A novel locus for maternally inherited human gingival fibromatosis at chromosome 11p15

Human isolated gingival fibromatosis is an oral disorder characterized by a slowly progressive benign enlargement of gingival tissues. The most common genetic form, hereditary gingival fibromatosis (HGF), is usually transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait. We report here for the first time a newly identified maternally inherited gingival fibromatosis in two unrelated Chinese families and mapped this disease locus to human chromosome 11p15 with a maximum two point LOD score of 8.70 at D11S4046 (θ = 0) for family 1 and of 6.02 at D11S1318 for family 2. Haplotype analysis placed the critical region in the interval defined by D11S1984 and D11S1338. A cluster of maternally expressed genes is within this critical region. We screened individuals in these two families for mutations for all known maternally expressed genes within this region. None was found either within the coding sequence or at the intron–exon boundary of these genes. Neither did we detect any loss of imprinting in three informative imprinted genes including H19, KCNQ1 downstream neighbor (KCNQ1DN) and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1C (CDKN1C). However, gene expression profile analysis revealed reduced expression of hemoglobin beta (HBB), hemoglobin delta (HBD), hemoglobin gamma A (HBG1) and hemoglobin gamma G (HBG2) genes at disease locus in HGF patients. This study suggests that genome imprinting might affect the development of HGF. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users. Conflict Of Interest Statement: No competing financial interests.     

大黄醇提液抗家兔实验性高脂血症及脂肪肝的实验研究

目的:检验大黄醇提液抗家兔实验性高脂血症及脂肪肝的影响。方法:将30只雄性健康白兔随机分为5组(n=6):对照组给予基础饲料;模型组给予高脂饲料;三个大黄组给予高脂饲料同时分别灌胃不同药量的大黄醇提液。实验过程中进行一般性指标观测,检测不同阶段五组家兔血脂水平,检测脂肪肝病变程度。结果:大黄醇提液具有降低血清甘油三酯(TG)、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇(LDL-C),升高高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(HDL-C),降低肝细胞脂肪变性的作用。并且大黄醇提液的以上作用存在一定的量效关系。结论:大黄醇提液可降低动脉粥样硬化兔模型的血脂水平、降低脂肪肝的发生发展。     

皱胸尖裂姬蜂对机敏异漏斗蛛的拟寄生行为及其发育特征

寄生蜂是蜘蛛的主要天敌类群之一,但寄生于漏斗蛛的寄生蜂种类较少,且缺乏相关寄生蜂的详细研究报道。我们研究了皱胸尖裂姬蜂(Oxyrrhexis rugosus)对机敏异漏斗蛛(Allagelena difficilis)的拟寄生,旨在揭示蜘蛛寄生蜂的拟寄生行为及其发育特征。显微镜下观察了12头机敏异漏斗蛛头胸部背面的皱胸尖裂姬蜂卵,并以均值法统计了皱胸尖裂姬蜂各发育阶段的历期,进一步观察了皱胸尖裂姬蜂寄生机敏异漏斗蛛后对寄主的影响。交配后的雌性皱胸尖裂姬蜂经过寻找、降落、蛰刺蛛体后伺机将卵产在机敏异漏斗蛛的头胸部背面后部;孵化后的皱胸尖裂姬蜂幼虫头部形成一个特殊摄食导管,通过摄食导管获取蛛体的营养;幼虫随着龄期增长,体色由浅变深,历期约10 d;幼虫老熟后在蛛网的漏斗状管道内结茧化蛹,蛹期约为12 d;成体雌、雄蜂寿命约为11 d,皱胸尖裂姬蜂的平均生活史周期约为33 d。皱胸尖裂姬蜂寄生后对寄主蜘蛛的行为和生活状态造成了严重的影响,随着幼虫龄期增长被寄生机敏异漏斗蛛不再进食、蜕皮,活动减少,蛛体逐渐萎缩,直至老熟幼虫离开蛛体时,蜘蛛死亡。该研究不仅增加了漏斗蛛寄生性天敌的已知种类,而且初步了解了以漏斗蛛为寄主的姬蜂的产卵行为、后代的发育特征以及对寄主蜘蛛的影响,这将为研究蜘蛛寄生蜂及其与寄主蜘蛛之间的化学通讯和协同进化提供重要的基础资料。     

Dynamics of Membrane Tethers Reveal Novel Aspects of Cytoskeleton-Membrane Interactions in Axons

Mechanical properties of cell membranes are known to be significantly influenced by the underlying cortical cytoskeleton. The technique of pulling membrane tethers from cells is one of the most effective ways of studying the membrane mechanics and the membrane-cortex interaction. In this article, we show that axon membranes make an interesting system to explore as they exhibit both free membrane-like behavior where the tether-membrane junction is movable on the surface of the axons (unlike many other cell membranes) as well as cell-like behavior where there are transient and spontaneous eruptions in the tether force that vanish when F-actin is depolymerized. We analyze the passive and spontaneous responses of axonal membrane tethers and propose theoretical models to explain the observed behavior.     

Mutational approach for N2-fixing and P-solubilizing mutant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae RSN19 by microwave mutagenesis

Nitrogen (N) fixing Klebsiella pneumoniae RSN19 has high inorganic phosphorus (P) solubilizing capability, but its N₂-fixing capability is limited. In order to acquire a P-solubilizing mutant strain with high efficiency N-fixing capability, different microwave irradiation intensities and durations were tested on RSN19 in an attempt to produce mutants with improved N₂-fixation and P-solubilization capabilities. The effect of microwave irradiation power and time were studied and the microwave mutagenesis parameters were optimized. Nitrogenase activity was tested on the mutant strains by acetylene reduction method; and their P-solubilizing capability and genetic stability were determined. The results indicated that the best conditions for microwave mutagenesis that produced better performed mutant strains were 250W, 36 s. Under these conditions a maximum positive mutation rate of 1.66% was obtained, resulting in five genetically stable strains with promoted nitrogenase activity which was designated as RSM-219, RSM-206, RSM-224, RSM-225 and RSM-275. Subculture tests showed that RSM-219 and RSM-206 were genetically stable mutant strains with higher nitrogenase activity and phosphate solubilizing capabilities than the original strain. Both RSM-219 and RSM-206 performed better than the original strain under N-free conditions when supplied with calcium phosphate only, and produced greater increases in the biomass of alfalfa seedlings.     

Statistical optimization of sulfite pretreatment of corncob residues for high concentration ethanol production

In this study, a central composite design of response surface method was used to optimize sulfite pretreatment of corncob residues, in respect to sulfite charge (5-10%), treatment time (1-2h), liquid/solid (l/s) ratio (6:1-10:1) and temperature (150-180°C) for maximizing glucose production in enzymatic hydrolysis process. The relative optimum condition was obtained as follows: sulfite charge 7.1%, l/s ratio 7.6:1, temperature 156°C for 1.4h, corresponding to 79.3% total glucan converted to glucose+cellobiose. In the subsequent simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) experiments using 15% glucan substrates pretreated under this kind of conditions, 60.8 g ethanol l(-1) with 72.2% theoretical yield was obtained.     

Stable and orally bio-available pro-drugs of CPS11

Stable and orally bio-available pro-drugs of CPS11 were synthesized. They are active on human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation assay and tube formation assay. The therapeutic efficacy and safety of 4 as a single agent or combined with Taxol in the treatment of MX-1 human breast cancer xenograft were evaluated. Compound 4 as a single agent failed to produce an anti-tumor activity, while it significantly enhanced antitumor potency of Taxol.     

微滴培养技术的新应用

微滴培养技术在卵母细胞培养和胚胎早期发育研究中有广泛的应用.近期研究发现这项技术又有新的应用范围.有科学家发现将该技术应用于胚胎干细胞可以实现高效传代,在精原干细胞培养和精子发生相关过程的研究方面也可取得很好效果,同时,对早期人类胚胎干细胞的分离过程的监控和对精原干细胞生长过程的观察也相对容易.这些研究结果显示,微滴培养技术在这些新领域的研究与常规培养方法相比具有独特的优势.回顾微滴培养技术的主要发展过程,重点探讨微滴培养技术的最新应用及其优点.