Development of Fatal Intestinal Inflammation in MyD88 Deficient Mice Co-infected with Helminth and Bacterial Enteropathogens

Infections with intestinal helminth and bacterial pathogens, such as enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, continue to be a major global health threat for children. To determine whether and how an intestinal helminth parasite, Heligomosomoides polygyrus, might impact the TLR signaling pathway during the response to a bacterial enteropathogen, MyD88 knockout and wild-type C57BL/6 mice were infected with H. polygyrus, the bacterial enteropathogen Citrobacter rodentium, or both. We found that MyD88 knockout mice co-infected with H. polygyrus and C. rodentium developed more severe intestinal inflammation and elevated mortality compared to the wild-type mice. The enhanced susceptibility to C. rodentium, intestinal injury and mortality of the co-infected MyD88 knockout mice were found to be associated with markedly reduced intestinal phagocyte recruitment, decreased expression of the chemoattractant KC, and a significant increase in bacterial translocation. Moreover, the increase in bacterial infection and disease severity were found to be correlated with a significant downregulation of antimicrobial peptide expression in the intestinal tissue in co-infected MyD88 knockout mice. Our results suggest that the MyD88 signaling pathway plays a critical role for host defense and survival during helminth and enteric bacterial co-infection.     

Photosynthetic characteristics and effect of ATP in transgenic rice with phospho<Emphasis Type="Italic">enol</Emphasis>pyruvate carboxylase and pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase genes

In the untransformed rice (WT) and transgenic rice with the PEPC and PPDK genes (CK) we determined activities of C₄ photosynthetic enzymes, photosynthetic response to irradiance and temperature, the metabolic index of active oxygen, and the yield component factors. The activities of C₄ photosynthetic enzymes in WT were very low, while those of corresponding enzymes in CK were highly observable. Moreover, after adenosine triphosphate (ATP) treatment, and under high irradiance and high temperature, the net photosynthetic rate of CK increased by 17 and 12 %, respectively, as compared to that achieved without ATP treatment. The resistance of CK against photo-oxidation was enhanced under these conditions, and CK yield increased by 15 %. ATP treatment enhanced the photosynthetic productivity of CK, thereby proving that ATP is the key factor in enhancing the photosynthetic capacity of transgenic rice with C₄ gene. Our new technical approach can be used in breeding rice with high photosynthetic efficiency and high grain yield.     

红藻氨酸致敏癫痫大鼠海马内AP-1 DNA结合活性和成分的改变

一次皮下注射惊厥剂量（７．５ｍｇ／ｋｇ）的红藻氨酸（ｋａｉｎｉｃ ａｃｉｄ,ＫＡ）诱发Ｆｉｓｈｅｒ３４４大鼠出现急性癫痫发作,７ｄ后即可形成癫痫敏感大鼠,继用Ｇｅｌ ｓｈｉｆｔ、Ｓｕｐｅｒ－ｓｈｉｆｔ和Ｗｅｓｔｅｍ ｂｌｏｔ方法测定大鼠海马内ＡＰ－１ ＤＮＡ结合活性及其组成成分。Ｇｅｌ ｓｈｉｆｔ结合显示,癫痫敏感大鼠海马内ＡＰ－１ ＤＮＡ结合活性的基础水平较对照组为高;Ｓｕｐｅｒ－ｓｈｉｆｔ实研     

小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性生化机制初探

以定虫隆汰选的抗性指数为23.78倍抗性种群(CH-R),并以上海田间种群(SH-R,对定虫隆的抗性指数为9.16倍)作为参比种群,研究小菜蛾Plutella xylostlla(L.)对定虫隆的抗性机制,结果表明：CH—R种群多功能氧化酶O-脱甲基活力比相对敏感种群(SZ-S)提高1倍,而SH-R种群多功能氧化酶O-脱甲基活力虽有所提高,但与SZ-S种群相比差异并不显著;CH-R和SH-R种群羧酸酯酶比活力均明显高于Sz-S种群,分别为SZ-S种群的4.61和2.18倍,且CH-R种群的Km仅为SZ-S种群的1/20;酸性磷酸酯酶和碱性磷酸酯酶比活力种群间无明显差异;CH-R种群的几丁质酶活力降低48%,酚氧化酶活力降低60%。说明小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性机制具有多因子性,多功能氧化酶解毒代谢能力的提高可能是主导抗性机制之一,羧酸酯酶、几丁质酶和酚氧化酶也参与了小菜蛾对定虫隆的抗性。     

雌激素对淀粉样β蛋白代谢的调节和毒性缓解

以淀粉样β蛋白为主的老年斑胞外沉积和神经元内神经原纤维缠结,是阿尔采末病(AD)特征性的病理学改变。近来,人们逐渐认可淀粉样蛋白假说,即认为淀粉样蛋白沉积是AD最初起因。研究人员正在寻找针对淀粉样β蛋白沉积的药物,雌激素是其中之一。初步的工作证明,雌激素能够调节淀粉样β蛋白前体代谢,减少淀粉样β蛋白生成,也能够减轻淀粉样B蛋白引起的免疫炎症反应、氧应激对细胞造成的损伤,和对抗细胞凋亡。     

Overexpression of the mango MiCO gene delayed flowering time in transgenic Arabidopsis

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - CONSTANS (CO)/CONSTANS-like (COL) genes play an important role in the photoperiodic flowering pathway. However, the functional roles of the CO/COL...     

Could the recycled yarns substitute for the virgin cotton yarns: a comparative LCA

Purpose

Cotton yarns spun from natural fibers are widely used in the apparel industry. Most of waste cotton goods are now disposed by incineration or landfill, which brings resource and environmental challenges to the society. Using the waste cotton to spin yarns is an alternative way to forward a more sustainable future. In this research, two scenarios for the environmental impacts of yarns spun from corresponding fibers are investigated, including recycled cotton fibers and virgin cotton fibers.

Methods

The life cycle assessment (LCA) has been conducted according to the collected data from on-site investigation of typical production factories. The life cycle for the recycled cotton yarn production is divided into five stages, i.e., raw material acquisition, transportation, breaking, mixing, and spinning. The life cycle of virgin cotton yarn production is been divided into four stages, i.e., raw material acquisition, transportation, mixing, and spinning. The functional unit is 1000 kg produced yarns which are used for weaving into the fabrics. Notable impacts on climate change, fossil depletion, water depletion, and human toxicity were observed.

Results

The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results show that environmental impacts of recycled cotton yarns are far less than those of virgin cotton yarns, except for climate change and water depletion. The reason is that the land occupation and irrigation water have great impact on environmental impacts of cotton cultivation. In spinning, the electricity is the key factor whose environmental impacts account for the most in the virgin cotton yarn scenario, while the electricity and water consumptions are the key factors for the recycled cotton yarn scenario in the life cycle of yarn production. The sensitivity analysis indicates that improving energy efficiency can significantly reduce environmental burdens for both the two scenarios. The uncertainty distribution of water depletion, human toxicity, fossil depletion, and climate change of the two scenarios were determined with a 90% confidence interval.

Conclusions

The LCIA results reveal recycled cotton yarn is a viable alternative to relieve resource and environmental pressure. About 0.5 ha of agricultural land can be saved, 6600 kg CO₂ eq can be reduced, and 2783 m³ irrigation water can be saved by using 1000 kg of the recycled cotton yarns. It can be concluded that the recycled cotton fibers can be served as a substitute for virgin cotton fibers to reduce agricultural land and avoid environmental impacts generated from the cotton planting.