Comparison Analysis of Coal Biodesulfurization and Coal’s Pyrite Bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) was applied in coal biodesulfurization and coal’s pyrite bioleaching. The result showed that A. ferrooxidans had significantly promoted the biodesulfurization of coal and bioleaching of coal’s pyrite. After 16 days of processing, the total sulfur removal rate of coal was 50.6%, and among them the removal of pyritic sulfur was up to 69.9%. On the contrary, after 12 days of processing, the coal’s pyrite bioleaching rate was 72.0%. SEM micrographs showed that the major pyrite forms in coal were massive and veinlets. It seems that the bacteria took priority to remove the massive pyrite. The sulfur relative contents analysis from XANES showed that the elemental sulfur (28.32%) and jarosite (18.99%) were accumulated in the biotreated residual coal. However, XRD and XANES spectra of residual pyrite indicated that the sulfur components were mainly composed of pyrite (49.34%) and elemental sulfur (50.72%) but no other sulfur contents were detected. Based on the present results, we speculated that the pyrite forms in coal might affect sulfur biooxidation process

A cross-sectional study of appropriateness evaluation of anticoagulation therapy for inpatients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation

Background: Oral anticoagulants (OACs) are essential for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). However, the appropriateness of anticoagulation treatment in locally practice remains unclear. This study evaluated compliance with anticoagulation therapy concerning the guidelines and drug labels in patients with NVAF.Methods: Hospitalized patients diagnosed with NVAF between 1 November 2020, and 31 December 2021, were retrospectively enrolled. The appropriateness of anticoagulation regimens at discharge was evaluated based on a flowchart designed according to atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines and medication labels. Furthermore, we explored factors potentially influencing the “no-use of OACs” using binary logistic regression and verified anticoagulation-related issues through a physician questionnaire.Results: A total of 536 patients were enrolled in this study, including 254 patients (47.4%) with inappropriate anticoagulation regimens. 112 patients (20.9%) were categorized as “underdosing-use of OACs,” 134 (25%) who needed anticoagulation therapy were “no-use of OACs” and eight (1.5%) were “over-use of OACs.” The results of a binary logistic regression analysis showed that paroxysmal AF (odds ratio [OR], 7.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.57–13.10), increased blood creatinine levels (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.11–3.16), hospitalized pacemaker implantation (OR, 6.76; 95% CI, 2.67–17.11), percutaneous coronary intervention (OR, 3.35; 95% CI, 1.44–7.80), and an increased HAS-BLED score (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.11–2.35) were associated with “no-use of OACs” in patients with NVAF who had indications for anticoagulation therapy.Conclusion: For patients with NVAF with severe renal dysfunction and paroxysmal AF, anticoagulation therapy was inadequate. The underdosing-use of OACs in patients with NVAF was frequently observed. We recommend an anticoagulation management team to tailor anticoagulation regimens to suit each patient’s needs

Pharmacokinetic Interaction between Magnolol and Piperine in Rats

Purpose: To investigate the pharmacokinetic mechanism of interaction between magnolol and piperine when co-administered to rats.Methods: The rats were divided into five groups as follows: magnolol group (625 mg/kg); low dose of piperine group (20 mg/kg); high dose of piperine group (40 mg/kg); low dose of piperine + magnolol group; or high dose of piperine + magnolol group. Plasma samples were collected at regular time intervals after administration of a single dose of magnolol (625 mg/kg, p.o.) alone or piperine (20 or 40 mg/kg, p.o.) in the presence or absence of magnolol (625 mg/kg, p.o.). The concentrations of magnolol and piperine in plasma were measured by a validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.Results: Compared with control, the groups given magnolol alone, concomitant administration of piperine and magnolol resulted in significant decrease (p < 0.01) in the AUC and Cmax of magnolol. Interestingly, compared with administration of piperine alone (20 mg/kg), co-administration with magnolol did not significantly (p > 0.05) alter the pharmacokinetic parameters of piperine. However, at high dose (40 mg/kg) of piperine, Cmax of piperine significantly decreased from 4.30 ± 1.47 to 2.50 ± 0.78 μg/mL (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Co-administration of magnolol and piperine decreases plasma concentration of either drug in rats, suggesting that concurrent use of magnolol with piperine or piperine-containing diets would require close monitoring for potential interactions.Keywords: Magnolol, Piperine, Pharmacokinetic interaction, Co administratio

Invasive reperfusion after 12 hours of the symptom onset remains beneficial in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: Evidence from a meta-analysis of published data

Background: Early myocardial reperfusion therapy (< 12 h) in patients with acute myocardial infarc­tion (AMI) can significantly improve their prognosis. However, the effect of late reperfusion (> 12 h) remains controversial. In this study, the effects of late reperfusion versus standard drug therapy on the outcomes of patients with AMI were evaluated by systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane, Wanfang, and CNKI databases were searched for eligible studies for the present study. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3.3 software. Rela­tive risk (RR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to compare the outcomes between the two groups. The main outcome measures were major adverse cardiac events (MACEs), all-cause mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction (MI), and heart failure. Results: Eighteen studies were identified including 14,677 patients, of whom 5157 received late reperfusion with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and 9520 received medication therapy (MT). Compared to MT, late PCI was associated with decreased all-cause mortality (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.44–0.83; p = 0.002), MACEs (RR 0.67; 95% CI 0.50–0.89; p < 0.001), and heart failure (RR 0.76; 95% CI 0.60–0.97; p = 0.03), while there was also a trend toward decreased recurrent MI (RR 0.70; 95% CI 0.47–1.05; p = 0.08). However, subgroup analysis according to time to PCI showed that the clinical benefit was only from PCI after 12 h but not from 2 to 60 days of the onset of symptoms. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis suggested that PCI performed > 12 h but not 2–60 days after AMI is associated with significant improvement in clinical outcomes. However, these results need further rigorously designed large sample size clinical trials to be validated

Predictors of futile recanalization in basilar artery occlusion patients undergoing endovascular treatment: a post hoc analysis of the ATTENTION trial

BackgroundFew studies have focused on factors associated with futile recanalization in patients with an acute basilar artery occlusion (BAO) that was treated with modern endovascular therapy (EVT). The aim of this study was to explore the factors associated with futile recanalization in patients with an acute BAO presented within 12 h.MethodsThis is a post-hoc analysis of the ATTENTION trial (The Trial of Endovascular Treatment of Acute Basilar-Artery Occlusion, ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT 04751708). Demographics, clinical characteristics, acute stroke workflow interval times, and imaging characteristics were compared between the futile recanalization and favorable recanalization groups. The favorable outcome was defined as a modified Rankin scale (mRS) score of 0–3 at 90 days, successful reperfusion was defined as thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) 2b and 3 on the final angiogram, and futile recanalization was defined as failure to achieve a favorable outcome despite successful reperfusion. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify the predictors of futile recanalization.ResultsIn total, 185 patients were included in the final analysis: 89 (48.1%) patients had futile recanalization and 96 (51.9%) patients had favorable recanalization. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, older age (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.08, p = 0.01) and diabetes mellitus (OR 3.35, 95% CI 1.40 to 8.01, p = 0.007) were independent predictors of futile recanalization.ConclusionFutile recanalization occurred in nearly half of patients with acute BAO following endovascular treatment. Old age and diabetes mellitus were identified as independent predictors of futile recanalization after endovascular therapy for acute BAO

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

臺南縣鹽分地帶農業經營的區域類型:以將軍溪至急水溪之間為例

地理學系

Close Relationship between cIAP2 and Human ARDS Induced by Severe H7N9 Infection

Background. cIAP2 is involved in necroptosis as a key upstream regulation factor. We aimed to investigate the role of cIAP2 in ARDS/ALI induced by H7N9 virus through regulating the RIPK1/3 necroptosis pathway. Methods. Lung tissues of 11 patients who died from ARDS-complicated H7N9 infection between 2013 and 2016 were obtained as the H7N9-ARDS group. Lung tissues near benign lung nodules were acquired as the control group. Histological changes were evaluated by H&E staining. Protein levels of cIAP2, RIPK1, RIPK3, p-RIPK3, MLKL, and p-MLKL in the lung tissues were detected by Western Blot. The mRNA levels of cIAP2, RIPK1, and RIPK3 were detected by real-time PCR. Results. H7N9 virus infection had a high mortality, with ARDS being the leading cause of death. The protein level of cIAP2 in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). However, the experimental group showed higher RIPK1, RIPK3, and p-RIPK3 protein levels than the control group (P<0.05), as well as the expression level of MLKL and p-MLKL protein, which is a key downstream protein in necroptosis (P<0.05). Conclusion. In tissues from patients with fatal H7N9, downregulation of cIAP2 and induction of necroptosis was observed. We could speculate that necroptosis of the pulmonary epithelium is associated with severe H7N9 infection leading to ARDS. Thus, necroptosis inhibition may be a novel therapy for H7N9 influenza virus

The immune-regulating effect of Xiao’er Qixingcha in constipated mice induced by high-heat and high-protein diet

Abstract Background Xiao’er Qixingcha (EXQ) has been extensively applied to relieve dyspepsia and constipation in children for hundreds of years in China. However, the therapeutic mechanism underlying its efficacy remained to be defined. The present study aimed to clarify the possible laxative and immune-regulating effects of EXQ on two models of experimental constipation in mice, which mimicked the pediatric constipation caused by high-heat and high-protein diet (HHPD). Methods The two models of constipated mice were induced by HHPD or HHPD + atropine respectively. To investigate the laxative and immune-regulating activities of EXQ, animals were treated with three doses of EXQ (0.75, 1.5 and 3 g/kg) for 7 consecutive days. The fecal output parameters (number and weight), weight of intestinal content and, the thymus and spleen indexes were measured. The levels of sIgA, IL-10, TNF-α and LPS in colon and serum were determined by ELISA. Furthermore, the pathological changes of colon tissue were examined after routine H&E staining. Results Both HHPD and HHPD + atropine treatments obviously inhibited the fecal output and reduced the colonic sIgA, prominently increased the levels of IL-10 and TNF-α in colonic tissue and elevated the contents of LPS in serum and colonic tissues. In contrast, oral administration of EXQ significantly improved the feces characters and dose-dependently decreased the intestinal changes in both models. In HHPD model test, EXQ efficaciously boosted the sIgA level in a dose-dependent manner, significantly elicited decreases in TNF-α and IL-10 levels, and evidently decreased the spleen and thymus indexes. In HHPD + atropine model test, EXQ treatment reversed the pathological changes by not only dramatically decreasing the spleen index and the levels of LPS and IL-10, but also markedly elevating the thymus index. Furthermore, microscopic observation revealed that EXQ treatment maintained the integrity of colonic mucosa, and protected the colonic tissues from inflammation in the both models. Conclusions EXQ exhibited prominent laxative activity and effectively protected the colonic mucosal barrier in two models of constipated mice, of which the mechanism might be closely associated with its propulsive and immune-regulating properties. The current results not only validated the rationale for the clinical application of EXQ in pediatric constipation related symptoms, but also threw new light on the immune-inflammatory responses accompanied with chronic constipation pathology