Objective Pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1 ( PDX-1) plays an important role in the occurrence and development of diabetes.More importantly,its potential application in insulin resistance (IR) improvement is attracting further attention .Berberine has been shown to improve glucose metabolism and insulin resistance .In this study,rat models of type 2 diabetes mellitus ( T2DM) were established by combination of intraperitoneal injection of low -dose streptozotocin and highg-lucose-high-fat diet induction .The effect of berberine on fasting glucose , fasting serum insulin , homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance ( HOMAI-R) , and ex-pression of PDX -1 of islet in T2DM rats were analyzed .The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-diabetic efficacy of berberine and study the mechanism of its preliminary therapeutic effects .Methods Twenty healthy adult male Sprague Dawley ( SD) rats were di-vided by random number table into the normal control group ( n =6) feeding with a standard diet ,and the experimental group ( n =14 ) given an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin .The rats with fasting blood glucose ( FBG) greater than 13.8 mmol/L were ran-domly divided into diabetes mellitus group feeding high sugar high fat diet for two weeks and then continuing with a standard diet , and the berberine group given berberine [180 mg /(kg· d)] every day.The normal control group and diabetes mellitus group were given physiological saline for every day 6 weeks.At the end of 6th week, the rats were executed , and the levels of fasting glucose, fasting se-rum insulin, HOMA-IR, and expression of PDX-1 in pancreas islet of each group were detected .The expression of PDX1-in pancreas islet was examined by immunohistochemistry .The image pro plus 6.0software was used to calculate the integrated optical density ( IOD) of positive expression .Results Compared with the normal control group , FBG, fasting insulin levels ( FINS) , and HOMA-IR of the diabetes mellitus group and berberine group were significantly increased ( P <0.05 ) .Compared with the diabetes mellitus group, FBG, FINS, and HOMA-IR of the berberine group were statistically significantly decreased [ ( 13.11 ±6.87 ) mmol/L vs (18.45 ±4.69) mmol L/, (2.58 ±0.34) μIU/ml vs (2.98 ±0.40) μIU/ml, 1.60 ±0.91 vs 2.75 ±0.28, P <0.05].Compared with the normal control group , the expression of PDX-1 of the islet in the diabetes mellitus group and berberine group was statistically significantly decreased ( P <0.05).After treatment with berberine, FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR, and IOD of PDX-1 in pancreas islet of berberine treatment rats were significantly increased compared with the diabetes mellitus group ( 9.14 ±1.51 vs 6.79 ±0.98 , P <0.01 ) .Conclusions The increases of PDX-1 in islet may be one of the mechanism in the improvement of hyperglycemia .

The ITS2 barcode was used to accurately identify Albiziae Cortex, Albiziae Flos and their adulterants in this study. A total of46 samples from Albiziae Cortex, Albiziae Flos and their adulterants were collected. The ITS2 regions were amplified and sequenced. Sequences were assembled using the CodonCode Aligner. The genetic distances of ITS2 region were calculated using MEGA 5.0. BLAST1, nearest distance and phylogenetic tree (NJ-tree) methods were used to assess the identification efficiency of the ITS2 barcode. The results revealed that the intraspecific genetic distances of Albizia julibrissin were lower than the interspecific genetic distances between A. julibrissin and its adulterants. The identification efficiency of ITS2 barcode using BLAST1 was 100%. The NJ-tree showed that A. julibrissin and their adulterants can be easily differentiated according to their monophyly. The ITS2 barcode is suitable to be as a barcode to identify Albiziae Cortex, Albiziae Flos and their adulterants.
Albizzia ; classification ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Flowers ; classification ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control

In this study, ITS2 barcode was used to identify Bupleurum chinense and B. longiradiatum. The ITS2 regions of 48 samples were amplified and sequenced. The sequences obtained above were aligned and the K2P distances were calculated. We used three methods, BLAST1, nearest distance and phylogenetic tree (NJ-tree), to test the identification ability. The results showed that the maximum intraspecific genetic distance of B. chinense was 0.013, and the minimum interspecific genetic distance between B. chinense and B. longiradiatum was 0.049. The NJ-tree can easily identify B. chinense and B. longiradiatum. Therefore, the ITS2 barcode is suitable to identify B. chinense and B. longiradiatum.
Bupleurum ; classification ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control

This study was conducted to investigate the paclitaxel loaded by hydrazone bonds in poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(caprolactone) micelles (mPEG-PCL-PTX) on proliferation and apoptosis of human lung cancer A549 cells and its possible mechanisms of anti-tumor activity. The cell proliferation was measured with MTT assay. Flow cytometry were used to analyze the cell cycle. The cell apoptosis was analyzed using Hoechst/P staining. The expression levels of apoptotic genes expression in the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The mPEG-PCL-PTX could inhibit the proliferation of A549 cells and promote the apoptosis. The Bax, caspase-3 protein expression were increased while Bcl-2 protein expression was decreased in A549 cells. Results showed that the polymer containing hydrazone bond is non-toxic in vitro, the mPEG-PCL-PTX micelles can inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of A549 cells. Key words: paclitaxel; micelle; A549 cell; proliferation; cell cycle; apoptosis
Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Micelles ; Paclitaxel ; pharmacology ; Polyesters ; Polyethylene Glycols ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE To clarify out the network pharmacology mechanism of Polygala tenuifolia against Alzheimer disease(AD).METHODS Firstly,we collected the chemical constituents from Polyg-ala tenuifolia and key targets toward AD.Machine learning algorithms were applied to construct classifi-ers for predicting the effective constituents. Secondly, docking models were utilized for further evalua-tion.Finally,we built constituent-target,target-target network and target-biology pathway network.RE-SULTS 104 chemical constituents Polygala tenuifolia from were collected.Through prediction of blood-brain penetration and validation,36 chemical constituents were selected among 100 chemical constitu-ents,their action targets mainly focused on AChE,COX-2,TNF-α,insulin-degrading enzyme and APP. Their main structure types include Polygala saponins, Polygala glycosides, Polygala shrubby ketones, polygala xanthones and sterols,which acted on AchE,APP,M-TAU,GSK3β and 5HT1A with high fre-quency.Gene-Ontology and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the main pathways of these con-stituents involve in neurotransmitter release,synaptic conduction and synaptic plasticity,apoptosis reg-ulation,phosphorylation pathway,Ca2+signaling pathway,and so on.CONCLUSION This study uncov-ered a network mechanism of Polygala tenuifolia against Alzheimer disease,which may provide impor-tant information for the further study and new drug development.

To study the chemical constituents of Dioscorea zingiberensis Wright, the EtOH extract of fresh rhizomes of D. zingiberensis was concentrated and partitioned further to produce petroleum ether-, ethylacetate-, n-butanol- and water-soluble fractions. The water-soluble fraction was subjected to column chromatography on macro resin AB-8, and the final products were obtained by repeated reversed-phase ODS and MCI gel CHP 20P column chromatography. Structures of compounds were elucidated by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, 135DEPT, HMQC, HMBC and TOCSY spectroscopic analyses. A new steroidal saponin was isolated, which was identified as (25R)-26-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-furost-5-en-3 beta, 16, 20, 26-tetraol-22-seco-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1--> 3)-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1--> 4)-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->2)]-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The compound is a novel skeletally steroidal saponin, named as zingiberenin F (1). It was reported for the first time from D. zingiberensis Wright.
Dioscorea ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Saponins ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

Objective To understand the prevalence and the factors associated with depression and anxiety among patients attending the community-based methadone maintenance treatment(MMT) program.Methods 9 MMT clinics in 3 provinces were randomly selected,in which 1 301 MMT patients who met the criteria of recruitment were all interviewed.A cross-sectional study by administrative questionnaire was employed to investigate the demographics,drug abuse and MMT treatment status of the respondents.The 1301 respondents were also evaluated for depression and anxiety by SDS(Self-Rating Depression Scale) and SAS(Self-Rating Anxiety Scale) respectively.ANOVA and multivariate linear regressions analysis was used to verify the factors associated with depression and anxiety respectively.Results The prevalence of depression and anxiety among the MMT patients were 38.3%(498/1 301) and 18.4%(239/1 301).The multivariates linear regression analysis indicated that at the level of ?=0.05,gender,employment status were associated with depression,while gender,employnment status,educational level,drug abuse and methadone daily dosage were associated with anxiety.Conclusions There are certain proportions of MMT clients who suffer from depression and anxiety.The MMT clinic staff should put more emphasis on the efforts to reduce psychological disorders and its potential risks by enhancing psychological councelling,intervention and social support towards the MMT patients.

Objective To explore the effect of comprehensive nursing on assisted time by breathing machine among valve replacement patients.Methods 70 cases received valve replacement operation were divided into interventional group and control group(35 cases respectively).The latter were received routine nursing,that is,the patients learnt the effective cough and deep breathingand knowledge about main points of using breathing machine after operation,while the former were carried out system nursing including respiratory function training before 1 week operation and purpose-aimed back percussion and sputum suetioning after operation besides routine nursing.Results Assisted time by breathing machine among interventional group was less than that in control group(P<0.05),reintubation rate decreased obviously(P<0.05).Conclusions Comprehensive nursing on valve replacement patients Can help to shorten the assisted time by breathing machine,improve quality of operation and benefit for patients'postoperative rehabihtation.

Objective: To analyze the impact of maternal metal exposure during early pregnancy on the physical development of offspring at 1 and 3 years of age, so as to provide scientific evidence for reducing the adverse effects of heavy metals on their health. Methods: From 2024 to 2018, a total of 1 588 mother child pairs from the Jiangsu Birth Cohort (JBC) were included in this study. Multiple linear regression models, generalized estimating equations (GEE), and weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models were used to assess the associations between 24 urinary metal mass concentrations (adjusted for specific gravity, SG) during early pregnancy and offspring growth outcomes, including length/height for age Z score(HAZ), weight for age Z score(WAZ), weight for length/height Z score(WHZ), and head circumference for age Z score(HCAZ) at 1 and 3 years of age. Results: After adjusting for confounders, GEE analysis revealed that each natural log unit increase in maternal urinary concentrations of vanadium, tin, cerium, lead, and uranium during early pregnancy was associated with an average reduction in HCAZ by 14.29%, 4.82%, 2.62 %, 5.04 %, and 8.33%, respectively, at 1 and 3 years of age (FDR- P <0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that increased urinary vanadium concentration was associated with reduced HAZ at 1 year of age, while increased urinary concentrations of vanadium, chromium, tin, antimony, and uranium were associated with reduced HCAZ at 1 year of age (FDR- P <0.05). In the WQS regression model, each unit increase in the WQS index was associated with a 22.64% reduction in HCAZ at 1 year of age, with tin (22.2%) contributing the highest weight, followed by uranium (16.2%), lead (11.5%), vanadium (10.0%), arsenic (6.5%), and chromium (5.0%). Conclusions Prenatal exposure to specific metals and their mixtures may significantly impact the physical development of offspring at 1 and 3 years of age, particularly head circumference. These findings highlight the need to enhance monitoring of maternal metal exposure during early pregnancy to reduce the potential health risks posed by environmental metal pollution to infants and young children.

UNLABELLED: The DNA barcoding method was used to accurately and rapidly identify Corni Fructus and its adulterants. METHODS: Genomic DNA extracted from Corni Fructus and its adulterants were used as templates. The ITS (internal trascribed spacer) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction. Sequence assembly was performed using CodonCode Aligner V 3.5.4. Genetic distances were computed using MEGA V 5.0. Species identification was conducted using neighbor-joining (NJ) trees. RESULTS: The ITS sequence length of Corni Fructus was 659 bp. The average intra-specific genetic distance of Corni Fructus was 0.005, markedly lower than the inter-specific genetic distance between Corni Fructus and its adulterants (0.357). The ITS2 sequence length of Corni Fructus was 250 bp. No variation was found among the different samples. The interspecific genetic distance of ITS2 between Corni Fructus and its adulterants was 0.571. NJ trees and BLAST results indicated that Corni Fructus and its adulterants can be easily differentiated with monophyly. CONCLUSION ITS/ITS2 regions can accurately and efficiently distinguish Corni Fructus and its adulterants. In addition, the results not only established the foundation for the clinical safety in the utilization of Corni Fructus, but also provided reference for molecular identification of other Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese herbal pieces.
Base Sequence ; Cornus ; classification ; genetics ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Typing ; methods ; Phylogeny ; Species Specificity