Search

Objective To investigate the protective effect of pyroptosis and anti-Caspase-1 treatment on retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in rats with acute ocular hypertension. Methods Forty-two SPF male SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group, acute ocular hypertension model group and VX-765 (Caspase-1 inhibitor) intervention group, with the right eye as the experimental eye. Acute ocular hypertension was inflicted by anterior chamber irrigation with normal saline in the model group and intervention group. The rats in the intervention group were further given 4 μL VX-765 (200 μmol/L) solution by intravitreal injection on the modeling day and the next day, and those of the model group were injected with equal volume of normal saline in vitreous cavity at the same time. No such treatment was performed on the rats from the control group. All rats were killed at the seventh day after modeling. Retinal morphology and the density of RGCs were observed by HE staining. The survival of RGCs and average absorbance of retina were observed by immunohistochemical assay. The mRNA levels of Caspase-1, gsdmd, IL-1b and IL-18 were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. The protein expression of Caspase 1-p20, gsdmd-n, IL-1b and IL-18 were detected by Western blotting. Results The retinal thickness was 164.53±1.04 μm in the model group, which was significantly thinner than that in the normal control group (181.44±5.13 μm) and the intervention group (173.15±2.15 μm). The density of RGCs was (332.87±16.37)/mm2 in the model group, obviously lower than that in the normal control group and the intervention group. The average absorbance of retina was 0.443±0.014 in the model group, statistically lower than in the normal control group (0.517±0.015) and the intervention group (0.492±0.006). The differences were statistically significant in above values (P < 0.05). The mRNA relative expression levels of IL-1b and IL-18 were significantly higher in the model group than the control group and intervention group (P < 0.05). The protein levels of Caspase1-p20, gsdmd-n, IL-1b and IL-18 were remarkably higher in the model group than the other 2 groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion Acute ocular hypertendion exposure enhances the expression of the molecules in Caspase-1-dependent pyropotosis pathway. So, inhibiting Caspase-1 activity can reduce the severity of retinal injury, protect RGCs effectively, and reduce RGCs death.

Two 3D finite element approaches for unidirectional hybrid composites were built to represent failure process in scales of individual fiber and fiber tow,respectively. The first scale approach was defined as iso-type fibers and epoxy composed fiber tow in which micro damages concerned including failures of individual fiber,matrix and fiber / matrix interface. The second scale approach assembled with different type fiber tows. In this scale,failure regularities of tow and interface between adjacent tows were considered and the former was obtained from first scale model. Cohesive zone model was used to simulate the damage and failure of component materials,this method could reflect the distribution and propagation of the crack in composites. Explicit FEM was used for both the two scale models to characterize the impaction of energy released from the broken fiber or tow. Weibull type distribution was used to describe strengths of fiber and fiber tow in the two scale approaches for charactering the randomness of failures. The two scale approaches were employed to simulate the progressive failure of carbon / glass fiber hybrid unidirectional composites under tensile load. Two distribution patterns of carbon tow in hybrid composites,i. e. coaxial and dispersed were taken into account,meanwhile for each pattern different volume ratio of carbon fiber and glass fiber was considered. The study reveals that when volume fraction of carbon tows is equal or less than 10% the second damage phenomenon is obvious,meanwhile the critical elongation and strength for coaxial hybrid composited are slightly bigger than those for dispersed one. Otherwise,the two patterns hybrid composites behave in brittle way and little discrepancy between their strengths has been found.

The hydrophilic nanometer titanium dioxide (TiO2) was surface modified using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxy-silane. The structure of the modified TiO2 was characterized by FTIR and TG. The flame-retardant epoxy resins were prepared based on the mixture of a fixed amount of 5, 10-dihydro-phenophosphazine-10-oxide (DPPA) and different amounts of the modified TiO2. And their flame-retardant, mechanical and thermal properties were studied. The results indicated that TiO2 was successfully modified by APTS. The mixture of 2.5wt% DPPA and 0.05wt% modified TiO2 gave epoxy resin UL-94 V-0 rating and a LOI value of 28.8%. The tensile and flexural strengths of the flame-retardant epoxy resin were 86.52, 116.75 MPa, respectively, both higher than those of epoxy resin without flame retardant. Moreover, its T5% and Tg were as high as 364.3 and 162.0 °C, respectively. The prepared flame-retardant epoxy resin possessed good comprehensive properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DOPO-based sodium salt (DOPO-ONa) was successfully synthesized from 9, 10-dihydro-9-oxa-0-phosphorphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution and anhydrous sodium carbonate. Then, DOPO-based sodium salt functionalized LDH (R-D-LDH) was successfully prepared by the high temperature roasting of LDH, DOPO-ONa- modification and reconstruction in water, and its structure was characterized by XRD, UV-Vis and TG. The epoxy resins containing R-D-LDH was prepared, and its flame-retardant and thermal properties were studied by using UL-94 vertical burning, LOI, cone calorimeter, TG and DSC. The results indicated that the flame-retardant efficiency of LDH was improved after functionalization by DOPO-based sodium salt. Compared with the epoxy resins containing LDH, the epoxy resins containing R-D-LDH showed the reduced burning degree and had the higher LOI values. The combustion intensity and smoke production of epoxy resin were decreased by the incorporation of R-D-LDH. When 6 wt% R-D-LDH was introduced into epoxy resin, the LOI value of epoxy resin was increased from 23.7% to 24.6%. And during combustion, its PHRR, THR and THR were decreased by 211 kW/m °C, 13 MJ/m² and 1 229 m²/m², respectively, and its increase range of the residue was 58%. Moreover, its Tgwas 160.6 °C, which was same as the pure epoxy resin, and its T5% was as high as 365.7 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the current situation of high cost, huge volume, complex operation and difficulty in real application of pulse analyzer, this study designs and implements a portable pulse detection system based on IoT. The design utilizes Raspberry Pi 3B+, STM32 series MCU and cloud server to collect, store, display and recognize pulse signals at CUN, GUAN and CHI. The system is small in size and low in cost, which can be connected with cloud server through network to make full use of resources. The experimental results show that the recognition accuracy of the main feature points of the pulse signal by the portable pulse analyzer is higher than 97%, which has a broad prospect of development and application.

Objective: We studied the changes in soil bacterial communities induced by ground mulch managements at different apple growth periods., Methods: We adopted the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) with PCR-amplified 16S rRNA fragments to determine soil bacterial community structure and diversity., Results: Soil bacterial community structure with different ground mulch managements were significantly different. Both the mulch management strategies and apple growth periods affected the predominant groups and their abundance in soil bacterial communities. Grass mulch and cornstalk mulch treatments had higher bacterial diversity and richness than the control at young fruit period and fruit expanding period, whereas film mulch treatment had no significant difference compared with the control. During mature period, bacterial diversity in the control reached its maximum, which may be ascribed to the rapid growth and reproduction of the r-selection bacteria. The clustering and detrended correspondence analysis revealed that differences in soil bacterial communities were closely correlated to apple growth periods and ground mulch managements. Soil samples from the grass mulch and cornstalk mulch treatments clustered together while those mulched with plastic film treatment were similar to the control. The most abundant phylum in soil bacterial community was Proteobacteria followed by Bacteroidetes. Some other phyla were also detected, such as Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi., Conclusion: Mulching with plant (Grass/Cornstalk) had great effects on soil bacterial community structure and enhanced the diversity while film mulch management had no significant effects.

In proteomic research, to improve protein solubility of membrane proteins and nuclear proteins, buffers containing high concentration of detergent, such as 4% SDS, were widely used. However, high concentration of detergent might severely interfere with the downstream proteomic analysis, including protein quantitation and trypsin digestion. To improve the proteomic compatibility of buffers with high concentration of detergent, we used short gel method to pretreat buffers containing detergent. Protein samples were first separated by a short (2-2.5 mm) SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, and proteins were quantitated by comparing with bovine serum albumin standards via optical density analysis. The gel was then cut and peptides were recovered using in-gel digestion. The quantitative linearity range of this method was 1 to 8 μg. The quantitation was accurate and reproducible. After short gel analysis, recovered peptides generated high mass spectrometry signals. In conclusion, short gel method eliminated the interference of high concentration detergent in the proteomics analysis, and it was suitable for protein samples' pretreatment, and was worth to apply in proteomic research.

Nowadays, proteomics focuses on quantitative analysis rather than qualitative. In the field of quantitative proteomics, Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) is one of the most widely used techniques. The advantage of iTRAQ is high throughput, high stability and free of the restriction of sample property. iTRAQ is suitable for almost all kinds of samples, and up to 8 samples can be analyzed simultaneously by commercially available kit. Along with the development of techniques, more and more mass spectrometry (MS) platforms are used in iTRAQ experiments and the accuracy of iTRAQ has been improved. iTRAQ has been applied to studies of microorganism, animal, plant, medical and protein post-translational modification. Here we review the recent progress in the development of iTRAQ and its applications in quantitative proteomics.

Objective: To explore the detection efficiency of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)., Methods: Immunomagnetic negative enrichment by nanometer magnetic beads and label-free capture with Captor(TM) system were used to isolate and enrich CTCs from peripheral blood of HCC patients, and epithelial and HCC markers were applied to identify CTCs by immunofluorescence staining. CTCs were detected in 50 HCC patients before and after hepatectomy to test the method for isolation, enrichment and identification. The dynamic changes of pre- and post-operative CTCs' numbers were compared. The clinical data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0 software., Results: Negative enrichment methods by nanometer magnetic beads and label-free capture using Captor(TM) system were both suitable for CTCs isolation and enrichment in HCC patients. The positive detection rate of CTCs in HCC patients via negative enrichment was 96.0% (48/50), the preoperative median number of CTCs was 16 per 7.5 ml blood, and the postoperative median number was 17 per 7.5 ml blood., Conclusions: Both negative enrichment and Captor(TM) system are suitable for isolation and enrichment of CTCs in HCC patients. There is a significant difference in the numbers of CTCs before and after operation, and dynamic detection of CTCs will provide helpful prognostic information for HCC patients in clinics.

Objective: To observe the CT imaging features of anatomic structure related to endoscopic axilla approach for surgery of the frontal recess and frontal sinus., Method: Thirty patients without a history of frontal sinus disease were undergone 16 line high speed spiral computed tomography. The computed tomographic images were analyzed to measure the related structures., Result: The vertical distance from the front attachment point of the middle turbinate to the skull base was 13.88 +/- 2.59 mm. The horizontal distance from the top point of the axilla of the middle turbinate to the anterior wall of the frontal sinus outflow tract was 5.77 +/- 12.32 mm, to the anterior wall of the nasal cavity was 13.67 +/- 12.54 mm, to the lamina papyracea or lacrimal sac was 5.89 +/- 1.69 mm., Conclusion: Sixteen line high speed spiral computed tomography is helpful to endoscopic axilla approach for surgery of the frontal recess and frontal sinus.