Oxysophocarpine suppresses TRAF6 level to ameliorate oxidative stress and inflammatory factors secretion in mice with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) induced-ulcerative colitis.

PURPOSE: Ulcerative colitis is an inflammation-related disease with a high recurrence risk. Oxysophocarpine (OSC) is a traditional Chinese medicine isolated from legumes and exerts vital functions on many human diseases. However, the OSC's role in ulcerative colitis has not been fully elucidated. This research aimed to investigate the OSC's impact on ulcerative colitis and its mechanisms. METHODS: A mouse model of ulcerative colitis was induced by dextran sulphate sodium (DSS). The effect of OSC on ulcerative colitis was examined using Disease Activity Index detection, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Meanwhile, the mechanism of OSC in ulcerative colitis was assessed by immunohistochemistry assay, Western blot, HE staining, and ELISA. RESULTS: For the OSC's function in ulcerative colitis, OSC increased the mice weight, decreased Disease Activity Index scores, and alleviated colitis cell infiltration and epithelial cell destruction in DSS-induced ulcerative colitis. Also, OSC mitigated oxidative stress (decreased PGE2, MPO levels, and increased SOD levels) and inflammation (decreased IL-6, TNF-α and IL-1ß levels) in DSS-induced ulcerative colitis. For the OSC's mechanism in ulcerative colitis, OSC inhibited the level of tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated Factor 6 (TRAF6) and the phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). TRAF6 overexpression abolished the effect of OSC on DSS-induced colon injury and its associated oxidative stress and inflammatory properties in ulcerative colitis. CONCLUSION: OSC decreased the TRAF6 level to reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory factors secretion in mice with DSS induced-ulcerative colitis.

Plasmonic metasurface enhanced by nanobumps for label-free biosensing of lung tumor markers in serum.

Plasmonic metasurface biosensing has excellent potential in label-free detection of tumor biomarkers. In general, a variety of plasmonic metasurface nanofabrication leads to various degree of metallic surface roughness. However, the metasurface roughness effects on plasmonic sensing of tumor markers have been barely reported. Here we fabricate high-roughness (HR) gold nanohole metasurfaces with nanobumps and investigate their biosensing in comparison with the low-roughness (LR) counterparts. The HR metasurfaces demonstrate the surface sensitivity of multilayer polyelectrolyte molecules, which is 57.0% higher than the LR ones. The HR metasurfaces also illuminate higher immunoassay sensitivity to multiple lung cancer biomarkers, including carcinoembryonic antigen, neuron-specific enolase and cytokeratin fragment 21-1. The highest increasement of tumor marker sensitivity is up to 71.4%. The biosensing enhancement is attributed to the introduction of gold nanobumps on metasurfaces, which provides more hot-spot regions, higher localized near-field intensity and better optical impedance matching. Furthermore, the biosensing of HR metasurfaces effectively covers the threshold values of tumor markers for early lung cancer diagnosis, and is used for the detection of clinical serum samples. The testing deviation is less than 4% compared with commercial immunoassay, which implies promising applications on medical examinations. Our research provides a scientific guide to surface roughness engineering for plasmonic metasensing in the future point-of-care testing.

The Effect of Cu Content on the Microstructure and Properties of the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Al-Cu Alloy.

Al-Cu alloy has broad application prospects in the field of aerospace due to its excellent performance. In this paper, deposits with different Cu contents were prepared by the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process, and the effects of Cu content on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The microstructure of Al-Cu alloy was investigated by metallography, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that both the number and size of the precipitated θ phases (Al2Cu) in the as-deposited material increase with the increase of Cu content. After the T4 treatment, the solid solution amount of Cu in the matrix showed a trend of first increasing and then remaining stable. When the content of Cu was greater than 5.65%, as the Cu content increased, the number and size of the remaining θ phases both increased. In the peak ageing state, the amount of precipitated θ' phase showed a trend of increasing and then remaining stable. After the T6 treatment, the mechanical properties showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increase of the content of Cu. When the Cu content was 5.65%, the deposit achieved the best mechanical properties, and the anisotropy of the mechanical properties disappeared. The tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation reached 538 MPa, 478 MPa, and 10.5%, respectively. When the content of Cu was greater than 5.65%, the anisotropy of mechanical properties was obvious, and the fracture mode of the vertical specimen changed from ductile fracture to brittle fracture.

Postmarketing Reevaluation of Chinese Traditional Therapy Kangbingdu Oral Liquid in the Treatment of the Common Cold.

Background: Observational studies from China suggest that Kangbingdu oral liquid (KBD) may be effective in treating the common cold. Objective: Reevaluation of efficacy and safety of Kangbingdu oral liquid after marketing and expanding population. Design: Prospective, Pragmatic randomized controlled trial (Chictr.org.cn registration number: chiCTR-TRC-12002399). Setting. Eleven hospitals from 3 provinces in China. Patients were recruited through 11 centers, including 7 teaching hospitals, 2 University health services, one military clinic, and one community hospital. Patients. 2647 persons aged 18 to 75 years with Common cold. Intervention. Patients were randomly allocated to 2 groups: the treatment group Kangbingdu oral liquid (composed of 9 Chinese herbal medicines and honey) and the placebo group were divided into a standard-dose group of 10 ml every time, a middle dose group of 20 ml every time, high dose group of 30 ml every time, 3 times daily. Interventions and control were given for 5 days. Measurements. The primary outcome is the mean amount of total scores measured by the 11-primary symptoms: to observe the change of main symptoms from severe to disappear and to calculate and compare the mean amount of total scores after the periods of observation. Secondary outcomes are the disappearance rate of each symptom and the median time of body temperature returned to normal. Results: On day 5, the Kangbingdu liquid group had significant reductions in the mean amount of total scores measured by the 11-primary symptoms (7.39 [95% CI 7.26 to 7.51] compared to the placebo group (6.43 [95%: CI 6.24 to 6.62]). The Kangbingdu liquid can improve the remission rate of accompanying symptoms on day 5 including aversion to wind, aversion to cold, fever, cough, stuffy, runny nose, sore throat, muscular aches, headache, fatigue, and sweat (P < 0.0001). Significant reductions in time of body temperature to return to normal in the Kangbingdu liquid group (P50, 48.33 [95% CI 46.00 to 52.50] compared with the control group (P50, 64.59 [95% CI 51.08 to 70.50] (P=0.0022). 13 (0.7%) participants in the Kangbingdu liquid group and 1(0.2%) participants in the placebo group (P > 0.05) had treatment-related AEs, which mainly include diarrhea and dyspepsia in the Kangbingdu liquid group and constipation in the placebo group. Conclusion: The study's conclusion in this paper was based on the placebo, Kangbingdu oral liquid two groups which clinically diagnosed the common cold and flu. (1) Kangbingdu oral liquid can effectively improve the comprehensive clinical symptoms of common adult cold, also improved main symptoms, including sore throat, muscle aches, headache, and so on. (2) Kangbingdu oral liquid effectively shortens the time of body temperature to return to normal.

Exploring near-field sensing efficiency of complementary plasmonic metasurfaces for immunodetection of tumor markers.

Plasmonic metasurface biosensors have great potential on label-free high-throughput clinical detection of human tumor markers. In the past decades, nanopillar and nanohole metasurfaces have become the common choices for plasmonic biosensing, because they typically enable universal simple large-area nanopatterns via a low-cost reproducible fabrication manner. The two kinds of metasurfaces have the complementary shapes and are used to be assumed as the same type of two-dimensional plasmonic nanograting for biosensing. Up to date, there is still a lack of comparison study on their biosensing performance, which is critical to guide their better applications on tumor marker detection. In this study, we compare the bulk/surface refractive index and sensitivity of plasmonic nanopillar (PNP) and plasmonic nanohole (PNH) metasurfaces in order to evaluate their biosensing capabilities. The sensing physics about their space near-field utilization is systematically revealed. The PNH metasurface demonstrates a higher biomolecule sensitivity versus the complementary PNP metasurface, and its limit of detection for bovine serum albumin reaches ∼0.078 ng/mL, which implies a greater potential of detecting cancer biomarkers. We further adopt the PNH metasurfaces for immunoassay of three typical tumor markers by testing clinical human serum samples. The results imply that the immunodetection of alpha-fetoprotein has the most optimal sensing efficiency with the lowest detection concentration (<5 IU/mL), which is much lower than its clinical diagnosis threshold of ∼16.5 IU/mL for medical examination. Our work has not only illuminated the distinct biosensing properties of complementary metasurfaces, but also provided a promising way to boost plasmonic biosensing for point-of-care testing.

Microstructure and Properties of Al-6.0Mg-0.3Sc Alloy Deposited by Double-Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing.

Al-6.0Mg-0.3Sc alloy deposits are prepared by means of a double-wire arc additive manufacturing process. The formation, porosity, metallographic structure, type of precipitated phase, and mechanical properties of the deposit are studied. Double-wire arc forming affords precision advantages over single-wire-arc forming, which is evidenced by the increased surface uniformity of the deposit. Compared with the deposit of single-wire-arc formed, the deposit of double-wire arc formed exhibits only fewer and smaller pores, and the lower process heat yields rapid solidification and tiny precipitate sizes. A larger amount of Mg and Mn is observed to be dissolved in the Al matrix of double-wire arc-formed deposit, which increases the alloy strength, and smaller primary Al3Sc phase, which exhibits excellent grain refinement. Furthermore, the presence of a high amount of Sc solid solution in the matrix of double-wire arc-formed deposit strengthens the alloy, and the melting of the rear wire "heat-treats" the substrate formed by the front wire, promotes secondary Al3Sc phase precipitation, and further strengthens the alloy. Compared with the deposit of single-wire-arc formed, the mechanical properties of double-wire arc-formed deposit show an improvement: the tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation of the horizontally oriented specimens are estimated as 363 MPa, 258 MPa, and 26%, respectively. This successful implementation of the cold metal transfer + pulse process to prepare Al-Mg alloy parts can pave the way to their industrial production. The proposed method can find wide utility in the fields of aviation, aerospace, military, and shipbuilding.

Spatial distribution of Gasterophilus pecorum (Diptera) eggs in the desert steppe of the Kalamaili Nature Reserve (Xinjiang, China).

BACKGROUND: The dominant Gasterophilus species in the desert steppe (Xinjiang, China) Gasterophilus pecorum poses a serious threat to the reintroduced Przewalski's horses. We investigated the distribution pattern of G. pecorum eggs in June 2017. METHODS: Two sampling methods, transect and grid, were used, and the results were analyzed via geostatistics by semivariance. The nest quadrat was used to determine the optimal quadrat size. RESULTS: Eggs were found in 99 quadrats (63.1%) and 187 clusters (1.5%) of Stipa caucasica on the steppe. The mean oviposition count of a cluster was 3.8 ± 1.6. Three-eggs is the mode of which females oviposit on each ovigerous S. caucasica (22.0%). Semivariogram analysis revealed that the distance of spatial dependence for eggs was 921 m, 1233 m and 1097 m for transect 1, transect 2 and grid methods, respectively, while spatial continuity was 62%, 77% and 57.0% for transect 1, transect 2 and grid, respectively. The eggs showed a patchy, aggregated distribution pattern. This suggested the spherical model is most applicable. The proportion of ovigerous S. caucasica was significantly correlated with the distance from water resources (r = - 0.382, p = 0). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that diversification of G. pecorum oviposition was a new adaptative strategy for its survival in the desert steppe ecological niche. This made it more efficient at infecting hosts in the local environment. Areas surrounding water resources, especially around the drinking paths of equids (500 m radius surrounding the water), were concentrated epidemic areas. It is suggested that more attention to be paid to the ecological characteristics of G. pecorum in order to develop control measures that would reduce the infection risk for Przewalski's horses.

Analysis of volatiles from feces of released Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) in Gasterophilus pecorum (Diptera: Gasterophilidae) spawning habitat.

The absolute dominant species that infests wild population of Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) is Gasterophilus pecorum, and feces of released Przewalski's horse, a habitat odor, plays an important role in mating and ovipositing locations of G. pecorum. To screen out unique volatiles for attracting G. pecorum, volatiles from fresh feces of released horses at stages of pre-oviposition (PREO), oviposition (OVIP), and post-oviposition (POSO) of G. pecorum, and feces with three different freshness states (i.e., Fresh, Semi-fresh, and Dry) at OVIP were collected by dynamic headspace adsorption and determined by automatic thermal desorption GC-MS. Results show that there were significant differences in fecal volatiles within both test conditions. Of the five most abundant volatiles from the five individual samples, the most important volatile was ammonium acetate at OVIP/Fresh, followed by acetophenone (Semi-fresh), toluene (PREO, OVIP and POSO), butanoic acid (OVIP and Semi-fresh), acetic acid (PREO, POSO and Semi-fresh), 1,6-octadiene,3,7-dimethyl-,(S)- (PREO, OVIP and POSO), 1,5,9-undecatriene,2,6,10-trimethyl-,(Z)- (PREO and Semi-fresh) and caprolactam (all conditions), which seem to be critical substances in oviposition process of G. pecorum. The findings may be beneficial to development of G. pecorum attractants, facilitating prevention and control of infection by G. pecorum to released Przewalski's horse.

Effect of Gender Bias on Equine Fecal Microbiota.

Many studies on human intestinal microbiota indicate that gender difference is one of the key factors influencing microbial community composition. To date, the degree of influence that gender has on equid intestinal microbiota has not been reported. Thus, microbiota was analyzed in feces of seven female Przewalski's horses (FRPHs) and seven male Przewalski's horses (MRPHs) in this study, determining which microbiota characteristics respond to gender biases. The microbial community composition and structure were explored by 16S rRNA sequencing, followed by diversity analysis and difference analysis. Female Przewalski's horses showed higher Shannon diversity than MRPHs, no difference in Simpson diversity, and displayed difference in beta diversity. Although gender had little effect on the overall microbiota, it significantly changed the dominant microbial community in each classification level. Male Przewalski's horses contained significantly higher amounts of microorganisms related with diseases, including spirochetes (phylum), deltaproteobacteria (class), fibrobacteria (class), spirochaetia (class), desulfovibrionales (order), fibrobacterales (order), spirochaetales (order), and spirochaetaceae (family). Female Przewalski's horses showed less than MRPHs in the top 10 genera. To our knowledge, this study is the first to document the gender-related intestinal microbiota profile in equines and discovered notable differences between the gender, which suggests that gender should be considered as a biological variable in future microbiota studies.

Plasmonic Metasurfaces for Medical Diagnosis Applications: A Review.

Plasmonic metasurfaces have been widely used in biosensing to improve the interaction between light and biomolecules through the effects of near-field confinement. When paired with biofunctionalization, plasmonic metasurface sensing is considered as a viable strategy for improving biomarker detection technologies. In this review, we enumerate the fundamental mechanism of plasmonic metasurfaces sensing and present their detection in human tumors and COVID-19. The advantages of rapid sampling, streamlined processes, high sensitivity, and easy accessibility are highlighted compared with traditional detection techniques. This review is looking forward to assisting scientists in advancing research and developing a new generation of multifunctional biosensors.

Study on Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of an Al-Cu-Sn Alloy Wall Deposited by Double-Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Process.

In this present study, single-wire and double-wire Al-Cu-Sn alloy walls were fabricated by an arc additive manufacturing process. The surface morphology, elemental composition, and microstructure were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The mechanical properties of both the single-wire and double-wire walls were studied by mechanical property testing. The results showed that the heat input of the double-wire wall was lower than that of the single-wire wall at the same wire feeding speed. The surface microstructure of the double-wire wall showed a more uniform surface than the single-wire wall. The grains of the double-wire wall were found to be isometric crystals in the as-deposited state. The θ phase of the double-wire wall was dispersed with a smaller grain size in the grain boundary. After T6 heat treatment, the θ phase of the double-wire wall was completely dissolved into the aluminum matrix, and a large amount of θ' enhanced phases were precipitated with a phase spacing of about 15 nm. The mechanical properties of the double-wire wall were shown to have significantly improved performance, which further increased to 490 MPa, 420 MPa, and 12%, respectively. The transverse and longitudinal mechanical properties of the double-wire wall were consistent, and the fracture mode of both was ductile fracture.

Effect of Mg Content on Microstructure and Properties of Al-Mg Alloy Produced by the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Method.

In this study, an Al-Mg alloy was fabricated by wire arc additive manufacture (WAAM), and the effect of Mg content on the microstructure and properties of Al-Mg alloy deposits was investigated. The effects on the deposition surface oxidation, geometry, burn out rate of Mg, pores, microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms were investigated. The results show that, when the Mg content increased, the surface oxidation degree increased; a "wave"-shaped deposition layer occurred when the Mg content reached 8%. When the Mg content was more than 6%, the burning loss rate of the Mg element increased significantly. With the increase of Mg content, the number of pores first decreased and then increased, and the size first decreased and then increased. When the Mg content reached 7% or above, obvious crystallization hot cracks appeared in the deposit bodies. When the Mg content increased, the precipitated phase (FeMn)Al6 and ß(Mg2Al3) increased, and the grain size increased. When the Mg content was 6%, the comprehensive mechanical properties were best. The horizontal tensile strength, yield strength and elongation were 310 MPa, 225 MPa and 17%, respectively. The vertical tensile strength, yield strength and elongation were 300 MPa, 215 MPa and 15%, respectively. The fracture morphology was a ductile fracture.

[A multicenter study of the effectiveness of interferon alpha-1b (Hapgen) in treating HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B patients].

To compare the efficacy and safety of interferon a-1b and interferon a-1b combined with lamivudine in the treatment of HBeAg positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB), to analyze the impact of variable factors on the efficacy, and to investigate the individualized anti-viral regimen for CHB patients. 111 CHB patients were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups. Group A: patients received interferon a-1b (49 patients, 50mug I. M. , qod. ) , Group B: interferon a-1b (idem) combined with lamivudine for 6-12 months or longer(62 patients, 100 mg, P.O. , q.d. ). (1) The HBeAg seroconversion rates of treatment by 12 and 18 months were 28.6% and 36.7% in group A, 29.0% and 38.7% in group B, respectively, no significant difference found between the two groups at the end of treatment (x2=0.003, P value is more than 0.05; x2=1.500, P value is more than 0.05). (2) The HBV DNA undetectable rates of treatment by 6 months, 12 months and 18 months were 8.2%, 53.1% and 57.1% in group A, 66.1%, 83.9% and 88.7% in group B, respectively, still no significant difference existed between the two groups (x2=38.150, P value is less than 0.05; x2=12.073, P value is less than 0.05, x2=14.459, P value is less than 0.05). (3) In group A, the HBeAg seroconversion rates for male and female patients were 34.5% and 40.0% respectively, no significant difference found between. As regard ages the rates were 34.9% and 50.0% for patients younger or more than 40 years of age, no significant difference existed between. The HBeAg seroconversion rate was higher in patients with lower baseline serum HBV DNA loads ( less than 6 log10 copies/ml) . (4) The rates of patients with fever and blood abnormality were 36.7% and 34.7% in group A, 32.3% and 27.4% in group B, respectively. The total incidences of adverse events were similar between group A and B (x2=0.244, P value is more than 0.05; x2=0.682, P value is more than 0.05). (5) The ratio of drug resistance in group B was only 1.6%. The adverse events of interferon a-1b treatment for CHB are low and mild. The HBeAg seroconversion rate persistently raises with the extension of interferon a-1b treatment course. The HBV DNA undetectable rate of interferon a-1b combined with lamivudine is significantly higher than that of interferon a-1b and the drug resistance of lamivudine can be reduced obviously by combination therapy.