Extracts from MDX and normal mouse skeletal muscle contain similar levels of mitogenic activity for myoblasts

The mdx mouse has been used as an animal model for human Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Unlike DMD, skeletal muscles of mdx mice undergo successful regeneration and do not show extensive fibrosis and functional impairment. Growth factors have been proposed to be involved in muscle growth and regeneration. We compared mitogenic activity for skeletal myoblasts released after injury in mdx and control mice, using crushed muscle extract (CME) as a model system. We found that CMEs from normal and mdx mice contained similar mitogenic activities per microgram protein, and produced similar maximal levels of mitogenic stimulation. Skeletal muscles from mdx mice, however, released higher amounts of CME protein per gram of muscle weight compared to controls, possibly as a result of histological or physiological alterations in mdx muscle tissue. Adequate mitogenic activity in CME from mdx muscles may be related to successful muscle regeneration in mdx mice.     

Genome-wide analysis of Nilaparvata lugens nymphal responses to high-density and low-quality rice hosts

The brown planthopper （BPH） Nilaparvata lugens is an economically impor- tant pest on rice plants. In this study, the higher population density and yellow-ripe stage of rice plants were used to construct adverse survival conditions （ASC） against BPH nymphs. Simultaneously, the low population density and tillering stage of rice plants were used to establish a suitable survival condition （SSC） as a control. Solexa/Illumina sequencing was used to identify genes of BPH nymphs responding to ASC. Significantly longer duration development of BPH nymphs and significantly lower brachypterous ratio of BPH adults were observed by ASC compared with SSC. A total of 2 544 differentially expressed genes （DEGs） were obtained and analyzed by BLASTx, Gene Ontology and KEGG Orthology. Gene ontology analysis revealed that the DEGs were mainly involved in categories of cell, cell part, cellular process, binding, catalytic, organelle and metabolic processes. 1138 DEGs having enzyme commission numbers were assigned to different metabolic pathways. The largest clusters were neurodegenerative diseases （137, 12.0%）, followed by carbohy- drate metabolism （113, 9.9%）, amino acid metabolism （94, 8.3%）, nucleotide metabolism （76, 6.7%）, energy metabolism （64, 5.6%）, translation （60, 5.3%）, lipid metabolism （58, 5.1%）, and folding, sorting and degradation （52, 4.6%）. Expressing profile of 11 DEGs during eight nymphal developmental stages of BPH were analyzed by quantitative real- time polymerase chain reaction. The 11 genes exhibited differential expression between ASC and SSC during at least one developmental stage. The DEGs identified in this study provide molecular proof of how BPH reconfigures its gene expression profile to adapt to overcrowding and low-quality hosts.     

中国人肤纹研究：Ⅲ.中国52个民族的肤纹聚类

中国有56个民族,肤纹学研究中的最后一个民族——门巴族——的肤纹研究至今刚刚完成。根据52个民族的122个群体指掌纹的11个参数:TFRC、a-bRC、A、L~u、L~r、W、T、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ、H做聚类分析,在系统树上可以见到南方群、混合群、北方群。混合群包括了各自南、北方民族的聚类群,聚类群与其地理位置有平行关系,南北间以长江或北纬30°～33°度为界带。     

Shewanella oneidensis MR-1-Induced Fe(III) Reduction Facilitates Roxarsone Transformation

Although microbial activity and associated iron (oxy)hydroxides are known in general to affect the environmental dynamics of 4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid (roxarsone), the mechanistic understanding of the underlying biophysico-chemical processes remains unclear due to limited experimental information. We studied how Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 –a widely distributed metal-reducing bacterium, in the presence of dissolved Fe(III), affects roxarsone transformations and biogeochemical cycling in a model aqueous system. The results showed that the MR-1 strain was able to anaerobically use roxarsone as a terminal electron acceptor and to convert it to a single product, 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzene arsonic acid (AHBAA). The presence of Fe(III) stimulated roxarsone transformation via MR-1-induced Fe(III) reduction, whereby the resulting Fe(II) acted as an efficient reductant for roxarsone transformation. In addition, the subsequent secondary Fe(III)/Fe(II) mineralization created conditions for adsorption of organoarsenic compounds to the yielded precipitates and thereby led to arsenic immobilization. The study provided direct evidence of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1-induced direct and Fe(II)-associated roxarsone transformation. Quantitative estimations revealed a candidate mechanism for the early-stage environmental dynamics of roxarsone in nature, which is essential for understanding the environmental dynamics of roxarsone and successful risk assessment.     

Iridoid and phenylethanoid/phenylpropanoid metabolite profiles of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scrophularia</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Verbascum</Emphasis> species used medicinally in North America

Introduction

Botanicals containing iridoid and phenylethanoid/phenylpropanoid glycosides are used worldwide for the treatment of inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions that are primary causes of human years lived with disability, such as arthritis and lower back pain.

Objectives

We report the analysis of candidate anti-inflammatory metabolites of several endemic Scrophularia species and Verbascum thapsus used medicinally by peoples of North America.

Methods

Leaves, stems, and roots were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed in MetaboAnalyst 3.0 after processing the datasets in Progenesis QI.

Results

Comparison of the datasets revealed significant and differential accumulation of iridoid and phenylethanoid/phenylpropanoid glycosides in the tissues of the endemic Scrophularia species and Verbascum thapsus.

Conclusions

Our investigation identified several species of pharmacological interest as good sources for harpagoside and other important anti-inflammatory metabolites.

     

江西金盆山自然保护区种子植物区系研究

江西金盆山自然保护区位于江西省龙南县、全南县与信丰县的交汇处,为武夷山脉与南岭山脉之间的过渡区域,保护区植物种类丰富、区系地理成分复杂。经野外实地调查、查阅相关文献资料,对保护区内种子植物的科、属、种分布区类型进行统计分析。结果表明：（1）金盆山保护区共有野生种子植物161科659属1 474种,其中裸子植物6科7属7种,占江西裸子植物总种数（83种）的8.43%,被子植物155科652属1 467种,占江西被子植物总种数（4 369种）的33.58%。（2）区系分析显示,金盆山保护区内科的分布区类型中热带分布和温带分布分别占总科数（除去世界分布）的64.22%和35.77%,热带分布占优势地位;属的分布区类型中热带分布和温带分布分别占总属数（除去世界分布）的50.95%和47.55%,二者接近平衡;种的分布区类型中热带分布种和温带分布分别占总种数（除去世界分布）的33.98%和37.15%,而且中国特有种419种,占总种比的28.88%。（3）金盆山保护区种子植物具有单种属、寡种属多,植物区系起源古老的特点,其中有寡种属212属,占总属比的32.17%;单种属374属,占总属比的56.75%;其中寡种属所含种数537种,占总种比的36.43%。（4）与邻近6个保护区的植物区系比较表明,金盆山保护区与武夷山脉的联系较南岭山脉更近,而且金盆山保护区表现出比邻近的阳际峰等武夷山脉地区热带性质更明显。     

Cross-scale quality assessment of a mechanistic cation exchange chromatography model

Cation exchange chromatography (CEX) is an essential part of most monoclonal antibody (mAb) purification platforms. Process characterization and root cause investigation of chromatographic unit operations are performed using scale down models (SDM). SDM chromatography columns typically have the identical bed height as the respective manufacturing-scale, but a significantly reduced inner diameter. While SDMs enable process development demanding less material and time, their comparability to manufacturing-scale can be affected by variability in feed composition, mobile phase and resin properties, or dispersion effects depending on the chromatography system at hand. Mechanistic models can help to close gaps between scales and reduce experimental efforts compared to experimental SDM applications. In this study, a multicomponent steric mass-action (SMA) adsorption model was applied to the scale-up of a CEX polishing step. Based on chromatograms and elution pool data ranging from laboratory- to manufacturing-scale, the proposed modeling workflow enabled early identification of differences between scales, for example, system dispersion effects or ionic capacity variability. A multistage model qualification approach was introduced to measure the model quality and to understand the model's limitations across scales. The experimental SDM and the in silico model were qualified against large-scale data using the identical state of the art equivalence testing procedure. The mechanistic chromatography model avoided limitations of the SDM by capturing effects of bed height, loading density, feed composition, and mobile phase properties. The results demonstrate the applicability of mechanistic chromatography models as a possible alternative to conventional SDM approaches.     

水温与雌二醇对中国大鲵幼体生长与肝的影响

为探讨水温与外源17β-雌二醇(E2)暴露对中国大鲵(Andrias davidianus)幼体生长的影响,设置了3个水温、2个E2暴露浓度与3个暴露时间交互处理共18组,并在3个水温下设置了3个对照组,每组幼鲵20尾,分别在出膜143、182、248天称量各组幼鲵体重。为进一步探寻E2对幼鲵生长影响的原因,在出膜143天对幼鲵的肝进行了组织切片观察。结果表明,幼鲵在(20±1)℃水温下生长最快、在(13±1)℃生长次之、在1~16℃生长最慢;在(20±1)℃水温下,外源E2暴露对幼鲵生长具有一定的抑制作用,且暴露时间越长、抑制作用越强,暴露剂量越大、抑制作用越大;E2暴露浓度为25μg/L的幼鲵极少数肝细胞质内出现了脂肪空泡,肝血窦有所扩大;E2暴露浓度为250μg/L的幼鲵约30%肝细胞与细胞核肿大、细胞质中出现脂肪空泡、被覆在肝实质表面的上皮细胞向肝实质内迁移、肝血窦扩大等。本文认为,E2暴露对幼鲵肝组织结构造成的损伤,可能是抑制幼鲵生长的主要原因。     

Development of software for human muscle force estimation

Muscle force estimation (MFE) has become more and more important in exploring principles of pathological movement, studying functions of artificial muscles, making surgery plan for artificial joint replacement, improving the biomechanical effects of treatments and so on. At present, existing software are complex for professionals, so we have developed a new software named as concise MFE (CMFE). CMFE which provides us a platform to analyse muscle force in various actions includes two MFE methods (static optimisation method and electromyographic-based method). Common features between these two methods have been found and used to improve CMFE. A case studying the major muscles of lower limb of a healthy subject walking at normal speed has been presented. The results are well explained from the effect of the motion produced by muscles during movement. The development of this software can improve the accuracy of the motion simulations and can provide a more extensive and deeper insight in to muscle study.