[Occurrence of Tramadol and Fentanyl Use in Domestic Wastewater in Beijing].

Tramadol (TRA) and fentanyl (FEN) are used as common painkillers in clinical practice, but they have been increasingly abused in recent years due to their addictive nature. Two substances and their metabolites enter wastewater through urine and are collected and treated by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) before being discharged into the aquatic environment. In this study, wastewater analysis was performed to examine the patterns of TRA and FEN use in the urban area of Beijing for the first time.

[Optimization and Validation of the Analytical Method to Detect New Psychoactive Substances in Wastewater].

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are emerging continuously, as the crackdown against traditional drugs becomes stricter. Metabolites of NPSs and the unchanged drugs enter wastewater through urine and are collected and treated by wastewater treatment plants before being discharged into the aquatic environment. Based on previous research, solid phase extraction (SPE) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) were used and the detection method of 11 NPSs was optimized.

MicroRNA-21 promotes glioma cell proliferation and inhibits senescence and apoptosis by targeting SPRY1 via the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Aims: Our study aims to investigate the effect of microRNA-21 (miR-21) on the proliferation, senescence, and apoptosis of glioma cells by targeting SPRY1 via the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Methods: Glioma tissues and brain tissues were collected for this study after surgical decompression for traumatic brain injury. RT-qPCR was employed to measure mRNA levels of miR-21, SPRY1, PTEN, PI3K, and AKT, and Western blotting was conducted to determine protein levels of SPRY1, PTEN, PI3K, AKT, p-AKT, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, P53, GSK3, and p-GSK3.

Elevated HOTAIR expression associated with cisplatin resistance in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Background: This study investigated the mechanism of drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We specifically studied whether long noncoding RNAs influence drug resistance in NSCLC to discover new therapeutic targets to increase the survival rate of drug-resistant NSCLC patients.

Methods: Tissue samples were collected from NSCLC patients, and total RNA was isolated for assessment of HOTAIR expression and drug resistance status.

[Optimization and Validation of the Analytical Method to Detect Common Illicit Drugs in Wastewater].

Illicit drugs have been recognized as a group of emerging pollutants.Based on previous research,procedures to pre-treat wastewater including SPE column,pH of water samples,and processes of washing,acidifying and re-dissolving were compared.It was found that the best recovery was achieved when wastewater was adjusted to pH=2 and Oasis MCX column was used.

[Concentrations of Ketamine and Norketamine in the Water Environment in Beijing].

Concentrations of ketamine (KET) and its metabolite, norketamine (NK) in sewage water and surface water in Beijing were examined by HPLC-MS/MS. Samples were collected from all the thirteen sewage treatment plants in the urban area and four rivers flowing through the city. Average influent concentrations of KET and NK in 2013 summer ranged from View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Clinical significance of HOTAIR expression in colon cancer.

Aim: To detect the expression of the long noncoding RNA HOTAIR in colon cancer and analyze its relationship with clinicopathological parameters of colon cancer.

Methods: Total RNA was extracted from 80 colon cancer tissues and matched tumor-adjacent normal colon tissues and reverse transcribed. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of HOTAIR.

Ingrowing Hair: A Case Report.

Cutaneous pili migrans and creeping eruption caused by parasitic diseases may present as a moving linear lesion in skin. The former, caused by a hair shaft or fragment embedded in the superficial skin or middle dermis, is a rare condition characterized by creeping eruption with a black line observed at the advancing end. In exceptionally rare instance, the hair grows inside the skin and burrows in the uppermost dermis, such a condition has been called "ingrown hair.

Treatment of angiokeratoma of Mibelli alone or in combination with pulsed dye laser and long-pulsed Nd: YAG laser.

Treatment of angiokeratoma of Mibelli is usually challenging because of the location, the pathogenetic condition and the cosmetic requirements. We present our characteristic treatment with the application of pulsed dye laser PDL and lpNd:YAG laser. All of these lesions were treated by topical anesthesia with Emla.

Impacts of different nanoparticles on functional bacterial community in activated sludge.

Rapidly developing industry raises concerns about the environmental impacts of nanoparticles, but the effects of inorganic nanoparticles on functional bacterial community in wastewater treatment remain unclear. The discriminated effects of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) in a simulated sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system were therefore evaluated by the RNA-based terminal restricted fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), 16S rcDNA gene clone library and real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) analyses. Although the COD and NH4-N removal efficiencies were not or slightly reduced by the addition of ZnO-NP and Ag-NP, the functional bacterial community changed remarkably.

Nuclear β-catenin accumulation is associated with increased expression of Nanog protein and predicts poor prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Although the prognostic roles of β-catenin expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been reported in several immunohistochemical (IHC) studies, the results were not consistent because some studies lack sufficient number of the positive cases or did not evaluate the subcellular localization features of the protein.

Method: In this study, we have evaluated the expression levels and subcellular localization of β-catenin and Nanog proteins IHC staining in tissue specimens from 309 patients with NSCLC, and explored their association with clinicopathological features and patient outcome.

Results: We showed that patients with negative expression of membranous beta-catenin had a trend towards shorter survival (p=0.

Cancer stem-like cell properties are regulated by EGFR/AKT/β-catenin signaling and preferentially inhibited by gefitinib in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

We report that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway plays a critical role in regulating cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), one of the most common malignant tumors in Southeast Asia. Effects of EGFR on maintaining CSCs are mainly mediated by AKT signaling, and β-catenin is responsible for governing CSC properties in response to EGFR/AKT activation. Significantly, CSCs are enriched by cisplatin and decreased by gefitinib in NPC xenograft models.

[Triad, a new approach for contaminated site management].

Remediation of a contaminated site is typically a time-consuming and expensive process. The traditional multistage approach of site management is an important contributor of this lengthy and costly process. The emergence of new characterization technologies and past experiences have led to the development of a new site characterization and remediation approach-Triad approach.

Rapid identification and characterization of Penicillium marneffei using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) in paraffin-embedded tissue samples.

Penicillium marneffei infection is a deadly disease and early diagnosis leads to prompt and appropriate antifungal therapy. To develop a sensitive method to diagnose P. marneffei infection, a multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) assay was adapted.

[Aggregation and deaggregation behaviors of hematite nanoparticles at different pHs].

The aggregation and deaggregation behaviors have profound impacts on the fate of nanoparticles in the environment. In this work, the aggregation and deaggregation kinetics of hematite nanoparticles at different pHs were examined using a Zetasizer. In the pH range of 7.

[Inhibitory effect of dexamethasone on myeloid differentiation factor 88 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha expressions in mouse peritoneal macrophages].

Objective: To study the inhibitory effect of dexamethasone (DEX) on myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) expression in mouse peritoneal macrophages in innate immune response to Penicillium marneffei (PM).

Methods: Mouse peritoneal macrophages were cultured in the presence of heat-inactivated yeast-phase PM with or without DEX, and the protein and mRNA expressions of MyD88 in the macrophages were detected using Western blotting and real-time PCR, respectively. TNF-alpha in the cell culture supernatant was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Synergistic effects of terbinafine and itraconazole on clinical isolates of Fonsecaea monophora.

Our objective was to develop new approaches to the chemotherapy of invasive infections caused by Fonsecaea monophora. The in vitro effects of a combination of terbinafine with itraconazole on 18 clinical isolates were evaluated using a checkerboard microdilution method. The mode of interaction between the two drugs on the 18 isolates was analyzed using fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) analysis.

[Differential expression of isocitrate lyase in P. marneffei phagocytized by nonstimulated and stimulated murine macrophages].

Objective: To investigate the differential expression of isocitrate lyase in Penicillium marneffei phagocytized by nonstimulated and stimulated murine macrophages, and explore the role of glyoxylate pathway in pathogenesis of Penicilliosis marneffei.

Methods: Penicillium marneffei conidia and Raw264.7 cells were incubated in 16 cultures, which were divided to 4 groups for treatment with N-monomethyl-L-arginine (LNMMA, CI group), murine interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) plus lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (T group), IFN-gamma plus LPS and LNMMA (TI group), or the same volume of culture medium (C group).

Synthesis of Ser-His-Gly.DNA conjugates.

There are strong interactions between the bases of oligonucleotides. Based on Watson-Crick principle, they can form stable secondary and tertiary structure such as hairpin, duplex, triplex, G-quartet, pseudoknot, which can serve as the scaffold of molecules. Peptides contain active groups such as amino, carboxyl, imidazole, hydroxyl.