Treating oligohydramnios with extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza: A randomized control trial

Hong-nü Chu, Mei-juan ShenAffiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, 310016, Hangzhou, ChinaObjective: To determine whether purified herbal extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza can improve the amniotic fluid volume in pre-term oligohydramnios by improving uteroplacental circulation.Methods: Forty-three pregnant women with oligohydramnios received a daily intravenous dose of 30 mL of salvia extract mixed with 5% glucose 500 mL. A control group of 41 women received daily 5% glucose 500 mL only. The amniotic fluid index (AFI) was assessed at least twice a week by ultrasonographists who were blinded to the treatment. Both women and fetuses were monitored closely. The change in AFI was calculated and compared by paired t test within and between groups. The revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel group randomized trials were used.Results: After a mean of 7.2 ± 2.7 days’ therapy, ranging from 3 to 18 days, the AFI increased significantly from a mean of 4.9 ± 2.3 cm to a mean of 7.12 ± 2.36 cm, by a mean of AFI 0.18 ± 0.06 cm/day (paired t = 3.62, p < 0.005). In the control group, the AFI increased from a mean of 5.1 ± 2.4 cm to a mean of 5.5 ± 3.1 cm after a mean of 6.1 ± 3.3 days’ treatment, ranging from 4 to 15 days. The effect of salvia treatment on AFI in the salvia group was significantly greater than in the control group (p < 0.001). No side effects were observed in treated patients.Conclusion: Salvia miltiorrhiza is an effective Chinese medicine for the treatment of oligohydramnios.Keywords: Salvia miltiorrhiza, therapy, oligohydramnios, amniotic fluid inde

A review of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in Chinese soils

Ammonia (NH3) oxidation, the first and rate-limiting step of nitrification, is a key step in the global Nitrogen (N) cycle. Major advances have been made in recent years in our knowledge and understanding of the microbial communities involved ammonia oxidation in a wide range of habitats, including Chinese agricultural soils. In this mini-review, we focus our attention on the distribution and community diversity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) in Chinese soils with variable soil properties and soil management practices. The niche differentiation of AOB and AOA in contrasting soils have been functionally demonstrated using DNA-SIP (stable isotope probing) methods, which have shown that AOA dominate nitrification processes in acidic soils, while AOB dominated in neutral, alkaline and N-rich soils. Finally, we discuss the composition and activity of ammonia oxidizer in paddy soils, as well as the mitigation of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and nitrate leaching via inhibition of nitrification by both AOB and AOA

Geometric bionics: Lotus effect helps polystyrene nanotube films get good blood compatibility

Various biomaterials have been widely used for manufacturing biomedical applications including artificial organs, medical devices and disposable clinical apparatus, such as vascular prostheses, blood pumps, artificial kidney, artificial hearts, dialyzers and plasma separators, which could be used in contact with blood^1^. However, the research tasks of improving hemocompatibility of biomaterials have been carrying out with the development of biomedical requirements^2^. Since the interactions that lead to surface-induced thrombosis occurring at the blood-biomaterial interface become a reason of familiar current complications with grafts therapy, improvement of the blood compatibility of artificial polymer surfaces is, therefore a major issue in biomaterials science^3^. After decades of focused research, various approaches of modifying biomaterial surfaces through chemical or biochemical methods to improve their hemocompatibility were obtained^1^. In this article, we report that polystyrene nanotube films with morphology similar to the papilla on lotus leaf can be used as blood-contacted biomaterials by virtue of Lotus effect^4^. Clearly, this idea, resulting from geometric bionics that mimicking the structure design of lotus leaf, is very novel technique for preparation of hemocompatible biomaterials

Expression of the mismatch repair gene hMLH1 is enhanced in non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR mutations

Mismatch repair (MMR) plays a pivotal role in keeping the genome stable. MMR dysfunction can lead to carcinogenesis by gene mutation accumulation. HMSH2 and hMLH1 are two key components of MMR. High or low expression of them often mark the status of MMR function. Mutations (EGFR, KRAS, etc) are common in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, it is not clear what role MMR plays in NSCLC gene mutations. The expression of MMR proteins hMSH2 and hMLH1, and the proliferation markers PCNA and Ki67 were measured by immunohistochemistry in 181 NSCLCs. EGFR and KRAS mutations were identified by high resolution melting analysis. Stronger hMLH1 expression correlated to a higher frequency of EGFR mutations in exon 19 and 21 (p<0.0005). Overexpression of hMLH1 and the adenocarcinoma subtype were both independent factors that related to EGFR mutations in NSCLCs (p=0.013 and p<0.0005). The expression of hMLH1, hMSH2 and PCNA increased, while Ki67 expression significantly decreased (p=0.030) in NSCLCs with EGFR mutations. Overexpression of hMLH1 could be a new molecular marker to predict the response to EGFR-TKIs in NSCLCs. Furthermore, EGFR mutations might be an early event of NSCLC that occur before MMR dysfunction.This work was supported by the National Nature Science Funds in China (Fund No. 81071805; URL: http://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/), and Dalian Merricon Gene Diagnosis Technology Co., Ltd. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

ARTICLE IN PRESS +Model HAZMAT-6820; No. of Pages 7 Journal of Hazardous Materials xxx (2007) xxx-xxx Growth response of Zea mays L. in pyrene-copper co-contaminated soil and the fate of pollutants

Abstract Phytoremediation, use of plants for remediation, is an emerging technology for treating heavy metals or a final polishing step for the highlevel organic contamination, and may be suitable for remediation of heavy metal and organic co-contaminated soil. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of co-contamination on the growth of Zea mays L. and the fate of both heavy metal and organic pollutants, using Cu and pyrene as the model pollutants. Results showed that shoot and root biomass were affected by the copper-pyrene co-contamination, although maize grown in spiked soils showed no outward signs of phytotoxicity. With the initial concentration of 50,100 and 500 mg/kg, pyrene tended to alleviate the inhibition of Cu to Z. mays L. Pyrene in both planted and non-planted soil was greatly decreased at the end of the 4-week culture, accounting for 16-18% of initial extractable concentrations in non-planted soil and 9-14% in planted soil, which indicated that the dissipation of soil pyrene was enhanced in the presence of vegetation probably due to the biodegradation and association with the soil matrix. With the increment of Cu level, residual pyrene in the planted soil tended to increase. The pyrene residual in the presence of high concentration of Cu was even higher in the planted soil than that in the non-planted soil, which suggested that the change of the microbial composition and microbial activity or the modified root physiology under Cu stress was probably unbeneficial to the dissipation of pyrene. A more thorough understanding of the mechanisms by which metals affect the dissipation of organic pollutants in the rhizosphere could provide a much better framework on which to base manipulation. Unlike pyrene, heavy metal copper cannot be degraded. Decontamination of Cu from contaminated soils in this system required the removal of Cu by plants. It was observed that the ability of Cu phytoextraction would be inhibited under co-contamination of high level of pyrene in highly Cu-polluted soil. In the treatment of 400 mg Cu/kg and 500 mg pyrene/kg, the accumulation of Cu was less than half of that in 400 mg Cu/kg treatment

A componentbased approach to online software evolution:

SUMMARY Many software systems need to provide services continuously and uninterruptedly. Meanwhile, these software systems need to keep evolving continuously to fix bugs, add functions, improve algorithms, adapt to new running environments and platforms, or prevent potential problems. This situation makes online evolution an important issue in the field of software maintenance and evolution. This paper proposes a component-based approach to online software evolution. Nowadays component technology has been widely adopted. Component technology facilitates software evolution, but also introduces some new issues. In our approach, an application server is used to evolve the application, without special support from the compiler or operating system. The implementation and performance analysis of our approach are also covered

An increase in the cerebral infarction area during fatigue is mediated by il-6 through an induction of fibrinogen synthesis

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to investigate the impact of fatigue on the severity of stroke and to explore the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Fatigued male rats underwent middle cerebral artery occlusion and the infarcted brain area was determined. Then, coagulation parameters were assessed in the fatigued group and a control group. In addition, the level of fibrinogen was determined in rats deprived of sleep for various numbers of days. To study whether interleukin-6 was involved in fibrinogen synthesis during fatigue, we also measured levels of interleukin-6 in rats deprived of sleep for various numbers of days. Furthermore, brain injury by middle cerebral artery occlusion was measured in wild-type mice, interleukin-6-/- mice and wild-type mice treated with bezafibrate. RESULTS: More severe cerebral infarction was observed in the fatigued rats, resulting in an infarct ratio of 23.4%. The infarct ratio was significantly increased in the fatigued rats compared with that in the control group (8%,

Preparation of total flavonoids from loquat flower and its protective effect on acute alcohol-induced liver injury in mice

AbstractThis study aimed to research the preparation techniques of total flavones from loquat flower (TFLF), its anti-oxidation capacity, and its protective effect on hepatic injury. The best extraction parameters by orthogonal experimentation were water at 100°C, extraction time 2.5 hours, solid/liquid ratio 1:20, and three decoctions. The chromogenic reaction to the flavones showed that loquat flowers mainly contained flavone, flavonol, and flavanone compounds combining ortho-phenolic hydroxyl group structure in the 10–30% ethanol fraction. The anti-oxidant capacity of O2−· was 26.09% and of OH−·was 83.01% by salicylic acid and pyrogallol auto-oxidation. Compared with the model group, TFLF lowered the levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, triglyceride, and malondialdehyde and liver index significantly, and upregulated the expression of adipose triglyceride lipase and Heine oxygenase-1 mRNA. The present findings suggest that TFLF has protective effect on acute alcoholinduced liver injury in mice and may be related to its antioxidant and free-radical scavenging activity