Analysis of the effect of Qizhuyigan on liver function in a mouse model of immunological liver injury

Purpose: To assess the protective effect of Qizhuyigan capsules containing an  herbal mixture on liver function in a mouse model of immunological liver injury and to explore the mechanism of action.Methods: One hundred and twenty mice were randomly divided into four groups: control, test, bifendate, and Qizhuyigan. Immunological liver injury was induced in all groups except the control group. Mice in the control group and the test group were gavaged with 2.5 g/kg tap water, mice in the bifendate group were gavaged with 12 mg/kg bifendate in water, and mice in the Qizhuyigan group were gavaged with 1,000 mg/kg of an aqueous solution containing the contents of a Qizhuyigan capsule. The gavage continued for 10 days. Changes in liver function-related indices, such as the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate  aminotransferase (AST), malonaldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and interleukin 6 (IL-6), were assessed.Results: Compared with the test and bifendate groups, the Qizhuyigan group exhibited lower serum ALT (98.3 U/L ± 8.7 U/L vs. 224.7 U/L ± 18.4 U/L vs. 132.8 U/L ± 9.4 U/L); AST (165.5 U/L ± 12.1 U/L vs. 362.6 U/L ± 16.6 U/L vs. 224.6 U/L ± 12.2 U/L); and MDA levels (12.7 ± 2 μmol/L vs. 31.3 ± 6.60 μmol/L vs. 14.4 ± 2.3 μmol/L); a higher SOD level; and reduced TNF-α and IL-6 levels. The differences of the above indices had statistical significance (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Qizhuyigan exerted a protective effect in a mouse model of immunological liver injury.Keywords: Qizhuyigan capsule, Immunological liver injury, Biochemical parameter

Nonlocal coherence harvesting from quantum vacuum

It is well known that nonlocal coherence reflects nonclassical correlations better than quantum entan-glement. Here, we analyze nonlocal coherence harvesting from the quantum vacuum to particle detectors adiabatically interacting with a quantum scalar field in Minkowski spacetime. We find that the harvesting-achievable separation range of nonlocal coherence is larger than that of quantum entanglement. As the energy gap grows sufficiently large, the detectors harvest less quantum coherence, while the detectors could extract more quantum entanglement from the vacuum state. Compared with the linear configuration and the scalene configuration, the equilateral triangle configuration is the best model to harvest tripartite coherence. Finally, we find a monogamous relationship, which means that tripartite l1-norm of coherence is essentially bipartite types.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Temperature and impurity effects of the polaron in an asymmetric quantum dot

We study the temperature and impurity effects of the ground state energy and the ground state binding energy in an asymmetric quantum dot by using the liner combination operator method. It is found that the ground state energy and the ground state binding energy will increase with increasing the temperature. The ground state ener-gy is a decreasing function of the Coulomb bound potential, whereas the ground state binding energy is an in-creasing one of it

Stability and Persistence of an Avian Influenza Epidemic Model with Impacts of Climate Change

The growing number of reported avian influenza cases has prompted awareness of the importance of research methods to control the spread of the disease. Seasonal variation is one of the important factors that affect the spread of avian influenza. This paper presents a “nonautonomous” model to analyze the transmission dynamics of avian influenza with the effects of climate change. We obtain and discuss the global stability conditions of the disease-free equilibrium; the threshold conditions for persistence, permanence, and extinction of the disease; and the parameters with periodicity for controlling and eliminating the avian influenza

Fermionic steering is not nonlocal in the background of dilaton black hole

We study the redistribution of the fermionic steering and the relation among fermionic Bell nonlocality, steering, and entanglement in the background of the Garfinkle-Horowitz-Strominger dilaton black hole. We analyze the meaning of the fermionic steering in terms of the Bell inequality in curved spacetime. We find that the fermionic steering, which is previously found to survive in the extreme dilaton black hole, cannot be considered to be nonlocal. We also find that the dilaton gravity can redistribute the fermionic steering, but cannot redistribute Bell nonlocality, which means that the physically inaccessible steering is also not nonlocal. Unlike the inaccessible entanglement, the inaccessible steering may increase non-monotonically with the dilaton. Furthermore, we obtain some monogamy relations between the fermionic steering and entanglement in dilaton spacetime. In addition, we show the difference between the fermionic and bosonic steering in curved spacetime.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Role of CD28/B7 costimulation and IL-12/IL-10 interaction in the radiation-induced immune changes

BACKGROUND: The present paper aims at studying the role of B7/CD28 interaction and related cytokine production in the immunological changes after exposure to different doses of ionizing radiation. RESULTS: The stimulatory effect of low dose radiation (LDR) on the proliferative response of lymphocytes to Con A was found to require the presence of APCs. The addition of APCs obtained from both low- and high-dose-irradiated mice to splenic lymphocytes separated from low-dose-irradiated mice caused stimulation of lymphocyte proliferation. B7-1/2 expression on APCs was up-regulated after both low and high doses of radiation. There was up-regulation of CD28 expression on splenic and thymic lymphocytes after LDR and its suppression after high dose radiation (HDR), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) expression showed changes in the opposite direction. IL-12 secretion by macrophages was stimulated after both low and high doses of radiation, but IL-10 synthesis by splenocytes was suppressed by low dose radiation and up-regulated by high dose radiation. CONCLUSION: The status of CD28/CTLA-4 expression on T lymphocytes in the presence of up-regulated B7 expression on APCs determined the outcome of the immune changes in response to radiation, i.e., up-regulation of CD28 after LDR resulted in immunoenhancement, and up-regulation of CTLA-4 associated with down-regulation of CD28 after HDR led to immunosuppression. Both low and high doses of radiation up-regulated B7-1/2 expression on APCs. After LDR, the stimulated proliferative effect of increased IL-12 secretion by APCs, reinforced by the suppressed secretion of IL-10, further strengthened the intracellular signaling induced by B7-CD28 interaction

Poly[aqua­[μ3-4-carb­oxy-2-(pyridin-4-yl)-1H-imidazole-5-carboxyl­ato-κ5 N 1,O 5:N 3,O 4:N 2]nickel(II)]

The water-coordinated Ni2+ cation in the title compound, [Ni(C10H5N3O4)(H2O)]n, assumes an octa­hedral NiN3O3 coord­ination mode and is N,O-chelated by two deprotonated 2-(pyridin-4-yl)-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarb­oxy­lic acid (HPyImDC2−) ligands, forming a layer structure extending in the bc plane. The chains are arranged along the b-axis direction, forming a layer structure extending in the bc plane. O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the layers results in the formation of a three-dimensional supra­molecular framework. The structure is isotypic with the Zn analogue [Li et al. (2009). Cryst. Growth Des. 6, 3423–3431]

Selection and reversal of Plasmodium berghei resistance in the mouse model following repeated high doses of artemether

Artemether, a derivative of artemisinin, is effectively used for the treatment of malaria without any clinically relevant resistance to date. Artemether has also been developed as an antischistosomal agent, exhibiting highest activity against immature parasites. Here, we employ a rodent model and investigate whether the proposed artemether treatment schedule to prevent schistosome-attributable morbidity might select for Plasmodium berghei resistance. Mice infected with an ANKA strain of P. berghei were treated with artemether at either 47mg/kg or 300mg/kg. Once every 7-10days, parasitized erythrocytes were passed to the next group of mice, receiving the same doses of artemether, for 50passages. Resistance development was slow but increased considerably over the final ten passages. At the higher dose of artemether, the indices of resistance were4.8 and8.8 after 40and 50passages, respectively. Importantly, resistance was unstable, since sensitivity reverted to near-normal after five passages without drug pressure. A moderate index of P. berghei resistance and no apparent reversibility was found in comparative experiments employing pyronaridine. In conclusion, the pace of resistance development in P. berghei to repeated high doses of artemether is slow and reversibl

Gaussian quantum steering in multi-event horizon spacetime

We study Gaussian quantum steering in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter (SdS) spacetime which is endowed with both a black hole event horizon (BEH) and a cosmological event horizon (CEH), giving rise to two different Hawking temperatures. It is shown that the Hawking effect of the black hole always reduces the quantum steering, but the Hawking effect of the expanding universe not always plays the same role. For the first time, we find that the Hawking effect can improve quantum steering. We also find that the observer who locates in the BEH has stronger steerability than the observer who locates in CEH. Further, we study the steering asymmetry, and the conditions for two-way, one-way and no-way steering in the SdS spacetime. Finally, we study the Gaussian quantum steering in the scenario of effective equilibrium temperature. We show that quantum steering reduces monotonically with the effective temperature but now increases monotonically with the Hawking temperature of the black hole, which banishes the belief that the Hawking effect can only destroy quantum steering.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure