To prepare Zhitong micro-emulsion in this study, with the empirical formula of Zhitong preparation as the model medicine, the essential oil in the formula as the oil phase, and the water decoction as the water phase. The types of surfactant and co-surfactant were investigated. The changes in micro-emulsion conductivity and construction, the water percentage in the micro-emulsion system, the changing curve of conductivity and the fine pseudo-ternary phase diagram of micro-emulsion were drawn to determine the surfactant-co-surfactant mass ratio (K(m)). Subsequently, the D-mixture design was used to optimize Zhitong Micro-emulsion formula, with particle size and surface tension of micro-emulsion as the indexes. Finally, efforts were made to determine part of physical parameters of Zhitong micro-emulsion and preliminarily detect its stability. The results showed that the micro-emulsion was optimal with the EL-35-tween 20 ratio of 4:1 in surfactant, whereas the absolute ethyl alcohol was recommended as the co-surfactant. The ratio between surfactant and co-surfactant (K(m)) was 1.5. The finalized micro-emulsion formula contains 12% surfactant, 8% co-surfactant, 70% 1 g x mL(-1) water decoction and 8% oil. The results of the preliminary stability experiment showed a better stability of Zhitong micro-emulsion.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Emulsions ; Surface-Active Agents ; chemistry ; Temperature

Objective To establish a rapid and accurate HPLC method for determination the concentration of methotrexate in human serum.Methods Chromatographic column was Hypersil C 18 column; mobile phase was methanol ,acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (2∶7∶91 ) , a flow rate was 0.8 mL· min-1;detection wavelength was 313 nm.Serum sam-ple was injected into SPE column.Methanol/acetonitrile/phosphate buff-er ( 50∶50∶250 ) was used as the eluent , and the collection of eluent was detected directly.Results The linear range of methotrexate in serum samples was 0.03-50.00 μg · mL-1 , coefficient of recoveries of low , medium and high concentrations in two groups ( group A:3.41 , 6.82 , 27.27 μg· mL-1;group B:0.05, 0.21, 0.85 μg· mL-1)were higher than 97%.Inter day and inner day RSD were less than 5%.Conclusion This method has good accuracy , high sensitivity , convenient opera-tion.It can fully satisfy the requirement of concentration monitoring of methotrexate in the pediatric clinical practice.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of 5 muscarinic receptor subtypes in the scleral tissue of immature guinea pigs.

METHODSThe scleral tissue was collected from six 2-week-old pigmented guinea pigs to determine mRNA expressions of the muscarinic receptors with RT-PCR. Immunofluorescence was used to observe the protein expressions of the 5 muscarinic receptor subtypes.

RESULTSThe mRNAs of the 5 muscarinic receptor subtypes were all detected in the scleral tissue, and the mRNA expression was the highest for M1 subtype. Green fluorescence of M1 to M5 subtypes surrounding the fibroblast nuclei were found in the scleral matrix using laser confocal microscopy.

CONCLUSIONFive muscarinic receptor subtypes are present in the scleral tissues of immature guinea pigs, indicating the involvement of the muscarinic receptors in eye growth regulation.

Animals ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Guinea Pigs ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Myopia ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Receptors, Muscarinic ; genetics ; metabolism ; Sclera ; cytology ; metabolism

AIMTo study the protein changes of spermatozoa associated with sperm motility during sperm cryopreservation and its mechanism.

METHODSIn 18 healthy men, the seminal sperm motility and HSP90 levels were studied before and after cryopreservation using SDS-PAGE, Western blotting and computerized image analysis.

RESULTSThe sperm motility declined significantly after cryopreservation (P<0.01). The average grey level and the integrated grey level of sperm HSP90 before cooling were 34.1+/-3.2 and 243.0+/-21.6, respectively, while those after thawing were 23.2+/-2.5 and 105.7+/-28.5, respectively. Both parameters were decreased significantly (P<0.01). No HSP90 was found in the seminal plasma before and after cryopreservation.

CONCLUSIONHSP90 in human spermatozoa was decreased substantially after cryopreservation. This may result from protein degradation, rather than leakage into the seminal plasma.

Blotting, Western ; Cryopreservation ; HSP90 Heat-Shock Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Semen Preservation ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa ; cytology ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDThe form deprivation (FD) reduces spatial contrasts and induces myopia. Nitric oxide and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) are involved in visual signal transmission. This study investigated changes in nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity and cGMP concentration in ocular tissues in acute and chronic form deprivation myopia.

METHODSGuinea pigs had one eye covered by translucent glass for 7, 14 or 21 days. Untreated litter mates were used as controls. NOS activity and cGMP concentrations in the retinal, choroidal and scleral tissues of FD eyes and control eyes were analyzed by radioimmunoassay after various durations of FD. The expression of NOS subtypes was identified by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTSMyopia was successfully induced in FD eyes after 14 days. Compared with control groups, the retinal NOS activity and cGMP concentrations in the FD eyes significantly increased after 14 and 21 days while the retinal NOS activity in the FD eyes was transiently suppressed by 7 days of FD. The NOS activity and cGMP concentrations of choroid and sclera in the FD eyes were higher than in the control groups at 21 days. The three isoenzymes of nitric oxide synthase were detected in the ocular tissues of guinea pigs.

CONCLUSIONSThe NOS activity and cGMP concentrations were upregulated after chronic FD and the retinal NOS activity was transiently suppressed at acute FD. The function of elevated NOS activity may be mediated by cGMP.

Animals ; Cyclic GMP ; analysis ; Guinea Pigs ; Immunohistochemistry ; Myopia ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; physiology ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; Refractive Errors ; Retina ; metabolism

[Objective]To evaluate the practicality of non-mydriatic digital fundus camera in the remote screen of diabetic retinopathy for community residents.[Methods]Ninety-two patients(184 eyes)with type 2 diabetes mellitus have been taken 1-field and 5-field non-mydriatic fundus photography and examination in mydriatic fundus by pre-placed-mirror ophthalmoscopy by a ophthalmologist,the results were sent to the hospital with a computer programs. A specialist evaluates the consistency of detectable rate of diabetic retinophathy(DR)among the 3 methods.The time of tak-ing 1-field and 5-field non-mydriatic fundus photography is compared.[Results]All the three methods show good consis-tency in detectable rate of DR compare with each other,the κ value is 0.89 for 1-field non-mydriatic fundus photography and examination in mydriatic fundus by preplaced-mirror ophthalmoscopy,0.95 for 1-field and 5-field non-mydriatic fundus photography and 0.95 for 5-field non-mydriatic fundus photography and examination in mydriatic fundus by pre-placed-mirror ophthalmoscopy,respectively. The 1-field non-mydriatic fundus photography spent less time compares with 5-field non-mydriatic fundus photography(55.4±5.8 vs 405.9±68.5 s,P<0.01).[Conclusion]The remote screen for diabetic retinopathy in community based on non-mydriatic digital fundus camera is worth promoting,we suggest 1-field non-mydriatic fundus photography as a screen method.

Gouty arthritis is a type of metabolic rheumatic disease caused by autoimmune abnormalities. Currently, the use of Western medicine in the clinical treatment of gouty arthritis has been associated with a high risk of adverse reactions. Therefore, there is a growing interest in exploring therapeutic drugs from traditional Chinese medicine as a potential alternative. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, gouty arthritis has been classified as damp-heat arthralgia syndrome. Shirebi granules has been found to have good clinical efficacy in treating gouty arthritis. However, its underlying pharmacological mechanisms remain unclear. To address this problem, the study first established the interaction network of candidate targets for Shirebi granules, which is used to treat damp-heat syndrome of gouty arthritis. Then, the key candidate targets of Shirebi granules for treating gouty arthritis with damp-heat syndrome were screened by calculating the topological features of the network nodes. Then, the functional mining of the key candidate targets revealed that the candidate targets of Shirebi granules may intervene in the biological process of inflammatory response and lipid metabolism through the crosstalk of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. To verify the effectiveness of Shirebi granules in treating gouty arthritis with damp-heat syndrome, a rat model was established. The results demonstrated that the granules significantly improved the severity of arthritis in rats with this condition, reduced joint inflammation, gait score, swelling index, increased mechanical pain threshold (P < 0.05), and reduced the content of serum inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in gouty arthritis rats with damp-heat syndrome (P < 0.01) gouty. It was also found that Shirebi granules effectively alleviated the symptoms of dampness heat syndrome such as local joint fever and dry mouth by reducing the temperature of the joints in acute gouty arthritis with damp-heat syndrome (AD) rats, increasing the threshold of heat pain, increasing water intake (P < 0.01), and inhibiting abnormal changes in the content of fatty acid oxidation related enzymes (P < 0.01). Western blot analysis showed that Shirebi granules increased the protein expression levels of Wnt and β-catenin (P < 0.01) while decreasing the protein expression of p65, p-p65 and PPARγ (P < 0.01) in rats with gouty arthritis and damp-heat syndrome. The results showed that Shirebi granules may reverse the "inflammation-immune" imbalance and lipid metabolism disorder by regulating the crosstalk of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and play a role in alleviating the severity of the disease. This study provides a methodological reference for elucidating the pharmacological mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine formulas. It also presents research ideas for the appropriate clinical use of Chinese patent medicines and the development of new clinical drugs for gouty arthritis therapy. The animal welfare and experiment procedures of this study were performed in accordance with the regulations of the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Experimental Research Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (grant No. ERCCACMS11-2302-08).

Objective To develop pathogenic surveillance on measles and to effectively isolate measles virus. To know the genetic characterizations and molecular epidemiology of wildtype measles viruses from 2005 to 2007 in Guangdong Province,and provide the scientific basis for measles control and eradication. Methods Vero/ Slam cell line were used,measles viruses were isolated from throat swabs or urine specimens collected from uspected measles patients in outbreaks and sporadic patienta. A 450 nucleotides fragment of the C-terminal of the nucleoprotoin (N) gene was amplified and by RT-PCR and subjected to scquenee and phylngenetie analysis using Bio-Edit software. Results 82 wild-type measels virus were obtained from 377 throat swabs and urine specimens from 2005 to 2007 in Guangdong Province measles lab. The measles isolation rate was 23.58 % in 2005,17.11% in 2006,39.13% in 2007.The succeed rate of virus isolation is related to the quality of specimens collected and the days after rash occurrence. Conclusions We have grasped the techniealability of measles virus isolation and confirm action,and got higher isolation ratio. The wild-type measles virus isolated from Guangdong Province is of H1 genotype from 2005 to 2007,which is the same as the dominant genotype circulation.

Objective To propose a human life signal separation and reconstruction method based on optimized variational mode decomposition(VMD)to improve the accuracy and timeliness of the life detection radar in extracting and separating human life signals such as heartbeat and respiration.Methods Firstly,the particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to optimize the parameters of VMD,and the human life signal was decomposed into a series of intrinsic mode functions(IMFs);secondly,the alignment entropy of each IMF was calculated,the noise was removed based on the alignment entropy threshold,and the remaining components were reconstructed to form human life signals;finally,the method proposed was compared with infinite impulse response(IIR)filtering,VMD and complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive nosie(CEEMDAN)to verify its performance.Results Under different noise levels the proposed method outperformed IIR filtering,VMD and CEEMDAN in evaluation metrics of signal-to-noise ratio and root-mean-square error,and behaved better than CEEMDAN in terms of computational time-consumption.Conclusion The proposed method realizes rapid separation and reconstruction of vital signals such as heartbeat and respiration while effectively filtering out the noise,which has broad application prospects in the fields of non-contact vital signs detection of bum/scald patients,infectious disease patients and newborns and the search and rescue of buried casualties after a disaster.[Chinese Medical Equipment Journal,2024,45(3):9-15]

OBJECTIVETo get a more comprehensive understanding of the clinical characteristics of pediatric victims in earthquake and to summarize the experience of medical rescue.

METHODSThe clinical information was collected from the pediatric victims who were admitted to West China Hospital, Sichuan University following the Lushan earthquake in 2013 and Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. The clinical data were compared between the pediatric victims in the two earthquakes.

RESULTSThirty-four children under 14 years of age, who were injured in the Lushan earthquake, were admitted to the West China Hospital before April 30, 2013. Compared with the data in the Wenchuan earthquake, the mean age of the pediatric victims in the Lushan earthquake was significantly lower (P<0.01), and the mean time from earthquake to hospitalization was significantly shorter (P<0.01). In the Lushan earthquake, 67.6% of the injured children had variable limb fractures; traumatic brain injury was found in 29.4% of hospitalized children, versus 9.5% in the Wenchuan earthquake (P<0.05). Among the 34 children, no amputation and death occurred, and all the 13 severe cases started to recover.

CONCLUSIONSThere were higher proportions of severely injured children and children with traumatic brain injury in the Lushan earthquake than in the Wenchuan earthquake. But these cases recovered well, which was possibly due to timely on-site rescue and transfer and multi-sector, multi-institution, and multidisciplinary cooperation.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Earthquakes ; Emergency Medical Services ; Humans ; Rescue Work ; Wounds and Injuries ; epidemiology ; therapy