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Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Objectives: To investigate whether XueBiJing injection improves clinical outcomes in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia. Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled study. Setting: Thirty-three hospitals in China. Patients: A total of 710 adults 18–75 years old with severe community-acquired pneumonia. Interventions: Participants in the XueBiJing group received XueBiJing, 100 mL, q12 hours, and the control group received a visually indistinguishable placebo. Measurements and Main Results: The primary outcome was 8-day improvement in the pneumonia severity index risk rating. Secondary outcomes were 28-day mortality rate, duration of mechanical ventilation and total duration of ICU stay. Improvement in the pneumonia severity index risk rating, from a previously defined endpoint, occurred in 203 (60.78%) participants receiving XueBiJing and in 158 (46.33%) participants receiving placebo (between-group difference [95% CI], 14.4% [6.9–21.8%]; p < 0.001). Fifty-three (15.87%) XueBiJing recipients and 84 (24.63%) placebo recipients (8.8% [2.4–15.2%]; p = 0.006) died within 28 days. XueBiJing administration also decreased the mechanical ventilation time and the total ICU stay duration. The median mechanical ventilation time was 11.0 versus 16.5 days for the XueBiJing and placebo groups, respectively (p = 0.012). The total duration of ICU stay was 12 days for XueBiJing recipients versus 16 days for placebo recipients (p = 0.004). A total of 256 patients experienced adverse events (119 [35.63%] vs 137 [40.18%] in the XueBiJing and placebo groups, respectively [p = 0.235]). Conclusions: In critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia, XueBiJing injection led to a statistically significant improvement in the primary endpoint of the pneumonia severity index as well a significant improvement in the secondary clinical outcomes of mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation and duration of ICU stay.

LcrF is the master regulator that positively regulates the Ysc type III secretion system (T3SS) in Yersinia and shares a high similarity with the DNA-binding domain of the T3SS master regulator ExsA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Based on these features, bioinformatics analysis has predicted a putative LcrF-binding site in its target promoters. Here, we experimentally characterized its binding motif. An adenine-rich LcrF-binding region in the lcrG promoter sequence, a typical regulatory target of LcrF, was first confirmed. To obtain detailed information, this binding region was cloned into a synthetized promoter and mutations in this region were further constructed. We demonstrated that the 5’-AAAAA-n5-GnCT-3’ sequence is required for LcrF regulation and this motif is strictly located 4-bp upstream of a noncanonical promoter, in which the -35 and -10 elements are separated by a 21-bp spacer. Consistently, the putative binding motif was found in promoters of nine T3SS related operons or genes positively regulated by LcrF. Transcriptome analysis further confirmed that LcrF specifically activates T3SS genes in Yersinia. Collectively, our data suggest that LcrF has evolved to be a specific T3SS activator with a stringent sequence requirement for transcriptional regulation.

To investigate the effect of PEP4 alleles on cellular tolerance of rice wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae against citric acid stress, one PEP4-allele disrupted strain and one PEP4-allele modified along with one PEP4-allele disrupted rice wine Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains were constructed. The PEP4-allele disruption and modification significantly decreased intracellular PrA activity, and a dose-response relationship was found between intracellular Proteinase A activity and number of intact PEP4-alleles. Under cultivation conditions whether with sufficiency or starvation of amino acid nitrogen source, the second PEP4-allele modification was all found beneficial for cellular citric acid stress tolerance of the industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain SWY85. These results allude to PEP4-allele having a physiological role in the metabolic regulations correlated to citric acid tolerance in yeast cell.

Due to the need of better understanding of molecular composition of petroleum fractions to meet stricter environmental legislations, molecular level characterization has been investigated by various researchers and showed promising progress in modern refinery design, simulation and optimization. However, not only there is still an unavoidable trade-off between keeping astronomical molecule details and practicality in industrial applications, but also the developed molecular approaches are mainly applied to reaction kinetic modelling, while modelling of separation is largely based on a different method of pseudo-component representation. This inconsistency could lead to the loss of molecular information when multiple processes with reaction and separation are interconnected. In this work, the pseudo-component representation method is extended to incorporate a modified MTHS (Molecular Type-Homologous Series) matrix method [Peng, B., Molecular modelling of petroleum processes. Ph.D. Thesis, UMIST, 1999] to characterize the molecular information of pseudo-components in light to middle distillate petroleum fractions, in which boiling ranges are combined with molecular types of paraffins, olefins, naphthene, aromatics, and their derivatives to represent the molecular composition in a matrix form. The properties of each matrix entry as a component are estimated based on conventional mixing rules and thermodynamic equilibrium of isomer distribution. The composition of each matrix entry can then be estimated through regression analysis to match the predicted and measured bulk properties, with an underlying assumption that the distribution of each homologous series follows a gamma distribution function. Case studies for naphtha and light gas oil show good agreements in molecular composition and bulk properties between calculated and experimental data. Keywords: Numerical molecular characterization, Molecular representation, Molecular type-homologous series, Pseudo-component method, Light distillate, Middle distillate, Petroleum fractions

In addition to biochemical stimuli, physical forces also play a critical role in regulating the structure, function, and metabolism of the lung. Hyperstretch can induce the inflammatory responses in asthma, but the mechanism remains unclear. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is a nuclear enzyme that can regulate a variety of inflammatory cytokines expression. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of PARP-1 in mechanical stretch-induced inflammation in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEpiCs). HBEpiCs were simulated by mechanical stretch and cells under static were used as the control. PARP-1 expression was interfered by small interfering RNA. Oxidative stress was evaluated by DHE staining. DNA damage was assessed by comet assay. The results showed that interleukin-8 (IL-8) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression were regulated by hyperstretch in a time-dependent manner. Hyperstretch could increase PARP-1 expression and activity by inducing superoxide production and DNA damage. Silencing of PARP-1 attenuated hyperstretch-induced IL-8 and VCAM-1 up-regulation as well as monocytes adhesion, which were related to the inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) translocation. Our study showed that hyperstretch could induce inflammatory response and superoxide production as well as DNA damage in HBEpiCs. PARP-1 silencing decreased IL-8 and VCAM-1 expression, partly through inhibition of NF-κB translocation. PARP-1 played a fundamental role in hyperstretch-induced inflammation. PARP-1 silencing could be used as a potential therapeutic approach to reverse bronchial epithelial inflammation in asthma.

A compact multiband tunable PIFA system using a varactor as an active tuning component is presented covering 88-2175 MHz. The antenna was designed to cover the mobile telephone bands (GSM850, 900, 1800, 1900, UMTS) by controlling the value of the capacitance across the gap in the slotted PIFA and two broadcast bands, FM radio (76-108 MHz) & mobile television DVB-H (470-702 MHz), were added by designing an appropriate matching circuit into the system. The antenna measured λ/15 × λ/43 × λ/19 at 470 MHz and was easily integrated into a small mobile phone handset. Simulations are verified by measurements.

There is mounting evidence indicating that microcystins (MCs) are heptapeptide toxins. Recent studies have also shown that MCLR can transfer from mother to offspring, but it is unclear whether maternal MCLR can influence the liver of offspring or not. In this study, pregnant SD rats were injected intraperitoneally with a saline solution (control) or 10 μg/kg MCLR per day from gestational day 8 (GD8) to postnatal day 15 (PD15) for a total of 4 weeks. 2-DE and MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry were used to screen for MCLR target proteins in the livers of rat pups. Our results demonstrated that MCLR could accumulate in the livers of neonatal rats. Proteomics studies also showed that MCLR significantly influenced many proteins, including those involved in the cytoskeleton, metabolism and particularly oxidative stress. In addition, MCLR induced cellular structural damage and resulted in the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation. Moreover, protein phosphatase (PP) activity was inhibited and some serum biochemistry parameters were altered. These results suggest an early molecular mechanism behind the hepatotoxicity induced by maternal MC exposure and highlight the importance of monitoring MC concentrations in new-born mammals.

The 'perfect antenna' for a handset will be a very low profile module, perhaps measuring 35 x 10 x 3 or 4 mm and it may well have to share this volume with other components. It will work over a wide range of frequencies from perhaps as low as FM radio bands up to 6 GHz and will exhibit minimal detuning when held in the hand or used next to the head. It will be quickly and easily configured for different devices. There are physical limitations that prevent a simple internal antenna from meeting these requirements but there are various technologies and techniques that may be employed to get as close as possible to this perfect antenna. Here we look at some of these techniques and the tradeoffs to each.