The Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homologue OsRBOHE is crucial for root hair formation, drought resistance and tillering in rice.

Respiratory Burst Oxidase Homologues (RBOHs) are involved in plant growth, development, and stress adaptation. How OsRBOHs affect root hair formation and consequently nutrient acquisition and drought resistance in rice is not well understood. We knocked out six OsRBOH genes in rice that were expressed in roots and identified OsRBOHE as the only one affecting root hair formation. OsRBOHE was strongly expressed in the root epidermis, root hairs and tiller buds. OsRBOHE is localised at the plasma membrane. Knockout of OsRBOHE decreased reactive oxygen species generation in the root hairs and tiller buds, downregulated genes involved in cell wall biogenesis, and decreased root hair length and tillering by 90% and 30%, respectively. Knockout of OsRBOHE decreased phosphorus acquisition only in low available P soil under aerobic conditions, but not in high P soil or under flooded conditions when P was likely not limited by diffusion. Knockout of OsRBOHE markedly decreased drought resistance of rice plants through the effect on root hair formation and the associated rhizosheath. Taken together, OsRBOHE is crucial for root hair formation and tillering and consequently on drought resistance in rice. The contribution of root hairs to P acquisition in rice is limited to aerobic soil.

The plastid-localized lipoamide dehydrogenase 1 is crucial for redox homeostasis, tolerance to arsenic stress and fatty acid biosynthesis in rice.

Soil contamination with arsenic (As) can cause phytotoxicity and reduce crop yield. The mechanisms of As toxicity and tolerance are not fully understood. In this study, we used a forward genetics approach to isolate a rice mutant, ahs1, that exhibits hypersensitivity to both arsenate and arsenite. Through genomic resequencing and complementation tests, we identified OsLPD1 as the causal gene, which encodes a putative lipoamide dehydrogenase. OsLPD1 was expressed in the outer cell layer of roots, root meristem cells, and in the mesophyll and vascular tissues of leaves. Subcellular localization and immunoblot analysis demonstrated that OsLPD1 is localized in the stroma of plastids. In vitro assays showed that OsLPD1 exhibited lipoamide dehydrogenase (LPD) activity, which was strongly inhibited by arsenite, but not by arsenate. The ahs1 and OsLPD1 knockout mutants exhibited significantly reduced NADH/NAD+ and GSH/GSSG ratios, along with increased levels of reactive oxygen species and greater oxidative stress in the roots compared with wild-type (WT) plants under As treatment. Additionally, loss-of-function of OsLPD1 also resulted in decreased fatty acid concentrations in rice grain. Taken together, our finding reveals that OsLPD1 plays an important role for maintaining redox homeostasis, conferring tolerance to arsenic stress, and regulating fatty acid biosynthesis in rice.

Antibacterial Activity of Plants in Cirsium: A Comprehensive Review.

As ethnic medicine, the whole grass of plants in Cirsium was used as antimicrobial. This review focuses on the antimicrobial activity of plants in Cirsium, including antimicrobial components, against different types of microbes and bacteriostatic mechanism. The results showed that the main antimicrobial activity components in Cirsium plants were flavonoids, triterpenoids and phenolic acids, and the antimicrobial ability varied according to the species and the content of chemicals. Among them, phenolic acids showed a strong antibacterial ability against Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecium. The antibacterial mechanisms include: (1) damaging the cell membrane, cell walls, mitochondria and nucleus of bacteria; (2) inhibiting the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids; (3) suppressing the synthesis of enzymes for tricarboxylic acid cycle pathways and glycolysis, and then killing the bacteria via inhibition of energy production. Totally, most research results on antimicrobial activity of Cirsium plants are reported based on in vitro assays. The evidence from clinical data and comprehensive evaluation are needed.

Rice roots avoid asymmetric heavy metal and salinity stress via an RBOH-ROS-auxin signaling cascade.

Root developmental plasticity is crucial for plants to adapt to a changing soil environment, where nutrients and abiotic stress factors are distributed heterogeneously. How plant roots sense and avoid heterogeneous abiotic stress in soil remains unclear. Here, we show that, in response to asymmetric stress of heavy metals (cadmium, copper, or lead) and salt, rice roots rapidly proliferate lateral roots (LRs) in the stress-free area, thereby remodeling root architecture to avoid localized stress. Imaging and quantitative analyses of reactive oxygen species (ROS) showed that asymmetric stress induces a ROS burst in the tips of the exposed roots and simultaneously triggers rapid systemic ROS signaling to the unexposed roots. Addition of a ROS scavenger to either the stressed or stress-free area abolished systemic ROS signaling and LR proliferation induced by asymmetric stress. Asymmetric stress also enhanced cytosolic calcium (Ca2+) signaling; blocking Ca2+signaling inhibited systemic ROS propagation and LR branching in the stress-free area. We identified two plasma-membrane-localized respiratory burst oxidase homologs, OsRBOHA and OsRBOHI, as key players in systemic ROS signaling under asymmetric stress. Expression of OsRBOHA and OsRBOHI in roots was upregulated by Cd stress, and knockout of either gene reduced systemic ROS signaling and LR proliferation under asymmetric stress. Furthermore, we demonstrated that auxin signaling and cell wall remodeling act downstream of the systemic ROS signaling to promote LR development. Collectively, our study reveals an RBOH-ROS-auxin signaling cascade that enables rice roots to avoid localized stress of heavy metals and salt and provides new insight into root system plasticity in heterogenous soil.

Geographical discrimination of Flos Trollii by GC-MS and UHPLC-HRMS-based untargeted metabolomics combined with chemometrics.

For centuries, Flos Trollii has been consumed as functional tea and a folk medicine in China's north and northwest zones. The quality of Flos Trollii highly depends on the producing zones. Unfortunately, few studies have been reported on the geographical discrimination of Flos Trollii. This work comprehensively investigated Flos Trollii compounds with an integration strategy combining gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) with chemometrics to explore the differences between Flos Trollii obtained from various origins of China. About 71 volatile and 22 involatile markers were identified with GC-MS and UHPLC-HRMS, respectively. Geographical discrimination models were synthetically investigated based on the identified markers. The results indicated that the UHPLC-HRMS coupled with the fisher discrimination model provided the best prediction capability (>97%). This study provides a new solution for Flos Trollii discrimination.

[Research status of Bovis Calculus and relevant Chinese patent medicines based on bibliometric analysis].

With scarce resources, natural Bovis Calculus is expensive and hard to meet clinical demand. At the moment, four kinds of Bovis Calculus are available on the market: the natural product, in vitro cultured product, synthesized product, and the product formed in cow after manual intervention. In this study, papers on the four kinds of Bovis Calculus products and relevant Chinese patent medicines were searched from Web of Science, PubMed, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI). CiteSpace, citexs AI, and CNKI were employed for bibliometric analysis and knowledge map analysis. On this basis, the status, trend, and focuses of research on Bovis Calculus and relevant Chinese patent medicines were summarized. The results suggested overall slow development in the research on Bovis Calculus and relevant Chinese patent medicines with three typical growth stages. It is consistent with the development of Bovis Calculus substitutes and the national policy for the development of traditional Chinese medicine. At the moment, the research on Bovis Calculus and relevant Chinese patent medicines has been on the rise. In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on them, particularly the quality control of Bovis Calculus and the Chinese patent medicines, the pharmacological efficacy of Chinese patent medicines, such as Angong Niuhuang Pills, and the comparison of the quality of various Bovis Calculus products. However, there is a paucity of research on the pharmacological efficacy and the mechanism of Bovis Calculus. This medicinal and the relevant Chinese patent medicines have been studied from diverse perspectives and China becomes outstanding in this research field. However, it is still necessary to reveal the chemical composition, pharmacological efficacy, and mechanism through multi-dimensional deep research.

Molecular mechanisms underlying the toxicity and detoxification of trace metals and metalloids in plants.

Plants take up a wide range of trace metals/metalloids (hereinafter referred to as trace metals) from the soil, some of which are essential but become toxic at high concentrations (e.g., Cu, Zn, Ni, Co), while others are non-essential and toxic even at relatively low concentrations (e.g., As, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Hg). Soil contamination of trace metals is an increasing problem worldwide due to intensifying human activities. Trace metal contamination can cause toxicity and growth inhibition in plants, as well as accumulation in the edible parts to levels that threatens food safety and human health. Understanding the mechanisms of trace metal toxicity and how plants respond to trace metal stress is important for improving plant growth and food safety in contaminated soils. The accumulation of excess trace metals in plants can cause oxidative stress, genotoxicity, programmed cell death, and disturbance in multiple physiological processes. Plants have evolved various strategies to detoxify trace metals through cell-wall binding, complexation, vacuolar sequestration, efflux, and translocation. Multiple signal transduction pathways and regulatory responses are involved in plants challenged with trace metal stresses. In this review, we discuss the recent progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in trace metal toxicity, detoxification, and regulation, as well as strategies to enhance plant resistance to trace metal stresses and reduce toxic metal accumulation in food crops.

[Analysis of water-soluble nutrients in Lycium barbarum leaves and differences between different producing areas].

This study is to clarify the composition and content differences of water-soluble nutrients in Lycium barbarum leaves(LBLs) from different areas. The total polysaccharides, free monosaccharides and oligosaccharides, nucleosides and amino acids in 35 batches of LBLs were analyzed with use of spectrophotometry, HPLC-ELSD and UPLC-MS/MS. The results showed that LBLs contained abundant polysaccharides, fructose, glucose, sucrose and maltose, with an average contents of 39.07, 12.69, 8.99, 17.44, 8.32 mg·g~(-1), respectively. Besides, eight nucleosides and twelve amino acids were detected in LBLs, and their average total contents were 54.95, 336.9 µg·g~(-1). Principal component analysis(PCA) and partial least squares discrimination analysis(PLS-DA) of carbohydrate, nucleoside and amino acid showed that the water-soluble nutrients of the samples from Qinghai Province were significantly different from those from other areas mainly in asparagine, proline, glutamine, sucrose, adenine and guanosine. In this study, the compositions and contents of water-soluble nutrients in LBLs were preliminarily clarified, which provided basis for further development and utilization of LBLs resoures.

Optimized GAPDH-truncated immunogen of Streptococcus equi elicits an enhanced immune response and provides effective protection in a mouse model.

Strangles is an acute and frequently diagnosed infectious disease caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. Infection with this pathogen can cause grave losses to the equine industry. The present work investigates glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), an important surface-localized virulence factor of S. equi, to determine whether it could be developed into an efficacious and suitable subunit vaccine against strangles. Two different recombinant fragments of S. equi GAPDH, namely, GAPDH-L and GAPDH-S, were constructed and expressed. Further, the antigenicity and immunogenicity of these two recombinant proteins were compared and evaluated in a mouse model. Our results revealed that immune responses were efficiently induced by the proteins in immunized mice. Remarkably, higher survival rates and significantly lower bacterial loads in the lung, liver, kidney, and spleen were observed in the GAPDH-S group compared with the GAPDH-L group after challenge with S. equi. High levels of specific antibodies, elevated antibody titers, and increased proportions of CD8 + T cells further indicated that GAPDH-S elicited better humoral and cellular immune responses than GAPDH-L. Furthermore, the induction of TCR, TLR-2, TLR-3, and TLR-4 significantly increased in the GAPDH-S group compared with those in the GAPDH-L and negative control groups. In summary, our results indicate that the optimized recombinant protein GAPDH-S is a promising candidate construct that may be further developed into a multivalent subunit vaccine for strangles.

Nutritional components characterization of Goji berries from different regions in China.

Goji berries are used as functional food for hundreds of years in Asia, Europe, North America and Austria, and are popular for nutritive properties in global. Commercial Goji berries are mainly produced in Ningxia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia of China. However, the Goji berries produced in these regions exhibited different appearance and taste. Thus, characterization of the nutritional components in Goji berries produced in these regions could provide the guidance for application of them. In this study, 94 samples were collected, and a total of 20 amino acids, 17 nucleosides and nucleobases, 4 sugars and protein were determined by UHPLC-MS/MS, HPLC-ELSD or UV, and the variation was illustrated through heatmap clustering analysis, PCA and PLS-DA. The results showed that Goji berries from Xinjiang were rich in protein than the samples from other regions; those from Gansu and Ningxia were rich in amino acids, nucleosides and nucleobases; and those from Jiuquan of Gansu and Qinghai were rich in sugars. Heatmap clustering and PCA analysis results showed that all the samples exhibited a significant spatial aggregation, and the producing regions located along the Yellow River (belonging to the Hetao plain) produced Goji berries with the similar chemical profile. Additionally, PLS-DA analysis results showed that fructose and glucose were the predominant markers to distinguish Goji berries from different producing regions.

Cadmium Inhibits Lateral Root Emergence in Rice by Disrupting OsPIN-Mediated Auxin Distribution and the Protective Effect of OsHMA3.

Cadmium (Cd) strongly inhibits root growth, especially the formation of lateral roots (LRs). The mechanism of Cd inhibition on LR formation in rice (Oryza sativa) remains unclear. In this study, we found that LR emergence in rice was inhibited significantly by 1 �M Cd and almost completely arrested by 5 �M Cd. Cd suppressed both the formation and subsequent development of the lateral root primordium (LRP). By using transgenic rice expressing the auxin response reporters DR5::GUS and DR5rev::VENUS, we found that Cd markedly reduced the auxin levels in the stele and LRP. Cd rapidly downregulated the expression of the auxin efflux transporter genes OsPIN1b, OsPIN1c and OsPIN9 in the stele and LRP. The emergence of LRs in a rice cultivar with a null allele of OsHMA3 (Heavy Metal ATPase 3) was more sensitive to Cd than cultivars with functional alleles. Overexpression of functional OsHMA3 in rice greatly alleviated the inhibitory effect of Cd, but the protective effect of OsHMA3 was abolished by the auxin polar transport inhibitor 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid. The results suggest that Cd inhibits LR development in rice by disrupting OsPIN-mediated auxin distribution to LRP and OsHMA3 protects against Cd toxicity by sequestering Cd into the vacuoles.

Lycium barbarum L. leaves ameliorate type 2 diabetes in rats by modulating metabolic profiles and gut microbiota composition.

The leaf of Lycium barbarum L. (LLB) has been widely used as a tea, vegetable, and herb in China and Southeast Asia for centuries; this is because of the hypoglycemic effect it has, but the mechanism behind this effect is still unclear. In this study, a type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) rat model, induced by a high-fat diet combined with low-dose streptozotocin (STZ) injections, was adopted. The biochemical index was determined and the histopathological and metabolomics analyses of serum and urine and 16S rDNA sequencing of the gut microbiota were performed. We evaluated the hypoglycemic effects and the mechanism of action of the water extract from LLB, which contained neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and rutin (up to 6.06%). The relationships between biochemical indexes, serum and urine metabolites, and gut microbiota were analyzed. The results showed that the LLB extract could noticeably modulate the levels of blood glucose and lipids in diabetic rats as well as repair injuries in livers, kidneys and pancreas. The changes in serum and urine metabolites caused by T2DM were reversed after the administration of LLB; these changes were found to mainly be correlated with the following pathways: nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and purine metabolism. Sequencing of the 16S rDNA from fecal samples showed that the LLB extract could reverse the gut microbiota dysbiosis that T2DM had induced. Therefore, we conclude that T2DM, which altered the metabolic profiles and gut microbiota, could be alleviated effectively using the LLB extract.

Umbelliferone ameliorates renal function in diabetic nephropathy rats through regulating inflammation and TLR/NF-κB pathway.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of renal failure, contributing to severe morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Umbelliferae (Umb) has been well characterized to exert protective effects in diabetes. However, the action and mechanism of Umb in DN remains unclear. In this work, we studied the effect of Umb in a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DN rat model and explore its underlying mechanism. DN rats were treated withUmb (20, 40 mg·kg-1) orirbesartan (15 mg·kg-1) for 4 weeks. Levels of serum glucose, insulin, blood uric acid, creatinine, triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) were measured bycommercial assay kits, respectively. Histopathological changes andinflammatory cytokine levels including IL-6, IL-1ß and TNF-α in the kidney were also evaluated. Alterations in the expression of podocin, CD2AP and TLR/NF-κB were assessed by western blotting. Our results showed that Umb reduced renal injury in DN rat model, as evidenced by the decrease in blood glucose, 24 h urinary protein, serum creatinine, and blood uric acid. Umb also significantly ameliorated the renal histopathological alteration, and down-regulated the expression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-related molecular markers podocin and CD2AP. Moreover, Umb inhibited TLR2, TLR4, MyD88 expressions, NF-κB activation and considerably reduced levels of other downstream inflammatory molecules (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1ß). These findings indicated that Umb improved renal function through regulating inflammation and TLR/NF-κB pathway, suggesting the potential efficacy of Umb in DN treatment.

Comparison of Functional Components and Antioxidant Activity of Lycium barbarum L. Fruits from Different Regions in China.

The fruit of Lycium barbarum L. (FLB) has been used as medicines and functional foods for more than 2000 years in East Asia. In this study, carotenoid, phenolic, flavonoid, and polysaccharide contents as well as the antioxidant activities of FLB from 13 different regions in China from a total of 78 samples were analyzed. The results showed that total carotenoid contents ranged from 12.93 to 25.35 mg ß-carotene equivalents/g DW. Zeaxanthin dipalmitate was the predominant carotenoid (4.260-10.07 mg/g DW) in FLB. The total phenolic, total flavonoid, and total polysaccharide contents ranged from 6.899 to 8.253 mg gallic acid equivalents/g DW, 3.177 to 6.144 mg rutin equivalents/g DW, and 23.62 to 42.45 mg/g DW, respectively. Rutin content ranged from 0.1812 to 0.4391 mg/g DW, and ferulic acid content ranged from 0.0994 to 0.1726 mg/g DW. All of these FLB could be divided into two clusters with PCA analysis, and both individual carotenoids and total carotenoid contents could be used as markers for regional characterization. The phenolic components were the main substance for the antioxidant activity of FLB. Considering the functional component and antioxidant activities, FLB produced in Guyuan of Ningxia was the closest to Daodi herbs (Zhongwei of Ningxia), which is commercially available high quality FLB. The results of this study could provide guidance for comprehensive applications of FLB production in different regions.

Analysis of phenolic acids and flavonoids in leaves of Lycium barbarum from different habitats by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry.

The leaves of Lycium barbarum (LLB) have been utilized as crude drugs and functional tea for human health in China and Southeast Asia for thousands of years. To control its quality, a rapid and sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry method was established and validated for the first time for simultaneous determination of 10 phenolic acids and flavonoids (including neochlorogenic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, rutin and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside) in LLB. The separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC C18 chromatographic column (100 × 2.1 mm internal diameter, 1.7 µm particle size) with 0.1% formic acid in water (A)-acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase under gradient elution. Multiple reaction monitoring mode was adopted to simultaneously monitor the target components. The developed method was fully validated in terms of linearity (r2  ≥ 0.9860), precision (RSD ≤ 6.58%), repeatability (RSD ≤ 6.60%), stability (RSD ≤ 6.17%), recovery (95.56-108.06%, RSD ≤ 4.64%) and limit of detection (0.021-0.664 ng/mL) and limit of quantitation (0.069-2.210 ng/mL), and then successfully applied to evaluate the quality of 64 batches of LLB collected from 41 producing areas in four different provinces of China. The results showed that the LLB, especially collected from Inner Mongolia regions, were rich in the phenolic acids and flavonoids. Rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside and chlorogenic acid are the predominant compounds contained in LLB. The above findings will provide helpful information for the effective utilization of LLB.

Flowers of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus as a Novel High Potential By-Product: Phytochemical Characterization and Antioxidant Activity.

The root of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus is one of the most popular herbal medicines worldwide. In order to increase the yield of underground roots of A. membranaceus var. mongholicus, its flowers (AMF) have often been removed in their flowering stage, which produces the flowers as waste being discarded. To explore its phytochemicals and potential value for utilization, the antioxidant activities of extracts from AMF were evaluated by a free radical scavenging assay and reducing power assay. The total phenols and flavonoids, as well as the individual compounds, in different extracts of AMF were also investigated. The results showed that the extract ME obtained from AMF through macroporous resins separation exhibited strong antioxidant activities, which were close to those of positive control BHT. ME was rich in phenolic acids and flavonoids, and the contents reached 108.42 mg gallic acid equivalents/g and 265.70 mg rutin equivalents/g, respectively. A total of 31 compounds, including four phenolic acids, nineteen flavonoids, three isoflavones, two pterocarpans, and three saponins, were identified using UPLC-QTOF-MS in ME. Quantitative analysis of sixteen components in the extracts of AMF showed that flavonoids were the predominant constituents, especially for the compounds of hyperoside, rutin, and isorhamnetin-3-O-ß-d-glucoside.

Comparative analysis of twenty-five compounds in different parts of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus and Astragalus membranaceus by UPLC-MS/MS.

As a traditional Chinese medicine, the root of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (AMM) or A. membranaceus (AM) has been widely used in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years. Till now, the flavonoids, phenolic acids and saponins are considered as the main active components contributing to their therapeutic effect in these plants. In order to clarify the distribution and contents of these compounds in different organs of these plants, a rapid and sensitive analytical method for simultaneous determination of 25 active compounds including seven types (i.e. dihydroflavones, isoflavane, isoflavones, flavones, pterocarpans, phenolic acid and saponins) within 10 min was established using ultra-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Then, the established method was fully validated and successfully applied to the determination of the contents of these analytes in different parts (root, rhizome, stem, leaf and flower) of AMM and AM. The results indicated that the contents of the same type of compounds in two different species plants were significantly different. Moreover, the obvious differences were also found for the distribution and contents of different type of compounds in five organs of the same species. The present study could provide necessary information for the rational development and utilization of AMM and AM resource.

Effect of microwave chlorine depleted pyrolyzate on the combustion characteristics of refuse derived fuel derived from package waste.

Thermogravimetric-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was conducted to evaluate the combustion characteristics of refuse derived fuel (RDF) adding of microwave chlorine depleted pyrolyzate in the mass proportion of 5-15%. It studied the catalyze effect of chlorine depleted pyrolyzate on RDF combustion performance. The combustion process of RDF could be divided into four stages. The temperature range of the most significant combustion stage of 10-RDF was much more extensive than another three ones. According to the FTIR analysis, the addition of chlorine depleted pyrolyzate might promote the combustion of CH4 and carbonyls to CO2 and H2O earlier. Based on the distributed activation energy model (DAEM), the E value of RDF with chlorine depleted pyrolyzate added was much lower than that with no chlorine depleted pyrolyzate added. The chlorine depleted pyrolyzate enhanced the combustion performance of RDF with the lower ignition, lower burnout temperature, better combustion ability, better flammability and more outstanding combustion performance. The best combustion characteristic was obtained when the dosage of chlorine depleted pyrolyzate was 10%.

Evaluation of 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease with Normal Casual Blood Pressure.

This study evaluated 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) monitoring in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who had a normal casual blood pressure (CBP) of less than 140/90 mmHg. A total of 350 patients with CKD (Stages 1-5) and a normal CBP were included, and 24-hour ABPs were monitored. Of these patients, 147 patients (42.0%) exhibited increased mean ABP; 69 patients (19.7%) exhibited masked hypertension; 199 patients (56.9%) exhibited an abnormal BP mode (circadian rhythm disappearing); and 204 patients (58.3%) exhibited increased BP load. The 24-hour ABP and mean day and night BPs in patients with higher CBP were significantly higher than those in patients with normal CBP and healthy controls (P<0.01). Results indicate that abnormal BPs exist in patients with CKD who exhibit normal CBPs.

[Network pharmacology of flavonoids in Sophora alopecuroides].

The aim of this paper was to investigate the potential pharmacological effect of flavonoids in Sophora alopecuroides by network pharmacology. This study predicted the potential targets of 11 flavonoids of S. alopecuroides with help of reversed pharmacophore matching target recognition service platform (PharmMapper). The pathway information was acquired from DAVID and KEGG databases. Cytoscape software was used to construct the "ingredient-target-pathway" network of flavonoids active components of S. alopecuroides. The flavonoids active components of S. alopecuroides play anti-inflammatory, blood sugar regulating and other pharmacological effects by regulating 62 targets (such as INSR，KDR，MET) and intervening 44 pathways, such as B cell receptor signaling pathway, insulin signaling pathway, neurotrophin signaling pathway, and T cell receptor signaling pathway. In this study, the mechanism of "muti components-multitargets-multiple pathway" of flavonoids was studied. It reflects the multi-components, multi-targets and multiple pathway features of traditional Chinese medicine. Meanwhile, it provides a scientific basis for the elucidation the mechanism of S. alopecuroides as a medicine, and the development and utilization resources of S. alopecuroides.