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Asthenozoospermia (AZS) remains a significant clinical problem of male factor infertility. Er-Xian decoction (EXD) is a traditional Chinese medicine with potent antioxidant activity to treat AZS. To investigate the protective effects of EXD on sperm motility and deglycase (DJ)-1 expression in AZS model rats. Sixty mature male Sprague-Dawley rats (200 – 250 g) were randomized into five equally sized groups, including ornidazole (ORN)-induced AZS model group, or L-carnitine (0.1 g/kg) treated group or EXD group (7.5, 15, or 30 g crude drug/kg). Oxidative stress was assessed by measuring superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). DJ-1 expression in testis and epididymis tissue was measured via qRT-PCR, Western blotting, and immunofluorescence staining. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to gauge morphological changes of testis and epididymis. Sperm motility was significantly reduced theAZS model group, while increased in the low-, intermediate-, and high-dose EXD treatment groups by 45.51%, 49.43%, and 58.31%, respectively (P < 0.001), which with a similar increase of 57.21% being observed in the L-carnitine treatment group. Relative to the control group, oxidative stress indices were significantly altered in AZS model rats, which exhibited significant reductions in SOD and GSH-Px levels and significantly increased MDA levels (49.44 ± 1.38 U/ml, 14.02 ± 0.70 U/ml, and 26.37 ± 1.03 nmol/ml, respectively). After EXD treatment, oxidative stress indexes were significantly improved relative to those in these model rats, with high-dose EXD yielding more significant improvements in these oxidative stress indices relative to L-carnitine treatment. While AZS model rats exhibited morphological abnormalities, tissue disorder, and reduced cell counts in the testis and epididymis, these were reversed by EXD treatment in a dose-dependent manner. EXD treatment was also associated with a significant increase in DJ-1 protein expression in testis and epididymis tissue samples relative to the levels observed in AZS model rats. EXD is firstly reported could significantly improve sperm motility in AZS rats and is more effective at higher dosage, even better than L-carnitine. The protective effect of EXD on sperm motility is based on the DJ-1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess the value of inflammatory factors procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the early diagnosis and evaluation of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data of 140 patients with pneumonia in our hospital, including 70 who had COVID-19 and 70 who had community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), were statistically analyzed. The levels of PCT, IL-6, and CRP were measured and statistically analyzed to determine the differences between the two groups. The differences in the COVID-19 group were analyzed after subgrouping into the ordinary type, severe type, and critical type. RESULTS: The PCT and CRP levels in the COVID-19 group were statistically lower than those in the CAP group (p < 0.05), but IL-6 was not statistically different between the two groups (p > 0.05). Statistically significant differences existed in IL-6 and CRP when comparing the COVID-19 subgroups of the critical type, severe type, and ordinary type (p < 0.05). However, there was no clinical meaning in the evaluation of the difference in PCT levels among the three subgroups with COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: PCT and CRP could be used as indicators in the differentiation between COVID-19 and CAP, but IL-6 was of little significance in the differentiation. The higher the IL-6 and CRP, the more severe the condition of COVID-19 might be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UMSCs) derived exosomes (exosome) can repair the heart after myocardial infarction (MI) by delivering circ-0001273 and its mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through the Sprague Dawley (SD) rat MI model was established, at the same time, we designed sicirc- 0001273. Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), exosome and si-circ-0001273-exosome were transplanted into ischemic hearts of rat, respectively. Through the echocardiography, hematoxylin- eosin staining (HE) method to detect the rat heart recovery. Meanwhile, H9c2 was treated with hypoxic serum-free serum to construct an in vitro apoptosis model to further explore the effect of circ-0001273 on myocardial cell apoptosis. RESULTS: Compared with the exosome-treated group, the left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and shortened fraction (FS) of the rat heart was remarkably reduced and the cardiac structure was more disordered in the si-circ-0001273-exosome-treated group. Meanwhile, in vitro TUNEL staining and flow cytometry detection, results showed that compared with the exosome co-culture group, the incidence of H9C2 cell apoptosis in the si-circ-0001273-exosome co-culture group was obviously increased. CONCLUSIONS: Circ-0001273 can remarkably inhibit the occurrence of myocardial cell apoptosis in ischemic environment, promote MI repair, and provide a good reference for clinical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel micromixer is presented in this study and the effect of DC or AC electric field on mixing efficiency is investigated numerically. Four types of AC waveforms are considered to explore the flow characteristic and mixing efficiency. The velocity field, concentration field and the mixing efficiency are analyzed in details. The results demonstrated that a pair of vortices with opposite rotating directions is generated when DC or AC voltages is applied to the electrode plates planted within the walls. The generated vortices greatly enhance the mixing of incoming fluids with different concentrations. The mixing efficiency firstly rises with time and then reaches a relative stable periodic state under different potential waveforms. As the voltage applied on the plates increases, the mixing efficiency is improved obviously. The mixing efficiency under full-wave AC signal is the highest, and it is up to 95.44% when the applied potential is 3 V and frequency is 5 Hz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the dielectric properties of A Cu3Ti4O12 (A = Eu2/3, Tb2/3, and Na1/2Eu1/2) (ACTO) in the frequency range of 40 Hz–2.5 MHz and in the temperature range of 293–473 K. The experimental results show that substituting for Ca improves the loss tangent of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO). Although the dielectric constants largely decrease, they remain at a high level of 103. To identify the observed dielectric performances of ACTO, scanning electron microscopy and complex impedance measurements were conducted. The conducting mechanism for the grain of ACTO was found to be ion jumping rather than electron hopping (for the grain of CCTO). The results show that the decreased dielectric constant may be related to the decreased grain size, the different carrier in the grain, the different grain boundary properties, or a combination of these factors. All these factors are associated with the deficiency of oxygen vacancies in the samples of ACTO. The decreased loss tangent may be due to the increase in the grain boundary resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature dependence of the local structure of liquid Sb has been studied by x-ray absorption spectroscopy. It is shown that about 10% of the atoms with coordination of 3 and weak Peierls distortion exist in liquid Sb just above its melting point. The Peierls distortion weakens gradually with increasing temperature and vanishes at about 750 °C. This structural variation in liquid Sb is different from the normal liquid-liquid phase transition. This work reveals the relationship between the variation in the local structure and the change in the physical properties, such as the electrical resisitvity of liquid Sb, with temperature. The complete agreement between the measured electrical resistivity values during heating and cooling processes suggests that the structural units with the features of a rhombohedron appear above the melting point of Sb during solidification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Circular RNA 0001273 in exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UMSCs) in myocardial infarction" which appeared in the previous issue.

Pork, like other meat products, is normally cooked prior to consumption. These methods of cooking produce different meat flavors which are influenced by water-soluble components that contribute to taste, such as the soluble proteins (sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins) of porcine muscle. In this work, the effect of different cooking methods (boiling and microwaving) on porcine muscle is studied by modifying a microwave oven with a fiber optic temperature probe for online temperature effect on sarcoplasmic protein (SP) and myofibrillar protein (MP) extracted from pork samples and semi-quantitative determination (SDS-PAGE) of these soluble proteins. The heating rate behavior of both cooking methods was studied. The results show that heating rate of microwave heating at power 100 W and 300 W shared semblance with that of WBH. However, at microwave powers of 500 W, 700 W and 900 W had a linear heating rate which ignited responses from some proteins, such as creatine kinase and glyceraldehyde-3- phosphate dehydrogenase, actinin, TN-T, and tropomyosin. These changes indicated that these proteins were thermosensitve and comprised of a structure which was ignited by the heating rate of the cooking methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cobalt (Co) nanowire arrays were electrodeposited into the pores of polycarbonate membranes. A magnetic field parallel or perpendicular to the membrane plane was applied during deposition to control the wire growth. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer were employed to investigate the structure as well as the magnetic properties of the nanowire arrays. The results show that the magnetic field applied during deposition strongly influences the growth of Co nanowires, inducing variations in their crystalline structure and magnetic properties. The sample deposited with the field perpendicular to the membrane plane exhibits a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with greatly enhanced coercivity and squareness as a result of the preferred growth of Co grains with the c axis perpendicular to the film plane. In contrast, the deposition in a parallel magnetic field forces Co grains to grow with the c axis parallel to the film plane, resulting in in-plane anisotropy. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]