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As a convenient and effective surface modification approach, non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma (NTAPP)can be used to improve dentin bonding, and has recently become a research focus. Studies have shown that NTAPP can alter dentin surface properties, improve the penetration and polymerization of adhesives, stimulate the cross-linking of collagen, and change the micro-morphology and element content of dentin surface, thus improve the dentin bonding quality. This article introduces the current research progress in the application of NTAPP in the field of dentin bonding, in order to provide innovative information for future research in optimization of the quality of dentin bonding.低温常压等离子体（non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma，NTAPP）是一种简便、有效的表面改性技术，近年成为提高牙本质粘接质量的研究热点。NTAPP能通过改变牙本质表面性质促进粘接剂渗透及聚合、促进胶原交联以及改变牙本质表面微观形貌和元素含量，改善牙本质粘接质量。本文就NTAPP于牙本质粘接领域的应用进展作一综述，以期为牙本质粘接的优化研究提供参考。.

In order to obtain the accurate and fast equilibrium reconstruction for Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), parallel plasma equilibrium reconstruction (P-EFIT) based on parallel computation in the graphic processing unit (GPU) and the EFIT framework is developed. However, more data will be produced during shots with improved accuracy and rapidity. 76 KB of P-EFIT data are generated in each iteration of $500~\mu \text{s}$ with computation grid size of $129 \times 129$ . EAST is aimed at 1000-s-long-pulse discharge, then 52 GB of P-EFIT data will be generated during a shot even at 1.5 ms saving interval. In the previous storage mode, these data will be saved in memory during shots and archived to MDSplus as a whole after the shot, which means a very large memory requirement and heavy network transmission load after shots. Therefore, the real-time storage is designed for P-EFIT data to replace the “after shot archiving” mode. In the new mode, the P-EFIT processes and real-time archiving process will coordinate and share P-EFIT data gathered from GPU via shared memory, then the P-EFIT data will be archived to MDSplus in real-time during shots based on “segmented record” of MDSplus, which provides the possibility to reuse the memory allocated for P-EFIT and save data in higher saving frequency. The real-time storage of P-EFIT data was tested in 10-s discharge and 1000-s-long-pulse simulation discharge, and the validity and the advantage of memory saving have been verified. The real-time storage has been integrated into a plasma control system (PCS) and will be applied to next experiments in EAST. In order to obtain the accurate and fast equilibrium reconstruction for Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), parallel plasma equilibrium reconstruction (P-EFIT) based on parallel computation in the graphic processing unit (GPU) and the EFIT framework is developed. However, more data will be produced during shots with improved accuracy and rapidity. 76 KB of P-EFIT data are generated in each iteration of $500~\mu \text{s}$ with computation grid size of $129 \times 129$ . EAST is aimed at 1000-s-long-pulse discharge, then 52 GB of P-EFIT data will be generated during a shot even at 1.5 ms saving interval. In the previous storage mode, these data will be saved in memory during shots and archived to MDSplus as a whole after the shot, which means a very large memory requirement and heavy network transmission load after shots. Therefore, the real-time storage is designed for P-EFIT data to replace the “after shot archiving” mode. In the new mode, the P-EFIT processes and real-time archiving process will coordinate and share P-EFIT data gathered from GPU via shared memory, then the P-EFIT data will be archived to MDSplus in real-time during shots based on “segmented record” of MDSplus, which provides the possibility to reuse the memory allocated for P-EFIT and save data in higher saving frequency. The real-time storage of P-EFIT data was tested in 10-s discharge and 1000-s-long-pulse simulation discharge, and the validity and the advantage of memory saving have been verified. The real-time storage has been integrated into a plasma control system (PCS) and will be applied to next experiments in EAST.

Dissipation is vital to any cyclic process in realistic systems. Recent research focus on nonequilibrium processes in stochastic systems has revealed a fundamental trade-off, called dissipation-time uncertainty relation, that entropy production rate associated with dissipation bounds the evolution pace of physical processes [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 120604 (2020)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.125.120604]. Following the dissipative two-level model exemplified in the same Letter, we experimentally verify this fundamental trade-off in a single trapped ultracold ^{40}Ca^{+} ion using elaborately designed dissipative channels, along with a postprocessing method developed in the data analysis, to build the effective nonequilibrium stochastic evolutions for the energy transfer between two heat baths mediated by a qubit. Since the dissipation-time uncertainty relation imposes a constraint on the quantum speed regarding entropy flux, our observation provides the first experimental evidence confirming such a speed restriction from thermodynamics on quantum operations due to dissipation, which helps us further understand the role of thermodynamical characteristics played in quantum information processing.

Chronic hepatitis B and its related complications seriously endanger the lives and health of our country people. Although the first-line nucleos(t)ide analogs such as entecavir, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and tenofovir alafenamide fumarate can inhibit virus replication to a certain extent, delay or prevent disease progression, and reduce the incidence of hepatitis B-related liver cancer, but in clinical practice, HBV DNA positivity is still detected continuously or intermittently in the serum of some patients. Therefore, low-level viremia has received widespread attention and triggered discussion, and has become the difficulties and hotspot of antiviral treatment of chronic hepatitis B. This article summarizes and discusses the definition and incidence in line with the main guidelines and studies, impact of disease control and clinical prognosis, and the current treatment options in order to provide definite reference for the management of low-level viremia during antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B.慢性乙型肝炎及相关并发症严重危害我国人民的生命健康。尽管恩替卡韦、富马酸替诺福韦酯和富马酸丙酚替诺福韦等一线核苷（酸）类似物能在一定程度上抑制病毒复制，延缓或阻止疾病进展，降低乙型肝炎相关肝癌发生率，但在临床实践中部分患者血清中仍持续或间歇地检测出HBV DNA阳性。由此，低病毒血症被大家广泛关注和讨论，成为当下慢性乙型肝炎抗病毒治疗的难点和热点。因此，本文讨论了各大指南和研究中低病毒血症的定义和发生率，总结了其对慢性乙型肝炎患者疾病控制和临床预后的影响，汇总了目前低病毒血症患者的治疗方案，以期为抗病毒治疗过程中伴低病毒血症患者的管理提供一定参考。.

Entangling gates are important for the generation of entanglement in quantum communicational and computational tasks. In this work, we propose an efficient protocol to realize the multi-qubit entangling gates with high fidelity in Rydberg atoms. Particularly, we apply the technique of soft quantum control to design the off-resonant pulses such that the atoms are driven to the ground-state subspace via unconventional Rydberg pumping. Thus, our scheme is insensitive to the decay effect as all atoms are only virtually excited. Moreover, Gaussian temporal modulation is further adopted to improve its robustness against the model uncertainty, such as operating time and environment noise. Finally, we perform numerical simulation to validate the effectiveness of our scheme. Hence, our work has potential applications in quantum information processing based on Rydberg atoms.

We compare the X-ray profiles and fluxes of the Crab pulsar before and after the glitches in 2017 and 2019, using the data collected by the Insight-HXMT, NICER, and Fermi/GBM, to test whether there is any evidence for magnetosphere rearrangement after glitch. For the 2017 glitch, the profiles from Insight-HXMT (27–200 keV) and NICER (0.5–10 keV) remain unchanged within rms 0.47% and 0.28%, respectively, while the pulsed fluxes measured by these two detectors remain stable with 1σ uncertainty of 0.07% and 0.011%. Considering that the persistent offset of the spin-down rate post-glitch is 0.13% and the X-ray luminosity of the Crab pulsar is proportional to E ̇ 1.6 ± 0.3 , we find that the X-ray flux does not increase proportionally to the spin-down power at a significance of about 2.8σ by fitting the flux measurements with a Heaviside function, and thus the additional torque constantly braking the pulsar spin post-glitch is unlikely due to a global magnetosphere variation. For the 2019 glitch, after which a possible soft X-ray polarization variation was detected, the profiles remain unchanged within rms 2.02%, 0.35%, 0.90%, and 0.47% in 10–200, 0.5–10, 3–4.5, and 27–200 keV, respectively, suggesting that the geometry of the X-ray emitting region after the glitch is similar to the pre-glitch one. Therefore the possible polarization variation during the 2019 glitch is unlikely a consequence of the overall magnetosphere changes. The invariance of the pulse profiles is also verified by Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests and that of pulsed fluxes by Z-tests.

Single- and two-qubit nonadiabatic noncyclic geometric quantum computation (NNGQC) have been put forward in theory (Liu B.-J. et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 2 (2020) 043130). The features of single-qubit NNGQC have been experimentally verified and the experimental technical route of the two-qubit case has been discussed in detail (Zhang J. W. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 127 (2021) 030502). The multiple-qubit quantum logic gate is critical for quantum computation. Although combining a series of single- and two-qubit NNGQC gates can form universal operations and create arbitrary multiple-qubit gates, the created multiple-qubit gate often consumes more quantum resource and requires longer evolution time, which makes it more fragile to systematic error and decoherence. In this article, we propose a scheme to directly construct the multiple-qubit NNGQC gates in Rydberg atoms. The numerical results show that the proposed quantum gates have high fidelity and are robust to systemic error and decoherence. Our scheme may be applied in the future quantum computation and many-body quantum science studies.

The authors show that irreversibility is not always valid in the quantum regime. The paper extends this to any two-level system experiencing quantum relaxation processes

In Dec. 2011 PSR B0540-69 experienced a spin-down rate transition (SRT), after which the spin-down power of the pulsar increased by ~36%. About 1000 days after the SRT, the X-ray luminosity of the associated pulsar wind nebula (PWN) was found to brighten by 32+/-8%. After the SRT, the braking index n of PSR B0540-69 changes from n=2.12 to n=0.03 and then keeps this value for about five years before rising to n=0.9 in the following years. We find that most of the current models have difficulties in explaining the measured braking index. One exceptive model of the braking index evolution is the increasing dipole magnetic field of PSR B0540-69. We suggest that the field increase may result from some instabilities within the pulsar core that enhance the poloidal component at the price of toroidal component of the magnetic field. The increasing dipole magnetic field will result in the X-ray brightening of the PWN. We fit the PWN X-ray light curve by two models: one assumes a constant magnetic field within the PWN during the brightening and the other assumes an enhanced magnetic field proportional to the energy density of the PWN. It appears that the two models fit the data well, though the later model seems to fit the data a bit better. This provides marginal observational evidence that magnetic field in the PWN is generated by the termination shock. Future high-quality and high-cadence data are required to draw a solid conclusion., 7 pages, 2 figures, the published version

This study was designed to explore the expression of LncRNA-ANRIL in patients with coronary heart disease before and after treatment and its short-term survival prediction value.Eighty-three patients with coronary heart disease who came to our hospital undergoing interventional therapy were selected as a research group, 81 healthy volunteers who came to our hospital for normal physical examination during the same period were selected as a control group, and LncRNA-ANRIL of subjects in the two groups before and after treatment were detected by RT-PCR. Levels of Gensini score, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), creatine kinase (CK), and BNP of patients in research group before treatment were evaluated and detected, and the correlation between those and LncRNA-ANRIL was analyzed. Then, the effective treatment of LncRNA-ANRIL for patients with coronary heart disease and the predictive value of poor prognosis were analyzed.The expression of LncRNA-ANRIL in patients with coronary heart disease was lower than that of normal subjects (p0.05), and the expression levels of Gensini score, LDH, CK-MB, CK, and BNP gradually increased with the increased number of their diseased vessels (p0.05). The expression of LncRNA-ANRIL was negatively correlated with expressions of Gensini score, LDH, CK-MB, CK, and BNP (p0.05); ROC of LncRNA-ANRIL in predicting effective treatment, and poor prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease was over 0.9, as well as smoking; LncRNA-ANRIL, Gensini score, LDH, CK-MB, CK, and BNP were independent risk factors for the occurrence of MACE.LncRNA-ANRIL expresses low in the serum of patients with coronary heart disease, and it has high predictive value both for effective treatment and poor prognosis of them. Also, lncRNA-ANRIL is also an independent risk factor for their poor prognosis.

With the twelve-year long observations by {\sl Fermi}-LAT, we discover two pairs of spin-down state transitions of PSR J1124--5916, making it the second young pulsar detected to have such behaviors. PSR J1124--5916 shows mainly two states according to its spin-down rate evolution, the normal spin-down state and the low spin-down state. In about 80\% of the observation time, the pulsar is in the normal spin-down state, in which the spin-down rate decreases linearly and gives a braking index of $1.98\pm0.04$. The two transitions to the low spin-down state are in MJD 55183--55803 and MJD 56114--56398 respectively, with fractional amplitudes both $\sim0.4\%$. No significant difference between the $\gamma$-ray profiles of the two spin-down states is detected, which is similar to PSR B0540-69, the other young pulsar with state transition detected., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

It is believed that an isolated pulsar loses its rotational energy mainly through a relativistic wind consisting of electrons, positrons and possibly Poynting flux\cite{Pacini1973,Rees1974,Kennel1984}. As it expands, this wind may eventually be terminated by a shock, where particles can be accelerated to energies of X-ray synchrotron emission, and a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) is usually detectable surrounding a young energetic pulsar\cite{Pacini1973,Rees1974,Kennel1984}. However, the nature and/or energetics of these physical processes remain very uncertain, largely because they typically cannot be studied in a time-resolved fashion. Here we show that the X-ray PWN around the young pulsar PSR B0540--69 brightens gradually up to 32$\pm8\%$ over the mean previous flux, after a sudden spin-down rate ($\dot{\nu}$) transition (SRT) by $\sim36\%$\ in December 2011, which has very different properties from a traditional pulsar glitch\cite{Marshall2015}. No evidence is seen for any change in the pulsed X-ray emission. We conclude that the SRT results from a sudden change in the pulsar magnetosphere that increases the pulsar wind power and hence the PWN X-ray emission. The X-ray light curve of the PWN suggests a mean life time of the particles of $397\pm374$\,days, corresponding to a magnetic field strength of $0.78_{-0.28}^{+4.50}$\,mG in the PWN., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection shares the same transmission routes, and thereby it is not rare in regions where the prevalence of HBV and HCV is high. However, the co-infection rates of HBV/HCV reported in different regions of the world are relatively dissimilar, and the co-infection rates of HBV/HCV in the population are unidentified due to the presence of silent HBV infection. Thus, the phenomenon of underestimation exists. HCV may have an inhibitory effect on HBV replication when HBV/HCV is co-infected, and the effect of HBV on HCV replication remains to be certain by more studies. Furthermore, the mechanism of interaction may include the direct effect of viral proteins and the indirect effect of immune mediated host response. HBV/HCV co-infection can cause more serious chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis, and can increase the risk of liver cancer. The efficacy of peginterferon plus ribavirin in patients with HBV/HCV co-infection is same as HCV monotherapy. There are few studies on the efficacy of direct-acting antiviral drugs. Patients with HBV/HCV co-infection have the risk of HBV reactivation regardless of anti-HCV treatment with peginterferon plus ribavirin or direct-acting antiviral drugs, but the probability of HBV reactivation and how to assess and prevent it needs more studies to interpret.由于相似的传播途径，乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）/丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）合并感染在HBV及HCV高流行地区并不少见，但世界范围内HBV/HCV合并感染率不同地区报道的数据差异较大，且由于隐匿性HBV感染的存在，人群中HBV/HCV合并感染率可能存在被低估的现象。HBV/HCV合并感染时HCV可能对HBV复制存在抑制作用，而HBV对HCV的复制的影响还有待更多的研究去证实，这其中相互作用的机制，可能包含病毒蛋白的直接作用以及宿主免疫反应介导的间接作用。HBV/HCV合并感染可发生更为严重的慢性肝病和肝硬化，且可增加肝癌发生的危险性。HBV/HCV合并感染患者使用聚乙二醇干扰素联合利巴韦林治疗方案的疗效与HCV单独感染者相似，使用直接抗病毒药物的疗效目前相关研究较少。HBV/HCV合并感染患者无论抗HCV治疗接受聚乙二醇干扰素联合利巴韦林治疗或直接抗病毒药物治疗，均存在HBV再激活的风险，但是HBV再激活的概率以及如何评估及防范尚需要更多的研究去阐明。.

The recently discovered neutron star transient Swift J0243.6+6124 has been monitored by {\it the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} ({\it Insight-\rm HXMT). Based on the obtained data, we investigate the broadband spectrum of the source throughout the outburst. We estimate the broadband flux of the source and search for possible cyclotron line in the broadband spectrum. No evidence of line-like features is, however, found up to $\rm 150~keV$. In the absence of any cyclotron line in its energy spectrum, we estimate the magnetic field of the source based on the observed spin evolution of the neutron star by applying two accretion torque models. In both cases, we get consistent results with $B\rm \sim 10^{13}~G$, $D\rm \sim 6~kpc$ and peak luminosity of $\rm >10^{39}~erg~s^{-1}$ which makes the source the first Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source hosting a neutron star., published

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common disorder in gynecological practice. Anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) and ovarian granular stem cell factor (SCF) participate in the occurrence and progression of PCOS. This study aimed to investigate the expression of AMH and SCF in PCOS patients and attempt to analyze the effect of AMH on SCF.Both PCOS and non-PCOS patients who received in vitro fertilization (IVF) in our hospital were recruited for measuring AMH and SCF levels in serum, ovarian follicular fluid and granular cells by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Real-time PCR were employed to quantify mRNA and protein levels of SCF in ovarian granular cells after treatment using different dosages of AMH.AMH levels in serum, follicular fluid and granular cells in PCOS patients were significantly elevated, whilst SCF level was significantly decreased (p0.05 in both cases). Therefore, there was a negative correlation between AMH and SCF level (p0.05). In 5 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml and 15 ng/ml group, SCF protein positive rate was gradually decreased and was significantly lower compared to that of blank control (p0.05). After treatment using AMH for 12, 24 and 48 h, SCF mRNA expression in the granular cell was significantly decreased (p0.05). With higher dosage, SCF mRNA was gradually down-regulated in granular cells (p0.05).High level of AMH and low level of SCF existed in serum, follicular fluid, and granular cells in PCOS patients. AMH exhibited negative regulatory effects on SCF.

We propose a scheme for quantum geometric computation on a fiber-cavity-fiber system, in which two atoms are located in two single-mode cavities, respectively, connected with each other by optical fiber. This scheme not only has the feature of virtual excitation of photons in the cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) that can reduce the effect of decay effectively but also has the advantage of geometric phase to withstand noises due to its built-in noise-resilience feature and robust merit. Specifically, our proposal combined with optimized-control-technology (OCT) can reduce gate operation error by adjusting the time-dependent amplitude and phase of the resonant field which further enhances the robustness of the quantum operation. The robustness against decoherence is demonstrated numerically and the scheme may be applied in the remote quantum information processing tasks and quantum computation.

In the light of the Busch, Lathi and Werner proposal, we explore, for the first time, the joint measurements and confirmation of uncertainty relations for three incompatible observables that reflect the original spirit proposed by Heisenberg in 1927. We first develop the error trade-off relations theoretically and then demonstrate the first experimental witness of joint measurements using a single ultracold 40Ca+ ion trapped in a harmonic potential. In addition, we report, that in contrast to the case of two observables, scarifying accuracy of any one of the three observables the rest of two can be measured with ultimate accuracy.

In this work, we report the in-orbit demonstration of X-ray pulsar navigation with Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), which was launched on Jun. 15th, 2017. The new pulsar navigation method 'Significance Enhancement of Pulse-profile with Orbit-dynamics' (SEPO) is adopted to determine the orbit with observations of only one pulsar. In this test, the Crab pulsar is chosen and observed by Insight-HXMT from Aug. 31th to Sept. 5th in 2017. Using the 5-day-long observation data, the orbit of Insight-HXMT is determined successfully with the three telescopes onboard - High Energy X-ray Telescope (HE), Medium Energy X-ray Telescope (ME) and Low Energy X-ray Telescope (LE) - respectively. Combining all the data, the position and velocity of the Insight-HXMT are pinpointed to within 10 km (3 sigma) and 10 m/s (3 sigma), respectively., Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Supplement

Corona cooling was detected previously from stacking a series of short type-I bursts occurred during the low/had state of atoll outburst. Type-I bursts are hence regarded as sharp probe to our better understanding on the basic property of the corona. The launch of the first Chinese X-ray satellite Insight-HXMT has large detection area at hard X-rays which provide almost unique chance to move further in this research field. We report the first detection of the corona cooling by Insight-HXMT from single short type-I burst showing up during {\bf flare} of 4U 1636-536. This type-I X-ray burst has a duration of $\sim$13 seconds and hard X-ray shortage is detected with significance 6.2~$\sigma$ in 40-70 keV. A cross-correlation analysis between the lightcurves of soft and hard X-ray band, shows that the corona shortage lag the burst emission by 1.6 $\pm$1.2~s. These results are consistent with those derived previously from stacking a large amount of bursts detected by RXTE/PCA within a series of {\bf flares} of 4U 1636-536. Moreover, the broad bandwidth of Insight-HXMT allows as well for the first time to infer the burst influence upon the continuum spectrum via performing the spectral fitting of the burst, which ends up with the finding that hard X-ray shortage appears at around 40 keV in the continuum spectrum. These results suggest that the evolution of the corona along with the outburst{\bf /flare} of NS XRB may be traced via looking into a series of embedded type-I bursts by using Insight-HXMT., Comment: published in 2018, ApJL,864, L30

The nonradiative single-electron-capture (SEC) and double-electron-capture (DEC) processes for C${}^{4+}$(1${s}^{2}$) colliding with He atoms are investigated by using the quantum-mechanical molecular-orbital close-coupling method. Total and state-selective electron-capture cross sections are calculated in the energy range of 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$--6 keV/amu. For energies less than 2 keV/amu, the DEC dominates the electron-capture processes. As the energy increases, the SEC cross sections increase while the DEC cross sections decrease; when $E$ g 2 keV/amu, the SEC process becomes the dominant mechanism. It is found that the SEC processes mainly result from the electron capture to $n$ = 3 channels of C${}^{3+}$ ion for energy below 0.7 keV/amu and from $n$ = 2 channels for $Eg0.7$ keV/amu. Compared with the available theoretical calculations, better agreement is achieved between the present results and the available measurements for total DEC and SEC cross sections. For state-resolved cross sections, excellent agreement is obtained for two-electron capture to C${}^{2+}$(2${s}^{2}$), C${}^{2+}$(2$s$2$p$), and C${}^{2+}$(2${p}^{2}$) and one-electron capture to C${}^{3+}$(2$s$) and C${}^{3+}$(2$p$) between the present calculations and the available theoretical and experimental results.

The nonradiative charge-transfer processes in Na${}^{+}$+${}^{87}$Rb(5$s$) collisions have been investigated by using the quantum-mechanical molecular-orbital close-coupling method and the two-center atomic-orbital close-coupling method for the energy range of 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$--5 and 0.3--100 keV/u, respectively. The radiative charge-transfer, radiative-decay, and radiative-association processes have been investigated by using the fully quantum, optical-potential, and semiclassical methods for the energy range of 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$--0.2 eV/u. The nonradiative charge-transfer processes dominate the collisions for energies above 0.2 eV/u and radiative-decay processes dominate in the lower-energy region. At the very low collision energies of 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$--10${}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ eV/u, the radiative-association process is more important than the radiative charge-transfer process. Most importantly, it is found that the radiative cross sections exhibit Langevin behavior as ${E}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ for energies less than 10${}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ eV/u.

To confirm the anticancer activity of steroid saponins isolated from the rhizome of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis and evaluate the structure-activity relationships of these steroid saponins in vitro and in vivo .Eight known steroid saponins were isolated from the rhizome of Paris polyphylla . The LA795 lung adenocarcinoma cell line from mice was chosen to evaluate cytotoxicity by means of MTT assay, and to study apoptosis by means of AnnexinV-FITC/PI flow cytometry. Diosgenin-3alpha-L-arabinofuranosyl(1--4)-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1--2)]-beta-D-glycopyranoside (compound 1), the main steroid saponin of Paris polyphylla , and diosgenin (Dio), the aglycone of major steroid saponins, were evaluated for antitumor activity on LA795 lung adenocarcinoma in T739 inbred mice.The steroid saponins showed remarkable cytotoxicity and caused typical apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. They were evaluated in vivo by their effect on tumor developed in T739 inbred mice. The oral administration to T739 mice bearing LA795 lung adenocarcinoma of compound 1 and diosgenin significantly inhibited tumor growth, by 29.44% and 33.94%, respectively. HE staining showed that lungs and livers of treated mice underwent various levels of histopathological alterations. It was demonstrated by TUNEL assay that apoptosis rate in tumor cells was increased in comparison to cells in control mice. The 3-O-glycoside moiety and spirostanol structure played an important role in the anticancer activity of steroid saponins, and the number and the variety of glycosides of compounds strongly influenced on their anticancer activity.Rhizoma Paridis saponins showed anticancer activity against lung adenocarcinoma cell line, both in vitro and in vivo, and their effect was dependent on compounds' structure in a certain degree.

Peripheral nerve injury results in sprouting of sympathetic and sensory nerve terminals around large diameter neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), but the underlying mechanism is not clear. Current study sought to examine changes of the nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor TrkA in DRG and spinal cord after a spinal nerve transection by an immunohistochemical technique and to investigate effects of NGF on the expression of TrkA protein in the same animal model. In the control rat, TrkA immunoreactivity was localized to about 55±1% of total neurons in DRG and to laminae I and II of the spinal cord. The percentage of TrkA immunoreative neurons in DRG and TrkA staining intensity of spinal cord were reduced 1 week after the nerve lesion. The changes became maximal 2 weeks, but recovered partially 4 weeks after the lesion. The size of TrkA immunoreactive neurons dramatically shifted to smaller sizes, becoming more remarkable 4 weeks after the lesion. In the contralateral DRG, the percentage of TrkA immunoreactive neurons also decreased significantly. Exogenous NGF delivered to DRG for 2 weeks partially reversed the reduction of TrkA expression as well as atrophy of TrkA immunoreactive neurons. No TrkA immunoreactive basket was found around neuronal somata. Our data show that unilateral peripheral nerve injury results in dynamic downregulation of TrkA in sensory neurons in bilateral DRG and spinal cord, and that TrkA expression in sensory neurons is partially regulated by target-derived NGF.

A spiral-shaped bacterium with bipolar, single, nonsheathed flagella was isolated from the intestines of laboratory mice. The organism grew at 37 and 42 degrees C under microaerobic and anaerobic conditions, did not hydrolyze urea, was weakly positive for catalase and oxidase, reduced nitrate to nitrite, did not hydrolyze indoxyl acetate or hippurate, and was resistant to cephalothin and nalidixic acid. This is the first urease-negative, murine Helicobacter spp. isolated from intestines. Also, Helicobacter pullorum and this bacterium are unique among the genus Helicobacter in having nonsheathed flagella. The new bacterium appears to be part of the normal intestinal flora; although its pathogenic potential is unknown, this organism was also isolated from scid mice with diarrhea that were co-infected with Helicobacter bilis. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis data and biochemical and phenotypic criteria, the new organism is classified as a novel helicobacter, for which we propose the name Helicobacter rodentium. The type strain is MIT 95-1707 (= ATCC 700285).

Twenty-three young adult rhesus monkeys from China were evaluated for the presence of Helicobacter pylori. Gastric body and antral biopsy samples were tested for H. pylori by PCR analysis, culture, rapid urease testing, and histologic evaluation. Serologic testing to detect H. pylori immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies was performed by using a commercially available human-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test and an ELISA test which utilized homologous H. pylori antigens and an anti-rhesus IgG conjugate. PCR analysis with H. pylori-specific 26-kDa protein primers detected H. pylori in 21 of the 23 rhesus monkeys (91%). Culture testing identified the organism in 12 of the 23 animals (52%). Rapid urease tests were positive for all animals. H. pylori was diagnosed by histological examination in 11 of 23 monkeys (48%). Of the 21 monkeys positive for H. pylori by PCR, only 3 (14%) had positive results by the commercial ELISA test, yielding a sensitivity of 14%, a specificity of 100%, and an accuracy of 22%. However, 19 of the 21 PCR-positive animals (90%) had positive results by the ELISA test with homologous rhesus H. pylori antigen and anti-monkey conjugate, with predicted index values greater than or equal to 0.7 considered positive and values between 0.5 and 0.7 considered equivocal. This test had a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 100%, and an accuracy of 91%. Therefore, the ELISA test with rhesus monkey origin components was more accurate for detecting infected animals than the human-based ELISA.