Radiotherapy is the main way to treat the Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. But there are a lot of serious complications, the most common one of then is radioactive xerostomia. It seriously affect the patients's quality of life, even make patients change or stop their radiotherapy. It is extremely important to prevent and treat xerostomia caused by radiotherapy.
Carcinoma ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; complications ; radiotherapy ; Quality of Life ; Radiotherapy ; adverse effects ; Xerostomia ; etiology ; prevention & control

Microbial nitrilases have attracted increasing attention in nitrile hydrolysis for carboxylic acid production in recent years. A bacterium with nitrilase activity was isolated and identified as Pseudomonas putida CGMCC3830 based on its morphology, physiological and biochemical characteristics, as well as 16S rRNA gene sequence. The nitrilase production was optimized by varying culture conditions using the one-factor-at-a-time method and response surface methodology. Glycerol 13.54 g/L, tryptone 11.59 g/L, yeast extract 5.21 g/L, KH2PO4 1 g/L, NaCl 1 g/L, urea 1 g/L, initial pH 6.0 and culture temperature 30 degrees C were proved to be the optimal culture conditions. It resulted in the maximal nitrilase production of 36.12 U/mL from 2.02 U/mL. Investigations on substrate specificity demonstrate P. putida nitrilase preferentially hydrolyze aromatic nitriles. When applied in nicotinic acid synthesis, 2 mg/mL P. putida cells completely hydrolyzed 20.8 g/L 3-cyanopyridine into nicotinic acid in 90 min. The results indicated P. putida CGMCC3830 displayed potential for industrial production of nicotinic acid.
Aminohydrolases ; biosynthesis ; Culture Media ; Hydrolysis ; Niacin ; biosynthesis ; Nitriles ; metabolism ; Pseudomonas putida ; enzymology ; Pyridines ; metabolism ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S ; genetics ; Substrate Specificity ; Temperature

Objective To investigate the prevalence and epidemiologic characteristics of hypothyroidism among community population in Jiangsu province. Methods The residents who had lived for at least five years and aged more than 20 years old were sampled from six layers in urban and rural districts of Jiangsu province by a stratified cluster sampling technique. Serum was sampled from 7 122 subjects and sTSH was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay, and FT3 and FT4 were determined in the subjects with abnormal sTSH level. Results (1) The crude prevalences of overt hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism were 0.66% and 7.53% respectively in total population, with the respective standardized rates of 0.43% and 6.28%. (2)The prevalences of hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism were significantly higher in females than in males (both P <0.05). (3) The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly increased with advancing age in both female and males (P<0.05). Conclusion Comparing with hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism shows higher prevalence in Jiangsu province, and more attention should be paid to the follow-up and diagnosis of subclinical hypothyroidism.

Objective:To establish standard spatial brain template and ROIs template of 11C-methyl- N-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl)tropane (CFT) PET images for automated quantitative analysis of dopamine transporter (DAT) distribution. Methods:From May 2014 to December 2015, 11C-CFT PET and MRI T 1 brain images of 16 healthy volunteers (3 males, 13 females; age (63.3±6.9) years) from Huashan Hospital, Fudan University were co-registered and smoothed using statistical parametric mapping(SPM)5 software based on MATLAB to create a standard spatial brain template. The ROIs template was established by ScAnVp procedures. These templates were clinically verified by using 11C-CFT PET images of 37 healthy volunteers (23 males, 14 females; age (61.7±7.1) years), 32 Parkinson′s disease (PD) patients (20 males, 12 females; age (61.1±5.4) years), 10 multiple system atrophy with predominant parkinsonism (MSA-P) patients (7 males, 3 females; age (60.8±7.1) years) and 10 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients (5 males, 5 females; age (58.4±6.1) years) from Huashan Hospital, Fudan University between January 2014 and March 2019. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze data. Results:Based on the 11C-CFT PET images and MRI T 1 images of healthy volunteers, a standard spatial brain template for normalization of 11C-CFT PET images was created. The ROIs template was established including seven regions: bilateral caudate, anterior putamen, posterior putamen (along the long axis) and the occipital cortex. The ROIs template was accurately aligned in each verification group. The normal reference values of semi-quantitative DAT distribution in caudate, anterior putamen and posterior putamen were obtained (1.84±0.13, 2.18±0.16, 1.77±0.11). The semi-quantitative values of 11C-CFT uptake in each ROI in patients were significantly lower than those in healthy volunteers ( F values: 49.79-283.83, all P<0.05). Conclusion:The established brain templates with accurate spatial alignment for 11C-CFT image analysis can provide foundational tools for the application of 11C-CFT PET imaging in clinical practice and scientific research.

Gastrointestinal tumors(GT)are characterized by both high malignancy and high mortality and have become the major diseases for prevention in the elderly.GT often present detectable changes, including bleeding and abnormal mucosal morphology.However, many technical difficulties remain in accurately monitoring the tumor itself and related abnormal lesions mentioned above, which are the key factors affecting the early detection rate of gastrointestinal tumors.In recent years, with progresses in artificial intelligence(AI)applications for digestive endoscopy image analysis, biosensors, new biomarkers and other areas, AI holds promise for the detection of bleeding, morphological and structural abnormalities of the mucosa, tumors and other major disorders.Here we review the progress of AI applications in geriatric digestive diseases affecting digestive organs and the mucosa in light of morphology and function, to provide a reference for reducing the incidence of both geriatric emergencies and GT.

Objective:To investigate the protective mechanism of TAK242, a specific inhibitor of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), on the liver of septic rats.Methods:Eighteen male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups ( n = 6 in each group). The septic model was established by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 15 mg/kg. The rats in the TAK242 intervention group received intraperitoneal injection of TAK242 (5 mg/kg) before modeling, while the rats in the septic model group and the control group were injected with the same amount of solvent [10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) + 90% corn oil]. Six hours later, the blood of abdominal aorta was collected and the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The rats were sacrificed to obtain liver, the expression levels of TLR4, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase-3 (caspase-3), nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) and phosphorylated NF-κB p65 (p-NF-κB p65) were detected by Western blotting. Immunohistochemical staining was used to observe NF-κB p65 protein expression in liver, and hepatocyte injury was assessed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. Results:Serum ALT and AST levels in the septic model group were significantly higher than those in the control group [ALT (μg/L): 26.639±7.814 vs. 2.847±2.150, AST (μg/L): 28.442±8.417 vs. 5.779±3.019, both P < 0.01]. The ALT and AST levels in the TAK242 intervention group were significantly lower than those in septic model group [ALT (μg/L): 7.269±3.398 vs. 26.639±7.814, AST (μg/L): 3.580±3.115 vs. 28.442±8.417, both P < 0.01]. Light microscopy showed that the hepatocytes in the septic model group were disordered, with obvious cell edema and increased inflammatory cells infiltration; the hepatocytes in the TAK242 intervention group were more neatly arranged, with significantly reduced hepatocyte edema and reduced inflammatory cells infiltration. Western blotting results showed that caspase-3 protein expression in hepatic tissue of septic model group was significantly higher than that in the control group (caspase-3/GAPDH: 0.794±0.164 vs. 0.482±0.055, P < 0.05), and caspase-3 protein expression in the TAK242 intervention group significantly decreased than that in the septic model group (caspase-3/GAPDH: 0.482±0.056 vs. 0.794±0.164, P < 0.05), which indicated that TAK242 could attenuate hepatocytes apoptosis of septic rats. The expression of IL-6, TNF-α and TLR4 protein and the ratio of p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 in hepatic tissue of septic model group were significantly higher than those in control group (IL-6/GAPDH: 1.442±0.204 vs. 1.019±0.024, TNF-α/GAPDH: 1.089±0.098 vs. 0.806±0.005, TLR4/GAPDH: 1.292±0.085 vs. 0.941±0.087, p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 ratio: 1.936±0.081 vs. 1.579±0.183, all P < 0.05), IL-6, TNF-α and TLR4 protein expression and p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 ratio in the TAK242 intervention group were significantly lower than those in septic model group (IL-6/GAPDH: 1.035±0.042 vs. 1.442±0.204, TNF-α/GAPDH: 0.572±0.096 vs. 1.089±0.098, TLR4/GAPDH: 0.984±0.078 vs. 1.292±0.085, p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 ratio: 1.484±0.255 vs. 1.936±0.081, all P < 0.05), it is suggested that LPS-induced sepsis could activate the inflammatory response mediated by TLR4/NF-κB pathway in liver, and the activation of TLR4/NF-κB pathway was inhibited by TAK242 through the TLR4 pathway, therefore, the inflammation of liver in septic rats was reduced. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the positive expression of NF-κB p65 in liver was significantly increased in the septic model group compared with the control group; the positive expression of NF-κB p65 was significantly reduced in the TAK242 intervention group compared with the septic model group, and there was almost no positive expression in the nucleus. Conclusion:TAK242 could reduce liver function injury and protect the liver by inhibition TLR4/NF-κB pathway in septic rats.