OBJECTIVE: In Pakistan, traditional medicines are an important component of the medical system, with numerous varieties and great demands. However, due to the scattered resources and the lack of systematic collection and collation, adulteration of traditional Pakistani medicine (TPM) is common, which severely affects the safety of their medicinal use and the import and export trades. Therefore, it is urgent to systematically organize and unify the management of TPM and establish a set of standards and operable methods for the identification of TPM. METHODS: We collected and organized the information on 128 TPMs with regard to their medicinal parts, efficacy, usage, and genetic material, based on Pakistan Hamdard Pharmacopoeia of Eastern Medicine: Pharmaceutical Codex. The genetic information of TPM is summarized from national center for biotechnology information (NCBI) and global pharmacopoeia genome database (GPGD). Furthermore, we utilized bioinformatics technology to supplement the chloroplast genome (cp-genome) data of 12 TPMs. To build the web server, we used the Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP (LAMP) system and constructed the webpage on a PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) model view controller (MVC) framework. RESULTS: We constructed a new genomic database, the traditional Pakistani medicine genomic database (TPMGD). This database comprises five entries, namely homepage, medicinal species, species identification, basic local alignment search tool (BLAST), and download. Currently, TPMGD contains basic profiles of 128 TPMs and genetic information of 102 TPMs, including 140 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences and 119 mitochondrial genome sequences from Bombyx mori, 1 396 internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequences and 1 074 intergenic region (psbA-trnH) sequences specific to 92 and 83 plant species, respectively. Additionally, TPMGD includes 199 cp-genome sequences of 82 TPMs. CONCLUSION TPMGD is a multifunctional database that integrates species description, functional information inquiry, genetic information storage, molecular identification of TPM, etc. The database not only provides convenience for TPM information queries but also establishes the scientific basis for the medication safety, species identification, and resource protection of TPM.

Objective To explore the somatotype characteristics and rules of Lisu and Dulong adolescents aged 13-18 years, and to analyze their annual somatotype differences. Methods According to the method of human bod)' measurement, through the measurement of 10 related indexes, using Heath-Carter bod)' type evaluation method, 634 cases (328 boys, 306 girls) Lisu and Dulong teenagers bod)' type evaluation. Results The average bod)' size of male and female students of Lisu ethnic group was of balanced mesoderm type (2. 9-4. 8-3. 3) and endoderm type (4. 7-4. 8-2. 8) . The average body size of male and female students of Dulong nationality is mesoderm type (3 . 1-3. 9-2. 1) and mesoderm type (5 . 2 - 4 . 6 - 1 . 6) . Among the 10 test indexes, there were significant differences in height, body weight, intercondylar diameter of humerus and intercondylar diameter of femur (P < 0. 01) . There were significant differences in height, intercondylar diameter of humerus and intercondylar diameter of femur among female students (P<0. 0 1) . Conclusion In Yunnan Province, adolescents of Lisu and Dulong ethnic groups generally have the body type characteristics of southern ethnic groups, but the body type difference between the two ethnic groups is great, and only has the characteristics of similar stage, age and body type.

Objective: To carry out a quantitative estimate that related to the effects of short-term exposure to PM(2.5) on all-cause mortality and emergency visits in China by using the systematic review and Meta-analysis. Methods: We selected all the studies published before March 2018 from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, PubMed and EMBASE and data on relative risk (RR), excess risk (ER) and their 95%CIs: appeared in these papers were extracted. According to the differences in the size or direction (heterogeneity) of the results, we computed summary estimates of the effect values using a random-effect or fixed effect model. We also conducted the subgroup analysis and Meta-analysis to have assessed the selected studies for the evidence of study bias. Results: A total of 33 original studies, indexed in databases, were identified. Among those studies, 39 sets of data on mortality and 4 sets of data on emergency were valid to show that within the daily concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), for 10 μg/m(3) increases in PM(2.5) concentrations, it would increase the daily numbers of deaths by 0.49% (95%CI: 0.39%-0.59%) and 0.30% (95%CI: 0.10%-0.51%) for all-cause deaths and all-cause emergency-room visits, respectively. For subgroup analysis, the combined effect of PM(2.5) in causing short-term all-cause deaths in the northern areas (ER=0.42%, 95%CI: 0.30%-0.54%) seemed lower than that in the southern areas (ER=0.63%, 95%CI: 0.44%-0.82%). The combined effect of PM(2.5) concentration below 75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.50%, 95%CI: 0.37%-0.62%) was higher than that of PM(2.5) concentration ≥75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.39%, 95%CI: 0.26%-0.52%). Conclusion: Within the concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), short-term exposure to current level of PM(2.5) might increase both the all-cause daily mortality and daily emergency visits in China.
Air Pollutants ; Air Pollution/statistics & numerical data* ; China ; Databases, Factual ; Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data* ; Environmental Exposure/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Particulate Matter/toxicity* ; Time Factors

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) is a metastatic carcinoma that is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that the C-terminal 27-kDa polypeptide of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERTC27) inhibits the growth and tumorigenicity of human glioblastoma and melanoma cells. In this study, we investigated the antitumor effect of hTERTC27 in human C666-1 NPC cells xenografted in a nude mouse model. A cocktail of vectors comprising recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) and recombinant adenovirus (rAdv) that each carry hTERTC27 (rAAV-hTERTC27 and rAdv-hTERTC27; the cocktail was abbreviated to rAAV/rAdv-hTERTC27) was more effective than either rAAV-hTERTC27 or rAdv-hTERTC27 alone in inhibiting the growth of C666-1 NPC xenografts. Furthermore, we established three tumors on each mouse and injected rAAV/rAdv-hTERTC27 into one tumor per mouse. Although hTERTC27 expression could only be detected in the injected tumors, reduced tumor growth was observed in the injected tumor as well as the uninjected tumors, demonstrating that the vector cocktail could provoke an antitumor effect on distant, metastasized tumors. Further studies showed the observed antitumor effects included inducing necrosis and apoptosis and reducing microvessel density. Together, our data suggest that the rAAV/rAdv-hTERTC27 cocktail can potently inhibit NPC tumor growth in both local and metastasized tumors and should be further developed as a novel gene therapy strategy for NPC.
Adenoviridae ; genetics ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; Carcinoma ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dependovirus ; genetics ; Genetic Therapy ; methods ; Genetic Vectors ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; metabolism ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Microvessels ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Recombinant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Telomerase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Tumor Burden

This study is aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) for individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Hubei province-central China by using WHOQOL-BREF instrument (Chinese version).One hundred and thirty six respondents (HIV/AIDS individuals) attending out-patient department of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese CDC) were administered a structured questionnaire developed by investigators.QOL was evaluated by using WHOQOL-BREF instrument (Chinese version).The resuits showed that the mean score of overall QOL on a scale of 0-100 was 25.8.The mean scores in 4 domains of QOL on a scale of 0-100 were 82.9 (social domain),27.5 (psychological domain),17.7 (physical domain) and 11.65 (environmental domain).The significant difference of QOL was noted in the score of physical domain between asymptomatic (14.6) and early symptomatic individuals (12) (P=0.014),and between patients with early symptoms (12) and those with AIDS (10.43) (P<0.001).QOL in psychological domain was significantly lower in early symptomatic (12.1) (P<0.05) and AIDS patients (12.4) (P<0.006) than in asymptomatic individuals (14.2).The difference in QOL scores in the psychological domain was significant with respect to the income of patients (P<0.048) and educational status (P<0.037).Significantly better QOL scores in the physical domain (P<0.040) and environmental domain (P<0.017) were noted with respect to the occupation of the patients.Patients with family support had better QOL scores in environmental domain.In our research,QOL for HIV/AIDS individuals was associated with education,occupation,income,family support and clinical categories of the patients.It was concluded that WHOQOL-BREF Chinese version was successfully used in the evaluation of QOL of HIV/AIDS individuals in Chinese population and proved to be a reliable and useful tool.