In this study, the embryological characters of Pterocypsela formosana (Asteraceae) were investigated with the traditional paraffin section methods. The anther has 4 sporangiates, the anther wall development follows the dicotyledonous type and comprises of an epidermis, endothelium, a middle layer and a single-layered tapetum, the tapetum belongs to glandular type. Meiosis of the microspore mother cells is of the simultaneous type, for the formation of mostly tetrahedral tetrad, the mature pollen grains are 2 celled. The ovary is bicarpellate, unilocular, one ovule and basal placenta, the ovule is unitegmic, tenuinucellate, inverted campylotropous and with developed endothelium, archesporial cell of megaspore differentiates immediately below the nucellar epidermis and functions as megasporocyte after development and belongs to tenuinucellate ovule type. The megasporocyte undergoes meitotic to form a liner tetrad, only one chalazal megaspore becomes the functional megaspore which forms female gametophyte including 7-celled and 8-nucleated after three successive mitosis, the female gametophyte is of the Polygonum type. Two polar nuclei melt into a secondary nuclei before fertilization, the chalazal antipodal cells are ephemeral and degenerate shortly after forming. Fertilization is porogamous and belongs to premitotic type of syngamy. The division of the primary endosperm nucleus is earlier than the zygote, the endosperm is of the nuclear type with the presence of haustoria, and the embryogeny belongs to asterad type chicory variant. The developed suspensor on early stage has important significance to the embryo development.
Asteraceae ; embryology ; Meiosis ; Reproduction

Rehabilitation is very important to the therapeutic effect of total knee arthroplasty, and it's also the key measure for the knee function to reach the expected effect after the surgery. The most important contents of rehabilitation therapies are the training of muscle strength, range of joint motion, joint position sense and gait. Integrated rehabilitation therapies was used to improve the knee function as possible, such as all kinds of training to improve the knee muscle strength of flex and extend; early training of continued positive motion of knee joint to improve the knee range of motion; the training of knee joint position sense to improve the ability of motion control, posture adjusting and balance keeping; the gait training to adjust the unusual gait.

OBJECTIVETo observe effect of acupuncture on asthma at acute stage.

METHODSNinety cases of asthma at acute stage were randomly divided into an observation group of 60 cases and a control group of 30 cases. Clinical therapeutic effect and the mechanisms were studied from symptoms and signs, pulmonary function and serum interleukin -4 (IL-4), gamma-interferon (INF-gamma).

RESULTSThe pulmonary function was improved, the vital capacity was increased and attack of asthma was reduced in both the observation group and the control group, but the observation group was better than the control group in the pulmonary function improving degree (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture can strengthen the relieving action of medicine on asthma and it is one of effective methods for bronchial asthma.

To investigate the genetic diversity among wild Dipsacus asperoides in China, 66 germplasmic resources of D. asperoides were analyzed by Start Codon Targeted Polymorphism (SCoT) molecular markers. Genetic distance was calculated by TREECONW software and the systematic diagram of genetic relationship was clustered by UPGMA method. The results showed that the totals of 181 bands were detected using 20 primers , among which 109 were polymorphic bands. The average percentage of polymorphic bands was 60.13%. Genetic distance changed from 0.030 6 to 0.181 4. The clustering results showed that there was no significant correlation between the classification of the wild D. asperoides and their geographical origin. The relatively high genetic diversity of D. asperoides provides the basis for breeding new varieties.
China ; DNA Primers ; genetics ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; Dipsacaceae ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; Genetic Variation ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Genetic

The stems and branches of Hypericum petiolulatum were extracted by alcohol and liquid-liquid extraction. Seven furofuran lignans were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of ethanol extract of H. petiolulatum by using silica gelchromatography, Sephadex LH-20 chromatography, medium-pressure liquid chromatography and preparative HPLC. Their structures were identified by the spectroscopic methods as pinoresinol (1), medioresinol (2), 8-acetoxypinoresinol (3), epipinoresinol (4), (+)-syringaresinol (5), (+)-1-hydroxysyringaresinol (6) and erythro-buddlenolE (7). All the isolates were firstly found in H. petiolulatum. In the bioassay, compound 7 showed remarkable antioxidative activity inhibiting Fe(+2)-cystine induced rat liver microsomal lipid peroxidation with inhibitory rate 38% at a concentration of 1 x 10(-6) mol · L(-1) (positive control Vit E with the inhibitory rate of 35% at the same concentration).
Animals ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Hypericum ; chemistry ; Lipid Peroxidation ; drug effects ; Microsomes, Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Molecular Structure ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Rats

To reveal the possible mechanism of silica deposition in higher plants, lignin was isolated from rice straw following a modified method to conduct a simulation experiment in vitro. UV and infrared absorption spectra showed that the substance had the unique characteristics of pure lignin. The presence of silicon in the precipitation was revealed by TEM (transmission electron microscopy) with EDXA (energy dispersive X-ray analysis) device. It was found that in the borax solution where lignin precipitation occurred silica-lignin co-precipitation was produced but not in the DMSO solution where lignin was broken into its composition compounds and did not precipitate. This means that it is macromolecular lignin itself but not its compounds that could induce silica deposition in higher plants.
Lignin ; analysis ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Oryza ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Silicon Dioxide ; analysis ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Spectrophotometry, Infrared ; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

The author detected the genetic diversity and genetic relationship within and among eight medicinal species of Dipsacus by the approach of sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP). The associated genetic parameters were calculated by POPGENE 1.31. The Genetic distance was calculated by TREECONW and the systematic diagrams of genetic relationship were clustered by UPG-MA. The results showed that, using 26 primers, a total of 558 bands were produced, of which 539 were polymorphic loci. There was a high level of genetic diversity among species (PPB = 96.59%, Na = 1.9659, Na = 1.3375, H = 0.2143, I = 0.3423). However, genetic diversity was lower within species, the average of genetic parameters was PPB = 6.97%, Na = 1.0697, Na = 1.0311, H = 0.0187, I = 0.0291. The Nei's genetic differentiation coefficient was 0.9126, indicated that most of the genetic variation existed among species. By clustering analysis, different individuals gathered in the same group and the classified result of SRAP marker between traditional modal characters was almost same. The results confirmed that SRAP marker can be used as one of the effective methods to reveal the genetic diversity and relationship among medicinal species of Dipsacus.
China ; Dipsacaceae ; classification ; genetics ; Gene Amplification ; Genetic Variation ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic

BACKGROUND: Mechanical ventilation is a double-edged sword to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) including lung injury, and systemic inflammatory response high tidal volumes are thought to increase mortality. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of dynamic ventilatory factors on ventilator induced lung injury in a dog model of ARDS induced by hydrochloric acid instillation under volume controlled ventilation and to investigate the relationship between the dynamic factors and ventilator-induced lung injuries (VILI) and to explore its potential mechanisms. METHODS: Thirty-six healthy dogs were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group. Subjects in the experimental group were then further divided into four groups by different inspiratory stages of flow. Two mL of alveolar fluid was aspirated for detection of IL-8 and TNF-α. Lung tissue specimens were also extracted for total RNA, IL-8 by western blot and observed under an electronic microscope. RESULTS: IL-8 protein expression was significantly higher in group B than in groups A and D. Although the IL-8 protein expression was decreased in group C compared with group B, the difference was not statistically significant. The TNF-α ray degree of group B was significantly higher than that in the other groups (P<0.01), especially in group C (P>0.05). The alveolar volume of subjects in group B was significantly smaller, and cavity infiltration and cell autolysis were marked with a significant thicker alveolar septa, disorder of interval structures, and blurring of collagenous and elastic fiber structures. A large number of necrotic debris tissue was observed in group B. CONCLUSION: Mechanical ventilation with a large tidal volume, a high inspiratory flow and a high ventilation frequency can cause significant damage to lung tissue structure. It can significantly increase the expression of TNF-α and IL-8 as well as their mRNA expression. Furthermore, the results of our study showed that small tidal ventilation significantly reduces the release of pro-inflammatory media. This finding suggests that greater deterioration in lung injury during ARDS is associated with high inspiratory flow and high ventilation rate.

The whole herb of Solanum nigrum L. can be used as the herbal drug. In this study, UHPLC-Q Exactive high resolution mass combined with GNPS molecular network was used for the rapid characterization of the components in the leaves of S. nigrum L. A total of 157 compounds were identified, including 30 steroid alkaloids, 61 steroid saponins, 35 flavonoids, and 31 other compounds (amino acids and organic acids), by comparison with the data reported in the literature, and mass fragmentation characteristics analysis, as well as the correlation of known and unknown nodes in the GNPS molecular network. Compared with the fruits and stems, the leaves of S. nigrum L was rich in a variety of steroidal saponins, steroidal alkaloids, and flavonoids, and the results lay the foundation for the precise resources utilization of S. nigrum L.

Objective To analyze the ultrasonic features of thyroid microcarcinoma (TMC) and the causes of misdiagnosis. Methods The ultrasonic features including shape, margin, echogenecity, microcalcification, vascularity and lymphadenopathy were analyzed retrospectively in 26 pathologically-proven TMC patients. Results In 26 cases, 11 cases were diagnosed correctly before operation (11/26, 42.31%), 12 cases were misdiagnosed (12/26, 46.15%) as adenoma or benign nodule, and 3 cases were missed diagnosed (3/26, 11.54%). Among the 23 cases detected on ultrasound, 21 cases were solid and hypoechoic (21/23, 91.30%);19 cases were ill-defined (19/23, 82.61%);12 cases were taller than wide in shape (12/23, 52.17%); 14 cases had microcalcification (14/23, 60.87%); 7 cases showed central or peripheral blood flow signals (7/23,30.43%) with arterial resistance index>0.70 in 3 lesions and<0.70 in 4 lesions. Conclusions Several ultrasonographic features are helpful in identiifcation of TMC, including hypo/iso-echogenecity, ill-deifned margin, taller-than-wide shape, microcalciifcation, arterial signals with high resistance index, and abnormal lymphadenopathy. Moreover, for cases with multiple lesions, to the potential co-existence of benign and malignant lesions should be considered.