Outcome indicators in clinical trials on traditional Chinese medicine treatment of microvascular angina / 中国中药杂志

This study reviewed the current status of the use of outcome indicators in randomized controlled trial(RCT) on traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) treatment of microvascular angina(MVA) and analyzed the existing problems and possible solutions, aiming to provide a basis for the design of high-quality RCT and the establishment of core outcome sets for MVA. CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and 2 clinical trial registries were searched for the RCT on TCM treatment of MVA according to pre-defined criteria. The Cochrane's risk of bias assessment tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included RCT and the use of outcome indicators was summarized. A total of 69 RCTs were included, from which 100 outcome indicators were extracted, with the frequency of 430. The extracted outcome indicators belonged to 8 domains: response rate, symptoms and signs, physical and chemical examinations, TCM efficacy, safety, quality of life, economic evaluation, and long-term prognosis. The indicators of physical and chemical examinations were the most(70 indicators with the frequency of 211), followed by those of response rate(7 indicators with the frequency of 73) and symptoms and signs(7 indicators with the frequency of 54). The outcome indicators with higher frequency were adverse reactions, angina attack frequency, clinical efficacy, endothelin-1, total duration of treadmill exercise, and hypersensitive C-reactive protein. The RCT on TCM treatment of MVA had the following problems: irregular reporting of adverse reactions, diverse indicators with low frequency, lack of attention to the application of endpoint indicators, insufficient use of TCM differentiation and efficacy indicators, non-standard evaluation criteria and failure to reflect the basic characteristics of TCM. A unified MVA syndrome differentiation standard should be established, on the basis of which an MVA treatment efficacy evaluation system and core outcome indicator set that highlights the characteristics of TCM with patient-reported outcomes as the starting point should be established to improve the clinical research and research value.

Effect of Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens Flower Extract on Proliferation and Molecular Regulation in Human Dermal Papilla Cells and Stressed C57BL/6 Mice / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To investigate the hair growth-promoting effect of Miscanthus sinensis var. purpurascens (MSP) flower extracton on in vitro and in vivo models.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MSP flower extract was extracted in 99.9% methanol and applied to examine the proliferation of human dermal papilla cells (hDPCs) in vitro at the dose of 3.92-62.50 μg/mL and hair growth of C57BL/6 mice in vivo at the dose of 1000 μg/mL. The expression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), β-catenin, substance P was measured by relative quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction. Histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis were performed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MSP (7.81 μg/mL) down-regulated TGF-β1 and up-regulated HGF and β-catenin in hDPCs (P<0.01). MSP (1000 μg/mL)-treated mice showed the earlier transition of hair follicles from the telogen to the anagen phase. The number of mast cells was lower in the MSP-treated mice than in other groups (P<0.05 vs. NCS group). Substance P and TGF-β1 were expressed in hair follicles and skin of the MSP group lower than that in negative control. Stem cell factor in hair follicles was up-regulated in the MSP-treated mice (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The MSP flower extract may have hair growth-promotion activities.</p>

Process optimization and component analysis of extracting seed oil from Schisandra sphenanthera by supercritical CO2 / 国际药学研究杂志

Objective To optimize the extraction conditions of Schisandra sphenanthera(SS)seed oil by supercritical CO2ex?traction and identify its components by GC-MS.Methods SS seed oil was used as tested material,response surface methodology was used to optimize the process of supercritical CO2extraction,and GS-MS method was used to analyse SS seed oil composition.Results A model of an equation was established,which could be used to optimize the process parameters of supercritical CO2extraction of SS seed oil. The optimum extraction parameters were as follows:the extraction pressure was 33 MPa,the extraction temperature was 53℃,the extraction time was 90 min,the CO2flow rate was 21.40 ml/min.In this condition,the extraction rate of SS seed oil was 7.97%.The SS seed oil was analyzed by GC-MS,and 23 compounds were identified.In these compounds,(1α,4a.β,8a.α)-1,2,3, 4,4a,5,6,8a-octahydro-7-methyl-4-methylene-1-(1-methylethenyl)-naphthalene,(-)-1,7-dimethyl-7-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)-tricyc?lo[2.2.1.0(2,6)]heptane and(R)-2,4a,5,6,7,8-octahydro-3,5,5,9-tetramethyl-1H-(σ-phenyl)cycloheptene had the content of more than 10% and the contents were 27.78%,14.77% and 13.12% respectively.Conclusion This process has high extraction rate, fast speed and simple operation,and can be used for the extraction of SS seed oil.

Fabrication of titanium dioxide nanotube array and effects of its osteoblast proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity / 中华口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate preparation parameters of TiO2 nanotube layer with anodization, and to evaluate the osteoblast activity on TiO2 nanotube layer in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Titanium dioxide nanotube layer was grown using anodization method. TiO2 nanotube layers with different structure were obtained by controlling the voltage and time of anodization and rinsing process after anodization. Pure titanium without anodization was used as control. Osteoblasts were cultivated on the anodizated TiO2 nanotube, and the growth of osteoblasts was then evaluated and analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The voltage, duration of anodization and rinsing process following anodization were key factors to affect morphology of TiO2 nanotube layer. The area of osteoblast cultured on TiO2 nanotube layer was larger than that on pure titanium. Results from methylthiazol tetrazolium (MTT) test showed that the proliferation of osteoblasts after 96 h cultivation on TiO2 nanotube layer (0.62 +/- 0.02) was significantly higher than that on unanodizated titanium (0.55 +/- 0.03, P < 0.05). Three weeks later, the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity on TiO2 nanotube layer [(130.8 +/- 5.1) A(405)/mg] was significantly higher than that on unanodizated titanium [(109.6 +/- 4.5) A(405)/mg, P < 0.05].</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The structure of TiO2 nanotube layer was greatly associated with anodization voltage. The TiO2 nanotube layer had a positive effect on osteoblast behavior.</p>

Annotation of complete genomic sequence of 3p24-p25 478 kb of human DNA / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To annotate the human genome 3p24-p25 478 kb complete sequence.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The protein-coding genes in the genomic sequence were identified by using ab initio gene finding, homology-based similarity database searching and all or partial mRNA aligning with genomic sequence, and the content feature of the genomic sequence were analyzed by using EMBOSS package.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Two known genes SLC6A1 and SLC6A11 were identified; as well as the GC content of this genomic sequence was 47% and 3 putative CpG islands were predicted in the genomic sequence, located in 130,685-131,516 bp, 307,090-307,870 bp and 415,585-416,308 bp, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The methods, as mentioned above, might be used for annotating the biological information in the genomic sequence, such as gene structure, GC content, CpG island.</p>