Licorice has long been regarded as one of the most popular herbs, with a very wide clinical application range. Whether being used alone or as an ingredient in prescription, it has an important role which cannot be ignored. However, the efficacy and chemical constituents of licorice will change after honey-processing. Therefore, it is necessary to find quality markers before and after honey-processing to lay the foundation for a comprehensive evaluation of the differences between raw and processed licorice pieces. HPLC-DAD was employed to establish fingerprints of raw and processed licorice. Multivariate statistical analysis methods including principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis(OPLS-DA) were applied to screen out the differential components before and after processing of licorice. Based on network pharmacology, the targets and pathways corresponding to the differential components were analyzed with databases such as Swiss Target Prediction and Metascape, and the "component-target-pathway" diagram was constructed with Cytoscape 3.6.0 software to predict the potential quality markers. A total of 17 common peaks were successfully identified in the established fingerprint, and seven differential components were selected as potential quality markers(licoricesaponin G2, glycyrrhizic acid, liquiritigenin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritin apioside and isoliquiritigenin). The HPLC fingerprint method proposed in this study was efficient and feasible. The above seven differential chemical components screened out as potential quality markers of licorice can help to improve and promote the overall quality. These researches offer more sufficient theoretical basis for scientific application of licorice and its corresponding products.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Glycyrrhiza ; Glycyrrhizic Acid/analysis* ; Honey/analysis*

Objective To analyze the status of quality indicators(QI) on specimen acceptability and establish preliminary qual ity specification.Methods Web based External Quality Assessment system was used to collect data of laboratories partici pated in "Medical quality control indicators in clinical laboratory" from 2015 to 2017,including once in 2015 and 2017 and twice in 2016.Rate and sigma scales were used to evaluate incorrect sample type,incorrect sample container,incorrect fill level and anticoagulant sample clotted.The 25th percentile (P25) and 75th percentile (P75) of the distribution of each QI were employed to establish the high,medium and low specification.Results 5 346,7 593,5 950 and 6 874 laboratories sub mitted the survey results respectively.The P50 of biochemistry (except incorrect fill level),immunology and microbiology reach to 6σ.The P50 of clinical laboratory is 4 to 6σ except for incorrect sample container.There is no significant change of the continuous survey results.Based on results in 2017 to establish the quality specification,the P25 and P75 of the four QIs is 0 and 0.084 4 ％,0 and 0.047 6 ％,0 and 0.114 2 ％,0 and 0.078 4 ％,respectively.Conclusion According to the results of the survey,most laboratories had a faire performance in biochemistry,immunology and microbiology,and clinical laboratory needs to be strengthened.Laboratories should strengthen the laboratory information system construction to ensure the actual and reliable data collection,and make a long time monitoring to achieve a better quality.

Objective To investigate the expression of TRIM28 and p16 in esophageal squamous cell car-cinoma(ESCC)and explore the possible correlation with them and clinicopathological characteristics. Methods The expression level of TRIM28 and p16 were measured by immunohistochemistry S-P in 136 cases with ESCC and 37 cases with normal esophageal mucosa,selected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University De-partment of Pathology.The relationship between them and the clinical-pathological features was also analyzed.The localization of TRIM28 and p16 protein in ESCC was detected by immunofluorescence. Results(1)The positive rates of TRIM28 and p16 in ESCC were 91.2%and 32.4%,respectively,whereas in normal esophageal mucosa the corresponding rates were 24% and 57%,respectively.(2)Immunofluorescence results showed that TRIM28 and p16 protein were all mainly distributed in the nucleus of ESCC.(3)The abnormal expression of TRIM28 and p16 protein were all related to the invasion depth,TNM staging and lymph node metastasis in ESCC(P < 0.05).(4) The expression of TRIM28 was negatively correlated to the expression of p16 in ESCC(r =-0.284,P = 0.001). Conclusions The abnormal expression of TRIM28 and p16 may have synergistic effect on the initiation and devel-opment of ESCC.Co-detection of the expression of them may be useful for diagnosis of ESCC and guiding the clini-cal therapy.

Objective Acute lung injury induced by variety causes can be reduced by mesenchymal stem cells.Some studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes have similar features with mesenchymal stem cell,but its role in acute lung injury is less studied.The study was to investigate the protective role and underlying mechanisms of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-DEs) on smoke inhalation injury (SⅡ) in rats.Methods Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 equal groups:normal control group,smoke inhalation injury (SⅡ) model group and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-DEs) treated group.12 h after establishing the SⅡ model,BMSC-DEs treated group was injected with 0.5 mL BMSC-DEs (derived from 4× 106 BMSCs),and normal control group and SⅡ model group were injected with equivalent volume of normal saline.7 days later,samples were collected.The histopathologic changes of lung were observed after HE staining;BCA was used to test the amounts of total protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF);Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to test the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in the lung tissue;Immunohistochemical was used to test the levels of pulmonary surfactant protein C(SP-C).Results The BALF levels of total protein of SⅡ group was significantly higher than those of normal control group (P＜0.01) and BMSC-DEs groups(P＜0.05);Compared with normal group [(0.164±0.021) ng/L],the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α of SII and BMSC-DEs groups [(0.355±0.106)、(0.234±0.024) ng/L] (P＜ 0.05) were significantly higher,and SⅡ group was higher than that of BMSC-DEs group(P＜0.01);Compared with normal group,the KGF protein expression level in lung tissue of SⅡ group was significantly lower (P＜0.05),but BMSC-DEs group was higher (P＜0.05).BMSC-DEs group was higher than SⅡ group (P＜0.01);Immunohistochemistry showed that the SP-C expression level in lung tissue of SⅡ group was significantly lower than those of other groups (P＜0.05).There was no statistically difference between BMSC-DEs group and control group (P＞0.05).Conclusion BMSC-DEs has a protective effect of smoke inhalation injury rats,the underlying mechanism may be related to BMSC-DEs to reduce inflammation and promote restoration of the alveolar epithelial type Ⅱ.

Neurotoxicity is one common adverse effect caused by many drugs or compounds.In the early phase of new drug development,it is necessary to screen for neurotoxicants.Neurotoxicity studies in nonhuman primates (NHP) are used to evaluate the neurotoxicity of small-molecule drugs or vaccines that may affect the nervous system across the blood-brain barrier during preclinical safety assessment.Toxicologic pathological evaluation or neuropathological examination is the "gold standard" for the evaluation of drug neurotoxicity in preclinical drug safety studies.In this paper,the majory factors influencing the quality of neuropathology evaluation in toxicology,including the general strategy of neuropathology evaluation,the optimal timing of evaluation,the specific blood-brain barrier in the nervous system,the method of sampling in the histopathology of nerve tissue,and the interference of artificial artifacts in diagnosis of neuropathology,were detailly analyzed in order to provide a reference for setting guidelines of neurotoxicity risk assessment in China and pathologists and toxicologists engaged in nonclinical neurotoxicity studies.

Purpose To study the mechanism of NLRP3 inflammasome activation caused by albumin in renal tubulointerstitial cells.Methods Cathepsin B was detected by immunohistochemistry in renal biopsy tissue of 30 membranous nephropathy patients which had different levels of proteinuria.HK-2 cells were stimulated by albumin,and then were treated by high concentration KCl,CA 074 Me and DPI,which was Cathepsin B inhibitor and ROS inhibitor.Finally,IL-1β and IL-18 were detected by Western blot and real time PCR,respectively.Results The expression of Cathepsin B in tubulointerstitial cells was significantly higher in patients with severe proteinuria than that in patients with mild proteinuria (P ＜ 0.05).CA 074 Me and DPI significantly reduced IL-1β and IL-18 secretion in HK-2 cells stimulated by albumin (P ＜ 0.05),but high concentration KCl did not result in this change (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion NLRP3 inflammasome is activated via Cathepsin B release and increases ROS production caused by proteinuria,but not via K + efflux.

Objective To analyze the related pathogenicity gene mutations in a sudden death of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) on whole exome level.Methods Whole exome sequencing (WES) was been performed on a sudden death case sample with pathological features of HCM by Illumina(R) Hiseq 2500 platform.Using hgl9 as the reference sequences,the sequencing data were analyzed.Suspicious single nucleotide variants (SNV) were screened,and the conservatism and function were analyzed by the software such as PhyloP,PolyPhen-2,SIFT,etc.Results After screening,a heterozygous mutation C719R was finally identified in the gene MYBPC3 of this case.Conclusion The molecular anatomy on whole exome level by second generation sequencing technology can help to define the molecular mechanism of HCM and provide a new mothed and thought for analysis of death cause.

Objective Dyslipidemia and chronic inflammation are risk factors of cardiac fibrosis.This study was aimed to investigate their possible synergetic effects and underlying mechanisms on progression of cardiac fibrosis in apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE-/-) mice.Methods Twenty-four ApoE-/-mice were divided into normal chow diet (control),high fat diet (HFD group),and HFD plus subcutaneously injection of 10％ casein (inflammation group) for 8 weeks.Lipid profile and serum amyloid A (SAA) were examined by clinical biochemical assays and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay,respectively.Hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE) and Masson staining were used to evaluate the myocardial accumulation of lipid and collagen.Collagen Ⅰ protein expression was detected by immunohistochemical staining.Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition related protein expressions were determined by Western blot.Results Serum SAA level was significantly higher in inflammation group [(127.42 ± 26.99) ng/ml] than in control [(15.40 ± 7.62) ng/ml] and HFD [(8.17 ± 0.72) ng/ml] group (all P ＜ 0.01).However serum levels of triglyceride,total cholesterol,and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were significantly higher in HFD group than in inflammation and control groups[TG (7.53 ± 2.05) mmol/L vs.(3.43 ± 0.79) mmol/L ; TC (27.80 ± 3.99) mmoL/L vs.(14.94 ± 1.92) mmol/L ; LDL-C (11.56 ±2.56) mmol/L vs.(9.46 ± 1.31) mmol/L,all P ＜ 0.05).Foam cell formation in cardiac vessels.myocardial collagen deposit,protein expressions of collagen Ⅰ,CD31,and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were all significantly higher in inflammation group than in HFD group (all P ＜ 0.05) suggesting that inflammation contributes to the phenotype endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in heart.Conclusion Inflammation exacerbates dyslipidemia mediated cardiac fibrosis in ApoE-/-mice partly through enhancing myocardial endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Background Acute lung injury (ALI) and end-stage acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) were among the most common causes of death in intensive care units.The activation of an inflammatory response and the damage of pulmonary epithelium and endotheliumwerethe hallmark of ALI/ARDS.Recent studies had demonstrated the importance of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in maintaining the normal pulmonary endothelial and epithelial function as well as participating in modulating the inflammatory response and they are involved in epithelial and endothelial repair after injury.Here,our study demonstrates MSCs therapeutic potential in a rat model of ALI/ARDS.Methods Bone marrow derived MSCs were obtained from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and their differential potential was verified.ALl was induced in rats byoleic acid (OA),and MSCs were transplanted intravenously.The lung injury and the concentration of cytokines in plasma and lung tissue extracts were assessed at 8 hours,24 hours and 48 hours after OA-injection.Results The histological appearance and water content in rat lung tissue were significantly improved at different time points in rats treated with MSCs.The concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α and intercellular adhesion molecular-1 in rats plasma and lung tissue extracts were significantly inhibited after intravenous transplantation of MSCs,whereas interleukin-10 was significantly higher after MSCs transplantation at 8 hours,24 hours and 48 hours after OA-challenge.Conclusions Intravenous transplantation of MSCs could maintain the integrity of the pulmonary alveolar-capillary barrier and modulate the inflammatory response to attenuate the experimental ALI/ARDS.Transplantation of MSCs could be a novel cell-based therapeutic strategy for prevention and treatment of ALI/ARDS.

Objective To report a new approach,endoscopic transoral approach for the resection of jugular foramen schwannoma.Methods Nine patients with jugular foramen schwannoma ( three males and six females,ranging in age from 15 to 61 years old ) were treated by direct surgery via a pure endoscopic transoral approach to the jugular foramen. Eight patients complained of hypoglossal nerve palsy with hemiatrophy of the tongue; six cases complained of vagus nerve palsy. Three cases complained of glossopharyngeal nerve palsy,one case complained of facial nerve palsy and hearing loss.Results The nerves in this area were preserved and radical intracapsular removal of the tumor was performed via endoscopic transoral approach in the nine cases.Tumor removal,as assessed by intraoperative endoscopic inspection,postoperative magnetic resonance imaging and clinical evaluation,revealed all tumors were completely removed.One patient suffered from temporary swallowing difficulties and temporary right vagus palsy Ⅰ day after surgery.There were no others intraoperative and postoperative complications.All patients were followed up for 4 -29 months,no recurrences were occured in all these patients and the muscle bulk,motor and the pre-postoperative swallowing fuction,the vagus palsy,the facial nerve palsy and hearing loss had improved in these patients.Conclusion The endoscopic transoral approach and intracapsular removal of the tumor provided for successful minimally invasive surgery in the jugular foramen schwannomas.