To explore the pathogenesis of anterior resection syndrome by magnetic resonance imaging rectal defecography.

BACKGROUND: Over 90% of rectal cancer patients develop low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) after sphincter-preserving resection. The current globally recognized evaluation method has many drawbacks and its subjectivity is too strong, which hinders the research and treatment of LARS. AIM: To evaluate the anorectal function after colorectal cancer surgery by quantifying the index of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) defecography, and pathogenesis of LARS. METHODS: We evaluated 34 patients using the standard LARS score, and a new LARS evaluation index was established using the dynamic images of MRI defecography to verify the LARS score. RESULTS: In the LARS score model, there were 10 (29.41%) mild and 24 (70.58%) severe cases of LARS. The comparison of defecation rate between the two groups was 29.36 ± 14.17% versus 46.83 ± 18.62% (P = 0.004); and MRI-rectal compliance (MRI-RC) score was 3.63 ± 1.96 versus 7.0 ± 3.21 (P = 0.001). Severe and mild LARS had significant differences using the two evaluation methods. There was a significant negative correlation between LARS and MRI-RC score (P < 0.001), and they had a negative correlation with defecation rate (P = 0.028). CONCLUSION: MRI defecography and standard LARS score can both be used as an evaluation index to study the pathogenesis of LARS.

Rescue of cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice by accelerating the aggregation of ß-amyloid peptide.

BACKGROUND: Brain amyloid deposition is one of the main pathological characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Soluble oligomers formed during the process that causes ß-amyloid (Aß) to aggregate into plaques are considered to have major neurotoxicity. Currently, drug development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease has encountered serious difficulties. Our newly proposed solution is to accelerate the aggregation of Aß to reduce the amount of cytotoxic Aß oligomers in brain tissue. This strategy differs from the existing strategy of reducing the total Aß content and the number of amyloid plaques. METHOD: In this study, we screened a small library and found that a flavonoid compound (ZGM1) promoted the aggregation of ß-amyloid (Aß). We further verified the binding of ZGM1 to Aß42 using a microscale thermophoresis (MST) assay. Subsequently, we used dot blotting (DB), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thioflavin T fluorescence (ThT) measurements to study the aggregation of Aß under the influence of ZGM1. By using cell experiments, we determined whether ZGM1 can inhibit the cytotoxicity of Aß. Finally, we studied the protective effects of ZGM1 on cognitive function in APPswe/PS1 mice via behavioral experiments and measured the number of plaques in the mouse brain by thioflavin staining. RESULTS: ZGM1 can bind with Aß directly and mediate a new Aß assembly process to form reticular aggregates and reduce the amount of Aß oligomers. Animal experiments showed that ZGM1 can significantly improve cognitive dysfunction and that Aß plaque deposition in the brain tissue of mice in the drug-administered group was significantly increased. CONCLUSION: Our research suggests that promoting Aß aggregation is a promising treatment method for AD and deserves further investigation.

[Metabolomics of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Based on GC-MS].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the metabolism characteristics, to search for potential biomarkers associated with disease and to explore related metabolic pathways by analyzing the plasma metabolic profile of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) through metabolomies. METHODS: Twenty-six newly diagnosed CML patients in the First Affilated Hospital of Soochow University from February 2015 to April 2015, 26 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell donors as healthy controls and 26 patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) to obtain the best efficacy as post-treatment controls were enrolled in this study. All the metabolites of plasma were extracted by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer(GC-MS) to collect metabolic fingerprint. Multivariate pattern recognition analysis and t test were combined to screen out the metabolic biomarkers at different time points. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate the clinical efficacy of metabolites, and the metabolic pathway analysis was performed. RESULTS: Significantly different metabolite expression mode was found seen between CML and healthy control groups. Six changed metabolites in CML were confirmed by multivariate and variate statistical analyses. Compared with the healthy controls, the levels of tetradecanoic acid and glycerol were decreased, the lactic acid, myo-inositol, d-galactose and glycine in CML patients also increased (all VIP>1,P<0.05, AUC>0.7). The plasma metabolites in CML patients after treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) showed a recovery trend toward to normal levels. The plasma metabolic pathways of CML were mainly related with galactose, pyruvate, glycerolipid, inositol phosphate and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism (all impact value>0.10). CONCLUSION: Significant changes in plasma metabolite levels were found in CML patients. Metabolomics combined with multivariate pattern recognition analysis may be a new tool to assist diagnosis.

[Road dust loading and chemical composition at major cities in Fujian Province].

A total of 57 road dust and 16 urban soil samples were collected from four cities, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and Putian in Fujian Province, China. Twenty-six elements, eight water soluble ions, organic carbon and elemental carbon in the fraction of particulate diameter less than 2.5 microm (PM2.5) derived through a suspension chamber were analyzed. The average loading of road dust with diameter less than 100 microm in the four cities ranged from 6.99 g x m(-2) to 10.11 g x m(-2), while the loading of PM2.5 ranged from 4.0 mg x m(-2) to 12.5 mg x m(-2). Both the soil and road dust samples were characterized with much higher concentrations of Si, Ca, Al, Fe and K. But for the anthropogenic elements such as Cu, Pb, Zn,Cr and Ti, much lower levels were found in the soil PM2.5, than those in the road dust PM2.5. Significantly higher levels of NH4+, NO3- and SO4(2-) were found in the road dust PM2.5 from Zhangzhou in comparison with those from other cities in this study. The calcium ion (Ca2+) content was significantly positively correlated with the Mg2+ content in the road dust PM2.5 from Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. The levels of organic carbon (OC) in the road dust PM2.5 in these four cities were higher than those reported in Ji'nan, Shijiazhuang and Beijing while the levels of elemental carbon (EC) were all lower than those in the urban road dust from Beijing, Significant positive correlation between EC and OC was found in samples from Quanzhou and Putian, suggesting the same and/or similar sources. The result of mass balance indicated that higher percentage compositions were soil and OM in both Quanzhou and Putian. Based on the cluster analysis, the 57 road dust samples were divided into four types: influenced by atmospheric deposition, influenced by soil dust, influenced by atmospheric deposition and soil dust, and influenced by soil and construction dust.

[Compositions of organic acids in PM10 emission sources in Xiamen urban atmosphere].

The possible organic acid emission sources in PM10 in Xiamen urban atmosphere such as cooking, biomass burning, vehicle exhaust and soil/dust were obtained using a re-suspension test chamber. A total of 15 organic acids including dicarboxylic acids, fatty acids and aromatic acids were determined using GC/MS after derivatization with BF3/n-butanol. The results showed that the highest total concentration of 15 organic acids (53%) was found in cooking emission and the average concentration of the sum of linoleic acid and oleic acid was 24% +/- 14%. However, oxalic acid was the most abundant species followed by phthalic acid in gasoline vehicle exhaust. The ratios of adipic to azelaic acid in gasoline combustion emissions were significantly higher than those in other emission sources, which can be used to qualitatively differentiate anthropogenic and biological source of dicarboxylic acids in atmospheric samples. The ratios of malonic to succinic acid in source emissions (except gasoline generator emissions) were lower (0.07-0.44) than ambient PM10 samples (0.61-3.93), which can be used to qualitatively differentiate the primary source and the secondary source of dicarboxylic acids in urban PM10.

[Uncertainty analysis of gas/particle partitioning of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons].

During the period from August 10, 2010 through August 14, 2010, particle and gas phase PAHs were collected and analyzed using double filters plus PUFs (Poly Urethane Foam) sampling system, and the uncertainties of gas/particle partitioning coefficients of PAHs were investigated using the propagation of errors formulas. The results showed that low-molecular weight PAHs such as naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene and fluorene possessed the strong breakthrough capacity with the breakthrough rates close to 50% in double PUF cartridges. The corrected K(p) values based on the sorption of PAHs to the primary filter were more than an order of magnitude higher than those without sorption correction for naphthalene, acenaphthylene and acenaphthene. The uncertainties for all the 19 PAHs ranged from 28.14% to 50.37% based on the standard error propagation formulas, with higher values for volatile and involatile PAHs and lower values for semi-volatile PAHs. The results also showed that the uncertainties of K(p) were mainly contributed from the measurements of particle (average variance contribution was 77.9%) and gas (average variance contribution was 22.0%) phase PAHs while the contributions of total suspended particle were ignorable. Thus, getting more accurate data for gaseous PAHs using an appropriate sampling system is the key to increase the accuracy of gas/particle partitioning coefficients of PAHs.