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This paper explores the evolutionary behavior of the Earth-satellite binary system within the framework of the ghost-free parity-violating gravity and the corresponding discussion on the parity-violating effect from the laser-ranged satellites. For this purpose, we start our study with the Parameterized Post-Newtonian (PPN) metric of this gravity theory to study the orbital evolution of the satellites in which the spatial-time sector of the spacetime is modified due to the parity violation. With this modified PPN metric, we calculate the effects of the parity-violating sector of metrics on the time evolution of the orbital elements for an Earth-satellite binary system. We find that among the five orbital elements, the parity violation has no effect on the semi-latus rectum, inclination and ascending node, which are the same as the results of general relativity and consistent with the observations of the current experiment. In particular, parity violation produces non-zero corrections to the eccentricity and pericenter, which will accumulate with the evolution of time, indicating that the parity violation of gravity produces observable effects. The observational constraint on the parity-violating effect is derived by confronting the theoretical prediction with the observation by the LAGEOS II pericenter advance, giving a constraint on the parity-violating parameter space from the satellite experiments., Comment: 13 pages, no figure

Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) is recognized as a reasonable method for quantifying seismic threats. Traditionally, the method ignores the effect of focal depth and in which the ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are applied to estimate the probability distribution associated with the possible motion levels induced by the site earthquakes, but it is limited by the unclear geological conditions, which makes it difficult to give a uniform equation, and the equation cannot express the nonlinear relationship in geological conditions. Hence, this paper proposes a method to consider the seismic focal depth for the PSHA with the example of California, and use a back propagation neural network (BPNN) to predict peak ground acceleration (PGA) instead of the GMPEs. Firstly, the measured PGA and unknown PGA seismic data applicable to this method are collected separately. Secondly, the unknown PGA data are supplemented by applying the BPNN based on the measured PGA data. Lastly, based on the full-probability equation PSHA considering the focal depth is completed and compared with the current California seismic zoning results. The results show that using the BPNN in the PSHA can ensure computational accuracy and universality, making it more suitable for regions with the unclear geological structures and providing the possibility of adding other parameters to be considered for the influence of PSHA.

Future wireless systems are envisioned to create an endogenously holography-capable, intelligent, and programmable radio propagation environment, that will offer unprecedented capabilities for high spectral and energy efficiency, low latency, and massive connectivity. A potential and promising technology for supporting the expected extreme requirements of the sixth-generation (6G) communication systems is the concept of the holographic multiple-input multiple-output (HMIMO), which will actualize holographic radios with reasonable power consumption and fabrication cost. The HMIMO is facilitated by ultra-thin, extremely large, and nearly continuous surfaces that incorporate reconfigurable and sub-wavelength-spaced antennas and/or metamaterials. Such surfaces comprising dense electromagnetic (EM) excited elements are capable of recording and manipulating impinging fields with utmost flexibility and precision, as well as with reduced cost and power consumption, thereby shaping arbitrary-intended EM waves with high energy efficiency. The powerful EM processing capability of HMIMO opens up the possibility of wireless communications of holographic imaging level, paving the way for signal processing techniques realized in the EM-domain, possibly in conjunction with their digital-domain counterparts. However, in spite of the significant potential, the studies on HMIMO communications are still at an initial stage, its fundamental limits remain to be unveiled, and a certain number of critical technical challenges need to be addressed. In this survey, we present a comprehensive overview of the latest advances in the HMIMO communications paradigm, with a special focus on their physical aspects, their theoretical foundations, as well as the enabling technologies for HMIMO systems. We also compare the HMIMO with existing multi-antenna technologies, especially the massive MIMO, present various..., double column, 58 pages

Responses from the paired organs are generally highly correlated in bilateral studies, statistical procedures ignoring the correlation could lead to incorrect results. Note the intraclass correlation in the study of combined unilateral and bilateral outcomes; 11 confidence intervals (CIs) including 7 asymptotic CIs and 4 Bootstrap-resampling CIs for assessing the equivalence of 2 treatments are derived under Rosner's correlated binary data model. Performance is evaluated with respect to the empirical coverage probability (ECP), the empirical coverage width (ECW) and the ratio of the mesial non-coverage probability to the non-coverage probability (RMNCP) via simulation studies. Simulation results show that (i) all CIs except for the Wald CI and the bias-corrected Bootstrap percentile CI generally produce satisfactory ECPs and hence are recommended; (ii) all CIs except for the bias-corrected Bootstrap percentile CI provide preferred RMNCPs and are more symmetrical; (iii) as the measurement of the dependence increases, the ECWs of all CIs except for the score CI and the profile likelihood CI show increasing patterns that look like linear, while there is no obvious pattern on the ECPs of all CIs except for the profile likelihood CI. A data set from an otolaryngologic study is used to illustrate the proposed methods.

In this letter, we consider transceivers with spatially-constrained antenna apertures of rectangular symmetry, and aim to improve of spatial degrees of freedom (DoF) and channel capacity leveraging evanescent waves for information transmission in near-field scenarios based on the Fourier plane-wave series expansion. The treatment is limited to an isotropic scattering environment but can be extended to the non-isotropic case through the linear-system theoretic interpretation of plane-wave propagation. Numerical results show that evanescent waves have the significant potential to provide additional DoF and capacity in the near-field region., 5 pages, 4 figures

Artemisia annua (AA) is a well-known as a source of antimalarial drug (artemisinin), which also has been traditionally used as an antipyretic and hemostatic agent in Korea and China. In preclinical effective study, a water extract of Artemisia annua (WEAA) ameliorated weight gain and hepatic lipid accumulation in high-fat diet-fed mice. The plasma levels of triglyceride, AST, and ALT were reduced in the WEAA-treated group. Based on these results, the safety of WEAA as a functional ingredient for liver health was evaluated in this repeated dose oral toxicity study before the clinical trial. Sprague- Dawley (SD) rats were treated by gavage with 20 times (1,000 mg/kg) more than the effective dose for 13 weeks. All rats had survived at the end of the study, and there were no changes indicating obviously abnormal clinical sign and behavior. The treatment of WEAA were also observed no obvious toxicities in the body weights, urine, hematological, serum biochemical, ophthalmic and histopathological examinations. Based on the results of this study, the NOAEL (no-observed-adverse-effect level) of WEAA in SD rats was estimated to be 1,000 mg/kg. In conclusion, WEAA could be used as a safe functional ingredient for the improvement of liver health in individuals with hepatic diseases including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Анотація. Обговорюється питання, пов’язане з концепцією застосування і вдосконалення герметичних компресорних агрегатів (ГКА) суднового обладнання кондиціювання і рефрижерації (ОКР). Метою цього дослідження є аналіз розвитку ГКА у нас у країні і за кордоном і перспективи застосування і вдосконалення вітчизняних ГКА для суднового ОКР. Виконано аналіз вибору і застосування ГКА (спіральних або поршневих) для суднового ОКР. Цей вибір залежить від енергоефективності ГКА, його надійності, рівня шуму і вартості виготовлення. І поршневі, і спіральні ГКА мають свої найбільш раціональні галузі застосування. На користь поршневих ГКА для суднового ОКР є такі міркування. Поршневі ГКА користуються стійким попитом завдяки відпрацьованій технології виробництва, високій надійності і відносно невисокій вартості. Вони мають значний потенціал розвитку, який дасть змогу оптимально використовувати їх у судновому ОКР і в майбутньому. Сучасні поршневі ГКА за масою, плавністю ходу і компактністю цілком конкурентоспроможні з роторними машинами, а такі їх характеристики, як простота виготовлення, дешевизна обслуговування, ремонтопригодність, роблять їх привабливими для багатьох споживачів і насамперед для суднобудівної галузі. Спіральні ГКА володіють певними перевагами. Однак складності технології виготовлення спіральних машин, великі початкові витрати на їх виробництво, жорсткі вимоги до точності виготовлення всієї конструкції не дають змогу знизити собівартість і перешкоджають освоєнню їх випуску широким колом підприємств. Розробку і виробництво цих компресорів можуть собі дозволити лише найбільші світові фірми. Результати дослідження показали, що у разі холодопродуктивності до 16 кВт поршневі ГКА зберігають свою перевагу. Дослідження та порівняльний аналіз характеристик показує, що вітчизняні поршневі ГКА типу ХГВ і ХГН відповідають рівню кращих зразків вітчизняної та зарубіжної техніки, мають значний потенціал розвитку, який дасть змогу успішно застосовувати їх у судновому обладнанні кондиціювання і рефрижерації і в майбутньому.

The dependency tree of a natural language sentence can capture the interactions between semantics and words. However, it is unclear whether those methods which exploit such dependency information for semantic parsing can be combined to achieve further improvement and the relationship of those methods when they combine. In this paper, we examine three methods to incorporate such dependency information in a Transformer based semantic parser and empirically study their combinations. We first replace standard self-attention heads in the encoder with parent-scaled self-attention (PASCAL) heads, i.e., the ones that can attend to the dependency parent of each token. Then we concatenate syntax-aware word representations (SAWRs), i.e., the intermediate hidden representations of a neural dependency parser, with ordinary word embedding to enhance the encoder. Later, we insert the constituent attention (CA) module to the encoder, which adds an extra constraint to attention heads that can better capture the inherent dependency structure of input sentences. Transductive ensemble learning (TEL) is used for model aggregation, and an ablation study is conducted to show the contribution of each method. Our experiments show that CA is complementary to PASCAL or SAWRs, and PASCAL + CA provides state-of-the-art performance among neural approaches on ATIS, GEO, and JOBS.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Gypsophila oldhamiana Miq., a species of the Caryophyllaceae family, was assembled and analyzed from the de novo assembly of Illumina paired-end sequencing data. The total length of the chloroplast genome of G. oldhamiana was 152,675 bp including a large single-copy (LSC) region of 83,552 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 17,349 bp, and a pair of identical inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 25,887 bp. The genome possessed a total of 130 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The phylogenetic analysis of G. oldhamiana with 14 related species discovered the closest taxonomical relationship with Gypsophila vaccaria voucher in the Caryophyllaceae family.

By neglecting the viscosity of fluid and rotation in flow, the theory of potential flow cannot accurately predict the hydrodynamic forces on the structures under significant viscous effects. In this study, the effects of liquid viscosity on the hydrodynamic forces on a horizontal circular cylinder underwater with a large-amplitude forced oscillation were investigated. The study used a two-dimensional two-phase flow wave tank model based on the viscous fluid theory using the OpenFOAM® package. The numerical calculations were carried out under different types of liquid (i.e., liquid with different viscosities). The liquid viscosity effects are visually shown by comparison of the various frequency components of the hydrodynamic forces on the cylinder, and the magnitude and phase relations of the viscous shear forces and the pressure forces. By analyzing the distribution characteristics of the flow fields around the circular cylinder, the viscous-effect mechanisms are revealed. It is found that the discrepancies of the contributions of viscous shear forces, and the discrepancies of the vortex effects on the phase and magnitude of the pressure forces lead to the obvious differences among the results under different liquid viscosities.

Purpose It has been reported that approximately 40% of ALI (acute lung injury) incidence resulted from sepsis. Paclitaxel, as a classic anti-cancer drug, plays an important role in the regulation of inflammation. However, we do not know whether it has a protective effect against CLP (cecal ligation and puncture)-induced septic ALI. Our study aims to illuminate the mitigative effects of paclitaxel on sepsis-induced ALI and its relevant mechanisms. Materials and methods The survival rates and organ injuries were used to evaluate the effects of paclitaxel on CLP mice. The levels of inflammatory cytokines were tested by ELISA. MUC1 siRNA pre-treatment was used to knockdown MUC1 expression in vitro. GO203 was used to inhibit the homodimerization of MUC1-C in vivo. The expression levels of MUC1, TLR 4 and p-NF-κB/p65 were detected by Western blot. Results Our results showed that paclitaxel improved the survival rates and ameliorated organ injuries especially lung injury in CLP-induced septic mice. These were accompanied by reduced inflammatory cytokines in sera and BALF (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid). We also found paclitaxel could attenuate TLR 4-NF-κB/p65 activation both in lung tissues of septic mice and LPS-stimulated lung type II epithelial cell line A549. At the upstream level, paclitaxel-upregulated expression levels of MUC1 in both in vivo and in vitro experiments. The inhibitory effects of paclitaxel on TLR 4-NF-κB/p65 activation were reversed in lung tissues of septic mice pre-treated with MUC1 inhibitor and in MUC1-knockdown A549 cells. Protection of paclitaxel on sepsis-induced ALI and decrease of inflammatory cytokines were also abolished by inhibition of MUC1. Conclusion Collectively, these results indicated paclitaxel could significantly alleviate acute lung injury in CLP-induced septic mice and LPS-stimulated lung type II epithelial cell line A549 by activating MUC1 and suppressing TLR-4/NF-κB pathway.

A stratified study is often designed for adjusting a confounding effect or effect of different centers/groups in two treatments or diagnostic tests, and the risk difference is one of the most frequently used indices in comparing efficiency between two treatments or diagnostic tests. This article presented five simultaneous confidence intervals (CIs) for risk differences in stratified bilateral designs accounting for the intraclass correlation and developed seven CIs for the common risk difference under the homogeneity assumption. The performance of the CIs is evaluated with respect to the empirical coverage probabilities, empirical coverage widths and ratios of mesial noncoverage probability and the noncoverage probability under various scenarios. Empirical results show that Wald simultaneous CI, Haldane simultaneous CI, Score simultaneous CI based on Bonferroni method and simultaneous CI based on bootstrap-resampling method perform satisfactorily and hence be recommended for applications, the CI based on the weighted-least-square (WLS) estimator, the CIs based on Mantel-Haenszel estimator, the CI based on Cochran statistic and the CI based on Score statistic for the common risk difference behave well even under small sample sizes. A real data example is used to demonstrate the proposed methodologies.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Gypsophila oldhamiana Miq., a species of the Caryophyllaceae family, was assembled and analyzed from the de novo assembly of Illumina paired-end sequenci...

International audience; UNGG cladding nuclear wastes constitute a huge volume of Mg-based materials presenting economic and safety concerns particularly because of the potential generation of H$_2$ gas under deep underground disposal. Their significant decontamination would involve a safer and cheaper surface storage with a better containment of the separated long-lived radioisotopes that could enter in a classical channel. The ultrasound-assisted decontamination of genuine UNGG cladding material and surrogates (pure Mg and Mg/Zr alloy) has been investigated in mild conditions. 345 kHz sonication of these materials at 20 °C in 0.01 M oxalic acid solution leads to the golf ball shape structuring of their surface with the observation of homogenously distributed 20-40 µm diameter craters. After a thorough characterization and comparison of the ultrasound effect generated at the surface, the various samples have been artificially contaminated and characterized before treatment under ultrasound. The complete and rapid decontamination of the samples is observed under 345 kHz ultrasound in addition to the removal of the corrosion promoting carbon layer observed on the inner side of the UNGG cladding. Decontamination of Mg-based materials under ultrasound results from the controlled dissolution of the surface through acoustic cavitation phenomenon. Prolonging sonication allows the neo-formed brucite (Mg(OH)$_2$) and zirconium-based phases to accumulate at the surface, which contributes to a slight but continuous surface recontamination process resulting from the re-adsorption of uranyl cations from the solution. More generally, acoustic cavitation appears as an original, viable and advantageous alternative for the decontamination of metallic wastes generated by nuclear industry with potential financial and security benefits.

Additional file 1. Supplementary Fig. 1. DEGs gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis by Enrichr software.

Inspired by the $P_{cs}(4459)$ reported by the LHCb collaboration recently, we investigate the $P_{cs}(4459)$ production from $��_b$ decay in a molecular scenario using an effective Lagrangian approach. With different $J^P$ assignments to $P_{cs}(4459)$, the magnitude of branching fractions of $��_b \to P_{cs}(4459) K$ is estimated, which is of the order of $10^{-4}$. Together with the decay properties of $P_{cs}(4459)$, the present estimations could be further testified by precise measurements and contribute to a better understanding of the molecular interpretations and the exploration of $J^P$ quantum numbers of $P_{cs}(4459)$., 6 pages,2 figures, 1 table; matches published version

Cinnamomum cassia has been widely used as a natural product to treat diseases in Asia due to its diverse pharmacological functions including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, and anti-tumor effects. Despite its ethnomedicinal benefits, little information regarding its toxicity is currently available. The aim of this study was to evaluate its potential long-term toxicity and genotoxicity in compliance with test guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A 13-week repeat-dose oral toxicity study revealed that body weights of rats were normal after receiving cinnamon extract at up to 2000 mg/kg. High-dose intake of cinnamon extract (2000 mg/kg) showed potential nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity to both males and females as evidenced by obvious increases of kidney/liver weight along with a small but statistically elevation of total cholesterol level. Overall findings from genetic toxicity testing battery including Ames test, in vitro mammalian cell micronucleus assay, and in vivo bone marrow micronucleus assay indicated that cinnamon extract was not mutagenic or clastogenic. In conclusion, cinnamon extract may possess potential nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity at dose higher than its recommended daily safe dose. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanism involved in its induction of liver and kidney injury.

Percussive drilling is suitable for fragmentation of high temperature hard rocks in geothermal wells. In actual geothermal drilling, the heat exchange will occur between the low temperature drilling fluid and the high temperature rocks. This heat transfer effects can cause thermal stress in rocks. High temperature environment and thermal stress will cause rock damage. Therefore, when analyzing percussive drilling based on high temperature rock, the high temperature and heat transfer need to be considered. This article focuses on the effects of mechanical percussion-heat transfer couplings on impact stress wave propagation, energy transfer efficiency and rock damage in percussive drilling. At first, the physical model for mechanical percussion-heat transfer coupled process was built. And then the heat transfer model, fully coupled thermal stress calculation method, temperature-dependent plasticity damage model for rocks, and impact energy transfer model were introduced. Finally, the mechanical percussion-heat transfer coupled process were simulated. The main findings show that the high temperature effect will reduce the impact energy transfer efficiency. However, it can also reduce the rock strength, which contributes to the generation of rock tensile damage in percussive drilling. The heat exchange between low temperature drilling fluid and the high temperature rock will cause the tensile thermal stress in rocks. This tensile thermal stress can induce rock tensile damage, which will improve the impact energy transfer efficiency in percussive drilling. As the control group, the rocks being heated will reduce the energy transfer efficiency in percussion drilling. When the input impact energy (less than 102 J under the present simulation conditions) is small, the impact energy transfer efficiency of stinger teeth is greater than that of hemispherical teeth. And when the input impact energy is large, the impact energy transfer efficiency of hemispherical teeth is greater than that of stinger teeth. The key findings of this study are expected to provide some theoretical guidance for high-efficiency fragmentation of high temperature hard rocks in percussive drilling.

Background This study introduces an innovative stepwise vascular control technique to address the high risk of massive bleeding from main hepatic veins and the retro-hepatic inferior vena cava during hepatectomy involving hepatocaval confluence. Methods From January 2010 to July 2016, 80 patients underwent stepwise vascular occlusion during complex liver resection involving hepatocaval confluence. Relevant clinical data were collected and compared with those obtained in parallel studies. The protocol has been registered in the Protocol Registration and Results System as protocol NCT02996006. Results All 80 patients underwent portal triad (PT), infra-hepatic inferior vena cava (IIVC) and supra-hepatic inferior vena cava (SIVC) preparation for occlusion in that order; PT, PT + SIVC and PT + IIVC + SIVC occlusions were performed during liver resection for six, 42 and 32 patients, respectively. The PT, IIVC and SIVC clamping times were 12.9 ± 2.5, 9.1 ± 2.1 and 5.1 ± 1.4 min, respectively. The mean blood loss was 504.1 ± 234.5 mL. Sixteen patients received blood transfusions. Haemodynamic parameters remained stable. No patients had life-threatening complications or died (Clavien-Dindo grade IV or V). Compared with other techniques used in parallel studies, this technique has the advantage of decreased blood loss in less warm ischaemia time. Conclusion For complex hepatectomy involving hepatocaval confluence, this newly described stepwise vascular control technique was efficacious and feasible for controlling intraoperative bleeding.

Currently, due to high surface to volume ratio; large availability, rapid kinetics of adsorption and desorption and low cost, the exploitation of microbial biosorption of heavy metals is regarded as a reliable alternative compared to the conventional bioremediation approaches. In parallel with the increasing attractiveness of biosorption research, its pace of advance is also boosted. The barrier that prevent biosorption as an effective method from being applied into wastewater purification is listed, (1) There is not enough data on multi-component biosorption, (2) It remains to be seen that physical-chemical characteristics of different biomasses. (3) Studies on surface modification of strains for enhancement of heavy metals removal efficiency is lack. And extensive literatures involving the mechanism and model of biosorption for particular metal and microbial strains are not available. The present literatures lack systematization, the theory on interaction between lactic acid bacteria and Pb is far from complete. Therefore, the review tries to give a comprehensive explanation about the mechanism of Pb removal from Lactic acid bacteria and provide a brief overview of distinction between biosorption and bioaccumulation, biosorption technology, highlight the underlying features of biosorption and the various affecting factors such as pH, dose required, initial concentration, temperature, and treatment performance as a reference. Biosorption mechanisms can be briefly generalized into several pathways, which are ion exchange, complexation, precipitation, reduction and chelation. Many views holds that complexation is the major absorption mechanisms of Pb. Biosorption mechanisms can be roughly classified as biosorption and bioaccumulation, which have great differences between each other. Biosorption is metabolism-independent but fast, while bioaccumulation is metabolism-dependent but slow. The slight advantages of the bioaccumulation are the metabolite (lactic acid), lactobacillus surface-layers, enzymes and so on. Many factors can greatly affect adsorption process, different factors have different influence and the effects of pretreatment, pH and temperature are relatively greater. Desorption is not a fully reversible process of biosorption, but could not only achieve the goal of the recycle of microorganism, but also contribute to release of trace metal elements. Also the technologies for observation of biosorbents characterics and effect on the metal binding process are reviewed.

Angelica acutiloba (AA), a Japanese species of Danggui, has been used worldwide as a traditional herbal medicine with several bioactivities including anti-diabetic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-obesity. However, there is lack of toxicological data available to evaluate potential long-term toxicity and the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of AA extract in accordance with the test guidelines published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In the 14-day repeat-dose toxicity study, no adverse effects on mortality, body weight change, clinical signs, and organ weights was found following repeat oral administration to rats for 14 days (125, 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg body weight), leading that 2000 mg/kg is the highest recommended dose of AA extract for the 13-week repeat-dose oral toxicity study. In the 13-week repeat-dose oral toxicity study, the AA extract was orally administered to groups of rats for 13 weeks (125, 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg body weight) to compare between control and AA extract groups. The administration of AA extract did not produce mortality or remarkable clinical signs during this 13-week study. And, the data revealed that there were no significant differences in food/water consumption, body weight, hematological parameters, clinical chemistry parameters, gross macroscopic findings, organ weight and histopathology in comparison to the control group. On the basis of these results, the subchronic NOAEL of the AA extract was more than 2000 mg/kg/day when tested in rats. And, the AA extract is considered safe to use orally as a traditional herbal medicine.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) in livestock manure used as fertilizer and spread over agriculture land, may pose a threat to the health of humans. Considering this, the concentrations of tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), and sulfathiazole (STZ) in the surface soil were quantified using LC-MS. These antibiotics have been used in livestock and are found in fertilizer produced from livestock excretions. Species of ABR were identified using 16S rDNA. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0, 7, and 15 cm from farmland in Incheon (South Korea). In the surface soil, three compounds were detected: TC (17.74 μg/kg), OTC (0.78 μg/kg), and STZ (0.23 μg/kg). However, except for STZ, antibiotics were not detected in the deeper samples. Overall, TC can form a chelated complex with cations, which consequently enhances its adsorption to the organic matter and metals in soil. This property can significantly reduce the mobility of TC (to lower than that of STZ). The result of 16S rDNA gene analysis indicated that Pseudomonas spp., Arthrobacter spp., and Rhodococcus spp. showed persistent resistance to the three antibiotics tested. DNA quantification results revealed strong resistance of Pseudomonas spp. to STZ, whereas Arthrobacter spp. and Rhodococcus spp. had resistance to TC and OTC. Antibiotics biodegradation suggested ability of ARB to grow in soil samples in presence of residual antibiotics during 13 days incubation. The concentrations of STZ, TC, and OTC reduced as much as 23.53, 35.60 and 66.88%, respectively.

Artemisia capillaris (AC) has been used as an alternative therapy in obesity, atopic dermatitis, and liver diseases through several biological activity including anti-steatotic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. Despite its ethnomedicinal benefits, no sufficient background information is available about the long-term safety and genotoxicity of the AC extract. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the 13-week subchronic toxicity and genotoxicity of the AC extract according to the test guidelines published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In the 13-week toxicity study using doses of 25, 74, 222, 667, and 2000 mg/kg body weight, oral administration of the AC extract in male and female rats did not result in any significant adverse effects in food/water consumption, body weight, mortality, hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight and histopathology. Accordingly, the no-observed-adverse-effect level in rats of both genders was established for the AC extract at 2000 mg/kg/day, the highest dose level tested. In addition, the AC extract was not genotoxic in a battery of tests including Ames test, in vitro chromosome aberration assay and in vivo micronucleus assay. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the AC extract is considered as a safe traditional medicine for human consumption.

Yu-Ming Wang,1,* Ran Ji,1,* Wei-Wei Chen,1 Shun-Wei Huang,1 Yan-Jun Zheng,1 Zhi-Tao Yang,1 Hong-Ping Qu,2 Hao Chen,3 En-Qiang Mao,1 Ying Chen,1 Er-Zhen Chen1 1Department of Emergency, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Critical Care Medicine, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of General Surgery, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ying Chen; Er-Zhen ChenDepartment of Emergency, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 197 Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai 200025, ChinaTel +86 216 437 0045Fax +86 216 433 3548Email bichatlion@163.com; chenerzhen@hotmail.comPurpose: It has been reported that approximately 40% of ALI (acute lung injury) incidence resulted from sepsis. Paclitaxel, as a classic anti-cancer drug, plays an important role in the regulation of inflammation. However, we do not know whether it has a protective effect against CLP (cecal ligation and puncture)-induced septic ALI. Our study aims to illuminate the mitigative effects of paclitaxel on sepsis-induced ALI and its relevant mechanisms.Materials and methods: The survival rates and organ injuries were used to evaluate the effects of paclitaxel on CLP mice. The levels of inflammatory cytokines were tested by ELISA. MUC1 siRNA pre-treatment was used to knockdown MUC1 expression in vitro. GO203 was used to inhibit the homodimerization of MUC1-C in vivo. The expression levels of MUC1, TLR 4 and p-NF-κB/p65 were detected by Western blot.Results: Our results showed that paclitaxel improved the survival rates and ameliorated organ injuries especially lung injury in CLP-induced septic mice. These were accompanied by reduced inflammatory cytokines in sera and BALF (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid). We also found paclitaxel could attenuate TLR 4-NF-κB/p65 activation both in lung tissues of septic mice and LPS-stimulated lung type II epithelial cell line A549. At the upstream level, paclitaxel-upregulated expression levels of MUC1 in both in vivo and in vitro experiments. The inhibitory effects of paclitaxel on TLR 4-NF-κB/p65 activation were reversed in lung tissues of septic mice pre-treated with MUC1 inhibitor and in MUC1-knockdown A549 cells. Protection of paclitaxel on sepsis-induced ALI and decrease of inflammatory cytokines were also abolished by inhibition of MUC1.Conclusion: Collectively, these results indicated paclitaxel could significantly alleviate acute lung injury in CLP-induced septic mice and LPS-stimulated lung type II epithelial cell line A549 by activating MUC1 and suppressing TLR-4/NF-κB pathway.Keywords: sepsis, acute lung injury, MUC1, TLR 4, NF-κB

Heavy metal lead, which enters the human body through food intake, endangers human health. Microbe has the ability of adsorbing heavy metal, among which lactic acid bacteria are promising microbes to adsorb and remove Pb2+. The purpose of this study was to screen lactic acid bacteria from Ya’an pickle water to effectively remove Pb2+. The 7 strains having strong ability to effectively remove Pb2+ were detected. These strains were identified by microscopic examination and 16S rDNA sequencing, 4 strains of Lactobacillus plantarum and 3 strains of Lactobacillus brevis were obtained. Then the bacteria had a blind adsorption effect on Pb2+. After microwave digestion, the Pb2+ concentration was measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The highest removal reached 82.25%. The adsorption mechanism of lactic acid bacteria was mainly divided into biosorption and bioaccumulation. The 7 strains of lactic acid bacteria could provide potential for detoxification of contaminated foods and reduction of the Pb2+ accumulation in the human diet and animal feed. At the same time, this study was helpful to further understand the mechanism of Pb2+ being adsorbed by lactic acid bacteria. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13568-018-0724-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Microwave digestion program. Table S2. The proportion of solvent.

A disease prevalence can be estimated by classifying subjects according to whether they have the disease. When gold-standard tests are too expensive to be applied to all subjects, partially validated data can be obtained by double-sampling in which all individuals are classified by a fallible classifier, and some of individuals are validated by the gold-standard classifier. However, it could happen in practice that such infallible classifier does not available. In this article, we consider two models in which both classifiers are fallible and propose four asymptotic test procedures for comparing disease prevalence in two groups. Corresponding sample size formulae and validated ratio given the total sample sizes are also derived and evaluated. Simulation results show that (i) Score test performs well and the corresponding sample size formula is also accurate in terms of the empirical power and size in two models; (ii) the Wald test based on the variance estimator with parameters estimated under the null hypothesis outperforms the others even under small sample sizes in Model II, and the sample size estimated by this test is also accurate; (iii) the estimated validated ratios based on all tests are accurate. The malarial data are used to illustrate the proposed methodologies.

The dismantling of UNGG reactors produces large volumes of contaminated metallic materials. Among these, magnesium-based alloys which are known as highly reactive metals, have a high risk of corrosion and can generate hydrogen gas that can cause serious damages during storage. In order to reduce the volume of generated radioactive effluents and downgrade nuclear wastes, sonochemistry can be applied as an efficient technology for metallic surface decontamination. Sonochemistry deals with the effects of ultrasound waves on chemical reactions in solution. The effects observed in sonochemistry originate from the acoustic cavitation phenomenon, which is the nucleation, growth and rapid implosive collapse of gas and vapor filled microbubbles. Excited species and radicals can be generated in the formed plasma and light (sonoluminescence) is emitted. When the bubble collapse takes place in the vicinity of a solid surface, it produces violent shock waves and microjets directed towards the surface. These physical effects strongly contribute in ultrasonic cleaning, surface depassivation and decontamination.This study focuses on: 1) the cavitation behaviors near a solid surface; 2) the ultrasonic structuration of extended magnesium surfaces; 3) the ultrasonic decontamination of radioactive metal surfaces. The sonochemical activity is evaluated by measuring H2O2 yields, sonochemiluminescence distribution and sonoluminescence spectra. Surface structuration and decontamination effects are followed by means of SEM, EDS, FTIR, Raman, XRD, wetting behavior analysis, mass spectrometry and ICP-AES.The investigations reveal a strong ultrasonic frequency dependency of the cavitation activity and distribution and of the effects generated on the Mg samples. A homogeneous spatial repartition of sonochemical activity is observed at frequencies ≥ 100 kHz. Asymmetrical bubble collapse is found more likely to happen near the solid surface at high frequency ultrasound. A golf-ball like extended structure is observed at frequencies between 100 and 362 kHz. It is shown that such architectures result from the ultrasonically controlled dissolution of the Mg surface. Heterogeneous nucleation provided by the creation of defects by ultrasound and the release of H2 gas are supposed to be at the origin of the crater formation. Decontamination of radioactive surfaces of Mg and Mg alloys demonstrate rapid ultrasonic cleaning followed by a slow recontamination process which is due to the adsorption of brucite formed on the surfaces of Mg or its alloys., Le démantèlement des réacteurs UNGG produit un grand volume de matériaux métalliques contaminés. Parmi ceux-ci, les alliages à base de magnésium, connus comme métaux hautement réactifs, présentent un risque élevé de corrosion et peuvent générer de l'hydrogène gazeux qui peut causer de graves dommages pendant le stockage. Afin de réduire le volume des effluents radioactifs générés et de déclasser les déchets nucléaires, la sonochimie peut être mise en œuvre comme technologie efficace pour la décontamination des surfaces métalliques. La sonochimie traite des effets des ondes ultrasonores sur les réactions chimiques en solution. Les effets observés en sonochimie proviennent du phénomène de cavitation acoustique, qui est la nucléation, la croissance et l'effondrement implosif rapide de microbulles remplies de gaz et de vapeur. Des espèces et des radicaux excités peuvent être générés dans le plasma formé, qui émet de la lumière (sonoluminescence). Lorsque l’effondrement des bulles a lieu à proximité d'une surface solide, il produit des ondes de choc violentes et des microjets dirigés vers la surface. Ces effets physiques contribuent fortement au nettoyage par ultrasons, à la dépassivation de surfaces et à la décontamination.Cette étude se concentre sur : 1) les comportements de cavitation près d'une surface solide ; 2) la structuration ultrasonore des surfaces étendues de magnésium ; 3) la décontamination par ultrasons de surfaces métalliques radioactives. L'activité sonochimique est évaluée en mesurant les rendements en H2O2, la distribution de sonochimiluminescence et les spectres de sonoluminescence. Les effets de la structuration et de la décontamination des surfaces sont suivis au moyen de MEB, EDS, FTIR, Raman, DRX, analyse du comportement de mouillage, spectrométrie de masse et ICP-AES.Ce travail a mis en évidence le fort impact de la fréquence ultrasonore sur l'activité sonochimique, sa distribution spatiale et sur les effets générés sur les échantillons de magnésium. Une répartition spatiale homogène de l'activité sonochimique est observée aux fréquences ≥ 100 kHz. L'effondrement asymétrique des bulles est plus susceptible de se produire près de la surface solide aux ultrasons à haute fréquence. La formation d’une structure allongée semblable à une balle de golf est observée à des fréquences comprises entre 100 et 362 kHz. De telles architectures résultent de la dissolution contrôlée par ultrasons de la surface Mg. Il est probable que la nucléation hétérogène assurée par la création de défauts par les ultrasons et la libération de gaz H2 soient à l'origine de la formation des cratères. La décontamination des surfaces radioactives de Mg et d’alliages de Mg ont d'abord démontré un nettoyage rapide par les ultrasons suivi d’un lent processus de recontamination due à l'adsorption de brucite formée sur les surfaces de Mg ou de ses alliages.

Background Seed of mature Croton tiglium Linne, also known as Tiglium seed (TS), has been widely used as a natural product due to its several health beneficial properties including anti-tumor and antifungal activities. Despite its ethnomedicinal beneficial properties, toxicological information regarding TS extract, especially its long-term toxicity, is currently limited. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to evaluate acute and subchronic toxicity of TS extract in rats after oral administration following test guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Methods Toxicological properties of TS extract were evaluated by toxicity assays to determine its single-dose acute toxicity (125, 250, 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg), 14-day repeated-dose toxicity (125, 250, 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg) and 13-week repeated-dose toxicity (31.25, 62.5, 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg) in Sprague-Dawley rats and F344 rats. Hematological, serum biochemical, and histopathological parameters were analyzed to determine its median lethal dose (LD50) and no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL). Results Oral single dose up to 2000 mg/kg of TS extract resulted in no mortalities or abnormal clinical signs. In 13-week toxicity study, TS extract exhibited no dose-related changes (mortality, body weight, food/water consumption, hematology, clinical biochemistry, organ weight, or histopathology) at dose up to 500 mg/kg, the highest dosage level suggested based on 14-day repeat-dose oral toxicity study. Conclusion Acute oral LD50 of TS extract in rats was estimated to be greater than 2000 mg/kg. NOAEL of TS extract administered orally was determined to be 500 mg/kg/day in both male and female rats. Results from these acute and subchronic toxicity assessments of TS extract under Good Laboratory Practice regulations indicate that TS extract appears to be safe for human consumption. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-018-2315-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Organ weights of male and female F344 rats orally administered with Tiglium seed extract for 14Â days. (DOCX 30 kb)

Summary incidence of gross findings of F344 rats orally administered with Tiglium seed extract for 13Â weeks. (DOCX 18 kb)

Summary incidence of gross findings of F344 rats orally administered with Tiglium seed extract for 14Â days. (DOCX 17 kb)

In this paper we confirm a folklore conjecture which suggests that for a complete noncompact manifold $M$ of finite volume with sectional curvature $-1 \leq K \leq 0$, if the universal cover of $M$ is a visibility manifold, then the fundamental group of each end of $M$ is almost nilpotent. Applications on the geometry and topology of noncompact nonpositively curved manifolds will be discussed., Comment: 35 pages, 2 figures. Comments are welcome

As a well-known traditional medicine, Angelica gigas (AG) and its active constituents, including decursin and decursinol, have been shown to possess several health beneficial properties such as anti-bacterial, immunostimulating, anti-tumor, neuroprotective, anti-nociceptive and anti-amnestic activities. However, there is lack of toxicity studies to assess potential toxicological concerns, especially long-term toxicity and genotoxicity, regarding the AG extract. Therefore, the safety of AG extract was assessed in subchronic toxicity and genotoxicity assays in accordance with the test guidelines published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In a subchronic toxicity study for 13 weeks (125, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg body weight, delivered by gavage), data revealed no significant adverse effects of the AG extract in food consumption, body weight, mortality, hematology, biochemistry, necropsy, organ weight and histopathology throughout the study in male and female rats. These results suggest that no observed adverse effect level of the AG extract administered orally was determined to be greater than 2000 mg/kg/day, the highest dose tested. In addition, a battery of tests including Ames test, in vitro chromosome aberration assay and in vivo micronucleus assay suggested that the AG extract was not genotoxic. In conclusion, the AG extract appears to be safe as a traditional medicine for oral consumption.

As for the increasing usage of orthotropic and composite materials as a coating of conventional materials in structural applications, a method based on the Green׳s function for the orthotropic coating-substrate system under a normal line force is proposed in this paper. The coating and substrate are modeled as an infinite layer and a semi-infinite substrate respectively. they are perfectly bonded or in smooth contact at the interface. Based on the general solution of orthotropic material, the corresponding harmonic functions with undetermined constants are constructed. Full elastic field can be obtained by substituting these harmonic functions into the general solution. The undetermined constants can be determined by the boundary conditions on the surface and the compatibility conditions at the interface between the coating layer and the semi-infinite substrate. Numerical results are given to show the accuracy and efficiency of this method in studies on the interface effect, interface debonding, coating tensile failure and the relationship between the orthotropic elastic moduli with the stress distributions. The proposed method can suggest possible mechanisms by which orthotropic coated structures can be designed for engineering applications.

Although silicon dioxide (SiO2), silver (Ag) and iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles are widely used in diverse applications from food to biomedicine, in vivo toxicities of these nanoparticles exposed via the oral route remain highly controversial. To examine the systemic toxicity of these nanoparticles, well-dispersed nanoparticles were orally administered to Sprague-Dawley rats daily over a 13-week period. Based on the results of an acute toxicity and a 14-day repeated toxicity study, 975.9, 1030.5 and 1000 mg kg(-1) were selected as the highest dose of the SiO2 , Ag and Fe2O3 nanoparticles, respectively, for the 13-week repeated oral toxicity study. The SiO2 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles did not induce dose-related changes in a number of parameters associated with the systemic toxicity up to 975.9 and 1000 mg kg(-1) , respectively, whereas the Ag nanoparticles resulted in increases in serum alkaline phosphatase and calcium as well as lymphocyte infiltration in liver and kidney, raising the possibility of liver and kidney toxicity induced by the Ag nanoparticles. Compared with the SiO2 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles showing no systemic distribution in all tissues tested, the Ag concentration in sampled blood and organs in the Ag nanoparticle-treated group significantly increased with a positive and/or dose-related trend, meaning that the systemic toxicity of the Ag nanoparticles, including liver and kidney toxicity, might be explained by extensive systemic distribution of Ag originating from the Ag nanoparticles. Our current results suggest that further study is required to identify that Ag detected outside the gastrointestinal tract were indeed a nanoparticle form or ionized form.

A high performance liquid chromatographic method for simultaneous determination of seven metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including 1-hydroxynaphthalene, 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 2-hydroxyfluorene, 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, 4-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydroxypyrene and 6-hydroxychrysene in human urine, was developed coupled with online solid phase extraction by use of a double ternary liquid chromatography system with a fluorescence detector. The target compounds were online concentrated on the Turboflow Cyclone solid phase extraction column, and then transferred by a six-way valve to the Hypersil Green PAH column for separation with acetonitrile and water as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−1 and 35 °C. The analysis was completed in 20 min. Under the optimized chromatographic conditions, the method showed good linearity (r ≥ 0.999) in the range of 5−2000 ng L−1 or 50−20000 ng L−1 with the LODs of 0.5−15 ng L−1 and the recoveries of 80.7%−110.7%. The proposed method was successfully applied to the detection of metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urine from several smokers and non-smokers. The concentrations of 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 1-hydroxynaphthalene, 2-hydroxyfluorene, 2-hydroxyphenanthrene, 4-hydroxyphenanthrene and 6-hydroxychrysene in the smoker urine were much higher than those in non-smoker.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the postoperative outcomes of preserving the left colonic artery during laparoscopic anterior resection for rectal cancer. METHODS: The clinicopathologic data of 91 rectal cancer patients (pathologic Stage Ⅱ) undergoing laparoscopic anterior resection was retrospectively analyzed. During the surgeries, the left colonic artery was preserved in 40 patients (preserved group) and ligated in 51 patients (unpreserved group). The operating time, intraoperative blood loss, time to first flatus and defecation, duration of postoperative abdominal distension and pain, number of retrieved lymph nodes, ileum fistulation and anatomical leakage rate were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The surgeries were completed in all the 91 patients laparoscopically without conversion. There was no intraoperative complications including rectal perforation, injury to vessel or ureter in either group. The operating time, blood loss and number of retrieved lymph nodes were similar between the groups (P>0.05). Three patients in preserved group and 5 in ligation group received preventive ileum fistulation due to low rectal cancer. Anatomical leakage occurred in three patients of unpreserved group. The average duration of postoperative abdominal distension and pain was 2.14±0.35 days in preserved group and 3.15±0.42 days in ligation group. The time to first flatus and defecation was 37.15±12.62 h and 3.16±0.52 days in preserved group and 62.25±11.75 h and 4.25±0.75 days in ligation group. Postoperative hospital stay was 4.54±0.42 days in preserved group and 6.23±0.51 days in ligation group. Total hospitalization cost in the two groups was 34 525.32±1206.36 Yuan and 41 215±1051.32 Yuan, respectively. Significant differences were found the in duration of postoperative abdominal distension and pain, postoperative hospital stay, and total cost between the two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: During laparoscopic anterior resection for rectal cancer, preserving the left colonic artery effectively ensures the blood supply to the anastomosis and the remaining descending colon to promote the recovery of the patients after surgery.

This study introduces an innovative stepwise vascular control technique to address the high risk of massive bleeding from main hepatic veins and the retro-hepatic inferior vena cava during hepatectomy involving hepatocaval confluence.From January 2010 to July 2016, 80 patients underwent stepwise vascular occlusion during complex liver resection involving hepatocaval confluence. Relevant clinical data were collected and compared with those obtained in parallel studies. The protocol has been registered in the Protocol Registration and Results System as protocol NCT02996006.All 80 patients underwent portal triad (PT), infra-hepatic inferior vena cava (IIVC) and supra-hepatic inferior vena cava (SIVC) preparation for occlusion in that order; PT, PT + SIVC and PT + IIVC + SIVC occlusions were performed during liver resection for six, 42 and 32 patients, respectively. The PT, IIVC and SIVC clamping times were 12.9 ± 2.5, 9.1 ± 2.1 and 5.1 ± 1.4 min, respectively. The mean blood loss was 504.1 ± 234.5 mL. Sixteen patients received blood transfusions. Haemodynamic parameters remained stable. No patients had life-threatening complications or died (Clavien-Dindo grade IV or V). Compared with other techniques used in parallel studies, this technique has the advantage of decreased blood loss in less warm ischaemia time.For complex hepatectomy involving hepatocaval confluence, this newly described stepwise vascular control technique was efficacious and feasible for controlling intraoperative bleeding.

Ecklonia cava (EC) is known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties. Despite its wide use and beneficial properties, comprehensive toxicological information regarding EC extract is currently limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate acute toxicity, subchronic toxicity, and genotoxicity of enzymatic EC extract according to test guidelines published by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The acute oral LD50 values of this EC extract administered to rats and dogs were estimated to be more than 3000 mg/kg BW. In an oral 13-week toxicity study, changes in body weights of rats exposed to the EC extract up to 3000 mg/kg BW were found to be normal. In addition, repeated doses of EC extract failed to influence any systematic parameters of treatment-related toxic symptoms such as food/water consumption, mortality, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight, or histopathology. These results indicated that the no-observed-adverse-effect level for the EC extract was 3000 mg/kg/day for male and female rats. Data obtained from Ames test, chromosome aberration assay, and micronucleus assay indicated that EC extract was not mutagenic or clastogenic. Taken together, these results support the safety of enzymatic EC extract as a potential therapeutic for human consumption against various diseases.

Among three representative species of Angelica found in Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan, Angelica acutiloba (AA) has been used as traditional herbal medicine with antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetes activities. In this study, the potential genotoxicity and mutagenicity of the AA extract were examined in a battery of in vitro and in vivo tests (bacterial reverse mutation assay, in vitro chromosomal aberrations assay, and in vivo micronucleus assay) in accordance with the test guidelines for toxicity testing developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Upon testing in the bacterial mutation assay (Ames test) using five Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, TA102, TA1535 and TA1537, no significant increase the number of revertant colonies in the metabolic activation system and non-activation system was noted in the AA extract groups. Also, in the chromosome aberration test, the AA extract did not cause chromosomal aberration with or without metabolic activation by S9 mix. A bone marrow micronucleus test of mice demonstrated that the incidence of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes in the AA extract groups (500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg BW) was equivalent to that of the negative control group. Based on these results from a standard battery of assays, the AA extract was concluded to have no genotoxic at the proper dose.

Koji products have been considered as an effective fermented food consumed in East Asia with many health benefits. Particularly, rice koji with Aspergillus terreus (RAT) has been reported to be able to prevent hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis through regulating cholesterol synthesis. Despite its biological activities, there is a lack of comprehensive information to give an assurance of its safety. Therefore, the objective of this study was to perform a series of toxicological studies (repeated dose oral toxicity and genotoxicity) according to test guidelines published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Along with acute toxicity study using rats and beagle dogs, a 13-week toxicity study revealed no clear RAT-related toxic changes, including body weight, mortality, hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight, and histopathology after oral administration at doses of 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg BW. The no-observed-adverse-effect level of RAT was considered to be more than 2000 mg/kg BW/day in rats of both genders. In addition, potential genotoxicity was evaluated using a standard battery of tests (Ames test, chromosome aberration assay, and micronucleus assay) which revealed that RAT showed no genotoxicity. Accordingly, these results suggest that RAT is a safe and non-toxic functional food for human consumption at proper dose.

En aquesta tesi em plantejo com a objectiu últim elaborar una proposta de materials didàctics centrats en el lèxic del futbol per a estudiants xinesos d'ELE (Espanyol com a Llengua Estrangera) interessats a desenvolupar la seva tasca professional en l'àmbit futbolístic. Per aconseguir aquest objectiu, he anat desenvolupant diferents objectius específics, que m'han conduït a poder presentar les següents aportacions. En primer lloc, he elaborat el marc teòric per tal circumscriure els termes del futbol en alguna de les teories terminològiques existents. En segon lloc, he confeccionat un corpus de futbol de més d'un 1.328.683 paraules, corpus explotat amb l'estació de treball terminològica Terminus 2.0, gràcies a la qual puc comptar amb una llista de 1000 candidats a terme extrets de la meva corpus de futbol, base fonamental per a la continuació d'aquesta recerca. En tercer lloc, he ordenat, classificat i agrupat en diferents grups els termes del futbol seleccionats per tal de comptar amb els termes vàlids per analitzar les seves característiques lexicològiques. En quart lloc, he establert criteris objectius per agrupar cada un dels termes del futbol sota el seu nivell de referència corresponent (A1-C2). I, en cinquè lloc, abans de plantejar la proposta de l'elaboració de materials didàctics, he estudiat quin mètode o enfocament s’ha d’aplicar per ensenyar amb èxit el lèxic del futbol a estudiants xinesos d'ELE interessats a desenvolupar la seva tasca professional en l'àmbit futbolístic. Tot això ha estat fonamental tant per a l'elaboració d'un glossari bilingüe del lèxic del futbol com per a l'elaboració d'una unitat didàctica de mostra orientada a ensenyar l’esmentat lèxic a estudiants xinesos d'ELE interessats a desenvolupar la seva tasca professional en l'àmbit futbolístic., En esta tesis me planteo como objetivo último elaborar una propuesta de materiales didácticos centrados en el léxico del fútbol para estudiantes chinos de ELE (Español como Lengua Extranjera) interesados en desarrollar su labor profesional en el ámbito futbolístico. Para lograr este objetivo, he ido desarrollando diferentes objetivos específicos, que me han conducido a poder presentar las siguientes aportaciones. En primer lugar, he elaborado el marco teórico con el fin circunscribir los términos del fútbol en alguna de las teorías terminológicas existentes. En segundo lugar, he confeccionado un corpus de fútbol de más de un 1.328.683 palabras, corpus explotado con la estación de trabajo terminológica Terminus 2.0, gracias a la cual puedo contar con una lista de 1000 candidatos a término extraídos de mi corpus de fútbol, base fundamental para la continuación de esta investigación. En tercer lugar, he ordenado, clasificado y agrupado en distintos grupos los términos del fútbol seleccionados con el fin de contar con los términos válidos para analizar sus características lexicológicas. En cuarto lugar, he establecido criterios objetivos para agrupar cada uno de los términos de fútbol bajo su nivel de referencia correspondiente (A1-C2). Y, en quinto lugar, antes de plantear la propuesta de la elaboración de materiales didácticos, he estudiado qué método o enfoque debe aplicarse para que se pueda enseñar con éxito el léxico del fútbol a estudiantes chinos de ELE interesados en desarrollar su labor profesional en el ámbito futbolístico. Todo ello ha sido fundamental tanto para la elaboración de un glosario bilingüe del léxico del fútbol como para la elaboración de una unidad didáctica de muestra orientada a enseñar dicho léxico estudiantes chinos de ELE interesados en desarrollar su labor profesional en el ámbito futbolístico., In this thesis I offer, as ultimate goal, a proposal of didactic materials focused on the lexicon of football for Chinese students of ELE (Spanish as a Foreign Language) interested in developing their profession in the field of football. To achieve this goal, I have developed different specific goals, which have led me to present the following contributions. In the first place, I have elaborated the theoretical framework in order to circumscribe the terms of football according to some of the existing terminological theories. Secondly, I have made a corpus of more than 1,328,683 words of football, which was exploited with the terminology workstation Terminus 2.0. Thanks to such application, a list of 1000 candidates of football terms was extracted, which is the fundamental basis for the continuation of this research. Thirdly, I have ordered, classified and grouped the selected football terms in order to obtain valid terms to analyze their lexicological characteristics. Fourth, I have established objective criteria for grouping the football terms into their corresponding reference levels (A1-C2). And, fifthly, considering the development of teaching materials, I have studied what method or approach should be applied, so that the lexicon of football can be successfully taught to Chinese students of ELE who are interested in developing their profession in the field of football. All these have been fundamental not only for the preparation of a bilingual glossary of the lexicon of football, but also for the elaboration of a didactic unit, as a sample, aimed to teach the lexicon of football to Chinese students of ELE interested in developing their profession in the field of football.