Effect of mixed solutions of heavy metal eluents on soil fertility and microorganisms.

This study analyzed the effect of heavy metal eluents (0.3 mol/L C6H8O7, 5 × 10-4 mol/L EDTA, and 0.01 mol/L Na2S2O3) on the content of organic matter, hydrolytic nitrogen, available phosphorus and potassium, and species composition of bacteria and fungi in vegetable soils. The obtained results documented that the treatment of the soil, consisting of shaking the sample with a mixture of eluents, significantly increased the content of organic matter, hydrolytic nitrogen, and available phosphorus and potassium. The mixed solutions of eluents increase the maximum available P in the soil by 279.3%, and hydrolytic N by 30.7%. The eluents affected, to a certain extent, the dominant species of microorganisms in the soil, but did not increase species richness and evenness in all soil samples.

Toxicity assessment of artificially added zinc, selenium, and strontium in water.

The present research was to study the toxicology of artificially added Zn, Se and Sr in water. Specifically, we investigated the mortality and liver toxicity in zebrafish (Danio rerio), caused by different water concentrations of zinc sulfate (ZnSO4), sodium selenite (Na2SeO3), and strontium chloride hexahydrate (6H2O·SrCl2). Adult and embryo-larval zebrafish were used in the experiment. Analysis was performed of mortality, liver area and impermeability, delayed absorption area of the yolk sac, and liver tissue structure. The concentration change of sodium selenite exerted the most significant effect on the mortality of adult zebrafish, followed by that of strontium chloride hexahydrate, and zinc sulfate. Elevated strontium chloride hexahydrate concentration was associated with liver toxicity in zebrafish in the preliminary experiment. However, embryo-larval zebrafish were observed to die when the concentration of Zn2+ or Se4+ increased to a certain extent, without obvious liver toxicity. Our results indicated strontium chloride hexahydrate was hepatotoxic to embryo-larval zebrafish, which was manifested mainly as hepatomegaly and delayed absorption of the yolk sac. In addition, the artificially added strontium chloride hexahydrate destroyed liver tissue structure, resulting in hepatocyte enlargement, cell nucleus enlargement, blurred cytoplasmic boundaries, and formation of a vacuolar liver. These findings suggest the amount of strontium chloride hexahydrate added in soft drinks should be limited to certain levels.

Perinatal supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids improves sevoflurane-induced neurodegeneration and memory impairment in neonatal rats.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate if perinatal Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) supplementation can improve sevoflurane-induced neurotoxicity and cognitive impairment in neonatal rats. METHODS: Female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 3 each group) were treated with or without an n-3 PUFAs (fish oil) enriched diet from the second day of pregnancy to 14 days after parturition. The offspring rats (P7) were treated with six hours sevoflurane administration (one group without sevoflurane/prenatal n-3 PUFAs supplement as control). The 5-bromodeoxyuridine (Brdu) was injected intraperitoneally during and after sevoflurane anesthesia to assess dentate gyrus (DG) progenitor proliferation. Brain tissues were harvested and subjected to Western blot and immunohistochemistry respectively. Morris water maze spatial reference memory, fear conditioning, and Morris water maze memory consolidation were tested at P35, P63 and P70 (n = 9), respectively. RESULTS: Six hours 3% sevoflurane administration increased the cleaved caspase-3 in the thalamus, parietal cortex but not hippocampus of neonatal rat brain. Sevoflurane anesthesia also decreased the neuronal precursor proliferation of DG in rat hippocampus. However, perinatal n-3 PUFAs supplement could decrease the cleaved caspase-3 in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats, and mitigate the decrease in neuronal proliferation in their hippocampus. In neurobehavioral studies, compared with control and n-3 PUFAs supplement groups, we did not find significant spatial cognitive deficit and early long-term memory impairment in sevoflurane anesthetized neonatal rats at their adulthood. However, sevoflurane could impair the immediate fear response and working memory and short-term memory. And n-3 PUFAs could improve neurocognitive function in later life after neonatal sevoflurane exposure. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that neonatal exposure to prolonged sevoflurane could impair the immediate fear response, working memory and short-term memory of rats at their adulthood, which may through inducing neuronal apoptosis and decreasing neurogenesis. However, these sevoflurane-induced unfavorable neuronal effects can be mitigated by perinatal n-3 PUFAs supplementation.

[Author and time of writing of Shanghanlun Jujie].

Li Wenjin (courtesy name of Xiangyi, the styled names as Zhian and Shujingtang Zhuren), lived in Xu Village, south of Tianyin Mountain, Jinling. He was born on the 47(th) year of the Kangxi Period (1708) and died approximately at the end of the Qianlong Period. Bold and generous, he liked making friends and practising medicine, divination, astrology, and also writing poetry and painting. Later he devoted himself to medicine and wrote Shanghanlun Jujie and Yijia 24 ze. Shanghanlun Jujie included Shanghanzabinglun Shujingtangqinjie (14 volumes) and Siwenji (7 volumes). The former one was written in 1768 and was his annotation of Shanghanlun. Siwenji included Shujingtang Gaidingzhushi Hanrewenpingyaoxingfu (4 volumes), Shujingtang Shenyizazhu (1 volume), Yiyao Zhenyan (1 volume) and Shujingtang Yiyaojian (1 volume) and was finished in 1765.