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A series of experiments were carried out in a batch reactor at the temperature range of 313-343 K to study the synthesis of tert -amyl ethyl ether from ethanol (EtOH) and 2-methyl-1-butene (2M1B) catalyzed by the NKC-9 ion-exchange resin. The suitable reaction pressure was obtained by using the method of the Gibbs free energy minimization. The activity coefficients of each component were accurately calculated using the Wilson method, then, the equilibrium constants was obtained. The effect of catalyst size, stirring rate, temperature and EtOH/2M1B molar ratio was investigated at the chosen pressure, respectively. A kinetic model which considered the variation of each component volume was established. The method of nonlinear least square combined with genetic algorithm (NLS-GA) was proposed to estimate the kinetic constant in the forward direction. Results indicated that simulated kinetics results were agreed well with the experimental data.

A process was designed for etherification of glycerol with isobutene based on latest results of kinetic and thermodynamic study. A continuous stirred tank reactor was employed to carry out the reaction. Fresh glycerol was used to extract mono-ethers (ME) of glycerol in the reaction product and then returned to the reactor. Residual glycerol and ME were recovered by water washing and distillation. Isobutene and isobutene dimers were separated from high-ethers in a side draw distillation column. The new process was optimized, and a product yield of 97 wt% was obtained.

A field experimental project was carried out in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province to research the effects of controlled drainage on groundwater table and drainage discharge. And used DRAINMOD model to simulate the designed experiment schemes. The results showed that the numerical results of the groundwater table from DRAINDOD model were quite similar to the practically measured results during cotton growth period, the correlation coefficients were more than 0.9, the simulation results are in line with the experiment results. The underground drainage discharge of each plot was passively correlated with controlled water level, while the surface drainage discharge was positively with it. The underground drainage discharge was larger than the surface. The total drainage discharge was also passively correlated with the controlled water level. The DRAINMOD model can provide good estimates of the groundwater table and the drainage discharge under controlled drainage.

The concentrations and fractionation of 14 rare earth elements (REEs) such as La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu in filtered water, suspended particles and surface sediments at 10 sampling sites from Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River of China were studied by HR-ICP-MS. The results demonstrated that the total concentrations of REEs (REEs) in filtered water varied from 0.017 to 0.079 μg/L and had high concentration at S3 (0.079), S1 (0.070) and S4 (0.063) in Inner Mongolia section, while in suspended particles and surface sediments, the ranges were 148.9-246.8 mg/kg (mean 176.4) and 109.9-252.0 mg/kg (mean 179.9), respectively, and showed high concentration at S9 (246.8), S7 (252.0), S8 (229.8) in Baiyin (Gansu section) and S1 (209.5) in Baotou (Inner Mongolia section). The ratios of L/H, δEu and δCe in suspended particles and surface sediments implied light-REEs enrichment in the water compared with the background value of Chinese soil. And the chondrite-normalized REEs patterns of the suspended particles and surface sediments also showed light REEs enrichment at S1, S7, S8 and S9. The high concentrations of REEs in the Yellow River were probably due to the weathering of soil and anthropogenic activities near the river.

To observe the clinical therapeutic effects of acupuncture at single point Shiqizhui (EX-B8) and multi-points in time-varying treatment for primary dysmenorrhea.600 patients with primary dysmenorrhea were randomly assigned to the single point group (n=200) including group A (treating before the menstruation, n=100) and group B (immediately treating as soon as pain occurrence, n=100), the multi-points group (n=200) including group C (treating before the menstruation, n=100) and group D (immediately treating as soon as pain occurrence, n=100), or the control group, group E (n=200, no treatment). The therapeutic effects were analyzed after treatment for three menstrual cycles and interviewed for three follow-up periods.Acupuncture could effectively relieve menstrual pain for primary dysmenorrhea compared with the control group (P0.05, P0.01). Immediate pain relief occurred following acupuncture within 5 min in group B (P0.01) and group D (P0.01), and the two groups obviously relieved menstrual pain for VAS scores. Both group A and group C obviously relieved menstrual pain (P0.01), and group C was better than group A (P0.05). Compared with group D, Group C was much better for CMSS scores in cycle 1.Treating before the menstruation is better than immediately treating as soon as pain occurrence at the improvement in symptoms of dysmenorrheal at multi-points. And single point is better than multi-points when immediately treating as soon as pain occurrence. The present trial suggest Shiqizhui (EX-B8) should be chosen as a convenient point.

“5.12 Wenchuan earthquake”triggered floods, landslide, collapse and secondary geological disaster, trigger a new soil and water loss, having the significant influence to the local river water quality.This article through the statistical analysis of minjiang river and jiangyou wenchuan, beichuan station 2006 ~ 2011 water conditions material, discussing the before and after the earthquake disaster areas of river water quality change characteristics. The results showed From ammonia nitrogen source analysis, urban sewage and industrial waste water, agricultural non-point source pollution and earthquake that triggered the new soil and water loss is the main pollution source. Based on the hydrological site total hardness concentration prediction, we can find wenchuan earthquake disaster area total hardness concentration significantly increase trend.

“5.12 Wenchuan earthquake”triggered floods, landslide, collapse and secondary geological disaster, trigger a new soil and water loss, having the significant influence to the local river water quality.This article through the statistical analysis of jiangyou, beichuan station 2006 ~ 2011 water conditions material, discussing the before and after the earthquake disaster areas the river flow change on the influence of river water quality. The results showed that the affected areas of ammonia nitrogen content after the earthquake are more than that before the earthquake content .with flow increased, ammonia nitrogen concentration is higher, flow is low, the water quality parameters of concentration decreased; The total hardness reduced during the earthquake, with flow increased, total hardness concentration is reduced, is negatively correlated; The change of flow to fluoride content effect is not obvious.

This study assessed the importance of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) pattern on an acupoint-specific effect.This was a TCM pattern subdivision analysis of the first intervention data from a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial (ISRCTN24863192) (the main trial).The main trial recruited participants from six hospitals in three provinces in China.Five hundred and one (501) participants diagnosed with primary dysmenorrhea (PD) were enrolled in the main trial.The main trial randomly and equally divided participants into three treatment groups with bilateral electroacupuncture at three sites, respectively: Sanyinjiao (SP6), Xuanzhong (GB39), and an adjacent nonacupoint. Participants were diagnosed with TCM patterns before the treatment. The intervention was carried out when the visual analogue scale (VAS) score of participant's menstrual pain was ≥ 40 mm on the first day of menstruation and lasted for 30 minutes.The immediate improvement of pain was measured with a 100-mm VAS before the intervention, at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 30 minutes during the intervention, and at 30 minutes after the completion of this intervention.Three (3) TCM patterns (n=320) were eligible for analysis, including Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern (n=184), Qi and Blood Stagnation pattern (n=84), and Qi and Blood Deficiency pattern (n=52). In Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern, the SP6 group had a significant reduction in VAS scores compared with the GB39 group (mean difference -7.6 mm) and the nonacupoint group (mean difference -8.2 mm), respectively. There was no difference between the latter two groups. There were no group differences in VAS scores in the other two patterns.It suggested that TCM pattern might affect acupoint specific effect on the immediate pain relief obtained for participants with PD.

“5.12 Wenchuan earthquake”triggered floods, landslide, collapse and secondary geological disaster, trigger a new soil and water loss, having the significant influence to the local river water quality.This article through the statistical analysis of minjiang river and jiangyou wenchuan, beichuan station 2006 ~ 2011 water conditions material, discussing the before and after the earthquake disaster areas of river water quality change characteristics. The results showed that the affected areas of ammonia nitrogen content after the earthquake are more than before the earthquake content .The fluoride content before earthquake overtop that after earthquake in Wenchuan water source .The total hardness of water quality presents upward trend in disaster area after earthquake, and the total hardness of water quality in 2010 and 2011 is greater then that before earthquake. The total iron content is not affected by the earthquake, before and after the earthquake did not appear obvious difference.

The content characteristics, pollution evaluation and source identification of 6 heavy Metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, As, Cu and Zn) in filtered water and 9 heavy Metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, V, Co, Zn and Mn) in suspended particles from 10 sampling sites such as Zhaojunfuqiao (S1) and Baotoufuqiao (S2), etc. from Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River in 2012 Wet Season were studied to understand the condition of the heavy metal pollution in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Sections of the Yellow River by using high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). Multivariate geochemical approaches and statistical analysis were also exploited for assessing the level of heavy metals in filtered water and suspended particles from studied area. The results showed that in filtering water, only the concentrations of Cr exceeded the standard value of Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002) and were the highest (74.8-94.7 μg x L(-1)) among all elements in 10 sampling sites; Single factor pollution index (I(i)) results suggested that the water quality in all sampling sites were contaminated by both Cr and total nitrogen (TN), with the exception of TN in Baotoufuqiao (S2); Integrated Nemerow pollution index (I) indicated that the I values in all sampling sites were between 1-2 (light pollution), which implied that the water quality in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections, especially downstream sections (S1-S6) of the Yellow River wasn't an ideal source for drinking and using in aquaculture any more. In suspended particles, concentrations of heavy metals were relatively higher than their soil background values in 10 sampling sites, except Ni in S10 (34.7 μg x L(-1)). Index of geo-accumulation (I(geo)) indicated that the I(geo) values of Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, V, Co, Zn and Mn in all sampling sites were less than 1 (unpolluted or unpolluted-moderately polluted), respectively, while I(geo)Cd were the highest in 10 sampling sites among all heavy metals and with the moderately to strong contamination in Zhaojunfuqiao (S1), Baotoufuqiao (S2), Wuhai (S5) and Dongdagouruhuanghekou (S8). The results of this paper would help to supply reliable experimental data for researching of distribution, migration and effective protection of heavy metals in study area.

So far, many investigations had been made on the concentration and species distribution of heavy metals in aquatic environments. However, there are only a few studies on heavy metals in upper reaches of the Yellow River, especially in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections. We have literatures related to the Yellow River, in this work, we remarkably discussed about the contents, speciation and potential risks of Cd, Pb, Cr, V, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn in surface sediments from 12 sampling sites in Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River of China in 2011 year wet season by high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (HR-ICP-MS) and sequential extraction procedure of BCR method. The results indicated that the metals contents were arranged as CrVZnCuNiPbCoCd in all sites. Comparing with the background value of soil in local section, Cd showed the highest level at S5 (1.30 μg x g(-1)), which was almost 13 times higher than the background value (0.103 μg x g(-1)). Pollution assessment indicated that Cd presented a strong polluted status with the geo-accumulation index (I(geo)) value of 3.08 at S5, moderately to strong polluted status with the I(geo) ranged from 2.02 to 2.90 in Inner Mongolia section (S1-S4). Moreover, enrichment factor (EF) showed that all heavy metals in these sediments have been influenced by anthropogenic activities. According to potential ecological risk index (RI), S5 and S3 demonstrated high ecologic risk of heavy metals, while other sampling sites showed moderately ecological risk. The results of BCR exhibited that Cd was the most available metal, followed by Co and Ni, while V and Cr were unavailable in the sediments. Risk assessment code (RAC) exhibited high risk for Cd at S1-S4 and very high risk at S5, while medium risk for Ni and Co at all sites. The results and conclusions may be important information and therefore of interest to the relevant departments of the governments.

In this paper, the nutrients and trace metal elements of koumiss which brewed by the herdsmen in West Wuzhumuqin (Xiwuqi) in Xilinguole in Inner Mongolia of China were determined. The results showed that there were many nutritional components such as proteins, fat, lactose, ash, vitamins and amino acids in koumiss. For example, the amino acids content of koumiss was 2.194%, higher than that of fresh mare’s milk (1.483%). The measurement of trace metal elements indicated that the koumiss riches in essential and non-essential trace metal elements, the concentrations of essential trace metal elements including human body such as Zn, Cu, V, Cr, Ni, Co, Mo reached 2415.000, 139.000, 126.000, 98.600, 43.400, 4.220 and 2.530μg/g, respectively. In addition, there were some useful trace elements as Sr, Rb, Ba, Li and 12 kinds of rare-earth elements. But the Pb, which is a non-essential metal element, reached a higher level of 5.580μg/g, and was 110 times than the limit value of food safety standards of China. Preliminary analysis indicated that the koumiss in Xiwuqi is a good acid beverage with high nutritional value and health effects. The trace contents of rare-earth elements, which may come from the feed addictives, were beneficial for people’s health. Excessive concentration of Pb may come from the contaminations of non-ferrous metal metallurgy and automobile exhaust in the locality.

To observe the radiotherapy sensitization effect of retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis in patients by sodium glycididazole in recent clinical efficacy and toxicity. A total of 42 patients admitted with metastasis and recurrence of retroperitoneal lymph node from September 2006 to December 2009 were classified with the method of case-control. After three dimensional conformal radiation therapy with or without sodium glycididazole (800 mg/m²) for sensitization, the results of recent clinical efficacy, relief of pain, and Karnofsky score were obtained. Tumor remission rate of patients in sensitization group (with sodium glycididazole) at post-radiotherapy 3 months was significant higher than that in control group (without sodium glycididazole) (52% vs. 24%; P0.05). Oral dose of morphine daily, and Karnofsky score in anterior-posterior radiotherapy of patients in the sensitization group were significant different with those in the control group (93 ± 12 and 42 ± 6 mg vs. 94 ± 12 and 20 ± 5 mg and (65 ± 4) and (90 ± 9) vs. (64 ± 5) and (80 ± 10), respectively; P0.01). Sodium glycididazole has positive radiotherapy sensitization to the metastasis or recurrence of retroperitoneal lymph node for digestive tract cancer, which could obviously improve the life quality or release the pain for patients.

In order to continuously study the contents, pollution condition and potential ecological risk of heavy metals in surface sediments in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River in wet seasons in different years, the speciation analysis of 9 kinds of heavy metals including Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, V, Co, Zn and Mn, pollution condition and potential ecological risk of heavy metals in surface sediments from 10 sampling sites like Baotoufuqiao (S2), Shizuishantaolezhen (S6) and Wujinxia (S9) in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River in 2012 wet season were studied with BCR sequential extraction and high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) based on our previous works. The results implied that the order of heavy metals average contents in the 10 sediment samples were the same: MnVZnCrCuNiPbCoCd. In the sediments, heavy metals mainly existed in the form of residual fraction, which indicated that the bioavailability or environmental impact was low. Results of geo-accumulation indices (Igeo) showed that Igeo(CD), was the largest among the heavy metals with the strongest pollution, while IGEO(Mn)was the smallest. Enrichment factor (EF) indicated that only Cd and Cu were enriched at some sampling sites. In S5, because EFcd reached 4. 69, Cd was affected by human activities obviously and the result was consistent with I. Potential ecological risk index (RI) implied that the RI values in S1, S2 and S5 were between 150 and 300, which belonged to moderate polluting degree, while others were less than 150, belonging to light pollution degree. The results of this paper could not only provide reliable experimental data and theoretical basis for the relevant departments, but also supply the technical support for constructing mathematics model of sediments-pollutants transport, systematically researching the migration and transformation rule of persistent toxic substances and environmental assessment in these reaches.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the correlations of IFN-γ-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) with the risk of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and the efficacy of interferon therapy in Asians. Method: Serum IP-10 levels were assayed using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in both CHB and control group. CHB group received interferon-α2b treatment to compare the pre-treatment and post-treatment serum IP-10 levels. Relevant studies met predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled into further meta-analysis. Stata 12.0 software was applied for data analysis. Result: Our case-control study demonstrated that CHB group had evaluated serum IP-10 levels compared with control group (285.7 ± 41.6 pg/mL vs. 79.1 ± 33.8 pg/mL, t = 21.85, P < 0.001. After treatment for 12 weeks, CHB group had remarkably decreased post-treatment serum IP-10 levels than pre-treatment (78.5 ± 20.4 pg/mL vs. 285.7 ± 41.6 pg/mL, t = 33.76, P < 0.001). No significance was observed on post-treatment serum IP-10 levels between CHB and control group (78.5 ± 20.4 pg/mL vs. 78.1 ± 33.8 pg/mL, t = 0.07, P = 0.947). Meta-analysis results demonstrated that serum IP-10 levels in CHB group were obviously higher than healthy controls (SMD = 2.21, 95% CI = 1.55~2.87, P < 0.001). A subgroup based on the HBeAg states revealed that serum IP-10 levels in both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative CHB patients were notably higher than healthy controls (HBeAg-positive: SMD = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.13-2.87, P < 0.001; HBeAg-negative: SMD = 1.34, 95% CI = 0.97-1.72, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Serum IP-10 may be correlated with the risk of CHB and the efficiency of interferon therapy, thus IP-10 may be a good biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of CHB.

The Yellow River is the most important resource of water supply in northern China. The purpose of this work are to investigate the concentrations and potential ecological risk of heavy metals in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the concentrations of eight heavy metals including As, Hg, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu and Zn in filtered water and suspended particles from 12 sampling sites of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River of China were studied by atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) and high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (HR-ICP-MS) in this paper. The results implied that all heavy metals in filtered water were lower than the limit standards for drinking water except for Cr (56.9 approximately 71. 5 microg L-1 ). Water quality parameters such as total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and pH were also determined and the contents were low along the river except for TN at S1 (2.48) and S9 (2.38), which exceeded the maximum permitted concentration of Class V for the protection of surface water. In suspended particles, the concentrations of Hg, Cd, Pb and Zn were much higher than those in the background value of soil from local section. Cluster analysis (CA) indicated that same sources for Ni, Cu, Cr, Zn and Pb could be stainless steel and petrochemical industrial activities, while As, Cd and Hg derived from agrochemicals, fertilizers, mining, fuel and coal combustion, respectively. Ecological risk assessment was undertaken using risk index (RI) for sampling sites and ecological risk factor (Er) for heavy metals. Eleven suspension samples existed considerable ecological risk (300.6RI508. 6), while S1 was moderate ecological risk (RI, 299.3). According to Er, Hg had considerable or high ecological risk in Inner Mongolia section, while very high ecological risk for Cd at S11 (396.0), S9 (384. 0) and S5 (373. 3), respectively, implied a high pollution in these sampling sites. The results could provide reliable experimental data and theoretical basis for the relevant departments.

Two photochromic compounds, trans-3,3′-dipentyl-3,3′-dihydroxy-2,2′-bi-1H-indene-1,1′-dione (I), and cis-3,3′-di (2-methylally)-3,3′-dihydroxy-2,2′-bi-1H-indene-1,1′-dione (II), were synthesised and their crystal structures were determined by X-ray crystallography. The photoinduced properties of the compound were studied. The results showed that compound I exhibited reversible photochromism, and at the same time a stable organic radical was generated, while compound II did not show photochemical properties.

In the present paper, high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) was applied to analyse the contents of rare earth elements (REE) in the filtering water and suspensions from 12 sampling sites in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Sections of Yellow River, and the fractionation of REE in suspensions was also studied. The results demonstrated that the contents of REE in filtering water were very low, and the element with highest content of elements was La(32.0 ng x L(-1)). The average concentration of total REE (sigmaREE) in filtering water was 47.5 ng x L(-1), and the Baotou-Dengkou (S1) and Sanhuhekou (S2) sampling sites had a higher sigmaREE of 130.0 and 100.0 ng x L(-1), which implied that there might be external REE sources in the filtering water. And in suspensions, the average content of sigmaREE was 167.8 mg x kg(-1), which was similar to the Chinese soil background value. While the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) content in Shenchuanqiao (S11) of Gansu province were significantly higher than other stations, which indicated that it might have external HREE sources. The chondrite-normalized patterns of REE in suspensions from the study area were similar to that of Chinese soil, with light rare earth elements enrichment, and moderate Eu depletion and a bit of Ce depletion. It was showed that the contents of REE in suspensions were mainly from soil weathering.

In the present paper, BCR sequential extraction and high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) were performed to analyze the speciation contents of 14 kinds of rare earth elements (REE) in the surface sediments from 12 sampling sites (S1-S12) in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Sections of Yellow River, and REE fractionation were also studied. The results indicated that the contents of REE in 12 sediment samples werethe same order. The average contents of 14 rare earth elements were in this order: Ce(66.4)La(35.8)Nd(28.6)Pr(7.88)Sm(5.87)Gd(5.01)Dy (4.53)Yb(2.86)Er(2.51)Eu(1.31)Ho(0.856)Tb(0.760)Tm(0.428)Lu(0.404), which were similar to the Chinese soil background. The residual fractions of all elements were present at the highest percentages(71.9%-93.9%), which indicated that the bioavailability or environmental impact was low. The percentage of reducible fraction was the lowest, ranged from 0. 20% to 3. 87% with the mean value of 0.83%, while the oxidizable fraction percentage(7.61%) was close to acid-soluble fraction(7.69%). But in Maqu (S12), oxidizable percentage (16.1%) was significantly higher than the acid-soluble fraction (1.73%). Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between total organic carbon (TOC) content and oxidizable percentage, and the correlation coefficients were between 0.763 and 0.914. REE fractionation results showed that: the contents of REE in surface sediments of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Sections of Yellow River were mainly from soil weathering, with light-REE enrichment and Eu depletion. The chondrite-normalized curve implied that La and Ce in Jinshawan (S8) and Baotou-Dengkou (S1) and heavy REE at all the sampling points might have external REE sources.

Human adenoviruses (HAdVs) are the etiologic agent of many human infectious diseases. The existence of at least 54 different serotypes of HAdVs has resulted in difficulties in clinical diagnosis. Acute respiratory tract disease (ARD) caused by some serotypes from B and C species is particularly serious. Hexon, the main coat protein of HAdV, contains the major serotype-specific B cell epitopes; however, few studies have addressed epitope mapping in most HAdV serotypes. In this study, we utilized a novel and rapid method for the modeling of homologous proteins based on the phylogenetic tree of protein families and built three-dimensional (3D) models of hexon proteins in B and C species HAdVs. Based on refined hexon structures, we used reverse evolutionary trace (RET) bioinformatics analysis combined with a specially designed hexon epitope screening algorithm to achieve high-throughput epitope mapping of all 13 hexon proteins in B and C species HAdVs. This study has demonstrated that all of the epitopes from the 13 hexon proteins are located in the proteins' tower regions; however, the exact number, location, and size of the epitopes differ among the HAdV serotypes.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), which belongs to the family Flaviviridae, causes infection of the central nervous system in humans and equines and stillbirths in swine. In the present report, we constructed and characterized the immune responses conferred by recombinant adenoviruses expressing JEV E epitopes (six amino acid residues 60–68, 327–333, 337–345, 373–399, 397–403 and 436–445 in E, designated TEP). Seven groups ( n = 10) of female BALB/c mice received intramuscular (IM) or oral immunization with the recombinant adenoviruses twice at 2-week intervals. Intramuscular immunization of mice with rAd-TEP generated greater titers of anti-JEV antibodies and JEV neutralizing activity than in animals with oral injection. It statistically significant differences were found in anti-JEV antibody titers and JEV neutralizing activity induced by IM immunization with rAd-TEP at a dose of 1 × 10 8.0 TCID 50 when compared with the doses tested (3 × 10 7.0 and 1 × 10 7.0 TCID 50 ) IM inoculation of rAd-TEP. Splenocytes from mice immunized intramuscularly with rAd-TEP secreted the largest amounts of interferon-γ and interleukin-2 and moderate amounts of interleukin-4 in the presence of JEV. It demonstrates that IM immunization with rAd-TEP induced the highest level of cell-mediated immune responses and the higher level of JEV-specific humoral immune responses than oral immunization. Then we further evaluated the protective efficacy of the recombinants in swine. All swine were protected from viral challenge with IM rAd-TEP at 1 × 10 10.0 TCID 50 , even though the neutralizing antibody titers were lower than those in the group inoculated with inactivated vaccine. Our findings indicate that rAd-TEP might be an attractive candidate vaccines for preventing JEV infection.

A synthetic multi-epitope gene containing critical epitopes of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) envelope gene was cloned into both prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression vectors. The recombinant plasmid and purified recombinant protein (heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli) were used as immunogens in a mouse model. The results indicate that both the recombinant protein and the DNA vaccine induce humoral and cellular immune responses. Neutralising antibody titres in mice in the pcDNA-TEP plus rEP group increased considerably relative to mice immunised using either pcDNA-TEP or rEP alone (P0.05). Furthermore, the highest levels of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon-gamma and IL-4 were induced following priming with the DNA vaccine and boosting with the recombinant protein. Together these findings demonstrate that a DNA-recombinant protein prime-boost vaccination strategy can produce high levels of antibody and trigger significant T cell responses in mice, highlighting the potential value of such an approach in the prevention of JEV infection.

1-17-2 is a rat anti-human DEC-205 monoclonal antibody that induces internalization and delivers antigen to dendritic cells (DCs). The potentially clinical application of this antibody is limited by its murine origin. Traditional humanization method such as complementarity determining regions (CDRs) graft often leads to a decreased or even lost affinity. Here we have developed a novel antibody humanization method based on computer modeling and bioinformatics analysis. First, we used homology modeling technology to build the precise model of Fab. A novel epitope scanning algorithm was designed to identify antigenic residues in the framework regions (FRs) that need to be mutated to human counterpart in the humanization process. Then virtual mutation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were used to assess the conformational impact imposed by all the mutations. By comparing the root-mean-square deviations (RMSDs) of CDRs, we found five key residues whose mutations would destroy the original conformation of CDRs. These residues need to be back-mutated to rescue the antibody binding affinity. Finally we constructed the antibodies in vitro and compared their binding affinity by flow cytometry and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay. The binding affinity of the refined humanized antibody was similar to that of the original rat antibody. Our results have established a novel method based on epitopes scanning and MD simulation for antibody humanization.

The title compound, C24H24O4, was synthesized by the reaction of ethyl­magnesium bromide with 5,5′-bimethyl-2,2′-biindanyl­idene-1,1′,3,3′-tetra­one under an argon atmosphere. The mol­ecule lies across a crystallographic inversion centre. The cyclo­pentenone ring adopts a flattened envelope conformation.

The title compound, C32H24O4, was synthesized by the reaction of benzyl­magnesium bromide with 2,2′-biindanyl­idene-1,1′,3,3′-tetra­one. The mol­ecule lies across a crystallographic inversion centre. The cyclo­pentenone ring adopts a flattened envelope conformation.

The title compound, C30H18O2, was synthesized by the reaction of phenyl­magnesium bromide with 2,2′-biindanyl­idene-1,1′,3,3′-tetra­one under a nitro­gen atmosphere. The dihedral angle between the two indenone ring systems is 50.66 (3)°.

Inflammation caused by chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma; however, the mechanisms by which HBV infection induces inflammation and inflammatory cytokine production remain largely unknown. We analyzed the gene expression patterns of lymphocytes from chronic HBV-infected patients and found that the expression of ZFP36, an AU-rich element (ARE)-binding protein, was dramatically reduced in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes from chronic HBV patients. ZFP36 expression was also reduced in CD14(+) monocytes and in total PBMCs from chronic HBV patients. To investigate the functional consequences of reduced ZFP36 expression, we knocked down ZFP36 in PBMCs from healthy donors using siRNA. siRNA-mediated silencing of ZFP36 resulted in dramatically increased expression of multiple inflammatory cytokines, most of which were also increased in the plasma of chronic HBV patients. Furthermore, we found that IL-8 and RANTES induced ZFP36 downregulation, and this effect was mediated through protein kinase C. Importantly, we found that HBsAg stimulated PBMCs to express IL-8 and RANTES, resulting in decreased ZFP36 expression. Our results suggest that an inflammatory feedback loop involving HBsAg, ZFP36, and inflammatory cytokines may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of chronic HBV and further indicate that ZFP36 may be an important target for anti-inflammatory therapy during chronic HBV infection.