Investigations of interaction mechanism and conformational variation of serum albumin affected by artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin

In this work, binding interactions of artemisinin (ART) and dihydroartemisinin (DHA) with human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were investigated thoroughly to illustrate the conformational variation of serum albumin. Experimental results indicated that ART and DHA bound strongly with the site I of serum albumins via hydrogen bond (H-bond) and van der Waals force and subsequently statically quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of serum albumins through concentration-dependent manner. The quenching abilities of two drugs on the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA were much higher than the quenching abilities of two drugs on the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA. Both ART and DHA, especially DHA, caused the conformational variation of serum albumins and reduced the α-helix structure content of serum albumins. DHA with hydrophilic hydroxyl group bound with HSA more strongly, suggesting the important roles of the chemical polarity and the hydrophilicity during the binding interactions of two drugs with serum albumins. These results reveal the molecular understanding of binding interactions between ART derivatives and serum albumins, providing vital information for the future application of ART derivatives in biological and clinical areas.     

一夫一妻西黑冠长臂猿的群体活动及其影响因素

高海拔栖息地中灵长类动物的行为适应一直以来都是灵长类研究中的重点内容,同物种在不同栖息地的行为差异也成为近年的热点问题。西黑冠长臂猿(Nomascus concolor)是我国国家一级重点保护野生动物,也是我国长臂猿科动物中种群数量最大的物种,滇中哀牢山、无量山是该物种的集中分布区。哀牢山和无量山的西黑冠长臂猿栖息地存在显著差异,且其社会组织不同。本研究首次报道了在哀牢山高海拔栖息地中一个一夫一妻长臂猿群体的活动时间分配和食性季节性变化。2014—2015年,采用3 min间隔瞬时扫描法记录了长臂猿的行为和食性,468 h的行为数据结果表明,移动行为比例最高38.1%,其次是休息行为36.4%,取食行为23.3%,最少为鸣叫行为1.9%和其他行为1.3%。3 784次取食行为可辨识食物类型,总体上叶类食物占41.1%,其次是果实类食物33.3%,花类食物21.0%,附生植物3.9%,其他食物0.6%。长臂猿的时间分配和食性在雨季和旱季均具有显著差异,在低温旱季,长臂猿增加休息时间,减少移动时间,提高叶类和花类食物的取食比例;在高温雨季,长臂猿增加移动时间,减少休息时间和取食时间,取食更...     

Coherent modeling of longitudinal causal effects on binary outcomes

Analyses of biomedical studies often necessitate modeling longitudinal causal effects. The current focus on personalized medicine and effect heterogeneity makes this task even more challenging. Toward this end, structural nested mean models (SNMMs) are fundamental tools for studying heterogeneous treatment effects in longitudinal studies. However, when outcomes are binary, current methods for estimating multiplicative and additive SNMM parameters suffer from variation dependence between the causal parameters and the noncausal nuisance parameters. This leads to a series of difficulties in interpretation, estimation, and computation. These difficulties have hindered the uptake of SNMMs in biomedical practice, where binary outcomes are very common. We solve the variation dependence problem for the binary multiplicative SNMM via a reparameterization of the noncausal nuisance parameters. Our novel nuisance parameters are variation independent of the causal parameters, and hence allow for coherent modeling of heterogeneous effects from longitudinal studies with binary outcomes. Our parameterization also provides a key building block for flexible doubly robust estimation of the causal parameters. Along the way, we prove that an additive SNMM with binary outcomes does not admit a variation independent parameterization, thereby justifying the restriction to multiplicative SNMMs.     

Passage number of cancer cell lines: Importance,intricacies, and way-forward

Cancer cell lines play a crucial role as invaluable models in cancer research, facilitating the examination of cancer progression as well as the advancement of diagnostics and treatments. While they may not perfectly replicate the original tumor, they generally exhibit similar characteristics. Low-passage cancer cell lines are generally preferred due to their closer resemblance to the original tumor, as long-term culturing can alter the genetic and molecular profiles of a cell line thereby highlighting the importance of monitoring the passage number (PN). Variations in proliferation, migration, gene expression, and drug sensitivity can be linked to PN differences. PN can also influence DNA methylation levels, metabolic profiles, and the expression of genes/or proteins in cancer cell lines. When conducting research on cancer cell lines, it is crucial for researchers to carefully select the appropriate PN to maintain consistency and reliability of results. Moreover, to ensure dependability and replicability, scientists ought to actively track the growth, migration, and gene/or protein profiles of cancer cell lines at specific PNs. This approach enables the identification of the most suitable range of PNs for experiments, guaranteeing consistent and precise results. Additionally, such efforts serve to minimize disparities and uphold the integrity of research. In this review, we have laid out recommendations for laboratories to overcome these PN discrepancies when working with cancer cell lines.     

Variation in Outcrossing Rates in Eichhornia paniculata: Temporal Changes in Populations of Contrasting Style Morph Structure

Abstract Surveys of mating-system parameters in populations of the annual, self-compatible, tristylous, emergent aquatic, Eichhornia paniculata (Pontederiaceae) from N.E. Brazil and Jamaica have indicated that the species exhibits a wide range of outcrossing rates. To investigate whether temporal variation in outcrossing rate was also a feature of populations, open-pollinated families were sampled from five populations of contrasting style morph structure from N.E. Brazil over three consecutive years (1987–1989). Multilocus estimates of outcrossing rate ( t ) were obtained from assays of isozyme polymorphisms using starch gel electrophoresis. There was significant variation both among populations and between years in the frequency of outcrossing. Outcrossing in three tristylous populations was high ( t > 0.80), with relatively small fluctuations occurring over the three-year sampling period. In contrast, in a dimorphic and monomorphic population considerable self-fertilization occurred and the frequency of outcrossing declined significantly from 1987 to 1989 in both populations. In the dimorphic population, increased selfing was associated with a marked reduction in population size and an increase in the frequency of selfing variants of the mid-styled morph. The significance of temporal variation in outcrossing frequency in plant populations is discussed in relation to its effect on population genetic structure and recent models of mating-system evolution.     

Floral sex ratio variation in hermaphrodites of gynodioeciousChionographis japonica var.kurohimensis Ajima et Satomi (Liliaceae)

Intrapopulation and interpopulation variations in floral sex ratio in hermaphrodites of gynodioeciousChionographis japonica var.kurohimensis (Liliaceae) were examined. The relative ratio of male flowers to total flowers (male and perfect flowers) decreased with plant size, suggesting size-dependent gender modification. The relative ratio of male flowers per population-basis is negatively correlated with the mean number of perfect flowers. Since the number of perfect flowers proportionally increased with plant size, populations showing low maleness consist of relatively bigger plants and are considered to be in high-quality environment. On the other hand, the relative ratio of male flowers per population basis is independent of female frequency in the population. Plasticity in gender expression probably plays an important role of maintenance of gynodioecy inC. japonica var.kurohimensis.     

Comparative karyomorphology and interrelationships ofSelaginella in Japan

Karyomorphological comparisons were made of 16 native and cultivated species ofSelaginella in Japan. The somatic chromosome numbers are 2n=16 inS. boninensis; 2n=18 inS. doederleinii, S. helvetica, S. limbata, S. lutchuensis, S. nipponica, S. selaginoides, S. tama-montana, andS. uncinata; 2n=20 inS. biformis, S. involvens, S. moellendorffii, S. remotifolia, andS. tamariscina; 2n=30 inS. rossii; and 2n=32 inS. heterostachys. The interphase nuclei of all species examined are uniformly assigned to the simple chromocenter type. The metaphase karyotype of 2n=16 (x=8) is 8 m (=median centromeric chromosomes)+8(st+t)(=subterminal and terminal). The group of the species having 2n=18 (x=9) is heterogeneous karyomorphologically: The karyotype ofS. nipponica is 2n=18=6 m+12(st+t),S. tama-montana 10 m+2 sm(=submedian)+6(st+t), andS. uncinata 6 m+7 sm+5(st+t). Although the remaining five species have the common karyotype 8 m+4 sm+6(st+t), the values of mean chromosome length are variable. Another group of the specles having 2n=20 (x=10) is homogeneous, since all species have the same karyotypes 8 m+4 sm+8(st+t) and have similar chromosome size. The karyotype of 2n=30 is 12 m+6 sm+12(st+t) and is suggested to be a triploid of x=10, and 2n=32=16m+16(st+t), a tetraploid of x=8. Thus, three kinds of basic chromosome numbers, x=8, 9, 10 are present in JapaneseSelaginella examined, and their karyomorphological relationships are discussed.     

佛山市禅城区小型兽类组成及多样性的时空变化

城市化导致的野生动物生境破碎化,会使野栖小型兽类更多聚集分布于城区斑块化的农区和公园生境中,因而其多样性组成及时空变化模式可能会与其他区域不同,了解这些模式对防控城区野栖小型兽类的危害具有重要支撑作用。本研究于2020年12月至2021年10月,分4个季节在佛山市禅城区3个公园和7处农区生境中以夹捕法调查小型兽类,比较了小型兽类的种类、密度和生态学指标的时空差异。共有效置夹1843夹次,捕获小型兽类2目2科4属7种共244只。其中劳亚食虫目（Eulipotyphla）的臭鼩（Suncus murinus）占总捕获动物的48.77%;啮齿目中黑缘齿鼠（Rattus andamanensis,20.90%）和卡氏小鼠（Mus caroli,18.03%）为优势鼠种,黑缘齿鼠为佛山市新增记录,卡氏小鼠为禅城区新增记录。4次调查总捕获率达13.28%±0.93%,12月的啮齿类捕获率显著低于4月;公园的总捕获率和啮齿类捕获率都比农区略高,而臭鼩捕获率比农区略低,但差异不显著。12月的物种丰富度和优势度指数最高,均匀度指数最低;4月的多样性指数最高,优势度指数最低;而10月的均匀度指数最高,物种...     

生态梯度轴(EGA)用于林木生态遗传的研究——CA方法估算EGA(CA_1)和EGA(r~2)

应用典型相关的原理和技术,将多元地理坐标和生态因子降维成1元,研究提出2个生态梯度轴(EGA);EGA(CA_1)和EGA(r~2)。通过白榆20个种源的2个EGA估算,它们与6个环境因子平均相关系数为0.8551和0.8804,复相关系数0.9998和0.9985,很好地综合了诸环境因子在对群体7个性状分析结果,EGA能很好描述梯度变异,证明了白榆种群属于连续变异模式。