Performance evaluation of rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its effect on marine oil-spill remediation.

This study aimed to reveal that the effect of biosurfactant on the dispersion and degradation of crude oil. Whole genome analysis showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa GB-3 contained abundant genes involved in biosurfactant synthesis and metabolic processes and had the potential to degrade oil. The biosurfactant produced by strain GB-3 was screened by various methods. The results showed that the surface tension reduction activity was 28.6 mN·m-1 and emulsification stability was exhibited at different pH, salinity and temperature. The biosurfactant was identified as rhamnolipid by LC-MS and FTIR. The fermentation conditions of strain GB-3 were optimized by response surface methodology, finally the optimal system (carbon source: glucose, nitrogen source: ammonium sulfate, C/N ratio:16:1, pH: 7, temperature: 30-35 °C) was determined. Compared with the initial fermentation, the yield of biosurfactant increased by 4.4 times after optimization. In addition, rhamnolipid biosurfactant as a dispersant could make the dispersion of crude oil reach 38% within seven days, which enhanced the bioavailability of crude oil. As a biostimulant, it could also improve the activity of indigenous microorganism and increase the degradation rate of crude oil by 10-15%. This study suggested that rhamnolipid biosurfactant had application prospect in bioremediation of marine oil-spill.

Application of bacterial agent YH for remediation of pyrene-heavy metal co-pollution system: Efficiency, mechanism, and microbial response.

The combination of organic and heavy metal pollutants can be effectively and sustainably remediated using bioremediation, which is acknowledged as an environmentally friendly and economical approach. In this study, bacterial agent YH was used as the research object to explore its potential and mechanism for bioremediation of pyrene-heavy metal co-contaminated system. Under the optimal conditions (pH 7.0, temperature 35°C), it was observed that pyrene (PYR), Pb(II), and Cu(II) were effectively eliminated in liquid medium, with removal rates of 43.46%, 97.73% and 81.60%, respectively. The microscopic characterization (SEM/TEM-EDS, XPS, XRD and FTIR) results showed that Pb(II) and Cu(II) were eliminated by extracellular adsorption and intracellular accumulation of YH. Furthermore, the presence of resistance gene clusters (cop, pco, cus and pbr) plays an important role in the detoxification of Pb(II) and Cu(II) by strains YH. The degradation rate of PYR reached 72.51% in composite contaminated soil, which was 4.33 times that of the control group, suggesting that YH promoted the dissipation of pyrene. Simultaneously, the content of Cu, Pb and Cr in the form of F4 (residual state) increased by 25.17%, 6.34% and 36.88%, respectively, indicating a decrease in the bioavailability of heavy metals. Furthermore, YH reorganized the microbial community structure and enriched the abundance of hydrocarbon degradation pathways and enzyme-related functions. This study would provide an effective microbial agent and new insights for the remediation of soil and water contaminated with organic pollutants and heavy metals.

Enhanced crude oil degradation by remodeling of crude oil-contaminated soil microbial community structure using sodium alginate/graphene oxide/Bacillus C5 immobilized pellets.

Bioaugmentation (BA) of oil-contaminated soil by immobilized microorganisms is considered to be a promising technology. However, available high-efficiency microbial agents remain very limited. Therefore, we prepared a SA/GO/C5 immobilized gel pellets by embedding the highly efficient crude oil degrading bacteria Bacillus C5 in the SA/GO composite material. The optimum preparation conditions of SA/GO/C5 immobilized gel pellets were: SA 3.0%, GO 25.0 µg/mL, embedding amount of C5 6%, water bath temperature of 50°C, CaCl2 solution concentration 3% and cross-linking time 20 h. BA experiments were carried out on crude oil contaminated soil to explore the removal effect of SA/GO/C5 immobilized pellets. The results showed that the SA/GO/C5 pellets exhibited excellent mechanical strength and specific surface area, which facilitated the attachment and growth of the Bacillus C5. Compared with free bacteria C5, the addition of SA/GO/C5 significantly promoted the removal of crude oil in soil, reaching 64.92% after 30 d, which was 2.1 times the removal rate of C5. The addition of SA/GO/C5 promoted the abundance of soil exogenous Bacillus C5 and indigenous crude oil degrading bacteria Alcanivorax and Marinobacter. In addition, the enrichment of hydrocarbon degradation-related functional abundance was predicted by PICRUSt2 in the SA/GO/C5 treatment group. This study demonstrated that SA/GO/C5 is an effective method for remediating crude oil-contaminated soil, providing a basis and option for immobilized microorganisms bioaugmentation to remediate organic contaminated soil.

A novel dehydrocoenzyme activator combined with a composite microbial agent TY for enhanced bioremediation of crude oil-contaminated soil.

Bioaugmentation (BA) and biostimulation (BS) synergistic remediation is an effective remediation strategy for oil-contaminated soil. In this study, the optimal combination system of composite microbial agent TY (Achromobacter: Pseudomona = 2:1) and dehydrocoenzyme activator (NaNO3 (7.0 g/L), (NH4)2HPO4 (1.0 g/L), riboflavin (6.0 mg/L)) was screened. Under the best combination system, the degradation rate of crude oil in oil-contaminated soil reached 79.44% after 60 d, which was 1.74 times and 1.23 times higher than that of compound microbial agent TY treatment and dehydrogenase activator treatment, respectively. In addition, a highly efficient combination system was found to target the degradation of oil C10-C28 fractions by gas chromatography (GC). The increased abundance of dehydrogenase coenzymes such as flavin nucleotides (FAD and FMN), coenzyme I (NAD+, Co I) and coenzyme II (NADP+, Co II) as well as dioxygenases and monooxygenases promote the degradation of crude oil. Furthermore, the dominant genera at the genus level in soil were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing, which were Nocardioides (46.48%-56.07%), Gordonia (11.40%-14.61%), Intrasporangiaceae (5.05%-10.58%), Pseudomonas (1.39%-1.92%) and Dietzia (0.64%-2.77%). Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis showed that the abundance of genes associated with crude oil degradation such as ABC transporters (2.89%), fatty acid (1.04%), carbon metabolism (4.5%) and aromatic compound (0.92%) was assigned enhanced after 60 d of remediation. These results indicated that the combination system of the compound bacterium TY and the dehydrocoenzyme activator is a propective option for the bioremediation of oil-contaminated soil.

Aberrant Methylation of miR-34b and IL-12B mRNA Promoters Contributes to the Reduced Severity of Ankylosing Spondylitis.

DNA methylation of Interleukin-12B (IL-12B) and miR-34b was proved to affect the expression of IL-12B and miR-34b, which were found to be involved in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of IL-12B and miR-34b in AS remain to be explored. AS patients were divided into four groups according to their status of DNA methylation of miR-34b and IL-12B by bisulfite sequencing: HYPER-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B, HYPER-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B, HYPO-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B and HYPO-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B groups. Functional indicators were examined for patients with different status of DNA methylation in their miR-34b and IL-12B promoters. QPCR was performed to examine the expression of miR-34b and IL-12B mRNA under different conditions. ELISA was used to measure the expression of IL-12B p40 in the peripheral blood. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of IL-12B proteins. Luciferase assay was carried out to explore the suppressive role of miR-34b in IL-12B expression. The level of Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score with C-reactive protein (ASDAS-CRP) was gradually increased in HYPER-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B,HYPER-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B,HYPO-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B and HYPO-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B groups, whereas the levels of Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI) were significantly elevated in the HYPO-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B group and diminished in the HYPER-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B group. The expression of miR-34b in the PBMCs and peripheral blood was remarkably higher in the HYPER-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B and HYPER-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B groups, whereas the expression of IL-12B was gradually decreased in the HYPER-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B, HYPER-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B, HYPO-miR-34b + HYPER-IL-12B and HYPO-miR-34b + HYPO-IL-12B groups. Luciferase assays with the transfection of miR-34b precursors suggested that miR-34b strongly suppressed the expression of IL-12B in THP-1 cells. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that hypermethylated miR-34b promoter led to evident upregulation of miR-34b, thus inhibiting the expression of IL-12B and alleviated the severity of ankylosing spondylitis by reducing the levels of factors including ASDAS-CRP, BASFI and BASMI.

ADAR1p150 regulates the biosynthesis and function of miRNA-149* in human melanoma.

Melanoma is an aggressive malignant skin tumor. Study found that miR-149* was abnormally expressed in melanoma. Adenosine deaminases acting on the RNA1 (ADAR1) is an RNA editing enzyme. It can change the structure and function of miRNA. In this study, we investigate the role of ADAR1 in regulation of miRNA-149* in melanoma. Western-blot analysis was used to analyze the expression of ADAR1p150, ADAR1p110 and GSK3α at protein level. The expression of ADAR1p150, miR-149* and GSK3α at mRNA level were detected using qRT-PCR. Co-immunoprecipitation test was then performed to determine the interaction between ADAR1 and Dicer. Target verification of miRNA-149*/GSK3α was carried out using luciferase reporter assay. CCK-8 was used to detect cell proliferation. Cell apoptosis was tested using Tunel assays. The expression level of ADAR1p150 was found to be increased in human melanoma tissues, but not ADAR1p110. There was a direct interaction between ADAR1p150 and Dicer in melanoma cells. MiRNA-149* was significantly up-regulated in melanoma tissues and melanoma cells. Luciferase reporter assay suggested that GSK3α was a directly target of miR-149*. The expression level of miR-149* showed a positive correlation with ADAR1p150. At the same time, ADAR1p150 expression was negatively correlated with the expression of GSK3α. ADAR1p150 promoted proliferation of melanoma cells and inhibited cell apoptosis. ADAR1p150 can promote the biosynthesis and function of miRNA-149* in melanoma cells which makes it be considered as both a bio-marker and a therapeutic target for treatment of melanoma.

Baicalein inhibits matrix metalloproteinase 1 expression via activation of TRPV1-Ca-ERK pathway in ultraviolet B-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts.

Increased matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) expression is a feature of photo-aged skin. We investigated the effects of baicalein and sulphoraphane on ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation-induced MMP-1 expression and apoptosis using human dermal fibroblasts. UVB irradiation not only increased MMP-1 expression, but also caused apoptosis. Both baicalein and sulphoraphane protected cells from UVB irradiation-induced apoptosis, but only baicalein inhibited MMP-1 expression. UVB irradiation activated 12-lipoxygenase, and its product, 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid, activated TRPV1 channels. The resulting UVB irradiation-induced Ca2+ increase was blocked by the 12-lipoxygenase inhibitor baicalein and the TRPV1 blocker capsazepine, but not by the Nrf2 inducer sulphoraphane. UVB irradiation also increased ROS generation and decreased Nrf2 protein levels. UVB irradiation-induced MMP-1 expression was blocked by the Ca2+ chelator BAPTA, by capsazepine and by TRPV1 silencing. However, induction was unaffected by the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine. ERK phosphorylation and JNK phosphorylation were induced by UVB irradiation, but only ERK phosphorylation was Ca2+ sensitive. Increased MMP-1 expression was blocked by PD98059, but not by SP600125. Thus, increased MMP-1 expression is mediated by increased cytosolic Ca2+ and ERK phosphorylation. UVB irradiation-induced ROS generation is also Ca2+ sensitive, and UVB irradiation-induced apoptosis is caused by increased ROS. Thus, baicalein, by blocking the UVB irradiation-induced cytosolic Ca2+ increase, protects cells from UVB irradiation-induced MMP-1 expression and apoptosis. In contrast, sulphoraphane, by decreasing cellular ROS, protects cells from only UVB-induced apoptosis. Thus, targeting 12-lipoxygenase may provide a therapeutic approach to improving the health of photo-aged human skin.

Major complications of tibial tuberosity advancement in 1613 dogs.

OBJECTIVES: To report major postoperative complications in 1613 dogs with tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case series. SAMPLE POPULATION: Dogs (n = 1613) with cranial cruciate ligament deficiency treated with TTA. METHODS: Medical records of TTAs performed between December 2007-2013 were reviewed for age, sex, weight, contralateral stifle surgery, surgical approach, duration of preoperative lameness, presence of meniscal damage, concurrent patellar luxation and simultaneous bilateral TTA. Major postoperative complications were defined as surgical site infection (SSI) (superficial, deep, or organ/space), implant failure, fracture, patellar luxation, and meniscal tear. RESULTS: Major complications were recorded in 13.4% of cases. Superficial SSI (incisional irritation) was diagnosed in 6.9% cases, requiring only antimicrobial therapy. Other complications included postliminary medial meniscal tear (2% incidence), deep SSI (incisional dehiscence, 1.1%), implant failure (1%), patellar luxation (1.2%), fracture (0.9%), and organ/space SSI (septic arthritis, 0.4%). Dogs with normal menisci were less likely to develop postliminary meniscal tears if the medial meniscus was released at the time of TTA (P < .0001). No association was detected between recorded parameters and complications, although dogs >8 years old approached significance (P = .05) in terms of predisposition to major complications. CONCLUSIONS: Major complications after TTA are uncommon, even in dogs with concurrent patellar luxation or bilateral simultaneous procedures. In spite of its morbidity, medial meniscal release may prevent postliminary meniscal tears.

Ki-67, p53, and p16 expression, and G691S RET polymorphism in desmoplastic melanoma (DM): A clinicopathologic analysis of predictors of outcome.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic role Ki-67, p53, and p16 immunostains and RET (rearranged during transfection) polymorphism in desmoplastic melanoma has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify potential prognostic markers. METHODS: We performed Ki-67, p53, and p16 immunostains on 66 desmoplastic melanomas, and sequenced RET G691 polymorphism and recurrent mutations of 17 cancer genes in 55 and 20 cases, respectively. RESULTS: Recurrence and metastasis were documented in 11 of 66 (17%) and 26 of 66 (39%) patients, respectively. Death was noted in 25 of 55 (45%) patients. Ki-67 expression (≥10%, 43%) correlated with male gender (P = .009), ulceration (P = .002), and Breslow depth (P = .009). p53 Expression (≥50%, 28%) correlated with male gender (P = .002) and head and neck location (P = .0228). Using Kaplan-Meier plots, Ki-67 expression (P = .0425) and mitosis (P = .00295) correlated with overall survival, whereas vascular invasion (P = .0292) correlated with disease progression. There was a significant correlation between Ki-67 and p53 expression (P = .003). RET polymorphism was present in 10 of 46 (22%) cases and inversely correlated with Breslow depth (P = .024). LIMITATION: Our study is small and lacks power to perform a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Although Ki-67 expression correlated with overall survival, additional studies are needed to determine whether Ki-67 would be an independent prognostic marker in addition to the current routine histopathologic assessment.

Mixture models for gene expression experiments with two species.

Cross-species research in drug development is novel and challenging. A bivariate mixture model utilizing information across two species was proposed to solve the fundamental problem of identifying differentially expressed genes in microarray experiments in order to potentially improve the understanding of translation between preclinical and clinical studies for drug development. The proposed approach models the joint distribution of treatment effects estimated from independent linear models. The mixture model posits up to nine components, four of which include groups in which genes are differentially expressed in both species. A comprehensive simulation to evaluate the model performance and one application on a real world data set, a mouse and human type II diabetes experiment, suggest that the proposed model, though highly structured, can handle various configurations of differential gene expression and is practically useful on identifying differentially expressed genes, especially when the magnitude of differential expression due to different treatment intervention is weak. In the mouse and human application, the proposed mixture model was able to eliminate unimportant genes and identify a list of genes that were differentially expressed in both species and could be potential gene targets for drug development.

Gene selection and cancer type classification of diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma using a bivariate mixture model for two-species data.

: A bivariate mixture model utilizing information across two species was proposed to solve the fundamental problem of identifying differentially expressed genes in microarray experiments. The model utility was illustrated using a dog and human lymphoma data set prepared by a group of scientists in the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. A small number of genes were identified as being differentially expressed in both species and the human genes in this cluster serve as a good predictor for classifying diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients into two subgroups, the germinal center B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and the activated B-cell-like diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The number of human genes that were observed to be significantly differentially expressed (21) from the two-species analysis was very small compared to the number of human genes (190) identified with only one-species analysis (human data). The genes may be clinically relevant/important, as this small set achieved low misclassification rates of DLBCL subtypes. Additionally, the two subgroups defined by this cluster of human genes had significantly different survival functions, indicating that the stratification based on gene-expression profiling using the proposed mixture model provided improved insight into the clinical differences between the two cancer subtypes.

Biodegradation characteristics of p-Chloroaniline and the mechanism of co-metabolism with aniline by Pseudomonas sp. CA-1.

Co-metabolism is a promising method to optimize the biodegradation of p-Chloroaniline (PCA). In this study, Pseudomonas sp. CA-1 could reduce 76.57 % of PCA (pH = 8, 70 mg/L), and 20 mg/L aniline as the co-substrate improved the degradation efficiency by 12.50 %. Further, the response and co-metabolism mechanism of CA-1 to PCA were elucidated. The results revealed that PCA caused deformation and damage on the surface of CA-1, and the -OH belonging to polysaccharides and proteins offered adsorption sites for the contact between CA-1 and PCA. Subsequently, PCA entered the cell through transporters and was degraded by various oxidoreductases accompanied by deamination, hydroxylation, and ring-cleavage reactions. Thus, the key metabolite 4-chlorocatechol was identified and two PCA degradation pathways were proposed. Besides, aniline further enhanced the antioxidant capacity of CA-1, stimulated the expression of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase and promoted meta-cleavage efficiency of PCA. The findings provide new insights into the treatment of PCA-aniline co-pollution.

Characteristic microbiome and synergistic mechanism by engineering agent MAB-1 to evaluate oil-contaminated soil biodegradation in different layer soil.

Bioremediation is a sustainable and pollution-free technology for crude oil-contaminated soil. However, most studies are limited to the remediation of shallow crude oil-contaminated soil, while ignoring the deeper soil. Here, a high-efficiency composite microbial agent MAB-1 was provided containing Bacillus (naphthalene and pyrene), Acinetobacter (cyclohexane), and Microbacterium (xylene) to be synergism degradation of crude oil components combined with other treatments. According to the crude oil degradation rate, the up-layer (63.64%), middle-layer (50.84%), and underlying-layer (54.21%) crude oil-contaminated soil are suitable for bioaugmentation (BA), biostimulation (BS), and biostimulation+bioventing (BS+BV), respectively. Combined with GC-MS and carbon number distribution analysis, under the optimal biotreatment, the degradation rates of 2-ring and 3-ring PAHs in layers soil were about 70% and 45%, respectively, and the medium and long-chain alkanes were reduced during the remediation. More importantly, the relative abundance of bacteria associated with crude oil degradation increased in each layer after the optimal treatment, such as Microbacterium (2.10-14%), Bacillus (2.56-12.1%), and Acinetobacter (0.95-12.15%) in the up-layer soil; Rhodococcus (1.5-6.9%) in the middle-layer soil; and Pseudomonas (3-5.4%) and Rhodococcus (1.3-13.2%) in the underlying-layer soil. Our evaluation results demonstrated that crude oil removal can be accelerated by adopting appropriate bioremediation approach for different depths of soil, providing a new perspective for the remediation of actual crude oil-contaminated sites.

Pollution characteristics of groundwater in an agricultural hormone-contaminated site and implementation of Fenton oxidation process.

The groundwater polluted by an agricultural hormone site was taken as the research object, and a total of 7 groundwater samples were collected at different locations in the plant. The main pollutants in the research area were determined to be extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (C10-C40); 1,2-dichloroethane; 1,1,2-trichloroethane; carbon tetrachloride; vinyl chloride, and chloroform; the maximum content of these pollutants can reach 271 mg/L, 1.68 × 107 µg/L, 1.56 × 104 µg/L, 9.53 × 104 µg/L, 6.58 × 104 µg/L, and 4.81 × 104 µg/L, respectively. Aiming at the problems of groundwater pollution in this area, two sets of oxidation experiments have been carried out. The addition of NaHSO3 modified Fenton oxidation system was used in this contaminated water, which enhanced (2.2 ~ 46.7%) chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate. The highest removal rate of extractable petroleum hydrocarbons (C10-C40) can reach 99%. And the degradation rate of chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants can reach 99% to 100%, which almost achieved the purpose of complete removal. In the NaHSO3 modified Fenton oxidation system, the addition of NaHSO3 accelerates the cycle of Fe3+/Fe2+ and ensures the continuous existence of Fe2+ in the reaction system, thereby producing more ·OH and further oxidizing and degrading organic pollutants. Our work has provided important insights for this economically important treatment of this type water body and laid the foundation for the engineering of this method.

Characterization of the simultaneous degradation of pyrene and removal of Cr(VI) by a bacteria consortium YH.

Microorganisms that can simultaneously remediate organic pollutants and heavy metal contamination are great significance in bioremediation. Nevertheless, reports of such microorganisms are still scarce. Here, Pseudomonas sp. YH-1 and Rhodococcus sp. YH-3 were isolated and identified, and they showed greater tolerance to hexavalent (VI) (750 and 800 mg·L-1). The constructed bacteria consortium YH (YH-1:YH-3 = 1:1) could simultaneously degrade 41.69% of pyrene (50 mg·L-1) and remove 76.67% of Cr(VI) (30 mg·L-1) within 5 days. The potential mechanism of Cr(VI) tolerance of YH was further explored by genomic and microscopic analysis. The results showed that YH responded to Cr(VI) stress mainly through efflux of Cr(VI) by chrA and copZ, chromate reduction, DNA-repaired proteases reduces ROS damage, and biosorption by carboxyl, hydroxyl, amino functional groups. Strains YH-1 and YH-3 also contained a variety of genes associated with resistance to other heavy metals, such as cadmium (czcBD), mercury (merAPTR), manganese (mntABC) and copper (copAC, cusABRF and pcoBD). Based on GC-MS and genomic analysis, pyrene was degraded via salicylic acid and phthalic acid pathways. Moreover, a great number of genes related to aromatic hydrocarbon catabolism were identified in the genomes of YH-1 and YH-3. These results confirmed the potential application of the bacteria consortium YH in the bioremediation of water and soil co-contaminated with PAHs-heavy metals.

Potential activity of Traditional Chinese Medicine against Ulcerative colitis: A review.

ETHNIC PHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Plant materials are used as complementary and alternative therapies all over the world for the treatment of various diseases. Ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease listed as one of the modern refractory diseases by the World Health Organization, has a long course, is challenging to cure, and is prone to cause cancer. Recent years have witnessed a growing trend of applying traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to UC. AIM OF THIS REVIEW: This review presents an overview of the pathogenesis of UC and reports the therapeutic effect of TCM on UC (including TCM prescriptions, single TCM, and treatments using TCM ingredients) to provide a theoretical basis for the use of TCM in treating UC. METHODS: We performed a collection and collation of relevant scientific articles from different scientific databases regarding TCM and its usefulness in treating UC. In this paper, the therapeutic effect of TCM is summarized and analyzed according to the existing experimental and clinical research. RESULTS: There are positive signs that TCM primarily regulates inflammatory cytokines, intestinal flora, and the immune system, and also protects the intestinal mucosa. Hence, it can play a role in treating UC. CONCLUSION: TCM has a definite curative effect in the treatment of UC. It can alleviate and treat UC in a variety of ways. We should take syndrome differentiation and treatment differentiation as the basis. With the help of modern medicine, TCM's clinical curative effects can be enhanced for the treatment of UC.

Five-electrode direct current suppressor-detector combiner for ion chromatography: an integration of eluent suppression and resistance detection.

An integration of eluent suppressor and resistance detector is proposed based upon the application of a common anode (or cathode), a common ion-exchange membrane, and two independent constant current sources.

Mesenchymal stem cell-originated exosomal lncRNA HAND2-AS1 impairs rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocyte activation through miR-143-3p/TNFAIP3/NF-κB pathway.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2-antisense RNA 1 (HAND2-AS1) was found to be elevated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) fibroblast-like synoviocytes (RA-FLSs). However, whether HAND2-AS1 functions as an exosomal lncRNA related to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in RA progression is unknown. METHODS: The expression of HAND2-AS1, microRNA (miR)-143-3p, and tumor necrosis factor alpha-inducible protein 3 (TNFAIP3) was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were detected using cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry, and wound healing and transwell assays. The levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukins (IL)-6 were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The level of phosphorylated-p65 was examined by Western blot. The binding interaction between miR-143-3p and HAND2-AS1 or TNFAIP3 was confirmed by the dual-luciferase reporter and RIP assays. Exosomes were isolated by ultracentrifugation and qualified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and Western blot. RESULTS: HAND2-AS1 was lowly expressed in RA synovial tissues, and HAND2-AS1 re-expression suppressed the proliferation, motility, and inflammation and triggered the apoptosis in RA-FLSs via the inactivation of NF-κB pathway. Mechanistically, HAND2-AS1 directly sponged miR-143-3p and positively regulated TNFAIP3 expression, the target of miR-143-3p. Moreover, the effects of HAND2-AS1 on RA-FLSs were partially attenuated by miR-143-3p upregulation or TNFAIP3 knockdown. HAND2-AS1 could be packaged into hMSC-derived exosomes and absorbed by RA-FLSs, and human MSC-derived exosomal HAND2-AS1 also repressed above malignant biological behavior of RA-FLSs. CONCLUSION: MSC-derived exosomes participated in the intercellular transfer of HAND2-AS1 and suppressed the activation of RA-FLSs via miR-143-3p/TNFAIP3/NF-κB pathway, which provided a novel insight into the pathogenesis and treatment of RA.

Neutron Bragg-edge transmission imaging for microstructure and residual strain in induction hardened gears.

A time-of-flight Bragg-edge neutron transmission imaging was used to investigate the microstructure and strain distributions in a gear hardened by a newly developed two-step induction-heating method: precursor (Sample 1) and final product (Sample 2). The edge-position and edge-broadening were determined and mapped with high spatial resolution, which enabled us to confirm the two-dimensional distributions of the microstructure and residual strain. A deep hardened layer was made for Sample 1 in which martensite was formed on the entire teeth and the outer peripheral portion of the gear body. Sample 2 was subjected to double induction-hardening, where a tempered martensite was formed as the thermal refined microstructure between a fine-grained martensite at the tooth surface and a ferrite-pearlite microstructure at the core. The relationship between edge-broadening and the Vickers hardness described by a linear equation was employed to derive the elastic residual strain. The residual strain map for Sample 2 revealed that a steep compressive strain was introduced into the fine-grained martensite at the tooth surface by the super rapid induction-heating and quenching process. The reversal of tension was speculated to occur below 2 mm from the tooth tip, and the strain was almost zero in the core region.