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Rice micronutrients and toxic metal levels are important quality issues impacting “hidden hunger” and food safety. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of sowing date (SD) on element accumulations in rice grains. We conducted a rice SD experiment every 7 days from May 10 to June 21 in 2017 and 2018 using 2 japonica (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. The rice yields were determined, and 19 element contents in the grains were measured via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Analysis of variance indicated that early SD significantly promoted the rice yields and the micronutrient (i.e., Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn) levels in grains. However, early SD also significantly increased Cr and Pb contents but significantly limited Cd accumulations in rice grains. Anyway, the element contents of all determined samples satisfied the requirements of maximum permissible concentrations (GB2762–2012) in this uncontaminated area. Redundancy analysis indicated that temperature and precipitation were the main meteorological drivers of element accumulations. Meanwhile, Cd accumulation was simultaneously affected by the antagonism of Fe/Zn. Thus, we concluded that SD management could be a feasible strategy for promoting micronutrient quality of rice grains and further alleviating Cd accumulations when aiming at high yields.

The electrochemical behavior of Yb(III) in LiCl–KCl–YbCl3 melts on W and liquid Zn electrodes was studied at 813 K. On the W electrode, the diffusion coefficient of Yb(III) was determined to be 3.38 × 10−5 cm2 s−1. The apparent standard Gibbs energy of the reaction: YbCl 2 + 1 / 2 Cl 2 → YbCl 3 in LiCl–KCl melts was calculated. On the liquid Zn electrode, the results from cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry and open circuit chronopotentiometry indicated that two electrochemical signals corresponding to the formation of two kinds of Zn–Yb intermetallic compounds were observed. Ytterbium was extracted in the form of Zn–Yb alloys by galvanostatic electrolysis on liquid Zn electrode. The results from XRD show that three kinds of Zn-Yb intermetallic compounds were formed. Moreover, the different phases of Zn–Yb alloys could be controlled by adjusting the concentrations of YbCl3.

Velarifictorus ornatus (Shiraki) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) display distinct wing variation, and a physiological trade-off between reproduction and flight muscles has been observed in long-winged (LW) and short-winged (SW) females. To understand the physiological basis of this trade-off, we investigated the difference in the food digestion capability and digestive enzyme activity between LW and SW females. We found that the efficiency of conversion of digested food into body matter of SW females was significantly higher than that of the LW females, although there was no difference in the approximate digestibility between LW and SW females during the first 12 days after the adult emergence. Similarly, growth and relative growth were significantly higher in SW females. The food consumption of SW females was significantly higher than that of the LW females only in the first 6 days after the adult emergence, suggesting enhanced ovary development in SW females is probably because of the elevated efficiency of conversion of digested food into body matter coupled with greater consumption in the early stage after the adult emergence. Trypsin-like activity was higher in SW females than in LW females, whereas no differences in the fresh weight of the midguts (including content) were observed between LW and SW females at 1, 3, or 5 h after refeeding after starvation for 18 h. In contrast, amylase activity varied significantly depending on time lapse after refeeding, being significantly higher in LW females than in SW females at 1 h after refeeding, but significantly lower in LW females than in SW females at 3 and 5 h after refeeding. The lipase activity displayed a similar trend in both LW and SW females after refeeding, with an initial decline followed by a slight increase; and no difference was observed between LW and SW females at any stage after refeeding.

In this work, different electrochemical measurements were employed to investigate the electrochemical behavior of La(III) on W and liquid aluminum electrodes, respectively. In LiCl–KCl melts, the diffusion coefficients of La(III) on W electrode at different experimental temperatures were determined by chronopotentiometry. The cyclic voltammetry results obtained on liquid aluminum electrode revealed only one pair of redox signal corresponding to the formation of Al–La intermetallic compound in LiCl–KCl–LaCl3 melts. The diffusion coefficient of La atom on the liquid Al–La alloy electrode was evaluated by anodic chronopotentiometry at 973 K. The electrochemical extraction of La was realized by galvanostatic electrolysis on a liquid aluminum electrode in LiCl–KCl–LaCl3 melts at 973 K, and the phases of Al11La3 and Al were identified by XRD. The SEM images disclosed needlelike precipitates in alloy, and the element La mainly distribute in the needlelike precipitates. After electrolysis, the extraction efficiency of element La was evaluated to be 99.4%, indicates that the electrochemical extraction of lanthanum with the help of liquid aluminum cathode is feasible in practice.

In wing dimorphic cricket Velarifictorus micado Saussure, group rearing could induce macropters, but rearing density had a nonlinear effect on the incidence of macroptery. Frequency of macropters increased along with rearing density under low-density conditions, but it decreased gradually under high densities, especially for the females. This result indicates that flight ability is required to escape from crowded conditions, but there is a factor that would suppress wing development under high-population density in V. micado. Investigation of body injury showed that incidence of body injury increased along with rearing density, especially for the antenna. Removal of antennas or hindlegs in the penultimate nymphal stage exerted a strong micropterizing effect. These results suggest that brachypterizing effect of high density may be related with body injury. Removed antennas at different instars, brachypterizing effect was only significant in sixth instar (penultimate instar) for males, and sixth and seventh instar (last instar) for females, which suggests that penultimate and last instars may be sensitive stages in winglength development to the effect of body injury in V. micado

Served as alkaline-surfactant-polymer flooding for the enhanced oil recovery, alkaline-surfactant-polymer has widely been employed for Chinese oil production. In the practical opinion, the silicate scaling, which was formed by alkali, would harm layer gradually and affect oilfield production seriously. For the reason, in this paper, the phase diagrams of silicate scale were obtained in three different systems, including single silicon system, calcium/ magnesium/ silicon coexistence system, and calcium/ magnesium/ silicon/ aluminum coexistence system. The results showed that, other ions would affect the morphology and process of silicate scaling. In the experimental research range, silicate scaling is more easily to form with the lower temperature or pH value. The mixing scale was formed by absorption of silicate scale on the surface of carbonate scale. The aluminosilicate was formed by aluminum ions and silicon. The silicon scale forecasting model and equation of three different systems in ASP flooding with alkali was set up according to lab date. These data can provide theoretical basis for preventing scaling in oil production

Arachnomelia syndrome (AS) is a recessive inherited disease in cattle. Although the arachnomelia phenotypes are virtually identical in Brown Swiss and Simmental cattle, the causative mutation are different, which are a 1 bp insertion c.363-364insG in the sulfite oxidase (SUOX) gene and a 2 bp deletion c.1224_1225delCA in the molybdenum cofactor syn-thesis step 1 (MOCS1) gene, respectively. In the current study, combining fluorescence PCR with capillary electrophoresis technology, an automatic fluorescence method was established, which could detect the two causative loci rapidly and cor-rectly with a single reaction. Samples from 51 Simmental bulls, 80 cows mated artificially using semen of Simmental bulls and their resulted 106 progeny, together with 55 Xinjiang Brown were collected and used for validation of the newly de-signed methods. Our results have laid a foundation for screening AS disease causing mutations in Chinese cattle.

Polymer surfactant, which combines the advantages of polymer and surfactant, is a new type of oil displacement agents in oilfield.Meanwhile, the hazardous composition of the polymer surfactant is unknown.In order to clarify its potential impacts on the operator health during production,the hazardous composition and toxicity in the two solutions ,which polymer surfactants prepared by using fresh water and waste water were investigated.And the existence of inorganic and organic pollutants in the solution were also studied.The results were shown that determination of inorganic phosphorus and arsenic exceeded the standard limits.The polymer surfactant powder and solution extraction products were analyzed, it can be concluded basicly that there is no organic pollutants, or it can be ignorable.

Based on the mechanism of processing and molding of multivariate polypropylene composite system, this paper studies the effect of the screw length-to-diameter ratio and the wedge angle of the helix angle of the twin-screw extruder on the properties of elongation at break of polypropylene composite. The relationship between injection temperature and injection pressure of injection molding machine is also analyzed. Experiments show that when length-to-diameter ratio is 30, and wedge angle is 16±5o, the elongation at break of test sample reaches its maximum value and tends to be stable. When melting pressure is 40 MPa and the injection temperature at 190 °C-220 °C, injection molding machine can improve the process flowing property of composite materials.

Summary In this study, we assessed the effect of seasonal variation on the semen quality in Chinese by using the average highest temperature (AHT) of the ejaculation day for partitioning season periods. A total of 13 635 semen samples were collected and analysed according to the AHT of the ejaculation day. Semen volume, sperm concentration and the percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology in midsummer (AHT > 30 °C) were significantly lower than those in other periods of the year. Sperm motility with AHT 10–20 °C in winter and spring was significantly higher than that in other seasons. The percentage of head defects spermatozoa with AHT

The separation of oil/water transition layer in settling tank becomes deterioration during the late oil production. For improving the dehydration of oil - water layer in settling tank, the oxidation technique by chlorine dioxide was adopted for the demulsification. Chlorine dioxide typically is strong oxidizing reagent. The touched materials would be corroded by the chemical. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the corrosion of chlorine dioxide for the steel in the settling tank. In this paper, the research was made to the determination of corrosion rate and corrosion morphology of steel equipped for oil/water transition layer treated with Chlorine dioxide oxidation. The experiments showed that, in the oil/water transition layer after treatment, water phase has the highest corrosion rate of up to 0.151 mm/a and lower than the company-formulated standard of 1.0 mm/a, which falls into the permission range (0.1-1.0 mm/a) of the corrosion standard Class 3. From steel-hanging corrosion morphology, it can be seen that the steel corrosion is weaker before the treatment while becoming stronger with the addition of ClO2 system and acidic solution. The reaction and mechanism were also explained on the corrosion chemistry of oil/water transition layer treated by oxidation process. With the experimental data, the oxidation and corrosion performance of chlorine dioxide can be controlled effectively to play an important role for stable production of oilfield.

In order to meet the need of separating oil from water in the settling tank of the oilfield, ClO2-oxidation demulsification for oil-water transition layer in settling tank is introduced. In this paper, effects of reaction conditions on ClO2-oxidation demulsification were studied. The results show that the reaction temperature, reaction time and PH value have a heavy effect on the dehydration rate of the oil-water transition layer. With the increasing of the reaction time, the dehydration rate largely rises, and it can reach 84.18% and keep steady when the reaction is in 4 hours. With going the temperature up, the dehydration rate increases in a nonlinear way, and it can reach 85.23% at the temperature of 55°C. By decreasing the PH value, the dehydration rate significantly rises, and the maximum dehydration rate of 84.18% was achieved when adding 0.5 vol. % of the acid. The chemistry was discussed based on the principles and experiments. By demonstrating the experimental data and discussion, we can effectively control the oxidation performance of chlorine dioxide, which is very meaningful for oilfield on the aspect of stable production of petroleum.

he existence of oil-water transition layer brings a great trouble to the dehydration of oil gathering and transportation system. It leads to raising the electric current of dehydrator and becoming worse of the deoiling and dehydrating properties of the treatment equipment, resulting in the serious influences on oil recovery. For the efficient treatment of the transition layer, it is necessary clearly to understand the structure and composition of the layer. In this paper, the physical structure and chemical composition of the layer were systematically, layer by layer and phase by phase, analyzed by modern instrumental methods The results show that (1）the layer is an emulsion which is composed of oil, water and suspended solids. The water phase has characteristics of weak alkaline，high salinity and viscous polymer. The oil phase contains many natural emulsifiers such as colloid, asphaltene and so on. The solid phase mainly concludes FeS particle which plays a decisive role in suspended solids; (2) the typical transition layer is composed of water and oil which accounts for above 90%, the content of solid impurity, which controls the emulsion of the layer, is less than 10%. Compared with oil phase, the water content of typical transition layer is larger with the density of 0.9~1.0 g/L and high freezing point. The analytical data can be adopted for the treatment of oil-water transition layer and smoothly run operations for oil gathering and transportation.

In order to meet the need of separating oil from water in the settling tank of the oilfield, ClO2 treatment for oil-water transition layer in settling tank is introduced. The field test displayed that the technique was achieved by a good performance. For understanding the oxidation and mechanism, compositions of oil-water transition layer were comparatively studied for before/after ClO2-treatment in this paper.The experimental results show that the compositions before and after ClO2-treatment, including physical structure and chemical composition, were varied in the great extension. The physical structure, consisting of water, oil and solid phase, was reduced to less than 5% of water and 0.5% of solid particle and increased to 95% of oil in layer compared with before-treatment, easily leading to clearly separating water from oil. The chemical composition of iron sulfide and acid insoluble substance in solid phase was decreased to more than 90% while the carbonate was reduced more than 70% . After the treatment, the viscosity reduction of the water phase in the layer was reached to 50% after oxidation demulsification with ClO2. The chemistry was discussed based on the principles and experiments. Due to ClO2 destroying (oxidizing) the rigid interface membrane structure which is supported by natural surfactant, polymer and solid particles with interface-active materials, the action accelerates the separating of water and oil and sedimentation of insoluble residue of acid in the layer. By demonstrating the experimental data and discussion, we can effectively control the oxidation performance of chlorine dioxide, which is very meaningful for oilfield on the aspect of stable production of petroleum.

Source:doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000005414 Sanfu acupoint herbal patching (SAHP) is a unique traditional Chinese medicine therapy, which has become popular for preventing acute attack of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in many regions of mainland China. However, the knowledge about its users is lacking, especially the characteristics of the users and their experience and perspectives. To investigate the demographics of users, conditions for its use and the previous experience of SAHP, as well as users’ perspectives to provide baseline information for its practice. A cross-sectional consecutive-sample survey was conducted at outpatient departments from 3 traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in northern China. Each participant completed a questionnaire, after informed consent. Data description and analyses were done using SPSS 20.0. Among 949 SAHP users from 3 hospitals, female was predominant (n = 592; 62.4%), aged from 2 to 96 years (median = 52 years). 64.7% (380/587) of regular users have applied consecutively for 3 years or over, and the self-perceived satisfaction rates of respiratory diseases were from 45.9% to 77.7%. Positive attitude toward traditional Chinese medicine was the top reason for choosing SAHP. 42.4% of users held a motivation of being cured by SAHP and with great outcome expectancy on SAHP (70.8%). SAHP users were mainly female adults or elderly population; more than half were regular users, who predominantly used SAHP for various chronic respiratory diseases during their stable stage. The majority of users expressed satisfaction to previous SAHP for their respiratory diseases. 42.4% of users held a motivation of being cured by SAHP and with great outcome expectancy on SAHP (70.8%). The findings from this survey deserve further clinical trials for their clinical effectiveness.

Served as polymer flooding for the enhanced oil recovery, partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PAM) has widely been employed for the oil production. The PAM solution prepared by the ground clean water was characterized with a higher viscosity in the early years while one, made by the oilfield produced water in the existence of complicated constituents, features a worse viscosity in the recent operation. In the practical opinion, the viscosity is an important indicator of the polymer flooding. The high viscosity of aqueous PAM solution has being pursued for a goal of the successful operation. For the reason, this research objective could be set toward seeking the causes of the viscosity degradation. In this paper, specific ions in the preparing water on effects of the PAM viscosity were identified and evaluated by the analysis of produced water quality used by the operation of preparation in Daqing oilfield. Effects of the specific ions on PAM viscosity were investigated in the lab test for understanding and controlling the viscosity. The results show that the dominant specific ions were found out to consist of the divalent cation (Ca2+and Mg2+), trivalent cation (Al3+), divalent ferrous ion (Fe2+) and divalent sulfide ion (S2-) by means of the data and related chemical theory. Much notable viscosity degradation of PAM solutions was observed in the degree-viscosity curves as the role of most of the specific ion factors. Totally, the retention rate of the viscosity was obviously lowered with the extension of the specific ion by degrees. By the results, the mechanism of the viscosity degradation was briefly proposed and discussed. These data can be provided and suitably specified for the benefit of polymer flooding production.

In this paper, the waters including rivers and lakes along the Sino-Russian oil pipeline in China has been analyzed and potential emergent situations and its consequences (such as oil spills) has been discussed and conducted. Furthermore, measures in response to these consequences to deal with these emergent situations are also introduced, including engineering, Non-engineering and emergency management measures.

Steering angle features prominently in accident and driver behavior analysis or other applications, but can hardly be recorded in most monitoring devices such as vehicle traveling data recorder. According to vehicle kinematics model, this paper proposes a solution for steering angle determining based on longitudinal velocity and lateral acceleration signals. Simulation and experiments have been conducted to prove the method feasibility and reliability. Furthermore, trajectory reconstruction is demonstrated as one of the many applications of the steering angle estimation.

On the principle of surface photovoltage (SPV) and photocatalysis, an approach was proposed and developed to evaluate a photocatalytical activity of catalysts from SPV intensity measurements. By using a model case of TiO2 catalysts, the method was experimentally studied for determination and prediction of the activity by intensity of SPV responses as a parameter. It was found that the photocatalytical activity correlates well with the SPV value of catalysts. The SPV intensity as measuring parameter, with characteristics of quick, easy, non-destructive operation, may be applied efficiently to evaluate photocatalytical activity of solid materials such as mono/multi crystalline, film and particulate powder in various types, sizes and treatments.

Effect of thermal annealing on the upgraded metallurgical grade(UMG)-Si was investigated under different conditions. The dislocation, grain boundaries and preferred growth orientation of Si ingot were characterized by optical microscopy, electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD), respectively. The arrange order of dislocation density of Si ingot is from the lowest in the middle to the lower in the bottom and low in the top before and after annealing. And it decreases gradually with increase of the annealing temperature. The number of small angle grain boundaries declines gradually until disappears whereas the proportion of coincidence site lattice (CSL) grain boundaries increases firstly and then decreases. The twin boundary Σ 3 reaches the highest proportion of 28% after annealing at 1 200 °C for 3 h. Furthermore, the crystal grains in different positions gain the best preferred growth orientation, which can promote the following machining of Si ingot and the conversion efficiency of solar cells.

We examined the subcellular localization of BRCA1 proteins using immunohistochemical staining with C‐terminal (GLK‐2 antibody) and N‐terminal (Ab‐2 antibody) monoclonal antibodies in 44 familial ovarian cancers. Among these, 24 cases were associated with 13 independent germ‐line mutations of BRCA1, and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at one or more BRCA1 microsatellite markers was found in all 21 informative tumors tested. With GLK‐2 antibody, cytoplasmic staining was observed in 15 of 16 tumors (93.8%) with mutation in exon 11, and BRCA1 staining was absent in 8 of 8 tumors (100%) with mutation in exons other than exon 11. When immunohistochemical staining was performed with Ab‐2 antibody, both nuclear and cytoplasmic staining were observed in 14 of 16 tumors (87.5%) with mutation in exon 11. Interestingly, nuclear staining was observed in 3 of 3 tumors (100%) with mutation downstream of exon 11, even though no staining was detected in 5 of 5 tumors (100%) with mutation upstream of exon 11. On the other hand, in familial ovarian cancers without BRCA1 mutations, nuclear staining or both nuclear and cytoplasmic staining was observed in 18 of 20 specimens (90%) and 20 of 20 specimens (100%) with GLK‐2 antibody and with Ab‐2 antibody, respectively. These results suggest that an immunohistochemical assay in combination with employing the C‐terminal and the N‐terminal antibodies appears to have potential as a reliable and useful technique for the screening of BRCA1 mutations, at least to predict the status of mutation, upstream or downstream of exon 11.

To study the role of plasma D-dimer in human severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and its relationship with disease severity.A prospective study was performed. From February 2010 to June 2011, plasma concentration of D-dimer and the results of other routine laboratory tests were measured in 32 SAP inpatients at admission immediately and 24, 48, 72 hours after admission. Ranson scores were also recorded. The relationship between plasma concentration of D-dimer and the results of other routine laboratory tests, Ranson scores were analyzed, and so did the relationship between plasma concentration of D-dimer and severity of patient's condition.(1) There were no obvious changes for plasma concentration of D-dimer and the results of other routine laboratory index in 32 SAP inpatients at each time points after admission. (2) Plasma concentration of D-dimer of SAP was positively related to white blood count (WBC), creatinine (Cr), prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and negatively related to hematocrit (Hct), albumin and calcium (P0.05 or P0.01). Plasma concentration of D-dimer of SAP at 48 hours after admission had positive relationship with Ranson scores (r=0.729, P=0.001). (3) Plasma concentration of D-dimer of SAP inpatients in CT grade D, E stage were significantly higher than that in CT grade B, C stage (1.18±0.02 mg/L, 1.23±0.01 mg/L vs. 0.90±0.02 mg/L, 0.93±0.01 mg/L, all P0.05). (4) Plasma concentration of D-dimer of SAP in inpatients with multiple organ failure (MOF) at 24 hours and 48 hours were significantly higher than that in inpatients without MOF (24 hours: 1.26±0.02 mg/L vs. 0.93±0.02 mg/L, 48 hours:1.25±0.02 mg/L vs. 0.93±0.02 mg/L, both P0.05).Plasma concentration of the D-dimer is significantly increased in SAP patients, and is related to the severity. The first plasma concentration of D-dimer of SAP after admission can well reflect severity of patient's condition.

Stainless steel bellows expansion joint is an important part of city gas pipelines. In recent years, accidents occur frequently due to stress corrosion. The research on failure mechanism for bellows has high practical significance. According to magnetic variety of the deformation-induced martensite, the martensite phase content was tested by using the MP30E-S measurement instrument, for the bellows made of the SUS304 and SUS316L materials separately formed by machine-bulge method and SUS304 materials formed by hydraulic pressure method which there is or not a solution treatment respectively. The results showed that, there are great relations between the martensite phase content and materials, deformation rate, and heat treatment. The martensite phase content of SUS316L is less than SUS304, the more martensite phase content because the more deformation rate, there are less and even martensite phase after solution treatment.

Critical situations or accidents during driving always happen in very short time (less than 3s even 1s). Nowadays there is not a good means to supervise the microcosmic gestures and tracks of vehicles' movement during driving, such as the GPS just outputs one coordinate dot per second. The sampling rate is too low to supervise the vehicles' behavior accurately and send out the danger-warning or confirm the responsibility after an accident. Based on the single-point two-dimensional acceleration data at high sampling rate and the particularity of vehicles' movement-Ackermann model, this paper ameliorates the algorithm about the track reconstruction of SINS and proposes an algorithm to reconstruct the two-dimensional track of vehicles' movement at high sampling rate. From the data and analysis of an experiment which collects the acceleration data from a vehicle, this paper's algorithm is proved to be validated.

Considering a dearth of comparing construction project transaction method, from the point of transaction costs, the overall construction project transaction costs is divided into ex ante transaction costs, construction costs, ex post transaction costs. A framework for comparing construction project transaction method is presented, and applied to a detailed analysis of the department of Taihu drainage area's fist design-build pilot project. The results of the study provide a comprehensive understanding of how this new design-build transaction method affects project cost performance as compared to their traditional design-bid-build transaction method. Other owners can apply this framework to assess their own project transaction performance when employing alternative transaction methods.

To explore an effective method for repairing the large skin and vessel defect of upper arm.The large skin defect was repaired by the free anterolateral thigh flap. The vessel defect was reconstructed with the end branch of descending branch from lateral femoral circumflex artery, or the large muscular branch through bridge-like vascular anastomosis.Since 2003, 5 cases were treated. All the flaps survived completely with a soft tissue texture. They were followed up for 8-24 months. The cosmetic and functional results were both satisfactory with less morbidity in the donor sites. The blood supply of the flap and the end of extremities was not affected by weather.Anterolateral thigh flap is very suitable for large skin and vessel defect of upper arm.

To improve the diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of testicular tumor in Mongolian men.A retrospective review of 35 cases of testicular tumors in Mongolian men from seven medical centers dated from 1990 to 2004 was performed.The usual presentation of a testicular tumor was a nodular or painless swelling of one gonad. The mean delay in diagnosis was 40.03 +/- 53.45 weeks. For 16 patients, delay in diagnosis was more than or equal to six months. The histologic composition of this series was 21 (60%) seminoma, 10 (28.6%) nonseminoma, 2 (5.7%) lymphoma, 1 (2.35%) fibroneuroma and 1 (2.35%) leiomyoma. Regarding stage, 22, 2, and 5 of 29 germ cell tumors were seen initially as stage I, II, and III, respectively. Combined therapy, including radical orchiectomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, were taken. 29 cases have been followed for 2 months to 10 years, 4 out of them died of distant metastasis, one died of other disease, one lives with tumor, the others live without relapse and metastasis. Three and 5-year survival rates for Mongolian patients with seminoma and nonseminoma were 95.0%, 95.0%, 57.1% and 42.8%, respectively.In this article, the rate of seminoma to germ cell tumors is higher than that of general population. There is an increased mean delay in diagnosis for Mongolian patients. Three and 5-year survival rates for nonseminoma are lower than that for seminoma. Better public awareness regarding testicular tumor in this population, advances in diagnosis and therapy will help to improve therapeutic effectiveness and prognosis.

AIM The genetic region of 6q25 containing the estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) gene is lost in a significant number of ovarian tumors. The aim of this study was to identify how inherited variation in the ER-alpha gene contributes to susceptibility to familial ovarian cancer. METHODS DNA obtained from 18 cases of familial ovarian cancer without mutation of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, 20 cases with BRCA1 mutation, 20 cases of sporadic ovarian cancer, and 19 controls were screened for mutations in the coding region of the ER-alpha gene using direct sequencing. RESULTS Two germline missense variants at codons 307 [GCC(Ala)-->TCC(Ser)] and 347 [ACC(Thr)-->TCC(Ser)] were detected in two unrelated cases with BRCA1 mutation, but not in all other cases tested. Three polymorphisms in codon 10 [TCT-->TCC(Ser)], codon 325 [CCC-->CCG(Pro)], and codon 594 [ACA-->ACG(Thr)] were identified in this series, and a higher frequency of the allele TCC at codon 10 and a lower frequency of the allele CCG at codon 325 were observed in familial cases without BRCA1 mutation, compared with those in familial cases with BRCA1 mutation, in both the sporadic cases and in the controls. CONCLUSIONS We could not detect pathogenic mutations of the ER-alpha gene in ovarian cancer cases without BRCA1 mutation. However, association analyses of two polymorphisms suggest that the ER-alpha gene or a gene located close to the ER-alpha locus might be related to susceptibility of familial ovarian cancer without BRCA1 mutation.

Human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell cultures are usually obtained from donor eyes; isolation and culture of RPE cells obtained by evisceration has not been reported previously. The present study attempted to isolate and cultivate RPE cells from evisceration specimens obtained from two cases with severe ocular trauma. Two different isolation methods, explantation and enzymatic dissociation, were used. In Case 1, RPE cells grew from the explants, but were contaminated with other cells such as fibroblasts and melanocytes, and no pure RPE cultures were obtained by explantation. In Case 2, RPE cells were separated from choroids using 0.25% trypsin before plating for culture, which effectively eliminated contaminating cells. A pure RPE culture was obtained and cultured with F12 medium supplemented with 30% fetal bovine serum. With this enzymatic dissociation method, cultured RPE cells grew to confluence in primary culture and could be maintained in culture for five passages. Cultured RPE cells were identified by the presence of cytokeratin expression, as shown by immunocytochemical staining. These isolation and culture methods provide alternative sources for human RPE cells and could be useful in studies of the cell biology and pathophysiology of human RPE cells.