[Current status and our consideration on clinical transformation of acupuncture research].

It has become one of the major strategic directions to develop translational medicine and realize the stride leap from basic research to clinical application in the national biomedical field. In recent years, both basic and clinical researches of acupuncture and moxibustion have made landmark progress. However, the transformation of acupuncture and moxibustion techniques still faced with many difficulties, such as low conversion rate and high difficulty of transformation. In this article, we mainly made a preliminary discussion on the current situations of acupuncture and moxibustion transformation from the aspects of basic research content, evidence-based medicine and clinical trials, evaluation criteria for the conclusion of scientific research projects and transformation mode, put forward some existing problems in the transformation process, and proposed some corresponding countermeasures to the problems.

Degradation of diclofenac sodium using Fenton-like technology based on nano-calcium peroxide.

A nano-calcium peroxide (nCaO2) powder with a purity of 89.1% was prepared using an improved traditional method. Then, the as-prepared nCaO2 was used as the source of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for the Fenton-like degradation of diclofenac sodium (DCF). The results showed that nCaO2 performed better for DCF removal when compared to nCaO2 prepared by a conventional method and commercial calcium peroxide (CaO2). Further experimental results indicated that 97.5% of DCF could be removed in 180 min at a nCaO2/Fe2+-EDTA/DCF molar ratio of 16/8-8/1, which was more efficient than in the H2O2/EDTA-Fe2+/DCF and nCaO2/Fe2+/DCF systems. The best removal rate of DCF was at pH 6.0, unlike previous claims that stated that the lower the pH in the buffer system, the better the degradation of DCF. In addition, the influence of water quality parameters, such as Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, HCO3-, and humic acid (HA), on DCF removal were evaluated. A free radical masking experiment revealed the existence of hydroxyl radical (OH), superoxide radical (O2-) and singlet oxygen (1O2), and indicated that the degradation of DCF was mainly due to oxidation caused by OH. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies for different systems and different active oxygen species were carried out, and it was further confirmed that OH radicals have high intensity in the Fenton-like system based on nCaO2. EPR results also showed that the addition of EDTA can promote the production of OH. According to the identification of the dominant reactive species and GC-MS, the possible theoretical DCF degradation pathways were proposed.

Effects of tenuifolin on rest/wake behaviour in zebrafish.

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder with a high prevalence and substantial adverse consequences. There is growing interest in identifying novel therapeutics from herbal medicine. Tenuifolin is a major constituent of the well-known anti-insomnia herb Radix Polygala. The present study investigated the neural activity in response to tenuifolin during rest/wake behaviour in zebrafish and identified the potential biological signalling pathways involved. An automatic video tracking system was used to monitor the behavioural response of zebrafish larvae for 24 h after treatment with tenuifolin. In total, six rest/wake parameters were measured and visualized with a behavioural fingerprint. Time series analysis was conducted by averaging the total rest and waking activity in 10 min intervals. A correlation analysis was performed between tenuifolin and well-known compounds to analyse the underlying biological signalling pathways. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was also performed to detect the effects of tenuifolin on the transcription of interesting genes associated with the signalling pathways that were potentially involved. The present results suggested tenuifolin significantly increased the total rest time during the dark phase, with a slight effect on the waking activity in zebrafish larvae. This behavioural phenotype induced by tenuifolin is similar to that of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonists. Furthermore, the expression levels of GABA transporter 1 were significantly increased after tenuifolin treatment. No significant difference was determined in other associated genes in untreated control and tenuifolin-treated larvae. The present results suggested that tenuifolin caused sleep-promoting activity in zebrafish and that these effects may be mediated by the serotoninergic systems and the GABAergic systems.