Cerebrospinal fluid Th1/Th2 cytokine profiles in children with enterovirus 71‐associated meningoencephalitis

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection can cause severe neurological complications including meningoencephalitis (ME) in some patients with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). However, to date no studies have reported changes in cytokine concentrations and their correlations with clinical variables in patients with ME following EV71 infection. In this study, responses of Th1/Th2 cytokine, including IL‐2, IL‐4, IL‐6, IL‐10, TNF‐α and IFN‐γ, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with EV71‐related HFMD with ME and patients with febrile convulsions (FC) were analyzed using cytometric bead array technology. It was found that CSF IL‐6 and IFN‐γ concentrations were significantly higher in patients with EV71‐related ME than in those with FC. Additionally, both CSF IL‐6 and IFN‐γ concentrations were correlated with CSF cytology, fever duration and duration of hospital stay. More interestingly, a positive correlation between CSF IL‐6 and IFN‐γ concentrations was observed. Finally, receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that when a cutoff value of 9.40 pg/mL was set for IL‐6, the sensitivity and specificity were 84.5% and 85.5%, respectively, for discriminating EV71‐related ME from FC. In conclusion, IL‐6 and IFN‐γ may be associated with EV71‐induced neuropathology.     

厦门港纤小裸甲藻（Takayama pulchellum）的形态、生长及分子特征

在2003年厦门港发生的一次裸甲藻赤潮中分离得到了纤小裸甲藻（Takayama pulchellum）,并对其形态学进行了光镜和电镜的观察,该株藻细胞个体较小,长约20～23μm,宽约14～20μm.藻细胞外表卵圆形,细胞上壳有一条明显的S形顶沟,顶沟是特异性的反S形.与模式种相比,这一株裸甲藻细胞核更靠上部,大部分细胞横沟都没有偏移.纤小裸甲藻在盐度为28时比生长率最大,达到0.42,随着盐度下降,比生长率也跟着下降,当盐度下降到16时,生长率为0.盐度范围在8～16时,超过80%的藻类能存活48h;当盐度低于4时,生长率和存活率都为0.24～27℃是纤小裸甲藻的最适生长温度,比生长率超过0.50,当温度升到30℃时,生长率急剧下降到约0.35.毒素测定结果显示该株裸甲藻不含麻痹性贝毒和神经性贝毒.本株纤小裸甲藻大亚基D1～D2区序列长度为721bp,与基因库中该种的一株相似种同源性超过99%.对18株裸甲藻转录间隔区（ITS）序列建立的系统进化树显示,纤小裸甲藻和Karlodinium micrum的距离最近,通过ITS序列建立的系统发育树大致能够把Akashiwo属、Karenia属、Karlodinium属和Takayama属与Gymnodinium属区分开来.     

Discovery of potent, selective, orally active benzoxazepine-based Orexin-2 receptor antagonists

During our efforts to identify a series of potent, selective, orally active human Orexin-2 Receptor (OX2R) antagonists, we elucidated structure-activity relationship (SAR) on the 7-position of a benzoxazepine scaffold by utilizing Hammett σ(p) and Hansch-Fujita π value as aromatic substituent constants. The attempts led to the discovery of compound 1m, possessing good in vitro potency with over 100-fold selectivity against OX1R, good metabolic stability in human and rat liver microsome, good oral bioavailability in rats, and in vivo antagonistic activity in rats by oral administration.     

不同生境草鱼肠道微生物组成和群落特征分析

[目的]分析不同生境来源的草鱼前肠、中肠和后肠的微生物组成和群落特征.[方法]利用16S rRNA高通量测序技术比较河流、湖泊、高密度池塘养殖与水库低密度养殖4种不同生境来源的草鱼其前、中、后肠的微生物组成和群落特征.[结果]Venn图、稀释性曲线和Alpha指数分析结果显示,前肠微生物群落多样性以养殖生境草鱼更高,而...     

Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae

Diatoms and other algae not only survive, but thrive in sea ice. Among sea ice diatoms, all species examined so far produce ice-binding proteins (IBPs), whereas no such proteins are found in non-ice-associated diatoms, which strongly suggests that IBPs are essential for survival in ice. The restricted occurrence also raises the question of how the IBP genes were acquired. Proteins with similar sequences and ice-binding activities are produced by ice-associated bacteria, and so it has previously been speculated that the genes were acquired by horizontal transfer (HGT) from bacteria. Here we report several new IBP sequences from three types of ice algae, which together with previously determined sequences reveal a phylogeny that is completely incongruent with algal phylogeny, and that can be most easily explained by HGT. HGT is also supported by the finding that the closest matches to the algal IBP genes are all bacterial genes and that the algal IBP genes lack introns. We also describe a highly freeze-tolerant bacterium from the bottom layer of Antarctic sea ice that produces an IBP with 47% amino acid identity to a diatom IBP from the same layer, demonstrating at least an opportunity for gene transfer. Together, these results suggest that the success of diatoms and other algae in sea ice can be at least partly attributed to their acquisition of prokaryotic IBP genes.     

Cloning and characterization of a novel human RNA binding protein gene PNO1.

Present work reported the cloning and characterization of a human novel RNA binding gene Partner of NOB1 (PNO1), with a length of 1637bp and a putative open reading frame of 759 bp, isolated from human kidney. It is composed of seven exons and is localized on chromosome 2p14. Western blot showed that the molecular weight of PNO1 is about 35kDa. RT-PCR results in 16 human tissues indicated that PNO1 is expressed mainly in liver, lung, spleen and kidney, slightly in thymus, testis, ovary, respectively, but not in heart, brain, skeletal muscle, placenta, pancreas, prostate, small intestine, colon and peripheral blood leukocytes. GFP fusion expression in mammalian cells exhibited its localization in the nucleus, especially in nucleoli. Subcellular localization of thirteen GFP fusion PNO1 deletion proteins showed that the region of 92-230 aa is solely responsible for its nucleolar retention, and KH domain alone is not sufficient for nucleolar retention. The PNO1 family shows significant conservation in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes.     

Association of the CTLA4 Gene with Graves' Disease in the Chinese Han Population

To determine whether genetic heterogeneity exists in patients with Graves'' disease (GD), the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated 4 (CTLA-4) gene, which is implicated a susceptibility gene for GD by considerable genetic and immunological evidence, was used for association analysis in a Chinese Han cohort recruited from various geographic regions. Our association study for the SNPs in the CTLA4 gene in 2640 GD patients and 2204 control subjects confirmed that CTLA4 is the susceptibility gene for GD in the Chinese Han population. Moreover, the logistic regression analysis in the combined Chinese Han cohort revealed that SNP rs231779 (allele frequencies p = 2.81×10⁻⁹, OR = 1.35, and genotype distributions p = 2.75×10⁻⁹, OR = 1.42) is likely the susceptibility variant for GD. Interestingly, the logistic regression analysis revealed that SNP rs35219727 may be the susceptibility variant to GD in the Shandong population; however, SNP, rs231779 in the CTLA4 gene probably independently confers GD susceptibility in the Xuzhou and southern China populations. These data suggest that the susceptibility variants of the CTLA4 gene varied between the different geographic populations with GD.