Immediate acupuncture with GB34 for biliary colic: protocol for a randomised controlled neuroimaging trial.

INTRODUCTION: As the main manifestation of gallstone disease, biliary colic (BC) is an episodic attack that brings patients severe pain in the right upper abdominal quadrant. Although acupuncture has been documented with significance to lead to pain relief, the immediate analgesia of acupuncture for BC still needs to be verified, and the underlying mechanism has yet to be covered. Therefore, this trial aims first to verify the immediate pain-alleviation characteristic of acupuncture for BC, then to explore its influence on the peripheral sensitised acupoint and central brain activity. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a randomised controlled, paralleled clinical trial, with patients and outcome assessors blinded. Seventy-two patients with gallbladder stone disease presenting with BC will be randomised into a verum acupuncture group and the sham acupuncture group. Both groups will receive one session of immediate acupuncture treatment. Improvements in patients' BC will be evaluated by the Numeric Rating Scale, and the pain threshold of acupoints will also be detected before and after treatment. During treatment, brain neural activity will be monitored with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and the needle sensation will be rated. Clinical and fNIRS data will be analysed, respectively, to validate the acupuncture effect, and correlation analysis will be conducted to investigate the relationship between pain relief and peripheral-cerebral functional changes. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This trial has been approved by the institutional review boards and ethics committees of the First Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with the ethical approval identifier 2019 KL-029, and the institutional review boards and ethics committees of the First People's Hospital of Longquanyi District, with the ethical approval identifier AF-KY-2020071. The results of this trial will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference abstracts or posters. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CTR2000034432.

Cross-Sectional Study of the Effects of Job Burnout on Immune Function in 105 Female Oncology Nurses at a Tertiary Oncology Hospital.

BACKGROUND Nurses who work in hospitals experience a high level of burnout and the relationship between immune variables and burnout syndrome has yet to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of job burnout on immune function in female oncology nurses in a tertiary oncology hospital in Guangxi, China. The aspects of the human immune system evaluated were humoral and cellular immunity and complement components 3 (C3) and 4 (C4). MATERIAL AND METHODS We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), which includes scales for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (DP), and personal accomplishment (PA), to measure variables related to immune function in 105 female nurses in a tertiary oncology hospital in Guangxi, China. Levels of humoral immunity and C3 and C4 were detected with immune turbidimetry. Cellular immunity was assessed with indirect immunofluorescence. RESULTS A Spearman rank correlation analysis revealed that levels of C3, C4, and CD4- and CD8-positive T cells were significantly associated with burnout symptoms (P<0.05, P<0.01, and P<0.05, respectively). Furthermore, there was a correlation between demographic data and humoral and cellular immunity (both P<0.05). Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that C4 levels were closely related to DP (P<0.05) and that CD4 and CD8 levels were closely related to PA (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that DP and PA have an impact on immune function, and that timely psychological and behavioral interventions can be used to reduce the degree of job burnout among nurses and regulate their immunity, thus enabling them to better serve patients.

The Combination of Charge and Energy Transfer Processes in MOFs for Efficient Photocatalytic Oxidative Coupling of Amines.

Combining electron and energy transfer processes is very significant for efficient photocatalytic oxidation of organic molecules. The first synthesized MOF, Co2(L)(2,6-NDC)2·xguest (FJI-Y10, L = bis(N-pyridyl) tetrachloroperylene peryleneimide, 2,6-NDC = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, FJI = Fujian Institute), shows a 2-fold interpenetrated pcu net, in which the 2,6-NDC ligand connects typical Co2(COO)4 paddle wheel clusters to form square lattices pillared by new PDI-type ligand L. FJI-Y10 as a heterogeneous and recyclable photocatalyst is applied for photo-oxidation of benzylamine and its derivatives with an excellent yield of 100%, which is much higher than that (59%) of the equivalent L ligand as a homogeneous photocatalyst under the same reaction conditions. Such a high-efficiency photocatalytic activity attributes to the combination of charge and energy transfer processes in catalyst FJI-Y10 during the catalytic process.

Association between LKB1 expression and prognosis of patients with solid tumours: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is considered a tumour suppressor that can control cell growth and metabolism. Whether LKB1 expression levels are related to clinicopathology and prognosis is controversial. This review aimed to quantitatively examine the latest evidence on this question. DESIGN: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis on the association between LKB1 expression and prognosis of patients with solid tumours were performed. DATA SOURCES: Eligible studies were identified through literature searches from database establishment until 15 June 2018 in the following databases: Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wan Fang databases. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The association between LKB1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) of patients with solid tumours were reported. Sufficient data were available to calculate the OR or HR and 95% CI. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Relevant data were meta-analysed for OS, DFS, RFS and various clinical parameters. RESULTS: The systematic review included 25 studies containing 6012 patients with solid tumours. Compared with patients with high LKB1 expression, patients with low expression showed significantly shorter OS in univariate analysis (HR=1.63, 95% CI 1.35 to 1.97, p<0.01) and multivariate analysis (HR=1.61, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.06, p<0.01). In contrast, the two groups showed similar DFS in univariate analysis (HR=1.49, 95% CI 0.73 to 3.01, p=0.27) as well as similar RFS in univariate analysis (HR=1.44, 95% CI 0.65 to 3.17, p=0.37) and multivariate analysis (HR=1.02, 95% CI 0.42 to 2.47, p=0.97). Patients with low LKB1 expression showed significantly worse tumour differentiation (OR=1.71, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.55, p<0.01), larger tumours (OR=1.68, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.27, p<0.01), earlier lymph node metastasis (OR=1.43, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.62, p<0.01) and more advanced tumour, node, metastases (TNM) stage (OR=1.80, 95% CI 1.56 to 2.07, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Low LKB1 expression predicts shorter OS, worse tumour differentiation, larger tumours, earlier lymph node metastasis and more advanced TNM stage. Low LKB1 expression may be a useful biomarker of poor clinicopathology and prognosis.

Optimizing H2, D2, and C2H2 Sorption Properties by Tuning the Pore Apertures in Metal-Organic Frameworks.

By adjustment of the arm lengths of two triphenylamine-based ligands, two nearly isostructural metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), namely, the reported nanoporous FIR-29 (FIR = Fujian Institute of Research) and the new microporous FJI-Y9 (FJI = Fujian Institute), are obtained, and all exhibit honeycomb lattices of hexagonal channels with Ca-COO chains connected by tris[(4-carboxyl)phenylduryl]amine (H3TCPA) ligands and 4,4',4''-nitrilotribenzoic acid (H3NTB) ligands, respectively. Although the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (1117 m2 g-1) and pore size (8.5 Å) of FJI-Y9 are much lower than those (BET surface area of 2061 m2 g-1 and pore size of 16 Å) of the reported FIR-29 because of the shorter arm lengths of H3NTB, the activated FJI-Y9-ht shows high H2 (202.3 cm3 g-1) and D2 (221.9 cm3 g-1) uptake under 77 K and 1 bar and C2H2 uptake of 168.9 cm3 g-1 under 273 K and 1 bar, which are all at least 48% enhancement over those of FIR-29-ht. The above results indicate that small pores in MOFs are beneficial to the uptake of some special gases including H2, D2, C2H2, etc.

Effect of nitrogen limitation on cell growth, lipid accumulation and gene expression in Chlorella sorokiniana

The influence of nitrogen (N) limitation on the cell growth, chlorophyll content, intracellular lipid production and expression levels of two pathway genes in Chlorella sorokiniana was investigated in mixotrophic culture in this study. The maximum biomass concentration of C. sorokiniana cultured in modified BG11 medium containing 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 mM N were 1.60, 2.21, 2.74, 3.18 and 3.21 g/L of dry cell weight, respectively with maximum specific growth rate of 0.180, 0.198, 0.201, 0.203, 0.206 day−1 during culture with an initial N feed of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 mM in the first eight days, respectively. The maximum lipid content was 51 % with 3 mM N. However, the maximum lipid productivity of 0.00884 g L−1 day−1 was achieved with 6 mM N. Expression levels of accD (heteromeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase beta subunit) and accI (homomeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase) genes in C. sorokiniana were studied by real-time PCR. Increased expression levels of accD reflected the increased lipid content in stationary phase. In contrast, expression of the acc1 gene always remained low, showing that the gene might not be critical for lipid accumulation.

Bisorption of chromium(VI) from aqueous solutions by Sargassum thunbergii Kuntze.

The potential to remove Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions through biosorption using dried Sargassum thunbergii Kuntze was investigated with respect to initial pH, amount of biosorbent, initial Cr(VI) concentrations and temperature. Cr(VI) removal efficiency was influenced significantly by the variation of pH, and the optimum pH was about 2.0. Moreover, the biosorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption equilibrium was well described by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity was 1.855 mmol/g at 318 K and pH 2.0. The adsorption processes were endothermic and the biosorption heat was 15.8 kJ/mol. Furthermore, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy suggested that amido-, hydroxyl-, C = O and C-O groups were involved in the biosorption of Cr(VI) onto S. thunbergii.

Salting-out homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction approach applied in sample pre-processing for the quantitative determination of entecavir in human plasma by LC-MS.

A convenient, robust, economical and selective sample preparation method for the quantitative determination of entecavir in human plasma by LC-MS was developed and validated. Entecavir and the internal standard of acyclovir were extracted from 500 µL of human plasma by a salting-out homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction approach (SHLLE) with acetonitrile as the organic extractant and magnesium sulfate as the salting-out reagent. They were analyzed on a Hanbon® Lichrospher RP C18 HPLC column (150 mm×2.0 mm; 5 µm) with gradient elution. The mobile phase comprised 0.1% acetic acid-0.2 mmol ammonium acetate in water (mobile phase A) and acetonitrile (mobile phase B). The flow rate is 0.2 mL/min. The analytes were detected by a LC-MS 2010 single quadrupole mass spectrometer instrument equipped with an electrospray ionization interface using selective ion monitoring positive mode. A "post cut" column switch technique was incorporated into the method to remove interferences of earlier and later eluting matrix components than entecavir and internal standard, including salting-out reagent used in sample pre-processing. The method was validated over the concentration range of 0.05-20 ng/mL. The intra-day and inter-day precision of the assay, as measured by the coefficient of variation (%CV), was within 3.59%, and the intra-day assay accuracy was found to be within 4.88%. The average recovery of entecavir was about 50% and the ion suppression was approximately 44% over the standard curve. Comparison of matrix effect between SHLLE and SPE by continuous post column infusion showed that these two methods got similar, slight ion suppression. The SHLLE method has been successfully utilized for the analysis of entecavir in post-dose samples from a clinical study.

Suppression of Akt1 expression by small interference RNA inhibits SGC7901 cell growth in vitro and in vivo.

The Akt/PKB kinase family, including Akt1, 2 and 3, plays critical roles in regulating cell growth, proliferation, survival, metabolic and many other cellular activities. Recent evidence indicates that PKB/Akt is frequently constitutively active in many types of human cancer including gastric cancer. In the present study, we applied immunohistochemistry to tissue microarray to detect the expression of Akt1, followed by Akt1 small interference RNA (siRNA) to examine knock down of the Akt1 gene on the growth inhibition of human gastric cancer SGC7901 cells. Our results indicate that the expression of Akt1 was significantly increased in gastric cancer compared to normal gastric tissue and adjacent non-cancer tissue. The in vitro study shows that cell growth was significantly inhibited and G0/G1 arrest was observed in siRNA-Akt1-treated group. In vivo, the size of tumors was significantly smaller in SGC7901 subcutaneous mice model treated with siRNA-Akt1 than those treated with siRNA-nonsense and PBS. Our studies demonstrated siRNA-Akt1 can inhibit Akt1 expression, exerted growth inhibition effect on SGC7901 cells in vitro and in vivo. Suppression of Akt1 expression by siRNA could be a new strategy in gastric cancer treatment.

[The relationship of MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA expressions and their clinical significance in gastric adenocarcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate abnormal protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in human gastric adenocarcinoma, and further reveal the clinical significance. METHOD: The MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA proteins expression was determined by immunohistochemistry staining in 45 gastric adenocarcinoma tissues, 45 adjacent specimens and 10 normal gastric mucosa tissues via tissue arrays accordingly. The relationship of these protein expression with differentiation degree, development and progression of gastric adenocarcinoma were also analyzed. RESULTS: Positive rates of MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA in gastric adenocarcinoma, adjacent specimens and gastric normal mucosa were as follows: MMP-9, 82.2% (37/45), 64.4% (29/45), 30.0% (3/10) (P = 0.019); VEGF, 73.3% (33/45), 62.2% (28/45), 30.0% (3/10) (P = 0.029); PCNA, 84.4% (38/45), 71.1% (32/45), 10.0% (1/10), there were statistically significant difference (P = 0.001). The positive rates of MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma were as follows: MMP-9, 70.0% (7/10), 80.0% (8/10), 88.0% (22/25), there were statistically significant difference (P = 0.015); VEGF, 50.0% (5/10), 60.0% (6/10), 88.0% (22/25), there were statistically significant difference (P = 0.000); PCNA, 60.0% (6/10), 90.0% (9/10), 92.0% (23/25), the difference is significant statistically (P = 0.004). The expression of MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA showed positive relationship with each other by rank correlation analysis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Tissue arrays technology is effective tool to analyze the expression of cancer related proteins in gastric adenocarcinoma. The expression of MMP-9, VEGF and PCNA proteins participates in the tumorigenesis and development process of gastric adenocarcinoma, and these can be used as indexes to evaluate prognosis in clinical.