Lettuce plant growth and tipburn occurrence as affected by airflow using a multi-fan system in a plant factory with artificial light.

A multi-fan system (MFS) for single culture beds was developed to improve the airflow in a plant factory with artificial light. The MFS had seven fans which were installed on both the front and back sides of culture beds to generate airflow from two opposite horizontal directions. The fans that push the air into the culture bed were air inlets while those that pull the air out of the culture bed were air outlets. In this study, three airflow patterns were evaluated: T1, the front and back sides of the culture bed were air inlets; T2, the front side was an air inlet and the backside was an air outlet; and T3, both the front and back sides were air outlets. A culture bed with no MFS was used as a control (T4). Lettuce growth and tipburn occurrence were evaluated and leaf boundary layer resistance (1/gbv), sensible heat flux (Sh), and latent heat flux (Lh) of lettuce plants were estimated. The airflow pattern in T1 improved the air velocity (Va) by an average of 0.75 m s-1 and a variation coefficient of 65%. The 1/gbv decreased significantly with the increase in Va, and the lowest value of 54.0 s m-1 was observed in T1. The low resistance to heat and moisture transfer enhanced the Sh and Lh of lettuce plants. The average Sh and Lh were 40% and 46% higher in T1 compared with those in T4. The fresh and dry weights of lettuce plants in T1 were 1.13 and 1.06 higher than those in T4, respectively. No tipburn occurrence was observed in lettuce plants grown under the MFS while five leaves per plant were injured with tipburn in T4. The results indicated that improving the airflow can improve the growth of indoor cultured lettuce and alleviate the occurrence of tipburn due to the decrease in the 1/gbv and the increase in the transpiration rate.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of the expression of ADAM17 mRNA and protein in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) mRNA and ADAM17 protein in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and to evaluate their correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of ADAM17 mRNA in 50 ESCC and 50 normal esophageal tissues was detected by RT-PCR. The expression of ADAM17 protein in 80 ESCC and 80 normal esophageal tissues was detected with immunohistochemioal staining (SP). Log rank test and Cox proportional hazards analysis were used to analyze the prognosis of ESCC.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of ADAM17 mRNA in 50 ESCC and 50 normal esophageal tissues was 0.937 ± 0.241 and 0.225 ± 0.077, respectively. The positive expression rates of ADAM17 protein in 80 ESCC and 80 normal esophageal tissues was 66.2% and 6.2%, respectively. The expressions of ADAM17 mRNA and ADAM17 protein in the ESCC were significantly higher than those in normal esophageal tissues (P < 0.01). The expressions of ADAM17 mRNA and protein were positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and TNM staging (P < 0.05). There were no correlations between the expressions of ADAM17 mRNA and protein and sex, age and histological grade (P > 0.05) . The expression of ADAM17 protein was positively correlated with EGFR protein (P < 0.01). The lymph node metastasis, TNM staging and the expression of ADAM17 and EGFR protein were independent prognostic factors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>ADAM17 mRNA and protein are highly expressed in ESCC than in normal esophageal tissues and may play an important role in the development, invasion and metastasis of ESCC. They may be used as prognostic factors of ESCC.</p>

Study of carvedilol on plaque stability in carotid atherosclerotic rabbits transfected by p53 gene / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of carvedilol on stabilizing atherosclerosis plaque.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty five male Japanese white rabbits were divided randomly into 5 groups with 9 for each. One group was fed up with normal diet as blank control. In other four groups, the common carotid artery of rabbits fed up with high cholesterol diet were injured by balloon. Three groups of them were transfected by wild-type p53 gene 8 weeks later, and then two groups of them were treated with carvedilol (3 mgxkg(-1)xd(-1)) and metoprolol (6 mgxkg(-1)xd(-1)) respectively, high cholesterol diet should be continued for other 4 weeks. Serum lipid, hypersensitive C-reaction protein (hsCRP), oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) were measured in 0, 8, 12 weeks after experiment. The apoptosis rate of smooth muscle cell (SMC) in endomembrane and the local expression of p53, bcl-2, bax, alpha-actin were examined after experiment, and the carotid arteries were examined by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The typical carotid atherosclerotic plaques were observed in balloon-injured groups. The local expression rates of p53 in groups transfected by wild type p53 gene were higher obviously than them in other two groups (P < 0.01). Compared with the rabbits received simple transfection, the thickness of the fibrous cap in rabbits received carvedilol and metoprolol were all increased, but the change could be observed significantly in carvedilol group (P < 0.05). Compared with metoprolol, carvedilol could reduce the level of serum hsCRP, oxLDL, MDA, and increase the concentration of SOD and GSH-PX significantly (P < 0.05 or 0.01), but two medicines had no obvious influence to serum lipid. The apoptosis rate of SMC in endomembrane, the local expression of bax gene and bax/bcl-2 ratio were decreased, the positive expression rates of alpha-actin and bcl-2 were enhanced in carvedilol group (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Both carvedilol and metoprolol can improve the stability of the plaque, but carvedilol is superior. Its mechanisms may lie in that carvedilol still has function of anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation, decreasing the apoptosis rate of SMC in addition to its function of blocking beta-receptor.</p>

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a clinicopathological study of 74 cases / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore a simplified and reproducible approach for the diagnosis and morphologic prognostication of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty-five cases of gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors including 74 cases of GIST, 8 esophageal smooth muscle tumor, 1 rectal leiomyosarcoma, 1 Schwannoma, and 1 malignant fibrous histiocytoma were studied by histological evaluation along with an immunohistochemistry panel including vimentin, CD117 (c-kit), CD34, SMA, desmin and S-100. Clinicopathological correlation was performed in 31 cases of GIST that had accompanied with the available follow-up data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 74 GISTs, 34 arose principally from the stomach, 30 from the small intestine, and 10 other cases found in the esophagus, retroperitoneum, mesenterium and omentum. The patients' age ranged from 23 to 80 years (mean 52.5 years), with 45 males and 29 females. Histologically, the tumors composed of either spindle or oval to round cells arranged in interlacing fascicles forming whorls or cellular clusters, cytoplasm generally abundant and eosinophilic. There were 48 cases of spindle cell type, 10 cases of epithelioid cell type and 16 cases of mixed cell type. All 74 cases of GIST were positive for CD117 in a cell membranous pattern, however, some variable staining patterns of CD117 had been noticed in a few cases. In addition, 54 GISTs were also positive for CD34 (72.9%), 25 cases positive for SMA, 5 cases positive for S-100 and 5 cases positive for desmin. According to the Fletcher's scheme, GISTs in this study were divided into 4 subcategories including groups of very low risk of aggressive behavior (3 cases), of low risk (15 cases), of intermediate risk (36 cases) and of high risk (20 cases) respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of 31 GIST cases whom had been followed up for 16 to 72 months showed a statistically significant difference present among the subcategories (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>GISTs predominantly occur in the middle and old age patients, more common in male, and positive CD117 staining is considered to be the defining marker to differentiate GIST from other mesenchymal tumors of the GI tract. Positive CD34 immun-staining, plus a CD117 positivity, strengthens further a diagnosis of GIST. Subclassification of GISTs using Fletcher's scheme appears to be simple, reproducible, and correlates well with the clinical behavior of the tumor.</p>

Expression of survivin and P53 detected by tissue microarray and its significance in gastric adenocarcinoma / 中华消化杂志

Objective To investigate the role of survivin and P53 in apoptosis of gastric adeno- carcinoma,as well as its relationship with the clinicopathologic features and the prognosis.Methods The gas- tric tissue microarrays were composed of those from 100 cases of gastric cancer and 30 controls.At these tissue microarrays,expressions of survivin and P53 were investigated immunohistochemically,and tumor cell apoptosis index was examined by TUNEL method.Of the 100 cases,47 cases were followed-up from 14 months to 13 years,in which the survival was analyzed.Results Two paraffin-embedded gastric carcinoma tissue micro- arrays were successfully constructed,including 114 and 116 tissue spots,respectively.Immunohistochemical analysis showed that survivin was expressed in 78 cases (78%).No expression of survivin was detected in control tissue (P0.05).In the 47 cases with followed-up data,univariant analysis revealed that the survival was correlated with invading of vessel and nerve,TNM stages,and expression of survivin.The histological grades and expression of P53 were not related to prognosis.However,Cox stepwise proportional hazards analysis showed that only TNM staging and survivin status retained significant independently in prospecting prognosis.Conclusions The expression of survivin was associated with the pathologic features,TNM stages and prognosis in gastric carcinoma,indicating that overex- pression of survivin may be a poor prognosis factor for gastric carcinoma.