[The effect of procyanidin on periprosthetic osteolysis caused by TCP wear particles in the mouse calvaria and its mechanism].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects of procyanidin on periprosthetic osteolysis caused by tricalcium phosphate (TCP) wear particles in the mouse calvaria and its mechanism. METHODS: Forty-eight male ICR mice were randomly divided into sham group, TCP group, and procyanidin (0.2 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg)-treated group (n=12). A periprosthetic osteolysis model in the mouse calvaria was established by implanting 30 mg of TCP wear particles onto the surface of bilateral parietal bones following removal of the periosteum. On the 2nd day post-operation, procyanidin (1 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg) was locally injected to the calvaria under the periosteum every other day. After 2 weeks, all the mice were sacrificed to collect the blood samples and the calvaria. Periprosthetic osteolysis and osteoclastogenesis in the mouse calvaria were observed by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and HE staining. mRNA levels of TRAP, capthesin K, c-Fos and NFATc1 in the periprosthestic bone tissue were examined by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Serum contents of total anti-oxidation capacity (T-AOC) and MDA, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were determined by chemical colorimetry. Protein expressions of autophagic biomarkers such as Beclin-1 and LC-3 in periprosthetic bone tissue of the calvaria were examined by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with sham group, periprosthetic osteolysis, osteoclastogenesis, mRNA levels of TRAP, capthesin K, c-Fos and NFATc1, and serum MDA content were increased significantly in the TCP group (P＜0.05), whereas serum T-AOC level and SOD activity were decreased. The protein expressions of Beclin-1 and LC-3, and the conversion of LC3-II from LC3-I were both up-regulated markedly in the mouse calvaria of TCP group (P＜0.05). Compared with TCP group, osteolysis, osteoclastogenesis, mRNA levels of TRAP, capthesin K, c-Fos and NFATc1 and serum MDA content were decreased obviously in the procyanidine group (P＜0.05), serum T-AOC level and SOD activity were increased, the expressions of Beclin-1 and LC-3, and the conversion of LC3-II from LC3-I were down-regulated obviously in the mouse calvaria of procyanidin group (P＜0.05). CONCLUSION: Procyanidin has a protective effect of periprosthetic osteolysis caused by TCP wear particles in the mouse calvaia, its mechanism may be mediated by inhibition of oxidative stress and autophagy.

Schaftoside Interacts With NlCDK1 Protein: A Mechanism of Rice Resistance to Brown Planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens.

Brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens Stål is a serious insect pest of rice in Asian countries. Active compounds have close relationship with rice resistance against BPH. In this study, HPLC, MS/MS, and NMR techniques were used to identify active compounds in total flavonoids of rice. As a result, a BPH resistance-associated compound, Peak 1 in HPLC chromatogram of rice flavonoids, was isolated and identified as schaftoside. Feeding experiment with artificial diet indicated that schaftoside played its role in a dose dependent manner, under the concentration of 0.10 and 0.15 mg mL-1, schaftoside showed a significant inhibitory effect on BPH survival (p < 0.05), in comparison with the control. The fluorescent spectra showed that schaftoside has a strong ability to bind with NlCDK1, a CDK1 kinase of BPH. The apparent association constant KA for NlCDK1 binding with schaftoside is 6.436 × 103 L/mol. Docking model suggested that binding of schaftoside might affect the activation of NlCDK1 as a protein kinase, mainly through interacting with amino acid residues Glu12, Thr14 and Val17 in the ATP binding element GXGXXGXV (Gly11 to Val18). Western blot using anti-phospho-CDK1 (pThr14) antibody confirmed that schaftoside treatment suppressed the phosphorylation on Thr-14 site of NlCDK1, thus inhibited its activation as a kinase. Therefore, this study revealed the schaftoside-NlCDK1 interaction mode, and unraveled a novel mechanism of rice resistance against BPH.

Aberrant brain functional connectome in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is accompanied by widespread abnormal spontaneous regional activity related to cognitive deficits. However, little is known about the topological properties of the functional brain connectome of patients with OSA. This study aimed to use the graph theory approaches to investigate the topological properties and functional connectivity (FC) of the functional connectome in patients with OSA, based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). METHODS: Forty-five male patients with newly diagnosed untreated severe OSA and 45 male good sleepers (GSs) underwent a polysomnography (PSG), clinical evaluations, and rs-fMRI scans. The automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas was used to construct the functional brain connectome. The topological organization and FC of brain functional networks in patients with OSA were characterized using graph theory methods and investigated the relationship between functional network topology and clinical variables. RESULTS: Both the patients with OSA and the GSs exhibited high-efficiency "small-world" network attributes. However, the patients with OSA exhibited decreased σ, γ, Eglob; increased Lp, λ; and abnormal nodal centralities in several default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) regions. However, the patients with OSA exhibited abnormal functional connections between the DMN, SN, and CEN. The disrupted FC was significantly positive correlations with the global network metrics γ and σ. The global network metrics were significantly correlated with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score, and oxygen desaturation index. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the functional connectome of patients with OSA exhibited disrupted functional integration and segregation, and functional disconnections of the DMN, SN, and CEN. The aberrant topological attributes may be associated with disrupted FC and cognitive functions. These topological abnormalities and disconnections might be potential biomarkers of cognitive impairments in patients with OSA.

Altered regional homogeneity in patients with late monocular blindness: a resting-state functional MRI study.

Many previous studies have demonstrated that the blindness patients have has functional and anatomical abnormalities in the visual and other vision-related cortex. However, changes in the brain function in late monocular blindness (MB) at rest are largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the underlying regional homogeneity (ReHo) of brain-activity abnormalities in patients with late MB and their relationship with clinical features. A total of 32 patients with MB (25 male and seven female) and 32 healthy controls (HCs) (25 male and seven female) closely matched in age, sex, and education underwent resting-state functional MRI scans. The ReHo method was used to assess local features of spontaneous brain activities. Patients with MB were distinguishable from HCs using the receiver operating characteristic curve. The relationship between the mean ReHo in brain regions and the behavioral performance was calculated using correlation analysis. Compared with HCs, patients with MB showed significantly decreased ReHo values in the right rectal gyrus, right cuneus, right anterior cingulate, and right lateral occipital cortex and increased ReHo values in the right inferior temporal gyrus, right frontal middle orbital, left posterior cingulate/precuneus, and left middle frontal gyrus. However, there was no significant relationship between the different mean ReHo values in the brain regions and the clinical features. Late MB involves abnormalities of the visual cortex and other vision-related brain regions, which may reflect brain dysfunction in these regions.

Resting cerebral blood flow alteration in severe obstructive sleep apnoea: an arterial spin labelling perfusion fMRI study.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to investigate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in awake people with untreated severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSAs) compared with good sleepers (GSs). DESIGN: Arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging was used to quantify cerebral perfusion based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). SETTING: Lying supine in a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging scanner in the night was done. PARTICIPANTS: Included in this study were 30 subjects with OSA (males; mean age 38.4 years, range 25-55) and 30 controls (males; mean age: 38.3 years, range 26-52) matched for age and years of education. RESULTS: Compared with GSs, participants with severe OSA had reduced rCBF in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, right medial frontal gyrus, and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and increased rCBF in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus. The lower mean CBF in the right parahippocampal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with arousal index (r = 0.365, P = 0.047). The increased mean CBF in the left superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.422, P = 0.020), and the increased mean CBF in the right superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.447, P = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the altered rCBF pattern in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, left medial frontal gyrus, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus in patients have with severe OSA. The arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging method is a useful non-invasive imaging tool for detection of early changes in the regional cerebral blood flow in patients with OSA.

Primary pulmonary plasmacytoma: a case report introduction.

BACKGROUND: Extramedullary plasmacytoma is a rare plasma cell neoplasm within soft tissue and without bone marrow involvement or other systemic characteristics of multiple myeloma. Primary pulmonary plasmacytoma is a rare type of extramedullary plasmacytoma. CASE PRESENTATION: A 48-year-old male with a tumor in the right middle ear was referred to our hospital. A routine chest X-ray was arranged and showed enlargement of the left lung hilum. His bilateral breathing sounded clear. A chest CT scan revealed a well-circumscribed mass. Pathological biopsy yielded a diagnosis of isolated pulmonary plasmacytoma. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first presentation of primary pulmonary plasmacytoma with a solitary pulmonary nodule and no lymph node involvement.

[Characteristics of soil nematode community of different agricultural areas in Jiangsu Province, China].

This paper investigated the genus diversity of soil nematodes of different agricultural areas in Jiangsu Province, analyzed the relationship between soil nematodes and soil environmental factors, and discussed the roles of soil nematodes as biological indicators of soil health. The results showed that, a total of 41 nematode genera were found in all six agricultural areas, belonging to 19 families, 7 orders, 2 classes. The numbers and community compositions of nematodes were obviously influenced by soil texture, fertilization and tillage practices. In all six agricultural areas, the numbers of nematodes in coastal agricultural area (400 individuals per 100 g dry soil) were significantly larger than that in Xuhuai, Ningzhenyang, and riverside agricultural areas. While the smallest number of nematodes was found in Yanjiang agricultural area (232 individuals per 100 g dry soil), which might be due to the differences in soil texture, annual rainfall and annual air temperature and other factors. The dominant genera of nematodes were similar in the adjacent agricultural areas. Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the number of soil nematodes and levels of soil nutrients (soil organic matter, total nitrogen, available nitrogen, available potassium and available phosphorus). Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated the total nitrogen, available potassium and pH obviously affected some soil nematode genera. The analysis of spatial distribution characteristics of soil nematode community in farmland of Jiangsu Province could provide data for health assessment of agricultural ecosystems.

[Effects of different organic manure sources and their combinations with chemical fertilization on soil nematode community structure in a paddy field of East China].

A comparative study was conducted to investigate the effects of different fertilization modes on the soil nematode community structure in a paddy field with paddy rice and wheat rotation in Jintan County (31 degrees 39'41.8" N, 119 degrees 28'23.5" E) of Jiangsu Province, East China. Six treatments were installed, i. e., no fertilization (CK), 100% chemical NPK fertilization (F), pig manure compost plus 50% chemical fertilization (PF), straw returning plus 100% chemical fertilization (SF), pig manure compost and straw returning plus 50% chemical fertilization (PSF), and application of commercial pig manure-inorganic complex fertilizer (PMF). The soil samples were collected from the field after the paddy rice harvested in autumn. The two continuous years study showed that the soil nematode community structure varied with fertilization treatments and years. The combined application of chemical fertilizers and organic manures increased the total number of soil nematodes, decreased the abundance of soil bacterivorous nematodes, and made the abundance of predator- and omnivore nematodes increased significantly. No significant differences were observed in the abundance of soil fungivorous nematodes among all the treatments. Chemical fertilization alone and the application of commercial pig manure-inorganic complex fertilizer had no obvious suppression effect on the soil phytophagous nematodes. The abundance of soil bacteriavorous nematodes under the combined application of chemical fertilizers and organic manures was relatively increased in the second year, as compared with that in the first year, while the abundance of soil phytophagous nematodes (Hirschmanniella) was relatively decreased in the second year. From the aspect of nematode ecological indices, the Margalef diversity index (H) under the combined application of chemical fertilizers and organic manures in the second year had an increasing trend, while the NCR index had less change. The Wasilewka index had a relative increase in the second year, while the plant-parasitic index had a relative decrease. It was suggested that the application of organic manure could increase the abundance of soil microbivorous nematodes, and made the soil environment tend to be healthy.

[Characteristics of soil nematode communities in coastal wetlands with different vegetation types].

An investigation was conducted on the characteristics of soil nematode communities in different vegetation belts (Spartina alterniflora belt, Sa; Suaeda glauca belt, Sg; bare land, B1; Phragmites australis belt, Pa; and wheat land, Wl) of Yancheng Wetland Reserve, Jiangsu Province of East China. A total of 39 genera and 20 families of soil nematodes were identified, and the individuals of dominant genera and common genera occupied more than 90% of the total. The total number of the nematodes differed remarkably with vegetation belts, ranged from 79 to 449 individuals per 100 grams of dry soil. Wheat land had the highest number of soil nematodes, while bare land had the lowest one. The nematode ecological indices responded differently to the vegetation belts. The Shannon index (H) and evenness index (J) decreased in the order of Pa > Sg > Wl > Sa > Bl, and the dominance index (lambda) was in the order of Bl > Sa > Wl > Sg > Pa, suggesting that the diversity and stability of the nematode community in bare land were lower than those in the other vegetation belts, and the nematode community in the bare land tended to be simplified. The maturity index (MI) was higher in uncultivated vegetation belts than in wheat land, suggesting that the wheat land was disturbed obviously. The nematode community structure differed significantly with vegetation belts, and the main contributing species in different vegetation belts also differed. There existed significant correlations between the soil physical and chemical characteristics and the nematode numbers, trophic groups, and ecological indices. Our results demonstrated that the changes of soil nematode community structure could be used as an indicator well reflecting the diversity of vegetation belt habitat, and an important bio-indicator of coastal wetland ecosystem.