Efficacy of Sevoflurane and Propofol Anesthesia on Perioperative Adverse Cardiovascular Events and Hemodynamics in Elderly Patients With Diabetes.

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to compare the effects of sevoflurane and propofol anesthesia on perioperative hemodynamics and perioperative adverse cardiovascular events (PACE) in elderly patients with diabetes undergoing general anesthesia for noncardiac surgery. METHODS: According to the random number table (n = 40), 80 patients with diabetes undergoing noncardiac general anesthesia were divided into a control group and an observation group. In the control group, the patients were given propofol 4 to 6 mg/(kg·h), continuously pumped to maintain anesthesia. In the observation group, the patients were given maintained concentration of sevoflurane for 1 to 1.5 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) for continuous inhalation, while remifentanil with volume fraction of 0.05 to 1 µg/(kg·min) was given for continuous pumping in both groups. The heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) of the patients were recorded, and the serum creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) contents before anesthesia (T0), immediately after surgery (T3), and 24 hours later (T4) as well as the blood glucose levels at T0 and T3 were compared between the two groups. The occurrence of PACE in the two groups was compared during the perioperative period. FINDINGS: The HR and MAP 5 minutes after intubation (T1), 1 hour after skin incision (T2), and at T3 in the two groups were significantly lower than those of T0 (P < 0.05), whereas the MAP and HR of T1, T2, and T3 in the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The T3 blood glucose levels were significantly higher in the two groups than that in T0 (P < 0.05), and the T3 blood glucose levels in the observation group were significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). CK-MB and cTnI in the two groups were significantly higher at T3 and T4 than T0 (P < 0.05), whereas CK-MB and cTnI in the observation group were significantly lower than in the control group at T3 and T4 (P < 0.05). The incidence of hypotension and PACE was significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (P < 0.05). IMPLICATIONS: Compared with propofol IV general anesthesia, sevoflurane inhalation anesthesia can improve perioperative hemodynamics stability and reduce the incidence of PACE in elderly patients with diabetes undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Effect of cocooning conditions on the structure, carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of silks.

The stable isotope technique provides the possibility to trace ancient textiles because the technique is associated with advantages such as trace indication, fast detection, and accurate results. Since different cocooning conditions may impact cocoons even under identical habitats, it is important to investigate the effects of different cocooning temperatures and humidity on the isotope incorporation values in the cocoons. In this study, silk fibers were reeled under different conditions of temperature and humidity, followed by analysis of the secondary structure of cocoon proteins and isotope incorporation patterns. We found that the deviations in carbon isotope values of silk under different cocooning conditions could reach up to 0.76‰, while the deviation in carbon isotope values at different locations of a single silk was 2.75‰. Further, during the cocooning process, depletion of the 13C-isotope at different locations of the silk fibers was observed, reducing the δ13C values. We proposed that the changes in carbon isotopes in silk were related to the content of sericin and silk fibroin in silk. Finally, we did not observe a significant difference in isotope ratios in degummed cocoons. In summary, the 13C isotope was enriched in sericin, whereas 15N was enriched in fibroin, and these findings provide basic information for tracing the provenance of silks.

Geographical origin traceability of mulberry leaves using stable hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon isotope ratios.

Geographical discrimination of mulberry leaves is very important for their efficacy and quality as a traditional Chinese medicine. Stable hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon isotope ratios were measured in 292 mulberry leaves collected at 2 growth stages in 2 seasons from 8 regions of China. A stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA) approach were proposed to combine with stable isotope technology to tracing the origin of mulberry leaves. The results showed that leaves sampled in autumn were extremely depleted in 2H and 18O and slightly enriched in 13C compared with leaves sampled in summer, correlated with the effect of season, transpiration and photorespiration on stable isotopes. δ2H and δ18O of the leaves were enriched during the growth process. The overall discrimination accuracy of the autumn tender model was 81%, demonstrating that analysis of δ2H, δ18O, and δ13C is a promising technique for tracing the geographical origin of mulberry leaves, although season, growth stage and number of samples affect the accuracy of discrimination.

A pilot study of stable isotope fractionation in Bombyx mori rearing.

Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen isotopes derived from three different strains of silkworms at different life stages involved in silkworm rearing, were measured to understand the fractionation characteristics of stable isotopes at different stages of silkworm development, and to trace the movement of these isotopes from food to larva to excrement and finally to silk. We found that silkworm strain had little effect on δ2H, δ18O and δ13C values. However, a large difference was found in the δ15N levels of newly-hatched silkworms between Jingsong Haoyue and Hua Kang No. 3 orthogonal strains, suggesting that the mating and egg laying differences may result in an inconsistent kinetic nitrogen isotope fractionation. The δ13C values of silkworm pupae and silkworm cocoon also displayed significant differences, suggesting that heavy carbon isotopes are greatly fractionated from the larva to the silk during cocoon formation. Overall, these results may be used to clarify the relationship between isotope fractionation and the ecological process of the Bombyx mori and expand our ability to resolve stable isotope anomalies at a small regional-scale level.

Pilot study on provenance tracing of cocoons via strontium isotopes.

Isotopic analysis has seen significant use in archaeological sciences to date objects, determine their origin, and depict ancient human dietary habits. However, the potential of this technique for provenance studies of ancient silks remains underdeveloped. In this study, we applied Sr isotopic ratios to the provenance tracing of silkworm cocoons. We investigated the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of cocoons from seven Chinese provinces to determine their regional differences. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios of mulberry leaves and cocoons in Shandong and Sichuan were analyzed and silkworms were cultured at four sampling locations in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, to determine isotopic signature relationships between mulberry leaves and cocoons. Those results showed that the 87Sr/86Sr signature of cocoons not only reflected regional differences, but also was related to the type of soil in each sampling location from which the samples were collected. It is suggested that the Sr isotope ratios was able to be an effective tool for the provenance tracing of cocoons. The Mann-Whitney test result indicated no significant differences in isotopic ratios between mulberry leaves and cocoons. In other words, mulberry leaves may predict mean isotopic values in the cocoons. No clear evidence of Sr isotopic fractionation was found in our control experiments. However, mulberry leaves and cocoons from Sichuan did not show significant correlation between them, overall reducing the predictive power of the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of mulberry leaf for provenance studies of cocoons. Finally, in order to improve the accuracy of Sr isotope ratios for the provenance tracing of cocoons, more 87Sr/86Sr data should be complemented and the relationship needs to be established between Sr isotope information in more kinds of proxies and cocoons.

Pyk2 suppresses contextual fear memory in an autophosphorylation-independent manner.

Clustered protocadherins (Pcdhs) are a large family of cadherin-like cell adhesion proteins that are central for neurite self-avoidance and neuronal connectivity in the brain. Their downstream nonreceptor tyrosine kinase Pyk2 (proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2, also known as Ptk2b, Cakb, Raftk, Fak2, and Cadtk) is predominantly expressed in the hippocampus. We constructed Pyk2-null mouse lines and found that these mutant mice showed enhancement in contextual fear memory, without significant change in auditory-cued and spatial-referenced learning and memory. In addition, by preparing Y402F mutant mice, we observed that Pyk2 suppressed contextual fear memory in an autophosphorylation-independent manner. Moreover, using high-throughput RNA sequencing, we found that immediate early genes, such as Npas4, cFos, Zif268/Egr1, Arc, and Nr4a1, were enhanced in Pyk2-null mice. We further showed that Pyk2 disruption affected pyramidal neuronal complexity and spine dynamics. Thus, we demonstrated that Pyk2 is a novel fear memory suppressor molecule and Pyk2-null mice provide a model for understanding fear-related disorders. These findings have interesting implications regarding dysregulation of the Pcdh‒Pyk2 axis in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Transcriptional changes of mouse ovary during follicle initial or cyclic recruitment mediated by extra hormone treatment.

AIMS: Folliculogenesis contains gonadotropin-independent and -dependent stage. Disruption in any of this process would induce failure in retrieving capable oocytes during clinical treatment. However, there is still limited understanding of the molecular components specifically regulating this process. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ovaries of P3, P20 and exogenous gonadotropin-treated P22 mice were sampled and underwent RNA-seq to investigate the transcriptome variance during mouse folliculogenesis. KEY FINDINGS: In our dataset, 1883 and 626 DEGs were captured for each stage respectively, which were further clustered into eight expression patterns. Pathway enrichment analysis identified distinct biological processes enriched in two stages, with the most prominent being the pathways related to metabolism, gene expression, cell cycle, immune system and DNA methylation. Transcriptional regulator inference yielded eight master transcription factors (i.e. Runx1, Stat3, Sox3, Pou5f1, Gata4, Foxl2, Cebpb, and Esr1) driving folliculogenesis. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study revealed the temporal transcriptional reprogramming and gene expression dynamics during folliculogenesis mediated by extra hormone treatment, which could provide novel insights to controlled ovarian stimulation in future infertility treatment.

Vitrification of farmed blue fox oocytes in ethylene glycol and DMSO-based solutions using open-pulled straw (OPS).

Farmed blue fox was used as a model to develop cryopreservation protocol for nondomestic canine species. We report here the developmental potential of farmed blue fox oocytes after vitrification with a two-step OPS method. Oocytes were collected and pre-cultured for 0, 24, 48, 72 hours respectively before cryopreservation. Vitrification of oocytes was achieved by a 30 sec treatment in 10% ethylene glycol (EG) or 10% EG + 10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at 25 degree C followed by a 25 sec equilibration in EFS30 (30% (v/v) EG +21% (w/v) Ficoll +0.35M sucrose) or EDFS30 (15% (v/v) EG +15% (v/v) DMSO +21% (w/v) Ficoll +0.35M sucrose), before plunging into liquid nitrogen. The survival of oocytes after vitrification was assessed morphologically immediately after warming, and cultured for in vitro maturation. For comparison, control oocytes were cultured for in vitro maturation for 96 hours. The best result was obtained when oocytes were pre-cultured for 72 hours, first exposed to 10 percent EG + 10% DMSO and vitrified in EDFS30. The survival percentage of oocytes under these conditions was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from that of the control.

Surgical embryo transfer resulted in birth of live offspring in farmed blue fox.

Finland blue fox (Alopex lagopus) has great reputation in pelt industry around the world for its large size and top-ranking fur quality; however, both the herd size and the average survival rate of purebred offspring are rather low in production systems in China. Surgical transfer of blue fox embryos was investigated as a means to increase the population fox and also as a possible means to conserve endangered canine species. The animals were chosen on the basis of synchrony in natural oestrus. During the reproductive season of blue fox, 59 embryos were flushed from 6 farmed donors 9-11 days after the first insemination, and 53 embryos were transferred surgically into the uteri of the 6 paired recipients with natural synchronized oestrous. Two of the recipients littered 46-49 days after embryo transfer; one gave birth to 7 pups and the other 1 pup. This report describes the first successful embryo transfer in the farmed blue fox in China.