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Continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) was investigated. A total of 60 patients with SAP treated in Affiliated Dongtai Hospital of Nantong University from October 2015 to October 2017 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Among them, 32 patients received CVVH and routine internal medicine therapy (the CVVH group), and 28 received routine internal medicine therapy (the control group). Then biochemical indexes and severity of SAP after treatment were detected to investigate the roles of CVVH and routine internal medicine therapy in treating SAP. Inflammatory factors in both the CVVH and control groups were significantly decreased after treatment (P<0.05), and CVVH could eliminate more factors. Comparison of blood biochemical indexes between the CVVH and control groups were carried out. Significant improvement was found (P<0.05) after CVVH and routine internal medicine therapy. Besides, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE)-II grade was significantly decreased in the CVVH group compared with that in the control group after 7 days. CVVH therapy can effectively reduce the levels of inflammatory factors in SAP patients, improve their biochemical and physiological indicators, and have high clinical application value.

Glycinebetaine is an important quaternary ammonium compound generated in response to salt and other osmotic stresses in many organisms. Its synthesis requires the catalysis of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase encoded by a Betaine Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (BADH) gene that converts betaine aldehyde into glycinebetaine in some halotolerant plants. In this study, a BADH gene was over expressed in transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa L) plants using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic alfalfa plants grown under 9% NaCl grew well; while non-transgenic control plants turned yellowish in color, wilted, and eventually died. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Northern blot hybridization analyses demonstrated that the BADH gene was transferred into the T2 generation and segregated in a Mendelian fashion. Transgenic alfalfa plants expressing BADH showed significantly higher BADH enzyme activity and betaine contents when grown under 6% NaCl. Moreover, proline content in T2 lines were higher while electrolyte leakage and malonaldehyde content were lower in T2 lines compared with non-transgenic plants. These findings indicated that transgenic plants expressing BADH transgene exhibited higher salt tolerance than non-transgenic plants.

In this study, a residue analysis method for the simultaneous determination of 107 pesticides in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), Angelica sinensis, A. dahurica, Leonurus heterophyllus Sweet, Pogostemon cablin and Lonicera japonica Thunb., was developed using gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in negative chemical ionisation mode (GC-NCI-MS/MS). NCI has advantages of high sensitivity and selectivity to chemicals with electron-withdrawing groups, and yields low background interference. For sample preparation, QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) was applied. Due to the unique characteristics of TCMs, the clean-up step was optimised by adjusting amounts of primary secondary amine, C18, graphitised carbon black and silica sorbents. Validation was mainly performed by determining analyte recoveries at four different spiking concentrations of 10, 50, 100 and 200 ng g(-1), with seven replicates at each concentration. Method trueness, precision, linearity of calibration curves, lowest calibrated levels (LCLs) and matrix effects were determined to demonstrate method and instrument performance. Among the 107 pesticides tested, approximately 80% gave recoveries from 80% to 110% and < 10% relative standard deviation (RSD). The LCLs for nearly all pesticides were 5 ng g(-1), and as low as 0.1 ng g(-1) for dichlofenthion, endosulfan sulphate, flumetralin, isofenphos-methyl, methyl-pentachlorophenyl sulphide and trifluralin. The results indicate that GC-NCI-MS/MS is an excellent technique for quantitative and qualitative analysis of targeted GC-amenable pesticides at ultra-trace levels, especially in complex matrices such as TCMs.