[Effect of BBM gene on callus growth and ginsenoside content in Panax quinquefolius].

Baby Boom(BBM) gene is a key regulatory factor in embryonic development and regeneration, cell proliferation, callus growth, and differentiation promotion. Since the genetic transformation system of Panax quinquefolius is unstable with low efficiency and long period, this study attempted to transfer BBM gene of Zea mays to P. quinquefolius callus by gene gunship to investigate its effect on the callus growth and ginsenoside content, laying a foundation for establishing efficient genetic transformation system of P. quinquefolius. Four transgenic callus of P. quinquefolius with different transformation events were obtained by screening for glufosinate ammonium resistance and molecular identification by PCR. The growth state and growth rate of wild-type and transgenic callus were compared in the same growth period. The content of ginsenoside in transgenic callus was determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS). The results showed that transgenic callus growth rate was significantly higher than that of wild-type callus. In addition, the content of ginsenoside Rb_1, Rg_1, Ro, and Re was significantly higher than that in wild-type callus. The paper preliminarily proved the function of BBM gene in promoting growth rate and increasing ginsenoside content, which provided a scientific basis to establish a stable and efficient genetic transformation system for Panax plants in the future.

Manual Therapy for Hip Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Hip osteoarthritis (HOA) is one of the major causes of disability in seniors and is costly to society. Manual therapy is one therapeutic approach to treating HOA. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of manual therapy compared to the placebo or wait-list/no treatment or a minimal intervention control for HOA at post-treatment and short-, intermediate- and long-term follow-ups. STUDY DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). SETTING: Hospital outpatient clinic in China. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, ISI web of knowledge, and Chinese databases from the inception to October 2014 without language restrictions. References of systematic reviews and other related reviews, files in our department, and conference proceedings as grey literature were also screened by hand. RCTs compared manual therapy to the placebo, wait-list/no treatment or a minimal intervention control with an appropriate and precise description of randomization. Two reviewers independently conducted the search results identification, data extraction, and methodological quality assessment. We calculated the risk difference (RD) for dichotomous data and the mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) for continuous data in a fixed or random effect model. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcomes were self-reported pain in the past week and physical function. The secondary outcomes were the quality of life, global perceived effect, patients' satisfaction, cost, and adverse events. RESULTS: Six studies involving 515 HOA patients were included. Five of the 6 studies ranked as high quality in the methodological assessment. Immediately post-treatment, there was low-quality evidence that manual therapy could not statistically significantly relieve pain (SMD: -0.07 [95%CI -0.38 to 0.24]); for physical function, a moderate quality of evidence showed that manual therapy could not improve the physical function significantly (SMD: 0.14 [95%CI -0.08 to 0.37]). We still found low-quality evidence that manual therapy did not benefit the patients in the global perceived effect (RD: 0.12 [95%CI -0.12 to 0.36]), and in terms of quality of life. In addition, the risks of patients in the manual therapy group was 0.13 times higher than that in the controls (RD: 0.13 [95%CI -0.05 to 0.31]) in the low-quality evidence studies. We could not find any evidence that manual therapy benefits the patients at short-, intermediate- or long-term follow-up. There were no studies reporting patients' satisfaction or cost. LIMITATIONS: The limitations of this systematic review include the paucity of literature and inevitable heterogeneity between included studies. CONCLUSION: This review did not suggest there was enough evidence for manual therapy for the management of HOA. However, we are not confident in making such a conclusion due to the limitations listed above.

[Effect of Qianjin Fubao on changes of behavior and estradiol level in chronic stress model rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Qianjin Fubao (QJFB) on behavior and estradiol level in femal chronic stress model rats. METHOD: Twenty four female Wistar rats (2 month old) were evenly randomized into normal control, animal model and QJFB (0.7 g x kg(-1) x d(-1)) group. The QIFB group and the stress group were exposed to a chronic unpredictable stress for 21 days. Rats of the QJFB group received perfusion of Qianjin Fubao, and rats of stress and control group were perfused with normal saline. The behavior of three groups were determined with the method of Open-field before and after right stress respectively. Serum level of estradiol was detected with radioim munoassay. RESULT: The behavioral score and the serum level of estradiol of the stressed group were significantly lower than those of the control group after stress (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences of behavioral score and the serum level of estradiol between QJFB group and control group. CONCLUSION: The chronic unpredictable stress can induce the stressful change of behavior, and QJFB may recover the rats'abnormal behavior and improve the serum level of estradiol. QJFB may have protective effect on stress.