RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCLUSION IN THE RAPE CROP-QINGYOU Ⅱ AND ALATE RATIO OF MYZUS PERSICAE

AlateratioofMyzuspersicaeSulzerwasgreatlycloserinrelationshiptocertaininclusionintherapecrop-QingyouⅡ,suchastryptophan,ratioofcontentsofsolublesugartoproteinandmeancrowdingnessunderconditionsofvariedmateproportionoffertilizers-N,P,K.Thefollowinginclusionintherapecropwerealsorelatedtotheratioofalatate:asperticacid,troeoninie,serine,glutancicacid,phenylalanine,lysine,histidine,valine,methionine,isoleucine,leucine,solublesugarandwater-solubleprotein.     

高原适应过程中大鼠脑内β－内啡肽含量变化的研究

选用成年雄性Ｗｉｓｔａｒ大鼠,由平原（海拔５ｍ,上海）直接运送到高原（２２６１ｍ,西宁和３４６０ｍ,天峻）。以放射免疫分折法研究了大鼠在高原２４ｈ．急性缺氧期和３０ｄ慢性缺氧期中枢脑内β－内啡肽样免疫活性物质（β－ＥＰ）的含量变化。结果表明：１．大鼠在两个不同海拔（２２６１ｍ,３４６０ｍ）环境２４ｈ急性缺氧期与平原对照组相比,脑垂体内β－ＥＰ含量降低非常显著（Ｐ＜０．０１）,纹状体、丘脑、下丘脑、桥－延脑、海马内β－ＥＰ含量均增加非常显著（Ｐ＜０．０１）。２．大鼠在３４６０ｍ高原３０ｄ慢性习服期,垂体及各脑区内β－ＥＰ的含量变化呈时相性：即１—３ｄ均呈进行性增加（Ｐ＜０．０１）：３－１５ｄ呈持续性减少,除中脑、纹状体、丘脑外,均为Ｐ＜０．０１。１５－３０ｄ垂体、丘脑、皮层、纹状体内β－ＥＰ含量仍持续减少（毒体、皮层Ｐ＜０．０１）,桥－延脑、下丘脑、海马趋于回升（Ｐ＜０．０１）,中脑亦趋于回升（Ｐ＞０．０５）。脑内β－ＥＰ的这种变化可能具有十分重要的生物学意义。     

Vero细胞毒素大肠菌（VTEC）的分离及表型和分子生物学特性的研究

２６株Ｖｅｒｏ细胞毒素（ＶＴ）阳性大肠菌,经分子生物学鉴定表明,其中１４株与ＥＨＥＣ探针杂交阳性,按Ｌｅｖｉｎｅ等的标准判定属产Ｖｅｒｏ细胞毒素大肠菌（ＶＴＥＣ）,其血清型为Ｏ_１５７：Ｈ_７３株（血便２株,脓血便１株）,Ｏ_２５７ＮＭ３株（血便１株,腹泻牛便２株）,Ｏ_２９样便１株）;其余１２株虽ＶＴ毒素阳性,但ＥＨＥＣ探针阴性,按标准判定尚难确认,有待进一步研究。     

The Effect of Vaccination Coverage and Climate on Japanese Encephalitis in Sarawak,Malaysia

Background

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading cause of viral encephalitis across Asia with approximately 70,000 cases a year and 10,000 to 15,000 deaths. Because JE incidence varies widely over time, partly due to inter-annual climate variability effects on mosquito vector abundance, it becomes more complex to assess the effects of a vaccination programme since more or less climatically favourable years could also contribute to a change in incidence post-vaccination. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify vaccination effect on confirmed Japanese encephalitis (JE) cases in Sarawak, Malaysia after controlling for climate variability to better understand temporal dynamics of JE virus transmission and control.

Methodology/principal findings

Monthly data on serologically confirmed JE cases were acquired from Sibu Hospital in Sarawak from 1997 to 2006. JE vaccine coverage (non-vaccine years vs. vaccine years) and meteorological predictor variables, including temperature, rainfall and the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) were tested for their association with JE cases using Poisson time series analysis and controlling for seasonality and long-term trend. Over the 10-years surveillance period, 133 confirmed JE cases were identified. There was an estimated 61% reduction in JE risk after the introduction of vaccination, when no account is taken of the effects of climate. This reduction is only approximately 45% when the effects of inter-annual variability in climate are controlled for in the model. The Poisson model indicated that rainfall (lag 1-month), minimum temperature (lag 6-months) and SOI (lag 6-months) were positively associated with JE cases.

Conclusions/significance

This study provides the first improved estimate of JE reduction through vaccination by taking account of climate inter-annual variability. Our analysis confirms that vaccination has substantially reduced JE risk in Sarawak but this benefit may be overestimated if climate effects are ignored.     

Photoluminescent Gold Nanoclusters as Sensing Probes for Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Glycan-bound nanoprobes have been demonstrated as suitable sensing probes for bacteria containing glycan binding sites. In this study, we demonstrated a facile approach for generating glycan-bound gold nanoclusters (AuNCs). The generated AuNCs were used as sensing probes for corresponding target bacteria. Mannose-capped AuNCs (AuNCs@Mann) were generated and used as the model sensors for target bacteria. A one-step synthesis approach was employed to generate AuNCs@Mann. In this approach, an aqueous solution of tetrachloroauric acid and mannoside that functionized with a thiol group (Mann-SH) was stirred at room temperature for 48 h. The mannoside functions as reducing and capping agent. The size of the generated AuNCs@Mann is 1.95±0.27 nm, whereas the AuNCs with red photoluminescence have a maximum emission wavelength of ∼630 nm (λ_excitation = 375 nm). The synthesis of the AuNCs@Mann was accelerated by microwave heating, which enabled the synthesis of the AuNCs@Mann to complete within 1 h. The generated AuNCs@Mann are capable of selectively binding to the urinary tract infection isolate Escherichia coli J96 containing the mannose binding protein FimH expressed on the type 1 pili. On the basis of the naked eye observation, the limit of detection of the sensing approach is as low as ∼2×10⁶ cells/mL.     

Remote homolog detection using local sequence-structure correlations

Remote homology detection refers to the detection of structural homology in proteins when there is little or no sequence similarity. In this article, we present a remote homolog detection method called SVM-HMMSTR that overcomes the reliance on detectable sequence similarity by transforming the sequences into strings of hidden Markov states that represent local folding motif patterns. These state strings are transformed into fixed-dimension feature vectors for input to a support vector machine. Two sets of features are defined: an order-independent feature set that captures the amino acid and local structure composition; and an order-dependent feature set that captures the sequential ordering of the local structures. Tests using the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) 1.53 data set show that the SVM-HMMSTR gives a significant improvement over several current methods.     

Effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone and serotonin on neurite growth and survival rate of antennal lobe neurons in pupal stage of the silk moth Bombyx mori in vitro

Effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone and serotonin on the morphological development and the survival of antennal lobe neurons from day-2 pupal brains of the silk moth Bombyx mori were investigated in vitro. Four morphologically distinct neuronal types could be identified in the cultured antennal lobe neurons: unipolar, bipolar, multi-polar and projection neurons. Antennal lobe neurons in culture with 20-hydroxyecdysone and serotonin showed different patterns of the morphological development from those described in Manduca sexta. Projection neurons extend their neurites remarkably by 20-hydroxyecdysone in B. mori, but there is no extension from antennal lobe neurons in M. sexta. Multi-polar neurons conspicuously increase only formation of new branches from their primary neurites by serotonin in B. mori, but there are both extension and branching of the neurites in M. sexta. On day-5, antennal lobe neurons in lower titers of 20-hydroxyecdysone had significantly higher survival rates than those in higher titers. Neurons cultured for 7 days at different levels of 20-hydroxyecdysone generally showed significantly lower survival rates than neurons cultured for 5 days under the same conditions.     

Bronchoabsorption; a novel bronchoscopic technique to improve biomarker sampling of the airway

Background

Current techniques used to obtain lung samples have significant limitations and do not provide reproducible biomarkers of inflammation. We have developed a novel technique that allows multiple sampling methods from the same area (or multiple areas) of the lung under direct bronchoscopic vision. It allows collection of mucosal lining fluid and bronchial brushing from the same site; biopsy samples may also be taken. The novel technique takes the same time as standard procedures and can be conducted safely.

Methods

Eight healthy smokers aged 40–65 years were included in this study. An absorptive filter paper was applied to the bronchial mucosa under direct vision using standard bronchoscopic techniques. Further samples were obtained from the same site using bronchial brushings. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was obtained using standard techniques. Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 20 (CCL20), CCL4, CCL5, Chemokine (C-X-C Motif) Ligand 1 (CXCL1), CXCL8, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP-8) and MMP-9 were measured in exudate and BAL. mRNA was collected from the bronchial brushings for gene expression analysis.

Results

A greater than 10 fold concentration of all the biomarkers was detected in lung exudate in comparison to BAL. High yield of good quality RNA with RNA integrity numbers (RIN) between 7.6 and 9.3 were extracted from the bronchial brushings. The subset of genes measured were reproducible across the samples and corresponded to the inflammatory markers measured in exudate and BAL.

Conclusions

The bronchoabsorption technique as described offers the ability to sample lung fluid direct from the site of interest without the dilution effects caused by BAL. Using this method we were able to successfully measure the concentrations of biomarkers present in the lungs as well as collect high yield mRNA samples for gene expression analysis from the same site. This technique demonstrates superior sensitivity to standard BAL for the measurement of biomarkers of inflammation. It could replace BAL as the method of choice for these measurements. This method provides a systems biology approach to studying the inflammatory markers of respiratory disease progression.

Trial registration

NHS Health Research Authority (13/LO/0256).