A STUDY OF BIOETHICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTIONS IN KOREA

This study assessed the knowledge and perception of human biological materials (HBM) and biorepositories among three study groups in South Korea. The relationship between the knowledge and the perception among different groups was also examined by using factor and regression analyses. In a self‐reporting survey of 440 respondents, the expert group was found more likely to be knowledgeable and positively perceived than the others. Four factors emerged: Sale and Consent, Flexible Use, Self‐Confidence, and Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Action restriction perception. The results indicate that those who are well aware of the existence of biobanks were more positively inclined to receive the Sale and Consent perception. As a result of the need for high quality HBMs and the use of appropriate sampling procedures for every aspect of the collection and use process, the biorepository community should pay attention to ethical, legal, and policy issues.     

EFFECT OF ASSESSORS EXPERTISE LEVEL ON EFFICIENCY OF WARM-UP FOR TRIANGLE TESTS

The effect of warm-up on performance for repeated triangle tests is studied according to assessors' expertise level for both triangle test strategy and the pair of products to compare. Three experiments performed with orange flavored soft drinks show that the effect of warm-up depends on the assessors' expertise: (1) naive assessors do not increase their performance with warm-up; (2) assessors with a moderate practice of both triangle tests and the pair of products improve their performance with warm-up; (3) assessors with a moderate practice of triangle tests, but not familiar with the pair of products, improve their performance with warm-up too; and (4) assessors highly experienced for both triangle tests and products do not improve their performance with warm-up. These results support the idea that the positive effect of warm-up is due to an attentional process: Warm-up seems to help assessors focusing their attention on the dimension on which the two products are actually different and ignoring the other dimensions. Thus, results show that assessors are able to learn the difference between the two products and to learn to focus their attention on this difference at any time. They also suggest that prior knowledge of the triangle test scheme is required to benefit from warm-up.     

The Analysis of Homegarden Plant Diversity at the Mongolian Household Level in Horqin Sandy Land——A Case Study in Horqin Left Wing Real Banner of Inner Mongolia

In order to show the function of agricultural protection of biodiversity at the level of homegarden, comparative analysis was operated between 20 farmer households through random sampling and farmers recommended in Horqin Left Wing Real Banner Tongliao city Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and 10 farmer households of the Han nationality in the neighborhood. Thirty sampling plots of homegardens are investigated. The result indicates there are 100 homegarden plants in Bashou village, 84 in Hariwusu livestock farm, and 87 in Gongjihao village. It involves the cultivated and wild vegetables, fruits, and plants used for ornamental, medicine and forage. The comparative analysis of species richness demonstrates, among these villages the species richness of Bashou village is highest, while Hariwusu livestock farm is lowest. The former village contributes greatly to the conservation of plant biodiversity. These differences result from their respectively different natural conditions, homegarden areas, homegarden history, homegarden management conditions, traditional knowledge and culture understanding of homegarden manager, local farmers and herdsmen on homegarden plants.The homegarden plants from the three investigated villages are cataloged preliminary in the end of the paper.     

电离辐射对蛋白质分子作用的量子孤波分析

本文运用量子力学方法对蛋白质分子中孤波传播的非线性动力学特征进行了探讨。研究表明：电离辐射产生的自由基对蛋白质分子的伤害将会对携带能量、信息的孤立子波传播产生较为显著的影响。     

CNNM proteins selectively bind to the TRPM7 channel to stimulate divalent cation entry into cells

Magnesium is essential for cellular life, but how it is homeostatically controlled still remains poorly understood. Here, we report that members of CNNM family, which have been controversially implicated in both cellular Mg²⁺ influx and efflux, selectively bind to the TRPM7 channel to stimulate divalent cation entry into cells. Coexpression of CNNMs with the channel markedly increased uptake of divalent cations, which is prevented by an inactivating mutation to the channel’s pore. Knockout (KO) of TRPM7 in cells or application of the TRPM7 channel inhibitor NS8593 also interfered with CNNM-stimulated divalent cation uptake. Conversely, KO of CNNM3 and CNNM4 in HEK-293 cells significantly reduced TRPM7-mediated divalent cation entry, without affecting TRPM7 protein expression or its cell surface levels. Furthermore, we found that cellular overexpression of phosphatases of regenerating liver (PRLs), known CNNMs binding partners, stimulated TRPM7-dependent divalent cation entry and that CNNMs were required for this activity. Whole-cell electrophysiological recordings demonstrated that deletion of CNNM3 and CNNM4 from HEK-293 cells interfered with heterologously expressed and native TRPM7 channel function. We conclude that CNNMs employ the TRPM7 channel to mediate divalent cation influx and that CNNMs also possess separate TRPM7-independent Mg²⁺ efflux activities that contribute to CNNMs’ control of cellular Mg²⁺ homeostasis.

Magnesium is essential for cellular life, but how is it homeostatically controlled? This study shows that proteins of the CNNM family bind to the TRPM7 channel to stimulate divalent cation entry into cells, independent of their function in regulating magnesium ion efflux.     

Inflammatory mediators and cartilage biomarkers in synovial fluid after a single inflammatory insult: a longitudinal experimental study

Introduction  

Inflammation is an important feature of many joint diseases, and levels of cartilage biomarkers measured in synovial fluid may be influenced by local inflammatory status. Little is known about the magnitude and time course of inflammation-induced changes in cartilage tissue turnover as measured in vivo by synovial fluid markers. We aimed to study temporal changes in concentrations of inflammatory mediators, matrix metalloproteinase activity and cartilage biomarkers over 1 week in joints with experimentally induced inflammation.     

TRPM7 regulates polarized cell movements

TFM (L-trifluoromethionine), a potential prodrug, was reported to be toxic towards human pathogens that express MGL (L-methionine γ-lyase; EC 4.4.1.11), a pyridoxal phosphate-containing enzyme that converts L-methionine into α-oxobutyrate, ammonia and methyl mercaptan. It has been hypothesized that the extremely reactive thiocarbonyl difluoride is produced when the enzyme acts upon TFM, resulting in cellular toxicity. The potential application of the fluorinated thiomethyl group in other areas of biochemistry and medicinal chemistry requires additional studies. Therefore a detailed investigation of the theoretical and experimental chemistry and biochemistry of these fluorinated groups (CF?S? and CF?HS?) has been undertaken to trap and identify chemical intermediates produced by enzyme processing of molecules containing these fluorinated moieties. TvMGL (MGL from Trichomonas vaginalis) and a chemical model system of the reaction were utilized in order to investigate the cofactor-dependent activation of TFM and previously uninvestigated DFM (L-difluoromethionine). The differences in toxicity between TFM and DFM were evaluated against Escherichia coli expressing TvMGL1, as well as the intact human pathogen T. vaginalis. The relationship between the chemical structure of the reactive intermediates produced from the enzymatic processing of these analogues and their cellular toxicity are discussed.     

冷却肉糜辐照脂肪氧化影响因素与抑制效果研究

研究了低剂量辐照、抗氧化剂、包装条件以及贮藏时间等影响辐照冷却肉脂肪氧化的主要因素和抑制效果.结果表明,对冷却猪肉的辐照处理会加剧其脂肪的氧化,真空包装或无氧包装可以明显的降低贮藏期间辐照冷却肉的脂肪氧化.辐照处理前在肉糜中添加抗氧化剂并采用真空包装时, 肉糜可以贮藏2周以上而不产生脂肪氧化.比较几种主要的抗氧化剂的效果表明,茶多酚在抑制辐照冷却肉糜脂肪氧化方面效果最好.