Publications by authors named "Zhi-Wen Liu"

α-DCs (α-dicarbonyls) have been proven to be closely related to aging and the onset and development of many chronic diseases. The wide presence of this kind of components in various foods and beverages has been unambiguously determined, but their occurrence in various phytomedicines remains in obscurity. In this study, we established and evaluated an HPLC-UV method and used it to measure the contents of four α-DCs including 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG), glyoxal (GO), methylglyoxal (MGO), and diacetyl (DA) in 35 Chinese herbs after they have been derivatized with 4-nitro-1,2-phenylenediamine.

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Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) is one of the key enzymes of the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids, it is also an effective target for the screening of herbicides and antibiotics. In this study we present a method for preparing Escherichia coli AHAS I holoenzyme (EcAHAS I) with exceptional stability, which provides a solid ground for us to re-investigate the in vitro catalytic properties of the protein. The results show EcAHAS I synthesized in this way exhibits similar function to Bacillus subtilis acetolactate synthase in its catalysis with pyruvate and 2-ketobutyrate (2-KB) as dual-substrate, producing four 2-hydroxy-3-ketoacids including (S)-2-acetolactate, (S)-2-aceto-2-hydroxybutyrate, (S)-2-propionyllactate, and (S)-2-propionyl-2-hydroxybutyrate.

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Background: Renal hemodynamic changes in early diabetes occur before the onset of significant structural abnormalities or clinical manifestations, and timely detection of these changes has clinical significance. This study aimed to evaluate renal elasticity and perfusion changes in an early-stage diabetic rat model by shear wave elastography (SWE) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), and to explore the potential correlations between renal elasticity and perfusion parameters.

Methods: A total of 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: a control group (group 1, n=6), a diabetic group (group 2, n=6), and a diabetic group receiving drug therapy (group 3, n=6).

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Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ~85% of all lung cancer cases. Neferine is used as a traditional Chinese medicine with many pharmacological effects, including antitumor properties; however, it has not been reported whether neferine plays an anticancer role by causing pyroptosis in NSCLC cells. We used two typical lung cancer cell lines, A549 and H1299, and 42 lung cancer tissue samples to investigate the regulatory effects of neferine on TGF-β and MST1.

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Postmenopausal women are prone to osteoporosis due to increased osteoclast activation and bone resorption caused by oestrogen deficiency. In Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, medicines with spleen- and kidney-nourishing effects are commonly used in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) treatment. Aikeqing (AKQ) is a compound Chinese medicinal granule with spleen- and kidney-nourishing effects.

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Eight unprecedented monoterpenoid indole alkaloid (MIA) adducts and dimers, melofusinines A-H (1-8), and three undescribed melodinus-type MIA monomers, melofusinines I-K (9-11), together with six putative biogenetic precursors were isolated from the twigs and leaves of Melodinus fusiformis Champ. ex Benth. Compounds 1 and 2 are unusual hybrid indole alkaloids incorporating an aspidospermatan-type MIA with a monoterpenoid alkaloid unit via C-C coupling.

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As one of the most common diseases in pediatric surgery, an inguinal hernia is usually diagnosed by medical experts based on clinical data collected from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), or B-ultrasound. The parameters of blood routine examination, such as white blood cell count and platelet count, are often used as diagnostic indicators of intestinal necrosis. Based on the medical numerical data on blood routine examination parameters and liver and kidney function parameters, this paper used machine learning algorithm to assist the diagnosis of intestinal necrosis in children with inguinal hernia before operation.

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New Findings: What is the central question of this study? Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a severe complication of diabetes correlated with a higher mortality rate in diabetic patients. Renal tubular injury participates in the pathogenesis of DN. We aimed to uncover the biological function of the NEAT1-miR-150-5p-DRP1 axis in an in vitro model of DN and elaborate the potential mechanisms.

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Identification of molecular subtypes of clinically resectable triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is of great importance to achieve better clinical outcomes. Inter- and intratumor metabolic heterogeneity improves cancer survival, and the interaction of various metabolic pathways may affect treatment outcome of TNBC. We speculated that TNBC can be categorized into prognostic metabolic subtype according to the expression changes of glycolysis and cholesterol synthesis.

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Background: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease that leads to a high risk for bone fractures. Morinda officinalis How. has been used as osteoporosis treatment in China.

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Background: Visceral obesity and fatty liver are prevalent in postmenopausal women. The stilbene-rich extract of Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.

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Six new structurally diverse indole alkaloids, melohemsines J-M (-), 11-hydroxy-Δ-vincamine (), and 11-hydroxy-16--Δ-vincamine (), and 15 known alkaloids were isolated from the leaves and twigs of Diels. These new compounds and their absolute configurations were determined through spectroscopic data analyses, X-ray diffraction, and computational methods. Melohemsine J () is the first example of a melodinus-type alkaloid possessing a 6/6/5/5/6/5 hexacyclic skeleton and containing a tetrahydrofuro[2,3-]pyridine-2(3)-one unit.

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Aim: Previous studies have found significant differences in clinical characteristics between pediatric and adult moyamoya disease (MMD) patients, but few studies have focused on the factors underlying these differences. We aimed to investigate the differences in leptomeningeal collateral (LMC) status between pediatric and adult MMD patients and to analyze the effects of LMCs on clinical characteristics and therapeutic prognosis.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 214 MMD patients from January 2014 to January 2016.

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With the development of computer vision and image segmentation technology, medical image segmentation and recognition technology has become an important part of computer-aided diagnosis. The traditional image segmentation method relies on artificial means to extract and select information such as edges, colors, and textures in the image. It not only consumes considerable energy resources and people's time but also requires certain expertise to obtain useful feature information, which no longer meets the practical application requirements of medical image segmentation and recognition.

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Three new monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs), hunterines A-C (-), were isolated from Compound possesses a unique skeleton with an unprecedented azabicyclo[4.3.1]decane ring system.

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Background and Purpose- Predicting the risk of stroke and determining intervention indications are highly important for patients with Moyamoya disease (MMD). Here, we evaluated a novel MMD grading system based on collateral circulation and Suzuki stage to evaluate symptoms and predict prognosis. Methods- In total, 301 idiopathic MMD patients were retrospectively analyzed between 2014 and 2016.

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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression patterns and relationship of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3B) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in oral leukoplakia (OLK) in smokers and never-smokers. This work also analyzed the relationship between smoking and the carcinogenic potential of OLK.

Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of LC3B and mTOR in 120 patients with OLK.

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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression and relationship of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in normal oral mucosa, oral leukoplakia (OLK), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). This work also analyzed the relationship between expression levels and clinical factors. This study evaluated the clinical value of LC3B and mTOR as indices to determine the carcinogenic potential of OLK.

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The bacterial reaction of ammonium oxidation coupling with iron reduction (Feammox) has been discovered recently. To improve the ammonium removal efficiency from wastewater of Feammox bacteria, magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads (MCHBs) were prepared via sodium hydroxide co-precipitating-sol-gel method, Feammox bacteria were immobilized to 1-5 mm MCHBs, and the ammonium removal efficiency by MCHBs-Feammox bacteria was compared to free-Feammox bacteria. In addition, the influences of initial ammonium concentration, pH and temperature were assessed.

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Objective: To study the effect of Erxian Decoction (EXD) on oligospermia (OS) induced by cyclophosphamide in mice.

Methods: Eighty 6-week-old male Kunming mice were randomly divided into five groups of equal number, normal control, OS model control, and low-, medium- and high-dose EXD, the former two groups treated intragastrically with normal saline and the latter three with EXD at 3, 6 and 12 g per kg of the body weight qd for 30 days. From the 21st day of administration, the mice of the normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with saline and those of the other four groups with cyclophosphamide at 80 mg per kg of the body weight qd for 5 consecutive days.

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To investigate the effect of Er-xian decoction on ovariectomy induced-learning and memory disability in rats based on the differences in hippocampus proteomic expression, the female rats were ovariectomized for perimenopausal status and then randomly divided into 3 groups, namely sham group, control group and Er-xian decoction group. The rats in sham group and control group were given normal saline by gavage everyday, the rats in Er-xian decoction group were given 12 g·kg⁻¹ of Er-xian decoction by gavage once a day. After treatment for 90 day, all of the animals were tested by Morris water maze, and all of the samples were collected for testing.

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Ervadivamines A (1) and B (2), two unprecedented trimeric monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, were isolated from Ervatamia divaricata. They are the first examples of vobasine-iboga-vobasine-type alkaloid with both C-C and C-N linkage patterns. Their structures including absolute configurations were fully accomplished by extensive spectroscopic analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and electric circular dichroism methods.

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The primarily metabolic abnormality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the defect in gluconeogenesis and glucose uptake. Itraconazole (ITCZ) is a traditional azole drug with anti-fungal and anticancer properties. However, limited attention has been directed towards the contribution of ITCZ to hepatic gluconeogenesis and glucose uptake in T2DM.

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This experiment was mainly aimed to investigate the effect of Er-xian decoction on osteoporosis and the femur proteomics in ovariectomized rats with osteoporosis. The female SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, Alendronate group (1 mg•kg⁻¹), Er-xian decoction group (in dose of 8 g•kg⁻¹) according to their weight. The rats in sham operation group and model group were gavaged with normal saline; the rats in Alendronate group were gavaged with the Alendronate at the dose of 1 mg•kg⁻¹ and the rats in Er-xian decoction group were gavaged with Er-xian decoction at the dose of 8 g•kg⁻¹, once a day for continuous 90 days.

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Objective: To investigate the relationship between the levels of plasma adrenaline and norepinephrine and gene polymorphism of β1 adrenergic receptor G1165C in children with enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection in hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

Methods: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the expression of gene polymorphism of β1 adrenergic receptor G1165C in vitro. The levels of plasma adrenaline and norepinephrine were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

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