Is the removal of aboveground shrub biomass an effective technique to restore a shrub‐encroached grassland?

Encroachment of woody plants into grasslands is a global phenomenon that has substantial impacts on pastoral productivity and ecosystem services. Over the past half century, pastoralists and land management agencies have explored various options to control woody plants in order to improve ecosystem services in shrub‐encroached grasslands. We examined the effectiveness of controlling the encroachment of the shrub Caragana microphylla into grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. We cut and removed all of the aboveground biomass from 450 shrubs, predicting that the effectiveness of this technique to control shrubs would depend on shrub morphology. Specifically, we expected that larger shrubs with more biomass would be more difficult to kill by cutting than smaller shrubs. A year after treatment, we found that cutting killed only 11% of the 450 treated shrubs, and of these, three‐quarters of the locations that they occupied reverted to grasses and one‐quarter to bare soil. Shrubs that survived the cutting treatment produced more stems and leaf biomass, and therefore had a greater leaf to stem ratio. Shrubs that died after cutting had a lower crown area and basal area, and less stem biomass than shrubs that resprouted within 12 months of cutting. There were no effects of shrub height on the fate of treated shrubs. Cutting had no effect on understory plant cover or richness, but reproductive plants were taller under shrubs that were not cut. Overall, our study showed that removing aboveground shrub biomass by cutting is an ineffective technique for “restoring” the original grassland community unless shrubs are very small. Strategic targeting of small shrubs would be a more effective technique for controlling the spread of C. microphylla in the long term.     

Enhancement of hyperthermia-induced apoptosis by local anesthetics on human histiocytic lymphoma U937 cells

The combined effects of hyperthermia at 44 degrees C and local anesthetics on apoptosis in human histiocytic lymphoma U937 cells were investigated. When the cells were exposed to hyperthermia for l0 min marginal DNA fragmentation and nuclear fragmentation were observed. In the presence of amide-type local anesthetics further enhancement was found depending on concentration. The order of the concentration required for maximum induction was the reverse order of the lipophilicity (prilocaine > lidocaine > bupivacaine). Western blotting revealed that in hyperthermia there was initial release of Ca(2+) from the intracellular store site as indicated by increased expression of the type 1 inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. However, the combination with lidocaine did not induce any further enhancement. Lidocaine enhanced the decrease in ATP content and the increase in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration in individual cells induced by hyperthermia. In addition, superoxide formation, decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential, and activation of intracellular caspase-3 were found in the cells treated with hyperthermia and lidocaine. All of these were suppressed in part in the presence of the intracellular Ca(2+) ion chelator BAPTA-AM (bis-(O-aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid-acetoxymethyl). The present results indicate that local anesthetics at optimal concentrations enhance hyperthermia-induced apoptosis via Ca(2+)- and mitochondria-dependent pathways. Initial release of Ca(2+) from intracellular store sites caused by hyperthermia and followed by the subsequent increase in the intracellular Ca(2+) concentration and the additional activation of the mitochondrial caspase-dependent pathway (partly regulated by intracellular Ca(2+) concentration) plays a crucial role in the enhancement of apoptosis induced by the combination of hyperthermia and lidocaine.     

满族新生儿血红蛋白F中G_γ／A_γ比值测定及其异常者γ－珠蛋白基因图谱分析

以聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳方法测定了３３１例辽宁满族新生儿脐带血血红蛋白Ｆ中Ｇγ／Ａγ比值。结果显示：高Ｇγ（＞８０％）者４例,占１．２１％,其基因频率（ｆ）为０．００６０４,低Ｇγ（３０－４８％）者６例,占１．８１％,其基因频率为０．００９０６,其余正常,Ｇγ平均值为６５．２３±６．３８％。未发现ＡγＴ链。对其中八例异常者（４例高Ｇγ值,４例低Ｇγ值）的染色体ＤＮＡ进行了基因图谱分析,确定４例高Ｇγ值者基因型有两种：Ｇγ－Ｇγ／Ｇγ－Ａγ二例,Ｇγ－ＡＧγ－Ａγ／Ｇγ－Ａγ二例;４例低Ｇγ值者基因型有二种,分别为：Ａγ－Ａγ／Ｇγ－Ａγ二例和－ＧＡγ／Ｇγ－Ａγ二例。其中Ａγ－Ａγ基因型在中国人群中未见报道过。     

皖南尖吻蝮蛇毒出血毒素Ⅳ的纯化与初步鉴定

从皖南尖吻蝮蛇（Ａｇｋｉｓｔｒｏｄｏｎａｃｕｔｕｓ）毒液中经ＤＥＡＥ－Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ和ＳｅｐｈａｃｒｙｌＳ－２００两步凝胶柱层析首次纯化出一种中分子量出血毒素（简称ＡａＨⅣ）．经ＳＤＳ－ＰＡＧＥ和等电聚焦凝胶电泳测定其分子量为４４ｋＤ,等电点为ｐＨ５．０．从５００ｍｇ粗毒中可获得２０ｍｇＡａＨⅣ纯品．ＡａＨⅣ有较强的出血活性,最小出血剂量（ＭＨＤ）为０．４μｇ．     

Defining essential stem cell characteristics in adipose-derived stromal cells extracted from distinct anatomical sites

The discovery of adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) has created many opportunities for the development of patient-specific cell-based replacement therapies. We have isolated multiple cell strains of ASCs from various anatomical sites (abdomen, arms/legs, breast, buttocks), indicating widespread distribution of ASCs throughout the body. Unfortunately, there exists a general lack of agreement in the literature as to their "stem cell" characteristics. We find that telomerase activity and expression of its catalytic subunit in ASCs are both below the levels of detection, independent of age and culturing conditions. ASCs also undergo telomere attrition and eventually senesce, while maintaining a stable karyotype without the development of spontaneous tumor-associated abnormalities. Using a set of cell surface markers that have been promoted to identify ASCs, we find that they failed to distinguish ASCs from normal fibroblasts, as both are positive for CD29, CD73 and CD105 and negative for CD14, CD31 and CD45. All of the ASC isolates are multipotent, capable of differentiating into osteocytes, chondrocytes and adipocytes, while fibroblasts show no differentiation potential. Our ASC strains also show elevated expression of genes associated with pluripotent cells, Oct-4, SOX2 and NANOG, when compared to fibroblasts and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs), although the levels were lower than induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Together, our data suggest that, while the cell surface profile of ASCs does not distinguish them from normal fibroblasts, their differentiation capacity and the expression of genes closely linked to pluripotency clearly define ASCs as multipotent stem cells, regardless of tissue isolation location.     

Screening of binding proteins that interact with human Salvador 1 in a human fetal liver cDNA library by the yeast two-hybrid system

Salvador promotes both cell cycle exit and apoptosis through the modulation of both cyclin E and Drosophila inhibitor of apoptosis protein in Drosophila. However, the cellular function of human Salvador (hSav1) is rarely reported. To screen for novel binding proteins that interact with hSav1, the cDNA of hSav1 was cloned into a bait protein plasmid, and positive clones were screened from a human fetal liver cDNA library by the yeast two-hybrid system. hSav1 mRNA was expressed in yeast and there was no self-activation and toxicity in the yeast strain AH109. Twenty proteins were found to interact with hSav1, including HS1 (haematopoietic cell specific protein1)-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1); neural precursor cell expressed, developmentally down-regulated 9, pyruvate kinase, liver and RBC, cytochrome c oxidase subunit Vb, enoyl coenzyme A hydratase short chain 1, and NADH dehydrogenase (ubiquinone) 1 beta subcomplex, demonstrating that the yeast two-hybrid system is an efficient method for investigating protein interactions. Among the identified proteins, there were many mitochondrial proteins, indicating that hSav1 may play a role in mitochondrial function. We also confirmed the interaction of HAX-1 and hSav1 in mammalian cells. This investigation provides functional clues for further exploration of potential apoptosis-related proteins in disease biotherapy.