80%)as a calcium supplement.Methods Weanling SD rats(21 days after birth,n=50)were fed with low calcium forage for 10 days,then were divided into 5 groups randomly with 10 rats in each group,half male and half female.GroupⅠwas control group fed on low calcium forage.GroupⅡ~Ⅲ were fed on low calcium with L-lactic acid calcium.Group Ⅳ~Ⅴ were fed on low calcium forage with ultramicro-mussel shell powder.The experiment period was 4 weeks.The indices were including the eventual weight and length of the rats,the calcium absorption rate of calcium supplement,the concentrations of serum calcium,serum phosphorus,bone calcium,skeletal muscle calcium,myocardial calcium,hemocyte calcium,liver calcium,kidney calcium and the activity of alkaline phosphatase were assessed.Results The effect of ultramicro-mussel shell powder group was similar to L-lactic acid calcium.Conclusion The ultramicro-mussel shell powder can be well absorbed and utilized,and it can be used as a calcium supplement.

With the development of cell separation technique, hepatocyte transplantation becomes a hot topic; however, the application is limited by donor deficiency and immunological rejection. Microencapsulated hepatocytes contribute to the promotion and application for liver cell transplantation, for which provide a large amount of high activity and good function of liver cells, in this paper, liver cell microencapsulation technology and its progress in applications were reviewed, providing prospective way for large-scale and high-active culture in vitro and long-term cryopreservation.

Hepatocyte transplantation may be a viable alternative treatment to liver transplantation for acute/chronic liver failure and metabolic liver disorders. Hepatocyte transplantation is an effective treatment to support liver function around liver transplantation due to its relatively easy manipulation and mild wound. In recent two decades, hepatocyte transplantation have been applied in clinical treatment and showed some effect in acute/chronic liver failure and metabolic liver disorders. Here, we sum up the status of clinical hepatocyte transplantation, discuss its value in clinical application and some challenges need to resolve.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the research literatures related to bioartificial liver, and to make a conclusion concerning the development of bio-artificial liver.DATA SOURCES: Using bioartificial liver, liver cell, hepatocyte culture and bioreactor as search terms, searching Ovid, Springer Link database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Vip Information database and Wanfang Date (1990.09-2008.09). Literatures search was limited to English and Chinese languages.DATA SELECTION: Researches regarding liver cells of bioartificial liver, reactors and auxiliary equipment was included, and the studies about immune and animal infection studies of bioartificial liver were excluded.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ①The source, quantity and culturing of bio-artificial liver hepatocytes. ②Bioreactor type, nature and type of films. ③Composition of oxygen and temperature control devices of bioartificial liver.RESULTS: Totally 3898 documents seized initially in the searching by computer, according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, 29 were analyzed. Bioartificial liver was a hybrid device in which can culture hepatocytes in vitro, when the patient's blood flows through the device, material exchange with the cultured hepatocytes through semi-permeable membrane or direct contacting can take place, which can perform the same roles of detoxification, synthesis, biological transformation and other functions as real liver cells, so as to achieve the purpose of support and treatment. Bioartificial liver can also be involved in metabolism of the three major nutritive substances, as well as secretion of hepatocyte growth promo ting substances. So it is an effective alternative to the real liver as the function of detoxification and synthesis, and can fills the essential gap between the transplantation and acute liver failure.CONCLUSION: Although the bioartificial liver research has made significant progress, it still faces the problems such as limited liver cells sources, long-term maintenance of liver cell activity and function, and further optimization of the reactor design.

Objective To investigate the molecular size distribution and the structure of group B me-ningococcal capsular polysaccharides for the development of vaccines .Methods The molecular size distribution of group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides was analyzed by chromatography on a Sepharose CL -4B col-umn.The molecular weight of repeat units were measured by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).The structural characteristics of group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR) based on the chemical shift of all charac-teristic protons by using group C meningococcal capsular polysaccharides and sialic acid as the controls .Results The KD value of group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides extracted from 15 strains were ranged from 0.60 to 0.76.The molecular weight of repeat units was 284, which was identical to the theoretical value .The group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides were 2→8 linked homopolymers of sialic acid lacking O-acetyl groups.Conclusion The group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides had lower molecular weights , which might result in their poor immunogenicity .The structure of group B meningococcal capsular polysaccharides could be quickly and accurately analyzed by NMR technology .

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of genetic variants among children with refractory epilepsy (RE). METHODS: One hundred and seventeen children with RE who had presented at the Affiliated Jinhua Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from January 1, 2018 to November 21, 2019 were selected as the study subjects. The children were divided into four groups according to their ages of onset: < 1 year old, 1 ~ 3 years old, 3 ~ 12 years old, and >= 12 years old. Clinical data and results of trio-whole exome sequencing were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: In total 67 males and 50 females were included. The age of onset had ranged from 4 days to 14 years old. Among the 117 patients, 33 (28.21%) had carried pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants. The detection rates for the < 1 year old, 1 ~ 3 years old and >= 3 years old groups were 53.85% (21/39), 12.00% (3/25) and 16.98% (9/53), respectively, with a significant difference among the groups (χ² = 19.202, P < 0.001). The detection rates for patients with and without comorbidities were 33.33% (12/36) and 25.93% (21/81), respectively (χ² = 0.359, P = 0.549). Among the 33 patients carrying genetic variants, 27 were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or insertion/deletions (InDels), and 6 were copy number variations (CNVs). The most common mutant genes were PRRT2 (15.15%, 5/33) and SCN1A (12.12%, 4/33). Among children carrying genetic variants, 72.73% (8/11) had attained clinical remission after adjusting the medication according to the references. CONCLUSION 28.21% of RE patients have harbored pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants or CNVs. The detection rate is higher in those with younger age of onset. PRRT2 and SCN1A genes are more commonly involved. Adjusting medication based on the types of affected genes may facilitate improvement of the remission rate.
Infant ; Female ; Male ; Humans ; Child ; Infant, Newborn ; Child, Preschool ; DNA Copy Number Variations ; Drug Resistant Epilepsy/genetics* ; Retrospective Studies ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide