ABSTRACT
Astragalosides are the main active constituents of traditional Chinese medicine Huang-Qi, of which cycloastragenol-type glycosides are the most typical and major bioactive compounds. This kind of compounds exhibit various biological functions including cardiovascular protective, neuroprotective, etc. Owing to the limitations of natural sources and the difficulties encountered in chemical synthesis, re-engineering of biosynthetic machinery will offer an alternative and promising approach to producing astragalosides. However, the biosynthetic pathway for astragalosides remains elusive due to their complex structures and numerous reaction types and steps. Herein, guided by transcriptome and phylogenetic analyses, a cycloartenol synthase and four glycosyltransferases catalyzing the committed steps in the biosynthesis of such bioactive astragalosides were functionally characterized from Astragalus membranaceus. AmCAS1, the first reported cycloartenol synthase from Astragalus genus, is capable of catalyzing the formation of cycloartenol; AmUGT15, AmUGT14, AmUGT13, and AmUGT7 are four glycosyltransferases biochemically characterized to catalyze 3-O-xylosylation, 3-O-glucosylation, 25-O-glucosylation/O-xylosylation and 2'-O-glucosylation of cycloastragenol glycosides, respectively. These findings not only clarified the crucial enzymes for the biosynthesis and the molecular basis for the structural diversity of astragalosides in Astragalus plants, also paved the way for further completely deciphering the biosynthetic pathway and constructing an artificial pathway for their efficient production.
ABSTRACT
Mouse cortical radial glial cells (RGCs) are primary neural stem cells that give rise to cortical oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and olfactory bulb (OB) GABAergic interneurons in late embryogenesis. There are fundamental gaps in understanding how these diverse cell subtypes are generated. Here, by combining single-cell RNA-Seq with intersectional lineage analyses, we show that beginning at around E16.5, neocortical RGCs start to generate ASCL1
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of mobile phone-based health education on independent living ability of postoperative patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods Sixty patients with postoperative hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage who underwent craniotomy in our hospital during March 2016 and December 2017 were divided into experimental and control groups, 30 cases in each group, according to the random number table method. Functional training conducted during hospitalization in both groups. After discharge, the control group used a telephone for follow-ups every 2 weeks and took part in a face-to-face training in the first month to implement continuous nursing intervention for a total of 3 months. After discharge, in the experimental group, various information forms of rehabilitation training for hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage were comprehensively integrated, and mobile phone education was used for a total of 3 months in addition to the training as in the control group. The two groups were compared in terms of independent living ability between the two groups. Result The scores of independent living ability and self-care ability, action ability, metastatic ability, social cognitive ability and communication ability of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P＜0.05). Conclusion The mobile phone-based education can promote the effect of rehabilitation exercise in patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, so as to promote the independent living ability of patients.
ABSTRACT
Objective Based on Chinese guidelines for the management of ischemic stroke, a standardized stroke management program was performed to provide intensive education and training for medical physicians, aiming to enhance their knowledge and ability for ischemic stroke prevention and treatment, thereby reducing patients′ in-hospital cost and length of stay, and improving patients′ clinical prognosis. Methods This study was conducted in 20 general hospitals throughout Hainan province. A total of 163 physicians from 20 hospitals involved in the management of stroke patients were trained by highly experienced physicians based on the Chinese guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of acute ischemic stroke 2014 and the Chinese guidelines for secondary prevention of ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack 2014. Prior to and post the standardized stroke management training, the data of 3218 and 3367 patients with ischemic stroke were respectively collected. Quality of life assessments including the Barthel index (BI) and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of all patients were recorded at baseline and after discharge. The length of stay and in-hospital cost were directly collected from the hospital information system. Results Physicians′ knowledge and ability manifested as testing scores were significantly improved after training (78.2 ± 15.5 vs 55.6 ± 10.7, t=69.1, P<0.01). The average length of stay of post-training patients was significantly shorter than that of pre-training patients ((8.7 ± 0.9) vs (11.7 ± 1.5) days, t=97.9, P<0.01). The average in-hospital cost of post-training patients was significantly less than that of pre-training patients ((7681.7 ± 1397.7) vs (11846.2 ± 2514.6) Yuan, t=82.5, P<0.01). Both BI (68.2 ± 3.2 vs 43.5 ± 5.3, t=227.7, P<0.01) and mRS score (2.74±0.51 vs 3.65±0.71, t=59.5, P<0.01) were significantly improved for post-training patients. Multivariate linear regression analysis illustrated that standardized stroke management was negatively associated with in-hospital cost (r=-0.461, P<0.01), length of stay (r=-0.357, P<0.01) and mRS score (r=-0.298, P<0.01), and was positively associated with levels of BI (r=0.376, P<0.01). Conclusion Standardized stroke management program might be a cost-effective choice for the management of ischemic stroke as it reduces the in-hospital cost and improves patients′BI and mRS levels.