Efficacy and safety of AnluoHuaxian pills on chronic hepatitis B with normal or minimally elevated alanine transaminase and early liver fibrosis: A randomized controlled trial.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The AnluoHuaxian pill (AHP) is a widely used patented medicine for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis that has been used in China for more than 15 years. However, data are lacking on whether monotherapy with AHP can be effective in CHB patients with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels less than 2 times the upper limit of normal (ALT<2ULN) and early liver fibrosis (F ≤ 2). AIM OF THE STUDY: We aimed to investigate whether monotherapy with AHP improves liver histology in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 270 CHB patients with ALT<2ULN and F ≤ 2 were treated in 12 hospitals in China. The patients were randomly assigned to an intervention (AHP) group and a placebo group at a ratio of 2:1. Of these 270 enrolled patients, 147 had paired liver biopsies. The primary end point was histological change after 48 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: Per-protocol analysis revealed that the rate of histologic improvement in liver fibrosis patients in the AHP group was significantly higher than that in the placebo group (37.7% vs. 19.5%, P = 0.035) after 48 weeks of treatment, which was consistent with results from intention-to-treat and sensitivity analyses. Moreover, after adjusting for baseline characteristics, AHP was superior to placebo with respect to improving liver fibrosis (odds ratio [OR] = 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: (1.01, 6.63),P = 0.049) and liver histology (OR = 3.62, 95% CI: (1.42, 9.20),P = 0.007). In noninvasive measurement of liver fibrosis (FibroScan®), the level of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) had decreased significantly at 48 weeks (5.1 kPa) compared with that at baseline (5.7 kPa) (P = 0.008) in the AHP group, whereas it did not decrease significantly in the placebo group. Cirrhosis developed in one patient in the placebo group but in no patients in the AHP group. No serious side effects occurred in the AHP-treated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of CHB patients who had ALT<2ULN and F ≤ 2 with the traditional Chinese medicine AHP for 48 weeks improves liver fibrosis. However, due to the short duration of treatment and the limited sample size of liver pathology, the long-term benefits of AHP in reducing fibrosis and the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in these patients need to be further studied in the future.

Probing intramolecular vibronic coupling through vibronic-state imaging.

Vibronic coupling is a central issue in molecular spectroscopy. Here we investigate vibronic coupling within a single pentacene molecule in real space by imaging the spatial distribution of single-molecule electroluminescence via highly localized excitation of tunneling electrons in a controlled plasmonic junction. The observed two-spot orientation for certain vibronic-state imaging is found to be evidently different from the purely electronic 0-0 transition, rotated by 90°, which reflects the change in the transition dipole orientation from along the molecular short axis to the long axis. Such a change reveals the occurrence of strong vibronic coupling associated with a large Herzberg-Teller contribution, going beyond the conventional Franck-Condon picture. The emergence of large vibration-induced transition charges oscillating along the long axis is found to originate from the strong dynamic perturbation of the anti-symmetric vibration on those carbon atoms with large transition density populations during electronic transitions.

Protocol of a prospective study for the combination treatment of Shu-Gan-jian-Pi decoction and steroid standard therapy in autoimmune hepatitis patients.

BACKGROUND: Prednisone plus azathioprine is considered the mainstay of therapy in the current recommendations for autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). However, it does not provide good benefits for AIH patients because of its serious side effects. Therefore, more and more AIH patients prefer to seek for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to manage their symptoms and reduce the side effects of steroids in China. Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction is a popular used Chinese herbal formula in Guangdong province of China, which has demonstrated the effect of improving efficacy and reducing side effects of corticosteroids in AIH patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction combined with steroid in AIH patients. So, this study aims to explore whether the combination treatment of Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction and steroid standard therapy could improve the clinical management of AIH. METHODS: A prospective non-randomized study on AIH will be conducted between October 2015 and June 2017 in Guangdong Provincial hospital of Chinese medicine. Eligible AIH patients will be classified as the case group (n = 66) and the control group (n = 66) based on the interventions. Patients taking Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction combined with prednisone and azathioprine will be in the case group and those taking prednisone and azathioprine will be in the control group. The whole study will last 48 weeks, including a 24-week observation period and a 24-week follow-up period. The primary outcome was complete response to therapy, defined as complete biochemical remission at the patient's last visit of observation period and the absence of predefined steroid-specific side effects throughout treatment. DISCUSSION: This trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction combined with prednisone and azathioprine on AIH patients. The achievement of this trial will provide evidence-based data for Shu-Gan-Jian-Pi Decoction, which could provide good benefits for AIH patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-OOC-15006155 . Registration date: 28 March 2015.

[Evaluation of Chai Shao Liu Jun Tang for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of Chai Shao Liu Jun Tang in combination with Lamivudine for the treatment chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. METHODS: 405 CHB patients in Guangdong Provincial Hospital were randomly divided into 2 groups, 220 in the treated group, and 185 in the control group. The control group was treated with Lamivudine for 18 months. The treated group was treated with Lamivudine in combination with Chai Shao Liu Jun Tang for 18months. At the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th and 18th month during the treatment, the clinical symptoms, ALT normalization rate, HBeAg seroconversion rate, the proportion of patients with undetectable serum HBV DNA, and YMDD mutation rate were observed. RESULTS: ALT normalization rates at the 3rd, 6th, 12th, 18th month of the treatment group (69.5%, 85.9%, 90.5%, 82.7%) were higher than those in the control group (50.3%, 65.4%, 78.4%, 69.7%; P < 0.01). HBeAg seroconversion rate, rate of HBV DNA undetectable, and YMDD mutation rate at he 12th and18th month are 77.7%, 57.7%, 25.5%, 6.8%; 86.8%, 74.1%, 33.2%, 8.6% in the treatment group, and 54.6%, 36.8%, 13.0%, 14.6%; 69.2%, 37.3%, 19.5%, 20.5% in the control group (P < 0.01, or P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared to lamivudine alone, Cai Shao Liu Ju Tang in combination with lamivudine is more effective and induces less YMDD mutation rate in CHB patients.

[Feature abstraction and spectral reconstruction of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of oil in water].

In the present paper, spectral reconstruction of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of oil was studied based on singular value division (SVD) of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM). Depending on oil components, three-dimensional (3-D) fluorescence spectra of oils can be seen as their "fingerprints". Feature abstraction and selection of 3-D fluorescence spectra is important to oil identification. Statistic parameters such as the average, standard error, centroid, kurtosis, geometrical distribution as well as main-shaft slope selected, forming "apparent statistic feature" vector of 3-D fluorescence spectra of oils, are limited due to their roughness. And the apparent statistic feature vector can not support spectral reconstruction reversely. In this paper, with singular-value features abstracted from EEMs composing the feature chain, reversal spectral reconstruction can be realized, and its information loss can be estimated. In other words, a pan-gene series of 3-D fluorescence spectra consists of singular values and their corresponding accompanying vectors. By SVD operation on EEMs of dozens of oil samples in water, their singular values accompanied with corresponding vectors were calculated showing obviously gathering energy distribution. With singular values being properly cut, principal feature parameters were selected and combined with their accompanying vectors composing the pan-gene series (or singular-value pan-gene chain) and spectral reconstruction was reversely completed. A couple of spectra (original and reconstructed) of diesel as the typical oil in water were presented for comparison. It can be seen that there is no obvious difference between the reconstructed and original spectra. Certainly, information loss exists but in an scheduled extent. It is shown that the singular-value features of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) represent spectral gathering energy, and the length-limited pan-gene chain has the ability to reconstruct three-dimensional fluorescence spectra. Practically, for common kinds of mineral oils such as crude, diesel, kerosene and lubricant, the preceding three principal parameters are enough to complete spectral reconstruction and oil identification, with every singular value being followed by its right accompanying vector respectively. This is meaningful for recognition of contaminating oil in water, and important to construct oil fluorescence database.