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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for cardiac surgery, and there is no effective treatment. This study was aimed at constructing an early warning model of AKI after CPB in adults and investigating the performance of this model. Patients who underwent CPB in the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, from January 2018 to December 2019 were recruited into the present study. Blood and urine samples were collected preoperatively (0 h) and 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h after surgery, and the creatinine and activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) were detected. According to the diagnostic criteria of AKI, patients were divided into the AKI group and the non-AKI group, and the risk factors for AKI after CPB were screened. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify the optimal biomarkers for the establishment of early warning model of AKI after CPB. Finally, the performance of this model was further verified. A total of 83 patients were included in this study, 42 of whom developed AKI after surgery. After CPB, the serum and urine levels of creatinine and ATF3 increased to different degrees, and the increase in urine ATF3 was the most obvious in the AKI group. The area under ROC (AUC) of urine ATF3 at 12 h after surgery was 0.691 (95% CI: 0.576-0.807). When ATF3 was higher than 1216 pg/mL, the sensitivity and specificity of ATF3 in the diagnosis of AKI were 0.43 and 0.85, respectively. The height, conjugated bilirubin on the surgery day, urine ATF3 12 h after surgery, and serum creatinine 24 h after surgery were independent risk factors for postoperative AKI. Urine ATF3 and other factors were used to establish AKI warning model after CPB, which showed good fitting and accuracy. In conclusion, ATF3 is an early biomarker of post-CPB AKI. Addition of urine ATF3 to AKI risk factors can improve the accuracy of early AKI prediction.

The present study evaluated effects of dietary supplementation with tryptophan (Trp) on muscle growth, protein synthesis and antioxidant capacity in hybrid catfish Pelteobagrus vachelli♀ × Leiocassis longirostris♂. Fish were fed six different diets containing 2·6 (control), 3·1, 3·7, 4·2, 4·7 and 5·6 g Trp/kg diet for 56 d, respectively. Results showed that dietary Trp significantly (1) improved muscle protein content, fibre density and frequency of fibre diameter; (2) up-regulated the mRNA levels of PCNA, myf5, MyoD1, MyoG, MRF4, IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-IR, PIK3Ca, TOR, 4EBP1 and S6K1; (3) increased phosphorylation levels of AKT, TOR and S6K1; (4) decreased contents of MDA and PC, and increased activities of CAT, GST, GR, ASA and AHR; (5) up-regulated mRNA levels of CuZnSOD, CAT, GST, GPx, GCLC and Nrf2, and decreased Keap1 mRNA level; (6) increased nuclear Nrf2 protein level and the intranuclear antioxidant response element-binding ability, and reduced Keap1 protein level. These results indicated that dietary Trp improved muscle growth, protein synthesis as well as antioxidant capacity, which might be partly related to myogenic regulatory factors, IGF/PIK3Ca/AKT/TOR and Keap1/Nrf2 signalling pathways. Finally, based on the quadratic regression analysis of muscle protein and MDA contents, the optimal Trp requirements of hybrid catfish (21·82–39·64 g) were estimated to be 3·94 and 3·93 g Trp/kg diet (9·57 and 9·54 g/kg of dietary protein), respectively.

A silyl radical-mediated carbocyclization of acrylamide-/vinyl sulfonamide-attached alkylidenecyclopropanes via photoredox catalysis with a catalytic amount of silane reagent is reported in this pa...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the illness uncertainty and its influencing factors in patients after heart stent implantation, and to explore the relationship between uncertainty of disease, self-management behavior of coronary heart disease and quality of life after stenting.A cross-sectional study of 168 patients with cardiac stent implantation on illness uncertainty in a tertiary hospital in Shanghai. The General Information Questionnaire and the Mishel's Uncertainty in Illness Scale (MUIS) was used to measure the uncertainty of disease in patients after coronary stenting, and the Coronary Self-Management Scale (CSMS) and 36-item Short Form Health Survey Scale (SF-36) were collected, using Pearson's method for correlation analysis. The indicators with significant statistical differences in univariate analysis were included, and the factors affecting patients' perception of disease uncertainty were analyzed by stepwise regression fitting multiple linear regression equations.The study showed that the mean score for disease uncertainty was 79.83±14.05 out of 160 points. By the multiple stepwise linear regression analysis, the results showed that subjective symptom improvement, follow-up with nurses after discharge, care and support from family members after discharge, quality of the quantity of stents, guidance and support from nurses during hospitalization, and educational level had a significant impact on the total uncertainty score, and were the most important factor of patient illness uncertainty. In patients with coronary heart disease, uncertainty was moderately negatively correlated with self-management ability (P0.05, r=-0.636), and highly negatively correlated with overall quality of life scores (P0.05, r=-0.857).Overall, patients with coronary stents had moderate disease uncertainty, suggesting that uncertainty is common among patients after cardiac stenting. In order to improve the uncertainty of disease in patients after with heart stent implantation (especially for patients with a large number of implanted stents), family members should give sufficient care; doctors and nurses should provide patients with adequate health education, assist patients in establishing healthy behaviors, and strengthen its self-management ability, thereby reducing the patient's sense of uncertainty, thereby improving the long-term prognosis and the patient's quality of life.

A convenient and efficient strategy for the synthesis of 3-pyrrolines containing an amino quaternary stereogenic center via phosphine-catalyzed formal [3 + 2] annulation of 2-aminoacrylates with allenoates is disclosed. A wide range of substrates underwent this reaction smoothly, affording a series of 3-pyrrolines in good to excellent yields, and it could be extended to a gram-scale reaction. The kinetic profiles and the calculated methyl anion affinity (MAA) values were employed to explain the reactivities of different allenoates used in the reaction, which provides deep understanding for the catalytic mechanism of this type of reaction.

The present study evaluated effects of dietary supplementation with tryptophan (Trp) on muscle growth, protein synthesis and antioxidant capacity in hybrid catfish

Background and objectives The exosomes released by mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in classical FBS-containing media have been demonstrated as an alternative, cell-free therapy in various diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It has been found that the function of exosomes is affected by culture condition. We previously developed a serum-free, xeno-free and chemically defined medium, and umbilical cord-derived MSCs in this medium retained the immunosuppressive capability. Methods In this study, we evaluated the immunosuppressive function of exosomes from MSCs (MSC-Exo) in defined medium and their therapeutic effect on treating colitis. Results and conclusions In vitro studies indicated that MSC-Exo reduced the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-1β, and increased the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines TGF-β1 and IL-10, but no significant change of inhibitory effect on peripheral blood mononuclear cells proliferation was shown. In vivo experimental colitis showed that administration of MSC-Exo was able to significantly ameliorate the disease activity index score, weight loss, colon shortening, and the histological colitis score through up-regulation anti-inflammatory responses and down-regulation of inflammatory responses. Moreover, the use of MSC-Exo (200 µg) led to an improved therapeutic efficacy when compared with MSCs at a dose of 1×106 cells. Our findings indicate that the exosomes from MSCs in defined medium possess a certain degree of immunosuppressive effect in vitro and exhibit a therapeutic capability in a mouse model of DSS-induced colitis through suppressing inflammation mechanism.

Dengue fever is an acute infectious disease caused by dengue virus (DENV) and transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. There is no effective vaccine or antiviral drug available to date to prevent or treat dengue disease. Recently, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), a class of polymerases involved in the synthesis of complementary RNA strands using single-stranded RNA, has been proposed as a promising drug target. Hence, we screened new molecules against DENV RdRp using our previously constructed virtual screening method. Mol-5, [1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine derivative, was screened out from an antiviral compound library (~8000 molecules). Using biophysical methods, we confirmed the direct interactions between mol-5 and purified DENV RdRp protein. In luciferase assay, mol-5 inhibited NS5-RdRp activity with an IC50 value of 1.28 ± 0.2 μM. In the cell-based cytopathic effect (CPE) assay, mol-5 inhibited DENV2 infectivity with an EC50 value of 4.5 ± 0.08 μM. Mol-5 also potently inhibited DENV2 RNA replication as observed in immunofluorescence assay and qRT-PCR. Both the viral structural (E) and non-structural (NS1) proteins of DENV2 were dose-dependently decreased by treatment with mol-5 (2.5–10 μM). Mol-5 treatment suppressed DENV2-induced inflammation in host cells, but had no direct effect on host defense (JAK/STAT-signaling pathway). These results demonstrate that mol-5 could be a novel RdRp inhibitor amenable for further research and development.

Objective To investigate the effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonists (ondansetron [OND]) versus dopamine receptor antagonists (droperidol [DRO]) in the prevention of postoperative nausea, vomiting (PONV) and headache by pooling data from open published studies. Methods Performed systematic electronic searches of PubMed, Embase, Google scholar and CNKI, to identify open-published prospective randomized controlled trials (RCTs) relevant to the comparison of OND versus DRO for preventing PONV and headache to be included in the present study. The pooled PONV, headache, dizziness and drowsiness were calculated based on the original data of each included study. The pooled data was presented with risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results Thirteen prospective randomized clinical trials were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled PONV, post-operative nausea (PON) and positive operative vomiting (POV) were 0.67 (95%CI:0.48-0.93, p0.05) and 0.56 (95%CI:0.39-0.82,p0.05), 0.63 (95%CI:0.21-1.87, p>0.05) and 0.48(0.28-0.81,pConclusion The post-operative nausea, vomiting and dizziness risks were significant decreased for patients receiving OND compared to patients receiving DRO.

A Pd-catalyzed formal [5 + 3] intermolecular cycloaddition reaction of isatin-derived α-(trifluoromethyl)imines with aryl substituted vinylethylene carbonates (VECs) has been reported, affording trifluoromethyl-group-containing spirooxindoles fused with an eight-membered ring as a single diastereoisomer in good yields in the presence of a Brønsted acid in a one-pot manner under mild conditions. The asymmetric version of this reaction has been also realized using a chiral phosphine ligand along with the further transformation of the obtained product to give a spirooxindolo pyrrolidine derivative upon oxidation.

The aim of this study was to explore the effects and mechanisms of different starvation treatments on the compensatory growth of Acipenser dabryanus. A total of 120 fish (60·532 (sem 0·284) g) were randomly assigned to four groups (fasting 0, 3, 7 or 14 d and then refed for 14 d). During fasting, middle body weight decreased significantly with prolonged starvation. The whole-body and muscle composition, serum biochemical indexes, visceral indexes and digestive enzyme activities had been effected with varying degrees of changes. The growth hormone (GH) level in serum was significantly increased in 14D; however, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) showed the opposite trend. The neuropeptide Y (npy) mRNA level in brain was significantly improved in 7D; peptide YY (pyy) mRNA level in intestine was significantly decreased during fasting. After refeeding, the final body weight, percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, feed intake, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio showed no difference between 0D and 3D. The changes of whole-body and muscle composition, serum biochemical indexes, visceral indexes and digestive enzyme activities had taken place in varying degrees. GH levels in 3D and 7D were significantly higher than those in the 0D; the IGF-1 content decreased significantly during refeeding. There was no significant difference in npy and pyy mRNA levels. These results indicated that short-term fasting followed by refeeding resulted in full compensation and the physiological and biochemical effects on A. dabryanus were the lowest after 3 d of starvation and 14 d of refeeding. Additionally, compensation in A. dabryanus may be mediated by appetite genes and GH, and the degree of compensation is also affected by the duration of starvation.

Objective To investigate the temporal expression patterns of the related transcription factors and target genes in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and provide valuable clues for further researches on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Methods Isoproterenol (ISO) was used to induce ventricular myocytes hypertrophy in neonatal mice. The survival rate of cardiomyocyte was detected by CCK-8, and the average diameters and surface areas of cells were measured by computer photograph analysis system. The mRNA and protein expression levels of related genes were respectively measured by RT-PCR and Western blotting. Results The model of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy stimulated by ISO was constructed successfully. The expression levels of GATA4, MEF2C, GATA5, BNP and ANP increased 24 hours after ISO treatment, the expression levels of P300, α-MHC and TBX5 increased 12 hours after ISO treatment, and of SRF and β-MHC mRNA increased 6 hours after ISO treatment (P0.05) 72 hours after ISO treatment. The expression levels continuously elevated of GATA5, TBX5, ANP and BNP mRNA than that of controls (P0.05). The expression of GATA4 protein increased, while of HEY2 protein decreased 48 hours after ISO treatment (P

Objective: To investigate the value of high precision blood flow imaging (Fine-Flow) in secondary parathyroid function (SHPT) in patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Methods: A total of 95 MHD patients with SHPT in our hospital from January 2015 to June 2016 were selected as the research object. According to the Fine-Flow examination of parathyroid gland, 73 cases were divided into display group, 22 cases were not shown; Display group according to the hyperplasia of parathyroid diameter were divided into 1.5 cm group of 17 cases; display group according to the blood flow into the rich group of 41 cases, not rich group of 32 cases; according to whether calcification were divided into calcification group of 43 cases, non calcified group of 30 cases. CDFI was used for the anterior region of neck transverse and longitudinal scanning, check the thyroid and around the dorsal lobes.The size, echo, lesion number and blood flow were measured, parathyroid hormone (PTH), serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and calculate the Ca and P product (Ca×P) were measured. Results: PTH and Ca of the display group were significantly higher than that of the non display group, and differences in P and Ca×P were not statistically significant; Parathyroid diameter >1.5 cm PTH levels were significantly higher than the other three groups, diameter 1-1.5 cm group and >1.5 cm group Ca, diameter Ca×P was higher than that in group

Objective: To investigate effect of calcitriol, cinacalcet combined with nursing intervention on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) effect. Methods: A total of 90 cases of SHPT in our hospital from March 2016 to March 2014 were selected and randomly divided into the observation group and the control group. The 2 groups were given nursing intervention on cinacalcet hydrochloride swallow when eating, starting dose is 25 mg/d, every 2 to 4 weeks according to the parathyroid hormone (iPTH), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) level adjustment dose, the maximum dose of not more than 75 mg/d, the observation group was treated with basic treatment in the Calcitriol Soft Capsules 0.25 g/d, 3 times/week, evaluate the effect of the 2 groups after 3 months of treatment. The 2 groups before and after treatment collected fasting peripheral venous blood, Ca, P were measured by colorimetric method, determination of iPTH and FGF23 in the serum and bone specific alkaline phosphatase ELISA (BSAP), serum creatinine automatic biochemistry analyzer (Scr), nitrogen (BUN), uremic quantitative detection and analysis of urea clearance index of single room urea kinetic model (KT/V). Results: Level of Ca, P of observation group after treatment increased and iPTH decreased more significantly compared with that of control group (P0.05), FGF23 and BSAP levels after treatment in observation group decreased more significantly than the control group (P

Background Cord Blood (CB) has been considered a promising source of natural killer (NK) cells for cellular immunotherapy. However, it is difficult to expand the large numbers of highly pure NK cells from CB without cell sorting and feeder cells/multiple cytokines. In this study, we try to develop a simple, safe and economical method for ex vivo expansion and purification of NK cells from CB without cell sorting and feeder cells/multiple cytokines. Results The large numbers (mean: 1.59 × 1010) of highly pure (≥90%) NK cells from CB could be obtained through interleukin-2, group A streptococcus and zoledronate stimulation of mononuclear cells using the 21-day culture approach. When compared to resting NK cells, expanded NK cells were a higher expression of activating receptors CD16, NKG2D, NKp30, NKp44, NKp46 and activating markers CD62L and CD69, while the inhibitory receptors, CD158a and CD158b remained largely unchanged. In addition, these cells showed a higher concentration of IFN-γ, TNF-α and GM-CSF secretion and cytotoxicity to K562 cells and acute myeloid leukemia targets than resting NK cells. Conclusion We develop a simple, safe and economical method to obtain high yield, purity, and functionality NK cells from CB without cell sorting and feeder cells/multiple cytokines.

Background: Cervical cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing are the recommended screening strategies for cervical cancer. Ultrasound examination is used worldwide in patient management, especially in gynaecology. However, early detection of cervical carcinomas, especially cervical precancers, is usually difficult. We propose that in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), the thickness of the cervix increases with histological severity, and that this thickening can be detected by ultrasonography, both transabdominal sonography (TAS) and transvaginal sonography (TVS), which are the most common methods of evaluating pelvic symptoms. Our study aimed to test this hypothesis. Methods: Between February 2017 and April 2018, 12,019 women enrolled in the TVS group and 9096 women enrolled in the TAS group aged 20 years or older underwent cervical thickness measurement in the mid-sagittal plane. Based on histological diagnosis and image quality, 273 women in the TVS group and 212 women in the TAS group were ultimately eligible for analysis. The outcome was the cervical thickness associated with every CIN grade in each group. Findings: Cervical thickness increased with histological severity in both groups. In the TVS group, the cervical thickness was 22.53 mm for normal histology, 24.02 mm for CIN1, 24.79 mm for CIN2, 26.50 mm for CIN3 and 28.50 mm for cancer. The cervical thickness in the TAS group was 22.68 mm for normal histology, 24.55 mm for CIN1, 25.83 mm for CIN2, 27.00 mm for CIN3 and 30.81 mm for cancer. No difference in cervical thickness was found between the patients in the two groups with the same CIN grades. Interpretation: The thickness of the cervix increased with CIN grade, possibly demonstrating the potential for cervical cancer screening via ultrasound. However, further studies are required. Funding Statement: The authors state: "None." Declaration of Interests: The authors state: "None." Ethics Approval Statement: All the women participated in this study voluntarily and provided written informed consent before undergoing the ultrasound examination. The study was approved by the local ethics committee.

A 105-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effects of dietary curcumin (CM) supplementation on growth performance, digestive enzyme activities, and intestinal antioxidant capacity of crucian carp (Carassius auratus). A total of 585 crucian carp with average initial weight of 76.3 ± 0.10 g were fed three diets supplemented with 0 (basal group), 1, or 5 g kg− 1 CM. Fish fed the diet supplemented with 5 g kg− 1 CM showed significantly higher final body weight (FW), percent weight gain (PWG), and feed efficiency (FE) compares to those fed the basal or 1 g kg− 1 CM diet (P 0.05). The hepatopancreas weight, hepatopancreas protein content, intestinal weight, intestinal somatic index, intestine protein content, trypsin and lipase activities in hepatopancreas and intestine, amylase activity in hepatopancreas, Na+, K+-ATPase (NKA), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), and creatine kinase (CK) activities in intestine were significantly increased with dietary CM supplementation at 5 g kg− 1 (P

Tea polyphenols are the prominent component in tea. After the fermentation process, tea polyphenols are oxidized by polyphenol oxidase to form oxidized tea polyphenols (OTPs). OTPs contain a significant amount of hydrophobic phenyl groups that can bind with non-aqueous materials. Here, we determined whether OTPs can bind with lipids and reduce fat uptake and assessed the effect of OTPs on decreasing obesity and alleviating hyperlipidaemia and other metabolic syndromes. Rats were divided into three groups: control, high-fat diet (HFD) and OTP groups. The control and HFD groups were fed a chow diet and a high-fat diet, respectively, for 12 weeks; the OTP group was fed a high-fat diet for 6 weeks and then a high-fat diet containing 2 % OTP for 6 weeks. The serum and excrement triglyceride (TAG) and total cholesterol (CHOL) concentrations were determined, and liver tissue and white adipose tissue were collected to detect the expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism. Our results revealed that OTPs failed to decrease the serum concentrations of TAG and CHOL. OTPs alleviated the accumulation of lipids in the liver tissue and changed the expression levels of the regulators of lipid metabolism, i.e., peroxisome proliferation-activated receptors (ppars), compared with the rats fed a high-fat diet alone. We also observed a significantly decreased reduction of weight in the visceral white adipose, enhanced regulation of fatty acid β-oxidation by PPARα and enhanced biosynthesis of mitochondria in the visceral white adipose of the OTP rats compared with the HFD rats. Additionally, OTPs promoted the excretion of lipids. Our results suggest that OTPs alleviate the accumulation of lipids in liver and visceral white adipose tissue and promote lipid excretion in rats in vivo.

Objective: To investigate calcitriol, cinacalcet plus comprehensive intervention on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) metabolism and parathyroid hormone (PTH) effect. Methods: A total of 80 cases of patients with SHPT from January 2014 to January 2016 in our hospital were randomly divided into observation group and control group, control group to eat the whole piece of cinacalcet hydrochloride oral tablets, the initial dose of 25 mg/d, every 2 to 4 weeks, according to Ca×P, parathyroid hormone (iPTH) test results adjust the dose, the maximum dose of not more than 75 mg/d, the observation group in the control group on the basis of oral administration of Calcitriol Soft Capsules 0.25 g/d, 3 times/week, 2 groups were given comprehensive intervention measures, to evaluate the curative effect after 3 months of treatment. The 2 groups before and after treatment collected fasting peripheral venous blood, the determination of Ca, P and alkaline phosphatase by colorimetric method (ALP), Ca, P product calculation (Ca×P), to detect the level of iPTH before and after treatment by ELISA method; TY-6858-HI type ultrasound instrument, measuring length, width and thickness of the parathyroid glands, and calculate the parathyroid gland volume. Results: in the observation group after treatment, Ca, Ca×P increased degree, P, ALP, iPTH lower than the control group, the size of the parathyroid gland was better than the control group. Conclusion: calcitriol, cinacalcet combined intervention therapy has good clinical effect in patients with MHD SHPT, Ca, P can effectively improve the metabolism, reduce the level of iPTH, reduce the parathyroid gland volume is worthy of promotion.

The 56-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effects of dietary tryptophan (Trp) on growth performance, digestive and absorptive enzyme activities, intestinal antioxidant capacity, and appetite and GH–IGF axis-related genes expression of hybrid catfish (Pelteobagrus vachelli♀ × Leiocassis longirostris♂). A total of 864 hybrid catfish (21.82 ± 0.14 g) were fed six different experimental diets containing graded levels of Trp at 2.6, 3.1, 3.7, 4.2, 4.7, and 5.6 g kg−1 diet. The results indicated that dietary Trp increased (P

Aims/Introduction Chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) is a member of the CC-chemokine family expressed in various organs. It contributes to the migration of monocytes/macrophages into injured vascular walls by binding with its receptor chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5). Many studies have accessed the association between CCL5/CCR5 gene promoter polymorphisms and diabetic microvascular complications (DMI). However, the results are conflicting and inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association more precisely. Materials and Methods Trials were retrieved through PubMed, Embase, Medline, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science and Cochrane database without restrictions on language. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to describe the strength of association with DMI. Results Data were obtained from 11 case–control studies that included 2,737 DMI patients and 2,435 diabetic control subjects. In the overall analysis, the CCL5-403 G/A and CCL5-28 C/G gene polymorphisms were not significantly associated with the risk of DMI. However, CCR5-59029 G/A was an independent risk factor of DMI in a dominant model (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.06–2.97). Subgroup analysis showed that the risk of the CCR5 59029A-positive genotype was significant in Asians (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.68–2.57). In addition, the CCR5 59029A-positive genotype was associated with increased risk of albuminuria. Conclusions There were no associations of CCL5 gene promoter polymorphism with the risk of DMI. However, the 59029A polymorphism in CCR5 might affect individual susceptibility for DMI.

Objective To explore whether there are stem cells in the endosalpinx, and to compare the biological properties between the mucosal stem cells (MuSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MeSCs) obtained from the fallopian tube for the purpose of providing experimental basis for clinical application. Methods In this study, we isolated, cultured and amplified human MuSCs and MeSCs in vitro, and compared the cell morphology, cell phenotype, colony forming efficiency, proliferation and differentiation capacities of MuSCs and MeSCs. Results Both MeSCs and MuSCs showed a similar elongated morphology, but the arrangement of MuSCs were more uniform than that of MeSCs. MuSCs showed a significantly higher proliferation capacity compared with MeSCs. Colony forming unit-fibroblast analysis further showed that more colonies formed with MuSCs than that of MeSCs, with a significant statistical difference. However, FTMSC and FMSC showed similar immunophenotypes. In vitro assays revealed that both types of cells showed the potential of adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation. Conclusions Stem cells were found in the fallopian tube mucosa, and MuSCs have stronger proliferation capacity than MeSCs, thus they possess a higher value for clinical application. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2015.04.08

A 56-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary glutamate (Glu) supplementation on growth performance, digestive enzyme activities and intestinal antioxidant capacity of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). A total of 540 grass carp with average initial weight of 370 ± 3.8 g were fed three diets supplemented with 0, 8 and 16 g kg−1 Glu. The per cent weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, and protein and lipid productive value were significantly improved by dietary Glu supplementation. Feed intake, condition factor, visceral somatic index and perivisceral fat ratio were not significantly different between dietary groups. Hepatosomatic index, intestinal somatic index, intestine length index, intestine protein content, trypsin activity in hepatopancreas and intestine, lipase activity in proximal and mid-intestine (MI) and hepatopancreas, alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activities in intestine, creatine kinase activities in the mid- and distal intestine, intestinal folds height in the proximal and MI were significantly increased with increased Glu. Malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl contents in the intestine decreased with increased Glu. Superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenging ability, glutathione reducase, catalase and total superoxide dismutase activities, and glutathione content in the intestine were increased with increased Glu. These results suggested that dietary Glu supplementation increased intestinal antioxidant capacity, digestive and absorptive ability and improved fish growth.

Apoptosis of renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Calcium dobesilate is a vascular protective compound used for treatment of diabetic retinopathy and chronic venous insufficiency. The aim of this study was to determine whether calcium dobesilate can protect PTECs from glucose-induced apoptosis and the potential mechanism of this effect. It is indicated that high glucose promoted abnormal apoptosis of HK2 cells, which was inhibited by treatment of calcium dobesilate, while Bim expression decreased in response to calcium dobesilate in high-glucose-treated HK2 cells. These findings confirmed the therapeutic effects of calcium dobesilate on DKD and emphasized the importance of it as a potentially crucial drug in treatment of DKD.

Traditional watermark embedding introduces inevitably some perceptible quality degradation of the host image. Another problem is the inherent conflict between imperceptibility and robustness. However, the zero-watermarking technique can extract some essential characteristics from the host image and use them for watermark registration and detection. The original image was decomposed into series of multiscale and directional subimages after lifting wavelet transformation (LWT). The high order bit-plane of low-frequency subimage and watermark image are inputs of the cellular neural network (CNN), and the zero-watermarking registration image is the output. To investigate and improve the security and robustness, the original watermark and registration image are scrambled or encrypted. The watermark image can be extracted from the secret image. This algorithm is simple and robust. The proposed method is also simple for hardware realization.

In the present study, an electrochemical technique was used for degradation of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions on a laboratory scale using a homemade plexiglass cell. Electrodes comprising a stainless steel net coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs@SSN) were used as both the anode and the cathode. The effects of various parameters, including the supporting electrolyte type, solution pH, electrochemical time, applied voltage, electrolyte concentration, and initial MB concentration, on the MB decolorization efficiencies were investigated. The percentage of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was also investigated. The supporting electrolyte type, applied voltage, and electrolyte concentration have obvious effects on the degradation of MB, and the solution pH and initial MB concentration have minor effects on the degradation. As the initial MB concentration was varied from 100 to 400 mg L−1, the percentages of COD removal of all the investigated solutions were higher than 86....

Mobile applications have become more popular due to mobile technology innovation and the sustaining rising smartphone and tablet users. As design products comply with user experience they are able to meet customer satisfaction and improve customer loyalty. Therefore, the user interface design of mobile applications has become more important to academics and industry. The goal of this study was to improve customer satisfaction through redesign user interface of the mobile app. This study was based on Hassenzahl's Model of user experience, through three design process, improve Nike+ Running user interface. Our approaches included focus group interviews for runners to understand the needs of runners of pedometer APP, a questionnaire to measure user experience satisfaction, and product design to redesign Nike+ Running APP UI, The result showed that satisfying experience was highly salient in this study.

This paper proposes a nearby phase search (NPS) algorithm based on BPS estimation algorithm in optical coherent receivers. And its suitable for arbitrary multi-level modulation. Making use of the continuity of phase change, the proposed NPS algorithm is applied to process nearby symbols by taking the pre-estimation phase of each symbol block as reference point. Compared to the traditional blind phase search (BPS) algorithm and its improved two-stage BPS algorithm, the performance of the proposed NPS algorithm is greatly improved in ultra-high speed coherent optical transmission system. By the simulation, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm are demonstrated in 28GBaud 16-QAM and 64-QAM system. Its shown that the computational complexity of the NPS algorithm greatly reduces in the guarantee of laser line width tolerance and bit error rate.

In this paper, we presented an improved equalization algorithm which use Least Mean Square algorithm (LMS) training-based as pre-convergence, after reaching the threshold, equalization switches to directed decision LMS to compensate a various of impairs and decrease bit error rate (BER) to achieve better performance in the steady-state, the experiment is based on a 28GbaudMQAM polarization multiplexing optical coherent system.

Hydrophobic flexible silica aerogels felts were fabricated successfully by two-steps sol-gel process via ambient pressure drying. First of all, the sol with various pH values was obtained from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as silicon source, hydrochloric acid/aqueous ammonia ethanol solution as catalysts. Then glass fiber felts was incorporated into the sol to increase the mechanical properties of silica aerogel. After the completion of solvent exchange and surface modification by using trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS)/n-hexane solution, the gel felts were dried under ambient pressure. The samples show excellent hydrophobic properties.