Rapid Identification of Viable Bacterial Spores Using a Fluorescence Method

A method has been devised to differentiate viable and nonviable bacterial spores. “Germination-like” changes are initiated in spores with performic acid and lysozyme. The germinated spores are stained with aqueous acridine orange, a fluorescent dye. Nonviable spores fluoresce lemon-green and viable spores orange-red. It is proposed that with the use of a membrane filter resistant to performic acid and lysozyme, the method may be used for spore enumeration in foods in about 4 hr compared to conventional plating methods, which usually require up to 72 hr.     

Finite element analysis of different loading conditions for implant-supported overdentures supported by conventional or mini implants

The effect of implants’ number on overdenture stability and stress distribution in edentulous mandible, implants and overdenture was numerically investigated for implant-supported overdentures. Three models were constructed. Overdentures were connected to implants by means of ball head abutments and rubber ring. In model 1, the overdenture was retained by two conventional implants; in model 2, by four conventional implants; and in model 3, by five mini implants. The overdenture was subjected to a symmetrical load at an angle of 20 degrees to the overdenture at the canine regions and vertically at the first molars. Four different loading conditions with two total forces (120, 300 N) were considered for the numerical analysis. The overdenture displacement was about 2.2 times higher when five mini implants were used rather than four conventional implants. The lowest stress in bone bed was observed with four conventional implants. Stresses in bone were reduced by 61% in model 2 and by 6% in model 3 in comparison to model 1. The highest stress was observed with five mini implants. Stresses in implants were reduced by 76% in model 2 and 89% increased in model 3 compared to model 1. The highest implant displacement was observed with five mini implants. Implant displacements were reduced by 29% in model 2, and increased by 273% in model 3 compared to model 1. Conventional implants proved better stability for overdenture than mini implants. Regardless the type and number of implants, the stress within the bone and implants are below the critical limits.     

Evaluation of total contents of Al,As, Ca,Cd, Fe,K, Mg,Ni, Pb,Zn and their fractions leached to the infusions of different tea samples. A multivariate study

ABSTRACT

Total aluminum, arsenic, calcium, cadmium, iron, lead, potassium, magnesium, nickel and zinc were determined in black tea by electro thermal atomic absorption spectrometry after ultrasonic assisted pseudo-digestion with mixture of acid and oxidant. All the metals were also determined in the tea infusions in order to know the percentage of each element leached into the liquor. A conventional acid digestion on electric hot plate was used to obtain total metals under study for comparative purpose. Analytical results for Al, As, Ca, Cd, Fe, K, Mg, Ni, Pb and Zn obtained by ultrasound assisted pseudodigestion, and conventional wet digestion methods showed a good agreement, thus indicating the possibility of using ultrasonic assisted digestion sample preparation instead of intensive treatments inherent with the acid digestion methods on electric hot plate. The validity and accuracy of both procedures were checked by using certified sample of NIES No. 7 (Tea Leaves). Non significant differences were observed for P>0.05 when comparing the values obtained by both methods (paired t-test).

Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied in order to determine the different amount of metals as main sources of variability in the data sets and to establish the relation between samples (branded and nonbranded tea samples) and micronutrient, trace and toxic metals (variables). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used to explore the different branded and nonbranded tea samples grouping according to the essential and toxic metals as additional information to the out put obtained by PCA.     

Aidi injection,a traditional Chinese biomedical preparation for gynecologic tumors: a systematic review and PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis

Aidi injection (ADI), a traditional Chinese biomedical preparation, is a promising adjuvant therapy for gynecologic tumors (GTs), including cervical cancer (CC), endometrial cancer (EC), and ovarian cancer (OC). Although studies have reported positively on ADI therapy, its exact effects and safety in GT patients remain controversial. Therefore, a wide-ranging systematic search of electronic databases was performed for this meta-analysis. Data from 38 trials including 3309 GT patients were analyzed. The results indicated that the combination of conventional treatment and ADI markedly improved the patients’ overall response rate (P<0.00001), disease control rate (P<0.00001), and quality of life (P<0.05) compared with conventional treatment alone. Furthermore, patient immunity was enhanced with combined treatment, as indicated by significantly increased percentages of CD3⁺ (P=0.005) and CD4⁺ (P<0.00001) and increased CD4⁺/CD8⁺ ratio (P=0.001). Most of the adverse events caused by radiochemotherapy such as gastrointestinal issues, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and hepatotoxicity, (P<0.05 for all) were significantly alleviated when ADI was used in the GT patients. However, other adverse events such as nephrotoxicity, diarrhea, alopecia, and neurotoxicity did not significantly differ between the two groups. Overall, these results suggest that the combination of conventional and ADI treatment is more effective than conventional treatment alone.     

腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术中十二指肠优先离断对胃癌患者应激反应、炎性因子和生活质量的影响

摘要 目的：探讨腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术中十二指肠优先离断对胃癌患者应激反应、炎性因子和生活质量的影响。方法：回顾性选取2018年3月~2020年12月期间河北省邯郸市中心医院收治的行腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术的胃癌患者93例,根据患者手术方式的不同将患者分为对照组45例和研究组48例,对照组给予左侧后入路的腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术,研究组给予十二指肠优先离断腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术,比较两组围术期指标、应激反应、炎性因子、生活质量以及术后并发症情况。结果：两组清除淋巴结数量对比差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）,研究组手术时间、胃肠道功能恢复时间、住院时间短于对照组,术中出血量少于对照组（P<0.05）。研究组术后3 d、术后5 d血糖、皮质醇、肾上腺素低于对照组（P<0.05）。研究组术后3 d、术后5 d白介素-6（IL-6）、C反应蛋白（CRP）、肿瘤坏死因子-?琢（TNF-?琢）低于对照组（P<0.05）。研究组术后1个月主观症状、生理功能状态、社会活动功能、心理情绪状态评分高于对照组（P<0.05）。两组术后并发症发生率对比无差异（P>0.05）。结论：与左侧后入路的腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术相比,十二指肠优先离断可简化腹腔镜辅助远端胃癌根治术的手术步骤,减少胃癌患者术后应激反应和炎性反应,可有效促进患者术后恢复。     

Molecular dating for phylogenies containing a mix of populations and species by using Bayesian and RelTime approaches

Simultaneous molecular dating of population and species divergences is essential in many biological investigations, including phylogeography, phylodynamics and species delimitation studies. In these investigations, multiple sequence alignments consist of both intra‐ and interspecies samples (mixed samples). As a result, the phylogenetic trees contain interspecies, interpopulation and within‐population divergences. Bayesian relaxed clock methods are often employed in these analyses, but they assume the same tree prior for both inter‐ and intraspecies branching processes and require specification of a clock model for branch rates (independent vs. autocorrelated rates models). We evaluated the impact of a single tree prior on Bayesian divergence time estimates by analysing computer‐simulated data sets. We also examined the effect of the assumption of independence of evolutionary rate variation among branches when the branch rates are autocorrelated. Bayesian approach with coalescent tree priors generally produced excellent molecular dates and highest posterior densities with high coverage probabilities. We also evaluated the performance of a non‐Bayesian method, RelTime, which does not require the specification of a tree prior or a clock model. RelTime's performance was similar to that of the Bayesian approach, suggesting that it is also suitable to analyse data sets containing both populations and species variation when its computational efficiency is needed.     

Detection of Architectural Distortion in Prior Mammograms via Analysis of Oriented Patterns

We demonstrate methods for the detection of architectural distortion in prior mammograms of interval-cancer cases based on analysis of the orientation of breast tissue patterns in mammograms. We hypothesize that architectural distortion modifies the normal orientation of breast tissue patterns in mammographic images before the formation of masses or tumors. In the initial steps of our methods, the oriented structures in a given mammogram are analyzed using Gabor filters and phase portraits to detect node-like sites of radiating or intersecting tissue patterns. Each detected site is then characterized using the node value, fractal dimension, and a measure of angular dispersion specifically designed to represent spiculating patterns associated with architectural distortion.Our methods were tested with a database of 106 prior mammograms of 56 interval-cancer cases and 52 mammograms of 13 normal cases using the features developed for the characterization of architectural distortion, pattern classification via quadratic discriminant analysis, and validation with the leave-one-patient out procedure. According to the results of free-response receiver operating characteristic analysis, our methods have demonstrated the capability to detect architectural distortion in prior mammograms, taken 15 months (on the average) before clinical diagnosis of breast cancer, with a sensitivity of 80% at about five false positives per patient.     

Studies on the regioselectivity and kinetics of the action of trypsin on proinsulin and its derivatives using mass spectrometry

Human M-proinsulin was cleaved by trypsin at the R³¹R³²–E³³ and K⁶⁴R⁶⁵–G⁶⁶ bonds (B/C and C/A junctions), showing the same cleavage specificity as exhibited by prohormone convertases 1 and 2 respectively. Buffalo/bovine M-proinsulin was also cleaved by trypsin at the K⁵⁹R⁶⁰–G⁶¹ bond but at the B/C junction cleavage occurred at the R³¹R³²–E³³ as well as the R³¹–R³²E³³ bond. Thus, the human isoform in the native state, with a 31 residue connecting C-peptide, seems to have a unique structure around the B/C and C/A junctions and cleavage at these sites is predominantly governed by the structure of the proinsulin itself. In the case of both the proinsulin species the cleavage at the B/C junction was preferred (65%) over that at the C/A junction (35%) supporting the earlier suggestion of the presence of some form of secondary structure at the C/A junction. Proinsulin and its derivatives, as natural substrates for trypsin, were used and mass spectrometric analysis showed that the k_cat./K_m values for the cleavage were most favourable for the scission of the bonds at the two junctions (1.02 ± 0.08 × 10⁵ s^− 1 M^− 1) and the cleavage of the K²⁹–T³⁰ bond of M-insulin-RR (1.3 ± 0.07 × 10⁵ s^− 1 M^− 1). However, the K²⁹–T³⁰ bond in M-insulin, insulin as well as M-proinsulin was shielded from attack by trypsin (k_cat./K_m values around 1000 s^− 1 M^− 1). Hence, as the biosynthetic path follows the sequence; proinsulin → insulin-RR → insulin, the K²⁹–T³⁰ bond becomes shielded, exposed then shielded again respectively.