Search

This study investigated the single-pass performance of a negative corona electrostatic precipitators (ESP) in removing suspended particulates (PM2.5 and PM10), formaldehyde (HCHO), and bioaerosols (bacteria and fungi) and measured the ozone (O3) concentration generated by ESP. The experimental results revealed that if the operational conditions for the ESP were set to high voltage (−10.5 kV) and low air flow rate (2.4 m3/min), ESP had optimal air pollutant removal efficiency. In the laboratory system, its PM2.5 and PM10 removal rates both reached 99% at optimal conditions, and its HCHO removal rate was 55%. In field tests, its PM2.5, PM10, HCHO, bacteria, and fungi removal rates reached 89%, 90%, 46%, 69%, and 85% respectively. The ESP in the laboratory system (−10.5 kV and 2.4 m3/min) generated 7.374 ppm of O3 under optimal conditions. Under the same operational conditions, O3 generated by ESP in the food waste storage room and the meeting room were 1.347 ppm and 1.749 ppm, respectively. The removal of HCHO and bioaerosols was primarily attributed to their destruction in the corona, as well as ozone oxidation, and collection on the dust collection plate.

Objectives Recently, the Gram-negative bacterium Klebsiella oxytoca has been identified as an emerging pathogen. Here we report the draft genome of a 2,3-butanediol-producing strain, K. oxytoca CCTCC M207023, isolated from soil in Nanjing, China. The tetracycline-resistant phenotype and the high yield of 2,3-butanediol was demonstrated. Methods The draft genome of K. oxytoca CCTCC M207023 was determined using an Illumina NovaSeq™ 6000 next-generation DNA sequencing platform. Clean sequencing data were subsequently assembled using SOAPdenovo. Results The draft genome of K. oxytoca CCTCC M207023, comprising 5 658 144 bp and with a GC content of 56.50%, was assembled into 5262 open-reading frames (ORFs). Antimicrobial resistance genes were also annotated. Conclusions The draft genome sequence of K. oxytoca CCTCC M207023 reported here will be a reference for comparative analysis with the antimicrobial resistance mechanisms for the safety of 2,3-butanediol industrial production.

D-alpha-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS1000) is the most active water-soluble derivative of vitamin E and has been widely used as a carrier of solvents, plasticizers, emulsifiers, absorbent agents and refractory drug delivery systems. However, its anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) properties have not been explored. HCC cells were treated with different concentrations of TPGS1000. Cell survival was tested by CCK8 assay, and cell migration was tested by wound healing and Transwell assay. EdU staining verified cell proliferation, and signalling pathway was assayed by Western blot analysis. The BALB/c-nu mouse xenograft model was established to test HCC cell growth in vivo. In vitro TPGS1000 significantly inhibited the viability and mobility of HCC cells (HepG2, Hep3B and Huh7) in a dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis indicated that TPGS1000 treatment arrested the HCC cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase, and induction of cell apoptosis was confirmed by TUNEL and Annexin V-7-AAD staining. Further pharmacological analysis indicated that collapse of the transmembrane potential of mitochondria, increased ROS generation, PARP-induced cell apoptosis and FoxM1-p21-mediated cell cycle arresting, were involved in the anti-HCC activity of TPGS1000. Moreover, treatment in vivo with TPGS1000 effectively impaired the growth of HCC xenografts in nude mice.

Terpenoids are a large class of natural compounds based on the C5 isoprene unit, with many biological effects such activity against cancer and allergies, while some also have an agreeable aroma. Consequently, they have received extensive attention in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. With the identification and analysis of the underlying natural product synthesis pathways, current microbial-based metabolic engineering approaches have yielded new strategies for the production of highly valuable terpenoids. Yarrowia lipolytica is a non-conventional oleaginous yeast that is rapidly emerging as a valuable host for the production of terpenoids due to its own endogenous mevalonate pathway and high oil production capacity. This review aims to summarize the status and strategies of metabolic engineering for the heterologous synthesis of terpenoids in Y. lipolytica in recent years and proposes new methods aiming towards further improvement of terpenoid production.

Endophytic fungi usually establish a symbiotic relationship with the host plant and affect its growth. In order to evaluate the impact of endophytic fungi on the Chinese herbal medicinal plant Houttuynia cordata Thunb., three endophytes isolated from the rhizomes of H. cordata, namely Ilyonectria liriodendra (IL), unidentified fungal sp. (UF), and Penicillium citrinum (PC), were co-cultured individually with H. cordata in sterile soil for 60 days. Analysis of the results showed that the endophytes stimulated the host plant in different ways: IL increased the growth of rhizomes and the accumulation of most of the phenolics and volatiles, UF promoted the accumulation of the medicinal compounds afzelin, decanal, 2-undecanone, and borneol without influencing host plant growth, and PC increased the fresh weight, total leaf area and height of the plants, as well as the growth of the rhizomes, but had only a small effect on the concentration of major secondary metabolites. Our results proved that the endophytic fungi had potential practical value in terms of the production of Chinese herbal medicines, having the ability to improve the yield and accumulation of medicinal metabolites.

Background This study aims to explore the efficacy and safety of prostaglandina E1 (PE1) for the treatment of patients with thrombo-occlusive vasculitis (TOV). Methods Electronic databases (Cochrane Library, PUBMED, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) will be sought from onset to the March 1, 2020 without language and publication status restrictions. We will include any potential randomized controlled trials that examined the efficacy of PE1 for the treatment of patients with TOV. We will appraise study quality using Cochrane risk of bias tool, and will assess the evidence quality using Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation. We will use RevMan 5.3 Software for statistical analysis. Results A high-quality synthesis of present evidence of PE1 for the treatment of patients with TOV will be provided in this study. Conclusion This study will provide evidence to judge whether PE1 is an effective intervention for TOV. Systematic review registration INPLASY202040081.

The filamentous fungus Fusarium fujikuroi is well-known for its production of natural plant growth hormones: a series of gibberellic acids (GAs). Some GAs, including GA1, GA3, GA4, and GA7, are biologically active and have been widely applied in agriculture. However, the low efficiency of traditional genetic tools limits the further research toward making this fungus more efficient and able to produce tailor-made GAs. Here, we established an efficient CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing tool for F. fujikuroi. First, we compared three different nuclear localization signals (NLS) and selected an efficient NLS from histone H2B (HTB

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)[1] is a type of metabolic disease caused by metabolic disorders in the endocrine system and characterized by hyperglycemia. Insufficient insulin secretion and insulin resistance are the basic pathologic characteristics of T2DM. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF),[2] the prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 20–79 in 2017 was 8.8% from a total population of 425 million, which will reach 629 million by 2045. Additionally, it is estimated that approximately half of all adult patients worldwide have not been diagnosed as of 2017. In 2017, approximately 4 million adults died of diabetes, and 46.1% of patients died before reaching the age of 60 years. These data show that the number of patients with diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate and have come to represent a challenge for human health. In addition, T2DM accounts for approximately 95% of the total population of diabetes, which leads to significant losses for human and economic health.[3] T2DM is a chronic disease that can cause a series of complications that can lead to death.[4] Therefore, preventing or delaying the occurrence of complications is the main purpose of treating T2DM, and the key link for those suffering from diabetes is to maintain blood glucose levels within the normal range.[5] At present, the treatment of T2DM mainly depends on lifestyle intervention[6] (such as nutrition therapy and physical activity), oral medication[7] (such as biguanides, sulfonylureas, and α-glucoside inhibitors), injected drugs[8] (such as insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 [7–36] amide [GLP-1] agonists), surgical treatment,[9] and complementary and alternative treatment.[10] T2DM is known as a major “Xiao-Ke disease” in ancient Chinese books. And Chinese have used herbal medicines to treat the diseases for more than 1500 years. There is a growing body of research showing that herbal medicine can effectively treat T2DM.[11–13] In this study, we reviewed the therapeutic action of herbal medicine in T2DM via anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation characteristics, regulation of blood lipid metabolism, anti-glucose effects, and other mechanisms [Figures ​[Figures11–5]. Open in a separate window Figure 1 The anti-inflammatory effect of herbal medicine in type 2 diabetes mellitus. TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor-α; TLR4-MyD88: toll-like receptor 4-myeloid differential protein-88; IL-1β: interleukin-1β; NLRP3: NACHT, LRR, and PYD domain-containing protein 3; WMW: Wu-Mei-Wan; NF-κB: nuclear transcription factor kappa B; IκBα: inhibitor of NF-κB; COX2: cyclo-oxgenase 2; IL-8: interleukin-8; IL-6: interleukin-6.

The dysregulation of proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to atherosclerosis (AS) and accumulating reports indicate the crucial role of long noncoding RNA in AS. However, the role of small nucleolar RNA host gene 12 (SNHG12) in regulating the phenotypes of VSMCs and AS remains largely unknown. Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression levels of SNHG12 and miR-199a-5p in an in vivo AS model and VSMCs treated by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). The proliferation ability, migration ability, and apoptosis of VSMCs were tested by cell counting kit-8, Transwell assay, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay, respectively. StarBase database was used to predict the binding sites between miR-199a-5p and SNHG12. The interaction between miR-199a-5p and SNHG12 was validated by qRT-PCR, western blot, and luciferase reporter assay. Western blot was used to examine the effects of SNHG12 and miR-199a-5p on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). We found that the expression level of SNHG12 was significantly increased in the animal model and VSMCs treated by ox-LDL. Knockdown of SNHG12 suppressed the proliferation and migration abilities of VSMCs, while overexpression of SNHG12 had the opposite effects. Mechanically, we validated that miR-199a-5p was a target of SNHG12, and the target gene of miR-199a-5p, HIF-1α could be indirectly and positively regulated by SNHG12. In conclusion, SHNG12 targeting miR-199a-5p/HIF-1α contributed to the pathophysiological process of AS by regulating the phenotypes of VSMCs, and could be a potential therapy target for this disease.

In recent years, eukaryotic microorganisms have been widely applied to offer many solutions for everyday life and have come to play important roles in agriculture, food, health care, and the fine-chemicals industry. However, the complex genetic background and low homologous recombination efficiency have hampered the implementation of large-scale and high-throughput gene editing in many eukaryotic microorganisms. The low efficiency of homologous recombination (HR) not only makes the modification process labor-intensive but also completely precludes the application of many otherwise very useful genome editing techniques. Thus, increasing the efficiency of HR is clearly an enabling technology for basic research and gene editing in eukaryotic microorganisms. In this review, we summarize the current strategies for enhancing the efficiency of HR in eukaryotic microorganisms (particularly yeasts and filamentous fungi), list some small molecules and candidate genes associated with homologous and non-homologous recombination, and briefly discuss the further development prospects of these strategies.

// Yue-Lun Zhang 1, 2 , Jin-Qiu Yuan 1, 2 , Kai-Feng Wang 3 , Xiao-Hong Fu 1, 2 , Xiao-Ran Han 1, 2 , Diane Threapleton 1 , Zu-Yao Yang 1, 2 , Chen Mao 1, 2 , Jin-Ling Tang 1, 2 1 Division of Epidemiology, The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China 2 Shenzhen Municipal Key Laboratory for Health Risk Analysis, Shenzhen Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China 3 Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China Correspondence to: Chen Mao, email: maochen@cuhk.edu.hk Jin-Ling Tang, email: jltang@cuhk.edu.hk Keywords: non-small cell lung cancer, epidermal growth factor receptor, prevalence, systematic review, meta-analysis Received: May 17, 2016 Accepted: September 25, 2016 Published: October 12, 2016 ABSTRACT Objectives: Estimate the epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ) mutation prevalence in all non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and patient subgroups. Results: A total of 456 studies were included, reporting 30,466 patients with EGFR mutation among 115,815 NSCLC patients. The overall pooled prevalence for EGFR mutations was 32.3% (95% CI 30.9% to 33.7%), ranging from 38.4% (95% CI: 36.5% to 40.3%) in China to 14.1% (95% CI: 12.7% to 15.5%) in Europe. The pooled prevalence of EGFR mutation was higher in females (females vs. males: 43.7% vs. 24.0%; OR: 2.7, 95% CI: 2.5 to 2.9), non-smokers (non-smokers vs. past or current smokers: 49.3% vs. 21.5%; OR: 3.7, 95% CI: 3.4 to 4.0), and patients with adenocarcinoma (adenocarcinoma vs. non-adenocarcinoma: 38.0% vs. 11.7%; OR: 4.1, 95% CI: 3.6 to 4.8). Materials and Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched to June 2013. Eligible studies reported EGFR mutation prevalence and the association with at least one of the following factors: gender, smoking status and histology. Random-effects models were used to pool EGFR mutation prevalence data. Conclusion: This study provides the exact prevalence of EGFR mutations in different countries and NSCLC patient subgroups.

Sorption behaviors of propranolol (PRO) on montmorillonite and kaolinite in the presence of fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) were investigated. Complexation of propranolol with FA/HA also have been studied using the fluorescence quenching method. PRO could be complexed by FA and HA strongly in the 5-9 pH range. PRO sorption was found to be higher on montmorillonite than on kaolinite. In the presence of FA/HA, the sorption of PRO on montmorillonite and kaolinite was inhibited and enhanced respectively. The mechanism is due to the free PRO and complexed PRO has different affinity to montmorillonite and kaolinite surfaces.

Due to its good wear resistance, Al-20Si is widely used as piston. But coarse primary silicon greatly undermines the mechanical properties of Al-Si alloy. The primary silicon could be refined in pulse magnetic field with suitable magnetic flux density and magnetic field frequency. In this work, the microstructure of Al-20Si alloy with and without pulse magnetic field treatments was observed, and the influence mechanism of weak pulse magnetic on the microstructure of the alloy was investigated. The results showed that the grain size of primary silicon fluctuated with increasing magnetic flux density at 1Hz. The smallest grain size of primary silicon is obtained at 94mT. The grain size of the primary silicon decreased with increasing magnetic field frequency under the magnetic flux density of 94mT.

Accumulation characteristics on 7 heavy metals of 3 indigenous pioneer plants (Ageratum conyzoides, Comnyza canadensis, Miscanthus floridulus) & their rhizosphere soil was investigated in wasteland of coalmine tailing in Mingshan. The chief results were as follows: (1) soil pollution was mainly due to the compound Cd-Mn-Cu, of which Cd average content of soil was 2.052 mg/kg (between 0.759 to 3.109mg/kg) and much higher than the national secondary standard of GB 15618-1995 (Environmental quality standard for soils in China), and of which Mn average content of soil was 421.215mg/kg (between 387.057 to 488.660 mg/kg) and serious pollution, and of which Cu content was 91.281mg/kg (between 39.522 to 270.308mg/kg) and had certain pollution but not so serious; (2) the absorption and accumulation ability to the Ni, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn and Cr of soil heavy metal among 3 indigenous pioneer plants & their different parts of the plant such like the root, stem, and leaf was not the same, on the whole had the synergistic and antagonistic effect for 7 ele-ments in 3 plants, of whom Ageratum conyzoides had an obvious synergistic action for Ni, Cu, Pb, Zn and Mn absorption and was beneficial to suck up further elements from the soil in wasteland of coalmine tailing, and of Comnyza canadensis and Miscanthus floridulus had different synergistic and antagonistic effect for 7 elements, especially Comnyza canadensis and Miscanthus floridulus were the Cd hyperaccumulator plants. (3) Heavy metal content of Miscanthus floridulus in the body was the lowest, and its enrichment coefficient, translocation factor was obviously lower than that of the other 2 plants too, so absorption mechanisms to heavy metal of Miscanthus floridulus could been believed as excluders, relatively Mn, Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni content in the over-ground parts of Comnyza canadensis and Miscanthus floridulus & their enrichment coefficient, translocation factor was rather high, and their absorption mechanisms to heavy metal belonged to accumulators.

The pH, electric conductivity (EC), nutrients, heavy metals, water-holding capacity and water permeability of stabilized sewage sludge were investigated by mixing municipal sewage sludge with alkaline fly ash and slag. The results indicate that the evaporation of soil moisture increases and water-holding capacity decreases in these artificial soils with an increase of slag, and the infiltration rate of artificial soils increases to improve its water permeability by adding slag to sewage sludge. The pHs of stabilized artificial soils range from 7.5 to 8.0 for a weak alkaline soil, which tend to be neutral by adding slag to sewage sludge. The ECs of stabilized artificial soils range from 2.93 to 3.71 mS•cm-1, indicating the higher salt content in these artificial soils. The nutrient contents of stabilized sewage sludge are up to a high fertilizer level and available nutrients increase with the increase of the ratio of slag to sewage sludge in these artificial soils. Cd, Ni, Pb, Cu and Zn for all artificial soil treatments are lower than control standards for pollutants in sludge and fly ash for Agricultural use.

Monodisperse polystyrene nanospheres with different diameters and functional groups were synthesized by soap-free emulsion polymerization. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was applied to the separation and detection of the nanospheres. Baseline separation was achieved for carboxylic and sulfonic functionalized colloids due to their difference in diameter and surface charge. The electrophoretic mobility of the sulfonic functionalized colloids decreased with increasing of particle size, and three sulfonic functionalized nanosphere samples with diameters of 190, 250 and 330 nm were separated successfully by CE.

This paper studied the phtodegradation behavior, mechanism and security of propranolol (PRO) in water under ultraviolet irradiation using the high pressure mercury lamp. The photodegradation mechanism was verified by reactive oxygen species (ROS) quenching method, and the photoproducts security was evaluated by luminescent bacteria toxicity test. The results showed that the rate of photolysis (k) of PRO decreased with increasing initial concentration, and showed a significant negative correlation (r20.95). The increasing k value was also accompanied with higher pH of the solution, and the k values were 0.0953-0.267 min(-1) under pH 5-9. ROS quenching experiments showed that the PRO UV photolysis process included a triplet PRO (3PRO*) direct photolysis participation, and self-sensitized photolysis participation caused by hydroxyl radical (·OH) and singlet oxygen (1O2). Direct photolysis rate was greater than the rate of self-sensitized photolysis. The result of 1O2 steady concentration measured by FFA as the probe was consistent with the quenching method. The toxicity evaluation illustrated the formation of some intermediate photoproducts, which were more toxic than PRO.

Trace Processors is a promising next-generation microarchitecture that exploits implicit thread-level parallelism (TLP) in conventional applications by employing aggressive control and data speculation techniques. Although high performance can be achieved by trace processors, but in fact, processing element (PE) resources are still underutilized due to frequent trace cache misses and next-trace mispeculations. When trace cache miss occurs, trace dispatch engine must stall and supply nothing to idle PE until the completion of trace construction. When next-trace mispeculation occurs, in addition to trace dispatch engine stall, all speculative execution results after the mispeculated trace must be discarded. All the operations on those squashed traces are useless. When trace processors scales up with more PEs, this problem will become more severe. Addressing to this problem, we propose augmenting multiple thread contexts into trace processors. A combined microarchitecture—Simultaneous Multithreading trace processors (SMT trace processors) is proposed in this paper. By dispatching trace from other threads, the penalties of trace cache miss and next-trace mispeculation can be tolerated. Introducing multiple thread contexts reduce the percentage of wrong-path speculations for each thread and improve PE execution efficiency significantly. Simulation results show that integrating two thread contexts can improve 8-PE trace processors performance 27.7%. When augmenting four and eight thread contexts, the corresponding improvements are 28.7 and 15.4%. And we believe that even higher performance improvement can be expected when we integrate more PEs into SMT trace processors.

To investigate the effects and apoptosis of intrathecal injection of Methylprednisolone Sodium Succinate (MPss) for acute spinal cord injury (SCI) in New Zealand rabbits.Seventy-two healthy New Zealand rabbits were used for the procedure and were randomly divided into two groups: SCI group and SHAM group, which was both divided into 6 subgroups, such as the vehicle group, the MPss intrathecal injection groups (1.5 mg/kg, 3.0 mg/kg, 6.0 mg/kg group), the MPss intravenous injection group and the combined injection group. TARLOV score was tested daily to evaluate the motor function. The rabbits were sacrificed 7 days after the surgery and the thoracic spinal cord sections and the sacral sections where MPss was injected were harvested for HE and TUNEL staining. Two-Factors Repeated Measures analysis of variance for TARLOV scores tested at various times and One-Way ANOVA analysis of variance for data between groups were used.Seven days after surgery in SCI group, there was no statistical difference between the TARLOV scores of intrathecal injection of MPss 3.0 mg/kg group, 6.0 mg/kg group and MPss intravenous injection group (P0.05), which were all better than the vehicle group (F = 4.762, P0.05). Referring to the lymphocyte infiltration at the injury site in SCI group, there was statistical difference between MPss intrathecal injection 6.0 mg/kg group (1.33 ± 0.21) and the vehicle group (2.67 ± 0.21) (F = 5.793, P0.05) and no statistical difference between intrathecal injection of MPss 6.0 mg/kg group and MPss intravenous injection group (P0.05). As for the lymphocyte infiltration at the intrathecal injection site in SHAM group, there was statistical difference between MPss intrathecal injection 6.0 mg/kg group (2.50 ± 0.55) and the vehicle group (0.50 ± 0.55) (F = 17.333, P0.05). TUNEL staining in SCI group showed statistical difference between MPss intrathecal injection 6.0 mg/kg group (6.3 ± 1.5) and the vehicle group (20.3 ± 2.2) (F = 71.279, P0.05).Intrathecal injection of MPss can improve the functional recovery of lower limb and decrease apoptosis of neuron cells,which can provide same effects as the traditional intravenous injection of MPss in New Zealand rabbits.

The metastasis of hepatic carcinoma is correlated with the body's immune status. T lymphocytes play a big part role in tumor immune. The aim of the present study is to investigate the inhibition effects of metastatsis in nude mice bearing hepatic carcinoma after T lymphocytes reconstitution.An immune reconstitution model was established in nude mice. Then, 42 nude mice were distributed into 4 groups for T lymphocytes reconstitution. The lymph nodes of each group were obtained to investigate the tumor metastasis. And the secretion of cytokines and the apoptosis of tumor cells in each group were also detected.The ratio of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 in reconstituted groups were higher than controlled groups. The average time of tumor formation in Balb/c nu/nu mice was 7.7 +/- 0.6 days and in Balb/c mice was 11.5 +/- 1.3 days. After active T lymphocytes reconstitution, the extent lymph nodes metastasis in reconstitution groups was lower than control groups (p0.05), but proximal metastasis has no significant difference. The level of serum IL-10 in nude mice after immune reconstitution was significantly lower and VEGF was significantly higher than that of the control group (p0.05). Apoptosis of the hepatic carcinoma cells was increased significantly after immune reconstitution (p0.05).The metastasis of hepatic carcinoma can be inhibited by reconstitution of actived T lymphocytes in nude mice, which indicated that tumor metastasis can be affected by the immune status in host body.

The bioflocculant ZS-7 was purified to homogeneity by ethanol precipitation, dialysis and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). About 0.98 g of the purified bioflocculant could be recovered from 1L of fermentation broth. The purified bioflocculant was identified as a glycoprotein consisting of polysaccharide (91.5%) and protein (8.4%), with an approximate molecular weight of 6.89 x 10(4). The major component of ZS-7 is an acid polysaccharide including uronic (16.4%), pyruvic (7.1%) and acetic acids (0.5%). It consists of galactose, glucose, mannose and rhamnose in a molar ratio of 142 :2.2 : 4.5 : 3.4. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and NMR spectrum of the bioflocculant indicate the presence of carboxyl, hydroxyl, amide, amino, methoxyl and sulfate groups.

We previously showed that introduction of a normal, neomycin-tagged human chromosome 8 reduced the metastatic capacity of C5F rat liver cancer cell line, which had high metastatic potential without affecting tumorigenicity, suggesting the presence of one or more metastasis suppressor genes encoded on human chromosome 8. We proceeded to define further the region harboring the metastasis suppressor gene(s) and to determine the random loss of human chromosome 8 by PCR amplification of sequence tag site (STS) markers.The national Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases were used as references of the relative genetic distances of the STS markers. C5F genomic DNA and A9/neo8 genomic DNA were used as negative and positive controls for chromosome 8 amplification, respectively. Genomic DNA was isolated and quantified from cultured hybrid clones (A9/C5F-1 and A9/C5F-2 microcell hybrid clones served as metastasis-unsuppressed groups; A9/C5F-4, A9/C5F-8 and A9/C5F-10 microcell hybrid clones served as metastasis suppressed groups). STS-PCR products were separated by electrophoresis through 2% agarose gel.Metastasis-suppressed microcell hybrid clones (A9/C5F-4, A9/C5F-8 and A9/C5F-10) conserved STS markers between D8S542 --D8S1973 (8p21.1-23.1). In contrast, metastasis-unsuppressed clones (A9/C5F-1 and A9/C5F-2) lacked several markers in this region. In attempts to refine the region retained in the microcell suppressed clones, more densely spaced STS markers in the human chromosome 8p21.1-23.1 were used. We found that the metastasis-suppressed clones retained 18cM region between D8S542 and D8S1973 (8P21.1-23.1), where as the metastasis-unsuppressed clones lacked the region.Our results suggest that a metastasis suppressor gene is located within the interval between D8S542 and D8S1973 on human chromosome 8p21.1-23.1.

To investigate the relation between the changes of dendritic cell (DC) function and down-regulation of beta-centractin in hepatocellular carcinoma.DC derived from peripheral blood were cultured and then pulsed by lysates from hepatocarcinoma cells (HCC) with high, low, or none metastatic potential of the lines HCCLM6, MHCC97L, and Hep3B, and from normal human liver cell of the line Chang liver. DC not pulsed were used as control group. Three days later scanning electron microscopy and inverted microscopy were used to observe the morphology of the DC. Flow cytometry was used to observe the phenotype. The protein expression of beta-centractin was detected by Western blotting and immunocytochemistry.Scanning electron microscopy and inverted microscopy showed no change in the morphology of the DC pulsed by different antigens. The expression levels of HLA-DR, CD80, CD83, and CD86 of the 4 pulsed groups were all significantly higher than that of the un-pulsed group (all P0.05). The expression of CD86 of the DC + LM6 group was significantly lower than those of the DC + Chang, DC + Hep3B, and DC + 97L groups (all P0.05). The mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) levels of the 4 pulsed groups were all significantly higher than that of the control group (all P0.05). The MLR level of the DC + LM6 group was significantly lower than those of the DC + Chang, DC + Hep3B, and DC + 97L groups (all P0.05). Western blotting showed that beta-centractin was not expressed in the control DC and was expressed in the 3 pulsed DC groups, and the beta-centractin expression levels of the DC + Chang, DC + Hep3B, and DC + 97L groups were all higher than that of the DC + LM6 group. The results of immunocytochemistry were similar to that of Western blotting.The down-regulation of beta-centractin in the DC pulsed with high metastatic potential HVV cell lysates is associated DC dysfunction and may be one of the mechanisms of HCC immune escape.

To study the tumor cell killing function of T lymphocytes stimulated by dendritic cells (DC) and to analyze the differences of protein contents of exosomes in each type of cell.The exosomes of hepatic cell lines with high (P group) or low (F group) metastatic potentials were isolated by a process of four-step centrifugation and the collected exosomes were observed under an electron microscope (EM). The tumor cell killing experiment was performed by adding T lymphocytes activated by DC loaded with exosomes from corresponding P and F group cells and was studied using 3H-TdR experiments. The proteomic analysis was performed by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS ) on the exosomes of P and F group cells.The density distribution and content of exosomes in the P group were not equal to those in the F group observed by EM. The CD80, CD86, MHC-I and MHC-II in the P group were 64.27+5.00, 44.89+10.11, 84.35+19.89 and 59.03+19.37, and those in the F group were 71.53+4.85, 50.01+9.50, 80.68+29.87 and 58.86+21.11, respectively (P0.05, compared with the control group). The counts per minute value in the P group was 528.40+179.06 and 78.80+24.44 in the F group after being loaded with exosomes (P0.01, compared with the control group). There were significant differences between the proteins in the exosomes of hepatic cancer cell lines with high or low metastatic potentials.Exosomes have potential values of application in immunotherapy and in biotherapy for recurrences and metastases of hepatic carcinomas.

To study the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis in mice bearing hepatic carcinoma and analyze the mechanism of the lymphatic metastasis.Hepatic carcinoma cell lines of high and low potentialities of lymphatic metastasis were injected into the footpads of Balb/c mice. Their metastases to lymph nodes were examined. The tumor tissues of each group were stained with 5'-nucleotidase-ALP to observe the lymphoangiogenesis. The total RNA of high and low metastatic potential cell lines were extracted for metastasis gene DNA array. The vascular endothelial cell growth factor C (VEGF-C) and VEGF-D of each cell line were detected using semi-quantitative RT-PCR and were further quantatively analyzed using real time PCR.The para-common iliac a. and renal hilar lymph nodes metastases of the high metastatic potential cells were significantly higher than in the controls (P0.05). The quantity of lymphatic vessels in the high metastasis group was significantly larger than that of the control group (P0.05). The expressions of CD44, E-cadherin, HER2/neu, H-Ras and VEGF-C in the high metastasis group were higher than those in the low metastasis group shown by the cDNA micro array experiment but the expressions of nm23A, nm23-E4, p16ink4a, CD61 were lower. The VEGF-C expression was higher and the VEGF-D was lower in the high metastasis group compared to those of the low metastasis group shown by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The secretion of VEGF-D was significantly lower and the ratio of VEGF-C/VEGF-D was significantly higher in the high metastasis group than the low metastasis group (P0.05).The lymphatic metastasis of hepatic carcinoma is related to lymphoangiogenesis. The changes of VEGF-C and VEGF-D expressions might be a cause influencing the lymphoangiogenesis. VEGF-C/VEGF-D might be an effective parameter in affecting lymphatic metastases.

To investigate the effectiveness of reconstruction of immunological functions of T cells on the degree of metastases of mouse hepatocarcinoma and the mechanisms of their functioning.The T cell model of immunological functions in Balb/c nu/nu mice was established and the effectiveness of the model was evaluated. The mice were divided into 4 groups. The immunological functions of T cells in experiment groups of Balb/c nu/nu mice were reconstructed. Metastases of the cancer in lymph nodes in each group were examined histologically. The formation time and growth rate of the tumors were calculated. The expression of MHCI and II of the tumor cell line and the difference of expression of immune associated gene were detected by Th1-Th2-Th3 gene array.The ratio of CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD4/CD8 in the reconstructed group was higher than that in the control group. The average formation time was 7.7+/-0.6 days in Balb/c nu/nu mice and 11.5+/-1.3 days in Balb/c mice. The extent of metastases of the experiment group was lower than that of the control group (P0.05). The expression of MHCI of the high metastasis cell line was lower than that of the low metastasis cell line (P0.05). The expressions of Th1/Th2 associated genes in lymphocytes of high metastasis mice were lower than those of the low metastasis mice.Reconstruction of the immunological function of T cells can influence the metastasis of mouse hepatocarcinoma. The alteration of MHC molecule and low expression of Th1/Th2 correlated genes in lymphocytes may be a factor influencing the metastasis of liver cancer.

It had been reported that nuclear factor kappa b (NF kappa B) was associated with in vitro angiogenesis, but its role in angiogenesis of human ovarian carcinoma (HOC) had not been reported yet. The objective of this paper was to investigate the role and the mechanism of NF kappa B in HOC angiogenesis in chick chorioallantcic membrane (CAM).The HOC TYK cells were implanted into 10-day CAM by 1 x 10(9)/per egg to establish the HOC CAM model. (1) With 20 eggs, the levels of NF kappa B, integrin alpha V beta 3, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) at 0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h time point after cells implanted were determined with ELISA. (2) The relationship among NF kappa B, bFGF,alpha V beta 3 and the effect of them on HOC angiogenesis in CAM were determined. Another 80 eggs were divided into 6 groups, normal saline (NS) (control group, 16 eggs), anti- NF kappa B (A group, 16 eggs), anti-bFGF (B group, 16 eggs), anti-NF kappa B + anti-bFGF(D group, 8 eggs) were added respectively into CAM at 6h time point after the cells implanted, and then anti-integrin alpha V beta 3 (C group, 16 eggs), anti-NF kappa B +anti-alpha V beta 3 (E group, 8 eggs) antibodies were added at 12h time point. Eight eggs from NS, A, B, C groups were taken out to determine the levels of NF kappa B, alpha V beta 3, bFGF at 48 h after the antibodies were added. The other eggs were incubated up to 5 days, and the vessel area/area were determined with image analysis.(1)The levels of NF kappa B and bFGF increased significantly at 6h, and that of V beta 3 increase significantly at 12 h time point after implantation (P0.01) (0.185+/-0.01, 0.771+/-0.16, 0.231+/-0.02), the peaks of the three levels were reached at 48 h (P0.01) (0.337+/-0.01, 1.639+/-0.01, 0.349+/-0.01). The levels of bFGF was significantly higher than those of NF kappa B and alpha V beta 3 at each time point (P0.01), but there were no significant difference between NF kappa B and alpha V beta 3 (P0.05). (2)The levels of NF kappa B,bFGF, and alpha V beta 3 in A and B groups were significantly lower than those of NS group (P0.01) (0.098+/-0.02, 0.156+/-0.02, 0.329+/-0.01; 1.106+/-0.33, 0.412+/-0.01, 1.591+/-0.13; 0.138+/-0.03, 0.114+/-0.02, 0.322+/-0.01). And the level of alpha V beta 3 in C group were significantly reduced compared with those of NS group (P0.01) (0.119+/-0.02, 0.322+/-0.01), while the levels of NF kappa B and bFGF had no change between the two groups (P0.05). The VA/A of the five groups of A, B, C, D, and E were significantly lower than that of NS group (P0.05) (26.10+/-13.71, 34.12+/-4.85, 25.50+/-11.41,14.32+/-3.11, 24.36+/-4.95, 66.62+/-17.64), and that of D group were significantly reduced compared with A group (P0.05) (14.32+/-3.11, 26.10+/-13.71), but there were no significant difference among the four groups of A, B, C, and E (P0.05).NF kappa B can stimulate the angiogenesis of ovarian carcinoma with bFGF by upregulating the expression of alpha V beta 3, bFGF, which can be used as a marker of angiogenesis and a therapy target molecule of ovarian carcinoma.

In this paper, we propose a new next generation high-performance micro-architecture based on the combination of simultaneous multithreading and trace processor. By exploiting both Instruction-Level Parallelism and Thread-Level Parallelism, Simultaneous Multithreading Trace Processor can be expected to achieve higher performance than SMT or Trace Processor individual. We describe the organization of SMT Trace Processor architecture and some fundamental techniques. A path-based multiple traces prediction mechanism is also described in the paper.