Flexible generation of azimuthally/radially polarized beams and hybrid polarized vortex beams using a thinned helical fiber grating.

An efficient method allowing the flexible generation of the azimuthally/radially polarized (AP/RP) beam and the hybrid polarized vortex (HPV) beam has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using a thinned helical fiber grating (T-HFG) with an intermediate period. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that such three kinds of cylindrical vector beams can be flexibly generated by using only one fiber component. The proposed method provides the potential application of the HFG to not only the laser processing but also the optical manipulator and the optical tweezer.

Full C-band covered and DWDM channelized high channel-count all-fiber orbital-angular-momentum mode generator based on the fiber gratings.

To generate the orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) modes at multiple wavelengths, which exactly fit with the dense-wavelength-division-multiplex (DWDM) channel grids, is important to the DWDM-based OAM mode-division-multiplex (MDM) fiber communication system. In this study, a full C-band covered and DWDM channelized OAM mode generator is firstly proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which is realized especially by using a broadband helical long-period fiber grating (HLPG) combined with a phase-only sampled multichannel fiber Bragg grating (MFBG). As a proof-of-concept example, the DWDM channelized two complementary 51-channel OAM mode generators have been successfully demonstrated, each of which has a channel spacing of 100 GHz (∼0.8 nm), an effective bandwidth of ∼40 nm, a high azimuthal-mode conversion efficiency of 90%, and high uniformities in both inter- and intra-channel spectra as well. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time for proposal and experimental demonstration of such a high channel-count and DWDM channelized first-order OAM mode (l = 1) generator, which can also be used for multichannel higher-order OAM mode generation as long as the utilized HLPG is capable of generating a broadband higher-order OAM mode. The proposed device has potential applications to DWDM-based OAM fiber communications, OAM comb lasers, OAM holography, and OAM sensors as well.

Exposure to Bisphenol A induces abnormal fetal heart development by promoting ferroptosis.

BACKGROUND: Bisphenol A (BPA), a common endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), has been revealed to be closely associated with the induction of abnormal heart development, obesity, prediabetes, and other metabolic disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of maternal BPA exposure on fetal heart development abnormalities is not clear. METHODS: To explore the adverse effects of BPA and its potential mechanism on heart development, C57BL/6 J mice and human cardiac AC-16 cells were used to conduct in vivo and in vitro studies. For the in vivo study, mice were exposed to low-dose BPA (40 mg/(kg·bw)) and high-dose BPA (120 mg/(kg·bw)) for 18 d during pregnancy. In vitro study, human cardiac AC-16 cells were exposed to BPA of various concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 µM) for 24 h. Cell viability and ferroptosis were evaluated using 2,5-diphenyl-2 H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), immunofluorescence staining, and western blotting. RESULTS: In BPA-treated mice, the alterations of fetal cardiac structure were observed. Increased NK2 homeobox 5(Nkx2.5) was detected in vivo with the induction of ferroptosis, revealing that BPA induced abnormal fetal heart development. Furthermore, the results showed that SLC7A11 and SLC3A2 decreased in low- and high-dose BPA-treated groups, suggesting that system Xc- mediated BPA-induced abnormal fetal heart development via inhibiting the expression of GPX4. Observing AC-16 cells confirmed that cell viability declined significantly with various concentrations of BPA. Moreover, BPA exposure suppressed GPX4 expression by inhibiting System Xc- (the decrease of SLC3A2 and SLC7A11). Collectively, system Xc- modulating cell ferroptosis might play important in abnormal fetal heart development induced by BPA exposure.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the super hybrid rice Chaoyouqianhao under salt stress.

BACKGROUND: Soil salinization is a threat to food security. China is rich in saline land resources for potential and current utilization. The cultivation and promotion of salt-tolerant rice varieties can greatly improve the utilization of this saline land. The super hybrid rice Chaoyouqianhao (CY1000) is one of the most salt-tolerant rice varieties and is widely used, but the molecular mechanism underlying its salt tolerance is not clear. RESULTS: In this study, the characteristics of CY1000 and its parents were evaluated in the field and laboratory. The results showed that aboveground parts of CY1000 were barely influenced by salt stress, while the roots were less affected than those of its parents. A comparative transcriptomic strategy was used to analyze the differences in the response to salt stress among the male and female parents of CY1000 at the seedling stage and the model indica rice 93-11. We found that the salt tolerance of CY1000 was mainly inherited from its male parent R900, and its female parent GX24S showed hardly any salt tolerance. To adapt to salt stress, CY1000 and R900 upregulated the expression of genes associated with soluble component synthesis and cell wall synthesis and other related genes and downregulated the expression of most genes related to growth material acquisition and consumption. In CY1000 and R900, the expression of genes encoding some novel key proteins in the ubiquitination pathway was significantly upregulated. After treatment with MG-132, the salt tolerance of CY1000 and R900 was significantly decreased and was almost the same as that of the wild type after salt stress treatment, indicating that ubiquitination played an important role in the salt tolerance mechanism of CY1000. At the same time, we found that some transcription factors were also involved in the salt stress response, with some transcription factors responding only in hybrid CY1000, suggesting that salt tolerance heterosis might be regulated by transcription factors in rice. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed that the ubiquitination pathway is important for salt tolerance in rice, and several novel candidate genes were identified to reveal a novel salt tolerance regulation network. Additionally, our work will help clarify the mechanism of heterosis in rice. Further exploration of the molecular mechanism underlying the salt tolerance of CY1000 can provide a theoretical basis for breeding new salt-tolerant rice varieties.

DL-SI-DHM: a deep network generating the high-resolution phase and amplitude images from wide-field images.

Structured illumination digital holographic microscopy (SI-DHM) is a high-resolution, label-free technique enabling us to image unstained biological samples. SI-DHM has high requirements on the stability of the experimental setup and needs long exposure time. Furthermore, image synthesizing and phase correcting in the reconstruction process are both challenging tasks. We propose a deep-learning-based method called DL-SI-DHM to improve the recording, the reconstruction efficiency and the accuracy of SI-DHM and to provide high-resolution phase imaging. In the training process, high-resolution amplitude and phase images obtained by phase-shifting SI-DHM together with wide-field amplitudes are used as inputs of DL-SI-DHM. The well-trained network can reconstruct both the high-resolution amplitude and phase images from a single wide-field amplitude image. Compared with the traditional SI-DHM, this method significantly shortens the recording time and simplifies the reconstruction process and complex phase correction, and frequency synthesizing are not required anymore. By comparsion, with other learning-based reconstruction schemes, the proposed network has better response to high frequencies. The possibility of using the proposed method for the investigation of different biological samples has been experimentally verified, and the low-noise characteristics were also proved.

Auto-focusing and quantitative phase imaging using deep learning for the incoherent illumination microscopy system.

It is well known that the quantitative phase information which is vital in the biomedical study is hard to be directly obtained with bright-field microscopy under incoherent illumination. In addition, it is impossible to maintain the living sample in focus over long-term observation. Therefore, both the autofocusing and quantitative phase imaging techniques have to be solved in microscopy simultaneously. Here, we propose a lightweight deep learning-based framework, which is constructed by residual structure and is constrained by a novel loss function model, to realize both autofocusing and quantitative phase imaging. It outputs the corresponding in-focus amplitude and phase information at high speed (10fps) from a single-shot out-of-focus bright-field image. The training data were captured with a designed system under a hybrid incoherent and coherent illumination system. The experimental results verify that the focused and quantitative phase images of non-biological samples and biological samples can be reconstructed by using the framework. It provides a versatile quantitative technique for continuous monitoring of living cells in long-term and label-free imaging by using a traditional incoherent illumination microscopy system.

Effects of 5-aminosalicylates or thiopurines on the progression of low-grade dysplasia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Although 5-aminosalicylates and thiopurines may have an antineoplastic effect on colorectal neoplasia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), their impact on the progression of low-grade dysplasia (LGD) in IBD is uncertain. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether 5-aminosalicylates or thiopurines can protect against the progression of LGD in patients with IBD. METHODS: Systematic searches of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, and major conference proceedings were conducted to identify all eligible studies through March 2020. Data were pooled using a random effects model. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. RESULTS: Five studies comprising 776 IBD patients with LGD were included. Overall, 5-aminosalicylates (Hazard ratio (HR) = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55-1.51) and thiopurines (HR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.23-1.79) did not significantly reduce the risk of advanced colorectal neoplasia (high-grade dysplasia/cancer) in IBD patients with LGD. Moreover, the effects of 5-aminosalicylates or thiopurines on risk of advanced colorectal neoplasia in IBD patients with LGD were not significant by different primary sclerosing cholangitis status, study quality, sample size, and IBD type. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we did not find a significant protective effect of 5-aminosalicylates or thiopurines on the progression of LGD in patients with IBD.

Numerical dark-field imaging using deep-learning.

Dark-field microscopy is a powerful technique for enhancing the imaging resolution and contrast of small unstained samples. In this study, we report a method based on end-to-end convolutional neural network to reconstruct high-resolution dark-field images from low-resolution bright-field images. The relation between bright- and dark-field which was difficult to deduce theoretically can be obtained by training the corresponding network. The training data, namely the matched bright- and dark-field images of the same object view, are simultaneously obtained by a special designed multiplexed image system. Since the image registration work which is the key step in data preparation is not needed, the manual error can be largely avoided. After training, a high-resolution numerical dark-field image is generated from a conventional bright-field image as the input of this network. We validated the method by the resolution test target and quantitative analysis of the reconstructed numerical dark-field images of biological tissues. The experimental results show that the proposed learning-based method can realize the conversion from bright-field image to dark-field image, so that can efficiently achieve high-resolution numerical dark-field imaging. The proposed network is universal for different kinds of samples. In addition, we also verify that the proposed method has good anti-noise performance and is not affected by the unstable factors caused by experiment setup.

[Thermodynamic characteristics of moxa floss and its biological effects and therapeutic mechanism on osteoarthritis rats].

Moxa floss is the main material of moxibustion, which plays a therapeutic role through the thermal effect of combustion. In this paper, TG/DSC thermal analysis method was used to study the characteristic parameters of combustion heat of moxa floss produced in Qichun, and the thermal therapeutic effect and mechanism of moxibustion were studied through moxibustion OA animal model. The results show that the combustion process of moxa floss can be divided into three stages: drying, combustion oxidation and carbonization, and ash burnout. The combustion properties of moxa floss are between herbaceous and woody, and tend to be woody, with flammable, slow and lasting combustion characteristics. Moxibustion can relieve the pathological state of knee joint synovium to a certain extent, reduce knee joint swelling and blood stasis in OA rats, reduce interstitial edema, and improve local inflammation. The mechanism and target point of moxibustion treatment for OA may be up-regulating TRPM3 gene to activate ion channels, affecting calcium metabolism and reducing OA swelling degree; down-regulation of GAPDH affects glucose metabolism of knee synovial cells and mediates anti-inflammatory effect. Down-regulation of pain-related gene MMP24 is helpful to relieve OA pain. Up-regulation of CTNNB1 activates Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway and affects differentiation and regeneration of OA chondrocytes. This study reveals the pyrolysis characteristics of moxa floss for the first time and discusses the biological effect and possible mechanism of moxibustion heat, providing new ideas for the quality evaluation of moxa floss and the mechanism of moxibustion therapy.

Potential Regulatory Effects of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor on Tight Junction-Related Intestinal Epithelial Permeability are Partially Mediated by CK8 Upregulation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Intestinal permeability and stress have been implicated in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Cytokeratin 8 (CK8), for the first time, has been shown to mediate corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-induced changes in intestinal permeability in animal models of IBS. In this study, we investigated the regulatory effects of CRF on the permeability of human intestinal epithelial cells through the CK8-mediated tight junction. METHODS: The expression levels of corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (CRFR1) and corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2 (CRFR2) on the HT29 cell surface were determined by immunofluorescence, RT-PCR, and Western blotting. After treatment with 100 nM CRF for 72 h, the translocation of FITC-labelled dextran was measured in a transwell chamber; the structural changes of tight junctions were observed under transmission electron microscopy; the expression levels of CK8, F-actin and tight junction proteins ZO-1, claudin-1, and occludin were detected by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. The activity of RhoA was detected by immunoprecipitation. Furthermore, the effects of CRF on intestinal epithelial permeability were examined in CK8-silenced HT29 cells, which were constructed by shRNA interference. RESULTS: CRF treatment increased FITC-labelled dextran permeability, caused the opening of tight junctions, induced increased fluorescence intensity of CK8 and decreased the intensities of ZO-1, claudin-1, and occludin, together with structural disruption. The expression levels of F-actin, occludin, claudin-1, and ZO-1 were downregulated. RhoA activity peaked at 30 min after CRF treatment. CRF-induced increased permeability, and downregulation of claudin-1 and occludin were not blocked by CK8 silencing. Nevertheless, CK8 silencing blocked the effects of CRF regarding the decrease in the expression levels of F-action and ZO-1 and increase in RhoA activity. CONCLUSION: CRF may increase intestinal epithelial permeability by upregulating CK8 expression, activating the RhoA signalling pathway, promoting intestinal epithelial actin remodelling, and decreasing the expression of the tight junction protein ZO-1. Other CK8-independent pathways may be involved in the downregulation of claudin-1 and occludin, which might also contribute to increased intestinal epithelial permeability.

Predictive Factors for the Spontaneous Recanalization of Large and Middle Cerebral Arteries after Acute Occlusion.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the predictive factors for the spontaneous recanalization of occluded arteries in patients with acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: A total of 139 patients with consecutive acute ischemic stroke were enrolled from June 2010 to June 2013. The clinical and biochemical parameters were measured in each participant. Occlusion and recanalization of the carotid artery, the middle cerebral artery, and the vertebral and basilar arteries were identified by using computed tomographic angiography or digital subtraction angiography. RESULTS: Among the 139 patients, 23 showed spontaneous recanalization, whereas 116 did not. In the patients with spontaneous recanalization, the proportion of atrial fibrillation was significantly lower (0% versus 29.31%, P= .01), whereas the proportion of stage 3 hypertension was significantly higher (60.87% versus 32.76%, P= .01) than that of those without recanalization. Logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of atrial fibrillation was negatively (odds ratio [OR]: .117, 95% confidence interval [CI]: .015-.918, P= .04) associated with spontaneous recanalization, whereas the proportion of stage 3 hypertension was positively (OR: 4.316, 95% CI: 1.533-12.154, P= .01) associated with it. CONCLUSIONS: Atrial fibrillation is associated with reduced spontaneous recanalization of the large and middle cerebral arteries in patients after acute ischemic stroke-induced occlusion, whereas stage 3 hypertension may contribute to the promotion of the recanalization.

Microbiota characterization of the green mussel Perna viridis at the tissue scale and its relationship with the environment.

Research on the microbiota associated with marine invertebrates is important for understanding host physiology and the relationship between the host and the environment. In this study, the microbiota of the green mussel Perna viridis was characterized at the tissue scale using 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and compared with the microbiota of the surrounding environment. Different mussel tissues were sampled, along with two environmental samples (the mussel's attachment substratum and seawater). The results showed that the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetae were dominant in mussel tissues. The bacterial community composition at the family level varied among the tissues of P. viridis. Although the microbiota of P. viridis clearly differed from that of the surrounding seawater, the composition and diversity of the microbial community of the foot and outer shell surface were similar to those of the substratum, indicating their close relationship with the substratum. KEGG prediction analysis indicated that the bacteria harbored by P. viridis were enriched in the degradation of aromatic compounds, osmoregulation, and carbohydrate oxidation and fermentation, processes that may be important in P. viridis physiology. Our study provides new insights into the tissue-scale characteristics of mussel microbiomes and the intricate connection between mussels and their environment.

Shuanglongjiegu pill promoted bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell osteogenic differentiation by regulating the miR-217/RUNX2 axis to activate Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of Shuanglongjiegu pill (SLJGP) on the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and explore its mechanism based on miR-217/RUNX2 axis. Results found that drug-containing serum of SLJGP promoted BMSCs viability with a dose-dependent effect. Under osteogenic differentiation conditions, SLJGP promoted the expression of ALP, OPN, BMP2, RUNX2, and the osteogenic differentiation ability of BMSCs. In addition, SLJGP significantly reduced miR-217 expression, and miR-217 directly targeted RUNX2. After treatment with miR-217 mimic, the promoting effects of SLJGP on proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs were significantly inhibited. MiR-217 mimic co-treated with pcDNA-RUNX2 further confirmed that the miR-217/RUNX2 axis was involved in SLJGP to promote osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. In addition, analysis of Wnt/ß-catenin pathway protein expression showed that SLJGP activated the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway through miR-217/RUNX2. In conclusion, SLJGP promoted osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs by regulating miR-217/RUNX2 axis and activating Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

miR5298b regulated taxol biosynthesis by acting on TcNPR3, resulting in an alleviation of the strong inhibition of the TcNPR3-TcTGA6 complex in Taxus chinensis.

Taxol, a valuable but rare secondary metabolite of the genus Taxus, is an effective anticancer drug. Understanding the regulation of taxol biosynthesis may provide a means to increase taxol content. The microRNA miR5298b was found to promote the accumulation of taxol and upregulate several taxol biosynthesis genes, including DBAT, TASY, and T5H, as demonstrated by experiments using the overexpression and mimicry of transient leaves. Moreover, miR5298b cleaves the mRNA sequence of TcNPR3, a homolog of the salicylic acid receptor AtNPR3/4. Overexpression and knockdown by RNA interference of TcNPR3 confirmed that it repressed taxol biosynthesis. These results indicate that miR5298b enhances taxol biosynthesis via the cleavage of TcNPR3. Yeast two-hybrid bimolecular fluorescence complementation and pull-down assays revealed that TcTGA6, a TGA transcription factor, physically interacted with TcNPR3. Functional experiments showed that TcTGA6 negatively regulates taxol biosynthesis by directly combining with the TGACG motif in the promoters of TASY, T5H, and T10H. TcNPR3 enhances TcTGA6 inhibition Luciferase assays showed that miR5298b alleviated the repression of the TcNPR3-TcTGA6 complex. In summary, miR5298b can cleave TcNPR3, thereby alleviating the inhibition of the TcNPR3-TcTGA6 complex to upregulate taxol biosynthesis genes.

Significance and Potential Role of Eosinophils in Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis.

Bronchiectasis is a complex and heterogeneous disease with a myriad of pulmonary and extrapulmonary etiologies. Bronchiectasis has a predominantly neutrophilic inflammatory profile. However, eosinophilic inflammation has also been documented in both the airways and the systemic circulation. Various diseases (eg, asthma, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps) characterized by heightened type 2 airway inflammatory responses, including blood or sputum eosinophilia, may coexist with bronchiectasis. Apart from those eosinophilic etiologies or comorbidities related to bronchiectasis, around 20% of patients with bronchiectasis have peripheral eosinophilia (at least 3% or 300 eosinophils/µL) with no identified concomitant disease (also termed "eosinophilic bronchiectasis"), whose roles have not been fully understood. The two key points regarding these observations are that eosinophils confer both bactericidal and antiviral properties against common pathogenic microorganisms that are usually detected in bronchiectasis, and that eosinophilic bronchiectasis has been associated with better therapeutic response to inhaled corticosteroids and other anti-TH2 profile treatments. In this review, we summarize the most significant evidence regarding the role of eosinophils in patients with bronchiectasis, including the association of bronchiectasis with eosinophilic diseases (as etiologies or comorbidities), and existing data on eosinophilic bronchiectasis not related to eosinophilic disorders.

Photosynthetic product allocations of Pinus massoniana seedlings inoculated with ectomycorrhizal fungi along a nitrogen addition gradient.

Quantifying the allocation of photosynthetic products among different carbon (C) pools is critical for understanding and predicting plant C turnover response to climate change. A field experiment with ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) and nitrogen (N) was established to investigate the effects on allocation of photosynthetic products in Pinus massoniana (Lamb.) seedlings given increased N deposition. Seedlings were subjected to N addition and symbiosis with EMF, and the short-term allocation of a 13C photosynthetic pulse into leaves, branches, stems, roots, and soil was traced. Photosynthetic rate and root respiration were measured. It was found that N addition changed the allocation pattern of photosynthetic products in various organs of P. massoniana. Furthermore, N addition, mycorrhizal symbiosis, and interaction of N and EMF, all increased the amount of C produced by photosynthesis. N application less than 60 kg N hm-1 a-1 could promote the transfer and allocation of photosynthetic products in P. massoniana organs, which peaks at 60 kg N hm-1 a-1, and the highest N treatment began to decrease at 90 kg N hm-1 a-1. EMF inoculation could expand the absorption area of plant roots to obtain more nutrients and synthesize more C and N compounds for promoting the growth of itself and the host plant, improving the net photosynthetic rate and the distribution of C produced by photosynthesis in various organs. This forms a benign C and N cycle, thereby reducing the effect of high N addition on plants. The optimal N addition concentration was 60 kg N hm-1 a-1, and the optimal EMF was Pt, which provides a theoretical basis for inoculating EMF during increasing N deposition in the future climate change scenario. This enables plants to distribute more photosynthetic products to their roots, thus affecting their own C distribution for promoting growth.

Baseline characteristics of myopic choroidal neovascularization in patients above 50 years old and prognostic factors after intravitreal conbercept treatment.

To investigate the influence of age on the function and morphology of patients with myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) and to evaluate the effect and prognostic factors of recurrence of Conbercept treatment on mCNV patients over 50 years. A total of 64 patients (64 eyes) with mCNV were enrolled in this retrospective study. The differences in baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and morphological features on imaging between the younger group (˂ 50 years) and the older group (≥ 50 years) were analyzed. Of all, 21 eyes of 21 mCNV patients aged over 50 years who received Conbercept injection were further analyzed. Between the younger and the older group, significant differences were shown in mean BCVA (0.58 ± 0.28 vs 0.77 ± 0.31), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) (108.17 ± 78.32 µm vs 54.68 ± 39.03 µm) and frequency of vitreoretinal interface abnormalities (VIA) (2 vs 13), respectively (P < 0.05). After treated with Conbercept, the mean BCVA of 21 older mCNV patients increased from 0.83 ± 0.30 at baseline to 0.49 ± 0.24 at one year. Baseline BCVA, external limiting membrane damage, CNV area and CNV location correlated with the visual acuity at the 1-year follow-up. There were 7 (33.3%) recurrent cases during the follow-up and the risk of recurrence in patients with baseline central macular thickness (CMT) ≥ 262.86 µm was 14 times greater than that of patients with CMT < 262.86 µm. The risk of recurrence increased 1.84 times for every 100-µm increment in the CMT. Patients over 50 years with mCNV had a worse BCVA, thinner choroid, and higher risk of VIA than young mCNV patients. The standard Conbercept treatment strategy was safe and effective in mCNV patients over 50 years. As patients over 50 years with a greater CMT have a high risk of recurrence, more attention should be paid on these patients by following them up closely.

Studies on the integration of nanofiltration and soil treatment for municipal effluent reclamation as a groundwater supplement.

Water shortage leads to increasing attention to artificial groundwater recharge by reclaimed water. An injection well is the most common recharge approach. In this paper, a new kind of integrated technology-short-term vadose soil treatment followed by nanofiltration-is recommended as pretreatment for artificial groundwater recharge by an injection well. Laboratory-scale experiments demonstrate that the short-term vadose soil can remove approximately 30% of the total dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content and 40% of dissolved organic matter with a molecular weight less than 1 kDa. As a compensatory process of soil treatment, nanofiltration offers a favorable desalination and additional organics removal. The removal efficiencies for total dissolved solids and conductivity amount to 45 and 48%, respectively. The residual DOC in the final effluent is below 1.0 mg/L. In addition, short-term vadose soil offers effective elimination of aromatic protein-like and polysaccharide-like substances, which are detected as components of the membrane foulant.

Opportunistic Infection in Hospitalised Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence, clinical features, and risk factors of opportunistic infections in elderly patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). STUDY DESIGN: Observational study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Digestive and Geriatrics Center, Sichuan University West China Hospital, China between January 2012 and January 2019. METHODOLOGY: Patients (≥18 years) with IBD were enrolled in this study. Clinical data from the infected elderly group (age ≥60 years), non-infected elderly group (age ≥60 years) and infected adult group (age: 18-59 years) were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used for risk factors associated with opportunistic infection. RESULTS:  A total of 8.9% (307/3,456) of patients with IBD had opportunistic infection. The opportunistic infection rate of elderly group was 16.5% (80/485), which was significantly higher than that of adult group (7.6%, 227/2,971, p <0.05). Compared with infected adult group or non-infected elderly group, infected elderly group had less fever and leukocytosis, but more hypoproteinemia and several activities (p <0.05). Cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus were the most common agents in elderly group and adult group, respectively. Multiple episodes (three or more) were more common in infected elderly group; the time of opportunistic infections was associated with systemic inflammatory reaction syndrome (SIRS, p <0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age ≥60 years, corticosteroids, immunosuppressive and biological agents were risk factors for opportunistic infections in patients with IBD. CONCLUSION: Hospitalised elderly IBD patients, receiving corticosteroids, immunosuppressive, and biological agents, are at higher risk for infection. The symptoms of opportunistic infections in elderly patients are atypical, but they are prone to multiple infections with poor prognosis. Key Words: Elderly patients, Inflammatory bowel disease, Opportunistic infection, Systemic inflammation reaction syndrome.

Glial-derived neurotrophic factor regulates enteric mast cells and ameliorates dextran sulfate sodium-induced experimental colitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Although interactions between enteric glial cells (EGCs) and enteric mast cells have been demonstrated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the exact mechanisms by which EGCs regulate enteric mast cells are still unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate whether glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), which has been confirmed to be produced mostly by EGCs, might regulate enteric mast cells and ameliorate dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced experimental colitis. METHODS: Recombinant adenoviral vectors encoding GDNF (Ad-GDNF) were administered intracolonically in experimental colitis induced by DSS. The disease activity index and histological score were measured. The expression of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were measured by ELISA assay. The expression of trypsin and ß-hexosaminidase were evaluated. GDNF specific receptor (GFR-α1/RET) was detected. The calcium reflux was tested by microplate reader. The expression p-JNK was analyzed by western blot assay. RESULTS: GDNF resulted in a significant inhibition of the activation of enteric mast cells by down-regulating JNK signal pathway, lessening intracellular calcium influx, and then reducing the degranulation as well as the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines via combing with its receptor (GFR-α1/RET) in mast cells, and these inhibitory effects were abrogated by treatment with neutralizing antibody against GDNF. Moreover, the administration of GDNF led to an amelioration of experimental colitis. CONCLUSIONS: GDNF are able to regulate enteric mast cells and ameliorate experimental colitis. GDNF might be an important mediator of the cross-talk between EGCs and enteric mast cells, and GDNF might be a useful therapeutic drug for IBD.