Comparative absorption kinetics of seven active ingredients of Eucommia ulmoides extracts by intestinal in situ circulatory perfusion in normal and spontaneous hypertensive rats

Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. (E. ulmoides) is a valuable and nourishing medicinal herb in China that has been used in the treatment of hypertension. Given the fact that most traditional Chinese medicine is mainly used to treat disease, investigating the pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicines in the pathological state is more useful than that in the normal state. However, the differences in the absorption kinetics of active ingredients of E. ulmoides extract between pathological and physiological conditions have not been reported. Therefore, in this study, the rat intestinal in situ circulatory perfusion model was used to investigate the differences in absorption kinetics of seven active ingredients of E. ulmoides extract in normal and spontaneously hypertensive rats, namely, genipinic acid, protocatechuic acid, neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, (+)-pinoresinol di-O-β-D -glucopyranoside and (+)-pinoresinol 4′-O-β-D -glucopyranoside. Our results indicate that the pathological state of spontaneous hypertension may change the absorption of active components of E. ulmoides extracts, and these findings may provide a reference for improving the rational use of E. ulmoides in the clinic.     

Promotion of a quality standard for Porana sinensis Hemsl. based on the efficacy-oriented Effect-Constituent Index

Multicompound determination for the quality control of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may often be inadequate, since these compounds may not be associated with, or fully represent, the clinical effects of TCM. Moreover, the individual contributions of each constituent to the pharmacological effect are often not considered. In China, Porana sinensis is widely used as a substitute for Erycibe sources to treat joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis. The existing quality control methods for P. sinensis neither consider the individual contributions of various compounds nor control the actual quality associated with different clinical efficacies. In the present study, a novel efficacy-oriented approach, named the effect-constituent index (ECI), was established for P. sinensis. Analyses of the spectrum–effect relationship and components in rat plasma were conducted to systematically and scientifically select quality markers. Quantitative analysis of multicomponents via a single marker method was introduced to enhance the practical application value of the established ECI. The established ECI shows a good ability to distinguish and predict the bioeffect-based quality of P. sinensis. The present study also provides a reference for the establishment and application of ECI as a quality control method for TCMs.     

Target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy

A rapid and useful approach for screening potential bioactive components in Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) with preventive effect against diabetic nephropathy (DN) was developed using mesangial cells extraction coupled with high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) analysis. Mesangial cells were first divided into two groups according to their treatments with high glucose or high glucose plus GBE. After incubation for 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48 h, the cells were harvested and extracted with 40% acetic acid in water before LC‐MS/MS analysis. Then, 19 compounds and five metabolites were found to selectively combine with mesangial cells. Notably, compounds including quercetin and rutin were identified or tentatively characterized according to the results of retention time and MS spectra, which is highly consistent with our previous reports that quercetin and rutin are potent protective agents against glomerulosclerosis in DN. Therefore, all these results indicate that target cell extraction coupled with LC‐MS/MS analysis can be successfully applied for predicting the bioactive components in GBE with preventive effect against DN. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

柠檬果茶中游离态和键合态挥发性成分分析

以柠檬果茶为研究对象,建立了顶空固相微萃取前处理结合气相色谱质谱联用技术测定其中挥发性化合物的分析方法。采用开水冲泡对样品进行提取,通过Amberlite XAD-2大孔吸附树脂对柠檬果茶中的糖苷类挥发性组分键合,分离游离态和键合态化合物,甲醇溶剂作为洗脱剂对键合态化合物进行洗脱,Almondsβ-D-葡萄糖苷酶对其酶解。使用气质联用对样品中游离态和键合态挥发性成分进行检测,其结果根据数据库匹配和对比文献保留时间定性,内标法进行定量。结果表明,柠檬果茶中含有游离态物质24种,键合态物质16种,主要为(+)-柠檬烯、1-辛醇、橙花醇、(-)-4-萜品醇、alpha-松油醇等。方法为花果茶干燥工艺提供参考。     

一种动态实时的遥感专题应用系统定制框架

遥感专题应用系统广泛用于遥感影像的加载、分析、专题提取、出图等.为实现遥感专题应用系统动态、实时和可扩展的定制化开发，设计了一套基于组件的遥感专题应用系统定制框架：定义了组件划分方式，将专题系统划分为功能类组件和容器类组件，建立了组件属性和组件间的关系；采用XML文件描述遥感专题应用系统中的组件，并提供从XML到遥感专题应用系统的解析方法；设计了遥感专题应用系统定制平台，提出一种动态实时的软件设计方法，可以“所见即所得”地定制遥感专题应用系统，并将其保存为XML文件.采用该定制平台定制的多个专题系统已应用于相关部门.该框架为快速高效定制遥感专题应用系统提供了一种新的开发设计模式，降低了遥感数据在多行业应用的技术门槛，减少重复性开发工作.     

Comparison of different injection modes in edible oil minor components analysis

Waxes and fatty acid alkyl esters are minor components used as official parameters to control the authenticity and quality of a high‐value olive oil product. A poor measurement can lead to a misleading classification of the oil. The official method requires their analysis together by capillary gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector and an on‐column injector to avoid discrimination and thermal degradation. The degradation can occur to a different extent if different (and not properly optimized) injectors are used. However, other injection techniques, such as programmed‐temperature vaporizer, are much more versatile and more widespread. The aim of the present work was to compare the performance of a programmed‐temperature vaporizer injector, in on‐column and splitless mode, with the on‐column injector to analyze alkyl esters and waxes. Discrimination among high‐boiling compounds was evaluated, as well as the occurrence of thermal degradation, especially of sterols and diterpene alcohol (phytyl and geranylgeraniol) esters. A proper optimization of a programmed‐temperature vaporizer injection, with particular attention to the liner selection, was proven to provide comparable results to the traditional on‐column injection. A performance comparison was carried out both on standard mixtures and on real oil samples.     

Anti‐inflammatory bioactive equivalence of combinatorial components β‐carboline alkaloids identified in Arenaria kansuensis by two‐dimensional chromatography and solid‐phase extraction coupled with liquid–liquid extraction enrichment technology

Bioactive equivalent combinatorial components play a critical role in herbal medicines. However, how to discover and enrich them efficiently is a question for herbal pharmaceuticals researchers. In our work, a novel two‐dimensional reversed‐phase/hydrophilic interaction high‐performance liquid chromatography method was established to perform real‐time components trapping and combining for preparation and isolation of coeluting components. Arenaria kansuensis was taken as an example, and solid‐phase extraction coupled with liquid–liquid extraction as a simple and efficient method for enriching trace components, reversed phase column coupled with hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography XAmide column as two‐dimensional chromatography technology for isolation and preparation of coeluting constituents, enzyme‐linked immune‐sorbent assay as bio‐guided assay, and anti‐inflammatory bioactivity evaluation for bioactive constituents. A combination of 12 β‐carboline alkaloids was identified as anti‐inflammatory bioactive equivalent combinatorial components from A. kansuensis , which accounts for 1.9% w/w of original A. kansuensis . This work answers the key question of which are real anti‐inflammatory components from A. kansuensis and provides a fast and efficient approach for discovering and enriching trace β‐carboline alkaloids from herbal medicines for the first time. More importantly, the discovery of bioactive equivalent combinatorial components could improve the quality control of herbal products and inspire a herbal medicine based on combinatorial therapeutics.     

8×4×2~n设计纯净两因子交互作用成分最大数的界

混水平部分因析设计在各类试验中有广泛应用.纯净效应准则是用于选取最优部分因析设计的重要准则之一.本文考虑含有一个八水平因子、一个四水平因子和若干二水平因子的8×4×2~n混水平设计,给出了分辨度为Ⅲ和Ⅳ的该类混水平设计包含纯净两因子交互作用成分最大数的上界和下界.下界通过构造特定设计而得到.     

Identifying Mixtures of Mixtures Using Bayesian Estimation

The use of a finite mixture of normal distributions in model-based clustering allows us to capture non-Gaussian data clusters. However, identifying the clusters from the normal components is challenging and in general either achieved by imposing constraints on the model or by using post-processing procedures. Within the Bayesian framework, we propose a different approach based on sparse finite mixtures to achieve identifiability. We specify a hierarchical prior, where the hyperparameters are carefully selected such that they are reflective of the cluster structure aimed at. In addition, this prior allows us to estimate the model using standard MCMC sampling methods. In combination with a post-processing approach which resolves the label switching issue and results in an identified model, our approach allows us to simultaneously (1) determine the number of clusters, (2) flexibly approximate the cluster distributions in a semiparametric way using finite mixtures of normals and (3) identify cluster-specific parameters and classify observations. The proposed approach is illustrated in two simulation studies and on benchmark datasets. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Phase II monitoring of changes in mean from high‐dimensional data

The generalized T² chart (GT‐chart), which is composed of the T² statistic based on a small number of principal components and the remaining components, is a popular alternative to the traditional Hotelling's T² control chart. However, the application of the GT‐chart to high‐dimensional data, which are now ubiquitous, encounters difficulties from high dimensionality similar to other multivariate procedures. The sample principal components and their eigenvalues do not consistently estimate the population values, and the GT‐chart relying on them is also inconsistent in estimating the control limits. In this paper, we investigate the effects of high dimensionality on the GT‐chart and then propose a corrected GT‐chart using the recent results of random matrix theory for the spiked covariance model. We numerically show that the corrected GT‐chart exhibits superior performance compared to the existing methods, including the GT‐chart and Hotelling's T² control chart, under various high‐dimensional cases. Finally, we apply the proposed corrected GT‐chart to monitor chemical processes introduced in the literature.