Research Note: Preliminary functional analysis of EGF-like domains of Eimeria tenella microneme protein 7 identified in sporozoites and merozoites

Eimeria tenella, an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite, is the major causative agent of chicken coccidiosis. Some epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like domain-containing proteins of other members of apicomplexan parasites have been reported to contribute to parasite survival. To date, however, EGF-like domain-containing proteins of E. tenella are not well studied. In this study, a gene fragment that encodes 4 EGF-like domains of E. tenella microneme protein 7 (EGF-EtMIC7) was amplified and expressed using an Escherichia coli expression system. Following generation of polyclonal antibodies that recognize recombinant EGF-EtMIC7 (rEGF-EtMIC7), the expression of EtMIC7 in sporozoites and merozoites was examined. Moreover, its roles in cellular regulation were investigated. The native EtMIC7 in E. tenella sporozoites and merozoites was detected by using Western blot and indirect immunofluorescence assays. rEGF-EtMIC7 could activate Akt, whereas blockade of EGF receptor (EGFR) failed to induce Akt phosphorylation. Compared with the control group, LMH cells treated with rEGF-EtMIC7 showed increased cell proliferation and expressed higher levels of B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (BCL-2). These findings contribute to the better understanding of parasite-host interactions at the molecular level during E. tenella infection.

Metabolomic and transcriptomic profiling reveals the effect of dietary protein and lipid levels on growth performance in loach (Paramisgurnus dabryanus)

The subject of this study was to explore the optimum requirements of loach (Paramisgurnus dabryanus) regarding dietary proteins and lipids and discuss the underlying mechanism. We designed nine diets to determine the effects of different levels of dietary crude protein (CP: 30%, 35%, and 40%) and ether extract (EE: 6%, 10%, and 14%) on the growth performance and metabolism of P. dabryanus. In total, 2160 healthy P. dabryanus (5.19 ± 0.01 g) were divided into nine groups with four replications at 60 fish per barrel stocking density. The trial lasted for eight weeks. Serum and liver samples were gathered for metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses. The results showed that the specific growth rate of P. dabryanus in the CP40EE10 group was the fastest and notably higher than that in other groups (P< 0.05). Analysis of the metabolome results found that the mTOR signaling pathway, glycerophospholipid metabolism, D-arginine and D-ornithine metabolism were significantly enriched pathways in the CP40EE10 group compared with the other groups (P< 0.05). Moreover, the transcriptomic analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) showed that the expression of ARG (arginase) involved in protein synthesis was significantly upregulated in the CP40EE10 group compared to the slowest growing group (P< 0.05). Additionally, the expression of SPLA2 (secretory phospholipase A2) involved in lipid metabolism and FBP (fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase) involved in glucose metabolism were all significantly downregulated in the CP30EE6 group compared with the CP40EE10 group (P< 0.05). Furthermore, the analysis of differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) and DEGs co-enriched in the KEGG pathway revealed that the significantly enriched pathways were arginine and proline metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis in CP40EE10 compared with other groups (P< 0.05). We conclude that including 40% CP and 10% EE in the P. dabryanus diet could result in a better growth rate. We hypothesized from metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses that the CP40EE10 diet might promote the growth of P. dabryanus by promoting protein synthesis, lipid metabolism, and energy production.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in sheep and cattle in Shanxi Province, North China

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease caused by infection with the intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, posing significant economic losses to the livestock industry. As a major livestock province, little is known of the prevalence of T. gondii infection in sheep and cattle in Shanxi Province, North China. In this study, a total of 1962 blood samples from cattle (n = 978) and sheep (n = 984), collected from 11 administrative cities in Shanxi Province, were examined for antibodies against T. gondii by using the indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits commercially available. The results showed that antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 306 of the 978 cattle serum samples (31.29%, 95% CI 28.38-34.19), ranging from 12.64% to 60.00% among the different cities. The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii in sheep was 17.78% (175/984, 95% CI 15.40-20.17), ranging from 2.22% to 41.11% among the different administrative cities. The T. gondii seroprevalence was associated with the management mode and geographical location. This is the first report of T. gondii seroprevalence in cattle and sheep in Shanxi Province, North China, which provides baseline data to plan future control strategies for T. gondii infection in this province.

[Research progress on the epidemiology and risk factors of dry eye in children]

The prevalence of dry eye in children is increasing with changes in the environment and the widespread use of electronic products. However, due to poor ability to express themselves and hidden symptoms of children, lack of understanding of dry eye in children, children with dry eye are likely to be misdiagnosed. Dry eye can seriously affect the quality of children's learning, life, vision and visual development. Therefore, it is urgent to raise awareness of clinical workers about dry eye in children, prevent the occurrence of related complications of dry eye, and avoid permanent visual damage to children. This review discusses and summarizes the epidemiology and common risk factors of children with dry eye, with the aim of improving doctors' understanding of dry eye in children.

[Epidemiological characteristics of cardio-metabolic risk factors among children and adolescents aged 7-17 years in 4 provinces of China]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of cardio-metabolic risk factors among children and adolescents aged 7-17 years in (Hebei, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Hunan) 4 provinces of China and the influence of demographic and economic characteristics on them. Methods: A total of 1 747 children and adolescents aged 7-17 from a Community-based Cohort Study on Nervous System Disease in 2018 were selected. High waist circumference, central obesity, elevated TG, elevated TC, elevated LDL-C, decreased HDL-C, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, and clustering of risk factors was analyzed. χ² test was used for univariate analysis, multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between demographic and economic factors and risk factors, and the Cochran-Armitage trend test was used for trend analysis. Results: The detection rates of high waist circumference, decreased HDL-C, elevated blood pressure, elevated TG, elevated blood glucose, central obesity, elevated TC, and elevated LDL-C were 29.08%, 15.28%, 13.17%, 13.05%, 11.79%, 7.33%, 6.53%, and 5.15%, respectively. The rate of clustering of risk factors was 18.37%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of high waist circumference in girls was higher than that in boys (OR=1.67, 95%CI: 1.26-2.22), and the risk of elevated blood glucose and clustering of risk factors was lower than that in boys (OR=0.69, 95%CI: 0.49-0.99; OR=0.72, 95%CI: 0.53-0.99). The risk of high waist circumference, decreased HDL-C, and clustering of risk factors in 13-17 years old group was higher than that in the 7-year-olds group (OR=2.24, 95%CI: 1.65-3.04; OR=1.59, 95%CI: 1.20-2.11; OR=1.75, 95%CI: 1.26-2.44), but the risk of central obesity was lower (OR=0.54, 95%CI: 0.37-0.78). The risk of elevated TC, elevated TG, and decreased HDL-C in children and adolescents in southern was higher than that in northern parts of China (OR=1.88, 95%CI: 1.25-2.83; OR=1.61, 95%CI: 1.17-2.22; OR=1.55, 95%CI: 1.19-2.04), but the risk of high waist circumference and central obesity was lower than that in northern China (OR=0.57, 95%CI: 0.43-0.75; OR=0.62, 95%CI: 0.42-0.90). The risk of decreased HDL-C in rural children and adolescents was higher than in urban children and adolescents (OR=1.36, 95%CI: 1.02-1.83). The risk of multiple risk factors increased with the increase in average monthly household income per capita and BMI level. Conclusions: High waist circumference, decreased HDL-C and elevated blood pressure were prominent cardio-metabolic risk factors among children and adolescents aged 7-17 years in 4 provinces of China in 2018. The region, average monthly household income per capita, and BMI were the main influencing factors of cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Cu4Ti4-oxo clusters functionalized by in situ - generated 2,2'-biphenolate ligands from the oxidative coupling of phenols

Herein, we report a twisted cubic Cu(I)₄Ti(IV)₄-oxo cluster stabilized by in situ - formed 2,2'-biphenolate ligands from the oxidative coupling of phenols. The 2,2'-biphenolate-functionalized Cu(I)₄Ti(IV)₄O₄ cluster shows short Cu⋯C contacts and exhibits smaller HOMO-LUMO gaps than those of reported Ti(IV)₄O₄.

Relationship between pyroptosis-mediated inflammation and the pathogenesis of prostate disease

The largest solid organ of the male genitalia, the prostate gland, is comprised of a variety of cells such as prostate epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. Prostate diseases, especially prostate cancer and prostatitis, are often accompanied by acute/chronic inflammatory responses or even cell death. Pyroptosis, a cell death distinct from necrosis and apoptosis, which mediate inflammation may be closely associated with the development of prostate disease. Pyroptosis is characterized by inflammasome activation via pattern recognition receptors (PRR) upon recognition of external stimuli, which is manifested downstream by translocation of gasdermin (GSDM) protein to the membrane to form pores and release of inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18, a process that is Caspase-dependent. Over the past number of years, many studies have investigated the role of inflammation in prostate disease and have suggested that pyroptosis may be an important driver. Understanding the precise mechanism is of major consequence for the development of targeted therapeutic strategies. This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms, regulation, and cellular effects of pyroptosis briefly and then discuss the current pyroptosis studies in prostate disease research and the inspiration for us.

Transcriptomic analysis of LMH cells in response to the overexpression of a protein of Eimeria tenella encoded by the locus ETH_00028350

A protein of Eimeria tenella (encoded by the locus ETH_00028350) homologous to Toxoplasma gondii dense granule protein 9, designated as EtHGRA9 hereafter, was reported to be expressed in all life cycle stages of E. tenella. However, no data are currently available regarding its functional properties. In the present study, a recombinant vector harboring a 741 bp gene segment encoding the mature form of EtHGRA9 was constructed and transfected into leghorn male hepatoma (LMH) cells. Then, transcriptomic analysis of the transfected LMH cells was carried out by using a high-throughput RNA-seq technology. The LMH cells overexpressing EtHGRA9 was validated by means of Western blotting as well as indirect immunofluorescence staining. The results demonstrated that the expression of 547 genes (275 upregulated genes and 272 downregulated genes) was altered by EtHGRA9. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) validation of the ten genes with differential expression between the two groups was consistent with the transcriptome analysis. According to pathway enrichment analysis for the obtained differentially expressed genes, seven pathways were significantly affected by EtHGRA9, such as cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, MAPK signaling pathway, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum. Our data reveal several possible roles of EtHGRA9 in immune or inflammatory responses, which paves the way for a better understanding of the molecular interplay between E. tenella and its host.

Progress in traditional Chinese medicine and natural extracts for the treatment of lupus nephritis

Lupus nephritis (LN) is an autoimmune disease with multiple system involvement and is also one of the most serious forms of organ damage in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which is mainly caused by the formation and deposition of immune complexes in glomeruli. More than 50% of SLE patients have clinical manifestations of renal damage. At present, the treatment of lupus nephritis is mainly based on glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants. However, due to adverse drug reactions and frequent recurrence or aggravation after drug reduction or withdrawal, the prognosis remains poor; thus, it is still one of the most important causes of end-stage renal failure. Therefore, new treatment strategies are urgently needed. This article aims to review the application of traditional Chinese medicine and natural extracts in the treatment of lupus nephritis to provide the basic mechanisms of treatment and a new treatment strategy with clear effects and high safety performance.

Observational Insights into Isoprene Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation through the Epoxide Pathway at Three Urban Sites from Northern to Southern China

Isoprene is the most abundant precursor of global secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The epoxide pathway plays a critical role in isoprene SOA (iSOA) formation, in which isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) and/or hydroxymethyl-methyl-α-lactone (HMML) can react with nucleophilic sulfate and water producing isoprene-derived organosulfates (iOSs) and oxygen-containing tracers (iOTs), respectively. This process is complicated and highly influenced by anthropogenic emissions, especially in the polluted urban atmospheres. In this study, we took a 1-year measurement of the paired iOSs and iOTs formed through the IEPOX and HMML pathways at the three urban sites from northern to southern China. The annual average concentrations of iSOA products at the three sites ranged from 14.6 to 36.5 ng m^-3. We found that the nucleophilic-addition reaction of isoprene epoxides with water dominated over that with sulfate in the polluted urban air. A simple set of reaction rate constant could not fully describe iOS and iOT formation everywhere. We also found that the IEPOX pathway was dominant over the HMML pathway over urban regions. Using the kinetic data of IEPOX to estimate the reaction parameters of HMML will cause significant underestimation in the importance of HMML pathway. All these findings provide insights into iSOA formation over polluted areas.

[Clinical research in cell therapy of liver diseases: progress and challenges]

The high incidence of chronic liver disease is a serious threat to public health, and the current comprehensive internal medicine treatment is ineffective. Liver transplantation is limited by the shortage of liver source and post-transplant rejection, and thus unmet the clinical needs. More importantly, cell therapy shows great promise for the treatment of chronic liver disease. Over recent years, domestic and foreign scholars have carried out a variety of cell therapy preclinical and clinical trials for critical liver disease, and achieved certain results, providing new methods for the treatment of chronic liver diseases. This review discusses the cell therapy research status and application progress, various existing problems and challenges, and key issues of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of chronic liver diseases.

[Effects of landscape complexity and local management on bee pollinator diversity in apple orchards in Changping District, Beijing, China.]

Pollinators provide important ecosystem services for crop production and food security. With the development of agricultural economy and the increasing intensity of land-use, a large number of natural or semi-natural habitats have been converted to croplands. Landscape homogenization and intensive management lead to the decline of wild bee diversity and threaten the sustainable agricultural production. In this study, we investigated the effects of landscape complexity (proportion of semi-natural habitats), local management practices (local flowering plant diversity and soil total nitrogen), and their interactions on diversity of bee pollinators in apple orchard in Changping District, Beijing. A total of 8642 bee individuals were captured, including 5125 honey bees and 3517 wild bees from 5 families, 14 genera, and 49 species. The optimal landscape scale for the response of bee diversity to landscape complexity and local management intensity was 500 m. Within 500 m radius of the site, the abundance of overall bees and wild bees significantly increased with increasing proportion of semi-natural habitats. The landscape complexity interacting with local flowering plant diversity significantly affected the richness of overall bee and wild bee. When the proportion of semi-natural habitats surrounding the apple orchards was low (≤29.9%), we found a positive effect of flowering plant diversity on the richness of overall bee and wild bee, whereas a reversed trend was found when the proportion of semi-natural habitats surrounding the apple orchards was high (>29.9%). In addition, the abundance of honey bees significantly increased with the increase of local flowering plant diversity and soil total nitrogen. The soil total nitrogen interacting with local flowering plant diversity significantly affected the honey bee abundance. At low levels of soil total nitrogen (≤1.9 g·kg^-1), there was a positive effect of flowering plant diversity on honey bee abundance; whereas this trend was reversed at high levels of soil total nitrogen (>1.9 g·kg^-1). Increasing the proportion of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscape was beneficial to the increase of wild bee abundance, and flowering plant diversity could promote bee diversity but depending on landscape scale (proportion of semi-natural habitats) and local scale (nitrogen application). Therefore, multi-scale factors should be considered to develop conservation strategies to maintain the diversity of wild bees in agricultural landscape. Maintaining a higher proportion of cultivated land as much as possible is still a long-term requirement for production, while maintaining intermediate landscape complexity, increasing the diversity of flowering plants on the ground, and reducing the application of nitrogen fertilizer would be effective ways to promote the diversity of pollinating bees in apple orchards.

Fast writer adaptation with style extractor network for handwritten text recognition

Writing style is an abstract attribute in handwritten text. It plays an important role in recognition systems and is not easy to define explicitly. Considering the effect of writing style, a writer adaptation method is proposed to transform a writer-independent recognizer toward a particular writer. This transformation has the potential to significantly increase accuracy. In this paper, under the deep learning framework, we propose a general fast writer adaptation solution. Specifically, without depending on other complex skills, a well designed style extractor network (SEN) trained by identification loss (IDL) is introduced to explicitly extract personalized writer information. The architecture of SEN consists of a stack of convolutional layers followed by a recurrent neural network with gated recurrent units to remove semantic context and retain writer information. Then, the outputs of the GRU are further integrated into a one-dimensional vector that is adopted to represent writing style. Finally, the extracted style information is fed into the writer-independent recognizer to achieve adaptation. Validated on offline handwritten text recognition tasks, the proposed fast sentence-level adaptation achieves remarkable improvements in Chinese and English text recognition tasks. Specifically, in the HETR task, a multi-information fusion network that is equipped with a hybrid attention mechanism and that integrates visual features, context features and writing style is proposed. In addition, under the same condition (only one writer-specific text line used as adaptation data), the proposed solution, without consuming extra time, can significantly outperform the previous multiple-pass decoding method. The code is available at https://github.com/Wukong90/Handwritten-Text-Recognition.

Interpenetrated Metal-Porphyrinic Framework for Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Limiting

Structural interpenetration in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) significantly impacts on their properties and functionalities. However, understanding the interpenetration on third-order nonlinear optics (NLO) of MOFs have not been reported to date. Herein, we report two 3D porphyrinic MOFs, a 2-fold interpenetrated [Zn₂(TPyP)(AC)₂] (ZnTPyP-1) and a noninterpenetrated [Zn₃(TPyP)(H₂O)₂(C₂O₄)₂] (ZnTPyP-2), constructed from 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrin (TPyP(H₂)) and Zn(NO₃)₂ (AC = acetate, C₂O₄ = oxalate). ZnTPyP-1 achieves excellent optical limiting (OL) performance with a giant nonlinear absorption coefficient (3.61 × 10⁶ cm/GW) and large third-order susceptibility (7.73 × 10^-7 esu), which is much better than ZnTPyP-2 and other reported OL materials. The corresponding MOFs nanosheets are dispersed into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to form highly transparent and flexible MOFs/PDMS glasses for practical OL application. In addition, the OL response optimized by adjusting the MOFs concentration in the PDMS matrix and the type of metalloporphyrin are discussed in the ZnTPyP-1 system. The theoretical calculation confirmed that the abundant π-π interaction from porphyrinic groups in the interpenetrated framework increased the electron delocalization/transfer and boosted the OL performance. This study opens a new avenue to enhance OL performance by the construction of interpenetrated structures and provides a new approach for the preparation of transparent and flexible MOF composites in nonlinear optical applications.

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration can improve the diagnostic accuracy of positron emission tomography/computed tomography in hilar and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy

Context

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) are the two most extensively used methods for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.

Aims

The present study was designed to compare the diagnostic performance of EBUS-TBNA with that of PET/CT in patients with hilar and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy.

Settings and Design

We compared the accuracy of EBUS-TBNA with that of PET/CT in the diagnosis of hilar and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy and evaluated the diagnostic utility of EBUS-TBNA in patients with PET/CT false-positive and false-negative findings.

Methods

This study retrospectively analyzed 85 patients with hilar and/or mediastinal lymphadenopathy who underwent EBUS-TBNA and PET/CT between January 2014 and December 2017. The accuracy of EBUS-TBNA histopathology and cytopathology was evaluated and compared with PET/CT scan findings.

Results

The diagnostic accuracy of EBUS-TBNA combined with PET/CT was significantly higher than that of the single diagnostic method (P < 0.001). Among PET/CT-negative lymph nodes, 4 of 9 (44.4%) malignant lymph nodes were identified by EBUS-TBNA. Among PET/CT-positive lymph nodes, 43 of 47 (91.5%) benign lymph nodes were diagnosed by EBUS-TBNA.

Conclusions

EBUS-TBNA combined with PET/CT could effectively reduce false-positive and false-negative rates in the diagnosis of hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy, which might provide accurate staging, determine optimum therapeutic strategy and improve survival in patients with lung cancer.

[Variation characteristics of soil seed bank during vegetation restoration in red soil erosion area]

As a natural disturbance agent, soil erosion could affect secondary distribution and species composition of soil seed bank. The composition, storage and distribution pattern of the soil seed banks in five different vegetation recovery areas, including bare ground (1), pine forest land (2-4) and secondary forest (5) in the typical red soil erosion area, were studied to explore the effects of soil erosion on soil seed bank during vegetation restoration. The results showed that a total of 21 species were recorded in the soil seed bank. Species richness was low, and dominated by herbaceous species. The density of soil seed bank varied from 56.7 to 793.3 seeds·m^-2 and differed significantly among the sampling plots. Further, the density of soil seed bank decreased obviously with the increasing soil erosion intensity. The seed bank density of 0-2 cm soil layer increased along uphill, middle slope, and downhill. The soil seed banks of severely eroded and strongly eroded plots were mainly distributed in the 5-10 cm soil layer, with almost no seeds in 0-2 cm soil layer on the middle slope and uphill. Soil erosion made the distribution of soil seed bank to deeper soil layer, the accumulation of which will need a long time after vegetation restoration.

Nonambipolar Transport due to Electrons with 3D Resistive Response in the KSTAR Tokamak

A small nonaxisymmetric (3D) magnetic field can induce nonambipolar transport of the particle species confined in a tokamak and thus a significant change of plasma rotation. This process can be in a favor of instability control in the region where the tokamak plasma is sufficiently collisional and resistive, as observed in the applications of n=1 resonant magnetic perturbations to the KSTAR tokamak. The plasma rotation can be globally accelerated due to radially drifting electrons and constrained to the electron root, if the radial transport is enhanced by an amplified 3D response. This mechanism is verified by a kinetically self-consistent magnetohydrodynamic modeling for both response and transport, which offers the quantitative explanations on the internal n=1 structure detected by electron-cyclotron-emission imaging and the cocurrent plasma spinning observed in the experiments.

[Analysis of 20-year survival rate and prognostic indicators of systemic lupus erythematosus]

Objective: To analyze the 20-year survival rate, causes of death and predictors of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 217 newly SLE patients who were diagnosed and treated by Peking University People's Hospital before June 2008. The clinical features and serologic data were studied. Survival rate of SLE patients over time, living conditions, causes of death and prognostic indicators of mortality were studied. Results: The 10-, 15-and 20-year cumulative survival rate was 90.3%,88.1%and 79.6%, respectively. Infection and lupus encephalopathy were the main causes of death. Cox regression analysis revealed that lupus nephritis, neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus and age at the diagnosis were independent risk determinants for mortality. Conclusion: Prognosis of SLE remains to be improved. Early diagnosis, control of SLE organ damage and infection prevention are critical to improve survival of SLE patients.

[Clinical pathologic analysis on 3 724 cases of salivary gland tumors]

Objective: To investigate the incidence and proportion of salivary gland tumors in order to provide new thinking for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods: Collected 3 724 cases salivary gland tumors diagnosed by Pathology Department of Hospital of Stomatology, Jilin University from January 1961 to December 2016. The pathological diagnosis referred to the fourth edition of head and neck-salivary gland tumor histopathological classification standard of WHO. The database was established with Microsoft Excel and analyzed with SPSS 18.0. Made a retrospective analysis and comparison on the numbers of all cases in terms of types, site, gender and age and estimate the trend with the time interval of 8 years, and then make a judgement of the trend of salivary tumors. Results: The benign tumors were more common than the malignant among all periods, the proportion of all tumors was about 2.92∶1; The top three benign tumors were polymorphous adenoma [73.78% (2 046/2 773)], Warthin tumor [15.80% (438/2 773)] and base cell adenoma [8.37% (232/2 773)]. Polymorphous adenoma took up 54.94% (2 046/3 724) of all tumors. The top three malignant tumors were mucous epidermoid carcinoma [31.44% (299/951)], adenoid cystic carcinoma [26.92% (256/951)] and adenocarcinoma [11.88% (113/951)]. As for sex, male female ratio was 0.83∶1. As for site, the pathogenic site of tumors was mainly in parotid gland [63.75% (2 374/3 724)], followed by palatal gland [16.50% (615/3 724)], then submandibular gland [12.67% (472/3 724)]; As for age, the common age was between 51 and 60 years old [23.74% (884/3 724)], followed by 41 to 50 years old [21.56%(803/3 724)]. Conclusions: The incidence of benign and malignant salivary gland tumor increased in the 56 years. Females showed a higher incidence. The majority tumors occurred in parotid gland. The most common salivary gland tumor was pleomorphic adenoma and the most common malignant tumor was mucous epidermoid carcinoma. The most common age was in 51-60 years old period.

Conceptual design of extended magnetic probe set to improve 3D field detection in NSTX-U

Adding toroidal arrays of magnetic probes at the top and bottom of NSTX-U would improve both the detection of the multimodal plasma response to applied magnetic perturbations and the identification of the poloidal structure of unstable plasma modes, as well as contribute to the validation of MHD models, improve the understanding of the plasma response to external fields, and improve the error field correction. In this paper, the linear MHD code MARS-F/K has been used to identify poloidal locations that would improve the capability to measure stationary or near-stationary 3D fields that may result from the plasma response to external sources of non-axisymmetric fields. The study highlighted 6 poloidal positions where new arrays of both poloidal and radial magnetic field sensors would improve the poloidal resolution. The proposed set of new arrays combined with the present ones is shown to be capable of measuring the poloidal structure of perturbations with n ≤ 6 and of detecting the multimodal plasma response. Assessment of the trade-off in the poloidal length of the probes leads to an ideal length between 10 cm and 30 cm. A method to configure the probes of a toroidal array based on the singular value decomposition condition number is proposed, and an ideal solution and a low-cost one are presented.

Nanoscale diffusive memristor crossbars as physical unclonable functions

Physical unclonable functions have emerged as promising hardware security primitives for device authentication and key generation in the era of the Internet of Things. Herein, we report novel physical unclonable functions built upon the crossbars of nanoscale diffusive memristors that translate the stochastic distribution of Ag clusters in a SiO₂ matrix into a random binary bitmap that serves as a device fingerprint. The random dispersion of Ag led to an uneven number of clusters at each cross-point, which in turn resulted in a stochastic ability to switch in the Ag:SiO₂ diffusive memristors in an array. The randomness of the dispersion was a barrier to fingerprint cloning and the unique fingerprints of each device were persistent after fabrication. Using an optimized fabrication procedure, we maximized the randomness and achieved an inter-class Hamming distance of 50.68%. We also discovered that the bits were not flipping after over 10⁴ s at 400 K, suggesting superior reliability of our physical unclonable functions. In addition, our diffusive memristor-based physical unclonable functions were easy to fabricate and did not require complicated post-processing for digitization and thus, provide new opportunities in hardware security applications.

QM and ONIOM studies on thermally activated delayed fluorescence of copper(i) complexes in gas phase, solution, and crystal

QM and ONIOM studies reveal the thermally activated delayed fluorescence mechanism of two Cu(i) complexes.

The SNP-set based association study identifies ITGA1 as a susceptibility gene of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Han Chinese

Genome-wide association studies, which detect the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and disease susceptibility, have been extensively applied to study attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but genome-wide significant associations have not been found yet. Genetic heterogeneity and insufficient genomic coverage may account for the missing heritability. We performed a two-stage association study for ADHD in the Han Chinese population. In the discovery stage, 1033 ADHD patients and 950 healthy controls were genotyped using both the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0 and the Illumina Infinium HumanExome BeadChip. The genotyped SNPs were combined to generate a powerful SNP set with better genomic coverage especially for the nonsynonymous variants. In addition to the association of single SNPs, we collected adjacent SNPs as SNP sets, which were determined by either genes or successive sliding windows, to evaluate their synergetic effect. The candidate susceptibility SNPs were further replicated in an independent cohort of 1441 ADHD patients and 1447 healthy controls. No genome-wide significant SNPs or gene-based SNP sets were found to be associated with ADHD. However, two continuous sliding windows located in ITGA1 (P-value=8.33E-7 and P-value=8.43E-7) were genome-wide significant. The quantitative trait analyses also demonstrated their association with ADHD core symptoms and executive functions. The association was further validated by follow-up replications for four selected SNPs: rs1979398 (P-value=2.64E-6), rs16880453 (P-value=3.58E-4), rs1531545 (P-value=7.62E-4) and rs4074793 (P-value=2.03E-4). Our results suggest that genetic variants in ITGA1 may be involved in the etiology of ADHD and the SNP-set based analysis is a promising strategy for the detection of underlying genetic risk factors.

Dietary salt blunts vasodilation by stimulating epithelial sodium channels in endothelial cells from salt-sensitive Dahl rats

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Our recent studies show that the reduced activity of epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) in endothelial cells accounts for the adaptation of vasculature to salt in Sprague-Dawley rats. The present study examines a hypothesis that enhanced ENaC activity mediates the loss of vasorelaxation in Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rats.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

We used the cell-attached patch-clamp technique to record ENaC activity in split-open mesenteric arteries. Western blot and immunofluorescence staining were used to evaluate the levels of aldosterone, ENaC, eNOS and NO. Blood pressure was measured with the tail-cuff method and the artery relaxation was measured with the wire myograph assay.

KEY RESULTS

High-salt (HS) diet significantly increased plasma aldosterone and ENaC activity in the endothelial cells of Dahl SS rats. The endothelium-dependent artery relaxation was blunted by HS challenge in these rats. Amiloride, a potent blocker of ENaC, increased both phosphorylated eNOS and NO and therefore prevented the HS-induced loss of vasorelaxation. As, in SS rats, endogenous aldosterone was already elevated by HS challenge, exogenous aldosterone did not further elevate ENaC activity in the rats fed with HS. Eplerenone, a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, attenuated the effects of HS on both ENaC activity and artery relaxation.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

These data suggest that HS diet blunts artery relaxation and causes hypertension via a pathway associated with aldosterone-dependent activation of ENaC in endothelial cells. This pathway provides one of the mechanisms by which HS causes hypertension in Dahl SS rats.

LINKED ARTICLES

This article is part of a themed section on Spotlight on Small Molecules in Cardiovascular Diseases. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v175.8/issuetoc.

ZNF307 (Zinc Finger Protein 307) Acts as a Negative Regulator of Pressure Overload–Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is a key risk factor for heart failure. We found that the protein expression levels of the ZNF307 (zinc finger protein 307) were significantly increased in heart samples from both human patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and mice subjected to aortic banding. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate the role of ZNF307 in the development of cardiac hypertrophy and to explore the signal transduction events that mediate the effect of ZNF307 on cardiac hypertrophy, using cardiac-specific ZNF307 transgenic (ZNF307-TG) mice and ZNF307 global knockout (ZNF307-KO) mice. The results showed that the deletion of ZNF307 potentiated aortic banding–induced pathological cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and cardiac dysfunction; however, the aortic banding–induced cardiac hypertrophic phenotype was dramatically diminished by ZNF307 overexpression in mouse heart. Mechanistically, the antihypertrophic effects mediated by ZNF307 in response to pathological stimuli were associated with the direct inactivation of NF-κB (nuclear factor-κB) signaling and blockade of the nuclear translocation of NF-κB subunit p65. Furthermore, the overexpression of a degradation-resistant mutant of IκBα (IκBα S32A/S36A ) reversed the exacerbation of cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and dysfunction shown in aortic banding–treated ZNF307-KO mice. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that ZNF307 ameliorates pressure overload–induced cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting the activity of NF-κB–signaling pathway.

Effects of Astragalus Polysaccharides and Astragalosides on the Phagocytosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Macrophages

The herb Astragalus membranaceus is used in traditional Chinese medicine to boost immunity. This study investigated the effects of Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) and astragalosides (AS) on the phagocytosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by macrophages. Peritoneal macrophages were obtained by peritoneal lavage from mice stimulated by starch gravy culture medium and cultured with M. tuberculosis and varying concentrations of APS and AS. Phagocytotic activity was measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay to detect M. tuberculosis DNA. Levels of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α secreted by activated macrophages in the culture supernatant were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Macrophage phagocytotic activity and secreted cytokine levels were significantly increased after treatment with APS and AS. This study provides evidence that APS and AS have strong promoting effects on the phagocytosis of M. tuberculosis by macrophages and the secretion of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α by activated macrophages.

Three-dimensional drift kinetic response of high-β plasmas in the DIII-D tokamak

A quantitative interpretation of the experimentally measured high-pressure plasma response to externally applied three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field perturbations, across the no-wall Troyon β limit, is achieved. The self-consistent inclusion of the drift kinetic effects in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling [Y. Q. Liu et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 112503 (2008)] successfully resolves an outstanding issue of the ideal MHD model, which significantly overpredicts the plasma-induced field amplification near the no-wall limit, as compared to experiments. The model leads to quantitative agreement not only for the measured field amplitude and toroidal phase but also for the measured internal 3D displacement of the plasma. The results can be important to the prediction of the reliable plasma behavior in advanced fusion devices, such as ITER [K. Ikeda, Nucl. Fusion 47, S1 (2007)].

First Report of Pestalotiopsis sydowiana Causing Leaf Necrosis of Myrica rubra in China

Red bayberry (Myrica rubra Seib. & Zucc.) has great economic importance in eastern and southern China. However, increasing cultivation of red bayberry has resulted in an increase in diseases such as leaf necrosis. In April 2011, a survey was conducted to identify the causal agents of leaf necrosis of red bayberry (cv. Biqi) in Cixi City, Zhejiang Province. Symptoms began with oval and pale brown lesions (2 mm in diameter) that developed into a round to irregular shape (4 to 12 mm in diameter) with pale brown centers and dark brown borders. After approximately 4 months, necrotic lesions expanded to the leaf tips or margins. Black acervuli developed on lesions at later stages. Leaf tissues were surface sterilized with 0.5% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min and rinsed in sterile water before plating onto potato dextrose agar (PDA). Seven isolates were obtained from four samples from four fields on PDA at 25°C. The colonies were cottony white with filiform edges and produced a honey yellow color into the agar at 7 days. Conidia were produced in ink-like fruiting bodies at 4 days at 25°C on PDA. Conidia were straight or slightly curved, fusiform, and five celled with constrictions at the septa. Conidia ranged from 18.7 to 25.8 × 6.2 to 7.7 μm with hyaline apical and basal cells. Thirteen percent of the apical cells had two and the rest had three hyaline appendages ranging from 11.2 to 26.0 μm long. Basal appendages were hyaline, straight, and varied from 3.6 to 5.8 μm long. The color of three median cells was light to dark brown and demonstrated versicolorous. These morphological characteristics matched those of Pestalotiopsis sydowiana (Bresadola) Sutton (1). The morphological identification of the fungus was confirmed by nucleotide blast analysis of the 5.8S subunit and flanking internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of rDNA regions (GenBank Accession No. JQ322999), which revealed 100% with those of other P. sydowiana isolates (e.g., GenBank Accession No. FJ478105). Koch's postulates were confirmed with 20 healthy leaves of the same size on three branches of three plants in the field. Leaves were wounded by pressing slightly with sterile needles. Mycelial plugs (5 mm in diameter) obtained from the periphery of 7-day-old cultures were placed onto the wounds and covered with sterile-water-saturated cotton. Wounded leaves treated with sterile agar plugs served as controls. The inoculated leaves were sealed in moist plastic bags for 24 h to establish high humid conditions at 21 to 30°C. After 23 days, symptoms on all inoculated leaves were identical to those described above, whereas noninoculated control leaves did not show any symptoms. The fungus was consistently reisolated from the lesions. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. sydowiana causing leaf necrosis of M. rubra in China. Results can help to better understand the diseases threatening red bayberry trees and develop effective control strategies for better fruit production. Reference: (1) E. F. Guba. Monograph of Monochaetia and Pestalotia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1961.

RACK1, a potential target to decrease morphine reward in mice

Morphine reexposure induces the decrease of receptor for activated C-kinase 1 protein (RACK1) levels in frontal cortex, and the increase of p-ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) levels in mouse frontal cortex, striatum, hippocampus and nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Moreover, RACK1 is associated with the core kinases of the ERK pathway, Raf, MEK, and ERK. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of overexpression of RACK1 on the conditioned place preference (CPP) and the level of p-ERK in morphine reexposure mice. Mice were subcutaneously injected with morphine on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and the 8th day, saline was delivered the next day. After mice showed place preference, RACK1 was administered by intraventricular injection 20 minutes after injection of morphine on the 11th, 13th, 15th, and 17th day. CPP was measured on the 18th day. It was found that morphine reexposured mice showed a decreased RACK1 level in the frontal cortex, striatum and an increased RACK1 level in hippocampus and NAcc, but this effect was reversed after administration of RACK1. In this study we demonstrated that RACK1 decreased p-ERK and erased CPP during reexposure of morphine and there was no an effect in reexposure saline mice. It strongly suggests that RACK1 may play a crucial role in morphine reexposured mice and the RACK1 has the potential to be a remedy to the morphine reward.

Bioefficacy of L-lysine·H2SO4relative to L-lysine·HCl in broiler chickens, estimated by slope-ratio model

1. A broiler experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of L-lysine.H2SO4 relative to L-lysine.HCl. Four concentrations of L-lysine.H2SO4 and L-lysine.HCl (0.9, 1.8, 2.7 and 3.6 g/kg diet) were each added to a basal diet that met the nutrient requirements of broilers except for lysine. 2. Birds responded significantly to the supplements in daily gain, feed intake, feed conversion efficiency, nitrogen retention and plasma urea nitrogen during each period (d 4 to 21, d 22 to 42 and d 4 to 42). 3. Regression analysis showed that the bioefficacy of L-lysine.H2SO4 relative to L-lysine.HCl was 0.93, 0.86 and 0.95 for daily gain, feed conversion efficiency and nitrogen retention, respectively, during the starter period (d 4 to 21), and was 1.01, 1.36 and 1.06, respectively, during the grower period (d 22 to 42). It was 0.99, 1.07 and 1.03, respectively, for the overall period (d 4 to 42), when the bioefficacy of L-lysine.HCl was set at 1.0. 4. The bioefficacy of L-lysine.H2SO4 differed with different response criteria. The average bioavailability of L-lysine.H2SO4 relative to L-lysine.HCl was 1.03 on an equimolar basis in the present study. In conclusion, L-lysine.H2SO4 and L-lysine.HCl are equally efficacious to broiler chickens.

Effects of enzyme supplementation on performance, nutrient digestibility, gastrointestinal morphology, and volatile fatty acid profiles in the hindgut of broilers fed wheat-based diets

A growth trial and a metabolism trial were conducted as 2 experiments to investigate the effects of dietary enzyme supplementation (primarily xylanase and beta-glucanase) on performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, digestive organ size, and volatile fatty acid profiles in the hindgut of broiler chickens fed wheat-based diets. The experimental diets in both trials consisted of a wheat-based control diet supplemented with 0, 200, 400, 600, 800, or 1,000 mg/kg enzyme. Diets were given to the birds from d 7 to 42 of age. In the growth trial, enzyme supplementation improved performance of the broilers; daily gain and feed conversion increased linearly (P < 0.01) with increasing levels of enzyme supplementation. Enzyme inclusion decreased the size of the digestive organs and the gastrointestinal tract to some extent. The relative length of each intestinal segment decreased linearly (P < 0.05). The relative weight of the anterior intestine on d 21 and ileum on d 42 also decreased linearly (P < 0.01). On d 21 and 42, there were negative linear (P < 0.05) relationships between increasing enzyme supplementation and the relative weight of the liver and pancreas, respectively. Furthermore, there was a linear (P < 0.01) increase in total volatile fatty acid content in ileum on d 21 and in the cecum on d 21 and 42. During each period of the metabolism trial, apparent crude protein digestibility increased linearly (P < 0.05), whereas no differences were detected (P > 0.05) in AME.

Circadian renal rhythms influenced by implanted encapsulated hANP-producing cells in Goldblatt hypertensive rats

Renal excretion in experimental hypertensive rats implanted with encapsulated human atrial natriuretic peptide (hANP)-producing cells is circadian periodic. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with the plasmid hANP-cDNA were encapsulated in biocompatible polycaprolactone capsules for intraperitoneal implantation into two-kidney, one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive rats. During a 12:12 light-dark cycle, as compared to control CHO cells, the implantation of encapsulated hANP-producing CHO cells was associated with an increase in the net excretion of water, sodium and potassium, and with a reversal of the advanced circadian phases related to renovascular hypertension in 2K1C rats. The increase in blood pressure postimplantation was delayed, and increases in renal blood flow, glomerular filtration rate, sodium output, urinary excretion and urinary cyclic GMP concentrations were also found. Implantation of encapsulated hANP-producing cells affects circadian rhythms in kidney excretion functions of 2K1C rats, and may be useful for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

[Effect of qidan tongmai tablet on glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2]

OBJECTIVE

To study the effect of Qidan Tongmai tablet (QDTMT) on glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2.

METHODS

Patients of DM, with or without hyperlipidemia complication (HLC) were divided into 4 groups, Group A (33 cases without HLC) and B (33 cases with HLC) were treated by QDTMT, Group C (31 cases without HLC) and D (31 cases with HLC) were not treated by QDTMT. The treatment was carried out on the previous basic hypoglycemic treatment with a therapeutic course of 2 months.

RESULTS

The levels of fasting glucose, 2 hrs postprandial blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin, as well as the levels of total cholesterol and triglyceride lowered, and the high density lipoprotein increased in Group A and B after treatment, as compared with those before treatment, the difference was significant (P < 0.01). While in Group C and D, the above-mentioned indexes were not changed significantly (P > 0.05). No apparent side-effect was found in the QDTMT treatment period.

CONCLUSION

Besides regulating abnormal blood lipid, QDTMT has also a hypoglycemic effect in certain degree in patients with DM type 2.

Mechanism of cardioprotection by resveratrol, a phenolic antioxidant present in red wine (Review)

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has been and remains a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in developed countries. The most common form of CHD in the western world is atherosclerosis (AS), especially of the major coronary arteries. Failure to maintain an intact endothelium, as a result of episodic and/or persistent injury and perturbation of the vascular endothelium, promotes formation of fatty streaks which are considered initiation events of AS. Cellular constituents contributing to endothelial injury include endothelial cells, monocytes, platelets, and smooth muscle cells. Individuals diagnosed with AS face complex, enduring clinical complications and enormous medical costs. Simple and easily compliant prevention and treatment measures are therefore strategic considerations in the management of this vascular disease. Based on known risk factors for CHD, priorities in AS prevention should include smoking cessation, blood pressure control, and diet modification. In recent years, the possible benefits of low to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages, particularly of red wine, in the prevention of heart disease has received increasing attention and debate in the popular media as well as in the scientific community. Such attention has been prompted by research findings supporting a relationship between red wine consumption and the French paradox. This phenomenon refers to people residing in certain parts of France where red wine is customarily consumed during meals having a low CHD mortality, despite living a lifestyle considered to have comparably high CHD risks, as those in the US and many other developed countries. Studies have reported that the cardioprotective effects of red wine are greater than those attributed solely to ethanol and other types of alcoholic beverages. The mechanism(s) underlying the greater CHD protective benefits of red wine have not been elucidated. Recently the polyphenol resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene), known to be abundantly present in red wine, compared to white wine, beer, or spirits, has been demonstrated to elicit a broad spectrum of biological responses in in vitro and in animal studies, including effects that are compatible with the cardioprotective roles proposed for red wine. These recently described effects of resveratrol will be reviewed in this article. We will first summarize published data showing an inverse association between consumption of alcoholic beverages/red wine and risk of CHD. A review of biosynthesis of resveratrol and its presence in food groups and wines will follow. Recent studies relating exposure to wine/resveratrol with reduction in myocardial damage during ischemia-reperfusion, modulation of vascular cell functions, inhibition of LDL oxidation, and suppression of platelet aggregation will be presented. The last section of this review will focus on a discussion of mechanism(s) by which resveratrol acts as a potential cardioprotective agent.

[Genetic diversity of Fagoyrum tataricum cultivated in north Liangshan Prefecture of Yi Nationality, Sichuan, China]

In the present paper is stated the accomplishment of the studies of 17 populations of cultivated Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn. from the counties of Yuexi and Ganluo in North Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture of Yi Nationality, Sichuan Province, China by means of starch gel electrophoresis and cluster analysis of agrobiology features. Seven enzymes, and 15 loci were assessed. The result shows that the genetic diversity of F. tataricum within population is higher than in the South Prefecture and in species F. esculentum from other areas. The A, P, Ho and He are 1.9, 52.1%, 0.190 and 0.262 respectively. The FST is 0.199 which is close to the average level of wild plants. A conservation strategy of the genetic resource of F. tataricum is suggested. Two populations of local variety "Youchiqiao" have the richest genetic diversity, P = 60.0%, Ho = 0.260 and 0.301 and they should be protected particularly. Two populations of local variety "Xiaomiqiao" with higher genetic diversity, as well as three populations of local varieties of "Qiukuqiao", "Equkuqiao" and "Geluokuqiao" with special genetic position should be protected too.

[Genetic diversity and differentiation of cultivated Fagoyrum tataricum populations from three counties in south Liangshan Automomous Prefecture of Yi Nationality, Sichuan, China]

Genetic diversity and differentiation among 8 cultivated populations of Fagopyrum tataricum from the counties of Jinyang, Leibo and Miyi in south Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture of Yi Nationality, Sichuan Province, China were investigated using allozyme electrophoresis. The allozymic diversity is roughly correlated with agrobiological features. The results suggest that genetic diversity of F. tataricum is quite high. The mean number of alleles per locus A is 1.8; the percentage of polymorphic loci P is 46.6%, and the mean observed heterozygosities Ho and the mean expected heterozygosities He are 0.187 and 0.218 respectively, the ratios of gene diversities of heterozygosities Fsr is 0.22, which indicates that there is 22 percent of genetic differentiation among populations, and suggests that for protecting genetic resources all the populations should be included in.

Expression changes of activin A in the development of hepatic fibrosis

AIM: To examine the expression of activin A, a member of the transforming growth factor (TGF-β) superfamily, recently has been reported to beoverexpressed in liver cirrhosis, in the course of carbon tetrachloride-induced rat hepatic fibrosis.

METHODS: Hepatic fibrosis was induced in rats by subcutaneous injections of 40% carbon tetrachloride oily solution for a period of 1 to 7 weeks. At the end of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 weeks after carbon tetrachloride injections, the rats were killed in group (6-10 rats each time) for study. The activin A messenger RNA expression and its protein localization were assessed by semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS: The normal rat liver expressed activin A mRNA and protein, and its expression was transiently decreased and became undetectable after carbon tetrachloride injections for 2 or 3 weeks and then increased gradually. After injection of carbon tetrachloride for 6 and 7 weeks, activin A mRNA and protein expressions were significantly enchanced in rat liver. Compared with that of the normal rat liver. Activin A mRNA expression levels in rats receiving carbon tetrachloride injections for 6 and 7 weeks were 1.6 and 2.2 times that of those in normal rat liver respectively (0.456 ± 0.094 vs 0.286 ± 0.0670, P < 0.01; 0.620 ± 0.134 vs 0.286 ± 0.0670, P < 0.01). Immunohistochemistry showed that activin A expressed in hepatocytes of normal liver, and its expression was decreased in rats receiving carbon tetrachloride for 2 or 3 weeks. Compared with normal liver, activin A expression distribution mode changed in fibrotic liver, being increased significantly in hepatocytes around fibrotic areas.

CONCLUSION: Activin A expression was increased in late stage of hepatic fibrosis, and this may be involved in hepatic fibrosis formation in this period.

Long-acting delivery microspheres of levo-norgestrol-poly(3-hydroxybutyrate): their preparation, characterization and contraceptive tests on mice

The preparative technology for sustained release drug delivery microspheres of levo-norgestrol-poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) was optimized based on the in-liquid-drying method. The formation of the drug microspheres was confirmed with differential thermal analysis. The appearance, particle size and distribution, residual CHCl3, drug content, drug release characteristics in vitro, stability and anticonceptive effect on mice of the microspheres were all examined. The average particle size was 64 microm with over 90% of the microspheres being in the range of 28.7-85.8 microm. The residual CHCl3 was lower than 0.001%. The drug release behaviour in vitro could be described by the Higuchi equation and the drug release t1/2 was prolonged by 1.8 times, compared with the original drug LNG. The microspheres were stable for 3 months and showed significant sustained release and anticonceptive effect in mice, and lower toxicity compared with the original drug.

Effect of total flavonoids of hippophae rhamnoides on contractile mechanics and calcium transfer in stretched myocyte

OBJECTIVE

To study the role of total flavonoids of hippophae rhamnoides in improving contractile [correction of contactile] function of stretched cardiac myocyte.

METHOD

Flavonoids were given to stretched myocytes which were proved their contractile function decline and then myocyte contractile mechanics characteristics and calcium transfer were measured.

RESULT

Flavonoids increased myocyte contractility, as indicated by myocyte shortening, velocity of shortening, peak +dL/dt and peak -dL/dt during shortening, in a concentration-dependent manner (r>0.9, P<0.001), and with no relation to the intracellular calcium transfer in the myocytes.

CONCLUSION

Flavonoids of the traditional Chinese drug hippophae rhamnoides is effective in improving the contractile function of stretched cardiac myocyte in low dosage.

Circadian rhythm of gene expression of myocardial contractile protein, left ventricular pressure and contractility

Objective. A number of cardiovascular variables exhibit a circadian rhythm. Whether myocardial contractile response and gene expression of the contractile protein also show changes with a similar period was here investigated. Method. Circadian variabilities in the left ventricular developed pressure (LVP) and contractility (LV dp/dt max) were measured in 24 Sprague-Dawley rats by directly left ventricular catheterizing and compared with changes in the gene expression of alpha-myosin heavy chain (alpha-MHC) in myocytes obtained from the same animals by dot blotting analysis. Results. A circadian rhythm was seen in the variability of LVP (P<0.001), LV dp/dt max (P<0.001) and the biochemically measured expression of the alpha-MHC gene (P<0.01). As compared to the amplitude of the rhythm in alpha-MHC gene expression, the amplitude of the contractility rhythm was large (P<0.01) and the circadian amplitude of the LVP (P<0.001) was the largest, representing perhaps a composite of intracardiac plus any extracardiac contributions. Conclusion. One of factors determining the circadian rhythm of myocardial contractile function is alpha-MHC gene expression level.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of HER-2/neu, c-myc, and p53 in endometrial cancer

Our objective was to evaluate the association between HER-2/neu, c-myc, p53, and clinicopathologic variables in endometrial cancer using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) cytogenetic analysis. FISH analysis for HER-2/neu, c-myc, and p53 was performed on 47 endometrial cancer specimens. Amplification of HER-2/neu was seen in 4/47 (8.5%) cases and amplification of c-myc was seen in 7 of 47 (15%) cases; neither was associated with adverse clinicopathologic variables or survival. Deletion of p53 was seen in 31/47 (66%) cases and was associated with poor histologic grade (P = 0.008). There was no impact of genetic alterations on overall survival or disease-free interval. Grade 3 tumor was associated with poor overall survival (P = 0.032). This study found that p53 deletion is a common genetic alteration in endometrial cancer and is associated with poor-grade tumors.

c-myc and chromosome 8 centromere studies of ovarian cancer by interphase FISH

Forty tumor specimens from patients with ovarian cancer were studied for amplification of the c-myc oncogene relative to chromosome 8 centromere number using dual-color FISH. Interphase cytogenetic analysis showed amplification of the c-myc oncogene in 40% (16/40) of tumors using the standard oncogene:centromere ratio method of analysis. Eleven of these showed moderate amplification of c-myc, and 5 samples showed high amplification. Eight of the sixteen (50%) amplified tumors were polysomic centromere 8 as were 14 of the 24 (58%) non-amplified tumors. In previously reported work with these samples, the oncogene HER-2/neu, the chromosome 17 centromere, and the tumor suppressor gene p53 had been studied. When using the standard oncogene:centromere ratio criteria, 5 samples had amplification of both the c-myc and the HER-2/neu oncogenes, 5 samples had HER-2/neu amplification but not c-myc, 11 samples had c-myc amplification but not HER-2/neu, and 19 samples had neither oncogene amplified. The p53 gene was found to be deleted in 22.5% (9/40) of samples. The loss of the p53 gene did not appear to have any clinical correlation. The presence of an extra centromere 8 also did not appear to have any clinical correlation. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve for those patients who have c-myc amplification, while not statistically significant, appears to show a trend toward poorer survival. The survival curve for patients whose tumors have HER-2/neu amplification shows no clinical significance. It is of great interest, however, that the Kaplan-Meier plot of survival for patients whose tumors have amplification of both c-myc and HER-2/neu shows a significant difference (P = 0.047). The median survival times of the doubly amplified patient group and the non-doubly amplified groups were 12 and 43 months, respectively. This is the first study of the oncogene c-myc using FISH. The results suggest that the amplification of c-myc may indicate a poorer patient survival and that the amplification of both c-myc and HER-2/neu in combination may be a better prognostic indicator of poor patient survival.

[An observation on the pacemaker current I(f) in sheep cardiac Purkinje fibers under ischemia-mimic condition]

Effects of "ischemia" and adrenergic agonists on pacemaker current I(f) were observed in sheep cardiac Purkinje fibers. After perfusion with ischemia-mimic solution for 15, 30 and 60 min, the amplitude of I(f) current were decreased at all membrane potential levels between Ec-60 mV to -120 mV (n = 7, P < 0.05), activation time and half activation time to a steady state value of I(f) current were prolonged (n = 7, P < 0.05), activation curve of I(f) shifted to a more hyperpolarized position. Isoproterenol 1 x 10(-6) mol/L increased amplitude of I(f) current (n = 10, P < 0.05), shortened the activation time and half activation time (n = 10, P > 0.05), and shifted the activation curve to a more depolarized position; but isoproterenol of 1 x 10(-6) mol/L could not completely reverse the inhibitory effects of "ischemia" on I(f) current. In the presence of 5 x 10(-7) mol/L propranolol the effects of phenylephrine 5 x 10(-5) mol/L on I(f) current was variable; but aggravated the inhibitory effects of I(f) current due to "ischemia". The above results indicate that normal pacemaker activity of ventricular Purkinje fibers does not increase but rather decrease during myocardial ischemia-mimic condition, an observation suggesting that acute ischemic ventricular arrhythmia may not be due to abnormal strengthening of normal ventricular pacemaker activity.

[The refinement of retinotectal projection on tectal whole mount during the regeneration of the goldfish optic nerve labeled with DiI anterogradely]

The refinement of retinotectal projection during the regeneration of the goldfish optic nerve was studied with microinjection of the lipophilic dye DiI (1,1-dioctadecyl-3,-3,-3',-3',-tetramethylindo-carbocyanine perchlorate) into the dorsal retina to label a few of retinal ganglion cells, which could be transported anterogradely to their terminal arbors on the tectum. The regenerated optic nerve fibers on the tectal whole mount were examined at various time intervals (from 7 to 365 days) following an optic nerve crush. At the early regeneration stage (2 to 8 weeks postcrush), the regenerated optic fibers travelled in abnormal paths through both appropriate ventral and inappropriate dorsal hemitecta, but the majority of the fibers (about 60% to 70%) were found in the appropriate ventral hemitectum. At the late regeneration stage (2 months afterward postcrush), after refinement of regenerated optic fibers, the retinotectal projection was reestablished preciously as in the normal fish. Present study shows that the refinement of the retinotectal projection manifests in three major changes: 1) The disappearance of the regenerated optic fibers at the inappropriate tectal positions; 2) The disappearance of the side branches on the optic fiber shaft; 3) The formation of overlapping terminal arbors by the optic fibers that arrived at the retinotopic target. These results suggest that there may be two kinds of factors in the tectum: One is a common guiding factor which distributes over all the tectum and guides the regenerated optic fibers growing into the tectum at early regeneration; another is a position-specific neurotrophic factor which guides the regenerated optic fibers arriving at the retinotopic target at late regeneration.