Exploring the Efficacy of Group Music and Game Therapy on the Well-Being of Institutionalized Elderly.

This study aims to explore the efficacy of group music and game therapy in enhancing the well-being of the institutionalised elderly. The implementation of group music and game therapy have significantly improved the well-being of the participating elderly residents in Long-Term Care Facilities. These participants demonstrated increased engagement and achieved interpersonal interaction objectives during the sessions.

Growth and Cell Properties of Modified Lactobacillus plantarum CICC21001 with Supplementing C-FFAs to Growth Medium in vitro.

Fatty acids (FAs) are one of the important factors that can influence cell growth and membrane composition. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of supplementing MLM growth medium with C18 free fatty acids (C-FFAs), including stearic (C18:0), oleic (C18:1), linoleic (C18:2), and linolenic (C18:3) acid, on the growth of Lactobacillus plantarum CICC21001 by forming ion pairs with lysine to increase the solubility of FAs in liquid medium. The utilization of C-FFAs was further confirmed by GC-FID.

Improving the performance of immobilized β-glucosidase using a microreactor.

Here, we have presented a technically simple and efficient method for preparing a continuous flow microreactor by employing immobilized β-glucosidase in a silica quartz capillary tube. Developing an immobilized enzyme layer on the inner wall of the capillary tube involved the modification of the inner wall using bifunctional crosslinking agents 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and glutaraldehyde before attaching β-glucosidase. The microreactor afforded unique reaction capacities compared with conventional batch operational configurations.

Axial multi-image phase retrieval under tilt illumination.

As a coherent diffractive imaging technique, axial multi-image phase retrieval utilizes a series of diffraction patterns on the basis of axial movement diversity to reconstruct full object wave field. Theoretically, fast convergence and high-accuracy of axial multi-image phase retrieval are demonstrated. In experiment, its retrieval suffers from the tilt illumination, in which diffraction patterns will shift in the lateral direction as the receiver traverses along the axis.

Characterization of a β-glucosidase from Paenibacillus species and its application for succinic acid production from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate.

In this study, a β-glucosidase from Paenibacillus sp. M1 was expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3), purified and characterized.

Coherent diffraction imaging by moving a lens.

A moveable lens is used for determining amplitude and phase on the object plane. The extended fractional Fourier transform is introduced to address the single lens imaging. We put forward a fast algorithm for the transform by convolution.

Enhanced chitinase production by Chitinolyticbacter meiyuanensis SYBC-H1 using staged pH control.

The pH of a microbiological culture is important for both cell growth and chitinase accumulation, but the optimal pH is not normally the same for both. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pH on chitinase production by Chitinolyticbacter meiyuanensis strain SYBC-H1 (ATCC BAA-2140) in a mineral medium. The results of batch culture at different pH values showed that the optimum pH for cell growth and chitinase production varied with time, although KOH produced the best results for cell growth and chitinase production, NaOH was chosen because of cost considerations.

Comparison of the hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in internal-loop airlift bioreactors utilizing either a novel membrane-tube sparger or perforated plate sparger.

Two gas spargers, a novel membrane-tube sparger and a perforated plate sparger, were compared in terms of hydrodynamics and mass transfer (or oxygen transfer) performance in an internal-loop airlift bioreactor. The overall gas holdup ε T, downcomer liquid velocity V d, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient K L a were examined depending on superficial gas velocity U G increased in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids for the both spargers. Compared with the perforated plate sparger, the bioreactor with the membrane-tube sparger increased the values of ε T by 4.

[Dynamics of nutrients in an age sequence of Pinus massoniana plantation].

By using a chronosequence approach, this paper studied the nutrients accumulation, allocation, and cycling in 7-, 17-, 31-, and 51-year-old Masson pine plantations, aimed to analyze the dynamics of nutrients in Masson pine plantation at its different developmental stages. The results showed that 1) nutrient accumulation was not synchronized with biomass accumulation, with the accumulation rate of biomass being 3.3, 5.

[Effects of Weinaokang capsule on intracephalic cholinergic system and capability of scavenging free radicas in chronic cerebral hypoperfusion rats].

Objective: To observe the intervention and mechanism of Weinaokang capsule (WNK) on cognitive impairment rats induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.

Method: The bilateral common carotid arteries of rats were ligated. Rats were intragastrically administrated with WNK 4 weeks after the ligation.

[Experimental study of the total flavonoid in Hypericum perforatum on depression].

Objective: To investigate pharmacological effects of the total flavonoid in Hypericum perforatum on depression.

Method: Experimental depression was induced by subcutaneous injection of reserpine in mice. The concentration of monoamine transmitters including 5-HT and NE, the activity of monoamine oxidase (MAO) in brain and reserpine-induced symptoms of depression, such as ptosis, attenuation of autonomous activity, behavioral despair, acquired helplessness and sleep, were measured respectively to evaluate the effects of the total flavonoid in H.

[The effect of Baicalin on gene expression profile in rat brain of focal cerebral ischemia].

Objective: To explore the difference of genes expression profiles between focal cerebral ischemia tissue and that treated with Baicalin using cDNA microarray.

Method: The total RNAs were isolated from rat brains of sham-operation, vehicle (focal cerebral ischemia of rat brain) and baicalin-treated groups. mRNAs were reversely transcribed to cDNA with incorporation of fluorescent dUTP (Cy5 or Cy3 dUTP) to prepare hybridization probes.

Role of activated oxygen species on the mutagenicity of benzo[a]pyrene.

Different scavengers of active oxygen species (superoxide dismutase, catalase, mannitol and dimethylfuran) were tested in the Ames Salmonella assay to determine the role of the reactive oxygen species in the benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) mutagenesis process. Exogenously added superoxide dismutase or catalase at 10-100 micrograms ml-1 top agar, or 3-12 mM mannitol showed no effect on B[a]P mutagenicity in the presence of S9 mix. However, dimethylfuran (DMF), a singlet oxygen scavenger, inhibited in a dose-related manner the mutagenic response of B[a]P in the presence of the microsomal fraction.