Sulfur fumigation (SF) is a universal phenomenon in primary processing of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in modern times. In the process, fumigation, sulfur or both of them act on the TCMs. Some active components of TCMs change quantitatively or qualitatively during the processing. At the same time, the sulfur dioxide and heavy metal would remain and cause a serious influence on quality and future development of TCM. This article reviews the chemical compositions change after SF to study the change law and their influence on quality. This article provide references for SF in TCMs' processing for a better and safer quality.
Drug Contamination ; Fumigation ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Quality Control ; Sulfur ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

The phytase gene phyA(m) from Aspergillus niger N25 was recombined into E. coli expression vector pET-30b(+). Recombined at expression vectors pET30b-FphyA(m) was served as a template to amplify phytase gene, and the PCR product named elongation mutation gene phyA(e) was expanded with a 13 amino acid sequence from pET-30b-FphyA(m) vector at C-terminal of phytase gene phyA(m). Furthermore, phyA(e) gene was recombined into expression vector pPIC9k and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The comparison experiment of mutant phytase PP-NP0 with wild-type phytase PP-NP(m)-8 showed that: the optimum temperature of PP-NPe was increased by 3 degrees C, and its thermostability was increased by 21% when it was exposed to 10 min at 75 degrees C. Its effective reaction pH range with catalysis efficiency above 70% was pH 4.6 - pH 6.6, and wider 0.4 pH value than that of wild-type phytase.
6-Phytase ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Aspergillus niger ; enzymology ; genetics ; Enzyme Stability ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; enzymology ; genetics ; Fungal Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Hot Temperature ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of methylprednisolone pretreatment on pulmonary lung permeability index and the content of the pulmonary surfactant dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) in a rabbit model of reexpansion pulmonary edema.

METHODSTwenty-one male New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into control group, reexpansion, and reexpansion+methylprednisolone pretreatment groups. The rabbit model of reexpansion pulmonary edema was established using Sakaos method. A bolus dosage of methylprednisolone (3 mg/kg) in reexpansion+methylprednisolone group group or 2.0 ml/kg normal saline in the other two groups was administered intravenously 20 min before reexpansion pulmonary edema. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and arterial blood samples were collected for measurement of the total protein (TP) and DPPC contents 4 h after reexpansion, and the pulmonary permeability index was calculated.

RESULTSThe pulmonary permeability index in methylprednisolone pretreatment group was significantly lower than that in the reexpansion group (0.007∓0.002 vs 0.177∓0.004, P<0.05). Methylprednisolone pretreatment significantly increased DPPC concentration in the BALF as compared with saline treatment in the reexpansion group (61.815∓28.307 vs 101.955∓24.544 µg/ml, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONMethylprednisolone pretreatment can increase pulmonary surfactant content and improve pulmonary permeability in the rabbit model of reexpansion pulmonary edema.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine ; analysis ; Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; Capillary Permeability ; drug effects ; Male ; Methylprednisolone ; pharmacology ; Permeability ; Pulmonary Edema ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Pulmonary Surfactants ; metabolism ; Rabbits

OBJECTIVETo investigate the feasibility and clinical results of applying poly-DL-lactic acid (PDLLA) biomembranes in cleft palate repair.

METHODS68 cleft palate patients were divided into study group and control group. The traditional surgical method was used to control group to close the soft cleft palate, and the PDLLA biomembrane was used to study group and implanted into the surgical gap between the periosteum and bone at the hard palate, and fixed with suture. The duration, blood loss at operation, post-operative complication, wound healing and recovery were recorded and compared to conventional cleft palate repair.

RESULTSOperations were successfully completed on all 34 patients. Wound healing of soft palate and uvula was uneventful with no incidence of fistula or dehiscence. The primary healing on tissue defect of hard palate occurred in 29 patients, secondary healing occurred in 3 patients, permanent fistula between the oral cavity and the nasal cavity occurred in only one patients, and 3 patients left over fistula on alveolar process. Compared to traditional cleft palate repair, blood loss and incidence of fistula on alveolar process were decreased; the average surgical time was 89.25 minutes and was not prolonged; and there was no significant increase in post-operative complication.

CONCLUSIONHard cleft palate repair with PDLLA biomembranes is safe, simple and practical with good clinical results and is beneficial to minimize the bad influences towards the development and growth for maxilla of cleft palate patients.

Absorbable Implants ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cleft Palate ; surgery ; Feasibility Studies ; Female ; Guided Tissue Regeneration ; methods ; Humans ; Lactic Acid ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Maxillofacial Development ; Palate, Hard ; surgery ; Polyesters ; Polymers ; therapeutic use ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures

Sulfur fumigation, which is traditional method for preservation, pest control, insecticide and sterilization, has long been widely used in processing and storage and played a positive role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). As some businesses sided pursuit of profit, abused and repeated use of sulfur fumigation, have resulted in a large number of harmful residues, such as sulf dioxide (SO2) and harmful heavy metals, which brings a significant impact and danger on human health. This article summarizes the sulfur species and the sulfur fumigation methods and analyzes the harmful substances in TCM after sulfur fumigation, to provide a reference of the choice of species for the sulfur, the optimization of sulfur fumigation process and the standardized processing of TCM after sulfur fumigation.
Animals ; Drug Contamination ; Fumigation ; methods ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Safety ; Sulfur ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

OBJECTIVETo analyze the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region sequence variation in Tibet Mini-Pigs in relation to the blood parameters and provide the molecular genetic basis for developing new species of laboratory animals.

METHODSThe genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood samples of 59 Tibet mini-pigs to amplifying the mtDNA D-loop for sequence analysis. Nine physiological and nine biochemical blood parameters of Tibet mini-pigs were measured .

RESULTSBased on the variation of the tandem repeat motif, the mtDNA D-loop region of Tibet mini-pigs was classified into two types, namely type A and B with the percentage of 57.6% and 42.4%, respectively, roughly matching the 3 transform sites (305, 500, 691) at the 5' end. In the 18 blood parameters, only red blood cell count showed significant differences between types A and (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONBased on the sequence variation of the mtDNA D-loop region, Tibet mini-pigs can be divided into two types that show a significant difference in red blood cell count.

Animals ; Base Sequence ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; chemistry ; genetics ; Hematologic Tests ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Swine ; blood ; genetics ; Tibet

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Carcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Phosphorylation ; Prognosis ; S-Phase Kinase-Associated Proteins ; metabolism ; Threonine ; metabolism

Objective To analyze the genetic etiology of lateral ventriculomegaly fetal on the genome-wide level with chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA),and investigate the relationship between copy number variations (CNVs) and lateral ventriculomegaly and the application value of CMA in prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with lateral ventriculomegaly.Methods Seventy fetuses with lateral ventriculomegaly but normal or uncertain karyotype were selected and invasive prenatal diagnosis was performed in Xi Jing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University from Jan.2015 to Nov.2016.Microarray testing was performed using Affymetrix CytoScanTM 750k arrays and the results were analyzed according to biological information science database.The fetal development was regularly inspected,and follow up was conducted to find out the pregnancy outcome and fetal postnatal conditions.Results In 70 cases of lateral ventriculomegaly fetuses,there were 9 fetuses with pathogenic copy number variations (CNVs),3 fetuses with likely pathogenic CNVs and 1 fetus with likely pathogenic 1 oss of heterozygosity (LOH).During the 70 fetuses with lateral ventriculomegaly,2 pathogenic CNVs were detected in 6 fetuses with severe and non isolated lateral ventriculomegaly (33.3％).Pathogenic CNVs was not detected but 1 likely pathogenic CNV was detected in 3 fetuses with severe and isolated lateral ventriculomegaly (33.3％).Six pathogenic CNVs were detected in 31 mild and non isolated lateral ventriculomegaly (19.4％),and 2 likely pathogenic CNVs were also detected in these group (6.5％).One pathogenic CNV and 1 likely pathogenic CNV were detected in 30 fetuses with mild and isolated fetal lateral ventriculomegaly.Conclusions CMA can identify chromosome abnormality microdeletion/microduplication which was unrecognizable by conventional karyotyping analysis.The application of CMA may increase the detection rate of pathogenic CNVs in fetuses with lateral ventriculomegaly,and benefit evaluation of fetal prognosis in prenatal genetic counselling.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) proliferation and explore the signaling mechanism involved.

METHODSMSC culture was performed following the classical whole bone marrow adhering method. The characteristics of MSC were identified by induction of multi-lineage differentiation and flow cytometry for surface marker analysis (CD34, CD45, CD29, and CD90). Following the addition of 50 nmol/L wortmannin, 50 µmol/L PD98059, 30 µmol/L SB203580, 10 µmol/L H89, 20 µmol/L Y27632, 1 µmol/L rapamycin, 10 µmol/L straurosporine, 6 nmol/L Go6976, or 50 µmol/L Pseudo Z inhibitors in the cell culture, the MSC were treated with 20 ng/ml VEGF and the changes of the cell proliferation rate was measured with MTT assay.

RESULTSCultured MSC were capable of multi-linage differentiation and did not express VEGF-R, CD29 or CD90. Treatment with 20 ng/ml VEGF obviously promoted MSC proliferation, and this effect was inhibited partially by p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor rapamycin, PD98059, SB203580, Go6976, and straurosporine.

CONCLUSIONSVEGF promotes MSC proliferation in close relation to the AKT-PKC pathway, in which PKC signal pathway may play the central role.

Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Male ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Protein Kinase C ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; pharmacology

Contact lens(CL)is currently one of the most common methods of vision correction, with more than 140 million users worldwide and the demand is rising yearly as constantly development of materials and features. Wearing CL can lead to a variety of complications such as dry eye, corneal abrasions, giant papillary conjunctivitis, and infectious keratitis is one of the most severe complications. According to research, bacteria account for 80%～95% of the pathogens that cause CL-associated infective keratitis, it may have been related to the bacterial composition, virulence mechanism, biofilm formation and the combined effect of the lens itself and the process of use, which is prone to introducing pathogens, reducing antimicrobial capacity of the cornea and tears and causing ocular surface hypoxia and ocular surface inflammation. Overnight and prolonged lens wear, irregular lens purchase, use and care procedures can also be risk factors for bacterial infections. This article reviews the studies on the pathogenesis, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of CL-related bacterial keratitis.