Objective To discuss the correlation between aortic elasticity and coronary artery calcification by CT.Methods Totally 111 patients who were diagnosed of coronary artery disease underwent coronary artery CTA.The images were qualified for aortic elasticity measurement.All patients were divided into calcification negative group (n=43) and calcification positive group (n =68).The calcification positive group was further divided into light,medium,and serious groups according to their calcification scores.The ascending aortic images were reconstructed every 5 ％ R-R intervals.The cross-sectional areas and diameters of aortic in each R-R interval were measured automatically,then diameter variation rate (％ A0),aortic distensibility (A0D),aortic compliance (A0C) and aortic stiffness (A0SI) were calculated to evaluate aortic elasticity.Correlation between aortic elasticity and coronary artery calcification were analyzed.Results ％ A0,A0 D,A0C were lower and A0SI was higher in calcification positive group than those in calcification negative group (all P＜0.05).There was no significant differences in the four reference indexes of aortic elasticity among light,medium,and serious groups in calcification positive group (all P＞0.05).Correlation analysis demonstrated negative correlations between ％ A0,A0 D,A0 C and calcification scores,and a positive correlation between A0SI and calcification scores.Conclusion Aortic elasticity is correlated with coronary artery calcification,and the combination of them will be beneficial for the early diagnosis of coronary heart disease.

In recent years, more and more research shows that the pharmacokinetic parameter of traditional Chinese medicine can be affected by the disease states. It's possible that drug metabolic enzymes, transporters, cell membrane permeability and the change of microbes group could be interfered with physiological and pathological changes, which enables the pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicine in the body to be altered, including the process of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and then the pharmacokinetic parameters of traditional chinese medicine are altered. It's found that investigating the pharmacokinetic of traditional Chinese medicine in the pathological state is more useful than that of in normal state because the great part of traditional Chinese medicine is mainly used to treat disease. This article reflects the latest research on the pharmacokinetic of traditional Chinese medicine in the disease state such as diabete, cerebral ischemia, liver injury, inflammatory disease, nervous system disorders and fever in order to provide certain reference for clinicians designing reasonable administration dose.
Animals ; Brain Ischemia ; drug therapy ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Inflammation ; drug therapy ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Nervous System Diseases ; drug therapy

Dunhuang medicine is a branch of Dunhuang studies, including the characteristics of Dunhuang ancient medical prescriptions and treatment technique.Dunhuang Dabupi Decoction has good efficacy in nourishing vitality and yin and promoting the production of body fluid. Professor WANG Dao-kun used the prescription to treat gastric stuffiness, gaining significant curative effect. This article summaried cases of using this prescription, to show the advantages of Dunhuang ancient medical prescription Dabupi Decoction for present use.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the diagnostic value of serum CEACAM1 in patients with pancreatic cancer.

METHODSFifty patients with pancreatic cancer and 50 with chronic pancreatitis were examine for serum levels of CEACAM1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The cut-off values and area under curve (AUC) of CEACAM1 was obtained by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The diagnostic efficiency of the tumor markers for pancreatic cancer was assessed by the fourfold table.

RESULTSThe serum level and positivity rate of CEACAM1 in pancreatic cancer patients were higher than those in chronic pancreatitis patients (P<0.05). Based on the ROC curve, the cut-off values and AUC of CEACAM1 were 13.835 ng/ml and 0.780, respectively (P<0.05). In pancreatic cancer patients, the diagnostic sensitivities of the tumor markers decreased in the order of CEACAM1 < CA242 < CA19-9 (P<0.05), and the specificity in the order of CA242 < CA19-9 < CEACAM1 (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONCEACAM1 shows a higher diagnostic sensitivity than CA19-9 and CA242 for pancreatic cancer, but due to its low specificity this marker alone is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, CD ; blood ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Cell Adhesion Molecules ; blood ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; ROC Curve

A L9 (3(4)) orthogonal design table to be used to get nine combinations of extraction of three herbs of Wuji pill: Coptis chinensis, Tetradium ruticarpum and Paeonia lactiflora Pall., and nine extraction of single herbs correspondingly, altogether eighteen combinations. Quantification of five representative bioactive ingredients: berberine, palmatine, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, paeoniflorin in rat liver by ultra high liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after oral administration at 2 h time point of eighteen combinations. The result shows the bioactive ingredients have different concentrations betweem different combinations and the single herb with the same dosage significantly as well as the same dose combinations. C. chinensis with evodiamine concentration of low and high dose T. ruticarpum was positively correlated. T. ruticarpum with berberine concentration of low dose C. chinensis was negatively correlated and of meddle dose C. chinensis was correlated positively. T. ruticarpum with paeoniflorin concentration of middle dose P. lactiflora was correlated positively. P. lactiflora with palmatine concentration of middle dose C. chinensis was negatively correlated and with evodiamine and rutaecarpine concentration of middle dose T. ruticarpum was negatively correlated. These shows the three single herbs interactions resulted in the differences of each ingredients concentration in rat liver. The orthogonal analysis indicates the combination 12: 6: 6 make the maximum concentration in rat liver.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Biological Availability ; Biomedical Research ; methods ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drug Stability ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Liver ; metabolism ; Male ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Temperature

Based on the literatures about the optimized effectiveness of the acupoint sticking therapy for diseases which are attacked in winter but are treated in summer, the main constituent elements of plaster, acupoints, the dose and the application time are reviewed and analyzed. It is suggested that the stepwise procedures are adoped to accumulate clinical evidence, standardize the technique instructions based on the clinical evidences, and perform high quality clinical trials.
Acupuncture Points ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Drug Therapy ; methods ; standards ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Seasons ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo screen the best antitumor components of Stellera chamaejasme and their sensitive cell lines.

METHODSixteen different components of alcohol extracts from S. chamaejasme, including HH, H1-H8, JH and J1-J8, were got by gradient column chromatography eluted with alcohol in different concentrations. In the first screening, the solvent control group, the drug group, the positive group and the blank group were set up. Then the human cancer cell lines such as hepatocarcinoma BEL-7402, SK-HEP-1, and lung cancer A549, NCI-H157 were processed with the components, and the concentration for each drug group was 100 mg x L(-1). Thus, the 48 hour suppression ratio to the four kinds of cancer cells for each component were compared by the SRB method, to select the most inhibitive components and the most sensitive cell lines, which were used as the subjects of the second screening. In the second screening, each component including the concentration of 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 mg x L(-1) was used to treat the sensitive cell lines and the inhibition rates to each cell line of 24, 48, 72 h by the SRB assay were detected. Also, the IC50 of each component was calculated and their main chemical composition was analyzed by UPLC-MS.

RESULTThe inhibition effect to the proliferation of the different cancer cells has great difference among 16 components, and the lung cancer cells are more sensitive to them than the hepatocarcinoma cells. Besides, the inhibition rates of JS, J6 and H8 are higher than the other components and their effect has a certain time and concentration dependence. At 72 h, the inhibition rate of each component ranges from (60.57 +/- 3.83)% to (96.66 +/- 0.51)% for lung cancer cells, and IC50 from (9.61 +/- 0.79) mg x L(-1) to (55.76 +/- 2.31) mg x L(-1). J5, J6 and H8 are the biflavonoids.

CONCLUSIONThe biflavonoids in alcohol extracts from S. chamaejasme have exerted a satisfactory inhibitory effect on the lung cancer cell proliferation.

Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Liver Neoplasms ; Lung Neoplasms ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Thymelaeaceae ; chemistry ; Tumor Cells, Cultured

OBJECTIVETo study the metabolism of berberine and palmatine in prescription compatibility of Wuji Wan in human intestinal flora.

METHODThe L9 (3(4)) orthogonal design was adopted to compare prescription compatibility of nine groups of Wuji Wan composed of Coptis chinensis, Evodiae and fried Radix paeoniae alba into and single ingredient of C. chinensis. They were cultivated with fresh human excrements under anaerobic conditions for 24 h. A HPLC-UV method was adopted for determining berberine and palmatine in bacteria culture medium, in order to compare the metabolism of the two components in different prescription compatibility.

RESULTMetabolism of berberine was positively correlated with doses, whereas metabolism of palmatine was negatively correlated with doses in extracts from C. chinensis. Compound compatibility speeded up the metabolism of berberine in low dose, which was positively related to the doses of Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix; meanwhile Compound compatibility slowed down the metabolism of berberine in high dose, which was negatively related to the dose of Evodiae. Compound compatibility speeded up the metabolism of palmatine in high dose, which was negatively related to the doses of Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix.

CONCLUSIONThe metabolism of the compatibility of Wuji Wan speeds up, when Coptis chinensis components metabolite rapidly in intestinal flora; while the metabolism of the compatibility of Wuji Wan slows down, when C. chinensis components metabolite slowly in intestinal flora. Therefore, they show a balanced effect. Additionally, different proportion of C. chinensis, Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix cause difference in metabolism speed of berberine and palmatine to some extent.

Anaerobiosis ; Bacteria ; metabolism ; Berberine ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Berberine Alkaloids ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Coptis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Evodia ; chemistry ; Feces ; microbiology ; Intestinal Absorption ; Intestines ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Paeonia ; chemistry ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and oxidized high-density lipoprotein (ox-HDL) on the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCAl) and cholesterol efflux in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

METHODSIn vitro cultured HUVECs were incubated in the presence of 100 microg/ml HDL or 100 microg/ml ox-HDL for 24 h, using PBS as the negative control. ABCA1 mRNA level and cholesterol efflux rate were determined using RT-PCR and a liquid scintillator, respectively.

RESULTSHDL and ox-HDL significantly elevated the level of ABCA1 mRNA by 58% and 23% relative to the control level, respectively (P<0.05). The cholesterol efflux rate in ox-HDL group was significantly lower than that in HDL group (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONHDL increases ABCAl expression and cholesterol efflux in HUVECs. Oxidative modification of HDL decrease cholesterol efflux by inhibiting the expression of ABCAl, suggesting a possible mechanism of ox-HDL in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1 ; ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cells, Cultured ; Cholesterol ; metabolism ; Endothelial Cells ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lipoproteins, HDL ; metabolism ; physiology ; Umbilical Veins ; cytology

Based on ZhangShi YiTong written by ZHANG Lu of Qing dynasty, and the record that external application of Baijiezi (seeds of Brassica Alba) for treating asthma of cold syndrome, retrospective study is conducted to modern literature of treating winter diseases in summer with acupoint sticking therapy for preventing and treating chronic cough and asthma. Learning from thoughts and methods of evidence-based medicine, and according to subject characteristics of TCM and acupuncture, acupoints and point-selecting discipline of prescription for preventing and treating chronic cough and asthma in summer with acupoint sticking are analyzed. The results show that the top ten common acupoints used for acupoint sticking therapy of treating winter diseases in summer are Feishu (BL 13), Dingchuan (EX-B 1), Xinshu (BL 15), Geshu (BL 17), Danzhong (CV 17), Shenshu (BL 23), Gaohuang (BL 43), Dazhui (GV 14), Pishu (BL 20), Tiantu (CV 22), most of which belong to the Bladder Meridian of Foot-Taiyang, Conception Vessel and Governor Vessel or extra-meridian points. It refers that the core acupoints of acupoint sticking therapy are Feishu (BL 13), Dingchuan (EX-B 1), Xinshu (BL 15), Geshu (BL 17), Danzhong (CV 17), and adjunct points can be selected by syndrome, disease different stage, disease or symptoms.
Acupuncture Points ; Asthma ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Cough ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Seasons