Oxidised LDL up-regulate CD36 expression by the Nrf2 pathway in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes

The effect of oxLDL on CD36 expression has been assessed in preadipocytes induced to differentiate. Novel evidence is provided that oxLDL induce a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma-independent CD36 overexpression, by up-regulating nuclear factor erythroid 2 (NF-E2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2). The nuclear translocation of Nrf2 appeared to depend on PKC pathway activation. In adipocytes, the CD36 up-regulation may indicate a compensation mechanism to meet the demand of excess oxLDL and oxidised lipids in blood, reducing the risk of atherogenesis. Besides strengthening the hypothesis that oxLDL can contribute to the onset of insulin-resistance, data herein presented highlight the significance of oxLDL-induced CD36 overexpression within the cellular defence response.     

Influences of insecticides on toxicity and cuticular penetration of abamectin in Helicoverpa armigera

Synergistic actions for mixtures of abamectin with other insecticides in some insect pests were evaluated, and the possible synergistic mechanism was studied by the comparison in toxicity and cuticular penetration of abamectin between with and without other insecticides or synergists in Helicoverpa armigera larvae. The results of bioassay showed that horticultural mineral oil (HMO), hexaflumuron, chlorpyrifos, and some other insecticides were synergistic to abamectin with 152.0-420.0 of co-toxicity coefficient(CTC) in some agricultural insect pests. In topical application tests, HMO or piperonyl butoxide (PBO) increased the toxicity of abamectin in larvae of H. armigera, but the mortality was not affected by s,s,s-tributylphorotrithioate (DEF) and triphenylphosphate (TPP). The synergistic action of HMO was obviously higher than PBO, and when treated simultaneously with abamectin, HMO gave a more significant synergism than if treated 2 hours ahead. The highest synergistic effect (SE) was found in the mixture of ‘abamectin HMO (1:206)‘. The mortality did not increase or the toxicity drop, when a synergist or HMO was added into the mixture of ‘abamectin HMO‘ or ‘abamectin synergist‘, respectively. Results from the isotope tracing experiments showed that HMO significantly enhanced the penetration of ^3H-abamectin through the cuticle of H.armigera larvae, which resulted in the synergism of the mixture. The cuticular penetration of ^3H-abamectin was not accumulatively affected by chlorpyrifos, nor by hexaflumuron,though there was an inhibition within 30 seconds or 1 hour after treated by these two chemicals respectively. Results suggested that the synergism of abamectin mixed with hexaflumuron or chlorpyrifos might be related to inhibition of metabolic enzymes or target sites in the larvae.     

复合益生菌对白羽肉鸡肌肉品质的影响及作用机理

【目的】探究饮水中添加复合益生菌制剂(地衣芽孢杆菌、枯草芽孢杆菌和丁酸梭菌)对肉鸡肌肉品质的影响及作用机理。【方法】试验随机选取360只1日龄白羽肉仔鸡,随机分为3个处理组：对照组(CON),正常饮水;低剂量益生菌组(LG),饮水添加0.2%复合益生菌;高剂量益生菌组(HG),饮水添加0.4%复合益生菌,试验为期42d。【结果】与CON组相比,LG组和HG组显著增加肉鸡7、35和42 d平均体重,显著提高HG组肉鸡21-28、28-35、35-42阶段的平均日增重(P<0.05),LG组仅显著提高35-42阶段平均日增重;显著提高胸肌45 min、24 h、48 h红度和24 h黄度,降低24 h和48 h亮度及48 h滴水损失和蒸煮损失。HG组胸肌粗蛋白和粗脂肪含量显著高于CON组,而LG组差异不显著;两组均可降低胸肌灰分含量。添加复合益生菌可显著提高总抗氧化能力(total antioxidant capacity,T-AOC),而总超氧化物歧化酶(total-superoxide dismutase,T-SOD)、过氧化氢酶(catalase,CAT)含量有上升趋势;显著上...     

Species introduction through seeds from an old,species‐rich hay meadow: Effects of management

Abstract. A local seed mixture from plants growing in a species‐rich, traditionally managed hay meadow site at Varaldsoy, Hardanger, western Norway, where many endangered hay meadow species of the region are growing, was sown in a newly harrowed experimental field 1 km from the source meadow in order to increase the habitat area for the endangered species. Of 25 endangered species recorded in the source meadow, only one (Holcus lanatus) was present in the target meadow. After sowing, 16 of the endangered species in addition to Holcus lanatus were recorded in the new site. Six species were only present in sown plots and seven others were more frequent there, while three species might have arrived by chance or originated from the seed bank. Replacing the traditional management regime, including one late cut and grazing in spring and in autumn, with three cutting times and the creation of gaps in the sward, resulted in a higher number of endangered species in plots which were only cut, possibly because the grazing was too intensive in the small enclosures.     

Preferential exclusion of hybrids in mixed pollinations between oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and weedy B. campestris (Brassicaceae)

In most experimental hybridizations between oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and weedy B. campestris, either intra- or interspecific pollen has been applied to individual flowers. Under field conditions, however, stigmas will often receive a mixture of the two types of pollen, thereby allowing for competition between male gametophytes and/or seeds within pods. To test whether competition influences the success of hybridization, pollen from the two species was mixed in different proportions and applied to stigmas of both species. The resulting seeds were scored for paternity by isozyme and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. Using data on the proportion of fully developed seeds and the proportion of these seeds that were hybrids, a statistical model was constructed to estimate the fitness of conspecific and heterospecific pollen and the survival of conspecific and heterospecific zygotes to seeds. B. campestris pollen in B. napus styles had a significantly lower fitness than the conspecific pollen, whereas no difference between pollen types was found in B. campestris styles. Hybrid zygotes survived to significantly lower proportions than conspecific zygotes in both species, with the lowest survival of hybrid zygotes in B. napus pods. This is in contrast to the higher survival of hybrid seeds in B. napus than in B. campestris pods when pollinations are made with pure pollen. Altogether, the likelihood of a foreign pollen grain producing a seed was much lower on B. napus than on B. campestris. In addition, pods on B. napus developed to a lower extent the more heterospecific pollen was in the mix, whereas this had no effect on B. campestris.     

Multiple inhibitory pathways shape odor-evoked responses in lobster olfactory projection neurons

This study characterizes odor-evoked responses of the glomerular output neurons of the spiny lobster olfactory lobe, and implicates previously identified γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)- and histamine-mediated inhibitory pathways in shaping these responses. Odor-evoked responses were more complex than electrically evoked responses, with up to three distinct components: a brief, short-latency (fast) depolarization, a longer-duration, longer-latency (slow) depolarization, and a slow hyperpolarization. Seventy-seven percent of all responses contained the hyperpolarization, while only 31% and 23% contained the fast and slow depolarizations, respectively. The broader tuning of the hyperpolarization relative to the other two components suggests that the hyperpolarization mediates lateral inhibitory interactions across olfactory glomeruli. Perfusing the brain with the GABA-receptor antagonist picrotoxin increased the amplitude of the hyperpolarization, while the histamine-receptor antagonist cimetidine decreased the hyperpolarization in some instances but increased it in others. Pharmacological enhancement or suppression of the hyperpolarization could mask or unmask, respectively, the slow depolarization. Both antagonists could also cause the appearance of the fast depolarization when it was not apparent prior to treatment. We conclude that GABA- and histamine-mediated inhibition contributes to the overall pattern of the response of projection neurons to odors by regulating the relative strength of these three distinct types of input. Accepted: 17 September 1997     

三种植物精油对家蝇成虫的熏蒸活性

【目的】探究香樟Cinnamomum caphora果实精油、天竺桂Cinnamomum pedunculatum叶精油和龙柏Sabina chinensis var.chinensis叶精油对家蝇Musca domestica成虫的熏蒸活性,比较这3种植物精油以及混配精油对家蝇的毒力效果,为植物源灭蝇剂的开发提供理论依据。【方法】利用水蒸汽蒸馏法提取植物精油,采取三角瓶密闭熏蒸法测试植物精油及其混剂对家蝇5日龄成虫的熏蒸毒性和击倒作用。【结果】3种植物精油对家蝇的LC50值(致死中浓)分别为5.28,16.86和14.54μg/cm3。LC90熏蒸剂量下,对家蝇的KT50值(击倒中时)分别为12.03,16.56和13.37 min。天竺桂叶精油和龙柏叶精油混配后对家蝇有增效作用,二者的LC50值配比为9∶1时,增效作用极为显著,共毒系数高达367.95。【结论】香樟果实精油对家蝇成虫有很好的熏杀和击倒作用,龙柏叶精油次之,天竺桂叶精油效果最差。天竺桂叶精油和龙柏叶精油混配后对其对家蝇成虫的熏蒸毒性有增效作用。3种植物精油具备开发环保灭蝇剂的潜力,可深入研究。     

Protein bioinformatics and mixtures of bivariate von Mises distributions for angular data

A fundamental problem in bioinformatics is to characterize the secondary structure of a protein, which has traditionally been carried out by examining a scatterplot (Ramachandran plot) of the conformational angles. We examine two natural bivariate von Mises distributions--referred to as Sine and Cosine models--which have five parameters and, for concentrated data, tend to a bivariate normal distribution. These are analyzed and their main properties derived. Conditions on the parameters are established which result in bimodal behavior for the joint density and the marginal distribution, and we note an interesting situation in which the joint density is bimodal but the marginal distributions are unimodal. We carry out comparisons of the two models, and it is seen that the Cosine model may be preferred. Mixture distributions of the Cosine model are fitted to two representative protein datasets using the expectation maximization algorithm, which results in an objective partition of the scatterplot into a number of components. Our results are consistent with empirical observations; new insights are discussed.     

Mixture modeling for genome-wide localization of transcription factors

Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by DNA microarray analysis (ChIP-chip methodology) is an efficient way of mapping genome-wide protein-DNA interactions. Data from tiling arrays encompass DNA-protein interaction measurements on thousands or millions of short oligonucleotides (probes) tiling a whole chromosome or genome. We propose a new model-based method for analyzing ChIP-chip data. The proposed model is motivated by the widely used two-component multinomial mixture model of de novo motif finding. It utilizes a hierarchical gamma mixture model of binding intensities while incorporating inherent spatial structure of the data. In this model, genomic regions belong to either one of the following two general groups: regions with a local protein-DNA interaction (peak) and regions lacking this interaction. Individual probes within a genomic region are allowed to have different localization rates accommodating different binding affinities. A novel feature of this model is the incorporation of a distribution for the peak size derived from the experimental design and parameters. This leads to the relaxation of the fixed peak size assumption that is commonly employed when computing a test statistic for these types of spatial data. Simulation studies and a real data application demonstrate good operating characteristics of the method including high sensitivity with small sample sizes when compared to available alternative methods.