Heavy metal contamination in beach sediments as a result of sewage outlet and waste residue dumping in Qingdao, China.

Heavy metal pollution on beaches due to enhanced human activities has received attention. This study takes four beaches in China as examples to study the characteristics of heavy metal pollution. The results show that most beach sediments have a certain degree of heavy metal accumulation as a result of human activities, except for the sediments of No.

Intranasal antihistamine is superior to oral H antihistamine as an add-on therapy to intranasal corticosteroid for treating allergic rhinitis.

Background: Currently, a combination of intranasal corticosteroid (INCS) plus oral H antihistamine (OAH) or intranasal H antihistamine (INAH) therapy is frequently used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). The superiority of the 2 combined treatments needs to be further examined.

Objective: To identify the better of the 2 therapeutic strategies for treating AR.

Comparison of intestinal microbes in female and male Chinese concave-eared frogs (Odorrana tormota) and effect of nematode infection on gut bacterial communities.

The Chinese concave-eared frog (Odorrana tormota) is a rare and threatened species with remarkable sexual dimorphism. Intestinal microbes are understood to play important roles in animal physiology, growth, ecology, and evolution. However, little is known about the intestinal microbes in female and male frogs, as well as the contributing effect by gut infesting nematodes to the co-habiting bacteria and their function in degradation food rich in chitin.

Clinical significance of high expression of miR-452-5p in lung squamous cell carcinoma.

The role of microRNA (miRNA)-452-5p in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) remains unclear. Therefore, the present systematic study was performed to investigate the clinical significance and the rudimentary mechanism of the function of miR-452-5p in LUSC. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases were utilized to confirm the expression level and clinical value of miR-452-5p in LUSC.

Adsorption characteristics of Copper (Ⅱ), Zinc (Ⅱ) and Mercury (Ⅱ) by four kinds of immobilized fungi residues.

This study investigated the adsorption characteristics of Copper (Ⅱ), Zinc (Ⅱ) and Mercury (Ⅱ) by immobilized Flammulina velutipes, Auricularia polytricha, Pleurotus eryngii and Pleurotus ostreatus residues. Lagergren model, elovich and intraparticle diffusion model were used to present the adsorption kinetics, and it was proved that Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second order kinetics are the best suitable model with high correlation coefficient to characterize the adsorption process of Copper (Ⅱ), Zinc (Ⅱ) and Mercury (Ⅱ). The results showed that adsorption process finished in 120min at pH 6.

The microbiology of chronic rhinosinusitis with and without nasal polyps.

Conclusion: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, Haemophilus, Enterobacter, and Corynebacterium appear to be more frequently associated with patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) than with patients with CRS without nasal polyps (CRSsNP) or control subjects. Furthermore, the isolation rate of Staphylococcus aureus appears to be much lower in Chinese CRSwNP patients compared with their caucasian counterparts.

Objectives: To compare the predominant bacteriologic profiles in middle meatus of patients with CRSwNP, those with CRSsNP, and control subjects.

A stochastic mean field model for an excitatory and inhibitory synaptic drive cortical neuronal network.

With the advances in biochemistry, molecular biology, and neurochemistry there has been impressive progress in understanding the molecular properties of anesthetic agents. However, there has been little focus on how the molecular properties of anesthetic agents lead to the observed macroscopic property that defines the anesthetic state, that is, lack of responsiveness to noxious stimuli. In this paper, we develop a mean field synaptic drive firing rate cortical neuronal model and demonstrate how the induction of general anesthesia can be explained using multistability; the property whereby the solutions of a dynamical system exhibit multiple attracting equilibria under asymptotically slowly changing inputs or system parameters.

Complete mitochondrial genome of Tundra swan Cygnus columbianus jankowskii (Anseriformes: Anatidae).

Cygnus columbianus jankowskii is a subspecies of Tundra swan, which breeds in eastern Russia and northeast China, wintering in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In this study, we used PCR-based method to obtain the complete mtDNA of this subspecies. The arrangement pattern of the complete mtDNA is identical with typical bird species, which is the shortest (16,723 bp) in three subspecies.

Complete mitochondrial genome of Yellow-browed warbler Phylloscopus inornatus inornatus (Passeriformes: Sylviidae).

Yellow-browed warbler Phylloscopus inornatus inornatus (Passeriformes: Sylviidae) is a small insectivorous leaf-gleaning bird which breeds in forests of the east Palaearctic. In this study, we used PCR-based method to determine the complete mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of this warbler species. The complete mtDNA is a 16,875 bp circular molecule, containing 37 typical genes and an extra pseudo-control region.

[Meridian three-combined therapy for treatment of ordinary psoriasis: a multi-center randomized controlled study].

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the meridian three-combined therapy for treatment of ordinary psoriasis.

Methods: A multi-central, randomized and positive drug controlled trial was adopted, and 233 cases were divided into an observation group of 116 cases and a control group of 117 cases. The observation group was treated with thread embedding at points, blood-letting puncture on the back of ear and auricular point pressing (i.