Monophosphoryl lipid A alleviated radiation-induced testicular injury through TLR4-dependent exosomes

Radiation protection on male testis is an important task for ionizing radiation-related workers or people who receive radiotherapy for tumours near the testicle. In recent years, Toll-like receptors (TLRs), especially TLR4, have been widely studied as a radiation protection target. In this study, we detected that a low-toxicity TLR4 agonist monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) produced obvious radiation protection effects on mice testis. We found that MPLA effectively alleviated testis structure damage and cell apoptosis induced by ionizing radiation (IR). However, as the expression abundance differs a lot in distinct cells and tissues, MPLA seemed not to directly activate TLR4 singling pathway in mice testis. Here, we demonstrated a brand new mechanism for MPLA producing radiation protection effects on testis. We observed a significant activation of TLR4 pathway in macrophages after MPLA stimulation and identified significant changes in macrophage-derived exosomes protein expression. We proved that after MPLA treatment, macrophage-derived exosomes played an important role in testis radiation protection, and specially, G-CSF and MIP-2 in exosomes are the core molecules in this protection effect.     

Complete Genome Sequence of Klebsiella oxytoca E718, a New Delhi Metallo-β-Lactamase-1-Producing Nosocomial Strain

We report the complete genome sequence of Klebsiella oxytoca E718, a New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1)-producing strain isolated from a renal transplant patient. The genome contains a 6,097,032-bp chromosome and two multidrug resistance plasmids with sizes of 324,906 bp and 110,781 bp.     

Effects of garcinol on free radical generation and NO production in embryonic rat cortical neurons and astrocytes

Garcinol (camboginol) is a polyisoprenylated benzophenone derivative isolated from fruit rind of Garcinia indica. This study was to elucidate the anti-oxidative and neuroprotective properties of garcinol in rat cortical neuron cultures. First, garcinol protects DNA from Fenton reaction-induced breakage in a dose-dependent manner, with an IC(50) value of 0.32 microM. Garcinol also inhibits xanthine oxidase activity with an IC(50) value of 52 microM and exhibits competitive inhibition. To further ascertain the neuroprotective effects of garcinol in inflammatory-mediated neurotoxicity, we utilized primary neuron/astrocyte co-cultures treated with LPS or cytokine. Our data implicate that treatment with garcinol (5 microM) for 7 days promotes neuronal attachment and neurite extension. The formation of nitric oxide (NO) by LPS in rat astrocytes has been suggested to correlate with the neurodegenerative process. In identifying the effect of neuroprotection, we found that garcinol prevented NO accumulation in LPS-treated astrocytes. Garcinol significantly reduced the expression of LPS-induced inflammatory mediators, such as iNOS and COX-2. Consequently, our results suggest that the neuroprotective effects of garcinol are associated with anti-oxidation and inhibition of iNOS induction in astrocytic cells. Garcinol may exert a similar anti-inflammatory effect and may be neuroprotective against brain injury.     

P13 K、p-AKT及HIF-1α在胰腺癌中的表达及意义

目的 检测P13K、p-AKT及HIF-1α三种蛋白在胰腺癌组织中的表达并探讨其与临床病理因素的关系及三者之间的相关性.方法 采用免疫组织化学SP法检测43例胰腺癌组织、9例胰腺炎组织和8例正常胰腺组织中P13K、p-AKT及HIF.1a三种蛋白的表达.结果 P13K、p-AKT的阳性表达主要位于肿瘤细胞胞浆,HIF-1α的阳性表达主要位于细胞核或细胞浆.P13K、p-AKT及HIF-1α在胰腺癌组织中的阳性表达率分别为62.79%、67.44%和69.77%,三者均显著高于在正常胰腺组织和慢性胰腺炎组织中的表达,差异有统计学意义(P<0.01).P13K、p-AKT及HIF-1α的异常表达均与胰腺癌的淋巴结转移和TNM分期有关(P<0.05),与患者的性别、年龄、部位、分化程度和病理分型无关(P>0.05).P13K、p-AKT及HIF-1α三者间的表达呈正相关.结论 P13K、p-AKT及HIF-1α的表达在胰腺癌的生长、浸润转移中起重要作用,P13K-AKT信号通路激活可能促进HIF-1α的表达.     

稻、麦秸秆对球形棕囊藻(Phaeocystis globosa)生长的抑制作用

考查了秸秆及其浸出液对球形棕囊藻(Phaeocystis globosa)生长的影响,分析了秸秆附着微生物及秸秆物理吸附作用对秸秆抑藻活性的影响,观察了稻杆浸出液对藻细胞形态的影响。结果显示,一定量的物理破碎稻杆、麦杆及其浸出液均可有效抑制棕囊藻的生长,灭菌与未灭菌秸杆之间抑藻效果相差不大。不同条件处理的秸杆浸出液总酚含量与抑藻作用间均存在很大差异,但两者之间并无明显相关性。原子力显微镜观察发现,秸秆处理组细胞膜破裂、细胞塌陷,结构不完整,细胞粗糙度明显增加。这些结果提示微生物和物理吸附对秸杆抑藻作用的贡献很小,秸秆中存在的或降解产生的抑藻活性成分是秸秆抑藻的主要原因;除了酚酸类物质外,秸杆中可能存在其他可以显著抑制藻类生长的物质;秸秆通过破坏藻细胞的膜结构,导致藻细胞出现空洞,细胞内容物流出,从而抑制或杀灭藻细胞。     

An effective reliability-driven technique of allocating tasks on heterogeneous cluster systems

In large-scale heterogeneous cluster computing systems, processor and network failures are inevitable and can have an adverse effect on applications executing on such systems. One way of taking failures into account is to employ a reliable scheduling algorithm. However, most existing scheduling algorithms for precedence constrained tasks in heterogeneous systems only consider scheduling length, and not efficiently satisfy the reliability requirements of task. In recognition of this problem, we build an application reliability analysis model based on Weibull distribution, which can dynamically measure the reliability of task executing on heterogeneous cluster with arbitrary networks architectures. Then, we propose a reliability-driven earliest finish time with duplication scheduling algorithm (REFTD) which incorporates task reliability overhead into scheduling. Furthermore, to improve system reliability, it duplicates task as if task hazard rate is more than threshold \(\theta \) . The comparison study, based on both randomly generated graphs and the graphs of some real applications, shows that our scheduling algorithm can shorten schedule length and improve system reliability significantly.     

Copper uptake and translocation in chicory ( Cichorium intybus L. cv. Grasslands Puna) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Rondy) plants grown in NFT system. I. Copper uptake and distribution in plants

The uptake and distribution of copper was examined in chicory (Cichorium intybus L. cv. Grasslands Puna) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentumMill. cv. Rondy) plants grown in a Nutrient Film Technique System (NFT) with addition of 0.05, 5, 10 and 20 mg Cu L^-1. Biomass production of shoots and roots of both chicory and tomato was strongly depressed by Cu concentrations higher than 5 mg Cu L^-1 in the rooting media. Although Cu concentrations in both shoots and roots of both species increased with increasing Cu concentrations in the rooting media, the increase in roots was very much greater than that in shoots, in which the range of concentrations was small. A large proportion of total Cu uptake was retained by roots except when plants were grown in solution Cu concentrations of 0.05 mg Cu L^-1. Copper retention by roots limited Cu translocation to xylem and shoots. Copper adsorption by the root appears to buffer against increases of Cu in the rooting media. A cupric-sensitive electrode used in conjunction with total Cu analysis by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry (GFAAS) indicated that more than 99.6% of total Cu in xylem sap was in a complexed form. Large differences between measured and predicted Cu accumulation by shoots of tomato (0.134–0.243 mg Cu plant^-1, 0.660–4.274 mg Cu plant^-1, respectively) and chicory (0.095–0.203 mg Cu plant^-1, 0.626–1.620 mg Cu plant^-1, respectively) suggest that some xylem transported Cu is recirculated to roots via the phloem. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.