Structure, Antioxidant Activity and In Vitro Hypoglycemic Activity of a Polysaccharide Purified from Tricholoma matsutake.

The structure, antioxidant activity and hypoglycemic activity in vitro of a novel homogeneous polysaccharide from Tricholoma matsutake (Tmp) were investigated. Structural features suggested that Tmp was consisted of arabinose (Ara), mannose (Man), glucose (Glc) and galactose (Gal) with a molar ratio of 1.9:13.6:42.7:28.3, respectively, with a molecular weight of 72.14 kDa. The structural chain of Tmp was confirmed to contain →2,5)-α-l-Arabinofuranose (Araf)-(1→, →3,5)-α-l-Araf-(1→, ß-d-Glucopyranose (Glcp)-(1→, α-d-Mannopyranose (Manp)-(1→, α-d-Galacopyranose (Galp)-(1→, →4)-ß-d-Galp-(1→, →3)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→, →3)-α-d-Manp-(1→, →6)-3-O-Methyl (Me)-α-d-Manp-(1→, →6)-α-d-Galp-(1→, →3,6)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→, →6)-α-d-Manp-(1→ residues. Furthermore, Tmp possessed strong antioxidant activity and showed the strong inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities. Then, a further evaluation found that there was a dramatic improvement in the glucose consumption, glycogen synthesis and the activities of pyruvate kinase and hexokinase when the insulin-resistant-human hepatoma cell line (IR-HepG2) was treated with Tmp. The above results indicated that Tmp had good hypoglycemic activity and also exhibited great potentials in in terms of dealing with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Preliminary evaluation and discussion of the safety of left innominate vein resection.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety of resection of anterior mediastinal lesions involving the left innominate vein (LIV) and analyze the risk factors affecting LIV resection safety. METHODS: Patients who underwent anterior mediastinal lesion and LIV resection from January 2010 to December 2018 in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University, were followed up, and preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative factors were analyzed. RESULTS: Forty-eight patients who underwent anterior mediastinal lesion and LIV resection from January 2010 to December 2018, except for 2 who died of lung infection-induced respiratory failure, were followed up, with an average follow-up time of 32 months (range, 6-72 months). Postoperative: in 31 cases (67.39%), patients did not manifest LIV resection-associated complications; in 15 cases (32.61%), patients manifested mild LIV resection-associated complications; no patient manifested severe LIV resection-associated complications. The average operation time, average blood loss and average hospitalization time were 155.17 min, 324.13 mL and 11.83 days, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that the degree of LIV invasion and surgical approach were risk factors for predicting LIV resection safety. CONCLUSIONS: For anterior mediastinal lesions involving the LIV, LIV resection is a simple, safe and effective surgical procedure.

Specific membrane capacitance, cytoplasm conductivity and instantaneous Young's modulus of single tumour cells.

As label-free biomarkers, biophysical properties of cells are widely used for cell type classification. However, intrinsic biophysical markers, e.g., specific membrane capacitance (Cspecific membrane), cytoplasm conductivity (σconductivity) and instantaneous Young's modulus (Einstantaneous) measured for hundreds of single cells were not yet reported. In this study, single cells in suspension (adherent cells treated with trypsin) were aspirated through a microfluidic constriction channel at 25 °C, and the entry processes and impedance profiles were recorded and translated to Cspecific membrane, σconductivity and Einstantaneous. Cspecific membrane, σconductivity and Einstantaneous of five cell types were quantified as 2.10±0.38 µF cm-2, 0.91±0.15 S m-1 and 5.52±0.95 kPa for H460 cells (ncell=437); 2.52±0.54 µF cm-2, 0.83±0.12 S m-1 and 5.54±1.04 kPa for H446 cells (ncell=410); 2.45±0.57 µF cm-2, 0.99±0.18 S m-1 and 5.16±1.68 kPa for A549 cells (ncell=442); 1.86±0.31 µF cm-2, 1.07±0.18 S m-1 and 3.86±0.81 kPa for 95D cells (ncell=415); 2.03±0.35 µF cm-2, 0.99±0.16 S m-1 and 3.49±0.70 kPa for 95C cells (ncell=290). The database of Cspecific membrane, σconductivity and Einstantaneous may serve as a reference for future studies of cellular biophysical properties.

Increased preventive effect on colon carcinogenesis by use of resistant starch (RS3) as the carrier for polysaccharide of Larimichthys crocea swimming bladder.

The preventive effect of polysaccharide of Larimichthys crocea swimming bladder (PLCSB) and the increase of this effect by use of resistant starch (RS3) as the carrier for PLCSB on azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-inducing colon carcinogenesis in C57BL/6 mice has been studied. RS3 microspheres carrying PLCSB (RS3 + PLCSB) were produced and evaluated as a potentially improved colon carcinogenesis therapy for this study. The body weight, colon length, and colon weight of mice were determined, and colonic tissues were histologically observed. The serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines and the inflammation and apoptosis-related genes in colonic tissue were also tested. The PLCSB or RS3 + PLCSB significantly suppressed AOM and DSS-induced body weight loss, colon length shortening and decreased the colon weight to length ratio. PLCSB or RS3 + PLCSB reduced the levels of the serum pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α, and IFN-γ to a greater extent compared with the control mice, and the levels of RS3 + PLCSB were more close to the normal mice than PLCSB treated mice. Histopathological examination of sections of colon tissues showed that the RS3 + PLCSB group recovered well from colon carcinogenesis; however, the tissue sections of the stachyose + starch could reduce the necrosis degree. PLCSB significantly induced apoptosis in tissues of mice (p < 0.05) by up-regulating Bax, caspase-3, and caspase-9, and down-regulating Bcl-2. The expression of genes associated with inflammation-related NF-κB, iNOS, and COX-2 genes, was significantly down-regulated, and IκB-α was up-regulated (p < 0.05). These results suggest that PLCSB is a potent preventive against in vivo colon carcinogenesis and that PLCSB with an RS3 carrier could increase the preventative effect in mice.

Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during surgery for left lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during surgery for left lung cancer. METHODS: From April 2008 to April 2009, a total of 25 patients at high risk for left recurrent laryngeal nerve injury agreed to and underwent intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during surgery for left lung cancer in our hospital. Results and clinical records were reviewed. RESULTS: All the patients' left recurrent laryngeal nerves were identified during operation by intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring. Twenty-four patients retained normal left recurrent laryngeal nerves after the operation. One patient, in whom part of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve was found to be invaded, underwent single-stage nerve anastomosis under recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring after the invaded nerve was resected. There were no significant intraoperative or postoperative complications among the other patients. CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during thoracotomy is a safe and effective way of identifying the nerve. It may help surgeons to avoid injuring the recurrent laryngeal nerve during some thoracic procedures.

[The initial value evaluation of ¹8F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of chest malignant tumors].

BACKGROUND: ¹8F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (¹8F-FDG PET) is considered as one of the most valuable diagnostic methods of chest malignant tumors, except for pathological diagnosis. But in clinic, the cases whose diagnosis of ¹8F-FDG PET is different from pathological diagnosis are not rare. This study is to evaluate the initial value of ¹8F-FDG PET in the diagnosis and staging of the chest malignant tumors. METHODS: Fifty-one cases of chest tumors in Xi'an who underwent ¹8F-FDG PET were collected. Additionally, pathologic diagnosis had also been experienced on the patients through operation, percutaneous puncture, bronchoscopy or film preparation of pleural fluid. By the comparison of ¹8F-FDG PET diagnosis and the pathologic diagnosis, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, positive predictive and negative predictive of ¹8F-FDG PET were calculated. RESULTS: In 51 patients, there were 34 patients whose ¹8F-FDG PET diagnoses were consistent with the pathological diagnoses, including 31 true positive, 3 true negative. Out of another 17 patients, 11 were false positive, including 2 sarcoidosis, 6 tuberculosis of the lung, 2 inflammatory pseudotumor of the lung and 1 pulmonary cryptococcosis, and 6 were false negative. The calculated values were 66.67% on the overall accuracy, 83.78% on sensitivity, 21.43% on specificity, 78.57% on false positive rate, 16.21% on false negative rate, 73.81% on positive predictive value and 33.33% on negative predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, ¹8F-FDG PET is still one of the most advanced unwounded technologies for the chest malignant tumor diagnosis. However, this technology experiences difficulties in detection of some high metabolized benign disease, such as tuberculosis from malignant tumor. Hence, in order to take advantage of ¹8F-FDG PET technology and have more accurate diagnosis of chest tumors, both results from the ¹8F-FDG PET and the clinic actuality should be considered.