Homogenate-assisted high-pressure disruption extraction for determination of phenolic acids in Lonicerae Japonicae Flos.

An effective method based on the combined homogenate-assisted high-pressure disruption extraction (HHPDE) was applied to the extraction and determination of the main phenolic acid compounds from Lonicerae Japonicae Flos. The optimized HHPDE showed competitive advantage in yield (The extraction yields of NCA, CA, 3,5DCA and 4,5DCA in HHPDE were 1.21, 1.08, 1.06 and 1.17 fold higher than those in UAE), time-saving (<5 min) and relative low temperature requirement (4-16 °C) compared to HRE and UAE. Furthermore, the HHPDE method behaved a good repeatability and reproducibility according to the HPLC. The mentioned HHPDE method is firstly applied in the extraction and quantification of neochlorogenic acid chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid in Lonicerae Japonicae Flos. This work provided an excellent alternative for the extraction and quantification of thermosensitive from plants.

Qualitative and Quantitative Characterization of Monosaccharide Components of Salvia miltiorrhiza, Liguspyragine Hydrochloride, and Glucose Injection.

Salvia miltiorrhiza, liguspyragine hydrochloride, and glucose injection (SLGI) was made of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., liguspyragine hydrochloride, glucose, and glycerin. There were many kinds of monosaccharide components in SLGI, which might be from the raw material and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. Separation was performed on a Phenomenex Luna C18 analytical column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm, AccuStandard Inc., USA) at 30°C. The mobile phase consisted of two solvents: 0.1 mol/L phosphate-buffered saline (pH 6.7) (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B) with gradient elution. The flow rate was maintained at 1.0 mL/min. Five kinds of monosaccharide components, glucose, D-mannose, L-rhamnose monohydrate, galactose, and xylose, were detected by precolumn derivatization HPLC, and their contents were compared with each other. And finally, concentrations of glucose in SLGI were determined and they were higher than the values of marked amount, which showed that one source of glucose might be from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge. in SLGI. The average concentration of glucose was 5.18 g/100 mL, which was near the average value at 5.25 g/100 mL detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometry and also close to the marked amount (5.00 g/100 mL) on the label.

[Comprehension and recognition of acute exacerbation among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to gain insight of comprehension and recognition on the exacerbations and related factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), so as to provide evidence for treatment on acute exacerbations of COPD(AECOPD). METHODS: A cross-sectional, interview-based survey was carried. Pulmonary function tests were conducted in patients with COPD between January and December 2010 in Guangzhou. RESULTS: 1) Questionnaires on 911 COPD patients were available, with a efficient rate as 94.6% (911/963)including 738 men (81.0%)and 173 women(19.0%), with mean age as 69.2 years old (± 9.1 years). Patients with COPD were 31(3.4%), 363 (39.8%), 340(37.3%)and 177(19.4%)at stages I , II, III, IV respectively, with 60.8% (554/911)were exacerbation. The mean index for smoking was 45.6 pack/year(±25.0). 2)Only 573 patients were aware of COPD and 50.4% (459/911)patients had never heard of AECOPD. Among 452 patients who had heard of AECOPD, 87.2%, 59.1%, 30.5% and 33.4% of them viewed that the exacerbation of COPD were mainly characterized as:increasing status on short of breath, increasing amount on sputum, purulent sputum or coughing. When exacerbation occurred, 87.6% of the patients would recognize the signs, with 75.4% of the patients would go to the outpatient clinic. The mean VAS scores on the occurrence of next exacerbations were 37.9(±19.7). 3)753 (82.7%) patients had been tested for pulmonary function, but only 30.5% of them were aware of the results. 523(69.5%)patients were previously diagnosed with COPD, with an average course of 7 years. Among the 452 patients who had heard of AECOPD before the onset of disease, the mean time of exacerbation in the past 1 year was 4.3, and the mean time of ending up at either outpatient or inpatient medical settings was 4.8. The average duration of exacerbation and time of recovery was 1.84 and 3.09 weeks. Duration of stable state between the 2 exacerbation episodes was 13.17 weeks. 4)Among 911 patients, only 10.3% of them were aware of the worsening condition. 21.0% recognized of the greater susceptibility to the disease and 58.4% believed that their health gradually deteriorating. More seen among patients under exacerbation than those who were stable. Among 452 patients who had heard of AECOPD before, most of them(83.2%)thought that exacerbation affected their working condition and daily activities, while up to 91.6% of them thought that their social events were also negatively affected. Exacerbation also caused negative emotions as depression, anxiety, and anger. 5)After adjusted for age, occupation, smoking status and index, factors as:sex, education level, economic situation, and stage of COPD were found affecting the AECOPD cognitive, from data under multivariate logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Patients with COPD were poor on the awareness of AECOPD, particularly among patients with low income, low education levels, low income or at low COPD stage.

Steaming-induced chemical transformations and holistic quality assessment of red ginseng derived from Panax ginseng by means of HPLC-ESI-MS/MS(n)-based multicomponent quantification fingerprint.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the steaming-induced chemical transformation of red ginseng manufactured from fresh ginseng by means of simultaneous quantitative and qualitative analyses with a combinative high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS(n)) technique. Thirty-six ginsenosides were identified in red ginseng and white ginseng by comparing the mass spectrum and/or matching the empirical molecular formula with that of known published compounds, and 11 of them were determined to be newly generated during the red ginseng preparatory process. The mechanisms involved were further deduced to be hydrolysis, dehydration, isomerization, and decarboxylation at C-20, and hydrolysis also occurs at C-3 or C-6 of the original ginsenosides through the mimic process of steaming and heating in laboratory. The multicomponent quantification fingerprint of ginseng was also established by HPLC-UV method, and the contents of 12 ginsenosides in red and white ginsengs from different sources were determined simultaneously. The ratio of the total content of determined malonyl ginsenosides to the corresponding neutral ginsenosides (T(m-PPD)/T(PPD)) in white ginseng ranged from 0.46 to 0.62 and from 0 to 0.19 in red ginseng. The validated method is expected to provide an effective approach to standardize the processing procedures of ginseng products and regulate the usage of ginseng in Traditional Chinese Medical prescription.

[A novel online process monitoring method based on near infrared spectroscopy and its application to the column chromatographic separation for traditional Chinese medicine].

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a process analysis and monitoring tool with many advantages, while it needs to set up quantitative or discriminative calibration models in advance, and needs to adjust these models when the process conditions are varied, which makes it difficult for ordinary user to take its full advantage of it. To tackle this problem, this paper presented a novel, simple and model-free methodology for online process monitoring based on two reciprocal viewpoints of measuring the variability of spectroscopy-both the similarity and dissimilarity of process spectrum, i.e., the adaptive moving window standard deviation function(AMWSW) and similarity function(S). The methodology was validated by a column chromatography process of traditional Chinese medicine using near infrared spectroscopy. The online trend curves of AMWSW and S obtained by proposed method were validated by a comparison with the content variation curves of multiple indicative components analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and these trend curves demonstrated their potential for real-time process status monitoring, accurately determining the beginning point, the peak point, the end point of the elution, and the phase change from water solution to ethanol solution. The proposed methodology can also be used to other process analysis techniques, such as ultraviolet/visible, infrared, Raman, fluorescence, chromatograph and mass spectrum.

[Investigation on quality of spirometry in 36 large hospitals in China].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the current status of quality control of spirometry reports in China. METHODS: Spirometry case reports from January 2008 to October 2008 were collected from pulmonary function testing laboratories in 36 large hospitals (provincial or municipal) in China. The quality analysis was performed according to ATS/ERS standardization for measurement of spirometry. The number of reports that met the criteria for quality control was expressed as percentages. RESULTS: A total of 345 spirometry test reports were collected. 82.5% (282/342) met the start-of-test criteria for quality control. 333 reports could be analyzed for free of artifacts, of which 65.8% (219/333) were consistent with the criteria of smooth expiration; the remaining reports (114) failed to meet the criteria, for reasons including cough (29/333, 8.7%), premature glottis closure (8/333, 2.4%), gas leakage (29/333, 8.7%), early termination of expiration (26/333, 7.8%), mouthpiece obstruction (6/333, 1.8%), and incomplete exertion of efforts (49/333, 14.7%). 235 reports were analyzed for end-of-test criteria, with 50.6% (119/235) complying to criteria. 22.6% (78/345) of the reports were tested for more than 3 times, among which 65 reports with the data of each manoeuvre could be analyzed for repeatability. 95.4% (62/65) of the reports met the repeatability criteria, which accounted for 18.0%(62/345)of the total reports collected. The rate of the 2 highest FVC (forced vital capacity) and FEV(1) (forced expiratory volume in one second) of less than 150 ml was 95.4% (62/65) and 100.0% (65/65), respectively. The rate of the 2 highest FVC and FEV(1) of less than 100 ml was 92.3% (60/65) and 87.7% (57/65), respectively. Only 7.2% of the reports (25/345) met all of the 4 criteria listed above. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of spirometry tests in large (provincial or municipal) hospitals in China needs to be improved in the future.