Aetiologic study on an influenza-like epidemic in horses in China

About thirty thousands horses were affected and hundreds of them died in an epidemic caused by equine 2 influenza virus (H3N8) in China. The estimated morbidity and mortality accounted for 81% and 2%, respectively. The viral protein and RNA electrophoresis patterns revealed that the new isolates were antigenically different from the prototype strain influenza A/eq/Miami/1/63(H3N8). Therefore, the representative strain of the equine 2 subtype of influenza A virus recommended for producing reference reagents, vaccines, and for serological diagnosis must have been altered by antigenic drift.

[Changes of T lymphocyte subsets in BERH-2 hepatoma-bearing rats and effect of different immunotherapies on the tumor]

Peripheral blood and tumor-infiltrating T lymphocyte subsets in BERH-2 hepatoma-bearing rats were investigated by indirect immunofluorescence stain and flow cytometry. Based on the above study, comparison of immunoregulatory action and inhibitory effect on the tumor were also done in vivo among several groups which received IFN, IL-2, 5-FU, combined immunotherapy (CI) or immunochemotherapy (IC), respectively. The results indicated that T lymphocyte subsets in hepatoma-bearing rats would undergo changes which were closely related with tumor growth and metastasis. IC had multiple phased advantages against the tumor, such as improving immunity, eliminating immunosuppression and directly killing the tumor cells. It is a valuable therapeutic regime in hepatoma.

Effects of some alcohols on the conformation of mitochondrial H+-ATPase complex and F1-ATPase from pig heart

The conformations of the H+-ATPase complex and F1-ATPase in low concentrations of methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol and t-butanol were studied by circular dichroism. For F1-ATPase, all but methanol first increased and then decreased the circular dichroism magnitude of helical bands as the alcohol concentration was increased. With ethanol, n-propanol, iso-propanol and t-butanol, the alpha-helix content reached a maximum at about 5% alcohol and began to decrease at 10%. The content of beta-sheet showed the opposite effect, reaching a minimum at 5% and increasing slightly at higher concentrations. None of the alcohols studied had a significant effect on the conformation of the H+-ATPase complex. This difference implies that the alcohols had a greater effect on free F1-ATPase than on the membrane-bound F1-ATPase. The hydrophobic protein F0 and the membrane lipids in the H+-ATPase complex may stabilize and protect F1 from the effects of the alcohols.