Sub-oxide-to-metallic, uniformly-nanoporous crystalline nanowires by plasma oxidation and electron reduction.

Sub-oxide-to-metallic highly-crystalline nanowires with uniformly distributed nanopores in the 3 nm range have been synthesized by a unique combination of the plasma oxidation, re-deposition and electron-beam reduction. Electron beam exposure-controlled oxide → sub-oxide → metal transition is explained using a non-equilibrium model.

Use of a novel sonosensitizer in sonodynamic therapy of U251 glioma cells in vitro.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of ZnPcS(2)P(2)-meditated sonodynamic therapy (SDT) on U251 human glioma cells and to identify its underlying biological mechanism. The growth inhibition rate was determined by MTT assay. The apoptotic rate was examined by flow cytometry.

[A retrospective cohort study on the natural history of AIDS caused by blood transfusion].

Objective: To study the natural history of AIDS, caused by blood transfusion.

Methods: All HIV infections and AIDS patients were from Hebei province, including those infected through blood transfusion around 1995, that were identified as through general census of former commercial plasma donors (FCPDs). Among those objects being observed during the incubation period, 354 had HIV infections (including 142 cases infected via plasmapheresis and 212 cases caused by transfusion) but had not been treated by HAART before the onset of disease.

Colon metastasis of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid change.

We present a rare case of colonic metastasis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and review the literature. A 54-year-old male was referred to our hospital with a history of bloody stools and fever. A right kidney tumor measuring about 10 cm in diameter was found by abdominal computed tomography.

A correction method for dual energy liquid CT image reconstruction with metallic containers.

With its capability of material discrimination, dual energy computed tomography (DECT) is widely used in security inspection for the purpose of detecting contraband. DECT provides effective atomic number image and electron density image in addition to traditional attenuation images. In dual energy liquid inspection system, the presence of metallic containers will cause partial volume effect (PVE) that leads to severe deviation in effective atomic number image.

Enriched environment upregulates growth-associated protein 43 expression in the hippocampus and enhances cognitive abilities in prenatally stressed rat offspring.

In our previous study, we reported that prenatal restraint stress could induce cognitive deficits, which correlated with a change in expression of growth-associated protein 43 in the hippocampus. In this study, we investigated the effects of enriched environment on cognitive abilities in prenatally stressed rat offspring, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Reverse transcription-PCR and western blot assay results revealed that growth-associated protein 43 mRNA and protein levels were upregulated on postnatal day 15 in the prenatal restraint stress group.

Interior tomography with continuous singular value decomposition.

The long-standing interior problem has important mathematical and practical implications. The recently developed interior tomography methods have produced encouraging results. A particular scenario for theoretically exact interior reconstruction from truncated projections is that there is a known sub-region in the ROI.

Relationship between urinary nephrin and urinary albumin changes in diabetic rats and effects of yiqiyangyinhuayutongluo recipe.

Objective: To investigate the dynamic changes of urinary nephrin, and the relationship between it and urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) in a diabetic rat model, as well the effects of yiqiyangyinhuayutongluo recipe.

Methods: Diabetic model was induced by high fat diet combined with low-dose Streptozotocin (STZ) in rats. Normal group (NG), model group (MG), and yiqiyangyinhuayutongluo recipe treated group (YHTG) were set.

Comparison and analysis of membrane fouling between flocculent sludge membrane bioreactor and granular sludge membrane bioreactor.

The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of inoculating granules on reducing membrane fouling. In order to evaluate the differences in performance between flocculent sludge and aerobic granular sludge in membrane reactors (MBRs), two reactors were run in parallel and various parameters related to membrane fouling were measured. The results indicated that specific resistance to the fouling layer was five times greater than that of mixed liquor sludge in the granular MBR.

[Retrospective cohort study on period of incubation and survival among former commercial plasma donors infected with HIV in Hebei province].

Objective: To examine the state of incubation period and survival time of former commercial plasma donors (FCPDs) infected with HIV.

Methods: All objects infected with HIV were from Hebei province and found from general investigation for FCPDs in 1995. The infector cohort by 142 cases was used to estimate incubation period.

Absolute x-ray energy calibration over a wide energy range using a diffraction-based iterative method.

In this paper, we report a method of precise and fast absolute x-ray energy calibration over a wide energy range using an iterative x-ray diffraction based method. Although accurate x-ray energy calibration is indispensable for x-ray energy-sensitive scattering and diffraction experiments, there is still a lack of effective methods to precisely calibrate energy over a wide range, especially when normal transmission monitoring is not an option and complicated micro-focusing optics are fixed in place. It is found that by using an iterative algorithm the x-ray energy is only tied to the relative offset of sample-to-detector distance, which can be readily varied with high precision of the order of 10(-5) -10(-6) spatial resolution using gauge blocks.

[Effect of polymeric aluminum-iron on EPS and bio-flocculation in A2/O system].

Polymeric aluminum-iron (PAFC) was added at the end of aeration tank to enhance phosphorus removal, so that the phosphorus concentration in the effluent could meet the calss A standard in municipal sewage treatment plant pollutant discharge standard (GB 18918-2002). The characteristics of extracellular polymer substances (EPS) and bio-flocculation for the activated sludge in the A2/O system were analyzed in the experiment. The results showed that, the gross of EPS varied little with the increase in PAFC dosage, while, the ratio of albumen to polysaccharide declined from 3.

Neonatal handling and environmental enrichment increase the expression of GAP-43 in the hippocampus and promote cognitive abilities in prenatally stressed rat offspring.

Neonatal handling and environmental enrichment have been used to aid the treatment and recovery of a diverse variety of brain dysfunctions. However, the underlying mechanism and the effects on cognitive function following neonatal handling and environmental enrichment are still unclear. In this study, we investigated GAP-43 protein levels in the hippocampus of prenatally stressed rat pups by Western blot on postnatal day (P) 10, P20 and P45.

[Clinical observation of treating early diabetic nephropathy by qi supplementing, yin nourishing, blood stasis dispersing, collateral dredging recipe].

Objective: To observe therapeutic effects of qi supplementing, yin nourishing, blood stasis dispersing, collateral dredging recipe (QYBCR) on early diabetic nephropathy (DN).

Methods: Seventy-eight early DN patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group (39 cases, treated by QYBCR) and the control group (39 cases, treated by irbesartan). The changes of the therapeutic efficacy, Chinese medicine syndrome scores, urine albumin excretion rate (UAER), serum creatinine (SCr), blood urine nitrogen (BUN), fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and the occurrence of end-point events were observed after one-year treatment.

The iron chelators Dp44mT and DFO inhibit TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition via up-regulation of N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1).

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key step for cancer cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) regulates the EMT and the metastasis suppressor gene, N-myc downstream-regulated gene-1 (NDRG1), could play a role in regulating the TGF-β pathway. NDRG1 expression is markedly increased after chelator-mediated iron depletion via hypoxia-inducible factor 1α-dependent and independent pathways (Le, N.

Performance and model of a novel membrane bioreactor to treat the low-strengthen complex wastewater.

A MLMBR and a conventional IMBR with DO control system were investigated for simultaneously removing organic carbon and nitrogen in the low-strengthen complex wastewater. Four stages of the laboratory scale system with SRT of 30 day and HRTs of 20, 16, 12, and 8 h, respectively, were conducted. During the 4 months experimental period, COD removal efficiencies averaged at 92.

Improved oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble indirubin by a supersaturatable self-microemulsifying drug delivery system.

Background: Indirubin, isolated from the leaves of the Chinese herb Isatis tinctoria L, is a protein kinase inhibitor and promising antitumor agent. However, the poor water solubility of indirubin has limited its application. In this study, a supersaturatable self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (S-SMEDDS) was developed to improve the oral bioavailability of indirubin.

Isolation and characterization of Bacillus sp. producing broad-spectrum antibiotics against human and plant pathogenic fungi.

A strain of bacterium producing antifungal antibiotic was isolated and identification of the strain was attempted. We could identify the bacterium as being a Bacillus sp., based on morphological observation, physiological characteristics, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, thus leading us to designate the strain as Bacillus sp.

Screening of differentially expressed genes in the jejunum of rats with idiopathic hyperoxaluria.

Background: Idiopathic hyperoxaluria (IH) may be caused by increased endogenous formation or exogenous absorption of oxalic acid. Characterization of the molecular pathogenesis of IH has been hampered by the lack of an ideal animal model. We therefore established a stabile rat IH model in order to analyze variation in gene expression profile in the jejunum and to investigate the association between IH pathogenesis and exogenous absorption of oxalic acid.

[Quick recovery: the core concept of the peri-operative integrative medicine studies].

The author raised that the orientation of peri-operative integrative medicine studies as: Correct surgical decision-making is the prerequisite for successful surgery, the skilled surgical technique is the key for successful operation. At the same time, considerate and appropriate peri-operative management is the guarantee for the success of surgery. Consequently, quick recovery is the core concept of peri-operative integrative medicine studies.

[Application of field-effect transistor based on carbon nanotube in biosensors].

With the emergence of avian flu, influence A virus and other diseases, the development of rapid, real-time, label-free biological sensors has become increasingly significant at the early detection and clinical diagnoses of various diseases. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have unique one-dimensional structure, special electrical properties, good biocompatibility and size compatibility, so that the SWNTs have great potential uses in the biosensor fields due to these advantages. This article reviews recent examples of carbon nanotubes field-effect transistor (CNTFET) as a label-free biosensors for detecting a variety of biological macromolecules, such as protein, enzyme, DNA, cancer, virus, carbohydrate and so on.

Complementary microscopy techniques applied for optimizing the structure and performance of graphene-based hybrids.

To improve the performance of graphene and to extend its potential applications, one of the most effective efforts is to hybridize graphene with one or more metal/metal oxide nanocrystals (NCs). In this paper, we demonstrate the complementary techniques of X-ray diffraction, high resolution electron microscopy (HREM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), which enables us to optimize the synthetic conditions, improve the quality of attached NCs, and tailor the performance of graphene-based hybrids for green energy related applications. Specifically, we explored the EFTEM technique to characterize two graphene-based composites.

Bulking sludge for PHA production: energy saving and comparative storage capacity with well-settled sludge.

Two acetate-fed sequencing batch reactors (SBR) were operated under an aerobic dynamic feeding (ADF) model (SBR#2) and with anaerobic phase before aerobic phase (SBR#1) to select mixed cultures with a high polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) storage response. Although kinetic selection based on storage response should bring about a predominance of floc-formers, a bulking sludge with storage response comparable to well-settled sludge was steadily established. An anaerobic phase was introduced before the aerobic phase in the ADF model to improve the sludge settleability (SBR #1), however, due to the consequent increased feast/famine ratio, the performance of SBR #1, in terms of both the maximum PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) cell content and deltaPHB, was lower than that of SBR #2.