Ecological risk assessment for key industrial development zones in the areas surrounding the Bo Sea in China

Although industrial zones have been attracting attention around the world due to their huge regional economic contributions, ecological risk assessment for industrial zones has gained little attention. In high ecological risk locations, landslides, earthquakes, and floods often occur, often causing extensive damage, including loss of human lives and property. However, during planning, development, and management of industrial zones, only the socioeconomic risks are usually taken into account and the risks of ecological factors affecting industries are often ignored. In this article, we put forward a procedure to link different risk factors and their GIS-determined spatial variation to estimate the ecological risk to key industrial zones in the 98,200 km² area surrounding the Bo Sea. The ecological risk factors in this region are mainly rainstorms, geological risks, storm surges, seawater intrusion, soil erosion, and earthquakes. The key industrial development zones located in this area were classified into three industry types according to the sensitivity of the industry to different ecological risk factors. Using historical data and hierarchical analytic process as well as weighted ecological risk values, industry susceptibility was determined. We integrated the risk values of each ecological factor with the susceptibility of each industry type to each ecological factor in order to quantify the total risk associated with each key industry zone in the region. The results showed that high ecological risk existed in Liaodong and Laizhou Bay and Tianjin and Dalian seashore.     

Gelsolin rs1078305 and rs10818524 polymorphisms were associated with risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma in a Chinese Han population

Background: Gelsolin (GSN) is one of the most abundant actin-binding proteins, and is involved in cancer development and progression.

Patients and methods: A hospital-based case-control study including 201 patients with OSCC and 199 healthy controls was conducted. Seventeen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of GSN were investigated by Sequenom Mass ARRAY and iPLEX-MALDI-TOF technology.

Results: Through comparison of the 17 SNPs on GSN gene between the two groups, SNP rs1078305 and rs10818524 were verified to be significantly associated with an increased risk of OSCC. For GSN rs1078305, the TT genotype was associated with increased risk for OSCC (OR?=?1.92, 95% CI?=?1.11–3.32, p?=?0.028). CT/TT variants were also associated with increased risk for OSCC compared to the CC genotype (OR?=?1.83, 95% CI?=?1.25–3.84, p?=?0.032).

Conclusion: The rs1078305 and rs10818524 SNPs of GSN were associated with increased risk for OSCC development in a Chinese Han population.     

Postoperative peak serum C-reactive protein is a predictor of outcome following liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Context: C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation, may correlate with prognosis in several malignancies.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic impact of early postoperative peak serum levels of CRP on tumor-specific outcome in 106 liver transplant patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods and results: In multivariate Cox regression analysis, a posttransplant elevated peak CRP level (>versus?≤?3.5?mg/dl) was identified as an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival (p?=?0.01; HR?=?4.04; CI?=?1.399–11.640).

Conclusion: Early postoperative serum CRP may serve as a useful inflammation-based biomarker of outcome in liver transplant patients with HCC.     

Avoidance of parasitoid attack is associated with the spatial use within a leaf by a lepidopteran leafminer

In prey‐predator systems, top‐down effects can be a powerful determinant for spatial distributions of prey through their search for enemy‐free space. Leafminers live and eat within leaves, making feeding tracks called mines, and mine conspicuousness exposes them to a high risk of parasitism. Those lepidopteran leafminers that use lower leaf surfaces as mining sites show wide evolutionary radiation. We hypothesized that leafminers making mines on the lower surface are less often detected by parasitoids and thus have a selective advantage in avoiding parasitism compared to those on the upper surface. To investigate the adaptiveness of lower‐surface mining, we examined the relationship between parasitism and within‐leaf mine distribution for 3 years using a field population of the leafminer Phyllocnistis spec. (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae, Phyllocnistinae), which prefers the lower surface of leaves of the Japanese privet, Ligustrum japonicum Thunb. (Oleaceae). Parasitoid attack was more frequent in the upper‐surface mines than in the lower‐surface mines and on leaves with upper‐surface mines than on leaves with only lower‐surface mines. When both surfaces were mined, leafminers on the lower surface could avoid parasitism. Upper‐surface mines were attacked by more parasitoid species as compared to lower‐surface mines. Although the results demonstrated that mining on the lower surface was advantageous in avoiding parasitism, the vulnerability of lower‐surface mines to parasitism varied depending on their abundance. When many lower‐surface mines were present, lower‐surface mines suffered a higher parasitism rate than upper‐surface mines, probably because parasitoids formed search images for and concentrated on lower‐surface mines. This study suggests that the preferential use of the lower leaf surface by leafminers is in part attributed to interactions with parasitoids.     

Sequence analysis of three canine adipokine genes revealed an association between TNF polymorphisms and obesity in Labrador dogs

Obesity is an emerging health problem in purebred dogs. Due to their crucial role in energy homeostasis control, genes encoding adipokines are considered candidate genes, and their variants may be associated with predisposition to obesity. Searching for polymorphism was carried out in three adipokine genes (TNF, RETN and IL6). The study was performed on 260 dogs, including lean (n = 109), overweight (n = 88) and obese (n = 63) dogs. The largest cohort was represented by Labrador Retrievers (n = 136). Altogether, 24 novel polymorphisms were identified: 12 in TNF (including one missense SNP), eight in RETN (including one missense SNP) and four in IL6. Distributions of five common SNPs (two in TNF, two in RETN and one in IL6) were further analyzed with regard to body condition score. Two SNPs in the non‐coding parts of TNF (c.‐40A>C and c.233+14G>A) were associated with obesity in Labrador dogs. The obtained results showed that the studied adipokine genes are highly polymorphic and two polymorphisms in the TNF gene may be considered as markers predisposing Labrador dogs to obesity.     

The hypoxic microenvironment: A determinant of cancer stem cell evolution

Tumors are often viewed as unique entities with specific behaviors. However, tumors are a mixture of differentially evolved subpopulations of cells in constant Darwinian evolution, selecting the fittest clone and allowing it to outgrow the rest. As in the natural environment, the niche defines the properties the fittest clones must possess. Therefore, there can be multiple fit clones because of the various microenvironments inside a single tumor. Hypoxia is considered to be a major feature of the tumor microenvironment and is a potential contributor to the cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotype and its enhanced tumorigenicity. The acidic microenvironment around hypoxic cells is accompanied by the activation of a subset of proteases that contribute to metastasis. Because of aberrant angiogenesis and the inaccessibility of their locations, hypoxic cells are less likely to accumulate therapeutic concentrations of chemotherapeutics that can lead to therapeutic resistance. Therefore, the targeting of the hypoxic CSC niche in combination with chemotherapy may provide a promising strategy for eradicating CSCs. In this review, we examine the cancer stem cell hypothesis and its relationship to the microenvironment, specifically to hypoxia and the subsequent metabolic switch and how they shape tumor behavior.     

Increased damage by western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis in chrysanthemum intercropped with subterranean clover

Suppressive effects of intercropping on Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) infestations have been reported in several crops. However, this study demonstrates that in year-round chrysanthemum, Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelev, undersowing with subterranean clover, Trifolium subterraneum L., results in an increased thrips feeding damage. In a pot experiment, performed with chrysanthemum plants (cultivars Reagan and Tiger) grown with or without subterranean clover, significantly more leaves with silver and growth damage were found in the chrysanthemum plants with subterranean clover in comparison with the monocropped chrysanthemum plants. Similarly, the degree of deformation of leaf perimeter and leaf surface was higher in the top leaves of the intercropped chrysanthemum plant. In the soil experiment (only performed with Tiger and plants were grown in the soil in the greenhouse) intercropped chrysanthemum plants suffered a higher feeding damage as well. Analysis of the relation between silver or growth damage and the thrips pressure demonstrates that at similar thrips pressure in the intercropped chrysanthemum plants suffered significantly more damage. The higher thrips pressure in the intercropped chrysanthemum only explains the differences in damage partly. Changes in the reaction of chrysanthemum plants to thrips feeding or in the behaviour of the thrips, mediated by the presence of the non-host crop, are discussed. Our explanation is that chrysanthemum plants grown with clover are more susceptible to thrips feeding than monocropped plants. We conclude that undersowing with clover does not contribute to reduce damage by F. occidentalis in year-round chrysanthemum. Also, the influence of crop diversification on a pest cannot be foreseen until the specific characteristics of each individual crop – pest system are studied.     

检测人结肠癌组织端粒酶活性的TRAP方法研究

对检测人结肠癌组织端粒酶活性的端粒酶重复序列扩增法(TRAP)进行了研究.当Mg^2＋浓度为1.8 mmol/L、退火温度为55℃时,能得到可靠的检测结果.影响检测结果可靠性的另两个因素是抽提物的反应用量和阳性片段的污染.     

Glycosylation of Ceramide Potentiates Cellular Resistance to Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-Induced Apoptosis

Ceramide, as a second messenger, initiates one of the major signal transduction pathways in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced apoptosis. Glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) catalyzes glycosylation of ceramide and produces glucosylceramide. By introduction of the GCS gene, cytotoxic resistance to TNF-α has been conferred in human breast cancer cells. MCF-7/GCS-transfected cells expressed 4.1-fold higher levels of GCS activity and exhibited a 15-fold (P < 0.0005) greater EC₅₀ for TNF-α, compared with the parental MCF-7 cell line. DNA fragmentation and DNA synthesis studies showed that TNF-α had little influence on the induction of apoptosis or on growth arrest in MCF-7/GCS cells, compared to MCF-7 cells. These studies reveal that TNF-α resistance in MCF-7/GCS cells is closely related to ceramide hyperglycosylation, a hallmark of this transfected cell line, and resistance was not aligned with changes in TNF receptor 1 expression. This work demonstrates that GCS, which catalyzes ceramide glycosylation, potentiates cytotoxic resistance to TNF-α.