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The multi-component pharmacokinetic of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is vital to clarify the theory and mechanism of TCM. Based on information of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion dynamic changes for active components of TCM in vivo, the material basis for the safety and efficacy can be elucidated via combination with pharmacodynamics. However, due to the complexity and diversity of TCM components, and their complicated and unclear interactions with biological system, there are many bottleneck problems for the multi-component pharmacokinetics of TCM, such as the numerous chemical composition and diverse metabolic reaction make it difficult to identify their structures and interpret metabolic pathway in vivo; and unclear active components, low concentrations of target components in biological samples, endogenous interferences from matrix and lack of authentic standards bring difficulties to establish qualitative and quantitative methods. In recent years, the pretreatment methods for biological samples have been well developed. The separation and extraction efficiency for multi-component of TCM in vivo and in vitro have been significantly improved using various high-throughput, fast and automated pretreatment techniques. The development of chromatography and mass spectrometry promotes the rapid comprehensive and accurate discovery and quantification for multi-component of TCM. Novel analytical methods such as mass spectrometry imaging was used to provide new strategies for multi-component pharmacokinetics of TCM. In this paper, the development and application of analytical techniques for multi-component pharmacokinetic of TCM in the past 10 years were summarized, and a brief perspective was discussed. Firstly, the pretreatment of biological sample was introduced, the advantages and disadvantages of some usual sample pretreatment methods were compared such as protein precipitation and liquid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction, microextraction, microdialysis. The applications of these different pretreatment techniques in the pharmacokinetics research of TCM were interviewed. Then, the principles and developments of different chromatographic techniques including high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography used in multi-component pharmacokinetic of TCM were introduced. Finally, the mass spectrometry ionization techniques were summarized and discussed including electrospray ionization and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization for liquid chromatography, electron impact and chemical ionization for gas chromatography, desorption electrospray ionization, direct analysis in real time, mass spectrometry imaging.

Abstract Background Osteoporotic vertebral fractures are often clinically silent and unrecognized. The present study aimed to determine whether routine chest radiographs could be a potential screening tool for identifying missed vertebral fractures in men aged over 50 years or postmenopausal women, especially those with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of undetected vertebral fractures in elderly Chinese patients with and without T2DM. Methods Clinical data and chest radiographs of 567 individuals with T2DM (T2DM group) and 583 without diabetes (nondiabetic group) at a tertiary hospital in central south China were extracted from the records. Vertebral fractures were specifically looked for on chest radiographs and classified using the Genant semi-quantitative scale. Prevalence was compared between the two groups. Results Mean age and sex composition were comparable between the two groups. Mean weight and body mass index were significantly lower in the T2DM group. In both groups, fractures mostly involved the T11–12 and L1 vertebrae. Moderate/severe fractures were identified in 33.3% individuals in the T2DM group (31.4% men and 36.0% women) versus 23.2% individuals (20.9% men and 25.5% women) in the nondiabetic group. Conclusions Routine chest radiographs could be a useful screening tool for identifying asymptomatic vertebral fractures. Trial registration The study was designed as an observational retrospective study, therefore a trial registration was not necessary.

BackgroundThe establishment and improvement of hierarchical medical system will help optimize health resource allocation and develop a sound healthcare-seeking pattern. As the key practitioners of hierarchical medical system, primary care workers' perception of the system is vital to the implementation of the system, so studying their perception of the system and associated factors is of great significance.ObjectiveTo analyze primary care professionals' perceptions of hierarchical medical system and associated factors based on the results of 2018 Sixth China National Health Survey, providing a reference for further improvement of the system.MethodsFrom April to October 2019, one representative urban district and one suburban county were chosen from each of six selected provinces in which hierarchical medical system has been implemented. Then by stratified random sampling, about six community health centers/township health centers were extracted from each district (county) (46 community health centers and 30 township health centers in total) , in which primary care professionals who were on duty on the day of survey were invited to attend a questionnaire survey for understanding their demographics, perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of, as well as barriers to the implementation of hierarchical medical system.ResultsAltogether, 1 308 cases who effectively completed the survey were included for final analysis. According to the analysis, the benefits of implementing hierarchical medical system were: improving the health service system〔approved by 1 231 cases (94.11%) 〕, improving the healthcare services for patients and residents〔agreed by 1 219 cases (93.20%) 〕; improving the quality of medical services〔1 209 (92.43%) 〕; improving the efficiency of medical services〔1 189 (90.90%) 〕; improving doctor-patient relationship〔1 087 (83.10%) 〕; reducing the medical risk〔786 (60.09%) 〕; reducing medical expenses〔611 (46.71%) 〕. As for the outcome of implementing hierarchical medical system, its implementation would not hinder the development of health institutions〔982 (75.08%) 〕. When it comes to the barriers to the implementation of hierarchical medical system, there were no relevant incentives〔759 (58.03%) 〕, patients and their families' were unwilling to accept hierarchical medical system due to getting used to free healthcare-seeking pattern〔753 (57.57%) 〕, there were no unified bi-directional referral criteria and system〔712 (54.43%) 〕, the implementation of hierarchical medical system may lead to conflict of interests between medical institutions〔451 (34.48%) 〕, there was no an effective referral route〔403 (30.81%) 〕, their medical institutions had insufficient capacities to effectively implement hierarchical medical system〔387 (29.59%) 〕. Univariate analysis revealed that primary care professionals' perceptions of hierarchical medical system differed significantly by province, sex, educational background, professional title, type of their medical institution, and type of post (P

1H nucleus is the most commonly used nucleus for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to its high natural abundance in organisms and high MR sensitivity. However, other nuclei are distinctive in physiological processes, such as 31P that is important in the energy metabolisms. The development of high-field MRI allows for MRI research based on 31P nucleus, while high-quality 1H/31P dual-tuned radio frequency (RF) coil is essential for such applications. This article summarized the researches and applications of various 1H/31P dual-tuned RF coils, and presented in vivo 1H MRI and 31P MR spectra of mouse brain at 9.4 T. Potential applications of 1H/31P dual-tuned RF coil for high field were discussed.

Geological CO2 sequestration (GCS) can help mitigate global warming and enhance methane recovery from coal beds. However, few studies have linked the effects of CO2 to surface chemistry changes controlling wetting behavior in deep coal beds. Contact angles (CAs) of CO2/N2-high volatile bituminous coal-water systems were measured under different temperatures and pressures. The surface chemistry and physical structure of coals were characterized to investigate changes in physicochemical properties and their relations with wettability after reactions. For N2 treatment, the time-dependence of static and dynamic CAs were insignificant, ranging within 4°. For gaseous CO2 treatment, the static CAs and the average advancing angles increased slightly. With supercritical (sc) CO2, both the static and dynamic CAs increased significantly, and θ adv changed to intermediate-wet (92°). Reactions with minerals exposed to scCO2 resulted in greater surface roughness and heterogeneity, greater contact angle hysteresis and more surface sites occupied by scCO2 rather than H2O. Increases in hydrophobic functional groups and decreases in hydrophilicity were shown by FTIR spectra, reflecting the shedding of polar oxygen-containing functional groups, reduction of hydrogen bonds, and increasing percentage of hydrocarbons. XRD patterns obtained following scCO2-treatment showed that crystallite growth and molecular polymerization were higher toward graphite-like. The calculated structural parameters of functional groups and crystallites both showed elevated coal rank. Changes in crystallite structure, notably higher carbon content and decreased negative surface charge, are unfavorable for water-wetting. This study contributes to understanding surface chemistry changes responsible for decreased wettability during CO2-enhanced coal bed methane recovery and GCS in coal reservoirs.

Monosodium glutamate induces excitotoxicity in the central nervous system through hyperactivation of both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors, which leads to neuronal cell death. In this study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of naringenin on excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in primary hippocampal neurons of neonatal mice. The expression levels of apoptosis-inducing proteins and as well as ischemic factors were observed by Western blot analysis. Immunocytochemistry and morphometric analysis of hippocampal cells with or without glutamate and naringenin treatment were performed. We observed that naringenin regulated Erk1/2 and Akt phosphorylation and reduced the demise of dendrites due to glutamate exposure in cultured hippocampal neurons. Furthermore, naringenin induced the brain-derived neurotrophic factor and other neuroprotective cytokines, and markedly improved the survival rates of the neurons 24 h following glutamate exposure. The observed results suggest that the naturally occurring bioflavonoid (naringenin) exerts neuroprotective effects via highly specific molecular targets in neurons.

It has important meaning for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interpretation to estimate parameters from measured SAR data and visualize the SAR imagery. For the linearity of IFFT, single scattering center can be individually imaged adaptively to form an overall image. Thus, the side effects of side lobes and windowing can be decreased and the quality of the SAR imagery can be improved. The efficiency of the method is confirmed by the test based on the simulated data.

Emerging spatial technologies, including spatial transcriptomics and spatial epigenomics, are becoming powerful tools for profiling of cellular states in the tissue context1-5. However, current methods capture only one layer of omics information at a time, precluding the possibility of examining the mechanistic relationship across the central dogma of molecular biology. Here, we present two technologies for spatially resolved, genome-wide, joint profiling of the epigenome and transcriptome by cosequencing chromatin accessibility and gene expression, or histone modifications (H3K27me3, H3K27ac or H3K4me3) and gene expression on the same tissue section at near-single-cell resolution. These were applied to embryonic and juvenile mouse brain, as well as adult human brain, to map how epigenetic mechanisms control transcriptional phenotype and cell dynamics in tissue. Although highly concordant tissue features were identified by either spatial epigenome or spatial transcriptome we also observed distinct patterns, suggesting their differential roles in defining cell states. Linking epigenome to transcriptome pixel by pixel allows the uncovering of new insights in spatial epigenetic priming, differentiation and gene regulation within the tissue architecture. These technologies are of great interest in life science and biomedical research.