Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapid progressive neurodegenerative disease, characterized by the degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons. The progressive motor unit loss due to lower motor neuron damage is one of the most important pathological process in ALS. However, there are lack of specific biomarkers for early diagnosis and progression monitoring of ALS. The relevant electrophysiologic techniques which quantify the number of motor unit have been developed rapidly in recent years. Among them, the motor unit number estimation (MUNE) and the motor unit number index (MUNIX) have been widely applied to quantify motor unit number loss in ALS. The most recent advances of MUNE and MUNIX in ALS were reviewed.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor deficits. In recent years, cognitive impairment in ALS has been widely concerned, and the concept of ALS-frontotemporal dementia spectrum has been commonly recognized and well-established. With the development of neuropsychology, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, neuropathology and neurogenetics, advances have been made in the diagnosis and pathophysiological mechanism of cognitive impairment in ALS. The most recent advances of cognitive impairment in ALS were reviewed.

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effects of compound Kushen Tang and its relevant mechanism in TNBS-in-duced ulcerative colitis ( UC) rats. Methods:UC was induced by TNBS in rats. After compound Kushen Tang was given orally, the levels of MDA, iNOS, and NO and the activity of MPO, SOD, and GSH-Px were measured. The general condition of rats and colon tissue morphology were observed. Results:The levels of MDA (P<0. 05), iNOS (P<0. 01) and NO (P<0. 01) and the activity of MPO (P<0. 01) in tissues of UC rats were significantly higher than the control group. The activity of SOD (P<0. 01) and GSH-Px (P<0. 05) were significantly lower than those in the control group. After the treatment with high doses of compound Kushen Tang, the levels of MPO (P<0. 01), MDA (P<0. 05), iNOS (P<0. 05) and NO (P<0. 01) were significantly decreased, and the activity of SOD (P<0. 01) and GSH-Px (P<0. 05) significantly increased. The therapeutic effect was dose-dependent and the general con-dition of rats and colon tissue morphology were also significantly improved. Conclusion:Compound Kushen Tang is considered as a no-vel therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of UC, which can reduce coloni inflammatory injury and ameliorate the colitis.

OBJECTIVE To establish the characteristic chromatogram of Chaenomeles sinensis， determine the contents of rutin， hyperin and quercitrin， and to identify C. sinensis and C. speciosa. METHODS HPLC method was performed on Agilent 5 TC-C18 column， with acetonitrile-0.2% formic acid solution as the mobile phase for gradient elution， at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The column temperature was 30 ℃ . The detection wavelength was 330 nm in characteristic chromatogram and 350 nm in content determination. The characteristic chromatogram of C. sinensis was established and similarity was evaluated by the Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM （2012 edition）. Hierarchical cluster analysis of 15 batches of C. sinensis （S1-S15） was performed by using SPSS 23.0 software. The contents of 3 flavones in 15 batches of C. sinensis and 7 batches of C. speciosa （S16-S22） were determined， while their characteristic chromatograms were compared. RESULTS The similarities of the characteristic chromatogram for 15 batches of C. sinensis ranged from 0.783 to 0.969， and 11 characteristic peaks were confirmed. Four constituents were identified as chlorogenic acid， rutin， hyperin and quercitrin. The medicinal materials in 15 batches of C. sinensis could be divided into 2 categories： S5-S8 were one category， and the others belonged to one category. The characteristic chromatogram of C. sinensis was obviously different from C. speciosa. The contents of rutin， hyperin and quercitrin in 15 batches of C. sinensis were 48.99-294.45， 3.49-102.55， 31.98-149.49 μg/g， respectively. The content of rutin in C. speciosa was lower than that in C. sinensis. None of hyperin （except for S20） and quercitrin were detected in C. speciosa. CONCLUSIONS The characteristic chromatogram and the method for content determination of 3 flavones in C. sinensis are established successfully and can be used for the quality control of C. sinensis and its identification from C. speciosa.