Echinococcosis or hydatid disease (HD) is a zoonosis caused by the larval stages of taeniid cestodes belong- ing to the genus Echinococcus. Hepatic echinococcosis is a life-threatening disease, mainly differentiated...Echinococcosis or hydatid disease (HD) is a zoonosis caused by the larval stages of taeniid cestodes belong- ing to the genus Echinococcus. Hepatic echinococcosis is a life-threatening disease, mainly differentiated into alveolar and cystic forms, associated with Echinoc- cus multilocularis (E. multi/ocular/s) and Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) infection, respectively. Cys- tic echinococcosis (CE) has a worldwide distribution, while hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is endemic in the Northern hemisphere, including North America and several Asian and European countries, like France, Germany and Austria. E. granulosus young cysts are spherical, unilocular vesicles, consisting of an internal germinal layer and an outer acellular layer. Cyst expansion is associated with a host immune reaction and the subsequent development of a fibrous layer, called the per/cyst; old cysts typically present internal septa- tions and daughter cysts. E. multilocularis has a tumor-like, infiltrative behavior, which is responsible for tissue destruction and finally for liver failure. The liver is the main site of HD involvement, for both alveolar and cystic hydatidosis. HD is usually asymptomatic for a long period of time, because cyst growth is commonly slow; the most frequent symptoms are fatigue and abdominal pain. Patients may also present jaundice, hepatomegaly or anaphylaxis, due to cyst leakage or rupture. HD diagnosis is usually accomplished with the combined use of ultrasonography and immunodiagnosis; furthermore, the improvement of surgical techniques, the introduction of minimally invasive treatments [such as puncture, aspiration, injection, re-aspiration (PAIR)] and more effective drugs (such as benzoimidazoles) have deeply changed life expectancy and quality of life of patients with HD. The aim of this article is to provide an up-to-date review of biological, diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of hepatic echinococcosis.展开更多
Most traditional assessment methods, which have complicated mathematic formulas, are difficult for calculation and application in water resources system assessment. A new approach to water resources system assessment,...Most traditional assessment methods, which have complicated mathematic formulas, are difficult for calculation and application in water resources system assessment. A new approach to water resources system assessment, the set pair analysis method (SPAM), has been proposed based on the principle of set pair analysis (SPA). The basic ideals and steps of SPAM are discussed. The proposed method can take fuzzy property of threshold values for grade standards into full account and avoid determining the discrepancy uncertainty coefficient i or i1, i2, i3, … in SPA. The presented method is simple in concept, convenient to calculate and feasible for application. Two case studies of water resources assessment have been made. The results show that the proposed method is satisfactory.展开更多
The limit working parameters and service life of axial piston pump are determined by the carrying ability and lubrication characteristic of its key friction pairs. Therefore, the design and optimization of the key fri...The limit working parameters and service life of axial piston pump are determined by the carrying ability and lubrication characteristic of its key friction pairs. Therefore, the design and optimization of the key friction pairs are always a key and difficult problem in the research on axial piston pump. In the traditional research on piston/cylinder pair, the assembly relationship of piston and cylinder bore is simplified into ideal cylindrical pair, which can not be used to analyze the influences of radial micro-motion of piston on the distribution characteristics of oil-film thickness and pressure in details. In this paper, based on the lubrication theory of the oil film, a numerical simulation model is built, taking the influences of roughness, elastic deformation of piston and pressure-viscosity effect into consideration. With the simulation model, the dynamic characteristics of the radial micro-motion and pressure distribution are analyzed, and the relationships between radial micro-motion and carrying ability, lubrication condition, and abrasion are discussed. Furthermore, a model pump for pressure distribution measurement of oil film between piston and cylinder bore is designed. The comparison of simulation and experimental results of pressure distribution shows that the simulation model has high accuracy. The experiment and simulation results demonstrate that the pressure distribution has peak values that are much higher than the boundary pressure in the piston chamber due to the radial micro-motion, and the abrasion of piston takes place mainly on the hand close to piston ball. In addition, improvement of manufacturing roundness and straightness of piston and cylinder bore is helpful to improve the carrying ability of piston/cylinder pair. The proposed research provides references for designing piston/cylinder pair, and helps to prolong the service life of axial piston pump.展开更多
Flood classification is an effective way to improve flood forecasting accuracy. According to the opposite unity mathematical theorem in Variable Sets theory, this paper proposes a Variable Sets principle and method fo...Flood classification is an effective way to improve flood forecasting accuracy. According to the opposite unity mathematical theorem in Variable Sets theory, this paper proposes a Variable Sets principle and method for flood classification, which is based on the mathematical theorem of dialectics basic laws. This newly proposed method explores a novel way to analyze and solve engineering problems by utilizing a dialectical thinking. In this paper, the Tuwei River basin, located in the Yellow River tributary, is taken as an example for flood classification. The results obtained in this study reveal the problems in a previous method—Set Pair Analysis classification method. The variable sets method is proven to be theoretically rigorous, computationally simple. The classification results are objective, accurate and consistent with the actual situations. This study demonstrates the significant importance of using a scientifically sound method in solving engineering problems.展开更多
A flow past two side-by-side identical circular cylinders was numerically investigated with the unstructured spectral element method. From the computational results at various non-dimensional distances between cylinde...A flow past two side-by-side identical circular cylinders was numerically investigated with the unstructured spectral element method. From the computational results at various non-dimensional distances between cylinder centers T/D and the Reynolds number Re, a total of nine kinds of wake patterns were observed: four steady wake patterns, including single bluff-body steady pattern, separated double-body steady pattern and transition steady pattern for sub-critical Reynolds numbers and biased steady pattern for super-critical Reynolds numbers, and five unsteady wake patterns, including single bluff-body periodic pattern, biased quasi-steady pattern, quasi-periodic (flip-flopping) pattern, in-phase-synchronized pattern and anti-phase-synchronized pattern. Time evolution of lift and drag coefficients corresponding to each unsteady wake pattern was given.展开更多
A Furstenberg family F is a family,consisting of some subsets of the set of positive integers,which is hereditary upwards,i.e.A?B and A∈F imply B∈F.For a given system(i.e.,a pair of a complete metric space and a con...A Furstenberg family F is a family,consisting of some subsets of the set of positive integers,which is hereditary upwards,i.e.A?B and A∈F imply B∈F.For a given system(i.e.,a pair of a complete metric space and a continuous self-map of the space)and for a Furstenberg family F,the definition of F-scrambled pairs of points in the space has been given,which brings the well-known scrambled pairs in Li-Yorke sense and the scrambled pairs in distribution sense to be F-scrambled pairs corresponding respectively to suitable Furstenberg family F.In the present paper we explore the basic properties of the set of F-scrambled pairs of a system.The generically F-chaotic system and the generically strongly F-chaotic system are defined.A criterion for a generically strongly F-chaotic system is showed.展开更多
In 2005,Gogu,a Frenchman,analyzed 35 different existing formulas for mobility calculation and pointed that the formulas for quick mobility calculation had some limitations and were not general.Therefore,looking for a ...In 2005,Gogu,a Frenchman,analyzed 35 different existing formulas for mobility calculation and pointed that the formulas for quick mobility calculation had some limitations and were not general.Therefore,looking for a general and simple mobility formula is still a hot topic in mechanisms.At the meantime,it is also an important topic to complete the mechanism theory.Gogu proposed a new method that can avoid determining virtual constraints in 2008,but the method is still not general.To solve the problem,this paper defines the new concepts of link-group rank,general-kinematic-pair rank,virtual pair,virtual loop,and virtual-loop rank,and gives a new simple and general formula.Our method converts multi-loop mechanisms into some independent virtual loops,simplifies the problem,avoids calculating virtual constraints,and reduces the calculation difficulty.It is proved that the new formula is simple,general and effective through the mobility analysis of several different kinds of mechanisms.The application of this formula will provide great convenience for general engineers in mobility calculation.展开更多
In this paper, an unconstrained optimization method using the nonmonotone second order Goldstein's line search is proposed. By using the negative curvature information from the Hessian,the sequence generated is sh...In this paper, an unconstrained optimization method using the nonmonotone second order Goldstein's line search is proposed. By using the negative curvature information from the Hessian,the sequence generated is shown to converge to a stationary point with the second order optimality conditions. Numerical tests on a set of standard test problems confirm the efficiency of our new method.展开更多
Active volatile components in drug pair(DP)Herba Ephedrae-Ramulus Cinnamomi(HE-RC),single drug HE and RC were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC/MS),chemometric resolution method(CRM)and overall volum...Active volatile components in drug pair(DP)Herba Ephedrae-Ramulus Cinnamomi(HE-RC),single drug HE and RC were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC/MS),chemometric resolution method(CRM)and overall volume integration.By means of CRM,the two-dimensional data obtained from GC-MS instruments were resolved into a pure chromatogram and a mass spectrum of each chemical compound.In total,97,62,and 78 volatile chemical components in volatile oil of HE,RC,and DP HE-RC,were respectively determined qualitatively and quantitatively,accounting for 90.08%,91.62%,and 89.76% total contents of volatile oil of HE,RC,and DP HE-RC respectively.It is further demonstrated that the numbers of volatile components of DP HE-RC are almost the sum of those of two single drugs,but some relative contents of them are changed.Some new components,such as 1,6-dimethylhepta-1,3,5-triene,tetracyclo[4.2.1.1(2,5).0(9,10)]deca-3,7-diene,globulol and(E,E)-6,10,14-trimethyl-5,9,13-pentadecatrien-2-one are found in DP HE-RC because of chemical reactions and physical changes during decoction.展开更多
The present study aimed at exploring different roles of the same compound in different environment, using preparative HPLC, and the significance to investigating bio-active constituents in traditional Chinese medicine...The present study aimed at exploring different roles of the same compound in different environment, using preparative HPLC, and the significance to investigating bio-active constituents in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on the basis of holism. In this study, the depletion of target component ferulic acid (FA) by using preparative HPLC followed by antioxidant activity testing was applied to investigate the roles of FA in Angelicae Sinansis Radix (DG), Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CX) and their combination (GX). The antioxidant activity was performed by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity testing. FA was successfully and exclusively depleted from DG, CX, and GX, respectively. By comparing the effects of the samples, it was found that FA was one of the main antioxidant constituents in DG, CX and GX, and the roles of FA were DG 〉 CX 〉 GX. Furthermore, the effects of FA varied at different doses in these herbs. This study provided a reliable and effective approach to clarifying the contribution of same compound in different TCMs to their bio-activities. The role of a constituent in different TCMs might be different, and a component with the same content might have different effects in different chemical environments. Furthermore, this study also suggested the potential utilization of preparative HPLC in the characterization of the roles of multi-ingredients in TCM.展开更多
The inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) plays a key role in the process of intervertebral disc degenera- tion (IVDD). In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of pharmaco-serum of "Taor...The inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) plays a key role in the process of intervertebral disc degenera- tion (IVDD). In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of pharmaco-serum of "Taoren-Honghua-herb pair" on IL-1β- induced chondrocyte degeneration in vitro. Taoren (Semen persicae) and Honghua (Safflower carthamus) were administered to the rats, and the pharmaco-serum was collected and prepared. Chondrocytes of the third passage, isolated from the rat's vertebral endplates, were treated by standard medium only (Group NC), IL-1β (Group IL) or combination of IL-1β and pharmaco-serum (Group TRHH). Cell proliferation and apoptosis were determined, and the expression of aggrecan, Col2ul, Coll0ul, IL-6 and SOX9 at the mRNA level in chondrocytes was quantified by real-time PCR. Immunohistochemistry staining of type II and X collagen and Safranine O staining were also used to evaluate the chondrocytes. Compared with the Group NC, IL-1β treatment inhibited the cell proliferation and induced the cell apoptosis (P〈0.05), and the expression of aggrecan, Col2αl and SOX9 at the mRNA level was down-regulated. In contrast, the expression of Coll0ul and IL-6 was up-regulated after IL-1β treatment (P〈0.05). Meanwhile, the immune-staining of type II collagen and Safranine O staining were decreased, while the staining of type X collagen was increased. Compared with the Group IL, cell proliferation was increased, and apoptosis of chondrocytes was decreased when cells were treated with the pharmaco-semm of TRHH-herb pair (P〈0.05). The expression of aggrecan, Col2cd and SOX9 at the mRNA level was up-regulated, while that of Coll0cd and IL-6 was down-regulated (P〈0.05). Saffanine O staining also showed increased positive staining (P〈0.05). Taken together, the treatment of pharmaco-serum of TRHH-herb pair could prevent endplate chondrocyte degeneration induced by IL-1β.展开更多
文摘Echinococcosis or hydatid disease (HD) is a zoonosis caused by the larval stages of taeniid cestodes belong- ing to the genus Echinococcus. Hepatic echinococcosis is a life-threatening disease, mainly differentiated into alveolar and cystic forms, associated with Echinoc- cus multilocularis (E. multi/ocular/s) and Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) infection, respectively. Cys- tic echinococcosis (CE) has a worldwide distribution, while hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is endemic in the Northern hemisphere, including North America and several Asian and European countries, like France, Germany and Austria. E. granulosus young cysts are spherical, unilocular vesicles, consisting of an internal germinal layer and an outer acellular layer. Cyst expansion is associated with a host immune reaction and the subsequent development of a fibrous layer, called the per/cyst; old cysts typically present internal septa- tions and daughter cysts. E. multilocularis has a tumor-like, infiltrative behavior, which is responsible for tissue destruction and finally for liver failure. The liver is the main site of HD involvement, for both alveolar and cystic hydatidosis. HD is usually asymptomatic for a long period of time, because cyst growth is commonly slow; the most frequent symptoms are fatigue and abdominal pain. Patients may also present jaundice, hepatomegaly or anaphylaxis, due to cyst leakage or rupture. HD diagnosis is usually accomplished with the combined use of ultrasonography and immunodiagnosis; furthermore, the improvement of surgical techniques, the introduction of minimally invasive treatments [such as puncture, aspiration, injection, re-aspiration (PAIR)] and more effective drugs (such as benzoimidazoles) have deeply changed life expectancy and quality of life of patients with HD. The aim of this article is to provide an up-to-date review of biological, diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of hepatic echinococcosis.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50739002, 50779042 and 50679047)
文摘Most traditional assessment methods, which have complicated mathematic formulas, are difficult for calculation and application in water resources system assessment. A new approach to water resources system assessment, the set pair analysis method (SPAM), has been proposed based on the principle of set pair analysis (SPA). The basic ideals and steps of SPAM are discussed. The proposed method can take fuzzy property of threshold values for grade standards into full account and avoid determining the discrepancy uncertainty coefficient i or i1, i2, i3, … in SPA. The presented method is simple in concept, convenient to calculate and feasible for application. Two case studies of water resources assessment have been made. The results show that the proposed method is satisfactory.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No. 51075360)Doctoral Foundation of Ministry of Education of China(Grant No. 20090101110041)National Key Technology R&D Program of the Twelfth Five-year Plan of China(Grant No. 2011BAF09B03)
文摘The limit working parameters and service life of axial piston pump are determined by the carrying ability and lubrication characteristic of its key friction pairs. Therefore, the design and optimization of the key friction pairs are always a key and difficult problem in the research on axial piston pump. In the traditional research on piston/cylinder pair, the assembly relationship of piston and cylinder bore is simplified into ideal cylindrical pair, which can not be used to analyze the influences of radial micro-motion of piston on the distribution characteristics of oil-film thickness and pressure in details. In this paper, based on the lubrication theory of the oil film, a numerical simulation model is built, taking the influences of roughness, elastic deformation of piston and pressure-viscosity effect into consideration. With the simulation model, the dynamic characteristics of the radial micro-motion and pressure distribution are analyzed, and the relationships between radial micro-motion and carrying ability, lubrication condition, and abrasion are discussed. Furthermore, a model pump for pressure distribution measurement of oil film between piston and cylinder bore is designed. The comparison of simulation and experimental results of pressure distribution shows that the simulation model has high accuracy. The experiment and simulation results demonstrate that the pressure distribution has peak values that are much higher than the boundary pressure in the piston chamber due to the radial micro-motion, and the abrasion of piston takes place mainly on the hand close to piston ball. In addition, improvement of manufacturing roundness and straightness of piston and cylinder bore is helpful to improve the carrying ability of piston/cylinder pair. The proposed research provides references for designing piston/cylinder pair, and helps to prolong the service life of axial piston pump.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51209032, 50779005)
文摘Flood classification is an effective way to improve flood forecasting accuracy. According to the opposite unity mathematical theorem in Variable Sets theory, this paper proposes a Variable Sets principle and method for flood classification, which is based on the mathematical theorem of dialectics basic laws. This newly proposed method explores a novel way to analyze and solve engineering problems by utilizing a dialectical thinking. In this paper, the Tuwei River basin, located in the Yellow River tributary, is taken as an example for flood classification. The results obtained in this study reveal the problems in a previous method—Set Pair Analysis classification method. The variable sets method is proven to be theoretically rigorous, computationally simple. The classification results are objective, accurate and consistent with the actual situations. This study demonstrates the significant importance of using a scientifically sound method in solving engineering problems.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10432020 and 10602056)the Fund for Foreign Scholars in University Research and Teaching programs (Grant No. B07033).
文摘A flow past two side-by-side identical circular cylinders was numerically investigated with the unstructured spectral element method. From the computational results at various non-dimensional distances between cylinder centers T/D and the Reynolds number Re, a total of nine kinds of wake patterns were observed: four steady wake patterns, including single bluff-body steady pattern, separated double-body steady pattern and transition steady pattern for sub-critical Reynolds numbers and biased steady pattern for super-critical Reynolds numbers, and five unsteady wake patterns, including single bluff-body periodic pattern, biased quasi-steady pattern, quasi-periodic (flip-flopping) pattern, in-phase-synchronized pattern and anti-phase-synchronized pattern. Time evolution of lift and drag coefficients corresponding to each unsteady wake pattern was given.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.10471049)
文摘A Furstenberg family F is a family,consisting of some subsets of the set of positive integers,which is hereditary upwards,i.e.A?B and A∈F imply B∈F.For a given system(i.e.,a pair of a complete metric space and a continuous self-map of the space)and for a Furstenberg family F,the definition of F-scrambled pairs of points in the space has been given,which brings the well-known scrambled pairs in Li-Yorke sense and the scrambled pairs in distribution sense to be F-scrambled pairs corresponding respectively to suitable Furstenberg family F.In the present paper we explore the basic properties of the set of F-scrambled pairs of a system.The generically F-chaotic system and the generically strongly F-chaotic system are defined.A criterion for a generically strongly F-chaotic system is showed.
文摘In 2005,Gogu,a Frenchman,analyzed 35 different existing formulas for mobility calculation and pointed that the formulas for quick mobility calculation had some limitations and were not general.Therefore,looking for a general and simple mobility formula is still a hot topic in mechanisms.At the meantime,it is also an important topic to complete the mechanism theory.Gogu proposed a new method that can avoid determining virtual constraints in 2008,but the method is still not general.To solve the problem,this paper defines the new concepts of link-group rank,general-kinematic-pair rank,virtual pair,virtual loop,and virtual-loop rank,and gives a new simple and general formula.Our method converts multi-loop mechanisms into some independent virtual loops,simplifies the problem,avoids calculating virtual constraints,and reduces the calculation difficulty.It is proved that the new formula is simple,general and effective through the mobility analysis of several different kinds of mechanisms.The application of this formula will provide great convenience for general engineers in mobility calculation.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.10231060)the Specialized Research Fund of Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(Grant No.20040319003)
文摘In this paper, an unconstrained optimization method using the nonmonotone second order Goldstein's line search is proposed. By using the negative curvature information from the Hessian,the sequence generated is shown to converge to a stationary point with the second order optimality conditions. Numerical tests on a set of standard test problems confirm the efficiency of our new method.
基金Project (01962502) supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China
文摘Active volatile components in drug pair(DP)Herba Ephedrae-Ramulus Cinnamomi(HE-RC),single drug HE and RC were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry(GC/MS),chemometric resolution method(CRM)and overall volume integration.By means of CRM,the two-dimensional data obtained from GC-MS instruments were resolved into a pure chromatogram and a mass spectrum of each chemical compound.In total,97,62,and 78 volatile chemical components in volatile oil of HE,RC,and DP HE-RC,were respectively determined qualitatively and quantitatively,accounting for 90.08%,91.62%,and 89.76% total contents of volatile oil of HE,RC,and DP HE-RC respectively.It is further demonstrated that the numbers of volatile components of DP HE-RC are almost the sum of those of two single drugs,but some relative contents of them are changed.Some new components,such as 1,6-dimethylhepta-1,3,5-triene,tetracyclo[4.2.1.1(2,5).0(9,10)]deca-3,7-diene,globulol and(E,E)-6,10,14-trimethyl-5,9,13-pentadecatrien-2-one are found in DP HE-RC because of chemical reactions and physical changes during decoction.
基金supported by National Key Technology R&D Program(No.2008BAI51B01)the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(No.20113237110010)A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(PAPD)
文摘The present study aimed at exploring different roles of the same compound in different environment, using preparative HPLC, and the significance to investigating bio-active constituents in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on the basis of holism. In this study, the depletion of target component ferulic acid (FA) by using preparative HPLC followed by antioxidant activity testing was applied to investigate the roles of FA in Angelicae Sinansis Radix (DG), Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CX) and their combination (GX). The antioxidant activity was performed by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity testing. FA was successfully and exclusively depleted from DG, CX, and GX, respectively. By comparing the effects of the samples, it was found that FA was one of the main antioxidant constituents in DG, CX and GX, and the roles of FA were DG 〉 CX 〉 GX. Furthermore, the effects of FA varied at different doses in these herbs. This study provided a reliable and effective approach to clarifying the contribution of same compound in different TCMs to their bio-activities. The role of a constituent in different TCMs might be different, and a component with the same content might have different effects in different chemical environments. Furthermore, this study also suggested the potential utilization of preparative HPLC in the characterization of the roles of multi-ingredients in TCM.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.81273777,81102606,81072831)the National Basic Re search Program of China(Grant No.2010CB530400)the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University(PCSIRT,IRT1270)
文摘The inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) plays a key role in the process of intervertebral disc degenera- tion (IVDD). In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of pharmaco-serum of "Taoren-Honghua-herb pair" on IL-1β- induced chondrocyte degeneration in vitro. Taoren (Semen persicae) and Honghua (Safflower carthamus) were administered to the rats, and the pharmaco-serum was collected and prepared. Chondrocytes of the third passage, isolated from the rat's vertebral endplates, were treated by standard medium only (Group NC), IL-1β (Group IL) or combination of IL-1β and pharmaco-serum (Group TRHH). Cell proliferation and apoptosis were determined, and the expression of aggrecan, Col2ul, Coll0ul, IL-6 and SOX9 at the mRNA level in chondrocytes was quantified by real-time PCR. Immunohistochemistry staining of type II and X collagen and Safranine O staining were also used to evaluate the chondrocytes. Compared with the Group NC, IL-1β treatment inhibited the cell proliferation and induced the cell apoptosis (P〈0.05), and the expression of aggrecan, Col2αl and SOX9 at the mRNA level was down-regulated. In contrast, the expression of Coll0ul and IL-6 was up-regulated after IL-1β treatment (P〈0.05). Meanwhile, the immune-staining of type II collagen and Safranine O staining were decreased, while the staining of type X collagen was increased. Compared with the Group IL, cell proliferation was increased, and apoptosis of chondrocytes was decreased when cells were treated with the pharmaco-semm of TRHH-herb pair (P〈0.05). The expression of aggrecan, Col2cd and SOX9 at the mRNA level was up-regulated, while that of Coll0cd and IL-6 was down-regulated (P〈0.05). Saffanine O staining also showed increased positive staining (P〈0.05). Taken together, the treatment of pharmaco-serum of TRHH-herb pair could prevent endplate chondrocyte degeneration induced by IL-1β.