The objective of the present study was to establish a method based on principal component analysis (PCA) for the study of transdermal delivery of Chinese medicinal formulae, and to choose the best penetration enhancers for Qingfei Xiaocuo gel depend on this method. Using improved Franz type diffusion cell and excised rat skin in vitro as transdermal barrier, the receptive solution fingerprint was established by HPLC, harvesting the areas of the common peaks in the fingerprint, then the total factor scores of the concentrations at different times were calculated using PCA and were employed instead of the concentrations to compute the cumulative amounts (Q12) and enhancement ratio (ER), the latter of which were considered as the indexes for optimizing penetration enhancers. Compare to the control group, the ER of the other groups increased significantly and furthermore, 2.5% azone with 2.5% menthol manifested the best effect. PCA represent most information in the receptive solution, the method above could choose the best penetration enhancers, it could be a reference for the study of transdermal delivery of Chinese medicinal formulae.
Administration, Cutaneous ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; pharmacokinetics ; Gels ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Principal Component Analysis ; Skin ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo study the lipid constituents from Echinacea purpurea.

METHODThe compounds were isolated by chromatography method and the structures were identified on the basis of spectral analyses.

RESULTFive compounds were isolated and identified as, 1 beta, 6 alpha-dihydroxy-4(14)-eudesmene(1), (2E, 4E, 8Z, 10E)-N-isobutyl-2,4,8,10-dodecatetraenamide(2), (2E, 4E, 8Z, 10Z)-N-isobutyl-2,4,8,10-dodecatetraenamide(3), cerotic acid(4), hyxacosyl alcohol(5).

CONCLUSIONCompounds 1,4 and 5 were obtained from the plant for the first time.

Echinacea ; chemistry ; Fatty Acids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Fatty Alcohols ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Sesquiterpenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification

Objective To discuss effective nursing measures for postpartum galactostasis in maternalneonatal unit,in order to increase the breastfeeding rate.Methods 82 cases of primipara galactostasis were randomly divided into two groups:the experimental group (42 cases) and the control group (40 cases).The experimental group received 50％ magnesium sulfate hot-wet dressing for 15 to 20 minutes and then electric breast bump treatment for 20 minutes,while the control group received conventional hot-wet dressing for 15 to 20 minutes and then manual milking for 20 minutes.Two groups' remission of galactostasis and whether the milk can meet the needs of the newborns 24 hours after the treatment was compared.Results Out of the 42 cases in the experimental group,29 cases were cured and 11 had improvements,with the total effective rate of 95.2％.Out of the 40 cases in the control group,13 cases were cured and 15 had improvements,with the total effective rate of 70.0％.The difference was statistically significant (x2 =9.217,P ＜ 0.05).36 out of 42 cases in the experimental group had sufficient maternal breast milk,with the breastfeeding rate of 85.7％,while 21 out of 40 cases in the control group had sufficient maternal breast milk,with the breastfeeding rate of 52.5％.The difference was statistically significant (x2 =10.665,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions 50％ magnesium sulfate hotwet dressing cooperating with electric breast bump had obvious effect on the primiparas' postpartum galactostasis,and can effectively improve the breasffeeding rate.

To evaluate the effects of p-octyl polyethylene glycol phenyl ether (Triton X-100), polyoxyl 35 caster oil (EL35) and polyoxyl 40 hydrogenated caster oil (RH40) on the activity of Cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3 As) in vivo. Rats were administered with saline, ketoconazole (75 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), Triton X-100 (30 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), EL35 (150 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) and RH40 (150 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) intragastrically for 5 consecutive days, and then given midazolam 10 mg x kg(-1) 20 min after the last treatment of ketoconazole or three surfactants with the same dose through duodenal administration. Pharmacokinetics parameters for midazolam and its metabolite 1'-hydroxymidazolam were estimated from the plasma concentration-time data by a noncompartmental approach. The results showed that multiple dose administration of Triton X-100, EL35 and RH40 decreased the ratios of 1'-hydroxymidazolam and midazolam AUC0-infinity from 1.14 to 0.90, 1.03 and 0.64, respectively. In contrast, multiple dose administration of ketoconazole caused the ratios of 1'-hydroxymidazolam and midazolam a significant decrease to 0.50. This study indicated that Triton X-100 and EL35 would have no inhibition on CYP3A, while RH40 had significant inhibition on CYP3A. Therefore, RH40 might be used to prepare drug formulations in pharmaceutical industry and would increase the bioavailability of some drugs transformed by CYP3As and further lead to significant clinical pharmacologic effects.
Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Biological Availability ; Biotransformation ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A ; metabolism ; Ketoconazole ; pharmacology ; Male ; Midazolam ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacokinetics ; Octoxynol ; pharmacology ; Polyethylene Glycols ; pharmacology ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Surface-Active Agents ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between abnormal ECG and pathologic changes in the cardiac conduction system (CCS).

METHODPathological changes of the CCS in 12 cases with abnormal ECG out of 16 pre-death ECG were observed.

RESULTS(1) Among 7 cases of sudden cardiac death, ECG monitoring recorded bradyarrhythmia in 6 cases, tachyarrhythmia 6 cases, bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome 2 cases, conduction block 6 cases, atrial premature beats 6 cases, ventricular premature beats 6 cases, and ST-T changes 4 cases. (2) The histopathological findings in the CCS were noted in all cases. Of these 12 cases, three had signs of fatty infiltration, and/or fibrous 4 cases, three of amyloidosis, one of chronic inflammatory changes, two of acute inflammatory changes, two of developmental anomalies, two of hemorrhages and one of LAD stenosis. (3) Acute inflammation changes in the CCS corresponded to tachyarrhythmia and multiple ventricular premature beats, whereas chronic inflammation and degenerative changes in the CCS were often related to bradyarrhythmia, bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome and conduction block. (4) The CCS changes alone could lead to ST-T changes in ECG.

CONCLUSIONThe pathological changes in the CCS are related to ECG changes, and attributed to the pathological bases of arrhythmia.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Child ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart Conduction System ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

AIMTo report the preliminary result of the HIV inhibitor screening based on cheminformatics tools and the traditional Chinese medicine database.

METHODSDatabase search was carried out with saquinavir molecule as a template, further screening was made with docking. Detailed studies using molecular dynamics simulation of 50 ps and 200 ps were made with respect to a potential leading compound, leucovorin.

RESULTSThe leucovorin molecule distinguished from other molecules as a potential drug candidate and is subject to extensive studies. The bonding profile and energy were calculated with MD simulations.

CONCLUSIONOur results could be very helpful when we modify leucovorin or design new inhibitors against HIV.

Anti-HIV Agents ; chemistry ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Design ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; HIV Protease ; chemistry ; HIV Protease Inhibitors ; chemistry ; Leucovorin ; chemistry ; Ligands ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Conformation ; Saquinavir ; chemistry

BACKGROUNDPapillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) represents one of the most frequent endocrine malignancies. Several factors have been found to be involved in determining the outcome of treatment for patients with PTC. Large tumor size, diagnosis at an early age, extra-thyroidal invasion, aggressive histological variants, and distant metastases are the most important determinants of a poor outcome. BRAF(V600E) mutation has been found to be a major genetic alteration in PTC. This study aimed to evaluate progression in patients with multifocal and solitary PTC.

METHODSWe performed a retrospective study to analyze 368 patients with PTC who underwent surgery, including 282 patients with solitary PTC and 86 patients with multifocal PTC. The status of BRAF(V600E) mutation in all tumor foci from multifocal PTC was detected.

RESULTSOur study suggested that multifocal PTC was more related to lymph node metastasis and vascular invasion than solitary PTC. However, the distant metastasis rate and 10-year survival rate showed no difference between these two groups. The number of tumor foci did not affect progression of disease in multifocal PTC patients. Lymph node metastasis in multifocal PTC patients was associated with larger tumors, diagnosis at early stage, and extra-thyroidal invasion.

CONCLUSIONThe status of BRAF(V600E) mutation was more frequent in multifocal PTC patients with lymph node metastasis and diagnosis at later age.

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma ; genetics ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; genetics ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; genetics ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo develop a general quality of life (QOL) instrument for Chinese in accordance with the Chinese culture and to assess its reliability, validity and sensitivity.

METHODSA 35-item QOL questionnaire(QOL-35) was developed with reference to the World Health Organization QOL questionnaire(WHO-100) and the 36-item medical outcomes study on short-form health status(SF-36). Thirty five items were divided into six domains (general, physical, independent, psychological, social, environment) and one item on QOL transition. The reliability of QOL-35 was assessed by a test-retest survey among 127 adults with an interval of 24-72 hours. The internal consistency and validity were evaluated by a survey on 135 adults from outpatients or general population, using QOL-35, WHO-100 and SF-36. The adaptability was assessed by application to 1356 community-based samples in Beijing.

RESULTS(1)Test-retest reliability of QOL-35: weighted Kappa indexes for items were from 0.86 to 1.00. Intraclass correlation coefficients were from 0.68 to 0.94 for domains, and 0.94 for total score. (2) On internal consistency: Cronbach's Alphas were 0.93, 0.97 and 0.89 for QO1-35, WHO-100 and SF-36. (3)On construct validity. The accumulated proportions of variances of the preceding seven factors were 66.5%, 50.3% and 65.3% for QOL-35, WHO-100 and SF-36. (4) On criterion validity. Spearman correlation coefficients of total QOL score of QOL-35 with those of WHO-100 and SF-36 were 0.805 and 0.745. (5)The rates of chronic diseases were 53.1%, 33.1%, 26.4% and 25.1% from first to fourth quantile of the total QOL scores of QOL-35(P<0.05). (6)Cronbach's Alpha was from 0.68 to 0.93 in 135 subjects, and from 0.71 to 0.91 in 1356 individuals of natural population.

CONCLUSIONThe QOL-35 instrument satisfied test-retest reliability and was highly correlated with WHO-100 and SF-36, having fewer items but better construction validity, better internal consistency, and better discrimination ability. We suggested that QOL-35 be used as a replicable tool to assess quality of life in the Chinese general population.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Analysis of Variance ; China ; ethnology ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; World Health Organization

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of ischemic postconditioning on ischemia/reperfusion injury in isolated hypertrophied rat heart and investigate the signal transduction pathway changes induced by ischemia postconditioning.

METHODSCardiac hypertrophy was induced in rats by abdominal aortic banding, and isolated hypertrophied rat heart ischemia/reperfusion model was made by Langendorff technique to evaluate the effects of ischemia postconditioning on left ventricular systole pressure, coronary artery flow, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, myocardial infarction size, and the level of myocardial phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473), phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9). Following groups were studied (n = 12 each group): IR, 30 min ischemia (I)/60 min Reperfusion (R); Post: 30 min ischemia, 6 circles of 10 s I/10 s R followed by 60 min R; Post Wort: 30 min ischemia, 6 circles of 10 s I/10 s R, wortmannin (10(-7) mol/L) followed by 60 min R; Wort: 30 min ischemia, wortmannin (10(-7) mol/L) followed by 60 min R.

RESULTSLeft ventricular systolic pressure and coronary artery flow were significantly increased, myocardial infarction size and the release of CPK, LDH significantly reduced in Post group compared to that in IR group. Phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473) and phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9) levels were also significantly higher in Post group than that in IR group. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor wortmannin prevented the increase of phospho-protein kinase B/Akt (Ser473) and phospho-glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (Ser9) induced by ischemic postconditioning, but only partly abolished the cardioprotection of ischemic postconditioning.

CONCLUSIONIschemic postconditioning attenuates ischemia/reperfusion injury in isolated hypertrophied rat heart. The cardioprotective effects of ischemic postconditioning were partly mediated through PI3K/Akt/GSK-3beta signaling pathway.

Animals ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 ; metabolism ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta ; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; metabolism ; therapy ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction

The number of diabetic patients visiting stomatology for periodontal disease is increasing, and the symptoms are relatively severe, and often complications increase the complexity of periodontal treatment. This article briefly describes the research progress and clinical manifestations of the epidemiology and related pathological mechanisms of periodontitis with diabetes, focusing on the treatment and providing reference for stomatologists in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetic periodontitis.
Humans ; Periodontitis/therapy* ; Diabetes Mellitus/therapy* ; Periodontal Diseases ; Dental Care ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetes Complications/complications*