Multicomponent Intervention on Improving the Cognitive Ability of Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

This pilot randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the feasibility and potential outcomes of an innovative 16-session multicomponent intervention model to improve cognitive abilities in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by promoting healthy lifestyle, cognitive skills, tai chi and mindfulness practices. This study was a multicentre, randomized controlled, two-arm, parallel-group, unblinded trial in Hong Kong. 57 Chinese older adults with MCI recruited from three local elderly centers were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention group. The study results support the feasibility and efficacy of the multicomponent intervention, and recommend future larger-scale randomized control trials.

Guided Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Community Residents with Emotional Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a guided online mindfulness-based intervention (iMBI) for community residents experiencing emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. In a randomized controlled trial, 64 participants were recruited from collaborating community-based mental health service units in Hong Kong and assigned to either the treatment (n = 32) or control (n = 32) groups. The treatment group received a guided iMBI consisting of 16 online modules, weekly telephone counseling, and two half-day online workshops on mindfulness practice. In contrast, the waitlist control group did not receive any intervention during the initial stage. Using a 2 (two groups) × time (pre versus post) repeated measures linear mixed model and one-way analysis of variance, authors demonstrated that the treatment group experienced a significantly larger reduction in anxiety and depressive symptoms with a large effect size compared with the control group. Additionally, the treatment group showed a significantly greater improvement in mindfulness with a moderate effect size. The findings support the effectiveness of guided iMBI for community residents experiencing emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

Low-intensity online mindfulness-based intervention for university students with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic-A randomized controlled trial with 3-month follow-up.

Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of a low-intensity online mindfulness-based Intervention (iMBI) for alleviating anxiety in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial involving 134 participants from a local university in Hong Kong, subjects were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 67) or the inactive control group (n = 67). The intervention group participated in a low-intensity iMBI comprising 16 online modules and two half-day online mindfulness workshops over an eight-week period. Outcomes were measured via an online platform using standardized assessment scales, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Chinese Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, at three different time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention and at a three-month follow-up. Results: Intent-to-treat analysis using 2 (group) × 3 (time) repeated measures of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms with a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.5) and a significant improvement in mindfulness skills with a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.5) at post-intervention. The effects of the intervention in reducing anxiety and improving mindfulness persisted at the three-month follow-up. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of the low-intensity iMBI in alleviating anxiety among university students.

Antrodia cinnamomea and its compound dehydroeburicoic acid attenuate nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by upregulating ALDH2 activity.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent liver disease, but currently has no specific medication in clinic. Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) is a medicinal fungus and it has been shown that AC can inhibit high fat diet (HFD)-induced lipid deposition in mouse livers, but the effective monomer in AC and mechanism against NAFLD remain unclear. It has been reported that aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) activation shows protective effects on NAFLD. Our previous study demonstrates that AC and its monomer dehydroeburicoic acid (DEA) can upregulate the ALDH2 activity on alcoholic fatty liver disease mouse model, but it is not clear whether the anti-NAFLD effects of AC and DEA are mediated by ALDH2. AIM TO STUDY: To elucidate the active compound in AC against NAFLD, study whether ALDH2 mediates the anti-NAFLD effects of AC and its effective monomer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: WT mice, ALDH2-/- mice and ALDH2-/- mice re-expressed ALDH2 by lentivirus were fed with a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet or high fat diet (HFD) to induce NAFLD, and AC at the different doses (200 and/or 500 mg/kg body weight per day) was administrated by gavage at the same time. Primary hepatocytes derived from WT and ALDH2-/-mice were stimulated by oleic acid (OA) to induce lipid deposition, and the cells were treated with AC or DEA in the meantime. Lentivirus-mediated ALDH2-KD or ALDH2-OE were used to knock down or overexpress ALDH2 expression in HepG2 cells, respectively. Finally, the effects of DEA against NAFLD as well as its effects on upregulating liver ALDH2 and removing the harmful aldehyde 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) were studied in the MCD diet-induced NAFLD mouse model. RESULTS: In WT mice fed with a MCD diet or HFD, AC administration reduced hepatic lipid accumulation, upregulated ALDH2 activity in mouse livers, decreased 4-HNE contents both in mouse livers and serum, inhibited lipogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress and promoted fatty acid ß-oxidation. These effects were abolished in ALDH2 KO mice but could be restored by re-expression of ALDH2 by lentivirus. In primary hepatocytes of WT mice, AC and DEA inhibited OA-induced lipid accumulation and triglyceride (TG) synthesis, promoting the ß-oxidation of fatty acid in the meantime. However, these effects were lost in primary hepatocytes of ALDH2 KO mice. Moreover, the expression level of ALDH2 significantly affected the inhibitory effects of AC and DEA on OA-induced lipid deposition in HepG2 cells. The effects of AC and DEA on suppressing lipid deposition, inhibiting mitochondrial ROS levels, reducing TG synthesis, and promoting ß-oxidation of fatty acid were all enhanced with the overexpression of ALDH2 and reduced with the knockdown of ALDH2 expression. DEA showed dose-dependent effects on inhibiting liver lipid deposition, elevating ALDH2 activity and reducing 4-HNE levels in the livers of MCD diet-induced NAFLD mice. CONCLUSION: DEA is the effective compound in AC against NAFLD. The related anti-NAFLD mechanisms of AC and DEA were through upregulating ALDH2 expression and activity, thus enhancing the elimination of 4-HNE in the livers, and sequentially alleviating oxidative stress and inflammation, promoting fatty acid ß-oxidation and decreasing lipogenesis.

Inonotus obliquus and its bioactive compounds alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease via regulating FXR/SHP/SREBP-1c axis.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. However, there is still lack of specific drugs for treating NAFLD in clinic. Inonotus obliquus (IO), a folk medicinal fungus, has long been used to prevent against metabolic syndrome related diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, etc. However, the study of IO anti-NAFLD effect has been reported rarely. This study aimed to investigate whether IO has an inhibitory effect on NAFLD, identify the active compounds in IO and clarify the underlying mechanisms of its anti-NAFLD effects. The results of Oil Red O(ORO) and Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) staining, lipid extraction and determination showed that IO and its extracts, including inotodiol (Ino), lanosterol (Lan) and trametenolic acid (TA), could remarkably ameliorate lipid accumulation in MCD diet-induced mouse livers or OA-induced LO2 hepatocytes. Moreover, qPCR analysis revealed that IO and its compounds significantly downregulated the mRNA levels of lipogenic genes, such as SREBP-1c, ACC1 and FASN, and upregulated the mRNA levels of FXR and SHP. We found that the administration of guggulsterone (GS), a FXR inhibitor, abolished the inhibitory effect of Ino on lipid deposition in OA-induced LO2 cells. In conclusion, IO and its compounds attenuate hepatic lipid accumulation in NAFLD by inhibiting liver lipogenesis. The anti-NAFLD effects of Ino, a bioactive compound in IO, are through regulating FXR/SHP/SREBP-1c pathway. Our results suggested that IO and its bioactive compound Ino may become promising drugs to treat NAFLD.

[Identification of Chinese medicine sea snake based on cytochrome B (Cytb)].

The identification of species primordium has been one of the hot issues in the identification of traditional Chinese medicine. Sea snake is one of the most valuable Chinese medicinal materials in China. In order to understand the origin and varieties of sea snake in the market, we studied the molecular identification of 46 sea snakes by cytochrome B(Cytb). After comparison and manual correction, the sequence length was 582 bp, and the content of A+T(58.9%) was higher than that of G+C(41.1%). There exist 197 variable sites and 179 parsimony-informative sites of the sequence. There are 44 kinds of sequence alignment with consistency equal to 100%, and 2 kinds equal to 96%. A total of 408 Cytb effective sequences were downloaded from GenBank database, with a total of 68 species. Phylogenetic tree of a total of 454 sea snake sequences with the samples in this study were constructed by neighbor-joining trees and Bayesian inference method, respectively, which can identify 42 samples of medicinal materials, while 4 samples can not be identified because of their low node support. The results showed that the species of the sea snake medicine were at least from 2 genera and 5 species, namely, Aipysurus eydouxii, Hydrophis curtus, H. caerulescen, H. curtus, H. ornatus and H. spiralis. This study suggested that the original species of commercial sea snake are very complex and can provide insight into the identification of sea snakes.

A Review of Research Progress on Agathis dammara and its Application Prospects for Cardiovascular Diseases and Fatty Liver Disease.

Cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver disease have become the leading causes of death in modern society. However, the currently existing drugs do not solve all issues related to these diseases; thus, it is expected that more potential drugs for clinical use will be developed. Undeniably, natural products have attracted increasing attention. It is of great significance to identify effective active monomer components for drug discovery and disease prevention. As a pure natural product, Agathis dammara (AD) has antioxidant, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, at present, there are few reports regarding the effects of AD on chronic inflammatory cardiovascular diseases, such as aneurysm, atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and cardiac hypertrophy and liver diseases such as fatty liver disease. AD and products derived from it have a very broad application prospect for cardiovascular diseases and fatty liver disease.

Lignans and phenylpropanoids from the liquid juice of phyllostachys edulis.

Seven lignans and eight phenylpropanoids, including one new lignan, 7S,8R,8'R-5,5'-dimethoxyariciresinol-4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (1), were isolated from the liquid juice of Phyllostachys edulis. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses. The absolute configuration of the new compound was determined by comparing its experimental electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra with calculated ECD spectra. All compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity and xanthine oxidase inhibitor activity, and the results showed that compound 9 exhibited a moderate activity in these two bioassays. In addition, all the compounds can be detected in health panda faeces by LC-MS.

Identification of Chinese medicine sea snake based on cytochrome B (Cytb) / 中国中药杂志

The identification of species primordium has been one of the hot issues in the identification of traditional Chinese medicine. Sea snake is one of the most valuable Chinese medicinal materials in China. In order to understand the origin and varieties of sea snake in the market, we studied the molecular identification of 46 sea snakes by cytochrome B(Cytb). After comparison and manual correction, the sequence length was 582 bp, and the content of A+T(58.9%) was higher than that of G+C(41.1%). There exist 197 variable sites and 179 parsimony-informative sites of the sequence. There are 44 kinds of sequence alignment with consistency equal to 100%, and 2 kinds equal to 96%. A total of 408 Cytb effective sequences were downloaded from GenBank database, with a total of 68 species. Phylogenetic tree of a total of 454 sea snake sequences with the samples in this study were constructed by neighbor-joining trees and Bayesian inference method, respectively, which can identify 42 samples of medicinal materials, while 4 samples can not be identified because of their low node support. The results showed that the species of the sea snake medicine were at least from 2 genera and 5 species, namely, Aipysurus eydouxii, Hydrophis curtus, H. caerulescen, H. curtus, H. ornatus and H. spiralis. This study suggested that the original species of commercial sea snake are very complex and can provide insight into the identification of sea snakes.

Grape Seed Polyphenols Ameliorated Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis via Suppression of Inflammation and Apoptosis.

BACKGROUND: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease. Its onset is typically gradual, usually followed by periods of spontaneous remission and subsequent relapses. Grape seed polyphenols (GSP), a natural product extracted from grape seeds, have strong anti-inflammatory functions. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we investigated whether GSP has an inhibitory effect on UC and its related mechanism or not. METHODS: We induced UC by 2.5% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and GSP at different doses (500 and 750 mg/kg body weight per day) was administrated to the mice by gavage. Body weight, diarrhea, and bloody stool were recorded every day to evaluate disease activity index. Hemotoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemical staining were used to identify the histological damages and inflammatory infiltration in colon tissues. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1ß, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and the expression of phosphorylated-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and STAT3 were assessed by western blot. The immunofluorescent assay was used to evaluate the apoptosis of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). RESULTS: GSP could alleviate the loss of body weight, diarrhea, bloody stool, the mucosal damage, and inflammatory infiltration. GSP could also downregulate the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1ß, and TNF-α as well as the phosphorylation of STAT3 and ameliorate the apoptosis of IECs. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that GSP has protective effects against DSS-induced UC, which may through suppression of inflammation and apoptosis.

Hollow Microcapsules with Ulcerative Colitis Therapeutic Effects Made of Multifunctional Turkish Galls Extraction.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) has been listed as one of the refractory diseases of modern society by the World Health Organization. Our previous studies found that Turkish galls Gallotannins (TGTs) have a significant effect on anti-UC. Here, TGTs were extracted using a simple method and TGTs-FeIII microcapsules were prepared by a self-assembly technique. Microcapsules were characterized by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and so forth. The results verified that hollow spheres of TGTs-FeIII microcapsules were successfully prepared. It is interesting that microcapsules were more likely to accumulate on the inflammatory surface from ex vivo and in vivo adhesion experiments, and effectively alleviate UC symptoms. This study will provide valuable insight into the development of safe and efficient drug delivery system platforms for further biomedical usages.

Rosa rugosa flavonoids exhibited PPARα agonist-like effects on genetic severe hypertriglyceridemia of mice.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Rosa rugosa Thunb. is a traditional Chinese medicine that was used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and relative risk factors such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and inflammation. Rosa rugosa flavonoids (RRFs) are the main components in Rosa rugosa Thunb. Several studies have demonstrated that RRFs can regulate plasma lipid contents, but the related mechanism of which has not yet been elucidated clearly. AIM OF THE STUDY: The goal of this study was to clarify the effects of RRFs on triglyceride metabolism and its related mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RRFs were obtained by ethanol extraction from Rosa rugosa Thunb.. Transgenic mice expressing human Apolipoprotein C3 (ApoC3) were used as a mouse model of hypertriglyceridemia. Fenofibrate (FNB), a PPARα agonist, was used as a positive control drug of decreasing high triglyceride. FNB (100 mg/kg) or RRFs (300 mg/kg) were given to the mice by gavage daily. Two weeks later, the changes of plasma lipid levels in the mice were measured by commercial kits, the clearance of triglyceride was evaluated by oral fat load test, and expression of the genes related to lipid ß-oxidation and synthesis was detected in the mice livers by real time PCR. RESULTS: RRFs, as well as FNB, were found to significantly reduce plasma triglyceride (TG) levels in ApoC3 transgenic mice after administration of the drug for two weeks. Plasma lipid clearance rate was increased and lipid content in the mice livers was reduced after administration of RRF. Treatment with RRFs up-regulated mRNA expression of PPARα and its downstream gene of ACOX, while down-regulated mRNA expression of the genes related to fatty acid synthesis (FASN, SREBP-1c, and ACC1). The expression of LPL was raised, while the expression of ApoC3 was decreased, and Foxo1 was inhibited by RRFs in the mice livers. CONCLUSION: RRFs can reduce plasma TG levels by repressing the expression of ApoC3 and inducing the expression of LPL in liver. RRFs could also reduce triglyceride in hepatocytes through increasing ß-oxidation and decreasing synthesis of the lipids. These findings show the potency of further clinical application of RRFs as a hypolipidemic drug for treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Inhibitory effects of cycloastragenol on abdominal aortic aneurysm and its related mechanisms.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease affecting human health, but there are no safe and effective medications for AAA therapy. Cycloastragenol (CAG), derived from Astragali Radix, has various pharmacological effects. However, whether CAG can protect against AAA remains elusive. In this study, we investigated whether CAG has an inhibitory effect on AAA and its related mechanism. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: The AAA mouse model was induced by incubating the abdominal aorta with elastase. CAG was administered by gavage at different doses beginning on the same day or 14 days after inducing AAA to explore its preventive or therapeutic effects respectively. The preventive effects of CAG on AAA were verified in another AAA mouse model induced by angiotensin II in ApoE-/- mouse. In vitro experiments were implemented on rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) stimulated by TNF-α. KEY RESULTS: Compared to the control AAA model group, CAG (125 mg·kg-1 body weight day-1 ) reduced the incidence of AAA, the dilatation of aorta and elastin degradation in media in both mouse models of AAA. CAG suppressed the inflammation, oxidation, phenotype switch and apoptosis in TNF-α-stimulated VSMCs, ameliorated the expression and activity of MMPs and decreased the activation of the ERK/JNK signalling pathway. CAG also inhibited the degradation of elastin in TNF-α-stimulated VSMCs. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: CAG presents protective effects against AAA through down-regulation of the MAPK signalling pathways and thus attenuates inflammation, oxidation, VSMC phenotype switch and apoptosis and the expression of MMPs as well as increasing elastin biosynthesis.

Chinese clinical practice guidelines for acute infectious diarrhea in children.

BACKGROUND: The guidelines addressed the evidence-based indications for the management of children with acute infectious diarrhea in Chinese pediatric population. DATA SOURCES: The experts group of evidence development put forward clinical problems, collects evidence, forms preliminary recommendations, and then uses open-ended discussions to form recommendations. The literature review was done for developing this guideline in databases including PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, China Biomedical Database, and Chinese Journal Full-text Database up to June 2013. Search the topic "acute diarrhea" or "enteritis" and "adolescent" or "child" or "Pediatric patient" or "Baby" or "Infant". RESULTS: For the treatment of mild, moderate dehydration, hypotonic oral rehydration solutions (ORS) are strongly recommended. Intravenous (IV) rehydration is recommended for severe dehydration, with a mixture of alkali-containing dextrose sodium solution. Nasogastric feeding tube rehydration is used for children with severe dehydration without IV infusion conditions with ORS solution. Regular feeding should resume as soon as possible after oral rehydration or IV rehydration. The lactose-free diet can shorten the diarrhea duration. Zinc supplements are recommended in children with acute infectious diarrhea. Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus Rhamnus are recommended to be used in acute watery diarrhea. Saccharomyces boulardii is recommended in children with antibiotic-associated diarrhea as well. Montmorillonite and Racecadotril (acetorphan) can improve the symptoms of diarrhea or shorten the course of acute watery diarrhea. Antibiotics are recommended with dysenteric-like diarrhea, suspected cholera with severe dehydration, immunodeficiency, and premature delivery children with chronic underlying disease; otherwise, antibiotics are not recommended. CONCLUSION: The principles of the most controversial treatments with of acute infectious disease are reaching to a consensus in China.

Preventive effects of astragaloside IV and its active sapogenin cycloastragenol on cardiac fibrosis of mice by inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Cardiac fibrosis is a common feature of many cardiac pathophysiologic conditions. Recently, it has been shown that the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in the pathophysiology of cardiac fibrosis. Here, the inhibitory effects and possible mechanism of astragaloside IV (AST) and its active sapogenin cycloastragenol (CAG) on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced cardiac fibrosis were investigated. In our study, BALB/c mice were subcutaneously injected with 5 mg/kg ISO for 7 consecutive days to induce cardiac fibrosis. AST or CAG was administrated to the mice intragastrically at different doses beginning on the same day of ISO injection. Primary cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from the hearts of neonatal rats, and treated with 10 µmol/L ISO for 24 h with or without incubation of CAG simultaneously. The results indicated that 62.5 mg/kg CAG could significantly inhibit ISO-induced cardiac fibrosis, which was evidenced by sirius red staining, collagen volume fraction and mRNA expressions of collagen-1, collagen-3 and TGF-ß1. Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that 62.5 mg/kg CAG markedly reduced the inflammatory cell infiltration in heart tissues. To elucidate the related mechanism, NLRP3/caspase-1/IL-18 pathway was studied. The mRNA expressions of NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-18 and IL-6 in mice heart tissues were significantly down-regulated by 62.5 mg/kg CAG and 200 mg/kg AST. And incubation with 31.25 µg/ml CAG markedly attenuated ISO-induced mRNA over-expressions of NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-18 and IL-6 in primary cardiac fibroblasts. These findings showed that CAG effectively inhibited ISO-induced cardiac fibrosis, and both CAG and AST exhibited anti-fibrosis effects through inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

Auricular acupressure is an alternative in treating constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Auricular acupressure (AA) therapy has been widely used in Eastern Asia and Europe to prevent constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. The aim of this systematic review was to review data from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of auricular acupressure therapy for preventing constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: Databases that were searched from their inception until August 2017 included: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, as well as four Chinese databases [Chinese BioMedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan-Fang Data, and the Chinese WeiPu Database]. In this systematic review, only RCTs that were related to the effects of auricular acupressure therapy on preventing constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy were included. Study selection, data extraction, and validation were performed independently by two reviewers. Quantitative analyses of RCTs were performed using RevMan 5.3 software, and cochrane criteria for risk-of-bias were used to assess the methodological quality of the trials. RESULTS: A total of 5 RCTs met the inclusion criteria, and most were of low methodological quality. Participants in the AA plus routine care group showed significantly greater improvements in the Bristol Stool Form (BSF) [MD = 0.55, 95% CI (0.39, 0.71), p < 0.01] with low heterogeneity (Chi2 = 5.01, p = 0.29, I2 = 20%). Moreover, when compared with routine care alone, meta-analysis of three RCTs indicated favorable statistically significant effects of AA plus routine care on the Constipation Assessment Scale (CAS) [MD = -1.51, 95% CI (-1.89, -1.14), p < 0.01] with low heterogeneity (Chi2 = 1.63, p = 0.44, I2 = 0%). Furthermore, when compared with routine care alone, meta-analysis of two RCTs demonstrated statistically significant effects of AA plus routine care on the Patient Assessment of Constipation-Quality Of Life (PAC-QOL) [MD = -1.28, 95% CI (-1.44, -1.13), p < 0.01], with low heterogeneity (Chi2 = 0.19, p = 0.67, I2 = 0%). CONCLUSION: Taken together, as a potential safety therapy, only weak evidence supported the hypothesis that AA effectively prevented constipation in leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Grape-seed Polyphenols Play a Protective Role in Elastase-induced Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Mice.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a kind of disease characterized by aortic dilation, whose pathogenesis is linked to inflammation. This study aimed to determine whether grape-seed polyphenols (GSP) has anti-AAA effects and what mechanism is involved, thus to find a way to prevent occurrence and inhibit expansion of small AAA. In our study, AAA was induced by incubating the abdominal aorta of the mice with elastase, and GSP was administrated to the mice by gavage at different doses beginning on the day of the AAA inducement. In in vivo experiments, 800 mg/kg GSP could significantly reduce the incidence of AAA, the dilatation of aorta and elastin degradation in media, and dramatically decrease macrophage infiltration and activation and expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -2 and MMP-9 in the aorta, compared to the AAA model group. Meanwhile, 400 mg/kg GSP could also but not completely inhibit the occurrence and development of AAA. In in vitro experiments, GSP dose-dependently inhibited mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and significantly inhibited expression and activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, thus prevented elastin from degradation. In conclusion, GSP showed great anti-AAA effects and its mechanisms were related to inhibition of inflammation.

Rosa rugosa flavonoids alleviate myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in mice by suppressing JNK and p38 MAPK.

OBJECTIVE: Although Rosa rugosa has been applied for preventing coronary artery disease, the pharmacological mechanism is little explored. In this study, the effects and mechanisms of Rosa rugosa flavonoids (RRF) on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) were investigated. METHODS: Mice were pretreated by intragastric administration of 600 mg/kg RRF for 7 days. Then MIRI was induced by 45 minutes coronary artery ligation and 3 hours reperfusion. Myocardial infarct size (MIS) and histopathology, activities of myocardial enzymes, and effects of RRF on inflammation and apoptosis were evaluated. RESULTS: Pretreating the mice with RRF significantly reduced MIS and inhibited activity of plasma myocardial enzymes. Activity of the enzymes associated with anti-oxidation, SOD, and TEAC, and mRNA expression of NOX2 were significantly elevated. RRF pretreatment significantly decreased the translocation of p65 from the cytoplasm into the nucleus and reduced the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and IL-1ß. RRF pretreatment also significantly prevented the expression of caspase-3 and Bax, and increased the expression of Bcl-2. And RRF inhibited the phosphorylation of JNK and p38 MAPK. CONCLUSIONS: RRF significantly inhibited MIRI through anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptosis effects, and mechanisms were associated with its inhibition on phosphorylation of JNK and p38 MAPK.

Folate Receptor-Targeted Dendrimer-Methotrexate Conjugate for Inflammatory Arthritis.

Generation 5 (G5) poly(amidoamide) (PAMAM) dendrimers are synthetic polymers that have been broadly applied as drug delivery carriers. Methotrexate (MTX), an anti-folate metabolite, has been successfully used as an anti-inflammatory drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the clinic. In this study, we examine the therapeutic efficacy of G5 PAMAM dendrimer methotrexate conjugates (G5-MTX) that also have folic acid (FA) conjugated to the G5-MTX (G5-FA-MTX) to target inflammation-activated folate receptors overexpressing macrophages. These cells are thought to play an important role in the development of RA. With G5 serving as a control, the in vitro binding affinities of G5-FA-MTX and G5-MTX to activated macrophages were assessed in RAW264.7, NR8383 and primary rat peritoneal macrophages. The results indicated that the binding of either conjugate to macrophages was concentration- and temperature-dependent and could be blocked by the presence of 6.25 mM free FA (p < 0.005). The preventive effects of G5-MTX and G5-FA-MTX conjugates on the development of arthritis were explored on an adjuvant-induced inflammatory arthritis model and had similar preventive effects in inflammatory arthritis at a MTX equivalent dose of 4.95 µmol/kg. These studies indicated that when multiples of MTX are conjugated on dendritic polymers, they specifically bind to folate receptor overexpressing macrophages and have comparable anti-inflammatory effects to folate targeted MTX conjugated polymers.

[Control of continuous potato monoculture barrier via biological soil disinfestation method in Yellow River irrigation areas of central Gansu Province, Northwest China].

The potential of biological soil disinfestation (BSD) in control of continuous potato monoculture barrier was investigated in present study. BSD involves the induction of soil reduction conditions through incorporation of easily decomposed organic materials into soil, flooding the soil by irrigation, and covering the soil surface with plastic film. Control (CK) was left without cover and organic amendment as well as flooding. Field experiment was conducted for testing the effect of BSD approach on the control of continuous potato monoculture barrier, especially on tube yield, plant growth and development, suppression of soil-borne pathogen, and soil microbial community and enzyme activities. Compared with CK, BSD treatment significantly increased tuber yield by 16.1% and plant biomass by 30.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the incidence of diseased plant and the ratio of diseased tuber in BSD treatment also significantly decreased by 68.0% and 46.7% as compared to those in CK, respectively. BSD treatment significantly increased the content of chlorophyll and branch numbers per main stem of potato plants, improved the morphological characteristics of potato root system. In the course of BSD before potato sowing, soil pH value and bacteria/fungi significantly increased, but populations of fungi and Fusarium sp. significantly decreased compared with CK. There were no significant changes in populations of bacteria and actinomycetes between CK and BSD treatments. During potato growing stage, the populations of both soil fungi and Fusarium sp. were lower in BSD treatment than those of CK. With the advance of potato growth, the population of Fusarium sp. in BSD treatment gradually increased compared with CK. There were no significant changes in soil enzyme activities in the course of BSD before potato sowing and the whole of potato growing stage. It was concluded that BSD has the potential to control continuous potato monoculture barrier and may be an important element in a sustainable and effective management strategy for potato soil-borne diseases.