Algae decomposition released dissolved organic matter subfractions on dark abiotic mercury methylation.

To understand the mechanism of dark abiotic mercury (Hg) methylation by algae-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) and effectively manage the environmental risks of mercury methylation in aquaculture areas, we investigated the influence of subfractions of DOM released from algae (Ulothrix sp.) decomposition on mercury methylation. The results showed that the hydrophobic basic component (HOB) in DOM exhibited the most substantial promotion effect on Hg methylation. The methylmercury (MeHg) production in the HOB treatment increased significantly, while the production rate of MeHg (%MeHg represented the concentration ratio of MeHg to THg) in the six subfractions treated solutions decreased significantly with the increase of Hg concentration. The change of the %MeHg was more evident at low Hg concentration, indicating the limited number of binding sites and methyl donors on DOM. As a consequence, Hg(Ⅱ) in the solution could not be converted into MeHg in equal proportion. Furthermore, the production of MeHg in solution was significantly reduced by the decomposed algae DOM, and its concentration was in the range of 0.017-0.085 ng·L-1 (significantly lower than undecomposed algal). The difference between the decomposed and the non-decomposed algae DOM reached a significant level (P < 0.05). When the DOM decayed for 20 and 30 days, the Hg methylation ability of DOM was weakened most obviously. During the decomposition process, considerable variations were observed among the subfractions, with HOB consistently playing a dominant role in Hg methylation. At the same time, the hydrophilic acid component exhibited a significant inhibitory effect on Hg methylation. Generally, the main components (e.g. HOB and HIA (hydrophilic acid component)) of DOM affecting mercury methylation were found in our study, which provided a better understanding of algae-derived DOM subfractions on the Hg methylation, in an attempt to prevent and control water pollution in aquaculture areas.

A novel surgical technique in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion by the bone graft delivery device: evaluation of therapeutic effect in patients with minimally invasive spine surgery.

BACKGROUND: Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF) is commonly associated with higher complications and longer operative time. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and usability of a novel minimally invasive surgery (MIS) bone graft delivery device. METHODS: 73 consecutive patients with lumbar spondylosis, degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, scoliosis or trauma were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. Group 1 comprised 39 patients treated with the novel MIS bone graft delivery device. Group 2 consisted of 34 patients treated with the conventional system. The primary objective of the study was the assessment of the amount of bone graft delivery using the device. The secondary objectives were the effect of the device on operative time, pain relief, disability improvement, and bone fusion grade. RESULTS: Bone delivery amount was significantly higher in the MIS device group (6.7 ± 2.9 mL) compared to the conventional group (2.3 ± 0.5 mL), p < 0.001. Regarding the operation time, the MIS device group was associated significantly lower duration than the conventional group (p < 0.001). After a 3-month follow-up, 39.5% of the patients in the MIS device group and 3.5% of the patients in the conventional group were observed to achieve grade I fusion (complete fusion). There was a significant difference in fusion success rates (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The novel MIS bone graft delivery device was associated with successful bone delivery. Our MIS device provides promising modality with less operative time and higher bone fusion rates than conventional modalities. Trial Registration This trial was retrospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Registration date: 11/19/2021; Registration number: NCT05190055).

Comparison of complaints to the intensive care units and those to the general wards: an analysis using the Healthcare Complaint Analysis Tool in an academic medical center in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: The management of complaints in the setting of intensive care may provide opportunities to understand patient and family experiences and needs. However, there are limited reports on the structured application of complaint analysis tools and comparisons between healthcare complaints in the critical care setting and other settings. METHODS: From the complaint management database of a university-affiliated medical center in Taiwan, we retrospectively identified the records of healthcare complaints to the intensive care units (ICUs) from 2008 to 2016. Complaints to the general wards in the same period were randomly selected from the database with twice the number of that of the ICU complaints. We coded, typed, and compared the complaints from the two settings according to the Healthcare Complaint Analysis Tool. RESULTS: We identified 343 complaints to the ICUs and randomly selected 686 complaints to the general wards during the 9-year study period. Most (94.7%) of the complaints to the ICUs came from the family members, whereas more complaints to the general wards came from the patients (44.2%). A total of 1529 problems (441 from ICU and 818 from general wards) were identified. Compared with the general ward complaints, in the ICU there were more complaints with multiple problems (25.1% vs. 16.9%, p = 0.002), complaints were referred more frequently to the nurses (28.1% vs. 17.5%, p < 0.001), and they focused more commonly on the care on the ICU/ward (60.5% vs. 54.2%, p = 0.029). The proportions of the three domains (clinical, management, and relationship) of complaints were similar between the ICU and general ward complaints (p = 0.121). However, in the management domain, the problems from ICU complaints focused more on the environment than on the institutional processes (90.9% vs. 74.5%, p < 0.001), whereas in the relationship domain, the problems focused more on communication (17.9% vs. 8.0%) and less on listening (34.6% vs. 46.5%) (p = 0.002) than the general ward complaints. CONCLUSIONS: A structured typing and systematic analysis of the healthcare complaints to the ICUs may provide valuable insights into the improvement of care quality, especially to the perceptions of the ICU environment and communications of the patients and their families.

New recognition of the natural history and growth pattern of hepatic hemangioma in adults.

AIM: Surgical indications for hepatic hemangiomas are still not clearly defined due to limited data on their natural history. This study aimed to investigate the natural history and growth pattern of hepatic hemangiomas in adults. METHODS: From April 2010 to March 2013, adult patients with hepatic hemangioma who had no prior treatment were enrolled. A routine follow up was performed to observe the natural history of the lesions and their tendency to cause complications. RESULTS: A total of 236 patients were enrolled in the study. The median size of hemangiomas was 4.5 cm (range, 0.6-19.2). During a median follow-up period of 48 months (range, 3-266), 61.0% patients had hemangiomas that increased in size, 23.7% patients had stable lesions and 8.5% patients had hemangiomas that decreased in size. The peak growth period of hemangiomas was in patients of less than 30 years of age (0.46 ± 0.41 cm/year) and the growth rate decreased significantly after 50 years of age (0.21 ± 0.40 cm/year). Hemangiomas of less than 2 cm had the lowest growth rate (0.16 ± 0.42 cm/year). The peak growth rate of hemangioma size was 8-10 cm (0.80 ± 0.62 cm/year), then decreased rapidly to 0.47 ± 0.91 cm/year while the hemangiomas were of more than 10 cm. Only nine patients had severe symptoms caused by hemangioma. No patients presented with hemangioma-related complications. CONCLUSION: The majority of hepatic hemangiomas have the tendency to increase in size but rarely cause complications. All the hemangiomas can be safely managed by observation, and surgery is only considered for patients with severe complications.

Biomechanical evaluation of a novel tri-blade titanium implantable vertebral augmentation device.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Titanium implantable vertebral augmentation device (TIVAD) are regarded as having potential in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). However, improper design in current TIVADs results in the inability to effectively restore VCF height and maintain stability. There is still an unmet clinical need for improvement. PURPOSE: The authors tested a newly developed a TIVAD (Tri-blade fixed system) that can provide enough endplate collapse support to restore the vertebral body height in a safe retraction mechanism for VCFs using minimally invasive surgery (MIS). STUDY DESIGN: The performed biomechanical tests included blade expansion force, lifetime of cement embedded and vertebral height restoration efficiency of porcine osteoporosis VCFs for its feasibility. METHODS: A cylinder with 3 surface cuts that form blades that can be expanded into a conical space was designed (Tri-blade fixed system). The 3 blades can be expanded outward with angles between blades as 105°/ 105°/150° for lower left/lower right/upper arms, respectively that reach 15mm in height and 14.8 mm in width. A frame was specifically designed to measure the contact force using force sensing resistors during blade expansion. The Tri-blade fixed system was embedded into a cement block to perform fatigue testing under 2000N pressure (5*106 cycles) for understanding the device lifetime limitation. The Tri-blade system was then inserted into porcine osteoporosis VCFs to examine the vertebral height restoration efficiency. RESULTS: The average maximum contact force for the top, bottom left and right blades were 299.0N, 283.5N and 279.3N, respectively with uniformly outward expansion forces. The fatigue test found that there were no obvious cracks or damage to the cement block. The porcine osteoporosis vertebral body at the anterior, middle, and posterior heights can be restored to 21.9%, 12.6% and 6.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study developed a novel TIVAD with conical shape that can provide a more stable structure with sufficient/uniform expansion force, passing the fatigue test with bone cement and high effective in vertebral height restoration tests for porcine osteoporosis VCFs. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The new 3D Tri-blade TIVAD may offer a new treatment option for VCFs.

Recognition and Classification of Ship Images Based on SMS-PCNN Model.

In the field of ship image recognition and classification, traditional algorithms lack attention to the differences between the grain of ship images. The differences in the hull structure of different categories of ships are reflected in the coarse-grain, whereas the differences in the ship equipment and superstructures of different ships of the same category are reflected in the fine-grain. To extract the ship features of different scales, the multi-scale paralleling CNN oriented on ships images (SMS-PCNN) model is proposed in this paper. This model has three characteristics. (1) Extracting image features of different sizes by parallelizing convolutional branches with different receptive fields. (2) The number of channels of the model is adjusted two times to extract features and eliminate redundant information. (3) The residual connection network is used to extend the network depth and mitigate the gradient disappearance. In this paper, we collected open-source images on the Internet to form an experimental dataset and conduct performance tests. The results show that the SMS-PCNN model proposed in this paper achieves 84.79% accuracy on the dataset, which is better than the existing four state-of-the-art approaches. By the ablation experiments, the effectiveness of the optimization tricks used in the model is verified.

The efficacy of vancomycin-loaded biphasic calcium phosphate bone substitute in the promotion of new bone growth and the prevention of postoperative infection.

Background: Due to the increasing need for suitable alternatives to bone grafts, artificial bones made of biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) are currently being extensively researched. These porous bone substitutes have also demonstrated considerable incorporation with the host bone, and new bone is able to grow within the porous structure. They therefore offer a potential therapeutic approach for bone defects. Methods: Vancomycin-loaded Bicera™, a BCP bone substitute, was investigated in order to prevent implant-associated osteomyelitis and postoperative infection after orthopedic surgery. The loading capacity of Bicera™ was measured to understand its potential antibiotic adsorption volume. An antibiotic susceptibility test was also carried out to analyze the effect of Bicera™ loaded with different concentrations of vancomycin on the growth inhibition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Vancomycin-loaded Bicera™ was implanted into rabbits with bone defects, and general gross, radiographic, and histological evaluation was undertaken at 4, 12, and 24 weeks after implantation. Results: The maximum loading capacity of vancomycin-loaded Bicera™ was 0.9 ml of liquid regardless of the vancomycin concentration. Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that vancomycin-loaded Bicera™ inhibited the growth of MRSA for 6 weeks. In addition, animal studies revealed that new bone grew into the vancomycin-loaded Bicera™. The percentage of new bone formation from 4 to 24 weeks after implantation increased from 17% to 36%. Conclusion: Vancomycin-loaded Bicera™ could effectively inhibit the growth of MRSA in vitro. It was found to incorporate into the host bone well, and new bone was able to grow within the bone substitute. The results of this study indicate that vancomycin-loaded Bicera™ is a potential bone substitute that can prevent implant-associated osteomyelitis and postoperative infection.

Chinese Herbal Formula Huayu-Qiangshen-Tongbi Decoction Attenuates Rheumatoid Arthritis through Upregulating miR-125b to Suppress NF-κB-Induced Inflammation by Targeting CK2.

The Huayu-Qiangshen-Tongbi (HQT) decoction, a Chinese medical formula, has been identified to show a potent therapeutic effect on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the specific molecular mechanism of HQT in RA has not been well studied. In the present study, LPS-treated human rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) MH7A cells and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice were utilized as in vitro and in vivo models. Our results demonstrated that HQT could efficiently inhibit RA-induced inflammation by reducing the production of cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Moreover, HQT significantly upregulated the expression of miR-125b. Besides, analysis of bioinformatics suggested casein kinase 2 (CK2) was a potential target of miR-125b. Luciferase reporter assay was performed and revealed that miR-125b suppressed CK2 expression in MH7A cells. Furthermore, miR-125b inhibited LPS-induced NF-kappa-B (NF-κB) activation, which is a downstream target of CK2. In addition, the NF-κB inhibitor ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) and NF-kappa-B inhibitor alpha (IkB-α) enhanced the inhibitory effect of miR-125b on the expression of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6. Taken together, our study revealed that HQT could attenuate RA through upregulating miR-125b to suppress NF-κB-induced inflammation by targeting CK2. The findings of this study should facilitate investigating the mechanism of HQT on RA and discovering novel therapeutic targets for RA.

Broad and durable antibody response after vaccination with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 in individuals with a history of 2003 SARS-CoV infection.

In vaccinees who were infected with SARS-CoV in 2003, we observed greater antibody responses against spike and nucleoprotein of both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV after a single dosage of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. After receiving the second vaccination, antibodies against RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, Beta, Delta, and recently emerged Omicron are significantly higher in SARS-CoV experienced vaccinees than in SARS-CoV naïve vaccinees. Neutralizing activities measured by authentic viruses and pseudoviruses of SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan, Beta, and Delta are greater in SARS-CoV experienced vaccinees. In contrast, only weak neutralizing activities against SARS-CoV-2 and variants were detected in SARS-CoV naïve vaccinees. By 6 months after the second vaccination, neutralizing activities were maintained at a relatively higher level in SARS-CoV experienced vaccinees but were undetectable in SARS-CoV naïve vaccinees. These findings suggested a great possibility of developing a universal vaccine by heterologous vaccination using spike antigens from different SARS-related coronaviruses.

Clinical Efficacy of Polycaprolactone ß-Calcium Triphosphate Composite for Osteoconduction in Rabbit Bone Defect Model.

The combination of ß-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP) with polycaprolactone (PCL) has been considered a promising strategy for designing scaffolds for bone grafting. This study incorporated PCL with commercially available ß-TCP (OsteoceraTM) to fabricate an injectable bone substitute and evaluate the effect of PCL on compressive strength and setting time of the hydraulic cement. The mechanical testing was compliant with the ASTM D695 and ASTM C191-13 standards. Results showed that PCL-TCP composite presented a well-defined architecture with uniform pore distribution and a significant increase in compressive strength compared with ß-TCP alone. Eighteen rabbits, each with two surgically created bone defects, were treated using the PCL-TCP composites. The composite materials were resorbed and replaced by newly formed bone tissue. Both PCL-TCP and ß-TCP demonstrated equivalent clinical effects on osteoconduction property in terms of the percentage of newly formed bone area measured by histomorphometric analysis. PCL-TCP was proven to be as effective as the commercially available ß-TCP scaffold (OsteoceraTM).

Bone formation following sinus grafting with an alloplastic biphasic calcium phosphate in Lanyu Taiwanese mini-pigs.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the new bone formation after grafting with a synthetic biphasic calcium phosphate in sinuses with minimal bone height, the alloplastic and xenograft materials were compared after grafting into Lanyu Taiwanese mini-pig sinuses via split-mouth design. METHODS: In six mini-pigs, synthetic hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate (HA/TCP) particles were inserted into one of the sinus cavities using the extra-oral approach, where deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) particles were placed contralaterally. Fluorescent bony labels of Alizarin and Calcein green were delivered at weeks 4 and 8, respectively. Animals were sacrificed at week 12 and the augmented tissues were evaluated by cone-beam computed tomography, microcomputed tomography, and histology. RESULTS: By radiographic examination, the mean thicknesses of sinus cortexes for DBBM and HA/TCP groups were similar (0.35 versus 0.38 cm) and the mean volumes augmented were also indifferent (1.29 versus 1.64 cm3 ). The distributions of bones, residual particles, and non-mineralized tissues in augmented masses between groups were undistinguishable. Under microscopy, however, macroporosities of osteons were filled with HA/TCP residual particles, whereas the newly formed bones lay on top of DBBM particle surfaces. Although the mineral deposition rates between groups were indifferent, the mean labeled surface in the HA/TCP group was significantly greater than those in the DBBM group at week 4 (35.16% versus 14.00% for HA/TCP and DBBM, respectively) but less than that at week 8 (19.33% versus 39.16%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Sinus augmentation with synthetic HA/TCP and DBBM exhibited similar effectiveness in new bone formation.

An instrument for evaluating the clinical applicability of guidelines.

OBJECTIVE: To establish an instrument for evaluating the clinical applicability of guidelines from the guideline-users' perspective. METHODS: We established this instrument through forming a working group, forming an initial list of items based on a qualitative systematic review, establishing initial instrument via two rounds of modified Delphi surveys, and external review the initial instrument. RESULTS: The results of modified Delphi surveys establishing appraisal aspects, appraisal items, general information of the evaluator met the preset requirements. The instrument includes three parts: general information of the evaluator (12 items), evaluation of clinical applicability (12 items, including items on the availability, readability, acceptability, feasibility, and overall applicability of guideline), and scoring scheme. CONCLUSIONS: The instrument for evaluating the clinical applicability of guidelines from the guideline-users' perspective provides criteria and methods for improving the clinical applicability of guidelines during development and updating.

Multiple Myeloma of Testes and Spermatic Cord on 18F-FDG PET/CT.

Extramedullary multiple myeloma (EM) has negative prognostic implications on the overall survival as well as progression-free survival. Testis is a rare site of EM, which can be a part of diffuse involvement in multiple myeloma or a site of recurrence in patients with remission. We present a case of EM of testes and left spermatic cord in an 80-year-old man who presented with painless progressive enlargement of the scrotum. F-FDG PET/CT revealed tracer avidity of both testes and left spermatic cord. Bilateral radical orchidectomy was subsequently performed, and the diagnosis of multiple myeloma was confirmed on histopathology.

Reinforcement of Tobacco Control and Reduction in Medical Utilization for Asthma in Taiwan: A Population-Based Study.

Environmental air quality can affect asthma control and the development of overt asthmatic manifestations. In this population-based study, we investigated the effect of reinforcing a smoking ban in Taiwan through the enactment of the Tobacco Hazards and Prevention Act (THPA) on healthcare utilization rate by asthmatics. Analysis was performed based on data relevant to non-hospitalized asthmatic patients with insurance claims between 2005 and 2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, reported data on Asian dust storms, and penalty rates for violations of the tobacco ban. Poisson regression showed that the risk for outpatient visits for asthma was lower after enactment of the THPA (RR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.98-0.99), with a yearly trend of a reduced risk (RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.99-1.00), also lower in geographic regions with medium (RR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.79-0.80) and high (RR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.91-0.92) penalty rates. Subgroup analysis showed that asthma visit rates were reduced in both male and female groups after the enactment of the THPA. The risk of an asthma ER visit was increased after the enactment of the amended THPA (RR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.05-1.09), although the yearly trend was not significant (RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 1.00-1.00). The risk of emergency room visits for asthma was significantly reduced in regions with medium (RR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.68-0.69) and high (RR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.74-0.76) penalty rates. Subgroup analysis showed that the visit rates were similar in both male and female groups. The effectiveness of reinforcing the smoking ban warrants further policies aimed at further reducing passive smoking.

iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis of cold stress-induced mechanisms in grafted watermelon seedlings.

Rootstock grafting can improve the cold tolerance of watermelon. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process remain unknown. Herein, we used an isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ)-based quantitative proteomics approach for the comparative analysis of protein abundances in self-grafted (SG) and pumpkin rootstock-grafted (RG) watermelon seedlings in response to cold stress. A total of 4796 distinct proteins were identified, and 752 proteins were significantly differentially accumulated in grafted watermelon seedling leaves after 48 h cold stress. Based on bioinformatics analysis, the cold tolerance of RG watermelon seedlings might be related to more energy produced through photosynthesis, carbon metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation, compared with that of SG watermelon seedlings. RG watermelon seedlings could cope with cold stress by improving the scavenging capacity of ROS and arginine biosynthesis. Posttranscriptional regulation and protein homeostasis also play important roles for grafted watermelon seedlings to adapt to cold stress. Several protein kinases involved in signal transduction may act as positive regulators in RG watermelon seedling leaves suffering from cold stress. In addition, iTRAQ data were confirmed to be reliable by the assays of physiological indicators and relative transcript levels of eight genes. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Rootstock grafting is regarded as an effective method to enhance the cold tolerance of watermelon seedlings. To elucidate the cold tolerance mechanism of grafted watermelon, an iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics approach combined with bioinformatics analysis was employed to identify differentially accumulated proteins in SG and RG watermelon seedlings between cold stress and control conditions. This study provided additional insight into the molecular basis of the grafted watermelon seedlings in response to cold stress.

The Prognostic Value of Nodal Staging in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer - A Cohort from China.

To evaluate the clinical outcomes and relationship between tumor size, lymph node status, and prognosis in a large cohort of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).849 Patients were categorized by tumor size and nodal status. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the association of nodal status and tumor size with survival outcomes. A Sidak adjustment was used for pairwise group comparisons. We conducted six pairwise comparisons between different node status. In univariate and multivariate analyses, it was indicated that N0 patients had similar prognoses as N1 patients (P = 0.072), and the OS of both of these groups was significantly better than that of N2/N3 patients (N0 vs N2, P < 0.001; N0 vs N3, P < 0.001; N1 vs N2, P = 0.014; N1 vs N3, P = 0.005). In summary, we report that in Chinese patients with triple-negative breast cancer, a greater difference in survival was observed between N1 and N2 than between N0 and N1, warranting the possible need of more intensive chemotherapy for N2-3 patients. We also found that tumor size made an impact on survival when lymph nodes were extensively involved, a finding that needs longer follow-up and further validation.

Modeling VOC-odor exposure risk in livestock buildings.

This paper describes a novel idea of linking models of exposure, internal dosimetry, and health effects. Risk assessment approach that integrates predicted odor caused by volatile organic compounds (VOC-odor) of toluene/xylene concentrations in human tissues leads to predict exposure risks in livestock buildings. First, VOC transport model was developed to calculate airborne toluene/xylene concentrations. Based on a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model, concentrations within five compartments representing lung, liver, fat, slowly perfused tissues, and rapidly perfused tissues could be quantified. By using a pharmacodynamic (PD) Hill model, we can optimally fit data from rat and human experiments to reconstruct dose-response relationships for accounting human health effects from nose poke and eye irritation. Results demonstrated that peak tissue concentration occurring at 5-10h in that fat contains the highest concentration than other tissues at around 4ppm of toluene and 1.8ppm of xylene. The EC(10) values are 114 and 232ppm, whereas expected risks are estimated to be 0.71% and 0.26% of human exposure to toluene and xylene, respectively. Risk analyses indicate that inhalation exposure in livestock buildings poses no significant threat to human health under the present environmental conditions. This method provides a rigorous and effective approach to relate target tissue concentration to human nose poke or eye irritation. We suggest that our probabilistic framework and methods be taken seriously because they produce general conclusions that are more robust and could offer a risk-management framework for discussion of future establishment of limits for respiratory exposure to VOC-odor.

Acellular biological tissues containing inherent glycosaminoglycans for loading basic fibroblast growth factor promote angiogenesis and tissue regeneration.

It was found in our previous study that acellular tissues derived from bovine pericardia consist primarily of insoluble collagen, elastin, and tightly bound glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). It is speculated that the inherent GAGs in acellular tissues may serve as a reservoir for loading basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and promote angiogenesis and tissue regeneration. This study was therefore designed to investigate effects of the content of GAGs in acellular bovine pericardia on the binding of bFGF and its release profile in vitro while its stimulation in angiogenesis and tissue regeneration in vivo were evaluated subcutaneously in a rat model. To control the content of GAGs, acellular tissues were treated additionally with hyaluronidase for 1 (Hase-D1), 3 (Hase-D3), or 5 days (Hase-D5). The in vitro results indicated that a higher content of GAGs in the acellular tissue resulted in an increase in bFGF binding and in a more gradual and sustained release of the growth factor. The in vivo results obtained at 1 week postoperatively showed that the density and the depth of neo-vessels infiltrated into the acellular tissue loaded with bFGF (acellular/bFGF) were significantly greater than the other test samples. At 1 month postoperatively, vascularized neo-connective tissues were found to fill the pores within each test sample, particularly for the acellular/bFGF tissue. These results suggested that the sustained release of bFGF from the acellular/ bFGF tissue continued to be effective in enhancing angiogenesis and generation of new tissues. In conclusion, the inherent GAGs present in acellular tissues may be used for binding and sustained release of bFGF to enhance angiogenesis and tissue regeneration.

Contributions of Chinese-style cooking and incense burning to personal exposure and residential PM concentrations in Taiwan region.

We investigated the effect of indoor sources including Chinese-style cooking, incense burning, cleaning, and people's moving on indoor particle size distributions and concentrations and calculated the personal exposure dose rates in the human respiratory tract (HRT) using time-activity and indoor and outdoor particle size distribution data collected from a traditional Taiwanese residence in central Taiwan region. We applied a simple size-dependent indoor air quality model associated with a compartmental lung model to determine the source emission rates and exposure dose. Cooking and incense burning had size-integrated source emission rates of 0.042+/-0.024 (mean+/-S.D.) and 0.038+/-0.026 particles s(-1), respectively. Cooking and incense burning were significant contributors to indoor particle levels for particle sizes from 0.5 to 5 microm in that the percent contributions to indoor concentrations were 0.334+/-0.02 and 0.267+/-0.035, respectively. Our results demonstrated that extrathoracic (ET) region had higher average PM mass lung/indoor ratio (0.77) than that of bronchial (BB) (0.52), bronchiolar (bb) (0.27) and alveolar-interstitial (AI) (0.14) regions from both cooking and incense burning events. The average integrated deposition dose rates (particles cm(-2) h(-1)) of 24.11 in ET, 4.68 in BB, and 7.89 in bb were higher than that of 0.011 in AI for both cooking and incense burning events. This research illustrates that exposure assessment based on time-activity and real-time behavior of particle data can provide valuable information on the fate of indoor particles and hazard to human health.

Multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for simultaneous screening of 29 chromosomal translocation in hematologic malignancies.

Multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (M-RT-PCR) has been proved to possess great clinical potential for simultaneous screening of 29 chromosomal translocations in acute leukemia. To evaluate the clinical value of M-RT-PCR in hematologic malignancies, bone marrow samples from 90 patients with various hematologic malignancies, including 25 acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), 22 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 27 chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), 4 myeloproliferative diseases (MPD), 3 chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (CLL), 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), 3 myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 2 multiple myeloma (MM) and 1 malignant histiocytosis (MH) were subjected to both M-RT-PCR and chromosome karyotypic analysis. Some of cases were subjected to follow-up examination of M-RT-PCR during the period of clinical complete remission (CR) for detection of minimal residual leukemia. In our hand, 12 of 29 chromosomal translocation transcripts including TEL/PDGFR, DEK/CAN, MLL/AF6, AML1/ETO, MLL/AF9, BCR/ABL, MLL/MLL, PML/RARu, TLS/ERG, E2A/HLF, EVI1 and HOXI1 were detected in 57 cases (63.3 %) of the 90 samples, which were in consistency with the results of karyotypic analysis. Furthermore, M-RT-PCR had also shown good clinical relevance when used as an approach to detect minimal residual leukemia. We concluded that M-RT-PCR could be used as an efficient and fast diagnostic tool not only in the initial diagnosis of hematologic malignancies but also in subsequent monitor of minimal residual leukemia.