Objective To investigate the clinical effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with body-weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) on patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods Four patients with chronic incomplete SCI participated in this study.They were first treated with rTMS and then BWSTT training.They were assessed with clinical measures of function.Two of the four patients were assessed in terms of their H reflex,and using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a balance performance monitor (BPM).Results In two of the four patients,American spinal injury association (ASIA) clinical measures of motor and sensory function improved,as did 10 m walking speed and their sense of effort.In static balance tests,the sway path and sway area of the two patients both decreased.These improvements lasted for 3 weeks after the intervention.The two patients' maximum H reflex amplitude and the H/M amplitude ratio decreased.The fMRI results showed progressive enlargement of the activation volume of the movement-related M1 region after treatment.Conclusion High-frequency rTMS combined with BWSTT may improve motor function,elevate excitability of spinal motor neurons and improve the plasticity of the cerebral cortex in chronic incomplete SCI patients.

To evaluate the ability of microbial mix-culture fermenting syngas into ethanol, we studied the microbial mix-cultures A-fm 4, G-fm 4, Lp-fm 4 and B-fm 4 obtained by enrichment and compared with Clostridium autoethanogenum DSM10061 with 10% and 25% inoculation size. The results show that, with 10% inoculation size, the ethanol production of A-fm 4, G-fm 4, Lp-fm 4, B-fm 4 and C. autoethanogenum were 349.15, 232.16, 104.25, 79.90 and 26.99 mg/L respectively. With 25% inoculation size, the ethanol production were 485.81, 472.73, 348.58, 272.52 and 242.15 mg/L respectively. Higher inoculation size will increase the production of ethanol. The tested mix-culture exhibited a significant yield advantage compared with the maximum production of C. autoethanogenum reported in the literature (259.64 mg/L). This research provided a practical method to improve ethanol production from syngas.
Bacteria ; classification ; metabolism ; Clostridium acetobutylicum ; metabolism ; Ethanol ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Gases ; metabolism ; Hydrogen ; metabolism

Objective To discuss the correlation between family history of malignant neoplasms (MN-FH) and the clinicopathological features of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods The clinicopathological data of 326 patients with NSCLC in Yangzhou University Affiliated Hospital from June 2016 to June 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups based on with or without MN-FH, and the clinicopathological features of the two groups were analyzed by χ 2 test. Results Of the 326 patients with NSCLC, 41 (12.6％) were in the MN-FH group and 285 (87.4％) in the MN-FH group. There were no significant differences in sex, age, smoking, location of tumors and histological classification between patients with or without MN-FH (χ 2 values were 0.031, 0.769, 0.546, 0.117, and 0.945, all P > 0.05), but in patients with MN-FH, the proportion of tumor diameter < 5 cm [65.9％ (27/41) vs. 42.5％(121/285), χ 2 = 14.173, P < 0.05], undifferentiation and low differentiation [70.7％ (29/41) vs. 53.7％(153/285), χ 2 = 4.224, P < 0.05], TNM stage Ⅲ+Ⅳ [65.9％ (27/41) vs. 46.7％ (133/285), χ 2 = 5.280, P <0.05], lymph node metastasis [78.0％ (32/41) vs. 60.0％ (171/285), χ 2 = 4.970, P < 0.05], distant metastasis [75.6％ (31/41) vs. 53.3％ (152/285), χ 2 = 7.224, P < 0.05], high degree of malignancy [70.7％ (29/41) vs. 51.6％ (147/285), χ 2 = 5.293, P < 0.05] and combination of other tumors [29.3％ (12/41) vs. 7.7％ (22/285),χ 2 = 17.817, P < 0.05] were significantly higher than those in patients without MN-FH. Conclusions NSCLC patients with MN-FH have a higher degree of malignancy. For people with MN-FH, physical examination is very important.

【Objective】 To study the relationship between the plasma IgG, IgM, neutralizing antibody titer and sex, age, collection interval in convalescent patients with COVID-19, so as to guide the plasma collection of convalescent patients with COVID-19. 【Methods】 COVID-19 convalescent plasma was collected to determine the antibody titer, and the difference and correlation of data in each group were analyzed by SPSS statistical analysis software. 【Results】 The median titers (AU/mL)of IgG, IgM and neutralizing antibodies in males and females were 484.24 vs 516.04, 2.13 vs 1.73, and 1 124.74 vs 1 143.99, respectively, and there was no significant difference(P>0.05) . Age had weak positive correlation with IgG and neutralizing antibody, and the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.188 (P<0.05). The median titers (AU/mL) of IgG, IgM and neutralizing antibody at first donation of 30 repeated donors were 522.3, 2.64 and 1 174.6, respectively, but at second donation were 332.08, 0.63 and 708.96, showing significant difference (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 There was no significant difference in the plasma IgG, IgM and neutralizing antibody titers in convalescent COVID-19 patients of different ages and genders, and the titers met the requirements of clinical treatment guidelines. Although the plasma antibody level of repeated donors has decreased, it still has clinical value.

It has become a hotspot and keystone in gene engineering and bioengineering to produce recombinant proteins through heterologous expression systems. Unfortunately, not all the genes could be successfully and effectively expressed in heterologous hosts. The role of gene itself in regulating translation process through its intrinsic sequence characteristics such as codon bias, codon pair bias, GC content, mRNA secondary structure and mRNA stability, has been gradually elucidated. Here we review these factors that influence the translation processes and their corresponding optimization methods in the process of gene design. We emphatically discussed codon bias and codon pair bias and their optimization methods. In particular, the latest theories of codon harmonization and codon pair harmonization were discussed and compared with the traditional codon and codon pair optimization strategies in gene design.
Codon ; genetics ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Genes, Synthetic ; genetics ; Protein Biosynthesis ; genetics ; Protein Engineering ; methods ; trends ; RNA Stability ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics