Anti-Cancer Effects of Traditional Medicinal Herbs on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Backgrounds: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is among the most frequent oral cancers in individuals under 40. Documents have endorsed that a diet enriched with fruit and vegetables can banish the risk of developing major cancers. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of four medicinal herbs including saffron, ginger, cinnamon and curcumin on OSCC cell line. Methods: Having obtained the aqueous extract of the four herbs, they were administered on OSCC cell lines per se and in dual, triple, and quadruple combinations. Their effects were measured in different concentrations and in 24 and 48 hours by using MTT assay. Results: The minimum and maximum effective concentrations were respectively 108 and 217 mg/ml for curcumin with IC30 of 77mg/ml, 108 and 270 mg/ml for ginger with IC30 of 58 mg/ml, 2 and 10 mg/ml for saffron with IC30 of 1.9 mg/ml, and 5 and 40 mg/ml for cinnamon with IC30 of 3.3 mg/ml. The best effect of the combinations was seen for cinnamon-saffron after both 24 and 48 hours and the four herbs combination after 48 hours. Conclusion: Although all the four herbs were effective on OSCC cell line, the strongest extract was saffron, followed by cinnamon. Combination of cinnamon-saffron and combination of the four herbs showed maximum effects. These findings suggest that traditional medicinal herbs may potentially contribute to oral cancer treatment; providing new windows for the development of new therapeutic strategies for OSCC.     

Viability evaluation of freeze dried and suspension anthrax spore vaccine formulations stored at different temperatures

Anthrax is endemic in Ethiopia with sporadic outbreaks despite the regular vaccination of domestic livestock. This has raised concerns on the effectiveness of the vaccination strategy which may be associated with breaches in the vaccine cold chain maintenance. This study was aimed at demonstrating the tolerance of anthrax vaccine to cold chain breaches through evaluation of viable spore counts expressed as colony forming units per mL (CFU/mL) of freeze-dried and suspension anthrax vaccines stored at 5 °C, 20 °C and 37 °C for up to 6 months. Both vaccine formulations maintained above the recommended minimum required titre (2 × 10⁶ culturable spores per dose for cattle, buffaloes and horses, and not <1 × 10⁶ for sheep and goats) for up to 6 months at 5 °C storage. In storage at 20 °C, the viability of freeze-dried anthrax vaccine maintained the minimum required titre up to 6 months while up to 90 days in case of the suspension formulation. Both types of vaccine formulations maintained the minimum titre per dose for up to 30 days at 37 °C storage. Generally, both vaccine formulations showed similar trends in titre fall in all of the three storage temperatures (5 °C, 20 °C and 37 °C) as observed in the almost linearly overlapping 95% confidence intervals (CI) up to day 90 at 5 °C and 20 °C storages while up to day 30 at 37 °C storage. However, a significant (P < 0.05) drop in titre was observed after day 90 for storages at 5 °C and 20 °C, and after day 30 for 37 °C storage as observed in the non overlapping 95% CI from the average titres of previous time points. This study showed that if temperature excursion occurs above the recommended temperature range (4–8 °C) during storage or transport, the vaccine should remain effective and can still be used in vaccination programs.     

Power of Orbitrap‐based LC‐high resolution‐MS/MS for comprehensive drug testing in urine with or without conjugate cleavage or using dried urine spots after on‐spot cleavage in comparison to established LC–MSn or GC–MS procedures

Reliable, sensitive, and comprehensive urine screening procedures by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) or liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) with low or high resolution (HR) are of high importance for drug testing, adherence monitoring, or detection of toxic compounds. Besides conventional urine sampling, dried urine spots are of increasing interest. In the present study, the power of LC–HR–MS/MS was investigated for comprehensive drug testing in urine with or without conjugate cleavage or using dried urine spots after on‐spot cleavage in comparison to established LC–MSⁿ or GC–MS procedures. Authentic human urine samples (n = 103) were split in 4 parts. One aliquot was prepared by precipitation (UP), one by UP with conjugate cleavage (UglucP), one spot on filter paper cards and prepared by on‐spot cleavage followed by liquid extraction (DUSglucE), and one worked‐up by acid hydrolysis, liquid–liquid extraction, and acetylation for GC–MS analysis. The 3 series of LC–HR–MS/MS results were compared among themselves, to corresponding published LC–MSⁿ data, and to screening results obtained by conventional GC–MS. The reference libraries used for the 3 techniques contained over 4500 spectra of parent compounds and their metabolites. The number of all detected hits (770 drug intakes) was set to 100%. The LC–HR–MS/MS approach detected 80% of the hits after UP, 89% after UglucP, and 77% after DUSglucE, which meant over one‐third more hits in comparison to the corresponding published LC–MSⁿ results with ≤49% detected hits. The GC–MS approach identified 56% of all detected hits. In conclusion, LC–HR–MS/MS provided the best screening results after conjugate cleavage and precipitation.     

“姜红大枣汤”在人工流产术中的应用效果观察

目的 探讨“姜红大枣汤”在人工流产术中的应用效果和意义。方法 随机选择50例术前口服温热“姜红大枣汤”治疗的人工流产病人为治疗组，44例采用常规人工流产术病人为常规治疗组，观察术前和术中血压、心率变化；术中、术后疼痛程度；人工流产综合征发生率；平均手术时间及阴道流血量。结果 治疗组中的血压、心率变化波动幅度小，疼痛减轻程度高，人流综合征的发生率低，与常规治疗组相比差异有显著性意义（P ＜ 0.05），两组平均手术时间和术中出血量比较差异无显著意义（P ＞ 0.05）。结论 口服“姜红大枣汤”预防和辅助治疗人流综合征效果显著，简便易行，无不良反应，病人易接受。     

生姜中1个新的薄荷烷型单萜

目的 对生姜Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens的丙酮溶解部位进行化学成分研究。方法 综合应用多种色谱技术进行分离纯化,通过各种现代谱学技术对化合物进行结构鉴定。结果 从生姜水部位的丙酮溶解物中,分离得到8个化合物。分别鉴定为（1S,2R,4R）-1-甲基-1,2-二羟基-4-（2-羟基异丙基）-环己烷（1）、脱氢松香酸（2）、staphylionoside D（3）、12α-hydroxyabieta-7,13-abietadien-18-oic acid（4）、sachaloside VII（5）、1-（羟甲基）-5,5-二甲基双环[3.1.1]庚-2-烯-4-醇（6）、（E）-1,6,7-三羟基-3,7-二甲基-2-辛烯（7）、（2E,6E）-8-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-2,6-dimethyl-2,6-octadienoic acid（8）。结论 化合物1为新化合物,命名为姜萜A,化合物2~5首次从生姜中分离得到。     

干漆及大黄䗪虫丸中非法染色成分808猩红的检测

目的建立干漆及大黄?虫丸中非法染色成分808猩红的检测方法。方法样品经三氯甲烷提取氮吹浓缩后甲醇复溶液的分析采用Boston C18色谱柱(4.6 mm×250 mm,5μm);流动相乙腈?0.1%甲酸;检测波长518 nm。液质联用确证采用Waters HSS C18色谱柱(2.1 mm×100 mm,1.8μm);电喷雾离子源(ESI+);多反应监测模式。结果808猩红在0.033~3.33μg范围内线性关系良好(r=1.000)。干漆平均回收率100.2%,RSD 1.2%。大黄?虫丸平均回收率99.8%,RSD 1.8%。检出限为1.67 ng。17批阳性样品中808猩红的含量范围为0.89~218.2μg/g。结论该方法简便、可靠,可用于干漆及大黄?虫丸的质量控制。     

Combined enzymatic hydrolysis and herbal extracts fortification to boost in vitro antioxidant activity of edible bird’s nest solution

Objective Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is a popular traditional tonic food in Chinese population for centuries. Malaysia is one of the main EBN suppliers in the world. This study aims to explore the best strategy to boost the antioxidant potential of EBN solution. Methods In this study, the raw EBN (4%, mass to volume ratio) was initially enzymatic hydrolyzed using papain enzyme to produce EBN hydrolysate (EBNH), then spray-dried into powdered form. Next, 4% (mass to volume ratio) of EBNH powder was dissolved in ginger extract (GE), mulberry leaf extract (MLE) and cinnamon twig extract (CTE) to detect the changes of antioxidant activities, respectively. Results Results obtained suggest that enzymatic hydrolysis significantly reduced the viscosity of 4% EBN solution from (68.12 ± 0.69) mPa.s to (7.84 ± 0.31) mPa.s. Besides, the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total soluble protein, DPPH scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were substantially increased following EBN hydrolysis using papain enzyme. In addition, fortification with GE, MLE and CTE had further improved the TPC, TFC, DPPH scavenging activity and FRAP of the EBNH solution. Among the samples, MLE-EBNH solution showed the most superior antioxidant potential at (86.39 ± 1.66)% of DPPH scavenging activity and (19.79 ± 2.96) mmol/L FeSO4 of FRAP. Conclusion This study proved that combined enzymatic hydrolysis and MLE fortification is the best strategy to produce EBN product with prominent in vitro antioxidant potential. This preliminary study provides new insight into the compatibility of EBN with different herbal extracts for future health food production.