Novel foetal echocardiographic image processing software (5D Heart) improves the display of key diagnostic elements in foetal echocardiography.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the clinical value of foetal intelligent navigation echocardiography (5D Heart) for the display of key diagnostic elements in basic sections. METHODS: 3D volume datasets of 182 normal singleton foetuses were acquired with a four chamber view by using a volume probe. After processing the datasets by using 5D Heart, eight cardiac diagnostic planes were demonstrated, and the image qualities of the key diagnostic elements were graded by 3 doctors with different experiences in performing foetal echocardiography. RESULTS: A total of 231 volume datasets acquired from the 182 normal foetuses were used for 5D Heart analysis and display. The success rate of 8 standard diagnostic views was 88.2%, and the success rate of each diagnostic view was 55.8-99.2% and 70.7-99.0% for the random four chamber view as the initial section and for the apical four chamber view as the initial section, respectively. The success rate of each diagnostic element in the 8 diagnostic sections obtained by 5D Heart was 58.9%~ 100%. Excellent agreement was found between experienced sonographers and less-experienced sonographers (kappa> 0.769). Inter- and intra-observer agreement were substantial to near-perfect, kappa values ranging from 0.612 to 1.000 (Cohen's kappa). CONCLUSIONS: 5D Heart can significantly improve the image quality of key diagnostic elements in foetal echocardiography with low operator dependency and good reproducibility.

Occurrence of tetracycline-resistant fecal coliforms and their resistance genes in an urban river impacted by municipal wastewater treatment plant discharges.

Antibiotic resistance of fecal coliforms in an urban river poses great threats to both human health and the environment. To investigate the occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistant bacteria in an urban river, water samples were collected from the Chanhe River in Xi'an, China. After membrane filtration of water samples, the tetracycline resistance rate of fecal coliforms and their resistance genes were detected by plating and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. We found that fecal coliforms were generally resistant to tetracycline and saw average resistance rates of 44.7%. The genes tetA and tetB were widely detected, and their positive rate was 60%-100% and 40%-90%, respectively. We found few strains containing tetC, tetK, tetQ and tetX, and we did not identify any strains containing tetG, tetM or tetO. The prevalence of tetA and tetB over other genes indicated that the main mechanism for resistance to tetracycline is by changes to the efflux pump. Our analysis of the types and proportion of tetracycline resistance genes in the Chanhe River at locations upstream and downstream of the urban center suggests that the increased number of tetracycline-resistant fecal coliforms and spatial variation of tetracycline resistance genes diversity were related to municipal wastewater treatment plant discharge.

Mitochondrial­associated endoplasmic reticulum membrane interference in ovarian cancer (Review).

The mitochondria­associated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane (MAM), serving as a vital link between the mitochondria and ER, holds a pivotal role in maintaining the physiological function of these two organelles. Its specific functions encompass the participation in the biosynthesis and functional regulation of the mitochondria, calcium ion transport, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress and autophagy among numerous other facets. Scientific exploration has revealed that MAMs hold potential as effective therapeutic targets influencing the mitochondria and ER within the context of cancer therapy. The present review focused on elucidating the related pathways of mitochondrial autophagy and ER stress and their practical application in ovarian cancer, aiming to identify commonalities existing between MAMs and these pathways, thereby extending to related applications of MAMs in ovarian cancer treatment. This endeavor aimed at exploring new potential for MAMs in clinically managing ovarian cancer.

[The effect of PKC phosphorylation sites mutation in JWA coding region on TPA-induced MCF-7 cell differentiation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of PKC phosphorylation sites mutation in JWA coding region on TPA-induced MCF-7 cell differentiation. METHODS: Site directed gene mutation was used to construct one or two PKC sites mutations in pEGFP-N1-JWA vectors, and transfected into MCF-7 cells by polyfect reagent, and cell differentiation was characterized by accumulation of lipid droplet as indicated by positive Oil-red-O staining of cells. RESULTS: All these transfected cell lines, MCF-7-N1(transfected with pEGFP-N1 vector), MCF-7-JWA(transfected with pEGFP-N1-JWA vector), MCF-7-JWA-1(transfected with PKC site 1 mutation pEGFP-N1-JWA vector), MCF-7-JWA-2(transfected with PKC site 2 mutation pEGFP-N1-JWA vector), MCF-7-JWA-1+2 (transfected with both PKC site 1 and 2 mutation pEGFP-N1-JWA vector) were treated with 20 nmol/L TPA for 48 h, and the percentages of positive Oil-red-O staining of cells were 48%, 67%, 69%, 67% and 70% respectively. The percentages of cell differentiation in JWA containing vectors transfected cells treated with TPA were significantly higher those of MCF-7-N1 cells (vector only control). However there were no significant differences between mutated and unmutated cells. CONCLUSION: JWA transfection enhanced MCF-7 cell differentiation induced by TPA significantly, and PKC sites mutation in JWA coding region has no obviously effect on TPA-induced MCF-7 cell differentiation.

[Disinfection Action of Ultraviolet Radiation and Chlorination on Escherichia coli and Poliovirus].

We chose Escherichia coli (E. coli) and poliovirus as a typical pathogenic bacterium and virus, respectively. The effects of two typical disinfectants (chlorine and ultraviolet) on each of them were investigated based on microbial culture and quantitative PCR methods. The results showed that Poliovirus was appreciably more resistant to chlorine (required disinfection dose for 1-log microbial reduction:10.14 mg·L-1·min for E. coli; 19.2 mg·L-1·min for poliovirus) and ultraviolet (UV) light (required UV dose for 1-log microbial reduction:1.81 mJ·cm-2 for E. coli; 6.37 mJ·cm-2 for poliovirus) than E. coli for the microbial culture. For PCR, this study revealed that 1-log gene reduction required UV doses and ct values of at least one to two orders of magnitude higher than that for the microbial culture. The damage of RNA in Poliovirus was more seriously than that of DNA in E. coli. Single-stranded RNA was more sensitive to UV irradiation than DNA. The result evaluated with the quantitative PCR method showed opposite result to that of the traditional culture method in which the Poliovirus was more tolerant. The required UV doses for 1-log nucleic acid reduction were 135 mJ·cm-2 and 270.3 mJ·cm-2 for E. coli and poliovirus, respectively. Nucleic acid damage required a higher dose of disinfectants than microbial inactivation, which was probably attributed to the phenomenon of viable but non-culturable (VBNC) cells, other molecular targets of inactivation and the persistence of nucleic acid after cell death.