Direct detection of beta-1,3-glucanase isozymes on polyacrylamide electrophoresis and isoelectrofocusing gels

A procedure to assay isozymes of beta-1,3-glucanase directly on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and isoelectrofocusing (IEF) gels by using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride is described. The reagent reacts with reducing sugars released by beta-1,3-glucanases from the substrate laminarin. Acidic and neutral isozymes of beta-1,3-glucanase were detected and quantified on 17.5% native PAGE gels run with an anodic buffer system. A significant linear relationship (alpha = less than 0.01, R = 0.991) was observed between amounts of beta-1,3-glucanase loaded and intensity of bands stained with the reagent on native PAGE gels. A full isozyme pattern was obtained on 7.5% IEF gels with a pH range of 3.5-9.5. The IEF gels were heated in a microwave oven during the staining process to minimize diffusion.     

Substituted dipiperidine alcohols as potent CCR2 antagonists

The synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of substituted dipiperidine alcohols are described. Structure-activity relationship studies led to the discovery of potent CCR2 antagonists displaying IC(50) values in the nanomolar or subnanomolar range. The cinnamoyl compounds had higher binding affinities than the corresponding urea analogs.     

Leishmania mexicana pifanoi: in vivo and in vitro interactions between amastigotes and macrophages

Macrophages of the cell line J774 were used in a comparative study of virulence involving amastigote stages of Leishmania mexicana pifanoi isolated from macrophages (AMA-M) of the aforementioned cell line, amastigote forms grown in the UM-54-cell-free medium (AMA-C), and promastigote stages. The macrophage cultures were inoculated with AMA-M and AMA-C at the culture cell to parasite ratios of 1:3, 1:5, and 1:10. The macrophages were exposed to either kind of amastigotes for 24, 48, and 72 h. At the end of each of these periods, and for each dilution, the percentages of macrophages harboring the parasites within their cytoplasm and the mean numbers of intracellular parasite/macrophage were estimated on the basis of examination of 200 phagocytes. When either AMA-M or AMA-C were employed, after 24 h, the percentages of infected macrophages were, respectively, 84.5%, 89.0%, and 94.5% for the three aforementioned dilutions, the majority of the phagocytes containing 1-5 parasites. After 48- and 72-h exposures, the macrophages harbored 6-11 and 11-20 amastigotes/cell, respectively. Evidently intracellular multiplication of the amastigotes has taken place. In contrast to the results obtained with amastigote forms, after inoculations of the macrophages cultures with promastigotes at the dilutions previously used for amastigotes, only 48-78 phagocytes were found to contain intracellular stages within their cytoplasm. Many macrophages were parasite-free, especially when exposed to fewer promastigotes. Experiments in which 5 X10(6) promastigotes, AMA-M, or AMA-C were inoculated into the footpads of hamsters yielded the following results with regard to terminal footpad volumes: 1.57, 3.31, and 3.32 cm3, respectively. Evidently both kinds of amastigotes had equal virulence for hamsters; however, the promastigote stages were much les virulent for these experimental hosts.     

浙江建德青冈常绿阔叶林凋落量研究

 本文报道了浙江建德青冈常绿阔叶林的凋落量及各类凋落物的凋落特征。 6年的测定结果表明,青冈林的年均凋落量为5547.6kg/(hm2·a),其中枯叶量占68.32%,枯枝、落果、其它凋落物各占14.82%、15.04%和1.82%。各类凋落量具有明显的季节与年际变化规律,其季节分配还具年际波动现象。各类凋落物的凋落特征从一定角度反映了植物群落一般的生物学与生态学特性,以及植物对特殊环境条件的适应性。     

A robust two-gene signature for glioblastoma survival prediction

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly malignant brain tumor. We explored the prognostic gene signature in 443 GBM samples by systematic bioinformatics analysis, using GSE16011 with microarray expression and corresponding clinical data from Gene Expression Omnibus as the training set. Meanwhile, patients from The Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database (CGGA) were used as the test set and The Cancer Genome Atlas database (TCGA) as the validation set. Through Cox regression analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis, t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding algorithm, clustering, and receiver operating characteristic analysis, a two-gene signature (GRIA2 and RYR3) associated with survival was selected in the GSE16011 dataset. The GRIA2-RYR3 signature divided patients into two risk groups with significantly different survival in the GSE16011 dataset (median: 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64-0.98, vs median: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.65-1.61 years, logrank test P < .001), the CGGA dataset (median: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.70-1.18, vs median: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.95-2.94 years, logrank test P = .0017), and the TCGA dataset (median: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.86-1.24, vs median: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.04-1.85 years, logrank test P = .0064), validating the predictive value of the signature. And the survival predictive potency of the signature was independent from clinicopathological prognostic features in multivariable Cox analysis. We found that after transfection of U87 cells with small interfering RNA, GRIA2 and RYR3 influenced the biological behaviors of proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioblastoma cells. In conclusion, the two-gene signature was a robust prognostic model to predict GBM survival.