A high-performance liquid chromatography method using pre-column derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate was developed to determine the content of 15 amino acids in the medicinal snakes Bungarus Parvus, Agkistrodon, and Zaocys. The results showed that the total amino acid(TAA) content ranged from 277.13 to 515.05 mg·g~(-1), with the top four amino acids in all three species being glutamic acid(Glu), glycine(Gly), aspartic acid(Asp), and lysine(Lys). The essential amino acid(EAA) content ranged from 74.56 to 203.94 mg·g~(-1), with Agkistrodon exhibiting the highest content. The non-essential amino acid(NEAA), semi-essential amino acid(semi-EAA), and medicinal amino acid(MAA) content ranged from 189.06 to 318.23, 12.89 to 33.53, and 179.83 to 342.33 mg·g~(-1), respectively, with Zaocys having the highest content in these categories. Amino acid nutritional value was evaluated using the amino acid ratio(RAA), amino acid ratio coefficient(RCAA), and amino acid ratio coefficient score(SRCAA), and the results indicated that all three medicinal snakes possessed good nutritional value. The amino acid composition was similar across the species, though significant differences in content were observed. Based on these differences, an orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) model was established, which could clearly distinguish between the three medicinal snake species. The key differences in amino acid content included Gly, tyrosine(Tyr), Glu, and serine(Ser), which may be related to the observed clinical application differences among the species. Further research into the mechanisms of these differential amino acids is expected to provide more insights into the clinical application disparities of these three medicinal snake species.
Amino Acids/chemistry* ; Animals ; Nutritive Value ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Snakes/classification* ; Bungarus

Bungarus Parvus, a precious animal Chinese medicinal material used in clinical practice, is believed to be first recorded in Ying Pian Xin Can published in 1936. This study was carried out to analyze the names, geographical distribution, morphological characteristics, ecological habits, poisonousness, and medicinal parts by consulting ancient Chinese medical books and local chronicles, Chinese Pharmacopeia, different processing standards of trditional Chinese medicine(TCM) decoction pieces, and modern literatures. The results showed that the earliest medicinal record of Bungarus Parvus was traced to 1894. In 1930, this medicinal material was used in the formulation of Annao Pills. The original animal, Bungarus multicinctus, was recorded by the name of "Bojijia" in 1521. The morphological characteristics, ecological habits, and poisonousness of the original animal are the same in ancient and modern records. The geographical distribution is similar between the ancient records and modern documents such as China Medicinal Animal Fauna. The dried body of young B. multicinctus is used as Bungarus Parvus, which lack detailed references. As a matter of fact, it is still inconclusive whether there are differences between young snakes and adult snakes in terms of active ingredients, pharmacological effects, and clinical applications. This study clarified the medicinal history and present situation of Bungarus Parvus. On the basis of the results, it is suggested that systematic comparison on young and adult B. multicinctus should be carried out to provide references for revising the medicinal parts of B. multicinctus.
Animals ; Bungarus ; Snakes ; China ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal

OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic effect between long-snake moxibustion combined with western medication and simple medication on diarrhea type irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) of spleen and kidney METHODS: A total of 60 patients with IBS-D of spleen and kidney RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the symptom scores of abdominal pain, defecation frequency, mucous stool and appetite reduction were decreased ( CONCLUSION Long-snake moxibustion combined with western medication can effectively treat the IBS-D of spleen and kidney
Acupuncture Points ; Animals ; Diarrhea/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome/drug therapy* ; Kidney ; Moxibustion ; Quality of Life ; Snakes ; Spleen ; Yang Deficiency/drug therapy*

As a precious traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), snake bile has been widely used in numerous Chinese medicine prescriptions. Bile acid(BA) derivatives have been demonstrated as the primary chemical family in snake bile. In-depth chemical characterization of BAs is of great importance towards the establishment of quality standards and clarification of the effective material basis for snake bile. This study firstly employed ~1H-NMR to preliminarily analyze the chemical profiles of snake bile, an automated fraction collector was subsequently implemented to obtain the fractions-of-interest. The fraction was then concentrated and re-analyzed by LC-MS. Based on ~1H-NMR, BAs were found to be the main components of snake bile, and six BAs including CDCA, CA, TCDCA, TCA, TDCA and GCA were tentatively identified from the representative spectrum with the assistance of literature and reference compounds. Whereas the content of TCA in snake bile was too great, resulting in a great obstacle for the detection of trace components, the automated fraction collector was subsequently implemented to obtain the fractions-of-interest for LC-MS analysis. According to matching MS/MS information and retention time with reference compounds as well as database retrieval, a total of 57 BAs were detected and annotated. Because of the combination of ~1H-NMR and LC-MS platforms, the findings are beneficial for the in-depth characterization of BAs in snake bile, which provides references for the establishment of quality control and evaluation methods of snake bile.
Animals ; Bile ; Bile Acids and Salts ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Snakes ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Sparganosis is a parasitic infestation caused by sparganum, a plerocercoid tapeworm larva of the genus Spirometra. Since the first case of human sparganosis reported in 1908, sparganosis has been a global disease, and is common in China, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries. Consumption of raw snakes, frogs, fish, or drinking contaminated beverages are sources of human infections. Human sparganosis usually manifests in subcutaneous fat in areas such as the abdomen, genitourinary tract, and limbs. Breast sparganosis cases are rare, representing less than 2% of total cases of human infections. Complete surgical extraction of the sparganum is the treatment of choice. Because of the rarity of the disease, clinical suspicion is vital to reach the diagnosis of breast sparganosis. Here we report 2 rare cases of breast sparganosis presenting with a painless breast lump, both treated with surgical excision and sparganum extraction.
Abdomen ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Beverages ; Breast ; Cestoda ; China ; Diagnosis ; Drinking ; Extremities ; Humans ; Japan ; Larva ; Snakes ; Sparganosis ; Sparganum ; Spirometra ; Subcutaneous Fat

Through market investigation, the adulteration of Zaocys dhumnades on markets was found out, and samples of authentic and adulterated Z. dhumnades on markets were collected. The origin and properties of the adulterated Z. dhumnades were studied in order to provide reference for the identification of Z. dhumnades. The counterfeit Z. dhumnades sold on markets were as follows: Ptyas korros, P. mucosus, Najanaja atra, Sinonatrix annularis, Dinodon septentrionalis, etc. It is found that there existed a obvious difference between the traits of the Z. dhumnades and counterfeits. Genuine Z. dhumnades with "sword ridge" "iron tail", strongly ribbed scales and other features, is the key point to identify the difference from adulterants.
Animals ; Drug Contamination ; Materia Medica ; standards ; Snakes

Agkistrodon acutus is a traditional Chinese herb medicine which has immunological regulation,anti-tumor,anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects,which is mainly used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis,ankylosing spondylitis,sjogren's syndrome and tumors. In order to excavate more important functional genes from A. acutus,the transcriptome of the venom gland was sequenced by the Illumina Hi Seq 4000,and 32 862 unigenes were assembled. Among them,26 589 unigenes were mapped to least one public database. 2 695 unigenes were annotated and assigned to 62 TF families,and 5 920 SSR loci were identified. The majority of mapped unigenes was from Protobothrops mucrosquamatus in the NR database,which revealed their closest homology. Three secretory phospholipase A_2 with different amino acid sequences showed similar spatial structures and all had well-conserved active sites. The 3 D structural models of C-type lectin showed conserved glycosylation binding sites( Asn45). This study will lay the foundation for the further study of the function of snake venom protein,and promoting the development and utilization of genome resources from A. acutus.
Agkistrodon/genetics* ; Animals ; Crotalid Venoms ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Snake Venoms/genetics* ; Snakes ; Transcriptome

OBJECTIVES: Envenomation from snake bites is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological features of snake bites in Morocco and to evaluate time-space trends in snake bite incidence, the mortality rate, and the case-fatality rate. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of snake bite cases reported to the Moroccan Poison Control Center between 1999 and 2013. RESULTS: During the study period, 2,053 people were bitten by snakes in Morocco. Most victims were adults (55.4%). The average age of the patients was 26.48±17.25 years. More than half of the cases (58.1%) were males. Approximately 75% of snake bites happened in rural areas, and 85 deaths were recorded during this period. The incidence of snake bites remained generally steady over the 15-year period of this study, with a marked increase noted since 2012. The mortality rate has increased slightly, from 0.02 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 1999 to 0.05 in 2013. The geographical distribution of snake bite cases in the regions of Morocco showed that Tanger-Tétouan had the highest annual incidence of snake bites (1.41 bites per 100,000 inhabitants). However, the highest annual mortality rates were recorded in the Guelmim-Es Semara and Souss-Massa-Drâa regions (0.09 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants for both regions). CONCLUSION: The geographical distribution of the incidence, mortality, and case-fatality rates of snake bites in Morocco showed large disparities across regions during the three 5-year periods included in this study, meaning that certain areas can be considered high-risk for snake bites.
Adult ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Morocco* ; Mortality ; Poison Control Centers ; Retrospective Studies ; Snake Bites* ; Snakes*

PURPOSE: Single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) is increasingly performed worldwide. Accordingly, the Konyang Standard Method (KSM) for SILC has been developed over the past 6 years. We report the outcomes of our procedures. METHODS: Between April 2010 and December 2016, 1,005 patients underwent SILC at Konyang University Hospital. Initially 3-channel SILC with KSM was changed to 4-channel SILC using a modified technique with a snake retractor for exposure of Calot triangle; we called this a modified KSM (mKSM). Recently, we have used a commercial 4-channel (Glove) port for simplicity. RESULTS: SILC was performed in 323 patients with the KSM, in 645 with the mKSM, and in 37 with the commercial 4-channel port. Age was not significantly different between the 3 groups (P = 0.942). The postoperative hospital days (P = 0.051), operative time (P < 0.001) and intraoperative bleeding volume (P < 0.001) were significantly improved in the 3 groups. Drain insertion (P = 0.214), additional port insertion (P = 0.639), and postoperative complications (P = 0.608) were not significantly different in all groups. Postoperative complications were evaluated with the Clavien-Dindo classification. There were 3 cases (0.9%) over grade IIIb (bile duct injury, incisional hernia, duodenal perforation, or small bowel injury) with KSM and 3 (0.5%) with mKSM. CONCLUSION: We evaluated the evolution of the KSM for SILC. The use of the mKSM with a commercial 4-channel port may be the safest and most effective method for SILC.
Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Classification ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Incisional Hernia ; Laparoscopy ; Methods* ; Operative Time ; Postoperative Complications ; Snakes

OBJECTIVES: Envenomation from snake bites is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological features of snake bites in Morocco and to evaluate time-space trends in snake bite incidence, the mortality rate, and the case-fatality rate.METHODS: This is a retrospective study of snake bite cases reported to the Moroccan Poison Control Center between 1999 and 2013.RESULTS: During the study period, 2,053 people were bitten by snakes in Morocco. Most victims were adults (55.4%). The average age of the patients was 26.48±17.25 years. More than half of the cases (58.1%) were males. Approximately 75% of snake bites happened in rural areas, and 85 deaths were recorded during this period. The incidence of snake bites remained generally steady over the 15-year period of this study, with a marked increase noted since 2012. The mortality rate has increased slightly, from 0.02 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 1999 to 0.05 in 2013. The geographical distribution of snake bite cases in the regions of Morocco showed that Tanger-Tétouan had the highest annual incidence of snake bites (1.41 bites per 100,000 inhabitants). However, the highest annual mortality rates were recorded in the Guelmim-Es Semara and Souss-Massa-Drâa regions (0.09 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants for both regions).CONCLUSION: The geographical distribution of the incidence, mortality, and case-fatality rates of snake bites in Morocco showed large disparities across regions during the three 5-year periods included in this study, meaning that certain areas can be considered high-risk for snake bites.
Adult ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Morocco ; Mortality ; Poison Control Centers ; Retrospective Studies ; Snake Bites ; Snakes