Simultaneous quantitation of 23 bioactive compounds in Tanreqing capsule by high‐performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Tanreqing capsule (TRQC) is a formulation frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat pyrexia, cough, expectoration and pharyngalgia. Since the pharmacological action of traditional Chinese medicines is closely related to their complex and diverse constituents, understanding the exact composition of TRQC is important to elucidate its clinical effectiveness and mechanism of action as well as to establish quality control methods and resolve safety issues. Herein, we employed high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous quantitation of 23 bioactive compounds in five batches of TRQC; the analytes could be categorized into five types: organic acids (seven compounds), flavonoids (10 compounds), iridoids (two compounds), phenylethanoid glycosides (two compounds) and bile acids (two compounds). The calibration curves for all analytes showed good linearity (r > 0.9953), and the inter‐ and intra‐day precisions did not exceed 4.94 and 4.97%, respectively. The recoveries varied from 90.47% to 109.80%; the corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs) did not exceed 4.94%; and the repeatability (RSD < 4.72%) and stability (RSD < 4.88%) were also within acceptable limits. Thus, this study can be viewed as a fundamental reference for setting comprehensive TRQC quality standards.     

Comparative analysis of the main active components and hypoglycemic effects after the compatibility of Scutellariae Radix and Coptidis Rhizoma

In this study, a rapid and highly sensitive ultra high performance liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method with the mobile phase of acetonitrile and 0.1% aqueous formic acid was established and successfully applied to comparatively analyze main active components after their compatibility. Besides, the effects of Scutellariae Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma and combined extracts on type 2 diabetic rats induced by high‐fat diet along with low dose of streptozocin were investigated. Under the optimized chromatographic conditions, good separation of seven target components was achieved within 12 min. All calibration curves exhibited good linearity (R² ≥ 0.999). The relative standard deviation of precision, repeatability and stability varied from 0.69 to 2.23, 0.98 to 2.56, and 0.92 to 2.57%, respectively. The recovery ranged from 91.11 to 105.35%. The contents of seven active components were notably reduced after compatibility; however, the hypoglycemic effect of combined extracts was stronger than single drug by decreasing the activities of fructose‐1,6‐bisphosphatase, glucose 6‐phosphatase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and increasing the activities of glucokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase. Accordingly, the established analytical method was accurate and sensitive enough for quantitative evaluation of seven investigated compounds. Moreover, the combined extract had definite effects on type 2 diabetes through multiple components against multiple targets.     

Metabonomics study of the effects of traditional Chinese medicine formula Ermiaowan on hyperuricemic rats

To explore the global mechanism of Ermiaowan on hyperuricemia regulation, the holistic function of Ermiaowan for hyperuricemia in rats was firstly assessed by the urinary metabonomics method which was based on ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The urinary targeted metabonomics approach combined with the serum biochemical analysis and histological assay was conducted to verify the research result. As a result, the significant differences in metabolic profiles were observed from Ermiaowan‐treated group, model group, and healthy control group by using multivariate statistical approaches. Twenty therapeutic related metabolites were identified in response to the therapeutic effects of Ermiaowan, which were mainly associated with purine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and tyrosine metabolism. In addition, the urinary targeted metabonomics study showed that Ermiaowan can better restore the disturbed pathways than Phellodendri cortex and Atractylodis rhizome. The biochemical assay and histopathological assay confirmed that Ermiaowan could significantly reduce uric acid and fibrosis areas of kidney. These results provided new insights into the mechanism of Ermiaowan on hyperuricemia.     

卷积神经网络用于近红外光谱古筝面板木材分级

目前,我国乐器制作行业在古筝面板用木材等级的筛选上主要依赖于技师主观评判,但此法缺少科学理论的依据,效率低,客观性及出材率的提高等方面受到限制,无法满足乐器市场的大量需求。实现古筝面板用木材快速、智能化的分级工作是一个急需解决的课题。近红外光谱非常适用于测量含氢的有机物质。古筝面板木材主要化学成分的化学键均由含氢基团组成,不同等级板材的化学成分存在差异,这些差异反映在近红外光谱中,为判断木材等级提供了可能。同时卷积神经网络对非线性数据具有较强的特征提取能力,所以提出一种应用卷积神经网络模型对光谱数据进行分析的方法,进而判别木材的等级。应用了Savitzky Golay一阶、二阶微分两种预处理方法和核主成分分析、连续投影算法两种数据压缩方法,通过所设计的卷积神经网络模型以样本识别准确率和模型构建过程中的损失值作为判定指标选出最佳预处理和数据压缩方法。为了提高模型提取分析光谱数据的能力和避免过拟合现象,应用了多通道卷积核、批量归一化和early stopping策略,将通过两层卷积层提取的特征信息送入全连接层,从而充分提取剩余信息,通过Softmax函数获得板材的最终预测等级,从而确定了最终模型。最终Savitzky Golay一阶微分和核主成分分析为最佳数据处理方法,同时得出用于区分不同等级的古筝面板用木材的主要关键谱带,分别为1 163~1 243, 1 346~1 375和1 525~1 584 nm。将该模型应用于测试集样本,古筝面板用木材的等级识别准确率为95.5%。实验结果表明所提出的方法可以高效地处理光谱数据,有效识别区分不同等级的古筝面板用木材的关键特征,从而为广阔的乐器市场提供一定的技术支持。     

Scattering of Tollmien-Schlichting waves by localized roughness in transonic boundary layers

The laminar-turbulent transition in boundary-layer flows is often affected by wall imperfections, because the latter may interact with either the freestream perturbations or the oncoming boundary-layer instability modes, leading to a modification of the accumulation of the normal modes. The present paper particularly focuses on the latter mechanism in a transonic boundary layer, namely, the effect of a two-dimensional(2 D) roughness element on the oncoming Tollmien-Schlichting(T-S) modes when they propagate through the region of the rapid mean-flow distortion induced by the roughness. The wave scattering is analyzed by adapting the local scattering theory developed for subsonic boundary layers(WU, X. S. and DONG, M. A local scattering theory for the effects of isolated roughness on boundary-layer instability and transition: transmission coefficient as an eigenvalue. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 794, 68–108(2006)) to the transonic regime, and a transmission coefficient is introduced to characterize the effect of the roughness. In the sub-transonic regime, in which the Mach number is close to, but less than, 1, the scattering system reduces to an eigenvalue problem with the transmission coefficient being the eigenvalue; while in the super-transonic regime, in which the Mach number is slightly greater than 1, the scattering system becomes a high-dimensional group of linear equations with the transmission coefficient being solved afterward. In the largeReynolds-number asymptotic theory, the K′arm′an-Guderley parameter is introduced to quantify the effect of the Mach number. A systematical parametric study is carried out,and the dependence of the transmission coefficient on the roughness shape, the frequency of the oncoming mode, and the K′arm′an-Guderley parameter is provided.     

新郑西亚斯东周玉器材料属性与加工工艺的科技分析

中国玉文化源远流长，治玉工艺经过各个时代的不断发展和完善，在一定程度上能反映古代社会生产力发展水平及文化、贸易、技术交流等信息。利用能量色散型X射线荧光光谱（EDXRF）、激光拉曼光谱（LRS）、超景深光学显微系统（OM）等分析技术，结合硅胶覆膜微痕复制技术，对河南省新郑西亚斯东周墓地出土的一批玉器进行科技分析。首先利用化学成分和物相结构分析技术确定了玉器材质的矿物属性，其次利用显微分析技术表征了玉器表面及穿孔内部和印模的加工痕迹，特别是阴刻纹饰和穿孔微痕特征，最后探讨了玉器样品的材料属性和加工工艺两者之间的联系。化学成分和物相结构分析结果表明，所分析的西亚斯东周玉器材质丰富，主要矿物组成有滑石、透闪石、水晶、云母等。玉器表面纹饰微痕特征分析表明，所分析玉器阴刻工艺采用了两种加工工具，分别是砣具和手持硬质工具。穿孔微痕分析特征表明，钻孔包括单面钻孔和双面/多面钻孔两种方式，钻孔工艺则有实心钻、管钻等。部分玉器钻孔形状和内部微痕特征表明，尽管均采用了实心钻工艺，但所采用的实心钻头在形状上存在差异，同时，也存在是否配合解玉砂进行钻孔的差异。不同材料属性的玉器采用了不同的加工工艺。滑石质玉器，莫氏硬度1，器型主要为玉片饰，其表面阴刻纹饰主要采用手持硬质工具进行刻画，钻孔主要采用了双面钻孔方式，并使用了实心钻头未添加解玉砂进行加工，钻头形状可能为圆锥状；云母质玉器，莫氏硬度2~3，器型主要为玉玦片饰，纹饰采用了砣具添加解玉砂的加工工艺，钻孔方式为单面钻孔，采用了管钻工艺。透闪石型玉器，莫氏硬度5~6，器型主要为玉片饰，表面纹饰采用砣具配合解玉砂砣刻，以双面钻孔的方式为主，钻孔工艺为实心钻头配合解玉砂工艺，钻头形状与滑石类样品一致，为圆锥状。水晶质玉器，莫氏硬度7，均为珠饰，表面无纹饰，钻孔方式为双面/多面钻孔，钻孔工艺为实心钻配合解玉砂工艺，且钻头可能为圆柱形。研究结果表明，玉器表面纹饰所采用的阴刻工艺和钻孔工艺，与玉器本身的材料属性、器型等存在密切关系。     

UPLC-Q/TOF-MS coupled with multivariate analysis for comparative analysis of metabolomic in Dendrobium nobile from different growth altitudes

Dendrobium nobile alkaloids (DNLA) and glycosides are the main active components extracted from Dendrobium nobile Lindl. (D. nobile) used for thousands of years in China. The pharmacological effects of the above chemical components are significantly different. D. nobile is mainly grown at an altitude ranging from 230 to 800 m in Chishui City, Northwest Guizhou Province. However, it is unclear whether the metabolite in D. nobile is influenced by the planting altitude. Hence, to reveal the different metabolite in D. nobile cultivated at the altitude of 336 m, 528 m, and 692 m, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with Q/TOF-MS couple with multivariate analysis were developed. Using the orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis, 19 different metabolites were discovered and then tentatively assigned their structures as alkaloids and glycosides by comparing mass spectrometry data with in-house database and literature. Moreover, the result of semiquantitative analysis showed the content of dendrobine that was belonged to alkaloids significantly increased at the altitude of 692 m, whereas the content of glycosides demonstrated an accumulation trend at the altitude of 528 m. The results could provide valuable information for the optimal clinical drug therapeutics and provide a reference for quality control.     

Identification and quality evaluation of different processed products of Aconitum carmichaelii by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Aconitum carmichaelii is widely used to treat chronic and intractable diseases due to its remarkable curative effect, but it is also a highly toxic herb with severe cardiac and neurotoxicity. It has been combined with honey for thousands of years to reduce toxicity and enhance efficacy, but there has been no study on the chemical constituent changes in the honey-processing so far. In this study, the chemical constituents of A. carmichaelii before and after honey-processing were characterized by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that a total of 118 compounds were identified, of which six compounds disappeared and five compounds were newly produced after honey-processing, and the cleavage pathway of main components was elucidated. At the same time, 25 compounds were found to have significant effects on different products, among which four compounds with the biggest difference were selected for quantitative analysis by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. This study not only explained the chemical differences between the different products, but also helped to control the quality of the honey-processed products more effectively, and laid a foundation for further elucidating the mechanism of chemical constituent change during the honey-processing of A. carmichaelii.