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Succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) have become one of the most important classes of agrochemical fungicides. According to the data from FRAC, the resistance risk for SDHIs had reached up to medium and even to high. In general, the chemical structure of SDHIs mainly contained three fragments: an acid core, a hydrophobic tail, and an amide linker, corresponding to three modification directions for each fragment. Among them, amide linker modification (ALM) has become a research hotspot for the design of novel SDHIs fungicides in recent years. We presented here a detailed review on the ALM strategy in the past decade, and some of them had entered the market. According to their chemical structures, ALM strategy were classified into four parts: (1) linked aliphatic chain between amide bond and hydrophobic tail, (2) introducing substituents to replacing hydrogen atom in the amide bond, (3) reverse extending the amide linker, and (4) changed with other bioisosteres. Moreover, the structure-activity relationship and the interaction mechanism of ALM-SDHI with SDH were discussed. This review aims to provide a global perspective on research and development of novel SDHIs, as well as suggestions for food safety management.

Understanding how animal collectives and societies form and function is a fundamental goal in animal biology. To date, research examining fish shoaling behavior has focused mostly on the general principles and ecological relevance of the phenomeon, while the ways in which physiological state (e.g., nutrition) affects collective behavior remain overlooked. Here, we investigated the shoaling behavior of common minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) with three different nutritional states (control treatment: fasting for 24 h, fasting treatment: fasting for 7 days, and digestion treatment: 1 h after satiation feeding) across two ecological contexts (i.e., without and with food). No effects of either nutritional state or context were found on swimming speed, but the acceleration was greater in the digestion group than in the control group, with that in the fasting group being intermediate. Similar to change tendency in group length and group width of shoals, both interindividual distance and nearest neighbor distance were also greater in the fasting group than in the digestion group, suggesting that fasting and digestion may exert opposite driving forces on group cohesion. However, neither nutritional state nor context influenced the group area, group speed, group percent time moving, or group polarization. Both the foraging efficiency and the percentage of food items consumed by the fish shoals were greater in the fasting and control groups than in the digestion group. Our study suggested that one week of hunger and the energetically demanding stage of food digestion tend to have opposite influences on group shape, while the social foraging context does not influence the individual and group behavior of fish., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To understand the dynamics of planktonic microbial community and its metabolism processes in subtropical drinking water river-reservoir system with lower man-made pollution loading, this study selected Dongzhen river-reservoir system in Mulan Creek as object to investigate spatial-temporal characteristics of community profile and functional genes involved in biological metabolism, and to analyze the influence of environmental factors. The results indicated that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most diverse phyla with proportion ranges of 9%-80% in target system, and carbohydrate metabolism (5.76-7.12 × 10 -2 ), amino acid metabolism (5.78-7.21 × 10 -2 ) and energy metabolism (4.07-5.17 × 10 -2 ) were found to be the dominant pathways of biological metabolism. Although there were variations in biological properties both spatially and temporally, seasonal variation had a greater influence on microbial community and biological metabolism, than locational differences. Regarding the role of environmental factors, this study revealed that microbial diversity could be affected by multiple abiotic factors, with total organic carbon, total phosphorus and temperature being more influential (absolute value of standardized regression weights >2.13). Stochastic processes dominated the microbial community assembly (R 2 of neutral community model = 0.645), while niche-based processes differences represented by nutrients, temperature and pH level played secondary roles (R > 0.388, P < 0.01). Notably, the synergistic influences among the environmental factors accounted for the higher percentages of community variation (maximum proportion up to 17.6%). Additionally, pH level, temperature, and concentrations of dissolved oxygen, carbon and nitrogen were found to be the significant factors affecting carbon metabolism pathways (P < 0.05), yet only total organic carbon significantly affected on nitrogen transformation (P < 0.05). In summary, the microbial profile in reservoir is not completely dominated by that in feeding river, and planktonic microbial community and its metabolism in subtropical drinking water river-reservoir system are shaped by multiple abiotic and biotic factors with underlying interactions., 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 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To comprehensively understand antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) profile in the subtropical drinking water river-reservoir system, this study selected Dongzhen river-reservoir system in Mulan Creek as object to investigate the spatial-temporal characteristics of ARGs diversity, bacterial host and resistance mechanism, and to analyze the key environmental factors driving ARGs profile variation. The results indicated that a total of 440 ARGs were detected in the target system, and the ARGs distribution pattern in the reservoir was attributed to autologous evolution or the comprehensive influence of feeding river system. The predominant bacterial host at different sites showed similar variations to dominated ARGs, and Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes harbored most ARGs at phylum level, which showed the highest proportions of 74%, 37% and 35%, respectively. Antibiotic efflux was the primary resistance mechanism in all samples from wet season (45%-60%), yet the samples from dry season exhibited multiple resistance mechanisms, including inactivation (37%-52%), efflux (44%), and target alteration (43%). The total relative abundances of ARGs in the target system ranged from 0.89 × 10 -2 to 1.71 × 10 -2 , and seasonal variation had a more significant influence on ARGs abundance than spatial variation (R = 0.68, P < 0.01). Environmental factors analysis indicated that the concentrations of nitrite nitrogen and total organic carbon were significant factors explaining ARGs number and various resistance mechanism proportions (P < 0.01), accounting for 48.7% and 61.1% of the variation, respectively; ammonia nitrogen concentration, total organic carbon concentration, temperature and pH were the significant influence factors on the relative abundance of ARGs (P < 0.05), with standardized regression weights of 0.700, 1.414, 1.447, and 1.727, respectively. In summary, in the surface water of the target system, ARGs diversity was primarily driven by ARGs horizontal transfer and antibiotics biosynthesis. Nutrients mainly promoted ARGs abundance by providing abundant energy, rather than increasing bacterial reproductive capacity., 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 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Chemical alarm cues (CACs) play a key role in the predatorprey relationship in fish. Chemical cues in the aquatic environment have an impact on the individual and group behavior of fish, and differences in these behavioral responses might be related to the body size of group members. Here, we used juvenile crucian carp (Carassius carassius) as an animal model to examine the effects of different cues and group mate body sizes on the individual and group behavior of shoaling fish. Three group mate body size (small, large, and mixed size) and three pheromone (rearing tank water, food, and CACs) treatments were combined in our study, with each treatment having 16 groups of five fish. We found that the individual swimming speed of the mixed group increased after injecting rearing water and food cues in the tank. After injecting CACs, the individual swimming speed of both the small and mixed groups increased, while that of the large group did not change. After the injection of CACs, the group speed of the small group was higher than that of the large and mixed groups. After the food cues were added to the tank, the synchronization of speed of the small group was higher than that of the mixed and large groups. Both the interindividual distance and nearest-neighbor distance of the mixed group remained unchanged after injecting CACs. Our study indicated that the impact of external cues on the individual and collective behavior of fish is related to the difference in body size of group mates., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Growth and energy metabolism are highly flexible in fish species in response to food availability, and these two traits depend to some extent on the social rearing environment (e.g., isolated vs. group rearing). Currently, how social rearing environments influence flexibility in metabolic rate of fish and their ecological consequences (e.g., somatic growth) remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated how social isolation (i.e., group-reared vs. isolation-reared) and food availability (i.e., high vs. low) affect metabolic rates, growth and their correlations in a group-living fish, grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), which were subjected to a 4-week growth experiment. The metabolic rates (e.g., standard metabolic rate, SMR; maximum metabolic rate, MMR; aerobic scope, AS = MMR-SMR) and morphology (e.g., body mass and length) of the fish in four treatments were measured at the beginning and end of the growth experiment, and then the growth parameters (e.g., food intake, FI; feeding efficiency, FE; and specific growth rate, SGR) were also obtained. We found that social isolation did impair growth of fish with individuals showing a lower SGR compared to those group-reared fish irrespective of food availability. However, the growth advantage of group-reared fish under two food availabilities did not result from their FIs or FEs. Metabolic rates (i.e., SMR) seemed to decrease in response to social isolation, but increased greater when fish were reared at high food ration. These shifts in metabolic rates were positively linked with individual differences in somatic growth; individuals who increased metabolic rates more grew faster, while those who increased their metabolic rates less or even reduced had a lower growth, but these links were independent on both social isolation and food ration. These results suggested that social isolation can inhibit the growth of individual fish, but not the AS. Flexibility in metabolic rates could confer a growth advantage under changing food availability, but the links between variation in energy metabolism and growth were not altered by social deprivation. Our study demonstrates the importance of metabolic plasticity accounting for inter-individual difference in growth performance under the challenges of changing food resource., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In recreational fisheries, fish often undergo catch-and-release angling, which can lead to an indirect selection response of the behavioral traits of the fish. As individuals experience high-intensity angling activities, individuals learn to avoid being selected for artificial bait again, resulting in a change in the vulnerability to angling of fish, which is partly dependent on the cognitive learning ability of the fish. Here, we examined the relationship between vulnerability to angling and learning in juvenile crucian carp (Carassius auratus) under laboratory conditions. Our study had six angling treatments with each containing different group mates (i.e., the angling stress group, all fish that only experienced repeated angling stress practice for a period of three days; the learning group, all fish that only observed individual in the angling stress group to be angled; the control group, all fish that did not undergo any angling or learning; the mixed Group 1, fish are from the control and learning groups; the mixed Group 2, fish are from the control and angling stress groups; the mixed Group 3, fish are from the learning and angling stress groups), each of which consisted of five replicates). All fish were tested for boldness before and after the previous experiences (i.e., angling stress or learning) test. Our results showed that for the stress group, the total angling time, mean individual angling time and total number of bait touches all increased from Day 1 to Day 3, and the total angling rate decreased during the three days of the angling stress practice. After encountering the previous experiences, fish in the control, stress and learning groups all had increased boldness, as assessed by a shortened percent latency to emerge from the refuge. The change in the percent latency of boldness was higher in the stress group than in the learning group, with the control group being intermediate. Furthermore, no differences in the total angling time and total number of bait touches were detected among the six angling treatments, but the stress group exhibited the longest mean individual angling time and lowest angling rate compared with the other five angling treatments, indicating that angling-stressed individuals greatly decreased their vulnerability to angling after the previous angling stress. Our results show that changes in the vulnerability of crucian carp to angling were related to previous individual angling experience but not to visual social learning., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although various implants exist for the fixation of isolated greater tuberosity fractures, few implants are specifically designed for such fractures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical and radiologic outcomes of open reduction-internal fixation with a low-profile anatomic locking plate for comminuted greater tuberosity fractures of the proximal humerus., Methods: From November 2012 to February 2018, 24 patients with displaced and comminuted isolated greater tuberosity fractures were treated with the new low-profile anatomic locking plate. To determine clinical outcomes, we evaluated active range of motion; the visual analog scale pain score; the Constant-Murley score; the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand score; radiographs; and complications., Results: In all cases, a mean follow-up period of 29.3 months (range, 18-48 months) was completed. All patients achieved bone union with a mean healing time of 11.3 weeks (range, 8-16 weeks). The mean Constant-Murley score was 91.1 points (range, 69-100 points), with a rate of good to excellent results of 95.8%. The average Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand score was 9.9 points (range, 2-25 points), and the mean visual analog scale pain score was 1.1 points (range, 0-4 points). Mean active forward flexion, abduction, external rotation, and internal rotation (level) were 157°, 152°, and 40°, and T11, respectively. Postoperatively, 1 patient had persistent shoulder stiffness, and 1 patient had recurrence of shoulder dislocation because of a falling injury during badminton. No serious complications such as subacromial impingement, malunion, nonunion, loss of reduction, or implant failure occurred., Conclusions: The new low-profile anatomic locking plate was useful for the treatment of comminuted isolated greater tuberosity fractures as it provided reliable stability and satisfactory radiographic and functional results. The described technique is a simple and effective method and provides a new reliable option for the treatment of isolated greater tuberosity fractures., (Copyright © 2020 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Exercise and dietary intervention are currently available strategies to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), while the underlying mechanism remains controversial. Emerging evidence shows that lipophagy is involved in the inhibition of the lipid droplets accumulation. However, it is still unclear if exercise and dietary intervention improve NAFLD through regulating lipophagy, and how exercise of skeletal muscle can modulate lipid metabolism in liver. Moreover, NAFLD is associated with aging, and little is known about the effect of lipid accumulation on aging process. Here in vivo and in vitro models, we found that exercise and dietary intervention reduced lipid droplets formation, decreased hepatic triglyceride in the liver induced by high-fat diet. Exercise and dietary intervention enhanced the lipophagy by activating AMPK/ULK1 and inhibiting Akt/mTOR/ULK1 pathways respectively. Furthermore, exercise stimulated FGF21 production in the muscle, followed by secretion to the circulation to promote the lipophagy in the liver via an AMPK-dependent pathway. Importantly, for the first time, we demonstrated that lipid accumulation exacerbated liver aging, which was ameliorated by exercise and dietary intervention through inducing lipophagy. Our findings suggested a new mechanism of exercise and dietary intervention to improve NAFLD through promoting lipophagy. The study also provided evidence to support that muscle exercise is beneficial to other metabolic organs such as liver. The FGF21-mediated AMPK dependent lipophagy might be a potential drug target for NAFLD and aging caused by lipid metabolic dysfunction., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Animals adapt to the challenges of fluctuations in predator risk and food availability in their natural habitats. Phenotypic plasticity allows animals to handle environmental changes. However, the patterns of flexibility in metabolic rates and its ecological consequences under different predator stress and food availability conditions are poorly understood. Here, we used crucial carp (Carassius auratus) as a prey species and northern snakehead (Channa argus) as a predator to test whether predator stress influences metabolism and growth, and alters the link between flexibility in metabolic rate and its ecological consequences (e.g., growth) in crucial carp. The experiment was carried out under the conditions of predator stress (with or without a predator) and three food availabilities (satiation feeding 1 time per day, low food availability; 2 times per day, intermediate food availability; and 3 times per day, high food availability) for 3 weeks. After 21 days of feeding, the final body mass and body length in the two treatments increased compared to the initial values in all three food availabilities. The feeding intake (FI) and specific growth rate (SGR) of the two treatments increased with increasing food availability. The control treatment had a higher FI and SGR than the predator stress treatment in all three food availabilities. The feeding efficiency (FE) of the two treatments was higher at the high and intermediate food availabilities than at the low food availability. However, no effect of predator stress on FE was detected. The final values of original or standardized SMR were higher in the control treatment than the predator stress treatment at the intermediate and high food availabilities. The changes in SMR (ΔSMR) were higher in the control treatment than in the predator stress treatment. The positive correlation between the ΔSMR and SGR was found in the intermediate food availability in the predator stress treatment, suggesting that individuals with a higher flexibility in SMR had a larger growth rate and vice versa, but this relationship was dependent on food availability. Our results suggest that predator stress decreased maintenance metabolism, feeding and growth of juvenile crucial carp irrespective of food availability. Predator stress does not alter the growth advantages conferred by the metabolic plasticity of the fish under changing food availability., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Technical aspects of the correct placement of medial support locking screws in the locking plate for proximal humerus fractures remain incompletely understood. This study was to evaluate the clinical relationship between the number of medial support screws and the maintenance of fracture reduction after locked plating of proximal humerus fractures., Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 181 patients who had been surgically treated for proximal humeral fractures (PHFs) with a locking plate between September 2007 and June 2013. All cases were then subdivided into one of four groups as follows: 75 patients in the medial cortical support (MCS) group, 26 patients in the medial multiscrew support (MMSS) group, 29 patients in the medial single screw support (MSSS) group, and 51 patients in the no medial support (NMS) group. Clinical and radiographic evaluations included the Constant-Murley score (CM), visual analogue scale (VAS), complications, and revision surgeries. The neck-shaft angle (NSA) was measured in a true anteroposterior radiograph immediately postoperation and at final follow-up. One-way analysis of variance or Kruskal-Wallis test was used for statistical analysis of measurement data, and Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used for categorical data., Results: The mean postoperative NSAs were 133.46° ± 6.01°, 132.39° ± 7.77°, 135.17° ± 10.15°, and 132.41° ± 7.16° in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively, and no significant differences were found (F = 1.02, P = 0.387). In the final follow-up, the NSAs were 132.79° ± 6.02°, 130.19° ± 9.25°, 131.28° ± 12.85°, and 127.35° ± 8.50° in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively (F = 4.40, P = 0.008). There were marked differences in the NSA at the final follow-up between the MCS and NMS groups (P = 0.004). The median (interquartile range [IQR]) NSA losses were 0.0° (0.0-1.0)°, 1.3° (0.0-3.1)°, 1.5° (1.0-5.2)°, and 4.0° (1.2-7.1)° in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively (H = 60.66, P < 0.001). There were marked differences in NSA loss between the MCS and the other three groups (MCS vs. MMSS, Z = 3.16, P = 0.002; MCS vs. MSSS, Z = 4.78, P < 0.001; and MCS vs. NMS, Z = 7.34, P < 0.001). There was also significantly less NSA loss observed in the MMSS group compared to the NMS group (Z = -3.16, P = 0.002). However, there were no significant differences between the MMSS and MSSS groups (Z = -1.65, P = 0.225) or the MSSS and NMS groups (Z = -1.21, P = 0.099). The average CM scores were 81.35 ± 9.79, 78.04 ± 8.97, 72.76 ± 10.98, and 67.33 ± 12.31 points in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively (F = 18.68, P < 0.001). The rates of excellent and good CM scores were 86.67%, 80.77%, 65.52%, and 43.14% in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively (χ 2 = 29.25, P < 0.001). The median (IQR) VAS scores were 1 (0-2), 1 (0-2), 2 (1-3), and 3 (1-5) points in the MCS, MMSS, MSSS, and NMS groups, respectively (H = 27.80, P < 0.001). Functional recovery was markedly better and VAS values were lower in the MCS and MMSS groups (for CM scores: MCS vs. MSSS, P < 0.001; MCS vs. NMS, P < 0.001; MMSS vs. MSSS, P = 0.031; and MMSS vs. NMS, P < 0.001 and for VAS values: MCS vs. MSSS, Z = 3.31, P = 0.001; MCS vs. NMS, Z = 4.64, P < 0.001; MMSS vs. MSSS, Z = -2.09, P = 0.037; and MMSS vs. NMS, Z = -3.16, P = 0.003)., Conclusions: Medial support screws might help enhance mechanical stability and maintain fracture reduction when used to treat PHFs with medial metaphyseal comminution or malreduction., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest

Flexibility in phenotypic traits can allow organisms to handle environmental changes. However, the ecological consequences of flexibility in metabolic rates are poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether the links between growth and flexibility in metabolic rates vary between two temperatures. Common carp Cyprinus carpio were raised in three temperature treatments [the 18°C, 28°C and 28°C-food control (28°C-FC)] and fed to satiation of receiving food either once or twice daily for 4weeks. The morphology and metabolic rates (standard metabolic rate, SMR; maximum metabolic rate, MMR) were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. The mean total food ingested by fish in the 28°C-FC treatment was the same as that by fish in the 18°C treatment at each food availability. The final SMR (not MMR and aerobic scope, AS=MMR-SMR) increased more in the 28°C and 28°C-FC treatments with twice-daily feedings than once-daily feedings. Fish in the 28°C treatment had a higher specific growth rate (SGR) than fish in the 28°C-FC and 18°C treatments at both food availabilities. However, no differences in feeding efficiency (FE) were found among the three treatments in fish fed twice daily. The flexibility in SMR was related to individual differences in SGR, not with food intake and FE; individuals who increased their SMR more had a smaller growth performance with twice-daily feedings at 28°C, but it did not exist at 18°C. Flexibility in SMR provides a growth advantage in juvenile common carp experiencing changes in food availability and this link is temperature-dependent., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Schooling behavior is an adaptive trait of important biological and ecological significance in fish species. However, the question of how aerobic capacity and environmental factors (i.e., food and water velocity) affect the spatial positioning within fish schools has received little attention. Our study measured the aerobic capacity-as indicated by standard metabolic rate (SMR), maximum metabolic rate (MMR) and aerobic scope (AS)-and swimming performance of juvenile qingbo (Spinibarbus sinensis) and filmed their schooling behavior in a swim tunnel under both a control treatment and food stimulus treatment at three water velocities (20, 30 and 40cms -1 ). Neither aerobic capacity nor swimming performance was related to spatial position within schools. Food stimulation did not trigger any change in the characteristics of spatial position at three water velocities. However, an intra-school positional preference was found between water velocities under the control treatment and food stimulus treatment. Individuals who preferred the rear of the school had smaller coefficients of variation in position under the two treatments, but this behavior was not correlated with any parameters for metabolic rates. Inter-school social interaction level, as indicated by total chase times, was not affected by either water velocity or food appearance. Although aerobic capacity and food stimulus did not influence the spatial position of individuals within schools, individual qingbo had spatial positional preferences within schools between different water speeds., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phenotypic flexibility in traits can allow organisms to cope with environmental challenges. However, the ecological consequences (e.g., growth) of SMR flexibility in fish are poorly understood. Juvenile qingbo (Spinibarbus sinensis) were reared individually with two levels of food resources (satiation or limited) with either continuous feeding (CF) or starvation-refeeding (SR). In the CF experiment, SMR increased when individuals were fed either the satiation or limited diets, but no difference was found in average specific growth rate somatic growth (SGR) between the two food availabilities. The relationship between flexibility in SMR and SGR, feeding efficiency (FE) and food intake (FI) was positive in the satiation group but not in the limited food group. In the SR experiment, the initial SMR of individuals was negatively correlated with the SGR during starvation. During refeeding, the starved individuals increased both body mass and SMR under both food availabilities. Individuals with a greater increase in SMR were fed more and also had greater SGR and FE under the satiation diet, but these results were not observed under the limited diet. The average FE under the limited diet was greater than that under the satiation diet, causing there to be no significant difference in final body mass between the diet treatments at the end of refeeding. Our study suggested that SMR flexibility can allow individuals to maximize their potential growth performance in an environment with changing food availability, and the benefits from greater flexibility in SMR could be offset by their maintenance metabolism under environmental stress., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phenotypic traits vary greatly within populations and can have a significant influence on aspects of performance. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of individual variation in standard metabolic rate (SMR) on growth rate and tolerance to food deprivation in juvenile Chinese crucian carp ( Carassius auratus ) under varying levels of food availability. To address this issue, 19 high and 16 low SMR individuals were randomly assigned to a satiation diet for 3 weeks, whereas another 20 high and 16 low SMR individuals were assigned to a restricted diet (approximately 50% of satiation) for the same period. Then, all fish were completely food-deprived for another 3 weeks. High SMR individuals showed a higher growth rate when fed to satiation, but this advantage of SMR did not exist in food-restricted fish. This result was related to improved feeding efficiency with decreased food intake in low SMR individuals, due to their low food processing capacity and maintenance costs. High SMR individuals experienced more mass loss during food deprivation as compared to low SMR individuals. Our results here illustrate context-dependent costs and benefits of intraspecific variation in SMR whereby high SMR individuals show increased growth performance under high food availability but had a cost under stressful environments (i.e. food shortage)., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests., (© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)

Objective: To study the clinical and pathological characteristics of HPV-negative cervical cancer patients. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 785 cervical cancer patients in Guangdong Women and Children Hospital from Jan. 2005 to Oct. 2015. By detecting high- risk HPV infection by flow-through hybridization genechip technique. Results: (1)Among 785 cases of cervical cancer, 71 cases were negative for HPV infection tested by genechip technique, accounting for 9.0%(71/785), and the relative light units/cut off(RLU/CO)ratios of these 71 cases were less than 1 by hybird capture Ⅱ(HC-Ⅱ)methods. The results showed that the positive coincident rate of genechip technique detecting result with HC-Ⅱ method was 100.0%(71/71).(2)There was no difference between 43(60.6%)cases from 41-55 years old of 71 cases of HPV-negative patients and 392(54.9%)cases from 41- 55 years old of 714 cases of HPV infection patients( χ 2 =15.63, P =0.571). Among 71 cases of HPV-negative patients, 32 cases of patients with doing TCT, 6(18.8%)cases for normal, 10(31.2%)cases for atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance(ASCUS), 3(9.4%)cases for atypical squamous cells cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(ASC-H), 3(9.4%)cases for low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions(LSIL), 8(25.0%)cases for hight-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions(HSIL), 2(6.2%)cases for squamous cell carcinoma(SCC). And there were 391 cases of patients with doing thin-prep cytologic test(TCT)of 714 HPV infection patients, 60(15.3%)cases for normal, 61(15.6%)cases for ASCUS, 28(7.2%)cases for ASC-H, 29(7.4%)cases for LSIL, 164(41.9%)cases for HSIL, 49(12.5%)cases for SCC. There was no difference of TCT between HPV infection and HPV-negative patients( P >0.05). Among 70 cases from 71 patients with negative for HPV infection, there were 8(11.4%)cases in stage Ⅰ a, 26(37.1%)cases in stage Ⅰ b1, 12(17.1%)cases in stage Ⅰb2, 11(15.7%)cases in stage Ⅱa, 10(14.3%)cases in stage Ⅱb, 3(4.3%)cases in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ. There were 118(16.6%)cases in stage Ⅰa, 261(36.8%)cases in stage Ⅰb1, 72(10.1%)cases in stage Ⅰb2, 152(21.4%)cases in stage Ⅱa, 87(12.3%)cases in stage Ⅱb, 20(2.8%)cases in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ in 710 cases of HPV infection patients, in which there were no difference of clinical stage between HPV infection and HPV-negative patients( P >0.05). Among 69 cases from 71 patients HPV-negative infection, there were 51(73.9%)cases for squamous carcinoma, 13(18.8%)cases for adenocarcinoma, 5(7.2%)cases for adenosquamous carcinoma; and 593(87.2%)cases for squamous carcinoma, 38(5.6%)cases for adenocarcinoma, 39(5.7%)cases for adenosquamous carcinoma, 10(1.5%)case for others were in 680 patients of HPV infection, in which there was significant difference of adenocarcinoma between HPV infection and HPV-negative patients( χ 2 =11.96, P =0.001). Conclusions: Flow-through hybridization genechip technique is the method of high sensitivity to detect high-risk type HPV, as like HC-Ⅱ method. HPV-negative of cervical cancer occurs mainly in 41- 55 years old. Adenocarcinoma incidence is significantly higher in HPV-negative cases than those patients with infection of HPV positive.

Objective: To investigate the effects of dexmedetomidine on renal microcirculatory perfusion in rabbits with renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury rabbit by quantitative analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)., Methods: Twenty- four New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups (8 in each), including a control group, renal I/R injury group and dexmedetomidine group. In the latter two groups, the right kidney of the rabbits was resected and I/R injury was induced in the left kidney. In dexmedetomidine group, the rabbits received an intraperitoneal dose of 10 µg/kg dexmedetomidine 30 min before renal ischemia, and 24 h after reperfusion, the renal size and renal artery resistance (RI) were measured, and renal cortex perfusion was observed by CEUS. The time-to-peak intensity (TTP), peak signal intensity (PSI), gradient between start frame to peak frame (Grad) and area under the curve (AUC) were quantitatively analyzed using the time-intensity curves. Pathological changes of the kidney were also observed., Results: Compared with the control group, the rabbits in I/R and dexmedetomidine groups showed distinct changes of the renal size with obvious renal pathologies. RI, PPT and AUC all increased, and PSI and Grad decreased significantly in I/R and dexmedetomidine groups (P<0.05). Compared with I/R group, obvious improvement of the renal size and renal pathologies were observed in dexmedetomidine group, which showed significantly decreased RI, PPT and AUC and increased PSI and Grad (P<0.05)., Conclusion: CEUS combined with the time-intensity curve parameters allows quantitative and dynamic analysis of the protective effects of dexmedetomidine on microcirculatory perfusion in rabbits with renal I/R injury.

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a complex multifactorial metabolic disorder that affects >100 million individuals worldwide, yet the mechanisms involved in the development and progression of the disease have not yet been fully elucidated. The present study examined the mRNA and micro (mi)RNA expression profiles by microarray analysis in the pancreas islets of spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats with the aim to identify regulatory mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of T2DM. A total of 9 upregulated and 10 downregulated miRNAs were identified, including miR-150, miR-497, miR-344-3p and let-7f, which were independently validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays. In addition, differential expression of 670 genes was detected by mRNA microarray analysis, including 370 upregulated and 247 downregulated genes. The differentially expressed genes were statistically associated with major cellular pathways, including the immune response pathway and the extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction pathway. Finally, a reverse regulatory association of differentially expressed miRNAs and their predicted target genes was constructed, supported by analysis of their mRNA and miRNA expression profiles. A number of key pairs of miRNA-mRNA was proposed to have significant roles in the pathogenesis of T2DM rats based on bioinformatics analysis, one example being the let-7f/collagen, type II, alpha 1 pair that may regulate ECM-receptor interactions.

Ectopic pregnancy is commonly located in the fallopian tube. Nevertheless, two unusual types of ectopic pregnancy, intramural pregnancy and rudimentary horn pregnancy, seriously threaten maternal life. The diagnosis and treatment of these unusual implantation sites present a clinical challenge. In this study, we illustrated the two unusual types of ectopic pregnancy and summarized the current data regarding diagnosis and optimal treatment from our experience.

Dextran as anti-nutritional factor is usually a result of bacteria activity and has associated serial problems during the process stream in the sugar industry and in medical therapy. A sensitive method is expected to detect dextran quantitatively. Here we generated four monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against dextran using dextran T40 conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as immunogen in our lab following hybridoma protocol. Through pairwise, an MAb named D24 was determined to be conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and was used in the establishment of a sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for determination of dextran, in which MAb D9 was chosen as a capture antibody. The detection limit and working scope of the developed sandwich ELISA method were 3.9 ng/mL and 7.8-500 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9909. In addition, the cross-reaction assay demonstrated that the method possessed high specificity with no significant cross-reaction with dextran-related substances, and the recovery rate ranged from 96.35 to 102.00%, with coefficient of variation ranging from 1.58 to 6.94%. These results indicated that we developed a detection system of MAb-based sandwich ELISA to measure dextran and this system should be a potential tool to determine dextran levels.

The study established a UPLC-MS/MS method that is used for simultaneous determination nine major bioactive compounds of Dachengqi Tang in rat plasma. Using Aglient C18 column (2.1 mm x 50 mm,1.7 microm) was chromatographed, using methanol-5 mmol x L(-1) ammonium formate mobile phase gradient, elution 0.3 mL x min(-1). In the plasma pre-treatment process, not only the method of methanol and acetonitrile protein precipitation was investigated, and different factors extraction solvent, the type of the scroll time, the number and the type of extraction solvent, the extraction volume of the extraction solution of liquid-liquid extraction is investigated. Finally, with ibuprofen as an internal standard, using ethyl acetate liquid-liquid extraction method pretreatment blood, N2 dry reconstituted supernatant after centrifugation UPLC-MS/MS analysis, in electrospray ionization (ESI) negative mode, using multiple reaction monitoring mode for testing. The linear range of emodin, rhein, aloe-emodin, chrysophanol, magnolol, honokiol, hesperidin and hesperitin is 0.33-660, 0.40-792, 0.41-827, 0.34-680, 0.45-907, 0.46-927, 0.43-867, 0.34-683, 0.39-787 microg x L(-1) respectively, good linear relationship; and extraction recovery were greater than 69.39%, days after the day of the RSD is less than 15%. This method can be used to study the rat gastric large bearing gas after Dachengqi Tang, the simultaneous determination of nine components in plasma for its pharmacokinetics and efficacy material base to provide a theoretical basis.

Many animals experience fasting because of the high temporal and spatial sporadicity of food availability. Once food is available, animals use external energy to restore their depressed functional performance. In the present study, the physiological and morphological responses to the first bout of refeeding in juvenile southern catfish (Silurus meridionalis) were characterized. Fish that had undergone long-term fasting (fasted for 32 days, the S32 group) exhibited a lower resting metabolic rate (MO(2rest) decreased by 49%), lower peak metabolic rate (MO(2peak) decreased by 24%), greater energy expenditure (increased by 15%) during specific dynamic action (SDA) and longer duration SDA response (increased by 41%) than those of a control group (S0 group, fasted for 0 days). The S32 group showed a significantly reduced peak gastric evacuation rate (0.131 g meal h(-1)) compared with the S0 group (0.315 g meal h(-1)). The S0 group also had a shorter gastric evacuation time (36 h) than either of the two fasting groups (both 64 h). The S32 group displayed a higher minimum gastric pH (3.1) than the S0 and S16 groups (2.6). Refeeding did not trigger an increase in the wet mass of the gastrointestinal tract, whereas the liver wet mass of the S0 and the two fasting groups increased significantly with refeeding. The trypsin and lipase of the S0 group showed higher mass-specific activities and organ capacities than either of the two fasting groups at certain specific time points. A similar result was found for aminopeptidase activity. Multiple loach meals equaling 6% of the body weight of the fed fish completely restored the liver morphology within the S16 but not the S32 group. Our results suggest that the regulation of the digestive performance of the gastrointestinal tract in S. meridionalis that are finishing their first small meal after fasting is delayed compared with that of nonfasting fish and that it is similar to the characteristics (lower MO(2peak), greater SDA and a longer duration of the SDA response) of the refeeding SDA.

Objective: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in cervical carcinogenesis. Common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in pre/pri-miRNAs may change their property through altering miRNAs expression and/or maturation. Here we aimed to investigate the influence of three common SNPs in pre/pri-miRNAs (pri-miR-26a-1 rs7372209, pre-miR-27a rs895819 and pri-miR-100 rs1834306) on individual susceptibility to cervical cancer., Methods: We genotyped these three polymorphisms in 103 cervical cancer cases and 417 cancer-free female subjects using polymerase chain reaction-ligation detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was utilized to estimate the association between these polymorphisms and the risk of cervical cancer., Results: In a logistic regression analysis, we found that the rs895819 polymorphism in pre-miR-27a exhibited a significant effect on cervical cancer risk; T allele (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.49-0.95, P = 0.025), and CT (OR = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.15-0.74, P = 0.007) or TT (OR = 0.33, 95% C I= 0.15-0.72, P = 0.006) genotype were associated with the decreased risk, compared to C and CC respectively. As we used further genotype association models, we found a similar trend of the association in additive (OR = 0.70, P = 0.041) and recessive model (OR = 0.33, P = 0.004). We did not detect any association of the other two SNPs in pri-miR-26a-1 (rs7372209) and pri-miR-100 (rs1834306) with cervical cancer risk., Conclusion: Our study provides the first evidence that the miR-27a rs895819 polymorphism is associated with a decreased risk of cervical cancer in southern Chinese women., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Continual swimming exercise usually promotes growth in fish at a moderate water velocity. We hypothesized that the improvement in growth in exercise-trained fish may be accompanied by increases in digestive enzyme activity, respiratory capacity and, hence, postprandial metabolism. Juvenile qingbo fish (Spinibarbus sinensis) were subjected to aerobic training for 8weeks at a water velocity of control (3cms(-1)), 1, 2 and 4 body length (bl)s(-1) at a constant temperature of 25°C. The feed intake (FI), food conversion rate (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), whole-body composition, trypsin and lipase activities, maximal oxygen consumption (M˙O2max) and postprandial M˙O2 response were measured at the end of the training period. Aerobic exercise training induced a significant increase in FI compared with the control group, while the FCR of the 4bls(-1) group was significantly lower than for the other three groups (P<0.05). The 1 and 2bls(-1) groups showed a significantly higher SGR over the control group (P<0.05). The whole-body fat and protein contents were significantly altered after aerobic exercise training (P<0.05). Furthermore, aerobic exercise training elevated the activity of both trypsin and lipase in the hepatopancreas and intestinal tract of juvenile S. sinensis. The M˙O2max of the 4bls(-1) training group was significantly higher than for the control group. The resting M˙O2 (M˙O2rest) and peak postprandial M˙O2 (M˙O2peak) in the three training groups were significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.05). Time to M˙O2peak was significantly shorter in the 1, 2 and 4bls(-1) training groups compared with the control group, while exercise training showed no effect on SDA (specific dynamic action) duration, factorial metabolic scope, energy expended on SDA and the SDA coefficient when compared to the control group. These data suggest that (1) the optimum water velocity for the growth of juvenile S. sinensis occurred at approximately 2.4bls(-1); (2) the improvement of growth may have been primarily due to an increase in the FI after long-term training; (3) and aerobic exercise training boosted the activity of digestive enzymes and maximum digestive metabolism, which could favor fast digestion and growth in juvenile S. sinensis., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Methyl-CpG binding domain 4 (MBD4) protein functions as a DNA repair enzyme and plays an important role in maintaining genome integrity and carcinogenesis. The polymorphisms in the MBD4 gene may be associated with differences in DNA repair capacity and thereby influence an individual's susceptibility to cervical cancer. To verify this hypothesis, we examined the potential association between the MBD4 Glu346Lys polymorphism (rs140693, G>A) and the risk of cervical cancer in a Chinese population., Methods: We genotyped the MBD4 Glu346Lys polymorphism in 146 cervical cancer cases and 320 healthy female subjects using polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between the genotypes and the risk of cervical cancer., Results: We observed a significantly decreased risk of cervical cancer associated with the heterozygous Lys/Glu genotype (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36-0.99; P = 0.046) and the homozygous Glu/Glu genotype (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.89; P = 0.018), compared with the Lys/Lys homozygotes. Moreover, the reduced cervical cancer risk was more predominant among younger subjects or human papillomavirus-positive individuals carrying Glu/Glu genotypes (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.14-0.78, P = 0.011; and OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.09-0.75, P = 0.013, respectively)., Conclusions: The MBD4 codon 346 polymorphism may play a role in cervical cancer susceptibility in the Chinese population. Further larger case-control and functional studies are needed to validate these findings.

Postprandial physiological and morphological responses to feeding were examined in juvenile southern catfish (Silurus meridionalis Chen) that had consumed a loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus Cantor) meal equivalent to 6 % of the body mass of the catfish. The gastric evacuation rate (GER) peaked at 4 h postfeeding, averaging 0.36 g food weight h(-1), at which time 14 % of the ingested meal had passed into the intestine. Less than 10 % of the ingested meal remained in the stomach at 24 h postfeeding. Pepsin activity peaked at 8 h postfeeding, reaching a level approximately twofold higher than the prefeeding level. Pancreatic trypsin activity peaked at 16 h postfeeding, reaching a level 4.5-fold higher than the prefeeding level. Peaks in lipase activity in both the proximal and middle intestinal segments occurred at 16 h, reaching 2.8- and 2.4-fold higher levels than the prefeeding level, respectively, while the activity in the distal intestine segment reached a level 2.9-fold higher than the prefeeding level at 24 h postfeeding. With respect to amylase activity, only the middle intestinal segment exhibited a change, first an increase and then a decrease, after feeding. Feeding also triggered an approximately 200 % increase in the metabolic rate and resulted in 44.6 kJ kg(-1) being expended on specific dynamic action, equivalent to 16.1 % of the meal's energy. In terms of organ size, the wet mass of the liver increased by 11 % at 24 h postfeeding, whereas the wet mass of the pancreas did not change. Except for a decrease in the thickness of the submucosa in the middle intestinal segment, the thickness of the intestinal fold, mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and serosa of each intestinal segment did not change significantly with feeding. These results suggest that the continuum of physiological responses observed with respect to metabolic increases, GER, regulation of pancreatic and intestinal digestive enzyme activities and liver wet mass to feeding corresponds to the changes in the demand on the digestive system in S. meridionalis. Moreover, species maintained stable gastrointestinal tract morphology during the short interval of repeated feeding.

The size and functional capacity of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and associated organs vary in response to environmental cues. The GI tract and associated organs are also very metabolically active in animals. Hence, animals may reduce the size and function of their GI tract to conserve energy when deprived of food. The main aims of this study were to investigate how Silurus meridionalis regulates the function and structure of its GI tract and associated organs during starvation. Starvation induced a decrease in both maintenance metabolism (MO(2rest), decreased by approximately 50%) and respiratory frequency (indicated by double side gill activity and notated as f(R), decreased by 29%). Lipase, trypsin and aminopeptidase-A showed a similar reduction in mass-specific activities during starvation, but pepsin and α-amylase did not. The starvation of experimental fish resulted in a significant reduction in body weight, the wet mass of the liver and the digestive-somatic system, the hepato-somatic index and the condition factor whereas the wet masses of the GI tract, pancreas, gall bladder and the relative intestinal length did not vary significantly during starvation. The reduction in liver wet mass was the main reason for the decrease in the wet mass of digestive-somatic system in this species. Only the mucosal area of the PI was affected significantly by starvation, decreasing by 34% at the end of the experiment. S. meridionalis displayed a decreasing intestinal mucosal area towards the distal intestine, and this gradient was not affected by starvation. The morphology and structure of both the GI tract and the liver were greatly down-regulated, as indicated by decreases in liver cell size, the mucosal thickness of the stomach and intestine, the density of goblet cells and microvilli surface area (MVSA), implying that food deprivation greatly impaired the digestive and absorptive functions of the GI tract in S. meridionalis. When deprived of food, S. meridionalis can endure harsh periods of starvation and adaptively down-regulate the function and structure of the digestive tract with physiological and biochemical strategies., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of Exonuclease1 (EXO1) genetic polymorphism and the development of cervical carcinoma., Methods: This study was conducted with 126 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer and 278 people with no cancer history. The polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to evaluate the K589E and C908G gene polymorphisms. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between the genotypes and the risk for cervical cancer., Results: This is the first study on the role of EXO1 K589E (rs1047840) and EXO1 C908G (rs10802996) polymorphisms in cervical cancer in a Chinese population. Our results indicated that the EXO1 K589G polymorphism were significantly associated with the risk for cervical cancer. Compared with the G allele EXO1 K589E, the A allele increased the risk for cervical cancer (adjusted odds ratio, 1.67; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-2.45). By contrast, we have not found a significant association between the EXO1 C908G polymorphism and cervical cancer risk (P = 0.791)., Conclusion: These findings indicate that the SNPs of EXO1 K589E may contribute to cervical cancer carcinogenesis in Chinese populations. A larger population study will need to be carried out to further validate the potential association of EXO1 genetic polymorphism and cervical carcinoma.

This work proposes a simple and sensitive solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (SS-RTP) for the selective determination of carvedilol (CV). The method is based on the sensitizing effect of sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate (SDBS) on CV to activate the oxidation between NaClO and amaranth, resulting in the intense quenching of room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) of the system. Compared with non-SDBS system, the reduction of phosphorescence intensity (ΔI(p)) with SDBS is 16.5 times higher and is directly proportional to the content of CV, covering a wide range 0.080-16.00 fg/spot. The regression equation of the working curve can be expressed as ΔI(p) = 0.7780 + 7.057 m(CV) (fg/spot) (correlation coefficient (r) = 0.9976, n = 8), with a detection limit (LD) of 0.020 fg/spot (corresponding concentration is 5.1 × 10(-14) g/mL, sample volume is 0.40 μL/spot). This sensitive method has also been applied to determine trace CV in human plasma and the results agreed with synchronous fluorimetry (SF). The activation energy (E) and rate constant (k) of this activating reaction were 69.04 kJ/mol and 3.580 × 10(-4) s(-1), respectively. The reaction mechanism is also discussed., (Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objective: To find the best treatment of penile strangulation and to analyze the sexual psychological factors of the patients., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the experiences in removing foreign objects around the penis in 21 patients aged 19 - 61 years with the strangulation time varying from 10 hours to 4 days. The objects were mostly made of metal or plastics., Results: All the objects were successfully removed, 5 of them with the help of lubricant, 4 by aspirating the corpus cavernosum, 8 by shipping with pliers, 2 with the diamond-tipped dental drill, and the other 2, which virtually defied cutting, by aspirating the corpus cavernosum following degloving surgery., Conclusion: In removing foreign objects around the penis, simpler methods should be given precedence over more complex ones, and for those that virtually defy cutting, the best option is degloving surgery with particular attention to the survival of the penile skin flap.

The effects of temperature on resting oxygen consumption rate (MO2rest) and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) after exhaustive exercise (chasing) were measured in juvenile southern catfish (Silurus meridionalis) (8.40±0.30 g, n=40) to test whether temperature has a significant influence on MO2rest, maximum post-exercise oxygen consumption rate (MO2peak) and EPOC and to investigate how metabolic scope (MS: MO2peak - MO2rest) varies with acclimation temperature. The MO2rest increased from 64.7 (10°C) to 160.3 mg O2 h(-1) kg(-1) (25°C) (P<0.05) and reached a plateau between 25 and 30°C. The post-exercise MO2 in all temperature groups increased immediately to the peak values and then decreased slowly to a steady state that was higher than the pre-exercise MO2. The MO2peak did not significantly differ among the 20, 25 and 30°C groups, though these values were much higher than those of the lower temperature groups (10 and 15°C) (P<0.05). The duration of EPOC varied from 32.9 min at 10°C to 345 min at 20°C, depending on the acclimation temperatures. The MS values of the lower temperature groups (10 and 15°C) were significantly smaller than those of the higher temperature groups (20, 25 and 30°C) (P<0.05). The magnitude of EPOC varied ninefold among all of the temperature groups and was the largest for the 20°C temperature group (about 422.4 mg O2 kg(-1)). These results suggested that (1) the acclimation temperature had a significant effect on maintenance metabolism (as indicated by MO2rest) and the post-exercise metabolic recovery process (as indicated by MO2peak, duration and magnitude of EPOC), and (2) the change of the MS as a function of acclimation temperature in juvenile southern catfish might be related to their high degree of physiological flexibility, which allows them to adapt to changes in environmental conditions in their habitat in the Yangtze River and the Jialing River.

A novel solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (SS-RTP) was developed for determination of bumetanide (BMTN). It was validated by determining selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and signal to noise ratio (S/N) for analysis. And all the experiments presented in this work were based on that BMTN inhibited the formation of [Fe-morin](3+) ([FeR](3+)) complex by the reaction between Fe(3+) and R, which led to severe quenching of room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) signal. The rate constant of the reaction (k) was 2.44 x 10(-4) s(-1), the activation energy (E) was 21.39 kJ mol(-1). Detection limit of this method (LD, 5.0 ag spot(-1), corresponding concentration was 1.2 x 10(-14) g mL(-1)) was evaluated and compared with other methods, indicating better sensitivity for BMTN determination using this technique. And due to the high sensitivity of the method, it has been successfully applied to determine BMTN in human urine samples. The linear range was from 0.040 pg mL(-1) to 4.0 pg mL(-1), allowing wide determined range of BMTN. Meanwhile, the mechanism of this method was also discussed.

Introduction: Cell division cycle protein 6 (CDC6) plays critical roles in DNA replication and carcinogenesis. The biological significance of the CDC6 G1321A polymorphism (V441I, rs13706) on cervical carcinogenesis is still unknown. Here, we examined the potential influence of this polymorphism on cell proliferation and the individual's susceptibility to cervical cancer., Methods: We genotyped the CDC6 G1321A polymorphism in 87 cervical cancer cases and 110 healthy female subjects. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between the genotypes and the risk of cervical cancer. The BrdU incorporation assay was applied to analyze the effect of this polymorphism on cell proliferation., Results: Compared with the GG homozygotes, the cervical cancer risk was significantly reduced in the individuals with the heterozygous AG genotype (odds ratio [OR], 0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.98; P = 0.042) or the homozygous AA genotype (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.09-0.89; P = 0.030). Further stratified analyses showed that the decreased risk of cervical cancer was more evident among younger subjects (≤44 years old) with the AG or AA genotypes (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.21-0.92; P = 0.029 and OR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.03-0.61; P = 0.010, respectively). The BrdU incorporation assay showed that 293T cells transfected with CDC6-441I (1321A) had a lower proliferation rate in comparison with those transfected with CDC6-441V (1321G), although the difference did not reach statistical significance at the 0.05 level., Conclusions: The CDC6 G1321A polymorphism may contribute to the risk of cervical cancer. Further studies with more subjects and in diverse ethnic populations are necessary to confirm the general validity of our findings.

Objective: To evaluate long term effect and related factors in patients with menorrhagia treated by microwave endometrial ablation (MEA)., Methods: Total of 334 women with menorrhagia were treated by MEA, the range of age was from 29 to 59 years old. Among them, 59 cases were complicated by adenomyosis. All the patients were followed up on the change of menstrual cycle, the amount of flow, improvement of anaemia and complication. Fifty-three women underwent outpatient diagnostic hysteroscopy, the biopsy tissue was taken from the endometrium for histopathological examination. The mean duration of follow-up was 64.7 months (3 - 96 months)., Results: The overall curative rate was 91.3% (305/334), of which amenorrhea rate was 49.7% (166/334), menstruation reduction rate was 41.6% (139/334) ; 71.1% (140/197) of the cases who previously had dysmenorrhea had relieved their pelvic pain and the satisfactory rate was 91.9% (307/334). Among patients > 40 years, 92.9% (196/211) of operation effective rate, 93.8% (198/211) of satisfactory rate and 64.9% (137/211) of amenorrhea rate were obtained, while patients

Fluorescein (HFin) emitted strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) on filter paper after set at 50 degrees C for 10 min using Li(+) as the ion perturber. HFin existed as Fin(-) when the pH value was in the range of 5.45-7.36. Fin(-) could react with [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+) (BPY: alpha,alpha-bipyridyl) to produce ion association complex [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+).[(Fin)(2)](2-), which could enhance the RTP signal of Hfin. In the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA), the -COOH group of Fin(-) in the [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+).[(Fin)(2)](2-) could react with the -NH(2) group of BSA to form the ion association complex [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+).[(Fin-BSA)(2)](2-), which contained -CO-NH- bond. This complex could sharply enhance the RTP signal of Hfin and the Delta I(p) was directly proportional to the content of BSA. According to the facts above, a new solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (SS-RTP) for the determination of trace protein had been established using the ion association complex [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+).[(Fin)(2)](2-)as a phosphorescent probe. This method had wide linear range (0.40 x 10(-9)-280 x 10(-9)mg l(-1)), high sensitivity (the detection limit (LD) was 1.4 x 10(-10)m gl(-1)), good precision (RSD: 3.4-4.9%) and high selectivity (the allowed concentration of coexistent ions or coexistent materials was high). It had been applied to the determination of the content of protein in 10 kinds of real samples, and the result agreed well with pyrocatechol violet-Mo (VI) method (P.V.M.M.), which indicated it had high accuracy. Meanwhile, reaction mechanism for the determination of trace protein with [Cu(BPY)(2)](2+).[(Fin)(2)](2-) phosphorescent probe was also discussed. The academic thought of this research could not only be used to develop many kinds of ion association complex phosphorescent probes, but also provided a new way to promote the sensitivity of SS-RTP.

A new phosphorescent labelling reagent consisting of fullerol, fluorescein isothiocyanate and N,N-dimethylaniline (F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA) was developed. The mode of action is based on the reactivity of the active -OH group in F-ol with the -COOH group of FITC to form an F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA complex containing several FITC molecules. F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA increased the number of luminescent molecules in the biological target of WGA-AP-WGA-F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA (WGA and AP are wheat germ agglutinin and alkaline phosphatase, respectively) which improved the sensitivity using solid substrate room temperature phosphorimetry (SSRTP) detection. The proposed method provided high sensitivity and strong specificity for WGA-AP. The limit of detection (LD) was 0.15 ag AP spot(-1) for F-ol and 0.097 ag AP spot(-1) for FITC in F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA, which was lower than the method using single luminescent molecules of F-ol-DMA and FITC-DMA to label WGA (0.20 ag AP spot(-1) for F-ol-DMA and 0.22 ag AP spot(-1) for FITC-DMA). Results for the determination of AP in human serum were in good agreement with those obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The mechanism of F-ol-(FITC)(n)-DMA labelling of WGA was discussed.

To test the hypothesis that digestion has a more notable physiological effect on ambush foragers than on active foragers, we investigated the behavioural, digestive and metabolic characteristics, as well as the postprandial locomotory capacity, of four species of juvenile fish distributed along the Yangtze River, China, with distinct foraging strategies. The ambush foraging southern catfish (Silurus meridionlis) had the fewest movements per minute (MPM), lowest per cent time spent moving (PTM), slowest critical swimming speed (Ucrit), lowest maintenance metabolism (VO2rest) and lowest maximum locomotory metabolism (VO2max)). However, the southern catfish had the highest feeding level and maximum feeding metabolism (VO2peak) and the greatest decrease in Ucrit after consumption of a large meal. Thus, this fish is highly adapted to its ambush behavioural strategy and sedentary life style. In the herbivorous grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), a low digestive capacity led to little change in postprandial locomotory performance, which benefits its frequent grazing behaviour. In this species, the greater amount of energy spent on routine activity and avoiding predators versus Ucrit might be related to its herbivorous life style and high predation risk. The active foraging crucian carp (Carassius auratus) adopts a unique high energy cost strategy that allows for high capacity in both routine activity and digestion, and the great flexibility of its cardio-respiratory capacity (increased VO2max after feeding) guarantees a small decrease in Ucrit even after maximum feeding. Finally, the sluggish foraging darkbarbel catfish (Pelteobagrus vachelli) has low digestive and locomotory capacity, but its energy-efficient venomous defence strategy may be related to its abundance. These results show that the digestive, behavioural and metabolic strategies differ among these fish species. The locomotory capacity in the sedentary fishes decreased profoundly after feeding, whereas it decreased little or not at all in the active fishes. The maintenance of high locomotory capacity after eating in the active fishes is probably related to a large metabolic capacity, a lower digestive capacity or an improvement in cardio-respiratory capacity after feeding.

The critical swimming speed (U(crit), aerobic swimming performance) and endurance (anaerobic swimming performance) of juvenile southern catfish Silurus meridionalis Chen (9.8+/-0.1 cm body length and 8.09+/-0.17 g body mass, n=226) were investigated at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 degrees C. Both absolute U(crit) (cm s(-1)) and relative critical swimming speed (U(r), BL s(-1)) of juvenile southern catfish increased in the temperature zone from 10 to 25 degrees C (p<0.05) and plateaued between 25 and 30 degrees C. However, the relationship between endurance time (tested at 1.23, 1.59 and 1.79 U(r-max)) and temperature followed an approximate bell-shape curve as temperature rose (p<0.05). The optimum temperatures of maximal U(crit) (3.40 BL s(-1)) of juvenile southern catfish was 28.4 degrees C. But that of experimental fish's endurance which was tested at velocity of 1.59 and 1.79 U(r-max) was 23.2 degrees C. These results show that temperature has a significant effect on swimming performance in juvenile southern catfish.

Effects of feeding on pre-exercise VO(2) and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) after exhaustive exercise were investigated in sedentary southern catfish, active herbivorous grass carp, omnivorous crucian carp, and sluggish omnivorous darkbarbel catfish to test whether feeding had different effects on EPOC and to compare EPOC in fishes with different ecological habits. For fasting fish, the pre-exercise and peak post-exercise VO(2) were higher and recovery rates were faster in crucian carp and grass carp compared to those of darkbarbel catfish and southern catfish. EPOC magnitudes of grass carp and southern catfish were significantly larger than those of crucian carp and darkbarbel catfish. Feeding had no significant effect on peak post-exercise VO(2), recovery rate, and EPOC magnitude in grass carp. Both the pre-exercise and peak post-exercise VO(2) increased with meal size, while the EPOC magnitude and duration decreased significantly in the larger meal size groups of crucian carp and southern catfish. In darkbarbel catfish, both the pre-exercise and peak post-exercise VO(2) increased with meal size, but the VO(2) increment elicited by exercise was larger in feeding groups compared with the fasting group. These results suggest that (1) the characteristics of the post-exercise VO(2) profile, such as peak post-exercise VO(2) and recovery rate, were closely related to the activity of fishes, whereas the EPOC magnitude was not and (2) the effects of feeding on EPOC were more closely related to the postprandial increase in VO(2).

Objective: To detect the expession of THY1 in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma tissues., Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the expression of THY1 gene in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of normal ovaries (n = 25), ovarian serous cystadenoma (n = 25), and serous cystadenocarcinoma (n = 53). The correlation of THY1 expression with clinicopathological parameters was statistically analyzed., Results: The positive expression rates of THY1 protein in normal ovaries, ovarian serous cystadenomas and ovarian serous cystadenocarcinomas were 60.0% (15/25), 72.0% (18/25) and 34.0% (18/53), respectively. The values of IOD of THY1 protein expression were 288,449.2 +/- 60,087.3, 271,655.6 +/- 66,588.7 and 252,087.6 +/- 45,559.4, respectively. The expression of THY1 protein was significantly down-regulated in ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma tissues compared with that in normal ovarian tissues and ovarian serous cystadenoma tissues (P < 0.05). THY1 expression was negatively correlated with surgical-pathological staging, histological differentiation and lymph node involvement (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: The decreased level of THY1 expression may be related with the occurrence and development of ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma.

A new phosphorescent labeling reagent named self-ordered ring (ESOR) of eosin Y (E) was developed. And the application of the determination of bioactive matter by affinity adsorption solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (AA-SS-RTP) based on ESOR labeling lectin was studied. Results showed that pink and homogeneous ESOR could be formed by E on polyamide membrane (PAM) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and ammonia water. ESOR could emit strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) signal of E in the presence of heavy atom perturber. Specific affinity adsorption (AA) reactions could be carried out between the products of concanavalin agglutinin (Con A), triticum vulgaris lectin (WGA) labeled with ESOR and alpha-fetoprotein variant (AFP-V), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glucose (G), respectively. Not only did the products of the affinity adsorption reactions preserve good RTP characteristic of E, but also the DeltaIp (DeltaIp=Ip2-Ip1, Ip1 is the RTP intensity of blank reagent, Ip2 is the RTP intensity of sample) of these products was proportional to the content of AFP-V, ALP and G, respectively. According to the facts above, a new method of AA-SS-RTP for the determination of AFP-V, ALP and G was established, based on ESOR labeling lectin. Detection limits (LD) of this method were 0.040 fg spot(-1) for AFP-V, 0.045 fg spot(-1) for ALP and 0.090 fg spot(-1) for G. And it has been successfully applied to the determination of AFP-V in human serum as well as the survey and forecast of human diseases. This method had high sensitivity, good repeatability, long RTP lifetime and little background interference with lamdamaxem at the long wavelength area. Meanwhile, the mechanism for the determination of trace AFP-V by AA-SS-RTP based on Con A labeled with ESOR was also discussed.

Molecular systematics involves the description of the regulatory networks formed by the interconnections between active transcription factors and their target expressed genes. Here, we have determined the activities of 200 different transcription factors in six mouse tissues using an advanced mouse oligonucleotide array-based transcription factor assay (MOUSE OATFA). The transcription factor signatures from MOUSE OATFA were combined with public mRNA expression profiles to construct experimental transcriptional regulatory networks in each tissue. SRF-centered regulatory networks constructed for lung and skeletal muscle with OATFA data were confirmed by ChIP assays, and revealed examples of novel networks of expressed genes coregulated by sets of transcription factors. The combination of MOUSE OATFA with bioinformatics analysis of expressed genes provides a new paradigm for the comprehensive prediction of the transcriptional systems and their regulatory pathways in mouse.

Objective: To improve the recognition and diagnosis of pulmonary Lophomonas blattarum infection., Methods: Two cases of bronchopulmonary Lophomonas blattarum diagnosed in this hospital were reported. The clinical features of 13 cases in the literature during the period of 1993 to 2006, 1 case with sinus infection and 12 cases with bronchopulmonary infection, were also analyzed., Results: For the 2 cases diagnosed in this hospital, severe asthma and bronchiectasis with prolonged infection were the underlying diseases, respectively. The diagnosis of these 2 cases and the 13 cases reported in the literature were all confirmed by the presence of parasites in airway samples. The most common symptoms included fever (64.3%), cough and expectoration (71.4%). Fifty percent of the patients showed increased eosinophils in peripheral blood. Chest radiograph and CT scan showed changes similar to pneumonia (83.3%). Chronic cases were manifested with asthma attack, bronchiectasis or lung abscess. Smear preparations of sputum or specimen by bronchoscopy were direct methods for diagnosis., Conclusion: Pulmonary Lophomonas blattarum infection is an emerging infectious disease caused by protozoon of hypermastigote parasitized in the bronchus or the lung. Epidemiological characteristics including host, route of transmission and susceptible population of Lophomonas blattarum infection are not fully understood. The optimal treatment also needs further investigation.

Objective: To observe the changes of blood pressure (BP), pulse rate (PR) and the microstructure of celiac ganglion (CG) in rabbits with damaged CGs induced by alcohol and high intensity focused ultrasound., Methods: Fourteen rabbits were randomly divided into two groups. The CGs of the rabbits in group A and group B were damaged by alcohol and high intensity focused ultrasound respectively. The changes of BP and PR 0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes after the damage were recorded and compared. The microstructure changes of the damaged CGs were examined under optics microscope and electron microscope., Results: Ganglionic morphology changes were obvious in both groups, with moved and concentrated karyons. In the CGs damaged by alcohol, the nucleolus still existed; some organelles could be identified; the myelination nerve fibre lost its myelin sheath or delaminated while the unmyelination nerve fibre exhibited vacuole formation. In the CGs damaged by high intensity focused ultrasound, all nucleolus disappeared, vacuole formed, intracellular membrane disappeared, axone locally necrotized. The BPs of the rabbits started to decrease three minutes after the alcohol treatment (P < 0.01), one minute after the high intensity focused ultrasound (P < 0.01). Significant differences of BP decline were observed between the two groups one minute after the CG damages. (P < 0.01). The PRs of the rabbits increased 5 minutes and 10 minutes after the high intensity focused ultrasound (P < 0.05, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: Using high intensity focused ultrasound to damage CGs has more significant impacts on BPs and PRs than alcohol.

Fullerenol (F) shows a strong and stable room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) signal on the surface of nitrocellulose membrane (NCM) at lambda ex max/ lambda em max =542.0/709.4 nm. When modified by dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid sodium salt (DBS), fullerenol emits a stronger signal. It was also found that quantitative specific affinity-adsorption reaction can be carried out between Triticum vulgare lectin (WGA) labeled with DBS-F and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) on the surface of NCM, and the product obtained (WGA-ALP-WGA-F-DBS) emits a strong and stable RTP signal. Furthermore, the content of ALP was proportional to the DeltaI(p) value. Based on the facts above, a new method for the determination of trace amounts of ALP by affinity-adsorption solid-substrate room-temperature phosphorimetry (AA-SS-RTP) was established, using fullerenol modified with DBS to label WGA. The detection limit was 0.011 fg spot(-1) (corresponding concentration: 2.8x10(-14) g ml(-1), namely 2.8x10(-16) mol l(-1)). This method with high sensitivity, accuracy, and precision has been successfully applied to the determination of the content of ALP in human serum survey and forecast human disease, and the results are tallied with those using alkaline phosphatase kits. The mechanism for the determination of ALP using AA-SS-RTP was also discussed.

When 1.00 mol l(-1) I(-) is used as ion perturber, rhodamine 6G (Rh 6G) can emit strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) on filter paper substrate in KHC(8)H(4)O(4)-HCl buffer solution (pH = 3.50), heated at 70 degrees C for 10 min. NaIO(4) can oxidize Rh 6G, which makes the RTP signal quench. Terbutaline sulfate (TBS) can inhibit NaIO(4) from oxidizing Rh 6G, which makes the RTP signal of Rh 6G enhance sharply. The content of TBS is linear correlation to DeltaIp of the system. Based on the facts above, a new inhibition solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (SS-RTP) for the determination of trace TBS has been established. The linear range of this method is 0.0104-2.08 pg spot(-1) (corresponding concentration: 0.026-5.2 ng ml(-1), with a sample volume of 0.4 microl) with a detection limit (L.D.) of 2.6 fg spot(-1) (corresponding concentration: 6.5 x 10(-12) g ml(-1)), and the regression equation of working curve is DeltaIp = 2.040 + 54.54 m(TBS) (pg spot(-1)), n = 6, correlation coefficient is 0.9994. For the samples containing 0.0104 pg spot(-1) and 2.08 pg spot(-1) TBS, the relative standard deviation (RSD) are 3.8% and 2.3% (n = 8), respectively, indicating good precision. This method has been applied to determination of trace TBS in the practical samples with satisfactory results. The reaction mechanism of NaIO(4) oxidizing Rh 6G to inhibit SS-RTP for the determination of trace TBS is also discussed.

In this paper, 3.5-generation polyamidoamine dendrimers (3.5G-D)-porphyrin (P) dual luminescence molecule (3.5G-D-P) was developed as a new phosphorescence-labeling reagent. Meanwhile, the room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) characteristics of 3.5G-D-P and its product of labeling triticum vulgaris lectin (WGA) on the surface of polyamide membrane (PAM) were studied. Results showed that in the presence of heavy atom perturber LiAc, 3.5G-D and P of 3.5G-D-P molecule could emit strong and stable RTP on the PAM. And the Tween-80 would spike thoroughly the phosphorescence signal of 3.5G-D and P; moreover, specific affinity absorption (AA) reaction between the products (Tween-80-3.5G-D-P-WGA) of WGA labeled with Tween-80-3.5G-D-P and glucose (G) was carried out. The products of the AA reaction could keep good RTP characteristics of 3.5G-D and P dual luminescence molecule, and the DeltaI(p) was linear correlation to the content of G. According to the facts above, a new method of affinity adsorption solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (AA-SS-RTP) for the determination of trace G was established, basing on WGA labeled with Tween-80-3.5G-D-P dual luminescence molecule. The detection limit of this method was 0.13fgspot(-1) (1.7x10(-12)moll(-1), 3.5G-D) and 0.14fgspot(-1) (2.2x10(-12)moll(-1), P). Determination of G in human serum using excitation/emission wavelength of either 3.5G-D or P, the result was coincided with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Not only the sensitivity and accuracy of this method were higher, but also the flexibility of AA-SS-RTP was obviously improved and the applicability was wider.

Objectives: To introduce the method to monitor intrapelvic perfusion pressure during minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL), and to observe the effect of high pressure intrapelvic perfusion on recovery., Methods: The end of F5 ureteral catheter and aseptic transducer were connected by self-made connecter. During the operation, 46 renal calculi cases were monitored, and the early complication, such as fever, pain index, drop of hemoglobin, the stone-free rate and hospital stay were investigated. And the relationship between the variation of pressure and recovery was studied., Results: Intrapelvic perfusion pressure ranged from 3 mm Hg (1 mm Hg = 0.133 kPa) to 50 mm Hg during the course of MPCNL. The definition of high pressure was the time of the pressure more than 30 mm Hg not less than 10 min. Postoperative fever rate, pain index, drop of hemoglobin and hospital stay in the high pressure were significantly higher than low pressure group (P< or =0.05). There was no difference of the stone-free rate in two groups., Conclusions: During the course of MPCNL intrapelvic perfusion pressure should be monitor immediately. It should be careful to maintain the time of pressure more than 30 mm Hg less than 10 min for stable postoperative recovery.

Objective: To investigate the role of Beclin 1 in HeLa cells and to obtain further insight into the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis., Methods: Beclin 1 silencing was achieved using RNA interference. The expression of gene was measured using quantitative real time RT-PCR and Western blotting. The percentage of apoptotic cells and cell cycle analysis and cell proliferation were assessed by flow cytometry and MTT assay. The ultrastructural analysis was under the electron microscope., Results: In pSUPER-Bec transfectants (Beclin 1 gene partially silenced) the expression of mRNA and protein of Beclin 1 were significantly suppressed in comparison to pSUPER-non (scramble RNA control) or untreated cells in HeLa cells. The growth of transfected cells was promoted, and less apoptosis cells were identified in pSUPER-Bec transfectants compared with pSUPER-non transfectants. Meanwhile pcDNA3.1-Bec transfectants (Beclin 1 gene overexpressed) showed reduction of cell proliferation but augmentation of cell programmed death compared with vector vehicle. The autophagy-promoting activity of beclin 1 in HeLa cells is associated with inhibition of HeLa cellular proliferation, in vivo tumorigenesis in nude mice. The expression pattern of caspase-9 was extraordinarily similar to that of Beclin 1in siRNA against Beclin 1 transfectants and constructive expression of Beclin 1transfectants., Conclusion: siRNA against Beclin 1 transfectants promoted the cell proliferation but overexpression of Beclin 1 promoted the autophagy cell death, and in the process of autophagy triggered by Beclin 1 expression followed accordingly the regulation of the expression of caspase-9. We conjecture that the autophagy gene Beclin 1 may be the critical molecular switch that plays an important role in fine tuning the autophagy and apoptosis through caspase-9, and defection of autophagy or apoptosis may be an important mechanism in tumorigenesis.