Correlation between carotid atherosclerotic plaque properties and serum levels of lncRNA CCAT2 and miRNA-216b.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to uncover the clinical values of serum long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) CCAT2 and miRNA-216b in the properties of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques were assigned into stable plaque group (n=60) and unstable plaque (n=75) group based on their examination results of cervical contrast-enhanced CT examination. Maximal plaque thickness (MAPT) and intima-media thickness (IMT) in each group were determined. Serum levels of lncRNA CCAT2 and miRNA-216b in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques were detected by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Moreover, the correlation between serum levels of CCAT2 and miRNA-216b was analyzed by Pearson's correlation analysis. Besides, potential correlations of serum levels of CCAT2 and miRNA-216b with MAPT and IMT in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques were assessed as well. RESULTS: Results revealed that MAPT and IMT were markedly higher in unstable plaque group than those in stable plaque group. Serum level of CCAT2 was higher in unstable plaque group, while miRNA-216b was lower than those in stable group. A negative correlation was identified between serum levels of CCAT2 and miRNA-216b. In addition, CCAT2 level was positively correlated with IMT and MAPT in patients with carotid atherosclerotic plaques, while miRNA-216b level was negatively correlated with them. CONCLUSIONS: Detection of serum levels of CCAT2 and miRNA-216b could be applied for predicting the rupture of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. They may be potential biomarkers predicting ischemic stroke.

[The Correlation Analysis of Turnover Intention,Moral Distress and Stressor in Nurses].

Objective: To explore the turnover intention of nurses in Quzhou and its influential factors. Methods: From July to August in 2017 cross-sectional study and self-filled questionnaire are used to investigate 980 nurses from 7 hospitals in Quzhou, including two third-level hospitals and five second-level ones. T-test, F-test, Pearson and linear regression are used in data with the method of statistical analysis. Results: The total score of turnover intention of nurses was (14.95±3.17) points, and the index value was 62.27%, of which the turnover intention was above 78%. The analysis of Single factor showed that age (F=4.895) , Department (F=2.971) , title, nursing age (F=5.863) , self-assessment of physical conditions (F=4.092) were closely related to nurses' turnover intention(P<0.05). According to Person's correlation analysis, there are positive correlations between turnover intention and source of stressor, and moral distress (P<0.05) . Multiple linear regression showed that the nurses' turnover intention was age, Department, health selfevaluation, stressor and moral distress. Conclusion: The turnover intention of nurses is high, which is related to age, Department, self-evaluation of health, stressor and moral distress.

DFT study on the structure-toxicity relationship of dioxin compounds using PLS analysis.

Density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-311G** level was employed to optimise the dioxin compounds, i.e., 25 polychlorinated or brominated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs or PBDDs) and 34 polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) involved in this investigation. Three groups of descriptors mainly related to chemical reactivity, molecular overall charge distribution and thermochemical property were calculated. With partial least squares (PLS) analysis and variable importance in the projection (VIP), the least significant descriptors were removed from the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR), which was focused on exploring the influential factors responsible for the variance of binding affinities of dioxins to aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). With better-improved and predictive QSAR (Q(2)(cum) = 0.827), further understanding of the nature of toxicity was available. Both dispersion interaction and electrostatic interaction were considered to be important and together capable of accounting for the most part of the total binding affinities, though the former could make more contribution than the latter. Comparatively, the long-range dispersion interaction should be very small.

Evaluation of accelerated dechlorination of p,p'-DDT in acidic paddy soil.

The reductive dechlorination and behavior of p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p'-DDT) was investigated in a paddy soil. Treatment with 5% (w/w) metallic iron (Fe(0)) resulted in sharp decrease of p,p'-DDT, whereas there was no extra effect when 2% (w/w) aluminum sulfate (Al(2)(SO(4))(3)) was added to the Fe(0) treatment. These results suggest that Fe(0) could effectively promote the reductive dechlorination of p,p'-DDT and its metabolites while Al(2)(SO(4))(3) did not show any effect on those processes. Furthermore, p,p'-DDT and its daughter compounds inhibited holistic soil respiration greatly at first but could be metabolized by certain species of indigenous microorganisms after a period of adaptation time in the soil. When treated with Fe(0), the polluted soil produced much less CO(2) while the addition of Al(2)(SO(4))(3) counteracted its negative effect to much extent.

Enhancement of immune responses to the hepatitis B virus core protein through DNA vaccines with a DNA fragment encoding human IL-1beta 163-171 peptide.

DNA vaccines have been widely used as effective means of eradicating a variety of viruses, parasites, bacteria as well as means of alleviating allergic and autoimmune diseases and tumors. As interleukin 1 (IL-1) plays an essential role in augmenting both cellular and humoral immune responses to foreign antigens, it may represent a good candidate for an adjuvant to DNA vaccines. Since the inflammatory activity of IL-1 may have a restricted application to DNA vaccines, we explored the possibility of augmenting immune response without unwanted inflammatory effect using IL-1beta 163-171 peptide, which is essential for IL-1 receptor 1 binding. A DNA fragment encoding the human IL-1beta 163-171 peptide of concern was fused to the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core DNA vaccine, and injected into mice to analyze its immune responses. Compared with the control mice which received hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) alone, significant increase in not only the HBcAg-specific antibody response but also in T cell proliferation was observed in mice which received IL-1beta 163-171-HBcAg. These results suggest that the DNA fragment encoding the IL-1beta polypeptide of aa 163-171 might represent a good candidate for an adjuvant of DNA vaccines.

1079.5- and 1341.4-nm: larger energy from a dual-wavelength Nd:YAIO(3) pulsed laser.

On the basis of oscillation conditions of simultaneous multiple-wavelength lasing that we have established, a larger-energy (1079.5 and 1341.4 nm) dual-wavelength Nd:YAlO(3) pulsed laser has been developed. Output energies of 3.71 and 1.39 J with efficiencies of 1.29% and 0.48% for the 1341.4-and 1079.5-nm wavelengths, respectively, have been achieved. To our knowledge, this is the best result among simultaneous dual-wavelength solid-state lasers to date. The temporal and spatial distributions of these beams obtained from a free-running dual-wavelength Nd:YAlO3 pulsed laser have also been measured. Experimental results show that the temporal and spatial overlap of the two beams is quite good for this type of laser.