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Large integer multiplication, or large degree polynomial multiplication, is the most time-consuming operation in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). Low area and power consumption are difficult to maintain while achieving high performance for a large size multiplier. To address this issue, an area-efficient low-power architecture for multiplication, named NTTU, is proposed in this article. First, a combined number theoretic transform (NTT) method consisting of decimation-in-time (DIT) NTT for input in natural order and bit-reversed order is proposed to eliminate the steps of zero padding, scramble, and the first stage in NTT, thereby achieving a reduction of $7N/2$ 7 N / 2 clock cycles compared with the single-type NTT method. Second, the NTT-uncoupled architecture is proposed to uncouple the multiplication components, decreasing the storage space for coefficients by 1/2 compared with state-of-the-art designs. Third, a parallel computing architecture based on a crossed memory access scheme is proposed, therein reducing the corresponding execution time by one-half compared with serial execution. Synthesized using 65 nm technology, the proposed architecture can multiply two 1024k/768k integers in 1.7 ms at 500 MHz at a cost of 13.66/7.67 million gates and 726.7/550.2 mW, and a 71.17 percent/30.37 percent area time product (ATP) reduction is achieved compared with the state-of-the-art ASIC designs.

Background : Lots of plants in genus Swertia are widely used in the traditional medicine as the treatment for T2DM and its complications in Asia. However, the pharmacodynamic material basis and underlying mechanisms of these plants are still incompletely studied. Inhibition of aldose reductase to regulate polyol pathway is considered to be one effective strategy to treat many complications arising from diabetes. Aim : The inhibitory effect against aldose reductase of typical components from the genus Swertia were examined, and further verified in db/db mice model to explore its in vivo renal protective ability and underlying mechanism. Methods : Human recombinant aldose reductase (AR) was applied to detect the inhibitory activity of these components from genus Swetia in vitro, and the most active one was further analyzed in molecular docking experiment. Then, db/db diabetic mice model were employed to investigate the renal protective effects in vivo. Oxidative stress and renal function related indicators were determined using biochemical kit. Histopathological examination of kidney was conducted to evaluate pathological variations. RT-PCR was applied to measure the level of AR mRNA in renal cortex. Expression of AR, TGF-β1, Collagen Ⅳ, Nephrin and Podocin in kidney tissues were assessed by Western blot. Results : It turned out that demethylbellidifolin (DMB) showed the strongest inhibitory activity against AR, with an IC50 of 1.29 ± 0.16 μM, by stabilizing the active site of AR. In vivo experiment confirmed that DMB could remarkably reduce blood glucose and albuminuria level, and alleviate oxidative stress response. Meanwhile, histopathological examination also displayed that the kidney damage in db/db mice was significantly improved after treatment with DMB. Further mechanism study indicated that DMB could prevent the accumulation of sorbitol, one of the polyol pathway products. Besides, DMB could also maintaining the integrity of podocytes structure by up-regulating the expression of Nephrin and Podocin, and exert renal protective effects by inhibiting the expression of AR, Collagen Ⅳ and TGF-β1 in the polyol pathway. Conclusions : These findings indicated that genus Swertia could be an important plant sources of aldose reductase inhibitors, and one of its typical components, DMB, exerted a therapeutic role in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy by regulating the polyol pathway to relieve the injury of cells in the kidney, and may represent a promising renal protective medication for diabetic nephropathy therapy.

Background Shedan has a long history of application in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), however, Shedan from different original source has been indiscriminately used. So far, there is still a lack of an effective tool to differentiate the original source of Shedan medicinal materials, which brings great risk to the safety and effectiveness of clinical applications. Hence, it is imperative to develop a practicable approach to identify Shedan medicinal materials. Methods The specificity of two pairs of primers, including Folmer’s universal primers and a pair of originally designed primers COISNFF/COISNFR, was tested to screen the more specific primers for further origin identification of Shedan. A total of 253 fresh snake gallbladder samples from 31 morphologically identified snake species were collected and authenticated. Moreover, 51 fresh snake bile samples and 17 fresh bile samples from five other common domestic poultry and livestock (cattle, chicken, duck, pig and sheep) were collected and distinguished using the more specific primers. Additionally, a total of 195 market Shedan samples randomly selected from 18 batches of Shedan medicinal materials were investigated. Sequence definition was executed by querying sequence similarities in GenBank and the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD), respectively. Results It turned out that the standard COI barcode obtained by COISNFF/COISNFR primers, rather than Folmer’s universal primers, can distinguish all the testing samples from each other in fresh Shedan samples, and COISNFF/COISNFR primers were also specific to snake species and the other four animal species except duck. In terms of market Shedan, 84.6% (165/195) samples can be attributed to 13 snake species from four families and 4.6% (9/195) can be attributed to adulterated chicken species. Conclusion The COI-based DNA barcoding was practicable for species identification of Shedan used in traditional Chinese medicine. The original source of current market Shedan, including adulterated species, has been preliminarily clarified, which provides a foundation for quality control of Shedan medicinal materials.

Snake bile is one of the most expensive traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). However, due to the complicated constitutes of snake bile and the poor ultraviolet absorbance of some trace bile acids (BAs), effective analysis methods for snake bile acids were still unavailable, making it difficult to solve adulteration problems. In present study, ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) was applied to conduct a quantitative analysis on snake BAs. The mass spectrometer was monitored in the negative ion mode, and multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) program was used to determine the contents of BAs in snake bile. In all, 61 snake bile from 17 commonly used species of three families (Elapidae, Colubridae and Viperidae), along with five batches of commercial snake bile from four companies, were collected and detected. Nine components, Tauro-3α,12α-dihydroxy-7-oxo-5β-cholenoic acid (T1), Tauro-3α,7α,12α,23R-tetrahydroxy-5β-cholenoic acid (T2), taurocholic acid (TCA), glycocholic acid (GCA), taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA), taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA), cholic acid (CA), Tauro-3α,7α-dihydroxy-12-oxo-5β-cholenoic acid (T3), and Tauro-3α,7α,9α,16α-tetrahydroxy-5β-cholenoic acid (T4) were simultaneously and rapidly determined for the first time. In these BAs, T1 and T2, self-prepared with purity above 90%, were first reported with their quantitative determination, and the latter two (T3 and T4) were tentatively determined by quantitative analysis multi-components by single marker (QAMS) method for roughly estimating the components without reference. The developed method was validated with acceptable linearity (r2≥0.995), precision (RSD＜6.5%) and recovery (RSD＜7.5%). It turned out that the contents of BAs among different species were also significantly different; T1 was one of the principle bile acids in some common snake bile, and also was the characteristic one in Viperidae and Elapidae; T2 was the dominant components in Enhydris chinensis. This quantitative study of BAs in snake bile is a remarkable improvement for clarifying the bile acid compositions and evaluating the quality of snake bile.

Structures and in vitro hypoglycemic activities of polysaccharides from different species of Maidong were studied. The primary structures of polysaccharides were elucidated on the basis of GC, GC-MS, infrared, NMR and periodate oxidation-Smith degradation. Liriope spicata polysaccharide (LSP), Ophiopogon japonicus polysaccharide (OJP) and Liriope muscari polysaccharide (LMP) were composed of β-fructose and α-glucose. The average molecular weights of LSP, OJP and LMP were 4742, 4925 and 4138Da with polydispersity indexes of 1.1, 1.2 and 1.1, respectively. The backbones of polysaccharides were formed by Fruf-(2→, →2)-Fruf-(6→, →6)-Glcp-(1→ and →1, 2)-Fruf-(6→ with a molar ratio of 5.0:18.2:1.0:5.3 (LSP), 6.8:15.8:1.0:5.8 (OJP), 8.3:12.3:1.0:3.9 (LMP), respectively. The RT-PCR and western blot analysis indicated that LSP, LMP and OJP increased the expression of PI3K, AKT, InsR, PPARγ and decreased the expression of PTP1B in mRNA level and protein level in IR HepG2 cells. Furthermore, glucose consumption was increased after treated with polysaccharides. These results revealed that LSP, OJP and LMP had potential anti-diabetic effects.