Combination of newly developed high quality <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fuqu</Emphasis> with traditional <Emphasis Type="Italic">Daqu</Emphasis> for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Luzhou-flavor</Emphasis> liquor brewing

Application of a compound starter composed of traditional Daqu, high quality Fuqu developed previously in our lab, and alcohol-producing and aroma-producing yeasts in the brewing of Luzhou-flavor liquor was investigated. Compared with traditional Daqu, the compound starter demonstrated apparently higher starch utilization and alcohol productivity both in flasks and in pits. Flavor ingredient analyses showed that the flavor ingredient compositions of liquors produced with the compound starter were similar to those obtained with the traditional process. With appropriate after treatments, the compound starter may be applied in distilleries for elevating the productivity of traditional liquor or producing high quality new-style distilled liquor. As starch utilization can be increased significantly, using this compound starter in liquor brewing is especially meaningful for lessening environmental pollution. These findings may also be helpful for further understanding the mechanisms of Chinese liquor brewing.     

Pictures,Preparations, and Living Processes: The Production of Immediate Visual Perception (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anschauung</Emphasis>) in late-19th-Century Physiology

This paper addresses the visual culture of late-19th-century experimental physiology. Taking the case of Johann Nepomuk Czermak (1828–1873) as a key example, it argues that images played a crucial role in acquiring experimental physiological skills. Czermak, Emil Du Bois-Reymond (1818–1896) and other late-19th-century physiologists sought to present the achievements and perspective of their discipline by way of immediate visual perception (unmittelbare Anschauung). However, the images they produced and presented for this purpose were strongly mediated. By means of specifically designed instruments, such as the cardioscope, the contraction telegraph, and the frog pistol, and of specifically constructed rooms, so-called spectatoriums, physiologists trained and controlled the perception of their students before allowing them to conduct experiments on their own. Studying the material culture of physiological image production reveals that technological resources such as telegraphy, photography, and even railways contributed to making physiological facts anschaulich. At the same time, it shows that the more traditional image techniques of anatomy played an important role in physiological lecture halls, especially when it came to displaying the details of vivisection experiments to the public. Thus, the images of late 19th century physiology stood half-way between machines and organisms, between books and instruments.This paper was written in the context of ten project, The Experimentalizaiton of Life: Configurations of Life Sciences, Art, and Technology (1830–1930). The project is based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Dept. III: Hans-Jörg Rheinberger), Berlin, and receives funding from the Volkswagen Stiftung, Hannover. A first draft of this paper was presented, accompanied by Sven Dierig on the Virtual Laboratory, at the Institute of Theater Sciences, Free university Berlin, in December 2000. I would like to thank Sven Dierig and the other members of the project as well as Nick Hopwood, Skúli Sigurdsson and the anonymous referees and the editors of this journal for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. Thanks also to Laurie McLaughlin and Nancy Anderson for helping me with the English version of the text.     

PMicroRNA-124a regulates LPS-induced septic cardiac dysfunction by targeting STX2

Objective

To examine the role of miR-124a in LPS-induced septic cardiac insufficiency where underlying mechanism is unclear.

Results

Expression of miR-124a was decreased in myocardium of LPS-induced septic cardiac dysfunction model. miR-124a antagomiR or agomiR were injected via tail vein to induce miR-124a-dysregulated model. miR-124a antagomiR aggravated LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction and apoptosis, while miR-124a agomiR had the opposite effect. Syntaxin-2 (STX2) was indicated as a candidate target gene by bioinformatic software. Further experiments confirmed that STX2 was downregulated in miR-124a agomiR-treated rats but upregulated in miR-124a antagomiR-treated rats, and STX2 inhibition could strongly block the miR-124a antagomiR-associated increase in cell apoptosis. Luciferase reporter activity assay indicated that STX2 was a direct target of miR-124a. Serological detection reveled that miR-124a was down-regulated in the plasma of septic cardiac dysfunction rats.

Conclusions

miR-124a aggravates LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction and the miR-124a/STX2 pathway might serve as the potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for septic cardiac dysfunction.

     

Integrating multiple analytical approaches to spatially delineate and characterize genetic population structure: an application to boreal caribou (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rangifer tarandus caribou</Emphasis>) in central Canada

Individual-based clustering (IBC) methods have become increasingly popular for the characterization and delineation of genetic population units for numerous species. These methods delineate populations based on the genetic assumptions of a breeding unit which may provide a better representation of the behaviour of the species. The increasing use of IBC has resulted in the development of several analytical models all of which vary in their theoretical assumptions to infer genetic population structure. In this paper, we report a comparative strategy utilizing three IBC methods to characterize the spatial genetic structure of the boreal population of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in central Canada. In addition, we implement both tests for isolation-by-distance (IBD) and frequency-based assignment tests to validate the consensus genetic clusters as defined by IBC. We also compare indirect metrics of genetic diversity and gene flow using both a priori defined herds and the IBC defined populations. Although our results show some concordance between both pre-defined herds and IBC derived genetic clusters, the IBC analyses identified a cluster that was cryptic to observation-based caribou herds and found no difference between several adjacent herds. By comparing multiple IBC methods and integrating both IBD and indirect genetic diversity metrics a posteriori, our strategy provides an effective means to delineate wildlife population structure and accurately assess genetic diversity and connectivity.     

Molecular mechanisms of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombyx batryticatus</Emphasis> ethanol extract inducing gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells apoptosis

Bombyx batryticatus is a traditional Chinese medicine. To understand apoptotic effect of B. batryticatus ethanol extract (BBE), we investigated the role of BBE in inducing apoptosis of human gastric cancer cells SGC-7901. Cells treated with BBE and apoptosis was assessed by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, morphological changes, DNA fragmentation and flow cytometry assays. The expression of Bcl-2, Bax and P21 were evaluated by western blot analysis and real time polymerase chain reaction. MTT assay showed that the cytotoxicity of BBE extract on SGC-7901 cells was correlated with treatment time and concentration. After treatment with 6 mg/mL of BBE the microscopy showed that, the majority of SGC-7901 cells were obviously reduced, distorted and grew slowly. Annexin-V/propidium iodide double-staining assay emerge the early apoptosis and the late apoptosis after treatment with different times by laser confocal fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometer. Cell cycle analysis of SGC 79 cells showed that BBE induced cell cycle arrest in the G1 and G2 phases. DNA fragmentation indicated the trend of BBE inducing apoptosis on SGC-7901 cells. The qRT-PCR and western blot analysis indicated that the mRNA and protein expressions of Bax and P21 were significantly up-regulated whereas that of Bc1-2 was down-regulated after treatment with BBE for 24 h. Our results revealed a correlation between gene regulation and BBE-induced apoptosis, which might indicate the potential of BBE in cancer therapy.     

Sunfleck limits the small-scale distribution of endangered <Emphasis Type="Italic">Kingdonia uniflora</Emphasis> in the natural habitat of subalpine forest proved by its photosynthesis

The physiological effects of sunflecks on understory plants are poorly understood. Kingdonia uniflora is an endemic and endangered species in China, with a patchy distribution over much of its range. Sunflecks are reportedly the likely dominant factor in determining its patchy distribution. We studied the photosynthesis of K. uniflora in the field to test whether understory sunflecks result in photoinhibition and, thereby, potentially influence its patchy distribution. K. uniflora exhibited the low dark respiration rates, low light compensation points, and low light saturation points characteristic of shade-tolerant plants, allowing maintenance during the long periods of low understory light. Moreover, K. uniflora was able to regulate light energy utilization by non-photochemical quenching in low light. Gas exchange parameters were measured in six treatments (sunfleck-enriched, sunfleck-enriched with added saturation light, sunfleck-enriched with filtered ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation , sunfleck-limited, sunfleck-limited with added saturation light, and sunfleck-limited with filtered UV-B). The sunfleck-enriched treatment caused photoinhibition in K. uniflora, in part due to a UV-B-induced decrease in Pn. In addition, the application of simulated sunflecks indicated that K. uniflora leaves do not need continuous light. The photosynthetic responses of K. uniflora to sunflecks indicate that the sunflecks are a limiting factor in the small-scale distribution of K. uniflora.     

Genetic Control of Variable and Constant Regions of Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains

IMMUNOGLOBULIN polypeptide chains consist of two well defined regions designated the “variable region” and the “constant region”. Whereas great diversity exists in amino-acid sequences of variable regions, the constant regions of a given subclass of heavy chains (C_H)^* are essentially invariant in sequence^{1, 2}. Exceptions are the allelic forms, such as the rabbit allotypes A14 and A15^{3, 4}, where a threonine-alanine interchange occurs in the constant region of γ chains (Appella, Chersi, R. G. M. and Dubiski, in preparation). The markers unique to a chains (for example, A14-A15) are closely linked to allotypic markers at the a locus (a1, a2, a3)^{3, 4} which seem to be present on four different Ig heavy chain classes (α, γ, ε, µ)^5–7. These puzzling observations can be explained if the a locus determinants are variable region markers which reflect genetically controlled differences in some relatively constant residues within the V_H region sequences⁷.     

IGFBP-3 Inhibits the Proliferation of Neural Progenitor Cells

Insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) plays an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells. The effects of IGF-1 can be regulated by insulin like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) which can either inhibit or stimulate the proliferation of cells depending on the expression of proteases that can release IGF-1 from IGF1-IGFBP3 complex. Although IGF-1 is essential for the development of brain, both IGFBP-3 and IGF-1 are elevated in the brains of children younger than 6 months of age. Likewise, IGFBP-3 is also upregulated following cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. However, the role of IGFBP-3 in neurogenesis is not clear. Using an in vitro culture system of rat neural progenitor cells, we demonstrate that IGFBP-3 specifically regulates the IGF-1 mediated neural progenitor cell proliferation via down regulation of phopho-Akt, and cyclin D1. In addition, IGFBP-3 also decreased the content of nestin in the neural progenitor cells indicating its potential role in neurogenesis.     

A model of motor and sensory axon activation in the median nerve using surface electrical stimulation

Surface electrical stimulation has the potential to be a powerful and non-invasive treatment for a variety of medical conditions but currently it is difficult to obtain consistent evoked responses. A viable clinical system must be able to adapt to variations in individuals to produce repeatable results. To more fully study the effect of these variations without performing exhaustive testing on human subjects, a system of computer models was created to predict motor and sensory axon activation in the median nerve due to surface electrical stimulation at the elbow. An anatomically-based finite element model of the arm was built to accurately predict voltages resulting from surface electrical stimulation. In addition, two axon models were developed based on previously published models to incorporate physiological differences between sensory and motor axons. This resulted in axon models that could reproduce experimental results for conduction velocity, strength-duration curves and activation threshold. Differences in experimentally obtained action potential shape between the motor and sensory axons were reflected in the models. The models predicted a lower threshold for sensory axons than motor axons of the same diameter, allowing a range of sensory axons to be activated before any motor axons. This system of models will be a useful tool for development of surface electrical stimulation as a method to target specific neural functions.