A rapid advice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (standard version).

In December 2019, a new type viral pneumonia cases occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province; and then named "2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)" by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 12 January 2020. For it is a never been experienced respiratory disease before and with infection ability widely and quickly, it attracted the world's attention but without treatment and control manual. For the request from frontline clinicians and public health professionals of 2019-nCoV infected pneumonia management, an evidence-based guideline urgently needs to be developed. Therefore, we drafted this guideline according to the rapid advice guidelines methodology and general rules of WHO guideline development; we also added the first-hand management data of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University. This guideline includes the guideline methodology, epidemiological characteristics, disease screening and population prevention, diagnosis, treatment and control (including traditional Chinese Medicine), nosocomial infection prevention and control, and disease nursing of the 2019-nCoV. Moreover, we also provide a whole process of a successful treatment case of the severe 2019-nCoV infected pneumonia and experience and lessons of hospital rescue for 2019-nCoV infections. This rapid advice guideline is suitable for the first frontline doctors and nurses, managers of hospitals and healthcare sections, community residents, public health persons, relevant researchers, and all person who are interested in the 2019-nCoV.

Evaluation of efficacy of the essential oil from Ostericum viridiflorum (Turcz.) Kitagawa in control of stored product insects.

The natural and ecologically safe control of stored product insects has gained considerable attention in modern society. In this study of further searching for botanical pesticides from wild-growing plant, the contact toxicity and repellency towards Tribolium castaneum and Liposcelis bostrychophila were assessed for the essential oil (EO) from Ostericum viridiflorum. The EO was distilled from aboveground parts of O. viridiflorum and checked by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Twenty-two compounds were identified and the main components were ß-caryophyllene (24.3%), α-humulene (21.0%), apiol (10.2%), and carotol (2.5%). For bioactivity tests, results indicated that the EO and its two main compounds (ß-caryophyllene and α-humulene) all showed potent contact toxicity towards L. bostrychophila with LD50 values of 44.52 µg/cm2, 74.11 µg/cm2, and 118.56 µg/cm2, respectively. The EO and the two main compounds also exhibited comparable repellency towards T. castaneum and L. bostrychophila. The results evidenced the EO of O. viridiflorum aboveground parts and its major compounds could be considered for the development of eco-friendly botanical insecticides and repellents in controlling stored product insects.

Randomized controlled trial of letrozole, berberine, or a combination for infertility in the polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To study whether a combination of berberine and letrozole results in higher live births than letrozole alone in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). DESIGN: A multicenter randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. SETTING: Reproductive and developmental network sites. PATIENT(S): Eligible women had PCOS as defined by the Rotterdam criteria. We enrolled 644 participants randomized 1:1:1 among letrozole, berberine, and combination groups. INTERVENTIONS(S): Berberine or berberine placebo were administrated orally at a daily dose of 1.5 g for up to 6 months. Patients received an initial dose of 2.5 mg letrozole or placebo on days 3-7 of the first three treatment cycles. This dose was increased to 5 mg on the last three cycles if not pregnant. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURE(S): Cumulative live births. RESULTS: The cumulative live births were similar between the letrozole and combination groups after treatment (36% and 34%), and were superior to those in the berberine group (22%). Likely, conception, pregnancy, and ovulation rates were similar between the letrozole and combination groups, and these were significantly higher than in the berberine group. There was one twin birth in the letrozole group, three twin births in the combination group, and none in the berberine group. CONCLUSION(S): Berberine did not add fecundity in PCOS when used in combination with the new ovulation agent letrozole. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR-TRC-09000376 (http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/).

[Effects of Tongluo Xingnao effervescent tablets on blood rheology, iNOS, VEGF and LDH-5 in MID rats].

The study was to explore effects of Tongluo Xingnao effervescent tablets on the blood rheology, iNOS, VEGF and LDH-5 in multi-infarct dementia(MID) model rats. Establish MID model rats were induced by microthrombosis, from which 50 successful model rats were randomly divided into five groups, such as the model control group, the dihydroergotoxine mesylate tablets(hydergine) group(0.7 mg•kg⁻¹), Tongluo Xingnao effervescent tablets high-dose, medium-dose and low-dose groups(7.56, 3.78, 1.89 g•kg⁻¹). Another ten rats in the sham group were randomly selected as the parallel control group. Each group was orally administered with drugs for 90 days. The learning and memory ability was evaluated with the Morris water maze test, while the whole blood viscosity and the erythrocyte aggregation index derived from abdominal aorta were measured in different shear rates. In addition, the levels of VEGF and iNOS in the serum were determined by ELISA kits. The expression of LDH-5 in hippocampus of rats was measured with immunohistochemistry and image quantitative analysis. The result showed that Tongluo Xingnao effervescent tablets notably decreased the escape latency of MID model rats, increased times of entering into the escape platform and prolonged retention time in medium ring, meanwhile the whole blood viscosity in MID model rats was also notably reduced in four shear rates, i.e. 1, 5, 30, 200 S⁻¹, erythrocyte aggregation index, serum VEGF and iNOS, and average optical density value of LDH-5, with a statistically significant differences compared with the model control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, Tongluo Xingnao effervescent tablets could improve the ability of learning and memory of MID model rats and the blood rheology, reduce the level of iNOS, VEGF and the expression of LDH-5, and then improved the brain energy supply.

Chemical Constituents and Activity of Murraya microphylla Essential Oil against Lasioderma serricorne.

The chemical composition, contact and repellent activities of the essential oil from Murraya microphylla branches and leaves against Lasioderma serricorne adults were determined and six compounds from the essential oil were isolated as well. The essential oil of M microphylla obtained by hydrodistillation was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis; 22 compounds were identified. The main constituents of the essential oil included ß-caryophyllene (18.0%), α-pinene (13.8%), spathulenol (9.5%), α-humulene (6.0%), γ-elemene (5.1%) and zingiberene (4.6%), followed by α-cadinol (3.9%) and caryophyllene oxide (3.8%). Six of these compounds were isolated and fully identified as α-pinene, ß-caryophyllene, α-humulene, caryophyllene oxide, spathulenol and α-cadinol. L. serricorne adults had different sensitivities to the crude essential oil and isolated compounds. α-Humulene exhibited the strongest contact activity against L. serricorne, showing an LD50 value of 13.1 µg adult(-1). However, spathulenol, the crude essential oil and α-cadinol showed stronger contact activity against L. serricorne than caryophyllene oxide and ß-caryophyllene. The essential oil, α-humulene and spathulenol showed comparable repellency against L. serricorne adults at 2 h after exposure, relative to the positive control, DEET. The results demonstrate that the essential oil and isolated compounds exhibited important contact and repellent activities against L. serricorne. Thus, they could become potential natural insecticides or repellents for control of insects in stored products.

Insecticidal Constituents of Essential Oil Derived from Zanthoxylum armatum against Two Stored-Product Insects.

In the course of our search for natural bioactive chemicals and investigations on their insecticidal activities from some medicinal plants growing in China, the essential oil derived from the twigs of Zanthoxylum armatum (Rutaceae) was found to possess strong insecticidal activities against two stored-product insects, Lasioderma serricorne and Tribolium castaneum. A total of 32 constituents of the essential oil were identified by GC and GC-MS analysis, and it revealed (E)-anethole (20.5%), 1,8-cineole (14.0%), 2-tridecanone (12.5%), limonene (9.0%) and piperitone (8.0%) as major components, followed by ß-phellandrene (6.3%), ß-pinene (5.1%) and 4-terpineol (4.4%). From the essential oil, five compounds were isolated and identified as (E)-anethole, 1,8-cineole, 2-tridecanone, limonene and piperitone. The results of insecticidal bioassays showed that the essential oil of Z. armatum exhibited strong fumigant toxicity towards L. serricorne and T. castaneum with LC50 values of 13.83 and 4.28 mg/L air, respectively, and also possessed contact toxicity against two insect species with LD50 values of 18.74 and 32.16 µg/adult, respectively. Among the active compounds, piperitone performed the strongest fumigant toxicity against L. serricorne (LC50 = 1.21 mg/L air) and contact toxicity against T. castaneum (LD50 = 3.16 µg/adult). 1,8-Cineole, limonene and piperitone showed similar fumigant toxicity against T. castaneum with LC50 values of 5.47, 6.21 and 7.12 mg/L air, respectively. Meanwhile, L. serricorne was the most sensitive to 2-tridecanone (LD50 = 5.74 µg/adult) in the progress of contact toxicity assay.

[Protective effects of notoginsenoside R1 against amyloid-ß (1-42) induced mitochondrial apopototic death in SH-SY5Y cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects and underlying mechanism of notoginsenoside R1 on amyloid-ß (1-42) (Aß(1-42)) induced mitochondrial apoptotic death in SH-SY5Y cells. METHOD: Cell viability was assayed by MTT, apoptotic rates were analyzed with PI/Annexin V flow cytometry, Bax and Bcl-2 expression were detected with Western blotting, enzymatic activity of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 were measured by ELISA assay. RESULT: The 6.25-100 nmol x L(-1) of notoginsenoside R1 attenuate Aß(1-42) induced apoptotic death of SH-SY5Y in dose dependent manner. The ratio of Bcl-2/Bax was elevated in SH-SY5Y with notoginsenoside R1 treatment. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 were activated with notoginsenoside R1 treatment while caspase-8 was not affected. CONCLUSION: Notoginsenoside R1 could protect SH-SY5Y cells from Aß(1-42) induced apoptosis via mitochondria related apoptotic pathway.

Chemical Composition and Insecticidal Activity of Essential Oils from Zanthoxylum dissitum Leaves and Roots against Three Species of Storage Pests.

This work aimed to investigate chemical composition of essential oils obtained from Zanthoxylum dissitum leaves and roots and their insecticidal activities against several stored product pests, namely the cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricorne), red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) and black carpet beetle (Attagenus piceus). The analysis by GC-MS of the essential oils allowed the identification of 28 and 22 components, respectively. It was found that sesquiterpenoids comprised a fairly high portion of the two essential oils, with percentages of 74.0% and 80.9% in the leaves and roots, respectively. The main constituents identified in the essential oil of Z. dissitum leaves were δ-cadinol (12.8%), caryophyllene (12.7%), ß-cubebene (7.9%), 4-terpineol (7.5%) and germacrene D-4-ol (5.7%), while humulene epoxide II (29.4%), caryophyllene oxide (24.0%), diepicedrene-1-oxide (10.7%) and Z,Z,Z-1,5,9,9-tetramethyl-1,4,7-cycloundecatriene (8.7%) were the major components in the essential oil of Z. dissitum roots. The insecticidal activity results indicated that the essential oil of Z. dissitum roots exhibited moderate contact toxicity against three species of storage pests, L. serricorne,T. castaneum and A. piceus, with LD50 values of 13.8, 43.7 and 96.8 µg/adult, respectively.

Time-dependent variation of pathways and networks in a 24-hour window after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury may simultaneously result in functional variation of multiple genes/pathways. However, most prior time-sequence studies on its pathomechanism only focused on a single gene or pathway. Our study aimed to systematically analyze the time-dependent variation in the expression of multiple pathways and networks within 24 h after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. RESULTS: By uploading 374 ischemia-related genes into the MetaCore software, the variation in the expression of multiple pathways and networks in 3 h, 12 h, and 24 h after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury had been analyzed. The conserved TNFR1-signaling pathway, among the top 10 pathways, was consistently enriched in 3 h, 12 h, and 24 h groups. Three overlapping pathways were found between 3 h and 12 h groups; 2 between 12 h and 24 h groups; and 1 between 3 h and 24 h groups. Five, 4, and 6 non-overlapping pathways were observed in 3 h, 12 h, and 24 h groups, respectively. Apart from pathways reported by earlier studies, we identified a novel pathway related to the time-dependent development of cerebral ischemia pathogenesis. The process of apoptosis stimulation by external signals, among the top 10 processes, was consistently enriched in 3 h, 12 h, and 24 h groups; 2, 1, and 2 processes overlapped between 3 h and 12 h groups, 12 h and 24 h groups, and 3 h and 24 h groups, respectively. Four, 5, and 5 non-overlapping processes were found in 3 h, 12 h and 24 h groups, respectively. The presence of apoptotic processes was observed in all the 3 groups; while anti-apoptotic processes only existed in 3 h and 12 h groups. Additionally, according to node degree, network comparison identified 1, 8,and 5 important genes or proteins (e.g. Pyk2, PKC, E2F1, and VEGF-A) in 3 h, 12 h, and 24 h groups, respectively. The Jaccard similarity index revealed a higher level of similarity between 12 h and 24 h groups than that between 3 h and 12 h groups. CONCLUSION: Time-dependent treatment can be utilized to reduce apoptosis, which may activate anti-apoptotic pathways within 12 h after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Pathway and network analyses may help identify novel pathways and genes implicated in disease pathogenesis.

Bioactivity and chemical constituents of the essential oil from Dendranthema indicum (L.) Des Moul. against two stored insects.

Dendranthema indicum (L.) Des Moul. is a perennial herb commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine for a long time. In this work, we took Dendranthema indicum as a target plant and two stored insects which include Tribolium castaneum and Stegobium paniceum adults as target insects. Essential oil obtained from Dendranthema indicum was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 31 components representing 92.44% of the oil were identified and the main compounds were found to be chamazulene (15.93%), ß-caryophyllene (13.78%), germacrene D (9.11%), and b-cis-farnesene (6.59%). With a further isolation, three constituents were obtained from the essential oil and identified as chamazulene, ß-caryophyllene and eucalyptol. Significantly, in the progress of assay, it showed that the essential oil and chamazulene exhibited stronger insecticidal and repellent activities against Stegobium paniceum than Tribolium castaneum. The results indicate that additional to its traditional use as Chinese medicinal herb, the essential oil of Dendranthema indicum aerial parts and isolated compounds have potential to be developed into natural insecticides or repellents for control of insects in stored grains.

Cytotoxicity of benzophenanthridine alkaloids from the roots of Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC. var. fastuosum How ex Huang.

This work aimed to investigate benzophenanthridine from the roots of Zanthoxylum nitidum (Roxb.) DC. var. fastuosum How ex Huang for the first time. Thirteen benzophenanthridines were isolated, and our results of the cytotoxic activities indicated that compound 6 exhibited the best potency against A549, Hela, SMMC-7721 and EJ, with the IC50 values of 27.50, 37.50, 16.95 and 60.42 µM, respectively. Compounds 7 and 11 also showed strong cytotoxicity when tested against the four human cancer cell lines (A549, Hela, SMMC-7721 and EJ), while only compounds 12 and 13 displayed cytotoxicity in inhibiting BALL-1 proliferation among all the compounds. These results suggested that benzophenanthridines may become a valid alternative of potential basis for new anti-proliferative agents.

[Study of clinical character and medicinal therapy of viral hepatitis in hospital based on real world].

Viral hepatitis was the most common infectious disease in china. But the diagnosis and treatment were varied because the viral hepatitis patients were hospitalized in different kinds of hospital such as infectious disease hospital, general hospital and Chinese medical hospital. It was necessary to know clinical characters and information of viral hepatitis patients in different hospitals. The general information, subtype distribution, prognosis, complication, medication and relations of onset with solar term from 41 180 viral hepatitis patients based on HIS data were analyzed. It was found that the age of patients between 18 to 59 years old was most; most patients were males. The national basic medical insurance was the most type of payment. The outcome of viral hepatitis in the youth and female were better than that in the old and male. Acute hepatitis was easer to restore than chronic hepatitis. Liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were the two most complications. The peak of onset was during summer solstice, slight heat and great heat. The most common Chinese medicine was Diammonium glycyrrhizinate and the most common western medicine was reduced glutathione. The combination of D. glycyrrhizinate with reduced glutathione, polyene phosphatidylcholine and thymosin was the main pattern. But It was not knew if the combination of western and Chinese medicine was the most effective therapy to protect liver function. It was necessary to take deeply research of the relationship between the combination therapy and their effectiveness.

[Clinical characteristics research of shenmai injection treating tumor based on hospital information system in real world].

The study was to research the clinical characteristics of Shenmai injection treating tumor based on hospital information system, including the characteristics of the age, the sex, the dosage, the course of the treatment and the combination drugs. The data of tumor patients injected with Shenmai injection was analyzed. The information was collected from the hospital information system (HIS) in twenty hospitals of grade III-A. The method of frequencies and association rules was used in this reaearch. The patients over 45 years old were up to 3 338, about 79.36% of the whole. The ratio of male and female was 1.73: 1. The hospitalization day between 15 and 28 was most. The complications of the hypertension and coronary heart disease happened most. The support was 5.939% and 5.099% respectively. Fifty-five patients had the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome of Qi-Yin deficiency, about 14.78% of the whole. There were 8 491 patients treated with the single dose of 81 to 100 mL, about 48.70% of the whole. The main combination drugs were dexamethasone, tropisetron and maxolon. The confidence was 44.63%, 31.22% and 20.53% respectively. The information from HIS showed that tumor patients used Shenmai injection were most quinquagenarian with smooth condition. The dose of the Shenmai injection sometimes was higher than that of the drug use instructions in clinical. Shenmai injection was most often combined with glucocorticoid, antemetic and nutritional support medicine when treating tumor in clinical.

[Analysis of characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine clinical use in patients with viral hepatitis based on real world hospital information system data].

Viral hepatitis is clinical multiple strong infectious disease, to know characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine clinical use in patients with viral hepatitis, the research object of this study is 41 180 cases of hospitalized patients with viral hepatitis in hospital information system from 17 grade A hospitals, using frequency statistics and association rules method to analyze the traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine clinical use information, the drug kinds analysis results: western medicine of reduced glutathione tablets use frequency is highest, 14 079 cases (34.61%), traditional Chinese medicine of diammonium glycyrrhizinateuse frequency is highest, 14 058 cases (34.56%); traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine drug combination in diammonium glycyrrhizinate combined with reduced glutathione tabletsuse frequency is highest, 8 607 cases (25.09%). The mechanism of drug classification results :both traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine are the sort of educed enzyme medicine that has the highest percentage of drug use, traditional Chinese medicine 10 983 cases (27.01%), western medicine, 9 595 cases (23.59%); traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine combination in a kind of medicine to clear heat and promote diuresis combined with educed enzyme drug use frequency is highest, 5 621 cases (13.82%). Through the analysis above, combine traditional Chinese and western medicine therapy for the treatment of viral hepatitis should be given priority. Traditional Chinese medicine to clear heat and promote diuresis combined with western medicine of educed enzyme drug is the most commonly appear in clinical two drug combination scheme, traditional Chinese medicine to clear heat and promote diuresis combined with western medicine of educed enzyme drug and nucleustide analogsis the most commonly appear in clinical three drug combination scheme.

[Real world clinical research of common complications and characteristics of traditional Chinese and western treatment in gastric malignant tumor inpatients].

OBJECTIVE: To Understand the characteristics of the common complications in the gastric malignant tumor inpatients in our country, the related traditional Chinese and western medicine combined usage. METHOD: By using the method of frequency analysis and correlation, analysis the diagnostic and Prescribing information in HIS database of 20 national first-class ternary general hospital inpatients. RESULT: The most common coexistent disease are malignant tumor in other parts, benign tumor. The most common complications are serous cavity effusion, lung infection, abnormal liver function. In other parts malignant tumor, more than 50% with advanced gastric malignancy; in other parts benign tumor, 86.00% located in the digestive and Urinary system, in the complications, digestive system diseases accounted for 23.80%; further according to the association rules of data mining, and calculate the combination scheme of the most commonly used for acid suppression drugs in combination with the centralizer and eliminate pathogenic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). CONCLUSION: In the real world, most of the gastric malignant tumor disorder crowd is in the advanced stage, with lymph nodes and other parts of the transfer; and at the same time to incorporate the spleen and kidney disease in TCM zang-fu organs dialectical, should notice the reach mark early intervention, achieve the purpose of cure not ill; acid suppression hemostatic drugs combined the centralizer and eliminate pathogenic the three medicine combined treatment of Chinese traditional medicine is relevant.

Radiosensitizing effect of schinifoline from Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb et Zucc on human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells: a preliminary in vitro investigation.

Schinifoline (SF), a 4-quinolinone derivative, was found in Zanthoxylum schinifolium for the first time. 4-Quinolinone moieties are thought to have cytotoxic activity and are often used as a tubulin polymerization inhibitors, heterogeneous enzyme inhibitors and antiplatelet agents. However, very little information respect to radiosensitization has focused on SF. This work aimed to investigate the radiosensitizing effect of SF on A549 cells. The cell viability results indicated cytotoxicity of SF on A549 cells, with IC50 values of 33.7 ± 2.4, 21.9 ± 1.9 and 16.8 ± 2.2 µg/mL, respectively, after 6, 12, 24 h treatment with different concentrations, and the 10% or 20% IC50 concentration during 12 h was applied in later experiments. The results of cell proliferative inhibition and clonogenic assay showed that SF enhanced the radiosensitivity of A549 cells when applied before 60Co γ-irradiation and this effect was mainly time and concentration dependent. The flow cytometric data indicated that SF treatment before the irradiation increased the G2/M phase, thus improving the radiosensitivity of A549, leading to cell apoptosis. This paper is the first study that describes the in vitro radiosensitising, cell cycle and apoptotic-inducing effects of schinifoline.

[Comparison and analysis of clinical safety evaluation methods for parenterally administered Chinese medicine].

Parenterally administered Chinese medicine is widely applied in clinic. It particularly plays an important role in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, acute infectious diseases and malignant tumors. With the expansion of the scope of the clinical application of parenterally administered Chinese medicine adverse event reports also increase day by day. Thus, parenterally administered Chinese medicine has come to the attention of management departments, medical staff and the public. By the end of 2012, the national adverse drug reaction monitoring database has collected more than 5 million adverse drug reactions/events reports. Parenterally administered Chinese medicine accounted for more than half of the total number of adverse reactions to Chinese medicine. Therefore, it is essential that epidemiological methods are used to analyze the national database for all references to parenterally administered Chinese medicine. Our research aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various safety monitoring methods for parenterally administered Chinese medicine and offer guidance in safety evaluation analysis.

[Studies on expectorant compounds in volatile oil from root and rhizome of Aster tataricus].

OBJECTIVE: To research the expectorant components in volatile oil from the root and rhizome of Aster tataricus. METHOD: GC-MS was applied to isolate and identify the compounds. In addition, TLC was used to isolate compound, and its structure was elucidated on the basis of spectral data analysis. At the same time, its expectorant effect was observed by method of the excretion quantity of phenol red in trachea of mice. RESULT: Seven compounds were isolated and identified by GC-MS, they were (R)(-)-p-menth-1-en-4-ol (1), 2-undecanone (2), n-decanoic acid (3), (-)-spathulenol (4), hexahydrofamrnesyl acetone (5), hexadecanoic acid (6), and cis-9, cis-12-octaecadienoic acid (7). A known compound 1-acetoxy-2-ene(E)-4,6- decandiyne was isolated from the root and rhizome of A. tataricus, and it was shown to have expectorant effect. CONCLUSION: 1-Acetoxy-2-ene(E) -4,6- decandiyne, a main compound in volatile oil, had been found to have expectorant effect.

[Effects of water extractives of a qi and blood regulating prescription on early atherosclerosis of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the water extractives of regulating qi and blood prescription (WQBP) had effects on early atherosclerosis of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice (ApoE-mice) at the age of 19 weeks or not, and to explore the possible mechanisms. METHODS: Forty ApoE-mice, six weeks of age, were given high-fat diet and randomly divided into four groups: high-dose WQBP-treated group (360 mg/kg), low-dose WQBP-treated group (72 mg/kg), simvastatin-treated group (25 mg/kg) and untreated group, with ten mice in each group. Meanwhile, ten C57BL/6 mice of same genetic background were allocated to normal control group. Mice in the high- and low-dose WQBP-treated groups and simvastatin-treated group were administered with corresponding drugs from the 15 to 19 weeks. Mice in the untreated and normal control groups were administered with isovolumic water. Sacrificed at 19 weeks, the level of blood-lipid, the plaque construction, plaque integral, and the contents of plaque macrophages and vessel smooth muscle cells of the mice were analyzed by immunohistochemical method and a computer picture processing system. RESULTS: Compared to the untreated group, high-dose WQBP group could obviously decrease the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Simvastatin group could decrease the levels of LDL-C and total cholesterol (TC) (P<0.01). In high-dose WQBP-treated group and simvastatin-treated group, the thickness of fiber cap and the quantities of vessel smooth muscle cells increased (P<0.05), the quantities of plaque macrophages and the ratio of lipid and plaque reduced (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: WQBP and simvastatin can interfere in early atherosclerosis of ApoE-mice, attenuate and stabilize plaque in some extent. The mechanisms may include adjusting blood lipid, decreasing macrophage number and increasing the quantities of vessel smooth muscle cells.

[Pharmacological evaluation of baicalin and jasminoidin and their combination on focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury].

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the therapeutic effect and the influence on PI3K-Akt-PKB-BAD-CREB-PCREB pathway in focal cerebral ischemia rat responses before and after treatment with baicalin and jasminoidin given alone or in combination. METHOD: Rat model of ischemia reperfusion was established with thread. Generally accepted methods were used, including TTC staining, behavior test, as well as micro and ultra microscopy which can dynamically and accurately monitor pathological and physiological changes after cerebral ischemia on earlier period, to evaluate the brain injury induced by ischemia and the attenuations by the drugs. The difference of PI3K-Akt-PKB-BAD-CREB-PCREB expression was detected by western-blot technology. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The combination of baicalin and jasminoidin composition can be potential neuroprotective agent. TTC staining technology combined with behavior grade and ultrmicro-structure observation on brain tissue is effective method to evaluate protective agent, which is related to signal transduction PI3K-Akt-PKB-BAD-CREB-PCREB pathway. The results provide benofical basis for revealing the complex of therapeutic mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine Qingkai Ling (QKL).