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The charismatic form of healing called qigong, based on meditative breathing exercises, has achieved enormous popularity in China during the last two decades. Qigong served a critical social organizational function, as practitioners formed new informal networks, sometimes on an international scale, at a time when China was shifting from state-subsidized medical care to for-profit market medicine. The emergence of new psychological states deemed to be deviant led the Chinese state to "medicalize" certain forms while championing scientific versions of qigong. By contrast, qigong continues to be promoted outside China as a traditional healing practice. Breathing Spaces brings to life the narratives of numerous practitioners, healers, psychiatric patients, doctors, and bureaucrats, revealing the varied and often dramatic ways they cope with market reform and social changes in China.

To induce callus and establish rapid propagation systems for Veronica ciliate Fisch., terminal buds from its aseptic seedlings were cultured in MS mediums with different concentration combinations of NAA and 6-BA. Results showed that the optimum medium for callus inducement was MS + 6-BA 0. 5 mg/L + NAA 1. 0 mg/L, with the callus induction rate of 95%. The best medium for multiplication was MS + 6-BA 0. 5 mg/L + NAA 0. 1 mg/L,with the multiplication coefficient reaching 5. 4. The optimum root medium for multiple shoot clumps was 1/2 MS + IBA 0. 05 mg/L,with the rooting rate reaching 95% and the root being healthiest. Under suitable hardening and transplanting conditions, the highest survival rate for the regenerated plantlets reached 40%.

Addicted drugs like nicotine affect autonomic nervous system that results in arrhythmia and other cardiovascular diseases. Notable effects of Zen meditation on autonomic nervous system have been reported during the past decade. Holistic Detox Association (HDA) in Taiwan offered Zen-meditation program to drug addicts as the core scheme among a variety of drug addiction treatments. This paper reports the results of quantifying the cardiorespiratory interactions and autonomic nervous system function to evaluate the on-site effect of Zen meditation on drug rehab. Methods and schemes for quantifying time-domain heart rate variability were employed to electrocardiograph and respiratory signals. Peak-valley method was developed to quantify the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) behavior. Poincaré Plot Analysis was adopted to evaluate the cardiorespiratory functioning. Among 18 voluntary drug addicts during the 10-minute Zen meditation session, about two-third subjects have significant improvement in autonomic nervous system function characterized by heart rate variability (SDNN, RMSSD and pNN50). Group average of RSA increases from 33.43 ms(Rest) to 69.14 ms(AR Zen meditation). Poincaré-plot analysis reveals the improvement of SD1, SD2 and SD2/SD1 by respectively 14.7%, 19.8% and 8.8%. The group averages of all the parameters exhibit significantly positive changes in the 10-minute session of abdominal-respiration Zen meditation. Even the subject with heart transplant showed the improvement of all the quantitative indicators during the AR Zen meditation.

To study the chemical constituents of the aerial parts of <ce:italic>Codonopsis nervosa</ce:italic> (Chipp.) Nannf. (Campanulaceae), a commonly used Tibetan herb. The constituents were isolated by D-101 porous polymer resin, silica gel, ODS and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. 15 compounds were isolated and identified as chrysoeriol (<ce:bold>1</ce:bold>), tricin (<ce:bold>2</ce:bold>), apigenin (<ce:bold>3</ce:bold>), succinic acid <ce:bold>(4)</ce:bold>,<ce:italic>β</ce:italic>-sitosterol-3<ce:italic>-O-β</ce:italic>-D-glucopyranoside (<ce:bold>5</ce:bold>), luteolin (<ce:bold>6</ce:bold>), luteolin-7<ce:italic>-O-β-</ce:italic>D-glucopyranoside (<ce:bold>7</ce:bold>), ethylsyringin (<ce:bold>8</ce:bold>), apigenin-7<ce:italic>-O-β</ce:italic>-D-glucopyranoside (<ce:bold>9</ce:bold>), luteolin-7<ce:italic>-O-β-</ce:italic>D-glucopyranosyl<ce:italic>-</ce:italic>(1→6)-[6′′′-<ce:italic>O</ce:italic>-caffeoyl]-<ce:italic>β</ce:italic>-D-glucopyranoside (<ce:bold>10</ce:bold>), luteolin<ce:italic>-</ce:italic>7<ce:italic>-O-β-</ce:italic>D-gentiobioside (<ce:bold>11</ce:bold>), syringin (<ce:bold>12</ce:bold>), 3<ce:italic>-O-</ce:italic>caffeoylquinic acid (<ce:bold>13</ce:bold>), 5<ce:italic>-O-</ce:italic>caffeoylquinic acid <ce:bold>(14)</ce:bold>, and 4-<ce:italic>O</ce:italic>-(<ce:italic>β-</ce:italic>D-glucopyranosyl)-benzoic acid <ce:bold>(15)</ce:bold>, respectively. Compounds <ce:bold>1-5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15</ce:bold> were reported from <ce:italic>C. nervosa</ce:italic> for the first time.

The present work is to study the chemical constituents from petroleum ether fraction of Tibetan medicine Swertia chirayita by column chromatography and recrystallization. The structures were identified by physical and chemical properties and spectral data as swerchirin (1), decussatin (2), 1,8-dihydroxy-3,5,7-trimethoxyxanthone (3), 1-hydroxy-3,5,7,8-tetramethoxyxanthone (4), bellidifolin (5), 1-hydroxy-3, 7-dimethoxyxanthone (6), methylswertianin (7), 1-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyxanthone (8), erythrodiol (9), oleanolic acid (10), gnetiolactone (11), scopoletin (12), sinapaldehyde (13), syringaldehyde (14), and β-sitosterol (15). Compounds 3, 4, 9, 11-14 were isolated from S. chirayita for the first time. Compounds 9 and 12 were firstly isolated from the genus Swertia. The cytotoxic activities of compounds 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8 against human pancreatic cancer cell lines SW1990 and BxPC-3,and the protective effects of these compounds against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress in human endothelium-derived EA.hy926 were investigated in vitro. The results showed no obvious effect at the high concentration of 50 μmol•L⁻¹.

The seeds of Herpetospermum caudigerum are used in the traditional Tibetan medicine for the treatment of liver diseases.

Graphical abstract The introduction of chiral enantiomers generated chiral β-HgS QDs, which showed chirality inversion compared with the corresponding chiral ligands. Their chiroptical activity, good cytocompatibility, near-infrared optical absorption, near-infrared fluorescence emission and high-performance photothermal conversion implied that these chiral β-HgS quantum dots have potential to be applied in biotechnology and bio-medicine. Abstract β-HgS quantum dots (QDs) have drawn enormous attention due to the size-tunable bandgap and the lowest quantum state in conduction band which have been applied to semiconductor transistor and photodetector. Though β-HgS is the essential component of Tibetan medicine, the potential toxicity of β-HgS limits its applications, especially in bio-application. Herein, chiral biomolecule enantiomers N -isobutyryl- L (D)-cysteine (L (D)-NIBC) and L (D)-cysteine (L (D)-Cys) were introduced into HgCl 2 and Na 2 S aqueous solution to synthesize chiral β-HgS QDs in one-pot, which significantly improved their water-solubility and cytocompatibility. Notably, all chiral β-HgS QDs showed none cytotoxicity even at high concentration (20 mg·L−1), and the cytocompatibility of D -β-HgS QDs was better than corresponding L -β-HgS QDs at the concentration of 20 mg·L−1. This cytotoxicity discrimination was associated with the chirality inversion of chiral β-HgS QDs compared with the corresponding chiral ligands. In-situ real-time circular dichroism (CD) monitoring indicated that the chirality of β-HgS QDs originated from the asymmetrical arrangement of chiral ligands on the achiral core surface. Their chiroptical activity, near-infrared optical absorption (800 nm), fluorescence emission (900–1000 nm), high-performance photothermal conversion and good cytocompatibility, implied chiral β-HgS QDs could be used as a candidate material for photothermal therapy or a near-infrared fluorescent probe in organism, which brings a novel insight for bio-application of β-HgS QDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Gentiana is the largest in the Gentianaceae family with ca. 400 species. However, with most species growing on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the processes of adaptive evolution and speciation within the genus is not clear. Also, the genomic analyses could provide important information. So far, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome data of the genus are still deficient. As the second and third sequenced members within Gentianaceae, we report the construction of complete cp sequences of Gentiana robusta King ex Hook. f. and Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk., and describe a comparative study of three Gentiana cp genomes, including the cp genome of Gentiana straminea Maxim. published previously. These cp genomes are highly conserved in gene size, gene content, and gene order and the rps16 pseudogene with exon2 missing was found common. Three repeat types and five SSR types were investigated, and the number and distribution are similar among the three genomes. Sixteen genome divergent hotspot regions were identified across these cp genomes that could provide potential molecular markers for further phylogenetic studies in Gentiana. The IR/SC boundary organizations in Gentianales cp genomes were compared and three different types of boundaries were observed. Six data partitions of cp genomes in Gentianales were used for phylogenetic analyses and different data partitions were largely congruent with each other. The ML phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the fragments in cp genomes commonly available in 33 species from Lamiids, including 12 species in Gentianales, 1 in Boraginaceae, 10 in Solanales, and 10 in Lamiales. The result strongly supports the position of Boraginaceae (Ehretia acuminata) as the sister of Solanales, with the bootstrap values of 97 %. This study provides a platform for further research into the molecular phylogenetics of species in the order Gentianales (family Gentianaceae) notably in respect of speciation and species identification.;

<p>The Treasury&nbsp;of the Dharmadatu (Chos dbyings mdzod),&nbsp;one of&nbsp;the seven treasuries written by Longchenpa (1308-1364), covers the practice of Trekchö, or "cutting through."</p>

<p>This is the commentary on the&nbsp;Treasury&nbsp;of the Dharmadatu (Chos dbyings mdzod), one of&nbsp;the seven treasuries written by Longchenpa (1308-1364).&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">The Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Dwags po thar rgyan) is a treatise on the stages of the path written by prominent Kagyü master Gampopa Sonam Rinchen (1079-1153).</span></span></p>

Cirsilineol (4′,5-dihydroxy-3′,6,7-trimethoxyflavone) is a compound isolated from the herb of <i>Artemisia vestita</i> Wall (Compositae). In this study, we aimed at examining the anti-proliferative activity of cirsilineol against multiple types of cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms. Cirsilineol significantly inhibited proliferation of Caov-3, Skov-3, PC3 and Hela cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The compound also dose-dependently induced apoptosis in Caov-3 cells, as determined by annexin V/propidium iodide staining. Besides, cirsilineol induced a remarkable change in mitochondrial membrane potential and caused release of cytochrome <i>c</i> to cytosol. Furthermore, the compound caused a marked activation of capase-3, caspase-9 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). These results suggested that the induction of apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway was involved in the anti-proliferative activity of cirsilineol against cancer cells.

One new compound, Colletotrichine A (1), was produced by the fungal Colletotrichum gloeosporioides GT-7. The structure was established by 1D and 2D NMR spectra. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity of 1 was also evaluated. Compound 1 showed AChE-inhibiting activity with IC50 value of 28 μg/mL.

One new compound, colletotrichine B (1), was produced by the fungal Colletotrichum gloeosporioides GT-7. The structure of 1 was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and X-ray crystallographic analysis. Monoamine oxidase (MAO), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3Kα) inhibitory activity of 1 was also evaluated. Compound 1 showed only AChE inhibiting activity with IC50 value of 38.0 ± 2.67 μg/mL.

Four novel lactams, colletotrilactam A-D (1-4), along with six known compounds (5-10) were isolated from the culture broth of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides GT-7, a fungal endophyte of Uncaria rhynchophylla. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by comprehensive NMR spectroscopy. Isolates were tested for monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitory activity and compound 9 showed potent MAO inhibitory activity with IC50 value of 8.93±0.34μg/mL, when the IC50 value of iproniazid as a standard was 1.80±0.5μg/mL.

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