草酸二甲酯对小鼠亚急性吸入毒性的实验研究

为了研究草酸二甲酯吸入染毒对小鼠的急性毒性,观察吸入染毒后小鼠活动状况、记录心电图、计算LD50,实验结束后取血、检测血液学、血液cTnI和生化指标;取脏器,计算脑、心、肝、脾、肺、肾、卵巢、睾丸、附睾脏器系数,观察其病理组织学改变。结果显示,小鼠吸入草酸二甲酯后出现抽搐、烦躁不安、心电图异常等中毒反应,LD50为2.065 4×10-4g/cm3,脑、心、肝、脾、肺、肾、睾丸、卵巢脏器系数明显升高,血液学、血生化指标和cTnI水平出现了异常变化,与对照组比较具有显著性差异(P0.05或P0.01);心、肺、肝、小肠和肾组织出现了严重受损。由此可见,草酸二甲酯吸入染毒具有较强的毒性,可引起小鼠心电图、血液中cTnI水平、血液学和血生化指标异常改变,可导致心、肺、肝、小肠和肾脏出现病变。本实验为乙二醇合成过程中产生的碳酸二甲酯职业危害防治提供实验依据。     

肝硬化失代偿期患者并发解没食子酸链球菌血流感染1例

解没食子酸链球菌是革兰阳性D族链球菌,属牛链球菌/马链球菌复合群。该菌为机会性致病菌,可引起多部位、多脏器感染,但肝硬化失代偿期患者并发解没食子酸链球菌血流感染的报道较为少见。本例患者因食入不洁食物后出现腹泻伴发热,在寒战、高热时留取血液培养,检出一株革兰阳性菌,经生化实验分析和16S rRNA基因测序,确认为解没食子酸链球菌解没食子酸亚种。根据药敏试验结果,调整抗感染方案,给予美罗培南0.5 g q8h 静脉滴注7 d后,序贯左氧氟沙星0.5 g qd巩固治疗7 d,患者体温恢复正常后出院,随访无复发。     

Hsa_circ_0002577 promotes endometrial carcinoma progression via regulating miR-197/CTNND1 axis and activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway

Circular RNA (circRNA) is involved in a wide range of life processes including tumorigenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms of circRNA in endometrial carcinoma (EC) carcinogenesis remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential modulation of hsa_circ_0002577 on EC progression. Here, we showed that hsa_circ_0002577 expression was significantly upregulated in EC tissues, and high hsa_circ_0002577 expression was associated with advanced FIGO stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor overall survival rate of EC patients. In function assays, we demonstrated that hsa_circ_0002577 knockdown significantly reduced EC cells proliferation, migration, invasion ability in vitro and decreased tumor growth in vivo. In mechanism study, we revealed that hsa_circ_0002577 might act as a sponge for miR-197, and CTNND1 was revealed to be a target gene of miR-197. In addition, we revealed that the oncogenic effects of hsa_circ_0002577 were attributed to the regulation of miR-197/CTNND1/Wnt/β-catenin axis. Taken together, we indicated that hsa_circ_0002577 could play critical functions by hsa_circ_0002577/miR-197/CTNND1/Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which served as a novel therapeutic application for EC treatment.     

Plant traits interacting with sediment properties regulate sediment microbial composition under different aquatic DIC levels caused by rising atmospheric CO2

Plant and Soil - Current knowledge of soil heterogeneity-diversity relationships (HDR) is largely based on studies manipulating single factor, but the advancements in HDR may require a...     

Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecule-2 Reduces Intestinal Epithelial Tight-Junction Damage and Mortality in Septic Rats

Objective

Damage to intestinal epithelial tight junctions plays an important role in sepsis. Recently we found that Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecule-2 (CORM-2) is able to protect LPS-induced intestinal epithelial tight junction damage and in this study we will investigate if CORM-2 could protect intestinal epithelial tight junctions in the rat cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model.

Materials and Methods

The CLP model was generated using male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats according to standard procedure and treated with CORM-2 or inactive CORM-2 (iCORM-2), 8 mg/kg, i.v. immediately after CLP induction and euthanized after 24h or 72h (for mortality rate only). Morphological changes were investigated using both transmission electron and confocal microscopy. The levels of important TJ proteins and phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC) were examined using Western blotting. Cytokines, IL-1β and TNF-α were measured using ELISA kits. The overall intestinal epithelial permeability was evaluated using FD-4 as a marker.

Results

CORM-2, but not iCORM-2, significantly reduced sepsis-induced damage of intestinal mucosa (including TJ disruption), TJ protein reduction (including zonula occludens-l (ZO-1), claudin-1 and occludin), MLC phosphorylation and proinflammatory cytokine release. The overall outcomes showed that CORM-2 suppressed sepsis-induced intestinal epithelial permeability changes and reduced mortality rate of those septic rats.

Conclusions

Our data strongly suggest that CORM-2 could be a potential therapeutic reagent for sepsis by suppressing inflammation, restoring intestinal epithelial barrier and reducing mortality.     

Glycometabolism regulates hepatitis C virus release

HCV cell-culture system uses hepatoma-derived cell lines for efficient virus propagation. Tumor cells cultured in glucose undergo active aerobic glycolysis, but switch to oxidative phosphorylation for energy production when cultured in galactose. Here, we investigated whether modulation of glycolysis in hepatocytes affects HCV infection. We showed HCV release, but not entry, genome replication or virion assembly, is significantly blocked when cells are cultured in galactose, leading to accumulation of intracellular infectious virions within multivesicular body (MVB). Blockade of the MVB-lysosome fusion or treatment with pro-inflammatory cytokines promotes HCV release in galactose. Furthermore, we found this glycometabolic regulation of HCV release is mediated by MAPK-p38 phosphorylation. Finally, we showed HCV cell-to-cell transmission is not affected by glycometabolism, suggesting that HCV cell-to-supernatant release and cell-to-cell transmission are two mechanistically distinct pathways. In summary, we demonstrated glycometabolism regulates the efficiency and route of HCV release. We proposed HCV may exploit the metabolic state in hepatocytes to favor its spread through the cell-to-cell transmission in vivo to evade immune response.     

The Detoxification of Heavy Metals in the Phosphate Tailing-contaminated Soil through Sequential Microbial Pretreatment and Electrokinetic Remediation

In this paper, the heavy metals (HMs) in the phosphate tailing-contaminated soil were detoxified using the microbial pretreatment in combination with electrokinetic remediation (EKR).. This study provides compelling evidence that the sequential usage of the bioleaching and electrokinetics is superior to the individual method for the detoxification of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, and As from the contaminated soil. In the sequential system, the detoxification efficiency of Zn was the highest and that of As was the lowest. Except the element As, the detoxification efficiencies of HMs in the sequential system were generally higher than that using the single biological treatment and EKR technique. Bioleaching, generation of the passivation, and migration direction of the ions are concluded as the factors attributable to the final results; and, the initial increase in the inoculation doping of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans considered has no obvious impact on improving the final detoxification efficiency rates.     

SUPPRESSING A PEROXIDASE GENE REDUCES SURVIVAL IN THE WHEAT APHID Sitobion avenae

Peroxidases (POXs) make up a large superfamily of enzymes that act in a wide range of biological mechanisms, including maintaining appropriate redox balances within cells, among other actions. In this study, we cloned a sequence that encodes a POX protein, SaPOX, from wheat aphids, Sitobion avenae. Amino acid sequence alignment showed the SaPOX sequence was conserved with POXs from other insect species. SaPOX mRNA accumulations were present in all nymphal and adult stages, at higher levels during the first and second instar, and lower during later stages in the life cycle. Ingestion of dsRNA specific to POX led to reduced SaPOX mRNA accumulation. Sitobion avenae nymphs continuously exposed to dietary dsPOX via an artificial diet led to reduced survival rate and ecdysis index. We infer that POX is important to maintain the growth and development of S. avenae.