天然产物对毛发色素的调节作用研究进展

毛发的颜色不仅受年龄、环境因素的影响,还受到众多因子的调控,其中主要有阿黑皮素原(POMC)、黑色素细胞刺激素(α-MSH)、黑色素1受体(MCIR)、小眼畸形相关蛋白因子(MITF)、酪氨酸酶(TYR)、酪氨酸相关蛋白酶1(TRP-1)、酪氨酸相关蛋白酶2(TRP-2)、刺鼠信号蛋白(ASIP)等。毛发颜色的异常常被认为是衰老的特征,给患者带来巨大的心理压力,但相关的治疗药物目前尚属空白。总结了天然药物对毛发颜色的影响程度和作用方式,以期阐明天然药物在治疗须发早白方面可能的作用途径及靶点,为从天然产物中寻找发掘新的药物奠定基础。     

晚期糖基化终产物在糖尿病血管并发症中的作用机制

晚期糖基化终产物（AGEs）是蛋白质或脂质经过糖基化反应的产物。AGEs存在于糖尿病患者的血管中,促进动脉粥样硬化的发展。多种不同的细胞上AGEs的存在和聚集影响着细胞内外的结构和功能。AGEs通过与细胞外基质基底膜上的分子形成交联和与其受体（RAGE）结合引起多种微血管和大血管并发症。RAGE被AGEs激活后导致转录因子NF-κB和它的靶因子的表达。AGEs可诱发糜蛋白酶的表达和糜蛋白酶依赖性血管紧张素Ⅱ的生成,从而作用于糖尿病血管并发症的发展。     

黄柏及其不同炮制品的HPLC指纹图谱分析

目的:建立黄柏生品、酒炙品和盐炙品的HPLC指纹图谱,比较不同产地黄柏及其炮制品指纹特征的差异。方法:采用HPLC比较10批黄柏生品、酒炙品和盐炙品的指纹图谱,流动相乙腈(A)-水(含0.3%磷酸和0.3%二乙胺,B)梯度洗脱(0~10 min,10%~14%A;10~20 min,14%~25%A;20~45 min,25%A;45~50 min,25%~65%A;50~55 min,65%~70%A;55~60 min,70%~75%A;60~70 min,75%~100%A),流速0.8 m L·min-1,柱温40℃,检测波长284 nm,分析时间70 min。结果:酒黄柏、盐黄柏与生黄柏的指纹图谱基本一致,但各成分间的相对含量存在差异,对其中的绿原酸、黄柏碱、木兰花碱、药根碱、小檗红碱、盐酸巴马汀、盐酸小檗碱、黄柏内酯进行了归属。10批黄柏生品、酒炙品和盐炙品共有模式色谱峰相似度均0.9。结论:建立的指纹图谱具有很好的精密度、重复性和稳定性,可作为黄柏及其炮制品质量评价的依据。     

What Online Communities Can Tell Us About Electronic Cigarettes and Hookah Use: A Study Using Text Mining and Visualization Techniques

Background

The rise in popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and hookah over recent years has been accompanied by some confusion and uncertainty regarding the development of an appropriate regulatory response towards these emerging products. Mining online discussion content can lead to insights into people’s experiences, which can in turn further our knowledge of how to address potential health implications. In this work, we take a novel approach to understanding the use and appeal of these emerging products by applying text mining techniques to compare consumer experiences across discussion forums.

Objective

This study examined content from the websites Vapor Talk, Hookah Forum, and Reddit to understand people’s experiences with different tobacco products. Our investigation involves three parts. First, we identified contextual factors that inform our understanding of tobacco use behaviors, such as setting, time, social relationships, and sensory experience, and compared the forums to identify the ones where content on these factors is most common. Second, we compared how the tobacco use experience differs with combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Third, we investigated differences between e-cigarette and hookah use.

Methods

In the first part of our study, we employed a lexicon-based extraction approach to estimate prevalence of contextual factors, and then we generated a heat map based on these estimates to compare the forums. In the second and third parts of the study, we employed a text mining technique called topic modeling to identify important topics and then developed a visualization, Topic Bars, to compare topic coverage across forums.

Results

In the first part of the study, we identified two forums, Vapor Talk Health & Safety and the Stopsmoking subreddit, where discussion concerning contextual factors was particularly common. The second part showed that the discussion in Vapor Talk Health & Safety focused on symptoms and comparisons of combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and the Stopsmoking subreddit focused on psychological aspects of quitting. Last, we examined the discussion content on Vapor Talk and Hookah Forum. Prominent topics included equipment, technique, experiential elements of use, and the buying and selling of equipment.

Conclusions

This study has three main contributions. Discussion forums differ in the extent to which their content may help us understand behaviors with potential health implications. Identifying dimensions of interest and using a heat map visualization to compare across forums can be helpful for identifying forums with the greatest density of health information. Additionally, our work has shown that the quitting experience can potentially be very different depending on whether or not e-cigarettes are used. Finally, e-cigarette and hookah forums are similar in that members represent a “hobbyist culture” that actively engages in information exchange. These differences have important implications for both tobacco regulation and smoking cessation intervention design.     

Effects of bone marrow MSCs transfected with sRAGE on the intervention of HMGB1 induced immuno-inflammatory reaction

Background: High mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) is an important proinflammatory molecule in many inflammatory disorders, but little is known about its role in acute liver failure (ALF). In this study, we determined the plasma and hepatic tissue levels of HMGB1 in a d-galactosamine-induced rat ALF model and investigated the effect of soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) on ALF successfully. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups randomly. Group A (Control group, n=20) received administrated saline via peritoneal cavity. Group B (ALF group, n=20) induced by d-galactosamine (0.6 g/kg) via peritoneal cavity. Group C (HMGB1 group, n=20) were treated with HMGB1 recombination protein (200 μg/kg) via penile vein after ALF model induced. Group D (sRAGE group, n=20) received administrated sRAGE recombination protein (400 μg/kg) via penile vein after ALF model induced. Group E (sRAGE-MSC group, n=20) received 3×10⁶ MSC transplantation which could maintain a stable expression of sRAGE via penile vein after ALF model induced. Liver function, level of cytokines and liver pathological changes were measured. Results: We determined that the plasma levels and hepatic tissue levels of HMGB1 were significant increased in ALF model (P<0.05). SRAGE group and sRAGE-MSC group could significantly prolong ALF rat survival time, as well as improve its liver functions, inflammatory cytokines level and hepatocytes necrosis. Conclusion: SRAGE as a ligand decoy has illustrated largely beneficial effects on reducing immuno-inflammatory response, which holds promise for the identification of potential therapeutic targets and/or biomarkers of RAGE activity in ALF.     

Predictive Value of Inflammatory and Coagulation Parameters in the Course of Severe Ulcerative Colitis

Alterations in markers of coagulation have been found in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Our aim was to study the predictive value of coagulation and inflammatory parameters in the course of severe ulcerative colitis. Twenty-seven patients were included. The disease course was followed for one year. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, positive predictive value, and likelihood ratio, as well as the clinical predictive value of laboratory variables were calculated. Inflammatory variables, such as ESR, CRP, and leukocyte and platelet count showed poor diagnostic accuracy. Several coagulation parameters, such as fibrinogen and fibrin(ogen) degradation products, were increased in patients with active ulcerative colitis, whereas coagulation factor XIII was decreased. No significant relationship between clinical course and coagulation parameters was demonstrated, though both inflammatory and coagulation parameters were useful in the assessment of disease activity in patients with active ulcerative colitis.     

附子不同炮制品灌胃Beagle犬的急性毒性研究

目的：探讨附子不同炮制品灌胃Beagle犬的急性毒性。方法：取健康、合格Beagle犬16只,按体质量随机分为空白组、刨附片组、炮天雄组和黑顺片组。以4 g生药/kg灌胃给药,实验前及给药后1 h、24 h和第3、7、14天测定体质量、耗食量、肛温、心电图及血常规、血生化。结果：3个实验组Beagle犬在给药后均精神萎靡,血液电解质有显著性差异,其中黑顺片组最明显;刨附片组犬的红细胞、血糖和甘油三酯有显著性差异;炮天雄组犬的淋巴细胞和血糖有显著性差异,而黑顺片给药后犬的淋巴细胞显著降低。结论：3个炮制品毒性大小依次为黑顺片>刨附片>炮天雄。     

Herbal Medicines for Acute Kidney Injury: Evidence, Gapsand Frontiers

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a major health threat worldwide. The literature on herbal intervention in AKI was searched from English and Chinese databases and reports were critically analyzed in terms of preventing AKI, promoting repair and regeneration, enhancing extrarenal clearance of uremic toxins, and preventing progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Altogether, 16 herbal formulae and a few extracts derived from individual herbs were reported to prevent or mitigate AKI in animal models induced by renal ischemia/reperfusion, cisplastin, gentamicin, glycerol, adenine, sepsis or physical exhaustion. Four formulae and six individual herbs were reported to accelerate recovery and/ or to prevent CKD in established AKI animal models. Intrarectal herbal medicines, with or without simultaneous oral administration, were reported in six clinical trials and in an animal model to increase extrarenal clearance of uremic toxins. Additional 13 clinical trials reported oral or intravenous herbal interventions in AKI of different etiologies. Despite recurring problems, notably poor compliance with good practice guidelines for clinical trials and for authentication, naming and quality control of herbal materials, accumulating experimental data on the preventive effects of herbal medicines in AKI look encouraging and urge for better, definitive trials to guide clinical practice. Herbal enemas promoting extrarenal clearance of uremic toxins seem cost-effective, but better clinical evidence is certainly needed before any affirmative recommendation be made for AKI patients without access to dialysis. New frontiers, however, lie in those herbal remedies that promote repair/ regeneration and prevent chronicity after AKI. Recent experimental data suggest that this may be possible.     

The Association between Dairy Intake and Breast Cancer in Western and Asian Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose

To date, studies investigating the association between dairy consumption and breast cancer in women have produced conflicting results. As diet is an important, modifiable factor affecting cancer development, the aim of this study was to examine the association between dairy consumption and breast cancer risk.

Methods

PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched with a priority for prospective cohort studies. Case-control studies were also considered in case of the absence of a cohort study.

Results

We analyzed 22 prospective cohort studies (1,566,940 participants) and five case-control studies (33,372 participants). High and modest dairy consumption (>600 and 400-600 g/day, respectively) significantly reduced the risk of breast cancer compared with low dairy consumption (<400 g/day; risk ratio [RR], 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-0.98, and RR, 0.94, 95% CI, 0.91-0.98, respectively). A significant linear relationship between dairy consumption and breast cancer risk was found on dose-response analysis. Subgroup analysis found that yogurt (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83-0.99) and low-fat dairy (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75-0.96) reduced the risk of breast cancer, while other dairy product types did not. A reduced risk was observed for people in the United States (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83-0.99) and in those followed for ≥10 years (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.81-0.99). Additionally, the highest level of dairy consumption among Asians was associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer (odds ratio, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.62-0.88).

Conclusion

Dairy consumption was inversely associated with the risk of developing breast cancer and this effect was dependent on the dose, dairy-type, and time.     

Mercury content in marketed cosmetics: analytical survey in Shijiazhuang,China

Context: Mercury is one of the skin-lightening ingredients in cosmetics as mercury ions are thought to inhibit the synthesis of the skin pigment melanin in melanocyte cells.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the mercury levels of cosmetics currently marketed in Shijiazhuang, a northern city in China.

Methods: We collected 146 random cosmetic samples and analyzed for mercury concentrations or levels by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry.

Results: Among the 146 samples, 134 (91.8%) were positive for mercury, and the concentrations of mercury ranged from not detectable to 592?ng/g. Cosmetic samples for children and babies had the highest detection rate (100%), followed by shampoo and hair conditioner (92.3%) and skin-lightening cream (92.0%). All of them were lower than the acceptable limit (1?μg/g) in China.

Discussion and conclusions: Cosmetics for skin had the highest mean mercury content (45?ng/g), followed by hair products (42.1?ng/g). The concentrations of mercury detected in samples were lower than the current legal limit in China, indicating it may not pose a risk to consumers.