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We report the structure and properties of a new Ce-based compound Ce 3 TiAs 5 synthesized under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. It crystallizes in a hexagonal Hf 5 Sn 3 Cu-anti type structure with zig-zag like Ce chains along the c axis. This compound is metallic and undergoes a magnetic phase transition at T N = 13 K. A metamagnetic transition occurs at ∼0.7 T. The Sommerfeld coefficient for the compound is determined to be about 215 mJ/(Ce-mol*K 2 ), demonstrating a heavy Fermion behavior. The resistivity is featured with two humps, which arises from the synergistic effect of crystal electric field and magnetic scattering. The magnetic ordering temperature T N gradually increases in the sequence of Ce 3 TiPn 5 with Pn = Bi, Sb, and As, which implies that the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction should be still predominant in Ce 3 TiAs 5 ., (© 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.)

Cancer poses a significant global public health challenge, with commonly used adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy often leading to adverse side effects and drug resistance. Therefore, advancing cancer treatment necessitates the ongoing development of novel anticancer agents with diverse structures and mechanisms of action. Natural products remain crucial in the process of drug discovery, serving as a primary source for pharmaceutical leads and therapeutic advancements. Triterpenoids are particularly compelling due to their complex structures and wide array of biological activities. Recent research has demonstrated that naturally occurring triterpenes and their derivatives have the potential to serve as promising candidates for new drug development. This review aims to comprehensively explore the anticancer properties of triterpenoids and their synthetic analogs, with a focus on recent advancements. Various aspects, such as synthesis, phytochemistry, and molecular simulation for structure-activity relationship analyses, are summarized. It is anticipated that triterpenoid derivatives will emerge as notable anticancer agents following further investigation into their mechanisms of action and in vivo studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT) are used to screen for trisomy 21, 18, and 13. This study investigated NIPT performance and the clinical significance of its results., Methods: Pregnant women ( n  = 282,911) participating in a free NIPT (April 2018-December 2021) were screened for common trisomies, and the results were retrospectively analyzed. NIPT performance was evaluated by its positive predictive value (PPV), sensitivity, and specificity. Results were analyzed using number, percentage, and chi-squared/ t -test analyses., Results: After NIPT screening, patients with common trisomies ( n  = 746) included 457 with T21, 160 with T18, and 129 with T13. Seven false negative cases were identified. High PPV (86.81 %, 56.81 %, 18.18 %), sensitivity (99.25 %, 98.33 %, 100.00 %), and specificity (99.98 %, 99.98 %, 99.97 %) values were detected for trisomy 21, 18, and 13, respectively. The PPVs of common trisomies were significantly different between pregnant women older than 35 (85.53 %, 136/159) and those aged 35 or younger (58.90 %, 311/528) (χ2 = 125.02, P = 2.20e-16). As the NIPT uptake increased from 2018 to 2021, live-born birth defect incidence decreased., Conclusion: NIPT performed well in screening for T21, T18, and T13. Our discoveries offer an important and useful guideline in laboratory and clinical genetic counseling., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

3D nanocake-like Au-MXene and Au pallet (Au-MXene/AuP) nanocomposite-modified screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) were utilized to construct an ultrasensitive label-free electrochemical aptasensor through a self-assembly procedure for trace paraquat (PQ) residue detection. Benefiting from the excellent electrochemical (EC) performances (e.g., high conductivity and large surface area) of Au-MXene nanocomposites and AuP substrate, the developed Apt/Au-MXene/AuP/SPCE-based EC aptasensor displayed excellent specificity and anti-interference ability, good repeatability, and stability. A linear relationship between the log value of the change in current intensity [lg (ΔI)] and the log value of the concentration of PQ [lg (C PQ )] was obtained in the range 0.05-1000 ng/mL. The limit of detection was 0.028 ng/mL, and the sensitivity was 255.5 μA/(μM·cm 2 ). Practical applications in malt and mint samples confirmed the accuracy of the EC aptasensor in complex matrices for PQ detection, providing a universal analytical tool for other trace pesticides in different food samples by simply replacing the corresponding aptamers., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

Lemmaphyllum carnosum var. drymoglossoides (Baker) X. P. Wei, 2013 is a valuable medicinal fern in China. Its complete chloroplast genome was determined using Illumina paired-end sequencing. The genome was 157,571 bp in length with 130 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA genes, and 35 tRNA genes. It displayed a quadripartite structure consisting of a small single-copy (SSC) of 21,691 bp, a large single-copy (LSC) of 81,106 bp, and two inverted repeats (IRs) of 27,387 bp, respectively. The phylogenetic results indicated that L. carnosum var. drymoglossoides exhibited the closest relationship with L. intermedium , and this study provided new information for the phylogenetic relationship of the Polypodiaceae family., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)., (© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)

With the application of high-resolution chest imaging system and lung cancer screening program, patients with multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC) are becoming a growing population in clinical practice. However, the diagnostic criteria of MPLC and its differentiation from intrapulmonary metastasis of lung cancer (IM) are still controversial, especially in cases with similar histology. On the basis of reviewing the existing literature, this paper discusses the changes of the diagnostic criteria of MPLC and the differential diagnosis methods of imaging, histology and molecular genetics of MPLC and IM, and briefly introduces the application of multidisciplinary diagnosis, algorithm, predictive model and artificial intelligence in the differential diagnosis of MPLC. In addition, we also discuss the latest progress in the treatment of MPLC. Radical surgery is the main method for the treatment of MPLC. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is safe and feasible for inoperable MPLC patients, and targeted therapy and immunotherapy can also be used in MPLC after appropriate patient selection.

Genetic mechanisms of species local adaptation are an emerging topic of great interest in evolutionary biology and molecular ecology. In this study, we compared the changes of physiological and phenotypic indexes and gene expression of four weeping forsythia populations under cold stress through a common garden experiment. Physiological and phenotypic results showed that there were differences in cold tolerance among populations. cold tolerance of high the latitude population (HBWZ) was the strongest, followed by the middle latitude population (SXWL), while the low latitude populations (SXHM) and (SXLJ) expressed the weakest cold tolerance. We identified significant differences in gene expression of cold tolerance related pathways and ontologies, including genes of oxylipin and isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic process, galactose, tyrosine and unsaturated fatty acids metabolism, among these populations under the same experimental temperature treatments. Even under the same degree of stress, there were notable differences in gene expression among natural populations. In this study, we present a working model of weeping forsythia populations which evolved in the context of different intensities of cold stress. Our study provides new insights for comprehending the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation for non-model species., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Pterocarya stenoptera is a tree species that occurs along rivers and has high tolerance to waterlogging. Identification of waterlogging response genes in the aboveground part of P. stenoptera will increase understanding of tolerance mechanisms under root waterlogging conditions. In this study, we employed four physiological indicators and comparative transcriptome sequencing to investigate the waterlogging tolerance mechanism in P. stenoptera. The physiological results showed that the aboveground part of P. stenoptera was not obviously affected by waterlogging. P. stenoptera enhanced waterlogging tolerance by increasing the synthesis of alpha-Linolenic acids and flavonoids and activating the jasmonic acid, ethylene, and auxin signaling pathways. Our results confirmed our hypothesis that P. stenoptera, a species that is widely distributed along rivers, has evolved a range of mechanisms in response to waterlogging. Our research will provide new insights for understanding the tolerance mechanism of species to waterlogging., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Understanding the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation is an important emerging topic in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology., Results: Here, we identify the physiological changes and differential expression of genes among different weeping forsythia populations under drought stress in common garden experiments. Physiological results showed that HBWZ might have higher drought tolerance among four populations. RNA-seq results showed that significant differential expression in the genes responding to the synthesis of flavonoids, aromatic substances, aromatic amino acids, oxidation-reduction process, and transmembrane transport occured among four populations. By further reanalysis of results of previous studies, sequence differentiation was found in the genes related to the synthesis of aromatic substances among different weeping forsythia populations., Conclusions: Overall, our study supports the hypothesis that the dual differentiation in gene efficiency and expression increases among populations in response to heterogeneous environments and is an important evolutionary process of local adaptation. Here, we proposed a new working model of local adaptation of weeping forsythia populations under different intensities of drought stress, which provides new insights for understanding the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation for non-model species.

The pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) resistance of 137 wheat varieties from different regions was evaluated and the relative germination index (RGI) was calculated. The relationships between PHS and grain quality traits, amylase activity and related gene expression level of these varieties were analyzed. The results showed that wheat varieties from the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River Valley winter wheat region had the lowest RGI value and the highest ratio of resistant pre-harvest sprouting wheat varieties, followed by the varieties from the upper reach of Yangtze River Valley winter wheat region and from the Yellow and Huai River Valley. Red-grain wheat had lower RGI than white-grain wheat. RGI was positively correlated with seed length, seed width, and spikelet number, but not correlated with other grain traits (panicle type, ear color, ear length, and spikelet density, grain per spike and 1000-grain weight). RGI was negatively associated with the test weight, dough development time, and flour yield, but not with other quality indices (protein content, wet gluten content, water absorption, stability time, sedimentation, extension area, extensibility and max resistance). Amylase activity of different varieties increased with seed imbibition time. RGI was positively associated with α-amylase activity after germinating for 24-72 hours. The cluster analysis results of resistant varieties were consistent with the PHS resistance evaluation after 48 hours. RGI was positively associated with the related gene expression with seed imbibition time.

To ensure the safety of medications, it is vital to accurately authenticate species of the Apocynaceae family, which is rich in poisonous medicinal plants. We identified Apocynaceae species by using nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and psbA-trnH based on experimental data. The identification ability of ITS2 and psbA-trnH was assessed using specific genetic divergence, BLAST1, and neighbor-joining trees. For DNA barcoding, ITS2 and psbA-trnH regions of 122 plant samples of 31 species from 19 genera in the Apocynaceae family were amplified. The PCR amplification for ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences was 100%. The sequencing success rates for ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences were 81% and 61%, respectively. Additional data involved 53 sequences of the ITS2 region and 38 sequences of the psbA-trnH region were downloaded from GenBank. Moreover, the analysis showed that the inter-specific divergence of Apocynaceae species was greater than its intra-specific variations. The results indicated that, using the BLAST1 method, ITS2 showed a high identification efficiency of 97% and 100% of the samples at the species and genus levels, respectively, via BLAST1, and psbA-trnH successfully identified 95% and 100% of the samples at the species and genus levels, respectively. The barcode combination of ITS2/psbA-trnH successfully identified 98% and 100% of samples at the species and genus levels, respectively. Subsequently, the neighbor joining tree method also showed that barcode ITS2 and psbA-trnH could distinguish among the species within the Apocynaceae family. ITS2 is a core barcode and psbA-trnH is a supplementary barcode for identifying species in the Apocynaceae family. These results will help to improve DNA barcoding reference databases for herbal drugs and other herbal raw materials., (Copyright © 2020 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lanosterol synthase( LS) is a key enzyme involving in the mevalonate pathway( MVA pathway) to produce lanosterol,which is a precursor of ganoderma triterpenoid. And the transcriptional regulation of LS gene directly affects the content of triterpenes in Ganoderma lucidum. In order to study the transcriptional regulation mechanism of LS gene,yeast one-hybrid technique was used to screen the transcription regulators which interact withthe promoter of LS. The bait vector was constructed by LS promoter,then the vector was transformed yeast cells to construct bait yeast strain. One-hybrid c DNA library was constructed via SMART technology. Then the c DNA and p GADT7-Rec vector were co-transformed into the bait yeast strain to screen the upstream regulatory factors of the promoter region of LS by homologous recombination. Total of 23 positive clones were screened. After sequencing,blast was performed against the whole-genome sequence of G. lucidum. As a result,8 regulatory factors were screened out including the transcription initiation TFIIB,the alpha/beta hydrolase super family,ALDH-SF superfamily,60 S ribosomal protein L21,ATP synthase β-subunit,microtubule associated protein Cript,prote asome subunit β-1,and transaldolase. Until now,the regulation effect of these 8 regulatory factors in G.lucidum has not been reported. This study provides candidate proteins for in-depth study on the expression regulation of LS.

Background: Neural respiratory drive (NRD) using diaphragm electromyography through an invasive transesophageal multi-electrode catheter can be used as a feasible clinical physiological parameter in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to provide useful information on the treatment response. However, it remains unknown whether the surface diaphragm electromyogram (EMGdi) could be used to identify the deterioration of clinical symptoms and to predict the necessity of hospitalization in acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) patients., Methods: COPD patients visiting the outpatient department due to acute exacerbation were enrolled in this study. All patients who were subjected to EMGdi and classical parameters such as spirometry parameters, arterial blood gas analysis, COPD assessment test (CAT) score, and the modified early warning score (MEWS) in outpatient department, would be treated effectively in the outpatient or inpatient settings according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guideline. When the acute exacerbation of the patients was managed, all the examination above would be repeated., Results: We compared the relationships of admission-to-discharge changes (Δ) in the normalized value of the EMGdi, including the change of the percentage of maximal EMGdi (ΔEMGdi%max) and the change of the ratio of minute ventilation to the percentage of maximal EMGdi (ΔVE/EMGdi%max) with the changes of classical parameters. There was a significant positive association between ΔEMGdi%max and ΔCAT, ΔPaCO 2 , and ΔpH. The change (Δ) of EMGdi%max was negatively correlated with ΔPaO 2 /FiO 2 in the course of the treatment of AECOPD. Compared with the classical parameters including forced expiratory volume in 1 s, MEWS, PaO 2 /FiO 2 , the EMGdi%max (odds ratio 1.143, 95% confidence interval 1.004-1.300) has a higher sensitivity when detecting the early exacerbation and enables to predict the admission of hospital in the whole cohort., Conclusions: The changes of surface EMGdi parameters had a direct correlation with classical measures in the whole cohort of AECOPD. The measurement of NRD by surface EMGdi represents a practical physiological biomarker, which may be helpful in detecting patients who should be hospitalized timely., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest

Cornus officinalis is one of the most widely used medicinal plants in China and other East Asian countries to cure diseases such as liver, kidney, cardiovascular diseases and frequent urination for thousands of years. It is a Level 3 protected species, and is one of the 42 national key protected wild species of animals and plants in China. However, the genetics and molecular biology of C. officinalis are poorly understood, which has hindered research on the molecular mechanism of its metabolism and utilization. Hence, enriching its genomic data and information is very important. In recent years, the fast-growing technology of next generation sequencing has provided an effective path to gain genomic information from nonmodel species. This study is the first to explore the leaf and fruit tissue transcriptome of C. officinalis using the Illumina HiSeq 4000 platform. A total of 57,954,134 and 60,971,652 clean reads from leaf and fruit were acquired, respectively (GenBank number SRP115440). The pooled reads from all two libraries were assembled into 56,392 unigenes with an average length 856 bp. Among these, 41,146 unigenes matched with sequences in the NCBI nonredundant protein database. The Gene Ontology database assigned 24,336 unigenes with biological process (83.26%), cellular components (53.58%), and molecular function (83.93%). In addition, 10,808 unigenes were assigned a KOG functional classification by the KOG database. Searching against the KEGG pathway database indicated that 18,435 unigenes were mapped to 371 KEGG pathways. Moreover, the edgeR database identified 4,585 significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 1,392 were up-regulated and 3,193 were down-regulated in fruit tissue compared with leaf tissue. Finally, we explored 581 transcription factors with 50 transcription factor gene families. Most DEGs and transcription factors were related to terpene biosynthesis and secondary metabolic regulation. This study not only represented the first de novo transcriptomic analysis of C. officinalis but also provided fundamental information on its genes and biosynthetic pathway. These findings will help us explore the molecular metabolism mechanism of terpene biosynthesis in C. officinalis.

Objective: To investigate the current status of job burnout in in-service sailors, and to provide a basis for the development of intervention measures for job burnout in sailors. Methods: From September 2015 to May 2016, stratified cluster random sampling was used to select 6 172 in-service sailors from 13 provinces and cities as research subjects. General demographic data including age, education background, and household registration and occupational characteristics such as job position, navigating zone, and nature of employment were collected. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) was used to measure the levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low occupational efficiency, and job burnout, and the influencing factors for job burnout were also analyzed. Results: Of all 6 172 in-service sailors, 112 (1.8%) had a positive result in emotional exhaustion, 870 (14.1%) had a positive result in depersonalization, and 3 517 (57.0%) had a positive result in low occupational efficiency. Of all sailors, 63.3% had job burnout, among whom 54.1% had mild burnout, 8.7% had moderate burnout, and 0.5% had severe burnout. There was a significant difference in the score of job burnout between the sailors with different ages, education backgrounds, types of household registration, job positions, navigating zones, ornature of employment ( P <0.05). Age, education background, household registration, job position, navigating zone, and nature of employment were major influencing factors for job burnout in in-service sailors ( P <0.05) , and there was a higher level of job burnout in the sailors with an age of 30-39 years, education background of junior college or above, urban registration, a job position of second mate/third engineer, a navigating zone of coastal lines, orthe nature of employment of freelance sailor. Conclusion: There is a high incidence rate of job burnout among in-service sailors, and the sailors with a young age, urban registration, a navigating zone of coastal lines, or thenature of employment of freelance sailor tend to have low occupational efficiency. Related measures should be adopted for active intervention.

Bubali cornu (water buffalo horn) has been used as the substitute for Cornu rhinoceri asiatici (rhino horn) in clinical applications, and is the essential ingredient of Angong Niuhuang Wan. In recent years, there are a number of adulterants on the commercial herbal medicine markets. An efficient tool is required for species identification. In this study, 155 Bubali cornu samples have been taken from original animals and collected from commercial herbal medicine markets. 153 COI sequences have been successfully obtained from 155 samples through DNA extraction, PCR amplification, bidirectional sequencing and assembly. 93 COI sequences have been added to the DNA barcoding database of traditional Chinese animal medicine after validation using DNA barcoding GAP and tree-based methods. The species identification of the 62 commercial Bubali cornu medicines has been accomplished on the DNA barcoding system for identifying herbal medicine using the updated animal medicine database (www.tcmbarcode.cn). Except two samples failed to obtain COI sequences, 54.8% of the commercial Bubali cornu medicines were water buffalo horns and 29% were yak horns. Our results showed that yak horn was the major adulterant of Bubali cornu and the DNA barcoding method may accurately discriminate Bubali cornu and their adulterants. Therefore, we recommend that supervision on the herbal medicine markets should be strengthened with this new method to warren the effectiveness of herbal medicines.

To identify the commercial medicinal materials of Bombyx Batryticatus, two-dimensional DNA barcode was used to construct the "Internet Plus" identification system for Chinese medicine, which should benefit the cross-platform communication of DNA barcode information. Bombyx Batryticatus contained Bombyx mori Linnaeus and Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuillant. Both COI and ITS sequences were obtained via PCR amplification for total genomic DNA extracted from raw materials using the animal genomic DNA kit, while only ITS but no COI sequences was obtained when using the plant genomic DNA kit. The ITS sequences obtained using the animal genomic DNA kit were consistent with those using plant genomic DNA kit. The medicinal materials yielded COI sequences and identified as B. mori. According to analysis of ITS sequences, the main species of the medicinal materials were identified as B. bassiana and few were identified as other fungi. NJ trees analysis based on ITS sequences suggests that it can be easily distinguished from other fungi. Our results showed that total genomic DNA of B. mori and B. bassiana was extracted simultaneously using the animal genomic DNA kit, which could effectively solve the problem in species identification of animal and fungi mixture materials. COI and ITS regions as DNA barcodes can stably and accurately identify Bombyx Batryticatus. The "Internet Plus" two-dimensional DNA barcode system will promote the standardization and normalization of Chinese medicinal materials market.

Early and accurate diagnosis of invasive candidiasis (IC) is very important. In this study, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) was developed to detect antibody against Candida albicans enolase (Eno). Colloidal gold particle labeled mouse anti human IgG (1.0 mg/L) was used as the detector reagent. Recombinant enolase (rEno, 1.0 mg/L) and goat anti IgG (1.0 mg/L) were immobilized in test and control lines, respectively, of a nitrocellulose membrane, acting as the capture reagents. The LFIA was used to detect anti Eno in 38 sera from clinically proven IC patients, as well as in 50 healthy control subjects. Compared with an indirect ELISA designed as a reference test, the specificity and sensitivity of the LFIA were 98.2 and 84.8%, respectively. Excellent agreement between the results obtained by ELISA and the LFIA (κ = 0.851) was observed in this study. In addition, the agreement between the blood culture results and LFIA test is strong (κ = 0.658). The data presented in the study indicate that the LFIA test is a suitable tool for the serological surveillance of IC in the field or in poorly equipped laboratories.

In order to guarantee the species correction of Notopterygium seeds, a molecular identification method with ITS2 as DNA barcode has been verified. In this study, 27 samples of Notopterygium seeds were collected from the main producing area of Notopterygium. The morphological characteristics of the Notopterygium seeds were firstly surveyed. Then the DNA extraction, PCR amplification, DNA sequencing and DNA assembly were carried out. The species identification for a Notopterygium seed was implemented through distance method, NJ-tree method and the DNA barcoding system for traditional Chinese medicine (www.tcmbarcode.cn). The results showed that the seeds of N. incisum and N. franchetii had similar morphological characteristics and were difficult to distinguish clearly based on morphological descriptions. With the results of molecular identification, 24 samples were genuine including 13 N. incisum seeds samples and 11 N. franchetii genuine seeds samples. In conclusion, DNA barcode technology can accurately and efficiently identify the species of Notopterygium seeds. Furthermore, this study will provide a new method for germplasm resources identification of medicinal materials and supplies some guidelines for establishing Chinese herbal seeds and seedlings quality standards., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

In order to authenticate the components of antler powder in the market, DNA barcoding technology coupled with cloning method were used. Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences were obtained according to the DNA barcoding standard operation procedure (SOP). For antler powder with possible mixed components, the cloning method was used to get each COI sequence. 65 COI sequences were successfully obtained from commercial antler powders via sequencing PCR products. The results indicates that only 38% of these samples were derived from Cervus nippon Temminck or Cervus elaphus Linnaeus which is recorded in the 2010 edition of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", while 62% of them were derived from other species. Rangifer tarandus Linnaeus was the most frequent species among the adulterants. Further analysis showed that some samples collected from different regions, companies and prices, contained adulterants. Analysis of 36 COI sequences obtained by the cloning method showed that C. elaphus and C. nippon were main components. In addition, some samples were marked clearly as antler powder on the label, however, C. elaphus or R. tarandus were their main components. In summary, DNA barcoding can accurately and efficiently distinguish the exact content in the commercial antler powder, which provides a new technique to ensure clinical safety and improve quality control of Chinese traditional medicine

In order to provide a new method for the identification of Placenta hominis, the COI barcode has been employed to identify the P. hominis medicinal materials and its adulterants. Genomic DNA was extracted from the experimental samples. The COI sequences were amplified and sequenced bi-directionally. Sequence assembly and consensus sequence generation were performed using the CodonCode Aligner. NJ tree was constructed by MEGA6.0 software. COI sequences can be successfully obtained from all experimental samples. The intra-specific variation and inter-specific divergence were calculated. The average intra-specific K2P distance of P. hominis was 0.001 and the maximum intra-specific distance was 0.008. The cluster dendrogram constructed can be seen that the same genus is together, and distinguished from its adulterants. It is concluded that P. hominis and its adulterants can be correctly identified by DNA barcoding method.

Fifty-eight samples belonging to 7 species of Arisaematis Rhizoma and its adulterants were collected. The ITS2 locus was employed as a DNA barcode and amplified, sequenced and assembled for all of the collected samples. Then, ITS2 sequences have been annotated using HMM-based method. The intra- and inter-specific variations were calculated and NJ tree was constructed using MEGA 6.0 software. The results showed that inter-specific K2P distances were significantly larger than intra-specific distances for all of the three origin species of Arisaematis Rhizoma. Furthermore, three origin species, Arisaema amurense, A. erubescens and A. heterophyllum, can be respectively formed to be a single branch with high bootstrap values. It is concluded that ITS2 can be used to correctly identify Arisaematis Rhizoma from its adulterants and the application of ITS2 in the identification of traditional Chinese medicine has an important prospective.

In this study, the COI barcode was used to identify the Scolopendra medicinal materials and its adulterants in order to provide a new method for the identification of Scolopendra. Genomic DNA was extracted from the experimental samples. The COI sequences were amplified and sequenced bi-directionally. Sequence alignment and NJ tree construction was carried out by MEGA6.0 software. The results showed that the COI sequences can be obtained from all experimental samples. The average inter-specific K2P distance of Scolopendra was 0.222 and the minimum inter-specific distance was 0.190. All the Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans medicinal samples clustered into a clade in the NJ tree and can be distinguished from its adulterants. In a conclusion, COI can be used to correctly identify Scolopendra medicinal materials, and it will be a potential DNA barcode for identifying other animal medicinal materials.

Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma were widely used in strengthening spleen under different disease conditions, and were easily and often misused each other. Therefore, DNA barcode was used to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma from their adulterants to ensure the safe use. The sequence lengths of ITS2 of Atractylodes macrocephala, Atractylodis Rhizoma (A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana) were both 229 bp. Among the ITS2 sequences of A. macrocephala, only one G/C transversion was detected at site 98, and the average GC content was 69.42%. No variable site was detected in the ITS2 sequences of A. lancea. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of both A. japonica and A. coreana were 0.013. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of A. macrocephala, A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana were less than the minimum interspecific genetic distance of adulterants. The ITS2 sequences in each of these polytypic species were separated into pairs of divergent clusters in the NJ tree. DNA barcoding could be used as a fast and accurate identification method to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Atractylodis Rhizoma, from their adulterants to ensure its safe use.

In order to construct an integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine, the authors and their cooperators have completed a lot of researches for identifying Chinese animal medicines using DNA barcoding technology. Sequences from GenBank have been analyzed simultaneously. Three different methods, BLAST, barcoding gap and Tree building, have been used to confirm the reliabilities of barcode records in the database. The integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine has been constructed using three different parts: specimen, sequence and literature information. This database contained about 800 animal medicines and the adulterants and closely related species. Unknown specimens can be identified by pasting their sequence record into the window on the ID page of species identification system for traditional Chinese medicine (www. tcmbarcode. cn). The integrated DNA barcoding database for identifying Chinese animal medicine is significantly important for animal species identification, rare and endangered species conservation and sustainable utilization of animal resources.

Objective: To identify the Cynomorii Herba and its analogues species using DNA barcoding technique., Method: Total genomic DNA extracted from all materials using the DNA extraction kit. The internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and purified PCR products were sequenced bi-directionally. Sequence assembly and consensus sequence generation were performed using the CodonCode Aligner 3.7.1. The Kimura 2-Parameter (K2P) distances and GC content were computed using MEGA 5. 0. Species identification analyses were conducted through the species identification system for traditional Chinese medicine and neighbor-joining (NJ) trees., Result: The ITS2 sequence lengths of Cynomorii Herba were 229 bp. The average intra-specific genetic distances of Cynomorii Herba were 0.003. The average inter-specific genetic distances between Cynomorii Herba and its adulterants species were 0.760. The results showed that the minimum inter-specific divergence is larger than the maximum intra-specific divergence. The species identification system for traditional Chinese medicine and NJ trees results indicated that Cynomorii Herba and its adulterants species can be easily identification., Conclusion: The ITS2 region is an efficient barcode for identification of Cynomorii Herba, which provide a new technique to ensure clinical safety in utilization of traditional Chinese medicine.

Unlabelled: The DNA barcoding method was used to accurately and rapidly identify Corni Fructus and its adulterants., Methods: Genomic DNA extracted from Corni Fructus and its adulterants were used as templates. The ITS (internal trascribed spacer) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction. Sequence assembly was performed using CodonCode Aligner V 3.5.4. Genetic distances were computed using MEGA V 5.0. Species identification was conducted using neighbor-joining (NJ) trees., Results: The ITS sequence length of Corni Fructus was 659 bp. The average intra-specific genetic distance of Corni Fructus was 0.005, markedly lower than the inter-specific genetic distance between Corni Fructus and its adulterants (0.357). The ITS2 sequence length of Corni Fructus was 250 bp. No variation was found among the different samples. The interspecific genetic distance of ITS2 between Corni Fructus and its adulterants was 0.571. NJ trees and BLAST results indicated that Corni Fructus and its adulterants can be easily differentiated with monophyly., Conclusion: ITS/ITS2 regions can accurately and efficiently distinguish Corni Fructus and its adulterants. In addition, the results not only established the foundation for the clinical safety in the utilization of Corni Fructus, but also provided reference for molecular identification of other Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese herbal pieces., (Copyright © 2013 China Pharmaceutical University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Feature dimensionality reduction methods with robustness have a great significance for making better use of EEG data, since EEG features are usually high-dimensional and contain a lot of noise. In this paper, a robust principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm is introduced to reduce the dimension of EEG features for vigilance estimation. The performance is compared with that of standard PCA, L1-norm PCA, sparse PCA, and robust PCA in feature dimension reduction on an EEG data set of twenty-three subjects. To evaluate the performance of these algorithms, smoothed differential entropy features are used as the vigilance related EEG features. Experimental results demonstrate that the robustness and performance of robust PCA are better than other algorithms for both off-line and on-line vigilance estimation. The average RMSE (root mean square errors) of vigilance estimation was 0.158 when robust PCA was applied to reduce the dimensionality of features, while the average RMSE was 0.172 when standard PCA was used in the same task.

Since the research of molecular identification of Chinese Materia Medica (CMM) using DNA barcode is rapidly developing and popularizing, the principle of this method is approved to be listed in the Supplement of the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. Based on the study on comprehensive samples, the DNA barcoding systems have been established to identify CMM, i.e. ITS2 as a core barcode and psbA-trnH as a complementary locus for identification of planta medica, and COI as a core barcode and ITS2 as a complementary locus for identification of animal medica. This article introduced the principle of molecular identification of CMM using DNA barcoding and its drafting instructions. Furthermore, its application perspective was discussed.

This paper proposes a novel feature called differential entropy for EEG-based vigilance estimation. By mathematical derivation, we find an interesting relationship between the proposed differential entropy and the existing logarithm energy spectrum. We present a physical interpretation of the logarithm energy spectrum which is widely used in EEG signal analysis. To evaluate the performance of the proposed differential entropy feature for vigilance estimation, we compare it with four existing features on an EEG data set of twenty-three subjects. All of the features are projected to the same dimension by principal component analysis algorithm. Experiment results show that differential entropy is the most accurate and stable EEG feature to reflect the vigilance changes.

Cell block sections serve as an important diagnostic annex for cytological smears, liquid-based SurePath cytology and the Liquid-based Thin-prep Cytology Test (TCT). A variety of methods for the preparation of cell blocks are described in the literature and the techniques in cell blocks are in continuous improvement. A new technique for making cell blocks was introduced in the present study. We first used pregelatinized starch as the frame for the cell block, which is a really simple and economic method, because it can be carried out at room temperature without additional special instruments. We have performed hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, immunohistochemistry analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in the cell block sections in 122 cytological specimens. The results demonstrated in this article show that pregelatinized starch is a useful frame for cell blocks. The pregelatinized starch can effectively collect even a few cells with powerful adhesiveness. Therefore, this new technique for making cell blocks is especially useful for cytologic samples with low cellularity, such as cerebrospinal fluid specimens.

In this research, we used EEG signals to analyze gender processing with the ERSP method. Not only facial images, but also images of clothing and shoes, were used. We applied the ICA method to obtain a gender-related component which appeared quite significant in the majority of electrode sites for the occipital lobe. This showed differences of energy between the two genders, even for the clothing and shoe images. Our results indicate that not only facial gender processing, but also a gender discrimination task for objects influences the energy of EEGs from 50 ms after the onset of stimuli at all frequencies, especially lower band. This provides convincing evidence for rapidity of gender processing.

We have shown that the slow eye movements extracted from electrooculogram (EOG) signals can be used to estimate human vigilance in our previous work. However, the traditional method for recording EOG signals is to place the electrodes near the eyes of subjects. This placement is inconvenient for users in real-world applications. This paper aims to find a more practical placement for acquiring EOG signals for vigilance estimation. Instead of placing the electrodes near the eyes, we place them on the forehead. We extract EOG features from the forehead EOG signals using both independent component analysis and support vector machines. The performance of our proposed method is evaluated using the correlation coefficients between the forehead EOG signals and the traditional EOG signals. The results show that a correlation of 0.84 can be obtained when the users make 14 different face movements and for merely eye movements it reaches 0.93.

The dried succulent stems of Cistanche (Cistanche deserticola Y. C. Ma and Cistanche tubulosa Wight.) are one of the most widely used components of traditional Chinese medicines. However, it is often confused and substituted with the roots of Orobanche pycnostachya, Boschniakia rossica (Cham. & Schltdl.) Standl., Cistanche sinensis Beck, and Cistanche salsa (C. A. Mey.) Beck. In this study, we identified psbA-trnH regions from species and tested their suitable for the identification of the above mentioned taxa. The psbA-trnH sequences showed considerable variations between species and thus were revealed as a promising candidate for barcoding of Cistanche species. Additionally, the average genetic distance of psbA-trnH ranging from 0.077% to 0.743%. In contrast, the intra-specific variation among Cistanche species was found to be significantly different from those of other species, with percentages of variation studied ranged from 0% to 0.007%. The sequence difference between the psbA-trnH sequences of Cistanche species and Orobanche pycnostachya ranged from 0.979% to 1.149%. The distance between the Cistanche species and Boschniakia rossica ranged from 1.066% to 1.224%. Our results suggest that the psbA-trnH intergenic spacer region represent a barcode that can be used to identify Cistanche species and other morphologically undistinguishable species.

Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings are often obscured by physiological artifacts that can render huge amounts of data useless and thus constitute a key challenge in current brain-computer interface research. This paper presents a new algorithm that automatically and reliably removes artifacts from EEG based on blind source separation and support vector machine. Performance on a motor imagery task is compared for artifact-contaminated and preprocessed signals to verify the accuracy of the proposed approach. The results showed improved results over all datasets. Furthermore, the online applicability of the algorithm is investigated.

For many human machine interaction systems, to ensure work safety, the techniques for continuously estimating the vigilance of operators are highly desirable. Up to now, various methods based on electroencephalogram (EEG) are proposed to solve this problem. However, most of them are static methods and are based on supervised learning strategy. The main deficiencies of the existing methods are that the label information is hard to get and the time dependency of vigilance changes are ignored. In this paper, we introduce the dynamic characteristics of vigilance changes into vigilance estimation and propose a novel model based on linear dynamical system and manifold learning techniques to implement off-line and online vigilance estimation. In this model, both spatial information of EEG and temporal information of vigilance changes are used. The label information what we need is merely to know which EEG indices are important for vigilance estimation. Experimental results show that the mean off-line and on-line correlation coefficients between estimated vigilance level and local error rate in second-scale without being averaged are 0.89 and 0.83, respectively.

This study aims at using electrooculographic (EOG) features, mainly slow eye movements (SEM), to estimate the human vigilance changes during a monotonous task. In particular, SEMs are first automatically detected by a method based on discrete wavelet transform, then linear dynamic system is used to find the trajectory of vigilance changes according to the SEM proportion. The performance of this system is evaluated by the correlation coefficients between the final outputs and the local error rates of the subjects. The result suggests that SEMs perform better than rapid eye movements (REM) and blinks in estimating the vigilance. Using SEM alone, the correlation can achieve 0.75 for off-line, while combined with a feature from blinks it reaches 0.79.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is the most commonly studied signal for vigilance estimation. Up to now, many researches mainly focus on using supervised learning methods for analyzing EEG data. However, it is hard to obtain enough labeled EEG data to cover the whole vigilance states, and sometimes the labeled EEG data may be not reliable in practice. In this paper, we propose a dynamic clustering method based on EEG to estimate vigilance states. This method uses temporal series information to supervise EEG data clustering. Experimental results show that our method can correctly discriminate between the wakefulness and the sleepiness for every 2 seconds through EEG, and can also distinguish two other middle states between wakefulness and sleepiness.

Background & Objective: Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) have been applied to diagnose cerebral diseases, but its application to diagnose breast diseases is in exploring stage. This study was to investigate the value of DWI in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions., Methods: DWI records of 52 patients, with 27 malignant lesions and 33 benign lesions verified by histopathology, and 10 healthy women were analyzed. DWI was performed with single shot echo planar imaging technique. The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of malignant lesions, benign lesions, and normal breast gland were compared. The diagnosis threshold between malignant and benign lesions was decided according to receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC)., Results: The ADC values were (1.98+/-0.31) x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for normal breast gland,(1.59+/-0.26) x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for benign lesions, and (0.87+/-0.23) x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for malignant lesions; the 95% reference ranges were (1.38-2.58) x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for normal breast gland, (1.07-2.11) x 10(-3) mm(2)/s for benign lesions, and (0.42-1.32)x10(-3) mm(2)/s for malignant lesions. There were significant differences among these ADC values (P<0.05). The threshold between malignant and benign lesions was 1.22 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s according to ROC. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the threshold were 88.9%, 87.9%, and 88.3%, respectively., Conclusions: ADC value may help to differentiate benign and malignant breast lesions. DWI may be applied to detect breast cancer.

AIM:To reveal the inhibitory effects of Curcuma aromatica oil (CAO) on cell proliferation of hepatoma in mice.METHODS:Two tumor inhibitory experiments of CAO on hepatoma in mice were conducted. The inhibitory effects of CAO on proliferation of hepatoma in mice were evaluated by DNA image cytometry and immunohistochemical staining of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA).RESULTS:The tumor inhibitory rates of CAO were 52% and 51% in two experiments, respectively. Compared with those of the saline-treated control groups, both differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01). In the group of mice treated with CAO, the cellular nuclear DNA OD value (249 plus minus 70), areas (623&mgr;m(2) plus minus 228&mgr;m(2)) and DNA (2.38 plus minus 0.67) index of hepatic carcinomas were significantly lower than those of the control group (430 plus minus 160, 1073&mgr;m(2) plus minus 101&mgr;m2and 4.48 plus minus 0.71). CAO also could increase diploidy cell rates (29.00% plus minus 9.34% vs 2.97% plus minus 5.69%, P < 0.01) and decrease pentaploidy cell exceeding rate (30.04% plus minus 15.10% vs 70.89% plus minus 14.94%, P<0.01). In the group of mice treated with CAO, the labeling indexes of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA-LI) were 30% plus minus 4%, which were significantly lower than 40% plus minus 6% of the control group (P<0.01).CONCLUSION:The inhibition of CAO on the growth of hepatoma in mice might be associated with its depression on cellular proliferative activity.

The involvement of platelet-activating factor (PAF) in cell damage induced by ischemia/postischemia-like conditions was studied in a hippocampus-derived cell line, HN33.11. Cells exposed to N2-saturated glucose-free HEPES-buffered saline (ischemia) for 5 h followed by 18 h of incubation in serum-free control medium (postischemia reincubation) remained 67.4 +/- 2.4% viable in comparison with sham-treated cells. Analysis of DNA fragmentation in combination with Hoechst 33258 staining indicates that apoptosis is the dominant mode of cell death in the present model. PAF level during 10 h of ischemia was unchanged. However, an increase in PAF accumulation was found early during the reincubation period that followed 5 h of ischemia. Peak PAF concentrations were noted at 2 h after initiation of reincubation and rapidly declined to control level after 7 h of reincubation. Consistent with a role of PAF in mediating cell death under ischemia/postischemia reincubation in this model, the PAF antagonist BN 50739 exerted a dose-dependent protective effect. Maximal protection (85.7 +/- 5.4%) of the cells from ischemia/reincubation-induced cell damage was achieved at 0.1 microM BN 50739. The PAF antagonist lacked any protective effect against ischemia-induced cell death. On the other hand, the addition of the stable PAF analogue 1-O-hexadecyl-2-N-methylcarbamyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (MC-PAF) at the onset of ischemia potentiated ischemia/reincubation-induced apoptosis--an effect that was blocked by BN 50739. Pretreatment of HN33.11 cells with the Ca2+ chelator 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA-AM) also provided a protective effect against ischemia/reincubation-induced cell damage. BAPTA-AM increased cell viability by 50%. Pretreatment with BAPTA-AM also decreased ischemia/reincubation-induced PAF accumulation in HN33.11 cells. The results suggest that PAF, acting via a PAF receptor, is at least in part mediating apoptosis under ischemia/postischemia-like conditions in HN33.11 cells.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) may be a neuromodulator involved in neural cell differentiation, cerebral inflammation, and ischemia. The PAF receptor is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily. In the present study, we sought to define the specific G protein(s) that mediate PAF-stimulated phosphoinositide (PI) metabolism in an immortalized hippocampal cell line, HN33.11. PAF increased the production of 3H-labeled inositol phosphates (IPs) with EC50 values of 1.2-1.5 nM. The effect of PAF on 3H-IPs formation was completely blocked by the PAF antagonist BN 50739 at a concentration of 300 nM. Pertussis toxin pretreatment attenuated PAF-stimulated 3H-IPs production by 20-30% (p < 0.05). Consistent with a role for Gi1/2 in this response, antiserum against G alpha i1/2 blocked the response to a similar degree. Pretreatment of permeabilized cells with G alpha q/11 antiserum attenuated the response by 70% (p < 0.05), suggesting a role for Gq/11 in mediating the PAF response in this cell line. Stimulation with PAF increased [alpha-32P]-GTP binding to both G alpha q and G alpha i1/2 proteins. Moreover, specific [3H]PAF binding sites coprecipitated with G alpha q and G alpha i1/2 proteins. The results suggest that PAF-stimulated PI metabolism in HN33.11 cells is mediated by both Gq and Gi1/2 proteins.