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Abstract: Tussilago farfara L. is a common herbal medicine which has been widely used to relieve cough and resolve phlegm. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the flower buds are used, while, in Europe, the leaves are preferred. In this study, the chemical profiles of its leaves and flowers were systematically characterized using gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and multivariate analysis. Principle component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) of GC–MS data provided a clear separation between those samples. The results obviously showed that the metabolome of leaves, flower buds, and fully open flowers are different, and the corresponding loading S-plots revealed that the differential metabolites between the leaves and flowers, and between the fully open flowers and flower buds, were picked out and identified. In conclusion, GC–MS spectroscopy in combination with multivariate analysis has a great potential for chemical comparison study of the metabolome of herbal drugs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Collective Intelligence Design Ecosystem (CIDE) is a dynamic system with multiple interests intertwined, and the utilization of matching tools provides a way for all parties to create value-added benefits. However, not everyone will adopt a matching strategy after balancing the benefits and losses. Revealing the logic of each party's choice and how this choice affects the evolution of the CIDE is beneficial for improving the sustainability of the CIDE. Therefore, this paper constructs a three-party evolutionary game system that includes designers, requesters, and the platform. Some practical insights are derived by simulating the actual operational data of the Zhubajie (ZBJ) platform. First, a modest penalty for designers can speed up the evolution of the CIDE. Second, requesters will invariably choose the task matching mechanism, but mobilizing the platform and designers to participate in matching requires setting a reasonable allocation ratio of remuneration. Third, while the platform's compensation is immaterial to the designer, it is critical to the requester. Finally, although incentives motivate designers to make matches, the absence of incentives might hasten the CIDE's convergence. These conclusions may serve as a roadmap for ensuring CIDE's stability and orderly operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ethnopharmacological relevance: Flower bud of Tussilago farfara L. is widely used for the treatment of cough, bronchitis and asthmatic disorders in the Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, due to the increasing demands, adulteration with rachis is frequently encountered in the marketplace. No report demonstrated the chemical and pharmacological differences between flower bud and rachis before. Materials and methods: The water extracts were orally administrated to mice. Ammonia induced mice coughing model was used to evaluate the antitussive activity. The expectorant activity was evaluated by volume of phenol red in mice''s tracheas. Metabolites were identified directly from the crude extracts through 1D- and 2D-NMR spectra. A metabolic profiling carried out by 1H NMR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis was applied to crude extracts from flower bud and rachis. Results: Flower bud significantly lengthened the latent period of cough, decreased cough frequency caused by ammonia and enhanced tracheal phenol red output in expectorant evaluation. Principal component analysis (PCA) yielded good separation between flower bud and rachis, and corresponding loading plot showed that the phenolic compounds, organic acid, sugar, amino acid, terpene and sterol contributed to the discrimination. Conclusions: These findings provide pharmacological and chemical evidence that only flower bud can be used as the antitussive and expectorant herbal drug. The high concentration of chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, rutin in flower buds may be related with the antitussive and expectorant effects of Flos Farfara. To guarantee the clinical effect, rachis should be picked out before use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Luminescent 50-nm silicon dioxide nanoparticles containing both types of rhodamine 6G (R; particles denoted R-SiO2) were synthesized by the sol-gel method. In the presence of Pb(Ac)2 as a heavy atom perturber the particle can emit the intense and stable room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) signal of R on a polyamide membrane, with?/?=470/635 nm for R. Our research indicates that the specific immune reaction between goat-anti-human IgG antibody labeled with R-SiO2 and human IgG can be carried out quantitatively on a polyamide membrane, and the phosphorescence intensity was enhanced after the immunoreaction. Thus a new method for solid-substrate room-temperature phosphorescence immunoassay (SS-RTP-IA) for determination of human IgG was established on the basis of antibody labeled with the nanoparticles containing binary luminescent molecules. The linear range of this method is 0.0624-20.0 pg spot-1 of human IgG (corresponding to a concentration range of 0.156-50.0 ng mL-1, sample volume 0.40 µL spot-1). The regression equations of the working curves are ?Ip=71.27+7.208mIgG (pg spot-1) (r=0.9996). Detection limits calculated as 3Sb/kare 0.022 pg spot-1. Compared with the same IA using fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) as the marker the new method was more sensitive and had a wider linear range. After elevenfold replicate measurement RSD are 4.5 and 3.6% for samples containing 0.156 and 50.0 ng mL-1 IgG, respectively. This method is sensitive, accurate, and of high precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]