Antiviral flavonoids from the root bark of Morus alba L

A prenylated flavonoid, moralbanone, along with seven known compounds kuwanon S, mulberroside C, cyclomorusin, eudraflavone B hydroperoxide, oxydihydromorusin, leachianone G and alpha-acetyl-amyrin were isolated from the root bark of Morus alba L. Leachianone G showed potent antiviral activity (IC(50) = 1.6 microg/ml), whereas mulberroside C showed weak activity (IC(50) = 75.4 microg/ml) against herpes simplex type 1 virus (HSV-1). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.     

氟康唑3日间隔疗法治疗念珠菌性外阴、阴道炎疗效观察

目的探讨氟康唑3日间隔疗法治疗念珠菌性外阴、阴道炎的临床疗效。方法110例患者随机分为两组．治疗组60例采用氟康唑3日间隔疗法（第1日服药150mg后．第4、7日各再服1次）,对照组50例1次单剂量口服氟康唑150mg。结果治疗组和对照组有效率分别为86．67％、72．00％．差异有显著性（χ^2=9．46,P〈0．05）．结论氟康唑3日间隔疗法治疗念珠菌性外阴、阴道炎疗效好。毒副作用小,安全性高。     

温度对茶尺蠖核型多角体病毒增殖动态的影响

多角体计数、对流免疫电泳、单向免疫扩散及火箭免疫电泳测定的结果表明:26℃适于茶尺蠖核型多角体病毒(EoNPV)的增殖。多角体含量或其相对值随着时间的推移而增长,并渐趋于平稳,两者间呈Logistic曲线关系。单位体重或单头幼虫所含的多角体数量(y_1或y_2)、扩散环直径(y_3)和火箭峰值(y_4)与时间(t)的关系式分别为:y_1=(8.1481)/(1 EXP(9.4210-0.0608t))×10~9PIB/克;y_2=(6.1596)/(1 EXP(5.4809-0.0376t))×10~8PIB/头,y_3=(1.4)/(1 EXP(2.710-0.015t))cm;y_4=(3.52)/(1 EXP(4.580-0.040t))cm。但30℃下,EoNPV增殖严重受抑制,饲毒后24～168小时内难以测出多角体,其后多角体含量也极显著低于26℃,乃至难以被三种免疫测定法测出。     

五唇兰雌配子体发育和胚胎发生的研究

五唇兰的胚珠倒生型,具薄珠心,两层珠被。胚囊发育为双孢子葱型,成熟胚囊８核。从传粉到受精约５０ｄ,正常双受精。胚具５－６细胞的胚柄,种子成熟时胚柄及胚乳核消失,成熟种子只具单层细胞的种皮和一个未分化的珠珠形胚。     

Immunocytochemical detection of rhamnogalacturonan II on forming cell plates in cultured tobacco cells

Rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II) is a region of pectin macromolecules that is present in plant primary cell walls. The RG-II region serves as the site of borate cross-linking within pectin, via which pectin macromolecules link together to form a gel. In this study, we examined whether RG-II is present in the cell plate, the precursor of primary cell walls that forms during cytokinesis. A structure inside dividing cells was labeled with a rabbit polyclonal anti-RG-II antibody and detected by immunofluorescence microscopy. An antibody against callose, a marker polysaccharide for the cell plate, also labeled the structure. In immunoelectron microscopy analyses using the anti-RG-II antibody, gold particles were distributed in electron-lucent vesicular structures that appeared to correspond to the forming cell plates in late anaphase cells. Together, these results suggest that RG-II is present in cell plates from the early phase of their assembly.     

Engineering of Plasmin-Resistant Forms of Streptokinase and Their Production in Bacillus subtilis: Streptokinase with Longer Functional Half-Life

The short in vivo half-life of streptokinase limits its efficacy as an efficient blood clot-dissolving agent. During the clot-dissolving process, streptokinase is processed to smaller intermediates by plasmin. Two of the major processing sites are Lys59 and Lys386. We engineered two versions of streptokinase with either one of the lysine residues changed to glutamine and a third version with both mutations. These mutant streptokinase proteins (muteins) were produced by secretion with the protease-deficient Bacillus subtilis WB600 as the host. The purified muteins retained comparable kinetics parameters in plasminogen activation and showed different degrees of resistance to plasmin depending on the nature of the mutation. Muteins with double mutations had half-lives that were extended 21-fold when assayed in a 1:1 molar ratio with plasminogen in vitro and showed better plasminogen activation activity with time in the radial caseinolysis assay. This study indicates that plasmin-mediated processing leads to the inactivation of streptokinase and is not required to convert streptokinase to its active form. Plasmin-resistant forms of streptokinase can be engineered without affecting their activity, and blockage of the N-terminal cleavage site is essential to generate engineered streptokinase with a longer in vitro functional half-life.     

PTP1B inhibitor improves both insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities in vivo and in vitro

PTP1B is a negative regulator of insulin signaling pathway. This study investigated the effects of compound CCF06240, a PTP1B inhibitor, on insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolic abnormalities in vivo and in vitro, respectively. The insulin resistant IRM mouse model was induced by HFD. The responses to insulin were determined by OGTT, ITT, and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp test. The body weight and the levels of serum TC and TG were measured to estimate the lipid metabolism in vivo. Recombinant human GST-PTP1B protein was used to measure the inhibition of CCF06240 on PTP1B activity. The hepatocyte lipid accumulation was induced by high concentrations of FFA and insulin in HepG(2) cells, and evaluated by the Oil Red O method. In IRM mice, the insulin resistance was improved; the body weight and the levels of TC and TG were also reduced by oral CCF06240 administration. In lipid accumulated model cells, CCF06240 was found to reverse the increased PTP1B activity, enhance the insulin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation in insulin signaling pathway, attenuate the FFA-insulin-induced cellular lipid accumulation, and down-regulate the expressions of genes related fatty acid synthesis. These results demonstrated that the PTP1B inhibitor, compound CCF06240, could increase insulin sensitivity through the regulation of insulin signaling pathway, and decrease FFA-insulin-induced hepatocytes lipid accumulation by reducing fatty acid syntheses.     

Disease-driven detection of differential inherited SNP modules from SNP network

Detection of the synergetic effects between variants, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), is crucial for understanding the genetic characters of complex diseases. Here, we proposed a two-step approach to detect differentially inherited SNP modules (synergetic SNP units) from a SNP network. First, SNP-SNP interactions are identified based on prior biological knowledge, such as their adjacency on the chromosome or degree of relatedness between the functional relationships of their genes. These interactions form SNP networks. Second, disease-risk SNP modules (or sub-networks) are prioritised by their differentially inherited properties in IBD (Identity by Descent) profiles of affected and unaffected sibpairs. The search process is driven by the disease information and follows the structure of a SNP network. Simulation studies have indicated that this approach achieves high accuracy and a low false-positive rate in the identification of known disease-susceptible SNPs. Applying this method to an alcoholism dataset, we found that flexible patterns of susceptible SNP combinations do play a role in complex diseases, and some known genes were detected through these risk SNP modules. One example is GRM7, a known alcoholism gene successfully detected by a SNP module comprised of two SNPs, but neither of the two SNPs was significantly associated with the disease in single-locus analysis. These identified genes are also enriched in some pathways associated with alcoholism, including the calcium signalling pathway, axon guidance and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction. The integration of network biology and genetic analysis provides putative functional bridges between genetic variants and candidate genes or pathways, thereby providing new insight into the aetiology of complex diseases.