[Output Characteristics and Driving Mechanism of Agricultural Non-point Source (AGNPS) Pollutant in Plain and Valley Region of Upper Yangtze River, China].

Research on the pattern and mechanism of agricultural non-point source (AGNPS) pollution in rural areas is of great significance to the governance of the regional ecological environment. This study took the plain and hilly area of the upper Yangtze River as the research area, relied on multivariate data, and used a pollutant measurement method based on spatial distance correction, and Kriging interpolation and logistic regression methods (LR) were used to study the emission pattern and impact mechanism of AGNPS pollutants. The results showed that the total emissions of COD, BOD5, NH4+-N, TN, and TP increased by 15.46×104, 25.66×104, 3.49×104, 1.26×104, and 0.38×104 t, respectively, and the emissions of these five pollutants had strong spatial regularity from 2005 to 2015. The Chengdu Plain, the hills in central Sichuan, and the parallel ridge valley farming areas in eastern Sichuan were the high-value areas, whereas urban areas and hinterland of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGRA) were low-value areas. The risk levels of COD, BOD5, and NH4+-N increased; TN pollution was more serious; and the emission risk level was gradually increasing. The emission risk of TP was high and had a tendency to continue to deteriorate. The overall risk level was in a spatial pattern of "high in the middle and low in the surrounding area," with extremely high and second-highest risk levels in a mosaic distribution. The Chengdu Plain and the Parallel Ridge and Valley areas in eastern Sichuan were high-risk clusters. The main driving factors of non-point source pollution from 2005 to 2010 were grain output, livestock and poultry production, and the number of rural populations, which were categorized as "production-driven" GDP and annual average precipitation were the main driving factors, which were categorized as "production and life synergy-driven." These results can provide a basis for analyzing the driving mechanism and prevention and control of NPSP in the hilly area of the upper Yangtze River.

Analysis of simplified registration of traditional herbal medicinal products in European Union / 国际中医中药杂志

Europe occupies an important position in the world herbal medicine market. The registration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in EU is of great significance to the internationalization of TCM. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has designed a relatively complete management system and regulatory guidelines for the registration and supervision of herbal medicinal products. The promulgation of the DIRECTIVE 2004/24/EC (2004 / 24 / EC) indicates that TCM could enter the EU market through simplified registration. Based on the registration conditions, registration authority and document guideines of Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products (THMPs) in EU, this paper analyzes the application requirements of simple registration of traditional herbal products in EU, and provides suggestions for the simplified registration of TCM in EU according to the registration requirements of medicinal history, quality requirements and application data format.

Analysis on the registration of Chinese patent medicines in Canada and its referantial significance to the international registration of Traditional Chinese Medicines / 国际中医中药杂志

By searching for the Canadian Licensed Natural Health Products Database, (LNHPD), this paper analyzed the characteristics and current status of 92 Chinese patent medicines successfully registered and listed in Canada, and found that the enterprises of successfully registered enterprises are mainly located in areas with better development condition of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) such as Beijing, Guangdong and Tianjin; The successfully registered Chinese patent medicines include 64 kinds of single medicine or medicine with single active ingredient (69.6%) and 28 kinds of compound medicine (30.4%), the forms of the dosage are mainly tablets and capsules, which have the characteristics of accuracy in dosage and stable physicochemical properties. There are also granules, solutions, powders and other dosage forms, which can be preserved for a long time and have low requirements on technic and environment. These Chinese patent medicines are mainly used to treat respiratory and circulatory system diseases, some are used to treat urogenital and digestive system diseases, and few are used to treat difficuilt diseases like tumors, diabetes. There are some other health care products. It is suggested to strengthen the connection between domestic standards of TCM registration and international standards, and promote the scientific and technological capacity of relevant enterprises, and encourage enterprises to strengthen international registration of advantageous products, so as to accelerate the speed of international development of TCM in China.

Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine regulation in Canada / 国际中医中药杂志

This paper analyzes the laws, regulations and concre measures of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Canada, so as to provide reference for TCM products to enter Canada, and for the establishment of TCM regulation system and the improvement of its detailed rules in China. The regulation of TCM in Canadian, on the one hand, supervision is to provide guidance for the protection of consumers' rights and interests, including the guidance of rational drug use and rational purchase for consumers; on the other hand, it is to supervise enterprises, including the safety, effectiveness and quality certification of TCM products, labeling and packaging requirements, as well as the site certification of product manufacturing, packaging, labeling and import. The Ministry of health of Canada takes evidence as the core of evaluation, and ensures the safe and effective use of TCM products in Canada through product and site licensing evaluation. In the supervision of TCM, relevant departments in China should further strengthen the protection of consumers' drug rights and interests, strengthen the construction of TCM registration evidence system, and pay attention to the risk management of drug production quality.

Introduction and analysis of the registration process of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a natural health product in Canada / 国际中医中药杂志

At present, the registration process of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Canada is refering to the requirements of Natural Health Products (NHPs). In terms of registration material, both NHPs and TCM include plants, animals and minerals with medicinal components, but the fundamental difference between them is that TCM is guided by the basic theory of TCM. As for the registration classification of TCM in Canada, first of all, judge whether the product to be applied for is NHPs; Secondly, we should clarify the types and ways of registration, mainly including simple application, traditional application and non-traditional application, and provide application forms, label texts, summary reports, evidence, animal tissue forms, finished product specifications and other materials according to different requirements. At present, the successful registration experience of TCM products in Canada mainly mainly includes applying for superior varieties, selecting appropriate application channels, communicating with local health management units and providing sufficient scientific evidence and good clinical application records. The regulations on the registration of NHPs in Canada have not fully considered the particularity of TCM and the registration of TCM products is still facing some difficulties. In the future, we can learn from the registration process and requirements of the Health Canada, promote the interconnection and mutual recognition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and the NNHPD monographs in Canada, reduce the obstacles to the local application for registration of TCM, and promote the further improvement of the international standards of TCM.

Interpretation and reflection of Traditional Chinese Medicine registration evidence system in Canada / 国际中医中药杂志

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) products could be registered as natural health products (NHPs) in Canada. Its registration process could be mainly divided into simple-application, traditional-application and non-traditional application. By analyzingi the TCM registration evidence system and its safety, effectiveness and quality required by different registration categories in Canada, we found that "simple-application" procesure needs to submit evidence based on the parameters of a component in the monograph. As for "traditional application", TCM products need to be used at least 50 years with, traditional material or Pharmacopoeia can be used as evidence; As for non-traditional application, TCM products need to provide evidence according to the disease risk level, and most of them need to provide scientific experiment evidence. Therefore, from the experience of TCM registration evidence system in Canada, the registration of TCM products should pay attention to improve the its classification method, refining its evidence requirements and data types, promoting the formulation of monograph of TCM, realizing the scientific evaluation and rapid review of classic famous prescriptions, and promoting the inheritance and innovative development of TCM in China.

Betaine Delayed Muscle Loss by Attenuating Samtor Complex Inhibition for mTORC1 Signaling Via Increasing SAM Level.

SCOPE: The muscle loss during aging results from the blunt of protein synthesis and poses threat to the elderly health. This study aims to investigate whether betaine affects muscle loss by improving protein synthesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: Male C57BL/6J mice are raised from age 12 or 15 months. Mice are fed with AIN-93M diet without or with 2% w/v betaine in distilled water as control group or betaine intervention group (Bet), respectively. Betaine supplementation to mice demonstrates better body composition, grip strength, and motor function. Muscle morphology upregulates expression of myogenic regulate factors, and elevates myosin heavy chain and also improves in Bet group. Betaine promotes muscle protein synthesis via tethering mammalian target of rapamycin complex1 protein kinase (mTORC1) on the lysosomal membrane thereby activating mTORC1 signaling. All these effects aforementioned are time-dependent (p < 0.05). Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography results show that betaine increases S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) via methionine cycle. SAM sensor-Samtor-overexpression in C2C12 cells could displace mTORC1 from lysosome thereby inhibiting the mTORC1 signaling. Addition of betaine attenuates this inhibition by increasing SAM level and then disrupting interaction of Samtor complex. CONCLUSIONS: These observations indicate that betaine could promisingly promote protein synthesis to delay age-related muscle loss.

Effects of probiotic supplementation on serum trimethylamine-N-oxide level and gut microbiota composition in young males: a double-blinded randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: To explore whether probiotic supplementation could attenuate serum trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) level and impact the intestinal microbiome composition. DESIGN: Forty healthy males (20-25 years old) were randomized into the probiotic group (1.32 × 1011 CFU live bacteria including strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Bifidobacterium animalis, and Bifidobacterium longum daily) or the control group for 4 weeks. All participants underwent a phosphatidylcholine challenge test (PCCT) before and after the intervention. Serum TMAO and its precursors (TMA, choline and betaine) were measured by UPLC-MS/MS. The faecal microbiome was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. RESULTS: Serum TMAO and its precursors were markedly increased after the PCCT. No statistical differences were observed in the probiotic and the control group in area under the curve (AUC) (14.79 ± 0.97 µmol/L 8 h vs. 19.17 ± 2.55 µmol/L 8 h, P = 0.106) and the pre- to post-intervention AUC alterations (∆AUC) (- 6.33 ± 2.00 µmol/L 8 h vs. - 0.73 ± 3.04 µmol/L 8 h, P = 0.131) of TMAO; however, higher proportion of participants in probiotic group showed their TMAO decrease after the intervention (78.9% vs. 45.0%, P = 0.029). The abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (P = 0.043) and Prevotella (P = 0.001) in the probiotic group was significantly increased after the intervention but without obvious differences in α- and ß-diversity. CONCLUSIONS: The current probiotic supplementation resulted in detectable change of intestinal microbiome composition but failed to attenuate the serum TMAO elevation after PCCT. CLINICALTRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT03292978. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV WEBSITE: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03292978 .

Serum folate concentrations at diagnosis are associated with hepatocellular carcinoma survival in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort study.

Existing data on folate status and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis are scarce. We prospectively examined whether serum folate concentrations at diagnosis were associated with liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) among 982 patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated HCC, who were enrolled in the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort (GLCC) study between September 2013 and February 2017. Serum folate concentrations were measured using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI by sex-specific quartile of serum folate. Compared with patients in the third quartile of serum folate, patients in the lowest quartile had significantly inferior LCSS (HR = 1·48; 95 % CI 1·05, 2·09) and OS (HR = 1·43; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·99) after adjustment for non-clinical and clinical prognostic factors. The associations were not significantly modified by sex, age at diagnosis, alcohol drinking status and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage. However, there were statistically significant interactions on both multiplicative and additive scale between serum folate and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels or smoking status and the associations of lower serum folate with worse LCSS and OS were only evident among patients with CRP > 3·0 mg/l or current smokers. An inverse association with LCSS were also observed among patients with liver damage score ≥3. These results suggest that lower serum folate concentrations at diagnosis are independently associated with worse HCC survival, most prominently among patients with systemic inflammation and current smokers. A future trial of folate supplementation seems to be promising in HCC patients with lower folate status.

Efficacy and Safety of Total Glucosides of Paeony in Treatment of Patients with Sjogren Syndrome :A Meta-analysis / 医药导报

Objective Objective To evaluate the effects and safety of total glucosides of paeony (TGP) in the treatment of patients with Sjogren syndrome.Methods The Cochrane Library,PubMed,EMBASE,CBM,VIP,CNKI,Wanfang databases were searched from their establishments up to September 30,2015.We used the method recommended by the Cochrane collaboration to perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trails (RCTs) of total glucosides of peony in the treatment of patients with Sjogren syndrome.Two reviewers analyzed these data independently.The Cochrane Collaboration's software RevMan 5.3 was used for meta-analysis.Results A total of 573 patients in 10 studies were finally included,and were divided into different subgroups.The results of subgroup-analysis showed that:①Schimer test:TGP group had a higher effective rate than the blank control group [MD=2.41,95%CI (0.08,4.74)],lower effective rate than Chinese herbal medicine [MD=-2.55,95%CI (-3.88,-1.22);②Salivary flow:TGP group had a lower effective rate than the control group [SMD=-0.87,95%CI (-1.20,-0.54)].③Rheumatic factors (RF):TGP group had a higher effective rate than Chinese herbal medicine [SMD=0.44,95%CI (0.06,0.82)] and Chinese patent drug [SMD=0.74,95%CI (0.36,1.12)],lower effective rate than the blank control group [SMD=2.23,95%CI (-2.79,-1.67);④ C-reactive protein (CRP):TGP group had a higher effective rate than the control group [MD=4.51,95%CI (1.75,7.26)];⑤IgG:TGP group had a higher effective rate than Chinese patent drug group [MD=2.73,95%CI (1.63,3.84)],lower effective rate than the blank control group [MD=-3.90,95%CI (-5.67,-2.13),but no statistical difference was noted when compared with Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine groups;⑥ESR:TGP group had a higher effective rate than Chinese herbal medicine group [MD=12.73,95%CI (3.62,21.84)] and Chinese patent drug group [MD=7.82,95%CI (5.39,10.24)],lower effective rate than the blank control group [MD=-7.13,95%CI (-12.70,-1.56) and Western medicine group [MD=-12.19,95%CI (-24.19,-0.19)];⑦Safety:8 studies reported adverse effects in 41 patients.TGP group had a higher adverse reaction rate than the control group [OR=3.23,95%CI (1.60,6.50)].Conclusion Current evidence demonstrates that TGP can effectively improve CRP,but its effects on Salivary flow,Schimer test,IgG,ESR,RF were not significant.However,the heterogeneity and high risk of bias in the reports involved in this study limits the reliability of this conclusion.

Simulation of the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in different land uses in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region--based on the improved export coefficient model.

Nonpoint source pollution is one of the primary causes of eutrophication of water bodies. The concentrations and loads of dissolved pollutants have a direct bearing on the environmental quality of receiving water bodies. Based on the Johnes export coefficient model, a pollutant production coefficient was established by introducing the topographical index and measurements of annual rainfall. A pollutant interception coefficient was constructed by considering the width and slope of present vegetation. These two coefficients were then used as the weighting factors to modify the existing export coefficients of various land uses. A modified export coefficient model was created to estimate the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in different land uses in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region (TGRR) in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. The results show that the new land use export coefficient was established by the modification of the production pollution coefficient and interception pollution coefficient. This modification changed the single numerical structure of the original land use export coefficient and takes into consideration temporal and spatial differentiation features. The modified export coefficient retained the change structure of the original single land use export coefficient, and also demonstrated that the land use export coefficient was not only impacted by the change of land use itself, but was also influenced by other objective conditions, such as the characteristics of the underlying surface, amount of rainfall, and the overall presence of vegetation. In the five analyzed years, the simulation values of the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in paddy fields increased after applying the modification in calculation. The dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in dry land comprised the largest proportions of the TGRR's totals. After modification, the dry land values showed an initial increase and then a decrease over time, but the increments were much smaller than those of the paddy field. The dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the woodland and meadow decreased after modification. The dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the building lot were the lowest but showed an increase with the progression of time. These results demonstrate that the modified export coefficient model significantly improves the accuracy of dissolved pollutant load simulation for different land uses in the TGRR, especially the accuracy of dissolved nitrogen load simulation.

Analysis of triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum by microwave-assisted continuous extraction / 中国中药杂志

For further improving the extraction efficiency of microwave extraction, a microwave-assisted contijuous extraction (MACE) device has been designed and utilized. By contrasting with the traditional methods, the characteristics and extraction efficiency of MACE has also been studied. The method was validated by the analysis of the triterpenoids in Ganoderma lucidum. The extraction conditions of MACE were: using 95% ethanol as solvent, microwave power 200 W and radiation time 14.5 min (5 cycles). The extraction results were subsequently compared with traditional heat reflux extraction ( HRE) , soxhlet extraction (SE), ultrasonic extraction ( UE) as well as the conventional microwave extraction (ME). For triterpenoids, the two methods based on the microwaves (ME and MACE) were in general capable of finishing the extraction in 10, 14.5 min, respectively, while other methods should consume 60 min and even more than 100 min. Additionally, ME can produce comparable extraction results as the classical HRE and higher extraction yield than both SE and UE, however, notably lower extraction yield than MASE. More importantly, the purity of the crud extract by MACE is far better than the other methods. MACE can effectively combine the advantages of microwave extraction and soxhlet extraction, thus enabling a more complete extraction of the analytes of TCMs in comparison with ME. And therefore makes the analytic result more accurate. It provides a novel, high efficient, rapid and reliable pretreatment technique for the analysis of TCMs, and it could potentially be extended to ingredient preparation or extracting techniques of TCMs.

Preparation and optimization of zhitong micro-emulsion formula / 中国中药杂志

To prepare Zhitong micro-emulsion in this study, with the empirical formula of Zhitong preparation as the model medicine, the essential oil in the formula as the oil phase, and the water decoction as the water phase. The types of surfactant and co-surfactant were investigated. The changes in micro-emulsion conductivity and construction, the water percentage in the micro-emulsion system, the changing curve of conductivity and the fine pseudo-ternary phase diagram of micro-emulsion were drawn to determine the surfactant-co-surfactant mass ratio (K(m)). Subsequently, the D-mixture design was used to optimize Zhitong Micro-emulsion formula, with particle size and surface tension of micro-emulsion as the indexes. Finally, efforts were made to determine part of physical parameters of Zhitong micro-emulsion and preliminarily detect its stability. The results showed that the micro-emulsion was optimal with the EL-35-tween 20 ratio of 4:1 in surfactant, whereas the absolute ethyl alcohol was recommended as the co-surfactant. The ratio between surfactant and co-surfactant (K(m)) was 1.5. The finalized micro-emulsion formula contains 12% surfactant, 8% co-surfactant, 70% 1 g x mL(-1) water decoction and 8% oil. The results of the preliminary stability experiment showed a better stability of Zhitong micro-emulsion.

Chemo-preventive effect of Angelica sinensis' supercritical extracts on AOM/DSS-induced mouse colorectal carcinoma associated with inflammation / 中国中药杂志

To study the chemo-preventive effect of the supercritical extracts from Angelica sinensis (SFE-AS) on induced colorectal carcinoma in mice by using the AOM/DSS-induced male mice colorectal carcinoma model, and discuss its possible action mechanism. Male Balb/c mice were subcutaneously injected with single dose of azoxymethane (AOM, 10 mg x kg(-1) body weight). One week later, they were given 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 7 days to induce colorectal carcinoma. Each drug group was orally administered with supercritical extracts from Angelica sinensis at 15, 30, 60 mg x kg(-1) until the 17th week. The tumor incidence rate of the SFE-AS group, mice tumor-bearing quantity and tumor-bearing volume of the SFE-AS group were lower than that of the AOM/DSS model control group, which may be related with the significant reduction of PCNA, COX-2, iNOS in the AOM/DSS-induced mouse colorectal carcinoma model associated with inflammation by SFE-AS. According to the results of this study, SFE-AS showed an intervention effect in the incidence and development of AOM/DSS-induced mouse colorectal carcinoma associated with inflammation, and could be further used in chemo-preventive studies on human colorectal carcinoma.

Protective effect of formula of removing both phlegm and blood stasis on myocardial tissues of Chinese mini-swine with coronary heart disease of phlegm-stasis cementation syndrome / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the protective effect of formula of removing both phlegm and blood stasis (TYTZ) on myocardial tissues of Chinese mini-swine with coronary heart disease of phlegm-stasis cementation syndrome.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Totally 36 Chinese mini-swine were randomly divided to six groups: the normal control group, the model group, the Danlou tablet group, and TYTZ groups with doses of 2.0, 1.0, 0.5 g x kg(-1), with six in each group. Except for the normal control group, all of other groups were fed with high-fat diet for 2 weeks. Interventional balloons are adopted to injure their left anterior descending artery endothelium. After the operation, they were fed with high-fat diet for 8 weeks to prepare the coronary heart disease model of phlegm-stasis cementation syndrome in Chinese mini-swine. After the operation, they were administered with drugs for 8 weeks. The SOD activity and MDA content of each group were observed at the 0th week (before the experiment), the 2nd week after the high-fat diet (before the operation or drug administration) , the 6th week after the high-fat diet (4 weeks after the drug administration) and the 10th week after the high-fat diet (8 weeks after the drug administration). Meanwhile, the myocardial enzymogram test and the HE staining pathological observation were performed at the end of the experiment. The changes in the myocardial cell ultra-structure were observed under transmission electron microscope.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with the normal control group, the model group showed significant decrease in serum SOD activity and notable increase in MDA content from the 2nd week to the end of experiment (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). In the 10th week, the CK, LDH and CK-MB levels in serum also significantly increased in the model group (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), with obvious structural abnormality in myocardial tissue pathologic morphology and ultra-structure. Compared with the model group, TYTZ groups showed specific increase in serum SOD activity and oblivious decrease in the MDA level (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Meanwhile, TYTZ could significantly decrease serum CK and LDH levels in the model group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), attenuate the ischemia injury of myocardial tissue, and improve the ultra-structure of cardiomyocytes.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TYTZ shows an obvious protective effect on the myocardial injury in Chinese mini-swine with coronary heart disease of phlegm-stasis cementation syndrome. Its mechanism is related to the resistance against free radical oxidation injury and the inhibition of the lipid per-oxidation.</p>

Effect of microemulsion technology on release of compounds in Zhitong cataplasm and content variation / 中国中药杂志

To study the varieties of adhesives in gels on the basis of previous studies, dosage of adhesives required for forming of gels by using the single factor design, as well as the drug loading capacity of gels with the adhesiveness and stickiness as the scoring indicators, in order to determine the forming method of analgesic micro-emulsion gel. Subsequently, the improved Franz diffusing cell method was adopted to study the release of water-soluble components and liposoluble components in analgesic gels, with imperatorin and ferulic acid as index components. The results showed that analgesic micro-emulsion gel could promote the release of imperatorin and ferulic acid. Finally, HPLC was used to detect that the loss amount of volatile components in analgesic micro-emulsion gel was 23.13% lower than that in the original analgesic gel. In the experiment, we finally prepared finished products of micro-emulsion gel, discovered that the micro-emulsion technology is helpful to improve the synchronous release of water-soluble components and liposoluble components in prescriptions and can reduce the loss of volatile components.

Studies on evaluation of sustained release tablets of extracts of Ginkgo biloba releasing rate in vitro by pharmacological indicatrix / 中国中药杂志

Using sustained release tablets of Ginkgo bibolia extract as model drug,discuss technical feasibility of using biotic index to evaluate sustained release tablets. Chosing two pharmacological indicatrix: antioxidant ability and inhibition of platelet aggregation, to investigate the influence factors on experimental result, optimize the method and experiment condition, and set up pharmacological indicatrix evaluation method. Using those methods to determinate biological effects of dissolved liquid. Drawing release curves and biological effects curves, discussing their correlation. A good correlation was observed, illustrating that pharmacological indicatrix could evaluate sustained release tablets.

[Distribution and pollution characteristics of nutrients and heavy metals in sediments of Hedi Reservoir].

Core sediments were collected from the riverine, transition and lacustrine zones of Hedi Reservoir in southern China to investigate the spatial distributions of nutrients and heavy metals and assess the potential ecological risk of heavy metals. The total nitrogen (TN) contents of the sediments at three sampling sites are between 2.314-2.427 mg x g(-1), while total phosphorus (TP) contents range from 0.591 mg x g(-1) to 0.760 mg x g(-1), TN contents of the surface sediments increase from the riverine zone to the lacustrine zone, but the TP content in the transition zone is higher than that in the other two sites (riverine zone and lacustrine zone). The mean contents of heavy metals are: 31.094, 46.85, 75.615, 385.739, 0.624 and 0.171 mg x kg(-1) respectively, except Cr, the contents of heavy metals in sediment of lacustrine zone are higher than the sediment of transition zone. In all core sediments, the contents of nutrients and heavy metals decrease from the surface to the bottom of core sediments. Inorganic phosphorus (IP) is the dominant fraction of phosphorus in the sediment and the NaOH-P is the main forms of inorganic phosphorus. The potential ecological risk assessed by using of the highest environmental background values before industrialization as the reference indicates that each single heavy metal only causes slightly pollution, but two heavy metals (Cd and Hg) cause heavy pollution based on the soil environmental background values of Guangdong province. In spite of the slight difference between two kinds of risk assessment, all demonstrated that Cd and Hg resulted in more serious pollution than the other metals and these two metals contributed most to the RI values.

Separation and determination of hesperidin in huoxiangzhengqi water by hollow fiber ultrafiltration-high performance liquid chromatography / 中国中药杂志

A simple hollow fiber based centrifuge ultrafiltration pretreatment procedure has been developed for the analysis of active components with high polarity in Chinese traditional and herbal drugs which usually contain macromolecule impurities. The procedure combined with HPLC was applied to the determination of hesperidin in Huoxiangzhengqi water. Sample solutions were purified by our patent hollow fiber centrifuge ultrafiltration device. Under the effect of the centrifgual force, micromolecules were removed from solution samples, thus it increased the service life of the column. The accuracy and repeatability of this method have also been improved. The separation was carried out on a Promosil C18 column (4.6 mm x 150 mm, 5 microm) with methanol -0.5% acetic acid solution (35:65) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The detector wavelength was 283 nm and the column temperature was 30 degrees C. A good linear relation was obtained in the range of 4.69 - 150 mg x L(-1) (r = 0.999 7) and the average recovery was 103.0% with RSD of 1.9%. This method is simple, rapid and accurate, and it provides a simple and cheap ultrafiltration means for the analysis of the polar components in Chinese traditional and herbal drugs.

Effect of Tribulus terrestris extract on melanocyte-stimulating hormone expression in mouse hair follicles / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Tribulus terrestris extract on melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) expression in C57BL/6J mouse hair follicles, and investigate the role of Tribulus terrestris extract in activation, proliferation, epidermal migration of dormant hair follicle melanocytes.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The aqueous extract of Tribulus terrestris was administered orally in specific pathogen-free C57BL/6J mouse at the daily dose equivalent to 1 g/1 kg in adult human, and the expression and distribution of MSH in the mouse hair follicles was observed with immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positivity rate of MSH expression in the hair follicle melanocytes was 75% in mice treated with the extract, significantly higher than the rate of only 18.75% in the control group (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The aqueous extract of Tribulus terrestris can significantly increase MSH expression in the hair follicle melanocytes by activating tyrosinase activity and promoting melanocyte proliferation, melanine synthesis, and epidermal migration of dormant melanocytes.</p>