[Blastocystis Infection in Pet Dogs in Selected Areas of Anhui and Zhejiang Provinces].

Objective: To determine the prevalence and subtypes of Blastocystis in pet dogs in Anhui and Zhejiang Provinces. Methods: Pet dog fecal samples were collected from veterinary clinics in Baohe District of Hefei City, Xuanzhou District of Xuancheng City, Fengyang County and Mingguang City of Chuzhou City, Longzihu District of Bengbu City, Si County of Suzhou City in Anhui Province, as well as in Yuhang District of Hangzhou City in Zhejiang Province from April to December, 2013. Blastocystis was detected by microscopic examination as well as nested PCR and single-step PCR based on small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences. The PCR products were sequenced, and Blastocystis subtypes were assigned. Results: A total of 315 pet dog fecal samples were collected. The incidence of Blastocystis infection determined by microscopic examination, nested PCR and single-step PCR was 1.3%（4/315）, 1.9%（6/315） and 1.9%（6/315）, respectively. In addition, the two PCR methods both revealed Blastocystis infection only in Chuzhou City（3.4%, 1/29） and Hefei City（5.6%, 4/72）. The pet dogs in Chuzhou City carried ST1 and ST2 subtypes while those in Hefei carried only ST1. There was no significant difference in infection rate between adult and young dogs and between male and female dogs. Conclusion: Blastocystis infection exists in pet dogs in Chuzhou City and Hefei City.

Star-shaped polymer consisting of a porphyrin core and poly(L-lysine) dendron arms: synthesis, drug delivery, and in vitro chemo/photodynamic therapy.

A novel star-shaped polymer, porphyrin-poly(L-lysine) dendrons (PP-PLLD), is synthesized by the click reaction between azido-modified porphyrin and propargyl focal point poly(L-lysine) dendrons. Its chemical structure is characterized by (1) H nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is analyses etc. Due to its amphiphilic property, the obtained PP-PLLD has a low critical micelle concentration in an aqueous solution, and can load doxorubicin (DOX) with a loading amount of 64 µg mg(-1) . By in vitro toxicity assay, PP-PLLD has no dark cytotoxicity but has significant phototoxicity. Moreover, DOX-loaded PP-PLLD shows a higher cytotoxicity under the light condition than PP-PLLD or DOX alone, suggesting PP-PLLD has a potential application in combined photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy.

TMPyP-bound guanosine-borate supramolecular hydrogel as smart hemoperfusion device with real-time visualized/electrochemical bi-modal monitoring for selective blood lead elimination.

Blood lead poisoning is a universal and severe health problem that greatly threatens human health in various industries. Elimination of blood lead relying on chelating agents and combination with hemoperfusion adsorbents has achieved considerable progress, but it is still suffering from the compromised selectivity of adsorbents as well as in absence of real time monitoring during treatment. Herein, we proposed a selective blood lead adsorbent integrated with real-time visualized/electrochemical bi-modal monitoring based on TMPyP-bound guanosine-borate (GB) supramolecular hydrogel as potential smart hemoperfusion device. The GB hydrogel possessed stability in physiological environment, self-healing ability resistant to fluid shear, blood compatibility, selective adsorption of lead ions superior to conventional adsorbents, anti-fouling performance to blood components and renewability. Benefiting from binding with TMPyP and the intrinsic conductivity, GB hydrogel was endowed with the ability to qualitatively diagnose the presence of blood lead via simple color change and quantitatively reflect the amount of adsorbed lead from blood accurately through electrochemical technique. This work puts forward an integrated treatment/monitoring hemoperfusion device with high selectivity, simple fabrication and low-cost, providing a paradigm for next generation design of intelligent, monitorable theranostic hemopurification system, which is also an extensible platform for the other research fields such as environmental monitoring and remediation.

Circulating PD1+Vδ1+γδ T Cell Predicts Fertility in Endometrial Polyp Patients of Reproductive-Age.

Clinically, immune cell function is correlated with pathogenesis of endometrial polyp (EP) and infertility of women of reproductive-age. However, the underlying immune cell hallmark in EP patients remains unclear. Here, we focused on analyzing circulating immune cells, and attempted to reveal the correlation between peripheral immune cell functional phenotypes and fertility in EP patients. Through comparison of circulating CD4+/CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and γδ T cells between 64 EP patients and 68 healthy females, we found that γδ T cells, but not CD4+/CD8+ T cells and NK cells, were immunologically correlated with conception rate and conception interval time. Specifically, total γδ T cells and the Vδ1+PD1+ γδ T subpopulation decreased whereas the Vδ1/Vδ2 ratio increased in EP patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, the patients with the higher Vδ1/Vδ2 ratio (median value equals 1.04) had a poorer fertility and longer interval time of conception (210 days versus 158 days for control). Meanwhile, higher Vδ1+PD1+ γδ T cell proportion (median equals 15.7) was positively correlative with both higher conception rate and shortened median conception interval time (130 days for Vδ1+PD1high group versus 194 days for Vδ1+PD1low group). Notably, in healthy controls, both Vδ1/Vδ2 ratio and Vδ1+PD1+ γδ T cell proportion correlated with pregnancy rate oppositely, comparing to EP patients. Together, our results suggested that imbalanced γδ T cell population occurred in EP patients, and that Vδ1/Vδ2 ratio and PD-1 expression of Vδ1+ γδ T cells could be potentially developed into valuable predictors for fertility in EP patients.

[Effects of heparin and anticardiolipin antibodies positive serum from patients with recurrent pregnancy loss on proliferation of BeWo cells].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of anticardiolipin antibodies positive serum from patients with recurrent pregnancy loss on the proliferation of BeWo cells as well as the modulation of heparin on the growth of BeWo cell. METHODS: Thirty patients with recurrent pregnancy loss whose anticardiolipin antibodies were positive and thirty healthy women with a history of term delivery were selected. Their sera were separately added to BeWo cell culture systems which contained either heparin or not. After 24 hours, the PCNA and 490 nm A value were detected by immunofluorescence and methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), and the proliferation of BeWo cell was evaluated. RESULTS: In the culture systems with heparin and normal serum, normal serum, heparin and serum with positive autoantibody, serum with positive autoantibody, the mean fluorescence gray scale values of PCNA were 34.8 +/- 3.1, 33.8 +/- 1.8, 33.4 +/- 2.2 and 25.1 +/- 2.3, the 490 nm A values were 0.0560 +/- 0.0033, 0.0535 +/- 0.0024, 0.0524 +/- 0.0027 and 0.0350 +/- 0.0040, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The serum with anticardiolipin antibodies from patients with recurrent pregnancy loss can influence the prospective potency of BeWo cell, inhibit cell proliferation in vitro. Through this direct effect on biological behaviour of the trophoblastic cell, it will lead to recurrent pregnancy loss, whereas heparin can increase the ratio of pregnancy by reversing such effects in those patients.

Epidemic spreading on complex networks with general degree and weight distributions.

The spread of disease on complex networks has attracted wide attention in the physics community. Recent works have demonstrated that heterogeneous degree and weight distributions have a significant influence on the epidemic dynamics. In this study, a novel edge-weight-based compartmental approach is developed to estimate the epidemic threshold and epidemic size (final infected density) on networks with general degree and weight distributions, and a remarkable agreement with numerics is obtained. Even in complex networks with the strong heterogeneous degree and weight distributions, this approach is used. We then propose an edge-weight-based removal strategy with different biases and find that such a strategy can effectively control the spread of epidemic when the highly weighted edges are preferentially removed, especially when the weight distribution of a network is extremely heterogenous. The theoretical results from the suggested method can accurately predict the above removal effectiveness.

BJ-B11, a novel Hsp90 inhibitor, induces apoptosis in human chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells through the mitochondria-dependent pathway.

In the past few years heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitors have been reported to possess significant antitumor activity. We investigated, for the first time, the antitumor activity of a novel Hsp90 inhibitor 2-(4-acetyloxycyclohexylamino)-4-(3, 6, 6-trimethyl-4-oxo-4, 5, 6, 7-tetrahydro-1H-indazol-1-yl)-benzamide (BJ-B11) and the molecular mechanism underlying the apoptosis it induces in human chronic myeloid leukemia K562 cells. The results revealed that BJ-B11 triggered growth inhibition in K562 cells and other malignant cell lines in vitro with only minor toxicity in a normal human cell line. BJ-B11 inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, with IC(50) values of 1.1 ± 0.2 µM and 0.4 ± 0.1 µM after 48 and 72 h incubations respectively. This most likely results from cell cycle arrest at the G(0)/G(1) phase and the induction of apoptosis. In addition, BJ-B11 degraded the Hsp90 client proteins Bcr-Abl and Akt, induced activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and subsequent cleavage of PARP. The caspase signals may originate from mitochondrial dysfunction, which is supported by the finding of cytochrome c release. In addition, inactivation of the Akt signaling pathway may be involved in the process of BJ-B11-induced apoptosis. Taken together, our data provide a putative molecular mechanism for the anticancer effect of BJ-B11 on K562 cells, and suggest a potential application for BJ-B11 in chronic myeloid leukemia therapy.

Epidemic spreading in complex networks.

The study of epidemic spreading in complex networks is currently a hot topic and a large body of results have been achieved. In this paper, we briefly review our contributions to this field, which includes the underlying mechanism of rumor propagation, the epidemic spreading in community networks, the influence of varying topology, and the influence of mobility of agents. Also, some future directions are pointed out.