OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of quercetin on primary cultured newborn rat cortex neuron cell which is estrogen depletion, and discuss the possible mechanism, to provide new ideas and strategies for developing a drug of neurodegenerative disease. METHODS Rat cortex neurons were isolated from one day old Sprague Dawley rats and treated with estrogen, quercetin and estrogen receptor antagonists (ICI182,780). Cell viability was determined by MTT assay, neurite outgrowth was measured by fluorescent microsope and estrogen receptors were determine by Western blot. RESULTS Quercetin functions like estrogen to increase cortex neuronal cell viability, the Que (50, 100 μmol·L-1) group compared with the control group could significantly improve the activity of the cortical neurons(P<0.05). It can also increase neurite out growth, the Que (50,100 μmol·L-1) group significantly promoted the formation of synapse, most of the neurons were full, and the synapses of neurons became thick, growth, and connect to a dense neural network. And in the Western blot experiments, Que (50, 100 μmol·L-1) group could obviously increase the expression of estrogen receptor alpha protein, in addition, the neural protective effect of quercetin can be inhibited by ICI182,780. CONCLUSION Quercetin like estrogen can protected cortex neuronal and the effect of quercetin on cortex neuronal cells was mediated by estrogen receptor alpha.

BACKGROUND:Finite element method is widely used in the femoral neck fracture, but the study concerning different fixation methods of femoral neck fracture is not much. OBJECTIVE:To analyze biomechanical properties of different fixation methods for femoral neck fracture using finite element analysis. METHODS:The femur of voluntters was scanned with CT, at thickness 0.6 mm, from the site above the greater trochanter of the femur. Scanning data were saved in .DICOM format. Data of right proximal femur were imported into Mimics software. Osteotomy was performed according to Pauwels I type fracture. Models of two tensile force screws, ful y threaded hol ow screw and proximal femoral locking plate were established. Three-dimensional finite element method was used to analyze stress distribution, stress concentration position, displacement distribution and maximum displacement in different models of femoral neck fracture with different internal fixation methods. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1) The maximum stress value of two lag screws model was biggest. The maximum stress value of ful y threaded hol ow screw model was minimized. The maximum stresses of two lag screws model, ful y threaded hol ow screw model and proximal femoral locking plate model al were concentrated in the fixed end of fractures. (2) The femoral maximum stress of two lag screws model was biggest. The femoral maximum stress value of proximal femoral locking plate model was minimized. The femoral maximum stresses of two lag screws model, ful y threaded hol ow screw model and proximal femoral locking plate model al were concentrated in the medial femoral smal rotor near and medial femoral and fixation contact points. (3) The maximum displacement of two lag screws model was biggest. The maximum displacement of ful y threaded hol ow screw model was minimized. The maximum displacement of two lag screws model, ful y threaded hol ow screw model and proximal femoral locking plate model al was in the femoral head. (4) The maximum displacement value of two lag screws model fixed place was biggest. The maximum displacement value of ful y threaded hol ow screw model fixed place was minimized. The maximum displacement value of two lag screws model was biggest at femoral head. The maximum displacement value of ful y threaded hol ow screw model was minimized at femoral head. (5) Results showed that the treatment effect of ful y threaded hol ow screw on Pauwels I fractures was better than other two fixation methods.

Animals ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Perchlorates ; toxicity ; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds ; toxicity ; Rabbits

Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell ; pathology ; Humans ; Kidney Neoplasms ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; secondary

Animals ; Lung ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Perchlorates ; toxicity ; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds ; toxicity ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Rabbits ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; genetics ; metabolism

Cellulosic material is the most abundant renewable carbon source in the world. Cellulose may be hydrolyzed using cellulase to produce glucose, which can be used for production of ethanol, organic acids, and other chemicals. Cellulase is a complex enzyme containing endoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.4), exoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.91) and cellobiase (EC 3.2.1.21). The hydrolysis of natural cellulose to glucose depends on the synergism of these three components. The mostly used cellulase produced by Trichoderma reesei has high activity of endoglucanase and exoglucanase, but the activity of cellobiase is relatively low. Therefore, improving the activity of cellobiase in cellulase reaction system is the key to enhance the sacchrification yield of cellulosic resources. Aspergillus niger LORRE 012 was a high productivity strain for cellobiase production. It was found that the spores of this strain were rich in cellobiase. In this work, the cellobiase was immobilized efficiently by simply entrapping the spores into calcium alginate gels instead of immobilizing the pure cellobiase proteins. The immobilized cellobiase was quite stable, and its half-life was 38 days under pH 4.8, 50 degrees C. The thermal stability of the immobilized cellobiase was improved, and it was stable below 70 degrees C. The suitable pH range of the immobilized cellobiase was pH 3.0 - 5.0, with the optimal pH value 4.8. The Km and Vmax value of the immobilized cellobiase were 6.01 mmol/L and 7.06 mmol/min x L, respectively. In repeated batch hydrolysis processes, 50 mL of substrate (10 g/L cellobiose) and 10 mL of immobilized beads containing cellobiase were added into a 150 ml flask. After reacting at pH 4.8, 50 degrees C for several hours, the hydrolysate was harvested for assay, and the immobilized beads were used for the next batch hydrolysis with the fresh substrate. This process was repeated, and the yield of enzymatic hydrolysis kept higher than 97% during 10 batches. The continuous hydrolysis process was carried out in a column reactor (inside diameter 2.8 cm, inside height 40 cm) packed with the immobilized beads. Using 10 g/L cellobiose as substrate, the hydrolysis yield reached 98% under 0.4 h (-1) dilution rate and pH 4.8, 50 degrees C. After corncob was treated by 1% dilute acid, the cellulosic residue (100 g/L) was used as substrate, and hydrolyzed by the cellulase (15 IFPU/g substrate) from Trichoderma reesei, at pH 4.8, 50 degrees C for 48 h. The concentration of reducing sugar in the hydrolysate was only 48.50 g/L (hydrolysis yield 69.5%). When the hydrolysate was further treated by the immobilized cellobiase, the cellobiose was hydrolyzed into glucose, and the feedback inhibition caused by the cellobiose accumulation disappeared sharply. By the synergism of immobilized cellobiase and the cellulase from T. reesei left in the hydrolysate, other oligosaccharides were mostly converted to monosaccharides. At 48 h, the reducing sugar concentration was increased to 58.78 g/L, the hydrolysis yield of the corncob residue was improved to 84.2%, and the ratio of the glucose in the total reducing sugar was increased from 53.6% to 89.5%. The reducing sugars converted from corncob could be used further in the fermentation of valuable industrial products. This research results were meaningful in the conversion and utilization of renewable biomass.
Aspergillus niger ; enzymology ; Biotechnology ; Cellobiose ; metabolism ; Enzyme Stability ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Kinetics ; Temperature ; beta-Glucosidase ; chemistry ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo exacted analysis each time interval in isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) of normal subjects through observin the changes of cardiac structure and hemodynamics during the IVRT. Then to provide the evidence of cardiac resynchronization therapy.

METHODSQuantitative analysis was performed for 60 subjects. The dual-channel echocardiography(DCE), pulse wave doppler (PW) and tissue wave dapper (TDI) examination of all the subjects were recorded, and IVRT was divided into two intervals, isovolumic relaxation time of early intervals (IVRTe) and isovolumic relaxation time of late interval (IVRT1). Then measured the time of each interval. Indicators were used including: (1) IVRT; (2) IVRTe; (3) IVRTI; (4) IVRTI/IVRT; calculating the data after heart rate corrected; (5) cIVRT; (6) clVRTe; (7) clVRTI; (8) clVRTI/clVRT; (9) measuring the time difference in mitral blood and tissue (TE-é) of DCE group.

RESULTSThe i-wave within IVRT in PW images was found in 45 subjects, and the i-wave was about 1/2 of IVRT (49.17 +/- 5.37) ms. IVRT was divided into IVRTe and IVRTI by a turning point at descending branch of i-wave as t-point. The j-wave was observed in 84% TDI images, and the j-wave was about 1/2 of IVRT (43.13 +/- 4.83) ms. IVRT was divided into IVRTe and IVRTI by a turning point of the onset of j-wave as t-point. A significant difference was found between PW and TDI with measurement of IVRT, IVRTe, IVRTI (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the common group and DCE group (P > 0.05). After heart rate corrected, the data showed no significant difference using pairwise comparisons among the three groups (P > 0.05). The mean and standard deviation of IVRTI/IVRT, cIVRTI/clVRT were (0.50 +/- 0.12) ms. There were little difference of time intervals and good consistenc using DCE measured IVRT with multiple tests confinmed.

CONCLUSIONThe study found that IVRT might be divided into IVRTe and IVRT1 phases. There were i-wave in IVRTe and j-wave in IVRT1. The t-point was nearly midpoint inisovolumic relaxation time.

Adult ; Diastole ; physiology ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ventricular Function, Left ; physiology

Flexible matching has recently been proposed as a method of improving interactions efficiency. In this study, the concept of flexible matching has been introduced, and the applicability of this strategy has also been described based on the power calculation of interaction between HER-2 polymorphism and smoking with breast cancer. A large-sample approximation method is used to estimate the power and efficiency of gene-environment interactions. In the basic scenario, power of interaction between HER-2 polymorphism and smoking of unmatched case-control study appears to be 30% while in the frequency matching case-control study it is 56%. However, when increasing the smoking prevalence in controls, greater power can be obtained (power=74%). Conclusions: Flexible matching strategies can increase the power and efficiency of case-control studies to detect and estimate the gene-environment interactions when compared with traditional frequency matching and it is especially useful under those scenarios when low environmental exposure of population, adverse gene-environment interactions or less paired controls are seen. Optimal matching design should be made available by weighing the benefits and loss due to flexible matching.

AIM: To investigate the effect of peribulbar anesthesia on intraocular pressure(IOP)and ocular amplitude pulse(OPA).METHODS: Thirty-two consecutive adult patients with monocular cataract enrolled in this study. IOP and OPA were measured with dynamic contour tonometer(DCT)before and 3, 10 minutes after administration of lidocaine anesthesia. Data were analyzed with software SPSS 11.5.RESULTS: The IOP remained stable in the injected eyes and the non-injected eyes after administration of lidocaine anesthesia. The OPA was significantly decreased after injection of anesthesia agent in the injected eyes. The OPA in the non-injected eyes increased significantly 3 minutes after injection of the anesthesia agent, returning to preinjection level 10 minutes after the injection.CONCLUSION: Peribulbar anesthesia leads to decrease of OPA and shows no effect on IOP in the injected eyes.

The skin ulceration syndrome of sea cucumber is a kind of desease induced by bacterium.In order to investigate the bacterium of infected sea cucumber and detect the N-acyl-homoserine lactones(AHLs) se-cretion of the bacterium,7 bacterial strains were isolated from the infected sea cucumber.These strains were identified by physiological-biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence.Results show that strain C6 belongs to Tenacibaculum,strain 4 belongs to Shewanella putrefaciens group,strain TB belongs to Vibrio,strain BP2,BP3,BP4 and BP6 belong to Pseudoalteromonas,respectively.AHLs were detected with strain Agrobacterium tumefaciens KYC55.Among these bacterial strains,strain C6,4,TB,BP3 and BP4 can se-cret AHLs,while strain BP2 and BP6 can’t.And the AHLs activity differs,from the highest to the lowest are 4,TB,BP4,BP3 and C6.