Evaluating a composite cartridge for small system drinking water treatment

A pilot-scale evaluation was conducted at the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Test & Evaluation (T&E) Facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, on a multi-layer, cartridge-based system that combines physical filtration with carbon adsorption and ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection to serve as a home-base water treatment security device against accidental or intentional contaminant events. The system was challenged with different levels of turbidity, a number of biological contaminants including Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, MS2 bacteriophage and Polystyrene Latex (PSL) beads as a surrogate for Cryptosporidium and a number of chemical contaminants including super-chlorination, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), water chlorination disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and diazinon. The results demonstrated that the performance of the system varies as a function of the specific contaminant or surrogate. The overall performance indicated the potential of the system to improve the quality and safety of household water and to serve as an additional treatment barrier in circumstances where there is little or no treatment or where the quality of treated water may have deteriorated during distribution. The results also demonstrated that B. subtilis spore can serve as a more conservative surrogate for Cryptosporidium than PSL beads.     

普通X线乳腺摄影的数字化

对原有普通钼靶X线乳腺摄影机进行改装,使之与AGFACR数字图像处理系统相匹配,实现普通X线乳腺摄影数字化。     

尿液中苯并二氮Zhuo类药物（硝基安定氯硝基安定和氟硝基安定）的SEP—PAK及HPLC分析

介绍了一种用SEP－PAK固相萃取技术和HPLC同时检验尿液中的苯并二氮Zhuo类药物硝基安定，氯硝基安定和氟硝基安定的方法。使用的反相色谱柱为YMC A－303 C18柱，以乙腈－0.01M醋酸铵（45：55，v/v）为流动相，紫外检测波长为254nm。各药物的回收率均大于80％；日内和日间测定的变异系数为1－5％，是一种精密、灵敏的方法。     

不同种类空气净化器净化室内细菌的效果评价

目的：研究不同种类空气净化器净化室内细菌的效果。方法：选取不同净化原理的空气净化器,净化现场空气中自然菌,计算自然菌的平均消亡率。结果：臭氧消毒类、紫外消毒类、光触媒类、过滤吸附类、香熏类、高温加热类、消毒剂类、复合型净化器对自然菌的平均消亡率分别为79.2%、79.4%、64.0%、81.1%、46.5%、80.7%、81.6%、84.9%。结论：空气净化器不合格率较高,在选择使用时应根据实际情况,尽量选用多功能复合型净化器。     

中医外治法治疗膝关节骨性关节炎的临床观察

目的:研究中医外治法治疗变形性膝关节炎的治疗效果.方法:将142名患者随机分为两组,治疗组(n=72)给予中药布袋热敷法配合当归注射液穴位注射治疗,对照组(n=70)给予吲哚美辛口服治疗.结果:治疗2个疗程后,两组总有效率比较,有显著性差异,P＜0.05.结论:中药外治法治疗膝关节骨性关节炎,具有较好的临床效果.     

HVR1 quasispecies analysis from a long-term culture of hepatitis C virus in Hep G2 derived cells grown in a haemodialysis cartridge

Studies on the in vitro hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are hampered by the lack of an appropriate system to culture permissive cells to be continuously infected with HCV. Trypsinization required for cell passage can lead to possible temporary loss of permissiveness for infection, whereas refreshment of the medium can result in loss of infectious particles necessary for perpetuation of the infection; it is therefore very difficult to maintain a continuous HCV infection in cell cultures. A new infection method was designed and evaluated in order to prevent these unfavourable circumstances. A cell line derived from the human hepatoblastoma cell line Hep G2 was grown in the extracapillary space of a haemodialysis cartridge, in the presence of a HCV-positive inoculum, while the culture medium was recirculated through the intracapillary space, supplying the cells with nutrients and oxygen. HCV RNA could continuously be detected in the cells up to 77 days of culture. Sequence analysis of the HCV hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) revealed that 56% and 75%, respectively, of the clones obtained from the cells at day 20 and 40 after start of the infection were different from the clones obtained from the original inoculum and that certain nucleotide positions in this region were more susceptible to mutations, leading to an alteration in amino acid sequence. As none of these sequences were present in the clones from the inoculum, it is suggested that new HCV quasispecies have emerged as a result of viral replication in the hepatocytes in vitro . This system seems a valuable tool for the in vitro evaluation of antiviral drugs.     

Corneal regeneration by transplantation of corneal epithelial cell sheets fabricated with automated cell culture system in rabbit model

We have performed clinical applications of cell sheet-based regenerative medicine with human patients in several fields. In order to achieve the mass production of transplantable cell sheets, we have developed automated cell culture systems. Here, we report an automated robotic system utilizing a cell culture vessel, cell cartridge. The cell cartridge had two rooms for epithelial cells and feeder layer cells separating by porous membrane on which a temperature-responsive polymer was covalently immobilized. After pouring cells into this robotic system, cell seeding, medium change, and microscopic examination during culture were automatically performed according to the computer program. Transplantable corneal epithelial cell sheets were successfully fabricated in cell cartridges with this robotic system. Then, fabricated cell sheets were transplanted onto ocular surfaces of rabbit limbal epithelial stem cell deficiency model after 6-h transportation using a portable homothermal container to keep inner temperature at 36 °C. Within one week after transplantation, normal corneal epithelium was successfully regenerated. This automatic cell culture system would be useful for industrialization of tissue-engineered products for regenerative medicine.     

Evaluation of laboratory methods routinely used to detect the effect of aspirin against new reference methods

Background

Aspirin, a commonly used antiplatelet agent, blocks platelet thromboxane A₂ (TXA₂) formation from arachidonic acid (AA) by acetylating platelet cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1). Laboratory methods currently used to detect this antiplatelet effect of aspirin provide variable results. We have reported three methods that assess platelet COX-1 acetylation (inactivation) by aspirin and its direct consequences. The first and second assays use monoclonal anti-human-COX-1 antibodies that only detect acetylated (inactivated) COX-1 and active (non-acetylated) COX-1, respectively. The third method measures platelet production of TXB₂ (the stable metabolite of TXA₂) in vitro in response to AA. We compared the results of these three reference methods with other routinely used methods for assessing the functional consequences aspirin treatment.

Methods

108 healthy volunteers were treated with low-dose aspirin for 7 days. On day 7 following aspirin treatment COX-1 in the platelets was fully acetylated whereas only non-acetylated COX-1 was present in the day 0 platelets. Further, TXB₂ production by day 7 platelets was completely blocked. The following tests were performed on the samples obtained from study participants before and after seven days of aspirin treatment: PFA-100 closure time with collagen/epinephrine cartridge, VerifyNow® (VN) Aspirin Assay, platelet aggregation and ATP secretion using AA, ADP, epinephrine and collagen as agonists.

Results

Comparing the pre-treatment and day 7 values, methods that use AA as platelet agonist (AA-induced platelet aggregation/secretion and VN Aspirin Assay) showed high discriminative power. In contrast, results of the other tests showed considerable overlap between day 7 and day 0 values.

Conclusions

Only assays that clearly distinguish between acetylated and non-acetylated platelet COX-1 are useful for establishing the antiplatelet effect of aspirin. The other tests are not suitable for this purpose.