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Lili Yu,1,2 Qi Zhou,1 Wei Li,1 Qin Zhang,3 Xiuling Cui,2 Yulin Chang,2 Qiujun Wang1 1Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Surgical Department of Thyroid and Mammary Tumors, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Qiujun Wang, Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 139, Ziqiang Road, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-311-8860-2072, Email wangqiujunsy@163.comPurpose: To evaluate the effect of esketamine combined with ultrasound-guided pectoral nerve block type II (Pecs II block) on the quality of early postoperative recovery in patients undergoing a modified radical mastectomy (MRM) for breast cancer.Patients and Methods: A total of 136 female patients undergoing an elective MRM for unilateral breast cancer (UBC) for the first time were randomly divided into the control group (group C, n=68) and the experimental group (PE group, n=68). In group C, sufentanil was used for anesthesia induction and patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA). Esketamine was used for anesthesia induction and PCIA in the PE group. Ultrasound-guided Pecs II block was performed after anesthesia induction in the two groups. All other anesthetics were administered in the same way. The primary outcome was the 40-item Quality of Recovery (QoR-40) score at discharge. The secondary outcomes were postoperative Observer’s Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale (OAA/S) scores, time of anesthesia recovery, Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) scores, serum inflammatory cytokines interleukin-10 (IL-10), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores, length of postoperative Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU) stay, length of postoperative hospital stay and patient satisfaction score.Results: Compared with group C, the PE group had higher QoR-40 scores at discharge (P< 0.05), decreased IL-6 levels at 24 h after surgery (P< 0.05), lower anxiety and depression scores (P< 0.05) and higher patient satisfaction scores at discharge (P< 0.05). No significant difference was found in the NRS score postoperatively between the two groups (P> 0.05). There was no significant difference in the postoperative OAA/S score, time of anesthesia recovery, length of postoperative PACU and hospital stays between the two groups (P> 0.05).Conclusion: Esketamine combined with Pecs II block can be used for anesthesia in MRM for breast cancer, thus, improving patient quality of early postoperative recovery.Keywords: esketamine, ultrasound-guided nerve block, thoracic nerves, mastectomy, modified radical, anesthesia, recovery

To extend the coverage of brain coil arrays to the neck and cervical-spine region to enable combined head and neck imaging at 7 Tesla (T) ultra-high field MRI.The coil array structures of a 64-channel receive coil and a 16-channel transmit coil were merged into one anatomically shaped close-fitting housing. Transmit characteristics were evaluated in a BIn the brain, the SNR matches the commercially available 32-channel brain array and showed improvements in accelerated imaging capabilities. More importantly, the constructed coil array improved the SNR in the face area, neck area, and cervical spine by a factor of 1.5, 3.4, and 5.2, respectively, in regions not covered by 32-channel brain arrays at 7 T. The interelement coupling of the 16-channel transmit coil ranged from -14 to -44 dB (mean = -19 dB, adjacent elements-18 dB). The parallel 16-channel transmit coil greatly facilitates BThis new head-neck array coil is the first demonstration of a device of this nature used for combined full-brain, head-neck, and cervical-spine imaging at 7 T. The array coil is well suited to provide large FOV images, which potentially improves ultrahigh field neuroimaging applications for clinical settings.

In recent years, customized buses (CBs), a new form of public travel mode between bus and car, has sprung up in China. Its characteristics include flexible routes, each person having a seat and point-to-point travel have attracted travelers who seek high-quality travel, especially car travelers, alleviating traffic congestion at peak periods and leading to a change in urban travel modes. In addition to providing new travel modes, an exclusive bus lane (EBL) is also an effective means to alleviate traffic congestion. Therefore, this paper establishes link impedance functions under mixed travel modes considering the EBL, including customized buses on different kinds of links, and then presents a day-to-day dynamic traffic flow assignment model based on stochastic user equilibrium (SUE). Some conclusions were summarized by numerical case studies. First, the parameter of travelers’ sensitivity to route travel time affects the speed of traffic flow evolution. When it increases to positive infinity, the final state of the traffic network moves from SUE to deterministic user equilibrium (DUE). Second, the parameter on the degree of dependence of travelers on previous experience can not only influence the value size of actual travel time, but also influence the direction of actual travel time evolution. Third, conventional buses and customized buses have higher transportation efficiency than cars, but if the proportion of conventional bus travelers is too large, the total travel time of all travelers in the traffic network may increase. Fourth, when travel demands increase, the proportion of travelers who choose public transit is required to increase to achieve minimum total travel time. Lastly, from the perspective of the whole traffic network in any case, the EBL is not always beneficial. It is recommended to set EBLs when conventional buses and customized bus flows are heavy, which can be judged based on the model established in this paper.

Background: ADHD and Chinese developmental dyslexia (DD) have a very high comorbidity rate; however, which cognitive deficits characterize the comorbidity and when they occur during cognitive processing are still under debate. Methods: Rapid automatic naming (RAN) tasks with eye-movement tracking were conducted with 75 children who were typically developing, had comorbid ADHD and DD, had only ADHD, and had only DD. Results: The clinical groups had longer first fixation durations than the control for RAN digits. Temporal eye-movement measures, such as gaze duration and total reading time, were found to vary between the comorbidity and ADHD groups. Spatial eye-movement measures, such as regression probability and incoming saccade amplitude, differed between the comorbidity and DD groups. Conclusions: These results indicate that investigation with eye-movement measures combined with RAN tasks can strengthen the understanding of the pathogenesis of comorbid ADHD and DD.

Given a graph G = (V, E) and a positive integer k, a k-total-coloring of G is a mapping φ: V⋃E → {1, 2, ⋯, k} such that no two adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. The central problem of the total-colorings is the Total Coloring Conjecture, which asserts that every graph of maximum degree Δ admits a (Δ+2)-total-coloring. More precisely, this conjecture has been verified for Δ ≤ 5, and it is still open when Δ = 6, even for planar graphs. Let mad(G) denote the maximum average degree of the graph G. In this paper, we prove that every graph G with Δ(G) = 6 and mad(G) < 23/5 admits an 8-total-coloring.

Following hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury, Kupffer cells could be activated by inflammatory factors released from damaged hepatocytes. Carbon monoxide (CO)-releasing molecule (CORM)-3, a water-soluble transition metal carbonyl, exhibits excellent anti-inflammatory and anti-pyroptosis properties. We investigated whether CORM-3 attenuated hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation (HSR)-induced pyroptosis of Kupffer cells through the soluble guanylate-cyclase (sGC)-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signal pathway. NS2028 (10 mg/kg), a blocker of sGC, was administrated at the onset of hemorrhage, but CORM-3 (4 mg/kg) was infused after resuscitation via femoral vein. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, tumor necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were measured at 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after HSR, respectively. Six hours post-HSR, liver injury, pyroptosis of Kupffer cells, and expressions in total caspase-1, cleaved caspase-1, gasdermin D (GSDMD) N-terminal fragment, IL-1β, and IL-18 were measured by hematoxylin-eosin (H&E), immunofluorescence and western blot assays, respectively (Fig. 1). The rats exposed to HSR exhibited significant upregulated levels of serum ALT, AST, TNF-α, and IL-1β, elevated liver injury score, increased pyroptosis of Kupffer cells, and accumulated expressions of pyroptosis-associated protein including cleaved caspase-1, GSDMD N-terminal fragment, IL-1β, and IL-18 than sham-treated rats. However, CORM-3 administration markedly reduced liver injury and pyroptosis of Kupffer cells, whereas these protective effects could be partially blocked by NS2028. CORM-3 can mitigate pyroptosis of Kupffer cells in a blood loss and re-infusion model of rats via sGC-cGMP signal pathway.

We evaluated the efficacy of electroacupuncture combined with tropisetron in treating carboprost tromethamine-induced nausea and vomiting during cesarean section under lumbar anesthesia.A total of 264 patients aged 22-40 years were enrolled, who received carboprost tromethamine and suffered nausea and vomiting during cesarean section under lumbar anesthesia. The patients were divided randomly into the control group, electroacupuncture group, tropisetron group, and electroacupuncture + tropisetron group.Compared to the control group, the nausea and vomiting scores decreased at T3 in both the electroacupuncture and electroacupuncture + tropisetron groups, and decreased at T4 in the electroacupuncture group, tropisetron group, and electroacupuncture + tropisetron group; the motilin, gastrin, and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels decreased at T5 in the other 3 groups. Compared to the electroacupuncture + tropisetron group, the nausea and vomiting scores increased at T3 in the control and tropisetron groups, and increased at T4 in the other 3 groups; the motilin, gastrin, and 5-HT levels increased at T5.Our study suggested that electroacupuncture combined with tropisetron could effectively relieve carboprost tromethamine-induced nausea and vomiting during cesarean section under lumbar anesthesia. The effect was better than its single application, and the reduced 5-HT, motilin, and gastrin levels might be involved in the underlying mechanism.Ziel: Wir untersuchten die Wirksamkeit der Elektroakupunktur in Kombination mit Tropisetron bei der Behandlung von Carboprost-Tromethamin-induzierter Übelkeit und Erbrechen während eines Kaiserschnitts in Spinalanästhesie. Methoden: Insgesamt wurden 264 Patientinnen im Alter von 22 bis 40 Jahren, die Carboprost-Tromethamin erhalten hatten und während eines Kaiserschnitts in Spinalanästhesie an Übelkeit und Erbrechen litten, in die Studie aufgenommen. Die Patientinnen wurden randomisiert der Kontrollgruppe, der Elektroakupunktur-Gruppe, der Tropisetron-Gruppe oder der Elektroakupunktur + Tropisetron-Gruppe zugewiesen. Ergebnisse: Im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe sanken die Werte für Übelkeit und Erbrechen bei T3 sowohl in der Elektro­akupunktur- als auch in der Elektroakupunktur + Tropisetron-Gruppe und bei T4 in der Elektroakupunkturgruppe, in der Tropisetron-Gruppe und in der Elektroakupunktur + Tropisetron-Gruppe; die Motilin-, Gastrin- und 5-Hydroxytryptamin (5-HT)-Spiegel gingen bei T5 in den anderen drei Gruppen zurück. Im Vergleich zur Elektro­akupunktur + Tropisetron-Gruppe stiegen die Werte für Übelkeit und Erbrechen bei T3 in der Kontroll- und Tropisetron-Gruppe und stiegen bei T4 in den anderen drei Gruppen; die Motilin-, Gastrin- und 5-HT-Konzentrationen stiegen bei T5. Schlussfolgerungen: Unsere Studie spricht dafür, dass Elektroakupunktur in Kombination mit Tropisetron Carboprost-Tromethamin-induzierte Übelkeit und Erbrechen während eines Kaiserschnitts in Spinalanästhesie lindern kann. Der Effekt war stärker ausgeprägt als die alleinige Anwendung, und möglicherweise sind die verringerten 5-HT-, Motilin- und Gastrin-Konzentrationen an dem zugrunde liegenden Mechanismus beteiligt.

Graphene oxide (GO) has been increasingly utilized in the fields of food, biomedicine, environment and other fields because of its benign biocompatible. We encapsulated two kinds of GO with different sizes on yeast cells with the assistance of polyelectrolytes poly (styrene sulfonic acid) sodium salt (PSS) and polyglutamic acid (PGA) (termed as Y@GO). The result does not show a significant difference between the properties of the two types of Y@GO (namely Y@GO1 and Y@GO2). The encapsulation layers are optimized as Yeast/PGA/PSS/PGA/GO/PGA/PSS based on the morphology, dispersity, colony-forming unit, and zeta potential. The encapsulation of GO increases the roughness of the yeast. It is proved that the Y@GO increases the survival time and enhance the activity of yeast cells. The GO shell improves the resistance of yeast cells against pH and salt stresses and extends the storage time of yeast cells.

Two bi-level models to reconstruct origin-destination (O-D) demand under congested network are explored in terms of the observed link and route travel times, where one model inputs the known trajectories of observed route travel times and the other model uses both known and unknown trajectories of observed route travel times. The proposed models leverage both the link and route traffic information to determine the network O-D demand that minimizes the distances between the observed and estimated traffic information (O-D, link and route travel times) in the upper-level, and optimize the stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) in the lower-level. Meanwhile, the observed information of travel time can capture the relationships between traffic flow and travel cost/time in congested network. The K-means (hard assignment) and Gaussian mixture model (GMM, soft assignment) clustering methods are presented to identify the trajectories of observed route travel times. An iterative solution algorithm is proposed to solve the built O-D reconstruction models, where the method of gradient descent, the method of successive average and Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm are used to solve the upper-level model, lower level model, and GMM, respectively. Results from numerical experiments demonstrate the superiority of the travel time based model over the traditional flow based method in congested traffic network, and also suggest that using both the route and link information outperforms only using link information in the reconstruction of O-D demand.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause permanent neurological deficits. Circular RNA Ncam2 (circ-Ncam2 also termed mmu_circ_0006413) has been reported to be overexpressed in SCI mouse models. However, the function of circ-Ncam2 in SCI has not been validated. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to activate mouse microglia (BV2 cells). Expression levels of circ-Ncam2 were determined by RT-qPCR. Relative protein levels were evaluated by western blotting. Cytokines were determined by ELISA. The regulatory mechanism of circ-Ncam2 was validated by dual-luciferase reporter and RNA pull-down assays. Effects of LPS-induced BV2 cells on mouse neuronal (HT22 cells) viability, proliferation, and apoptosis were analyzed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), and flow cytometry assays. LPS stimulation promoted circ-Ncam2 expression in BV2 cells. Inhibition of circ-Ncam2 mitigated LPS-induced BV2 cell activation and inflammation. Mechanically, circ-Ncam2 adsorbed miR-544-3p to regulate TLR4 expression. Also, either miR-544-3p inhibition or TLR4 overexpression weakened circ-Ncam2 silencing-mediated effects on LPS-induced BV2 cell activation and inflammation. Furthermore, LPS-induced BV2 cells suppressed HT22 cell proliferation and promoted HT22 cell apoptosis through the circ-Ncam2/miR-544-3p axis. Importantly, circ-Ncam2 activated the NF-κB signaling via the miR-544-3p/TLR4axis. circ-Ncam2 silencing lowered LPS-induced microglia activation and neuronal apoptosis via blocking the TLR4/NF-κB pathway through acting as a miR-544-3p sponge, suggesting that circ-Ncam2 may be involved in secondary SCI.

Background: In recent years, new nanomaterials have received great attention due to their widespread use in agriculture, food safety and pharmacy. Among them, graphene and graphene oxide (GO) are emerging as promising nanomaterials, which may have far-reaching effects on pharmacy and health. Objective: In this paper, the living Hela cells were covered by GO (Hela@GO) and the cell viability, reactive oxygen species, membrane integrity and apoptosis of them were compared with the control Hela cells, especially under the stress from four kinds of organic solvent, including dimethyl sulphoxide, ethanol, acetone, and glycerin. Results: It was suggested that the GO may protect cells by covering the cells, keeping their membrane integrity, reducing the ROS and decreasing the apoptosis. Conclusion: GO has attracted the tremendous attention of their bioapplications. In this research, the GO adhered to Hela cells. It was observed that the Hela@GO grew well. Besides, it was suggested that the GO would play a protective role to Hela cells against four organic solvents, by maintaining the cell membrane integrity, reducing ROS, and inhibiting the apoptosis.

Introduction: Penehyclidine hydrochloride (PHC) is an anticholinergic with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation activities. PHC displayed protectivity against renal ischemia reperfusion (RIR) injury. Nevertheless, the precise protectivity of PHC on RIR-induced lung injury remains unknown. Methods: We examined the effects of PHC on RIR-induced lung injury and investigated the underlying mechanism. We induced RIR in mice and administrated PHC to RIR mice. Kidney function was monitored by measuring the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine level in serum. We evaluated the lung injury, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in lung, pro-inflammatory cytokine level, and oxidative markers in serum and lung tissues. We tested the expression level of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in lung of RIR mice after PHC treatment. Finally, we evaluated the effects of PHC in RIR Nrf2-/- mice. Results: PHC greatly downregulated the serum levels of BUN, creatinine, IL-6, NO, malondialdehyde (MDA), and matrix metalloproteinase-2. PHC also ameliorated the lung injury, decreased the MPO activity, and suppressed production of IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ, MDA, and O2-, while it promoted production of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in lung. PHC improved the production of Nrf2 and HO-1. Conclusion: The protectivity of PHC was absent in Nrf2-/- mice. PHC ameliorated RIR-induced lung injury through Nrf2 pathway.

This paper proposes a subnetwork origin-destination (OD) matrix estimation model under travel demand constraints (SME-DC) that explicitly considers both internal-external subnetwork connections and OD demand consistency between the subnetwork and full network. This new model uses the maximum entropy of OD demands as the objective function and uses the total traffic generations (attractions) along with some fixed OD demands of the subnetwork OD nodes as the constraints. The total traffic generations and attractions along with the fixed OD demands of the subnetwork OD nodes are obtained through an OD node transformation and subnetwork topology analysis. For solving the proposed model, a convex combination method is used to convert the nonlinear SME-DC to the classical linear transportation problem, and a tabular method is used to solve the transportation problem. The Sioux Falls network and Kunshan network were provided to illustrate the essential ideas of the proposed model and the applicability of the proposed solution algorithm.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in kidney development and maintenance of kidney physiological functions. MiR-377 has been reported to regulate inflammation in cardiac and cerebral ischemia. However, it remains unclear whether it has a similar function in renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Using I/R model mice, miR-377 expression was determined by qRT-PCR in the renal tissues. Renal function was assessed by detection of the concentrations of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (Cr). Oxidative stress was evaluated by ELISA analysis of oxidation-related enzymes and molecules. Inflammatory factor concentration and other protein levels were analyzed by the ELISA assay and Western blot, respectively. Our study found that renal I/R stimulated miR-377 expression, while the inhibition of miR-377 attenuated renal I/R injury, and blocked renal I/R-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Meantime, NF-κB and MAPK signaling were activated by renal I/R, which could also be reversed by miR-377 inhibitor. Furthermore, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) depletion by siRNA completely abrogated the impact of miR-377 on renal I/R-induced oxidative stress, inflammation and renal dysfunction. In conclusion, renal I/R induced miR-377 expression, which upregulated VEGF expression to attenuate renal I/R-induced oxidative stress and inflammation, and finally ameliorated renal dysfunction.

Hemispheric predominance has been well documented in the visual perception of alphabetic words. However, the hemispheric processing of lexical information in Chinese character recognition and its relationship to reading performance are far from clear. In the divided visual field paradigm, participants were required to judge the orthography, phonology, or semantics of Chinese characters, which were presented randomly in the left or right visual field. The results showed a right visual field/left hemispheric superiority in the phonological judgment task, but no hemispheric advantage in the orthographic or semantic task was found. In addition, reaction times in the right visual field for phonological and semantic tasks were significantly correlated with the reading test score. These results suggest that both hemispheres involved in the orthographic and semantic processing of Chinese characters, and that the left lateralized phonological processing is important for Chinese fluent reading.

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury causes high morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. I/R induces acute kidney injury through exacerbating the mitochondrial damage and increasing inflammatory and oxidative responses. Here, we developed the mitochondria-targeted nanocarrier to delivery of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) for renal I/R treatment in animal model. The mitochondria-targeted TPP CoQ10 nanoparticles (T-NPCoQ10) were synthesized through ABC miktoarm polymers method and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The I/R mouse model and oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (D/R) model were created to examine the role of T-NPCoQ10 on renal I/R. Mitochondrial DNA damage, apoptosis, and inflammatory cytokines were measured in I/R injury mice. Plasma creatinine, urea nitrogen, tubular injury score was tested to assess the renal function. T-NPCoQ10 nanoparticles could be delivered to renal mitochondria preciously and efficiently. T-NPCoQ10 administration attenuated oxidative injury in both cell and animal models significantly, alleviated mtDNA damage, suppressed inflammatory and apoptotic responses, and improved renal function. The mitochondria specific CoQ10 delivery provided a precious and efficient method for protecting inflammatory and oxidative responses of I/R-induced renal damage.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of different anesthesia methods on postoperative transient neurologic syndrome (TNS) in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH). Ninety-six patients with LDH were selected from November 2015 to October 2016 in Cangzhou Central hospital. All patients were treated with percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy. The patients were randomly divided into the control group and observation group, with 48 patients each. Combined spinal-epidural anesthesia was performed for patients in the control group, while epidural anesthesia was applied in the observation group. The levels of T lymphocyte subsets (CD4+ and CD8+) and inflammatory factors (IL-2 and TNF-α) were measured and compared before and 1 week after surgery. The incidence rate of TNS within 1 week after surgery was compared between the two groups. Fugl-Meyer Assessment was used to evaluate lower limb motor function and sensory disturbances at 1, 3 and 5 days after treatment. One week after treatment, the serum levels of CD4+ and CD8+ in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery (p0.05). The incidence rate of TNS within 1 week after surgery was significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (p

The nuclear factor (NF)-κB and NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) pathways promote inflammatory signaling that injures the kidneys, whereas the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway promotes anti-inflammatory signaling that inhibits oxidative damage. Penehyclidine hydrochloride (PHC) inhibits NF-κB and activates Nrf2 signaling. We investigated whether PHC induces communication between the Nrf2 and NF-κB/NLRP3 pathways, thereby protecting against renal ischemia/reperfusion (rI/R)-induced lung inflammation. Rat alveolar macrophages (NR8383 cells) were stimulated for 24 h with PHC with or without brusatol (a Nrf2 antagonist), after which they were treated for 4 h with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (10 mM). PHC Nrf2-dependently alleviated tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced reactive oxygen species production in alveolar macrophages. Additionally, wild-type and Nrf2-/- rats were each divided into four groups: (1) sham, (2) PHC (1 mg/kg), (3) rI/R and (4) rI/R + PHC (1 mg/kg). PHC markedly induced the Nrf2 and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase pathways and suppressed rI/R-induced NF-κB and NLRP3 activation in the lungs. Nrf2 deficiency diminished the ability of PHC to ameliorate rI/R-induced histopathological alterations and reactive oxygen species release in the lungs; however, PHC inhibited NLRP3 signaling Nrf2-dependently, while it inhibited NF-κB signaling Nrf2-independently. Our findings demonstrate the beneficial effects of PHC on rI/R-induced lung inflammation.

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury initiates and exacerbates a series of oxidative and inflammatory events, and causes high morbidity and mortality. Despite the progress made with recent clinical use of anti-malarial drugs, the response rate of I/R injury treatment remains unsatisfactory. Here, we showed a neutrophil membrane-enveloped Coenzyme Q (N-NPCoQ10) nanoparticle strategy for I/R injury treatment. We validated the physicochemical and biological reproducibility of the nanoparticles and tested the protective effects of N-NPCoQ10 in oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion model and renal I/R injury mouse model. N-NPCoQ10 nanoparticles administration exhibited synergistic protective effect against I/R injury, which significantly reduced oxidative damage in vitro and in vivo, inhibited renal cell apoptosis, attenuated inflammatory response in renal I/R injury model, and finally improved renal function of I/R injury mice. The N-NPCoQ10 nanoparticles administration provides an efficient way to deliver anti-oxidant that suppresses oxidative damages and neutralize proinflammatory cytokines during renal I/R injury, which might be a potential strategy for renal acute kidney injury treatment. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The neutrophil membrane-enveloped Coenzyme Q nanoparticles (N-NPCoQ10) provides an efficient way to protect oxidative, inflammatory, and apoptotic reaction in renal I/R injury, which might be a potential strategy for renal acute kidney injury treatment.

The increasing applications of graphene oxide (GO) in bio-medicine, environment and other fields enhance the exposure possibility of human beings to GO. Studies have been performed to address the in vitro toxicity of GO; however, little information on the in vivo biological consequence of GO with other common disasters is available, especially when cells are co-exposed to GO and common metal ions. To explore the influence and possible mechanisms of such co-exposure scenarios, a series of tests of cell viability, membrane integrity, reactive oxygen species (ROS), cell morphology, and Cd2+ distribution, were conducted. The results showed that the synergistic toxic mechanisms of GO and Cd2+, initiated from the adhesion of GO on HeLa cells, and followed by the recruitment of Cd2+ ions around the cell membrane, impaired the membrane integrity, morphology and adhesion capability, and triggered cell toxicity. The synergistic toxic mechanism of GO and Cu2+ mainly correlated to ROS, while no obvious relationship with membrane integrity was observed. The findings are envisaged to facilitate the application of GO in biology and related fields.

Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion (rI/R)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is a major problem in rI/R. The objective of the current study was to explore the defensive roles of propofol (Pro), an intravenous anesthetic, on rI/R-induced ALI through mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Rats were divided into Sham, Pro (10 mg/kg), rI/R, rI/R + Pro (5 mg/kg), and rI/R + Pro (10 mg/kg) groups. Rats were treated with Pro at 1 h after rI/R treatment. Serum and lung tissues at 24 h after rI/R were collected to evaluate morphological changes and the expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO), inflammatory cytokines, and crucial proteins in the MAPK pathway. Pro attenuated the production of mediators, resulting in reduced levels of autophagy and apoptosis by restricting the MAPK pathway in rI/R-induced ALI model. Pro represses rI/R-induced pulmonary autophagy and apoptosis by decreasing the production of inflammatory molecules, and the effects of Pro are involved in the inhibition of the MAPK pathway.

Introduction Renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) remains one of the most diseases in clinic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential role and mechanism of propofol in protecting mice kidney from IRI. Methods Renal I/R model was established in C57/BL6 mice by clamping bilateral renal pedicles for 35 min. The mice were randomly divided into four groups: sham group, IR group, IR + Propofol group, and IR + Propofol+LY294002 group. Histological assessment of kidney was conducted by HE staining and the levels of serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) of each group were measured. Expressions of inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α) were detected by qRT-PCR and immunoblotting. The expression levels of cleaved Caspasse-3, PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, mTOR, and p-mTOR within renal tissue samples were measured by Western Blot. Results The levels BUN, Cr and morphological damage score increased significantly after renal IRI. However, such changes could be prevented by propofol. Besides, IRI reduced renal expressions of PI3K, p-Akt, p-mTOR, and increased the levels of IL-6, TNF-α，cl-caspase-3 in kidney, After propofol treatment, these changes were significantly alleviated, but the use of PI3K inhibitor LY294002 could reverse the effects of propofol. Conclusion Propofol can protect renal IRI partially by reducing apoptosis and release of inflammatory cytokines, which is possibly involved in the modulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Our data suggested that propofol may play certain positive roles in protecting the kidney from IRI.

Lipoxin A4 (LA4), a bioactive product of arachidonic acid, has been shown to exert strong anti-inflammatory activity. By contrast, the anti-inflammatory action of LA4 in a renal ischaemia-reperfusion (RIR)-mediated acute lung inflammation (ALI) model and the potential pathogenesis of the condition is still unclear. The aim of the current research was to investigate the effect of LA4 on RIR-induced ALI. The rat ALI model was induced by RIR. LA4 was injected via the tail vein immediately after RIR. The results indicate that LA4 markedly inhibits inflammatory cells infiltration, attenuates myeloperoxidase activity, and reduces the concentration of inflammatory mediators and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in RIR-induced ALI. Furthermore, LA4 suppressed nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65 and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. The protective effect of LA4 in RIR-stimulated ALI was reversed by BOC-2 (an antagonist of the LA4 receptor). These results indicate that LA4 exerts powerful anti-inflammatory functions in RIR-induced ALI by attenuating TLR4 expression via MAPK and NF-κB signalling. Accordingly, LA4 might be an underlying treatment drug for RIR-induced ALI.

The molecular mechanisms of acute lung injury (ALI) are closely associated with nucleotide-binding domains and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) pyrin domains containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, in which alveolar macrophages (AMs) exert an essential function. Our study has been proved that artesunate (AS) inhibits ALI. Nevertheless, the inhibition actions of AS on activation of NLRP3 in renal ischemia-reperfusion (RIR)-mediated ALI remain to be further discussed. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into four groups: sham + NS, sham + AS, RIR + NS, and RIR + AS. RIR-mediated ALI was performed through bilateral renal pedicle occlusion for 60 min followed by reperfusion for 24 h. AS (15 mg/kg) or NS was injected intraperitoneal to rat 1 h before RIR treatment. AMs were rendered hypoxic (0.5%) for 2 h and reoxygenated for 24 h. Lung injury index and histology, and inflammatory cells and cytokine release in the BALF and AMs were examined. The protein and mRNA levels of NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1 in the lung and AMs were evaluated via Western blot and real-time RCR. In this research, we indicated that AS preconditioning inhibited RIR-mediated lung damage, vascular permeability, and edema in rats. AS reduced RIR-mediated ALI, as characterized by abatement in the count of inflammatory cells, and the production of inflammatory cytokines in the BALF. AS administration inhibited the number of F4/80-positive cells, the activity of myeloperoxidase, and the fiery cytokines mRNA expression in lung samples of RIR-stimulated rats. Furthermore, AS alleviated the activity of caspase-1 and activation of NLRP3 through depending on reactive oxygen species (ROS). An in vitro finding that AS mitigated hypoxia/reoxygenation-mediated activation of AMs partially supported in vivo study. In a word, these findings demonstrate that AS pretreatment attenuated RIR-mediated ALI potentially through reducing ROS-induced activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.

A strong edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is an edge-coloring such that any two edges on a path of length three receive distinct colors. We denote the strong chromatic index by $\chi_{s}'(G)$ which is the minimum number of colors that allow a strong edge-coloring of $G$. Erd\H{o}s and Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il conjectured in 1985 that the upper bound of $\chi_{s}'(G)$ is $\frac{5}{4}\Delta^{2}$ when $\Delta$ is even and $\frac{1}{4}(5\Delta^{2}-2\Delta +1)$ when $\Delta$ is odd, where $\Delta$ is the maximum degree of $G$. The conjecture is proved right when $\Delta\leq3$. The best known upper bound for $\Delta=4$ is 22 due to Cranston previously. In this paper we extend the result of Cranston to list strong edge-coloring, that is to say, we prove that when $\Delta=4$ the upper bound of list strong chromatic index is 22., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

The suburban railway passenger station connecting intercity and urban transport is the key point of an unimpeded transportation network. The study of evacuation on the passenger service level will improve comfort of junctions and lay a solid theoretical foundation for yard planning. Firstly, this paper will introduce the surroundings and the passenger flow of Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway. Shanghai-Nanjing High-Speed Railway is located in the economic prosperity region of the Yangtze River Delta area. There's large passenger traffic volume. It takes a long time for passengers to arrive. There are also many long-distance bus stations near the important station yards, which railway station and bus station share part of the infrastructure. The writer puts forward the point through the investigation and analysis of passenger evacuation capacity service level evaluation index in station field, including service facilities utility, Service information accuracy, comfort, and evacuation capacity, etc. And the transfer comfort index contains transfer comfort index and transfer coordination index. The weight of each index is determined by analytic hierarchy process (AHP). And the evaluation system is proposed by the fuzzy mathematics comprehensive evaluation method. This thesis will put forward reasonable suggestions for Shanghai-Nanjing High-Speed Railway stations to improve the service level of evacuating passengers.

Background High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a critical proinflammatory factor that is closely related to mortality in sepsis patients. Dexmedetomidine has been proven to reduce the mortality rate from endotoxin shock and attenuate endotoxin-induced acute lung injury. These effects result from reduced secretion of many proinflammatory mediators, although it is not clear whether dexmedetomidine affects the secretion of HMGB1. In this study, we explored the effect of dexmedetomidine on the expression and secretion of HMGB1 from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages. Methods We incubated RAW264.7 cells with LPS in the presence or absence of various concentrations of dexmedetomidine. We used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect the secretion levels of HMGB1 in the culture supernatant. We employed real-time polymerase chain reaction to assess the expression of HMGB1 mRNA, and used a nuclear/cytoplasm extraction kit to extract the nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. We employed Western blotting to observe changes in the translocation of HMGB1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In addition, we used a nuclear factor (NF)-κB p50/p65 transcription factor assay kit to analyze NF-κB activity in the nuclear extract. Results Dexmedetomidine inhibited the translocation of HMGB1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and its extracellular secretion in LPS-activated macrophages while suppressing the expression of HMGB1 mRNA. Dexmedetomidine inhibited the translocation of NF-κB from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in LPS-activated macrophages in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, these effects were significantly reversed by the α2-adrenergic receptor antagonist yohimbine. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that dexmedetomidine inhibits the translocation of HMGB1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and the expression of HMGB1 mRNA at clinically relevant dosages. The mechanism responsible for these effects may be through the NF-κB signaling pathway and the α2-adrenergic receptors.

We compared the profiles of adhesion molecule expression on naïve T cells between umbilical cord blood (UCB) and steady-state bone marrow (SS-BM) grafts.The expressions of 4 adhesion molecules, including very late antigen 4 (VLA-4), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), L-selectin, and lymophocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) on naïve T cells in UCB (n = 25) and SS-BM (n = 10) were analyzed using flow cytometry.The expressions of ICAM-1 and L-selectin on CD4(+) T cells and CD8(+) T cells in UCB were significantly lower than those on SS-BM (P.05 for all). The expressions of VLA-4 and LFA-1 on CD8(+) T cells in UCB were significantly lower than those of SS-BM (P = .002 and .047, respectively). Compared with SS-BM, we observed lower expression of ICAM-1 on naïve CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in UCB (P.001 for all). The percentages of interferon (IFN)-γ positive cells among naïve CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell subsets were significantly lower in UCB, leading to ready polarization of naïve UCB T cells from a Th1 to Th2 phenotype versus those on SS-BM.Our results among UCB suggested lower intensities of ICAM-1 expression on naïve T cells and their easier polarization from Th1 to Th2 elements.

This paper proposes the traffic signal optimization design for the street crosswalk between coordinated adjacent intersections. The design has taken the pedestrian waiting tolerance limit time into consideration as one of the constraint conditions to obtain the pedestrian green phase duration. If the green phase duration is not sufficient for pedestrian crossing safety, the methods of twice crossing street or two chances of crossing can be applied according to different situations. The common red time of two intersections is analyzed to build delay functions by using of motorcade dispersion and traffic flow rate relationship, and timing optimization parameter can be worked out to minimize the total vehicle delay, thus determining signal phase difference. The result shows that this design may ensure the pedestrian safety and reduce the pedestrian delay.

This paper presents a quantitative analysis model of curb parking impacts on traffic flow delay. Whether a road is appropriate setting curb parking is quantitatively analyzed. Based on the variation of traffic delay on a road with curb parking lots, the impacts of curb parking facilities on traffic flow are analyzed. The traffic delay caused by curb parking activities that under both low and high volume conditions are researched. A model respectively using discrete, continuous values of delay as evaluation indicator is built. The validity of the model is tested through application examples.

By using optimization method, this paper has set up vehicle delay models of signalized intersection which based on vehicle average delay minimum, each phase remain time equal and each phase remain time balance. By using a real intersection’s geometry and traffic flow data, this paper has also set up the phase time with the above models, studied the results and evaluated these models

In order to alleviate the problem of the oversaturation of intersections, a traffic control method using a main-signal and pre-signals to periodically control the direction of dynamic waiting lanes was proposed in this paper. Based on the research on vehicle delay at intersections with dynamic waiting lanes and constraint relationships among a set of timing elements of the main-signal and pre-signal, a coordinated control model of a main-signal and pre-signal was built to minimize the average delay. Finally, a case study was performed to show that the proposed model is feasible. The objective optimization was performed by using a genetic algorithm to determine the main-signal and pre-signal timing scheme of the case study intersection, and then the average delay before and after installing dynamic waiting lanes was calculated and analyzed. The proposed method was found to be effective in reducing the intersection delay by 31.8% compared with the present situation of the intersection. Subsequently, the traffic volumes in the directions with dynamic waiting lanes installed were changed. It was demonstrated that with increasing traffic volumes, the effectiveness of the model to reduce intersection delay would be significant.