Implication of serum levels of interleukin-18 and nitric oxide in tumor growth and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer

To study the effect of IL-18 and nitric oxide(NO) on the growth and metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods Serum IL-18 and nitrate and nitrite levels in 82 patients with NSCLC and 20 healthy control subjects were measured by using ELISA and Griess.Results The levels of serum IL-18 were (334.2±31.0)ng/L in NSCLC patients and (151.3±22.0)ng/L in control subjects,respectively.The levels of nitrate and nitrite were (237.1±21.0)μmol/L in NSCLC patients and (44.2±15.0)μmol/L in control subjects.The levels of serum IL-18 and nitrate and nitrite were not related with age,gender,histological types in patients with NSCLC.The levels of serum IL-18 was closely associated with TNM stage,lymph node metastasis and distal metastasis,but not with its degree and organ types of metastasis.There was a negative correlation between the levels of serum IL-18 and nitrate and nitrite.Conclusion Serum IL-18 and nitrate and nitrite levels may be useful to evaluate the prognosis of the patients with NSCLC.16 refs,2 tabs.

Non-thermal plasma modified growth and differentiation process of Capsicum annuum PP805 Godiva in in vitro conditions

With the aim of evaluating the possible impacts of cold plasma on the structure and growth pattern of Capsicum annuum, the current study was carried out. The seeds were exposed to an argon-derived plasma（0.84 W cm^（-2） surface power densities） for 0, 1 or 2 minutes. Plasmatreated seeds were grown in the Murashige and Skoog（MS） medium or MS medium supplemented with BA and IAA. The presence of purple stems was recorded in plasma-treated plants grown in the medium supplemented with hormones. The recorded morphological differences were dependent on the exposure time of plasma treatments and/or the presence of hormones in the culture media. Plasma treatment of 1 minute had an improving effect on the shoot and root lengths as well as total leaf area, whereas plasma treatment of 2 minutes had an adverse effect. In contrast to the 1 minute treatment, plasma treatment of 2 minutes significantly impaired growth and hence reduced the total biomass. Alterations in stem diameter and differences in tissue patterns（especially in the vascular system） occurred, and were mainly dependent on the plasma exposure time and/or the presence of hormones. This is a first report on the effects of cold plasma on plant growth in in vitro conditions.

Antioxidant capacity and concentration of redox-active trace mineral in fully weaned intra-uterine growth retardation piglets

Background： The redox status of intra-uterine growth retardation（IUGR） piglets post-weaning has been poorly studied.Methods： Newborns from twenty-four sows were weighted, weaned at 21 d and fed a starter diet until sampling.Sampling was done at 14 d post-weaning. A piglet was defined as IUGR when its birth weight was 2 SD below the mean birth weight of the total population. At weaning, eighteen piglets with nearly equal body weight from each category（i.e. IUGR or normal birth weight（NBW） piglets） were selected and then allocated to two treatments,consisted of six replicates with each pen having three piglets.Results： Compared with NBW group, IUGR significantly decreased average daily gain（P 〈 0.001）, average daily feed intake（P = 0.003）, and feed efficiency（P 〈 0.001） of piglets during the first two weeks post-weaning. IUGR decreased the activities of total antioxidant capacity（P = 0.019）, total superoxide dismutase（T-SOD, P = 0.023）,and ceruloplasmin（P = 0.044） but increased the levels of malondialdehyde（P = 0.040） and protein carbonyl（P = 0.010） in plasma. Similarly, the decreased activities of T-SOD（P = 0.005）, copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutase（Cu/Zn-SOD, P = 0.002）, and catalase（P = 0.049） was observed in the liver of IUGR piglets than these of NBW piglets. IUGR decreased hepatic Cu/Zn-SOD activity（P = 0.023） per unit of Cu/Zn-SOD protein in piglets when compared with NBW piglets. In addition, IUGR piglets exhibited the decreases in accumulation of copper in both plasma（P = 0.001） and liver（P = 0.014）, as well as the concentrations of iron（P = 0.002） and zinc（P = 0.048） in liver. Compared with NBW, IUGR down-regulated m RNA expression of Cu/Zn-SOD（P = 0.021） in the liver of piglets.Conclusions： The results indicated that IUGR impaired antioxidant capacity and resulted in oxidative damage in fully weaned piglets, which might be associated with the decreased levels of redox-active trace minerals. This study highlights the importance of redox status in IUGR offspring and provides a rationale for alleviating oxidative damage by dietary interventions aiming to supplement trace minerals and to restore redox balance in the future.

Evaluating the quality of feed fats and oils and their effects on pig growth performance

Feed fats and oils provide significant amounts of energy to swine diets, but there is large variation in composition,quality, feeding value, and price among sources. Common measures of lipid quality include moisture, insolubles,and unsaponifiables（MIU）, titer, and free fatty acid content, but provide limited information regarding their feeding value. Lipid peroxidation is an important quality factor related to animal growth performance and health, but maximum tolerable limits in various lipids have not been established. Several indicative assays can be used to detect the presence of various peroxidation compounds, but due to the complexity and numerous compounds produced and degraded during peroxidation process, no single method can adequately determine the extent of peroxidation. Until further information is available, using a combination of peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances（TBARS）, and anisidine value appear to provide a reasonable assessment of the extent of peroxidation in a lipid at a reasonable cost. However, fatty acid composition of the lipid being evaluated should be considered when selecting specific assays. Predictive tests can also be used to estimate the stability or susceptibility of lipids to peroxidation and include active oxygen method, oil stability index, and oxygen bomb method. A review of 16 published studies with pigs has shown an average decrease of 11.4% in growth rate, 8.8% feed intake fed isocaloric diets containing peroxidized lipids compared to diets containing unperoxidized lipids of the same source.Furthermore, serum vitamin E content was generally reduced and serum TBARS content was increased when peroxidized lipids were fed in these studies, suggesting that feeding peroxidized lipids negatively affects metabolic oxidative status of pigs. However, it is unclear if antioxidants are useful additions to lipids to maintain optimal nutritional value, or if their addition to swine diets is beneficial in overcoming a metabolic oxidative challenge.

NITRIC OXIDE AND VEGF EXPRESSION IN ISCHEMIC-HYPOXIC RETINOPATHY

Objective To evaluate nitric oxide(NO)and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in vitreous humor and blood samples in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR)and in patients with branch retinal vein occlusion(BRVO).Methods NO concentrations were determined by using the Greiss reaction in plasma and vitreous humor samples.VEGF levels were assayed by ELISA.The patients in the studies were divided into four groups:16 patients with PDR,5 patients with BRVO,11 patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment(RRD),and 10 patients with idiopathic macular hole(IMH).Results The vitreous fluid levels of NO were significantly higher in patients with PDR(15.2μmol/L,4.6-50.9μmol/L)than those in the other three groups(F=5.13,P=0.005).The concentrations of VEGF were significantly higher in patients with PDR and BRVO(1507.2 μg/mL,50.71-3722.0μg/ml;838.8μg/mL,159.6-3328.0μg/mL)than those in the other two groups(F=6.84,P=0.0008),but highest in PDR(T=3.92,P=0.001).There was no significant difference between NO and VEGF in serum in four groups.There was no correlation between concentrations of NO and VEGF in four groups whatever in vitreous or plasma(all P>0.05).Conclusion The results suggest that higher levels of NO and VEGF may be related to the angiogenesis in DR.

Effect of Rare Earth Doping on the Tensile Properties of High Temperature Oxidation Coating

The failure process was characterized by complex diffusion of elements in the bonding layer,TGO growth and growth stress inside the coating.We studied the aluminum migration phenomenon of NiCoCrAlY and NiCoCrAlYHf coatings under high temperature oxidation,TGO growth characteristics,the microstructure and composition of the bonding layer,and integrates them into the description of the surface strain under coating tension.The experimental results show that the TGO growth rate of NiCoCrAIYHf coating is lower than that of NiCoCrAIY coating,and the formed TGO is thinner.After high temperature oxidation,the cracking time of NiCoCrAIY coating is advanced,while the cracking time of rare earth doped coating is delayed.The addition of rare earth elements can effectively inhibit the generation of spinel phase,improve the fracture toughness of TGO,refine the grains in the bonding layer,and increase the grain boundary strengthening by 29.1 MPa which is consistent with the experimental value.Therefore,the yield strength of the doped coating is improved and the crack time of the coating is delayed.

High-precision nondestructive evaluation of a thermal barrier coating based on perovskite quantum dot anion exchange

Thermal barrier coatings(TBCs)in gas turbine engines are used in expressly harsh environments;thus,assessing TBC integrity status is critical for safety and reliability.However,traditional periodic maintenance involves visual inspections of the TBCs,requiring the gas turbine to be decommissioned and partially dismantled.Most importantly,tiny defects or internal damages that easily cause coating failure cannot be identified.In this work,a new nondestructive evaluation(NDE)technique of TBCs based on quantum dot(QD)anion exchange is first explored internationally.By exchanging anions between the Cl ions and the CsPbBr_(3) QDs,the degrees of salt corrosion of the TBCs are evaluated.The resultant NDE technique shows that the colour of the TBCs obviously changes from green to blue,accompanied by a large blueshift(~100 nm)of the photoluminescence(PL)peak position.In addition,the relationship between the PL peak position and coating thermophysical properties indicates that the precision of this NDE technique may easily identify theμm-level of the thermal growth oxide(TGO)changes inside the TBCs.

Fe–EBT Chelate Complex: A Novel Mean for Growth of α-FeOOH and γ-Fe_2O_3 Nanostructures

Acicular goethite（a-Fe OOH） and worm-like maghamite（γ-Fe2O3） nanostructures have been prepared adopting a novel route, using Na2[Fe（HL）2（H2O）2] chelate complex in alkaline medium. It is found that concentration of hydrated Fe（III） ions increased with increasing temperature, which later play a key role in generation of different phases of iron oxide. Phase and morphology of the products are investigated using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM analysis. Using UV–Vis spectra, various electronic transitions of goethite and maghamite particles are examined. Maghamite nanostructures exhibit superparamagnetic property at room temperature. On the basis of experimental observations and analytical data, growth mechanism of the nanostructures is discussed.

Oxidation Behavior of Fe-based Amorphous Ribbons

The oxidation behavior of Fe-based amorphous ribbons was tested by annealing at 380℃ in air for different time with heat treatment furnace and analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and scanning electron micros- copy （SEM）. The mechanism of oxides formation of the amorphous ribbons was discussed in detail. The results showed that the oxides were mostly B2O3 , SiO2 and Fe2O3 or FeO. With the increase of annealing time and holding temperature, the fraction of the oxides on the ribbon surface increased and the size of the oxides became larger due to the generation of new oxides and the coalescence of small oxides. The oxides have different shapes, such as round, rod and needle-shaped. Experimental results also showed that the oxides nucleated at fish scale, air pocket and impu-rities in priority, and the growth of the oxides was controlled by the diffusion of atoms. With the increase of the distance to the ribbon surface, the oxygen concentration decreased dramatically. Due to the low binding energy of B2O3 and the large diffusion coefficient of B atom, the B elemaent was oxidized firstly compared with other elements. More- over, the oxidation deoths of the B2O3 and SiO2 were larger than that of Fe2O3.

Roles of SO_2 oxidation in new particle formation events

The oxidation of SO2 is commonly regarded as a major driver for new particle formation（NPF） in the atmosphere. In this study, we explored the connection between measured mixing ratio of SO2 and observed long-term（duration 〉 3 hr） and short-term（duration〈 1.5 hr） NPF events at a semi-urban site in Toronto. Apparent NPF rates（J30） showed a moderate correlation with the concentration of sulfuric acid（[H2SO4]） calculated from the measured mixing ratio of SO2 in long-term NPF events and some short-term NPF events（Category I）（R^2= 0.66）. The exponent in the fitting line of J30~ [H2SO4]nin these events was1.6. It was also found that SO2 mixing ratios varied a lot during long-term NPF events,leading to a significant variation of new particle counts. In the SO2-unexplained short-term NPF events（Category II）, analysis showed that new particles were formed aloft and then mixed down to the ground level. Further calculation results showed that sulfuric acid oxidized from SO2 probably made a negligible contribution to the growth of 〉 10 nm new particles.

Heijiangdan Ointment(黑绛丹膏)Relieves Oxidative Stress from Radiation Dermatitis Induced by ^(60)Co γ-Ray in Mice

Objective：To investigate the effects of Heijiangdan Ointment（黑绛丹膏,HJD） on oxidative stress in （60）Co γ-ray radiation-induced dermatitis in mice.Methods：Female Wistar mice with grade 4 radiation dermatitis induced by ^（60）Co γ-rays were randomly divided into four groups（n=12 per group）;the HJD-treated,recombinant human epidermal growth factor（rhEGF）-treated,Trolox-treated,and untreated groups,along with a negative control group.On the 11 th and 21 st days after treatment,6 mice in each group were chosen for evaluation.The levels of superoxide dismutase（SOD）,malondialdehyde（MDA）,and lactate dehydrogenase（LDH） were detected using spectrophotometric methods.The fibroblast mitochondria were observed by transmission electron microscopy（TEM）.The expressions of fibroblast growth factor 2（FGF-2） and transforming growth factor β1（TGF-β1） were analyzed by western blot.Results：Compared with the untreated group,the levels of SOD,MDA and LDH,on the 11 th and 21 st days after treatment showed significant difference（P〈0.05）.TEM analysis indicated that fibroblast mitochondria in the untreated group exhibited swelling and the cristae appeared fractured,while in the HJD group,the swelling of mitochondria was limited and the rough endoplasmic reticulum appeared more relaxed.The expressions of FGF-2 and TGF-β1 increased in the untreated group compared with the negative control group（P〈0.05）.After treatment,the expression of FGF-2,rhEGF and Trolox in the HJD group were significantly increased compared with the untreated group（P〈0.05）,or compared with the negative control group（P〈0.05）.The expression of TGF-β1 showed significant difference between untreated and negative control groups（P〈0.05）.HJD and Trolox increased the level of TGF-β1 and the difference was marked as compared with the untreated and negative control groups（P〈0.05）.Conclusion：HJD relieves oxidative stress-induced injury,increases the antioxidant activity,mitigates the fibroblast mitochondrial damage,up-regulates the expression of growth factor,and promotes mitochondrial repair in mice.

Template-free approach for hydrothermal fabrication of ZnO microspheres

Wurtzite ZnO microspheres, 5.5-11 μm in diameter and with smooth surfaces, were prepared in absolute ethanol via a simple template-free method in the presence of ethylenediamine. The products were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. This simple method to fabricate ZnO microspheres shows high yield （〉90%） and good reproducibiliry. The formation process of ZnO microspheres was discussed. The as-obtained ZnO microspheres are expected to provide some immediate advantages for optical, microelectronic, and biological applications.