Identification of candidate chemosensory receptors in the antennal transcriptome of Tropidothorax elegans

Molecular Biology Reports - Chemosensory receptors in the dendritic membrane of olfactory cells are critical for the molecular recognition and discrimination of odorants. Tropidothorax elegans is a...     

Protective Effects of 28-O-Caffeoyl Betulin (B-CA) on the Cerebral Cortex of Ischemic Rats Revealed by a NMR-Based Metabolomics Analysis

28-O-caffeoyl betulin (B-CA) has been demonstrated to reduce the cerebral infarct volume caused by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) injury. B-CA is a novel derivative of naturally occurring caffeoyl triterpene with little information associated with its pharmacological target(s). To date no data is available regarding the effect of B-CA on brain metabolism. In the present study, a ¹H-NMR-based metabolomics approach was applied to investigate the therapeutic effects of B-CA on brain metabolism following MCAO in rats. Global metabolic profiles of the cortex in acute period (9 h after focal ischemia onset) after MCAO were compared between the groups (sham; MCAO?+?vehicle; MCAO?+?B-CA). MCAO induced several changes in the ipsilateral cortex of ischemic rats, which consequently led to the neuronal damage featured with the downregulation of NAA, including energy metabolism dysfunctions, oxidative stress, and neurotransmitter metabolism. Treatment with B-CA showed statistically significant rescue effects on the ischemic cortex of MCAO rats. Specifically, treatment with B-CA ameliorated the energy metabolism dysfunctions (back-regulating the levels of succinate, lactate, BCAAs, and carnitine), oxidative stress (upregulating the level of glutathione), and neurotransmitter metabolism disturbances (back-regulating the levels of γ-aminobutyric acid and acetylcholine) associated with the progression of ischemic stroke. With the administration of B-CA, the levels of three phospholipid related metabolites (O-phosphocholine, O-phosphoethanolamine, sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and NAA improved significantly. Overall, our findings suggest that treatment with B-CA may provide neuroprotection by augmenting the metabolic changes observed in the cortex following MCAO in rats.

     

Rapamycin Ameliorates Cognitive Impairments and Alzheimer’s Disease-Like Pathology with Restoring Mitochondrial Abnormality in the Hippocampus of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice

Neurochemical Research - Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) share common pathophysiological findings, in particular, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has been...     

On computation of semiparametric maximum likelihood estimators with shape constraints

Large sample theory of semiparametric models based on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) with shape constraint on the nonparametric component is well studied. Relatively less attention has been paid to the computational aspect of semiparametric MLE. The computation of semiparametric MLE based on existing approaches such as the expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm can be computationally prohibitive when the missing rate is high. In this paper, we propose a computational framework for semiparametric MLE based on an inexact block coordinate ascent (BCA) algorithm. We show theoretically that the proposed algorithm converges. This computational framework can be applied to a wide range of data with different structures, such as panel count data, interval‐censored data, and degradation data, among others. Simulation studies demonstrate favorable performance compared with existing algorithms in terms of accuracy and speed. Two data sets are used to illustrate the proposed computational method. We further implement the proposed computational method in R package BCA1SG , available at CRAN.     

薏苡叶和淫羊藿配伍对小鼠抗疲劳及耐缺氧的作用*

目的: 探讨薏苡叶和淫羊藿及其配伍的耐缺氧抗疲劳作用。方法: 按体重随机将小鼠平均分为6组:空白对照组、薏苡叶组、淫羊藿组、薏苡叶淫羊藿1∶1配比低中高3个剂量实验组。3个剂量实验组分别给予1.5,4.5,7.5 g·kg^-1·d^-1的对应浓度提液,空白对照组灌以生理盐水,薏苡叶组和淫羊藿组分别给予1.5 g·kg^-1·d^-1浓度的对应提取液,连续灌胃21 d后,观察不同剂量的实验组对小鼠游泳时间,常压耐缺氧时间、爬杆时间、断头后呼吸维持时间及肝重系数的影响。结果: 与对照组比较,实验组抗缺氧耐疲劳作用较好(P＜0.05),其中中剂量组差异均极显著(P＜0.01)。在抗疲劳实验、肝重系数及断头后呼吸方面体现出两味药配伍具有复合作用(P＜0.05),而在常压耐缺氧方面并未表现出复合作用。结论: 薏苡叶和淫羊藿及其配伍对抗疲劳有显著的复合作用,中剂量组耐缺氧抗疲劳效果最好。在耐缺氧方面仅对肝重系数与断头呼吸时间上体现出复合作用。     

安徽北部地区恶性肿瘤人群卡波氏肉瘤相关疱疹病毒血清学分析

卡波氏肉瘤相关疱疹病毒是一种新发现的γ疱疹病毒(Kaposi'ssarcoma-associated herpesvirus,KSHV).在中国新疆,KSHV感染率比较高,KSHV在免疫缺陷患者和静脉吸毒者中感染率也比在普通人群中高.为了进一步研究KSHV在安徽北部地区恶性肿瘤人群中的感染率和高风险因素,初步探讨KSHV与肿瘤的发生之间相关性,研究KSHV的高发人群特点,本研究选用KSHV病毒重组蛋白ORF65、ORF 73和K8.1为抗原,利用酶联免疫吸附实验(ELISA)对500份恶性肿瘤患者血清样本及200份健康体检人群血清样本进行KSHV抗体检测,分析KSHV的感染率及危险因素.结果显示500例肿瘤患者KSHV阳性总数170例,总阳性率为34％,200份健康人群KSHV阳性总数22例,总阳性率为11％,肿瘤人群KSHV阳性率明显高于健康人群(P＜0.001).其中肺癌、肝癌、结肠癌、宫颈癌、乳腺癌样本KSHV阳性率分别为36.4％,34.1％,41.7％,28.6％,30.3％,此5组肿瘤组KSHV阳性率也分别高于健康人群,都具有统计学意义(P＜0.001).但5组肿瘤样本之间KS-HV阳性率无明显差异(P＞0.05),且各组肿瘤样本分别与性别、乙肝五项、丙肝之间无统计学意义(P＞0.05).本研究结果提示安徽北部地区恶性肿瘤患者KSHV抗体阳性率显著高于中国普通人群总体KSHV抗体阳性率,证明KSHV在恶性肿瘤人群中呈现较高比例的分布.     

江苏省2017年新报告HIV感染者治疗前耐药分析及基因亚型分布

基于大样本量的亚型及治疗前耐药分析,更准确地掌握江苏省HIV-1流行亚型,更真实地评估江苏省治疗前耐药水平并为抗病毒治疗的开展提供依据收集2017年全年全江苏省新报告感染者治疗前血样.逆转录PCR扩增HIV-1蛋白酶区(pol)基因并送测序.ChromasPro剪辑,拼接,合成序列.MEGA7做序列比对并构建进化树分析亚型.序列在线比对耐药位点.治疗前耐药分析,耐药率达16.3％.蛋白酶区(PR)主要耐药位点是L33F,占44.4％.核苷酸逆转录酶区(NRTI)主要耐药位点是M184位点变异,占35％.非核苷酸逆转录酶区(NNRTI)耐药位点主要是V179位点变异,占59.2％.CRF01_AE亚型(456,37.7％)和CRF07_BC亚型(381,31.6％)仍为江苏省主要流行亚型;不同的是复杂重组体(CPXs)和独特重组体(URFs)数量极速上升至第三位(241,19.9％).江苏省HIV-1复杂重组体大量出现,提示新人病毒或病毒交叉重组频繁,艾滋病的防制依然任重道远.在治疗前耐药比例大幅上升的情况下,治疗前耐药检测成为个体选择抗病毒治疗方案的关键.     

杨树受机械损伤与光肩星天牛危害的防御性反应

杨树是我国“三北”地区防护林建设的主栽树种,自20世纪70年代以来长期受到光肩星天牛的严重危害。北抗杨对光肩星天牛有一定的抗性,但产生抗性的生化机制尚不清楚。本研究采用试剂盒法与高效液相色谱法以未受害、机械损伤、虫害北抗杨为研究材料,对其树皮和木质部中的次生代谢产物和防御酶含量进行检测,以探索其抗性机制。结果表明,北抗杨受到机械损伤和光肩星天牛危害后其反应不同:1)次生代谢产物,北抗杨受到机械损伤后,树皮中的水杨苷和白杨甙含量显著上升,槲皮苷含量降低;而受光肩星天牛危害后,树皮中的水杨苷和槲皮苷含量显著上升,白杨甙含量无显著变化。机械损伤的北抗杨木质部总酚含量高于虫害与未受害木质部,后两者间无显著差异;光肩星天牛危害的北抗杨木质部白杨甙和亚麻木酚素含量高于机械损伤木质部与未受害木质部。遭受机械损伤与虫害后北抗杨木质部的总酚苷含量显著高于未受害木质部。2)防御酶活性分析表明,与未受害北抗杨树皮相比,受到机械损伤与虫害后的树皮苯丙氨酸解氨酶(PAL)活性显著升高,但两者间无差异;受到机械损伤与虫害后的树皮超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性高于未受害树皮,且机械损伤树皮高于虫害树皮;北抗杨受机械损伤与虫害后木质部中的过氧化物酶(POD)活性高于未受害木质部,但两者间无差异。3)与未受害北抗杨相比,北抗杨受机械损伤、虫害后部分次生代谢物和防御酶都有不同程度的增加,推测这些物质可能与北抗杨抗逆性反应有关。