Abstract: Mosquitoes are involved in the transmission of serious diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika virus disease, and filariasis, and their prevention and control have always been a research hotspot. Currently, mosquito control methods mainly include physical control, chemical control and biological control. Physical control methods are environmentally friendly, but they are slow to take effect and have unsatisfactory control effects; although chemical control can quickly eliminate mosquitoes, it has been eliminated due to its high pollution, high residual, and easy drug resistance; biological control uses natural enemies or pathogens to kill mosquitoes and reduce their ability to transmit disease. Therefore, environmentally friendly biological control has become the main measure for controlling and preventing mosquitoes. In recent years, significant progress has been made in bacterial mosquito control agents, among which Bacillus thuringiensis has been the most extensively studied. Bacillus thuringiensis is a Gram-positive soil microorganism, which is the pathogenic bacterium of a variety of agricultural pests such as Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera. During the sporulation process, its strains produce a variety of insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) or δ-endotoxins with insecticidal activity against mosquito larvae. This review firstly introduces the crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis, describes in detail the types and structures of crystal proteins in detail, and also reveals the mechanism of action of crystal proteins related to receptors.

OBJECTIVETo compare the number of harvested perisplenic hilar lymph nodes by laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy (LATG) and conventional open total gastrectomy (OTG) for advanced upper and middle gastric cancer.

METHODSThree hundred twelve patients with advanced gastric cancer treated in a single institution between Sept 2008 and Jan 2011 were included in this study. They were divided into two groups: the LATG group and OTG (D2) group. All the surgical operations were performed by one surgeon or under his supervision. The lymph node clearance outcomes of the patients treated by those two surgical procedures were analyzed.

RESULTSThe harvested lymph node numbers of the two groups were (29.57 ± 9.62) and (29.38 ± 11.22) respectively, statistically with no significant difference (P = 0.875). The numbers of lymph node dissected around the splenic area in the LATG group and OTG group (Section 10, 11 group) were (2.01 ± 1.34) and (1.33 ± 1.11), respectively, indicating a significant difference (P = 0.000). The numbers of lymph nodes dissected around the celiac region (Section 7, 8, 9, 11p and 12a(2) group) were (7.90 ± 3.41) and (7.22 ± 2.65), respectively, with a non-significant difference (P = 0.050). There were also no significant differences while comparing with the numbers of lymph nodes dissected in the cardiac area (group 1, 2), pyloric region (5, 6 group) and the greater and lesser omentum area (group 3 and 4) between the two groups (P = 0.605, P = 0.248, P = 0.262).

CONCLUSIONShort-term results of this study indicate that laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy (D2) is better than conventional open surgery in perisplenic hilar lymph node dissection.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; methods ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Lymph Node Excision ; methods ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; surgery ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Spleen ; Stomach ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether heroin can directly induce apoptosis in primary cultured cortical neurons of rat's brain. METHODS: Cultured primary neurons cultures were obtained from cerebral cortex of embryo rats. After 7 days, the cells were incubated with different concentrations of heroin (purity-80%) for 24 hours. The neuronal survival was assessed by cell viability counting with fluorescent diacetate (FDA) staining. The morphological and biochemical changes were observed with Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining and then analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis, respectively. RESULTS: After treatment with different concentrations of heroin, the neurons showed a decreased survival rate in a dose dependent manner, and there was a significant difference in the survival rate between the heroin group and the control group (P < 0.05). When exposed to different concentrations of heroin, neurons exhibited the morphological and biochemical features of apoptosis, including cell shrinkage, neurite degeneration, network disappearance, condensation and aggregation of nuclear chromatin, and the formation of DNA ladders. With the increase of heroin concentration of rat's brain more apoptotic bodies were seen. CONCLUSION Heroin can directly induce apoptosis in primary cultured cortical neurons in rat's brain.
Animals ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Cell Nucleus/pathology* ; Cell Survival/drug effects* ; Cells, Cultured ; Cerebral Cortex/pathology* ; DNA Fragmentation/drug effects* ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel/methods* ; Female ; Heroin/pharmacology* ; Male ; Neurons/pathology* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Staining and Labeling

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the impact of ABL1–tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) adherence on the survival of chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) children and clarify the potential predictors of patients’ prognosis from TKIs intake practices. Materials and Methods: Ninety newly diagnosed Ph+ ALL patients who received TKIs were enrolled. We collected the baseline characteristics and adverse events in all children; moreover, TKIs adherence was measured by an eight-item Morisky medication adherence scale (MMAS-8). Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) analysis were performed, and risk factors for PFS and OS were evaluated. Results: Among all patients, 69 cases were regarded as adherers, while 21 were non-adherers. The median duration of TKIs interruption was significantly prolonged in the non-adherence group than in the adherence group (13 [0-101] vs. 56 [11-128], p < 0.001). Additionally, dose reduction occurred in 55.2% of non-adherers versus 23.0% of adherers (p=0.002). The PFS and OS in adherers were significantly higher versus non-adherers (p=0.020 and p=0.039). MMAS-8 score was an independent risk factor for PFS (p=0.010) and OS (p=0.031). Among non-adherers, the median OS was only 23.1% (4.2%-42%) in patients aged ≤ 10 years versus 54.4% (38.8%-70%) in adolescents. Most of the patients who experienced TKIs non-adherence suffered pancytopenia. Conclusion TKIs adherence during treatment significantly influenced the survival of pediatric Ph+ ALL patients, and non-adherers with age ≤ 10 years were more vulnerable to TKIs disruption. The cumulative TKIs dose should be especially emphasized to patients with age ≤ 10 years, which may result in an inferior achievement of relevant treatment milestones.

Objective To establish a canine model ofbasilar artery (BA) stent implantation. Methods After angiography, 2.0 mmx8.0 mm metal stents were implanted in the BA of 12 dogs by passing the stents through the vertebral artery V1 segment, anterior radiculomedullary artery, anterior spinal artery S1 segment, anterior spinal artery S2 segment, and vertebral artery V5 segment till reaching the BA using catheter guidewire exchange technique. The dogs surviving the procedure were observed for 4 weeks, and a repeat angiography was performed to detect the presence of vascular stenosis. Results Eleven stents were successfully implanted in the BA of the dogs. On follow-up angiography, BA occlusion was observed in one dog, and the other 10 dogs showed no obvious vascular stenosis or neurological deficits. Conclusion We have establish a safe and efficient stent implantation technique according to the segmentation of the vertebral artery, anterior spinal artery, and BA, which provides the basis for further study of vascular response after intracranial stent implantation.