Efficacy of Botulinum Therapy in Correcting the Level of Pain Syndrome and Quality of Life in Patients with Cervical Dystonia

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Objectives. To assess the severity of pain syndrome, emotional status, and quantitative levels of humoral serotonin in patients with cervical dystonia (CD)...     

Use of Anchoring Motifs to Support the Central and Peripheral Locations of Opsins in Optogenetics

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - One version of the optogenetic prosthetization of the degenerative retina is an approach based on creation of an ON/OFF receptive field for ganglion neurons...     

An Immunohistochemical Study of the Pathways of the Influence of Dopamine on Orexinergic Neurons in the Perifornical Area of the Hypothalamus

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Confocal microscopy was used to analyze double immunolabeling and provided evidence of the locations of a large number of tyrosine...     

Comparative Characteristics of the Expression of Inducible NO Synthase in the Hippocampus of Humans and Experimental Animals

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Objective: To study the characteristics of the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in hippocampal fields CA1 and CA3 in adult male humans and adult...     

The nationwide distribution and trends of hepatitis C virus genotypes in mainland China

Comprehensive data on hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes distribution is critical for treatment regimen selection, vaccine design, and drug development. This study aimed to understand the dynamic distribution of HCV genotypes in Mainland China. Three hundred sixty-two studies published from January 1993 to December 2017 involving 64 891 samples (5133 injecting drug users, 2748 volunteer blood donors, 1509 former paid plasma donors, 160 sexually encounters, and 1992 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV coinfection patients) were eligible for the quantitative synthesis estimation. Pooled proportion of HCV genotypes (and 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) was estimated through the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation by period, region, and risk group. A sharp decline of the subtype 1b was observed in all regions except in northwestern and central regions. The genotypes 3 and 6 showed an obvious increase in southern and southwestern regions and have already spread nationwide. After 2010, subtype 1b was the most dominant variant in all regions and risk groups, accounting for 54.0% (95% CI, 51.9-56.1) of all national infections. Subtype 2a was the second most prevalent strain in all regions except in the south and southwest, with 15.4% (95% CI, 13.1-17.8) national infections. The subtype 6a in southern region and 3b and 3a in southwestern region had a higher proportion of infections than that in other regions. In addition, the genotypes 3 and 6 are already prevalent in almost all risk groups. The distribution of HCV genotypes were sharply shifting in China in the past three decades. The HCV subtype 1b posed a sharp decline, whereas genotypes 3 and 6 played an increasing role in the regional and populational HCV pandemic.     

Enhanced conversion of sterols to steroid synthons by augmenting the peptidoglycan synthesis gene pbpB in Mycobacterium neoaurum

Some species of mycobacteria have been modified to transform sterols to valuable steroid synthons. The unique cell wall of mycobacteria has been recognized as an important organelle to absorb sterols. Some cell wall inhibitors (e.g., vancomycin and glycine) have been validated to enhance sterol conversion by interfering with transpeptidation in peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Therefore, two transpeptidase genes, pbpA and pbpB, were selected to rationally modify the cell wall to simulate the enhancement effect of vancomycin and glycine on sterol conversion in a 22‐hydroxy‐23,24‐bisnorchol‐4‐ene‐3‐one (4‐HBC) producing strain (WIII). Unexpectedly, the pbpA or pbpB gene augmentation was conducive to the utilization of sterols. The pbpB augmentation strain WIII‐pbpB was further investigated for its better performance. Compared to WIII, the morphology of WIII‐pbpB was markedly changed from oval to spindle, indicating alterations of the cell wall. Biochemical analysis indicated that the altered cell wall properties of WIII‐pbpB might contribute to the positive effect on sterol utilization. The productivity of 4‐HBC was enhanced by 28% in the WIII‐pbpB strain compared to that of WIII. These results demonstrated that the modification of peptidoglycan synthesis can improve the conversion of sterols to steroid synthons in mycobacteria.     

低温常压等离子技术在肿瘤学中的应用

等离子医学是研究等离子技术在医学领域应用的一门新兴科学。简述低温常压等离子技术,着重介绍其在肿瘤学中的应用。在肿瘤学领域中,等离子技术通过直接处理肿瘤细胞,产生大量活性物质引起肿瘤细胞的凋亡、坏死和自噬,从而发挥对肿瘤组织的直接致死性作用;等离子技术也可通过活化液体,使活化液体具备细胞毒性作用,从而发挥对肿瘤组织的间接致死性作用;同时等离子技术也具有诸多对肿瘤组织的非致死性作用;此外等离子技术也可参与构建化疗药物的缓释系统,协助药物跨生物膜转运,与传统化疗药物产生协同抗肿瘤的作用等,在肿瘤药物学领域发挥重要作用。     

The life cycles of two species of Myxomycetes in Physarales,Physarum rigidum and Didymium squamulosum

Myxomycetes are eukaryotic microorganisms containing characteristics akin to both fungi and amoebae. They can complete their whole life cycles while being cultured on agar media, and under‐laboratory conditions, which favors taxonomic, phylogenetic, and cytological researches. Here, we describe the life cycles of two such species: Didymium squamulosum collected from the field and Physarum rigidum cultured from moist chamber both belonging to the Order Physarales. Three per cent oat‐agar media (OAM) was used to culture the plasmodia until they aggregated and were almost starved. Natural light was then applied to the plasmodia to induce fructification. Their life cycles share the same common stages, namely: spore, myxamoebae, swarm cell, plasmodia, and sporulation. In this study, we describe the morphogenesis from spore to spore of two species by differential interference contrast (DIC) and stereoscopic microscopies, as well as discuss the differences between the development of both species and interspecies. We found that the spore germination method of both species was the same. However, there were differences noted in time taken and fruiting body formation. Unlike P. rigidum, the species D. squamulosum did not require natural light stimulation. Moreover, the maturation process of both species had similar color transitions but exhibited distinct morphology in each developmental stage except during the swarm cell stage.     

二巯基丁二酸修饰的Fe3O4纳米颗粒对人血管内皮细胞的作用研究

目的研究二巯基丁二酸修饰的Fe3O4纳米颗粒(dimercaptosuccinic acid-magnetite nanoparticles,DMSA-Fe3O4)对人脐静脉内皮细胞(human umbilical vein endothelial cells,HUVECs)功能的影响。方法利用动态光散射法表征DMSA-Fe3O4的粒径及表面电荷;采用普鲁士蓝染色、邻二氮菲铁定量和透射电镜观察方法研究HUVECs对DMSA-Fe3O4的摄取规律;利用细胞计数试剂盒(Cell Counting Kit-8,CCK-8)检测DMSA-Fe3O4对内皮细胞活性的影响;通过酶联免疫吸附试剂盒测定DMSA-Fe3O4对内皮细胞血管内皮生长因子(vascular endothelial growth factor,VEGF)分泌量的影响。结果HUVECs能够大量吞噬DMSA-Fe3O4,其吞噬量具有孵育时间和剂量依赖性;短时间内所测剂量范围DMSA-Fe3O4对细胞活性无显著影响,但长时间高剂量条件使细胞活性明显降低。此外,在高剂量DMSA-Fe3O4暴露下(200μg/mL),内皮细胞分泌VEGF的量约为对照组的3倍。结论DMSA-Fe3O4易于被HUVECs吞噬;高浓度DMSA-Fe3O4与HUVECs长时间培养使细胞活性降低,并刺激内皮细胞分泌VEGF。