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This study developed a rapid, accurate, objective and economic method to identify and evaluate the quality of Alismatis Rhizoma (AR) commodities. Traditionally, the identification of plant species and geographical origins of AR commodities mainly relied on experienced staff. However, the subjectivity and inaccuracy of human identification negatively impacted the trade of AR. Besides, liquid chromatographic methods such as ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the major approach for the determination of triterpenoid contents in AR was time-consuming, expensive, and highly demanded in manoeuvre specialists. In this study, the combination of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics as the method was developed and utilised to address the two common issues of identifying the quality of AR commodities. Through the discriminant analysis (DA), the raw NIR spectroscopy data on 119 batches samples from two species and four origins in China were processed to the best pre-processed data. Subsequently, orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and random forest (RF) as the major chemometrics were used to analyse the best pre-processed data. The accuracy rates by OPLS-DA and RF were respectively 100% and 97.2% for the two species of AR, and respectively100% and 94.4% for the four origins of AR. Meanwhile, a quantitative correction model was established to rapidly and economically predict the seven triterpenoid contents of AR through combining the partial least squares (PLS) method and NIR spectroscopy, and taking the triterpenoid contents measured by UPLC as the reference value, and carry out spectral pre-processing methods and band selection. The final quantitative model correlation coefficients of the seven triterpenoid contents of AR ranged from 0.9000 to 0.9999, indicating that prediction ability of this model had good stability and applicability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether flow fluid shear stress (FFSS)-mediated signal transduction affects the function of Piezo1 ion channel in chondrocyte and to further explore the role of mechanical overloading in development of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA)., Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was used to determine the expression of Piezo1 in TMJ OA tissue collected from rat unilateral anterior crossbite (UAC) models. Chondrocytes harvested from normal adult SD rats were treated with FFSS (0, 4, 8, 12 dyn/cm 2 ) in vitro. Immunofluorescent staining, real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, flow cytometry and phalloidin assay were performed to detect the changes of cellular morphology as well as the expression of Piezo1 and certain pro-inflammatory and degradative factors in chondrocyte., Results: Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that significantly increased Piezo1 expression was associated with UAC stimulation (p < .05). As applied FFSS escalated (4, 8 and 12 dyn/cm 2 ), the expression levels of Piezo1, ADAMTS-5, MMP-13 and Col-X gradually increased, compared with the non-FFSS group (p < .05). Administering Piezo1 ion channel inhibitor to chondrocytes beforehand, it was observed that expression of ADAMTS-5, MMP-13 and Col-X was substantially decreased following FFSS treatment (p < .05) and the effect of cytoskeletal thinning was counteracted. The activated Piezo1 ion channel enhanced intracellular Ca 2+ excess in chondrocytes during abnormal mechanical stimulation and the increased intracellular Ca 2+ thinned the cytoskeleton of F-actin., Conclusions: Mechanical overloading activates Piezo1 ion channel to promote pro-inflammation and degradation and to increase Ca 2+ concentration in chondrocyte, which may eventually result in TMJ OA., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This study aimed to identify clinical characteristics associated with the prevalence of progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) in interstitial lung disease (ILD) and to develop a prognostic nomogram model for clinical use., Methods: In this single-centered, retrospective study, we enrolled ILD patients with relatively comprehensive clinical data and assessed the incidence of PPF within a year using collected demographics, laboratory data, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and pulmonary function test (PFT) results. We used a training cohort of ILD patients to identify early predictors of PPF and then validated them in an internal validation cohort and subsets of ILD patients using a multivariable logistic regression analysis. A prognostic nomogram was formulated based on these predictors, and the accuracy and efficiency were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration plot, and decision curve analysis (DCA)., Results: Among the enrolled patients, 120 (39.09%) cases had connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD), 115 (37.46%) had non-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (non-IPF IIP), and 35 (11.4%) had hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Overall, 118 (38.4%) cases experienced pulmonary fibrosis progression. We found that baseline DLco% pred (OR 0.92; 95% CI, 8.93-0.95) was a protective factor for ILD progression, whereas combined pneumonia (OR 4.57; 95% CI, 1.24-18.43), modified Medical Research Council dyspnea score (mMRC) (OR 4.9; 95% CI, 2.8-9.5), and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) score (OR 1.22; 95% CI, 1.07-1.42) were independent risk factors for PPF. The AUC of the proposed nomogram in the development cohort was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94, 0.98), and the calibration plot showed good agreement between the predicted and observed incidence of PPF (Hosmer-Lemeshow test: P = 0.86)., Conclusion: ILD patients with combined pneumonia, low baseline DLco% pred, high mMRC marks, and high HRCT scores were at higher risk of progression. This nomogram demonstrated good discrimination and calibration, indicating its potential utility for clinical practice., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Fan, Gu, Xiao, Jia and Han.)

Introduction: The R-loop is a naturally formed three-strand nucleic acid structure that recently has been reported to participate in multiple biological processes and helped answer some previously unexplained scientific questions. Meiosis process involves multiple chromatin-related events such as DNA double-stranded breaks (DSB) formation, repairing and transcriptional dynamics., Objectives: Explore the regulatory roles and physiological functions of R-loops in the mammalian meiosis process., Methods: In our study, using genome-wide S9.6 CUT & Tag seq, we first mapped the genomic distribution and dynamic changes of R-loop during the meiotic process in mice, from spermatogonia to secondary spermatocytes. And we further explore the role of R-loop in physiological conditions by constructing conditional knockout mice of Rnaseh1, which deleted the R-loop endonuclease before meiosis entry., Results: R-loop predominantly distributes at promoter-related regions and varies across different meiotic stages. By joint analysis with the corresponding transcriptome, we found that the R-loop was closely related to transcription during the meiotic process. The high frequency of promoter-related R-loop in meiotic cells is usually accompanied by high transcription activity, and we further verified this in the leptotene/zygotene to the pachytene transition process. Moreover, the lack of RNase H1 caused sterility in male mice with R-loop accumulation and abnormal DSB repair in spermatocytes. Further analysis showed that abnormal R-loop accumulation in the leptotene/zygotene stages influenced transcriptional regulation in the pachytene stage., Conclusion: The mutual regulation of the R-loop and transcription plays an essential role in spermatogenesis. And R-loop is also important for the normal repair process of DSB during meiosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)

The research on androgen receptor (AR) in breast cancer is advancing.Although the prognostic value of AR in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is controversial,a variety of studies have demonstrated that the lack of AR expression exacerbates disease progression.Moreover,the TNBC subtype of AR(-) is more aggressive than that of AR(+) due to the lack of prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.With the discovery and deepening research of novel therapeutic targets such as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 signaling pathways,as well as the emerging of immunotherapies,the treatment options for TNBC are increasing.Regarding the role of AR in TNBC,the studies about the tumor biology of AR(-)TNBC and novel biomarkers for improved management of the disease remain insufficient.In this review,we summarize the research progress of AR in TNBC,put forward avenues for future research on TNBC,and propose potential biomarkers and therapeutic strategies that warrant investigation.

Recent evidence suggests that human islet amyloid polypeptide (h-IAPP) accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and may interact with Aβ or microtubule associated protein tau to associate with the neurodegenerative process. Increasing evidence indicates a potential protective effect of h-IAPP against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity in AD mouse models. However, a direct therapeutic effect of h-IAPP supplementation on tauopathy has not been established. Here, we found that long-term h-IAPP treatment attenuated tau hyperphosphorylation levels and induced neuroinflammation and oxidative damage, prevented synaptic loss and neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus, and alleviated behavioral deficits in P301S transgenic mice (a mouse model of tauopathy). Restoration of insulin sensitization, glucose/energy metabolism, and activated BDNF signaling also contributed to the underlying mechanisms. These findings suggest that seemly h-IAPP has promise for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders with tauopathy, such as AD., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Purpose: To compare the incidence of dentinal microcracks after root canal preparation by new generation of nickel-titanium instrument WaveOne Gold, Reciproc Blue with previous WaveOne and Reciproc., Methods: Ninety extracted single-rooted mandibular premolars were randomly divided into 6 groups(n=15). The root canals were instrumented by using Hand K files, WaveOne, Reciproc, WaveOne Gold and Reciproc Blue. Fifteen teeth were left unprepared and served as negative controls. The root canals were all prepared to 25#. The roots were then sectioned at 3 mm, 6 mm and 9 mm from the apical orifice using a hard tissue slicer. The slices were observed under stereoscopic microscope at ×25 magnification. SPSS 17.0 software package was used for statistical analysis., Results: No dentinal microcrack was found in the hand K files group and negative control group. The reciprocating single files WaveOne, WaveOne Gold, Reciproc and Reciproc Blue all produced dentinal microcracks after root canal preparation. The WaveOne generated the most dentinal microcracks than the hand K files(P＜0.05), and the microcracks were mainly concentrated in the middle part of the root. The number of dentinal microcracks caused by Reciproc and Reciproc Blue was the same, with no significant difference(P＞0.05)., Conclusions: The new generation of reciprocating files of WaveOne Gold and Reciproc Blue may not increase the incidence of dentinal microcracks after root canal preparation.

Growing evidence indicates that circulating lactoferrin (Lf) is implicated in peripheral cholesterol metabolism disorders. It has emerged that the distribution of Lf changes in astrocytes of aging brains and those exhibiting neurodegeneration; however, its physiological and/or pathological role remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that astrocyte-specific knockout of Lf (designated cKO) led to decreased body weight and cognitive abnormalities during early life in mice. Accordingly, there was a reduction in neuronal outgrowth and synaptic structure in cKO mice. Importantly, Lf deficiency in the primary astrocytes led to decreased sterol regulatory element binding protein 2 (Srebp2) activation and cholesterol production, and cholesterol content in cKO mice and/or in astrocytes was restored by exogenous Lf or a Srebp2 agonist. Moreover, neuronal dendritic complexity and total dendritic length were decreased after culture with the culture medium of the primary astrocytes derived from cKO mice and that this decrease was reversed after cholesterol supplementation. Alternatively, these alterations were associated with an activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and inhibition of SREBP2 nuclear translocation. These data suggest that astrocytic Lf might directly or indirectly control in situ cholesterol synthesis, which may be implicated in neurodevelopment and several neurological diseases., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Researchers continue to explore drug targets to treat the characteristic pathologies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Some drugs relieve the pathological processes of AD to some extent, but the failed clinical trials indicate that multifunctional agents seem more likely to achieve the therapy goals for this neurodegenerative disease. Herein, a novel compound named melatonin-trientine (TM) has been covalently synthesized with the natural antioxidant compounds melatonin and the metal ion chelator trientine. After toxicological and pharmacokinetic verification, we elucidated the effects of intraperitoneal administration of TM on AD-like pathology in 6-month-old mice that express both the β-amyloid (Aβ) precursor protein and presenilin-1 (APP/PS1). We found that TM significantly decreased Aβ deposition and neuronal degeneration in the brains of the APP/PS1 double transgenic mice. This result may be due to the upregulation of iron regulatory protein-2 (IRP2), insulin degrading enzyme (IDE), and low density lipoprotein receptor related protein 1 (LRP1), which leads to decreases in APP and Aβ levels. Additionally, TM may promote APP non-amyloidogenic processing by activating the melatonin receptor-2 (MT2)-dependent signaling pathways, but not MT1. In addition, TM plays an important role in blocking γ-secretase, tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and metal ion dyshomeostasis. Our results suggest that TM may effectively maximize the therapeutic efficacy of targeting multiple mechanisms associated with AD pathology., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the responses of functional trait variation for grassland plants to grazing disturbance is highly helpful to clarify the community assembly mechanism, functional diversity maintenance, plant adaptation and their strategies. We investigated plant functional traits (plant height, root length, leaf area, root area, leaf dry matter content, shoot dry matter content, root dry matter content, specific leaf area, specific root length and root/ shoot ratio) and the responses of their variation characteristics to grazing disturbance in enclosure and grazing grasslands in Horqin Sandy Land. The results showed that the interspecific variation of functional trait was obviously higher than the intraspecific variation in degraded grassland. The relative contribution of interspecific variation to the overall trait variation ranged from 70.2% to 95.1%, while that of intraspecific variation only contributed 4.9% to 29.8%. However, that did not imply the intraspecific variation could be ignored in the community assembly. The interspecific variation in grazing grassland was lower than that in enclosed grassland, while the intraspecific variation increased but the interspecific variation decreased in grazing grassland. Grazing resulted in the decrease of leaf area and leaf dry matter content but the increase of specific root length for pastoral-resistant grasses. However, pastoral-tolerant forbs would improve their dominance in the community by decreasing specific root length and increa-sing leaf area and leaf dry matter content. The traits sensitive to grazing were leaf area, leaf dry matter content, specific root length, and specific leaf area. Leaf traits and root traits were significantly positively correlated within and with each other. Grazing would enhance the synergy of root traits while reduce the synergy of leaf traits. That meant grazing could change the trade-off strategy of functional traits in individual and population levels, and thus affect vegetation structure and function in community level.

In recent years, Seneca Valley virus (SVV) as a newly identified pathogen of porcine vesicular disease spread quickly and has posed a potential threat to the swine industry in several countries resulting in economic losses. Considering the evolution of SVV, attention should be given to controlling SVV epidemics. So far there are no commercial vaccines or drugs available to combat SVV. Therefore, development of strategies for preventing and controlling SVV infection should be taken into account. In the current study, we evaluated whether the CRISPR-Cas13d system could be used as a powerful tool against SVV infection. Besides, selected crRNAs showed different capacity against SVV infection. Our study suggests the CRISPR-Cas13d system significantly inhibited SVV replication and exhibited potent anti-SVV activity. This knowledge may provide a novel alternative strategy to control epidemics of SVV in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Sun, Lian, Wang, Jia, Leng, Chen, Bai, Meng, Cai and Tang.)

The family with sequence similarity 83, member A ( FAM83A ) gene is associated with the occurrence and development of many malignant tumors. Our aim was to explore the role of FAM83A in cervical cancer. FAM83A was overexpressed or knocked down in cervical cancer cells, and the expressions of FAM83A, key proteins involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and Wnt signaling pathway-related proteins were detected by western blot analysis. Cell proliferative and invasive abilities were also examined using cell proliferation, colony formation, and Matrigel invasion assays. Cells were treated with the Wnt pathway inhibitor XAV-939 to determine whether Wnt signaling was necessary for the effect of FAM83A on cervical cancer cells. FAM83A was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues and was associated with differentiation, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis in patients with cervical cancer. Knockdown of FAM83A inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, and invasion of cervical cancer cells. The opposite results were observed in FAM83A-overexpressing cells, and FAM83A overexpression also promoted EMT and Wnt signaling. XAV-939 reversed the activation of Wnt signaling and EMT induced by FAM83A. In conclusion, FAM83A expression was increased in cervical cancers and correlated with poor prognosis of patients. FAM83A overexpression can activate the Wnt signaling pathway, facilitate EMT, and promote the proliferative and invasive abilities of cervical cancer cells., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

Background: The impacts of previous cardio-cerebrovascular disease (pre-CCVD) on the outcomes of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are not well described. Patients with pre-CCVD may often be poor candidates for HCT. This study aimed to investigate the impact of pre-CCVD on transplant outcomes., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted between patients with and without pre-CCVD who consecutively received allogeneic or autologous HCT between November 2013 and January 2020 with a matching of age and disease status. The cardiovascular complications and HCT outcomes of the two groups were evaluated and compared. The primary endpoints were post-transplant cardio-cerebrovascular disease (post-CCVD) and non-relapse mortality (NRM). We used a multivariable Cox proportional hazard model and the Fine-Gray competing risk regressions for analyses to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs)., Results: The outcomes of 23 HCT recipients with pre-CCVD were compared with those of 107 patients in the control group. No significant differences were noted in terms of engraftment, overall survival (OS) (67.00% vs. 67.90%, P = 0.983), or relapse (29.78% vs. 28.26%, P = 0.561) between the pre-CCVD group and the control group. The cumulative incidences of 2-year NRM were similar between patients with pre-CCVD and the controls (14.68% vs. 17.08%, P = 0.670). However, pre-CCVD was associated with an increased incidence of post-CCVD (HR: 12.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.88-40.30, P < 0.001), which was an independent risk factor for increased NRM (HR: 10.29, 95% CI: 3.84-27.62, P < 0.001) and inferior OS (HR: 10.29, 95% CI: 3.84-27.62, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: These findings suggest that the existence of pre-CCVD before transplantation might not result in increased mortality directly but superpose the toxicity of the transplantation procedure, leading to a risk of post-CCVD. Post-CCVD was a powerful predictor for high NRM and inferior OS. Further risk stratification of pre-CCVD is needed to reduce NRM in various transplantation settings., (Copyright © 2021 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.)

The coverage of hyaluronic acid (HA) on the impaired cartilage should be the precondition to exert its beneficial effect on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) according to the pharmacological mechanism. However, the intra-articular distribution of HA might be correlated with the route of drug delivery. Forty-two cadaver knees with radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis were given anteromedial (AM) or medial midpatellar (MMP) injection of HA (molecular weight 600-1500 kD) followed by gait stimulation. Although 2.5 ml HA delivered through both routes failed to cover the entire cartilage, HA covered 96.12% cartilage of patellofemoral joint (PFJ) and 71.44% of medial femorotibial joint (FTJ) through MMP route, whereas mainly distributed into FTJ and posterior condyles through AM route. HA in the MMP group distributed more in PFJ than that in the AM group (P < 0.001), but no significant difference presented in medial FTJ (P = 0.084). The clinical efficacy was also associated with the route of drug delivery. One hundred patients with unilateral mild-to-moderate KOA were recruited and randomly assigned to receive five weekly HA injections with AM route (n = 50) or MMP route (n = 50). Patients in the MMP group obtained better improvement in WOMAC index total score, pain score, stiffness score, and Lequesne index total score over the entire follow-up period, as compared to patients in the AM group (all P < 0.01). More patients in the MMP group claimed pain relief (71.7%, P = 0.024) and felt satisfying (63.1%, P = 0.007) than in the AM group at the end of follow-up. Therefore, intra-articular HA injection through MMP route is recommended in treating mild-to-moderate KOA. Graphical Abstract .

Objective: To analyze the distribution and drug resistance of pathogens sampled from the patients with bloodstream infection in the department of hematology of PLA General Hospital, so as to provide evidences for clinical prevention and control infection., Methods: From January 2014 to December 2017, A total of 286 cases-time positive blood culture samples from 212 patients in the department of hematology of the General Hospital of Chinese PLA were collected. The clinical characteristics of patients and the distribution and drug resistance of pathogens were analyzed retrospectively., Results: 182(63.64%) bacterial strains were Gram-negative, and the other 104(36.36%) were Gram-positive. There were 88 strains of Escherichia coli(30.77%), 34 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa(11.89%), 26 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae(9.09%), 25 strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis(8.74%), 20 strains of Gram-positive rods(6.99%), 16 strains of Staphylococcus hominis(5.59%), 11 strains of Etaphylococcus haemolyticus(3.85%), 10 strains of Staphylococcus aureus(3.50%), 6 strains of Staphylococcus capitis(2.10%), 5 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii(1.75%) and so on. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae as Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive to amikacin. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus as Gram-positive bacteria were sensitive to vancomycin and nitrofurantoin., Conclusion: The blood culture patients with bloodstream infection in department of hematology of our hospital confirmed that more infections are Gram-negative. The clinicians should choose suitable antibiotics according to the results of bacterial culture and drug sensitive test.

Aim of the Study: To explore the high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) characteristics of central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis and to explore the value of HR-MRI in the treatment effect and prognosis evaluation of CNS vasculitis., Material and Methods: During the follow-up of 24 patients diagnosed as CNS vasculitis by the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, 3.0T HR-MRI was used for imaging examination and HR-MRI characteristics were analysed., Results: The affected vessel wall of 24 patients showed diffuse uniform centripetal thickening. The HR-MRI examination showed varying degrees of lumen stenosis, including 5 cases (20.8%) involving a single arterial segment, and 19 cases (79.2%) involving multiple arterial segments. And most cases (92.9%) showed grade 2 enhancement of the involved vessel wall. Except for one case involving the basilar artery at the same time, the remaining 23 cases involved only the anterior circulation vessels. We analysed and compared the affected vessels between the relapsed group and the non-relapsed group, and found that the average number of involved vascular segments was 6.5 ±3.4 (3-11) in the relapsed group and 3.5 ±2.1 (1-8) in the non-relapsed group, with a significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.039)., Conclusions: The CNS vasculitis was more likely to involve the anterior circulation vessels. The number of affected vascular segments in the relapsed group of CNS vasculitis was higher than in the non-relapsed group, suggesting that the more vascular segments involved, the more prone to recurrence.

Latex is a type of sticky endogenous fluids derived from diverse plants including Euphorbia fischeriana , and is of great scientific and commercial values. In the current study, it was demonstrated that the latex extracted from E. fischeriana strongly respelled the growth of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera . Using spectroscopic methods, HPLC, and GC-MS analyses, six aliphatic tigliane diterpenoids were isolated from the latex of E. fischeriana , among which three compounds ( 2 , 3 , and 5 ) were new. Two major compounds ( 1 and 4 ) exhibited remarkable antifeedant activity against H. armigera , with EC 50 values at 2.59 and 15.32 μg/cm 2 , respectively. In addition, the quantification analysis of diterpenoids in different organs indicated that 4 was the most abundant constituent and was highly accumulated in the latex. Collectively, the current study highlighted that the diterpenoids in latex of E. fischeriana had a considerable antifeedant function against H. armigera , which might be employed for the future development of natural insecticides for organic farming.

Objective: To study the relationship between adenoid hypertrophy, tonsillar hypertrophy and overweight or even obesity in children. Methods: A total of 799 children aged 2 to 12 years with tonsillar and adenoid hypertrophy from January 2015 to December 2019 in the Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, the Sixth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital were selected. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated according to the height and weight measured routinely at the time of admission. The difference of BMI between children and normal children of the same age, and the correlation between adenoid, tonsil hypertrophy and obesity were compared. Chi-square test was used to compare the surgical children's BMI of different genders with normal children of the same age, and Spearman rank correlation was used to analyze the correlation between BMI and adenoid and tonsil hypertrophy. Results: The Spearman correlation coefficient between tonsil hypertrophy and BMI was 0.078, P= 0.077, the Spearman correlation coefficient between adenoid hypertrophy and BMI was -0.058( P= 0.100). χ(2) test showed that the proportion of overweight and obesity in school-age children (7~12 years old) was significantly higher than that in preschool children (2~6 years old), and the difference was statistically significant (χ(2)(male)=22.386, P (male)<0.001, χ(2)(female)=4.478, P (female)<0.001). Conclusion: There is no obvious correlation between adenoid hypertrophy, tonsil hypertrophy and overweight or obesity in children, but the probability of children overweight or obesity increases with age, and the proportion of obesity in children aged 7-12 years is higher.

Internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations within the FMS-like receptor tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) can be found in up to 25% to 30% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and confer a poor prognosis. Although FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have shown clinical responses, they cannot eliminate primitive FLT3-ITD+ AML cells, which are potential sources of relapse. Therefore, elucidating the mechanisms underlying FLT3-ITD+ AML maintenance and drug resistance is essential to develop novel effective treatment strategies. Here, we demonstrate that FLT3 inhibition induces histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) upregulation through FOXO1- and FOXO3-mediated transactivation in FLT3-ITD+ AML cells. Upregulated HDAC8 deacetylates and inactivates p53, leading to leukemia maintenance and drug resistance upon TKI treatment. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of HDAC8 reactivates p53, abrogates leukemia maintenance, and significantly enhances TKI-mediated elimination of FLT3-ITD+ AML cells. Importantly, in FLT3-ITD+ AML patient-derived xenograft models, the combination of FLT3 TKI (AC220) and an HDAC8 inhibitor (22d) significantly inhibits leukemia progression and effectively reduces primitive FLT3-ITD+ AML cells. Moreover, we extend these findings to an AML subtype harboring another tyrosine kinase-activating mutation. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that HDAC8 upregulation is an important mechanism to resist TKIs and promote leukemia maintenance and suggests that combining HDAC8 inhibition with TKI treatment could be a promising strategy to treat FLT3-ITD+ AML and other tyrosine kinase mutation-harboring leukemias., (© 2020 by The American Society of Hematology.)

The enzymolytic preparation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) has the unique advantages due to its green chemistry process. In this work, the cotton pulp fibers were enzymolyzed with the cellulase to prepare the ribbon-like CNC, and the samples were characterized by SEM, FTIR, XRD and DLS. The results indicated the CNC with the length 250-900 nm and width 30-45 nm could be produced from cotton pulp fibers at the lower cellulase concentration, the time 5-11 h and temperature 50 ºC. When the cellulase concentration rose up to 100 /ml, the granular CNC appeared, and at 300 μ/ml all of the formed CNC were granular. FTIR and XRD analyses proved that the ribbon-like CNC had the same crystal style and chemical structure with original cotton pulp fibers, but its crystallinity was weakened slightly. Despite the fact that there are the weakened crystallinity and aggregates, the as-prepared samples were still called as CNCs for simplicity. In addition, the article has discussed the mechanism for the forming ribbon-like CNC from the enzymolysis of cotton pulp fibers., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in undergraduates of Xinjiang Medical University and analyse its possible risk factors., Methods: A sample of 700 medical students included 244 males and 456 females was selected from Xinjiang Medical University and underwent examination of temporomandibular joint, questionnaire survey. Their average age was 20.08±1.457 years. Prevalence of TMD was analyzed, and the possible risk factors associated with the disease were identified by logistic regression analysis with SPSS17.0 software package., Results: The prevalence of TMD was 42.40% in this population. There was no difference between different ethnics. Chewing-side preference, bruxism，orthodontic treatment，tooth extraction，psychological factors，anterior overjet, posterior scissors-bite were the main risk factors which increased the occurrence of TMD., Conclusions: Poor oral habits, psychological factors and malocclusion were related to the development of TMD.

Abstract Objective: To review the demographic characteristics and canalith repositioning efficacy in 907 patients with typical benign paroxysmal positional vertigo(BPPV). Method: The demographic characteristics of 907 patients with typical BPPV were statistically analyzed. According to the type of BPPV, patients were treated with the appropriate repositioning maneuver, and the clinical efficacy of repositioning maneuver was analyzed and summarized. Result: Nine hundred and seven patients of BPPV with typical nystagmus were elected in this study. 585 out of 907 were female and 322 out of were male, and the mean age was 53.10±14.25(13 to 89) years. The lesion located to the posterior semiCIrcular canal was 489 patients(53.9%), horizontal semiCIrcular canal was 312 patients(34.4%), anterior semiCIrcular was 63 patients(6.9%), and multiple semiCIrcular was 43 patients(4.8%). According to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis curve, the median cure time for the modified Semont and Epley repositioning maneuver in PC-BPPV groups was 3 days, and there was no significant difference in survival curves between the two repositioning maneuver. Meanwhile, the median cure time for Barbecue and Li horizontal canal quick repositioning maneuver groups was 3 days, and 1 day for Gufoni repositioning maneuver group in HC-BPPV groups. And there was no significant difference in survival curves among the three repositioning maneuver. In the AC-BPPV, 7 cases, 31 cases, 57 cases, 58 cases were cured with the Li anterior canal quick repositioning maneuver in the 1st day, the 3rd day, 1 week later, and 1 month later, and 5 cases lost to be follow-up. According to Kaplan-Meier survival analysis curve, the median cure time for the Li anterior canal quick repositioning maneuver in AC-BPPV groups was 3 days. Conclusion: Repositioning maneuver represents a simple, safe, rapid and effective approach to the treatment of BPPV. Therefore, repositioning maneuver should be choice for the BPPV treatment., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Clinical Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.)

Cathodic polarization antifouling deserves attention because of its environmentally friendly nature and good sustainability. It has been proven that cathodic voltages applied on metal substrates exhibit outstanding antifouling effects. However, most metals immersed in marine environment are protected by insulated anticorrosive coatings, restricting the cathodic polarization applied on metals. This study developed a conducting polypyrrole (PPy)/acrylic resin coating (σ = 0.18 Scm -1 ), which can be applied in cathodic polarization antifouling. The good stability and electro-activity of PPy in the negative polarity zone in alkalescent NaCl solution were verified by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), chronoamperometry (CA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), demonstrating the feasibility of PPy as cathodic polarization material. Furthermore, the antifouling effects of PPy/acrylicresin coating on 24-h old Escherichia coli bacteria (E. coli) which formed on PPy/acrylic resin-coated plastic plate were measured under different cathodic potentials and treatment time, characterized by fluorescent microscope. The results suggest that at cathodic potential around -0.5 V (vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE)), there was little trace of attached bacteria on the substrate after 20 min of treatment. PPy/acrylicresin-coated substrates were also subjected to repeated cycles of biofilm formation and electrochemical removal, where high removal efficiencies were maintained throughout the total polarization process. Under these conditions, the generation of hydrogen peroxide is believed to be responsible for the antifouling effects because of causing oxidative damage to cells, suggesting the potential of the proposed technology for application on insulated surfaces in various industrial settings., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, the pulp fibers were enzymolyzed to prepare the nanosized cellulose (NC). The as-prepared samples were characterized by optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and Raman spectra. The experimental results indicated that enzymatic hydrolysis of pulp fibers could produce the spherical NC with a mean particle size of about 30nm, which had the excellent monodispersity and uniformity. When the concentration of complex enzymes was 20u/mL (cellulase: xylanase=9: 1), the yield of NC was 13.6%. The single cellulase was used, even if the enzyme concentration reached up to 200u/mL, only a mixture of strip and granular flocculation were obtained. The positive synergistic effect between xylanase and cellulase could be due to the enzymolysis of hemicellulose located on the cellulose microfibers to be favorable of cutting and splitting of the microfibers by the endoglucanase in cellulase., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs remains as the major cause of treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia. Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are important regulators to maintain chromatin structure and control DNA damage; nevertheless, how each HDAC regulates genome stability remains unclear, especially under genome stress conditions. Here, we identified a mechanism by which HDAC3 regulates DNA damage repair and mediates resistance to chemotherapy drugs. In addition to inducing DNA damage, chemotherapy drugs trigger upregulation of HDAC3 expression in leukemia cells. Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, we show that HDAC3 contributes to chemotherapy resistance by regulating the activation of AKT, a well-documented factor in drug resistance development. HDAC3 binds to AKT and deacetylates it at the site Lys20, thereby promoting the phosphorylation of AKT. Chemotherapy drug exposure enhances the interaction between HDAC3 and AKT, resulting in decrease in AKT acetylation and increase in AKT phosphorylation. Whereas HDAC3 depletion or inhibition abrogates these responses and meanwhile sensitizes leukemia cells to chemotoxicity-induced apoptosis. Importantly, in vivo HDAC3 suppression reduces leukemia progression and sensitizes MLL-AF9 + leukemia to chemotherapy. Our findings suggest that combination therapy with HDAC3 inhibitor and genotoxic agents may constitute a successful strategy for overcoming chemotherapy resistance.

Objective: To observe the short-term efficacy of modified Semont maneuver for posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (PC-BPPV) Method: This was a prospective randomized controlled trial on 130 PC-BPPV patients. Subjects were randomized divided into two groups: modified Semont (65 patients),and Epley(65 patients).Each maneuver was repeated twice,and the presence of sequelae,nystagmus and vertigo on positional testing were evaluated 3rd day and 1 week after treatment. Result: Five patients were lost to follow up (all five in the modified Semont group),and three patients failed to complete treatment (all three in the Epley group). The sequelae at the 3rd day and one week after modified Semont maneuver were 27 and 9,while 41 and 15 in Epley group. The efficacy rates at the 3rd day and one week after modified Semont maneuver were 91.7% and 98.3%,and 91.9% and 96.8% in Epley group retrospectively. The sequelae and short-term effective rate of patients in modified Semont group was no difference when compared with that in Epley group ( P >0.05). Conclusion: Modified Semont maneuver represents a simple rapid and effective approach to the treatment of posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Clinical Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.)

Zinc plays important roles in regulating physiological and pathological processes. Regrettably, mild to moderate zinc deficiency is common worldwide. Hair Zn(2+) concentration, which reflects a zinc storage status, is useful for tracking trends in zinc status within populations. In this work, we report BODIPY-based self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) as fluorescence turn-on sensor for the selective sensing of Zn(2+) in human hair. The BODIPY monomers (BAN) self-assemble in aqueous medium to form nonfluorescent NPs. In the presence of Zn(2+) ions, the NPs selectively show an obvious turn-on fluorescence change. This selective response of the NPs allows the determination and quantification of Zn(2+) in human hair with a detection limit of 61.3nM. This study demonstrates that the small molecule self-assembled nanoparticle is a versatile and useful tool, and shows great potential for applications in sensing of important analytes in biological systems., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To summarize the postoperative complications of reconstruction of mandible defect with titanium reconstruction plate., Methods: A total of 111 cases of the mandibular defect caused by various reasons and repaired by titanium reconstruction plate in the Department Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from 2003 to 2012 were collected and followed up. The complications were analyzed., Results: Thirty-seven percent of 111 cases showed long term complications. The titanium fracture was the main complication(16%[18/111]), followed by stress-shielding (9%[10/111]), infection(8%[9/111]), and titanium plate exposure(4%[4/111]). Titanium plate fracture occurred within 8 months and 3 years after surgery. The simple titanium plate reconstruction had the highest rate of plate fracture(30%[15/50]). Stress-shielding in non-vascularized bone graft was more significant than that in vascularized bone graft(P<0.05). When replaced by mini-titanium plate, the stress-shielding effect disappeared gradually. When the retention of mandibular margin height was less than 1 cm with the use of reconstruction plate, the postoperative complications were prone to occur., Conclusions: Bone graft is the best way to reconstruct mandibular defect, and simple reconstruction plate repair is applied only as a transitional means for high degree of malignancy, obvious recurrence tendency tumor or special reasons such as age etc, which are not suitable for bone graft. The reconstruction plate fixation is not recommended for bone graft, especially non-vascularized bone graft. The retention of mandibular margin with reconstruction plate fixation is open to discussion.

A facile fabrication strategy via electrospinning and followed by in situ polymerization to fabricate a patterned, highly stretchable, and conductive polyaniline/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PANI/PVDF) nanofibrous membrane is reported. Owing to the patterned structure, the nanofibrous PANI/PVDF strain sensor can detect a strain up to 110%, for comparison, which is 2.6 times higher than the common nonwoven PANI/PVDF mat and much larger than the previously reported values (usually less than 15%). Meanwhile, the conductivity of the patterned strain sensor shows a linear response to the applied strain in a wide range from 0% to about 85%. Additionally, the patterned PANI/PVDF strain sensor can completely recover to its original electrical and mechanical values within a strain range of more than 22%, and exhibits good durability over 10,000 folding-unfolding tests. Furthermore, the strain sensor also can be used to detect finger motion. The results demonstrate promising application of the patterned nanofibrous membrane in flexible electronic fields.

In this work, a novel approach that can calibrate the colors obtained with a cellphone camera was proposed for the colorimetric sensor array. The variations of ambient light conditions, imaging positions and even cellphone brands could all be compensated via taking the black and white backgrounds of the sensor array as references, thereby yielding accurate measurements. The proposed calibration approach was successfully applied to the detection of glucose in urine by a colorimetric sensor array. Snapshots of the glucose sensor array by a cellphone camera were calibrated by the proposed compensation method and the urine samples at different glucose concentrations were well discriminated with no confusion after a hierarchical clustering analysis., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic effects of bicyclol combined with ganciclocir on infantile cytomegalovirus hepatitis., Methods: Seventy infants with cytomegalovirus hepatitis were randomized into treatment group (n=35) and control group (n=35) for a 2-week-long treatment with ganciclocir (5 mg/kg) with and without oral bicyclol (3 mg/kg, twice daily), respectively., Results: In both groups, significant changes occurred in the levels of alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, serum total bilirubin, serum total bile acid, and glutamyl transpeptidase after the 2-week treatment (P<0.01); these parameters differed significantly between the two groups after the treatment (P<0.01). Compared with those in the control group, the infants in the treatment group showed significantly better responses to the treatment (P<0.05) with a significantly higher rate of serum anti CMV IgM negativity (P<0.05)., Conclusions: Bicyclol combined with ganciclocir can reduce glutamic pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase and serum total bilirubin, and decrease bile acid levels to lessen liver cell damage and promote the recovery of liver cells.

Research on fine scale pattern and characteristics of allometric growth could contribute to better understanding plants' adaptation in moving sandy dunes. The abundance, height and biomass of 3 species Agriophilum aquarrosum, Corispermum candelabrum and Setaria viridis in twenty-eight 1 m x 1 m quadrats of Horqin Sandy Land were identified, mapped and described. The nearest neighbor method and O-ring O(r) function analysis were applied to analyze the spatial patterns. The results showed that the individual spatial pattern was mainly aggregated in 1 m x 1 m quadrat at community level but mainly random at population level. At 0-50 cm individual distance scale, both intraspecific and interspecific relationship were facilitation and aggregated distribution occurred at some scales and varied with increasing plant abundance in 1 m x 1 m quadrat. In 0-40 cm, the aggregated distribution of S. viridis and A. aquarrosum increased obviously; in 10-20 cm, both intraspecific and interspecific aggregation increased; in 10-30 cm, the occurrence possibility of positive correlations between S. viridis and A. aquarrosum, S. viridis and C. candelabrum all increased; in 40-50 cm, the possibility of positive correlations between A. squarrosum and S. viridis, A. squarrosum and C. candelabrum all increased. Research on the three species components indicated that the growth rate of above-ground was faster than that of underground. S. viridis had the highest ratio of under-ground biomass to above-ground biomass but its nutritional organs' biomass ratio was medium. C. candelabrum allocated more biomass to propagative organs and stem, but A. squarrosum allocated more biomass to nutritional organs. Based on the spatial distribution and allometric characteristics, the three common species in moving sand dunes preferred r strategy in their life history.

Seedlings of Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck were supplied with boron (B)-deficient (without H3BO3) or -sufficient (10 μM H3BO3) nutrient solution for 15 weeks. We identified 54 (38) and 38 (45) up (down)-regulated cDNA-AFLP bands (transcript-derived fragments, TDFs) from B-deficient leaves and roots, respectively. These TDFs were mainly involved in protein and amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, nucleic acid metabolism, cell transport, signal transduction, and stress response and defense. The majority of the differentially expressed TDFs were isolated only from B-deficient roots or leaves, only seven TDFs with the same GenBank ID were isolated from the both. In addition, ATP biosynthesis-related TDFs were induced in B-deficient roots, but unaffected in B-deficient leaves. Most of the differentially expressed TDFs associated with signal transduction and stress defense were down-regulated in roots, but up-regulated in leaves. TDFs related to protein ubiquitination and proteolysis were induced in B-deficient leaves except for one TDF, while only two down-regulated TDFs associated with ubiquitination were detected in B-deficient roots. Thus, many differences existed in long-term B-deficiency-responsive genes between roots and leaves. In conclusion, our findings provided a global picture of the differential responses occurring in B-deficient roots and leaves and revealed new insight into the different adaptive mechanisms of C. sinensis roots and leaves to B-deficiency at the transcriptional level.

The present study aimed to investigate gene mutations in the displacement‑loop (D‑loop) region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in order to examine the role of gene mutation in mtDNA in OSCC tumorigenesis. mtDNA was obtained from cancer tissues, paracancerous tissues and normal mucosal tissues of thirty patients with OSCC. The D‑loop region of the mtDNA was amplified using polymerase chain reaction, sequenced and then analyzed by Chromas software and BLAST to identify the mutation sites. Mutations in the D‑loop region were observed in the cancer tissue samples of eight out of thirty cases with OSCC, with a mutation rate of 27%. There were nine mutations in total, including one point mutation, two base deletions, three insertion mutations and three heterozygous mutations. In these mutations, base deletions were different from each other and heterozygous mutations did not have the same mutation form; however, the three insertion mutations were the same, consisting of an insertion of a C base. One case contained a T/A heterozygous mutation as well as base insertion of C. The eight cases with mutations in the D‑loop region consisted of three cases of tongue cancer, two cases of soft palate cancer, one case of floor of the mouth cancer, one case of oropharyngeal cancer and one case of lip cancer. This study demonstrated mutations in the mtDNA D‑loop region in OSCC cells; however, the association between occurrences of OSCC and mtDNA mutations requires further investigation.

Cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy), and glutathione (GSH) are interconnected and play essential roles for regulating the redox balance of biological processes. However, finding a simple and effective method for the simultaneous determination for these three biothiols in biological systems is always a challenge. In this work, we report a method for the simultaneous quantitative determination of three biothiols in a mixture using a monochlorinated boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-based fluorometric sensor. At a specified period of time, after reacting with excess sensor, Hcy and GSH form predominantly sulfur-substituted BODIPY, while Cys generates sulfur-amino-diBODIPY due to a fast substitution-rearrangement-substitution reaction. A significant difference in polarities of these respective major products simplifies their separation by TLC, thus leading to the simultaneous determination of Cys, Hcy, and GSH readily. The sensor was successfully applied for the simultaneous quantitative detection of three biothiols in human serum, and the results were in good agreement with those obtained via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Purpose: To study the role of genes of Wnt signaling pathway in keratocystic odontogenic tumor (KCOT) of the jaw bones., Methods: Fresh specimens of KCOT and the same patient 's normal oral mucosa were obtained. Then RNA was extracted. Gene chip was used to detect the genes of Wnt signaling pathway., Results: Compared to normal oral mucosa, there were 5 genes of Wnt signaling pathway in KCOT changed, including CAMK2A down-regulated, FZD3, MAPK10, PRKX and WNT5a up-regulated., Conclusions: There are abnormal expressions of genes of Wnt pathway in KCOT. Genes of Wnt pathway plays certain roles in KCOT.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical value of suction drainage to prevent fistula after parotidectomy, and seek the best opportunity to remove the drainage according to the draining output and duration., Methods: One hundred and ninety-four patients with parotid diseases after superficial parotidectomy were assigned into pressure dressing group and suction drainage group. Pressure dressing was used after suction drainage tube was removed in the pressure group, while suction drainage tube was fixed through the process in the suction group. Postoperative salivary fistula occurrence between the 2 groups was analyzed with Pearson chi-square test, and the contribution of the output and duration resulting in salivary fistula was analyzed by Fisher's exact test with SPSS 19.0 software package., Results: The occurrence of salivary fistula in the pressure dressing group and suction group was 11.6% and 15.5%, respectively in the suction group. No significance difference was found between the 2 groups (P>0.05). In the suction drainage group, significant correlation of the draining duration and salivary fistula was not found (P>0.05). However, the draining output less than 20 mL resulted in lower salivary fistula rate compared with the draining output of 20-30 mL., Conclusions: According to our findings, suction drainage can be used as a substitute for pressure dressing after parotidectomy in preventing salivary fistula, and the best timing of drainage extubation is when the draining output is less than 20 mL within 24 hours.

Objective: To report the case of an individual with PHP, Turner syndrome and Hashimoto's thyroiditis., Case: A 16-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with chief complaint of short stature. She presented with round chubby facies, short neck, obesity and short stature. Radiography indicated short metatarsals and metacarpals, which mainly affected the second, third and fourth digits. Biochemistry revealed hyperphosphatemia, increased serum concentrations of parathyroid hormone and thyroid stimulating hormone, elevated levels of follicular-stimulating hormone and prolactin, and increased thyroid peroxidase antibody and thyroglobulin antibody. Radiographic examination revealed delayed bone age and pelvic ultrasonography demonstrated an immature uterus. Karyotype analysis showed 46,X,i(Xq10), while molecular analysis revealed a same sense mutation in exon 5 of GNAS (ATC → ATT, Ile).The specific diagnosis was made of Turner syndrome in the presence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis and PHP. She was treated with calcium supplementation, calcitriol and thyroxine., Conclusions: This is the first case report to describe a combination of Turner syndrome with these other clinical entities, and their co-existence should be considered and further investigated.

Vanadium oxide cluster anions Vm(16)On(-) and Vm(18)On(-) were prepared by laser ablation and reacted with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in a fast flow reactor under thermal collision conditions. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used to detect the cluster distributions before and after the interactions with H2S. The experiments suggest that the oxygen-for-sulfur (O/S) exchange reaction to release water was evidenced in the reactor for most of the cluster anions: VmOn(-) + H2S → VmOn-1S(-) + H2O. For reactions of clusters VO3(-) and VO4(-) with H2S, consecutive O/S exchange reactions led to the generation of sulfur containing vanadium oxide cluster anions VO3-kSk(-) (k = 1-3) and VO4-kSk(-) (k = 1-4). Density functional theory calculations were performed for the reactions of VO3-4(-) with H2S, and the results indicate that the O/S exchange reactions are both thermodynamically and kinetically favorable, which supports the experimental observations. The reactions of VmOn(+) cluster cations with H2S have been reported previously (Jia, M.-Y.; Xu, B.; Ding, X.-L.; Zhao, Y.-X.; He, S.-G.; Ge, M.-F. J. Phys. Chem. C 2012, 116, 9043), and this study of cluster anions provides further new insights into the transformations of H2S over vanadium oxides at the molecular level.

We present here a study of gas-phase reactivity of cobalt sulfide cluster anions Co(m)S(n)(-) with molecular oxygen. Nascent Co(m)S(n)(-) clusters were prepared via a laser ablation source and reacted with oxygen in a fast flow reactor under thermal collision conditions. We chose (18)O2 in place of (16)O2 to avoid mass degeneration with sulfur, and a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer was used to detect the cluster distributions in the absence and presence of the reactant. It was found that oxygen-sulfur exchange occurs in the reactions for those with specific compositions (CoS)(n)(-) and (CoS)(n)S(-) (n = 2-5) according to a consistent pathway, "Co(m)S(n)(-) + (18)O2 → Co(m)S(n-1)(18)O(-) + S(18)O". Typically, for "Co2S2(-) + (18)O2" we have calculated the reaction coordinates by employing the density functional theory (DFT), where both the oxygen-sulfur exchange and SO molecule release are thermodynamically and kinetically favorable. It is noteworthy that the reaction with molecular oxygen (triplet ground state) needs to overcome a spin excitation as well as a large O-O activation energy. This study sheds light on the activation of molecular oxygen by cobalt sulfides on one hand and also provides insight into the regeneration mechanism of cobalt oxides from the counterpart sulfides in the presence of oxygen gas on the other hand.

It has been proven that familial aldosteronism type I is related to 11-beta hydroxylase (CYP11B1)/aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) chimeric genes. In recent years, accumulated evidences indicate that the genetic basis of primary aldosteronism may involve chromosome 7p22 candidate genes, polymorphisms of CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 genes, mutations of ion channel- related KCNJ5, ATP1A1, CACNA1D genes. The article reviews the progress on genetic basis of primary aldosteronism.

Presented study aimed to detect the expression of far upstream element-binding protein 1 (FUBP1) in clinical samples of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and explore the correlations of their expression with the clinicopathological characteristics of CRC.The streptavidin-perosidase (SP) method of immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of FUBP1 in 34 cases of colorectal cancer and their surrounding surrounding normal tissue, 30 cases of adenoma tissue. Using fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), the expression of FUBP1 mRNA was measured in colorectal cancer and its surrounding normal tissue from 32 patients. FUBP1 protein expression level was detected by the Western blot method in 32 pairs of colorectal cancer tissue and surrounding normal tissue, and 30 cases of adenoma tissue.The positive rate of FUBP1 was detected through histochemistry in colorectal carcinomas (82.3%) which was higher than that in colorectal adenomas (46.7%) and surrounding normal tissues (20.5%). The relative amount of FUBP1 mRNA by qPCR method in colorectal carcinoma tissues (0.2703±0.1118) was higher than that of surrounding normal tissues (0.1898±0.0635; P<0.05). The Western blot showed that FUBP1 was mainly expressed in colorectal carcinoma tissues (0.6499±0.1473),which barely expressed in adenoma tissues (0.3756±0.1377; P<0.05) and surrounding normal tissues (0.1675±0.0613; P < 0.05).FUBP1 expression differs among colorectal tissues, which is overexpressed in colorectal carcinoma tissue. Further studies are needed to explore the role of FUBP1 in the pathogenesis of colorectal carcinoma.

Transition metal oxide cluster anions M(m)(18)O(n)(-) (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) were prepared by laser ablation and reacted with H2S in a fast flow reactor under thermal collision conditions. A time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used to detect the cluster distributions before and after the interactions with H2S. The experiments reveal a suite of oxygen/sulfur (O/S) exchange and oxygen/sulfydryl (O/SH) exchange reactions. The O/S exchange reaction to release water was evidenced for all of the MO2(-) cluster anions: MO2(-) + H2S → MOS(-) + H2O, whereas the O/SH exchange reaction to derive MOSH(-) and OH species was only observed for reactions of NiO2(-), CuO2(-), and ZnO2(-). Density functional theory calculations were performed for reaction mechanisms of MO2(-) + H2S (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn). The computational results are generally in good agreement with the experimental results. This gas-phase study provides an insight into the metal dependent reactivity in the removal of H2S over metal oxides.

Objective: To investigate the gene mutation in D-loop region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissue and to explore the role of the gene mutation in D-loop region in the OSCC tumorigenesis., Methods: mtDNA was obtained from cancer, paracancerous and normal mucosa tissues of thirty patients with OSCC. The D-loop regions of mtDNA were amplified with PCR, sequencing and then analyzed by Chromas software and BLAST to identify the mutation site., Results: Mutation in the D-loop region was found in eight cases, with the mutation rate of 27%. There were nine mutations totally, including one point mutation, two base deletions, three insertion mutations, three heterozygous mutations. In these mutations, base deletions were different from each other and heterozygous mutations had no same mutation form, while the three insertion mutations were same, the insertion of base C. One case had T/A heterozygous mutation and base C insertion at the same time., Conclusions: There were mutations in mtDNA D-loop in OSCC, but the relationship between occurrence of OSCC and mutation of mtDNA needs further study.

Purpose: To study the clinical effect of "gelatamp" colloidal silver gelatin sponge on preventing dry socket after extracting the mandibular impacted teeth., Methods: 1350 teeth extracted from 976 patients who needed to extract the mandibular impacted teeth were divided into group A, group B and group C randomly. "Gelatamp" colloidal silver gelatin sponge was implanted into alveolar socket after teeth extraction in group A, with absorbable gelatin sponge was implanted into alveolar socket in group B and nothing was implanted into alveolar socket in group C. The incidence of dry socket was observed, the data was analyzed using SPSS10.0 software package., Results: The incidence of dry socket was 0.44% in group A, 2% in group B and 4.44% in group C. There was significant difference in the incidence of dry socket between group A and group C(P<0.01). There was also significant difference between group B and group C(P<0.05) and between group A and group B(P<0.05)., Conclusions: The results demonstrate that "gelatamp" colloidal silver gelatin sponge can prevent the occurrence of dry socket after teeth extraction, which is of wide clinical use.

The water-soluble group B3 vitamin nicotinamide (NAM) is involved in a wide range of physical processes through biosynthetically converted to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)). In addition to its pivotal role in energy metabolism, NAD(+) is also the indispensable substrate of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). PARP-1 and SIRT1 may catalyze the posttranslational poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and acetylation of histones as well as non-histone proteins, such as nuclear factor kappa B and activator protein 1, which play crucial roles in transcriptional regulation of inflammatory genes. The NAD(+)-dependent modifications catalyzed by PARP-1 and SIRT1 liberate NAM, and NAM acts as feedback inhibitor of PARP-1 and SIRT1 through interacting with the enzymes at the binding site for NAD(+). There is increasing evidence that NAM effectively suppresses the expression of inflammatory genes and provides therapeutic benefits in various inflammation-based diseases. The mechanisms underlie the anti-inflammatory properties of NAM might involve the inhibition of PARP-1 and SIRT1.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the somatic mutations of human mitochondria succinate dehydrogenase subunit B (SDHB) in sporadic paragangliomas., Methods: Eight exons of SDHB gene in 8 sporadic paragangliomas cases were amplified by PCR and sequenced, respectively. The sequences were analyzed to find mutations compared with human homology sequence in Genebank and SNP database., Results: Nine sequence variations were found in 8 cases, in which one mutation was found in one case (1/8, 12.5%). The mutation was identified as the sixty four base pair in exon 2 of SDHB(c.136C>T), resulting in a change from a arginine to a stop codon (p.Arg90X). The left 8 variations were polymorphisms., Conclusions: The mutation of SDHB exists in sporadic paragangliomas patients and it might play a significant role in paragangliomas tumorigenesis.