Effects of dietary phytosterols on growth performance, antioxidant status, and meat quality in Partridge Shank chickens.

To investigate the effects of dietary phytosterols (PS) on growth performance, antioxidant status, and meat quality of Partridge Shank chickens, a total of 256 1-day-old male Partridge Shank chicks were randomly assigned into 4 dietary treatments, and each of them replicated 8 times with 8 chicks per replicate. Birds in the 4 treatments were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0 (Control group), 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg PS for 50 D, respectively. Dietary supplementation of PS quadratically increased average daily gain of chickens during the grower and overall periods, whereas linearly decreased the feed-to-gain ratio during the starter period. Compared with control group, a significant increase in average daily gain during the grower and overall periods was observed in chickens fed the basal diet supplemented with 40 mg/kg PS. Increasing PS addition linearly increased serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity at 21 and 50 D and hepatic GSH-Px and superoxide dismutase activities at 21 D, whereas linearly decreased malondialdehyde concentration of breast muscle at 50 D. Meanwhile, 40 mg/kg PS supplementation significantly increased serum GSH-Px activity, and hepatic superoxide dismutase and GSH-Px activities at 21 D as compared with the control. PS supplementation linearly and quadratically decreased drip loss (24 and 48 h postmortem) and luminance value (24 h postmortem) of breast muscle in broilers at 50 D, and there was statistical difference between the control and PS-supplemented group. In conclusion, PS supplementation can improve growth performance, antioxidant status, and meat quality of Partridge Shank chickens, with its optimum level in Partridge Shank chickens' diet being 40 mg/kg.

Complementary laboratory indices for predicting the disease status of patients with hepatitis B virus infection.

To identify complementary laboratory indices for determining the disease status of patients with hepatitis B virus. Subjects were divided into six groups: hepatitis B virus carrier, mild chronic hepatitis B, moderate chronic hepatitis B, severe chronic hepatitis B, fulminant hepatitis B and healthy controls. Serum alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin and direct bilirubin were measured by an automatic analyser. The levels of T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3, macrophage inflammatory protein 2, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and inducible nitric oxide synthase were measured by ELISA. T-cell immunoglobulin domain, mucin-domain-containing molecule-3, macrophage inflammatory protein 2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase levels were significantly higher in patients with severe chronic hepatitis B compared with those in patients with mild and moderate chronic hepatitis B or fulminant hepatitis B (P < 0.05). When normal or abnormal alanine aminotransferase was present, significant differences between macrophage inflammatory protein 2 and T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3 levels between patients with mild, moderate, severe chronic hepatitis B or fulminant hepatitis B were observed (P < 0.05). Our results suggest that T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3 and macrophage inflammatory protein 2 could serve as alanine aminotransferase, direct bilirubin or total bilirubin complementary indices for determining the status of patients with hepatitis B.

[Total synthesis of nordihydroguaiaretic acid].

beta-Keto ester(5) was obtained from vanilin through etherification, oxidation and condensation with acetoacetic ester, (5) on oxidative coupling reaction by NaOEt/I2 produced dimer (6) in high yield. Acid catalyzed cyclodehydration of (6) gave the furan derivative(7), and by a series of selective hydrogenation nordihydroguaiaretic acid, furoguaiacin dimethyl ether and dihydroguaiaretic acid dimethyl ether were synthesized.

Cyclopeptides from Stellaria yunnanensis.

In a previous paper, we reported the structural elucidation of stellarin A, a new cyclic heptapeptide, from the fresh roots of Stellarina yunnanensis Franch. Further chemical study on this plant led to the isolation of another two new cyclopeptides named stellarin B and C. Their structures were established to be cyclo(Gly-Ser-HOIle-Phe-Phe-Ala) and cyclo(Gly-Ser-HOIle-Phe-Phe-Ser), respectively, by spectral methods.

Clinical and experimental studies of coronary heart disease treated with yi-qi huo-xue injection.

The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and the mechanism of Yi-qi Huo-xue Injection (YHI) in treatment of coronary heart disease. YHI consists of Ginseng, Astragalus and Angelicae Sinensis. The 10% dextrose serves as a placebo. The results were as follows: 1. the frequency and severity of angina episodes were reduced by 90.63%; 2. the ischemic ST-T in ECG was improved in 56.25% of cases; 3. the tolerance to treadmill exercise was increased from 348.50 to 503.50 M.; 4. the left ventricular function was strengthened, PEP/LVET ratio reduced from 0.45 to 0.36, the activity of (Na(+)-K+) ATPase in myocardial cell membrane of rats inhibited by 19.2%; 5. the blood viscosity and erythrocyte electrophoretic time lowered; 6. the adhesion and aggregation of platelet in patients with CHD were inhibited by 27% and 59.4% respectively; 7. the plasma TXB2 level in CHD was reduced from 260.28 +/- 164.4 to 139.29 +/- 57.01 pg/ml; 8. the plasma 6-keto-PGF1 alpha level in CHD was increased from 33.45 +/- 22.5 to 57.48 +/- 13.1 pg/ml, and in rats from 185.77 to 366.33 pg/ml. The differences were all statistically significant (P less than 0.05-0.01) in comparison with the placebo group.