Synergistic removal of As(V) from aqueous solution by nanozero valent iron loaded with zeolite 5A synthesized from fly ash.

Nanozero valent iron (NZVI) loaded on zeolite 5A can efficiently remove As(V) in water through the synergism of zeolite 5A and NZVI. In this study, zeolite 5A was first obtained by ion exchange using zeolite 4A synthesized from fly ash and CaCl2, and then NZVI-5A zeolite was synthesized by a reduction method to load NZVI on zeolite 5 A. NZVI-5A zeolite had a specific surface area of 238 m2/g. The As(V) removal capacity by NZVI-5A zeolite was 72.09 mg/g by the Langmuir model fitting, and the removal capacity was almost not affected by solution pH in the pH range of 4-12. As(V) was removed by the precipitation of Ca2+ in zeolite 5A with As(V), Ca2+ and NZVI with As(V), and the reduction and inner ball complex reaction of NZVI. The As(V) removal efficiency by NZVI-5A zeolite was almost unaffected by the coexistence of CO32-, SO42-, NO3- and Cl- but decreased with high concentrations of PO43- in solution. The NZVI-5A zeolite could efficiently remove metal ions coexisting with As(V) in solution. The As(V) removal efficiency by the NZVI-5A zeolite was 84.0% after 5 cycles, and the NZVI-5A zeolite could be separated from the solution with an external magnetic field.

Performance characteristics of the light-initiated chemiluminescent assay for quantitative determination of progesterone.

BACKGROUND: To study the performance of quantitative determination of progesterone by light-initiated chemiluminescent assay (LICA). METHODS: Clinical samples of serum were used for detection of progesterone by LICA. The precision study was performed according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) EP15-A3, the linear range validation was performed according to CLSI EP06-A, accuracy was evaluated according to CLSI EP9-A3, and the performance of detection capability was confirmed according to CLSI EP17-A2. All data were analyzed using SPSS software. Function regression analysis was performed by OriginPro software. RESULTS: The LICA-800 system exhibited low coefficients of variation (CVs) and high reproducibility, and the calculated synthetic CV was 2.16%. The access progesterone assay showed excellent linearity in the assay measuring range (0.37-40 ng/mL) using the polynomial regression method in accordance with CLSI EP06-A. Bias assessment was used to verify accuracy, and the percentage deviation met the quality requirements of the laboratory's allowable deviation of 10.00%. In terms of the detection capability of LICA, the calculated limit of blank (LoB) was 0.046 ng/mL, limit of detection (LoD) was 0.057 ng/mL, and the limit of quantitation (LoQ) value was 0.161 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS: The competitive LICA provided a highly sensitive, accurate and precise method for measuring serum progesterone level.

Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Protein 3 Expression Upregulation Is Involved in Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) is a key signaling molecule regulating cell growth in some tumors, but its function and mechanism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. Our study investigated the relationship between the expression of IFITM3 and HCC development. Material and Methods. IFITM3 expression was identified via multiple gene expression databases and investigated in HCC tissue samples. Then, PLC/PRF/5 cells were transfected with lentivirus to knock down and overexpress the expression of IFITM3. IFITM3 expression, cell proliferation, and migration were detected by qRT-PCR, western blotting, QuantiGene Plex 2.0 assay, immunohistochemistry, CCK-8, and wound healing tests. RNA-seq technology identified the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway as an IFITM3-related signaling pathway for investigation. RESULTS: IFITM3 expression was higher in HCC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues, and the level of IFITM3 was higher in HCC tissues with low differentiation and metastatic potential than in those with high/medium differentiation and without metastatic potential. A higher RNA level of IFITM3 was found in samples with IFITM3 rs12252-CC genotype rather than the TT genotype. Knockdown of IFITM3 in PLC/PRF/5 cells inhibited cell proliferation and migration, blocked the expression of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, and decreased the expression of vimentin. The results were opposite with the overexpression of IFITM3. CONCLUSION: Upregulation of IFITM3 plays a role in the development of HCC. Possibly through regulating HCC cell proliferation and migration, these effects are associated with the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Upregulation of IFITM3 is also associated with the IFITM3 rs12252-CC genotype.

Screening Depressive Disorders With Tree-Drawing Test.

Objective: Diagnosis of psychiatric disease is still a major issue. Two key reasons are- there are variations in the opinions of the medical doctors and the presentation of a disease among the patients. Here we introduce a kind of mental projective test, tree-drawing test, trying to extract and analyze objective indexes in tree-drawing test in patients with depression. Methods: The tree-drawing test was administered to 43 patients with major depressive disorders, 48 sub-threshold subjects, and 59 healthy subjects. Features of the drawing trees were analyzed using a kind of computer image recognition and data acquisition software. Quantitative indexes collected from pictures drawn by patients with major depression, patients with sub-threshold depression, and control subjects were compared using the ANOVA test. Results: Five quantitative features (canopy area, canopy height, canopy width, trunk width, and total area of trees) were found to be statistically significant among the groups, while seven other features (trunk area, trunk height, root width, root height, root area, ratio of crown to trunk height, and ratio of crown to trunk area) showed no statistical significance. Further analysis with LSD-t test revealed that six quantitative indexes were significantly related to the depression symptoms, and six others were not statistically significant. Eleven quantitative indexes were not statistically significant when the depressive symptoms were compared with the subthreshold depression group, and the only index with statistical significance was canopy width. Conclusion: Five quantitative indexes in the drawing tree are statistically significant in the depression patients were compared with those of the control subjects. Quantitative indexes of the tree-drawing test are of great value in assisting with the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.

Therapeutic effect of whole brain radiotherapy on advanced NSCLC between EGFR TKI-naïve and TKI-resistant.

BACKGROUND: The development of epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) has dramatically improved the prognosis of patients with EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical outcome with or without EGFR-TKI resistance before WBRT and the sequence between EGFT-TKIs and whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) of EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients who developed multiple brain metastases (BMs). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three hundred forty-four EGFR-mutant NSCLC patients with multiple BMs were reviewed. Enrolled patients were divided into TKI-naïve group and TKI-resistant group. The intracranial progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed via the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: For patients with multiple BMs treated by WBRT, the median intracranial PFS and OS were longer in the TKI-naïve group than those in the TKI-resistant group, but there were no statistically significant between two groups (Intracranial PFS: 7.7 vs. 5.4 months, p = 0.052; OS: 11.2 vs. 9.2 months, p = 0.106). For patients with Lung-molGPA 0-2, no significant differences in median intracranial PFS (6.2 vs. 5.2 months, p = 0.123) and OS (7.8 vs. 6.7 months, p = 0.514) between TKI-naïve and TKI-resistant groups. For patients with Lung-molGPA 2.5-4, intracranial PFS: 12.8 vs. 10.1 months; OS: 23.3 vs. 15.3 months. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found that there were no difference in intracranial PFS and OS in all patients between the two groups of TKI-naïve and TKI-resistant. But for patients in subgroup of Lung-molGPA 2.5-4, there were a better intracranial PFS and OS in TKI-naïve group.

The effect of the primary tumor location on the survival of colorectal cancer patients after radical surgery.

Background and Objectives: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The impact of the primary tumor location on the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer has long been a concern, but studies have led to conflicting conclusions. Methods: In total, 465 colorectal cancer patients who received radical surgery were reviewed in this study. Enrolled patients were divided into two groups according to the tumor location. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed via the Kaplan-Meier method. A Cox regression model was employed to evaluate the independent prognostic factors for DFS and OS. Results: The right colorectal cancer (RCC) and left colorectal cancer (LCC) groups comprised 202 and 140 patients, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the tumor location and TNM stage were independent predictors of DFS and OS. Subgroup analyses by stage demonstrated that there were significant differences in DFS and OS between patients with stage II and III RCC and LCC, but not for those with stage I colorectal cancer. Conclusions: Patients with stage II and III LCC had better survival than those with RCC. However, this improvement in DFS and OS was not observed in patients with stage I colorectal cancer.

Quality of Cryopreserved Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Recovered from the Hepatitis/AIDS Biobank.

Background: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) count among the most important samples in a biobank, and the quality of cryopreserved PBMCs is crucial for further research. This study evaluated the quality of PBMCs recovered from the Beijing Capital Medical University Hepatitis/AIDS Biobank after 2-11 years of cryopreservation. Materials and Methods: A total of 87 PBMC samples with different cryopreservation times (2006, 2007, 2013, and 2015) were thawed, and the cell number and cell viability were determined by acridine orange/propidium iodide staining. Then, DNA was extracted from the cryopreserved PBMCs and assessed for quantity on an ultramicrospectrophotometer. Results: The median cell viability rate was 73.58% for the 87 PBMC samples cryopreserved for 2-11 years. A rate of 80.98% was obtained for PBMCs collected in 2006, a value higher than those of other cryopreservation times (2007, 2013, and 2015). Similarly, more live and total cells were obtained in PBMCs cryopreserved since 2006 compared with other cryopreservation times (since 2007, 2013, and 2015, respectively). Nonparametric Spearman correlation analysis indicated positive associations of cell viability with live (r = 0.578, p < 0.0001) and total (r = 0.338, p = 0.0003) cell numbers. Meanwhile, DNA amounts increased with total cell number. Statistical analysis showed that 3.69 µg DNA was obtained from ∼1 × 106 cells. Conclusion: Cryopreservation time (2-11 years) has negligible effects on the quality of PBMCs. Meanwhile, the cell number is positively correlated with cell viability.

The Neural Mechanism Underlying Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Creativity.

Creativity is related to both cognition and emotion, which are the two major mental processes, interacting with each other to form psychological processes. Emotion is the major driving force of almost all creativities, sometimes in an unconscious way. Even though there are many studies concerning the relationship between creativity and cognition, there are few studies about the neural mechanisms of the emotional effects on creativity. Here, we introduce a novel model to explain the relationship between emotions and creativities: Three Primary Color model, which proposes that there are four major basic emotions; these basic emotions are subsided by three monoamines, just like the three primary colors: dopamine-joy, norepinephrine-stress (fear and anger), and serotonin-punishment. Interestingly, these three neuromodulators play similar roles in creativity, whose core features are value and novelty (surprise), like the characteristics of the core features of basic emotions (hedonic value and arousal value). Dysfunctions of these neuromodulators may be the reasons for both psychopathology and creativity, in that they can change the thinking styles such as novelty seeking behavior, hyper-connectivity of brain areas, and/or cognitive disinhibition to induce both creativity and psychopathology. This new model will not only help researchers understand the dynamics of basic emotion elements, it can also bring an entirely new perspective into the relationship between psychopathology and creativity.

Induction chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiotherapy versus induction chemotherapy plus volumetric modulated arc therapy alone in the treatment of stage II-IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients: a retrospective controlled study.

BACKGROUND: In the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), the role of additional concurrent chemotherapy (CC) to radiotherapy (RT) after induction chemotherapy (IC) compared to IC followed by RT alone remains unclear for stage II-IVB nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicities of IC/RT and IC/CCRT in the treatment of NPC with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). METHODS: From January 2012 to March 2016, a total of 217 NPC patients were retrospectively assessed. Of the 217 patients, 139 patients received IC followed by VMAT alone and 78 patients received IC plus CCRT. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and toxicities were assessed. RESULTS: The 5-year OS, PFS rates were 57.5%, 41.8% and 47.8%, 38.4% for the IC/RT and IC/CCRT arms, respectively, without significant difference in survival between the two groups (both p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that treatment modality (IC/RT vs. IC/CCRT) was not an independent prognostic factor for OS or PFS. Grade 3-4 leukopenia/neutropenia (3.60% vs. 20.51%, p < 0.001), gastrointestinal disorder (nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, 2.16% vs. 41.03%, p < 0.001), mucositis (29.50% vs. 47.44%, p = 0.01) and xerostomia (34.53% vs. 48.72%, p = 0.04) were more frequent in the IC/ CCRT arm than in the IC/RT arm during VMAT. CONCLUSIONS: No significant difference in OS and PFS was observed between IC plus VMAT alone and IC/CCRT in the treatment of stage II-IVB NPC patients, however, more side effects were observed in the IC/CCRT arm.