[Analysis of risk factors for marginal donors in living donor liver transplantation.].

Objective: To analyze risk factors of marginal donors in living donor liver transplantation.

Methods: 98 living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) patients over the 7-year period from 2001 to 2007 in our transplantation center were retrospected. Potential risk factors, including donor age, gender-mismatch, steatotic donors and graft-recipient weight ratio (GRWR), and their relationship with 6-month patient survival rate were analyzed.

Phenolic alkaloids as a new class of antioxidants in Portulaca oleracea.

Antioxidant activities of three phenolic alkaloids, i.e., oleracein A (OA), oleracein B (OB) and oleracein E (OE), isolated from Portulaca oleracea were determined, based on scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl- 2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical and inhibitory effect on hydrogen peroxide-induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain homogenates.

Hydrothermal Formation of the Head-to-Head Coalesced Szaibelyite MgBO(2)(OH) Nanowires.

The significant effect of the feeding mode on the morphology and size distribution of the hydrothermal synthesized MgBO(2)(OH) is investigated, which indicates that, slow dropping rate (0.5 drop s(-1)) and small droplet size (0.02 mL d(-1)) of the dropwise added NaOH solution are favorable for promoting the one-dimensional (1D) preferential growth and thus enlarging the aspect ratio of the 1D MgBO(2)(OH) nanostructures.

[Establishment of formula predicting adult standard liver volume for liver transplantation].

Objective: To establish a favorable formula of estimation adult standard liver volume (SLV) based on the data of living donors for liver transplantation.

Methods: From March 2005 to December 2007, 90 Adult-to-Adult living donor liver transplantation were performed. The donors' anthropometric data of gender, year, body weight and body height was collected prospectively.

Hydrothermal preparation of boehmite nanorods by selective adsorption of sulfate.

A facile hydrothermal method was developed to synthesize boehmite nanorods with a length of 50-2000 nm, a diameter of 6-20 nm, and a preferential growth along [100] by treating the Al(OH)(3) gel in acidified sulfate solutions at 240 degrees C. Studies on the hydrothermal treatment of Al(OH)(3) gel in sulfate solutions showed that the morphology and the composition of the hydrothermal products were connected with the sulfate concentration and the pH of the hydrothermal solution. The aspect ratio of the boehmite nanorods increased to 300 as the initial H(2)SO(4) concentration increased to 0.

Rapid screening for cyclo-dopa and diketopiperazine alkaloids in crude extracts of Portulaca oleracea L. using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

A simple and rapid qualitative liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed and validated for screening cyclo-dopa and diketopiperazine alkaloids in crude extracts of Portulaca oleracea L. at sub-ppm levels. An electrospray ionization orbitrap mass spectrometer, which provides accurate full scan MS and MS/MS data, was used in this study.

[Study on chemical constituents of Portulaca oleracea].

Objective: To investigate chemical constituents of Portulaca oleracea.

Methods: The constituents were isolated by various column chromatography methods, and their structures were elucidated by spectral analysis.

Results: Five compounds were isolated from 70% ethanol extract and their structures were elucidated as oleracein A(1), oleracein B(2), oleracein E(3), hesperidin (4) and caffeic acid (5).

Inhibition of beta-amyloid precursor protein gene in SK-N-SH cells by piperlonguminine/dihydropiperlonguminine components separated from Chinese herbal medicine Futokadsura stem.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive and memory decline. Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a transmembrane protein, it has been known to play an important role in AD pathogenesis. Previous studies have shown that a Chinese herb Futokadsura stem can selectively inhibit the expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene.

[Identification of the habitats of Radix Astragali using the correlative characteristic peaks selected by rough sets].

Objective: Correlative characteristic peaks of HPLC selected by rough sets were employed to identify the habitats of Radix Astragali.

Method: Using HPLC fingerprints of Radix Astragali sampled from different sources as examples, the reduct of attributes was achieved via rough sets, and therefore characteristic peaks correlated to identification of habitats were selected. Hierarchical cluster analysis was served for identifying the habitats of Radix Astragali.

[Isolation of pancreatic lipase activity-inhibitory component of spirulina platensis and it reduce postprandial triacylglycerolemia].

In the process of investigating the hypolipidemic effects of Spirulina platensis, we found that the aqueous extract of S. platensis may inhibit the intestinal absorption of dietary fat by inhibiting pancreatic lipase activity. The aqueous extract of S.

Mutated-leptin gene transfer induces increases in body weight by electroporation and hydrodynamics-based gene delivery in mice.

To investigate whether in vivo gene transfer causes leptin-antagonistic effects on food intake, animal body weight and fat tissue weight, the R128Q mutated-leptin gene, an R to Q substitution at position 128 of mouse leptin, was transferred into mouse liver and leg muscle by electroporation and hydrodynamics-based gene delivery. Mutated-leptin gene transfer by electroporation caused significant increases in body weight at 5 days and after (5.4% increase relative to control; p<0.

Alkaloids from Portulaca oleracea L.

Five alkaloids (oleraceins A, B, C, D and E) were isolated from Portulaca oleracea L., and their structures determined by spectroscopic methods as 5-hydroxy-1-p-coumaric acyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 5-hydroxy-1-ferulic acyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 5-hydroxy-1-(p-coumaric acyl-7'-O-beta-D-glucopyranose)-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 5-hydroxy-1-(ferulic acyl-7'-O-beta-D-glucopyranose)-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-2-carboxylic acid-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and 8,9-dihydroxy-1,5,6,10b-tetrahydro-2H-pyrrolo[2,1-a]isoquinolin-3-one, respectively.

Two new constituents from Rheum sublanceolatum.

The chemical investigation of Rheum sublanceolatum has led to the isolation of two new constituents, the structures of which were identified on the basis of physical and spectroscopic analysis as 2-acetyl-3-methyl-6,8-dihydroxy-2,3,4,4-tetrahydronaphthalene-1-one-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1) and 2,5-dimethyl-7-hydroxychromone-7-O-beta-D-(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside (2).

The effects of agouti-related protein gene transfer in vivo by electroporation in mice.

In the present study, the cDNA encoding agouti-related protein (AGRP) gene known as an orexigenic factor was transferred in vivo to test whether food intake and body weight gain is improved in mice. When the expression plasmid of AGRP gene driven by mouse beta-actin, pActAGRP, was transferred into leg muscle by electroporation, body weight of gene-transferred mice was significantly increased at 14 days and afterwards compared with that of control counterparts (p < 0.05).

Determination of paeoniflorin in rat hippocampus by high-performance liquid chromatography after intravenous administration of Paeoniae Radix extract.

A rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay for the determination of paeoniflorin in rat hippocampus was developed in this study. The chromatographic analysis was carried out using reversed-phase isocratic elution with a Zorbax SB-C(18) column, a mobile phase of methanol-water (32:68, v/v), and detection by ultraviolet (UV) absorption at 233 nm. The lower limits of quantitation (LLQ) were 1 microg/ml for paeoniflorin.

Pharmacokinetic study of ellagic acid in rat after oral administration of pomegranate leaf extract.

Quantification of ellagic acid, the principal bioactive component of pomegranate leaf extract, in rats plasma following oral administration of pomegranate leaf extract was achieved by using a high-performance liquid chromatographic method. The calibration curve for ellagic acid was linear (r2=0.9998) ver the concentration range 0.

The application of an artificial neural network in the identification of medicinal rhubarbs by near-infrared spectroscopy.

This paper describes a method to combine near-infrared spectroscopy and a three layer back-propagation artificial neural network in order to identify official and unofficial rhubarbs. Thirty-three samples were taken as the training set, and 62 samples as the test set. The effects of input node number, learning rate and momentum on the final error and recognition accuracy for the training set, and on prediction accuracy for the test set were determined.

Effects of leptin gene expression in mice in vivo by electroporation and hydrodynamics-based gene delivery.

In vivo electroporation and hydrodynamics-based gene delivery were utilized to test the effect of leptin gene transfer on food intake, and body and fat weights of mice. Gene transfer of pVRmob by electroporation caused a significant reduction in body weight compared with the control counterpart (p<0.05), although a lesser effect was found in food intake, and the weights of interscapular brown and epididymal fat by electroporation.