[Study on mechanism of Phytolaccae Radix and its split components based on network pharmacology].

This paper aimed to explore the mechanism of the split components of Phytolaccae Radix by means of network pharmaco-logy. Based on the theoretical hypothesis of the nature and taste of traditional Chinese medicine, the chemical components of the separated components of Phytolaccae Radix were selected by using Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database(TCMSP) and Traditional Chinese Medicines IntegratedDatabase(TCMID) databases in combination with related literatures. Relevant target analysis was carried out based on PubChem and SwissTargetPrediction databases. Targets corresponding to disease were excavated based on GeneCards for each split component, corresponding potential targets were obtained through mapping the target set of target compounds to disease targets. GO biological process analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed on the mapped targets with the help of DAVID database. Based on Cytoscape software and the corresponding efficacy, the network diagram of "medicinal material-split components-compound-target-pathway" was constructed to explore the mechanism of different efficacy of the separated components of Cytoscape. And the target purgation and diuretic mapping was used as the target of the traditional efficacy of smoothening secretion for the first time. The study explored esculentoside component, fatty oil component and phenolic acid component, a total of 30 target compounds and 301 corresponding targets, involving 44 potential targets for "anti-inflammatory", 50 potential targets for "immunoregulation", 52 potential targets for "smoothening secretion", 28 potential targets for "antibacterial activity", 28 potential targets for "antiviral effect", and 29 potential targets for "antitumor effect". Topological analysis revealed 14 key gene targets such as MAPK8, MAPK14, EGFR and PTGS2. A total of 684 GO entries and 235 KEGG pathways were obtained through bioinformatics enrichment analysis, mainly involving TNF signaling pathway, NF-kappaB signaling pathway and MAPK signaling pathway. This study revealed the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-channel action mechanism of the split components of Phytolaccae Radix, which provided certain basis for the next step to clarify the split components of Phytolaccae Radix through the method of system biology, and injected new content and significance into the study of properties and flavors theory.

Effectiveness of pharmaceutical care on treatment outcomes for patients with first-time pulmonary tuberculosis in China.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: In this study, the effectiveness of pharmaceutical care on treatment outcomes for patients with first-time pulmonary tuberculosis in China was assessed. METHODS: In this study, patients were randomized either to the usual care (UC) group (n = 72) where patients received routine medical and nursing care or to the pharmaceutical care (PC) group (n = 59) where patients were simultaneously provided with pharmaceutical care. The primary objectives were to evaluate whether treatment outcomes and patient adherence improved more in the PC group than in the UC group. In addition, in PC group, outcomes included the number of patient-reported pharmaceutical care issues and pharmacists' interventions. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: As compared to the UC group, treatment success rate was improved in the PC group, but the difference was not statistically significant (71% vs 54%; P = 0.137). However, as compared to the UC group, the number of patients who attended all of the scheduled visits was higher in the PC group; the difference was statistically significant (81% vs 60%, P = 0.018). Furthermore, the number of patients who had positive test results for all of the isoniazid tests was higher in the PC group than in the UC group; the difference was also statistically significant (80% vs 50%, P = 0.002). The consumed medication rate was improved in the PC group, but no significant difference was found between the two groups. The patient-reported pharmaceutical care issues mainly included dermatological, gastrointestinal, hepatic, metabolic, sensory, central nervous system and haematological problems. On the basis of clinical examination, laboratory parameters and drug information database, the pharmacists addressed most of these pharmaceutical care issues. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: Pharmaceutical care might improve patient adherence for patients with first-time pulmonary tuberculosis in China, and further, rigorously controlled trials are required.

[Quality anlysis of the before redrying raw tobacco & after redrying sheet tobacco by using online near infrared spectroscopy].

In this paper, the 7 different origin before redrying raw tobacco & after redrying sheet tobacco's online near infrared spectroscopy were collected from sorting & redrying production line specifically for "ZHONGHUA" brand. By using the projection model bulit by different origin tobacco's online spectroscopy and the method of variance and correlation analysis, we studied the uniformity and similarity quality characteristics change before and after the redrying of tobacco, which can provide support for understanding the quality of the tobacco material and cigarette product formulations. This study show that selecting about 10,000 by equally spaced sampling time from a huge number of online near infrared spectroscopy, for modeling are feasible, and representative. After manual sorting, threshing, and redrying, the uiformity of each origin tobacco near-infrared spectroscopy can be increased by 10%~35%, homogeneity of the tobacco leaf has been significantly improved. After redrying, the similar relationship embodied in the origin also have significant changes, overall it reduce significantly, that shows the quality differences embodied by origin significantly improve, which can provide greater space for formulations, it shows the need for high-quality Chinese cigarette production requires large amounts of financial and human resources to implement cured tobacco processing. The traditional means of chemical analysis, it takes a lot of time and effort, it is difficult to control the entire processing chain, Near Infrared Spectroscopy with its rapid, non-destructive advantage, not only can achieve real-time detection and quality control, but also can take full advantage of near-infrared spectroscopy information created in the production process, which is a very promising online analytical detection technology in many industries especially in the agricultural and food processing industries.

Predicting Glioma Cell Differentiation-inducing Drugs Using a Drug Repositioning Strategy.

BACKGROUND: Currently, there are no effective differentiation-inducing agents for gliomas. Drug repositioning is a time-saving, low-risk, and low-cost drug development strategy. In this study, drugs that could induce the differentiation of glioma cells were searched by using a drug repositioning strategy. METHODS: Data mining was used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The STRING 11.0 database was used for enrichment analysis. The Connectivity Map database was used for drug screening. The ChEMBL and STITCH databases were used to search for drug targets. The SwissDock database was used for molecular docking. RESULTS: A total of 45 DEGs were identified. The biological processes in which the DEGs were enriched mainly involved nervous system development and the regulation of biological processes. The enriched molecular functions mainly involved transcription-related molecular binding. The enriched cellular components mainly involved membrane-bound organelles and cellular protrusions. The enriched local network clusters mainly involved autophagy, the retinoic acid signalling pathway, and DNA methylation. The drug screening results showed that the drug with the highest score was acenocoumarol. A total of 12 acenocoumarol targets were obtained, among which histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) was the target with the highest degree value; the lowest ΔG value for acenocoumarol docked with HDAC1 was -7.52 kcal/mol, which was between those of the HDAC1 inhibitors romidepsin and vorinostat. CONCLUSION: Acenocoumarol may be a potential differentiation-inducing agent for glioma cells.

Expression, Significance, and Correlation of Histone Deacetylase 1/RE-1 Silencing Transcription Factor and Neuronal Markers in Glioma.

BACKGROUND: Inducing the differentiation of glioma cells into neuron-like cells may be an effective strategy to combat glioma. The histone deacetylase 1/RE-1 silencing transcription factor (HDAC1/REST) complex regulates the expression of multiple neuronal genes. In this study, we analyzed the presence and significance of this regulatory effect in glioma based on bioinformatics methods. METHODS: The Human Protein Atlas database was used to obtain immunohistochemical staining images. The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas databases were used to analyze the expression of HDAC1/REST and neuronal markers in glioma, their effects on survival, and the association between HDAC1/REST and the expression of neuronal markers and stem cell markers. The differentially expressed genes between the high and low HDAC1/REST groups were explored. The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery database was used for gene ontology and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway enrichment analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that the expression of HDAC1 and REST increased with the grade of glioma, while the expression of neuronal markers decreased with the grade of glioma. High expression of HDAC1/REST and low expression of neuronal markers were associated with poor prognosis. HDAC1/REST expression was negatively correlated with the expression of neuronal markers, and positively correlated with the expression of neural stem cell markers. The genes up-regulated in the high HDAC1/REST group were mainly related to extracellular matrix and inflammation, and the down-regulated genes were mainly related to synapsis. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that HDAC1/REST may be involved in maintaining the malignant phenotype of glioma cells and the stem cell status of glioma stem cells by inhibiting the expression of neuronal markers, which promote the progression of glioma.

Z-guggulsterone regulates MDR1 expression mainly through the pregnane X receptor-dependent manner in human brain microvessel endothelial cells.

Recently studies showed that pregnane X receptor (PXR) was expressed in human brain microvessel endothelial cells and coordinately induced multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) expression. The present study aimed to investigate the regulatory effect of Z-guggulsterone on MDR1 in human brain microvessel endothelial cells, and explored whether it involved modulation of PXR. The results showed that Z-guggulsterone (30 µM) simultaneously inhibited the expression of PXR and MDR1 at 24 h in human brain-derived microvessel endothelial cells (hBDMECs). Meanwhile, the levels of PXR and MDR1 expression were simultaneously reduced in PXR siRNA-transfected hBDMECs; MDR-1 siRNA-transfected hBDMECs showed significant decrease in MDR1 expression, but no change in PXR expression. Furthermore, Z-guggulsterone inhibited the activation of PXR in hBDMECs through decreasing the release of cAMP/PKA. Z-guggulsterone reduced the co-activator SRC-1 expression in hBDMECs, as to prevent the activation of MDR1 gene transcription. In addition, Z-guggulsterone (30 µM) at 24 h significantly inhibited the expression of human constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) protein in hBDMECs. However, after treatment with Z-guggulsterone (≤30 µM), the level of MDR1 reporter gene activity was lower in human PXR-transfected cells than that in human CAR-transfected cells. The inhibition effect of Z-guggulsterones on MDR1 reporter gene activation was gradually enhanced with the increase of human PXR to CAR ratio, which was greater extent than that with the increase of human CAR to hPXR ratio. The present study suggested that Z-guggulsterone down-regulating the efflux function and expression of MDR1 in hBDMECs might be mainly through the PXR-dependent manner.

Surface modification of polypropylene macroporous membrane to improve its antifouling characteristics in a submerged membrane-bioreactor: H(2)O plasma treatment.

To improve the antifouling characteristics of polypropylene hollow fiber macroporous membranes in a submerged membrane-bioreactor for wastewater treatment, the membranes were surface modified by H(2)O plasma treatment. Structural and morphological changes on the membrane surface were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The change of surface wettability was monitored by contact angle measurement. The static water contact angle of the modified membrane reduced obviously with the increase of plasma treatment time. The total surface free energy and its dispersive component decreased, while the polar component increased with the increase of treatment time. The relative pure water flux for the modified membranes increased gradually with the increase of plasma treatment time. The tensile strength and the tensile elongation at break for the membranes decreased after plasma treatment. After continuous operation in a submerged membrane-bioreactor for about 68 h, flux recovery after water and caustic cleaning, flux ratio after fouling were improved by 2.0, 3.6 and 22.0%, while reduction of flux was reduced by 1.1% for the 1 min H(2)O plasma treated membrane, compared to those of the unmodified membrane.