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To explore the effects of high cervical spinal cord electrical stimulation (cSCS) on the recovery of neurological function and its possible mechanism in rats with traumatic brain injury (TBI). 72 rats were randomly divided into: (1) a sham group; (2) a traumatic brain injury (TBI) group; (3) a TBI+cSCS group; (4) a LY294002+TBI+cSCS group. The degree of neurological dysfunction was evaluated by modified Neurological severity score (mNSS). The pathological changes of the brain tissue in the injured area were observed by HE staining, and the apoptosis of neuron cells were observed by TUNEL staining. The expressions of BDNF and VEGFmRNA were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the expressions of p-AKT, AKT, Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 proteins were detected by western blot. Compared with that of the TBI and LY294002+TBI+cSCS groups, the mNSS of the TBI+cSCS group were significantly lower on day 3 and 7 ( P0.05). Compared with that in the TBI and LY294002+TBI+cSCS groups, the apoptosis of neuron cells in the TBI+cSCS group decreased significantly ( P0.05). Compared with the TBI and LY294002+TBI+cSCS group, the expression of Bcl-2 protein increased and the expressions of Bax and Caspase-3 proteins decreased in the TBI+cSCS group ( P0.05). Compared with that in the TBI and LY294002+TBI+cSCS groups, the intensity of p-Akt/Akt in the TBI+cSCS group increased ( P0.05). We found that cSCS had a protective effect on neuron cells after craniocerebral injury and could improve neurological dysfunction in rats, the mechanism of which might be that cSCS made the PI3K/Akt pathway more active after TBI.

Purpose: Oncology studies employing digital dissection methodologies have provided some insight on the biological features of tumor microenvironment of Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but molecular diagnostics rarely have therapeutic impact. We aimed to identify a novel prognostic biomarker to investigate immune characteristics of TNBC using transcriptomic features. Patients and Methods: We extracted whole transcriptome from breast cancer tissue of 30 TNBC patients and then used bioinformatics approaches to characterize the different immune cell contents in tumor tissue and para-cancerous tissue. We extract 2 indicators to describe the major differences in immune infiltration in the microenvironment between tumor tissue and para-cancerous tissue. We then combined the 2 indicators that represent the levels of increased and decreased infiltration in each sample to obtain the Immune Infiltration Score (IIS). Then we compared the tumor-infiltrating immune cell contents and immune infiltrating status in TNBC samples with CIBERSORT and ESTIMATE score to validate the IIS. Finally, 132 TNBC patients from the Cancer Genome Atlas program (TCGA) dataset was used to validate the predictive power of IIS. Results: 4 types of upregulated and 4 types of downregulated immune cells were identified in the tumor tissue samples of the TNBC patients. Then we developed a novel biomarker, IIS. Results showed that IIS score can clearly separate cancer and para-cancerous tissue. Using the same cutoff value of 0 in the TNBC-TCGA cohort, we show that those patients with a higher IIS had significantly higher PD-L1 expression and shorter progression-free survival time than those with a lower IIS value, indicating IIS score can be generalized to other TNBC datasets. Conclusion: we explored the immune infiltration landscape in 30 TNBC patients and provided IIS as a novel and reliable biomarker to evaluate the progression-free survival and prognosis of the TNBC patients.

Ischemic stroke leads to severe neurological dysfunction in adults. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) induces tolerance to cReperfusion inj/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Therefore, our aims were to investigate whether SIRT1 participates in regulatingin the neuro-protective effect of HBO in a cerebral I/R model and its mechanism. Mice N2a cells were used to construct an oxygen deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) model to simulate in vitro brain I/R injury and to evaluate the role of HBO in OGD/R stimulated cells. Cell proliferation was detected using MTT, and apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. ELISA was used to measure the concentration of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 related inflammatory factors. RT-qPCR and western blot assays were performed to test the expression of SIRT1. Immunoprecipitation was used to detect acetylation of HMGB1. Expression of SIRT1 was obviously reduced after OGD/R treatment in N2a cells, while SIRT1 was obviously enhanced in HBO treated cells. Moreover, knockdown of SIRT1 induced neuro-inflammation damage in cells and HBO effectively improved the inflammatory response in OGD/R treated cells by affecting SIRT1 levels. Furthermore, HBO induced the deacetylation of HMGB1 via regulating SIRT1. Interestingly, HBO via regulating the SIRT1-induced HMGB1 deacetylation and suppressing MMP-9 improved ischemic brain injury. HBO regulated ischemic brain injury via regulation of SIRT1-induced HMGB1 deacetylation, making it a potential treatment for ischemic brain injury treatment.

With the development of industrial technology, heat transfer at the microscale has attracted more and more attention. In this work, 200 µm platinum wire and 150 µm nickel-chromium wire were used as experimental objects, which the power was provided by DC power with the range of 15.6 W to 56.2 W. Distilled water was used as the experimental liquid. Various bubbles on the micro wire were observed and the heat mechanism was analyzed. A variety of bubble attachment phenomena were captured on the 200 µm platinum wire, including the adhesion during bubble detachment, the rotation of small attached bubbles on the surface of large bubble, multiple bubbles circling at the top of the same bubble, and different attached bubble departure phenomena. Marangoni force in the vertical direction triggered the formation of bubble attachment. In addition, the effects of surface tension, adhesion force and buoyancy force on the circling of the bubble were also considered. The analysis of the bubble sweeping on the 150 µm nickel-chromium wire was analyzed. The results showed that the static bubble would interact with the sweeping bubbles on the other side, thereby changing the heat transfer mechanism, which was not discussed in detail before. The bubble jet flow generated by thermocapillary convection on the vertical direction of the bubble surface was the main influencing factor, which would change the microlayer encountered in front of the bubble. The effects of bubble diameter and liquid subcooling on the sweeping velocity were also studied. The results showed that the larger the bubble diameter was, the lower the sweeping velocity would be achieved while the liquid subcooling temperature had less impact on the velocity of sweeping bubble.

To study the responses of radial growth of为研究祁连圆柏径向生长对不同时期(生长季前2—4月和生长季5—7月)气候因子的响应及面对不同类型(高温、缺水、高温+缺水)干旱事件的弹性(抵抗力和恢复力)变化,利用青藏高原东北部17个采样点的祁连圆柏树轮宽度资料,分析径向生长与不同时期气候因子的相关性,探究高低海拔祁连圆柏面对各类干旱事件的弹性差异。结果表明:祁连圆柏径向生长与干旱指数呈显著正相关,与生长季温度呈负相关(

AIM: To explore the effect of intravitreal conbercept in the treatment of chorionic neovascularization(CNV)of macular macula with high myopia. METHODS: Totally 56 patients with high myopia caused by macular angiogenesis in our hospital were retrospectively selected as the research objects from June 2015 to December 2019. According to the treatment methods, patients were divided into the control group and the observation group. The 28 cases(28 eyes)of patients in the control group were treated with the intravitreous injection of Rayzumab, and 28 cases(28 eyes)of patients in the observation group were treated with intravitreal injection of conbercept. After the last treatment, the patients were followed up for 3mo to record the intraocular pressure, the best corrected visual acuity(BCVA)and the incidence of complications. Optical coherence tomography(OCT)was used to measure the thickness of macular fovea retinal(CMT), and horizontal linear scanning of OCT instrument was used to measure the CNV area.RESULTS:After treatment, the visual acuity of patients in the observation group gradually increased, and the improvement of BCVA was significantly higher than that of the control group at the same time point(P

The asymmetric catalytic synthesis of 3-cyclotryptamine substituted oxindoles through formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition/cyclization cascade is described. A wide range of cyclotryptamine derivatives were obtained in enantioenriched form under mild reaction conditions and were found to have potential anticancer activity. The strategy enables ready assembly of cyclotryptamine subunits at the C3a-C3a' positions with two quaternary stereogenic centers in cis-selectivity, leading to the concise synthesis of optically active cis-bis(hexahydropyrroloindole) and others of the cyclotryptamine alkaloid family.

BACKGROUND The Angong Niuhuang pill (ANP) has been widely used in the adjuvant treatment of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the efficacy and adverse reactions of this drug are controversial. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ANP on patients with TBI by a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), and Wangfang databases were systematically searched from their establishment until June 2020. RCTs of ANP treating TBI were enrolled. Odds risk (OR) was used to assess the total effective rate and safety and mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the quantitative data. Tthe included literature's quality was evaluated by RevMan 5.3. The sensitivity and publication bias was evaluated by Stata 16.0. RESULTS Twelve studies were identified in this systematic review, including 1,568 participants. The metaanalysis results suggested that ANP combined with routine treatment obviously improved the postoperative GCS [MD =1.97, 95% CI (1.22, 2.72), P

Purpose: Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have exerted antimicrobial properties. However, there is insufficient evaluation regarding the in vivo antifungal activity of ZnO-NPs. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and mechanism of ZnO-NPs in controlling Candida albicans in the invertebrate Galleria mellonella.Methods:Galleria mellonella larvae were injected with different doses of ZnO-NPs to determine their in vivo toxicity. Non-toxic doses of ZnO-NPs were chosen for prophylactic injection in G. mellonella followed by C. albicans infection. Then the direct in vitro antifungal effect of ZnO-NPs against C. albicans was evaluated. In addition, the mode of action of ZnO-NPs was assessed in larvae through different assays: quantification of hemocyte density, morphology observation of hemocytes, characterization of hemocyte aggregation and phagocytosis, and measurement of hemolymph phenoloxidase (PO) activity.Results: Zinc oxide nanoparticles were non-toxic to the larvae at relatively low concentrations (≤20 mg/kg). ZnO-NP pretreatment significantly prolonged the survival of C. albicans-infected larvae and decreased the fungal dissemination and burden in the C. albicans-infected larvae. This observation was more related to the activation of host defense rather than their fungicidal capacities. Specifically, ZnO-NP treatment increased hemocyte density, promoted hemocyte aggregation, enhanced hemocyte phagocytosis, and activated PO activity in larvae.Conclusion: Prophylactic treatment with lower concentrations of ZnO-NPs protects G. mellonella from C. albicans infection. The innate immune response primed by ZnO-NPs may be part of the reason for the protective effects. This study provides new evidence of the capacity of ZnO-NPs in enhancing host immunity and predicts that ZnO-NPs will be attractive for further anti-infection applications.

Background The rice Waxy (Wx) gene plays a major role in seed amylose synthesis and consequently controls grain amylose content. Wx gene expression is highly regulated at the post-transcriptional level. In particular, the GT/TT polymorphism at the 5′splicing site of its 1st intron greatly affects this intron’s splicing efficiency and defines two predominant Wx alleles, Wxa and Wxb. Wxa rice often harbours intermediate to high amylose contents, whereas Wxb rice exhibits low to intermediate amylose contents. By deleting the Wx 1st intron using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we generate a completely novel Wx allele and further investigate how intron removal affects Wx gene expression and rice grain amylose content. Results CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted deletion of the Wx 1st intron was performed on 4 rice inbred lines: KY131 (Wxb), X32 (Wxb), X35 (Wxa) and X55 (Wxlv). Deletion of the 1st intron occurred in 8.6–11.8% of the primary transformants of these 4 inbred lines. Compared to wild-type plants, amylose content was significantly increased from 13.0% to approximately 24.0% in KY131 and X32 mutant lines, which both carried the Wxb allele. However, no significant difference in amylose content was observed between wild-type plants and X35 and X55 mutant lines, which carried the Wxa and Wxlv alleles, respectively. Wx gene expression analysis of wild-type plants and mutants yielded results that were highly consistent with amylose content results. KY131 and X32 mutants accumulated increased levels of steady mRNA transcripts compared with wild-type plants, whereas steady mRNA levels were not altered in X35 and X55 mutants compared with wild-type plants. Grain quality, including appearance quality and eating and cooking quality, which are tightly associated with amylose content, was also assessed in wild-type and mutant plants, and data were presented and analysed. Conclusions This study presents a novel and rapid strategy to increase amylose content in inbred rice carrying a Wxb allele. Our data strongly suggest that the 1st intron of the Wx gene regulates Wx gene expression mainly at the post-transcriptional level in rice. This finding is in contrast to a previous hypothesis suggesting that it influences Wx gene transcription. In addition, removal of the first intron generates a completely novel Wx allele. Further studies on this new Wx allele will provide invaluable insights into the regulation of Wx gene expression, which will help researchers engineer new Wx alleles to facilitate the breeding of rice cultivars with better eating and cooking quality. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12284-021-00548-y.

The bark of Pteroceltis tatarinowii Maxim., an endemic tree in Ulmaceae, is the main raw material for manufacturing Xuan Paper which is widely used in calligraphy and painting field. The characteristics of P. tatarinowii bark is the main limiting factor for the quality of Xuan Paper specially the content of cellulose and lignin. The molecular basis related to cellulose and lignin synthesis in P. tatarinowii would be helpful to understand and seek higher quality raw materials for Xuan Paper. RNA-seq was utilized to reveal transcriptome differences in P. tatarinowii from three far isolated localities (AL, JX and XA) under different climate environments. A total of 290 million reads were generated for further analysis in three libraries. In total, 2,850, 2,038 and 1,986 DEGs were identified in XA, JX and AL, respectively. Compared with the sample from XA, there were 822 up-regulated and 1706 down-regulated in AL sample. AL sample has 611 up-regulated genes and 647 down-regulated genes in comparison with JX sample. Comparing XA and JX samples, 443 were up-regulated and 1,783 were down-regulated in XA. Three samples had similar GO enrichment patterns. There were 19 and 9 genes identified as CESA and CSL (E-value less than 1.0E-20), respectively. Although no significant expression differences were found in three samples, KOB1, GPI-anchored protein gene and CTL1 were differently expressed, and KOB1 and GPI-anchored protein gene were up-regulated in JX. A number of the unigenes (474) that were involved in ‘phenylpropanoid biosynthesis’, were mostly not differently expressed. Only a few genes annotated as PAL, 4CL, C4H and CAD were significantly different in expression. In AL, 3 CAD and 1 PAL were up-regulated, whereas 6 CAD, 3 4CL and 1 HCT were up-regulated in XA, and 1 PAL, 2 4CL, 2 C4H in JX. JX sample had the highest cellulose content and XA sample had the highest lignin content, which being consistent with the hierarchical cluster analysis of differently expressed genes. Differences in the expression of these genes might influence the cellulose and lignin content.

An asymmetric three-component 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines, bromoacetates and α,β-unsaturated pyrazole amide is realized by using a chiral N,N'-dioxide-Y(OTf)3 complex as the catalyst. The process includes a base-promoted formation of dihydroisoquinolium ylides in situ, and a chiral Lewis acid-catalyzed asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition with α,β-unsaturated pyrazole amides. A series of hexahydropyrrolo-isoquinolines are obtained in moderate to good yields with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities.

Background Many valuable and productive patented technologies have been developed to control schistosomiasis in China in the past 70 years. We conducted a research to analyse patented technologies for schistosomiasis control and prevention filed by Chinese applicants for determining the future patent layout. Methods The patent databases of China National Intellectual Property Administration and Baiten were comprehensively searched, and patented technologies for schistosomiasis control and prevention, published between January 1950 and December 2020 filed by Chinese applicants were sorted on 30 December 2020. The patent types, technical fields, and patent development trends were analysed using patent indexing. Results There are 184 valid schistosomiasis control technology patents, among them 128 invention patents. The patents related to schistosomiasis control and prevention technology have gone through the germination, growth, and maturity stages. These phases correspond with three phases in schistosomiasis control in China. The main technical aspects were fundamental research (n = 37), detection (n = 13), chemotherapy (n = 61), and armamentarium/devices (n = 73), of which the number of patents for detection for diagnosis was smaller. The top three specialised technical fields for patents subgroups, focusing on antiparasitic agents, DNA or RNA, vectors and medicines, of which schistosomicides are the major dominant subgroup. Conclusions We recommend that technologies to be patented for schistosomiasis control and prevention be focused on detection, preliminary studies for molecular detection methods should be significantly enhanced, and patent layout must be performed, which will, in turn, promote accuracy of early diagnosis, not only in humans but also in livestock. It is necessary to develop more anti-schistosomal drugs safely and effectively, exceptionally eco-friendly molluscicides and herbal extracts anti-schistosomes, improve treatment, develop vaccines for use in humans. Graphic abstract

The asymmetric catalytic synthesis of 3-cyclotryptamine substituted oxindoles through formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition/cyclization cascade is described. A wide range of cyclotryptamine derivatives were obtained in enantioenriched form under mild reaction conditions and were found to have potential anticancer activity. The strategy enables ready assembly of cyclotryptamine subunits at the C

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a fatal stroke caused by bleeding in the brain. SAH can be caused by a ruptured aneurysm or head injury. One-third of patients will survive and recover. One-third will survive with disability; one-third will die. The focus of treatment is to stop bleeding, restore normal blood flow, and prevent vasospasm. Treatment for SAH varies, depending on the bleeding’s underlying cause and the extent of damage to the brain. Treatment may include lifesaving measures, symptom relief, repair of the bleeding vessel, and complication prevention. However, the useful diagnostic biomarkers of SAH are still limited due to the instability of gene marker expression. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new protocol pairing genes and screened significant gene pairs based on the feature selection algorithm. A classifier was constructed with the selected gene pairs and achieved a high performance.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Background Zinc finger and BTB domain-containing protein 46 (Zbtb46) is a transcription factor identified in classical dendritic cells, and maintains dendritic cell quiescence in a steady state. Zbtb46 has been reported to be a negative indicator of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We found that Zbtb46 was expressed at a relatively higher level in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) compared to mature cells, and higher in AML cells compared to normal bone marrow (BM) cells. However, the role of Zbtb46 in HSPCs and AML cells remains unclear. Therefore, we sought to elucidate the effect of Zbtb46 in normal hematopoiesis and AML cells. Methods We generated Zbtb46fl/fl and Zbtb46fl/flMx1-Cre mice. The deletion of Zbtb46 in Zbtb46fl/flMx1-Cre mice was induced by intraperitoneal injection of double-stranded poly (I). poly (C) (poly(I:C)), and referred as Zbtb46 cKO. After confirming the deletion of Zbtb46, the frequency and numbers of HSPCs and mature blood cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Serial intraperitoneal injection of 5-fluorouracil was administrated to determine the repopulation ability of HSCs from Zbtb46fl/fl and Zbtb46 cKO mice. The correlation between Zbtb46 expression and prognosis was analyzed using the data from the Cancer Genome Atlas. To investigate the role of Zbtb46 in AML cells, we knocked down the expression of Zbtb46 in THP-1 cells using lentiviral vectors expressing small hairpin RNAs targeting Zbtb46. Cell proliferation rate was determined by cell count assay. Cell apoptosis and bromodeoxyuridine incorporation were determined by flow cytometry. Results The percentages and absolute numbers of HSPCs and mature blood cells were comparable in Zbtb46 cKO mice and its Zbtb46fl/fl littermates (Zbtb46fl/flvs. Zbtb46 cKO, HPC: 801,310 ± 84,282 vs. 907,202 ± 97,403, t = 0.82, P = 0.46; LSK: 86,895 ± 7802 vs. 102,210 ± 5025, t = 1.65, P = 0.17; HSC: 19,753 ± 3116 vs. 17,608 ± 3508, t = 0.46, P = 0.67). The repopulation ability of HSCs from Zbtb46fl/flMx1-Cre mice was similar to those from Zbtb46fl/fl control (P = 0.26). Zbtb46 had elevated expression in AML cells compared to total BM cells from normal control. Knockdown of Zbtb46 in THP-1 cells led to a significant increase in cell apoptosis and reduced cell growth and proliferation. Conclusion Collectively, our data indicate that Zbtb46 is essential for survival and proliferation of AML cells, but dispensable for normal hematopoiesis.

The National Parasitic Resource Center (NPRC) was created in 2004. It is a first-level platform under the Basic Condition Platform Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The resource centre involves 21 depository institutions in 15 regions of the country, including human parasite and vector depository, animal parasite depository, plant nematode characteristic specimen library, medical insect characteristic specimen library, trematode model specimen library, parasite-vector/snail model specimen library, etc. After nearly 15 years of operation, the resource centre has been built into a physical library with a database of 11 phyla, 23 classes, 1115 species and 117,814 pieces of parasitic germplasm resources, and three live collection bases of parasitic germplasm resources. A variety of new parasite-related immunological and molecular biological detection and identification technologies produced by the resource centre are widely used in the fields of public health responses, risk assessments on food safety, and animal or plant quarantine. The NPRC is the largest and top level resource centre on parasitology in China, and it is a leading technology platform for collecting and identifying parasitic resources.

Although rare earth element (REE) concentrations and speciation are often investigated by chemical extractions of bulk soils and sediments to elucidate site specific environmental processes and ant...

The properties of Hongnan 2 block T1 oil reservoir in Xinjiang oilfield were analyzed in terms of petrological characteristics, rock granularity, clay composition, and other aspects. Experiments based on these results studied the sensitivities of the reservoir to velocity, acidity, alkalinity, stress, and water. The results showed moderate velocity sensitivity damage with an index in the range 42-56% and a critical flow velocity in the range 0.25-0.30 mL/min. Moderate and strong water sensitivities with indices varying from 52 to 65% and critical salinities from 5,000 to 10,000 mg/L were found. Water injected into a well should have salinity ≥ 10,000 mg/L to avoid water sensitivity damage. Weak sensitivity to alkalinity with an index varying from 31 to 36% with a critical pH of 8 was observed. Moderate and strong sensitivity to acidity was found for HCl fluid (15%); extremely strong, HCl (12%) + HF (3%); extremely strong, HCl (10%) + HF (3%) + HBF4 (8%); and no sensitivity, HCl (10%) + HBF4 (8%). The reservoir could be acidified by using HCl (10%) + HBF4 (8%). Significant changes in the reservoir core structure were not observed with large pressure differences. The critical pressure varied from 2 to 3.5 MPa. The permeability damage rate ranged from 13.33 to 18.68%. The stress sensitivity was weak.

Pedigrees of broodstock with unknown relationship of the critically endangered Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis, was evaluated using microsatellite markers to facilitate genetic management in restocking programs with small broodstock size. We characterized the distributions of relatedness values to reconstruct kin groups in four hatchery families with known pedigrees using microsatellites. The distributions of relatedness values for kin classes were used for partitioning full sibling groups of wild A. sinensis broodstock kept in two hatcheries, resulted in 13 full sibling clusters, four of which containing 62% of all the wild individuals. This indicates high probability of choosing close related breeder pairs in random mating, thus selective breeding is necessary to minimize inbreeding and maintain genetic diversity. This study provides a useful tool for genetic management in conservation programs of A. sinensis in aim of preserving self-sustained wild populations.

Using deionized water as the working fluid, a visualized pool boiling study was carried out on the surface of cylindrical pillar arrays of different sizes and the ordinary smooth surface under atmospheric pressure, and the boiling heat transfer curve and the change of heat transfer coefficient were studied. A high-speed camera is used to quantitatively measure the bubble dynamics, including bubble departure diameter and nucleation sites density. The results show that the onset of nucleate boiling temperature of all cylindrical pillar arrays has been significantly reduced, while the heat transfer coefficient is increased by 23.4%-163.4% compared to that of the smooth surface. The decrease of the pillar spacing helps to improve the performance of boiling heat transfer. The smaller gap optimizes the capillary flow of the liquid to a certain extent, thus facilitating the departure of bubbles, thereby inducing the working fluid to quickly replenish the dry area. The reduction of the diameter of the pillars is beneficial to improve the boiling heat transfer performance. More nucleation sites on the wall promote the bubbles to merge more quickly and reach the bubble departure diameter more easily, thus enhancing the evaporation of the micro-liquid layer and promoting the heat transfer. The correlation expressions as well as the upper and lower limits are obtained by fitting the change of heat transfer coefficient curve. Compared with the data in the literature, the S6 surface with the best performance shows obvious heat transfer advantages.

// Ying-fang Guo 1 , Nian-nian Xu 1 , Weijing Sun 1 , Yifan Zhao 1 , Cheng-ye Li 1 , Meng-yao Guo 1 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People’s Republic of China Correspondence to: Meng-yao Guo, email: gmy1985@163.com Keywords: luteolin, mastitis, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), anti-inflammation, inflammatory signal pathway Received: February 01, 2017 Accepted: March 02, 2017 Published: March 10, 2017 ABSTRACT Mastitis is a serious and prevalent disease caused by infection by pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus . We evaluated the anti-inflammatory effects and mechanism of luteolin, a natural flavonoid with a wide range of pharmacological activities, in a mouse model of S. aureus mastitis. We also treated cultured mouse mammary epithelial cells (mMECs) with S. aureus and luteolin. Histopathological changes were examined by H&E staining and the levels of inflammatory cytokine proteins were analyzed using ELISAs. We determined mRNA levels with qPCR and the level of NF-κB and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) proteins by Western blotting. The observed histopathological changes showed that luteolin protected mammary glands with S. aureus infection from tissue destruction and inflammatory cell infiltration. Luteolin inhibited the expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, all of which were increased with S. aureus infection of mammary tissues and mMECs. S. aureus -induced TLR2 and TLR4 was suppressed by luteolin, as were levels of IκBα and NF-κB p65 phosphorylation and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Levels of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2 were enhanced. These findings suggest luteolin is a potentially effective new treatment to reduce tissue damage and inflammation from S. aureus -induced mastitis.

The National Parasitic Resource Center (NPRC) was created in 2004. It is a first-level platform under the Basic Condition Platform Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The resource centre involves 21 depository institutions in 15 regions of the country, including human parasite and vector depository, animal parasite depository, plant nematode characteristic specimen library, medical insect characteristic specimen library, trematode model specimen library, parasite-vector/snail model specimen library, etc. After nearly 15 years of operation, the resource centre has been built into a physical library with a database of 11 phyla, 23 classes, 1115 species and 117,814 pieces of parasitic germplasm resources, and three live collection bases of parasitic germplasm resources. A variety of new parasite-related immunological and molecular biological detection and identification technologies produced by the resource centre are widely used in the fields of public health responses, risk assessments on food safety, and animal or plant quarantine. The NPRC is the largest and top level resource centre on parasitology in China, and it is a leading technology platform for collecting and identifying parasitic resources.

This study aimed to identify species of Fasciola flukes in Dali Prefecture (Yunnan Province, China) and analyze their genetic diversity. Fasciola flukes (n = 122) were collected from cattle livers in a farmers' market in Xiaguan Town, Dali Prefecture. Nucleotide sequences of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) as well as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) were amplified, sequenced, and subjected to homology analysis. The heterozygosity ratios of different ITS alleles were determined using the peak-height ratio of heterozygous loci. Multiplex PCR analysis of the nuclear protein coding gene, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (pepck), was used to identify Fasciola species. Multiple ND1 sequence alignments enabled further genetic diversity analysis of regional Fasciola flukes. Seven ITS sequences belonged to F. hepatica and 115 belonged to Fh/Fg heterozygous flukes. Sequencing analysis of heterozygous flukes revealed 11 heterozygous loci with double peaks, with significantly variable ratios among individuals. ND1 and CO1 results indicated that one specimen was identical to F. hepatica, while 121 specimens were identical to F. gigantica or contained one variable site. Multiplex PCR results for pepck showed that double bands for F. hepatica and F. gigantica were amplified from Dali Fasciola specimens; hence, they were all heterozygous. By combining ITS, ND1, and CO1 sequences with multiplex pepck PCR results, all 122 specimens were identified as Fh/Fg heterozygous Fasciola flukes. Our experimental results preliminarily confirmed a high degree of Fh/Fg heterozygosity among Fasciola flukes in the Dali area. Selecting multiple molecular markers for concurrent analysis will provide more comprehensive and accurate genetic information.

Homatula potanini is a genus Paracobitis which belongs to the family Cobitidae, subfamily Nemacheilinae. We first isolated ten novel microsatellite DNA loci using the FIASCO protocol. The number of observed alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 14. The observed heterozygosity and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.3750 to 0.9375 and 0.4028 to 0.8819 respectively. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.3515 to 0.8556 (M = 0.6170). No significant linkage disequilibrium was detected among the loci. In the present study, we have identified 10 new markers for H. potanini. These loci should provide sufficient levels in the evaluation of genetic diversity and designing effective conservation programs of H. potanini.

Nanotechnology has offered new chances for technical innovation in advanced water treatment. The nanocomposite HZO@D201 consisted of the strongly basic anion exchange resin D201 and the embedded hydrated zirconium oxide (HZO) nanoparticles (NPs). HZO@D201 integrated high reactivity of HZO NPs with the easy operation of D201, exhibiting great potential for efficient removal of arsenic, phosphate, and fluoride from (waste)water. However, the large-scale manufacture of HZO@D201 still faces challenges owing to the strong electrostatic repulsion between D201 and the NP precursors, i.e., [Zr4(OH)8(OH2)16]8+ tetramers. Herein, we reported a simple impregnation-precipitation method to prepare HZO@D201. The NP precursors were dissolved in ethanol and mainly existed in the form of electroneutral ion pair, thereby capable of diffusing inside D201 steadily. The subsequent precipitation allowed the in-situ growth of HZO NPs inside D201 to produce the nanocomposite HZO@D201-N. The pilot-scale manufacture was also conducted to produce 20 kg nanocomposite HZO@D201-N(P) once. The old synthetic method, i.e., evaporation of the aqueous solution to force NP precursors diffusing inside D201 followed by alkaline precipitation, was conducted to produce the nanocomposites in the laboratory (HZO@D201-O) and pilot-scale (HZO@D201-O(P)) as comparisons. The experimental results suggested a similar HZO loading (9–11.5%) among HZO@D201-O, HZO@D201-N, and HZO@D201-N(P), yet a much lower value (1.7%) for HZO@D201-O(P). Using As(V) as the representative pollutants, HZO@D201-O, HZO@D201-N, and HZO@D201-N(P) exhibited similar adsorption performance in both batch and column assays, dramatically superior to HZO@D201-O(P).