Molecular Determinants of Hepatitis B and D Virus Entry Restriction in Mouse Sodium Taurocholate Cotransporting Polypeptide

Human hepatitis B virus (HBV) and its satellite virus, hepatitis D virus (HDV), primarily infect humans, chimpanzees, or tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri). Viral infections in other species are known to be mainly restricted at the entry level since viral replication can be achieved in the cells by transfection of the viral genome. Sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) is a functional receptor for HBV and HDV, and amino acids 157 to 165 of NTCP are critical for viral entry and likely limit viral infection of macaques. However, the molecular determinants for viral entry restriction in mouse NTCP (mNTCP) remain unclear. In this study, mNTCP was found to be unable to support either HBV or HDV infection, although it can bind to pre-S1 of HBV L protein and is functional in transporting substrate taurocholate; comprehensive swapping and point mutations of human NTCP (hNTCP) and mNTCP revealed molecular determinants restricting mNTCP for viral entry of HBV and HDV. Remarkably, when mNTCP residues 84 to 87 were substituted by human counterparts, mNTCP can effectively support viral infections. In addition, a number of cell lines, regardless of their species or tissue origin, supported HDV infection when transfected with hNTCP or mNTCP with residues 84 to 87 replaced by human counterparts, highlighting the central role of NTCP for viral infections mediated by HBV envelope proteins. These studies advance our understanding of NTCP-mediated viral entry of HBV and HDV and have important implications for developing the mouse model for their infections.     

Mamu-B genes and their allelic repertoires in different populations of Chinese-origin rhesus macaques

Since rhesus monkeys of Chinese origin have gained greater utilization in recent years, it is urgent to investigate the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) immunogenetics of Chinese rhesus macaques. In this study, we identified 81 Mamu-B sequences using complementary DNA cloning and sequencing on a cohort of 58 rhesus monkeys derived from three local populations of China. Twenty of these Mamu-B alleles are novel and four of them represent new lineages. Although more alleles are shared among different populations than Mamu-A locus, the Mamu-B allelic repertoires found in these three populations of Chinese macaques are largely independent, which underscores the MHC polymorphism among different populations of Chinese rhesus macaques. Our results are an important addition to the limited MHC immunogenetic information available for rhesus macaques of Chinese origin.     

补料工艺对两株法夫酵母菌株产虾青素的影响

【目的】考察不同补料工艺对法夫酵母菌株生长和虾青素合成的影响。【方法】对法夫酵母JMU-VDL668和JMU-MVP14菌株在7 L罐中进行分批及分批补料培养; 同时, 测定发酵过程中生物量、虾青素和葡萄糖含量的变化。【结果】采用恒DO补料, 法夫酵母JMU-VDL668菌株获得的生物量最大(64.6 g/L), 是分批培养的2.2倍; 采用恒pH补料发酵, 虾青素的产量最高(20.6 mg/L), 是分批培养的1.5倍。与JMU-VDL668菌株不同, 虾青素高产菌株JMU-MVP14菌株采用恒pH补料, 获得生物量最大(48.5 g/L), 但虾青素产量大大降低(仅17.5 mg/L); 采用脉冲补料, 虾青素产量最高, 达到414.1 mg/L, 与分批发酵相比提高了200.2%; 采用恒DO补料, 生物量(38.5 g/L)和虾青素产量(403.2?mg/L)增加显著, 与分批发酵相比分别提高了133.1%和192.3%。【结论】不同补料工艺对法夫酵母菌株生产虾青素影响很大。其中, 采用恒pH补料工艺, 法夫酵母JMU-VDL668菌株可以获得最高的虾青素产量, 而采用脉冲补料工艺, 最适于法夫酵母JMU-MVP14菌株发酵生产虾青素。     

甘肃尕海硅藻初报

报道了2011年8月及2012年10月采自甘肃尕海的硅藻植物共84个分类单位,包括32属75种9变种,其中4种为中国新记录：Gomphonema laticollum E．Reichardt、Navicula antonii Lange—Bertalot、Navicula seibigiana Lange—Bertalot、Stauroneis reichardii Lange—Bertalot。对尕海硅藻的种类组成、生态特征进行了讨论。     

贝伐单抗辅助的23G玻璃体切割术治疗严重增生性糖尿病视网膜病变的疗效观察

目的：2011年,我国糖尿病患者人数高达9240万。糖尿病视网膜病变（diabeticretinopathy,DR）作为糖尿病患者的常见并发症,在糖尿病人群中的患病率为37％,是导致成人获得性盲的最主要原因之一。严重增生性糖尿病视网膜病变以牵拉性视网膜脱离、玻璃体出血为特征,具有致盲率大,手术难度高等特点。针对与此,本文主要探讨术前注射贝伐单抗对23G玻璃体切割手术治疗严重增生性糖尿病视网膜病变患者效果的影响。方法：回顾性病例对照研究。共收集严重增生性糖尿病视网膜病变患者70例,药物辅助手术组（A组）21例,术前3—7天行玻璃体腔注射贝伐单抗（1．25mg／O．05mL）;单纯手术组（B组）49例,行23G玻璃体切割术。分析两组术前及术后视力、手术时间、医源性裂孔、电凝、术后出血的不同。结果：在术后3月,两组视力提高有统计学意义（P〈O．05）。A组平均手术时间为74分钟,而B组平均手术时间为85分钟（P〉0．05）。医源性裂孔在A组中有1例,而B组中有16例（P〈0．05）,在A组中有3例使用电凝,B组中有25例使用电凝（P〈0．05）。A组有1例出现术中及术后出血,B组为20例（P〈O．05）。结论：在这个回顾性研究中,我们发现对于严重增生性糖尿病视网膜病变的病人,术前玻璃体腔注射1．25mg／O．05ml贝伐单抗可以显著减少医源性裂孔的发生,减少术中电凝使用及术中术后出血的发生。     

Lithium Doping to Enhance Thermoelectric Performance of MgAgSb with Weak Electron–Phonon Coupling

Despite the unfavorable band structure with twofold degeneracy at the valence band maximum, MgAgSb is still an excellent p‐type thermoelectric material for applications near room temperature. The intrinsically weak electron–phonon coupling, reflected by the low deformation potential E_def ≈ 6.3 eV, plays a crucial role in the relatively high power factor of MgAgSb. More importantly, Li is successfully doped into Mg site to tune the carrier concentration, leading to the resistivity reduction by a factor of 3 and a consequent increase in power factor by ≈30% at 300 K. Low lattice thermal conductivity can be simultaneously achieved by all‐scale hierarchical phonon scattering architecture including high density of dislocations and nanoscale stacking faults, nanoinclusions, and multiscale grain boundaries. Collectively, much higher average power factor ≈25 μW cm^?1 K^?2 with a high average ZT ≈ 1.1 from 300 to 548 K is achieved for 0.01 Li doping, which would result in a high output power density ≈1.56 W cm^?2 and leg efficiency ≈9.2% by calculations assuming cold‐side temperature T_c = 323 K, hot‐side temperature T_h = 548 K, and leg length = 2 mm.     

Humanized mouse G6 anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody has therapeutic potential against IGHV1-69 germline gene-based B-CLL

In 10–20% of the cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia of B-cell phenotype (B-CLL), the IGHV1-69 germline is utilized as VH gene of the B cell receptor (BCR). Mouse G6 (MuG6) is an anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody discovered in a screen against rheumatoid factors (RFs) that binds with high affinity to an idiotope expressed on the 51p1 alleles of IGHV1-69 germline gene encoded antibodies (G6-id⁺). The finding that unmutated IGHV1-69 encoded BCRs are frequently expressed on B-CLL cells provides an opportunity for anti-idiotype monoclonal antibody immunotherapy. In this study, we first showed that MuG6 can deplete B cells encoding IGHV1-69 BCRs using a novel humanized GTL mouse model. Next, we humanized MuG6 and demonstrated that the humanized antibodies (HuG6s), especially HuG6.3, displayed ～2-fold higher binding affinity for G6-id⁺ antibody compared to the parental MuG6. Additional studies showed that HuG6.3 was able to kill G6-id⁺ BCR expressing cells and patient B-CLL cells through antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). Finally, both MuG6 and HuG6.3 mediate in vivo depletion of B-CLL cells in NSG mice. These data suggest that HuG6.3 may provide a new precision medicine to selectively kill IGHV1-69-encoding G6-id⁺ B-CLL cells.     

NF-κB is involved in the LPS-mediated proliferation and apoptosis of MAC-T epithelial cells as part of the subacute ruminal acidosis response in cows

Objectives

To determine the effect of NF-κB on cell proliferation and apoptosis, we investigate the expression of inflammation and apoptosis-related factors in the bovine mammary epithelial cell line, MAC-T.

Results

MAC-T cells were cultured in vitro and MTT and LDH assays used to determine the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on proliferation and cytotoxicity respectively. RT-PCR and western blotting were used to evaluate the effect of LPS and NF-κB inhibition [pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) treatment] on the expression of inflammation and apoptosis-related factors. LPS significantly inhibited MAC-T cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, LPS promoted apoptosis while the NF-кB inhibitor PDTC attenuated this effect. After LPS treatment, the NF-кB signaling pathway was activated, and the expression of inflammation and apoptosis-related factors increased. When PDTC blocked NF-кB signaling, the expression of inflammation and apoptosis-related factors were decreased in MAC-T cells.

Conclusions

LPS activates the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis in MAC-T cells. NF-кB inhibition attenuates MAC-T cell apoptosis and TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. NF-кB inhibitor alleviating MAC-T cell apoptosis is presumably modulated by NF-кB.