Suppression of Grb2 expression improved hepatic steatosis, oxidative stress, and apoptosis induced by palmitic acid in vitro partly through insulin signaling alteration

In this study, we aimed to study the role of growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (Grb2) in palmitic acid-induced steatosis and other “fatty liver” symptoms in vitro. HepG2 cells, with or without stably suppressed Grb2 expression, were incubated with palmitic acid for 24 h to induce typical clinical “fatty liver” features, including steatosis, impaired glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. MTT and Oil Red O assays were applied to test cell viability and fat deposition, respectively. Glucose uptake assay was used to evaluate the glucose utilization of cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to measure expressional changes of key markers of insulin signaling, lipid/glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. After 24-h palmitic acid induction, increased fat accumulation, reduced glucose uptake, impaired insulin signaling, enhanced oxidative stress, and increased apoptosis were observed in HepG2 cells. Suppression of Grb2 in HepG2 significantly reduced fat accumulation, improved glucose metabolism, ameliorated oxidative stress, and restored the activity of insulin receptor substrate-1/Akt and MEK/ERK pathways. In addition, Grb2 deficiency attenuated hepatic apoptosis shown by reduced activation of caspase-3 and fluorescent staining. Modulation of Bcl-2 and Bak1 also contributed to reduced apoptosis. In conclusion, suppression of Grb2 expression in HepG2 cells improved hepatic steatosis, glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis induced by palmitic acid incubation partly though modulating the insulin signaling pathway.     

几种氨基酸─铜（Ⅱ）配合物的超氧化物歧化酶活性

用四氮唑蓝光化学还原法对所合成的ＫＣｕ（ＩＤＡ）（Ｓｅｒ）·２Ｈ２Ｏ、ＫＣｕ（ＩＤＡ）（Ａｌａ）·Ｈ２Ｏ、Ｃｕ（ＩＤＡ）（ｅｎ）、ＫＣｕ（ＩＤＡ）（Ｇｌｙ）·Ｈ２Ｏ和Ｃｕ（ＩＤＡ）·２Ｈ２Ｏ（ＩＤＡ＝Ｎ（羧基甲基）－甘氨酸,Ｓｅｒ＝丝氨酸,Ａｌａ＝丙氨酸,ｅｎ＝乙二胺,Ｇｌｙ＝甘氨酸）等５种氨基酸─铜（Ⅱ）配合物进行了活性测定,发现它们均具有天然超氧化物歧化酶活性,其活性依次为０．３４、０．４５、０．５０、０．５４、０．７２Ｃｕμｍｏｌ·Ｌ－１。     

Ⅱ型糖尿病的红细胞膜GPA基因表达

为了研究Ⅱ型糖尿病（ＮＩＤＤＭ）患者红细胞膜血型糖蛋白Ａ（ＧＰＡ）的基因表达,采用不连续聚蔗糖（Ｐｅｒｃｏｌ）密度梯度法分离１５名正常人和２５例ＮＩＤＤＭ患者外周血的网织红细胞,提取其总ＲＮＡ,继以Ｎｏｒｔｈｅｒｎ斑点杂交观测此两组的红细胞膜ＧＰＡ基因的表达水平．采用碱性磷酸酶酶联免疫检测完成红细胞膜ＧＰ的Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ印迹．结果表明,ＮＩＤＤＭ患者组红细胞膜ＧＰＡ的ｍＲＮＡ含量较正常人组显著增加（分别为１１．９２±１０．５和１０．１８±１．０８积分光密度,Ｐ＜０．０１）．免疫印迹图谱显示,有６例ＮＩＤＤＭ患者的区带３ａ、３ｂ界限模糊,３例的区带３ａ、３ｂ和４明显浅染．推测ＮＩＤＤＭ患者红细胞膜ＧＰＡ减少可能引起其基因表达呈代偿性增强,而障碍或许出现在翻译环节上,这些与ＮＩＤＤＭ患者红细胞变形能力（ＲＣＤ）的明显降低甚为相符．     

水稻病程相关PR1家族蛋白质在叶片生长及与白叶枯病菌互作反应中的表达

病程相关(PR)蛋白质经常被用作抗病反应的分子标记。利用免疫印迹(WB)技术检测了7个PR1家族蛋白质在水稻(Oryza sativa)叶片生长及与白叶枯病菌互作反应过程中的表达,发现6个PR1家族蛋白质在叶片生长中有表达。检测PR1蛋白质在Xa21介导的抗白叶枯病过程中的表达,结果显示PR1#052、PR1#072、PR1#073和PR1#121四个蛋白质在抗病反应后期呈上调或诱导表达,PR1#071则表达下调。进一步比较它们在抗病、感病和对照(Mock)反应中的表达丰度,发现在抗病和感病反应中的变化幅度均明显大于对照反应,推测这些PR蛋白质在水稻-白叶枯病菌互作反应中发挥作用。另外,对PR1基因上游启动子区的cis元件进行了分析。该研究初步揭示了水稻PR1家族蛋白质的表达谱,为进一步了解PR1蛋白质的功能提供了线索。     

Hummingbird tongues are elastic micropumps

Pumping is a vital natural process, imitated by humans for thousands of years. We demonstrate that a hitherto undocumented mechanism of fluid transport pumps nectar onto the hummingbird tongue. Using high-speed cameras, we filmed the tongue–fluid interaction in 18 hummingbird species, from seven of the nine main hummingbird clades. During the offloading of the nectar inside the bill, hummingbirds compress their tongues upon extrusion; the compressed tongue remains flattened until it contacts the nectar. After contact with the nectar surface, the tongue reshapes filling entirely with nectar; we did not observe the formation of menisci required for the operation of capillarity during this process. We show that the tongue works as an elastic micropump; fluid at the tip is driven into the tongue''s grooves by forces resulting from re-expansion of a collapsed section. This work falsifies the long-standing idea that capillarity is an important force filling hummingbird tongue grooves during nectar feeding. The expansive filling mechanism we report in this paper recruits elastic recovery properties of the groove walls to load nectar into the tongue an order of magnitude faster than capillarity could. Such fast filling allows hummingbirds to extract nectar at higher rates than predicted by capillarity-based foraging models, in agreement with their fast licking rates.     

有机类肥料对土壤养分含量的影响

绿色、可持续是我国发展现代农业的必然要求,肥料投入是关键之一。基于有机肥培肥土壤、生态友好的优势,发展和推广有机肥已经成为我国农业生产的一项基本国策。我国有机肥来源广泛、种类繁多,农业生产条件千差万别。本文分析了我国有机肥产品种类及标准现状、理化性质差异、碳氮矿化特性差异及影响因素,评述了施用有机肥对提高耕地基础地力的作用。因来源、制作工艺不同,不同有机肥的有机碳组分含量、全氮和活性氮含量、碳氮比等基本性质差异明显,这四者是影响有机肥碳氮矿化率、碳氮矿化量、碱解氮释放量等碳氮供应特性的主要内在因素;加之土壤环境等外界因素的影响,不同有机肥表现出不同的养分供应特性。总体上,有机肥一方面对提高土壤有机质含量,尤其是活性有机质含量和碳库管理指数效果明显,另一方面可增加土壤氮磷钾养分容量,减少作物生长消耗带来的土壤养分亏损,促进土壤质量良性发展。今后,应加强有机肥在耕地培肥中的应用,并加强有机肥肥效理论的基础研究和安全高效有机肥新产品的开发,促进有机肥资源的高效循环利用,使其成为重要的农业资源。     

117例医院真菌感染分析及预防

目的 了解佛山市南海人民医院真菌感染的分布,探讨有效预防和控制真菌感染的措施。方法 对该院117例真菌感染病例作回顾性分析。结果 3583例送检标本中真菌检出率为3．27％（117／3583）,医院内真菌感染率为2．95％（106／3583）。分离出真菌以白色念珠菌为主（70／117．59．8％）、热带念珠菌次之（17／117,14．5％）、霉菌居第3位（9／117．7．69％）。药敏显示：5-氟胞嘧啶、两性霉素B和制霉素敏感率较高,分别为92．4％、93．3％和92．5％,咪康唑、酮康唑和益康唑敏感率较低．为52．0％、49．0％和36．0％。结论 医院内真菌感染占真菌感染绝大部分,感染真菌以白色念珠菌为主。感染部位以呼吸道为主;临床规范、合理使用广谱抗生素,加强消毒护理工作。是预防控制真菌感染发生的最有效措施。     

云南省小黑山自然保护区种子植物区系研究

小黑山自然保护区有野生种子植物170科787属2195种。分析表明该区种子植物区系的地理成分复杂,联系广泛。热带性质的属有506属,占总属数的68.6%,温带性质的属有224属,占总属数的30.4%。热带性质的种890种,占总种数的40.9%,温带性质的种有1267种,占总种数的58.3%。表明该地区植物区系具有明显的亚热带性质,同时深受热带植物区系的影响。植物区系来源主要由东亚成分、热带亚洲成分(印度—马来西亚成分)、中国特有成分三部分融合而成。特有现象明显,有东亚特有科5科,中国特有属6属,中国特有种778种,占种总数的35.8%,而云南特有种有355种,占中国特有种的45.6%。保护区还拥有众多的珍稀濒危植物。     

植物microRNAs在植物发育和非生物胁迫响应中的作用

microRNAs(miRNAs)是一类内源的长度约为22个核苷酸的非编码小分子RNA,其通过对靶基因mRNA进行切割或翻译抑制调节mRNA的表达,在植物中起到重要的作用.主要介绍了植物miRNAs的特征、合成和作用机制,综述了miRNAs在植物生长发育和非生物胁迫响应中的作用.