Search

Objective. To identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in podocyte injury and validate the expression of METTL10, one of these critical genes. Methods. The microarray expression profile of a podocyte injury model, dataset GSE108629, was downloaded from the GEO database, containing 4 normal podocyte samples and 4 injured podocyte samples, and the DEGs were diagnosed using the limma software package and affy software package (|log FC/ ≥ 2 and adjusted P value<0.05). Patients with significant proteinuria who underwent renal biopsy and were diagnosed as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis or minimal change disease were retrospectively enrolled. Control group was patients who underwent renal biopsy and were proven as slight pathological changes or benign arteriolar neophrosclerosis. The general and clinical data were collected, and the expression of METTL10 in renal tissue was detected by immunofluorescence staining. Adriamycin (ADR) -induced nephropathy mouse model was established by a single intravenous injection of ADR into BAL/BC mouse. Mice were randomly divided into two groups: control group (treated with the same volume of PBS) and ADR group (treated with ADR 10 mg/kg body weight). On Day 0 and Day 14, urine was collected for 24 h using a metabolic cage and urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR) of mice were detected; on Day 15, mice were sacrificed and kidney tissue was collected. The expression of METTL10 and podocyte marker proteins like synaptopodin, nephrin, podocin, and Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) in kidneys from ADR-treated mouse model was analyzed by Western blotting. Results•A total of 5 353 genes were significantly differentially expressed in injured podocytes compared with intact podocytes, among which 3 402 DEGs were up-regulated and 1 951 DEGs were down-regulated. METTL10 was found to be one of those that overe significantly down-regulated. Immunofluorescence staining indicated that METTL10 was expressed in normal human glomeruli and METTL10 was colocalized with podocalyxin, one of podocyte specific markers. Additionally, METTL10 was low expressed in the renal biopsy specimens from patients with significant proteinuria compared with that in the control group. On Day 14 after administration of ADR, mice developed significant proteinuria, shown by UACR detection (P=0.005); Western blotting revealed that METTL10 was significantly down-regulated (P=0.001), along with the significantly decreased expression of synaptopodin (P=0.001), nephrin (P=0.005), podocin (P=0.000) and WT1 (P=0.006) in ADR-treated mice compared with that in normal mice. The differences of the expression of METTL10 and the above podocyte markers between these two groups were statistically significant. Conclusion•The down-regulation of METTL10 may be involved in podocyte injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective·To investigate the correlations of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) with lupus nephritis (LN) and their predictive values in disease activity of LN. Methods·This was a cross-sectional study. From January 2018 to December 2018, 40 patients who underwent kidney biopsy and was diagnosed as having LN and 68 healthy controls in Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine were included. Clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters were collected and serum sIL-2R and TNF-α were measured. Serum sIL-2R and TNF-α were compared between the LN group and the control group. The correlations of sIL-2R and TNF-α with laboratory parameters of LN were evaluated by Spearman analysis. Further, the LN patients were divided into the active group and the non-active group. The predictive values of sIL-2R and TNF- α were evaluated by Logistic analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results·Serum sIL-2R and TNF- α levels were significantly higher in the LN group than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Positive correlations were observed between sIL-2R and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index-2000 (SLEDAI-2K), 24 hours urine total protein (24h-UTP), anti-double stranded DNA antibody (anti-dsDNA), serum creatinine and high sensitive C-reactive protein (h-CRP) (all P<0.05), while a negative correlation was found between sIL-2R and C3 (P=0.002). Meanwhile, TNF-α positively correlated with SLEDAI-2K, 24h-UTP, serum creatinine and h-CRP, whereas no significant correlation was found between TNF-α and anti-dsDNA or C3. 24h-UTP, anti-dsDNA, serum creatinine, sIL-2R and TNF-α were significantly higher (all P<0.05) and C3 was lower in the active group than those in the non-active group of LN (P=0.000). Anti-dsDNA (OR=1.025) and sIL-2R (OR=1.011) were predictive factors of disease activity of LN (all P<0.05) and the area under ROC curve of their combination of prediction was 0.957 (P=0.000). Conclusion·Serum sIL-2R and TNF- α levels increase in LN patients and are correlated with the disease activity of LN. Combining anti-dsDNA and sIL-2R can predict the disease activity of LN effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the accuracy and practicability of the color matching of color spinning machines, the color matching algorithm is studied based on the Stearns--Noechel model. The method of determining the optimal parameters in the Stearns--Noechel model is changed, and the parameter M is cyclically assigned. When the color difference is the smallest, the corresponding M is the optimal parameter prediction formula. On this basis, the human visual characteristics are represented by codes and used for the color matching of the color spinning, and the color matching effect is judged by comparing the color difference between the standard sample and the fitting sample. The results show that the average fitted color difference is 1.02 according to the previous fixed optimal parameter prediction formula, and the median is 1.08. After predicting the formula of the parameter M cycle, the average fitting color difference is 0.477, and the median is 0.46, so the color matching effect is improved. Based on the human eye visual property prediction formula, the average fitting color difference is 0.201, and the medien is 0.125, so the color matching effects further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A research was done to study the Pb adsorption by the root cell wall of tea plant extracted from Longjing 43. It was indicated that the amount of Pb adsorbed by the root cell wall increased with augment of the initial pH of the solution under acidic condition, dramatically as the pH ranged from 2. 0 to 4. 5. The amount of Pb increased with the Pb concentration in the solution at pH 4. 5, which could be well fitted by the Freundlich adsorption model. The adsorbed Pb reached 9.7 mg ∙ g-1 under equilibrium condition, 90% of which was adsorbed in 320 minutes, while 50% was desorbed in 60 minutes based on the desorption dynamic curve. The kinetics of both adsorption and desorption could be well described by a second-order rate equation. The amount of absorbed Pb by the root cell wall varied after modified treatments, reducing by 51. 1% after esterifing, 41. 3% with pectinase, and 10. 8% via aminomethylation, suggesting that carboxyl, galacturonic acid, pectin and amino, to some extent, all took part in the Pb adsorption by the root cell wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper firstly points out that it is necessary to review tourism research from Kuhn's paradigm perspective and it is obvious that there are no community's shared beliefs in tourism research. Then the article reviews foreign literature on tourism research paradigm. Riley and Love, and Phillimore and Goodson respectively analyze the articles published in leading tourism academic periodicals with the "5 moments" model which is in relation to the evolution and development of qualitative research. Phillimore and Goodson introduce the four main paradigms in social research, namely positivism, postpositivism, critical theory and constructivism, into tourism research. They find out that most tourism studies are in the paradigms of positivism and postpositivism. Tourism research as a whole is in the first two moments of social research, i.e. traditional and modern times. This shows that tourism research is not only weak in theory and method but also lags behind other areas of sociology in paradigms adoption. On this basis, the paper introduces an innovative paradigm of actor-network-theory (ANT) and compares ANT with traditional social theory paradigms by generalizing its ontology, epistemology and methodology. In ontology, ANT insists ontologies in practice which is totally different from the traditional sociology seeking help from social elements to explain social problems. In epistemology, ANT regards that social science should carry out three tasks which are deployment, stabilization and composition. And in research practice, ANT names any entity that can make a difference by their activities as an actor, no matter whether it is natural, social or human. It accomplishes the tasks by translation analysis and association analysis of actors. In methodology, ANT emphasizes record and description, that is, to carry out laboratory research of science and society. The principle of general symmetry is the embodiment of the above which strive to treat science and society symmetrically. In this way, ANT insists sociology of associations or sociology of translation differentiates from the traditional sociology, i.e. sociology of the social. In order to state the significance of ANT in tourism research paradigm innovation, the paper conducts a literature review of ANT in tourism. Researchers examine the essence and structure of tourism studies, the culture of researchers and their research practices in the epistemology of ANT and finds that knowledge creation is the process and results of actors association. In the research projects ANT is used in three aspects, which are using the obligatory passage point as a concept, using for reference with the emphasis on non-human actors of ANT, and referring to translation analysis of ANT to study such issues as tourism cooperation and innovation. Literature review of ANT in tourism shows that ANT firstly caused an alteration of epistemology in thinking of the essence of constructivism of tourism knowledge creation and the duality antinomy between nature and society in tourism research. Secondly, by acceptance of the principle of general symmetry and the concept of non-human actors, ANT tourism researchers pay more attention to technology, environment, propagation and even goods, and relationships. It helps explain how multi-factors affect in complicate tourism phenomena. Thirdly, by using the ANT approach, its research progress, and unique concepts, tourism researchers can better describe the evolution, associations and relationships so that explanations of a problem emerge from its description. At last, the paper concludes the theoretical superiority of ANT is to achieve heterogeneous objectives and to find the connections between them. This suits to the fast-changing and complex phenomena of tourism and thus is significant in tourism paradigm innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of community participation in tourism development can be attributed to the failure of entitlement, lack of political opportunity and weak capability. Scholars have held extensive studies about the latter two topics but they lack corresponding concern about the failure of entitlement, namely; "non-entitlement" and "de-entitlement" of local community residents. The paper, starting from Marx's classical theory on land rent and combining modern theory of property rights, through typical case studies, analyzes the situation of China's rural land property and contradictions of profit distribution in tourism development both in theory and reality, puts forward a new-type property right-- "attraction property right". The paper points out that the institutional source of the failure of community participation in China's rural areas lies in the fact that collective land ownership is dominated by restriction, characterized by "nominal position" of ownership subject and "vacant position" of attraction property right. Finally, the paper proposes the path of reformation to promote land property rights in the process of community participation in tourism development in China's rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper makes a study of the characteristics of industrial fluctuation and interrelations between tourism industry and industry, tourism industry and agriculture under the impact of the sudden events in tourism economy of Zhangjiajie. The study reveals that as compared with industry, tourism industry has certain degree of fragility and as compared with agriculture, tourism industry does not show any significant fragility and has more industrial similarity. The paper makes a sound testing tot this conclusion. Based on the results of an empirical study, the paper holds the view that tourism industry is not as fragile as we expect. Meanwhile, tourism industry has greater industrial interrelations with agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the bases of ventilation, heat-dispersion and dust-removal technology using engine exhaust gas energy, a kind of exhaust ejector has been properly designed with the consideration of the limitation of cabin space. On the ground of fluid dynamics theory, numerical simulation for the ejector is performed to obtain the relationship of injection coefficient with its key structure parameters. Having the designed prototype, different types of ejectors with different parameters can be tested to improve the injection capability. It should be considered that, according to the requests of compaction and lightweight, the maximal ejection coefficient is not the best design, but the adequate coefficient is good. Finally, the comparison of tested designed types indicates that ejector may have the most superior injection effect when chamber working segment is about 125 mm long. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural vibration and noise of a vehicle cab structures have been systematically simulated. Modal analysis is made to obtain the structural modal parameters, the finite element modal is checked and verified by the test result and the dynamic response is calculated based on the reliable finite element model. The acoustics characteristic of the inner acoustic field is used for analysis. The noise obtained within the driver cabin is distributed, some conclusions were drawn which were useful for noise reduction in low frequency for the vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nonlinear dynamics model of vehicle system for a towing tractor was developed based on the multi-body theory. In the model, leaf springs are discretized and modelled by many massless Timoshenko beams so that non-linear properties of the springs can be simulated. Numerical analysis was performed under sinusoidal steering condition, and it is found that handling performance of the full vehicle can follow the input of the steering wheel, but slight lag of the vehicle system appears because of those non linearities. Lateral forces on inner tires are smaller than that on outer tires for a load transfer from side to side. This model can be used to indicate dynamic behaviors of the identical vehicle and the present approach can be applied to study dynamic responses of other vehicles with nonlinear considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually integrated into every aspect of pathology research. However, we also encounter some problems in the practical application of pathological artificial intelligence. 1. Research institutions attach importance to the protection of data privacy, which results in the emergence of data islands and is detrimental to our training of AI models. 2. The lack of interpretability of existing AI models leads to users' incomprehension and difficulty in human-computer interaction. 3. AI models make insufficient use of multi-modal data, making it difficult to further improve their predictive effectiveness. To address the above-mentioned challenges, we propose to introduce the latest technologies of trusted artificial intelligence (TAI) into existing research of pathological AI, which is embodied as the following: 1. Securely share data. We try to break data islands on the basis of adhering to data protection. We can use federated learning methods, only provide the results of data training without uploading the data itself, and greatly increase the amount of data that can be used for training without affecting the data security. 2. Give AI interpretability. The technology of graphic neural networks is used to simulate the process of pathologists' learning pathological diagnosis, making the model itself interpretable. 3. Fuse multimodal information. Use the technology of knowledge graph to integrate and deepen the analysis of more diverse and comprehensive data sources in order to derive more accurate models. Through the above three aspects, we can achieve reliable and controllable pathological AI and clear the responsibility through trusted pathological AI technology, so as to promote the development and clinical application of pathological AI.

In view of problems that measured fault current of power frequency by existing fault location methods is weak and electric arc is unstable, a new fault location method based on parameter identification was put forward. The method uses lumped parameter Γ model to established fault point location time domain equations of single phase grounding fault, and uses transient time domain information to identify fault point position through the least squares optimization algorithm. EMTP simulation results validated accuracy of the method under different fault conditions.

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology has been widely used in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.However, the effects of Cas9, as an exogenous protein, on the growth and production of natural products in S.cerevisiae are still unclear.In this study, Cas9 gene was expressed in S.cerevisiae by integration into the genome and construction into vectors, and two natural products, carotenoid and miltiradiene, were selected as the target products to study the effects of Cas9 expression on yeast growth and production capacity.The results showed that whether Cas9 was integrated into the genome or expressed by vectors, Cas9 inhibited the growth of S.cerevisiae, which was more obvious in the form of genome integration.When Cas9 was integrated into the genome, it had no effect on the production of carotenoid and miltiradiene by S.cerevisiae, but when Cas9 was expressed by vectors, the ability of S.cerevisiae to produce carotenoids and miltiradiene was significantly reduced.Therefore, in order to further efficiently knock out Cas9 after gene editing and minimize the adverse impact of Ura3 and Trp1 vectors, this study systematically explored the removal efficiency of the two vectors, and a plasmid capable of efficient gene editing was constructed, which optimized the application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system in S.cerevisiae, and provided reference for the application of gene editing technology based on Cas9.

Objective: To segment images through an unsupervised method as an alternative to manual labeling., Methods: A total of 100 whole slide image (WSI) data of HE stained and Pap stained slides were selected as the research and test objects, including 70 breast slides, 20 lung slides and 10 thyroid slides. In order to ensure the diversity of data, the breast slides included those of normal tissue, inflammation and tumor, the lung slides were mainly neoplasms in the lower lobe, including those of inflammation and tumor, and the thyroid slides were of cells, all benign, obtained through fine needle aspiration. The maximum total magnification (original magnification) of each image was 400 times, and the file format was NDPI. Each WSI was manually labeled, and the labeled area of each WSI was more than 10 fields of vision. The labeled information was to be used for validity verification. An unsupervised image segmentation technique based on superpixel and fully convolution neural network algorithms was constructed and used to segment any region of interest (ROI) of unlabeled WSI. In comparison with the region adjacency graph merging method, the segmentation effect of the two methods was assessed with the under segmentation error, the boundary recall and the mean Intersection-over-Union, and the efficiency of the two methods was also compared. In the comparison of execution efficiency, the test process included the preprocessing time of superpixel, and excluded the time of loading the deep learning engine., Results: Unsupervised automatic segmentation was implemented for any ROI region of WSI according to the texture and color. The results of the breast slides, lung slides and thyroid slides showed slight differences, and multiple tests yielded stable results. However, the performance of this method in differentiating inflammation and tumor was average. The under-segmentation error, the boundary recall and the mean Intersection-over-Union were 19.10%, 82.06% and 45.06%, respectively. The under segmentation error, the boundary recall and the mean Intersection-over-Union for the region adjacency graph merging method were 21.52%, 78.39% and 44.81%, respectively. The average time consumption of the whole process was 0.27 s in GPU mode and 1.30 s in CPU mode. The average time consumption of the region adjacency graph merging method was 10.5 s in CPU mode because the method of region adjacency graph merging was not realized in the GPU mode., Conclusion: This method produced ideal pixel level labeling results through simple human-computer interaction, which could effectively reduce the cost of digital pathology slide data labeling. Compared with the region adjacency graph merging method, this method had better performance in processing image texture and had faster processing speed., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Objective: To study the different methods of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted Ki-67 scoring of clinical invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast and to compare the results., Methods: A total of 100 diagnosed IDC cases were collected, including slides of HE staining and immunohistochemical Ki-67 staining and diagnosis results. The slides were scanned and turned into whole slide image (WSI), which were then scored with AI. There were two AI scoring methods. One was fully automatic counting by AI, which used the scoring system of Ki-67 automatic diagnosis to do counting with the whole image of WSI. The second method was semi-automatic AI counting, which required manual selection of areas for counting, and then relied on an intelligent microscope to conduct automatic counting. The diagnostic results of pathologists were taken as the results of pure manual counting. Then the Ki-67 scores obtained by manual counting, semi-automatic AI counting and automatic AI counting were pairwise compared. The Ki-67 scores obtained from the manual counting (pathological diagnosis results), semi-automatic AI and automatic AI counts were pair-wise compared and classified according to three levels of difference: difference ≤10%, difference of >10%-<30% and difference ≥30%. Intra-class correlation coefficient ( ICC ) was used to evaluate the correlation., Results: The automatic AI counting of Ki-67 takes 5-8 minutes per case, the semi-automatic AI counting takes 2-3 minutes per case, and the manual counting takes 1-3 minutes per case. When results of the two AI counting methods were compared, the difference in Ki-67 scores was all within 10% (100% of the total), and the ICC index being 0.992. The difference between manual counting and semi-automatic AI was less than 10% in 60 cases (60% of the total), between 10% and 30% in 37 cases (37% of the total), and more than 30% in only 3 cases (3% of the total), ICC index being 0.724. When comparing automatic AI with manual counting, 78 cases (78% of the total) had a difference of ≤10%, 17 cases (17% of the total) had a difference of between 10% and 30%, and 5 cases (5%) had a difference of ≥30%, the ICC index being 0.720. The ICC values showed that there was little difference between the results of the two AI counting methods, indicating good repeatability, but the repeatability between AI counting and manual counting was not particularly ideal., Conclusion: AI automatic counting has the advantage of requiring less manpower, for the pathologist is involved only for the verification of the diagnosis results at the end. However, the semi-automatic method is better suited to the diagnostic habits of pathologists and has a shorter turn-over time compared with that of the fully automatic AI counting method. Furthermore, in spite of its higher repeatability, AI counting, cannot serve as a full substitute for pathologists, but should instead be viewed as a powerful auxiliary tool., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

The emergence of regular short repetitive palindromic sequence clusters (CRISPR) and CRISPR- associated proteins 9 (Cas9) gene editing technology has greatly promoted the wide application of genetically modified pigs. Efficient single guide RNA (sgRNA) is the key to the success of gene editing using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. For large animals with a long reproductive cycle, such as pigs, it is necessary to screen out efficient sgRNA in vitro to avoid wasting time and resource costs before animal experiments. In addition, how to efficiently obtain positive gene editing monoclonal cells is a difficult problem to be solved. In this study, a rapid sgRNA screening method targeting the pig genome was established and we rapidly obtained Fah gene edited cells, laying a foundation for the subsequent production of Fah knockout pigs as human hepatocyte bioreactor. At the same time, the method of obtaining monoclonal cells using pattern microarray culture technology was explored.

Adequate bone volume is the primary condition for successful dental implants. However, sufficient bone volume is often encountered in the vertical direction, but the bone volume in the buccolingual direction is insufficient, making it less suitable to be implanted. If the traditional spitting technique is used in the mandible, fracture and necrosis can easily occur in the labial (buccal) bone plate due to the absence of elasticity, thick cortical bone, poor blood supply, and anastomotic branch. The two-stage ridge splitting technique can be used in patients with narrow alveolar ridge in the mandible. This study summarizes the principles and conditions of application, operational points, clinical efficacy, and analysis of the causes of buccal bone plate absorption.

As pigs are similar to humans in anatomy, physiology and pathology, nutrition metabolism and disease characteristics, genetically modified pigs are already used for the studies of disease mechanism, pathology and toxicology and the evaluation of drugs. But the production of large modified animals is difficult, cumbersome, time-consuming and costly. With the breakthrough of gene editing technology, clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated 9( Cas9)(CRISPR/Cas9) technology has greatly improved the mutation efficiency, reduced the cost and simplified the steps, and promoted the widespread application of genetically modified pigs. In this paper, the production methods of genetically modified pigs and the research progress of genetically modified pigs by CRISPR/Cas9 in the medical field were reviewed.

Objective: To compare the perioperative, functional and oncologic outcomes of patients with prostate cancer receiving laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) using three-dimensional (3D) versus two-dimensional (2D) imaging systems., Methods: From February, 2014 to January 2016, 72 consecutive patients with clinically localized prostate cancer underwent LRP with 2D or 3D imaging systems performed by a single experienced surgeon. The baseline characteristics, perioperative data, and functional and oncologic outcomes of the patients were collected and analyzed., Results: Thirty-six patients underwent 3D LRP and the other 36 patients underwent 2D LRP. Compared with 2D LRP group, 3D LRP group had a significantly shorter operative time (167 vs 218 min, P<0.001), a smaller volume of intraoperative blood loss (86.11 vs 177.78 mL, P<0.001) and a better early urinary continence outcome (88.89% vs 63.89%, P=0.026). No significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of complications, potency outcome or biochemical recurrence-free rate., Conclusion: Compared with 2D LRP, 3D LRP shortens the operative time, reduces intraoperative blood loss and is associated with a better early urinary continence outcome in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to introduce a minimally invasive bone splitting technique which is suitable for cases with missing anterior teeth and obvious depression of alveolar bone in labial side, and to evaluate its clinical results., Methods: Minimally invasive bone splitting technique was used in 8 healthy adults with bone defects in the aesthetic zone. The labial alveolar bone incisions were confined around the bone defects which were smaller than traditional incisions. The other procedures were the same as conventional bone splitting technique. Cone-beam CT (CBCT) for missing anterior teeth was taken before surgery, after the surgery and 6 months after surgery and alveolar bone height and width were recorded with landmark identification designed by ourselves in this study. The data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 software package for paired t test., Results: Paired t test indicated that after surgery and six months after surgery, the labial bone defect was significant improved (P<0.05), but the height of the alveolar ridge bone didn't increase significantly (P>0.05) while the width of the alveolar ridge bone significant improved (P>0.05)., Conclusions: This minimally invasive technique can achieve good clinical results for not only intact labial alveolar ridge bones but also good bone grafts, which is beneficial to implantation and prosthetic aesthetics. The long-term outcome needs to be observed.

In order to enhance the anticoagulant properties of decellularized biological materials as scaffolds for tissue engineering research via heparinized process, the decellularized porcine liver scaffolds were respectively immobilized with heparin through layer-by-layer self-assembly technique (LBL), multi-point attachment (MPA) or end-point attachment (EPA). The effects of heparinization and anticoagulant ability were tested. The results showed that the three different scaffolds had different contents of heparin. All the three kinds of heparinized scaffolds gained better performance of anticoagulant than that of the control scaffold. The thrombin time (TT), prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) of EPA scaffold group were longest in all the groups, and all the three times exceeded the measurement limit of the instrument. In addition, EPA scaffolds group showed the shortest prepared time, the slowest speed for heparin release and the longest recalcification time among all the groups. The decellularized biological materials for tissue engineering acquire the best effect of anticoagulant ability in vitro via EPA heparinized technique.

A research was done to study the Pb adsorption by the root cell wall of tea plant extracted from Longjing 43. It was indicated that the amount of Pb adsorbed by the root cell wall increased with augment of the initial pH of the solution under acidic condition, dramatically as the pH ranged from 2.0 to 4.5. The amount of Pb increased with the Pb concentration in the solution at pH 4.5, which could be well fitted by the Freundlich adsorption model. The adsorbed Pb reached 9.7 mg x g(-1) under equilibrium condition, 90% of which was adsorbed in 320 minutes, while 50% was desorbed in 60 minutes based on the desorption dynamic curve. The kinetics of both adsorption and desorption could be well described by a second-order rate equation. The amount of absorbed Pb by the root cell wall varied after modified treatments, reducing by 51.1% after esterifing, 41.3% with pectinase, and 10.8% via aminomethylation, suggesting that carboxyl, galacturonic acid, pectin and amino, to some extent, all took part in the Pb adsorption by the root cell wall.

Objective: To summarize experiences of serious perioperative complications management of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), and evaluate the effect of intervention in decreasing the incidence of serious complications., Methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical data in Shenyang General Hospital of PLA and Liaoning Province Jinqiu Hospital of OSAHS surgery cases from January 1995 to December 2009 were included in this study, patients were divided into two groups according to with or without intervention. Experience and lessons were analyzed., Results: Patients without and with intervention were 402 and 521 respectively, and uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) cases in each group were 387 and 390. Five patients in the first group who accepted UPPP had breathing difficulty and were all successfully rescued, while no one in the second group had breathing difficulty. The difference was significant (P < 0.05). Sixteen patients in the first group had severe bleeding after UPPP, while only 5 patients had the severe bleeding in the second group. The difference was significant, too P < 0.05. No breathing difficulty cases in the second group, and serious bleeding cases in each group was 5 and in 1, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: Breath difficulty and serious bleeding are serious perioperative complications of OSAHS surgery, and with systemic intervention the incidence of the complications can be decreased.

Objective: To explore the difference of lingual arterial CT angiography images(CTA) between obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients and normal subjects, and to investigate the safety of partial glossectomy guided by lingual arteria CT angiography., Methods: Seventy-four patients with OSAHS and 10 control adults were included in the study. The lingual upper airway and lingual arterial CT angiography were obtained. The area and the dimensions of lingual upper airway, and the length and thickness of lingua, length of lingual arteria, depth and bilateral lingual arteria spacing were studied. The CT measuring data of OSAHS patients and normal adults were compared. The multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the main factors which affects the lingual arterial measuring results. Guided by the lingual arterial CT angiography and measuring results, glossectomy was performed in 23 OSAHS patients with lingua hypertrophy., Results: The area and dimensions of lingual airway of OSAHS patients were less than those of control adults, and the length and thickness of lingua of OSAHS were more than those of control adults (t test, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). There were no difference in length of lingual arteria and bilateral lingual arteria spacing between OSAHS patients and control adults. The 3 measured points' depth (x(-) +/- s) of lingual arteria of OSAHS patients were (29.1 +/- 5.5) mm, (26.9 +/- 5.1) mm and (25.6 +/- 5.2) mm, respectively, and those of control adult were (23.0 +/- 3.8) mm, (22.6 +/- 2.7) mm and (21.5 +/- 2.6) mm, the depth of lingual arteria of OSAHS was more than that of control adults (t test, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). The main factors affects lingual arterial depth were body mass index (BMI), lingual length and lingual thickness, unstandardized regression coefficient were 0.255, 0.11 and 0.03, respectively (analysis of variance, F = 6.216, P < 0.05). No damage of lingual arteria and nerve in 23 patients who had expanded glossectomy., Conclusions: The study showed statistical difference significance of lingual arterial CTA measurements between OSAHS patients and control adults. Guided with lingual arteria CTA data, the expanded glossectomy in OSAHS patients has proved good safety and high cure rate.

Objective: To investigate whether down-regulation of Twist1 could change sensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line HNE1 to taxol., Methods: HNE1 cells were transfected with the small interfering RNA (siRNA) expression vector pSuppressor-Retro-Si-Twist, containing the short hairpin RNA (shRNA) sequence targeting the Twist gene-coding region by Fugene 6. Positive clones were then selected in Neomycin (400 microg/ml) for 21 days. The low expressions of Twist1 were examined by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. Drug sensitivity of si-Twist1 HNE1 to taxol was determined by Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate( FITC)/propidium lodide (PI) double-labeled flow cytometry and detection of DNA ladder. The Effect of Twist1 inactivation on HNE1 cell proliferation was observed by MTT assay and flow cytometry., Results: Annexin V- FITC-PI assay showed that apoptosis ratio was 40.2% in si-Twist HNE1 after treated with 10 ng/ml taxol, significantly higher than that in the control siRNA group 24.3%. The deference had statistic meaning. After the re-expression of HNE1, apoptosis ratio was 44.80% +/- 4.80% (x +/- s) in low Twist1 protein expression group and that was 27.00% +/- 2.91% in high expression group. The deference had statistic meaning (t = 4.374, P = 0.049). Real time PCR test revealed apoptosis protein bcl-2 expression in si-Twist HNE1 was 0.28 +/- 0.05, significantly lower than that in the control siRNA HNE1 (0.57 +/- 0.08, t = 6.710, P = 0.021), nevertheless, significant bax and bcl-XL changes were not observed (t = 2.000, P = 0.184 and t = 1.502, P = 0.272). MTT and FCM showed that down-regulation of Twist1 did not alter cell proliferation rate (P>0.05)., Conclusions: Down-regulation of Twist1 could increase drug sensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line HNE1 to taxol by inducing apoptosis. These results suggested that Twist1 may be a promising treatment target for nasopharyngeal carcinoma therapy.

An investigation on the community diversity of soil arthropods in the forest-steppe ecotone of north Hebei Province was conducted. A total of 10 420 individuals of soil arthropods were collected, which belonged to 25 groups, 6 classes and 24 orders. Acarina and Collembola were the dominant orders, and there were 8 groups of frequent orders and 15 groups of rare orders. The diversity index (H'), DG index, and evenness of soil arthropod community were relatively higher in forest zone, but lower in meadow-steppe zone. Soil pH had a higher degree of interconnection with the numbers of soil arthropod groups, while soil temperature and moisture content had a higher degree of interconnection with the numbers of soil arthropod individuals.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the self-reported prevalence and other epidemiological characteristics of allergic rhinitis from 11 cities throughout the mainland of China., Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted in the two main municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai) and eight capital cities (Changsha, Changchun, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Urumqi and Xi'an) of main provinces throughout the mainland of China after sampling target phone numbers by the approach of random digital dialing (RDD) via computer., Results: In total, the survey had sampled 684 blocks of telephone numbers in 11 cities, and dialed 119 319 telephone numbers. Of the 38 203 respondents, 4253 subjects reported allergic rhinitis, while the other 33 950 were screened negative in the telephone interviews. The self-reported prevalence of allergic rhinitis was lowest in Xi'an (8.0%), and highest in Urumqi (21.4%), with Nanjing having intermediate value (11.5%). The gender-adjusted prevalence ranged from 8.5% in Xi'an to 21.3% in Urumqi, while the age-adjusted prevalence of self-reported allergic rhinitis ranged from 8.7% in Beijing to 24.1% in Urumqi., Conclusions: The study demonstrates that the self-reported prevalence of allergic rhinitis in 11 cities throughout the mainland of China has wide variations, and the strategy of prevention for allergic rhinitis should be conducted according to the epidemic features of it.