Application of the “Three Threes” Method in Clinical Teaching of Internal Jugular Vein Puncture

Objective: To clarify the role of the “Three Threes” method in clinical teaching of internal jugular vein puncture and explore improvements in teaching methods. Methods: A doctor was assigned to the induction room of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University (Shanghai Changzheng Hospital) for two months. The time required for catheterization, the first puncture success rate, and occurrence of puncture-related complications were compared before and after learning the “Three Threes” method. Results: Using the “Three Threes” method reduced the catheterization time by 43%, increased the first puncture success rate by 17%, and led to fewer puncture-related complications. Conclusion: The application of the “Three Threes” method not only improves the success rate of internal jugular vein puncture but also reduces complications, making it easier for students to master the technique.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the “1 + 1 + 1” Method in Theoretical Teaching of Emergency Pericardiocentesis

Background: Pericardial effusion may progress to cardiac tamponade when pressure around the heart increases to a level comparable to that of the right and left atria. Patients with cardiac tamponade need timely completion of emergency pericardiocentesis to relieve the threat to the patient’s life, and to save valuable time for patients who need emergency thoracotomy and pericardial window drainage. Pericardiocentesis is a necessary clinical skill for residents in standardized training. In addition, nurses who are familiar with this technology can better assist clinicians to perform this operation. In order to make the medical staff quickly master the theoretical knowledge of emergency pericardiocentesis, we designed a “1 + 1 + 1” teaching method for the theoretical teaching of emergency pericardiocentesis. Objective: This study aims to explore the effectiveness of the “1 + 1 + 1” teaching method in the theoretical teaching of emergency pericardiocentesis. Methods: We used an English teaching video of emergency pericardiocentesis and applied the “1 + 1 + 1” teaching method for theoretical teaching. A questionnaire survey was conducted before and after the lecture among 19 medical staff of different years of service to understand their mastery of the theoretical content of emergency pericardiocentesis before and after the lecture. According to the years of service, the medical staff were divided into three groups: 1 - 3 years (Group A), 4 - 10 years (Group B), and over 10 years (Group C), and the changes in the mastery of various contents by the overall medical staff and each group were statistically analyzed. Results: Before the lecture, the number of people who mastered the indications, contraindications, most commonly used methods, and common complications of emergency pericardiocentesis were 15, 12, 16, and 17, respectively, whereas after the lecture, these numbers increased to 17, 19, 19, and 19, respectively. The overall mastery before and after the lecture was statistically significant (p Conclusion: The “1 + 1 + 1” teaching method can effectively improve the overall mastery level of medical staff’s theoretical knowledge of emergency pericardiocentesis, especially in improving the mastery of contraindications of this operation.

Multi-Pollutant Formation and Control in Pressurized Oxy-Combustion:SO_(x),NO_(x),Particulate Matter,and Mercury

Oxy-combustion is a promising carbon-capture technology,but atmospheric-pressure oxy-combustion has a relatively low net efficiency,limiting its application in power plants.In pressurized oxycombustion(POC),the boiler,air separation unit,flue gas recirculation unit,and CO_(2)purification and compression unit are all operated at elevated pressure;this makes the process more efficient,with many advantages over atmospheric pressure,such as low NO_(x)emissions,a smaller boiler size,and more.POC is also more promising for industrial application and has attracted widespread research interest in recent years.It can produce high-pressure CO_(2)with a purity of approximately 95%,which can be used directly for enhanced oil recovery or geo-sequestration.However,the pollutant emissions must meet the standards for carbon capture,storage,and utilization.Because of the high oxygen and moisture concentrations in POC,the formation of acids via the oxidation and solution of SO_(x)and NO_(x)can be increased,causing the corrosion of pipelines and equipment.Furthermore,particulate matter(PM)and mercury emissions can harm the environment and human health.The main distinction between pressurized and atmospheric-pressure oxy-combustion is the former’s elevated pressure;thus,the effect of this pressure on the pollutants emitted from POC—including SO_(x),NO_(x),PM,and mercury—must be understood,and effective control methodologies must be incorporated to control the formation of these pollutants.This paper reviews recent advances in research on SO_(x),NO_(x),PM,and mercury formation and control in POC systems that can aid in pollutant control in such systems.

Fine mapping and characterization of a major QTL for grain length,QGl.cau-2D.1,that has pleiotropic effects in synthetic allohexaploid wheat

Grain size is one of the determinants of grain yield,and identifying the genetic loci that control grain size will be helpful for increasing grain yield.In our previous study,a quantitative trait locus(QTL)for grain length(GL),QGl.cau-2D.1,was identified from an F2 population developed from the cross between the natural(TAA10)and synthetic(XX329)allohexaploid wheat.In the present study,we mainly fine mapped and validated its genetic effects.To this end,multiple near-isogenic lines(NILs)were obtained through marker-assisted selection with TAA10 as the recurrent parent.The secondary populations derived from 25 heterozygous recombinants were used for fine mapping of QGl.cau-2D.1,and the allele from XX329 significantly increased GL,thousand-grain weight(TGW),total spikelet number per spike(TSN)and spike compactness(SC).Using NILs for XX329(2D+)and TAA10(2D−),we determined the genetic and pleiotropic effects of QGl.cau-2D.1.The target sequences were aligned with the wheat reference genome RefSeq v2.1 and spanned an~0.9 Mb genomic region.TraesCS2D03G0114900(ortholog of Os03g0594700)was predicted as the candidate gene based on whole-genome re-sequencing and expression analyses.In summary,the map-based cloning of QGl.cau-2D.1 will be useful for improving grain weight with enhanced GL and TSN.

Tim4 deficiency reduces CD301b+macrophage and aggravates periodontitis bone loss

Periodontitis is a common chronic inflammatory disease that causes the periodontal bone destruction and may ultimately result in tooth loss.With the progression of periodontitis,the osteoimmunology microenvironment in periodontitis is damaged and leads to the formation of pathological alveolar bone resorption.CD301b^(+)macrophages are specific to the osteoimmunology microenvironment,and are emerging as vital booster for conducting bone regeneration.However,the key upstream targets of CD301b^(+)macrophages and their potential mechanism in periodontitis remain elusive.In this study,we concentrated on the role of Tim4,a latent upstream regulator of CD301b^(+)macrophages.We first demonstrated that the transcription level of Timd4(gene name of Tim4)in CD301b^(+)macrophages was significantly upregulated compared to CD301b^(-) macrophages via high-throughput RNA sequencing.Moreover,several Tim4-related functions such as apoptotic cell clearance,phagocytosis and engulfment were positively regulated by CD301b^(+)macrophages.The single-cell RNA sequencing analysis subsequently discovered that Cd301b and Timd4 were specifically co-expressed in macrophages.The following flow cytometric analysis indicated that Tim4 positive expression rates in total macrophages shared highly synchronized dynamic changes with the proportions of CD301b^(+)macrophages as periodontitis progressed.Furthermore,the deficiency of Tim4 in mice decreased CD301b^(+)macrophages and eventually magnified alveolar bone resorption in periodontitis.Additionally,Tim4 controlled the p38 MAPK signaling pathway to ultimately mediate CD301b^(+)macrophages phenotype.In a word,Tim4 might regulate CD301b^(+)macrophages through p38 MAPK signaling pathway in periodontitis,which provided new insights into periodontitis immunoregulation as well as help to develop innovative therapeutic targets and treatment strategies for periodontitis.

Expression and clinical significance of pattern recognition receptor-associated genes in hand, foot and mouth disease

Objective:To explore which pattern recognition receptors(PRRs)play a key role in the development of hand,foot,and mouth disease(HFMD)by analyzing PRR-associated genes.Methods:We conducted a comparative analysis of PRR-associated gene expression in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)infected with enterovirus 71(EV-A71)which were derived from patients with HFMD of different severities and at different stages.A total of 30 PRR-associated genes were identified as significantly upregulated both over time and across different EV-A71 isolates.Subsequently,ELISA was employed to quantify the expression of the six most prominent genes among these 30 identified genes,specifically,BST2,IRF7,IFI16,TRIM21,MX1,and DDX58.Results:Compared with those at the recovery stage,the expression levels of BST2(P=0.027),IFI16(P=0.016),MX1(P=0.046)and DDX58(P=0.008)in the acute stage of infection were significantly upregulated,while no significant difference in the expression levels of IRF7(P=0.495)and TRIM21(P=0.071)was found between different stages of the disease.The expression levels of BST2,IRF7,IFI16 and MX1 were significantly higher in children infected with single pathogen than those infected with mixed pathogens,and BST2,IRF7,IFI16 and MX1 expression levels were significantly lower in coxsackie B virus(COXB)positive patients than the negative patients.Expression levels of one or more of BST2,IRF7,IFI16,TRIM21,MX1 and DDX58 genes were correlated with PCT levels,various white blood cell counts,and serum antibody levels that reflect disease course of HFMD.Aspartate aminotransferase was correlated with BST2,MX1 and DDX58 expression levels.Conclusions:PRR-associated genes likely initiate the immune response in patients at the acute stage of HFMD.

Mutual information oriented deep skill chaining for multi‐agent reinforcement learning

Multi‐agent reinforcement learning relies on reward signals to guide the policy networks of individual agents.However,in high‐dimensional continuous spaces,the non‐stationary environment can provide outdated experiences that hinder convergence,resulting in ineffective training performance for multi‐agent systems.To tackle this issue,a novel reinforcement learning scheme,Mutual Information Oriented Deep Skill Chaining(MioDSC),is proposed that generates an optimised cooperative policy by incorporating intrinsic rewards based on mutual information to improve exploration efficiency.These rewards encourage agents to diversify their learning process by engaging in actions that increase the mutual information between their actions and the environment state.In addition,MioDSC can generate cooperative policies using the options framework,allowing agents to learn and reuse complex action sequences and accelerating the convergence speed of multi‐agent learning.MioDSC was evaluated in the multi‐agent particle environment and the StarCraft multi‐agent challenge at varying difficulty levels.The experimental results demonstrate that MioDSC outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods and is robust across various multi‐agent system tasks with high stability.

CD301b^(+) macrophage: the new booster for activating bone regeneration in periodontitis treatment

Periodontal bone regeneration is a major challenge in the treatment of periodontitis.Currently the main obstacle is the difficulty of restoring the regenerative vitality of periodontal osteoblast lineages suppressed by inflammation,via conventional treatment.CD301b^(+)macrophages were recently identified as a subpopulation that is characteristic of a regenerative environment,but their role in periodontal bone repair has not been reported.

Initial steps on the analysis of the underlying pharmacological mechanisms of Wendan decoction on sudden deafness using network pharmacology and molecular docking

Background:Despite its widespread therapeutic use and effectiveness,the underlying pharmacologic mechanisms of Wendan decoction(WDD)and how it works to treat sudden deafness(SD)remain unclear.In this study,the pharmacological mechanisms of WDD underlying SD were analyzed using network pharmacology and molecular docking.Methods:The Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP)was employed to identify the active compounds and target genes of WDD,and genes associated with SD were screened on five databases.RGUI conducted Gene Ontology(GO)functional and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)enrichment analyses.A compound-target network was established using Cytoscape,and the STRING database created a protein-protein interaction(PPI)network to identify the key compounds and targets.Subsequently,a network of crucial compound-target was generated for further molecular docking analysis.For molecular docking simulations of the macromolecular target proteins and their matching ligand molecules,AutoDock Vina and AutoDockTool were utilized.Results:TCMSP identified 162 active target genes and 36 active compounds for WDD.The active target genes were compared with the 2271 genes associated with SD to identify 70 intersecting active target genes linked to 34 active compounds.The GO functional enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses were undertaken,and compound–target,and PPI networks were built.The key compounds and protein targets were identified and integrated to form a key compound–target network.Eventually,molecular docking was performed to investigate the interactions of the protein targets with their respective compounds.Conclusion:This study highlights the mechanisms of multi-compounds,targets,and pathways of WDD acting on SD and provides further evidence of crucial compounds and their matching target proteins of WDD acting on SD.

Optimization of Extraction Process of Polyphenols from Chrysanthemum morifolium and the Development of Chrysanthemum Rice Wine

[Objectives]This study was conducted to provide a theoretical basis for the extraction and comprehensive utilization of functional active components of Chrysanthemum morifolium polyphenols.[Methods]With C.morifolium as a raw material,polyphenols were extracted by water extraction.The extraction process of polyphenols were optimized by single factor tests on solid-liquid ratio,extracting time and times.Old rice wine selected as the base wine was added with C.morifolium polyphenol extract,honey,citric acid and other auxiliary materials to prepare a kind of chrysanthemum old rice wine.Through sensory analysis combined with fuzzy mathematics comprehensive evaluation method,the optimal formula of chrysanthemum old rice wine was determined,and the corresponding physicochemical indicators of the obtained chrysanthemum old rice wine were tested.[Results]The optimal soaking process for C.morifolium was as follows:extraction time of 20 min,a solid-liquid ratio of C.morifolium to warm water at 1:40,extraction times of 3 times.The physical and chemical indicators of the chrysanthemum wine obtained from the above optimal formula were as follows:sugar content 5%,ethanol content 11%,and pH value 4.04.The chrysanthemum old rice wine obtained was clear and transparent,and the fragrance of chrysanthemum was coordinated with the mellow aroma of rice wine.The taste was refreshing and suitable for the vast majority of people to drink.[Conclusions]The new type of chrysanthemum old rice wine combines the polyphenolic active substances in C.morifolium with the low ethanol content of old rice wine,which not only improves the utilization rate of C.morifolium,but also strengthens the health function of old rice wine products,improves the quality of old rice wine,and promotes the healthy and rapid development of the old rice wine industry.

The Role of Structured Framework in Simulated Cardiac Emergency for Cardiothoracic Training

Background: Both technical and nontechnical skills are important factors in cardiac emergency incident. The effects of structured framework on these skills have not been thoroughly studied. We hypothesized that structured framework can improve the clinical performance and reduce errors to improve patients’ safety. Methodology: A total of 24 teams composed of cardiac residents, attending surgeons and ICU nurses performed simulated emergency incident tasks in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and tracheal intubation (TI) scenarios. Framework education was introduced to the assigned groups in two separate semesters. All the scenarios were recorded by video for further evaluation by cardiologist and emergency medicine specialist. Clinical performance, time consumption in simulated scenarios, correlation between framework training and nontechnical skills performance were assessed. Results: The average percentages of CPR completed in the Group 1 (G1) with framework education and the Group 2 (G2) were 85% (SEM: 6.20%) and 53% (SEM: 5.77%) respectively (P < 0.001). And the average percentages of TI completed in G2 with framework education was 87% (SEM: 3.96%), higher than G1 (50%, SEM: 5.64%) (P < 0.001). As for time consumption, the mean time to complete CPR in groups with framework education was shorter than in groups without framework education (P o complete TI in groups with framework education was shorter than in groups without framework education (P < 0.005). Further, there was a significant correlation between framework training and communication in simulated scenarios. Conclusion: The framework provides the whole procedure of the task to every participant. Structured framework education can improve nontechnical skills as well as technical skills of doctors and nurses. Further, researches should be conducted to evaluate the clinical performance and correlation between technical skills and nontechnical skills in cardiothoracic training.

具有经济性的碱性膜燃料电池氢气氧化反应催化剂

燃料电池是一种清洁高效的能量转换装置,可将储存在燃料中的化学能直接转化为电能。在过去的几十年中,燃料电池的开发取得了重大进展。聚合物电解质燃料电池,尤其是以质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)为代表,可以实现高效率、高功率密度、快速启动,因而受到了广泛的关注。然而,PEMFC因使用昂贵的Pt基催化剂而导致成本较高,阻碍了其大规模的应用。近年来发展的碱性膜燃料电池(HEMFC)与PEMFC结构相似,但使用可传导氢氧根离子的聚合物电解质,并提供碱性工作环境。HEMFC由于具有使用非Pt电催化剂和较便宜双极板的可能性而备受关注。然而,HEMFC的一个巨大的挑战是阳极氢氧化反应(HOR)相对缓慢的动力学,这使得其需要较高载量的阳极催化剂才能实现较高的电池性能。因此,对于HEMFC而言,阳极催化剂的成本也很高,亟需开发在碱性条件下低成本、高活性和高稳定性的HOR催化剂。在本综述中,我们总结了HOR催化剂的最新研究进展,涉及文献中提出的各种HOR机理和催化剂,并分析了基于阳极催化剂成本的HEMFC性能。我们发现,最新报道的非Pt HOR催化剂可以降低阳极催化剂的成本,到达与PEMFC接近的成本水平。最后,我们对HOR的进一步研究进行了展望。

常用减排政策在肉牛养殖业中的有效性分析

为分析常用减排政策在肉牛养殖业中的有效性,探讨了肉牛饲喂过程中的温室气体减排问题。首先利用联合国政府间气候变化委员会(IPCC)提供的饲料成分排放因子测算方法,估算肉牛个体在育肥过程中的温室气体排放量;在此基础3种减排手段,建立了考虑温室气体排放的饲喂决策模型。数值试验表明,价格补贴最具可行性,且有助于降低养殖场运营成本;碳排放限额约束具有最优的单位减排成本,但需要制定完善的政策以避免权力寻租等不端行为;碳税的减排效果最为明显,但将极大地增加养殖场运营成本,可行性最差。

Radiofrequency ablation or microwave ablation combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma by comparing with radiofrequency ablation alone

Objective：To compare radiofrequency ablation （RFA） or microwave ablation （MWA） and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization （TACE） with RFA or MWA monotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）.Methods：A prospective,randomized,controlled trial was conducted on 94 patients with HCC ≤7 cm at a single tertiary referral center from June 2008 to June 2010 at the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery,the Second Affiliated Hospital of Southeast University.The patients were randomly assigned into the TACERFA or TACE-MWA （combined treatment group） and the RFA-alone or MWA-alone groups （control group）.The primary end point was overall survival.The secondary end point was recurrence-free survival,and the tertiary end point was adverse effects.Results：Until the time of censor,17 patients in the TACE-RFA or TACE-MWA group had died.The median follow-up time of the patients who were still alive for the TACE-RFA or TACE-MWA group was 47.5±11.3 months （range,29 to 62 months）.The 1-,3-and 5-year overall survival for the TACE-RFA or TACE-MWA group was 93.6％,68.1％ and 61.7％,respectively.Twenty-five patients in the RFA or MWA group had died.The median follow-up time of the patients who were still alive for the RFA or MWA group was 47.0±12.9 months （range,28 to 62 months）.The 1-,3-and 5-year overall survival for the RFA or MWA group was 85.1％,59.6％ and 44.7％,respectively.The patients in the TACE-RFA or TACE-MWA group had better overall survival than the RFA or MWA group [hazard ratio （HR）,0.526; 95％ confidence interval （95％ CO,0.334-0.823; P=0.002],and showed better recurrence-free survival than the RFA or MWA group （HR,0.582; 95％ CI,0.368-0.895; P=0.008）.Conclusions：RFA or MWA combined with TACE in the treatment of HCC ≤7 cm was superior to RFA or MWA alone in improving survival by reducing arterial and portal blood flow due to TACE with iodized oil before RFA.

Antibacterial effects of platelet-rich fibrin produced by horizontal centrifugation

Platelet-rich fibrin(PRF)has been widely used owing to its ability to stimulate tissue regeneration.To date,few studies have described the antibacterial properties of PRF.Previously,PRF prepared by horizontal centrifugation(H-PRF)was shown to contain more immune cells than leukocyte-and platelet-rich fibrin(L-PRF).This study aimed to compare the antimicrobial effects of PRFs against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in vitro and to determine whether the antibacterial effects correlated with the number of immune cells.Blood samples were obtained from eight healthy donors to prepare L-PRF and H-PRF.The sizes and weights of L-PRF and H-PRF were first evaluated,and their antibacterial effects against S.aureus and E.coli were then tested in vitro using the inhibition ring and plate-counting test methods.Flow-cytometric analysis of the cell components of L-PRF and H-PRF was also performed.No significant differences in size or weight were observed between the L-PRF and H-PRF groups.The H-PRF group contained more leukocytes than the L-PRF group.While both PRFs had notable antimicrobial activity against S.aureus and E.coli,H-PRF demonstrated a significantly better antibacterial effect than L-PRF.Furthermore,the antimicrobial ability of the PRF solid was less efficient than that of wet PRF.In conclusion,H-PRF exhibited better antibacterial activity than L-PRF,which might have been attributed to having more immune cells.

Identifying changes in the wheat kernel proteome under heat stress using iTRAQ

Wheat(Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the three major global food crops. Hightemperature stress can affect its yield and quality. Studies of the effect of hightemperature stress on wheat kernel development are important because they can reveal the stability of wheat quality and lead to the genetic improvement of wheat quality traits. In this study, the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation(iTRAQ)method was adopted to analyze changes in the protein expression profile of wheat cultivars under high temperature stress. The protein content of wheat grain increased under heat stress, while the SDS-sedimentation value and starch content decreased.Grain filling was deficient under high temperature stress, which reduced thousandkernel weight but did not affect wheat kernel length. The 207 differentially expressed proteins identified in Gaocheng 8901 under heat stress were associated with energy metabolism, growth and development, and stress response. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis showed that the annotated proteins that were differentially expressed in Gaocheng 8901 under heat stress were involved mainly in stimulus response, abiotic stress response, stress response, and plasma membrane. A set of 78 differentially expressed proteins were assigned to 83 KEGG signaling/metabolic pathways. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that this set of proteins was significantly enriched in members of 51 pathways, and the proteins participated mainly in protein synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum, starch and sucrose metabolism, and reaction on ribosomes. Five differentially expressed proteins were involved in protein–protein interaction networks that may greatly influence the yield and quality of wheat grain. In wheat, high-temperature stress leads to a variety of effects on protein expression and may ultimately cause changes in yield and quality.

Lump,lumpoff and predictable rogue wave solutions to a dimensionally reduced Hirota bilinear equation

We study a simplified(3+1)-dimensional model equation and construct a lump solution for the special case of z=y using the Hirota bilinear method.Then,a more general form of lump solution is constructed,which contains more arbitrary autocephalous parameters.In addition,a lumpoff solution is also derived based on the general lump solutions and a stripe soliton.Furthermore,we figure out instanton/rogue wave solutions via introducing two stripe solitons.Finally,one can better illustrate these propagation phenomena of these solutions by analyzing images.

Immune responses of dendritic cells combined with tumor-derived autophagosome vaccine on hepatocellular carcinoma

Background： To induce and collect tumor-derived autophagosomes （DRibbles） from tumor cells as an antitumor vaccine by inhibiting the functions of proteasomes and lysosomes. Methods： Dendritic cells （DCs） generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cell （PBMC） of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） patients were cocultured with DRibbles, and then surface molecules of DCs, as well as surface molecules on DCs, were determined by flow cytometry. Meanwhile, immune responses of the DCs-DRibbles were examined by mixed lymphocyte reactions. Results： DRibbles significantly induced the expression of CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA-DR on DCs. The enzyme-linked immunosorbnent assay （ELISA） showed that IFN-γ, levels after vaccination increased than before in most patients, but CDS＋ proportion of PBMC increased only in nine patients. Higher levels of IFN-γ, were detected in the CD8＋ cells than CD4＋ T cells. These results suggested that DCs-DRibbles vaccine could induce antigen-specific cellular immune response on HCC and could prime strong CD8＋ T cell responses, supporting it as a tumor vaccine candidate. Conclusions： Our results demonstrate that HCC/DRibbles-pulsed DCs immunotherapy might be deployed as an effective antitumor vaccine for HCC immunotherapy in clinical trials.

Comparison of three flocculants for heavy cyanobacterial bloom mitigation and subsequent environmental impact

Cyanobacteria can accumulate as a heavy biomass on the leeward side of large eutrophic lakes,posing a potential threat to public health.The mitigating capacity of three flocculants and their potential impacts on the major environmental features of water and sediments was evaluated.Results indicate that polyaluminum chloride(PAC)and ferric chloride(FeCl)are efficient flocculants that can rapidly mitigate cyanobacterial blooms with chlorophyll-a concentrations higher tnan 1500 ug/L within 15 min.In comparison,cationic starch with chitosan could only treat cyanobacterial blooms in chlorophyll-a concentrations of less than 200μg/L.The addition of FeClcaused a decline in the pH value,while dissolved oxygen in the water column dropped to 2 mg/L during cationic starch with chitosan treatment for a high cyanobacterial biomass group.Thus,a combination of flocculants and oxygenators should be considered when treating high-concentration cyanobacterial blooms for emergency purposes.Additionally,the cell lysis of cyanobacteria caused by cationic starch with chitosan can result in an increase in total dissolved phosphorus and total dissolved nitrogen.Furthermore,the high accumlation of nutrients in sediments after the settling of cyanobacteria can cause high internal phosphorus pollution.The increase in the total organic carbon of the sediments can threaten lake restoration achieved by planting submerged macrophytes.

Rapid bioluminescence assay for monitoring rat CES1 activity and its alteration by traditional Chinese medicines

In traditional Chinese medicine herbs(TCM),including Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae(Danshen),Radix Puerariae Lobatae(Gegen),Radix Angelicae Sinensis(Danggui),and Rhizoma Chuanxiong(Chuanxiong)are widely used for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and also often co-administered with Western drugs as a part of integrative medicine practice.Carboxylesterase 1(CES1)plays a pivotal role in the metabolisms of pro-drugs,Since(S)-2-(2-(6-dimethylamino)-benzothiazole)-4,5-dihydrothiazole-4-carboxylate(NLMe)has recently been identified by us as a selective CES1 bioluminescent sensor,we developed a rapid method using this substrate for the direct measurement of CES1 activity in rats.This bioluminescence assay was applied to determine CES1 activity in rat tissues after a two-week oral administration of each of the four herbs noted above.The results demonstrated the presence of CES1 enzyme in rat blood and all tested tissues with much higher enzyme activity in the blood,liver,kidney and heart than that in the small intestine,spleen,lung,pancreas,brain and stomach.In addition,the four herbs showed tissue-specific effects on rat CES1 expression.Based on the CES1 biodistribution and its changes after treatment in rats,the possibility that Danshen,Gegen and Danggui might alter CES1 activities in human blood and kidney should be considered.In summary,a selective and sensitive bioluminescence assay was developed to rapidly evaluate CES1 activity and the effects of orally administered TCMs in rats.