Protective effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza in rheumatoid arthritis patients: A randomized, single-blind, placebocontrolled trial

Purpose: To study the protective effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in RA patients.Methods: Sixty RA patients were divided into two groups: SM (n = 30) and placebo (n =30) groups given SM at a dose of 250 mg/kg (3 capsules/day), and placebo (3 capsule/day), respectively, for 12 weeks. Patient responses based on American College of Rheumatology (ACR), health assessmentquestionnaire (HAQ) score, and global assessment of disease (GAD) were recorded. Moreover, Disease Activity Score (DAS) 28, pain score (visual analogue score, VAS), rheumatoid factor (Rh factor), and inflammatory cytokines (markers) were determined.Results: After 12 weeks of intervention with SM, ACR20 (30 %)/ACR50 patient response (13.3%, i.e., score for swelling and tenderness of joints), was significantly improved. There were considerable reductions in GAD, HAQ, DAS 28, pain score (VAS), and levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), acute phase reaction protein (CRP), Rh factor (IgM) and inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α), when compared to placebo (p < 0.01). Treatment with SM produced milder adverse effects than treatment with placebo (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Overall, SM produces better anti-RA effect than placebo by significantly altering ACR patient response, reducing GAD, HAQ, DAS 28 scores, Rh factor, ESR, CRP and inflammatory cytokines in RA patients. However, a large-scale clinical trial is needed before SM can be recommended for combating RA and its related symptoms. Keywords: Salvia miltiorrhiza, Rheumatoid arthritis, DAS 28, Adverse effec

Relative clock demonstrates the endogenous heterogeneity of human dynamics

The heavy-tailed inter-event time distributions are widely observed in many human-activated systems, which may result from both endogenous mechanisms like the highest-priority-first protocol and exogenous factors like the varying global activity versus time. To distinguish the effects on temporal statistics from different mechanisms is this of theoretical significance. In this Letter, we propose a new timing method by using a relative clock, where the time length between two consecutive events of an individual is counted as the number of other individuals' events appeared during this interval. We propose a model, in which agents act either in a constant rate or with a power-law inter-event time distribution, and the global activity either keeps unchanged or varies periodically versus time. Our analysis shows that the heavy tails caused by the heterogeneity of global activity can be eliminated by setting the relative clock, yet the heterogeneity due to real individual behaviors still exists. We perform extensive experiments on four large-scale systems, the search engine by AOL, a social bookmarking system--Delicious, a short-message communication network, and a microblogging system--Twitter. Strong heterogeneity and clear seasonality of global activity are observed, but the heavy tails cannot be eliminated by using the relative clock. Our results suggest the existence of endogenous heterogeneity of human dynamics.Comment: 6 pages 7 figures 2 Table

Studies on Epidemiology and Prediction of Soybean Mosaic Virus

-Some epidemiological factors of SMV were studied in Jinan, Shandong Province from 1984 to 1989. The results indicated that the resistance of soybean cultivars and the amount of primary inoculum sources dominated the dynamic aspects of SMV epidemics. It wOriginating text in Chinese.Citation: Luo, Ruiwu, Shang, Youfen, Yang, Chongliang, Zhao, Jiuhua, Li, Changsong. (1991). Studies on Epidemiology and Prediction of Soybean Mosaic Virus. Journal of Plant Protection / Acta Phytophylacica Sinica, 18(3), 267-271

Study on Biology and Control of Aphis Glycines

Results of laboratory and field experiments showed that Aphis glycines could reproduce 18-22 generations per year in Jinan, and that generation period, reproductive period and reproduction rate were dependent on temperature. The aphids migrated with two peaks -- in the first ten days of June and between the last ten days of July and first ten days of August. The insect population on soybean plants was low during seedling stage and peaked in the first ten days of August. The aphid was controlled effectively by furrow application of carbofuran (Furaden) and aldicarb (Temik) and by spray application of omethoate (Dimethoate - met) and fenvalerate (Sumicidin).Originating text in Chinese.Citation: Li, Changsong, Luo, Ruiwu, Yang, Congliang, Shang, Youfen, Zhao, Jiuhua, Xin, Xiangqi. (2000). Study on Biology and Control of Aphis Glycines. Soybean Science, 19(4), 337-340

Conserved MicroRNA Act Boldly During Sprout Development and Quality Formation in Pingyang Tezaocha (Camellia sinensis)

Tea tree [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] is an important leaf (sometimes tender stem)-using commercial plant with many medicinal uses. The development of newly sprouts would directly affect the yield and quality of tea product, especially significant for Pingyang Tezaocha (PYTZ) which takes up a large percent in the early spring tea market. MicroRNA (miRNA), particularly the conserved miRNAs, often position in the center of subtle and complex gene regulatory systems, precisely control the biological processes together with other factors in a spatio-temporal pattern. Here, quality-determined metabolites catechins, theanine and caffeine in PYTZ sprouts including buds (sBud), different development stages of leaves (sL1, sL2) and stems (sS1, sS2) were quantified. A total of 15 miRNA libraries of the same tissue with three repetitions for each were constructed to explore vital miRNAs during the biological processes of development and quality formation. We analyzed the whole miRNA profiles during the sprout development and defined conserved miRNA families in the tea plant. The differentially expressed miRNAs related to the expression profiles buds, leaves, and stems development stages were described. Twenty one miRNAs and eight miRNA-TF pairs that most likely to participate in regulating development, and at least two miRNA-TF-metabolite triplets that participate in both development and quality formation had been filtered. Our results indicated that conserved miRNA act boldly during important biological processes, they are (i) more likely to be linked with morphological function in primary metabolism during sprout development, and (ii) hold an important position in secondary metabolism during quality formation in tea plant, also (iii) coordinate with transcription factors in forming networks of complex multicellular organism regulation

Optimal transport on supply-demand networks

Previously, transport networks are usually treated as homogeneous networks, that is, every node has the same function, simultaneously providing and requiring resources. However, some real networks, such as power grid and supply chain networks, show a far different scenario in which the nodes are classified into two categories: the supply nodes provide some kinds of services, while the demand nodes require them. In this paper, we propose a general transport model for those supply-demand networks, associated with a criterion to quantify their transport capacities. In a supply-demand network with heterogenous degree distribution, its transport capacity strongly depends on the locations of supply nodes. We therefore design a simulated annealing algorithm to find the optimal configuration of supply nodes, which remarkably enhances the transport capacity, and outperforms the degree target algorithm, the betweenness target algorithm, and the greedy method. This work provides a start point for systematically analyzing and optimizing transport dynamics on supply-demand networks.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table and 4 figure

The Effects of Glucagon-like Peptide-2 on the Tight Junction and Barrier Function in IPEC-J2 Cells through Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase–Protein Kinase B–Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Signaling Pathway

Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is important for intestinal barrier function and regulation of tight junction (TJ) proteins, but the intracellular mechanisms of action remain undefined. The purpose of this research was to determine the protective effect of GLP-2 mediated TJ and transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stressed IPEC-J2 cells and to test the hypothesis that GLP-2 regulate TJ and TER through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (Akt)-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway in IPEC-J2 cells. Wortmannin and LY294002 are specific inhibitors of PI3K. The results showed that 100 μg/mL LPS stress decreased TER and TJ proteins occludin, claudin-1 and zonula occludens protein 1 (ZO-1) mRNA, proteins expressions (p<0.01) respectively. GLP-2 (100 nmol/L) promote TER and TJ proteins occludin, claudin-1, and zo-1 mRNA, proteins expressions in LPS stressed and normal IPEC-J2 cells (p<0.01) respectively. In normal cells, both wortmannin and LY294002, PI3K inhibitors, prevented the mRNA and protein expressions of Akt and mTOR increase induced by GLP-2 (p<0.01) following with the significant decreasing of occludin, claudin-1, ZO-1 mRNA and proteins expressions and TER (p<0.01). In conclusion, these results indicated that GLP-2 can promote TJ’s expression and TER in LPS stressed and normal IPEC-J2 cells and GLP-2 could regulate TJ and TER through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway