Rapid on-site detection of underground petroleum pipeline leaks and risk assessment using portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and solid phase microextraction.

Locating underground pipeline leaks can be challenging due to their hidden nature and variable terrain conditions. To sample soil gas, solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was employed, and a portable gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to detect the presence and concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbon volatile organic compounds (pH-VOCs), including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). We optimized the extraction method through benchtop studies using SPME. The appropriate fibre materials and exposure time were selected for each BTEX compound. Before applying SPME, we preconditioned the soil vapour samples by keeping the temperature at around 4 °C and using ethanol as a desorbing agent and moisture filters to minimize the impact of moisture. To conduct this optimisation, airbags were applied to condition the soil vapour samples and SPME sampling. By conditioning the samples using this method, we were able to improve analytical efficiency and accuracy while minimizing environmental impacts, resulting in more reliable research data in the field. The study employed portable GC/MS data to assess the concentration distribution of BTEX in soil vapour samples obtained from 1.5 m below the ground surface at 10 subsurface vapour monitoring locations at the leak site. After optimization, the detection limits of BTEX were almost 100 µg/m3, and the measurement repeatabilities were approximately 5% and 15% for BTEX standards in the laboratory and soil vapour samples in the field, respectively. The soil vapour samples showed a hotspot region with high BTEX concentrations, reaching 30 mg/m3, indicating a diesel return pipeline leak caused by a gasket failure in a flange. The prompt detection of the leak source was critical in minimizing environmental impact and worker safety hazards.

The influencing factors of carbon emissions in the railway transportation industry based on extended LMDI decomposition method: evidence from the BRIC countries.

In the twenty-first century, global warming and other environmental issues have become the focus of international attention. The total generation of carbon emissions for the railway transportation industry in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, Indian and China) accounted for 25.73% of the global carbon emissions in this industry during 2017. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the influencing factors of carbon emission in the railway transportation industry for the BRIC, in order to better control and reduce carbon emissions and to achieve the global goal of "net-zero emission." The logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method was used to examine the factors that influenced carbon emissions from the railway transportation industry in the BRIC from 1997 to 2017. According to the findings, the total carbon emissions of the railway transportation industry in BRIC were 60.92 million tons in 2017, increased by 98.62% compared to 1997. The factor of economic output effect has contributed positively to the increase in carbon emissions in all identified countries. However, the effect of population size effect, energy structure, and transportation intensity effect for carbon emission demonstrated heterogeneity in BRIC. In addition, policy suggestions are put forward for the reduction of carbon emissions from the railway transportation industry in BRIC.

Screening of miRNAs in White Blood Cell as a Radiation Biomarkers for Rapid Assessment of Acute Radiation Injury.

Accidental radiation exposure is a threat to human health that necessitates effective clinical diagnosis. Suitable biomarkers are urgently needed for early assessment of exposure dose. Existing technologies being used to assess the extent of radiation have notable limitations. As a radiation biomarker, miRNA has the advantages of simple detection and high throughput. In this study, we screened for miRNAs with dose and time dependent responses in peripheral blood leukocytes via miRNA sequencing in establishing the animal model of acute radiation injury. Four radiation-sensitive and stably expressed miRNAs were selected out in the 24 h group of leukocyte miRNAs: mmu-miR-130b-5p, mmu-miR-148b-5p, mmu-miR-184-3p, mmu-miR-26a-2-3p, and five were screened in the 48 h group of leukocyte miRNAs: mmu-miR-130b-5p, mmu-miR-423-5p, mmu-miR-676-3p, mmu-miR-150-5p, mmu-miR-342-3p.The correlation curves between their expression and irradiation dose were plotted. Then, the results were validated by RT-qPCR in mouse peripheral blood. As a result, mmu-miR-150-5p and mmu-miR-342-3p showed the highest correlation at 48h after irradiation, and mmu-miR-130b-5p showed good correlation at both 24 h and 48 h after irradiation. In a conclusion, the miRNAs that are sensitive to ionizing radiation with dose dependent effects were selected out, which have the potential of forming a rapid assessment scheme for acute radiation injury.

Direct mapping from PET coincidence data to proton-dose and positron activity using a deep learning approach.

Objective. Obtaining the intrinsic dose distributions in particle therapy is a challenging problem that needs to be addressed by imaging algorithms to take advantage of secondary particle detectors. In this work, we investigate the utility of deep learning methods for achieving direct mapping from detector data to the intrinsic dose distribution.Approach. We performed Monte Carlo simulations using GATE/Geant4 10.4 simulation toolkits to generate a dataset using human CT phantom irradiated with high-energy protons and imaged with compact in-beam PET for realistic beam delivery in a single-fraction (∼2 Gy). We developed a neural network model based on conditional generative adversarial networks to generate dose maps conditioned on coincidence distributions in the detector. The model performance is evaluated by the mean relative error, absolute dose fraction difference, and shift in Bragg peak position.Main results. The relative deviation in the dose and range of the distributions predicted by the model from the true values for mono-energetic irradiation between 50 and 122 MeV lie within 1% and 2%, respectively. This was achieved using 105coincidences acquired five minutes after irradiation. The relative deviation in the dose and range for spread-out Bragg peak distributions were within 1% and 2.6% uncertainties, respectively.Significance. An important aspect of this study is the demonstration of a method for direct mapping from detector counts to dose domain using the low count data of compact detectors suited for practical implementation in particle therapy. Including additional prior information in the future can further expand the scope of our model and also extend its application to other areas of medical imaging.

Traffic Risk Environment Impact Analysis and Complexity Assessment of Autonomous Vehicles Based on the Potential Field Method.

Although autonomous vehicles have introduced a promising potential for improving traffic safety and efficiency, ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles in complex road traffic environments is still a huge challenge to be tackled. To quickly quantify the potential risk factors of autonomous vehicles in traffic environments, this paper focuses mainly on the influence of the depth and breadth of the environment elements on the autonomous driving system, uses the potential field theory to establish a model of the impact of the environmental elements on the autonomous driving system, and combines AHP to quantify equivalent virtual electric quantity of each environment element, so as to realize the quantitative evaluation of the traffic environment complexity. The proposed method comprehensively considers the physical attributes and state parameters of the environmental elements, which compensates for the fact that the shortage of the factors considered in the traffic environment complexity assessment is not comprehensive. Finally, a series of experiments was carried out to verify the reliability of our proposed method. The results show that the complexity of the static elements is determined only by the physical attributes and shape of the obstacle; the complexity of the dynamic elements is determined by the movement of the obstacle and the movement of the autonomous vehicle, and the comprehensive complexity mainly depends on the complexity of their dynamic elements. Compared with other methods, the complexity evaluation values are generally consistent, the absolute percentage error of the majority of samples was within ±5%, and the degree of deviation was -1.143%, which provides theoretical support for autonomous vehicles on safety and the risk assessment in future.

Postmortem Assessment of Olfactory Tissue Degeneration and Microvasculopathy in Patients With COVID-19.

Importance: Loss of smell is an early and common presentation of COVID-19 infection. Although it has been speculated that viral infection of olfactory neurons may be the culprit, it is unclear whether viral infection causes injuries in the olfactory bulb region. Objective: To characterize the olfactory pathology associated with COVID-19 infection in a postmortem study. Design, Setting, and Participants: This multicenter postmortem cohort study was conducted from April 7, 2020, to September 11, 2021. Deceased patients with COVID-19 and control individuals were included in the cohort. One infant with congenital anomalies was excluded. Olfactory bulb and tract tissue was collected from deceased patients with COVID-19 and appropriate controls. Histopathology, electron microscopy, droplet digital polymerase chain reaction, and immunofluorescence/immunohistochemistry studies were performed. Data analysis was conducted from February 7 to October 19, 2021. Main Outcomes and Measures: (1) Severity of degeneration, (2) losses of olfactory axons, and (3) severity of microvasculopathy in olfactory tissue. Results: Olfactory tissue from 23 deceased patients with COVID-19 (median [IQR] age, 62 [49-69] years; 14 men [60.9%]) and 14 control individuals (median [IQR] age, 53.5 [33.25-65] years; 7 men [50%]) was included in the analysis. The mean (SD) axon pathology score (range, 1-3) was 1.921 (0.569) in patients with COVID-19 and 1.198 (0.208) in controls (P < .001), whereas axon density was 2.973 (0.963) × 104/mm2 in patients with COVID-19 and 3.867 (0.670) × 104/mm2 in controls (P = .002). Concomitant endothelial injury of the microvasculature was also noted in olfactory tissue. The mean (SD) microvasculopathy score (range, 1-3) was 1.907 (0.490) in patients with COVID-19 and 1.405 (0.233) in control individuals (P < .001). Both the axon and microvascular pathology was worse in patients with COVID-19 with smell alterations than those with intact smell (mean [SD] axon pathology score, 2.260 [0.457] vs 1.63 [0.426]; P = .002; mean [SD] microvasculopathy score, 2.154 [0.528] vs 1.694 [0.329]; P = .02) but was not associated with clinical severity, timing of infection, or presence of virus. Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that COVID-19 infection is associated with axon injuries and microvasculopathy in olfactory tissue. The striking axonal pathology in some cases indicates that olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 infection may be severe and permanent.

Patient Satisfaction with Navigator Interpersonal Relationship (PSN-I): item-level psychometrics using IRT analysis.

BACKGROUND: Patient navigation (PN) is a promising intervention to eliminate cancer health inequities. Patient navigators play a critical role in the navigation process. Patients' satisfaction with navigators is important in determining the effectiveness of PN programs. We applied item response theory (IRT) analysis to establish item-level psychometric properties for the Patient Satisfaction with Interpersonal Relationship with Navigators (PSN-I). METHODS: We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish unidimensionality of the 9-item PSN-I in 751 cancer patients (68% female) between 18 and 86 years old. We fitted unidimensional IRT models-unconstrained graded response model (GRM) and Rasch model-to PSN-I data, and compared model fit using likelihood ratio (LR) test and information criteria. We obtained item parameter estimates (IPEs), item category/operating characteristic curves, and item/test information curves for the better fitting model. RESULTS: CFA with diagonally weighted least squares confirmed that the one-factor model fit the data (RMSEA = 0.047, 95% CI = 0.033-0.060, and CFI ≈ 1). Responses to PSN-I items clustered into the 4th and 5th categories. We aggregated the first three response categories to provide stable parameter estimates for both IRT models. The GRM fit the data significantly better than the Rasch model (LR = 80.659, df = 8, p < 0.001). Akaike's information coefficient (6384.978 vs. 6320.319) and Bayesian information coefficient (6471.851 vs. 6443.771) were lower for the GRM. IPEs showed substantial variation in items' discriminating power (1.80-3.35) for GRM. CONCLUSIONS: This IRT analysis confirms the latent structure of the PSN-I and supports its use as a valid and reliable measure of latent satisfaction with PN.

Data-driven Q-matrix validation using a residual-based statistic in cognitive diagnostic assessment.

In a cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA), attributes refer to fine-grained knowledge points or skills. The Q-matrix is a central component of CDA, which specifies the relationship between items and attributes. Oftentimes, attributes and Q-matrix are defined by subject-matter experts, and assumed to be appropriate without any misspecifications. However, this assumption does not always hold in real applications. To address this concern, this paper proposes a residual-based statistic for validating the Q-matrix. Its performance is evaluated in a simulation study and compared against that of an existing method proposed in Liu, Xu and Ying (2012, Applied Psychological Measurement, 36, 548). Simulation results indicate that the proposed method leads to a higher recovery rate of the Q-matrix and is computationally more efficient. The advantage in computational efficiency is particularly pronounced when the number of attributes measured by the test reaches five or more. Results also suggest that the two methods have different tendencies in estimating the attribute vector for each item. In cases where the methods fail to recover the correct Q-matrix, the method in Liu et al. (2012, Applied Psychological Measurement, 36, 548) tends to overestimate the number of attributes measured by the items, whereas our method does not show that bias.

Recent advances in municipal landfill leachate: A review focusing on its characteristics, treatment, and toxicity assessment.

Nowadays, sanitary landfilling is the most common approach to eliminate municipal solid waste, but a major drawback is the generation of heavily polluted leachates. These leachates must be appropriately treated before being discharged into the environment. Generally, the leachate characteristics such as COD, BOD/COD ratio, and landfill age are necessary determinants for selection of suitable treatment technologies. Rapid, sensitive and cost-effective bioassays are required to evaluate the toxicity of leachate before and after the treatment. This review summarizes extensive studies on leachate treatment methods and leachate toxicity assessment. It is found that individual biological or physical-chemical treatment is unable to meet strict effluent guidelines, whereas a combination of biological and physical-chemical treatments can achieve satisfactory removal efficiencies of both COD and ammonia nitrogen. In order to assess the toxic effects of leachate on different trophic organisms, we need to develop an appropriate matrix of bioassays based on their sensitivity to various toxicants and a multispecies approach using organisms representing different trophic levels. In this regard, a reduction in toxicity of the treated leachate will contribute to assessing the effectiveness of a specific remediation strategy.

Application of infrared spectrum for rapid classification of dominant petroleum hydrocarbon fractions for contaminated site assessment.

In this study, the infrared spectrum (4000-400 cm-1) was applied to identify and classify the different alkanes based on carbon chain length (Cn). It was found there were two bands coherent to the doublet at location 2954 and 2872 cm-1, respectively can be applied to identify the fraction of carbon chains. From C20 to C37, by the increase of the Cn, the intensities of the two bands were reduced as demonstrated. There were another two doublets existed at the region from 1480 to 1450 cm-1 and the region at 750 and 730 cm-1. It was observed the intensity of one coherent band at each of these regions was increased following the increase on the Cn. The bands center at 1462 and 730 cm-1 were increased from C20 to C37. The intensity ratio of the coherent bands can be applied to identify the Cn. Successfully identify four different petroleum products with different fractions of carbon chains in soil samples, is evidence the theory can be applied to investigate the fraction of carbon chains in soil. Coupling with handheld FTIR, it is possible to rapidly estimate the dominant fraction of Cn in soil in field.

Assessment of the effect of age on macular layer thickness in a healthy Chinese cohort using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

BACKGROUND: To determine the effect of age on the thickness of individual retinal and choroidal vascular layers in the macula in an ophthalmologically healthy Chinese cohort by using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). METHODS: In all, 525 health eyes of 525 subjects were examined with SD-OCT. The instrument automatically obtained the regional retinal thickness of 8 layers. Subfoveal choroidal vascular layers' thickness was measured using enhanced depth imaging mode. The correlation of age with layer thickness measurements was determined. RESULTS: No age-associated variation was found on retinal thickness (RT) in the fovea; however, the foveal thickness of outer nuclear layer (ONL), retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and vascular sublayers of the choroid decreased significantly with aging in this area (P < 0.05, respectively). Significant age-related reduction was seen in RT in the pericentral and peripheral rings (P < 0.05, respectively). The significant variation in thinning of the ganglion cell layer, inner plexiform layer, and ONL with aging is thought to be the main determinant of these results (P < 0.05, respectively). On the contrary, the RPE layout showed age-related thickening (P < 0.05, respectively) in the pericentral and peripheral regions. CONCLUSIONS: The thickness of individual layers of the macula may be determinants of the age-related variations observed in the ophthalmologically healthy Chinese cohort, as assessed by SD-OCT examination.

More efficient parameter estimates for factor analysis of ordinal variables by ridge generalized least squares.

Data in psychology are often collected using Likert-type scales, and it has been shown that factor analysis of Likert-type data is better performed on the polychoric correlation matrix than on the product-moment covariance matrix, especially when the distributions of the observed variables are skewed. In theory, factor analysis of the polychoric correlation matrix is best conducted using generalized least squares with an asymptotically correct weight matrix (AGLS). However, simulation studies showed that both least squares (LS) and diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) perform better than AGLS, and thus LS or DWLS is routinely used in practice. In either LS or DWLS, the associations among the polychoric correlation coefficients are completely ignored. To mend such a gap between statistical theory and empirical work, this paper proposes new methods, called ridge GLS, for factor analysis of ordinal data. Monte Carlo results show that, for a wide range of sample sizes, ridge GLS methods yield uniformly more accurate parameter estimates than existing methods (LS, DWLS, AGLS). A real-data example indicates that estimates by ridge GLS are 9-20% more efficient than those by existing methods. Rescaled and adjusted test statistics as well as sandwich-type standard errors following the ridge GLS methods also perform reasonably well.

Subchronic Immunotoxicity Assessment of Genetically Modified Virus-Resistant Papaya in Rats.

Papaya is an important fruit that provides a variety of vitamins with nutritional value and also holds some pharmacological properties, including immunomodulation. Genetically modified (GM) papaya plants resistant to Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) infection have been generated by cloning the coat protein gene of the PRSV which can be used as a valuable strategy to fight PRSV infection and to increase papaya production. In order to assess the safety of GM papaya as a food, this subchronic study was conducted to assess the immunomodulatory responses of the GM papaya line 823-2210, when compared with its parent plant of non-GM papaya, Tainung-2 (TN-2), in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Both non-GM and GM 823-2210 papaya fruits at low (1 g/kg bw) and high (2 g/kg bw) dosages were administered via daily oral gavage to male and female rats consecutively for 90 days. Immunophenotyping, mitogen-induced splenic cell proliferation, antigen-specific antibody response, and histopathology of the spleen and thymus were evaluated at the end of the experiment. Results of immunotoxicity assays revealed no consistent difference between rats fed for 90 days with GM 823-2210 papaya fruits, as opposed to those fed non-GM TN-2 papaya fruits, suggesting that with regard to immunomodulatory responses, GM 823-2210 papaya fruits maintain substantial equivalence to fruits of their non-GM TN-2 parent.

Brain-Region-Specific Organoids Using Mini-bioreactors for Modeling ZIKV Exposure.

Cerebral organoids, three-dimensional cultures that model organogenesis, provide a new platform to investigate human brain development. High cost, variability, and tissue heterogeneity limit their broad applications. Here, we developed a miniaturized spinning bioreactor (SpinΩ) to generate forebrain-specific organoids from human iPSCs. These organoids recapitulate key features of human cortical development, including progenitor zone organization, neurogenesis, gene expression, and, notably, a distinct human-specific outer radial glia cell layer. We also developed protocols for midbrain and hypothalamic organoids. Finally, we employed the forebrain organoid platform to model Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure. Quantitative analyses revealed preferential, productive infection of neural progenitors with either African or Asian ZIKV strains. ZIKV infection leads to increased cell death and reduced proliferation, resulting in decreased neuronal cell-layer volume resembling microcephaly. Together, our brain-region-specific organoids and SpinΩ provide an accessible and versatile platform for modeling human brain development and disease and for compound testing, including potential ZIKV antiviral drugs.

Health-related quality of life among children with adenoid hypertrophy in Xi'an, China.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in 5-7-year-old children diagnosed with adenoid hypertrophy and the impact of adenoid hypertrophy on affected families. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional case-control study evaluating 5-7-year-old children with adenoid hypertrophy (n=195), 5-7-year-old healthy children (n=156), and associated caregivers (parents and/or grandparents). A Chinese version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scale was used to assess childhood HRQOL, and a Chinese version of the Family Impact Module (FIM) was used to assess the impact of adenoid hypertrophy on family members. HRQOL scores were compared between the children with adenoid hypertrophy and healthy children. In addition, a multiple step-wise regression with demographic variables of children and their caregivers, family economic status, and caregiver's HRQOL as independent variables were referenced to determine the factors that may influence HRQOL in children with adenoid hypertrophy. RESULTS: Children with adenoid hypertrophy showed significantly lower physical, emotional, social, and school functioning scores than healthy children (p<0.001 in all these dimensions). Caregivers for children with adenoid hypertrophy also scored significantly lower than caregivers for healthy children on physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and communication functioning (p<0.001 in all these dimensions). Caregivers for adenoid hypertrophy-affected children also exhibited significantly higher levels of worry than healthy children (p<0.001). Multivariate analyses demonstrated that children's age, children's relation with caregivers, caregiver's educational level, caregiver's own HRQOL, and the size of adenoid may all influence the HRQOL in children with adenoid hypertrophy (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The current data suggested that adenoid hypertrophy were associated with lower HRQOL in both children and their caregivers, and may negatively influence family functioning. In addition, caregivers' social characteristics may also significantly affect the HRQOL in children with adenoid hypertrophy.

Information matrices and standard errors for MLEs of item parameters in IRT.

The paper clarifies the relationship among several information matrices for the maximum likelihood estimates (MLEs) of item parameters. It shows that the process of calculating the observed information matrix also generates a related matrix that is the middle piece of a sandwich-type covariance matrix. Monte Carlo results indicate that standard errors (SEs) based on the observed information matrix are robust to many, but not all, conditions of model/distribution misspecifications. SEs based on the sandwich-type covariance matrix perform most consistently across conditions. Results also suggest that SEs based on other matrices are either not consistent or perform not as robust as those based on the sandwich-type covariance matrix or the observed information matrix.

Economic burden of routine hematologic tests and intensive care unit observation for elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

BACKGROUND: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion is one of the most common surgical interventions performed by spine surgeons. As efforts are made to control healthcare spending because of the limited or capped resources offered by the National Health Insurance, surgeons are faced with the challenge of offering high-level patient care while minimizing associated healthcare expenditures. Routine ordering of postoperative hematologic tests and observational intensive care unit (ICU) stay might be areas of potential cost containment. This study was designed to determine the necessity of routine postoperative hematologic tests and ICU stay for patients undergoing elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and to investigate whether the elimination of unnecessary postoperative laboratory blood studies and ICU stay inhibits patient care. METHODS: The necessity for postoperative blood tests was determined if there were needs for a postoperative blood transfusion and hospital readmission within 1 month after surgery. The necessity for postoperative ICU observation was decided if immediate surgical intervention was required when any kind of complications occurred during the ICU stay. RESULTS: There were 168 patients collected in the study. Among them, all had routine preoperative and postoperative blood tests and were transferred to ICU for observation. No need for blood transfusion was observed, and no patient required immediate surgical intervention when the complications occurred during the ICU stay. CONCLUSION: Cost savings per admission amounted to approximately 10% of the hospitalization cost by the elimination of unnecessary postoperative routine laboratory blood studies and observational ICU stay without waiving patient care in the current volatile, cost-conscious healthcare environment in Taiwan.

Leptin signaling is required for leucine deprivation-enhanced energy expenditure.

Leptin signaling in the hypothalamus is crucial in energy homeostasis. We have previously shown that dietary deprivation of the essential amino acid leucine in mice stimulates fat loss by increasing energy expenditure. The involvement of leptin signaling in this regulation, however, has not been reported. Here, we show that leucine deprivation promotes leptin signaling in mice maintained on an otherwise normal diet and restores leptin responses in mice maintained on a high fat diet, a regimen known to induce leptin resistance. In addition, we found that leucine deprivation stimulated energy expenditure, and fat loss was largely blocked in db/db mice homozygous for a mutation in leptin receptor and a knock-in mouse line Y3F with abrogation of leptin receptor Tyr(1138)-mediated signal transducer and activator transcript 3 signaling. Overall, our studies describe a novel link between hypothalamic leptin signaling and stimulation of energy expenditure under leucine deprivation.

Assessment of the effects of Radix bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix bupleuri on cytochrome 450 activity by a six-drug cocktail approach.

AIM: To assess the effects of Radix Bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri on cytochrome 450 activity of rats. METHODS: Six probe drugs (caffeine, midazolam, dextromethorphan, tolbutamide, omeprazole, chlorzoxazone) were simultaneously given to rats after different dosing of Radix Bupleuri or vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri for seven days. The plasma concentrations of the six probes were measured by high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and their corresponding pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. RESULTS: The AUC and T1/2 of midazolam, dextromethorphan and chlorzoxazone decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in rats after different dosing of Radix Bupleuri or vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri for seven days. Treatment of Radix Bupleuri decreased T1/2 and AUC of omeprazole, but treatment of vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri with normal dose did not change the pharmacokinetics of omeprazole. The pharmacokinetics of tolbutamide in all vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri-treated rats showed no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) from that of controlled rats, however, treatment of Radix Bupleuri decreased tolbutamide T1/2. The pharmacokinetics of caffeine in all Radix Bupleuri or vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri-treated rats showed no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) from that of controlled rats. CONCLUSION: The Radix Bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri have different effects on the CYP2C9 and CYP2C19. Radix Bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri have strong induction effects on the CYP2E1, CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, however, have no impact on CYP1A2. The reason of different therapeutic effects of Radix Bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri extract may be the different effects of Radix Bupleuri and vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri on the CYP2C9 and CYP2C19.