ObjectiveTo investigate the potential mechanism of Renshen Yangrongtang in alleviating myelosuppression by regulating the expression of reactive oxygen species （ROS）， myeloperoxidase （MPO）， and neutrophil extracellular traps （NETs）. MethodsK562 cells were divided into blank group， etoposide group （40 μmol·L^-1）， and etoposide+Renshen Yangrongtang freeze-dried powder groups with low-， medium-， and high-dose （2， 4， 8 g·L^-1）. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry （LC-MS） was used to determine the freeze-dried powder of Renshen Yangrongtang. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay （ELISA） was used to detect ROS， MPO， and NETs expression in each group. Western blot analysis was performed to assess intracellular MPO and NE expressions. Twenty 8-week-old male mice were randomly divided into blank group， etoposide group （100 mg·kg^-1）， and etoposide + Renshen Yangrongtang groups with low-， medium-， and high-dose （0.1， 0.5， 2.0 g·kg^-1）. Except for the blank group that received PBS via gavage at room temperature， and the etoposide group that received an intraperitoneal injection for 3 days， the remaining groups received gavage of Renshen Yangrongtang for 14 consecutive days after 3 days of etoposide administration. The peripheral blood related indicators were detected through an automated hematology analyzer； Western blot analysis was performed to assess MPO and neutrophil elastase （NE） expression changes in the marrow cells of mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was used to detect ROS， MPO， and NETs changes in the marrow cells of mice. MPO and NE on femur bones were stained through immunohistochemistry. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the structural changes of NETs in the marrow cells of mice after drug administration. ResultsLC-MS results showed that the freeze-dried powder of Renshen Yangrongtang contained complete technical materials such as Chinese angelica， Astragalus mongholicus， and ginseng. In K562 cells， compared with the etoposide group， ELISA results indicated that the concentrations of MPO， ROS， and NETs in the etoposide + Renshen Yangrongtang medium and high-dose groups were decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and Western blot data showed that the etoposide high-dose group significantly reduced the expression of MPO and NE protein in K562 cells （P<0.05， P<0.01）. In vivo， compared with the etoposide group， the number of RBC， WBC， and PLT in the etoposide+Renshen Yangrongtang high-dose group increased significantly （P<0.05）. ELISA results suggested that in the etoposide+Renshen Yangrongtang low-， medium-， and high-dose groups， the concentration of mice ROS， MPO， and NETs significantly decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Western blot results revealed that compared with the etoposide group， the expressions of MPO and NE in the marrow cells of mice in the etoposide + Renshen Yangrongtang low-， medium- and high-dose groups were significantly decreased （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that Renshen Yangrongtang reduced the NETs structure generation in the marrow cells of mice after the influence of etoposide. ConclusionRenshen Yangrongtang can alleviate etoposide-induced myelosuppression by inhibiting ROS/MPO and reducing the formation of intracellular NETs.

The air at high altitude is thin and belongs to the environment of low temperature, low oxygen and low pressure. The human brain is the most sensitive to hypoxia. Hypoxia will cause dysfunction of the central nervous system, resulting in high-altitude hypoxic brain injury, including mild high altitude headache and more destructive high altitude cerebral edema (HACE). Recently, with more and more people work and live in high altitude areas, the development of high-altitude hypoxic brain injury drugs would produce great economic value and social significance. Non clinical pharmacodynamic evaluation is the basic of drug development, which plays a key role in improving the success rate of clinical transformation and reducing the risk of clinical research. This review summarizes the cell models and animal models, and the evaluation indicators usually used to explore the candidates of high-altitude hypoxic brain injury. We aim at establishing a standardized non clinical efficacy evaluation system for high altitude hypoxic encephalopathy, and provide a standardized reference for drug development in hypoxic encephalopathy at high altitude at nonclinical stage.

Leaf blight outbroke in Rehmannia glutinosa plantation in Wenxian county, Henan province in 2019. R. glutinosa plants with diseased leaves were collected from the plantation, and three strains were isolated from the diseased leaf samples. Pathogenicity test, morphological observation, and phylogenetic analysis of ITS, EF1-α, and Tub suggested that they were respectively Fusarium proliferatum, F. oxysporum, and F.acuminatum. Among them, F. acuminatum, as a pathogen of R. glutinosa leaf disease, had never been reported. To clarify the biological characteristics of F. acuminatum, this study tested the influence of light, pH, temperature, medium, carbon source, and nitrogen source on the mycelial growth rate of the pathogen during a 5-day culture period, and explored the lethal temperature. The results showed that the mycelia grew well under the photoperiod of 12 h light/12 h darkness, at 5-40 ℃(optimal temperature: 25 ℃), at pH 4-11(optimal pH: 7.0), on a variety of media(optimal medium: oatmeal agar), and in the presence of diverse carbon and nitrogen sources(optimal carbon source: soluble starch; optimal nitrogen source: sodium nitrate). The lethal temperature was verified to be 51 ℃(10 min). The conclusion is expected to lay a scientific basis for diagnosis and control of R. glutinosa leaf diseases caused by F. acuminatum.
Carbon ; Nitrogen ; Phylogeny ; Rehmannia

Objective To evaluate the efficiency of a recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) assay for the detection of Schistosoma japonicum infections in Oncomelania hupensis snails. Methods A group test was employed. Fifty Oncomelania snails were collected as a detection sample. The detection samples without infected snails were designated as negative specimens, while the detection samples that contained different numbers of infected snails were designated as positive specimens. A total of 10 negative specimens, 10 positive specimens containing 1 infected snail, 20 positive specimens containing 2 infected snails and 10 positive specimens containing 3 infected snails were assigned. Following random grouping, 40 specimens were subject to the florescent RAA assay using a blind method. The miradium shedding method served as a gold standard, and the sensitivity, specificity, Youden’s index and coincidence rate of the florescent RAA assay were estimated. In addition, 20 samples consisted of 5 negative specimens and 15 positive specimens with 1, 2 and 3 infected snails respectively were grouped randomly. The same specimens were detected using the crushing method and fluorescent RAA assay with the blind method in a paired-design manner. Then, the test results were compared and analyzed. Results Florescent RAA assay detected 29 positives in the 30 specimens containing different numbers of infected snails, with a sensitivity of 96.67%, and 8 negatives in the 10 detection specimens without infected snails, with a specificity of 80.00%, showing a Youden’s index of 0.77. The coincidence rate was 100% among 10 repeated assays for a detection specimen. In addition, there was no significant difference in the detection of infected snails between the florescent RAA assay and the crushing method (χ² = 0, P > 0.05), and the actual coincidence rates of the florescent RAA assay and crushing method were 95.00% (19/20) and 90.00% (18/20) with the real results, respectively. Conclusion Fluorescent RAA assay has a favorable efficiency for the detection of S. japonicum infections in Oncomelania snails, which shows a potential in screening of S. japonicum-infected Oncomelania snails.

Sea buckthorn(Hippophae rhamnoides) is widely distributed, with abundant resources, a long history of application, and rich nutrition and high medicinal value. Therefore, it has attracted extensive attention from researchers at home and abroad. The focus of attention is mainly on sea buckthorn fruit, but with weak research and development of sea buckthorn leaves. In order to develop and utilize abundant resources of sea buckthorn leaves, this paper systematically reviewed domestic and foreign literatures and summarized the current application, harvesting and processing, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of sea buckthorn leaves. Sea buckthorn leaves have a wide development and utilization value in food raw materials(like a substituting-for-tea plant), pharmaceutical raw materials and animal feed. Modern studies have shown that the leaves of sea buckthorn are rich in polysaccharides, flavonoids, polyphenols, triterpenes and steroids, as well as vitamins(especially vitamin C), proteins, amino acids and mineral elements. It has various pharmacological effects, such as anti-obesity, hypoglycemia, anti-oxidation, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-cardiovascular diseases. Domestic and foreign studies have showed that sea buckthorn leaves have important development and utilization prospects, and are worth further study and development.
Animals ; Flavonoids ; Fruit ; Hippophae ; Plant Leaves ; Polyphenols

BACKGROUND: Shenyankangfu Tablet (SYKFT) is a Chinese patent medicine that has been used widely to decrease proteinuria and the progression of chronic kidney disease. OBJECTIVE: This trial compared the efficacy and safety of SYKFT, for the control of proteinuria in primary glomerulonephritis patients, against the standard drug, losartan potassium. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTION: This was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Primary glomerulonephritis patients, aged 18-70 years, with blood pressure ≤ 140/90 mmHg, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥ 45 mL/min per 1.73 m MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was change in the 24-hour proteinuria level, after 48 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: A total of 735 participants were enrolled. The percent decline of urine protein quantification in the SYKFT group after 48 weeks was 8.78% ± 2.56% (P = 0.006) more than that in the losartan 50 mg group, which was 0.51% ± 2.54% (P = 1.000) less than that in the losartan 100 mg group. Compared with the losartan potassium 50 mg group, the SYKFT plus losartan potassium 50 mg group had a 13.39% ± 2.49% (P < 0.001) greater reduction in urine protein level. Compared with the losartan potassium 100 mg group, the SYKFT plus losartan potassium 100 mg group had a 9.77% ± 2.52% (P = 0.001) greater reduction in urine protein. With a superiority threshold of 15%, neither was statistically significant. eGFR, serum creatinine and serum albumin from the baseline did not change statistically significant. The average change in TCM syndrome score between the patients who took SYKFT (-3.00 [-6.00, -2.00]) and who did not take SYKFT (-2.00 [-5.00, 0]) was statistically significant (P = 0.003). No obvious adverse reactions were observed in any group. CONCLUSION: SYKFT decreased the proteinuria and improved the TCM syndrome scores of primary glomerulonephritis patients, with no change in the rate of decrease in the eGFR. SYKFT plus losartan potassium therapy decreased proteinuria more than losartan potassium therapy alone. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT02063100 on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Autopsy ; Eye Injuries ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the characteristics of sudden death associated with sexual activity to provide recommendations for forensic identification. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on autopsy cases accepted by Forensic Identification Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from 1998 to 2018, and a total of 15 cases of sudden death associated with sexual activity were screened out. The general information, case data and pathological changes of 15 cases were collected to find the relationship between sexual activity and sudden death. RESULTS: The ratio of male to female was 1.5∶1. The average age of males was 50.1 years and that of females was 35.0 years. Coronary artery diseases and brain diseases accounted for most of the cases (12/15). Sexual partners were associated with locations of deaths and body dumping behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Sudden death associated with sexual activity, although rare, may occur in people over 30 years old with pre-existing heart or brain diseases, which should be paid attention to in forensic practice.
Adult ; Cause of Death ; Death, Sudden/pathology* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sexual Behavior

Objective:To analyze the general situation and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome characteristics in patients with coronavirus disease-2019（COVID-19） in Anhui province, and to provide a basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Method:The 144 cases of COVID-19 patients in Anhui province were collected from designated hospitals by means of multi-center cross-sectional epidemiological survey. The TCM syndrome information collection table of patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia was created to collect the general data, etiology and pathogenesis, pulse and signs, syndrome type and frequency statistics of the patients, and then summarize and analyze the main symptoms and syndrome distribution characteristics of patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia. Result:The mean age of 144 patients with COVID-19 infection was （43.54±15.91） years old, and the number of males was larger than the number of females (9/7). The age distribution and gender difference of the patients were statistically significant (P<0.05). 36.11%（52/144） of the patients had a history of travel/residence in Wuhan/Hubei province, and 63.89% (92/144) of the patients had a history of close contact with the confirmed patients. The main clinical manifestations included fever, cough, diarrhea, fatigue and poor tolerance. Light red tongue and red tongue were dominant in tongue quality, with mainly greasy coating, slippery pulse, rapid pulse and soft pulse were the main types of pulse. The main types of syndrome differentiation were the common type (76.38%, 110/144), most of which were demonstrated as dampness obstructing the lung and spleen (56.25%, 81/144). There was no significant difference in gender composition and age distribution between two groups. Conclusion:The pathogenesis of COVID-19 patients in Anhui province is closely related to the lung and spleen, and the dampness caused by pathogen of the epidemic virus is the main pathological factor of disease, which is in line with characteristics of dampness epidemic in TCM, also can see concurrently "heat, poison, stasis" for a characteristic.