Growth year is one of the important factors for the quality of Polygala tenufolia. In this study, primary metabolites and secondary metabolites were compared in 1, 2 and 3 years old P. tenufolia cultivated in Shaanxi Heyang. The samples were subjected to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, and the obtained data were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and other statistical analysis methods. In addition, content and correlation of different metabolites were also calculated. The results showed no significance between main component contents in 2 year-old and 3 year-old P. Tenufolia, but 1 year-old was statistically different. The contents of primary metabolites, such as fructose, sucrose, and choline increased as time goes on, while glycine and raffinose decreased. The contents of secondary metabolites, such as onjisaponin Fg, polygalasaponin XXVIII, polygalasaponin XXXII increased, while polygalaxanthone III and parts of oligosaccharide multi-ester including tenuifoliose A, tenuifoliose C, tenuifoliose C2 and tenuifoliose H decreased with the extension of the growth years. Growth years has important impact on the quality of P. tenuifolia and the existing growing years of commodity P. tenuifolia have its scientific evidence. This study supplied a new method for the quality evaluation of Chinese medicinal materials.

Animals ; Brain Injuries ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; chemically induced ; Endotoxins ; toxicity ; Female ; Male ; Natriuretic Peptide, C-Type ; analysis ; Neurotensin ; analysis ; Rabbits

Objective To explore the etiology,clinical manifestations of infantal viral pneumonia in Luzhou area.Methods Five viral specific serum IgM antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) in acute period of viral pneumonia.Five kinds of virus were separated,as respiratory syncytial virue(RSV),influenza virus(IFV),adenovirus(ADV),cytonegalo virus(CMV),and parainfluenza virus(PIV).Serum specific IgM was positive,C-reactive protein(CRP) was less than 8 mg/L,and there was no(clini-)cal and laboratory proof of other pathogenic infection detected in 221 infants with pneumonia.Results 1.One hundred and four cases of viral infection were detected from 221 infants with pneumonia.The viral positive detected rate was 47.1%,and there were 75 cases of single viral infection(72.1%) and 29 cases of mixed viral infection(27.9%) among them.2.In the single viral infection,RSV was the first,IFV,ADV,PIV and CMV being the second,the third,the fourth,and the fifth respectively.3.The types of likely infection virus were different in different age-stage and seasons in infants.Conclusions The etiology of infantal pneumonia is complicated.The types of viral infection are various besides germ infection and the epidemic season peak;clinical manifestations are different.Earlier detection of(etiology) in infection will make clear the etiology and then take appropriate treatment measures to improve curative effect.

OBJECTIVE Toprepareapolyclonalantibodyforspindlin1protein,anovelcancer related protein,and to provide the data for a better understanding of its functions and screening tu mor. METHODS Purifiedspindlin1proteinwasinjectedintorabbitstoproducethepolyclonalantiserumafter removing glutathione S-transferase (GST)from the fusion protein spindlin 1-GST that was expressed in Escherichia coli..The antiserum was purified through the Hitrap Protein A system,and the titer of spin-dlin 1 polyclonal antibody was detected by ELISA.The specificity of the polyclonal antibody was deter-minedbyWesternblottingandimmunohistochemistry.RESULTS Thetiterofspindlin1polyclonalanti-body was 1∶2000.Western blotting detection demonstrated that the spindlin 1 polyclonal antibody recog-nized myc-spindlin 1 reco mbinant fusion protein in HeLa cells transfected with pAdeasy-myc-spindlin 1 , which also corresponded with Myc.antibody.The HeLa cells were transfected with enhanced green fluo-rescence protein (EGFP)and spindlin 1 vector(pEGFP-C3-spindlin 1 ),which was confirmed by the in-dependent GFP fluorescence assay.The results of immunohistochemistry detection with the spindlin 1 polyclonal antibody suggested that spindlin 1 was mainly expressed in the nuclei of HeLa cells.More i m-portantly,in i mmunohistoche mical assays,the spindlin 1 antibody recognized nuclear spindlin 1 expres-sioninclinicalovariancancertissues.CONCLUSION Thespecificspindlin1polyclonalantibodyispre-pared,which may be used to detect cancer-related protein spindlin 1 in HeLa cells and ovarian cancer tissues.

Growth year is one of the important factors for the quality of Polygala tenufolia. In this study, primary metabolites and secondary metabolites were compared in 1, 2 and 3 years old P. tenufolia cultivated in Shaanxi Heyang. The samples were subjected to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, and the obtained data were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and other statistical analysis methods. In addition, content and correlation of different metabolites were also calculated. The results showed no significance between main component contents in 2 year-old and 3 year-old P. Tenufolia, but 1 year-old was statistically different. The contents of primary metabolites, such as fructose, sucrose, and choline increased as time goes on, while glycine and raffinose decreased. The contents of secondary metabolites, such as onjisaponin Fg, polygalasaponin XXVIII, polygalasaponin XXXII increased, while polygalaxanthone III and parts of oligosaccharide multi-ester including tenuifoliose A, tenuifoliose C, tenuifoliose C2 and tenuifoliose H decreased with the extension of the growth years. Growth years has important impact on the quality of P. tenuifolia and the existing growing years of commodity P. tenuifolia have its scientific evidence. This study supplied a new method for the quality evaluation of Chinese medicinal materials.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Mass Spectrometry ; Metabolomics ; Oligosaccharides ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Polygala ; chemistry ; Quality Control

OBJECTIVEPlant metabolomics combined with GC-MS was used to investigate metabolic fingerprinting of Tussilago farfara at different growth stages.

METHODDried Samples were extracted by two-phase solvent system to obtain polar and nonpolar parts, which were subjected to GC-MS analysis. Metabolites were identified by NIST data base search and comparison with the authentic standards. The data were introduced into SIMCA-P 11.0 software package for multivariate analysis after pretreatment.

RESULTFifty-four metabolites were identified, including 35 polar metabolites and 19 nonpolar compounds. The score plot for PCA showed clear separation of the different development stages of flower buds of T. farfara, showing a trend of gradual change. Samples of October, November, December were in close proximity on the plot, indicating that the metabolome of these three periods was similar, samples from September (early development) and March (after flowering) were far away, showing big chemical differences. Content comparison results of some representative metabolites reveals that, the content of proline, lysine and linoleic acid increased gradually to the highest in the medium term, but sharply decreased to the lowest after flowering; the content of malic acid and citric acid were the lowest in the medium term; sucrose content decreased gradually, and then reached the lowest level after blooming.

CONCLUSIONIt is obvious that metabolites of the early development and flowering stage were quite different with those of the traditional harvest time, suggesting that they can not be used as traditional medicine. This study will provide a research basis for harvest time determination and bioactive compounds of T. farfara.

Flowers ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Metabolome ; Metabolomics ; Tussilago ; chemistry ; growth & development ; metabolism

To establish a platform for high throughput screening and in vitro evaluating novel metabolic enzyme-targeted inhibitors towards anti-malarial drugs, a lactate dehydrogenase gene of Plasmodium falciparum (PfLDH) was amplified from the Hainan isolate FCC1/HN. The fusion expression vectors, pGEX-2TK and pET-29a( + ), were utilized to introduce the PfLDH gene into strains of Escherichia coli, BL21 and BL21 (DE3), for over-expression. Consequently, the enzymatic activity of PfLDH was successfully detected in the suspension of lytic bacteria. The PfLDH gene cloned in pGEX-2TK was mainly expressed as inclusion bodies, while the same gene cloned in pET-29a( + ) was nearly expressed in a soluble form of PfLDH, demonstrating the latter vehicle might be more suitable for the large-scale preparation of recombinant PfLDH. Furthermore, according to the electrophoregram of SDS-PAGE and the sequencing data, a series of truncated PfLDH sequences generated randomly from gene amplification were screened and cloned, from which four pre-matured genes with a terminator mutation, PfLDH-delta271, -delta236, -delta167 and -delta53 coding for 45, 80, 149 and 263 amino acid residues, were individually recovered. Through the gene expression and enzymatic activity measurement, the effect of pre-matured terminator mutation on the activity of PfLDH was evaluated, which should pave the way for probing the relationship between structure and function of PfLDH.
Animals ; Cloning, Molecular ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Inclusion Bodies ; genetics ; metabolism ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plasmodium falciparum ; enzymology ; genetics ; Protozoan Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Solubility

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics and influential factors on internet addiction disorder (IAD) among first-grade junior students in Wuhan city. Methods An anonymous questionnaire survey was carried out on 1219 first-grade junior students through stratified cluster sampling in 4 middle schools in Wuhan city. Results The internet use rate (IUR) of first-grade junior students was 96.43% , with the average of primary surfer age as 8.93 + 1.95. The internet addiction tendency (IAT) rate and the IAD rate were 10.87% and 7.71% respectively. The IAT and the IAD detection rates among male students were significantly higher than in female students (χ~2=13.04,P<0.01). By ordinal logistic regression analysis, the relative factors mainly involved 6 aspects in IAD, including sex, poor academic performance, the surfer number of times, the surfer time, the surfer place and the surfer expense. Conclusion The prevalence rates of IAT and IAD were quite high in the first-grade junior students in Wuhan. School authorities, teachers and guardians should collaboratively working together to guide the students in using the network correctly, and to carry out effective interventions to reduce the incidence of internet addiction.

OBJECTIVETo assess the value of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for detecting common chromosome aneuploidies in interphase nuclei of amniotic fluid cells.

METHODSEighty two uncultured amniotic fluid samples and supernatants from 2 successfully and 5 unsuccessfully cultured amniotic fluid samples were analyzed with FISH. Results from standard cytogenetic analysis of 79 uncultured amniotic fluid samples and 2 successfully cultured amniotic fluid samples were compared with FISH results.

RESULTSAll of the 89 samples were succeeded analyzed with FISH. Positive findings included 3 cases with trisomy 21, 1 case with 47, XYY and 1 case with 69, XXX, which were consistent with results of karyotype analysis.

CONCLUSIONFISH is a rapid and accurate method for prenatal diagnosis, and can also provide a remedy to failed amniotic fluid cells culture.

Adult ; Amniotic Fluid ; cytology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; methods ; Karyotyping ; Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a critical stimulator of bone mineral resorption.We used to find the MTHFR gene polymorphisms are related with blood lead levels among pregnant women.Pregnancy-stimulated bone turnover may be associated with MTHFR gene polymorphisms too.In this article,we aimed to determine the relationship between MTHFR gene polymorphisms and bone turnover rates among the pregnant women.The participants including pregnant and non-pregnant women were selected and recruited during their routine prenatal or physical examination from July to October in 2012.A total of 1000 participants,including 250 pregnant women in the first,second,and third trimesters and 250 non-pregnant women,were enrolled in the study.Finally,after excluding 27 participants unable to provide blood samples,973 eligible participants (i.e.,234,249,and 248 pregnant women in the first,second,and third trimesters,respectively,and 242 non-pregnant women)were included in the research.The MTHFR gene 1298CC homozygote carriers were more susceptible to yield higher plasma homocysteine levels than the 1298AA/AC carriers,with standardized coefficients of 0.086 (P＜0.05) and 0.104 (P＜0.01) of all the participants and the pregnant women,respectively.The MTHFR gene 1793AA homozygote carriers more likely showed higher plasma osteocalcin levels (standardized β=0.091,P＜0.01) than the 1793GG/GA carriers among all the subjects.Plasma homocysteine levels were positively correlated with blood lead levels among the participants and the pregnant women with standardized coefficients of 0.320 (P＜0.01) and 0.179 (P＜0.01),respectively.Plasma osteocalcin levels were positively associated with blood lead levels among pregnant and non-pregnant women with standardized coefficients of 0.084 (P＜0.05) and 0.125 (P＜0.01),respectively.In conclusion,homocysteine and osteocalcin contents in plasma are associated with the MTHFR gene A1298C polymorphism and blood lead levels among pregnant women.The MTHFR gene A 1298C polymorphism-related homocysteine is a possible risk factor for increased blood lead levels among Chinese women.