溶解性有机质对土壤中有机污染物环境行为的影响

土壤中溶解性有机质(DOM)是生物活性和物理化学反应活性都很活跃的有机组分,主要通过疏水吸附、分配、氢键、电荷转移、共价键、范德华力等多种作用与有机污染物结合,提高溶液中有机污染物的溶解度,改变土壤中有机污染物的吸附-解吸、迁移-转化等环境行为．DOM对有机污染物的吸附-解吸、迁移-转化过程的影响有双重性：一方面,DOM与有机污染物在土壤表面的共吸附可增加土壤对有机污染物的吸附容量,促进有机污染物在土壤中的吸持;另一方面,DOM对有机污染物的增溶作用,有利于土壤中有机污染物的解吸,提高移动性．作为光敏剂,DOM能提高土壤中有机物的光解反应速率．在一定条件下,DOM也可影响土壤中有机污染物的水解过程．DOM对土壤中有机污染物环境行为的影响与DOM和有机污染物的性质及其相互作用的介质条件密切相关．     

我国禽脑脊髓炎病毒分离株全基因组的测定

测定了我国禽脑脊髓炎病毒(avian encephalomyelitis virus,AEV)分离株L2Z株的全基因组核苷酸序列.该病毒株的3′和5′非编码区核苷酸序列用3′和5′RACE(cDNA末端快速扩增)法获得.基因组全长为7 059个核苷酸残基,包括494个核苷酸残基的5′非编码区、6 402个核苷酸残基的开放阅读框和136个核苷酸残基的3′非编码区及poly(A)尾巴.与已发表的AEV疫苗株1 143的基因组序列比较发现,它们之间核苷酸和氨基酸的同源性分别为98%和97.6%.结构蛋白(VP1～VP4)中,主要宿主保护性免疫原蛋白VP1氨基酸之间差异较小.与小RNA病毒科其它病毒属相比,在非结构蛋白3D中,预测的8个RNA依赖性RNA聚合酶主要结构域中的4个高度保守.从而进一步确认了AEV的分子特性.     

In vivo regulatory phosphorylation site in c(4)-leaf phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from maize and sorghum

Reversible seryl-phosphorylation contributes to the light/dark regulation of C₄-leaf phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity in vivo. The specific regulatory residue that, upon in vitro phosphorylation by a maize-leaf protein-serine kinase(s), leads to an increase in catalytic activity and a decrease in malate-sensitivity of the target enzyme has been recently identified as Ser-15 in ³²P-phosphorylated/activated dark-form maize PEPC (J-A Jiao, R Chollet [1990] Arch Biochem Biophys 283: 300-305). In order to ascertain whether this N-terminal seryl residue is, indeed, the in vivo regulatory phosphorylation site, [³²P]phosphopeptides were isolated and purified from in vivo ³²P-labeled maize and sorghum leaf PEPC and subjected to automated Edman degradation analysis. The results show that purified light-form maize PEPC contains 14-fold more ³²P-radioactivity than the corresponding dark-form enzyme on an equal protein basis and, more notably, only a single N-terminal serine residue (Ser-15 in maize PEPC and its structural homolog, Ser-8, in the sorghum enzyme) was found to be ³²P-phosphorylated in the light or dark. These in vivo observations, combined with the results from our previous in vitro phosphorylation studies (J-A Jiao, R Chollet [1989] Arch Biochem Biophys 269: 526-535; [1990] Arch Biochem Biophys 283: 300-305), demonstrate that an N-terminal seryl residue in C₄ PEPC is, indeed, the regulatory site that undergoes light/dark changes in phosphorylation-status and, thus, plays a major, if not cardinal role in the light-induced changes in catalytic and regulatory properties of this cytoplasmic C₄-photosynthesis enzyme in vivo.     

Low-Dose Prospectively Electrocardiogram-Gated Axial Dual-Source CT Angiography in Patients with Pulsatile Bilateral Bidirectional Glenn Shunt: An Alternative Noninvasive Method for Postoperative Morphological Estimation

Objective

To explore the clinical value of low-dose prospectively electrocardiogram-gated axial dual-source CT angiography (low-dose PGA scanning, CTA) in patients with pulsatile bilateral bidirectional Glenn shunt (bBDG) as an alternative noninvasive method for postoperative morphological estimation.

Methods

Twenty patients with pulsatile bBDG (mean age 4.2±1.6 years) underwent both low-dose PGA scanning and conventional cardiac angiography (CCA) for the morphological changes. The morphological evaluation included the anatomy of superior vena cava (SVC) and pulmonary artery (PA), the anastomotic location, thrombosis, aorto-pulmonary collateral circulation, pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, etc. Objective and subjective image quality was assessed. Bland–Altman analysis and linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the correlation on measurements between CTA and CCA. Effective radiation dose of both modalities was calculated.

Results

The CT attenuation value of bilateral SVC and PA was higher than 300 HU. The average subjective image quality score was 4.05±0.69. The morphology of bilateral SVC and PA was displayed completely and intuitively by CTA images. There were 24 SVC above PA and 15 SVC beside PA. Thrombosis was found in 1 patient. Collateral vessels were detected in 13 patients. No pulmonary arteriovenous malformation was found in our study. A strong correlation (R²>0.8, P<0.001) was observed between the measurements on CTA images and on CCA images. Bland–Altman analysis demonstrated a systematic overestimation of the measurements by CTA (the mean value of bias>0).The mean effective dose of CTA and CCA was 0.50±0.17 mSv and 4.85±1.34 mSv respectively.

Conclusion

CT angiography with a low-dose PGA scanning is an accurate and reliable noninvasive examination in the assessment of morphological changes in patients with pulsatile bBDG.     

Salinity-induced changes in protein expression in the halophytic plant Nitraria sphaerocarpa

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that inhibits plant growth and development. Plants have evolved complex adaptive mechanisms that respond to salinity stress. However, an understanding of how plants respond to salinity stress is far from being complete. In particular, how plants survive salinity stress via alterations to their intercellular metabolic networks and defense systems is largely unknown. To delineate the responses of Nitraria sphaerocarpa cell suspensions to salinity, changes in their protein expression patterns were characterized by a comparative proteomic approach. Cells that had been treated with 150 mM NaCl for 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 days developed several stress-related phenotypes, including those affecting morphology and biochemical activities. Of ~1100 proteins detected in 2-DE gel patterns, 130 proteins showed differences in abundance with more than 1.5-fold when cells were stressed by salinity. All but one of these proteins was identified by MS and database searching. The 129 spots contained 111 different proteins, including those involved in signal transduction, cell rescue/defense, cytoskeleton and cell cycle, protein folding and assembly, which were the most significantly affected. Taken together, our results provide a foundation to understand the mechanism of salinity response.     

Lysosomal membrane permeabilization is involved in curcumin-induced apoptosis of A549 lung carcinoma cells

We previously reported that curcumin inhibited lung cancer A549 cells growth and promoted cell apoptosis in vitro. In this study, we further examined the apoptosis-related parameters, including lysosomal damage and cathepsin activation, in A549 cells exposed to curcumin. We found that curcumin caused lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) and cytosolic relocation of cathepsin B (cath B) and cathepsin D (cath D). However, only Z-FA-fmk (a cath B inhibitor) but not pepstatin A (a cath D inhibitor) inhibited curcumin-induced cell apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential loss, and cytochrome c release. The antioxidant N-acetylcysteine and glutathione attenuated LMP, suggesting that lysosomal destabilization was dependent on the elevation of reactive oxygen species and which precedes mitochondrial dysfunction. These findings indicated a novel pathway for curcumin regulation of ROS-lysosomal-mitochondrial pathway and provided the key mechanism of regulation of LMP in cell apoptosis, which may be exploited for cancer treatment.     

Complete genome sequence of an H10N8 avian influenza virus isolated from a live bird market in Southern China

An H10N8 avian influenza virus (AIV), designated A/Duck/Guangdong/E1/2012 (H10N8), was isolated from a duck in January 2012. This is first report that this subtype of AIV was isolated from a live bird market (LBM) in Guangdong Province in southern China. Furthermore, the complete genome of this strain was analyzed. The availability of genome sequences is helpful to further investigations of epidemiology and molecular characteristics of AIV in southern China.     

Green synthesis of fluorescence carbon nanoparticles from yum and application in sensitive and selective detection of ATP

Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (CPs), a fascinating class of recently discovered nanocarbons, have been widely known as some of the most promising sensing probes in biological or chemical analysis. In this study, we demonstrate a green synthetic methodology for generating water‐soluble CPs with a quantum yield of approximately 24% via a simple heating process using yum mucilage as a carbon source. The prepared carbon nanoparticles with an ~10 nm size possessed excellent fluorescence properties, and the fluorescence of the CPs was strongly quenched by Fe³⁺, and recovered by adenosine triphosphate (ATP), thus, an ‘off’ and ‘on’ system can be easily established. This ‘CPs‐Fe³⁺‐ATP’ strategy was sensitive and selective at detecting ATP with the linear range of 0.5 µmol L^?1 to 50 µmol L^?1 and with a detection limit of 0.48 µmol L^?1. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.