Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) Regulates the Biological Activity of EGF/EGFR System in Adult Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a type of peptide hormone secreted by atrial cells, which has many important biological functions...     

Tribute to Prof. Geoffrey Burnstock: his contribution to acupuncture

Purinergic Signalling -     

Effect of host plant on cornucopia of mango fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their triumphant management in context of climate change

A study was performed to assess the preference of fourteen mango cultivars for fruit flies and their management by bagging. So the choice of Tephritid flies to mango cultivars during fruiting phase is crucial. Fourteen different cultivars of mango viz., ‘Dusehri’, ‘Malda’, ‘Langra’ early cultivars, ‘Chaunsa’, ‘Fajri Klan’, ‘Sensation’ medium whereas ‘Sanglakhi’, ‘Retaul-12’, ‘Mehmood Khan’, ‘Tukhmi’, ‘Kala Chaunsa’, ‘Chitta Chaunsa’, ‘Dai Wala’ and ‘Sobey De Ting’ late cultivars were assessed for their suitability for fruit flies. The results indicate that the population density of fruit flies was higher on late cultivars like ‘Sanglakhi’ (20.61 percent), ‘Mehmood Khan’ (20.22 percent) and ‘Reutal-12’ (19.92 percent) were proved to be highly susceptible to fruit flies. Among these the cultivar ‘Reutal-12’ was selected being commercial and future cultivar for the management of fruit flies through bagging. The results reported that the attack of tephritid fruit flies and other insect pests were zero in bagged fruits as compared with control. It was further recorded that the bagged fruits has maximum average fruit weight i.e. 203.50 and 197.83 g per fruit was noted in those treatments where butter paper bag and brown paper bag was wrapped with better coloration as compared with un-bagged fruit with 159.5 g per fruit. Similarly, on an average fruit length were more i.e. 90.17, 91.33 mm in bagged fruit and 85.33 in un-bagged fruits. Furthermore, bagged fruits have zero incidence of disease with reduced fruit crack, fruit sunburn, mechanical damage, bird damage, fruit blemished and agrochemical residues on the fruit. So, it is concluded that the special attention should be given on ‘Reutal-12’ for the management of fruit flies when devising an IPM program for the control of fruit flies. Further, bagging has proved to be the good agricultural practices for the production of quality mango.     

Dynamically Tunable Plasmon-induced Transparency in a T-shaped Cavity Waveguide Based on Bulk Dirac Semimetals

We propose a dynamically tunable surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguide system based on bulk Dirac semimetals (BDS) containing only a side-coupled T-shaped cavity. Plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) is achieved in the terahertz band by introducing a position offset. We have analytically investigated the spectral characteristics of PIT in this system, indicating that the larger the position offset, the higher the peak of the PIT window. The spectrum responses of PIT system can be flexibly regulated via transforming the geometric parameters of the structure. At the same time, it is particularly sensitive to the refractive index of the surrounding medium, which is promising for sensing devices. In addition, the resonance frequency and peak transmission can be actively adjusted by controlling the Fermi energy of the BDS without reconstructing the geometric structure. Moreover, the optical delay time near the PIT peak reaches 11.001 ps, which has good slow-light characteristics and is a candidate in the field of slow-light equipment. The structure we designed may have potential application value in the design of SPPs light-guide devices.

     

安可信银离子免洗手消毒液的效果及安全性

目的评价一种以乙醇和银离子为主要成分的免洗手消毒液(安可信)的效果及其安全性。方法采用悬液定量杀菌试验、消毒剂对手消毒现场试验、急性经口毒性试验和小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核试验等方法,研究该免洗手消毒液杀菌效果以及安全性。结果银离子浓度为41.6 mg/kg、乙醇含量为54.4%(w/w)的该免洗手消毒液作用1 min,对大肠埃希菌、金黄色葡萄球菌和铜绿假单胞菌平均杀灭对数值>3.00;对白假丝酵母菌的平均杀灭对数值>4.00。该免洗手消毒液原液经37 ℃恒温培养箱保存3个月后,样品乙醇含量下降率为0.37%,银离子含量无下降。该免洗手消毒液对小鼠急性经口毒性LD₅₀>5 000 mg/kg,对新西兰家兔皮肤无刺激性,小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核试验结果为阴性。结论安可信银离子免洗手消毒液对细菌和真菌具有较好消毒作用;对人体无皮肤刺激;各项指标均符合国家要求。     

阴道加德纳菌检出率及唾液酸酶A基因携带与细菌性阴道病的关系

目的探究阴道加德纳菌(Gardnerella vaginalis)检出率及唾液酸酶A基因携带与细菌性阴道病(BV)的关系。方法选择2017年1月至2019年8月确诊的BV患者82例作为BV组,并随机选择同时期健康女性82例作为健康组,比较2组人群G. vaginalis检出率和唾液酸酶A基因携带情况,相关统计学资料分析其对BV发生的影响。结果BV组人群G. vaginalis阳性检出率高于健康组(χ²=11.511,P<0.05)。BV组人群共检出G. vaginalis 1、2、3、4、5、6和7型,其中2型占比最高;BV组人群G. vaginalis 2、3、4型占比率高于健康组(χ²=4.148,17.009,9.973,均P<0.05)。BV组人群唾液酸酶A基因携带率高于健康组(χ²=39.234,P<0.05)。较健康组人群,BV组PCR DGGE宽度更窄,肠道菌群条带数少(t=9.217,P<0.05)。结论G. vaginalis检出率和唾液酸酶A基因携带情况与BV发生相关,有待成为相关生物学治疗靶点。     

Differential responses to fertilization and competition among invasive,noninvasive alien,and native Bidens species

Comparative studies of invasive, noninvasive alien, and native congenic plant species can identify plant traits that drive invasiveness. In particular, functional traits associated with rapid growth rate and high fecundity likely facilitate invasive success. As such traits often exhibit high phenotypic plasticity, characterizing plastic responses to anthropogenic environmental changes such as eutrophication and disturbance is important for predicting the invasive success of alien plant species in the future. Here, we compared trait expression and phenotypic plasticity at the species level among invasive, noninvasive alien, and native Bidens species. Plants were grown under nutrient addition and competition treatments, and their functional, morphological, and seed traits were examined. Invasive B. frondosa exhibited higher phenotypic plasticity in most measured traits than did the alien noninvasive B. pilosa or native B. bipinnata. However, differential plastic responses to environmental treatments rarely altered the rank of trait values among the three Bidens species, except for the number of inflorescences. The achene size of B. frondosa was larger, but its pappus length was shorter than that of B. pilosa. Two species demonstrated opposite plastic responses of pappus length to fertilization. These results suggest that the plasticity of functional traits does not significantly contribute to the invasive success of B. frondosa. The dispersal efficiency of B. frondosa is expected to be lower than that of B. pilosa, suggesting that long‐distance dispersal is likely not a critical factor in determining invasive success.