Protective Effects of Squid Ink Extract Towards Hemopoietic Injuries Induced by Cyclophosphamine

To investigate the protective effects of squid ink in chemotherapy, BALB/c mice were used as animal models of injuries induced by cyclophosphamine, a well known chemotherapeutic drug. The mice were randomly divided into five groups with the same number of males and females in each group. At the end of the experiment, animals were sacrificed to investigate organ indexes and antioxidant ability of the spleen, peripheral blood profile and quantities of bone marrow nucleated cells. Results showed that the hemopoietic function of mice was injured by cyclophosphamine, as indicated by decreases of contents of erythrocytes, leukocytes, hemoglobin and bone marrow nucleated cells (P<0.01), while platelets were not affected (P>0.05), as well as modification of organ indexes (P<0.05) and spleen antioxidant ability (P<0.05 or P<0.01), whereas sepia extract markedly increased the levels of erythrocytes, leukocytes, hemoglobin and bone marrow nucleated cells (P<0.01), but not platelets (P>0.05), and reversed the effects of cyclophosphamine on organ indexes and antioxidant ability of spleen (P<0.01 or P<0.05). In addition, squid ink extract did not change marrow hemopoiesis but improved the antioxidant ability of spleen in the animals. The data suggest that squid ink extract can protect the hemopoietic system from chemotherapeutic injury and could be employed to develop cell-protective drugs for use in clinical treatment of tumours

Expression of CD40 and CD40L in Gastric Cancer Tissue and Its Clinical Significance

To study expression of CD40 and CD40L in gastric cancer tissue we assessed gastric cancer patients admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology of The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University and control subjects. Gastric cancer and normal (from around tumours) tissue samples were obtained from patients. Venous blood samples (gastric cancer and ulcer groups) were drawn on the morning of the day before surgery for the measurement of peripheral sCD40L. The expression of CD40 in gastric carcinoma specimens was examined immuno-histochemically. The clinicopathological factors, including age, sex, tumor size, gross appearance, degree of cellular differentiation, histological classification, depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, peritoneal dissemination, and TNM stage were analyzed according to the different expression of CD40. The results indicated a high CD40 expression in gastric cancer tissues. This positive expression of CD40 revealed a significant (P < 0.05) correlation with lymphatic metastasis and tumor TNM stage in gastric cancer patients. It is concluded that higher CD40 expression existed in expanding type tumors and could play an important role in clinical diagnosis of gastric cancer patients

A simulation study on the measurement of D0-D0bar mixing parameter y at BES-III

We established a method on measuring the \dzdzb mixing parameter $y$ for BESIII experiment at the BEPCII $e^+e^-$ collider. In this method, the doubly tagged $\psi(3770) \to D^0 \overline{D^0}$ events, with one $D$ decays to CP-eigenstates and the other $D$ decays semileptonically, are used to reconstruct the signals. Since this analysis requires good $e/\pi$ separation, a likelihood approach, which combines the $dE/dx$, time of flight and the electromagnetic shower detectors information, is used for particle identification. We estimate the sensitivity of the measurement of $y$ to be 0.007 based on a $20fb^{-1}$ fully simulated MC sample.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Extraction of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graceum L.) Seed Oil Using Subcritical Butane: Characterization and Process Optimization

In this study, the subcritical butane extraction process of fenugreek seed oil was optimized using response surface methodology with a Box-Behnken design. The optimum conditions for extracted oil from fenugreek seed was as follows: extraction temperature of 43.24 °C , extraction time of 32.80 min, and particle size of 0.26 mm. No significant differences were found between the experimental and predicted values. The physical and chemical properties of the oil showed that the oil could be used as edible oil. Fatty acid composition of oils obtained by subcritical butane under the optimum conditions and by accelerated solvent extraction showed negligible difference. The oils were rich in linoleic acid (42.71%–42.80%), linolenic acid (26.03%-26.15%), and oleic acid (14.24%-14.40%). The results revealed that the proposed method was feasible, and this essay shows the way to exploit fenugreek seeds by subcritical butane extraction under the scope of edible oils

Substrate-tilt angle effect on structural and optical properties of sputtered ZnO film

A new one-step method utilizing a special holder for a direct current magnetron sputtering system has enabled simultaneous deposition of ZnO films with different substrate tilt angles on quartz and silicon substrates. Observation from scanning electron microscopy shows that a typical columnar structure is obtained and the column inclination angle varies from 0° to 34°. From X-ray diffraction analysis, the strains in the ZnO films decrease with increasing substrate tilt angle, which is confirmed by the variation of the longitude optical phonon vibration in the Raman spectra. The band-gap energies decrease from 3.19 eV to 3.07 eV mainly due to the changes of strain relaxation induced by the defect variations in the films. Photoluminescence spectra revealed that the generation, type and concentration of the complex defects are influenced by the substrate tilt angle

Induced autologous stem cell transplantation for treatment of rabbit renal interstitial fibrosis.

INTRODUCTION: Renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is a significant cause of end-stage renal failure. The goal of this study was to characterize the distribution of transplanted induced autologous stem cells in a rabbit model of renal interstitial fibrosis and evaluate its therapeutic efficacy for treatment of renal interstitial fibrosis. METHODS: A rabbit model of renal interstitial fibrosis was established. Autologous fibroblasts were cultured, induced and labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP). These labeled stem cells were transplanted into the renal artery of model animals at 8 weeks. RESULTS: Eight weeks following transplantation of induced autologous stem cells, significant reductions (P < 0.05) were observed in serum creatinine (SCr) (14.8 ± 1.9 mmol/L to 10.1 ± 2.1 mmol/L) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (119 ± 22 µmol/L to 97 ± 13 µmol/L), indicating improvement in renal function. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully established a rabbit model of renal interstitial fibrosis and demonstrated that transplantation of induced autologous stem cells can repair kidney damage within 8 weeks. The repair occurred by both inhibition of further development of renal interstitial fibrosis and partial reversal of pre-existing renal interstitial fibrosis. These beneficial effects lead to the development of normal tissue structure and improved renal function