Assessing the clinical advantage of opioid-reduced anesthesia in thoracoscopic sympathectomy: a prospective randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Opioid-reduced multimodal analgesia has been used clinically for many years to decrease the perioperative complications associated with opioid drugs. We aimed to assess the clinical effects of opioid-reduced anesthesia during thoracoscopic sympathectomy. METHODS: Surgical patients (n = 151) with palmar hyperhidrosis were randomly divided into control (Group C, 73 patients) and test (Group T, 78 patients) groups. All patients were administered general anesthesia using a laryngeal mask. In Group C, patients received propofol, fentanyl, and cisatracurium for anesthesia induction, and maintenance was achieved with propofol and remifentanil, along with mechanical ventilation during the operation. In Group T, anesthesia was induced with propofol, dezocine, and dexmedetomidine (DEX) and maintained with propofol, DEX, and an intercostal nerve block, along with spontaneous breathing throughout the operation. Perioperative complications related to opioid use include hypotension, bradycardia, hypertension, tachycardia, hypoxemia, nausea, vomiting, urine retention, itching, and dizziness were observed. To assess the impact of these complications, we recorded and compared vital signs, blood gas indices, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, adverse events, and patient satisfaction between the two groups. RESULTS: Perioperative complications related to opioid use were similar between groups. There were no significant differences in the type of perioperative sedation, analgesia index, respiratory and circulatory indicators, blood gas analysis, postoperative VAS scores, adverse reactions, propofol dosage, postoperative recovery time, and patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: In minimally invasive surgeries such as thoracoscopic sympathectomy, opioid-reduced anesthesia was found to be safe and effective; however, this method did not demonstrate clinical advantages. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Register: ChiCTR2100055005, on December 30, 2021.

A Rule for Response Sensitivity of Structural-Color Photonic Colloids.

To mimic natural photonic crystals having color regulation capacities dynamically responsive to the surrounding environment, periodic assembly structures have been widely constructed with response materials. Beyond monocomponent materials with stimulus responses, binary and multiphase systems generally offer extended color space and complex functionality. Constructing a rule for predicting response sensitivity can provide great benefits for the tailored design of intelligently responsive photonic materials. Here, we elucidate mathematical relationships between the response sensitivity of dynamically structural-color changes and the location distances of photonic co-phases in three-dimensional Hansen space that can empirically express the strength of their interaction forces, including dispersion force, polarity force, and hydrogen bonding. Such an empirical rule is proven to be applicable for some typical alcohols, acetone, and acetic acid regardless of their molecular structures, as verified by angle resolution spectroscopy, in situ infrared spectroscopy, and molecular simulation. The theoretical method we demonstrate provides rational access to custom-designed responsive structural coloration.

Laparoscopic repair of transected right hepatic artery during cholecystectomy: A report of two cases.

In laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), the treatment of iatrogenic biliary tract injury has been given much attention. However, most accidental right hepatic artery (RHA) injuries are treated with simple clipping. The reason is that the RHA has difficulty in revascularization, and it is generally considered that RHA injury does not cause serious consequences. However, some studies suggest that some cases of RHA ligation can cause a series of pathological changes correlated to arterial ischemia, such as liver abscess, bile tumor, liver atrophy and anastomotic stenosis. Theoretically, RHA blood flow should be restored when possible, in order to avoid the complications of right hepatic ischemia. The present study involved two patients, including one male and one female patient. Both patients were admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of chronic cholecystitis and gallbladder stone, and developed ischemia of the right half hepatic after accidental transection of the RHA. Both patients underwent continuous end-end anastomosis of the RHA with 6-0 Prolene suture. After the blood vessel anastomosis, the right half liver quickly recovered to its original bright red. No adverse complications were observed in follow-ups at three and six months after the operation. Laparoscopic repair of the RHA is technically feasible. Reconstruction of the RHA can prevent complications associated with right hepatic ischemia.

Temporal dynamics of immune response following prolonged myocardial ischemia/reperfusion with and without cyclosporine A.

Understanding the dynamics of the immune response following late myocardial reperfusion is critical for the development of immunomodulatory therapy for myocardial infarction (MI). Cyclosporine A (CSA) possesses multiple therapeutic applications for MI, but its effects on the inflammation caused by acute MI are not clear. This study aimed to determine the dynamics of the immune response following myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and the effects of CSA in a mouse model of prolonged myocardial ischemia designated to represent the human condition of late reperfusion. Adult C57BL/6 mice were subjected to 90 min of closed-chest myocardial I/R, which induced severe myocardial injury and excessive inflammation in the heart. Multicomponent analysis of the immune response caused by prolonged I/R revealed that the peak of cytokines/chemokines in the systemic circulation was synchronized with the maximal influx of neutrophils and T-cells in the heart 1 day after MI. The peak of cytokine/chemokine secretion in the infarcted heart coincided with the maximal macrophage and natural killer cell infiltration on day 3 after MI. The cellular composition of the mediastinal lymph nodes changed similarly to that of the infarcted hearts. CSA (10 mg/kg/day) given after prolonged I/R impaired heart function, enlarged the resulting scar, and reduced heart vascularization. It did not change the content of immune cells in hearts exposed to prolonged I/R, but the levels of MCP-1 and MIP-1α (hearts) and IL-12 (hearts and serum) were significantly reduced in the CSA-treated group in comparison to the untreated group, indicating alterations in immune cell function. Our findings provide new knowledge necessary for the development of immunomodulatory therapy targeting the immune response after prolonged myocardial ischemia/reperfusion.

Independently tunable double Fano resonances in asymmetric MIM waveguide structure.

In this paper, an asymmetric plasmonic structure composed of a MIM (metal-insulator-metal) waveguide and a rectangular cavity is reported, which can support double Fano resonances originating from two different mechanisms. One of Fano resonance originates from the interference between a horizontal and a vertical resonance in the rectangular cavity. And the other is induced by the asymmetry of the plasmonic structure. Just because the double Fano resonances originate from two different mechanisms, each Fano resonance can be well tuned independently by changing the parameters of the rectangular cavity. And during the tuning process, the FOMs (figure of merit) of both the Fano resonances can keep unchanged almost with large values, both larger than 650. Such, the transmission spectra of the plasmonic structure can be well modulated to form transmission window with the position and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) can be tuned freely, which is useful for the applications in sensors, nonlinear and slow-light devices.

TGF-ß1 induces a nucleus pulposus-like phenotype in Notch 1 knockdown rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.

We have investigated the effects of Notch1 knockdown and treatment with TGF-ß1 on the regulation of the directional differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs were isolated from the femur bone of New Zealand rabbits and purified by using discontinuous gradient density centrifugation. Notch1 siRNAs were designed, synthesised and transiently transfected into these MSCs, and treated with TGF-ß1. The MSCs were examined for morphology, stained with toluidine blue for proteoglycan analysis and gene and protein expression were measured with qRT-PCR and Western blotting respectively. They had an ellipse or fusiform shape and gathered in nests or swirls after being cultured for 7 days. Notch1 expression was knocked down with Notch1 siRNA (the silence rate was 47%; P < 0.001). After knockdown and TGF-ß1 treatment, MSCs expressed more proteoglycan (P < 0.01), and higher levels of collagen II mRNA and protein than control cells (P < 0.001). Thus knockdown of Notch1 expression in MSCs may be useful in the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration.

Visual quality analysis using the Chinese Catquest-9SF scale following different spherical aberration IOL implantation.

Purpose: Based on the Chinese version of the Catquest-9SF scale, the contrast sensitivity meter and wavefront aberrometer were used to evaluate the visual quality of cataract patients implanted with different spherical aberrations IOL. Design: Retrospective Observational Study. Methods: Patients who had the lens implantation in our department from January 2020 to December 2021 were enrolled. All patients underwent uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity and slit lamp microscope, high-order aberrations and contrast sensitivity test. The KR-1W wavefront analyzer (Topcon Medical System, Tokyo, Japan) was used to measure wavefront aberrations post-operation. The Chinese Catquest-9SF scale was used to score the postoperative visual satisfaction of the patients. Results: 145 patients were screened according to the exclusion criteria, including 51 patients in the zero aspherical IOL (SOFTEC HD) group, 42 patients in the negative aspherical IOL (ZCB00) group, and a total of 52 patients in the spherical IOL (HQ-201HEP) group. The score was the highest in the zero spherical aberration group, followed by the negative spherical aberration group with the lowest scores in the spherical IOL group. Higher-order aberrations are relatively low in eyes implanted with the zero spherical aberration group. Contrast sensitivity with spherical lenses under glare-free and glare conditions was lower than those with aspheric lenses, and at higher frequencies the zero-aberration aspheric lens performed the best. Conclusion: The Chinese Catquest-9SF scale provides an indication of visual quality after aspheric IOL implantation.

Ticagrelor With or Without Aspirin in Chinese Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A TWILIGHT China Substudy.

BACKGROUND: The risk/benefit tradeoff of dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention may vary in East Asian patients as compared with their non-East Asian counterparts. METHODS: The double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized TWILIGHT trial (Ticagrelor With Aspirin or Alone in High-Risk Patients After Coronary Intervention) enrolled patients undergoing high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention. After 3 months of treatment with ticagrelor plus aspirin, event-free and adherent patients remained on ticagrelor and were randomly assigned to receive aspirin or placebo for 1 year. The primary end point was Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2, 3, or 5 bleeding; the key secondary end point was the first occurrence of death from any cause, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. RESULTS: Of 9006 enrolled and 7119 randomized patients in TWILIGHT, 1169 patients (13.0%) were enrolled at 27 Chinese sites in this prespecified substudy, of whom 1028 (14.4%) patients were randomized after 3 months. The incidence of the primary end point was 6.2% in the ticagrelor+aspirin group versus 3.5% in the ticagrelor+placebo group between randomization and 1 year (hazard ratio, 0.56 [95% CI, 0.31-0.99]; P=0.048). The key secondary end point occurred in 3.4% of patients in the ticagrelor+aspirin group versus 2.4% in the ticagrelor+placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.33-1.46]; P=0.34). There was no interaction between the region of randomization (China versus the rest of the world) and randomized treatment assignment in terms of the primary or key secondary end points. CONCLUSIONS: Ticagrelor monotherapy significantly reduced clinically relevant bleeding without increasing ischemic events as compared with ticagrelor plus aspirin in Chinese patients undergoing high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov; Unique identifier: NCT02270242.

A Retrospective Analysis for Risk Factors and Early Prognosis of Delayed Withdrawal Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation After Lung Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is widely used for cardiopulmonary assistance during lung transplantation (LTx). However, the optimal timing for ECMO removal remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors and early prognosis of delayed withdrawal ECMO after LTx. METHODS: Two hundred sixty-seven patients who underwent LTx supported by ECMO were included in this study. Based on whether or not ECMO was completely stopped in the operating room, patients were divided into early ECMO withdrawal group (group E, 107 cases) and delayed withdrawal group (group D, 160 cases). Perioperative data of the donors and recipients, including the suspected risk factors for delayed removal of ECMO, postoperative complications, and hospital survival rate, were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Preoperative New York Heart Association cardiac function for recipients and mechanical ventilation time for donors were independent risk factors for delayed weaning of ECMO in veno-arterial ECMO patients. Compared with group E, the odds of postoperative pulmonary infection, primary graft dysfunction, renal dysfunction, blood transfusion volume, and mechanical ventilation time were significantly higher in group D (all P < 0.05). Delayed withdrawal ECMO was decisive factor for early postoperative death, as the risk of early postoperative death in group D was 1.99 (95% confidence interval, 1.13-3.54) times as that in the group E. CONCLUSIONS: During the period of LTx, New York Heart Association grade III/IV for recipients and mechanical ventilation time ≥5 days for donors are suggestive of delayed veno-arterial ECMO removal, and clinicians should minimize the postoperative bypass time of ECMO when conditions permit.

Pre-Anesthesia Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Two Lung Transplant Recipients with Severe Pulmonary Hypertension.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a widely used cardiopulmonary support method that is usually implemented after anesthesia during the period of lung transplantation (LTx). In severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients, however, anesthesia induction is a high-risk phase and can result in severe cardiorespiratory failure. Herein, we describe two severe PAH patients who received ECMO support before anesthesia and whose preoperative evaluations indicated that the risk was too high to safely survive the anesthesia induction period before LTx. The strategy was successful, and in both patients, hemodynamics was stable and no ECMO-related complications occurred.

Chrysophanol Suppresses Hypoxia-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Colorectal Cancer Cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human malignancy, accounting for 600,000 death cases annually worldwide. Chrysophanol is a naturally occurring anthraquinone compound and exhibits anti-neoplastic activities. This study aims to explore the biological effects of chrysophanol on CRC metastasis and the relevant underlying mechanism. Cell proliferation assay, wound scratch assay, and Transwell invasion assay were used to examine the effect of chrysophanol on proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) shRNA was utilized to transfect CRC cells to examine the role of HIF-1α in chrysophanol suppression of hypoxia-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The suppression effect of chrysophanol on hypoxia-induced EMT in vivo was also validated in xenograft tumor models. In the present study, our findings indicated that chrysophanol has the capability to suppress hypoxia-induced EMT in CRC in vitro and in vivo, and the possible mechanism involved is the inhibition of HIF-1α via modulating PI3k/Akt signaling pathway. Collectively, the results indicated that chrysophanol can be used as an EMT and cancer metastasis inhibitor in the treatment of CRC. Anat Rec, 302:1561-1570, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.

GII Representation-Based Cross-View Gait Recognition by Discriminative Projection With List-Wise Constraints.

Remote person identification by gait is one of the most important topics in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. However, gait recognition suffers severely from the appearance variance caused by the view change. It is very common that gait recognition has a high performance when the view is fixed but the performance will have a sharp decrease when the view variance becomes significant. Existing approaches have tried all kinds of strategies like tensor analysis or view transform models to slow down the trend of performance decrease but still have potential for further improvement. In this paper, a discriminative projection with list-wise constraints (DPLC) is proposed to deal with view variance in cross-view gait recognition, which has been further refined by introducing a rectification term to automatically capture the principal discriminative information. The DPLC with rectification (DPLCR) embeds list-wise relative similarity measurement among intraclass and inner-class individuals, which can learn a more discriminative and robust projection. Based on the original DPLCR, we have introduced the kernel trick to exploit nonlinear cross-view correlations and extended DPLCR to deal with the problem of multiview gait recognition. Moreover, a simple yet efficient gait representation, namely gait individuality image (GII), based on gait energy image is proposed, which could better capture the discriminative information for cross view gait recognition. Experiments have been conducted in the CASIA-B database and the experimental results demonstrate the outstanding performance of both the DPLCR framework and the new GII representation. It is shown that the DPLCR-based cross-view gait recognition has outperformed the-state-of-the-art approaches in almost all cases under large view variance. The combination of the GII representation and the DPLCR has further enhanced the performance to be a new benchmark for cross-view gait recognition.

Development and validation of a sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of dapoxetine and its two metabolites in human plasma.

A sensitive and rapid ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to determine dapoxetine and its two major metabolites (dapoxetine-N-oxide and desmethyldapoxetine) in human plasma simultaneously. After a simple protein precipitation, the analytes and the combined internal standard (carbamazepine) were separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water with gradient elution. Mass spectrometric analysis was performed using a XEVO TQD triple quadruple mass spectrometer coupled with an electro-spray ionization (ESI) source in the positive ion mode. The MRM transitions are of m/z 306.3→261.2, m/z 322.2→261.2, m/z 292.2→261.2 and m/z 237.1→194.2 for dapoxetine, dapoxetine-N-oxide, desmethyldapoxetine and IS, respectively. The linearity of this method was found to be within the concentration range of 1.0-200ng/mL for dapoxetine; 0.5-100ng/mL for dapoxetine-N-oxide; and 0.1-5.0ng/mL for desmethyldapoxetine in human plasma, respectively. Only 4.0min was needed for an analytical run. Intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision were within the acceptable limits of ±15% at all of the concentrations. This assay was successfully used to support a clinical pharmacokinetic study following oral administration of dapoxetine tablets in healthy Chinese subjects.

A case of tumor-like inflammatory demyelinating disease with progressive brain and spinal cord involvement.

CONTEXT: Tumor-like inflammatory demyelinating disease (TIDD) usually occurs in the brain and rarely occurs in the spinal cord. TIDD appears to be very similar to tumors such as gliomas on imaging, which may lead to incorrect or delayed diagnosis and treatment. CASE REPORT: Because of headache and incoherent speech, a 24-year-old Chinese male presented to our hospital with a two-week history of respiratory infections. After dexamethasone treatment, his symptoms still got worse and surgery was performed for diagnostic purposes. Histological examination revealed that the lesion was inflammatory. Further lesions appeared in the spine (T3 and T4 levels) after two months and in the right occipital lobe after three months. After intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and methylprednisolone treatment, his symptoms improved. CONCLUSION: Progressive lesions may damage the brain and spinal cord, and long-term prednisolone and IVIG therapy are beneficial in TIDD patients.

MiR-29a suppresses prostate cell proliferation and induces apoptosis via KDM5B protein regulation.

Small regulatory RNAs, known as microRNAs, regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level; such as protein translation inhibition or mRNA degradation. Altered miRNA expressions have been implicated in various cancers. In present studies, it was demonstrated that microRNA-29a (miR-29a) expressions were significantly lower in prostate cancer (PCa) patient samples, but the role of microRNA-29s in PCa remains unclear. KDM5B was highly expressed in PCa cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis revealed a conserved target site for miR-29a in the 3-untranslated region (UTR) of KDM5B. Gain-of-function studies using mature miR-29a were performed to investigate cell proliferation and apoptosis in two PCa cell lines (LNCaP and PC-3). We utilized gene expression analysis and in silico database analysis to identify miR-29a-mediated molecular pathways and targets. We showed that miR-29a significantly suppressed the activity of a lucifarice reporter containing KDM5B-3'UTR, which was not observed in cells transfected with mutated KDM5B-3'UTR. Gene expression data demonstrated that KDM5B expression was lower in noncancerous prostatic cell WPMY-1 than in the four PCa cell lines (LNCaP, 22RV1, PC-3 and DU145). Moreover, the enforced expression of miR-29a in PC-3 and LNCaP cells inhibited proliferation, and induced apoptosis by repressing the expression of KDM5B. This study revealed that the aberrant expression of miR-29a in PCa cells regulated KDM5B expression levels associated with tumor dissemination. These findings may be utilized in developing novel therapeutic tools for PCa.

[Study of ceramide monohexoside in ovarian cell line COC1/DDP resistant to cisplantin].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of ceramide monohexoside (CMH) on resistance to cisplatin and apoptosis in ovarian cell line COC1/DDP, and to provide new ideals and clues to seek new effective methods for studying the mechanism and reversing the resistance in ovarian cell line as well. METHODS: COC1 cells and COC1/DDP cells (before and after the treatment of mifepristone) were collected and neutral glycosphingolipids (N-GSLs) of the cells was isolated and purified, changes of CMH content were analyzed by high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC). The COC1/DDP cells were divided into three groups, one treated by cisplatin, one treated by mifepristone, the other treated by cisplatin and mifepristone. The survival rate of cells in three groups were evaluated by the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, DNA ladders were presented by DNA gel electrophoresis, the forms of cells were observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM). RESULTS: The levels of CMH were (37.1 +/- 3.3)% in COC1/DDP, higher than that in COC1 (14.1 +/- 1.4)% (P < 0.001). After treating by 1.25, 5 micro mol/L mifepristone, the CMH were (26.6 +/- 2.6)% (P < 0.05) and (17.5 +/- 0.7)% (P < 0.001), respectively. Mifepristone had no effect on the viability of COC1/DDP cell below a concentration of 5 micro mol/L. But when mifepristone of 1.25 or 5 micro mol/L combined with cisplatin at a concentration of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.25, 2.5 micro g/ml, the inhibition rate of COC1/DDP cell is higher than that of COC1/DDP cells only treated by cisplatin at the concentration of 0.1 to 2.5 micro g/ml (P < 0.001). The combined treatment elicited DNA fragmentation, however, neither cisplatin of 1.25 micro g/ml nor mifepristone of 5 micro mol/L alone could potentiate DNA fragmentation. After the combined treatment, the COC1/DDP cells produced apoptosis body. CONCLUSIONS: CMH is related with resistance to cisplantin in ovarian cell line COC1/DDP. When CMH of COC1/DDP cells was inhibited by mifepristone, the cells were sensitive to cisplatin and apoptosis was elicited.

Large-area high-performance SERS substrates with deep controllable sub-10-nm gap structure fabricated by depositing Au film on the cicada wing.

Noble metal nanogap structure supports strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) which can be used to detect single molecules. However, the lack of reproducible fabrication techniques with nanometer-level control over the gap size has limited practical applications. In this letter, by depositing the Au film onto the cicada wing, we engineer the ordered array of nanopillar structures on the wing to form large-area high-performance SERS substrates. Through the control of the thickness of the Au film deposited onto the cicada wing, the gap sizes between neighboring nanopillars are fine defined. SERS substrates with sub-10-nm gap sizes are obtained, which have the highest average Raman enhancement factor (EF) larger than 2 × 108, about 40 times as large as that of commercial Klarite® substrates. The cicada wings used as templates are natural and environment-friendly. The depositing method is low cost and high throughput so that our large-area high-performance SERS substrates have great advantage for chemical/biological sensing applications.

Fabrication of nanowire network AAO and its application in SERS.

In this paper, nanowire network anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) was fabricated by just adding a simple film-eroding process after the production of porous AAO. After depositing 50 nm of Au onto the surface, nanowire network AAO can be used as ultrasensitive and high reproducibility surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. The average Raman enhancement factor of the nanowire network AAO SERS substrate can reach 5.93 × 106, which is about 14% larger than that of commercial Klarite® substrates. Simultaneously, the relative standard deviations in the SERS intensities are limited to approximately 7%. All of the results indicate that our large-area low-cost high-performance nanowire structure AAO SERS substrates have a great advantage in chemical/biological sensing applications.

The optimal time window of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on the reperfusion injury in moderate to severe hepatocirrhosis in rats.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of different-time ischemic preconditioning (IPC) schemes on the ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in moderate to severe hepatocirrhosis in rats and to identify the optimal time window of IPC. METHODS: A total of 90 male SD rats with moderate to severe hepatocirrhosis were randomly divided into 5 groups (IR group, 5-10 min-IPC group, 8-10 min-IPC group, 10-10 min-IPC group and 15-10 min-IPC group), in which the liver was preconditioned by IPC of various durations, and then subjected to I/R injury in the last four groups. Thirty-six normal (non-cirrhotic) SD rats were divided into 2 groups (IR group and 10-10 min-IPC group). Ischemia-reperfusion injury was induced by clamping of the portal triad for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 30 min. Hepatocellular viability was assessed by measuring the concentration of ALT and AST in serum. The concentration of NO in serum and those of MDA, MPO, and SOD in the liver tissue were also assessed at 1h, 4h, and 24h after the operation respectively. RESULTS: After 30-30min of I/R, the levels of ALT and AST were significantly elevated in the IR group and the groups under IPC, but the elevations were significantly lower in the 5-10 min-IPC group and the 8-10 min-IPC group, especially at 4h after I/R (P<0.05). The levels of MDA and MPO in liver tissue were lower in the 5-10 min-IPC and 8-10min-IPC groups than in the rest of the IPC groups and IR group in the cirrhotic rats, and the level of SOD was higher (P <0.05). The level of serum NO was significantly higher in the 5-10 min-IPC and 8-10min-IPC groups than in the rest of the cirrhotic groups (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The 5-10 min through 8-10 min-IPC achieves the highest protective effect on the I/R injury of moderate to severe hepatocirrhosis. With the aggravation of liver cirrhosis, the pre-implementation time has been shortened. Thus, IPC of 5-10min may be effective for severe liver cirrhosis.

Identification, structure and function of a novel tetraspaninhomologue from Spirometra erinaceieuropaei.

OBJECTIVE: To identify a full length c DNA sequence of a novel tetraspanin (TSP) homologue from Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and to predict the structure and function of its encoding protein using bioinformatics methods. METHODS: Using the NCBI, EMBI, Expasy and other online sites, the open reading frame (ORF), conserved domain, physical and chemical parameters, signal peptide, transmembrane domain, epitope, topological structures of the protein sequences were predicted. And Vector NTI software was used for multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree construction. RESULTS: The target sequence was 1132 bp length with a 681 bpbiggest ORF encoding 226 amino acids protein with typical TSP conserved domain. It was confirmed as full length c DNA of TSP16 from Spirometra erinaceieuropaei and named as SeTSP16 (GenBank accession number: JF728872). The predicted molecular weight and isoelectric point of the deduced protein were 24 750.5 Da and 7.88 Da, respectively. Compared with TSP16s from Schistosoma japonicum and Schistosoma mansoni, it showed similarity of 59% and 59%, respectively. SeTSP16 contained four transmembrane domains (TM1-4), intracellular N and C-termini, one short small extracellular loop and one large extracellular loop. Four major epitopes that were significant different from the corresponding epitope regions of TSP16 from Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum were predicted. CONCLUSIONS: The full length c DNA sequences of SeTSP16 are identified. It encodes a transmembrane protein which might be an ideal diagnosis antigen and target molecule for antiparasitic drugs.