Role of IKK/NF-κB signaling in extinction of conditioned place aversion memory in rats

The inhibitor κB protein kinase/nuclear factor κB (IKK/NF-κB) signaling pathway is critical for synaptic plasticity. However, the role of IKK/NF-κB in drug withdrawal-associated conditioned place aversion (CPA) memory is unknown. Here, we showed that inhibition of IKK/NF-κB by sulphasalazine (SSZ; 10 mM, i.c.v.) selectively blocked the extinction but not acquisition or expression of morphine-induced CPA in rats. The blockade of CPA extinction induced by SSZ was abolished by sodium butyrate, an inhibitor of histone deacetylase. Thus, the IKK/NF-κB signaling pathway might play a critical role in the extinction of morphine-induced CPA in rats and might be a potential pharmacotherapy target for opiate addiction.     

Is food resource partitioning responsible for deviation of echolocation call frequencies from allometry in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhinolophus macrotis</Emphasis>?

There is an apparent allometric relationship between peak frequency of echolocation and body size in rhinophilids. However, some rhinolophids deviate from this rule. To date this variation has been explained as a result of partitioning of communication channels. An alternative hypothesis that food resource partitioning results in this divergence in expected frequencies was tested by comparing prey selection between Rhinolophus macrotis Blyth, 1844 and Rhinolophus lepidus Blyth, 1844 in Yunnan Province, China. These two sympatric species are morphologically similar but acoustically divergent: R. macrotis has an echolocation frequency significantly lower than that predicted by the allometric relationship, whereas that of R. lepidus agreed with expectations. Prey selection experiments, conducted in a flight tent, indicated that the dominant prey taxa of R. macrotis were Lasiocampidae, Arctiidae and Noctuidae, whilst that of R. lepidus were Arctiidae, Noctuidae and Ichneumonidae. R. macrotis ate more earless moths and fewer eared moths than R. lepidus, and R. macrotis fed on larger prey in general and captured a wider size range than that captured by R. lepidus. These results confirmed the existence of finely tuned trophic niche differentiation and suggested that food resource partitioning is one of the factors leading to lower peak frequency of calls in R. macrotis.     

花椒总生物碱镇痛、抗炎、止痒作用研究

目的:研究花椒生物碱镇痛、抗炎及止痒作用。方法:分别采用热板法考察其镇痛作用二甲苯致炎法考察其抗炎作用、低分子右旋糖酐-40诱发小鼠皮肤瘙痒研究其止痒作用。结果:中、高浓度的花椒生物碱对小鼠热刺激引起的疼痛具有较强的镇痛作用;高浓度的花椒生物碱能较强抑制二甲苯所致小鼠耳肿胀,并能缓解分子右旋糖酐-40诱发的小鼠皮肤瘙痒。具有较强的抗炎、止痒作用。结论:花椒生物碱具有较强的镇痛、抗炎、止痒作用。     

Di‐Spiro‐Based Hole‐Transporting Materials for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) are essential for enabling highly efficient perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) to extract and transport the hole carriers. Among numerous HTMs that are studied so far, the single‐spiro‐based compounds are the most frequently used HTMs for achieving highly efficient PVSCs. In fact, all the new spiro‐based HTMs reported so far that render PVSCs over 20% are based on spiro[fluorene‐9,9′‐xanthene] or spiro [cyclopenta [2,1‐b:3,4b′]dithiophene‐4,9′‐fluorene] cores; therefore, there is a need to diversify the design of their structures for further improving their function and performance. In addition, the fundamental understanding of structure–performance relationships for the spiro‐based HTMs is still lagging, for example, how molecular configuration, spiro numbers, and heteroatoms in spiro‐rings impact the efficacy of HTMs. To address these needs, two novel H‐shaped HTMs, G1 and G2 based on the di‐spiro‐rings as the cores are designed and synthesized. The combined good film‐forming properties, better interactions with perovskite, slightly deeper highest occupied molecular orbital, higher mobility and conductivity, as well as more efficient charge transfer for G2 help devices reach a very impressive power conversion efficiency of 20.2% and good stability. This is the first report of demonstrating the feasibility of using di‐spiro‐based HTMs for highly efficient PVSCs.     

Identification of NaCl and NaHCO3 stress responsive proteins in tomato roots using iTRAQ-based analysis

Soil salinity and alkalinity are common constraints to crop productivity in low rainfall regions of the world. However, the physiological difference of plant response to these two stresses was short of deep investigation. This study has identified a set of differentially expressed proteins of tomato root exploring to NaCl and NaHCO₃ stress by iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) assay. A total of 313 proteins responsive to NaCl and NaHCO₃ were observed. Among these proteins, 70 and 114 proteins were up-regulated by salt and alkali stress, respectively. While down-regulated proteins were 80 in salt treatment and 83 in alkali treatment. Only 39 up-regulated proteins and 30 down-regulated proteins were shared by salt and alkali stresses. The majority of the down-regulated proteins accounted for metabolism and energy conversion, and the up-regulated proteins were involved in signaling or transport. Compared with salt stress, alkali stress down-regulated proteins related with the respiratory metabolism, fatty acid oxidative metabolism and nitrogenous metabolism of tomato roots, and up-regulated protein with the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and ion transport. This study provides a novel insight into tomato roots response to salt and alkali stress at a large translation level.     

CO_2倍增对植物生长和土壤微生物生物量碳、氮的影响

关于大气ＣＯ２浓度倍增（即为７００μｍｏｌＣＯ２·ｍｏｌ－１空气）将对植物生长产生诸多影响,已有大量报道［１,２］。但ＣＯ２倍增对植物及所在土壤中微生物影响的研究甚少［３,４］。土壤微生物是陆地生态系统中最活跃的成分,担负着分解动植物残体的重要作用,...     

Identifying Hfq-binding small RNA targets in Escherichia coli

The Hfq-binding small RNAs (sRNAs) have recently drawn much attention as regulators of translation in Escherichia coli. We attempt to identify the targets of this class of sRNAs in genome scale and gain further insight into the complexity of translational regulation induced by Hfq-binding sRNAs. Using a new alignment algorithm, most known negatively regulated targets of Hfq-binding sRNAs were identified. The results also show several interesting aspects of the regulatory function of Hfq-binding sRNAs.     

五株木糖利用酵母的生理代谢特性

摘要:【目的】木质纤维素是地球上最丰富的可再生资源,筛选具有高抗逆和高效利用木糖能力的菌株对纤维素类可再生资源综合利用具有重大意义。【方法】论文以5株利用木糖的酵母,即树干毕赤酵母(Scheffersomyces stipitis,S.stipitis)、Candida tenuis (C.tenuis)、Spathaspora passalidarum (S.passalidarum)、Candida amazonensis(C. amazonensis)和Candida jeffriesii(C. jeffriesii)为研究对象,研究了其对温度、乙醇浓度、渗透压的耐受性,采用杜氏小管实验研究了其对常用碳源和氮源的利用能力,另外通过木糖发酵实验初步研究了被测试酵母在有氧和限氧条件下的木糖发酵性能。【结果】结果表明,S. passalidarum能够耐受44 ℃左右的高温,对多种碳源和氮源具有较强的利用能力,此外,S. passalidarum在有氧与限氧条件下均能快速代谢木糖,限氧条件下乙醇得率达0.43 g/g。C. amazonensis对纤维二糖具有较强发酵能力,代谢木糖产生木糖醇和少量乙醇,同时该酵母耐受温度在42 ℃左右。综合比较,其他酵母在实验过程中没有表现出明显优势。【结论】S. passalidarum 在纤维素工业化应用中是一株良好的生产候选菌株。此外,C. amazonensis具有较强的木糖醇生产能力,有望成为一株优良的木糖醇生产菌株。