Effect of Low-Frequency Electrical Stimulation Combined with Tonifying Kidney and Blood Pills on Uterine Rejuvenation after Abortion.

Objective: This study aimed to observe the clinical efficacy of low-frequency electrical stimulation therapy combined with tonifying the kidney and activating blood pills to promote uterine recovery after abortion and its effect on heat-shock protein (HSP)70 and HSP90. Methods: All cases were women with early pregnancy who underwent an abortion at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from September 2019 to September 2020. They were divided into two groups in accordance with the principle of patient voluntariness: 237 cases in the experimental group and 143 cases in the control group. Patients in both groups were given low-frequency electrical stimulation after surgery. In addition, patients in the experimental group began to take the Dingkun pill orally (one pill per time, two times per day) from the first day of surgery and continued to take it until their menstruation returned to normal. Abdominal pain, the duration of vaginal bleeding, and the amount of bleeding were observed in both groups. Uterine size, endometrial thickness, and urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) status were also observed at 2 weeks postoperatively to determine preoperative and postoperative HSP70 and HSP90 serum levels. The time of menstrual resumption, menstrual period, and menstrual volume were observed and compared with preoperative menstruation. The occurrence of complications, such as a residual uterine cavity, uterine effusion, menstrual irregularities, and reproductive tract infections, during the follow-up period was also recorded in both groups. Results: Comparison of the endometrial thickness (mm) and uterine size (sum of the three diameters) on uterine adnexal ultrasound at 2-week postoperative review was better in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of residual uterine cavity and blood accumulation in the uterine cavity and the results of the urine pregnancy test (p > 0.05). Serum HSP70 and HSP90 levels were significantly higher in the control group than in the experimental group 2 weeks after surgery (p < 0.05). Postoperative HSP70 and HSP90 levels were significantly higher than preoperative levels in both groups (p < 0.05). The degree of postoperative abdominal pain in the experimental group was less severe than that in the control group, and the duration was shorter (p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed when comparing the duration of postoperative vaginal bleeding and the amount of bleeding (p > 0.05). The time of the first menstrual resumption and menstrual volume were more satisfactory in the experimental group than in the control group (p < 0.05). No adverse reactions occurred in either group of patients receiving treatment. Conclusion: Low-frequency electrical stimulation combined with tonifying the kidney and invigorating blood pills could effectively promote uterine rejuvenation after abortion, conducive to improving patients' postoperative abdominal pain, promoting menstrual recovery and maintaining menstrual flow.

Measurement of solution properties and molecular weight of hydroxyethyl starches using multi-angle laser light scattering: An interlaboratory comparison.

The solution properties of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) vary significantly owing to different measurement parameters adopted and sample structures. Here, a round-robin study was conducted to compare inter-laboratory measurements of solution properties, weight-average molecular weight (Mw), and molecular weight distribution of four HES candidates covering the low- and medium-molecular-weight range, and 50 commercially available HES 130/0.4 drug samples. Analysis was performed using size exclusion chromatography (SEC) combined with multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) and differential refractive index (dRI) detectors. The results indicate that HES molecules in the Mw range of 17,000-130,000, with varying degrees of substitution (between 0.4 and 0.8), yielded a refractive index increment (dn/dc) value of 0.145 ± 0.003 mL/g (solvent: acetic acid-sodium acetate buffer; wavelength: 658 nm) and that the second virial coefficient (A2) is correlated with Mw. The SEC-MALLS-dRI method for Mw determination of HES demonstrated good inter-laboratory reproducibility; however, the study findings suggest that column specifications should be added for HES quality standards. Comparing Mw results obtained using common and experimentally corrected dn/dc and A2 values revealed an influence of dn/dc and A2 on Mw, indicating that the Mw acceptance criteria of HES quality standards should be adjusted.

[Effects of Plastic Film Mulching and Biochar Application on N2O Emission from a Vegetable Field].

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of biochar addition (B0:0 t·hm-2, B20:20 t·hm-2, and B40:40 t·hm-2) and mulching (FM:film and NM:no film) on vegetables. The impact of N2O emissions in the field was based on the pepper-radish rotation vegetable field system on the farm of Southwest University, using static dark box/gas chromatography to conduct in-situ observations in the field for one year. In this experiment, a total of six treatments were set up, namely NMB0 (CK) and FMB0, NMB20 and FMB20, and NMB40 and FMB40. The results showed that FM significantly increased the content of ammonium and nitrate nitrogen in the pepper season soil (P<0.05) but had no significant effect on soil environmental factors in the radish season. Compared with that of NM, the pepper season FM increased the N2O emissions of the B0, B20, and B40 treatments by 52.87%, 52.97%, and 52.49% (P<0.05), respectively, but the radish season FM had no significant effect on N2O emissions. Biochar had no significant effect on soil environmental factors in the pepper and radish seasons. The addition of biochar in the radish season reduced N2O emissions by 28.76%-67.88% (P<0.01), and the addition of biochar in the pepper season had no significant effect on N2O emissions. Compared with that of NM, under different biochar levels, FM increased the yield of pepper by 15.85%-161.32% and increased the yield of radish by 43.97%-75.80%. Biochar significantly increased the yield of peppers and had no significant effect on the yield of radishes. Regardless of whether the film was covered or not, when the amount of biochar added was 20 t·hm-2, the yields of pepper and radish were the highest. The analysis of N2O emission intensity revealed that FM in the pepper season significantly reduced N2O emission intensity, whereas in the radish season FM and biochar significantly reduced N2O emission intensity, and both planting seasons reached the lowest N2O emission intensity under the FMB20 treatment. Therefore, mulching and applying 20 t·hm-2 biochar were the best farmland management measures for the pepper season and radish season, which could achieve high yields and the lowest N2O emissions, accomplishing a win-win for economic and environmental benefits.

[Effects of Hematite and Biochar Addition on Wastewater Treatment Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emission, and Microbial Community in Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland].

The type and structure of the substrate in constructed wetland affects the diversity and abundance of microorganisms, thereby influencing the effect of sewage treatment. In this study, four groups of wetlands were constructed in the greenhouse:blank-constructed wetland (CW0), hematite-constructed wetland (CW1), biochar-constructed wetland (CW2), and hematite+biochar-constructed wetland (CW3), to study the differences in sewage treatment effects, greenhouse gas emissions, and microbial community structures of constructed wetland systems under different filler substrates. The results showed that the addition of hematite or biochar increased the COD removal rate of -0.12% to 1.7%. The addition of biochar increased the removal rate of NH4+-N by 22.48% and NO3--N by 6.82% and reduced the emission flux of CH4 by 83.91% and N2O by 30.81%. The addition of hematite reduced the removal rate of NH4+-N by 1.12%, increased the removal rate of NO3--N by 3.98%, and reduced the emission flux of CH4 by 33.29% and N2O by 25.2%. Adding biochar or hematite increased the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, which was beneficial to the removal of COD. The Ace, Chao, Sobs, and Shannon indexes in the substrate treated with biochar were the largest, and the Simpson index was the smallest. The treatment with hematite was the opposite, indicating that the richness and diversity of microbial communities in the treatment system with biochar was the largest. Adding hematite reduced the richness and diversity of the microbial community in the constructed wetland system. Adding biochar or hematite increased the relative abundances of Dechloromonas, Thaurea, Saccharimonadales, and other denitrifying bacteria, which was beneficial to wetland denitrification. The addition of biochar increased the abundances of nosZ, nirS, and nirK functional genes, which were conducive to the occurrence of denitrification. The addition of biochar increased the abundances of pmoA functional genes, reduced the abundance of mcrA functional genes, and inhibited the production of CH4. It also increased the abundance of methanotrophic bacteria and promoted the occurrence of the CH4 oxidation process. Although the addition of hematite increased the abundance of mcrA functional genes, Fe3+ competed with methanogens for electron donors and inhibited the production of CH4.

Sunitinib Induces NK-κB-dependent NKG2D Ligand Expression in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Hepatoma Cells.

Multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (MTKIs) have been shown to combine with natural killer (NK) cell adoptive transfer for the treatment in various cancers. MTKIs sensitize cancer cells to NK cell therapy through upregulation of nature killer group 2 member D ligands (NKG2DLs) on tumor cells. However, the molecular mechanism of MTKIs-mediated upregulation of NKG2DLs is still unknown. In this study, we confirmed sunitinib induced downregulation of its targets, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, and c-kit in multiple-drug-resistant nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line CNE2/DDP and hepatoma cell line HepG2. Then, we further showed sunitinib induced cell proliferation inhibition, apoptosis, and DNA damage in CNE2/DDP and HepG2 cells. Coculture experiments showed that sunitinib-treated CNE2/DDP and HepG2 cells were able to increase the activation and cytotoxicity of NK cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that sunitinib upregulated NKG2DLs, apoptotic genes, DNA damage repair genes, and nuclear factor (NF)-κß family genes. Silencing of NF-κß1, NF-κß2, or RelB (NF-κß pathway) inhibited sunitinib-induced upregulation of NKG2DLs. Taken together, we concluded that sunitinib upregulated NKG2DLs through NF-κß signaling noncanonical pathway which might mediate higher cytotoxic sensitivity of CNE2/DDP and HepG2 cells to NK cells.