Congresses as Topic ; Humans ; Liver Diseases

The DNA fragment RM07 was isolated from halophilic archaea Halobacterium halobium, which can function as promoter not only in halophilic archaea, but also in Escherichia coli as eubacterial promoter. Sequencing analysis indicated that it possessed the typical consensus sequences (-35 and -10) of bacterial gene promoter, which was confirmed by further deletion analysis: With its -35 sequence deleted and -10 sequence left,DNA fragment RM07a nearly cannot initiate transcription;With its both -35 and -10 sequences,RM07b DNA fragment could be active as promoter at a level even higher than RM07. Our research also showed that the promoter function of RM07 fragment in Escherichia coli was under the control of environmental factors,especially its positive correlation with the increasing concentration of sodium chloride. Therefore, RM07 DNA fragment may be potential1 novel promoter source for constructing double-function vectors. It also has special significance in elucidating the issues of the fusing characteristics of archaea and lateral gene transfer between archaea and bacteria.

Objective To study the whole-genome evolution of influenza B viruses prevalent in Qingdao from 2006 to 2011 .Methods RNA was extracted from influenza B viruses isolated in Qingdao from 2006 to 2011 .Each gene segment was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ( RT-PCR) and then sequenced .Gene sequences of each virus were determined and assembled by using Sequench -er software .A phylogenetic analysis for each gene segment was conducted by using MEGA 5.0 software pack-age.Results The phylogenetic tree of hemagglutinin ( HA) gene showed that 13 strains from 2006 to 2009 belonging to V1 clade of Victoria lineage were B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like viruses,and 12 strains from 2009 to 2011 belonging to the V2 clade of Victoria lineage were B/Brisbane/60/2008-like viruses.Moreover, strains of Yamagata lineage were all B/Florida/4/2006-like viruses including 5 strains of Y1 clade circulated from 2006 to 2008 and 7 strains of Y2 clade circulated from 2010 to 2011, respectively.The analysis of whole-genome evolution showed that 3 viruses of V2 clade presented 5+3 reassortment and 1 virus presented 1+7 reassortment.All reassortant strains matched with the vaccine strains of the present and previous season . The Yamagata and Victoria lineage strains belonged to genotype 2 and genotype 15,respectively.Compared with vaccine strains , the HA1 protein of Victoria lineage strains showed mutations at amino acid sites of H14Q, L58P, N129S, I146V, N171D and R279K, while R48K, K88R, P108A, N116K, S150I, N165Y, D196N,N202S and S229G amino acid mutations were mainly detected in Yamagata lineage strains .The sites 116 and 129,150,165,196 and 202 located in the 120,150,160 and 190 loops,respectively,which had been previously determined to be the hotspots under positive selection .Conclusion Both Yamagata and Victoria lineages of influenza B viruses were prevalent in Qingdao and evolved continuously from 2006 to 2011 .The selective pressure that a vaccine would provide was only to virus strains belonging to the same lineage ,sug-gesting a bivalent vaccine may be better for the induction of protective immunity .

Hepatitis ; therapy ; Humans ; Liver Failure ; therapy ; Liver, Artificial

The relevant literatures of Siwu series decoctions--Taohong Siwu decoction for treating primary dysmenorrea of gynecology blood stasis syndrome were summarized including the clinical application, pharmacological effects, bioactive components and metabolic characteristics. On this basis,research on the bioactive components and formulation rule were discussed, to provide reference for modern traditional Chinese medicine formula study.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; therapeutic use ; Dysmenorrhea ; drug therapy ; Female ; Humans

San'ao Decoction (SD) and its analogous formulas derived in the following generations are common used prescriptions for treating pulmonary diseases with principal symptoms such as cough and asthma. They are usually compatible with Chinese herbs for facilitating Fei, dispelling wind, resolving phlegm and fluid retention. Material bases in these formulas are mainly derived from Chinese drugs, but dissolution contents of active components are changed and new components are produced after compatibility. By multilevel effect evaluation, these analogous formulas all have commonness in ventilating Fei and superiorities of evidence-based derivation. The effect pathway of commonness was involved in cell structure protection, anti-inflammation, antioxidant, and immunoregulation.
Asthma ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Carthami Flos is a famous Chinese medicine pair (CMP). Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma can promote blood circulation for removing blood stasis, and Carthami Flos can promote blood circulation for removing meridian obstruction and remove blood stasis for relieving pain. The two herbs are important TCMs for activating blood. Danhong injection is the classic application of the two herbs compatibility, which was made from Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Carthami Flos with scientific formalation by extraction and refining. The CMP is used for treatement of organ flood insufficiency and ischemic infarction diseases. It can obviously relieving symptoms of angina pectoris, improve myocardial ischemia, regress atherosclerosis plaque, and inhibit thrombus. This paper elaberated the bio-active constituents, compatibility effects and action mechanism, and clinical applications of the CMP in order to further upgrade basic research and application levels of the CMP.
Animals ; Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Drug Compounding ; Drug Interactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry

The combination of Danggui and Honghua (GH) is a popular herb pair commonly used in clinic for the treatment of blood stasis syndrome in China. To evaluate the activating blood circulation and dissipating blood stasis effects of the combination of different proportions of Danggui and Honghua on acute blood stasis rats, and optimize the proportion of GH to have the best activating blood circulation and dissipating blood stasis effect. Acute blood stasis rat model was induced by subcutaneous injection of adrenaline and ice water bath. The blood stasis rats were administrated intragastrically with GH (1 : 0, 4 : 1, 2 : 1, 3 : 2, 1 : 1, 2 : 3, 1: 2, 1 : 4 and 0 : 1) extracts. The whole blood viscosity (WBV), plasma viscosity (PV), and high shear whole blood relative index (HSWBRI), low shear whole blood relative index (LSWBRI), and erythrocyte aggregation index (EAI) were tested to observe the effects of GH on hemorheology of blood stasis rats. And the maximum aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate (ADP) was tested to observe the effect of GH on platelet aggregation index of blood stasis rats. In addition, the prothrombin time (PT), thrombin time (TT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and plasma fibrinogen (FIB) were tested to observe the effects of GH on blood coagulation function of blood stasis rats. Then principal component analysis and multi-attribute comprehensive index methods were both used to comprehensively evaluate the total activating blood circulation and dissipating blood stasis effects of GH. The results showed that the hemorheological indexes and coagulation parameters of model group both had significant differences with normal group. Compared with model group, GH (1 : 0, 4 : 1, 2: 1, 3 : 2, 1 : 1, 2 : 3, 1 : 2, 1 : 4 and 0 : 1) could improve all the blood hemorheology indexes and regulate part indexes of blood coagulation function and platelet aggregation in acute blood stasis rats. Based on principal component analysis and multi-attribute comprehensive index methods, GH 1 : 1 and GH 3 : 2 both had the best effect of blood circulation and dissipating blood stasis, and the effect of GH 1 : 1 was slightly better than GH 3 : 2. These results suggest that GH could obviously ameliorate the abnormality of hemorheology and blood coagulation function in acute blood stasis rats. The optimized proportion of GH was consistent with regulations of medicine usage that GH 1 : 1 had the highest frequency used in traditional Chinese formulae. It could provide scientific basis for more effective application of the compatibility between Danggui and Honghua in modern clinic medicine.
Animals ; Blood Coagulation ; Blood Viscosity ; Carthamus tinctorius ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Erythrocyte Aggregation ; Hemorheology ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Platelet Aggregation ; Principal Component Analysis ; Prothrombin Time ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Thrombin Time

Resource of traditional Chinese medicine residue is an inevitable choice to form new industries characterized of modem, environmental protection and intensive in the Chinese medicine industry. Based on the analysis of source and the main chemical composition of the herb residue, and for the advantages of membrane science and technology used in the pharmaceutical industry, especially membrane separation technology used in improvement technical reserves of traditional extraction and separation process in the pharmaceutical industry, it is proposed that membrane science and technology is one of the most important choices in technological design of traditional Chinese medicine resource industrialization. Traditional Chinese medicine residue is a very complex material system in composition and character, and scientific and effective "separation" process is the key areas of technology to re-use it. Integrated process can improve the productivity of the target product, enhance the purity of the product in the separation process, and solve many tasks which conventional separation is difficult to achieve. As integrated separation technology has the advantages of simplified process and reduced consumption, which are in line with the trend of the modern pharmaceutical industry, the membrane separation technology can provide a broad platform for integrated process, and membrane separation technology with its integrated technology have broad application prospects in achieving resource and industrialization process of traditional Chinese medicine residue. We discuss the principles, methods and applications practice of effective component resources in herb residue using membrane separation and integrated technology, describe the extraction, separation, concentration and purification application of membrane technology in traditional Chinese medicine residue, and systematically discourse suitability and feasibility of membrane technology in the process of traditional Chinese medicine resource industrialization in this paper.
Biomedical Research ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends ; Membranes, Artificial ; Phytotherapy ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends

OBJECTIVEBased on the potential for nucleotide analogues to affect DNA polymerase-gamma, which controls the proliferation of mitochondria, this study aimed to determine whether long-term treatment with entecavir can cause damage to mitochondrial (mt)DNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

METHODSPatients with CHB were divided into three groups according to their history of treatment type and duration: (1) entecavir monotherapy for 2 years, n = 17; (2) entecavir monotherapy for 3 years, n = 17; (3) non-antiviral treatment as control, n = 18. PBMCs were isolated and used to assess the mtDNA content by quantitative real-time PCR of mitochondria-specific genes. Plasma malonaldehyde (MDA) and F2-isoprostanes were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Plasma total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) was detected by spectrophotometry.

RESULTSThe relative quantity (RQ; of mtDNA to nuclear (n)DNA) was significantly lower in the 3-year treatment group (0.5+/-0.3) than in the control group (1.4+/-1.2; F = 5.233, P = 0.009). The RQ was also significantly lower in the 2-year treatment group (0.4+/-0.2) than in the control group (P = 0.004). The level of F2-isoprostanes (ng/mL) was significantly lower in the 3-year treatment group (1.2+/-0.5) than in the control group (3.6+/-2.9, P = 0.002) or the 2-year treatment group (2.4+/-1.3, P = 0.007). The TAOC was significantly different when compared among all three groups (F = 4.326, P = 0.019). The TAOC (IU/mL) in the 3-year treatment group (2.6+/-1.2) was significantly lower than in the control group (5.0+/-3.0 P = 0.005), but was not significantly different than that for the 2-year group (3.2+/-1.6, P = 0.227). The levels of MDA were not significantly different between any of the groups (F = 0.291, P = 0.749).

CONCLUSIONLong-term treatment with entecavir, up to 3 years, leads to decreased mtDNA content in PBMCs. Since no clinical manifestations of mtDNA toxicity were observed, the consequent damage to the mitochondrial function may be compensated for by yet unknown mechanisms.

Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; adverse effects ; DNA Damage ; drug effects ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; drug effects ; Female ; Guanine ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; blood ; Humans ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; cytology ; Male ; Middle Aged