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Acupuncture and its meridians are important components of traditional Chinese medicine, and numerous opinions have been previously expressed regarding these meridians. This study aims to explore the phenomenon of meridians from the perspective of electronic physics by studying these meridians for the response current affected by electrical pulse and acupuncture. In this study, acupuncture which applies an electrical pulse was used to research the physical properties of the meridians. Different kinds of pulses were applied to the human body to realize abnormal electrical signals. Comparing these electrical measurement results with the isothermal transient ionic current (ITIC) theory, we found that the transmission of meridian messages may be related to ion conduction. The movement of ions induced by acupuncture and electrical stimulation can lead to drift and diffusion currents through the meridians. The ionic conduction of meridian hypothesis is proved in that the substances delivered by meridians are in fact ions.

To evaluate the effect of Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf hydroethanolic extract (PHE) against nephrotic syndrome (NS) in rats and to identify the potential active components from PHE.The high content compounds were isolated and purified by using column chromatography followed by preparative highperformance liquid chromatography (p-HPLC). Forty male Wistar rats with adriamycin (ADR)-induced NS were randomly divided into 5 groups, 8 in each group: model control group, positive control group (with prednisone treatment), PHE low-dose group, PHE middle-dose group and PHE high-dose group. Another 8 rats were recruited as vehicle control group. All rats received the intragastric administration of corresponding drugs or saline for 30 days. During the experimental period, rats' behavior and appearance were observed and recorded daily, and their body weights were recorded weekly. After treatment, 24-h urine samples were collected to evaluate the urine protein and urine creatinine (Ucr); then the rats were sacrificed to collect carotid blood and to determine the levels of serum total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), globulin (Glo), total cholesterol (TC) and cytokine interlukin-4 (IL-4).Six acidic components were isolated and identified from the PHE section: pachymic acid, 15α-hydroxydehydrotumulosic acid, trametenolic acid, dehydropachymic acid, 3β-hydroxy-lanosta-7,9(11), 24-trien-21-oic-acid and dehydroeburicoic acid. Compared with the model control group, the urine protein content were significantly decreased in the PHE treatment groups and positive control group (P0.05), especially PHE middle-dose group (P0.01). The Ucr values and serum levels of TP, Glo, TC and IL-4 in PHE low- and middle-dose groups were also presented obvious recover tendency as compared with the model control group (P0.05 or P0.01). However, positive control group and all PHE groups indicated no significant therapeutic effect on raising Alb value, although PHE low- and middle-dose treatment groups showed better outcomes than positive control group (P0.05).PHE showed an encouraging therapeutic effect against ADR-induced NS in a rat model. PHE might be a group of effective substances for the treatment of NS.

A new diarylheptanoid, 4,6-bis (4-hydroxybenzyl)-1,2-dioxepan-5-one, named alpinin E, was isolated from the rhizomes of Alpinia officinarum. The structure of the new compound was elucidated on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR spectra and HR-ESI-MS analysis.

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key regulators governing fundamental biological processes, and their disorder expression involves in tumorigenesis. SPRY4-IT1 (SPRY4 intronic transcript 1), a lncRNA derived from an intron within SPRY4 gene, involves in multiple cancers development. However, the expression pattern and biological function of SPRY4-IT1 in gastric cancer is still not well documented. Hence, we carried out the present study to investigate the potential role of SPRY4-IT1 in gastric carcinogenesis. Methods QRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of SPRY4-IT1 in 61 pairs of gastric cancer samples. Over-expression and RNA interference (RNAi) approaches were used to investigate the biological functions of SPRY4-IT1. The effect of SPRY4-IT1 on proliferation was evaluated by MTT and colony formation assays. Gastric cancer cells transfected with pCDNA-SPRY4-IT1 were injected into nude mice to study the effect of SPRY4-IT1 on tumorigenesis and metastasis in vivo. Protein levels of SPRY4-IT1 targets were determined by western blot or fluorescence immunohistochemistry. ChIP assays were performed to investigate the effect of DNMT1 on SPRY4-IT1 expression. Differences between groups were tested for significance using Student’s t test (two-tailed). Results SPRY4-IT1 expression is decreased in gastric cancer tissues and associated with larger tumor size, advanced pathological stage, deeper depth of invasion and lymphatic metastasis. Patients with lower SPRY4-IT1 expression had a relatively poor prognosis. DNA methylation may be a key factor in controlling the SPRY4-IT1 expression. Furthermore, SPRY4-IT1 contributed to gastric cancer cells metastasis might partly via regulating epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Conclusion Low expression of SPRY4-IT1 is involved in progression and metastasis of gastric cancer and may represent a novel biomarker of poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-015-0595-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Recent evidence indicates that E2F1 transcription factor have pivotal roles in the regulation of cellular processes, and is found to be dysregulated in a variety of cancers. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are also reported to exert important effect on tumorigenesis. E2F1 is aberrantly expressed in gastric cancer (GC), and biology functions of E2F1 in GC are controversial. The biological characteristics of E2F1 and correlation between E2F1 and lncRNAs in GC remain to be found. In this study, integrated analysis revealed that E2F1 expression was significantly increased in GC cases and its expression was positively correlated with the poor pathologic stage, large tumor size and poor prognosis. Forced E2F1 expression promotes proliferation, whereas loss of E2F1 function decreased cell proliferation by blocking of cell cycle in GC cells. Mechanistic analyses indicated that E2F1 accelerates GC growth partly through induces TINCR transcription. TINCR could bind to STAU1 (staufen1) protein, and influence CDKN2B mRNA stability and expression, thereby affecting the proliferation of GC cells. Together, our findings suggest that E2F1/TINCR/STAU1/CDKN2B signaling axis contributes to the oncogenic potential of GC and may constitute a potential therapeutic target in this disease.

Application to the soil of an aqueous alkaline extract ofAscophyllum nodosum resulted in higher concentrations of chlorophyll in the leaves of treated plants in comparison to control plants treated with an equivalent volume of water. Positive results were obtained with all species tested (tomato, dwarf French bean, wheat, barley, maize). When the seaweed extract was applied as a foliar spray, similar effects on leaf chlorophyll contents were obtained, except in the case of dwarf French bean plants, for which no significant difference was recorded between test and control plants. When the betaines present in the seaweed extract were applied as a mixture in the same concentrations as those in the diluted seaweed extract (γ-aminobutyric acid betaine 0.96 mg L−1, δ-aminovaleric acid betaine 0.43 mg L−1, glycinebetaine 0.34 mg L−1), very similar leaf chlorophyll levels were recorded for the seaweed extract and betaine treated plants. This suggests strongly that the enhanced leaf chlorophyll content of plants treated with seaweed extract is dependent on the betaines present.