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Carotenoids are natural lipophilic pigments, which have been proven to provide significant health benefits to humans, relying on their capacity to efficiently scavenge singlet oxygen and peroxyl radicals as antioxidants. Strains belonging to the genus Rhodosporidium represent a heterogeneous group known for a number of phenotypic traits including accumulation of carotenoids and lipids and tolerance to heavy metals and oxidative stress. As a representative of these yeasts, Rhodosporidium toruloides naturally produces carotenoids with high antioxidant activity and grows on a wide variety of carbon sources. As a result, R. toruloides is a promising host for the efficient production of more value-added lipophilic compound carotenoids, e.g., torulene and torularhodin. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the research progress on carotenoid biosynthesis in R. toruloides, focusing on the understanding of biosynthetic pathways and the regulation of key enzymes and genes involved in the process. Moreover, the relationship between the accumulation of carotenoids and lipid biosynthesis, as well as the stress from diverse abiotic factors, has also been discussed for the first time. Finally, several feasible strategies have been proposed to promote carotenoid production by R. toruloides. It is possible that R. toruloides may become a critical strain in the production of carotenoids or high-value terpenoids by genetic technologies and optimal fermentation processes. KEY POINTS: • Biosynthetic pathway and its regulation of carotenoids in Rhodosporidium toruloides were concluded • Stimulation of abiotic factors for carotenoid biosynthesis in R. toruloides was summarized • Feasible strategies for increasing carotenoid production by R. toruloides were proposed., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

3D printing in a microgel-based supporting bath enables the construction of complex structures with soft and watery biomaterials but the low print resolution is usually an obstacle to its practical application in tissue engineering. Herein, high-resolution printing of a 3D collagen organ scaffold is realized by using an engineered Gellan gum (GG) microgel bath containing trisodium citrate (TSC). The introduction of TSC into the bath system not only mitigates the aggregation of GG microgels, leading to a more homogeneous bath morphology but also suppresses the diffusion of the collagen ink in the bath due to the dehydration effect of TSC, both of which contribute to the improvement of print resolution. 3D collagen organ structures such as hand, ear, and heart are successfully constructed with high shape fidelity in the developed bath. After printing, the GG and TSC can be easily removed by washing with water, and the obtained collagen product exhibits good cell affinity in a tissue scaffold application. This work offers an easy-to-operate strategy for developing a microgel bath for high-resolution printing of collagen, providing an alternative path to in vitro 3D organ construction., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

3D printing as a powerful technology enables the fabrication of organ structures with a programmed geometry, but it is usually difficult to produce large-size tissues due to the limited working space of the 3D printer and the instability of bath or ink materials during long printing sessions. Moreover, most printing only allows preparation with a single ink, while a real organ generally consists of multiple materials. Inspired by the 3D puzzle toy, we developed a "building block-based printing" strategy, through which the preparation of 3D tissues can be realized by assembling 3D-printed "small and simple" bio-blocks into "large and complex" bioproducts. The structures that are difficult to print by conventional 3D printing such as a picture puzzle consisting of different materials and colors, a collagen "soccer" with a hollow yet closed structure, and even a full-size human heart model are successfully prepared. The 3D puzzle-inspired preparation strategy also allows for a reasonable combination of various cells in a specified order, facilitating investigation into the interaction between different kinds of cells. This strategy opens an alternative path for preparing organ structures with multiple materials, large size and complex geometry for tissue engineering applications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

We propose an all-optical switch based on an asymmetric directional coupler structure with epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) layer. The nonlinear optical properties the of ENZ layer are analyzed by hot-electron dynamics process, and the all-optical operating performance of the switch on the silicon nitride platform is investigated. It is found that the pump-induced refractive index change in ENZ layer gives rise to a transfer of signal light in the optical system. We demonstrate that the proposed switch design features an insertion loss of < 2.7 dB, low crosstalk of < - 18.93 dB, and sub-pico-second response time at the communication wavelength of 1.55 μm. With ultrafast response, high performance, and simple structure, the device provides new possibilities for all-optical communication and signal processing., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

We present an erratum to our previously published work ["Ultrafast dynamic switching of optical response based on nonlinear hyperbolic metamaterial platform," Opt. Express30(12), 21634 (2022).10.1364/OE.457875]. The corrections do not affect the results and conclusion of the original paper.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Justicia procumbens L. is a traditional Chinese medicine, first recorded in "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic", for the treatment of lumbar pain and fever. As a widely distributed herb, it has also been documented in India, Nepal, and Malaysia. In "Tang Materia Medica", a famous medicinal book of Tang Dynasty in ancient China, it was first used to treat diseases associated with blood stasis. Blood stasis syndrome is closely related to thrombus formation and platelet aggregation. Although some compounds isolated from this plant have anti-platelet aggregation effects, the main chemical components and mechanism of J. procumbens in terms of these effects are little known., Aims of the Study: Through in vivo and in vitro experiments, this studsy revealed the characteristic components and action mechanism of anti-platelet aggregation by J. procumbens from an overall perspective., Materials and Methods: The effective crude extracts of the whole plant were screened via an in vitro anti-platelet aggregation test. After incubating these extracts with apheresis platelets, high affinity compounds were detected by HPLC-MS and regulatory genes were detected using gene chips. The effective components and potential target proteins were analyzed using computational docking technology. Furthermore, the compound with the strongest predicted activity was evaluated in vivo via an anti-thrombotic test., Results: Integrin a Ⅱb β 3 , PKCα, PI3Kγ, and mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 were found to be potential targets. Justicidin B, tuberculatin, chinensinaphthol methyl ether, and neojusticin B were effective compounds that inhibited human platelet aggregation by suppressing Gq-PLC-PKC and Gi-PI3K-MAPK signaling pathways. Among the compounds that bind to platelets, justicidin B showed the strongest virtual binding force. The test of carotid artery thrombosis induced by ferric chloride in SD rats confirmed that justicidin B inhibited thrombus formation., Conclusion: Experimental investigation showed that arylnaphthalene lignan aglycones with one methylenedioxy group and two methoxy groups are effective components for anti-platelet aggregation by J. procumbens. These compounds inhibit Gq-PLC-PKC and Gi-PI3K-MAPK signaling pathways by suppressing the expression of genes such as ITGB3, PRKCA, PIK3CG, and MAPK14. These results reflected the characteristics of multi-component and multi-target synergistic treatment of Chinese medicine., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has rapidly developed in the last decade, playing an increasingly important role in applications including pharmacokinetics research, tissue engineering, and organ regeneration. As a cutting-edge technology in 3D printing, gel bath-supported 3D bioprinting enables the freeform construction of complex structures with soft and water-containing materials, facilitating the in vitro fabrication of live tissue or organ models. To realize in vivo -like organs or tissues in terms of biological functions and complex structures by 3D printing, high resolution and fidelity are prerequisites. Although a wide range of gel matrices have recently been developed as supporting materials, the effect of bath properties and printing parameters on the print resolution is still not clearly understood. This review systematically introduces the decisive factors for resolution in both bulk gel bath systems and granular microgel bath systems, providing guidelines for high-resolution 3D bioprinting based on bath properties and printing parameters.

Developing high value-added products from the waste materials is highly promising from the perspective of environmental protection and resource recovery. Herein, the used cigarette filter was recycled to prepare the flow reactor via a clean and facile strategy. A continuous-flow reduction method was adopted to produce the gold nanoparticles on deacetylated cigarette filter without any extra chemical modifier, reductant or surfactant. The obtained filter was applied as a continuous-flow reactor and showed a high permeability and ultrafast flow catalytic ability. The permeability coefficient of the reactor was about 1.4 × 10 -10 m 2 . This work provided a clean method to covert the waste cigarette filter to useful flow reactor with the relatively simple steps, and the product had a potential for the fast reduction of 4-nitrophenol and dyes including methyl blue and methylene orange., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Monolithic flow reactors are widely applied in numerous reactions due to its high efficiency and good reusability, but the green and efficient fabrication of monolithic flow catalytic system is still a challenge. Herein, the cellulose monolith prepared using a facile temperature-induced phase separation method was utilized to generate and immobilize the gold nanoparticles by a continuous-flow strategy, in which the cellulose monolith served as both reducing agent and supporting material. This process was conducted at room temperature and avoided the tedious surface modification of cellulose. The obtained cellulose-Au monolith can be directly applied as a green flow reactor in both water and organic solvents, and exhibited superior catalytic efficiency and good stability. This work provides a highly efficient, scalable and sustainable strategy for developing green catalytic system based on environmentally friendly cellulose monolith materials., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A pharmacological network of "component/target/pathway" for Rhizoma coptidis against type 2 diabetes (T2D) was established by network-pharmacology, and the active components of Rhizoma coptidis and its mechanism were explored. A literature-based and database study of the components of Rhizoma coptidis was carried out and screened by ADME parameters. The targets of Rhizoma coptidis were predicted by the ligand similarity method. Related pathways were analyzed with databases, and software was used to construct a "component/target/path" network. The mechanism was further confirmed by GEO database with R software. A total of 12 active components were screened from Rhizoma coptidis, involving 57 targets including MAPK1, STAT3, INSR, and 38 signaling pathways were associated with T2D. Related signaling pathways included essential pathways for T2D such as insulin resistance, and pathways that had indirect effect on T2D. It was suggested that Rhizoma coptidis may exert its effects against T2D through multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway forms.

Albiziae Flos (AF) has been experimentally proven to have an antidepressant effect. However, due to the complexity of botanical ingredients, the exact pharmacological mechanism of action of AF in depression has not been completely deciphered. This study used the network pharmacology method to construct a component-target-pathway network to explore the active components and potential mechanisms of action of AF. The methods included collection and screening of chemical components, prediction of depression-associated targets of the active components, gene enrichment, and network construction and analysis. Quercetin and 4 other active components were found to exert antidepressant effects mainly via monoaminergic neurotransmitters and cAMP signaling and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathways. DRD2, HTR1A, and SLC6A4 were identified as important targets of the studied bioactive components of AF. This network pharmacology analysis provides guidance for further study of the antidepressant mechanism of AF.

Objective: To study the effect of the traditional Chinese therapy of tonifying the kidney and invigorating blood circulation (TKIB) on male infertility., Methods: Forty-two infertile males with abnormal DNA fragmentation index (DFI) were randomly allocated into a TKIB (n = 22) and a control group (n = 20), the former treated by TKIB with an oral Chinese medicinal prescription while the latter with oral tamoxifen tablets and vitamin E capsules, both for 3 months. Before and after treatment, we obtained the semen parameters and sperm DFI from the patients and followed them up for the outcomes of natural pregnancy., Results: Compared with the baseline, the patients in both the TKIB and control groups showed significant increases after medication in sperm concentration (［36.82 ± 29.16］ and ［34.56 ± 37.03］ vs ［50.00 ± 39.16］ and ［40.72 ± 47.37］ ×10⁶/ml, P<0.05), the percentage of progressively motile sperm (PMS) (［20.62 ± 9.10］% and ［21.25 ± 9.11］% vs ［36.82 ± 13.45］% and ［26.18 ± 10.60］%, P<0.05) and the percentage of morphologically normal sperm (MNS) (［1.28 ± 1.00］% and ［1.48 ± 0.91］% vs ［3.44 ± 1.33］% and ［2.57 ± 1.32］%, P<0.05), but remarkably decreased sperm DFI (［29.07 ± 11.52］% and ［24.43 ± 8.46］% vs ［15.51 ± 11.31］% and ［18.53 ± 10.44］%, P<0.05). The patients of the TKIB group exhibited an even higher total sperm motility and percentages of PMS and MNS than those of the control group (P<0.05) but no statistically significant difference from the latter in sperm concentration or DFI (P>0.05). Besides, the former achieved higher rates of natural pregnancy (18.2%) and live birth (18.2%) than the controls (15% and 10%) though neither with statistically significant difference (P>0.05)., Conclusions: The traditional Chinese therapy of tonifying the kidney and invigorating blood circulation can reduce sperm DNA damage and improve the outcomes of natural pregnancy in infertile men.

A highly effective, stable and reusable flow microreactor was developed by utilizing the environmentally sustainable porous monolithic cellulose based on a facile temperature induced phase separation (TIPS) method. The obtained microreator could be applied to efficiently and continuously catalysing the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol (an important reaction in water treatment) without any post-treatment or regeneration of catalysts. Moreover, the monolith overcame the brittleness of the crystalline cellulose and showed a good mechanical resilience, suggesting a great potential for the practical application in severe environment. Compared with previous reported Pd supported catalytic systems, this microreactor exhibited extremely high catalytic efficiency (turnover frequency, TOF = 4660 h -1 , almost 4 times higher than that of cellulose nanocrystals supported catalyst) and long-term stability. This work provided a new strategy to construct highly effective and reusable metal NPs involved catalytic system by utilizing biodegradable cellulose materials., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study explored the possible bioactive ingredients and target protein of Rostellularia procumbens (L.) Nees. Firstly, we found that the ethyl acetate extraction obtained from R. procumbens could inhibit platelet aggregation. Then, gene chip was used to investigate differentially expressed genes and blood absorption compounds were investigated using high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry characterization (LC-MS). Depending on the results of gene chip and LC-MS, the targets of blood absorption compounds were predicted according to the reverse pharmacophore matching model. The platelet aggregation-related genes were discovered in databases, and antiplatelet aggregation-related gene targets were selected through comparison. The functions of target genes and related pathways were analyzed and screened using the DAVID database, and the network was constructed using Cytoscape software. We found that integrin α IIb β 3 had a highest degree, and it was almost the intersection of all pathways. Then, blood absorption compounds were screened by optical turbidimetry. Western blot (WB) revealed that justicidin B separated from the ethyl acetate fraction may inhibit the expression of integrin α IIb β 3 protein. For the first time, we used Prometheus NT.48 and MST to detect the stability of this membrane protein to optimize the buffer and studied the interaction of justicidin B with its target protein. To our best knowledge, this is the first report to state that justicidin B targets the integrin α IIb β 3 protein. We believe that our findings can provide a novel target protein for the further understanding of the mechanism of R. procumbens on platelet aggregation.

One-dimensional urban models embedded in mesoscale numerical models may place several grid points within the urban canopy. This requires an accurate parametrization for shear stresses (i.e. vertical momentum fluxes) including the dispersive stress and momentum sinks at these points. We used a case study with a packing density of 33% and checked rigorously the vertical variation of spatially-averaged total shear stress, which can be used in a one-dimensional column urban model. We found that the intrinsic spatial average, in which the volume or area of the solid parts are not included in the average process, yield greater time-spatial average of total stress within the canopy and a more evident abrupt change at the top of the buildings than the comprehensive spatial average, in which the volume or area of the solid parts are included in the average.

Scalar dispersion from ground-level sources in arrays of buildings is investigated using wind-tunnel measurements and large-eddy simulation (LES). An array of uniform-height buildings of equal dimensions and an array with an additional single tall building (wind tunnel) or a periodically repeated tall building (LES) are considered. The buildings in the array are aligned and form long streets. The sensitivity of the dispersion pattern to small changes in wind direction is demonstrated. Vertical scalar fluxes are decomposed into the advective and turbulent parts and the influences of wind direction and of the presence of the tall building on the scalar flux components are evaluated. In the uniform-height array turbulent scalar fluxes are dominant, whereas the tall building produces an increase of the magnitude of advective scalar fluxes that yields the largest component. The presence of the tall building causes either an increase or a decrease to the total vertical scalar flux depending on the position of the source with respect to the tall building. The results of the simulations can be used to develop parametrizations for street-canyon dispersion models and enhance their capabilities in areas with tall buildings.

Objective: To study the inflammatory factors in donor livers and its effect on recipient myocardial injury after liver transplantation recipients., Patients and Methods: Eighteen patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantations between January 2014 and December 2015 in our hospital were selected. A portion of the hepatic venous blood of donor's livers was preserved in heparinized tubes after partial resection. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), and the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum were measured. The concentrations of TNF-α, IL-6, cTnI, and CK-MB, and the activity of LDH in serum from the central venous blood of recipients were measured at several time points., Results: Persistent myocardial injuries were found in five patients, six experienced a transient increase of cardiac markers after surgery and returned to normal levels 24 h after surgery, and the others were normal. The comparison of the levels of inflammatory factors in serum between the five donors and recipients at different stages showed that the levels of myocardial markers of the donor livers which were supplied to the five cardiac injured patients were all significantly higher than those of other donor's livers, while the levels of serum inflammatory factors in recipients showed no changes during the T0-T2 stage but increased significantly during T3-T5 (p < 0.05). The cardiac function after surgery was significantly different from that before surgery and that of the recipients without myocardial injury (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Blood pressure changes before surgery may affect the levels of inflammatory factors in donor's liver and cause postoperative myocardial injury in recipients. Proper hypotensive therapy for donors before partial liver resection can prevent postoperative myocardial injury in recipients.

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) requires ischemia/reperfusion (I/R), which can lead to early graft injury. However, the detailed molecular mechanism of I/R injury remains unclear. Carnosic acid, as a phenolic diterpene with function of anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-diabetic, as well as neuroprotective properties, is produced by many species from Lamiaceae family. Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems have been known to better the bioavailability of drugs on intranasal administration compared with only drug solutions. Administration of carnosic acid nanoparticles was thought to be sufficient to lead to considerable inhibition of liver injury progression induced by ischemia/reperfusion. In our study, liver ischemia/reperfusion injury was established successfully with C57BL/6 animal model. 10 and 20mg/kg carnosic acid nanoparticles were injected to mice for five days prior to ischemia. After liver ischemia/reperfusion, the levels of serum AST, ALT and APL were increased, which was attenuated by pre-treatment with carnosic acid nanoparticles. In addition, carnosic acid nanoparticles inhibited ROS production via its related signals regulation. And carnosic acid nanoparticles also suppressed the ischemia/reperfusion-induced up-regulation in the pro-apoptotic protein and mRNA levels of Bax, Cyto-c, Apaf-1 and Caspase-9/3 while increased ischemia/reperfusion-induced decrease of anti-apoptotic factor of Bcl-2. Further, ischemia/reperfusion-induced inflammation was also inhibited for carnosic acid nanoparticles administration via inactivating NF-κB signaling pathway, leading to down-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines releasing. In conclusion, our study suggested that carnosic acid nanoparticles protected against liver ischemia/reperfusion injury via its role of anti-oxidative, anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory bioactivity., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

To describe the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) who are on peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy. We performed a retrospective matched-cohort analysis comparing the clinical outcomes of 30 ADPKD patients with those of 30 non-diabetic patients who had bilateral small kidneys between July 1 2007 and July 31 2014. The patient groups were matched by age, gender, and time of PD initiation. There were no significant differences in the demographic or biochemical parameters, comorbid conditions, residual glomerular filtration rate, or Charlson comorbidity score at the beginning of PD. The median renal volume was 1315 ml for the ADPKD group and 213 ml for the control group. Patients with ADPKD had similar 3-year patient survival (90.6% versus 86.3%, P=0.807) and technique survival (89.2% versus 74.3%, P=0.506) compared with non-ADPKD patients. Also, there was no significant difference in the peritonitis-free survival between the ADPKD and control groups (P=0.22), and rates of peritonitis were similar (0.19 versus 0.21 episodes per patient-year, P=0.26). No differences were observed in the incidence of PD-related complications, such as hernia and dialysate leak. ADPKD is not a contraindication for PD, and a subgroup of ADPKD patients with relatively small kidney volume can be treated using PD.

Objective: To explore the regularity of serological conversion of blood group in BM empty phase of ABO-incompatible allogeneic stem cell transplantation so as to provide the basis for selecting the blood components in blood transfusion., Methods: Before hematpoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the ABO and RhD blood groups of recipients and donors were identified by salt medium tube method and microcolumn gel method; after transplantation the changes of antigen intensity and antibody titer of ABO blood group in patients were periodically detected., Results: After blood group shift of 33 patients received ABO-incompatible allo-HSCT, the consistent rate of positive and regative types in major ABO incompatible group was 100%; the consistent rate of positive and negative types in minor ABO-incompatible group was 33%, no-consistent rate was 66.7%; the consistent rate of positive and negative types in bidirextional ABO incompatible group was 20%, the no-consistent rate was 80%., Conclusion: After ABO-incompatible allo-HSCT, blood group antgen of patients shifts to the blood group of donors, there is a significant difference in the serological indicators between the minor and bidireetional ABO-incompatible patients and normal people.

Background/aims: A growing body of evidence supports the notion that MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function as key regulators of tumorigenesis. In the present study, the expression and roles of miRNA-361-5p were explored in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)., Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the expression miR-361-5p in HCC tissues and pair-matched adjacent normal tissues. MTT and BrdU assays were used to identify the role of miR-361-5p in the regulation of proliferation and invasion of HCC cells. Using bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter assays and Western blots were used to identify the molecular target of miR-361-5p. nude mice were used to detect the anti-tumor role of miR-361-5p in vivo., Results: miR-361-5p was down-regulated in HCC tissues in comparison to adjacent normal tissues, due to hypermethylation at its promoter region. Overexpression of miR-361-5p suppressed proliferation and invasion of HCC cells. Chemokine (C-X-C Motif) receptor 6 (CXCR6) was identified as a target of miR-361-5p. Indeed, knockdown of CXCR6 photocopied, while overexpression of CXCR6 largely attenuated the anti-proliferative effect of miR-361-5p. More importantly, in vivo studies demonstrated that forced expression of miR-361-5p significantly inhibited tumor growth in the nude mice., Conclusion: Our results indicate that miR-361-5p acts as a tumor suppressor and might serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC patients., (© 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of leukocyte filtration on the P-selectin (CD62P) surface expression of apheresis platelets during the retention period. Ten bags of apheresis platelets stored for 1 day (0-24 h) and 10 bags of apheresis platelets stored for 2 days (24-48 h) were used for leukocyte filtration (experimental group). Ten bags of apheresis platelets with the corresponding retention periods but without filtration were used as a negative control (control group). Thereafter, 100 μL of platelet suspensions from apheresis platelets with or without leukocyte filtration were sampled before and after leukocyte filtration for the detection of CD62P surface expression by flow cytometry. No statistical difference in the CD62P surface expression of apheresis platelets was observed before and after leukocyte filtration (P > 0.05), neither did the CD62P surface expression exhibit any change among the different retention periods. Leukocyte filtration does not affect the CD62P surface expression of apheresis platelets stored for up to 2 days, which indicates that leukocyte filtration does not damage the activation of apheresis platelets within the retention period.

Objective: To investigate the application of ABO blood group genotyping in complicated ABO blood group type., Methods: Ten specimens of complicated ABO blood group were genotyped by sequence specific primer PCR (PCR -SSP), and confirmed by DNA sequencing and alignment. Six hundred and ten blood samples typed by ABO immunoassay were as control of genotyping., Results: Ten cases of complicated blood type were identified by high resolution PCR- SSP as rare ABO blood groups: cis-AB01 (3 cases), B(A)04 (2 cases), cisAB02, B(A)02, Bel03, Bw12 and Ael05, confirmed by DNA sequencing. Genotyping and serotype detected 610 cases ABO blood group were coincident, and the frequency of A, B, AB and O were as 28.69%, 27.54%, 8.2% and 35.57% respectively. According to the genotypes, the highest frequency subgroup was O1 (32.87%), the lowest was A2 (0.66%)., Conclusion: PCR -SSP could type the ABO blood group accurately, but also the sub-group of blood type. However, special designed high resolution PCR -SSP or DNA sequencing is needed to identify the complicated blood groups.

Objective: To screen and identify the peptides that specifically bind to CD13 on monocytes., Methods: The phages capable of specific binding to CD13 were screened in the phage-displayed 12-peptide library. The affinity of the selected phages with CD13 was verified with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The sequences of the peptides bound to the phages were deduced according to the phage DNA sequences, and the functional peptides aligned using the BLASTP on the Website NCBI were synthesized. To analyze the biological function of the screened peptides, the location of the peptides bound to THP-1 cells was detected using immunofluorescence assay. The blocking effect of WM15 on the peptide binding to THP-1 cells was assessed by immunofluorescence assay., Results: The phages that specifically bound to CD13 were effectively enriched to approach saturation after 4 rounds of panning. The recovery rate in the fourth round was 30 times that in the first round. Twenty selected phages were verified by ELISA, and the signals of 10 phages were higher than the control. The sequences of the peptides P9 and P7 showed 83% and 100% identity with those of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL38 and UL105, respectively. The peptides bound to the cell membrane of THP-1 cells as shown by immunofluorescence assay. The binding of the peptides P9 and P7 to THP-1 cells was blocked by CD13-specific monoclonal antibody WM15 at different levels., Conclusion: Two peptides (P7 and P9) that can specifically bind to CD13 have been screened successfully, and these two peptides show specific binding to CD13 on the membrane of THP-1 cells.

Objective: To study on the chemical constituents in ethyl acetate extraction from Polygonum orientale., Methods: By repeated silica gel chromatographic seperation and spectral analysis the structures were determined., Results: Seven compounds were isolated and identified from Polygonum orientale. They were 3,5,7-trihydrochromone (I), kaempferol (II), 5,7,4'-trihydroxydihydroflavonol (III), dihydroquercetin (IV), quercetin (V), p-hydroxyphenylethanol ferulate (VI), p-hydroxyphenylethanol-p-coumaric (VII)., Conclusion: Compounds II, III are isolated from this plant for the first time.

The objective of this study was to explore the changes of aggregation function of apheresis platelets and soluble P-selectin (sP-selectin) during storage. 20 samples of apheresis platelets were collected, and the aggregation function were examined by function test and the level of sP-selectin every day in storage of 5 days. The results showed that the aggregation function of platelets declined obviously during storage, there were significant differences between the first-day group and any of the other groups (p < 0.01). The max platelet aggregation rate was < or = 3% in the fourth-day group; sP-selectin level in plasma increased with prolong of storage time; there were significant differences between the first-day group and any of the other groups (p < 0.05). In conclusion, platelets were activated continuously during storage, while its aggregation function declines significantly. The ability of platelet aggregation to response to ADP loses almost completely since the fourth day during platelet storage. It should be paid more attention to the damage of apheresis collected platelets during storage.

Objective: To study the correlation of tenascin-c (TN-C) degradation with relapse and/or metastasis in stage-I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in order to search for a potential biomarker for predicting recurrence, and also to investigate the molecular mechanism of TN-C degradation. Methods The fragment of TN-C in 63 surgically treated stage-I NSCLC was detected by Western blotting, and the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) was also examined by gelatin zymography., Results: TN-C degradation fragment was positively detected in 12 of 63 patients, and 9 of these 12 patients (75.0%) were found to develope recurrence during follow-up. The recurrence-free survival at 4 years was 28.1% in patients with positive TN-C degradation versus 82.1% in those without (P < 0.001), and which was 76.6% at 10 years in the patients without TN-C degradation. The activity of MMP-2 in the patients with positive TN-C degradation was also found to be significantly higher than that in the patients without (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Tenascin-c degradation fragment may be a reliable biomarker for predicting recurrence and/or metastasis in the early NSCLC, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 may be a responsible proteinase for degradation of tenascin-c.

Objective: To compare HPLC fingerprint of flavonoids in fruits of Polygonnm orientale from different regions., Methods: Diamonsil C18 (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) had been used, the mobile phase consisted of methanol and 0.2% phosphoric acid as fradient eluent. The flow rate was 1 ml/min, and the detection wavelength was 310 nm., Results: The finerprint of flaxonoids in fruits of Poligonum orientale with 11 common peaks was eatablished. The realative retention time and the range of relative area of the common peaks were determined., Conclusion: The established fingerprint can be used for the identification and quality control of flavonoids of Poligonum orientale from different regions.