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Background An increasing number of studies have shown that iron, one of the indispensable trace elements in the human body, is closely related to the occurrence and development of cancer. However, few studies have clearly demonstrated the role of the iron levels in lung cancer patients, or the potential effects of inflammation on iron levels. Methods The clinical data for lung cancer patients and non-lung cancer participants were retrospectively analyzed. The serum iron and ferritin levels were measured and compared using a rank-sum test. The correlation between the serum iron/ferritin and C-reactive protein (CRP) was analyzed by rank correlation. The cut-off values for continuous variables were obtained by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) method. An analysis of potential prognostic factors in lung cancer patients was conducted by univariate and multivariate survival analyses. Results The serum iron levels in patients with extensive small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) were lower than those with limited-stage SCLC, and the levels of serum ferritin and CRP in those with extensive SCLC were higher than those with limited-stage SCLC. Similarly, the serum iron levels in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were lower than those of patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ disease, and the levels of serum ferritin and CRP in those with stage IV NSCLC were higher than those in stages Ⅰ-Ⅲ. The serum iron level was negatively correlated with the level of CRP, while the serum ferritin level was positively correlated with CRP. The stage of lung cancer, but not the serum iron/ ferritin level, was an independent prognostic factor in lung cancer patients. Conclusions The serum iron and ferritin levels are associated with the staging of lung cancer. The later stages of lung cancer are associated with a lower serum iron level, a higher serum ferritin level, and a higher CRP level. Inflammation may play an important role in regulating the serum iron and ferritin levels in lung cancer patients.

Background. Increased studies have revealed that asymptomatic carriers substantially impact the epidemic and that asymptomatic transmission is very common. Therefore, the asymptomatic transmission threat to the spread of the pandemic should not be neglected. Methods. The local outbreak in Taiwan, especially in Taipei City, is unprecedented and paramount and has claimed hundreds of lives, tens of thousands of cases, and enormous economic costs. As care providers and gatekeepers of infectious diseases, Taipei City Hospital has to perform regular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results of admitted patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) to achieve these goals. Results. In this study, the results revealed a low positive rate of less than 1%, but the asymptomatic proportions could range from 42% to 46%, which bolsters that systematic screening was effective in controlling coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) of Novel Coronavirus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and might be an exemplar to other similar scenarios. Universal screening of admitted patients may be important and necessary, especially in asymptomatic patients. Conclusions. Regular screening for healthcare providers is also important during this pandemic, and it is recommended that admitted patients and healthcare providers undergo systemic PCR testing.

A novel Angelica dahurica polysaccharide (ADP) with Mw of 6.09 × 103 Da was isolated. The contents of total sugar and uronic acid in ADP were 91.04% and 12.69%. The structure characteristics indicated that ADP was an acidic polysaccharide consisting of rhamnose, arabinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, glucuronic acid and galacturonic acid (0.09: 0.61: 1.88: 1: 0.14: 0.63: 0.03). Moreover, there were →3)-Manp-(1→, →4, 6)-Galp-(1→, →4)-Galp-(1→, →3)-Glcp-(1→, →5)-Araf-(1→, →2)-Galp-(1→ in ADP with relative molar ratios of 0.32:0.57:0.29:0.95:0.71:0.26. In vivo experiments suggested that ADP significantly inhibited the tumor growth of mice, increased the activities of spleen lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, improved the cytokine level (IL-2 and TNF-α) and the proportions of lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood. The tumor cell progression was arrested in the G1 phase, and the apoptosis rate of tumor cells were 7.54% and 19.32% at the dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg, which was consistent with the results of pathological observation. In summary, the study might provide a theoretical basis for the application on functional foods containing Angelica dahurica polysaccharides.

Pyroptosis is a form of inflammatory cell death that could be driven by the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation following myocardial infarction (MI). Emerging evidence suggests the therapeutic potential for ameliorating MI-induced myocardial damages by targeting NLRP3 and pyroptosis. In this study, we investigated the myocardial protection effect of a novel anthraquinone compound (4,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-9,10-anthraquinone-2-ethyl succinate) named Kanglexin (KLX) in vivo and in vitro. Male C57BL/6 mice were pre-treated either with KLX (20, 40 mg· kg−1per day, intragastric gavage) or vehicle for 7 consecutive days prior to ligation of coronary artery to induce permanent MI. KLX administration dose-dependently reduced myocardial infarct size and lactate dehydrogenase release and improved cardiac function as compared to vehicle-treated mice 24 h after MI. We found that MI triggered NLRP3 inflammasome activation leading to conversion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 into their active mature forms in the heart, which could expand the infarct size and drive cardiac dysfunction. We also showed that MI induced pyroptosis, as evidenced by increased DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial swelling, and cell membrane rupture, as well as increased levels of pyroptosis-related proteins, including gasdermin D, N-terminal GSDMD, and cleaved caspase-1. All these detrimental alterations were prevented by KLX. In hypoxia- or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated neonatal mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes, we showed that KLX (10 μM) decreased the elevated levels of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling- and propidium iodide-positive cells, and pyroptosis-related proteins. We conclude that KLX prevents MI-induced cardiac damages and cardiac dysfunction at least partly through attenuating NLRP3 and subsequent cardiomyocyte pyroptosis, and it is worthy of more rigorous investigations for its potential for alleviating ischemic heart disease.

A new water-soluble polysaccharide, CMP90, with a molecular weight of 23.9 kDa was isolated from Castanea mollissima Blume and the preliminary structural characteristics and antitumor effects of CMP90 in vitro and in vivo were investigated in the research. CMP90 consists of arabinose, galactose, glucose, xylose and mannose (molar ratio: 0.08:0.11:5.14:0.12:0.08) with α- and β-anomeric units. The results of in vitro experiments indicated that CMP90 exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on the proliferation of HL-60 cells with typical apoptotic characteristics by inducing cell cycle arrested at G1/M phase. Additionally, the results in vivo suggested CMP90 was able to inhibit the growth of S180 solid tumors via protecting immune organs, improving the levels of serum cytokines (TNF-α, IL-2 and IFN-γ), enhancing the activities of immune cells (macrophages, lymphocytes and NK cells) and inducing cell apoptosis or death. Taken together, these combined data clearly indicated that CMP90 may be used as a potential candidate agent for cancer therapy.

Conducting the researches on extraction, optimization, and biological activities of polysaccharides are of great meaning to the development of Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A. DC. resources. In the present study, the optimum extraction conditions of a low molecular weight polysaccharide (1.9 kDa) from Platycodon grandiflorus (LMw-PGP) were obtained by response surface methodology (RSM), which were ratio of water to raw material 21 mL/g, extraction temperature 80 °C, extraction time 4 h and extraction times 2. Under the optima schemes, the experimental yield of LMw-PGP was 12.15 ± 0.16 % (n = 3). Chemical constituent analysis suggested that the contents of total carbohydrate, protein and uronic acid in LMw-PGP were 94.88 %, 1.27 % and 1.45 %, respectively. Results of MTT assay and cell morphology indicated that LMw-PGP could inhibit the proliferation of SPC-A-1 cells. Additionally, the antioxidant results demonstrated that LMw-PGP had attractive antioxidant capacities, especially the scavenging activity on DPPH radical. Overall, these findings provide a theoretical basis for the potential application of LMw-PGP.

In power system, high voltage reactive power switching switch is an important control unit, which is an important tool to start the connection of power equipment. In order to ensure the safe operation of high-voltage reactive power switching switch, this paper proposes a new method for live detection of contact ablation degree of high-voltage reactive power switching switch to solve the lack of effective detection and evaluation means of contact ablation degree of high-voltage reactive power switching switch in power system. During the opening and closing process of high voltage reactive power switching switch, RF electromagnetic wave signal will be radiated, which contains information reflecting the ablation degree of contact. In this paper, through the detection and analysis of electromagnetic wave signal, the detection of contact ablation degree of high voltage reactive power switching switch is realized. This paper analyzes the influencing factors of radiated electromagnetic wave in the process of circuit breaker opening and closing. The anti-interference method of electromagnetic wave field detection is used to realize the live detection of contact ablation degree of high voltage reactive power switching switch. It effectively solves the problem of mutation detection of contact ablation degree of high voltage reactive power switching switch, and greatly improves the detection rate of contact ablation degree defects.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by progressive memory loss and deteriorated higher cognitive functions. An economical, rapid and noninvasive biomarker for AD has not been identified. We aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of serum miR-223 and miR-519 in AD. The expressions of miR-223 and miR-519, with previously reported AD-associated miR-29 and miR-125b, were measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in the serum of 84 probable sporadic AD patients (age onset > 65 years) and 62 healthy control populations in China. Analyses were undertaken to assess the specificity and sensitivity of miRNAs to predict AD. In addition, the relationship between miRNAs and mini mental state examination (MMSE) scores in AD patients was also assessed. Serum miR-29, miR-125b and miR-223 were significantly decreased, but serum miR-519 was significantly increased in AD patients compared with healthy blood donors. In addition, serum miR-223 was strongly positively correlated with MMSE score in AD patients but serum miR-519 was not. Importantly, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) result of serum miR-223 for prediction of AD was 0.786, higher than those of serum miR-29 (0.734) or miR-125b (0.726). The combination of serum miR-223 and miR-125b gave improved sensitivity/specificity for AD prediction (area under the ROC curve, 0.879) than either miRNA alone. Our preliminary findings indicate that serum miR-223 might be a potential biomarker for AD evaluation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this study, a kind of shape-stabilized phase change material (PCM) was adopted for constructing heat storage condensers. And a novel household refrigerator equipped with the heat storage condensers was setup based on an ordinary double-door three-star compartment refrigerator. The experimental investigation on the characteristics of the novel refrigerator and an ordinary refrigerator was carried out under the ISO standard test conditions. For the novel refrigerator, part of the condensation heat was stored in the shape-stabilized PCM during the on-time and discharged to the environment while the compressor was off. Therefore, the heat dissipation of the novel refrigerator was continuous during a complete cycle (including a successive on-time and off-time period), different from the intermittent heat dissipation of the ordinary setup. Thus, the overall heat-transfer performances of the condensers could be significantly improved, which resulted in a lower condensation temperature, a higher evaporation temperature and a much larger subcooling degree at the condenser outlet. Compared to the ordinary refrigerator, the total cycle time and the ratio of on-time to the total cycle time of the novel refrigerator were much smaller, which led to more frequent starts of the compressor but lower energy consumption. Experiments demonstrated that the novel refrigerator could increase the energy efficiency by about 12% with only little increase of the cost.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by progressive memory loss and deteriorated higher cognitive functions. An economical, rapid and noninvasive biomarker for AD has not been identified. We aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of serum miR-223 and miR-519 in AD. The expressions of miR-223 and miR-519, with previously reported AD-associated miR-29 and miR-125b, were measured by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in the serum of 84 probable sporadic AD patients (age onset 65 years) and 62 healthy control populations in China. Analyses were undertaken to assess the specificity and sensitivity of miRNAs to predict AD. In addition, the relationship between miRNAs and mini mental state examination (MMSE) scores in AD patients was also assessed. Serum miR-29, miR-125b and miR-223 were significantly decreased, but serum miR-519 was significantly increased in AD patients compared with healthy blood donors. In addition, serum miR-223 was strongly positively correlated with MMSE score in AD patients but serum miR-519 was not. Importantly, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) result of serum miR-223 for prediction of AD was 0.786, higher than those of serum miR-29 (0.734) or miR-125b (0.726). The combination of serum miR-223 and miR-125b gave improved sensitivity/specificity for AD prediction (area under the ROC curve, 0.879) than either miRNA alone. Our preliminary findings indicate that serum miR-223 might be a potential biomarker for AD evaluation. Copyright © 2016 John WileySons, Ltd.

Liquid-phase and solid-phase extractions (SPE) in combination with a simple micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method were used to investigate human very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) lipids for two healthy donors. At absorbance 200 nm, the effective mobilities and peak areas of the MEKC profiles showed good reproducibility and precisions. A major peak and several minor peaks appeared for the total lipids of native VLDL, but both the peak numbers and areas reduced for the in vitro oxidized VLDL. Two chloroform and two methanol fractions were obtained from SPE of VLDL total lipids. Significant differences were observed for the first methanol fraction between native and in vitro oxidized VLDL lipids. The first methanol fraction showed a major peak and several minor peaks for native VLDL, but both the peak numbers and areas reduced for oxidized VLDL. Oxidation of VLDL caused decomposition of lipids, and thus the reduction of peak numbers and areas.

A simple capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was used to characterize human very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles for four healthy donors. One major peak was observed for native, in vitro oxidized and glycated VLDL particles. The effective mobilities and peak areas of the capillary electrophoresis (CE) profiles showed good reproducibility and precision. The mobility of the oxidized VLDL peak was higher than that of the native VLDL. The mobility of the glycated VLDL peak was similar to that of the native VLDL. Phospholipids isolated from VLDL particles were analyzed by our recently developed micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with a high-salt stacking method. At absorbance 200 nm, the native VLDL phospholipids showed a major peak and a minor peak for each donor. For oxidized VLDL phospholipids, the area of the major peak reduced for three donors, possibly due to phospholipid decomposition. For glycated VLDL phospholipids, the peak mobilities were more positive than native VLDL phospholipids for two donors, possibly due to phospholipid-linked advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Very interestingly, at absorbance 234 nm, the major peak of oxidized VLDL phospholipids was resolved as two peaks for each donor, possibly due to conjugated dienes formed upon oxidation.

Weight loss is frequently observed after acute exposure to high altitude. However, the magnitude and rate of weight loss during acute exposure to high altitude has not been clarified in a controlled prospective study. The present study was performed to evaluate weight loss at high altitude. A group of 120 male subjects [aged (32±6) years] who worked on the construction of the Golmud-Lhasa Railway at Kunlun Mountain (altitude of 4 678 m) served as volunteer subjects for this study. Eighty-five workers normally resided at sea level (sea level group) and 35 normally resided at an altitude of 2 200 m (moderate altitude group). Body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were measured in all subjects after a 7-day stay at Golmud (altitude of 2 800 m, baseline measurements). Measurements were repeated after 33-day working on Kunlun Mountain. In order to examine the daily rate of weight loss at high altitude, body weight was measured in 20 subjects from the sea level group (sea level subset group) each morning before breakfast for 33 d at Kunlun Mountain. According to guidelines established by the Lake Louise acute mountain sickness (AMS) consensus report, each subject completed an AMS self-report questionnaire two days after arriving at Kunlun Mountain. After 33-day stay at an altitude of 4 678 m, the average weight loss for the sea level group was 10.4% (range 6.5% to 29%), while the average for the moderate altitude group was 2.2% (-2% to 9.1%). The degree of weight loss (Δ weight loss) after a 33-day stay at an altitude of 4 678 m was significantly correlated with baseline body weight in the sea level group (r=0.677, P0.01), while the correlation was absent in the moderate altitude group (r=0.296, P0.05). In the sea level subset group, a significant weight loss was observed within 20 d, but the weight remained stable thereafter. AMS-score at high altitude was significantly higher in the sea level group (4.69±2.48) than that in the moderate altitude group (2.97±1.38), and was significantly correlated with baseline body weight. These results indicate that (1) the person with higher body weight during stay at high altitude loses more weight, and this is more pronounced in sea level natives when compared with that in moderate altitude natives; (2) heavier individuals are more likely to develop AMS than leaner individuals during exposure to high-altitude hypoxia.

An ecological planning approach for Shanghai Expo 2010 was constructed based on "overlay-maps" model, and the ecological elements and GIS visualization in Shanghai Expo 2010 area were investigated and analyzed from the aspects of human comfort degree, life health, and sustainable utilization of resources. This approach included the determination of objectives for ecological planning, the selection and in situ investigation of ecological elements, the construction of eco-database, and the integrative analysis of GIS visualization, being indispensable for the prior period research of ecological planning of Expo area. Based on the present situation of soil pollution in the Expo area, a tentative scheme of soil restoration and utilization was brought forward, with the concerns of green space demand and soil secondary pollution avoidance. To protect the wild life habitats in Expo area, a demarcation of conservation areas for plants and original landscape was made. A conception of using landscape elements to optimize air temperature, humidity, and ventilation in the process of urban design was proposed, aimed to promote the human comfort degree under tropical monsoon conditions.

Based on the observation data of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation from May to August 2006, the regulation effects of five types of open spaces (square, fountain, grassplot, corridor, and woodland) in Shanghai urban districts on the microclimate were analyzed, and discomfort index (DI) was introduced to evaluate the effects of these five types of open spaces on human body' s comfortable degree. The results showed that there existed definite differences in the air temperature and relative humidity among the open spaces, with the mean temperature decreased in the order of squaregrassplotfountaincorridorwoodland, and the mean relative humidity decreased in the order of woodlandcorridorfountaingrassplotsquare. The area of the square, the wind speed and direction near the fountain, the grass species on the grass-plot, the width and tree coverage of the corridor, and the tree coverage and canopy height of the woodland had significant correlations with the microclimate parameters of corresponding open spaces. Comparing with other three types of open spaces, woodland and corridor had better regulation effects on the microclimate via shading, decreasing air temperature, and increasing relative humidity.