Objective To study the effect of electroacupuncture on the behavior of APP/PS1 transgenic mice of different age, and to explore the optimal intervention time of electroacupuncture in treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). Method APP/PS1 double-transgenic mice of 4 months, 6 months and 9 months old, 20 in each age group, were randomized into a model group and an electroacupuncture group, and ten C57BL/6 wild-type mice were taken as a control group; after 6-week electroacupuncture treatment, the Morris water maze was adopted for spatial memory and behavioral test, and the changes of behavior in each group were observed.Result Of the 5-month-old mice, there were no significant between-group differences (P>0.05), while the time factor (day) produced a statistical significance (P<0.01); of the 7-month-old mice, there were significant differences considering the different groups, time factor and interaction (P<0.01); of the 10-month-old mice, there were significant differences considering the different groups, time factor and interaction (P<0.05). The spatial probe test showed that there were significant between-group differences in comparing the platform crossings and swimming distance in platform quadrant in each age group (P<0.05).Conclusion Electroacupuncture can improve the learning and memory of APP/PS1 double-transgenic mice, the age of 6-7 months old is possibly the optimal intervention time of electroacupuncture for AD, but there still requires further mechanism studies.

Objective:To compare the effectiveness between three methods for purifying the immunoglobulin of egg yolk(IgY) which are polyethylene glycol (PEG) method, chloroform extraction method and chloroform / PEG method, and to provide basis for obtaining the batch of IgY.Methods:The inactivated vaccine of Vibrio parahemolyticus (V. parahemolyticus) was prepared and the hens were immunized by multi-point intramuscular injection.The eggs were collected and the IgY was purified by PEG method, chloroform extraction method and chloroform/PEG method.The protein extraction rate, the IgY titer and the purity of the antibody which purified by different methods were detected.Furthermore, the operation process, cost and safety of the three methods were analyzed.Results:The protein contents of the extraction belonging three methods from high to low in turn were chloroform extraction method, chloroform/PEG method, and PEG method.There was no significant difference in the antibody titer between three methods, and the tiler of chloroform extraction method was slightly high.The purities of purified antibody from high to low in turn were PEG method, chloroform/PEG method and chloroform method.The PEG method had better security but relatively lower extraction efficiency and higher cost.The chloroform/PEG method had high extraction efficiency and good antibody purity.Conclusion:The PEG method is suitable for a small amount of extraction in the laboratory.The chloroform/PEG method is appropriate for extracting the high quality IgY in a batch as it has high extraction efficiency and good antibody purity.

Objective:To observe any effect of electroacupuncture applied to the Jialianquan points in treating post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia.Methods:Forty-five stroke survivors with oropharyngeal dysphagia were randomly divided into an electroacupuncture group ( n=15), a neuromuscular electrical stimulation group ( n=15) and a control group ( n=15). All groups received 30 minutes of routine swallowing function training 5 times a week for 3 weeks. The electroacupuncture group was additionally provided with 30 minutes of electroacupuncture applied to the Jialianquan (CV23) points, and the neuromuscular electrical stimulation group instead received 30 minutes of neuromuscular electrical stimulation over the bilateral submental muscles. Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies were performed before and after the 3 weeks of treatment. Standardized swallowing assessment was conducted producing functional oral intake scale ratings, modified barium swallow impairment profiles and the penetration-aspiration scale scores. Surface electromyography was also employed to evaluate submental muscle functioning through measuring the swallowing time, average EMG (AEMG) value and peak amplitude. Results:After the treatment, significant improvement was observed in all of the evaluations with both groups, but the average scores were significantly better in the electroacupuncture and neuromuscular electrical stimulation groups compared with the control group and significantly better in the electroacupuncture group than in the neuromuscular electrical stimulation group.Conclusion:Electroacupuncture at the Jialianquan point can significantly improve the swallowing of stroke survivors with oropharyngeal dysphagia. It is more effective than neuromuscular electric stimulation.

Objective:To observe any effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the cognition of stroke survivors and the integrity of their white matter fibers.Methods:Thirty persons with post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) were randomly divided into an experimental group ( n=15) and a control group ( n=15). In addition to basic drug therapy and routine cognition training, the experimental group received 20 minutes of tDCS daily, 5 days per week for 3 weeks, while the control group received sham tDCS stimulation. Before and after the treatment, both groups′ cognitive functioning was evaluated using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and the Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA). Their ability in the activities of daily living (ADL) was quantified using the modified Barthel index (MBI). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was employed to observe any changes in the integrity of their white matter fibers. Results:The average MMSE, MOCA and MBI scores of both groups had improved significantly after the treatment, but the improvement in the experimental group was significantly greater than among the controls. The average fractional anisotroposy value of the affected inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in both groups was positively correlated with the group′s average MMSE score and MoCA score.Conclusion:tDCS can effectively improve the cognition and functioning in the activities of daily living of stroke survivors. Its mechanism may be related to improving the integrity of the white matter fibers involved.

Objective: To establish a method for determining cyclohexanol in urine by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS/SPME) coupled with gas chromatography (GC) . Methods: After the urine sample was hydrolyzed by β-glucuronidase, 2.0 g of NaCl was added, then the analyte in urine was adsorbed by a CAR/PDMS solid phase micro-extraction head in a water bath at 50 ℃ for 20 min. And the extraction head was inserted into the gas chromatograph gasification chamber to desorb, the analyte was detected after separated by the capillary through the flame ionization detector. Results: The linear range of the method was 0.1-5.0 mg/L with the correlation coefficients (r) 0.999. The average recovery was 84.5%-96.3%, the inter-day precision was 3.81%-6.00%, and the detection limit was 0.03 mg/L. Conclusion The method is founded to be low detection limit, simple operation and no need of organic solvent. So it is suitable for the detection of cyclohexanol in urine of occupational exposure to cyclohexanone.

Objective: To establish a method for the determination of 1-methoxy-2-propanol in urine using headspace solid phase micro-extraction coupled with gas chromatography. Methods: The 1-methoxy-2-propanol was enriched by headspace solid phase micro-extraction fiber coated with carbene/polydimethylsiloxane (CAR/PDMS) . Single factor rotation method was used to optimize the conditions of extraction temperature, salt amount, and extraction time. The separation was performed on DB-5 (30 m×0.32 mm×0.25 μm) capillary column and detected with flame ionization detector. The quantification was based on the standard curve. Results: The concentration of 1-methoxy-2-propanol in urine was linear in the range of 0.50-10.0 mg/L, and the linear correlation coefficient was 0.9993. The detection limit of the method was 0.14 mg/L, and the limit of quantification was 0.45 mg/L. The recovery was 85.8% to 104.7%, and the RSD of intra- and inter-batch precision were 3.25%-6.65% and 0.81%-3.96%, respectively. Conclusion The method is high sensitivity and simple operation, and is suitable for the determination of 1-methoxy-2-propanol in urine of occupational exposure population.

Objective To establish a lncRNA prognostic risk model for gastrointestinal tumors based on the TCGA database and evaluate the prognosis of patients. Methods We collected the data of patients with esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer and rectal cancer in the TCGA database. Univariate Cox analysis, Lasso and multivariate Cox analysis were performed to construct the prognostic risk scoring model. The model was validated and tested for independence. Time-dependent ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the clinical application value of the model. Results We established a prognostic risk model based on 13 lncRNAs. The three-year AUC of the training set and the validation set were 0.746 and 0.704, respectively. The pan-cancer data set was divided into high- and low-risk groups for survival analysis. The 5-year survival rate of the low-risk group was significantly higher than that of the high-risk group; among all cancer types, the five-year survival rates of the low-risk group were higher than those of the high-risk group. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that the risk score could be an independent indicator of prognosis. Conclusion The 13-gene prognostic risk score model is constructed successfully. The risk score obtained by this model can be used as an independent prognostic predictor of the patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

Developing new therapeutic agents for cancer immunotherapy is highly demanding due to the low response ratio of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in cancer patients. Here, we discovered that the novel immune checkpoint VISTA is highly expressed on a variety of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, especially myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and CD8⁺ T cells. Then, peptide C1 with binding affinity to VISTA was developed by phage displayed bio-panning technique, and its mutant peptide VS3 was obtained by molecular docking based mutation. Peptide VS3 could bind VISTA with high affinity and block its interaction with ligand PSGL-1 under acidic condition, and elicit anti-tumor activity in vivo. The peptide DVS3-Pal was further designed by d-amino acid substitution and fatty acid modification, which exhibited strong proteolytic stability and significant anti-tumor activity through enhancing CD8⁺ T cell function and decreasing MDSCs infiltration. This is the first study to develop peptides to block VISTA/PSGL-1 interaction, which could act as promising candidates for cancer immunotherapy.