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This study explored the effects of 4-hydroxy-2(3H)-benzoxazolone(HBOA) on the proliferation and apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells and its molecular mechanism. The L3.6 cells cultured in vitro were treated with HBOA of 0-1.0 mmol·L~(-1). The cell viability was detected by the cell counting kit-8(CCK-8) method, and the half inhibitory concentration(IC_(50)) was analyzed to determine the drug concentration and time. The cell morphology was observed under an inverted microscope and by acridine orange(AO) staining. The ability of proliferation and self-renewal were evaluated through live cell counting and colony formation experiments. The cell cycle progression and cell apoptosis rate were detected by flow cytometry. The morphology of cell apoptosis was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The mRNA expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA), cyclinA1, cyclinA2, cyclin dependent kinase 2(CDK2), and cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1A(P21) were determined by qPCR. The level of reactive oxygen species(ROS), lipid peroxide, and mitochondrial membrane potential were measured by flow cytometry. The activity of protein kinase B(Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) signaling pathway was detected by Western blot. Compared with the control group, the cells treated with HBOA exhibited a significant decrease in viability. Then the optimal concentration and intervention time of HBOA were determined to be 0.4 mmol·L~(-1), 0.6 mmol·L~(-1), and 48 h. Compared with the control group, groups with HBOA of 0.4 mmol·L~(-1 )and 0.6 mmol·L~(-1) showed a significant suppression in cell proliferation and colony formation ability, down-regulated mRNA of PCNA, cyclinA1, cyclinA2, and CDK2, up-regulated P21 mRNA, S-phase cell cycle arrest, and increased cell apoptosis rate. There was an appearance of apoptotic bodies, increased ROS and lipid peroxide, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential(with a significant decrease in 0.6 mmol·L~(-1) group), and down-regulated p-Akt and p-mTOR proteins. The results show that HBOA inhibits the proliferation of pancreatic cancer L3.6 cells and induces cell apoptosis, which may be related to the increase in reactive oxygen species and the inhibition of the Akt/mTOR pathway.

The aim of this study was to investigate the harmful effects of acute hypoxia on mouse cerebral cortex and hippocampus and the underlying mechanism. Mouse model of acute hypoxia was constructed by using a sealed glass jar. Laser speckle contrast imaging was used to detect the changes of cerebral blood flow after different time duration of hypoxia. Total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) assay kits were used to detect oxidative stress in cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Immunofluorescent staining was used to detect neuroinflammatory response of microglia in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. One-step TUNEL method was used to detect neuronal apoptosis. The results showed that, compared with non-hypoxia (0 min hypoxia) group, 30 min hypoxia group exhibited decreased cerebral blood flow, higher percentage of CD68 + /Iba1 + microglia, and increased neural apoptosis in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Compared with 30 min group, 60 min hypoxia group showed significantly decreased cerebral blood flow, increased MDA content in the cortex, as well as greater percentage of CD68 + /Iba1 + microglia and neuronal apoptosis in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. These results suggest that acute hypoxia damages brain tissue in a time-dependent manner and the oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are important mechanisms.

Objective: To investigate the performance of high frequency ultrasound in the assessment of skin thickness in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)., Methods: The study included 82 SSc (SSc group) and 67 healthy volunteers (control group) from 2014 to 2016. The skin thickness at bilateral middle fingers and forearms,anterior chest and abdominal wall was measured using high frequency ultrasound. All the patients with SSc underwent the modified rodnan skin score (mRSS) over 17 anatomical sites by an experienced dermatologist. The differences in age,sex,height,body mass,body mass index (BMI) and skin thickness between SSc patients and healthy controls were compared. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the performance of high frequency ultrasound in the differentiation of SSc from healthy skin,and the correlation of mRSS with skin thickness were analyzed., Results: SSc patients and healthy controls shared similar demographic features (age,sex ratio,height,body mass,BMI) ( P >0.05). Skin thickness values in SSc patients were increased significantly at fingers and forearms compared with healthy controls ( P <0.05). The area under the curve ( AUC ) was 0.938, 0.905, 0.608, 0.586, 0.398, 0.321 at right and left finger,right and left forearm,chest and abdominal wall. Among them, AUC >0.9 of right and left fingers can be used for diagnosis,The skin thickness cut-off value for determining the diagnosis of SSc were as follows: 1.35 mm at the right finger with 84.1% sensitivity and 95.5% specificity,1.26 mm at the right forearm with 86.6% sensitivity and 89.6% specificity,respectively. Skin thickness increased significantly with mRSS. The correlation of total mRSS scores with total skin thickness was 0.599 ( P <0.001),and the correlation of local mRSS score with local skin thickness were 0.400-0.623 ( P <0.001),with the highest correlation coefficient at right finger and the lowest at abdomen., Conclusion: High frequency ultrasound may reflect extent of skin involvement of SSc,and skin thickness assessed with high frequency ultrasound appeared to be highly specific and sensitive at fingers., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Science Edition).)

Objective: To investigate the protective effects of paeoniflorin against PM2.5-induced damage in BEAS-2B cells and explore the possible mechanism., Methods: With a factorial design, this study was performed to observe the protective effects of different doses of paeoniflorin against PM2.5-induced BEAS-2B cell growth inhibition and the effects of paeoniflorin on the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cell cultures., Results: Exposure to increased PM2.5 concentrations caused significant decrease in the cell survival rate (P<0.05) with a clear dose-response relationship (r=-0.759, P<0.05). Treatment of the cells with paeoniflorin significantly attenuated PM2.5-induced inhibition of BEAS-2B cell survival (P<0.05), but the effect of paeoniflorin was not dose-dependent (P>0.05). PM2.5 exposure also significantly increased the contents of MDA and intracellular ROS (P<0.05), and paeoniflorin obviously antagonized these effects of PM2.5., Conclusion: Paeoniflorin can protect BEAS-2B cells from PM2.5-induced growth inhibition, and the mechanism might be related to the anti-oxidant effects of paeoniflorin.

Objective: To compare the ultrasonic features of enthesitis between psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis vulgaris., Methods: A total of 39 patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA group), 60 with psoriasis vulgaris (non-PsA group) and 60 healthy people (control group) participated in this study. They were examined by two-dimensional and color Doppler ultrasound on the entheses of bilateral femoral quadriceps tendons, patella tendons, Achilles tendons, plantar fasciae, common flexor tendons and common extensor tendons., Results: About 45% (27 cases) healthy controls had enthesitis, with Achilles tendons and femoral quadriceps tendons being most likely affected. No blood flow signal was observed on the affected sites. About 63% (38 cases) of non-PsA patients had enthesitis, with Achilles tendons and femoral quadriceps tendons being most likely affected. Blood flow signals were observed on 4 affected sites. More than 84% (33 cases) PsA patients had enthesitis, with all locations being likely affected but mostly on Achilles tendons, femoral quadriceps tendons, and plantar fasciae. Blood flow signals were observed on 18 affected sites. The differences in prevalence of enthesitis were statistically significant (PsA group>non-PsA group>control group, all P <0.01), although the differences in tendon hypoechogenicity and enthesophytes among the groups showed no statistical significance. PsA and non-PsA patients were more likely to have tendon thickening than the controls (both P <0.01); but no difference appeared between PsA and non-PsA patients. PsA patients had higher prevalence of intratendinous calcifications, bony erosions and color Doppler signals than non-PsA patients and the controls (all P <0.01)., Conclusion: Enthesitis in healthy people and non-PsA patients are most likely to affect Achilles tendon and femoral quadriceps tendons. By contrast, Achilles tendons, femoral quadriceps tendon and plantar fascia are more likely to be affected in patients with PsA. PsA patients have high prevalence of enthesitis and are more likely to have intratendinous calcifications, bony erosions and color Doppler signals.

Objective: To investigate the effect of low-selenium diet on the liver and kidneys of rats and explore the role of macrophage polarization into M1 and M2 phenotypes in liver and kidney injuries., Methods: Twenty-four rats (12 female and 12 male) were randomly divided into control group and low-selenium group and fed with normal chow (dietary selenium of 0.18 mg/kg) and low-selenium diet (dietary selenium of 0.02 mg/kg) for 109 days. After the feeding, the rats were sacrificed for HE staining to observe liver and kidney pathologies, and immunohistochemistry was performed for analyzing CCR7, CD206, CD163-positive cell numbers in the liver and kidneys., Results: The rats in low-selenium group showed severer fibrosis in the liver and kidney than the control group. In either male or female rats in low-selenium group, CCR7 and CD206 expressions in the liver were comparable with those in control group, but CD163 expression was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05 for both female and male rats). In the kidney, the proximal tubule showed a slightly higher while the distal tubule showed a slightly lower CCR7 expression in low selenium group than in the control group (P>0.05). In low-selenium group, a significantly lower CD163 expression in the distal tubule and a significantly higher CD206 expression in the proximal tubule were noted as compared with the control group (P<0.05 in both female and male rats). Compared with the control rats, the male rats in low-selenium group, but not the female rats, showed a significantly lower CD163 expression in the proximal tubule of the kidney (P<0.05); the female but not the male rats in low-selenium group show a higher CD206 expression in the distal tubule (P<0.05)., Conclusion: Low-selenium diet can cause liver and kidney fibrosis in rats and may inhibit macrophage activation into the M2 phenotype.

The biological drug of the calf-blood dialysate has various pharmacological effects. It can promote the oxygen and glucose uptake for the hypoxia cells, and has beneficial effects on the malfunction of the blood circulation and trophic disturbances in the brain, and the impairment of peripheral blood circulation. Furthermore, it is favorable to wound healing and can regulate the central nervous system. Adenosine monophosphate (AMP) is a main active ingredient of the biological drug. In this report, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) sensor has been developed with β-CD-capped ZnS QDs as energy donor and 3-hydroxyflavone (3-HF) as energy acceptor. The results showed that AMP can lead to the fluorescence quenching of the FRET sensor at 526 nm, and the Stern-Volmer curve between the fluorescence quenching and the concentrations of AMP present a satisfactory linearity with the correlation coefficient of 0.996. The developed sensor has successfully applied for determination of the AMP in the biological drug.

The present paper describes the design of pellicle-milk double-layer phantom experiment. Milk solution of 40 different concentrations represents internal information of tissue, 1 to 5 pellicle which covers above the milk solution represents interference information of superficial tissue. The experiment collected 200 scattering spectral data of two positions and took the one single position spectral group as control, and then respectively predicted the milk solution concentration on bottom layer with the ratio of 3:1 through the BP neural network method. The experimental results show that single position scattering spectrum and two-position scattering spectrum both reached more than 90% training fitting rates and prediction accuracy, and the prediction accuracy of two-position scattering spectra is higher, reaching 98.41%. It was verified by the experimental results that scattering spectrum based on photon dissemination path can efficiently predict the milk solution concentration and eliminate the influence of superficial tissue for measurement of internal organization, and considering multi-position in modeling process can improve the accuracy of the prediction. This study validates the feasibility of the method for exploring internal information of tissue without damaging tissue integrity.

To improve the precision and accuracy of elements and isotopes analysis in traditional Ar-ICP, the addition of nitrogen in ICP has been widely used. The present review focused on the discussions of the basic physical and chemical properties of the Ar-N2 mixed gas inductively coupled plasma and the mechanisms of the special nature of Ar-N2 mixed gas plasma. The applications of Ar-N2 inductively coupled plasma in spectral analysis and mass spectrometry analysis in the past 40 years were summarized. The authors also give an overall outlook on the application of this technology.

The 193 nm excimer laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used for the quantification of 13 elements (Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu and Ba) in the plant samples (GBW070602, GBW070605 and GBW08514). Indium standard solution with known concentration was mixed into samples and used as an internal standard. Afterwards the samples were ground again and pressed to disks. NIST SRM 610 glass material reference standard was used as the external standard in the LA-ICP-MS measurements. In contrast to longer wavelength ablation techniques, in this experiment a round crater with low deposits could be achieved during ablation. And another study was done on the effect of homogenization over the powder disk It was clearly shown that the analytical results under the condition of 193 nm LA-ICP-MS, using NIST SRM 610 as the external standard for analysis of pressed disk of plant sample, are in good agreement with certified values.

Objective: To study the effects and role of central endocannabinoid system in the mechanism of visceral hyposensitivity induced by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation., Methods: Twenty-four SD rat were divided randomly in to 3 groups: cage-yoked group (YC Group, experimental control group), REM sleep deprivation group (SD Group) exposed to REM sleep deprivation by means of flower pot technique lasting for 48 hours, and Rim Group, receiving rimonabant, a cannabinoid antagonist, after REM sleep deprivation. 48 hours after the sleep deprivation abdominal electromyogram in response to colorectal distension (CRD) was recorded to asses the visceral sensitivity. Then the rats were killed with their central nervous system taken out. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the RNA and protein expression of cannabinoid receptor CB1, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), and monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL) in the thalamus, brain stem, and spinal cord., Results: (1) Under the pressures of 40, 60, and 80 mm Hg, the abdominal electrical activity frequencies of external oblique muscle responding to CRD in SD Group were (220 +/- 94), (313 +/- 162), and (493 +/- 279) times respectively, all significantly lower than those in YC Group [(506 +/- 223), (1053 +/- 548), and (1632 +/- 249) times respectively, all P < 0.05], and those of Rim Group were (668 +/- 257), (1144 +/- 93), and (1653 +/- 153) times respectively, all significantly higher than those of SD Group (all P < 0.05), but not significantly different from those of YC Group. (2) The RNA and protein expression levels of CB1 receptor in the thalamus, brain stem, and spinal cord of SD Group were all significantly higher than those of YC Group (all P < 0.05), while the RNA and protein expression levels of FAAH and MGL in the thalamus and spinal cord of SD Group were all significantly lower than those of YC Group (all P < 0.05)., Conclusion: The visceral hyposensitivity induced by REM sleep deprivation may be associated with the increase of expression of CNS endocannabinoid receptor and decrease of its metabolism.

A general review is here presented on the development, composition, existing problems and prospects of telerobotic laparoscopic surgery systems, based on the related literatures and informations in recent years.

Objective: To study the enhancement by dexamethasone of the effect of ondansetron and tropiesetron against postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients receiving patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) and observe the effect of dexamethasone on wound healing., Methods: One hundred and twenty elective surgical patients receiving PCA were divided into 4 groups, including 2 control groups with the prescription of ondansetron (8 mg) and tropiesetron (3 mg) respectively (control A and B) and 2 observation groups in which the patients were given ondansetron (8 mg) plus dexamethasone (10 mg) and tropiesetron (3 mg) plus dexamethasone (10 mg) respectively (observation groups C and D). The incidence and severity of PONV was observed at 4, 8, 2, 24 h and 2, 3 d postoperatively, and the time and grade of healing of the wound evaluated., Results: Significant difference in PONV between group A and group B was observed (P<0.01), and in the observation groups, PONV was markedly reduced compared with the control groups (C vs A, P<0.01; D vs B, P<0.05). In light of the time and grade of wound healing, the observation groups differed little from the control groups., Conclusion: Dexamethasone (10 mg) can greatly enhance the effect of ondansetron and tropiesetron against PONV in patients receiving PCA without interfering the healing of the wound.