Increasing breadth of the frontal lobe but decreasing height of the human brain between two Chinese samples from a Neolithic site and from living humans.

Morphological observation and measurements of endocasts have played a vital role in research on the evolution of the human brain. However, endocasts have never been used to investigate how the human brain has evolved since the Neolithic period. We investigated the evolution of the human brain during the Holocene by comparing virtual endocasts from Beiqian site (a Neolithic Chinese site) and a sample of Chinese modern-day humans. Standardized measurements and indices were taken to provide quantification of the overall endocast shape, including the length, breadth, height, frontal breadth, and the ratio of frontal breadth to breadth, as well as the cranial capacity. We found that the height of the endocasts and cranial capacity have decreased between our two samples, whereas the frontal breadth and sexual dimorphism have increased. We argue that these changes can be caused by random genetic mutation and epigenetic change in response to changes in the environment.

[Reevaluation on adverse reaction monitoring and safety of proprietary Chinese medicines of Chongqing from 2005 to 2011].

OBJECTIVE: To systematically summarize the monitoring over adverse reactions of proprietary Chinese medicines, in order to provide reference for safe clinical medication. METHOD: By using Excel and SPSS 17.0 were adopted for summarizing ADR monitoring over Chinese patent medicines and comparatively evaluating the non-proprietary Chinese medicines. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: There were significant differences in data of different state reports of proprietary Chinese medicines and non-proprietary Chinese medicines (P<0.05). The ratio between the serious ADR of proprietary Chinese medicines and the safety risk of non-proprietary Chinese medicines was 1.057 (95% CI:0.915, 1. 221), suggesting that the safety of proprietary Chinese medicines was not higher than the non-proprietary Chinese; as such medicines as Qingkailing, Xuesaitong and Xiangdan have ranked top five for years in terms of ADR and serious ADR, the drug administration and hygiene system shall take more effective control measures for strengthening the monitoring over rational use of drugs; clinical manifestations of severe ADR of proprietary Chinese medicines were dominated by allergic shock, which could not be effectively prevented and monitored by such means as skin test, therefore, pre-clinical treatment risk-benefit evaluation shall be improved.