Abstract The incidence of paraspinal schwannoma of supraclavicular fossa is low, and its operative plan and complications have not been systematic reported. Here, we reported a case of supraclavicular paraspinal schwannoma in our center. The operative methods, intraoperative precautions and postoperative complications were illustrated. A 54 years old male patient was admitted to hospital due to pain in the left chest and back for 20 days. MRI showed 32 × 68 × 38 mm tumor adjacent to the spine of the left supraclavicular fossa. The patient underwent supraclavicular incision surgery, and the postoperative pathology showed schwannoma. After the operation, the nerve of the left upper limb was damaged, which was manifested as numbness in the skin above the joint of the left thumb, left index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger. The skin above the second finger joint of the little finger is numb and the grip strength is weakened. One month after operation, the symptoms were relieved. Surgery is the first choice for the treatment of supraclavicular tumors. It is necessary to review the anatomy of supraclavicular region in detail before the operation, and to protect important nerves and vessels during the operation.

Abstract Traditional fermented soybean contains a variety of microflora. To obtain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the microbial community structure and metabolic potential of fermented soybean, comparative metagenomics and metatranscriptomics were performed on a sample of fermented soybean in Yunnan Province. Metagenomic DNA and metatranscriptomic RNA were sequenced using Illumina HiseqTM2500, which yielded a total of 92,192,276 reads, with an average read length of 150 bp and 38,798,262 paired-end sequences, with an average length of 151 bp. The results show that Providencia stuartii was the most abundant species and the genes of carbohydrates (2296, 13.30%), protein metabolism (1530, 8.86%), and amino acids and amino acid derivatives (1423, 8.24%) were dominant. The expression levels of the genes belonging to amino acid transport and metabolism processes were the highest according to the reads per length of transcript in kilo-bases per million mapped reads (RPKM) values, followed by energy production and conversion and carbohydrate transport and metabolism. The metabolic pathways were primarily associated with carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids, which might be in accordance with the high levels of proteins and other nutrients in soybeans. Overall, these findings provide insights into the community structure and metabolic potential of the fermented soybean microbiome.

Abstract Antarctic Krill, rich in many nutrients, is supposed to be one of the strategic food sources. However, it is not acceptable for direct consumption as traditional food, as its high content of fluoride is harmful to adults and children. Therefore, the safety of fluoride residue in Antarctic krill for food production should be investigated. In this research, the fluoride toxicity in Antarctic Krill was evaluated through mice feeding experiment. Their body weight was found not to be influenced by fluoride. However, dental fluorosis was observed in the krill group and the NaF group. Fluoride content in liver, kidney, urine, and bones are significantly different (P<0.05) among these three groups, which amount to plateau during the first ten days of feeding, except the fluoride in bone which keeps increasing all through the experimental time. Furthermore, less amount of fluoride was determined in the krill group compared with the amount in NaF group, even if they have the same concentration of fluoride. Besides, lesions in livers, kidneys and bones of the two experimental groups were observed through histopathological studies.

Response-guided therapy is of limited use in developing countries because hepatitis C virus RNA detection by sensitive molecular methods is time- and labor-consuming and expen- sive. We evaluated early predictive efficacy of serum hepatitis C virus core antigen kinetics on sustained virologic response in patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus during pegylated interferon plus ribavirin treatment. For 478 patients recruited, hepatitis C virus RNAs were detected at baseline, and at weeks 4, 12, 24, 48, and 72 using Cobas TaqMan. Architect hepatitis C virus core antigen was performed at baseline, and weeks 4 and 12. Predictive values of hepatitis C virus core antigen on sustained virologic response were compared to hepatitis C virus RNA. In the first 12 weeks after treatment initiation the dynamic patterns of serum hepatitis C virus core antigen and hepatitis C virus RNA levels were similar in sustained virologic response, relapse, and null response patients groups. Although areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves of hepatitis C virus core antigen were lower than those of hepatitis C virus RNA at the same time points, modeling analysis showed that undetectable hepatitis C virus core antigen (rapid virological response based on hepatitis C virus core antigen) had similar positive predictive value on sustained virologic response to hepatitis C virus RNA at week 4 (90.4% vs 93.3%), and hepatitis C virus core antigen decrease greater than 1 log10 IU/mL (early virological response based on hepatitis C virus core antigen) had similar negative predictive value to hepatitis C virus RNA at week 12 (94.1% vs 95.Z%). Analysis on the validation group demonstrated a positive predictivevalue of 97.5% in rapid virological response based on hepatitis C virus core antigen and a negative predictive value of 100% in early virological response based on hepatitis C virus core antigen. In conclusion, hepatitis C virus core antigen is comparable to hepatitis C virus RNA in predicting sustained virologic response of chronic genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infected patients, and can be used to guide anti-hepatitis C virus treatment, especially in resource-limited areas.

Purposes To examine the factors related to the choice of cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mCCRCC), and compare the population-based survival rates of patients treated with or without surgery in the modern targeted therapy era. Materials and Methods From 2006 to 2009, patients with mCCRCC were identified from SEER database. The factors that affected patients to be submitted to CN were examined and propensity scores for each patient were calculated. Then patients were matched based upon propensity scores. Univariable and multivariable cox regression models were used to compare survival rates of patients treated with or without surgery. Finally, sensitivity analysis for the cox model on a hazard ratio scale was performed. Results Age, race, tumor size, T stage and N stage were associated with nephrectomy univariablely. After the match based upon propensity scores, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year cancer-specific survival rate estimates were 45.1%, 27.9%, and 21.7% for the no-surgery group vs 70.6%, 52.2%, and 41.7% for the surgery group, respectively (hazard ratio 0.42, 95%CI: 0.35-0.52, log-rank P<0.001). In multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression model, race, T stage, N stage and median household income were significantly associated with survival. Sensitivity analysis on a hazard ratio scale indicated that the hazard ratio might be above 1.00 only when the unknown factor had an opposite effect on survival which was 3-fold than CN. Conclusion The results of our study showed that CN significantly improves the survival of patients with metastatic CCRCC even in the targeted therapy era.

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) plays a vitally important role in the blood coagulation pathway. Recent studies indicated that TFPI induces apoptosis in vascular smooth-muscle cells (VSMCs) in animals. The present study investigated whether the TFPI gene could also induce apoptosis in human vascular smooth-muscle cells (hVSMCs). Such cells were isolated from human umbilical arteries and subsequently transfected with pIRES-TFPI plasmid (2 μg/mL). MTT assaying and cell counting were applied to measure cell viability and proliferation, RT-PCR was utilized to analyze TFPI gene expression in the cells. Apoptosis was analyzed by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS). Several key proteins involved in apoptosis were examined through Western blotting. It was shown that TFPI gene transfer led to its increased cellular expression, with a subsequent reduction in hVSMC proliferation. Further investigation demonstrated that TFPI gene expression resulted in lesser amounts of procaspase-3, procaspase-8 and procascase-9, and an increased release of mitochondrial cytochrome c (cyt-c) into cytoplasm, thereby implying the involvement of both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways in TFPI gene-induced apoptosis in hVSMCs.

The phylogenetic relationships of 15 taxa from Hystrix and the related genera Leymus (NsXm), Elymus (StH), Pseudoroegneria (St), Hordeum (H), Psathyrostachys (Ns), and Thinopyrum (E) were examined by using the Giemsa C-banded karyotype. The Hy. patula C-banding pattern was similar to those of Elymus species, whereas C-banding patterns of the other Hystrix species were similar to those of Leymus species. The results suggest high genetic diversity within Hystrix, and support treating Hy. patula as E. hystrix L., and transferring Hy. coreana, Hy. duthiei ssp. duthiei and Hy. duthiei ssp. longearistata to the genus Leymus. On comparing C-banding patterns of Elymus species with their diploid ancestors (Pseudoroegneria and Hordeum), there are indications that certain chromosomal re-arrangements had previously occurred in the St and H genomes. Furthermore, a comparison of the C-banding patterns of the Hystrix and Leymus species with the potential diploid progenitors (Psathyrostachys and Thinopyrum) suggests that Hy. coreana and some Leymus species are closely related to the Ns genome of Psathyrostachys, whereas Hy. duthiei ssp. duthiei, Hy. duthiei ssp. longearistata and some of the Leymus species have a close relationship with the E genome. The results suggest a multiple origin of the polyploid genera Hystrix and Leymus.

A dinuclear complex [Dy(m-MBA)3phen]2-H2O was prepared by the reaction of DyCl3-6H2O, m-methylbenzoic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline in a 1:3:1 molar ratio, where m-MBA = m-methylbenzoate and phen = 1,10-phenanthroline. The complex was structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, UV and IR spectroscopy, molar conductance and TG-DTG techniques. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Cc with a =15.962(16), b = 18.505(18), c = 22.547(2) Ǻ; a = 90 °, β = 97.9820(10) °, y = 90°; z = 4. The unit cell contains a dinuclear molecule of the title compound. Each Dy(III) ion is eight-coordinated to one 1,10-phenanthroline molecule, one bidentate carboxylate group and four bridging carboxylate groups. The carboxylate groups are bonded to the dysprosium ions in two modes: chelating bidentate and bridging bidentate. The thermal decomposition process of [Dy(m-MBA)3phen]2-H2O has been followed by thermal analysis.

Analysis of genetic main effects and genotype x environment (GE) interaction effects on the oil content of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) was conducted by using a genetic model for the quantitative traits of seeds in diploid plants. The experiments were carried out over two years with 8 parents and a diallel mating design, which produced F1 and F2 generations. We found that the oil content of rape was simultaneously controlled by embryo genetic effect, cytoplasmic effects and maternal genetic effect as well as GE interaction effects, with the cytoplasmic and maternal effects playing the main role. The results indicate that selection of maternal plants for high oil content would be more efficient than selection based on single seeds. Since the GE interaction effects accounted for 73.69% of the total genetic effects and were more important than the genetic main effects it seems that selection might be influenced by environmental conditions. The estimate of narrow-sense heritability for oil content was 73.52% with the interaction heritability being larger than the general heritability, indicating that the early generations can be used for selection for high oil content. The prediction of genetic effects suggested that the parent cultivars Youcai 601 and Gaoyou 605 were better than the other cultivars for increasing oil content during the breeding of B. napus. The implications for the quantitative trait loci mapping of seed traits interfered by these three genetic systems is also discussed.