Predicting protein folding rate from amino acid sequence

Predicting protein folding rate from amino acid sequence is an important challenge in computational and molecular biology. Over the past few years, many methods have been developed to reflect the correlation between the folding rates and protein structures and sequences. In this paper, we present an effective method, a combined neural network--genetic algorithm approach, to predict protein folding rates only from amino acid sequences, without any explicit structural information. The originality of this paper is that, for the first time, it tackles the effect of sequence order. The proposed method provides a good correlation between the predicted and experimental folding rates. The correlation coefficient is 0.80 and the standard error is 2.65 for 93 proteins, the largest such databases of proteins yet studied, when evaluated with leave-one-out jackknife test. The comparative results demonstrate that this correlation is better than most of other methods, and suggest the important contribution of sequence order information to the determination of protein folding rates.     

生物芯片技术在血栓研究中的应用

基因多态性是促进血管性疾病发生和发展的重要因素之一。血栓是血管性疾病的一种,其形成和发生是由多种遗传和环境因素共同作用的结果。通过生物芯片技术,对血栓相关基因的表达及调控网络进行研究,为进一步探讨血栓形成机制提供了新思路。本综述总结和分析了近年来生物芯片技术在血栓研究领域的应用科研成果,并对生物芯片技术在这一领域的应用前景进行了展望。     

Long‐term risk assessment on noneffective and effective toxic doses of imidacloprid to honeybee workers

Imidacloprid is the most widely used insecticide in agriculture. Its impact on honeybees has received worldwide attention. Foliar sprays are commonly and frequently used for piercing insect control, particularly on cotton in southern USA. To simulate field exposures of formulated imidacloprid (Advise^® 2Fl), we used a modified spray tower to treat honeybee workers and monitored five enzyme activities and survival for up to 52 days. Results indicated that spray treatments twice a week for 52 days with 0.001 and 1 mg/L and once a week for three weeks with 4.3 mg/L Advise showed no adverse effect on bee survival, where imidacloprid‐treated bees could live as long as untreated bees. Concentration ≥80 mg/L significantly reduced bee survival, and substantial number of bees continued to die after 48‐hr of post‐treatment period which was commonly used for measuring insecticide toxicity. The body weight of imidacloprid‐treated bees (at LC₂₀ and LC₅₀) was also significantly reduced. Enzymatic data showed that activities of detoxification enzymes esterase and glutathione S‐transferase (GST), insecticide‐target enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and honey enzyme invertase in imidacloprid‐treated survivors were mostly similar to those found in untreated bees. The immunity‐related phenoloxidase (PO) activity in imidacloprid‐treated survivors was also mostly similar to that of untreated control, but higher PO activity was detected in bees treated with higher concentrations for 3 weeks. By using both bioassays and enzymatic assays, this study revealed long‐term noneffective and effective concentrations of imidacloprid that may be useful for accurate assessment of toxicity risk of neonicotinoids to bees.     

Inhibition of TNFR1 Attenuates LPS Induced Apoptosis and Inflammation in Human Nucleus Pulposus Cells by Regulating the NF-KB and MAPK Signalling Pathway

Neurochemical Research - Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is accompanied by nucleus pulposus (NP) cell apoptosis, inflammation, and extracellular matrix degradation. Tumour necrosis factor...     

Oral immunization of mice with plant-derived fimbrial adhesin FaeG induces systemic and mucosal K88ad enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-specific immune responses

The importance of adhesins in pathogenicity has resulted in them being useful targets in the defense against bacterial infections. To produce edible vaccines against piglet diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), plants were genetically engineered to produce recombinant fimbrial adhesin FaeG. To evaluate the efficacy of the edible vaccine FaeG in mice, the soluble protein extracts were examined by about 15 microg recombinant FaeG for each oral immunization dose per mouse. After four doses of vaccination, both IgG and IgA antibodies specific to K88ad fimbriae were elicited in serum, and specific IgA antibodies were also evoked in feces of the immunized mice. Moreover, visible K88ad ETEC agglutination by the specific serum from the immunized mice was observed, implying the antibody was highly specific and effective. Results from an in vitro villous-adhesion assay further confirmed that serum antibodies of the immunized mice could inhibit K88ad ETEC from adhering to pig intestinal receptors, further demonstrating the oral immune efficacy of the plant-derived FaeG. This study provides a promising, noninvasive method for vaccinating swine by feeding supplements of transgenic plant. Moreover, the low cost and ease of delivery of this edible ETEC vaccine will facilitate its application in economically disadvantaged regions.     

跳虫分类简介

简要介绍了目前逐步被国际跳虫分类学界所接受、由Deharveng（2004）提出、Bellinger、Christiansen及Janssens（2009）等共同修改的一个最新跳虫分类系统——“弹尾纲”4目分类系统．供我国相关同行讨论和参考,、     

Flow injection chemiluminescence determination of isoniazid using the lucigenin-periodate system.

A weak chemiluminescence (CL) signal was observed during the mixing of isoniazid with lucigenin in alkaline aqueous solution. The CL signal was enhanced more than 100 times in the presence of potassium periodate. This CL system was developed for the determination of isoniazid using a flow injection mode. The CL intensity is proportional to the concentration of isoniazid in the range 0.005-1.0 mg/L. The limit of detection is 0.0034 mg/L and the relative standard deviation is 2.0% for 0.2 mg/L isoniazid solution in 11 repeated measurements. The method was applied to the determination of isoniazid in pharmaceutical preparations and satisfactory results were obtained.     

Chemiluminescence determination of naproxen based on europium(III)‐sensitized KIO4–H2O2 reaction

A simple and sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) method combined with flow injection technique was developed for the determination of naproxen. It was based upon the weak CL signal arising from the reaction of KIO₄ with H₂O₂ being significantly increased by naproxen in the presence of europium(III) ion. The experimental conditions that affected the CL signal were carefully optimized and the CL reaction mechanism was briefly discussed. Under the optimum conditions, the increment of CL intensity was proportional to the concentration of naproxen ranging from 5.0 × 10^?8 to 5.0 × 10^?6 g/mL. The detection limit was 1 × 10^?8 g/mL naproxen and the relative standard deviation for 5.0 × 10^?7 g/mL naproxen solution was 2.1% (n = 11). The proposed method was applied to the determination of naproxen in tablets and in spiked human urine samples with satisfactory results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.