Association between cognitive impairment and main metals among oldest old aged 80 years and over in China / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective: To identify the main metals involved in cognitive impairment in the Chinese oldest old, and explore the association between these metal exposures and cognitive impairment. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1 568 participants aged 80 years and older from Healthy Aging and Biomarkers Cohort Study (2017 to 2018). Fasting venous blood was collected to measure the levels of nine metals (selenium, lead, cadmium, arsenic, antimony, chromium, manganese, mercury, and nickel). The cognitive function of these participants was evaluated by using the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (CMMSE). The random forest (RF) was applied to independently identify the main metals that affected cognitive impairment. The multivariate logistic regression model and restricted cubic splines (RCS) model were used to further verify the association of the main metals with cognitive impairment. Results: The age of 1 568 study subjects was (91.8±7.6) years old, including 912 females (58.2%) and 465 individuals (29.7%) with cognitive function impairment. Based on the RF model (the out-of-bag error rate was 22.9%), the importance ranking of variables was conducted and the feature screening of five times ten-fold cross-validation was carried out. It was found that selenium was the metal that affected cognitive function impairment, and the other eight metals were not included in the model. After adjusting for covariates, the multivariate logistic regression model showed that with every increase of 10 μg/L of blood selenium levels, the risk of cognitive impairment decreased (OR=0.921, 95%CI: 0.889-0.954). Compared with the lowest quartile(Q1) of blood selenium, the ORs (95%CI) of Q3 and Q4 blood selenium were 0.452 (0.304-0.669) and 0.419 (0.281-0.622) respectively. The RCS showed a linear dose-response relationship between blood selenium and cognitive impairment (Pnonlinear>0.05). Conclusion: Blood selenium is negatively associated with cognitive impairment in the Chinese oldest old.

Evaluation of the preventive effect of DL0805-2 against monocrotaline induced rat pulmonary arterial hypertension / 药学学报

In the treatment of hypertensive crisis, the novel Rho kinase inhibitor DL0805-2 can rapidly lower systematic blood pressure, reduce pulmonary artery pressure, and has a significant protective effect on lung injury. This experiment intends to evaluate the efficacy of DL0805-2 against pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and preliminarily reveals its underlying mechanism. Animal welfare and experimental procedures are in accordance with the provision of the Animal Ethics Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into DL0805-2 low, medium, and high dose groups (1, 3, and 10 mg·kg-1), bosentan positive control group, model group, and blank control group. The drug was administered daily on the 7th day after model establishment by monocrotaline injection. On the 25th day of the experiment, relevant indicators were examined to observe the therapeutic effect of DL0805-2 on pulmonary hypertension. DL0805-2 significantly relieved the abnormal changes in the physiological parameters related to PAH induced by monocrotaline, including reducing right ventricular systolic pressure, alleviating cardiac damage caused by pressure overload, and reducing the levels of endothelin-1 and inflammatory factors in lung tissues. DL0805-2 also attenuated pulmonary arteries remodeling. It was preliminarily discovered that DL0805-2 exerts preventive and therapeutic effect on PAH through Rho-kinase pathway. Our results suggested that DL0805-2 had good therapeutic effects on monocrotaline-induced PAH rat model. It intervened early in the disease process, effectively prevented the development of the disease, and reduced the mortality of the diseased animals. The mechanism is related to Rho-kinase pathway.

Research and application of Portulaca oleracea in pharmaceutical area / 中草药·英文版

Portulaca oleracea, a plant species used as medicine and food, is widely spread in most areas of China. It is also a popular food in some Europe and Mediterranean countries. Purslane contains a variety of chemical constituents with pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory activities. It is also full of plenty of nutrients serving as a diet food or healthy food. Here we reviewed purslane in the following aspects: botanical resources, ethnopharmacological function, chemical constituents, pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, safety evaluation and toxicity, and clinical applications.

Triterpenoid saponins from roots of Phytolacca acinosa / 中国中药杂志

A new triterpenoid saponin named esculentoside U(1), along with the five known compounds, was isolated and characterized from the roots of Phytolacca acinosa, a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine with anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatoid activities. The structure of the new saponin was elucidated as 3-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)]-β-D-xylopyranosyl]-2, 23-dihydroxyolean-11, 13(18)-diene-28, 29-dioic acid 29-methyl ester(1). The assignment of all NMR signals of 1 was performed by means of 2D-NMR experiments.

Research on Data Collection Method in Real World Study of Traditional Chinese Medicine / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

In real world clinical studies,standardized data acquisition method is a key step in the formation of reliable clinical evidence.This article described how to carry out clinical data collection and how to preprocess data in order to ensure the quality of data.The results showed that from the data sources,data collection contents,collection key points,data description and evaluation,this paper put forward the method of collecting the real world data of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).It was concluded that the standardized methods of clinical data acquisition had laid a solid foundation for real world research.

Mechanism of "treating heart and brain with same methods" based on data science / 中国中药杂志

The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory of "treating heart and brain diseases with same methods (Nao Xin Tong Zhi: NXTZ)" has great significance to the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It has been proven effective by a great deal of clinical researches. However, the underlying mechanism for this theory is still unclear. To provide insights into the potential mechanism of "NXTZ", this study attempts to deeply investigate the mechanism from two representative cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebral apoplexy. First, various data resources were integrated to obtain different types of biomedical entities including drugs, targets, pathways and diseases. Then, three different approaches including text mining, biological network and enrichment analysis were utilized to recognize the potential common features between CHD and cerebral apoplexy, and the corresponding functions of drugs which could treat both diseases, thus unveiling the mechanism of NXTZ.

Molecular mechanism research on simultaneous therapy of brain and heart based on data mining and network analysis / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The theory of treating heart and brain simultaneously is from the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, and there aren't enough explanations for this theory from the perspective of molecular mechanism. As one successful case of this theory, the Chinese medicine formula--Buchang Naoxintong can achieve the goal of treating coronary heart disease and stroke at the same time. To illustrate the mechanism of the theory of treating heart and brain simultaneously, it is necessary to find out the molecular mechanism of this formula.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Using the network analysis method, together with two data mining methods-clustering and apriori algorithm, the frequent gene combinations interfered by the chemicals of the formula based on the protein-protein interaction networks related with coronary heart disease and stroke disease were figured out respectively. To find out the molecular mechanism of the theory of treating heart and brain simultaneously, the results got from two diseases were compared and analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Based on comparing two results from these two different diseases, the mechanism of the theory of treating heart and brain simultaneously was explained from molecular level by finding out key genes targeted by the components of this formula for both diseases and some particular genes interfered by the components for each disease. In addition, genes interfered indirectly by the chemicals for different diseases were found out based on the protein-protein interaction network.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It can help to explain the molecular mechanism of the theory by our methods. By finding out the molecular mechanism of this theory, it can promote the progress of combination of Chinese traditional and Western medicine.</p>

Effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on functional expression of human neural stem cells: a patch clamp study / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effects of ginsenoside Rg1 on the functional expression of human neural stem cells (hNSCs).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The membrane electrophysiological properties and sodium and potassium ion channels in the hNSCs induced by Rg1 were analyzed using the whole-cell patch-clamp.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>On the 7th day, the neuron-like cells derived from ginsenoside Rg1 (20 mg x L(-1))-induced NSCs show: (1) The resting membrane potential: (-45.70 +/- 2.63) mV, the membrane capacitance: (26.89 +/- 1.91) pF, the membrane input impedance: (877.51 +/- 20.44) MH (P < 0.05 compared with the control group, respectively); (2) The detection rate of inward sodium current which is rapidly activated and inactivated in voltage-dependence was 50%, and its average peak value was (711.48 +/- 158.03) pA (P < 0.05 compared with the control group); (3) The outward potassium currents were composed of rapidly activated and inactivated transient outward potassium current and delayed rectifier outward potassium current, and its average peak value was (1 070.42 +/- 177.18) pA (P < 0.05 compared with the control group).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ginsenoside Rg1 can promote the functional expression and maturity of hNSCs.</p>

Meta analysis on therapeutic effects of treating advanced gastric cancer with TCM combined with western medicine / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of TCM combined with western medicine for advanced gastric cancer.Methods We retrieved literatures of randomized controlled clinical trials related (from January 1991 to June 2012) to the use of TCM combined with western medicine treatment for advanced gastric cancer and made meta-analysis including:the effectiveness,Kamofsky scores and publication bias.Results 44 papers (including 3088 AGC patients) were included.Meta analysis suggested a difference between the treatment group and the control group in effectiveness (Z＝ 6.12,P＜ 0.01),and K score (Z＝ 3.31,P＜0.01).The effectiveness of the reatment group and the control group are 97.8％ and 73.4％ respectively.Conclusion The combined treatment resulted in an improved quality of effectiveness and Kamofsky scores.

Modulation of expression of human GM-CSF and GM-CSFRalpha by total saponins of Panax ginseng / 生理学报

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the biological mechanism for modulating granulocytopoiesis by Panax ginseng. The techniques of culture of hematopoietic progenitor cells and hematopoietic stromal cells in vitro, biological assay of hematopoietic growth factor (HGF), immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization of nucleic acid, immunoprecipitation and Western blot were used to explore the effect of total saponins of Panax ginseng (TSPG) on the expression of human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor receptor alpha (GM-CSFRalpha). The results indicated that (1) bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC), thymocyte (TC), splenocyte (SC), endothelial cells (EC), and monocyte (MO) conditioned media prepared with TSPG (50 microg/ml) could significantly enhance the proliferation of CFU-GM; (2) the expressions of GM-CSF in protein and mRNA level in BMSC, TC, SC, EC and MO induced by TSPG (50 microg/ml) were much higher than that of the control; (3) the expression of GM-CSFRalpha protein in hematopoietic cells induced by TSPG (50 microg/ml) was stronger than that of the control; (4) TSPG (50 microg/ml) could stimulate the transient tyrosine phosphorylation of GM-CSFR and Shc protein. We speculate that TSPG may directly and/or indirectly promote the stromal cells and lymphocytes to produce GM-CSF and other cytokine and induce bone marrow hematopoietic cells to express GM-CSF receptors (GM-CSFRalpha), leading to the regulation of the GM-CSFR-mediated signals transduction pathway and the proliferation of human CFU-GM.

Experimental study on expression of GM-CSF from human endothelial cells and monocytes induced by total saponins of panax ginseng / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of total saponins of Panax ginseng (TSPG) on the expression of granulocytemacrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) from human endothelial cells and monocytes and the relationship between TSPG and human granulocytopoiesis and monocytopoiesis modulation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Adopting the hematopoietic progenitor cells culture in vitro, hematopoietic growth factor biological assay, immunocytochemistry and nucleic acid in situ hybridization, the GM-CSF expression in the endothelial cells and monocytes were detected.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The conditioned cultural media of endothelial and monocytes induced and prepared by TSPG, could significantly promote the proliferation and differentiation of human colony forming unit-granulocyte macrophage (CFU-GM), and enhance the protein and mRNA expression of GM-CSF in endothelial cells and monocytes.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TSPG could possibly through direct or indirect route, promote hematopoietic, induce endothelial cells and monocytes in the microenvironment to synthetize and secrete GM-CSF, so as to further promote the proliferation and differentiation of human CFU-GM.</p>