高压氧联合高频rTMS对重型颅脑损伤后意识障碍患者促醒作用、神经电生理和脑损伤标志物的影响

摘要 目的：探讨高压氧联合高频重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）对重型颅脑损伤后意识障碍（DOC）患者促醒作用、神经电生理和脑损伤标志物的影响。方法：选取2021年6月~2023年6月期间安徽中医药大学附属六安医院收治的的80例重型颅脑损伤后DOC患者。根据随机数字表法分为对照组（n=40,高压氧治疗）和观察组（n=40,高压氧联合高频rTMS治疗）。对比两组疗效、促醒作用、神经电生理和脑损伤标志物水平变化情况。结果：观察组的临床总有效率高于对照组（P<0.05）。两组治疗4周后修订的昏迷恢复量表（CRS-R）、格拉斯哥昏迷量表（GCS）评分升高,观察组高于对照组（P<0.05）。两组治疗4周后脑干听觉诱发电位（BAFP）、四肢体感诱发电位（SEP）、脑电图（EEG）分级有所改善,观察组改善效果优于对照组（P<0.05）。两组治疗4周后髓鞘碱蛋白（MBP）、神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）、S100β蛋白下降,观察组低于对照组（P<0.05）。结论：高压氧联合高频rTMS治疗可有效促醒重型颅脑损伤后DOC患者,还可改善神经电生理活动,减轻脑损伤程度。     

基于经会阴实时三维超声评估生物反馈电刺激联合盆底肌锻炼治疗产后盆底功能障碍的临床疗效

摘要 目的：探讨经会阴实时三维超声评估生物反馈电刺激联合盆底肌锻炼治疗产后盆底功能障碍的临床疗效。方法：选择2020年9月至2022年9月我院收治的96例产后盆底功能障碍患者,根据随机数字表法将患者分为两组,对照组（48例）采用盆底肌锻炼治疗,研究组（48例）采用生物反馈电刺激联合盆底肌锻炼治疗。治疗前后采用经会阴实时三维超声检查,对比两组治疗前后的盆底功能障碍调查表（PFDI-20）、盆底障碍影响简易问卷7（PFIQ-7）评分、静息和Valsalva动作状态下的肛提肌超声参数。分析肛提肌超声参数与PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分的相关性。结果：两组治疗后PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分,静息和Valsalva动作状态下肛提肌裂孔前后径、肛提肌裂孔左右径、肛提肌裂孔面积较治疗前降低（P＜0.05）,静息时肛提肌厚度较治疗前增加（P＜0.05）。研究组治疗后PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分,静息和Valsalva动作状态下肛提肌裂孔前后径、肛提肌裂孔左右径、肛提肌裂孔面积低于对照组（P＜0.05）,静息时肛提肌厚度大于对照组（P＜0.05）。静息和Valsalva状态下肛提肌裂孔前后径、肛提肌裂孔左右径、肛提肌裂孔面积与PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分呈正相关（P＜0.05）,静息状态肛提肌厚度与PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分呈负相关（P＜0.05）。结论：经生物反馈电刺激联合盆底肌锻炼治疗后肛提肌裂孔大小较治疗前降低,肛提肌厚度较治疗前增加,且与PFDI-20、PFIQ-7评分改善有关,经会阴实时三维超声可客观、有效评价产后盆底功能障碍患者的治疗效果。     

经皮穴位电刺激联合常规镇痛对无痛人流术后宫缩痛镇痛效果及机制研究

摘要 目的：探讨经皮穴位电刺激联合常规镇痛对无痛人流术后宫缩痛镇痛效果及机制。方法：选择来我院行无痛人流患者100例。根据随机数字表法分为两组。对照组行术后常规镇痛治疗,同时在内关、合谷、三阴交最酸胀处黏贴电极但是不进行穴位刺激。观察组在术后常规镇痛基础上行经皮穴位电刺激治疗。对比不同时间点两组患者的机体一般情况、不同时间点两组患者的宫缩痛疼痛情况、T3时正性负性情绪量表评分、T3时血清P物质、前列腺素、5-羟色胺、β-内啡肽、强啡肽水平、T4点时的心理状态评分及满意度评分。结果：对照组T1、T2点时的BP、HR、RR、SpO₂明显较同组T0点低,对照组T3点与观察组T1、T2、T3点时BP、HR、RR、SpO₂与同组T0点对比无统计学意义（P>0.05）;对照组T1、T2点时的BP、HR、RR、SpO₂明显较观察组同时间点低（P<0.05）。T0点,两组VAS评分对比无统计学意义（P>0.05）;T1、T2、T3点时间,观察组的VAS评分明显较对照组低（P<0.05）;对照组T1、T2点的VAS评分明显较同组T0点高,观察组T1、T2、T3点的VAS评分明显较T0点低（P<0.05）。观察组的正性情绪明显较对照组高,负性情绪明显较对照组低（P<0.05）。观察组的血清P物质、前列腺素、5-羟色胺、β-内啡肽、强啡肽水平明显较对照组低（P<0.05）。观察组的心理状态评分明显较对照组低,满意度评分明显较对照组高（P<0.05）。结论：经皮穴位电刺激联合常规镇痛可明显改善无痛人流术后宫缩痛镇痛效果、患者心理状态及满意度,可能与其可降低血清P物质、前列腺素、5-羟色胺、β-内啡肽、强啡肽水平有关。     

Community‐wide impact of an exotic aphid on introduced tall goldenrod

1. The aphid Uroleucon nigrotuberculatum Olive, which is specialised to the tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima L., in its native range, has become a dominant species on the introduced tall goldenrod in Japan. How this exotic aphid influenced arthropod communities on the introduced tall goldenrod in aphid‐present (spring) and aphid‐absent (autumn) seasons was examined, using an aphid removal experiment. 2. In spring, aphid presence increased ant abundance because aphid honeydew attracted foraging ant workers. A significant negative correlation was found between the numbers of ants and herbivorous insects other than aphids on the aphid‐exposed plants, but no significant correlation was detected on the aphid‐free plants. Thus, the aphid presence was likely to decrease the abundance of co‐occurring herbivorous insects through removal behaviour of the aphid‐tending ants. There were no significant differences in plant traits between the aphid‐exposed and aphid‐free plants. 3. In autumn, the numbers of lateral shoots and leaves, and the leaf nitrogen content were increased in response to the aphid infestation in spring. Because of the improvement of plant traits by aphid feeding, the abundance of leaf chewers increased on aphid‐exposed plants. In contrast, the abundance of sap feeders decreased on the aphid‐exposed plants. In particular, the dominant scale insect among sap feeders, Parasaissetia nigra Nietner, decreased, followed by a decrease in the abundance of ants attending P. nigra. Thus, aphid feeding may have attenuated the negative impacts of the tending ants on leaf chewers. 4. Aphid presence did not change herbivore species richness but changed the relative density of dominant herbivores, resulting in community‐wide effects on co‐occurring herbivores through ant‐mediated indirect effects, and on temporally separated herbivores through plant‐ and ant‐mediated indirect effects. The aphid also altered predator community composition by increasing and decreasing the relative abundance of aphid‐tending ants in the spring and autumn, respectively.     

Combined effects of avasimibe immunotherapy,doxorubicin chemotherapy,and metal–organic frameworks nanoparticles on breast cancer

CD8⁺ T cells play a vital role in cancer immunotherapy and can be shaped by metabolism. Avasimibe is an acyl coenzyme A-cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) inhibitor, which has been clinically verified safe in other phase Ⅲ clinical trials. It can potentiate the killing function of CD8⁺ T cells by modulating cholesterol metabolism. Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anticancer drug widely used in many cancers to induce tumor cell apoptosis. Unfortunately, DOX also can induce toxic and side effects in many organs, compromising its usage and efficacy. Herein, we report the combinational usage of avasimibe and a safe pH sensitive nano-drug delivery system composing of DOX and metal–organic frameworks nanoparticles (MNPs). Our findings demonstrated that DOX–MNPs treatment inhibited tumor growth with good safety profile and avasimibe treatment combined DOX–MNPs treatment exhibited a better efficacy than monotherapies in 4T1 breast cancer therapy.     

Validation of ecological status concepts in UK rivers using historic diatom samples

We assessed the feasibility of using herbarium specimens to validate reference conditions in the UK by comparing diatom community composition of river sites with both recent and historic diatom samples. The question of substrate specificity was addressed by comparing epilithon (stone-derived) and epiphyton (plant-derived) samples from a number of rivers. No significant differences were found between the Trophic Diatom Index (TDI), species richness, species diversity, and percentage of motile valves between paired diatom samples (epilithic and epiphytic) from contemporary samples. Significant differences were recorded between a number of indices derived from analysis of the historic diatom samples on plant material sampled pre-1930 compared with diatoms from stones collected post-1990 from the same river location. The TDI, mean species richness, and species diversity and percentage of motile valves and nutrient tolerant valves were all significantly greater in the contemporary samples (p ≤ 0.05). The percentage of nutrient sensitive valves was significantly lower in the contemporary samples (p ≤ 0.05).The relative abundance of Achnanthidium minutissimum and Cocconeis placentula var. lineata was significantly greater on the herbarium material compared to matched contemporary samples. Calculated values for the TDI (43 ± 3) expected at reference conditions were similar to the observed TDI values derived from herbarium material (44 ± 12) showing no significant deviation in ecological status.     

Solution structure of CEH-37 homeodomain of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans protein CEH-37 belongs to the paired OTD/OTX family of homeobox-containing homeodomain proteins. CEH-37 shares sequence similarity with homeodomain proteins, although it specifically binds to double-stranded C. elegans telomeric DNA, which is unusual to homeodomain proteins. Here, we report the solution structure of CEH-37 homeodomain and molecular interaction with double-stranded C. elegans telomeric DNA using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. NMR structure shows that CEH-37 homeodomain is composed of a flexible N-terminal region and three α-helices with a helix-turn-helix (HTH) DNA binding motif. Data from size-exclusion chromatography and fluorescence spectroscopy reveal that CEH-37 homeodomain interacts strongly with double-stranded C. elegans telomeric DNA. NMR titration experiments identified residues responsible for specific binding to nematode double-stranded telomeric DNA. These results suggest that C. elegans homeodomain protein, CEH-37 could play an important role in telomere function via DNA binding.     

Burial of nonpolar surface area and thermodynamic stabilization of globins as a function of chain elongation

Proteins are biosynthesized from N to C terminus before they depart from the ribosome and reach their bioactive state in the cell. At present, very little is known about the evolution of conformation and the free energy of the nascent protein with chain elongation. These parameters critically affect the extent of folding during ribosome‐assisted biosynthesis. Here, we address the impact of vectorial amino acid addition on the burial of nonpolar surface area and on the free energy of native‐like structure formation in the absence of the ribosomal machinery. We focus on computational predictions on proteins bearing the globin fold, which is known to encompass the 3/3, 2/2, and archaeal subclasses. We find that the burial of nonpolar surface increases progressively with chain elongation, leading to native‐like conformations upon addition of the last C‐terminal residues, corresponding to incorporation of the last two helices. Additionally, the predicted folding entropy for generating native‐like structures becomes less unfavorable at nearly complete chain lengths, suggesting a link between the late burial of nonpolar surface and water release. Finally, the predicted folding free energy takes a progressive favorable dip toward more negative values, as the chain gets longer. These results suggest that thermodynamic stabilization of the native structure of newly synthesized globins during translation in the cell is significantly enhanced as the chain elongates. This is especially true upon departure of the last C‐terminal residues from the ribosomal tunnel, which hosts ca., 30–40 amino acids. Hence, we propose that release from the ribosome is a crucial step in the life of single‐domain proteins in the cell. Proteins 2014; 82:2318–2331. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Philomena oncorhynchi: Effect of hormones on maturation in anadromous sockeye, Oncorhynchus nerka

Adult sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum), treated with salmon pituitary extract in July survived for up to 47 days and developed nuptial colours in both male and female fish during this period, whereas no such characteristics appeared in untreated control fish. Furthermore, results showed that 20 of 50 adult female Philomena oncorhynchi recovered from the 15 treated fish contained fully developed tailed larvae in the uterus as compared with only one of 44 female P. oncorhynchi from 31 untreated control fish. None of 51 worms from 13 stilboestrol treated adult sockeye showed development in utero beyond an elongated embryo, nor did the host fish develop nuptial colours. P. oncorhynchi and its immature sockeye host (approx. 1 year prior to spawning) remained unaffected by any of three separate hormone treatment experiments using injection of salmon pituitary extract, injection of 17-β-estradiol, and stilboestrol mixed in the food.