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Background and aim: Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix plus Semen Vaccariae are traditional Chinese medicines, which have been widely applied in the treatment of migraine and Erectile Dysfunction (ED) for many years. This study verified the effect of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix plus Semen Vaccariae in improving migraine-induced ED and explored its potential mechanism. Methods: Key targets and signaling pathways of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix plus Semen Vaccariae in migraine-induced erectile dysfunction treatment were predicted by network pharmacology. A rat model of migraine was established by nitroglycerin injection. Apomorphine was injected into rats to screen the migraine-induced erectile dysfunction model, Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix-Semen Vaccariae granule suspension administered, and erectile function evaluated. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to compare the histological structure of the penile tissue, while RT-qPCR and Western blotting were used to determine mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Results: Screening allowed us to identify common targets for migraine and ED; the signaling pathway exhibiting the greatest change was the Myosin light chain kinase- Calcium (MLCK-CaM) signal pathway. From Western blotting and RT-qPCR, we found that the levels of MLCK mRNA and protein in rats from Group B rats were significantly higher (P Conclusion: Data indicate that the regulatory effects of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix plus Semen Vaccariae on migraine-induced ED in a rat model are mediated by the MLCK-CaM signaling pathway.

Objectives Curcumae Radix, the medicinal part is radix, commonly called as Yujin (Chinese:郁金), is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for its high medicinal value and health benefits. Curcumae Radix has been used to treat conditions such as syndrome of heat disease and unconsciousness, epilepsy and internal stagnation of phlegm, qi stagnation and blood stasis, dysmenorrhoea, jaundice, cholelithiasis caused by dampness heat of liver and gallbladder. This review aims to summarize the botany, traditional usages, processing, phytochemistry, quality control, pharmacology and toxicology of Curcumae Radix to better understand its therapeutic potential. Key findings So far, a variety of chemical constituents have been isolated and identified from Curcumae Radix, mainly including volatile oil and diphenylheptanes. Modern research shows that the extracts and compounds from Curcumae Radix possess wide-ranging pharmacological effects, including anti-tumour, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, anti-thrombosis, as well as effects on the nervous system and others. Summary Curcumae Radix holds an important position in traditional system of medicine. It is cost-effective and an important plant with curative application in contemporary medicine. However, further in-depth studies are also needed to determine the medical uses of this plant and its chemical constituents, pharmacological activity, quality control and toxicology.

Objective To analyze the medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) oral prescriptions for the prevention of COVID-19. Methods The preventive oral prescriptions for COVID-19 published by national and provincial health and wellness committees, administrations of TCM, medical institutions at all levels, and medical masters and Chinese medicine experts were collected to establish a database, manual screening was carried out according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and frequency statistics, association rule analysis. The mutual information method, entropy hierarchical clustering and other methods were improved through Excel and the TCM inheritance auxiliary platform V2.5 to mine the rules and characteristics of medication. Results The selected 157 prescriptions contained a total of 130 TCMs. The top five TCMs with the highest use frequency were Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (86), Astragali Radix (80), Lonicerea Japonicae Flos (70), Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (62), Saposhnikoviae Radix (60). In accordance with TCM efficacy classification, most of them were medicines for qi-tonifying (279), followed by medicines for clearing heat and drying dampness (163), dispelling pathogenic wind-cold (126), resolving dampness (111), as well as dispelling pathogenic wind-heat (99). The characteristics of four-natures of the selected medicines are as follows: most of them were cold (59), followed by warm (38) and mild (21). In terms of five-taste, most of them were sweet (26) and acrid-and-bitter (24), followed by sweet-and-bitter (20), bitter (20) and acrid (15). For the meridian attribution, the five-zang organs and six-fu organs were all involved, most of them attributed to lung meridian (80), followed by stomach meridian (57) and spleen meridian (40). Based on association rule analysis, 12 commonly used medicine combinations with two or three TCMs were found. The commonly used medicinal pairs included Astragali Radix and Saposhnikoviae Radix (51), Astragali Radix and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (46), Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Saposhnikoviae Radix (43), Astragali Radix and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Saposhnikoviae Radix (38), Forsythiae Fructus and Astragali Radix (37), and so on. In addition, 14 core combinations of medicines were obtained by complex system entropy cluster analysis, on this basis, six new prescriptions were screened out based on unsupervised entropy hierarchical clustering analysis. According to The Catalogue of Edible Traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials, Traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials for Health Food, and New Resources of Food published by National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, there are 35 species belonging to the group of edible traditional Chinese medicinal materials, 20 species belonging to the group of new resources of food, 31 species belonging to the group of traditional Chinese medicinal materials for health food, 19.11% of the preventive oral prescriptions for COVID-19 were composed of the medicines belonging to the above three groups. Besides, there are 11 toxic species, and 24.84% of the preventive oral prescriptions for COVID-19 contained toxic traditional Chinese medicines. Conclusion We found that invigorating qi and resolving dampness were the main treatment used to prevent for COVID-19, combined with the methods for strengthening vital energy and eliminating pathogenic factors. Most of the preventive oral prescriptions for COVID-19 were treated in lung, spleen and stomach meridians. In the process of selecting prescriptions and using TCMs to prevent for COVID-19, the safety of preventive medicines was also emphasized. And the theory of "Preventive Treatment of Disease" was embodied in these preventive oral prescriptions for COVID-19. For the prescriptions containing toxic TCMs, special attention should be paid to their safety in clinical application.

Although Polygoni Multiflori Radix (PMR) has been widely used as a tonic and an anti-aging remedy for centuries, the extensively reported hepatotoxicity and potential kidney toxicity hindered its safe use in clinical practice. To better understand its toxicokinetics, the current study was proposed, aiming to evaluate the biodistributions of the major PMR components including 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilbene-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (TSG), emodin, emodin-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (EMG) and physcion as well as their corresponding glucuronides following bolus and multiple oral administrations of PMR to rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received a bolus dose or 21 days of oral administrations of PMR concentrated granules at 4.12 g/kg (equivalent to 20.6 g/kg raw material). Fifteen minutes after bolus dose or the last dose on day 21, rats were sacrificed and the blood, liver, and kidney were collected for the concentration determination of both parent form and glucuronides of TSG, emodin, EMG, and physcion by HPLC-MS/MS. Among all the tested analytes, TSG, EMG, EMG glucuronides in liver and TSG, EMG, as well as all the glucuronides of these analytes in the kidney demonstrated the most significant accumulation after multiple doses. Moreover, the levels of the parent analytes were all significantly higher in liver and kidney in comparison to their plasma levels. Strong tissue binding of all four analytes and accumulation of TSG, EMG, and EMG glucuronides in the liver and TSG, EMG, as well as the glucuronides of all four analytes in the kidney after multiple dosing of PMR were considered to be associated with its toxicity.

Objectives: This study aims to describe the utilization of herbal formulas from Wenrejingwei by using network analysis and understand the treatment of acute exogenous febrile diseases.Methods: We constructed a matrix of high-frequency herbal combinations (HCs) from Wenrejingwei and Shang Han Lun and cluster networks based on cohesive analysis. Network analysis was performed to compare the results.Results: The results of the high-frequency HC network in Wenrejingwei showed cohesive patterns in three categories corresponding to dampness-heat and warm-fever treatment. Compared to the Shang Han Lun network, the Wenrejingwei network indicated a careful approach in the use of pungent and warm herbs such as Guizhitang. Moreover, the combination of Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis along with the use of herbs strengthening yin, such as Ginseng Radix and Liriopes Radix, provide evidence of a holistic approach in the treatment of exogenous febrile diseases by considering the balance of the human body damaged by heat.Conclusion: The results of this study could help select appropriate herbal formulas and treatment methods for treating Onbyeong and modern acute febrile infectious diseases.

Anatomical variations of the root canal system of mandibular molars are common and often present challenges for endodontic treatment. In some cases, an additional root is located in the distolingual, radix entomolaris (RE), or more rarely in the buccal, radix paramolaris (RP). This case report illustrates rare nonsurgical retreatment of the complex root canal morphology of a RP and demonstrates the utility of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and 3D printing in managing such a case. Underscored is the need for clinicians to understand the possible variations of root canal morphology of mandibular molars and the role CBCT imaging can play in addition to periapical radiographs in order to successfully treat a tooth with radix paramolaris.

A 6-bit 2.3 GS/s single-channel sub-radix pipeline ADC using an incomplete settling concept is presented. A radix detector is proposed to detect stage gain in the background so that low gain and low bandwidth opamps can be utilized to conserve power. The raw ADC output codes can be reconstructed with the detected radix to retrieve its accuracy. The simulated results show that the prototype ADC in 40 nm CMOS process exhibits an SNDR of 34.3 dB at Nyquist input frequency with the conversion rate of 2.3 GS/s. It consumes 94 mW at 1 V supply and occupies an active chip area of 0.12 mm2.

Context Current medicine for Alzheimer's disease (AD) cannot effectively reverse or block nerve injury. Traditional Chinese Medicine practice and research imply Aconiti lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi) may meet this goal. Objective Analysing the anti-AD effect of Fuzi and its potential molecular mechanism. Materials and methods AD model cells were treated with Fuzi in 0-300 mg/mL for 24 h in 37 °C. The cell viability (CV) and length of cell projections (LCP) for each group were observed, analysed, and standardised using control as a baseline (CVs and LCPs). The Fuzi and AD relevant genes were identified basing on databases, and the molecular mechanism of Fuzi anti-AD was predicted by network analysis. Results Experiment results showed that Fuzi in 0.4 mg/mL boosted LCP (LCPs = 1.2533, p ≤ 0.05), and in 1.6-100 mg/mL increased CV (CVs from 1.1673 to 1.3321, p ≤ 0.05). Bioinformatics analysis found 17 Fuzi target genes (relevant scores ≥ 20), showing strong AD relevant signals (RMS_p ≤ 0.05, related scores ≥ 5), enriched in the pathways regulating axon growth, synaptic plasticity, cell survival, proliferation, apoptosis, and death (p ≤ 0.05). Especially, GRIN1 and MAPK1 interacted with APP protein and located in the key point of the "Alzheimer's disease" pathway. Discussion and conclusions These results suggest that Fuzi may have therapeutic and prevention potential in AD, and GRIN1 and MAPK1 may be the core of the pathways of the Fuzi anti-AD process. Fuzi should be studied more extensively, especially for the prevention of AD.

Lung cancer with high mortality is regarded as a challenging global problem with unsatisfied curative effects. Clinically, the chemotherapy drugs are often faced with side-effects and tumor resistance. Radix Tetrastigma (RT) is a traditional Chinese herb and now regarded as a kind of functional food. In this study, A549-bearing nude mice control was adopted to evaluate the anti-tumor capacity of RT. Results demonstrated that RT showed excellent anti-tumor ability with no side-effect on mice compared to chemotherapy drug (5-Fu).Further studies proved that RT down-regulated the proliferation-related proteins (PCNA, Ki67) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Additionally, RT up-regulated the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, which caused the over-expression of Caspase-9, leading to the activation of downstream protein caspase-3, eventually resulting in apoptosis of A549 in solid tumor. These results together suggest that RT inhibits the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) via Bax/Bcl2/Caspase-9/Caspase-3 pathway. Furthermore, the anti-A549 abilities of the main flavonoid components from RT were compared, and kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside would play a role in RT's outstanding anti-NSCLC ability.

Puerarin, a natural isoflavone extracted fromThis study was designed to investigate theMTT and neutral red phagocytosis assays were conducted to evaluate theResults showed that puerarin improves immunomodulatory activity by increasing cell proliferation, cell phagocytosis, and NO secretion in RAW264.7 macrophages and reduces the abnormal immunologic activity by decreasing cell phagocytosis and NO secretion in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. In addition, puerarin enhanced the immunologic activity of cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression mice by increasing the secretion of NO, IFN-γ, and IL-4, the serum half hemolysis value (HCPuerarin exhibited an upregulated immunomodulatory effect on RAW264.7 macrophages and immunosuppression mice. In addition, puerarin had a downregulated immunomodulatory effect on RAW264.7 macrophages. The results suggest that puerarin could be a promising immunomodulator to assist in the treatment of tumors.

As one of the postquantum protocol candidates, the supersingular isogeny key encapsulation (SIKE) protocol delivers promising public and secret key sizes over other candidates. Nevertheless, the considerable computations form the bottleneck and limit its practical applications. The modular multiplication operations occupy a large proportion of the overall computations required by the SIKE protocol. The VLSI implementation of the high-speed modular multiplier remains a big challenge. In this article, we propose three improved modular multiplication algorithms based on an unconventional radix for this protocol, all of which cost about 20% fewer computations than the prior art. Besides, a multiprecision scheme is also introduced for the proposed algorithms to improve the scalability in hardware implementation, resulting in three new algorithms. We then present very efficient high-speed constant-time modular multiplier architectures for the six algorithms. It is shown that these new architectures can be extensively pipelined and highly optimized to obtain high throughput and low latency. The field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation results show that all proposed multipliers achieve much higher throughput than previous designs, but the increase in resources is relatively small. In addition, the multipliers without the multiprecision scheme have very low latency, which is very friendly to high-speed applications of the SIKE protocol.

Angelicae Sinensis Radix is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine and spice in China. The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for geographical classification of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and determine the contents of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide in the samples using near-infrared spectroscopy. A qualitative model was established to identify the geographical origin of Angelicae Sinensis Radix using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were used for the establishment of a qualitative model. The optimum SVM model had a recognition rate of 100% for the calibration set and 83.72% for the prediction set. In addition, a quantitative model was established to predict the content of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide using FT-NIR. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithms were used for the establishment of a quantitative model. Synergy interval-PLS (Si-PLS) was used to screen the characteristic spectral interval to obtain the best PLSR model. The coefficient of determination for calibration (R2C) for the best PLSR models established with the optimal spectral preprocessing method and selected important spectral regions for the quantitative determination of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide was 0.9659 and 0.9611, respectively, while the coefficient of determination for prediction (R2P) was 0.9118 and 0.9206, respectively. The values of the ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD) of the two final optimized PLSR models were greater than 2. The results suggested that NIR spectroscopy combined with SVM and PLSR algorithms could be exploited in the discrimination of Angelicae Sinensis Radix from different geographical locations for quality assurance and monitoring. This study might serve as a reference for quality evaluation of agricultural, pharmaceutical, and food products.

Context Achyranthes bidentata Blume (Amaranthaceae) (ABR) and semen vaccariae (SV) are used commonly in the clinical treatment of erectile dysfunction in males with diabetes mellitus (DMED) to strengthen the kidney and promote blood circulation, and often achieve good curative effects. Objective Explore mechanistic details of ABR + SV treatment against DMED. Materials and methods Prediction of key targets by network pharmacology. A rat model of DM was established by streptozotocin injection (55 mg/kg). Apomorphine (100 μg/kg) was injected into rats to screen the DMED model. Group C (n = 6) and group M (n = 6) were gavaged with deionized water; group T (n = 6) was given Achyranthis bidentatae radix–semen vaccariae granule suspension (2.5 g/kg). It lasted 8 weeks. Real-time reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting (WB) were used to measure the expression of tissue-related proteins and mRNA. Results The predicted key targets are albumin (ALB), caspase-3 (CASP3), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Compared with the M group (0.52 ± 0.04; 0.50 ± 0.03; 0.49 ± 0.02; 0.23 ± 0.03), CASP3, VEGFA, and ACE protein expression reduced in the T group (0.39 ± 0.06; 0.34 ± 0.03; 0.39 ± 0.03), and eNOS protein expression increased (0.34 ± 0.03). Conclusion ABR + SV can improve erectile function in DMED rats. This study provides a potential mechanism for the treatment of DMED with ABR + SV and can benefit from more patients.

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), with a history of thousands of years, are widely used clinically with effective treatment. However, the drug delivery systems (DDSs) for TCMs remains major challenges due to the characteristics of multi-components including alkaloids, flavones, anthraquinones, glycosides, proteins, volatile oils and other types. Therefore, the novel preparations and technology of modern pharmaceutics is introduced to improve TCM therapeutic effects due to instability and low bioavailability of active ingredients. Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, the radix and rhizomes of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen in Chinese), is a well known Chinese herbal medicine for protecting the cardiovascular system, with active ingredients mainly including lipophilic tanshinones and hydrophilic salvianolic acids. In this review, this drug is taken as an example to present challenges and strategies in progress of DDSs for TCMs. This review would also summary the characteristics of active ingredients in it including physicochemical properties and pharmacological effects. The purpose of this review is to provide inspirations and ideas for the DDSs designed from TCMs by summarizing the advances on DDSs for both single- and multi-component from Danshen.

Conflict-free addressing (CFA) techniques are necessary for Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) hardware. For low radices, well-proven XOR-based addressing architectures are available in the literature. Applications such as wireless communication use higher FFT radices, more processing elements, and a larger number of memory sets for a continuous flow of data. In the existing CFA techniques, the complexity increases with increasing radices or memory sets. In the proposed technique, the higher number of memory sets and radix are leveraged to advantage. A novel scheme is suggested to reduce the complexity using a progressive shifting technique. The mathematical basis of the scheme is derived here and illustrated with an example of 512-point radix-16 FFT. The proposed and existing CFA architectures are designed using Verilog and implemented in the Semiconductor Laboratory, Chandigarh, 180 nm SCL library. The synthesis results show that the proposed scheme achieves a 33% area reduction, 23% lower power consumption, and 39% improvement in execution time performance compared with the existing XOR based schemes. The area reduction factor further improves with a higher number of FFT points.

Aim and Objective: Myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, and other diseases caused by vascular obstruction have always jeopardized human life and health. Several reports indicate that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma has a good clinical effect in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Owing to the complexity of herbal medicine, the pharmacodynamic mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma is still unclear. The objectives of this study were to explore the two-way adjustment mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma and provide a new solution for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Materials and Methods: This study used data mining, reverse pharmacophore matching, network construction, GO and KEGG Analysis, and molecular docking to investigate the two-way adjustment mechanism of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma. The methods used were based on systems pharmacology and big data analysis technology. Results: The results suggest that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma uses a two-way adjustment of activating blood circulation, as well as blood coagulation in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The components involved in activating blood circulation are mainly anthraquinone components. The corresponding targets are NOS2, NOS3, CALM1, and the corresponding pathways are calcium signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, platelet activation, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. For blood coagulation, the components are mainly tannin components; the corresponding targets are F2, F10, ELANE, and the corresponding pathways are the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, complement and coagulation cascades. Conclusion: This study indicated that Rhei Radix et Rhizoma exerts the two-way adjustment of activating blood circulation and blood coagulation in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It can make up for the side effects of the existing blood circulation drugs for cardiovascular disease, only activating blood circulation, and the uncontrollable large-area bleeding due to the long-term use of the drugs. This study provides a material basis for the development of new blood-activating drugs based on natural medicine.

Purpose This paper aims to present a single-block memory-based FFT processor design with a conflict-free addressing scheme for field-programmable gate arrays FPGAs with dual-port block memories. This study aims for a single-block dual-port memory-based N-point radix-2 FFT design that uses memory locations and spending minimum clock cycle. Design/methodology/approach A new memory-based Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) design that uses a dual-port memory block is proposed. Dual-port memory allows the design to perform two memory reads and writes in a single clock cycle. This approach achieves low operational clock and smallest memory simultaneously, excluding some small overhead for exceptional address changes. The methodology is to read from while writing to a memory location, eliminating the need for excess memory and additional clock cycles. Findings With the minimum memory size and the simplest architecture, radix-2 FFT and single-memory block are used. The number of clock pulses spent for all FFT operations does not provide much advantage for low-point FFT operations but is important for high-point FFT operations. With the developed algorithm, N memory is used, and the number of clock pulses spent for all FFT stages is (N/2 +1)log2N for all FFT operations. Originality/value This is an original paper, which has simultaneously in whole or in part been submitted anywhere else.

Background and Aims. Radix Rehmanniae and Corni Fructus (RC) have been widely applied to treat diabetic nephropathy (DN) for centuries. But the mechanism of how RC plays the therapeutic role against DN is unclear as yet. Methods. The information about RC was obtained from a public database. The active compounds of RC were screened by oral bioavailability (OB) and drug-likeness (DL). Gene ontology (GO) analysis was performed to realize the key targets of RC, and an active compound-potential target network was created. The therapeutic effects of RC active compounds and their key signal pathways were preliminarily probed via network pharmacology analysis and animal experiments. Results. In this study, 29 active compounds from RC and 64 key targets related to DN were collected using the network pharmacology method. The pathway enrichment analysis showed that RC regulated advanced glycosylation end product (AGE-) RAGE and IL-17 signaling pathways to treat DN. The animal experiments revealed that RC significantly improved metabolic parameters, inflammation renal structure, and function to protect the kidney against DN. Conclusions. The results revealed the relationship between multicomponents and multitargets of RC. The administratiom of RC might remit the DM-induced renal damage through the AGE-RAGE signaling pathway to improve metabolic parameters and protect renal structure and function.

The Vector Radix Fast Fourier Transform, with the inherent amenity for parallel implementation is very favourable for high throughput video processing applications. The conventional implementation of two-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform as one dimensional transforms of rows and columns can be replaced with this approach. This brief presents a novel Single Instruction Multiple Data architecture for the $8\times 8$ vector radix Fast Fourier Transform implemented in Field-Programmable Gate Array with Digital Signal Processing Slice as the processing element. The performance metrics of the design is compared to the two dimensional Fast Fourier Transform implemented using one dimensional Fast Fourier Transform Intellectual Property from Xilinx. The analysis demonstrates the dominance of the design for high throughput low latency video applications.

The Booth multipliers require lower number of addition operations compared to the traditional multipliers. Further, higher radix Booth multiplier requires lesser number of adders in its circuit implementation. Multiply and accumulate (MAC) unit plays a crucial role in digital signal processing circuits. Handling the data in area-efficient MAC circuits is challenging since the data word length closely doubles on each multiplication. The data path of higher word length possesses higher hardware complexity. However, such hardware complexity can be minimized by deploying the fixed-width multipliers (FWM) in MAC circuits. In FWMs, the multiplication result of $${{X}_{L-\mathrm{bits}}}\times {{Y}_{L-\mathrm{bits}}}$$ is rounded to the higher significant L bits by truncating the rest of lower significant bits. Nevertheless, this truncation introduces the error in multiplication result. This paper presents a radix-8 Booth-based fixed-width signed multipliers with error compensation. Moreover, the estimation of bias value for the error compensation in radix-8 Booth FWM is presented. Accuracy of the fixed-width multiplication with the proposed compensation is analyzed. In addition, the multiplier circuits based on the proposed methods are designed and implemented and the experimental results are discussed.

Temporalis fascia and diced cartilage, in varying combinations, are currently commonly employed for augmentation of the radix in rhinoplasty. Although existing literature is replete with papers and suggested variations, there is some lack of practical detail on how to use such techniques. The authors present a reproducible, multilayered, "pillow" construct of temporalis fascia for selective radix augmentation in primary rhinoplasty, with or without the addition of diced cartilage. Precise measurements for accurate multiple folding, exact tailoring of the construct to recipient size dimensions, and fixation by a "litter" concept with proximal and distal fixation point are key to this technique. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

The quality of Astragali Radix (AR) was closely related to the growth period. However, the current commodity grades of AR were only divided by diameter but not directly related to the growth period, which leads to the contradiction between the grade standard and the quality evaluation index. Therefore, solving this problem will be the key for the quality evaluation of AR. The present study established a potential quality evaluation approach for the absolute growth years' wild Astragali Radix (WAR) and transplanted Astragali Radix (TAR) based on the chemical components and anti-heart failure efficacy through adopting a bare-handed sections approach to rapidly identify the growth years of WAR. In this study, the absolute growth years of WAR were obtained by identifying the growth rings of 1-6 growth years root through the methods. The contents of flavonoids and saponins in 2-6 growth years' WAR were determined by HPLC-UV-ELSD. The contents of 12 chemical components and the anti-fatigue failure effects of WAR (4-year-old) and TAR were compared on rat models of heart failure induced by doxorubicin. Meanwhile, NMR-based untargeted metabolomics studies were performed to investigate the regulative effects of WAR and TAR. The result shows that the numbers of growth rings were consistent with the actual growth periods of AR. The HPLC-UV-ELSD determination indicated that the content of total flavonoids in WAR was significantly higher than that in TAR. Pharmacodynamics analysis revealed that the effects of WAR on cardiac function parameters (EF, FS and LVIDs), contents of serum CK and BNP were superior to those of TAR. 13 metabolites of heart were identified that had a higher rate of change in WAR group than TAR. Overall, a rapid identification method for the growth years of WAR was established, and the fact that WAR were significantly better than TAR in the heart failure rats was first proved in the paper. This study provided a scientific basis for establishing a novel commodity specification and grade of AR for clinical rational drug use.

Traditional Chinese and Japanese medicines have become prime sources of drug discovery and there is a pressing need to investigate the effectiveness of these traditional medicines for modern drug discovery. Recently, among various traditional formulations, studies on Kangen-karyu (Guan-Yuan-Ke-Li), a mixture of six medicinal herbs (Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix, Cnidii Rhizoma, Paeoniae Radix, Carthami Flos, Aucklandiae Radix, and Cyperi Rhizoma), have been growing to assess its neuroprotective role. This prompted us to undertake a thorough review of various targets of Kangen-karyu regarding its effectiveness against Alzheimer's disease, particularly focusing on cholinesterases, beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1, and glycogen synthase kinase 3β. This review provides new insights into Kangen-karyu medication as a prospective anti-Alzheimer's medication and indicates the need for in-depth in vivo investigation in the future.

The structures and chain conformations of two polysaccharides from Liriopes radix, WPRL-DS and UPRL-DS, isolated with hot water and ultrasound, respectively, were investigated by a combination of I...

Objective: To extract and analyze information on the regularity with which wind-dispelling medication was prescribed by LI Dong-Yuan and many doctors of his school of thought and to provide theoretical basis and ideas for modern clinical application to facilitate the use, research, and development of these medications. Methods: Original data on wind-dispelling medication described in LI Dong-Yuan’s works were collected, sorted and organized. Data mining and comprehensive analysis were performed by using a series of data processing softwares, such as SPSS 22.0, Modeler 18.0 and xMiner. By reviewing LI Dong-Yuan's writings on wind-dispelling medication, the number of prescriptions for wind-dispelling medication were counted. Frequency of use of wind-dispelling medication was determined, and association rules analysis, factor analysis, and core drug network analysis were used to reveal associations of the symptoms of syndromes and treatment with wind-dispelling medication and to reveal the regularity with which these medications were prescribed by LI Dong-Yuan. Results: A total of 356 prescriptions and 121 flavors of wind-dispelling medication were observed. Among them, five kinds of medicinal properties, seven kinds of medicinal tastes, and 12 kinds of meridians were identified. Furthermore, herbs were divided into 18 categories according to their efficacy. Statistical analysis showed that there were 23 wind-dispelling medications that were prescribed with a frequency of ≥ 60. The mainly used drugs were Saposhnikoviae Radix (Fang Feng, 防风), Bupleuri Radix (Chai Hu, 柴胡), Cimicifugae Rhizoma (Sheng Ma, 升麻), Notopterygii Rhizoma Et Radix (Qiang Huo, 羌活), Puerariae Lobatae Radix (Ge Gen, 葛根), Chuanxiong Rhizoma (Chuan Xiong, 川芎), and Ephedrae Herba (Ma Huang, 麻黄). In addition, we analyzed the association rules wind-dispelling medication and obtained 23 one-to-one drug association rules and 11 multiple-to-one drug association rules. The core drug network analysis data visualization showed core drugs used in the treatment of external wind assailing the exterior (wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-dampness, etc.), wind-stroke, and tonifying middle and replenishing Qi. Factor analysis was performed on the drugs used by LI Dong-Yuan, and finally 4 groups of wind medicine combinations were obtained. Conclusions: This data mining-based study on the regularity of wind-dispelling medication described in LI Dong-Yuan's works is of great significance, because it reveals the clinical application of its theoretical formulae and medications. Keywords: LI Dong-Yuan, wind-dispelling medication, data mining, medication regularity, Modern research

Background The “Treatise on the spleen and stomach” (Pí Wèi Lùn) is the work of the scholar and physician Li Gao (Jin-Yuan dynasties, 1115–1368 C.E., China). Li Gao described a clinical presentation that today would fall under the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and proposed the treatment with herbal medicine and nutritional guidelines. The PWL is well known for its application in the treatment of MS and autoimmune conditions. However, this theoretical “MS” has not yet been analyzed through a scientific investigation, and research on its herbal formulations for MS is scant. Methods We analyzed the PWL “MS” clinical presentation considering biomedical diagnostic criteria and neurological correlates. To support our review, we searched Pubmed for studies on the PWL main herbal formulas and their herbs/isolates used for the believed “MS” which treated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)/MS. Results We found a very close correlation between the PWL “MS” and the current MS diagnosis. Twenty four studies on the herbs-isolates showed significant amelioration of EAE, neuronal damage, and demyelination. Discussion Collectively, Astragali radix, Ginseng radix, Glycyrrhizae radix, and berberine containing Phellodendri cortex reduced the severity of EAE through different signaling pathways and mechanisms of action. These herbs provided a wide range of properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microglial activation, anti-infiltration of leukocytes, apoptotic/anti-apoptotic balance, and neuronal protection. Conclusion Our review proposes that the PWL is the first record of MS in the medical literature. Its formulas and herbs-isolates offer a fertile area for MS research and an invaluable potential for its treatment., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • We propose that the Pí Wèi Lùn is the first record of MS in the medical literature. • All twenty four studies on the PWL’s selected herbs/isolates showed improvement of EAE. • Different signaling pathways/mechanisms of action provided synergistic properties. • In the PWL, the gastrointestinal system is key for MS and science supports it. • The PWL offers a fertile area of research and enormous potential for MS treatment.

Pharmacotherapy of diabetes mellitus is an extremely important problem of medicine and pharmacy due to its deficient safety and imperfection in maintaining optimal glycemia, frequent changes of which lead to the development of diabetes angiopathies. Therefore, the optimization of existing treatments with herbal collections is appropriate because of their low toxicity and the complex effect of the number of biologically active substances on the pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications. The aim of the research was to determine the qualitative composition and quantitative content of flavonoids in the herbal antidiabetic collections № 3 and № 4. Materials and methods. The objects of the study were the herbal antidiabetic collection № 3, which consists of folium Urticae, radix Cichorii, fructus Rosae majalis, rhizoma Erytrigiae repens, radix Taraxaci officinale , and the herbal antidiabetic collection № 4, which consists of radix Arctii lappa, rhizoma Erytrigiae repens, styli cum stigmatis Zeae maydis, flores Helichrysi arenarium, fructus Rosae majalis . The qualitative composition and quantitative content of flavonoids were determined by the method of high-performance chromatography using liquid chromatograph Agilent Technologies 1200. Results. It was identified 6 flavonoid and it was established their quantitative content, among which the rutin (0.36 %), neohesperidin (0.31 %), luteolin (0.17 %), quercetin (0.05 %), isoquercetrin 0.04 % and naringenin 0.04 % in the herbal antidiabetic collection № 3. It was identified 4 flavonoid and it was established their quantitative content, among which luteolin (0.42 %), rutin (0.29 %), quercetin (0.63 %) and isoquercetrin (0.63 %) in the herbal antidiabetic collection № 4. Conclusions . For the first time, it was determined the qualitative composition and quantitative content of the main flavonoids in the herbal antidiabetic collections № 3 and № 4 by the method of high-performance liquid chromatography. The results of the study showed that the herbal antidiabetic collection № 3 contains 6 flavonoids with a predominance of rutin and neohesperidin, and the herbal antidiabetic collection № 4 – 4 flavonoids, among which luteolin, rutin, and quercetin predominate. This gives reason to conclude about the antidiabetic activity by the pathogenetic mechanism of influence, which indicates that the feasibility of further study of these collections as promising herbal remedies for the treatment and prevention of diabetes mellitus.

Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi in Chinese), which are the lateral roots of Aconitum Carmichaelii Debx, is widely used in China to treat many neurological diseases. Fuzi, in its various forms, has many neuropharmacological effects. It can act as an analgesic and help with depression, epilepsy, and dementia. However, the neuropharmacological effects of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata are seldom comprehensively reviewed. In this review, the neuropharmacological activities of some components contained in Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata are considered. These include aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, total alkaloid, polysaccharide-1, benzoylmesaconine, fuziline, songorine, and napelline. We also specifically discuss the antidepressant effects of total alkaloids and polysaccharide-1. This review may provide a theoretical basis for further utilization of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata for diseases that affect the central nervous system.

Radix Glycyrrhizae is used as a functional food and traditional medicine. The geographical origin of Radix Glycyrrhizae is a determinant factor influencing the chemical and physical properties as well as its medicinal and health effects. The visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) (376–1044 nm) and near-infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging (915–1699 nm) were used to identify the geographical origin of Radix Glycyrrhizae. Convolutional neural network (CNN) and recurrent neural network (RNN) models in deep learning methods were built using extracted spectra, with logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM) models as comparisons. For both spectral ranges, the deep learning methods, LR and SVM all exhibited good results. The classification accuracy was over 90% for the calibration, validation, and prediction sets by the LR, CNN, and RNN models. Slight differences in classification performances existed between the two spectral ranges. Further, interpretation of the CNN model was conducted to identify the important wavelengths, and the wavelengths with high contribution rates that affected the discriminant analysis were consistent with the spectral differences. Thus, the overall results illustrate that hyperspectral imaging with deep learning methods can be used to identify the geographical origin of Radix Glycyrrhizae, which provides a new basis for related research.

Context Astragali Radix (AR) and Angelica sinensis Radix (ASR) combinations are used to treat cardiovascular disorders. Objectives This study investigates the protective effects of different compatibility proportions of AR and ASR on cardiac dysfunction in a C57BL/6 mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI). Materials and methods MI mice were induced by ligation of the left coronary artery and divided into six groups: sham, vehicle, 10 mg/kg/d simvastatin and combinations of AR and ASR at different ratios, including 1:1 (AR 2.5 g/kg + ASR 2.5 g/kg), 3:1 (AR 3.75 g/kg + ASR 1.25 g/kg) and 5:1 (AR 4.17 g/kg + ASR 0.83 g/kg). Both AR–ASR combinations and simvastatin were dissolved in saline solution and given daily by gavage. The left ventricle function, infarct size, heart tissue injury, apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, leukocyte infiltrates, capillary density and expression of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9, Bcl-2, Bax, Bad, IL-1β, IL-6, VEGF, p-Akt and p-eNOS were analysed. Results Different combinations of AR and ASR improve cardiac function and reduce infarct size (61.15% vs. 39.3%, 42.65% and 45.5%) and tissue injury through different mechanisms. When AR was combined with ASR at ratio of 1:1, the inflammation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were suppressed (p

Introduction Radix Salviae (Dan-shen in pinyin), a classic Chinese herb, has been extensively used to treat diabetic retinopathy in clinical practice in China for many years. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of Radix Salviae remain vague. The aim of this study was to decrypt the underlying mechanisms of Radix Salviae in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy using a systems pharmacology approach. Methods A network pharmacology-based strategy was proposed to elucidate the underlying multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway mode of action of Radix Salviae against diabetic retinopathy. First, we collected putative targets of Radix Salviae based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology database and a network of the interactions among the putative targets of Radix Salviae and known therapeutic targets of diabetic retinopathy was built. Then, two topological parameters, “degree” and “closeness certainty” were calculated to identify the major targets in the network. Furthermore, the major hubs were imported to the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery to perform a pathway enrichment analysis. Results A total of 130 nodes, including 18 putative targets of Radix Salviae, were observed to be major hubs in terms of topological importance. The results of pathway enrichment analysis indicated that putative targets of Radix Salviae mostly participated in various pathways associated with angiogenesis, protein metabolism, inflammatory response, apoptosis, and cell proliferation. The putative targets of Radix Salviae (vascular endothelial growth factor, matrix metalloproteinases, plasminogen, insulin-like growth factor-1, and cyclooxygenase-2) were recognized as active factors involved in the main biological functions of treatment, which implied that these were involved in the underlying mechanisms of Radix Salviae on diabetic retinopathy. Conclusions Radix Salviae could alleviate diabetic retinopathy via the molecular mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology. This research demonstrates that the network pharmacology approach can be an effective tool to reveal the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine from a holistic perspective.

Generally, mandibular first molars have one mesial and distal root but in few cases there are morphological variations where in the number of roots and root canals may vary. Radix Entomolaris (RE) is the presence of an additional lingual root distally in mandibular molars. Correct diagnosis is important before starting with endodontic therapy in these teeth to ensure successful treatment outcome. This case report series describes the endodontic management of mandibular first molar with radix entamolaris. Keywords: Endodontic treatment, Mandibular first molar, Morphological Variations, Radix Entamolaris.

Background: With the improvement of people's living standards, the aging population in China has gradually increased, and the treatment of osteoporosis (OP) has become a major problem afflicting the medical field. Radix Astragali(RA) and Prepared Radix Rehmannia(PRR) are commonly used Chinese herbal medicines. The combination of them can achieve a synergistic effect in the treatment of osteoporosis. However, its mechanism of action remains uncertain.Objective: This study aims to investigate the possible molecular mechanism of RA combined with PRR in the treatment of OP using an integrated strategy of network pharmacology and experimental validation.Methods: The active ingredients of RA combined with PRR were searched and screened by TCMSP database, and the targets of active ingredients were predicted and supplemented by TCMSP and SwissTargetPrediction databases. The target genes related to OP diseases were searched in GeneCards and OMIM comprehensive databases. The intersection targets of drugs and diseases were imported into String database to obtain the interaction information of intersection target genes. Cytoscape3.7.1 software was used to construct the protein interaction network diagram and "drug component-target-disease" network diagram. Then DAVID database was used for GO gene enrichment analysis and KEGG metabolic pathway analysis. Finally, in vivo experiments were also performed to validate the findings of network pharmacology.Results: A total of 98 active components of RA combined with PRR were finally retrieved and integrated into the TCMSP database, 1700 target genes related to OP were obtained through the disease database, 149 gene targets were obtained by taking the intersection of disease genes, and drug targets, 122 core targets and 514 interaction relationships were obtained after protein interaction network and topology analysis. GO analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that RA combined with PRR intervention for OP mainly through multiple pathways such as PI3K-Akt, MAPK, TNF, Rap1, and Toll-like receptors. In addition, in vivo experiments confirmed that RA combined with PRR could significantly increase bone mineral density, reduce bone spacing, improve bone tissue structure, and improve osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats.Conclusion: In this study, the network pharmacological approach was used to reveal the potential targets and key signal pathways of RA combined with PRR in treating osteoporosis. This study was also verified by animal experiments, which provided a reliable basis for clinical application.

Facebook Datacenter consists of a large number of servers that run diverse Facebook services aggregated to serve any given user request. To allow this aggregation, servers have to interact with each other via different traffic flows which are managed by networking fabric. The underlying connection powering this fabric consists of a large number of pluggable optical interconnects and On Board Optical (OBO) modules carrying production data. This connectivity at scale requires fast and reliable detection of the link failures to ensure resolution. In the first generation of the deployments, detection of the link failure was sequential and a slow process. The troubleshoot process was equally tedious as the available tools required characterizing one optical transceiver at a time. Further, the failure analysis also presented a majority of resolution with no failed optics as a root cause resulting in high No Trouble Found (NTF) rate. In this paper we introduce a novel link failure detection and resolution method that improves on the previous method across three dimensions: faster resolution, reliable troubleshooting and scalable implementation. We introduce BER Illusion Methodology (BIM) that is a highly scalable and resource efficient solution that significantly reduces the time taken to troubleshoot pluggable optical interconnects. This is also scalable to next-gen OBO modules at Facebook datacenters aiming to lower the NTF rate and optimally utilizing the available resources. BIM, which is based on Open Compute Platform (OCP) network switches, can be used to troubleshoot 128 QSFP28, 64 QSFP56 or 32 OBO modules simultaneously in under 30 minutes. The tool is easy to implement and capable of also reporting diagnostics on the transceiver such as Transmitter Power, Transmitter Bias Current, Receiver Power, Case Temperature, Bit Error Rate result per channel, Vendor information and Manufacturing part number. This additional test data report along with true failure indication helps optic suppliers gain confidence and build customer credibility. The open-source nature and the universal applicability of this tool offers possibility for other users to adopt and further customize it for their networking needs.

Glehniae Radix (GR) is one of the major medicinal materials in China. The global demand for GR, especially in Asian countries, is constantly increasing, and the supply of wild medicinal materials falls short of the demand. Previous studies have shown that the production and processing modes of different value chains (VCs) impact the quality of medicinal materials. After 4 years of field and market research, this study includes interviews with stakeholders in the VCs, integrates different types of VCs, and further analyzes the VCs. GR characteristics were also assessed; the length and upper-middle diameter of the collected samples were measured, and the effective components of the samples were determined to rank the GR samples according to their quality. The effective components were further analyzed by the K-means clustering method. Concomitantly, the local price (the sales price of the place where the medicinal materials are produced) and market price (the sale price of medicinal materials in the market) of GR in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, and Anguo, Hebei, were documented, and the ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) method was used to predict the GR price. Ten VCs are summarized in this article. The results showed that the income of the staff at the beginning of the VC is inadequate. Regarding GR origin, Inner Mongolia GR showed higher quality than that of other areas. As a result, the price of medicinal materials is relatively high, which corresponds to the market price of the survey. The forecast results showed that the market price of GR would increase slightly in the future, which could provide reference for the selection of medicinal materials cultivation in the future. Through the study, it was found that the vertical integration in the VCs of GR could guarantee not only the benefit of the growers but also the traceability of the medicinal materials, which further guarantees the quality of the medicinal materials. However, the complex relationship between the cultivation area and the quality of the medicinal materials is not clear, which should be addressed in future research.

Mandibular molars can have an additional root located lingually (the radix entomolaris) or buccally (the radix paramolaris). If present, an awareness and understanding of this unusual root and its root canal morphology can contribute to the successful outcome of root canal treatment. This paper describes case report of mandibular first molar with three roots (one mesial and two distal) and four canals (two in mesial and two in distal root). These case reports show an anatomic variation of internal morphology of the tooth and points out the importance of searching for additional canals. Keywords: Anatomical variations, Endodontic treatment, Mandibular molars, Radix entomolaris, Radix paramolaris.