Clinical Efficacy of Tiandan Tongluo Capsule Against Cerebral Infarction in Convalescence Corresponding to Stoke Due to Wind-Phlegm-Static Blood Obstructing Vessels / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Tiandan Tongluo capsule in the treatment of cerebral infarction （CI） in convalescence （stoke involving meridians and collaterals due to wind-phlegm-static blood obstructing vessels）， with Naoshuantong capsule as a control. Method:A total of 352 convalescent patients with CI differentiated into stoke involving meridians and collaterals due to wind-phlegm-static blood obstructing vessels in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） were included in this multi-center， randomized， double-blind， single-simulated， Naoshuantong capsule-controlled clinical trial， which lasted from 28 December， 2016 to 12 April， 2019. After being randomized into an experimental group and a control group at a ratio of 3∶1， patients in the experimental group were provided with oral Tiandan Tongluo capsule， five capsules per time， three times per day， whereas those in the control group received both Naoshuantong capsule simulator， two capsules per time， three times per day， and Naoshuantong capsule， three capsules per time， three times per day， for 12 successive weeks. The patients were followed up until 180 days after onset. The Barthel activities of daily living （ADL） index （BI） score was used as the primary outcome， and the secondary outcomes included neurological deficit score ［assessed with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale （NIHSS）］， modified Rankin scale （mRS）， TCM syndrome score， and proportion of patients with new vascular events. The changes in laboratory indexes and the incidence of adverse reactions during treatment were observed. Result:Among the 389 cases enrolled， 30 dropped out， with the drop-out rate being 7.71%. There were 374 cases included in the full analysis set and 377 in the safety set. The comparison with the control group revealed that the total BI score and the percentage of BI score ≥ 75 in the experimental group were increased， but the difference was not statistically significant. The percentage of mRS score ≤ 2 within 180 days after onset in the experimental group obviously elevated in contrast to that of the control group （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. As demonstrated by TCM syndrome score analysis， the markedly effective rate in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. During the trial， the incidence rates of new vascular events in the experimental group and the control group were 0.00% and 1.09% （one case）， respectively， exhibiting no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion:Tiandan Tongluo capsule and Naoshuantong capsule both produce definite therapeutic effects in the treatment of CI in convalescence （stoke involving meridians and collaterals due to wind-phlegm-static blood obstructing vessels）. Compared with Naoshuantong capsule， Tiandan Tongluo capsule better alleviates neurological deficit， promotes neural functional recovery， and improves TCM syndrome score， without inducing severe adverse reactions.

Prediction of the RNA Secondary Structure Using a Multi-Population Assisted Quantum Genetic Algorithm.

Quantum-inspired genetic algorithms (QGAs) were recently introduced for the prediction of RNA secondary structures, and they showed some superiority over the existing popular strategies. In this paper, for RNA secondary structure prediction, we introduce a new QGA named multi-population assisted quantum genetic algorithm (MAQGA). In contrast to the existing QGAs, our strategy involves multi-populations which evolve together in a cooperative way in each iteration, and the genetic exchange between various populations is performed by an operator transfer operation. The numerical results show that the performances of existing genetic algorithms (evolutionary algorithms [EAs]), including traditional EAs and QGAs, can be significantly improved by using our approach. Moreover, for RNA sequences with middle-short length, the MAQGA improves even this state-of-the-art software in terms of both prediction accuracy and sensitivity.

Combined effects of 17ß-estradiol and exercise training on cardiac apoptosis in ovariectomized rats.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined 17ß-estradiol (E2) and exercise training on cardiac pro-survival and anti-apoptotic pathways in ovariectomized rats. METHODS: Fifty-six female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a sham-operated (Sham), a bilaterally ovariectomized (OVX), an OVX treated with E2 (OVX-E2; 10µg/kg/day), and an OVX with E2 and treadmill exercise training (OVX-E2-EX; 60 min/day, 5 days/week) for 10 weeks. Following 10 weeks of exercise training, rat hearts were isolated for the evaluation of Histopathological analysis, TUNEL assay, and Western blotting. RESULTS: The protein levels of estrogen receptor α (ERα), estrogen receptor ß (ERß), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R), phospho-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (p-PI3K) (estrogen receptors/IGF-1-related survival pathway) were significantly increased in either the OVX-E2 or OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. The protein levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma-extra-large (Bcl-xL) and phosphorylated-Bad (p-Bad) (Bcl-2 family survival pathway) were significantly increased in the OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. Only the p-Bad was significantly increased in the OVX-E2 group when compared with the OVX group. The protein levels of truncation of Bid (t-Bid), Bcl-2-associated death promotor (Bad), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), Cytochrome c, caspases-9, and caspases-3 (mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway), as well as the protein levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Fas ligand, Fas receptors, Fas-associated death domain (FADD), activated caspase-8 and activated caspase-3 (Fas receptor-dependent apoptotic pathway) were significantly decreased in either the OVX-E2 or OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. Furthermore, when compared with the OVX-E2 group, the protein levels of ERß, IGF-1, IGF-1R, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were further enhanced in the OVX-E2-EX group as well as the protein levels of Cytochrome c, Fas receptors, FADD, activated caspase-8, activated caspase-9 and activated caspase-3 were further decreased in the OVX-EX-E2 group. CONCLUSIONS: Combined E2 and exercise training exhibited a positive effect of protection on ovariectomy-induced cardiac apoptosis by enhancing ERß-related survival pathways, which might provide a more effective therapeutic effect on cardiac protection in bilaterally oophorectomized or menopausal women than E2 treatment only.

Vosaroxin induces mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in cervical cancer HeLa cells: Involvement of AMPK/Sirt3/HIF-1 pathway.

Vosaroxin is a quinolone-derivative anticancer agent with inhibitory activity on type II DNA topoisomerases (TOP2). The aim of the present study was to investigate its cytotoxic effect and potential molecular mechanisms in human cervical cancer HeLa cells. Vosaroxin decreased cell viability and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in a dose- and time-dependent manner in HeLa cells, but not in normal cervical epithelial cells. Vosaroxin also induced apoptosis and increased caspase-3 activity in HeLa cells. These effects were accompanied by increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial swelling and reduced ATP production. Western blot analysis showed that vosaroxin significantly reduced hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) protein levels. However, it had no effect on HIF-1α protein degradation and HIF-1α mRNA levels. The results showed that vosaroxin inhibited the synthesis of HIF-1α protein and interfered with the dimerization of HIF-1α and aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT). In addition, vosaroxin stimulated mitochondrial enzyme activities and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) deacetylation via activating (Sir2 like protein 3) Sirt3. More importantly, vosaroxin-induced inhibition on HIF-1α and its cytotoxic effects, as measured by cell viability, LDH release and apoptosis, were partially prevented by Sirt3 knockdown or the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) inhibitor compound C. Overall, vosaroxin is demonstrated to be a chemotherapeutic agent targeting the Sirt3/HIF-1 pathway and could be beneficial for inducing cytotoxicity in human cervical cancer cells.

[Effects of drought stress and subsequent rewatering on major physiological parameters of spring maize during the key growth periods]. / å ³é”®å‘è‚²æœŸå¹²æ—±åŠå¤æ°´è¿‡ç¨‹å¯¹æ˜¥çŽ‰ç±³ä¸»è¦ç”Ÿç†å‚æ•°çš„å½±å“.

For deeply understanding water consumption characteristics and disaster-causing mechanism of spring maize under drought stress, continuous no-water complementing for 40 days and subsequent rewatering treatments were conducted in jointing (T1) and tasseling (T2) stages of spring maize 'Danyu 39'. In the meantime, leaf and root water potential, main variables associated with photosynthesis including net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conduc-tance (gs), intercellular CO2 concentration(Ci) and stem flow rate (SF) were dynamically observed and the characteristics of their responses to drought and subsequent rehydration were investigated. The results indicated that leaf and root water potential, both presenting logarithm relationships with soil water content, decreased due to suffering from drought stress in different growth stages and the response of the former lagged behind that of the latter. At the same time, the response of leaf (root) water potential to drought stress in tasseling stage was earlier (later) than in jointing stage. For the response of rewatering, leaf water potential for the treatment T1(T2) was (not) able to recover to a certain extent, and could not reach the normal condition, while water potential of root was more responsive and closer to the normal level than that of leaf for the treatment T1. Furthermore, Pn and Tr responded more quickly to the treatment T2 than to the treatment T1. For subsequent rewatering after the treatment T1(T2), both Pn and Tr restored rapidly (slowly) with the former exceeding (returning) and the later being (not) able to reach normal level. Meanwhile, the response of Tr was faster than that of Pn to the treatment T1 and they responded simultaneously to the treatment T2. The response of gs agreed with Pn to drought stress. Change trend of Ci for the treatment T1(T2) was consistent (opposite) with that of Pn. In addition, SFs for various drought treatments and their daily maximums decreased and appeared ahead of time to different extents, respectively. At the same time, the response of SF to drought stress was more sensitive for the treatment T2 than for T1 and on a clear day than on a cloudy day, but the sensibility of SF declined after drought reached a certain level. Besides, SFs for both the treatment T1 and T2 increased as a result of rewatering after drought and the increase for the treatment T1 was larger than that for the treatment T2.

[Maize growth and its responses to heat condition in Northeast China].

Taking 3 maize cultivars (Danyu 39, Yuandan 29, and Longdan 13) as test materials, a field experiment was conducted to study their growth characteristics and responses to air temperature under the conditions of early, medium and late sowing. For the three cultivars, the days from sowing to seedling emergence under early, medium and late sowing were averagely 13, 11 and 8 d, respectively, and the seedling emergence rate was the fastest when the mean air temperature was about 18 degrees C. Higher or lower air temperature would decrease the seedling emergence rate. The test cultivars had less difference in the days from seedling to jointing, which was slightly affected by air temperature. Compared with Danyu 39 and Yuandan 29, the late-maturing Longdan 13 had an increased growth rate from jointing to mature stage, and thus, the days for mature shortened markedly. For all the three maize cultivars, the days from jointing to mature tended to decrease with increasing air temperature. The dry matter accumulation rate in whole growth period, grain yield, and 100-seed mass were in the order of Danyu 39 > Yuandan 29 > Longdan 13.

[Characteristics of heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs of Shenyang and the relationships with urbanization].

The monthly, annual, and inter-decade variations of heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs of Shenyang and their relationships with urbanization were analyzed, based on the air temperature data from 1961 to 2008. It was indicated that the monthly and annual heat island effect was higher in inner suburb than in outer suburb, and decreased from inner suburb to outer suburb. The variation trend of monthly heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs was similar from March to November, but in contrary from December to next February, possibly due to the effects of heating in winter. The annual heat island effect in both inner and outer suburbs had an increasing trend before 2000 but a decreasing trend after 2000, and was significantly positively correlated with the green land area, population, and established construction area before 2000 (P < 0.05), but significantly negatively correlated with them after 2000 (P < 0.05), the correlation degree being 0.43, 0.52, and 0.26, respectively.

[AIDS complicated by Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia: report of 20 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To report our experience in diagnosis and treatment of AIDS complicated by Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), and explore the relations between preventive medication and occurrence as well as recurrence of PCP. METHODS: The clinical characteristics of 20 patients with AIDS complicated by PCP (identified from a cohort of 109 patients with AIDS) treated in our hospital during July 2000 to May 2002 were analyzed. RESULTS: All the 20 cases had fever, 90 % of whom also had cough or expectoration, and chest radiography revealed bilateral interstitial changes in 80 % of the cases. CONCLUSION: It is possible to diagnose PCP by typical clinical findings and chest X-ray, and compound sulfamethoxazole may prove effective for preventing the occurrence of PCP.