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Aim: To explore the effect of androgen receptor (AR) on the expression of the cell cycle-related genes, such as CDKN1A and BTG1, in prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Methods: After AR antagonist flutamide treatment and confirmation of its effect by phase contrast microscope and flow cytometry, the differential expression of the cell cycle-related genes was analyzed by a cDNA microarray. The flutamide treated cells were set as the experimental group and the LNCaP cells as the control. We labeled cDNA probes of the experimental group and control group with Cy5 and Cy3 dyes, respectively, through reverse transcription. Then we hybridized the cDNA probes with cDNA microarrays, which contained 8 126 unique human cDNA sequences and the chip was scanned to get the fluorescent values of Cy5 and Cy3 on each spot. After primary analysis, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests were carried out to confirm the results of the chips. Results: After AR antagonist flutamide treatment, three hundred and twenty-six genes (3.93 %) expressed differentially, 97 down-regulated and 219 up-regulated. Among them, eight up-regulated genes might be cell cycle-related, namely CDC10, NRAS, BTG1, Wee1, CLK3, DKFZP564A122, CDKN1A and BTG2. The CDKN1A and BTG1 gene mRNA expression was confirmed to be higher in the experimental group by RT-PCR, while p53 mRNA expression had no significant changes. Conclusion: Flutamide treatment might up-regulate CDKN1A and BTG1 expression in prostate cancer cells. The protein expressions of CDKN1A and BTG1 play an important role in inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells. CDKN1A has a great impact on the cell cycle of prostate cancer cells and may play a role in the cancer cells in a p53-independent pathway. The prostate cancer cells might affect the cell cycle-related genes by activating AR and thus break the cell cycle control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract H9N2 subtype influenza virus has become worldwide and prevalent in China. Previous studies illustrated that at least three sublineages had been established in terrestrial poultry of Eurasian avian. In this presentation, eight full-length genes of an H9N2 strain, A/Chicken/Shanghai/F/98 (Ck/SH/F/98) were obtained. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic studies were conducted by comparing eight genes with those of all the available H9N2 strains from the GenBank. The results showed that four genes (HA, NA, M and NS genes) of Ck/SH/F/98 were incorporated into the sublineage represented by the early mainland China strain, Ck/BJ/1/94. However, the other four of RNP genes of Ck/SH/F/98 did not show close relationship with those of the three known sublineages viruses. Therefore, Ck/SH/F/98 was a natural reassortant between different sublineages. In addition, comparison showed that Ck/SH/F/98 could be a putative precursor of a later isolate from southern China, Dk/ST/1605/01, with at least six genes of both closely related, indicating genes of Ck/SH/F/98 and early isolates had ever been circulating. Further comparison in terms of molecular markers of species specificity of HA1 revealed that DK/ST/1605/01 also resembled Ck/SH/F/98 more than a common earlier duck strain. The results supported the idea of two-way transmission between terrestrial and aquatic birds that emphasized the importance to raise concerns on the natural evolution of all the eight genes of H9N2 avian influenza viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is considered to be a boring and mandatory annual ceremony. At present, its information, forum, decision-making functions, and voting procedures are all flawed. As a new technology, the introduction of blockchain can greatly reduce the cost of shareholder voting and company organization costs, improve the company’s decision-making efficiency and the transparency of voting and elections, and effectively solve the problems existing in the current annual general meeting of shareholders. The research in this paper provides an intelligent solution for the traditional inefficiency of corporate governance.

Abstract When operating within the environments rich with sodium chloride, steel bars of reinforced concrete structures are often subject to corrosion caused by surrounding erosive materials, and the associated rust expansion force due to corrosion takes a critical role in determining the durability of relevant reinforced concrete structures. By investigating the corrosion course of steel reinforcement with theory of elasticity, a numerical rust expansion model is established for the moment of concrete surface rupture based on non-uniform sin function. Cuboid reinforced concrete specimen with squared cross sections is tested to analyze the rust expansion when concrete cracks due to corrosive forces. The utility of the established expansion model is validated by numerical simulation with Abaqus through the comparison between the associated outcomes. The impacts of steel bar diameter and concrete cover thickness on the magnitude of rust expansion force are discussed.

In recent years, with the development of imaging and arthroscopy techniques, and a deep understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAI), more and more scholars have gained a greater knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. FAI not only has abnormal bone structure, such as cam deformity at the femoral head-neck junction, acetabular osteophyte formation, and bone cyst at the femoral or acetabulum, but also leads to the soft tissue injury of the hip joint, like acetabulum cartilage and labrum lesion, which might accelerate the progression of hip osteoarthritis. The incidence of bone cyst or synovial hernia at the femoral head-neck junction is not rare, which was seen as a sign of impingement. However, there is a paucity of literature about the treatment of bone cyst and the clear standard protocols of treatment, especially large or polycystic cysts. In this study, we reported a case of Cam FAI complicated with a giant bone cyst at the femoral head-neck junction and its characteristics and arthroscopic treatment. We also reviewed relevant documents and summarized the protocols of management of FAI complicated with femoral head-neck bone cyst for clinical reference.

Discusses the relationship between catalyst and its activity in ethylene polymerization. Synthesis of unsymmetric 2,6-bis(imino)pyridine iron(II) complex; Kinetic behavior of ethylene polymerization; Effects of the temperature, aluminum/iron molar ratio on the activity of catalyst and the characteristic of polyethylene; Molecular weight of polyethylene with broad dispersity.

One new and two known dammarane-type saponins were isolated from the leaves of Gynostemma pentaphyllum using various chromatographic methods. Their structures were identified by HR-ESI-MS,~( 1)H-NMR, ~(13)C-NMR, 2 D-NMR spectra as 2α,3β,12β,20,24(S)-tetrahdroxydammar-25-en-3-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranosyl]-20-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside(1, a new compound, namely gypenoside J5) and 2α,3β,12β,20,24(R)-tetrahdroxydammar-25-en-3-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl(1→2)-β-D-glucopyranosyl]-20-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside(2) and 2α,3β,12β,20-tetrahydroxy-25-hydroperoxy-dammar-23-en-3-O-[β-D-glucopyranosyl(1→2)][β-D-glucopyranosyl]-20-O-[β-D-xylopyranosyl(1→6)]-β-D-glucopy-ranoside(3), respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 were a pair of C-24 epimers. All compounds showed weak cytotoxicity agxinst H1299, HepG2, PC-3, SH-SY5 Y cancer cell lines. However, they exerted protective effect against SH-SY5 Y cellular damage induced by H_2O_2 dose-dependently, of which compound 1 displayed the strongest antioxidant effect. The present study suggested that G. pentaphyllum has antioxidative potential and the saponins from G. pentaphyllum are considered as the active compounds with neuroprotecitve effect.

Four flavonoids were isolated from Gynostemma pentaphyllum by chromatography methods and their structures were identified by MS and NMR spectra data as quercetin-3-O-( 2″,6″-di-α-L-rhamnosyl)-β-D-galactopyranoside( 1),quercetin-3-O-( 2″,6″-di-α-L-rhamnosyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside( 2),quercetin-3-O-( 2″-α-L-rhamnosyl)-β-D-galactopyranoside( 3),and quercetin-3-O-( 2″-α-L-rhamnosyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside( 4). Among them,compounds 1-3 were obtained from the Cucurbitaceae family for the first time.The four flavonoids showed potent antioxidant effects against the DPPH,·OH and ■radicals in vitro,especially for DPPH radical scavenging activity with the IC50 values of 71. 4,29. 5,48. 3 and 79. 2 μmol·L~(-1),respectively. Moreover,the four flavonoids displayed strong cytoprotection against AAPH-induced oxidative damage in LLC-PK1 cells by suppressing the increase of malondialdehyde( MDA) and the decrease of the superoxide dismutase( SOD) and glutathione( GSH). Since further research is needed to prove its efficacy in vivo and clinical trial,the study may provide four potential antioxidants from G. pentaphyllum.

Background: CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells have been demonstrated to play an important role in the control of chronic viral replication; however, the relationship between CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells, HIV disease progression, and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) expression profile on CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells during HIV infection remain poorly understood., Methods: We enrolled a total of 101 HIV patients, including 62 typical progressors, 26 complete responders (CRs), and 13 immune non-responders (INRs). Flow cytometric analysis, immunohistochemical staining, and relative function (i.e., cytokine secretion and PD-1 blockade) assays were performed to analyze the properties of CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells., Results: HIV-specific CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells in the peripheral blood and distribution of CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells in the lymph node (LN) were negatively correlated with disease progression during chronic HIV infection. PD-1 was highly expressed on CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells and positively associated with peripheral CD4 + T cell counts. Functionally, IFN-γ and TNF-α production of CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells were reduced by PD-1 pathway blockade, but the production of IFN-γ and TNF-α from CXCR5 - CD8 + T cells increased in response to TCR stimulation. Interestingly, PD-1 expression was constantly retained on CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells while significantly decreased on CXCR5 - CD8 + T cells after successful antiretroviral treatment in chronic HIV-infected patients., Conclusion: PD-1 + CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells are functional cytotoxic T cells during chronic HIV infection. PD-1 + CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for the disease.

Objective: To explore the effect and mechanism of CD4 + CD25 + Tregs (Tregs) on the protective efficacy of gluthatione-S-transferase (GST) against Schistosoma japonicum in mice., Methods: Female BALB/c mice were divided randomly into five groups：a normal control group, an infected control group, an anti-CD25mAb group, a GST immunization group and a combination group with GST immunization and anti-CD25 mAb. The GST group and combination group were injected percutaneously with GST 50 μg each mouse, the other two groups were injected with equal volume PBS. The immunization was performed for 3 times for two-week interval, and 2 weeks after the last immunization, each mouse was challenged with 40 S. japonicum cercaria. Two weeks post-infection, the combination group and anti-CD25 mAb group were injected intraperitoneally with 300 μg antiCD25 mAb each mouse. The mice were succumbed 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks and 5 weeks post-infection respectively. The percentages of CD4 + CD25 + Tregs in splenocytes of mice were measured with flow cytometer. The levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 and TGF-β in cell cultural supernatants were determined by sandwich-ELISA after stimulation with Con A. The liver sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin., Results: The worm burden in the combination group (15.80±2.74) was significantly lower than those of the infected control group (27.78±3.15), anti-CD25 mAb group (21.50±4.21), and GST group (20.84± 6.46). Compared to those of the infected control group, the percentages of CD4 + CD25 + Tregs were significantly higher in the GST group, while the percentages of CD4 + CD25 + Tregs were significantly lower post-anti-CD25 mAb-administration. Regardless of GST administration, the levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-5 after anti-CD25 mAb were significantly higher than those of the infected control groups. There were no significant differences of egg granuloma and the level of TGF-β between each group., Conclusions: CD4 + CD25 + Tregs could be partially blocked by anti-CD25 mAb while Th1 and Th2 type immunization response could be enhanced, which plays a role in improving the protective efficacy of GST against of S. japonicum .

Objective: To explore the role of treg cells and its functional markers in pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B, and the correlation with disease progression., Methods: 20 cases of healthy control people,53 cases of chronic hepatitis B patients and 24 cases of liver cirrhosis patients were enrolled into the groups. Detecting the frequencies of CD4+ CD25+ Fox3+ cells, CD4+ CD25+ CD127(low) cells, CD39+ treg cells and CTLA-4+ treg cells in treg cells by flow cytometry. Clinical parameters were investigated in the same time., Results: The frequencies of treg cells, CD4+ CD25+ CD127(low) cells and CD39+ treg cells were significant different among healthy control group, CHB group and LC group (P < 0.01). The frequencies of treg cells, CD4+ CD25+ CD127(low) cells and CD39+ treg cells were significantly different in moderate-severe CHB group compared with mild CHB group (P < 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.01). In CHB group the frequencies of CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ cells were positively correlated with ALT (r = 0. 289, P < 0.05) and AST (r = 0.302, P < 0.05), the frequencies of CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ cells had a significant positive correlation with the frequencies of CD4+ CD25+ CD127(low) cells (r = 0.478, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: The frequencies of treg cells and its functional markers probably had a dynamic tendency in the process of chronic hepatitis B and were closely related with the change of liver function parameters. CD39+ treg cells may be a group of functional treg cells, which indicated that CD39 be a sensitive marker to react treg cells function. In some sense, CD4+ CD25+ CD127(low) cells frequency could represent treg cell frequency.

Objective: To investigate the polymorphism distribution of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene Fok I in Mongolian population of China., Methods: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was used to analyze three genotypes FF, Ff and ff in the start codon of VDR gene (Fok I) in unrelated normal healthy Mongolian individuals of China., Results: In the population, we obtained the allelic frequencies of 57% and 43% for (F) and (f) allele and the percentage of genotypes FF, Ff and ff to be 31%, 52%, and 17% respectively., Conclusion: The polymorphism frequency and distribution of this VDR gene Fok I in Mongolian population of China exhibit its own characteristics.