain good effect, but the recurrence rate of non-surgical treatment is higher. Preoperative MRI measurement parameters of spinal canal and dural sac dimensions has certain value for the treatment selection of lumbar disc herniation, but further refinement and validation is still required.

Adult ; Aged ; Dura Mater ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; pathology ; therapy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Canal ; pathology