血清P、β-HCG 联合检测预测和治疗先兆流产的临床研究

目的:探讨血清孕酮与β-HCG联合检测在预测早期先兆流产预后及其治疗的临床价值。方法:对340例早期先兆流产患者血清P与β-HCG进行检测,并与追踪到的妊娠结局进行分析。结果:血清P值>25 ng/ml、血β-HCG>50 mIU/ml患者66例占19.4%,经绝对卧床休息,未用药治疗,均胚胎发育正常;血清P值在15.94~25ng/ml、血β-HCG 10~50 mIU/ml患者170例占50%,经口服黄体酮与HCG针保胎治疗后均胚胎发育正常;血清P值<15.94 ng/ml、血β-HCG<10mIU/ml患者78例占22.9%,终止妊娠者均可见清除宫内组织物中几乎不见新鲜绒毛并伴有不同程度的陈旧性出血;血清孕酮与β-HCG上升不同步患者26例占7.6%,均最终难免流产。结论:联合检测血清孕酮与β-HCG可以预测先兆流产患者妊娠结局,对于指导治疗具有重要的临床价值,既避免不必要的药物干预及经济负担,又能起到提高保胎治疗的成功率。绒毛膜促性腺激素配伍口服天然黄体酮治疗由黄体功能不全引发的早期先兆流产,均能改善先兆流产患者的预后,且对母儿无不良影响,安全有效。     

Temporal and spatial variability of chlorophyll <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis> concentration in Lake Taihu using MODIS time-series data

In order to predict the distribution of chlorophyll a synoptically in Lake Taihu from 2006 to 2008, a common empirical algorithm was developed to relate time series chlorophyll a concentrations in the lake to reflectance derived as a function of band 2 MODIS data (r ² = 0.907, n = 145) using time series from 2005. The empirical model was further validated with chlorophyll a data from a 2008 to 2009 dataset, with RMSE < 7.48 μg l⁻¹ and r ² = 0.978. The seasonal and inter-annual variability of the surface chlorophyll a concentration from 2006 to 2008 was then examined using Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. The results revealed that the first four modes were significant, explaining 54.0% of the total chlorophyll a variance, and indicated that during the summer, algal blooms always occur in the northern bays, Meiliang Bay and Gonghu Bay, while they occur along the southwestern lakeshore during early summer, fall, and even early winter. The inter-annual variance analysis showed that the duration of algal blooms was from April to December of 2007, which was different from the bloom periods in 2006 and 2008. The results of EOF analysis show its potential for long-term integrated lake monitoring, not only in Lake Taihu but also in other large lakes threatened by accelerating eutrophication.     

Bacterial niche-specific genome expansion is coupled with highly frequent gene disruptions in deep-sea sediments

The complexity and dynamics of microbial metagenomes may be evaluated by genome size, gene duplication and the disruption rate between lineages. In this study, we pyrosequenced the metagenomes of microbes obtained from the brine and sediment of a deep-sea brine pool in the Red Sea to explore the possible genomic adaptations of the microbes in response to environmental changes. The microbes from the brine and sediments (both surface and deep layers) of the Atlantis II Deep brine pool had similar communities whereas the effective genome size varied from 7.4 Mb in the brine to more than 9 Mb in the sediment. This genome expansion in the sediment samples was due to gene duplication as evidenced by enrichment of the homologs. The duplicated genes were highly disrupted, on average by 47.6% and 70% for the surface and deep layers of the Atlantis II Deep sediment samples, respectively. The disruptive effects appeared to be mainly due to point mutations and frameshifts. In contrast, the homologs from the Atlantis II Deep brine sample were highly conserved and they maintained relatively small copy numbers. Likely, the adaptation of the microbes in the sediments was coupled with pseudogenizations and possibly functional diversifications of the paralogs in the expanded genomes. The maintenance of the pseudogenes in the large genomes is discussed.     

入侵植物五爪金龙生物学特性研究

通过栽培实验,观察入侵植物五爪金龙的形态学特征,测定两个不同生长期的生物量、根茎长度等指标,对实验数据进行统计分析,从几个方面研究五爪金龙的生物学特性。结果表明:生长期为6个月的五爪金龙生物量与生长期为3个月的五爪金龙生物量相比,根、茎、叶分别增长了2~5倍;平均含水量在7.41%~82.99%之间,两者无显著差异;两者之间的根冠比存在显著差异,但是跟其他草本植物相比,其根冠比相对较小;不同生长期的平均根长度分别为57cm、87cm,平均茎长度分别为319cm、714cm,两者之间的根茎比存在极显著差异。研究结果为进一步研究五爪金龙的入侵机制和控制五爪金龙的对策提供科学的理论依据。     

黄芪甲苷在大鼠体内的药代动力学和组织分布研究

建立了固相萃取-HPLC-MS测定大鼠血浆中黄芪甲苷含量的方法,并对其在大鼠体内的药代动力学和组织分布进行了研究。分别以1,2,4 mg/kg的剂量对大鼠静脉给药,给药后2,10,20,30,60 min和1.5,2,3,4,6,8 h采集血样,同时以2 mg/kg的剂量对大鼠静脉给药,给药后20,60,240 min采集各组织,测定血浆样品和组织样品中的黄芪甲苷浓度。血药浓度-时间曲线按二室模型拟合最佳,t1/2(α)分别为12.36,7.05,15.98 min,t1/2(β)分别为69.14,73.28,95.24 min,AUC分别为277.36,415.36,623.15μg.min/mL,AUC与剂量的线性方程为y=113.64x 173.47(r=0.997),表明黄芪甲苷在大鼠体内呈线性消除。组织分布研究表明黄芪甲苷在体内分布较广。     

Molecular characterization and expression analysis of a gene encoding mannose-binding lectin from bulb of Zephyranthes grandiflora

In this paper we report on the molecular cloning, sequencing and partially characterisation of a lectin from bulb of the Chinese medicinal plant Zephyranthes grandiflora. The full-length cDNA of Z. grandiflora bulb lectin (ZGBL) consisted of 986 bp and contained a 576 bp ORF encoding a 191 amino acid protein. Bioinformatics analysis results clearly indicate that ZGBL belongs to the monocot mannose-binding lectin family, which contains 3 putative mannose-binding sites per subunit. RT-PCR analysis results indicate that ZGBL is constitutively expressed in all the tested tissue types including root, bulb, leaf and flower. Interestingly, ZGBL is more closely related to the Orchidaceae rather than the Amaryllidaceae family on molecular evolution.     

FastUniq: A Fast De Novo Duplicates Removal Tool for Paired Short Reads

The presence of duplicates introduced by PCR amplification is a major issue in paired short reads from next-generation sequencing platforms. These duplicates might have a serious impact on research applications, such as scaffolding in whole-genome sequencing and discovering large-scale genome variations, and are usually removed. We present FastUniq as a fast de novo tool for removal of duplicates in paired short reads. FastUniq identifies duplicates by comparing sequences between read pairs and does not require complete genome sequences as prerequisites. FastUniq is capable of simultaneously handling reads with different lengths and results in highly efficient running time, which increases linearly at an average speed of 87 million reads per 10 minutes. FastUniq is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/fastuniq/.     

Gastric Cancer Exosomes Trigger Differentiation of Umbilical Cord Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Carcinoma-Associated Fibroblasts through TGF-β/Smad Pathway

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) promote tumor growth by differentiating into carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and composing the tumor microenvironment. However, the mechanisms responsible for the transition of MSCs to CAFs are not well understood. Exosomes regulate cellular activities by mediating cell-cell communication. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether cancer cell-derived exosomes were involved in regulating the differentiation of human umbilical cord-derived MSCs (hucMSCs) to CAFs.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We first showed that gastric cancer cell-derived exosomes induced the expression of CAF markers in hucMSCs. We then demonstrated that gastric cancer cell-derived exosomes stimulated the phosphorylation of Smad-2 in hucMSCs. We further confirmed that TGF-β receptor 1 kinase inhibitor attenuated Smad-2 phosphorylation and CAF marker expression in hucMSCs after exposure to gastric cancer cell-derived exosomes.

Conclusion/Significance

Our results suggest that gastric cancer cells triggered the differentiation of hucMSCs to CAFs by exosomes-mediated TGF-β transfer and TGF-β/Smad pathway activation, which may represent a novel mechanism for MSCs to CAFs transition in cancer.     

基于质谱技术筛选差异表达蛋白的统计学策略研究进展

随着质谱技术的快速发展,蛋白质组学已成为继基因组学、转录组学之后的又一研究热点,寻找可靠的差异表达蛋白对于生物标记物的发现至关重要.因此,如何准确、灵敏地筛选出差异蛋白已成为基于质谱的定量蛋白质组学的主要研究内容之一.目前,针对该问题的研究方法众多,但这些方法策略的适用范围不尽相同.总体来说,基于质谱技术筛选差异蛋白的统计学策略可以分为3类:基于经典统计学派的策略、基于贝叶斯学派的统计检验策略和其他策略,这3类方法有各自的应用范围、特点及不足.此外,筛选过程还将产生部分假阳性结果,可以采用其他方法对差异表达蛋白的质量进行控制,以提高统计检验结果的可靠性.     

海洋微藻对重金属镉胁迫的抗氧化应激适应性

近海海域重金属镉污染已成为全球性的环境灾难。镉对有机体的氧化应激胁迫是引发有机体毒害效应的关键原因。海洋微藻是海域生态系统中初级生产者,研究其抵抗镉氧化应激毒害的过程和机理对海洋生态学具有重要科学意义。海洋微藻在长期进化发展过程中,形成了耐受重金属镉毒害的生长适应性反应,抵抗镉氧化应激胁迫是海洋微藻减轻或消除镉毒害的关键所在。文章概述当前近海重金属镉的污染现状,归纳重金属镉对海洋微藻的氧化应激毒害效应,提出海洋微藻对镉胁迫的抗氧化应激适应性,简介几种典型的抗氧化应激酶类与非酶类物质,最后指出该领域的关键问题并进行展望。