Effects of Total Ginsenosides on the Feeding Behavior and Two Enzymes Activities of Mythimna separata (Walker) Larvae

Ginsenosides, the main effective components of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer and Panax quinquefolius L., are important allelochemicals of ginseng. Although many studies have targeted the pharmacological, chemical, and clinical properties of ginsenosides, little is known about their ecological role in ginseng population adaptation and evolution. Pests rarely feed on ginseng, and it is not known why. This study investigated the effects of total ginsenosides on feeding behavior and activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathione s-transferase (GST) in Mythimna separata (Walker) larvae. The results showed that the total ginsenosides had significant antifeeding activity against M. separata larvae, determined by nonselective and selective antifeeding bioassays. In addition, the total ginsenosides had inhibitory effects on the activities of GST and AChE. The antifeeding ratio was the highest at 8 h, then decreased, and was the lowest at 16 h. Both GST and AChE activities decreased from 0 h to 48 h in all total ginsenosides treatments but increased at 72 h. Total ginsenosides had antifeeding activity against M. separata larvae and inhibitory effects on the activities of GST and AChE

Prognostic implications of plasma fibrinogen and serum Creactive protein levels in non-small cell lung cancer resection and survival

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic implications of plasma fibrinogen and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in tumour resection and survival following successful tumour resection in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods: One hundred and fifty-three NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection at a tertiary care hospital from January 2006 through December 2010 were enrolled. Pre-operative serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen levels were  measured. The levels of these biomarkers correlated with tumour size and pathologic TNM stage. The possibility of complete resection and associated findings are reported.Results: Plasma fibrinogen (r = 0.381, p = 0.002) and serum CRP (r = 0.471, p < 0.001) levels were positively associated with tumour diameter. Increased levels of these biomarkers were significantly associated with sex, smoking status, histological type, tumour stage, and clinical stage. Partial tumour resection occurred in 28 % (27/95) of patients with an increased plasma fibrinogen level compared to 10 % (6/58) with a normal fibrinogen level (p = 0.008), and in 30 % (29/97) of patients with an increased serum CRP level compared to 11 % (6/56) with a normal CRP level (p = 0.006). Patients with elevated CRP and fibrinogen concentrations demonstrated higher susceptibility to disease advancement andsurvival compared to patients with normal fibrinogen and CRP levels.Conclusion: Pre-operative functional concentrations of serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen could serve as indicators of tumour resectability wherein a high tumour resection rate is possible in patients with favourable pre-operative levels of these biomarkers. Increased concentrations of serum CRP and plasma fibrinogen are associated with poor overall survival and progression-free survival.Key words: Plasma fibrinogen, serum C-reactive protein, biomarker, non-small cell lung cance

Origin discrimination and quality evaluation of Gastrodiae rhizoma (Orchidaceae) by high-performance liquid chromatographic fingerprint

Purpose: To develop a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint method for the quality control and origin discrimination of Gastrodiae rhizoma.Methods: Twelve batches of G. rhizoma collected from Sichuan, Guizhou and Shanxi provinces in china were used to establish the fingerprint. The chromatographic peak (gastrodin) was taken as the reference peak, and all sample separation was  performed on a Agilent C18 (250 mm×4.6 mmx5 μm) column with a column  temperature of 25 °C. The mobile phase was acetonitrile/0.8 % phosphate watersolution (in a gradient elution mode) and the flow rate of 1 mL/min. The detection wavelength was 270 nm. The method was validated as per the guidelines of Chinese Pharmacopoeia.Results: The chromatograms of the samples showed 11 common peaks, of which no. 4 was identified as that of Gastrodin. Data for the samples were analyzed  statistically using similarity analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The similarity index between reference chromatogram and samples’ chromatograms were all > 0.80. The similarity index of G. rhizoma from Guizhou, Shanxi and Sichuan isevident as follows: 0.854 - 0.885, 0.915 - 0.930 and 0.820 - 0.848, respectively. The samples could be divided into three clusters at a rescaled distance of 7.5: S1 - S4 as cluster 1; S5 - S8 cluster 2, and others grouped into cluster 3.Conclusion: The findings indicate that HPLC fingerprinting technology is appropriate for quality control and origin discrimination of G. rhizoma.Keywords: Gastrodiae rhizoma, Origin discrimination, Quality control; HPLC fingerprin

Effect of polygonimitin C on bone formation and resorption in human osteoblast-like MG63 cells

Purpose: To investigate the effect of polygonimitin C (PC) on bone formation and resorption in human osteoblast-like MG63 cells.Methods: MG63 cells were treated with PC at doses of 0, 20, 40 or 80 μg/mL for 48 h, with an untreated group as control. The effect of PC on alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in MG63 cells was investigated by p-nitrophenyl phosphate disodium hexahydrate assay. Western blot assay was used to evaluate the effect of PC on the expressions of osterix (OSX), bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX-2), osteocalcin (OC), fibronectin (FN), type I collagen (COL I), osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) proteins in MG63 cells.Results: ALP relative activity in MG63 cells treated with PC at 20, 40 or 80 μg/mL (123.58, 137.74 or 159.62 %, respectively) was significantly (p < 0.05 or 0.01) higher than that in control group (99.37 %). Expressions of OSX, BMP-2, RUNX-2, OC, FN, COL I and OPG proteins in MG63 cells treated with PC at 20, 40 or 80 μg/mL were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than those in control group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in RANKL protein expression between PC-treated MG63 cells and control group.Conclusion: These results show that PC exerts protective effects against osteoporosis by promoting bone formation and inhibiting bone resorption. Thus, PC may be useful in the development of new antiosteoporosis drugs.Keywords: Polygonimitin C, MG63 cells, Bone formation, Bone resorption, Osteoporosi

A single-arm phase II clinical trial of anlotinib combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer

BackgroundAnlotinib is a novel oral small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), which can inhibit angiogenesis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anlotinib combined with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).MethodsThis phase II clinical trial included 40 patients with metastatic TNBC who had previously received anthracycline and/or taxane treatment. All patients received anlotinib combined with chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). The secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), disease control rate (DCR) and safety.ResultsDuring May 1, 2019 and April 30, 2022, there were 40 patients enrolled in this study. The median PFS and median OS were 8.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.5-11.1 months) and 19.0 months (95% CI, 12.1–25.9 months), respectively. The ORR, CBR and DCR were 40.0% (16/40), 85.0% (34/40) and 95.0% (38/40), respectively. Cox univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that having more than 3 metastatic sites (p = 0.001; p = 0.020) was an independent and meaningful unfavorable prognostic factor for PFS. 37.5% of patients had grade 3 to 4 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs). The grade 3 to 4 TRAEs included neutropenia (22.5%), leukopenia (20.0%), secondary hypertension (10.0%), hand-foot syndrome (5.0%), vomiting (5.0%), proteinuria (5.0%) and thrombocytopenia (2.5%). None of the patients withdrew from the study or died due to TRAEs.ConclusionIn this single-arm study, the treatment of metastatic TNBC with anlotinib combined with chemotherapy showed certain efficacy, and its toxicity was acceptable

The cross-reactivity of the enterovirus 71 to human brain tissue and identification of the cross-reactivity related fragments

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>EV71 occasionally cause a series of severe neurological symptoms, including aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, and poliomyelitis-like paralysis. However, the neurological destruction mechanism was remained to be clarified. This study described the cross reaction between EV71 induced IgG and human brain tissue.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cross reaction of the IgG from 30 EV71 infected patients' sera to human tissues of cerebra was observed, which suggested that some EV71 antigens could induce IgG cross-reactivity to human cerebra. To identify the regions of EV71 virus that containing above antigens, the polypeptide of virus was divided into 19 peptides by expression in prokaryotes cell. Mouse anti-sera of these peptides was prepared and applied in immunohistochemical staining with human adult and fetus brain tissue, respectively. The result indicated the 19 peptides can be classified into three groups: strong cross-reactivity, weak cross-reactivity and no cross-reactivity with human brain tissue according the cross reaction activity. Then, the increased Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) permeability and permits IgG entry in neonatal mice after EV71 infection was determined.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>EV71 induced IgG could enter BBB and cross-reacted with brain tissue in EV71 infected neonatal mice, and then the peptides of EV71 that could induce cross-reactivity with brain tissue were identified, which should be avoided in future vaccine designing.</p