Genome assembly of Erythrophleum Fordii, a special "ironwood" tree in China.

OBJECTIVES: Erythrophleum is a genus in the Fabaceae family. The genus contains only about 10 species, and it is best known for its hardwood and medical properties worldwide. Erythrophleum fordii Oliv. is the only species of this genus distributed in China. It has superior wood and can be used in folk medicine, which leads to its overexploitation in the wild. For its effective conservation and elucidation of the distinctive genetic traits of wood formation and medical components, we present its first genome assembly. DATA DESCRIPTION: This work generated ~ 160.8 Gb raw Nanopore whole genome sequencing (WGS) long reads, ~ 126.0 Gb raw MGI WGS short reads and ~ 29.0 Gb raw RNA-seq reads using E. fordii leaf tissues. The de novo assembly contained 864,825,911 bp in the E. fordii genome, with 59 contigs and a contig N50 of 30,830,834 bp. Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) revealed 98.7% completeness of the assembly. The assembly contained 471,006,885 bp (54.4%) repetitive sequences and 28,761 genes that coded for 33,803 proteins. The protein sequences were functionally annotated against multiple databases, facilitating comparative genomic analysis.

[Research progress on chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of seabuckthorn and prediction of its Q-markers].

Seabuckthorn contains flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, polysaccharides, and vitamins, which have anti-inflammation,anti-oxidation, liver protection, anti-cardiovascular disease, anti-aging, immune enhancing, anti-tumor, and anti-bacterial activities.We reviewed the papers focusing on the chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, and utilization of seabuckthorn. The quality markers(Q-markers) of seabuckthorn were predicted and analyzed based on original plant phylogeny, chemical composition correlation, traditional medicinal properties, pharmacodynamic correlation, traditional and extended efficacy, pharmacokinetics, metabolic processes, and measurable components. With this review, we aim to provide theoretical reference for the quality control and quality standard establishment of seabuckthorn, so as to promote the rational exploitation and utilization of seabuckthorn resources, and improve the healthy and sustainable development of seabuckthorn industry.

Bioremediation of oily sludge by solid complex bacterial agent with a combined two-step process.

In the present research, a bioremediation process was developed using solid complex bacterial agents (SCBA) through a combined two-step biodegradation process. Four isolated strains showed high efficiency for the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and the reduction of COD of the oily sludge, at 96.6% and 92.6%, respectively. The mixed strains together with bran prepared in form of SCBA exhibited improved performance compared to individual strains, all of which had an optimal temperature of around 35 °C. The use of SCBA provided advantages over commonly used liquid media for storage and transportation. The two-step process, consisting of firstly biosurfactant-assisted oil recovery and secondly biodegradation of the remaining TPH with SCBA, demonstrated the capability for treating oily sludge with high TPH content (>10 wt%) and short process period (60 days). The large-scale (5 tons oily sludge) field test, achieving a TPH removal efficiency of 93.8% and COD reduction of 91.5%, respectively, confirmed the feasibility and superiority of the technology for industrial applications.

The lipid homeostasis regulation study of arenobufagin in zebrafish HepG2 xenograft model and HepG2 cells using integrated lipidomics-proteomics approach.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Arenobufagin (ArBu) is an important anti-tumor ingredient of Chan'su which has long been used as traditional Chinese medicine in clinic for tumor therapy in China. AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of our study is to investigate the lipid homeostasis regulation effects of ArBu on zebrafish model of liver cancer and hepatoma cells, and to provide a reference for further clarifying its active mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The zebrafish xenograft model was established by injecting HepG2 cells stained with CM-Dil red fluorescent dye. Both the xenograft model and HepG2 cells were used to evaluate the anti-hepatoma activity of ArBu. High performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was the main method to study lipidomics, proteomics and the semiquantification of endogenous metabolites. Bioinformatics was used as an assistant tool to further explore the antitumor mechanism of ArBu. RESULTS: The lipidomics analysis revealed that ArBu caused differential lipids changes in a dose-dependent manner, including PCs, PEs, TGs, SMs, DGs, Cer and PA. PCs, PEs, SMs and TGs were markedly altered in both two models. The influence of glycerophospholipid metabolism was the major and commonly affected pathway. Notably, DGs and Cer were significantly changed only in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, the proteomics research in HepG2 cells fished the target proteins related to lipid homeostasis abnormalities and tumor suppression. ArBu reduced the expression of 65 differential proteins associated with the lipid metabolism, apoptosis and autophagy, such as LCLAT1, STAT3, TSPO and RPS27. Meanwhile, 7 amino acids of 29 determined metabolites were significantly changed, including tyrosine, glutamate, glutamine, leucine, threonine, arginine and isoleucine. CONCLUSION: ArBu has a significant anti-hepatoma effect in vitro and a therapeutic effect on zebrafish xenograft model. It regulated the lipid homeostasis. Activated SM synthase and arginine deiminase, inhibited sphingomyelinase, amino acid supply and JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway, and the affected glycerophospholipid metabolism might explain these results.

[Professor YIN Ke-jing's experience of treating pain syndrome from meridians and collaterals].

Professor YIN Ke-jing is good at identifying the location of the disease by using meridian examination. With rich knowledge of the classics, combined with his own clinical experience, professor YIN puts forward "spasmodic muscle-tendon leads to pain", and the effect of Guanci (acupuncture at joints) is superior. Moreover, according to Inner Canon of Yellow Emperor, he has summarized new method of jingluo bietong, which uses fewer acupoints but achieves satisfactory efficacy. This method has broadened the principles of acupoint selection and prescriptions for clinical treatment. This method for treating pain can harmonize qi-blood and smooth meridians, and improve the clinical effect.

[Metabolomics study of Danggui Buxue Tang on treatment of type 2 diabetes mice using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS].

In this paper, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS)-based metabolomics approach was used to explore the mechanism of Danggui Buxue Tang(DBT) in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2 DM). T2 DM mice model was induced by high-sugar and high-fat fodder and streptozotocin(STZ). The routine indexes such as body weight, blood glucose, plasma insulin, IL-6 and related organ indexes were determined. The UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS technique was used to analyze the metabolism profile of serum samples between the control group and model group, and multiple statistical analysis methods including principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) were used to screen and identify biomarkers. Metabolic profiling revealed 16 metabolites as the most potential biomarkers distinguishing mice in model group from those in control group. The metabolomics pathway analysis(MetPA) was used to investigate the underlying metabolic pathways. Seven major metabolic pathways such the valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acid. Eleven metabolites such as taurocholic acid and palmitic acid were down-regulated in T2 DM mice, and five metabolites such as L-leucine and leukotriene E4 were up-regulated. Moreover, the sixteen biomar-kers of each administration group had a trend of returning to mice in control group. The significantly-altered metabolite levels indicated that DBT can improve the progression of type 2 diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity, regulating sugar and lipid metabolism disorders, and relieving inflammation.

[Chemical variation in Aconti Kusnezoffii Radix before and after processing based on UPLC-Orbitrap-MS].

Some Chinese herbal medicine needs to be processed before it can be used as medicine, especially toxic Chinese medicine. Highly toxic Aconti Kusnezoffii Radix(Caowu in Chinese) is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and Mongolian medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, Caowu is usually processed by boiling with water(CW) until no white part inside and being tasted without tongue-numbing. In Mongolian medicine, it is usually soaked in Chebulae Fructus(Hezi in Chinese) decoction for several days(CH). Both methods could reduce toxicity according to reports. The biggest difference between CW and CH is that CW needs to be heated for 4-6 h, while CH needs Hezi as processing adjuvants. To explore the toxicity reduction mechanism of CW and CH, we studied the contents of various compounds in Caowu processed by two methods by UPLC-Orbitrap-MS. The results indicated that CW had 14 new ingredients, such as 14-O-anisoylneoline and dehydro-mesaconitine, while N-demethyl-mesaconitine and aconitine disappeared. At the same time, it could significantly decrease the content of diester diterpenoid alkaloids and increase the contents of monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids. CH had 9 new ingredients from Hezi, like gallic acid, chebulic acid and shikimic acid. Neither the kinds nor the contents of compositions from Caowu in CH changed little. This suggested that the processing mechanism of CW reduced highly toxic components(diester diterpenoid alkaloids) and increased the content of lowly toxic components(monoester diterpenoid alkaloids and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids). Attenuated principle of CH may be related to the components of Hezi. In this experiment, the conclusion shows that the chemical constituents of CW and CH are essentially different, and the two methods have different toxicity reduction principles.

Differentiation between tuberculosis and leukemia in abdominal and pelvic lymph nodes: evaluation with contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography

PURPOSE: To compare the characteristics of tubercular vs. leukemic involvement of abdominopelvic lymph nodes using multidetector computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed multidetector computed tomography features including lymph node size, shape, enhancement patterns, and anatomical distribution, in 106 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed, untreated tuberculosis (55 patients; 52%) or leukemia (51 patients; 48%). In patients with leukemia, 32 (62.7%) had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and 19 (37.3%) had acute leukemias; of these, 10 (19.6%) had acute myeloid leukemia, and 9 (17.6%) had acute lymphocytic leukemia. RESULTS: The lower para-aortic (30.9% for tuberculosis, 63.2% for acute leukemias and 87.5% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and inguinal (9.1% for tuberculosis, 57.9% for acute leukemias and 53.1% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia) lymph nodes were involved more frequently in the three types of leukemia than in tuberculosis (both with p <0.017). Tuberculosis showed peripheral enhancement, frequently with a multilocular appearance, in 43 (78.2%) patients, whereas patients with leukemia (78.9% for acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia, 87.5% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia) demonstrated predominantly homogeneous enhancement (both with p <0.017). For the diagnosis of tuberculosis, the analysis showed that a peripheral enhancement pattern had a sensitivity of 78.2%, a specificity of 100%, and an accuracy of 88.7%. For the diagnosis of leukemia, the analysis showed that a homogeneous enhancement pattern was associated with a sensitivity of 84.3%, a specificity of 94.5%, and an accuracy of 89.6%. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that the anatomical distribution and enhancement patterns of lymphadenopathy seen on multidetector computed tomography are useful for differentiating between untreated tuberculosis and leukemia of the abdominopelvic lymph nodes. .

Inhibitory effects of constituents from Euphorbia lunulata on differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 cells.

A new flavonol galactopyranoside, myricetin 3-O-(2'',3''-digalloyl)-ß-D-galactopyranoide (1), and 23 known constituents, including myricetin 3-O-(2''-galloyl)-ß-D-galactopyranoide (2), myricitrin (3), myricetin (4), quercetin 3-O-(2'', 3''-digalloyl)-ß-D-galactopyranoide (5), quercetin 3-O-(2''-galloyl)-ß-D-galactopyranoide (6), hyperin (7), isoquercetrin (8), quercetin (9), kaempferol (10), apigenin (11), luteolin (12), 3-O-methylquercetin (13), 5,7,2',5'-tetrahydroxyflavone (14), 1,3,4,6-tetra-O-galloyl-ß-D-glucose (15), 1,2,6-tri-O-galloyl-ß-D-glucose (16), 1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl-ß-D-glucose (17), gallic acid (18), protocatechuic acid (19), 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoic acid (20), 2,6-dihydroxyacetophenone (21), 3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid (22), ellagic acid (23) and esculetin (24) were isolated from Euphorbia lunulata Bge. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis. Isolated hydrolysable tannins, flavonoids, and flavonol galactopyranoside gallates showed significant inhibition of the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and triglyceride accumulation in maturing adipocytes, and nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells.

Inhibitory effects of constituents from Morus alba var. multicaulis on differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 cells.

A new arylbenzofuran, 3',5'-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-7-prenyl-2-arylbenzofuran (1), and 25 known compounds, including moracin R (2), moracin C (3), moracin O (4), moracin P (5), artoindonesianin O (6), moracin D (7), alabafuran A (8), mulberrofuran L (9), mulberrofuran Y (10), kuwanon A (11), kuwanon C (12), kuwanon T (13), morusin (14), kuwanon E (15), sanggenon F (16), betulinic acid (17), uvaol (18), ursolic acid (19), ß-sitosterol (20), oxyresveratrol 2-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (21), mulberroside A (22), mulberroside B (23), 5,7-dihydroxycoumarin 7-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (24), 5,7-dihydroxycoumarin 7-O-ß-D-apiofuranosyl-(1→6)-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (25) and adenosine (26), were isolated from Morus alba var. multicaulis Perro. (Moraceae). Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods. The prenyl-flavonoids 11-14, 16, triterpenoids 17,18 and 20 showed significant inhibitory activity towards the differentiation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The arylbenzofurans 1-10 and prenyl-flavonoids 11-16 also showed significant nitric oxide (NO) production inhibitory effects in RAW264.7 cells.

Antiproliferation and apoptosis induced by evodiamine in human colorectal carcinoma cells (COLO-205).

Evodiamine (1), a biologically active alkaloid isolated from Evodia rutaecarpa (known in Chinese as Wu-Chu-Yu), has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. It has recently been demonstrated that the cytotoxic activities of 1 might be due to its ability to inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the effects of 1 on growth and apoptosis in COLO-205 cells by MTT assay, fluorescence microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, DNA fragmentation assay, flow cytometry, immunohistochemical analysis, Western blotting, and caspase-3 activity assay. Our data revealed that 1 could significantly inhibit COLO-205 cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, and 1-treated COLO-205 cells displayed typical morphological apoptotic characteristics and formation of DNA ladders in agarose gel electrophoresis. The COLO-205 cell cycle was arrested in G(2)/M phase by 1. Meanwhile, 1 increased the expression of Bax and p53, decreased the expression of Bcl-2, lowered the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and induced the activation of caspase-3. These activities may contribute to the anticarcinogenic action of 1.

Ginsenoside Rd from Panax notoginseng is cytotoxic towards HeLa cancer cells and induces apoptosis.

The saponin ginsenoside Rd (1), isolated from Panax notoginseng, is used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, different body pains, trauma, and internal and external bleeding due to injury. In this study, we report that 1 inhibits the cell growth of human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, with an IC(50) value of 150.5+/-0.8 mcirog/ml after 48 h of incubation. The drug-treated cells displayed features of apoptosis, including typical morphological characteristics and formation of DNA ladders, as evident from agarose-gel electrophoresis. Flow-cytometric analysis showed that the cell-cycle distribution of HeLa cells exposed to 1 is characterized by a decrease of the G(0)/G(1)-phase and an increase of the S-phase cells, respectively, in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptotic rate of HeLa cells treated for 48 h with 210 microg/ml of 1 was 35.8%. Further, 1 was found to increase the expression of Bax and to decrease the expression of Bcl-2 proteins, respectively, and to lower the mitochondrial transmembrane potential of HeLa cells. The caspase-3 inhibitor DEVD-CHO (at 2 microM) increased the viability of HeLa cells treated with 1. Taken together, our study suggests that ginsenoside Rd (1) significantly inhibits HeLa cell proliferation, and induces cell apoptosis through down-regulating Bcl-2 expression, up-regulating Bax expression, lowering the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and activating the caspase-3 pathway. Thus, 1 could serve as a lead to develop novel chemotherapeutic or chemopreventive agents against human cervical cancer.

New lignans from Kadsura coccinea and their nitric oxide inhibitory activities.

In vitro anti-allergic screening of medicinal herbal extracts revealed that the chloroform extract of the rhizoma of Kadsura coccinea inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and recombinant mouse interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) activated murine macrophage like cell line RAW 264.7. Further fractionation of the chloroform extract led to the isolation of three new lignans, including two dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans and one arylnaphthalene lignan, together with other three known dibenzocyclooctadiene lignans. This is the first report of NO production inhibitory activity of Kadsura coccinea and first report about the isolation of arylnaphthalene lignan from K. coccinea.

Safety of Curcuma aromatica oil gelatin microspheres administered via hepatic artery.

AIM: To evaluate the safety of Curcuma aromatica oil gelatin microspheres (CAO-GMS) infused via hepatic artery against primary liver cancer. METHODS: The safety of CAO-GMS was evaluated in view of its acute toxicity in rats, long-term toxicity in Beagle dogs and general pharmacology in rats and mongrel dogs. RESULTS: The 50% lethal dose (LD50) of CAO-GMS infused via the hepatic artery was 17.19 mg/kg, and the serum biochemical indices of dying rats after the administration changed markedly while those of survived rats did not. Subsequent pathological examination of the tissues from the dead rats indicated improper embolism. Similar edema and small necrotic foci in the hepatic lobule were found in the hepatic tissue of rats receiving 10 and 5 mg/kg CAO-GMS and GMS 60 d after the last administration, while not in the rats of the blank control group, indicating that microspheres infused via the hepatic artery may induce irreversible liver damage dose-dependently. General pharmacological study showed that the activities (posture and gait), respiration frequency, blood pressure or heart rate of the dogs were not affected by CAO-GMS, nor were salivation, tremor or pupil changes of the rats observed or their balancing ability compromised, suggesting CAO-GMS infused via the hepatic artery did not significantly affect the nervous, respiratory and cardiovascular systems. CONCLUSION: CAO-GMS embolization administered via the hepatic artery is safe but undesired embolization induced by vascular variation should be given due attention in its clinical application. Individualized embolization dosage and super-selective catheterization technique are recommended to avoid undesired embolism and reduce complications.