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In TFT-LCD industry, water plays a variety of roles as a cleaning agent and reaction solvent. As good quality water is increasingly a scarce resource and wastewater treatment costs rises, the once-through use of industrial water is becoming uneconomical and environmentally unacceptable. Instead, recycling of TFT-LCD industrial wastewater is become more attractive from both an economic and environmental perspective. This research is mainly to explore the capacity of TFT-LCD industrial wastewater recycling by the process combined with membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis processes. Over the whole experimental period, the MBR process achieved a satisfactory organic removal. The COD could be removed with an average of over 97.3%. For TOC and BOD5 items, the average removal efficiencies were 97.8 and 99.4% respectively. The stable effluent quality and satisfactory removal performance were ensured by the efficient interception performance of the UF membrane device incorporated with biological reactor. Moreover, the MBR effluent did not contain any suspended solids and the SDI value was under 3. After treatment of RO, excellent water quality of permeate were under 5 mg/l, 2.5 mg/l and 150 µs/cm for COD, TOC and conductivity respectively. The treated water can be recycled for the cooling tower make-up water or other purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The membrane bioreactor (MBR) system has become more and more attractive in the field of wastewater treatment. It is particularly attractive in situations where long solids retention times are required, such as nitrifying bacteria, and physical retention is critical to achieving more efficiency for biological degradation of pollutants. Although it is a new technology, the MBR process has been applied to industrial wastewater treatment for only the past decade. The opto-electronic industry, developed very fast over the past decade in the world, is a high technological manufacturing industry. The treatment of the optoelectronic industrial wastewater containing a significant quantity of organic nitrogen compounds, with a ratio over 95% in organic nitrogen (Org-N) to total nitrogen (T-N), is very difficult to meet the discharge limits. The purpose of this research is mainly to discuss the treatment capacity of high-strength organic nitrogen wastewater, and to investigate the capabilities of the MBR process. A 2 m³/day capacity MBR pilot plant consisting of anoxic and aerobic tanks and a membrane bioreactor was installed for evaluation. The operation was continued for 130 days. Over the whole experimental period, a satisfactory organic removal performance was achieved. The COD could be removed with an average of over 94.5%. For TOC and BOD5>, the average removal efficiencies were 96.3 and 97.6%, respectively. The nitrification and denitrification were also successfully achieved. The effluent did not contain any suspended solids. Only a small concentration of ammonia nitrogen was found in the effluent. The stable effluent quality and satisfactory removal performance mentioned above were ensured by the efficient interception performance of the membrane device incorporated within the biological reactor. The MBR system shows promise as a means of treating very high organic nitrogen wastewater without dilution. The effluent of TKN, NOx-N and COD can fall below 20 mg/L, 30 mg/L and 50 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The membrane bioreactor (MBR) system has become more and more attractive in the field of wastewater treatment. It is particularly attractive in situations where long solids retention times are required, such as nitrifying bacteria, and physical retention critical to achieving more efficiency for biological degradation of pollutant. Although it is a new technology, the MBR process has been applied for industrial wastewater treatment for only the past decade. The opto-electronic industry, developed very fast over the past decade in the world, is high technology manufacturing. The treatment of the opto-electronic industrial wastewater containing a significant quantity of organic nitrogen compounds with a ratio over 95% in organic nitrogen (Org-N) to total nitrogen (T-N) is very difficult to meet the discharge limits. This research is mainly to discuss the treatment capacity of high-strength organic nitrogen wastewater, and to investigate the capabilities of the MBR process. A 5 m³/day capacity of MBR pilot plant consisted of anoxic, aerobic and membrane bioreactor was installed for evaluation. The operation was continued for 150 days. Over the whole experimental period, a satisfactory organic removal performance was achieved. The COD could be removed with an average of over 94.5%. For TOC and BOD5 items, the average removal efficiencies were 96.3 and 97.6%, respectively. The nitrification and denitrification was also successfully achieved. Furthermore, the effluent did not contain any suspended solids. Only a small concentration of ammonia nitrogen was found in the effluent. The stable effluent quality and satisfactory removal performance mentioned above were ensured by the efficient interception performance of the membrane device incorporated within the biological reactor. The MBR system shows promise as a means of treating very high organic nitrogen wastewater without dilution. The effluent of TKN, NOx-N and COD can fall below 20 mg/L, 30 mg/L and 50 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the effects of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) on the structure of the stratified squamous epithelium of the tongue, buccal mucosa and oesophagus of normal and irradiated mice. Materials and methods: Female BDF1 mice were exposed to total body irradiation from a caesium source. The irradiated mice and normal, unirradiated mice were injected with 5mg/kg per day KGF or vehicle. Thickness and proliferation in the epithelium were measured. Results: KGF caused epithelial thickening of the non-keratinized layers in oral epithelium in normal mice. It increased the number of nucleated layers and influenced differentiation of post-mitotic cells in the upper layers by increasing the size and number of keratohyalin granules, and the number of desmosomes. Single and fractionated doses of radiation caused inhibition of proliferation as detected by markedly reduced BrdU incorporation following exposure, followed by epithelial atrophy. KGF treatment of mice reversed the inhibition of proliferation and atrophy that occurred in control irradiated mice. Conclusion: These data show that KGF reverses epithelial atrophy in mouse oral cavity caused by irradiation and suggest that KGF may be useful for the treatment of mucositis of the upper aerodigestive tract of patients treated with aggressive regimens of radiation therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogenous catalytic ozonation of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) in the presence of Gamma-alumina as a solid catalyst has been investigated in this research. It showed that the rate for degradation of TOC could increase from 21 % to 43%. The pseudo-first reaction constants of 2-CP could increase from 0.8688 min-1 to 0.1270, increasing by approximately 40%. At the same time, the consumption of ozone was only half that of ozone alone. This research also explored the effects of the catalyst dosage, pH values and removal kinetics of 2-CP. In addition, three consecutive running with the same catalyst revealed insignificant reduction of the activity. Furthermore, the elimination of toxicity was evaluated by Microtox(R) analysis. The detoxification was more stable and with good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decomposition of chlorophenols in aqueous solution with UV-illuminated TiO2 suspensions in the presence of manganese ions was studied. It was found that the removal rate of chlorophenols would be the highest at pH 3 in the presence of 1.18x 10-4 M manganese ion. The effect of ionic strength on the 2-CP decomposition can be ignored in the range from 0.1 to 0.005 M for NaClO4. This study is also to explore the relationship between the adsorption rate and reaction rate. Results showed that the more the adsorption rate the more the decomposition rate for the three chlorophenols. Manganese ions can increase the photocatalytic oxidation of 2-chlorophenol in terms of DOC. The relationship between temperature and reaction rate for 2-CP is k = 0.0043T - 1.2146. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the commercial Microtox(r) test is used to assess the individual response of existing wastewater pretreatment facilities in several high-intensive pollution industries. To control the discharge sources to the wastewater treatment facilities (WWTP), public WWTP with high-intensive pollution industries in three industrial districts are evaluated with their influents to determine the primary contributor of toxicants. From the tested toxicity results, the relationship between organic loads and toxic discharges exhibits a positive conjunction in the high-intensive pollution industries. If these industries can enhance their operating performance in the pretreatment system, the toxicity of their discharges can be effectively reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wine and Arak, the national alcoholic drink in Lebanon, were prepared from grape juice fortified with fenitrothion to a concentration of 20ppm. Samples of the 11 fractions produced by the fermentation and distillation steps were analyzed for fenitrothion residues using gas chromatography (GC) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results of residue analyses showed that the two techniques were highly correlated (r = 0.978) and indicated that fenitrothion was stable during the fermentation steps but not during distillation. The clarified wine 35 days later contained about 85% (15.3 ppm) of the fenitrothionconcentration found in the juice as determined by GC analysis. Arak was prepared by a two-steps distillation of the clarified wine. The alcohol distillate and undistilled fraction from the first distillation contained 2.5 ppm and 5.8 ppm of fenitrothion, respectively. No fenitrothion residues were detected by both techniques in the four fractions collected from the second distillation step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toxic chemicals, 2,4-D (a herbicide) and propoxur (an insecticide), were used as the model compounds in these experiments. Total organic carbon analyzer was used to assess the efficiency of photocatalytic mineralization. Microtox bioassay was employed in evaluating the toxicity of solutions treated by photocatalysis. Ultraviolet absorption spectra were also used for showing the different characteristics ofthe compounds undergoing photocatalytic oxidation. Results show thatpropoxur is less degradable than 2,4-D, and the photomineralization of these pesticides follows a behavior of first-order reaction. Products of 2,4-D and propoxur are more toxic than the parent compound after partial photodegradation. This shows that complete mineralization is necessary for total detoxification of these pesticides. In other words, toxicity is an important criteria in assessing the pretreatmentprocess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catalytic decomposition of ozone in the presence of water vapor at the relative humidity (RH) of about 90% was investigated by using a tubular fixed-bed reactor. The performance tests and reaction kinetic studies were conducted for catalyst, i.e., Pt/Gamma-Al2O3 (symbolized as Dash-220). The experiments were carried out at various constant reaction temperatures (298 323 K) and space velocities (24,000 44,000 hr-1). About 75% decomposition efficiencies of ozone with inlet concentration of about 0.17 mol/m3 was achieved at catalyst contact time of 0.15 sec (space velocity of 24,000 hr-1), reaction temperature of 323 K and RHof about 90% for the Dash-220 catalyst. However, about 97% decomposition efficiencies of ozone without the presence of water vapor at thesame reaction conditions. The results indicated that the Dash-220 catalyst with the presence of water vapor gave lower performance of ozone decomposition than without the presence of water vapor can be achieved at the same reaction conditions. For the reaction kinetics, it was found that the pseudo-first-order chemical reaction rate equation was appropriate for the catalytic decomposition of ozone in the presence of water vapor investigated in this study. The apparent activation energies for the decomposition reaction of oxone using the Dash-220catalyst in the presence of water vapor at RH of 90% is 19.32 kJ mol-1. The corresponding pre-exponential factor is 0.0041 mol/(s g-catalyst (mol/m3)). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mathematical model proposed by Marinas et al. (1993) for a bubble column gas-liquid contactor is refined to described the mass transfer of ozone absorption and decomposition in the aqueous solution withthe decomposition rate expression of general reaction orders (not necessarily integers). Three system equations are employed to describe the ozone concentrations in the bulk liquid (CALb), the hold-up gas (CAGb), and the superficial gas rise velocity (uG), respectively. The variation of uG and the effect of ozone decomposition on the mass transfer, which is reflectedby the enhancement factor (Er) defined as the ratio of chemical to pure physical mass fluxes according to the film model of gas liquid absorption, are considered in the refined model. This analysis thus extends the applicability of the model of Marinas et al. (1993) and is of special importance for the ozone mass transfer in the cases of basic solutions and of low mass transfer coefficients, in which the effect of decomposition on absorption is significant. An example of such case is the cyanide wastewater treatment in the strong basic condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of metal ions, such as Fe3+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Cr3+ and Zn2+, on the photocatalytic oxidation of 2-chlorophenol with illumination of 254 nm and 365 nm UV lights. Different metal ions have individual reduction potentials, and hence, their abilities to capture electrons also differ; the rates of 2-chlorophenol decomposition vary as well. This study was made to explore the relationships between thereduction potentials of different metal ions and their photocatalytic rates of 2-chlorophenol. Results show that when the reduction potential is greater than zero, regardless of illumination wavelength, thereaction rate increases with increasing reduction potentials of the metal ions. When the reduction potential is less than zero, the reaction rates are about the same for illumination of 365 nm or 254 nm UV lights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the value of reconstruction of pelvic floor with biological products to prevent and treat empty pelvic syndrome after pelvic exenteration (PE) for locally advanced or recurrent rectal cancer. Methods: This was a descriptive study of data of 56 patients with locally advanced or locally recurrent rectal cancer without or with limited extra-pelvic metastases who had undergone PE and pelvic floor reconstruction using basement membrane biologic products to separate the abdominal and pelvic cavities in the Department of Anorectal Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Military Medical University from November 2021 to May 2022. The extent of surgery was divided into two categories: mainly inside the pelvis (41 patients) and including pelvic wall resection (15 patients). In all procedures, basement membrane biologic products were used to reconstruct the pelvic floor and separate the abdominal and pelvic cavities. The procedures included a transperitoneal approach, in which biologic products were used to cover the retroperitoneal defect and the pelvic entrance from the Treitz ligament to the sacral promontory and sutured to the lateral peritoneum, the peritoneal margin of the retained organs in the anterior pelvis, or the pubic arch and pubic symphysis; and a sacrococcygeal approach in which biologic products were used to reconstruct the defect in the pelvic muscle-sacral plane. Variables assessed included patients' baseline information (including sex, age, history of preoperative radiotherapy, recurrence or primary, and extra-pelvic metastases), surgery-related variables (including extent of organ resection, operative time, intraoperative bleeding, and tissue restoration), post-operative recovery (time to recovery of bowel function and time to recovery from empty pelvic syndrome), complications, and findings on follow-up. Postoperative complications were graded using the Clavien-Dindo classification. Results: The median age of the 41 patients whose surgery was mainly inside the pelvis was 57 (31-82) years. The patients comprised 25 men and 16 women. Of these 41 patients, 23 had locally advanced disease and 18 had locally recurrent disease; 32 had a history of chemotherapy/immunotherapy/targeted therapy and 24 of radiation therapy. Among these patients, the median operative time, median intraoperative bleeding, median time to recovery of bowel function, and median time to resolution of empty pelvic syndrome were 440 (240-1020) minutes, 650 (200-4000) ml, 3 (1-9) days, and 14 (5-105) days, respectively. As for postoperative complications, 37 patients had Clavien-Dindo < grade III and four had ≥ grade III complications. One patient died of multiple organ failure 7 days after surgery, two underwent second surgeries because of massive bleeding from their pelvic floor wounds, and one was successfully resuscitated from respiratory failure. In contrast, the median age of the 15 patients whose procedure included combined pelvic and pelvic wall resection was 61 (43-76) years, they comprised eight men and seven women, four had locally advanced disease and 11 had locally recurrent disease. All had a history of chemotherapy/ immunotherapy and 13 had a history of radiation therapy. The median operative time, median intraoperative bleeding, median time to recovery of bowel function, and median time to relief of empty pelvic syndrome were 600 (360-960) minutes, 1600 (400-4000) ml, 3 (2-7) days, and 68 (7-120) days, respectively, in this subgroup of patients. Twelve of these patients had Clavien-Dindo < grade III and three had ≥ grade III postoperative complications. Follow-up was until 31 October 2022 or death; the median follow-up time was 9 (5-12) months. One patient in this group died 3 months after surgery because of rapid tumor progression. The remaining 54 patients have survived to date and no local recurrences have been detected at the surgical site. Conclusion: The use of basement membrane biologic products for pelvic floor reconstruction and separation of the abdominal and pelvic cavities during PE for locally advanced or recurrent rectal cancer is safe, effective, and feasible. It improves the perioperative safety of PE and warrants more implementation.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the associations between genetic variations of pyroptosis pathway related key genes and adverse events (AEs) of postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood which was collected from 347 patients before CRT. Sequenom MassARRAY was used to detect the genotypes of 43 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) in eight pyroptosis genes, including absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), caspase-1 (CASP1), caspase-4(CASP4), caspase-5 (CASP5), caspase-11 (CASP11), gasdermin D (GSDMD), gasdermin E (GSDME) and NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3). The associations between 43 htSNPs and AEs were evaluated by the odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by unconditional logistic regression models, adjusted for sex, age, clinical stage, tumor grade, Karnofsky performance status (KPS), surgical procedure, and tumor location. Results: Among the 347 patients with rectal cancer underwent concurrent CRT with capecitabine after surgery, a total of 101(29.1%) occurred grade ≥ 2 leukopenia. rs11226565 ( OR =0.41, 95% CI: 0.21-0.79, P =0.008), rs579408( OR =1.54, 95% CI: 1.03-2.29, P =0.034) and rs543923 ( OR =0.63, 95% CI: 0.41-0.98, P =0.040) were significantly associated with the occurrence of grade ≥ 2 leukopenia. One hundred and fifty-six (45.0%) had grade ≥ 2 diarrhea, two SNPs were significantly associated with the occurrence of grade ≥ diarrhea, including CASP11 rs10880868 ( OR =0.55, 95% CI: 0.33-0.91, P =0.020) and GSDME rs2954558 ( OR =1.52, 95% CI: 1.01-2.31, P =0.050). In addition, sixty-six cases (19.0%) developed grade ≥2 dermatitis, three SNPs that significantly associated with the risk of grade ≥2 dermatitis included GSDME rs2237314 ( OR =0.36, 95% CI: 0.16-0.83, P =0.017), GSDME rs12540919 ( OR =0.52, 95% CI: 0.27-0.99, P =0.045) and NLRP3 rs3806268 ( OR =1.51, 95% CI: 1.03-2.22, P =0.037). There was no significant difference in the association between other genetic variations and AEs of rectal cancer patients (all P >0.05). Surgical procedure and tumor location had great impacts on the occurrence of grade ≥2 diarrhea and dermatitis (all P <0.01). Conclusion: The genetic variants of CASP4, CASP11, GSDME and NLRP3 are associated with the occurrence of AEs in patients with rectal cancer who received postoperative CRT, suggesting they may be potential genetic markers in predicting the grade of AEs to achieve individualized treatment of rectal cancer.

Objective: To explore the types and clinical characteristics of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) based on artificial intelligence and whole-slide imaging (WSI), and to explore the consistency of the diagnostic criteria of the Japanese epidemiological survey of refractory eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (JESREC) in Chinese CRSwNP patients. Methods: The data of 136 patients with CRSwNP (101 males and 35 females, aging 14 to 70 years) who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery from 2018 to 2019 in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were analysed retrospectively. The preoperative clinical characteristics of patients were collected, such as visual analogue scale (VAS) of nasal symptoms, peripheral blood inflammatory cell count, total immunoglobulin E (IgE), Lund-Kennedy score and Lund-Mackay score. The proportion of inflammatory cells such as eosinophils, lymphocytes, plasma cells and neutrophils were calculated on the WSI of each patient through artificial intelligence chronic rhinosinusitis evaluation platform 2.0 (AICEP 2.0), and the specific type of nasal polyps was then obtained as eosinophilic CRSwNP (eCRSwNP) or non-eosinophilic CRSwNP (non-eCRSwNP). In addition, the JESREC diagnostic criteria was used to classify the nasal polyps, and the classification results were compared with the current gold standard for nasal polyps diagnosis (pathological diagnosis based on WSI). The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria of JESREC were evaluated. The data were expressed in M ( Q 1 , Q 3 ) and statistically analyzed by SPSS 17.0. Results: There was no significant difference between eCRSwNP and non-eCRSwNP in age distribution, gender, time of onset, total VAS score, Lund-Kennedy score or Lund-Mackay score. However, there was a significant difference in the ratio of nasal polyp inflammatory cells (eosinophils 40.5% (22.8%, 54.7%) vs 2.5% (1.0%, 5.3%), neutrophils 0.3% (0.1%, 0.7%) vs 1.3% (0.5%, 3.6%), lymphocytes 49.9% (39.3%, 65.9%) vs 82.0% (72.8%, 87.5%), plasma cells 5.1% (3.6%, 10.5%) vs 13.0% (7.4%, 16.3%), χ 2 value was 9.91, 4.66, 8.28, 5.06, respectively, all P <0.05). In addition, eCRSwNP had a significantly higher level of proportion of allergic symptoms (nasal itching and sneezing), asthma, peripheral blood eosinophil and total IgE (all P <0.05). The overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the JESREC diagnostic criteria was 74.3%, 81.3% and 64.3%, respectively. Conclusions: The eCRSwNP based on artificial intelligence and WSI has significant high level of allergic symptoms, asthma, peripheral blood eosinophils and total IgE, and the percentages of inflammatory cells in nasal polyps are different from that of non-eCRSwNP. The JESREC diagnostic criteria has good consistency in our research.

Objective: To explore the clinical and pathological features of Dubin-Johnson syndrome. Methods: The clinical and pathological characteristics of 18 cases of Dubin-Johnson syndrome diagnosed in the Department of Pathology of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from 2008 to 2018 were analyzed. Related literature was reviewed. Results: There were 15 male and three female patients. The male-to-female ratio was 5∶1. The age of the patients ranged from 17 to 73 years (median 24 years). Common clinical manifestations were jaundice, anorexia, and abnormal liver function tests. The pathological feature was the deposition of dark brown particles in the hepatocytes, especially those around the central veins. Conclusions: Dubin-Johnson syndrome mainly occurs in young people. The characteristic pathological changes are the deposition of dark brown particles in the hepatocytes around the central veins of the liver. The diagnosis of Dubin-Johnson syndrome mainly relies on clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, histopathological examinations and genetic testing. The understanding of Dubin-Johnson syndrome can help reduce the rates of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis of the disease.

Objective: To compare the postoperative function, the short-term and long-term outcomes between fascia-oriented and vascular-oriented lateral lymph node dissection (LLND) in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. Clinical data of patients who received total mesorectal excision (TME) with LLND at National Cancer Center, Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science from January 2014 to December 2019 were retrospectively collected. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) rectal cancer was pathologically diagnosed, and the lower margin was below the peritoneal reflection. (2) resectable advanced rectal cancer with suspected lateral lymph node metastasis was evaluated based on rectal MRI assessment. (3) preoperative MRI showed lateral lymph node short diameter ≥5 mm and/or lymph node morphology (spike, blur, irregular) as well as heterogenous signal intensity. Lymph node shrinkage was less than 60% after receiving neoadjuvant therapy based on the reassessment of rectal MRI. (4) TME+LLND surgery was performed synchronously. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) previous history of pelvic surgery; (2) preoperative cystitis, urethritis, moderate and severe prostatic hyperplasia and other diseases resulting in abnormal urination function; (3) preoperative sexual dysfunction or loss of function; (4) patients receiving LLND due to lateral recurrence after TME; (5) distant metastasis of the tumor at initial diagnosis; (6) Incomplete collection of clinical data. A total of 73 consecutive patients were enrolled in this study. Based on the surgical approaches in performing LLND, patients were divided into fascia-oriented group ( n =30) and vascular-oriented group ( n =43). There were no significant differences in baseline data between the two groups (all P >0.05). The main outcome indicators of this study were the incidence of postoperative urinary and male sexual dysfunction, the efficacy, the number of lateral lymph nodes harvested and the detection rate of positive lymph nodes. Overall survival (OS) rates and progression free survival (PFS) rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by log-rank test. Results: All patients in both groups completed surgery successfully. There were no significant differences in operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative complications, and the length of hospital stay between the two groups (all P >0.05). In the whole group, the incidence of postoperative urinary dysfunction and male sexual dysfunction was 43.8% (32/73) and 62.5% (25/40), respectively. The median number of lateral lymph nodes harvested was 8.0(4.0,11.0) with a positive rate of 20.5%(15/73). Compared to the vascular-oriented group, the fascia-oriented group demonstrated a decreased rate of urinary dysfunction [26.7% (8/30) vs. 55.8% (24/43), χ(2)=6.098, P =0.014], lower rate of sexual dysfunction in males [6/15 vs. 76% (19/25), χ(2)=5.184, P =0.023], more harvested lateral lymph nodes [ M ( P 25, P 75): 9.5 (6.8, 15.3) vs. 6.0 (3.0, 9.0), Z =-2.849, P =0.004]. There was no significant difference in the positvie rate of lateral lymph nodes between the two groups [20% (6/30) versus 20.9% (9/43), χ(2)=0.009, P =0.923]. Three(4.1%) patients were lost during a median follow-up of 34 (1-66) months. The 3-year PFS and OS of the whole cohort were 69.5% and 88.3%, respectively. No significant difference in 3-year PFS rates (79.6% vs. 62.0%, P =0.172) and 3-year OS rates (91.2% vs. 85.9%, P =0.333) were observed between the fascia-oriented group and the vascular-oriented group (both P >0.05). Conclusion: Fascia-oriented LLND is associated with lower risk of postoperative urinary and male sexual dysfunction in patients with rectal carcinoma, and harvest of more lymph nodes, but no significant advantage in long-term survival.

Objective: To observe the expression of NEK2 mRNA and protein in the cryptorchidism mice model, and to explore its role in apoptosis of testicular tissue. Methods: A mouse cryptorchid model was constructed, and the spermatids in the spermatic tubules were observed by HE staining. Apoptosis was detected by Tunel test, and expression of NEK2 mRNA and protein was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Results: After the mouse cryptorchidism model was successfully constructed, the HE staining results showed that the damage of spermatogonia cells, primary spermatocytes and sperm cells in the seminiferous tubules became more severe with time. The results of Tunel test showed that the number of apoptotic cells first increased and then decreased, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 15 d apoptotic cells were 3.67±2.08 ( t= 2, P= 0.0412), 7.67±1.53 ( t= 6.325, P= 0.003), 17.67±3.51 ( t= 7.906, P= 0.001), 30.67±3.51 ( t= 14.072, P< 0.001) and 14.33±3.21 ( t= 6.860, P= 0.002). The results of immunohistochemistry showed that NEK2 protein was expressed in the nucleus and cytoplasm in normal testis and cryptorchidism. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry showed that expression of NEK2 mRNA and protein gradually increased after modeling. After reaching the peak, the expression gradually decreased with time, and was significantly lower than the normal control group. Conclusion: The trend of NEK2 expression in cryptorchidism tissue is consistent with the trend of cell apoptosis in cryptorchidism tissue, suggesting that abnormal expression of NEK2 may affect the damage of sperm cells in the seminiferous tubules through apoptosis, leading to infertility in patients with cryptorchidism.

Objective: To investigate the associations between the genetic variations of apoptosis genes and the adverse events of postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: We enrolled 362 patients with stage Ⅱ to Ⅲ rectal cancer who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Whole blood sample (2 ml) was collected from patient at the time of enrollment before therapy. Sequenom MassARRAY was used to detect the genotypes of 29 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) in eight apoptosis genes, including Fas cell surface death receptor(FAS), Fas ligand(FASL), apoptotic peptidase activating factor 1(APAF1), BCL2 associated X(BAX), TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand(TRAIL), TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 1(TRAILR1), TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 2(TRAILR2) and caspase-7(CASP7). The associations between genotypes and adverse events of chemoradiotherapy were measured by unconditional logistic regression model. Results: Three hundred and sixty two patients were treated with total mesorectal excision surgery followed by a total radiation dose of 50 Gy applied in 25 fractions over a period of 5 weeks concurrently with daily administration of capecitabine (1 600 mg/m(2) per day, continuously for 2 weeks and taking a week off every 21-day cycle). One hundred and six patients (29.3%) had grade≥2 myelosuppression. Three SNPs associated with the risk of grade ≥2 myelosuppression included FAS rs1468063 ( OR =1.51, 95% CI: 1.07-2.15, P =0.020), APAF1 rs11296996 ( OR =0.69, 95% CI: 0.49-0.98, P =0.039) and BAX rs4645904 ( OR =0.69, 95% CI: 0.50-0.97, P =0.030). One hundred and sixty one patients (44.5%) developed grade≥2 diarrhea. Five SNPs that significantly associated with risk of grade≥2 diarrhea included APAF1 rs11296996 ( OR =1.42, 95% CI: 1.02-2.00, P =0.040), rs74619561 ( OR =2.16, 95% CI: 1.27-3.68, P =0.005), CASP7 rs12263370 ( OR =1.67, 95% CI: 1.05-2.66, P =0.029), rs12247479 ( OR =1.85, 95% CI: 1.12-3.08, P =0.017) and TRAIL rs112822654 ( OR =0.68, 95% CI: 0.48-0.96, P =0.027). The remaining SNPs were not related to the adverse events of chemoradiotherapy (all P >0.05). Grade≥2 myelosuppression occurred less frequently in male than in female ( P =0.046); Surgical treatment and tumor location had great impact on the occurrence of grade≥2 diarrhea (all P <0.001) and dermatitis (all P <0.05). Conclusions: The genetic variations of FAS, APAF1, BAX, TRAIL and CASP7 are related to the adverse events of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer, which may be potential genetic biomarkers for individualized treatment of rectal cancer.

Objective: CD(4)(+)T cells, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are associated with cancer development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of CTLA-4, PD-1 and VEGF in patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). Methods: From January 2017 to January 2018, a total of 47 first-visit outpatients were recruited in the Sleep and Respiratory Disorder Center of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, and were divided into control group ( N =17, mean age 54±12 years), mild-to-moderate OSAHS group ( N =15, mean age 54±12 years) and severe OSAHS group ( N =15, mean age 56±13 years). Venous blood was collected, plasma and cells were isolated, the expressions of PD-1 and CTLA-4 on the surface of CD(4)(+)T cells were detected by flow cytometry, and plasma VEGF was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The proportion of CD(4)(+)T cells in control group, mild-to-moderate OSAHS group and severe OSAHS group were respectively(38±8)%, (35±8)% and (38±6)% ( F= 1.228, P> 0.05). The expression of CTLA-4 on CD(4)(+)T cells were respectively [1.13 (0.59~1.78)]%, [0.45 (0.16~1.43)]% and [0.87(0.47~1.46)]% ( H =2.205, P> 0.05). The expression of PD-1 on CD(4)(+)T cells were respectively [4.24 (2.12~6.03)]%, [3.54(2.69~5.09)]% and [3.31(1.67~8.25)]% ( H =0.541, P> 0.05). The concentrations of VEGF in control group, mild-to-moderate OSAHS group and severe OSAHS group were statistically different [(395.16±87.78) ng/L vs (452.85±107.97) ng/L vs (546.42±199.27) ng/L, F= 4.827, P= 0.013]. Compared with the control group, VEGF concentration was significantly increased in the severe OSAHS group( P< 0.01). VEGF concentration was correlated negatively with the lowest SpO(2) ( r (s) =-0.480, P= 0.001), but positively with apnea-hypopnea index( r (s) =0.403, P= 0.005), oxygen desaturation index ( r (s) =0.378, P= 0.010) and proportion of SpO(2) less than or equal to 90% of total sleep time( r (s) =0.547, P= 0.000 3). Conclusion: There was no significant difference of PD-1 and CTLA-4 expression on CD(4)(+)T cells in patients with and without OSAHS. The expression of VEGF was elevated in OSAHS patients, and increased with the severity of OSAHS and hypoxia.