ABSTRACT The process of solid circulation in an internally circulating fluidized bed (ICFB) having two or more chambers can be developed by applying unequal gas velocities in these chambers. Such a process is beneficial to several applications and provides the means for the energy transfer between the chambers in the ICFB. In this paper, a multi-fluid CFD model incorporating the kinetic theory of granular flow is used to simulate the hydrodynamic characteristics of a binary mixture of particles in an ICFB using ANSYS-Fluent software. The mixture is composed of two particles of different sizes but the same densities. The ICFB has two chambers named the reaction chamber (RC) and the heat exchange chamber (HEC), separated by a vertical central baffle. An increase in the RC gas velocity UR at constant HEC gas velocity UH results in an increase in the circulation rate of the binary mixture. The circulation rate of small particles GBs is found to be higher than that of the big particles GBb. Increasing the slot size causes a decrease in the pressure difference between the chambers and consequently decreasing the solid circulation rate in the ICFB. The mixture circulation rate also decreases when the mixture is richer in GBb particles than in GBs.

Alveolar epithelia play an essential role in maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of lungs, in which alveolar epithelial type II cells (AECII) are a cell type with stem cell potential for epithelial injury repair and regeneration. However, mechanisms behind the physiological and pathological roles of alveolar epithelia in human lungs remain largely unknown, partially owing to the difficulty of isolation and culture of primary human AECII cells. In the present study, we aimed to characterize alveolar epithelia generated from A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells that were cultured in an air-liquid interface (ALI) state. Morphological analysis demonstrated that A549 cells could reconstitute epithelial layers in ALI cultures as evaluated by histochemistry staining and electronic microscopy. Immunofluorescent staining further revealed an expression of alveolar epithelial type I cell (AECI) markers aquaporin-5 protein (AQP-5), and AECII cell marker surfactant protein C (SPC) in subpopulations of ALI cultured cells. Importantly, molecular analysis further revealed the expression of AQP-5, SPC, thyroid transcription factor-1, zonula occludens-1 and Mucin 5B in A549 ALI cultures as determined by both immunoblotting and quantitative RT-PCR assay. These results suggest that the ALI culture of A549 cells can partially mimic the property of alveolar epithelia, which may be a feasible and alternative model for investigating roles and mechanisms of alveolar epithelia in vitro.

ABSTRACTThis study was conducted to determine the growth performance, organ weights, and selected blood parameters of replacement laying pullets (development phase) fed increasing levels of wheat bran (WB). A total of 240 70-d-old White Leghorn pullets (Hybrid L33) were evaluated for seven weeks. Birds were assigned to three dietary treatments according to a completely randomized design. Treatments consisted of diets containing 100 (T1), 150 (T2), or 200 g/kg (T3) of WB in partial replacement of corn, with 10 replicates per treatment of eight birds per replicate. Birds fed T2 presented higher body weight (p<0.05) compared with T1 and T3 (1112.52 to 1163.35 g). Also, T2 birds presented higher methionine plus cystine intake relative to T1 (0.38 to 0.40 g/bird/day). Likewise, a higher inclusion of WB (200 g/kg) increased crude fiber (2.29 to 2.63 g/bird/day) and crude fat (1.98 to 3.58 g/bird/day) intakes (p<0.05). However, the experimental treatments did not affect the relative weight of the organs or small intestine and cecum length (p>0.05). Serum concentration of triacylglycerols, cholesterol, calcium, phosphorus, hematocrit, or hemoglobin levels were not significantly different (p>0.05) among treatments. These findings indicate a beneficial effect of use of 150 g/kg of wheat bran on the growth performance of pullets during the development phase; however, the inclusion of this cereal up to 200 g/kg had no effect on organ weights and blood parameters.

To investigate signal regulation models of gastric cancer, databases and literature were used to construct the signaling network in humans. Topological characteristics of the network were analyzed by CytoScape. After marking gastric cancer-related genes extracted from the CancerResource, GeneRIF, and COSMIC databases, the FANMOD software was used for the mining of gastric cancer-related motifs in a network with three vertices. The significant motif difference method was adopted to identify significantly different motifs in the normal and cancer states. Finally, we conducted a series of analyses of the significantly different motifs, including gene ontology, function annotation of genes, and model classification. A human signaling network was constructed, with 1643 nodes and 5089 regulating interactions. The network was configured to have the characteristics of other biological networks. There were 57,942 motifs marked with gastric cancer-related genes out of a total of 69,492 motifs, and 264 motifs were selected as significantly different motifs by calculating the significant motif difference (SMD) scores. Genes in significantly different motifs were mainly enriched in functions associated with cancer genesis, such as regulation of cell death, amino acid phosphorylation of proteins, and intracellular signaling cascades. The top five significantly different motifs were mainly cascade and positive feedback types. Almost all genes in the five motifs were cancer related, including EPOR,MAPK14, BCL2L1, KRT18,PTPN6, CASP3, TGFBR2,AR, and CASP7. The development of cancer might be curbed by inhibiting signal transductions upstream and downstream of the selected motifs.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a new tool (the hepatic section vascular blocker, HSVB) with hepatic pedicle clamping and hemihepatic vascular exclusion to control bleeding during liver resection for cancer. METHODS: Clinical data on 117 patients who underwent liver resection from 2004 to 2009 were analysed retrospectively. Forty-two patients had liver resection using the HSVB (group A), in 35 patients hemihepatic vascular exclusion was used (group B), and in 40 patients hepatic pedicle clamping with a Pringle manoeuvre was used (group C). Blood loss, operative time, postoperative hepatic function and complications were compared. RESULTS: Mean blood loss and operative time in group A were significantly less than in groups B (p=0.026 and p<0.001, respectively) and C (p<0.001 and p<0.001). There were significant differences between groups A and C in total bilirubin (TB) and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels on postoperative days 3 and 7, and group A had better hepatic function (TB p=0.014 and p=0.009; ALT p<0.001 and p<0.001). The rate of postoperative ascites was significantly higher in group C compared with group A (p<0.001). In group C, 2 patients had liver failure, 1 had a gastrointestinal haemorrhage and 1 died. CONCLUSIONS: Using the HSVB during liver resection effectively controlled bleeding, saved operative time and preserved hepatic function. It proved to be a safe and feasible technique.

Obstructive jaundice is a common surgical problem, and surgery in jaundiced patients is associated with a higher risk of postoperative complications than surgery in non-jaundiced patients. However, the efficacy of pre-operative biliary drainage (PBD) for patients with obstructive jaundice remains controversial. Many studies have been unable to confirm the benefit of PBD and have suggested that it should not be performed routinely. While we agree that routine PBD is not recommended for all jaundiced patients, we believe that it is useful for certain subgroups; however, there are no clear guidelines regarding its application in these subgroups. We suggest that further large and detailed randomised control studies should focus on formulating codes and standards of PBD for patients with operable conditions causing severe obstructive jaundice.

We have demonstrated that a synthetic DNA enzyme targeting early growth response factor-1 (Egr-1) can inhibit neointimal hyperplasia following vascular injury. However, the detailed mechanism of this inhibition is not known. Thus, the objective of the present study was to further investigate potential inhibitory mechanisms. Catalytic DNA (ED5) and scrambled control DNA enzyme (ED5SCR) were synthesized and transfected into primary cultures of rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). VSMC proliferation and DNA synthesis were analyzed by the MTT method and BrdU staining, respectively. Egr-1, TGF-β1, p53, p21, Bax, and cyclin D1 expression was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Apoptosis and cell cycle assays were performed by FACS. Green fluorescence could be seen localized in the cytoplasm of 70.6 ± 1.52 and 72 ± 2.73% VSMCs 24 h after transfection of FITC-labeled ED5 and ED5SCR, respectively. We found that transfection with ED5 significantly inhibited cultured VSMC proliferation in vitro after 24, 48, and 72 h of serum stimulation, and also effectively decreased the uptake of BrdU by VSMC. ED5 specifically reduced serum-induced Egr-1 expression in VSMCs, further down-regulated the expression of cyclin D1 and TGF-β1, and arrested the cells at G0/G1, inhibiting entry into the S phase. FACS analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in the rate of apoptosis between ED5- and ED5SCR-transfected cells. Thus, ED5 can specifically inhibit Egr-1 expression, and probably inhibits VSMC proliferation by down-regulating the expressions of cyclin D1 and TGF-β1. However, ED5 has no effect on VSMC apoptosis.

The complete coding sequences of three sheep genes- BCKDHA, NAGA and HEXA were amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), based on the conserved sequence information of the mouse or other mammals. The nucleotide sequences of these three genes revealed that the sheep BCKDHA gene encodes a protein of 313 amino acids which has high homology with the BCKDHA gene that encodes a protein of 447 amino acids that has high homology with the Branched chain keto acid dehydrogenase El, alpha polypeptide (BCKDHA) of five species chimpanzee (93%), human (96%), crab-eating macaque (93%), bovine (98%) and mouse (91%). The sheep NAGA gene encodes a protein of 411 amino acids that has high homology with the alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (NAGA) of five species human (85%), bovine (94%), mouse (91%), rat (83%) and chicken (74%). The sheep HEXA gene encodes a protein of 529 amino acids that has high homology with the hexosaminidase A(HEXA) of five species bovine (98%), human (84%), Bornean orangután (84%), rat (80%) and mouse (81%). Finally these three novel sheep genes were assigned to GenelDs: 100145857, 100145858 and 100145856. The phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the sheep BCKDHA, NAGA, and HEXA all have closer genetic relationships to the BCKDHA, NAGA, and HEXA of bovine. Tissue expression profile analysis was also carried out and results revealed that sheep BCKDHA, NAGA and HEXA genes were differentially expressed in tissues including muscle, heart, liver, fat, kidney, lung, small and large intestine. Our experiment is the first to establish the primary foundation for further research on these three sheep genes.