Association of polymorphisms in the Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene with Alzheimer disease in an Israeli Arab community

Several lines of evidence support for a role of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in Alzheimer disease (AD). Most genetic studies have focused on an Alu insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in the ACE gene (DCP1) and have yielded conflicting results. We evaluated the association between 15 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DCP1, including the I/D variant, and AD in a sample of 92 patients with AD and 166 nondemented controls from an inbred Israeli Arab community. Although there was no evidence for association between AD and I/D, we observed significant association with SNPs rs4343 (P = .00001) and rs4351 (P = .01). Haplotype analysis revealed remarkably significant evidence of association with the SNP combination rs4343 and rs4351 (global P = 7.5 x 10(-7)). Individuals possessing the haplotype "GA" (frequency 0.21 in cases and 0.01 in controls) derived from these SNPs had a 45-fold increased risk of developing AD (95% CI 6.0-343.2) compared with those possessing any of the other three haplotypes. Longer range haplotypes including I/D were even more significant (lowest global P = 1.1 x 10(-12)), but the only consistently associated alleles were in rs4343 and rs4351. These results suggest that a variant in close proximity to rs4343 and rs4351 modulates susceptibility to AD in this community.     

Scaffold compound L971 exhibits anti‐inflammatory activities through inhibition of JAK/STAT and NFκB signalling pathways

JAK/STAT and NFκB signalling pathways play essential roles in regulating inflammatory responses, which are important pathogenic factors of various serious immune‐related diseases, and function individually or synergistically. To find prodrugs that can treat inflammation, we performed a preliminary high‐throughput screening of 18 840 small molecular compounds and identified scaffold compound L971 which significantly inhibited JAK/STAT and NFκB driven luciferase activities. L971 could inhibit the constitutive and stimuli‐dependent activation of STAT1, STAT3 and IκBα and could significantly down‐regulate the proinflammatory gene expression in mouse peritoneal macrophages stimulated by LPS. Gene expression profiles upon L971 treatment were determined using high‐throughput RNA sequencing, and significant differentially up‐regulated and down‐regulated genes were identified by DESeq analysis. The bioinformatic studies confirmed the anti‐inflammatory effects of L971. Finally, L971 anti‐inflammatory character was further verified in LPS‐induced sepsis shock mouse model in vivo. Taken together, these data indicated that L971 could down‐regulate both JAK/STAT and NFκB signalling activities and has the potential to treat inflammatory diseases such as sepsis shock.     

Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with COVID-19

This paper aimed to analyze antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in various populations. Two hundred and six COVID-19 patients, 46 convalescent patients, and 270 healthy population were enrolled. Antibodies against nucleocapsid protein (N) and spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD), and neutralizing antibody were detected. The results demonstrated both anti-N and anti-RBD antibodies could be detected in about 80% of COVID-19 patients and 90% of convalescent patients, while no antibodies could be detected in some convalescents and patients even after 14 days post-onset of symptoms. The level of anti-RBD antibody strongly correlated with the neutralizing activity of sera from these two cohorts. The titer of neutralizing antibody was lower in convalescents than that in active COVID-19 patients. In addition, the titer of neutralizing antibody was less than 1:80 in none of the severe COVID-19 patients, 18.8% in non-severe COVID-19 patients, and 32.6% in convalescents. The study suggests that the level of anti-RBD antibody is closely related to neutralization activity in COVID-19 patients and convalescents. Some SARS-CoV-2-infected cases trigger a weak antiviral immune response, and the level of neutralizing antibody may have a faster decay rate.     

蒙古冰草Lhcb1基因克隆及干旱胁迫下的表达分析

利用同源序列从蒙古冰草(Agropyron mongolicum Keng)克隆得到1个光合作用叶绿体结合a/b基因,命名为MwLhcb1。MwLhcb1基因cDNA全长1 138bp,包含801bp开放阅读框,编码267个氨基酸,蛋白分子量为28.21kD,等电点4.92。该蛋白二级结构中具有Lhcb基因家族的保守结构域。MwLhcb1蛋白氨基酸序列与其他物种同类蛋白相似性均在87%以上,其中与小麦同类蛋白相似性程度最高达99%。实时荧光定量PCR结果显示,MwLhcb1基因主要在茎叶中表达,在根中表达量极少,干旱胁迫影响MwLhcb1基因表达。该研究结果为进一步研究MwLHcb1在蒙古冰草光合作用与抗旱性中的功能奠定了基础,并从基因遗传进化角度证实了蒙古冰草是小麦野生近缘种的观点,从而提出蒙古冰草是小麦抗性改良的理想基因供体。     

卡拉麦里山有蹄类自然保护区水源地野放普氏野马的活动节律：基于红外相机监测数据

2014年4月至11月,在卡拉麦里山有蹄类自然保护区的22个水源地安放66台红外相机,其中在8个野放普式野马(Equus przewalskii)利用的水源地放置了16台红外相机,对野放普氏野马在水源地的活动节律和时间分配进行了研究。16台相机累计工作1 068 d,获得野放普氏野马有效照片2 051张。研究发现,野放普氏野马在水源地不同时段的有效照片数量符合正态分布,且季节间存在极显著差异。野放普氏野马在水源地不同时段的有效照片数量,春季远低于夏季和秋季(P0.05),而夏季与秋季差异不显著(P0.05)。野放普氏野马饮水频次春季极显著低于夏季和秋季(P0.01),夏季与秋季差异不显著(P0.05)。普氏野马在水源地具有稳定的日活动节律,时间分配上呈典型的钟形,13:00~17:00时达到高峰,20:00~次日5:00时快速下降,3:00~6:00时是一天中的低谷,在5:00~13:00时快速上升。不同月份野放普氏野马的日活动差异指数α(t=8.364,df=7,P0.01)和昼行性指数β(t=19.519,df=7,P0.01)均存在极显著差异,且β值为0.660.54,表明野放普氏野马活动以昼间为主。季节间活动差异指数存在极显著差异(单样本K-S检验,t=7.851,df=23,P0.01)。独立多样本Kruskal-Wallis检验季节性活动强度指数γ值差异不显著(χ~2=0.162,df=2,P0.05)。通过在卡山保护区固定水源地的实时监测,初步明晰了野放普氏野马在水源地附近的活动节律及其季节性水源地利用,从而为野放普氏野马的生态学研究及保护措施的制定提供科学依据。     

山西太岳山南部针阔混交林群落特征及空间分布格局

为探究针阔混交林群落的空间分布特性、种间关系及演替规律,该研究通过点格局分析方法中的Ripley’L函数对山西太岳山南部1 hm~2针阔混交林中主要乔木种群的空间分布格局及空间关联性进行了研究。结果表明:样地内共调查木本植物41科71属76种,以蔷薇科、毛茛科、唇形科、豆科、菊科、百合科为主,科的分布区类型主要以世界广布为主,属的分区类型以北温带为主;辽东栎(Quercus wutaishanica)、槲树(Quercus dentata)、油松(Pinus tabuliformis)和山杨(Populus davidiana)是该群落的主要树种,样地内的林木总径级结构与主要乔木种群的径级结构相似,呈近似正态分布。辽东栎和槲树的空间分布相似,随尺度增大种群的聚集性减弱并逐渐表现出随机分布的格局特征;油松和山杨在一定尺度范围内呈现聚集分布;主要树种均在一定尺度上表现为两两正相关,且槲树与油松、山杨在整个尺度内都表现为显著正相关。山西太岳山南部针阔混交林中各个乔木种群处于相对稳定的状态。