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We investigated Goos–Hänchen (GH) and Imbert–Fedorov (IF) shifts of a reflective beam on a twisted bilayer of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), where a left circularly polarized beam was incident on the surface. Our results demonstrate that the twist angle between the two optical axes plays an important role in obtaining large shifts with a high reflectivity. The GH shift with 10λ 0 is achieved, while the reflectivity is near 100% by tuning the twist angle. The maximum of the IF shift is found in the certain condition satisfied by the reflective coefficients, and the shift strongly depends on the twist angle between the optical axes of the two slabs. The spatial shifts obtained directly from the GH and IF shift definitions were provided, which indicate that the theoretical results from the stationary phase method are believable. These results may open up a new way for developing the nano-optical devices.

Background The role of the intersphincteric space in the pathogenesis of fistula-in-ano is being increasingly recognized. Submucosal and intersphincteric rectal abscesses have been surgically managed by laying open and draining the intersphincteric space as well as by the modified ligation of intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) procedure. In 2017, the transanal opening of intersphincteric space (TROPIS) technique was reported for the treatment of high, complex anal fistulae. Aim We aim to investigate the advantages of performing the TROPIS procedure in patients with fistula-in-ano. Methods This was a prospective cohort study investigating the outcomes in patients who had undergone a procedure using the TROPIS technique for the treatment of fistula-in-ano. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging scans and electronic colonoscopies were performed on all patients. A clinical database evaluating the following variables was constructed: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), previous fistula surgery, type of fistula, postoperative complications, duration of follow-up, success rate, and incontinence scores pre- and postoperatively. Results The TROPIS procedure was performed on 41 patients with fistula-in-ano with a follow-up time of 6-23 months. The characteristics of the patients were as follows: 36 males, 6 females, mean age 38.6±13.2 years, and mean BMI 23.5±3.9 kg·m−2. All patients (41) had transsphincteric fistulae, and 90.2% (37) had high fistula. Of the 41 patients, 22% (9) had recurrent fistulae, 29.27% (12) had horseshoe fistulae, 7.3% (3) had supralevator fistulae, and 14.6% (6) had an associated abscess. The fistula healed completely in 85.3% (35) of patients and failed to heal in 14.7% (6) of patients, and the healing of high fistula was 86.5% (32). Of those patients who had not healed completely, 2 were found to have contracted iatrogenic infections due to foreign residues and underwent surgery with the passing of a loose seton. The additional 4 patients who had not healed underwent a fistulotomy and healed completely thereafter. There were no significant changes in incontinence scores. The incontinence scores were .15 ± .36 preoperatively and .22 ± .47 3 months postoperatively (t = −1.438, P = .16). Conclusions The TROPIS technique is a novel sphincter-preserving procedure, which can be effectively used in treating fistula-in-ano.

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) is a wide bandgap III-V compound semiconductor potentially useful for solar-blind photodetectors. This paper describes work on the use of Sulphur doping to adjust the bandgap of c-BN films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). An S-doped c-BN film based metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) solar-blind ultraviolet (SBUV) photodetector was successfully fabricated and its electro-optical properties were characterized. The photocurrent shows peak responsivity at 254nm with sharp cutoff wavelengths at 220 and 300 nm, respectively, which is appropriate for use in solar-blind detection. The maximum response reached 1.55×10-7 A/W/cm2 with a rejection ratio of more than three orders of magnitude. The high solar-blind region UV response could be attributed to the successful substitution of boron by Sulphur and the suppression of B vacancies. The experimental results show the same peak in response at around 254nm as is found in the theoretical analysis.

Nanostructures/patterns formed by biomolecules can produce different physicochemical properties in terms of hydrophobicity, zeta-potential, color, etc., which play paramount roles in life. Peptides, as the main bio-building blocks, can form nanostructures with different functions, either in solutions or on interfaces. Previously, we synthesized a short peptide with the inspiration of an Alzheimer’s disease-related peptide: amyloid β peptide (A-β), namely GAV-9, which can epitaxially self-assemble into regular nanofilaments on liquid–solid interfaces, and it was found that both the hydrophobicity and charge state of the interfaces can significantly influence its assembling behavior. It was also reported that another A-β-containing dipeptide, FF, can self-assemble into nanostructures in solutions. Owing to the close relationship between these two short peptides, it is interesting to conjugate them into a de novo peptide with two separated structural domains and study its self-assembling behavior. To this end, herein we have synthesized the GAV-FF peptide with a sequence of NH2-VGGAVVAGVFF-CONH2 and verified its self-assembling property using the in situ liquid-phase atomic force microscopy. The results show that the GAV-FF peptide can self-assemble into nanofilaments both in solutions and on aqueous–solid interfaces, but with different morphologies. The FF domain accelerates the template-assisted self-assembling (TASA) process of the GAV domain, which in return enhances the solubility of FF in aqueous solutions and further participates in the fibrillization of FF. The current results could help deepen the understanding of the aggregation mechanism of disease-related peptides and could also shed light on the strategies to create artificial bio-functional nanostructures/patterns, which hold a significant potential for biomedical applications.

This study explores the effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention featuring a combination of tailored print and video (TPV) and peer education on improving the hand-washing skills and behaviors of migrant workers in the capital city of China. In the control group, supportive measures in both policy and environment were adopted. In addition, the intervention group received TPV and peer education. A total of 1496 participants were involved in the baseline and evaluation survey. The results showed that the participants experienced significant changes in developing health behaviors and skills as a whole after the intervention. The intervention effectiveness of hand-washing skills on vendors was relatively small compared with those on restaurant waiters and waitresses (44.3% and 87.2%, respectively). About 81.2 percent of the participants always forgot to carefully wash their thumbs and 81.8 percent failed to properly clean the back of their hands. The multifaceted intervention of this study has helped in improving the hand-washing skills and behaviors of migrant workers. Key steps should be strengthened to enhance the intervention effect. Moreover, the elderly should be given more attention with regards to hand-washing skills.

Colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have attracted more and more attention in areas of materials science, biotechnology and organic chemistry due to their unique functions as molecular markers and their applications in diagnostic imaging and catalysis. The AuNP synthesis approaches have been well developed; however, the solvent effects have not been systematically studied yet. Here we analyzed and compared solvent effects on AuNP formation using UV irradiation of Au(III) without adding any other ligands. By monitoring the surface plasmon resonance absorption of Au(III)-containing solutions, results showed that both ketone and alcohol solvents can induce Au(III) to form gold nanospheres; on the other hand, solvents like ACN and THF can induce Au(III) to form nanostructures with longer dimensions. The possible mechanism was discussed, which could facilitate efficient photochemical synthesis of AuNPs and might apply to other metal NP synthesis.

Peptide-gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) are often used in biosensing due to their stable physicochemical properties, adjustable functionality, and good biocompatibility. Hg2+ ions are widely distributed in soil and water, which can easily enter the human body through the food chain. Hg2+ pollution in the ecological environment is mainly through the conversion of inorganic mercury into methylmercury, which seriously threatens our normal physiological functions. It is necessary to develop a biosensor for detecting intracellular Hg2+. In this study, a novel fluorescent AuNCs were synthesized using the peptide CCYRRRRRRHHHH as a protective agent. The synthesized CCYR6H4-AuNCs had stable optical properties, high quantum yield (12%), and emitted red fluorescence under ultraviolet light. The synthesized AuNCs showed high selective for Hg2+ and the detection limit of Hg2+ could reach 30 nM in aqueous solution. At the same time, because of its good biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity, it has also been successfully used for live cell imaging and intracellular Hg2+ detection.

ABC efflux proteins are a kind of transporters mediating diversified endogenous and exogenous efflux protein substrates across the plasma membrane by depending on the chemical energy released by ATP hydrolysis. As a vitally important functional membrane, it is widely found in various tissues and organs. The drug changes the expressions and/or functions of the transport proteins, which will affect the disposal process of substrate drugs corresponding to transporters

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) has significant technological potential for use in high-temperature high-power electronic applications. And S and Zn were reported to be potential n-and p-type dopants. In this study, influences of vacancies, S and Zn impurity atoms on the electronic properties of cBN were investigated by first-principle approaches. The computation results are in good agreement with our experimental approach.

Based on the traffic and transportation energy consumption, the carbon emissions of traffic and transportation energy consumption are obtained by using the estimation model of carbon emissions from 1999 to 2011 in Jilin Province, and the dynamic changes and the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) of carbon emissions are analyzed. The result indicates that the carbon emission of traffic and transportation energy consumption increased continuously from 99.3750×104 t to 331.8255×104 t between 1999 and 2011 in Jilin Province, the change process is divided into three stages which include the stage of the stationary growth phase, accelerated growth stage and slow growth stage, the large consumption of diesel energy is the main reason of the rapid growth in carbon emissions. The EKC of carbon emission shows the inverted U shape roughly and the turning point appeared in 2011, after 2011, carbon emissions will decrease along with the economic growth. Based on the STIRPAT model, the study reveals that elasticity coefficients of driving factors such as population, per capita GDP, the unit GDP energy consumption, the investment of traffic and transportation, city rate, the number of private cars are 0.23440.2202-0.22470.16570.2864 and 0.2163, respectively. Jilin Province must implement effective measures to change the existing development mode of traffic and transportation, change the energy structure, and increase the innovation of scientific and technological, to strive for the realization of negative growth in carbon emissions of traffic and transportation energy consumption.

The pot experiments were carried out to test planting of oil sunflower with the application of desulfurization gypsum in ameliorating sodic salinity soils. Results showed that exchangeable sodium pH values decreased significantly while soil salt content increased. The germination rate and yield of the sunflower increased significantly after desulfurization gypsum was applied, but excessive application of desulfurization gypsum inhibited germination and growth of the plant. There is the best improvement after application of 33.75(t·hm-2) of desulfurization gypsum in the 0-20 cm surface layer of soils moderate in sodic salinity, such conditions are favorable for sunflower growth.

Through this pot experiment of corns, the paper studied the effect of the use of FGD gypsum into the alkalization soil to improve corn output and soil property in the alkalization soil of the west of Jilin Province. The study indicated that FGD gypsum reduced effectively the PH value of the alkalization soil and improved the corn output. When the amount of FGD gypsum was 3t/667m2, the growth index of planting corn, such as the plant height, root length, plant fresh weight, was the best. But when the amount of FGD gypsum was 2t/667m2, the difference was not obvious. The results indicated that considering the factors of soil PH value and salt-resistance, when the amount of FGD gypsum was 2t/667m2, the effect of the use of FGD gypsum of the alkalization soil in the west of Jilin Province to improve soil property was the best.

In the view of external power, all traditional product innovations were done in a single acting force or multiple independent ones. It is big data, who made these acting forces fused fully and efficiently. And then, there was quite obviously a lot of synergy among them to push forward product innovations, which worked just like windmills. So the model of windmill-type product innovation was first put forward in this paper. In big data circumstances, it analyzed mechanism of external acting forces from the perspective of different stages of product innovation and mechanism of restrained forces from the view of data processing. It also proved the feasibility and availability of windmill-type product innovation in the environment of big data by the case study of Huawei Company who single-mindedly devoted to product innovation with big data.

Rolling bearings are common and vital elements in rotating machinery and vibration signal is a kind of effective mean to characterize the status of rolling bearing fault and its severity. In this paper, a novel method is introduced to realize classification of fault signal without extracting feature vector preliminarily. By estimating the time delay and embedding dimension of time series, vibration signal is reconstructed into phase space and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is established for every kind of fault signal in the reconstructed phase space. After these models are built, classification of fault signal is accomplished by computing the conditional likelihoods of the signal under each learned GMM model and selecting the model with the highest likelihood. By testifying of vibration signal under different kinds of bearing status, it is proved that this method is effective for classifying not only fault types but also fault severity. Moreover, all parameters needed in this method could be obtained by analyzing the time series directly so it is very suitable for industry application.

Resveratrol, a phytoalexin, is reported to activate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in vascular cells. Activation of AMPK induces vasorelaxation to lower blood pressure (BP). Whether resveratrol via activation of AMPK decreases, BP remains unknown.Male wild-type (WT) mice and mice deficient in AMPKα2 (AMPKα2(-/-)) were fed with resveratrol (400 mg/kg). After 7 d, mice were implanted with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt (150 mg/kg) for 35 d. BP was detected by the radiotelemetry method. Vessel contraction was determined by organ chamber. Active RhoA, Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) activity, phosphorylations of myosin light chain (MLC), and myosin phosphatase targeting subunit 1 (MYPT1) were assayed by western blot.Implantation of DOCA-salt dramatically increased systemic BPs (systolic BP and diastolic BP) in WT and AMPKα2(-/-) mice. However, treatment of resveratrol significantly decreased systemic BP in WT mice but not in AMPKα2(-/-) mice. In the organ chamber study, resveratrol inhibited agonist-induced vessel relaxation in WT mice aortas. Loss of AMPKα2 or AMPK inhibition by compound C reversed resveratrol-suppressed vasoconstriction in isolated mice aortas. In cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), activation of AMPK by resveratrol inhibited phenylephrine-enhanced MLC phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner.Resveratrol via activation of AMPK lowers BP in DOCA-hypertensive mice through an AMPK/RhoA/ROCK2/MLCMLC pathway.

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is developed for the determination of osthole in rat plasma and applied to a pharmacokinetic study in rats after administration of Fructus Cnidii extract. After addition of fluocinonide as an internal standard, plasma samples are extracted with diethyl ether. HPLC analysis of the extracts is performed on a Hypersil ODS2 analytical column, using methanol-0.4% acetic acid (65:35, v/v) as the mobile phase. The UV detector is set at 322 nm. The standard curve is linear over the range 0.0520-5.20 microg/mL (r = 0.9979). The mean extraction recoveries of osthole at three concentrations were 81.0%, 91.2%, and 90.7%, respectively. The intra- and interday precisions have relative standard deviations from 1.9% to 4.9%. The limit of quantitation is 0.0520 microg/mL. The HPLC method developed can easily be applied to the determination and pharmacokinetic study of osthole in rat plasma after the animals are given the Fructus Cnidii extract. The plasma concentration of osthole from six rats showed a Cmax of 0.776 +/- 0.069 microg/mL at Tmax of 1.0 +/- 0.3 h.

Deep learning driven by large neural network models is overtaking traditional machine learning methods for understanding unstructured and perceptual data domains such as speech, text, and vision. At the same time, the "as-a-Service"-based business model on the cloud is fundamentally transforming the information technology industry. These two trends: deep learning, and "as-a-service" are colliding to give rise to a new business model for cognitive application delivery: deep learning as a service in the cloud. In this paper, we will discuss the details of the software architecture behind IBM's deep learning as a service (DLaaS). DLaaS provides developers the flexibility to use popular deep learning libraries such as Caffe, Torch and TensorFlow, in the cloud in a scalable and resilient manner with minimal effort. The platform uses a distribution and orchestration layer that facilitates learning from a large amount of data in a reasonable amount of time across compute nodes. A resource provisioning layer enables flexible job management on heterogeneous resources, such as graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs), in an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud.

To observe the effect of acupotomy, electroacupuncture (EA) or round-sharp acupuncture needle intervention on the expression of Bcl-2,Bax and Caspase-3 proteins in the rectus femoris in rabbits with knee ostarthritis (KOA), so as to explore their mechanisms underlying improvement of braking-induced joint damage from the cellular apoptosis.Forty-five New Zealand rabbits were equally and randomized into control group, model group, acupotomy (AP) group, EA group and round-sharp acupuncture needle (RSAN) group (n = 9 in each group). The knee-joint injury model was established by fixing the left knee joint in extention position with plaster bandage. EA (2 Hz/100 Hz, 3 mA, 20 min each time) was applied to the left "Yanglingquan" (GB 34)- "Yinlingquan" (SP 9) and left "Neixiyan" (EX-LE 4)- "Waixiyan"(ST 35) for rabbits in the EA group. The EA treatment was given once daily, 3 times a week, 3 weeks in total. For rabbits of the AP group, a needle-knife was held to insert into the front edge of the midpoint, the starting point and the stopping point of the left medial collateral ligamen, lateral collateral ligament and the patellar ligament of the knee to make a loosening manipulation for 5 times in a session of treatment, once a week, 3 times altogether. For rabbits of the RSAN group, a round-sharp needle was performed in the same way to the needle-knife including the stimulation point, the manipulation method and treatment sessions. At the end of the experiment, the left rectus femoris was taken out for detecting the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase-3 proteins with Western blot.In comparison with the control group, the passive range of motion (PROM) level was significantly decreased 4, 8 and 12 weeks after modeling (P0.01), and the expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 proteins in the rectus femoris were considerably upregulated in the model group (P0.05), while the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax was notably down-regulated (P0.05) in the model group. Compared with the model group, the PROM level at week 12 after modeling in the AP, EA and RSAN groups were significantly increased (P0.01); while Bax and Caspase-3 expression levels in both AP and RSAN groups were considerably downregulated (P0.05). No significant differences were found among the five groups in Bcl-2 expression levels (P0.05), and between the EA and model groups in Bax and Caspase-3 expression levels and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax (P0.05).AP, RSAN and EA interventions are effective in improving the knee-joint motion range in KOA rabbits, and this effect of both AP and RSAN is closely associated with their actions in lowering the expression of Bax and Caspase-3 proteins of the rectus femoris and in raising ratio of Bcl-2/Bax protein (reducing muscular cellular apoptosis). The mechanism of EA intervention in improving PROM may be different.

Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological disease garnering increasing attention and research. To investigate the clinical therapeutic effects of Jingqian Zhitong Fang (JQF) and the differences in serum sex hormone levels during the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, we selected 30 healthy volunteers and 60 individuals with primary dysmenorrhea. On the third day of the menstrual cycle, we used ELISA to determine the levels of serum prolactin (PRL), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (TEST), progesterone (PROG), and estradiol (E2) compared with normal levels and levels in the JQF group, the Western medicine group receiving continuous treatment during the first and third menstrual cycles, and the group followed up after the drug was stopped. We observed that after JQF treatment, the levels of the following hormones changed significantly: PRL, LH, TEST, and E2levels decreased significantly and the PROG level increased significantly after treatment. After treatment with Western medicine, the serum levels of FSH, LH, PROG, and E2showed no significant change. We conclude that the long-term effect of JQF treatment was better than that of Western medicine. JQF treatment of primary dysmenorrhea is related to adjustment of PRL, LH, TEST, and E2 hormone levels in the human body.

The aim was to develop a high performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous determination of five organic acids in Kudiezi injection. The Diamonsil C18 column (4.6 mm x 200 mm, 5 microm) was adopted with acetonitrile and water as the mobile phase at a gradient mode program. The flow rate was 1.0 mL min-1 , detection wavelength was 325 nm, and column temperature was 35 degree C. The linear range of monocaffeyltartaric acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and chicoric acid were 0. 64-81.60 (r =0. 999 9),0.09-11. 10 (r =0.999 8) ,0.09-11.30 (r =0. 999 8),0.10-12.80 (r =0.999 9),0.43-55. 50 mg L-1 (r = 0.999 8) , respectively. The average recoveries were 101.8% ,100. 9% ,99. 24% ,99. 83% ,101.9%, respectively, with RSD of less than 2.0%. The developed HPLC method was simple, sensitive and accurate with good repeatability. This work provided helpful information for comprehensive quality control of Kudiezi injection. [Key words] Kudiezi injection; organic acids; content determination; HPLC

To investigate the status of household disaster preparedness in 4 counties of Shaanxi province and explore the affecting factors.During the period from September to October in 2008, multi-stage sampling was used to select subjects from urban and rural residents in Xincheng district, Hantai district, Fuping county and Xunyang county of Shaanxi province. Questionnaire survey was conducted among 1945 subjects aged 18-88 years to investigate their experience and expectation of disaster events, preparedness knowledge, activities and emergency supplies. Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing household disaster preparedness.The average age of the 1945 subjects was (43.55 ± 12.76) years old. A total of 7.12% (138/1939) of respondents never experienced disaster. Earthquake and fire (57.35% (1175/2049), 19.81% (406/2049), respectively) were rated as the two disasters most likely to occur. The awareness rate of knowledge about household disaster preparedness was 51.43% (989/1923), and 23.41% (454/1939) discussed how to prepare for disaster with their family, only 9.27% (179/1932) attended evacuation drill. The rates of preparing household emergency supplies were 23.64% (230/973), 30.56% (55/180), 31.19% (141/452) and 54.49% (97/178) for urban residents, subjects with junior college or above education, subjects having frequent family discussions of disaster preparedness and subjects participating in emergency rescue drills, respectively. For subjects with junior high school, senior high school and junior college or higher education, the likelihood of preparing household emergency supplies was 5.02 (95%CI: 1.12 - 22.42), 5.74 (95%CI: 1.27 - 26.04) and 6.84 (95%CI: 1.44 - 32.39) times as that of illiterate, respectively. Urban residents, subjects who often discussed disaster preparedness with their family, and who participated in emergency rescue drills were more likely to prepare emergency supplies than rural residents (OR = 4.38, 95%CI: 2.74 - 7.00), those who never discussed (OR = 4.99, 95%CI: 2.52 - 9.91), and who didn't participate (OR = 5.72, 95%CI: 3.84 - 8.51).The residents in 4 counties of Shaanxi lack comprehensive knowledge and appropriate activities of disaster preparedness, the rate of preparing household emergency supplies is low. Higher education, living in urban area, frequent family discussions of disaster preparedness and participating in emergency rescue drills are facilitating factors of preparing household emergency supplies.

Superconducting properties were studied on high quality superconductors (T c = 39 K) and (T c = 44 K) prepared by intercalating Ba/Sr atoms into tetragonal β-FeSe by liquid ammonia. The elongated c-axis and almost unchanged a-axis of , compared with β-FeSe, suggests an unchanged intra--layer structure and the T c enhancement is due to a 3D to 2D-like Fermi surface transformation. The superconducting coherent lengths ξ(0), the Ginzburg–Landau parameters κ and penetration depths λ(0) obtained from the extrapolated lower and upper critical fields B c1(0) and B c2(0) indicate that both compounds are typical type-II superconductors. The temperature dependence of 1/(T) of deduced from the low-field magnetic susceptibility shows a two-gap s-wave behavior with superconducting gaps of = 6.47 meV and = 1.06 meV.

To investigate the effects of herbs capable of activating blood circulation or inducing diuresis on the expressions of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB), and aquaporin-4 (AQP-4) in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and to study their possible mechanisms.The ICH rat model was established by injecting autologous arterial blood into the right caudate nucleus. The 168 male rats were randomly divided into four groups, the sham-operative group, the model group, the blood activating group, and the diuresis inducing group, 42 in each group. Chinese compound decoction (consisting of 0.2 g rhubarb, 0.02 g leech, and 0.3 g notoginseng in each milliliter decoction) was given to rats in the blood activating group by gastrogavage at the dose of 10 mL/kg, once daily. Chinese compound decoction (consisting of 0.2 g poria, 0.2 g water plantain tuber, and 0.2 g acori graninei in each milliliter decoction) was given to rats in the diuresis inducing group by gastrogavage at the dose of 10 mL/kg, once daily. 4.0 mL/kg normal saline was given to rats in the model group and the sham-operative group by gastrogavage, once daily. A series of brain samples were obtained on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th day, respectively. The mRNA and protein expressions of TNFalpha, NF-kappaB p65, and AQP-4 were determined by immunohistochemical staining and Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR respectively.After ICH, TNF-alpha, NF-KB, and AQP-4 protein positive cells in the brain tissue and their protein and mRNA expressions significantly increased in rats of the model group at each time point when compared with the sham-operative group (P0.01, P0.05). The gene and protein expressions of TNF-alpha and AQP-4 significantly decreased in the blood activating group and the diuresis inducing group at each time point when compared with the model group (PP0.05). The expression of NF-kappaB p65 in the blood activating group obviously decreased when compared with the model group (P0.05), but there was no statistical difference in the NF-KB expression when compared with the diuresis inducing group (P0.05). Compared with the model group, the water content of the brain tissue decreased to some degree in the blood activating group and the diuresis inducing group at each time point. There was statistical difference between the blood activating group and the diuresis inducing group (P0.05).Chinese herbs capable of activating blood circulation or inducing diuresis could inhibit the release of TNF-alpha, down-regulate the expression of AQP-4, and alleviate the brain edema around hematoma. But the action strength and the effect links were different.

To investigate the effect of blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds on tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κ B) expressions in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) at the acute stage, and to monitor their therapeutic effect and mechanism of action on inflammation and cerebral edema.A rat model of cerebral hemorrhage was achieved by injecting autologous arterial blood into the caudate nucleus. A total of 168 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: blood-activating medicine group (n=42), water-draining medicine group (n=42), sham operated group (n=42), and the model group (n=42). A series of brain samples were obtained at days 1, 3 and 5 after ICH from rats in all groups. Protein expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B were measured by immunohistochemical staining and gene expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B were measured by real-time fluorescent PCR.Compared to the sham operated group, protein expression levels of TNF-α and NF-κ B in the model group significantly increased (P0.01). Protein and gene expressions of TNF-α from the blood-activating medicine group and water-draining medicine group significantly decreased when compared to those in the model group P0.05). Meanwhile, compared to the model group, the expression of NF-κ B in the blood-activating medicine group significantly decreased (P0.05), while expression of NF-κ B in the water-draining medicine group did not differ (P0.05).Blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds and water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds can alleviate inflammation of peripheral tissue and cerebral edema. However, the blood-activating Chinese medicinal compounds were more effective than the water-draining Chinese medicinal compounds. The possible effective mechanism may be by means of inhibiting the activation of NF-κ B so as to suppress the transcription of target genes including gene expression of TNF-α.