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As an ideal energy source, hydrogen is highly susceptible to spontaneous ignition once leaked, which is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. Based on the shock tube model, this paper investigates flame propagation under various pressures, tube lengths, and diameters by employing the LES approach and a detailed hydrogen/air combustion mechanism. The results indicate that within the tube, the ignition kernels gradually evolve into tulip flames when specific conditions are satisfied. As pressure and tube length increase, the likelihood of forming a complete flame rises significantly; with the increase of tube diameter, the flame front is flatter and the flame intensity is more uniformly distributed. Furthermore, this paper develops a model to predict the formation of a complete flame: Pb/Pa=570.64(L/D)−0.6. Outside the tube, once the intact flame passes out of the tube and evolves into a jet flame, structures such as flame envelopes and jet vortices will appear. Higher release pressures make it more difficult for the flame to propagate steadily, whereas increasing tube length and diameter promotes combustion and sustains the flame outside the tube.

Experimental tests and molecular dynamics simulations were employed to investigate the effect of Ni concentration on the toughness and hydrogen embrittlement resistance of pipeline steel. A slow strain rate test (SSRT) was conducted under both air and electrochemical hydrogen charging conditions. The results indicate that the tensile toughness, impact toughness, and hydrogen embrittlement resistance of steel increase when Ni concentration is less than 1 %, followed by a decrease when Ni concentration exceeds 1 %. Additionally, an increase in Ni concentration leads to a reduction in both the free surface energy and stacking fault energy of Fe-Ni alloys. Since Ni has a greater influence on the stacking fault energy, dislocation emission is facilitated, which aids in releasing strain energy. However, when the Ni concentration surpasses 1 %, the formation of carbides, which are sensitive to hydrogen embrittlement, occurs. Consequently, when the Ni concentration is higher than 1 %, the toughness and hydrogen embrittlement resistance of steel decrease.

Summary: The game between therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and continuously emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants has favored the virus, as most therapeutic mAbs have been evaded. Addressing this challenge, we systematically explored a reproducible bispecific antibody (bsAb)-dependent synergistic effect in this study. It could effectively restore the neutralizing activity of the bsAb when any of its single mAbs is escaped by variants. This synergy is primarily attributed to the binding angle of receptor-binding domain (RBD)-5, facilitating inter-spike cross-linking and promoting cryptic epitope exposure that classical antibody cocktails cannot achieve. Furthermore, RBD-5 with RBD-2, RBD-6, and RBD-7, alongside RBD-8, also exhibit significantly enhanced effects. This study not only shifts the paradigm in understanding antibody interactions but paves the way for developing more effective therapeutic antibodies against rapidly mutating SARS-CoV-2, with Dia-19 already showing promise against emerging variants like BA.2.86, EG.5.1, and JN.1.

AbstractOdontogenic myxoma (OM) is a rare benign tumor in the jaws. It is considered locally aggressive but non-metastatic. Here, we report a case of Odontogenic myxoma observed at a relatively rare site, which occurs in the maxillary posterior interdental region and maxillary sinus, as well as involves the right nasal cavity, orbital floor, and skull base. A 20-year-old young female patient was referred to institution for right-sided nasal congestion and facial swelling. The right inferior nasal tract and common nasal tract of the patient were blocked with a reddish neoplasm. The clinical history and preoperative examination and iconography findings were indicative of an odontogenic cyst. The patient received Right-sided nasal sinus tumor resection via end nasal endoscopic anterior lacrimal saphenous fossa combined with Kollu’s approach. The postoperative pathological findings were suggestive of an Odontogenic myxoma. Conservative surgical treatment is less surgically invasive, more acceptable to patients, and results in a better quality of survival.

Abstract Superhydrophobic coatings show great application potential in many fields, but they have not been widely used due to poor stability. A Ni-PTFE-SiC composite coating was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the Ni-PTFE-SiC coating structure was designed by molecular dynamics simulations. The feasibility of superhydrophobic effect of this structure and the adsorption stability of the composite coatings were proved. This approach can also be used to avoid trial and errors when selecting other similar candidate substances. Then, the Ni-PTFE-SiC superhydrophobic coatings were successfully prepared by composite electrodeposition, with the water contact angle of more than 155° and the sliding angle of close to 0°. The effects of current density, deposition time and nanoparticle concentration on the wettability and morphology of the coatings were also investigated. Through comparative experiments, the best preparation parameters were: PTFE 14 g L−1, SiC 6 g L−1, primary current density 7 A dm−² (10 min) and secondary current density 15 A dm−² (5 min). This preparation method doesn’t need additional modification with low surface energy substances like the traditional preparation process, and greatly improves the corrosion resistance, wear resistance and durability of the coatings.

Superamphiphobic coatings have shown great potential in many fields such as with their anti-corrosion, high-temperature resistance, self-cleaning, and drag reduction properties. However, due to the poor stability of their coatings, it is difficult to apply them on a large scale. In this paper, two kinds of SiO2 particles and nickel were co-deposited on the surface of steel to construct a micro/nano dual-scale structure by composite electrodeposition. The surface of the coating was then fluorinated with the low-surface-energy material 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (AC-FAS) to prepare a Ni-SiO2 superamphiphobic coating. The coating has a water contact angle of 159° and an oil contact angle of 151°. The effect of nanoparticle concentration on the wettability and surface morphology of the coating was systematically studied. Comparative experiments revealed that the optimal micro/nanoparticle concentrations were 8 g/L of 20 nm SiO2 and 2 g/L of 1 μm SiO2. This preparation method greatly improves the corrosion resistance, wear resistance, chemical stability, and high-temperature resistance of the coating.

As a paradigm of clean energy, hydrogen is gradually attracting global attention. However, its unique characteristics of leakage and autoignition pose significant challenges to the development of high-pressure hydrogen storage technologies. In recent years, numerous scholars have made significant progress in the field of high-pressure hydrogen leakage autoignition. This paper, based on diffusion ignition theory, thoroughly explores the mechanism of high-pressure hydrogen leakage autoignition. It reviews the effects of various factors such as gas properties, burst disc rupture conditions, tube geometric structure, obstacles, etc., on shock wave growth patterns and autoignition characteristics. Additionally, the development of internal flames and propagation characteristics of external flames after ignition kernels generation are summarized. Finally, to promote future development in the field of high-pressure hydrogen energy storage and transportation, this paper identifies deficiencies in the current research and proposes key directions for future research.

In this paper, four lithological parameters, that is, thermal conductivity, particle size, porosity, and saturation, are investigated by combining experimental observations with numerical simulations to study the influence laws and mechanisms of action on the combustion process of methane hydrate sediments. The variations in combustion characteristics parameters such as flame height, effective combustion ratio, and dimensionless discharge water mass with the lithological parameters are studied. In addition, the combustion mechanism of lithologic parameters on methane hydrate deposits is revealed. Combining the experimental results and simulation calculations to optimize the combustion of methane hydrate sediments, it is recommended to use methane hydrate sediment samples with high saturation and low thermal conductivity, while the oxidant concentration and porosity of methane hydrate sediment samples should be increased.

X80 steel is extensively used in hydrogen environments and is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). This paper studied the hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC) behavior in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of X80 steel welds, through applying in situ hydrogen-charging tensile experiments, hydrogen permeation experiments, and various surface analysis techniques. It is shown that a few hydrogen atoms can significantly decrease a material’s elongation and reduction of area. When the heat input (HI) was 29.2 kJ/cm, the material had minor sensitivity to hydrogen embrittlement. The tensile fractures were ductile without hydrogen. However, the fracture surface exhibited brittle fracture with hydrogen. With increased HI, the HE fracture showed a transition of intergranular fracture→intergranular and transgranular mixed fracture→transgranular fracture. In the presence of hydrogen, the grain boundaries of elongated strips were prone to the formation of intergranular cracks under a tension load, and the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of the bulk lath bainite (LB) was weak. The hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of pure granular bainite (GB) was lower. Fine LB and GB composite structures could remarkably inhibit intergranular cracks, giving the steel a superior resistance to hydrogen embrittlement.

Two-dimensional materials represented by graphene have attracted extensive interest owing to the unique layer-dependent physical properties that are tunable with various external fields. In addition, by stacking two or more 2D materials together, a new material with the desired properties can be tailored and designed. Fully understanding the dynamical photoconductive response in 2D materials is uttermost important to design and develop the advanced optoelectronic devices. Terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) and time-resolved THz spectroscopy are powerful spectroscopic tools with the advantages of being contact-free and noninvasive, which have been widely used to study the photoconductivity (PC) of 2D materials. In this review, firstly, we provide a short introduction of the 2D materials and THz spectroscopy, and then a brief introduction of the experimental setup and experimental data analysis based on time-resolved THz spectroscopy are presented. After that, we overview the latest progress on the regulation of the THz PC that includes: (1) regulating the THz PC of graphene (Gr) and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) thin films with oxygen adsorption; (2) regulating the THz PC of Gr and Gr/TMDs heterostructures by electric gating and a built-in field introduced by a substrate; (3) regulating the THz PC of Gr/TMD heterostructures via optical gating; and (4) we overview the latest progress on the observation of elementary excitations in 2D materials with THz PC spectra following optical excitation and THz PC regulation via the photoexcitation of quasi-particles. Finally, we conclude the review and present a short overview of future research directions.

Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) can provide many benefits for animals’ growth performance and gut health. In this study, we investigated the effects of C. butyricum on the growth performance, cecal microbiota, and plasma metabolome in Ira rabbits. A total of 216 Ira rabbits at 32 days of age were randomly assigned to four treatments supplemented with basal diets containing 0 (CG), 200 (LC), 400 (MC), and 600 mg/kg (HC) C. butyricum for 35 days, respectively. In comparison with the CG group, C. butyricum supplementation significantly improved the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR) at 53 and 67 days of age (P < 0.05) and digestibilities of crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CF) at 67 days of age (P < 0.05). The cellulase activity in the HC group was higher respectively by 50.14 and 90.13% at 53 and 67 days of age, than those in the CG groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, at 67 days of age, the diet supplemented with C. butyricum significantly increased the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia at the phylum level (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the concentrations of different metabolites, such as amino acids and purine, were significantly altered by C. butyricum (P < 0.05). In addition, 10 different genera were highly correlated with 52 different metabolites at 53-day-old and 6 different genera were highly correlated with 18 different metabolites at 67-day-old Ira rabbits. These findings indicated that the C. butyricum supplementation could significantly improve the growth performance by modifying the cecal microbiota structure and plasma metabolome of weaned Ira rabbits.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is often associated with the infection of Epstein-Barr virus in nasopharynx and is mainly happened in South China and Southeast Asia. Recently, noncoding RNAs have been reported to regulate NPC carcinogenesis. LncRNA OIP5-AS1 participates in tumorigenesis and progression; however, the inherent mechanism of OIP5-AS1-mediated progression of NPC is unclear. In the current study, we aimed to explore the role of OIP5-AS1 in NPC progression. We measured the cell viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion in NPC cells after OIP5-AS1 modulation. Moreover, we determined whether OIP5-AS1 exerts its oncogenic functions via sponging miR-183-5p in NPC. Furthermore, we determined whether glutamate ammonia ligase (GLUL) was a downstream target of miR-183-5p. We found that OIP5-AS1 downregulation inhibited the viability, migration and invasion of NPC via targeting miR-183-5p. We also identified that GLUL might be a potential downstream target of miR-183-5p in NPC cells. Mechanistically, OIP5-AS1 promotes cell motility via regulating miR-183-5p and GLUL in NPC cells. We concluded that OIP5-AS1 performed its biological functions via targeting miR-183-5p and GLUL in NPC cells.

Abstract Background Macrosomia is a major adverse pregnancy outcome of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Although BMI, symphysis-fundal height (SFH) and abdominal circumference (AC) are associated with foetal weight, there are some limitations to their use, especially for the prediction of macrosomia. This study aimed to identify a novel predictive methodology to improve the prediction of high-risk macrosomia. Methods Clinical information was collected from 3730 patients. The association between the ISFHAC (index of the SFH algorithm multiplied by the square of AC) and foetal weight was determined and validated. A new index, the ISFHAC, was evaluated by area under the curve (AUC) analysis. Results A total of 1087 GDM and 657 normal singleton pregnancies were analysed. The ISFHAC was positively correlated with foetal weight in GDM pregnancies and normal pregnancies (NPs). The AUCs of the ISFHAC were 0.815 in the GDM group and 0.804 in the NP group, which were higher than those of BMI, SFH, AC and GA. The ISFHAC cut-off points were 41.7 and 37 in the GDM and NP groups, respectively. The sensitivity values for the prediction of macrosomia with high ISFHAC values were 75.9 and 81.3% in the GDM and NP groups, respectively, which were higher than those with BMI. Regarding the validation data, the sensitivity values for prediction with high ISFHAC values were 78.9% (559 GDM pregnancies) and 78.3% (1427 NPs). Conclusions The ISFHAC can be regarded as a new predictor of and risk factor for macrosomia in GDM pregnancy and NP.

With the expansion of the scale of coal mining, the safety problems caused by the reburning of coal are becoming more and more serious. In this paper, the pyrolysis characteristics of gas coal and the exothermic characteristics of reoxidation of residues were studied by using a synchronous thermal analyzer. The functional groups of pyrolysis residues were tested, and the group content and characteristic structural parameters were calculated based on quantum chemistry method. The results show that with the increase of pyrolysis temperature, Volatile maximum separation rate (Vmax) and the change in the residual weight of the coal sample (ΔW vp ) increase. The increase of temperature will lead to the decrease of hydroxyl and aliphatic hydrocarbon content in coal, and the increase of aromatic hydrocarbon. With the deepening of pyrolysis, the ignition point temperature of coal samples decreases first and then rises, the combustion intensity and combustion concentration are strengthened. The pyrolysis results show that 462.8°C is the critical temperature for the transition during pyrolysis. The ignition point of the residue is less affected by the pyrolysis conditions, and the ignition temperature of the raw coal and the pyrolysis residue varies within 330.57°C–334.98°C.

It is important for mechanical structures to be lightweight, and this is mainly realized by using hollow parts in structures. Presently, hollow shaft parts are used in vehicles, machine tools, and other equipment. Traditional hollow shaft parts are mainly manufactured by cutting, die forging, which have low production efficiency and low material utilization. With the increasing demand for hollow shafts, it is necessary to replace traditional processes with an efficient and advanced technology. Cross wedge rolling (CWR) has been widely used to produce shafts because of its advantages of higher productivity, better product quality, and lower material and energy consumption. Manufacturing of hollow shafts using cross wedge rolling with mandrel has received much attention. Phenomenon of roundness error often occurs in the formation of thick-walled hollow shafts using cross wedge rolling. Hot compression tests were conducted to investigate hot deformation behavior of alloy steel 25 CrMo4 in cross wedge rolling forming conditions, and true stress-strain curves were obtained. Based on the results, a finite element (FE) simulation model of cross wedge rolling for thick-walled hollow shafts was established using Deform-3 D, and formation mechanism and effects of area reduction, forming angle, and stretch angle on roundness error were analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the greater the area reduction, the smaller the roundness error; the greater the forming angle, the smaller the roundness error (where decrease in roundness error is facilitated by increasing rolling temperature); and the greater the stretch angle, the greater the roundness error (which is restrained by increasing the rolling temperature).Some process parameters were investigated by verifying the cross wedge rolling experiment, and the experimental results and simulation results were compared. The results show that the prediction accuracy of the FE model is high.

Objective: We investigated the prevalence of Ureaplasma spp. in semen samples of infertile men in Shanghai, China and evaluated the correlation between the sperm parameters (seminal volume, sperm concentration, progressive motility and non-progressive) and the secretary function in these infectious populations. Methods: Semens were collected from 540 infertile men and 260 fertile control group in shanghai, China and subjected to standard bacterial and Ureaplasma spp. culture. Positive Ureaplasma spp. isolates were further tested by PCR to detect the biovars and serotypes of Ureaplasma spp. Sperm seminological variabilities were analyzed by Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis according to the fifth edition of World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen. Seminal markers were measured by the automatic analyzer. Results: The prevalence of Ureaplasma spp. in semen specimens was 39.6% (214/540) and 19.2% (50/260) in infertile and control group, respectively. Significant difference was observed between the two groups (P 0.05). The progressive motility and the NAG activity of infertile men infected with UPA and mixed species were significantly lower than those of UUR infected subgroup (P

We propose a flexible, dry, and antibacterial electrode with a low and stable skin electrode contact impedance for bio-potential signal monitoring. We fabricated a bacterial cellulose/polyaniline/AgNO3 nanocomposite membrane (BC/PANI/AgNO3) and used it for bio-potential signal monitoring. The bacterial cellulose (BC) provides a 3-D nanoporous network structure, and it was used as a substrate material in the BC/PANI/AgNO3 nanocomposite membrane. Polyaniline (PANI) and AgNO3, acting as conductive and antibacterial components, respectively, were polymerized and deposited on the surfaces of BC nanofibers to produce uniform thin film membrane with flexible, antibacterial, and conductive properties. Various measurements were conducted, in terms of antibacterial activity, skin electrode contact impedance, and qualitative analysis of ECG signal recordings. The BC/PANI/AgNO3 membrane revealed 100% antibacterial activities against both the Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The skin electrode contact impedance of the proposed BC/PANI/AgNO3 electrode is lower than that of the Ag/AgCl gel electrode, with the same active area. In addition, the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals acquired with the proposed electrodes have stable characteristic waveforms, and they are not contaminated by noise. The waveform fidelity of the BC/PANI/AgNO3 membrane electrodes over 800 ECG cardiac cycles is 99.49%, and after the electrodes were worn for 24 hours, a fidelity of 98.40% was recorded over the same number of cardiac cycles. With the low and stable skin electrode contact impedance, the proposed dry BC/PANI/AgNO3 membrane electrode provided high fidelity for ECG signal recordings, thus offering a potential approach for bio-potential signal monitoring. With the above benefits, the novel flexible and dry BC/PANI/AgNO3 electrode has a significant antibacterial. Most of all, it is the first research to develop antibacterial in the electrode design.

Currently widely used SF6 inflatable equipment pressure gauge are short pointer and the pointer is not connected to the center of the dial (non-linear pointer), The position of the hands on this dial cannot be identified using traditional computer vision techniques. In order to solve the problem, This paper proposes a method for SF6 pressure gauge pointer and reading recognition based on digital image processing and Mask-RCNN neural network image segmentation technology. The method first pre-processes the SF6 pressure gauge image and Canny edge detection, while using Mask-RCNN network to extract the pointer feature information and scale feature information, and uses the SF6 pressure gauge pointer feature and scale feature to calculate the pressure gauge reading. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified through the scale identification of 180 short pointer SF6 pressure meters actually operated in a 220kV substation with 100% accuracy.

In order to solve the problem of wheeled robots in the main control room of the substation due to the height of the robot and the shooting distance, the main camera cannot take a complete picture of the bottom pressure plate of the relay protection pressure plate cabinet during the inspection process and perform open/close state and label image recognition. Propose install a wide-angle secondary camera on the side of wheeled robot, and targeted proposal for the correction of distorted images taken with a wide-angle lens using a division model, improving the accuracy of decompression plate checks. Experiments have shown that, the proposed approach is practical and feasible, effective solution for indoor wheeled robot relay panel cabinet inspection visual blind spot shooting problem, enhanced the effectiveness of wheeled robotic inspections in the main control room of the substation, improved platen verification accuracy.

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinesis) is a widely cultured commercial species in East and Southeast Asian countries. The turtles frequently suffer from acute cold stress during farming in China. Stress-induced factor such as Interleukin-6 (IL6) is a multifunctional molecule that plays important roles in innate and adaptive immune response. In the present study, we found that the turtle possessed two IL6 transcripts, where one IL6 transcript contained a signal peptide sequence (psIL6), while the other IL6 transcript (psIL6ns) possessed no such signal peptide gene. To test any differential expression of the two isoforms during temperature and microbial stress, turtles were adapted to optimal environmental water temperature (25 °C), stressed by acute cooling for 24 h, followed with the challenge of Aeromonas hydrophila (1.8 × 108 CFU) or Staphylococcus aureus (5.8 × 108 CFU). Gene characterization revealed that psIL6ns, a splicer without codons encoding a signal peptide and identical to the one predicted from genomic sequence, and psIL6, a splicer with codons encoding a signal peptide, were both present. Inducible expression was documented in primary spleen cells stimulated with ConA and poly I: C. The splenic and intestinal expression of psIL6ns and psIL6 was increased in response to temperature stress and bacterial infection.

Eranthis stellate belong to Ranunculaceae, which is interest in phylogenetic research because it has often been considered one of the most basal eudicots families. However, there are few chloroplastg enome data of Ranunculaceae available. Here, to provide available genomic data for the phylogenetic of Ranunculaceae, we determined the complete chloroplast genome of E. stellate. The complete chloroplast sequence is 158,817 bp, including a large single-copy (LSC) region of 87,137 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 16,834 bp, a pair of invert repeats (IR) regions of 27,424 bp. Plastid genome contain129 genes, 84 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on 14 chloroplast genomes indicates that E. stellata is sister to Aconitum austrokoreense clade in Ranunculaceae.

Background: C9, a newly in silico-designed inhibitor of microtubule dynamics induces G2/M arrest culminating in apoptosis. Dichloroacetate (DCA) inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, an enzyme that promotes pyruvate entry into mitochondria. The use of antitumor drugs targeting different cancer features can be a more effective way to overcome drug resistance. Methods: The influence of C9 (130 nM) + DCA (7.5 mM) on MCF-7 and MCF-12 cells was assessed via microscopy spectrophotometry global gene expression and flow cytometry assays. Results: An LDH assay showed that C9+DCA treatment decreased cell viability to 83.5% in MCF-7 cells when compared to the non-tumorigenic MCF-12A cells 92.4% (P P 70 and caspase 7 activation. Kinase inhibition revealed sustained activation of the JNK pathway caused increased Bcl-2 protein Ser70 hypo-and hyper-phosphorylation. Elevated levels of DCF fluorescence was observed in DCA-, C9- and C9+DCA-exposed MCF-7 cells, but not in MCF-12A cells, indicating cytosolic H2O2/Fe2+ formation in treated tumorigenic cells. LC3-II expression was elevated in C9+DCA-treated cells in both cell lines, indicating that autophagy was also induced. Conclusions: Synergistic effects of C9+DCA were demonstrated on breast carcinoma and non-tumorigenic cells with selectivity towards the MCF-7 cells. Antimitotic compound C9 in combination with a glycolytic inhibitor dichloroacetate eradicates breast cancer cells through ROS-JNK-Bcl-2-mediated signalling pathways in vitro and it is argued that autophagy acts as protective mechanism in the treated cells before apoptosis occurs.

C20H22BrNO3, monoclinic, P21/n (no. 14), a = 9.597(2) Å, b = 18.236(5) Å, c = 11.640(3) Å, β = 111.355(5)°, V = 1897.3(8) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0497, wRref(F2) = 0.1240, T = 296(2) K.

OBJECTIVE: The role of Ulinastatin in neuronal injury after cardiopulmonary resuscitation has not been elucidated. We aim to evaluate the effects of Ulinastatin on inflammation, oxidation, and neuronal injury in the cerebral cortex after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. METHODS: Ventricular fibrillation was induced in 76 adult male Wistar rats for 6 min, after which cardiopulmonary resuscitation was initiated. After spontaneous circulation returned, the rats were split into two groups: the Ulinastatin 100,000 unit/kg group or the PBS-treated control group. Blood and cerebral cortex samples were obtained and compared at 2, 4, and 8 h after return of spontaneous circulation. The protein levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) were assayed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and mRNA levels were quantified via real-time polymerase chain reaction. Myeloperoxidase and Malondialdehyde were measured by spectrophotometry. The translocation of nuclear factor-κB p65 was assayed by Western blot. The viable and apoptotic neurons were detected by Nissl and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). RESULTS: Ulinastatin treatment decreased plasma levels of TNF-α and IL-6, expression of mRNA, and Myeloperoxidase and Malondialdehyde in the cerebral cortex. In addition, Ulinastatin attenuated the translocation of nuclear factor-κB p65 at 2, 4, and 8 hours after the return of spontaneous circulation. Ulinastatin increased the number of living neurons and decreased TUNEL-positive neuron numbers in the cortex at 72 h after the return of spontaneous circulation. CONCLUSIONS: Ulinastatin preserved neuronal survival and inhibited neuron apoptosis after the return of spontaneous circulation in Wistar rats via attenuation of the oxidative stress response and translocation of nuclear factor-κB p65 in the cortex. In addition, Ulinastatin decreased the production of TNF-α, IL-6, Myeloperoxidase, and Malondialdehyde.

Dyslipidemia and lipotoxicity-induced insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress are the key pathogeneses of renal damage in type 2 diabetes. Increasing evidence shows that whole-body low dose radiation (LDR) plays a critical role in attenuating insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress.The aims of the present study were to investigate whether LDR can prevent type 2 diabetes-induced renal damage and the underlying mechanisms.Mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD, 40% of calories from fat) for 12 weeks to induce obesity followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg) to develop a type 2 diabetic mouse model. The mice were exposed to LDR at different doses (25, 50 and 75 mGy) for 4 or 8 weeks along with HFD treatment. At each time-point, the kidney weight, renal function, blood glucose level and insulin resistance were examined. The pathological changes, renal lipid profiles, inflammation, oxidative stress and fibrosis were also measured.HFD/STZ-induced type 2 diabetic mice exhibited severe pathological changes in the kidney and renal dysfunction. Exposure of the mice to LDR for 4 weeks, especially at 50 and 75 mGy, significantly improved lipid profiles, insulin sensitivity and protein kinase B activation, meanwhile, attenuated inflammation and oxidative stress in the diabetic kidney. The LDR-induced anti-oxidative effect was associated with up-regulation of renal nuclear factor E2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2) expression and function. However, the above beneficial effects were weakened once LDR treatment was extended to 8 weeks.These results suggest that LDR exposure significantly prevented type 2 diabetes-induced kidney injury characterized by renal dysfunction and pathological changes. The protective mechanisms of LDR are complicated but may be mainly attributed to the attenuation of dyslipidemia and the subsequent lipotoxicity-induced insulin resistance, inflammation and oxidative stress.

Huang-lian-jie-du-tang (HLJDT), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been shown to improve insulin resistance (IR) induced by inflammation, a key event in the development of metabolic syndrome (MS). The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of HLJDT on MS and explore the underlying mechanism. MS rats were established with obese-diets and treated with normal saline, aspirin or HLJDT. The myocardial lesions were identified by echocardiogram, transmission electron microscope, and Sirius-red staining. The inflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA and real-time PCR. The activation of NF-κB, JNK, SOCS3, IRS1 and AKT in the heart was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Compared with the controls, MS rats developed obvious obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, IR, inflammation, and cardiac damage. Moreover, phosphorylated IRS-1 at Ser307 was correlated with the activation of NF-κB, JNK and SOCS3 and the inhibition of AKT in the heart from MS rats. These data suggest that serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 in response to inflammation is mediated, in part, by NF-κB, JNK and SOCS3. Notably, HLJDT inhibited the activation of NF-κB and reduced serine phosphorylation of IRS-1. In summary, HLJDT protects myocardium from IR-mediated injury by inhibiting serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 in MS rats.