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Increasing evidence indicates that inflammatory responses may influence brain neurochemical pathways, inducing depressive-like behaviors. Ultrasound stimulation (US) is a promising non-invasive treatment for neuropsychiatric diseases. We investigated whether US can suppress inflammation and improve depressive-like behaviors. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide to induce depressive-like behaviors. Ultrasound wave was delivered into the prefrontal cortex (PFC) for 30 min. Depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated through the forced swimming test (FST), tail suspension test (TST), and elevated plus maze (EPM). Biochemical analyses were performed to assess the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the PFC and serum. The results indicated that US of the PFC significantly improved depressive-like behaviors in the TST (p < 0.05) and FST (p < 0.05). Anxiety-like behaviors also improved in the EPM (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the lipopolysaccharide-mediated upregulation of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the PFC was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) by US. In addition, no tissue damage was observed. Overall, US of PFC can effectively improve lipopolysaccharide-induced depressive-like behaviors, possibly through the downregulation of inflammatory cytokines in the PFC. US may be a safe and promising tool for improvement of depression.

Abstract The Sichuan takin (Budorcas taxicolor tibetana) is a rare and endangered ruminant distributed in the eastern Himalayas. However, little information is available regarding the intestinal microbiota of the takin. In this study, Illumina Miseq platform targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA was employed to characterize microbial community and diversity in the feces of wild (n = 6) and captive takins (n = 6). The takin exhibited an intestinal microbiota dominated by three phyla: Firmicutes (57.4%), Bacteroidetes (24.2%) and Proteobacteria (12.3%). At family/genus level, Ruminococcaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Acinetobacter, Clostridium, Lachnospiraceae, Rikenellaceae, Bacillus, Comamonas and Spirochaetaceae were dominant. Distinctive microbiotas between wild and captive takins were observed based on microbial community structure, captive takins having significantly higher community diversity. Quantitative real-time PCR were also utilized to monitor predominant bacteria in three Sichuan takin individuals housed in Chengdu Zoo over a half-year period, which showed that microbial communities of the three takins were relatively similar to each other and stable during our study period. Our results suggested that diet was a major driver for shaping microbial community composition.

To investigate and compare the value of right ventricular longitudinal strain detected by two-dimensional and three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography in risk stratification evaluation in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension. We consecutively screened 66 patients diagnosed with pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension in our center. According to the risk assessment recommended by 2015 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines, all participants were classified into low- and intermediate-high-risk group. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional strains were measured using off-line softwares (GE EchoPAC version 201 and TomTec, 4D RV Function 2.0). Fifty-seven pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients (average 35 years old, 18 males and 39 females) were finally enrolled in our study, 32 (56.1%) were classified in low-risk group, while 25 (43.9%) were in the intermediate-high-risk group. Clinical data associated with disease severity, such as N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide ( r = 0.574, P

We investigated and compared the correlations between two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography detected left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rates (global: left ventricular global peak early diastolic strain rate; septum: left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of septum; free wall: left ventricular peak early diastolic strain rate of free wall) and disease severity in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension. Seventy-four pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients (23 males and 51 females, 35 ± 13 years) and thirty healthy controls were consecutively recruited for two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography analyses in our study. Medical records of pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients were reviewed to capture clinical data; risk assessments were performed based on the 2015 ESC Guidelines. Compared with healthy controls, left ventricular global peak early diastolic strain rate was lower in pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension patients (1.11 ± 0.60 s −1 versus 1.47 ± 0.45 s −1 , P = 0.001), especially that of the septum (1.13 ± 0.58 s −1 versus 1.68 ± 0.46 s −1 , P

Based on the feature of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy multi-attribute decision-making, in this thesis, a mentality parameter is used to reflect the decision makers’ risk attitude in determining of both a membership degree and a non-membership degree. Besides, with the mentality parameter, a new score function and accuracy function are proposed, which integrate the membership degree, the non-membership degree and the hesitancy degree into one index. Furthermore, to compare two interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, a new ranking method is generated with the score function and accuracy function. Finally, a multi-attribute decision method under interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy environment is developed in a linear weighted average operator. And promising numerical results show that this method is available.

The present study was conducted to screen a laccase-producing fungal endophyte, optimize fermentation conditions, and evaluate the decolorization ability of the laccase. A new fungal endophyte capable of laccase-producing was firstly isolated from pigeon pea and identified as Myrothecium verrucaria based on a ITS-rRNA sequences analysis. Meanwhile, various fermentation parameters on the laccase production were optimized via response surface methodology (RSM). The optimal fermentation conditions were a fermentation time of five days, temperature 30 °C and pH 6.22. Laccase activity reached 16.52 ± 0.18 U/mL under the above conditions. Furthermore, the laccase showed effective decolorization capability toward synthetic dyes (Congo red, Methyl orange, Methyl red, and Crystal violet) in the presence of the redox mediator ABTS, with more than 70% of dyes decolorizing after 24 h of incubation. Additionally, the activity of laccase was relatively stable with pH (4.5–6.5) and a temperature range of 35–55 °C. Therefore, the high laccase production of the strain and the new fungal laccase could provide a promising alterative approach for industrial and environmental applications.

Defensins are small cationic peptides that could be used as the potential substitute for antibiotics. However, there is no efficient method for producing defensins. In this study, we developed a new strategy to produce defensin in nitrate reductase (NR)-deficient C. ellipsoidea (nrm-4). We constructed a plant expression vector carrying mutated NP-1 gene (mNP-1), a mature α-defensin NP-1 gene from rabbit with an additional initiator codon in the 5'-terminus, in which the selection markers were NptII and NR genes. We transferred mNP-1 into nrm-4 using electroporation and obtained many transgenic lines with high efficiency under selection chemicals G418 and NaNO(3). The mNP-1 was characterized using N-terminal sequencing after being isolated from transgenic lines. Excitingly, mNP-1 was produced at high levels (approximately 11.42 mg/l) even after 15 generations of continuous fermentation. In addition, mNP-1 had strong activity against Escherichia coli at 5 µg/ml. This research developed a new method for producing defensins using genetic engineering.

Comprehensive investigation of gut microbiota composition is important for understanding digestive physiology in mammals. The hog deer (Axis porcinus) is a small mammal at high risk of extinction in the wild. In the present study, we sequenced the V4 region of 16S rRNA gene and compared the gut microbiota composition among three ages of captive hog deer, including one infant (Z1, six months old), three young (Z2, ten months old) and 12 adult (Z3, 4-5 years old). A total of 26 phyla (15, 22 and 25 in Z1, Z2 and Z3) and 310 genera (153, 254 and 304 in Z1, Z2 and Z3) were identified. In Z1, Z2 and Z3, Firmicutes (63.65%, 62.07% and 61.96%) was the predominant phylum, followed by Bacteroidetes (29.08%, 29.62% and 30.02%) and Tenericutes (3.08%, 3.24% and 2.78%). The alpha diversity (Shannon Index and observed species) of Z2 was significantly higher than that of Z3 (P < 0.05). The Shannon Index of Z1 was higher than that of Z2. At the genus level, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group and Ruminiclostridium_5 had higher abundance in Z2 compared with Z3, whereas other genera, such as Fibrobacter, Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group and Oscillibacter were enriched in Z3. In conclusion, our results reveal significant microbiota composition changes that occur with age in captive hog deer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated to the morphological and componential characteristics of atheromatous plaques. It has proven that plaque textures are related to plaque components and beneficial for atherosclerotic risk stratification. The aim of this study is to compare plaque textures in patients with and without DM, and examine the relationship between HbA1c levels and the ultrasound plaque textures in atherosclerotic patients. Methods: A total of 136 participants (among them 66 are diabetic and 70 are non-diabetic) suffering from carotid plaques were included. About 300 texture features were extracted from the ultrasound images of plaques using the algorithms of histogram, absolute gradient, run-length matrix, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, autoregressive model and wavelet transform, respectively. Thirty optimal features were selected by the Fisher coefficient and the mutual information measure. The most discriminating feature (MDF) was obtained from the linear discriminant analysis for the optimal features. Linear regression model was performed to investigate the relationship between HbA1c and MDF. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was further developed to validate the relation between the estimated HbA1c (models output) and diabetes status. Results: A total of 12 texture features showed statistical difference between patients with and without DM. The MDF was significant higher in non-diabetic patients (0.326 ± 0.049) than diabetic patients (-0.346 ± 0.052) (p < 0.001). The optimal regression model (r = 0.348, p < 0.001) for HbA1c included a constant (p < 0.001) and the MDF (p < 0.001). The areas under ROC curve used to estimate HbA1c was 0.828. Conclusions: The results indicate that there is a quantitative relationship between the HbA1c levels and plaque textures in ultrasonic images of atherosclerotic patients, which may suggest that texture analysis of the ultrasonic image of plaque is a promising method for evaluating the cardiovascular risk caused by DM in patients with plaques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water-soluble polysaccharides are important constituents with evident health benefits in Epimedium. The aim of this study was to establish a specific, accurate, reproducible, and sensitive phenol-sulfuric acid method for the quantitative assay of Epimedium polysaccharides and to determine polysaccharides in Epimedium samples from Chinese markets. Galactose was adopted as the standard monosaccharide, and 486 nm was chosen as the detection wavelength. The optimal conditions for the color reaction were obtained using single factor experiments and an orthogonal test: temperature, 20°C; amount of 5% phenol, 0.3 mL; amount of concentrated sulfuric acid, 3.5 mL; incubation time, 20 min; and addition sequence, phenol-sample-sulfuric acid. The colored sample solution after chromogenic reaction exhibited high stability within 2 h. The calibration curve was linear within the range 5.00-60.00 µg/mL, and the correlation coefficient of the regression equation was 0.999. LOD and LOQ were 1.65 and 5.00 µg/mL, respectively. Recovery, intraday precision, interday precision, and accuracy were 97.43 to 103.80%, 0.73 to 3.48%, 1.21 to 2.75%, and 97.74 to 101.62%, respectively. Polysaccharides in 26 samples of Epimedium collected from different provinces of China were quantified by the proposed colorimetric method, and a large variation of contents of polysaccharides was observed among these samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comparative efficacy of 2 anthelmintics (ivermectin and levamisole) against Baylisascaris transfuga migrating and encapsulated larvae was studied in mice. A total of 60 BALB/c mice inoculated each with about 1,000 embryo- nated B. transfuga eggs were equally divided into 6 groups (A-F) randomly. Mice of groups A and B were treated with ivermectin and levamisole, respectively, on day 3 post-infection (PI). Mice of groups A-C were killed on day 13 PI. Similarly, groups D and E were treated with ivermectin and levamisole, respectively, on day 14 PI, and all mice of groups D-F were treated on day 24 PI. The groups C and F were controls. Microexamination was conducted to count the larvae recovering from each mouse. The percentages of reduction in the number of migrating larvae recovered from group A (ivermectin) and B (levamisole) were 88.3% and 81.1 %, respectively. In addition, the reduction in encapsulated larvae counts achieved by ivermectin (group D) and levamisole (group E) was 75.0% and 49.2%, respectively. The results suggested that, to a certain extent, both anthelmintics appeared to be more effective against migrating larvae than encapsulated larvae. However, in the incipient stage of infection, ivermectin may be more competent than levamisole as a larvicidal drug for B. transfuga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]