Objective To explore the effects of hyperbaric oxygen on cervical spinal cord injury. Methods 48 postoperative patients with cervical spinal cord injury received hyperbaric oxygen therapy in addition to conventional treatment. Neural function was accessed with International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (American Spinal Injury Association, ASIA) before and after hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Results After hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the total efficiency of patients with course ≤ 30 d was higher than that of patients with course >30 d (P<0.05). The total efficiency of patients accepted more than 3 courses of treatments was higher than that of patients accepted less than 2 courses of treatments (P<0.05). Conclusion Patients with cervical spinal cord injury should receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy for more than 3 courses as soon as possible after surgery.

Rhynchophylla is a Chinese herb commonly used in clinical practice. It's also the primary herb of some famous Chinese herbal compound such as Tianma Gouteng decoction, and Lingyang Gouteng decoction. According the record from many previous materia medica literatures, rhynchophylla should be added later during decoction. Pharmaceutical research showed that rhynchophylla alkaloids were not stable. Which has resulted in many problems in the research and its application. For example, there was not a quantitative determination method in "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" of past and present versions, which seriously impacted its quality control and product application. Firstly, records from previous materia medica literatures and "Chinese Pharmacopoeia" were systematically sorted based on the chemical stability of rhynchophylla. Secondly, pharmaceutical research including chemical compositions and their stability, pharmacological effects, extraction process and quality analysis, was reviewed after reference of literatures published at home and abroad in recent decades. Positive reference and evidence for further research and development of rhynchophylla will be provided in the article.
Animals ; Drug Stability ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Quality Control ; Uncaria ; chemistry

Hematologic Diseases ; Hemolysis ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn

Objective To observe the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of nuclear factor κβ ligand(RANKL) and receptor activator of nuclear factor κβ (RANK) in bone tissue of rats with chronic fluorosis and to explore the relation between OPG/RANKL/RANK system and bone damage in chronic fluoride poisoning rat and the antagonism effects of Danlan Xianpeng capsule. Methods SD rats were randomly divided into six groups according to body weight (equal male and female in each group): fluorosis group, high dose drug group, medium dose drug group, low dose drug group, control group, borax group(positive control), 12 rats in each group. The control group drank tap water and the remaining 5 experimental groups consumed 50 mg/L fluoride water, and high, medium and low doses drug group took Danlan Xianpeng capsule at doses of 0.8,0.4,0.2 g/kg,borax group took borax at dose of 0.8 g/kg. OPG, RANKL, RANK protein in rat tibial metaphysis was detected by immunohistochemistry at the 6 month. Results Compared with the control group(173.79 ± 5.23, 174.17 ± 5.01,155.63 ± 7.11), the expressions of OPG, RANKL were increased and the expression of RANK was decreased in fluorosis group(156.83 ± 5.80, 157.74 ± 6.70, 173.92 ± 4.37), the difference was statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05). Compared with the fluorosis group, the expression of OPG and RANKL were decreased and the expression of RANK was increased in high-dose drug group, middle-dose drug group(169.67±5.07, 168.08 ± 5.05,162.12 ± 4.24, 170.78 ± 5.01, 168.41 ± 7.19, 166.69 ± 5.78, all P ＜ 0.05). Compared with the borax group (167.27 ± 4.08, 167.85 ± 5.01, 166.14 ± 3.95), the expression of OPG and RANKL was increased in the low-dose drug group (163.40 ± 4.11, 159.49 ± 5.78), the expression of RANK was increased in the high-dose drug group (162.12 ± 4.24) and decreased in the low-dose drug group(171.54 ± 8.06), the difference was statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.05). Conclusions Chronic fluoride poisoning can cause increased bone turnover and enhance the activity of osteoelastic absorption by increasing RANKL. Danlan Xianpeng capsule can affect bone remodeling through the OPG/RANKL/RANK system, and antagonises bone damage caused by fluoride.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of tegaserod in treating overlapping symptoms of chronic constipation and dyspepsia or reflux.Methods Eighty eight patients with overlapping symptom were enrolled and randomly divided into:tegaserod group(TEG group,received tegaserod 6 mg bid), PPI group(esomeprazole 40 mg qd)and combined group(tegaserod 6 mg bid and esomeprazole 40 mg qd).Esomeprazole was taken 30 min-prior to the meals in the morning.Each group was treated for 4 weeks.Endpoints to evaluate the clinical efficacy including complete relief rates(CRRs)of epigastric symptoms,the total scores of gastrointestinal symptoms,gastric emptying and colonic transit time and gastric sensation.Results The total scores of gastrointestinal symptoms were all significantly decreased in three groups after four-week therapy,which were more decreased markedly in TEG group(7.23?3.13)and the combined group(5.13?2.26)than that in PPI group(13.58?2.02,P

At the beginning of the 1980s, a concept of viable but non-culturable(VBNC) was suggested. VBNC is a survival strategy adopted by microorganisms when they are exposed to environmental stress. This article try to make a summary of research of the conditions of VBNC formation, recovery of culturability and methods of VBNC cells detection. In addition, introduces the first growth factor of microorganisms-Rpf.

Astragali Radix was firstly recorded in the "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic" as a top-grade and commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. Its frequently used slices include raw Astragali Radix and honey-processed products. In current studies, many reports were made on honey-processed Astragali Radix, whereas fewer study reports were made on the cutting process of Astragali Radix. Currently, because Astragali Radix is primarily cut by drug workers according to their operating experience, but with out specific cutting parameters, it is easy to cause the loss or mildew of active ingredients. As a result, the quality of Astragali Radix circulated in the market is not guaranteed, and the quality of their slices and preparations are hard to be controlled, which seriously impact the clinical efficacy. In response, this experiment was performed, in which the optimum cutting process of Astragali Radix was taken as the study objective, the Box-Benhnken central composite design in the response surface analysis was adopted, and the content and appearance character of astragaloside and calycosin-7-glucoside were regarded as the study indicators. Three factors, namely the softening time, the drying temperature and the drying time, were selected to optimize the cutting process of Astragali Radix and obtain the optimum cutting process parameters as follows: the softening time was 3 hours, the drying temperature was 50 degrees C, and the drying time was 4 hours. According to the verification test, the Astragali Radix cutting process is steady and feasible, which has certain significance for normalizing the cutting process of Astragali Radix.
Astragalus Plant ; chemistry ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; Plant Roots ; chemistry

To standardize the harvest ways of Dendrobium officinale and improve the quality and yield of D. officinale, a field experiment was carried out to study the effect of two kinds of harvest ways, which were keeping some of the axial shoot and harvesting all of the shoot by the end of the year. Then, the agronomic traits and yield were measured and the contents of polysaccharides and extractum were determined. The results showed that the harvest ways significantly affected the growth of D. officinale. Keeping some of the axial shoot could significantly improved the number of sprout, stem length, internode number and the internodal length, which also triggered increase the weight of fresh stems, leaves and the total of them and dry stems in per unit area, but it could not promote the stem diameter and the polysaccharide content in stems. Keeping some of the axial shoot moderately was conducive to the improvement of the production of medicinal materials in the process of harvesting by promoting the germination and growth of new buds, and to ensure the polysaccharide content by regulating the illumination and the density of cultivation.
Agriculture ; methods ; Dendrobium ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; growth & development

Abstract?AIM: To investigate the influence of propylene glycol mannite sulfate ( PGMS ) on the expression of tumor necrosis factor -α( TNF-α) and interleukin-1β( IL-1β) , in diabetic retinopathy by a rat model, to study the mechanism of PGMS against diabetic retinopathy, and provide a reliable theoretical and experimental evidence for the PGMS to be applied to clinical prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy.?METHODS: Male Wistar rats were randomized into 4 groups, normal control group, diabetic control group and PGMS in group, the PGMS in groups included the doses of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg. 1% streptozotocin ( STZ) of 60 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected in rats to establish the diabetic models. The PGMS with the doses of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg were used to gavage in different groups of models for 12wk.Twelve weeks later, the animals were sacrificed and retinas were isolated. The aqueous humors and serums were taken, expressions of TNF-αand IL-1βprotein in retinas, aqueous humors and serums were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) , respectively.The location and the expression of TNF-αand IL-1βprotein in retina tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry.?RESULTS: Twelve weeks after the use of PGMS, the level of blood glucose was not changed.ELISA showed that the expression of TNF-αand IL-1βprotein in serum and retina was significantly increased in diabetic control group than in normal control group(P<0.05), but in the groups which PGMS was given reduced, lower than those in diabetes mellitus( DM) group, especially as the concentration of PGMS increased ( P<0.05 ).But the levels of aqueous humor's TNF-αand IL-1βproteins in PGMS group were not reduced.Immunohistochemistry showed that the TNF -α protein was almost not expressed in normal control group. But the TNF-αprotein was highly expressed in diabetic control group. The expression mainly located in the ganglion cell layer, the inner plexiform layer, outer plexiform layer and pigment epithelium. The TNF-αprotein was weakly expressed at the group of 50mg/kg PGMS, the TNF-αprotein was almost not expressed at the group of 100mg/kg PGMS.When the normal control group was detected, the IL-1βprotein was weakly expressed in the outer plexiform layer.But the IL-1βprotein was also highly expressed in diabetic control group.The expression mainly located in the inner plexiform layer, outer plexiform layer and pigment epithelium. The IL -1βprotein was weakly expressed at the group of 50mg/kg and 100mg/kg PGMS.?CONCLUSION:PGMS can treat the diabetic retinopathy by downregulating the expressions of TNF-αand IL-1βin early diabetic retinopathy.PGMS maybe have a good control effect on early diabetic retinopathy.

Puerarin (PUE), as an isoflavone component, has a wide range of pharmacological activities, while its poorly aqueous solubility limits the development of solid oral dosage forms. In this study, PUE along with nicotinamide (NIC) were prepared into the coamorphous system by solvent-evaporation method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). In addition, its dissolution behavior and solubilization mechanism were also investigated. PUE-NIC coamorphous was a single homogeneous binary system, with a single glass transition temperature at 35.1 ℃. In comparison to crystalline PUE, during the dissolution process, coamorphous PUE-NIC not only exhibited the "liquid-liquid phase separation" (LLPS) phenomenon, but the formation of A_p type complexation (1∶1 and 1∶2) between PUE and NIC molecules was also verified, which significantly improved the solubility of PUE and prolonged the supersaturation time, and would benefit its absorption.