Objective To evaluate the influence of Fuzheng Huayu decoction on different pathological stages fibrotic liver tissue and activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Methods Use a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver cirrhosis rat model system. The drug intervention was administered via oral-gastric irrigation in building, the end of week 2 and 4. Rats were batch sacrificed at the end of week 2 , 4, and 6. Liver fibrosis was evaluated by histology, and expression of a-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was determined by immunohistochemistry. Between-group comparisons were made by completely random design and ANOVA with Bonferroni correction. Results At the end of weeks 2, 4 and 6, the model group and drug intervention groups had significantly higher area ratio of liver fibrosis and higher expression of α-SMA than the normal group, but the three drug intervention groups had significantly less area ratio of liver fibrosis and less expression of α-SMA than the model group and the drug intervention 1 group showed the most robust decrease (P<0.05). Conclusion The Fuzheng Huayu decoction leads to down-regulated α-SMA expression and reduced degree of liver fibrosis on different pathological stages of fibrotic liver tissue, and the earlier drug intervention, the better the results.

Nine compounds were isolated from the n-butanol fraction of 95% ethanol extract of the fruit of Alpinia oxyphylla Miq. with a combination of various chromatographic approaches, including MDS resin, silica gel, reverse phase C18 and preparative HPLC. On the basis of spectroscopic data analysis, they were elucidated as (1R, 4R, 10R)-1β, 4α-dihydroxy-11, 12, 13-trinor-5, 6-eudesmen-7-one (1), 1β, 4β-dihydroxy-11, 12, 13-trinor-8, 9-eudesmen-7-one (2), oxyphyllenone A (3), oxyphyllenone B (4), rhamnocitrin (5), staphylionoside D (6), benzyl-1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1S)-phenylethylene glycol (8), and (S)-1-phenylethyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (9). Among them, compound 1 is a new sesquiterpene, named as oxyphyllenone C; compounds 8 and 9 are new natural products; compounds 2 and 6 were isolated from the genus Alpinia for the first time, and compound 7 was isolated from A. oxyphylla for the first time.

ObjectiveTo investigate the changes of serum apolipoprotein E (ApoE) in children with infectious diseases.MethodsA total of 279 pediatric patients with infectious diseases were enrolled in this study,including 65 patients with sepsis,47 patients with bacterial meningitis,67 patients with bacterial pneumonia, 47 patients with aseptic meningitis and 53 patients with mycoplasmapneumonia. TheserumApoEcollectedfromallpatientswasdetectedby immunoturbidimetric assay (IA).The septic mouse model was established by intraperitoneal injection of group B Salmonella typhimurium.Mouse serum ApoE levels were detected by IA,and the hepatic ApoE mRNA and protein expressions of mice were detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot,respectively.Data in two groups were compared by independent-sample t test.ResultsSerum ApoE levels in patients with bacterial infections were increased dramatically,which was (59.8±23.5) mg/L in patients with sepsis (t=-5.118,P＜0.01),while no significant differences were found in patients with aseptic meningitis and myeoplasma pneumonia.Moreover,a high level of serum ApoE was detected in septic mouse model,while the hepatic ApoE mRNA and protein expressions of the mice were both decreased,with mRNA decreased 71％ at 3 hour (t=5.022,P＜0.01) and 73％ at 24 hour (t=4.181,P＜0.01).Conclusions Serum ApoE levels in bacterial infections increase dramatically,while its hepatic expression in septic mouse model is decreased,which indicates that the elevated serum ApoE level is not related to the changes of hepatic ApoE expression.

Objective To understand the infection of ureaplasma urealyticum in genitourinary of secondary infertility of male and ex-plore the relationship between the genotype of individual ureaplasma species and genitourinary infection of them . Methods Based on the multiple-banded antigen genes (MBA) of ureaplasma urealyticum, 10 pairs of oligonueleotide primers targeting the 5'ends of the MBA genes were designed to identify the MBA genes of U. parvum and U. ureaplasma by PCR-based genotyping system. The 10 pairs of oligonucleotide primers could distinguish the two biovars and 14 serovars of U. ureaplasma. Results A total of 278 (48.6%) positive ureaplasma culture were obtained from 572 patients attending our clinic of reproductive medical eenter. These methods were used to identify and genotype U. ureaplasma in 311 (54.4%) of 572 patients with genitourinary infection among them U. parvum (biovar 1) was detected in 37.1% and U. ureaplasma (biovar 2) in 17.8%. serovar 1 was in 12.4%, serovars3/14 in 17.1% serovar 6 in 7.5%; subtype 1 of biovar 2 was in 5.6%, subtype 2 in 8.9% and subtype 3 in 2.8%, respectively. Conclusion The PCR-based genotyping system will facilitate future stud-ies of relationship between individual Ureaplasma species or subtypes in genitourinary of secondary infertility of male. The methods described here are relatively rapid, practicable, and specific for the detection species identification and subtyping of Ureaplasma species.

With introduction of current main methods for heart fluid mechanics researches, we studied the characteristics and weakness for three primary analysis methods based on magnetic resonance imaging, color Doppler ultrasound and grayscale ultrasound image, respectively. It is pointed out that particle image velocity (PIV), speckle tracking and block match have the same nature, and three algorithms all adopt block correlation. The further analysis shows that, with the development of information technology and sensor, the research for cardiac function and fluid mechanics will focus on energy transfer process of heart fluid, characteristics of Chamber wall related to blood fluid and Fluid-structure interaction in the future heart fluid mechanics fields.
Algorithms ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Heart ; physiology ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

Objective To investigate prospectively the diagnostic significance of ulnar/median nerve amplitude ratio in motor neuron disorders.Methods Patients referral to our department between May 2009 and February 2012,due to muscle weakness,inflexible,cramps and atrophy,were consecutively enrolled.Conventional nerve conduction studies of 4 extremities (using surface electrodes) and needle electromyography were performed in all patients with fixed examiner.The compound muscle action potentials (CMAP) were recorded from abductor digiti minimi (ADM) and abductor pollicis brevis (APB) with stimulation of ulnar and median nerve at wrist,respectively.Moreover,the ratio of CMAP amplitude between ADM and APB (ADM/APB) was calculated in the patients who met the diagnostic criteria for definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Hirayama disease (HD).The patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and other popyneuropathies (PN) were served as case-controls,and 34 healthy volunteers (aged (45.7 ± 16.3) years) as normal-controls.Results (1) There were 78 cases with ALS,25 HD,51 GBS and 140 other PN,with the mean age(years) of 54.7 ± 11.6,17.6 ± 2.2,41.3 ± 18.4 and 57.1 ± 14.3,respectively.(2) ADM/APB in the ALS subgroup was 2.28 ±2.87 (0.12-22.38),HD0.66±0.36 (0.05-1.34),GBS 1.42 ± 1.33 (0.25-9.85),other PN 1.36 ± 1.48 (0.08-14.44) and normal-controls 1.07 ± 0.28 (0.61-1.64,F =6.872,P =0.000),respectively.(3) The areas under receiver operator characteristic curve in patients with ALS was 0.830 (s-x =0.039) and HD 0.691 (sx =0.039,P =0.000) ; the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for ALS patients were 36.7％ and 93.3％,respectively,with cutoff value of ADM/APB =2; and the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for HD patients were 53.6％ and 89.0％,respectively,with cutoff value of ADM/APB =0.7.Conclusions The ulnar/median CMAP amplitude ratio increases in ALS,but decreases in HD,which may be served as a relatively specific electrophysiological index.ADM/APB amplitude ratio ＞ 2.0 is suggested to be a diagnostic parameter for ALS and ＜ 0.7 for HD.

Objective To define the mechanical features of mitral annulus at various sites,and to investigate the specific mechanics characterization at different mitral annulus sites in evaluation consequences of left ventricular function by dual pulse-wave Doppler (DPW) technology.Methods The DPW spectrums were obtained at lateral and aboral interval,anterior and inferior and posterior mitral annular from 112 normal adults.The peak systolic velocity (Sm),peak early diastolic velocity (Em),peak late diastolic velocity (Am),the beginning time of the peak and the time to peak were measured,and E/A,Em/Am,E/Em,left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS) were computed.Results 1)Sm,Em,Am and Em/Am measured in the free wall annulus were significantly greater than measured in the interval annulus of mitral annular sites.However,E/Em was opposited (P ＜ 0.05).Sm of the posterior wall mitral annulus accelerated frist and experienced shortest duration in all the mitral annular sites (P ＜ 0.01).There were no significant differences of Em time parameters among different mitral annulus sites.Am of the beginning time and peak time in the free wall annulus were significantly longer than that in the interval annulus of anterior mitral annular sites.However,the acceleration time was opposited(P ＜0.05).2) Sm was correlated with LVEF and LVFS (r =0.243 and r =0.227,P ＜0.01) only at the posterior mitral annular site,Em/Am of anterior and posterior wall mitral annulus had the highest correlations with mitral orifice flow E/A(r =0.545 and 0.545 respectively,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions There are significant differences among the mechanics patterns at different mitral annulus sites in normal adults.The mechanics characterization at different mitral annulus sites have different conclusions of left ventricular function.

Objective To evaluate left intra-ventricular diastolic blood flow patterns and fluid dynamics in pre diabetics using vector flow mapping(VFM),and to explore the value of left intra-ventricular hydromechanics characteristics assessment of intracardiac flow by VFM with more sensitive indexes.Methods Forty four patients with type 2 diabetes,twenty-eight pre-diabetes patients and thirty-three normal volunteers underwent VFM to determine the left ventricular(LV) diastolic blood flow patterns and fluid dynamics.The two-dimensional color Doppler flow images data were acquired in standerd apical fourchamber view during 3 complete cardiac cycles.These images were analyzed using a dedicated off-line workstation.At different level (mitral annulus,papillary muscl and apex level),the diastole blood flow parameters of LV including flow velocity and volume,velocity gradients (△V),pressure gradients (△P),diastole flow volume,vortex intensity ( Ⅵ),vortex area ( VA),vortex radius (VA) were derived.Thedifferences of the above parameters were compared among the three groups.The correlationship between diastolic function parameters and LV hydromechanics indexes were analyzed.Results ① Compared to normal group and pre-diabetics group,the LV diastolic function parameters E/A and e/a in diabetics group were lower( P ＜0.01),with no differences for E/e( P ＞0.05).There were no significant diffrences of these indices between diabetics group and pre-diabetics group( P ＞0.05).②)Compared to normal group,the intraventricular peak flow velocity at basal level,△V and △P in diabetics group and pre-diabetics group were lower( P ＜0.01),but there were no significant differences of these indices between diabetics group and prediabetics group( P ＞ 0.05).③Compared to normal group,the diastolic positive volume at basal level in diabetics group and pre-diabetics group was lower ( P ＜0.01 ),but there was no significant differences of these indices between diabetics group and pre-diabetics group ( P ＞ 0.05).④ Compared to the normal group,the Ⅵ in diabetics and pre-diabetics group was decreased,but there were no significant differences ofthese indices between diabetics group and pre-diabetics group( P ＞0.05).The VA and VR in diabetics and pre-diabetics group were increased,but there were no significant differences of these indices between diabetics group and pre-diabetics group ( P ＞ 0.05).⑤ There were no correlationship between diastolic function parameters and LV hydromechanics indexes.Conclusions There is the same LV diastolic blood flow patterns and fluid dynamics existed in pre-diabetics as diabetics.VFM could be used as a new methods to demonstrate the early left intra-ventricular fluid dynamics damages in pre-diabetics patients.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the metabolic profile of hydrocortisone-induced 'Kidney-yang deficiency syndrome'in rats and the intervention effects of Morinda officinalis.

METHODProton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) technique was used to analyze the rat metabonome in serum. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were processed to analyze the metabonome difference between the control and hydrocortisone treated samples. Twelve potential biomarkers were selected, via the parameter of variable importance in the projection (VIP). Principal components analysis (PCA) was employed to process the data from the M. officinalis. treatment group and the intervention effects of M. officinalis, was investigated through the selected potential biomarkers.

RESULTAfter hydrocortisone treatment, the energy metabolism, amino acids metabolism and gut microflora environment were seriously disturbed and transmethylation was surpressed. M. officinalis could effectively alleviate the disturbance of energy and amino acids metabolism and enhance transmethylation, but could not modulate the gut microflora environment.

CONCLUSIONThe results obtained suggested that metabonomic studies could better reflect the whole status of metabolism in bio-systems, and could be treated as a potential powerful approach in pharmacological studies and investigation of the essence of 'syndrome' in traditional Chinese medicine.

Animals ; Biomarkers ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Kidney ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Metabolomics ; Morinda ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Yang Deficiency ; drug therapy ; metabolism

Objective: To compare the value of right ventricular (RV) free wall longitudinal strain (FWLS) by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) and conventional parameters in evaluation of RV dysfunction in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Methods: Sixty CTEPH patients were enrolled as group A and 45 pulmonary embolism (PE) patients with normal pulmonary pressure were enrolled as group B in this study. CTEPH patients were divided into 2 subgroups using the World Health Organization (WHO) function classification: patients with WHO Ⅰ-Ⅱ were designated as group A1 and those with WHO Ⅲ-Ⅳ were designated as group A2. Conventional RV functional parameters including tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), tissue Doppler-derived tricuspid annular systolic velocity (S′), fractional area change (FAC), RV index of myocardial performance (RVIMP), and STE-derived RV FWLS were measured and compared. Clinical right heart failure (RHF) was defined as the presence of symptoms of heart failure and signs of systemic circulation congestion during hospitalization. Results: Compared to group B, group A patients had significant enlarged right heart dimension and impaired RV systolic function parameters (all P<0.001). The TAPSE, S′, FAC, and RV FWLS showed significant differences between CTEPH patients with mild (group A1) and severe symptoms (group A2) (all P<0.01), while RVIMP showed no significant difference (P=0.188). On receiver operating characteristic analysis, FWLS had the largest AUC to identify RHF (AUC=0.864, P<0.001), when the cutoff value was 15.05%, the sensitivity was 85.71%, and the specificity was 64.29%, respectively. On binary logistic regression analysis, only right atria area (OR=1.212, 95%CI=1.004-1.48, P=0.046) and RV FWLS (OR=0.662, 95%CI=0.470-0.933, P=0.018) were identified as independent predictor of RHF. Conclusions Compared with conventional parameters, RV FWLS showed advantages in identifying abnormal RV function in CTEPH patients.