Search

The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of carbohydrate intake 2 hours before surgery in elderly patients undergoing free flap surgery for oral cancer. Elderly patients undergoing free flap surgery between September 2019 and January 2021 were randomly divided into control (n = 43) and intervention (n = 43) groups. Control group patients fasted for 6 hours and were forbidden from drinking water for 4 hours before surgery. Intervention group patients fasted for 6 hours and were forbidden from drinking after the oral administration of 5 ml/kg carbohydrate (≤400 ml) 2 hours before surgery. The main outcome measures were aspiration, fasting blood glucose level, insulin concentration, insulin resistance index (fasting at admission, prior to anaesthesia induction, immediately after surgery, and at 6 a.m. on postoperative days 1 and 2), and comfort before and after surgery. No aspiration occurred in any of the patients during anaesthesia. There were significant differences in fasting blood glucose, insulin concentration, and insulin resistance index between the control and intervention groups prior to anaesthesia induction, immediately after surgery, and on day 1 after surgery (P 0.01). Thirst (P = 0.001) and hunger (P = 0.003) differed significantly between the two groups prior to anaesthesia induction. The intake of oral carbohydrate 2 hours before surgery was both safe and effective for elderly patients with oral cancer undergoing free flap surgery and could relieve the physiological stress response.

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences of degenerative characteristics of medial, lateral regions, femoral, patellar, and tibia parts of the knee joint in the early stage of knee osteoarthritis (OA).A total of 66 patients with early-stage knee OA and 22 healthy volunteers who have no knee-related clinical symptoms were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. T2 mapping and 3D dual-echo images were acquired with a 3.0T MR scanner. The degenerative changes of the articular cartilage were quantified by a T2 mapping and cartilage thicknesses analysis. Any structural changes were conducted using the Whole Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS).In patients with knee OA, the thicknesses of medial cartilages were significantly thinner than lateral ones (2.13 mm vs. 2.34 mm, p0.0001), but with higher T2 values (40.38 ms vs. 38.4 ms, p0.0001) and WORMS scores (12.12 vs. 0.47, p=0.004). No significant differences were observed between medial and lateral cartilage in the healthy volunteers. The T2 values of the femoral (p0.001) and patellar (p=0.012) cartilages of OA patients were higher than that of the healthy controls. Within OA group, the T2 values of femoral (p0.0001) and patellar (p0.0001) cartilages were higher than tibial ones. Moreover, the WORMS scores of femoral (p=0.001) and patellar (p0.0001) cartilages were higher than that of the tibial ones.This study demonstrates that the medial compartment and patellofemoral knee joint degenerate more severely in patients with early-stage knee OA.

Background Milk lipids originate from cytoplasmic lipid droplets (LD) that are synthesized and secreted from mammary epithelial cells by a unique membrane-envelopment process. Butyrophilin 1A1 (BTN1A1) is one of the membrane proteins that surrounds LD, but its role in bovine mammary lipid droplet synthesis and secretion is not well known. Methods The objective was to knockout BTN1A1 in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMEC) via the CRISPR/Cas9 system and evaluate LD formation, abundance of lipogenic enzymes, and content of cell membrane phospholipid (PL) species. Average LD diameter was determined via Oil Red O staining, and profiling of cell membrane phospholipid species via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results Lentivirus-mediated infection of the Cas9/sgRNA expression vector into BMEC resulted in production of a homozygous clone BTN1A1 (−/−) . The LD size and content decreased following BTN1A1 gene knockout. The mRNA abundance of fatty acid synthase (FASN) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARG) was downregulated in the BTN1A1 (−/−) clone. Subcellular analyses indicated that BTN1A1 and LD were co-localized in the cytoplasm. BTN1A1 gene knockout increased the percentage of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and decreased phosphatidylcholine (PC), which resulted in a lower PC/PE ratio. Conclusions Results suggest that BTN1A1 plays an important role in regulating LD synthesis via a mechanism involving membrane phospholipid composition.

To investigate the expression of LINC00472 in osteoporotic issues of patients, ovariectomized (OVX) mice and mice bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), its effect on osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs and its mechanism.The expression of LINC00472 and miR-300 in osteoporosis patients (n=55), ovariectomized (OVX) mice (n=10) and mice BMSCs (n=3) was detected by RT-qPCR and the correlation between the expression of miR-300 and LINC00472 was analyzed. After transferring sh-LINC00472 and overexpression LINC00472 plasmids into mice BMSCs, the expression of ALP, Bglap, OPN, Runx2 was detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot, which were related with osteogenic differentiation. In addition, Luciferase activity was used to detect whether miR-300 combined with LINC00472 and FGFR2 in mice BMSCs directly. Finally, Western blot (WB) was used to detect the change of FGFR2 protein expression by miR-300 inhibitor and sh-LINC00472.We found there was a negative correlation between the expression of miR-300 and LINC00472 in osteoporosis patients, bone tissues of OVX mice and mice BMSCs. The expression of LINC00472 in mice BMSCs was gradually increased with osteogenic differentiation. Transferring overexpression plasmid of LINC00472 into BMSCs, the expression of ALP, Bglap, OPN, Runx2 was increased both in mRNA and protein levels. Transferring sh-LINC00472 to BMSCs, the results were the opposite. Luciferase results showed that miR-300 could directly bind to LINC00472 and FGFR2 in mice BMSCs. What's more, RT-qPCR and WB results showed that transferring sh-LINC00472 could decrease the expression of FGFR2 mRNA and protein, while miR-300 inhibitor could recover this tendency.According to these results, this study revealed the previously neglected LINC00472/miR-300/FGFR2 regulatory axis for the regulation of osteogenic differentiation in osteoporosis, which may be a potential target for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Fatty acid synthase is a key enzyme for the synthesis of milk fat in the ruminant mammary gland. In nonruminants, sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) is a regulator of FASN gene expression, and SREBF chaperone (SCAP) is essential for SREBP1 maturation and activity. However, the role of SCAP on the regulation of FASN gene expression in ruminants is unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the transcriptional regulation of FASN by overexpressing SCAP in bovine mammary epithelial cells. A bovine SCAP expression vector, SREBP1 expression vector, and the promoter of FASN were cloned. The transcription factor binding sites of FASN promoter were predicted using bioinformatics analysis. After transfection with FASN promoter vectors in the immortalized bovine mammary epithelial cell line MAC-T, we co-overexpressed the SCAP + SREBP1 expression vector with pcDNA3.1 vector as control. The effect of SCAP + SREBP1 overexpression on the regulation of FASN was investigated using luciferase assay, immunofluorescence, Western blot, real-time PCR, and lipid droplet staining. We observed that co-overexpression of SCAP + SREBP1 significantly increased activity of the FASN promoter containing a sterol response element binding site. The FASN mRNA abundance and lipid droplet formation increased due to co-overexpression of SCAP + SREBP1. Compared with overexpression of SREBP1 alone, co-overexpression of SCAP + SREBP1 enhanced the nuclear translocation and nuclear SREBP1 protein abundance. Overall, as in nonruminants cells, results indicate that SCAP is essential for promoting nuclear translocation of SREBP1 and activation of FASN gene transcription, leading to lipid droplet formation in bovine mammary epithelial cells.

A batch of Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb (at.%) rods (diameter 15 mm, height 70 mm) has been additively manufactured by selective electron beam melting (SEBM), and a detailed assessment made of their chemical composition, density before and after hot isostatic pressing, microstructure, and tensile properties. The microstructure of the SEBM Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb in as-built condition was composed of fine equiaxed grains consisting of lamellar γ/α 2 colonies and a small amount of coarse γ grains. Owing to the fine and dense microstructure (relative density 99.8%), the tensile yield strength of the SEBM Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb reached 555 ± 11.3 MPa, while the tensile elongation reached 0.94 ± 0.06%. The oxygen content changed from 0.089 wt.% in the feedstock powder to 0.093% in the as-built alloy within the range of measurement error. However, the content of Al decreased from 33.8 wt.% in the feedstock powder to 32.3 wt.% in the as-built samples. Observations of various microstructure features are discussed.

IFITM3 is involved in cell adhesion, apoptosis, immune, and antivirus activity. Furthermore, IFITM3 gene has been considered as a preferential marker for inflammatory diseases, and positive correlation to pathological grades. Therefore, we assumed that IFITM3 was regulated by different signal pathways. To better understand IFITM3 function in inflammatory response, we cloned swine IFITM3 gene, and detected IFITM3 distribution in tissues, as well as characterized this gene. Results indicated that the length of swine IFITM3 gene was 438 bp, encoding 145 amino acids. IFITM3 gene expression abundance was higher in spleen and lungs. Moreover, we next constructed the eukaryotic expression vector PBIFM3 and transfected into PK15 cells, finally obtained swine IFITM3 gene stable expression cell line. Meanwhile, we explored the effects of LPS on swine IFITM3 expression. Results showed that LPS increased IFITM3 mRNA abundance and exhibited time-dependent effect for LPS treatment. To further demonstrate the mechanism that IFITM3 regulated type I IFNs production, we also detected the important molecules expression of TLR4 signaling pathway. In transfected and non-transfected IFITM3 PK15 cells, LPS exacerbated the relative expression of TLR4-NFκB signaling molecules. However, the IFITM3 overexpression suppressed the inflammatory development of PK15 cells. In conclusion, these data indicated that the overexpression of swine IFITM3 could decrease the inflammatory response through TLR4 signaling pathway, and participate in type I interferon production. These findings may lead to an improved understanding of the biological function of IFITM3 in inflammation.

The accumulation of lipid droplets (LDs) in the cytoplasm plays an important role in energy balance, membrane synthesis and cell signal transduction. The aim of this study was to investigate the profile of phospholipids after SCAP-induced LD formation in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs). A shRNA-SCAP vector and a SCAP/SREBP vector were used to knock down and overexpress the SCAP gene in BMECs prior to evaluating the effects on LDs using Western blotting, real-time PCR, LD staining and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The average LD diameter was determined following oil red O staining. The overexpression of SCAP increased the abundance of SCD, ACACA and FASN genes and nuclear SREBP1a. In contrast, knocking down SCAP decreased the abundance of the nuclear SREBP1a protein and downregulated the abundance of target genes. Lipid droplet staining revealed that knocking down SCAP reduced LD formation and average LD diameter. In contrast, overexpression of SCAP increased the formation and size of the LDs. The results from an analysis of cellular lipids revealed that phospholipids are the predominant species in the profile of cell lipids. phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) are important for determining the size of LDs. The LD formation induced by SCAP gene overexpression and knockdown underscored the role of phospholipids involved in lipid droplet formation and fusion.

To evaluate four 5′-UTRs on GFP expression in HEK293T cells. The recombinant plasmids were constructed by restriction enzyme digestion, digestion and DNA sequencing. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting results showed that the transcription and translation level of PPRV-GFP mRNA was significantly lower than that of the other reporters. The transcription and translation level of ChEF1-GFP was the highest in HEK293T cells. Different UTRs can significantly affect protein expression. Additionally, the findings also will be useful in biological applications that require tuning of gene expression and system optimization.

To determine the effects of the Sus scrofa matrix attachment region (SusMAR) on transgene expression in HEK293T cells. Three expression vectors with the MAR at different sites in the PiggyBac (PB) transposon vector backbone were compared: two MARs flanking the β-galactosidase (β-gal) expression cassette, and one at the upstream or downstream site. Bos taurus MAR (BosMAR) and a β-gal expression cassette without MARs were the positive and negative controls, respectively. Compared to the control, β-gal activity of all SusMAR and BosMAR vectors was significantly improved in the presence of PB transposase (PBase). However, only the downstream SusMAR and upstream BosMAR vectors showed increased expression in the absence of PBase. Expression was significantly increased in all vectors with the PBase group compared to those without the PBase group. Gene copy numbers were not increased compared to the negative control. SusMAR enhanced recombinant gene expression levels and stability in HEK293T cells, was not increase transgene copy number. These results could facilitate the development of vectors for stable production of therapeutic proteins.

We investigated the mechanisms mediating hepatic metabolic responses to an acute lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge in goats. Guanzhong dairy goats (15) were randomly divided into three groups: control (CTL, saline, 0.2 ml/kg BW), lower dose LPS (LPS-L, 20 μg/kg BW) and higher dose LPS (LPS-H, 40 μg/kg BW). All injections were administered intraperitoneally twice with a 24-h interval. Forty-eight hours after the first injection, blood samples were collected to extract plasma for biochemical analysis, and liver tissues were biopsied and stored in liquid nitrogen for metabonomics analysis. We found that plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and total bilirubin increased (p

Oil–gas separation is a key process in an aero-engine lubrication system. This study reports an innovative development in oil–gas separation. A honeycomb-structured rotor with hexagonal cone-shaped pore channels has been designed, additively manufactured from Ti-6Al-4V using selective electron beam melting (SEBM) and assessed for oil–gas separation for aero-engine application. The Ti-6Al-4V honeycomb structure showed a high compressive strength of 110 MPa compared to less than 20 MPa for metal foam structures. The oil–gas separation efficiency of the honeycomb-structured separation rotor achieved 99.8% at the rotation speed of 6000 rpm with much lower ventilation resistance (17.3 kPa) than that of the separator rotor constructed using a Ni-Cr alloy foam structure (23.5 kPa). The honeycomb-structured Ti-6Al-4V separator rotor produced by SEBM provides a promising solution to more efficient oil–gas separation in the aero-engine lubrication system.

Vertebrate retinas are generally composed of rod (dim-light) and cone (bright-light) photoreceptors with distinct morphologies that evolved as adaptations to nocturnal/crepuscular and diurnal light environments. Over 70 years ago, the "transmutation" theory was proposed to explain some of the rare exceptions in which a photoreceptor type is missing, suggesting that photoreceptors could evolutionarily transition between cell types. Although studies have shown support for this theory in nocturnal geckos, the origins of all-cone retinas, such as those found in diurnal colubrid snakes, remain a mystery. Here we investigate the evolutionary fate of the rods in a diurnal garter snake and test two competing hypotheses: (i) that the rods, and their corresponding molecular machinery, were lost or (ii) that the rods were evolutionarily modified to resemble, and function, as cones. Using multiple approaches, we find evidence for a functional and unusually blue-shifted rhodopsin that is expressed in small single "cones." Moreover, these cones express rod transducin and have rod ultrastructural features, providing strong support for the hypothesis that they are not true cones, as previously thought, but rather are modified rods. Several intriguing features of garter snake rhodopsin are suggestive of a more cone-like function. We propose that these cone-like rods may have evolved to regain spectral sensitivity and chromatic discrimination as a result of ancestral losses of middle-wavelength cone opsins in early snake evolution. This study illustrates how sensory evolution can be shaped not only by environmental constraints but also by historical contingency in forming new cell types with convergent functionality.

Macro structural properties of functionally graded material depend on micro net structures. Thus, there is important theoretical significance in studying the influence of material microstructural changes on the macro responses of functionally graded material structures. Here, a new microelement method is proposed. Scale-span analyses between macro responses and micro-constitution were conducted based on metallography input instead of traditional mechanical input of materials parameters. To reflect the actual microstructural changes in functionally graded materials, the microelement method established dense microelements in the normal finite element of the structure, and translated the freedom degrees of all microelemental nodes to the freedom degrees of the same normal finite elements by compatibility conditions. Three-dimensional mechanical analyses of functionally graded material plates with medium components and micro net structures were determined by the microelement method, and the influence ...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a common pathogenic agent that causes many diseases and metabolic disorders. Hypoglycemia is often observed when animals are infected with LPS. To explore the influence of LPS on blood glucose and hepatic gluconeogenesis in goats, 12 goats were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: the LPS-treated group (60 μg/kg BW of LPS; jugular vein injections) or the control group (saline vehicle; jugular vein injections). Blood samples were collected from jugular veins at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h, and liver tissue samples were biopsied 8 h after the injections. The dynamic changes in blood glucose levels as well as key hepatic gluconeogenic enzyme mRNA and protein expression, ATP and ADP levels, and glutathione reductase (GR) activity were determined. The results showed that blood glucose levels in the LPS group were dramatically reduced after an initial, short-term increase. In liver tissue, the mRNA of key gluconeogenic enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PEPCK1;P 0.05). The protein expression of PEPCK1 decreased (P < 0.01), whereas that of G6Pase-α increased (P < 0.05) significantly. The ratio of ADP to ATP ( < 0.05) and the activity of GR (P < 0.01) were markedly increased in the LPS group compared with those in controls. This research showed that LPS markedly affects and reduces blood glucose in dairy goats. The crucial reasons for the marked change in blood glucose are the altered expression of key gluconeogenic enzymes in different pathways and of essential factors associated with gluconeogenesis in the liver.

An advantage of the powder-bed-based metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes is that the powder can be reused. The powder reuse or recycling times directly affect the affordability of the additively manufactured parts, especially for the AM of titanium parts. This study examines the influence of powder reuse times on the characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V powder, including powder composition, particle size distribution (PSD), apparent density, tap density, flowability, and particle morphology. In addition, tensile samples were manufactured and evaluated with respect to powder reuse times and sample locations in the powder bed. The following findings were made from reusing the same batch of powder 21 times for AM by selective electron beam melting: (i) the oxygen (O) content increased progressively with increasing reuse times but both the Al content and the V content remained generally stable (a small decrease only); (ii) the powder became less spherical with increasing reuse times and some particles showed noticeable distortion and rough surfaces after being reused 16 times; (iii) the PSD became narrower and few satellite particles were observed after 11 times of reuse; (iv) reused powder showed improved flowability; and (v) reused powder showed no measurable undesired influence on the AM process and the samples exhibited highly consistent tensile properties, irrespective of their locations in the powder bed. The implications of these findings were discussed.

Cholesterol 25-hydroxylase (CH25H) catalyses the production of 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC) from cholesterol by adding a second hydroxyl group at position 25. The aim of this study was to examine the antiviral effect of CH25H on pseudorabies virus (PRV), a swine pathogen that can cause devastating disease and economic losses worldwide. The results showed that porcine ch25h was induced by either interferon or PRV infection. PRV infection of porcine alveolar macrophages (3D4/21 cells) was attenuated by CH25H overexpression and enhanced by silencing of CH25H. Furthermore, treatment of 3D4/21 cells with 25HC inhibited the growth of PRV in vitro, suggesting that CH25H may restrict PRV replication by 25HC production. We further identified that the anti-PRV role of CH25H and 25HC was subject to their inhibitory effect on PRV attachment and entry. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that CH25H is an intrinsic host restriction factor in PRV infection of porcine alveolar macrophages.

The expression and function of the zinc transporter genes SLC39A1, SLC39A2, and SLC39A3 in the Zrt/Irt-like proteins (ZIP)II subfamily have been reported in monogastric but not ruminant animals. Thus, the response of these three ZIPII genes to different sources of zinc in ruminants was examined in goats in the present study. A total of 18 Guanzhong dairy goats were randomly divided into three groups of 6 goats each. The goats were fed one of three diets. The control group received a basic diet with no additional zinc. The second and third groups ate the same diet but with 60 mg/kg of zinc sulfate or zinc amino acid chelate (Zn-AA) complex added, respectively. After 7 days of treatment, the goats were sacrificed, 23 tissue samples were collected from each goat, and the expression and distribution of the ZIPII genes were determined with PCR analyses. In addition, seven tissues relevant to digestion or metabolism were examined using real-time PCR to identify the responses of the three genes to different zinc sources. The results showed that the expression of SLC39A1-3 mRNA could be detected in 21 of the 23 tissue types examined in the dairy goats, with no expression detected in heart or testis. The levels of expression for the three genes in the tissues relevant to digestion or metabolism were tissue specific and varied with the zinc source, indicating that the source of zinc affects the SLC39A1-3 mRNA expression.

Angiogenesis and neurogenesis are crucial processes for brain tissue repair and remodeling after brain injury. Current study shows that microRNA-210 (miR-210) promotes vascular endothelial cell migration and tube formation under hypoxia in vitro. Whether miR-210 overexpression promotes focal angiogenesis and neurogenesis in the normal adult brain is unknown. Adult male C57BL/6 mice (n=54) underwent stereotactic injection of a lentiviral vector carrying miR-210 (LV-miR-210). Following 28 days of miR-210 gene transfer, endothelial cell and neural precursor cell proliferation, microvessel density and downstream angiogenic factor were genotyped. miR-210 was highly expressed in neurons, astrocytes and endothelial cells of the LV-miR-210-injected brain hemisphere. The endothelial cell proliferation and the number of newly formed microvessels were greatly increased in the LV-miR-210-treated mice compared with the controls (P

Recent advances in the synthetic chemistry and synthesis strategies for inorganic clusters, including oxo clusters, metal chalcogenide clusters, metal sulfur clusters, and transition metal (TM) carbonyl clusters, are introduced. Special attention has been given to oxo clusters containing TMs, lanthanides (Ln), and main group elements due to their critical role played in cluster-organic frameworks, such as structure-directing of the lacunary sites of polyoxometalate (POM) units, the synergistic directing between two or more lacunary fragments, and corporative role for the structure-directing and the decomposition of lacunary POM fragment. In addition, the ligand inducement, synergistic coordination between two types of ligands, and combination of self-polymerization and ligands inducement have been utilized to make high-nuclearity Ln cluster organic frameworks, LnTM-cluster-organic frameworks, and Ln-organogermanate cluster frameworks, respectively. Further, chiral transfer from the guest to the host and the synergistic strategy between the chiral groups and the acentric borate clusters are applied to make nonlinear optical materials.

We amplified S14R protein gene cDNA of porcine, cloned it into a prokaryotic expression plasmid, and expressed it in Escherichia coli. A pair of primers was designed based on the cDNA sequence of the porcine S14R gene in GenBank. The target gene fragment from porcine liver tissue was amplified by RT-PCR. Confirmed by auto-sequencing, the target gene fragment was subcloned into an expression vector of pET28a. The pET28a-S14R construct was subsequently transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3). This construct was verified by restriction endonuclease digestion and sequencing. Using isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside induction, a new recombinant protein with the expected relative molecular mass of 24 kDa appeared. The result was identified by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. Porcine S14R includes 549bp (GenBank No. JN793537), with an open reading frame of 549 bp coding 182 amino acids.

The liver is a unique organ that is endowed with a plethora of specialized functions. Most of its functional traits are controlled by hepatocytes. Primary hepatocytes have been used widely in in vitro models to understand the biological processes occurring in the liver. There are a number of methods used to separate hepatocytes, but the cell activity and purity are much lower in this condition. On the basis of previous research, in this study, the two-step collagenase perfusion technique was used for isolating hepatocytes. The key proteins of hepatocytes, cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) and albumin (ALB), were used to identify cells, and their contents were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The results showed that the isolated hepatocytes comprised more than 96% of the corresponding protein volume stability. Therefore, this method was demonstrated to be reliable for identifying hepatocytes.

To compare the efficacies of core needle biopsy and fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of neck lymph node diseases with contrast-enhanced ultrasound.A total of 105 patients with enlargement cervical lymph nodes were randomly divided into two groups, 49 in group A and 56 in group B. All patients were firstly examined with contrast-enhanced ultrasound to determine the targeted lymph node and the puncture point. Core needle biopsy was performed in Group A and tissues were fixed by with 10% formaldehyde; Fine needle aspiration cytology was performed in Group B and extracts were smeared and fixed with 95% alcohol.The success rates of sampling were 100.0% in group A and 96.4% in group B. The positive rates of pathological examinations were 97.9% in group A; and 82.1% in group B, with a significant difference between two groups (χ(2) = 6.97, P0.05).The pathologically positive rates of core needle biopsy is higher than that of fine needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of neck lymph node diseases with contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

To explore the application of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in the surgical treatment of patients with diabetic feet.The clinical data of 83 patients with diabetic feet, 95 limbs (95 wounds) in total, hospitalized in our unit from September 2011 to September 2014, conforming to the study criteria, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into conventional treatment group (CT, n=43, 51 wounds) and PTA group (n=40, 44 wounds) according to whether receiving PTA treatment or not. Patients in two groups received conventional debridement after admission, and patients in PTA group received another PTA treatment before debridement. Granulation growing well rates of wounds of patients in two groups were calculated on post debridement day (PDD) 3, 6, 9, and 12. Two stage preoperative preparation time of wounds of patients in two groups was recorded. Status of free skin graft survival of wounds and wound healing of patients in two groups were recorded according to the grade of Wagner. Values of ankle-brachial index (ABI) and ulcer recurrence of patients in two groups checked every month during follow-up time of half a year were recorded. Data were processed with chi-square test and t test.Granulation growing well rate of wounds of patients in group CT rose slowly after treatment, which was less than 40% on PDD 12. Granulation growing well rate of wounds of patients in PTA group rose significantly on PDD 9 and all the granulation grew well on PDD 12. On PDD 9 and 12, Granulation growing well rates of wounds of patients in PTA group were significantly higher than those in group CT (with χ(2) values respectively 30.008 and 47.810, P values below 0.01). Two stage preoperative preparation time of wounds of patients in group CT [(24±10) d] was obviously longer than that in PTA group [(15±3) d, t=5.709, P0.01]. The ratios of survived free skin graft and healed suture in Wagner 2, 3, and 4 wounds of patients in PTA group were significantly higher than those in corresponding Wagner of group CT (with χ(2) values from 6.741 to 24.498, P values below 0.01). During follow-up time of half a year, values of ABI of patients in PTA group every month were significantly higher than those in group CT (with t values from 5.411 to 9.583, P values below 0.01). During follow-up time of half a year, there was no ulcer recurrence in group CT in the first four months, but ulcer recurrence was observed in one patient in the fifth month and in two patients in the sixth month. While no ulcer recurrence was found in PTA group during follow-up time of half a year.PTA has certain effect and clinical value for the treatment of diabetic foot.

To investigate the clinical and histopathologic features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of eccrine angiomatous hamartoma(EAH).Four cases of eccrine angiomatous hamartoma were studied by light microscopy and immunohistochemical staining along with review of the literature.There were 3 male and 1 female patients at diagnosis in age of 4 months, 3.5 years, 5.5 years and 14.0 years, respectively. Tumor sites included the left little finger (1 case), right index finger (1 case), lower back (1 case) and knee (1 case). Clinically, most cases presented as a solitary, flesh or reddish papule, plaque or nodule with size of 0.4-6.0 cm in diameter. The skin lesions in 3 cases enlarged commensurate with the growth of the patients, and local hyperhidrosis in one case. Histologically, EAH was characterized by proliferation of well-differentiated eccrine secretory and ductal elements closely associated with thin-walled angiomatous channels in the middle or deep dermis and subcutaneous tissue. By immunohistochemistry, the vascular components were positive for CD31, CD34 and factor Ⅷ related antigen while the eccrine glands were positive for S-100 protein, CEA, EMA, CAM5.2 and GCDFP15. Local surgical resection was performed in 4 cases and follow-up data (0.5 to 4.5 years) showed no recurrence.EAH is a rare, benign cutaneous hamartoma. Combination of clinical manifestations, histological changes and immunohistochemical findings is useful for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

To resolve the problem of data transmitting in multi-sensor network possessing of a lot of sensors and processing sensors signals on the same time base and transmitting the results remotely, a three classes’ bus topology structure based on intelligent node was designed. The system comprised scene devices, transmission cable, and console. The scene devices included several gateways, more nodes and sensor groups. The console communicated remotely with gateways via Ethernet, and gateway communicated with nodes via CAN bus, each node managed a group of sensors via RS-485 bus. The designs of intelligent node were presented in detail including hardware design, transport protocols, as well as program flow. Above conceptual design was applied successfully in a certain multi-sensor network system principle prototype consisting of a console, a gateway and three nodes possessing of ten sensors. The results prove the conceptual design feasible.

We compared levels of prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP) mRNA expression in mouse medulla at different stages of pregnancy and lactation. Mouse medulla samples were collected on days 6, 12 and 18 of pregnancy and lactation, respectively (six per group), for mRNA. Expression levels of PrRP mRNA in the medulla were measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, with glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase as a control. PrRP mRNA was highly expressed in mouse medulla oblongata on day 6 of pregnancy (0.53), followed by 0.43 at lactation day 6, and 0.42 at lactation day 12. The expression level of PrRP mRNA on days 12 and 18 of pregnancy and day 18 of lactation shared the same value of 0.36. PrRP mRNA levels during lactation decreased slightly compared with that during pregnancy, but the differences between them were not significant. In summary, PrRP mRNA levels in the medulla oblongata remain relatively stable during pregnancy and lactation. This is evidence that medulla PrRP is not involved in the regulation of prolactin secretion.

The functions of distinct isoforms of solute carrier family 27 transporters (SLC27A1-6), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACACA, ACACB), stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1-4), fatty acid desaturase (FADS1-3), LPIN (LPIN1-3), insulin-induced gene (INSIG1, 2), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator1 (PPARGC1A, B) were studied in the mouse mammary gland from pregnancy to lactation. The relative mRNA abundance and percent change in real-time PCR were determined. mRNA expression of SLC27A3 and SLC27A4 was 37- and 1.4-fold more upregulated at 12 days of lactation, respectively (P0.01). Transcripts of SCD isoforms were the most abundant, accounting for 59% of all genes measured, and PPARGC1 isoforms were the least (0.06% of all genes measured). The mRNA abundance from ACC, FADS and LPIN accounted for 29, 9 and 2.6%, respectively. INSIG1 mRNA expression was 32-fold more upregulated (P0.05), while PPARGC1B was 0.18-fold downregulated at 18 days of lactation (P0.01). We concluded that mRNA abundance and expression of these isoforms are affected by the stage of lactation.

Obtaining quantitative data concerning gene expression is important for understanding milk synthesis in mammary glands. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) is an efficient tool to calculate gene expression; however, it is necessary to find valid reference genes for normalization of qRT-PCR data. We applied the geNorm software to eight commonly used reference genes to identify the most stable and optimal genes for the mouse mammary gland. Based on this analysis, HPRT, RPL and GAPDH are the most appropriate reference genes for data normalization. We tested the expression of the alpha-lactalbumin and fatty acid synthase genes using these three reference genes, both normalized and non-normalized. The normalized mRNA expression ratio was significantly different from the non-normalized ratio. We recommend the use of these three reference genes for the normalization of qRT-PCR data in gene expression studies of mouse mammary glands.

The microstructure and interface quality of chemical solution deposited barium titanate thin films on Ni foil were studied. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows that a ~200 nm thick barium titanate film annealed in a controlled oxygen partial pressure consists of equiaxed grains with grain size range of 24-75 nm (~ 42 nm average). NiO was detected after re-oxidation by X-ray diffraction, but not by transmission electron microscopy, suggesting that the oxide is not a continuous barrier layer, but is spatially distributed in the films. Oxygen non-stoichiometry and the existence of C in barium titanate films were observed by electron energy loss spectrometry. In addition, it was found that there is a 5-8 nm thick Ni-Ba alloy developed at the interface between the barium titanate film and Ni foil.

The microstructure and interface quality of chemical solution-deposited BaTiO 3 films on Ni foil were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The microstructures were found to consist of equiaxed and uniform grains, with average grain sizes for rapid thermal-annealed films of 12 nm (700°C) and 18 nm (750°C), respectively. Films furnace annealed at 1000°C after a rapid thermal anneal at 700°C showed a grain size of 42 nm. It is believed that the final grain size is limited by the highly reducing atmosphere and also by the existence of well-developed crystallites resulting from the rapid thermal annealing step. Spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy identified the existence of residual carbon and variations in the oxygen content in BaTiO 3 films. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed an interfacial layer of Ni-Ba alloy (5-10 nm thick) between the BaTiO 3 and Ni foil.

Multilayer ceramic capacitors based on BaTiO3 dielectric compositions and Ni inner electrodes have complex interfacial reactions that impact the continuity of the inner electrode microstructure. Previously we demonstrated that through the addition of Cr to Ni, a significant improvement in the continuity of ultra-thin Ni electrodes in Ni–BaTiO3 multilayer capacitors could be achieved. Here, the effect of the Cr addition to the nickel electrode pastes is studied with regard to the electrical properties. Low-field electrical measurements demonstrate no major differences between Cr doped Ni and undoped Ni. However, high-field measurements show a significant decrease to the total capacitor resistance. Under a critical electrical bias the conductivity significantly increases due to a Fowler–Nordheim tunneling conduction though the interfacial Schottky barrier at the dielectric–electrode interface; the onset voltage of this conduction is much lower than with the undoped nickel. Based on these results, we evaluate criteria for the selection of an appropriate refractory metal in order to improve the Ni electrode continuity.

We present an experimental methodology for locating and studying local failure sites in multilayer electroceramic devices at the submicron-length scale. In particular, the inhomogeneous degradation of multilayer ceramic capacitors is studied using a judicious combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), local-probe electrical measurements, focused ion beam (FIB) extraction, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Voltage-contrast SEM permits the identification of regions of different electrical potential within degraded multilayer devices. The local impedance from specific regions is measured in situ between a tungsten probe and the internal device electrodes, while impedance spectra are extracted for more detailed analysis. Because implementation occurs in dual-beam FIB/SEM, these locally defective sites can be extracted and thinned to electron transparency for further investigation by TEM. In this study, degraded sites in BaTiO3 multilayer capacitors are found to be associated with local oxygen deficiencies in BaTiO3, as measured by electron energy loss spectroscopy.

The electric conduction mechanism for multilayer ceramic capacitors with Ni internal electrodes (Ni-MLCCs) was investigated, utilizing impedance spectroscopy (IS) and thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurement techniques. A modified 4RC equivalent circuit model was proposed to analyze the IS data for the Ni-MLCCs. This model revealed that electrode/ceramics interfaces (E/C-I) and grain boundaries (GBs) have a Schottky type conduction mechanism controlling the leakage behavior at low electric field. The Schottky barrier height at E/C-I and surface level height at GB were calculated being 1.43 and 1.06 eV, respectively. The Ni-MLCCs showed a tunneling conduction occurs with high dc electric fields of more than 10 V/µm. The onset electric field for the tunneling conduction shifted toward high electric fields as the Mn content of the capacitors increased. TSC measurements revealed that a low Mn content resulted in high mobile oxygen vacancies concentration in the Ni-MLCCs. Mn also played a role in preventing oxygen vacancies from migrating to cathode electrodes, which resulted in a long lifetime for the Ni-MLCCs.

Lipasin has recently been demonstrated to be involved in lipid metabolism. In this study, two specific primers were used to amplify the lipasin open reading frame from porcine liver tissue. The polymerase chain reaction product was cloned to a pGEM®-T Easy Vector, digested by SalI and NotI, and sequenced. The lipasin fragment was then cloned to a pET21(b) vector and digested by the same restriction enzyme. The recombinant plasmid was transferred to Escherichia coli (BL21), and the lipasin protein was induced with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside. The protein obtained was identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting. A pET-lipasin prokaryotic recombinant expression vector was successfully constructed, and a 25.2-kDa protein was obtained. This study provides a basis for further research on the biological function of porcine lipasin.