Observation of a Strongly Isospin-Mixed Doublet in

ß decay of proton-rich nuclei plays an important role in exploring isospin mixing. The ß decay of ^{26}P at the proton drip line is studied using double-sided silicon strip detectors operating in conjunction with high-purity germanium detectors. The T=2 isobaric analog state (IAS) at 13 055 keV and two new high-lying states at 13 380 and 11 912 keV in ^{26}Si are unambiguously identified through ß-delayed two-proton emission (ß2p). Angular correlations of two protons emitted from ^{26}Si excited states populated by ^{26}P ß decay are measured, which suggests that the two protons are emitted mainly sequentially. We report the first observation of a strongly isospin-mixed doublet that deexcites mainly via two-proton decay. The isospin mixing matrix element between the ^{26}Si IAS and the nearby 13 380-keV state is determined to be 130(21) keV, and this result represents the strongest mixing, highest excitation energy, and largest level spacing of a doublet ever observed in ß-decay experiments.

High glucose inhibits the survival of HRMCs and its mechanism.

OBJECTIVE: High glucose can promote the apoptosis of glomerular mesangial cells and cause diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, the mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effects of high glucose on the survival of human renal mesangial cells (HRMCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cells were treated with high glucose (30 mM) or normal glucose (5 mM) for 48 hours. Cell proliferation was determined by trypan blue assay. The relative expression of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP3) and inflammatory factors detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Protein expression of Smad2/3, p-Smad2/3 and Smad7 in HRMCs were analyzed by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with normal glucose, we found that high glucose significantly inhibited cell survival, accompanied by the decrease of tissue metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP3) mRNA expression. Western blot results showed that the expression of p-Smad2/3 was significantly up-regulated, the expression of Smad7 was significantly downregulated, and inflammatory factors IL-6/IL-8 mRNA expression were increased in the HRMCs cultured with the high glucose. We also found that, compared with the normal glucose, the level of MDA was significantly increased (p<0.01), and the level of SOD was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the HRMCs cultured with the high glucose. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested that high glucose inhibited the survival of HRMCs and may be associated with the downregulation of TIMP3 expression, Smad signaling pathway, inflammation and oxidative stress.

In vitro assessment of the DNA damage and senility of CD117+ stem cells collected from diabetic mice.

OBJECTIVE: Angiogenesis impairment is a common feature of diabetes mellitus (DM), whereas CD117+ bone marrow cells (BMCs) injury might be responsible for such complication. In this study, we studied the effect of hyperglycemia on the DNA damage and senility of CD117+ bone marrow cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We isolated CD117+ BMCs from the Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetes and healthy control mice. Oxidative stress was detected by flow cytometric analysis. γ-H2AX, which is the DNA damage mark, was detected by using Western blotting and immunofluorescence histochemistry. We also detected the expression of γ-H2AX and p16 by using Western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with the control mice, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was increased significantly in the CD117+ BMCs collected from the diabetic mice (p<0.05), and the percentage of γ-H2AX positive cells was higher significantly (p<0.01). The expression of γ-H2AX and p16 was increased significantly in the CD117+ BMCs from the diabetic mice. CONCLUSIONS: Our experiments demonstrated the oxidative stress in CD117+ BMCs under DM conditions, while accelerating the DNA damage and senility in CD117+ BMCs as well.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) in China: an integrated data analysis.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease that was caused by a novel bunyavirus, SFTSV. The study aimed to disclose the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of SFTSV infection in China so far. An integrated clinical database comprising 1920 SFTS patients was constructed by combining first-hand clinical information collected from SFTS sentinel hospitals (n = 1159) and extracted data (n = 761) from published literature. The considered variables comprised clinical manifestations, routine laboratory tests of acute infection, hospitalization duration and disease outcome. SFTSV-IgG data from 19 119 healthy subjects were extracted from the published papers. The key clinical variables, case-fatality rate (CFR) and seroprevalence were estimated by meta-analysis. The most commonly seen clinical manifestations of SFTSV infection were fever, anorexia, myalgia, chill and lymphadenopathy. The major laboratory findings were elevated lactate dehydrogenase, aminotransferase, followed by thrombocytopenia, lymphocytopenia, elevated alanine transaminase and creatine kinase. A CFR of 12·2% was estimated, significantly higher than that obtained from national reporting data, but showing no geographical difference. In our paper, the mortality rate was about 1·9 parts per million. Older age and longer delay to hospitalization were significantly associated with fatal outcome. A pooled seroprevalence of 3·0% was obtained, which increased with age, while comparable for gender. This study represents a clinical characterization on the largest group of SFTS patients up to now. A higher than expected CFR was obtained. A wider spectrum of clinical index was suggested to be used to identify SFTSV infection, while the useful predictor for fatal outcome was found to be restricted.

Discrimination of novel bunyavirus infection using routine laboratory test.

The wide epidemic and high case fatality rate have made severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) a significant public health problem. The diagnosis and discrimination of SFTS virus (SFTSV) infection at an early stage of the disease is important for treatment choice. A prospective study was performed in an SFTS reference hospital during 2011-2013. Suspected SFTS patients were recruited and prospectively observed. Comparison between SFTSV-positive and -negative patients was made to identify the parameters that were related to positive detection by discriminant and classification tree analysis. A total of 538 SFTSV-positive and 396 negative patients were recruited and observed. Multiple logistic regression models demonstrated the significant parameters associated with positive detection, including decreased platelet counts and elevated aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level during the first stage (1∼4 days), decreased white blood cell and platelet counts, elevated creatine kinase (CK) and AST levels during the second stage (5∼7 days), and older age, decreased consciousness and elevated CK and AST during the third stage (8-11 days). The classification trees disclosed that the significant predictors for positive SFTSV detection were AST >50.6 U/L and AST/alanine transaminase (ALT) >1.3 at the first stage, CK >257 U/L or 57.7 U/L < CK ≤98.5 U/L with AST/ALT >1.6 at the second stage, as well as CK >630.7 U/L or 114.3 U/L < CK ≤630.7 U/L with decreased consciousness at the third stage. In making the clinically probable diagnosis of SFTS, the supplementation of AST and CK evaluations might remarkably improve the diagnostic capacity of routine laboratory tests, while the leukopenia is of limited use.

[Clinical analysis of 36 cases with amebic liver abscess].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical features of amebic liver abscess, the causes of misdignosis and the effect of medical and surgical therapy on patient's prognosis. METHODS: The clinical features of 36 patients with amebic liver abscess admitted from 1982 to 1997 in our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The major clinical manifestations were: abdominal pain (86.1%), fever (86.1%), hepatomegaly with tenderness (83.3%) and right intercostal tenderness (58.3%). Leukocytosis was observed in 61.1%, and increased of ESR in 88.5% (23/28). Serologies against Entamoeba histolytica were noted in 92.6%. Ultrasonography showed single lesions in 75% and right-lobe involvement in 75%. All patients were treated with metronidazole and 27 patients received treatment with needle aspiration or draining at the same time. After treatment, 10 patients were cured, 25 patients were improved significantly and effective rate was 97.2%. One patient died of hepatic failure. CONCLUSION: Medical therapy alone was excellent for small abscesses, while percutaneous needle aspiration or draining was a successful approach in patients with large abscesses.

[Role of paraventriculo-spinal pathway in the inhibition of renal sympathetic nerve activity induced by blood volume expansion in rabbits].

In anesthetized and bilateral sinoaortic denervated rabbits with either intact or ascorbic acid injected paraventricular nucleus (PVN), the inhibition of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) induced by blood volume expansion (VE) all decreased by approximately 48%. However, 3-4 h and 3-4 d after kainic acid lesion of PVN, the inhibition of RSNA was attenuated respectively to -28.0 +/- 4.5% and -25.7 +/- 4.1% (P < 0.05) with considerably shortened time course (P < 0.01). Also such inhibition could be significantly attenuated (P < 0.05) by intrathecal injection of vasop ressinergic V1 receptor antagonist in spinal T10-T12 segments. There was no significant difference with the slight and brief increase of mean arterial pressure induced by VE in the control and the experimental group. Thus it can be concluded that the inhibition of RSNA induced by VE is partly mediated by a vagal afferent triggered PVN-spinal pathway.

A preliminary study of radioimmunoimaging by 131I-COC183B2 monoclonal antibody in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

Monoclonal antibody 131I-COC183B2, developed in our laboratory and proved to fit for human treatment was injected intraperitoneally or subcutaneously in 13 patients. In 8 cases with i.p. injection the disease corresponded with the image, i.e. 3 primary ovarian epithelial cancers showed positive images, 1 ovarian Krukenberg tumor was negative and the other 4 negative images included 1 uterine myoma and 3 ovarian teratomas. In the subcutaneous injection group, 4 cases had ovarian carcinoma, surgery and chemotherapy. Two negative images corresponded with the clinical status-in good health, another negative case had metastatic left supraclavicular lymph node due to ovarian mucinous adenocarcinoma. The last negative image in this group was a case of benign ovarian teratoma which was proved after surgery. The 1 positive case was waiting to be proved by a scheduled third operation. The computer scintigram calculation of T/NT was 5.35 to 13.7. The results suggest that this monoclonal antibody can be used for radioimmunoimaging for the localization of ovarian carcinoma, which is not only helpful for clinical staging and differential diagnosis but is also a good follow-up method.

Sequence analysis of the translational elongation factor 3 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The gene YEF-3 encoding the elongation factor for protein synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an essential gene as shown by one-step gene disruption and is located on chromosome XII as determined by orthogonal field alternation gel electrophoresis. The nucleotide sequence of the gene was determined from a sequential series of subclones generated from the YEF-3 gene cloned into bacteriophage M13. The HOMOL1 sequence and the RPG box, which are considered to be enhancer elements involved in coordinate regulation of transcription of the genes coding for yeast ribosomal proteins and protein synthesis factors, are found in the 5'-flanking region of the gene. A dyad symmetry that enables hairpin loop formation in the DNA molecule is found in the 3'-terminal at the termination site of transcription. An open reading frame of 3132 nucleotides codes for a deduced protein of 115,860 Da. A striking feature of the elongation factor 3 deduced polypeptide is the internal repeat of a region with approximately 200 amino acids which includes an ATP-binding site and shares similarity with some transport and drug-resistant proteins. Another characteristic is the presence of a highly charged C-terminal region composed of three basic polylysine blocks, suggesting interaction with RNA. The sequence supports the hypothesis that YEF-3 encodes a protein synthesis factor and suggests that its main role may be to transduce nucleoside triphosphate energy into mechanical energy for translocation during translation.

Isolation of the yeast gene encoding elongation factor 3 for protein synthesis.

The gene YEF-3 encoding the elongation factor 3 (EF-3) for peptide chain elongation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been isolated by immunoscreening of a yeast genomic library in the phage lambda gt11. The identity of the EF-3 gene was confirmed by several methods. First, a clone-encoded protein could affinity purify the antibody that specifically reacted with EF-3. Second, a recombinant fusion protein, which reacted with anti-beta-galactosidase antibody as well as with anti-EF-3 antibody, was found in the lysate of a positive clone lysogen. Third, the function of EF-3 in a yeast mutant in which the EF-3 activity is temperature-sensitive in an in vitro assay could be complemented by transformations. EF-3 protein was overproduced in a transformant which contained the EF-3 gene on a multicopy plasmid YEp-13. Southern blot analysis shows that YEF-3 is a single copy gene. The transcript unit as mapped by S1 nuclease mapping, is consistent with the size of the message determined by Northern blot analysis and shows no evidence of introns.

Isolation and characterization of PRT1, a gene required for the initiation of protein biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We isolated a cloned DNA fragment containing PRT1, a gene required for the initiation of protein biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, by complementation of the temperature-sensitive prtl-1 mutation. The entire PRT1 gene is contained within a 3.2-kilobase-pair segment of the cloned DNA in YEp13 H1.2. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that PRT1 is a single copy gene which is transcribed into a 2.3-kilobase RNA. We determined the direction of transcription and mapped the 5' and 3' ends of the gene.