[Preliminary Study on the Structural Characteristics of Residue from Rice Straw Burning in Field].

Because of their special structural characteristics, straw burning residues (biochar) have important impacts on the soil carbon sequestration and the transport and transformation behavior of pollutants. In this paper, a series of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) , X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) have been used to study the basic physical and chemical properties and structural features of rice straw burning residues generating at different incineration intensity in field. The results show that: the basic physical and chemical properties of straw burning residues from field were closely associated with the burning intensity. The higher the burning intensity, the lower the TOC content. Meanwhile, the order degree of carbon atoms in the resulting residue increased. Wherein the fatty component of rice straw burning residues is gradually reduced with the burning intensity while the aromaticity of rice straw burning residues is gradually increased. In addition, the organic components in the straw burning residues from field have more significant contribution to the surface area.

Combination of FDG PET/CT and contrast-enhanced MSCT in detecting lymph node metastasis of esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Lymph node metastasis is believed to be a dependent negative prognostic factor of esophageal cancer. To explore detection methods with high sensitivity and accuracy for metastases to regional and distant lymph nodes in the clinic is of great significance. This study focused on clinical application of FDG PET/CT and contrast-enhanced multiple-slice helical computed tomography (MSCT) in lymph node staging of esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and fifteen cases were examined with enhanced 64-slice-MSCT scan, and FDG PET/CT imaging was conducted for neck, chest and upper abdomen within one week. The primary lesion, location and numbers of metastatic lymph nodes were observed. Surgery was performed within one week after FDG PET/CT detection. All resected lesions were confirmed histopathologically as the gold standard. Comparative analysis of the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy based on FDG PET/CT and MSCT was conducted. RESULTS: There were 946 lymph node groups resected during surgery from 115 patients, and 221 were confirmed to have metastasis pathologically. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy of FDG PET/CT in detecting lymph node metastasis were 74.7%, 97.2% and 92.0%, while with MSCT they were 64.7%, 96.4%, and 89.0%, respectively. A significance difference was observed in sensitivity (p=0.030), but not the others (p>0.05). The accuracy of FDG PET/CT in detecting regional lymph node with or without metastasis were 91.9%, as compared to 89.4% for MSCT, while FDG PET/CT and MSCT values for detecting distant lymph node with or without metastasis were 94.4% and 94.7%. No significant difference was observed for either regional or distant lymph node metastasis. Additionally, for detecting para-esophageal lymph nodes metastasis, the sensitivity of FDG PET/CT was 72%, compared with 54.7% for MSCT (p=0.029). CONCLUSIONS: FDG PET/CT is more sensitive than MSCT in detecting lymph node metastasis, especially for para-esophageal lymph nodes in esophageal cancer cases, although no significant difference was observed between FDG PET/CT and MSCT in detecting both regional and distant lymph node metastasis. However, enhanced MSCT was found to be of great value in distinguishing false negative metastatic lymph nodes from FDG PET/CT. The combination of FDG PET/CT with MSCT should improve the accuracy in lymph node metastasis staging of esophageal cancer.

[Structural changes of aged biochar and the influence on phenanthrene adsorption].

Biochars prepared by pyrolysis of rice husk at 350 degrees C and 550 degrees C were incubated in the lucifugal thermostat for 300 d. Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques were applied to explore the structural change before and after incubation. It was found that the oxygen content was increased after incubation, suggesting the formation of oxygen-containing functional groups. Incubation of the biochars also enhanced their nonlinear adsorption of phenanthrene. Structural change subjected to incubation was in fact affected by the pyrolysis temperatures at which the biochars were synthesized. Increase of polarity and decrease of aromaticity were found for biochars prepared at 350 degrees C. In contrast, incubation of biochars prepared at 550 degrees C resulted in increased aliphatic contents and aromaticity, as well as decrease of carboxyl group. The adsorption capacity of phenanthrene predicted by Langmuir model was 3.57 and 2.35 mg x g(-1) for new and aged biochar with lower pyrolysis temperature, respectively. It was assumed that change of the surface structure of the biochars due to aging inhibited the adsorption. On the contrary, aging of biochares prepared at 550 degrees C resulted in enhanced adsorption capacity of phenanthrene from 0.42 to 4.17 mg x (-1), which was probably correlated to the partition effect due to enhanced aromaticity. The data obtained in this research suggested that aging of biochars potentially affected the fate of the pollutants in environment.

Diffusion-weighted imaging for the left hepatic lobe has higher diagnostic accuracy for malignant focal liver lesions.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to investigate whether apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements by dividing the liver into left and right hepatic lobes may be utilized to improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis of benign and malignant focal liver lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 269 consecutive patients with 429 focal liver lesions were examined by 3-T magnetic resonance imaging that included diffusion-weighted imaging. For 58 patients with focal liver lesions of the same etiology in left and right hepatic lobes, ADCs of normal liver parenchyma and focal liver lesions were calculated and compared using the paired t-test. For all 269 patients, ADC cutoffs for focal liver lesions and diagnostic accuracy in the left hepatic lobe, right hepatic lobe and whole liver were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: For the group of 58 patients, mean ADCs of normal liver parenchyma and focal liver lesions in the left hepatic lobe were significantly higher than those in the right hepatic lobe. For differentiating malignant lesions from benign lesions in all patients, the sensitivity and specificity were 92.6% and 92.0% in the left hepatic lobe, 94.4% and 94.4% in the right hepatic lobe, and 90.4% and 94.7% in the whole liver, respectively. The area under the curve of the right hepatic lobe, but not the left hepatic lobe, was higher than that of the whole liver. CONCLUSIONS: ADCs of normal liver parenchyma and focal liver lesions in the left hepatic lobe were significantly higher than those in the right hepatic lobe. Optimal ADC cutoff for focal liver lesions in the right hepatic lobe, but not in the left hepatic lobe, had higher diagnostic accuracy compared with that in the whole liver.

The inhibitory effects of NKX3.1 on IGF-1R expression and its signalling pathway in human prostatic carcinoma PC3 cells.

NKX3.1, which is a prostate-specific homeobox gene, plays an important role in prostate cancer and usually functions as a tumour suppressor gene. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of NKX3.1 on insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1R expression and its downstream signalling pathway in PC3 cells. PC3 cells were stably transfected with NKX3.1 expression plasmid (pcDNA3.1-NKX3.1) or vector plasmid (pcDNA3.1+). The IGF-IR mRNA and protein expression levels were assessed in PC3-NKX3.1 transfectants by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting. The expression and activation of IGF-1/IGF-1R downstream signalling targets were examined by Western blotting and luciferase reporter assay. The cells were subsequently treated with relevant concentrations of IGF-1. The effect of IGF-1 on cell growth was examined by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-diphenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry analysis. A significant suppression of IGF-1R mRNA and protein expression was observed after forced expression of NKX3.1 in PC3 cells. Correspondingly, the forced expression of NKX3.1 decreased IGF-1-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and protein kinase B (AKT) and activation of the Elk-1 transcription factor and downregulated the expression of the downstream target genes c-fos and cyclin D1. Furthermore, the forced expression of NKX3.1 inhibited IGF-1-induced cell growth. In conclusion, NKX3.1 could downregulate IGF-1R expression and could inhibit IGF-1R-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK and AKT signalling pathways, which might partially leads to the inhibition of IGF-1-induced cell growth. This study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms that NKX3.1 exerts against prostate cancer and ultimately expands the scope of alternative approaches in advanced prostate cancer therapy.