Online moisture detection technology and its application prospect in drying of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

Drying is one of the most common unit operations in the production of traditional Chinese medicine. The drying process of traditional Chinese medicine materials is accompanied by the dynamic reduction of water content. As a key index to determine the end of the drying process, the moisture content of materials plays an important role in improving drying efficiency and saving energy. Recently, the drying process of traditional Chinese medicine is mostly monitored by offline detection, and there are few reports of online moisture detection applications. In this paper, the principle and current application of online inspection technology for the material drying process in different fields were introduced. The significance of online detection technology in drying of traditional Chinese medicine was also analyzed. Meanwhile, the application prospect of online detection technology in the field of drying of traditional Chinese medicine was predicted. In response to urgent transformation and upgrading of the traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing industry, the application of online moisture detection technology is expected to be a key breakthrough in the intelligent upgrading of traditional Chinese medicine drying technology and equipment.

Role of autophagy in ischemia postconditioning-induced attenuation of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice / 中华麻醉学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the role of autophagy in ischemia postconditioning (IPO)-induced attenuation of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in mice.Methods:Thirty-two SPF healthy adult male C57BL/6J mice, aged 9-12 weeks, weighing 25-29 g, were divided into 4 groups ( n=8 each) using a random number table method: sham operation group (group S), intestinal I/R group (group IIR), group IPO and IPO plus 3-methyladenine (3-MA) group (group IPO+ 3-MA). The model of intestinal I/R was established by occlusion of superior mesenteric artery for 45 min followed by 2-h reperfusion in anesthetized animals.The mice underwent 3 cycles of 30-s reperfusion followed by 30-s ischemia before restoration of reperfusion in group IPO.Blood samples from the femoral artery were collected at 2 h of reperfusion for determination of concentrations of serum diamine oxidase (DAO), D-lactate (D-LA) and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP). The animals were then sacrificed and intestinal tissues were removed for microscopic examination of the pathologic changes which were scored according to Chiu and for determination of the expression of autophagy-related proteins Beclin-1 and p62 (by Western blot). The water content of intestinal tissues was calculated. Results:Compared with group S, the Chiu′s score, concentrations of serum DAO, D-LA and I-FABP, water content of intestinal tissues, and LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ ratio were significantly increased, Beclin-1 expression was up-regulated, and p62 expression was down-regulated in IIR, IPO and IPO+ 3-MA groups ( P<0.05). Compared with group IIR, the Chiu′s score, concentrations of serum DAO, D-LA and I-FABP, water content of intestinal tissues, and LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰ ratio were significantly decreased, Beclin-1 expression was up-regulated, and p62 expression was down-regulated in group IPO ( P<0.05). Compared with group IPO, the Chiu′s score, concentrations of serum DAO, D-LA and I-FABP, and water content of intestinal tissues were significantly increased, LC3Ⅱ/LC3Ⅰratio was decreased, Beclin-1 expression was down-regulated, and p62 expression was up-regulated in group IPO+ 3-MA ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Autophagy is involved in ischemia postconditioning-induced attenuation of intestinal I/R injury in mice.

An Investigation on the Molecular Characteristics and Intracellular Growth Ability among Environmental and Clinical Isolates of Legionella pneumophila in Sichuan Province, China / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the molecular characteristics and intracellular growth ability of Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) strains from 1989 to 2016 in Sichuan Province, China.@*METHODS@#Seventy-nine isolates of L. pneumophila were collected from environmental and clinical sources, including cooling towers, hot springs, bath water, fountains, and patients, and identified with 16S rRNA gene analysis and serum agglutination assay. The isolates were then typed by Sequence-Based Typing (SBT), and Genotyping of forty-two LP1 strains were analyzed by means of multiple-locus VNTR analysis with 8 loci (MLVA-8). All strains were further analyzed for two virulence genes: Legionella vir homologue (lvh) and repeats in structural toxin (rtxA). The intracellular growth ability of 33 selected isolates was determined by examining their interaction with J774 cells.@*RESULTS@#All isolates were identified to L. pneumophila including 11 serogroups, among which the main serogroup were LP1, accounting for 54.43%. Thirty-three different sequence types (STs) from five main clonal groups and five singletons were identified, along with 8 different MLVA patterns. Both the lvh and rtxA loci were found in all 79 strains. Thirty isolates showed high intracellular growth ability in J774 cells.@*CONCLUSION@#L. pneumophila is a potential threat to public health, and effective control and prevention strategies are urgently needed.

Comparative Study on Glycosides Content in Liuwei Dihuang Decoction and Cornus Officinalis - Cortex Moutan Couple / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To establish an HPLC method for the content determination of morroniside, sweroside, paeoniflorin and loganin of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction and its Cornus Officinalis-Cortex Moutan couple; To discuss the relationship between the whole prescription and the couple of main pharmacodynamic components. Methods The HPLC method was used at Hypersile C18 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm); the mobile phase consisted of methanol-water (24:76); the detective wavelength was 236 nm; the flow rate was 1.0 mL/min; the column temperature was 30 ℃. Results The linear ranges of morroniside, sweroside, paeoniflorin and loganin were among 0.480–7.680 μg (r=0.999 3), 0.103–1.650 μg (r=0.999 5), 0.120–1.920 μg (r=0.999 1) and 0.227–3.630 μg (r=0.999 7), respectively. The average recovery rates and RSD were 102.79%, 102.29%, 100.99%, 102.48%, and 1.73%, 1.48%, 1.32%, 0.75%, respectively. The contents of morroniside, sweroside and paeoniflorin in Liuwei Dihuang Decoction were slightly higher than that in Cornus Officinalis - Cortex Moutan couple, and the contents of loganin were almost the same. Conclusion The method is simple, stable, accurate and reproducible. It can be used for content determinate of glycosides in Liuwei Dihuang Decoction and Cornus Officinalis-Cortex Moutan couple. Cornus Officinalis-Cortex Moutan couple has the glycosides with tonifying kidney effect of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction.

Mental health of senile dementia caregivers in nursing homes in Shenyang and its influencing factors / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective To investigate the mental health and its correlated factors for senile dementia caregivers in nursing homes in Shenyang. Methods Questionnaire survey was conducted among 174 senile dementia caregivers recruited from the Nursing Home of Shenyang and Shenyang Social Welfare Institute by using Symptom Check-List-90 (SCL-90), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) and self-designed general information questionnaire and to analyze the scores of self rating scale of nursing staff, the total score of social support scale, and the factors affecting the mental health status of nursing staff. Results The SCL-90 scores of senile dementia caregivers with education levels from illiteracy, primary school or junior high school, high school or secondary school, college or above were 130.50 ± 10.11, 132.70±12.55, 135.06±9.15, 129.24±8.83, the difference was statistically significant (F=15.05, P<0.01). The SCL-90 scores of senile dementia caregivers with poor, general and good perceived health status were 133.40±10.52, 132.60±11.32, 128.00 ±10.02, the differences were statistically significant (F=9.07, P<0.01). The SCL-90 scores of family monthly income of 1001 to 3000 yuan, 3001 to 5000 yuan and more than 5001 yuan were 132.90 ± 10.39, 132.80 ± 11.52, 131.50 ± 8.20, the difference was statistically significant (F=12.11, P<0.01). The multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the regression coefficient of perceived health status was-0.168 (t=2.880, P<0.01), monthly family income was-0.145 (t=-2.512, P<0.05), SSRS was 0.121 (t=2.112, P<0.05). Conclusions Mental health status of senile dementia caregivers in Shenyang is poor. The health sector should take some measures to improve the degree of social support, nursing staff wages and to ensure their health in order to promote physical and mental health of nursing staff and the nursing level so as to improve the quality of life of the senile dementia elderly.

Rapid monitoring five components of ethanol precipitation process of Shenzhiling oral solution using near infrared spectroscopy / 中国中药杂志

To develop a method for the rapid monitoring of five components during the alcohol precipitation process of Shenzhiling oral solution using near infrared spectroscopy(NIRS).The contents of five components detemined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) were used as the reference values, and the NIRS based partial least square regression(PLSR) models were used to monitor the concentrations of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, liquiritin, cinnamic acid and glycyrrhizic acid during the alcohol precipitation process of Shenzhiling oral solution, which were optimized and verified through comparing of different spectral pre-processing and variables selection methods. Determination coefficients(Rcal2 and Rpred2), root mean squares error of prediction (RMSEP), root mean squares error of calibration(RMSEC) and ratiao of performance to deviation(RPD) were applied to evaluate the performance of the models, and the corresponding values were 0.993 3 and 0.997 6, 0.084 9 g•L⁻¹, 0.073 3 g•L⁻¹ and 14.7 for paeoniforin; 0.991 4, 0.992 7, 0.028 1 g•L⁻¹, 0.030 5 g•L⁻¹ and 10.2 for albiforin; 0.955 3, 0.976 1, 0.012 0 g•L⁻¹, 0.012 3 g•L⁻¹ and 5.1 for liquiritin; 0.958 8, 0.990 3, 0.003 89 g•L⁻¹, 0.002 89 g•L⁻¹ and 7.1 for cinnamic acid; 0.982 0, 0.986 3, 0.053 8 g•L⁻¹, 0.059 0 g•L⁻¹, 7.2 for glycyrrhizic acid, respectively. The results indicated that the presented approach was effectively for the quantitative monitoring of the alcohol precipitation process of Shenzhiling oral solution.

The Fourier transform infrared spectra of the key organs derived from Kidney (Shen)-yang deficiency syndrome mice / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore an approach to rapidly and accurately identify the compounds as biomarkers of Chinese medicine (CM) syndromes.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry was applied to investigate the characteristic components of a mice model of Kidney (Shen)-yang deficiency syndrome (KDS), and the remedial effect of a typical CM formula Shenqi Pill (). Thirty-six females and 18 males of Balb/c mice were randomly divided into KDS, Shenqi or control group. The females and males of the same group freely were mated for 96 h, and the males were taken out and only the female mice were raised. Females of the KDS group were threatened by a ferocious cat every other day for 14 d. After delivery, the KDS, or gestational threatened, offspring were raised at standard condition for 11 weeks. Then 10 male offspring were randomly selected, anaesthetized and their representative organs, i.e. testes, kidneys, lungs and feet were collected, for the FT-IR scan. Mice of the Shenqi group were intragastric administered Shenqi Pill; while mice in the KDS and control groups were given the same volume of saline.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The attenuated birth outcomes of the KDS group were displayed. The remarkable FT-IR differences of all organs between KDS mice and healthy control were mainly at 1,735-1,745 cm(-1) (indicating the increased levels of lipids) and at 1,640-1,647 cm(-1) and 1,539-1,544 cm(-1) (displaying the decreased proteins). No statistic FT-IR difference between Shenqi and control mice was observed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In accordance with major traits of KDS, prenatal stress extensively impaired the building up of proteins and resulting in the excessive lipid storage, and FT-IR could effectively identify the biomarkers of KDS.</p>

Preparation of recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis ESAT6-PPE68 fusion protein / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To construct esat6-ppe68 fusion gene and its prokaryotic expression vector for expression in E. coli.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>With GeneSOEing method, a fusion gene was constructed by splicing esat6 gene and ppe68 gene and cloned into pGEX-4T-1 plasmid to construct the recombinant prokaryotic expression plasmid pGesat6-ppe68. After identification with restriction enzyme analysis, PCR and nucleotide sequencing analysis of the plasmid, E. coli BL21 was transformed with the recombinant plasmid and induced with IPTG to obtain the expression of the fusion protein ESAT6-PPE68 with GST-tag (about 69 kD), which were purified with GST-fusion protein purification kit. The expression of esat6-ppe68 fusion gene was subsequently detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sequence of esat6 and ppe68 in the recombinant plasmid was consistent with that in GenBank report. The fusion protein was detected in the cytoplasm in soluble form and represented approximately 40% of the total bacterial protein of E. coli. After purification, the purity of the fusion protein reached 90%, and its antigenicity was confirmed by Western blotting.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The prokaryotic expression vector pGesat6-ppe68 has been constructed and the fusion protein ESAT6-PPE68 obtained successfully, which provides an experimental basis for potential application of the recombinant ESAT6-PPE68 in the diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>