基于15N示踪技术的植物-土壤系统氮循环研究进展

同位素示踪技术是指外源添加与生物体内的元素或物质完全共同运行的示踪物,用来指示生物体内某元素或物质变化过程的一种方法。利用氮稳定同位素示踪技术,能从本质上揭示生态学过程发生的机理,从而成为生态学科研工作十分重要的工具之一。对近年来15N示踪技术应用于土壤氮素固定、植物氮素营养和植物-土壤系统氮迁移的研究进展进行了综述,并对稳定氮同位素技术在解决相关生态学难题可能的前景和不足方面进行了展望。     

Instrumented Indentation Investigation on the Viscoelastic Properties of Porcine Cartilage

Articular cartilage lubricates the contact surfaces in human joints and provides a shock-absorbing effect which protects the joint under dynamic loading. However, this shock-absorbing effect is gradually reduced as the result of normal wear, tear and aging-related cartilage loss. Thus, with the increasing average human life expectancy, the issue of joint health has attracted significant interest in recent decades. In developing new materials for the repair or regeneration of damaged articular cartilage, it is essential that the difference in the mechanical properties of healthy and damaged cartilages is well-understood. In the present study, the hardness and Young＇s modulus of damaged and healthy porcine articular cartilage samples are evaluated via a quasi-static nanoindentation technique. A dynamic mechanical analysis method is then applied to determine the viscoelastic properties of the two samples. The results presented in this study provide a useful insight into the mechanical properties of articular cartilage at the mesoscale, and therefore fill an important gap in the literature.     

Plant-derived pharmaceuticals for the developing world

Plant-produced vaccines and therapeutic agents offer enormous potential for providing relief to developing countries by reducing the incidence of infant mortality caused by infectious diseases. Vaccines derived from plants have been demonstrated to effectively elicit an immune response. Biopharmaceuticals produced in plants are inexpensive to produce, require fewer expensive purification steps, and can be stored at ambient temperatures for prolonged periods of time. As a result, plant-produced biopharmaceuticals have the potential to be more accessible to the rural poor. This review describes current progress with respect to plant-produced biopharmaceuticals, with a particular emphasis on those that target developing countries. Specific emphasis is given to recent research on the production of plant-produced vaccines toward human immunodeficiency virus, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B virus, Ebola virus, human papillomavirus, rabies virus and common diarrheal diseases. Production platforms used to express vaccines in plants, including nuclear and chloroplast transformation, and the use of viral expression vectors, are described in this review. The review concludes by outlining the next steps for plant-produced vaccines to achieve their goal of providing safe, efficacious and inexpensive vaccines to the developing world.     

Cell perforation mediated by plasmonic bubbles generated by a single near infrared femtosecond laser pulse

We report on transient membrane perforation of living cancer cells using plasmonic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) enhanced single near infrared (NIR) femtosecond (fs) laser pulse. Under optimized laser energy fluence, single pulse treatment (τ = 45 fs, λ = 800 nm) resulted in 77% cell perforation efficiency and 90% cell viability. Using dark field and ultrafast imaging, we demonstrated that the generation of submicron bubbles around the AuNPs is the necessary condition for the cell membrane perforation. AuNP clustering increased drastically the bubble generation efficiency, thus enabling an effective laser treatment using low energy dose in the NIR optical therapeutical window.

Schematic representation of single femtosecond laser pulse plasmonic bubble generation in the vicinity of a cell.     

香菇多糖注射液对直肠癌根治术后患者纤维蛋白水平及免疫功能的影响

目的:研究香菇多糖注射液对直肠癌根治术后患者纤维蛋白水平及免疫功能的影响。方法:将2010年5月-2014年10月期间在我院接受直肠癌根治术的患者随机分为两组,观察组术后接受香菇多糖联合FOLFOX-4化疗,对照组术后接受FOLFOX-4化疗,观察两组患者化疗过程中的不良反应,测定化疗前后纤维蛋白水平及免疫功能指标。结果:观察组患者在化疗过程中消化道反应、肝功能损伤、骨髓抑制、周围神经毒性、口腔黏膜损伤、脱发的发生率均显著低于对照组(P0.05);化疗后,对照组患者外周血中CD3~+CD4~+CD8~-细胞、CD3~+CD4~-CD8~+细胞、CD19~+细胞、CD3~-CD56~+细胞的含量以及血清Ig M、Ig A、Ig G、FIB的含量显著低于化疗前(P0.05),观察组患者外周血中CD3~+CD4~+CD8~-细胞、CD3~+CD4~-CD8~+细胞、CD19~+细胞、CD3~-CD56~+细胞的含量以及血清Ig M、Ig A、Ig G的含量与化疗前无显著性差异(P0.05),血清FIB含量显著低于化疗前(P0.05);观察组患者化疗后外周血中CD3~+CD4~+CD8~-细胞、CD3~+CD4~-CD8~+细胞、CD19~+细胞、CD3~-CD56~+细胞的含量以及血清Ig M、Ig A、Ig G、FIB的含量显著高于对照组(P0.05),血清FIB含量显著低于对照组(P0.05)。结论:香菇多糖注射液辅助治疗能够减轻直肠癌根治术后FOLFOX-4化疗的毒副作用、改善免疫功能。     

15 例重症药疹患者临床特征及激素联合免疫球蛋白的疗效分析

目的:探讨15例重症药疹患者的临床特点及采用激素联合免疫球蛋白治疗改病的临床效果。方法:回顾性分析2012年12月至2014年12月在我院就诊的15例重症药疹患者的临床资料,患者采用激素联合免疫球蛋白进行治疗,观察患者的发病类型、致敏药物及疗效,分析血常规、肝功能、肾功能指标与与预后的关系。结果:15例患者中,中毒表皮坏死松解8例,占53.33%,药疹重型4例,占26.67%,中毒表皮坏死松解并支气管炎患者、史蒂文斯并支气管肺炎患者及重症药疹并重症肝炎患者各1例,占6.67%。致敏药物主要是中药、卡马西平、柳氮磺吡啶、头孢他啶、布洛芬、青霉素、别嘌呤醇、感冒药。治疗总有效率86.67%。白细胞、中性比、总胆红素(TBIL)、谷丙转氨酶、胆碱酯酶、胱抑素、肌酐(Cr)、乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)、肌酸激酶(CK)、肌酸激酶同工酶(CK-MB)与重症药疹患者治愈预后有关(P0.05)。结论:重症药疹以中毒表皮坏死松解患者为主,对不同致敏药物引起的重症药疹患者应进行区别治疗,重症药疹患者的预后与患者内脏受累程度密切相关,临床采用激素联合丙种球蛋白持续治疗,可提高治愈率,改善患者临床症状及预后,     

人巨细胞病毒感染与乳腺癌关系的研究进展

人巨细胞病毒(human cytomegalovirus,HCMV)是β疱疹病毒家族成员,全世界70%以上人口感染过该病毒。HCMV通常以潜伏感染形式存在于宿主体内,并产生了逃避宿主免疫系统识别和清除等多种能力,可通过表达HCMV基因及蛋白发挥肿瘤调节作用,干扰细胞代谢过程,促进肿瘤的发生和发展。乳腺癌是女性最常见的恶性肿瘤之一,而HCMV在非肿瘤和乳腺癌患者乳腺上皮细胞中的阳性检出率较高,同时有研究表明晚期暴露于HCMV可引起乳腺癌。近期新型抗HCMV药物对乳腺癌靶向治疗的临床有效性也再次提示,HCMV可能与乳腺癌的发生和发展密切相关。本文主要综述了HCMV的致癌潜能及其与乳腺癌发生和发展的潜在关联。     

Estimating Neospora caninum prevalence in wildlife populations using Bayesian inference

Prevalence of disease in wildlife populations, which is necessary for developing disease models and conducting epidemiologic analyses, is often understudied. Laboratory tests used to screen for diseases in wildlife populations often are validated only for domestic animals. Consequently, the use of these tests for wildlife populations may lead to inaccurate estimates of disease prevalence. We demonstrate the use of Bayesian latent class analysis (LCA) in determining the specificity and sensitivity of a competitive enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA; VMRD^®, Inc.) serologic test used to identify exposure to Neospora caninum (hereafter N. caninum) in three wildlife populations in southeastern Ohio, USA. True prevalence of N. caninum exposure in these populations was estimated to range from 0.1% to 3.1% in American bison (Bison bison), 51.0% to 53.8% in Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus), and 40.0% to 45.9% in white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). The accuracy of the cELISA in American bison and Père David's deer was estimated to be close to the 96% sensitivity and 99% specificity reported by the manufacturer. Sensitivity in white‐tailed deer, however, ranged from 78.9% to 99.9%. Apparent prevalence of N. caninum from the test results is not equal to the true prevalence in white‐tailed deer and Père David's deer populations. Even when these species inhabit the same community, the true prevalence in the two deer populations differed from the true prevalence in the American bison population. Variances in prevalence for some species suggest differences in the epidemiology of N. caninum for these colocated populations. Bayesian LCA methods could be used as in this example to overcome some of the constraints on validating tests in wildlife species. The ability to accurately evaluate disease status and prevalence in a population improves our understanding of the epidemiology of multihost pathogen systems at the community level.     

Heterotopic Renal Autotransplantation in a Porcine Model: A Step-by-Step Protocol

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease. It offers better life expectancy and higher quality of life when compared to dialysis. Although the last few decades have seen major improvements in patient outcomes following kidney transplantation, the increasing shortage of available organs represents a severe problem worldwide. To expand the donor pool, marginal kidney grafts recovered from extended criteria donors (ECD) or donated after circulatory death (DCD) are now accepted for transplantation. To further improve the postoperative outcome of these marginal grafts, research must focus on new therapeutic approaches such as alternative preservation techniques, immunomodulation, gene transfer, and stem cell administration.Experimental studies in animal models are the final step before newly developed techniques can be translated into clinical practice. Porcine kidney transplantation is an excellent model of human transplantation and allows investigation of novel approaches. The major advantage of the porcine model is its anatomical and physiological similarity to the human body, which facilitates the rapid translation of new findings to clinical trials. This article offers a surgical step-by-step protocol for an autotransplantation model and highlights key factors to ensure experimental success. Adequate pre- and postoperative housing, attentive anesthesia, and consistent surgical techniques result in favorable postoperative outcomes. Resection of the contralateral native kidney provides the opportunity to assess post-transplant graft function. The placement of venous and urinary catheters and the use of metabolic cages allow further detailed evaluation. For long-term follow-up studies and investigation of alternative graft preservation techniques, autotransplantation models are superior to allotransplantation models, as they avoid the confounding bias posed by rejection and immunosuppressive medication.