Shenxiong glucose injection inhibits oxidative stress and apoptosis to ameliorate isoproterenol-induced myocardial ischemia in rats and improve the function of HUVECs exposed to CoCl.

Shenxiong Glucose Injection (SGI) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula composed of ligustrazine hydrochloride and Danshen (Radix et rhizoma ; Bunge, Lamiaceae). Our previous studies and others have shown that SGI has excellent therapeutic effects on myocardial ischemia (MI). However, the potential mechanisms of action have yet to be elucidated.

Validating a segment on chromosome 7 of japonica for establishing low-cadmium accumulating indica rice variety.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of rice is a serious food safety issue that has recently been gaining significant public attention. Therefore, reduction of Cd accumulation in rice grains is an important objective of rice breeding. The use of favourable alleles of Cd accumulating genes using marker-assisted selection (MAS) is theoretically feasible.

Usefulness of interferon-γ release assay for the diagnosis of sputum smear-negative pulmonary and extra-pulmonary TB in Zhejiang Province, China.

Background: Quick diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and extra-pulmonary TB are urgently needed in clinical diagnosis. Our research aims to investigate the usefulness of the interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) for the diagnosis of smear-negative pulmonary and extra-pulmonary TB.

Methods: We performed TB antibody and TB-IGRA tests on 389 pulmonary TB patients (including 120 smear-positive pulmonary TB patients and 269 smear-negative pulmonary TB patients), 113 extra-pulmonary TB patients, 81 patients with other pulmonary diseases and 100 healthy controls.