[Study on Ranunculaceae herbal decoction pieces using X-ray diffraction].

The powder X-ray diffraction(PXRD) technique was used to investigate fourteen kinds of Ranunculaceae herbal decoction pieces(RHDP) recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia and to explore a novel PXRD quality control method for RHDP. The results indicated that only three RHDP-Paeoniae Radix Alba, Paeoniae Radix Rubra, and Moutan Cortex, contained calcium oxalate monodydrate(COM), whereas no COM existed in other eleven kinds of RHDP. The difference in PXRD for Paeoniae Radix Alba and Paeoniae Radix Rubra from different growing areas were investigated. The quantitative analysis method for COM was discussed by considering the water-boiling manufacturing process of herbal decoction pieces. The water-boiling experiments revealed that the PXRD peaks from COM crystals in RHDP were enhanced significantly after boiling. Paeoniae Radix Alba, Paeoniae Radix Rubra, Moutan Cortex, Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata, Aconiti Radix, Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radix, and Anemone Raddeanae Rhizoma exhibited a similar series of broader peaks in the 2θ region of 15° to 35°, whose origins were discussed on the basis of chemical constituents RHDP reported by other researchers. These diffraction broader peaks most likely originated from periodic orientation of benzene ring in organic molecular crystals of aconitine-and paeonolum-based alkaloids and glycosides chemical constituents, subsequently, possibly from some other organic constituents. The PXRD technique can be used to rapidly identify Cimicifuga heracleifolia with an amorphous dispersion peak and C. dahurica with a sharp-peak feature. Climatidis Radix et Rhizoma exhibited a series of sharp PXRD peaks. The PXRD method can provide a valuable quality control method for RHDP.

Polyethyleneimine capped bimetallic Au/Pt nanoclusters are a viable fluorescent probe for specific recognition of chlortetracycline among other tetracycline antibiotics.

A highly selective method has been developed for the fluorometric determination of chlortetracycline (CTC) among other tetracycline antibiotics (TCs). It is making use of fluorescent Au/Pt nanoclusters (NCs) capped with polyethyleneimine (Au/PtNCs@PEI). The nanoprobe, with a green emission peaking at 512 nm, was synthesized by an environmentally friendly hydrothermal method. The capped NCs have a large Stokes shift (∼150 nm), are insensitive to extreme pH values and high ionic strength, and are excellently photostable under UV irradiation. In the presence of CTC, the fluorescence of the capped NCs is quenched due to aggregation. The effect is also found for tetracycline, oxytetracycline and doxycycline. This shows that sensitive but non-selective detection of such TCs is possible. However, CTC is specifically complexed by Al(III) ions, and this generates a strong fluorescence peaking at 520 nm even though the fluorescence of the capped NCs is fully quenched. Obviously, the effects are caused by CTC only, and this enables CTC to be specifically recognized by an "on-off-on" strategy. Fluorescence increases linearly in the 0.5 to 10 µM CTC concentration range, and the limit of detection is 0.35 µM. The method was successfully applied to the determination of CTC in (spiked) milk, and the recoveries suggest that this fluorescent probe is an effective tool for detecting CTC in foodstuff. Graphical abstract Schematic illustration and photographic images of the luminescence quenching response of Au/Pt nanoclusters (Au/PtNCs) toward chlortetracycline (CTC) (from on to off), and then the recovery upon Al3+ addition (from off to on).

HIV/AIDS Curability Study, Different Approaches and Drug Combination.

AIM: HIV infection is currently an incurable disease characterized by life-long drug utility. Its incurable causality and mechanism are still unknown to us. METHODS: To overcome this therapeutic setback, some breakthroughs should be made by utilizing different approaches. How to plan some experimental and clinical novelty for HIV curability is a modern challenge. In this article, new ideas and approaches for global HIV/AIDS therapeutic strategies are proposed and represented by scientific insights. RESULTS: Pharmaceutical characteristics, herbal medicine, novel drug targets, cutting-edge biotherapy, drug combination, animal modalities, and immune-stimuli for HIV latency, as well as clearance, are highlighted. DISCUSSION: To elucidate our understanding of curative treatment for HIV/AIDS, many new pathological discoveries, expansion, technical advances, and potential drug targets are constructed. After the discovery of novel pathogenesis and therapeutic evolution, HIV/AIDS therapeutic curability may become achievable and a reality. CONCLUSION: Transformation from animal model investigation to widespread therapies for larger volume of human population is a necessity in modern medicine. In this infectious treatment scenario, major breakthroughs in medicine and drug development are anticipated.

Covid-19 Study, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Transition.

INTRODUCTION: The outbreak of coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2, COVID-19, SARS-Co-2) in Wuhan, China occurred three years ago. However, the healthcare state and legislature for Covid-19 varied greatly worldwide. AIMS: After three years, the social life of most countries worldwide is gradually back to normal. Diagnosis and therapeutics worldwide are formalized now. Improvement of the knowledge about this devastating disease will shed new light on its management and spawn the development of new counter measures. Due to the differences in socioeconomic conditions and policies worldwide, the diagnostic and therapeutic transition should be established. METHODS: The schedules and techniques of vaccines, drugs, or other therapeutic strategies could be formalized in the future. The origin and hidden nature of Covid-19 biology (relationship between viral strain and drug targeting) should be further investigated. Knowledge and opinion breakthroughs may significantly heighten the quality of preventive and therapeutic strategies against Covid-19. RESULTS: To further stabilize the global situation, the issues of viral spread and induced mortality should be emphasized. Existing animal models, pathophysiological knowledge, and therapeutics for different infected patients played vital roles. The diagnostic widening, variants of COVID, and therapeutic selection worldwide totally solve the complex outcomes and promote the curability for infected patients. DISCUSSION: Different diagnostic platforms can reach different therapeutic selections, responses, and benefits in the clinic. It will provide advanced diagnostic dimensions, therapeutic paradigms, and drug selection strategies for the purpose of the greatest benefiting and recoveries of Covid-19 patients. CONCLUSION: To speed up the global fight against Covid-19, biomedical knowledge, prophylactic vaccines, and therapeutic paradigms should be updated in dynamic states.

Drug Sensitivity Testing for Cancer Therapy, Technique Analysis and Trends.

The techniques and qualities of drug sensitivity testing (DST) for anticancer treatment have grown rapidly in the past two decades worldwide. Much of DST progress came from advanced systems of technical versatility (faster, highly-throughput, highly-sensitive, and smaller in tumor quantity). As the earliest drug selective system, biomedical knowledge and technical advances for DST are mutually supported. More importantly, many pharmacological controversies are resolved by these technical advances. With this technical stride, the clinical landscape of DST entered into a new phase (>500 samples per testing and extremely low quantity of tumor cells). As a forerunner of the drug selection system, DST awaits a new version that can adapt to complicated therapeutic situations and diverse tumor categories in the clinic. By upholding this goal of pathogenic and therapeutic diversity, DST could eventually cure more cancer patients by establishing high-quality drug selection systems. To smoothen DST development, there is a need to increase the understanding of cancer biology, pathology and pharmacology (cancer heterogeneity, plasticity, metastasis and drug resistance) with well-informative parameters before chemotherapy. In this article, medicinal and technical insights into DST are especially highlighted.

WITHDRAWN: Covid-19 Study, Pathology and Therapeutics

The article has been withdrawn at the request of the editor of the journal Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets.Bentham Science apologizes to the readers of the journal for any inconvenience this may have caused.The Bentham Editorial Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://benthamscience.com/editorial-policies-main.php Bentham Science Disclaimer: It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Furthermore, any data, illustration, structure or table that has been published elsewhere must be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must be obtained. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for publication the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors, if plagiarism or fabricated information is discovered. By submitting a manuscript the authors agree that the copyright of their article is transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication.

Drug Sensitivity Testing for Cancer Therapy, Key Areas.

AIMS: Cancer is a high-mortality disease (9.6 million deaths in 2018 worldwide). Given various anticancer drugs, drug selection plays a key role in patient survival in clinical trials. METHODS: Drug Sensitivity Testing (DST), one of the leading drug selective systems, was widely practiced for therapeutic promotion in the clinic. Notably, DSTs assist in drug selection that benefits drug responses against cancer from 20-22% to 30-35% over the past two decades. The relationship between drug resistance in vitro and drug treatment benefits was associated with different tumor origins and subtypes. Medical theory and underlying DST mechanisms remain poorly understood until now. The study of the clinical scenario, sustainability and financial support for mechanism and technical promotions is indispensable. RESULTS: Despite the great technical advance, therapeutic prediction and drug selection by DST needs to be miniature, versatility and cost-effective in the clinic. Multi-parameters and automation of DST should be a future trend. Advanced biomedical knowledge and clinical approaches to translating oncologic profiles into drug selection were the main focuses of DST developments. With a great technical stride, the clinical architecture of the DST platform was entering higher levels (drug response testing at any stage of cancer patients and miniaturization of tumor samples). DISCUSSION: The cancer biology and pharmacology for drug selection mutually benefit the clinic. New proposals to reveal more therapeutic information and drug response prediction at genetic, molecular and omics levels should be estimated overall. CONCLUSION: By upholding this goal of non-invasive, versatility and automation, DST could save the life of several thousand annually worldwide. In this article, new insights into DST novelty and development are highlighted.

Different Surface Appearances Caused by Unbalanced Mn2+ Accumulation in Gallstones Consisting of Cholesterol and CaCO3 Obtained from a Patient After Cholecystectomy.

Gallstones were examined for 58 patients in Jilin, Jilin. It was found that gallstones from only one who suffered from cholecystectomy were composed of 20 spheroidal stones and they rarely exhibited three different types of surface appearances. Six representative powder samples were analyzed for gallstones compositions and Mn2+ using X-ray diffraction (XRD)/Infrared (IR) and electron spin resonance (ESR), respectively. The results suggested that all gallstones from this patient were identified by XRD to be gallstones consisting mainly of cholesterol and CaCO3 (GCCC). They rarely exhibited three different kinds of surface appearances corresponding to different concentration of trace Mn2+ in calcite (CMn2+/CCal): 18 dark/light brown spheres with smooth surfaces and CMn2+/CCal = 0-6 µg/g/%, a yellowish-brown huge sphere with a rougher surface and CMn2+/CCal = 30 µg/g/%, and an ashy sphere composed of tens of microspheres with the roughest surface and CMn2+/CCal = 60 µg/g/%. The difference in surface appearance showed significant association with CMn2+/CCal, and its increase made the gallstone's surface change from smooth to rough and to fade in color. The unbalanced and competitive Mn2+ accumulation could occur occasionally in individual stones owing to different affinities to Mn2+, resulting in the formation of a huge stone and an ashy sphere. These two aberrations caused by higher CMn2+/CCal played an important role in suppressing the crystalline growth of the majority of dark/light brown spheres. GCCC from a patient might have a prominent Mn2+ partitioning feature corresponding to different surface appearances.

Preliminary study on the correlation between the trace Mn2+ and the calcite polymorph in gallstones containing calcium carbonate from the northeast China via electron spin resonance.

Gallstones containing calcium carbonate (GCCC) from the northeast China were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and electron spin resonance (ESR). The sextet signal arising from the allowed transitions of the trace Mn2+ ions in GCCC was found to be ESR-detectable and strong. The XRD technique revealed the crystal habit of calcite in GCCC. Of the three polymorphs of calcium carbonate, no calcite was present as a solitary crystallization form, accompanied by aragonite or vaterite or both. The sextet ESR signal and the (104) main XRD peak at 2θ = ∼29.4° were employed as two probes to explore the relationship between trace Mn2+ and calcite. The Mn content can be considered as an indicator of the amount of calcite in GCCC because of the existence of a correlation between Mn2+ and calcite. The correlation between Mn2+ and calcite, the relation between the levels of Mn2+ and the type of gallstones, the structural preference of Mn2+ to the calcite polymorph, and the influence of dietary habits on calcite in calcium carbonate gallstones are discussed.

RETRACTED: Human Suicide, Modern Diagnosis Assistance and Magic Bullet Discovery

The article entitled "Human Suicide, Modern Diagnosis Assistance and Magic Bullet Discovery", by Da-Yong Lu, Peng- Peng Zhu, Hong-Ying Wu, Nagendra Sastry Yarla, Bin Xu, Jian Ding, Ajit Varki and Ting-Ren Lu, has been retracted on the request of the co-authors, Dr. Ajit Varki, Dr. Nagendra Sastry Yarla and Dr. Jian Ding available at: Cent Nerv Syst Agents Med Chem 2019; 19(1): 15-23. http://www.eurekaselect.com/169003/article.The Corresponding Author Dr. Da-Yong Lu has included the names of the co-authors, Dr. Ajit Varki, Dr. Nagendra Sastry Yarla and Dr. Jian Ding without their consent and the manuscript has been published in the journal, Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (CNSAMC). Kindly see Bentham Science Policy on Article retraction at the link given below:(https://benthamscience.com/journals/central-nervous-system-agents-in-medicinal-chemistry/author-guidelines/)Submission of a manuscript to the respective journals implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the Copyright Letter or the Terms and Conditions. As such, this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. Bentham Science Publishers takes a very strong view on this matter and apologizes to the readers of the journal for any inconvenience this may cause.

Ebola Therapeutic Study and Future Directions.

The constant Ebola epidemic outbreaks in Africa arisen in waves of panic worldwide. There is a high mortality rate (30-70%) among the Ebola-infected people in virus- stricken areas. Despite these horrors, the medical capabilities against this deadly viral disease were provided by limited therapeutic agents/options. As a result, several patented agents, biotherapies or prophylactic/therapeutic vaccines need to be reviving into the global markets-including patents of small molecular chemicals, short sequences or oligomers of DNA/RNA, linkages of chemicals with bio-molecules, herbal medicine and so on. In addition, the possible mechanisms of action of these therapeutic options are underway. To promote Ebola biomedical study, the multiple characters of Ebola infections-its origin, pathologic progress, genomic changes, therapeutic context and economic considerations are outlined in this review. Finally, a great difference can be expected after these types of efforts.

Experimental study of growth kinetics of CO2 hydrates and multiphase flow properties of slurries in high pressure flow systems.

The formation and accumulation of hydrates in high pressure oil and gas pipelines bring great risks to field development and deep-water transportation. In this paper, a high pressure flow loop equipped with visual window was used to study the growth process of hydrates in a pipe flow system and slurry flow characteristics. Deionized water, industrial white oil and CO2 were selected as the experiment medium. A series of experiments with different initial pressures (2.5-3 MPa), liquid loads (7-9 L), flow rates (25-35 kg min-1) and water cuts (60-100%) were designed and carried out. Specifically, hydrate formation and slurry flow characteristics in two different systems, pure water and oil-water emulsion system, were compared. Both of the systems experienced an induction stage, slurry flow stage and followed by a plugging stage. Although hydrate growth gradually ceased in the slurry flow stage, plugging still occurred due to the continuous agglomeration of hydrates. Visual observation showed that there were obvious stratification of the oil-water emulsion systems at the later time of slurry flow stage, which directly resulted in pipe blockage. The hydrate induction time of the flow systems gradually decreased with the increasing initial pressure, initial flow rate and water content. And the induction time tended to decrease first and then slowly increase with the increasing liquid loading. For emulsion systems, the apparent viscosity and friction coefficient of the hydrate slurry increased with the increasing water content, indicating that there were higher plugging risks compared to the pure water systems. Moreover, the results of sensitivity analysis showed that the water content was the main factor affecting the hydrate induction time, followed by the influence of liquid carrying capacity and flow rate, and the initial pressure had the least influence on the induction time. Conclusions obtained in this paper can provide some reference not only for the prevention and management of hydrates in pipelines, but also for the application of CO2 hydrate as a refrigerant.

Human Suicide Risk and Treatment Study.

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is still a major event of human mortality worldwide. Yet human suicide prediction, prevention and therapeutic systems at this moment are generally ineffective in the clinic. No diagnostic system is reliable for significantly suicidal prevention and mortality reduction. As a result, human suicide etiopathologic investigation (especially at genetic/molecular levels in the clinical settings) is quite necessary. In order to boost human suicide researches, emerging human suicide diagnostic/treatment study will be transformed from clinical symptom observations into new generations of candidate drug targets and therapeutics. To achieve this goal, associations between suicidal etiopathologic identification, genetic/bioinformatics-based diagnostics and putative drug targets must be exploited than ever before. After all, the interaction and relationships between environmental/ genetic/molecular clues and overall patient's risk prediction (environmental influences and different therapeutic targets/types) should be found out. CONCLUSION: In the future, effective clinical suicide prediction, prevention and therapeutic systems can be established via scientific expeditions and causality discovery.

HIV/AIDS Curable Study: New Forms of Therapeutic Trinity.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: AIDS (acquired immune deficient syndrome), a deadly human infectious disease is caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses) infection. Patient's mortality was eventually reduced to one-fourth by combined chemotherapy (usually 3 chemical drugs simultaneously) than earlier HIV/AIDS treatments (single drug or vaccine) in the clinic. RESULTS: Combined treatments against HIV/AIDS are still incurable for all patients despite a high rate of patient's survival. Basic viral pathological study and advancing drug development systems for curable medications are indispensable nowadays and in the future. CONCLUSION: Up to date, therapeutic trinity (combined therapy) against HIV/AIDS is generally among chemical drugs. In this article, several forms of other therapeutic attempts for effectively curing efforts against HIV/AIDS are proposed-including the development of next generation therapeutic HIV vaccines and schedules, new categories of bio-therapy, different pathways of immune-modulation, herbal medicines in general (allopathic, Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicines), high quality of physical exercises, and especially therapeutic combinations guided by latest medical discovery and principles (new forms of therapeutic trinity against HIV-induced pathogenesis and human mortality).

HAART in HIV/AIDS Treatments: Future Trends.

AIDS (acquired immune deficient syndrome) is a deadly human viral infectious disease caused by HIV (human immune-deficient virus) infection. Almost every AIDS patient losses his/her life before mid 1990s. AIDS was once the 1st disease killer in US (1993). After one decade hard work, antiviral drug cocktails-high active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) have been invented for almost all HIV infection treatments. Due to the invention of HAART, 80-90% HIV/AIDS patients still effectively response to HAART for deadly AIDS episode controls and life saving. Yet, this type of HIV therapeutics is incurable. HIV/AIDS patients need to take HAART medications regularly and even life-long. To counteract this therapeutic drawback, more revolutionary efforts (different angles of therapeutic modes/attempts) are urgently needed. In this article, the major progresses and drawbacks of HIV/AIDS chemotherapy (HAART) to HIV/AIDS patients have been discussed. Future trends (updating pathogenesis study, next generations of drug developments, new drug target discovery, different scientific disciplinary and so on) are highlighted.

Sequencing the whole genome of infected human cells obtained from diseased patients--a proposed strategy for understanding and overcoming AIDS or other deadest virus-infected diseases.

As the worry and pandemic about deadest virus such as AIDS and bird flu are intensified, eradical treatments for these virus-infected diseases are in high demand. However we currently know little about the virus involvement in human cells, which results poor therapeutic outcome. We propose that these viruses may penetrate into human genome in diseased cells that may finally result resistance to present applicable therapeutic options. Here proposes a strategy--sequence the whole genome (chromosomal as well as other genetic systems) of infected human cells obtained from diseased patients. This might help us to know greatly more about the consequences of virus infection and achieve biotherapy of specifically targeted in future.

Treatment of solid tumors and metastases by fibrinogen-targeted anticancer drug therapy.

The accumulation of fibrin/fibrinogen and other coagulation factors in and around solid tumors and metastatic foci has been recognized for a century as an aspect of cancer pathology. On this basis, anticoagulants and fibrinolytic agents have been deployed as adjuvant anticancer therapies, but they have proved clinically useful for only a small proportion of tumors and they only control the functions of the coagulant components. Overuse or long-term application of anticoagulants and fibrinolytic agents often lead to undesirable side-effects. Here, we propose that anticancer drugs that act by different mechanisms can inhibit tumor-associated coagulation, and it may be possible to develop drugs that specifically targeting tumor-related coagulation, have specific cytotoxic effects on tumor and metastatic cells. We provide laboratory and clinical evidence supporting the hypothesis and offer proposals for future applications.

Photoluminescence associated with the site occupations of Ho3+ ions in BaTiO3.

A nominal (Ba1-x Ho x )Ti1-x/4O3 (x = 0.01) (BHTH) ceramic with a single-phase tetragonal structure was prepared at 1400 °C using the solid-state reaction method. The analysis on the defect chemistry revealed that the real formula of BHTH is (Ba1-x Ho3x/4)(Ti1-x/4Ho x/4)O3 with Ba vacancies via electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Photoluminescence (PL) was investigated on the basis of excitation with different wavelength lasers. The results indicated that under 488-nm excitation, PL and Raman scattering can occur simultaneously as two distinct optical processes for BHTH ceramic powders, and the strongest PL band at 564 nm was discovered and verified to originate from the 5G6/5F1 → 5I7 transition of Ho3+ ions on the Ti sites in the BaTiO3 lattice. Upon 532- and 638-nm excitations, three PL bands of 5F4/5S2 → 5I8, 5F5 → 5I8, and 5F4/5S2 → 5I7 transitions are attributed to the contributions from Ho3+ ions on the Ba sites. The common Raman spectrum of BaTiO3 can be observed without PL disturbance using 785-nm excitation wavelength. The PL effect may provide a probe for the site occupations of Ho3+ ions in widely-used BaTiO3 dielectric ceramics co-doped with Ho3+ and other dopants.

Cancer Bioinformatics for Updating Anticancer Drug Developments and Personalized Therapeutics.

BACKGROUND: Last two to three decades, this world witnesses a rapid progress of biomarkers and bioinformatics technologies. Cancer bioinformatics is one of such important omics branches for experimental/clinical studies and applications. METHODS: Same as other biological techniques or systems, bioinformatics techniques will be widely used. But they are presently not omni-potent. Despite great popularity and improvements, cancer bioinformatics has its own limitations and shortcomings at this stage of technical advancements. RESULTS: This article will offer a panorama of bioinformatics in cancer researches and clinical therapeutic applications-possible advantages and limitations relating to cancer therapeutics. A lot of beneficial capabilities and outcomes have been described. As a result, a successful new era for cancer bioinformatics is waiting for us if we can adhere on scientific studies of cancer bioinformatics in malignant- origin mining, medical verifications and clinical diagnostic applications. CONCLUSION: Cancer bioinformatics gave a great significance in disease diagnosis and therapeutic predictions. Many creative ideas and future perspectives are highlighted.

Drug Combination in Clinical Cancer Treatments.

AIM: The modality of anticancer drug combinations needs to be renovated from empirical into technical-supportive systems. METHODS: To challenge past therapeutic routines, the new landscape may be established. Among the different areas of anticancer drug combination study, research in the fields of medical study is the most important one-including disciplinary of therapeutics in different cancer stages, modern genetic/ molecular diagnostics, cancer bioinformatics, traditional Chinese medicine, mathematical data analysis, therapeutic toxicity monitor, personalized cancer medicine and so on. DISCUSSION: This article addresses these types of cancer therapeutic management systems for clinical anticancer drug combination utilities. CONCLUSION: Future cancer drug combinational studies and clinical optimums must be implemented.