Urokinase-type plasminogen activator and arthritis progression: role in systemic disease with immune complex involvement

Introduction  

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) has been implicated in fibrinolysis, cell migration, latent cytokine activation, cell activation, T-cell activation, and tissue remodeling, all of which are involved in the development of rheumatoid arthritis. Previously, u-PA has been reported to play a protective role in monoarticular arthritis models involving mBSA as the antigen, but a deleterious role in the systemic polyarticular collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model. The aim of the current study is to determine how u-PA might be acting in systemic arthritis models.     

蒲公英提取液调整小鼠肠道菌群并延长荷瘤生存时间的研究

目的研究蒲公英在调节肠道菌群和改善荷瘤小鼠生存质量提高生存率方面的作用。方法用肝癌腹水瘤H22细胞株注射小鼠造荷瘤小鼠模型,然后口服蒲公英提取液治疗。观察治疗前后菌群变化、腹水量和荷瘤生存时间等。结果蒲公英治疗组与阴性对照组比较,肠道菌群趋于平衡、腹水出现时间延迟、腹水量降低和荷瘤生存时间延长。结论蒲公英提取液能调节小鼠肠道菌群,改善荷瘤小鼠生存质量、提高生存率。     

牛奶菜族7属11种植物的花粉器形态

在光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜下观察了萝藦科（Asclepiadaceae R.Br.）牛奶菜族（MarsdenieaeBenth.）7属11种植物花粉器的形态特征。该族植物花粉块直立或平展,通常呈椭圆形、长圆形、肾形或球形;花粉块膜表面平滑、波浪状、脊状或粒状;娃儿藤属（TylophoraR.Br.）的花粉块膜具独特的表面纹饰,与其它属植物差异较大;匙羹藤属和娃儿藤属的花粉块柄不发达,眼树莲属（Dischidia）和纤冠藤属（Gongronema）的花粉块柄发达。     

Reproducibility of read numbers in high-throughput sequencing analysis of nematode community composition and structure

Although nematodes are the most abundant metazoan animals on Earth, their diversity is largely unknown. To overcome limitations of traditional approaches (labour, time, and cost) for assessing biodiversity of nematode species in environmental samples, we have previously examined the suitability of high-throughput sequencing for assessing species level diversity with a set of control experiments employing a mixture of nematodes of known number and with known sequences for target diagnostic loci. Those initial experiments clearly demonstrated the suitability of the approach for identification of nematode taxa but lacked the replicate experiments necessary to evaluate reproducibility of the approach. Here, we analyze reads generated from three different PCR amplifications and three different sequencing reactions to examine the differential PCR amplification, the possibility of emulsion PCR artefacts, and differences between sequencing reactions. Our results suggest that both qualitative and quantitative data are consistent and highly reproducible. Variation associated with in-house PCR amplification or emPCR and sequencing are present but the representation of each nematode is very consistent from experiment to experiment and supports the use of read counts to estimate relative abundance of taxa in a metagenetic sample.     

Differential gene expression of wheat progeny with contrasting levels of transpiration efficiency

High water use efficiency or transpiration efficiency (TE) in wheat is a desirable physiological trait for increasing grain yield under water-limited environments. The identification of genes associated with this trait would facilitate the selection for genotypes with higher TE using molecular markers. We performed an expression profiling (microarray) analysis of approximately 16,000 unique wheat ESTs to identify genes that were differentially expressed between wheat progeny lines with contrasting TE levels from a cross between Quarrion (high TE) and Genaro 81 (low TE). We also conducted a second microarray analysis to identify genes responsive to drought stress in wheat leaves. Ninety-three genes that were differentially expressed between high and low TE progeny lines were identified. One fifth of these genes were markedly responsive to drought stress. Several potential growth-related regulatory genes, which were down-regulated by drought, were expressed at a higher level in the high TE lines than the low TE lines and are potentially associated with a biomass production component of the Quarrion-derived high TE trait. Eighteen of the TE differentially expressed genes were further analysed using quantitative RT-PCR on a separate set of plant samples from those used for microarray analysis. The expression levels of 11 of the 18 genes were positively correlated with the high TE trait, measured as carbon isotope discrimination (Δ¹³C). These data indicate that some of these TE differentially expressed genes are candidates for investigating processes that underlie the high TE trait or for use as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) for TE. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

引种降香黄檀和顶果木对石漠化山区土壤磷素转化及其有效性的影响

我国西南岩溶区石漠化严重,植被覆盖率低,土壤贫瘠。植被恢复作为一项重要的生态治理措施,在提高土壤养分有效性,增加生物多样性和改善生态环境等方面发挥着极其重要的作用。以广西马山县经过8年植被恢复的4种样地类型(降香黄檀纯林;顶果木纯林;降香黄檀/顶果木混交林;相邻的天然灌草丛作为对照组)为研究对象,探讨了引进固氮树种(降香黄檀和顶果木)及其种植模式对石漠化山区土壤磷素转化及其有效性的影响。研究结果表明：(1)降香黄檀/顶果木混交林土壤的有机质(SOM)、硝态氮(NO~-₃-N)、有效磷(AP)、微生物生物量碳(MBC)、微生物生物量氮(MBN)和微生物生物量磷(MBP)含量均显著高于对照(P<0.05);降香黄檀/顶果木混交林、顶果木纯林和降香黄檀纯林的全磷(TP)相比于对照组更易转化为AP,其中以降香黄檀/顶果木混交林的效果最佳。(2)相关分析结果表明,土壤NH~+₄-N、NO~-₃-N和MBN与AP分别呈显著线性正相关(P<0.05),MBN与MBP呈极显著线性正相关(P<0.01)。(3)引种降香黄...