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Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol and possesses many biological functions such as anti-inflammatory activity and protection against atherosclerosis and myocardial infraction. Parkinson's disease is a common progressive neurodegenerative disease. 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is the most useful neurotoxin to induce Parkinsonism. The present study was carried out to elucidate the neuroprotective effect and possible mechanism of resveratrol on MPTP-induced striatal neuron loss. Sixty adult Balb/c mice were divided into four groups: sham operation, MPTP treatment (30 mg/kg, i.p.), MPTP combined with resveratrol administration (20 mg/kg, i.v.), and resveratrol treatment alone. Microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography were used to analyze dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) that reflected the hydroxyl radical level. In the present study, we found MPTP chronic administration significantly induced motor coordination impairment in mice. After MPTP administration, the hydroxyl radical levels in substantia nigra were also significantly elevated and animals displayed severe neuronal loss. Resveratrol administration significantly protected mice from MPTP-induced motor coordination impairment, hydroxyl radical overloading, and neuronal loss. Our results demonstrated that resveratrol could elicit neuroprotective effects on MPTP-induced Parkinsonism through free radical scavenging.

The leaves of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. have been traditionally used as an herbal medicine in East Asian countries to treat a variety diseases. In this present study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of P. frutescens extract (PFE) on N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLF)-stimulated human neutrophils and the underlying mechanisms. PFE (1, 3 and 10 μg/ml) inhibited superoxide anion production, elastase release, reactive oxygen species formation, CD11b expression and cell migration in fMLF-activated human neutrophils in dose-dependent manners. PFE inhibited fMLF-induced phosphorylation of the Src family kinases (SFKs), Src (Tyr416) and Lyn (Tyr396) and reduced their enzymatic activities. Both PFE and PP2 (a selective inhibitor of SFKs) reduced the phosphorylation of Burton’s tyrosine kinases (Tyr223) and Vav (Tyr174) in fMLF-activated human neutrophils. Additionally, PFE decreased intracellular Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]i), whereas PP2 prolonged the time required for [Ca2+]i to return to its basal level. Our findings indicated that PFE effectively regulated the inflammatory activities of fMLF-activated human neutrophils. The anti-inflammatory effects of PFE on activated human neutrophils were mediated through two independent signaling pathways involving SFKs (Src and Lyn) and mobilization of intracellular Ca2+.

A computer-based video analysis system has been developed for measuring the stroke volume and the heart rate of the insect. A quantitative evaluation of the effects of octopamine (OA) on the heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output of Periplaneta americana, the American cockroach, was also studied. The heart rate of OA-treated cockroach significantly increased within 2 minutes, compared to that of the control groups. On the other hand, the stroke volumes of OA-treated cockroaches decreased within 2 minutes (p < 0.05). Furthermore, OA elicited the heart rate and the stroke volume with a dose- dependent response. Although OA increased heart rate and decreased stroke volume in the cockroach, it decreased cardiac output (mL/min) calculated based on heart rate (beats/min) and stroke volume (mL/beat).

Two high-performance liquid chromatographic methods, one combined with a photodiode array detector (LC/UV) and another with mass spectrometry (LC/MS), were developed for the analysis of aristolochic acid I and II in herbal medicines. The LC/UV method was carried out using a Cosmosil 5C18-MS column with a gradient solvent system composed of phosphate buffer-acetonitrile and a UV detector (390 nm). The LC/MS method was performed using an acetate buffer-acetonitrile solvent system and positive-ion electrospray ionization MS. The characteristic fragment ions for aristolochic acid I were selected at m/z 359, m/z 324, m/z 298, and m/z 296, and for aristolochic acid II at m/z 329, m/z 294, and m/z 268. In order to attain better resolution, solid phase extraction was used to prepare the test solution in this study.

Silicone fluid is applied to reduce the friction of medical device in this study. Several factors, which might affect the friction of Arterial-Venous Fistula (A. V.F.) Needles, were investigated by a series of experiments. The experimental results showed that a better condition for the coating is using 10/90-weight ratio of MDX4/n-hexane silicone solution and dipping for 1.5 seconds. Two-step coating with an interval of 20 minutes also was examined to give an improvement in the lubricity of needles. It was observed that increased DC 360 concentration in coating solution displays more excellent friction reduction properties. Experimental consequences also showed that the lubricity of needles coated with DC 360 (350cst) is superior to that of coated with DC 360 (12,500cst).

Background Panobinostat is a potent oral pan-deacetylase inhibitor that in preclinical studies has synergistic antimyeloma activity when combined with bortezomib and dexamethasone. We aimed to compare panobinostat, bortezomib, and dexamethasone with placebo, bortezomib, and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Methods PANORAMA1 is a multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase 3 trial of patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received between one and three previous treatment regimens. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via an interactive web-based and voice response system, stratified by number of previous treatment lines and by previous use of bortezomib, to receive 21 day cycles of placebo or panobinostat (20 mg; on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, orally), both in combination with bortezomib (1.3 mg/m(2) on days 1, 4, 8, 11, intravenously) and dexamethasone (20 mg on days 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, orally). Patients, physicians, and the investigators who did the data analysis were masked to treatment allocation; crossover was not permitted. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (in accordance with modified European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation criteria and based on investigators’ assessment) and was analysed by intention to treat. The study is ongoing, but no longer recruiting, and is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01023308. Findings 768 patients were enrolled between Jan 21, 2010, and Feb 29, 2012, with 387 randomly assigned to panobinostat, bortezomib, and dexamethasone and 381 to placebo, bortezomib, and dexamethasone. Median follow-up was 6.47 months (IQR 1.81-13.47) in the panobinostat group and 5.59 months (2.14-11.30) in the placebo group. Median progression-free survival was significantly longer in the panobinostat group than in the placebo group (11.99 months [95% CI 10.33-12.94] vs 8.08 months [7.56-9.23]; hazard ratio [HR] 0.63, 95% CI 0.52-0.76; p

A method combining the techniques of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been developed to assay seventeen alkaloids in coptis-evodia herb couple. The MECC method, based on SDS, was applied to analyze three indolequinazoline alkaloids and six quinolone alkaloids in evodia within 30 minutes, and a CZE technique was used to determine eight quaternary alkaloids (dehydroevodiamine in evodia, and seven protoberberine alkaloids in coptis) within 25 minutes. The recovery efficiencies were 96.68–103.19% in MECC and 99.65–103.28% in CZE, with a relative standard deviation of 1.67–4.00% for MECC and 2.33–4.38% for CZE. The calibration curves exhibited good linearity over one order of magnitude of concentration, and their minimum detectable concentrations were approximately 15.78 to 47.33 μ/mL using a 0.75 μ inner diameter column. Contents of the seventeen alkaloids in a methanol-water crude extract of coptis-evodia herb couple could easily be...

A total of ten Evodia alkaloids was separated successfully by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The MECC method based on SDS was applied to analyze three indolequinazoline alkaloids (evodiamine, rutaecarpine and carboxyevodiamine) and six quinolone alkaloids (1-methyl-2-nonyl-4(1 H )-quinolone, 1-methyl-2-[(Z)-6-undecenyl]-4(1 H )-quinolone, 1-methyl-2-undecyl-4(1 H )-quinolone, evocarpine, 1-methyl-2-[(6Z,9Z)-6,9-pentadecadienyl]-4(1 H )-quinolone and dihydroevodiamine) in 15 min and CZE technique was used to determine the dehydroevodiamine in 5 min. Linearity over one order of magnitude of concentration was generally obtained and limits of detection for the alkaloids were in the range of 35–47 μg/ml. The relative standard deviations were less than 4% ( n =6). Contents of Evodiae alkaloids in a methanol-water extract of Evodia fructus sampled could easily be determined by this method. The effects of pH, surfactant concentration and organic modifier concentration of the carrier on the migration behaviour of the solutes are discussed.

The digitalized Instrumentation and Control (I&C) system of nuclear power plants (NPP) could provide operator easily Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and more powerful overall operation capability. However, some software errors may cause a kind of Common Cause Failure (CCF). As a consequence, the event of Anticipated Transients Without Scram (ATWS) will occur. In order to assure that the plant can be shutdown safely and to follow the requirements of 10CFR50.62, the utility builds up various ATWS mitigation features in NPP. The features include Fine Motion Control Rod Drive Run In, Alternate Rod Insertion, Standby Liquid Control System, Reactor Internal Pump Trip or Runback, Feedwater Flow Runback and Inhibition of Automatic Depressurization System. This research developed an evaluation method of diverse back-up means for computerized I&C system. A diverse backup of digital I&C system is the most important means to defend against CCF and un-detectable software faults. Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) is developing a computerized I&C test facility, which is incorporated a commercial grade I&C systems with Personal Computer Transient Analyzer (PCTran)/Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), a NPP simulation computer code. By taking the technology of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to implement the methods of ATWS mitigation, the research built up a diverse back-up of digital I&C system to expect to defend against CCF and undetectable software faults. According to the testing and evaluation, the work can be achieved the analysis of Diversity and Defense-in-Depth (D3).

The ocellar L-neurons of cockroach Periplaneta americana were used in the present study as model systems to investigate the pharmacological properties of the GABA receptors. To do so, a glass microelectrode was impaled into the axon of the L-neurons to record the membrane potential intracellularly and to monitor membrane response to GABA treatment and cercal stimulation by air puff. The traditional GABA and their receptor agonists were introduced through perfusion and/or iontophoresis to monitor their effects on the L-neurons. The GABA receptor antagonists were administered by perfusion to examine if the response of the L-neurons to GABA and/or cercal stimulation was changed. The results revealed that administration of GABA, muscimol and imidazole acetic acid, two GABAA agonists, produced depolarization on the L-neurons. However, treatment of 3-APS and guanidine acetic acid, another two GABAA agonists, evoked hyperpolarization on the L-neurons. Among those tested antagonists, only picrotoxin, GABAA antagonist, antagonize the depolarization induced by GABA and/or cercal stimulation. More interestingly, administration of strychnine, glycine receptor antagonist, largely attenuated the depolarization response of the L-neurons to cercal stimulation. This attenuation caused by strychnine was even stronger than that initiated by varied GABA antagonists. In addition, phaclofen, a GABAB receptor antagonist, showed no antagonistic effect. These results strongly suggest that the characteristics of GABA receptors of the ocellar L-neurons may differ from those in vertebrates. It may be more likely to be a novel GABA receptor.

Recent research has proposed several low-power design techniques for VLSI circuitry in nano-scale CMOS era. However, these techniques always involve custom layout design or novel EDA flows. In this paper essential low power techniques such as voltage separation, body bias and power switch are implemented in existent place and route (P&R) tools. These techniques enable the possibility to integrated low power techniques into standard Cell-Based physical design flow. The result of these research shows a little overhead in design procedure equally area overhead compare with fully custom design flow. The proposed low power design techniques can be cooperated with modern power management system to enable the power reduction in targeting circuitry with small implementation overheads.

We developed a method to analyze the fingerprint spectrum qualitatively and quantitatively for the traditional Chinese herbal medicinal preparation Gan-Lu-Yin with HPLC combined with photodiode array detection, and MS, and to identify the preparation's 14 main components including baicalin, baicalein, oroxylin A-7-O-glucuronide, wogonin-7-O-glucuronide, wogonin, and oroxylin A in Radix Scutellariae; naringin and neohesperidin in Aurantii fructus; liquiritigenin, liquiritin, and glycyrrhizic acid in Radix Glycyrrhizae. In LC/UV assay, a Cosmosil 5C18-MS-II column was used as the stationary phase, and a gradient of potassium dihydrogen phosphate, ACN, and water as the elute solution. The UV detection wavelengths were 250 and 280 nm. In LC/MS assay, a gradient of phosphoric acid, ACN, and water was used as the elute solution, and electrospray positive ion mode ((+)-ESI) as the analytic mode. In order to explore the distribution of trace metal elements effectively in Gan-Lu-Yin, a microwave digestion method was used for sample treatment, and an inductively coupled plasma MS assay was used to analyze fingerprint spectra of the inorganic metals in Gan-Lu-Yin. Combined with fingerprint spectra of organic compounds by LC/UV and LC/MS, it was expected to provide effective quality control in the production of Gan-Lu-Yin.

This paper presented a low power ALU cluster design for media streaming processor, which combines the low-power circuitry design methodology and media streaming architecture. The experimental result shows the power and energy consumption of selected benchmark for multi-media and base-band communication systems can be reduced for 62% and 33% as well. In the mean time, both power dissipation and energy consumption become scalable by dynamic selecting the number of utilized ALU clusters. Thus the instant performance and energy consumption of an entire work can be optimized for mobile systems. The proposed design has provides a breakthrough in the power dissipation and operating time in limited battery life for similar architectures.

Perforation of the thoracic esophagus can be fatal unless diagnosed promptly and treated effectively. The high mortality with delayed treatment is due principally to an inability to effectively close the perforation and prevent leakage. From 1982 to 1988, 7 consecutive patients (aged 16 to 73 years) were treated after a delayed diagnosis (26 hours to 25 days) of thoracic esophageal perforation. In all patients, the perforation was closed after debridement with total exclusion of the esophagus (T-tube cervical esophagostomy plus absorbable ligatures applied to the esophagogastric junction and the cervical esophagus distal to the esophagostomy). Radical decortication and wide mediastinal and pleural drainage were also done. Nutritional supply was given through a feeding gastrostomy. Antibiotics were administered according to the results of cultures. All patients survived. Continuity of the esophagus was established by removal of the T tube and spontaneous absorption of the ligatures. Endoscopy and esophagography performed 4 weeks after the initial operation showed a well-healed esophagus without stenosis or leakage in all patients. No secondary thoracotomy or esophageal reconstruction was necessary. No dysphagia was noted during follow-up (range, 12 to 50 months; mean follow-up, 23 months). We conclude that primary closure of the perforation and total esophageal exclusion with the use of absorbable ligatures and T-tube esophagostomy can provide a one-stage operation with good results for repair of thoracic esophageal perforation diagnosed late.

In a 7-year period, transatrial membranotomy was performed in 11 patients with membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava. There were 5 men and 6 women, ranging in age from 23 to 53 years. Clinical symptoms included jaundice in 4 patients, hepatomegaly in 4, leg edema or varicose veins in 10, and venous collaterals over the abdominal and chest wall in all 11 patients. Transatrial membranotomy was performed through a median sternotomy in all patients. When inferior vena cava venography revealed that the obstruction was accompanied by long segmental thrombosis, additional dilation was performed with a Hegar dilator. There was no surgical mortality. Early operative complications included pulmonary embolism in 2 patients and bleeding requiring reoperation in 1. In a mean follow-up period of 30.6 months (range, 2 to 88 months), 9 patients had no symptoms, transient pericardial constriction developed in 1 patient and resolved 1 month later, and restenosis of the inferior vena cava developed in another patient 1 year after the first operation. This latter patient received a second transatrial membranotomy followed by percutaneous balloon angioplasty of the inferior vena cava, with a satisfactory result at 8 months follow-up. We conclude that transatrial membranotomy is an effective and safe procedure for patients with membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava.

Surgically treated ventricular septal defect (VSD) was of supracristal type in 120 of 389 Chinese patients; 93 of the 120 were younger than 15 years. Concomitant aortic anomalies were present in 58 of the patients (regurgitation in 23 and cusp prolapse in 35). Corresponding figures among the 93 patients of the under-15 group were 40 (9 + 31). Direct suture or patch closure of the supracristal VSD and replacement or plication of anomalous aortic valves were the methods used. The results of direct closure were equal to those of patch closure. One patient died of subacute bacterial endocarditis, which had been present preoperatively. There were no other deaths. The postoperative observation period was 6 months to 7 years. As the incidence of associated valvulopathy increases with patient age, early operation for supracristal VSD, regardless of shunt volume, is advocated.