The protective effect of L-Shikonin on LPS/D-GalN-induced acute liver injury in mice via inhibiting NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of L-Shikonin ( SK ) on lipopolysaccharide ( LPS)-induced RAW 264. 7 macrophages in vitro and its protective effect on LPS/D-GalN-induced acute liver injury. Methods The mouse model of acute liver in¬jury was established in vivo experiments by LPS/D- GalN. The survival rate of the mice and the changes of liver and spleen indices in each group were examined. The levels of AST, ALT and AKP in serum and NO, superoxide dismutase ( SOD ) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver tissue homogenate were measured, and the histopathological sections of the liver of each group were observed by H&E staining. M I T colorimet- ric assay was used for cell viability in vitro experi¬ments, Griess method for the detection of NO content, RT-PCR assay and Western blot assay for examining the effect of levulinic acid on the expression levels of mRNA and related pathway proteins of pro-inflammato¬ry factors in LPS-induced RAW264. 7 cells. Results The results of in vivo experiments showed that L-SK significantly improved the liver and spleen indices, de¬creased AST, ALT and AKP levels in serum, de¬creased NO and MDA in liver homogenate, and in¬creased SOD activity in mice with acute liver injury. The results of in vitro experiments showed that L-SK significantly inhibited the mRNA expression of INOS, COX2, I FN-(3 and pro-inflammatory factors 1L-6, TNF-a and IL-10 in LPS-induced RAW264. 7 cells, and significantly inhibited the protein expression of IN¬OS, COX2 and the NF-kB signaling pathway. Conclu¬sions L-SK has good anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-induced inflammation in RAW 264. 7 cells in vitro. Il inhibits the protein expression of phosphorylated P65 and IKKaαβ in the NF-kB signaling pathway, thereby suppressing the anti-inflammatory effects in vitro and L- Shikonin has protective effects against acute liver injury in mice.

Docetaxel and fluorouracil as first-line therapy for gastric cancer with bone marrow metastasis and disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Gastric cancer with bone marrow metastasis and disseminated intravascular coagulation constitutes a highly aggressive gastric cancer subtype which presents a peculiar biological behavior and very poor prognosis. Retrospective studies have shown chemotherapy could prolong survival, but a prospective trial is still unavailable. This study is the first prospective clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer patients with bone marrow metastasis.

Highly aggressive gastric cancer is a special subtype gastric cancer with highly aggressive biological behavior and very poor prognosis. This is a multicenter phase II clinical trial. Infusional fluorouracil of 200 mg/m² on days 1­21 with docetaxel 25 mg/m² on days 1, 8 and 15 will be administered as the first-line therapy to highly aggressive gastric cancer with platelet lower than 50 × 10⁹/l, every 4 weeks. The primary end point is the hematological response rate, which is defined as the percentage of participants whose platelet count restores to normal range. The secondary end points are time to hematological response, 1-month mortality, overall survival, toxicity and quality of life. This study will provide high-level evidence to guide clinical practice for highly aggressive gastric cancer. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT04547153 (ClinicalTrials.gov).

Light-controlled versatile manipulation of liquid metal droplets: a gateway to future liquid robots.

The controlled actuation of liquid metal (LM) droplets has recently shown great potential in developing smart actuating systems for applications in robotics. However, there is a lack of a simple approach for the precise manipulation of multiple LM droplets in a 2D plane, which hinders the development of complex control over droplets for realizing useful robotic applications. To overcome this challenge, here, a versatile and powerful light-induced manipulation of LM droplets is presented. The key principle is to selectively activate phototransistors in an electrolyte using infrared laser beams to electrically control LM droplets via Marangoni forces. This approach shows the ability of inducing concurrent motion, splitting, and merging of multiple LM droplets simply using light without complex and bulky systems. Parameters affecting the manipulation of LM droplets are thoroughly investigated. Moreover, a vehicle carrier driven by wheels composed of multiple LM droplets for making a light-controlled relay is demonstrated. We believe such a light-induced control method for manipulating LM droplets has the potential for advancing the development of future field-programmable robotics and droplet-based soft collaborative robots.

A Liquid Metal Artificial Muscle.

Artificial muscles possess a vast potential in accelerating the development of robotics, exoskeletons, and prosthetics. Although a variety of emerging actuator technologies are reported, they suffer from several issues, such as high driving voltages, large hysteresis, and water intolerance. Here, a liquid metal artificial muscle (LMAM) is demonstrated, based on the electrochemically tunable interfacial tension of liquid metal to mimic the contraction and extension of muscles. The LMAM can work in different solutions with a wide range of pH (0-14), generating actuation strains of up to 87% at a maximum extension speed of 15 mm s-1 . More importantly, the LMAM only needs a very low driving voltage of 0.5 V. The actuating components of the LMAM are completely built from liquids, which avoids mechanical fatigue and provides actuator linkages without mechanical constraints to movement. The LMAM is used for developing several proof-of-concept applications, including controlled displays, cargo deliveries, and reconfigurable optical reflectors. The simplicity, versatility, and efficiency of the LMAM are further demonstrated by using it to actuate the caudal fin of an untethered bionic robotic fish. The presented LMAM has the potential to extend the performance space of soft actuators for applications from engineering fields to biomedical applications.

Mechanism of Hematopoietic Reconstruction in Mice Treated with Danggui Buxue Decoction combined with Muscle-Derived Stem Cell Transplantation / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the mechanism of hematopoietic reconstruction in mice treated with Danggui Buxue Decoction (DBD) combined with the muscle-derived stem cell transplantation (MDSCT).@*METHODS@#Female Kunming mice were randomly divided into the 6 groups: irradiation model, the bone marrow transplantation, the MDSC transplantation, the DBD 1 (4.5 g/kg), 2 (13.5 g/kg), and 3 (22.5 g/kg) + MDSC transplantation. After a week of oral administration of normal saline or different doses of DBD, The mice were exposied to 8 Gy Cs γ ray and were followed by bone marrow or MDSC transplantation. The expression levels of Notch1, Jagged1 and Hes1 in bone marrow, thymus and spleen were measured at 3 and 8 weeks after irradiation and transplantation.@*RESULTS@#In the bone marrow, 3 weeks after above-mentioned treatment, the expression of Notch1 mRNA increased obviously and the expression of Jagged1, Hes1 mRNA decreased obviously in each intervention group, compared with the irradiation model group. 8th week after treatment, the expression of Notch1 mRNA decreased obviously in each intervention group, the Jagged1 mRNA expression decreased obviously except the bone marrow group, and Hes1 mRNA expression increased (P＜0.05) in each intervention group. 3 weeks after treatment, compared with the irradiation model group, the expression of Notch1 mRNA in the thymocytes increased only in DBD1+MDSC group, Jagged1, Hes1 mRNA was increased in the MDSC transplantation group and the DBD1、2+MDSC group. 8th week after treatment, the expression of Notch1, Jagged1 mRNA expression decreased in each intervention group, the expression of Hes1 mRNA increased obviously in the MDSC transplantation group and the DBD1、2+MDSC group (P＜0.05). In the spleen, 3 weeks after treatment, the expression of Notch1, Jagged1 mRNA in the spleen of each intervention group decreased obviously, compared with the irradiation model group. The expression of Jagged1, Hes1 mRNA in each intervention group were increased obviously 8th week after treatment (P＜0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#MDSC transplantation after pretreatment of DBD can improve the hematopoietic reconstitution in mice with lethal dose radiation damage. Notch1、Jagged1 and Hes1 play different roles in this process, but the concrete mechanism needs to be further studied.

Fire acupuncture for mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis: a protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial.

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most common bone and joint diseases. As one of the main non-drug therapies, acupuncture is widely used to treat KOA, although the evidence for its efficacy is inconclusive. The objective of this pilot trial is to clarify the clinical efficacy and safety of fire acupuncture in the treatment of mild to moderate KOA and to provide high-quality data for further research. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a prospective randomized controlled pilot trial in which 120 patients with mild to moderate KOA will be randomly allocated in equal proportions to a fire acupuncture group or a general acupuncture group. They will receive acupuncture for six sessions over 2 weeks. The primary end point is success rate, which will be calculated based on the change from baseline of the pain and function scores in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index at 4 weeks. Secondary end points include the proportion of patients achieving clinical improvement based on: (1) the OMERACT-OARSI responder criteria, (2) levels of matrix metalloproteinase 3, interleukin 1ß, and tumor necrosis factor α in blood, and (3) a subjective efficacy evaluation from patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800019162. Registered on 29 October 2018.

Effect of combined treatment with supercritical CO2 and rosemary on microbiological and physicochemical properties of ground pork stored at 4°C.

The effect of combined treatment with supercritical CO2 (2000psi, 35°C for 2h) and rosemary powder (2.5% and 5.0% (w/w)) on microbiological and physicochemical properties of ground pork stored at 4°C was investigated. The changes in total viable count, pH, total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), lipid oxidation and instrumental color (CIE L⁎, a⁎, b⁎) were analyzed during a week period of refrigerated storage. It was found that microbial populations were reduced by supercritical CO2 treatment, with the more pronounced effect being achieved by combined treatment with supercritical CO2 and 5.0g rosemary powder/100g meat. Supercritical CO2 treatment for 2h could accelerate lipid oxidation of ground pork during refrigerated storage, whereas combination with rosemary can significantly slow down the increase of oxidation rate. Combined treatment of supercritical CO2 and rosemary significantly increased L⁎ and b⁎ values of the ground pork, while the a⁎, pH and TVB-N value were not affected as compared to the treatment with supercritical CO2 alone. The results of this study indicate that combined treatment of supercritical CO2 and rosemary may be useful in the meat industry to enhance the storage stability of ground pork treated with long time exposure of supercritical CO2 during refrigerated storage.

The application of Lapatinib in breast cancer and its mechanism of drug resistance / 实用肿瘤学杂志

With development of molecular biology,breast cancer has entered an era of molecular classifi-cation,thus making biomarker based personalized medicine is the trend of breast cancer treatment.HER2-posi-tive breast cancer of high invasiveness and bad prognosis accounts for 20%~30%.Targeting HER2,trastuzumab is the first humanized monoclonal antibody which can improve the prognosis of HER2-positive patients and it is recommended by guidelines and expert consensus at home and abroad for anti-HER2 therapy in any stage.How-ever,the cardiotoxicity,de novo resistance and acquired resistance of trastuzumab make the clinician to explore the second line anti-HER2 therapy.Lapatinib is the first FDA approved and HER1,HER2 double-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor which can be a better choice after failure with trastuzumab.This article reviews the appli-cation,some clinical and mechanism of drug resistance researches of Lapatinib.

Investigation of a compound, compatibility of Rhodiola crenulata, Cordyceps militaris, and Rheum palmatum on metabolic syndrome treatment III--controlling blood glucose / 中国中药杂志

Base on the improvement of compound FF16, compatibility of Rhodiola crenulata, Cordyceps militaris, and Rheum palmatum, on both insulin resistance and obesity, its effects on type 2 diabetes (T2DM ) was investigated here. The results showed that the levels of fasting and no-fasting blood glucose were controlled in the spontaneous type 2 diabetes KKAy mice; the impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)was improved by decreasing significantly the values of the glucose peaks and the area under the blood glucose-time curve (AUC ) after glucose-loading in glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in both high-fat-diet-induced pre-diabetes IRF mice and KKAy mice, respectively. The pancreatic histopathological analysis showed that the increased islet amount, the enlarged islet area, and the lipid accumulation in the pancreas were reversed by FF16 treatment in both IRF mice and KKAy mice. In the palmitate-induced RINm5f cell model, FF16 could effectively reduce the apoptosis and enhance the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, respectively. In conclusion, FF16 could improve the T2DM by protecting the pancreatic beta-cells.

Investigation on occurrence of lycium pests and their natural enemies / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To Provide the scientific basis for controlling the lycium pests.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The kinds and number of pests and their natural enemies were investigated at regular intervals and on the fixed trees.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>There are 13 kinds of lycium pests and 17 kinds of natural enemies, the occurrence of which are closely related.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Natural enemies can control aphids and psyllidae effectively, but ten-spotted lema and Epithrix sp. must be controlled by pesticides.</p>