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Background: Radix Wikstroemia indica (RWI) is one of the most commonly used drugs in Miao medicine. However, RWI is characterized by high toxicity. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to observe the effect of the "sweat soaking method" processed on reducing the hepatotoxicity of RWI and on cytochrome P450 (CYP) protein expression. Materials and Methods: The study focused on investigating the impact of both RWI raw products and RWI processed products on the proliferation of L-02 cells. To assess this, a cell counting kit-8 was employed. After the administration of RWI through oral gavage for a duration of 15 days in rats, the corresponding kits were utilized to determine the serum levels of the liver index factor. Furthermore, both hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and western blot analysis were conducted to analyze the liver tissues. Results: Both the raw RWI and the processed RWI at high doses inhibited the proliferation of L-02 cells, but the cell viability of the concoction group was higher than that of the raw group. The liver tissues of rats in the control and processed product groups were normal, while those in the raw product groups showed different degrees of liver damage. Additionally, compared with the control group, the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine transaminase (ALT) in the raw product groups was notably increased in a dose-dependent manner; the three enzyme activities of the processed group were lower than those of the raw product group. In addition, the expression levels of CYP3A4, 2C19, 2C9, 1A2, and 2E1 in the liver tissue of rats in the processed group were lower than those in the raw group, while the protein expression trend of CYP2D6 was irregular. Conclusion: The detoxication mechanism of RWI, after undergoing processing, appears to be associated with reduced protein expression of CYP1A2, CYP2E1, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP3A4, ultimately leading to decreased liver injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radix (Lymnaea) natalensis (Krauss, 1848) is an essential host in the completion of the life cycle of Fasciola gigantica especially in large areas of Africa, where it is reputed to serve as the main, if not the only intermediate of Fasciola. In this study, 18S rDNA gene was employed for the molecular characterization of morphologically identified Radix natalensis collected from Nigerian Northern cities of Gombe and Jos. The obtained result revealed that the amplification of the 18S rDNA gene at 450bp identified and confirmed the collected species as Radix natalensis. BLASTn search showed that sequences of Nigerian isolates of Radix natalensis had high (99-100%) degree of similarities with each other and with other sequence deposits in the NCBI GenBank. The Nigerian sequences on phylogenetic analysis formed a separate clade distinct from other sequences of Radix natalensis from other parts of Africa and the rest of the world, suggestive of clustering based on geographical location. Thus, the availability and confirmation of Radix (Lymnaea) natalensis from the study locations as evidenced by the results of this study further justifies the assertion of Lymnaea natalensis, being a putative intermediate host of Fasciola spp. in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Network pharmacology was used to predict the main targets and related mechanism pathways of the key compounds and active ingredients of the Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix based on the therapeutic strategy of tonifying kidney and dispelling pathogenic wind for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease(DKD). Methods: The effective components of Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix were screened through the data platform of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM). After screening effective targets, the disease target gene database was used to obtain targets for DKD, and then gene enrichment analysis to predict relevant signalling pathways after obtaining the key target genes through Venn analysis. Results: There were 324 active components of Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix through the data platform of TCM. In addition, Venn analysis showed that there were 48 key target genes for the treatment of DKD. The biological pathways for the action of Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix in DKD were closely related to many signaling pathways including NF-kappaB, classical MAP kinase, JNK and P38 MAP kinase, and ERK5. Conclusions: Treatment of DKD with Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix based on the therapeutic strategy of tonifying kidney and dispelling pathogenic wind has the characteristics of multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways, which could provide new ideas and methods for further researches on the treatment of DKD with Alpinia oxyphylla-Saposhnikovia Radix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of pipelined FFT hardware architectures has been studied during the last 50 years. This paper is a survey that includes the main advances in the field related to architectures for complex input data and power-of-two FFT sizes. Furthermore, the paper is intended to be educational, so that the reader can learn how the architectures work. Finally, the paper divides the architectures into serial and parallel. This classification puts together those architectures that are conceived for a similar purpose and, therefore, are comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the new application of number-theoretic transforms. Representing number systems by these transforms allows us to create fundamentally new and efficient algorithms for factoring numbers and to calculate period of the exponential function and of the discrete logarithm. The factorization algorithm allows us to decompose any finite product into factors in one run, it is an exact test of number simplicity. This algorithm is based on representing number systems by a number-theoretic transforms and has no analogs in the world since it uses only simple arithmetic operations. Properties of number simplicity or other number properties are not applied. Thus, number factoring and calculations of the exponential function period and of the discrete logarithm are simple arithmetic operations that are performed in a finite time and belong to the complexity class P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The most difficult aspect of radix lowering is determining the maximum amount of bone that can be removed with osteotomes; here, we describe use of a radix saw, which is a new tool for determining this amount. Objective: In this study, we describe use of a radix saw, which is a new tool to reduce the radix. Methods: The medical charts of 96 patients undergoing surgery to lower a high radix between 2016 and 2017 were assessed retrospectively. All operations were performed by the senior surgeon. Outcomes were assessed by comparing preoperative photographs with the most recent follow-up photographs (minimum of 6 months postoperatively). The photographs were all taken using the same imaging settings, and with consistent subject distance and angulation. The photographs were subsequently analysed by authors. Results: The study population consisted of 96 patients (70 women, 26 men) who underwent rhinoplasty between 2016 and 2017. The mean age of the patients was 28.8 years (range: 18–50 years) and the mean clinical follow-up period was 1.8 years. No patient required revision surgery due to radix problems, and there were no cases with unwanted bone fragments or radix asymmetry. The swelling and oedema seen immediately after surgery subsided after an average of 7–10 days. Conclusion: In conclusion, a radix saw can be used for rhinoplasty requiring delicate bone removal in patients with a high radix. Level IV: Evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention, such as case studies. Dramatic results in uncontrolled trials might also be regarded as this type of evidence.

Binary division operation has immense importance in the field of engineering science. Inherently, division operation is a sequential operation, making it more expensive in terms of computational complexity and latency compared with other mathematical operations like multiplication and addition. This work proposes a novel iterative binary division method with the goal of reducing the delay in its hardware implementation. The hardware circuits are designed using Verilog HDL and verified on Xilinx FPGA. This work also presents a study of area, power and delay of the proposed method for different specifications. At UMC 40 nm technology node, the 32-bit radix-16 fixed-point divider circuit requires 3938 μ m 2 area with a dynamic power consumption of 2.82 μ W/MHz. It has a latency of 2–9 clock cycles with a critical path delay of 4.97 ns. This work is further extended to design a single-precision floating-point divider. The divider is implemented with an area of 3353 μ m 2 , power dissipation of 2.76 μ W/MHz and critical path delay of 4.83 ns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The procerus is the main muscle across the radix that needs to be operated during rhytidectomy, however, it is unclear whether transecting it can morphologically affect the nose. Methods: A retrospective study of Asian patients who underwent procerus transection during rhytidectomy in our single institution was performed to assess whether the radix profile had any change postoperatively. The procerus was transected at a plane above the nasion. Results: Ninety-four patients were included. All of them were female with an average age of 50.7 ± 5.2 years and a mean follow-up time of 7.8 ± 3.2 months. Twenty-seven (28.7%) had moderate horizontal wrinkles preoperatively, and sixty-seven (71.3%) had severe rhytides. Different degrees of wrinkle improvement were seen on 91 (96.8%) patients, and no improvement occurred to 3 (3.2%) patients after procerus transection. The anthropometric measurements on these patients did not find any significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative nasal heights, radix projections, nasal lengths, or nasofrontal angles (all p >0.05). Conclusions: Procerus transection primary contributes to wrinkle improvement. The morphological change of the radix following this operation is too subtle to be observed. This conclusion should be further verified on large samples as well as on other ethnic cohorts in a long-term follow-up. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that authors 10 assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full 11 description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, 12 please refer to the Table of Contents or the online 13 Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new tremulane sesquiterpene, lactedine (1), along with seven known tremulane sesquiterpenes (2–8) and one known triterpene (9) were isolated from the fungus Irpex lacteus. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data and DP4+ probability analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a formal language L , the problem of language enumeration asks to compute the length-lexicographically smallest word in L larger than a given input w ∈ Σ ∗ (henceforth called the L -successor of w). We investigate this problem for regular languages from a computational complexity and state complexity perspective. We first show that if L is recognized by a DFA with n states, then 2 Θ (n log n) states are (in general) necessary and sufficient for an unambiguous finite-state transducer to compute L -successors. As a byproduct, we obtain that if L is recognized by a DFA with n states, then 2 Θ (n log n) states are sufficient for a DFA to recognize the subset S (L) of L composed of its lexicographically smallest words. We give a matching lower bound that holds even if S (L) is represented as an NFA. It has been known that L -successors can be computed in polynomial time, even if the regular language is given as part of the input (assuming a suitable representation of the language, such as a DFA). In this paper, we refine this result in multiple directions. We show that if the regular language is given as part of the input and encoded as a DFA, the problem is in N L. If the regular language L is fixed, we prove that the enumeration problem of the language is reducible to deciding membership to the Myhill-Nerode equivalence classes of L under D L O G T I M E -uniform A C 0 reductions. In particular, this implies that fixed star-free languages can be enumerated in A C 0 , arbitrary fixed regular languages can be enumerated in N C 1 and that there exist regular languages for which the problem is N C 1 -complete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-domain OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) signal has various different levels from many subcarriers in one frame which are fatal effect in the non-linear OFDM channel. Because of the signal distortion occurring at the output of non-linear power amplifier, the performance of system has failure. This issue is called that Peak to Average Power Ratio or PAPR which is the main issue of concern for OFDM system. One of the effective PAPR reduction technique known as partial transmit sequence (PTS) with non-uniform phase factors investigating between 0 and 2π was proposed to solve this issue which can suppress the PAPR value competently by clustering their data subcarriers in frequency-domain and multiplying data subcarriers in each cluster by non-uniform phase factors in time-domain after IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform). However the computational complexity is increased in proportion to the increasing of cluster numbers. By carefully reducing the PAPR of time-domain OFDM signal with small computational complexity, this paper proposes a modified ABC (Artificial Bee Colony) with PTS (ABC-PTS) scheme which can reduce the PAPR of time-domain OFDM signal by applying non-uniform phase factor in the weighting factor sequences with small computational complexity of PAPR reduction process by performing the modified ABC algorithm. The simulation results in this paper can demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms approximate 0.4dB and 0.8dB over the original PTS for adjacent and interleaved respectively and approximate 3.2dB over the conventional OFDM at CCDF=10-2 (Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function) with smaller computational complexity which is 19.14% approximately as compared with the original PTS. Moreover, the radix-2, radix-4 and split-radix DIF-IFFT (Decimation-in-Frequency IFFT) algorithms are employed to reduce the computational complexity which are approximate 50%, 62.5% and 66.67% for PAPR reduction process without affecting the optimum PAPR performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Radix auricularia (Linnaeus, 1758) is a freshwater gastropod belongs to the Lymnaeidae (pond snails) family which act as intermediate hosts or vectors of various parasitic flukes. No study has yet been undertaken on the prevalence of Petasiger spp. infection in R. auricularia . Species of Petasiger (Dietz, 1909) are a cosmopolitan parasite that utilize snails as the first intermediate host, with vertebrates like amphibians larvae and fish as the second intermediate host, followed by fish-eating birds. The current paper is considered to be the first report of Petasiger exaeretus parasitized R. auricularia in Iraq, which is supported with molecular and phylogenetic analysis. Material and methods Freshwater snails R. auricularia were collected during October 2016 – September 2017 from different locations of Sufaia village on the Greater Zab river, Erbil province, Iraq. Results A total of 307 freshwater snails R. auricularia were collected, only five of them were infected with a prevalence of Petasiger exaeretus (1.62%). Conclusions The current study agrees with the opinion of Selbach, Soldánová (26), which suggested the possibility of a much higher morphological diversity within Petasiger species, based on the number of described cercariae, compared with adult forms.It is clear that P. phalacrocoracis specimens have often been erroneously designated as P. exaeretus by many authors (Našincová et al., 1994). Certain morphological similarities and dissimilarities between P. exaeretus and P. phalacrocoracis can be detected: the pear-shaped body resembles P. exaeretus , whereas, P. phalacrocoracis have an elongated body.

OBJECTIVE: To see the prevalence of an additional root in permanent mandibular first molars in patients presenting for dental checkup for root canal treatment. METHODOLOGY: This observational study was carried out at Department of Endodontics, Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Karachi from June 2016 to May 2017. Sample size was Eight hundred and three permanent mandibular first molars from 568 females and 235 males were examined over a period of 1 year. Presence of a third root was revealed by diagnostic periapical radiographs and the comparison between males and females and between the right and left sides of the mandible were recorded. RESULTS: Out of the 803 permanent mandibular first molars that were observed, only 17 were found to have an accessory root. Out of total 803 samples that were being evaluated, only 17 subjects were found to have an extra root with a prevalence of 2.12%. The incidence of extra root was found to be higher in males. CONCLUSION: Though the incidence of radix entomolaris & paramolaris observed among the examined population was quite low, detection of radix is crucial to a successful endodontic treatment. More in depth study and detection methods are required for better identification of this unique anomaly.

The success of root canal treatment depends on complete debridement of pulp tissue from the root canals. Therefore, a thorough knowledge of unusual anatomical findings is of utmost importance. Although the majority of mandibular molars present with 2 roots (mesial and distal) and 3 or 4 root canals, the number of roots and root canals in individual molars may vary. An extra root is called a radix entomolaris if it is located distolingually and a radix paramolaris if located mesiobuccally. This article presents a series of 5 cases of radix entomolaris and radix paramolaris in mandibular first, second, and third molars and reviews the literature on these morphologic variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irregularities of the nasal dorsum or tip are a potential risk after rhinoplasty. Patients with thin skin are considered to be at a higher risk of these irregularities. Different materials and grafts to address areas that may result in a contour irregularity postoperatively include diced or crushed cartilage, temporalis fascia, fascia lata, and AlloDerm. We describe a new graft, the supracrural ligament graft, which can be used to camouflage or add bulk during primary rhinoplasty. The graft is harvested easily during the initial exposure and does not require additional surgical sites or extra dissection. In this research, we described the use of the supracrural ligament graft in 49 patients. We found the average graft size to be 0.6 × 0.4 cm. The graft was used in the following locations: nasal tip (49%), radix (40%), and nasal dorsum (10%). No complications were seen using the graft in any of the 49 patients. In conclusion, the supracrural ligament graft is a safe, simple, and effective camouflage graft for commonly encountered irregularities in rhinoplasty. Common areas of use include the nasal dorsum and nasal tip. Routine harvest of this graft may obviate the need to use either additional grafting material or an additional surgical site to help camouflage areas of concern in thin skin patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (2,3)-representation of integers utilizes the mixed numeration base of the radix-2 and auxilary radix-3. This representation yields a universal prefix-free binary encoding of all natural numbers with a variety of useful properties: robustness (self-synchronization), local error corrections, statistic regularities of code parameters, etc. The paper describes a procedure of monotonic generation of (2,3)-codewords in ascending order of their lengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will present personal experiences of work, generally, with traumatised people and especially traumatised refugees, using approaches from body-oriented psychotherapy. Personal experiences as a body psychotherapist are presented from two main schools: Mind-Body Medicine and some techniques from the Radix approach. Even though integrative body psychotherapy is mentioned in this article, the main discussion is presented from the first two approaches. The Mind-Body Medicine approach is presented more in detail because of clinical and practical experiences of the therapist, and other approaches are mentioned in passing in individual case material. The variety of multidimensional methods and techniques using body-oriented work with refugees is one of the essential factors for the treatment of acute trauma in group and individual settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic review was conducted focusing on the distribution of Fasciola species and their snail intermediate hosts (IHs) in East and Southern Africa. The reviewed literature showed that both Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica are present in East and Southern Africa, and infect a wide range of domestic and wild ruminants. Fasciola gigantica was reported in six East African and five Southern African countries, where Radix natalensis (found in low altitudes) was reported to be the main IH. Fasciola hepatica was reported in Tanzania and Ethiopia (East Africa), and in South Africa and Zimbabwe (Southern Africa), where Galba truncatula (found in high altitudes) was documented as the IH in all countries except in Zimbabwe. Both Fasciola species were documented in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. An overlap of the two was observed in areas with an intermediate altitude in Ethiopia and South Africa, where Pseudosuccinea columella was widespread and assumed to transmit both species. Pseudosuccinea columella has been reported in South Africa and Namibia, and proven to transmit F. gigantica in South Africa; its role in Namibia in the transmission of Fasciola species has not been reported. Other lymnaeid species such as R. rubiginosa were reported in South Africa, and R. auricularia in South Africa and Botswana; their role in the transmission of Fasciola species has not been proven. Future studies should aim to determine the role of P. columella in the geographical spread of the two species in East and Southern African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex radix (−1 + j) allows the arithmetic operations of complex numbers to be done without treating the divide and conquer rules, which offers the significant speed improvement of complex numbers computation circuitry. Design and hardware implementation of complex radix (−1 + j) converter has been introduced in this paper. Extensive simulation results have been incorporated and an application of this converter towards the implementation of discrete Fourier transformation (DFT) processor has been presented. The functionality of the DFT processor have been verified in Xilinx ISE design suite version 14.7 and performance parameters like propagation delay and dynamic switching power consumption have been calculated by Virtuoso platform in Cadence. The proposed DFT processor has been implemented through conversion, multiplication and addition. The performance parameter matrix in terms of delay and power consumption offered a significant improvement over other traditional implementation of DFT processor.

Background: Considering the importance of the nose in the beauty of the face, accurate and systematic three-dimensional nasal analysis of the nose before the procedure is essential. The radix, and so the nasofrontal and nasofacial angles, play an essential role in forming an aesthetically pleasing nose because they influence the length and projection of the nose. We aimed to measure information about the pre-operative radix position in our region., Method: Pre-operative images were taken from our cases in the profile view. A checklist including radix location and projection, nasofrontal angle, and nasofacial angle were extracted from these images., Results: Overall, 200 (100 males and 100 females) cases were enrolled. Thirty-two male cases and 48 females had abnormal radix position. Radix projection were normal in only 36 male cases and 18 females. The mean nasofrontal angle in the male and female groups was 119.2 and 128.2 respectively. The mean nasofacial angle was 29.8 in the female groups and 32.6 in the male group., Conclusion: The reality of the current society of Iranian patients can be very different from the predictions of surgeons and can be far away from the statistics mentioned in western books. We tried to notify surgeons to thoroughly examine the patients prior to surgical operation by measuring parameters such as projection and position of the radix and nasofrontal and nasofacial angles., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

Introduction. Radix auricularia (Linnaeus, 1758) is a freshwater gastropod belongs to the Lymnaeidae (pond snails) family which act as intermediate hosts or vectors of various parasitic flukes. No study has yet been undertaken on the prevalence of Petasiger spp. infection in R. auricularia. Species of Petasiger (Dietz, 1909) are a cosmopolitan parasite that utilize snails as the first intermediate host, with vertebrates like amphibians larvae and fish as the second intermediate host, followed by fish-eating birds. The current paper is considered to be the first report of Petasiger exaeretus parasitized R. auricularia in Iraq, which is supported with molecular and phylogenetic analysis. Materials and method. Freshwater snails R. auricularia were collected during October 2016 – September 2017 from different locations of Sufaia village on the Greater Zab river, Erbil province, Iraq. Results. A total of 307 freshwater snails R. auricularia were collected, only five of them were infected with a prevalence of Petasiger exaeretus (1.62%). Conclusions. The current study agrees with the opinion of Selbach, Soldánová (26), which suggested the possibility of a much higher morphological diversity within Petasiger species, based on the number of described cercariae, compared with adult forms.It is clear that P. phalacrocoracis specimens have often been erroneously designated as P. exaeretus by many authors (Našincová et al., 1994). Certain morphological similarities and dissimilarities between P. exaeretus and P. phalacrocoracis can be detected: the pear-shaped body resembles P. exaeretus, whereas, P. phalacrocoracis have an elongated body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To see the prevalence of an additional root in permanent mandibular first molars in patients presenting for dental checkup for root canal treatment. METHODOLOGY: This observational study was carried out at Department of Endodontics, Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Karachi from June 2016 to May 2017. Sample size was Eight hundred and three permanent mandibular first molars from 568 females and 235 males were examined over a period of 1 year. Presence of a third root was revealed by diagnostic periapical radiographs and the comparison between males and females and between the right and left sides of the mandible were recorded. RESULTS: Out of the 803 permanent mandibular first molars that were observed, only 17 were found to have an accessory root. Out of total 803 samples that were being evaluated, only 17 subjects were found to have an extra root with a prevalence of 2.12%. The incidence of extra root was found to be higher in males. CONCLUSION: Though the incidence of radix entomolaris & paramolaris observed among the examined population was quite low, detection of radix is crucial to a successful endodontic treatment. More in depth study and detection methods are required for better identification of this unique anomaly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Objective: The presence of an additional root, known as a radix, in the lower molars is of significant importance in the context of root canal therapy since it has the potential to contribute to treatment failure. Furthermore, it is imperative to take this circumstance into consideration when doing tooth extraction using a radix. The present study investigated the anatomical characteristics and prevalence rates of radix entomolaris and paramolaris in mandibular molars using cone beam computed tomography., Materials and Methods: Cone beam computed tomography scans of the lower molars of 376 patients were processed through Newtom's NNT viewer software. Radix type, radix root canal length, radix root curvature, Vertucci's classification of the canal, and gender of patients were recorded. The results of the research were analyzed with chi-squared., Results: The prevalence of radix was found to be 0.74%, with entomolaris and paramolaris present in 54.54% and 45.46% of cases, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two variables of radix type and gender, as indicated by a p-value of 0.08. The mean curvature and length of the radix root were measured to be 56.63° and 15.09 mm, respectively. The average root curvature in individuals diagnosed with radix entomolaris and paramolaris was found to be 62.33° and 49.80°, respectively. The study found that the root curvature of entomolaris exhibited a statistically significant difference compared to paramolaris (P=0.031). The mean length of the radix entomolaris and paramolaris roots was found to be 15.50 and 14.60 mm, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference observed in the mean root lengths of the various radix types (P=0.37). According to Vertucci's classification, all radixes were classified as type 1., Conclusion: The investigated population had a low incidence of radix. The curvature of radix entomolaris exhibited a statistically significant increase compared to radix paramolaris. There was no observed correlation between gender and the length of radix roots in relation to the type of radix root., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Rokni et al.)

Ethnopharmacological relevance Psammosilene tunicoides is one of the important ingredients of a famous Chinese traditional medicine formulation “Yunnan Baiyao”. Also, this plant is commonly used as an anodyne and hemostatic agent in southwest China. Currently, little toxicological information is available on its safety following prolonged use. Aim of the study In this study, we sought to evaluate the toxicity of the three different parts of Psammosilene tunicoides : Psammosilenes Radix (PR), Psammosilenes Radix with Cortex (PRC) and Psammosilenes Cortex (PC) by acute and sub-acute toxicity studies. Materials and methods In the acute toxicity study, mice were orally administrated with different doses of PR, PRC and PC. General behavior and mortality were observed up to 14 days. In sub-acute toxicity study, these aqueous extracts were given orally as a single administration to rats at doses of 0.3, 0.6 and 1.2 g/kg/day, respectively, for 28 days. General behavior, body weight, biochemical, hematological, organ coefficients and pathological morphology parameters were detected. Results In acute study, single oral administration of the aqueous extract of PR, PRC and PC caused dose-dependent general behavior adverse effects and mortality. The LD50 values of PR, PRC and PC were 4.64 g/kg, 4.85 g/kg and 6.40 g/kg, respectively. In sub-acute study, the administration of the extract of PR, PRC and PC during 28 days at all doses reduced spontaneous activities with both genders. Occasional nasal secretion with blood at high doses (1.2 g/kg) of PR, PRC and PC were observed. Daily single oral administration provoked varying degrees of growth retardation in female rats. The relative heart and spleen weight in the female rats were reduced after the administration. On the hematological and biochemical analyses, the administration of the extract of PR, PRC and PC during 28 days mainly caused variation of indexes in female rats. Histopathological analysis has shown vascular congestion in heart, thickened alveolar wall and emphysema in lung, and vascular congestion in kidney of rats after sub-acute oral administrations. Conclusions As shown in the results, Psammosilene tunicoides has a toxic potential in acute and sub-acute oral administrations. However, there is no direct relationship between toxicity and the cortex. Daily oral administration of three different parts from Psammosilene tunicoides (PR, PRC and PC) may cause damages to heart, lung and kidney in rats. Thus these extracts should be used with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The knowledge of variations in root canal morphology is essential for a successful endodontic outcome. Contralateral mandibular molar with six root canals is a rare entity. Root canal treatment of mandibular molars with aberrant canal configuration can be diagnostically and technically challenging. While dealing with variant mandibular molars, mishaps may happen. This case report describes variations in contralateral mandibular molars and also an endodontic mishap while managing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen is a well known medicinal plant. Its radix is used in the history while its flower is recently used for health care. In this study we compared chemical ingredients and bioactivities in cell culture for radix and flower of Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen. Materials and methods The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system was applied to determine the contents of saponins in flower and radix of Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen. Transcription specific luciferase reporter assay and qPCR method for selected RNA were carried out to assess the impacts of flower and radix extract on the transcription signal pathways. Results The results of chemical analysis showed that the contents of saponins in flower and radix are very different: the contents of Rg1, Rb1, Re, R1, Rg3-20R, Rh1 and Rf in radix are abundant; in contrast, the contents of Rb3, Fc, Ft1, Rb2 and Rh2-20s in flowers are plentiful. There are substantial variations of those saponin contents from one batch vs another. Based on relative content of saponins, the chemosynthesis pathway of ingredients in radix and flower are proposed: for radix, both PPT (Protopanaxatriol) and PPD (Protopanaxadiol) type triterpenoids are involved, the main pathway is PPT→Rb 1 →Rg 1 →R 1 or PPD→Rh 2 20s→Rg3(20s)→R d →Rb 1 ; for flowers, only PPD is main passage with PPD→Rh 2 (20s)→Rg 3 (20s)→R d →Rb 2 →Fc. The results of signal transcription assays demonstrated that herb water extract of radix and flower had no significant influences on most of transcription activities. However, total saponins of radix and flower which have highly content of saponins were able to inhibit the inflammatory related transcriptional activities and their related mRNA expression of IFNα, TNFα, il-6 and TGFβ as well as induce anti-oxygen NrF2 activities. In summary, although chemical ingredients and chemosynthesis pathway of flower and radix for Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen were different, these differences might not result in their differences of pharmacological activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing of lake-level fluctuations on the Tibetan Plateau and their relationship with climatic changes is still under debate, and the main reason for this is the lack of suitable archives for reconstructing the paleohydrology and paleoclimatology of the lakes. Here, we present the results of analyses of the shell geochemistry of Radix sp. from an exposed terrace of Nam Co lake on the south-central Tibetan Plateau. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating reveals that deep-water lacustrine sediments formed between ca. 4.4 and 2.2 ka, suggesting a high and stable lake level significantly above the present. The results of Sr/Ca, δ13C and δ18O analyses of the fossil shells of Radix sp. indicate that during the mid- to late-Holocene, lake-level variations in Nam Co were mainly controlled by variations in the Indian Summer Monsoon. A trend of decreasing evaporation also played an important role. Comparison with other results suggests a consistent pattern of mid- to late-Holocene lake-level changes across a large area of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent regions to the south, which had a similar causal mechanism. Finally, our results indicate that fossil shells of the gastropod Radix sp. of the lakes on the Tibetan Plateau are a valuable archive for reconstructing the regional paleohydrology and paleoclimatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate four standard techniques for radix augmentation during primary rhinoplasty: Skoog, crushed septal cartilage, temporalis fascia, and crushed cartilage wrapped in temporalis fascia. The main criterion for a patient to be included in this study was the need for radix augmentation, which was determined through preoperative evaluations. All patients requiring total dorsal augmentation were excluded from the study. This study included 63 rhinoplasty patients who underwent radix augmentation. The Skoog technique was applied in 15 patients, crushed septal cartilage in 16, temporalis fascia in 17, and crushed cartilage wrapped in temporalis fascia in 15. In those undergoing the Skoog technique, sharp edges of graft were palpable in three patients and were even visible in one patient. In the crushed cartilage group, seven patients showed irregularities during the postoperative follow-up. The results of this study indicate that all four autologous grafts represent acceptable graft material for radix augmentation. The algorithm suggests using the easier techniques first and that secondary donor sites should be considered only when the ideal result is not achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhinoplasty is one of the most challenging surgical procedures in plastic surgery. It is not surprising that a significant number of patients end up with unfavourable outcomes. Many of these unfavourable outcomes could be the result of poor judgment and wrong decision making. Most frequently, the unfavourable outcome is the result of errors in surgical technique. In this paper, unfavourable outcomes resulting from errors in surgical technique are discussed under the heading of each operative step. Poor placement of intra-nasal incision can result in internal valve obstruction. Bad columellar scars can result from errors during open rhinoplasty. Unfavourable results associated with skeletonisation are mentioned. Tip plasty, being the most difficult part of rhinoplasty, can result in lack of tip projection, asymmetry and deformities associated with placement of tip grafts. Over-resection of the lower lateral cartilages during tip plasty can also result in pinched nose, alar collapse causing external valve obstruction and other alar rim deformities. Humpectomy can result in open roof deformity, inverted V deformity and over-resection resulting in saddle nose. The so-called poly beak deformity is also a preventable unfavourable outcome when dealing with a large dorsal hump. Complications resulting from osteotomies include narrowing of nasal airway, open roof deformity, inverted V deformity and asymmetry of the bony wall resulting from incomplete or green stick fractures. Judicious use of grafts can be very rewarding. By the same token, grafts also carry with them the risk of complications. Allografts can result in recurrent infection, atrophy of the overlying skin and extrusion resulting in crippling deformities. Autografts are recommended by the author. Unfavourable results from autografts include displacement of graft, visibility of the graft edges, asymmetry, warping, and resorption.

The giant liver fluke, Fascioloides magna, is of interest to wild-life managers, veterinarians and researchers, due to its unusual body size (3-10 cm), high pathogenic potential and because it is continuously spreading to new areas, especially in Europe. Annually, the number of cases of animal infections (mainly cervids and bovids) caused by this fluke is monitored in many European countries, including the Czech Republic (with some foci of prevalence over 90%). During the years 2009 and 2010, 1622 survey forms focused on monitoring of fascioloidosis were distributed in the community of "Czech Inspectors of Hunted Game" (CIHG), and 21.3% of forms containing positive or negative response about F. magna occurrence were returned. The administrative units monitored by particular CIHG, who answered the forms, were geographically equally distributed and therefore we believe that also the recorded distribution of F. magna in wild-life animals reflects the real situation in the Czech Republic. A significant number of cases of F. magna infection were repeatedly reported from areas in the south-west part of the Czech Republic. Moreover, our report contains also some unique records of several new F. magna foci in the western (close to the German border), northern (close to the Polish border) and central parts of the Czech Republic, supporting the assumption that the parasite is spreading further throughout Europe. In five game administrative units F. magna infection was directly confirmed by examination of dissected deer livers or by microscopic examination of coprological samples, followed by isolation of DNA from adults and eggs and further molecular analyses. Fascioloides magna intermediate host snails (Galba truncatula and Radix spp.) were collected during 2009 and 2010 from different localities of the Czech Republic, kept in aquaria, examined for shedding of F. magna cercariae, dissected and parasite/snail DNA was isolated. After PCR with specific primers for parasite/snail internal transcribed region number two (ITS-2) the obtained sequences confirmed identification of the following species: F. magna, G. truncatula, R. peregra, R. lagotis, R. labiata and R. auricularia. Although it has been demonstrated that the number of areas with positive cases of fascioloidosis is still growing, the risk of pathogenic impact of F. magna on populations of free-living animals and farming cervids/bovids is generally underestimated.