Evaluation of three pumpkin species: correlation with physicochemical, antioxidant properties and classification using SPME-GC-MS and E-nose methods.

To ascertain the most discriminant variables for three pumpkin species principal component analysis (PCA) was performed. Twenty-four parameters (pH, conductivity, sucrose, glucose, total soluble solids, L*, a*, b*, individual weight, edible rate, firmness, citric acid, fumaric acid, l-ascorbic acid, malic acid, PPO activity, POD activity, total flavonoids, vitamin E, total phenolics, DPPH, FRAP, ß-carotene, and aroma) were considered. The studied pumpkin species were Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo. Three pumpkin species were classified by PCA based on aroma, physicochemical and antioxidant properties because the sum of PC1 and PC2 were both greater than 85% (85.06 and 93.64% respectively). Results were validated by the PCA and showed that PPO activity, total flavonoid, sucrose, glucose, TSS, a*, pH, malic acid, vitamin E, DPPH, FRAP and ß-carotene, and aroma are highly useful parameters to classify pumpkin species.

High-Throughput Analytical Techniques for Determination of Residues of 653 Multiclass Pesticides and Chemical Pollutants in Tea--Part V: A Comparative Study of the Influence of Tea Hydration on the Efficiency of Pesticide Multiresidue Determination Using Three Sample Preparation Methods and GC/MS/MS.

This paper describes a comparative study of the influence of three sample preparation techniques (M1: hydration+oscillating extraction+partial extraction solution hexane partitioning cleanup; M2: hydration+oscillating extraction+overall extraction solution SPE cleanup; and M3: pure acetonitrile homogeneous extraction+overall extraction SPE cleanup) on the determination efficiency of 456 pesticide multiresidues in tea. First, it was discovered from the mathematical correlation equation of 329 pesticide recoveries established and log Kow values that the extraction efficiency of hydration method M1 has obvious correlation with pesticide log Kow, making the extraction efficiency of M1 take the shape of an arc trend line with a certain arc hanging down from both ends of polar pesticides and nonpolar pesticides. Second, regarding the M1 method, the interfering matter after co-extraction increased in large quantities, which markedly lowered the S/N of the target pesticides and method sensitivity, leading to an obvious decrease of the method efficiency. The fortification experiment of the uniform limit 0.010 mg/kg proved that with the M1 hydration method there are 23 pesticides with recoveries between 70 and 120% and RSD<20%, accounting for only 5.0%, while with nonhydration method M3 there are 229 pesticides, making up 50%.

[Application of ICP-MS method in the determination of mineral elements in vitex honey for the classification of their geographical origins with chemometric approach].

In the present work, the contents of 38 elements of 65 vitex (Vitex negundo var. heterophylla Rehd. ) honey samples from Shunyi of Beijing, Fuping and Pingshan of Hebei province were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Among them, B, Na, Mg, P, K, Ca, Fe and Zn were the most abundant elements with mean contents more than 1 mg kg-1. It can be found that there were relationships between the contents of elements and the geographical origin of vitex honey samples. Taking the contents of 29 out of 38 mineral elements (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Sr, Y, Mo, Cd, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, T1, Pb and U) as variables, the chemometric methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN), were applied to classify vitex honey samples according to their geographical origins. PCA reduced all of the variables to four principal components and could explain 81. 6% of the total variances. The results indicated that PCA could mainly classify the vitex honey samples into three groups. BP-ANN was explored to construct classification model of vitex honeys according to their geographical origin. For the whole data set, the overall correct classification rate and cross-validation (leave one out method) rate of proposed BP-ANN model was 100% and 95. 4%, respectively. To further test the stability of the model developed for prediction, 75% of honey samples of each geographical origin were randomly selected for the model training set, and the remaining samples were classified with the use of the constructed model. Both the overall correct classification rate and prediction rate of proposed BP-ANN model were 100%. It is concluded that the profiles of multi-element by ICP-MS with chemometric methods could be a potential and powerful tool for the classification of vitex honey samples from different geographical origins.

High-throughput GC/MS and HPLC/MS/MS techniques for the multiclass, multiresidue determination of 653 pesticides and chemical pollutants in tea.

An efficient and sensitive method has been established for simultaneous determination of 653 pesticides in teas by GC/MS and HPLC/MS/MS. The method involved extraction with acetonitrile followed by cleanup using Cleanert-TPT SPE and subsequent identification and quantitation of 490 pesticides by GC/MS and 448 pesticides by HPLC/MS/ MS. The LODs for pesticides determined by GC/MS were between 1.0 and 500 microg/kg, and those determined by HPLC/MS/MS were between 0.03 and 4820 microg/kg. At the low fortification levels of 0.01-100 microg/kg, the average recoveries of 94% of the pesticides determined by GC/MS were between 60 and 120%, 77% of which had an RSD below 20%. For 91% of pesticides determined by HPLC/MS/MS, the average recoveries were between 60 and 120%, 76% of which had an RSD below 20%. The paper also reports a novel SPE column, Cleanert TPT, which comprised graphitized carbon black (PestiCarb), polyamine silica, and amide polystyrene for purifying the tea samples. The results indicated good repeatiblity and reproducibility.

Phthalides, senkyunolide A and ligustilide, show immunomodulatory effect in improving atherosclerosis, through inhibiting AP-1 and NF-κB expression.

Atherosclerosis is initiated by the local inflammation response to lipid deposition, and the most commonly administered antiatherogenic drugs are statins. Based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) evidence, we aimed to find effective therapeutic agents other than statins. A TCM, Suxiao Jiuxin Pill (SX), has been widely used in curing cardiovascular diseases for thirty years. In this paper, a combination of pharmacologic studies and RNA-Seq transcriptomics were employed to explore the pharmacodynamic advantages of SX over atorvastatin in the ApoE-/- mouse. 113 differentially expressed genes that were modulated by SX to a greater degree than atorvastatin were primarily involved in immunomodulation. The expression of BTK, AKT1, c-jun and CD137 was effectively regulated by SX with better effect than atorvastatin. Then a dual-luciferase reporter assay for NF-κB inhibition was applied to identify active components in SX. As a result, Senkyunolide A (Sen A) and Ligustilide (Lig), the key immunomodulatory ingredients in SX, were found to inhibit the expression of CD137 which is a diagnostic biomarker in atherosclerosis. It was further confirmed that Lig effectively suppressed the expression of AP-1 and NF-κB and the phosphorylation of AKT. Therefore, Lig achieved its CD137 inhibition through suppressing the expression of AP-1 and AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway, which partly explains the immunomodulation of SX in atherosclerosis. Above all, phthalides may be the primary components of SX improving immune and inflammation response in atherosclerosis.

Effects of different frequencies of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in stroke patients with non-fluent aphasia: a randomized, sham-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied at different frequencies to the contra-lesional hemisphere to optimize the treatment of post-stroke non-fluent aphasia. METHOD: Patients with post-stroke non-fluent aphasia were divided randomly into four groups: a high-frequency rTMS (HF-rTMS) group (10 Hz), a low-frequency rTMS (LF-rTMS) group (1 Hz), a sham stimulation group, and a control group. All groups received the standard treatment (consisting of drug therapy, conventional physical exercises, and speech training); in the HF-rTMS and LF-rTMS, this was supplemented with magnetic stimulation that targeted the mirror area within the right hemispheric Broca's area. Patients' language ability was assessed prior to, immediately after, and at 2 months post-treatment by the Chinese version of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB). RESULTS: When measured immediately post-treatment, as well as at 2 months post-treatment, the LF-rTMS group exhibited a more marked improvement than the HF-rTMS group in spontaneous speech, auditory comprehension, and aphasia quotients (AQ). Compared to the control group, the HF-rTMS cohort exhibited significant improvement at 2-months post-treatment in repetition and AQ. CONCLUSIONS: LF-rTMS and HF-rTMS are both beneficial to the recovery of linguistic function in patients with post-stroke non-fluent aphasia. LF-rTMS produced immediate benefits that persisted long-term, while HF-rTMS only produced long-term benefits. In addition, the benefits produced with LF-rTMS were more marked than those produced by HF-rTMS.

Dynamic metabolic changes after permanent cerebral ischemia in rats with/without post-stroke exercise: a positron emission tomography (PET) study.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have suggested that rehabilitation therapy can accelerate functional recovery after a stroke. Although often overlooked, the cortical hemisphere contralateral to an infarction plays an important role. This study investigates alterations in metabolism of both the damaged ('ipsilateral') as well as the undamaged ('contralateral') hemisphere using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-micro-positron emission tomography (PET) in a rat permanent stroke model (with or without post-injury exercise) in order to elucidate the relative importance of either hemisphere to the recovery process following stroke. METHODS: Thirty-six adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups before subsequent surgery: sham controls with or without exercise, and ischemic ('stroke') groups with or without exercise. Fluorodeoxyglucose micro-PET imaging was performed at 7, 14, and 21 days after the designated procedure according to group assignment. The imaging data was analyzed by ANOVA using SPMratIHEP software. RESULTS: Both exercise and ischemia have measurable effects on the motor cortex as well as on the striatum, the effects of which notably include the contralateral hemisphere. To that end, regions of the contralateral motor cortex and striatum have been found to be in a hypermetabolic state following exercise. We further observed that exercise reversed the hypometabolism caused by ischemia back to control levels from day 7 through day 21 on the ipsilateral side. Its effect on the contralateral hemisphere, notably, bolsters an already vigorous response observed after ischemic insult. Thus, the beneficial effect of exercise, as inferred by an increase in metabolic activity, is evident in both hemispheres. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that the contralateral hemisphere can compensate for the damaged cortex by remodeling neuronal activity. Thus, clinical treatments specifically targeted to the 'intact' hemisphere following stroke may provide a complimentary strategy for promoting recovery of functional deficits and for improving quality of life in stroke patients.

Two new triterpenes from the rhizomes of Alisma orientalis.

Two new triterpenoids, 25-anhydro-alisol F (1) and 11-anhydro-alisol F (2), were isolated from the rhizomes of Alisma orientalis. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.