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Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic progressive disease related to dyslipidemia, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Guanxinshutong capsule (GXST), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used in treating coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, while its mechanism actions on AS are still not to be well addressed. Our present study is aimed to examine the effect of GXST on AS and elucidate the multitarget mechanisms of GXST on AS. Network pharmacology analysis was employed to screen the multitarget mechanisms of GXST on AS. ApoE−/− mice were used to validate these effects. Circulating lipid profile and oxidative stress-related factors were measured by the Elisa kit. Furthermore, the aortic trunk and aortic root were excised for oil red O staining, histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis. We first discovered that GXST was clued to exert synergistically antiatherosclerosis properties including lipid-lowering, anti-inflammation, and antioxidation through the computational prediction based on a network pharmacology simulation. Next, the validation experiments in atherosclerosis mice provided evidence that GXST significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesions, increased collagen deposition, and attenuated LV remodeling to some extent. Mechanistically, GXST modulated lipid profile, downregulated the level of inflammatory cytokines and NF-κBp65. GXST also reduced the activity of oxidative parameter MDA and upregulated the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD and GSH) compared with the AS model group. In conclusion, GXST intervention might attenuate atherosclerosis by mechanisms involving reducing lipid deposition, modulating oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, but a larger controlled trial is necessary for confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many studies have investigated the association between angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and susceptibility to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). However, few have confirmed the relationship between ACE and OSA in the Chinese population. We performed a meta-analysis of studies relating the ACE I/D polymorphism to the risk of OSA in a Chinese population.Methods: We evaluated eligible published studies from several databases for this meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed for hypertension. Pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using a fixed- or random-effects model.Results: Ten studies were identified to analyse the association between ACE I/D polymorphism and OSA risk. No marked associations were found in any genetic model (p>0.05). Subgroup analysis showed an association with hypertension (D vs. I, DD vs. II, ID vs. DD+II, DD+ID vs. II, ID vs. II; p<0.05), which was confirmed by sensitivity analyses. No obvious publication bias was found using Egger's test (p>0.05).Conclusions: The ACE I/D polymorphism was not associated with an increased risk of OSA in a Chinese population. However, within the hypertensive subgroup, we detected a significant association between the ACE polymorphism and OSA. More case-control investigations are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antioxidant activities of wampee peel extracts using five different solvents (ethanol, hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol and water) were determined by using in-vitro antioxidant models including total antioxidant capability, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and superoxide scavenging activity. Ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) exhibited the highest antioxidant activity compared to other fractions, even higher than synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT). In addition, the EAF exhibited strong anticancer activities against human gastric carcinoma (SGC-7901), human hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG-2) and human lung adenocarcinoma (A-549) cancer cell lines, higher than cisplatin, a conventional anticancer drug. The total phenolic content of wampee fraction was positively correlated with the antioxidant activity. This is the first report on the antioxidant and anticancer activities of the wampee peel extract. Thus, wampee peel can be used potentially as a readily accessible source of natural antioxidants and a possible pharmaceutical supplement. Copyright [C] 2009 K. Nagendra Prasad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited., 1. Introduction In recent years, more interest has been paid to protect foods and human beings against oxidative damage caused by free radicals like hydroxyl, peroxyl, and superoxide radicals. One [...]

Viscosity and conductivity data of BMIMZnAcxCly(x=0,1,2,3;  y=3,2,1,0) ionic liquids were detected at temperature ranging from 323.15 to 353.15 K with an interval of 5 K. The conductivities of different ionic liquids at the same temperature followed the trend [BMIM][ZnAcCl2] > [BMIM][ZnAc2Cl] > [BMIM][ZnCl3] > [BMIM][ZnAc3]. The viscosities of different ionic liquid abided by the order [BMIM][ZnCl3] > [BMIM][ZnAcCl2] > [BMIM][ZnAc2Cl] > [BMIM][ZnAc3]. Acetate ion could reduce the viscosity of ionic liquids. The relationship between viscosity/conductivity and temperature obeyed the Arrhenius equation and Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation very well with above 0.99 correlation coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]