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Lavender ( Lavandula angustifolia ) is an important medicinal and aromatic plant. However, the application of lavender essential oil (LEO) is limited by its instability, low solubility and high volatility. Therefore, to improve the stabilities and antioxidant activities of LEO and thereby expand the applications, LEO was microencapsulated by metal-organic frameworks based on β-cyclodextrin and potassium cation (K-βCD-MOFs) with different mass core/wall ratios. The results showed that the best inclusion rate was 96.67% with the ratio of 1:10. Then, the optimum inclusion product was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The thermal and pH stabilities and the intracellular antioxidant activities were also studied. The results showed that the stabilities of the oil with K-βCD-MOFs inclusions and their abilities to resist acid and alkali were significantly stronger than those of LEO itself. In addition, the intracellular antioxidant activities of LEO were also enhanced by the K-βCD-MOFs inclusion. These results suggested the potential of K-βCD-MOFs as carriers for essential oils in food industry applications.

In this study, a gas chromatography-type electronic nose (GC E-nose) was used to identify the chemical components of blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) essential oil (DTEO) and to rapidly screen the antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of these components through combined with the chemical methodology. The results showed that most of the compounds in DTEO had certain scavenging abilities to 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazine (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) and hydroxyl (OH) radicals, but the radical scavenging abilities were quite different. α-Terpineol, eucalyptol, β-elemene, and epicurzerenone showed the strongest DPPH radical scavenging abilities and scavenging rates were 82.5%, 81.4%, 72.4%, and 60.4%, respectively. Eucalyptol, 2-nonanol, myrtenol, and α-terpineol showed the strongest ABTS radical scavenging abilities and scavenging rates were 82.9%, 81.7%, 81.7%, and 78.6%, respectively. Myrtenol and camphor showed the strongest OH radical scavenging abilities and scavenging rates were 55.0% and 53.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the mechanisms of radical scavenging and the structure-activity relationship between the structure and radical scavenging activity were elucidated.

Background Traditional chemical methods were mainly used to evaluate the total antioxidant activity of essential oils. How to determine the bioactivity of each compound in mixtures is an interesting research topic. Nowadays, an ultra-fast gas chromatography electronic nose (E-nose) has been gradually used in the detection of volatile compounds, but the screening of the active components of essential oils has not been reported. E-nose coupled with chemical methodology was established using the essential oil from rosemary (EOR) as a specific application example. The proposed method can both identify the chemical constituents of EOR and quickly screen the antioxidant by comparing the change of chromatographic peak area of every component in EOR before and after reaction with free radicals. Results Among all chemical constituents in EOR, verbenone, eucalyptol and o-cymene showed the strongest scavenging abilities in 1,1'-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine (DPPH·), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS·+ ) and hydroxyl (·OH) radicals, respectively, with scavenging rates of 67.9%, 39.5%, and 69.9%. The reliability and feasibility of using E-nose to identify chemical constituents of EOR were verified by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The GC-MS/MS results showed that the main components of EOR were α-pinene (422.2 μg g-1 ), p-cymene (208.4 μg g-1 ), camphor (203.5 μg g-1 ), verbenone (160.2 μg g-1 ), and eucalyptol (129.1 μg g-1 ). Conclusions The E-nose methods can be used as a complementary method to traditional spectrophotometric techniques. Furthermore, this study will be of great significance for the rapid screening of antioxidant active components in essential oils from natural products. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

How to screen and evaluate the radical scavenging activity of each compound in the mixture remains a challenging project. In the present study, a sensitive and selective method of offline HPLC coupled with chemical methodology was developed for the evaluation of the radical scavenging activity of each compound in a common vegetable, crowndaisy (Chrysanthemum coronarium L.) seeds alcohol extract (CDAE) without the isolation of monomers. The results of LC–ESI–MS/MS showed that the main components of CDAE were chlorogenic acid (3-CQA) (1693.0 μg/g, dry weight), 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid (1,3-DCQA, 1378.5 μg/g), 3,5-DCQA (1027.0 μg/g), and 1,4-DCQA (1031.5 μg/g). The results of scavenging free radical activity analysis showed that, among all components, 1,3-DCQA, 3,5-DCQA, 1,4-DCQA, and 3-CQA were mainly responsible for the radical scavenging activity of the extract. Their scavenging rates for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) were 86.72%, 83.50%, 83.50%, and 83.43%, respectively. In the assay of scavenging the reactive oxygen species (ROS), CDAE could effectively decrease ROS in RAW264.7 cells without cell toxicity.

A rapid method for simultaneous determination of five synthetic edible pigments (SEPs) including tartrazine (TA), ponceau 4R (PO), sunset yellow (SY), brilliant blue (BB) and erythrosine (ER) in beverages with titania-based RP-HPLC has been developed. The good linear relationships were obtained in the concentration ranges of 2.5–40 μg mL−1 for TA, PO and SY, 0.75–12 μg mL−1 for BB, and 1.25–20 μg mL−1 for ER, respectively. The detection limits (LODs) of five SEPs were 0.042, 0.021, 0.042, 0.0005, and 0.021 μg mL−1, respectively. The average recoveries were between 92.2% and 106.3%. Relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 7) for five SEPs were less than 1.18%. The precision and accuracy of the method can meet the requirements of HPLC analysis. In addition, the thermodynamic parameters of retention of the pigments in the titania column such as enthalpy (ΔHο), entropy (ΔSο) and Gibbs free energy (ΔGο) were also determined. Keywords: Titania-based stationary phase, RP-HPLC, Synthetic edible pigments (SEPs), Beverages

The applications of clove (Syzygium aromaticum) essential oil (CEO) are limited by instability, low solubility and high volatility. The present study aimed to improve the properties of CEO by microencapsulation with cyclodextrin metal organic frameworks (β-CD-MOFs) to enhance the preservation effects on Chinese bacon (preserved meat products). The microencapsulated CEO by β-CD-MOFs (CEO/β-CD-MOFs) not only did not inhibit the antioxidant activities of CEO, but also showed significant improvements on their ROS scavenging abilities and thermo-/pH-stabilities. The increases of superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities were 20.74% and 12.84%, respectively. In addition, less lipid oxidation, including malondialdehyde (MDA) contents and peroxide values (POV), of Chinese bacon was found after the CEO/β-CD-MOFs treatment than CEO and synthetic antioxidant (BHT) treatments. These results suggested the enhanced preservation effects of microencapsulated CEO on the processing of Chinese bacon and the great potential of β-CD-MOFs as carriers for essential oils in food industry applications.

To circumvent the limitation of conventional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, synchronous front-face fluorescence spectroscopy was applied for the rapid and non-destructive determination of two major methylxanthines (theobromine and caffeine) and cocoa solid contents in dark chocolate for the first time. Total synchronous fluorescence spectra at wavelength interval (Δλ) between 30–100 nm of 21 brands of commercial dark chocolate bars with labeled cocoa solids of 50–100% were directly obtained at front-face geometry. The contents of the two methylxanthines were determined by HPLC. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models for quantification were constructed, optimized, and validated by both full (leave-one-out) cross-validation and external validation. The coefficients of determination (R2) values are larger than 0.8, and the relative errors of prediction were ca. 10%. The built models were applied to the detection of four real samples and compared with HPLC method. The combination of front-face fluorescence and PLSR provides a fast and non-invasive procedure for the quantification of theobromine and caffeine in dark chocolate, as an effective alternative for the traditional HPLC method. The further application of the proposed strategy is the rough estimation of cocoa solids in dark chocolate.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Pepper essential oils have potential immunomodulatory, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer activities. Pepper exhibits the potential to prevent or attenuate carcinogenesis as therapeutic tools. However, the related mechanism remains unelucidated.Aim of the Study: The present study aims to provide reasonable information for the explanation of the dissimilarity of the essential oils from white (WPEO) and black pepper (BPEO).Materials and Methods: WPEO, BPEO, and their single active component, as well as synthetic antioxidants, were compared by the cell model methods and chemical methods, including intracellular antioxidant activity (CAA), total antioxidant activities (TAA), superoxide radical (SR), hydroxyl radical (HR), DPPH radical (DR) scavenging activities and inhibition ability of lipoprotein lipid peroxidation (ILLP).Results: The median effective concentration (EC50) values (mg/mL) of the WPEO and BPEO of SR, HR, DR, and ILLP were 0.437 and 0.327, 0.486 and 0.204, 7.332 and 6.348, 0.688, and 0.624 mg/mL, respectively. The CAA units of WPEO and BPEO were 50.644 and 54.806, respectively. CAA, DR, and TAA of BPEO were significantly higher than those of WPEO (p < 0.05). The BPEO and WPEO can be differentiated as the former have higher correlations with 3-carene, α-pinene, β-pinene, and limonene while the latter has a higher caryophyllene correlation. The WPEO and BPEO show a good intracellular scavenging ability of reactive oxygen species in HeLa cells.Conclusion: Generally, pepper oil has stronger activities than single components, indicating that pepper is a broad-spectrum natural antioxidant.

The fate of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) from polyethylene mesh knitted fabrics (PMKFs) to mulched soil and nearby plants was studied. PBDEs in the soil sample collected from Tianjin University of Commerce in April 2019 increased significantly after 6 months of PMKF mulching owing to PMKFs as the main input source. The compositional profiles/congener patterns of the PBDEs in the soil and PMKFs became similar after 6 months. High correlations were found between ΣPBDEs in the soil and PMKFs in October 2019, with no significant correlation in April. Plants could take up, accumulate and biotransform PBDEs in contaminated soil. The uptake of BDE-209 by plants was the highest compared with other lesser brominated PBDE congeners, due to its higher log Kow value and molecular weight or size. BDE-47 taken up in the plant was biotransformed via hydroxylation. These results prove that the government's PMKF solution to haze is causing environmental problems in bare soil, i.e., PBDE pollution in both soil and nearby plants. The present study provides important pieces of evidence for government and policymakers, and it is recommended that one environmental problem is not solved by creating another.

Fluorescence quenching induced by competitive absorption between different components of solid foods was observed for the first time. By using front-face synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy (FFSFS) and fluorescence titration, competitive absorption between maize flour and turmeric powder was proven to occur between phenolic acids in maize flour and curcumin in turmeric powder. FFSFS was applied for the rapid and non-destructive determination of maize flour adulterated in turmeric powder. Prediction models were constructed by partial least square (PLS) regression based on unfolded total synchronous fluorescence spectra, and were validated by five-fold cross-validation and external validation, with the determination coefficient of prediction (R

Polyphenols extracted from plants are usually highly unstable and rapidly transformed into various reaction products during food and drug processing, thus limiting their applications. To improve the stability and solubility of polyphenols from the leaves of Chinese star anise (Illicium verum Hook. f.), and hence to expand their application to food and medicine, the extracted anise leaf polyphenols (ALPs) were microencapsulated using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and cyclodextrin-based metal-organic frameworks (β-CD-MOFs).The optimum inclusion rate of ALP/β-CD-MOFs was 97.80% at a core-wall ratio of 1:10. Meanwhile, the stabilities, solubilities and antioxidant activities of the polyphenols before and after inclusion were compared. The results showed both the stabilities and solubilities of ALP/β-CD-MOFs were significantly improved compared with those of ALPs and ALP/β-CD, suggesting the potential of β-CD-MOFs as newer and better carriers than β-CD for polyphenols in food industry applications. The free radical (including superoxide, hydroxyl and DPPH radicals) scavenging activities were also improved by microencapsulation. Superoxide radical scavenging reaction also showed slow-release property of ALP/β-CD-MOFs. The formation of the inclusion complex was further confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectral characterization.Microencapsulation with β-CD-MOFs could expand the application scope of ALPs, and it is more effective than encapsulation with β-CD. This is important for a better understanding and application of this useful traditional Chinese plant. As a new material with high efficiency and edibility, β-CD-MOFs are not limited to the chemical field, but also have potential in new areas of food, medicine and healthcare products. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

The chemical components of an edible spice, sweet ginger (Alpinia coriandriodora D. Fang) essential oil (AEO) were identified by an ultra-fast gas chromatography electronic nose (E-nose) and the main components were β-pinene (27.9%), 1,8-cineole (17.3%), p-cymene (13.5%), camphene (7.3%), myrcene (5.4%), and pseudolimonene (4.3%). The antioxidant activity of each component was evaluated and the mechanisms of scavenging free radical were studied by E-nose combined with chemical methodology. Decanal and α-copaene in AEO showed strong scavenging activities against DPPH radical, and the scavenging rates were over 85%. Decanal had a strong scavenging activity for ABTS radical and the scavenging rate was more than 60%. Similarly, terpinen-4-ol and eugenol had strong scavenging abilities to OH radical and the scavenging rates were more than 50%. Gas chromatography-mass spectrography results showed that it was feasible to identify the chemical components of essential oil by E-nose, and the similarity reached 88.9%. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Many essential oils have antioxidant activities and can be used in functional foods. In the present work, the antioxidant active components in AEO were identified and screened by ultra-fast GC E-nose. We aimed to target the components with strong antioxidant activity quickly and efficiently through the analysis of the reaction process of DPPH, ABTS and OH radicals with a high scavenging rate in a short time. These results indicate that ultra-fast GC E-nose can be used to screen the antioxidant active components in the essential oil.

Essential oils were extracted from white and black peppers (Piper nigrum L.) by green and solvent-free ultrasonic-microwave assisted extraction (UMAE), microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE), and the efficiency and free radical scavenging activities of the essential oils by different extraction methods were compared in order to illuminate their advantages and disadvantages. The oil yield and superoxide radical scavenging activity of white pepper by UMAE were both significantly higher than those oil extracted by MAE and UAE, implying that UMAE was far more efficient extracting method than MAE and UAE. The same trends were also found for black pepper. Meanwhile, the bioactive compounds of the essential oils from white and black peppers were also characterized and compared by GC coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and electronic nose based on fast gas chromatography (GC). The essential oil from black pepper contained more monoterpenes than the oil from white pepper, while white pepper oil showed higher content of sesquiterpenes than black pepper. For the different extraction methods, generally, UMAE could obtain more monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes than MAE and UAE. UMAE should be an emerging effective green extraction technique for essential oil from P. nigrum because of the maximum extraction yields, shortest extraction time and solvent-free. The electronic nose has been proven as a useful tool for quick analysis and discrimination of the essential oils by different extraction methods.

Capsanthin is the major natural carotenoid pigment in red chili pepper possessing important bioactivity. Its conventional determination method is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with complex and tedious sample pretreatment. In this study, synchronous front-face fluorescence spectroscopy (FFFS) was applied for the fast and non-invasive detection of free capsanthin in chili powders. Although capsanthin was only weak fluorescent in solution state, it showed strong fluorescence in two separated regions in front-face geometry which could also be clearly observed in chili powders. The mechanisms of these emissions are revealed to be aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and J-aggregate formation (JAF). The free capsanthin in 85 chili powder samples were determined by HPLC as in the range of 0.6–3.0 mg/g. The total synchronous FFFS spectra of these samples were scanned. Simple first-order models were built by partial least square regression (PLSR), and were validated by 5-fold cross-validation and external validation. The coefficients of determination (R2) were higher than 0.9, and the root mean square errors (RMSE) were less than 0.2 mg/g. The relative error of prediction (REP) was 9.9%, and the residual predictive deviation (RPD) was 3.7. The method was applied for the estimation of free capsanthin in several real-world samples with satisfactory analytical results. The average relative error to HPLC reference values was −11.8%.

Synchronous front-face fluorescence spectroscopy has been developed for the discrimination of used frying oil (UFO) from edible vegetable oil (EVO), the estimation of the using time of UFO, and the determination of the adulteration of EVO with UFO. Both the heating time of laboratory prepared UFO and the adulteration of EVO with UFO could be determined by partial least squares regression (PLSR). To simulate the EVO adulteration with UFO, for each kind of oil, fifty adulterated samples at the adulterant amounts range of 1-50% were prepared. PLSR was then adopted to build the model and both full (leave-one-out) cross-validation and external validation were performed to evaluate the predictive ability. Under the optimum condition, the plots of observed versus predicted values exhibited high linearity (R(2)>0.96). The root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were both lower than 3%.

As a new rapid detection technology, ultra-fast gas chromatography electronic nose (E-nose) can accurately distinguish and identify different odor ingredients based on the retention index and data processing system in a short time. The chemical components of spikenard (Nardostachys chinensis) essential oil (SEO) were detected by E-nose and verified by GC–MS with 94 % accuracy. Combining E-nose with traditional chemical methodology including E-nose-DPPH, E-nose-ABTS and E-nose−OH were used to quickly evaluate the antioxidant activity of each component of SEO. The results showed that the main components of SEO were calarene, β-maaliene, valerena-4,7(11)-diene, aristolene, γ-terpinene, and seychellene. Furthermore, SEO showed the best scavenging ability in ABTS than DPPH or OH radicals, and the highest scavenging rates are 95.0 % for ABTS, 72.4 % for DPPH and 73.0 % for OH radical, respectively. Among all ingredients of SEO, β-maaliene (70.6 %, 52.3 %, 26.4 %), calarene (69.5 %, 41.6 %, 22.5 %), valerena-4,7(11)-diene (78.1 %, 46.2 %, 6.4 %) and β-cadinene (78.8 %, 51.4 %, 7.1 %) have scavenging effects for ABTS, DPPH and OH radicals.

An electronic nose (E-nose) coupled with chemical methodology was established, which can quickly screen and evaluate the radical scavenging activity of each component in the essential oil from Magnolia biondii Pamp (EOMB) without time-consuming and laborious separation of pure compounds. The method was established based on the differences of peak areas of the antioxidant components in EOMB before and after reaction with free radicals. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of EOMB were performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS). The radical scavenging activities were evaluated by E-nose coupled with chemical methodology. The results showed that the major components of EOMB were β-pinene (854.2 μg/g), sabinene (753.0 μg/g), α-pinene (437.2 μg/g), farnesol (272.2 μg/g), α-myrcene (190.7 μg/g), epi-cubebol (188.2 μg/g) and eucalyptol (147.1 μg/g). Among all chemical components in EOMB, α-terpineol, c-cadinene and α-phellandrene showed the strongest scavenging ability in 1,1′-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazine (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) and hydroxyl (OH) radicals, respectively, with scavenging rates of 84.1 %, 89.1 % and 54.1 %.

Rosemary ethanol extract (REE) from Rosmarinus officinalis was identified by LC-ESI-MS/MS and 12 compounds were found. Among them, rosmarinic acid (389.78 μg/mg in REE), luteolin-3'-O-glucuronide (325.58 μg/mg), luteolin-5-O-glucuronide (120.92 μg/mg), and geniposide (120.83 μg/mg) are the major components. The antioxidant activity evaluation of REE by off-line HPLC methods indicated that among the 12 compounds, rosmarinic acid had the strongest scavenging activities in both DPPH· and ·OH. The cytotoxicity experiment showed that REE with the concentration ranges from 1 to 100 µg/ml did not significantly affect the cell viability of HeLa, while inhibitory rate reduced to 62.3% when the concentration was increased to 1,000 µg/ml. The results of intracellular antioxidation assay showed that the ability of REE in reducing the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HeLa cells was higher than rosmanol, and lower than rosmarinic acid without cell toxicity. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Plant polyphenols are essential components of functional foods, due to their antioxidant and enzyme inhibition activities. This paper is the first study about the quantification of antioxidant compounds, antioxidant activity evaluation, and their cellular antioxidant activity of polyphenols extract from R. officinalis toward HeLa cells. We aimed to elucidate the chemical composition and recognition of antioxidant components with DPPH and OH free radicals scavenging activity. In addition, the polyphenols dose-response correlations with cellular antioxidant activity were also determined. These results indicated that off-line HPLC method with DPPH and OH free radicals as markers is available for screening antioxidant activity of polyphenols from the mixture.

本研究旨在探討如何透過多文本課外閱讀以增進國中學生對歷史主題的理解。共分兩個研究進行，第一個為前導研究，採觀察與訪談方式以瞭解國中歷史教學的現況，並採內容分析方式探討如何架構「外侮」此一主題的多文本課外閱讀書單；第二個則為正式研究，採準實驗法，以瞭解透過多文本課外閱讀是否能有效增進學生多面向之理解。前導研究首先根據課程綱要選定「外侮」此一主題，再根據多文本閱讀的原則挑選文本。結果發現，可採用「文本互織」原則挑選課外讀物，將教科書設定為「控制式文本」，再根據「補充式文本」、「衝突式文本」、「綜觀式文本」等原則篩選課外書籍。正式研究則發現，多文本閱讀在認知理解等面向的效果較為明顯，但在情意上意見則較不一致。根據發現，篇末乃提出相關建議以供關心閱讀教育工作者參考。 The present study explored how seventh-grade students can benefit from reading multiple texts on controversial topics in history. The study was divided into two parts. The first part entailed classroom observations, interviews, and content analyses of the curriculum framework, textbook, and teacher's manual. It was to select trade books and adolescent literature as multiple sources of further reading in the study of history. The second part compared seventh graders’ construction of meaning after reading textbooks and trade books chosen to enrich the textbook’s content. It was found that by setting textbooks as controlling texts, those complementary texts, conflicting texts and synoptical texts can facilitate students’ deep understanding. By depicting a well-defined relationship between multiple texts and history learning (including content and disciplinary knowledge), this study has implications for theories of reading comprehension for multiple texts and for the design and choice of instructional materials in history.

As a member of flavonoids, the application of quercetin has been mainly focused on antioxidation study. Fabrication of multifunctional nanoplatforms with quercetin is limited. In the present study, water-soluble quercetin derived nanoparticles (QFNPs) were fabricated through the one pot synthesis strategy with Fe3+, quercetin and poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). The raw materials were dissolved in absolute ethanol and the mixed together. After stirring at room temperature for 6 h, the QFNPs could be simply harvested by centrifugation without the need of time-consuming dialysis procedure. Due to the protective effect of PVP, the synthesized nanoparticles could be well dispersed in water with the hydrodynamic size about 23 nm. DPPH free radical scavenging capacity assay showed QFNPs could act as efficient antioxidant. Besides antioxidation activity, the QFNPs also exhibited good photothermal capacity. Temperature stability result suggested the good stability of QFNPs between 35 and 95 °C. MTT and hemolysis assay showed the good biocompatibility of QFNPs. What’s more, the QFNPs showed good cellular antioxidation activity and efficient photothermal killing effect to cancer cells (4T1 cells). The QFNPs could be promising nanoplatform for biomedical application.

The purpose of the present study was to explore how junior high students could benefit from reading multiple texts on the inquiry of big questions concerning adolescent developmental issues. Thirtyseven 8 th grade junior high students were recruited to participate in this project. Questionnaires were first adopted to investigate their types of interests on big questions, their reading attitude, and their preferences about outside readings. Then an action research followed to develop a literature-based program to promote their growth on big ideas. It is hoped that by depicting a clearer relation between multiple texts and the attainment of big ideas, this study would have implications for theories of reading comprehension using multiple texts, and for the future design and choice of feasible instructional materials in affective education.

To study the effects of ApoE gene polymorphism on anti-inflammatory action of Xuezhikang Capsule.One hundred and two patients with hyperlipidemia (as the treated group) and one hundred healthy volunteers (as the control group) were enrolled in the case-control study. Total DNA of the peripheral blood was extracted and ApoE genotypes were determined by PCR sequence analysis. The serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and high sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP)were measured in all subjects. The changes of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and hs-CRP were detected before and after 6-week Xuezhikang Capsule treatment, thus analyzing the correlation between ApoE gene polymorphism and changes of each inflammatory factor.The frequency of E3/3 genotype was 86% (86/100 cases)in the control group, significantly higher than that of the treated group (62.7%, 64/102 cases). The frequency of E3/4 genotype was 6% (6/100 cases) in the control group, significantly lower than that of the treated group (21.6%, 22/102 cases; both P0.05). Compared with the control group, the serum levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and hs-CPR were higher in the treated group before treatment (P0.05). In hyperlipidemia patients with E3/4 + E4/4 genotype, the serum level of TNF-alpha was higher than that of E3/3 genotype (P0.05); the serum level of IL-6 was higher than that of E2/E2 + E2/E3 genotype (P0.05); the serum level of hs-CRP was higher than that of E2/E2 + E2/E3 and E3/E3 genotype (P0.05). But there was no statistical difference in the serum levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, or hs-CPR between E3/3 and E2/E2 + E2/E3 genotype. After 6-week intervention of Xuezhikang Capsule, the serum levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and hs-CRP were lower in the treated group (P0.05), but the serum levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were still higher than those of the control group (P0.05). But there was no statistical difference in the decrement of TNF-alpha, IL-6, or hsCRP among E2/E2 + E2/E3, E3/E3, or E3/4 + E4/4 genotypes (P0.05).The distribution of ApoE gene polymorphism is different between the hyperlipidemia patients and the healthy people. Chronic inflammatory reactions exist in hyperlipidemia patients, especially in those with e4 allele. Xuezhikang Capsule showed anti-inflammatory effects, but ApoE gene polymorphism did not affect its effects.

Spectacles are vital for correcting vision. Individuals who need vision correction can choose to wear spectacles or contact lenses. Alternatively, they may choose to have a vision-correcting operation. Therefore, researchers focus on vision science and spectacle design. Although some studies have compared spectacles and contact lenses for better visual quality, there is no consensus regarding which are better for the correction of vision. With the development of technology and the improvement of living standards, the design and production of spectacles will focus on personalized style, lenses, and frames. In this paper, we introduced trends in spectacles and studies of the relationship between frame sizes and face sizes, attempting to provide a feasible program for the personalization of spectacles-the Personalized Spectacles Program. Furthermore, certain limitations, such as non-personalized and misused spectacles, which have elevated the importance of the design and production of personalized spectacles were discussed.

To observe treadmill exercise test (TET) characteristics in patients with myocardial bridging (MB).TET results from January 2003 to December 2010 were retrospectively analyzed in 156 patients with confirmed MB diagnosis. MB patients were divided into smoking group (68 cases) and non-smoking group (88 cases). Coronary angiography results were used to analyze the relations between MB length, myocardial ischemia and exercising duration.(1) MB was documented on two coronary arteries in 2 patients (1%), MB was detected in single artery in 154 patients (99%), of whom 146 cases were located at left anterior descending artery, 8 cases were located at right coronary artery. The degree of narrowing of MB was graded 1 (less than 50%) in 16 patients (10%), grade 2 (50% to 75%) in 108 patients (69%) and grade 3 (greater than 75%) in 32 patients (21%). The length of MB ranged between 4 to 40 mm, MB length was less than 10 mm in 40 patients (26%), between 11 to 20 mm in 48 patients (31%), between 21 to 30 mm in 44 patients (28%), greater than 31 mm in 24 patients (15%). (2) TET positive rate was 41% (64/156) and the TET positive rate was significantly higher in smoking group than in non-smoking group [57% (39/68) vs. 28% (25/88, P0.01)]. (3) The length of MB was positively related to the ST-segment depression (r = 0.723, P0.01) and negatively related to exercising duration (r = -0.828, P0.01). Heart rate was positively related to the ST-segment depression (r = 0.368, P0.01).TET may serve as a good test to assess myocardial ischemia in patients with MB. The length of MB is positively related with myocardial ischemia and negatively related with exercising duration. Smoking might increase myocardial ischemic incidence in MB patients, MB patients should be advised to stop smoking.

To study changes in interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels in hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HIH) and observe the potential effect of head hypothermia.One hundred and twenty four cases of HIH were divided into head hypothermia treatment group (n=63) and control group (n=61) according to treatment with or without head hypothermia. The serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha level in the two groups were determined on the 2nd and 8th days with enzyme linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) and radioimmunoassay, and compared to those of the healthy volunteers (n=40). In addition, the life quality scores of the two groups were compared.The serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels in both head hypothermia treatment group and control group were higher on the 2nd day after hospitalization compared with the healthy controls (all P0.01), and there was no significant difference in serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels on the 2nd day between the head hypothermia treatment group and control group (both0.05). Serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels in the head hypothermia treatment group on the 8th day after hyperthermia were significantly lower than those on the 2nd day after hospitalization (both P0.05), while the changes of control group was not significant (both0.05), and significant difference in serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha was found between head hypothermia treatment group and control group on day 8 (both P0.01). The prognosis quality of life in head hypothermia treatment group was markedly higher than the control group (P0.05).The levels of serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha were increased significantly during early stage of HIH. Head hypothermia can effectively reduce the serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha levels of early HIH patients, and improve the prognosis quality of life as well.

To study the relationship between the polymorphism of ApoE gene and TCM syndrome type of primary hyperlipemia.ApoE genotype of 102 patients with hyperlipemia was detected by gene PCR sequencing.A total of five genotypes were detectable, they were E2/2, E3/3, E4/4, E2/3 and E3/4. The frequency of E3/4 + E4/4 and epsilon4 allelotype detected in the patients of Gan-Shen Yin deficiency syndrome type were significantly higher than those in patients of Pi-Shen Yang-deficiency type or of phlegm stagnation type (P0.05, P0.01), and which in patients of Qi-stagnation caused blood stasis type were significantly higher than those in patients of phlegm stagnation type ( P0.05).Polymorphism of ApoE gene is related in a certain degree to TCM syndrome type of primary hyperlipemia.

The synthesis of multifunctional monodisperse upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) of high quality is highly desired for bioimaging. Lanthanide-oleate complexes are excellent precursors for the synthesis of high quality UCNPs with controllable size and shape. In this work, lanthanide-oleate complexes were prepared by an ultrasonic assisted procedure, and used as precursors for further synthesis of multifunctional monodisperse NaYF4:59%Yb(3+),0.5% Tm(3+)@NaYF₄:20%Gd(3+) nanoparticles without the need for further purification. Heavy doping of Yb(3+) in the core and incorporation of Gd(3+) in the shell made the UCNPs promising for upconversion luminescence (UCL), magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) multimodal imaging. The nanoparticles were further functionalized with bombesin peptide for in vivo UCL/MR/CT imaging of prostate tumors.