Smoke-water improves shoot growth and indigo accumulation in shoots of Isatis indigotica seedlings

Although smoke treatments have successfully been used for promoting the germination of many seeds, there are no reports on the effect of smoke on secondary metabolite production in plants. This study highlights the effects of smoke-water on shoot growth and accumulation of indigo in shoots of Isatis indigotica Fort., a Chinese medicinal plant. Results showed that seedlings treated with smoke-water at a dilution of 1:1000 achieved the highest fresh and dry shoot mass, which was significantly (P < 0.05) different from the control and other smoke-water dilutions tested. A higher concentration of smoke-water (1:500) significantly increased (P < 0.05) the indigo concentration in shoots compared with untreated seedlings. The effect of 1:1000 and 1:2000 dilutions gave non-significant increases in the concentration of indigo. These findings suggest the possible use of smoke-water for promoting the growth and accumulation of secondary metabolites in plants.     

2005—2009年我国中医医院资源情况分析

医院资源主要包括人员、床位、医疗设备、固定资产等。通过对2005—2009年我国中医医院机构数、床位、人员、固定资产等资源情况进行分析,并与综合医院进行比较,找出存在的问题,以期为“十二五”中医医院的发展提供参考。数据均来源于2005—2009年卫生部《中国卫生统计年鉴》和国家中医药管理局《全国中医药统计摘编》。     

透骨川椒汤在妇科慢性盆腔炎治疗中的临床疗效观察

目的:探讨透骨川椒汤在妇科炎症治疗中的应用价值.方法:收集妇科慢性盆腔炎病例508例,分为治疗组和时照组各254例,两组除相同的基础治疗外,治疗组加用透骨川椒汤治疗,并对比两组疗效.结果:治疗组治愈率为50.4%,明显高于对照组的28.3%(P＜0.05).治疗组与对照组的治疗无效率比较无显著性差异(P＞0.05).结论:透骨川椒汤在治疗妇科慢性盆腔炎效果可靠,有着较好的应用前景.     

Restorative and regenerative: Exploring the concepts in the circular economy

The most recognized definition of the circular economy is that it is a restorative and regenerative economy. Despite the wide use and importance attributed to the concepts of “restoration” and “regeneration,” they are rarely defined or explained in the circular economy literature. In this context, this study critically examines the two terms, while providing guidance on their future utilization and development. Specifically, the study investigates the origin of the concepts, their adoption in frameworks that anticipated the idea of the circular economy, and their connotations in the circular economy literature. The examination supports the need for clear and distinct definitions, combined with precision in usage. From a review of the literature, restoration is a better‐defined concept than regeneration, although it needs conceptual re‐enforcement relative to the biological/ecological aspects of the circular economy. This study suggests looking in the direction of restoration ecology, a well‐established branch of ecological research. Conversely, regeneration is a symbolic/evocative term with little practical application in the context of circular systems except in the case of certain agricultural practices. Until new conceptual developments intervene, regeneration does not seem to be applicable to the economy as a whole and because of this, might be abandoned as a guiding principle of the circular economy. Unlike regeneration, restoration can be considered a core principle because it has widespread application and can be a point of reference for circular applications. This does not preclude the possibility that other concepts may be needed to augment restoration.     

A review on ethno-medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The traditional medicine based on medicinal plants in the Kingdom of Arabia Saudia presents a strong relationship belonging to natural remedies, health, diet, and folk healing practice recognized by a specific culture. The aim of the current study is to carry out an ethnobotanical review on medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Arabia Saudia including information on plant species, used parts, preparation method as well as medical uses. Earlier published data in journals, textbooks, periodicals, websites, and databases written in pharmacological evidence of Suadi medicinal plants were based on gathering information. The present review work reported that 96 species belonging to 47 families have been used in Saudi Pharmacopeia. Amaranthaceae has the highest number of plant species (7) Followed by Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, and Fabaceae with 5 plant species in each. The inventoried plant species in the current work are frequently used for the treatment of various illnesses and to ensure the medication safety of Saudi people. The biological analysis of plant form used in Saudi natural remedies showed the dominance of herb and subshrub form with a percentage of 43% and 30% respectively. The most used preparation method of plant drugs, which used in Saudi Alternative medicine was decoction and infusion. The whole plant, leaves, seeds, and aerial parts were the most useful plant parts in natural preparation in Saudi traditional medicine with a percentage of 29%, 28%, 7%, and 5% respectively as reported in the present review work. The present review work gives big data about medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including data about plant species, used parts, preparation method as well as medical uses.     

Translating Cancer Molecular Variability into Personalized Information Using Bulk and Single Cell Approaches

Cancer research is striving toward new frontiers of assigning the correct personalized drug(s) to a given patient. However, extensive tumor heterogeneity poses a major obstacle. Tumors of the same type often respond differently to therapy, due to patient‐specific molecular aberrations and/or untargeted tumor subpopulations. It is frequently not possible to determine a priori which patients will respond to a certain therapy or how an efficient patient‐specific combined therapy should be designed. Large‐scale datasets have been growing at an accelerated pace and various technologies and analytical tools for single cell and bulk level analyses are being developed to extract significant individualized signals from such heterogeneous data. However, personalized therapies that dramatically alter the course of the disease remain scarce, and most tumors still respond poorly to medical care. In this review, the basic concepts of bulk and single cell approaches are discussed, as well as their emerging role in individualized designs of drug therapies, including the advantages and limitations of their applications in personalized medicine.     

Classification of the Gut Microbiota of Patients in Intensive Care Units During Development of Sepsis and Septic Shock

The gut microbiota of intensive care unit (ICU) patients displays extreme dysbiosis associated with increased susceptibility to organ failure, sepsis, and septic shock. However, such dysbiosis is difficult to characterize owing to the high dimensional complexity of the gut microbiota. We tested whether the concept of enterotype can be applied to the gut microbiota of ICU patients to describe the dysbiosis. We collected 131 fecal samples from 64 ICU patients diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock and performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to dissect their gut microbiota compositions. During the development of sepsis or septic shock and during various medical treatments, the ICU patients always exhibited two dysbiotic microbiota patterns, or ICU-enterotypes, which could not be explained by host properties such as age, sex, and body mass index, or external stressors such as infection site and antibiotic use. ICU-enterotype I (ICU E1) comprised predominantly Bacteroides and an unclassified genus of Enterobacteriaceae, while ICU-enterotype II (ICU E2) comprised predominantly Enterococcus. Among more critically ill patients with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores > 18, septic shock was more likely to occur with ICU E1 (P = 0.041). Additionally, ICU E1 was correlated with high serum lactate levels (P = 0.007). Therefore, different patterns of dysbiosis were correlated with different clinical outcomes, suggesting that ICU-enterotypes should be diagnosed as independent clinical indices. Thus, the microbial-based human index classifier we propose is precise and effective for timely monitoring of ICU-enterotypes of individual patients. This work is a first step toward precision medicine for septic patients based on their gut microbiota profiles.     

Mesenchymal stromal cell‐derived factors promote the colonization of collagen 3D scaffolds with human skin cells

The development of stem cell technology in combination with advances in biomaterials has opened new ways of producing engineered tissue substitutes. In this study, we investigated whether the therapeutic potential of an acellular porous scaffold made of type I collagen can be improved by the addition of a powerful trophic agent in the form of mesenchymal stromal cells conditioned medium (MSC‐CM) in order to be used as an acellular scaffold for skin wound healing treatment. Our experiments showed that MSC‐CM sustained the adherence of keratinocytes and fibroblasts as well as the proliferation of keratinocytes. Moreover, MSC‐CM had chemoattractant properties for keratinocytes and endothelial cells, attributable to the content of trophic and pro‐angiogenic factors. Also, for the dermal fibroblasts cultured on collagen scaffold in the presence of MSC‐CM versus serum control, the ratio between collagen III and I mRNAs increased by 2‐fold. Furthermore, the gene expression for α‐smooth muscle actin, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase‐1 and 2 and matrix metalloproteinase‐14 was significantly increased by approximately 2‐fold. In conclusion, factors existing in MSC‐CM improve the colonization of collagen 3D scaffolds, by sustaining the adherence and proliferation of keratinocytes and by inducing a pro‐healing phenotype in fibroblasts.     

Common plasma protein marker LCAT in aggressive human breast cancer and canine mammary tumor

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers. Although biomarkers are continuously being discovered, few specific markers, rather than classification markers, representing the aggressiveness and invasiveness of breast cancer are known. In this study, we used samples from canine mammary tumors in a comparative approach. We subjected 36 fractions of both canine normal and mammary tumor plasmas to high-performance quantitative proteomics analysis. Among the identified proteins, LCAT was selectively expressed in mixed tumor samples. With further MRM and Western blot validation, we discovered that the LCAT protein is an indicator of aggressive mammary tumors, an advanced stage of cancer, possibly highly metastatic. Interestingly, we also found that LCAT is overexpressed in high-grade and lymphnode-positive breast cancer in silico data. We also demonstrated that LCAT is highly expressed in the sera of advanced-stage human breast cancers within the same classification. In conclusion, we identified a possible common plasma protein biomarker, LCAT, that is highly expressed in aggressive human breast cancer and canine mammary tumor.