Clinical efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with radical surgery for elderly patients with locally advanced gastric cancer / 中华普通外科杂志

Objective:To evaluate the safety and feasibility of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) combined with radical surgery for elderly patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC).Methods:One hundred and fourty eight patients with LAGC after NACT and gastrectomy between 2012 and 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. They were divided into two groups: (1) <65 years old (111 cases) and (2) ≥65 years old (37 cases) and their clinicopathological and prognostic data were compared.Results:There was no significant difference between the two groups in the incidence of hematological complications such as anemia ( χ2=0.235, P=0.628), leukopenia ( χ2=0.613, P=0.434), neutropenia ( χ2=0.011, P=0.918) and thrombocytopenia ( χ2=0.253, P=0.615) and non-hematological complications such as nausea ( χ2=0.092, P=0.762), vomiting ( χ2=0.166, P=0.683), diarrhea ( χ2=0.015, P=0.902) and mucositis ( χ2=0.199, P=0.766) due to NACT. There were no statistical differences between the older patients and the younger in operation duration ( t=0.270, P=0.604), intraoperative bleeding ( t=1.140, P=0.250) and R 0 resection rate ( χ2=0.105, P=0.750). The incidence of postoperative complications was 25.2% and 37.8% in the younger patients and the olders ( χ2=2.172, P=0.141). Pleural effusion ( χ2=7.007, P=0.008) and pulmonary infection ( χ2=10.204, P=0.001) was significantly higher in the older patients than in the youngers. The 3-year progression-free survival rate ( t=0.494, P=0.482) and 3-year overall survival rate ( t=0.013, P=0.908) were comparable between the two groups. Conclusions:NACT combined with radical surgery is safe and effective in elderly patients with LAGC, except for higher perioperative pulmonary-related complications.

Simultaneous determination of 7 components in Dipsacus asper by HPLC / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To establis h the method for the simultaneous determination of six iridoids （loganic acid ，loganin， sweroside，dipsanoside B ，dipsanoside A ，sylvestroside Ⅰ）and one triterpene saponin （asperosaponin Ⅵ）in Dipsacus asper . METHODS High performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） method was adopted. The determination was performed on Symmetry® C18 column with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile- 0.1％ phosphoric acid solution （gradient elution ）at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelengths were set at 212 nm（asperosaponin Ⅵ）and 237 nm（dipsanoside B ，dipsanoside A ， sweroside，loganic acid ，sylvestroside Ⅰ，loganin）. The column temperature was set at 30 ℃，and sample size was 20 μL. RESULTS The linear range of loganic acid ， loganin， sweroside， sylvestroside Ⅰ ， dipsanoside B ， dipsanoside A and asperosaponin Ⅵ were 399.24-931.56，50.30-150.90，48.24-168.84，27.00-70.20，12.93-38.80，40.64-121.92，42.08-147.28 µg/mL （all r＞0.999 0）. RSDs of precision ，reproducibility and stability tests （24 h）were all less than 2％. Average recoveries were 104.43％（RSD＝0.63％，n＝6），101.74％（RSD＝1.11％，n＝6），100.76％（RSD＝1.06％，n＝6），98.00％（RSD＝1.58％，n＝6）， 99.03％（RSD＝2.31％，n＝6），102.93％（RSD＝2.26％，n＝6），102.31％（RSD＝1.00％，n＝6），respectively，The contents were 142.5-280.6，5.5-49.0，28.0-112.9，7.2-35.8，4.4-16.9，17.2-79.3，0.8-54.5 mg/g，respectively. CONCLUSIONS Established method is accurate and reliable ，and can be used for the content determination of 7 components in D. asper .

Management and risk factors of anemia in patients with gastric cancer / 中华普通外科杂志

Objective:To review the incidence and treatment status of perioperative anemia in patients with gastric cancer.Methods:The clinicopathological data of gastric cancer patients who underwent surgery at Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from Jan to Dec 2019 were collected. Univariate analysis and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to explore the risk factors of preoperative anemia in gastric cancer.Results:A total of 879 patients were included in this study. The incidence of preoperative anemia in patients with gastric cancer was 35.6%. The incidence of postoperative anemia was 63.5%. The proportion of patients with preoperative anemia receiving treatment was 17.3%, and the proportion of patients with postoperative anemia receiving treatment was 17.4%. Univariate analysis showed that age, nutritional risk screening 2002, T stage, M stage, tumor stage and lymph node metastasis were associated with preoperative anemia (all P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age >60 years , nutritional risk screening 2002 ≥3, T 3-4 stage and M 1 stage were independent risk factors for preoperative anemia in patients with gastric cancer (all P<0.05). Conclusions:The incidence of perioperative anemia in patients with gastric cancer is high. At present, the proportion of patients with perioperative anemia receiving treatment is low. High nutritional risk, advanced age, late tumor T stage and distant metastasis are independent risk factors for preoperative anemia in patients with gastric cancer.

Factors associated with pathological complete response and construction of scoring system in patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy / 中华普通外科杂志

Objective:To identify the clinical factors associated with pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in locally advanced middle and low rectal cancer and establish a scoring system.Methods:In this retrospective analysis the clinical data of patients with locally advanced middle and low rectal cancer treated with nCRT combined with surgery at Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from Jan 2016 to Jan 2020 were studied. Patients were divided into pCR group and non-pCR group. Single factor analysis and Logistic multivariate regression analysis were performed to explore pCR related factors after nCRT, and a pCR prediction scoring system was established.Results:The pCR was achieved in 33 patients (20.8%). Univariate analysis showed that the maximum thickness of the tumor≤25mm before nCRT ( P=0.046), concurrent oxaliplatin-combined intensive chemotherapy ( P=0.013), the NLR≤1.65 before nCRT ( P=0.004) and the serum CEA≤5 ng/ml before nCRT ( P=0.016) were significantly associated with pCR. In multivariate analysis, concurrent oxaliplatin-combined intensive chemotherapy, the NLR before nCRT and serum CEA before nCRT were independent related factors of pCR. The probability of pCR for patients with score of 0, 1, 2, and 3 was 42% (10/24), 30% (19/63), 5% (3/57) and 7% (1/15), respectively. The probability of pCR in patients with score≤1 point was 33% (29/87), and 6% (4/72) for score?1 point ( P?0.001). The area under the curve of the scoring system is 0.729 (95% CI: 0.638-0.820, P?0.001). Conclusions:Concurrent oxaliplatin-combined intensive chemotherapy, NLR≤1.65 before nCRT and serum CEA≤5 ng/ml before nCRT are independent predictors of pCR in locally advanced middle and low rectal cancer and the scoring system constructed in combination with above indicators can effectively predict pCR.

Analysis of therapeutic strategy after non-curative endoscopic submucosal dissection for early gastric cancer / 中华消化内镜杂志

Objective:To evaluate the clinical outcomes of additional surgery after non-curative endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early gastric cancer.Methods:Sixty-nine patients with early gastric cancer who underwent ESD and were diagnosed as having non-curative resection by postoperative pathology at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2014 to December 2020 were included in the retrospective observation. Patients were divided into the additional surgery group ( n=12) and the follow-up group ( n=57). The differences in clinical and pathological data of the two groups, the surgical outcomes of the additional surgery group, three-year recurrence-free survival and tumor-specific survival of the two groups, and the independent risk factors affecting three-year recurrence-free survival in the follow-up group were analyzed. Results:Compared with the follow-up group, the rates of submucosal infiltration [66.7% (8/12) VS 21.1% (12/57), χ 2=7.927, P=0.005], vascular invasion [33.3% (4/12) VS 1.8% (1/57), P=0.003] and nerve invasion [16.7% (2/12) VS 0.0% (0/57), P=0.028] in the additional surgery group were significantly higher. In the additional surgery group, the interval between the additional surgery and ESD was 18.5 d (7-55 d), the surgical time was 286.4±85.9 min, and the number of dissected lymph nodes was 25.6±7.4. Four patients (33.3%) had residual tumor. Postoperative complications occurred in 4 patients (33.3%) (all were discharged after conservative treatment), and there was no perioperative death. One patient developed liver metastases 17 months after the surgery, and died 22 months after surgery due to liver metastases. One patient died 22 months after surgery due to non-tumor causes. The three-year recurrence-free survival and three-year tumor-specific survival in additional surgery group were 91.7% (11/12) and 91.7% (11/12), respectively, and those in the follow-up group were 87.7% (50/57) and 100.0% (57/57), respectively. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tumor size ≥2 cm was an independent risk factor for three-year recurrence-free survival in the follow-up group ( P=0.037, HR=15.595, 95% CI: 1.181-205.952). Conclusion:Additional surgery and close follow-up are safe and feasible therapeutic strategies for early gastric cancer patients who underwent non-curative ESD. Clinicians should make reasonable choice based on the pathological results, patients' physical condition and surgery intention. But for patients with primary tumor size ≥2 cm, additional surgery is recommended.

Current status of research on the prognostic markers for acute-on-chronic liver failure / 临床肝胆病杂志

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a syndrome characterized by multiple organ failure and high short-term mortality rate, and it has always been a research hotspot in the field of severe liver diseases. Therefore, early and accurate risk stratification and timely intervention are of great significance to improve prognosis. This article summarizes the serum biomarkers identified in recent years for evaluating the prognosis of patients with ACLF, and it is pointed out that new serum biomarkers have an important guiding significance in the prognostic evaluation of ACLF patients.

Effect of operative trauma and multiple propofol anesthesia on neurodevelopment and cognitive function in developmental rats / 浙江大学学报·医学版

To investigate the effect of multiple propofol anesthesia and operative trauma on neuroinflammation and cognitive function in development rats and its mechanism. A total of 104 13-day-old neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 26 rats in each group: control group was treated with saline q.d for propofol group was treated with propofol q.d for surgery group received abdominal surgery under local anesthesia and then treated with saline q.d for surgery with propofol group received propofol anesthesia plus abdominal surgery under local anesthesia with ropivacaine at d1, then treated with propofol q.d for At d2 of experiment, 13 rats from each group were sacrificed and brain tissue samples were taken, the concentration of TNF-α in hippocampus was detected with ELISA, the expression of caspase-3 and c-fos in hippocampal tissue was determined with immunohistochemical method, the number of apoptotic neurons in hippocampus was examined with TUNEL assay. Morris water maze test was used to examine the cognitive function of the rest rats at the age of 60 d, and the TNF-α concentration, caspase-3, c-fos expressions and the number of apoptotic neurons in hippocampus were also detected. Compared with control group, TNF-α concentration, caspase-3, c-fos expression and the neuroapoptosis in hippocampus increased significantly in other three groups (all 0.05). Morris water maze test showed that there were no significant differences in swimming speed, escape latency, target quadrant residence time and crossing times among groups (all >0.05). TNF-α level, expressions of caspase-3 and c-fos and apoptotic cell numbers in hippocampus had no significant differences among the 4 adult rats groups (all >0.05). Abdominal surgery and multiple propofol treatment can induce neuroinflammation and neuroapoptosis in hippocampus of neonatal rats, however, which may not cause adverse effects on neurodevelopment and cognitive function when they grown up.

Kmer-indexer: A Fast K-mer Indexing Program.

In our previous work, a k-mer based program named MFEprimer-2.0 was designed and developed for primer specificity evaluation task. In order to increase the index processing speed, decrease the index data size and memory usage, we developed a new program named kmer-indexer. Compared to MFEprimer-2.0, the processing speed of kmer-indexer is 10+ times faster, the index data size can be significantly reduced to one third, and the memory usage is controlled within a small range so that this program can run on an ordinary PC.

Effects and mechanism of estrogen receptor beta agonist on hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhotic rats with portal hypertension / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of estrogen receptor beta agonist diarylpropionitrile (DPN) on mesenteric artery (MA) responsiveness and on Rho-kinase signaling pathway in cirrhotic portal hypertension rats, and to elucidate the mechanism of ER beta agonist in visceral hyperdynamic circulation in cirrhotic portal hypertension rats.Methods:Female rats were treated with bilateral ovariectomy, and CCl 4 was injected to establish cirrhotic portal hypertension model. After intervention, hemodynamic parameters and vascular reactivity of MA in each group were measured, and the levelof ER beta, Rho-kinase signaling pathway-related proteins and receptor desensitization-related proteins in MA in each group were detected. Results:DPN could significantly improve the hemodynamic parameters of ovariectomized cirrhosis rats and the response of MA to norepinephrine. DPN could increase the level of inhibited ROCK protein and decrease the expression of beta-arrestin-2 and the phosphorylation of ERK1/2.Conclusions:DPN could improve the responsiveness of MA to vasoconstrictor substances, and significantly improve the hyperdynamic circulation in ovariectomized cirrhosis rats. This effect may be related to DPN improving the desensitization of MA to vasoconstrictor receptors and the Rho-kinase pathway activation.

Effects of Aerobic Exercise and Polysaccharide Compounds Interventions on Gut Microbiota of the High Fat Diet Induced Obese Rats / 中国运动医学杂志

Objective To analyze and verify the effects of different intervention on the gut microbiota of high fat diet(HFD) induced obese rats.Methods Totally 70 male Sprague-Dawley rats were enrolled in this test.After 4 weeks of HFD feeding,40 HFD induced obese rats were randomly divided into an obese control group (n=10),an aerobic exercise group(n=10),a polysaccharide lavage group(n=10),and an aerobic exercise combined with polysaccharide lavage group (n=10).The moderate intensity treadmill training,polysaccharide lavage and their combinations were conducted as their group names indicated.The gut microbiota was analyzed using the 16S rDNA sequencing before and after the intervention.Results Compared with the control group,the ratio of ruminococcacea and ruminococcaceae bromii increased significantly,while that of turicibacteraceae,bifidobacterium and turicibacter reduced significantly in HFD induced obese rats.Compared with the obese control group,aerobic exercise increased the ratio of bifidobacteriaceae,akkemansia,bifidobacterium,akkermansia mucinphila and prevetella copri significantly,but reduced that of helicobacteraceae and ruminococcaceae significantly.Compared with the obese control group,the polysaccharide lavage increased the ratio of bifidobacteriaceae and turicibacteraceae,bifidobacterium,together with allobaculum and turicibacter significantly,but reduces that of desulforibrionaceae,helicobacteraceae and ruminococcaceae,as well as ruminococcaceae bromii significantly.Compared with the obese control group,significant increase was observed in the ratio of bifidobacteriaceae,allobaculum and blautia in the aerobic exercise combined with polysaccharide lavage group.Conclusions The ratio of obesity related bacteria such as ruminococcus bromii increases significantly in the HFD induced obese rats.All of the three different interventions can optimize the gut microbiota composition of the HFD induce obese rats effectively by increasing the ratio of beneficial bacteria.However,they have significant differences on the ratio of different bateria.

Behavioral tests of mood-cognitive impairment of mice exposed to high-frequency electromagnetic radiation / 中国比较医学杂志

Objective To explore the effects of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation exposure on the mood-cognitive behaviors of mice, and to provide an experimental basis for the study on radiation damage mechanism and protection. Methods The electromagnetic reverberation chamber can produce continuous and uniform high-frequency electromagnetic waves. Different groups of ICR mice were exposed to high-frequency electromagnetic radiation in this chamber for 1 d, 3 d and 7 d, and then series of behavioral tests were conducted to observe the changes in locomotor activities,depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors, and cognitive function of the mice. Results After exposed to the high-frequency electromagnetic radiation(3 GHz,SAR 4 W/kg)4 h/d for 7 d,there was no obvious change in locomotor activity(times of grid crossing and standing up in the open field test)of the mice,while the times of entering the central region(P< 0.05)and the time duration(P< 0.05)were significantly decreased. Compared with the unexposed group, the percentage of the times of entering the open arm in the elevated-plus maze(P< 0.05)and the time duration in the open arm(P< 0.01)of the mice in the radiation group were significantly decreased. Meanwhile, the immobility time in the forced-swimming test(P< 0.01)and the tail suspension test(P < 0.05)of the mice exposed to electromagnetic radiation was significantly increased, and the discrimination index of new objects in the new object recognition test was significantly reduced(P < 0.001). Conclusions Continual exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic radiation(3 GHz,SAR 4 W/kg)can lead to anxious-depression behaviors and cognitive impairment of mice in a time-dependent manner,which provides an experimental basis for the relevant study of prevention and therapy techniques.

Construction of HER2-specific CAR-T cells and in vitro analysis of their activity to suppress tumor cell growth / 生物工程学报

CAR-T cell therapy that targets surface antigens to kill tumor cells specifically has recently become another cornerstone in tumor immunotherapy. In this study, a lentiviral expression plasmid of CAR targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) was constructed by genetic engineering. The recombinant plasmid was co-transfected with other packaging plasmids into HEK293T cells by calcium phosphate precipitation to generate lenti-car, which are CAR lentiviral particles. HER2-specific CAR-T cells were obtained by transducing human peripheral blood mononuclear cells with lenti-car. Their specific inhibitory effects on HER2-positive and HER2-negative tumor cells were analyzed in vitro. The constructed CAR-T cells were specifically activated by HER2-expressing tumor cells as indicated by secretion of IFN-γ and IL-2. The inhibitory rate on HER2-positive SK-OV-3 cell line was (58.47±1.72)%, significantly higher than that on the mock-treated control group (P<0.05). The inhibitory rate on HER2-negative K562 cell lines was (11.74±2.37)%, which was not significantly different from that on the control group (P>0.05). Furthermore, when we transfected a HER2-expressing vector into K562, the inhibitory rate increased to (30.41±7.59)%, which was higher than that on HER2-negative K562 (P<0.05). Thus, the constructed second-generation HER2-specific CAR-T cells specifically suppressed growth of tumor cells overexpressing HER2 protein, suggesting that HER2-specific CAR-T cells might prove useful for immunotherapy of HER2-positive cancer.

Comparative study of simple curative effect of endoscopic sinus surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for esophageal cancer / 中国生化药物杂志

Objective To retrospectively analyze the clinical efficacy of simple endoscopic surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. Methods Kaplan-meier method and Cox regression model were used to analyze 101 cases of stage Ⅱa-Ⅲ esophageal cancer patients in 2011. Among them, 41 cases were treated with simple operation and 60 cases were treated with radiotherapy. The survival time and survival rate of the two groups were compared and analyzed Factors that affect their survival time. Results The median survival time was 31 months in the surgery group and 36 months in the radiotherapy group. The survival rate was 80%, 31%, 16% for 1, 3, and 5 years in the surgery alone group, 78%, 42% and 27% in the postoperative radiotherapy group, the overall survival rate was not statistically significant. The survival rate of patients with stage Ⅱb-Ⅲ was statistically significant (χ2= 4.02, P<0.05). Factors affecting the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and postoperative radiotherapy, tumor size, staging, smoking history. Conclusion There is no significant difference in the overall survival rate of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma between simple surgery and postoperative radiotherapy, but postoperative radiotherapy can improve the survival rate of patients with stage Ⅱb-Ⅲ.

The Effects of Different Treadmill Exercises on Serum-and Liver-Hepcidin and its Modulators in Rats / 中国运动医学杂志

Objective To compare the different effects of endurance and exhaustive exercises on hepcidin in the blood and liver,and determine the changes of related indexes about iron metabolism and hypoxia response,and of inflammatory and antimicrobial activity factors.Methods Thiry female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group (n=10),an endurance exercise group (n=10) and an exhaustive exercise group (n=10).Then 4 weeks of endurance and exhaustive treadmill training were given to different exercise groups respectively.Blood samples were collected,the routine indexes of the whole blood,and the serum indexes about iron metabolism,hypoxia response,inflammatory and antimicrobial activity factors were measured.Meanwhile,liver samples were fixed,embedded and sliced,and the expression of hepcidin,hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and nuclear factor of kappa b (NF-κB) of different groups were measured using the immunochemistry staining.Results Compared with the control group,after 4-week endurance exercises,there was significant increase in the concentration of erythropoietin (EPO),but significant differences in the level of serum hepcidin and interleukin 6 (IL-6).However,after 4 weeks of exhaustive exercise,significant increase was observed in the level of hepcidin and the expression of HIF-1α in the serum and liver,as well as the serum interleukin 1 (IL-1),IL-6,tumor necrosis factor-α and C reactive protein,but significant decrease was found in the concentration of serum EPO and the level of serum TF and sTFR compared to the control group.Moreover,there was significant increase in the level of toll-like receptor 4 and NF-κB,which is correlated with the antimicrobial peptide activity of hepcidin compared between the exhaustive and control group.Conclusions Four-week endurance exercise down-regulates the level of serum hepcidin,while 4-week exhaustive exercise increases the hepcidin level in the serum and liver significantly.Therefore,different exercises can result in totally different effect on the hepcidin level.

Human microecology, especially gut microflora provides unprecedented opportunities and challenges for new drug research and development / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

Since entering the 21st century,the trend of high incidence of chronic diseases in the in?ternational community has not been effectively controlled and the pharmaceutical and medical fields are put forward new challenges. Both the development and evaluation of chemical drugs,biological drugs or traditional Chinese medicine are facing with how to significantly improve the efficacy and reduce the side effect of the drugs. With the coming of the accurate medical treatment as well as the big data era,new opportunities and challenges are needed either in the development of new drugs or new use of old drugs. However,as known that the human body consists of the symbiotic microbial groups of human microecological system especially the gut microecology system is more and more important in human health and disease,and even part diseases such as obesity and diabetes have a certain degree of causality with the gut microflora,so we need to reanalyze the core ideas about drug development or even the current medical theory system. Therefore,it is possible to step out of the old way of current drug development in the new period,to make new contributions on the real effective implementation of prevention and control of chronic diseases. According to international human body microecological especially the research progress of gut microecological field,systematic analysis of the problems existing in the current research and development of new drugs,will not only focus on the human body itself,but also the human microecology as well as the balance between human and micro?ecological,which will promote rapid development of research and development of new drugs and prevention and control of chronic disease in order to improve the physical and mental health services in our country.

Quantitative analysis of intestinal bacteria in Caenorhabditis elegans using qPCR / 军事医学

Objective To establish a method for detecting intestinal bacteria in Caenorhabditis elegans.Methods The gut flora number of 1, 20 or, 50 C.elegans was quantified and compared using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Results The gut flora of a single C.elegans could be detected using qPCR method , which could also reflect the difference in the number of gut bacteria between different samples .Conclusion The qPCR method can be uased to accurately quantify intestinal bacteria even in only one C.elegans and has the advantages of low-cost, high-sensitivity and good-specificity.

Verification of conserved domain peptides derived from human antimicrobial peptide hGlyrichin / 军事医学

Objective To verify the antibacterial activity of the conserved domain derived from the novel human antimicrobial peptide-hGlyrichin .Methods Bioinformative analysis was performed and two peptides derived from hGlyrichin were synthesized which contained the conserved domain .Results Analysis of antimicrobial activities showed that these two peptides exhibited strong antibacterial activity which was inversely proportional to the length of the peptide within an eligible range.Despite the effective inhibition and killing of bacteria , the synthetic peptide segments had no hemolytic effect on human red blood cells .Conclusion These results indicate that a conserved domain exists in hGlyrichin , and that the peptides which contain this domain have strong antibacterial activity but are not toxic to human somatic cells .

Hydrogen-rich water prepared by hydrogen rods:an experimental study / 军事医学

Objective To verify the efficiency and stability of hydrogen-rich water preparation with hydrogen-rich rods. Methods ①Seven firenew hydrogen-rich rods were separately placed in seven plastic bottles, each filled with distilled water and soaked for 6 h, before the hydrogen concentration of the water was measured.This process was repeated 10 times.②After the hydrogen-rich rods with the strongest and weakest hydrogen product capacity were removed, the remaining 5 hydrogen-rich rods were placed separately into 5 plastic bottles filled with distilled water,put in a water bath pot at 20,40 and 60℃, respectively, and kept for 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 h, respectively.Then, the hydrogen concentration, oxidation-reduction potential(ORP),and dissolved oxygen concentration(DO) were measured at various time points.③In order to determine the hydrogen emission rate from the hydrogen-rich water, the hydrogen-rich rods were constantly kept in some samples and the others were removed.All the sample bottle caps were kept open during the experimental process, and the hydrogen concentration was measured at such time points as 0, 10 and 30 min, 1, 2, 5, 12, 24, 30, 48 and 72 h, respectively.Results ①The hydrogen-rich rods used in this study could well meet the requirements.②When the environment temperature was kept constant, the hydrogen concentration of the water was increased with the soaking time of the hydrogen-rich rods, and the ORP of the water was reduced.However, the DO of the water was decreased with the rise of the environment temperature.③When the hydrogen-rich water was kept in opened plastic bottles with a 25 mm oral diameter, the hydrogen concentration of the samples with the hydrogen-rich rods reserved was almost about 0.50 ppm until 72 h, and that of the others was reduced to almost 0 ppm.Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the hydrogen-rich rods test is a simple and effective method for preparing hydrogen-rich water, which will be an valuable and useful method for using hydrogen-rich water in health promotion and prevention of chronic diseases.

High yields and soluble expression of superoxide dismutases in Escherichia coli due to the HIV-1 Tat peptide via increases in mRNA transcription

This study aimed to validate the high yield and soluble expression of proteins carrying the transactivator of transcription (Tat) peptide tag, and further explored the potential mechanism by which the Tat tag increases expression. Escherichia coli superoxide dismutase (SOD) proteins, including SodA, SodB and SodC, were selected for analysis. As expected, the yields and the solubility of Tat-tagged proteins were higher than those of Tat-free proteins, and similar results were observed for the total SOD enzyme activity. Bacterial cells that overexpressed Tat-tagged proteins exhibited increased anti-paraquat activity compared with those expressing Tat-free proteins that manifested as SodA>SodC>SodB. When compared with an MG1655 wild-type strain, the growth of a ΔSodA mutant strain was found to be inhibited after paraquat treatment; the growth of ΔSodB and ΔSodC mutant strains was also slightly inhibited. The mRNA transcript level of genes encoding Tat-tagged proteins was higher than that of genes encoding Tat-free proteins. Furthermore, the α-helix and turn of Tat-tagged proteins were higher than those of Tat-free proteins, but the β-sheet and random coil content was lower. These results indicated that the incorporation of the Tat core peptide as a significant basic membrane transduction peptide in fusion proteins could increase mRNA transcripts and promote the high yield and soluble expression of heterologous proteins in E. coli.

Application of flexible ambrosia for body weight control among youths / 军事医学

Objective To evaluate whether flexible ambrosia,by which people can take special prebiotics instead of dining to alleviate their sense of hunger is a healthy, safe and effective weight loss method by analyzing the effects of flexible ambrosia on body weight, body composition, physiological and chemical indexes of young volunteers.Methods Young volunteers were tested on flexible ambrosia for seven days using special prebiotics instead of normal food.Body weight, waist circumference, body composition and blood biochemical indexes ( blood pressure, blood glucose, liver function, renal function, blood electrolyte, and blood lipid ) were measured and recorded before and after the test respectively.The volunteers′subjective feelings ( hunger, energy, fatigue, etc) were recorded during the test every day by way of e-form records.Results All volunteers of the flexible ambrosia test reduced their body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, visceral fat index (VAI) and body fat rate (Fat,%)significantly (P<0.01)in seven days, while the body water rate, muscle mass, body protein and bone did not significantly change or rise.There was no significant functional abnormity of the liver kidney, or blood electrolytes and blood lipid.All volunteers were in good physical condition, high-spirited and slept well, high quality sleep, without any obvious hunger and fatigue response in seven days.Conclusion Flexible ambrosia seems to be a healthy, safe and effective method, and provides an important scientific basis and reference for weight loss in the military.