Authentication of Chinese Materia Medica decoction dregs. Part II: comparison before and after decoction of four Chinese Materia Medica that mainly comprise storage tissue.

Authentication of Chinese Materia Medica (CMM) decoction dregs is important for ensuring the efficacy and safety of CMM when they are used in decoction. If someone got worse or poisoned after taking a decoction while the formula is appropriate, the authentication of CMM dregs is the effective method to explore the reasons. Therefore, a systematic study on the authentication of CMM dregs was carried out. In this study, two pairs of easily confused CMM dregs, Fenge (Puerariae Thomsonii Radix) and Shanyao (Dioscoreae Rhizoma), Dihuang (Rehmanniae Radix) and Huangjing (Polygonati Rhizoma), which mostly comprise storage tissues, were investigated by comparing the morphological and microscopic characteristics. Fenge and Shanyao contain abundant starch granules. After decoction their dregs were hard, nonstarchy and horn-like. Fully gelatinized starch granules were found in the powder of Fenge dregs while incompletely gelatinized starch granules were occasionally found in the Shanyao dregs. In contrast, Dihuang and Huangjing contain water-soluble sugars. After decoction, their dregs were hard and brittle. Their parenchymatous cells were shrunken and unknown crystals were found under microscope. Hence, the morphological and microscopic characteristics of CMM before and after decoction were different, and different changes in the CMM dregs can be illustrated by the different nature of their ergastic substance. These differences could be used to authenticate CMM dregs.

Transfer of the effect of potentized mercuric chloride on á-amylase fromone test tube to another through capillary water

Objective: In a series of experiments we showed that treatment of a plant or animal with a dilutedand agitated substance might affect other plants or animals connected to the former by the capillarywater in cotton threads. The aim of the present study was to establish whether drug effect could betransferred in a cell-free medium.Design: Two test tubes, each containing 1 ml of 1% starch solution and 1 ml of á-amylase, wereconnected by means wet cotton threads encased in a polythene tube. One of the tubes alsocontained Mercurius corrosivus (Merc-c) 30 cH and the other ethanol solution (control). After 15min, the enzyme activity was stopped with DNSA, and the breakdown product of starch, maltose,was estimated. A third, separate tube contained all the tested materials except for Merc-c and thecontrol solution. In a second experiment two tubes, one containing 1,200 ppm and the other 200ppm of maltose, were similarly connected over 15 min. Both experiments were repeated 20 times.Results: In the first experiment, the amount of maltose was similar in both connected tubes, but itwas significantly lower in the unconnected tube. In the second experiment, maltose concentrationin both tubes remained unchanged.Conclusion: The information of Merc-c 30 cH was effectively transferred through capillary waterbetween two tubes in cell-free medium. This effect was not due to physical transfer of either solventor solutes. Water seems to the most probable carrier of information in diluted and agitatedsolutions.(AU)

Transfer of the effect of potentized mercuric chloride on á-amylase fromone test tube to another through capillary water

In a series of experiments we showed that treatment of a plant or animal with a dilutedand agitated substance might affect other plants or animals connected to the former by the capillarywater in cotton threads. The aim of the present study was to establish whether drug effect could betransferred in a cell-free medium.Design: Two test tubes, each containing 1 ml of 1% starch solution and 1 ml of á-amylase, wereconnected by means wet cotton threads encased in a polythene tube. One of the tubes alsocontained Mercurius corrosivus (Merc-c) 30 cH and the other ethanol solution (control). After 15min, the enzyme activity was stopped with DNSA, and the breakdown product of starch, maltose,was estimated. A third, separate tube contained all the tested materials except for Merc-c and thecontrol solution. In a second experiment two tubes, one containing 1,200 ppm and the other 200ppm of maltose, were similarly connected over 15 min. Both experiments were repeated 20 times.Results: In the first experiment, the amount of maltose was similar in both connected tubes, but itwas significantly lower in the unconnected tube. In the second experiment, maltose concentrationin both tubes remained unchanged.Conclusion: The information of Merc-c 30 cH was effectively transferred through capillary waterbetween two tubes in cell-free medium. This effect was not due to physical transfer of either solventor solutes. Water seems to the most probable carrier of information in diluted and agitatedsolutions...

A novel and effective multistage classification system for microscopic starch grain images.

This article presents a novel and effective multistage system for classifying Chinese Materia Medica microscopic starch grain images. The proposed classification system is constructed based on the Gaussian mixture model-based clustering, the feature assignment algorithm, and the similarity measurement. Several features for each starch grain image are extracted and every class of drug is represented by a set of characteristic features. For each stage of the system, only one feature is chosen and assigned to that stage via the feature assignment algorithm, and the corresponding characteristic features are subdivided into smaller subsets based on clustering techniques. At the final stage, each subset contains a certain class of drugs (with corresponding characteristic features) and similarity measurement is carried out for starch grain classification. Three sets of the current state-of-the-art starch grain features including the granulometric size distribution, the chord length distribution, and the wavelet signature are used to construct the system. Experimental results on a database of 240 images of 24 classes of drugs reveal the superior performance of the multistage system. Comparison with the traditional starch grain classification approaches indicates that our proposed multistage method produces a marked improvement in classification performance.

[Armand Trousseau (1801-1867) and the placebo effect]. / Armand Trousseau (1801-1867) et l'effet placebo.

In 1834 Armand Trousseau (1801-1867) used a placebo, consisting of pills containing only starch, to show that these pills were as effective as homeopathic dilutions. On another occasion he claimed to have produced marked diuresis in patients with edema by cutaneous application of digitalis and scilla solutions; in fact the diuresis resulted from prior high-dose oral digitalis therapy. Complete ignorance of pharmacokinetics at that time was largely responsible for his error.

Potentized Mercuric chloride and Mercuric iodide enhance alpha-amylase activity in vitro.

Mercuric chloride 30c and Mercuric iodide 30c were prepared by successive dilution in 30 steps of 1:100 followed by sonication at 20KHz for 30s at each step. Both were prepared in two media: 90% ethanol and distilled water. Three preparations of Mercuric chloride 30 in water were used: 12-month old, 1-month old and 4-day old. The controls for the water and ethanol-water preparations were pure water 30c and 90% ethanol 30c, respectively. For the three water preparations there were three matched controls of water 30c of the same ages. Each potentized substance or its control was mixed with distilled water 1:100 before testing. Hydrolysis of starch by alpha-amylase was measured by the standard procedure after incubation for 15 min at 27 degrees C. Mercuric chloride 30c and Mercuric iodide 30c in both water and aqueous ethanol media, enhanced enzyme activity significantly, compared to their respective controls. Mercuric chloride 30c, prepared in water 12 months previously, produced no significant change in the enzyme activity compared to its control. We hypothesize that the structure of the active molecule imprinted on water polymers during the process of dynamization. The specifically structured water interacts with the active sites of alpha-amylase, modifying its activity. Ethanol molecules have large non-polar part stabilizing the water structure and thus retaining activity for a longer time.

Potentized Mercuric chloride and Mercuric iodide enhance x-amylase activity in vitro

Mercuric chloride 30c and Mercuric iodide 30c were prepared by successive dilution in 30 steps of 1:100 followed by sonication at 20 KHz for 30s at each step. Both were prepared in... (AU)