Application of a nonradioactive method of measuring protein synthesis in industrially relevant chinese hamster ovary cells

Due to the high medical and commercial value of recombinant proteins for clinical and diagnostic purposes, the protein synthesis machinery of mammalian host cells is the subject of extensive research by the biopharmaceutical industry. RNA translation and protein synthesis are steps that may determine the extent of growth and productivity of host cells. To address the problems of utilization of current radioisotope methods with proprietary media, we have focused on the application of an alternative method of measuring protein synthesis in recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. This method employs puromycin as a nonradioactive label which incorporates into nascent polypeptide chains and is detectable by western blotting. This method, which is referred to as SUnSET, successfully demonstrated the expected changes in protein synthesis in conditions that inhibit and restore translation activity and was reproducibly quantifiable. The study of the effects of feed and sodium butyrate addition on protein synthesis by SUnSET revealed an increase following 1 h feed supplementation while a high concentration of sodium butyrate was able to decrease translation during the same treatment period. Finally, SUnSET was used to compare protein synthesis activity during batch culture of the CHO cell line in relation to growth. The results indicate that as the cells approached the end of batch culture, the global rate of protein synthesis declined in parallel with the decreasing growth rate. In conclusion, this method can be used as a “snapshot” to directly monitor the effects of different culture conditions and treatments on translation in recombinant host cells. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29:1043–1049, 2013     

The concept of contagion in Chinese medical thought: empirical knowledge versus cosmological order

Since ancient times epidemics have been a central topic in Chinese medical thought. The explanations for their emergence, spread and transmission, however, have ranged widely. Whereas much of the populace believed in transmission by demons, elitist medical theory, since at least the second century, has emphasized cosmological and meteorological factors. This paper introduces the different approaches to epidemics in general, examining the etymological, historical and medical literature of early Imperial times. It then traces two lines of tradition in Chinese medical thought: one supporting contagionism, the other opposing it. The controversy that began as early as the fourth century, peaked in the twelfth century and ended only with the modern era, reveals a widening gap in the elitist medical theory--the dichotomy of empirical knowledge and theoretical framework.     

药用植物生长发育与有效成分积累关系研究进展

药用植物有效成分是其发挥临床疗效的物质基础, 也是评价药材质量的重要指标, 而这些有效成分的产生和分布通常有种属、器官、组织以及生长发育时期的特异性。明确药用植物主要药用成分在植物不同生长发育阶段的积累变化规律和形成机制, 对中药品质与临床疗效有重要的指导意义。该文主要概述了不同发育阶段对药用植物不同药用部位(根、茎、叶、花、果实和种子)中有效成分积累的影响, 并对药用植物次生代谢产物合成和积累机制的相关研究技术进行了展望, 为生产实践上调控药用植物次生物质合成、药用植物的合理利用以及提高中药材品质奠定了理论基础。     

Biotemplates in the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles

This article recapitulates the scientific advancement towards the greener synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Applications of noble metals have increased throughout human civilization, and the uses for nano-sized particles are even more remarkable. “Green” nanoparticle synthesis has been achieved using environmentally acceptable solvent systems and eco-friendly reducing and capping agents. Numerous microorganisms and plant extracts have been applied to synthesize inorganic nanostructures either intracellularly or extracellularly. The use of nanoparticles derived from noble metals has spread to many areas including jewelery, medical fields, electronics, water treatment and sport utilities, thus improving the longevity and comfort in human life. The application of nanoparticles as delivery vehicles for bactericidal agents represents a new paradigm in the design of antibacterial therapeutics. Orientation, size and physical properties of nanoparticles influences the performance and reproducibility of a potential device, thus making the synthesis and assembly of shape- and size-controlled nanocrystals an essential component for any practical application. This need has motivated researchers to explore different synthesis protocols.     

Guanidines from ‘toxic substances’ to compounds with multiple biological applications – Detailed outlook on synthetic procedures employed for the synthesis of guanidines

Guanidines to begin with, were thought of being harmful substances associated with medical ailment. With the advent of World War I and the impact it left on the populations at large research focus was shifted, towards polymer synthesis and that too on plastics and rubbers which were mostly employed in various artillery equipments. In the surge, to get plastics and rubbers with enhanced mechanical properties, many variedly substituted guanidines used as accelerators in vulcanization of polymers were synthesized using different procedures. Continuous research on guanidines, led scientists to develop different protocols and routes for the synthesis of these compounds, later these were tested for their possible use in various areas and now these are sought for their enhanced biomedical and catalytic applications. This review article presents thirty six different synthetic procedures employed for the synthesis of guanidines over the years including seventy schemes and a brief account on the reported wide ranging applications of some novel guanidines.     

Microorganisms as efficient biosystem for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles: current scenario and future possibilities

Nanoparticles, the elementary structures of nanotechnology, are important materials for fundamental studies and variety of applications. The different sizes and shapes of these materials exhibit unique physical and chemical properties than their bulk materials. There is a great interest in obtaining well-dispersed, ultrafine, and uniform nanoparticles to delineate and utilize their distinct properties. Nanoparticle synthesis can be achieved through a wide range of materials utilizing a number of methods including physical, chemical, and biological processes with various precursors from liquids and solids. There is a growing need to prepare environmentally friendly nanoparticles that do not produce toxic wastes in their process synthesis protocol. This kind of synthesis can be achieved by green environment benign processes, which happen to be mostly of a biological nature. Microorganisms are one of the most attractive and simple sources for the synthesis of different types of nanoparticles. This review is an attempt to provide the up-to-date information on current status of nanoparticle synthesis by different types of microorganisms such as fungi, yeast, bacteria, cyanobacteria, actinomycete, and algae. The probable biosynthesis mechanism and conditions for size/shape control are described. Various applications of microbially synthesized nanoparticles are summarized. They include antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, larvicidal, medical imaging, biosensor, and catalytic applications. Finally, limitations and future prospects for specific research are discussed.     

The nature of the gal3 mutation of Escherichia coli

Six cold-sensitive variants have been isolated from Chinese hamster ovary cells by the BUdR-visible light selection technique. The properties of one of these lines have been studied in detail. This line stops dividing immediately after a shift from 39 degrees C to 33 degrees C though its doubling time at 39 degrees C is only slightly longer than that of wild-type cells. The rates of DNA and protein synthesis are severely reduced at 33 degrees C, but the rate of RNA synthesis is not significantly different from wild-type cells. This line may be defective in protein synthesis, but the results of sedimentation analysis indicate that it probably has normal ribosomal subunit assembly.     

药用蜈蚣的生态习性与临床应用

生化分析显示,蜈蚣体内含有多种氨基酸、小分子肽、甾醇、脂肪酸等各类活性物质,这可能是医典所载其主治中风、破伤风、恶疮、肿瘤、癣、蛇咬等的药学基础。本文从古代、现代的中医药典籍、文献中总结了六个方面的临床应用,还较为系统全面地阐述了药用蜈蚣的栖息环境、行为与食性、繁殖与个体发育等方面的野外及人工环境下的生物学特性与生态行为表现,以资现代中医药建立医疗模式和药源基地参考。     

Distribution of DNA or DNA synthesis in mammalian cells following inhibition with hydroxyurea and 5-fluorodeoxyuridine

In Chinese hamster cells, hydroxyurea and 5-fluorodeoxyuridine have both been shown to induce nuclear membrane associated DNA synthesis after release from different periods of inhibition. This synthesis occurs in cells which have lost their ability to form clones. The DNA precursors in the medium, the cell pools and the effectiveness of the inhibitors influence the time of expression of these effects. In cells with pre-labelled DNA, nuclear swelling occurs followed by an association of labelled DNA with the nuclear membrane. Eventually degraded DNA, expressed as a reduction in grain counts, is lost from the cells. It is suggested that cell nucleases are responsible for this process. DNA synthesis can still occur in these cells for a certain period while the DNA is associated with the nuclear periphery.     

Effects of cis-platinum(II) diamminedichloride on survival and the rate of DNA synthesis in synchronously growing HeLa cells in the absence and presence of caffeine

Synchronously growing HeLa cells demonstrated a different profile of DNA synthesis to that observed for Chinese hamster V79-379A cells after treatment with cis-Platinum(II) diamminedichloride (cis-Pt(II)) in the G₁ phase of the cell cycle. The progression of G₁ phase treated cells into the DNA synthetic phase was not affected. The peak rate of DNA synthesis in the first cycle was decreased in a dose dependent manner. However, no displacement in the time of appearance of this peak rate of DNA synthesis was observed in the first cycle as had been observed in Chinese hamster V79-379A cells. The timing of mitosis after the first cycle was delayed in a dose dependent manner and resulted in a concomitant delay in the appearance of the peak rate of DNA synthesis in the second cycle. The peak rate of DNA synthesis in the second cycle was reduced in a dose dependent manner. The ability of cells to divide after the first cycle was not related to their eventual ability to survive. Incubation of HeLa cells with caffeine after treatment with cis-Pt(II) did not increase the toxicity of cis-Pt(II). This was consistent with the lack of effect of caffeine posttreatment on the rate of DNA synthesis in cis-Pt(II) treated synchronously growing HeLa cells. HeLa cells did not show the characteristics of caffeine sensitive replication repair, nor did they show evidence for the presence of an inducible repair system. The rate of DNA synthesis, cell number and survival data were discussed in relation to a mechanism of cell death proposed for Chinese hamster cells.     

Perceptions and uses of Chinese medicine among the chinese in Hong Kong

The present paper was based on both qualitative observations and quantitative survey data. Major findings are as follows: (1) The sacred or magical-religious tradition of Chinese medicine is accepted by a relatively small portion (roughly one-fifth) of the ordinary Chinese people in urban Hong Kong, and is relatively more popular among women or less educated people. (2) Both the classical-professional and the local-empirical traditions of secular medicine are resorted to by many Chinese people (over one half) either for treating diseases or for strengthening their constitution. The acceptance of secular Chinese medicine does not vary significantly among different sex, age, education, or income groups. It should be noted that secular Chinese medicine is often used in addition to or in combination with modern Western medicine. (3) It appears that most people are more confident in the Chinese medical tradition than in Chinese-style practitioners in Hong Kong, and that people's confidence in secular Chinese medicine has been increasing in recent years. (4) There are reasons for the confidence in secular Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is generally perceived to be better than or as good as Western, scientific medicine in some ways, such as for tonic care, for fewer side effects, for curing the cause (not symptoms) of diseases, and for treating certain diseases. Therefore, to ordinary Chinese people, Chinese and Western medicine may perform either equivalent or complementary functions. (5) As regards the process of seeking medical care, most people seem to follow the pattern of moving from self-medication, using Chinese and/or Western home remedies, to Western-style doctors, to Chinese-style practitioners, and finally to a Western medical hospital. Policy and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

生态学与医学中的整合分析(Meta-analysis)

整合分析是针对一系列独立研究结果进行定量综合分析的方法。自从 1976年 Glass在心理学研究中提出以来 ,该方法已经在许多学科特别是医学领域进行了广泛的应用。 2 0世纪 90年代 ,整合分析被引入生态学研究 ,引起了生态学家和统计学家的广泛关注。在我国 ,该方法也于 1998年被引入生态学。由于生态学研究自身的特点 ,整合分析在应用时出现了许多新问题 ,如不同研究类型的数据抽提与转换、效应值的构建、研究间相关性的估计、出版偏见的评估与修正等 ,为此以整合分析应用最活跃的医学领域进行对比和借鉴 ,分析该方法在两个研究领域应用的范围和特点 ,讨论影响其在生态学中应用的各种因素 ,并着重阐述和探讨其在生态学应用中存在的问题和发展前景     

Senses,Sociality and Salons: Medicinal Hospitality in a Chinese Hair-Dresser's Salon

Recent calls for a revitalisation of the study of hospitality as central to anthropological theory have focussed on the material, affective, moral and cosmological aspects of hospitality. This paper argues that any such theory of hospitality should also afford consideration of how hosting practices can also be a form of medicinal experience, showing how in a Chinese hair salon these experiences ricochet into ideas of well-being by drawing on discourses and practices that are grounded in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This paper argues for an understanding of the dispersed and diffused nature of Chinese medicinal practices and concepts throughout society, while still taking into account the specificities and logics of the Chinese medical tradition. The concept of ‘medicinal hospitality’ helps to understand the social nature of these ostensibly medical treatments, and how they use the creation of distinct sensory experiences which are shared between groups of customers to generate social relations.     

The Psychologizing of Chinese Healing Practices in the United States

This paper explores ways in which Chinese healing practices have undergone acculturation in the United States since the early 1970s. Reacting to what is perceived as biomedicine's focus on the physiological, those who describe themselves as favoring a holistic orientation often use the language of 'energy blockage' to explain illness, whether thought of as 'physical,' 'emotional,' or 'spiritual'. Acupuncture in particular has been appropriated as one modality with which to 'unblock' such conditions, leading to its being used by some practitioners in conjunction with more psychotherapeutic approaches which include valuing the verbalizing of feelings. Some non-Chinese practitioners in the United States, returning to older Chinese texts to develop 'an American acupuncture,' are reinserting diagnoses eliminated from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by the People's Republic of China as 'superstition'. The assumption has been that many such diagnostic categories refer to psychological or spiritual conditions, and therefore may be useful in those American contexts which favor this orientation. Among these categories are those drawn from traditions of demonology in Chinese medicine. What was once a religious category in China turns psychological in the American setting. At the same time, many who use these terms have, since the late 1960s, increasingly conflated the psychological and the religious, the latter being reframed as 'spiritual'. Thus, this indigenization of Chinese practices is a complex synthesis which can be described as simultaneously medical, psychotherapeutic, and religious.     

Characteristics of DNA synthesis in Chinese hamster cells in exponential and stationary culture growth stages after cell exposure to elevated temperature

Hyperthermia (43 degrees C for 1 hour) is shown to induce a reduction of DNA synthesis and a change in molecular weight distributions in the pool of newly synthesized DNA in cultured Chinese hamster cells. The DNA synthesis inhibition extent as well as the character of disturbances in DNA replication are different in cells of the exponential and the stationary cultures.     

中国神农架民间草药的特点与代表种类

简要介绍了神农架民间草药的特点及其代表种类,并对其中四种名称均带有"一"字、三十六种冠以"还阳"二字以及七十二种名称中以"七"字结尾组成的几类最具特色的中草药的来源和疗效进行了阐述。     

基于京津冀一体化构想下的中医医疗联盟模式探讨

在中央提出京津冀协同发展的重大战略背景下,为了适应区域医疗均质化和医改的需要,为区域内百姓提供更优质的医疗服务,试构想创建中医医疗联盟。在医疗一体化建设方面,北京中医医院有着很好的中医联盟建设基础,试从北京中医医院医疗联盟建设的角度,对京津冀一体化构想下的医院托管模式进行探讨。     

传统中医药发展与濒危药用野生动物的保护

中医药是我国传统文化的重要组成部分,对维系中华民族的繁荣昌盛做出了重要贡献。当代中医药发展在走向世界的过程中既面临许多机遇,也面临着来自濒危药用野生物种保护等诸多方面的压力。在此基础上,本文简要介绍了我国药用野生动物资源的现状,初步分析了导致野生动物濒危的原因,提出了可持续利用的我国中医药发展的基本原则,并针对性地提出了促进我国中医药发展与濒危药用野生动物保护协调的几条措施。     

Developing medical ethics in China's reform era

The paper gives an analytical synopsis of the problem of developing medical ethics in the early half of the 1990s in China, as perceived by Chinese scholars and medical professionals interested in medical ethics. The views captured and analyzed here were expressed in one of the two major journals on medical ethics in China: Chinese Medical Ethics. The economic reform unleashed profound changes in Chinese society, including in the medical field, creating irregularities and improprieties in the profession. Furthermore, the market reform also created new values that were in tension with existing values. In this transitional period, Chinese medical ethicists saw the need to rebuild medical morality for the new era. Using the code of conduct promulgated by the Chinese Ministry of Health in 1989 as a basis, assessment and education aspects of the institutionalization of medical ethics are discussed. In addition to institutional problems of institutionalising ethics, there are philosophical and methodological issues that are not easy to solve. After all, to institutionalize medical ethics is no easy task for a country as old and as big as China. Chinese medical ethicists seem ready to confront these difficulties in their effort to develop medical ethics in Reform China.     

Perspectives On Tuberculosis Among Traditional Chinese Medical Practitioners In New York City’s Chinatown

This article discusses the perspectives of Chinatown’s traditional Chinese medical practitioners on tuberculosis among New York City’s Chinese laborers. The practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the United States is neither regulated nor well understood. Some public health providers have expressed their concern that the use of TCM could prevent Chinese tuberculosis patients from receiving proper, biomedical treatment. Contrary to the suspicion of public health providers, the traditional Chinese medical practitioners in the context of New York City’s Chinatown provide diverse methods of health care, many being familiar with the biomedical explanation for tuberculosis. All TCM informants in this study stated that biomedicine is more effective than Chinese medicine in treating tuberculosis. TCM in tuberculosis therapy is said to complement biomedicine and to restore bodily balance and the general health of patients. This study discusses the political–economic context shaping the explanation and treatment of tuberculosis among traditional Chinese medical practitioners and broadens our understanding of the various contexts in which TCM and biomedicine can be integrated. Furthermore, it is suggested that an opportunity exists for tuberculosis control programs to incorporate TCM practitioners in the effort to control the disease within New York City.