Warm HTK donor pretreatment reduces liver injury during static cold storage in experimental rat liver transplantation

BACKGROUND： Organ shortage has led to an increased number of transplantations from extended criteria donors. These organs are more vulnerable to ischemia-reperfusion injury. Thus, improvement of organ preservation is needed. HTK is a widely used preservation solution for static cold storage in liver transplantation. The present study was to investigate the beneficial effect of warm HTK donor pretreatment on liver preservation.

A single center experience of combined liver and kidney transplantation

Objective To summarize the experience of treating the end stage of liver disease complicated with renal failure using combined liver - kidney transplantation. Methods The clinical data of 28 cases receiving combined liver - kidney transplantation were retrospectively ana-

Development of single row automatic transplanting device for potted vegetable seedlings

In China,low degree of automation seriously affects the working efficiency and quality in vegetable transplanting.As one of the most important vegetables in China even in the world,tomato was taken as the research object in this study.An automatic single-row transplanting device was designed,based on the statistical analysis of the physical and mechanical properties of tomato seedlings of a typical variety.Based on the technology of mechatronics,the device integrated the functions of transporting seedling tray,automatic seedling extraction and mechanical planting.The kinematics orthogonality solution combined with the dynamic sequence solution method was used to optimize and analyze the kinematic parameters of the automatic seeding mechanism,and the“sickle”trajectory was obtained.According to the position and movement requirement for taking and dropping seedling,the mechanical conditions and the working parameters of key execution parts were obtained by using analytic drawing method to analyze the mechanical condition of seedling collecting mechanism.The transplanting experiment was conducted at room temperature of 25°C,and the age and moisture content of the seedlings were 40 d and 55%,respectively.The results showed that the highest success rate was 92.59%,and the lowest rate of leakage was 23.13%,when the transplanting frequency was 60 plants/min.The lowest success rate was 77.78%,and the highest rate of leakage was 38.75%,when transplanting frequency was 120 plants/min.When the transplanting frequency is between 60-90 plants/min,the device can meet the requirement of high speed transplanting for potted vegetable seedling.

Activity of Recombinant Human Interleukin-15 against Tumor Recurrence and Metastasis in Mice

Transplantable experimental tumor models were constructed to study the activities of recombinant human interleukin-15 （rhIL-15） against tumor recurrence and metastasis. The results showed that tumor nodule formation was retarded and tumor growth was inhibited in the subcutaneous tumor model of LA795 lung adenocarcinoma after treatment with rhIL-15, and the survival rate of T739 tumor-bearing mice treated with rhIL-15 was much higher than that of mice treated with either saline or with the same dose of rhIL-2. This indicats that rhIL-15 had better antitumor effect than rhIL-2 at the same dose level. In some rhIL-15 treated mice, the tumor cells inoculated subcutaneously were eradicated and there was no tumor formation even 138 days after tumor cell inoculation. The tumor-free mice were rechallenged with live tumor cells and no tumor reoccurred in the following two months in all of these mice, indicating that long-lasting antitumor systemic immunity developed. It was also shown that tumor recurrence and metastasis were inhibited markedly after treatment with rhIL-15, but not with the same dose of rhIL-2, in both subcutaneously and intravenously disseminated tumor models of LA795 lung adenocarcinoma. Simultaneously, the CTL and NK cell activities of the splenocytes obtained from tumor-bearing mice that had been treated with either rhIL-15 or rhIL-2 were both markedly enhanced. However, the enhancement of CTL and NK cell activities was more significant in rhIL-15 treated mice than that in rhIL-2 treated mice. This suggests that the anti-tumor effect of rhIL-15 in vivo was achieved by enhancing the CTL and NK cell activities in tumor immune response.

Plant responses to simulated warming and drought:a comparative study of functional plasticity between congeneric mid and high elevation species

Aims Effects of climate change,especially changes in temperatures and precipitation patterns,are particularly pronounced in alpine regions.In response,plants may exhibit phenotypic plasticity in key functional traits allowing short-term adjustment to novel conditions.However,little is known about the degree of pheno-typic plasticity of high elevation species relative to mid elevation congeners.Methods We transplanted 14 herbaceous perennial species from high eleva-tion into two common gardens(1050 and 2000 m.a.s.l.)in the Swiss Alps,and we examined plastic responses in key functional traits to changes in temperature and soil water availability.This design was replicated with 14 congeneric species from mid elevation to assess if the degree of phenotypic plasticity differs between mid and high elevation species.Survival was assessed across two growing seasons,while aboveground biomass and specific leaf area(SLA)were measured after the first growing season,and biomass alloca-tion to belowground and reproductive structures after the second.Moreover,a phenotypic plasticity index was calculated for the func-tional traits to compare the degree of plasticity between mid and high elevation species.Important Findings Aboveground biomass was higher in mid elevation species relative to high elevation congeners in all treatments,yet decreased for both with elevation and drought.Similarly,SLA decreased with elevation and drought.Root mass fraction(RMF)was generally higher in high ele-vation species,and decreased with drought at the lower site.Drought increased the allocation to reproductive structures,especially when plants were grown at their elevation of origin.Interestingly,no differ-ence was found in the degree of phenotypic plasticity averaged across mid and high elevation species for any of the studied functional traits.These results indicate that phenotypic plasticity in the focal traits did not depend on the elevation of origin of the species.Plasticity was not related to environmental heterogeneity,nor constrained by selective pressures at high elevation.However,both species groups showed a remarkable capacity for short-term acclimation to a prospective cli-mate through rapid adjustments in key functional traits.

Plasticity in the antipredator behavior of the orange-footed sea cucumber under shifting hydrodynamic forces

Marine invertebrates that move too slowly to evade unfavorable environmental change may instead exhibit phenotypic plasticity,allowing them to adjust to varying conditions.The orange-footed sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa is a slow-moving suspension feeder that is preyed on by the purple sunstar Solaster endeca.The sea cucumber's antipredator behavior involves changing shape and detaching from the substratum,which might increase its probability of being displaced by water motion into an unsuitable environment.We hypothesized that sea cucumbers'antipredator responses would be diminished under stronger hydrodynamic forces,and that behavioral strategies would be flexible so that individuals could adjust to frequent changes in water flows.In a natural orange-footed sea cucumber habitat,individuals lived along a pronounced hydrodynamic gradient,allowing us to measure antipredator behavior under different water flow strengths.We placed purple sunstars in physical contact with sea cucumbers living at various points along the gradient to elicit antipredator responses.We then repeated this procedure in a laboratory mesocosm that generated weak and strong hydrodynamic forces similar to those observed at the field site.Subjects in the mesocosm experiment were tested in both wave conditions to determine if their antipredator behavior would change in response to sudden environmental change,as would be experienced under deteriorating sea conditions.Antipredator responses did not covary with hydrodynamic forces in the field.However,antipredator responses in the mesocosm experiment increased when individuals were transplanted from strong to weak forces and decreased when transplanted from weak to strong forces.Overall,our results indicate environmentally induced plasticity in the antipredator behavior of the orange-footed sea cucumber.