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Elongation of very long-chain fatty acid (Elovl) proteins is the critical rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs). Echinoderms are extremely important research objects in various fields, such as regeneration studies and developmental biology. However, to date, the genome-wide characterization and analysis of Elovl genes in echinoderms have not been investigated. In this study, the identification and analysis of Elovl genes in 10 representative echinoderms were performed using bioinformatics methods. A total of 117 Elovl genes have been found in the studied echinoderms. The phylogenetic tree showed that all Elovl genes from echinoderms can be subdivided into 6 classes, Elovl3-like class, Elovl4-like class, Elovl5-like class, Elovl6-like class, Elovl7-like class, and Elovl8-like class. Furthermore, the selection pressure analysis suggested that Elovl genes in echinoderms were mainly constrained by strong purifying selection events. In general, this study provides a molecular basis for echinoderm Elovl genes and may serve as a reference for in-depth phylogenomics.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new therapy for treating cancer with less toxicity, high selectivity, good cooperativity, and repetitive usability. However, keloid treatment by PDT is mainly focused on clinical appearance, and few studies have been conducted on the mechanisms of PDT. In this study, key factors of the classical mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathway were measured to assess the effect of a new PDT photosensitizer (p1). A specific inhibitor of caspase-8 (Z-IETD-FMK) was also used to verify the possible mechanisms. Twelve samples were obtained from 12 patients (six with keloids and six without) selected randomly from the Department of Plastic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January to December 2020. After cell culture, fibroblasts were divided into 13 groups. The morphology of fibroblasts in each group was observed by microscopy. Cell activity was measured by cell counting kit-8, and cell apoptotic morphology was observed by TUNEL staining. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) relative value was measured by a ROS test kit. The expression levels of key mitochondrial factors (caspase-3, caspase-8, cytochrome-c, Bax, and Bcl-2) were assessed by western blot, and mRNA expression of caspase-3 and caspase-8 was measured by RT-qPCR. We showed that p1 had a satisfactory proapoptotic effect on keloid fibroblasts by increasing the expression of ROS, caspase-3, caspase-8, and cytochrome-c, and decreasing the Bcl-2/Bax ratio; however, this effect was partially inhibited by Z-IETD-FMK, indicating that caspase-8 may be one of the p1's targets to achieve the proapoptotic effect.

To provide a low-cost photocatalyst and new methodology for the utilization of waste rice noodle (WRN), a carbon quantum dots/zinc oxide (CQDs/ZnO) composite using WRN as the raw material was synthesized and characterized. The CQDs/ZnO composite based on WRN exhibited a highly efficient photocatalytic degradation effect on various organic pollutants and could be a good alternative for commercial ZnO. For methylene blue, the CQDs/ZnO composite showed a good degradation rate of 99.58% within 40 min, a high degradation rate constant of 0.2630 min

Magnaporthe oryzae is an important plant pathogen that causes rice blast. Hse1 and Vps27 are components of ESCRT-0 involved in the multivesicular body (MVB) sorting pathway and biogenesis. To date, the biological functions of ESCRT-0 in M. oryzae have not been determined. In this study, we identified and characterized Hse1 and Vps27 in M. oryzae. Disruption of MoHse1 and MoVps27 caused pleiotropic defects in growth, conidiation, sexual development, and pathogenicity, thereby resulting in loss of virulence in rice and barley leaves. Disruption of MoHse1 and MoVps27 triggered increased lipidation of MoAtg8 and degradation of GFP-MoAtg8, indicating that ESCRT-0 is involved in the regulation of autophagy. ESCRT-0 was determined to interact with coat protein complex II (COPII), a regulator functioning in homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER homeostasis), and disruption of MoHse1 and MoVps27 also blocked activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) and autophagy of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER-phagy). Overall, our results indicate that ESCRT-0 plays critical roles in regulating fungal development, virulence, autophagy, and ER-phagy in M. oryzae. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

RNA splicing plays significant roles in fundamental biological activities. However, our knowledge about the roles of alternative splicing and underlying mechanisms during spermatogenesis is limited. Here, we report that Serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 2 (SRSF2), also known as SC35, plays critical roles in alternative splicing and male reproduction. Male germ cell-specific deletion of Srsf2 by Stra8-Cre caused complete infertility and defective spermatogenesis. Further analyses revealed that deletion of Srsf2 disrupted differentiation and meiosis initiation of spermatogonia. Mechanistically, by combining RNA-seq data with LACE-seq data, we showed that SRSF2 regulatory networks play critical roles in several major events including reproductive development, spermatogenesis, meiotic cell cycle, synapse organization, DNA recombination, chromosome segregation, and male sex differentiation. Furthermore, SRSF2 affected expression and alternative splicing of Stra8, Stag3 and Atr encoding critical factors for spermatogenesis in a direct manner. Taken together, our results demonstrate that SRSF2 has important functions in spermatogenesis and male fertility by regulating alternative splicing.

Blockchain has received global concern as a research focus in recent years. It is a decentralized and unreliably distributed database technology. Numerous countries and researchers have successively applied blockchain in various fields. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were adopted as bibliometric analysis tools in this paper to obtain a comprehensive overview of blockchain technology and grasp the current research emphasis. The Web of Science core collection database was used as the primary source for data collection. The data were collected from 3826 articles published from 2013 to 2020. Specifically, the publication trends and categories might throw light on the development trends and current domains in terms of blockchain research. The most influential and productive authors, institutions, countries, and journals were involved in this bibliometric analysis. Theoretical knowledge and hot research topics on blockchain mainly ranged over “smart contract”, “bitcoin”, “security”, “ethereum”, and “cryptography”. A cluster analysis from the keyword perspective was carried out to obtain emerging trends and frontiers of blockchain. The results showed that future research should concentrate on management, blockchain technology, energy, machine learning, and smart home. Therefore, this paper assisted scholars and practitioners in getting a comprehensive understanding of the status quo and trends of blockchain research.

The practical application of in situ remediation techniques requires an understanding of the dynamic changes in soil enzyme activity as indicators of soil fertility and health. Experiments were carried out in paddy soils co-contaminated with cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) at low (L) and high (H) levels. A calcium and iron (CaFe)-based amendment (limestone + iron powder + silicon fertilizer + calcium‑magnesium-phosphate fertilizer) was applied to the soil at concentrations of 0, 450, and 900 g·m

Increasing use of phosphorus products and excessive exploitation of phosphorus resources become two major problems in perspective of phosphorus sustainable development. Phosphorus recovery is the shortcut to solve this dilemma. Combining electrochemistry, an iron-air fuel cell was adopted to recover phosphate and electricity from phosphate-containing wastewater in our previous studies. The present study focused on investigating the effects of catholyte/anolyte conductivity, external resistance, and anolyte pH on the performance of iron-air fuel cell, and obtaining the optimized conditions. Furthermore, the electrochemical methods of phosphate recovery were compared and assessed, and it is concluded that iron-air fuel cell has great potential for energy recovery. The phosphate removal efficiencies and vivianite yield roughly positively correlated with the catholyte conductivity and the anolyte pH, but negatively correlated with the external resistance and the anolyte conductivity. The electricity generation roughly positively correlated with the catholyte conductivity and anolyte conductivity, but showed limitations in the test range of anolyte pH and external resistance. To pursue high phosphate removal efficiencies and vivianite yield, the catholyte conductivity, external resistance, anolyte pH and anolyte conductivity were suggested to be 35 g-NaCl/L, 10 Ω, 8 and 0 g-NaCl/L. While if electricity generation was the primary goal, these parameters should be 35 g-NaCl/L, 220 Ω, 5 and 70 g-NaCl/L. The optimized conditions will help to improve the phosphate removal efficiency, vivianite yield and electricity generation, and to promote the development of iron-air fuel cell technology.

Proliferation is an important characteristic of life, and many signaling pathways participate in this complicated process. The MAPK/Erk pathway is a classic pathway in cell proliferation. In this study, expression levels of key factors in the MAPK/Erk pathway were measured to assess the proliferation level among normal skin, physiological scar, and keloid tissue. Thirty patients were selected randomly from the Department of Plastic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2019 to December 2020. Histological appearance and fiber tissue content were observed by Hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson staining. Expression levels of key factors in the MAPK/Erk pathway (ATF2, c-Jun, c-Myc, p38 and STAT1) and relative proteins (HIF-1α and PCNA) in tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry and analyzed as the percentage of positively stained cells in both the tissue epidermis and dermis. Western blot was used for quantitative analysis of the above factors. In results, keloid tissue showed a significantly higher fiber and less cell content. In the immunohistochemical result, higher expression of key factors was observed in the epidermis than in the dermal layer, and the expression of all factors was increased remarkably in keloid tissue. In western blot analysis, all factors (except STAT1) showed higher expression in keloid tissue. In our former research, keloid showed similar apoptosis level as physiological scar and normal skin. On combining our former conclusion and results in this study, an imbalance condition between the high proliferation level and normal apoptosis level may lead to the growth characteristics of keloid.

In this work, a cost-effective wax was synthesized from waste cooking oil (WCO), and its properties including melting point, color, hardness, combustion performance and micro-morphology were tested and analyzed. The obtained results showed that the epoxy waste cooking oil had lighter color, higher melting point and hardness than that of original WCO, which could be used as wax. Moreover, introducing stearic acid further improved the performances of WCO-based wax. The WCO-based wax made of epoxy waste cooking oil and stearic acid (containing ≥50 wt% stearic acid) displayed a relatively high melting point (≥46 °C), light color (Lovibond color code

The potential for preventive and therapeutic applications of H2 have now been confirmed in various disease. However, the effects of H2 on health status have not been fully elucidated. Our previous study reported changes in the body weight and 13 serum biochemical parameters during the six-month hydrogen intervention. To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of long-term hydrogen consumption, the plasma metabolome and gut microbiota were investigated in this study. Compared with the control group, 14 and 10 differential metabolites (DMs) were identified in hydrogen-rich water (HRW) and hydrogen inhalation (HI) group, respectively. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that HRW intake mainly affected starch and sucrose metabolism, and DMs in HI group were mainly enriched in arginine biosynthesis. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that HRW intake induced significant changes in the structure of gut microbiota, while no marked bacterial community differences was observed in HI group. HRW intake mainly induced significant increase in the abundance of Lactobacillus, Ruminococcus, Clostridium XI, and decrease in Bacteroides. HI mainly induced decreased abundances of Blautia and Paraprevotella. The metabolic function was determined by metabolic cage analysis and showed that HI decreased the voluntary intake and excretions of rats, while HRW intake did not. The results of this study provide basic data for further research on hydrogen medicine. Determination of the effects of hydrogen intervention on microbiota profiles could also shed light on identification of mechanism underlying the biological effects of molecular hydrogen.

We examined the effects of exogenous melatonin (MT) on the resistance of以切花菊品种‘神马'为试材,研究外源褪黑素(MT)对菊花抗高温胁迫的影响。将供试菊花叶面喷施200 μmol·L

Loss of the neuromonitoring signal (LOS) during thyroidectomy signifies recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury, which is one of the common complications, especially by traction injury. Transient intraoperative LOS means spontaneous recovery of nerve function during surgery or within 6-month post-surgery. Few articles discuss intraoperative recovery time and transient LOS, and there is no consensus on the risk factors for RLN traction injury and its recovery course; thus, we wanted to determine the maximum intraoperative recovery time. This retrospective study included patients who had undergone thyroidectomies at Tainan National Cheng Kung University Hospital between January 2015 and August 2018. A total of 775 patients (with 1000 nerves at risk) who underwent intermittent intraoperative neuromonitoring during thyroidectomy were included in this study. The LOS nerves were divided into 4 groups based on the LOS subtype and the intraoperative status of the recovery. The postoperative vocal cord function was determined by thyroid ultrasound and/or laryngoscope. All the patients would be followed up postoperatively in 2–3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4–6 weeks. LOS occurred in 67 of 775 (8.6%) patients and in 70 of 1000 nerves at risk (7.0%). There were 2 in 70 nerves (2.9%) with LOS type 1 (segmental nerve traction injury) with intraoperative recovery (Group 1), 5 (7.1%) with LOS type 1 without intraoperative recovery (Group 2), 47 (67.1%) with LOS type 2 (global injury) with intraoperative recovery (Group 3), and 16 (22.8%) with LOS type 2 without intraoperative recovery (Group 4). All LOS type 1 (segmental nerve injury) nerves had pathologic lesions near the RLN or vagus nerve, but none had invaded the nerves (p

Metformin, a first-line drug for type-2 diabetes, plays a potentially protective role in preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD), but its underlying mechanism is unclear. In this study, Aβ25-35 -treated SH-SY5Y cells were used as a cell model of AD to investigate the neuroprotective effect of metformin, as well as its underlying mechanisms. We found that metformin decreased the cell apoptosis rate and death, ratio of Bcl-2/Bax, and expression of NR2A and NR2B, and increased the expression of LC3 in Aβ25-35 -treated SH-SY5Y cells. Metformin also reduced intracellular and extracellular Glu concentrations, as well as the intracellular concentration of Ca2+ and ROS in Aβ25-35 -treated SH-SY5Y cells. These findings suggest that metformin inhibits Aβ25-35 -treated SH-SY5Y cell death by inhibiting apoptosis, decreasing intracellular Ca2+ and ROS by reducing neurotoxicity of excitatory amino acids, and by possibly reversing autophagy disorder via regulating autophagy process.

The wasted sludge from ferrous ion-dependent nitrate removal (FeNiR) process is potential to be re-used as adsorbent to remove industrial pollutants. After pretreatment, the adsorption efficiency of FeNiR wasted sludge to reactive red X-3B, minocycline hydrochloride and Cr6+ was 88.95%, 90.08%, and 95.97%. The optimal initial pH to adsorb reactive red X-3B, minocycline hydrochloride, and Cr6+ was 2, 4, 2, while the optimal adsorbent dosage was 0.3 g, 0.8 g, and 1.0 g, and the optimal temperature was 50 °C, 30 °C, and 50 °C. The adsorption process follows the pseudo-secondary adsorption kinetics model, indicating the chemical adsorption dominates the adsorption process. The analysis of adsorption thermodynamic shows that all three adsorption reactions proceed spontaneously. From the results of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Brunner-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, the FeNiR wasted sludge after pretreatment is porous that endows the wasted sludge physical adsorption ability. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis shows that the chemical bonds, including the hydroxyl group of Fe3O4, the Fe-O, and the α-FeOOH in the iron encrustation play more important roles in the adsorption process. Being used as adsorbent to treat industrial wastewater is a promising way to re-use the wasted sludge and decreases the cost of FeNiR process.

Plant diseases caused by fungi are one of the major threats to global food security and understanding the interactions between fungi and plants is of great significance for plant disease control. The interaction between pathogenic fungi and plants is a complex process. From the perspective of pathogenic fungi, pathogenic fungi are involved in the regulation of pathogenicity by surface signal recognition proteins, MAPK signaling pathways, transcription factors, and pathogenic factors in the process of infecting plants. From the perspective of plant immunity, the signal pathway of immune response, the signal transduction pathway that induces plant immunity, and the function of plant cytoskeleton are the keys to studying plant resistance. In this review, we summarize the current research progress of fungi–plant interactions from multiple aspects and discuss the prospects and challenges of phytopathogenic fungi and their host interactions.

Phosphorous (P) recovery from industrial wastewaters solves both P deficiency and P pollution problems. A sequencing batch iron-air fuel cell was set up to recover P from synthetic wastewater containing 0.6 g-P/L Na2HPO4. In the cell, ferrous iron goes into the liquor from iron-anode to precipitate soluble P and form vivianite. Electrons travel from iron-anode to air-cathode through external circuit thus to generate energy. During 3 months' continuous operation, the P removal efficiency stably achieved at around 97.6%, and the average output voltage of cell was 404 mV. After long time operation, performance degradation of iron-air fuel cell was observed due to the electrode passivation caused by the accumulation of P precipitate on the iron-anode surface. The precipitate layer on the iron-anode impeded, but it did not block the mass transfer of ferrous iron to the anode liquor. The cell still worked with 25% decrease of output voltage, 86% decrease of current density, 87% decrease of power density and 9 times increase of internal resistance. Further analyses by XRD, FITR and Mossbauer illustrated that vivianite was the main component in both precipitates on the iron-anode surface and at the bottom of anode chamber with respective content of 66% and 30%. Vivianite on the iron-anode surface was a preferable choice due to higher content for P recovery. The iron-air fuel cell system could be a feasible option for achieving the multiple goals of P pollution control, resource recovery as vivianite, and energy generation, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of wastewater treatment.

Solvothermal reactions of CuX2 (X = NO3, Cl, Br, I) with tetra-pyridyl-functionalized calix[4]arene at 130 °C afforded four novel coordination polymers, {[(CuNO3)2L]·MeOH}n (1), [(CuCl2)L0.5]n (2), [(Cu3Br3)L]n (3), and [(Cu3I3)L]n (4), where L = 25,26,27,28-tetra[(3-pyridylmethyl)oxy]calix[4]arene. All the products were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and powder X-ray diffraction. Crystal structure analysis reveals that 1 holds a one-dimensional (1D) double-chain constructed by mononuclear [Cu(NO3)] units and L linkers, while 2 features a 1D chain and its bowl-shaped L ligands work as linkers to connect the dinuclear [Cu2Cl4] units. Compounds 3 and 4 bear similar two-dimensional networks, in which each trinuclear [Cu3Br3]/[Cu3I3] unit works as a three-connecting node to connect its six equivalents by sharing L ligands. These results demonstrate that different anions have a significant effect on the final structure formation. Compounds ...

Background Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for Chinese medicine (CM) are being developed to assist doctors with appropriate decisions concerning CM care. To date, there has been little investigation on the perspectives of those to whom the guidelines are directed. Methods A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 4503 doctors in 28 provinces of China in the latter half of 2012. Questions were organized around the topics of knowledge, application, practice changes, beliefs and outcomes of implementation. Basic classificatory data on specialties and years of qualification were also collected. Results Replies were received from 4495 CM doctors (99.82%). Of these, 85.56% of CM doctors reported being familiar with CPG recommendations, but the overall adherence rate was only 50.39%. The length of time practicing CM may influence the rate of adherence, since 709 doctors (51.90%) with less than 5 years of experience reported never having followed CPGs. Doctors in nine specialties showed a modest degree of homogeneity in their attitudes towards CM diagnosis and treatment, which were generally positive. Most doctors regarded CPG-recommended therapies as safe (92%), economic (84%), and effective (76%). Approximately four-fifths of those questioned selected ‘acceptable’ (60.84%) and ‘acceptable after revision’ (19.23%) regarding their comprehensive assessment of the CPGs. Conclusions An encouraging result from this survey is that the majority of CM doctors support the concept of CPGs for the practice of CM. However, the results of this survey also suggest that improving the adherence of CM doctors to the guidelines remains a major challenge to improving the practice standards for CM.

When iron salt is used as an autotrophic denitrification electron donor, the high iron yield generated by oxidation is easy to precipitate, resulting in "iron encrustation" on the surface of denitrifying microorganisms, which inhibits their activity and even leads to their death. In order to solve the degradation of the efficiency of the autotrophic ferric denitrification reactor caused by the "iron encrustation" coating, this paper adopted the co-substrate mode to cultivate the ferric denitrification reactor; that is, a small amount of sodium acetate was added into the water of the reactor as an organic electron donor, to realize the efficient and stable operation of the ferric denitrification reactor. The results showed that adding an appropriate amount of organic matter could make the iron salt denitrification reactor run efficiently and stably, with an efficiency of up to 0.51 kg·(m

Paclitaxel( PTX) is used as a broad spectrum anti-tumor medicine. However,serious drawbacks restrict clinical application of PTX. In this study,we prepared tumor-targeting and pH-sensitive lipoprotein-mimic nanocarrier containing paclitaxel( BSALC/DOPE-PTX) to study the effective antitumor activity. The in vivo targeting ability of the nanocarrier in tumor bearing nude mice was evaluated by using a Kodak in vivo imaging system FX PRO. The in vivo anti-tumor activity was evaluated in MDA-MB-231 tumor bearing mice,and representative sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin( HE),and examined by light microscopy. The results showed that DiR-loaded FA-BSA-LC/DOPE selectively targeted tumor,and had a relatively long residence in the tumor tissue. According to the in vivo anti-tumor activity study,FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX exhibited an outstanding tumor inhibition effect with a tumor growth inhibition rate of 79.3%,and tumor tissue sections stained by hematoxylin and eosin( HE) showed severe necrosis areas and many dead cells with condensed nuclei in the FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX group. Therefore,FA-BSA-LC/DOPE-PTX is a biocompatible,tumor-targeting and pH-sensitive lipoprotein-mimic nanocarrier,with a very marked anti-tumor activity in tumor-bearing mice in vivo.

Metformin, a first-line drug for type-2 diabetes, plays a potentially protective role in preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD), but its underlying mechanism is unclear. In this study, Aβ

Iron encrustation was deduced as the bottleneck for ferrous ion dependent nitrate removal (FeNiR) process development. To avoid the formation of iron encrustation, co-substrate cultivation (molar ratio of nitrate, ferrous sulfate and acetate at 8:20:1) was adopted. The FeNiR rate remained at 0.51 kg-N/(m3·d) for 40 days, the death rate of cells slowed down, and the specific FeNiR activity of sludge kept at 0.73 mg-N /(g VSS·h). Both facultative heterotrophic denitrifier and obligate heterotrophic denitrifier existed but the latter was deduced as the main contributor. A “barrier” around obligate heterotrophic denitrifier was observed. Cells inside the “barrier” were without iron encrustation. With insufficient organics, the nitrate was reduced to nitrite biologically and the nitrite travelled outside the “barrier” and reacted with ferrous ion chemically to accomplish FeNiR. With acetate as co-substrate, the formation of iron encrustation was efficiently avoided and a high and stable FeNiR efficiency was achieved.

In order to improve the fe rrous ion-dependent ni trate r emoval (FeNiR) process, hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion was used as substrate to replace the free ferrous ion. With hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate, the influent pH was adjusted to 6.8, and as a result a higher effluent pH (7.2) was detected. The v olumetric r emoval r ate (VRR) of nitrate kept at 0.42 ± 0.03 kg-N/(m3∙d) for 48 days and the corresponding nitrogen removal efficiency was 94.39 ± 4.57%. After 88 days of cultivation, FeNiR granules became small because of the oligotrophic substrate. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis showed that less iron encrustation was formed on the surface or in the periplasm of FeNiR cells. The linear curve of the living cell percentage versus time showed that the death rate of FeNiR cells with chelated ferrous ion as substrate was much lower than that with free ferrous ion as substrate (0.4210 vs 0.9221). Without iron encrustation, both the FeNiR activity and al kaline p hosphatase (ALP) activity of FeNiR cells kept at high level and thus the efficiency of the FeNiR reactor kept stable and high. With hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate, the pH in bulk liquid was high (pH = 7.2) resulting in the high FeNiR rate, and less iron encrustation was formed around cells ensuring the stability of high FeNiR rate. Therefore, using hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate was an efficient way to improve the FeNiR process.

Electricigenic respiration is a new microbial metabolism discovered recently in an anaerobic environment lacking common electron receptors such as oxygen and others, in which some bacteria utilize extracellular electron transfer system. One electricigen, Klebsiella oxytoca d7, was isolated and confirmed its ability of electricigenic respiration in previous study, but its process and mechanism from intracellular respiratory chain to extracellular electron acceptors were not clear. In this paper, a microbial fuel cell (MFC) of this pure bacterium was constructed, and the main mechanism of electron transfer via the electron transfer mediators (ETMs) during electricity generation process of the bacterium was explored. The results show the ETMs can only be generated with the circuit on, and its contribution to the total electricity generation was much greater than that when the carbon source was insufficient. The redox potential of the ETMs of the K. oxytoca d7 was about −250 mV. The electrons were intercepted during the transfer from NADH to coenzyme Q and flow to the extracellular electron acceptors. The site of electron interception in the ETMs was only dependent on the redox potential of the ETMs secreted by the electricigens. Electrons were transferred from carriers in intracellular respiratory chain and with slightly higher redox potential than ETMs to ETMs. Normally the contribution of extracellular electron transfer mediated by ETMs to the total electricity generation amounted to more than 60%, indicating the process directly affected the conversion of organic substance in anode chamber and the electricity generation performance of the MFC.

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Fibroblasts are the main cellular ingredients in keloid tissue, which has a relatively low apoptosis level. A natural metabolite of estradiol, 2-Methoxyestradiol (2ME2) exerts a pro-apoptotic effect on tumor cells. In this study, the expression levels of key factors in the apoptosis pathway and the expression level of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were measured to assess the levels of apoptosis and proliferation in both normal skin fibroblasts and keloid fibroblasts. Twelve samples were obtained from 12 patients: 6 keloid patients and 6 non-keloid patients. All 12 of the patients were randomly selected from the Department of Plastic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from June 2016 to December 2016. After cell culture, fibroblasts were divided into the following 6 groups: normal skin fibroblasts (S); keloid fibroblasts (K); keloid fibroblasts treated with 2ME2 (2ME2); keloid fibroblasts treated with DMSO (DMSO); keloid fibroblasts treated with the caspase inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO (IN); and keloid fibroblasts treated with both Ac-DEVD-CHO and 2ME2 (IN+2ME2). Fibroblasts at up to passage 3 were used for analysis. Cell activity was measured by the cell counting kit-8. TUNEL staining was used to observe the cell apoptotic morphology. The key apoptosis factors (caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9, Bcl-2, Bax, and cytochrome-c) and PCNA expression levels were detected by immunofluorescence analysis and Western blotting. A certain concentration of 2ME2 was also used in group S to evaluate the toxicity. Compared with that in the other groups, 2ME2 significantly inhibited cell activity and led to apoptotic appearance of fibroblasts. In protein analysis, 2ME2 remarkably increased the expression of apoptosis factors and decreased the PCNA expression. Apoptosis levels were reduced by both the caspase inhibitor and 2ME2; thus indicating that the pro-apoptosis effect of 2ME2 was achieved through a caspase-dependent mechanism in keloid fibroblasts. Toxicity assessment showed that 2ME2 had a very low influence on normal skin fibroblasts. 2ME2, considered to be a new promising type of chemotherapy drug, exerts a pro-apoptosis effect by regulating the caspase family and an anti-proliferation effect towards keloid fibroblasts, and it presents low toxicity towards normal fibroblasts

Apoptosis is a process of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. The mitochondrial pathway plays a paramount role in apoptosis. In this study, the expression levels of key factors in the mitochondrial pathway and the cell proliferation factor (PCNA) were measured to evaluate the level of apoptosis and proliferation in keloid scars, physiological scars and normal skin tissue. Thirty samples were taken from 30 patients: 10 keloid patients, 10 physiological scar patients and 10 patients without obvious scarring. All 30 patients were selected randomly from the Department of Plastic Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from June 2016 to December 2016. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson staining were used to observe the differences in histology and fiber tissue content. Mitochondrial pathway factors (caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9, Bcl-2, Bax, cytochrome-c) and PCNA expression levels were detected by immunohistochemistry and were analyzed as the percentage of positively stained cells in the epidermis and dermis. Relative protein expression levels were measured by western blotting. Compared with physiological scars and normal skin tissue, keloid tissue had an increase in fiber number and decrease in cell content. In our immunohistochemical and western blot analyses, all tissue types showed similar expression levels of the mitochondrial pathway factors. However, the percentage of PCNA-positive cells and the relative protein expression level of PCNA were significantly higher in keloid tissue. Keloid has a similar apoptosis level as physiological scars and normal skin but has a higher expression of PCNA, indicating that keloid scars have high levels of proliferation and normal apoptosis.

Clinical application evaluation research of Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Pediatrics in Traditional Chinese Medicine intends to evaluate the quality level and clinical application of the guideline. A questionnaire and prospective case survey methods were used to evaluate the applicability evaluation based on the clinician questionnaire and the application evaluation based on clinical case observation. The applicability evaluation, familiarity and utilization rate of doctors' guidelines were 85.06%, 62.76%; Sort by technical grade, intermediate grade doctors have a higher familiarity rate and utilization rate, while the junior grade doctor's is lower; Guide quality level of applicability evaluation, other items' rational percentage are better than 96% except the items of health preserving and prevention and other treatment is relatively low; Items' applicable percentage of applicability evaluation are more than 91% except the item of guide simplicity. Comprehensive applicability evaluation, The percentage of the guideline applicable to clinical practice accounted for 94.94%. The consistency rate of syndrome differentiation and clinical application is more than 96% in addition to prescription medication, other treatments and health preserving and prevention of the guidelines apply consistency of application evaluation. The percentage of good treatment effect accounted for 92.96% of application effect evaluation. The safety percentage is 99.89% and economy is 97.45%. The research shows that of Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Pediatrics in Traditional Chinese Medicine quality level is good and is basically applicable to pediatric clinical practice which can be used as a standardized recommendation of pediatric common diseases' treatment specification. A small part of the guidelines are not applicable and need to be further consummated. Health preserving and prevention and other treatment of the guideline need to be revised.

To provide reference for revising the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Coloproctology in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) through clinical research. 9 TCM hospitals worldwide have conducted a survey and questionnaires for 7 CPGs have been received. 263 cases clinical doctors accepted the applicability survey of guidelines. 89.35% is more familiar to the guidelines and 36.12% have been used the guidelines. In syndrome differentiation and treatment related contents, diagnostic point, treatment and syndrome differentiation are higher, accounted for 96.96%, 88.59%, 96.20%, respectively. Rationality of prevention is lower, accounted for 65.02%.88.21% clinical doctors believe that the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Coloproctology in Traditional Chinese Medicine is applicable. The application of the guidelines is evaluated by prospective observation of 1 309 cases. The higher consistency between guidelines and clinical practice is Western medicine disease diagnosis and traditional Chinese medicine disease diagnosis, accounted for 98.70%, 90.76%, respectively. The lower is rationality of prevention, accounted for 49.27%. The safety and economy of the guidelines are better, accounted for 97.02%, 95.11%, respectively. The comprehensive evaluation results showed that the overall treatment effect and technical level, satisfaction degree, applicability in clinical practice which were 7-9 points is 81.52%, 80.60%, 79.30%.The complex evaluation of diagnosis and treatment of common diseases of coloproctology in TCM guidelines is good, and suitable for clinical application with increase the content of rationality of prevention.

This study aims to evaluate the adaptability and applicability of Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The assessment methods included adaptability assessment and applicability assessment. The adaptability assessment was based on the questionnaire survey to evaluate the familiarity, utilization, quality, and clinical application of the Guidelines; applicability assessment was based on the prospective observation of 853 clinical cases to investigate the applicability and effect of the Guidelines, including effectiveness, economy and safety. Statistical analysis for basic description, construction of different comparison groups for cross or hierarchical statistical test, multi-factor analysis, and confounding factors were used in the study. Adaptability assessment results showed that 63.03% of TCM doctors considered guidelines as good or very good applicability and 4.24% of TCM doctors considered guidelines with very poor applicability in clinical practice. For the applicability evaluation, TCM doctors considered that the "overall efficacy and technology level", "satisfactory degree" and "adaptability in clinical practice" of the guideline were 85.46%, 80.43% and 69.40% respectively. The results showed that guideline was well known among TCM doctors, especially junior TCM doctors. Adaptability and applicability of Guidelines were totally good but the quality and adaptability of the intervention schemes were still week, so the quality of Guidelines should be improved by revision.

This study is to assess the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Otolaryngology in Traditional Chinese Medicine in clinical application and provide evidence for further guideline revision. The assessment was divided into applicability assessment and practicability assessment. The applicability assessment based on questionnaire survey and the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners were asked to independently fill the Questionnaire for Applicability Assessment on the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The practicability assessment was based on prospective case investigation and analysis method and the TCM practitioners-in-charge filled the Case Investigation Questionnaire for Practicability Assessment on the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The data were analyzed in descriptive statistics. 151 questionnaires were investigated for applicability assessment and 1 016 patients were included for practicability assessment. The results showed that 88.74% of them were familiar with the guidelines and 45.70% used them. The guidelines quality and related items were similar in applicability assessment and practicability assessment, and scored highly as more than 85.00% except the "recuperating and prevention". The results suggested that the quality of Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Diseases of Otolaryngology in Traditional Chinese Medicine was high and could better guide the clinical practice. The "recuperating and prevention" part should be improved and the evidence data should be included in future guideline revision, so that the clinical utilization rate could be increased.