Ten batches of Angelica sinensis from three producing areas( Tuoxiang,Minxian and Weiyuan of Gansu province) were selected as the research objects,and processed into raw A. sinensis,A. sinensis with alcohol,and A. sinensis with soil respectively through the standard processing methods. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography( UPLC) was used to establish fingerprint for three processed products of A. sinensis,and determine the contents of 9 phenolic acids and phthalide compounds. The similarity was analyzed with Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine,which showed that the chromatographic peaks of the same processed samples of A. sinensis were basically similar,with all similarities greater than 0. 950. The difference between different processed products and their control spectra was not obvious,with all similarities also higher than 0. 950.On the basis of using principal component analysis( PCA) and OPLS-DA to seek the difference components between groups,the improved distance coefficient method can be used to effectively distinguish the three processed products of A. sinensis by fingerprint similarity. At the same time,the determination method of nine phenolic acids and phthalide in A. sinensis was established by UPLC,and the comparison between different processed products was carried out. The results showed that the content of various components was changed as compared with the raw A. sinensis. The contents of coniferyl ferulate and ligustilide in the A. sinensis with alcohol were increased significantly,and the content of coniferyl ferulate was obviously increased in A. sinensis with soil. The method established in this paper can effectively distinguish different processed products of A. sinensis and determine the content of the main components in them.
4-Butyrolactone ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Angelica sinensis ; chemistry ; Benzofurans ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Coumaric Acids ; analysis ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Hydroxybenzoates ; analysis ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Principal Component Analysis

The College of Life Sciences (CLS) remains one of the most prestigious-and the oldest-colleges in Zhejiang University. This special issue, which includes 16 reviews contributed by our alumni and faculties, is dedicated to mark the 90th Anniversary of CLS. The reviews provide a glimpse of current progresses in the areas of life sciences such as biochemical processes and their association with diseases (Ding et al., 2019; Hu et al., 2019; Jin et al., 2019; Nie and Yi, 2019), cancer biology (Feng, 2019; Huang et al., 2019; Leonard and Zhang, 2019; Zhu F et al., 2019), plant and environmental microbiology (Li et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2019; Zhu XR et al., 2019), cell cycle (Gao and Liu, 2019; Zhang et al., 2019), RNA biology (Gudenas et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2019), and protein structural biology (Yang and Tang, 2019).

Background: Air pollutants and their pathogenic effects differ among regions and seasons. We aimed to explore the relationship between fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and ozone-8 hours (O₃-8h) concentrations in heating and non-heating seasons and the associated death risk due to cardiovascular diseases (CDs), respiratory diseases (RDs), and malignant tumors. Methods: Data were collected in Shenyang, China, from April 2013 to March 2016. We analyzed the correlation or lagged effect of atmospheric pollutant concentration, meteorological conditions, and death risk due to disorders of the circulatory system, respiratory system, and malignant tumor in heating and non-heating seasons. We also used multivariate models to analyze the association of air pollutants during holidays with the death risk due to the evaluated diseases while considering the presence or absence of meteorological factors. Results: An increase in the daily average SO₂ concentration by 10 μg/m³ increased the death risk by CDs, which reached a maximum of 2.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3%–2.7%) on lagging day 4 during the non-heating season and 0.2% (95% CI: 0.1%-0.4%) on lagging day 3 during the heating season. The risk of death caused by RDs peaked on lagging day 1 by 0.8% (95% CI: 0.4%–1.2%) during the heating season. An increase in O₃-8h concentration by 10 μg/m³ increased the risk of RD-related death on lagging day 2 by 1.0% (95% CI: 0.4%–1.7%) during the non-heating season, which was significantly higher than the 0.1% (95% CI: 0–0.9%) increase during the heating season. Further, an increase in the daily average PM_2.5 concentration by 10 μg/m³ increased the risk of death caused by RDs by 0.3% and 0.8% during heating and non-heating seasons, respectively, which peaked on lagging day 0. However, air pollution was not significantly associated with the risk of death caused by malignant tumors. Conclusion Short-term exposure to PM_2.5, SO₂, and O₃ during the non-heating season resulted in higher risks of CD-related death, followed by RD-related death.

BACKGROUND: How to promote the early vascularization of large tissue-engineered bone has become the hotspot of current research. Cell co-culture and the addition of bioactive factors to promote angiogenesis are very good methods to promote early vascularization. OBJECTIVE: To explore the ability of angiogenesis by co-transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs)which were transfected with vascular endothelial growth factor 165(VEGF165)gene in vivo,to move forward a single step to offer theoretical basis and experimental basis to build vascularized tissue-engineered bone which can be used to repair large segmental bone defects. METHODS: We built an ischemic skin flap with 4 cm×1.5 cm in the back of Sprague-Dawley rats, and then BMSCs+VEGF165-transfected HUVECs (group A), VEGF165-transfected HUVECs (group B), BMSCs+non-transfected HUVECs (group C), non-transfected HUVECs (group D), DMEM (group E) were respectively transplanted. ELISA method was used to detect peripheral blood VEGF level. Histologically, survival and microvessel density of the flap were observed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The flap survival quality of group A was better than that in the other groups. VEGF exhibited high expression continuously high expression at 2, 4, 7, 14 days after transplantation, and reached the peak at 7 days, but the expression level at 14 days was obviously lower than that at 2 days postoperatively. The VEGF level of group always exceeded that in group B at different time points (P < 0.05). The flap survival rate and microvessel density of group A was significantly higher than that in the other groups at 11 days postoperatively (both P < 0.05). In summary, co-transplantation of BMSCs and VEGF165-transfected HUVECs can promote survival of an ischemic flap in vivo through pro-angiogenic actions.

BACKGROUND: Patients with cranial defects undergoing cranioplasty can develop complications related or unrelated to repair materials. OBJECTIVE: To explore the differences and similarities between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional digital shaping titanium meshes for cranioplasty. METHODS: The clinical data of 221 patients with skull repair were retrospectively analyzed. Two-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh was used in 61 cases, and three-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh used in 160 cases. Postoperative complications related (including exposure of titanium mesh and nail and loosening of titanium nail) or unrelated (including refractory subcutaneous effusion, epilepsy, scalp necrosis, scalp infection, intracranial infection and intracranial hematoma) to repair materials were summarized. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were 14 cases of complications (4 related and 10 unrelated) in the two-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh group, including 2 cases of intractable subcutaneous effusion, 7 cases of epilepsy, 2 cases of titanium mesh and nail exposure, 2 cases of titanium mesh and titanium nail loosening and 1 case of scalp infection. There were 17 cases of complications (0 related and 17 unrelated) in the three-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh group, including 5 cases of refractory subcutaneous effusion, 9 cases of epilepsy, 1 case of scalp necrosis, 1 case of intracranial infection and 1 case of intracranial hematoma. Significant differences in the complications related to repair materials were found between the two groups (χ2=5.577, P=0.018). Overall findings suggest that the craniotomy with three-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh can cause fewer material-related complications than that with two-dimensional digital shaping titanium mesh.

A novel immunochromatographic assay was developed, which could provide visual evidence of triazophos in agro products, and also could directly identify the safety status by setting visual cut-off limit of detection in maximal residual limit ( MRL) value. Three test lines ( T1, T2, T3) were applied to the nitrocellulose membrane with different concentrations of Triazophos-OVA, and one control line (C) was settled with goat anti mouse IgG antibody. Thereafter, by combining with conjugate pad which immobilized monoclonal antibody labeled with 20 nm Colloidal gold particles, absorbent pad and PVC plate, a chromatographic test strip was assembled. With optimization of sample extraction and solvents selection, the test strips were employed for the determination of triazophos in rice, cabbage and apple. The results revealed that the cut-off limit of detection could reach 0. 005, 0. 01 and 0. 02 μg / mL represented by test line T3, T2 and T1, respectively. After modification, the cut-off limit of detection was resettled to 0. 05, 0. 1 and 0. 2 μg / mL according to the MRL values which enforced by the national standard of GB2763. Using acetonitrile for the sample extraction, the extracts were diluted 10 times or solvent exchanged with equivalent volume by PBS solution, and then tested by strips descripted above mentioned. The two test strips could precisely identified the safety status of agro product with MRL as threshold within 8-12 min. Furthermore, the residues value of triazophos could be quantified by the multiple quantitative test lines. Parallel GC data indicated that the strip had no false negative. This MRL-based multiple quantitative triazophos detection strip would provide a simple, direct, accurate and the most intuitionistic performance for the evaluation of agro product safety.

We sought to identify common key regulators and build a gene-metabolite network in different nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) phenotypes. We used a high-fat diet (HFD), a methionine-choline-deficient diet (MCDD) and streptozocin (STZ) to establish nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NAFL+type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in rat models, respectively. Transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses were performed in rat livers and serum. A functional network-based regulation model was constructed using Cytoscape with information derived from transcriptomics and metabolomics. The results revealed that 96 genes, 17 liver metabolites and 4 serum metabolites consistently changed in different NAFLD phenotypes (>2-fold, P<0.05). Gene-metabolite network analysis identified ccl2 and jun as hubs with the largest connections to other genes, which were mainly involved in tumor necrosis factor, P53, nuclear factor-kappa B, chemokine, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor and Toll-like receptor signaling pathways. The specifically regulated genes and metabolites in different NAFLD phenotypes constructed their own networks, which were mainly involved in the lipid and fatty acid metabolism in HFD models, the inflammatory and immune response in MCDD models, and the AMPK signaling pathway and response to insulin in HFD+STZ models. Our study identified networks showing the general and specific characteristics in different NAFLD phenotypes, complementing the genetic and metabolic features in NAFLD with hepatic and extra-hepatic manifestations.
AMP-Activated Protein Kinases ; Animals ; Complement System Proteins ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diet ; Diet, High-Fat ; Insulin ; Liver ; Metabolism ; Metabolomics ; Models, Animal ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* ; Peroxisomes ; Phenotype ; Rats ; Streptozocin ; Toll-Like Receptors ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Along with the increase of clinical application, the safety of traditional Chinese medicine gained more and more attentions. In particular, the safety evaluation of Chinese medical injections has become a mandatory task should be completed by pharmaceutical companies under the supervision of China Food and Drug Administration(CFDA). Due to the weak foundation of previous studies, the safety issues of Chinese medical injections have not been fully understood, and lack of scientific and rational risk management programs. Clinical safety centralized monitoring(CSCM) is an important method for post-market safety evaluation of Chinese medicine. Due to the lack of appropriate norms and procedures, the quality of similar research is uneven, and the results vary. Combined with practical experience with experts' suggestions, we developed this expert consensus on the design and implementation of CSCM from three stages (design, implementation and report) with 20 technical points, which will provide technical support for future CSCM studies.

This study investigated the effects of SIRT1 gene knock-out on osteoarthritis in mice, and the possible roles of SREBP2 protein and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in the effects. Mice were randomly divided into a normal group and a SIRT1 gene knock-out group (6 mice in each group). In these groups, one side of the knee anterior cruciate ligament was traversed, and the ipsilateral medial meniscus was cut to establish an osteoarthritis model of knee joint. The countralateral synovial bursa was cut out, serving as controls. The knee joint specimens were then divided into four groups: SIRT1control group (group A, n=6); SIRT1osteoarthritis group (group B, n=6); SIRT1control group (group C, n=6); SIRT1osteoarthritis group (group D, n=6). HE staining, Masson staining, Safranin O-Fast Green staining and Van Gieson staining were used to observe the morphological changes in the articular cartilage of the knee. Immunohistochemical staining was employed to detect the expression of SIRT1, SREBP2, VEGF, AKT, HMGCR and type II collagen proteins. SA-β-gal staining was utilized to evaluate chondrocyte aging. The results showed clear knee joint cartilage destruction and degeneration in the SIRT1osteoarthritis group. The tidal line was twisted and displaced anteriorly. Type II collagen was destroyed and distributed unevenly. Compared with the SIRT1osteoarthritis group and SIRT1control group, SIRT1 protein expression was not obviously changed in the SIRT1osteoarthritis group (P>0.05), while the expression levels of the SREBP2, VEGF and HMGCR proteins were significantly increased (P<0.05) and the levels of AKT and type II collagen proteins were significantly decreased (P<0.05). SIRT1 gene knock-out may aggravate cartilage degeneration in osteoarthritis by activating the SREBP2 protein-mediated PI3K/AKT signalling pathway, suggesting that SIRT1 gene may play a protective role against osteoarthritis.
Animals ; Cartilage ; pathology ; Chondrocytes ; metabolism ; Collagen Type II ; metabolism ; Disease Models, Animal ; Humans ; Knee Joint ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Oncogene Protein v-akt ; genetics ; Osteoarthritis ; genetics ; pathology ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; genetics ; Signal Transduction ; genetics ; Sirtuin 1 ; genetics ; Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein 2 ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; biosynthesis

BACKGROUNDUrine output (UO) is an essential criterion of the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) definition and classification system for acute kidney injury (AKI), of which the diagnostic value has not been extensively studied. We aimed to determine whether AKI based on KDIGO UO criteria (KDIGOUO) could improve the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy, compared with KDIGO serum creatinine criteria (KDIGOSCr).

METHODSWe conducted a secondary analysis of the database of a previous study conducted by China Critical Care Clinical Trial Group (CCCCTG), which was a 2-month prospective cohort study (July 1, 2009 to August 31, 2009) involving 3063 patients in 22 tertiary Intensive Care Units in Mainland of China. AKI was diagnosed and classified separately based on KDIGOUOand KDIGOSCr. Hospital mortality of patients with more severe AKI classification based on KDIGOUOwas compared with other patients by univariate and multivariate regression analyses.

RESULTSThe prevalence of AKI increased from 52.4% based on KDIGOSCrto 55.4% based on KDIGOSCrcombined with KDIGOUO. KDIGOUOalso resulted in an upgrade of AKI classification in 7.3% of patients, representing those with more severe AKI classification based on KDIGOUO. Compared with non-AKI patients or those with maximum AKI classification by KDIGOSCr, those with maximum AKI classification by KDIGOUOhad a significantly higher hospital mortality of 58.4% (odds ratio [OR]: 7.580, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.141-13.873, P< 0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, AKI based on KDIGOUO (OR: 2.891, 95% CI: 1.964-4.254, P< 0.001), but not based on KDIGOSCr (OR: 1.322, 95% CI: 0.902-1.939, P = 0.152), was an independent risk factor for hospital mortality.

CONCLUSIONUO was a criterion with additional value beyond creatinine criterion for AKI diagnosis and classification, which can help identify a group of patients with high risk of death.

Acute Disease ; mortality ; Aged ; Creatinine ; blood ; Critical Illness ; mortality ; Female ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Kidney Diseases ; blood ; mortality ; pathology ; urine ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors