Engineering lysine‐rich caleosins as carrier proteins to render biotin as a hapten on artificial oil bodies for antibody production

It has been demonstrated that caleosin alone is sufficient to stabilize artificial oil bodies. A series of recombinant caleosins, mutated with 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 15, and 17 extra Lys residues and over‐expressed in Escherichia coli, were used as carrier proteins to render biotin as a hapten on the surface of artificial oil bodies for antibody production. Biotinylation levels of the recombinant caleosins were step‐wisely elevated as the number of extra Lys residues increased, and the biotinylated Lys residues were identified by mass spectrometric analysis. Polyclonal antibodies against biotin were successfully generated in rats injected with artificial oil bodies constituted with each of the biotinylated caleosins. Moreover, those generated via the biotinylated caleosins with eight or more extra Lys residues no longer recognized caleosin. It appears that engineered Lys‐rich caleosins are suitable carrier proteins for the production of antibodies against small molecules. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2011     

Bayesian Quantile Regression for Longitudinal Studies with Nonignorable Missing Data

Summary .  We study quantile regression (QR) for longitudinal measurements with nonignorable intermittent missing data and dropout. Compared to conventional mean regression, quantile regression can characterize the entire conditional distribution of the outcome variable, and is more robust to outliers and misspecification of the error distribution. We account for the within-subject correlation by introducing a   ℓ₂   penalty in the usual QR check function to shrink the subject-specific intercepts and slopes toward the common population values. The informative missing data are assumed to be related to the longitudinal outcome process through the shared latent random effects. We assess the performance of the proposed method using simulation studies, and illustrate it with data from a pediatric AIDS clinical trial.     

An endemic brackish water faunule from the middle jurassic of southern qinghai province,China

An endemic brackish water faunule consisting of three taxa of bivalves,Hudsonella sinensis (Chen) n. gen.,Hudsonella sp., andProtocardia hepingxiangensis Chen & Lin occurs in the Bajocian of the southern Qinghai province, China.Hudsonella sinensis is a very variable species with a hinge structure characteristic of the subfamily Pachydontinae of the family Corbulidae. According to both geochemical data (stable carbon isotopes and the strontium/barium ratio) and ecological data the faunule lived in a brackish water embayment of mesohaline salinity (5#x2013;18 per mil) burrowing in soft substrate.     

高压氧不同给氧时机对豚鼠听觉声损伤防治效果的观察

将四组豚鼠在125dBSPL,1KHz强声中暴露3小时。一组动物于声暴露前后吸空气作为对照组。其余三组动物吸2ATA高压氧(HBO),每次30分钟。其中于声暴露前吸1次者为预防组;于声暴露后连续吸14天次者为治疗组;于声暴露前吸1次,声后吸14天次者为HBO防治组。声暴露后,各组动物短声诱发皮层听区电位听阈上升。对照组听力损失最重,达70dB;预防组和防治组仅损失53dB和51dB(同对照组比P<0.01);治疗组损失68.5dB。短纯音测昕结果与此类似。对照组耳蜗病理损伤长度平均为527μm;预防组和防治组分别为142μm和106μm(P<0.05);治疗组为295μm。由此可以认为HBO对声损伤具有显著的预防作用。 文中讨论了高压氧的预防机理及其治疗作用     

瓜子金皂甙丙和丁的化学结构研究

自草药瓜子金(Polygala japonica Houtt)地上部分又分离得到两种皂甙,即瓜子金皂甙丙和皂甙丁,它们的分子式均为 C_(42)H_(68)O_(15),为同分异构物。两者酸水解均得瓜子金皂甙元和 D-葡萄糖,但碱水解时,只有皂甙丁可被水解,产物和酸水解相同。经~1HNMR,~(13)CNMR,MS 推定它们的结构式,瓜子金皂甙丙为3-O-[β-D-葡萄吡喃糖(1→2)-β-D-葡萄吡喃糖]瓜子金皂甙元;而瓜子金皂甙丁为28-O-[β-D-葡萄吡喃糖(1→2)-β-D-葡萄吡喃糖]瓜子金皂甙元。上述两种皂甙均为新化合物。     

An autonomously propagating luciferase-encoding vector for Dictyostelium discoideum

We have constructed a luc reporter vector for Dictyostelium discoideum using a 626-bp fragment from the nuclear-associated plasmid Ddp2. The ori from Ddp2 is localized within this fragment and was used to provide an autonomous replication sequence for the reporter vector. This reporter vector was stably retained in D. discoideum AX3K cells without alteration. The vector molecule was also found to exist in relatively low copy number compared to other Dictyostelium vectors in the transformed cells. We demonstrated the utility of this vector as a reporter vector with glycogen synthase promoter/luc fusions of varying sizes.     

Target determination of neurotransmitter phenotype in sympathetic neurons

While the majority of sympathetic neurons are noradrenergic, a minority population are cholinergic. At least one population of cholinergic sympathetic neurons arises during development by a target-dependent conversion from an initial noradrenergic phenotype. Evidence for retrograde specification has been obtained from transplantation studies in which sympathetic neurons that normally express a noradrenergic phenotype throughout life were induced to innervate sweat glands, a target normally innervated by cholinergic sympathetic neurons. This was accomplished by transplanting footpad skin containing sweat gland primordia from early postnatal donor rats to the hairy skin region of host rats. The sympathetic neurons innervating the novel target decreased their expression of noradrenergif traints and developed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity. In addition, many sweat gland-associated fibers acquired acetylcholinesterase (AChE) staining and VIP immunoreactivity. These studies indicated that sympathetic neurons in vivo alter their neurotransmitter phenotype in response to novel envronmental signals and that sweat glands play a critical role in the cholinergic and peptidergic differentiation of the sympathetic neurons that innervate them. The sweat gland-derived cholinergic differentiation factor is distinct from leukemia inhibitory factor and ciliary neurotrophic factor, two well-characterized cytokines that alter the neurotransmitter properties of cultured sympathetic neurons in a similar fashion. Recent studies indicate that anterograde signalling is also important for the establishment of functional synapses in this system. We have found that the production of cholinergic differentiation activity by sweat glands required sympathetic innervation, and the acquisition and maintenance of secretory competence by sweat glands depends upon functional cholinergic innervation. 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

中国园蛛7新种（蛛形纲：蜘蛛目）

报道了我国园蛛科7新种,即:云南园蛛Araneus yunnanensis、景洪金蛛Argiopejing hongensis、长垂驼蛛Cyphalonolus elongalus、石门壮头蛛Chorizopes shimenensis、勐海曲腹蛛Cyrlarachne menghaiensis 、文山肥蛛Larinia wenshanensis 和十字亮腹蛛Singa cruciformis。