[Treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by Jianpi Shugan Recipe: a multi-center, randomized, controlled clinical trial].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicine (CM) intervention in the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from liver enzyme (ALT), imaging (the liver/spleen CT ratio) and syndrome scores, and to establish standard methods for diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy evaluation with characteristics of CM. METHODS: A multi-center, stratified randomized, parallel controlled, blindness-method evaluated, superiority trial was performed. Totally 204 patients were randomly allocated into two groups, 102 patients in the experimental group (treated with CM) and 102 patients in the control group [treated with Western medicine (WM)]. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT), liver/spleen CT ratio, and clinical symptoms were observed in both groups. RESULTS: Of the randomly allocated 204 cases from 4 hospitals, 3 patients were rejected, and 25 were lost. Totally 176 cases con- formed to the plan with complete follow-ups. After 3 months of treatment, syndrome scores and the improvement of partial clinical symptoms (fatigue and sallow complexion) were superior in the experimental group to those in the control group (P < 0.05). After 3 months of follow-up, the syndrome scores and improvement of partial clinical symptoms (fatigue and sallow complexion) were superior in the experimental group to those in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in improving liver enzymes or the liver/spleen CT ratio between the two groups (P > 0.05). There were 4 adverse reactions/adverse events in the two groups in the process of treatment, mainly covering drug-induced liver injury, diarrhea, and epigastric distension. Adverse reactions had nothing to do with CM treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Jianpi Shugan Recipe had obvious efficacy in treatment of NASH. It could remove the liver fat and play a role in anti-inflammation and liver protection. It also could improve the indices of liver enzymes and the liver/spleen CT ratio effectively, which was superior to Polyene Phosphatidylcholine Capsule (PPC) in improving clinical symptoms, especially for such symptoms as fatigue and sallow complexion.

[In situ experimental research on natural attenuation of oil pollutants in a gas station].

The natural attenuation rules of oil pollutants are investigated by carrying out a field experiment in a gas station in Beijing, using a set of soil gas sampling and monitoring device designed independently. The samples of soil gas were collected in the field and tested to examine the content of O2, CO2 and VOCs in the unsaturated zone. The results show that after 381 days' natural attenuation, the concentration of the contaminants at the polluted point deceased by 99.2%, while the ratio of BTEX to TVOC decreased from 17.0% to 12.1%. Moreover, the content of O2 decreased while that of CO2 grew as the soil depth increases at G3 point. Further theoretical analysis indicated that: (1) The test results of first-step experiment show that there was a certain level of contamination in G3 area. And after 381 days' natural attenuation, the content of the BTEX at G3 point fell below the environmental standard level, which means the control measures could be removed. (2) The origin of the contamination was proved as short-term sources, and no long-term sources of leakage existed. (3) An effective removal of contaminants in the soil was found under the influence of the natural attenuation. This method could be applied in long-term monitoring for similar contaminated sites. (4) The test of O2and CO2 contents was proved to be an effective approach to determine if the aerobic degradation happens.

Computer-aided design, synthesis, and biological activity evaluation of potent fusion inhibitors targeting HIV-1 gp41.

This discovered and optimized several novel HIV-1 fusion inhibitors and further evaluated the inhibitory activities of these compounds in vitro. Here, we have reported the computer-aided design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a series of small molecule fusion inhibitors targeting HIV-1 gp41. Based on the structure of inhibitor (NB2), we carried out de novo design and screened out a series of novel structure molecules by using Leapfrog and Autodock programs. Our structure-based modification obtained a potent fusion inhibitor (IC50 = 41.1 µg/mL). Several novel compounds were discovered as fusion inhibitors, which suggested that our design methodology is reliable, paving the way for de novo design of novel small-molecule HIV inhibitors targeting gp41.

[Research of the natural attenuation capacity of oil pollutants based on in-situ experiment].

Based on the results of the in-situ experiment carried out in a Beijing gas station, the ways of natural attenuation were evaluated as both aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation via oxygen and carbon equilibrium calculation. And the research got the rates of the natural attenuation and half-life of the oil pollutants byusing the first-order decay model. Based on the analysis, the capability of monitored natural attenuation and the environmental quality were evaluated. The results show that the actual oxygen consumption of contaminated site is less than that needed theoretically in aerobic degradation of all pollutants, while the amount of CO2 detected is far less than that in the aerobic degradation by theoretical formation. And the half-life of petroleum contaminants in contaminated site is about 50 days. The analysis indicated that: (1) The ways of natural attenuation were proved as both aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation; (2) The contamination of the BTEX tested by the fist-step experiment fell below the environmental standard level after about 250 days' natural attenuation, which means the environmental risk in this gas station had been eliminated and the control measures could be removed.

Design, synthesis and anti-HIV integrase evaluation of N-(5-chloro-8-hydroxy-2-styrylquinolin-7-yl)benzenesulfonamide derivatives.

Styrylquinoline derivatives are demonstrated to be HIV-1 integrase inhibitors. On the basis of our previous CoMFA analysis of a series of styrylquinoline derivatives, N-[(2-substituted-styryl)-5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinolin-7-yl]-benzenesulfonamide derivatives were designed and synthesized,and their possible HIV IN inhibitory activity was evaluated.