Xiaoxue Huang

Objective: To investigate the effect of combined detection of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), cancer antigen 125 (CA125), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in patients with lung cancer by fluorescence flow cytometry. Methods: From August 2019 to July 2022, 200 patients with lung cancer diagnosed by pathology in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. 2 mL venous blood was collected in a fasting state and centrifuged to separate the serum (containing human chorionic gonadotropin antibody [anti-hCG antibody], hepatitis B surface antibody [anti-HBs antibody], and CEA). Results: The sensitivities of CEA and CYFRA21-1 detected via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were 100%, and the detection limits were 0.5 ng/mL and 0.1 ng/mL, respectively; the sensitivities of CA125 and NSE detected via flow cytometry were 100%, and the detection limits were 10 U/mL and 2 ng/mL, respectively. Compared with ELISA, the sensitivities of CA125 and NSE detected via flow cytometry were higher. When the concentration of CEA was 10–40 ng/mL, the sensitivities of the three markers CYFRA21-1, CA125, and NSE showed no significant changes (P > 0.05); when the concentration of CEA was 40–80 ng/mL, the sensitivity of CEA significantly decreased (P < 0.01), but the sensitivities of the three markers CYFRA21-1, CA125, and NSE showed no significant changes (P > 0.05); when the concentration of CEA was 80–200 ng/mL, the sensitivities of all four markers showed no significant changes (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Compared with the double-antibody sandwich ELISA, fluorescence flow cytometry has certain advantages, including high sensitivity, good precision, short detection time, low sample usage, and low medical cost; thus, it is worthy of clinical promotion.

Objective This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of berberine hydrochloride (BH) on Candida albicans (C.albicans) ATCC10231 biofilm formation. Results This paper found a positive correlation between the concentration of BH and its inhibitory effect on the cellular activity of early biofilms because we found that 128 and 32 μg/mL BH significantly inhibited biofilm formation (P < 0.05). BH significantly inhibited the cellular activity in early biofilms, destroyed the microscopic morphology of C.albicans and reduced the thickness of the biofilm. Both 128 and 32 μg/mL concentration solutions of BH significantly inhibited biofilm formation (P < 0.05). We found that the inhibitory effect of BH solution was positively correlated with its concentration and 128 μg/mL BH was better than 4 μg/mL fluconazole. Additionally, the results of RT-PCR indicated that 128 and 32 μg/mL BH inhibited the expression of EFG1, HWP1, ECE1, and ALS1 (P < 0.05). Conclusion The efficacy of BH in inhibiting the formation of C.albicans biofilm by killing the cells in the biofilm and destroying its structure; and the mechanism may be to down-regulate the expression of EFG1, HWP1, ECE1, and ALS1 in hyphae formation, thereby, retarding the morphological transformation of C. albicans.

Copper–chromium alloy film and Cu–Cr bulk alloy were obtained using magnetron sputtering and vacuum smelting. Experimental results indicated that Cu–Cr bulk alloy and alloy films having different residual stress and atomic diffusion exhibit a significant difference in microstructure evolution behaviors after annealing. Numerous polyhedral Cu particles and dendritic Cr particles precipitated on the surface of annealed Cu–Cr alloy film and as–cast Cu–Cr bulk alloy, respectively. Cu particles were formed under the driving of energy and residual stress in the film. The effect of annealing temperature and Cr content on the size and quantity of Cu particles is discussed. Cr particles precipitated on the bulk alloy due to the low solid solubility of Cr in Cu, and the crystallinity of Cu grains promoted the diffusion of Cr atoms. The surface–enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) intensity of the Cu–14.6%Cr alloy film was obviously higher than that of the Cu–14.2%Cr bulk alloy. The particles/film composite structure possessed the appropriate particle number, surface roughness, and interstitial gap, as opposed to the bulk material, to effectively improve SERS enhancement.

Copper–zirconium bulk alloy and Cu–Zr alloy films are prepared by vacuum smelting and magnetron sputtering, respectively, and subsequently annealing is conducted. Results show that Cu–Zr bulk alloy and alloy films exhibit significantly different microstructure evolution behaviors after annealing due to different microstructures and residual stress states. Cu_xZr alloy compounds disperse at the grain boundary of Cu grains in as-cast and annealed Cu–Zr bulk alloys. However, unlike bulk alloys, a large number of polyhedral Cu particles are formed on the Cu–Zr thin films’ surface upon thermal annealing. Kinetically, the residual compressive stress in the Cu–Zr films promotes the formation of Cu particles. The influencing factors and the path for mass transport in the formation of the particles are discussed. The large-specific surface area particles/film composite structure has potential applications in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, catalysis, and other fields.