C-reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio as a Prognostic Indicator in Posttraumatic Shock and Outcome of Multiple Trauma Patients.

OBJECTIVE: C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio (CAR) is a new inflammation-based index for predicting the prognosis of various diseases. The CAR determined on admission may help to predict the prognostic value of multiple trauma patients. METHODS: A total of 264 adult patients with severe multiple trauma were included for the present retrospective study, together with the collection of relevant clinical and laboratory data. CAR, CRP, albumin, shock index and ISS were incorporated into the prognostic model, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn. Then, the shock index for patients with different levels of CAR was analyzed. Finally, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the independent risk factors for the 28-day mortality of multiple trauma patients. RESULTS: A total of 36 patients had poor survival outcomes, and the mortality rate reached 13.6%. Furthermore, after analyzing the shock index for patients with different levels of CAR, it was revealed that the shock index was significantly higher when CAR was ≥4, when compared to CAR <2 and 2≤ CAR <4, in multiple trauma patients. The multivariate logistic analysis helped to identify the independent association between the variables CAR (P=0.029) and shock index (P=0.019), and the 28-day mortality of multiple trauma patients. CONCLUSION: CAR is higher in patients with severe multiple trauma. Furthermore, CAR serves as a risk factor for independently predicting the 28-day mortality of multiple trauma patients. The shock index was significantly higher when CAR was ≥4 in multiple trauma patients.

Bideposited silver nanocolloid arrays with strong plasmon-induced birefringence for SERS application.

Silver nano-rod, nano-zigzag, nano-saw, and nano-particle arrays are fabricated with glancing angle bideposition. The structure-dependent anisotropic optical properties of those bideposited nanostructured arrays are measured and investigated. The equivalent birefringence values of nano-rod and nano-zigzag arrays are much larger than crystals found in nature and liquid crystal used in display products. The fact that induced localized plasmon-magnetic field between nanorods dominates the strong phase retardation between p-polarized and s-polarized transmitted wave. For the nano-saw, the strong localized electric field induced between the saw teeth leads to strong SERS signals. Although the bideposited nanoparticles own weak morphological anisotropy, strong optical phase retardation is still detected at wavelengths near 400 nm.

Silver Nanoplates for Colorimetric Determination of Xanthine in Human Plasma and in Fish Meat via Etching/Aggregation/Fusion Steps.

Silver nanoplates (AgP) were prepared and used in a colorimetric method for the evaluation of Xanthine (Xan) in blood plasma and fish meat. The detection mechanism for Xan was observed to occur via etching of AgP particles/aggregation/fusion steps, resulting in a color change from blue to grey. First, the basic Xan solution is adsorbed through partial substitution of capping molecules around the AgP with Xan, and then intermolecular hydrogen bonds form between AgP and AgP. Subsequently, the titrant Xan solution further etches the AgP and finally fuses particles together. Owing to the step by step mechanism, the response range towards Xan has two linear regression ranges: 0.15-0.60 µM and 0.61-3.00 µM, respectively. The detection limit in the range of 0.15-0.60 µM is 0.011 µM (S/N = 3). AgP exhibits good selectivity for Xan over other potential interferents such as amino acids and blood proteins. AgP achieves rapid detection of Xan and can be applied to the satisfactory determination of Xan in blood plasma and fish meat. This colorimetric sensor is easy to use, cost effective, fast, selective and user friendly.

Phosphorylation of HPV-16 E2 at serine 243 enables binding to Brd4 and mitotic chromosomes.

The papillomavirus E2 protein is involved in the maintenance of persistent infection and known to bind either to cellular factors or directly to mitotic chromosomes in order to partition the viral genome into the daughter cells. However, how the HPV-16 E2 protein acts to facilitate partitioning of the viral genome remains unclear. In this study, we found that serine 243 of HPV-16 E2, located in the hinge region, is crucial for chromosome binding during mitosis. Bromodomain protein 4 (Brd4) has been identified as a cellular binding target through which the E2 protein of bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) tethers the viral genome to mitotic chromosomes. Mutation analysis showed that, when the residue serine 243 was substituted by glutamic acid or aspartic acid, whose negative charges mimic the effect of constitutive phosphorylation, the protein still can interact with Brd4 and colocalize with Brd4 in condensed metaphase and anaphase chromosomes. However, substitution by the polar uncharged residues asparagine or glutamine abrogated Brd4 and mitotic chromosome binding. Moreover, following treatment with the inhibitor JQ1 to release Brd4 from the chromosomes, Brd4 and E2 formed punctate foci separate from the chromosomes, further supporting the hypothesis that the association of the HPV-16 E2 protein with the chromosomes is Brd4-dependent. In addition, the S243A E2 protein has a shorter half-life than the wild type, indicating that phosphorylation of the HPV-16 E2 protein at serine 243 also increases its half-life. Thus, phosphorylation of serine 243 in the hinge region of HPV-16 E2 is essential for interaction with Brd4 and required for host chromosome binding.

[Spectral reflectance characteristics of dominant plant species at different eco-restoring stages in the semi-arid grassland].

The objective of the research is to apply hyperspectral technique into eco-restoring monitoring. Through the ASD Fields HH portable field spectrometer, the hyperspectral data of dominant plant species in vegetation at different eco-restoring stages in semi-arid grassland in Helin County, Inner Mongolia were collected. The original spectrum reflected data were pretreated by wavelet threshold denoising through ViewSpecPro software before analysis. Using the first derivative spectra between 660 and 800 nm, and the methods of detrended canonical correspondence analysis (DCCA) by Canoco 4. 5 software, the canopy hyperspectral datum of 6 dominant plant species was calculated. The results indicated that the dominant plant species at early succession stage were Setaria viridis and Caragana microphylia, at 5 years eco-restoring stage they were Salsola collina and Caragana microphylia and at late succession stage they were Pinus sylvestnis var. mongolica and Salsola collina, same as field survey. The graph of DCCA indicated that the influential bands of dominant species canopy at early eco-succession stage were short bands, with a large variation among species, the influential bands at 5 years eco-restoring stage were near infrared bands between 1 000 and 1 050 nm, and that at late stage were near infrared bands of 1 040-1 075 nm. The DCCA also showed obviously differences in canopy spectrum among 6 dominant species, and obviously differences among 3 eco-restoring stages.

Hybrid cable television and orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing transport system basing on single wavelength polarization and amplitude remodulation schemes.

A hybrid community antenna television (CATV) and orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) transport system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to transmit multiple CATV channels and bi-directional radio frequency signals on a single optical carrier. By polarization remodulating an optical CATV signal with downstream OFDM signals and then amplitude remodulating upstream OFDM signals with the hybrid CATV/OFDM signals, this architecture can efficiently utilize only one optical carrier to support optical analog/digital CATV transmission and bi-directional wireless broadband services for each client. Good experimental results prove that this architecture provides a proper wavelength utilization scheme for future multiwavelength optical transport systems.

Shrimp (Penaeus monodon) anti-lipopolysaccharide factor reduces the lethality of Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis in mice.

We investigated the efficacy of amino acids 55-76 of the synthetic shrimp anti-lipopolysaccharide factor peptide (SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide), the C-terminal part of the shrimp anti-lipopolysaccharide factor. This study was conducted to elucidate the effects of the antiseptic action of this peptide. The SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide was tested against bacterial clinical isolates and showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination of SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide-treated Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed that severe swelling preceded cell death and breakage of the outer membrane; the intracellular inclusion was found to have effluxed extracellularly. When mice were treated with the SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide before bacterial challenge with P. aeruginosa, the peptide highly protected mice against death by sepsis. The P. aeruginosa recovered from SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide-treated mice after 4 h exhibited reduced bacterial growth similar to that recovered from vancomycin-treated mice. In addition, the syntheses of inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, interferon-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-alpha, were significantly upregulated 4 h after SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide treatment except for IL-4 in the liver. The expressions of Toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4), Irf3, myd88, and Tram, were considerably elevated, but only Tlr4 existed in the spleen 4 h after SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide treatment. The prophylactic administration of SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide was begun the TNF-alpha response in comparison to untreated mice by an ELISA analysis. Due to its multifunctional properties, the SALF(55-76) cyclic peptide may become an important prophylaxis against and therapy for bacterial infectious diseases, as well as for septic shock.