[Clinical cases and experimental evaluation of liver injury related to anti-psoriasis Keyin Pills].

Keyin Pills is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of psoriasis, but it has been reported that it can cause serious liver injury. In this paper, we used the integrated evidence chain method to retrieve and reevaluate the adverse drug reaction database, CNKI literature and cases of liver injury relating to Keyin Pills in specialist hepatology hospitals. We screened out 23 cases with the causal relationship of the possible grade and above. Among them, 11 cases showed the positive causal relationship only with Keyin Pills, accounting for 47.83%, suggesting that there was objective liver injury caused by Keyin Pills. The incubation period of liver injury caused by Keyin Pills is 1-90 days, and the cumulative dosage span is 20-1 800 g. There were obvious individual diffe-rences. There was no relationship between liver injury as well as dose and course of treatment, suggesting that Keyin Pills could induce immune idiosyncratic liver injury. Furthermore, based on the liver injury model induced by immunological stress, it was confirmed that Keyin Pills could induce acute liver injury in a dose-dependent manner in rats with immunological stress. The toxic dose(14 g·kg~(-1)) of a single dose was 6.7 times of the clinical equivalent dose, and had no significant effect on the biochemical index of liver function and histopathology in normal rats. Decomposition experiments showed that Dictamnus dasycarpus in Keyin Pills is the main medicinal flavor that causes special liver injury, and the other three medicines had neither liver injury nor compatibility attenuation effect. The results suggest that clinical medication shall pay attention to the risk of liver injury caused by Keyin Pills in patients with immunological stress.

Two new prenylated 2-arylbenzofurans from roots of Artocarpus heterophyllus and their anti-respiratory burst activities / 中国中药杂志

Two prenylated 2-arylbenzofurans were isolated from roots of Artocarpus heterophyllus, with a combination of various chromatographic approaches, including ODS, MCI, Sephadex LH-20, and semipreparative high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). They were identified as 5-[6-hydroxy-4-methoxy-5,7-bis(3-methylbut-2-enyl)benzofuran-2-yl]-1,3-benzenediol(1) and 5-[2H,9H-2,2,9,9-tetramethyl-furo[2,3-f]pyrano[2,3-h][1]benzopyran-6-yl]-1,3-benzenediol(2) with spectroscopic methods, such as HR-ESI-MS, IR, 1D NMR, and 2D NMR, and named artoheterins B(1) and C(2), respectively. The anti-respiratory burst activities of the two compounds were evaluated with rat polymorphonuclear neutrophils(PMNs) stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate(PMA). The results showed that 1 and 2 exhibited significant inhibitory effect on respiratory burst of PMNs with IC_(50) values of 0.27 and 1.53 μmol·L~(-1), respectively.

Value of three-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging in evaluating left ventricular systolic function and its correlation with peripheral arterial elasticity in children with simple obesity: a prospective study / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study the application of three-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging in evaluating left ventricular systolic function and its correlation with peripheral arterial elasticity in children with simple obesity.@*METHODS@#Random sampling combined with convenience sampling was used to obtain research samples, and then the samples were divided into an obesity group (23 cases), an overweight group (21 cases), and a normal group (24 cases). Three-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging was used to measure the global longitudinal strain (GLS), global radial strain (GRS), and global circumferential strain (GCS) of the left ventricle. An automatic arteriosclerosis tester was used to measure ankle-brachial index (ABI) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). These parameters were compared among the three groups. The correlation of three-dimensional speckle-tracking parameters with ABI and baPWV was evaluated.@*RESULTS@#There were no significant differences in GLS, GRS, and GCS between the obesity and normal groups (P>0.05). The overweight group had a significantly higher GLS than the normal group [(-24±7) vs (-19±12), P<0.05]. The obesity and overweight groups had a significantly lower ABI than the normal group [(1.00±0.09)/(1.09±0.13) vs (2.25±0.13), P<0.05). The obesity group had a significantly higher baPWV than the normal group [(978±109) vs (905±22), P<0.05]. In the children with obesity, GLS was positively correlated with baPWV (r=0.516, P<0.05) , but not correlated with ABI (P>0.05), and GCS and GRS had no significant correlation with ABI or baPWV (P>0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#There are varying degrees of changes in left ventricular systolic function and peripheral arterial elasticity in children with simple obesity, and there is a certain correlation between them.

Predicting Metabolic Syndrome Using Anthropometric Indices among Chinese Adolescents with Different Nutritional Status: A Multicenter Cross-sectional Study / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

Objective@#To evaluate the predictive performance of anthropometric indices for metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Chinese adolescents with different nutritional status.@*Methods@#We recruited 9,513 adolescents aged 10-18 years from seven provinces in China during September 2014. Anthropometric indices and blood pressure were measured at recruitment, and blood samples were collected for determining fasting plasma glucose and lipid profile. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to assess the predictive performance of anthropometric indices, including body mass index (BMI) percentile, waist circumference percentile, waist-height ratio, and waist-hip ratio.@*Results@#Overall, the four anthropometric indices showed good accuracy for predicting MetS with areas under ROC curves (AUCs) ranging from 0.86 to 0.94; similar AUCs ranging from 0.73 to 0.99 were observed for participants with normal weight. The performance of all four indices was poor in overweight and obese participants, with AUCs ranging from 0.66 to 0.77 and from 0.60 to 0.67, respectively. Waist circumference showed relatively better performance in all the subgroup analyses.@*Conclusions@#We suggest using anthropometric indices with the cutoff values presented here for predicting MetS in the overall and normal-weight adolescent population, but not in the overweight and obese adolescent population where more specific screening tests are required.

Unique MicroRNAs Signature of Lymphocyte of Yang and Yin Syndromes in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To identify the differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) profiles of yang and yin syndromes in patients with acute ischemic stroke, and to provide the molecular basis of the classification of these two syndrome types in acute ischemic stroke patients.@*METHODS@#A microarray assay was performed to assess the expression pattern of miRNAs in the lymphocyte of acute ischemic stroke patients. Target genes for the deregulated miRNAs were predicated using the online bioinformatic algorithms and functional annotation via Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis for miRNAs predicted targets was carried out. Based on the predicted target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs, the miRNA-gene-network and miRNA-pathway-network were constructed.@*RESULTS@#Yang score based on tongue texture, urine, dejecta, and appearance, etc. showed that clinical symptoms were distinct between yang and yin syndromes. There were significantly higher total leukocyte number and lower total protein level in patients with yang syndrome compared with those in patients with yin syndrome (P<0.05). Comprehensive miRNA analysis identified 36 unique down-regulated miRNAs in yang syndrome group, and 20 unique down-regulated and 2 unique up-regulated miRNAs in yin syndrome group. The key regulatory miRNAs, gene, and pathways in the yang syndrome were hsa-miR-93-5p and -320b, enabled homolog, the metabolic pathways and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways, respectively, while those in the yin syndrome were hsa-miR-424-5p and -106b-5p, CNOT4, hepatitis B and pathways in cancer, respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#These results offered insight into the molecular basis underlying the different pathogenesis of yang or yin syndrome, providing clues for the individualized therapeutic strategies of acute ischemic stroke.

Influence of Hyperbaric Oxygen on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Adult Patients with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury and Its Related Factors / 中国康复理论与实践

Objective To investigate the influence of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on blood pressure and heart rate in adult patients with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) and its related factors. Methods From May 2015 to October 2017, 101 cases of adult cervical spinal cord injury in our department were select-ed as observation group, who were divided into four subgroups (AIS A~D) respectively, according to the ASIA score. Other 101 cases of sudden hearing loss without spinal cord injury were selected as control group, who were divided into four subgroups with gender and age matched with four subgroups of the observation group, re-spectively. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured before the compression, at the end of the compression, 30 minutes after oxygen taken in, before the decompression and at the end of the decompression; and were com-pared between groups. The fluctuations of blood pressure and heart rate were correlated and regression analyzed with age, course and AISA score respectively. Results In ASI A~C, the blood pressure fluctuated obviously during the course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the ob-servation group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in blood pressure between ASI D of the observa-tion group and their controls (P>0.05). Lower extremity motor score of ASIA was correlated with the fluctuation of blood pressure (P<0.05). Conclusion The blood pressure fluctuates in patients with cervical spinal cord injury (AIS A~C) during hyperbaric oxy-gen, which should be paid attention to. Lower extremity motor score of ASIA is an independent factor affecting blood pressure. The higher the lower extremity motor score, the smaller the blood pressure fluctuation.

Quality evaluation of musk based on the biological potency of its anti-thrombin activty / 中国中药杂志

This study attempts to establish a method for the anti-thrombin activty bioassay of musk, explore the impact of species and producing areas on the anti-thrombin activty of musk, and provide scientific basis for its biological quality evaluation. Anti-thrombin activty of musk was analyzed by thrombin titration, and the influence factors such as musk solution concentration, fibrinogen concentration, thrombin concentration and titration interval were optimized to evaluate the effect of different species and producing areas on anti-thrombin activty of musk. As a result, there was a good linear relationship between musk solution concentration and thrombin consumption volume within the range of 0.01-0.02 g·mL⁻¹ (=0.991 4) under the experimental condition as follows: fibrinogen concentration was 0.5%, the thrombin concentration was 10 U·mL⁻¹； titration time interval was once every minute, and each titration volume was 2 μL. The average anti-thrombin activty potency of Moschus berezovskii from different producing areas was (105.0±10.4) U·g⁻¹, (102.4±5.5) U·g⁻¹ for M. sifanicus from different producing areas, (97.7±6.6) U·g⁻¹ for M. moschiferus from Anhui province, and (58.6±6.4) U·g⁻¹ for artificial musk. The results indicated that this anti-thrombin activty bioassay method could be applied to evaluate the anti-thrombin activty of musk quickly, conveniently, sensitively and exactly. It was also suggested that different species and producing areas had effects on the anti-thrombin activty of musk, so it is necessary to pay attention to species and producing areas in the process of musk domestication; meanwhile, the artificial musk and natural musk also showed great differences in anti-thrombin activty, suggesting that ratio in artificial musk prescription needs to be further optimized.

Effect of anti-androgen and progesterone on development of regrowth antlers in 6 year old sika deer / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the effects of anti-androgen drugs and melengestrol acetate (MGA) on development of regrowth antlers in 6 year old sika deer, twenty healthysika deerwith similar body weight and antler weightwere randomly divided into five groups by using single factor test design: flutamide (=4), bicalutamide (=4), progesterone acetate (CPA, =4), melengestrol acetate (MGA, =4), control(=4). All deer were fed with same diets and were housed outside together in an opened fence of 15 m×30 m with free access to water and feed. Treatment groups were injected subcutaneously sustained-release agents of the four drugs respectively when two-branched antlers were harvested. The control group had no special treatment. In the experiment period of 60 d, blood sampleswere collected for 4 times for each deer. The concentration of testosterone in plasma was tested and analyzed to compare the changes between different groups. Development of regrowth antlers was observed. At the end of the experiment, regrowth antlers were weighted and analyzed. The resultsshowed that the weights of regrowth antlers in treatment groups were significantly greater than those from control group and the weight gain (as compared with the control group) was 100.50%, 64.46%, 87.16% and 117.46% respectively in flutamide group, bicalutamide group, progesterone acetate group and melengestrol acetate group. For plasma testosterone concentration, it was not significantly different in the early stage (in the first 35 d), but at the end of the experimen, it was significantly higher than that of earlier stage (<0.01) in various groups. Testosterone concentration of flutamide treated group was significantly lower than that of the other groups (<0.01), while the level inbicalutamide and MGA treated groups was significantly higher than that in other groups (<0.01). The results showed that both anti-androgen drugs and MGA treatment promoted the development of regrowth antlers and increased the weight of regrowth antlers, where the effect was most significant by MGA treatment. From the morphological observation of the antlers, it was found that anti-androgen and MGA treatments prolonged the growth period of regrowth antlers through delaying the ossification of antlers. However, plasma testosterone concentration was not affected by the treatments.

Research progress on identification and quality control of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum / 中国中药杂志

Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, as a traditional Chinese medicine, has great potential for development. However, the identification and quality control system is not perfect, leading to the market chaos and chronic slow growth in deep processing of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. This paper gives an overview of present situation in identification and quality control system of the Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, and analyzes present problems. Based on these results, the feasibility study scheme in identification and quality control system for Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum would be then put forward, providing ideas to establish its comprehensive evaluation system.

Study on dosage-toxicity/efficacy relationship of prepared rhubarb on basis of symptom-based prescription theory / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb, in order to explore the bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity of prepared rhubarb and the objective authenticity for attenuating toxicity by processing.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Normal and pathological animals were adopted simultaneous to investigate the effect of total extracts from prepared rhubarb within a high dose range (2.0, 5.4, 14.7, 40.0 g x kg(-1) x d(-1)) on normal state, biochemical index and histopathology of experimental animals. The factor analytic approach was used to analyze the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of prepared rhubarb.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The factor analytic approach was used to extract two common factors from the nine biochemical indexes. The firs common factor was mainly dominated by HA, LN and TGF-β1, and could be explained as fibrotic factors. The second common factor was mainly dominated by ALT, AST and ALP, and could be explained as cellular factor. The results of the factor analysis suggested that prepared rhubarb showed significant bidirectional effects in hepatoprotection and hepatotoxicity, which could protect liver in CC14 injured chronic hepatic injury, but had a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals. The pathological examination showed consistent results with the factor analysis. Under comparable dosages, prepared rhubarb showed a stronger liver protecting effect than crude rhubarb, with a lower toxicity.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Although prepared rhubarb has a certain hepatotoxic effect to normal animals, it has also a significant therapeutic effect to animals with liver injury. The results proved the symptom-based prescription theory and the scientificity of the symptom-based medication. The symptom-based prescription theory is important to correctly realize the dosage-efficacy/toxicity relationship of traditional Chinese medicines and guide the symptom-based medication.</p>