Biotrickling filter often offers a cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional air pollutant control technologies,but major problems with clogging of the filters due to a high biomass accumulation will provent it from the industried uses.In this paper,the effect of the high biomass accumulation in an air pollution treatment with a biotrickling filter is discussed.Two parameters with specific surface area with biofilm growth(?_ f ) and the bed porosity with biofilm(?_ f )are used to analyse its principle of accumulation.Finally,some control measures including chemical methods,physical machine-made methods and other control methods are overviewed.

·Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are common outer retinal degenerative problems, which are also the predominant causes of most blinding retinal diseases. Retinal prosthesis is a promising solution for such photoreceptor degeneration diseases.Most of current concepts for a retinal prosthesis are based on neuronal electrical stimulation. In the past twenty years, retinal prosthesis has been developed in two different directions: epiretinal prosthesis and subretinal prosthesis. Each prosthesis technique has its advantages and disadvantages. For epiretinal prosthesis, it is easier to be implanted and has the advantage of keeping most of the electronics in the vitreous cavity, off the retinal surface, which greatly helps in dissipating the heat generated by the implant device. In this paper, a brief overview of retinal prostheses concepts is introduced. After that, several important aspects of epiretinal electrical stimulation will be discussed. Moreover, some practical epiretinal prosthesis devices developed by researchers in United States, Germany and Japan in the past have been reviewed. We hope that the devices will be used widely in the near future.

Objective To evaluate the blood supply features and effectiveness of arterial chemoembolization for pedunculated hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods Angiography and chemoembolization via supplying blood arteries of tumor were performed in five patients with pedunculated hepatocellular carcinoma.Interventional procedure was carried out with tumor vascular infusion of 350 mg hot elemene emulsion and tumor embolization by cisplantin-lipidol emulsion(cisplantin 60-80 mg+lipidol 8-15 ml)and glutin.Results Ten interventional procedures(TACE)were undertaken in 5 patients.Angiography showed that tumor blood supply mainly coming from collateral circulation adjacent to the tumors,but partially from hepatic artery.Tumor sizes decreased from 30% to 50% in 5 cases,and AFP declined in 4 cases after the treatment. Conclusion Pedunculated hepatocellular carcinoma possessing different blood supply features from intrahepatocellular carcinomas.But transarterial ehemoembolization is still an effective method of choice for this treatment.

0.05)between the two groups.Conclu- sion The long-term outcomes of e-CHB is not markedly different compared with that of e+CHB.

Objective To investigate the influential factors and the control measures thereof iodine salt detection with oxidation-reduction titration method so as to improve the detection quality.Methods 122 samples were obtained randomly from four counties(districts)of Sichuan Province to determine iodine ions forms.In center for diseases control and prevention(CDC)laboratories at the provincial and county levels,iodine contents in the samples were determined with oxidation-reduction titration and the results were compared between laboratories.The provineial lahoratory also employed bromine water oxidation for method comparison.Also the volume fractions of chlorine available were determined in sodium hypochlorite storage in open or sealed status and of different storage periods of 1,2,4,7,14,30 and 60 days.Results The iodine transformed from 103- to I-during the shipment and storage;The iodine contents in the 122 salt samples determined by the laboratories at the provincial and county levels were respectively(32.40±8.44),(31.10±8.34)mg/kg with a result discrepancy of 1.33 mg/kg.Of all the absolute discrepancy values,18.8%(23/122)were lower than or equal to 1 mg/kg;23.0%(28/122)were equal to or higher than 3 mg/kg;23.0%(28/122)were lower than or equal to 5 mg/kg;26.2%(32/122)were lower than or equal to 10 mg/kg;9.0%(11/122)were higher than 10 mg/kg.After the botdes were opened and stood for 60 days,the available chlorine content in the sodium hypochlorite decreased by 43.6%and 32.5%respectively in open and sealed status,Iodine contents were respectively(32.60±8.44),(32.50±8.18)mg/kg(n=114)with the oxidationreduction titration method and bromine water oxidation method,and no significant difierence was found between the results of the two methods(t=0.282,P＞0.05).Conclusions Potassium iodate in salt in Sichuan is Dmne to transform into potassium iodide during shipping,so when determining salt iodine with the oxidation-reduction titration method,the content and the amount of chlorine available in the sodium hypochlorite differ a lot and are difficult to control.Therefore.bromine water oxidation titration is recommended.

OBJECTIVETo explore the influence of verbal working memory load on associative neural networks.

METHODSTwenty-one subjects were required to complete a verbal delayed matching-to-sample task under the condition of low (3 items) or high (5 items) working memory load (WML). The 19-channels event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed with statistical parametric mapping.

RESULTSA significant difference in working memory capacity (WMC) was found between low WML and high WML groups [2.48∓0.30 vs 3.30∓0.76; t(20)=5.950, P=0.000]. Statistical parametric mapping revealed that during the encoding stage, the effects of WML appeared in succession in the right ventral attention network (rVAN), the dorsal attention network, and the language areas in the left hemisprere. During the maintenance stage, the effects WML occured in the rVAN acompanied by either DAN or left frontal-temporal regions. CONCLUSIONS;onclusions When the WML is beyond the WMC, the rVAN may participate in the prevention of interference among items and in the activation of long-term memory.

Attention ; Evoked Potentials ; Frontal Lobe ; physiology ; Humans ; Memory, Short-Term ; Spatio-Temporal Analysis

Objective To discuss the expression of interleukin-32 (IL-32) in glioma and its regulatory mechanism. Methods RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of IL-32 in CHG-5 and U251 cell lines in vitro cultured for 3 d.And then, 10 ng/mL IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), TNF-β and interferon-gamma(IFN-γ) were put into U251 cell lines for 24 h,and RT-PCR was employed to detect the mRNA expression of IL-32; meanwhile,RT-PCR was also employed to detect the mRNA expression of IL-32 after the treatment of IL- 1 β,TNF-α and IFN-γ for different times,respectively. Results The mRNA expression of IL-32 in U251 cells was (6.41±1.12)-fold higher than that in CHG-5 cells (P＜0.05);the protein expression level of IL-32 in U251 cells (0.95±0.42) was significantly higher than that in CHG-5 (0.28±0.13,P＜0.05).IL-1β,TNF-α and IFN-γ markedly enhanced the IL-32 mRNA expression at 24 h after treatment as compared with that before treatment, and dose- and time-dependent manners of IL-32 mRNA expression were noted (P＜0.05). Conclusion High expression of IL-32 is noted in glioma; IL-1β, TNF-α and IFN-γ can regulate the IL-32 mRNA expression with dose- and time-dependent manners.

The aim of this study was to investigate the cryobiological characteristics of placental cord blood (PCB) cryopereserved by using BioArchive auto-preserved liquid nitrogen system (BioArchive system). After Hespan depletion of red blood cells, 5 ml mixture of DMSO and 10% Dextran 40 were added into 20 ml of enriched leukocyte. 53 PCB units were cryopreserved as following protocol: pre-freeze rate 10 degrees C/min, start freeze temperature -3 degrees C, end freeze temperature -10 degrees C to -15 degrees C, post freeze rate 2 degrees C/min, and end temperature -50 degrees C. After rapid thawing at 38 degrees C, the PCB were washed with 5% human serum albumin -10% Dextran 40 and centrifuged at 400 x g, 10 degrees C for 20 minutes. The results showed that the viability of nucleated cells post-thaw was (73.3 +/- 12.5)%, the CD34(+) cell content was (0.3 +/- 0.21)% for pre-freeze PCB and (0.45 +/- 0.36)% for post-t haw PCB. No significant difference for CFU-GM/-G/-GEMM counts was found between pre-freeze and post-thaw PCB. Thawed PCB contained in two compartments (20 ml and 5 ml) of a freezing bag showed similar viability and clonogenic capacity. Differential count of white blood cell was significantly changed. For post-thaw PCB, it was dramatically decreased for the percentage of granulocytes, and highly increased for the percentage of lymphocytes and monocytes. It was concluded that the condition for cryopreservation and thawing of PCB may be harmful to mature cells, and cells with large size, such as granulocyte, but suitable to lymphocyte and monocyte, especially for the cells with small size, such as CD34(+) cells.
Antigens, CD34 ; immunology ; Blood Preservation ; instrumentation ; methods ; Cell Survival ; Cryopreservation ; methods ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; cytology ; immunology ; Granulocytes ; cytology ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; cytology ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; cytology ; Monocytes ; cytology ; Placenta ; cytology ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo evaluate their long-term outcome and the efficacy and economic significance of antiviral drugs by investigating the long-term health-related quality of life (HQL) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

METHODSThe HQL of 101 CHB patients with biopsy-proven 6 to 18 years ago and 105 persons of general population as control was studied with revised SF-36 questionnaire.

RESULTSThe HQL in CHB patients was lower than that in general population in physical functioning, role physical, general health, mental health, and specific symptoms (mu > or = 2.10, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe long-term HQL in chronic hepatitis B patients is poor.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Cost of Illness ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; drug therapy ; economics ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo study the effects of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) on the cell cycle distribution and activities of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal molecules (ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38) in human embryo lung cells (HELF), and to investigate the relationship between alterations of MAPK protein phosphorylation and the cell cycle distributions.

METHODSThe phosphorylation of MAPK were induced by exposing HELF cells to BaP at 0.1, 0.5, 2.5 and 12.5 micromol/L. The phosphorylation and protein expression levels of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 were determined through western-blotting assay. And the flow cytometry assay was used to measure the cell cycle effects in HELF cells after treatment with 2.5 micromol/L BaP for 24 h.

RESULTSThe phosphorylation levels of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 were significantly increased through BaP exposure. In addition, the phosphorylation of these three MAPKs has similar alteration pattern. We found that exposure of cells to 2.5 microM of BaP for 24 h resulted in a decrease of G(0) and G(1) population by 11.9% (F = 41.38, P < 0.01) and an increase of S population by 17.2% (F = 68.13, P < 0.01). Three chemical inhibitors of MAPK (AG126, SP600125 and SB203580) could significantly inhibit the cell cycle alteration because of BaP treatment.

CONCLUSIONERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 could positively regulate the BaP independently induced cell cycle alterations.

Benzo(a)pyrene ; toxicity ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Fibroblasts ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Lung ; cytology ; embryology ; MAP Kinase Kinase 4 ; metabolism ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; drug effects ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 ; metabolism ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 ; metabolism ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 8 ; metabolism ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 9 ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism