Objective To investigate the construction of Streptococcus mutans luxS gene knockout mutant which can act as the technical platform for following researches on luxS quorum sensing function in oral ecosystem.Methods Erythromycin resistance gene was inserted between two 1 kb fragments containing regions of DNA immediately upstream and downstream of the luxS translational start and stop codons.The resuhing construct was linearized and electro-transformed into Streptococcus mutans cells.After allelic exchange,the luxS gene knockout mutant strains were selected on 10μg/ml erythromycin plates,and compared the growth and biofilms formation of luxS knockout mutant with wild type strains.Results The luxSknockout mutant was confirmed by PCR,and it was also confirmed that this gene mutant could be stably passed through in vitro.The growth mode of luxS knockout mutant showed obvious difierences against that of wild type at stationary phase,the knockout mutant gained more bacteria cells growth.Conclusion Streptococcus mutans luxS gene has been successfully disrupted with allelic exchange.This mutant strains showed higher growth abilitv which could be the consequence of quorum sensing mutant.

Objectives To explore the correlation between the population characteristics of sero-reactivity with quantitative antibody based-IHA and the transmission parameters,such as epidemic situation,transmission status or infection trend in population.Methods The residents in one endemic administrative village were simultaneously examined by Kato-Katz technique for parasitological stool examination,as well as by immuno-diagnostic technique IHA for detection of IgG antibody against soluble egg antigen for two consecutive years.The results of examination were analyzed and compared on the diagnostic parameters of IHA,the correlation of the changes of positive rates and antibody levels of IHA with the changes of infection trend in population and the distribution of antibody levels between 'the true negative' and 'the true positive'.Results When Kato-Katz technique based on 2 stool samples,each read in 3 thick smears,was used as the reference,the overall sensitivity of IHA was high (from 77.27% to 85.48%) with a relatively poor specificity of lower than 60%,the negative predict value (NPV) was excellent of higher than 94%.The specificity of IHA decreased with the increase of the age in different age-groups of population,showing the highest among the younger less than 15 years old.The distribution trends of positive rates of antibody in different age groups by IHA showed similar to that of egg positive rate detected by Kato-Katz although the positive rates of IHA were higher than these by Kato-Katz,which showed that a higher false positive (from 41.90% to 44.56%) and a certain false negative (from 14.52% to 22.73%)existed in IHA.The positive rate of antibody decreased slowly among the individuals with S.japonicum infection,who received treatment.There was an overlap in the distribution of antibody levels between ' the true negative' and ' the true positive'.Conclusions Under the current schistosomiasis epidemic situation in China,IHA is valuable in the epidemiologic surveys.It should be of further deliberation applying IHA as the screening approaches for identification of target individuals for treatment or determination of the infection rate in community and IHA needs to be combined with the parasitological examination.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and effectiveness of high power focused-beam microwave for deep region/whole body heating.MethodsTen 20 cm?20 cm?2 cm Jiang Han-bao prescribtion muscle phantoms were counterpoised exactly to 37 ℃,then piled up under microwave applicator. Nine thermocouples were placed between the phantoms in the center to monitor the temperature during heating. The phantoms were heated with a series of different source-skin distances and powers with the temperature measured every 1-2 min. After heating,the thermal distributive images for the phantoms were attained by liquid crystal plate (LCP) with the temperature of 40-45 ℃. Five swines with 60-75 kg weight were heated 8 times (1-3 times for each swine ) for 120 min each session,with a heating power of 600-800 W. Serum and tissues including liver,kidney,colon-rectum,intestine,muscle,fat and lung were collected for pathologic examination before and after heating. ResultsThe temperature images of 2-10 cm depth attained immediately after heating by LCP showed that the aim temperature (equal or over 40 ℃) was achieved and exhibited uniform thermal distribution in these areas. The tissues of the swines showed no serious damage by either microscopic or electron-microscopic examination. Some serum enzymatic parameters temporarily increased after heating,then reduced to normal level after a short interval (about one week) ConclusionHigh power focused-beam microwave is effective and safe for deep region/whole body heating by either phantoms or animal tests.

Objective To evaluate the effect of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block on postoperative cognitive function in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery under general anesthesia.Methods Forty-eight male patients undergoing laparoscopic tension-free repair of inguinal hernia under general anesthesia,aged 65-75 yr,of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅱ or Ⅲ,with body mass index of 20-28 kg/m2,were divided into 2 groups (n =24 each) using a random number table method:TAP block combined with general anesthesia group (group TG) and general anesthesia group (group G).Anesthesia was induced with midazolam,cisatracurium besylate,sufentanil and etomidate,and the patients were mechanically ventilated after laryngeal mask airway insertion.TAP block was performed through the anterior superior iliac spine approach,and 0.25％ ropivacaine 30 ml was injected in group TG.Anesthesia was maintained by target-controlled infusion of propofol and remifentanil and muscle relaxation by intravenously injecting cisatracurium.The occurrence of cerebral regional oxygen saturation (rSO2) and low rSO2 events (rSO2 ＜60％) was recorded at 1 min before anesthesia induction (T0),5 min after inserting the laryngeal mask airway (T1),at skin incision (T2),30 min after skin incision (T3),and at the end of surgery (T4).The consumption of propofol and remifentanil was recorded during surgery.Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to evaluate the cognitive function of patients at 1 day before surgery and 7 days after surgery,and the development of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD,MoCA scores＜ 26) was recorded.Results Compared with group G,the intraoperative consumption of propofol and remifentanil was significantly reduced,rSO2 was increased at T2~,and the incidence of low rSO2 events was decreased,MoCA scores were increased at 7 days after surgery,and the incidence of POCD was decreased in group TG (P＜0.05).Conclusion TAP block can reduce the incidence of POCD in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery under general anesthesia.

Objective To evaluate the quantity and quality of graphs and tables in medical literature.Methods We conducted a retrospective survey of 750 randomly selected original research articles,from 2011-2015 issues of 5 academic medical journals by using a stratified random sampling method.Paper characteristics,application status,quantity and quality of graphs and tables were analyzed.Results More than 48％ of original research articles contained at least 1 table or graph.The highest frequency of using table and graph was in clinical research.The number of tables and the number of articles with tables were both significantly decreased during 2011-2015 (P=0.034).The most common errors in tables were the inconsistent decimal number and the presentation of numeric data without right alignment.Only 12％ of the articles contained at least 1 graph.Ofthe 175 graphs,bar chart with intervals predominated.Compared with other domains,the completeness of graphs was excellence.Conclusions The result expression in medical research is still dominated by tables.And the quality of graphs is much better than tables.

Metastasis is crucial for the mortality of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in regulating tumor metastasis. Glioma-associated oncogene 1 (Gli1) is aberrantly active in a series of tumor tissues. However, the molecular regulatory relationships between Gli1 and NSCLC metastasis have not yet been identified. Herein, we reported Gli1 promoted NSCLC metastasis. High Gli1 expression was associated with poor survival of NSCLC patients. Ectopic expression of Gli1 in low metastatic A549 and NCI-H460 cells enhanced their migration, invasion abilities and facilitated EMT process, whereas knock-down of Gli1 in high metastatic NCI-H1299 and NCI-H1703 cells showed an opposite effect. Notably, Gli1 overexpression accelerated the lung and liver metastasis of NSCLC in the intravenously injected metastasis model. Further research showed that Gli1 positively regulated Snail expression by binding to its promoter and enhancing its protein stability, thereby facilitating the migration, invasion and EMT of NSCLC. In addition, administration of GANT-61, a Gli1 inhibitor, obviously suppressed the metastasis of NSCLC. Collectively, our study reveals that Gli1 is a critical regulator for NSCLC metastasis and suggests that targeting Gli1 is a prospective therapy strategy for metastatic NSCLC.

Digital guided therapy (DGT) has been advocated as a contemporary computer-aided technique for treating endodontic diseases in recent decades. The concept of DGT for endodontic diseases is categorized into static guided endodontics (SGE), necessitating a meticulously designed template, and dynamic guided endodontics (DGE), which utilizes an optical triangulation tracking system. Based on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images superimposed with or without oral scan (OS) data, a virtual template is crafted through software and subsequently translated into a 3-dimensional (3D) printing for SGE, while the system guides the drilling path with a real-time navigation in DGE. DGT was reported to resolve a series of challenging endodontic cases, including teeth with pulp obliteration, teeth with anatomical abnormalities, teeth requiring retreatment, posterior teeth needing endodontic microsurgery, and tooth autotransplantation. Case reports and basic researches all demonstrate that DGT stand as a precise, time-saving, and minimally invasive approach in contrast to conventional freehand method. This expert consensus mainly introduces the case selection, general workflow, evaluation, and impact factor of DGT, which could provide an alternative working strategy in endodontic treatment.
Humans ; Consensus ; Endodontics/methods* ; Tooth ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Dental Care ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Root Canal Therapy