Rheumatoid arthritis(RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, belonging to the "Arthromyodynia (Bi Zheng)" category in traditional Chinese medicine. However, the ethnomedicine has a unique understanding of RA, with a long-term clinical experience accumulation and significant efficacy in the treatment of RA, and it has now become one of the important means in treatment of RA. On the basis of literature research, the understanding of RA and commonly used Tibetan medicine, Mongolian medicine, Hui medicine and other herbs and preparations were reviewed in this paper, with the aim of providing a reference for its clinical treatment of RA and research and development of innovative drugs.
With the development of Tibetan medicine industry, the demands for Tibetan medicine were rising sharply. In addition, with the eco-environment vulnerability of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region and the phenomenon of synonymies and homonymies in Tibetan medicine, there were a lack of resources and varieties in the clinical application of Tibetan medicine. At present, the shortage of Tibetan medicine and the inadequacy of its quality standard have become the two major problems that seriously restricted the sustainable development of Tibetan medicine industry. Therefore, it is important to develop the resources investigation and quality evaluation for Tibetan medicine, which were contribute to its resources protection and sustainable utilization. In this paper, current status of resources investigation, quality standardization, artificial breeding and germplasm resources of Tibetan medicine were presented by the integrated application of the new technologies, such as DNA barcoding and 1H-NMR, which provided a reference information for resources protection, sustainable utilization, variety identification and quality standardization of Tibetan medicine resources in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
BACKGROUND: A high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity/hyperlipidemia is accompanied by hormonal and neurochemical changes that can be associated with depression. Emerging studies indicate that simvastatin (SMV, decreasing cholesterol levels) has therapeutic effects on neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases through hippocampal-dependent function. However, the studies on the HFD exposure in adolescent animals, which investigate the neuroprotective effects of SMV on the hippocampal morphology, serotonin (5-HT) system and inflammation, are limited. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine whether SMV attenuates HFD-induced major depressive disorders in adolescent animals and, more specifically, acts as an anti-neuroinflammatory response. METHODS: Twenty-four male C57BL/6 mice were fed a control (n = 8), HFD (n = 8) and HFD + SMV (n = 8) for 14 weeks. In HFD + SMV group, SMV (10 mg/kg) was administrated from the 10th week of HFD feeding. The open field test (OFT) and the tail suspension test (TST) were used to examine the effect of SMV on behavioral performance. HE and Nissl staining were conducted to detect hippocampal morphology and neural survival. Expression of the inflammatory cytokine genes was assayed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). RESULTS: Firstly, alterations in lipid parameters were minimized after SMV treatment. HFD-induced depression-like behavior, which was evidenced by an increase in immobility time in TST along with considerable decrease in locomotion activity, was significantly attenuated by SMV therapy for 4 weeks. Additionally, SMV could reduce HFD-induced structural abnormality, neuronal injury, serotonergic system disturbance and pro-inflammatory cytokine over-expression in the hippocampus. Neuroimmunological changes in central hippocampus displayed a similar characteristic (only IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) with that in periphery spleen, whereas they appeared in an entirely opposite trend with that in cerebral cortex. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that SMV may be a promising treatment for HFD-induced depression-like behavior during adolescent period through brain region-specific neuroninflammatory mechanisms.
Education in Singapore strives to foster the holistic development of its youth. To attain this goal, social and emotional learning (SEL) has been an integral part of the academic curricula at the different levels of schooling. The SEL Framework, which was formally introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2005 (see Ministry of Education 2008) and then further formulated to be the Framework for Twenty First Century Competencies and Student Outcomes (Ministry of Education 2014), provides an organizing structure to conceptualize, design, implement, evaluate, and refine school-based programs seeking to facilitate the development of social and emotional competencies (SECs) of Singaporean youth. Although the five key SECs emphasized in the Framework (Ministry of Education 2008; Ministry of Education 2014) are aligned with those in the widely adopted prototypical model of SECs formulated by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the Framework differs in its emphasis on the cultivation of core moral values (respect, responsibility, integrity, care, resilience, and harmony) as guiding principles for the application of SECs. The SECs under the Framework are also the basis of the broader twenty first century skills and competencies (civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills, critical and inventive thinking, and communication, collaboration and information skills). Importantly, the Framework also takes the view that the promotion of SECs in schools is part of the concerted effort in attaining desired outcomes of education: nurturing young Singaporeans who are confident, self-directed in learning, actively contributing to collective efforts, and concerned about the well-being of others, community, and society. The present chapter not only examines key components of the Framework for Twenty First Century Competencies and Student Outcomes (Ministry of Education 2014), it also discusses its pedagogical principles and approaches to school-wide implementation of SEL. Recent SEL studies in Singapore are reviewed, and future directions for SEL application and research in Singapore are proposed.
This study is to establish an HPLC fingerprint and quantitative analysis of 3 components of Gyantse Seabuckthorn from different producing areas.The separation was developed on Shimadzu InertSustain C18column (4.6 mm × 250 mm,5 μm) by gradient elution with acetonitrile and 0.2% phosphoric acid water as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL•min ⁻¹; the detection wavelength was set at 360 nm and column temperature was set at 30 ℃. The data calculation was performed with similarity evaluation system for chromatographic fingerprint of traditional Chinese medicine(Version 2004A).The fingerprints of 10 batches of Gyantse Seabuckthorn were carried out by similarity comparison, and 12 chromatographic peaks were extracted as the common peaks of fingerprint, of which three main active ingredients were successfully determined. This is the first established fingerprint and multi-component quantitative determination of Gyantse Seabuckthorn by using HPLC. This method has good precision stability and repeatability that could provide basis for quality control and evaluation of Gyantse Seabuckthorn.
Traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS, V2.5) was used in this study to analyze the common medicines, frequency of medicine combination, core herbal combinations and new prescriptions for the treatment of plateau disease from the Four-Volume Medical Code, Mannose Herbal Mirror and other related books. TCMISS V2.5 software was used to construct the database of drug treatment for plateau disease. The frequency analysis and association rules apriori algorithm, improved mutual information method and other data mining methods were used to explore the law of drug compatibility. After the analysis of 531 prescriptions for plateau disease, 20 common symptoms of plateau disease were summarized such as insomnia and tinnitus. There were 539 kinds of herbs in the plateau disease prescriptions, including 33 kinds of herbs whose medicinal frequency>=50, such as Terminalia chebula and Myristica fragrans, and T. chebula had the highest medicinal frequency; 14 commonly used herbal combinations, and "Aucklandia lappa-T. chebula" had the highest frequency; 13 core herbal combinations were obtained after entropy clustering analysis, including 8 combinations of three herbs such as "Allium sativum-Carum carvi-Ferula sinkiangensis" and 5 combinations of four herbs such as "A. lappa-Aquilaria sinensis-Ewgewia caryophyllata-Myristica fragrans", and 5 new prescriptions such as "A. sativum-C. carvi-F. sinkiangensis-A. lappa-Choerospondia axillaris-A. sinensis-M. fragrans". The main symptom of "insomnia" was chosen to analyze the treatment of insomnia, and the core herbal combinations mainly including A. sinensis, T. chebula, and C. axillaris as well as the new prescriptions mainly containing Carthamus tinctorius, Meconopsis horridnla, and Punica granatum were obtained. The prescriptions for the treatment of plateau disease were clarified by TCM inheritance system, and the clinical prescription regularity and characteristics of the combination of common medicines were summarized, to provide reference and new ideas for its clinical application and development of new drug research.; Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.
Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Tibetan medicine has been practiced for 3800 years. Anzhijinhua San (AZJHS), which is a traditional Tibetan medicine, has been effective in the treatment of indigestion, anorexia and cold diarrhea. However, the effects of AZJHS on allergic diarrhea have not been reported. Aim of the study The aim of the present study was to elucidate the effect of AZJHS on experimental ovalbumin-induced diarrhea and elucidate its possible mechanism. Materials and methods Female BALB/c mice were sensitized by intraperitoneal injection with 50 μg ovalbumin (OVA) and 1 mg alum in saline twice during a 2-week period. From day 28, mice were orally challenged with OVA (50 mg) every other day for a total of ten times. AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) was orally administered every other day from day 0–46. Food allergy symptoms were evaluated. OVA- specific IgE, 5-HT and its metabolites in serum were determined. Immunohistochemical and histopathology were performed in gastrointestinal tract tissues. 5-HT-related gene expression was assayed in the colon. Results Severe symptoms of allergic diarrhea were observed in the model group (diarrhea, anaphylactic response, and rectal temperature). AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) significantly reduced mouse diarrhea and significantly prevented the increases in OVA-specific IgE levels (P < 0.05), which challenge with OVA. AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) significantly prevented the increases in 5-HT-positive cells. The nuclei of EC cells in the AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) group increased in size and the secretory granules were fewer in number compared with those in the model group. AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) significantly increased the relative fold changes of 5-HTP and 5-HT compared with the model group. The mRNA expression of the serotonin transporter (Sert) and serotonin receptor 3A (Htr3a) was significantly decreased after the 10th challenge with OVA, and AZJHS (46.8 and 468.0 mg/kg) significantly increased these levels. Conclusions We demonstrated that the administration of AZJHS attenuated OVA-induced diarrhea by regulating the serotonin pathway. These results indicated that AZJHS may be a potential candidate as an anti-allergic diarrhea agent. Graphical abstract fx1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Objective: To clarity the original plants and the main application varieties of White Flos Gentianae.; Method: Herbal textual research, wild specimen collection, investigation and collection of the samples from Tibetan hospital, Tibetan pharmaceutical factory and medical material market were carried out simultaneously to identify the original plants of White Flos Gentianae.; Result: The results of varieties textual research and specimen identification showed that Gentiana szechenyii, G. purdomii and G. algida were in accord with the record of Tibetan herbal textual The three species above were the original plants of White Flos Gentianae. The identification of 20 batches samples showed that G. szechenyii was the main application variety. The other varieties were only used in Tibetan hospitals. All the samples above were flowering branches.; Conclusion: It was necessary to strengthen the research on variety systematization of White Flos Gentianae make a further discussion on the taxonomy position of G. purdomii, G. algida and the white flos population. Its was also nessary to establish and improve the quality standard of different variety based on the principle of "one species, one name". The quality specification of White Flos Gentianae should be established and improved to standard clinical utilization and produce feeding. More study of resources investigation and cultivation of G. szechenyii should be carried on to meet the demand of produce and clinic.;
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