The analysis of poorly conductive samples using discharge plasma is a significant challenge in determining elemental content by atomic emission spectrometry.In this study,graphite as a conductive medium was combined with metal salts and silica to prepare soil sample pellets.A tungsten needle electrode was employed to generate point discharge microplasma with the sample,exciting atomic emission signals of analyte elements.By using Cu 324.7 nm as the analytical line,both the capability to excite atomic emission spectral lines and the impact of experimental conditions were investigated,resulting in accurate determination of trace copper in both standard and real samples.This method held promise for detecting other metals like manganese,iron,and zinc.This work offered methodology for non-conductive sample analysis via discharge plasma atomic emission spectrometry,showing potential for rapid on-site assessment of soil samples.

Epidemic diseases have caused huge harm to the society. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has made great contributions to the prevention and treatment of them. It is of great reference value for fighting diseases and developing drugs to explore the medication law and mechanism of TCM under TCM theory. In this study, the relationship between the TCM theory of cold pestilence and modern epidemic diseases was investigated. Particularly, the the relationship of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS), and influenza A(H1 N1) with the cold pestilence was identified and analyzed. The roles of TCM theory of cold pestilence in preventing and treating modern epidemic diseases were discussed. Then, through data mining and textual research, prescriptions for the treatment of cold pestilence were collected from major databases and relevant ancient books, and their medication laws were examined through analysis of high-frequency medicinals and medicinal pairs, association rules analysis, and cluster analysis. For example, the prescriptions with high confidence levels were identified: "Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Bupleuri Radix-Paeoniae Radix Alba" "Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Pinelliae Rhizoma-Bupleuri Radix", and TCM treatment methods with them were analyzed by clustering analysis to yield the medicinal combinations: "Zingiberis Rhizoma-Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata-Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma" "Poria-Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma" "Cinnamomi Ramulus-Asari Radix et Rhizoma" "Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium-Perillae Folium" "Pinelliae Rhizoma-Magnoliae Officinalis Cortex-Atractylodis Rhizoma" "Paeoniae Radix Alba-Angelicae Sinensis Radix-Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma-Bupleuri Radix-Scutellariae Radix-Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens" "Ephedrae Herba-Armeniacae Semen Amarum-Gypsum Fibrosum" "Chuanxiong Rhizoma-Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix-Angelicae Dahuricae Radix-Platycodonis Radix-Saposhnikoviae Radix". Then, according to the medication law for cold pestilence, the antiviral active components of medium-frequency and high-frequency medicinals were retrieved. It was found that these components exerted the antiviral effect by inhibiting virus replication, regulating virus proteins and antiviral signals, and suppressing protease activity. Based on network pharmacology, the mechanisms of the medicinals against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus(SARS-CoV), 2019 novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV), and H1 N1 virus were explored. It was determined that the key targets were tumor necrosis factor(TNF), endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA), serum creatinine(SRC), epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR), matrix metalloproteinase 9(MMP9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 14(MAPK14), and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2(PTGS2), which were involved the mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK) pathway, advanced glycation end-products(AGE)-receptor for AGE(RAGE) pathway, COVID-19 pathway, and mTOR pathway. This paper elucidated the medication law and mechanism of TCM for the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases under the guidance of TCM theory of cold pestilence, in order to build a bridge between the theory and modern epidemic diseases and provide reference TCM methods for the prevention and treatment of modern epidemic diseases and ideas for the application of data mining to TCM treatment of modern diseases.
Aconitum ; Antiviral Agents ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Calcium Sulfate ; Communicable Disease Control ; Communicable Diseases/virology* ; Creatinine ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Endothelial Growth Factors ; Epidemics/prevention & control* ; ErbB Receptors ; Humans ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 14 ; Pinellia ; SARS-CoV-2 ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; Tumor Necrosis Factors ; COVID-19 Drug Treatment

Objective: Brain and muscle ARNT-like protein 1 (BMAL1) is a core component of hepatocyte molecular clock and plays an important role in the regulation of other related rhythmic genes in the body through a transcriptional-translational feedback loop in molecular circadian oscillations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the role of BMAL1 in the rat periodontitis-induced liver injury. Methods: Twelve male Wistar rats were divided into the control group and the periodontitis group according to the random number table method. The rats in the control group were untreated. The periodontitis models were established by ligating the necks of the bilateral maxillary first molars in the periodontitis group rats. After 8 weeks, periodontal clinical indexes of rats in both groups were examined and executed. Micro-CT scans of the maxilla were performed and levels of the alveolar bone resorption were analyzed. Pathological changes in periodontal and liver tissue of rats in two groups were detected by HE and oil red O staining. Biochemical kits were used to detect glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT), total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) in serum. The gene and protein expression levels of BMAL1, nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in liver tissue were measured by real time fluorescent quantitative-PCR (qRT-PCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting (WB) assays. Apoptosis was detected in liver tissues by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) kit staining. Results: The results of HE staining of maxillary first molars and micro-CT results of maxillary bones showed that alveolar bone resorption was significant in the periodontitis group of rats. The liver histopathology results showed infiltrated inflammatory cells in the liver tissue, disorganized liver cords and a large number of lipid droplets formed in the hepatocytes of the periodontitis group compared with the control group. The results of serum biochemical assay showed that the levels of GOT [(62.77±2.59) U/L], GPT [(47.54±1.04) U/L], TC [(3.19±0.23) mmol/L] and TG [(1.11±0.09) mmol/L] in the serum of rats with periodontitis were significantly higher than that in the control group respectively [GOT: (38.66±2.47) U/L, GPT: (31.48±1.57) U/L, TC: (1.60±0.05) mmol/L and TG: (0.61±0.09) mmol/L](P=0.003, P=0.001, P=0.002, P=0.038). qRT-PCR results showed that the mRNA expression level of BMAL1 was significantly decreased in liver tissue of the periodontitis group [(0.60±0.04)%] compared to the control group [(1.01±0.07)%] (t=4.80, P=0.009), while the mRNA expression levels of NF-κB and TNF-α [(1.62±0.12)%, (2.69±0.16)%] were significantly increased compared to the control group [(1.00±0.03)%, (1.03±0.16)%] (P=0.008, P=0.002); IHC results showed that the protein expression level of BMAL1 in liver tissue of the periodontitis group (averaged optical density, AOD) (11.58±2.15) was down-regulated compared to the control group (AOD) (22.66±1.67) (P=0.015), while NF-κB and TNF-α (AOD) (31.77±2.69, 24.31±2.32) were up-regulated compared to the control group (AOD) (19.40±1.82, 11.92±0.94) (P=0.019, P=0.008). WB results showed that the protein expression level of BMAL1 in liver tissue was down-regulated in the periodontitis group [(0.63±0.10)%] compared to the control group [(1.00±0.06)%] (t=3.19, P=0.033), while NF-κB and TNF-α [(1.61±0.12)%, (2.82±0.23)%] were up-regulated compared to the control group [(1.00±0.12)%, (1.00±0.11)%] (P=0.022, P=0.002). TUNEL staining showed increased apoptotic cells in the liver tissue of the periodontitis group of rats compared to the control group. Conclusions: Periodontitis may induce liver injury by down-regulating the BMAL1 expression levels in liver tissue, which in turn activates NF-κB signaling molecules, leading to the elevated levels of inflammation and apoptosis in rat liver.
Animals ; Male ; Rats ; Alanine Transaminase/metabolism* ; ARNTL Transcription Factors/metabolism* ; Aspartate Aminotransferases/metabolism* ; Biotin/metabolism* ; Bone Resorption ; Brain ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury, Chronic ; Cholesterol ; DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase/metabolism* ; Muscles/metabolism* ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Periodontitis ; Rats, Wistar ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism* ; Triglycerides ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism*

Objective To develop a detergent for decontamination of Co2+ and Mn2+ on skin.Methods Single-factor experimental and orthogonal experimental designs were performed to study the formula composition of the decontaminant.The skin irritation experiment was performed and assessed according to the standard method.The detergent was prepared according the conventional process of showering gel.The pH,ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) level,total active substances of the detergent,and its stability were evaluated according to the chemical method recommended in the national standard GB/T 13173-2008.The decontamination efficiency on stable isotopes of Co2+ and Mn2+ contamination was measured on the back of hand skin of volunteers.Results The formula composition of the decontaminant was obtained through the orthogonal experiment.The pH value of the detergent was 6.99,total active substance was 20.49％ and the content of EDTA was 5.99％.After being kept at-5 ℃ and 40℃℃ for 24h,the decontaminant showed no strange smell,no precipitation,no discoloration and still kept transparent.The decontamination effects on Co2+ and Mn2+ contaminated on hand skin were 103.13％ ± 0.05％ and 100.62％ ± 0.09％,respectively,which was significantly higher than that of distilled water (81.77％ ± 0.23％ and 79.63％ ± 0.23％,P＜0.01,respectively).Conclusion The decontaminant has a high effect on decontamination of Co2+ and Mn2+ polluted on skin,and is hopeful to be developed as an effective detergent on radioactive isotopes contamination.

The key to maximize the sensitivity of inner filter effect ( IFE)-based assay is to enlarge the overlap between the absorption spectra of the absorber and the excitation or emission spectra of the fluorophore. In this work, Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots ( QDs) were chosen for IFE-based detection of β-glucuronidase ( GUS) , since the excitation of QDs was perfectly overlapped with the absorption of the substrate of GUS, namely 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucuronide ( PNPG) . In addition, the phosphorescence emission from Mn-doped ZnS QDs could eliminate the fluorescence background from biological samples. Therefore, a simple turn-on phosphorescent GUS assay was developed, with the linear range of 10-300 U/L and limit of detection of 7 U/L (S/N=3).

Objective To study the influence of curcumin on chemosensitivity of nephroblastoma cells. Methods Human nephroblastoma cells line SK-NEP-1 was transplanted to the nude mice subcutaneously to establish the implantation tumor model of human nephroblastoma cells. A total of 30 tumor-bearing mice were divided into three groups of ten randomly. The routine chemotherapy group was given vincristine (0.05 mg/mL·0.2 mL/d) and actinomycin D (15 ng/mL·0.2 mL/d) combined chemotherapy regime. The curcumin chemotherapy group was given the same combined chemotherapy regimens and curcumin (30 mg/kg/d) by intraperitoneal injection. The control group was given normal saline (NS) of the same volume by intraperitoneal injection. Continuous administration would be kept for 4 weeks and 3 days a week. The volumetric changes of every group were recorded. The serum of every group in different time was collected and the VEGF content was detected by ELISA. All mice were cercrificed and the tumor tissues were stripped and weighed after 4 week's treatment. The tumor inhibition rate was calculated. The cell proliferation activity and apoptosis rate were detected by MTT and flow cytometry method. All data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 19.0. Results The tumor volume, serum VEGF content, tumor inhibition rate, cell proliferation activity and apoptosis rate of routine chemotherapy group and curcumin chemotherapy group had significant differences comparing with the control group (P < 0.05) after 4-week's treatment. The cancer growth of curcumin chemotherapy group was obviously decreased and even tended to shrink comparing with routine chemotherapy group (χ

Objective To construct alkB-expressing vector and investigate alkB protein expression in Escherichia coli.Methods The alkane hydroxylase (alkB) gene was synthesized in vitro.An alkB-expressing vector,pCom8-alkB,was constructed and then transformed into E.coli,DH5α by using CaCl2.Changes in the expression of alkB were detected by SDS-PAGE in E.coli,DH5α by induction with diesel oil.Results SDSPAGE analysis demonstrated that alkB was successfully expressed after induction.The expression levels of alkB were highest,when alkB expression was induced by adding diesel oil into the culture at the final concentration of 2％-3％ (v/v),and the expression levels increased with the increase of induction time.Conclusions The alkB-expressing vector was successfully constructed,and the regular pattern for the expression of target protein under different induction conditions was clearly explained.

Objective To construct alkB-expressing vector and investigate alkB protein expression in Escherichia coli.Methods The alkane hydroxylase (alkB) gene was synthesized in vitro.An alkB-expressing vector,pCom8-alkB,was constructed and then transformed into E.coli,DH5α by using CaCl2.Changes in the expression of alkB were detected by SDS-PAGE in E.coli,DH5α by induction with diesel oil.Results SDSPAGE analysis demonstrated that alkB was successfully expressed after induction.The expression levels of alkB were highest,when alkB expression was induced by adding diesel oil into the culture at the final concentration of 2％-3％ (v/v),and the expression levels increased with the increase of induction time.Conclusions The alkB-expressing vector was successfully constructed,and the regular pattern for the expression of target protein under different induction conditions was clearly explained.

Objective To construct a superior marine diesel-degrading bacterial consortium,to study its degradation features,and ultimately to provide an evidence for the bioremediation of marine diesel pollution.Methods Four bacterial strains named S1,A1,A2,A3 were isolated from the offshore diesel polluted seawater,and then,combination and optimization tests were made.Studies were also made on the degradation features of the bacterial consortium.Rate of degradation was measured with ultraviolet spectrometer.Diesel degrading capacity of the bacterial consortium was analyzed with GC-MS.Results Of the four optimized strains in the bacterial consortium,the combination of S1 + A1 + A2 + A3 was the most superior,and the rate of degradation was the highest,when the proportion of the inoculated strains was 1 ∶ 1 ∶ 2∶ 1.The degradation rate was 71.2％ on the 7th day.The bacterial consortium was capable of degrading all the alkanes in the diesel from C11-C19.Conclusions The constructed superior bacterial consortium seemed to have high diesel-degrading capacity and a wide range of substrates.It was expected that it could be applied to bioremediation of marine pollution.

Objective To investigate the protective effect of Acanthopanax Senticosus polysaccharide on peripheral hematological cells in rats irradiated with 60Co γ ray.Methods Sixty-three male rats were randomly divided into 7 groups,i.e.the normal control group,the irradiation control group,the WR-2721 group,the 523 group and the 3 experimental groups with high (200 mg · kg-1 · d-1 ), moderate (100 mg · kg-1 · d-1) and low (50 mg· kg-1 · d-1) doses of Acanthopanax Senticosus polysaccharide.The marrow-depressed model rats received 5 Gy 60Co γ ray whole body irradiation with a dose absorption rate of (0.388 Gy/h) except those in the normal control group.WBC,RBC and PLT in the peripheral blood were detected with hemocytometer both on the 5th day before irradiation and the 3rd and 10th days after exposure.Results When detected on the 3rd day following irradiation,WBC in the peripheral blood of the irradiated animals decreased to a level of (2.482 ±0.808) × 109 · ml-1,RBC to a level of (7.680 ±0.926) × 1012·ml-1 and PLT to a point of (360.000±43.967) × 109 · ml-1,having a rather significant decrease in the indices,when compared with those of the normal control group (P ＜ 0.01 ). On the 10th day following irradiation,WBC in the peripheral blood of the irradiated control animals decreased to a level of (4.764 ±0.679) × 109 · ml - 1,RBC decreased to (9.004 ± 0.761 ) × 1012 · ml -1 and PLT to ( 390.000 ± 43.967 ) ×109 · ml-1,with all the indices decreasing more obviously than those of the normal control group(P ＜ 0.01 ).Data detection before irradiation with 60Co γ ray indicated that WBC,RBC and PLT in the peripheral blood of the experimental animals elevated to various extent,when compared with those of the normal control group.Detection after irradiation showed that Acanthopanax Senticosus polysaccharide could obviously increase the levels of WBC,RBC and PLT in the peripheral blood of the irradiated animals,when compared with those of the irradiation group. Conclusions Our experimental results showed that Acanthopanax Senticosus polysaccharide seemed to have an obvious protective effect on peripheral hematological cells in marrowdepressed rats irradiated with 60Co γ ray.