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Sigesbeckiae Herba is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine and has been used for inflammatory diseases with a long history. The current official plant origins of Sigesbeckiae Herba include Sigesbeckia orientalis L. (SO), S. pubescens Markino (SP) and S. glabrescens Markino (SG). In this work, a systemic review about the scientific work for medicinal Sigesbeckiae Herba regarding their botanical descriptions, reported bioactive components, pharmacological activities and toxicities was performed. The results indicate that a total of 251 compounds including flavonoids, diterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, triterpenoids, and sterols have been isolated from Sigesbeckia plants and reported to be characteristically distributed in SO, SP and SG. The extracts and pure compounds derived from Sigesbeckiae Herba are reported to present various pharmacological activities including anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, anti-cancer, and others. Although no significant side-effects and toxicities for Sigesbeckiae Herba have been reported in clinics, the potential pulmonary toxicity for the water extracts of SH are reported in experimental animals. In conclusion, Sigesbeckiae Herba is a valuable Chinese herbal medicine and has been investigated to present multiple pharmacological activities. The main pharmacological investigations support its traditional use for treating chronic inflammatory diseases. The available literature shows that much of the activity of Sigesbeckiae Herba can be attributed to diterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids and flavonoids. However, further investigations on the molecular mechanisms to pharmacological activities and the potential toxicities is recommended. Moreover, further investigations on the comparative comprehension among the three medicinal Sigesbeckia plants (SO, SP and SG) both in chemistry and pharmacology are also recommended for their precise applications in clinics.

In 2011, Heittokangas et al. (Complex Var Ellipt Equat 56(1–4):81–92, 2011) proved that if a non-constant finite order entire function f(z) and $$f(z+\eta )$$ share a, b, c IM, where $$\eta $$ is a finite non-zero complex number, while a, b, c are three distinct finite complex values, then $$f(z)=f(z+\eta )$$ for all $$z\in \mathbb {C}$$ . We prove that if a non-constant finite order entire function f and its n-th difference operator $$\Delta ^n_{\eta }f$$ share $$a_1$$ , $$a_2$$ , $$a_3$$ IM, where n is a positive integer, $$\eta \ne 0$$ is a finite complex value, while $$a_1$$ , $$a_2$$ , $$a_3$$ are three distinct finite complex values, then $$f=\Delta ^n_{\eta }f$$ . The main results in this paper also improve Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 from Li and Yi (Bull Korean Math Soc 53(4):1213–1235, 2016).

To investigate serum pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) levels in relation to disease progression in patients diagnosed with non-traumatic osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH). A total of 102 non-traumatic ONFH patients and 95 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Serum PACAP levels were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Radiographic progression of ONFH was detected using the Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) classification system. Harris hip score (HSS) and visual analogue scale (VAS) were analyzed to understand clinical severity. Serum levels of the ONFH marker IL-33 and β‐CTX were also detected. ROC curve analysis was performed to investigate the potential diagnostic value of serum PACAP in the radiographic progression of ONFH. Serum PACAP levels were significantly decreased in non-traumatic ONFH patients when compared to healthy controls. ARCO stage 4 showed markedly lower serum PACAP levels than stage 3. ARCO stage 3 had significantly decreased serum PACAP levels compared to stage 1/2. Serum PACAP levels were negatively correlated with the ARCO classification. In addition, serum PACAP levels were positively associated with HSS score and negatively related to VAS score. Last, PACAP levels were negatively correlated with serum IL-33 and positively associated with β-CTX. ROC curve analysis indicated that PACAP may serve as an early indicator for the radiographic progression of ONFH. Reduced serum PACAP levels may reflect disease severity in non-traumatic ONFH patients.

Spices play an important role in the formation of stewed meat flavor, and it is necessary to establish a rapid detection technology for flavor in stewed meat production. The aim of this work was to discover the variation of volatiles from Cinnamomum cassia Presl in different processing processes and to establish a real-time detection method during processing. The relative content of volatile components of Cinnamomum cassia Presl from powder to extract and from extract to beef was compared in different processes. The volatile compounds were analyzed by headspace sampling and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS). A total of 20 components were detected in the cinnamon powder. In the marinade processing, the most volatile components was detected in marinade when marinating for 1 hour, such as cinnamic acid(4.39%), cinnamaldehyde (46.57%), anethole(8.05%), α-pinene(7.38%), naphthalene,1,2,4a,5,6,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-(0.93%), α-muurolene(8.99%), naphthalene,1,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-,(1S-cis)-(20.31%), naphthalene,1,2,3,4,4a,7-hexahydro-1,6-dimethyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-(3.03%) and α-calacorene(0.35%). In the bittern processing, the flavor components in the bittern when cooking for 15 minutes were the most and 7 components were detected which were cinnnamic acid(3.69%), cinnamaldehyde(70.67%), anethole(4.37%), α-pinene(1.62%), α-muurolene(3.69%), naphthalene,1,2,3,5,6,8a-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-1-(1-methylethyl)-, (1S-cis)-(14.17%) and naphthalene,1,2,3,4,4a,7-hexahydro-1,6-dimethyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-(1.79%). The relative content of the volatile components in two bittern were slightly different. In two processes, only cinnamaldehyde was detected in the stewed beef, where a small amount of α-pinene was detected when marinating for 1 hour and bitterning for 45 minutes. Cinnamaldehyde can be used as the main indicator for the detection of processing. HS-GC-MS can be used as a real-time detection method in the marinade and bittern processing.

The channel catfish virus (CCV, Ictalurid herpesvirus 1) has caused sustained economic losses in the fish industry because of its strong infectivity and pathogenicity. Thus, it is necessary to determine the function of viral proteins in the CCV infection process. The present study aimed to characterize CCV glycoprotein ORF59 and explore its impact on virus infection in host cells. Firstly, its exclusive presence in the membrane fraction of the cell lysate and subcellular localization verified that CCV ORF59 is a viral membrane protein expressed at late-stage infection. A protein blocking assay using purified His6 tagged ORF59, expressed in sf9 insect cells using a baculovirus expression system, indicated a dose-dependent inhibitory effect of recombinant ORF59 protein on virus invasion. Knockdown of the ORF59 using a short hairpin (shRNA) showed that ORF59 silencing decreased the production of infectious virus particles in channel catfish ovary cells. The results of this study suggest that recombinant ORF59 protein might inhibit CCV entry into the host cells. These findings will promote future studies of the key functions of glycoprotein ORF59 during CCV infection.

The channel catfish virus (CCV, Ictalurid herpesvirus 1) has caused sustained economic losses in the fish industry because of its strong infectivity and pathogenicity. Thus, it is necessary to determine the function of viral proteins in the CCV infection process. The present study aimed to characterize CCV glycoprotein ORF59 and explore its impact on virus infection in host cells. Firstly, its exclusive presence in the membrane fraction of the cell lysate and subcellular localization verified that CCV ORF59 is a viral membrane protein expressed at late-stage infection. A protein blocking assay using purified His6 tagged ORF59, expressed in sf9 insect cells using a baculovirus expression system, indicated a dose-dependent inhibitory effect of recombinant ORF59 protein on virus invasion. Knockdown of the ORF59 using a short hairpin (shRNA) showed that ORF59 silencing decreased the production of infectious virus particles in channel catfish ovary cells. The results of this study suggest that recombinant ORF59 protein might inhibit CCV entry into the host cells. These findings will promote future studies of the key functions of glycoprotein ORF59 during CCV infection.

BACKGROUND Many clinical studies have assessed the association of laminoplasty opening size (LOS) with sagittal canal diameter (SCD) based on single-door cervical laminoplasty (SDCL). Nevertheless, the "worn-off" lamina extracted in SDCL was neglected in these reports. We aimed to develop a simple mathematical model to analyze the relationship between the effective LOS and SCD, taking into consideration the worn-off lamina. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 106 patients treated by SDCL at our hospital were included in this study. Pre-operative and post-operative SCDs were assessed using a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) based on computed tomography scans. Mini-plate sizes as well as drill bit diameters were recorded in detail in order to determine the effective LOS for each vertebral lamina involved. RESULTS SCD in all patients was increased significantly after SDCL (P0.01). A linear correlation was found between effective LOS and the post-operative SCD increment from C3 to C7 (R²0.933, P0.001). The 12 mm mini-plate was most often used in SDCL, accounting for 64.45% of all cases, whereas 10 mm and 16 mm mini-plates were the least used, accounting for 3.85% and 3.00%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS There is a strong linear correlation between effective LOS and the post-operative SCD increment. The SCD was increased by about 0.5 mm per mm increase in effective LOS. Thus, post-operative SCD could be precisely calculated and predicted, enabling the selection of optimal mini-plate prior to SDCL.

We study a uniqueness question of meromorphic functions whose certain nonlinear differential polynomials share a finite nonzero value. The results in this paper extend the corresponding results from Steuding [14, p.152], Li[9] and Fang [1]. The studied question is concerning a question posed by Fang in 2009.

The expression of herpesvirus genes during infection of tissue culture cells can be classified into three main classes: immediate-early (IE), early and late. The transcriptional regulation of herpesvirus IE genes is a critical regulatory step in the initiation of viral infection, with their regulation differing from that of early and late genes. Herein, we report that an IE gene (ORF3) promoter in channel catfish virus (CCV, Ictalurid herpesvirus 1) can be activated regardless of the presence or absence of CCV infection, indicating that the ORF3 promoter is efficiently driven by host-cell transcription factors in a viral infection-independent manner. The analysis of truncated promoter activity suggested that several transcription elements play a role in activating the ORF3 promoter, with the key cis-elements seemingly located in the flanking sequence of the start codon ATG. We further found that this flanking sequence contained multiple AT-rich sequences, and systematic mutational analyses showed that these AT-rich sequences affected normal transcription levels of the ORF3 promoter. To summarize, multiple AT-rich domains, representing the novel architecture of IE gene promoters in Ictalurid herpesvirus 1, serve as a cis-element for ORF3 transcription.

By Cartan’s version of Nevanlinna’s theory, we prove the following result: let m and n be two positive integers satisfying $$n\ge 2+m,$$ n ≥ 2 + m , let $$p\not \equiv 0$$ p ≢ 0 be a polynomial, let $$\eta \ne 0$$ η ≠ 0 be a finite complex number, let $$\omega _{1}, \omega _{2}, \ldots , \omega _{m}$$ ω 1 , ω 2 , … , ω m be m distinct finite nonzero complex numbers, and let $$H_{j}$$ H j be either exponential polynomials of degree less than q, or an ordinary polynomial in z for $$0\le j\le m$$ 0 ≤ j ≤ m , such that $$H_{j}\not \equiv 0$$ H j ≢ 0 for $$1\le j\le m.$$ 1 ≤ j ≤ m . Suppose that $$f\not \equiv \infty $$ f ≢ ∞ is a meromorphic solution of the difference equation: $$\begin{aligned} f^n(z)+p(z)f(z+\eta )&=H_0(z)+H_1(z)e^{\omega _{1}z^{q}}+H_2(z)e^{\omega _{2}z^{q}}\\&\quad +\cdots +H_m(z)e^{\omega _{m}z^{q}}, \end{aligned}$$ f n ( z ) + p ( z ) f ( z + η ) = H 0 ( z ) + H 1 ( z ) e ω 1 z q + H 2 ( z ) e ω 2 z q + ⋯ + H m ( z ) e ω m z q , such that the hyper-order of f satisfies $$\rho _2(f) ρ 2 ( f ) < 1 . Then, f reduces to a transcendental entire function, such that either $$n=m+2$$ n = m + 2 with $$H_0\not \equiv 0$$ H 0 ≢ 0 and $$\lambda (f)=\rho (f)=q,$$ λ ( f ) = ρ ( f ) = q , or $$m=2,$$ m = 2 , $$H_0=0$$ H 0 = 0 and: $$\begin{aligned} f(z)=\frac{H_1(z-\eta )e^{\omega _{1}(z-\eta )^{q}}}{p(z-\eta )} \end{aligned}$$ f ( z ) = H 1 ( z - η ) e ω 1 ( z - η ) q p ( z - η ) with $$\begin{aligned} H^n_1(z)=p^n(z)H_2(z+\eta )e^{\omega _2P_{q-1}(z)}\quad \text {and}\quad P_{q-1}(z)=\sum \limits _{k=1}^q\left( {\begin{array}{c}q\\ k\end{array}}\right) \eta ^kz^{q-k}. \end{aligned}$$ H 1 n ( z ) = p n ( z ) H 2 ( z + η ) e ω 2 P q - 1 ( z ) and P q - 1 ( z ) = ∑ k = 1 q q k η k z q - k . This result improves Theorems 1.1 and 1.3 from [19] by removing some assumptions of theirs. An example is provided to show that some results obtained in this paper, in a sense, are the best possible.