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The application of special acupoints for different primary symptoms of chronic gastritis in ancient literature of acupuncture and moxibustion was analyzed and summarized. With keywords, electronic and manual retrieval of ancient literature being performed to establish a database, the association rules were performed with SPSS Modeler 18. As a result, ① among all the 2243 items included, 109 items mentioned special acupoints (excluding those only mentioned crossing acupoint). The frequency of special acupoints was 2554 (71.7%), and the special acupoints on the spleen meridian, the stomach meridian, the conception vessel were frequently used. The frequency of five-分析针灸古代文献中关于慢性胃炎的不同主症的特定穴运用特点，并探讨总结其规律。确定主题词，通过电子检索及手动检索相关古籍以建立数据库，采用SPSS Modeler 18.0对数据进行关联分析。结果表明: ①纳入条文2243条，含特定穴（除外仅为交会穴者）共109个，特定穴使用频次2554次（占71.7%），以足太阴脾经、足阳明胃经、任脉特定穴最多见，五输穴使用频次最高，其次为募穴。②“胃脘痛”“哕、呕、反胃”“嗳气、吐酸”“痞满”4类主症特定穴均常选取足三里、内关、中脘、公孙、太白，除“痞满”外其他主症还常取背俞穴，“嗳气、吐酸”还常配以章门穴，配伍上诸症均以内关-公孙的关联性最强，主症不同配伍有所侧重。.

Based on the nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and the associated flow rules, the three-dimensional (3-D) axisymmetric failure mechanism of shallow horizontal circular plate anchors that are subjected to the ultimate pullout capacity (UPC) is determined. A derivative function of the projection function for projecting the 3-D axisymmetric failure surface on plane is deduced using the variation theory. By using difference principle, the primitive function of failure surface satisfying boundary condition and numerical solution to its corresponding ultimate pullout capacity function are obtained. The influences of nonlinear Mohr-Coulomb parameters on UPC and failure mechanism are studied. The result shows that UPC decreases with dimensionless parameter m and uniaxial tensile strength increases but increases when depth and radius of plate anchor, surface overload, initial cohesion, geomaterial density and friction angle increase. The failure surface is similar to a symmetrical spatial funnel, and its shape is mainly determined by dimensionless parameter m; the surface damage range expands with the increase of radius and depth of the plate anchor as well as initial cohesion but decreases with the increase of dimensionless parameter m and uniaxial tensile strength as well as geomaterial density. As the dimensionless parameter m=2.0, the numerical solution of UPC based on the difference principle is proved to be feasible and effective through the comparison with the exact solution. In addition, the comparison between solutions of UPC computed by variation method and those computed by upper bound method indicate that variation method outperforms upper bound method.

Background Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most frequent malignant tumors and the molecular mechanism underlying its proliferation remains far from completely understood. Although accumulating evidence shows that abnormal expression of microRNA (miRNA) is involved in tumorigenesis, the role of specific miRNAs involved in GC remains elusive. MiR-199a/b-3p functions as a tumor suppressor in diverse cancers, but its expression, function, and mechanism in GC remain unclear. Our aim is to explore miR-199a/b-3p expression and its role in regulating GC cell proliferation. Methods Real-time PCR was performed to determine miR-199a/b-3p expression in GC tissues and normal adjacent tissues as well as normal gastric mucosal cell line GES-1 and GC cell lines MGC-803 and SGC-7901. MTT assay and Western blot were performed to determine cell proliferation and expression of PAK4, p-MEK and p-ERK, respectively. MiR-199a/b-3p mimics-transfected assay and PAK-specific siRNA assay were performed to determine their function in cell proliferation, respectively. GC xenograft nude mice were used to determine miR-199a/b-3p function in cell proliferation. Results MiR-199a/b-3p expression was significantly decreased in GC tissues and GC cell lines MGC-803 and SGC-7901. MiR-199a/b-3p over-expression and PAK4 silencing inhibited cell proliferation and diminished the activation of p-MEK and p-ERK in MGC-803 and SGC-7901 cells, and miR-199a/b-3p over-expression reduced PAK4 expression. MiR-199a/b-3p over-expression suppressed MGC-803 cell growth and PAK4 expression in nude mice. Conclusions miR-199a/b-3p inhibits GC cell proliferation via down-regulating PAK4/MEK/ERK signaling pathway and may be a novel prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for GC patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-017-3949-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

// Yi-Zhong Wu 1, 2, * , Gao Tan 1, * , Fang Wu 3 and Fa-Chao Zhi 1 1 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China 2 Department of Gastroenterology, Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital, Changsha, China 3 Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Fa-Chao Zhi, email: zhifc41532@163.com Gao Tan, email: tgao0316@163.com Keywords: H. pylori, Crohn’s disease, mucosal immunology, Th cells Received: September 26, 2016 Accepted: April 19, 2017 Published: May 18, 2017 ABSTRACT There is an epidemiological inverse relationship between Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) infection and Crohn’s disease (CD). However, whether H. pylori plays a protective role against CD remains unclear. Since 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis is thought to resemble CD, we investigated whether H. pylori can attenuate TNBS-induced colitis in mice. Here we show that H. pylori can attenuate the severity of TNBS-induced colitis. In addition, H. pylori not only down-regulates Th17 and Th1 cytokine expression, but can up-regulate Th2 cytokine expression and increase the Th2:Th17 ratio of CD4 + T in the colonic mucosa of TNBS-induced colitis. Our results indicate that H. pylori attenuates TNBS-induced colitis mainly through increasing Th2 cells in murine colonic mucosa. Our finding offers a novel view on the role of H. pylori in regulating gastrointestinal immunity, and may open a new avenue for development of therapeutic strategies in CD by making use of asymptomatic H. pylori colonization.

// Gao Tan 1 , Erbo Liang 1, * , Kaili Liao 1, * , Feihong Deng 1, * , Wendi Zhang 1, * , Yuqing Chen 1, * , Jun Xu 1, * , Fachao Zhi 1 1 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Fachao Zhi, email: zhifc41532@163.com Keywords: interleukin-23p19, NOD2, Crohn's disease, intestinal immunity Received: January 14, 2016 Accepted: August 13, 2016 Published: August 22, 2016 ABSTRACT IL-23p19 plays important roles in intestinal antimicrobial immunity, while its over-expression can lead to intestinal inflammation. However, the bacterial compounds and the type of pattern recognition receptor involved in the inducible expression of IL-23p19 in Paneth cells remain unclear. Here we show that the mRNA expression of IL-23p19 was increased in Paneth cell (PC)-like cells stimulated by Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) ligands, peptidoglycan (PGN) and Pam3CSK4, and was further increased in the presence of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2)-ligand muramyl dipeptide (MDP). However, its mRNA expression was decreased in NOD2-knockdown PC-like cells. Additionally, the c-Rel activation was increased in Pam3CSK4- or PGN-stimulated PC-like cells, but the PGN-induced c-Rel activation was decreased in NOD2-knockdown PC-like cells and had no significant difference compared with Pam3CSK4-induced c-Rel activation. Our results suggest that NOD2 up-regulates TLR2-mediated IL-23p19 expression via increasing c-Rel activation in PC-like cells. This finding might provide us with a novel therapeutic target for inflammatory bowel disease to inhibit IL-23p19 over-expression via the NOD2-c-Rel pathway.

Although interaction with DNA repair proteins has demonstrated that RASSF1A is a tumour suppressor gene, much attention has been directed in recent years towards its roles in regulating the cell cycle. However, the precise mechanism remains unclear. Uncovering how RASSF1A participates in regulating the cell cycle is critical to exploring effective therapeutic targets for gastric cancer. Here we show that RASSF1A could regulate 14 miRNAs' expression in the typical human gastric cancer line SGC-7901, of which miR-711 was upregulated the most. Moreover, for SGC-7901 cells, miR-711 was found to downregulate CDK4 expression, and to arrest the cell cycle in the G1 phase. Our results suggest that RASSF1A inhibits the proliferation of gastric cancer cells by upregulating the expression of miR-711, which arrested gastric cancer cells in the G1 phase by downregulating expression of CDK4. This finding might provide us with a novel therapeutic target for gastric cancer by increasing RASSF1A expression via miR-711 regulation.

Impaired epithelial regeneration is a crucial pathophysiological feature of ulcerative colitis (UC). Yes-associated protein (YAP1) appears to control cell proliferation and differentiation. In this study, we sought to identify the roles of YAP in intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) self-renewal, regeneration and tumorigenesis. We first observed that YAP was significantly reduced in 62.5% (45/72) of human UC tissues and it was dramatically enhanced during epithelial regeneration in a murine colitis model. Using lentiviral infection, we established a YAP-overexpression (YAPWT) mouse model. We then found that after tissue injury, YAPWT mice had increased epithelial cell self-renewal capacity and drastically restored intestinal crypt structure. Strikingly, these mice were more susceptible to colitis-associated cancer (CAC) in chemically induced carcinoma. Mechanistically, YAP and β-catenin showed increased nuclear co-localization during regeneration after inflammation. Overexpressing YAP significantly improved IEC ‘wound-healing’ ability and increased the expression of both β-catenin and the transcriptional targets of Wnt signalling Lgr5 and cyclin D1, whereas silencing β-catenin in YAPWT cells attenuated this effect. Remarkably, we observed that YAP could directly interact with β-catenin in the nucleus and formed a transcriptional YAP/β-catenin/TCF4 complex; Lgr5 and cyclin D1 were confirmed to be the target genes of this complex. In contrast, cancer cell proliferation and tumour development were suppressed by the phospho-mimetic YAP mutant. In summary, nuclear YAP-driven IEC proliferation could control epithelial regeneration after inflammation and may serve as a potential therapeutic target in UC. However, excessive YAP activation promoted CAC development.

Human enteric α-defensins (HD5 and HD6), major antimicrobial peptides produced by Paneth cells in the intestine, play important roles in intestinal innate immunity. Since their expression is decreased in Crohn's disease (CD), with decreased expression being more pronounced in the presence of NOD2 mutations, it would be extremely interesting to investigate the mechanism by which NOD2 may regulate expression of human enteric α-defensins. Here we show that although NOD2 by itself can slightly up-regulate expression of enteric α-defensins mainly through activation of the NF-κB pathway, it can strongly down-regulates their expression during differentiation of the Paneth cell lineage mainly by inhibiting activation of the MAPK pathway. Since NOD2 is over-expressed in CD and mutant NOD2 cannot result in NF-κB activity, our finding can provide an explanation of the previous observation showing decreased expression of human enteric α-defensin in CD and even more so in the presence of NOD2 mutations. In addition, this finding provides a new view on the function of NOD2 in regulating intestinal innate immunity.

It was simulated the flow fields of the CLH-type marine centrifugal pump based on average N-S equations and standard k-ε turbulent model, using the ANSYS CFX12.1 code. With the calculation results, the velocity distribution of the flow field in the centrifugal pump is analyzed under different working conditions. The analogue results, which indicate the relationship between the total head, efficiency, shaft power and flow rate, are compared with performance experimental ones, and it shows that the simulation data coincides with experimental ones in allowable acceptance, which meet the requirements of practical application. Furthermore, in order to analyze the inner flow field distribution in the centrifugal pump in detail, and validate the simulation results, the inner flow field is tested by particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement.

The characteristics and research actuality on mixed flow pumps are introduced simplely. A mixed flow pump with volute as diffusion part is designed and its specific speed is 556.8. The axial velocity circulation and blade angle variety with linearity distribution are used to deisign the impeller. The fixed diffeuser between impeller and volute is deigned by arc airfoil.The cross sections of volute are all asymmetry. The commercial code FLUENT is applied to simulate the inner flow in the mixed flow pump and its energy characteristics are predicted according to the simulation results. The inner flow analysis indicates that the flow in the pump is good and the characteristic prediction shows that the pump performance can meet the design demand. The experiment test of the pump are done. When the blade angle is about 0°, the maximum efficiency of the pump is up to 85.76% and the actual efficiency at design point is about 3% higher than demand efficiency. The study fruits can instruct the hydraulic design of higher specific speed mixed flow pump with volute as diffusion part.

In order to rebuild 3D models for pump impeller, the total inner complex construction data must be obtained at first. With the help of ICT, 367 ICT images with high quality of two typical impellers of centrifugal Pump were collected respectively, and format conversion from RAW to BMP was fulfilled though a developed program. Volume rendering was fulfilled based on these fault images, VC++ 6.0, MFC, ADO, VTK, and a series of digital image processing. A program named ReImpeller3D was developed on reverse engineering for pump impeller. The software is object-oriented and has several input and output interfaces, and also can supply geometrical models for numerical simulation, FEM, RP, digitized production, and redesign to production either. The practical application shows that it is feasible to use volume rendering to rebuild 3D model for pump impeller.

The structural stability, electronic and magnetic properties of semihydrogenated graphene and monolayer boron nitride (H-Gra@BN) composite system are studied by the first principles calculation. First, for the six possible stacked configurations of H-Gra@BN in three kinds of magnetic coupling manners, including the nonmagnetic, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic, the geometry optimization structures are calculated. The formation energies (Ef) are -28, -37, -40, -35, -28, and -34 meV/atom for AA-B, AA-N, AB-B, AB-B-H, AB-N and AB-N-H configurations of H-Gra@BN, respectively. The details of the six H-Gra@BN configurations are presented. The results show that the AB-B configuration of H-Gra@BN system is most stable with the largest formation energy in the six configurations. Its thickness is the smallest in all six configurations. The formation energies of all configurations are very close to each other and show that the combination of the interlayer between layers is very weak, The interaction between H-Gra and monolayer BN is van der Waals binding. Second, the band structure, total density of states (TDOS), partial density of states and polarization charge density of the most stable H-Gra@BN system are systematically analyzed. This material is ferromagnetic semiconductor. The band gaps for majority and minority spin electrons are 3.097 eV and 1.798 eV, respectively. Each physical cell has an about 1 μB magnetic moment, which is mainly derived from the contribution of the unhydrogenated C2 atom. Furthermore, while the pressure is applied along the z direction, we analyze the TDOS and band structure of H-Gra@BN system, and find that when the z axis strain is more than -10.48% (Δh=-0.45 Å), the valence band maximum of minority spin moves down. The conduction band minimum of minority spin moves from the high symmetry Γ position into a position between Γ and K. The electronic properties of the most stable H-Gra@BN system change from magnetic semiconductor into half metal. When the strain is increased by more than -11.65% (Δh=-0.5 Å), the most stable H-Gra@BN changes into a nonmagnetic metal. To analyze the effect caused by different strains, we analyze the difference in three-dimensional charge density, and find that with the decrease of the layer spacing, the interlayer interaction gradually increases and shows the obvious covalent bond characteristics. This paper predicts a new type of two-dimensional material of which the electronic and magnetic properties can be easily tuned by pressure, and it is expected to be used in nano-devices and serve as an intelligent building material.

Ileal Crohn's disease (CD) arising from the alteration of intestinal homeostasis is characterized by two features, namely a decrease in Paneth cell-produced antimicrobial peptides that play a key role in maintaining this balance and an increase in NOD2, an intracellular sensor. Although mutations in NOD2 are highly correlated with the incidence of CD, the physiological role of NOD2 in intestinal immunity remains elusive. Here, we show that NOD2 can down-regulate the expression of human enteric antimicrobial peptides during differentiation of the Paneth cell lineage. This finding, which links the decrease of human enteric antimicrobial peptides to increased NOD2 in ileal CD patients, provides a new view into the pathogenesis of ileal CD.

To study the chemical constituents contained in the seeds of Cucumis sativus.The fatty oil was extracted by heating and refluxing with petroleum ether. Potassium hydroxide-methanol solution was used for saponification. An unsaponifiable matter was extracted by EtOAc and separated with various chromatographic methods. Its structure was identified on the basis of their physicochemical properties and spectral data. The fatty acid fraction was methyl-esterified and determined by GC. The composition and relative content of fatty acid were determined with normalization method of peak area.24-ethylcholesta-7, 22, 25-trienol (1), 24-ethylcholesta-7, 25-dienol (2) ,avenasterol (3), spinasterol (4), karounidiol (5) and isokarounidiol (6) were separated and identified from the unsaponifiable matter. Myristic acid (7, 0.12%), palmitic acid (8, 12.04%), palmitoleic acid (9, 0.09%), heptadecanoic acid (10, 0.06%), stearic acid (11, 5.64%), oleic acid (12, 6.95%), linoleic acid (13, 74.40%), arachidic acid (14, 0.19%), and alpha-linolenic acid (15, 0.51%) were identified from the fatty acids part.Compounds 5, 6, 9, 10, 14,and 15 were first reported in C. sativus.

Using the density functional theory (DFT) with both the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and HSE06 hybrid functional calculation, we have investigated the structural and electronic properties of hydrogenated bilayer silicene. Results show that the hydrogenated bilayer silicene may have three configurations: AA-chair-like, AB-chair-like and AA-boat-like forms; after hydrogenation the material properties change from zero band gap semimetal into an indirect band gap semiconductor with forbidden band widths of 1.208, 1.437, and 1.111 eV. We have performed a hybrid HSB06 functional calculation and the correction for the band gaps: 1.595, 1.785, and 1.592 eV. Further analysis of the hydrogenated bilayer silicene with a strained band gap, the relationship between strain and the band gap can be continuously adjusted. Possible applications may be found in future nano-electronic devices.

AIM: To investigate the possible role of chitinase 3-like-1 (CHI3L1) in the progression of colitis-associated carcinoma (CAC). METHODS: Thirty-four Balb/c mice were randomly assigned to five groups, including the control, CAC control, CAC + caffeine, colitis control and colitis + caffeine. Three animals were sacrificed every two weeks for blinded macroscopic inspection, histological analysis, and total RNA extraction. An immunofluorescent assay was performed using specimens from the colitis control and colitis + caffeine groups to investigate whether the protective effect of caffeine was associated with less oxidative DNA damage. In vitro, HT29 cells pre-stimulated with different concentrations of recombinant CHI3L1 protein and H2O2 were loaded with the DCFH-DA fluorescent probe to determine the effect of CHI3L1 on intracellular reactive oxygen species production. RESULTS: CHI3L1 mRNA was increased during the progression of colon carcinogenesis. Tumors were mostly located in the distal end of the colon where the expression of CHI3L1 was higher than in the proximal colon. Caffeine-treated mice developed fewer tumors and milder inflammation than untreated mice. CHI3L1 protein increased reactive oxygen species in HT29 cells when exposed to H2O2. CONCLUSION: Caffeine reduces tumor incidence by decreasing oxidative DNA damage. CHI3L1 may contribute to CAC by increasing reactive oxygen species production.

The structural and electronic properties of hydrogenated bilayer boron nitride (BN) were studied by employing the first-principles calculations. Six major polymorphic structures of hydrogenated bilayer BN are considered. Calculated results show that, among them, the AB-BN and AA-BN structures are the most stable ones. The analysis on the energy bands and electronic properties of the two most stable structures are then performed. Structures of AB-BN and AA-BN are both semiconducting with direct band gaps, and the gaps are 1.47 eV and 1.32 eV, respectively, calculated using the GGA method. Since GGA usually severely underestimates the band gap, the hybrid density functional calculations are then conducted, which suggests that the band gaps are 2.52 eV and 2.34 eV for AB-BN and AA-BN structures, respectively. In the most stable structures of AB-BN and AA-BN, B-N bonds show mainly covalent characters, while B-H and N-H bonds exhibit clear ionic characteristics. Moreover, the band gap of hydrogenated bilayer BN atomic sheet can be continuously modulated by biaxial strains. When the lattice constant is compressed by around 8%, the electronic character of the atomic sheet changes from semiconducting into metallic.

The magnetic and electronic properties of fluorographene doped with M (M=B, N, P, Si) atoms are studied by employing the first principles calculation based on the spin-polarized density functional theory. The results show that the fluorographene doped with B (or P) atoms can cause the semiconductor-to-metal transitions and the fluorographene with doped N (or Si) atoms is still the semiconductor; the substitutional B, P, and N atoms induce magnetic moments of adjacent carbon atoms. For Si atoms doped fluorographene sheet, semiconductor properties keep unchanged, but the band gap changes.

The structural and electronic properties of spinel LiMn2O4 and its Al doping system LiAl0.125Mn1.875O4 are investigated within the density functional theory in both the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the GGA with Hubbard U correction (GGA+U). The results from the GGA method suggest that LiMn2O4 has a cubic structure and the valences of Mn ions are all +3.5, which is unable to explain the Jahn-Teller distortions in the material. The band structure of LiMn2O4 predicted by the GGA method is also inconsistent with experimental result. With the GGA+U method, the low temperature structures of LiMn2O4 and its Al doping system LiAl0.125 Mn1.875O4 are shown to be orthogonal, the two different valence states of Mn, i.e., Mn3+/Mn4+ ions, are then determined, which is then able to explain the Jahn-Teller distortion in octahedron Mn3+O6 and the non-existence of distortion in octahedron Mn4+O6. These results are in good accordance with experimental data. Their band structures by GGA+U calculations are also consistent with experimental results. The GGA+U calculations on the LiAl0.125Mn1.875O4 indicate that with the replacement of an Mn by Al, the crystal structure and electronic properties are not significantly changed, but the Jahn-Teller distortion in octahedron Al3+O6 can be effectively eliminated, which could improve the performance of the anode materials based on LiMn2O4. The phenomenon is in consistent with the electrochemical experiments.