The antidepressant activity and molecular mechanisms of Yueju Wan volatile oil were investigated. The Yueju Wan volatile oil was extracted by using supercritical CO_2. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) combined with network pharmacology identified 28 chemical constituents in Yueju Wan volatile oil, primarily terpenes and lactones. A total of 123 overlapping targets were associated with depression, including core targets of interleukin-1β(IL-1β), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3), and caspase-3(CASP3). These targets were mainly involved in the prolactin, advanced glycation end products/receptor(AGE/RAGE), and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B(PI3K/Akt) signaling pathways. A reserpine-induced depression mouse model was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of Yueju Wan volatile oil. The effects of Yueju Wan volatile oil on depression-like behavior in mice were evaluated by analyzing body mass, body temperature index, tail suspension immobility time, forced swimming immobility time, and sucrose preference. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining revealed neuronal protection of Yueju Wan volatile oil in the brain of mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and Western blot were employed to detect the protein expression of AGEs, IL-1β, phosphorylated PI3K(p-PI3K), Akt, phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt), nuclear factor κB(NF-κB), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF). Behavioral evaluation showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could effectively control the decline of body mass and body temperature of depressed mice, reduce tail suspension and swimming immobility time, and enhance their preference for sucrose. Histopathological examination showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could alleviate the neuronal damage in CA1 and dentate gyrus(DG) of the hippocampus of mice. ELISA and Western blot results showed that Yueju Wan volatile oil could significantly increase the protein expression levels of PI3K, Akt, and BDNF and significantly decrease the protein expression levels of AGEs, IL-1β, p-PI3K, p-Akt, and NF-κB in the hippocampus of mice. Furthermore, the p-PI3K/PI3K and p-Akt/Akt ratios were significantly decreased at medium and high doses. These findings suggest that the aromatherapy of Yueju Wan volatile oil can significantly improve reserpine-induced depression-like behavior in mice, which may be related to reducing the expression of neuronal membrane protein AGEs, reducing the phosphorylation levels of PI3K and Akt, inhibiting NF-κB entry into the nucleus, and alleviating the release of pro-inflammatory factors and nerve injury.
Animals ; Antidepressive Agents/chemistry* ; Mice ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/immunology* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/immunology* ; Oils, Volatile/chemistry* ; Male ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Signal Transduction/drug effects* ; Depression/metabolism* ; Glycation End Products, Advanced/immunology* ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of Guilu Taohong Formula on semen quality in varicocele (VC) models of rats, and to explore its possible mechanism. METHODS: Forty-eight male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups (sham group, model group, Guilu Taohong Formula group and L-carnitine group). After the establishment of models, the rats were treated with intragastric administration for eight consecutive weeks. The general condition of the rats was observed. After the gavage, the testicular and epididymal indices were calculated. Semen quality was assessed using an automatic semen analyzer. Apoptosis of testicular cells was assessed by TUNEL staining. And the expression levels of B-cell lymphocytoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) and cysteine aspartate protease-3 (caspase-3) in testicular tissue were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with the sham group, testicular index, epididymal index, sperm concentration, the percentage of progressive motility of sperm (PR%) and the expression level of Bcl-2 decreased in model group(P<0.01). An increased apoptosis rate of spermatogenic cells and the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 proteins were observed in model group as well(P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the testicular index, epididymal index, sperm concentration, PR% and the expression level of Bcl-2 in Guilu Taohong Formula group increased significantly (P<0.05, P<0.01). A decreased apoptosis rate of spermatogenic cells and the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 proteins were detected in Guilu Taohong Formula group as well(P<0.01). Similarly, the L-carnitine group showed increased testicular index, epididymal index, sperm concentration, PR% and the expression level of Bcl-2 protein (P<0.05, P<0.01), where showed decreased apoptosis rate of spermatogenic cells and the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 proteins compared with model group (P<0.01, P<0.05). CONCLUSION Guilu Taohong Formula improves semen quality in VC model rats and reduces the apoptosis rate of spermatogenic cells in testicular tissue, which may be related to the promotion of Bcl-2 protein expression and the inhibition of Bax and caspase-3 protein expression levels.
Male ; Animals ; Varicocele/drug therapy* ; Rats ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Semen Analysis ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein/metabolism* ; Caspase 3/metabolism* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Spermatozoa/drug effects* ; Testis/drug effects*

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown that insomnia is closely related to erectile dysfunction（ED）. However, the causal relationship between them is still unclear. Mendelian randomization (MR) provides a new method for studying the relationship between the two, and the theory of heart-kidney interaction in TCM provides a new idea for exploring the causal relationship between them. METHODS: Based on the statistical data collected by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the causal relationship between insomnia and ED was discussed by MR. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) is the main analysis method, and weighted median (WME), simple mode (SM), weighted mode (WM) and MR Egger method were the supplementary analysis to evaluate the causal effect. MR-Egger intercept test, Cochran Q test and leave-one-out method were used in sensitivity analysis to verify the reliability of MR results. RESULTS: Thirty-nine SNPs significantly related to insomnia were finally included for MR analysis. The results of IVW method in MR analysis showed that insomnia had a significant causal relationship with the increased risk of ED (OR = 3.111，95% CI= 1.566－6.181，P=1.193×10－3). The results obtained by MR-Egger method, WME method, WM method and SM method were consistent with IVW method in the direction of effect. The sensitivity results suggested that the results of this study were robust. CONCLUSION Our study reveals the causal relationship between insomnia and ED, which provides a new basis for future clinical practice and prevention and treatment of ED.
Causality ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/genetics* ; Erectile Dysfunction/genetics* ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans ; Male ; Heart/physiology* ; Kidney/physiology* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Data Interpretation, Statistical

Complicated chemical reactions occur in the decoction of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs) which features complex components, influencing the safety, efficacy, and quality controllability of TCMs. Therefore, it is particularly important to clarify the chemical reaction mechanism of TCMs in the decoction. This study summarized eight typical chemical reactions in the decoction of TCMs, such as substitution reaction, redox reaction, isomerization/stereoselective reaction, complexation, and supramolecular reaction. With the "toxicity attenuation and efficiency enhancement" of aconitines and other examples, this study reviewed the reactions in decoction of TCMs, which was expected to clarify the variation mechanisms of key chemical components in this process and to help guide medicine preparation and safe and rational use of medicine in clinical settings. The current main research methods for chemical reaction mechanisms of decoction of TCMs were also summed up and compared. The novel real-time analysis device of decoction system for TCMs was found to be efficient and simple without the pre-treatment of samples. This device provides a promising solution, which has great potential in quantity evaluation and control of TCMs. Moreover, it is expected to become a foundational and exemplary research tool, which can advance the research in this field.
Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Research Design

The study is aimed to investigate the reproductive biology characteristics of Polygonatum cyrtonema, especially including phenology, flower bud differentiation, flowering timing, floral traits, pollen vigor and stigma receptivity. The results showed that P. cyrtonema forms inflorescence before the leaves spread. In the wild, P. cyrtonema is mainly pollinated by insects such as bumblebees, with a seed setting rate of 65.12%. The seed setting rate of indoor single plant isolation or self-pollination enclosed by parchment paper bag is 0, indicating that it is self-incompatible. In Lin'an city, seedlings begin to emerge from mid-March to early April(the temperature is higher than 7.5 ℃), buds begin to emerge from the end of March to mid-April, and then undergo the full bloom stage from mid-to-late April, and the final flowering stage from the end of April to mid-May. The whole flowering period lasts 36 to 45 days. There are obvious differences in the phenology of different provenances. The flowers come into bloom from the base to the top along the aboveground main axis, which usually contain 4-22 inflorescences with(2-) 4-10(-21) flowers per inflorescence. The flowering pe-riod for a single plant is 26-38 days. The single flower lasts about 20-25 days from budding to opening and withers 2 days after pollination, and then the ovary will gradually expand. If unpollinated, it will continue to bloom for 3-5 days and then wither. Flower development period is significantly related to pollen vigor and stigma remittance. The pollen viability is the highest when the flower is fully opened with anthers gathering on the stigma, and the receptivity is the strongest when the stigma protrudes out of the perianth and secretes mucus. The fruits and seeds ripen in October, and proper shading can ensure the smooth development and maturity of the seeds. This study provides a basis for the hybrid breeding and seed production of P. cyrtonema.
Flowers ; Plant Breeding ; Pollination ; Polygonatum ; Reproduction

Slow freezing is the most commonly used technique for the cryopreservation of spermatozoa in clinical practice. However, it has been shown to have a negative impact on sperm function and structure. Vitrification as a successful alternative method has been proved to have better protective effects on human embryos, but vitrification of spermatozoa is still subject to low recovery rates. In this study, a modified vitrification method for native spermatozoa was developed. A total of 28 semen samples were included; each sample was divided into three equal parts and assigned to fresh, slow freezing, and vitrification groups. Sperm vitality, motility, morphology, DNA integrity, and acrosome reaction were assessed for each of the groups. The results showed that vitrification achieves better results for several sperm protection parameters than slow freezing; vitrification achieves a higher recovery rate (P < 0.05), motility (P <0.05), morphology (P <0.05), and curve line velocity (P <0.05) than slow freezing. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation was decreased (P <0.05) and better acrosome protection (P <0.05) was exhibited in the spermatozoa after vitrification. Principal component analysis of all sperm parameters revealed that the vitrification cluster was closer to the fresh cluster, indicating that spermatozoa are better preserved through vitrification. In conclusion, while both slow freezing and vitrification have negative effects on sperm function and structure, the vitrification protocol described here had a relatively better recovery rate (65.8%) and showed improved preservation of several sperm quality parameters compared with slow freezing.

Objective To investigate the effects of drug selection com-ments proposed by the clinical pharmacists during the consultation of stroke patients with multi-drug and pan-drug resistant bacterial infec-tion on the infection control and clinical efficiency.Methods Eleven stroke patients with multi-drug and pan-drug resistant bacterial infec-tion received consultation from October 2011 to June 2014 in our hospital were included in this retrospective analysis.The clinical pharmacists in-volved in the analysis of pathogenic bacteria distribution, drug resist-ance, establishing of treatment strategy, and evaluation of the clinical ef-ficiencies.Results Clinical pharmacists opinions medication acceptance rate was 90.91%.Infection in patients with the total effective rate was 100%.The bacterial eradication rate was 87.50%.Conclusion The drug selection comments proposed by the clinical pharmacists during the consultation were prime importance to the infection control and clinical efficiency of stroke patients with multi -drug and pan -drug resistant bacterial infection.

BACKGROUNDRandomized studies have shown beneficial effects of drug-eluting stent (DES) in reducing the risk of repeated revascularization. Other studies have shown higher proportion of death, myocardial infarction (MI) and increased cost concerning DES. However the long term safety and effectiveness of DES have been questioned recently.

METHODSTo compare long term clinical outcomes, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and cost-utility after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and bare metal stent (BMS) implantation in angina patients in China, 1241 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary revascularization (PCI) with either SES (n = 632) or BMS (n = 609) were enrolled continuously in this prospective, nonrandomized, multi-center registry study.

RESULTSTotally 1570 stents were implanted for 1334 lesions. Follow-up was completed in 1205 (97.1%) patients at 12 months. Rates of MI, all causes of death were similar between the two groups. Significant differences were found at rate of cardiovascular re-hospitalization (136 (22.4%) in BMS group vs. 68 (10.8%) in SES group, P = 0.001) and recurrent angina (149 (24.5%) vs. 71 (11.3%), P = 0.001). Dramatic difference was observed when compared the baseline and 9-month HRQOL scores intra-group (P < 0.001). However no significant difference was found inter-group either in baseline or follow-up HRQOL. Compared with SES, the total cost in BMS was significantly lower on discharge (62 546.0 vs. 78 245.0 Yuan, P = 0.001). And follow-up expenditure was remarkably higher in the BMS group than that in the SES group (13 412.0 vs. 8 812.0 Yuan, P = 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONSThere were no significant differences on death, in-stent thrombosis, MI irrespective of stent type. SES was superior to BMS on improvement of life quality. SES was with higher cost-utility compared to BMS.

Adult ; Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; economics ; mortality ; Coronary Angiography ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; economics ; Female ; Health Care Costs ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; administration & dosage ; Male ; Metals ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Quality of Life ; Sirolimus ; administration & dosage ; Stents ; economics ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of xenogenic (porcine) ADM as dermal substitute in scar treatment.

METHODSAfter scar excision, the wounds were covered with composite grafts of DR procine ADM and autologous thin split-thickness grafts in one stage or in two stages.

RESULTS22 out of 47 cases were treated in two-staged procedure. After the ADMs were applied to the wound, the autologous thin split-thickness grafts were implanted 7 days later. 25 cases were treated in one-staged procedure. The survival rates of composite grafts were (88.3 +/- 3.7)% for subcutaneous recipient bed and (89.7 +/- 3.4)% for deep fascia recipient bed in group with two-staged procedure, compared with (92.5 +/- 4.1)% and (93.2 +/- 5.2)%, respectively, in group with one-staged procedure. Early after grafts taken, the grafts had a pink colour and smooth surface. The patients were followed up for 90 days at most. The survived composite grafts were durable, elastic, smooth and soft with good function and appearance like normal skin. They could even be pinched up. The scar along the edge of the grafts was slightly hypertrophic.

CONCLUSIONSThe survival rate of composite graft is higher in patients with one-staged procedure. The elasticity and textural of the taken grafts are better on subcutaneous recipient bed than on deep fascia recipient bed, though the function has no difference. Xenogenic (porcine) ADM can be an optimal dermal substitute for wound coverage after scar excision.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Animals ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cicatrix ; surgery ; Dermis ; cytology ; transplantation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Skin, Artificial ; Swine ; Transplantation, Heterologous ; Young Adult