Lei Lei Xu

We evaluated the effect of dietary supplementation with mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) on the resistance to Aeromonas hydrophi1a infection in Allogynogenetic crucian carp. The fish were randomly divided into five groups: a control group was fed with basal diet, and four treatment groups fed with basal diet supplemented with 60, 120, 240, 480 mg/kg MOS for 10 weeks, respectively. We then challenged the fish with A. hydrophi1a and recorded the mortality and the changes in serum cortisol, T3, ...

BACKGROUND: Obesity is associated with both increased breast cancer risk and poorer prognosis after disease onset. However, little is known about the effect of obesity on treatment efficacy. We evaluated the association of obesity with outcomes and with tamoxifen efficacy in women with early-stage, hormone-responsive breast cancer participating in a multicenter cancer cooperative group clinical trial.

METHODS: The cohort consisted of 3385 women enrolled in National Surgical Adjuvant ...

Canine distemper virus (CDV) infects a variety of carnivores, including wild and domestic Canidae. Genetic/antigenic heterogeneity has been observed among the various CDV strains, notably in the haemagglutinin (H) gene, that appears as a good target to gather epidemiological information. Based on sequence analysis of the H gene, wild-type CDV strains cluster into distinct geographic lineages (genotypes), irrespective of the species of isolation. The sequence of the H gene of 28 CDV ...

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of once-daily lurasidone (80 mg/day and 160 mg/day) in the treatment of an acute exacerbation of schizophrenia.

METHODS: Participants, who were recently admitted inpatients with schizophrenia with an acute exacerbation of psychotic symptoms, were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of fixed-dose, double-blind treatment with lurasidone 80 mg (n=125), lurasidone 160 mg (n=121), quetiapine XR 600 mg (QXR-600 mg; ...

Huang L., Liu X. and Xu L. Regional innovation and spillover effects of foreign direct investment in China: a threshold approach, Regional Studies. Using a data set on twenty-nine Chinese provinces for the period 1985–2008, this paper establishes a threshold model to analyse the relationship between spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional innovation in China. There is clear evidence of double-threshold effects of regional innovation on productivity spillovers ...

The activation of homeobox A10 (HOXA10) has been proved to be an important event in epithelial ovarian carcinogenesis, yet its regulation in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is still not fully understood. Here, we aimed to reveal the mechanism that a predicted target miRNA regulates HOXA10 expression and the association of its expression with progression of EOC. Here, by using computer-assisted algorithms from PicTar, TargetScan, and miRBase, we identified that the predicted target miRNA ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Early inflammatory responses after myocardial infarction (MI) are likely to increase myocardial fibrosis and subsequent cardiac remodeling. MCC950, a specific NLRP3 inhibitor, was previously found to effectively inhibit the release of inflammatory factors IL-18 and IL-1β. In this study, we evaluated the effect of MCC950, as a potential new treatment strategy for MI, on myocardial fibrosis and cardiac remodeling using an experimental mouse model.

METHODS: Male C57BL/6 ...

Human SIRT1 is an enzyme that deacetylates the p53 tumor suppressor protein and has been suggested to modulate p53-dependent functions including DNA damage-induced cell death. In this report, we used EX-527, a novel, potent, and specific small-molecule inhibitor of SIRT1 catalytic activity to examine the role of SIRT1 in p53 acetylation and cell survival after DNA damage. Treatment with EX-527 dramatically increased acetylation at lysine 382 of p53 after different types of DNA damage in ...

BACKGROUND: On March 30, a novel influenza A subtype H7N9 virus (A/H7N9) was detected in patients with severe respiratory disease in eastern China. Virological factors associated with a poor clinical outcome for this virus remain unclear. We quantified the viral load and analysed antiviral resistance mutations in specimens from patients with A/H7N9.

METHODS: We studied 14 patients with A/H7N9 disease admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre (SPHCC), China, between April 4, ...

Englerin A is a structurally unique natural product reported to selectively inhibit growth of renal cell carcinoma cell lines. A large scale phenotypic cell profiling experiment (CLiP) of englerin A on ¬over 500 well characterized cancer cell lines showed that englerin A inhibits growth of a subset of tumor cell lines from many lineages, not just renal cell carcinomas. Expression of the TRPC4 cation channel was the cell line feature that best correlated with sensitivity to englerin A, ...

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a pleiotropic gene with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-angiogenic properties. However, recent reports about the effects of PEDF on cardiomyocytes are controversial, and it is not known whether and how PEDF acts to inhibit hypoxic or ischemic endothelial injury in the heart. In the present study, adult Sprague-Dawley rat models of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were surgically established. PEDF-small interfering RNA ...

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a common vascular disease, which can cause apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells. Notoginsenoside R1 (NGR1) is considered an anti-AS drug. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are believed to play a vital role in cell apoptosis and angiogenesis. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of NGR1 for treating AS through miRNAs. Flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis rate. The levels of inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1β were detected using ELISA. Reactive ...

We have examined the aerodynamic effects of corrugation in model insect wings that closely mimic the wing movements of hovering insects. Computational fluid dynamics were used with Reynolds numbers ranging from 35 to 3400, stroke amplitudes from 70 to 180 deg and mid-stroke angles of incidence from 15 to 60 deg. Various corrugated wing models were tested (care was taken to ensure that the corrugation introduced zero camber). The main results are as follows. At typical mid-stroke angles ...

Respiratory variation in the inferior vena cava (ΔIVC) has been extensively studied with respect to its value in predicting fluid responsiveness, but the results are conflicting. This systematic review was aimed at investigating the diagnostic accuracy of ΔIVC in predicting fluid responsiveness. Databases including Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Knowledge were searched from inception to May 2013. Studies exploring the diagnostic performance of ΔIVC in predicting fluid responsiveness ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The elucidation of the molecular mechanism of adipocyte differentiation in mesenchymal stem cells is of essential importance for the development of treatments for metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.

METHODS: The expression levels of miR-342-3p and carboxy-terminal binding protein 2 (CtBP2) were regulated by oligonucleotide transfection. Adipogenic differentiation was induced by adipogenic medium containing indomethacin, dexamethasone and ...