Electronically Manipulated Molecular Strategy Enabling Highly Efficient Tin Perovskite Photovoltaics.

Buried interface modification can effectively improve the compatibility between interfaces. Given the distinct interface selections in perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the applicability of a singular modification material remains limited. Consequently, in response to this challenge, we devised a tailored molecular strategy based on the electronic effects of specific functional groups. Therefore, we prepared three distinct silane coupling agents, and due to the varying inductive effects of these functional groups, the electronic distribution and molecular dipole moments of the coupling agents are correspondingly altered. Among them, trimethoxy (3,3,3-trifluoropropyl)-silane (F3 -TMOS), which possesses electron-withdrawing groups, generates a molecular dipole moment directed toward the hole transport layer (HTL). This approach changes the work function of the HTL, optimizes the energy level alignment, reduces the open-circuit voltage loss, and facilitates carrier transport. Furthermore, through the buffering effect of the coupling agent, the interface strain and lattice distortion caused by annealing the perovskite are reduced, enhancing the stability of the tin-based perovskite. Encouragingly, tin PSCs treated with F3 -TMOS achieved a champion efficiency of 14.67 %. This strategy provides an expedient avenue for the design of buried interface modification materials, enabling precise molecular adjustments in accordance with distinct interfacial contexts to ameliorate mismatched energetics and enhance carrier dynamics.

Evaluation of antioxidation, regulation of glycolipid metabolism and potential as food additives of exopolysaccharide from Sporidiobolus pararoseus PFY-Z1.

At present, there are relatively few studies on the production of exopolysaccharide (EPS) by yeasts. Therefore, exploring the properties of EPS produced by yeast can not only enrich the source of EPS, but also play an important role in its future application in the food field. The aim of this study was to explore the biological activities of EPS (named SPZ) from Sporidiobolus pararoseus PFY-Z1, as well as the dynamic changes in physical and chemical properties that occur during simulated gastrointestinal digestion, and the effects of SPZ on microbial metabolites during fecal fermentation in vitro. The results revealed that SPZ had good water solubility index, water-holding capacity, emulsifying ability, coagulated skim milk, antioxidant properties, hypoglycemic activities, and bile acid-binding abilities. Furthermore, the content of reducing sugars increased from 1.20 ± 0.03 to 3.34 ± 0.11 mg/mL after gastrointestinal digestion, and had little effect on antioxidant activities. Moreover, SPZ could promote the production of short-chain fatty acids during fermentation for 48 h, in particular, propionic acid and n-butyric acid increased to 1.89 ± 0.08 and 0.82 ± 0.04 mmol/L, respectively. Besides this, SPZ could inhibit LPS production. In general, this study can help us to better understand the potential bioactivities, and the changes in bio-activities of compounds after digestion of SPZ.

Production, characterization and antioxidant activity of exopolysaccharide from Sporidiobolus pararoseus PFY-Z1.

At present, the study on exopolysaccharid is mainly focused on lactic acid bacteria, and the research on exopolysaccharide produced by yeast, especially Sporidiobolus pararoseus, is relatively few. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the characterization and antioxidant activities of a novel neutral exopolysaccharide SPZ, which was isolated and purified from S. pararoseus PFY-Z1. The results showed that SPZ was mainly composed of mannose, followed by glucose, with a molecular weight was 24.98 kDa, had O-glycosidic bonds, no crystalline, and no triple helix structure. Based on fourier transform-infrared, high-performance liquid chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses, SPZ was identified to be a exopolysaccharide with some side chains, presence of α-, ß-pyranose ring and nine sugar residues. Furthermore, the morphology features of SPZ have performed a relatively rough and uneven surface, covered with small pores and fissures. Moreover, SPZ had higher antioxidant activities and the maximum scavenging abilities of ⋅OH, NO2- and reducing power were 28.05 ± 0.73%, 92.76 ± 1.86% and 0.345 ± 0.024, respectively. Hence, SPZ could be used as a potential antioxidant application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Nomograms to Predict Overall and Cancer-Specific Survival in Gastric Signet-Ring Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The objective of our study was to develop and validate nomograms to predict the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients with signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of the stomach. METHODS: Data were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. A total of 1781 patients were randomly allocated to a training set (n = 1335) and a validation set (n = 446). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the prognostic effect of variables. Nomograms were developed to estimate OS and CSS and assessed using the concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and decision curve analyses (DCA). DCA was utilized to compare the nomograms and the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system. RESULTS: Age, race, tumor size, T, N, M stage, and use of surgery and/or radiotherapy were included in the nomograms. C-indexes for OS and CSS were 0.74 and 0.75 in the training set, respectively. C-indexes for OS and CSS were 0.76 and 0.76 in the validation set. Calibration plots and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed good predictive accuracy. According to the decision curve analyses (DCA), the new model was more useful than the TNM staging system. CONCLUSIONS: We developed nomograms to predict OS and CSS in patients with SRCC of the stomach. Nomograms may be a valuable clinical supplement of the conventional TNM staging system.

Association of shared decision making with inpatient satisfaction: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: We assessed inpatient perceived shared decision making (SDM) and tested the association of SDM with inpatient satisfaction in public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, China. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 2585 inpatients in 47 public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai in July and August 2018 was conducted. We assessed overall SDM and 4 aspects of SDM and tested the factors influencing SDM and the association of SDM with patient satisfaction (patient satisfaction with physician services, medical expenses, outcomes and overall inpatient care), by adopting linear or two-level regression models. RESULTS: The positive response rate (PRR) and high positive response rate (HPRR) to overall SDM among the inpatients of public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai were relatively high (95.30% and 87.86%, respectively), while the HPRR to "My physician informed me of different treatment alternatives" was relatively low (80.09%). In addition, the inpatients who underwent surgery during admission had higher HPRRs and adjusted HPRRs to overall SDM than those who did not undergo surgery. The study showed that the adjusted high satisfaction rates (HSRs) with physician services, medical expenses, outcomes and overall inpatient care among the inpatients with high level of overall SDM were higher (96.50%, 68.44%, 89.50% and 92.60%) than those among the inpatients without a high level of overall SDM (71.77%, 35.19%, 57.30% and 67.49%). The greatest differences in the adjusted HSRs between the inpatients with and without a high level of SDM were found in inpatient satisfaction with medical expenses and informed consent in SDM. Moreover, 46.22% of the variances in the HSRs with overall inpatient care across the hospitals were attributed to the hospital type (general hospitals vs. specialty hospitals). CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient PRRs and HPRRs to SDM in public tertiary hospitals in Shanghai are relatively high overall but lower to information regarding alternatives. SDM can be affected by the SDM preference of both the patients and physicians and medical condition. Patient satisfaction can be improved through better SDM and should be committed at the hospital level.

Impairment of spermatogenesis and sperm motility by the high-fat diet-induced dysbiosis of gut microbes.

OBJECTIVE: High-fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic disorders can lead to impaired sperm production. We aim to investigate if HFD-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis can functionally influence spermatogenesis and sperm motility. DESIGN: Faecal microbes derived from the HFD-fed or normal diet (ND)-fed male mice were transplanted to the mice maintained on ND. The gut microbes, sperm count and motility were analysed. Human faecal/semen/blood samples were collected to assess microbiota, sperm quality and endotoxin. RESULTS: Transplantation of the HFD gut microbes into the ND-maintained (HFD-FMT) mice resulted in a significant decrease in spermatogenesis and sperm motility, whereas similar transplantation with the microbes from the ND-fed mice failed to do so. Analysis of the microbiota showed a profound increase in genus Bacteroides and Prevotella, both of which likely contributed to the metabolic endotoxaemia in the HFD-FMT mice. Interestingly, the gut microbes from clinical subjects revealed a strong negative correlation between the abundance of Bacteroides-Prevotella and sperm motility, and a positive correlation between blood endotoxin and Bacteroides abundance. Transplantation with HFD microbes also led to intestinal infiltration of T cells and macrophages as well as a significant increase of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the epididymis, suggesting that epididymal inflammation have likely contributed to the impairment of sperm motility. RNA-sequencing revealed significant reduction in the expression of those genes involved in gamete meiosis and testicular mitochondrial functions in the HFD-FMT mice. CONCLUSION: We revealed an intimate linkage between HFD-induced microbiota dysbiosis and defect in spermatogenesis with elevated endotoxin, dysregulation of testicular gene expression and localised epididymal inflammation as the potential causes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03634644.

Long non-coding RNA X-inactive-specific transcript contributes to cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer by sponging miR-let-7b.

X-inactive-specific transcript (XIST) is a 19 kb noncoding RNA which is oncogenic in many cancers including gastric cancer. It is reported that XIST contributes to gastric cancer cells resistant to cisplatin, but specific mechanisms governing this resistance remain unclear. We firstly examined the XIST level in gastric cancer cells and tumor specimens. We confirmed that XIST is overexpressed in gastric cancer cells and tumors, which further contributed to the poor prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. We also confirmed that high XIST level contributes to the cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells. Subsequently, we predicted microRNAs that have the potential to interact with XIST and found that Let-7b-5p may directly interact with XIST. We confirmed the direct interaction between XIST and Let-7b-5p and identified a negative correlation between the level of Let-7b-5p and XIST in gastric cancer tumors. Meanwhile, Let-7b-5p inhibitor treatment can partially rescued the effect of XIST-specific small interfering RNA on cell proliferation and apoptosis by regulating Aurora kinase B expression. XIST functions as an oncogene in gastric cancer which contributes to the cisplatin resistance by interacting with Let-7b-5p.

Fluorescent carbon dots derived from urine and their application for bio-imaging.

This study aims to obtain water-soluble fluorescent carbon dots (C-dots) from low-value metabolites through a simple, economical, one-step synthetic route. The urine C-dots (UCDs) and hydrothermally treated urine C-dots (HUCDs) were obtained, respectively, using straightforward Sephadex filtration method from human adults and hydrothermal reaction method. The UCDs and HUCDs emit fluorescence upon being excited with ultraviolet light with a quantum yield of 4.8% and 17.8%, respectively. TEM analysis revealed that UCDs and HUCDs had an average size of 2.5 nm and 5.5 nm, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed the UCDs and HUCDs were mainly composed of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy demonstrated the presence of functional groups, such as amino, hydroxyl, carboxylate and carbonyl groups onto the C-dots. The UCDs and HUCDs can be directly used for in vivo and in vitro imaging in Hela cells, Caenorhabditis elegans, onion epidermal cells and bean sprouts. The cytotoxicity study revealed that the UCDs and HUCDs were not toxic to normal rat kidney (NKR) cells with good biocompatibility. The results revealed that the C-dots derived from urine have good biocompatibility, strong fluorescence and may have potential to be a safe fluorescent probe for bio-imaging.

Computer-assisted diagnosis of early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma using narrow-band imaging magnifying endoscopy.

BACKGROUND: We developed a computer-assisted diagnosis model to evaluate the feasibility of automated classification of intrapapillary capillary loops (IPCLs) to improve the detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). METHODS: We recruited patients who underwent magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging for evaluation of a suspicious esophageal condition. Case images were evaluated to establish a gold standard IPCL classification according to the endoscopic diagnosis and histological findings. A double-labeling fully convolutional network (FCN) was developed for image segmentation. Diagnostic performance of the model was compared with that of endoscopists grouped according to years of experience (senior > 15 years; mid level 10 - 15 years; junior 5 - 10 years). RESULTS: Of the 1383 lesions in the study, the mean accuracies of IPCL classification were 92.0 %, 82.0 %, and 73.3 %, for the senior, mid level, and junior groups, respectively. The mean diagnostic accuracy of the model was 89.2 % and 93.0 % at the lesion and pixel levels, respectively. The interobserver agreement between the model and the gold standard was substantial (kappa value, 0.719). The accuracy of the model for inflammatory lesions (92.5 %) was superior to that of the mid level (88.1 %) and junior (86.3 %) groups (P < 0.001). For malignant lesions, the accuracy of the model (B1, 87.6 %; B2, 93.9 %) was significantly higher than that of the mid level (B1, 79.1 %; B2, 90.0 %) and junior (B1, 69.2 %; B2, 79.3 %) groups (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Double-labeling FCN automated IPCL recognition was feasible and could facilitate early detection of ESCC.

Copper-Catalyzed Cascade Cyclization Reactions of Diazo Compounds with tert-Butyl Nitrite and Alkynes: One-Pot Synthesis of Isoxazoles.

A novel copper-catalyzed [3 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of alkynes with nitrile oxides generated in situ from the coupling reaction of copper carbene and nitroso radical has been developed. The three-component reaction provides a simple and efficient method for the construction of isoxazoles in a highly regioselective manner in a single step. On the basis of the experimental results and density functional theory calculations, a catalytic cycle (CuI-CuII-Cu0-CuI) for this cascade cyclization reaction is proposed.

Peripherally Generated Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells Mediate the Immunomodulatory Effects of IVIg in Allergic Airways Disease.

IVIg is widely used as an immunomodulatory therapy. We have recently demonstrated that IVIg protects against airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and inflammation in mouse models of allergic airways disease (AAD), associated with induction of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg). Using mice carrying a DTR/EGFP transgene under the control of the Foxp3 promoter (DEREG mice), we demonstrate in this study that IVIg generates a de novo population of peripheral Treg (pTreg) in the absence of endogenous Treg. IVIg-generated pTreg were sufficient for inhibition of OVA-induced AHR in an Ag-driven murine model of AAD. In the absence of endogenous Treg, IVIg failed to confer protection against AHR and airway inflammation. Adoptive transfer of purified IVIg-generated pTreg prior to Ag challenge effectively prevented airway inflammation and AHR in an Ag-specific manner. Microarray gene expression profiling of IVIg-generated pTreg revealed upregulation of genes associated with cell cycle, chromatin, cytoskeleton/motility, immunity, and apoptosis. These data demonstrate the importance of Treg in regulating AAD and show that IVIg-generated pTreg are necessary and sufficient for inhibition of allergen-induced AAD. The ability of IVIg to generate pure populations of highly Ag-specific pTreg represents a new avenue to study pTreg, the cross-talk between humoral and cellular immunity, and regulation of the inflammatory response to Ags.

Semaphorin 4C Protects against Allergic Inflammation: Requirement of Regulatory CD138+ Plasma Cells.

The regulatory properties of B cells have been studied in autoimmune diseases; however, their role in allergic diseases is poorly understood. We demonstrate that Semaphorin 4C (Sema4C), an axonal guidance molecule, plays a crucial role in B cell regulatory function. Mice deficient in Sema4C exhibited increased airway inflammation after allergen exposure, with massive eosinophilic lung infiltrates and increased Th2 cytokines. This phenotype was reproduced by mixed bone marrow chimeric mice with Sema4C deficient only in B cells, indicating that B lymphocytes were the key cells affected by the absence of Sema4C expression in allergic inflammation. We determined that Sema4C-deficient CD19+CD138+ cells exhibited decreased IL-10 and increased IL-4 expression in vivo and in vitro. Adoptive transfer of Sema4c-/- CD19+CD138+ cells induced marked pulmonary inflammation, eosinophilia, and increased bronchoalveolar lavage fluid IL-4 and IL-5, whereas adoptive transfer of wild-type CD19+CD138+IL-10+ cells dramatically decreased allergic airway inflammation in wild-type and Sema4c-/- mice. This study identifies a novel pathway by which Th2-mediated immune responses are regulated. It highlights the importance of plasma cells as regulatory cells in allergic inflammation and suggests that CD138+ B cells contribute to cytokine balance and are important for maintenance of immune homeostasis in allergic airways disease. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Sema4C is critical for optimal regulatory cytokine production in CD138+ B cells.

Multi-Source Deep Transfer Neural Network Algorithm.

Transfer learning can enhance classification performance of a target domain with insufficient training data by utilizing knowledge relating to the target domain from source domain. Nowadays, it is common to see two or more source domains available for knowledge transfer, which can improve performance of learning tasks in the target domain. However, the classification performance of the target domain decreases due to mismatching of probability distribution. Recent studies have shown that deep learning can build deep structures by extracting more effective features to resist the mismatching. In this paper, we propose a new multi-source deep transfer neural network algorithm, MultiDTNN, based on convolutional neural network and multi-source transfer learning. In MultiDTNN, joint probability distribution adaptation (JPDA) is used for reducing the mismatching between source and target domains to enhance features transferability of the source domain in deep neural networks. Then, the convolutional neural network is trained by utilizing the datasets of each source and target domain to obtain a set of classifiers. Finally, the designed selection strategy selects classifier with the smallest classification error on the target domain from the set to assemble the MultiDTNN framework. The effectiveness of the proposed MultiDTNN is verified by comparing it with other state-of-the-art deep transfer learning on three datasets.

Process analysis of PM2.5 pollution events in a coastal city of China using CMAQ.

US EPA's Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ) with Process Analysis tool was used to simulate and quantify the contribution of individual atmospheric processes to PM2.5 concentration in Qingdao during three representative PM2.5 pollution events in the winter of 2015 and 2016. Compared with the observed surface PM2.5 concentrations, CMAQ could reasonably reproduce the temporal and spatial variations of PM2.5 during these three events. Process analysis results show that primary emissions accounted for 72.7%-93.2% of the accumulation of surface PM2.5 before and after the events. When the events occurred, primary emissions were still the major contributor to the increase of PM2.5 in Qingdao, however the contribution percentage reduced significantly, which only account for 51.4%-71.8%. Net contribution from horizontal and vertical transport to the accumulation of PM2.5 was also positive and its percentage increased when events occurred. Only 1.1%-4.6% of aerosol accumulation was due to PM processes and aqueous chemical processes before and after events. When the events occurred, contribution from PM processes and aqueous chemistry increased to 6.0%-11.8%. Loss of PM2.5 was mainly through horizontal transport, vertical transport and dry deposition, no matter during or outside the events. Wet deposition would become the main removal pathway of PM2.5, when precipitation occurred.

Effects of a clinical pathway on antibiotic use in patients with community-acquired pneumonia: a multi-site study in China.

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common condition with high mortality, morbidity and healthcare costs. This study aimed to determine whether clinical pathway (CP) implementation in different hospitals in China increased antibiotic compliance with the national CP in inpatients with CAP. METHODS: Chart reviews of CAP cases were conducted in 18 public hospitals from 3 different regions of China in 2015. Chi-square tests and the t-test were used to compare differences between hospitals that implemented CP (CP group) and those that did not (non-CP group). Multivariate logistic analysis was adopted to test whether CP implementation for CAP in hospitals affected their overall antibiotic use compliance rates with the national CP for CAP. RESULTS: The overall compliance rate with the national CP for inpatients with CAP was 43.69%. The compliance rates for timely initial antibiotic use, recommended antibiotic use and use of the recommended combination of antibiotics and the overall compliance rate were substantially higher in the CP group than in the non-CP group. A multivariate logistic model for overall compliance in inpatients with CAP showed that the hospitals in the CP group had greater overall compliance than those in the non-CP group (odds ratio [OR] = 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16-2.71) after controlling for hospital and inpatient characteristics. CONCLUSION: In China, the overall compliance rate with the national CP for inpatients with CAP was low, but inpatients with CAP in the hospitals in the CP group received antibiotics more concordantly with the national CP. Since adherence to evidence-based care has been shown to improve clinical outcomes, internal and external support from hospitals is required to facilitate CP implementation for inpatients with CAP. Additionally, governmental commitment, hospital input and population involvement are required to improve antibiotic utilization.

Position 22 of the V3 loop is associated with HIV infectivity.

Human immunodeficiency virus subtype 1B (HIV-1B) binds to the CD4 receptor and co-receptor CCR5 or CXCR4 to enter T lymphocytes. The amino acid sequence of the HIV envelope glycoprotein V3 region determines the co-receptor tropism, thereby influencing the infectivity of the virus. Our research group previously found that the amino acid at position 22 of the V3 region may affect the infectivity of the virus, and in this study, we tested this hypothesis. We constructed pseudoviruses by changing the amino acids at position 22 of the V3 region in CCR5-tropic and CXCR4-tropic viruses and tested their infectivity. When the amino acid at V3 position 22 was altered in the CCR5- and CXCR4-tropic viruses, their ability to infect cells decreased to 20.6% and 17.14%, respectively. Therefore, we propose that residue 22 in the V3 region of subtype HIV-1B significantly influences the infectivity of the virus.

Capsular Polysaccharide is a Main Component of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in the Pathogen-Induced Toll-Like Receptor-Mediated Inflammatory Responses in Sheep Airway Epithelial Cells.

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. ovipneumoniae) is characterized as an etiological agent of primary atypical pneumonia that specifically infects sheep and goat. In an attempt to better understand the pathogen-host interaction between the invading M. ovipneumoniae and airway epithelial cells, we investigated the host inflammatory responses against capsular polysaccharide (designated as CPS) of M. ovipneumoniae using sheep bronchial epithelial cells cultured in an air-liquid interface (ALI) model. Results showed that CPS derived from M. ovipneumoniae could activate toll-like receptor- (TLR-) mediated inflammatory responses, along with an elevated expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), activator protein-1 (AP-1), and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) as well as various inflammatory-associated mediators, representatively including proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL1ß, TNFα, and IL8, and anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL10 and TGFß of TLR signaling cascade. Mechanistically, the CPS-induced inflammation was TLR initiated and was mediated by activations of both MyD88-dependent and MyD88-independent signaling pathways. Of importance, a blockage of CPS with specific antibody led a significant reduction of M. ovipneumoniae-induced inflammatory responses in sheep bronchial epithelial cells. These results suggested that CPS is a key virulent component of M. ovipneumoniae, which may play a crucial role in the inflammatory response induced by M. ovipneumoniae infections.

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae induces sheep airway epithelial cell apoptosis through an ERK signalling-mediated mitochondria pathway.

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. ovipneumoniae) is a species of Mycoplasma bacteria that specifically infects sheep and goat, causing ovine infectious pleuropneumonia. However, the mechanism underlying the pathogen-host interaction between M. ovipneumoniae and airway epithelial cells is unknown. METHODS: A primary air-liquid interface (ALI) epithelial culture model generated from the bronchial epithelial cells of Ningxia Tan sheep (ovis aries) was employed to explore the potential mechanism of M. ovipneumoniae-induced cell apoptosis by characterizing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and anti-oxidative enzymes, as well as the mitochondrial membrane potentials, cytochrome C release, and activities of ERK and caspase signalling pathways. RESULTS: Increased ROS production and MDA concentration with mitochondrial membrane dysfunction and apoptotic cell death but decreased expression of the antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT), glutathione synthetase (GSS), total superoxide dismutaes (T-SOD) and Mn-SOD were observed in sheep airway epithelial cells infected with M. ovipneumoniae. Mechanistically, the M. ovipneumoniae-induced cell apoptosis and disruption of mitochondrial integrity reflected mechanisms by which pathogen-activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling sequentially led to mitochondrial damage and release of Cyt-C into the cytoplasm, which in turn triggered the activation of caspase signalling cascade, resulting in the apoptosis of host cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that M. ovipneumoniae-induced ROS and MAPK signalling-mediated mitochondrial apoptotic pathways might play key roles in the pathogenesis of M. ovipneumoniae infection in sheep lungs.

[Study on Filtrating Separated Constituents of Epimedii Folium Based on Its Anti-osteoporosis].

Objective: To investigate the pharmacological effects of Epimedii Folium and its different separate compositions on the rats with RA-induced osteoporosis and to screen the most active constituent. Methods: With the establishment of animal model of osteoporotic rats induced by RA, the efftects of different constituents extracted from Epimedii Folium on the contents of Ca2+, P3+, ALP, StrACP, BCG and E2 in serum were measured, and their influence on the calcium and phosphate of bone, bilateral femur mass/body mass, unilateral femur ash mass/dry mass was evaluated. The femur morphology was observed through histomorphology. Results: The 30% ethanol section can significantly increase the contents of Ca2+, P3+ in model rats, promote the level of E2 in serum, and decrease the contents of ALP, StrACP, BCG and P3+ in serum, significantly raising the unilateral femur ash mass/dry mass and bilateral femur mass/body mass. The total constituents can significantly increase Ca2+, unilateral femur ash mass/dry mass, and unilateralbilateral femur mass/body mass, and decrease ALP and P3+ in serum. In comparing with other groups, except for the positive control group, the observation of histomorphology exhibited that the 30% ethanol section improved the pathomorphism of bone most obviously and significantly increased the density and space of trabecular, with discontinuous spongy bone existing in local gusongzhiincus buttress. The sequence of the effect on anti-osteoporosis was 30% ethanol section > total constituents > water section > 95% ethanol section > polysaccharide. Conclusion: The 30% ethanol section manifested the most significant effect on anti-osteoporosis. The total constituents also had a certain degree of effect on anti-osteoporosis which was weaker than 30% ethanol section. The water and 95% ethanol sections showed a certain extent of preventive effect on anti-osteoporosis, and the effects of polysaccharide group were inapparent.Objective:To investigate the pharmacological effects of Epimedii Folium and its different extacted constituents on the rats with RA-induced osteoporosis.To screening the most active constituent. Methods: With building animal model of osteoporotic rat induced by RA, different constituents extracted from Epimedii Folium affected the content of Ca2+,P3+,ALP,Str ACP,BCG and E2in serum were measured, and on the calcium and phosphate of bone,mass-ratio of in bilateral femur, ash to dry ratio in unilateral were evaluated. The thigh-bone morphological was observed through histomorphology. Results: The 30%alcohol section can significantly increase the content of Ca2+,P3+in model rats, promote the level of E2in serum, and decrease the content of Str ACP,BCG and P3+in serum, significantly raise the mass-ratio of in bilateral femur, and ash to dry in unilateral. The entire ingredient section can significantly increase Ca2+,mass-ratio of in bilateral femur, and ash to dry in unilateral, decrease ALP and P3+in serum. In comparing with other groups, except for the positive control group, the observation of histomorphology exhibit that the 30%alcohol section improved the pathomorphism of bone most obviously and significantly increased the density and space of trabecular, with discontinuous spongy bone existing in local gusongzhiincus buttress. The sequence for anti-osteoporosis was 30%alcohol section>entire ingredien>water section>95%alcohol section>polysaccharide. Conclusion: The 30%alcohol section manifests the most significant effect on anti-osteoporosis. The entire ingredient section also has a certain degree of effect on anti-osteoporosis but weaker than 30%alchol section. The water and 95%alcohol sections show a certain extent of preventive effect on anti-osteoporosis, and the effects of polysaccharide group are inapparent.

CNN-SVM for Microvascular Morphological Type Recognition with Data Augmentation.

This paper focuses on the problem of feature extraction and the classification of microvascular morphological types to aid esophageal cancer detection. We present a patch-based system with a hybrid SVM model with data augmentation for intraepithelial papillary capillary loop recognition. A greedy patch-generating algorithm and a specialized CNN named NBI-Net are designed to extract hierarchical features from patches. We investigate a series of data augmentation techniques to progressively improve the prediction invariance of image scaling and rotation. For classifier boosting, SVM is used as an alternative to softmax to enhance generalization ability. The effectiveness of CNN feature representation ability is discussed for a set of widely used CNN models, including AlexNet, VGG-16, and GoogLeNet. Experiments are conducted on the NBI-ME dataset. The recognition rate is up to 92.74% on the patch level with data augmentation and classifier boosting. The results show that the combined CNN-SVM model beats models of traditional features with SVM as well as the original CNN with softmax. The synthesis results indicate that our system is able to assist clinical diagnosis to a certain extent.