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Tea is beneficial to human health, which is rich in tea pigments with important biological activities. Theabrownin, derived from theaflavins and thearubigins by oxidative polymerization, mainly distributes in semi-fermented oolong tea, and completely fermented black tea and dark tea. As a kind of macromolecular substance, theabrownin cannot be directly absorbed by the gut, but it can directly interact with intestinal microbiota to regulate and maintain the homeostasis of intestinal flora. Theabrownin has multiple physiological roles via modulating the gut microbiota, including inhibiting hepatic cholesterol production, promoting the catabolism of cholesterol and triglyceride, and promoting energy metabolism in adipose tissues, thereby improving lipid metabolism. Theabrownin can also directly influence the gut absorption of glucose to improve carbohydrate metabolism and maintain blood glucose homeostasis. Theabrownin plays an anti-tumor role by inducing apoptosis and regulating gene expression in tumor cells. Theabrownin also plays an anti-inflammatory role via participating in the regulation of the immune cell differentiation and the levels of inflammatory factors. This review summarizes the formation process, the extraction procedures, and the chemical structure of theabrownin, and reviews the effects and mechanisms of theabrownin on intestinal microbiota, lipid metabolism, blood glucose homeostasis, cancer and inflammation.

Hong Mai particularly concerned about the "thieves" problem in the intake of complicated social life in his Yijianzhi. He made a comprehensive description on the phenomenon of banditry to reveal the close relationship between the thieves and the policies and the official treatments and its impacts on the lives of the ordinary people as a mirror of the times, which reflected Hong Mai's concern about the future and destiny of Song Dynasty and the Confucian humanistic care for lives. There is a close relationship that the frequent chaos of pirates and the refugees in Song dynasty by history books and novels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the chemical compositions and their contents in non-alkaloids fraction from Radix Sophorae Tonkinensis., Method: The non-alkaloids from Radix Sophorae Tonkinensis were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry after trimethylsilyl derivatization. The chemical compositions were identified by comparison of the authentic sample and NIST database; the contents of 19 identified components were determined by linear regression equation., Result: 19 compounds constituting 34.72% of the non-alkaloids were identified. The major components were saccharides (5 compounds constituting 22.62%), organic acid (9 compounds constituting 11.81%), and others (5 compounds constituting 0.29%)., Conclusion: The GC-MS is a simple, rapid and sensitive method to investigate the complex primary metabolites in plants.

Extensive genomic data concerning medicinal plants are rather scarce and insights of the secondary metabolic pathways and their regulatory mechanism are insufficient, hampering the broad application of cell or tissue cultivation and metabolic engineering to producing high-value secondary metabolites. The integration of cDNA-AFLP based transcript profiling and metabolomics, a new development of functional genomic approaches could establish correlations between the changes of secondary metabolites and expressions of related genes. It has manifested widely applicative prospects in seeking genes involved in biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and exploring secondary metabolic pathways. Functional genomic approaches are promising trends in the field of medicinal plants secondary metabolites research and will lead to better utilization of natural medicinal resources.

Objective: To explore the therapeutic efficacy of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) treated by retention enema and per-colonoscopic spraying of Zhikang Compound Liquid (ZKCL)., Methods: Eighty-six patients with UC were divided into two groups. The 52 patients in the treated group were treated for 4 courses of retention enema, the drug for enema used in the 1st course was ZKCL-A (consisted of normal saline, Zhikang capsule, gentamycin and dexamethasone) and smecta, in the 2nd course ZKCL-A alone, in the 3rd and 4th course, ZKCL-B (with the same contents of ZKCL-A but without dexamethasone), the enema was carried out once a day in the evening, 15 days as one course. Besides, local spraying of ZKCL-A and smecta were given once by colonoscopy before the 1st and 3rd course. The 34 patients in the control group were treated by salicylazosulfapyridine orally., Results: In the treated group, 32 patients got complete remitted, 15 were treated effectively, 5 ineffectively, the total effective rate being 90.38% while the corresponding number in the control group were 8, 14, 12, and 64.71%, respectively. Significant difference was seen when compared with the therapeutic effects of the two groups. CONCLUSION Good efficacy was got in treating patients with UC by retention enema and per-colonoscopic spraying with ZKCL.