[Interaction between homologous functional food Astragali Radix and intestinal flora].

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is the treasure of our culture, and TCM theory is the core of traditional Chinese medicine. Many of its concepts can be unified and balanced with modern functional food ideas. Even in ancient days, people had already found that medicine and food have the same source. Nowadays, homology between drug and food has been accepted widely. Astragali Radix and some other herbs have been used both as food and medicine, with a variety of bio-active substances, so such herbs can be used as characteristics resources to be developed into functional food. It's a combination of traditional medicine and modern ideas. Flavonoids, polysaccharides and saponins, the main compositions of Astragali Radix, can keep intestinal microenvironment homeostasis and human health by influencing the population structure, metabolism and intestinal cell function of intestinal flora. On the other hand, intestinal flora is also involved in the absorption, metabolism, transformation and other steps of these active ingredients in the body, which has an impact on their effectiveness and improves their bioavailability, playing an essential role in the relevant mechanism of their effectiveness. In this paper, we summarize the interaction between the above three functional ingredients in Astragali Radix and intestinal flora, sum up the interaction between these three functional ingredients of other homologous drugs and intestinal flora, provide a theoretical basis for the mechanism and application of functional food materials, and propose some suggestions and prospects for their future development.

Preliminary success in the characterization and management of a sudden breakout of a novel H7N9 influenza A virus.

Influenza has always been one of the major threats to human health. The Spanish influenza in 1918, the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 in 2009, and the avian influenza A/H5N1 have brought about great disasters or losses to mankind. More recently, a novel avian influenza A/H7N9 broke out in China and until December 2, 2013, it had caused 139 cases of infection, including 45 deaths. Its risk and pandemic potential attract worldwide attention. In this article, we summarize epidemiology, virology characteristics, clinical symptoms, diagnosis methods, clinical treatment and preventive measures about the avian influenza A/H7N9 virus infection to provide a reference for a possible next wave of flu outbreak.

γδ T cells and their potential for immunotherapy.

Vγ9Vδ2 (also termed Vγ2Vδ2) T cells, a major human peripheral blood γδ T cell subset, recognize microbial (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate and endogenous isopentenyl diphosphate in a TCR-dependent manner. The recognition does not require specific accessory cells, antigen uptake, antigen processing, or MHC class I, class II, or class Ib expression. This subset of T cells plays important roles in mediating innate immunity against a wide variety of infections and displays potent and broad cytotoxic activity against human tumor cells. Because γδT cells express both natural killer receptors such as NKG2D and γδ T cell receptors, they are considered to represent a link between innate and adaptive immunity. In addition, activated γδ T cells express a high level of antigen-presenting cell-related molecules and can present peptide antigens derived from destructed cells to αß T cells. Utilizing these antimicrobial and anti-tumor properties of γδ T cells, preclinical and clinical trials have been conducted to develop novel immunotherapies for infections and malignancies. Here, we review the immunological properties of γδ T cells including the underlying recognition mechanism of nonpeptitde antigens and summarize the results of γδ T cell-based therapies so far performed. Based on the results of the reported trials, γδ T cells appear to be a promising tool for novel immunotherapies against certain types of diseases.

Clinical grade iPS cells: need for versatile small molecules and optimal cell sources.

Adult mammals possess limited ability to regenerate their lost tissues or organs. The epoch-making strategy of inducing pluripotency in somatic cells incorporates multiple applications in regenerative medicine. However, concerns about the clinical translation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells still exist because of the occurrence of aberrancies, even in genome integration-free methods. As cellular reprogramming is multi-gene-oriented, versatile, bioactive small molecules could concomitantly modulate the transcriptional machinery and aid the generation of clinical grade iPS cells. The availability of optimal cell sources has additional influence on the clinical translation of iPS cells. Herein we provide a critical overview of methods and cell sources available for iPS cell production. We think the review will be a useful resource for researchers who aim to develop small molecules for speeding up the journey of iPS cells from the laboratory to the clinic.

Risk factors and primary prevention trials for type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic autoimmune disease resulting in the designated immune destruction of insulin producing ß-cells, usually diagnosed in youth, and associated with important psychological, familial, and social disorders. Once diagnosed, patients need lifelong insulin treatment and will experience multiple disease-associated complications. There is no cure for T1DM currently. The last decade has witnessed great progress in elucidating the causes and treatment of the disease based on numerous researches both in rodent models of spontaneous diabetes and in humans. This article summarises our current understanding of the pathogenesis of T1DM, the roles of the immune system, genes, environment and other factors in the continuing and rapid increase in T1DM incidence at younger ages in humans. In addition, we discuss the strategies for primary and secondary prevention trials of T1DM. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of this disorder's pathogenesis, risk factors that cause the disease, as well as to bring forward an ideal approach to prevent and cure the disorder.

[Expression of survivin, caspase-3 in oral precancerous lesions and oral squamous-cell carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the roles of surviving and caspase-3 in the development of oral cancer. METHODS: Archival tissue sections of 17 oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), 28 oral leukoplakia with dysplasia, 10 normal oral mucosa were obtained from Capital Medical University School of Stomatology for immunohistochemical staining of markers of survivin and caspase-3. The cell apoptosis was detected with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nucleotide shift enzyme (TdT) mediated d-UTP end labeling (TUNEL). Positively stained cells were counted and analyzed statistically to determine potential relationship between survivin, caspase-3 and cell apoptosis. RESULTS: The expression of survivin was faint or negative in normal epithelial cells. The average positive rate of survivin was (1.05 ± 1.21)% in control group and (21.89 ± 10.45)% in OSCC. Caspase-3 was expressed in all the normal mucosa,but it obviously down-regulated in dysplasia and OSCC. The apoptosis index (AI) decreased from (0.89 ± 0.46)% in normal mucosa to (0.21 ± 0.12)% in OSCC. CONCLUSIONS: Both survivin and caspase-3 are associated with carcinogenesis of the oral mucosa. Survivin may restrain cell apoptosis by inhibiting caspase-3.

The arterial supply of the eye of the yak (Bos Grunniens).

The heads and necks of 10 yaks were dissected to study the arterial supply to the eye of the yak in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The supply came from the internal ophthalmic, external eight ophthalmic, superficial temporal and malar arteries. The internal ophthalmic was one of sources of the posterior long ciliary artery. The external ophthalmic artery gave rise to branches to supply the dorsal oblique muscle and otherwise, and to take part in the formation of the ophthalmic rete mirabile. The ophthalmic rete mirabile gave off many branches to supply the rectus muscles of the eye and otherwise. The malar artery was one of the branches derived from the infraorbital artery, and its branches supplied the inferior, superior and third eyelids and otherwise. The superficial temporal artery detached off some branches to supply the lateral angle of the eye and otherwise, and anastomosed with the lacrimal artery of the ophthalmic rete mirabile.

The cranial cervical ganglion and its branches in the yak (Bos grunniens).

The heads and necks of 10 yaks were dissected to study the shape, location, arrangement, and branches of the cranial cervical ganglion. The ganglion was a greyish fusiform structure, mean length 19.72 mm, width 7.65 mm and depth 4.55 mm, located on the rostrolateral surface of the m. longus capitis. Approximately 25% of the ganglion was covered by the tympanic bulla, the rest by the m. stylohyoideus. The branches of the cranial cervical ganglion included the internal and external carotid nerves, sympathetic trunk and the branches connecting with the glossopharyngeal, vagus and hypoglossal nerves. In one animal the right cranial cervical ganglia was a greyish pyramidal structure 10 mm long, 8 mm wide and 5 mm thick but the left ganglion was similar to those found in the other specimens examined.