Cross-institution online problem based learning in Chinese Medicine Education

New education technology drives the pedagogical changes nowadays. Teaching and learning collaborations can now be extended beyond institutional boundaries. This study reports a new attempt of cross-institution collaboration in co-teaching a Chinese Medicine course. A Cross-institution Online Problem-based Learning (COPBL) is designed and implemented by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CDUTCM). There are 25 students from HKU and 24 students from CDUTCM who have participated in the COPBL. It is a supplementary component to courses and a seven-step approach has been adopted. Students work individually and collaboratively with floating-facilitators. The classes are blended with face-to-face and online components. As an initial step to understand the effectiveness of COPBL, this study specifically focuses on students’ use of the discussion forum, which is a key online component in COPBL. There are 91.8% of students who have viewed the discussion forum in total, 839 of view counts in all discussion forums. There are 63 replies recorded in all of the discussion forums. The replies could be identified into following categories, comments (33%), comments and questions (27%), responses (37%), and others (3%).This study has demonstrated that problem-based learning can be conducted in a blended form with traditional classroom teaching methods and well-designed online components. The COPBL offers new possibilities in redesigning pedagogy with new education technology. It could bring our education into a new era surrounded with new learning experiences.postprin

Effects of Huanglian-Jie-Du-Tang and its modified formula on the modulation of amyloid-β precursor protein processing in Alzheimer's disease models.

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A natural product-like JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor induces apoptosis of malignant melanoma cells

The JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway plays a critical role in tumorigenesis, and has been suggested as a potential molecular target for anti-melanoma therapeutics. However, few JAK2 inhibitors were being tested for melanoma therapy. In this study, eight amentoflavone analogues were evaluated for their activity against human malignant melanoma cells. The most potent analogue, compound 1, inhibited the phosphorylation of JAK2 and STAT3 in human melanoma cells, but had no discernible effect on total JAK2 and STAT3 levels. A cellular thermal shift assay was performed to identify that JAK2 is engaged by 1 in cell lysates. Moreover, compound 1 showed higher antiproliferative activity against human melanoma A375 cells compared to a panel of cancer and normal cell lines. Compound 1 also activated caspase-3 and cleaved PARP, which are markers of apoptosis, and suppressed the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 level. Finally, compound 1 induced apoptosis in 80% of treated melanoma cells. To our knowledge, compound 1 is the first amentoflavone-based JAK2 inhibitor to be investigated for use as an anti-melanoma agent.published_or_final_versio

Counter-current chromatography for the separation of terpenoids: A comprehensive review with respect to the solvent systems employed

Copyright @ 2014 The Authors.This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Natural products extracts are commonly highly complex mixtures of active compounds and consequently their purification becomes a particularly challenging task. The development of a purification protocol to extract a single active component from the many hundreds that are often present in the mixture is something that can take months or even years to achieve, thus it is important for the natural product chemist to have, at their disposal, a broad range of diverse purification techniques. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is one such separation technique utilising two immiscible phases, one as the stationary phase (retained in a spinning coil by centrifugal forces) and the second as the mobile phase. The method benefits from a number of advantages when compared with the more traditional liquid-solid separation methods, such as no irreversible adsorption, total recovery of the injected sample, minimal tailing of peaks, low risk of sample denaturation, the ability to accept particulates, and a low solvent consumption. The selection of an appropriate two-phase solvent system is critical to the running of CCC since this is both the mobile and the stationary phase of the system. However, this is also by far the most time consuming aspect of the technique and the one that most inhibits its general take-up. In recent years, numerous natural product purifications have been published using CCC from almost every country across the globe. Many of these papers are devoted to terpenoids-one of the most diverse groups. Naturally occurring terpenoids provide opportunities to discover new drugs but many of them are available at very low levels in nature and a huge number of them still remain unexplored. The collective knowledge on performing successful CCC separations of terpenoids has been gathered and reviewed by the authors, in order to create a comprehensive document that will be of great assistance in performing future purifications. © 2014 The Author(s)

Surface Plasmon Resonance from Bimetallic Interface in Au–Ag Core–Shell Structure Nanowires

Transverse surface plasmon resonances (SPR) in Au–Ag and Ag–Au core–shell structure nanowires have been investigated by means of quasi-static theory. There are two kinds of SPR bands resulting from the outer surface of wall metal and the interface between core and wall metals, respectively. The SPR corresponding to the interface, which is similar to that of alloy particle, decreases and shifts obviously with increasing the wall thickness. However, the SPR corresponding to the outer surface, which is similar to that of pure metal particle, increases and shifts slightly with increasing the wall thickness. A mechanism based on oscillatory surface electrons under coulombic attraction is developed to illuminate the shift fashion of SPR from bimetallic core–shell interface. The net charges and extra coulombic force in metallic wall affect the SPR energy and the shift fashion

Observation of CR Anisotropy with ARGO-YBJ

The measurement of the anisotropies of cosmic ray arrival direction provides important informations on the propagation mechanisms and on the identification of their sources. In this paper we report the observation of anisotropy regions at different angular scales. In particular, the observation of a possible anisotropy on scales between $\sim$ 10 $^{\circ}$ and $\sim$ 30 $^{\circ}$ suggests the presence of unknown features of the magnetic fields the charged cosmic rays propagate through, as well as potential contributions of nearby sources to the total flux of cosmic rays. Evidence of new weaker few-degree excesses throughout the sky region $195^{\circ}\leq$ R.A. $\leq 315^{\circ}$ is reported for the first time.Comment: Talk given at 12th TAUP Conference 2011, 5-9 September 2011, Munich, German

Phylogeny of the Infraorder Pentatomomorpha Based on Fossil and Extant Morphology, with Description of a New Fossil Family from China

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>An extinct new family of Pentatomomorpha, Venicoridae Yao, Ren & Cai <b>fam. nov.</b>, with 2 new genera and 2 new species (<em>Venicoris solaris</em> Yao, Ren & Rider <b>gen. & sp. nov.</b> and <em>Clavaticoris zhengi</em> Yao, Ren & Cai <b>gen. & sp. nov.</b>) are described from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation in Northeast China.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>A cladistic analysis based on a combination of fossil and extant morphological characters clarified the phylogenetic status of the new family and has allowed the reconstruction of intersuperfamily and interfamily relationships within the Infraorder Pentatomomorpha. The fossil record and diversity of Pentatomomorpha during the Mesozoic is discussed.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>Pentatomomorpha is a monophyletic group; Aradoidea and the Trichophora are sister groups; these fossils belong to new family, treated as the sister group of remainder of Trichophora; Pentatomoidea is a monophyletic group; Piesmatidae should be separated as a superfamily, Piesmatoidea. Origin time of Pentatomomorpha should be tracked back to the Middle or Early Triassic.</p> </div

The NF-kappa B inhibitor, celastrol, could enhance the anti-cancer effect of gambogic acid on oral squamous cell carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gambogic acid (GA) is a major active ingredient of gamboge, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine that has been reported to be a potent cytotoxic agent against some malignant tumors. Many studies have shown that the NF-kappa B signaling pathway plays an important role in anti-apoptosis and the drug resistance of tumor cells during chemotherapy. In this study, the effects and mechanisms of GA and the NF-kappa B inhibitor celastrol on oral cancer cells were investigated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, Tca8113, TSCC and NT, were treated with GA alone, celastrol alone or GA plus celastrol. Cytotoxicity was assessed by MTT assay. The rate of apoptosis was examined with annexin V/PI staining as well as transmission electronic microscopy in Tca8113 cells. The level of constitutive NF-kappa B activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines was determined by immunofluorescence assays and nuclear extracts and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) <it>in vitro</it>. To further investigate the role of NF-kappa B activity in GA and celastrol treatment in oral squamous cell carcinoma, we used the dominant negative mutant SR-IκBα to inhibit NF-kappa B activity and to observe its influence on the effect of GA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that GA could inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of the oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines and that the NF-kappa B pathway was simultaneously activated by GA treatment. The minimal cytotoxic dose of celastrol was able to effectively suppress the GA-induced NF-kappa B pathway activation. Following the combined treatment with GA and the minimal cytotoxic dose of celastrol or the dominant negative mutant SR-IκBα, proliferation was significantly inhibited, and the apoptotic rate of Tca8113 cells was significantly increased.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The combination of GA and celastrol has a synergistic antitumor effect. The effect can be primarily attributed to apoptosis induced by a decrease in NF-kappa B pathway activation. The NF-kappa B signaling pathway plays an important role in this process. Therefore, combining GA and celastrol may be a promising modality for treating oral squamous cell carcinoma.</p

Defects in Regulation of Local Immune Responses Resulting in Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is nowadays generally accepted as an inflammatory disease but the mechanism of its origin and development have not yet been fully clarified. The present review focuses on the role of the local immune system as one of the key players in the pathogenesis of the complex process. Its part represented by vascular-associated lymphoid tissue (VALT) within the arterial wall participates directly in the vascular wall's homeostatis. Its inordinate activation during ontogenic development of an individual, this formerly defensive and physiologic mechanism transform into a pathological process resulting in an impairing inflammation. Hsp60, CRP and oxidized or otherwise modified LDL are serious candidates for triggering these pathological changes. The principal role is played by anti-Hsp60 antibodies and by shear stress originating on the surface of endothelium due to blood flow. The experimental and clinical data supporting this immunological hypothesis of atherosclerosis are discussed