[Establishment of a CFTR-based detection method for the second messenger cAMP in the cytoplasm]

Objective: To establish a detection method based on Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) that can sensitively detect the second messenger cyclic AMP (cAMP) in the cytoplasm. Methods: The eukaryotic expression vectors of CFTR and YFP-H148Q / I152L were constructed respectively. FRT cells co-expressing CFTR and YFP-H148Q / I152L were obtained by liposome transfection. The expression of CFTR and YFP-H148Q / I152L in FRT cells was observed by an inverted fluorescence microscopy, and flow cytometry was used to detect the purity of cells; The cell model was identified by the fluorescence quenching kinetics test. The validation of the cell model which could screen CFTR modulators was verified by the fluorescence quenching kinetics experiments. The radioimmunoassay was used to detect the cAMP concentration in cytoplasm after adding CFTR activator. Results: The results of the inverted fluorescence microscope showed that CFTR was expressed in the cell membrane and YFP-H148Q / I152L was expressed in the cytoplasm of FRT cells. The FRT cell model stably co-expressing ANO1 and YFP-H148Q / I152L was successfully constructed. The model could screen CFTR modulators, and the slope of fluorescence change and the concentration of CFTR modulators were in a dose-dependent manner. The slope of the fluorescence could reflect the cAMP concentration in the cytoplasm. The cell model could sensitively detect the intracellular cAMP concentration. Conclusion: The cell model could efficiently and sensitively detect the second messenger cAMP concentration in the cytoplasm, and it provided a simple and efficient method for the study of other targets associated cAMP signal.

[Vesselplasty for the treatment of spinal metastases complicated by posterior wall destruction of vertebral body]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the early clinical efficacy and safety of vesselplasty for the treatment of spinal metastases complicated by posterior wall destruction of vertebral body.

METHODS

The clinical data of 19 patients(21 segments) with spinal metastases complicated by posterior wall destruction of vertebral body treated from January 2016 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 15 males and 4 females, aged 40 to 85 years old with a mean of (66.00±10.25) years . All patients had severe low back pain before the operation, which were diagnosed by CT as damage-type metastatic tumor of the vertebral posterior wall. All patients were treated by vesselplasty technique. Nineteen vertebrae received percutaneous unilateral pedicle puncture and two vertebrae received percutaneous bilateral pedicle puncture. VAS, ODI were recorded before operation, 1 d and 3 d after operation respectively. X-ray and CT scan were used to observe bone cement leakage and complications.

RESULTS

All the operations were successful and postoperative pain was significantly relieved. Postoperative VAS score and ODI of the two groups were significantly improved (P<0.05). A small amount of bone cement leakage occurred in one vertebral body, which was a vertebral venous plexus leakage, but no clinical symptoms after operation.

CONCLUSION

Vesselplasty for the treatment of spinal metastases complicated by posterior wall destruction of vertebral body can significantly reduce the symptoms of thoracolumbar back pain, improve the quality of life, reduce the incidence of bone cement leakage, and has high clinical efficacy and safety.

[Initial exploration of choice of the donor site of flap and its repair strategy]

Objective: To explore the choice of the donor site of flap and the repair method of secondary wound of flap donor site in tissue repair and reconstruction operation. Methods: From January 2014 to September 2018, 62 cases of scar contracture deformity, 15 cases of skin tumor, 20 cases of skin and soft tissue injury, and 25 cases of chronic wound were admitted to the Burn Center of People's Liberation Army of First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University, with 84 males and 38 females, aged from 3 to 89 years. Four repair strategies adopted for tissue repair and reconstruction and good repair of the donor site of flap were as follows: designing the flap rationally according to the condition around the wound or the size and shape of wound, choosing pre-expanded technique of the donor site of flap for repair of scar deformity optimally, making full use of the surrounding condition of flap donor site, and repaired with the distal flap, i. e. replacing the important site with secondary site. The donor site of flap was repaired by direct suture or peripheral flap and distal flap. The wound size of patients ranged from 3.0 cm×2.0 cm to 20.0 cm×18.0 cm, and the flap area ranged from 3.5 cm×2.0 cm to 25.0 cm×22.0 cm. The survival condition of flap, healing condition of donor site and recipient site, and follow-up condition of donor site and recipient site were recorded. Results: Wounds of 122 patients were repaired with a total of 148 flaps designed by the above four repair strategies. All the flaps survived well, and the wound and flap donor site healed well. Follow-up for 3 to 36 months showed that the shape and function of recipient site and flap donor site were satisfactory. Conclusions: According to the specific condition of the wound and anatomical structure of the surrounding tissue of flap donor site, overall surgical design with flexibility and personalization can achieve effects of good repair of the wound and reduce the secondary damage of flap donor site.

A novel antimicrobial composite: ZnAl-hydrotalcite with p-hydroxybenzoic acid intercalation and its possible application as a food packaging material

p-Hydroxybenzoic acid was intercalated into LDHs (Zn/Al ratio = 4 : 1). The former possesses anti-fungal activity and the latter shows the best antibacterial effect.

Yeast one-hybrid screening the potential regulator of CYP6B6 overexpression of Helicoverpa armigera under 2-tridecanone stress

In insect, the cytochrome P450 plays a pivotal role in detoxification to toxic allelochemicals. Helicoverpa armigera can tolerate and survive in 2-tridecanone treatment owing to the CYP6B6 responsive expression, which is controlled by some regulatory DNA sequences and transcription regulators. Therefore, the 2-tridecanone responsive region and transcription regulators of the CYP6B6 are responsible for detoxification of cotton bollworm. In this study, we used yeast one-hybrid to screen two potential transcription regulators of the CYP6B6 from H. armigera that respond to the plant secondary toxicant 2-tridecanone, which were named Prey1 and Prey2, respectively. According to the NCBI database blast, Prey1 is the homology with FK506 binding protein (FKBP) of Manduca sexta and Bombyx mori that belongs to the FKBP-C superfamily, while Prey2 may be a homology of an unknown protein of Papilio or the fcaL24 protein homology of B. mori. The electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that the FKBP of prokaryotic expression could specifically bind to the active region of the CYP6B6 promoter. After the 6th instar larvae of H. armigera reared on 2-tridecanone artificial diet, we found there were similar patterns of CYP6B6 and FKBP expression of the cotton bollworm treated with 10 mg g-1 2-tridecanone for 48 h, which correlation coefficient was the highest (0.923). Thus, the FKBP is identified as a strong candidate for regulation of the CYP6B6 expression, when the cotton bollworm is treated with 2-tridecanone. This may lead us to a better understanding of transcriptional mechanism of CYP6B6 and provide very useful information for the pest control.

Induction of Cytochrome P450 Activity by the Interaction of Chlorantraniliprole and Sinigrin in the Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The joint toxicity of chlorantraniliprole, a novel insecticide that acts on ryanodine receptors, and sinigrin, a natural plant defense compound from brassicaceous vegetables, to the larvae of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) was determined in this paper. Additionally, the joint effects of the two compounds on cytochrome P450 enzyme activity and on the expression levels of mRNA of three P450 genes (including CYP9A9, CYP6B, and CYP4G37) and an NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase gene (HQ852049) were investigated. The toxicity of the mixture of chlorantraniliprole and sinigrin to fourth-instar S. exigua larvae was 1.60-fold higher than the toxicity of the chlorantraniliprole-only treatment after 24 h. Induced by chlorantraniliprole and sinigrin, the specific activity of the P450 O-deethylase was affected in a time-, dose-, and organ-specific manner in fifth-instar S. exigua larvae. The effects were more pronounced in the midgut than in the fat body. The specific activity of the P450 O-deethylase in almost all treatments increased at 12, 24, and 36 h posttreatment compared with that in the control. Based on real-time PCR analyses, the expression levels of the P450 genes CYP9A9, CYP6B, and CYP4G37 and the NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase gene HQ852049 in fifth-instar S. exigua larvae were induced by chlorantraniliprole and sinigrin, and the trends were similar to the specific activity of the P450 O-deethylase. Therefore, the CYP9A9, CYP6B, and HQ852049 in the tested genes were the most inducible genes that were expressed when the S. exigua larvae were exposed to chlorantraniliprole and sinigrin.

Comparison of the acute toxicity for gamma-cyhalothrin and lambda-cyhalothrin to zebra fish and shrimp

Gamma-cyhalothrin 15CS (GCH) contains only the active stereoisomer of the two isomers found in lambda-cyhalothrin 25EW (LCH). GCH (0.5 x rate) provides equivalent overall insect control as LCH (1 x rate). Both formulations showed high acute toxicity to zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio H.B.) and shrimp (Macrobrachium nippoensis de Haan). The 96-h LC(50(zebra fish,GCH)) is 1.93 microg a.i/L and LC(50(zebra fish,LCH)) is 1.94 microg a.i/L. LC(50(shrimp,GCH)) is 0.28 microg a.i./L and LC(50(shrimp,LCH)) 0.04 microg a.i./L. This indicates that the toxicity to shrimp is likely stereochemistry-dependent. The fates of GCH and LCH are similar in laboratory simulated rice paddy water and their concentrations decrease rapidly, with no GCH or LCH detected after 3 or 4 days. Both are toxic to shrimp in a simulated paddy irrigation reservoir even though treated return water is diluted 5 times. No shrimp fatality is shown in the GCH-treated paddy water after a 4-day holding period, and longer than 5 days is necessary to reach a zero fatality rate for LCH. This is compatible with the 7-day water holding period considered reasonable in agricultural practice.

Inhibitory effects of four carbamate insecticides on acetylcholinesterase of male and female Carassius auratus in vitro

The inhibitory effects of four carbamate insecticides, methomyl, thiodicarb, carbofuran and carbosulfan, on acetylcholinesterase of male and female Carassius auratus were investigated in the laboratory. Kinetic constants, biomolecular rate constant (k(i)), carbamylation rate constant (k2) and decarbamylation rate constant (k3) were determined in vitro. The ratios of bimolecular rate constant (female/male) for AChE reacting with methomyl, thiodicarb, carbofuran and carbosulfan were 1.03, 2.44, 1.03 and 1.106, respectively. The k(i) of AChE for thiodicarb was significantly higher in female fish than in male fish (P<0.05). The ratios of carbamylation rate constant (female/male) for methomyl, thiodicarb, carbofuran and carbosulfan were 1.18, 4.29, 3.53, and 2.07, respectively. The k2 values of AChE for the above four carbamates were significantly higher in females than in males. The ratios of the decarbamylation rate constant (female/male) for methomyl, thiodicarb, carbofuran and carbosulfan were 1.02, 1.39, 1.06, and 1.98, respectively. Only for carbosulfan, the decarbamylation rate of AChE was significantly higher in the female than in the male, indicating that AChE of females inhibited by carbosulfan recovered more quickly than that of males. The above results suggest that the female in the sensitivity of AChE to carbamates was different from the male fish.

Quantification and characterisation of arteries in retinal images

A computerised system is presented for the automatic quantification of blood vessel topography in retinal images. This system utilises digital image processing techniques to provide more reliable and comprehensive information for the retinal vascular network. It applies strategies and algorithms for measuring vascular trees and includes methods for locating the centre of a bifurcation, detecting vessel branches, estimating vessel diameter, and calculating angular geometry at a bifurcation. The performance of the system is studied by comparison with manual measurements and by comparing measurements between red-free images and fluorescein images. In general an acceptable degree of accuracy and precision was seen for all measurements, although the system had difficulty dealing with very noisy images and small or especially tortuous blood vessels.