This study was designed to establish if Curcumin (CM) alleviates Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced hepatotoxic effects and to determine whether alteration of the expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) isozymes is involved in the regulation of these effects in chick liver. One-day-old male broilers (n = 120) were divided into four groups and used in a two by two factorial trial in which the main factors included supplementing AFB1 (< 5 vs. 100 μg/kg) and CM (0 vs. 150 mg/kg) in a corn/soybean-based diet. Administration of AFB1 induced liver injury, significantly decreasing albumin and total protein concentrations and increasing alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities in serum, and induced hepatic histological lesions at week 2. AFB1 also significantly decreased hepatic glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and glutathione levels, while increasing malondialdehyde, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, and exo-AFB1-8,9-epoxide (AFBO)-DNA concentrations. In addition, the mRNA and/or activity of enzymes responsible for the bioactivation of AFB1 into AFBO—including CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2A6, and CYP3A4—were significantly induced in liver microsomes after 2-week exposure to AFB1. These alterations induced by AFB1 were prevented by CM supplementation. Conclusively, dietary CM protected chicks from AFB1-induced liver injury, potentially through the synergistic actions of increased antioxidant capacities and inhibition of the pivotal CYP450 isozyme-mediated activation of AFB1 to toxic AFBO.

The negative charges of cell wall pectin molecules attributed by pectin methylesterase (PME, EC 3.1.1.11) contribute to Al binding capacity. We examined the expression profiles of 35 members of the PME gene family in the root apex of an Al-sensitive rice 'Zhefu802' under Al stress. While root elongation was inhibited by 40% after 3-h exposure to 25 µM Al, cell wall PME activity and the abundance of eight PME genes transcripts were increased. The same Al treatment which had almost no effect on root elongation of an Al-resistant rice ssp. japonica 'Nipponbare' did not change the expression patterns of these eight PME genes. However, when Al concentration was increased to 50 µM, by which the root elongation of 'Nipponbare' was inhibited by 40% too, the expression of these PME genes were also upregulated except two genes with no signal. These suggest a possible correlation between the upregulated genes and Al-induced inhibition of root elongation in rice. Furthermore, these eight PME genes behaved differently when subjected to CdCl2 and LaCl3 treatments, implying the specificity of different PME genes in response to different metal toxicities. The transgenic rice overexpressing one of these eight PME genes OsPME14 showed higher PME activity and Al content in root tip cell wall, and became more sensitive to Al stress, verifying the involvement of the specific PME gene in Al toxicity. Therefore, our results provided the molecular evidence to connect the expression of specific PME genes with the Al-induced inhibition of root elongation in rice.

Xie (2019) Risk factors of early death in adult patients with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis: a single-institution study of 171 Chinese patients, Hematology, 24:1, 606-612, ABSTRACT Background: Adult secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a potentially lifethreatening syndrome characterized by excessive activation of mononuclear-phagocytic system resulting in hyperinflammatory response. To date, the factors influencing early death of HLH are still not fully elucidated. Patients and Methods: We did a retrospective study of 171 adult patients with newly diagnosed HLH at our institution from January 2012 to April 2018. All patients' clinical features, laboratory findings, treatments and prognosis were reviewed. Results: The median age was 49 years (range, 18-88 years), and 110 (64.3%) were male. The major underlying trigger of HLH was malignancy (88/171, 51.5%), especially non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In a multivariate analysis, age ≥54 years (P = 0.002), platelet ≤39.5 × 10 9 /L (P = 0.028), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) ≥54 sec (P = 0.048), triglyceride ≥3.23 mmol/L (P < 0.001), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ≥1300 U/L (P = 0.012) and malignancy (P = 0.001) were significantly associated with early death in HLH. Then, patients were classified into four groups according to the number of risk factors at the time of diagnosis: low risk (zero, one or two risk factors), low intermediate risk (three risk factors), high intermediate risk (four risk factors) and high risk (at least five risk factors), with the 30day overall survival (OS) of 92.4%, 58.8%, 30.0% and 4.8%, respectively (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with old age, thrombocytopenia, prolonged APTT, hypertriglyceridemia, elevated LDH and malignancy had inferior survival. It is important to identify those patients at risk of early death, which may guide treatment and reduce mortality.

HLH adult patients had very complex clinical manifestations as well as underlying diseases. Patients with PLT <40 ×109/l, PT prolonged >3 s and malignancy had inferior survival. It is of great importance to improve our understanding of this syndrome.

Sepsis results in high morbidity and mortality. Immunomodulation strategies could be an adjunctive therapy to treat sepsis. Acupuncture has also been used widely for many years in China to treat sepsis. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well-defined. We demonstrated here that EA preconditioning at ST36 obviously ameliorated CLP-induced intestinal injury and high permeability and reduced the mortality of CLP-induced sepsis rats. Moreover, electroacupuncture (EA) pretreatment exerted protective effects on intestinal mucosal immune barrier by increasing the concentration of sIgA and the percentage of CD3+, γ/δ, and CD4+ T cells and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T cells. Although EA at ST36 treatments immediately after closing the abdomen in the CLP procedure with low-frequency or high-frequency could not reduce the mortality of CLP-induced sepsis in rats, these EA treatments could also significantly improve intestinal injury index in rats with sepsis and obviously protected intestinal mucosal immune barrier. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that EA at ST36 could improve intestinal mucosal immune barrier in sepsis induced by CLP, while the precise mechanism underlying the effects needs to be further elucidated.

In contrast with dobutamine, levosimendan is associated with a significant improvement in mortality in critically ill patients requiring inotropic support. Patients having cardiac surgery, with ischemic heart failure, and receiving concomitant β-blocker therapy may benefit from levosimendan. More RCTs are required to address the questions about no positive outcomes in the subpopulation in a cardiology setting, and to confirm the advantages in long-term prognosis.

Ang1 preconditioning enhances MSC survival, contributing to further improvement of heart function.

This study focused on the effects of aspirin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced expression of phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt), extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), CX3CL1, and MMPs in human bronchial epithelial cells. Human bronchial epithelial cells were seeded in six-well plates. After 24 h, the cells were classified into six groups: control blank (CK) group; LPS group; PD98059 (ERK inhibitor) (PD) group, treated with LPS + ERK inhibitor; LY294002(PI3K/Akt inhibitor) (LY) group, treated with LPS + PI3K/Akt inhibitor; Aspirin (Asp) group, treated with LPS + aspirin; and Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamic acid (PDTC) group, treated with LPS + NF-κB inhibitor. After 4-h treatment, the cells were harvested. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of PI3K/Akt, ERK, NF-κB, and CX3CL1. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to determine the gene expression of MMP-7, MMP-9, and MMP-12. Compared to the CK group, expression of PI3K/Akt, ERK, NF-κB, and CX3CL1 was significantly increased in the LPS group (P < 0.05). When compared to the LPS group, expression of PI3K/Akt, ERK, NF-κB, and CX3CL1 was significantly decreased in the PD group, PDTC group, and Asp group (P < 0.05). In addition, expression of NF-κB in the LY group was significantly reduced by comparison with the LPS group (P < 0.05). RT-qPCR: When compared to the LPS group, expression of MMP-7 and MMP-12 was significantly decreased in Asp group (P < 0.05). Expression of MMP-12 was significantly reduced in LY group (P < 0.05). LPS-ERK, NF-κB-PI3K/Akt, and CX3CL1 signal pathways exist in human bronchial epithelial cells. The PI3K/Akt inhibitor repressed expression of MMP-12. Aspirin inhibited LPS-induced expression of PI3K, Akt, ERK, NF-κB, CX3CL1, MMP-7, and MMP-12 in human bronchial epithelial cells.