Heparinases,a kind of polysaccharide lyases,can degrade heparin and heparin sulfate to low molecular weight polysaccharides.It has been noted that many bacteria have heparinases although only few of them have been purified and characterized.Heparinases I,II and III from Flavobacterium heparinum have been extensively studied for many years and been commercialized recently.Heparinases have some important applications in the industry and clinic as well as in the determination of heparin structure,which is a very important anticoagulant drug used world-widely.The recent progresses in isolation of heparinase-producing bacteria,genome mapping of heparinase homologs in sequenced bacteria and archaea genomes,purification of heparinases and the study of their biochemistry and regulation were reviewed.The recombinant expression of these enzymes as well as important applications of heparinases and their potential applications in the future will also be highlighted.

Electronic case report forms (eCRFs) instead of the traditional paper case report forms (pCRFs) are increasingly used by investigators and sponsors of clinical research. We include a total of 14 phase III studies (8 pCRF, 6 eCRF) to compare paper and electronic data documentation both quantitatively and qualitatively in clinical studies. The result suggests that adaptions of electronic data capture (EDC) in clinical trials have the advantages in optimization of data capture process, improvement of data quality and earlier clinical decision compared to paper-based methods. Furthermore, the successful implementation of EDC requires accouplements with corresponding data management processes and reallocation of resources.
Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic ; Data Collection ; methods ; Information Storage and Retrieval ; methods ; Medical Informatics

Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer (P. ginseng) has been used as traditional medicine in Asian countries for more than 2,000 years. P. ginseng contains many active components such as ginsenosides, peptides, essential oil and polysaccharides, among which, P. ginseng polysaccharides were reported to have immunomodulating, anti-cancer, anti-adhesive and antioxidant activities. For better understanding of the structures and biological activities of all the ginseng polysaccharides, here the recent research achievements were reviewed. This review would be helpful for the relevant researchers to get useful information.
Antineoplastic Agents ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Medicine, Traditional ; Panax ; chemistry ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; Polysaccharides ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology

Choosing the right solvent and timely use is the basis of rational drug use and the most direct and efficient way to improve the safety of traditional Chinese medicine injections. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of solvent and drug preparation time on Shuanghuanglian injection inducing pseudo-allergic reactions with mouse mode. The two tests were carried out: (1) Comparative experiment between different solvent: Shuanghuanglian injection preparation to the appropriate concentration with 0.9% sodium chloride injection and 5% dextrose injection, mixed with Evans blue, at one time intravenous injected into mice, 30 minutes later, the mouse ears vascular permeability were observed and compared. (2) Comparative experiment among different preparation time: placed 10 min, 2.5 h, 6 h and 24 h after Shuanghuanglian injection were prepared and then to detect the pseudo-allergic reactions in mice using the same methods as in (1). The results showed that there was no significant difference in the pseudo-allergic reactions in mice which induced by the same dose of Shuanghuanglian injection, respectively with 0.9% sodium chloride injection and 5% dextrose injection preparation, and with the extension of preparation time, the degree of pseudo-allergic reactions of Shuanghuanglian injection was gradually severe.
Animals ; Drug Compounding ; Drug Hypersensitivity ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; adverse effects ; Injections ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Solvents ; Time Factors

To evaluated the pseudo-allergic reactions of cordate houttuynia, pulse-activating and Qingkailing injection in mice, the ICR mouse were divided into different test groups, then were intravenously injected with three traditional Chinese medicine injections, positive control compound 48/80 and physiological saline as normal control. All test substances were mixed with 0.4% Evans blue. The reaction and vascular permeability of the ears were observed and measured 30 min after injection. At the same time, the mechanisms of the traditional Chinese injections' pseudo-allergic reactions was studyed. ICR mice were injected with the test substances as above without EB, blood in a part of mice were collected after 5 min, and the level of histamine in the plasma were measured. Blood in the other part of mice were collected after 30 min, and the level of VEGF, TNF-α and IL-10 in the serum were measured. The reasults showed that except the cordate houttuynia injection, pulse-activating injection in 1. 5 times clinical concentration and Qingkailing injection in 3.3 times clinical concentration caused mild pseudo-allergic reactions mainly for vascular permeability, no pseudo-allergic reactions occurred when the concentration of the two injections was below the concentration metioned above; 5 minutes after intravenous injection of the three TCM injections into ICR mice with the highest dose, the levels of histamine in plasma of pulse-activating injection and Qingkailing injection groups were increased significantly, 30 minutes later, the levels of VEGF, TNF-α and IL-10 in the serum of all groups were no significant change compared to normal group. The mouse of pulse-activating and Qingkailing injection groups showed inflammatory changes in ear and lung tissues. It can be conluded that when the dose or concentration increased to a certain extent, pulse-activating and Qingkailing injection could induce pseudo-allergic reactions on ICR mice, the increased histamine realease maybe the main reason for pseudo-allergic reactions of the two traditional Chinese medicine injections. In addition the author preliminary thought that inflammatory mechanisms leading to hyperpermeabilities were the main reason of the traditional Chinese medicine injection's pseudo-allergic reaction.
Animals ; Drug Hypersensitivity ; etiology ; Humans ; Injections ; Interleukin-10 ; blood ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; adverse effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR

Aim To explore the lipid-lowering mecha-nisms of curcumin from the molecular levels and pro-vide scientific basis for clinical development of lipid-lowering drugs.Methods Using oil red O staining and enzymic to determinate the levels of cholesterol in HepG2 cells.Moreover,uptaking of DiI-LDL was also measured.The expressions of mRNA and protein were detected by RT-Q-PCR and Western blot.Results The red lipid droplets and the levels of TC and FC sig-nificantly increased in HepG2 cells after treated with curcumin.The orange red fluorescence was higher than that of control.Curcumin could promote the expression levels of mRNA and protein of SREBP2 and LDLR, what′s more,curcumin could reduce the expression of the mature PCSK9 level and IDOL protein.Conclu-sion Curcumin accelerates LDL-C uptake probably via downregulating the expression of PCSK9 and IDOL in HepG2 cells.

BACKGROUNDEarly detection and accurate staging are crucial for planning treatment and improving survival rate of hilar cholangiocarcinomas. This study investigated the diagnostic value of a three dimensional, spoiled gradient echo, T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sequence (3D volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination, 3D-VIBE) in the preoperative evaluation of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

METHODSThirty-one patients with surgically and histologically confirmed hilar cholangiocarcinomas underwent preoperative MR imaging examination. Unenhanced two-dimensional T1- and T2-weighted images, 2D MR cholangiopancreatographs (MRCP), gadolinium enhanced 3D-VIBE images in the early arterial, late arterial and portal venous phases followed by 2D T1-weighted images in the equilibrium phase were acquired. Images from 3D-VIBE, 2D T1-weighted enhanced sequences and 2D MRCP were interpreted by two abdominal radiologists through consensus reading in blind manner, focussing on the assessment of the morphological type, the longitudinal extent of tumor infiltration in the bile ducts and the involvement of neighbouring blood vessels. The accuracy of 3D-VIBE and 2D T1-weighted enhanced sequences in assessing the tumor resectability was compared.

RESULTSAll the 31 tumors were directly displayed and accurately classified on 3D-VIBE images whereas 8 periductal infiltrating tumors (8/31, 25.8%) were not depicted on 2D T1-weighted enhanced images. Using the Bismuth Corlette classification, 3D-VIBE was closer to MRCP in delineating the intraductal extent of tumor infiltration than 2D T1-weighted enhanced (28/31, 90.3%; 10/31, 32.3%; chi2 = 22.0, P < 0.05). Involvement of the hepatic artery, the portal venous trunk and their branches was shown more frequently on 3D VIBE than 2D T1-weighted enhanced images. The positive predictive value and accuracy of 3D-VIBE (84.2%; 90.3%) for assessing tumor resectability were higher than those of 2D T1-weighted enhanced images (64.0%; 71.0%, all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGadolinium enhanced 3D-VIBE is better than 2D T1-weighted enhanced sequence in the preoperative assessment of the morphologicalal type, the intraductal infiltrating extent and the tumor resectability of hilar cholangiocarcinomas.

Adult ; Aged ; Bile Duct Neoplasms ; pathology ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; pathology ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Preoperative Care ; Reproducibility of Results

Infestation, moldy and other phenomenon in the processing and storage of Chinese herbal medicines is a problem that faced in the production of Chinese traditional medicine. The low productivity of traditional processing methods can not guarantee the quality of Chinese herbal medicines. Sulfur fumigation is the first choice of grassroots to process the Chinese herbal medicine with its low cost and easy operation. Sulfur fumigation can solve some problems in the processing and storage of Chinese herbal medicines, but modern pharmacological studies show that long-term use of Chinese traditional medicine which is fumigated by sulfur can cause some serious harm to human liver, kidney and other organs. This paper conducts a review about the application history of sulfur fumigation, its influence to the quality of Chinese herbal medicines as well as domestic and foreign limits to sulfur quantity, and a brief introduction of the status of modern processing technologies in the processing of food and some Chinese herbal medicines, the problems ex- isting in the Chinese herbal medicines processing, which can provide a reference basis for the further research, development and application of investigating alternative technologies of sulfur fumigation.
Fumigation ; adverse effects ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Quality Control ; Social Control, Formal ; Sulfur ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Ecosystem ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mycoplasma ; isolation & purification ; pathogenicity ; Mycoplasma Infections ; epidemiology ; Rural Population ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the in vitro and in vivo function of anti-human bladder tumor human-mouse chimeric antibody ch-BDI and its future clinical application.

METHODSWith ch-BDI in high-expression cell-line medium, affinity chromatography was used for the purification. Labeled with (99m)Tc through reduction method, its immunoreactive fraction and association constant were measured. The constant was injected into nude mice with xenografted human bladder tumor. The biodistribution of the labeled ch-BDI was studied with radioimmunoimaging.

RESULTSch-BDI showed desirable immunoreactive fraction (76%) and association constant (3.56 x 10(9) M(-1)) in vitro and a terrific specific targeting effect in vivo.

CONCLUSIONch-BDI has fairly good function against human bladder tumor both in vitro and in vivo, and is promising in clinical use.

Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; immunology ; Antibodies, Neoplasm ; immunology ; Antibody Affinity ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; immunology ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms ; immunology