Acupoint Massage Therapy Alters the Composition of Gut Microbiome in Functional Constipation Patients.

RESULTS: Results showed the overall structure of gut microbiome has no significant difference between experimental and control groups. In the genus level, the abundance of Pseudobutyrivibrio and Ruminiclostridium is higher in the experiment group than in the control, whereas that of Fusicatenibacter is less. The 16S KEGG function prediction suggested that Parkinson disease, retinol metabolism, and arachidonic acid metabolism could explain the biological function of different gut microbiome. Furthermore, cytokines in the serum showed a correlation with the abundance of Pseudobutyrivibrio in CFC. CONCLUSION: AMT could change the composition of gut microbiome which is associated with cytokines in CFC patients.

Therapeutic effect of Jinzhen oral liquid for hand foot and mouth disease: a randomized, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: No specific antiviral agent against hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is available for clinical practice today. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Jinzhen oral solution in treating uncomplicated HFMD. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 399 children aged 1 to 7 years with laboratory confirmed HFMD were randomized to receive Jinzhen oral liquid or placebo 3 times daily for 7 days with a 3-day follow-up. The primary outcomes were time to the first disappearance of oral ulcers and vesicles on hand or foot and time to the first normalization of temperature (fever clearance). RESULTS: There were 199 children enrolling into the Jinzhen group including 79 with fever and 200 into the placebo group including 93 with fever. Jinzhen reduced the time to the first disappearance of oral ulcers and vesicles on hand or foot to 4.9 days (95% CI, 4.6 to 5.2 days), compared with 5.7 days (95% CI, 5.4 to 6.0 days) in the placebo group (P = 0.0036). The median time of fever clearance was shorter in the 79 children who received Jinzhen (43.41 hrs, 95% CI, 37.05 to 49.76) than that in the 93 children who received placebo (54.92 hrs, 95% CI, 48.16 to 61.68) (P = 0.0161). Moreover, Jinzhen reduced the risk of symptoms by 28.5% compared with placebo (HR, 0.7150, 95% CI, 0.5719 to 0.8940, P = 0.0032). More importantly, treatment failure rate was significantly lower in the Jinzhen group (8.04%) compared with that in the placebo group (15.00%) (P = 0.0434). The incidence of serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups (9 in Jinzhen group vs. 18 in placebo, P = 0.075). CONCLUSIONS: Children with HFMD may benefit from Jinzhen oral liquid treatment as compared with placebo. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org/en/) ChiCTR-TRC-10000937.

[Separation and purification and structural characterization of baicalein].

The root of scutellaria baicalensis georgi that contains a variety of flavonoids is a very old and well-known drug in traditional Chinese medicine, which is widely used for treatment of bronchitis, tumors and inflammatory diseases. The baicalein is the main active component from traditional Chinese medicine-scutellaria baicalensis georgi. It is a very significance research work that the baicalein was separated and purified, and its composition and molecular structure are analyzed and determined for the pharmacology study of Chinese medicine-scutellaria baicalensis georgi. The main works in this paper are as follows. Powdered roots (100 g) were extracted with methanol by three times, each time for 48 hours. The crude extracts were purified by polyamide column chromatography and CH3Cl-C2H5OH gradient desorption. A short yellow prismatic crystal was acquired by recrystallizing technique and its composition and molecular structure were characterized by color reactions and spectral analysis methods as FTIR, UV-Vis, MS and 1H NMR, 13C-NMR. The FTIR spectrum appears the absorption bands for hydroxyls, pyrone carbonyl, aromatic C=C bond and singly substituted phenyl. The characteristic absorption peaks and the vibration modes in FTIR spectrum were identified as corresponding groups. The UV-Vis spectrum in methanol solution and the mix solution of methanol with 5 diagnostic reagents, NaOMe, NaOAc, NaOAc/H3BO3, AlCl3, AlCl3/HCl, respectively indicate that the yellow prismatic crystal is flavone with 5-hydroxyl, 4-carbonyl and 5,6,7- or 5,7,8-trihydroxyls on ring A. The structure of the crystal was characterized by three different MS. The results of FAB-, ESI- and EI-MS show that it is not a flavone glocuside but the flavone with three phenyl hydroxyls on ring A, and no OH group and other substituted groups on ring B. The molecular ion and fragment ions are identified by MS, which include such as m/z 270 M+, m/z 242 [M-CO]+, m/z 168 A, m/z 140 [A1-CO]+, m/z 105 B, m/z 102 B, m/z 77 [B2-CO]+, respectively. 13C-NMR (DMSO-d6) exhibits the signals of the fifteen carbon atoms, nine oxygenous aromatic C, five non-oxygenous aromatic C and a carbonyl C. 1H-NMR(DMSO-d6 + D2O, DMSO-d6 )indicates the presence of C-5, C-6, C-7 hydroxyl protons, which is consistent with the results of UV spectrum. The signals for C-2',6' hydroxyls appear at delta = 8.055 as a doublet peak with spin-spin coupling constant 6.0 Hz. The other signals were ascribed to the corresponding H or C atoms in the compound. The results of FTIR, UV-Vis, MS, 1H NMR, 13C-NMR spectroscopy characterization show that crystal is the 5,6,7-trihydroxy-flavone, that is baicalein, and the molecular formula is C15H10O5.

[UV-Vis spectroscopic characterization of active components from Scutellaria baicalensis georgi].

The molecular structures of three active components from scutellaria baicalensis have been studied by ultraviolet-visible spectra. The index flavonoid structures and substituted positions were deduced by analyzing the UV-Vis spectra in the methanol solution of three active components and the methanol solution with 5 diagnostic reagents, NaOMe, NaOAc, NaOAc/H3BO3, AlCl3, AlCl3/HCl respectively, which provided strong evidences for the structural characterization of the active components from natural products.