Angelica anomala Avé-Lall (Chuanbaizhi in Chinese) is an important medicinal plant which can be used in traditional Chinese medicines; however, there are no authentic and universal methods to differentiate this Sichuan famous-region drug of A. anomala from a large number of non-famous-region and false drugs. It has been demonstrated that DNA barcoding is a molecular diagnostic method for species identification, which uses a single standardized DNA fragment. In this study, we tested five DNA barcoding candidates (matK, ITS, ITS2, rbcL, and psbA-trnH), and we found that ITS was the best candidate to authenticate the famous-region drug of A. anomala. Moreover, through comparative analysis of these five DNA barcodes between A. anomala and Angelica dahurica, we found that ITS had the most and ITS2 had more variable regions, but the psbA-trnH, rbcL, and matK regions were identical. Hence, we suggest ITS as the DNA barcoding to identify A. anomala and A. dahurica. Moreover, we are determined to adopt the A. anomala as the accurate Latin name of Chuanbaizhi.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to gather descriptions from multiethnic Asian breast cancer patients on their experiences and impact of chemotherapy-associated cognitive changes on their daily lives and their coping strategies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-three chemotherapy-receiving breast cancer patients participated in eight English or Chinese structured focus group discussions, conducted by trained psychosocial oncologists and medical social workers. RESULTS: Participants were unfamiliar and averse to both English and Chinese-translated equivalent of the term 'chemobrain'. Participants viewed this phenomenon holistically as a by-product of the physical (fatigue and aging) and psychosocial (anxiety and mood changes) adverse effects associated with chemotherapy. Most participants encountered memory loss, difficulty in decision making and speech problems after receiving chemotherapy. Married participants expressed frustration as cognitive deterioration limited their conservative roles as homemakers. Despite knowing the potential neurocognitive effects, participants valued the benefits of chemotherapy. Identified coping strategies included playing mahjong for mind stimulation and management of psychosocial factors, such as practicing qi gong, to regulate their moods and to take complementary alternative medicines to reduce the severity of their fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: The phenomenon 'chemobrain' is unfamiliar to most Asian cancer patients yet it has significantly impacted their daily lives. Our results suggested that a culturally relevant approach should be adopted to evaluate and manage cognitive changes in these patients.

Repeated batch cultivation was applied to enrich hydrogen fermentative microflora under extreme-thermophilic (70°C) environment. Initial inoculums received from a hydrogen producing reactor fed with organic fraction of household solid wastes. In total seven transfers was conducted and maximum hydrogen yield reached 296 ml H(2)/g (2.38 mol/mol) glucose and 252 ml H(2)/g (2.03 mol/mol) for 1 and 2 g/l glucose medium, respectively. It was found that hydrogen production was firstly decreased and got increased gradually from third generation. Acetate was found to be the main metabolic by-product in all batch cultivation. Furthermore, the diversity of bacterial community got decreased after repeated batch cultivation. It was proved that repeated batch cultivation was a good method to enhance the hydrogen production by enriching the mixed cultures of dominant species.

Rhizoma Coptidis, a broadly used medicinal plant, originates from the dried rhizomes of three species in Chinese pharmacopoeia, namely, COPTIS CHINENSIS Franch, COPTIS DELTOIDEA C. Y. Cheng et Hsiao, and COPTIS TEETA Wall. In this study, a novel approach using (1)H NMR spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis was introduced to differentiate the three species and identify potential metabolic markers for better controlling the quality of Rhizoma Coptidis. A broad range of metabolites including alkaloids, sugars, organic acids, amino acids, and fatty acids present in Rhizoma Coptidis were detected by means of (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the (1)H NMR data set showed a clear separation between all samples by PC1 and PC3, and some metabolites that could be responsible for the discrimination of the three species were identified. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to statistically verify the significance of differences in metabolite levels between species. By combining PCA and ANOVA, significantly higher contents of palmatine, coptisine, epiberberine, columbamine, and fatty acids together with lower contents of jateorrhizine were found in COPTIS CHINENSIS, whereas COPTIS DELTOIDEA and COPTIS TEETA showed the highest levels of sucrose and chlorogenic acid, respectively. This study indicates that metabolites of Rhizoma Coptidis vary with the species and the proposed method is suitable for metabolic fingerprinting analysis to check the genuine origin of Rhizoma Coptidis.

The title compound, C(9)H(9)ClN(2), was prepared from the reaction of N-methyl-benzene-1,2-diamine and 2-chloro-acetic acid in boiling 6 M hydro-chloric acid. The benzimidazole unit is approximately planar, the largest deviation from the mean plane being 0.008 (1) Å. The Cl atom is displaced by 1.667 (2) Å from this plane. The methyl group is statistically disordered with equal occupancy.

BACKGROUND The scope of our understanding of the evolutionary history between viruses and animals is limited. The fact that the recent availability of many complete insect virus genomes and vertebrate genomes as well as the ability to screen these sequences makes it possible to gain a new perspective insight into the evolutionary interaction between insect viruses and vertebrates. This study is to determine the possibility of existence of sequence identity between the genomes of insect viruses and vertebrates, attempt to explain this phenomenon in term of genetic mobile element, and try to investigate the evolutionary relationship between these short regions of identity among these species. RESULTS Some of studied insect viruses contain variable numbers of short regions of sequence identity to the genomes of vertebrate with nucleotide sequence length from 28 bp to 124 bp. They are found to locate in multiple sites of the vertebrate genomes. The ontology of animal genes with identical regions involves in several processes including chromatin remodeling, regulation of apoptosis, signaling pathway, nerve system development and some enzyme-like catalysis. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that at least some short regions of sequence identity in the genomes of vertebrate are derived the ancestral of insect viruses. CONCLUSION Short regions of sequence identity were found in the vertebrates and insect viruses. These sequences played an important role not only in the long-term evolution of vertebrates, but also in promotion of insect virus. This typical win-win strategy may come from natural selection.

Abstract: An integrated approach to document high anammox activity and biodiversity in a constructed wetland (CW) was performed and showed that substantial anammox activity could mitigate undesirable N2O emission. The enhanced anammox bacterial abundance, biodiversity and activity were achieved by supplementing activated sludge to the CW. Up to 3.38×107 gene copies g-1 dry soil of anammox bacteria were enriched in the CW. The activity measured by isotope pairing technique increased from 1.6 nmol N g-1 sludge h-1 in the original activated sludge to 18 nmol N g-1 soil h-1 in the CW, with the specific cellular activity increased from 5.1 to 12.8 fmol cell-1 d-1. Up to 33 percent of produced N2 could be attributed to anammox process in the CW, with the remainder being due to denitrification. Phylogenetic analysis of anammox bacterial 16S rRNA genes indicated a shift of community from single Candidatus 'Brocadia fulgida' in sludge to multiple 'Jettenia','Brocadia' and 'Anammoxoglobus' species in the CW. With static chambers and control experiments, the CW with supplemented sludge had a 30 % reduced N2O emission flux compared with the tests without adding biomass during an eight months testing period.

INTRODUCTION: Angelicae dahuricae radix (Baizhi) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine, for which the traditional processing method has been sun-drying after harvesting. In recent years this method has been replaced by sulphur-fumigation for the sake of improving its appearance and pest control. Correct identification of sulphur-fumigated Baizhi and rapid finding of appropriate chemical markers for the quality control of Baizhi are of very great importance. OBJECTIVE: To develop a rapid and efficient method of rapid resolution liquid chromatography (RRLC) combined with chemometrics for discriminating sulphur-fumigated Baizhi and controlling its quality. METHODOLOGY: The samples were separated on a Zorbax SB-C(18)-column with a gradient elution programme using methanol and water. The optimal RRLC method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, stability and recovery test. In addition, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principle component analysis (PCA) were applied to differentiate the different samples. RESULTS: All the constituents were well separated within 18 min. The results of chemical fingerprinting and quantitative analysis showed that the sulphur-fumigated method obviously destroyed the phytochemical profiles of Baizhi. Moreover, the sun-dried and sulphur-fumigated Baizhi could be clearly separated by HCA and PCA, and the critical markers such as oxypeucedanin and imperatorin accountable for such differences were ultimately screened out. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that sulphur-fumigation is an inappropriate approach for processing crude drugs and should be prohibited, and that the proposed RRLC method combined with chemometrics demonstrated an efficient strategy for quality control of Baizhi. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.