DNA barcoding of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (Qiang-huo) and identification of adulteration in its medicinal services.

Safety concerns, stemming from the presence of complex and unpredictable adulterants, permeate the entire industrial chain of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). The Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (NReR) from the Apiaceae family, commonly known as "Qiang-huo", is a widely used herbal medicine. The recent surge in its demand has given rise to a proliferation of counterfeit and substituted products in the market.

TPX2 enhances the transcription factor activation of PXR and enhances the resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to antitumor drugs.

The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is an important regulator of hepatocellular carcinoma cellular resistance to antitumor drugs. Activation of PXR was modulated by the co-regulators. The target protein for the Xenopus plus end-directed kinesin-like protein (Xklp2) known as TPX2 that was previously considered as a tubulin regulator, also functions as the regulator of some transcription factors and pro-oncogenes in human malignances.

The Combination of AFP and "Up-To-Seven" Criteria May Be a Better Strategy for Liver Transplantation in Chinese Cirrhotic HCC Patients.

Background: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is a life-saving option for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the expanded OLT criteria remain controversial.

Objective: The study aimed to explore whether expanded OLT criteria can be applied to Chinese cirrhotic patients with HCC.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed risk factors for HCC recurrence and death and compared patients' tumor characteristics and outcomes in groups of Milan, "Up-to-seven," and Hangzhou criteria, and groups between met and unmet the combinative criteria of "Up-to-seven" and AFP of < 1000 ng/mL.

(Apiaceae), a new species from Sichuan, China.

A new species, J. Zhou & Z.W.

[Collection and sorting of medicinal plants in Chinese Apiaceae( Umbelliferae)].

The family Apiaceae( Umbelliferae) includes some of the world's most important medicinal plants,with more than 100 species recorded in the traditional Chinese medicine,of which more than ten species are commonly used medicinal materials. However,due to morphological similarities,high market demands and regional factors,substitutes and adulterants are often mixed with genuine in the medicinal market. Therefore,a comprehensive sorting for these poorly known plants has been done in this study by combining market survey with literature review,including its species,distribution,price and substitutes.

Molecular Authentication of the Medicinal Species of (Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix, "Gao-ben") by Integrating Non-coding Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) and Its Secondary Structure.

Ligustici Rhizoma et Radix (LReR), an important Chinese medicine known as "Gao-ben," refers to Oliv. or Nakai et Kitag. However, a number of other species are commonly sold as "Gao-ben" in the herbal medicine market, which may result in a series of quality control problems and inconsistent therapeutic effects.

[Application of DNA metabarcoding technology in identification of Chinese patent medicines].

Metabarcoding technology is a research method derived from the combination of traditional DNA barcodes and highthroughput sequencing technologies. It can quickly,easily and efficiently identify and restore biological samples from multiple species.Biological species are currently widely used in environmental biology research.

Relationships between Tertiary relict and circumboreal woodland floras: a case study in Chimaphila (Ericaceae).

Background And Aims: Tertiary relict and Arctic/circumboreal distributions are two major patterns of Northern Hemisphere intercontinental disjunctions with very different histories. Each has been well researched, but members of one biome have generally not been incorporated in the biogeographical analyses of the other, and links or transitions between these two biomes have rarely been addressed.

Methods: Phylogenies of Chimaphila were generated based on cpDNA and nuclear ITS, using Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods.

Circulating CXCR3-CCR6-CXCR5CD4 T cells are associated with acute allograft rejection in liver transplantation.

Circulating T follicular helper (cTFH) cells have been demonstrated to be involved in B-cell-mediated alloreactive responses in kidney and liver transplantation; however, whether these cells are involved in acute liver allograft rejection after liver transplantation, and which subsets are involved, remains to be clarified. The present study aimed to investigate the profiles of cTFH cells in acute liver allograft rejection, including the CXC motif receptor 3 (CXCR3) chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6) subset, the CXCR3CCR6 subset, and the CXCR3CCR6 subset. Twelve liver transplant patients with acute rejection (AR) and 20 with no acute rejection (NAR) were enrolled in the study.

A pilot study on the characteristics of circulating T follicular helper cells in liver transplant recipients.

Circulating CD4CXCR5 T follicular helper cells (cTfh) have been demonstrated to be involved in B cell-mediated systemic autoimmune diseases and alloreactive responses following kidney transplantation; however, whether cTfh cells are involved in alloreactive responses after liver transplantation (LT) remains unclear. Our present study aimed to investigate the characteristics of cTfh, as well as CXCR3CCR6Tfh1, CXCR3CCR6Tfh2, and CXCR3CCR6Tfh17 subsets in liver allograft recipients. A total of 30 liver transplant recipients were enrolled in this study.

The rapid climate change-caused dichotomy on subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in Yunnan: Reduction in habitat diversity and increase in species diversity.

Yunnan's biodiversity is under considerable pressure and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in this area have become increasingly fragmented through agriculture, logging, planting of economic plants, mining activities and changing environment. The aims of the study are to investigate climate change-induced changes of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in Yunnan and identify areas of current species richness centers for conservation preparation. Stacked species distribution models were created to generate ensemble forecasting of species distributions, alpha diversity and beta diversity for Yunnan's subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in both current and future climate scenarios.

[Clinical analysis of liver transplantation for autoimmune hepatitis].

Objective: To describe the outcomes and recurrence of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) after liver transplantation.

Methods: Clinical data of 16 patients with AIH who underwent liver transplantation were analyzed retrospectively. The postoperative cumulative survival rate of the patients was calculated.

A case of de novo autoimmune hepatitis.

In this study, we reported a case of de novo autoimmune hepatitis. In this case, liver puncture biopsy was carried out and the result showed autoimmune hepatitis. In this report, we described the characteristics of this patient.

Refractory Dyslipidemia After Liver Transplant: Case Study With Successive Histologic Investigations.

Hyperlipidemia is not unusual in liver transplant recipients, but refractory severe hyperlipidemia is unusual. We treated a 39-year-old man who had severe dyslipidemia after liver transplant. The levels of blood lipids, liver enzymes, and essential indicators of liver pathology were monitored.

The ratio of circulating regulatory T cells (Tregs)/Th17 cells is associated with acute allograft rejection in liver transplantation.

CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) and Th17 cells are known to be involved in the alloreactive responses in organ transplantation, but little is known about the relationship between Tregs and Th17 cells in the context of liver alloresponse. Here, we investigated whether the circulating Tregs/Th17 ratio is associated with acute allograft rejection in liver transplantation. In present study, thirty-eight patients who received liver transplant were enrolled.

Multiple origins of circumboreal taxa in Pyrola (Ericaceae), a group with a Tertiary relict distribution.

Background And Aims: In the Northern Hemisphere, Tertiary relict disjunctions involve older groups of warm affinity and wide disjunctions, whereas circumboreal distributions in Arctic-Alpine taxa tend to be younger. Arctic-Alpine species are occasionally derived from Tertiary relict groups, but Pyrola species, in particular, are exceptional and they might have occurred multiple times. The aim of this study was to reconstruct the biogeographic history of Pyrola based on a clear phylogenetic analysis and to explore how the genus attained its circumboreal distribution.

Targeting the raft-associated Akt signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 are considered as markers of lipid rafts which can be regarded as sorting platforms for targeted transport of transmembrane proteins and are involved in fundamental cellular events such as signal transduction, cell adhesion, lipid/protein sorting, and human cancer. We addressed caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 expression in 90 human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent noncancerous tissues (ANT) samples by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting with specific antibodies. Significant caveolin-1 and flotillin-1 overexpression was found in HCC tissues compared to ANT and was confirmed by immunohistochemistry.

Clinical-pathological analysis of hepatitis B virus recurrence after liver transplantation in Chinese patients.

Background And Aim: Liver transplantation (LT) for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related disease can be complicated by HBV recurrence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors, prophylaxis treatment, and histological characteristics of HBV recurrence after LT when using long-term, low-dose hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) plus nucleoside analog (lamivudine [LAM] or entecavir [ETV]).

Methods: Retrospective data from 253 adult LT patients using long-term, low-dose HBIG plus nucleoside analog after LT, for a mean treatment duration of 1-72 months, were collected from a single center in Beijing, China.

[Clinical manifestation and autoantibody profile in 123 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis].

Objective: To investigate the autoantibody profile and its clinical implication in the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Methods: During the period of 2008 to 2010,123 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in our hospital were enrolled in this study, of whom, 70 patients were with cirrhosis and 53 without cirrhosis, The autoantibody profile was tested for each patient by using immunoblotting and indirect immunofluorescence.

Results: Of the 123 PBC patients with liver cirrhosis, 49% were positive with serum ANA positive; 47%, 51%, 54%, 31% and 49% were positive with serum anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-mitochondrial antibodies-M2 (AMA-M2), anti-promyelocytic leukemia (anti-PML), anti-sp100 antibodies (anti-sp100), anti-Ro-52 antibody (anti-52KD), respectively.

Behavioral responses of two captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to a continuous 50 kHz tone.

At present, the fundamental frequencies of signals of most commercially available acoustic alarms to deter small cetaceans are below 20 kHz, but it is not well ascertained whether higher frequencies have a deterrent effect on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Two captive bottlenose dolphins housed in a floating pen were subjected to a continuous pure tone at 50 kHz with a source level of 160 ± 2 dB (re 1 μPa, rms). The behavioral responses of dolphins were judged by comparing surfacing distance relative to the sound source, number of surfacings, and number of echolocation clicks produced, during forty 15 min baseline periods with forty 15 min test periods (four sessions per day, 40 sessions in total).

Phylogeny of Pyroleae (Ericaceae): implications for character evolution.

Pyroleae (Ericaceae) consist of four genera, all of which are distributed widely in temperate coniferous or sometimes deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere. To investigate the phylogenetic relationships among these genera and to explore the evolution of the characteristics of the subfamily, we conducted maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses with nrDNA ITS and three cpDNA intergenic spacers (atpB-rbcL, trnS-trnG and trnL-trnF). The results from cpDNA and combined cpDNA + ITS data sets strongly support the monophyly of Pyroleae as well as a sister relationship between Pyrola and Moneses-Chimaphila, with Orthilia as the basal lineage.