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.

Background::Essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are common movement disorders. ET-PD syndrome is characterized by the occurrence of PD in patients with a previous history of ET, which may be an independent phenotype distinct from PD. This study aims to identify clinical characteristics and subtypes in ET-PD.Methods::A total of 93 newly diagnosed ET-PD patients and 93 newly diagnosed PD patients matched for age, sex, education, and disease duration of PD were selected using propensity score matching analysis. The K-means cluster analysis was performed for 11 variables derived from the ET-PD group, and cluster profiles were established through statistical analysis of demographic and clinical variables.Results::The ET-PD group consisted of a high number of patients with a family history of ET exhibiting evident tremor with milder hypokinesia and postural instability symptoms, as compared to the PD group. Through the cluster analysis, two clusters of ET-PD patients were identified. The ET-PD cluster 1 ( n = 34) had a shorter ET duration before PD onset, lower number of patients with a family history of ET, higher unified PD rating scale instability scores, higher non-motor symptoms scores (non-motor symptoms scale D1 scores, Hamilton depression scale scores, Hamilton anxiety scale scores, and PD sleep scale-2 scores), and higher Chinese version of the PD questionnaire-39 scores relative to the ET-PD cluster 2 ( n = 59). Conclusion::ET-PD patients had significantly different characteristics for motor symptoms as compared to PD patients, and may be distinctly divided into two clinical subtypes, namely, the ET-PD complex type and the ET-PD simple type.

Objective To study the identification methods and traits of the Chinese medicinal materials Inonotus obliquus.Methods Samples were collected from the origin of northeast China,and source identification,molecular biology identification,trait identification,microscopic identification and HPLC assay were used to study the Inonotus obliquus,its non-pure fungous part,and counterfeit.Results Inonotus obliquus had a nodular shape,the microstructure was closely interconnected with mycelia,and the medicinal part was the sclerotium,not the"fruiting body"as stipulated in the current standards of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.Occasionally,a very small amount of tubule and subiculum could be seen in Inonotus obliquus.Tubule hole shape was circular,with a diameter of 130-190 μm,and ruptured.The pipe wall structure was special,which was composed of longitudinal arranged small compartment with diameter of 2-5-8 μm.Non-pure fungous part was the decayed host xylem infiltrated by mycelia.The contents of trametenolic acid and ergosterol in this part were significantly lower than the pure sclerotium(P<0.05).The microstructure and HPLC fingerprints of Inonotus obliquus and the counterfeit burl were clearly distinguishable from each other.Conclusion The method used is able to identify the authenticity of Inonotus obliquus and the quality of the medicinal materials.

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.