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Most organotin compounds, which have been widely used in food packaging materials and production process show serious toxicity effects on human health. A high content of fat brought large matrix interference to the analysis and detection of edible vegetable oil. Methanol was selected as the extraction solvent, and the edible vegetable oil in low temperature was easily solidified. A simple and low-cost method based on high performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of four organotins in edible vegetable oil samples was developed. Four organotins including dibutyltin dichloride, tributyltin chloride, diphenyltin dichloride and triphenyltin chloride were simultaneously extracted with methanol using the low-temperature precipitation process. After being concentrated, the extracts were purified by matrix solid-phase dispersion using graphitized carbon black. Ethanol, methanol, and acetonitrile were investigated to extract organotins from edible vegetable oil samples. The recoveries of the four organotins extracted by liquid-liquid extraction and freezing extraction were also compared. The proposed method is comparable to, or even an improvement on the current national standard and related research. The adsorption abilities of some materials including primary secondary amine, alumina N, florisil, and graphitized carbon black were also studied. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the new method, the recovery was investigated. The ranges in the recoveries for the four organotins present at three levels ranged from 74.2% to 99.5%. Current work is comparable or better than those of national standards and the reported methods. The results show that the sample preparation method enables the simultaneous determination of the four organotins in peanut oil, soybean oil, corn oil, rape oil and edible blended oil samples.

Aims: This study aims to analyse whether inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) was beneficial in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) patients with pulmonary hypertension. Methods and results: Five critically ill COVID‐19 patients with pulmonary hypertension designated Cases 1–5 were retrospectively included. Clinical data before and after iNO treatment were serially collected and compared between patients with or without iNO treatment. The five cases experienced pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) elevation (≥50 mmHg) at 30, 24, 33, 23, and 24 days after illness onset (d.a.o), respectively. Cases 1–3 received iNO treatment on the 24th, 13th, and 1st day after the first elevation of PASP, with concentrations varied from 10 to 20 ppm based on the changes of PASP and blood pressure for 10, 9, and 5 days, respectively. Upon iNO treatment, PASP of Cases 1 and 2 returned to normal on the 10th day and 1st day, and maintained between 50 and 58 mmHg in Case 3. Pa02/Fi02 increased from 88 to 124, 51 to 118, and 146 to 244, respectively. SPO2 increased from 91% to 97% for Case 1 and maintained a high level above 97% for Case 2. Cardiac function remained normal in the three patients after treatment. Moreover, Cases 1 and 3 survived from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, while Case 2 finally died on the 36th day after the first elevation of PASP due to severe complications. Both cases who did not receive iNO treatment experienced a sudden decrease of PASP and Pa02/Fi02 due to right heart failure and then died. Conclusions: Inhaled nitric oxide treatment was beneficial in reducing and stabilizing the PASP and might also reduce the risk of right heart failure in COVID‐19 with pulmonary hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new analytical procedure for the determination of five organotin compounds in several matrix wine samples is reported. The organotin compounds were extracted by microwave-assisted extraction with n-hexane. Extraction conditions, such as volume of n-hexane required, extraction temperature, and extraction time, were investigated and optimized by an orthogonal array experimental design. The determination of organotin compounds in the final extracts was carried out by liquid chromatography–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The procedure showed limits of detection between 0.029–0.049 µg · L−1. The linearity was in the range of 0.5 to 100 µg · L−1. The precision expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) was below 9.43%. The developed method was successfully employed to analyze different matrix wine samples, and some analytes were detected at the level of 0.053 to 1.14 µg · L−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) can cause liver fibrosis and lead to cirrhosis and cancer. As the effectiveness of antiviral therapy to reverse liver fibrosis is limited, We aimed to evaluate the effect of An-Luo-Hua-Xian pill (ALHX) on fibrosis regression in CHB patients treated with entecavir (ETV)., Methods: Treatment-naïve patients with CHB were randomly treated with ETV alone or combined with ALHX (ETV+ALHX) between October 1, 2013 and December 31, 2020. Demographic, laboratory, and liver histology data before and after 78 weeks of treatment were collected. The Ishak fibrosis score (F) was used and fibrosis regression required a decrease in F of ≥1 after treatment., Results: A total of 780 patients were enrolled, and 394 with a second liver biopsy after treatment were included in the per-protocol population, 132 in ETV group and 262 in ETV+ALHX group. After 78 weeks of treatment, the fibrosis regression rate in the ETV+ALHX group was significantly higher than that of the ETV group at baseline F≥3 patients: 124/211 (58.8%) vs. 45/98 (45.9%), p =0.035. The percentage of patients with a decreased liver stiffness measurement (LSM) was higher in the ETV+ALHX group: 156/211 (73.9%) vs. 62/98 (63.%), p =0.056. Logistic regression analysis showed that ETV combined with ALHX was associated with fibrosis regression [odds ratio (OR)=1.94, p =0.018], and a family history of hepatocellular carcinoma was on the contrary. (OR=0.41, p =0.031)., Conclusions: ETV combined with ALHX increased liver fibrosis regression in CHB patients., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interests related to this publication., (© 2023 Authors.)

Dryland wheat has gone through double selections, including natural and artificial selection, in the evolutionary process. During this process, artificial selection played a key role in variety domestication and improvement. This paper summarized a few relatively independent but interrelated issues including evolutionary characteristics, physiological plasticity, morphological plasticity and population attribute transition in dryland wheat under artificial selection. It provided an overview on physiological and ecological mechanism of dryland wheat adapting to stress conditions, and an outline of wheat evolution route. In the long-term evolutionary history of dryland wheat from diploid to hexaploid, natural selection acted as a key role for wheat adaptation to stress environments. With the intervention of artificial selection, the yield-oriented phenotyping has been continuously strengthened, and morphological characteristics of wheat tended to display a fine adaptation to adverse environments at population level. As a product of artificial selection, water and nutrient use efficiencies were improved constantly, and biomass allocation pattern showed the characteristics of lowering below-ground parts and increasing above-ground parts. In the meantime, the tolerance to density and high temperature stresses tended to be enhanced, while photosynthetic rate per unit area was decreased gradually. Dryland wheat production was a complex population process, rather than a simple individual performance. Artificial selection increased population fitness and individual reproductive allocation in dryland wheat, which in turn strengthened its coordination with environment, but weakened its attributes of natural population. This paper also drew an outline of dryland wheat evolution, and provided a few suggestions for breeding strategies and cultivation management of dryland wheat under climate change.

Objective: To express soluble HA of A/H1N1 influenza virus in drosophila S2 cell line and identify its bio-activity., Methods: HA gene was amplified from A/Shenzhen/71/09 virus strain using RT-PCR, then we constructed pAC5.1-HA expression vector, which was co-transfected into S2 cell with pCoblast vector. After transfection, stable S2 cell was selected through Blasticindin. HA in the supernatant was identified with Western Blot assay and purified with Ni-column. Recombinant HA was immunized into BALB/c mice 3 times, and the Abs titers were evaluated with ELISA., Results: We successfully cloned HA gene with 1.7 x 10(3) bp of A/Shenzhen/71/09 virus strain and got recombinant pAC5. 1-HA expression vector. Stable S2 cell line was established after transfection and selection, which continuously expressed HA with molecular weight 75 x 10(3) D. After immunization with HA, the Abs titers were 1:1280 and 1: 5120 respectively on 10 d, 30 d., Conclusion: We expressed soluble HA with good bio-activity, which contributed to research on immune diagnosis, subunit vaccine, and monoclonal Abs for influenza.