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Background The number of researches on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer has been increasing in recent years, but no researcher has systematically analyzed it using bibliometric analysis. Objective To analyze the researches on the application of AI to diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer, explore the research hotspots and development trends from 2003 to 2022. Methods On November 06, 2022, Web of Science (WOS) core collection database was searched by computer to obtain studies on the application of AI to gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment, and VOSviewer 1.6.18 software was used to visualize and analyze inter-country (region), inter-institution, and inter-author collaborations, co-cited authors, keyword co-occurrences and overlays through bibliometric analysis. CiteSpace 5.7.R5 software was used to perform institutional betweenness centrality analysis, journal biplot overlay, cluster analysis of co-cited literature for the last 6 years, co-cited literature clustering timeline graph analysis and reference bursting analysis. Excel 2019 software was used to plot bar graphs of the volume of publications and descriptive analysis tables of countries (regions), institutions, journals, authors, cited references and keywords. Results A total of 703 papers were included, and the annual publication volume of the application of AI to gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment showed an overall increasing trend from 2003-2022, with a rapid increase after 2017 and the most rapid growth from 2019-2021. The top publishing country, institution and author was China, Chinese Academy of Sciences and TADA TOMOHIRO, respectively. The top three co-cited authors of BRAY FREDDIE, HIRASAWA TOSHIAKI and JIANG YUMING had made significant contributions to the field. Frontiers in Oncology was the journal with the highest publication volume, and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy was the most influential journal among the top ten journals for researches related to the application of AI to the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer. The citing journals mainly focused on the two fields of "Medicine, Medical, Clinical" and "Molecular, Biology, Immunology". And the cited journals mainly focused on the two fields of "Molecular, Biology, Genetics" and "Health, Nursing, Medicine". The top-ranked literature in terms of total citations titled Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. All keywords were classified into 4 categories based on keyword clustering results, including AI-assisted biological research of gastric cancer, AI-assisted endoscopic diagnosis of gastric cancer, AI-assisted pathological diagnosis of gastric cancer, and AI-assisted non-endoscopic treatment and prognosis prediction of gastric cancer. Deep learning, convolutional neural network, imaging histology, gastrointestinal endoscopy, pathology and immunotherapy were the current research hotspots. Conclusion AI has a broad application prospect in gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment, and more and more scholars are devoted to AI in gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment. Currently, AI has been widely studied in the biology, diagnosis, staging, efficacy assessment and prognosis prediction of gastric cancer. The results of this study can provide a reference for scholars engaged in research work related to AI and gastric cancer.

Objective To establish a prediction model for non-curative resection in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), and to evaluate its predictive value. Methods Clinical data of EGC patients in the Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University from January 2014 to July 2023 were retrospectively collected. According to the postoperative pathological results of ESD, the patients were divided into curative resection group and non-curative resection group. Multifactorial Logistic regression analysis was used to screen the risk factors for non-curative resection after ESD surgery and establish a prediction model, and the model was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves, calibration curves and clinical decision curve analysis. Results A total of 479 EGC patients who underwent ESD were included, with 60 cases in the non-curative resection group and 419 cases in the curative resection group. The results of multifactorial Logistic regression analysis showed that the lesion diameter > 2 cm (OR=3.017, 95% CI: 1.483-6.136, P=0.002), flat lesion morphology (OR=2.712, 95% CI: 0.774-9.497, P=0.043), undifferentiated/mixed histologic type (OR= 4.199, 95% CI: 1.621-10.872, P=0.003), and submucosal infiltration (OR=30.329, 95% CI: 13.059-70.436, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for non-curative resection after ESD in EGC patients. The area under the curve of ROC validated within the column-line graph prediction model constructed accordingly was 0.867 (95% CI: 0.811-0.923), the calibration curve showed that the model had good calibration, and decision curve analysis showed the model had a good clinical usefulness. Conclusions The prediction model constructed based on lesion diameter, lesion morphology, histologic type, and depth of mucosal infiltration has good differentiation, calibration, and clinical utility. This model is expected to assist in the early clinical screening of the population at high risk for noncurative resection after ESD in patients with EGC, and to provide a basis for the development of optimal clinical decisions.

Radiotherapy is an important treatment method for malignant tumors. Radiation resistance is the main obstacle to the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy. Cellular metabolic reprogramming is one of the main features of cancer, and it may have an important effect on the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy. Glutamine is closely related to tumor cell biosynthesis and growth. It affects radiotherapy sensitivity by producing antioxidants through decomposition. In addition, the expression patterns and functions of two isoenzymes of glutamine, namely, glutaminase (GLS) and glutaminase 2 (GLS2), are different and have an important influence on the sensitivity of radiotherapy. The utilization of glutamine metabolism in the tumor microenvironment has great research value to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy. This review describes the metabolic characteristics of glutamine in malignant tumors and the sensitization effect of glutamine inhibitors on the efficacy of radiotherapy.

The paper is based on the monthly price data of major livestock products in China from January 2002 to July 2022, the UVSVM model was used to investigate the dynamic feedback relationship between random price fluctuations and prices of three types of livestock products: Pork, beef and mutton. The result indicates that the random fluctuations in pork prices have a significant impact on pork prices and change in pork price levels will have a positive impact on the short-term random fluctuation in pork price. The random fluctuations in beef and mutton prices have little impact on their respective price. Changes in the price level of beef and mutton will have a negative impact on the random fluctuations in short-term prices. It is proposed to improve the regulatory mechanism of pork reserves and achieve stable supply and prices in the pork market, policy recommendations for taking multiple measures to stabilize the supply of beef and mutton and promote the stable operation of beef and mutton prices, in order to ensure the supply of livestock product and promote high-quality development of agriculture and rural economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High density polyethylene (HDPE) is one of the materials of type IV high pressure hydrogen storage cylinder, and the effects of crystallinity and temperature on the hydrogen permeability of HDPE was analyzed. HDPE samples with different crystallinity were prepared by controlling the cooling process after melting. The test results showed that the hydrogen permeability of the samples decreased with the increase of crystallinity. Besides, the hydrogen permeability of samples was analyzed at different temperatures. The hydrogen permeability coefficient almost increased by one order of magnitude from 15°C to 80°C, while the temperature dependence of the permeability coefficient was lower than that of carbon dioxide and methane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand antioxidant activity of the Se-enriched Danshen and Danshen in-vitro, potassium ferricyanide, o-phenanthroline-Fe2+, pyrogallol autoxidation, scavenging 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and scavenging ABTS+ radical method are used to determine the antioxidant activity of 32%, 42% and 90% ethanol extracts of the root, stem and leaf. Danshen samples come from field experiment foliar spraying with selenite and selenate at three doses. The results show that the all of ethanol extracts of root have no difference between the control group and the Se-enriched group, but the ethanol extracts of stem and leaf is higher between low selenite group and control group. The antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts from the most of the others is higher than that in the control group, but there is no significant difference between them due to the high volatility of the data in the parallel field experiment Comparing the content of total phenolic acid, total flavonoids and total tanshinone in Danshen plants, the antioxidant activity in-vitro is related to the content of the three classes of secondary metabolic products. The difference of antioxidative activity of Se-enriched Danshen is caused by changes in the content of secondary products due to selenium enrichment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postpartum depression (PPD),one of the most common complications after childbirth, is a common, potentially disabling and even life-threatening disease. About one seventh peripartum and postpartum women were subjected to PPD. The apparent effects of untreated PPD on those postpartum women individuals include distress and functional impairment. PPD is actually associated with negative effects on the growth and development in their children. Fortunately, PPD is detectable in routine practice, and there are effective treatments. Studies indicated that both biological and psychosocial factors contributed to PPD pathogenesis. So, clinical treatment of PPD should combine pharmacotherapy with psychotherapy, in which pharmacotherapy includes antidepressants and hormonal therapy. Since there is wide and far effect of breast -feeding on infant development and psychological health, it is the point at issue whether to stop breast-feeding in those PPD women who are taking medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since edge extraction is an important step in image processing, continuity of edge extraction is particularly important. The extraction results can be applied to semantic segmentation and measurement. We present a method for continuous image edge extraction. Firstly, the Canny algorithm is used to get the coarse segmentation results. Because of the arithmetic operations, discontinuity region would be produced inevitably. Two classes of template expansion operations are used to get coarse segmentation results:small radius expansion should be selected for continuous region while bigger radius for the end of the edges, so an expansion graph is achieved. Finally, the expansion graph could be used as the initial u value for mean curvature motion(MCM)equation, the continuous edges will be extracted through iteration which introduces g function. The experimental results verify the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the data on the mineral composition, major and rare earth elements and ytterbium (REY) content variation in No.8 raw and weathered coal from the Taiyuan Formation of Datong coalfield.The optical microscope,inductive coupling plasma mass spectrum,X-ray and XRF means were applied for investigating the geochemistry,facies significance and occurrence characteristics of the major and rare earth elements.The results indicate that the content of some major elements and rare earth elements took place great changes in No.8 weathering coal seam.Fe2O3 content is higher and significantly affected by deuterogenesis pyrite.SiO2 content relatively increases partly due to the release of the Si ion and partly due to the loss of volatile matter in the weathering process of coal seam.Ca and Mg contents decrease obviously due to the ions were migrated into parting, roof and floor.In addition, the individual layer behavior in the lanthanide contraction effects obviously, and the rare earth element content increases obviously.The occurrence of REY also changes to silicate mineral,hydration-phosphate and sulfide binding from the carbonate and organic bound. No matter whether exist the weathering affection or not,the HREY always shows the strong affinity with carbonate minerals.The facies significance of ash component for major element and cerium anomaly parameters to the original sedimentary environment mean no longer precise after the weathering of coal seam.Europium anomaly is less affected by weathering and can still reflect the original sedimentary environment of the coal seam [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the core, thin section, SEM and vitrinite reflectance data, the characteristics of lithology, physical properties, diagenesis, diagenetic stage and sequence, pore type, secondary pore for sand bodies of nearshore subaqueous fan of Shahejie Formation in the steep slope zone of Chezhen depression were discussed; formation condition and controlling factor of secondary pores ("sweet spot")in reservoir with low porosity and permeability were analyzed. The results show that the sand bodies of nearshore subaqueous fan of Shahejie Formation in the steep slope zone of Chezhen depression are consisted of feldspathic sandstone, mainly experiencing compaction, cementation, dissolution and metasomatism in the burial diagenetic evolution, and the reservoir is in the middle diagenetic stage now with the burial depth of 2 000-3 800 m, and the reservoir has the characteristics of low porosity and permeability; the dissolution plays a significant role in improving reservoir quality during the burial diagenetic evolution in the mainly depth; the feldspar dissolution by organic acid in the depth of 2 300-3 100 m and the intergranular and intragranular pores increase the porosity and permeability of reservoir and improve the reservoir quality, and the porosity is up to 25% and the permeability is up to 50 × 10-3 μm2 , so that the reservoir spaces contribute to petroleum accumulation and high yield. In general, dissolutions and secondary pore development zone are very important for predicting favorable reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three wheat hybrids derived from the BNS male sterile line were used to study the effect of harvest time on gluten content, dough rheological properties, starch pasting properties of wheat flour and the quality of steamed bread. Each of the three hybrids was harvested at May 27, May 31 and June 4, respectively. The results showed that the flour quality of BNS hybrids was affected by harvest time to some extents, and the best harvest time varied among the different hybrids. For Baiza 1, Baiza 2 and Baiza 3, the best harvest time was May 27, May 27 and June 4, respectively. Both the flour quality and the comprehensive score and taste of steamed bread were the best for the hybrids harvested at these dates. Moreover, Baiza 2 was suited to make steamed bread and noodle when harvested on May 27. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is critical to estimate voltage sag parameters fast and exactly. The paper presented a novel detection method of voltage sag based on novel Teager energy operator ( NTEO) and RMS algorithm for voltage sag detection and measurement accurately. It introduced a resolution parameter i to improve the performance of TEO, then obtained NTEO, which had better anti-noise performance. First, it used the NTEO algorithm to locate the starting and ending time of voltage dip disturbances, and then using the RMS algorithm to measure the amplitude of the positioned dips. The simulation experiment results indicate that, the proposed method has stronger real-time property than wavelet transform, and it overcomes the lack of the poor anti-noise performance of TEO method and the shortage of RMS that cannot accurately locate the disturbances. The algorithm can detect the voltage sag fast and accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ascertain the geochemistry of trace elements in the No. 2 coal seam at Datong coalfield's Qifeng-shan coalmine, the contents of 15 kinds of trace elements in coal were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), the mineral composition characteristics were observed through optical microscope and the X-ray Diffraction (XRD) method, and the organic affinity and occurrence of trace elements were then analyzed based on statistics. The results show that the contents of most trace elements in the No. 2 coal seam, which is deposited under a continental environment, is lower than that in North China or China coal, and only the elements of As, Re, Mo, Se have enrichment factors higher than six. Mo is a strong organic affinity element; Be, W, T1 and Co are organic affinity elements; As, Th, Se, Sb, Ni, Li and Bi are inorganic-organic affinity elements; Pb, Re and Sc have no organic affinity. The Alluminosilicate fractionation, organic combination, carbonate and inorganic compounds forms are the dominant occurrences for these trace elements in coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on GC-MS and network pharmacology, the active constituents, potential targets, and mechanism of essential oil from Gleditsiae Fructus Abnormalis(EOGFA) against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) injury were explored, and the effective constituents were verified by experiment. To be specific, GC-MS was used identify the constituents of the volatile oil. Secondly, the targets of the constituents and disease were predicted by network pharmacology, and the drug-constituent-target network was constructed, followed by Gene Ontology(GO) term enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathway enrichment of the core targets. Molecular docking was performed to investigate the binding affinity between the active constituents and the targets. Finally, SD rats were used for experimental verification. The I/R injury model was established, and the neurological behavior score, infarct volume, and pathological morphology of brain tissue were measured in each group. The content of interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-6(IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), and the protein expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by Western blot. A total of 22 active constituents and 17 core targets were screened out. The core targets were involved in 56 GO terms and the major KEGG pathways of TNF signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway, and sphingolipid signaling pathway. Molecular docking showed that the active constituents had high affinity to the targets. The results of animal experiment suggested that EOGFA can alleviate the neurological impairment, decrease the cerebral infarct volume and the content of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, and down-regulate the expression of VEGF. The experiment verified the part results of network pharmacology. This study reflects the multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway characteristics of EOGFA. The mechanism of its active constituents is related to TNF and VEGF pathways, which provides a new direction for in-depth research on and secondary development of Gleditsiae Fructus Abnormalis.

To investigate the toxicity and related mechanism of miltirone to human acute myeloid leukemia THP-1 cells. To be specific, the active components and targets of miltirone were retrieved from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP), and the target proteins were converted into standard gene names with UniProt. Acute leukemia-rela-ted target genes were screened from GeneCards and DisGeNET. Venn diagram was constructed with Venny 2.1 to yield the common targets of the disease and the drug. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed by STRING and Cytoscape 3.8.2. THP-1 cells in the logarithmic growth phase were treated with dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO), and 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 μmol·L~(-1) miltirone for 24 h, respectively. The proliferation rate of cells was analyzed by carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester(CFSE), apoptosis rate by flow cytometry with Annexin V-PE/7 AAD staining, and cell morphology by acridine orange staining. Real-time quantitative PCR(qPCR) was employed to detect the mRNA levels of nuclear receptor coactivator 2(NCOA2), poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1(PARP1), B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2)-associated X protein(Bax), Bcl-2, and cysteine aspartyl protease-3(caspase-3). The effect of miltirone on apoptosis was detected in presence of caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK. A total of 26 targets of miltirone, 1 046 genes related to acute leukemia, and 6 common targets of the two were screened out. Flow cytometry result showed miltirone at 10 μmol·L~(-1) can inhibit proliferation and promote apoptosis of THP-1 cells. The typical manifestations of apoptosis, such as cell shrinkage, nuclear rupture, and chromatin agglomerate were displayed by acridine orange staining. The decreased mRNA levels of NCOA2 and PARP1 and increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and the activity of pro-apoptotic protein caspase-3 were observed. Z-VAD-FMK can attenuate the apoptosis-inducing effect of miltirone. This study indicates that miltirone can inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of THP-1 cells, by down-regulating NCOA2 and PARP1, raising Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and activating caspase-3.

Natural antimicrobial peptides have strong bactericidal activities. An obstacle of the development of antimicrobial peptides resides in the difficulty of developing peptides with high biocompatibility. In this study, molecular dynamics analysis was employed to assess the structural characteristics and biological activities of peptides. A (RXKY) 2 (YRY) 2 structure was used as a template to design an antimicrobial peptide RIKL of high-efficiency and low-toxicity, where X represents Ile and Y represents Leu. The secondary structure of the antimicrobial peptide was detected by circular dichroism (CD), and the structures of RIKL in water and in POPC/POPG membrane environment were measured using molecular dynamics. The biological activity of RIKL was further studied by assessing its antimicrobial activity, hemolytic activity, eukaryotic cytotoxicity, and salt ion stability. CD results showed that RIKL presented an α-helical structure in a simulated bacterial membrane environment. Molecular dynamics simulation predicted that the secondary structure of RIKL could be partly retained in water and POPG environment, while this secondary structure was weakened in the POPC environment. Antimicrobial test suggested that RIKL had high antimicrobial activities, and the geometric mean of the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was 3.1 μmol/L. The hemolysis indicated that RIKL had no hemolytic activity within the detection range, and cytotoxicity test suggested the cytotoxicity of RIKL was low. Stability test showed that RIKL maintained antimicrobial activities under different pH, serum concentrations and salt environments. Based on the above results, RIKL has high cell selectivity and has the potential as a highly effective antibacterial drug.

Objectives: To study the association of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and nasal nitric oxide (nNO) with asthma control and their value in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in children., Methods: A total of 186 children aged 5-12 years, who attended the outpatient service of the Department of Respiration, Shanghai Children's Hospital due to bronchial asthma and/or allergic rhinitis or who underwent physical examination, were enrolled as subjects, with 52 children in the asthma group, 60 children in the asthma+allergic rhinitis group, 36 children in the allergic rhinitis group, and 38 children in the control group. FeNO, nNO, and pulmonary function were compared between groups., Results: The asthma+allergic rhinitis, asthma, and allergic rhinitis groups had a significantly higher level of FeNO than the control group ( P <0.05). The asthma+allergic rhinitis and allergic rhinitis groups had a significantly higher level of nNO than the asthma and control groups ( P <0.05). The uncontrolled asthma and partially controlled asthma groups had significantly higher levels of FeNO and nNO than the completely controlled asthma group ( P <0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that nNO had an area under the ROC curve of 0.91, with a sensitivity of 80.0% and a specificity of 89.5% in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in children with asthma ( P <0.05)., Conclusions: The combined measurement of nNO and FeNO can be used to evaluate the control of asthma, and the measurement of nNO can help with the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis in children with bronchial asthma.

To be green and sustainable are essential requirements for modern agriculture in China, with fertilizer input being one of the keys. Developing and extending organic fertilizer has become a basic national policy for agricultural production in China for its eco-friendly and advantages in fertile farmland nurture. Organic fertilizer has wide source and variety. The conditions for agricultural production are also largely different. We analyzed the status of organic fertilizer products and stan-dards, physical and chemical properties differences, differences of carbon and nitrogen mineralization characteristics and their influencing factors. Meanwhile, we reviewed the effects of application of organic fertilizer on basic soil fertility of cultivated land. Due to the differences in source and production process, different organic fertilizers differ in the four main internal factors (the content of organic carbon fractions, total N, active nitrogen and C/N) affecting carbon and nitrogen mineralization characteristics, including mineralization rates and the amount of available nitrogen release. With the influence of external conditions such as edatope, different organic fertilizers vary in nutrient supply characteristics. Overall, organic fertilizer significantly increases soil organic matter content, especially for labile organic matter content and carbon management index (CMI). Moreover, soil contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are expanded. As a result, nutrient loss caused by crop growth is reduced, with positive consequences on soil quality. The application of organic fertilizer on fertile farmland nurture, the theoretical study of organic fertilizer, and the development of safe and efficient organic fertilizer products should be strengthened in the future, promoting the efficient recycling of organic fertilizer resources which could be an important agricultural resource.

"Pre-summer boll, summer boll and autumn boll" have long been regarded as an important index for prematurity and high-yield in cotton. In this study, the prematurity and high-yield cotton cultivar, Baimian 2, was used as the central parent to cross separately with the middle-late-matury lines TM-1 and CIR12, and then two populations of F2 and F2:3 family lines were obtained, which was used to construct two genetic linkage maps. These maps were comprised of 269 and 127 marker loci with the total length 1837.8 cM and 1244.3 cM, respectively. Results of QTL location showed that a total of 29 QTLs were detected in the two combinations, including 16 suggestive QTLs and 13 significant QTLs, of which 5 significant QTLs had higher LOD values that was not only greater than 3 but also greater than the threshold calculated by permutation test. The contribution rate of 16 QTLs explained 10.9%-44.5% of the phenotypic variations. Four common QTLs, qPSB-17 for pre-summer boll, qSB-17 (qSB-17a/17b) for summer boll, and qAB-17 and qAB-12/26 for autumn boll, were detected close to common markers of the same chromosome in the two combinations, which could be applied in marker-assisted selection. Moreover, the contribution rate of qSB-17 (qSB-17a/17b) for summer boll in the two combinations was greater than 10%, and that of qAB-17, qAB-12/26 for autumn boll in one combination were greater than 10%. These common QTLs with greater contribution rates should take into consideration firstly in marker-assisted selection.

Objective: To investigate gene mutations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and K-ras in Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its clinicopathological significance, and to analyze the correlation between these mutations and tumor response to erlotinib treatment., Methods: Mutations of exons 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the EGFR and codons 12, 13 of the K-ras in 301 cases of NSCLC were detected by PCR-amplification and gene sequencing. The relationship between the mutations and clinicopathological characteristics of the 301 patients was analyzed., Results: EGFR mutations were present in 32.9% (99/301) of the samples: 3 mutation in exon 18, 59 in exon 19, 2 in exon 20, and 35 in exon 21. Mutations of K-ras were present in 4.7% (14/301) of the samples: 13 in codon 12 and 1 in codon 13. EGFR mutations were never found in tumors with K-ras mutations, suggesting a mutually exclusive relationship. EGFR mutations were more common in adenocarcinomas, non-smokers and females. Seven out of 10 erlotinib-treated patients with disease control carried EGFR mutation., Conclusion: The frequency of EGFR mutation in Chinese NSCLC patients is higher than that in Westerners, but the frequency of K-ras mutation is quite opposite. Combined detection of EGFR gene and K-ras gene mutation may help clinicians to choose patients who may gain benefit from EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) treatment, and to predict their response to erlotinib treatment and prognosis.

Purified astrocytes were cultured in plates. When astrocytes grew over 80% of the plate, tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii RH strain were added for co-culture. In the period of 0-72 h, change of the astrocytes and tachyzoites was observed after Giemsa staining. In 0-48 h, monodansylcadaverine (MDC) was used to study the action of autophagy in the process of tachyzoites invading astrocytes. At 1 h co-culture, tachyzoites had entered in astrocytes and the autophagosomes appeared. At 4 h, the autophagosomes increased pronouncedly. However, after 12 h, number of autophagosomes considerably decreased and damage of the cells occurred. 48 h later, autophagosomes disappeared and more astrocytes were destroyed. At 72 h most cells destroyed and tachyzoites were released. The result showed that autophagy is inhibited when the astrocytes were in vitro infected by tachyzoites.

Objective: To study the effect of silencing survivin on the growth of Hep-2 human laryngeal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo., Methods: Hep-2 cells were transfected with pGCsilencer-siRNA-survivin (psi-survivin)by Lipofectamine 2000. The mRNA and protein expressions of survivin were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. Cell proliferation activity was measured by MTT assay. Apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry. The implanted tumors were formed from injected Hep-2 cells in nude mice. After the tumor formation, psi-survivin was injected into peritumor tissues. The growth of tumor were observed. The tumor volume was calculated and the tumor growth curve was plotted. The expression of survivin in tumor tissues was detected by Western blot. The tumor cell apoptosis was observed by Tunel staining., Results: The sequence-specific siRNA of survivin inhibited the expressions of survivin mRNA and protein. The inhibition rates of survivin mRNA and protein expression were 54.4% and 37.0% respectively. Also the growth of Hep-2 cells was inhibited significantly, with a decrease by 71.7%. By the day 32 of tumor growth, the mean tumor volumes were (1443.9 ± 230.5) mm(3) (x(-) ± s) in saline control group, (1348.5 ± 198.4) mm(3) in plasmid-negative control group, and (624.6 ± 188.4) mm(3) in psi-survivin group, respectively (t = -5.917, P < 0.01). In the implanted tumors injected with psi-survivin, survivin protein expression was down-regulated significantly, with a inhibition rate of 41.8%. Tunel staining showed the apoptosis occurred in the implanted tumors., Conclusion: Silencing survivin could significantly inhibit the growth of Hep-2 human laryngeal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Objective: To synthesize two antigens-Ag85b and HspX of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv with molecular biological methods and to observe their biologic activity after co-administration of adjuvants (aluminum and/or CpG) in mice., Methods: Recombinant expression plasmids pET30a-Ag85b and pET30a-HspX were constructed. The objective DNA fragments was characterized with restriction enzyme. Then the recombinant plasmids were transformed into E. coli BL-21, and two proteins were expressed by induction of isopropyl beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside. After purification with anion exchange column Source30, QHP, and hydrophobic chromatography column, two proteins were identified by amino acid sequencing. After the successful preparation of these two antigens, they were co-administered in mice with adjuvants of aluminum and/or CpG (Ag85b, Ag85b + Al, Ag85b + CpG, Ag85b + Al + CpG; HspX, HspX + Al, HspX + CpG, HspX + Al + CpG); one group received normal saline and served as the control. Splenic lymphocytes were isolated for enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay to detect the secreted specific interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma); in addition, lymphocytes proliferation test was performed to observe lymphocytes proliferation after in vitro stimulated with two antigens., Results: The purity of two proteins reached 95% after purification. The N-terminal amino acid sequence (15 aa) of the purified proteins was same as the target sequence. For Ag85b, the secreted specific IFN-gamma from isolated splenic lymphocytes after having been stimulated in vitro with Ag85b (80 microg/ml) remarkably increased in Ag85b + CpG group, Ag85b + Al group, and Ag85b + CpG + Al group; the changes were significantly different between these three groups and control group (P < 0.05). For HspX, the changes were significantly different between HspX + Al + CpG group and normal sodium group, although remarked increase of IFN-gamma was also observed in HspX group, HspX + Al group, and HspX + CpG group., Conclusions: Ag85b and HspX were successfully expressed and purified. A cell-mediated immunity may be induced when the antigens are co-administered with adjuvants of aluminum and/or CpG in mice, indicating that the recombinant proteins are bioactive.

Objective: To investigate the anti-hyperglycemic effect and its mechanism of ethanol extraction from Calamintha chinensis (EJCT)., Method: Fasting serum glucose (FSG) in normal mice was determined after oral administration of EJCT. Effects of EJCT on hyperglycemia mice induced by adrenaline were investigated by observing the contents of FSG and liver glucogen. Effect of EJCT on the diabetic mice induced by alloxan was investigated by observing the contents of FSG and the injured degree of pancreatic islet. The antilipid-peroxidation of EJCT on liver homogenate was measured by determination of malondiadehyde (MDA) induced by Fe2+/Cys., Result: EJCT showed no obvious effect on FSG in normal mice. However, EJCT 300, 600 mg x kg(-1) could remarkably decrease the contents of FSG and increase liver glucogen in hyperglycemia mice induced by adrenaline. In diabetic mice induced by alloxan, EJCT 150, 300, 600 mg x kg(-1) could remarkably decrease the contents of FSG. The damage of pancreatic islet induced by alloxan was also significantly attenuated by EJCT. Furthermore, EJCT 30, 60, 90, 120 mg x L(-1) inhibited lipid peroxidation initiated by Fe2+/Cys in liver homogenate., Conclusion: These results suggest that EJCT can significantly attenuate hyperglycemia in diabetic mice, which is probably due to decreasing the decomposition of liver glucogen, increasing the synthesis of liver glucogen, antioxidation and amelioration of damaged pancreatic islet.

Objective: The study was conducted to reveal the distribution of genetic polymorphism of four Y chromosome specific short tandem repeat (Y-specific STR) loci in Li ethnic groups in Hainan Island, China., Methods: Four tetranucleotide STR loci were simultaneously amplified with fluorescently labeled primers, and genotypes were determined with an automated DNA sequencer., Results: Among 230 unrelated males, the alleles at the four Y-specific STR loci were composed of some complex repeat structure. 4,5,4,5 alleles were observed in loci DYS3891, DYS390, DYS391, DYS393 respectively. A set of human allele ladders for the typing of the four Y-specific STRs was obtained in Li ethnic population. Gene diversity index (D) and haplotype diversity data were estimated for the four Y-STRs., Conclusion: The preliminary study indicates a reference population for detecting male migration events and should be useful in population genetics and forensic applications.

The distribution of Y-chromosome specific microsatellite DYS19, in 289 males of three ethnic populations in Hainan Island was studied with the method of PCR followed by denatured polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining. The three ethnic populations are Bendi Li, Qi Li and Ha Li. The results showed that four alleles (190bp, 194bp, 198bp, 202bp designated as alleles B, C, D and E respectively), were observed in DYS19, the frequency ranged from 0.660-0.854, and was predominant in three Li subgroups. The pairwise comparison with Fisher's Exact test reveals that there exists significant difference (P<0.01) in DYS19 phenotype distribution between Qi Li and Ha Li populations. The polymorphism of the Y-chromosome specific Alu insert sequence DYS287 was investigated also in three Li populations. The results demonstrated that with 150 bp product in all Bendi-Li, Qi-li and Ha-li, YAP element is absent. The preliminary study provides reference populations for detecting male migration events and for reconstructing paternal history.