ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate the effects of Periplaneta americana L. on ulcerative colitis (UC) induced by a combination of chronic stress (CS) and 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid enema (TNBS) in rats. Methods: The experiment UC model with CS was established in rats by a combination of chronic restraint stress, excess failure, improper, and TNBS. The body weight, disease activity index (DAI), colonic mucosal injury index (CMDI), histopathological score (HS) and pro-inflammatory mediators were measured. The content of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in hypothalamus or adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosteroids (CORT) in plasma were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The proportion of T lymphocyte subsets was detected by flow cytometry, and gut microbiota was detected by 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. Results: Weight loss, DAI, CMDI, HS and proinflammatory mediators were reversed in rats by P. americana L. treatment after UC with CS. Increased epidermal growth factor (EGF) was observed in P. americana L. groups. In addition, P. americana L. could reduce the content of CRH and ACTH and regulate the ratio of CD3+, CD3+CD8+ and CD3+CD4+CD25+/CD4+ in spleen. Comparably, P. americana L. changes composition of gut microbiota. Conclusions: The ethanol extract of Periplaneta Americana L. improves UC induced by a combination of CS and TNBS in rats.

RESUMO OBJETIVO O objetivo deste estudo é explorar a relação entre a ansiedade no pré-operatório e a dor crônica no pós-operatório. MÉTODOS Um total de 40 ratos foram divididos em quatro grupos: controle, estresse prolongado (SPS), histerectomia e SPS + histerectomia. Os limiares de retirada da pata em resposta a estímulo mecânico (PWMT) foram examinados. Ensaios qRT-PCR e imunoenzimáticos (western blotting) foram realizados para detectar a expressão de GFAP em astrócitos isolados da região do córtex cingulado anterior (CCA). Além disso, a potenciação de longa duração (LTP) no CCA também foi examinada. RESULTADOS Os ratos no grupo de estresse prolongado e no grupo de histerectomia não apresentaram nenhum efeito significativo na formação de dor crônica. Porém, o estresse prolongado foi capaz de induzir dor crônica significativamente após a cirurgia. Três dias após o modelo, o grupo de SPS + histerectomia ainda apresentava astrócitos ativos e LTP significativamente maior. CONCLUSÃO A ansiedade pode provocar dor crônica através da ativação de astrócitos na região do CCA.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE The study aims to explore the relationship between preoperative anxiety and chronic postoperative pain. METHODS A total of forty rats were divided into four groups, control, single-prolonged stress alone, Hysterectomy alone, and SPS+ Hysterectomy. The paw withdrawal mechanical thresholds (PWMT) were examined. qRT-PCR and western blotting assay were performed to detect the GFAP expression in astrocytes isolated from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) region. In addition, the long-term potentiation (LTP) in ACC was examined. RESULTS Rats in the SPS group or the Hysterectomy alone group had no significant effect on chronic pain formation, but SPS can significantly induce chronic pain after surgery. Astrocytes were still active, and the LTP was significantly increased three days after modeling in the SPS+Hysterectomy group. CONCLUSIONS anxiety can induce chronic pain by activating astrocytes in the ACC region.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common disease associated with metabolic syndrome and can lead to life-threatening complications like hepatic carcinoma and cirrhosis. Exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist antidiabetic drug, has the capacity to overcome insulin resistance and attenuate hepatic steatosis but the specific underlying mechanism is unclear. This study was designed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of exenatide therapy on NAFLD. We used in vivo and in vitro techniques to investigate the protective effects of exenatide on fatty liver via fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO) in a high-fat (HF) diet-induced NAFLD animal model and related cell culture model. Exenatide significantly decreased body weight, serum glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, serum free fatty acid, triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase levels in HF-induced obese rabbits. Histological analysis showed that exenatide significantly reversed HF-induced lipid accumulation and inflammatory changes accompanied by decreased FTO mRNA and protein expression, which were abrogated by PI3K inhibitor LY294002. This study indicated that pharmacological interventions with GLP-1 may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for NAFLD.

With the development of Web 2.0, more and more people contribute their knowledge to the Internet. Many general and domain-specific online encyclopedia resources become available, and they are valuable for many Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications, such as summarization and question-answering. We propose a novel encyclopedia-specific method to retrieve passages which are semantically related to a short query (usually comprises of only one word/phrase) from a given article in the encyclopedia. The method captures the expression word features and categorical word features in the surrounding snippets of the aspect words by setting up massive hybrid language models. These local models outperform the global models such as LSA and ESA in our task.

Presume-se que a radiação ultravioleta-B (UV-B) e nitrogênio aumentem simultaneamente com as mudanças climáticas globais futuras. Neste estudo, avaliaram-se o crescimento e respostas fotossintéticas de plântulas de Picea asperata ao aumento da radiação ultravioleta-B e ao suprimento de nitrogênio. Utilizaram-se dois tratamentos de UV-B (UV-B ambiente, 11.02 kJ m-2 d-1; e UV-B suplementar, 14.33 kJ m-2 d-1) e duas doses de N (0 e 20 g N m-2), a fim de se determinar se o suprimento de N poderia atenuar os impactos negativos do aumento da radiação UV-B sobre o crescimento e a fotossíntese. O aumento da radiação UV-B inibiu o crescimento e fez reduzir a taxa de fotossíntese líquida, a condutância estomática, a taxa transpiratória, a taxa de fotossíntese saturada à luz, a irradiância de compensação, a taxa de respiração escura, o rendimento quântico aparente, a concentração de pigmentos fotossintéticos e o rendimento quântico potencial das plântulas de P. asperata, enquanto a fluorescência mínima e a concentração intercelular de CO2 aumentaram com o aumento da radiação UV-B. Por outro lado, o suprimento de N afetou positivamente o desempenho fotossintético e o crescimento, porém apenas sob níveis ambientes de radiação UV-B. Com efeito, N não esteve associado à proteção da maquinaria fotossintética das plântulas de P. asperata expostas à radiação UV-B suplementar.

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation and nitrogen are expected to increase simultaneously with future changes in global climate. In this study, growth and photosynthetic responses of Picea asperata seedlings to enhanced UV-B and to nitrogen supply were studied. The experimental design included two levels of UV-B treatments (ambient UV-B, 11.02 kJ m-2 d-1; enhanced UV-B, 14.33 kJ m-2 d-1) and two nitrogen levels (0; 20 g N m-2) to determine whether nitrogen can alleviate the negative impacts of enhanced UV-B on seedling growth and photosynthesis. Enhanced UV-B significantly inhibited plant growth and impaired net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, the light-saturated assimilation rate, assimilation capacity, light compensation point, dark respiration rate, apparent quantum yield, photosynthetic pigments and maximum quantum yield of photosynthesis of P. asperata seedlings, whereas minimal fluorescence and intercellular CO2 concentration increased by enhanced UV-B. On the other hand, nitrogen supply improved the photosynthetic performance and plant growth, but only under ambient UV-B. In fact, nitrogen supply could not alleviate the photosynthetic impairments in P. asperata seedlings exposed to enhanced UV-B radiation.